Then a man came stumbling in from the end of the alley,collapsing onto his knees on the pavement,and he rasped, "Logan,help me."

Hachiro.Logan remained wary,even as he approached,and thought he smelled blood."Hachiro,what is it?"

He was half way down the alley when he realized there was now someone behind him,but he didn't turn in time to avoid the sharp,wasp like sting of something puncturing the back of his neck.

Logan spun on his heels turning in time to see a shadow disappear swiftly,and reached behind his neck and pulled something out.It looked like a small tranquilizer dart,the kind they used to subdue wild animals.He could have laughed-did they really think drugs worked on him?-but then he realized he was starting to feel a strange burning sensation,emanating from the point of impact and spilling down his spine like liquid fire.

Not drugs-poison.

He knew Hachiro had gotten up,knew he was behind him,but the fire pouring through his system was slowing him down,so he was only partially turned around when Hachiro stabbed him in the shoulder with a hypodermic needle. He shouted more in irritation than true pain.throwing back a hard elbow that caught the old man solidly under the chin and sent him flying backwards,but also inadvertently broke off the needle deep inside his arm.

"What the fuck..?"he shouted,wheeling angrily on the fallen Hachiro.But as he took a step forward,the fire seemed to explode in his knee,and his leg folded up beneath him.

He could now feel the molten fire streaming from the needle point in his shoulder,and he reached up to pull it out, but his fingers had gone numb from the heat,which now felt like it was boiling the blood inside his veins.The pain was overwhelming and indescribable.

"Hurts,don't it?"Hachiro said smugly,although his own voice betrayed pain.Looking down at him,he saw blood trickling from the man's mouth,and his jaw was at a rather strange angle to the rest of his face.Logan had either dislocated his jaw or broken it outright,but the man was still determined to talk and gloat."I hope so,you fucking mutant bastard."

Logan was surprised that he knew,but it was hard to care right now.He had collapsed to both knees,feeling as if he was burning from the inside out.He could feel his muscles constricting from the heat,his internal organs swelling to the point of bursting.He tried to take a breath,but he coughed instead,and his own tainted blood filled his mouth.

Hachiro climbed to his feet,manually trying to reset his own jaw,then grabbed the back of Logan's head and began repeatedly ramming his knee into his face.Logan felt his nose shatter and several teeth break (a real bitch-teeth hurt like hell when they grew back),but on the fifth go he thought he heard something in Hachiro's knee give,and he let him go.Logan fell back hard onto the cold pavement,unable to move or do anything but suffer.

"You know what's in your system?"Hachiro snapped,pacing slightly,trying to 'walk off' his knee injury as subtly as possible."It's a synthetic poison cooked up by the KGB-"

'U'ebitsche,' Logan instantly thought,even as it felt like his lungs were shriveling inside his chest and the blood vessels bursting in his brain felt like gunshots in his cranium.Literally translated from Russian it meant freak or monster, because this thing was both:a chemical cross between synthetic coral snake venom and something akin to a hemorrhagic fever virus.He'd heard about it while in the Organization;it was so nasty operatives leaving for Russia demanded cyanide tablets in case they ever ended up in the hands of someone who had it.From what he heard,it basically caused a meltdown of  your internal organs,a painful and long process that was always fatal,although not before you were stark raving mad with pain.There was no antidote,as the KGB saw no point in synthesizing one.

"-fatal,"Hachiro continued,wiping blood away from his own mouth with the back of his hand."I was told it was even more painful than death by sulfuric acid.I was also told it can take up for an hour for the victim to die while their organs turn to bloody soup.But to be honest,I didn't want to wait that long to watch you die,fuckface,and besides,you're a mutant.So we gave you enough of this shit to kill ten men-you should be dead any minute now."He then stopped his ineffectual pacing and gave him a cold,insincere smile."I hope you appreciate this.It cost me a fortune."

Logan wanted to do something,anything,from a spit to an obscene gesture,but he was helpless to do anything.He was drowning in his own blood;it clogged his throat and lungs,and he didn't even have the strength to cough.

