A woman was fleeing from a group of armed men as she raced down the stairs of an apartment complex, carrying a parcel in her hands. She dodged the blasts that were sent her way as she saw a manhole leading to a sewer.
Having no other choice, she went down there, hoping that she could lose her pursuers.
As the men fired down the manhole, their leader, a woman with red hair and long fingers, ordered them to keep following.
"I want what that woman took from me." She said. "Use the motion trackers to follow her. No one steals from Lady Deathstrike and lives."
The woman they were chasing was holding back her disgust at the smell of the sewers as she stomped through the water. She turned around a corner and stopped, thinking that she had lost them. Now alone, she unwrapped the parcel, revealing it to be a silver, advanced-looking blaster.
Her admiration for it was interrupted as the men fired at her, trapping her in some kind of energy net.
"You can't have this!" The woman argued as she tried to get out.
Deathstrike stepped forward and gazed at the thief. "Tell me, why should I spare your miserable life, thief? How did you even know about my lab and about my weapon?"
"Please, your weapon?" The thief said sarcastically. "I know you stole that from Axion Labs. I managed to make a tracer to track its energy source, which led me here to New York."
"This weapon means so much to you?" Deathstrike waved it in front of her.
"At first, but then I realized that I needed it to destroy something that could kill us all." The thief explained.
This piqued Deathstrike's interest. "Tell me more about this threat."
"When I got here, I found a huge energy signal down here." The thief said. "I tried to destroy it, but my weapons were useless, so I thought the one you stole could help me."
"Where is it?" Deathstrike demanded.
The captured woman pointed down a tunnel. "It's in there."
"This had better be worth the trouble you caused me." Deathstrike threatened as she journeyed down there with her troops.
Deathstrike gasped as she saw what it was. "A spacecraft."
It was indeed a spacecraft, one that looked like it had been here since the dinosaurs.
"It must have been buried for centuries." Deathstrike guessed as she continued to observe it. "Alien writing, strange sounds. What technology could send a ship across the galaxy?" She noticed that she could feel the energy emitting from it. "Odd. I can feel its power. Perhaps now, after all my work, I shall have the means to exact my revenge."
She scratched it with her claws, causing some of the energy to leak out and hit her as she screamed.
An energy wave was set off that encompassed the whole city.
Danny was stirred awake by his ghost sense. He got out of bed, waking Rogue up in the process.
"Danny, what's wrong?" She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"My ghost sense went off." Danny replied. "I've got to tell the professor."
Down below in the War Room, Xavier could also feel the energy wave.
"Power!" He cried. "Incredible power!"
The professor screamed in pain as he clutched his head. Eventually, it passed as Xavier was released from his agony.
Danny and Rogue rushed in and saw the professor in pain.
"Professor, are you alright?" Danny asked as he leaned down by his side.
"Such power." Xavier said. "It's like nothing I've ever sensed before."
"I felt it too." Danny said. "It set off my ghost sense."
"I must discover its origin." Xavier said as he connected himself to Cerebro to search for it.
"I don't think we're under any threat right now, so I think you two can go back to bed." Xavier said to them.
"Come on, sugar." Rogue dragged him back to their room. "We'll figure this out in the morning."
Danny nodded reluctantly as he followed her out of the War Room.
Deathstrike had gone through the same thing Xavier experienced as she fell to her knees.
"What happened, Deathstrike?" One of her men asked her.
"A defensive field around the ship." She said. "It reacted with my cyborg components." She looked at the circuits around her wrists as they sparked. "My circuits were on fire."
"Then we'll just have to blast our way in." Another man said as he tried to blast it when Deathstrike got in his way.
"No." She used her claws to destroy his gun. "Fool, you might destroy it. I pay you to fight, not to think." Deathstrike observed the cracks she made in the ship. "My adamantium talons scratched it. Perhaps what we need is a human with a set of adamantium claws."
Deathstrike then walked back to the captured woman to interrogate her more.
"Why do you want to destroy it?" Deathstrike asked the woman.
"Because I made it my mission to destroy threats like that." She answered.
Deathstrike smirked. "Well, I guess I can aid you in your mission. I'll also return what I stole. Deal?"
"Deal." The woman said as Deathstrike released her. "I'll get rid of that craft along with something else."
