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Heroes & Villains
Time was, I was strictly a loner, Wolverine thinks. Now he’s one of the X-Men, part of a team. And since all of them have different kinds of mutant powers, there are surprising advantages. Course, the newlyweds here might disagree. As Wolverine walks past the newlyweds in question, lying on a blanket on the beach, he kicks up sand at them.
Continuing without pause, despite their stares at him, he thinks that, specially, if they look back to where his footprints start - at the edge of the surf. It is Gateway’s work, Wolverine silently notes. “He’s kinda our instant travel service. Yep. Nice being part of a team. Still some things you handle alone.”
As Wolverine makes his way through the streets, past the residents and visitors, he realizes that, at first glance, this place might be Miami Beach. Moving beyond the hotels and tourists, each new block fits more with his research. He did that while his mutant healing factor fixed a few injuries of his – from a world class beating and being dumped from a plane. As he continues to make his way through the streets, he watches government troops reasoning with the press. Their reasoning is beating them and blowing up their shop.
Wolverine is in Puerto Verde, capital city of Tierra Verde and his invasion has begun. Appears some others seem to have gotten into the business before him!
On a pier, a young lady in a costume is being punched around by Tiger Shark, as some locals are watching the action. She is then tossed headfirst into a stack of crates, right in front of Wolverine. He thinks to himself that he got into this mess to save an old enemy from some new ones. Complicated enough without adding new trouble to complicate it more. He doesn’t know the players, it’s not his game. Way things look, girl shouldn’t have made it hers.
Tiger Shark informs the young lady that traveling from Dade County, Florida to Central America is a long trip - just to die. He informs her that there’s no reason getting up, it’s already over, she’s fighting Tiger Shark not strung out crack peddlers like she tackled at home. The young lady, defiant in her words, shoots back that he’s an assassin - nothing more!! A tool of the corruption that she fought in the barrio, the same she has come to challenge here! As she leaps to her feet to go back on the attack, the locals who have been watching the fight join her for she will not fight alone. They will rally to La Bandera!!
Tiger Shark knocks the bricks they throw at him away with ease. He informs them that they should rally around the flag - he might as well off a dozen wastes as one! La Bandera informs him that they are the people and when the spirit moves them, you don’t know what they can do. Tiger Shark, ready for her attack, indicates that he knows what he can do. La Bandera shoots back with he can suffer the defeat his kind always does!! With that, she shoots a blast of energy from her staff, knocking Tiger Shark off the pier and into the water below.
Wolverine, watching the action is impressed. The kid’s got moves and surprises - can’t help but be drawn to her. The locals are standing on the pier with La Bandera. They are cheering her victory!! La Bandera thanks them for their help. Without them she couldn’t have... Wolverine knows that a guy like that can’t be beat that easily and yells out to her to Look Ou... Before he can finish, Tiger Shark bursts through the pier and informs La Bandera that now; it gets ugly!!
As Tiger Shark continues his assault on La Bandera, he informs her that now is a bad time for that staff of hers to be running out of whatever powers it, but then those precious “people” of yours seem to be running out too! They’re smart. They recognize who’s a run-of-the-mill assassin and who’s not even if she doesn’t. With that, he knocks her staff out of her hands. As he grabs her by the neck, he informs her that she stepped on some big toes playing Ms. Community Inspiration back in Florida. That netted her a death warrant, fulfilling it will be his personal pleasure.
Before he can deliver the deathblow, Wolverine leaps on his back, claws extended. Wolverine points out that it won’t be for a man who talks when he should be watching his back! Tiger Shark, shocked, inquires - another hero?? Good, that’s what this is really about. With that, he grabs Wolverine and flings Wolverine into a wall. He hates heroes!! Everything he is today is because some idiot tried to be a hero and wound up a cripple! With Wolverine out of the way, he makes his way towards La Bandera again. He continues that he was that idiot - no more! Now he’s a shark, the baddest shark in the ocean and heroes like her are his favorite prey! My...
Before he can continue, he turns around to see that he is leaking water from his back!! He is in shock! Wolverine points out that he’s afraid that he’s caused a leak. Nobody tosses him around and gets off free. He then points out to La Bandera that, if he’s got water circulating through that suit... La Bandera finishes his thought that it must be vital to him! Keeping him between them, cut off from the sea, they can... As Wolverine and La Bandera converge on Tiger Shark, he completes a backflip and escapes their grasp, landing in the water. Weaken him? Beat him? Not today!!!
Wolverine looks on and decides that he’ll settle for that. The guy has the strength, the power to be in Sub-Mariner’s class. He’ll settle and count himself lucky. He then notices the ship, the same one where he took his lumps. If it’s anchored here, then... Before he can finish, he receives a kiss from La Bandera. She is excited. Victory is theirs. He has helped her to victory and for that, she loves him for it. Wolverine pushes her away and tells her that she doesn’t even know him. Or the difference between a victory and a breather. This ain’t the time to celebrate - only to hide. La Bandera informs him that she didn’t come here to hide.
She came to fight and to inspire others to do the same. As Wolverine grabs her arm and they make their way down the street, he responds that he felt that, too much. Says mutant ability to him, about the most dangerous he’s come across. He then tells her to trust a fellow mutant. La Bandera rips her arm away and retorts that it is a gift, a wonderful gift. One that makes her more than a kid. Drug traffic supported by this country’s government destroyed her family and...
Wolverine cuts her off, asking if she’s going to start a revolution to bring it down? Inspiration fades fast, when you’re also drawing on it, turning it into a physical force, to channel through that staff of hers. He then tells her to pitch her costume. This old section of town is a maze. Lose herself until she makes it home. He tells her that she has it in her to hurt a lot of people - he advises that she shouldn’t.
As Wolverine continues to make his way through the streets, he thinks about La Bandera. She has left, but will she listen? Maybe. If she’s not as stubborn as he was at her age, as he is now, as he has to be with all the detours popping up between him and what he came for. At that time, he is called to by a man who offers him a free beer. It is a face from Wolverine’s past, from his days with Canadian intelligence, Jack Bascomb, CIA. Jack informs Logan that waterfront set-to caught his attention. He’s feisty as always and a tad misguided. He continues that the little lady he helped has questionable roots.
She’s Cuban. Her father was a big deal in Fidel’s revolution. Supposedly got disillusioned later and fled to Florida. He stayed bitter, found drugs, died a junkie. Wolverine responds that that is pretty sad. He asks that somehow Jack sees his daughter as a big, bad communist threat? Jack retorts that he sees him, Wolverine, as a threat. Him getting all involved in something that he’s been out of too long. There are wheels within wheels spinning in Tierra Verde and Wolverine is just natural born grit in the gears. As Jack goes to enter a taxi he advises Wolverine to disappear again.
New York: In a New York skyscraper, the Kingpin points out that he believes that this matter requires a broader view. On a video-screen in front of him, President Felix Guillermo Caridad shoots back that his only view is that the Kingpin acted without consulting him!! This Tiger Shark violated Tierra Verde’s borders to inflict personal punishment on his behalf!! The Kingpin agrees that it does appear so. The young lady attached has rashly interfered with his Florida operations, but this is still the intricate part of a grander scheme, and all those individuals dubbed super-heroes will eventually suffer.
He then asks the president that the long-range benefits - even in their relatively uncomplicated drug transactions - surely do not escape him - do they? Felix asks that as Tiger Shark’s target escaped him?? He then responds that while he, Wilson Fisk, may be the Kingpin of crime, it is presumptuous of him to expect a world leader to shelter his assassin until... The Kingpin cuts him off. He informs him that his input is greatly appreciated, but he has a meeting that cannot wait. He turns off the video-screen and walks away muttering to himself that the president is a comic opera fool. The problem is that his cocaine trade is a necessary hedge against the power of the Columbia cartel - for now. He enters a room to see Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Red Skull. When he sees them he notices that they are eager for further acts of vengeance.
Tierra Verde: In the president’s palace, he slams his fist down on his monitor. He yells out that the Kingpin is a gangster pig. The arrogance of that slab of pork, of his scheme! He calls out to Geist - he and whatever mad partners he has would destroy the world’s heroes! He asks Geist how? It cannot happen, no matter how many heroes they destroy - the people will only create new ones! As they make their way through the halls, Felix continues - that is the truth and why Tierra Verde will remember his name. Not because he was a drug-trafficking dictator, but because he gave them their own symbol of national honor - a super hero! Equal to any in the world! But when he should be concentrating on this most, he has Tiger Shark, La Bandera, rebellion, and, and...
He has another migraine. He requests Geist to go get his wife, she’s the only one who can... Geist puts his hand on Felix’s shoulder and informs him that she still refuses to see him, but he asks him if he can offer a suggestion. He points out that in the past the president has said that barring his lady’s amazing touch, there’s nothing so relaxing as a clean, close shave.
As Felix takes a seat in the barber chair, Geist informs him that, while he understands the urgency of his interests, he has taken the liberty of sending for his research team. As he shaves him, they can report on their latest findings. The three scientists inform the president that after exhaustive tests, they have isolated the so-called miracle cocaine. The cocaine is from one field only - El Jardin Del Rey. Not only one field, but one particular crop, which since that crop’s harvest, that field has been barren. The president points out that gifts from the gods are always rare, seldom limitless. The important thing is that they recognize them for what they are and use them well. He proceeds to tell the tale of El Jardin Del Rey.
It is a jungle mountainside, a place of many legends. Some say that in prehistory, the site was bombarded by falling stars. Other stories have it that in the most ancient of days, mighty gods made war. One such god fought to his death on the mountainside. Since then, many have come to fear El Jardin Del Rey and most try to avoid it. Whatever, it is an ideal place for growing cocaine, or finding a miracle.
The scientists point out that the tale cannot account for why the cocaine induces hyper-abilities or how to control those effects so the test subject doesn’t die. The president scoffs at the scientists. He points out that his advisor, Geist, has found a man apparently strong enough to survive numerous doses of the drug. That and he has realized a most obvious means for assuring control - his wife. She is blessed with a talent for healing such a talent in that she left him for the church and service in a jungle mission. He then sends the scientists away - there will be no more of their tests or theories, he has freed Sister Salvation from her duties. She can now free them of their miracle drugs destructive side effects.
