dutchxfan has finally recieved her package, so I can now speak freely about this ;) Although it's her story now I'm allowed to post it for all to see ;P



~Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.~
-Henrik Tikkanen
~Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.~
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Crossover: X-men & A-team
Disclaimer: Unfortunately neither Wolverine or Murdock belong to me. I do however like to borrow them for my personal fantasies. The title was inspired by a book from James Grady.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: None of this has been beta-read.



1974, Westwood VA Hospital, LA.

Nothing was the way it seemed at the Westwood VA Hospital back in the day. You could easily be fooled into thinking everything was normal while on the far side of the hallway things got completely out of hand. I was dumped at the psychiatric ward of course, as my body healed from whatever damage I took in a matter of minutes.

I’d been there ever since we got back from ‘Nam, battered, bruised and even more important, completely nuts. ‘A danger to ourselves and society’ they said as they locked us in this rat hole. There were several groups of nutcases here. There were the crashers, named that way because in the war they simply crashed, got a nervous breakdown and never got better again. You could hear them cry in the middle of the night, sobbing and screaming in their nightly terrors. At daytime they’d crawl in the corners shifting their eyes nervously mumbling about the Vietcong. Those were the sad ones, the one you felt sorry for.

On the opposite end of the crazy-spectrum were the real crazies. They had imaginary friends, talked to trees and acted like medieval kings ruling the hallways. Most of the times those guys were fun to hang out with, their delusions a nice break from the daily routine. After yet another day of scheduled activities and mealtimes it was refreshing to witness and argument between three self-proclaimed Napoleons about their fight against the Prussian army. But even that became routine after a while and I’d be forced to entertain myself in another way. I had even thought about visiting Creed in isolation a couple of times when the boredom of the place really got to me, but then I thought it wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed and chaos around here.

The most dangerous patients there were the psycho’s, the ones so jaded by their time in the jungle they couldn’t feel any longer. The ones without empathy, always ready to search and destroy. Needless to say, we didn’t see much of them in the groups and community rooms as they often were bound to the beds or stuffed in isolation.

In the dayroom there was another group present; the fries, they were a colourful bunch, not one of them was the same. There was Ace who got shot in the head, survived, but lost his short-term memory because of it. Duke who only spoke nonsense due to a dive he took from a ‘copter and landing on his head. And of course Cookie, the foreman of the brain fries, who wouldn’t stop eating after suffering a brain bleed during a fight.

Then there were the guys like me. We weren’t here because we talked to ourselves or cried in our sleep. We were here because they needed a place were they could keep an eye on us before they needed us again. Sure, Mr. Evans and the other shrinks said we had endured mental trauma and lived in a state of shock and more of that psychological mumbo jumbo, but everyone knew better. Whoever tried to voice it though either disappeared quietly or spend the rest of his time in isolation. Yet everyone knew there was a fine line between being insane or just being stored here though. When you got right down to it none of us were truly sane and some of us were downright nuts.
That’s why Creed spend most of his time in isolation all drugged up and tied to the bed. Knowing that it could’ve been me instead of him I decided to play it cool and kept at peace with the orderlies. Even the ward was better than spending time at max.

So I filled my days reading whatever book I found at this place, everything from romance novels to instruction manuals, just to keep me busy. Sure, I could’ve broken out, plenty of opportunities, but really, what was I going to do on the outside? At least I had food and shelter here, no one yelling orders at me and some much needed peace and quiet. When my feet started itching again I’d just as easily could get up and walk out of here, but for now it was just fine.

At least it seemed that way until that time when I was sitting in the dayroom trying to read a battered copy of The Once and Future King despite Duke’s babbling next to me when all of a sudden I hear a gunshot followed by a lot of screaming. It wouldn’t be the first time someone ate a bullet around here so I wasn’t that surprised at first, but when all hell broke loose on the other end of the building I knew something serious was up.

I jumped to my feet and with me every other guy at block 16 scrambled to attention. Some of them cowered in the corners and moaned in fear, disturbing my sense of hearing. I decided to go and see what was going on despite my gut telling me not to, something that soon turned out was a mistake. Once at the place of where the shot originated from I had to dodge a small army of orderlies and shrinks to take a look at the scene in front of me.

