RISING SUN

Part III: Sunset

By Dino Pollard

Mariko Yashida tries to struggle, yet her captor’s coils tighten around her. She would scream if not for the cold, metal tentacle covering her mouth. Her captor, an albino man with blonde hair, red eyes, and a Russian accent simply smiles as the coils tighten even more. He is a trained assassin, and she is his target. He cries out in pain without warning, and the coils around Mariko loosen. She falls to the ground, and he turns to find Logan standing there with his claws extended.

He slashes at the albino again, who brings his coils up to defend himself. Logan notices that they are attached to his wrists. He brings his claws across in an attempt to remove the tentacles, yet they don’t cut. The metal they’re made from is just as strong as his claws. As Wolverine moves forward, he finds his speed is somewhat sluggish. He’s not operating at his full strength for some reason. He feels like he’s getting… weaker. One of the albino’s tentacles wraps around Logan’s arm, and he starts to weaken more. The albino smiles.

“That’s the Death Spore Virus infecting your system,” he says. “You are not the only mutant assassin.”

The albino uses his coils to slam Logan into the ground and bury his face in the pavement. He releases the defeated mutant and turns back to Mariko. He finds that she’s run off from the battlefield.

“Shit,” he mutters. He turns to his fallen opponent. “You see what you’ve done? Now I have to go find her…”

The albino man flies forward by some unseen force. Logan then feels graceful hands help him to his feet. His face is bruised and bleeding, but healing quickly. He looks at his savior and is surprised to see Mariko staring back at him.

“You okay?” she asks.

He looks at her, and then at the albino lying on the ground.

“How did you…?”

“I’m a huge Bruce Lee fan,” she replies.

“Guess so…” he says.

The coils from the albino seperate them once more, slamming Logan to the side. This time, he braces himself for the impact, and when he gets up, he stares at the albino with rage in his face.

“Okay…” says Logan. “Before I was just slightly peeved. But now, I am fucking pissed!”

He leaps forward at the albino, avoiding the coils, deflecting them with his claws. He comes in close, and slashes the albino’s leg. He stabs him in the shoulder, and then performs a roundhouse kick to his face. The albino flies into the building, and Logan retracts two of the claws on his fist, and jams the third into the albino’s shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

“Who are you?” asks Logan.

“Go to hell,” he replies.

Logan twists the claw, and the albino cries in pain.

“R—Rossovich…” he replies. “Arkady Rossovich.”

“What business does a Ruskie have working for Yoshida?” asks Logan.

“Clan Yashida refused to cooperate with the Russian mob, so Yoshida made a deal with them,” replies Arkady. “Says if we help him take over the Clan, he’ll help open up Asian markets for us.”

“Good boy,” says Logan. He pulls the claw from Arkady’s shoulder, who relishes in loss of the pain. Then, Logan slits his throat with the claw. He turns to face Mariko.

“You didn’t want him to deliver a message to Shiro?” asks Mariko.

“No need,” replies Logan. “He’ll get this message.”

“Dead?” says Shiro into the phone. “What do you mean he’s dead? I don’t want excuses, how the fuck did he die? You promised me Rossovich was the best, and now… his throat was slit?”

“Problems, Shi?” asks his sister, Leyu. Shiro closes the cell phone and slides it back into the pocket of his jeans.

“Uncle’s new hitman just killed the top assassin in the Russian mob,” replies Shiro.

“How?” asks Leyu.

“He survived after I burnt him to a crisp,” replies Shiro. “He’s a mutant, and one who can heal pretty fast.”

“It’s like he’s got nine lives…” mutters Leyu. “Let me take him!”

“No,” replies Shiro. “Too risky.”

Leyu pouts.

“Pleeeeeeeeease?”

“I said no!” exclaims Shiro.

“You never let me have any fun!” pouts Leyu. Shiro crosses the gap that seperates them, and smacks her hard across the face. A burn mark is left on her cheek.

“You’re my sister and I love you,” he says. “But never question my authority! Understand?”

Leyu slowly nods.

“Get out,” he orders.

“What?” she asks.

“You heard me, get out!” he exclaims, and the heat begins to rise in the room. Leyu knows better than to tempt her brother’s anger, and leaves the room.

