Sabretooth (1st series) #4

Issue Date: 
November 1993
Story Title: 
Death Hunt - part 4: Sins of the Fathers!
Staff: 

Larry Hama (Writer), Mark Texeira (Artist), Steve Baiasi (Backgrounds), Steve Bioccelate (Colorist), Richard Starkings (Letter), Bob Harras (Editor), Tom DeFalco (Chief)

Brief Description: 

Sabretooth and Birdy arrive in New York at their target. Inside the lobby is a group of ninjas, so Creed crashes the bus into the building and gets out to attack them. As they fight the ninjas, Ellie informs Tribune up in his office about their guests. They finish off all but one ninjas, Sabretooth interrogates him and, when he’s done, he throws him thru a window. Tribune orders a group of assembled bankers to defend themselves. They do and Tribune dispatches them to specific locations. Ellie watches the monitors and cannot find Sabretooth. Outside the building, Sabretooth and Birdy climb up the building and jump across a series of gargoyles. Ellie thinks that maybe he left; Tribune disagrees. Sabretooth crashes through the window of his office. Tribune shoots him but Creed is unfazed. He attacks Tribune, knocking off his helmet. Creed picks him up and throws him out the window. Tribune jams a knife into the wall to stop his fall. Sabretooth grabs Dr. Maybuse, to get the bomb out of his chest. They don’t have any instruments, so Creed uses his claws to cut open his chest. The doctor removes the bomb and Creed throws it out the window, just before it explodes. As the doctor fixes the wound in Creed’s chest, Sabretooth notices a reflection in the doctor’s eye. He turns to see Tribune, who opens fires on them, killing the doctor. Sabretooth grabs Tribune by the throat, demanding to know why he wanted Mystique and himself dead. Tribune ignores his demands, so Creed has Birdy send him into his mind. Inside Tribunes’ mind, he finds a hallway full of doors, each with a child peeping thru the keyhole. He wants to know what is inside the doors; Tribune tries unsuccessfully to stop him. The noise alerts a voice from inside one of the doors and Sabretooth breaks it down. Inside is Mystique; she wants to know why the boy, Graydon, is doing here. Mystique is the boys’ mother; she then tells him that Sabretooth is his father. The boy tells Sabretooth that it’s he who wanted Mystique and him dead, their son, Graydon Creed. In the real world, Sabretooth is skeptical of this information. He decides to snap his neck but Birdy stops him. Graydon recognizes her and stabs her in the chest, killing her. Graydon killed her to hurt him; with out her he has no release. Sabretooth begrudging agrees that he is his son. As he leaves, he tells Graydon that he know some people that can help him but he’s going to keep an eye on him.

Full Summary: 

After arriving in New York, Sabretooth and Birdy take off in a bus. Birdy wonders why they couldn’t just take a cab like everybody else but Sabretooth wanted to take a bus, literally. After stealing the bus, they head into the city. They soon arrive at their target, the Mammon Fiduciary Trust Tower, the headquarters of Tribune.

Birdy notices that the lobby was full of ninjas. Creed he aims the bus towards the lobby, commenting that they’re harder to get rid of than roaches. The bus crashes into the lobby, broken glass and ninjas go flying. Sabretooth gets out of the bus and starts attacking them. He doesn’t have a lot of time, with a time bomb inside of him. As she fires her gun at the ninjas, Birdy reminds him he’s only got fifteen minutes left to get it deactivated. Creed tells her not to worry; he’s not going to check out without taking her with him.

Up in the tower, Ellie informs Tribune about their ‘security problem’ in the lobby has escalated and recommends they go to condition yellow. He concurs and then gets into his Tribune armor. Down in the lobby, Creed notes that he’s got through his quota and asks how’s she doing with her bunch. She finishes her last one and reminds him not to kill all of them, save one for questioning. Creed grabs the last ninja by the throat. He notices that he’s from the same clan that attacked him in Vancouver. He asks how did they track him here. The ninja says they didn’t, Tribune kidnapped one of his clan brothers from his post outside his house and they followed Tribune and figured that Creed would show up. Creed agrees but it didn’t do him any good and throws him headfirst thru a window. Sabretooth then asks what the name of the company was. Birdy tells him; “Gee Cee Group, Investment Bankers.”