There in the middle of a small puddle of blood lay Dr. Evans, eyes turned heavenwards. On his knees next to the lifeless body sat a guy, shock written over his face, gun in his right hand. I remembered him from group, a despicable and greatly annoying form of therapy, where he often caused much chaos and laughter around him. He lived in room 104, which was cluttered with various useless objects and incomplete games. He was usually friendly and optimistic and he had this weird knack to suddenly disappear only to return smelling like cigars and motor oil.
However none of this all seem to add up to the sight in front me. This man was no killer. The more I racked my brain to remember everything about him, the more I got the feeling something was definitely wrong and this fellow got stuck in the middle of it.

My special forces training kicked in and I managed to get a hold of a few scents that seemed out of place before I was ushered aside. Three huge orderlies armed with a nasty looking syringe appeared and dragged the poor guy towards the isolation chambers, while the other staff members pushed the crowd that had formed back to the dayroom.

Before most of us even realized what was happening we were all drugged up and back in bed. In the bunk next to me Freddy moaned softly in his sleep. I, however, was wide awake and not only because the meds had no effect on me; my mind was spinning with the events of that evening. After a while I just couldn’t let it go. Something was outta whack.

I got out of bed en moved silently towards the isolation cells on the opposite side of the building. The ward were I stayed wasn’t locked, but the door to isolation was. Cursing softly I realized I had two choices; use the claws and risk being outed as a mutant or pick the lock manually and risk getting busted for being too slow. Unfortunately the decision was made for me by the searching flashlight of the night guard. Popping a claw I swiftly sliced the lock and let myself in just before the big, balding man appeared around the corner.
I opened the door into his cell the same way as I did the other door and listened carefully.
“Faceman? That you? It’s about time.”

“Quiet.”

“Not Faceman, then?”

“Why did you kill him?”

“I didn’t.”

I could smell he wasn’t lying and I entered the cell, softly closing the unlocked door behind me. I made sure he knew who was in charge by grabbing him by his leather jacket, pushing him into the wall.

“Then who did?”

“I don’t know man!” He squirmed a bit, but didn’t really fight me.

“Who would want to frame ya? And why?”

“Well I thought it might’ve been Decker at first, but that doesn’t make any sense. Other than that I have no idea.”

“Col. Decker, huh?”

“Ahh you’ve had the pleasure of meeting him as well, didn’t you?”

“Pleasure? Hah! My ass. He’s a real piece of work that one.” He chuckled.

“Okay, so if it ain’t Decker, then who’d it be.” I paused for a moment, letting go of his jacket. “You’ve got some special abilities? You know like…really special?”

“I can play a mean game of Scrabble and I can whistle the national anthems of seven different countries, but I’m guessing you don’t mean abilities like that. Although they’re very special, mind you.”

“Forget I even asked.”

“Who are you anyway and why are you here?”

“Logan. I had a gut feeling about all of this being wrong. Turned out I was right.“ I shrugged. ”Besides I was bored.”

“H.M. Murdock. So what happens now?”

“We have to figure out why they want to frame ya.” He was about to answer when I heard an awfully familiar laugh from the room next to us. The hospital walls were flimsy so even the Murdock fellow could hear it. I groaned. I forgot that asshole was here also.

“Heheh. Hey Runt, they did it again, huh? Oh yeah, messed with your memories again.”
“Shut up Creed!”

“Oh this is priceless. You don’t have a clue, do ya?”

“What’s he talking about?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. Creed’s a piece of crap.”

“Hehe. Hey kid, remember spring ’67 in ‘Nam? Almost busted that chopper in the tree line.”

“What!?”

I had no idea what Creed was talking about, but Murdock obviously did know judging by the shocked look on his face. As he looked at me I saw that look slowly making way for recognition.

“You! You were one of the men I had to pick up near the river!”

“The hell are you saying, bub?”

“The kid’s already got it Runt, you still can’t remember huh?”

My answer was drowned out by the sound of a gunshot. Knowing I didn’t want to be trapped in the cell I carefully exited. On both ends of the hallway stood three heavily armed men, all of them wearing black masks except for one.

