Pain...The sensation of hot needles inserted into my whole body was the first sensation I felt as my senses started to
kick in. I could smell clean artificial air, which made my skin tingle as it replaced the pain, and felt cold metal on my back.
There was the soft hum of machinery to my left, but I couldn't turn my head just yet. I guess motor reflexes hadn't started up
yet. I openned my eyes only to blind myself temporarilly by the bright overhead light. A snarl escaped my lips and blood
throbed in my temples.
Finally I could move enough to look around, I was naked strapped down to a metal gurny and healing rapidly from
what? I wondered. I mannaged to wriggle out of one of the straps and popped my claws, it's always easier this way. The
sound of Metal sliding up my forearms and clicking into place with a familiar Snikt and the blue tinted Metal claws shocked
me!...Adamantium! but how?....Then memory hit me like a brick. I was riding my Harley back to the mansion, as the false light
of dawn was just turning the velvet curtain of night to red violet dawn. The morning chill made me feel renewed and put some
of the pain of recent events behind me. I gave a feral cry as I pushed the Harley to the limit it's motor protesting, when
suddenly coming up the road at me was the Blackbird.
It was flying to low for my comfort. As I swerved off the road I smelled the smoke and scent of hot
metal. I hit the deck as they came over skimming the tree trops as they passed. When they made it passed I got up and looked
around. The damage was phenominal tree branches were strewn every where but in the trees. I noticed in the back of my mind
that the mail box must have been hit because the mail was fluttering all over the ground. I turned back to my harley when the
blast hit me. When I woke up a few feet away I realized I had been thrown about twenty feet from the road side. When it hit
me. The only thing that could have blown was the plane. With fear in my heart I started to run to the black cloud on the
horizon. What I saw when I got there I thought would give me nightmares for the rest of my life. Until I saw all of them moving.
My heart returned from my stomach as I walked down to help dust my friends off. "Nice bit o pilotin there Summers. What
happened?"
"Nothing out of the norm Logan." Cycolps stood as he anwsered.
I caught eye of Jean shakily lefting to her feet, and both Cycolps and I rushed to her side. Cyclops went on as he reached for his wife.
"You know how it is being a X-Man, being ambushed every three seconds."
It was than that I noticed. I inhaled deeply and realized that indeed something was odd. Cycolps's secent was different.
Quickly I noticed that he was not alone. Jean's face than became visible behine her mangled hair. I gasped in both surprise and disgust
as I noticed the flesh along her right cheek was melting off, revealing a metal skull underneath. Instinct kicked in and I jumped back
into a defenceive stance, exposing my bone claws. I growled and looked from each "X-Man" to the next not picking up a familar smell anywhere.
They closed in around me, I was surrounded and out in the middle of nowhere.
Storm spoke up,"Why dear Wolverine it seems that you have foolishly stepped into our trap."
Desperatily I ponuced on her driving the claws on my right arm deep into her chest. The bone ricocheted off of her mental ribcage, breaking my
claws in two.
I reeled back in pain, and kneeled over besides her. My muntant healing factor begain to work it's magic as I glared at my attackers closing
in on me like a predater does on it's prey. As much as I hate to addmit it, I really felt like I was outnumbered not just by them but by my odds
of winning as well.
That is, untill I heard the sound of the air being broken repeatedly by what sounded like a giant bird. Only a split second later I caught
the only familiar scent of the bunch, Warren, the Angel, came diving in and took the fake Storm down. It was no time to exchange pleasantries so Angel
and I just nodded to each other. Angel broke the silence.
"Let's get the hell out of here, Logan." Before I had the chance to respond, Angel grabbed me around the belt and lifted off the ground.
"Warren, what the hell were those things?"
"I don't know. They managed to get into the mansion and take the Blackbird, so they must mean business." I thought for a moment about who the must have been.
New Phalanx, or maybe Shi'ar, or wait! It wouldn't have been tough at all to get the Blackbird. The Professor was powerless and the defenses were taken apart
by Bastion. Come to think of it..."Warren, go back! Those robots were just that! Robots. They couldn't have duplicated Cyke's nor Jean's powers. We could have
won the fight." Wait, come to think of it..."Why the hell did you show up 'just in time'? Why wasn't there a duplicate of you? Where are we goi..."
Then Angel dropped me from two thousand feet. Last I remember before I hit the ground was hearing a voice...
"You will survive. You are fit."
I awoke on the forest floor, looking up to see the sky and the broken tree branches above me. I quickly jumped to my feet and looked around at all the blood
that I had spilt on impact. Not pretty and too easy to track. I thought as I quickly buried what was left and made sure it was well hidden in the undergrowth.