He could feel his internal organs rupturing,punches to the gut from the inside out,and the pain was so all consuming and intense he didn't think he could scream even if he were able to.It was a pain beyond pain;it was hell.

His vision turned red as the blood vessels in his eyes burst,and his hearing began to drown in the laborious thundering of his besieged heart and the blood beginning to fill his ear canals.

Hachiro spit on him,but since he was in so much agony he had no idea if he hit his target or not-nothing short of a sledgehammer blow was registering now.Hachiro was only visible through a red tinted fog growing redder all the time,his mouth a bloody slash in the pale ivory balloon of his face,rising over him like a specter of his own imminent death."And don't worry about your whore of a wife.She'll be joining you very soon."

Even though the words sounded faint and far away,in his own mind Logan screamed and tried to force himself to move,to kill this traitorous fucking bastard before he could get anywhere near her,but his body was breaking down, and incapable of  listening to him anymore.

Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain in his heart,like an ice pick had been slowly shoved through it,or a bullet had hit it in slow-mo,the pellet incrementally bursting through the skin and expanding,shredding tissue and arteries at an almost glacial pace.And then it just stopped:both the pain and his heart.

'Mariko,'Logan howled inside his own mind,hoping that somehow in his desperation he would turn telepathic for a millisecond in his life and she would hear him,and know to leave now and stay as far from Hachiro as possible.

He tried to will himself to live,to keep going long enough to kill this motherfucker,but his vision flooded completely red before fading to black,and Logan died knowing he had failed her,which was the worst thing of all.

**

Was the freak finally dead?

His eyes were probably open,but it was really hard to tell considering they were as red as rubies,and blood trickled from the corners like visceral tears.Blood also ran in rivulets from his nose and had spilled over from his mouth,but the blood didn't look to be flowing anymore,a sure sign of death.It was a pretty grisly death too,all things considered.
It was about goddamn time.

He started away,staggered,and had to stop,cursing.He hadn't dislocated his kneecap on that freak's face,had he?God knew his jaw hurt like fuck;he had at least dislocated that,although he had been able to pop it back into place (wasn't the first time his jaw had been dislocated),still hurt too fucking much.Only a mutant could hurt him even when he was getting the living shit beaten out of him.

The synthetic poison had been Yamura's idea,and he knew he'd have to hurry up if he wanted to see that mutant fucker of a niece get hers.Yamura was a supposed 'ninja' who had spent too many weeks on his ass,supposedly 'studying' Logan to decide on the best method of attack.Yamura had finally come to the brilliant conclusion that a full frontal physical assault on Logan was 'unwise' (no fucking kidding),and the best idea was an ambush,playing on Logan's natural inclination to help people who seemed to be in obvious trouble.He also suggested using the deadliest poison known to mankind-at the moment,anyways;somebody was always working on something new-since knives, guns,swords,and all other conventional weapons seemed pointless to use against him.

He'd cost too much money,but it had been worth it to bring this freak down.

As he walked away,he turned back to make sure nothing had changed.It hadn't.Logan remained inert in a small pool of his own blood,laying on the floor of the alley like the garbage he was.He wished he had thought to bring a camera.

Now,all he had to do was get rid of Mariko,and the Yashida empire was rightfully his,as it should have been all along.

Hachiro limped out of the alley,trying to bang his kneecap back into place with his fist,and never saw the sudden, spasmodic twitch of Logan's arm as his immune system launched an assault against the poison in his blood.

****

Santa Monica-Present Day

Logan would have sworn this place didn't seem this large on the outside,but the back of the casino seemed to devolve into a large tangle of  supposedly aimless and occasionally dead end corridors,although Logan was sure some of this was due to the 'lockdown' the big guy had mentioned.He sniffed the recycled,machine cooled air carefully,trusting his nose to lead him to the right place and the right person.

It had led him to a hallway narrower and darker than the rest,that smelled of not only a lot of human passage but the recent passage of a woman,which he hadn't scented before in this complex.He bet he knew which woman too.

