THE TIES THAT BIND

By David Wheatley

Victor Creed was not happy.

Well, not completely. He’d come to Weapon X to have the adamantium that laced his bones fixed8 by the doctors at Weapon X, only to run in to Wolverine and Juggernaut. As usual, when Wolverine and Sabretooth came one on one, a fight broke out. Creed nearly beat Logan, but at a great cost, in Creed’s opinion.

Logan, who had been terrified of Sabretooth’s enhancement, had seen that Creed had lost it, that Creed wasn’t good enough to hold on to it. The scales were balanced. They were equals now… a primal Cain and Abel.

Logan knew it, and Creed knew it. Both of them also knew how that story ended. Creed had been stopped thanks to the interference of Logan’s companions, Cain Marko and Wade Wilson, a.k.a. the Juggernaut and Deadpool respectively. They then left him, unconscious, and returned inside the Project to finish their different businesses.

Deadpool had gone after Black Tom Cassidy, to kill him for earlier grievances, and Marko had gone to stop Deadpool from hurting Tom. Logan had gone the other way, and Creed could taste the air and tell why…

He could smell Maverick. He could also smell Alpha Flight. He could smell their blood…

That was where Logan was heading, and that was where Creed would find him.

This was not going well, though Maverick.

He had teamed up with Alpha Flight to stop the new Weapon X and to end this damned Project once and for all. Didn’t they know when enough was enough?

He heard a noise behind him, as the Alphan’s kept on at Weapon X. Could he have got behind them? Was there another one?

He drew his guns and turned to see nobody there. ‘I’m getting paranoid!’ he thought, and turned back to see the advancing forms of Canada’s premier superteam. Premier and only, he thought, and almost walked in to the man who stood before him.

“Watch we’re yer, goin’, bub!” said the voice, stained by years of cheap cigars and alcohol.

“Logan,” said Maverick, seeing the X-Man in front of him. “What brings you here?”

“Same as the rest of the old gang,” said Wolverine. Pointing a stubby finger at Weapon X, Wolverine asked “That the new model?”

“Yeah,” said Maverick, “complete with death virus.”

“Just like Arkady,” they said in unison.

~SCHLUKT!~

“Mav, you got a charge?” asked Logan, quickly surveying the situation.

“Why?”

“Because I need a boost, an’ I figure if that Cajun Gambit can do it, so can you.” Wolverine had once been boosted up a building by Gambit’s kinetic charge, and he hoped that Maverick could do the same.

Maverick smiled. “Hold on a sec…” he said, and punched a nearby wall with his gauntleted fist. Absorbing the kinetic energy, he did what the X-Man asked. “A fastball special, Team-X style!” grinned Maverick, and Wolverine found himself propelled through the air as if he had been thrown by Colossus himself.

“Heads up Alpha!” cried Logan, as he flew towards Weapon X.

“Logan!” cried Heather.

“Wolverine!” cried Mac.

“Who the bloody…?” cried Weapon X, as Logan slashed at him with his claws, his healing factor taking care of the death virus’s immediate effect. He opened up a wound on the creation, allowing Alpha Flight to act as one on the enemy.

Then Logan caught a scent…

“Sabretooth,” he growled, and looked over, to see Creed stalking Maverick.

“North! Creed!” he shouted, hoping Maverick could hear his warning, and he started to run towards his former C.I.A. teammates.

Meanwhile, Black Tom was stalking the complex, searching for Deadpool. He had a score to settle with the Merc-With-A-Mouth, one that had been interrupted earlier.

Deadpool had been separated from him in a fortuitous explosion. Fortuitous in that it had managed to shut Wilson up, but not so fortuitous in that it had separated them. This time, however, Black Tom swore Deadpool would lose more than a hand!

He eventually came across Wade, who had found himself in a fight with the Juggernaut. Deadpool was down to the bare minimum of weapons, as he leapt and somersaulted, trying to keep out of Cain’s grasp.

“I don’t care!” cried Marko, “You ain’t touching Tom!”

“Oh, he’s your special friend, eh Lenny?” quipped Deadpool, who was dodging Juggernauts blows. He knew better than to go one on one with him, and was hoping to make a getaway, gut Cassidy, and get the hell out and back in time for Baywatch.

