Arcade fantasizes. It was just a game. Like shooting marbles. Shooting dice. Shooting your parents. You know. A game! Every game has a winner. And a loser. Fair is fair. But every time we played, he always won. And I had Locke to thank for it. My lovely Locke.
The villain has sent several Wolverine-robots after the real Logan. In a stormy night, the look-a-likes climb in the trees nearby Logan and fire a net at him! Trapping Logan inside it, they activate electro-shocks until Logan is sedated. Arcade laughs.
Reality…
Martinique wants to know what that was, but Arcade claims not to know what she’s talking about. She reminds Arcade that they were psi-linked, and she saw something in his head. She saw something… disturbing. Arcade jokes that “disturbing” in his head could be just about anything. Martinique doesn’t think so. She recalls that Arcade told her Wolverine killed Locke. That’s why she agreed to help him. Arcade claims that they don’t have any secrets. She can look at his beautiful face to see he’s telling the truth. That maniac Wolverine slashed him when he was trying to save Locke! His lovely, lovely Locke…
Elsewhere, in a dark cell…
Wolverine believes that something is wrong. Or maybe, just maybe, something’s right for a change. He notices Gambit lying unconscious next to him. Logan tries to wake the Cajun up, explaining that they aren’t in Japan and Remy isn’t dead. And if they want to get out of here, now is the time.
Gambit wakes up, having a bid of a headache. He had the weirdest dream. He caught up with Logan in Tokyo and… he went crazy. Logan angrily claims that wasn’t real. But, it wasn’t a dream. They’ve been played. Logan got pushed to a place he got under control. Gambit asks “what now?” Logan replies that he’s wound pretty tight. But their enemies made some mistakes. Like in “Japan,” Gambit was smoking and Logan noticed Gambit didn’t have a cigarette since he was in London. He notices the destroyed robotic body of Alexandra Davis lying next to them, and checks it out.
Wolverine asks Gambit if he can charge up something as big as the body. Gambit hesitates, because that’s the person Logan killed. Logan reminds the Cajun that they’re looking at a robot here, and nothing more. He repeats his question. Gambit can. He charges the body up and, after a huge explosion, a hole is created in their cell!
Logan grins this was a piece of cake. He walks through the hole and finds a long tunnel. He picked up a scent. It’s their “friend,” Martinique. Definitely. He also picked up someone else. Gambit wonders who it could be. Logan tells the Cajun to use his head. The games. The robots. Making him patsy. Gambit realizes who’s behind all this: Arcade. Gambit follows Logan into the tunnel, with neither of the two realizing they are being stalked by lots of Wolverine-robots.
Gambit suddenly hears something and, after quickly charging up a playing card, he throws it at the robots. He hits one of them, and corrects that they are dealing with androids, made out to look just like Wolverine. Remy wonders if he could have been wrong about Logan all along. If that’s so, he doesn’t like being taken for a fool. Not one bit. He charges up his staff, and destroys another android with it!
Wolverine eliminates the remaining androids, until they are all taken care off. He starts to growl and his eyes turn red of fury. He growls. Remy asks his teammates if he’s okay. Logan states that he isn’t.
Meanwhile, Martinique asks Arcade why she should trust him. Arcade jokes “trust, schmust.” They’ve got much bigger problems on their hands right now, with the system of their viewing monitors having gone off-line. When Martinique demands the truth, Arcade agrees to tell her, but later. The monitors go back on-line, but only to show Arcade that his prisoners are no longer in their cell. Martinique uses her powers to invade Arcade’s mind involuntarily, promising him he won’t find it very pleasant. Arcade shouts at Martinique to understand the situation: their prisoners have escaped!
Gambit and Wolverine show up behind the two. Gambit attacks Martinique with his playing cards but, as he throws them at her, it’s revealed Remy was merely attacking an illusion, which quickly fades away. Wolverine angrily grabs Arcade by his hair and angrily points his claws at him. Logan wants Arcade to give him one reason why he shouldn’t jam his claws through his sick little skull. Frightened, Arcade agrees to let Logan win. Logan’s eyes turn furiously red when he hears that. He growls, shouting at Arcade that he went inside his head, found things he thought he could never have again.
Remy holds Logan’s arm, telling him that’s enough. He admits that maybe he was doubting Logan killed those women. Maybe. But, the Cajun states, if Logan can show him the man is still in control of his body, he won’t have any doubts anymore at all. Logan snikts his claws back in. Gambit tries to say something, but Logan tells him to save it, as he didn’t do it for him.
