ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS

By David Wheatley

Last time I tangled with this joker, my claws didn’t even scratch him. That’s why I’ve got the honour sword of the Clan Yashida. It might not be adamantium but I’m hoping it’s good enough to inflict some pain.

He’s still bleeding from where his laser blast hit him – deflected with the Honour Sword, and he’s on the run. I don’t even know his name, all I know is he killed Tyger and he’s got Viper’s scent on him. That means he knows where she is. That means we’ve a chance to stop this war before it becomes too much.

Madripoor’s not much, but in a way it’s all I got. The X-Men have Chicago and New York, the Avengers the whole blamed world and the Fantastic Four the universe! Madripoor’s not much in comparison, but it’s my city. I lived, breathed and bled here and there are too many good memories here for me to let them be destroyed.

“Logan,” warns Elektra, who’s running after our quarry with me and my bar manager at the Princess, Davey. I look across and I noticed he’s stopped bleeding and the wound has closed.

A healing factor. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Laser blasts, teleportation, healing factor, strength and invulnerability means whoever created him sure did a thorough job. Last time I saw something that thorough was at…

“Aw, cripes,” I mutter, realising what our quarry is. His cryptic comments and every thing else all click in to place. It all makes sense now. “He’s a Weapon X.”

“How many are there?” asks Elektra and I have no answer. I’d thought my last encounter with them had seen an end to the whole blamed project. But this ain’t a Dept H model. Alpha Flight would have said something. Someone is continuing what was started and supposedly finished months ago.

He’s stopped running and we’re quite a way from the main cityscape.

~SCHLUKT~

The claws come out, the sword is drawn and the three of us stand in front of him.

I can handle myself and I know Elektra can as well, but Davey is another thing. Against regular thugs he’s good enough – he run’s the Princess and the clientele ain’t exactly what you’d get in you local Starbucks. This id different this is…

“EXPERIMENT X!” shouts Davey, suddenly holding a really large gun. I’ve seen the kind of weapon before. Zoe Culloden used to have one over her desk at Landau, Luckman and Lake.

“Who are you, little man?” asks X.

“Clean up crew,” said Davey, his eyes narrowing. He gives me a quick glance and I can tell from the look in his eye that he’s one of their operatives. Zoe and me are gonna have words when this is over, and as Davey looks back at X, we begin.

The Dark Neuri looked at the clock on the wall.

“And so it begins,” said the Neuri as he reached out across the Alshra, the spirit plane to observer what was happening in the world outside. As the clock chimed, the fighting began outside once more and Madripoor was once again tearing itself apart. He smiled as everything was going according to plan.

Experiment X was fighting against Wolverine and his friends, in which he expected them to die very slowly, with the exception of Logan who was not to be killed. Instead he would put the vaunted healing factor to the test and find out what its limits truly were.

Then there were the other people in the city. Jessica Drew was trying to find out what the Hand knew and what they were going to do, whilst Yukio was trying to stop the underworld from fighting, for if they stopped and Viper was released then HYDRA would stop. That plan was dependant on Logan succeeding in his rescue mission.

Which brought him back to here, and what his erstwhile partner, Aldus Ferro, was working on. If, in spite of the odds, Logan should come through the fight with Experiment X intact and come to rescue Viper, then they had to prepare for it.

Ferro was a telepath of the highest order, as well as being one of the main forces behind the original Weapon X project. It was Ferro who had altered the memories of the candidates with psionic surgery, creating false memories and planting blocks that even to this day still plagued the candidates. Certainly most of them had been removed but not all.

Now he was working on Viper herself. He was altering her so that her forces did not back down, no matter what was said to her, no matter what they did. If the criminal element of the city did not fight back, they would all be slaughtered. Then Hydra would start on the civilian population and he would make Logan watch as everyone and everything died.

Once Madripoor was taken, then they would all go to America, where he and Logan, under the control of Ferro and with the backing of Hydra would start to systematically destroy the rest of Logan’s life. They would start with the X-Men, where he would sacrifice Ferro to Xavier before killing the cripple himself.

