(Logan’s memories)
Logan is kinda dreaming again; remembering things that he doesn’t feel he should be remembering. This time, his thoughts turn to a battlefield. He no longer has the Lupine on his mind, but instead recalls the first time he smelled blood.
You never forget that first time, he thinks. Blood is darker than you think, not like the bright red they splash around in the movies. It’s thick, more like molasses. There’s also a horrible warmth that comes from spilling out of the human body. Logan knows why so many soldiers go crazy when they come home from war. The smell of blood continues to haunt you and change you. Welcome to Logan’s world.
The battle sees a ferocious army on the rampage, led by a captain astride an armored elephant. Two soldiers - one dark-haired and the other blond, but both almost resembling Logan, flank him on elephants of their own. The shadowed leader of this army tells his soldiers that the spoils go to the one who kills the most. Logan’s memories so far have been kind of prehistoric, but now they come with armor, weapons… organized warfare. The leader always stays in the shadows. He figures big into what’s happening to Logan, or maybe into the why of it all.
The soldiers fight and kill all the way into the night. The smell of blood is so strong that Logan wants to wake up and retch. Are you supposed to smell blood in a dream? Or a memory? At the fight’s end, the leader has the dark-haired and the blond soldier stand before him. He counts their kills as even. The dark one suddenly lashes out with his sword, beheading the blond one. “Count again,” he snarls. How’s about in a nightmare? thinks Logan.
(present)
Logan wakes to find himself in Wakanda. He is in uniform, standing beside the Black Panther, and staring into a face he hates nearly as much as his own: Creed! Creed is shackled, and Logan tells him that it’s the Black Panther’s house so it’s his rules. Creed says this ain’t right. He warns T’Challa that, when he gets free, he’s gonna come for him.
Storm cuts him off as he speaks, informing Creed that he and Logan are guests in Wakanda, and she can make their stay as pleasant or unpleasant as they can imagine. She is about to inform them about how, several days ago, a team of archaeologists discovered something, but she is broken off when Creed breaks free of his shackles and murders two guards by tearing out their throats. He then ups and runs, hoping one of them is dumb enough to follow him. Wolverine is ready to do just that, but Storm asks him to wait. Her husband can handle this.
The Black Panther leaps after Sabretooth, away from the confines of the futuristic city and into the forest. As he departs, Logan recalls that when he heard that Ororo was fixing to get married, his heart sank a little. This isn’t because he figured they had any kind of future, but a girl like her only comes around once in a man’s lifetime. If she ain’t yours, the least you can do is hope she picks well. Watching the Black Panther rush into action, Logan figures she did.
Logan can’t figure out where Sabretooth thinks he’s going. The city is walled and, even if he manages to get over that, he’ll still be in the heart of Africa. Creed runs quickly, but he can hear T’Challa moving nearby. He doesn’t think anyone can be as quick as that, and thinks he’s seeing things. He leaps over the remains of a long dead animal and finds himself in some kind of animal graveyard.
Meanwhile, Logan starts to add things up, going back to Creed stealing the Blackbird and taking Logan with him instead of just killing him. Creed was arranging some kind of meet, and Logan figures he’s gotta have someone out there to yank him out of Wakanda. But who has that kind of pull? Magneto? Xavier? Has T’Challa got a piece of it?
Creed lands and asks himself what the @#%% he’s found himself in. T’Challa appears behind him and informs him that it’s the last place he’ll see… today. He elbows Sabretooth in the face, causing blood to spurt from his chin. He punches Creed hard in the face and tells him that the security guards he killed had wives and children. When he speaks to them tonight, he’ll tell them that Creed is going to pay for his crimes. Creed retaliates by slashing the Black Panther across the chest. He asks T’Challa to try not to bleed all over their carpet. T’Challa lands another punch, wondering if Logan is right after all. Maybe he should leave him for the other animals to feast on. “No such luck,” replies Creed, as his arm shoots up and his fingers grab T’Challa by the throat.
Back in the city, Wolverine tells Storm to get him out there. Ororo tries to tell him that her husband will deal with it, but Logan isn’t asking - not if she wants to see herself as a widow. Ororo does as she is asked. She won’t take @#$% from anybody, least of all a squirt like Logan, but she understands that Logan knows Creed best. She uses her power to generate a wind to take her and Logan into the skies, delivering him quickly to their destination. Logan sees the bones below and asks what the place is. Ororo replies that it’s an elephant graveyard. It is the archaeological dig they wished to show him; though not under these circumstances. She adds that the Wakandans theorize that the dig is in such pristine condition due to the vibranium in the soil, absorbing any disturbance to the remains. He quips that she should open a pet cemetery. She’d make a fortune.
He asks Ororo to drop him. Ororo doesn’t see anything, but Logan can smell his targets. As he drops, he snikts his claws and slashes as he lands. In one swift, fluid motion, the hand that Creed is throttling T’Challa with is sliced clean off at the wrist. T’Challa tells Wolverine that his actions were unnecessary. His life was never in jeopardy. Logan asks Creed if he still wants to keep going, but Creed doesn’t respond; instead clutching his bleeding wrist. “Look, I’ve done it before and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he warns. Ororo asks what he’s done before.
(flashback, Tokyo)
Logan recalls the first time he ever heard about Creed… a long time ago. He is bumming around Tokyo, running from whatever personal demons he has on him at the time, when he gets picked up by The Hand. He is bound and forced to kneel before their leader, who tells Logan that his men said he put up quite a struggle. He informs Logan that a gaijin has been taking the lives of women who work for him. Logan has heard of the streetwalkers.
When Logan asks what it’s got to do with him, the man informs him that his sources say the culprit is a special individual, just like Logan. Logan doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The man asks his men to stand him up, cut him loose and give him a sword. Logan asks him if he wants him to clean up his mess. The man would like to think of it as a favor for sparing Logan’s life. Logan tells him that his Japanese accent stinks. Is it an Italian accent?
He never finds out. He is released and forced to go after the murderer, lest his own life be forfeit. He finds Creed about to off yet another victim. The first time he lays eyes on Creed, he thinks he’s some kind of animal. It’s probably what people think when they first see him. The encounter isn’t made any better by the fact that he doesn’t smell like any animal Logan has encountered. He smells more like… him.
Creed notices him and warns him that he has no idea who he’s dealing with. Logan doesn’t care and immediately takes a swipe at Creed with his sword. The blade cuts straight through Creed’s right hand and, as Creed turns away, clutching his bleeding stump, Logan tries to comfort the woman. She cries for help, not realizing in her panic that Logan is there to help her. Creed tells Logan that he should have listened to him the first time. Holding his severed hand in the other, he reiterates that Logan really has no idea who he is dealing with, and doesn’t know why he’s made it his business to get into his. He shoves his hand back onto his wrist with a schlulugsh sound. He then warns Logan that what he does know is that there’ll be plenty of payback.
(present, Wakanda)
Creed smiles as he tells Logan how he’s made good on that call. Silver Fox, Psylocke and sweet Jenny. Before he leaves town, he’ll gut the little weather goddess, too. Wolverine snikts his claws and prepares to slice right through Creed. Ororo tells him that she won’t stop him if he wishes to take Creed’s life. His participation in the near extinction of the Morlocks is reason enough for her. However, before he executes him, doesn’t Logan want to know why they brought him to Wakanda? T’Challa tells Logan that the answer is right at his feet. Logan then realizes that the elephant graveyard and its surroundings are exactly the way they were in his dream.
