"Not likely, bub," said Logan, grabbing Ogun's arms, trying to push him away from him, to break the hold. He did not know how Ogun was doing this, or why his master had turned on him, however he knew he was not going to let this happen.

"Your will is no match for mine," hissed Ogun, trying to fight the animal, but it was not something he had prepared for. He had tamed Logan's wild side, or so he had thought, however he began to realise to his cost, that such a creature could not be tamed, only kept in abeyance. Yet Logan had no only kept it in check, but kept it in a dormant state, so that Ogun had never noticed it was still present. It was a mistake Ogun believed he would live to regret, for Logan's will was greater than his was. He had chosen the right host, but had not broken him in correctly. The preparation, the years of work, all wasted and then the moment passed as the spell broke and the connection was severed, throwing both men back to the opposite sides of the room.

Logan awoke first, thanks to his healing factor, and he looked at his former mentor. His first instinct was to gut him for what he'd done to him, but for what he'd taught him, what he'd given him, he could never repay. It wasn't that he'd be looking over his shoulder for his sensei, but he knew he'd be out there, waiting in the darkness. Logan sighed and grabbed hold of everything he could carry and fled from the complex, knowing he would never return. Halfway down the mountain he heard Ogun's voice, calling and he instinctively turned to see a face in the snow, coming to swallow him, then he was buried alive, rolling and tumbling, Ogun's voice ringing in his ears.

"LOGAN!"

"You okay, Logan?" asked Chang, as his partner sat up with a start, waking from what had obviously been a restless sleep.

"Nope," said Logan, reaching in to his pocket for a cigar. "Same damned dream again. Every year around this time."

"Kind of hoping you wouldn't have it this year, old friend," said Chang, settling down again.

"Me too, Chang," said Logan. "Me too." Logan looked around the landscape. In the past ten years he had come to see a hell of a lot of strange things working for Landau, Luckman, Lake and Lequare. He travelled to worlds he'd never even dreamed off, fought in battles against foes who seemed unstoppable, and worked like a demon in their Crisis Management Division. However what they termed as a crisis went above and beyond what Logan had considered a crisis. War's between two nations was a crisis, the extermination of a race because the aggressor thought themselves superior - that was a crisis. Dictators ruling a universe, creatures creating doomsday weapons, megalomaniacs bent on whatever their ambitions decreed and to hell with what anyone else wanted - these were the crises the LLL&L dealt with these days.

"Wish we were home," said Logan, blowing smoke. "The damn war over there should be priority," he sighed, thinking of how interesting things would be now that the United States had declared war on Germany as well.

"Yes," said Chang, "I agree, and as son as we do this, I expect we'll get a chance to do our part however right now it is not what we're assigned to do. We've got to stop T'lam Esers from unleashing the Destroyer. You know what Grayson told us."

"Yeah, yeah, the Destroyer, born of the undead, once released he will be a being of unrivalled power, and that his very presence would alter the firmament itself."

"And if that's not a crisis, what is?"

"Yeah," said Logan. "How many times have we faced the apocalypse now though?"

"Seventeen, and since we're still here it's 100% success rate," chuckled Chang. "Which is why we're here now. We're the best there is at what we do."

"So how come what we do ain't very nice?" said Logan.

"If it were everyone would do it," said Chang. "What's the matter with you?"

"The dreams, I guess," said Logan, stubbing the cigar out on the ground. "If you can't trust your own mind, what can you trust?"

"For what it's worth, I trust you. I trust you with my life. So do most of the CMD. Speaking of which, it's your watch."

"Figures," said Logan and gave a grin. "Hope you sleep better than I did, bub." Chang nodded and lay down, closing his eyes. He was out like a light, which was a skill developed over time, because you never knew when you'd get a chance to sleep.

T'lam Esers, Warlock Lord of the Realm, was pleased with the progress of his work. It had taken many, many months of work to get to this point. The lesser demons had come and gone and only he, with the imagination borne of his half-bred human status, had the vision to make it come to pass. He had consulted various texts - the Darkhold, the Necronomicon and the Egyptian Book of the Dead chief among them. The study of them had taken many years, and he had fought and defeated many enemies to obtain these books, in the process subjugating a world and creating an empire. However that was a fringe benefit of what he wanted - he desired the books that held the keys to death itself, and those keys would unlock the powers of the great beyond.

He has used the dark and sorcerous scriptures to create a breed of special warriors, an army of the undead. He used them to keep order on his world, for the undead could not be killed by mortal means, and that ensured that any rebellions would be quashed as soon as they begun. Yet such control was not his true intent. He knew that his undead would eventually spawn a child, impossibly born of the undead, yet it was not true life. The creature that would be birthed would be a creature of the primal darkness, a force for the destruction of any that stood before it.

