“Art of Attraction” is episode thirteen of season three of Mutant X.
Shalimar and Lexa are at an art showing, Shalimar as a guest and Lexa as staff. Brennan and Jesse are in the Helix. There are guards and security between Lexa and the painting. Shalimar smiles at a man, and walks over, then hits him and accuses him of touching her. The guards come over and, whilst they are distracted, Lexa turns invisible and slips through the door they were guarding. Jesse warns Lexa she has company. She enters the code to get into the room where the painting is and finds someone else there. They end up fighting over the painting – he is a mutant too – but neither gets the upper hand. They both get knocked down and an alarm sounds. Both flee and Lexa hides the other thief with her powers. He then kisses her, threatens her and turns into purple smoke.
At Sanctuary, Lexa tells her Dominion contact what happened. He wants her to try for the painting again; it contains a secret that must remain hidden. Their presence was not observed and it’s thought that it was just a false alarm.
Lexa shows Shalimar and Jesse an image of the painting. Jesse comments on its artistic style. Apparently, within the canvas is a key to undiscovered technology that could threaten world security. They haven’t found out anything about the rival thief yet. Though Jesse and Shalimar do see what Lexa and he did on the video. They’ll check the mutant database.
After Lexa and Jesse leaves, Shalimar gets a call with an encrypted voice. The person says they are a friend and that there’s more to the painting than they’ve been told. Shalimar should find out about the scientist who used to own it. It represents a key to understand what is really going on. Shalimar has been trying to trace the call but the voice says Sanctuary’s system would take at least 30 more seconds to triangulate. Then wishes her goodbye, by name, and gives her a five-digit code.
Lexa and Jesse phase into the gallery. Brennan and Shalimar are in the Helix; Brennan says the other mutant is a high-end thief specialising in art, called Randall Blake. Lexa is looking at the gallery’s security footage and tells Jesse than Randall is already there, for she can see his purple smoke on the cameras. Lexa heads in as Randall takes down a guard. The code to the door has been changed and it will take Jesse hours to get the new one. Shalimar tells Lexa to try the code she was given. It works. Lexa gets the painting but Randall arrives. There are three paintings and he already has one of them. He manages to defeat Lexa’s powers and she’s struggling to resist his when Jesse pulls her through the wall.
Back at Sanctuary, Shalimar asks why they weren’t told there were three paintings. Brennan suggests Randall was bluffing. That’s what Jesse thought, but Lexa seems convinced. A scan of the painting reveals a hidden code. An incomplete code. They need all three, as does Randall. Lexa suggests she poses as a rival thief to team up with Randall.
Jesse has found a business owned by Randall under an alias. He asks why Lexa wants to go see Randall when he tried to kill her. If he wanted her dead, he would have tried harder. Shalimar is looking into the scientist the mystery caller told her about, Dr Illich Sefchek, when Brennan passes and asks what she’s doing. Shalimar fills him in.
Lexa arrives at Randall’s place. She wants to see his painting. Sure, if Lexa shows Randall hers. Shalimar gets another call and tells Brennan. Sefchek was involved in environmental research. The caller knows Brennan is there as well. Sanctuary’s firewall is breached and someone downloads their scan of the painting. Whoever the mystery caller is, they know a lot about Mutant X and Sanctuary.
Lexa seems to be attracted to Randall, and by the looks of it, this is mutual. Though not without bumps. As they and Jesse work on getting the other painting. Brennan and Shalimar are investigating their mystery caller, which raises questions about the Dominion. They don’t find out who the caller is, but it’s a surprise.