Once the scientists have left, Felix feels much better. He will have the means of creating the super hero he desires for Tierra Verde! He then commends Geist on his clean, close shave - it does make him feel better!! Geist then asks if the moustache itself should go as well? Felix responds that Geist has the remarkable ability to inspire trust in those he serves. Who else would he let put a razor to his throat? However, he doesn’t think Geist will be happy until everyone is shaved as smooth as that armor he wears. He then asks him if it is true that he once shaved Adolf Hitler? Did he have to fight for his moustache as he does? Felix goes to leave, informing Geist that he is revitalized and despite the late hour, it is time to face his wife, to make perfectly clear why she must lend her gifts to his project. Geist wishes the president luck and closes the doors behind him.
Once he is back in the room, a puff of smoke is blow into his face. Wolverine informs him that they are alone at last. As he backhands Geist into the wall, he informs him that it is time for a little payback for their previous meeting. From what he’s learned since, when it comes to paying Geist back, there are lots of others with bigger claims but no one better equipped for the job. As Geist goes to scramble to reach the machine pistol, Wolverine leaps at him and stabs his claws into Geist’s hand. They are going to talk about his missing sparring partner - Roughhouse!!
In another room in the palace, the president and Sister Salvation are watching a video-screen that shows Roughhouse chained up in a cell. He points out that it is sad. As he gets stronger with each dose of the cocaine, he grows more uncontrollably violent as well. The scars on his face are old, perhaps even from childhood - but the sores? They are a new development. In anything ever required her touch...
She cuts him off, she asks him how could he do this to another human being!?! To imagine she would aid in such blasphemy, especially after he ruthlessly destroyed her mission?!? Felix responds that it is all for Tierra Verde. Only his methods are brutal. His goal is great. But if patriotism doesn’t move her what about their son? Just as Sister Salvation goes to respond, a blast rocks the palace!!!
La Bandera is leading her people on an assault on the palace. She tells them that they have fought as small, isolated groups in the slums and on the farmlands - tonight they are an army!!
Deep in the palace, Wolverine is following Geist through a tunnel. He asks where they are. If there are any tricks, he’ll puncture more than his mechanical hand. Geist informs him that they are nearing the medical center. He points out that Wolverine demanded that he take him to Roughhouse and for a man in a Wolverine costume, a route where attention is unlikely seems best. Wolverine again reminds him that the can opener is ready, just in case. Geist turns and informs Wolverine that these threats are unnecessary. He is a man dedicated to surviving. His cybernetic armor is a vital and expensive part of that. Replacing his hand will eat any profit he made setting up for Wolverine’s enemies - General Coy and Price Baran. Wolverine informs him that their day will come, but Geist is long overdue for some losses.
With the right computer, the right sense of what intelligence files to tap, he’s come to know about him and what a package he, Geist, is. He was up to his elbows in blood as one of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, bartering German rocket scientists to the American OSS to escape war crimes prosecution, making himself useful in questionable CIA operations, and to new world fascists like Caridad. A long proud tradition.
Geist points out that he is the Nazi ghost who still haunts the free world - an embarrassing cliché. He asks why there is such outrage? The notion thrills most people. Look in any bookstore - from all the swastikas decorating the covers, you’d think they won the war. As they enter another tunnel that was built just in case the president ever had to flee the palace, another blast rocks the palace. As debris falls from the ceiling, Wolverine and Geist run through the room.
On the other side, they are on a metal catwalk above water. Geist points out to shake this sub-level, they have greater firepower than he expected. The complex’s filtration system is housed here. The medical center uses reprocessed seawater for most of its needs; that’s what all the tanks are for. Wolverine continues to push Geist down the catwalk. He informs Geist that he can forget the industrial tour. He then asks why a hospital would draw this kind of attack? Geist speculates that word must have leaked this wing is used for experimentation on political prisoners - just the sort of news to fire rebel idealists into action. Wolverine then asks Geist why he is so cheery about it - what does he know that he... Before he can finish, Tiger Shark leaps up and drags Wolverine into the water below.
Tiger Shark tells Wolverine that in his element, playing to his strengths, if it isn’t sport, it’ll be fun!! From the catwalk above Geist calls down to Tiger Shark that he must take Wolverine out quickly. His original target, La Bandera, can’t be very far. After he carefully leaked word about the political prisoner situation to lure the girl, he, Tiger Shark, can’t be too preoccupied to finish her.
Down in the water, Wolverine surmises that Tiger Shark will expect him to fight for the surface. He does the opposite; he goes deeper. While it puts him free of Tiger Shark, and into something else - undertow!! Hauling him like a freight train. Going to smashed or shredded. If his claws don’t do it first. Adamantium is wonder stuff. It can’t slice an undertow or get you extra air, but it can slice into the pipeline. He’s in the pipeline now, no worries but one - which ends first? Him or it??
Wolverine reaches the ocean. As he makes his way up to the surface he is grabbed by Tiger Shark and pulled back down to the deep. Wolverine realizes that getting to the surface, breathing, and warning La Bandera are not all he has to do!!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Outburst!
Pain. Trick is, you go beyond it. Put your mind somewhere else. ‘Course, there’s all kinds of pain. Some hurt worse than others. Leave deeper wounds. Like Mariko. Her father, Lord Yashida, showed her the animal in me... and laughed. But she looked deeper. And loved. Still, duty binds her, honor holds her... away. Noble. Romantic. Impossible. Doesn’t stop me. Draws me on. Like Sister Salvation. Married. First to a dictator, now to the church. Impossible. Has to end in pain.
In his own mind, Wolverine sees himself first as an animal, making its way through the snow. Until that animal happens upon Mariko. With her sword drawn, she brings it down on the animal’s head. Only thing is, it’s not Mariko, it’s Sister Salvation. Only it’s not. In reality, Wolverine is strapped to a chair, being tortured by Geist and the president of Tierra Verde, Felix Guillermo Caridad.
Caridad is impressed that Wolverine isn’t screaming. Long past the point when other men, strong men, have howled like animals, begged, whimpered, broken. He decides that he has seen enough and comes to the realization that they may have to face an unpleasant possibility, and that is he has been telling the truth. Before Caridad can leave the interrogation, Geist offers up that their interrogation subject may or may not be the legendary Wolverine. All of those mutant super heroes, the X-Men, are supposedly dead. But he obviously exhibits more than human resistance.
He adds that perhaps greater effort is required. Maybe if his hairy body were more cleanly shaven, better contact could be achieved, and along with it better results. Caridad turns to leave but, before he does, he points an angry finger at Geist and says to him that maybe someday all will be smooth, sleek cyborgs and he will forget this obsession he has for shaving. Caridad indicates that he other goals and they’ve wasted enough time. He orders their persistent friend to be returned to his cell.
Walking up the steps, Caridad mutters to himself that the dream of his life is so close. Yet whenever he is ready to seize it, another complication arises. As Caridad makes his way into the sunlight where his troops are participating in various drills, he continues to mutter. His head is killing him. The migraines that this business has given him. The price of being Felix Guillermo Caridad, the prince of power. A hard decision is needed and he did not become “strongman of Tierra Verde” by fleeing such decisions.
Before Caridad can continue, he is interrupted by his wife, Sister Salvation. Angrily, she yells at him for shutting her away like he did. He made a promise, and she betrayed Wolverine and Roughhouse to see it fulfilled. She tells him that she wants her son; she doesn’t want to languish in some jungle monuments to his army’s oppression. Felix makes an attempt to calm her down. He informs her that the norteamericanos built this training camp; they merely inherited it for supporting their policies. He then lets her know that he is not always the deceptive brute she refuses to be wife to. He finishes with the fact that their son is nearer than she knows. <>
Over on a log perched above a mud pit stand two soldiers sparring with pugel sticks. After a brief contest, one of the soldiers ends up in the mud. The one soldier who did not take a mud bath informs his president that the other soldier nearly had him. Caridad finishes his thought with the fact that the other soldier took a dive so the Sergeant didn’t look bad. He yells at the fallen soldier to get out of the mud now!! As he does so, he removes his helmet. Sister Salvation recognizes him immediately as Palo.
The soldier looks confused, he asks if he knows her. Sister Salvation runs over to him and gives him a big hug. She is exasperated. It’s been five years, five long years. Palo realizes that she is his mother. With his face in her hands, Salvation continues with her shock. She points out how grown he has become. He was just a boy when she had to leave him, and now he is nearly a man. Caridad interrupts. He is a man and he is a soldier of Tierra Verde, much like he was at his age. But unlike him, Palo has not had to claw his way up out of poverty.
Palo interjects that that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try. His ranking in this training cycle has gone from... Caridad cuts him off. Life is not training!! If Palo fought for every opportunity as he was driven to do, the Sergeant would reek of the mud pit and not his son. As he storms away, Caridad indicates that, because he is his son, he will have other ways to prove himself as he did. In the meantime, he allows Salvation to spend time with him for the afternoon, for tonight they will discuss family relationships further.
In a secluded cell somewhere on the compound, an exhausted and somewhat naked Wolverine is being strapped up against a cell wall. Geist oversees the operation and informs the guards to bolt his manacles tight to the wall so, even if he pops his claws, he still won’t be able to wield them. One of the guards informs Geist that the prisoner has been interrogated brutally and beaten exhaustively. After all that, nothing popped. Before Geist leaves, he overlooks a beaten Wolverine and wonders aloud if moments such as this are when is most dangerous. The lieutenant agrees, but only to himself. With that, they leave the prisoner in a dark cell.
After some time, Wolverine hears his name being called. He looks up to see Roughhouse, hanging upside down and chained. He, as well, is mostly naked. When Roughhouse asks him if he is still alive, Wolverine replies in the affirmative that he is. Some body parts haven’t checked in yet, but he guesses he’s okay. He notices however that Roughhouse sounds weak. He asks him if they put him through the meat-grinder as well. Roughhouse responds that they didn’t waste electricity on him; they just used sticks.
Of course, that’s the same way his dad used to beat him. It was the only way his dad said he’d ever mind. He said it would make him a man, and then he’d whack him. That’s how he got the scars on his head. Whack, whack, whack. Good old dad. Scars made him so angry and ashamed so he got bigger, stronger, and angrier. He swore he’d give the scars. He did it so well too and men like General Coy in Madripoor paid him to do it more. Wolverine replies that the world is full of users. But rage isn’t all bad. Not if you get mad enough to break them free.
