REMEMBERING THE PAST

By Chris Partin

I stand outside of what used to be a bar I owned. The Princess Bar was a local hangout of mine here in Madripoor, and I eventually came round to own the place. I had some good friends and some bad enemies thanks to this place, but I never thought I’d see it in a heap of ashes. Hmmmm… well, life moves on, and I guess I should too. I promised a certain wife of mine that I’d stay off ‘her’ island.

As I walk away from the Princess Bar, I can’t help but remember what the Juggernaut told me about the Weapon X Project. Someone’s been crazy enough ta get it back online! Damn! Why would anyone want to bring that nightmare back into the world?

As I pass by some of the large windows of the buildings lining the Madripoor streets I see my reflection. I remember why they started that damn project in the first place. It looks like they’re at it again, but who the heck are ‘they’? Damn. Why can’t I ever get away from that place?

I keep walking down the main street toward the harbor. I reckon I need to get my hairy butt on back to the States. I’ll give Heather a call once I get back to Westchester and see what she can dig up. Maybe I need to get up to Canada myself and see what I can find out on my own. But what do I do when I get there? There are just too many things going on and not enough information. I need a drink before I get off of this rock, just one more for the road…

I wander around toward the docks. There’s a little bar there where most of the boatmen drink. I walk into the old place and there are a few sailors inside drinking; most of them are at the bar. None of them pay me any mind, which is good. The last thing I want is another brawl. It would be my luck that some wanna-be would want to take me on just to ‘prove’ himself to the local ladies here. I’m not in the mood for it…

I walk up to the bar and order a drink and motion to the table where I’ll be sitting. The bartender’s a smart guy. He knows just by looking at me that I’ll need a few more of the one I just ordered. Guys like him make the profession actually look sensible. Most folks just stand there and serve drinks, but he’s got that sense that makes him a friend to the poor souls that wander in here looking to drown their sorrow in alcohol and women. If I ever come back to this godforsaken island, I might just haveta make this a regular stop on my travels.

I walk back to a table that’s a bit off to the side. I’m never one to draw attention to myself, and I don’t intend on starting now. I stare out into the bar, but my mind’s far off in the past.

Weapon X.

I never thought I’d hear that name again. It makes it worse that there are so many of us walking around the world that went through that thing in the first place. Now there’s another group of unwilling victims that are going to go through it again. Black Tom Cassidy was just the first of this ‘new breed’ of the Weapon X Project. Damn! Just thinking about it makes me want to kill who ever started it up again!

I get so caught up in the past and my own feelings I almost let someone coming up behind me get the drop on me. Almost. I reach up above my head and catch a small fist coming down on my head. It’s small, but there’s power behind it. My senses mark who my assailant is before I ever see ‘him’.

“Jessica, yer gonna haveta do better than that if you wanna get me off the island…”

“Oh, all knowing, ‘Patch’. I couldn’t ever sneak up on you. You’re just too good for me!” She laughs a little as she wrests her hand from my clutch. She walks around the booth and sits across from me.

Her name is Jessica Drew. To the world that once cared, she was known as Spider-Woman – the original Spider-Woman. Nowadays no one actually gets creative in naming their ‘secret identity’. Just steal someone else’s. Shame. She gave the name style and character.

“What can I do for ya?”

“Actually, nothing. I was just in the area and heard someone say a strange little man came inside this bar. I thought of all the ‘strange little men’ I know and figured it had to be you, bub.” she smiled.

We both laugh. “It’s good to see you again, Jess. It’s been a while, and I sure can use the sight of a friendly face right now…”

“I bet. I heard you had a little skirmish with Hydra and the Hand recently. Wish I had been her to back you up… would’ve been like old times, huh?”

“Yeah, it would’ve… a good old Madripoor brawl does everybody good once in a while.”

Jessica waved down the bartender and motioned for him to come to the table. She pointed at my drink and signaled four with her fingers. “I figure what ever you’re having we could use a few more.”

“Always the adventurer aren’t ya? Glad to know some things haven’t changed.” I look down at my glass and blink a little heavier than I should have. I don’t see the bar anymore. I just see red. Images flooding my mind of somewhere I’ve been before.

Weapon X! I’m seeing the Weapon X Project! Damn, I can’t make anything out of all these images! Too much red, not enough focus. Damn! I can’t really ‘see’ anything.

“Logan? Mister Logan? I don’t know if you can understand me, sir..”

“Patch? Snap out of it!”

“What? Oh, sorry, Jess. I guess I dose out there for a second.”

What the hell was that? I was there at the Project. Not now, but in the past… my past. I remember a woman… Hines… I met her again a year or so back when the Shiva Program started hunting all of us Weapon X members down. But she was there, at the Project. Why?!

“You okay, Patch? You sort of lost it there… did the Hand hit you a little too hard this time?”

“Nah, I just got some heavy stuff on my mind. No pain no gain, huh?”

“I can’t stand pain, Mister Logan. Physical pain… please… kill me quickly! Please I beg of you!”