While he sleeps, Kurt Darkholme dreams.

He dreams of a world where his skin isn’t jet-black, but caucasian. He dreams of a world where he has normal-sized ears, with no fangs, no glowing eyes, and five fingers and five toes on each hand and foot as opposed to three. He dreams of a world where he is human, and not a demon.

Kurt Darkholme likes it in his dreams. They are a way to escape his reality. In reality, he is a freak of nature, feared and hated because of a single gene. But in his dreams, he’s loved. In his dreams, he attends a regular high school, with regular teenagers. He’s normal, with a normal life, normal friends, and a normal family. His mother isn’t dead or a terrorist, she’s a housewife.

“Not a bad life you’ve built for yourself, Nightcrawler.”

“Who’s there?” asks Kurt.

“Who else?”

Kurt feels a tap on his shoulder and instantly spins around.

“Jean?” he asks, surprised to see the X-Men’s resident telepath facing him. “I don’t usually dream of you with clothes on. Gah, I mean—!”

“I’m flattered, Kurt, but that’s not what I’m worried about,” replies Jean. “Listen, we have a problem. It’s the Professor.”

“He’s out of his coma.”

“No, he’s not. At least… not completely. Kurt, the Professor’s being controlled by someone, and he’s been controlled since Day One. I need you to tell the others.”

“I see…” says Kurt. “I see what this is, and don’t worry, I get the message. No more White Castle before bed.”

“Kurt, this isn’t a joke,” says Jean. “I’m not some figment of your imagination, I’m communicating with you the only way I can. The Professor’s been taken over by someone who calls himself the Shadow King, and he’s trapped me inside my own mind. I can’t take control of my body, but I can warn you.”

“…are you sure this isn’t because of the White Castle?”

“Just talk to the others once you get up,” says Jean. “Trust me.”

Kurt Darkholme awakes with a start. He rubs his eyes and then shakes his head.

“Wild dream…” he mutters. He looks at his nightstand and sees an empty White Castle box. He gets out of bed, and tosses the box in the garbage can.

“Definitely no more White Castle before bed…” he mutters. In a flash of light, he vanishes from his room, and reappears in the cafeteria, sitting in a chair next to Hank McCoy and Monet St. Croix.

“Morning,” mutters Hank, sipping his coffee.

“Hey,” says Kurt. “Y’know… I had the strangest dream last night…”

“Let me hazard a guess,” says Monet. “Jean came to you in your sleep.”

“How’d you…?”

“We both had the same dream,” replies Hank.

“What do we do about it?” asks Kurt.

“It explains why Jean is currently comatose,” replies Monet. “But for now, there’s nothing we can do. We have to lay low and see what we can find out.”

The door to Shiro Yoshida’s mansion opens. The young, Asian man enters and removes his sunglasses.

“Leyu!” he exclaims.

No response comes. He sees the basement door open and rolls his eyes.

“Christ Leyu… not again…”

He descends the stairs into the basement. He sees someone hanging from the chains, with their back to him.

“Leyu?” he asks. Still no response. He approaches the hanging body, and turns it around. It’s a woman, he can tell that much from the figure. But she has a leather bondage mask covering her face.

“Let’s see who you’ve got,” he says. He unzips the mask and sees his sister staring back at him. He touches her face and feels that it’s cold. He pulls the mask off completely and feels for a pulse, but finds nothing.

“Yer one sick puppy, y’know that, right?”

Shiro pivots on his heel and sees Logan walking towards him with a cigar in his mouth. Shiro notices that Logan keeps one hand behind his back, and the other hand has his claws extended, stained red.

“Not only is she your sister, but she’s fifteen,” he says. He looks at Leyu’s body, then back to Shiro. “Sorry, was.”

“ANIMAL!” exclaims Shiro, as flames engulf his body. Logan pulls his hand out from behind his back and reveals a fire extinguisher. He turns it on Shiro.

“You fuck your underage sister, and I’m the animal?” asks Logan while he empties the extinguisher on the Asian mutant. He then takes the empty cannister and slams it against Shiro’s head. Shiro pulls back, and glares at Logan, his eyes glowing brightly. The liquid covering his body prevents him from directing the flames through his skin, however.

“I will melt the skin from your bones…” mutters Shiro.

