With the bodies of a bunch of dead prisoners of war strewn around him, an amnesiac Daken asks Logan who he is, and who he, Daken, is. Logan wonders to himself what he should say to him. What can he say to him? That he’s his father? That his name is “Daken,” which is Japanese for mongrel? That, because of what he is, because of what they are, his mother was slaughtered and he, barely alive, was stolen from her dyin’ womb an’ raised as a killer by a heartless monster named Romulus? Anything he says could trigger his memories an’ his programming. The carbonadium bullet lodged in his brain is slowin’ his healin’ factor to a crawl but that ain’t gonna last forever. Hell, for all he knows, it won’t last through the night. At any moment, he could remember just how much he hates him. Daken’s his son, so he’s gotta assume he’s got the same built-in “lie-detector” as he does, so this is one o’ those times where he’s gotta tell the truth, but not the whole truth.
Removing his mask and popping his claws, Logan tells Daken that he’s a friend, he’s like him. Looking at the carnage around them, Logan thinks to himself that Daken’s already shown him that, whatever Romulus did to him, goes to the bone. When he woke up, his first instinct was to kill. But, for the time bein’, at least, he doesn’t know why. He knows that he has to move fast. He then tells Daken that he’s gonna take him somewhere, to someone who can help him. When Daken asks who, Logan thinks about Professor Charles Xavier and thinks good question. He was shot and killed by Bishop. Daken asks if it will be another friend, causing Logan to think about Emma Frost and how she is a friend only when she wants to be. Logan proceeds to tell Daken that he hopes so and leads him out of the cave.
Up near the highway, Logan sees a pickup truck driving down the road and starts to flag it down. As he does, he thinks to himself that he’s always tried to keep his personal business away from the other X-Men for lots o’ reasons. But mainly ‘cause his personal business gets innocent people hurt. When the truck stops, the driver asks Logan what he’s wearing. Logan tells him that they were drivin’ back from a costume party an’ their car quit on them. The man says uh huh and goes for his gun. He then asks Logan where his car is and asks how many of them there are anyway.
Just then, Daken reaches through the back window of the truck, drags the man to the roof and prepares to kill him. While he does, Logan thinks to himself that nothin’ but bad luck brought the poor guy to this place at this time. But there he is anyway, about to die for nothin’. Just then, Logan calls out to Daken and tells him that he doesn’t have to kill him. Daken hears him and drops the man to the ground with a thud. Logan immediately heads over to the man and tells him that they’re takin’ the truck but he can keep the gun. The man protests that he doesn’t want it but Logan tells him to take it anyway. Popping his claws, he informs the man that, if he tells anybody he saw them, anybody, ever, they’ll know an’ they’ll come an’ find him. An’ all the bullets in the world won’t save him.
As Logan drives the truck down the road with Daken in tow, he thinks to himself that, as bad as that could’ve been, it’s given him some real hope. Daken could’a killed that guy easy, easier’n jerkin’ ‘im outta the cab o’ the truck, that’s for sure. An’ when he told ‘im to stop, he did. He’s not too far gone. He’s not like Creed; he can be saved. Logan knows that it can’t be by him. He saved Creed by chopping off his head with a sword. He needs help, Daken needs help, the kind that only the X-Men can give them. Just like with him, all those years ago. They’re Daken’s only chance at becomin’ somethin’ else, somethin’ more. But just ‘cause it’s the only choice don’t mean it’s an easy one ‘cause it all comes down to this. Involvin’ the X-Men with Daken means involvin’ ‘em with Romulus. An’ that’s somethin’ he’d hoped he would never do – again.
Logan recalls that it was his last mission as an agent of Romulus. Just like usual, it was a double-black op, a secret mission “piggy-backed” by an even more secret mission. He had his official orders issued by the Canadian military and then he had his other orders, ultimately issued by Romulus but delivered to him through a “letterbox” – a pawn. Also, just like usual, he was told the bare minimum. Someone, “X”, was actively recruiting. Phase one of his mission was to make sure he got recruited. To ensure that happened, an’ this was the part that was completely unusual, he was sent out into the world to show “X” what he could do an’ who he could do it to.
At that moment, Logan leaped into the brawl between the Incredible Hulk and the monstrous Wendigo. When he lands, he initially attacked the Hulk with his claws. For all the good they did him, he may as well’ve been tryin’ to sing the Hulk to sleep. Dodging a swipe from the Wendigo, Logan counter-strikes with a stab to its arm. With that, Logan discovered that his claws did work on the Wendigo and decided on a new plan and proceeded to attack the Wendigo with his full furry. During the battle, they tumbled down a hill as Logan continued to slash away at the Wendigo. Everybody thinks that the Hulk is dumb. They’re right but he is smart enough to kill ya an’ he’s smart enough to know that the enemy of his friend is his friend.
At that moment, the Hulk joins the fracas and proceeds to beat on the Wendigo with all of his might. Through their teamwork, they are able to take the Wendigo down, ending with Logan’s claws jammed into the face of the Wendigo. With their enemy down, Logan immediately goes after the Hulk. When his attempt at key-holing the Hulk in the ear, his only shot, fails, the Hulk tells Logan that he is not his friend. As he takes a devastating punch from the Hulk, Logan recalls there ain’t many around who can describe what it feels like to get hit by the Hulk. Simple fact bein’ there ain’t many around who can survive to tell the tale. There ain’t no pain at first. It’s like he hits ya so damn hard ya actually leave yer own body. It’s when ya come back that ya feel the pain. An’ ya realize yer goin’ toe-to-toe with a walkin’ earthquake.
Before the Hulk can deliver the final blow, a helicopter arrives on the scene and orders Wolverine to stand down; his mission time has elapsed, they’ll take it from there. Picking himself up slowly, Logan says that he can take ‘im. Logan recalls what a load o’ B.S. that was. He also remembers that the Canucks quickly figured out that a direct assault against the Hulk would only end in tears so they gassed ‘im. That was a good idea, but then they put ‘im in a cage – bad idea. When the Hulk awakens, he leaps from the cage attached to the helicopter down into the woods below. Watching the Hulk escape, the pilot informs his commanding officer what he has seen and asks if they should pursue. The officer tells him no and to just get back to base alive. Healing up on the helicopter, Logan recalls that he didn’t argue the point. He’d gone up against the Hulk an’ walked away in one piece. If that didn’t impress “X”, nothin’ would.
It did. Back at Department H, Wolverine is informed by a fellow soldier that brass wanted to see him in conference. When he walks in on him, the soldier sees Wolverine stuffing dead bodies into body bags. It was a little bit o’ business he wanted to take care of before he left, tertiary objective stuff, completely elective. But he’s always been thorough when it comes to killin’.
Once he has killed the soldier who caught him in the act, Wolverine heads to the office and asks the general who baldy is. Professor Xavier informs him that there’s really no need to talk to him. He’s a telepath and the general is only saying what he wants him to say anyway. The general says that’s true actually. Wolverine remarks that he asked a question and that it ain’t somethin’ he often does. So when he does it, he expects an answer. Xavier replies fair enough and introduces himself. Logan knew immediately that he was the man named “X” he was told about. Xavier then tells him that he’s a friend and that he’s there to make him an offer. But that doesn’t surprise him, does it. He tells Logan that he can help him. Shocked by hearing his name being spoken, Logan asks how.