Deathstrike cocked her head. "What is this something else?"
"Phantom." The woman growled. "When I arrived in this city, I heard that he'd been hanging out with some mutants and causing destruction."
Deathstrike smirked. "Well, with my help, you'll destroy both of them. What is your name?"
"Valerie Gray." Her new ally revealed.
"Well, Valerie, I think I have a plan to get rid of all our enemies." Deathstrike said.
Danny and Rogue were enjoying themselves at a restaurant as Rogue laughed at a part of Danny's story.
"It came out of your ass?" She couldn't help but guffaw at the absurdity of it.
Danny also chuckled. "Yeah, I never found an explanation for it, nor did it ever happen again."
He looked out the window, still pondering about his ghost sense going off last night.
"You still thinking about last night?" Rogue asked him.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Did you snag Jean's powers before we left?"
Rogue rolled her eyes playfully. "No, I've just been with you long enough that I can tell when you're worried about something."
"I'm just a little worried about what happened last night." Danny admitted.
"Honey, you need to relax." Rogue told him. "Whatever it was, we'll find it and make sure it doesn't hurt anyone."
"How is it that you always know what to say to make me feel better?" Danny asked with a smile.
Rogue shrugged smugly. "What can I say? This girl doesn't just have looks but brains too."
The two finished their date and paid for their meal. As they were flying home holding hands, Danny was enjoying the peaceful moment before a blast hit him and caused him to fall on top of a building.
"Danny!" Rogue cried.
Danny looked up to see his attacker and gasped as he recognized her.
Valerie floated in the sky on her glider as she glared down at Danny.
Danny couldn't help but wince at her appearance. She looked exactly like her alternate self from Dan's timeline.
"You thought you could hide from me, ghost?" Valerie snarled at him as she aimed a blaster at him. "Think again."
Before she could fire, Rogue elbowed her from the side as Valerie tried to regain control of her glider.
"Back away from my boyfriend!" Rogue yelled.
Valerie's eyes widened at this. "Boyfriend? You're actually dating that freak?" What woman would ever want to date a ghost, especially one like Phantom?
Rogue gave her another punch. "Don't call him that!"
Danny got up as he tried to break up the fight. "Valerie, what are you doing here?"
"I came to make you pay for killing the Fentons!" Valerie cried as she threw a shuriken at him, which scraped his arm.
"I didn't kill them!" Danny roared, angered by Valerie's claim as well as the truth of it.
"Don't lie to me!" Valerie tried to ram him with her glider, but he got out of the way. "You were seen in the area along with another ghost. You killed them!"
"I didn't!" Danny shouted, losing his patience with her. He blasted her off her glider, only for it to come back and rescue her.
"You can't fool me, spook!" Valerie said. Rogue then pinned her from behind.
"You need to learn not to bother a gal when she's out with a cute boy." Rogue said.
The two women grappled with each other as Rogue pulled out her glove and absorbed her, knocking her out.
Danny sighed as they left her unconscious body on top of a building.
"I'm guessing you want to know who that was?" Danny asked Rogue.
"Valerie Gray." Rogue stated.
"Oh yeah, you can absorb people's memories too." Danny remembered.
"Why did she try to attack you?" Rogue asked.
"She blamed me for her life going downhill, even though I was just trying to stop a ghost from going on a rampage." Danny said, before wondering what she was doing here. "Hey, do any of the memories you have from her explaining why she's here?"
"She was here to deliver a message." Rogue said as she pulled a hard drive from Valerie's belt. "But her hatred got in the way."
"That explains it." Danny said.
"By the way, did you like her?" Rogue asked.
"What?" Danny said.
"Did you like her?" Rogue asked. She felt Valerie's small interest in Danny and was wondering if he returned those feelings.
"Not really." Danny replied.
"Good." Rogue said, glad that she didn't have to worry about this woman trying to steal him away from her. "Now let's get home before she wakes up."
The two then headed home, leaving Valerie unconscious.
"Make your move, hotshot." Wolverine taunted Gambit as the two, along with Jubilee, were playing basketball.
"You lost Wolverine; admit it." Gambit replied as he dribbled the ball.
"Big talk." Logan said. "Come on. Go for the hoop, gumbo."
"If you insist." Gambit made a shot, only for Wolverine to jump up and impale the ball with his claws.
