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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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We got Cylla, can Mothra be far behind?
As Wolverine continues his fight against Cylla, he thinks to himself that this was supposed to be a piece o’ cake. Hop over to Tokyo, bail Jubilee out o’ jail and ship his bike home. No problem, right? Wrong. He gets ambushed by a cyborg who sent herself to him air-freight and stiffed him for import duty.
As he prepares himself for another onslaught from Cylla, he tells her to back off. He ain’t partial to slicin’ on ladies. Cylla sarcastically replies that isn’t he the gentleman. She then adds that maybe there isn’t enough original organic tissue left in her to qualify for that distinction. As she continues to slice away, Wolverine tells her that he said he wasn’t partial but he didn’t say he wasn’t willin’. Cylla tells him so much for the pleasant chit chat; it’s time to get down to some serious slash and bash. With that she connects with a slice to Wolverine, knocking him backwards.
As he is falling backwards, Wolverine asks her what her problem is, he doesn’t even know who her. He adds that she should owe Pierce for hot-roddin’ her up into a super-toaster. Cylla responds that he just doesn’t get it. Flesh and blood don’t need a reason to be alive. Machines are put together for a purpose. Ain’t no rapture more ecstatic than a machine/intelligence interface fulfilling its intended purpose. As Wolverine begins to rev up a chainsaw he asks her if she gets her jollies by killin’. He then tells her that she has to be one sick puppy. With that, he tosses the chainsaw at her and tells her to take that under the porch and play with it. Cylla is able to easily knock it away with one of her spikes. She says to Wolverine that if this were a cheap melodrama, she’d be telling him right now that she was “through playing with him” but the truth is, the fun’s just begun.
Up on the roof, the police begin to flee the police station. One of the cops calls out to the others that it is their sworn duty as policemen to protect helpless citizens. One of the cops informs him that Sunfire has the power to project solar fire, he is hardly helpless. He adds that the tall gaijin is no citizen. Another points out that if mutants, foreigners, and ninja assassins from the Hand insist on killing each other in their police station, more power to them.
Inside the police station, Gambit and Sunfire continue their defense against the oncoming hordes of ninjas from the Hand. As they do, Sunfire tells Gambit that he is insulted. They are not the objectives of the ninjas. They mean to get past them and to slay Wolverine. Gambit replies c’est vrai and adds that they spit on his “honneur.” He tells Sunfire to pay them back with some of that power he’s heard about. Sunfire tells him that he dares not. His plasma conversion beam would pierce the walls and endanger innocent civilians. Gambit replies “dommage collateral,” it is a matter of direction, non? He then excuses himself while he charges up a high straight and clears a patch o’ floor space for him. Sunfire replies wakarimashita (I understand). He realizes that he should create a trench deep enough to fling ninjas into.
Outside the police station, Tsurayaba Matsuo asks one of his ninjas inside what is taking so long. They only need to chop off one head. He asks didn’t he buy off enough policemen? One of the ninjas inside tells him that they ran into unexpected interference, so Matsuo orders him to show him. The ninja informs him to look at monitor feed #3 so he can see the tall gaijin and the mutant ronin. As Matsuo watches the monitor, he replies that he know the X-Man Gambit was there, but what business is this of Sunfire’s? He adds that mutants are so clannish. Matsuo then witnesses Sunfire using his power to create a large trench in the ground. Once he does, many of the ninjas fall into it.
Inside the police evidence room, Cylla tells Wolverine to come on. She says that adamantium may be the hardest stuff around but what about the little guy that’s wrapped around it? Wolverine tells her that he isn’t wrapped, he’s bonded and then charges and tackles her. As he picks up Cylla and slams her into the bars on the windows, Cylla calls out yessss, she knew he had a killer rage inside. She tells him to let it out, let it out. “Let’s rock and roll.”
Down on the street, Matsuo hears debris fall on the roof of his car. When he looks out the window, he sees Cylla and Wolverine doing battle. He immediately informs his ninjas that he knows where Wolverine is. He is in one of the back rooms. He orders his ninjas to get back there and harvest his head. The head ninja tells him that it shall be done. He informs his brothers that their Jonin waxes impatient for his prize. One of the ninjas tells one of his cohorts that Matsuo wants to make a teacup from the gaijin’s skull. That ninja replies then he will have it.
The first ninja says that, if you ask him, a teacup for a right hand is a bad trade. The second ninja tells him that if Matsuo heard that, he’d have his liver. The first ninja asks him if he’s going to report him. The second ninja tells him no and then orders him to follow him. With that, they each attach tiny hooks onto their wrists and begin to scale the wall. As he follows his “brother” the first ninja asks him if they are going to get above Gambit and Sunfire and drop down on top of them with their claws. The second ninja tells him not to be absurd. They are going to sneak past them across the ceiling and get their Jonin’s teacup.
In the evidence room, Cylla fights back with a kick to Wolverine’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. As she does, she tells him this is what her existence is all about. Every ounce of her that ain’t devoted to fighting is just there to get her to fight. As she pounces towards him, she tells him that just plain old killings don’t do it for her. She needs the challenge of an opponent with chops and heart. She needs a run for her money. She needs combat with an edge. Wolverine tells her that he know what she needs, but is cut off by Cylla, who lands with both feet on the back of his head, smashing his face into the ground. Cylla tells him to shut up. Shut up and get up. She adds that he still has a mess o’ fight left in him and she aims to get it all.
Inside the police station, Gambit points out to Sunfire that the ninjas are creeping past them ‘cross the ceiling. He adds “worse than cafards, non?” Sunfire tells him that what they call gokiburi, cock-roaches. Annoying, disgusting creatures but easily swatted. With that he unleashes his fire power towards the heavens above. Outside, Matsuo feels what he believes to be an earthquake but is informed that it is the adventurer Sunfire. His energy beam is piercing the sky. When it does, Gambit asks Sunfire if he knows what an interior load-bearing cantilever beam is. Sunfire tells him yes. It is used to create open spaces without pillars like the central booking room they are in.
When Sunfire asks why, Gambit informs him that he just burned right through it and that the whole police station is coming down on them. Sunfire ushers him to go towards the doorway. Gambit asks him if they are gonna outrun a fallin’ building. Sunfire tells him no, they are going to seek refuge in its structural strength. As the building begins to collapse, Matsuo says that, if he would have known this simple surgical strike was going to escalate to this level, he would have had the place blown up in the first place. He then orders his driver to get him out of there.
Amidst the rubble, Cylla asks Wolverine that they’re not going to let a little ol’ earthquake shut down their little rumpus, are they? She tells him to pop his claws so that can get down to… She is cut off by Gambit, who says “business?” As he and Sunfire stand before Cylla, he asks p’raps she’d like to deal them in for this hand, or is it a closed game. Sunfire adds that Wolverine looks hard-pressed. He asks him if he would like him to melt away some of her weaponry. Cylla, annoyed, leaps away and tells them that she will be back. Once she has left, Sunfire says that there’s nowhere for one like her to hide in Tokyo. Gambit adds that they can chase her down and… Wolverine tells them to forget about her. They came to find Jubilee. He asks if she disappeared into the woodwork, or what?
In another part of Tokyo, Jubilee and Yukio enter a building. When Jubilee asks her if this is her house, Yukio tells her that she has a room there and that they can hide out until they figure out exactly what is going on. She has heard that the Hand was looking for a free-lancer to put a hit on an American juvenile and she thought that she should look into it. She adds that an adventurer has to keep her eyes open Jubilation. To this, Jubilee tells her that everybody calls her Jubilee.
When they enter the room, Jubilee gasps and mentions that it is kinda cozy. Yukio tells her that she hates dissemblers and that the place is a dump and Jubilee knows it. She adds that adventuring doesn’t pay much in Japan. As she lounges on the floor and pours herself a drink, she asks Jubilee what her problem is, does she have a crush on Logan? Jubilee angrily asks what her problem is. She says that she bets that her and him used to be a thing but he’s not with her now, is he? Yukio takes a sip of her drink, looks at Jubilee, and recommends that they talk about something else.
Just then, some cop cars drive by the room they are in. Upon seeing them, Jubilee asks if she always has that many cop-cars speeding through her ‘hood. Yukio tells her that they are heading for Ropongi and that something big must be happening there. Jubilee exclaims that Ropongi police station was where Wolvie was supposed to pick her up. Yukio mentions that they better get down there and opens up a locker full of kitanas, num-chucks, throwing stars, and various other weapons. She asks Jubilee if she needs anything. Jubilee flicks her fingers together and tells her that she is already packin’.
At the Tokyo docks, aboard a ship Reiko tells Kojiro, a large gentleman that she checked him out through her sources and knows that he’s not connected to Hand. She knows that he’s a freelancer like her. She asks him if he can fix it so she can stow away on the ship. She needs to slip out of Japan unnoticed. Kojiro replies that it depends. How angry did she make the Hand?
Reiko tells him that she was supposed to kill an American-born Chinese girl for them. It turned out she is a friend of someone she is indebted to. She had to renege on the contract. Kojiro asks her if Matsuo offered her her eyes back. Reiko admits that he did and asks how… Kojiro tells her that he has his sources too and adds that she isn’t long for this world. He then tells her that she wants his money up front. Reiko unwraps a towel and tells him that this is all she has. Her mother’s pearls, some jade… Kojiro flings them away and calls them worthless trinkets. He asks her if she has any Yen, Swiss Francs, or Kruger-Rands. Reiko tells him that she has nothing. Kojiro replies that is too bad. If she had enough cash, he would have let her slide but times are tough and business is business.
As he opens the backdoor to a van, he tells them that she is all theirs. Reiko says to him that she thought he wasn’t connected to the Hand. Kojiro tells her that he’s not, but Hydra is a different story. With that, six Hydra agents pour out of the van and tell Reiko to come along quietly, they don’t want to hurt her. As Reiko pulls her sword out of its sheath, she tells them that they’re going to change their minds about that real soon. She is able to fend off the Hydra agents and is able to stab one of them in the stomach. The leader of Hydra tells them that she wants her alive but to be careful. Her sword is coated with blowfish toxin.
One of the agents that was stabbed calls out for the antidote but the leader tells him that there is none. She adds that if the dosage isn’t sufficient for instantaneous death, expiration can be prolonged and excruciating. Kojiro tells her that he will take care of this but that it will cost her extra. As he flings his chain with two spiked balls on the end, he says that he was just contracted for delivery, not for gift-wrapping. In short time, he has Reiko tied up, and defenseless. With Reiko secured he tells the leader that they also may have warned him about the blowfish toxin. The leader tells him to consider it a test that he passed. The leader tells Reiko to look at her and asks if she is late of the Dai-Kumo clan in Osaka. Reiko asks who wants to know? The leader replies Zora de Plata, Silver Fox to her. She has need of a poisoner of her skill. She adds that Hydra will be ever so grateful and who else but Hydra could help her evade the Hand.
