"Elektra?"

Stick looked at the young woman, hardly believing his own ears.

"Told you, bub, I ain't Elektra, I'm Logan."

"No, you're not," Stick said and nodded at the window and she walked over to it where she could just see her reflection in the window.

"Ah, hell..."

"See what I mean," said Stick. "You're Elektra, and you think you're Wolverine."

"No, I am Wolverine. I'm just in Elektra's body."

"No," said Stick, closing his eyes. "I can sense you. Your path is clouded in darkness and you are far from here. Best guess is you're a copy."

"A copy? I don't like that idea."

"You're the one that hangs out with telepaths, you tell me," said Stick, looking at him and Elektra shrugged.

"It's happened before I guess. With Rogue and Carol Danvers, maybe Xavier and Onslaught, but they're special cases."

"Well, you need to figure it out," said Stick. "The real you's not here, Elektra is repressed within your head and the world's goin' to hell."

"I gotta figure this out," said Elektra and walked over to the mansion door and reached to her pockets, but there were no keys in them nor anywhere about her. She looked to the skies in frustration, thinking that this was not good. There was only one thing for it - she had to break in to the Xavier Institute and see if their computer systems would be able to figure out what was going on.

She looked over and saw Cyclops lying on the floor, not moving and she figured it was a shame he'd fired Beast. It was an even bigger shame that Jean wasn't here. If Xavier's couldn't help her, she'd go to find Jean but then she remembered she was still without her powers and she clenched her fists. This was not good. Not good at all.

However she knew where there was an access hatch and she knew the alarm systems pretty well. Plus the mansion's only defender was spark out on the floor so that was pretty much that. It was time to get inside.

Dr Jamie Munoz wandered through the subterranean complex to where the Shadow King was waiting, Viper and Arnim Zola at either side of him. Even though the Shadow king appeared to be a helpless babe, as one of the most powerful psions on the planet he was far from that.

"Hail Hydra," he said as he approached.

"Yes," said the Shadow King as he looked at the scientist. While he acknowledged that some of the agents had kept with the old ways, he didn't have time for them, but there was a certain pageantry to it that he quite liked. "Is everything ready?"

"The preparations are in place," Dr Munoz confirmed. "The adamantium supplied by Colonel Fury's forces is pure adamantium and we've begun the heating metal to get it down to a liquid state for the transfer process. I've looked at the equipment and I am confident that the bonding process can be replicated, once the system has been repaired."

"Excellent," said the Shadow King. Dr Munoz was the only person who knew who to achieve the fusion of bone and adamantium. Everyone else who had undertaken the experiments was now dead and Munoz had used the revelations from the American government to learn as much as he could about the process. The man had originally been looking for adamantium, but he had found much more. His skills bone grafting osteo-polymer bonds in the field of molecular biology had come in very useful and now he had the systems at Almagordo, he could continue his experiments. "Zola tells me that Logan is healing well and soon his claws will have regenerated so that we can start the process."

Munoz nodded. "There is the small matter of the genetic flaw."

"It's not present," said Zola. "Whatever the flaw is that you detected, it's gone."

"However," Munoz interjected, "that is in his pre-adamantium state. In the post-adamantium state, the adamantium changes at a molecular level when it interacts with the specific genetic sequence in Logan's body to become adamantium beta and while the adamantium becomes stronger as a result, it also creates a specific poison to Logan's system."

"Adamantium poisoning," said Viper. "I've heard of that. There were files relating to it when I reviewed the details of the Weapon X project collected by Silver Fox. I thought that had been compensated for."

"In theory ,yes," said Munoz. "Modern methods tell us that the adamantium should ion all rights be rejected by the body it's in. It is after all a foreign organism to the system, but the process managed to counteract that with the bonding. However Logan is different, because of his mutant abilities. Thanks to a defect in his DNA that occurs during the bonding, his body produces a natural chemical within his blood that poisons him."

"I do not see how this is a factor now," said Zola. "His healing factor will take care of it..."

Munoz shook his head. "His healing factor was combating the poisoning true and the only way he survived it was because of his healing factor, but there were times when his healing factor was non-existent that he would heal much more slowly because of it. The best example of that is after his conflict with the Reavers. Once the adamantium was removed and he had recovered form that, his regenerative powers were increased ten-fold."