“Well, well. Wolverine, Sabretooth and Murdock all at the same place. It’s a shame our friend Maverick couldn’t make it to this little reunion party.”

I growled and bared my teeth.

“Oh don’t worry Wolverine, he’s getting a visit as well.” A malicious grin formed on his face. “But right now the three of you all together is nothing short of a miracle.“ He paused. “Of course I had a hand in that, right Captain?”

“You set me up! Me and my friends will make you pay, mister!”

“I don’t think so, Captain.” The cocky bastard raised his right hand causing the armed militia on either end of the corridor to take aim.

Murdock stepped behind me.
“Uhm, you have a plan?”

“Nope, not really.” I cracked my knuckles. “Just stick with me.”
I assessed the windows quickly. The wooden frame was starting to rot and the metal grid in front of them were covered in rust. It would be a gamble, but a hell of a lot better than the other options. I turned to Murdock.

“Hold on to me.” Felt him grasp the back of my plaid shirt and went for it.

For a terribly long second the grid didn’t move and I held my breath, but thankfully the rusted metal caved and in a flurry of glass and wood splinters we crashed down. Fortunately our dorm was situated on the second floor which gave me just enough time to turn us in such a way that I hit the ground first and Murdock landed on top of me.

I lay still for a moment, feeling my cracked ribs mend back together. Murdock was the first to stand up.

“Ground floor. Sales and bakeries. Please do not forget our special offer at the door.”

I grabbed his extended hand and hoisted myself up. Not a moment too soon, I realized, as bullets came raining down on us.

For the next three hours we simply moved as fast as we could as far away from the VA as we could. Only when sunlight dawned on the horizon we slowed our pace an Murdock got a lot more annoying, humming tunes. By the time he started singing I was fed up with him.

“Shut the hell up, you idiot. They could be right behind us.” I searched around carefully hoping we got rid of them a while ago.

“Man you’re even worse than BA, you’re not related to him, right? Good, ‘cause when you are I swear Billy here won’t like you, oh no.”

“Billy?”

“The dog, man! The dog!” He looked at his feet. “Don’t worry Billy, he’s just being mean.”

I took a long hard look at him, trying to judge his state of mind. “Right. So ya gonna help me figure this out, or what?”

“Sir, yes sir! As my auntie always said; HM, my boy, if they’re trying to steal your cookies, fight back!”

I sighed. “Right.” This was going to be a long day.

“So how ‘bout we find my crew, mon ami?”

“Your crew?”

“Hmm not very talkative, this guy, huh Billy?” I just about had it with him and turned away when he grabbed my arm. “No wait, don’t go nowhere. I’m talking about my team, you know? Back in ‘Nam I was their pilot. If anyone can figure out what’s going on it’s them, I’m telling ya.”

“Look kid, we ain’t got time to find your pals and honestly I don’t think we should involve anyone in this. Something’s seriously messed up here and I’m planning to find out what it is. Preferably without someone trying to interfere, got it? It’s bad enough I’ve got you following me around, let alone some half-assed G.I. Joe team messing stuff up.”

So after a long and pointless discussion I simply vetoed and decided against finding his ‘crew’ and instead heading north to find some place to change out of these torn and dirty clothes so we wouldn’t catch too much attention, although somehow I figured the meaning of ‘low profile’ was completely lost on this guy.
We had spend the night walking through the farmlands surrounding the hospital, hoping they weren’t too close behind us. Murdock had been walking behind me as we passed cornfields and meadows blabbering to himself and his invisible dog. Just loud enough to annoy me, yet soft enough not to be heard by anyone nearby.

Now all I heard was both our stomachs growling and some way too cheery morning birds. Not a peep from our assailants. It seemed they hadn’t sent the dogs after us yet, but I doubted they were giving up so quickly. It felt kinda good having something to do again. All this time being holed up at the VA didn’t do me any good and I was glad to be thinking for myself again. Of course I knew there would be some major consequences. A lot of people were going to be seriously pissed off about missing a member of Team X.

Oh well shouldn’t have tried to kill me then.

When we neared a farm I decided to get refuelled. As former soldiers we could handle quite some time without food, but a full stomach did a man good. I nudged Murdock with my elbow, pointing at the farm.

“Want to grab some grub?”