Once the X-Men were taken – and with the split in their ranks it would be child’s play, for not even the crisis with Apocalypse would unite them for long – then they would destroy every one else.

“Well?” he asked of Ferro, as the Psi-Borg emerged from the room he had been working in.

“It’s done,” he said. “Very strong willed. Took a bit of doing, but I don’t think the damage done will be permanent. It should wear off in an hour or two.”

“And if it doesn’t?” hissed the Neuri

“She’ll serve well enough. She just won’t live longer than a month.”

“Sufficient,” said the Neuri, angered at the possibility of losing her, but knowing that a month would be long enough. A lesser psion would not have even given her five minutes more after what Ferro had done to her, but still he had expected more. “Come,” he said. “The fighting has begun again, and the souls of the dying are calling out for succour.”

The power of the Alshra lit the Neuri up and he licked his lips. This would be a good meal.

Jessica Drew awoke to find herself tied to a chair. The last thing she remembered was fighting the Hand. From the look of things she’d lost.

“Hello, Miss Drew,” said the man standing in front of her. Matsu’o Tsurayaba was standing their, looking at her with a grin of his face. The eye patch and bionic hand were a give away, showing the results of tangling with Wolverine and beneath his shoulder length hair were the results of his last visitation by the X-Man.

Where his ears were supposed to be were now metal plates.

“No chance you’ll just let me go?”

“You’ve already asked that,” said Matsu’o pacing in front of her. “In fact, other than that, you’ve said very little. You seem to have a remarkable resistance to the truth serums we’ve given you.”

“Clean living,” she said, worried.

“Of course,” he said. “However, we still need answers from you and since we can’t get them the easy way. We’ll just have to do this the hard way, and Liu Tran here is very good at getting answers.” A ninja walked forward, brandishing some very jagged and very blood stained instruments. “Normally I am adverse to such measures as these but some times the old ways are perfect if you don’t have much time. Now. Why are you here?”

“Go to hell,” she said, trying her bonds, but even with her strength she was having little effect. The worry of earlier intensified, but she would not betray Logan easily. She had been Spider-Woman and was not adverse to pain.

“Fingernails,” said Matsu’o, and Liu Tran pulled a pair of pliers from his belt, and walked behind her. “Is that your final answer?” asked Matsu’o. Jessica stayed silent and he nodded and Liu Tran went to work.

Yukio used the information Morrow had given her to good effect and she had found out a great deal.

This was not a question of honour but another matter entirely. It was a matter of power, a matter of supremacy and a matter of proving themselves.

They were not fighting Hydra beaus they had killed Tyger Tiger, they were fighting because Hydra had declared war by killing the head Crime Lord of the country, the other clan leaders were fighting Hydra to prove their superiority. Whoever gave a decisive defeat to Hydra would be the new man at the top, and that was a prize worth fighting for.

Without a Prince, or a ruler, the throne of Madripoor was up for grabs and whoever controlled the crime would control that as well. Therefore convincing them to stop would not be easy. Tyger’s people had started this, and the others had followed suit.

She had visited a lot of people since meeting Morrow and they had agreed that if Hydra stopped fighting so would they. Nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of ‘Patch’. The legend of what he had done to Shingen’s criminal empire in a day still invoked fear in even the bravest hearts.

Yukio’s presence and involvement in that business only furthered that and they were following suit, but they all refused to stop fighting if Hydra did so first. Without Viper there was very little question of that happening.

Yukio paused for a moment, hiding in the shadows as the fighting continued around her and her thoughts went back to Morrow and Gabriel. It had been many years since they had seen each other. Eleven to be exact.

Her looking after Amiko for Logan in Japan was a penance for that, which was why she had accepted the responsibility. She was with the Silver Samurai at the moment staying with the Clan Yashida, and she wondered what Amiko would think if she knew she had a ‘brother’.

She hated Morrow, she hated what he had done to her twelve years ago, the choice he had forced her to make and she had walked away from him. She had got over them both in time, living her life the way she wanted to. She had found a new love in Logan, but he had not wanted her.

Even now he wanted someone else, and it almost broke her heart again. That had happened with Mariko and she had promised it would not happen again. Logan was a friend now; he would never be anything more, no matter what happened.

