Sabretooth (1st series) #1

Issue Date: 
August 1993
Story Title: 
Death Hunt - part 1: Home of the Hunter
Staff: 

Larry Hama (Writer), Mark Texeira (Artist), Richard Starkings (Letterer), Steve Buccellato (Colorist), Bob Harras (Editor), Tom DeFalco (Chief)

Brief Description: 

Sabretooth arrives at his Vancouver mansion. Once there, he is attacked by a group of ninjas but quickly goes through them with Birdy’s help. Later, when he relaxes in the hot tub with Birdy, she goes into his mind and is surprised by a young Creed. He is scared of being hurt and she tries to comfort him. Sabretooth surprises her and the boy vanishes. Later that night, Birdy turns off the mansion’s security systems and allows a group of solders to enter the mansion. They go to get the sleeping Sabretooth but, when they arrive at his room, he is aware of their presence; there is a large armored door blocking their way. Birdy says she left it open but the solders don’t listen and blow the door open. They are immediately are attacked by Sabretooth. He goes through them and heads after Birdy but he is eventually stopped by the solders and taken away. He remembers his past; his father going to pull out his “devil teeth and claws” but, before anything happens, he awakens to being strapped to a table. He has received a full system upgrade from the Tribune, who explains why he did what he did. He has a job for him, someone for him to kill; it’s Mystique. Sabretooth agrees and tells him that, when he is finished, he’s coming back to get him.

Full Summary: 

Vancouver, British Columbia. A black limo drives down the street; inside, Sabretooth tells his guest that, just because he drove all this way from Seattle, he’s not going to invite him in for coffee and donuts. And he also tells him that he is still debating whether he should rip his throat out or not. His guess tells him to call him Psi-Borg, Sabretooth says that around here they call me Mister Creed.

As the limo pulls up beside Creed’s mansion, Psi-Borg detects multiple hostile thought waves. As Creed gets out, Psi-Borg asks if he needs help; Creed tells him to get lost. As Psi-Borg takes off in the limo, Sabretooth is then attacked by ninjas. They tell him that he will pay for the ignominious death to their clan leader. They attack and so does Creed, shredding them with his claws. He manages to get to the intercom at the front gate and contacts Birdy. He yells at her for her not “keeping the trash on the sidewalk.” He turns around and sees more ninjas tying to get him; he sarcastically asks if it’s an infestation.

They tear into them, one of the ninjas comments that, as strong as he is, there are more of them and they are ready to die. As Sabretooth kills him, he says that he’s been ready to die since before he was born. No sooner said than a large explosion erupts. Birdy arrives with a very large gun; she says that she was monitoring the batch at the backdoor and she’ll have this group cleared soon. As she keeps firing away, she asks Creed were has he been and tells him that lots of urgent job offers have been coming in on the fax, important clients. Creed kicks in the door; he asks if she was afraid of the work drying up. He responds by telling her; “long as there’s greed an’ envy, fear and loathin’ in the world. There’s gonna be work a-plenty for assassins.”

Later on in the night, Sabretooth relaxes in a hot tub. As Birdy gives him a massage, she tells him that he has to cool but, before she finishes, he interrupts her. “You don’t tell me what to do! You jus’ get in here and do yer job!” He grabs her and throws her into the pool. As she gets out, she tells him that he shouldn’t do that to someone that he lets walk through his brain. And all it would take is an aneurysm. Creed coolly tells her; “You ain’t got the sand to kill me.” And that, if she fails, there is nowhere she could hide from him. He then pops open a bottle of champagne. He stares at her for a moment, then downs the entire bottle. He then tells Birdy to do her thing. That Psi-Borg unscrambled some of his memories for him. Some choice stuff, some real horrors, “enough to freeze yer craw!” Birdy says that, if he wants it, she’ll give it to him, and hits him with her psionic powers.

