Canada

The mutant known as Logan had lived an extremely long life. He had suffered great loss, experienced great joy, and been through trials that would have broken an ordinary man. And then, with his famed healing factor burnt out, he still kept on fighting, and kept on fighting until he was killed by his greatest enemy.

John Wraith had been there through some of Logan’s trials. But the rumors of his old friend’s death had been greatly exaggerated. Because now, standing before Wraith, was the Wolverine himself. Even more so, he appeared to be in better shape than ever. His body looked strong and youthful, with gleaming, adamantium claws extending from his hands. But in his eyes was nothing of the man Wraith had once known.

“Logan, it’s me, Wraith,” he said.

The Wolverine reacted as any animal would have and lashed out, lunging towards Wraith with his adamantium claws. The gunman vanished from the path of the claws, teleporting a bit behind the Wolverine.

“Zero, stop that thing!” shouted Brent Jackson.

Agent Zero followed the orders, raising his guns and opening fire on the Wolverine. The bullets perforated the mutant’s body, leaving bloody holes all over his naked flesh. The Wolverine raised his arms to defend himself, but that did nothing more than provide another target. Zero continued firing until his guns clicked impotently, their ammunition spent.

Logan’s healing factor was gone, and that in part led to his death. But now, his body was working in overtime, the bullets being pushed out of his body as the wounds closed almost instantly, leaving no indication of damage other than the blood that had leaked out.

The Wolverine roared an animalistic howl and charged at Agent Zero. The Weapon X assassin back-flipped to keep some distance, ejecting the spent clips from his weapons. He continued flipping back until he reached the wall, the Wolverine still slashing blindly and angrily. Zero bounded off the wall, placing in fresh clips as he did, and flew past the Wolverine, firing back at him.

Wraith rejoined the fight as well, appearing behind Agent Zero and opening fire on him. The assassin fell down, blood flowing from his gut. Wraith now stood facing off against the Wolverine, who just stared him down, pausing for a moment. The animal wasn’t sure whether this new target was friend or foe.

“I’m sorry about this, buddy,” said Wraith before pulling the trigger. The round struck the Wolverine in the forehead and he fell back. But almost instantly, he hopped to his feet growling, the forehead wound already healed. Rather than go after Wraith, he turned and went to the wall, using his claws to carve a hole in there, the sound of the klaxons that sounded overloading his heightened sense of hearing and driving him into more of a rage. Wraith fired a few more times, but it wasn’t enough to deter the Wolverine.

Soon, he broke through the wall and ran off into the Canadian wilderness. Wraith holstered his guns as Weapon X reinforcements stormed into the room. “Well, shit.” He teleported from the facility just as the guards opened fire on where he once stood.

“Hold your fire!” shouted Jackson. “They’re both gone.”

He walked over to Agent Zero’s body and knelt down beside it. Zero took in a deep breath and coughed, slowly getting to his feet. He examined the exit wound, which had already begun to heal.

“Motherfucker,” he muttered. “I’m gonna put a bullet in Wraith’s damn skull.”

Jackson stood and took a cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a number and when he heard the voice answer, he explained the situation. “Director, it’s Agent Jackson. We had an incident. The subject once known as Kestrel somehow uncovered what we were doing and attacked. During the attack, Weapon X got loose. We have to assemble a retrieval team.”

“No,” said the Director.

“But…”

“If John Wraith knows about our operation, then that means there are more powerful forces that also know. We’ve been compromised and we have to proceed with with Plan B.”

“Yes, sir. Understood,” said Jackson. He turned off the phone and placed it in his pocket. “Change of plans, Zero. We’re moving on to the contingency plan.”

AFTER DEATH

Part II

By Dino Pollard

Japan

The man called Daken had just escaped from a hospital where he was being questioned by Kenuichio Harada, the Silver Samurai. Now he was jumping across the rooftops of Tokyo, but he wasn’t alone. A figure clad from head to toe in black was following close behind, and though Daken’s pursuer had been clever enough to stay clear, now the wind had shifted and he could pick up the scent easily.

Daken increased his speed, moving down into the alleys of Shinjuku. He quickly fell into one of the back roads, staying out of sight. The ninja followed as best as possible, but was soon standing alone in an alley, not sure of where to go next.

From above, Daken attacked, bone claws extending from his hands. The ninja noticed at the last instant and flipped away, Daken’s claws narrowly missing. Now that he had a good look at his opponent, Daken could tell from the figure that he was dealing with a woman—and a small one at that. She drew a katana from the scabbard tied to her back.