The three then saw Danny and Rogue arrive back.
"Hey, how was your date?" Jubilee asked.
"It was alright, besides being attacked by some crazy gal on a flying jet ski." Rouge said.
Jubilee was confused.
"We were almost killed by the Red Huntress." Danny said.
"You ran into Valerie?" Jubilee asked, remembering her from Danny's stories. "How did it go?"
"Well, Rogue knocked her out, and we found that she was here to deliver this." Danny held out the hard drive.
"Let's check it out." Jubilee said with Wolverine nodding, getting bored of beating Gambit.
"You go ahead." Gambit said as he headed inside the institute. "Gambit got to wash off this sweat."
"More like wash away his shame." Wolverine jabbed.
Danny placed the hard drive into a console as the face of Deathstrike appeared.
"Yuriko!" Logan gasped, recognizing this woman.
"You know this woman?" Danny asked.
"We have history." Wolverine left it at that.
"I have a message for you, Wolverine." Yuriko said. "I'm in the sewers below, waiting for you. Come and find me if you dare."
The message then ended.
Valerie made her way back to Deathstrike. "The message has been delivered."
"Wolverine will come." Deathstrike said to her team. "We must make our preparations."
"Who's Yuriko?" Jubilee asked Wolverine.
"Somebody I used to know a long time ago." Wolverine replied.
"This whole thing stinks." Rogue crossed her arms. "I think it's a trap."
"Doesn't matter." Logan said. "I got to go."
"Wait, we'll go with you." Jubilee offered.
Logan shook his head. "No way. This is personal." He then headed out to meet Yuriko.
"Everything's personal with him." Rogue pointed out.
"I'm going with you." Danny said to Wolverine as he caught up with him. "She's allied with Valerie. You don't know what she's capable of, but I do."
Logan sighed. "Fine, you can tag along, Casper."
"We've got to follow them." Jubilee said to Rogue. "They might need our help."
Rogue thought that the two could handle themselves until she realized that Danny would be with that Valerie woman. A twinge of jealousy entered her heart.
"You know what, gal?" Rogue said. "I think you have a point. Let's go. Don't want the boys to have all the fun."
The two got into Rogue's car and sped off to find the two guys.
Wolverine stopped his jeep as he and Danny got out. They headed down the subway and past the trains, where Danny phased them through a hole that led to the tunnels.
Rogue and Jubilee pulled up next to Wolverine's jeep and headed down the same way Wolverine and Danny went. Rogue ended up ripping off the bars of the hole as the two ladies entered the tunnels.
Wolverine and Danny walked in silence as Logan was left to his thoughts.
'Are you really down here, Yuriko?' Logan thought as he reminisced on old memories.
"Tell me it is not so, Logan." A young Yuriko said, not looking as vicious as her present self and having black hair. "Tell me you are not leaving."
"I wouldn't go if I didn't have to." Logan replied regretfully. "But some guys in Canada need to see me. They're not the kind of people you say no to."
"I am afraid that you will go and I will never see you again." Yuriko confessed.
"I promise." Logan reassured her. "Whatever happens, I'll come back to you."
The two kissed goodbye.
Another not-so-pleasant memory then came.
Logan loaded up his gun as he jumped off the chopper. He could smell the armed forces that were hiding, ready to take him out.
As they fired on him, he grabbed hold of the chopper as it took off, but it was shot down, and Logan fell to the ground. He took off running into the forest, only to fall into a ditch trap that was set up. The soldiers aimed their guns at him.
Logan glared angrily as a helmet and breathing apparatus were placed on him as the tank he was in filled itself with liquid.
Outside the tank, a professor observed the process. "Dr. Cornelius, how is our patient?"
"Could be better, professor." Dr. Cornelius answered from his viewing room. "He put up some resistance when our boys picked him up last night."
"Is he damaged?" The professor asked.
"Nothing serious." Dr. Cornelius reassured him.
"Then begin the adamantium feed." The professor ordered.
"Feed initiated." Dr. Cornelius announced as the process began. Tubes attached themselves to the tank, and Wolverine was blasted by some waves before they condensed into a molecular beam.
"Steady." Dr. Cornelius observed the process as he read out the data. "Cardiotach higher than expected. Suffusion enacting. Cardiotach rising. Incredible!" He cried in astonishment. "The feed is impeded. He's resisting, sir."
