The uniformed security guards waved him on,tell him 'Mister Maslin' was waiting for him on the thirty third floor,and Logan took the elevator up,the smell of the place giving him an odd but undefined sense of deja vu.

Once on the thirty third floor,he asked the first receptionist he encountered where Maslin's office was,and she pointed down a narrow beige corridor that seemed to go on for half the entire floor.But finally he found a wide oak door with the brass nameplate David Maslin on it,and went inside without knocking.

The grey haired man sitting behind the oversized wooden desk looked up from some files as he came in,and gave him a patently insincere smile."Wolverine,how did it go?"

"How do you think it went?"He snapped in reply.He glanced at the mirror behind the bar on the left side of the room-he still had some of Angel's blood on his clothes,which probably made for a
good effect (and the guards downstairs didn't notice or care?)-but from what he could tell,there was nobody watching behind it.

"Of course,"the man replied,his smile slightly more sincere.He started putting files away in his desk,unaware or unconcerned about Logan's continued approach.Yes,he was a well trained lap
dog,wasn't he?He wasn't going to bite the hand that fed him.

The light reflecting off the nearby skyscrapers was molten gold tinged with smog induced red,giving the room an eerie sort of faux sepiatone lighting,just adding to Logan's feeling of
unreality about all of this.It seemed unbelievable that he could just be switched on,like he had some sort of lever inside his head that just the right person could manipulate if they knew where it was.But if he did,he needed to know where it was and how it could be broken. If it could be broken.

The man pulled a box out of his desk,making Logan pause until he opened it."Cigar?"He offered, showing it was some kind of humidor.

"Sure,why the hell not?"He might as well get something out of this guy before he made him curse the day he was born.

Maslin took a cigar for himself as well,but didn't light it,just set it aside as he passed a stogie to Logan,who knew even before he lit it that it was quality stuff.Too quality,in fact."Is this
Cuban?"He asked,taking his first puff.Oh yes,this was the good stuff,all right.It was times like this that it was a shame nicotine did nothing for him.

Maslin gave him an avuncular smile."You know your cigars,Wolverine.I'm impressed."

"I thought they were illegal."

The man's grin became slightly more predatory and sly."Well,laws are often more malleable than you think."

Logan nodded,firmly clamping the cigar in the corner of his mouth-he'd hate to ruin it now. "Yeah.Some guys can get away with anything,right?"

Either Maslin didn't hear the implicit disgust in his tone,or just assumed it was some sort of grudging admiration,because his smile became broader.He sat back in his large leather chair, picking up his cigar and visibly searching his desk for a lighter."Absolutely.It's the way of the world."

Logan didn't wait any longer-he unsheathed his claws and slammed his right hand on the desk,his claws cutting through the thick wood like paper.As Maslin looked up horror struck,his desk
parting before him like the Red Sea,Logan grabbed the man by the collar of his Armani suit and hauled him to his feet,kicking his chair out from under him.The chair hit the window hard and
shattered it,falling out into the cool,smoggy smelling morning air.

"Yeah,it is the way of the world,"Logan agreed dryly,careful to keep from losing his cigar.Maslin dangled like a rag doll in his grip,clearly terrified at the thought of moving,his unnaturally taut skin paling to the color of day old oatmeal."Just like I'm the superior human here,and you're not,right?"

Maslin didn't realize he had walked him over to the edge of the window until the breeze hit him,and then he looked over his shoulder,and Logan smelled the spike of panic in his fear,vinegar with a hint of napalm."Bellerophon,"he blurted out,his eyes wide and virtually colorless in his terror.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"Logan growled."Is that some kind of code word?A trigger? Hate to tell ya this bub,but it ain't going to save your bacon today."He pushed him out until he
was dangling at the lip of the shattered window frame,and the man grabbed Logan's arms hard,trying to hang onto him.

"Look,they just hired us,we didn't do this to you!"The man shouted,hysterical,almost in tears.

"Who did?"He asked."I want names."

"They didn't give names-that's not the nature of the transaction!"He was wheedling now,pleading- he knew Logan had no qualms about dropping him,and was just spewing the truth in hopes of saving his own ass.That was what Logan had been counting on. At the end of the day,you could never trust a lawyer.

"What is the nature of the transaction?"He snarled,deliberately loosening his grip just a little,enough to freak him out that much more.

"They hired us to help retrieve you.They said an agent had already put things in motion.We were just to make sure that you came back to them.In exchange,you got to do a job for us.That's all,I swear!"

"An agent?"Shrike probably.That traitorous bastard.He wished he could dig him up and kill him again."What did this agent do?Did they tell you?"

There was a slight but significant pause before he answered."No."

Logan shook him,letting him feel nothing but open air beneath his feet."Try again."

