ESCAPING THE PAST

By Chris Partin

The past is a funny thing. No matter how far away it is, somehow it finds its’ way back to you and meets you in the present, only to remind you what you did so long ago. I’m not one for regrets. Things happen and the chips fall where they may, but I’m beginning to hate that passive ideaology of mine. After this past week, I think I’m going to pay a lot more attention to what I do and say, just so it doesn’t come back to haunt me.

Take the Weapon X Project for example. I escaped here so long ago, but here I am again – back inside its’ fences and facing down an old friend of mine.

Another thing about the past that angers me – it likes to bring other folks into the whole mess. Why can’t it just leave everyone alone and deal with me one-on-one? I’m gonna have to talk to someone about that when all of this is done and over with. That is, if I can convinvce my old friend over there not to kill me first!

His codename is ‘Mastodon’, because he’s as big as one. We were old friends and operatives together. I really don’t remember too much about it because of the crap the Project did to my head. But I do know he was a friend… was – meaning past tense. The same folks that captured me all those years ago have captured him, and now he’s like me – a Weapon X.

“Mastodon! You don’t want to fight me… I’m a friend!”

“Sure you are, Logan. If you were such a friend, I don’t think this would be happening now! Do you think they actually kidnapped me?”

“What? How did you..”

“They asked me to come here! I wanted to be this! I wanted to be better… just so I could kill you!”

Damn! First Creed got enhanced with adamantium, now Mastodon has gone the whole route and become me! Seems like the past is telling me my old associates aren’t too happy with what I’ve done to them.

“Sir, they’re not fighting. They’re just talking…”

“I know, Doctor. This is nothing like I would have imagined from Mister Logan. He has become soft in his old age.”

“I know, sir. He is nothing like he was when he left the Project. Do you think the Canadians – Alpha Flight – softened him up when he was with them?”

“I’m not certain. Something has happened to him, but what…”

“I thought you had been keeping watch over Mister Logan since he ‘escaped’, sir?

“I have been, but he has always been a weapon of mass destruction. Always…”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mister Logan, have you actually grown a conciousness since we last met?”

“Sir, he cannot hear you.”

“I know, Doctor, but we can make him hear us, if we would like.”

“Yes, sir. Should we move to the next level of the experiment then, sir?”

“No. Move into ‘Phase Five’ mode. I want to see what Mister Logan does in an extreme environment.”

“Yes, sir.”

This isn’t going to be fun, but it looks like I’m gonna have to take Mastodon down if I’m gonna get inside to help Jess and the Doc.

“Mastodon! This little game ends now! Either get out of my way, or get put six feet under!” I growl.

“Come on little man…. BZZZ BZZZ little… BZZZ m….”

“Mastodon?!” He just phased out. Teleported? There’s no scent like the other times. What the hell is going on?

I look around and the fence around the complex begins to rise. Barbed wire stretches across the top of the fence; the ground begins to shift and change shape; trees begin to rise out of the ground. What the hell is going on? The whole landscape is changing all around me!

I’m not going to stick around and figure all of this out. Since Mastodon’s not in the way anymore, I’m going to make a run for the complex. Jessica and the Doc must be trapped inside somewhere, and I’m not gonna let them become two more victims.

“Jessica? JESSICA! Are you alright?”

“Oh, my head… Yeah… yeah, I’m okay… just felt like I’ve been asleep for days…”

“I know what you mean…”

“Any idea where we are, Doc?”

“No… I’ve been trying to figure that out, but these walls are bare. No markings of any kind. No door that I can find. No air ducts in the floor or the ceiling. We’re just in a big box.”

“Think the guys we came looking for had anything to do with this?”

“You’re kidding, right? I figured that from the get go!”

“I was kidding, Doc. I’m just trying to lighten the mood…”

“Ha! Yeah, well I was waiting until you woke up and were ready before I tried this.”

“Tried what?”

“This….”

