Wolverine Volume II - Tumblr Posts

1918 Wolverine Vol II

Logan looks 21/22

Set around the battle of Château-Thierry.

Found inspiration from Savage Wolverine #21-22

It starts with a dream, as per the comics. Logan sees a German man in Paris listening to a record and handing Logan a bottle. When asked what they are celebrating, the man says "we are not celebrating".

Logan has been having this dream for a few nights now. He wakes.

He is the sergeant of a special unit in Northern France. The soldiers and officers are aware of his gifts and he is often tasked with using them to gain an advantage.

There is another gifted officer, Lieutenant Bellamy, who has psychic powers. Logan calls him Link. Bellamy doesn't like the nickname; he feels it marks him as "other" and he wants to be thought of as one of the team. Logan calls him Link regardless.

They are tasked with trying to take a bridge from the Germans without it being destroyed. Bellamy has been searching the mind of a German officer for several days in preparation.

A member of the unit, Mac, is suspicious and resentful of the specials.

Lt Bellamy gets them in and locates explosives rigged on the bridge using telepathy, through Logan and the German officer (Captain Hiban). They remove and reuse the explosives to save the bridge and blow up the German radio.

Their communications are seemingly destroyed and the Canadians advance on the German camp.

Captain Hiban, however, has a private radio in his tent and makes for it. Bellamy warns Logan, who charges through the field and gets the officer at gunpoint. He recognises Hiban as the man from his dreams and the resultant disorientation gets him shot through the eye. He realises Bellamy has been in his head too, creating a link between him and Hiban.

Logan recovers and surprises him, taking out the officer with his claws, leaving him for dead.

He returns as a one man reinforcement and starts taking out the enemy soldiers. He goes berserker, but realises the men are surrendering just in time.

Then the actual reinforcements arrive and the unit begin to congratulate themselves.

Logan then senses that Hiban, although nearly dead, has rallied enough to reach the radio.

Logan's reappearance and regeneration of his eye distracts Hiban. He no longer has the energy to carry out his plan.

Logan looks away in pity for the dying man and spots the record and the bottle from his dream. He engages him in conversation about the singer. Hiban passes listening to Scotti, his favourite singer.

Logan's unit is called back to Chateau de Thierry the next day, in preparation for a surprise 'over the top' offensive to push the Germans back.

When they arrive he is suddenly attacked from behind. There is a big scuffle and the other soldiers look concerned but Logan realises it is Victor and curses him. Victor is laughing raucously. They get up.

Victor's division is also there, preparing for battle behind the lines.

The regular soldiers get to know each other.

Victor: Oh, you should have seen your face! I'm going to do this on your birthday every year!

(Logan's comrades are surprised they didn't know it was Logan's birthday.)

Logan: In the circumstances, it didn't seem that important. 

Victor (to his unit): Hey! This is my little brother.

Logan (jokingly): Half…brother.

V (joining the joke): That hurts me Logan.

I haven't seen you since we enlisted. I was worried about you. 

L: Worry about yourself.

V: My brother…

L: Half…

V: …half brother is the best soldier I know.

L: Thank you Victor.

V: Well, second best.

Bellamy: Who's the best then?

V: Me.

The soldiers break out into laughter. The captain breaks it all up, reminds them that they are preparing to go over the top, so settle down. He needs all the officers for a debrief.

Victor is genuinely impressed that his little brother made NCO. Vic didn't want to be an officer so he could always be in the thick of it.

On the way to the debrief Bellamy asks Logan if his brother is "gifted" like them. Logan says they have a similar skill set.

Back amongst the soldiers, some of Logan's unit are asking about Victor's teeth (all the better to eat you with my dear). He asks why they want to know. They were wondering if he was "different" like Logan.

Victor is taken aback that they know about it. He is impressed that they admire and use Logan's talents. He wonders if maybe he could be accepted.

He confirms that he has similar talents. He says his are better.

Mac sneers, branding Vic, Logan and Bellamy as 'freaks'. Vic's bubble is truly burst. He squares up to Mac, claws out, Mac backs down immediately, but Vic is not letting it go. Logan's unit rally round Mac in a 'he's an a*hole but he's our a*hole' way.

In the debrief room the meeting is winding down. Bellamy senses extreme anger and hatred and disturbed by it.

The tension is broken by French and Moroccan soldiers arriving. Victor lets it go…for now. The captain gathers the Canadian men to give a rousing speech before they head to the front:-

"...to quote the French general Henri Gouraud…'The bombardment will be terrible. You will stand it without weakening. The assault will be fierce. . . . In your hearts beat the brave and strong hearts of free men. None shall look to the rear; none shall yield a step. . . . Each shall have but one thought, to kill, to kill plenty. . . .I say to you, ‘You will break this assault and it will be a glorious day.'"