Whoah! I can hear her voice as if she’s right in front of me. Memories are starting to emerge again from the Project. Too many implants to know what’s real…

“Logan! Wake up! You’re scaring me! And who’s Hines?”

Damn! I was talking out loud. “She’s someone from my past, I think… I ain’t not sure anymore. Too many damn things I don’t remember about my past, and I can’t figure out what’s real and what isn’t. Jessica… we need ta get outta here. We need ta talk about a few things, and right now, yer the only friend I’ve got I can talk to.”

She nods, and we get up from our table. I throw a few bills on the counter and thank the bartender.

Jess and I walk down the docks to my boat that I charter once in a while. We get on board and go below decks. I sit down on the small couch and Jess pulls up a chair.

“Alright, Logan. What’s all this about? What is it you have to tell me?”

“Well, just lemme get through all o’ this before you say anything. It’s all pretty strange…” I light up a cigar that’s been sitting on the drinks counter of the boat. “Okay, remember me telling you about the Weapon X Project?”

“Sure I do. They’re the guys that bonded the adamantium to your skeleton, right?”

I nod, “Yep. Well, when I escaped I thought they’d abandoned the project. Then I find out there were others involved in the program besides me – Creed, Wilson, North, a few others, too, but you get my point.”

I take a breath in and savor the moment before I really make my nightmare into reality.

“Well, I found out yesterday that the Project is back up and runnin’ again…”

“What?! Why? Who would bring it back online?”

I shake my head, “I don’t know. All I know is that whoever is doing it has already experimented on Black Tom Cassidy. The Juggernaut told me about all of this during that run in I had with the Hand and Hydra. I saw what they did to Tom. I know it’s fer real…”

I get up from the couch and walk over to the window of my boat. I look out over the bay and shake my head. “And now I’m getting pieces of my memory back…”

Jess got up and walked over toward me. She put her hand on my shoulder, “What kind of memories?”

“Mainly images of colors. Mainly red images. But I see… no, I hear someone. There was a woman at the Project… at least, I think she was at the Project when I was there…”

I turn around and face Jessica, “I’ve met this woman before, Jess, a little over a year ago. Her name is Hines…”

“Do you know how to get in touch with her? Maybe she can shed some light on all of this?”

I shake my head, “Nope. Can’t say that I do. But I’m sure she’s in Department H’s database. I had planned on givin’ some friends of mine a call once I head back ta the States. They work at Department H and they might have access to her files. I’ve gotta find her…”

We arrive in the States the next day. Jessica reserves us two rooms at a fairly well to do hotel in downtown LA. I wait in my room for Jessica to arrive – she told me she had some business out here, and she figured she could kill two birds with one stone. The former Prince of Madripoor must have set her up with a very stable income for her to be paying for a place like this on the whim, and especially to have it reserved with only a day’s notice. That girl’s almost got as many connections as I do.

There’s a knock on the door, and I yell for Jessica to come in. I can easily pick up her unique scent. If you hang around folks long enough, you tend to pick up on certain things. With my heightened senses and such, I tend to pick up on folk’s scents. Guess its that savage beast I keep locked away that helps me out sometimes, but I like to think its because I’m still the best at what I do.

“Well, I’ve booked us a private plane to Ontario in the morning. The pilot’s an old friend so there’s nothing to worry about.” she says as she walks into the room. She walks over to the bed and sits at the foot of it as I stare out the window into the city’s sunset.

“Logan, are you okay? Still thinking about this ‘Hines’ woman?”

“Yeah… I’m not one ta get all bothered about my memories poppin’ up in my head. Shoot, most of the ones I have remembered are memory implants anyway. I’ve just got ta get ta Canada and find out what Heather and Eugene can find out fer me…”

“Do you think you should call ahead and let them know we’re coming? I mean, just dropping in on someone’s not exactly the most polite thing to do…”

We both smile and laugh a bit, “Heaven forbid that this canucklehead ever be impolite.”

I walk over to the television and turn it on. I flip through a few channels and realize I can’t keep locked up like this. If I do, I’ll go stir crazy…

“Hey, how about the two of us go out and get a drink? Maybe we can find a pool hall open and get a few racks goin’…”

“You’re on, shorty.” she grinned.

We walk to the elevator and hit the button to go to the lobby. As the doors are about to close, a hand shoots in and stops the door. The doors pop back open and standing before us is…

“Doc Samson?! Well this is a surprise… how’s things, doc?”

He walks into the elevator and the doors close behind him, “Pretty good, Logan. And Ms. Drew, how are you? It’s been ages since I’ve seen either one of you, and I’m glad to see both of you are in good health!”

“Same ta you, Doc. What’re you doin’ in the City of Angels?”

“A seminar on genetic psychology is being held at UCLA later this week, and I thought I’d get here early to visit the campus. Are the two of you staying at the hotel?”

“Yep. We’re heading out to find us a place to get some drinks and shoot a few racks. Care to join us?”

