It ain't exactly a picnic as a mutant. It don't get any better if you put the genetic talents you've got to use as an X-Man. Truth be told, there are days I hate bein' me. Fragmented memories, more enemies than friends, knowin' the closest and best of the friends I've made are almost all dead. Throw in a past that's so checkered, I could be a chessboard an' that says it all. But there are moments like these when all that just fades away an' I couldn't be happier. Always happens when I'm feelin' low I come down to Madripoor and I'm cheered up no end.

Sure there are reasons not to come back; such as a wife that wants her dues, old allies who want my head an' the fact that the bills on the Princess ain't goin' nowhere. But when I'm in the middle of a fracas like this, there ain't no substitute, especially with a frail like 'Lektra by my side. God knows what I did to find her, but I did, an' more to the point she found me. I don't think I could be doin' this without her.

I can hear her controlled breathing and rhythmic beating of her heart, smell the sweat on her skin, feel the heat generated by her body but the most intense thing about her is the kiss she stole as the HYDRA agents burst in on us. It was only moments ago, but it's still clear in my mind. Perhaps it's the idea that there's one hell of a prize at the end of this that drivin' me on, or maybe its just a good outlet for my confusion and frustration at what I'm doin' here.

I don't care what some file says, I ain't a traitor an' I'm gonna prove that even if it kills me.

"Viper," said the Shadow King, sitting on the astral plane, waiting patiently for the events to occur as he had planned them. Amidst the collective minds of every living creature he could see her and he watched her fighting gestures, as she tried to free her mind and body of his grasp. "Viper," he repeated. "I know you can hear me. This is probably the only time we will get to talk with each other, so you really ought to get things off your chest."

"What do you want with me?" she demanded, unable to perceive him, untrained as she was in this kind of scenario.

"Ah," he said appearing to her at last. "So you are willing to talk now, and not pointlessly fight against me."

"I have no choice do I?"

"Everyone has a choice," he said. "One way or another. As you will be aware I have taken control of your body, while your mind is trapped though aware of the possession and what I am doing with your body. I also have access to your memories and knowledge, so it will appear as if there is no transition at all to anyone, not even any of Hydra's paltry telepaths."

"Tell me something I don't know," sneered Viper.

"Do you know what I love most about the female form?" asked the Shadow King, almost oblivious to her presence and though Viper tried to answer she found she was unable. "Their ability to take pleasure in the most simple of things. For example, a touch, like this." Viper could sense her hand slipping down the front of her pants, and soon her astral form responded to the physical tremors of her body with the intense pleasure at what the Shadow King was forcing her to do.

"Forcing you? You believe this to be rape, madam?" chuckled the Shadow King, as he enjoyed himself as giver and voyeur. "I think not. Self-gratification is the simplest of human pleasures and it is not as if this were your first time. However, I believe my demonstration to be adequate." Viper withdrew her hand.

"Why?" she managed to ask.

"Because I needed to know," said the Shadow King. "I needed to know if you are ready for the task ahead of you."

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked, fearful of the evil mutant's intentions.

"Make a few adjustments to your internal body clock, and then I will give you what you most desire."

"Adjustments?" she asked.

"I know everything about you," he reminded. "For what I need, you are not ready. But you will be."

Berlin - 1942

Logan made his way inside. It wasn't that it wasn't well guarded, it was just they'd never had to defend themselves against an infiltrator like him. Still, it was a lot more strenuous a task than some of his other attempts to get into places. It was as if the people on watch had been trained to be aware and Logan wasn't sure he liked the way that it had been done.

There was the feeling of treachery in all this, as the various intel agencies hadn't mentioned this at all. Instincts screamed at him that this was a set-up but he had a job to do, and he was damned if he was going to fail. Egypt was a main point for the war, and if the Allies could drive Rommel out it would be the turning point they were looking for, with the retaking of North Africa. It all depended on whether or not he could get the plans as to whether they would win the war.

"No pressure, eh, Logan?" he thought to himself as he made his way through the building to its inner sanctum. He'd heard of this Hellfire Club before, a rather elegant club for the gentry across Europe and in the higher-class states of America. Seemed to fit that the German officials would store their documents and such at the Berlin site.

As he neared his target he could smell a group of guards. He had been able to avoid people using his enhanced senses, but now that was not an option and he stepped from the shadows into the light. The door he needed to get through was behind them and it was open slightly, so he knew that the violent breaking down of the door or the time consuming picking of the lock wasn't necessary.

"HALT!" cried one of the guards, as they all lifted their rifles at him, and Logan obeyed the order to stop.

"Stand down," he said in German. "I'm here for an inspection." As he stepped further into the light, the soldiers could see a small enamel pin on his lapel. A pin that signified he was a member of the Gestapo. Logan had appropriated it some years ago and it had come in handy ever since, especially for tasks such as this. As they saw it, they stood upright.

