A large portal opened up over a serene countryside. Wolverine and Cyclops leapt out of it and landed hard on the ground. Wolverine was the first up and he offered his hand to help Cyclops.

“Gateway’s landings leave something to be desired,” said Cyclops. He pulled himself up with Wolverine’s help. “Any idea where we are?”

“Not offhand,” said Wolverine.

Cyclops looked around. “It’s just us? What about the others?”

“Guess we were the only ones left standin’,” said Wolverine.

“We have to find them!”

“We will, but first we gotta find out where we are an’ then we gotta find out where Fury’s holding them.”

“You’re sure it was Fury who sent those Avengers?” asked Cyclops.

“’Course I’m sure,” said Wolverine. “Who else but Nick Fury would have the resources t’ send a team of super soldiers after us?”

“Why?” asked Cyclops. “We ran into Fury in Alaska, he said he was giving us a free pass.”

“Phoenix,” said Wolverine. “When she offed the Hellfire Club, she killed some very powerful people. Ones that were probably golf buddies with the President. Guess we should be lucky.”

“Lucky?”

“Yeah, Fury’s still playin’ with kid gloves, he could’ve easily went with the Sentinel program,” said Wolverine.

Off in the distance, Hawkeye snuck through the bushes. He emerged from the portal shortly after the two X-Men and he quickly hid himself. Now he was ready with his arrow. One with a special arrowhead on it. He pulled back and fired.

The arrow struck the ground and unleashed tear gas. Both X-Men moved for cover and Hawkeye sprang from hiding. He fired off another arrow but Wolverine spun in an arc and sliced it in half.

Hawkeye reloaded his bow and fired again, this time the arrow had an explosive tip that sent the pair flying. Wolverine shook it off and stood to his feet. But when he turned he saw Hawkeye holding a gun pointed at the back of Cyclops’ head.

“Give it up, Wolverine,” said Hawkeye. “Otherwise your little buddy here gets a bullet in his head.”

“Yeah, but what happens if you kill him?” asked Wolverine. “Well I’ll tell you. You kill Summers an’ then you gotta deal with me. An’ fast as you may be, you’re not fast enough to fire another shot before I cut off your hand. An’ then the fun part begins. Sure this is a game you wanna play?”

“What can I say? I’ve always been a gambling man,” said Hawkeye with a smile. He started to squeeze the trigger. Before he fired the shot, a white-hot blade of some sort pierced the back of his head and emerged through the front of his forehead. His body fell to the ground and standing behind him was a man dressed in a trench coat and black suit. He wore a pair of sunglasses and his index finger was extended in the shape of a hot knife.

“Too bad for you I’m not much of a gambler,” said the man with a British accent. He helped Cyclops to his feet. “You alright, mate?”

“Yeah,” said Cyclops.

Wolverine approached the pair. “Never thought we’d see you again, Wisdom,” he said.

“Makes two of us,” said Pete Wisdom. He was an agent of Black Air, essentially the United Kingdom’s answer to SHIELD.

“What’s this about?” asked Wolverine. “Thought Black Air an’ SHIELD were good buddies?”

“Far as I know they still are, I’ve gone AWOL,” said Wisdom. “You lot saved my arse on Muir, so I felt it was time to return the favor.”

“How’d you know where to find us?” asked Cyclops.

“Gateway,” said Wisdom. “Soon as I got wind Fury was sending these Avengers after you, I got on the move as well. Tried to reach you before they did, but all I found in your tunnels was Gateway. I had him send me here, told him to make sure he sent all of you after me. From the looks of it, we’re a few short.”

“How’d you know we were in the tunnels, though?” asked Cyclops.

“Please, you were in my country and you think my organization didn’t know where you lot were at all times?” asked Wisdom. He lit a cigarette. “We’ve been keepin’ tabs on you. Black Air was pretty grateful for you stopping Proteus in a relatively quiet fashion so our clout helped keep SHIELD off your backs. But once you were linked to the death of Sebastian Shaw, all bets were off. I went off the reservation to see what I could do.”

“Fury’s got the rest of the X-Men,” said Wolverine. “Any idea where he’s keepin’ em?”

“Probably the Triskelion,” said Wisdom. “It’s an underwater base off the coast of New York. Capable of housing mutant criminals. Guys like you.”

“You told Gateway to send us here—so where are we?” asked Wolverine.

