CONFRONTING THE PAST

By Chris Partin

“Logan, I couldn’t find anything on a ‘Carol Hines’ anywhere. She’s not listed on any Department H databases, or anything in the States. There are no records of her anywhere! This woman you’re with doesn’t exist!”

“Heather, that’s impossible. She’s sitting right here with me! Did you double check?”

“I checked three times! I’ve called in favors from all over the Canadian and U.S. Governments, but noone knows who this woman is. Logan, she doesn’t even have a birth certificate. Whoever this woman is, she wants to be kept a secret.”

“That, or either some body else wants her kept a secret. Makes for easy termination when your usefulness has worn out. I know… I’ve been there.”

“That could be it, too. I’ll keep looking, but I don’t guarantee anything.”

“Thanks, Heather. I appreciate the help.”

“No worries, Logan. And if you do come around Department H, be careful. You don’t have too many friends here, especially if you’re snooping around for ‘Weapon X’.”

“I know, I’ll be careful. You just make sure you and the rest of Alpha Flight are ‘out on business’ when I get there. There won’t be any trouble then.”

“I’ll make sure. You take care.”

“You too.” I say as I hang up the phone. Heather didn’t really bolster my enthusiasm about this little mission I’ve got here. But she did her best. She’d do nothing short of it.

I stand up from the table I’m sitting at and I turn around to see my three companions that have traveled to Canada with me.

Jessica Drew, once a super-hero herself named ‘Spider-Woman’, who I would walk over fire for and she for me.

Doctor Leonard Samson, a brilliant psychologist and from time-to-time a super-hero himself, thanks to his gamma-enhanced strength.

And last but not least, Miss Carol Hines. I killed her a long time ago when I was experimented on at the Weapon X Project. Or at least I thought I killed her. Damn memory implants have been acting up and I don’t know what’s real and what’s fake.

“Okay, Miss Hines, it’s time to get some answers here. Now, my informant says she can’t find hide nor hair of you in Canada or the U.S. Who are you really?”

The timid woman takes a sip of her coffee and looks up at me standing over her, “Mister Logan, I swear I am who I say I am. My name is Carol Francis Hines. I was a research assistant at UCLA when a man working for Department H approached me. He said that there was a top-secret project that I qualified to be a part of. We went to Ontario and I met with a man that was only referred to as ‘the Professor’. We chatted awhile, and I agreed to come and be part of his staff. Things went fairly well, until the last six months. That’s when you first arrived. Everything just went bad and there was nothing we could do.”

“What do you mean there was nothing you could do? What happened there? I want to know everything.” I tense up and she can fell it through the air. I have waited all these years to know what really happened to me all those years ago, and Miss Hines holds those answers for me.

She looks out the window of the airport terminal and then back at me. I don’t need my heightened senses to know she’s afraid. Not of me, but of him. The Professor has something over her, and I don’t think she’s willing to lose it to give me a part of my past back.

“Mister Logan, I… I cannot tell you. I’m… I’m sorry.” She buries her face in her hands and begins to cry. “I want to tell you. I really do, but I won’t he won’t let me live long enough to tell you.”

Jessica steps over to Miss Hines and places a hand on her shoulder. “This ‘Professor’ won’t touch you, Miss Hines. There’s not a man alive that can get to you through us. You have to believe me, we won’t let that happen.”

“You don’t understand. None of you will understand how far his reach is. It’s all over the world. The Professor is more than a man. But he is not the only man. He answers to another person. I’ve never seen who he talks to in his private office, but the Professor fears him. If you could find out wh…”

She couldn’t even finish the word. The shot rang out from no where and everywhere at once. A single, piercing shot and it left Miss Hines’s body limp as it fell out of her chair. Her coffee cup crashed on the tiled floor and spilled everywhere. Jessica dropped to the ground to catch Miss Hines’s body as I jumped on top of the table we were at and looked around… no I was ‘sensing’ what was around me. I picked up a scent and then it was gone. “Damn!”

Jessica and Doc were checking Miss Hines’s vitals, but when Jess looked back up to me, I knew there wasn’t anything we could do. I knelt beside Miss Hines’s body and placed her head in my lap. She was trying to speak. She gasped for breath, but her lungs couldn’t hold the air. Her life blood flowed out of her chest. I could feel her warmth leave her touch. She wasn’t going to make it, but it wouldn’t be for a few more moments before she would finally die. “Damn!”

“Mister Log… … Logan… I kne… I knew I said too much…. … he won’t let me… live if I threat… … threaten what he’s doing…. ”

“Now, now, darlin’. Don’t talk, save yer strength.”

“No… … … I have to tell you this… the Professor… you… you know his master… I know.. … I know you do… you have… to… find him… … he has… has a new weapon… someone… you…. you know…”

“I’ll find him, don’t worry. You just hold on and it’ll be alright.”

I talk to her for a few more moments, but she doesn’t hear me. She leaves this world a bloody mess, another victim of the Project and the Professor.

Later that night we manage to arrive at our hotel. We spent the last three hours retracing our steps and making sure no one knows where we are. If they located us in the airport, that means they’ve been following us since we left Los Angeles and who knows how long before then. Jessica is as good at covert activities as I am. We’ve both had to do our fair share of it in our lives. And good ol’ Doc Samson is catching on in this crash course. I just hope I haven’t brought these two friends into all of this just to be two more victims.