"Our apologies, sir. We were not told of your coming," replied the one who'd given the order to stop.

"You were not told because you were not supposed to know. Your lack of attentiveness is astounding," he snapped, enjoying himself in the role. "Anyone could walk in here, even an Allied saboteur."

"Impossible, sir," said a voice from behind the guards and Logan was aware of a new scent coming into play here. "For who would be foolish enough to break into here?" As he came forward, the soldiers parted before the man and Logan could just feel the danger factor raising dramatically. It was all he could do to stop himself from attacking there and then.

Before him stood the Red Skull.

Logan's told me of the many encounters and fights that he has had in here, but Hydra are one of the rarities. The Hand, the Yakuza, AIM, and more often attack Logan and his friends, but Hydra hardly ever do. Except for today, when they attack, obviously on the orders of Viper herself.

Hydra are good, but we're better. I don't say that with any sort of pride, but as a statement of fact. The Hand and the Chaste have trained me. I've fought with and against Daredevil, Bullseye, Kuroyama and more. I have held my own against the Hand, learning from my allies, and becoming all that I can be.

The fact is that Logan and I are as much of a team as they are, except we are more than that. Theirs is a bond of camaraderie, ours is a bond of mutual love. It's strange to think like that, for the both of us have had our own share of failure, yet this seems so right on both sides. That feeling is translated into actions and responses to each other's moves and thoughts, as if we're kindred spirits that have bonded in such a way as we are the same sides of a coin.

Neither of us hold back against our foes, and I am vaguely aware of Logan slicing through a chair with the claws of bone, but aware enough so that my moves avoid the flying shards and splinters, while unleashing my own skills upon the agents who attack us. What is obvious is that they are holding back on us, so they must want us alive, which gives us an edge they do not have.

As I slice with my sai, Logan sweeps with his claws; as I aim a scissor kick to the chest, Logan does a roundhouse. Our motions are fluid against the hard brawling styles of Hydra and for a moment they back away from us.

I look at him and Logan looks back at me. This momentary respite is unexpected and as we look back I notice a change in them. Battered and wounded though they are, they come at us again, and as hard as we try we cannot seem to lay a finger on them, always missing by fractions but missing all the same. I can sense the frustration in Logan as well as I can in myself, for we had this fight and suddenly we're losing.

"Get outta here, darlin', Logan suddenly calls and I wonder what he sees that I do not. "This ain't no ordinary fight."

"What's going on?" I ask, as I narrowly avoid a punch.

"They're working in unison, but they're not as fast as they were. 'Lektra, they're bein' controlled."

"The Shadow King," I curse under my breath. The Shadow King has taken Hydra, controlling them, making them team players. More than that he's reading our minds and referring that information to his soldiers.

"Yup," he answers. "Get outta here, I'll hold 'em off. We ain't gonna win this one."

"I'm not leaving you," I tell him and for a moment our eyes meet. It's one for all and all for one, and he knows that.

"Darlin'," he says with a smile, but he doesn't get to finish as he's hit and falls hard.

"Logan!" I call but before he can get up they start to kick and stamp on him, knowing how he plans to get up and altering their actions accordingly. I start towards him but someone else stands in my way.

"No," she says, pointing a gun at me. "Leave him." I know I can disarm her before she fires but she senses what I'm going to do and two bullets hit me in the shoulder, and the impact forces me to the floor. My cry of pain awakens something within Logan that he tries to restrain and the attackers are flung off of him. I'm fighting to stay conscious

The last thing I am aware of is Logan confronting my attacker and something within him recognizes her.

"Tyger?" he says and then I give in to the stress of fighting the ensuing darkness.

Berlin - 1942

"I thought that I had met every member of the Secret Service," said the Skull, his hands behind his back as he paced toward Logan. "However, I cannot place you sir. Your name?"

"Logan. Hans Loggan."

"You are a liar," said the Skull, his fist smashing down on Logan's face. It wasn't as strong as some of the blows he had taken, but it still hurt and also caught him off guard, and he staggered, tasting the warm blood on his lower lip. As he staggered the Skull reached in to his pocket and blew something at him.

As Logan inhaled it, he could feel his eyes start to burn, his skin begin to tighten and his blood begin to burn. This was the infamous Dust of Death that they had all been briefed on. Logan fell to the floor as the poison began to take effect and the Skull summoned his guards.

"Watch and learn how we deal with enemies of the Third Reich," he said as they watched over Logan's form, but after a moment the Skull was concerned. Surely his face should have started to turn red by now, and he was even more surprised when Logan leapt up a moment later, no worse for his ordeal. "Impossible!" said the Skull as Logan took out two of the soldiers in moments. "You are not human!"

"More human than you, bub," said Logan reverting back to English. "Master race, my eye."

"Kill him!" shouted the Skull but his soldiers were no longer in a state to do anything other than bleed, and now he and Logan stood alone. Both of them knew that if it came down to a fight there would only be one winner.