In Ropongi, Jubilee and Yukio view the destruction of the police station from a nearby alley. Jubilee mentions that she guesses that, when they have a jail-break over there, they really mean it. Yukio tells her that Wolverine didn’t do this and that there were others there with extensive powers. Jubilee asks what side were the on and where Wolvie went off to.
On the other side of the alley, Yukio notices a limo pull up and tells Jubilee to get back into the shadows. Once the limo pulls up, ninjas descend upon it. One of the ninjas informs Matsuo that the two gaijin departed with Sunfire and that they were not in accord. Matsuo replies that, without the aid of Sunfire or the government, they will be forced to go to others for aid in finding the brat. He asks if they disposed of the brat. The ninja tells him that there were complications. From the shadows, Yukio tells Jubilee that she thinks that they better keep tabs on Matsuo.
On the streets of Tokyo, Wolverine rides his motorcycle while Gambit drives the car with the top ripped off of it. Sunfire flies above and tells them to stop. He tells them that they can’t just come barging into his country, destroy government property and blithely ride off into the night. Wolverine tells him to just watch him and Gambit adds that they didn’t start it. Sunfire abruptly lands in front of them, forcing them both to slam on their brakes. He tells them that somebody has to take responsibility. Wolverine gets off his bike, gets in Sunfire’s face and tells him that he’s the one who unleashed mega-bolts and trashed the place. He then asks him who asked for his help in the first place? Sunfire looks at him and then takes off. As he does, he tells them that they will settle this later. Once he leaves, Gambit asks Wolverine where they go now. Wolverine tells him that they need to go talk to somebody who has juice in this town.
At the home of Clan Yashida, Mariko Yashida is giving a presentation. She asks the gentleman around the table if they think that that the Yashida clan has so much power, that the Hand can’t push them around? She asks what is mere political influence against sheer ruthlessness and immense wealth? One of the men answer that the politicians who owe them favors have too much honor to betray them. Mariko tells him that politics and honor are mutually exclusive terms. She adds that they can’t just ignore the Hand. They have to come to terms with them or they will swallow them whole.
One of the men asks is she is suggesting making a deal with the Hand. Mariko replies no but is cut off. A man emerges from a hole in the floor and says that Mariko lies and that is exactly what this false oyabun suggests. Mariko recognizes him as the Silver Samurai and asks him how he got inside. Samurai tells her that Shingen was his father too and even though he denied him his birthright, he did bequeath him a few secrets. He tells her that he has come to save the Yashidas from the Hand. Name him clan leader and it shall be run as it should be, by a man. Mariko tells him that she is not buckling under the Hand. She is simply trying to fulfill her promise to divest the clan of underworld holdings. Samurai asks a promise to whom?
As Mariko looks away from him, Wolverine tells him that is a personal question. Shocked, Mariko turns to see Logan, Gambit, and one of her bodyguards standing there. Wolverine asks her if the creep is giving her a hassle. If he is, he’s gonna have to take his sword away from him and spank him with it. Samurai approaches Wolverine with his sword and says to him that he dare defame his invincible black blade? Wolverine pops his claws and tells him that that snickersnee can cut through everything except adamantium and for him not to forget that. Mariko stands between them and tells them both to stop. She will not allow the two of them to shed each others blood in her house. Just then, all present are informed that the Hand has them surrounded.
Outside the palace, Matsuo is flanked by a number of ninjas from the Hand. One of the ninjas tells him that they are sending in an envoy with his ultimatum. He asks if there is any personal message he would like to include. Matsuo tells him to tell Mariko that he know her will has been snapped by her stupid promise to the gaijin and that she might as well come crawling out with the nape of her neck extended for the beheading cut.
From behind a bush outside the palace, Jubilee mentions to Yukio that that is some palatial digs. She asks who lives there, Mr. Sony? Yukio says to her doesn’t she know, this is the home of Logan’s true love. Jubilee, shocked, asks his what???


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Death in the Family!
In Tokyo, at the Yashida mansion compound, Wolverine, Silver Samurai and Gambit face off against a horde of ninjas from the Hand. As they do, Samurai asks Wolverine why Matsuo is sending his Hand ninjas to assault Mariko’s home – they were in the midst of negotiations. Wolverine tells him that you can say that he has “a hand” in it. Gambit asks if that is to say that Matsuo has an itch where his fingers used to be. Wolverine replies that it’s an itch that don’t go away.
Nearby, Mariko, brandishing a sword, tells them that Matsuo may have a personal score to settle with Logan but he also wants the Yashida Clan underworld connections intact for the Hand. Wolverine asks her if that is something she doesn’t want to hand over, is it? Mariko replies that not while she can still hold the honor sword of the Yashida Clan.
Gambit points out that there are too many ninjas and that they must force their way out, but Mariko tells him no, they need to fall back, inside the mansion. Gambit says that there will be no room to maneuver and that they will be trapped. Mariko informs him that a Yashida can’t be trapped in a house built by Shingen. Gambit asks “pourqoi?” Wolverine says why, ‘cause Shingen was a master of many a fiendish weapon but his house was the deadliest. As Samurai, Mariko, Wolverine, and Gambit enter into the house, a trap door of spikes flies up and kills some of the ninjas.
Outside the mansion in a car, Tsurayaba Matsuo tells his driver that this is taking too long. He can’t keep the authorities at bay much longer and who knows how long it will take to winkle the lot of them out at the weasel warren. Just then, Silver Fox answers him that it will be longer than he has, unless he changes his tactics and use cunning instead of brute force. Matsuo recognizes that someone has approached his limousine and asks who. Silver Fox informs him that it is just another arm of the many-tentacled Hydra. Aboard a Hydra vessel, holding Reiko captive, Fox tells Matsuo that she believes the sightless waif is one of his.
Hiding in the bushes, Jubilee informs Yukio that the blind girls name is Reiko and that Matsuo sicced her on her and she let her go ‘cause she knew Wolvy. Yukio tells her then she would want her to keep going and try to get to him. She recommends that they take to the rooftops.
Inside the compound, Gambit notices that there are razor blades imbedded in the walls of a maze. He tells Wolverine that he is not so impressed. One jus’ has to be careful. Wolverine replies that bein’ careful part ain’t so easy after they turn out the lights and let loose the starvin’ dogs. In time, they eventually reach the core of the mansion, Shingen’s impregnable citadel. She then tells Samurai and Gambit to excuse them, for she and Logan have important matters to discuss in the privacy of the chapel. As they enter, Samurai confesses to Gambit that he doesn’t like this. Gambit simply replies that’s why they doin’ it.
Inside the chapel, Mariko asks Wolverine if he has returned to shame her. After all this time, she has not yet succeeded in divesting the Yashida Clan of its underworld holdings. She tells him that she is dishonored. Wolverine tells her no dishonor, things happen is all. Mariko tells him that she is very close to accomplishing her task – to cleanse her clan so that she may be worthy. She adds that it is so complicated. There are so many families within the clan and she is responsible for their well-being. As she talks, she pulls a uniform out of a box. Wolverine tells her that she knows what that is she’s unpackin’ and that he hasn’t seen that set o’ colors in a while. He tells her that he gave ‘em up. Mariko holds up the brown and tan costume and tells him that perhaps it is fitting for him to wear them again to serve the honor of Clan Yashida.
Outside, Matsuo extends his hand out the window of his limo and tells Silver Fox to bring him that traitorous poisoner so that he may throttle her personally. Just then, Kojiro wraps his chain around his hand and tells him not so fast. He doesn’t get to choke the merchandise until he pays for it. Just then, Matsuo releases his right hand and it wraps itself around Kojiro’s neck, choking him. As it does, Matsuo tells him that she already owns her. Silver Fox tells him that, while it is true that the girl is his to kill, she is also the means to his ends. She asks if they can talk. Matsuo tells her that he doesn’t deal with nameless entities. Silver Fox gives him her name.
On a rooftop, Yukio directs Jubilee’s attention to a building located inside the complex. She tells her that is where Wolverine probably is. Deep within the trap-riddled labyrinth known as Shingen’s citadel. It is just across the street. Jubilee replies, Great, what are they going to do, fly? Yukio tells her no, they are going to slide down the power line above. As they do, Jubilee asks her if she is sure this is safe. Yukio tells her just not to ground herself. Jubilee sarcastically asks why she would do that, she likes going out.
Yukio then tells her to be quiet, Matsuo’s limo is below them. Jubilee says and she is without a brick. As they land on the roof, she asks Yukio what now and asks if this is the right roof. Yukio tells her that it is, but there’s somebody or something up there with them.
Inside the compound, the Silver Samurai addresses the men of the Yashida Clan and asks them if they have no shame that they allow themselves to be led by a woman. He asks if she has ever proven her honor. Has she ever cut off a finger in atonement for her complicity in the death of Shingen? He adds that she was even betrothed to Shingen’s killer. He tells them that he has agreed to this embarrassment long enough. Having heard enough, Gambit steps in and tells him to lay off; the man isn’t even there to defend himself from his slurs. Wolverine, in his brown and tan costume, tells him that he is now. At that moment, one of the guards calls out that the silent alarms have been triggered. The Hand has entered the mansion. He adds that the sensors indicate that it is but a single intruder, someone small – like a girl.
Inside the maze, Reiko deftly makes her way through without being cut. Outside the compound, with Kojiro standing guard, Matsuo says to Silver Fox that he understands Reiko blooding her sword for them to buy her eyes back but isn’t she under obligation to Wolverine? As they drink champagne, Fox tells him that she doesn’t know about his relationship to Mariko. Matsuo tips his glass to her and tells her that she has let her hatred run amok like a pack of starving dogs. Inside the maze, Reiko is attacked by two dogs, which she kills easily. She then senses that something else is out there, something strong, but alien, up on the roof.
Up on the roof, Jubilee points out a figure perched on an adjacent building to Yukio. Yukio tells her that she can’t see with the dark and the heavy rain. Jubilee answers no prob, she will just pop some light on the situation and… As she uses her fireworks power, she notices that the figure took off “on warp nine.” She adds that, whatever it is, it’s not stalking Wolvy. He’s got enough to worry about right now. Yukio turns and tells Jubilee that it’s behind them. She asks who or what is that. Cylla tells her that she will tell her what she is. She’s the last thing she’ll see in this life. Especially since they’re pals o’ Wolverine.
