In the Lowtown section of Madripoor, a driver pulls up to a dilapidated building and asks his cloaked passengers if they’re sure this is the right place. This is the most dangerous neighborhood in all of Madripoor. One of the cloaked figures replies this is exactly the place. Just let them out here.
The driver remarks like he said before, he’s gonna have to charge them extra, on account of… the danger and all. When the other cloaked figure reaches into his cloak, the first cloaked individual tells their dear brother no. Allow them to pay the fare. Their driver is correct after all. This has been an exceedingly dangerous journey, for him most especially. Just then, the driver is killed when a set of long fingernails pierces his neck from behind. Exiting the car, the cloaked figure remarks that they are absolutely famished. There had better be actual food at this party and not just peanuts and potato chips. And they do so hope they aren’t overdressed.
Removing their cloaks, the cloaked figures are revealed to be Lady and Lord Deathstrike. As the car explodes behind them, Lady Deathstrike states that one never knows what to wear to these sorts of things. Reaching the door, Lady Deathstrike tells the guards that she and Lord Deathstrike are there.
Entering the party, Victor Creed tells them he’s glad they made it. He knows their business interests in the past haven’t always been exactly what you’d call… compatible. Lady Deathstrike replies that the Deathstrikes count among their many talents the ability to separate business from pleasure. Creed says there ain’t no need for that tonight. ‘Cause he expects they’ll be indulgin’ in plenty of both.
Sitting atop a building, David North points his gun to his head and is preparing to pull the trigger when his phone rings. When he picks it up, he discovers that the voice on the other end of the line belongs to Logan. Logan proceeds to tell him that there’s a party tonight, somewhere in Madripoor. He’s betting he knows the kinda party he means. He needs to know exactly where.
When he gets no answer, Logan calls out Maverick’s name. North tells him that he’s, uh… he’s a bit busy right now. Could he call him back in about five minutes? When Logan tells North to put the gun down, North asks what gun. Logan replies the one he has pointed at his head. North answers that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He just… him and Agent Jacks are about to get married. He remembers Agent Jacks, right? Form their little adventure with the Adamantium Men. He broke her outta the jail that Norman Osborn had thrown her in. Just uh… just yesterday, and now him and her, they’re gonna… see, they…
Logan tells North of course he remembers Agent Jacks. He had her released from prison months ago. Last he heard, she was living in Tangier with some guy not named him. Put down the gun. North tells Logan that he doesn’t understand… he’s done… Oh God… He’s done awful things. He’s lied to him. He’s… Cutting him off, Logan tells Maverick to listen to him. Just because he calls him asking for info, that doesn’t mean he’s an idiot. He knows exactly who he is and everything he’s ever done. But nobody gets off that easy. ‘Specially not people he still needs something from. So put down the damn gun and do your damn job. And tell him where to find this damn party.
Back in Madripoor, Creed and Mystique look around at those gathered – Tiger Shark, Roughhouse, Bloodscream, Madcap, Sauron, Nitro, Wild Child, amongst others. Mystique tells Creed that Dr. Doom sends his regrets. Wilson Fisk couldn’t make it either but she believes he did send a gift. Creed says yeah, a box of cobras. Mystique replies that one can never have enough of those. Creed says even without them two blowhards, it’s not a bad turnout. Especially for one of his parties. Use to be, nobody but Wild Child would show up. Mystique remarks that she supposes being the newfound secret assassin lord of the entire Eastern Hemisphere has its perks. Shall they mingle? Creed retorts after you, sweet cheeks.
During the party, Shingen Harada says to Daken that he just saw him double dip that veggie stick. That’s totally disgusting. Peering back at him, Daken asks him how he would like those swords shoved in his eye holes. In another area, a very large rotund man introduces Jade Claw to the new White Queen (Wilhelmina Kensington). When Jade Claw says you’ve got to be kidding me, Wilhelmina asks her if she’d like to pet her penguin. Near the food table, Lady Deathstrike tells Soulstriker that she suggest he find someone else to hit on before she slices off what few appendages he has left. Without the use of either of his hands, Soulstriker asks her if she thinks she could at least feed him one of those sandwiches.
As Creed and Mystique walk through the party, Creed tells her to look at them. Any one of them would kill him at the drop of a hat. That’s the only reason they’re there. To size him up, look for an opening. Mystique tells Creed welcome to the top. He best get used to everyone he meets wanting to kill him. Creed states that he knows at least one thing that’s got the power to bring them all together. Just then, Creed thanks everybody for coming and tells them to make themselves at home. There’s food and beer and people to beat up. The murder games will be startin’ soon enough. But to kick things off right, he’d like to propose a toast. Here’s to that furry little runt they all love to hate. Here’s to Wolverine. Wherever the hell he may be.
Meanwhile, just outside Creed’s party, a doctor clad in bloody rags tells the bouncers that he swears he’s supposed to be in there. When the bouncers ask him what his name is again, the doctor introduces himself as Dr. Algernon J. Rotwell. His patients calls him Dr. Rot. Grabbing hold of one of the bouncer’s heads, Dr. Rot remarks that he has a lovely skull. Would he mind if he took a look inside it sometime? When the other bouncer says he’s not on the list, Dr. Rot states that there must be some mistake. He assures them he is quite infamous. Why, he once took a bunch of brains and made a…
Before he can finish, the bouncer pushes him away. In short time, a man walks up to the door wearing a suit and a cowboy hat. When the stranger asks if this is the party, the bouncer asks him what his name is. The stranger replies Snikt. Perusing his list, the bouncer states that there’s no Snikt on the list. The stranger replies maybe he’s not spelling it right. Here, let him help him. With that, the stranger (Logan) pops his claws with a snikt and presses them up to the bouncer’s face.