Roughhouse retorts that it’s changed. Somehow when Sister Salvation cured him, the anger went away along with the madness from that tainted cocaine. Wolverine tells him to try anyway!! Strung up in that position, Roughhouse will die. If Caridad doesn’t care about his favorite guinea pig, then he’s decided the test phase is over. He must be ready to roll with that junk and he doesn’t want to know what will be unleashed. Wolverine continues, its name is Spore. A living disease created back in prehistory by a warped race called the Deviants. It took some god-like aliens, the Celestials, creators of the Deviants to put him out of business back then. Spore was blasted into ooze, absorbed into the earth. Eternal, but dormant until he found a new chance to grow and live. It was Caridad’s cocaine!! Through it, Spore can reach what he needs, human flesh, human blood. He fought with him through his healing factor when he was infected so he knows. If the shock doesn’t kill the user, that thing is free again with no Celestials to stop him!!
In a warehouse on the compound, Caridad is having a conversation with Geist. Next to him are stacks and stacks of cocaine. He informs Geist that it is the last of the Jardin del Rey harvest. He then asks if he can see the monsters in it. He continues that creating a super hero for Tierra Verde was going to save him from history. Justifying all else in the way he lived his life. Geist interjects that the story Wolverine clings to only justifies the burning of that cocaine and as the president’s adviser... He is cut off by Caridad, who orders him to prepare the cocaine for use. After all, monsters can be vanquished with a miracle on your side!!
Out in the courtyard, Sister Salvation and her son, Palo, are spending some time together.  Salvation points out that it is a beautiful sunset but she had hoped that they would talk more. So long apart, she supposes it’s awkward. Palo asks her what she wants to hear. That he is unhappy as a soldier and he does it only to please his dad? He is demanding and Palo knows that he disappoints him. But he would never abandon him, as she abandoned the both of them. Salvation responds that she only abandoned his father’s way of life, the brutality, the corruption. Never him! She would do anything not to be separated from him again. From the warehouse, Salvation and Palo are called, the president awaits!!
Inside the warehouse, Caridad greets them with open arms. He informs them that it is time for celebration. He has made an important decision and, whatever their differences, his family is together again. Caridad puts his arm around Palo and tells him that he wants to keep them together; that would please him. He asks Palo if he indeed does want to please his dad. Palo responds in the affirmative. But lately, so little seems to do it. There are always new demands, and he doesn’t make it easy. Caridad retorts that easy is for the weak. Tonight, he must be strong. Tonight, he makes his greatest demand. It involves vast danger, but it will bind their family and make him a hero. Unbeknownst to Palo, Geist fashions his mechanical hand with a gun!! P>
In the cell, Wolverine is pleading with Roughhouse. He tells him that Caridad may already be making his move and the longer they’re chained up, the weaker he will get. Roughhouse responds that he’s trying but he’s afraid. The lady healed something ugly in him and he doesn’t want to bring it back. Even if he di... Before he can finish, they hear Salvation screaming. Something snaps inside of Roughhouse and he bursts out of his shackles. The lady needs them, there’s nothing ugly in that. As he breaks Wolverine out of his chains, Wolverine responds that, from this angle, it’s strictly beautiful.
Now free, Wolverine slashes the lock on the door so they can escape into the corridor. Roughhouse informs Wolverine that they need to save Salvation, but he won’t hurt anybody in the process. That side of him is gone, along with having that living disease in him. Wolverine replies that that is fair enough. When it comes to hurting in this place, he owes them double anyway. As they open up a door, they find it to be empty. Wolverine doesn’t think that is right, there should be somebody on duty. Roughhouse picks up Wolverine’s brown and tan costume and shows it to him. They left it. He asks if it is something Wolverine will need. Wolverine retorts that it is second nature. When he comes to do business, he does it better in a business suit.
Once changed, they make their way through another door, the guards there are all out, with arrows in their backs. Wolverine reckons that, when they went out to investigate, they weren’t ready for what they found. Roughhouse notices that all of their weapons are gone. Wolverine believes that someone’s arming themselves for a major attack. Probably soon, while most of Caridad’s troops are still at evening mess. If they don’t reach Salvation before that happens, they may not reach her at all!
In the warehouse, Salvation is attacking Caridad. Caridad is doing what he can to restrain her, telling her to calm herself. He asks her why she must rewards his frankness with screams and abuse? Salvation shoots back that it is because he is obscene! He’s so obsessed, he’d inflict their child, releasing a monstrosity to grow inside him!! Palo begs for them to stop. His pleas are ignored as Caridad raises a hand against Salvation and calls her a self-righteous witch. Her healing touch can neutralize any risk and leave only the enhancements - powers worthy of a super hero. He asks if she will deny their son what she’d waste on an ailing savage! Will she deprive Tierra Verde?!?
Palo, seeing enough, gets between them. He tells them that enough is enough. He’s watched them fight and rip each other apart once. Nothing is worth seeing them go through it again, nothing!! As Palo opens up his shirt, Salvation responds that there’s no guarantee her gift will always work. Palo informs her that he wants to end this and now!! He will do whatever needs to be done. Geist pipes in that that duty is his. It will be as painless as a clean, close shave. Palo tells Geist that he needs to just do it, before he loses his nerve.
Before Geist can pull the trigger, Wolverine and Roughhouse barge into the warehouse. Wolverine shouts out that he’s never seen what that stuff does!!! Geist ignores him and shoots anyway. Wolverine is able to get between them and, using his claws, destroys all of the darts. Finished with that task, Wolverine slashes at Geist, slicing his gun hand off. Salvation rushes over to Palo. She tells him that she almost died!! If one of those darts were to hit him...
Before she can finish, Palo informs her that he just wants to stop the fighting and to not cause his mother anymore pain. Caridad informs him that it’s not his choice, not when he can use the gun as easily as Geist. With that he picks up the gun and aims it at Palo. He orders Wolverine to stop or Palo will feel the darts. Wolverine points out to Caridad that threatening his son doesn’t seem the best way to stay in his wife’s good graces and from the looks of it, he’s going to need them. Or is it possible that he doesn’t feel it yet?? Caridad looks down to see his chest area riddled with darts. He turns to Salvation for help, but she turns him down. She can only heal one person at a time and it isn’t in her to make him a priority for Palo has been hit by one of the darts.
From behind, Geist cracks Wolverine with a pipe. He notices that it is everyone for themselves. As he leaps out the hole in the wall, made by Wolverine and Roughhouse in their entrance, Geist laments that the art of surviving so many years and so many masters is the art of the well-timed exit. Once he gets outside, he is met by a huge explosion!!
Geist is in shock. Caridad’s troops are yelling at each other to fall back. They can’t fight against their own mortars and rockets. It seems the Indians infiltrated before the attack, looting their arms depots!! Geist is shocked by what he hears. The Indians?? The local tribes are too primitive and too disorganized for such an action. He wonders how it can be. As soon as he finishes his thought, another troop hits the ground in front of him with an arrow in his back. As Geist runs from the situation, he hears the reason for the attack...
VIVA LA BANDERA AND THE REVOLUTION!!!! La Bandera is leading her inspired troops. This band of men who were once political prisoners of the dictator Caridad. So too are their unlikely allies, wave after wave of the jungle’s finest warriors. And she has done it. Despite dissident views, tribal factions, she has inspired them to be an army. Even Enrique, a doubter by nature grins at the prospect of victory!! Their inspiration in turn feeds her – she draws upon it, turning it to energy and with her staff to channel it, lets it explode as a physical force. She is La Bandera. She is a mutant with the ability to inspire. And in all her young life, it has never worked more wonderfully than tonight!!
Inside the warehouse, Wolverine is telling Caridad that he needs to listen to what is going on outside. If he, Wolverine, can hear after taking that shot from Geist - he, Caridad, can too. Wolverine tells him that a little girl, whose father was a victim of Caridad’s drug traffic is about to bring everything down and the best he can do now is let them get medical help before that junk racing in his bloodstream kills him. Caridad, completely focused, retorts that not... if he’s... strong. Like Wolverine, like Roughhouse, like super hero. Pointing the dart gun at himself he rambles that he can give his country and show the world the strong man of Tierra Verde, a super hero!!!! Wolverine screams out that that’s crazy!! Before he can do anything, Caridad shoots himself full of cocaine darts. He falls back, crashing into a table. Wolverine stands over him and tells him that the trouble with mad dreams is that they come with ugly endings.
Wolverine turns to direct Roughhouse to get Salvation and Palo away from all of this so that she can help him. He has to go see if La Bandera needs. Before he can finish his sentence, a “hand” grabs hold of his shoulder. Wolverine thinks it is Caridad but, as he turns around, Caridad informs him that he should know better than that. He is turning into Spore before Wolverine’s eyes!!! He informs Wolverine that he was almost a part of him and that he can call him Spore, and now, he can consider himself a part of him!!!
Before Spore can engulf Wolverine, a shot of energy flows through him from the back. Spore is shocked, pain - so soon after he is free??? La Bandera questions Wolverine as to what this creature is. Spore notices her and heads toward her. She is but a child, a sweet child causing such pain. It can endure it for a sweet, sweet child. Wolverine shouts to La Bandera that she can’t fight it up close and that she needs to get her people out of there. La Bandera, listening to what Wolverine said, orders her followers to pull back. They need to draw it out into the open. Before they can make it out, Chubasco and Luis are grabbed by the beast. La Bandera tells them outside they can rally. She requests that they stay with her. She can keep it at a distance if... Before she can finish, her followers panic and take off running. Without them, La Bandera is powerless against the oncoming beast.
Spore asks her where her pain is. For a second there, it seemed to him like might have been an old enemy - an Eternal. But no, she is just a child whose talent fades, but still sweet! From out of nowhere, Wolverine jumps back into the fray, this time carrying a flamethrower with him. He challenges Spore that, if he wants to consume something, he’s serving it up red hot!! As he blasts away at the monster, he pushes La Bandera out of the way. He tells her that there are more flamethrowers inside if this works and if it doesn’t...
Spore calls out to Wolverine. He has felt the searing fire of the great Celestials. This cannot compare. And before his bulk, it is easily smothered. And that which is smothered can be swiftly consumed. With that last thought, he engulfs Wolverine in his mass!!!