He grinned. “I think it’s time for this farmer’s annual tractor inspection.”

“What?”

He took a card out of the inside pocket of his coat and showed it.

“Harvey D. Brunswick. Senior inspector of motor vehicles of the Department of Agriculture.”

I snorted. “He ain’t gonna fall for that. Especially when you look like a bum clear out of prison.”

“But that’s why I need your shirt.” He nodded at the white T-shirt under my dirty flannel shirt. “And this.” Again he pulled something from the pocket of his jacket, this time it was a set of slightly crunched glasses. With some effort he bended it back in relative good shape and put them on. “There. Now, don’t look like that. A man has to be prepared for all kinds of situations. Furthermore I don’t think Dr. Evans needs them any longer. Now give me your shirt.”

I had to admit I was impressed by the little show he performed, although it probably helped this particular farmer had been kicked in the head by his cows a little too often. While he cleverly delivered the older couple from their even older car; ‘it’s a pledge for the misbegotten state of the tractor’, I sneaked in and raided their kitchen. Two pieces of apple pie and half a jug of milk later we were well on our way to the nearest big city, Los Angeles. The morning traffic just started so the road was getting a bit busier by now, which was just fine by me because it meant we didn’t stick out as much.

“So where did you learn how to do that? “ I struggled a bit with the rusty gearbox of the old truck and looked at him sideways. He swallowed a part of the pie and shrugged.

“I have a friend who does things like this a lot.”

“A conman, huh?” I turned my eyes back to the road.

“He would’ve called it a con artist. He basically can be anyone at anytime, comes in real handy.”

“I bet. So this ‘Faceman’ is the guy who springs ya all the time. He part of this ‘team’ too?”

He looked surprised.

“C’mon man, I ain’t as stupid as I look. I actually got eyes, unlike the staff at the VA.”

“Better keep them on the road than, muchacho!” He reached for the steering wheel as some morons in a black SUV came for us from the side.

“Shit!” Our car swerved to the side nearly hitting a car on the other lane. As I struggled to get it under control again a shot rang out, barely missing me, shattering the windshield.
“Fuck! Lay down!”

“Same ones as yesterday?” Murdock asked from where he was hunched down in front of the passenger seat.

“Dunno.”

“Don’t know or don’t care?”

“Pick one.” The black SUV pushed us sideways, so I planted my foot just a little harder down on the petal. The old barrelled truck surged forward with a screeching noise. It was groaning under the strain of such a rough treatment. I guess it hadn’t seen much action on the farm.

“This thing is gonna fall apart on us kid.”

“Oh good, than we won’t need this anymore.” Before I even realized what he was doing he yanked out the hatch of the glove compartment and chucked it out of the window at the SUV. Soon thereafter followed the stack of papers that had been inside the compartment.

“Haha! Take that you ugly mudsuckers!”

“Cripes! Are ya nuts?!”

“Officially?”

“Nevermind.”

Like a miracle the papers scattered across the windshield of our assailants, blocking their view. Their car hit the side rail of the road and came to a grinding halt, but not before they fired one last shot.
The bullet lodged in my right shoulder and I had to bite through the pain to keep the car straight. We managed to blend in between the commuters in morning rush hour and slip into the outskirts of the city unnoticed as far as we could tell. We dumped the car somewhere, the bullet holes and shattered windshield were a bit too conspicuous, then found an abandoned warehouse.

“You’re wounded, we need to get you medical help.” The kid looked at me concerned, eying the rather large bloodstain growing on my back.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.“ I used my fingers to dig out the bullet. It was of considerable calibre. These guys knew whom they were dealing with and had shot to kill. Fortunately they just didn’t learn how to shoot properly. I threw the slug at Murdock, who caught it purely on instinct, seeing how he was completely focused on the wound on my shoulder.

“Tell me I just forgot my meds this morning and I’m hallucinating again…”

“Well, you did forget your meds this morning, but you ain’t hallucinating.”

He came closer, touching the freshly healed skin tentatively. “Is this what you meant by ‘special abilities’ earlier?”

I nodded. “I don’t understand it completely myself, but me and some other folks, like Creed, we heal or can do other stuff. Pretty nifty, but it can cause quite some trouble as well. I thought maybe that’s why they were after you.”

