Logan left the banks of the Atrato River a little over threes days ago, given the marshy terrain he is pretty sure he is making good time. By his GPS coordinates, he should have crossed the Panama-Colombia border mid-early yesterday morning and just now he cleared the foothills of Serranía del Darién. Arkady traveled faster than he expected, and Logan had to give up the plan to intercept Arkady in the Panamanian jungle.
The new plan will be messier, involving a striking team in El Real to intercept Arkady’s reinforcements as Logan tries to catch up. His satellite phone beeps, it is a message from Remus. She just secured the El Real Airport, with the Arkady closest way out of the country cut off, all that’s left is for Logan to do his part. Unfortunately, he is beyond Bandera’s surveillance network now, everything from here on will have to be done the old-fashioned way.
Climbing his way to the top of the tree, Logan scans the canopy and takes a few quick shallow breaths. Arkady still smells like Arkady no matter which timeline he is in. Carbonium has a unique scent signature, and with the amount of the material both within and on Arkady, Logan does not need to be very close to tracking him especially with favorable winds. From high up on his vantage point, he can practically see the trail of scents Arkady left behind.
By the tracks Arkady is making, he is obviously inexperienced in this type of terrain. Hitting him on the trail would only be attacking him at his most alert. The smarter way would be to strike when his guard is down, relatively speaking. It would be easy for Logan to overtake him and prepare an ambush for him in Yaviza, where he is expecting a friendly welcome.
Thanks to Remus and her persuasion skills Logan is now standing across from the exact location where Arkady is supposed to meet his men. A group of four men stand by the front a large pickup truck in the parking lot of the one grocer in the town. This is the forward party that Arkady is expecting to take him to the rest of his retinue at the airport in El Real. That retinue no longer exists, Remus already made certain of that.
Logan gives the four men a second look, cartel goons, each and every one of them. He expected better from Arkady, at least ex-military. Instead, he finds four boys, fresh from the countryside, none of them look older than twenty. Honestly, this is not the kind of mistakes Arkady is prone to make. Still, Logan is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Hey, Amigos.” Logan approaches them with a smile, the leading kid almost jumps in surprise. Just like he expected, novices every one of them. Poor kids, they're just unlucky to have pulled this duty. Least he can do is let them see the man that will kill them.
His revolver appears in his hand in an instant. Logan already pulled the trigger twice, splatter the brains of two men before they can even think of raising their weapons. The third man is shot through the bridge of his nose, his face imploding from the force of the impact. The last kid drops his weapon, stumbling and falling on to his back, covered in his associate's blood. He raises his hand to surrender, Logan puts a bullet in the kid’s head as well before he can signal Arkady.
Looking around, he can see a few townsfolk fleeing the scene and a few more retreating back into the store barricading the door from the inside. He climbs his way up one of the taller structures in town and surveys the area. The location is not the most ideal, from his position the few buildings in the town obstruct his line of sight nearby, never mind the dense jungle beyond. He only has a narrow strip of open land to set up a kill zone.
But he didn’t choose this place without a reason. The town is situated in the conjuncture of several rivers and streams. Given the direction Arkady must travel, Logan hopes to catch him mid-crossing. He catches the scent in the air, Arkady is getting closer. Quickly gauging the wind direction, he sets up a fire position covering the most likely approaches and waits.
Each minute is grueling, not just because of the heat of the sun, or the humidity in the air, but because this battle will be far from quick and simple. Even on his best days, Arkady is still a major threat. Below him he can hear the people scurrying about, talking in hushed whispers, praying for their safety, their lives. He hesitates, the coming battle will leave no part of this town untouched, he knows it. After the ambush in Turbo, he more than achieved his goals. He could withdraw now and leave these people be.
The brief moment of contemplation comes to an end as a red and silver figure appears in his scope. The world fades and his whole existence collapsing into this single moment. A primitive need surges to the forefront of his mind, the need to hunt, the need to kill. Pulling the trigger without conscious thought, he watches as if from outside of himself, following the bullet as it slams into the target’s chest. The round didn’t penetrate, as he expected, the conscious part of his mind regaining control just long enough to assess the damage and calculate the trajectory for the next shot.
The two successive rounds conveyed enough force to cause Arkady to stagger and almost lose his footing, but not enough to slow his movement. One more shot is all Logan will get before Arkady is among the buildings. Now that he possesses a good grasp of the range and speed of his target the third shot impact dead center on Arkady’s forehead, just after he clears the river bank. Logan tracks him through the scope as Arkady falls over behind a building, disappearing from view.
