(flashback, the Xavier Institute)
Cyclops wants answers. Wielding the Muramasa Blade in his left hand, he stands defiantly before Wolverine. To himself, Wolverine reckons that, on any given day, Scott is either a douche bag or he possesses the biggest brass ones of anyone he’s ever met. That’s why he left the blade with him in the first place. It’s the only thing that can kill Wolverine and make him stay dead.
Logan tells him that people in hell want ice water. That doesn’t mean they’ll get it. Scott says that Logan gave him the blade and they both know what it’s for. Now he shows up covered in blood, tells them Feral is dead and that he’s going after Sabretooth? He thinks he has the right to know why. What was Logan supposed to tell him? That after years of thinking Creed is somehow related to him; father, brother, clone… it turns out that they’re bound by some kind of genetic thread that runs all the way back to when they came out of the primordial goop? That all of this is tied to a guy named Romulus and now all that’s left of Creed is the beast? Logan reckons Creed has to be stopped, now!
It then hits him. He doesn’t have to say anything - not when there’s a first class telepath standing right there. He almost wishes he didn’t have to put her through what she’s about to go through. But, where needs must. He informs Scott that he’ll allow Emma to poke around inside his canucklehead, but he warns him that it ain’t pretty. Scott tells Emma that she doesn’t have to do this, but Emma boastfully replies that anything Logan has to show her, she’s already seen, or done herself.
(inside Logan’s memories)
Emma enters Logan’s mind, and Logan shows her the worst aspects of Creed’s murderous, psychopathic personality. She sees Sabretooth with his hands around Itsu’s throat. She sees him standing over the bleeding body of Silver Fox in the wooden cabin. She looks at Creed with blood dripping from his mouth as he stands over Feral’s eviscerated blood-soaked body. She then sees his vicious attack on Psylocke and understands how he enjoys the kills, with the violence against women being particularly hard to stomach. Emma can smell the sickly warm smell of his victims’ blood.
(reality)
Emma vomits as the images take their toll, and she wipes her mouth. “Scott… just give him the damn sword,” she cries. Scott hands over the blade, warning Logan not to make a mess they’ll have to clean up. Logan takes the sword and puts the strap over his shoulder. “Right,” he replies. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Logan then thinks back to last night at the Weapon X facility.
(flashback)
Sabretooth has been stripped of what little humanity he has left and is taking it out on Feral. He stands over her dead body, clearly the perpetrator, but Logan notices something different in his eyes. He looks up at Logan, scared. At first, Logan thinks that he has every right to be scared, but then he smells something… something like a faint scent of oils that mask whoever else is there. That’s who Sabretooth is afraid of. He turns but sees no one. Sabretooth takes the opportunity to make a run for it, and Logan lets him run. He has a dead girl to deal with.
Wolfsbane and Feral’s sister, Thornn, are both in shock. Sasquatch is still down for the count. Logan knows that somewhere on the grounds, Wild Child is making his life miserable. Logan knows what he must do. He places Feral aboard their craft and torches the place. The craft then takes off, leaving Wild Child and a shadowy figure behind to watch them.
Sasquatch remains conscious long enough to provide Logan with coordinates to the nearest government hospital. As they travel, Logan asks Wolfsbane how she managed to get sucked into all of this. Rahne replies that she can’t say. She explains that Wild Child found all of them. They were told that they were part of something bigger; something that was to come. Logan asks about Feral and Thornn. The last he heard they were un-mutated. Rahne sheds a few tears. She tells him that they were at Weapon X when she arrived. She doesn’t think they got their powers restored - only their more… lupine look. Logan figures that’s why Feral was taken down so easily. Creed pretty much slaughtered an unarmed girl.
Logan wonders who has the genetics to pull something like this off. Why even bother? Rahne replies that she heard Wild Child talking to someone right before they left for Wakanda to find him. She couldn’t see him, but caught his name… Romulus.
