Disclaimer: Hi there. Sabretooth, Logan and Jean Grey are all characters copyrighted by Marvel. Mulder & Scully belong to Ten Thirteen Productions, I believe, or Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Everything else is my own creation, except New York. Someone else can take the blame for that. Here There Be Tygers, part III Sean Venning, April, 1996 New York 1:35 pm, Wednesday Mulder burst into the office that he and Scully had been loaned. "Got it!" he exclaimed. "Got what?" came the reply "The security tape from the office building next door. Have we a time of death for the last victim?" "Between six fifteen and seven thirty. Why?" "I visited the security office of the building next door. They monitor all the stairwells and the main hallways via a closed circuit system. I convinced the guard on duty to show me the tapes from last night, and found this." he flourished the cassette. "What's on there?" asked Scully. "Our most likely suspect. Let's find a video unit." "All right. The interview rooms probably have one." ------------------------------------ "Let's see what we've got here. Ok...right. Scully, look at this." The screen flickered to life. For the first few moments it showed nothing but an empty stairwell and a time stamp. Mulder held down the fast forward button for a moment, and lines of static crossed the screen. A figure dashed past and Mulder fiddled with the buttons again, bringing the figure back. He let it play normally and Scully watched as a tall male figure loped past the camera's view. Mulder brought the figure back and paused the display. The male was obviously quite tall, very powerfully built and had hair which was so blonde it was almost yellow. His figure hugging suit was a pale tan in colour, with regular stripes across the back. About the collar was a thick fur trim. "Well Mulder, he looks strong enough to have caused the injuries, but I still doubt he could have made the leap between the buildings. Besides, look at that costume. He looks as if he's come from some movie set. I'm sure someone would have remembered seeing him." "No movie set and no costume party on the fifth floor. So, what do you think? Worth looking into?" Scully took a deep breath and looked at her partner. "All right. Where do we start?" "Well," began Mulder, as the door to the interview room burst open and Detective Donovan poked his head around the corner, his face grim. "We've got another one. About two hour ago, in the park. This time we have a description. Three boys disturbed him, and he killed two of them for their trouble. The third one fled and eventually ran into a couple of uniforms, but by the time they got there it was all over." "Did you get a description?" asked Mulder. "Yes. About six five, broad set, around two hundred pounds with yellow blonde hair and some strange sort of animal costume." Scully looked at Mulder, her eyes wide. "Then that means..." "Frank, look at this," Mulder gestured to the monitor. The detective looked at it briefly, then looked back at the agents. "Where the hell did you get this?" he asked them. "Security tape from the office building next door to Moseley Towers, around six last night. I think we have our suspect's means of entrance to the apartment worked out, too." "How?" "Through the window. Now, can we see the witness?" "I'll see what I can do. Apparently he's pretty eager to be gone, but the boys are holding him to assist for a little longer." ***************************************************************** "You there, Jean?" "Yes Logan. Couldn't you tell?" "Just makin' sure you were awake." "Where are we?" "In the dark. Just a sec." There was the screech of metal, then dim sunlight flooded into the small room. "Looks like we're in a small storage shed, in a park somewhere." "Any idea which one?" "Park or shed?" "Either." "Couldn't tell you which shed, but judging by the skyline over the trees, I'd say we're in New York." "Great. What now?" "We look for Creed, then go home." "And how do we do that?" "Findin' Creed's the big bit. Roma has this habit of turnin' up when you're ready for her." Jean stepped out into the overcast daylight. "Lead on then, Macduff." As they neared the edge of the park Logan held up his hand and came to a stop. "Creed's been at work." "How can you tell? Can you smell something?" Logan looked up at her. "Not at the moment. But I can read," he gestured towards a paper lying on the ground, it's headline screaming out 'Ripper Strikes Again!'