As Cylla leaps towards Jubilee, Yukio pulls her out of the way at the last second. Jubilee thanks Yukio but Yukio tells her to get herself together; they’re not out of this yet. When Cylla lands with her spikes, she knocks a hole through the roof of the compound. Cylla is able to hold on and calls down to Wolverine below to look who she has up there. She invites him to come on up an’ watch while she minces them. Down below, Wolverine notices that the maniac cyborg Cylla has Jube and Yukio. Gambit tells him that he best get up there. Wolverine tells him that they don’t know what’s coming’ through the maze and that he can’t leave Mariko. Gambit tells him that he will look after her and to go save the girls on the roof. He adds that he will give him a boost.
Hearing this, an incredulous Wolverine asks, “A boost? Fifty feet worth?” Gambit kneels down and clasps his fingers together. As Wolverine steps into his hands, Gambit tells him that anybody else give him a boost, he ain’t got the power. When he unleashes his power, that of exploding cards, Wolverine is propelled into the air. He asks Gambit if he’s sendin’ him up like a big game of’ 52-pickup. He adds that it’s Jake with the ol’ canucklehead, as long as he’s got all the aces. As he crashes through the ceiling and lands on the roof, he tells Cylla heads up. She wanted a fight, now she has it in spades!
Down below, inside the compound Reiko appears from the maze much to the surprise of Silver Samurai, and Gambit. Samurai asks this is the intruder who safely traversed Shingen’s maze? Gambit quips c’est une jeune fille dangereux. Reiko bows before them and offers them salutations from Tsurayaba Matsuo of the Hand. She introduces herself as Reiko, a free agent, formerly of the Dai-Kumo group in Osaka. She is empowered to make a proposition. Matsuo offers to buy out Yashida Clan underworld holdings at fair-market value and he will dissolve those holdings so that Mariko will not be profiting from vice…
She stops mid-sentence and asks what the commotion is above them. Mariko tells her that is none of her concern. She adds that what she is offering is generous. It allows her to fulfill her vow to divest without financially ruining the families of her clan. She asks what Matsuo wants in return. Reiko tells her that he wants her to make atonement in the manner of the Yakuza; he wants one of her fingers. With that, Reiko pulls her blade out of her pocket.
On the roof, Cylla and Wolverine continue their battle while Jubilee and Yukio look on. Cylla tells Wolverine that it’s too bad he’s so prompt. She was fixing to enjoy slicing and dicing his little pals. Wolverine asks her that she really likes bein’ a sick puppy, doesn’t she? Cylla replies that it ain’t sick to do what you’re made for. Pierce gave her state-of-the-art cyborg weapons systems. She can track him in the dark from his infrared signature and her targeting suite is… She is cut off by Wolverine who tells her that he heard this rap the last time. Truth is, if she was truly the masterpiece of all that fancy hardware, she wouldn’t be needin’ to use it all the time. Just then, Cylla connects with a spike to Wolverine’s gut.
Down below, some more of the ceiling falls to the ground. Gambit calls up to Wolverine that this is barbaric and for him to come down and stop them. Reiko asks who he is speaking to up there. Silver Samurai tells her that she was told that it is none of her concern. He then approaches Reiko and takes the blade out of her hands. He asks if this is the blade that Matsuo offers for the finger-cutting. Reiko tells him that it is a Muramasa tanto, a worthy blade. Samurai asks her how do they know it isn’t poisoned and if Matsuo takes them for fools. Reiko takes the blade back and tells him that is besides the point. As she places her hand on a table, she drives the blade through it. She asks if she would do that with sullied steel. Once done, she tells Mariko Oyabun that it is her turn.
Up above, Cylla continues her assault on Wolverine and tells him that, if she were inclined to use chess metaphors, she’d say that he was in check. His back is to the rain-gutter and he has no room to maneuver. Wolverine tells her that she has a face full o’ ugly and a mouth full o’ “I’m gonna getcha.” Howsabout gettin’ down with the ol’ claws? He tells her let’s go Cylla and turn on that electronic targeting system she’s been braggin’ on. Cylla tells him that he’s already been sighted. As she sets the target on Wolverine, Jubilee unleashes her firework power and ruins her targeting system. She tells Yukio that she will keep frying her vision receptors while she hauls in Wolverine. Cylla tells her that she doesn’t need to see him to…
At that moment, she misses Wolverine and flies off the roof. As she does, Jubilee tells her to watch out for that first step… it’s a killer! At the last second, Cylla is able to grasp a hold of the rain gutter. Wolverine tells her that there’s a lil’ devil sittin’ on his shoulder, shoutin’, go ahead and kick her in the face. Watch her fall down and go boom. Cylla tells him to try it and she’ll bite it off. She adds that deep inside, he’s weak, that he ain’t got the guts to do her in cold blood. That’s why she’s gonna win.
Below, Mariko pulls the blade out of Reiko’s hand. She tells her that she is correct, it is time for Mariko Yashida to make things right for all those who have put their trust in her. Inside the limo, Matsuo mentions to Silver Fox that he sees that Wolverine has been distracted from the main event with the poisoned blade. Fox tells him yes, she arranged for that. As Mariko kneels down to cut her finger off, Gambit implores Silver Samurai that he can’t let her… Samurai stops him and tells him that she must do this.
Inside the limo, Matsuo asks Fox if he is missing something. Won’t they demand that the blade be tested on Reiko first? Fox informs him that Reiko has been gradually ingesting minutely larger doses of the toxin for years, she is quite immune. Inside the compound, Mariko uses the blade to cut her finger off. Once the blade touches her skin, she cries out in pain that it burns like white fire running up her veins. Silver Samurai exclaims blowfish toxin, but how?
On the roof, Wolverine recognizes the scream as Mariko’s. Yukio tells him to go to her. She and Jubilee will deal with the cyborg. As Wolverine lands inside the compound, he calls out to Mariko. She tells him, Logan, to take her into the chapel. Once Reiko hears the name “Logan,” she asks what has she done. Inside the limo, Matsuo asks Silver Fox how she was planning on extracting Reiko from the scenario. Fox tells him that problem is solving itself right about now. At that moment, Reiko grabs Silver Samurai’s blade and jams it through her own stomach. As she does, she asks if there is no peace other than the long darkness?
As Wolverine holds Mariko in his arms, she tells him that she is poisoned. Wolverine tells her that they need to get her to a hospital and get the antidote. Mariko tells him there is none and to just t-take her to the chapel. Once there, Mariko tells him that it is a horrible enough death, it should not be a public spectacle. She asks Wolverine to hold her. She tells him that she must ask of him one final boon. She has fulfilled her vow, she has divested the clan, even if the Hand delved in the treachery, she has upheld her end, she would have been free to marry him. She adds that aren’t they married in their hearts? Have they not paid a dowry in blood and pain and loneliness?
As she begins to cry, she asks him isn’t the most sacred vow the one they carry in the core of their souls? The tears begin to flow from Wolverine’s eyes as he asks her what she is askin’ him. Mariko tells him to spare her the final agonies, release her soul while it still sings with her love for him. She tells him to use his claws. Wolverine, in shock, tells her that he can’t.
On the roof, Cylla tells Jubilee and Yukio that she doesn’t need her vision receptors to finish of the likes of them. She’s got her audio-detection-finders, infrared detectors and pulse-doppler radar. She’s gonna… She is cut off by Jubilee who asks Yukio what she is doing. The little throwing dirk she just tossed isn’t even going to mess her mousse. Yukio informs her that she is trying to cut the power line they slid across the street on. She adds that the steady stream of water coursing over Cylla and down to the courtyard is going to ground her out.
As she says that, the power line touches Cylla and shocks her. When it does, she lets go of the storm drain and lands on the ground below. As she limps away, Jubilee asks that all of that didn’t put her down for the count? Yukio responds that it probably blew all her surge-protectors and that she’s limping away on reserve power.
Inside the compound, Gambit and Silver Samurai hear the distinctive sounds of Wolverine’s claws popping. The next image they witness is Wolverine emerging from the chapel, carrying the lifeless body of Mariko in his arms.


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[Assistant]
Counting Coup
In Tokyo, Wolverine sits shirtless in front of a gravestone and meditates, rain pouring down around him. He figured that, if he sat there long enough, the pain would just wash out o’ him. Like he wouldn’t feel the hard rain peltin’ down on him in the old Yashida Clan cemetery in Tokyo. Like the cold emptiness would go away if he just kept starin’ at that memorial tablet inscribed with Mariko’s Buddhist name.
Watching over him are Jubilee, Gambit, and Yukio. Gambit mentions to Yukio that this is not good. He’s been sitting like that for days, even the jeune-fille Jubilee can’t get through to him. He mentions to Yukio that now is the time when Wolverine could use an old friend. Yukio informs him that she doesn’t want to try to fill Mariko’s shoes. If she is to win his heart, this is not the time and place. With that, she walks away.
Jubilee kneels down and wraps her arms around Wolverine. Continuing to sit there, Wolverine thinks to himself that there’s all these different parts o’ him runnin’ ‘round in circles. One sayin’ surrender to the grief, another wantin’ to tear apart everything in sight, and still another pickin’ through the memories and stoppin’ at the snapshots where everyone is smilin’. Memories. He thought he had some good ones, and they turned out to be implants, jus’ lil’ staged skits acted out in a warehouse in Ontario and plugged right into his brain but Mariko was real, her love was real.
In his mind, Logan is with Mariko and they are about to be married. Just then, Silver Fox appears and tells Mariko to get her hands off of him, he belongs to her. They begin a tug-of-war with Wolverine. Silver Fox telling him that he swore he’d always love him. Mariko telling him that he is her betrothed. The images of Silver Fox and Mariko then turn into skeletons. Silver Fox tells him to remember their cabin in the woods; he carved their names in the door. Mariko tells him that the emperor sent out their wedding invitations and that he has shamed her in front of all her ancestors. Wolverine calls out no! He never meant to hurt either of them, and now they’re both dead. They’re tearin’ his heart apart, the pain, real pain. Stabbin’, poundin’, burnin’ pain. His bones are burnin’ white-hot inside him and a scream tearin’ through his brain like a wild animal blockin’ out all the other things. Things like memories of when he was an experiment at the Weapon X facility. Burnin’Howlin’Rippin’Tearin’!
Snapped out of his memories, Wolverine he slices at the air with his claws and turns to growl at Jubilee. She tells him that he needs to get a grip. He tells her that he’s been tryin’. He’s been sortin’ through his feelin’s and memories, tryin’ to come to terms but there’s big numb patches in his feelin’s and gapin’ holes in his memories, an’ if he stares real hard into those black empty places, there’s a pair o’ red feral eyes starin’ back and he knows that’s the beast inside o’ him, and he wants to HOWWWWWWL!