Looking around me I didn't recognize where I was, but I knew that the mansion must be to my left an indefinite distance because Angel was headed the wrong way before.
I started to walk when I heard a sound far off with my super enhanced hearing and I quickly crouched down and jumped straight up into a tree.
Using training ingrained from countless wars and other places I couldn't remember I remained stalk still and waited for whomever it was to make themselves known.
I kept myself carefully down wind of anything that might be tracking me. After a few moments the sounds became more distinct, but I could not hear what was being said.
I waited patiently and finally it paid off as some forms came walking through the trees. I couldn't see them for a moment, but when I did my breath caught because it
revealed Warren and Apocolypse talking in muffled tones.
"I am Death!" I heard Warren say, "I will always be Death! You've made those half-wits, Hulk and Caliban, your new War and Pestilence. And now you want to make Wolverine
Death! That only leaves me with a stupid position, Famine!"
"So, you want to be Death," It was Apocalypse's voice. "Well, then I believe that you should earn it... A test of the survival of the fittest... I will let my THREE
potential Deaths loose out here in the woods. You will fight it out in a game of survival, not
against just yourselves, but against my forces as well. Whoever comes out alive will serve as my new Death."
"I'm fine with that," said Warren, "but Master, I heard you mention THREE of us fighting for the position of Death. I thought it was just me and Wolverine."
"Oh, but I have a third. One with great power... His name is, HOLOCAUST!!!!"
At that point, a blast erupts destroying many trees. Holocaust walks out.
"Let the games begin!" shouts En Sabah Nur.
Angel flies up into the air and Holocaust remains standing talking with Pocky, "I don't know what you see in Worthington, father!"
Pocky laughs, "That's is what we will test."
Holocaust stomps ino the forest to prepare his attack for Angel. This is where I take the opportunity to lash out at Apocalypse.
I jump with claws extended ready to battle the high lord. As he leaps forward the breez shifts and I suddenly realizes that Pocky has no scent. I try desperately to shift
my position in the air. Under normal cercumstances, I would have succeeded, but after the experiences of the past few minutes my body makes a stern statement, and fails.
I slam into Pocky and bounce off. Scrambling to my feet, I whip about claws extended. With Supernatural speed he moves forward, he grabs me in a grip that even in my best day
couldn't break free of, and proceeds to rip out my claws.
"You were worthy once, Logan, but now you are but a shell of your former self. I will lay thee low and leave you as an example to mutant kind of the folly to be judged unworthy
by Apocalypse."
I scream in rage and pain as Apocalypse rips his remaining claws out.
My Healing factor can serve as both a blessing and a curse. In this instance, regretably, it has given the high lord a new source of amusement as he rips the claws from my hand
only to have them regrow almost as quickly that he might pull them out agonizingly all over again. It's this pain that shocks me back to my sences, and I retract my claws. A briliant
move if I do say so my self. Or so I thought...
Apocalypse lifts me into the air with his fierce grip on my body. He grows at an amazing rate. As he towers over the trees, I can see Angel flying around avoiding blasts from
Holocaust. Apocalypse looks down on me, "Fight for your survival! Animal!" He says as he tosses me at an amzing speed right towards Warren.
I take this chance to my advantage. I spread my body out and wait for my claws to grow. As the left hand claws are formed I out strech my hand as I land on Warren with my claws
in the back of his neck he slowly dies as he falls at amazing speed. I jump into the trees right before Angel's corps is splattered on a rock. I spy Holocost in his seach for Angel.
He turns, sees me, and lets loose with his powers trying to fry me where I am crouched. I dove at him totally unaware what I was getting myself into. As I jumped at him I felt the
explosion of his power all around me, burning flesh which healed as soon as it was scorched. I hit him and hit him hard sending us both sprawling onto the ground. My booted foot found
the head of his armor cracking it as his armored arm found my ribs. I felt the bones crack and break and the red hot agony fed my fury until the point that all was a red haze. Time slowed
and I felt the blood pound behind my eyes and in my temples as I heard, as if from a distance, a feral and totally inhuman roar. I watched through a rose haze as claws glanced off armor
again and again until they started to make scratches and then cracks in the armor. I felt more then heard the bones on one newly grown claw break, as with a final roar the last of the armor
was ripped away to reaveal the inhuman creature underneath. The red haze intensified as the heat poured out of the creature and the clawed arm of it seemed a total stranger stuck into the
armor. Looking for and then finding the heart of the monstorosity that dared called himself "fit to survive". He roared in agony and let loose his powers in a death tell that even with my
healing factor I felt. The explosion blew me at least 200 feet from the body... now just a skeletal being who had once been one of Apocolypse's finest horsemen.