"Is it an issue that can be fixed?" the Shadow King asked, finally.

"Yes," said Zola.

"No," said Munoz, "and with all respect to Dr Zola, he does not have the understanding of the adamantium situation. We know that Logan's healing factor was at one point at vastly accelerated levels, but since his encounter with Genesis, it has been at the level that it was at when he had the adamantium. Why? Because the healing factor keeps him from regressing to the more feral form, in effect counteracting the negative effects of his mutation."

"The adamantium will ensure he cannot regress," said Zola. "It prevented it before."

"Yes, but that was then and it will only prevent a physical regression. Mentally he could regress again. That was why he was almost mindless when he was found by James and Heather Hudson in Canada." Munoz looked at Zola, who looked at the Shadow King.

"Go on, Dr Munoz," said Farouk, making his decision.

"This time his healing factor will be working on two levels - preventing the poisoning and preventing the regression. It will not succeed because of the constant barrage and the immediacy of the injuries he will sustain because he has taken them before. The flaw cannot be corrected because it caused by the adamantium."

"And coating his bones in the metal is all part of the plan," said the Shadow King. "A rock and a hard place."

"How long?" Viper asked the doctor and Munoz looked at her.

"I'm sorry?"

"It will kill him, correct?"

"Eventually," Munoz confirmed.

"So how long?"

"If my calculations are correct anything between three months to a year," said Munoz. "Are you prepared to risk it, Farouk?"

The Shadow King considered what he had heard. Munoz knew more about this than Zola did, despite what the elder scientist claimed. Zola was gifted in other ways, ways that Munoz was not, but both men knew their subjects and when Munoz said Logan would die, then Logan would die. Three months was not a long time, and a year would be sufficient. However what Munoz had not factored in was Logan's will. His mind, his sheer determination would ensure he lived long enough to see the plans through. He looked at Viper who nodded.

"Yes," said Farouk, softly. "Continue the process. Wolverine will live long enough to suit our purposes and then he will die. Logan's legacy will live on through me."

"Hello, Yuriko," said Logan as he walked in to the room where Yuriko Oyama was being held. Her cybernetics had been deactivated and she was more or less helpless without them. She was strapped down to a medical table

"Logan," she said, thinking he was here to free her but then she saw his eyes and realised that it was not the man she had known all these years and her heart sank. "What do you want?" she said, turning her head and letting it slump away from Wolverine.

"To see an old friend," he said, coming in closer to her. "I was resting, but I got bored o' that."

"So you figured you'd amuse yourself with me," said Yuriko. "You must be enjoying this."

"Yes," he said, lighting a cigar. "I am. I just wanted to let you know when they go to work cutting you open, I'll be there to watch. It's ironic in a way. Fer years you wanted my bones, now I want yours. Well, the circuits wrapped around them. They reckon you won't live more than four or five months without them, but we'll see you're cared for. Someone will be in to feed you, bathe you, change your diaper." A tear trickled down Yuriko's cheek.

"If there's any part of you left," she said, "do the honourable thing and kill me now."

"There ain't," he said, letting ash fall on to her skin causing slight burns. "The boss needs your systems to rebuild what you damaged in the Chamber, to restore the adamantium bonding process to full operations. You're gonna be part of your father's work, Yuriko."

"Why? asked Yuriko. "Why accept it back after everything yoyu went through to reject it before from Genesis?"

"Because this time I want it," Logan replied. "There's a war comin, Yurkio, and I'm gonna need every edge I ever had. I got my memories back proper, but it ain't gonna be enough against the people we're gonna be fightin'. This time I know what's comin' an I'll be able to fight the pain and the madness. I'll be everythin' I ever was an' more."

Logan's voice was cold and clinical and the passion and fire that she had once known was gone, but it was still the same man and she knew that Logan was lost to them.

"If by some miracle I get out of this," she said, "I will kill you quickly, my friend."

"Never managed it yet," Logan said as he sniffed, tasting the air and then he smiled. "Guess we'll never know either." A team of engineers entered the room and Logan stepped back, giving them access to the woman before them. "These guys worked under Harlan Ryker at Cybertek. They were the ones who designed the Deathlok robot. They were instrumental in designing Cybertek's Cyber Warriors."

