At some point in every man’s life, he gets to feelin’ that there’s somethin’ out there keepin’ him down. Standin’ between him an’ what he wants. Workin’ against him to make sure he never gets it. With most men, that feelin’s just self-pity. For Logan though, it’s real. It was Romulus.
He didn’t always know that, least not consciously. Subconsciously though, he had a clue. An’ that clue drove him crazy ‘cause it didn’t seem to lead anywhere. What had been done to his mind made it impossible for him to focus on it, narrow it down, track it to where it lived an’ give it back all the pain he’d endured. All the loss, all the sufferin’ that he just somehow knew wouldn’t fit into one man’s life. After he discovered a woman he had loved dead, he had a scent but no track. He was followin’ a trail without knowin’ where or to what it led. Until he was there.
Happening upon a camp of warriors, he met a man by the name of Muramasa. He was a mystic, a swordsman whose life was the stuff of myth and whose work was the stuff of legend. Muramasa used his powers to focus the rage he felt in his heart to extract it and to distill it down to a single drop. An’ then, a lot like what’d happen years on down the road, it was bonded to metal. Forged, refined, sharpened. From his blood was made the most fearsome weapon this world has ever known. An’ now, there it is, a lifetime later, starin’ him right in the face.
In Prospect Park located in Brooklyn, Daken points the Muramasa sword at Logan and tells him that he will not be interfering with his plans; he won’t let him. When Logan tells him that he can’t stop him, Daken asks if that is a challenge. Logan replies that it’s the truth to which Daken says it’s a ploy. As soon as Logan replies that he’s right, Colossus emerges from the ground and knocks Daken to the ground. Clutching the blade, Daken tells the Russian that the next time he puts him in the ground, he’ll stay there. Helping Colossus up, Logan reminds him that his armor won’t protect him from the blade – Colossus is aware of that fact.
Preparing for battle again, Daken yells at Logan and tells his father that he’s on the wrong side of this fight. Just then, Nightcrawler informs him that so is he and proceeds to kick him from many different directions while he teleports in and out. Eventually, Daken is able to slice Nightcrawler with the blade. As Nightcrawler falls to the ground in pain, Daken stands over him and tells him that his display was impressive but pointless. With a gleam in his eye, Nightcrawler tells him not really. Just then, Cannonball flies in and dislodges Daken from the sword. As he flies off, Logan calls out to him and tells him to let Daken go.
At first Cannonball wonders why but when he sees Daken pop his claws, he understands and drops him. Seeing an opening, Logan runs towards the sword but realizes that he’s not gonna make it. It’s too far away an’ he’s too close. When Cyclops goes to grab the sword, Daken swoops in, grabs it and prepares to drop it with all of his force upon Cyclops’ neck.
At that moment, Armor leaps between the sword and Cyclops. As soon as the sword hits Armor and her shield, a gigantic explosion occurs. The Muramasa blade is a weapon without equal. It has the capability to kill or cut through almost anything. Anything that is, except a memory, specifically Armor’s memory an’ the memories of her ancestors before her. All projected outward from her tiny little body in the form of an impenetrable psionic shield. When the smoke clears, Logan slowly makes his way to the sword and goes to grab it. Weakly, Daken tells him that it is his. Logan defiantly tells him no, it is his and collapses from the blast just as Daken does as well.
Sometime later, Logan awakens to the sound of helicopters coming closer to his location. Once he sits up, he realizes that Daken is gone but he still has the blade. At first, he wonders why Daken didn’t take the blade with him until he discovers that he didn’t have to. Why expose himself carryin’ around a damn samurai sword when all he needs is a small part of it? Looking down at the end of the sword, Logan sees that a small piece of it was chipped off in the explosion.
When Cyclops makes his way over to Logan, he asks if Daken is gone. Logan admits that he is but that he took the missin’ part of the sword with him. Cyclops tells him that he can find him. Logan replies yeah, somehow he has to. He then tells Scott that he can’t give the blade back to him. As Logan helps him up, Scott informs Logan that he doesn’t want him to. He wants him to take it with him, track Daken down, and deal with him. When Logan tells him that he won’t kill him, Scott states that he’s beyond salvation. Hasn’t he ever looked into his eyes? Logan says he looks into ‘em every day.
As Logan walks away, Cyclops gathers the rest of the X-Men together and calls out to Logan that his quest is nothing but selfishness. He forces himself to believe that Daken can be saved because… In his mind, Logan finishes Scott’s thought for him – “because that would mean he can be saved, too.”
Nine hours later, in Grand Central Station in New York City, Phineas Mason, the Tinkerer is in a wheelchair and receives a phone call. The person on the other end of the line says to him that he trusts his train ride into the city was comfortable. The Tinkerer cantankerously replies that his spinal cord was severed with a combat knife, he is never comfortable. He then asks how much longer he is supposed to wait for whoever it is he’s waiting for. He’s going to get recognized. The person on the other end tells him that’s the point.
In an undisclosed location, Nick Fury informs Logan that he found the Tinkerer in Grand Central Station. Immediately, Logan has the cab driver take him over there. Once at Grand Central Station, Logan realizes that findin’ Daken is almost impossible unless he’s lookin’ for ya. Or, if ya know who he’s lookin’ for, which he does – the Tinkerer. Mason is one o’ maybe four people on the planet who can do what Daken wants to have done, an’ the only one who’ll do it on a cash basis. Sooner or later, Daken’s gonna hook up with this piece o’ $#@%. Until that happens, Tinkerer’s gonna have a shadow. When Mason rolls his wheelchair into the restroom, he comes face to face with what appears to be Romulus.
Standing outside the restroom, waiting for Mason to exit, Logan discerns that even takin’ into account the fact that he’s paralyzed from the waist down, he’s takin’ way too long in there. Entering, Logan discovers that Mason’s gone. An’ the only scents he’s gettin’ are ones that make him wanna puke. This is, after all, a bathroom in the middle o’ Grand Central Station. Seeing somebody’s feet in the stall, Logan thinks to himself that it can’t be and prepares himself for battle. Just then, the man inside the stall knocks the door off its hinges and proceeds to pummel Logan with his gigantic fists.
As he is beaten down, Logan recalls what Fury told him at the bar. “Second was Victor Hudson, born blind and mute. Victor was raised in solitude by his mother, Bernice. One day, Bernice walked into her local church proclaiming that she had given birth to the devil’s child and that, the previous night the devil had not only revealed himself to her, but had taken the child back into his bosom. No one ever saw Victor Hudson again.” As Victor Hudson stands over Logan, Logan sees that he is a very large man with a bald, deformed head.
In a tunnel below Grand Central Station, the Tinkerer asks out loud where he is supposed to go now and states that this is not how he prefers to conduct his business. A man in the shadows asks what business that would be, weapon development, exotic metals? Mason replies that he takes it he’s the one he’s supposes to be meeting? The man replies “evidently.” When Mason asks evidently?, the man in the shadows points out that there are the only two people standing in a railway station that hasn’t been used in over a century so, he sincerely doubts this is a coincidence. Just like he doubts the fact a train is now arriving at a railway station that hasn’t been used in over a century a coincidence either. When it arrives, Mason asks if they are supposed to get on board. The man in the shadows, Daken, tells him “uh-oh, there’s no wheelchair access.” Mason angrily tells him that his sense of humor is sickening. Leaning down, Daken tells him wait’ll he gets to know him.