Meanwhile, in New York City, Sabretooth attends a wrestling match. The lady sitting next to him asks if he is a professional wrestler too. Sabretooth tells her no, he is too good-lookin’. He then mentions to one of the wrestlers that some o’ them look like they been beat up all night with the ugly stick. The wrestler growls at him, baring his teeth. Sabretooth asks him if he’s proud of those teeth and if he wants to see them fly. As he kicks the wrestler in the teeth, the crowd’s attention is turned elsewhere, to a figure that appears behind them.
Oblivious to this, one of the wrestlers in the ring tells Sabretooth that he can’t do that to his partner. Sabretooth asks him who’s going to stop him. At that point, he is tapped on the shoulder by a metal hand. Sabretooth turns around and asks the newcomer if he’s got a problem, ‘cuz if he don’t get his meat-hook off’n his Giorgio Armani, he’s gonna turn around rip him out a new one. The figure behind him tells him that he, Sabretooth, is the problem and Shiva is the solution. Sabretooth asks that he’s going to solve him and asks what that means. Shiva informs him that it means termination of his life functions, it means death.
Leaping towards Shiva, Sabretooth tells him that he “kinda figgered” that was what he meant. He challenges Shiva to see who’s gonna do the dyin’ around there. He is able to connect with a slash, but Shiva is unfazed. Shiva strikes back and knocks Sabretooth into the ring. While it does, it tells him that “Shiva” is a program. Programs don’t die unlike puny humans. Immediately, the wrestlers vacate the ring while the crowd cheers in appreciation.
One subway station away from the arena, on the A train, a group of thugs begin to hassle a middle-aged African American male sitting by himself, engrossed in a book. They tell him just to let them “hold five dollars.” One of the thugs points to the others out that he doesn’t hear him. Still another says that he does, he just thinks he’s too good to answer. He has on that bad Wall Street suit, cowboy kicks, and a redneck hat – he must think that guys like them belong in the gutter. They asks him if that’s true, if he thinks that he’s better than them just because he ain’t never seen no hard times.
Finally speaking up though not raising his eyes, the man tells them that he’s seen harder times than they could imagine in their worst nightmares. The thugs tell him that they’re gonna give him a hard time like he’s never seen. The man just tells them not to do it, it’ll hurt. At the next station, 34th street, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, a group of Nazi skinheads get on the train. As they do, they mention that they got kicked outta the Garden, just before the stompin’ started. They want to do some stompin’ of their own and decide to start on the thugs before them. They mention that the man in the cowboy hat must be their vic’. The leader of the group says they will stomp him to.
Just then, the man in the cowboy hat flicks a bullet at the skinhead’s chest. The skinhead asks him why he threw a bullet at him. The man replies that it isn’t just any bullet, it’s a hot-load .45 ACP with an alloy jacket around a depleted uranium core, swimming in mercury. It makes an exit wound the size of a deep dish chicken pot pie. As he opens his jacket, revealing a gun, he tells them that the next one comes at them a lot faster. Realizing the situation, the skinhead informs his crew to leave the car, he doesn’t like the smell of it. The remaining thugs turn around to thank the man for saving their life but they find that he has disappeared.
In Tokyo, Matsuo Tsurayaba faces off against Wolverine. He tells him that he took his hand and, in return, he gave Mariko Yashida a truly horrible death. He knows that Wolverine, now, has come seeking the final revenge. Matsuo tells him that he is weaponless no more. The finest sword-smith in Japan has crafted five blades of laminated steel; strong, yet sharp; pliable, yet unyielding; soft of spine, yet hard of edge – set into a prosthetic hand, crafted by the Mandarin’s personal armorer. With that, he slashes off Wolverine’s left arm and right arm cleanly. He adds that the blades are mounted on articulating cams, actuated by miniature hydraulic pistons to snap with inexorable force at the apex of every slash. The results are very satisfying. He then slashes off Wolverine’s head.
As he leans down to look at the head on the ground, he laments that it’s too bad he is facing only a mannequin. At that moment, he is called by some of his ninjas. When they find Matsuo, they implore him that it is not possible to protect him effectively there in Tokyo. They tell him that the mutant Wolverine is in a crazed state and the island fortress is much more secure. Matsuo asks them if they are suggesting that he flees. He tells them don’t be ridiculous. If the Hand cannot protect him there in his own penthouse, they are not worthy of the title ninja.
At the gravesite of Mariko, Sunfire arrives and mentions to Gambit and Jubilee that he sees that Wolverine is still wallowing in his grief. Gambit replies c’est une petite cochon noir – a thought unworthy of him. Another man’s sorrow is his own universe. Jubilee adds that that’s just a polite way of telling him that he is totally rude. She asks if he is there to check up on them, making sure they don’t spray graffiti on the tombstones. Sunfire answers that he knows they are not vandals, but the Japanese government is concerned that Wolverine might take it upon himself to administer his own form of justice – this is unacceptable. A prompt and uneventful departure is cordially requested.
Gambit tells him that Matsuo killed his woman, he can’t expect him to… Sunfire cuts him off and tells him that he forgets Mariko was his cousin. As for Logan, he can expect him to behave like a man. This is not how a warrior grieves. He asks what he has turned into - some sort of self-pitying wraith of his former self.
Wolverine overhears him and thinks about the name “Wraith.” He thinks back to the plasma wraiths he faced but says that wasn’t it; it was a name, a name from his past. He remembers that, back in Berlin, thirty years ago he was with North (Maverick) and Creed (Sabretooth).
(flashback)He was holding a lady by the name of Janice in his arms. Creed told him to leave her – she’s dead, and she wasn’t included in the extraction scenario. North tells him that she’s hard evidence, and asks that he wouldn’t leave a shell-casing on a job site, would he? Creed tells him to butt out o’ this. Mastodon is only expecting three of them. Logan notices a jeep arriving and asks if that is their ride. When the jeep arrives, Creed asks the driver of the jeep, Wraith, an African American male, where Mastodon is. Wraith tells him that he got pulled for a heavy removal across the pond in Indian territory. He tells them to hop in before the polizei come cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
Creed tells him that they have some heat on their tails. Wraith tells him that that’s why they sent an expediter. He tells Sabretooth to take the wheel and asks if that’s what he’s going by this time out or if it is El Tigre. As Creed gets in the drivers seat he tells him that it’s Creed and asks him if he was briefed. While Wraith readies the gun in the back he tells Creed to just ditch the jeep in the Havel River and do the backstroke down to Potsdam. Barrington snagged a chopper for the final exfiltration.
North asks him if he’s coming with them. Wraith tells him no, he’s got a new toy that shoots armor-piercing toasters and he doesn’t want the rest of them playing with it. Logan tells him to forget all that hero jazz. Whatever is back there has got tentacles and a streak o’ mean that goes clean to the bone. He doesn’t wanna mess with it. He adds that they have the carbonadium, they just need to go. Wraith tells him that it’s his job to stay behind. He’s an expediter, he gets things done. North tells him that this is different. Wraith replies that nothing’s so different that it can’t get done by a large quantity of high explosives. As he begins to fire his weapon, he tells them to get moving before they get caught in his back-blast.
When the jeep starts to take off, Logan tells Creed that they can’t just leave Wraith. North agrees and adds that that thing will tear him apart and that he isn’t even wearing body armor like they are. Creed asks why he should care about one o’ them? Besides, ol’ John Wraith has got himself a real talent for disappearin’.
(present)In New York, in Madison Square Garden, Shiva continues his attack. When he delivers a slash to Sabretooth, he tells him that termination is inevitable. Continued resistance only prolongs suffering and pain. Sabretooth responds that pain is an old friend o’ his, that don’t mean spit to him. Fighting back, he knocks Shiva down. He tells him that he just wishes he wasn’t a robot so he could feel this choice whuppin’ he’s layin’ on him. He then jumps on Shiva’s shoulders and starts to tug at his head. He informs Shiva that he doesn’t even care that he ain’t got no pain receptors, he’s gonna rip his head off for just the fun of it.
After some time, he finally rips Shiva’s head off and asks him what that was he was sayin’ about termination bein’ inevitable. Shiva’s head tells him that the Shiva enforcement module’s head unit contains the pulse transmitter for the memory triggers – a direct simulation of the cerebral cortex that initiates a cataclysmic memory backlash. All the worst times of his life, all the physical pain and mental distress, every second of humiliation, all the horrible moments that are suppressed by both natural and artificial means. With that, the head blasts Sabretooth and tells him to live them again with awful clarity. Sabretooth grabs his head and calls out “No!” He doesn’t want to remember this!!!
(flashback)At that moment, his memories flash back to years ago when he was at a log cabin. Walking out of the cabin with an alcohol jug in his hand he calls out to his boy that he don’t hear him choppin’ no firewood. He asks that he knows all about idle hands, don’t he? He adds that he sure hopes he don’t have to tire himself out beatin’ the laziness outta him.
He then asks him what he’s been doin’ back there all this time. A young Logan tells him nothin’. Sabretooth replies “in a pig’s eye” and mentions that he sure hopes he wasn’t lollygaggin’ around with that squaw brat from off the reservation. He then asks Logan what he has hidin’ behind his back and pulls his belt off and swings it at him. He tells him to give it up and that he better not hold back nothin’ from his pa. Logan tells him that he’s not his… Sabretooth tells him not to sass him or he’ll strap him raw. Picking up a pouch from the ground, he notices that it is a Blackfoot medicine pouch. He mentions that Injuns don’t give away stuff like this on no casual basis. That little squaw-brat Silver Fox is turnin’ him into a low-down injun-lover, he’ll break her neck. Logan tells him not to touch her, you… Sabretooth angrily asks he doesn’t do what? He tells Logan that he’s gonna get a hidin’ the likes of which…
As he starts to bring down the belt, his arm is grabbed by someone who tells him that’s not going to accomplish anything, “friend.” Sabretooth asks friend? He ain’t got no friends – especially not any like him. He tells Wraith to get his filthy hands off him before he… Wraith informs him that belt’s not going to stop Shiva. Sabretooth asks Shiva – he just yanked the head off that thing.
(present)Back in reality, Wraith tells Sabretooth that he didn’t do it to this one. Shiva is the program and there’s a small army of the enforcer robots. The Shiva program has a separate memory cache. Each succeeding robot benefits from the mistakes of the previous ones. Sabretooth asks that means you can’t defeat two the same way? Wraith replies that, lucky for them, Shiva doesn’t know about shaped charges.