As if on cue,a silky cool woman's voice (with just a trace of a San Fernando Valley accent) said,"That's far enough, Sasquatch."

She appeared at the end of the hall.A slip of a girl,short and slender,she wore black leather pants and a red tank top, exposing stick thin arms,and a tattoo on her left bicep:a flaming skull.Nice to know she didn't advertise.

She was attractive in a delicate sort of way,her shoulder length black hair as glossy as a panther's pelt,her golden hazel eyes betraying the delicate tilt of her surely Eurasian heritage.And if she was over eighteen he was a Smurf.

"I don't wanna hurt you,darlin',"he warned her."But I will if you don't get outta my way."

She smiled,but in a feral,coldly amused sort of way."Oh,I don't think so,Hairy.Don't you know sideburns have been out like forever?"

"And don't you know the whole fire thing has been done to death?"He replied sarcastically.

Her narrow brows dropped low over her eyes as she scowled at him."Do you really think you have a chance of getting past me?I ain't no dumb ass soldier boy."

"And neither am I,Emma,"he said,deciding to use her real name.She flinched,and the surprise was visible on her face,no matter how quickly she tried to smother it."Why work for this guy?Do you know who he is?Do you care?"

"I know that you're a cold blooded murderer,"she snarled,with surprising anger.

He raised an eyebrow at her."I can say the same thing about you,honey."

"Demons don't count,"she replied flippantly.

"What about the people who got caught in that house you burned up in Bel Air?You gonna tell me they were all demons?"

"They were drug dealers,"she said with a shrug."They got what they deserve."

"And your boy is what-sellin' candy?"He scoffed derisively."You got a justification for everythin',don't ya?"

Her eyes narrowed,the hate in her eyes surprisingly intense since he had never met her before."I guess it runs in the family,huh?"

He stared at her,not getting that at all.Was she really a Yashida?A Takabe?"Who are you?"He asked,confused.

"Aren't you dying to know?"she replied coldly,and slammed her hands against the walls on either side of the hallway.

Before he could react,the entire corridor exploded into flame.

Tokyo-1981

Maybe it was just that the building was so quiet.It wasn't usual for workers in Japan to have a long vacation,but she thought they could all use a break on behalf of the new year.And it would be a new year for everyone at Yashida Consolidated in more ways than one:for once,they wouldn't have to juggle the books to cover up the more shady parts of the business.For once,they could actually be legal.

The fourteenth floor was actually lit up,a change from the lower floors,but as they stepped out of the elevator she noticed how deadly quiet it was.It was so sterile in here,partitions of white particle board and plexiglass separating the nests of cubicles that made up the majority of the floor,only the occasional potted plant gave the office any semblance of life.She really was going to have to work on doing something about that.

Her heels clicking on the hard white floor sent chills up her own spine,and she slowed her pace so Natsume could keep up.She didn't know why,she just hoped Logan showed up soon.She just felt safer whenever he was around.

The florescent lighting was autopsy room bright,glaring off all the clean white surfaces,and she found herself wondering if a little color would kill anybody.I mean,just a little blue and green,maybe even a daring shot of yellow,wouldn't hurt,would it?

The conference room did have the benefit of coloring from the ash colored wood paneling on the wall,and the long, dark pine conference table,but even the carpet was beige,continuing a brown theme that seemed depressing.No happy mediums for Yashida:either sterile enough for an operating room or as depressing as a cheap bar.

The most surprising thing was the room was empty,save for Jason,her assistant,who was just hanging up the phone as she came in."Where is everybody?"She asked him,looking around curiously.Okay,this was so very wrong.

"Well,Eichi and Akio are supposedly stuck at the airport-delayed flight-Katsumi is supposedly caught in traffic,and Sadaharu is on vacation,"Jason began,pushing his black rimmed glasses up from the bridge of his nose.He was an American exchange student,although Japanese by race:his parents thought some exposure to the 'homeland' would be good for him.He was a great assistant,because he was a bright,eager to please college student,and he had no problems at all with a woman giving him orders."Hachiro's driver just called to say he's on his way up.But here's a weird thing:I just called Mitsuo at home,and he said this is the first he's heard of a stockholder's meeting."

