The wind whipped into Logan's face at such an incredible speed that it stung his eyes. The carriage they were standing on suddenly swayed beneath them and Logan almost lost his footing – he had momentarily forgotten that he was standing on top of a train carriage. As he took a moment to steady himself, Omega Red lunged at him with his blade, aiming the blow for Logan's throat.Using the incredible reflexes that had kept him alive for so long, Logan ducked under the lunge and kicked at Omega Red's legs, knocking him backwards. Logan drew his katana from its sheath on his back and brought it up to the en guarde position in front of him. Omega Red grinned toothily and lunged at Logan, allowing him to strike him in the arm. The katana blade easily sliced through Omega Red's coat and should have bitten into his arm but to Logan's surprise, when the katana hit Omega Red's arm it felt as though he had just hit a brick wall. The shock made him loose his grip on his sword, and it slid across the roof to the very edge where it came to rest about an inch away from falling."What's wrong Logan, you look surprised." Omega Red shouted triumphantly, holding his arm up. "I've had a couple of modifications since the last time we met. This is my favourite – a cybernetic arm." Omega Red suddenly lashed out and struck Logan in the jaw. Over the years, Logan had taken plenty of punches, but this was something new. Being hit felt as though he had just slammed jaw first into a speeding lorry – Logan was thrown several feet backwards, blood spraying from his mouth. As he desperately tried to gather his senses he could tell that his jaw was in bad shape – probably broken at the very least.Omega Red's face suddenly appeared above his, a hungry gleam in his eyes. Logan knew that look – it was the look of a predator who is about to make his kill – and as Omega Red hauled him to his feet he knew he was in for a world of pain.
Ray had taken up a position by the door of the carriage, whilst Betsy was standing at the far end of the corridor, guns in their hands. If an attack was going to come, the Hydra soldiers would have to come down the carriage – straight into Betsy's field of fire. Of course, they could just throw a grenade down the carriage, which would probably finish them all off in one go – messy, but effective.
Betsy was just thinking this when she heard the thunk of a grenade landing in the middle of the carriage. She was too far away to reach it in time, but as she watched Ray picked it up and, moving at an exceptional speed, hurled it out of the open window that was nearby. The grenade detonated just outside the train, shattering several nearby windows and spraying Ray with shards of glass.He fell back clutching at his eyes, and as he did so Betsy spotted a Hydra soldier at the end of the carriage. Bringing her Beretta pistol up to shoulder height, she sighted down the barrel and snapped off two shots. The first shot hit the soldier in the shoulder, the next in the throat. Realising that there were survivors the following Hydra soldiers paused in their advance, planning their next manoeuvre. Betsy took the time to check on Ray.He wasn't badly injured – his face was just slightly scratched, thankfully none of the glass had got in his eyes. Betsy helped him to his feet, keeping her eye on the end of the carriage, in case any of the Hydra soldiers tried to attack again. Ray had just got to his feet, when the next three Hydra soldiers came around the corner, and opened fire from the hip with their machine guns. Luckily they weren't sure where Betsy was, so their shots went wild – slamming into walls and windows. Betsy and Ray returned fire, felling two of them and wounding the third, who Ray finished off with a shot to the head."What we could really do with are some grenades of our own," Ray said angrily to Betsy, as they took cover in the doorway to their compartment."Yeah, but we don't have any so we're just going to have to make do. We can hold them off here, as long as they don't have any heavier backup."Logan was slammed into the roof of the train so hard that he could have sworn that it had made a Logan shaped dent. Omega Red pulled back his cybernetic arm to deliver the coup de gras, but Logan just had enough strength left to roll out of the way, whilst at the same time lash out at Omega Red. His kick had little strength behind it, but it was enough to make Omega Red take a step back in caution.