"They said it was some kind of telepathic implantation,"he squealed,his voice going up an octave."And maybe some new type of drug,but they didn't know if he delivered it to you or
not!Please,put me down!"

That made sense.And,if Shrike had slipped him the drug in some fashion,he could have erased his memory of it.Cute.But there was still something that didn't make a whole lot of sense."And the
job you had for me was just getting rid of some paltry,two timing drug dealer?Ain't that a waste of my talent?"

"We wanted you to get the Berserker after him,"he explained,tears forming in his eyes."We knew he was hunting him,and that he'd come after us next if we didn't stop him,but you'd never done
non humans before.Please don't kill me.I was just doing my job."

"Doing your job,"he repeated,the words feeling flat and dead in his mouth.So they wanted him to kill the Berserker,not really Ralph.They must have figured Ralph would already be dead by the time he got there.

Logan suddenly wasn't angry anymore;he was simply disgusted and unbelievably weary.Killing this spineless wonder would be an afterthought,and probably not in the least bit satisfying.

"If I ever see you,or any government/Wolfram and Hart motherfuckers again,I will be the last thing any of you will ever see.Got it?"

Maslin nodded eagerly,still stinking of fear,nearly passing out from terror and a sudden glimpse of hope."Yes,yes! You'll never hear from us again."

Of course Logan didn't believe that,but they would probably stay away from him for now,and that's all he wanted."No,I won't,"Logan agreed,and then smashed his forehead into Maslin's.

The man's eyes instantly rolled back into his head,and he went as limp as an empty suit as Logan slung him around and tossed him back inside,onto the floor of his office,where he laid face down and still as a drowned swimmer washed up on shore.

Logan started to leave,but stopped and went back to sift through the ruin of Maslin's desk.He found the humidor,grabbed a handful of cigars,and stuffed them in his pocket as he finally headed out the door,walking out of Wolfram and Hart as easily as he strolled in.

He'd been sleeping a lot (if twenty two hours straight counted as a lot),but Wes had filled him in on what had happened,being out of the hospital after being held for observation and released (he had a minor concussion,several bruises and glass cuts,but no more,thankfully).Ralph had run off-of course-and no one knew where he was,but The Host seemed to indicate he was in Mexico,and possibly still heading South.His crystals had been destroyed by Angel,Cordy,and Gunn,but only the ones they had found in his apartment.It was possible he had others stashed away,and was using them to finance his trip to elsewhere.

Gunn had gone back to Holt Towers with his gang to dispose of the Berserker body shortly afterwards,when Angel had gone home to pass out,only to find the body gone.The fact that the scene had been cleaned up lead Gunn to guess logically that Wolfram and Hart had beat them to the scene.

As for Logan,he was...well,Logan.Stoic and completely keeping to himself,he wandered off to Wolfram and Hart by himself afterwards,even though he was told he should never go there alone,yet came back soon after no worse for wear and smoking a cigar.He told Cordy he'd just "Taken care of a few things",and she had been scanning the papers for mentions of a law office massacre ever since.

Angel knew that he probably hadn't killed anyone-or,at least many-because of his attitude lately:he seemed almost melancholic,which was weird for him.Logan seemed to have two apparent moods-mildly irritated and completely pissed off.That worried Cordy too,as she was afraid maybe the brainwashing 'stuff' hadn't completely worn off,or maybe Wolfram and Hart had done something else to him.But Angel suspected he knew what the problem was.

Logan didn't turn or say anything as Angel crossed the barren hotel room (this was one of the ones emptied of most its contents after the bellboy went on a shooting spree in the '70's,the final violent act that had shut the hotel down for good-he suspected morbid curiousity seekers cleared out the rest of the crime scenes),but when he was within five feet of the open balcony door,Logan said,without turning around,"What do you want?"

Angel jumped slightly,startled by the voice,although not surprised.He was trying to be as stealthy as possible,but figured Logan would catch on to him.If paranoia could be considered a sixth sense,then Logan had the keenest senses in the world.

Angel hobbled onto the balcony,no longer bothering with stealth,and leaned on the edge,looking down at the brightly lit stream of traffic below, an entire arm's length away from Logan.There was something in the hunch of his shoulders and the stiffness of his back that suggested anyone who got too close to him would get a fist in the face."Nice view,"Angel said,trying to be conversational."When I first moved in I killed time checking out the views from all the floors and rooms;this is one of the better ones.If you want a good view of downtown-"

"Cut the crap,Angel.What is it?"He interrupted,seemingly staring down at the street,but Angel knew he wasn't actually looking at anything at all.Or at least nothing external.

Logan really wasn't one for small talk,was he?Good,because Angel knew he absolutely sucked at it."Wesley told me Icara called you this afternoon."