(present)
After leaving Cyclops and Emma Frost, Wolverine makes his way to Silver Fox’s cabin. He hates going back there as the memories are all too painful. However, considering what started there, he wants to finish it there, too. He realizes that years later it seemed like Silver Fox was still alive, but he’s not really sure if that really happened. It doesn’t really matter to him. Folks who think that just because a person shows up alive after you thought you’ve them lost ‘em, invalidates all that you went through thinking they’re dead, don’t know the first thing about death. Thoughts of Silver Fox flood back and Logan sheds a tear for his lost love. The pain never goes away. If nothing else, Creed knew that when he took her away from him.
Logan decides to wait. He kneels on the ground with the Muramasa Blade beside him, stuck in the ground. All the times he’s tried to find another way instead of finishing Creed off, and all the times Xavier tried, always resulted in someone else’s death. How much longer could he let Creed continue, without taking on some of the responsibility himself?
Snow builds up around him as he waits, and waits. Finally, Sabretooth appears and lunges at Wolverine. Logan lifts the blade and thrusts it into Creed’s arm, slicing off his right arm at the shoulder. It falls to the snow-covered ground and Creed bends down to pick it up, figuring he’ll just reattach it. He’s wrong. Not this time. The arm drops to the ground again, and Creed looks at it, trying to figure out what’s happened. Wolverine tells him that he doesn’t get it, does he. “It’s the sword. The Muramasa Blade!”
Logan explains that he made it a long time ago, just in case he lost it and went full berserker. For it to be used, his humanity would have to be stripped away so far he would need to be put down. At that point, he’d want to be put down. He adds that the blade blocks the healing factor. He won’t say how it works, but it clearly does. Logan repeats the Latin phrase that Creed uttered to him. “Quod Sum Eris. I am what you will be.” He tells Creed that if he is his future; if he’s just looking at the inevitable… then Creed has justified him having the blade forged. He asks Creed if there’s anything left of himself inside him. He tells Creed that it has to end between them and, for whatever reason, he’s still got enough honor left to offer him one chance to stop him. Creed closes his eyes, pauses, and shedding a tear, asks Logan to do it.
Lightning strikes dramatically, as Logan swings the Muramasa Blade and decapitates Sabretooth. Logan thought he’d enjoy this moment but, given the circumstances, he almost feels sorry for the @#$%. “Happy birthday,” remarks Logan as Creed’s head falls to the ground. He then thinks about all the women Creed has killed without a second’s hesitation, and he knows he’s done the right thing.
Logan considers burying him but decides to let the wolves take it from there. He sheathes the blade carefully, and hears a voice behind him. “Well, that was both expected and unexpected.” Logan turns, having unsheathed the blade quickly, to find Wild Child standing behind him, grinning. Kyle tells Logan that in the end, he didn’t know if he’d really go through with it. Even after all these years, Logan continues to amaze him. Kyle guesses that this is what makes him, him.
Logan asks what he’s talking about. “Romulus, of course,” he replies. When he asks who Romulus is, Kyle cryptically replies that he is the first among them. The first what? asks Logan. Kyle explains that since the beginning, there’ve been always two who have emerged from the pack. For whatever reason, it’s always one blonde and one black one. Romulus knows that only one can survive, like in his dreams. Logan asks how he knows about his dreams. Kyle replies that it’s because Romulus wanted Logan to have that knowledge.
“He can get inside my head?” asks Logan. Kyle says he has been there all along. Logan is very important to him as he represents the best of all of them, so far. “The best at what? he asks. Survival, replies Kyle, for what’s to come. Logan laughs and points out that now Kyle is the blonde one. That makes him his next meal. Kyle tells him that’s not for him to decide. Logan then asks why he shouldn’t just kill him and have done with it. Kyle tells him he’s welcome to try, but he’s not sure it’s in his interest.
Logan tells him that he doesn’t think there is a Romulus, and that this entire mess is a crock. As he speaks, Wolverine gets a familiar whiff of oils that covers any other smell. “Let me assure you, Logan. Everything you’ve learned is true.” Logan turns instantly, but there’s no one there. He looks back to Kyle, but he’s gone, too.
Wolverine swings the blade above his head and snikts the claws on his right hand. “ROMULUS!” he screams, “Whenever you want to bring it, do it! I’m ready for you.” Somewhere in the wind, he can hear the quiet, disturbing sound of laughter.
The end, for now…