“Alberta, Canada,” said Wisdom. “There’s an old SHIELD base nearby you two need to see. And on the way, you blokes are going to hear a story. About Operation: REBIRTH and a little organization you may have heard of called Weapon X.”

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Part III: Rebirth

By Dino Pollard

Ningxia Hui Province
China

General Stryker stood beside Henry Peter Gyrich as the two watched their creation move about inside a sealed chamber.

“Can this thing really work?” asked Stryker.

“Positive,” said Gyrich. “Right now, Fury has the X-Men captive. If we unleash it, we’ll begin the steps for annihilating mutantkind once and for all.”

“Good,” said Stryker. “Mutants killed my brother—a man of God. I won’t let them take anyone else with them.”

“They won’t, General,” said Gyrich. “This Man From Room X will see to that.”

The being inside the chamber regarded both Gyrich and Stryker carefully. They thought he was nothing more than their weapon against the mutants. Little did they know just how far he had evolved. And exactly how much of Feng Tu’s systems he had already infiltrated.

The Triskelion

The X-Men were being held on the Triskelion in the cell previously reserved for the Hulk. Thunderbird and Colossus continued to try and pound on the glass, but it would not break, regardless of how much effort they exerted.

“It’s not working,” said the Beast.

“Yeah, well I don’t see you helping,” said Thunderbird. “Kurt, think you can teleport out?”

Nightcrawler shook his head. “I’ve already tried. Every time I do, I just get some sort of feedback.”

Outside the glass was a viewing area. The door slid open and Colonel Nick Fury stepped into the chamber. By his side stood a man with short blond hair and yellow-tinted glasses.

“Try all you want, Darkholme—you’ll never teleport out of that cell,” said Fury. “There’s a magnetic field surrounding it, interferes with your sense of direction. Every time you try to get out, you’ll just find yourself appearing in the same spot, disoriented.”

“Why don’t you step inside here, Fury?” asked Thunderbird. “Then we’ll see how tough you really are.”

“No thanks, think I’ll pass, Proudstar,” said Fury. “Oh and pound on that thing all you want—it was built to hold the Hulk prisoner. And as Rasputin already knows, neither of you is anywhere close to the Hulk’s level.”

Colossus grimaced because Fury was right. The Hulk had easily taken him out. Almost too easily and Colossus was still humbled by that fact.

“What do you want with us, Fury?” asked Beast. “Scott told us you would leave us alone.”

“Unless you kids fucked up again, which you did,” said Fury. “Did you really think you could kill several prominent British citizens—one of which was a close friend of the President’s—and there’d be no repercussions?”

“That wasn’t us, that was Jean!” said Dazzler. “And it wasn’t her fault, she was possessed by someone else!”

“Why is it every time you mutants get in trouble, it’s always because someone was possessed?” asked Fury. “Magneto, Xavier, Storm, Jean. Seems pretty damn convenient to me.”

“Seems to me I recall you being possessed at one point, too,” said Beast. “In fact, that seems to be what started all the problems for us.”

Fury shifted uncomfortably. “I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”

“Don’t play dumb with us, Nic—”

“Where are Logan and Summers?” asked Fury.

“How should we know?” asked Dazzler.

“They escaped into one of Gateway’s portals, where did he send them?” asked Fury.

“Ask Gateway,” said Thunderbird.

“Already tried that,” said Fury. “I guess the Hulk didn’t like his answer.”

“Monsters!” exclaimed Colossus, his fists pounding against the glass. Fury simply yawned.

“You’re boring me,” he said. He motioned to the man standing by his side. “This is Agent Brent Jackson. He’ll be the one interrogating you on the whereabouts of your missing teammates. I should warn you—he’s pretty effective.”

Fury turned and left the room. Brent Jackson approached a console and entered a few commands. Inside the cell, a gas began to fill the chamber. Slowly, the X-Men began to collapse one by one.

Alberta

“Welcome to one of Wraith’s Weapon X facilities,” said Wisdom. “Or actually, I shouldn’t say Wraith. This place actually predates his own existence.”

“What did you have to tell us about Weapon X?” asked Wolverine.

“You’ve heard of the Invaders, right?” asked Wisdom. “Team of superheroes from World War II?”

“The Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America,” said Cyclops. “Sure, who hasn’t?”