Somewhere in the Pacific, a flying luxury car lands on the beach of an island. Running out of the jungle, an older man exclaims that it’s about damn time. He’s the one they’re looking for. He’s the CEO of Blackguard. They sure took their sweet time rescuing him. Let’s go. He’s got business that needs attending to and people who are long overdue to die, starting with that little bastard Wolverine. When he gets his hands on him he’s gonna…
Just then, the old man is shot in the head. When three members of Strikeforce X emerge from the jungle, the shooter calls the old man annoying and adds that he can’t believe they lived there with him for all these months. He then tells them not to worry; they can put their claws away. He’s not there to kill them. His name is Kade Kilgore, Black King of the Hellfire Club. He’s there to offer them a job. One of the men asks Kilgore how he found them. Kilgore answers by looking. Apparently nobody else gave much of a damn about searching for them, even though they’re all that’s left of the one-time Strikeforce X, Blackguard’s adamantium-boned corporate super-soldiers. Looks to him like they’ve managed to stay in relatively good shape out there. Laser claws in good working order. How many of them are left? When they reply “just what you see,” Kilgore states that he’s got good news and bad news. The good news is, they’re hired as of right now, all of them, to be his personal bodyguards. The bad news is there’s only room in the car for two of them. He’ll leave it up to them to decide which two that should be. Just then, as Kade Kilgore and his associate Maximilian von Katzenelnbogen look on as the three members of Strikeforce X brutally attack each other.
Back in Madripoor, Wolverine (in his blue and yellow costume) throws one of the bouncers through the front door. Entering the building, he asks the villains inside what they’re all just standing around for. He thought this was a party. Smiling, Creed replies that it is now. With that, Wolverine engages the room in battle.
In the Canadian wilderness, a large mountain man (Dog Logan) makes his way through the snow to his isolated wood cabin. Once inside the cabin, he mounts his weapon up on the wall amongst the others, drops his kill on the table and skins it with a laser knife. After cooking it for a while over a fire, he takes a bite out of the meat and says mmm. That’s some good wolverine. Good enough for now at least. All around him on the walls of the cabin are articles about Wolverine’s new school in upstate New York – Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
In Madripoor, Wolverine continues to battle the villains attending Creed’s party. Amongst those he battles include Wild Child, Lady Deathstrike, Lord Deathstrike, Silver Samurai (Shingen Harada), Daken and Mystique.
In New York City, in an underground parking garage, Melita Garner walks up to the three women gathered and asks the stereotypical darkened parking deck? Seriously? They couldn’t have maybe done this in a sushi bar instead? The woman, Seraph replies that she hopes she hasn’t called her there just to tell her how to do her job.
Melita tells Seraph not to be coy. She knows why she’s there. For the record, she dumped him. Not the other way around. Seraph asks her if she got tired of all that hair clogging her shower drain. Melita states that she still loves him, but some men were just never meant to be monogamous. Seraph asks and it took her until now to figure that out about Logan? She thought she was supposed to be a reporter. The Daily Bugle must have lowered its already abysmal standards.
When Melita then says she wants in, Seraph asks her in what. Melita replies in everything they do. She knows they can use her. Seraph states what they do is play a dangerous game of freelance international espionage where the only rules are: kill the other people first and always get paid up front. Is she sure she’s up for something like that? Melita answers that she dated Wolverine for thirteen months. She thinks she can handle it.
Scoffing at her, Lynx tells her to join the club. Melita says she thought that’s what she was doing. Unless there’s another group somewhere made up entirely of Wolverine’s ex-girlfriends. Seraph says nope, just them. She then congratulates Melita for officially being one of Seraph’s Angels (Lynx, Seraph, and Cassie Lathrop). Her first assignment is to provide them with one last little bit of vitally important information. Did he ever accidentally call her by any of their names in bed?
In Tokyo, Yukio asks Amiko where she thinks she’s going. Amiko replies that police are reporting a public brawl at a furry bar in Kabukicho. She’s gonna go kick some anthropomorphic perverts in the face. Yukio reminds her not just the face. She needs to work more on her body shots. Amiko replies yes, ninja mother.
In hell, Thomas Logan stands surrounded by the Mongrels (Cannon Foot, Gunhawk, Fire Knives, Saw Fist and Shadow Stalker) and exclaims that he still can’t believe he’s got grandkids. He’ll be damned. That son of his was always a helluva disappointment, but it’s nice to see he’s at least been carrying on the family name. When Gunhawk asks what this place is, Thomas tells him this is hell. This is where all Logans go when they die.
In San Francisco, below the streets of Chinatown, Fat Cobra (the new Black Dragon) presides over his loyal followers.
Back in Madripoor, Wolverine finishes off the last of his villains and proceeds to turn his attention to Creed. As they battle, Logan tells Creed that he’s sorry to crash his party but when he heard about his little shindig here it got him thinking ‘bout how he used to look him up once a year and beat his ass just to show him he could. Does he remember that? He sure does. It’s been a rough couple years for him, but that’s no excuse to go forgettin’ old friends and special traditions. That’s why he had to drop by today, just to tell him to his face happy birthday. From his old pal Wolverine. He’ll leave them to their party now. See him again next year. With that, Wolverine leaves the party, his foes bloody and beaten.
Later, at a bar, the bartender asks Logan if he’d like to start a tab. Logan answers that he sure would. Enjoying his first beer, Logan thinks to himself a cold beer in his gullet, football on the TV, Sabretooth’s blood on his hands. Loud drunk guys playing pool, probably gonna start a fight later. When the bartender asks Logan if he can get him anything else, Logan flashes a smile and asks what else is there.