“I think I’d noticed if I could do something like that…” He tore his eyes away from my shoulder and looked at the bullet in his hand instead. “Seems they meant business.”

“They did. Can’t say I know why though. There’re a lot of people out to get to me one way or another.”

“Maybe this guy, Creed, was right. Why else would they want both of us? Aside from that one mission, I don’t think we have anything in common otherwise.”

He was right, that mission must’ve been the cause for all of this. Too bad I couldn’t remember anything of it. If Creed was right, they had also messed with my mind. Again…

“What do you remember of that mission?”

“I had to pick your team up. I heard bit and pieces of what you had been doing there, but I guess you know all of that already.”

“I don’t. These bastards, my superiors, they mess with my head sometimes, make me forget stuff. I want you to tell me all you know.”

So he did. Told me my team, Team X, had been dropped in that area three days earlier. He didn’t know the specifics, but when we returned we had been covered in blood, smelling like death. I didn’t need a whole lot of fantasy to figure out what that meant and from the look in his eyes he didn’t either. He had orders from Hardwick, some CIA bozo, to pick us up near a river bank in enemy territory. Because of the danger involved they needed their best pilot, which turned out to be him. He’d get all of us out, but not without a hitch; there had been casualties. Four Vietnamese civilians and one CIA official had been fatally wounded during the extraction mission. The Huey he had been flying had its tail rotor badly damaged, rendering the chopper almost out of control. Murdock had managed to keep it in the air only to crash land in a rice field a mile south. The mission had gone to hell in a hand basket when it was Charlie who found us instead of our own boys. We had fought our way out, got reprimanded, got reassigned to different missions and that was the last he had seen from us until the day we had been stationed at the VA.

“I wasn't sure about it and you didn’t seem to recognise me, moreover you seemed like a dangerous guy to be honest. Didn’t want to mess with you. I had enough troubles as it were, my friends had been falsely accused and I wasn’t doing so well up here.” He pointed at his head shrugging apologizing.

“You were right. I am dangerous. The team you had to pick up? We were, still are, special forces. Very special forces as you can tell by now. They…use us when things go haywire or a clean up is needed.”

“Yeah I figured as much. Still doesn’t explain, what’s going on though.”

“It was supposed to be a secret mission. What my team did out there was most likely worse than just ‘war crimes’. The Firm didn’t want its hands dirty and hushed up the whole deal. Guess someone talked. Now we’ve gotta pay for that.”

“I’ve got a friend at the paper, she has some good sources for information.”

“Call her. I doubt she’ll be able to dig up much, but we’ll need all the intel we can get.”

He nodded. “I saw a phone booth near this building. If I call her now, we might have something this afternoon.”

“Do it. Make sure no one sees you. I’ll check this place out, see if there’s anything we can take a nap on.”

He went to make that phone call as I searched the warehouse. As it turned out it wasn’t completely empty; a dozen of boxes filled with car supplies were stacked against the far wall. I took two plates of the Styrofoam that had been used to pack them, to design a makeshift bed. In the small office on the other side I found a locker with some cash in it which I also took and a pen and paper. When I returned to our little hide-out Murdock just entered through the side door.

“Will she help us?”

“I have to call her back at 2 pm. She wanted to inform the guys. Told her she shouldn’t, but I still think we could use their skills.”

“I don’t want more people in this than strictly necessary. We’re most likely up against the goddamn CIA itself. The less people know, the better we can keep this under wraps.”

“You’re probably right.” He sighed then looked up. “But on the bright side of things, at least BA isn’t here to call me a fool!” The grin didn’t quite reach his eyes. He must’ve really missed these guys.

“BA?” I remembered he had mentioned him before.

“Stands for Bad Attitude, but he’s okay once you get to know him.”

“So Bad Attitude boy and Faceman, huh? Fond of nicknames I guess?”

“Everybody had one in the war, we just stuck to ours. Besides you have no right to criticize, he called you Wolverine back there.”

“Fair enough.” I didn’t feel like elaborating on my moniker and it seemed neither did he. “Why don’t you take a nap, I’ll be on first watch.”

