NINETEEN

"Logan, what the hell…?" Wraith gasped, as black spikes shot up from the ground, some spearing our limbs, lifting us off the ground and offering us up to the blood red sky. We were our old uniform, held our old weapons, and we were back in Russia. There was a low roar in the air, like a wounded animal, and when I craned my neck down I could see a whole forest of spikes beneath us. It was a long way to fall, but skewered as we were on the spikes, with surprisingly no pain.

Down below, I could see the coast of Madripoor, crammed with crumbling high-rise buildings and its harbor crammed with boats of every description. Banners flew from the wharves and from the masts of the ships. Blood red and all bear good wishes .The sky was slate grey just as it was the day Jean disappeared from my life.

We were so close to the cliffs. I remember what happened that horrible day, when Jean fell. It wasn't my fault! I was trying to protect her…Didn't know how close we were to the edge….

"Remarkable what you can make the mind believe," Barrington said from the ground. "Your rational mind is trying to tell you that this is not real, that the spikes are not digging into your flesh and that you are still on the floor in a warehouse somewhere in Canada. But one flick of a switch is all it takes to throw all that completely out the window." He chuckled and clicked his fingers. The spikes were shrinking, moving us closer to the ground. "You remember this place, Logan?" Barrington said when I was at eye level with him. "You remember what happened here?"

"You know I do," I grunted.

"It was at this very spot that you stood between General Chang and the lovely miss Jean. General Chang had a gun leveled at her head, ready to shoot her and blame you for it."

The scene shifted behind Barrington so I could see general Chang pointing his weapon directly at me. "Don't make me…" I said through gritted teeth. I couldn't watch this again.

"Jean clutched to you for dear life. The wind was whipping her hair all over the place, and you stood resolutely between Chang and the woman you love." Barrington smiled and clicked his fingers again. A massive boom, like a thunderclap, rattled everything. I could see the white hot flash from the nuzzle of the gun, I could see me diving in its direction, and I saw the bullet strike Jean in the temple, sending her back over the cliff.

I shut my eyes against the tears. "This didn't happen," I whispered. "It was you all along."

"Well, some of it was my work," he said. "You did meet a young woman named Jean when you were sent on a mission to Madripoor. When it came time to bury that particular mission in your memory, I extrapolated on your fixation with the beautiful young woman, and created this reality for you. All it took was a few weeks of aggressive hypno therapy and some other more subtle techniques, but when I was finished you were absolutely positive that you had lost the love of your life in Madripoor. The truth of it was you were sent to Madripoor to kill General Chang."

The spikes receded altogether and I was standing before Barrington now. "None of it was real?" I said, looking around me. "My whole life was some kind of sick stage production for you?"

Barrington barked a laugh and raised his arms. "This was my crowning achievement, my life's work," He replied proudly. "Nothing I would do later could possibly measure up."

"So you want to relive your glory days by getting the old team together? Is that it?" I looked around for Wraith but I couldn't see him anywhere.

"My goal was to reassemble the old team on behalf of a very interested party," He said. "Namely Warren Worthington, on behalf of Worthington Industries. When he asked me to track you all down again, I was only too pleased to help."

A heartbeat later I was standing in the Warehouse again, the landscape around us having dissolved like wet paint. Xavier looked anxious as I stood up on shaky legs. I wanted to walk over and punch him in the face for reasons I didn't really want to explore. I was breathing hard and sweating despite the cold.

Wraith was standing beside me, his arms wrapped around his waist, shaking like I was. His eyes looked hollow and his breathing sounded labored. Whatever Johnnie Wraith had seen during his unconscious episode had struck him as profoundly as mine.

"I've just shown you both a taste of my talent," Barrington said. "Be assured I can do much more."

"This is insane," Xavier said from behind him. "You can't possibly hope to re start the Weapon X program! These men have been searching for what you stripped away from them all those years ago, let them have it. There is no use for such a program today."

"In the future," Barrington replied, glancing briefly over his shoulder at Xavier. "Wars will be fought by men just like the two that stand before us now. They will be completely controllable killing machines. It was a lack of foresight from the government at the time, but I knew that they would one day need this program. That's why I had them stop my body from ageing further, the same process that was administered to Wraith and Logan. I had to see this through."

"I thought you looked to young to have been around when Edmund was a teenager," I said. "You gave them mindless killers and you took immortality. Nice swap."

Barrington shrugged. "I did what I had to do." He sighed and contemplated his cigar. 'I had such high hopes for this long awaited meeting, Logan, and so far you have been uninspiring, to say the least. Where is that animal I know lives deep within you?"

I shook my head. "You have the wrong guy, Barrington. I'm not the weapon you were trying to make me."

"Maybe not now," Barrington said. "But perhaps with the right push…"

He clapped his hands and a door opened on the other side of the room, directly behind Barrington. I could see a huge figure standing in the darkened doorway. "It's about friggin' time," the figure said in a voice like gravel. "I was freezing my ass off in there."

As the figure moved towards the light, Wraith started to shrink away. "Logan, this is going to be bad…"

The shadowy figure revealed himself in the full light. He was at least seven feet tall and packed with solid muscle. His arms were as thick as tree trunks and his fingers were long and tapered. His blonde hair fell over his shoulders. He had squinty little eyes that seemed to take everything in with a few sweeps of his head.

Time had done nothing to diminish the memory of Victor Creed.

"Heya, runt," Creed said with a lopsided grin in my direction. "You're looking good."

"Hey Vic," I said slowly. "Long time no see."

Creed turned to Barrington. "He don't remember me that well, 'cause if he did he'd be runnin'."

