1985
"This doesn't change anything," James Logan said in a hard voice, taking deep breaths to steady himself, "We're through."
Victor cocked his head and smiled at his younger brother patronizingly, showing just of a hint of his elongated canines, and shook his head slowly. "We'll never be through, Jimmy. We're brothers. And brothers look out for each other." He spoke to him as if he was speaking to a small child that didn't understand the way something worked. Giving his brother one last look, he leapt off the ledge into the smoke and dust and disappeared.
James looked down after him, but quickly spun around, feeling the foundation beneath him start to shake and crumble. He too jumped over the side but opposite the one his brother had. Everything came down around him as he landed hard on the surface of the ground. He rolled onto his back just in time to see a large chunk of the building coming down on top of him.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, a dark figure leapt over him. James was shocked that Gambit had actually come back to help him. This was the last place that mutant had ever wanted to return. Using his cane, he managed to defy gravity and leap onto the underside, using his 'talents' to explode the chunk of concrete into tiny harmless little pieces that scattered all around Logan.
Gracefully, he landed in an arc on the ground beside Logan who was slowly standing up. Cockily grinning from ear to ear, he asked, "Miss me?"
James raised an eyebrow and smiled wryly. He was about to speak when he heard a distant voice calling his name. He looked over as it called out again. "Remy, there are kids trying to get off this island. Go find them and make sure their safe. I'll catch up with you later."
Gambit nodded and dashed off, while James turned and jogged toward the voice. The dust cleared as he neared and saw Kayla, his love, lying on the ground and bleeding from a fatal wound. He felt like he got punched in stomach.
She smiled the same slow, warm smile that always managed to take his breath away and he knelt down, kissing her hands and looking at the blood seeping from her abdomen. "I'll get you out of here," he promised, scooping her up and walking quickly toward Gambit's plane. Her head rested limply on his chest.
Suddenly, from behind, a loud blast accompanied by the searing hot pain of a bullet, tore through his upper back, dropping him to the ground along with Kayla who gave out a cry of pain. The pain, along with Kayla's distress, fueled his rage and his adamantium claws immediately unsheathed themselves from the spaces between his knuckles. Six 12 inch blades glittered in the dawning pink sunlight as he gave a roar and charged his former boss and ally Colonel William Stryker.
Stryker was afraid but still managed to blast off several rounds into James' body. James crouched and leapt off a piece of debris serving as a ledge with a primal roar that was fearsome enough to chill the blood of any man. The position his body was in while he was mid-leap was just the prime target that Stryker needed to put a bullet into his exposed forehead.
James dropped to the ground instantly, nothing but deadweight. It would have killed a normal man, but Stryker knew this was no normal man. He was extraordinary even for a mutant. Though his flesh and organs would repair themselves in time, he knew that the thing which gave him his humanity, that kept his feral instincts at bay, would be gone forever. His memories. Without them he would just be the animal that he had been fighting against for well over a hundred years now.
Hopefully, that would buy Stryker the time he needed to reorganize and grow stronger, as well as smarter. There would be no doubt that should Logan ever regain his memories Stryker would be a dead man. Just to make extra sure, he fired off another round into his head.
Unknowingly behind him, the ominous dark figure of Victor Creed crouched in the shadows watching. His instinct had first been to help his brother, but when he saw that it was just a gun that Stryker was using to defend himself, he snorted and figured he would wait until Jimmy healed and then take Stryker down together. Alive. There was still something that Victor wanted—no, needed- Stryker to do for him.
After that they would kill him, or at least he would. Jimmy was different now and Victor didn't really know what to make of his weak and humane behavioral turn. Compassion and sympathy were foreign emotions to him, having never been shown them even in his childhood. The only thing comparable to love that he had ever felt toward another human being was for Jimmy, his brother. They had been inseparable until six years ago and when he had abandoned him. Victor's time alone had been unbearable.
He kept watching him as Stryker walked slowly over to where his brother's woman was lying, bleeding and dying on the ground. He could smell her anger and fear as the man towered over her and aimed the gun at her head.
Victor smiled when Stryker forgot who was dealing with and let himself get too close to her. She wrapped a weak hand around his ankle. The gun went from pointing at her head to pointing at his head, his control over his own mind gone.