With that, he places a charge on Shiva’s chest and takes off. As Shiva blows up, Sabretooth tells Wraith that he knows him – he’s the Expediter! Wraith replies “give the man a cigar” and informs Sabretooth that it’s time to hat up and get scarce. Heading up the stairs, Sabretooth asks Wraith that he wouldn’t have a jeep waiting for them outside, would he? Wraith, carrying the Shiva head, answers that, with the defense budget slashes, he’s lucky to get reimbursed for subway tokens.
In Matsuo’s estate, he laments that it is truly a curse to be an artist. One must strive continually for perfection, but how is one expected to contrive an elegant and exquisite criminal event while low-born bumblers and big-nosed mutants persist in meddling? He salvages what he can, but the deaths of minor players are such small satisfactions. Down below, Jubilee mentions to Gambit that at least Sunfire was nice enough to get them this totally excellent limo to take them to the airport. Gambit tells her that he was jus’ making sure they left. Jubilee says that the excellent quotient on the ride would go up about ten notches if Wolvie would let them close the sun-roof to keep the weather out. Wolverine tells her that he needs the air. Jubilee asks “air?” All he’s getting is water. She reminds him that they’re gonna have to sit next to him on the plane and he’s going to be smelling like a wet Terrier. Wolverine tells her that it’s closer to a Doberman than a Terr…
He stops in mid-sentence when he catches a scent. Gambit notices this and asks him if he caught something in the air. At that moment, Wolverine jumps out of the limo though the sun-roof to the dismay of Jubilee.
Up in Matsuo’s penthouse, Matsuo mentions that he loves it when the air is electric. It fills him with such rapturous confidence. He explains that he shall possess the c-synthesizer some day; he knows it. These latest setbacks are merely temporary. Perhaps he shall unravel the secret of adamantium. That would be…
Just then, the lights in his estate go out. He deduces that the storm must have blown out the fuses. Turning around, he comes face to face with Wolverine – and asks who had the mannequin replaced with a whole one. He wanted to admire his handiwork, he wanted to… When he touches it, however, he realizes that this is no dummy. Wolverine, in his blue and yellow costume, informs him that nobody ever said he was no Einstein but he sure is on the money about him not bein’ a dummy. Popping his claws he says kon-ban-wa Tsurayaba Matsuo – good night and rest in pieces.
Matsuo is in utter and complete shock. Just then, a bunch of ninjas converge on Wolverine. Wolverine tells Matsuo that he shouldn’t have sicced his bad boys on him. It’s just a waste of good ninjas. He then makes short work of them and turns his attention to Matsuo. Matsuo tells him that he’s ready for him this time. Technology has given him a weapon to equal those created by his genetic deviation. Wolverine, unimpressed, slices his hand off and corners him up against the wall. He informs him that it’s time to pay the piper and he’s run up quite a tab. Matsuo replies that he warns him, if he dies…
Wolverine tells him that he ain’t killin’ him; he’s not makin’ it that easy on him. He’s decided that for what he did, he’s gonna pay for a long time. He’s gonna keep comin’ back an’ each time, he comes back, he’s gonna cut just a little more offa him. In between visits, he’s gonna sit and wonder which part he’s gonna slice off next. He then slices Matsuo across the face and leaves him on the ground in a heap. As he leaves he tells him that he’ll be seein’ him around.


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[Assistant]
Nightmare Quest
The color o’ pain is the red you see through your closed eyelids when your head is shoved into a blast furnace. The taste o’ pain is sour metal, hot and bitin’ like the fillin’s meltin’ in your mouth. The sound o’ pain is a voice screamin’ from the bottom of a well – an’ it’s your own voice.
Wolverine exits the woods and tells the people in the shadows to come out an’ show themselves. Come on out an’ fight him face to face. They reply that he won’t like that; he won’t like what he sees. Wolverine tells them that he will be the judge of that but realizes that they are right, he don’t like what he sees. It’s Silver Fox, but not the Silver Fox he was in love with in that log cabin so long ago, but some evil Silver Fox from a hazy memory of a revolutionary hide-out in Ontario. The mean dude with the shades – another revolutionary – Carlisle? He wonders why he thinks he has another name. An then there’s Sabretooth. If he really is his fa…
Just then, rifle fire comes from more company stepping out of the wood-work. Whoever they are, Wolverine thinks, they’re shootin’ at the bad guys. Silver Fox informs Sabretooth that they have no cover and that they have to bug out. When they do, Wolverine turns around to see who is there and is shocked by what he sees. It’s Sabretooth, Silver Fox and John Wraith in their Team X uniforms. Sabretooth asks Wolverine if he has any kind words for his pals, the good guys. Wolverine replies that they’re the same, but not the same… Wraith says that he’s got it, then adding that, this time around, his name is John Wraith.
At that moment, the other Silver Fox opens fire at the new group and tells them that good guys finish last. She then grabs Wolverine by the collar and asks him who he can he trust to tell him the truth about his worst enemies. Doesn’t he know who his friends are? She then tells him to wake up. Wolverine asks, “Wake up?”
(reality)The response by Jubilee is, yes, wake up. They have to return their seatback and tray tables to the upright position for landing. Wolverine asks if they are in Los Angeles yet; it seems like they only left Tokyo… Jubilee tells him that he’s been out like a light for over ten hours but they’re not at LAX yet. Their flight’s been diverted to the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier. Wolverine tells her that they have to tighten Nick Fury up, he’s runnin’ a bit fast and loose with that badge o’ his.
When they land, some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents take Wolverine away as Jubilee protests. When Wolverine gets to Fury, he asks him what the matter is. Didn’t Uncle Sam like the math on his tax return? Fury replies that it’s the cigar deductions. Seriously, somebody with a lot o’ push wants him down on terra firma ASAP and that there’s a chopper waitin’. Wolverine tells him let’s go; he’s down to meet anybody who can make S.H.I.E.L.D. jump through a hoop.
At the plane, Jubilee uses her fireworks power to get past the guard, stopping her from getting to Wolverine. As she makes her way towards Wolverine and Fury, Wolverine tells him that he’d better tell the aircraft commander to ease up on his cyclic and let the kid hop on, or his whole heli-carrier crew’s gonna be seein’ spots. Fury replies that it’s no skin off of his teeth. The man with push wants to see him. He didn’t say zip about whether or not he came with a retinue. When Jubilee reaches them, she notices that Wolverine is suiting up in his yellow and blue costume. She asks if they are on a secret mission for the government. Wolverine tells her that it’s so secret they ain’t even tellin’ him doodly-squat.
As they approach the rendezvous point, Jubilee mentions that she can’t see anything and asks where they are. Fury informs her that they are at grid coordinates KS580234 of the updated 1938 US Army Corps of Engineers topological 1:50,000 survey map #23865. Jubilee sarcastically thanks him. When they are let out of the chopper, the location they are in is a complete disaster area. Jubilee mentions to Wolverine that this place is totally yucked out. Wolverine mentions that it’s like Dresden after the English Air Force lit it up. Jubilee asks if that was in one of those wars with the Roman numerals. Wolverine tells her to try II. He then mentions that it’s a leery spot for a meet-up, everything around is burnt rubble.
A voice adds that it’s in more ways than one. It then tells Logan that he was supposed to show up solo. Wolverine sarcastically replies that life is supposed to be fair, so what else is new? The voice asks Wolverine if he knows who he is. Wolverine tells him that sometimes he’s Carlisle and sometimes he’s John Wraith. He then tells him that the pistol he’s holding at him won’t stop him. Wraith says that he knows that but it sure will knock the stuffing out of his little friend, won’t it. Jubilee, scared, calls for a time-out.
(flashback)Wolverine mentions that he’s seen this scene before in some rotten, stinkin’ jungle in South East Asia. When he arrived on the scene, he sees John Wraith holding a pistol to a young lady’s head. He asks Sabretooth what is going on. Sabretooth informs him that it’s goin’ to Fort Polk in a hand basket. While he was out scoutin’ ahead, the lil’ ol’ Montagnard gal stumbled right across them. Wraith adds that she saw everything and that they have been compromised to the utmost. Sabretooth answers that it won’t be if she don’t walk outta there. He tells Wraith to do her, they have a mission.
Wraith tells Sabretooth and Wolverine to go ahead, he’ll do it quiet and catch up. Sabretooth answers that in a pig’s eye he will and shoots the woman in the back, killing her. Wolverine immediately goes up to Sabretooth and grabs him by the collar. He asks him what is he, some kind of animal? They’re out there doin’ a lousy job, but they are supposed to be the good guys. He oughtta… Sabretooth cuts him off and tells him that it had to be done. Ol’ John Wraith was gonna let her slide, ‘cuz he don’t have the guts to DX her commie butt. The ol’ Wraith-man got a soft heart.
(present)Wolverine tells Wraith that he couldn’t do it in the middle o’ the boonies all those years ago, and he don’t think he can do it now. Wraith withdraws his gun and asks Wolverine that he remembers that one, it is “beaucoup” interesting. He then asks him if he remembers the objective of that mission or if he had any idea where they were. Wolverine tells him that he doesn’t have a clue and whispers to Jubilee to get behind him. He then tells Wraith that he recalls somethin’ else about him – Berlin, twenty years ago. Wraith asks if that is a fact.
(flashback)Wolverine tells him that it was him, North, and Creed. They got the carbonadium but Janice was dead. He recalls that Wraith stayed behind to cover their getaway and, as they pulled away, he looked back. He saw Wraith connect with a dead on, center o’ mass point of impact blast on Omega Red. The shot had enough high explosive to drop a rabid bull rhino, but not for Omega Red. Nada, zip, N.D.E. (no discernible effect). The light was bad, and he was in a speedin’ jeep and the ol’ adrenaline pump was workin’ overtime but he’s pretty sure of what he saw. He saw Omega Red grab Wraith with his tentacles but Wraith disappeared into thin air.
(present)Wolverine then asks Wraith if he has some sort o’ vanishing act. Wraith replies that he might say that and shuts off his flashlight. He asks Wolverine if he ever read Ralph Ellison. Wolverine asks if he’s related to Harlan. Wraith tells him not hardly and tosses something towards him. Wolverine catches it and asks what it is. Jubilee tells him that she will shed some light on the subject and uses her fireworks power to reveal it. Wolverine recognizes it as the head from a Shiva android. Wraith says give the man a cigar! As code name Kestrel, he’s fourth on the Shiva hit list but ol’ Wolverine is up there at number one with a bullet.