Then he was hit by a blast of bio electric energy from behind, and Wilson hit the deck, feeling the skin on his back blister and peel from the blast.

“Tom?” inquired the Juggernaut.

“Aye, boyo,” replied Tom, “Mind if I take this dance?”

“What happened?” asked Juggernaut, trying to figure out what was going on.

“He did it again!” sighed Deadpool. “I hate reruns! It always the same in summer… re-runs, re-runs, re-runs!”

“I’ve been enhanced,” said Tom, shifting from his wood form to human and back again. “Weapon X technology has made me the best o’ both worlds!”

“Great!” said Deadpool, “Now we have Lenny and Squiggy!” He sent one of his blades hurtling towards Black Tom, but Marko caught it, bent it in half, and flicked it back at Deadpool. His stood in front of Tom, blocking any attempt from Deadpool to harm his friend.

“Forget it, Deadpool!” stated Cain. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re all even.”

“Even-schmeven! Those things don’t come from Wal-Mart!” cried Deadpool, picking up his now useless blade. He flung it to one side, cursing, and leapt at the Juggernaut…

Far away from the chaos, the man called John Wraith watched the whole event as it unfolded via a set of monitors that displayed feedback from the Weapon X facility’s security cameras. He smiled as he watched as matters progressed.

Alpha Flight and Maverick didn’t stand a chance against Weapon X, but if they had Wolverine on side as well, that gave them an opening.

Sabretooth was a distraction, nothing more. A distraction Logan was capable of taking out of play.

What concerned Wraith was Juggernaut and Black Tom. Cassidy had been enhanced by the technicians, but to just shift from human form to wood an back again? Wraith frowned. There had to be more to it that that. Still, it was good to see Marko as the voice of reason. He was progressing well, for someone who had, until recently, been nothing but a constant thorn in the X-Men’s side.

Finally, there was Deadpool. However that wasn’t his bag – he was someone else’s project, just like Wolverine was…

Maverick couldn’t hear Logan over the sounds of battle, but his precognitive abilities kicked in, and as Sabretooth slashed, he moved, taking only the barest of scratches.

“#@%&!” he shouted for the second time today, thanking all the gods that ever were that his precognitive powers had come back or he’d have been the first one to fall in battle. His armour was compromised – another job for Isabel – and that meant he was more vulnerable to the death virus of the new Weapon X.

“That was fast, North,” growled Creed, “but I can still taste your blood!” He licked the tips of his claws to punctuate his statement. “Not as sweet as your girlfriend’s, though…”

Maverick was about to charge at Creed, to make him pay for those words, but he was interrupted by a feral roar. He looked up as Logan tackled Sabretooth, flying over Maverick’s head.

#@%&!” he said again, and then decided to leave them to it. When those two fought, it was best not to get in the way. He turned his attention back to Alpha Flight and Weapon X.

The Canadians were more or less oblivious to the whole Creed/Logan/Maverick confrontation that was going on, as they had more pressing troubles of their own. Logan’s opening had provided them their best shot yet, but technology at the Weapon X Project had improved over the years, and now that point of aggravation for Weapon X was no longer effective.

“Mac!” cried Puck, “What do you suggest we do now?”

“I don’t know,” replied the former leader of Alpha Flight, James MacDonald Hudson, a.k.a. Vindicator, “but we have to stop this man somehow!”

Suddenly, a steam blast caught Weapon X unawares as he dodged a lunge from Sasquatch. He quickly recovered, however, and smiled under his concealing black mask. “Welcome back, luv!” he said to the new arrival on the scene.

“That’s for blindsiding me back in Huxley’s office!” cried Heather Hudson, the current leader of Alpha Flight codenamed Guardian, as she rocketed onto the scene of the fight. Landing next to Vindicator, Heather said, “I bought some more help, Mac!”

“That’d be our cue!” cried Garrison Kane, another former Weapon X, as he fired his detachable cybernetic hands at the newest bearer of the codename. His companion, the shape-shifting Copycat, joined in the assault with the hi-tech firearms she wielded. Neither attacks were effective, as the new Weapon X dodged all the projectiles shot at him.

“Maverick joined Kane and Copycat in their assault, using his laser-targetting device to try and get a lock on Weapon X. “What’re you doing here, Kane?” shouted Maverick over the din of the automatic gunfire.