She had just placed her briefcase on the rectangular table,and exchanged a curious look with him,not ready to let go of the case's handle.She had a sudden,paranoid feeling that maybe they should just call this off...if it was ever on. "Was it possible his secretary forgot to mention it to him?"

Jason shrugged,his dark blue tie hanging askew,as he had tied it badly and it was far too long for him.Kids could be so endearingly awkward at times."Maybe,but since when has Misako not been completely anal-er,efficient?"

That was very good point.Misako ran Mitsuo's office like a slave driver,as if she was the boss,not him (and in a way, that was very true)."Maybe we should forget the whole thing-"she started to say,but then the door opened behind her, making her jump and pivot instantly on her heels.

Her hope that it was Logan died quickly,as it was Hachiro who walked in the door.He looked around,confused,and asked,"Where is everybody?"

But he was a bad liar.In that instant,she knew he hadn't expected to see anyone at all.No one except her.

"What was the point of this-"she began angrily,rather tired of his bullshit,when two things that happened almost simultaneously stopped her in her tracks.First,she noticed Hachiro had stains on the knee of one grey pant leg:wet and dark,it could have been oil or ink.But she had seen it enough on Logan to know it was blood.There were spots of it on his other leg as well,and spatters on his grey shirt that managed to look more crimson.

The next thing that happened was she heard a sickening crack,like someone had just broken a table leg.But when she turned to look,she saw Jason drop to the floor like a stone,one of his limp arms hitting the edge of the table as he fell,knocking the phone to the carpet with him.And Natsume just stood there watching.

Natsume.

"It's over,Mariko,"Hachiro said,sounding very pleased with himself ."Even your mutant fuck of a husband can't save you now."

She knew in that moment that not only was Natsume a traitor who had just killed Jason,but the blood on Hachiro's clothes was Logan's.Her rage was instantaneous,blinding,and she suddenly wished she had thought to bring the gun.
With a roar of anger,she spun around quickly,grabbing her briefcase off the table,and smashed Hachiro right across the face with it.

He let out an incoherent cry of surprise and pain and staggered back,and that's when she noticed he seemed to be favoring his blood stained leg.She kicked out at it,letting her heel really dig into the kneecap.He screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor,and she felt savagely pleased with herself.Did he really think he could hurt Logan and not get hurt himself?

Logan...oh no...

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Natsume charging for her,and she gave him a solid kick in the groin that instantly doubled him over,but she didn't stay to gloat.She bolted out of the room,stopping briefly to rip off her shoes and throw them aside,as they were only going to slow her down.If that bastard had killed Logan (No,he couldn't be dead.He was hard to kill,right?He couldn't be dead...) she would kill him.She'd come back and splatter Hachiro from one end of Tokyo to another.

She was half way down the hall when gunshots rang out,one bullet hitting the wall and throwing out splinters that just narrowly missed her face,but she didn't stop running.She couldn't;her only thought now was to get to Logan,and make sure he was all right."No,goddamn it,she isn't supposed to-"she heard Hachiro curse,as another two gun shots rang out,but she didn't think these two were anywhere near her.

She dove almost gratefully into the elevator,and instantly hit the button for the lobby,warily glancing out from the side before the elevator doors closed,but neither of them followed,and there were no further shots.She found herself wondering what Hachiro was saying:"She isn't supposed to..." what?Die?It was pretty damn obvious he wanted her dead,so that couldn't be it.

He wanted both her and Logan dead.She desperately hoped he had not succeeded in at least one case.

She was half way to the lobby,her heart trip hammering in her chest as the reality of the situation began to really sink in,and she hit the emergency stop button,making the elevator seize up and setting off alarm bells.There was someone waiting for her in the lobby;that's why Hachiro and Natsume didn't bother to come after her.And that person was bound to be waiting for her to come out of the elevator.