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Heir Aid
Madripoor – a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It is the land of “whatever you want, it’ll cost you.” It is home of the treacherous, less-than brave whose prince is blind and deaf when it suits him, apt to become a player whenever he smells a profit. His, Patch’s, kinda place.
He’s been hanging out there for a while since he “died,” taking with him his real identity of Logan and the name the world knew him by, as the mutant berserker Wolverine. Usually, in these parts, he hides one eye and calls himself Patch. Hokey, but it’s enough of a cover to suit him. But tonight, he’s left Patch home, tonight’s old business. Patch is part of Madripoor’s rich and famous – a barfly who hangs out with the toughest of the tough, with a major crimelord, and sometimes even with the Prince. Tonight he’s out among the small fry and the dregs.
The neighborhood’s called Wharfside, one of the oldest, poorest, most rundown parts of the island. Once it was the richest. That’s the way it goes. But to the people who live on it, any piece of turf, no matter how small, is worth fighting for. Wharfside has its warring factions. He wonders which side sent that pair of talent who think it’s possible to sneak up on him that he just walked by. It’s not; he’s got scent and hearing like an animal’s and a few other talents. To tell you the truth, long as they keep their distance, he doesn’t care who sent those clowns or what they want.
Reaching his destination, the doorman is tentative to let the stranger in. At that moment, Mr. Morrow appears and tells his doorman, Loo, to stand aside. Once inside, Logan says to the man that it’s Morrow now? He can’t say it suits him. The name he was using back in the old days in Tehran was more his speed. Morrow informs him that he expects to be Morrow ‘till the end of his days and asks Logan by what name does he now call him. Logan tells him that he already called him, names don’t matter.
He then adds that it looks like Morrow and his men are gearing up for a war. And if he’s worried about the guys who were trailing him, he might as well let them in. He won’t be surprised. Morrow exclaims they let him see them? Inept fools. Logan says they weren’t bad, he’s just better. Morrow then asks the two men what they are waiting for and to get in there and take their places. Once they do, Morrow tells Logan not that it matters but he sent them to see that he arrived there unmolested.
Logan states that he heard a rumor it was finally coming to a showdown, him and the man Piggot, once and for all to control Wharfside. It makes him wonder just why he chose now to call on him and collect that old debt. It’s no odds to him who ruled Wharfside. Whatever he’s heard, whatever he owes him, he’s not an assassin and he’s not in the business of putting crimelords, big or little, on thrones. Morrow remarks that he’s changed so little. He’s still a murderer, still so proud and arrogant in his “principles.” But he believes the favor he deserves is not one that will tax his conscience.
Just then, Morrow calls out the name Gabriel. When he does, two attractive young ladies come down the stairs and ask that he called? Morrow tells them not for them, for Gabriel. Logan informs Morrow that he’s held this favor he owes him over his head for years, always tantalizing and never calling it in and now he wants to waste it having him baby-sit his girlfriends? Morrow informs him that the young ladies are not his girlfriends, they are the attendants of Gabriel.
Coming down the stairs, a young boy bounds down the stairs with a teddy-bear in tow and calls Morrow daddy. Shocked, Logan’s cigarette drops out of his mouth. Standing there with his son, Morrow asks Logan if it was prescience then that led him to call this task he set him babysitting. Piggot has no family, no hostages. He knows, given the chance, he and his dogs would take gross and brutal advantage of that difference in their estates. Gabriel then asks his dad if something bad is going to happen. Morrow tells him that he hopes not. If his is wrong, he asks that he be a big brave boy and always remember that his daddy loves him very much.
Logan informs Morrow that he doesn’t know how to take care of a kid. Morrow informs him that Polly and Rebecca will see to all of the boy’s physical needs and that by dawn, the matter will be settled one way or the other. His fate and the fate of Wharfside are in his own hands and the hands of God. The safety of his precious child is in his. With that, he and his small army leave the house. As they leave, Logan thinks to himself that he doesn’t like Morrow, he never has, but he’s a man he has to respect.
Later that night, Logan is sitting in Gabriel’s room. As he does, he thinks to himself that Morrow was right. The two skirts, whatever he called ‘em, got the kid all settled in bed leaving him to watch him. Sitting up in his bed, Gabriel tells Logan that he can’t sleep. Logan asks him what he wants him to do about it to which Gabriel asks if he could tell him a story. Logan informs him that he doesn’t know any stories. Thinking about, he knows that it’s not the kid’s fault. He’s six, or however old he is, and scared.
Logan then tells Gabriel that maybe he does know one story. It’s about a place called Canada, on the other side of the world. It is a vast, beautiful place with trees and lakes and mountains covered with snow and clean fresh air, and fantastic wild creatures. A place with beauties and dangers, and all the wonders of nature.
Gabriel pipes in and asks Logan what snow is. Logan tells him that snow’s like feathers, cold as ice. Falls like rain and makes all the land white. Gabriel states that he doesn’t believe in snow. Logan tells him to believe it for now, it’s part of the story.
Anyway, one day, a long time ago, in the heart of Canadian winter, the snow time, there came a young boy. The boy was alone, afraid, and thought he was going to die. He had been cast out by his people because he was small and weak, and so their leader, his father, decided that they boy was a coward and useless and the boy believed his people were right about him.
Gabriel asks if they were right, was he a coward? Logan tells him this is what this story is about. Gabriel asks if the boy has a name. Logan thinks to himself that he could call him by his name but tells Gabriel that they will just call him the boy. When you’re away from people, names don’t mean a thing. Gabriel says ok and asks what happened to him.
Logan tells him that the boy ventured into the territory of the most dangerous kind of animal in those mountains, maybe in the world – wolverines. Gabriel asks if they attacked him and killed him. Logan replies that the boy expected them to. Wolverine’s are small animals but they can hunt down and kill things a lot bigger than them and that boy had stumbled into a whole pack of them, at the hardest, hungriest time of year. Gabriel tells Logan that he won’t like this story if the boy in it dies. Logan states that he wouldn’t have liked it much himself. And he doesn’t know for sure why things went the way they did.
The animals were so savage and dangerous that white men called them “injun devils” and the Indians had even less flattering names for them. They were capable of bringing down a full-grown reindeer on the hoof. So, what could one lost, lonely kid do to defend himself, especially a weak, little coward? As the boy cried in the snow, the pack of wolverines came up to him and befriended him.
Why did they adopt him? He doesn’t know, maybe it was that he was young and helpless. Maybe they were just more decent than the people who reared him. Maybe that was the day God was lookin’ out for weak little cowards. Or maybe those wolverines could sense what the boy would become. Over the years, sharing their life, the boy grew happy and strong. He learned that he was resistant to the weather and to time, his body could heal virtually any wound or sickness. He learned that his senses were as keen as theirs and they showed him how to hunt and live. The boy even saved them from the traps set out to capture them. It was the best life can be until human beings came back into the boy’s life.
Gabriel asks if they were from the boy’s family. Logan tells him no, they were strangers, fur trappers from one of Canada’s biggest cities. They came in the winter because winter is when the wild animals wear their finest pelts and, time and again, the men found their catches mangled and eaten by the wolverines, the fur ruined, and surrounded by some very odd-looking paw prints. The boy and his pack were worried and uneasy about the coming of the men and the men were worried about the wolverines and they decided to do something about it.
Eventually, the trappers caught the boy in a net and put him in a wooden cage. The boy was like a wild animal himself, strong and fierce but they were men, three against one. By morning, the boy was all packaged for a return to the human race and placed into a wooden cage.
Gabriel asks if the men were going to take the boy back to his family. Logan replies that they didn’t care if he had a family or not. They just thought they could get rich, selling the wild boy to a circus or a freak show. But the boy was part of the wolverine’s family by then and the animals wouldn’t let him go without a fight. As the men begin to take the boy away, the wolverine’s attacked them. After a couple of the wolverines got shot by the men, the boy freed himself and attacked the men. Once the men were defeated, there was joy, such as they knew, for the boy and the wolverines. And the pack wasn’t hungry for most of that winter, because wolverines eat carrion and the boy had given them plenty of that.
Gabriel proceeds to ask Logan what carrion is. Logan tells him nothing and to forget he said that. Gabriel asks that the boy wasn’t a coward anymore? Logan replies maybe he never was. Gabriel says but he was little, weak and afraid. Logan tells him that when you’re a runt, there’s plenty to be afraid of. All you can do is the best you can with the size you are and the guts you’ve got.
As Gabriel looks at him, Logan hears someone on the other side of the house on the same floor who thinks he can’t be heard and expects it to be kept that way. Logan then gets up and tells Gabriel that he has to check on something and to stay there and be quiet. If anything scares him, sing out an’ he’ll be back.
Once out in the hallway, Logan hopes that it isn’t one of Piggot’s boys come to call. Passing by Polly and Rebecca’s room, he tells them to keep the door closed and not to make any noise. Nearing where the perpetrator is, Logan realizes this isn’t good. He can smell machine oil and gunpowder. The sucker’s packing. Entering the room, Logan pops his claws and kills the man before he can do any damage. After taking the man out, Logan hears Gabriel’s voice and heads off in that direction.
As he rushes back down the hallway, he thinks to himself that Morrow was right; Piggot’s decided to bring the fight back there. Reaching the boy’s room, Logan finds him being held by two captors. Logan proceeds to leap at them and takes them out. Cradling the boy, Logan comforts him and tells him that he’s safe now ‘cause he thinks his dad’s home.
Downstairs, Morrow and his men rush into the house. Morrow knows that the vermin will be right behind them and that they have to make their last stand. When one of the man asks what their chances are, Morrow tells him that they may not see the dawn. After Piggot’s men take out more of Morrow’s men, Morrow tells his men to try and hold Piggot’s forces back. He orders them to give their men whatever covering fire you can manage and to save as many as they can.
Upstairs, Logan is with Gabriel, Polly and Rebecca. He tells them that he has to get downstairs and help Morrow and his men and that they need to come with him or they will be sitting ducks. As one of Piggot’s men rushes towards them with a sword, Logan thinks to himself that he meant what he said before about staying neutral and he’d have stuck by it if Piggot hadn’t sent assassins to do in two women and a kid and if he didn’t seem intent on slaughtering Morrow in his own home.