"Adjust the feed accordingly." The professor said without a beat.
The order was carried out as the experiment continued without any resistance.
Dr. Cornelius kept looking over the results. "Adamantium feed is compensating, but I've never seen anything like this."
The professor looked over a scan of Wolverine's body. "It appears we chose well, Cornelius."
"Adamantium reservoirs drained, sir." Dr. Cornelius told him. "Absorption process complete."
"And our dear Logan?" The professor asked as the helmet on Logan was taken off.
"Why not ask him yourself?" Dr. Cornelius offered.
"A splendid idea." The professor gazed at his new creation. "Logan, can you hear me?"
Wolverine growled as he angrily placed his hands on the glass.
The professor smirked. "I shall take that as a yes. You really should be proud. You are the first. Your skeleton has been infused with a rare metal called adamantium. Fascinating substance, virtually indestructible." The professor held out a piece of it to show Logan. "In return, we hope to make use of your gift." He then noticed Logan wasn't reacting at all. "So you have nothing to say?"
Logan scratched his hands. "Hands. Itching. Why? What? What have..." He tried to put his words together. "What have you done?" To answer his question, his claws came out, now coated in the durable metal.
Logan screamed in pain as the professor watched in awe.
"Extradentary. I never imagined..." His praise was interrupted when Logan took a swipe at the glass. "Quickly, Cornelius! Increase the sedative drip before..."
The glass shattered as the liquid spilled onto the floor. Wolverine stumbled out and removed his breathing apparatus.
"No!" The professor cried. "Security! Security, help me!" He ran away from the man he operated on as a robot came to apprehend Logan.
It didn't get far, as it was cut in half. He did the same to another robot before he started to destroy all the surrounding lab equipment.
The professor got to the door and pressed the close button.
Logan noticed this and made a mad dash to the professor.
"Oh, no. No, no!" The professor backed away, and luckily, the door closed in time.
Logan kept clawing at the door until his attention was brought to an explosion that went off behind him, leaving a hole for him to escape through.
Logan took this escape route and burst through the fence before running into the deep forest. He stopped to look back as the facility blew up.
"Yuriko." Logan said as he entered her home. "Don't be afraid. I've come back." But Yuriko was nowhere to be found. Overcome with sorrow, he walked out of the house and screamed to the heavens.
"Where are you, Yuriko?"
"Yuriko." Logan muttered. "I told you I'd come back."
"You alright?" Danny asked in concern.
"I'll be fine, bub." Wolverine tried to change the topic. "So what's the story between you and this Valerie?"
"Well, she was a popular kid back at school." Danny explained. "Her father was an employee at Axion Labs and designed a new security system for them. Because of this, they saw no need for their guard dogs, so they put them down. But one came back as a ghost to look for its squeaky toy."
Wolverine gave an incredulous look. "Seriously?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah, and when I tried to stop it, it ended up dragging me along and wrecking the lab, causing her dad to be fired, and she ended up moving to a lower-class neighborhood. Her friends turned their backs on her at the loss of her wealth, and she blamed me and the dog. She thought the dog was mine. Then Vlad gave her ghost weapons, and she has since made it her mission to hunt me down."
"Sheesh." Wolverine said. "Your life was hectic, bub."
"You have no idea." Danny said.
They continued walking, with one of Deathstrike's men watching them from a corner.
"He's here, and he's brought someone else." He whispered into his communicator.
"Attack." Deathstrike responded. "But I want him taken alive."
"All Reavers, converge on target." The man said to his comrades.
Wolverine was shot behind by the reaver, while Danny was run over by Valerie's glider.
Rogue and Jubilee heard the commotion.
"Wolverine!" Jubilee cried.
Rogue was also worried. "Danny!"
"Bushwhacked." Logan said. "Must be losing it."
Danny and Logan stood back to back, with Danny glaring at Valerie while Logan was glaring at the reavers.
"You take them; I'll take her." Danny said.
"Fine by me." Logan agreed.
The two split up and fought their respective targets.
Danny destroyed Valerie's blaster and flew past her, leading her further into the underground tunnels. Valerie shot a couple of missiles, which Danny managed to maneuver around as he froze them.
"I don't want to fight you, Valerie!" Danny shouted.