He would bring forth the Destroyer, and he would control this primal force, bonding with it and becoming its avatar. Then he would control the universe and beyond. Reality would be his playground and when he had finished with that he would move on to the next, and the next, and the next. He smiled as he looked at the world that would soon be engulfed in flames, hearing the cries of the mother to be as labour took hold.

"Soon," he said. "Very soon."

"Damn it," said Grayson, as the latest set of telemetry came in on the situation. "Damn it to blazes!" He threw the papers at the wall, then sighed, letting the frustration drain from him, and then he ran his hand through his hair, brushing the loose strands from his eyes. It would do them no good to see the CMD's Expediter loose his cool. The Overboss would not be impressed, that was for certain. It was just typical - the Destroyer was going to arrive early.

"Forces of pure evil are always so inconsiderate," said Grayson, shaking his head. Logan and Chang weren't going to make it in time, which meant they were going to need an edge, and he straightened his tie as he went to see the Overboss. Diana Culloden was a fair woman, and didn't let her emotions cloud her judgement unlike some other women he had met. Having a female Overboss was ahead of it's time, in Grayson's opinion, but that was LLL&L for you - ahead of their time in so many, many ways.

"Candy," he told his secretary, "I'm going to see Culloden. Let her know..."

"She's just sent for you, Valentine," said Candy. "Guess she saw the telemetry as well."

"Beats me why we have a telepathic section," said Grayson as he headed to see his superior, and Candy chuckled, knowing Grayson had never been comfortable around telepaths. He always thought they were going to change the world, one way or another and you'd never be able to tell which it was because that was the nature of the telepath.

"You wanted to see me, Diana?" he said as he entered.

"Yes, Val," she said, as she watched from her office looking down over her staff working hard at trying to manage every possible emergency that came their way, and she was determined they weren't going to drop the ball on any of them. "You've seen the figures?"

"Yes. They're not going to make it," he said.

"I know," she said, her voice tinged with resignation. Logan meant a lot to her daughter Jane, he always had. Tony had a head cold and it threw his psionics out, which is why the estimate was wrong. When he came back to full health, he realised he'd made an error in the calculations."

"Great," said Grayson. "So we lose our two best agents." He saw Culloden turn around and look at him sternly, and he knew he was letting his feelings cloud his judgement. However that was the reason he was here. "Unless..."

"No," said Culloden. "I'm not authorising that. We could end up with a worse threat than the Destroyer."

"Not Logan," said Grayson. "He's got willpower I've never seen before in my life. For my money, he could give any of the four El's a run for their money - Lake, included."

"That's one hell of a claim, but I can't risk a universe on your opinion."

"The Destroyer gets free, then it's game over anyway. And don't tell me we could try and contain it, Diana. You know damned well we can't."

"What about the cost to Logan?" said Diana. "That kind of power..."

"He'll survive it. The will that'll keep him sane will keep him alive. You have to trust me. You have to trust him."

"Okay," she said, softly. "But if he gets out of control..."

"Chang will do what he has to. Unlike the Destroyer, Logan's still mortal. I'm on my way."

"The Sword of Life will be waiting at the warp chamber," said Culloden. "Good luck, Valentine." He nodded and started to run. They were running out of time.

"Chang," said Logan, waking his partner. The young Asian man woke up almost instantly, his eyes bright and alert at the call by his partner.

"What is it?" asked Chang as he looked about.

"Trouble," said Logan. "I can feel it on the breeze, the taste of the air, the sounds of the land. The Destroyer's comin'." Any other man, Chang would have suggested they were letting their imaginations run away with them, but Logan's talents and skills as a tracker had saved their lives more than once and when Logan said he felt something, he felt it. It was more than the enhanced senses, it was the feral side of Logan which could reach the most primal parts of instinct.

"Guess we're a day late and a dollar short," said Chang.

"Not on my watch," said Logan, grabbing his gear. "Guess we're gonna have to put that recon we did to work."

"And rely on your senses to find the creature," said Chang. They'd made a pretty accurate call on the people who were about, however they'd not had a chance to see the layout of the fortress. There just hadn't been time.

"Huh," snorted Logan, thinking it was that kind of thing that they always relied on. They checked their weapons, the swords and pistols they carried, and Logan rubbed his wrists. He used his claws when he had to, but didn't count on them to win a fight. It was sometimes easier to work without them. No doubt about it, he thought, I'm either getting' older or smarter. Probably both. "Let's go." Chang nodded and they set off to battle the undead and save the universe.