Daken charged forward and she used her blade to deflect his strikes. There was something odd about this ninja, though. Unlike Matsu’o Tsurayaba, who attacked Daken with ferocity, the ninja stayed on the defensive. Daken tested this a few times by even giving her openings to attack him, but she never did.

Finally, Daken took a few steps back, his claws still unsheathed and regarding her carefully. “This isn’t a fight, it’s a dance. Who are you and what do you want?”

“I overheard your conversation with my uncle.” The ninja pulled her mask off. Beneath it was the face of a teenage Japanese girl. “My name is Amiko Kobayashi. And I’m your sister.”

Madripoor

John Wraith appeared in front of the remains of a small office with a damaged sign outside that read LANDAU, LUCKMAN & LAKE. He walked into the office and went to a door labeled W.C. Instead of leading to a bathroom, it served as a link to Landau, Luckman & Lake’s pan-dimensional offices. Seated behind a large desk was a young, attractive woman with short, blond hair. The nameplate on her desk read ZOE CULLODEN, OVERBOSS.

“You’re back sooner than expected,” said Zoe.

“And unfortunately, I bring bad fucking tidings,” said Wraith. “Unfortunately, our intel was correct—Weapon X is back in action and they’ve managed to resurrect the Wolverine.”

Zoe sighed. “Goddammit. This is just what I need… Did you manage to stop them?”

“Kinda,” said Wraith. “But he’s on the loose and there’s more. It looks like your suspicions were right—there was barely a glimmer of recognition. He didn’t have any real idea who I was and was acting pretty much purely on instinct. Like a cornered animal.”

“I figured,” said Zoe, leaning back in her chair. “The man we knew as Logan is dead, Expediter. What’s left behind is a weapon of mass destruction that has to be stopped.”

“Which ain’t gonna be easy,” said Wraith. “We know how Logan operates, but a savage animal running wild? There’s no rhyme or reason to anything he does, so how the hell can we expect to find him?”

“That’s not true,” said Zoe. “You said it yourself—he’s acting on instinct. And when an animal is scared, they’ll go for the familiar. And there’s only one home Logan has ever really known, isn’t there?”

Wraith gave a solemn nod. “Yeah, suppose you’re right. But I really hoped we wouldn’t have to get them involved in this. Y’know they won’t be happy with what’s gotta be done.”

“Then you’ll just have to figure it out for yourself,” said Zoe. “Now go, before it’s too late.”

Japan

“Sister?” asked Daken, retracting his bone claws back into his forearms. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, foster sister,” said Amiko. “My mom was killed by a dragon when I was a kid.”

Daken opened his mouth to comment, but Amiko held up her hand. “Don’t ask. Anyway, Logan rescued me from the dragon and with my mom’s last words, she begged him to look after me. He gave his word he would. He gave me to what he thought was a good foster family and sent money, but they were scumbags who treated me like crap. And once Logan found out, he came and took me from them and gave me to a good family.”

“And you said you overheard your uncle talking about me?” asked Daken. “Does that mean…oh crap, you live with the Silver freaking Samurai?”

Amiko grinned. “Yup. I answered the phone when the call came in and once he picked it up, I stayed on for a bit. When I heard words like ‘claws’ and ‘fast healing,’ I had to see what was going on. So I tailed him.”

“Why?” asked Daken.

Amiko sighed. “I thought…maybe you were Logan, back from the dead.”

Daken raised an eyebrow. “Why would you think that?”

“It’s not the first time Logan’s cheated death,” said Amiko. “Ever since he died, I kept feeling that he might come back some day. I had these…strange dreams. I saw him fighting a guy with a red bird on his chest. But he wasn’t like he was when I last saw him. He was full of life again. I never saw the end of the dream, but I thought maybe this meant he could still be out there somewhere.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, kid,” said Daken.

Amiko placed her hands on her hips. “Forget about all that. How come Logan never told me about you?”

“I don’t think he ever knew about me,” said Daken.

“Oh.”

Daken picked up another scent from above. His claws extended and Amiko looked up. “Oh crap…” she muttered.

Shuriken flew into the alley, and Daken jumped back, deflecting them with his claws. A woman clad in black and with short hair fell silently and gracefully to the alley, looking up at Daken with a scowl on her attractive face as she drew a sword.

“Yukio!” cried Amiko. “Matte kudasai! Kenka shinaide!”

“Ato de, Ami-chan. Cho okori ni natteru!” shouted Yukio in an angry tone, never taking her eyes off Daken.

“I’m not interested in a fight,” said Daken.