Logan simply nodded,making a sort of interrogatory grunt that seemed to say "What of it" more clearly than words.

Angel plowed on,and wondered if he was ever this terse."Are you going to tell us what happened to her,or do you want me to start guessing?Because,I warn you,I have a list."

He knew the idea of listening to him jabber would drive Logan crazy,and from the evil sidelong glance he gave him (his eyes were bluish green again),Angel knew his ploy had either worked,or was about to earn him a punch or Logan stalking off.Logan seemed to chew on the end of his cigar,shifting it more firmly to the corner of his mouth,before muttering (nearly growling),"It was me,wasn't it?All my fault,just like I figured."

"I don't believe that."

"No skin off my nose if you do or you don't,"he shot back resentfully,but Angel caught it.Beneath all the anger and irritation at being bothered,Logan was so full of self-loathing he didn't seem to know what to do with himself.Angel empathized,because he himself had been there lots of times.

"Is that what she told you?"He wondered.He was willing to bet his paycheck-well,if he had one-that she had not.

For a moment,Logan didn't say anything.He simply flicked an ash off his cigar,letting it fall over the balcony and dissolve in the wind,and took a drag off the stogie before he muttered,"She couldn't take it.She said she hit a 'floodgate',and the memories overwhelmed her;they were too painful,and she couldn't take them all at once.It put her into psychic shock or something."

Angel wished he was surprised,but again he wasn't."That isn't your fault and you know it."

"She said she couldn't remember details,and maybe she didn't want to remember,and she thought maybe I might want to let it go too."

Angel didn't know what to say,so he remained silent,listening to the occasionl horn honks and curses from angry drivers below,and two cars with stereos loud enough to kill Auralic demons dueling with thumping bass loud enough to feel even up here.

After a long moment of arguable silence,Logan,still staring down at the cars,said,"I wasn't sure I wanted to remember when I started having the dreams,you know.That,and when I found out I had claws."

"You didn't know right away?"

He shook his head,and briefly glanced at Angel,but couldn't keep eye contact and tell the story at the same time."For about a week or two...well,maybe six...I was just wandering around in a fog.I had been completely fucked over;I had just the vaguest idea who I was,and an unshakeable feeling that I had to run,because if they-a big,mythic 'they'-caught up with me...I don't know.They'd do somethin' bad to me,but I had no idea what,'cept death probably would have been kinder.And,since I had no idea what was going on,or who I was,of course I drank a lot."He scoffed humorlessly at his own joke."Alcohol doesn't even effect me-nicotine doesn't either.They're both toxins,and I have an immunity to them.But I keep hopin' there'll be a placebo effect,that maybe I can fool myself into thinking I'm in a stupor for a minute or two.

"So I was in a seedy bar in a Canadian mining town-a bad place to be really,as it was really rural and didn't take kindly to strangers,but nothing scared me,technically-just 'they',whoever they were.So this drunk was spoiling for a fight and decided he didn't like my face,so him and a bunch of his buddies jumped me in the parking lot.I made short work of 'em,of course-I always knew I could fight;how and why I had no idea-but the guy really pissed me off,and I knew if I tensed these muscles in my arm I could really hurt him,so I did..."

For a long minute,Logan said nothing,just chewed over the bitter memory-one of the few he could claim as his own right now."I don't know who was freaked out more when those three metal claws erupted out of my fist.It hurt too,but I was too shocked to really notice that then.I managed not to skewer him,but only by about a half inch.He and his conscious buddies ran off,but I no longer cared about 'em,as much as part of me wanted to kill them all.I just kept staring at the freaky thing that had come out of my hand.I did it with my other hand,just to see what would happen,and I don't know why I was freaked to find I had a matching set.I had always known I wasn't like other people-I healed real fast,seemed to smell and hear stuff they didn't-but I had no idea...I was a complete and total freak,not until that moment.The more I thought about it,the more I realized I must have been altered to be their weapon...but I never wanted to admit that to myself.It was just too..."

He trailed off helplessly,shaking his head and tossing the stub of the cigar off the balcony,onto the street below,apparently aiming for one of the cars with a sonic boom volume stereo.Logan hit it too;the smoldering butt slipped right in the open sunroof.

"Cold?Evil?"Angel suggested,trying to help.

"No-I already knew people were pretty evil,especially when they put their mind to it.It was just...cruel and unusual punishment,I guess.I was never a person to them;I was a thing.The experiment of a lifetime.I guess then I had to know who they were so I could destroy them for that.But I knew I might not like what I remembered along with them."He paused,then cursed under his breath."I had to have a life before I became their fucking laboratory chew toy.Why can't I ever remember any of that?"