Just then, a cataclysmic memory backlash occurs when a blast is emitted from the Shiva’s head. Shiva has the electronic triggers with activates implants in his brain. Every moment o’ pain in his life, compressed into one janglin’ nerve center in the middle o’ his brain. Bloody specters from his past, rippin’ and tearin’ at him. He’s cuttin’ and slicin’ himself. Spikes/tentacles/vines. Vines? He’s in a jungle, but it’s a different jungle. This time it’s in Cuba.
(flashback)Wolverine shows up and calls out Sabretooth, or is he El Tigre? Sabretooth replies that it’s about time he, Garra, showed up. He tells him to cover with Elefante when Halcon makes his run for the missile. Wolverine asks missile? Sabretooth informs him that Tio Fidel kept one back when JFK called Nikita’s bluff. Now it’s their job. Just then, revolutionaries appear and open up fire on the group. Elefante tells Wolverine to come on and kill some commies. It will help take his mind off that traitor, Zora de Plata, the Silver Fox of the Sierra Maestra. Wolverine asks him what did he say and then recalls that Elefante was Elephant – Mastodon and Halcon was John Wraith. Sabretooth tells Halcon to put a hustle on it. Halcon, setting the charge, replies that the shaped charges have to sit just right.
Just then, a tentacle grabs Wraith and drags him towards the woods. Wolverine recalls the memory by wonders why it was suppressed. Why did he care about John Wraith? As he opened up fire on the tentacle he notices that somebody is standin’ back there directin’ it. He recognizes it to be Silver Fox!
At that moment, Jubilee grabs the Shiva head out of Wolverine’s hands and tells him that he’s not allowed to play with it anymore – it’s weirding him out. As the head falls on the ground, it cracks. Jubilee proceeds to stomp it and tell Wolverine that he really should have heard himself yammering away about foxes. Wolverine tells her that Wraith zapped him with the Shiva head. Wraith informs him that he thought it might jog his recollection a might. Wolverine lunges towards him and tells him that he’ll jog him. Wraith tells him that he had better get copasetic because he has to come with him to meet somebody.
Just then, Wraith disappears. Wolverine wonders where he went and Wraith tells him that he’s over on the sidewalk. Jubilee asks sidewalk? They’ve been in Los Angeles all this time, not even twenty minutes away from a mall. Wraith answers that they are. Wolverine asks if he was tryin’ to make some kind o’ point, meetin’ them there. Wraith tells him that the answer to that is spray-painted on the side of his house – “I’m not making a point - - I live here.”
When they walk up to the house, Wraith notices that the door’s been forced and that somebody is in his crib. Wolverine tells him that they’re still inside and they’re packin’. At the last moment, he pushes Jubilee and Wraith out of the way, as gunfire blasts through the door towards them. Wolverine tells them to stay down; he’s still the best at what he does. With that, he charges through the side of the house and towards the assailants.
At the same time, Wraith teleports himself behind them and holds his guns at their heads. He tells them that is the sound of the safeties on a pair of .45 automatics and they don’t want to hear the next sound they make, do they. The assailants tell him no sir. Wraith orders Wolverine to put the claws away, the situation is under control. Jubilee enters the room and turns the lights on. She mentions that this is bogus, they’re just kids. Wolverine adds “kids with machine-guns, rippin’ off TV sets.” He then snaps and slashes the kids guns into pieces. He tells them to get out o’ there!! As the kids go to leave, Wraith tells them to take the stupid-vision with them.
From a backroom, a voice calls out that he watched that thing. It’s all he has to d-d-do these days. From the room, a crippled old man lies on the floor. He asks Wraith-man who is out there with him. He r-r-recognizes the voice. Upon seeing Wolverine, he says awright. “It’s the little hairy f-f-fire plug.” Wolverine recognizes the man as Mastodon. He says that he can’t be Mastodon. He was a big strong fella, the same age as him…
Wraith adds like all the rest of them in the program. He informs Wolverine that Mastodon was fine until last month. Then, this happened. All those years came running up behind him and cut him off at the pass. That’s why he’s tracking down the old team. Maybe together they can figure this out. He adds that he’s been able to track down most of them, including Silver Fox.
Hearing that, Wolverine slams him up against a wall and asks that she’s alive? Sabretooth didn’t kill her, his memory of that is a lie? Wraith tells him that it’s implants man, all implants. It took him years to sort his own out. Sabretooth never killed her in any of his scenarios. Of course, he might still think he did her in. He then adds that he can just ask him about that himself. Wolverine asks he’s here? Wraith replies not willingly, but he’s there all right. When he opens up a cellar door they find Sabretooth chained up to the wall. He tells Wolverine not to get too close, he bites. He adds that the shaped charge he’s got strapped to his chest can do a lot of collateral damage.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Reunion!
Sabretooth – chained to the wall of John Wraith’s basement in South Central L.A. That’s enough to give a normal dude a bad ‘tude, thinks Wolverine.
Standing mere inches away, Sabretooth snarling and growling at him, Wolverine asks Wraith if he has any bricks and recommends that they wall this joker up with a Cask o’ Amontillado. Sabretooth answers that he’s gonna bite his head clean off and calls Wolverine a sawed-off little r… Wolverine tells him that he needs to bite a tic-tac. Sabretooth goes to lunge but doesn’t go far as he is chained to the wall, hands bound. To this, Wolverine quips to him that Wraith is keeping him on a short chain.
Nearby, Wraith holds a remote up and informs Sabretooth that he best chill out or one lil’ beep can set off that shaped charge and excavate sixteen pounds of meat from the center of his mass.
At that moment, Sabretooth breaks the shackles around his hands and tells Wraith that he ain’t got the guts. Any explosive pack strong enough to put him down for the count’s gonna take out the whole stinkin’ basement. He tells him to take a walk; him and Wolverine got some serious rippin’ and clawin’ to catch up on. He then challenges Logan to go to throw-down city. Wraith points the remote at Sabretooth again and tells him that he’s got limited resources for this operation and that he just crossed the line from “loose cannon” to “liability.” He adds that he’s turning him off; it’s time to drop dead and commence rotting.
Before he can push the button, Jubilee unleashes her fireworks power that blinds Wraith. She tells him that he’s not setting off explosives that close to her Wolvie. Blinded, Wraith tells her that she messed up. That charge wouldn’t have hurt anyone other than Sabretooth. Jubilee asks how was she supposed to know that?
As Wolverine and Sabretooth begin to tussle, Wolverine thinks to himself that at least Jubilee meant well, even if a few powder burns and a little ringin’ in his ears might be goin’ down better than this slash and bash brouhaha he’s up to his eyebrows in.
During their battle, a voice asks if they are still at it. They both stop in their tracks and turn around in shock. To their complete surprise, at the top of the stairs stands a woman, clad in a modified Hydra uniform and wielding an immense rifle. She tells them that they had better set their little mutant brains on overdrive and start thinking about their mutual problem. Mastodon behind her is one of them, one of the original Weapon X project team. The age-suppression factor dried up and so did he. They’ve got to call a truce, work together as a team again and recover all the memories that were stolen from them and find out what went wrong or they’re going to end up just like Mastodon.
Wraith tells her, Silver Fox, that he was hoping she got his message. Wolverine says Silver Fox’s name; it can’t be... When Sabretooth adds that he thought he killed her a long time ago, Fox replies that he certainly tried and calls him a low-down puddle of human garbage. She then promptly blasts him with her gun, knocking him backwards.
As Wolverine starts up the stairs, Fox mentions that she’s been waiting a long time to do that. Wolverine asks her if it could really be true, after all these years, she’s still alive? Fox tells him that she’s alive and kicking. Pointing her gun at his face, she informs him to stay right where he is or she’ll have to give him a dose of what Sabretooth got. At that moment, Jubilee unleashes her fireworks power, temporarily blinding Silver Fox. When she does, she asks Wolverine if she did good this time. Silver Fox promptly slaps her and calls her a foolish child and asks her if she thought that he was going to appreciate that pathetic gesture. She then says to her, don’t you know what she is to him?
Lost in emotions, Wolverine looks down at his hands and laments that it was his birthday, they were goin’ to celebrate it together, it was gonna be so sweet. Wolverine remembers back to when he was carrying a dead Silver Fox up to his cabin. He was only gone for a little while. How? Why? Who? He also remembers accusing Sabretooth of killing her. Sabretooth replies that she was an uppity squaw that said no. He tells Wolverine that he saved him a slice o’ birthday cake and it’s mighty sweet and tasty, just like…
Back in the here and now, Silver Fox tells Logan not to wander too far off into memory lane. There are still too many questions. She points her gun at John Wraith’s head and tells him not to go wandering off either. She informs him that he shouldn’t try his disappearing act either, for she’s got an energy field disruptor covering the whole house. Wraith answers that he figured as much.
As Silver Fox starts up the stairs she tells them all to follow her. There’s somebody upstairs that she wants them all to meet. She adds for them to drag that lummox along now that he’s regained consciousness. As Sabretooth comes to, he asks if they are havin’ a party and who brought the cake. Wolverine replies that he did: it’s a pound cake. With that, he punches Sabretooth out. Wolverine then grabs Silver Fox’s arm and tells her to wait up. He wants an explanation, right now! Silver Fox asks that he wants an explanation? As she hands him a set of keys with an Indian medicine pouch as the key-chain she asks him if he remembers it… she bets he does!
Wolverine remembers back to when he and Silver Fox were kids and they were standing in a field. Logan said to Silver Fox that he does but asks if she is sure she wants to give him her medicine pouch. He knows how special they are to her people. Silver Fox replies that she had a dream, the Wolverine spirit was whispering in her ear. She asks if he wants to know what he said…
Before Silver Fox can finish, Logan tells her that it’s him and tells her to run. Just then, Sabretooth walks up and says to Logan that he don’t hear him choppin’ no firewood. He asks him that he knows all about idle hands, don’t he. He sure hope he don’t have to tire himself out beatin’ the laziness outta him. He then asks Logan what he’s been doin’ back here all this time. Logan tells him nothin’ pa. As Silver Fox runs through the forest, Sabretooth shouts at Logan “in a pig’s eye!” He sure hope he wasn’t lollygaggin’ around with that squaw brat from off the reservation. He asks what he’s hidin’ behind his back.
In reality, Wolverine kicks Sabretooth in the gut and tells him to get up. They don’t want to keep Silver Fox waitin’, do they?