After taking out the assassin with his claws, Logan heads downstairs to see Morrow and his men against Piggot’s men in a massive brawl. Once Logan sees Piggot telling his men to hold Morrow there at gunpoint, Logan leaps the railing and joins the brawl. Logan is able to take out a few of Piggot’s men but realizes that he’ll never get clear in time to help him from Piggot’s sword. Seeing this, Gabriel runs down the steps, grabs a cart and proceeds to slam it into the back of Piggot, knocking him down. Piggot yells out for someone to kill the little maggot. When one of his men go to do just that, he is killed by Logan’s claws.
Later, when Piggot’s gone home and a stalemate ends in sight, the local police show up. Surprise, surprise. They take a lot of statements but make no arrests. He, Logan, doesn’t care whether Morrow wins it or Piggot or they go on like before. As of now, his debt to Morrow is cleared. But whatever the near future holds, when the next generation rolls around, he knows who he wants running this end of town.


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Memory of Peace
Six days ago in Japan, at the home of Bando Saburo, a plain-clothed Wolverine is standing in front of a bunch of dead men, when he is approached by some local thugs. They wonder who this stranger is - or better yet what is he? One of the thugs doesn’t really care who he is. All he knows is that this stranger has picked the wrong place and the wrong time and that it’s his funeral.
Wolverine, unimpressed, informs the group of thugs that they are all dead men. Who he is… is Wolverine. He’s a mutant. And the people who lived in the house of Bando were his friends. One of the thugs runs toward Wolverine with knife in hand. Expressionless, Wolverine takes him out with an uppercut slice. As he holds the dead man by the collar, he asks who will be next.
Undeterred, the rest of the gang of thugs rushes at Wolverine. He begins to take them out, one by one with claw strikes until he is shot by one of the other thugs in the back. He turns around to approach him when he is shot in the forehead, knocking him down! The thug, nervous, points out that, whatever this stranger is, he couldn’t survive a bullet to the head. Thing is, like Wolverine’s claws, most of his bones are man-made of a metal called adamantium. Adamantium is impenetrable. The bullet didn’t go into his head. The thug learns that the hard way and that is the last lesson he will ever learn.
Located in Asia is the island of Madripoor. It is a jewel of the Pacific. Also one of its cesspools. Madripoor is one of the great melting pots of the world, a place for the very rich and the very poor. A place for scum, for folks like Wolverine. In Madripoor, people only know as much about him as he cares to tell them. Certainly not the truth. Not that he was once a Canadian citizen named Logan, a one-time heroic adventurer, long since presumed dead. Not that he has the senses - and the nature - of an animal. Nor that his body can heal virtually any wound or illness. In Madripoor, he goes by the name of “Patch.” Tonight, Patch is playing high-stakes poker with Gene Claymore, one of the cleanest, toughest, and most well-to-do of the island’s former scum.
Sitting across the table from Patch, Claymore informs him that he is impressed by him. He has heard about his reputation as a card-player for quite some time, and he was wondering what it would take for him to finally agree to play him. Patch, holding the ace, two and three of clubs, along with the three of diamonds, and the three of hearts, responds that he never plays with anyone unless the prize is something he is really after. Claymore responds that, if he would have known that he was waiting for an opportunity to see his art collection, he would have invited Patch up there long ago. Patch replies that if he would have invited him, he wouldn’t have come. It took something important - and personal - to make him invite himself. With that, he glances at a beautiful red bowl sitting on Claymore’s shelf.
Many years ago at the home of Bando, before he had his adamantium bones and claws, before he was Wolverine, he was known as Logan. His spirit was sick and weary, and he went to his friend seeking peace. Sitting on the floor across from each other, Bando tells Logan that it was good that he could come. Logan responds that he appreciates the welcome. Bando informs him that he is grateful that Logan thought of his home when he needed rest – for sometimes, when serenity is elusive, it is still possible to find it in a garden. Logan retorts or in the company of a friend.
It all seems so very far away now, when Logan aspired to things, to spiritual ideas and abstractions, whose meanings he’s long since lost along the way.
Bando asks Logan if he would like a cup of tea and begins to make him a some. In the process of making the tea, Bando scoops some stuff from a red bowl. He also apologizes for his lack of skill. Logan asks if he can see the bowl. It is beautiful. Beautiful beyond anything he ever imagined. Bando replies that Logan has a very keen eye. That bowl is the treasure of the House of Bando. It is beyond price. It was made many centuries ago, by a master, for an ancestor of his who had a true talent for the making of tea, far beyond any poor skill of his.
Once, long ago, Logan found beauty in the delicacy of a porcelain glaze and serenity at the bottom of a bowl of tea.
When he finishes his glass of tea, Logan notices that he is not Bando’s only guest. Bando replies that Weston, the son his wife’s younger sister is here with his servant. He can only hope that Weston may find peace here as well. His father was an American - a poor man - and it worries his nephew excessively. He has yet to learn that it is not a man’s ancestry, nor his worldly goods that matter but his nature, and the things that he does. Bando continues that since he and his wife are childless, he has made Weston his heir, and he is his aunt’s joy.
Back in present day, Patch and Claymore are continuing their card game. Patch is impressed by Claymore - he is a good loser. The night is getting longer all the time and, so far, the luck has all been with Patch. Claymore asks Patch if he ever gets any complaints about how much he wins. Patch replies - not from anyone who’s still living. He then informs Claymore that he’s getting kind of bored. He asks him if he would like to up the stakes, to triple what they have been. Claymore seems uneasy about it but, before he can respond, Patch cuts him off and tells him that he can get even faster that way unless he plans on continuing to lose.
Over to the side, Wolverine notices Claymore’s bodyguards and that he has them well trained. In some places, the hired help would have gone after him after a remark like that. The thing is, he’s not cheating but there’s no way Claymore is going to win.
Six days ago, in the home of Bando, the air was filled with the smell of death and there were bodies all over the place. He couldn’t smell or hear a sign of any living thing in the garden or in the house. He rushed into the house to find Bando and his wife - both dead!! In a house where he once found peace, there was only death, and Wolverine was distraught. After grieving, he sifted the scents in the garden, in the house, and on the wind and learned that there had been other men there, with the killers, who had left before he arrived. He swore that he would track them down, pay them for that nights work, and learn the reasons for it. Fact is, he could have saved himself a lot of work and many delays, except that, in his grief, he forgot about the treasure of the House of Bando.
The same treasure that is now on Bando’s shelf. Wolverine admires Claymore’s guts. They’ve tripled the stakes twice and doubled them once and he hasn’t tried to weasel or call a halt yet. He knows that he’s going crazy, wondering how he is doing this. Wolverine couldn’t do it, not without Claymore’s help. Claymore has a great poker face but, every time the cards look wrong, he shifts a little in his chair and he starts to sweat. Wolverine can hear him squirm and he can smell his sweat and at that time he knows that it’s time to lay a big bet. Besides, it’s not cheating to use the senses nature gave him - is it?? Claymore’s doing the same and Wolverine even put a patch over one perfectly good eye!!
Ultimately, Patch informs Claymore that he sees his bet and now he wants to see what Claymore has in his hand. Claymore lays down an 8-Queen straight, off-suit. He seems confident in his hand until Patch lays down three 3’s and two 5’s - a full house!! Claymore indicates to Patch that that last bet represented everything he has in the world!! Patch stands up and points out that the word he needs to use is “had.” The thing is, he gas no interest in Claymore or his money, or his empire. All he needed was to place him in his debt.
Claymore asks what he means by that. Wolverine responds that the way he sees it, he can take everything Claymore owns or he can walk out of there with only two things he wanted and they’ll call it square. The choice is Claymores. Claymore asks him what he wants. Wolverine wants the bowl and the name and address of the man he got it from. Claymore curses him. Wolverine, undeterred, stands in front of the window and holds his ground. Claymore decides he is in a no-win situation and gives him the name. Weston. Masaki Weston. Wolverine responds that it figures. Also to not worry about giving him the address - he already knows it. He also informs Claymore that whoever told him that he was a gambler was full of it.
Claymore angrily rushes Wolverine, who sidesteps him and trips him. Claymore flies through the window to his ultimate death on the street below!! As he flies out the window, Wolverine glibly wishes him happy landings. Claymore’s bodyguards draw their guns and point them at Wolverine. Wolverine tells them that, as long as he can leave with what he came for, he has no quarry with any of them. He also reminds them that, before they try any stunts that will send them out the window, the second their boss touched bottom, all of them went off the payroll. The bodyguards let him pass and leave. As he does, Wolverine is pleased. He thought they would see it his way.
As Wolverine drives through the streets of Madripoor, he thinks to himself. He was pretty sure of what he would hear from Claymore, so he’d already checked out Weston’s address. It is on the south side of Madripoor, outside the limits of the main city. Like he said before, this place always draws the scum. When he reaches the house, and goes up to the door, he discovers that one of Claymore’s guards must have phoned ahead and warned Weston, because it looks like he knew that Wolverine was coming. Bando was right about his nephew, being obsessed with material things and his heritage. He has made all the preparations for Seppuku - a traditional Japanese ritual suicide - right down to having his servant there to assist him into death.
When Wolverine enters the room, Weston recognizes him as Logan. He also notices that he is Patch - he should have known. He’s been expecting him. Logan responds that is obvious. He guesses that Weston thinks dying will be easier than facing him. He’d offer to help him, but he doesn’t think Weston will really go through with it. He doesn’t have the guts! Weston replies that this is part of his heritage, which he loves. Logan points out that his aunt and uncle loved him and he killed them for money and power. As Logan holds up the bowl, he indicates that Weston ended a dozen lives for this - this piece of his precious heritage - and then he sold it, all because he heard Claymore was in the market. He then asks Weston if it was worth it.
Weston recognizes the bowl as the treasure of his house. He asks Logan if he can see it; hold it for just a moment. Logan gets down on the floor with him and lets him hold the bowl. Why not - it’s his funeral. Weston holds it up to his face and declares it to be magnificent! Logan points out that it’s just a bowl and that he killed his entire family and all of their servants for a stupid piece of pottery. There was never any need to. The reason Logan went to his uncle’s house is because he wrote him a letter.
Logan pulls out a stack of letters that Bando wrote him. He informs Weston that Bando had cancer of the stomach and that he was dying. Three weeks from now, a month at most, and the bowl would have been his anyway!! It must have really been an embarrassed Bando having a relative who is such a fool!!