It was a situation that suited Logan. The former meant he could unleash his skills as a fighter and warrior without feeling any remorse about it, because they were already dead and the latter was always beyond any real comprehension so he pushed it to one side and it helped him to get through it. Two men versus an army, he thought and gave the smile he'd perfected in his training with Ogun. It was his kind of odds.

"Maybe I'm not getting' older or smarter," he whispered and Chang smiled at his friend and then they went to work, and then the screams of the undead began...

Grayson rode through the Warp Chamber, astride the Daimler motorcycle and the Sword of Life strapped to his back, thinking the legends of the sword better be damned well true, otherwise they were all dead. And if they were true, then maybe they were dead after all. Stop that, Val, he chided himself. You mustn't think that. Logan will come through.

He thought about the weapon he bore on his back. As legend had it, the Sword of Life was created by God, or some supreme being anyway, as the counterpart to the weapon used by the Angel of Death. Over the years the sword of Death had become a scythe, but it was a sword of great power. The Sword of Death was the tool wielded to take life, and deliver souls to the afterlife, and more than that to destroy demons. However a balance was needed and a force for death needed to be countered by a force for life. However, therein was the problem.

The Sword of Life was a great tool, used to destroy falsehood, to take on the more powerful creatures spawned of the eternal darkness where even the angels feared to tread. These creatures were more than a match for these and only the Sword of Life would work against them, for it was a force for light. But the pureness of the light corrupted in some strange sense, because to be that pure meant that they would be on the level of the supreme being, and as use of the Sword of Death redeemed the wielder, the Sword of Life damned the user, and the evil took a hold of the holder in life and corrupted them, so that the dark power was unleashed and the Sword of Light would be used to destroy any that stood in their way.

The last recorded use of the Sword of Life was by a warrior named Kalin, a warrior in the Crusades. He had come across the Sword which had been buried in the depths of the desert, and he had used to stop an ultimate evil that had caused all the death and destruction in the name of God. The evil was slain, but Kalin became corrupted and had cut a swath through his own people, the souls of the dead entering him, and giving him power to break through dimensions. His power grew and grew, until he was slain by an arrow that pierced his throat. Kalin dropped the sword in shock at being taken so easily, and his connection to the power was broken and he died, taking the evil with him. The Sword became nothing more than a sword again, until the need arose to call the power it commanded.

Like now.

Grayson could feel the temptation to use the sword himself, but he knew he could not defeat the Destroyer. He was a good fighter, but Logan was the best they had - the consummate warrior - and Grayson only hoped Logan's willpower would be enough to prevent him from being corrupted totally. There would be a price to pay, for there always was, but Logan was a hero, even if he wouldn't admit it. It was part of his nature. Grayson could hear the sounds of battle and pushed the bike forwards, heading towards where his people would be. He was their Expediter, he would see them through. He could see them as he got closer, Logan and Chang fighting against an army. Their automatic weapons had cut through a great many of their enemies and now they were working at it with their swords.

The odds weren't with them, but it worked in their favour, as they did not have to work at avoiding their colleague, whereas the undead were working as if they were still alive and avoiding injuring themselves, which meant they were hesitant and slow. Chang was a devil when he fought, but if he was a devil then Logan was a force of nature, and each was wounded but still fighting with the tenacity of... Grayson couldn't think of a word to describe it, but he knew damn well why these two were the best.

"Logan!" he called as the bike leapt over a bump and skidded in to the crowd, sending the undead scurrying. The weapons they faced were otherworldly to them and now this machine terrified them with the noise and the wheels that ripped and tore those unlucky enough not to move.

"Grayson," said Logan, relieved of the momentary respite. "Wondered if you'd show."

"What are our orders, boss?" said Chang, panting his breath hot and ragged.

"We keep these bastards off Logan," said Grayson. "He uses this." He pulled the sword free from his back and threw it to Logan, who swapped it with him for his own blade.

"Sonuvabitch," he said as he felt the power coursing through it.

"Yeah," said Grayson. "It should kill the Destroyer before he gains his true power. You won't have long to use it, and there's a curse."

"Don't go in for that mumbo jumbo," said Logan, thinking that maybe he was wrong.

"Which is what we're counting on," said Grayson and Logan recognised the tone. If he became a liability, he'd be taken out and he nodded. "Go. Now." The undead had regrouped and were coming back. Logan ran and Chang looked at his boss.

"I really wish we had more bullets," he said, looking at them coming forwards.

"Like these?" said Grayson, opening a bag on the bike. "Not the Expediter for nothing." Chang smiled and Grayson opened fire.

"Time to die proper," said Logan as he advanced, but then he felt a knife hit him in the leg and his blood set alight, as if it were on fire.