Yuriko turned paled as she looked at them as they gathered around her, fear in her eyes as they peered down at her.

"While they ain't Donald Pierce," Logan continued, "they know their stuff." One of them pulled out an electric handsaw and started it, the high-pitched whine echoing in the room.

"Please," said Yuriko, but they weren't listening to her.

"This may sting a little," Logan said and the engineers went to work.

Scott Summers opened his eyes and immediately felt the dull ache in his jaw.

"Bitch," Cyclops muttered as he remembered being punched out by Elektra. She'd hit him good and it'd been a long time since he'd been taken out in one strike. He looked about to see Alpha Flight's Omnijet still here, so that meant she was still here. This time he was ready for her and she'd regret coming here. He went over to the main entrance of the institute and saw the door was locked and he realised she must have broken in.

"She's good," he had to admit. While the mansion defences weren't impregnable, they were pretty damn good and if she was inside then she'd done a lot to get there. It'd hadn't been that long since he'd done that small job for Forge, but since then he'd been considering what to do next. Disbanding the Alpha team had been the right thing to do, because he knew there was so much more than could be done and as he opened the Institute and went inside he was met by the doubts in his head again.

Jean still hadn't called him, and he was so sure that she would have done by now. He needed her, through all their difficulties, and that would never change. He wasn't sure if he could do this alone. However what he could do by himself was deal with the intruder. Logan's girlfriend or not, she couldn't just barge in here and slap him around. He went to the war room first, to see if that was where she was, but she wasn't about so he called up the monitors and looked over the mansion.

He could see the damage that had been done, critical points had been hit in the mansion defences, but on the other hand it was things that could be easily fixed. It amazed him how precise the sabotage had been, as if she knew the mansion inside out and then he found her in what was Hank's old lab, next to the medical section. She also seemed to be talking to herself. Scott didn't like this and he knew that she needed restraining. He was going to have to speak to Logan if the runt ever showed his face again. He'd been at the mansion less and less over the last few years and it wasn't something Cyclops was fond of. Es, Wolverine had his problems, but he had still been an X-Man. He set off, using the less obvious route to get to where Elektra was and he watched as she did tests on herself.

Once he'd restrained her, he'd ask what the devil was going on, but he had to take her down first and he lined her up and fired an optic blast, striking her in the back and throwing her across the room, where she slammed in to a wall.

"Cyke..." she said, and there was an edge to her voice that made Scott pause a moment, allowing her to stand up. "What the hell was that for, Summers?"

"What was that for?" said Cyclops. "You're the one who broke in here, you're the one who broke my jaw, you're..."

"Logan," she said. "Cyke, I'm Logan. I look like Eelktra, but I ain't her. Well, I ain'ty Logan either but..."

Summers laughed. "That's pathetic," he sneered. "If you're Logan, then I'm Charles."

"I ain't got time for this," said Elektra and made a move towards him but Cyclops wasn't waiting for her to make a move this time and he fired again. The optic blast struck Elektra hard, pushing her back in to the wall, leaving a small imprint and this time she collapsed to the floor.

"Now let's see what you were doing," Scott said as he wandered over and examined the equipment. It was the machine that Hank and Charles had designed after Emma Frost had taken over Iceman, just in case something like that ever happened again. Bastion's people had taken the original way, but Hank had been able to build another one. "That's odd," he said as he looked at the readings but he could also sense something was wrong and he instinctively turned to see Elektra standing there. "How the...?" he said but she said nothing instead kicking him in the crotch and Cyclops' eyes went wide.

"Now I have your attention," she said, "there is a serious problem. I am sharing my consciousness with Logan, and you're optic blast put me back in charge of my body. Unlike Logan, I have no qualms about decking you. Neither does he, but he's got more respect for you than I do."

"I don't believe you..." Cyclops struggled to say.

"Then use this machine and prove it," said Elektra and dropped her weapons. "Because I don't know how it works." Cyclops looked at her. It was a far-fetched story, but could it be true? However...