"Wanna get me the plans for yer Egypt campaign?" asked Logan. "Or do I have to get them myself?"

"So," said the Skull, relaxing. "It is you. Your arrival has been expected."

"What do you mean?" asked Logan, annoyed and grabbed him by the throat. "What's goin' on here?"

"My dear Logan," said a voice from behind them, and Logan turned. He hadn't sensed anyone coming and when he looked there was nobody there.

"What the?" The Red Skull laughed.

"Allow me to introduce the Shadow King."

"I have summoned the others," said the voice from the ether and Logan was barely able to make out someone, something in the darkness. "Our bargain begins to take effect, Johann."

"Yer dead, Schmidt," said Logan, thinking he could at least salvage something from this and was about to break the Red Skull's neck when the Shadow King took control of his mind.

"Interesting," said the Shadow King. "His mind is hard to read due to the feral nature of his genetic mutation, however once in he can be controlled."

"He fights?" asked the Skull.

"Oh, yes," said the Shadow King. "However there are things about himself even he doesn't know. I shall mould him to my will, and he will be the first."

"The first?" asked Red Skull. "I do not understand."

"I know," said the Shadow King, amused at the irritation and confusion that the Skull felt with control taken out of his hands. "I know."

I wake up from the latest memory flash to find myself in bed. I ain't got my clothes on an' there ain't no sign of anyone.

"'Lektra?"

"She can't hear you," comes a voice I know. There should be a scent to go with it, but I can't sense her.

"Viper," I snarl as I sit up to see her standing at the opposite side of the room.

"Is that anyway to greet your wife?" she says, and I know that it ain't her in there.

"Farouk," I reply, with a more vicious snarl. Viper's a lot of things but for better or worse she is my wife and there ain't anyone on who I'd wish possession by the Shadow King.

"Your hindsight serves you well, little animal," he/she answers. "Oh how I have waited for this moment, for the plans of many a decade to begin to bear fruit. Not Xavier, Grey, or even Ferro could see what was done to you all those years ago, but by the same token I could not risk reactivating you, until the time was right."

"I've been getting flashes, bub. I know what you did to me."

"You don't even know the half of it, 'X-Man'. How hollow those words will sound when all is revealed. How interesting that Charles Xavier saw in you the very same things I did but for different reasons."

"Leave Xavier out of this," I snarl. "He was a thousand times the man you are."

"And yet he's dead, while I am alive," he/she laughed. "If only Xavier had used his powers with more vision, even he would have been able to transcend death."

"Yer dead," I say as I leap from the bed, my claws coming from my hands, but my moves are sluggish, the tears in my hands where the claws escape aren't healing and Viper knocks me back with a kick. No way I'm 100% on this one. "What have you done to me?"

"Long ago, you faced a man named Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull. He tried to kill you with his death dust, but it had no effect on your mutant metabolism."

"I remember that."

"Interesting. However, while he could not create a poison that would work on you, he did eventually create something special that temporarily neutralizes your mutant abilities. The only problem is that your x-factor responds to extreme stresses in unique ways and any real attempt to kill you triggers your healing factor, restoring you as it produces chemicals that react with the chemicals of the formula to hyper-charge your body cells."

"How do you know all this?" I have a feelin' that the answer isn't going to be a good one.

"In time you will remember," he/she laughs again. "However, for the moment you are helpless in my presence."

"Wanna bet?" I say, standing ready for the fight.

"Predictable," he/she says and the door opens. Elektra's brought in by Tyger Tiger. She's hurt but the medical equipment is keeping her going. And sedated.

"You have a choice, Logan. Do as I say, or, at a psionic push, Miss Hoan here will inject an air bubble in to your new love's left arm. I will keep her awake and conscious as she dies of an embolism. Painfully, horribly, slowly. Well, maybe not slowly, but long enough." I ain't got a choice here, but there's gonna be payback for this one.

"Leave her alone. I'm yours."

"A wise decision," he/she says. "Lie back on the bed. Now."

"Huh?" It's an odd request.

"You heard me. I won't repeat myself." I comply and Viper walks towards me, removing her blouse, pullin' it over her head to reveal her bare breasts. "Miss Hoan seems to think you are the best at what you do," he/she says as she undoes her pants and they slip down her legs to reveal her naked body and she crawls across the bed towards me.

"Don't do this," I whisper as she climbs on top of me, knowing I ain't got a choice if I'm gonna keep Elektra alive.

"Hush," he/she says as she kisses me. I taste her lips and inhale her breath and as she breaks away I can feel myself relaxing. "Think of it as something to get you in the mood, my love."

"What about those two?" I managed to say as she positions herself above me.

"They will be aware of what we're doing," he/she says, lowerin' herself on to me, with a sharp gasp. "Time to consummate our marriage, my love."

Next issue: The Shadow King's plans start to take shape at last as Wolverine and Viper come together, but what does this mean for Logan and Elektra