“In the beginning of World War II, the Allies were working on a number of ultimate weapons to stop the Nazis. Atomic bomb was just the most successful,” said Wisdom. “Another one was genetic experimentation. It all started with the Human Torch—he was an accident. An android that had a side effect of being able to control fire. The second was the Sub-Mariner, who was actually a mutant. Back before they became so widespread. But Captain America—that’s a different story.”

Wisdom’s clearance was still valid and he was able to get the three of them into the facility with no problem.

“I would’ve thought SHIELD’s security was better,” said Cyclops.

“This is just a storage facility, but it’s what it stores that’s so incredible,” said Wisdom. “Anyway, the Sub-Mariner’s genes were harvested and used to generate an experimental Super Soldier Serum. It was the work of a man named—”

“Nathaniel Essex,” said Cyclops. Wisdom paused and looked at Cyclops.

“Right. How’d you know that?”

“We ran into him a while back,” said Cyclops.

“I see,” said Wisdom. “Anyway yes, Essex created the Super Soldier Serum. It was tested on numerous candidates but only one was a success—Private Steve Rogers. Transformed his frail body into the ultimate superhuman warrior. It was all part of Operation: REBIRTH, a program initiated and conducted by Weapon X. Rogers was the first Weapon X.”

“And then he and the other Invaders helped win the war,” said Wolverine. “Get to the point, Wisdom.”

“The point, Logan, is that after the war had ended, the international community was a bit scared of the U.S. After all, they had the atomic bomb and the Invaders. Who would dare cross them?”

“So what happened?” asked Cyclops.

“The super soldiers had to be dealt with, obviously,” said Wisdom. “The Torch was easy, he was just deactivated. The Sub-Mariner… no one knows for sure. Rumor has it he was easily bribed and now runs a corporation but nothing’s confirmed. As for Captain America, it was said that he was sent on a mission after some renegade Nazis who had escaped the Allies. The government reported that these Nazis had their own atomic bomb ready and Captain America destroyed it, but lost his life in the process. They said he died a hero.”

“So who’s the guy who I fought?” asked Wolverine.

“Not the same Captain America, I’m afraid,” said Wisdom. “He’s a Marine named John Walker, decorated hero from both Iraq wars. According to his files, he’s good at following orders. Except here’s the thing—the original Captain America isn’t dead.”

“Now I know you’re full of it,” said Wolverine.

“Not at all,” said Wisdom. They arrived at the heart of the complex. Wisdom accessed the control panel and the doors slid open. Inside was a man held in a glass tube of some. The man was completely hairless.

“Gentlemen, I want you to meet Steve Rogers—the original Captain America,” said Wisdom.

“This is insane,” said Cyclops. He placed his hand on the glass. “How is this possible?”

“Suspended animation,” said Wisdom. “See, Weapon X never liked the idea of simply wasting subjects. So they kept him in stasis. For this new Captain America, they wanted someone who was more willing to follow orders.”

“More willing?” asked Wolverine.

“Yeah, Rogers may have been a great man and a superhero and all that, but he was too good,” said Wisdom. “Wasn’t afraid to make tough calls and to go against the government. Higher-ups didn’t like that, they felt Captain America should be America’s weapon. Walker though, he’s willing to follow orders no matter what they are.”

“An’ with this guy on our side, we’ve got a better chance against Fury,” said Wolverine with a smile.

“But why Canada?” asked Cyclops.

“The U.S. obviously got the okay from Canada,” said Wisdom.

“You can revive him, right?” asked Wolverine.

“Wouldn’t have brought you lads here if I couldn’t,” said Wisdom. He approached the console and entered the commands to bring Rogers out of his stasis. “Now it’s just a matter of t—”

Wolverine held up his hand to silence Wisdom. He sniffed the air.

“What’s going on?” asked Cyclops.

SNIKT

“We’re not alone,” said Wolverine.

A gunshot rang out and Wisdom fell to the ground. Both Wolverine and Cyclops prepared themselves as a man stepped forth from the shadows, dressed from head to toe in a red and black costume. He had a gun in one hand and a sword in the other.

“Sorry, but he had it coming. British people are so goddamn pompous, I just had to cap him. Fuckin’ James Bond wannabe.”

“And just who are you supposed to be?” asked Cyclops.

“Guess you could say me and Wolvie over there are brothers.”

“What?” asked Wolverine.

“Yup, we’re both products of Weapon X,” said the masked man. “Name’s Deadpool. Now let’s get our fight scene on.”