“Came here to rescue Vanessa,” Garrison shouted back, “and we thought you lot could use some more help!”

“The more the merrier!” roared Sasquatch as he swept a massive shaggy arm toward Weapon X, “Hopefully one of us will connect with him!”

“We barely stopped him before,” replied Puck, “and even then he was helping us!”

“Of course!” said Maverick as he approached the team, “We’re going about this all wrong. We need to…” He staggered as the death virus invaded his system.

“Maverick!” cried Puck, “What did you mean? How can we stop him?”

“Not… with… fighting…” struggled Maverick. He’d survived the Legacy Virus, he was damned if this one would kill him.

Deadpool found himself caught in mid-leap. The Juggernaut had extended one massive hand, and grabbed Wilson’s leg as he tried to karate kick Cain.

“Ya don’t get it, do ya?” said Juggernaut, righting Wilson up and grabbing him around the throat. “This fight is over! Ya dumped us out of a plane, and Tom had yer hand cut off. This is just petty squabbling, an’ we got better things ta do, don’t we?”

“No!” said the other two, Deadpool having more difficulty due to the lack of oxygen.

“I’ll kill ye both!” said Tom, the influence of Weapon X still strong within him.

Juggernaut sighed, “Sorry fer this, Tom!” With a flick of his hand, he sent Black Tom Cassidy flying into a wall. Marko knew that the brainwashing techniques of the Project were good, as he himself had been brainwashed into thinking he was a security guard for the Project. He’d find the man responsible, Huxley, and tear this place down around his ears.

“Ya still wanna fight?” said Marko to Wilson, as he dropped Deadpool to the floor. “Here I am!”

“Whaddo I look like, Dan Quayle?” said Wilson, rubbing his throat. “Of course not Juggy-buns, but this isn’t over between Cassidy and me!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” said Juggernaut, more interested in finding Huxley and fixing his friend than the ramblings of a psycho. Cain scooped up Tom in one hand, and headed off to find Huxley.

“At least fix my sword before you go!” shouted Wade after him, but to no avail. He looked around for his other sword, and saw it embedded in the floor. The Juggernaut had stomped on it, and now not only was it flat, but pressed firmly into the ground.

“This is the kind of day that makes you want to kill Regis!” said Wilson, and decided to cut his losses and go home.

We’re the best we are at what we do, and what we do is try to kill each other.

My name’s Logan, better known as Wolverine, and my sparring partner here is Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth.

He’s killed a lot o’ good friends of mine, and some enemies as well, but in the end it’s only ’cause he wants to kill me himself.

Of course, it ain’t happened yet. He’s bigger and stronger than I am, but I’m faster and more cunning. He’s all rage, and I channel my rage to fuel my actions. Shame you can’t tell the difference if you watch us in action.

Since I lost my adamantium all those months ago, I’ve felt inferior. I felt I was losing it, an’ I nearly did. Genesis did more to me than Magneto ever could, when he tried to make me one o’ his Horsemen. He paid the ultimate price, though, as my feral side took over completely.

After an old friend of mine, Elektra, helped me regain my humanity, Creed got the adamantium. My former advantage was now his. The scales had been shifted again, and I was afraid. I was afraid he was a better man than I was. I was afraid he’d let nobody steal from him, what Magneto had stolen from me.

Life’s chock full of surprises. Now he’s lost the metal, and he’d had it for a fraction of the time I did. Can’t have been Magneto, as he’s been quiet for a while and if he was active, the X-Men would know about it.

That means Polaris… she ain’t Magneto, and that’s gotta stick it Creed’s gut so hard he can taste it. Thanks to her, I ain’t afraid any more.

He’s not a better man than I am… we’re the same. I’m just a better person.

Heather glanced over at Logan and Creed who were going at it tooth and claw. No quarter asked, none given. She was terrified for Logan, but she knew that he would win. He always did.

Maverick, however, was another story. As Shaman worked his magicks on Maverick, Heather and Mac doubled their efforts, draining whatever power they could from their battle suits in an onslaught against Weapon X. The rest of Alpha Flight, along with Kane and Copycat, were also doing their best to catch Weapon X, but he nimbly avoided all their efforts, making them all appear slow and clumsy.