“Too bad for you, I am!” shouted Yukio, charging at Daken. He ducked the katana swing and tackled Yukio, the two of them rolling on the ground. Daken got up first, standing beside Amiko, who tried to stop them.

“Don’t do this!”

“Friend of yours?” asked Daken.

“She’s kind of like my aunt,” said Amiko.

Daken rolled his eyes. “Our family’s kinda screwed up, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

Yukio leapt at Daken, bringing her sword down. Daken held his claws over his head to block the strike. He pushed back, forcing Yukio to stumble slightly. She righted herself and thrust forward, Daken barely avoiding the strike. As he spun around her, he drove his elbow into the side of her head and shoved her against the wall. Daken held his fist over her throat, two of his claws placed on either side of her neck. The third claw emerged from below his arm, inching carefully towards her throat.

“Daken, stop!” shouted Amiko.

“Only if she agrees to back off,” said Daken, staring at Yukio.

But the beautiful ronin just smiled. “Why would I? You’re the one who’s about to lose yours.”

“What?” asked Daken, but then he detected the new scent and heard Amiko’s scream. Before he could react, he felt a burning pain across his back and he collapsed to the ground.

The Silver Samurai stood over Daken, dressed in his full armor. He held his katana in his hand, his mutant power generating a tachyon field around the blade. The Samurai raised his sword and struck Daken again, and the world went black.

Xavier Institute
Westchester, New York

Kitty Pryde sat alone deep in the underground levels of the Xavier Institute. The entire school was empty at the moment. The school’s headmaster, Hank McCoy, had arranged for a field trip for them to the United Nations where Jean Grey, appointed President of the nation of Genosha, was giving a speech about the new country’s progress. The X-Men had all accompanied as well, but Kitty chose to remain behind.

All the X-Men except for Jean’s husband, Scott Summers. After the revelation that he sanctioned his brother’s terrorist team of X-Men, he was still on the outs with the rest of the team. But Kitty had other things on her mind, regarding the recent loss of her best friend, and she just wanted to be alone. Which she did by looking through old files in the X-Men’s files.

She’d been watching recordings of Danger Room sessions with her and Magik, thinking back to better days when they were both students at this school. But then, the screen was interrupted by an INTRUDER ALERT.

Kitty immediately activated the security’s biometric scanners, trying to see if there was a match for the subject in their files. When MATCH FOUND flashed on the screen, she was at first glad that it wasn’t an unknown quantity. But the result that popped up caused her to go breathless.

“No…can’t be…” she muttered, instantly standing and turning her body intangible. While in this state, the X-Man called Shadowcat could literally walk on air, and she used that ability to rise through the ceiling and up to the ground floor. She ran through the front door, approaching the mansion’s gate. Sure enough, she saw a figure tear through the gates and stalk inside the mansion’s grounds.

Kitty solidified her body, swallowing hard. She was afraid to see who would come out of those shadows, still not sure the computer was giving her the proper reading. But then she saw the familiar shape of the hair and she slowly stepped closer, daring to believe this was even possible.

“Logan…?” she whispered.

The Wolverine’s face appeared in the light, but there was something strange about him. He stared at her for a few moments and his claws sliding back into his arms. Kitty cautiously stepped closer and he stood upright, softening somewhat from the closed stance he had before. He cocked his head to the side, watching her with curiousity.

“Oh my god…is it really you?” she asked. “But…how’s this possible? We thought you were…”

Kitty moved forward to hug him, but the Wolverine interpreted this as a different kind of gesture. He backed away in a snap and growled, crouching down.

SNIKT

Kitty gasped when she saw the claws and she fortunately phased fast enough that when the Wolverine came at her, she could phase right through the claws. But something else happened when he did that. The claws passed through her harmlessly, leaving no physical mark. But Kitty collapsed to the ground, her body in pain. It felt like she wanted to die. It was something she’d only experienced once before a long time ago.

And when she looked closer at her claws, she realized that they were no longer bone, but once again forged of adamantium. Only the dense molecular structure of that particular rare metal could cause her such pain when phasing through it.

Kitty activated her comm-link. “This…this is Shadowcat. We’ve got a situation at the Mansion. I’m trying to reach any available X-Men. This may sound unbelievable, but—”

“—I think I’m under attack by a clone of Wolverine. Does anyone read me?”

On the backroads not far from the X-Mansion, a figure on a motorcycle pulled a sharp U-turn. He activated his own comm-link as he rocketed off back towards the mansion.

“This is Cyclops. I’m en route.”

To be continued…