Up in the tower, Tribune informs a group of assembled bankers; “Banking hours are over, prepare to defend yourselves.” The group arm themselves. Tribune motivates them by telling them, “Exemplary performance in the defense of our assets will result in bonuses and stock options.” He gives out orders to barricade the doors and dispatches teams to the fire stairs. Dr. Mabuse tells Tribune that their teams won’t have to hold Sabretooth for long, the hyper-thermite bomb that he implanted in his chest is set to detonate in less than ten minutes. Tribune reminds him not to underestimate Sabretooth, as he wasn’t supposed to be able to find this office either. Ellie then interrupts them, she is monitoring the security cameras but she cannot locate Sabretooth. He’s not in any of the elevators, stairs or corridors.

Outside the building, Sabretooth and Birdy climb up the side of the tower. Creed asks Birdy how come she didn’t know who Tribune was, or where his headquarters was at, if he was the one she sold him out to. Birdy reminds him that she already told him that the deal was made through cut outs, she never met him. As Creed jumps across a series of gargoyles, Birdy asks him to slow down. Creed laughs off her suggestion, telling her that the clock’s ticking, “are ya sure ya want to be holdin’ on so tight when the bomb goes off?”

Inside the office, Ellie wonders if Sabretooth gave up and went away. Tribune disagrees; “He may be a number of disagreeable things but a quitter is not one of them!” As soon as he says this, Sabretooth, with Birdy on his back, crashes through the window, surprising Tribune, Ellie and Dr. Maybuse. Sabretooth agrees with what Tribune said, as he lunges towards him. Tribune responds by aiming a CHKLIT gun at him and fires. It hits Sabretooth in the chest, however it doesn’t phase him. Creed reminds him that he had his doctors soup-up his powers, so he could take out Mystique. Tribune asks if he did but, as Sabretooth knocks away the gun, he tells him that he let her walk but he’s going to fly. Creed slashes at Tribune, knocking off his helmet. Birdy covers the door. The teams of bankers spot her but they don’t last against the gunfire from Birdy. Under the desk, Dr. Maybuse asks Ellie if she heard Birdy called Sabretooth ‘Mister Creed‘? Ellie did, she wonders if… But before she could finish, Sabretooth picks up Tribune above his head and throws him out the window. Tribune falls a few stories but, using a knife, he stops his descent by stabbing it into the wall and grinding to a halt.

Inside the office, Birdy reminds Sabretooth about the bomb; he has only fifteen minutes left before it goes off. Creed tells her to keep the flunkies at bay. He knows how much time is left. He grabs Dr. Maybuse out from under the desk and asks how big of a blast radius the bomb has. The doctor tells him twenty feet. Creed tells him that he better start operating, because he’s going to keep the doctor close; “Sorta like my own malpractice insurance.” The doctor was surprised. “Here? No table? No instruments? No anesthesia?! How do I make the incision without a scalpel?” Sabretooth cuts open his own chest with is claws; “nothing sharper that my claws.” He hollers in pain, as a stunned doctor and Birdy look on. “Ain’t nothing’ like a little pain to make a man feel alive!”

Creed pulls open his chest and tells the doctor to reach in and get the bomb. Birdy continues to fire at the bankers, as she finishes off the last one; she is ambushed by a ninja. As he is about to finish her off, she hits him with a mind blast. As the doctor works inside of Creed’s chest, he asks him how does he know that he won’t kill him after he removes the bomb? With a sinister smile on his face, Creed tells him; “ya don’t, but you’ll live sure as snuff live a few seconds longer than if ya let the bomb go off!” The doctor pulls out the bomb, it’s still armed. Creed grabs it and throws it out the window and it explodes.