At that very moment, Weston’s servant attempts to bring down the sword onto the back of Logan’s neck. He is able to roll out of the way at the last second and stabs the servant in the stomach with his claws, killing him. Weston grabs a knife and charges Logan. He is met by Logan’s claws who admits that he was wrong about just one thing - Weston did have guts after all. Now they are spilled on the floor!! Even though Weston was able to connect with the knife into Logan’s neck it’s not that big of a deal. Nothing his healing factor can’t handle. It still hurts though. So does knowing that Bando died, senselessly, for nothing more than a piece of China. So much death - so much waste. And for what? For this bowl? For nothing?
Logan picks up the bowl and goes to throw it through the window. Once, he knew why this bowl had value but his spirit took the wrong turning and now it’s just a bowl. He ultimately decides not to throw it through the window because it was Bando’s treasure.
In Japan, Logan goes to visit the grave of Bando Saburo and his wife. As he puts the bowl, flowers and a cigar on the grave, he thinks to himself that he doesn’t know if Bando believed in an afterlife, so he doesn’t know if he will ever see him again. However, he gave him a memory of peace and beauty that he will carry with him as he walks the road to hell.


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R<strike>D</strike>econstruction
Deep under Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, New York, Storm, Jubilee, Wolverine and Forge are standing on a platform, overlooking the form of Elsie Dee, who is strapped down on a table. As they observe her, Forge informs Wolverine that it was totally crazy to bring the construct right into the underground mansion. Replying that he never made any big claims about his sanity, Wolverine informs Forge that her name is Elsie Dee. Forge responds that it is an android. Extremely sophisticated and life-like and certain aspects of its composition are alarming to the max. He continues that the cute little automation is a walking bomb. Every square inch that isn’t computer, battery, or motor is plastic explosive.
As they look over a diagram of Elsie Dee’s construction, Forge adds that she has a tubular skeleton – packed with plastic explosives. Battery casing, motor housings and circuit boards – she’s molded out of the stuff. All of it tamper-proofed and triple booby-trapped. A chemical analysis says the stuff is C-13. Five times the bang per ounce as C-4. The clincher is that the firing sequence hasn’t been cancelled; it’s only been put on “hold.” It might not take much to jog that firing sequence back onto “detonate.” A freak electrical storm, sunspots – proximity to mutant energy resources, then it’s Xin loi Charlie. Instant Karma, white light city. Wolverine tells him that they already know all of that. What they want to know is how to get the explosives out of her.
As he says that, Jubilee pipes in that she’s not that cute. Forge indicates to Wolverine that she…it can’t be disarmed. The explosives are integral to h… it. Adding that that thing down there was made to blow up, he asks Wolverine what makes him think that it still won’t do that. Pierce built it and that doppelganger of his to terminate his sorry butt. Wolverine responds that she’s different and that the fake Wolverine got himself trashed by the Venice cops.
In a prison in Venice – California, not Italy – a guard is leading some federal agents through the halls. One of the agents asks him if he kept it in an ordinary cell. The guard tells him that they did not – you just have to go through the zoo to get to it. He then asks them what the beef is anyway. If the federal types want special treatment for their property, they should have taken it with them.
As they pass a cell that contains Jocko, Sally, Reno and Molokai, Jocko asks them if they are going to get their phone call. Sally pipes in and asks what is this… Russia? – they have rights. Their pleas are ignored as the agents inform the guard that they aren’t set up for storage. The guard tells him that they’re not set up for it either. That’s why they had to stash it in the property room. One of the agents is shocked and asks him if he locked it up all weekend right along with all the confiscated electronics, weapons and bulletproof vests. As the guard goes to open the door he informs him that the morgue wouldn’t take it. Besides, what was it going to do – fix itself?
Once the guard opens up the door, Albert indicates to him that’s *bzt* exactly what he’s been doing. The guard and agents look in horror as they see Albert sitting their, put back together. Albert thanks them for leaving him alone with all of this stuff. He’s been improving himself every *bzt* which way. He even gave himself a Blaupunkt. Now he can *bzt* go save Elsie Dee. One of the agents calls out to the others that it’s reactivated itself and orders them to take it down. Though they unload their guns into Albert, it has no effect. Albert informs them that handy stuff this Kevlar *bzt*. He then cuts himself free from the cords that were fixing him.
Outside the storage room, Sally notices all of the guards running down the hall. He asks them what is going on with all of the shooting. Jocko adds that they look scared. A few moments later, a form comes lumbering down the hall. Reno says that it looks like the Frankinsense Monster. Jocko agrees but points out that he looks familiar. Then it hits him. He calls out to Albert and asks him if that is he, with all of the stitches on his face. Albert stops in his tracks and goes to slice the cell door open. Jocko pleads with him to not do them bad for they were pals. He then asks him if he remembers. Albert replies that he remembers *bzt*. He then tells them to go. *bzt* Go wherever they want. He’s going *bzt* to Palmdale. As he lumbers off, Jocko asks what the heck is in Palmdale. Sally informs him nothing – just the Northrop plant.
Three thousand miles away in Westchester County, New York, Wolverine, Forge, Jubilee and Elsie Dee are in a diner getting something to eat. The waitress repeats the order. One pot roast plate, one California health salad, one burger deluxe and one “nothing for me, thanks.” She adds that, as good looking as her daddy is, she can’t be letting the kid sip elsewhere purchased beverages on the premises, if they catch her drift. Wolverine informs her that Elsie Dee isn’t drinking a beverage; it’s Mobil motor oil. Elsie Dee adds that she’s not his kid either; she’s his date.
With that, Jubilee hops up from her seat and grabs Elsie by the collar. She then informs her that she’s no date, she’s an appliance. The waitress informs Wolverine that he may want to muzzle the other kid. Wolverine then tells Jubilee to behave. When they have finished their meal, Forge recommends that they go downtown and knock some balls together. As they leave, they miss the television report that says, “Venice police have issued an all points bulletin.”
In Palmdale, Albert uses his claws to slice through a fence. One of the guards notices and informs the other guard that something is busting through the electrified fence. As the guards call in the alarm, they begin to shoot at Albert. He ignores the shots and says that he knows *bzt* she can’t hear him yet Elsie Dee, but he’s coming for her. They don’t know he has a radio *bzt* linkage and that he still can access security computers. He knows she’s in New York and *bzt* he knows how he can get across country without being detected – by *bzt* stealth. He enters into a hangar that houses a Stealth aircraft. He adds that he knows how to *bzt* save Elsie Dee from her own program. All he has to do is *bzt* kill Wolverine!
In a pool hall located south of Westchester in the Bronx, Elsie Dee is shooting pool. She tells the guys that she’s playing against that she’s cawwing six in the side, combo off the tway. Looking on, Forge mentions to Jubilee that if she makes this shot it will be her fifth straight rack. Unamused, Jubilee informs him that she can count. Within seconds, Elsie Dee makes the shot with ease. Wolverine then informs the guys they’re playing against to pay up. One of the guys says to him that she’s a mutant right? Wolverine tells him that she isn’t, but he is. The guy then asks what her power is – ugliness? Wolverine retorts that he should talk and calls him cone head.
As this is going on, Elsie Dee yawns and walks away from the table. As she walks away, Forge asks Jubilee why she doesn’t shoot a rack of “Chicago” with her. Jubilee yells at him that it’s a thing. He then tells him to not start anthropho… anthromopho… making it like it’s a human. As they continue to argue, Elsie Dee walks over towards a soda machine. She says that it looks pwomising. With little effort, she pushes the soda machine out of the way and finds a gwounded outwet. She points out that figuwing out twajectowies dwains her battewies wike cwazy. She then plugs her finger into the outlet. When she does, the pool hall goes completely dark. Some of the patrons opines that a fuse blew and that the rats must have been gnawing on the wiring again.
Forge indicates to Wolverine that he thinks that was Elsie Dee. Wolverine calls out to her asking if she is okay. Elsie tells him that when she pwugged herself in, the wiwing system of the whole building became a giant weceiving antenna. She picked up a message fwom Albert – he’s awive! Wolverine asks if that is his android clone. Elsie grabs him by the arm and leads him outside. She tells him that they have to go where the weception is stwonger. With that, they hop on a motorcycle and head off. As they do, Jubilee is beside herself with rage. Forge mentions to her that it looks like she got him to herself after all. Jubilee yells out that she hopes her batteries leak. Forge asks “her?” Jubilee screams It, It, It!
In Palmdale, California, a soldier is on the phone, informing his commander that it’s been stolen. He adds that the security guys said whoever did it was wearing really ugly armor flew it right out of there more than two hours ago. He indicates that this was the special model. Ultra black, banks of computers, commo gear and electronic counter measures. This one is so stealthy; they can’t even track it. It gets worse. This one is twice as fast as the old ones.
Over the skyline of Chicago, Albert is riding on top of the stealth plane, plugged into the top of it. He calls out to the non-present Elsie Dee to hang on. *bzt* He’s coming for her. He tells her he’s been *bzt* improving himself. He’s all *bzt* wired into a real powerful transmitter and now he can calculate all sorts of things he never knew existed like terminal trajectories and target bias.
In Manhattan, Wolverine and Elsie Dee are traveling through the streets on a motorcycle. Wolverine asks Elsie if that’s where she wants to go. Elsie informs him that’s wight. Wadio weception should be excewwent up there. Wolverine agrees that radio reception at the top of the World Trade Center couldn’t be any better.
In the pool hall, Jubilee is shooting pool. As she does, she tells Forge that it’s not like she’s jealous of that little sawed off talking toaster or anything but… She is cut off by Forge, who tells her to just shoot. In the background, a television report says that they have a special news update on that spectacular jailbreak in Venice. Earlier today, Pentagon sources announced that a Stealth bomber prototype has been stolen. Upon hearing that, Forge tells Jubilee to listen up. The report continues that from a security hangar in Palmdale, and that the hijacker bore a resemblance to they mysterious escapee. What may have been the stealth was spotted over Chicago less than an hour ago. It then asks if it’s headed to New York. If it is – why? Jubilee tells Forge that, if that’s Albert, the fake Wolverine, they know the answer to that question. She adds that they need to let Wolverine know. Forge asks where they would go for a stronger signal.