She said something to him and Stryker tossed his gun and walked away, blankly as if in a daze. He stood up, still watching Jimmy who wasn't moving yet. His brow furrowed and he wondered what was taking so long. They both been shot in the head more times than either could count but nothing had taken them down yet. Why was this time any different?
Just then James stirred and rolled over onto his side, groaning and stiffly raising himself up to a sitting position. His eyes were unfocused and he looked around with an odd look on his face. Victor took a step forward to go to his brother, but stopped quickly as that damn Cajun mutant sprinted up from the opposite side.
As a precaution, Victor stayed still for a moment to observe them. He remembered the fight in the alley just a short time ago. Seeing how much more powerful Jimmy had become than him had been disconcerting. That Cajun could pack some power too.
James looked bewildered and a little angry and glanced down at the dog tags that were always around his neck. He read them and saw that on one side it said Logan and on the other it said Wolverine. Where the hell was he? More importantly, who the hell was he?
"Hey man," a loud voice called, jogging up to him out of breath, "we gotta go now. Ready?"
He felt disoriented and afraid and his instincts took over. This guy in front of him could be a threat. He lunged forward and angrily clenched his fists around the young man's shirt hauling him up to his face.
"Who are you? What am I doing here?" the man who assumed his name was Logan asked, darting his eyes around to check for any signs of possible danger.
Remy was taken aback and extremely confused. He glanced up at the lingering bullet hole in the man's head. Damn. "I'm the guy who brought you here. I'm a friend," he said, holding up his hands in surrender.
Logan's face was red with anger. "Yeah? What's my name?" he challenged.
Remy spoke slowly as one would do to a hissing, cornered animal. "Logan. Your name's Logan."
He was telling the truth, Logan thought. It was written around his neck. He abruptly let go of the other guy and looked around tensely. Remy cautiously walked around him toward the direction of his plane. He would figure out how to help his new friend later but right now…
"We need to get out of here," he stated, jerking a thumb to the side and grabbing Logan's arm.
He allowed himself to be led because frankly he had no idea right now about anything and could remember nothing before five minutes ago.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman lying still on the ground apparently dead. Something nagged at him and he went over to her. She was beautiful, he thought. He wondered what had happened to her. Had he killed her? What was she doing here? Did he know her? There was something about her.
"Do you know her?" the boy asked, echoing his thoughts a little breathlessly, glancing over at the trucks that were coming in the distance.
Logan frowned and furrowed his brow as blurry images melted in his mind. He couldn't grasp a hold of anything concrete. "No," he admitted, closing the dead woman's eyes. Now she was more peaceful looking.
"Listen, these guys are not gonna like what you've done to this place, so we need to get out of here," Remy urged, still trying to keep a calm voice. He didn't need any nuclear explosions from this guy. A blow from him felt like a metal bar hitting you in the face.
Logan didn't look up. "I'll find my own way," he responded gruffly, still looking down at the woman. He couldn't be around people right now. The urge to get away was too strong and he wanted to be by himself.
Remy looked at him for a moment and then slowly nodded. "Alright man. Good luck." And he reluctantly jogged over to his plane to get away as quickly as possible.
Victor watched in rage and disbelief as Logan took one last look at Kayla and then stood up and ran away opposite the direction that the trucks were coming in. Without thinking, Victor took off in the same direction as his brother, crouching on all fours and leaping over the debris as agilely as a cat.
As he ran, he thought furiously about what he just witnessed. His brother had no idea who he was or even where he was. What the fuck had Stryker shot him with? Why had he lost his memories? His insides burned with grief at the loss and he knew that he had to make it right. He had to find Stryker and force him to fix Jimmy. They only had each other in this world and Jimmy had already abandoned him once. He couldn't do it again.
Judging from the less than warm welcome the Cajun had received he reckoned that it would be in his own best interests to wait to confront Jimmy about his identity. Who knows how he would react to the claim that he was a mutant freak with a brother who was also a freak and that they were both over a hundred and fifty years old.
This memory problem of Jimmy's wouldn't be permanent, he reasoned with himself. Nothing could hurt them or kill them. They were invincible. Soon everything would be back to normal and they would be reunited. It didn't matter that his brother was furious at him and had no desire to ever speak to him again for his part in the previously staged death of Kayla.
Victor Creed was a man with single minded desires. When he decided he wanted something, nothing short of death would stop him from trying to get it. With a growl, he kept running as fast as he could, never letting his brother stray out of sight.