. He leant down and picked it up. "Hmm. Yep, this sounds like Creed. Looks like he's been busy. This one's the third in five days. Let's see. Ok, there's an address here, I think we should go take a peek, never know what might turn up." "Ah, Logan? If I might make a suggestion?" "Sure Darlin'. What's up?" "Have you noticed the temperature?" "Nope. Why?" "It's freezing! Jeans and a t-shirt aren't warm enough for me, and functional as it is, your uniform is gathering a bit of attention...." "It's about time you noticed. With any luck the cash here is the same as home. Go shoppin' and I'll wait for you. There's a place right outside that gate." "Logan....." "Better hurry Jeanie. It ain't gettin' any warmer." "All right. But don't you dare move. I'll be straight back, then we go look at this 'Moseley Towers'." Logan smiled as she stalked off, then took out a cigar and lit it. *keep smilin' darlin' we could be here awhile* ******************************************************************* New York 2:15pm, Wednesday "So, that's all you saw?" "Listen man, there was blood everywhere, Jimmy was screamin' and kickin' an' I couldn't do nuthin'. I ran. I told you what I saw. What more do you want?" "Ok. Thanks for your help. I know it's been tough, but you can probably leave now. I'll check with the sergeant for you. "Right man. Just remember, this guy is one major sicko." "I'll remember." ---------------- "So, what now?" "Well, Scully, our killer isn't exhibiting normal psychotic patterns. His kills are almost completely random, the victims haven't known each other and he doesn't seem to be going out of his way to draw attention to himself. He's just doing it." "Like some wild beast." "No Scully, wild beasts tend to kill for a reason. Self defence, food....wait a minute Scully. The autopsies, how much of the victims' bodies were missing?" "A fair bit. Fifteen, twenty pounds from each, give or take. Wait a minute, you don't think.." "I do. What if our killer isn't just killing for fun, but for nutrition. That amount would be enough to keep him going for a day or so." "But Mulder, that's ...." "Sick. Yes, it is. But I can't think of a better explanation at the moment. Can you?" "No. Let's get back, I want to go over those autopsy reports again." *************************************************** "Good goin' with the guard, Jeanie. Saved a lot of sneakin' around." "What's the good of TK if you can't lift the occasional set of keys?" "I was thinkin' of the sweet talkin' you gave him." "Yes, well. Don't ever remind me of it, ok?" Logan smiled. "No problem. Mind you, if we don't get out of this lift soon I'm gointa go nuts. What sorta music is this?" Jean smiled this time. "Would you prefer Wagner?" "Just get me outta here." The elevator chose that moment to come to a stop. Cautiously exiting, Logan led the way down the corridor. Jean followed close behind. "Think this is the one?" "Dunno. Can't see the number behind all the police tape. Just use the....do you smell that?" "No Logan. I don't have a bionic nose, remember?" "Blood, Jeanie. It was a slaughter in there." "Guess it was Creed, then." "Let's have a look." Jean unlocked the door and pushed it open. Logan stepped silently past her into the room and stopped. "Yep. This is Creed's work. No question." "We have to stop him. How do we find him?" "That's the trick, ain't it. We don't know no one here. And there ain't no cerebro around abouts." "There must be some way. Could you track him from here?" Logan looked about the room, stepped over to the window and inspected the balcony. "Not really, Jeanie. City scent destroys any tracks. It's gettin' dark out. We need somewhere to stay for the night." Jean picked up the telephone directory and thumbed through it. "How about the 'Crescent Inn'? I've stayed there the last couple of times I've come to New York. It's comfortable enough." "This isn't our New York, Jeanie. It won't be here." "Wrong. See?" She held out the directory. Logan walked over and looked at it, then took it from her and started to flick through it. "You're right. It's here. So's everything else. 'Crescent Inn', eh? Tell you what Jeanie, you go get us a room there, I'll meet you later. There's somethin' I wanta check." "You don't know where he is, do you?" "Nah. Just want to check somethin' out." "What?" "Nuthin' much. Just a thought." "What kind of thought?" "We do know one person here." "Who?" "Creed. I'll meet you at the motel in two hours. Don't worry, I'm not goin' ta run into him tonight." "Logan.....You'd better be there in two hours. I'll be waiting." ************************************************* New York 6:30 pm, Wednesday Mulder scratched his head as he went over the interview transcript again. On the other side of the desk Scully was making notes from the autopsy reports, her head bent over her work. "Anything?" Mulder asked. "Nothing I didn't see on the third or fourth reading." "Well, how about we..." The telephone on the desk started to ring. Mulder picked it up. "Hello. Mulder here. What? Where abouts? Just a minute, I'll write this down. Who is this? Hello? Damn." Still scrawling on a pad, he slammed the handset down. "Who was that?" asked Scully. "A member of Tip Offs Anonymous." "Male, female?" "Female. Very pleasant voice, too." "You'd notice. What did they have to say?" "Just that they'd seen a tall figure in some sort of animal suit entering a warehouse on the other side of town." "Anything else?" "No. Guess they weren't feeling chatty." "How did they know to ring? No description has been released yet." "I don't know. I think we should go take a look though, just in case." "But Mulder.." "What have we got to lose?" "Just dinner. Fine. You drive."