No guards. This is another set up, I know it is. I wish I knew what these guys were up to. It seems every time I deal with these guys, I’m at a disadvantage. I have no clue what to expect.

Well, here goes nothing. Let’s see if there’s anything behind door number two…

“Sir, Mister Logan has just entered the docks. Should I initiate the guards now?”

“Yes. Level four defense if you would, Doctor. Take all safety parameters offline.”

“Yes, sir.”

Well, this is just too easy. Everything seems too old, too run down for anyone to have the Project running again. What is going on here?

“Stop, or we will open fire!”

Well, never mind. Guess someone is here!

“Sir, he ran down Corridor Two.”

“Units four through ten keep pursuit. Units one, two, and three, come with me.”

This is more like it! I was wondering if these guys actually had the guts to face me themselves. I stop and look around, but none of this seems familiar to me.

I look up and see a ventilation duct. A little ambush for my friends behind me should be just fine…

“Sir, I don’t see him…”

“Everyone! Switch to infra-red, and search everywhere! The subject can’t be too far away – he’s got no where to run!”

Nowhere to run, he says. Well, I’ve got everywhere to fall!

I kick the ventilation cover off, and drop on top of them. Human or not these guys are going down hard. Claws extended I start thrashing at the closest ones to me, but nothing happens. My claws go right through them, like they were ghosts!

“Professor, we’re having difficulty with the guards.”

“What kind of difficulty?”

“It seems that his claws are going through them. There’s no contact.”

“What?! I thought we had the program working before Mister Logan entered.”

“We did, sir. It was working fine.”

“Then, what happened?”

“JESSICA! Watch it! We don’t know what’s going on here, and I don’t want anyone sneaking up on us!”

“Doc, I’ve been at this business a little more than you have. I know how to be covert!”

“I know, sorry! I’m just a little jumpy! Someone captures us, and then just leaves us alone. No guards. No security cameras. No nothing.”

“Yeah, this is a little strange. It’s like someone just wanted us…”

“Jessica? What is it?”

“It’s like we were in the way. They wanted us out of the way so they could get at Logan!”

What the hell is all of this? My claws just went through him as if he wasn’t even there. I punch one of the guards next to me, but my fist just goes right through his head. Wait a minute…

No time to wait, one guard opens fire on me and all his friends around me.

Nothing happens!

The bullets literally go through me, but they hit the guards.

What is this?!

“Professor, the guards are firing upon Mister Logan, but their shots are going through him. The shots are making contact with the other guards, though.”

“Damn! Something is going dreadfully wrong!”

“Yes, sir. I’ve upped the power grid to maximum and doubled the signal capacity, but there’s no improvement.”

“I see. Have you tried switching signals?”

“Yes, sir. That was the first thing I did. Something is interfering with the transmission.”

“Interfering with it? How? What is it?”

“I don’t know, sir. Should I send in a retrieval unit?”

“No. By the time they get there, Mister Logan will be free.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Doctor? Do we have enough data to run our tests with?”

“Yes, sir. We have managed to get some usable data, but we do not have any combat data.”

“I know. Mister Logan has seemingly grown more human. He doesn’t fight on instinct anymore. Very discouraging…”

“I know, sir. Will this effect the others?”

“I don’t know, Doctor. I don’t know…”

“Should I turn off the simulation, sir?”

“Yes, and activate ‘Protocol Omega’ to the site’s computer. I don’t want any evidence if Mister Logan manages to escape again.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Doc! Over here… I think I’ve found another room…”

“Good. I was beginning to wonder if this corridor actually went anywhere?”

“It looks like a lab or something.”

“Anyone in there?”

“Nope. Come on, let’s see what we can find…”

“Hopefully Wolverine is around here somewhere. There’s no telling what’s gone on since we were put into that holding room.”

“I know…”

I’m beginning to get sick of these games that I’m being forced to play. First Mastodon comes to kick my runt butt, and then he disappears before we start fighting. Then the whole complex starts to change outside. And now the guards, who I can’t seem to touch, disappear, too. I’m just about sick of all of this!