She made a quick calculation and knew she had to contact a few more people to make any ceasefire work properly. It wasn’t many more, as word of mouth would get to the lesser criminals and she went back to work, wondering how Logan was getting on in finding Viper.

Experiment X is still standin’. We’re doing squat to him so far, and I’m beginning to get irritated at this. He’s afraid of the sword, that much I can tell as he’s keeping the range right so I can’t use it on him. The claws are no good so I’ve retracted them.

If I hit him hard enough they’ll snap and then they won’t be any good at all. I ave to wait for the right moment to use them, but so far it seems to have passed by if there was one, and X knows it.

His laser blasts are easily dodged as he has to focus on them, and I’ve trained enough with the X-Men to know when they’re coming and I can warn the others.

Elektra’s fighting style’s not quite as sharp as it was a few months ago and its worrying me. I don’t know what’s the matter with her, but I think it’s not anything we can cure with fighting.

It could be that this is the first big fight we’ve been in since the whole business with Chen Yu, but it looks like something more than that. Even in the Princess when she scarred Viper, it was out of character for her and if it weren’t for Tyger I’d have said something.

Then there’s Davey, an operative of Landau, Luckman and Lake. He seems to know a bit about this thing and I could really do with having a word with him, but with Elektra fighting like she is, I don’t think that’s an option.

His weapon seems to be slowing X down, but not doing any damage, and I can’t deflect one of his laser blasts back at him, so it’s a problem except X overpowers us.

“Davey,” I call as I try to get in with the sword again. “What do you know about X?”

“He was created by some remnants of the Weapon X project. One of them is your old friend Aldus Ferro.” I feel my temperature rise at the mention of that name. He killed Silver Fox, using Sabretooth as his weapon, and I owe him for that.

“What else?” I ask, as Davey fires again, hitting him dead square, but looking on in frustration as the weapon’s energy seems to do nothing and he quickly alters the frequency of the energy pulse again, trying to find the one that matches the laser blast of X.

“He was created using specifics from the other projects, details acquire and so forth. Landau, Luckman and Lake sent me here to find and stop Experiment X.” He looks up and mutters, “the folder’s not closed yet, John.”

“What have L,L and L got to do with the Project?” I ask. Something stinks here, and I want to know what it is.

“Another time Logan,” said Davey, then looks at me. “I’ve only got enough energy for one more shot.”

“Wait for my signal,” I say and I nod to Elektra. She knows she’s not fighting as well as she should be, the look in here eyes tells me so. There’s something else there as well. Fear, and she backs off and I charge in again, throwing the honour sword to one side and with a flex of the muscles in my arms, I release the claws, and make a swing for his chest.

“I thought you’d do better than that,” he says I make my attack, but as he speaks, I retract the claws again and twist my hand to punch his open mouth. I’m guessing his skin may be invulnerable, but what’s inside isn’t.

I fall back, shaking my hand, because it was like punching a brick wall, but I’ve done some damage. The inside of his mouth is bleeding and his two front teeth are cracked.

“How’s that?” I ask, as he wipes the blood from his mouth and the others get in on the act, knowing that was my signal. Davey fires, and Elektra charges forward, wielding the sword.

The energy blast does nothing but the sword cuts in to him, and he cries out for the first time since we started attacking. There’s blood dripping down from his chest from where Elektra got a slice in, but it’s not a cry of pain, but one of rage and he swats her with a powerful blow.

With her reflexes dulled she doesn’t avoid it in time, and she’s sent flying, and the sword spirals out of her hand, striking Davey, who falls to the floor. The blade’s hurt him bad, I can see it from here but I don’t have time to check on either him or Elektra.

~SCHLUKT~

The claws on my right hand come out again and I drive them in to the fresh wound before his healing factor closes it. He winces as the claws strike home, tearing in to X’s body, forcing the skin to yield. As the claws go in it stripes the top layers of the bone of with a screeching sound.

Pain shoots down my arms but I don’t care. We have the advantage and this time he’s wounded bad. I tyr and pull my claws loose but they’re wedged in, and I can’t even retract them.

