Marvel: The Journey

At Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, in a surgical prep room,

Logan was lying on an examining table. He was completely naked except for a towel that was placed over his groin. He looked at the people around him and saw a red-bearded scientist. His name - was Dr. Cornelius which Logan could easily make out from the name tag on his uniform. He inserted a syringe in Logan's arm and drew blood from him. Logan turned his head around and saw an army surgeon - Carol Hines marking his body with an indelible pen. He looked at his body and saw that it was covered with strange lines. There were many dots and x's.

Logan looked at Hines and asked, "The hell you plannin' on doin' to me? I look like a Maori warrior."

Hines stopped and stammered with a scared expression on her face, "I-I-I..."

Stryker patted her on the back and whispered in her ear, "Don't say anything!"

He turned to Logan and with a smile on his face began explaining, "We're going to make you indestructible. But first, we have to destroy you."

He turned around and walked away. Hines completed her work and hurriedly walked toward him. They entered a long concrete door that was lit by fluorescent ceiling lights.

"Sir?", Hines called out to Stryker making him stop in his tracks.

He turned around and asked her, "What's the matter, Lieutenant Hines?"

Hines gulped and said, "A-Anesthetic won't work on him. His healing factor neutralizes drugs. Including painkillers."

Stryker stared at her and replied, "He can handle the pain."

"B-But...", Hines tried to explain, "W-We've never conducted any anim-"

Stryker cut her off and said, "No other animal would survive. I know that he would die. Some experiments succeed while others fail. That's why we call them experiments. The man's well-being is not my concern. What he would become - the animal. That! That's what I want. The perfect mutant killing machine! The perfect soldier! One who would only follow orders!"

He glared at her and said, "I need you to follow my orders. Do you understand?"

Hines averted her eyes and said, "Y-Yes... Sir..."

A few minutes later, Hines and two other medical technicians accompanied Logan, wearing a robe to a surgical theater where a filled plexiglass tank the size of a coffin was placed in the center. An array of stainless-steel machines crowded around the tank including a series of robotic arms that tapered into foot-long needles. One wall of the theater was completely glass. Behind the glass was the control room where Stryker and a few other people looked on. Dr. Cornelius and several other support staff were busy entering data into computers that were monitoring the experiment.

Logan removed his robe and handed it to Hines. He looked at the tank, turned around, and said to Hines, "See you on the other side, Doc.", before stepping into the tank.

One of the technicians fastened a breathing tube which was connected to an oxygen tank and inserted it into Logan's mouth. He lay down and submerged himself in the cold water. Another technician clamped Logan's wrists and ankles into place with stainless steel shackles bolted to the plexiglass walls. He watched the robotic arms swivel into place which were poised above him like a gang of metal vipers.

. . .

Inside the control room, Cornelius and other staff were reading out the screen.

"Adamantium temperature?"

"Steady at eighty-two-eleven."

"Feed lines clear?"

"Lines one through twelve clear."

"..."

"Prepare insertion."

. . .

In the tank, Logan watched as the robotic arms closed on him. The needles began to spin at high speed, like massive power drills. They churned the water in the tank as they entered it. Slowly, the needles entered his body. He writhed around in the tank as twelve long needles drilled into his bones, including the skull. However, as the needle drilled into the skull, the Memory Sphere immediately activated and absorbed every single memory in his brain. It stored the memories like data packets and shut itself down. Before the adamantium began to spread through the skull, it removed itself from the nerves and attached itself on to a nearby vein.

The people in the control room watched as Logan began to spasm in the tank like a man being electrocuted. He thrashed in the tank violently. His eyes rolled back in his sockets and the water around him began to steam.

. . .

In the control room,

"Heart rate's at two forty-four... two forty-five... two fifty... two sixty..."

"Sir! Adamantium reserves are 70 percent depleted!"

Suddenly, they saw Logan stop spasming in the tank and lay still in the water.

Stryker asked, "What happened?"

"H-Heart rate's at z-z-zero..."

"No! No! Noooo!", Stryker howled like a madman when suddenly....

* BOOM *

Logan burst out of the tank. He roared like an animal and slashed the robotic arms with his adamantium claws. One of the soldiers in the theater panicked and shot at him.

* BANG *

The bullet struck his head, leaving a hole that healed instantly. Logan turned to him slowly and roared. He jumped down from the tank and landed in front of the soldier, and slashed his claws at his head.

* SPLURT *

Everybody watched in shock as the soldier's severed head fell on the floor. There was a pin-drop silence in the theater until one of the soldiers aimed his gun and fired at him.

* BANG *

* BANG *

* BANG *

The rest of the soldiers followed suit and the mayhem began. Staff tried to hurry out of the theater while the people in the control room tried to flee instantly. They understood that the animal that was severing arms, heads, and legs couldn't be controlled.

In the control room, a normal soldier in a corner with a gun pulled his mask down and looked around. This seemingly normal 'soldier' was none other than Val. He looked around at the people panicking in the control room and grinned evilly while thinking, 'The mayhem begins! Nice! I'd use this to my advantage and follow through with my plan.' He looked at Stryker and thought, 'And, let's begin with him!'