Logan drops a thermite charge by his equipment and detonates it after he leaps off the building. There is no point in taking it with him, it would only serve to weigh him down. Landing in a crouch, he works his way towards Arkady’s last known position. His shot hit that damned headband Arkady always wears. The bullet was deflected by the thin band of carbonadium. Despite the force of the impact, it won’t take long for Arkady to regenerate, especially if he finds people to drain their life force from.
He carefully maneuvers within the narrow streets of the small town. Here amongst the clutter tracking by scent becomes far less precise. Nevertheless, it is still a simple matter to track his target by sound. A man like Arkady generates a very unique audio signature in every step he takes. It didn’t take Logan long to triangulate Arkady’s position, the process is practically instinctive for him at this point.
Grabbing a handful of gravel from the ground, Logan focuses his senses. Through the walls of a ramshackle hut, he locates Arkady, slowly walking on the far side. Given his injury, Arkady is most likely looking to recharge from the family huddle inside. That is not going to happen on Logan’s watch. Winding up, he launches the handful of rocks at Arkady position, his hand sparking blue right before he lets loose. With a loud boom, the spray of shrapnel perforates the hut to the screams of the inhabitants inside. A short moment later, the entire hut shudders collapsing under the force of the blow.
Through the cloud dust and rubble, two metallic tentacles whip out at Logan. He sidesteps the first strike and ducks under the second. The metal appendages both swing in a wide arc, leveling several nearby dwellings, reducing this city block into rubble. The whips snap back to their origins and with a flourish, Arkady steps out into view sneering, “The Wolverine, in person no less. What a pleasant surprise.”
“Heard ya were looking fer me,” Logan smirks back while maneuvering himself clear of nearby obstacles. He flexes his hands and lets his claws slowly slide out from his knuckles. “Well, I’m here now.”
“Da… I am Omega Red, we’ve never met before.” Arkady circles counterclockwise with Logan, his tentacles swaying menacingly around him. “But your reputation precedes you, Wolverine.”
“Did you know there was a family of five inside that hut you just destroyed?” He waves a hand towards the ruins beside him without ever taking his eyes off of Logan. Arkady’s eyes held a strange gleam when he continues, “But of course you did, you knew I was on the other side after all.”
“Ya woulda killed them anyway, why let ya have the edge?” It is strange that Arkady is so talkative, Morphs reports seem to indicate that Arkady was not interested in parleying.
“You’ve heard of me too? I’m honored.” Logan can sense the shift in Arkady’s intent as he speaks. The tentacles lash out in a wide arc but he is already in motion. The whip-like appendages cut deep into the ground where they land. Logan is already airborne, flipping several times in the air he adjusts his momentum. Gathering his ki, he waves towards the sky behind him and dives down with a blast of blue aura.
Omega Red’s eyes go wide, the speed of Logan’s decent is unexpectedly fast, and he just realized his carbonium whips are currently dangerously overextended. Unable to pull his tentacles back in time, Omega Red jumps back right as Logan smashes into the ground where he stood, his vicious glowing bone claws outstretched before him. A sharp spike of pain stabs into his chest and the thick metal breastplate he wore falls apart from him in a spray of crimson.
Logan jumps above the first tentacle, finally whipping back around, barely raising his claws in time to parry the second one. The force of the blow flings him away towards a pile of rubble. Still in the air, he draws his revolver and fires off two quick shots. Omega Red turns his head skillfully deflecting the round off of his headband. But the bullet strikes right where his rifle round had already struck before, causing spiderweb cracks around the impact point. The second bullet is deflected by one of the tentacles having retracted and is now coiling around Arkady with alarming alacrity.
“There are many rumors about you, Wolverine. They are all very conflicting.” The silver tentacles coil around Arkady in a defensive spiral as one of his hands rises to his forehead removing the now useless headband. “I’m very curious as to which ones are true.”
“Ya know what they say about curiosity.” Having carefully studied Arkady’s movements Logan rises from his landing crouch, already coming to the conclusion that this Omega Red’s fighting style is not all too different from the one he knew. He has encountered this exact spiral defensive techniques before and has a good idea how to counter it.
In a flash, Logan empties the remaining four rounds from his cylinder, spacing them in a precise pattern. As he expects, Arkady moves to deflect the adamantium tipped bullets. With the flick of his wrist, he throws the RKG-3EM shaped charge at Arkady. Just as Logan predicated the motion of the tentacle means it must meet the grenade head-on, maximizing the explosive effect. The blast of molten metal sends Arkady flying back, bashing him into a wall in a shower of flaming debris. Knowing that is far from enough to finish Arkady off, Logan focuses his ki in preparation. Just as he readies his follow-up attack, Arkady calls for a truce.
