Vietnam, 1968…
Sabretooth sits in a bar, and holds a gun against his head, clicking it. With nothing happening, Creed hands the gun over to the guy sitting next to him on a table, a guy named Lien. Sabretooth tells Lien that it’s his turn now.
Every other customer in the bar looks at them. Creed notices Lien’s struggling, so he makes him a deal. Sabretooth suggests that he doubles the scratch on Lien’s end and will do three clicks in a row for Lien’s two. No spins for Creed, but one for Lien and Sabretooth is so good, he says, that he’ll even go first. With an evil look in his eyes but with a smile on his face, Sabretooth asks Lien if they’ve got a deal.
Lien agrees. Sabretooth clicks the gun three times and nothing happens. Creed hands the gun over to a sweaty Lien; it’s his turn to try now. Lien hesitates, but Sabretooth tells Lien not to chicken out now, as he’s got a 50/50 shot. As Lien takes the gun, Creed orders another drink from the waitress. Suddenly, Lien pulls the trigger and shoots himself in the head! Sabretooth has won the bet and a lot of money, so he decides to give the next round in the bar. When counting his money, Sabretooth is approached by a mysterious man, wearing a raincoat and carrying a bag. The man asks if the rumors he heard are true, and that Sabretooth never loses at this game.
Sabretooth gladly confirms. The man believes that the reason for Creed never losing might be because he has an edge, meaning that playing this game like a man who maybe doesn’t think a bullet in the head would be such a big deal. Or maybe, the man continues, like a man who knows it wouldn’t be a big deal. Intrigued, Sabretooth asks the man if he knows him. The waitress hands Creed his beer and gives one to the man too. Creed takes the waitress in his arms and plays with her a little, while continuing his conversation with the man.
The man believes that it’s pretty doubtful that Sabretooth knows him, but the man claims that he surely knows Creed. The man reveals that he knows that he is talking to Victor Creed, known as Sabretooth in certain circles, which most try to avoid. And, the man says, Creed is the only man he knows who would come to Vietnam for a vacation. Sabretooth says that could very well be, but says that he is also a man who has got a very low tolerance for people who stuck their noses into his business, which means that the man has got about five seconds to tell him what he wants before he gets to see what Sabretooth’s exact “edge” is. The man says that he knows that Creed has been busy since he got there. Taking jobs from whoever the highest bidder was, no matter which side they were on.
The man claims to be here about one of those jobs. Showing a picture, the man says that the woman on the picture recently hired Creed to investigate certain “goings-on” in the deep jungles of Saigon. Opening the bag he carried with him, the man reveals that that particular woman isn’t no longer in a position to meet Creed’s price. The man shows Creed the bag and, in it, lies that woman, Sabretooth’s boss… dead. The man opens a briefcase, explaining that his employer has decided to compensate Sabretooth for his troubles, provided that they come to an understanding.
“An understanding?” Sabretooth mocks. Sabretooth wonders if the frail in the bodybag liked the “understanding” they came to. Sabretooth wonders, trying to remember what the name was she used for the mysterious man’s boss. He remembers; it was “The White Devil.” Sabretooth remembers the story his employer told him. It was a story about soldiers who disappeared in the Brush, locals getting hijacked from their homes, Creed even heard rumors of bizarre experiments, about so-called “monster men” running around. “Monster men?” the mysterious man laughs. Hearing this reminds him of what he heard recently about dwindling numbers in the Vietnamese prostitute population. About girls who were found with their throats slashed, chunks of their flesh entirely missing.
But the man is certain that Sabretooth has got nothing to do with that. Sabretooth takes an angry look at the man. But, the man continues, their motto is “live and let live,” so they hope that Sabretooth feels the same way, because he and his boss don’t like that people stick their nose into their business either. Taking Sabretooth’s gun, the man asks if they’ve got an “understanding.” Or, the man asks, does he have to show where he gets his edge from? Sabretooth and the man look at each other with the same malicious expression, until Sabretooth takes a good laugh. Accepting the man’s money, Sabretooth says to consider him understood. The man gets up, saying that it was a pleasure doing business with Creed. Sabretooth tells the man to wait a minute, because he didn’t catch his name.
The man introduces himself as Scalphunter. “My kind of name,” Sabretooth says. He asks what to do when he feels the urge to do “business” with Scalphunter and his boss again one day. Scalphunter throws Sabretooth a blank card. Creed asks what that means. Scalphunter takes the bodybag and walks out, explaining that the card means that they will get in touch with Sabretooth whenever they seem fit.
Today…
Hans looks at his defeated enemy, Sabretooth, whose body burns up. Believing that Sabretooth is dead, an unimpressed Hans walks away. Sabretooth wakes up smiling and jumps at a startled Hans, slashing his claw through his body! Sabretooth tells the bleeding Hans not to look so surprised, as Hans is not the only one who knows how to play possum. Sabretooth laughs and continues to slash Hans, who tries to get into safety. Hans makes it to the end of the rooftop and can’t go any further. Sabretooth pushes Hans off the rooftop and he crashes hard on the ground! Sabretooth triumphs and believes that he now best continues his search.
But, as he goes, he is attacked by another Marauder, a miniature version of Hans! The mini-Hans kicks Sabretooth and he drops off the roof. As he falls, Sabretooth grabs the little guy by the throat, saying that he won’t go down so easily. Sabretooth grabs a wall and cuts his claws on it so that he can hang on the wall. Grabbing the little guy’s throat even tighter, Sabretooth wants to kill him now. But before he can do that, he gets hit by an optic beam! Sabretooth loses balance and slams on the ground. Exhausted, Sabretooth gets up and gets surprised by what he sees in front of him: more Marauders, 9 of them, all looking like Hans. Not knowing where they came from and not really caring, Sabretooth wants to continue his fight, but is too exhausted and faints.
A short time later…
With a vague vision, Sabretooth wakes up and finds out that he’s back at the Megacorp office. Tomes says that Sabretooth can be thankful to them to that they found him before the police did. Or, Grand says, even worse, before Essex did. Sabretooth gets up and wants to know where Sinister went. Grand explains that both Sinister and his alter ego, Dr. Windsor, seem to have vanished off the face of the Earth. And, considering Sinister’s penchant for disappearing into his various identities, it may be some time before he resurfaces again. Grand just feels sorry, because these aren’t the results he was looking for when he hired Creed.
Sabretooth says that Grand could have told him about the new employments Sinister seems to have. Grand reveals that they weren’t aware of that fact, but assumed that Sabretooth would be capable of dealing with whatever problems arose during the assignment. But they obviously assumed wrong. Grand wants to hire someone else to hunt down Dr. Essex and taking a file from Tomes. He asks Sabretooth, knowing it is a long shot, if his associate Wolverine is available. An angry look emerges on Sabretooth’s face but he quickly calms down. Sabretooth says that he promised to find Essex and that will be exactly what he will do. Sabretooth walks out of the office, but Tomes hold Creed, giving him a blank card. Sabretooth asks Tomes if he knew who left it, but Tomes doesn’t know.
Sabretooth takes the elevator down, with surprised people looking at him as he goes out. Sabretooth walks into the rainy night and takes another look at the card, remembering what it means. Sabretooth shouts that he got the message and that Scalphunter can come out. From the back of the street, a car opens its window. Scalphunter tells Sabretooth to keep it down and tells him to get in. Scalphunter believes that it is time for them that they came to an understanding.