Sabretooth comments that the blast would have been enough to “reduce me to a fine red mist.” The doctor wants to get the wound in his chest stitched up, so he wants to get his bag out of his car. Creed laughs at this and grabs Ellie by the throat. Creed asks if her if she’s Tribune’s gofer and bets that she has some safety pins in her bag. She does and gives them to him. “Start pinnin’ me up doc, heck it’s better’n a staple gun! And it sorta in style, ya know? Got that punk look.”

During this, Tribune climbs in from the window and grabs his gun. Sabretooth notices that the doctor is nervous; “afraid I’m gonna twist yer stinkin’ head off?” The doctor doesn’t think he would but Sabretooth is serious. “You can see it in my eye, just like I can see the fear in your eye… And something else too!” In the reflection in the doctors’ eye, Creed sees Tribune aiming his gun at him. He turns fast, as Tribune open fires at him. Creed uses Dr. Maybuse as a shield. When Tribune runs out of bullets, Sabretooth grabs him and breaks a piece of broken glass across Tribune’s head. Tribune yells at Creed, wanting him to end it. “Go ahead! Snap my neck! You’re going to be dead sooner than you think!” Sabretooth tells him his death isn’t going to be that easy, at least until he finds out why he wants him and Mystique dead. “How come you hate mutants so much, boy?” Tribune continues to be indignant. Creed believes that, no matter what he does, he won’t talk. When Birdy enters the office, Sabretooth tells her to send him into his head and she does.

Inside of Tribunes mind, Sabretooth comes across a hallway of doors, each with the same young child peeping through the keyhole. Sabretooth wants to know what he’s looking at. Tribune tries to stop him but Sabretooth pushes him out of the way. Hearing the noise from inside one of the doors, a voice asks, “Is that you out there Graydon?” Sabretooth breaks in the door. Inside is Mystique. She asks if Graydon ran away from boarding school, to spy on his mother? She tells him that he should wait until he sees what his father looks like. Another Sabretooth appears. The child Graydon tells Sabretooth that there are a thousand doors like this. “A thousand more reasons to hate mutants, to hate my mother Mystique, and to hate you… my Father! That’s who wanted you and Mystique dead! Your own son, Graydon Creed!”

In the real world:
Sabretooth grabs Tribune/Graydon by the throat. He doesn’t believe that he’s his son and would rather have Logan as a son, than him. As Creed is about to kill him, Birdy stops him. If he‘s really his son, then Creed shouldn’t kill him. Graydon recognizes Birdy from the surveillance reports. He slides a hidden knife out from his armor. “You’re his escape valve!” Graydon then stabs Birdy in the chest. She falls to the floor, dead.

A shocked Sabretooth asks why he’d kill her. “Because I wanted to hurt you. Mutant. Without her to sooth you, you’re alone with your pain, with your crimes.” Sabretooth tosses him to the ground. “You’re my blood, all right. My own darlin’ baby boy.” As Sabretooth leaves, Graydon continues to goad Creed, asking who’s going to lock his demons away. Sabretooth walks out the door. “I know some folks who can. It just takes convincing’ them. But you had better watch it, boy. I’m gonna keep an eye on you, here!”

Characters Involved: 

Sabretooth/Victor Creed
Birdy

Tribune/Graydon Creed Ellie
Dr. Maybuse

Story Notes: 

Sabretooth and Birdy were attacked by ninjas in Sabretooth: Death Hunt #1.

Dr. Mabuse implanted a bomb in Sabretooth’s chest in Sabretooth: Death Hunt #1.

Sabretooth was told about his son from Mystique in Sabretooth: Death Hunt #3.

CHKLIT gun is an acronym for “Charged Hyper-Kinetic Lepton Impulse Thruster.”

After Graydon killed Birdy, Sabretooth goes to the X-Men for help in X-Men Unlimited #3. More of the Creed/Darkholme family tree is revealed: X-Men Unlimited #4.

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