There was an emergency release inside the elevator panel,and she pulled it,making the doors gasp apart,although not by much.She still had to dig her fingers into the small gap between the doors and use all her strength to pry one open, and then she hoped she wasn't so hopelessly trapped between floors she'd have to start the elevator up and take her chances at stopping it at the right spot.

No,she got lucky,if you could call anything tonight 'lucky';she could see the next floor at the mid level of the elevator, a few inches above her head.She'd have to climb out,but tonight she was reasonably certain she could do what she had to do to survive,and reach Logan.If he was dead...no,she couldn't think like that right now.She just mentally told herself to do what she had to do,no matter the cost.

She reached up,grabbed the lip of the floor,and pulled herself into the unlit hallway.If there was someone waiting for her,it would have been an opportune time to kill her,but the fifth floor was dark and empty.As soon as she had wormed her way between the gap in the elevator doors,she turned around,belly down on the carpet,and reached inside the elevator again,groping blindly for the panel.Finally she hit the right button and quickly shoved herself away,so her arm didn't get caught in the closing doors.It wouldn't be much of a distraction,but if a moment was all she could get,she'd take it.All they had to do was think she was still in the elevator for a few seconds,and she might have a shot at getting out of here alive.

There were no back exits,sadly,and even if there were she was sure they were covered.This whole thing had been a set up to kill her and Logan,and she was sure Hachiro,dickhead or not,had covered all the bases.She would have to get out through the lobby no matter which way she got down;she would just have to hope she could catch him out of position enough she could sneak out,or,worst comes to worst,get the drop on him.Were they so thick they didn't realize Logan had taught her a thing or two about defending herself?Not enough as far as he was concerned,but she had been complacent,always assuming her big strong bear would be there to protect her.And that's why Hachiro split them up,right?Damn it;inadvertently,she had played right into his hands.

As she pelted down the emergency fire stairs,she quietly swore she'd let Logan teach her any martial art he wanted,as long as he was still alive and all right.He had to be all right,he simply had to be.She couldn't imagine life without him.

**

He rolled over onto his side and spit out more blood and broken teeth,some of which felt like it was congealing in his throat,feeling like he was full of broken glass,and for a moment he had no memory of what had happened.He figured he lost a hell of a fight,or maybe got hit by a bullet train and dragged for several miles,but as he rested on his side, taking a number of deep breaths (it felt as if someone had been trying to suffocate him),he suddenly remembered what had happened.

Hachiro...Mariko.Oh god no.

He had no idea how long he had been out,but he didn't think for long;he hurt too much,he was still healing.Which was good in a way,but bad because he hurt so much he didn't think he could stand just yet.But he tried-he tried to get up on his hands and knees and simply collapsed,feeling like red hot pokers had been driven deep into his gut.

Logan briefly curled up into a fetal position,arms wrapped protectively around his stomach as he could feel his organs healing,blood vessels and capillaries knitting back together,blood starting to roar through his veins and trying to replace all that had been lost,while his eyes itched almost unbearably as all the blood vessels repaired themselves.

He tried to speak,but his throat was still repairing itself,and all he could manage was a painful croak.

If Hachiro hurt her,if he left as much as a goddamn bruise on her,he would kill him.

Even though it felt like he was dragging himself across hot,jagged rocks,he began to pull himself forward on his elbows,gritting his new and still sore teeth against the pain,and as soon as he made it to the nearest wall,he used it to pull himself to his feet.They almost didn't want to hold his weight,and he could still feel those sharp slivers like glass in his blood as his consciousness wavered,draining the world of all its color and almost all its light,but he found his rage.A molten space within his own mind and body,it filled in for the strength he didn't have,and made him put one foot in front of the other even though he really just wanted to collapse and rest a while longer.

Anger kept him going,ignoring the pain of his own continued healing process,compensating from the weakness of blood loss,and by the time he was within sight of Yashida Consolidated,he felt almost normal,the rage coursing through his veins like new,supercharged blood.