I dragged myself toward the edge of the clearing determined to get away from the madman who called himself En Sabah Nur, going more on instinct then rational thought. Before I could
reach it though, a light appeared, blinding me, and I fell into the black abyss of unconsciousness.
When I awoke... I found my self in a lab. Familier,yet different. "Sinister!!"
"Wrong Lab Runt." Juggernaut? Where am I? Alpha Flight, when I found your corps I decided to take you to home base."
"Home base?!"
"Yeah, runt, about a month back..."
It was too late, I had already slipped back into unconsciousness. Did Juggie say I had been out for a month? Must've been through some wringer for me to be out that long,
especially with my healing factor the way it is these days.
Over the next 12 hours, I felt myself passing into and out of consciousness. Every time I tried to piece together where I was and what I was doing here, but the pain would be too much
and I'd find myself waking up all over again.
The pain... I could tell, my body was fighting real hard. Foreign material my body was fighting against, but somehow not so unfamiliar.
I know. I realize. Know what, but know how and know why remain unanswered.
The table buckles, the sound of metal shearing.
"I'm back!"
Now, how and why! Where's Juggie and good ol' Department K when you want 'em?
Juggie stood over a dead scientist. He rammed his giant fist into a wall and said, "Run, Logan. Run!"
He ran into a new room and begin fighting, demolishing, and killing soldiers and guards.
I looked and saw the worst sight I had ever seen in my life. And believe me, I've seen some pretty bad stuff.
There were bodies, charred, seared bodies. Hundreds of them with limbs missing and faces hanging on by a thread of skin.
Through the steam and blood I saw that every one of them was hanging to the wall with a steel spike lodged through the base of their skulls.
Suddenly Juggernaut yelled,"What are you? An idiot? get outta here!"
As I began running some guards tried to stop me but I disabled them with sharp quick blows to pressure points, not killing anyone.
I then asked," Cain how did this happen and who is responsible?"
He replied,"It was that bastard Apocalypse."
I look over to him, "What are you talking about? Since when did you have an interest in Pocky and vice versa?"
Cain shakes his head, "Apocalypse is bad news, Logan. Well, that's what he says." Cain points his finger and out steps Ozymandias.
Ozymandias cryptically, "Beware, Logan. Beware." He snaps his fingers and Cain follows. They turn around a corner.
Logan follows and see that they have disappeared, but what greets him is far worse, it is Howard the Duck!
"Hello, Sir", he starts, "I'm collecting donations for the Rock 'n' Roll Museum and..ACH!!" Wolverine
slices through Howard's head and proceeds down a long corridor....
I shook myself out of the obvious hallucination of Howard the duck, still trying to piece together what happened.
I was feverish...I could tell by the layers of sweat on my body. I watched the light glint off my now adamantium claws
and wondered why someone would give it back to me and how they managed to do it. Last thing I knew happened was that I took out
Holocaust, although I wasn't too sure about Wings...I hoped I wasn't forced to kill him. Through the haze in my mind I blinked
when someone came and blocked out the bright light coming from one of the ceiling lights in the lab. I looked up to see Zoe of
LL&L. She looked down at me gently and asked, "How do you feel Mr. Logan?" I looked up at her and managed a hoarse
croak, "What happened? Where am I?" She looked down at me and answered in her usual blunt manner, "You have been out
for about a week. We gave you your adamantium back because we owed you for helping us stop Holocaust. You probably
remeber none of this yet, so just lie still and relax. It will all come back to you in time." I watched blearily as she walked off
toward the door and I started to remember. Yes...Apocolypse was determined to get LL&L out of the way because they
helped me overcome that incident with Genesis. They sent Holocaust out to stop me from causing any more "problems" for
them. Holocaust's first objective was to kill Zoe though for doing what she could to help me. I got into a fight and killed him,
but the explosion nailed me flat and burned me bad. I must have been out of it for a while...a week she said. Right before she
reached the door my voice stopped her, "How?" She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled, "The box Mr. Logan. It was
actually a way to get your adamantium back. It was a dimension where we could get the stuff for you. We put it back in you
after your healing factor had taken care of the burns and such. It was the least we could do." As she walked out of the room
leaving me in peace I looked at my claws again and knew nothing was free in this world. I wondered what would be expected
of me in return for this "gift" and if I would be able to do it without losing what was left of my soul.
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