Wraith moved closer to me and never took his eyes off Creed. "Logan, this is a very bad situation…" he murmured.

"Johnnie Wraith!" Creed exclaimed. "Issat you? How long has it been, Wraith man?"

"Not long enough," Wraith responded, cool as cucumbers.

"Looks like we're havin' ourselves a reunion, boys. So where are the other two?"

"Mastodon is dead," Wraith said carefully. "And I dunno where Maverick is."

"You've always been a pathetic liar, Wraith," Creed said, his lip curling in Wraith's direction.

Creed lumbered into the room and stopped to look at Madelyn. "Who's this?" He asked Barrington.

"A guest who is to remain unmolested, Creed," Barrington responded.

Creed leaned in a little closer to Madelyn, ran a clawed finger down her cheek. Madelyn tried to pull away but her restraints stopped her. "She looks sweet as a pie," Creed whispered. "How's about we ditch these losers and you and me can get better acquainted?"

Madelyn shook her head and Creed grabbed her by the chin, forcing her face up to the light. "You look familiar…"

"Take your hands off her, Creed." The sound of my own voice even startled me.

Creed turned very slowly to look at me. "You sweet on this one, Logan?" He asked. "Is this your sweetheart?"

I took a step towards him and Creed cocked his head to the side, regarding me with growing amusement. "You and me got some unfinished business," Creed said. "Best I leave this for later."

He shoved Madelyn away from him and moved slowly in my direction, like he had all the time in the world. When he was about five feet away, I could see his muscles flexing, his whole body tensing; he was going to try something. I had no idea what to do and had only a few seconds to consider my options.

Creed lunged at me and cleared the five feet between us as quick as a cat. I bought me elbow up defensively and swung, striking Creed on the side of the head. He grunted as he hit the ground on his back, and I jumped on him, keeping my body away from his flailing limbs while I punched his midsection repeatedly until my knuckles stung. Creed was cursing and growling like a caged animal, baring his teeth and swinging those club-like arms at my head. I grabbed a fist full of Creed's hair and smashed his head back into the concrete. Wraith pinned both of Creed's arms under his knees while I continued driving his head into the floor. Any other man would be dead by now, but not Creed; Wraith was struggling to keep his arms pinned.

I felt my face growing hot and my vision seemed to sharpen. My muscles felt like they were on fire and it felt like the best feeling in the world, like a kind of ecstasy.

Creed had stopped moving. His chest was rising and falling in shallow breaths, and Wraith looked at me uncertainly. "Keep going," He whispered. "Let's finish this."

I shook my head, breathing hard, trying to regain my composure. I rolled off Creed's limp body and motioned for Wraith to do the same. "Leave it," I said.

Behind us, Barrington began clapping. He smiled broadly at us. "Gentlemen that was a treat."

"I'm not going to kill someone for you," I said, still trying to catch my breath.

"Logan, you are still making mistakes," Barrington said. "You made a mistake by not killing Kwannon. At least if you had killed her it would have been humane. When I realized she was going to cause me trouble I sent Creed after her. She died considerably less humanely at his hand." He sighed. "You misjudged that situation, let your misplaced sense of morality get the better of you. Your instincts have dulled with time."

Behind me, I could here the shuffling of feet. Barrington held his palms open and shrugged in a what can I do? gesture. Behind me, I could hear labored breathing and a grunt. I spun around to see Creed standing again.

"Just playin' with ya, Logan," He grinned. "You should have made sure I was really out cold."

He gave no warning this time, swiped the side of my face in one clean swing of his arm. His claws dug into my jaw and ripped through my flesh. I backed away, fearing he would leap into the air again, but he simply shot his arms out and grabbed me by the throat in a vice like grip. "You're a frail, boy," He said as he squeezed by throat, cause me to gag. I could feel my whole body tingle and my fingers were going numb. "You was always the one who would pull back just when things were startin' to get interesting. You always ruined my fun…"

Wraith had crossed the floor by this point and he was hitting Creed with something hard, like a pipe. I could hear the sound of the metal striking Creed's flesh, but he was still standing.

"C'mon Logan, I know you have it in you!" Wraith said. "Just give in to the rage for once in your goddamned life!"

Give in to the rage. There was no way I could…I couldn't…Not after how long I've tried!

I looked into Creed's soulless black eyes and felt something inside me well up, take me over. I looked into those hateful eyes and I felt nothing but loathing. I reached up and tried to pull Creed's fingers off, but he had a grip like a vice. I reached up and tried to swipe at him, trying to breath but no air rushing into my lungs. My fingers splayed out and my body straining, I was still about six inches away from Creed's face. I noticed then that his face was healed from the thrashing Wraith and I had administered. My whole focus no was trying to reach for Creed's face, to hit him, to knock him down. I needed to breathe. I felt panic rolling inside me, mixed with rage…

My whole body afire, I kept straining with my fingers, reaching out….

And then, the skin of my hand broke open and three sharpened steel claws extended from my hand between the knuckles. Pain shot up my arm and jarred my shoulder and I shut my eyes tight against the fiery agony in my hand. I noticed Creed's grip lessen and I opened my eyes to see one of the claws pop cleanly into his right eye. He was too shocked to move at first, and then he dropped me and crumpled to the floor himself, writhing around the floor, howling like an animal caught in a trap. I looked down at my bleeding hand, then looked frantically at Barrington. I sank to my knees and cradled my arm, staring at the shiny claws that jutted from my hand.

"Logan!" I could hear Xavier's voice but it sounded so far away. Then: "What the hell have you done to him?"