A cluttered office in San Francisco:
Investigative journalist Melita Garner is currently on the phone with Daily Bugle journalist Ben Urich, telling him an anecdote of how she spent two weeks in the Savage Land, running from all kinds of creatures. When she finally found Ka-Zar, he looked her in the eye and asked: “He’s the short one, right?”
Seriously, she complains. “A living history of the Wolverine?” What the hell was she thinking? Where does she even start? The beginning usually works for him, Ben jokes. She accuses him of not being any help. Ben reminds her he told her to quit the Bugle to work on this book. The day she and Logan broke up, should have been the last she thought of that hairball. Take it from him, digging around in these people’s lives is a good way to get buried.
Outside Melita’s apartment, several cyber samurai have gathered. To the members of the Red Right Hand, their leader announces that tonight they begin the first strike of their bloody swath of revenge against Wolverine.
Before he can finish his sentence, he is hit by a thrown billy-club and falls down. Before his brothers can understand what happened, a figure in dark red land among them.
Inside the apartment, Melita goes through her mail while Ben speaks on.
Outside, the man in red quickly goes through the wannabe ninjas and soon, with a cocky grin, Daredevil is finally the only left standing.
Ben tells Melita to stop going through the past. The man she knew, whoever he was, he is different now. Melita opens a large envelope from the legal office of McDuffie and Murdock. Inside is a cease and desist letter. Her time is coming, Ben promises her.
Meanwhile, at the Jean Grey School, Hisako Ichiki’s psychic armor still stands unmoving, ever since she had been separated from it by Faithful John. It’s no use, she laments to Iceman. Her powers are really gone! She is finished! Bobby tries to cheer her up: next to meeting their future selves, temporary powerlessness is about as textbook X-Men as it comes. But she’s never met her future self, Hisako points out puzzled. She could be in his shoes, he comforts her, creating a little statue of his bearded future self. Apparently, he grows up and rides the rails as Frosty the Snow-bo here. He promises this is not the end of the trail for her. What doesn’t kill ya, makes you stronger!
Inside his office, a beaten up Wolverine tells himself he can do this and steps outside into the hallway, where lots of students are chatting.
Broo, back from the fieldtrip to outer space, runs through the hallways to be in time for class. He is early. Genesis is already there and asks how things were. Spectacular! Broo gushes and asks about things here. Confusing, Evan admits. Broo keeps on gushing while a bored Kid Gladiator joins them, but finally Broo notices that, not only Quentin and Idie aren’t there, but that aside from the three of them and Storm the classroom is completely empty.
Outside, Glob Herman sits in the grass with Idie and several Bamfs. Glob reiterates Idie’s plan. They just do what they want and dare the X-Men to throw them out, which they can’t. He never would have run with those Hellfire jerks if he had known she was a freakin’ genius. So what now? Whatever they want, she replies bored. It is not like any of it matters.
Sometime later, Melita sits in the office of McDuffie and Murdock, asking what this is about a cease and desist letter. Can he even fathom what she’s been through for the book? She’s been on a guided tour of Mojoworld Studios! She went to a Brazilian steakhouse with Sabretooth!
Matt points out that he is just a messenger. Logan feels this is the only way to protect… Protect her? “Don’t you dare, Daredevil!” she snaps. She thought he was better than that, better than the other masked idiots who only believe in their own mythos!
She throws the letter at him and he catches it effortlessly. Melita explains why the book is so important. Gunslingers don’t die old, she stresses. His enemies think Logan’s powers are all they had to fear. Some of them want to kill him just because they see him as a cartoon. A monster. They have to show them – remind him that he is more than that. She knows the man behind the mask He has done a lot of good. Maybe also a lot of bad, but either way he still has a lot more to offer the world than claws. Matt listens attentively, checking her heartbeat which remains even and calm. She is speaking the truth.
Later, outside the school, Broo is looking for Idie. He hugs her happily and gushes how lonely it was in space without her, then he sees her facial expression, like she is trying to hold back tears.
That moment, Storm lands in front of them, announcing she needs to talk with Idie. She asks Broo to give them a moment. Broo makes excuses but Ide asks him to stay. She has nothing to hide. Storm tells her she is concerned. That recklessness isn’t like her. Idie retorts, she doesn’t think Storm is in any position to know what’s “like her.” She’s hurt people, she continues. A lot more than some of the people the X-Men have fought in the past. And yet Idie gets to stay here as one of them, while the others fight and scrape for everything they’ve got. Why? What makes her so special?
Storm is at a loss for words as Idie asks if Logan and she when they look at Idie think they see a little bit of themselves. Have they never stopped to consider that might be the problem?
Storm begins that she doesn’t know what Idie saw in the future that has her so shocked. Quentin and her saw how it ends, Idie snaps and shakes off Storm’s hand. She walks away as she announces that nothing they do here can change that. They can’t punish her any worse than that. Storm and Broo helplessly look after her.
Later that night in San Francisco, Wolverine and Daredevil are fighting Hand Ninjas in a temple where said ninjas are about to summon something terrible. Unimpressed, Logan announces they got a demon of their own, referring to Doop who comes flying in and pushes the cultists into the fiery pit.
Logan tells Daredevil that he is fine, or was until DD gave him that guilt trip about Melita. Daredevil stresses that Logan is his client, so he will do what he asks. But he agrees with Melita.
Wolverine tells him to take a look at the cult. He hurt them so bad they climbed outta hell for revenge. Does he really think his side of the story will stop folks like that? Does he need any more evidence that she is wrong? Anyway, the other thing he asked him about. For the school— He put that in order, Daredevil replies.
Logan hears the unspoken ‘but.’ Daredevil replies that, just because Logan isn’t the man he was doesn’t mean his life is over. He’s putting things in order just in case, Logan insists but DD can hear from his heartbeat that he is lying.
Logan orders him to stop looking like that. That lie detector of his is wrong – he’s wrong. Daredevil states he has lost more loved ones than he can count. He can’t live his life in fear.
They are distracted when a screaming Doop comes flying out of the demon pit again. Told him, Logan gloats.
Back at the school in the kitchen, a drunk Fantomex and a Bamf are fighting over a whiskey bottle. Having won, Fantomex downs even more of the alcohol, triumphantly announcing whiskey is for men, not rats. And which are the French again? Storm asks wryly. Oh, the fun police, Fantomex sighs. He surrenders, he assures her in mock fear.
Isn’t he going to offer her a drink, Jean-Philippe? Storm asks. Or should she call him Cluster? Fantomex? Just who is he pretending to be today? There’s just the two of them here in the moonlight, Fantomex flirts. Does it really matter? Around these children? More than anything, she replies coldly. Just because Fantomex saved them from Faithful John, because he is finally here for Evan, that doesn’t excuse the deeds of a man who has robbed and killed for nothing.
Fair play, he admits. But perhaps he could mount a defense if he knew his judge. Warrior? Thief? Queen? Goddess? They can’t all wash away the past with the wave of a hand. See, the “World” he was built in was a factory for men like Wolverine. Aside from the décor, it wasn’t all that different from this place, if you get down to it. Although they didn’t hang their history on the walls, he refers to the team photos. Gone was gone. At his best, Logan had few great equals. No he’s far from that. These walls only ever stood because deep down – be they friend or foe – they feared the Wolverine. Who will they fear now?
Later:
Sitting in a San Francisco bar, Wolverine calls Storm and assures her everything is fine. He’s been thinking and there are things he’s never said… He never thought he had to. They gotta do this while they still have time. Before it slips through their fingers. Would she have dinner with him?