Outside the house, Silver Fox begins to exit a Hydra ship. She tells the gathered crowd of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Wraith and Jubilee that she used the extensive resources of Hydra to track this one down. She had gone to ground in Minneapolis of all places. Wraith points out that is some RV. Wolverine answers that it is a Hydra VTOL in silent hovering mode. Silver Fox emerges from the ship with two Hydra agents and a lady. She tells them that now the Professor and Cornelius are dead; Hines there is the only one left from the Weapon X program with an un-tampered memory. Hines begs that there are some things about themselves that they are better off not knowing. Fox replies that they shall be the judge of that. Hines tells her that she doesn’t understand. She signed security documents, she can be prosecuted if she divulges… Fox says that she will divulge all right, they have ways and puts her gun at the ready. Wolverine says that won’t happen while he’s around. Wraith adds those are his sentiments exactly.
As Wolverine and Wraith punch out the Hydra agents, Wolverine says that, as much as he’d like to know the whole story, he’s not about to go in for the kidnap an’ torture o’ innocent civilians. Wraith tells him to read ‘em the riot act. Sabretooth laughs and tells Wraith that he sure had no compunctions ‘bout hauling him away and chainin’ him up in his cellar. Wraith tells him that he’s not a civilian and he hasn’t been innocent of anything in his whole life.
Just then, they are interrupted by Jubilee screaming. She calls out that it’s Mastodon. As she holds him up, she tells them that he’s going all mushy. Just then, Mastodon disintegrates into a pool of nothing leaving only a skull behind. Jubilee is in absolute shock. After witnessing Mastodon disintegrate before her eyes, Hines tells them that she changed her mind. She’ll help them but it won’t be easy. It was all because of the problems with molecular instability. Cornelius thought it was linked to memory implantation process, but the Professor had another theory.
As Hines continues, Wolverine grabs Silver Fox to the side and tells her that they need to talk. Silver Fox tells him to take his filthy claws off of her, but Wolverine tells her that he has a right to know. Silver Fox replies that she doesn’t have a right to anything after what he did to her. Besides, she’s a bit more interested in what Hines has to say, since it impacts on her continued existence. Hines adds that the Professor made some deals with some ultra-covert agencies back during the peak of cold war hysteria. These agencies had been cozy with certain crime families since World War II and had renewed the relationship in Cuba…
Before she can continue, Jubilee screams in horror. Hines attempts to comfort her and takes her over to the Higgenbotham’s next door and see about getting her cleaned off.
Later, in the Higgenbotham’s bathroom, Mrs. Higgenbotham is looking after Jubilee. She asks her if she is feeling a bit better now that they showered all that awful muck off of her. When she offers to help Jubilee dry her hair, Jubilee snaps at her and tells her that she can do it herself. Mrs. Higgenbotham tells her that there’s a few things she can’t do for herself, especially after she’s been through a severe trauma. With that, she gives Jubilee a hug. Jubilee replies that she hasn’t been hugged like that in a long time. Mrs. Higgenbotham asks her if it’s been that long since she’s been home to see her mom. Jubilee answers that she could say that.
At that moment, Wolverine walks in and tells Jubilee that all of the others are up in Ornette’s room, breaking into the NSA computer banks. He asks her if she feels up to aidin’ an’ abettin’. Jubilee agrees and starts to follow Wolverine up the stairs. As she does, she asks if this guy Ornette has a national security agency computer in his house. Wolverine answers no, he’s Mrs. Higgenbotham’s kid and he’s a hacker. He then mentions that he guesses he wasn’t bein’ very sensitive back there when Mastodon went all ectoplasmic on her. Jubilee gives him a hug and tells him that it’s all right. She knows he’s been going through a real bad thing over Mariko getting killed and now Silver Fox turning out to be a major league pill. Wolverine answers yeah, how about that.
Up in Ornette’s room, Hines, John Wraith, Silver Fox and Sabretooth are joined by Wolverine and Jubilee. Ornette mentions that this was light. Getting into their system was a snap with all the entry codes she gave him. He points out that it’s some menu they have and asks if he’s scrolling too fast for her. Just then he tells “Snaggletooth,” who’s smoking, that he hopes that disgusting thing isn’t lit when their pizza shows up. Sabretooth asks if smoke bothers him and tells him tough. Wolverine responds by pulling the cigar out of Sabretooth’s mouth and putting it out. He tells him that he wouldn’t mind gettin’ a lip-grip on one o’ those himself but they are intrudin’ on somebody else’s space there.
Just then, Wraith calls out “That’s it!” He found the filing system. Ornette, looking at the screen, mentions to Wraith that it looks like a list of code-names. Wraith says that he was Kestrel. Wolverine, Sabretooth, Fox and Mastodon are self-explanatory but asks who Vole and Wildcat are. Sabretooth says that he’s had enough of this and asks for someone to give him one good reason why he shouldn’t just rip Logan’s face off his skull just for grins. Wolverine challenges him to “try it old man.” Silver Fox pulls her gun on both of them and tells them to cool it. She adds that she’d just as soon shoot the pair of them then…
She is cut off by Ornette, who yells at her that he doesn’t want any cranks in there. He tells her to get that hardware out of there. Silver Fox asks if he has a thing about guns. Ornette, in a wheelchair, replies that he’s no hoplophobe. He knows that weapons don’t get up by themselves and shoot people. He’s got a serious problem with people who rave them around indiscriminately. Wraith mentions that Ornette caught the collateral damage from a drive-by shooting in the ‘hood. A stray 9mm came through the window back there. Wolverine asks if it had his name on it. Ornette tells him that worse; it was marked “to whom it may concern.”
At that moment, the computer beeps. Ornette announces that it’s the search program, it found something. He points to the screen and mentions that the list of animal code-names was cross-indexed with another list. This list has the names Professor, Cornelius, Hines, and Ferro. Wraith replies that they know who the first three are, but who is Ferro?
After the pizza guy arrives and they all eat, they take off in an aircraft. In the cockpit, Silver Fox asks Hines if she has coordinates for their destination to feed into the navigational computer. Hines tells her to just get them to Seattle and she’ll find it when they get to Seattle. It shouldn’t be too hard, it’s the only island with its own radar installation. Back in the holding area, Sabretooth mentions that this is rich. Not only does Wolverine get his little fiancée killed, his poor old martyred squaw girlfriend turns out to be a nasty ol’ Hydra hot-shot. Who said life ain’t fair? Wolverine pops his claws and angrily stares at Sabretooth. Rather than doing anything he gets up from his seat and heads towards the cockpit. Once he is gone, Wraith “accidentally” cracks Sabretooth with the butt of his rifle when he was looking for the magazine full of steel-jacketed armor-piercing ammo.
In time, the aircraft makes its way towards their destination. Hines points out that the island in the distance is Aldo Ferro’s castle keep. They’re homing in on the radar emissions. Wolverine mentions that Aldo Ferro, Il Topo Siciliano, the Sicilian Mouse. He thought he died years ago. Silver Fox tells him that his kind doesn’t fade away that easily. He owned half of Cuba during the Batista years and all the crime families paid him tribute. He was always in the background, manipulating, making deals, never in the headlines. He hasn’t been seen outside his fortress in years.
Just then, the aircraft is hit with a surface-to-air missile. Hines mentions that is what all the radar was for. Wolverine quips that should’ve occurred to all o’ them a lot sooner and maybe this Mouse is also Vole, the field mouse on the list. As they start to crash Silver Fox tells them to hold on, they’re going to auger in. Wolverine mentions that he just got it. Fox asks him what he’s babbling about to which Wolverine replies that there is this bar back in Salem Center…
Once they land, Silver Fox tells all aboard to evacuate the aircraft. The fuel cells have burst and the electrical system is shorting out. Wraith points out that the frame twisted on impact and the hatches are jammed. It looks like they’re goin’ to crispy-critter-ville. Wolverine tells him not hardly and uses his claws to slice a door through the hull of the aircraft. When he steps out onto the island, he is met by troops. He mentions that they’re outta the fire, and into the fryin’ pan. One of the troops declares that there is at least one verified mutant in the intruder team. Another orders them to pop smoke on them and lock on passive targeting and zap them back to the Neolithic.
Upon hearing that, Jubilee hops into action unleashes her fireworks power. She informs the troops that they can’t if she flares out their vision receptors. She then tells Wolverine that Ornette felt sorry for her because she’s discalculic. Wolverine asks dis-what? Jubilee tells him that it’s like dyslexic only with numbers instead of letters. She was so embarrassed when he asked her to add up the pizza bill… Wolverine asks her if they can talk about this later.
One of the troops mentions that their image-intensifier tubes just got fried along with the infra-red sensors. Another troop tells them to ditch the goggles and switch to analogue sights. The boss is gonna wanna see dead mutants out there. At that moment, John Wraith takes control. He starts tossing smoke grenades at the oncoming troops and tells Logan and Creed to take them out while they’re confused. He then orders Silver Fox to breach the wall with her blaster. Wolverine and Sabretooth hop into action and take out the troops together while Silver Fox blasts a hole through the wall.
Once inside the compound, Hines asks what this place is; it looks like a gym. Silver Fox tells her that it is and asks Logan if he is secure. Wolverine and Sabretooth enter the compound and say that Topo’s hired goons took a powder as soon as they rushed ‘em. He should get a refund. John Wraith informs them that he checked the rest of the house and it’s empty. Silver Fox points out that it’s empty except for “Arnold” over there. She asks the man who is lifting weights where he is, where is the old man?
Continuing to exercise, the man inquires “what old man?” Sabretooth tells him that she wants to know where the old coot is that he’s hired to protect – where’s Il Topo? The man rises and tells them that’s him. It’s a joke, like the fat guy they call slim. Wolverine asks him that he’s Aldo Ferro, he’s supposed to be old. Aldo replies that it’s like some others he knows about. Wolverine adds that they thought he was the bodyguard. Just then Maverick comes out of the shadows and tells him he’s wrong. He tells them that he’s the bodyguard!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Bastions of Glory!
It was just a social call. They didn’t drop in on Aldo Ferro’s little island fortress off Seattle to bust heads and take names. All they wanted was the missin’ pieces of their pasts. They weren’t about to brook no interference.
Popping his claws, Wolverine shouts at Maverick to get out of his way. Maverick, standing between Wolverine and Aldo Ferro, tells Logan no way. He’s there to prevent the outlaws from harming Mr. Ferro, who is under the special protection of the federal government. Wolverine retorts that they just wanted to ask a few questions, get a few answers. They, Wolverine, Jubilee, Sabretooth, Wraith and Wolverine’s long-lost love, Silver Fox, didn’t come there to get heavy with the dude. It was him who threw down on them with a surface-to-air missile. Wraith adds not to mention the body-armored bully-boy he sicced on them, Sgt. David North, AKA Maverick.
