SHIELD’s Field Office, at an unknown location…
Dum-Dum Dugan has a headache. One of the SHIELD soldiers enters his office, reminding his boss that the Pentagon has requested a private conference. Dugan already figured the Pentagon would do that, and orders the soldier to inform the Pentagon he’ll be online in two minutes. The soldier doesn’t understand that, as he thought they had agreed to full disclosure with all concerned parties. Dugan smirks at hearing that, and taps the soldier on his shoulder, as he needed to hear that. Dugan walks towards a private room, and opens the communication screen after checking clearance. He reveals that one can’t do much better, when it comes to security, when you are dealing with good old Fort Leavenworth.
United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas…
Several inmates gather around their communication screen in their cell, and don’t think this is funny. They are being treated like prisoners! Dugan claims that they are being treated like guests, and reminds the inmates that they are in their cells for their own protection. The inmates demand to know, if that’s true, why their belts and shoes have been taken away from them. It’s not like they are going to hang themselves, or something. Dugan wants them to understand that this wasn’t his idea, and defends that this is a standard procedure.
The inmates don’t care about that, and want to hear what’s going on with Wolverine, as they heard he torched a Canadian military base. Dugan corrects that Logan torched what was under the military base! The inmates panic. They have had it. Their leader threatens he’s going to get a pre-emptive strike through. Dugan orders them not to do such a thing. He mentions that he’s shutting down all communication from now on, for the inmates own protection. The inmates defend Dugan can’t do that, but he promises that, in the meantime, he’ll see what he can do about the gentlemen getting their belts back. He shuts down.
Suddenly, Dugan quickly takes out his gun, thinking he heard a noise behind him. He looks around, and finds out he’s alone. He whispers something, and leaves. He thinks that the inmates are lucky to be safely under lock and key.
Meanwhile, in Belgrade, Serbia…
Wolverine has gotten hold of some smugglers operating out of Montreal, and convinced them it was in their best interest to get him across the Atlantic in a hurry. They said they would take him as far as Yugoslavia, and Logan said in return that was just fine. Before he left Canada, he made sure word got out who he was looking for: Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. Logan and the Soldier go way back. Barnes also used to be Captain America’s partner during World War II, until he got mind-wiped and reprogrammed by the Reds and turned into a hatchet man. He did a lot of work for his ex-handler in the Eastern European black market in the past few years, which is why Logan made the moves he did.
Logan knows that Bucky knows he’s there. He notices a saloon, and hopes he can get a drink before the mess begins. But on that moment, he gets shot! Someone has a clear lock on Logan, but he manages to hide in a nearby alley. His head rings like a church bell, and his neck is already stiff with whiplash. Blood keeps getting in his eyes, and he can’t see. And he feels angry about not getting that drink.
His adversary gets another lock on Logan, and starts shooting at him again. Logan tries to escape, and notices a building. Logan claims that he just came here looking for some information, but after being shot at, he feels ready for some payback. He notices a lock, and slashes it open using his claws. He enters a huge hangar, but there’s nothing there except for a printing machine and some old boxes.
Wolverine knows that he’s half-blind, due to the bullets he caught, and now, between the smell of the ink and the noise of the presses, his nose and ears are also practically useless. Logan is impressed by the way Bucky set things up like this. Bucky sneaks up on Logan, and sticks a blade through his back!
Logan notices that Bucky covered up his entire face in ink to hide his scent. Logan is in horrible pain, and Bucky also handcuffs Logan. Looks like his enemy has the upper hand. The Winter Soldier says something to Logan, but he can’t hear a word of it due to the pain, and also because he is gone. The beast in him is starting to rise up. Logan only hopes he won’t kill the guy.
Logan growls and starts fighting the Winter Soldier, even though his hands are still cuffed. The Samurai agrees to do it Logan’s way, and kicks him down. The Soldier knows that what he’s about to do won’t kill Logan, but is content that he’ll at least come pretty close. Logan still screams in pain, and the Soldier pulls out the blade out of his chest! He holds it towards Logan’s throat, defending he’s only trying to buy some time and that he’s got his own problems to deal with. On that moment, Logan bites into the Soldier’s arm!
Winter Soldier is in pain and furious. He starts kicking and punching Logan several times, but Logan still survives. He gets up and, almost out of breath, shouts he wants to have the upper hand now and kicks the Winter Soldier down. He angrily snikts out his claws and tears his handcuffs apart.
Suddenly, a blonde woman arrives in the building, and shouts at Logan not to kill the Soldier. Just like that, Logan is back to himself. He takes a closer look at the woman, who then shoots him in the chest! The Soldier thought he told the woman to stay on the roof. The woman confirms, but she heard noises and screaming, and thought she’d come down here to make sure the Soldier was still alive, so she could receive her money. The Soldier angrily reminds the woman that, if she keeps doing what she’s told not to do, she won’t get paid at all. He tries to get closer to her, but she defends herself with her gun and orders the Soldier not to come any closer.
The Soldier orders the woman to go to the hotel two blocks down from, and move over to room three. He promises that, in the desk, she’ll find an ATM card with access to an old KGB operative fund, with the pin code being 4698. She can take as much money as she likes. The woman promises she’ll only take the money they agreed to. The Soldier wants her to take more, at least enough money so that she’ll never have to do this kind of work again. And once she has the money, the Soldier wants her to leave and hide somewhere. He promises that men will try to find her, and most likely Wolverine will be one of them.
The woman doesn’t understand that, as she shot Wolverine and now he’s dead. The Soldier is confident that won’t be for long. Now, he wants the woman out of there. She wants to know if the Soldier will come after her. He won’t, and defends that the woman wouldn’t want him to, because she would see him as a monster if she knew what he did to Logan. The woman claims she doesn’t see the Soldier as a monster.
The Winter Soldier asks the woman if she knows why Wolverine came after him. When she says she doesn’t, he replies that it’s because he murdered Wolverine’s wife… and unborn baby!
