Choice in the Matter

The Great Escape

Summary

  With his body in control by the Zennan fugitive, Logan is helpless in stopping himself from injuring his close friend, Warbird, even though he's mentally conscious on what he's doing. A policeman, with pistol drawn, tells Logan to back away, but he and his fellow policemen are injured by a fleeing Logan. As he flees, Logan runs into Justice, Firestar, and Vision, who had heard about the encounter between Logan and Warbird against Powerhouse, and had come to check. Logan grabs Vision, and throws him toward Firestar, their momentum stopped by a parked newsvan. A policeman warns Justice about Logan, and Justice tries to apprehend Logan with a telekinetic blast, which, to Logan's mental relief, stops his body cold. But the Zennan fugitive was able to use Logan's body to distract Justice just long enough to let Logan's body free, and injures Justice while escaping.

  Logan temporarily regains control of his body, but loses control of it after the Zennan fugitive's spirit regains control, while revealing that Logan's body was "...everything I need ... and more!". Logan injures a civilian whose vehicle was damaged by Logan. From behind, Logan is taken down by Moon Knight, but Logan flips Moon Knight over his back and is about to injure Moon Knight when his own conscious tries to stop the Zennan spirit from doing it, telling her that Moon Knight was just trying to help. The Zennan spirit, though, said she would do what she must, and if it meant killing, so be it. More police cruisers arrive, and Logan flees. Logan couldn't make any sense on what the Zennan wanted. The Zennan tells Logan it might not make sense now, but she had came to seek his help because a lot of her own beings were depending on her to help them.

  Meanwhile, Falcon, U.S. Agent, and the Black Widow were devising a plan to take down Logan as a team. Logan, though, gets the first shot, as he tries to take U.S. Agent out. But U.S. Agent was able to deflect Logan away with his shield. Falcon attempts to help, but Logan manages to take out both of them. Another superhero, Solo, shows up with his arsenal drawn and threatens to open fire if Logan didn't stop. Black Widow tackles Solo before he is able to open fire because she wanted to try reasoning with Logan. Mentally, Logan is relieved that someone at least wants to reason with him, but physically, the Zennan was still in control, and uses Logan to try to take out Solo. Logan uses the Black Widow as a shield, but Solo manages to get a clean shot into Logan's shoulder. The Zennan, though, is amazed at Logan's mutant healing ability, which was immediately mending the wound. From behind, Logan is hit by an electrical blast by Cardiac. Logan is momentarily stunned, but is able to attack Cardiac. He frees Cardiac's staff from Cardiac's grip, which hits a nearby building. The energy in the staff causes the side of a building nearby to crumble onto him. Logan escapes once again.

  From above, Rage, Speedball, and the Black Cat team up to take down Logan. But, Logan, again, gets the upper hand, by managing to take out Rage. Logan, mentally, is very P-O'd at the Zennan now because she had made him appear to be "some kinda rabid animal" to people who he knows personally and respects. He mentally yells at the Zennan to stop. The Zennan, satisfied with Logan's capability, said that Logan was worthy. Speedball tries to take down Logan, but can't. The Human Torch arrives, and tries to do the same. From behind, Logan is attacked by the Black Cat, but Logan managed to get one of his claws right through Black Cat's stomach, nearly killing her. The Human Torch is stunned, giving Logan (still under Zennan's control) the opportunity to hurl Black Cat toward the Human Torch, which propels the two into a nearby water tower.

  Logan is *finally* able to regain control of his body, and asks the Zennan woman for an explanation on why she had done this to him, and why she wanted him. The Zennan tells Logan that she was from a prison world, a world where thousands of races were held captives against their wills. She had heard of one being who could make it through the prison planet's labyrinthian protective shielding to free them, and she had heard of Wolverine and the X-Men. She risked her life, deserting her living body, to come to Earth to find Wolverine, believing that he was her champion, who could free them, but she wanted to test Logan to make sure he was worthy. She would've asked him, but time was short, and she had to test him. Logan was more than worthy, according to her, as he was still able to prevent her from killing any of his friends, even when she had control of his body. She pleads to Logan to help her free the captives on the prison planet. Logan agrees to it grudgingly, though he wanted to clean up the mess that he had caused while she had control of his body, but time was short, and the Zennan fugitive said they had to leave now before they discovered she had escaped.

  Worlds away, on the prison planet, a slave reveals to The Collector (similar to a prison warden) that they had they had tracked the stolen ship, whose trajectory was destined for Earth. She reveals that they were able to confirm that the Zennan woman was involved in the escape, and had found her living body. The Collector prepares himself and his followers for whatever situation will arrive when the Zennan woman returns with whomever she was going after.