"Well, I do!" Valerie threw a grenade that knocked Danny to the ground. Valerie aimed a wrist blaster at him. Before she could fire, Jubilee blasted it with her fireworks.
"Leave him alone!" Jubilee glared at her.
"He's evil! He must be destroyed!" Valerie couldn't believe that they were defending him.
"The only wicked person I see is you." Rogue punched her off her glider, but before it could fly back to its owner, Rogue grabbed it and used her strength to rip it apart.
"No!" Valerie was enraged at seeing her glider destroyed.
She tried to fight Rogue in hand-to-hand combat, but Rogue easily defeated her.
"You don't know what he is." Valerie groaned at her injuries. "He killed people. He killed the Fentons."
"I didn't." Danny said, although he knew that Valerie was technically right.
"You can't trick me, ghost." Valerie growled.
Danny rolled his eyes. He had enough of this. It was time to give Valerie the facts.
Valerie could only watch as rings went over Phantom's body, turning him into a raven-haired man.
"Who are you?" Valerie asked, as he looked familiar.
"I'm Danny Fenton." Danny said.
Valerie couldn't believe it. Her biggest enemy and the one who ruined her life was that geek, Fenton. How was that possible?
"I never meant to ruin your life, Valerie." Danny said. "That wasn't my dog; I was trying to stop it, and I'm sorry that your dad lost your job, but I'm tired of you taking your rage out on me." He glared at Valerie, which sent a shiver down her back. "You led my friend into a trap because of your vendetta. So here's how it's going to be: you're going to leave me alone and never attack me again. Otherwise, next time we meet, I won't hold back."
It was a lie, but he needed Valerie to know that he wasn't going to put up with her chasing after him anymore.
"Do whatever you want; I don't care." Danny said. "But I've got a friend to save." He turned to Jubilee and Rogue. "Come on, you guys. Let's go find Wolverine."
Valerie was left alone as she took in this recent development.
"Danny." Valerie said quietly.
Meanwhile, Wolverine charged at the two reavers, only to be shot from behind by two more.
Using his claws, he tore their guns apart. When one got too close, he cut his arm off, showing that it was mechanical.
"They're a bunch of tin cans." Wolverine quipped.
The feral mutant continued to fight the cyborgs and managed to beat them. He grabbed the one whose arm he had cut off.
"Why don't you give your circus a break?" Wolverine said. "Your trap didn't work. I'm alive. Now where is Yuriko?"
"Here, Logan, or don't you recognize me?" Yuriko said from behind.
"Yuriko?" Logan was shocked at seeing her again after all these years, especially with her new appearance.
"I knew you would come back to me." Yuriko smirked. "You promised."
"What have you done to yourself?" Logan asked her.
"Don't you find me beautiful?" Yuriko asked. "I did it for you."
"Yuriko." Wolverine backed up at Yuriko's fate. "No."
Yuriko glared at Wolverine. "The Yuriko you knew no longer exists. I am Lady Deathstrike now, a living weapon of revenge."
She clawed his chest, making him grunt in pain.
Wolverine looked at his scratches in puzzlement. "Revenge? For what?"
"For a murder." Yuriko said. "For the destruction of my life. I searched for years for a way to become strong enough to destroy you."
Yuriko got into a military chamber as men at the controls monitored her vitals.
"The Reavers offered me an answer: become a cyborg like they are. I was no longer the Yuriko you knew. So I decided to change my outer form to match the darkness inside me."
Yuriko's chamber was blasted with electric energy as she began her transformation.
"I have gave up everything I had been to become what I am now."
With the process over, the chamber opens up as Yuriko steps out with her new cybernetic arms.
"Reborn to destroy." Deathstrike looked at him with a desire to tear him apart.
Wolverine couldn't believe that Yuriko would go through all that. "How could you do this? I had no choice over what I became, over what was done to me."
"I did it for Professor Oyama." Deathstrike informed him.
"Oyama?" Wolverine stopped as he remembered that name. "The man who..."
"The man who designed the adamantium bonding process that made your skeleton possible." Deathstrike confirmed.
Wolverine didn't understand why Deathstrike cared so much about Oyama. "So what's that got to do with you?"
"He had a daughter whose name was Yuriko Oyama!" She shouted. "My father!"