As Logan scrabbled to his feet, he realised that he had rolled over to his katana. He picked it up and spun around, feet automatically shifting into a combat stance. Omega Red looked slightly taken aback, but then he smiled. "Bring it on, you pathetic weakling!"Logan feinted left, then attempted to hack at Omega Red's neck. Omega Red blocked the blow with his wrist blade and lunged at Logan's unprotected chest, but Logan quickly side-stepped the attack and kicked Omega Red's legs out from under him. The larger man crashed to the floor and Logan stabbed the katana down into Omega Red's left leg. The blade cut through his flesh easily and the Russian let out a cry of pain as blood formed a pool around his leg. Suddenly the fight had shifted in Logan's favour.Omega Red suddenly hit Logan in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Omega Red ripped the katana out of his leg and threw it off the top of the train. Logan watched it fly through the air for a mere second before it vanished. Logan got to his feet and faced the Russian, who was limping. Both men were getting tired and Logan knew that it would only be a matter of time before someone made the fatal mistake. Unfortunately, Omega Red still had the advantage with his cybernetic arm.Betsy and Ray were standing amongst a pile of dead Hydra soldiers. They had both taken machine guns from their fallen opponents and had dealt with the remaining soldiers. Now they were searching for Logan.
"He's not in this carriage," Ray announced, after having checked thoroughly."Where could he be?" Betsy asked angrily. Ray kept silent, knowing that she was really just asking herself."You don't trust him?"You don't know him like I do," Betsy replied, her voice full of anger."So what has he done that was so terrible?" Ray ventured after several seconds' silence.Betsy swallowed audibly and shook her head. "He is utterly unscrupulous– he will work for the person who pays him the most money, regardless of what it is they want him to do.""You think Hydra have bought his services, and he's a traitor." It was a statement, not a question."I don't think there's any doubt about it. Hydra seems to know all our moves in advance. He's the only logical reason."Logan and Omega Red were now engaged in a furious hand-to-hand fight, Logan was managing to hold his own against Omega Red's brute power thanks to his mastery of martial arts, but only just. Omega Red suddenly broke through his guard, picked him up and threw him so that he almost landed on the next carriage. Winded, Logan looked up and smiled.
Omega Red looked confused as to what Logan was smiling about, and he still looked confused when he was torn in half as the train entered a tunnel. Logan lay flat on his back, not daring to move until the train emerged from the tunnel, when he sat up and looked around.There didn't seem to be any trace of Omega Red left, except for the blood on the roof and his wrist blade, which had got embedded into the roof at some point during the fight. Logan got shakily to his feet, picked up the blade and then went to the side of the carriage. He knew the door below him would be open – it was the one they had used to get up to the roof in the first place – so he stabbed the blade into the side of the carriage and, in a movement that caused him a considerable amount of pain, he swung himself into the carriage.Shaking his head to clear it, Logan took stock of his situation. There were several dead Hydra soldiers at his feet – hopefully Warren, Betsy and Ray were still alive."I wondered when you were going to turn up." Logan turned at Betsy's accusatory tone and saw Betsy, Ray behind her, standing in the doorway of the carriage. He also saw the gun in Betsy's hand pointed at him."Hey, I'm on your side." Logan had to force his jaw to form the words, and it hurt like hell but he still managed it."I'm just being careful." Betsy said, keeping the gun trained on Logan. "Where have you been?""I've just been on the roof, fighting with one of the Hydra operatives – Omega Red.""Really?" Betsy's tone was loaded with sarcasm. "That was quite helpful – got you out of the way during the firefight.""I'm not a traitor!" Logan insisted."Like hell you're not!"In the confined space of the carriage, the gunshot sounded like a miniature explosion."Omega Red has failed us. It is time to utilise Gemini."
"But Madam Director, is it really… wise to use Gemini now?""I thought you said all the tests were good?""I did, it's just that I'm worried – wasn't Omega Red supposed to be the best operative you have?""Yes, so?""Well if he couldn't kill Wolverine, will Gemini be able to do so? It would be terrible if we lost him after so much work.""Gemini will be able to handle Wolverine with ease, don't worry. Soon his miserable life will be at an end and we will be able to stop worrying about the loathsome insect."
Thank you for reviewing karakin and demonrogue 13, and sorry about the huge delay in updating - my internet access has been down for a while. The next update should be up in the next few days.