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It was a dark and stormy night, which would not usually be a problem but, under the circumstances, was incredibly inconvenient.
“Ya gotta concentrate, kid,” Logan said. Matt doesn’t startle but it’s probably too much to hope that the drumming rain obscured his heart skipping.
“Concentration is not my problem,” Matt says, “I’m great at concentrating. You sure the trail’s still there”
Logan huffed out the little half breath that passed for him as a laugh. Matt wondered idly if anyone else can hear it, or if he makes any type of facial expression to go along with it. He’d heard from multiple sources that Wolverine is entirely without a sense of humor, so probably not. “Trail’s still there, I can smell it. Longer you dawdle, though, the harder it’ll be to trace.”
Matt sniffed. It was cold, his nose was starting to run.
Technically, Matt had a better sense of smell than Logan did. They had tested this, scientifically. Apparently Matt had a keener sense of smell than any animal on the planet.
Logan had taken Matt’s lack of scent tracking ability personally. He was determined to teach Matt to track properly.
“It’s a skill,” Logan had said, “It ain’t just an ability. Ain’t your fault, I guess, you’re a city boy and no one’s thought to teach you.”
So here they were. In the rain.
“I think I got it,” Matt said.
The problem was that it smelled bad. Logan got some sort of artificial animal stink that they use to train dogs with, and it was incredibly unpleasant. Matt was used to tuning out that sort of thing.
But okay, yes, he could smell it. And Logan did have a point about your average criminal not smelling like Matt’s favorite perfume.
Matt tuned out the rain. He tuned out the cold. He listened to his nose and started moving.
It didn’t start smelling better. The water confused things, carried the scent with it downhill, but the trail was still there. Matt followed the scent, left turn, right turn, faster.
He tripped on a curb and nearly fell flat on his face.
“Maybe don’t concentrate so hard,” Logan said.
Matt groaned. “Do your students enjoy your teaching as much as I do?”
“Nope,” Logan said.