Arcade tries to crawl into safety, mocking that “you win some, you lose some.” “All is fair in love and war.” “Last one out is a rotten egg”. He bumps into an angrily Martinique, who tells the little man that he made a big mistake. Martinique admits that she has no love for these… X-Men. She shares her father’s disgust for them. She now realizes that her “partner” took advantage of that. He took advantage of her! Martinique uses her powers to psi-link herself with Wolverine, Arcade and Gambit. She tells Arcade to open up his most private thoughts. Wolverine didn’t kill those five women. Arcade captured Logan and framed him for those murders. When Gambit came to London, Arcade seized the opportunity to up the stakes. So, he included Martinique in his conspiracy. She wants to know why.
Arcade shows them. He explains. “It was just a game. And Locke… my…lovely…Locke… She understood it was a game. We played like this before, you know. But this time, I… we… she… went to far. My lovely Locke…”
Through Martinique’s psi-link, Wolverine and Gambit can see how Miss Locke first used a knife to destroy half of Arcade’s face, and Arcade himself later used another knife to kill Locke!
Martinique psychically explains that Arcade couldn’t admit he killed Locke. And so, he made up another game. Using Wolverine’s auto-matons, Arcade created a modern day “Jack the Ripper,” stalking the women of London. By leaving Locke’s body, in the streets, she was hidden from the victims.
As Wolverine holds Arcade captive, Gambit grabs Martinique’s arm, telling her she has to pay for her part in this. Martinique warns Gambit to take his hand away from her. He and the likes of him can’t judge her. Five women. Five women lost their lives needlessly. She can promise that Arcade will pay for that dearly. She creates an illusion that she fades away into thick fog. Gambit tries to stop her, but she ignores the call. Martinique concludes that, as for her, the blood on her hands will haunt her forever in ways men cannot imagine. Gambit tries to throw a charged-up card at Martinique, but it flies right through her illusion, as the real Martinique is already gone.
A few mere moments later, Gambit and Wolverine sit on a bench, surrounded by fog. Logan is stunned, and asks Gambit what just happened, but he isn’t sure. He looks up, and realizes that they are back in London! He wonders if both villains got away. Logan denies that, as Arcade is sitting next to him, but acts a little crazy, as he keeps saying “Good morning, Miss Locke. Fourth floor, please.” Gambit wonders what Martinique did to him. Logan recalls her saying something about making Arcade pay.
Out of nowhere, Inspector Andrews meets up with the two X-Men, understanding that the two want to speak with him. He is glad that this case is closed. It is the only thing about the entire matter that doesn’t turn his stomach.
Later, at the cemetery…
Detective Alexandra Davis was buried in the town she grew up in outside of London. Gambit and Wolverine visit her grave. Remy says hello to Alexandra, and introduces her to his friend Logan. He apologizes for the fact she never got to meet him. He jokes that, like her, Logan has a very strong belief in what’s right and wrong. That makes it hard to be with him for any kind of length of time. But he believes Logan and Alexandra would have gotten along just fine.
Logan whispers the word “victims.” When Gambit asks what he just said, Logan claims that he was just wondering if either of them will find a woman to settle down with. Gambit thinks that maybe people like them aren’t meant for that. He tells Logan that they aren’t like Arcade. They can’t hide from the things they’ve done. So they deal with it… like everything else. Logan agrees with that, thinking that after all that’s happened, maybe he… can’t be that person again… who could fall in love.
Gambit lights up a cigarette. Logan asks the Cajun if he’s going back to tobacco. “For now,” Remy states. Logan jokes it’s a nasty habit. Remy figures he’ll quit some day. He mentions that he’s… heading back to Xavier’s, and asks Logan if he’s coming with him. Logan guesses so. Remy wonders if Logan’s planning on living outside still. Logan confirms that, at least for now. He figures he’ll move back in someday.
The London psychiatrist institute. Ward 9…
Behind a door with the warning sign of “Danger! Room is to be kept locked at all times” sits a dangerous inmate captive. Arcade, sitting tied up, keeps insanely repeating “Good morning, Miss Locke. Fourth floor please. Fourth floor. Good morning, Miss Locke. Fourth floor please.”
In his mind, Arcade can only see himself, and lots of versions of Miss Locke, operating an elevator.
Everyone involved with the “Ripper” murders will have nightmares for a very long time. Especially Arcade, as he is the man who committed the murders.