“Juggernaut… stopped him by talking…” gasped Maverick, “Talk to him…” Then he faded out again.

“Mac!” called Heather.

“I heard,” said James MacDonald Hudson, and remembering back to the first time they met Weapon X, he decided to reason with him. After all, he knew how far the brainwashing at the Project went. The right tone of voice would get through to them. After all, it had worked with Wolverine all those years ago…

“You wanted your end to be something special, to be something other than a Weapon,” said Vindicator, using the words and tone of his voice very carefully. “You wanted to quell an evil, but see what you’ve become!”

“I…” said Weapon X, stopping. “But…”

The members of Alpha Flight, along with Kane and Copycat stood down, whilst Hudson played his hand. The only sounds were those of him talking, and of Wolverine and Creed’s fight further down the corridor.

“You saved Canada before,” said Vindicator, “is destroying it now what you want?”

“I don’t… I’m not…”

“They stole your mind… your memories… do you want to be like those two?” said Hudson pointing down the corridor to Logan and Creed. “Or Maverick? This isn’t the way. It wasn’t too late before, and it isn’t now…”

“But the virus…” said Weapon X, uncertain of himself.

“Viruses… can be stopped…” struggled Maverick. “I’m… proof of that…”

“You can help me, mate?” asked Weapon X.

“Not me… but I know some people… who can…” said Maverick.

“You do?” asked Weapon X.

“Yeah… in Australia… a Project with scientists that could cure you…”

“Hold on a moment,” chimed in Sasquatch, ever the scientist, “how can the virus be contained in the meantime?”

“With… this!” said Maverick as he fired a pellet from a gun he had kept concealed. The pellet struck Weapon X, and instantly coated him in a metal skin, rendering him helpless.

“Manbot!” ordered Guardian, “Status of Weapon X?”

“Weapon X is now coated in a carbonadium shell. Stasis achieved. Survival rate 97%…”

“That’s unacceptable!” said Mac, facing up to Maverick who holstered the adapted carbonadium synthesiser.

“You work your way, I work mine,” said Maverick. Looking down the corridor at the pair of feral mutants, he grumbled, “Now we have a few loose ends to tie up…”

Kane sighed, “Okay, let’s go break ’em up…”

~SLASH!~

~GASH!~

~TEAR!~

~STAB!~

~CRACK!~

The actions sounded as what they were. The term in English literature is onomatopoeia… words that sound as they do. Mental and physical working in unison to create a synergetic response. However, the significance of what was going on was lost on Creed and Logan, who were there only to stop the other, once and for all.

They were tiring, that was visible enough. Their wounds – from the viral contagion entering their bloodstream, from their earlier battles, and the damage they were doing to each other now – were causing their healing factors to work overtime. It all came down to who’s was the best.

Sabretooth’s had been shown to be that before, but in the previous weeks his body had taken too much damage. The recent fights, the loss of adamantium, the virus – it was all too much.

Logan had been there before, and his healing factor could take the pressure. With a final thrust of his claws, it was over.

Sabretooth dropped to the floor, his heart pierced by a single claw. Logan stood back, admiring his handiwork until he collapsed to the floor in wounded exhaustion.

Creed wasn’t dead, he knew that. Creed wouldn’t die that easily – there was too much mean in him to let this one go, but Logan didn’t care. For now he’d won, but as for next time, who could tell?

“Or maybe not…” grumbled Kane.

“Bravo…” said Maverick, the same kind of exhaustion on his face. “You up for finding Huxley? Only you can find his scent in a mess this big…”

“Bub,” sighed Logan as he slumped on the floor, “I don’t have the energy to open a can o’ brew right now!”

“Huxley can’t get away!” said Vindicator, with vehemence in his voice. “We’ve come too far just to see him escape again!”

“An’ he won’t,” said a voice. All the assembled heroes turned their heads to see Cain Marko standing at the end of the corridor. In one huge hand he held Black Tom, in the other he held Huxley, who was deathly still. “Don’t worry, he ain’t dead,” smiled the Juggernaut, “I may have changed my ways recently but I ain’t that nice!”

“What do you mean?” asked Guardian, her battle suit drained of much of its power.