The elevator stopped on the lobby level, and the doors open up. “I’d be more than happy to join you two. I was just going to come down here and get a drink from the hotel’s restaurant, but a little company might do me good.”

Interlude

“Professor, we’ve got some higher readings on the latest subject than we were anticipating. We’ve got to shut down the process!”

“Doctor, if we must have this conversation again, I will simply have you replaced by someone who will not continue to ask questions despite my orders.”

“Sir, we’ve had this problem before, don’t you remember?”

“If you’re referring to ‘Experiment-X’ I do remember. But that’s the goal I am striving for. Mister Logan was the perfect killing machine, and I will achieve that success again. But now we have greater technology and we will be able to control him this time.”

“Professor, Department H has already tried to control a new ‘weapon’ and failed at that.”

“If you mean Doctor Huxley’s poor attempt at creating a ‘Weapon X’, I wouldn’t be too concerned with that. Huxley was only concerned with himself and making a name for himself. I am beyond fame and popularity, Doctor.”

“Then, sir, what are you doing this for?”

“Simple, my dear Doctor, to bestow revenge on those that made a mockery of this Project and the Department! Those who took my work from me after I let my ‘weapon’ escape from the Project. They will realize that it was my creation and my control that allowed Mister Logan to run from the Project. And it was my control that allowed the Hudson’s to ‘find’ him after all those months of isolation and savagery. Mister Logan has always been under my watch, Doctor. He does nothing without my knowledge.”

“Sir, what about now? After all these years, do you still know what he is doing?”

“Oh, yes, my good Doctor, I know EXACTLY what he is doing. In fact, I know he is coming here to Canada soon.”

“Here? He’s coming here?!”

“Hahahaha! What troubles you, Doctor? Are you afraid of what seeing Mister Logan after all this time might do to you? Don’t worry, he will never find the true Project, he will only find what I want him to find. He thinks us dead, Doctor – the only thing we need to do before he arrives is tie up one loose end.”

“Loose end, sir?”

“Ms. Hines is still out there, Doctor. She is the weak link now as she was in the past. It is time we find her and bring her back to our fold.”

“And what if she refuses? She would never return to the Project, not after all that happened the first time.”

“Oh, she will. Or our latest ‘weapon’ will find her out, and bring her back piece by piece…”

End Interlude

The night’s been long and the three of us have had a good time. Sometimes even the heroes need to relax and kick their feet back. No fights to fight. No fears to face. No nothing – just a good night out with good friends.

“Logan, you’re up. And don’t screw this up, or you’ll owe the lady another hundred dollars.”

“Doc, you’re one ta talk. She’s already gotten two hundred outta yer green-haired hide. She’s gonna have ta work if she wants to win any o’ my money.”

“Oh, really, short stuff? I think I can talk care of you without working too hard.”

“Umm… excuse me, Mister Logan? Is that you?”

Ever get those feelings that things are just too good? That the situation you’re in has gone as far as it can without something, or someone, screwing it up? Well, remember I said its nights like these that heroes need to have once in a while? Well, my night’s just ended…

“My name is Carol Hines. We’ve met before, about five years ago…”

I stare at her, and immediately I see her face in another place and in another time. I see her face in red, lying in front of me. Her chest leaking fluid – blood and anything else that’s inside her. I drop to my knees and still see her in front of me. I hear her gasping breath thanking me for making it quick. She tells me in her last dying breath that she can’t stand physical pain, and she slumps over, dead…

“Logan? Are you alright?”

I look up at Jessica with fear and confusion in my eyes. I turn back toward this frail woman before me. She can’t be more than in her mid thirties. “I killed you… yer dead…”

“No, Mister Logan, I’m not dead. As you can see I’m very much alive, but not for long. He’s started it again, Mister Logan. The Project is back online. The Professor has started it all over again, and you’re the template in which he will create the new breed. You must stop him! You must stop them all!”

NEXT: Logan, Jessica Drew, and Doc Samson take Hines into their protective care and travel to Ontario to see that the Weapon X Project is definitely back online! Hines reveals why she is on the run, and what danger she poses to the Professor and the Doctor. Plus, we’ll look more into the new designs of Experiment-X and its’ involvement outside of the Weapon X Project. Does Department H know what goes on behind even its’ most secretive doors? Be here in 30 to find out!

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Well, true believers, welcome to the first issue of my run on Wolverine. Many of you have asked what my plans are for everyone’s favorite clawed runt, and you’ve seen a little set up here in this first issue of mine. The Professor, the Doctor, and Ms. Hines are back and Logan’s gonna find out why in the coming months.

I want to hear from all of you who are fans of Wolverine. I want to know what you want to see. I want to know what you think will happen in Logan’s future. Will he get his adamantium back? I will say this – before I end my run on this title, Logan will be faced with that option of gaining back his edge. But will the man who use to be the best at what he does return to that status? Or will he resume the metal-less mutant that we have started to grow accustomed to seeing? We’ll just have to wait and see…