“Sorry,” says Logan. “Been there, done that.”

He slams his fist down on Shiro’s head.

“By the way, Mariko says hi.”

With his fist remaining on Shiro’s skull, a SNIKT is heard, and the battle is over.

A knock is heard on the door to Shingen’s study. The crimelord stands facing the window. Without even turning, he says, “enter.”

The door opens, and Logan walks in. He sits in the chair before Shingen’s desk. Slowly, Shingen turns to face him.

“Well?” he asks.

“Shiro’s no longer a problem,” replies Logan.

“That’s good,” says Shingen. “I’m glad you’re here, Logan. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

“What’s that?” asks Logan.

Shingen picks up a small file folder from his desk and hands it to Logan.

“Mind telling me the story behind these pictures?”

Logan opens the folder and looks through the still images. They’re photos of him during the battle with Magneto in Times Square with the other X-Men. He continues looking through them and sees photos of him at the nightclub where he fought Sabretooth. And photos from the battle with the Brotherhood.

“Very interesting, I’d say,” says Shingen. “Tell me… how is it an assassin ends up fighting mutant terrorists?”

Logan looks up at Shingen in surprise, he finds he is at a loss for words.

“I’m not blind, Logan,” says Shingen. “Those mutants that fought Magneto in Times Square aren’t independent superheroes. With technology like that plane they came from, they either have very deep pockets or government funding. And the American government has been on my trail for quite some time. Or, let me guess… you have a twin brother or a clone, and it wasn’t really you in those photos.”

“I’m not gonna try and come up with any stupid excuses,” says Logan. “Yeah, it was me.”

“You’re a spy,” says Shingen.

“Bingo.”

“Then, let’s get this overwith,” says Shingen. He takes a sword off of a rack and when he turns to face Logan, he thrusts forward with the blade. Logan evades his attack, and rushes forward, slamming his palm into Shingen’s abdomen. Logan then kicks the sword from Shingen’s grasp. It falls to the ground. Logan rolls to it, grabs it by the hilt, and when he comes up, he swings it around and takes off Shingen’s head.

“A spy…”

Logan turns to see Mariko Yashida standing in the doorway, and the sword falls from his hand.. She slowly enters, her mouth gaping open at the scene she just witnessed.

“You’re a spy…”

“Yeah,” says Logan.

“It was all an act, then?” asks Mariko. “Your loyalty to the Clan.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“What about me?” she asks.

“What are you talking about?”

“I felt something between us…” she says. “Was that… was that also an act?”

Logan considers his words carefully. He looks down at the ground and sees Shingen’s head. The grisly image is better than looking at Mariko.

“You can’t even look me in the eye, can you?”

Logan’s eyes slowly drift upwards to see hers. He stares into them for a few moments, then slowly, carefully, drops to his knees.

“Was it an act?”

Logan stares at her directly in the eyes when he says, “no.”

She walks past him and picks up the discarded weapon. She holds it by the hilt and shows it to Logan. He can see his reflection in the cold steel of the blade.

“This is the Honor Sword of the Clan Yashida,” she says. “My father told me that our ancestors used it to fight for their nobility. To gain vengeance.”

She takes the sword and tosses it to the side.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“I have to stop deluding myself,” she replies. “The Clan Yashida is not honorable. The Clan was never honorable. That sword means nothing. It’s just a piece of metal that they used to kill people with.”

“Mariko…” says Logan. “I love you.”

She smiles at his comment.

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Logan.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” says Logan. “I’m serious.”

“…you have to leave, now,” she says. “Before my father’s men come. They’ll try to track you down, they’ll want to kill you.”

“Come with me.”

“I can’t,” she says. “I’m the head of the Clan Yashida now. I have to try and make amends for everything my family’s done over the decades.”

Logan walks up to her and places his hand on her shoulder. She wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his. Logan is surprised at first, but then returns her kiss and wraps his arms around her slender waist. She breaks the kiss and stares into his eyes. She places her gentle hand on his cheek.

“Go, now. Before it’s too late.”

Logan reluctantly releases her and walks towards the window. He stares at her for a moment, and she smiles at him. He smashes the window, and exits through it. Mariko Yashida watches him go and once he is out of sight, she brushes a tear from her eye.