While he lay there sleeping I tried to make sense of it all. I had scribbled down some of the things I was able to remember or seemed important somehow. It was very likely it was the CIA trying to run us down, who else had any interest in that mission? The guys that attacked us last night didn’t look like rampant VC warriors, nor military men. The black SUV with tinted windows fitted the Firm well. Besides they had a lot of info on me if they came after me with hollow points. Why come after us now, though? It had been a couple of years ago. Was because all three of them were at the VA? But what about Maverick? The bozo in charge had said he could expect a visit as well.

Next to me Murdock moaned in his sleep, shaking me from my thoughts. I looked at him and saw his face contorted from what seemed to be a nightmare. It was what most of us at the VA kept from sleeping. Even through the drug induced fog in our brains nightmares always found their way. Without his drugs Murdock was likely to suffer from them worse now. I found myself wondering what had landed him at the hospital. Of course he was strange enough, with his invisible dogs and his impulsiveness, but I doubted that was all. From what I heard when I arrived at the VA he had been in isolation for a while, apparently for being completely out of it when he was brought in. I wished now I had paid more attention to him back then, but being surrounded by madmen he simply didn’t stand out enough for me to notice him. In group he had been the clown; a nice break from the dull conversations and awkward silences, but now it seemed to me there was a profound sadness underneath that exterior.

I checked my wristwatch. One pm. I knew one hour of sleep would only make me more tired so I decided to let the kid sleep, while I stared at my paper a little longer.

As it turned out the chick Murdock called, Amy, did have some useful information. Hardwick, the man in charge of the mission back then had been fired some time after. He had been ratted out to the public by an anonymous informant. The only info that had been told was about the four dead civilians, which he had tried to hide somehow. Nothing had been said about the Team X mission, but they were still investigating that. It seemed Hardwick or whoever he was working for, CIA or otherwise, wanted all witnesses dead. So first step was to get to Hardwick. Amy, who I started to appreciate more and more, was way ahead of me and had already pulled up an address. With all the information we just got fresh in our heads we got a car. Or rather Murdock got us a car by playing another trick.

“Never steal a car when they give it away for nothing. The cops will have your hide in no time when they see you in a car that just has been reported as stolen.”

“Makes sense.” He was driving now, window slightly rolled down, his hair squashed down by the baseball cap on his head.

“Where did ya get that?” I said nodding at the cap.

“Told the chap I needed one of his caps for further investigation of the metal and textile rot I found in his garage.”

“No shit.” I looked at him incredulously. He simply flashed me a smile. “Christ, people are stupid.”

“And that, comrade, is a fact.”

The drive to the office address Amy gave us took a good two hours, which we spend mostly in silence. Every now and then he’d start humming a tune or make a weird sound. I simply ignored him, my mind set on what was ahead of us. It was likely this guy, Hardwick, had a good deal of security arranged, especially since we had escaped from his clutches. First thing to do was getting our hands on some weapons, that had to be simple enough. Knock at least two guards down, take their guns and go on. Easy as pie. Problem was we didn’t know exactly what we were up to, who or what was behind Hardwick. If it turned out to be something big, something that was indeed intending to get us killed I had to protect Murdock. He didn’t have the same healing powers I had, so he was way more vulnerable.

We were now very close to the office building were Hardwick was supposed to be. It was your usual big building, helicopter landing pad on the roof and all. Our target was located on the 24th floor, two levels underneath the roof according to the info we had, so we set out to do a bit of recon. Murdock put on Doc. Evan’s glasses and his cap and walked in close proximity to the building, checking security. I had bought a pair of binoculars from the survival and camping shop a block away and was now on top of a neighbouring building keeping an eye on the floor we needed. An hour later I met Murdock back in the car we had parked on the street corner.

“Two armed guards at the entrance, one more at the emergency exit. The stairwell seems free, as are the elevators.”

I nodded. “Plenty of thugs on the 24th as well, at least six from what I can tell. Up on the roof two more guarding the chopper, couldn’t see what else was there though.”

“You got a plan muchacho?”

“Oh yeah.” I grinned.

“Oh man. I know that look, Hannibal has it all the time; you’re on the jazz!”

“Another one of your team mates?”

“My colonel.”