“WHERE ARE YOU?! WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?!”

Damn! Losing my cool here… the Project does it to me all the time! Even when I just think about it, I get on edge!

I look around, and start walking down the halls. Then, as I should have expected, they disappear too.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!”

Blasted white room now. What is going on here?

I try and pick up any scents, but there’s nothing. It’s like I’m in some sort of…

“…virtual reality simulation, Jessica.”

“What? That’s what all of these computers are for?”

“Yeah… they’re running a VR simulation of the Weapon X complex…”

“Why though? Who’s running it?”

“I’m not sure. It looks as if the whole thing is being run by remote.”

“Hey! I found Logan! He’s in a room down the hall, but something called ‘Protocol Omega’ has been flashing on his monitor. What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know, Jess, but it doesn’t sound good! Let’s get Logan, and then get out of here!”

“Sounds good to me!”

This whole time I’ve been running around in a virtual reality simulation!

None of this was real. But how did I get here? And how do I get out of this? It’s not like I can just…

“Wake up, Logan! Come on, you little runt. Get up!”

“It’s no use, Jess. Somehow we’ve got to figure out how to unhook him from the simulation. Once we do that, I’m sure he’ll regain consciousness on his own…”

“Hey… what about this control panel? It seems to have a reading running on Logan… what if we just turn it off?”

“I guess we’ll have to try…”

Damn! Now I’m stuck here!

I sit down on the VR floor and cross my legs. I’ve got to reach out to the rest of my mind. I’ve got to get some sort of feel for where I am. Charlie taught us a few mind tricks to help us out in case a telepath tried to manipulate us – let’s see if it works on computers…

“PROTOCOL OMEGA HAS REACHED T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES AND COUNTING. ALL PERSONNEL SHOULD VACATE THE GROUNDS PRIOR TO DETONATION. REPEAT…”

“Jessica! That doesn’t sound too promising. We’ve got to get Logan…”

“He’s waking up!”

Damn my head hurts. “Guys. Is that really you? No VR crap, right?”

“It’s us, Logan. But we’ve got to get out of here, and fast! This place is about to blow sky high!”

“Can you walk, Logan?”

“I’ll damn well run out of here! Let’s go!”

A day later…

We managed to get out of the complex, but it wasn’t the Weapon X complex like we thought it was. Jessica and the Doc informed me that someone teleported me out of the airport right after Hines was assassinated.

Shortly after that, about three dozen armed Alpha Units from Department H arrived, and took them to the Department’s headquarters. They were put in a waiting room and told that Heather Hudson would be with them momentarily. The next thing they remember was waking up in a white-walled holding room. They managed to escape and found me. The rest I knew…

What I don’t know was what really was going on? Why was Hines killed? She said she would be killed if they knew she was with me. But who are ‘they’? The Professor? The same guy who started all of this? Was he the one that had her killed? Was he the one that had me teleported and hooked into a VR simulation?

And what was the simulation about? Why go to all of that trouble if they were just going to release me? I’m planning on going to the real complex tomorrow, and I’m going to get to the bottom of all of this. I’ll be damned if the Professor is going to play me for a fool again!

No matter what happens in my life, I can never escape Weapon X. I can never escape my past. But I’m going to do it. And if I have to destroy the entire damn complex to do it, I will…

NEXT, IN WOLVERINE ANNUAL 1999: Weapon X Redux Part 2! Logan heads back to the Weapon X project, and he’s determined to shut it down! But he runs into some stiff opposition in the form of Cain Marko, the unstoppable Juggernaut! But what’s he doing at the Project?

THEN, IN WOLVERINE #6: Wolverine travels into the Canadian wilderness to get back to basics – to remember where he came from. But on his self-imposed sabbatical, he runs into a group of hunters that are tracking a rare creature indeed – the Hunter In Darkness!