Silver Fox, raising her gun, says that she doesn’t need any rationalizations or justifications to blow a well-developed kneecap off of Ferro or Topo or whatever his real name is if that facilitates getting the info she wants. Sabretooth, licking his fingernail, tells Silver Fox that’s tellin’ him. He adds that ol’ Maverick is lookin’ out o’ sorts; he ain’t no match for the rest o’ the old team. Ferro looks at them and mentions the old team. He asks Sabretooth if he remembers a piece of that. Even with all the suppression programs and false memory implants the strength of those old bonds burns through. He then asks Wolverine if he remembers the old team. Wolverine looks at him and says, “the old team...”
(flashback)
In his mind, Wolverine remembers wandering through a forest full of spikes. Silver Fox, Maverick and Sabretooth are along with him. Wolverine mentions that they were never together in this place. Ferro tells Logan that they were. Wolverine replies no, it was only his mind. Ferro indicates that such a meticulously crafted landscape of pain, so rich in horrific detail and texture. He then asks Wolverine if he thinks the spikes are graphic. They conjure so many instinctive revulsions – insect parts, thorns, horns, fangs, claws. He asks him if he thinks he would only use it on him. Wolverine tells him that he’s a liar. Ferro answers that he’s a prince of liars. He asks him if he knows who really lives in the details. Wolverine asks that even his pain isn’t his own? Ferro tells him how can one really tell? It’s all so subjective, isn’t it?
As they talk, Wolverine slashes the spikes with his claws but eventually they overtake him and puncture his body all over. While they do, Ferro tells him that the Professor suspected that he was a special case. It had to do with the way his tissue regenerates itself. Tissue memory, that’s the key. The Professor thought he might be capable of sensory awareness on the cellular level. He only creates the images. It’s his mind that assigns values to them. Are all those points, nerve endings? He asks Wolverine what he is trying to do by slashing them. Wolverine, now transformed to his  days as an experiment with Weapon X, when he had wires all over him. Wolverine yells at Ferro to shut up and get out of his head.
As Wolverine rushes out of the spikes, the memories flash back to when he was lying in a prone position in front of a table. Sitting behind the table were Cornelius, the Professor, Hines, and Ferro. Ferro tells them all that as they can see, it’s painfully simple for him, they don’t need any more expensive sets and costumes and all that theatrical junk to implant false memories when Aldo Ferro is around to do the trick. The Professor whispers to Hines that Ferro is the most powerful psi-talent they’ve ever stumbled across; they must have him on the project.
Hines replies that Ferro is also a notorious criminal master-mind. Ferro mentions that don’t they have scruples around there. The only reason he found out about this project was because it crossed over the line to criminality itself. He’s talking about money there, a lot of money. Project money saved from not having to do it the expensive way anymore, more money that he would provide. The results would be more permanent and more reliable all he wants are a few crumbs from the table. At that moment, Wolverine charges the table and asks crumbs? He did all this way with his memory to pick up crumbs? He yells at Ferro that he didn’t care how much he had to torture him and proceeds to slash the table before him.
(present)
Back in real-time, Wolverine notices that he just slashed Ferro’s work-out bench. He then accuses Ferro of still messin’ with his head. Ferro tells him that it’s not just his. Wolverine looks back to see Wraith, Sabretooth Maverick, and Silver Fox all going through mental torture. Ferro tells him that he’s giving all of his old teammates a taste of their own bad memories. Silver Fox is reliving an encounter with Sabretooth in that cabin on his birthday. Sabretooth is getting a close shave in a sawmill. Wraith is taking a ride, chained to a cruise missile. And Maverick is getting stomped by…
Ferro stops short when he is clocked in the head with a brick thrown by Hines. Jubilee congratulates her, while Hines says that Ferro didn’t just come in and plant those false memories in all of them. He’s the one who came up with the idea to link their false memories to their pain receptors! His theories came with a load of pseudo-scientific baggage to make it all palatable. The initiation rites of the Mandans and the Australian Aborigines, African tribal scarring – pain and memory reinforcement linked to cultural survival. Hines adds that they went along with it because it worked so much better than their own method but even they realized that he enjoyed it. Ferro didn’t want any crumbs, he wanted to live forever. He’s a psi-borg. He did it because he wants your…
At that moment, Ferro grows his arm and extends it to connect with a punch to Hines, breaking her neck. As he does, he tells shut up and calls her a little punk stoolie. He tells her that she deserves to get her neck broke. As his upper body starts to expand exponentially, he tells them all that they’re all chumps, cause they think they can ever find out the truth about themselves. And if they ever did find out the truth, they’re chumps fer thinkin’ it would make them happy. Just then, Ferro explodes and pieces of him splatter on Wolverine and Jubilee. Jubilee is grossed out because this is the second time in two days that she’s been splattered with disgusting slime. Wolverine tells her that there’s nothing on her, Ferro is just messing with their minds.
Maverick checks on Hines and reports that she is dead but her neck isn’t broken, not even bruised. She was scared to death. Silver Fox points out that Ferro is some sort of hyper-psi-talent, perhaps artificially enhanced. She asks what did Hines call him, a psi-borg? He can make them see whatever he wants. Chances are good that they don’t know what he really looks like. Wolverine adds that, if Ferro was the guy who actually did all the tampering with their memories, he’s the one who must know what’s real or not. Ferro’s the dude who can fill in all the blanks in their pasts. He says to Fox that maybe he can find out if this memory he’s been carryin’ around all along about their time together at the cabin is true maybe whatever it is that she remember that makes her hate him isn’t true. Maybe they can…
Fox pushes him away and tells him hands off. Maybe they can take that up when and if they find out. Seeing the exchange, Sabretooth laughs aloud and tells Logan once a chump, always a chump. Maverick mentions that he thinks he knows how Ferro did his vanishing act. He points to the floor at a faint outline of a large circular trapdoor in the floor. Wraith tells him that it’s a steel floor and that it might require some artful placement of shaped charges…
In Salem Center, New York, Professor Charles Xavier tells Jean Grey that was odd - there was a brief surge but very powerful. He adds that an incredibly strong psi-talent is out there. He tells her to look at the reading, it is off the scale and it disappeared completely after it peaked. A psi that strong doesn’t just pop up like that. He has to develop. The only explanation is that this one has been masking itself from Cerebro all this time and, just momentarily, the mask slipped. It would take enormous amounts of energy and concentration to put up a barrier against Cerebro’s sensors for this long. Perhaps this one was distracted. Had to divert powers to some other task? He asks Jean if she got a directional fix. Jean tells him yes; it’s an island off Seattle.
Back in Ferro’s fortress, Wraith blasts a hole in the floor to reveal a massive staircase spiraling down deep into the ground. Silver Fox immediately takes charge and tells Logan to take the point and for Sabretooth to be the slack-man. She’ll follow as command element with Maverick as security. Wraith will take the drag and provide extraction cover. Jubilee asks where she goes. Fox tells her that she doesn’t. As Wolverine and Sabretooth start down the spiraling staircase, Sabretooth asks what is this, an appliance showroom? Wolverine tells him they’re computers, to which Sabretooth asks if he’s sure he’s got enough of them. Wolverine calls out that their sector is clear and to report it in to which Sabretooth gives the clear notice.
Fox informs Maverick they’re on deck and they begin down the staircase themselves. Fox gives the order to cover and advance, leapfrog overwatch. Clear and cover. Maverick calls out clear and to go for it. Fox tells Wraith to move out. Up above, Wraith tells Jubilee to hold the fort and takes off. As he leaves, Jubilee tells him this bites. She’s been up against really tough dudes like Mandarin. Why does she gotta stay behind for this chump? Down in the staircase, Wolverine calls out point-man is clear, Sabretooth – slack-man is clear, Fox – command element is clear, Maverick – command security is clear, Wraith – drag is clear. Fox then gives the order to advance.
Once they reach the bottom of the staircase, Wolverine thinks to himself that they’re a team again. Here he is, not even recovered from the death o’ Mariko, and he’s on a mission with Silver Fox and the guy he thought had killed her. He wonders what’s going through her head. What is the terrible thing she thinks he did? Worse, did he really do it? Does he want to find out? He does know that Sabretooth didn’t kill her. In fact, he was his teammate and later, his partner. Could he possibly be his fa… no!
He then wonders about Maverick. How much does he know that he’s not tellin’ him? Why is he so trigger-happy, but so guilty about it? He then turns his attention to Wraith – is he really a mutant? Is he a space-jumper? How come he doesn’t make a pop like Nightcrawler? How come he didn’t show up on Cerebro?
At that moment, Silver Fox gives the order out to cover her. Wraith gives the order to form a security circle around Silver Fox. Fox starts working on the computer, tapping into the console to find out what’s ticking through all the mainframes they’re tip-toeing past. Fox is shocked when she finds that it has no security codes. She assumes that Ferro must have figured that the place was impregnable. What’s coming up on the read-out… She exclaims that the entire spiral network of computers is devoted to a single task – genetic decoding! It’s been trying to crack one specific genetic code for over twenty years – a code simply taken from a biopsy sample labeled: Logan. Wolverine mentions that was too easy. He asks why the computer would just tell him all that, unless it wasn’t really a computer.
At that moment, the computer morphs into the face of Aldo Ferro. Ferro tells Wolverine that was pretty astute for a chump. He then grabs Silver Fox with his tentacles and pulls her into him. Silver Fox calls out to Logan but it’s too late. Wolverine yells at NOOO and leaps into action. He starts hacking away at Ferro’s form with unadulterated fury. From the side, Maverick asks Wraith what he saw. Wraith tells him that he doesn’t know anymore. He thought he saw the computer turn into a weird tree with Ferro’s face and he thought he saw the tree gobble up Silver Fox. Sabretooth mentions that it sure ain’t no tree no more. It’s back to bein’ a computer, or what’s left of one.
On his knees, Wolverine asks where she is. Maverick notices her medicine pouch and picks it up. He tells Wolverine that Ferro has her and that he could be anywhere. He could be anything. He might even be one of them, or two of them. Wolverine starts to growl and cry and calls out to Ferro to show himself and to bring her back.
Up above, Jubilee asks what is happening down there and if everything is all right. A voice behind her tells her that they can assure her that everything is fine. Jubilee turns around and finds that the voice belonged to Charles Xavier and Jean Grey. She asks them how they got there. Jean tells her that they got a massive reading on Cerebro about four hours ago and zoomed right over in the Blackbird. Xavier adds that whoever this psi-talent is, he’s no match for Jean and him combined. Jubilee calls out to the rest that they’ll never guess who just showed up. They’re going to see some fireworks now. Behind Jubilee, unbeknownst to her, Xavier and Jean start growing spikes out of their faces.