Perched on top of the World Trade Center, Elsie Dee receives an incoming message from Albert. When he asks if she *bzt* is on a high enough place so she can hear him clearly, Elsie responds as cwear as a bell. Albert asks if the *bzt* mutant is with her. Elsie again replies yes and that they’re on top of the World Twade Center, wooking straight west. Looking out into the night sky, Wolverine mentions to Elsie that there is some thunderstorm brewing over New Jersey. He adds that her pal, Albert, must have one heck off a transmitter to get through all that interference all the way from Venice. He asks if he is bouncing off of satellites or what. Elsie asks Albert if he is using a communications satewwite. Albert replies that *bzt* he is using a satellite. The navigational computer on the plane informs Albert that they are right over Elizabeth, New Jersey. It adds that the ETA (estimated time of arrival) at the target is 296 seconds and closing. They will be approaching the target from due west. Albert tells Elsie to look due east, to where *bzt* the sky is clear. From there she can see the satellite *bzt* moving.
Ten thousand feet above Elizabeth, New Jersey, a squad of fighter planes have been sent out to deal with the rogue stealth. One of the pilots informs the others that visibility is dropping to zero and radar shows zip. He adds that this is some bogus mission they drew, hunting for a stolen Stealth Bomber in the dark. One of the other pilots agrees and adds that it could be right below them and they wouldn’t know it. The final pilot pipes in that their only chance of finding that Stealth would be if somebody on it turned on its radar. The first pilot laughs and says there is a fat chance of that happening. That would be akin to lighting a match in a dark basement when you know Skin-Face is lurking behind the furnace with his chainsaw.
On top of the World Trade Center, Elsie Dee asks “Wogan” if they can go see the satewwite. Wolverine tells her that they can but then asks Elsie how did Albert know that they sky was clear in the east. In the distance, closing fast, is the Stealth with Albert aboard.
On a car in the streets of New York, Forge mentions to Jubilee that he thinks they made for one of the big skyscrapers. Empire State, Citicorp, Four Freedoms, World Trade… He is cut of by Jubilee, who tells him they have to lose this traffic. She instructs him to cut over to the Eastside highway. Forge responds that Logan has been set up, that he is walking straight into an ambush. Jubilee informs him that it’s not that easy to sneak up on him – she should know. Forge agrees but asks how Albert is going to sneak up on them in a bomber coming out of the open sky, it doesn’t figure. Jubilee replies that’s easy, he’ll just get them to look the other way.
On top of the World Trade Center, Wolverine and Elsie Dee are looking out into the night sky. Elsie asks him if what they see is the satewwite. Wolverine tells her that it is not, that’s a 747 in a holding pattern over JFK.
As the bomber approaches its target, Albert notices that Wolverine is standing too close to Elsie Dee. Immediately, he knows that this is going to be too tight to judge visually. He orders the attack computer to activate FLIR and SFPA. He wants a target solution accurate to .05 mm. The computer informs him that the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Staring Focal-Plane Array (SFPA) are insufficiently precise for .05 mm margin of error - the parameters are obtainable only through pulse Doppler radar and microwave ranging. Albert orders it to activate all radar systems and patch into attack program. The computer activates the systems as requested but warns Albert that the radar systems are non-passive and that the stealth factors are severely degraded. Albert asks the computer who cares; just give him a target lock-on.
Once Albert locks on to his target, the stealth bomber is spotted by the three planes that have been looking for it. One of the pilots indicates to the others that the radar source just lit up like a searchlight. He asks the others if they have a directional fix. The answer he gets is yes – they’re heading for the World Trade Center.
Just then, Albert reaches where Wolverine and Elsie Dee are standing. He yells out to Elsie to duck. He then proceeds to slam the Stealth Bomber into the back of Wolverine. As the bomber continues on its path, Elsie yells out to them not to weave her there. She then grabs a hold of one of the wings and tells Albert that this is weally not wight.
Down in the streets of New York, Jubilee points out the bomber to Forge and tells him that it just buzzed the World Trade Center. Forge orders her to keep an eye on it.
On the bomber, Wolverine punches his way through the windshield and enters the cockpit. When Albert says to him that he should *bzt* be dead, Wolverine replies that was nothing, he gets body-slammed by giant aircraft every alternate Tuesday. He then challenges Albert to step in out of the breeze and fight him like a machine. Albert tells him that he may be a *bzt* construct but he feels things. He fears the *bzt* ending of his existence. He hates *bzt* Wolverine for being bio-chemically alive, when his consciousness is nothing but circuits and data banks.
Wolverine asks him if fear and hate is all he does or if he loves anything. Albert tells him that he loves *bzt* Elsie Dee. He adds that this is all *bzt* for her. Elsie can’t be *bzt* free of her program *bzt* until he, Wolverine, is dead. As he enters the cockpit Albert says that he *bzt* felt something else as he flew across the *bzt* country – a profound exultation, a cataclysmic ecstasy. He was free *bzt* like a bird. That’s what he wants for *bzt* Elsie. He had to *bzt* trick her into bringing him to a high place, but now *bzt* he can make her free too.
He is cut off by Elsie, who tells Albert that he is a dummy and that he wuined evewything. Albert tells Elsie that he’s not a *bzt* dummy anymore and that everything *bzt* is going to be better from now on. With that, he takes a slice at Wolverine, connecting. Wolverine commends Albert on the move and asks him if he’s been practicing. As Albert connects with another shot through Wolverine’s shoulder, he tells him that it has been more than *bzt* that. He’s been *bzt* reborn in many ways. He is *bzt* stronger and faster and *bzt* bulletproof. Wolverine finally connects with a claw to Albert’s stomach and tells him that he sure isn’t claw-proof.
Before they can continue to tear each other apart, Elsie steps between them and tells them to thtop it. She tells Albert that he is a dummy. He was fwee and that she don’t need to be wescued. She put her pwogwam on hold. Albert stops in his tracks and asks her if that means he doesn’t have to *bzt* kill the mutant for her. He can just *bzt* fly off like a *bzt* bird. Elsie tells him that is wight, fwee like a bird. Albert asks about Logan. Wolverine informs him that he has no bone to pick with him and, whatever the Feds have against him, is their get out. He’s been cut up before, and what he dished out was chump change compared to what a real slicer and dicer like Deathstrike could serve up. He tells Albert to set them down somewheres and they’re even – deal? Albert asks him if it is *bzt* a deal. Yes, yes, yes, *bzt* yes!! He climbs out to the roof of the bomber and holds his hands up. Three thousand miles *bzt* across the night sky he thought *bzt* he was riding to his doom, yet he was like the wind. Now he is fr…
Before he can finish his sentence, the fighter planes that have been following the bomber open up fire on them. One of the pilots informs the others that they are too close to the city to use missiles. They need to get up close and use the Vulcan cannon. Inside the cockpit, Wolverine and Elsie are taking on gunfire. As the fighter pilots continue to shoot at the bomber, they wonder what that thing is on top of the plane – a hood ornament. One of the pilots informs the others that it’s the hijacker and that he’s bailing out. One of the other pilots tell them to hose him down with 20 mike. As he continues to get shot at, Albert calls out to Elsie Dee and tells her that they’re *bzt* going down and for her to get out and save *bzt* herself.
Down on the streets, Jubilee points out to Forge that they shot down the bomber and that its going to crash in the East river. Up in the air, the fighter pilots continue their assault on the bomber. They decide that, once the bomber is low over the water, they’re going to light off a sidewinder on it. Inside the cockpit of the plane, Elsie drags Wolverine and straps him into the ejection seat. Wolverine informs her that there is only seat left. The other one is shot full of holes, just like him. On top of the plane, Albert apologizes to Elsie. He tells her that he failed *bzt* her and he failed himself. He is *bzt* so sorry. Elsie tells him that he’s a dummy. At weast he got to fwy. As the bomber nears the water, one of the fighter pilots releases a heat-seeker missile that cripples the bomber even further. As it catches fire and crashes into the water, the fighter pilots head home.
On the dock, Forge and Jubilee exit their vehicle. Jubilee asks Forge if he saw Wolverine jump clear. Forge tells her that there was too much smoke and debris and that he may still be on board. When Jubilee asks if even Wolverine could survive all of that, Forge replies that, if anybody could, it would be the old canucklehead. As he jumps into the river, he asks Jubilee if she is with him. Jubilee replies that she is, all the way.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Down in the Bottoms
Yeah, I’m a mutant and I heal up real fast. But the hurting, that’s something else again. Most times when I have that fighting rage, it’s like ten thousand volts of alternating current was zapping straight through my central nervous system. Sometimes, when I get a hurting even my mutant healing factor has to think twice about, it’s like a big black curtain falling down on me. The last time I remember, I was trading claw slashes with Albert the Franken-clone in a Stealth Bomber, when we got jumped by F-16’s and got shot full of 20 mm cannon holes. The East River was coming up on at us way too fast and that’s when the continuity goes fuzzy. Somehow, I don’t think ol’ Albert made it.
He wanted to be free. He wanted to fly but that’s not what Pierce built him for. Pierce built Albert and lil’ Elsie Dee to take yours truly, the ol’ canucklehead, on a one-way trip to Deadville. Lucky for me, Elsie changed her mind. I got a vague recollection of her strapping me into the ejection seat. Maybe she got the both of us out in time. That would be nice. That means I’m really off somewhere starting to heal up instead of displacing silt on the riverbed and feeding the flounders.
In the East River, Jubilee and Forge are swimming towards the wrecked Stealth Bomber that at one time carried Albert, Wolverine and Elsie Dee. When they reach it, Forge kicks in the window to find Albert, motionless. As they continue their search they notice the ejection handle has been pulled. Unable to find any sign of Wolverine or Elsie they make their way up to the surface. When they reach the surface, Forge informs Jubilee that there was no sign of any other bodies down there and that one ejection seat is gone – that’s a good sign. Jubilee asks what that means that it’s a good sign. Wolvie is still missing. Before Forge can respond, they are met by a police boat that pulls them in.
One of the cops says to them that was a mighty brave rescue attempt they made, but he doesn’t think anything human could have survived that crash. Jubilee quips back that who said they were looking for anything human. Forge warns her to cool it. Once they are on the boat, the cop points out that she’s raving and that shock will do that to you. Forge agrees and says let her babble. Jubilee tells Forge to stuff it and adds that that little toaster Elsie Dee led Wolvie right into a trap, she just knows it. She is told by the boat pilot to calm down, for they will be back at the dock in no time. Jubilee tells him that they can’t go to the dock and quit now. They have to keep searching.