“C’mon let’s redefine ‘jazz’ for him. Side entrance. I take out the guard, you get us an elevator cart. We go up and show Hardwick better not to mess with madmen.”

He had a sparkle in his eyes that told me he really was looking forward to some action. Must’ve been a while since his team sprung him.

“Wait! We need a name! How can we go into battle without a proper name?”

I rolled my eyes.
“Shit, here I thought the dog was the maddest thing you’d come up with. Proved me wrong, bub.”

“That’s it! Mad Dogs! The perfect name for our little, yet great team.” While saying this he waved with his arms as if he had just had an epiphany.

“Whatever.” I shook my head then punched him lightly on the shoulder. “C’mon mad dog, let’s go!”

The guard was taken down easily. I stripped him from his weapon and communication device, then threw him in one of the dumpsters outside. Murdock had the elevator ready when I snuck back in and we were on our way upstairs. So far everything went according to plan. When we reached the 24th floor and stepped out however, there was a small army waiting for us.

“Behind me, now!”
Murdock thankfully obeyed just in time before all hell broke loose. Soon I was shooting blindly, my chest riddled by bullets already. Fortunately they weren’t as heavily armed as their colleagues from last night and this morning.
Murdock had also acquired a gun and was doing his own share of shooting bad guys. Soon we had backed them around corner, which gave me some much needed time to breathe and heal. Murdock ran in between flying bullets towards me.

“You okay?” He was slightly out of breath and winced as he saw my bloodied chest. “Healing up alright?”

I grunted. “Will be fine. Let’s get these sleaze balls.”

It took us about fifteen minutes to knock out the rest of the guards. True, we had some luck when one of them accidentally shot one of his own men and another’s weapon jammed on a bad moment. We didn’t expect to find Hardwick still in his office when we busted in. The man had to be an idiot if he’d stayed during the chaos on his doorstep.
Murdock took a look at several of the files he had left behind in his hurry to get away.

“Not the CIA it seems, Logan. This documents are orders from someone else for Hardwick.”

“We need to get him and…” I hadn’t even finished the sentence when I heard the humming of rotors coming from the roof. “Shit. He’s gettin’ away with the chopper!”

“Not if H.M. Murdock has something to do about it!” he ran out the office taking the stairs to the upper floor two steps at the time with me on his heels.

“Choppers need to warm up a bit.” He panted. “We might still be in time.”

As we finally reached the roof we were greeted by no less than two identical black helicopters. One of them still planted on the building, rotors turning, the other already in the air.

“There!” I pointed at the airborne chopper, recognising the man who had spoken at the VA last night.

Murdock was already on his way to the other helicopter, presumably designed as a diversionary manoeuvre. He punched the pilot with a right fist straight on the jaw with a power I hadn’t thought possible coming from him. I knocked out the passenger while he took over the controls. I threw out the unconscious soldier and took the seat beside him.

I only had a dry practise in flying a chopper once so I was slightly in awe of the efficiency he used to flip the right switches. Before I even knew it we were up in the air in hot pursuit of the other helicopter. They had fled out of the city on to the rural area surrounding it.

Murdock was clearly in his element. An honest-to-god real smile was plastered on his face as he tried to outmanoeuvre the other chopper.

“Woohoo! Oh yeah, baby! Show me what you’re worth!”

I had to grip the seat tightly to prevent falling out of the helicopter as he took it in a breathtaking spin.

“Please, don’t do that again.”

“Oh man you sound exactly like BA, ya big wuss.”

He flew like a maniac, but whatever he was doing worked. The other helicopter was forced to fly lower, causing it to slow down significantly as it evaded trees and other objects in its way.

“How’s your aim?” He asked, looking at me sideways.

I simply snarled and cocked the gun in my right hand.

“Good. Hit the tail rotor. Let him feel what we felt back there.” I saw a flicker of something dark in his eyes as he said that and for a second I could picture him in isolation wearing a straight jacket.

Nodding I took aim and shot. The rotor broke, leaving the chopper uncontrollable to the less experienced pilot. It swung aside and hit a tree, crashing to the ground. I jumped out, landing on my feet as Murdock landed our heli a bit further away.