While Birdy is in Creed’s mind, he asks her if she knows what it feels like for him. Sabretooth goes on to explain what its like. Suddenly, a child appears with shackles on his hands and a muzzle guard on his mouth. Birdy asks the child who is he. Behind the mask, the boy makes sinister grin and says they call him Creed. The boy then asks if she will be his friend. Birdy agrees and asks who did that to him. He says that they did and they can’t tell them about them being friends; they’ll punish him. If he’s bad one more time, they’re going to lock him up in the root cellar for good. Birdy wants to know what he did that was so bad. He tells her to come closer but, when she does, he rips off this shackles and grabs her around the throat. Suddenly, he relies that she doesn’t hate him and doesn’t want to hurt him. She tells him no, as she hugs him. Birdy tells him that maybe he’s been hurt too much. From behind her, Sabretooth surprises her and the child Creed vanishes. He says that it’s almost enough to melt his heart, but almost only counts on horseshoes and hand grenades. He hits her, telling her to not to waste the good stuff on phantoms out of his past. As he walks up the stairs, he tells her that he needs that glow, “to take away the pain.”

Even later that night, Birdy silently walks down the stairs and opens a hidden security panel behind a painting. She turns off the main security system, the perimeter infrared sensor, motion detector, window lasers, doorway claymores, anti-personnel mines, punju pits and the main gate lock. As the last one switched off, the front gate opens and a team of solders enters his mansion. They meet with Birdy and she tells him where Creed is sleeping but, as they head toward his quarters, Creed awakes; he senses somebody’s in his house.

As the solders arrive at his room. They find an armored door; they then call for the weapons team to blow it down. Birdy, however, says that she left that door open. As they fire a missile at the door, Birdy says it’s no longer a surprise; he knows there here. As the solders step into his room, Creed says to them that it’s still a surprise, just not for him. He attacks the solders, shredding through them with ease. Birdy takes off but Creed follows and searches for her. He ends up making it to the security panel. He rearms all the alarm systems. When they come back online, almost all the solders are taken out. Birdy continues her escape; since she knew where the traps were, she makes it outside. With most of the solders killed, Sabretooth also makes it outside, but finds some solders are still around. They surround him and shoot gas canisters at him. It slows him and they then stun him with tasers, finally knocking him down. Quickly, the solders then bring nets to bind him, stun him with more tasers and finally inject him with a triple dose of horse tranquilizers. As a groggily conscious Sabretooth is loaded into a van and driven away, he says, “I’m comin back, Birdy! You’re gonna get yours! I‘m gonna fix you!”

Creed has a dream about his childhood. He remembered being chained to the cellar wall. His father shouts from the top of the cellar stairs, that “I’m gonna fix you!” His mother follows him down the stairs; she’s trying to talk him out of what he’s going to do. He tells her to shut up; if he “pulls out them devil teeth and them claws, maybe I can beat the evil out of him.” His mother tries to stop him again by standing in front of the boy but his father tells her to get away from him, as the boy doesn’t have his muzzle on. Creed lunges at her and then bites her hand, his father then grabs Creed’s head and tells her to hold the boy tight.

Suddenly, Creed starts to wake up. He is strapped, spread eagle, to a table. Stitches run down his legs, arms and down his chest. He try to move but is restrained. A voice tells him that Dr. Mabuse has been working round the clock for a week, giving you a full system upgrade; he is now Turbo-Sabretooth. Shocked by this revelation, Creed tells him “that’s pretty stupid, when he gets loose, he’s going to…” Before he finishes, he is interrupted; Creed is informed that they also put a control device next to his aorta. The voice reveals himself; he tells him that he the Tribune and all this was done in order for him to carry out a very special assassination.

Tribune then reminds Creed about that control device that they had implanted. He tells him that it consists of six ounces of hyperthermite 3. He doesn’t think that he would take his word for it, so he gives a demonstration. He brings in one of the ninjas that attacked him at his mansion. Tribune tells Creed that a control device was also implanted in him. Tribune then pushes a button and the ninja explodes in half.

Creed asks whom he wants killed. Tribune holds up a picture; it’s of Mystique and Tribune tells him that he has two days. Sabretooth tells him to start the clock and tells him, “After I ace the broad, I’m comin’ after you!”

Characters Involved: 

Sabretooth (Victor Creed)

Birdy
Psi-Borg

Dr. Mabuse
Tribune

(Phantom projection)
Young Creed

(Memories)
Victor Creeds Parents

(Picture)
Mystique

Story Notes: 

First appearance of Tribune.

Sabretooth and Mystique once had a child together, the leader of the Friends of Humanity, Graydon Creed.

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