SHIELD Headquarters…
As the Avengers are about to leave SHIELD, Dugan continues to talk to several Army leaders through his monitors, assuring them he shall send them new information regarding Wolverine as soon as it becomes available. Dugan asks Annato to hold on. Before Captain America leaves, Dugan cryptically suggests to Cap that they should talk. Playing coy, Cap replies that isn’t sure about what, reminding Dugan they were both soldiers back during the War and, whatever they did in those days, was under orders. Cap wasn’t afraid of them back then and isn’t afraid of them now. He leaves together with his teammates. Dugan hesitates for a while, but opens communications with Annato again, wanting to talk about the current situation in Japan.
Japan…
As soldiers arrive on the battlefield, Wolverine faces the Silver Samurai. As the Samurai opens the battle by swinging his sword, Logan smiles and remembers how good the Samurai actually is. The Samurai keeps his distance during the battle, thinking he’ll have the advantage doing that. But Logan does the very same thing, hoping to gain the very same thing. Eventually, they start talking. During the battle, Logan explains to the Samurai that, not long ago, he finally regained all of his lost memories. He always thought that would clear up some answers, but it turns out it raised only more questions. So, Logan adds, he is there in Japan to ask those questions, though in his very own way.
The Samurai keeps dodging Wolverine’s attacks. The battle becomes a stalemate. So the Samurai decides to change tactics: he starts answering the questions. But it’s not the question Logan had hoped to hear. No, instead, the Silver Samurai sticks his sword right through Wolverine’s stomach!
As much as Wolverine hates what he has to do next, he realizes this is the only way to disarm the Samurai permanently. He lifts up his arm, and slices the Samurai’s hand off with his claws! With the Samurai in pain, he finally answers Logan’s actual questions. Logan can smell he is telling the truth. After the questions are over, Logan takes out the Samurai’s sword out of his chest and hands it back over to him. He decides to leave the Samurai in his honor, as he has no use for it.
Logan heads back into the sewers, realizing that, after the stunt he just pulled, the city must have become an actual circus, but is certain SHIELD will leave him a couple of holes where he can escape though, thinking it will be in their best interest. He’s also confidant SHIELD won’t try to apprehend him, not after what happened a couple of months ago. Logan also knows SHIELD won’t risk him ending up in a Japanese prison, because he might spill his guts. But that doesn’t matter. Logan has already other escaping routes in mind.
As he wanders through the sewers, Wolverine takes some time to recover from the wounds he got during his battle against the Silver Samurai. Next, he snikts his claws into a water pipe, and the water coming out of it drags Logan away. The cold water helps him stay focused. The Samurai really got him good, knowing exactly where to strike. In more ways than one. Logan knows he shouldn’t care so much about what the Samurai told him. It was inevitable. As inevitable as the rain returning to the sea. Logan floats out of the sewers and dives into the ocean.
He has almost stopped bleeding, meaning he won’t have to worry about the sharks. His body is beat, though, and hardly feels like it’s moving. Halfway across his mind, Logan starts thinking about how good it would be to stop trying and just let himself float into the darkness. It’s tempting, like lies always are. Logan notices a freighter ship and climbs it, mentioning that this is the place where he’s got to be. Logan wanders around the ship, which is completely empty. He thinks it won’t leave for another twelve hours. He figures he uses that time to patch up. Logan feels hungry. He opens a door, and finds a blue car. On that very moment, Wolverine collapses!
A few moments later, Logan wakes up again, unsure about how long he has been out, or awake, or how long he has been at this place. He does know he held out for as long as he could. Logan snikts out his claws again. He starts with his left forearm. He roars. Once he gets started, Logan realizes that his left bicep is going to have to go as well. So hungry is he. It’s easier than he thought it would be. Pretty soon, the pain in his arm gets worse than the pain in his belly and he starts to lose consciousness again. Logan lets go, and faints once more. It feels good.
He slips in and out of consciousness. The nightmares come and go. They are always different, yet the same as well. He dreams about the women he loved throughout his life, like Rose, Silver Fox and Cassie. Logan tries to reach out to every one of them, but the panic starts to set in. He tries to fight it, and focus. He sees another woman, who looks like Mariko. But she has her back turned to him. Logan tries to see her face, but later can only see blood. And the kill light goes on, blinding him.
Wolverine remembers a time when he was still a samurai, finding himself surrounded by a large army. The light Logan sees fills his brain, wiping out his thoughts. His lungs constrict, not even giving him enough time to scream. The soldiers have him. They suckered him in. They knew exactly what to do to get him to this place. Logan is blind and unprepared. Unarmed as well. Logan is approached by a demonic-looking creature, which starts killing him! In the dream, Logan begins to fall asleep, knowing that when he wakes up, it will be just another dream.
Wolverine wakes up, and takes a closer look to the blue car. He looks at the room he’s in, and notices more cars standing around. The ships stops moving, making it clear to Logan that it’s time for him to leave. He dives back into the ocean.
Later…
Wolverine has cuts down a tree, which has collapsed an expanse of fence and allowing him entry into a secured facility. The security soldiers who discover this don’t have a clue what’s going on, suspecting a bear probably dug up the roots of the tree. Nearby, Logan manages to sneak past the guard, recalling that it’s always easy to break into a place that is built to keep people inside it. Logan’s got a feeling he shouldn’t even be there, that he should just run away and never look back. But he realizes that this is something he has to do. It’s something inevitable. One way or another, Wolverine always knew that he would end up back at… Department K?!