"Okay," he said. "Sit in that chair and I'll set it all up." Elektra did as he requested and Cyclops smiled inwardly and pressed a button that suddenly restrained her, making sure she couldn't move. She was unhappy, but that didn't bother Scott. "Now we'll find out the truth." He looked at the systems and did some adjustments and then it worked and Cyclops gasped. There were two distinct mental imprints in her head, one of which matched the database file of Wolverine. It was faint, but it was definitely there.

"Logan?" said Scott, forgetting for a moment that he was the last X-Man.

"He's in here," said Elektra and Scott nodded.

"This may sting a little," he said and flipped a switch, sending a shock through the young woman's body and he could see the body language change.

"Dammit, Cyke, that wasn't called for. I get free, you an' me are gonna have a little chat..."

"Logan," said Cyclops, looking at the young woman and suspending his disbelief. "I believe you. What happened?"

"What happened? The Shadow King happened, Scott. Hyrda happened. Apocalypse happened. Things have changed. Ever since you came out of your coma, you've had a chip on your shoulder like nothing else, and the world's passed you by."

"Now wait a minute," said Cyclops, but Logan wasn't in the mood for this. This had been coming for a while.

"No, Scott, you wait. Open yer eyes - the world is going to hell, and you've done nothing to stop it. You've done the little things, taken small steps and you know it. You've over-compensated for mistakes since Chuck died. Cyke, Charlie's gone. You're the top man now, but the problem is you're not ready."

"Logan, everything's wrong..."

"Damn right it is. Scott, the Shadow King is making major plays to take over the world. Apocalypse tore the soul out of the X-Men. Magneto's running rampant in Genosha. The only active X-Men team is in Australia, and they've their own problems. The other X-Men, the people who could be doing something, they're gone, you got rid of them. Fer a man who holds such high standards, you seem to let a lot of people down." Scott shook his head.

"It's not like that. I have ideas, I have a way..."

"It ain't workin', though. Jean's left you, because you're not the man you once were. Yeah, she got used by Apocalypse and you two have had difficulties, but she's lost her son. Remember how she was there for you when you lost Nate? You didn't return it. When we thought Cable had died battling Apocalypse, you didn't cry, you just carried on as if nothing had happened, and I saw how hurt she was. You make a move, you'll get her back, because she loves you."

"But..." Scott faltered. It had been a long time since anyone had spoken like this to him. The others seemed to treat him with a reverence that he'd once used for Xavier. He wasn't Xavier. This wasn't the way it should be and he realised that Charles would not approve, that if he spoke with the man who had raised him, the Professor would not be pleased at all. "I'm not a failure."

"Never said you were, Scott," said Logan and he looked at him. "I remember a time when all you wanted was to settle down, to leave the X-Men behind. You and Jean, but things have gotten in the way, Cyke. We can't have the things we want, it's the price we pay for the life we lead. You can't just walk away."

"I'm not a failure," said Scott and Logan could see that something had gone wrong. Whatever was happening in Scott's mind was something he couldn't touch, but he knew someone who might be able to.

"Scott, listen to me. You need to get your head together, you need to talk to someone. Call Jean, or if you can't use the Xavier program that Cannonball set up. He set it up so he could ask for help, because he knew he didn't have all the answers. Neither do you, and we don't expect it from you, Cyke."

"I do," whispered Cyclops. "I'm supposed to replace Xavier. All my life's been leading to this. I can't escape destiny."

"You ain't replacing him, Scott, you're succeeding him," Logan implored, trying to reason with him.. "Yeah, you need to have your own identity, but you don't have to be a different person to do that. You and Chuck were already different people. But don't take too long, Cyke. There's trouble out there, and we ain't even close to bein' ready for it."

Scott looked at him and then undid the restraints. "I can't help you, Wolverine, Elektra, whoever. You need to go to someone else."

"Cyclops..."

"Please. Just go." Cyclops tone was subdued and a part of Logan wanted to reach out to him, but it wasn't who they were. They'd never been like that and it was too late to start now. Cyclops nodded and watched as Elektra left and he sat down and put his face in his hands.

He remembered telling the X-Men when he fired them that this was the new Cyclops and he asked if they liked him? Cyclops hoped they did, because he knew he didn't. How had he failed so badly? How had it gone so wrong? A single tear escaped from his visor and trickled down his cheek.

It wouldn't occur to him until much later that he'd neglected to ask Logan about the Shadow King, but by that time it would be way too late...