One of the cops leans down and takes Jubilee’s hands and tells her that they can’t do that. They have the mother of all storms roaring into town right now and if they don’t snub up to the dock right quick, they’re floundering. He can’ risk his crew for… for… He is cut off by Jubilee, who finishes, “For someone he figures is already dead?” Forge attempts to calm her down and tells her that the ejection seat being gone means that Wolverine got out of the Stealth Bomber before it crashed. If he did, he had a good chance… He is cut off by Jubilee, who asks him if he’s giving up. Forge replies that he isn’t.
I must be tore up real bad. The ol’ mutant healing factor has kicked into overdrive and cut my consciousness out o’ the information chain. The thinking part of me is still tickin’ away, but the feelin’ part o’ me: the wrigglin’ the toes and fingers part has gone fishin’. Trouble with being’ cut off from sensory input is that the ol’ imagination takes over. Subconscious stuff boils to the surface. Forgotten stuff. Repressed stuff. Dreams. Nightmares.
As Elsie Dee drags Wolverine through the water, she calls out for help. The wiver is wising and there’s no way up fwom the wiverbank. When she reaches the South Street Outlet, she pulls the bars apart on a sewer grate and tells an unconscious Wogan that he can’t die on her. She tells him that he and Albert were her onwy fwiends and now Albert is dead. She continues to drag him through the water until she is able to find some dry land in the sewer. Once they are there, she says to him that he hasn’t moved for a wong time. When she feels his chest she finds no heartbeat and no bweathing. She knows that she can’t get him started again by herself and that she has to get real help. She also has to find her way out of there. She has to get somebody to jump-start Wogan before his memowy cwashes. As she runs off to find help, she tells Wogan that she doesn’t want to weave him all alone, but there’s no other way.
No sooner does Elsie leave than do Wolverine’s eyes open wide. He hears the sounds of ripping and snapping off in the distance. As he does, he thinks to himself that his past and future are meeting like a train wreck. Fantasy and reality are doing the Spanish fandango on top of his skull. As he staggers through the sewer he wonders, if he makes his way to a bathroom mirror and opens his eyes, whose face will he see? In his pain, in his need, whose name will he call out? Just then, the name Silver Fox escapes his lips. As he continues to stagger through the sewer, he thinks to himself that it’s his birthday. It was going to be so sweet. They were going to celebrate together, they were going to… As he thinks back, he calls out in pain that he was only gone for a little while. His mind wanders back to the day when he carried a dead Silver Fox through the snow. Still now, he wonders who, how, whyyyyy. Why is she dead, and he is still alive??
In another section of the sewer, Elsie continues to search for help. As she reaches another grate, she pulls the bars open and steps through. She notices a bunch of “awwigators.” She also notices that they’re dead, their thwoats wipped out by cwaws. As she steps through the grate, she steps on Sabretooth and announces to herself that there sure are a wot of things with cwaws around there. She thought Albert and Wogan were the only ones with cwaws. When she leaves, Sabretooth says to himself cw, cwaws? Claws? He then says Wogan? Wo.. No. Lo… Logan!!
As Wolverine continues to drudge through, he thinks to himself that it wasn’t no bear that did this to Silver Fox; it was a man. It had to be. A man with less heart in him than the lowliest beast. A man who enjoyed the hurting. A man who got off on the killing. Whoever he is, he wants him. He’s his!!!
On the streets of New York, Jubilee points out to Forge that the storm isn’t letting up – it’s getting worse. She then tells him to get off the phone and for them to get back to the river. Forge tells her to relax and to be careful. If she gets sucked down one of the storm drains, she’ll be taking the flume ride of her life all the way back to the river she’s in such a hurry to get to. Jubilee shoots back that at least she’ll be doing something to find Wolvie. Forge retorts that that is what he is doing; he is calling in all of his markers. To this, Jubilee asks him, “Who?”
Deep inside the sewer tunnels, the Morlocks flock towards Masque, begging him to save them. They tell him that Morlock alley is flooding. Masque tells them that of course he’s going to save them. He says to them that they didn’t think he’d stand by and let his pretty little darlings drown, did they? He then points out to two of the big, strong, strapping good-looking ones to come with him into the pipe room. Once they enter, he tells them to turn four of the valves. He adds that they have to redirect all the water away from them and that they have to redirect the flow from all the storm drains. He orders them to redirect it all to the South Street Outlet.
As Wolverine continues to stagger through the sewer, he calls out to Sabretooth that he killed her! Upon hearing that, Sabretooth pulls himself up and tells him that she was an uppity squaw and that she said no. He then tells him that it’s good to hear his voice. It stirs up all them warm feelings inside him. Warm, like freshly spilled guts.
(flashback)Wolverine’s mind goes back to another time when he confronted Sabretooth about Silver Fox’s death. Back to when Sabretooth told him that he killed her and then asked him what of it, birthday boy. He then told him that he saved him a slice of birthday cake. As Sabretooth took a taste of it, he told Wolverine that it was mighty sweet and tasty, just like… He was cut off by Wolverine who tells him that it ends when one of them is dead. One of the ladies present at the bar tries to step in between them and says to Logan that she was just an Indian and Sabretooth is his... his… Wolverine asks what he is to him. He then asks Sabretooth what he is to him.
(present)In the sewers, Sabretooth leaps at Wolverine. As he does, he tells him that he’s his ever loving daddy dearest. Upon hearing the news, Wolverine calls out NOOOO! As Sabretooth slashes Wolverine, he tells him that he has to learn to have some respect for his old man. Wolverine responds that he doesn’t believe him. Why would his own father kill his girl? Why would he try to kill him? Sabretooth continues to slash away at Wolverine. As he does, he tells him that he just doesn’t understand what makes him tick, does he? He adds that nothing in the world makes him happier than to see him in pain. He then challenges him to get down to some serious ripping and tearing.
In another section of the sewers, Elsie Dee is continuing her search to find someone to help out Logan. As she walks, she hears the howls from the battle behind her. Looking behind her she calls out that she pwomises that she’ll come back with help as soon as she can. Not paying attention, she runs into somebody and responds that there wasn’t a brick wall there a second ago. When she looks up she points out to the man she ran into that he’s not a bwick wall. The man responds that there are some who might argue with that – he’s called Cable.
Continuing, Cable informs her that he heard there was a nasty piece of work alive down there who he thought was dead. He adds that it wouldn’t do for a nice little girl like her to run into him, especially when the whole tunnel system is due to get flooded out. He tells her that he better get her top-side right quick. Elsie protests and grabs a hold of Cable’s hand. She tells him that they can’t. He has to come with her and help her fwiend. He’s hurt weal bad. Suddenly realizing it, Cable points out that she’s a construct and asks her if her friend is and android too. Elsie answers that he’s not, he’s a weal person and his name is Wogan. Cable looks at her and says oh yeah?
In the midst of their battle, Wolverine says to Sabretooth that he heard he got his back broke by Caliban. Sabretooth replies that he’s a fast healer, it’s in the blood. Wolverine starts to reply that he’s not convinced until both he and Sabretooth are stopped dead in their tracks. They look to see a stampede of vermin. Alligators, and rats scurrying past them in a hurry. Once they pass, Wolverine asks what that was all about. It looked like they were all running from something. Having already guessed the anwer, Sabretooth tells him that here it comes. Just then, a rush of water descends upon both of them.
In the pipe room, Masque orders his two followers to turn more of the valves and to redirect everything to the South Street Outlet. He adds for them to shunt all of the water overflow down through the causeway to grate 23.
Even as they are overcome by the water’s current, Wolverine and Sabretooth continue their fight. Wolverine thinks to himself that the animal part of him just wants to tear him apart for he killed his Silver Fox. He wants to rip apart everything in his life that is good. Then there’s the reasoning part of him that manages to get a word in every now and then like “live to fight another day.” It’s that part of him that spots the side tunnel as they tumble by. Sabre’s too intent on ripping his jugular to notice it. His tough luck. Wolverine is able to grab a hold of the wall and pull himself out of the water. As he does, he wants Sabretooth to get swept down the drain and drown. At this point, he doesn’t care if he didn’t tear the life out of him with his own hands – dead is dead. At that moment, Sabretooth grabs onto his leg and informs him that his business with him isn’t finished by a long shot.
On the other side of the wall, Cable says to Elsie Dee that it sounds like a lot of water moving real fast. He adds that it sounds like it’s just on the other side of the wall.
Inside the side tunnel, Sabretooth dares Wolverine to let the berserker go and to claw his heart out, son. Wolverine responds that he’s not his son. Sabretooth tells him that blood will tell. He then asks him if the door to get out of there was locked. He points out that he’s stuck in there with him and that the water is rising too.
Back in the pipe room, one of the Morlocks informs Masque that there’s too much debris in the tunnels and that the conduits to the South Street Outlet will clog. Masque replies that they can’t have that happen, can they? He then gives out the order to lower all of the grates.
When he does, the grate closes behind Sabretooth and Wolverine. Sabretooth notices and tells Wolverine that they just got the back door slammed on them and that they’re now dead men. He then asks him why would he lie to him now and informs him that he needs to accept. Wolverine tries unsuccessfully to slice the metal door open and tells Sabretooth that he isn’t accepting anything but his offer to fight, “So let’s do it.”
On the other side of the door, Cable tells to Elsie Dee that there’s a familiar ripping and tearing sound. He then asks Elsie is she supposes that their mutual friend, Mr. Logan, is behind that door, does she. Elsie points to the lock on the door and tells Cable to shoot the “wock” off before it’s too late.
Out on the dock, Forge and Jubilee look out into the East River. Jubilee says to Forge that he’s out there somewhere. She knows it. Forge informs her that it’s been too long and even Wolverine couldn’t… Jubilee cuts him off and tells him that he’s alive. She can feel it. He got out of that bomber and he’s just crawled off somewhere to lick his wounds. Forge puts his arm around Jubilee and tells her that they have to go and meet that friend of his. As they leave, Jubilee asks Forge if he thinks Wolverine is still under the river. Forge replies that she was down there with him and the only body in that bomber was that Wolverine android.
Deep in the river, the lifeless body of Albert is floating at the bottom of the river, still plugged into the bomber. By chance, a fish swims by him and comes in contact with him… and is immediately electrocuted. When it does, Albert awakens and calls out for Elsie Dee.