Hardwick’s pilot had already pulled himself out of the wreckage, clutching his head. One swift kick to the head made sure he didn’t have to worry about the pain anytime soon. Hardwick struggled to get away from the crash site, limping with his left leg. I caught up with him, threw him to the ground then hoisted him up against a tree.

“You better start talking, bub!” Behind me I heard Murdock’s fast breathing, signalling he had caught up with me.

“C’mon little man, tell my fiery friend here what he needs to know and no blood will be shed, huh?”

“Who are ya working for?” He didn’t answer, so I pushed the gun a bit harder into his chest. Around us I heard cars nearing, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Hardwick. Murdock did however and pointed his weapon at the fast nearing cars.

“Uhm, Logan? Gonna need your help here, muchacho…”

I ignored him and heard the closest car come to a halt a few feet away, the other cars followed its example. I heard doors open and shut again all around us, but I refused to look away from Hardwick.

A deep, commanding voice rang out. “Stand down Captain. We’re not here for you.” Guns were cocked by the people surrounding us and I heard Murdock dropping his.

“Good. Now move to the side.” Murdock muttered something obscene under his breath and stepped away from me.

“Wolverine.” The man was now addressing me. “I’m Col. Fury, commander of S.H.I.E.L.D., I believe we’ve met before.”

“Well, colonel, as you can see I’m a bit busy at the moment.” I snarled back at him.

“We know who this man is and what he has done. He will face justice, I can assure you.”

“He’s already facing justice right now, aren’t ya Hardwick?” I pushed the gun just a bit harder, making him grunt. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, eyes flickering from me to Fury every so often.

The man in question sighed. “Still as stubborn as ever, right Wolverine? Okay then. Let me explain the situation for you. Officer Hardwick over here is working for more than one organisation is seems. Not only was he an CIA agent, he is also working for another government agency, which happens to be the same one you are currently working for.

Unbeknownst to either the CIA or the other party, Mr. Hardwick has is own agenda. That mission in ’67 was part of it. Originally your team was supposed to do what you do best at a Vietcong base, unfortunately Hardwick changed the coordinates, placing you in a rural area full of innocent men and women.”

“What!?” I turned partly around, looking Fury in the eye. He simply nodded. I turned my attention back to Hardwick. I growled low close to his ear, letting the anger inside me come out. “Why?”

Fury answered for him. “He wanted to make sure his little drug empire remind the way it was. One man, just one man of the 46 people that were slaughtered that day had an unhealthy interest in that empire. If it wasn’t for one of Hardwick’s men to let his conscious finally speak a week ago we might never have known all of this.”

I closed my eyes, trying to stay in control. 46 people, men, women and children had been murdered-by me- for nothing but some lousy drug money.

“Give me one reason not to gut you right here and now.” I growled at Hardwick, almost blinded by rage. Again Fury answered for him.

“Can’t do that Wolverine.” Almost simultaneously as he spoke I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my neck, rendering me instantly paralysed. I had just enough strength left in me to pull the trigger once, hitting Hardwick straight in the heart. Both our bodies fell down, his bloodied and lifeless, mine paralysed by whatever they injected me with. I heard Murdock yell, Fury curse as I slowly became blinded. My hearing was the last of my senses to go and before it was completely gone I heard Fury talk.

“Get them out of here, make sure you secure the Wolverine tightly, we don’t know when he’ll wake up. Captain Murdock, I will personally see that you are returned to the VA hospital. I’m sorry you had to be a part of this, but we can assure nothing like this will happen again.”

“What about Logan?”

“He’ll be taken care of by his agency. They will further decide what to do with him.”

The last thing I heard was their footsteps moving away from me.


* * *



1974, Westwood VA Hospital, LA.

Nothing was the way it seemed at the Westwood VA Hospital back in the day. I had been reading a battered copy of The Once and Future King when I heard some ruckus coming from the hallway. Coughing and sneezing, the weird guy from group was again escorted out of the building by the same man as always. For a moment he raised his head from the wheelchair and his eyes met mine. I thought I’d seen a flicker of recognition in his eyes, but I couldn’t quite place it. Before I had time to properly think about it the elevator closed and he was out of sight. I shrugged and returned to my book. Just another mad day at the hospital.