"I don't know,"Angel said honestly,although he wondered if some of the torture he had endured helped wipe it away.Rather than try and recall all that pain,his own mind had helped block some of the more unpleasant things out.

"Maybe I never had a life,"Logan speculated."Maybe I'm just some sort of genetic experiment thing-"

"You know that's not true,"Angel interjected,cutting him off.

"No I don't,"Logan countered,and out of the corner of his eye,he saw Logan peer at him with a curious intensity."But you know,don't you?What aren't you telling me?"

Angel wasn't sure he should,but he told him about his memory of seeing a man plowed down in Vancouver-a man who looked a lot like him-suddenly getting up and walking off without a scratch.He left out the part about hunting for rats,though,as Logan didn't need to know that.

Logan was shocked into silence,but not for long."You recognized me and you never told me?"

"I didn't remember it,Logan.It just occured to me the other morning."

"And this was when?"

"Nineteen sixty nine-fall,I think.Back then,the days kind of blurred into one another."

"How old did I look?I mean...what was my age?Could you tell?"

Angel didn't want to tell him,but he had to be honest."You looked exactly the same age as you do now."

Logan stared at him for a moment,and behind his relatively emotionless visage,he thought he saw some sense of hope-that he was almost normal?That his life span may actually be finite,more or less?-crash behind his eyes.

"Shit,"he cursed beneath his breath as he turned away,walking over to the other side of the balcony,his back to Angel.

Angel wanted to say something even vaguely encouraging,but found himself again at a loss for words.He knew some people longed for immortality,but they all seemed unaware of the ultimate price you had to pay to get it.

"How old do you think I am?"Logan finally asked,sounding resigned.

"I don't know."Angel always felt that something about Logan seemed old,but he just chalked that up to all the massive shit he had been through;that could age you a hell of a lot faster than time.

"Cordy said you were about two hundred and fifty years old.Is that right?"

Angel shrugged."She didn't need to round up,but...yeah,take a couple of years."

"Could I be as old as you?"

Logan was so shocked by his own revelations that he didn't bother to disbelieve Angel's age.Angel found that a little unsettling,as he didn't really know Logan could be stunned."I don't know.It's possible.But you could be a hell of a lot younger."

"Or a hell of a lot older,"he countered,gripping the edge of the balcony so hard Angel expected it to break beneath his hands.But Logan got a hold of himself and eased his grip before there was any significant damage."Vancouver,huh?Wraith had gone there before he fled to the States. Maybe there's something there I missed."

"Maybe,"Angel agreed,happy to get off the painful topic of age.But after thinking about it a moment,he realized,"You're leaving tonight,aren't you?"

Logan turned around to face him,crossing his arms over his chest."I gotta go.I can't stay here,although it's startin' to turn into "Escape From L.A." - every time I try and leave,something stops me."

"It can be a quagmire.But you have discovered some things about yourself here."

"Yeah,but nothing really helpful.Except apparently I was a brainwashed killing machine for a while,and monsters do exist,although I can beat their pansy asses pretty easily."

Angel smiled at that,glad he was still trying to keep a sense of humor about it all."You're a tough guy.That's what you do."

He grunted an acknowledgement."Yeah,well,it kills the time."

Angel nodded knowingly."If I say goodbye,you're going to hit me,aren't you?"

He shrugged."I might."

"Then I won't.But you're always welcome here,you know.And,on the off chance you ever need help,as unlikely as that is,you know where we are."Angel only added the unlikely part for Logan.Logan did need help sometimes,but he refused to admit it.Considering his wonderful experiences with people,though,he couldn't begrudge his tendancies towards misanthropism.

Logan snorted derisively,shrugging it off."What is it with people wanting me to join their little groups anyways?I don't get it."

"Well,it's your charming personality.You're irresistable."Angel deadpanned.

Logan stared at him for a moment,then burst out laughing.Angel joined him,distantly aware that he'd miss him being around.Sure,he was a grumpy,unpredictable pain in the ass,but strangely Angel couldn't help but think of him as a peer-one of the few people who could really understand what he'd been through.Although,to be fair,what happened to Logan was much worse,and not self-inflicted by any meaning of the term.Also,it was nice to know,no matter how bad things got,at least Logan was watching their backs.Although he had been being sarcastic earlier,Logan really could kick just about anything's ass,and he knew,as much as he disparaged teamwork,he would always look out for Cordy,Wes,and Gunn.And even him too,although Angel would argue he didn't need it.Unless Logan was the one kicking his ass.

"No offense,Angel,but I hope I never see you again,"Logan said,almost jovially.

"None taken,"Angel replied,and remained looking over the balcony at the city as Logan walked off,through the empty room.

But as he heard him open the door,Angel added,"See you around,Logan."

Logan snorted humorously,but left without looking back.