ISSUE #4
Cambodian Village, 1973
Logan awakes to the smell of burning flesh. He realizes that he is in a pile of dead soldiers, both American and Vietnamese, and the corpses are burning. He rolls out, trying to extinguish himself. When the burns heal, he gets up and begins searching for Simpson.
----------------------------------------------
Alaska, 1991
Creed fires a pistol, blowing the back tire off. Logan swerves the car in an attempt to hit Creed, but Creed leaps on to the SUV. He attempts to strangle Logan through the window.
“Sorry, Stryker.” Logan says as he purposely takes the SUV off the road, ramming a thick tree. Stryker had grabbed the seatbelt in the nick of time. Logan’s head is smacked off of the steering wheel. Creed smacks off of the tree, bounces off the hood, and lands on the ground near the passenger side. Stryker crawls out of the passenger door.
“So you’re… who they sent… to kill us…?”
“No… I was already at the base.” Creed says as he begins to heal. He continues, “I don’t know who they called. I woulda done it for free.” He begins chuckling. “I can’t believe he lost his memory. We didn’t even d-“
A single claw goes through his ear and out the other. He falls lifeless.
“Can you make it?” Logan asks, a deep gash on his forehead slowly healing.
“Just leave me here. The police will… be on the way… they cant see you. Airport’s… just south of here…”
He blacks out. Logan looks at the red and blue lights coming up the road, and makes a run for it.
----------------------------------
Cambodian Village, 1973
Logan sees Nuke in the distance.
“Hey dickhead, want some more?”
“V.C!”
“Yeah yeah, I heard ya the first time.”
Nuke runs at him. Logan sidesteps and rams Nuke headfirst into a hut. Nuke hits a spinning back-fist, and Logan knees him in the gut. Logan hits an uppercut, knocking a few teeth loose. Nuke unleashes a series of punches, before grabbing Logan and tossing him. Logan flies through the air, crashing into a tree hard, and dodges just as Nuke does a flying kick, hitting the tree where Logan’s head would have been. His boot gets stuck in the tree, and Logan uses this to get a few shots in.
“V.C!!!”
Nuke yells as he gouges Logan’s eye out, and sends his leg through the side of the tree and into Logan’s face. He gets Logan in a bear-hug, and slams him off of tress and huts. In an act of desperation, Logan bites his nose of. Nuke howls in pain. He picks Logan up and punts him across the village.
-----------------------------------------------
Alaskan Airport, 1991
Logan steals a t-shirt from the gift shop before reading the flight information. He finds that Flight 181 to New York is taking off in fifteen minutes at gate H. He slips outside and hides in the woods by the airstrip, waiting for take off to begin. Minutes later, the plane begins moving. He runs full speed and catches a tire. As he’s climbing, he realizes he’s not alone. Creed has followed him.
“You ain’t getting away from us again, runt.”
Logan sticks claws through Creed’s hand. Creed counters by jabbing Logan in the gut. The exchange slices and kicks until the plane takes off. Each clawed warrior clings on for their lives. Creed hangs on with one hand as he slashes Logan. Pain takes over as Logan is forced to let go and slides off the wing, but he jabs his claws into the bottom of the plane just in time. He crawls up the side, back far enough no one can see him through the windows. Creed grabs his neck, pulling him onto the roof. Logan stabs him in the leg, and tries to send Creed off. Creed counters with several stabs to the chest and abdomen.
“Nothing but pain waits for you in New York. Just let me end it now, spare you the misery.”
He grabs Logan by the head, digging his claws into Logan’s skull, and daggles him over the edge. Logan stabs him under the jaw. His claws are stopped by the metal at the top of Creed’s head. Logan knows he hit brain. Creed’s once again unconscious corpse falls, this time for a 3500 foot drop.
-------------------------------------------------
Cambodian Village, 1973
Logan lands on a pile of bodies. Nuke out of nowhere comes down on him, pulverizing him with all his power. Logan feels his healing factor being over driven. He grabs a knife from a dead soldier and plunges it into Nuke’s chest, and drives him forward through the door of a hut. As they land, Logan realizes that they’ve set off a Vietnamese mine, rigged to C4.
“Shit.”
Hours later, Logan wakes up in a hospital bed with Stryker sitting next to him.
“Welcome back.”
“Ugh. I feel like a bus hit me. Where’s Simpson?”
“Not dead. They have him in custody. The psychiatrists say there’s hope after all. Good work.”
“Great. God was he an asshole.”
They both laugh. Stryker hands him a folder.
“What’s this?”
“You’re next mission. A Japanese doctor, Kenji Oyama, has been detaining and experimenting on people with ‘gifts.’ They want you to-“
“Do what I do best? Deal.”
----------------------------------
Classified Government Facility, 1991
The older CIA agent takes a drink before dialing a phone.
“It’s Burr. Change of plans. He’s heading for the New York office.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Coming Up:
*Who or what awaits Logan in New York?
*What's Dr. Oyama up to?