Wolverine's eyes widened. "Your father!"
"You destroyed him, an innocent scientist, for what his discovery helped do to you." Deathstrike blamed him. "And now I will destroy you."
Logan didn't want to fight with Yuriko. "I don't want to hurt you, Yuriko."
"The name is Deathstrike." She charged at Wolverine as the two dueled with their sharp claws.
"Come on, gal." Rogue said as she, Jubilee, and Danny went to rescue Wolverine.
"Get ready." A reaver said to another who cocked his gun.
"I didn't kill him." Logan told her as he tried to reason with Yuriko. He tackled her to the ground. "I loved you once."
"Now." The reaver said as his comrade shot at Wolverine, trapping him in a net.
Wolverine tried to get out. "Got to get out." The energy of the net soon rendered him unconscious.
"You should have finished me when you had the chance, Wolverine." Deathstrike said as she approached him. "I will not be so merciful." She raised her arm. "For my father!"
"No, Deathstrike." A reaver caught her arm. "He was brought here to open that alien ship."
"I don't care." She slapped his hand away. "This is what I want."
She heard the sounds of the Reavers charging their weapons as they aimed them at her.
"After we get the alien technology, which ought to be worth more than you're paying us," One reaver said, "you can have your revenge after that."
"Very well." Deathstrike acquiesced as the reavers carried the motionless X-Man. "After he's opened the ship, I'll have his adamantium skeleton as a trophy on my wall."
From behind, Wolverine's friends were watching the scene.
"They've got Wolverine." Jubilee whispered as she got up to save her friend.
"Not yet, sugar." Rogue stopped her from charging in. "We just have to wait for the right moment."
"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked.
"They want Wolverine for something, and I want to know what." Danny said as the three trailed behind the group.
Deathstrike and the reavers stood in front of the spacecraft. "
Release him." She commanded the ones holding Wolverine.
One blasted Wolverine with a light that caused the net to crumble away, waking Logan up.
"What happened." Logan murmured before he got into a fighting stance. "Now I remember."
"Now you'll do what I say!" Deathstrike gestured to the spacecraft. "Open that alien spacecraft with the claws my father made for you!"
"Open it yourself." Logan retorted.
"Your end can be quick and easy or slow and painful." She threatened him. "It's your choice."
The mutant hero knocked one reaver to the ground as Yuriko ordered the reavers to fire on him. "Destroy him!"
"Sorry, lady." Wolverine snarked. "I don't kill easy." He engaged a couple more reavers before being shot to the ground.
Danny, Rogue, and Jubilee then came in to rescue him.
"Now, Jubilee." Danny told her as he and Jubilee fired at the reavers while Logan fought with Deathstrike.
"Get them." Deathstrike ordered her men to deal with the others while she took care of Wolverine.
"Hey!" Jubilee fired her fireworks. "Don't take it personally."
One reaver fired an energy net at Danny, who phased through it.
Jubilee was dealing with one reaver whose entire bottom half was mechanical. He was blocking her attacks with a shield, so she came up behind him, lifted up his glasses, and blinded him with a firework.
Rogue was tangling with another reaver as it grabbed her and electrocuted her.
"Rogue!" Danny blasted the reaver as another one grabbed Jubilee.
"Hey!" She tried to get out of his grip. "Let me go! Keep your computer hands to yourself."
Danny blasted that reaver as well.
Wolverine backed up against the spacecraft. "It doesn't have to end this way, Yuriko."
"Yuriko is gone." Deathstrike stated. "There is only Deathstrike!"
She tried to attack Logan, who grabbed her arm and threw her at the spacecraft, electrocuting her.
Xavier felt a sudden surge in power back at the institute. He screamed as his eyes glowed with power.
"I understand." He said. "A force field. It's a warning. Don't open the ship!"
"Yuriko." Wolverine shouted at her. "Pull away!"
Deathstrike could only scream in pain as she kept getting tortured.
"Let her go!" Wolverine attacked the ship with his claws. This released Deathstrike, but energy flowed through the crack.
Everyone watched as the ship glowed green.
Danny's ghost sense went off. "Oh no."
"What is it, Danny?" Rogue asked him. "What's happening?"
Danny narrowed his eyes. "I don't think I want to know."
The cracks got bigger as something started to come out.