Even though the scent of his own blood clogged his nose,he sniffed the air and determined he was alone,at least for now,and he stalked down the cement path,not capable of running yet but on the verge.He tensed as one of the smokey glass doors of  the building swung open,but was instantly relieved to see it was Mariko,without her shoes but otherwise looking okay.

"Logan,"she said breathlessly,the relief obvious in her voice.

"Mariko,"he managed to say,finally able to speak.Oh god,he got to her in time;she was safe.He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders,something that had been threatening to pulverize him where he stood.

She suddenly pitched forward,and he barely caught her in time,holding her limp body up in his arms.And only then, as her head lolled against the side of his neck,did he see the tranquilizer dart in the back of her shoulder.

***

Santa Monica-Present Day

The cold,slightly smelly water,probably routed in from the harbor,swept them relentlessly towards a wrought iron grate that Bob slammed against face first,with the rather heavy bouncer slamming up behind him,but Helga managed to have the presence of mind to avoid him altogether.

The dark water sluiced over their heads through the grate,leaving them behind like large detritus in a sewer filtering system.They were probably supposed to drown,and the water was probably being routed through some sort of  hydraulic pump,as it felt like a quarter ton of water was bearing down on them,trying to crush them through the grate like a sieve.He reached out and touched the bouncer and then Helga,communicating that they had more than enough air,as well as ten times the strength of normal humans (and demons).It was important that they not panic,as that would instantly lead to drowning,and it was hard enough to keep himself from remembering not to drown.It was harder to fool himself,but he could do so if he concentrated enough.

On cue,the three of them grabbed one of the iron cross beams of the grate,planted their feet firmly against the cement wall which held the grate and funneled the water underneath the casino and into the harbor,and began to pull.It was hard,what with the water pushing against their backs,but the extra strength they all thought they had helped a lot. It was a shame Logan wasn't here,as his claws could probably slice through the three inch thick metal like tissue paper,but that had been the point,hadn't it?Someone-Takabe or Yashida-wanted Logan alone,possibly realizing the threat Bob posed to them.But,in a way,facing Logan was a worse proposition,at least for the security team.If Bob encountered them,they'd be confused but fine;meeting Logan alone,they'd probably be barfing blood,if they were lucky.

On the second try,as Bob was trying desperately to ignore the fresh hot pain in his lungs (they'd been without air for what,almost five minutes now?),the grate finally started to give at one point,mortar and concrete crumbling away, and from then on the water did the job,the pressure eating away at the weakened joining point,and finally the grate gave way,washing both it and them forward,down into yet another dark tunnel.

This one finally rushed out into dark,deep,and colder water,and Bob was reasonably sure he recognized the sea floor off the Santa Monica pier.

The three of them instantly swam up towards the surface,and as they broke the calm black water,they all gasped in lungfuls of air,grateful for it even if it did smell just a little too much of the L.A. basin.

"Good job,hon,"Helga said finally,her tail snaking around his waist as they bobbed in the water.She must have figured out what he had done.

"Well,I didn't survive this long and come all this way just to drown in a sewer access pipe,"he told her,treading water.They weren't far from the nearest pier,maybe less than a quarter mile out,and the far Southern edge of the building containing Robin Hood's was just visible from here.

"What's your boss's name?"Bob asked the bouncer,whose name had so many redundant vowels just referring to him as 'Big Guy' seemed acceptable.

"Haido Takabe,"he replied,floating placidly.Bob had never quite let him go,and that seemed for the best.

"Why does he hate Logan?Because he disfigured him on Bloody Friday?"

"Who's Logan?"The big guy replied.

So the big guy was left completely out of the loop.He was just a lackey then."Is there a back route to your boss's hiding place in there?"

The big guy had to think about it for a moment as the three of them gently bobbed in the water like the world's strangest buoys."Maybe."

"We'll swim to the pier,"Bob told him."Once we're back on land,you'll lead us there."

The big guy nodded,then began breast stroking towards the nearest pier.

"I like night swimming as much as the next girl,but this is ridiculous,"Helga said sardonically,giving him a tired smile.