"Little man," said Esers as he stood from the shadows and Logan realised he had no scent, no presence, not aura of any kind, as if he no longer had a soul. "You will not stop this. You will witness the birth of a new era."

"Not on my watch, bub," said Logan pushing forward, staggering towards the father who believed his master's poisons to have weakened Logan sufficiently for him to deal with. He was wrong and his headless body fell to the floor, this time permanently dead.

"Impressive," said Esers. "A normal man would have died from that poision."

"Night's young," said Logan, as he raised the sword over the mother, ready to bring it down on her belly and kill the creature she was spawning. He could feel it coming, that it was almost free of the confines it had been placed in. The Sword demanded that he bring it down on her but Esers was not stopped that easily and his allowing Logan to get that far was because he was casting a spell, to see the deepest secrets that Logan had within him, and bring them to the fore.

"So you do not like to kill innocents," said Esers.

"Get out of my mind," said Logan, but the Sword stayed poised in the air.

"Your resistance is weakened by the poisons, little hero," taunted Esers. "You cannot kill a child, nor a pregnant mother in cold blood. You are too noble a warrior." Logan closed his eyes. She wasn't alive in the first place and the child was no babe, but a creature of evil. He had to strike, but still could not.

"Damn you," said Logan, spittle flying from his mouth and he knew he was running out of time.

"Like yourself?" said Esers, finding something special that Logan had denied for so many years. "You abandoned the mother of your child and you knew." Logan's inflamed blood suddenly ran cold. "Yes, you knew. She couldn't hide it from your senses. You remember the last time you saw her, many years ago, leaving her with family and you could see it - Laura Creed was having your baby." The comment struck home and Logan turned to face the wizard, anger in him at the shame of the truth he had denied himself for so long. He had checked on her when he had joined the company and had found out she had died at the turn of the century, leaving a husband and small boy. His boy.

"Victor," he whispered, as he remembered the name on the file. "To hell with you!" he shouted and flung the Sword at the wizard, but Logan was weak from the poison and the aim was off.

"To hell with everything!" cired Esers and leapt at Logan. The wizard had inhuman strength thought Logan as he wrestled with the man, but Esers was too much for him and pounded at him again and again, breaking bones with each blow. His body screamed in pain, and Logan knew he was dying now. Esers then placed his hand over Logan's nose and mouth and began to stop the air reaching his lungs. "You will be my last sacrifice as a mortal," he said as Logan felt his vision blur and the wizard's face began to fade to darkness. Then there was a sudden silence and for a moment Logan believed he was dead. Esers removed his hand and knelt over him.

"At last," he breathed. "You have come," and Logan realised the Destroyer had been birthed. However there was one person who had seen his last.

"Your mind is strong," the Destroyer echoed in his head. "You will make a fine host."

"No," said Logan, fighting with all he could muster. "I won't." The Destoryer wasn't at full strength yet and Logan dived to the floor, where the Sword of Life lay.

"You will not do this," said the Destroyer, focusing on Logan as he grabbed the sword in a swift motion and had the blade at his chest, ready to slice through his heart. The blade nicked the skin as the Destroyer fought back. "Surrender, mortal."

"Laura," whispered Logan, using the memory of his first love, the woman he had dishonoured, the child he had abandoned and the memory and anger gave him the strength to somehow claim redemption for the callous on his soul.

He pushed the blade in and there was a terrible howling as a primal force was destroyed, but Logan did not hear it, nor feel the explosion of power being released.

"How's he doing?" asked Chang, as they looked in on his partner, lying there in the medical unit of Landau, Luckman, Lake and Lequare.

"His healing abilities kept him alive long enough to get him here," said Grayson. "We did the rest. He'll live."

"I know," said Chang. "I meant, inside."

"Not good," said Grayson. "He's tendered his resignation." They both knew that if the Sword did anything, it freed him from the Destroyer. The telepaths filled in the missing pieces of the picture when they returned, but his possession had weakened him inside, and they all knew it. "He says he's a liability to us now. The Overboss agrees, but she also knows he's one of our own."

"So we're letting him go?" Chang said, with resignation. Grayson nodded.

"He was taken by a primal force of darkness. It'll be decades before his mental protection's even close to what it was before the mission. It's a 100% record for you though. Nobody's done more in the Company."

"No," said Chang. "He'll have the 100% record. You know as well as I do, our luck can't last. He's used the last of his, it'll be my turn soon enough."

"Yes," said Grayson. "Well, nothing lasts forever." Chang nodded and Grayson left to make the arrangements Logan would need once he fully recovered. The Company would make sure that for as long as he lived, he'd be comfortable.

After all, the man was a hero.