“Well I figgered that this creep oughtta pay for what he’s done to all o’ us, even though I managed to get the scientists to reverse what they did to Tom, an’ killin’ him would’ve let him outta that. Besides, killin’ him would only be a one second thing… he fainted before I even raised my fist! I want his pain to last a long time…”

“Cruel but effective,” noted Puck. “Don’t worry, the good Doctor won’t be seeing any patients for a very long time, eh!”

“Good!” said Juggernaut, and tossed Huxley over to Sasquatch. “Now all o’ you chumps better leave.”

“Why?” asked Sasquatch.

“‘Cause like I told Maverick, I aim ta bury this place once an’ fer all!”

“Works for me,” said Maverick.

“Logan, Maverick,” said Vindicator, “Manbot will carry you and Weapon X out of here.” Hudson noted the irony of it.

“What about Sabretooth?” asked Kane.

“Don’t worry about him, kid,” said Logan, “he’ll find his own way out…”

“But…”

“We don’t have time!” said Vindicator, looking over to see the Juggernaut preparing to tear down the Project. Mac took to the air with the little power he had. “Alpha Flight, move out!”

At a safe distance, they watched the Project become nothing more than tons of rubble and twisted metal at the hands of the Juggernaut. As Cain began his demolition work, punching through walls and support beams alike, security guards and scientists fled the building, scrambling into the nearby woods.

“Good ta see him in action from this side fer a change!” commented Logan, his wounds starting to knit together as his healing factor managed to catch up with his injuries.

“I don’t see Creed…” noted Maverick, “Think he bought it?”

“Nah, not likely,” said Logan, “he’ll have found a way outta this…”

Garrison Kane turned away from the rubble and put an arm around Copycat’s shoulders. “Come on Vanessa, let’s go home…”

She smiled up at him as they headed off. Garrison turned back and briefly nodded in appreciation to Wolverine.

Logan nodded back, then extended a hand to Maverick, who clasped it in return. “Good working with ya again, North.”

“Almost like old times,” said North.

“Almost too much,” said Logan, looking at the metallic coated form of Weapon X. “Almost too much…”

Maverick turned to Puck, “Make sure you get Weapon X here delivered to Australia, okay? That carbonadium coating will keep him on ice until he gets there.”

“Count on it, eh!” replied Puck, shaking Maverick’s hand.

Guardian approached Wolverine, a look of concern on her face. “Will you be okay, Logan?”

“Sure Heather, you know it’ll take a lot more than Sabretooth to keep me down fer long!” smiled Wolverine. He hugged Heather briefly, and shook hands with the remainder of Alpha Flight. “Just make sure Huxley gets what’s comin’ to him…”

“Oh, we will Logan!” said Mac, as Alpha Flight headed for their nearby AlphaJet to return to Department H and make Huxley answer for his crimes, and to deliver the incapacitated Weapon X to Australia.

“Hey Mac!” Wolverine called after him, “Got room fer two more?”

“Always for you old friend!” smiled Vindicator in response. Wolverine and Maverick accompanied Alpha Flight onboard their jet, and before long it was streaking through the darkening Canadian sky, leaving the shattered remains of the Project behind.

Unseen by the assembled heroes, Deadpool hid in the cover of the treeline that surrounded the Project. As he watched the Project crumble, you could almost see him smiling underneath his red and black mask.

“Good!” he whispered to himself, and headed off into the woods.

Cain Marko emerged from the rubble of the Project. Dusting his hands off, he looked around and admired his handiwork, allowing himself a small smirk at what he’d accomplished.

He headed over to where he had lain Black Tom before commencing his demoliton work, as a loud roaring noise attracted his attention upward, where he saw the AlphaJet race across the sky.

“Aww, that’s just flamin’ great!” he muttered, “Now I gotta walk back!”

In the monitor room, Wraith nodded in satisfaction. Finally, a chapter of the business was closed. The books would be balanced and the embarrassment that Weapon X had been to Landau, Luckman, and Lake had been atoned for.

Wraith smiled, and closed the file that lay before him. The file that was filled to the brim with photographs, diagrams, schematics, and almost an entire ream of handwritten notes. The file that bore the name ‘Logan’ on the cover. He tucked it under his arm, walked to the door and turned out the light, letting the secrets that had been revealed be swallowed by the darkness.