“Logan, we can’t be here too long. When do you want to make our move to Department H?”

“We’re not going to Department H, Doc. Whoever killed Hines is expecting us to come looking for some revenge, but we’re not gonna give it to them that way. We’re going to the Weapon X facility in Ontario.”

“And how do you think we’re gonna get there? I really don’t think they’re listed under information.”

I grin, “Funny, Doc, but I do know where it is. It was deserted the last time I was there. Well, it did have a few guard dogs named ‘Shiva’ there, but they’ve long time since been gone. We’ll get into the facility the same way Jubilee and I did then – just walked through the front door.”

“Yeah, but don’t you expect them to be waiting for us there, too? I mean, they’ve been on our every step this far, what’s to say they won’t be there, too?”

“Doc’s got a point, Logan. We don’t need to walk into a trap. Not unless you want to walk into one?”

I grin, “Well, not exactly, but I do want them to know we’re coming. I want to see who this new Weapon X is, and the only way to do that is to let them know we’re coming. We’ll leave a few hours before sunrise. I want to be there in time for breakfast.”

Interlude

“Professor. Sir, I just got word that the Alpha units have assassinated Miss Hines.”

“Yes, I know. I sent them in.”

“Sir, why? Miss Hines was one of us.”

“She was a traitor to the Project. Her intentions were to reveal everything to Mister Logan. I could not allow that. He will find out what he needs to know when I deem it time. Until then he will live his life as a lie.”

“Professor, they are on they’re way here. Mister Logan will discover us before its time.”

“No. He will find an old friend waiting for him when he arrives. He wants to know who the new Experiment-X recipient is and I will show him. He thinks so simple. Everything is so black and white to him. I will never understand why the Benefactor wanted Mister Logan as the first recipient for the Experiment-X Project. But the will of the Benefactor is not to be questioned. What has happened has happened.”

“Yes, sir. Shall I prepare the Alpha and Beta units for Mister Logan’s arrival?”

“No. Send in Experiment-X to answer Mister Logan’s desires.”

End Interlude

It’s been a long time since Jubilee and I last stood here. And like then, the animals in the area fear this place. I can feel the cold touch of death in this place, but that’s all I sense. There’s nothing here. There should be something here, the damn place is running again.

Doc Samson walks up to the falling chain-link fence that surrounds the complex. “Nice place you got here, Logan. I guess they didn’t expect us to actually find the place again.”

I shake my head, “No. Its not that. Something’s not right here. I can’t figure out what it is though.”

Jessica walks over to Doc and looks through the fence at the complex’s abandoned loading docks. “There’s nothing here, Logan. We can go inside if you like, but I think we better get to Department H. Heather said she was going to run interference for us when we arrived.”

I stand there looking around. Something is wrong here. They’ve got to be here. And before I can respond to Jessica, I pick up that same scent that I picked up in the airport. “They’re here, guys. Someone just teleported to the surface. The same scent I picked up after Miss Hines was shot is here.”

“Same guy, Logan?”

I shake my head. “No. The scent wasn’t a person. It was a burning scent. A teleportation device was what I picked up.”

“Well, let’s get into the complex and find out who’s watching us.”

Jessica and Doc grab onto the fence to walk through the opening and in a flash of light they’re gone.

Damn! They were teleported somewhere. This is a setup from the word ‘go’ and I fell right into it. Damn!

I walk around the complex’s perimeter trying to find another way in. The fence has got some trigger system that’ll teleport anyone that touches it somewhere, but where? And more importantly, my feelings were right. Someone is here in the complex, I’ve just got to find a way in there now.

“Professor, Mister Logan’s friends have been captured without any problems. He is alone now.”

“Good. Has out associate been teleported to the surface?”

“Yes, sir. Just prior to Mister Logan’s friends being captured.”

“Good. Now, Doctor, if you will, please initiate the Experiment-X into ‘Phase Three’ mode.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s see if our prototype likes the improvements we have made since he was last here.”

I manage to find a section of the fence that was either removed or not installed. I know this is a trap, but I have to get inside. Jessica and Doc are two more victims I don’t want to pay the price for being part of this. So, I step inside the lion’s den and wait.

I don’t wait long. I hear him walking around me. No, wait. He’s outside the fence now. No, now he’s in front of me. Damn! What is this thing?

He’s gone again. I can’t pick up anything now. But no teleportation scent. He’s still out here somewhere. Miss Hines said I knew him. He was an old friend of mine.

“AAUGGH!!!”

He screams all around me and then I fall to the ground. Did he hit me?! I didn’t feel anything. I’m not… oh, yes I am. I look at my hands and there’s blood. My blood. Damn. He hit me and I didn’t…

“AAUGGH!!!”

“UGH!” I fall backwards again. This time I felt him hit me. Damn. There’s no pain, just blood. As I look at my chest leaking blood I hear him. His voice…

“Logan. Its good to see you. You should stay in touch better with old friends.”

I look, but I don’t believe my eyes. How? He’s dead! I killed him long ago…

“What’s the matter, Logan? It’s just me.” He grins and I see the evil that they’ve put in his mind. It shows all over his body. Damn.

“Mastodon…”

“Oh, yes, Wolverine. And now, we’ll see who survives! I owe you…”

Another friend, victim of the Project…

NEXT: Wolverine vs Mastodon! Weapon X vs Experiment-X! It all comes down to this, true believers – one will survive, and the other will be changed forever!