“Wait. I’m here to make a deal.” Retracting his tentacles Arkady holds out his hands to stop Logan, his body already beginning to regenerate the extensive damage he suffered. Arkady staggers to his feet, leaning against the crumbling wall to support himself as his flesh knits itself back together. “Like you and your brother, I have also been looking for Stryker.”
Logan knows Arkady is exaggerating his injuries, having personally seen the amount of punishment Arkady can take. Keeping a close eye for any sudden movements he tilts his head and waits for him to continue. Arkady smirks at him through burned flesh, “We have the same goal, we could work together”
The world would certainly be better off without Arkady, but Stryker poses a far more significant threat with his research on mutations. He contributed his fair share to the efficient and systematic mutant extermination program Logan is now fighting to prevent. Weighing the possible consequences he grits teeth, “And I'm supposed to just forget ya tryin' to off me for the last few months?”
“It was nothing personal, I simply wanted to confirm the rumor. You faked your incompetence well, all to lure me into this ambush here.” Already fully healed Arkady walks a few steps back to the center of the road, kicking the dusty ground with his feet and surveys the area. “You did not disappoint.”
Knowing his advantage is gone for the moment Logan takes a wary step back and readies himself for any surprises before speaking, “Why?”
“He has something I need,” Arkady twirls his tentacles around him lazily refusing to elaborate.
Logan never expects Arkady to give a straight answer but the word need is telling enough. There are very few things Arkady needs in the world, the most likely candidate is the carbonadium synthesizer. If that is the case, it lends a bit of credibility to this offer. “Let’s see what ya got.”
Arkady begins to reach behind his back, instantly Logan draws out another grenade with a twirl and gives a stern warning, “Slowly.”
With the other hand still raised, Arkady retrieves a small microfilm container. With an exaggerated motion, he chucks the container towards Logan, who catches it in mid-air. “Everything I have on Stryker’s current location. We are good, da?”
Carbonadium synthesizer or not Logan realized this could still be an elaborate plot to ambush him. Regardless, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. As for the possibility that this could be some kind of a ploy, Logan decides this could be a good chance for his big brother to be of some use. Nodding, he points north with his thumb. “Get the fuck outta here.”
Giving Remus the pre-arranged signal Logan makes sure Arkady is out of sight before he withdraws south to the banks of the river. A short time later Remus arrives on an airboat with two guards. Clad in her trademark risque black and white one piece, complimentary white leggings and elbow-length gloves. Her long flowing red hair waves in the air like some ancient war banner.
She lands on the makeshift wooden pier with her katanas drawn. Scanning the ramshackle town she cracks a sarcastic smile, “You always know the best places to take me, Logan.”
“Fuck sakes woman! Yer still wearing that getup?” Not that Logan doesn’t appreciate the view, but there is simply no way she could conduct any type of covert operation in that. He thought he broke her of the habit, now after less than a year away she is already back to it.
“Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy this.” Resting her hand on her hip she makes a show of examining Logan’s current state, dressed in a worn jungle camo BDU and covered in days’ worth of mud and grime. “Besides, this is why I’m an infamous assassin known the world over and most people can’t tell the difference between you and an angry lumberjack.”
Seeing Logan chuckle in reply, she walks up close beside him, sheathing her swords. Standing next to him she glances at him then follows his gaze northward, “Omega Red?”
“Left.” She whips her head towards him at the answer, her eyes widen in surprise. He hands her the container of microfilm, “Offered some info on Stryker.”
“It looks real,” Remus scans through the contents after pulling out a small microfilm reader from her tool belt. “Wait, did you even check this before you let him go?”
Tapping away on his phone Logan replies without looking up, “Had a hunch.”
“Logan.” She clutches the microfilm and puts a hand on his shoulders. He looks up quizzically at her, she lets her displeasure color her expression “This could be bait.”
“Don’t worry, Birdy is going to check it out.” He jiggles his phone in his hand showing her the message he just sent to Birdy and smiles, “Then I’ll pay Victor a visit.”
In the years they have worked together Remus has always disliked what she called his side projects. Part of it might be concerns for his well-being. But like everyone he has ever known with the exception one, he knows her overriding concern is how it affects their normal operations. “What if they are expecting the two of you?”
“If Stryker is willing to put himself up as bait, I ain’t gonna miss it, trap or no trap.” Everyone on his team has their own personal concerns. Logan certain doesn’t begrudge Remus for looking out for hers. “Don’t worry not gonna expend company resource for this.”
The mild annoyance remains on her expression. “You know that's not what I meant Logan.”
Instead of answering her, he turns and starts walking towards the airboat. He still feels off, but with every passing day, he is more and more confident that things will go back to the way they were. He calls after Remus when he realizes she is just standing there staring at him. “Remus, come on.”
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Chapter End Notes:
Up next, back to New York and Marie