Then I taste the air as strange scebnt arrives. It’s almost sulphurous, and when it clears I can sense someone else, and I know I have no choice and pull hand free, snapping the claws off and leaving them embedded in Experiment X.

I unsheathe my remaining claws and confront Matsu’o Tsuryaba, standing over Elektra, a katana of his own in his hand. The smell of sulphur must have been from a teleportation spell.

“What’re you doin’ here, bub?”

“I came to have a little chat with your lady love,” he smiles. “When Jessica said you were going after Viper, I knew you’d run in to Experiment X. Whilst he’s keeping you busy, I’ll resolve a small problem for… uhh!”

Matsu’o falls to the floor as Elektra swings her legs out and knocks his legs from under him, and she jumps up.

“I’ll deal with him,” she says looking at me, and I can see she needs to take her aggressions out on someone for being caught so easily by X. Then her eyes widen. “Logan, look out!” I turn and see X standing there, ready to fire his laser beam.

I move quickly but it burns through my left arm, making a clean hole and my arm goes numb as the damage takes effect, and X takes a swing at me knocking me to the floor.

Elektra can’t help me as she and Matsu’o are fighting, her sais versus his katana, the latest round of the Chaste against the Hand, and I look up as Experiment X who stands down on my chest, pinning me. My left arm’s useless and my right won’t do much more with the bone stumps sticking out, impeding my ability to grip properly. X primes his laser blast at me once more and looks down.

“My orders are to take you alive,” he says, as he looks me in the eye. “So this isn’t a killing blast and won’t do that much damage.” The blast fires but doesn’t hit me, as Davey manages to throw the honour sword at him. It deflects the beam in to X’s neck as well as stabbing in to him, and comes out the other side.

“Lucky for you,” he says, before falling to his knees as the loss of blood starts to get to him. “Mission accomplished.”

Elektra gave Matsu’o a glancing blow on the side of the head with the sai, making a clang. The ringing in his ears kept him off balance and she placed the ball of her hand it to his Adam’s apple, knocking him to the floor and ran over to Davey.

I smile at the irony, because if I hadn’t cut his ears off, he’d never have had the metal in place to allow Elektra to get the better of him. My arm’s not so numb now, as my healing factor starts to do its thing and using my other hand, I guide it to Experiment X, and place the claws on the exposed bit of his neck.

“Start talkin’,” I growl. “Or start dyin’.” He closes his eyes, as if he’s makin’ his mind up, but I know the look when someone’s calling out telepathically. You don’t hang around with people like Chuck and Jean not to notice it. “See ya, bub.”

“Wait,” he calls, as I’m about to drive my claws through his neck. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

He fills me in on all of it including the origins of Experiment X, Aldus Ferro and the furred creature that gives the orders. He also says where Viper’s being held.

“Thanks, bub,” I say when he finishes, then push my claws through his throat anyway. As he gasps for air, I pull the sword from his body and lop off his head as he does an impression of a fish out of water. “And that’s for Tyger.”

I turn to see how Davey’s doing, but Elektra is just moving her hand from his eyes. They’re closed and his head is limp, and I know he’s gone. His job for Landau, Luckman and Lake is over, his mission accomplished.

“And for Davey,” I add to the headless corpse below me. Elektra walks over to me as I speak and I look at her. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m not feeling so good, but I’ll be fine. What do we do now?”

“You go back to find the others. I’m going to confront Ferro and his partner. If it’s who I think it is, it’s going to be trouble. It’s going to be a tough one, darlin’. If you’re not on top of your game…” I don’t have to finish it.

“What about you?” she asks.

“My arm’s healing fine, but my claws have been halved.” I retract the stumps back in to my right hand. It hurts worse than normal because of the jagged ends, but I’ve taken worse. “I’ve got my sword, and I think it’s time I called in some extra help.”

“Who do you have in mind?” she asks and I smile.

“It’s a surprise. Meet you back at the Princess.” She nods then looks at Matsu’o.

“What about him?”

“Huh.” I walk over to him, where he’s just stirring, and punch him in the face. “Leave him there. We’ve more important things to do.”

I’m gonna end this war, or die tryin’.