Victor reasons that they can carry out the 'kill plenty' part, Logan gruffly agrees.

The men split into their groups after this and prepare to head to the front.

Lt. Bellamy is with Logan and tries to tell him about the dark visions he got when Victor confronted Mac.

Logan: Well Mac is an a*hole…and Victor can be pretty nasty when he's angry.

Bellamy: No, it's more than that. I felt that he enjoys it. He likes hurting people, killing them.

Logan: Well…we both have something…animal inside us. I had to stop myself from gunning down those Germans, after they had surrendered.

B: Is your brother able to…stop himself?

L: I'm worried that's he's starting not to care.

Fate later contrives for Logan and Victor to end up pinned down in the same trench. Logan asks about what happened with Mac.

Victor: He deserved it.

Logan: I don't doubt it. But you kill a soldier…an ally…you'll become a monster to them.

V: We already are.

L: They'd never stop hunting you down.

V: Let them try. I'll be ready.

L: That's what scares me…Bellamy said he saw a darkness in you. That you enjoy killing.

V (angered): That little runt was poking around in my head?

L (defensive): He can't help it, it's in his nature.

V: And this is ours, fighting, hunting, killing. We're good at it. Why shouldn't we enjoy it?

L: Because it's wrong.

V: You're telling me you don't feel the same? That rage?

L: I feel it. I just don’t give in to it. I try to keep my humanity. 

V: We're not human.

L: What are we then?

V: Something more. Something better. They should be afraid of us.

They take turns to watch and sleep. Then who should land in their trench but Mac and Lt. Bellamy.

Bellamy has Mac rest first as he is still feeling the wound he took in the previous battle. Logan says Bellamy should rest too. Bellamy pointedly says he wants to make sure Mac is safe.

Victor: Why? He doesn't give a rat's ass about you.

Bellamy: He needs me. He wouldn't have got this far without me.

V: But do you need him?

Logan: Victor, knock it off!

V: How far could you go without him?

L: Victor!

They argue and in doing so, they wake Mac. With the four of them stuck in this trench they get into quite the existential debate.

Mac is jealous and petty, feels that the 'freaks' aren't real soldiers because it's too easy for them.

Bellamy is an apologist for Mac and other regular humans.

Logan swings between anger at Mac, being annoyed by Bellamy and defending them both from Victor.

Victor toys with and teases to get reactions and rages when he gets them.

After one 'freaks' comment too many Victor suddenly goes for Mac, claws out. Logan has to fight him off. Amidst the very tense situation it is actually Bellamy that stabs Mac with his pocket knife.

This shocks the others into stopping their scuffle.

Bellamy sits there stunned at his action. Logan patches up Mac while Victor stands and laughs. He is pleased to see Bellamy's true nature.

Logan manages to stem the bleed; the pocket knife wasn't really big enough to do any serious damage. They stop talking/laughing and we only hear the sound of small arms and artillery.

Then their real truths start to emerge…

It turns out that Mac is tired of fighting and wants to go home to his family. Bellamy is tired of being a freak and is desperate to be normal. Victor feels rejected by everyone, even Logan went to a different unit when they enlisted. Logan just wants some peace but knows he will never find it.

Logan says that they are going to get Mac home but for God’s sake keep your mouth shut.

He tries to placate Bellamy, telling him that their (Vic and him) gift is a curse…only good for killing while not being able to die, his (Bellamy) was a gift, it forged a connection with Hiban, helped Logan find his humanity.

He tells Victor he had no choice and if they ever get separated he will find him, eventually. 

He asks Bellamy to stop the gun operators. Bellamy says he can't there's too many. Logan says just focus on the ones nearest to their trench, even a small window so they can go over the top and push forward.

Bellamy manages.

Mac goes first, then Victor, Bellamy starts on the ladder, stops and turns to Logan.

Bellamy: What will you do when the fighting is over?

Logan: The fighting is never over.

They climb up too and we see them charge together into the battlefield.

Mid credits:-

Logan, in Paris, hears Scotti on a record player and knows he is at the right street. He takes Hiban's bottle from his bag and raises it in remembrance of the German officer, his fallen comrades and the dead.

A passerby asks what he is celebrating. He replies, "We are not celebrating."

Post credits:-

Essex, now aged, finally finishes excavating the tomb of En Sabah Nur with his crew. He reactivates the process and sacrifices the entire team to bring him round.

Essex: I believe you were the first of your kind, a mutant.

En Sabah Nur: I was a god!

He needs more mutants to feed from to grow his power. Essex vows to find some.