Three weeks ago…
A handcuffed Wolverine is brought to Maria Hill. The two greet each other, with Maria preferring to be called “Director Hill.” When Logan asks Hill where they keep his two Atlantean friends, Maria replies they let them go since the two have diplomatic immunity. Logan sarcastically responds Hill must hate that fact, as that means she can’t put them in that jail he hears Richards and Stark are building. Maria goads it’s almost funny how quick some people are able to label sensible legislation as fascism. Logan disagrees that trading liberty for safety is a sensible thing to do. Logan reminds Hill of America’s motto, but, Logan jokes, he could be wrong in it because he’s Canadian. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Hill wonders if all Canadians are as judgmental as Logan is, to which Logan jokes they are when it comes to America. Maria suggests two options for Wolverine: he can play ball and get immunity for his past actions, or spent the rest of his natural life (which given Logan’s delayed aging is interminable)… in shackles. Logan believes he’s got another choice. With a stern look on his face, Logan says he could slice through those shackles, grab Hill’s sidearm and shoot his way out of there. Hill reminds Wolverine about the collar around his neck, which is a level 10 power-nullifier. Logan smirks that’s a mistake most people make: they think his claws are the result of a genetic mutation, while in fact they aren’t a super-powers at all!
Logan snikts his claws out, using them to break through his cuffs! He slices the collar off his neck and jumps at Maria. He holds her tight and puts his arm around her neck so she can’t move. Logan steals Maria’s gun out of her hands and shoots bullets against a window, which shatters. Logan pushes Maria out of his way and jumps through the window, making his escape. Maria isn’t pleased with this. She orders her fellow SHIELD soldiers to greenlight contingency plan “Icebox.” She’ll be at her office… stewing.
Now…
Long Beach, California. Night…
Blade concludes that this city is kind of far away from his usual whereabouts lately, but it was worth the trip. Currently, Blade is in combat with Morbius, the “Living Vampire” (whatever that means) and receives a punch in the face. Blade knows he and Morbius have been at it a few times in the past, and the last time Morbius almost took him down. Some people think that altered Blade somehow, but Blade disagrees. Slapping Morbius in the face, Blade does admit their last battle gave him a mad-on.
So, when Blade read about Morbius raising all kinds of hell in Long Beach, he decided to take a little trip. Blade takes out his sword from its holster and thinks about vendetta. The thing about vendetta is that you’ve got to be able to enjoy it. And as much as Blade has been enjoying this little encounter, he just knows something’s off. Blade starts fighting Morbius with his sword, and asks the vampire what’s wrong. Morbius hisses and shows Blade a small device with an activated red light on it. Blade asks what it is. Morbius smiles that Blade will soon see. Morbius admits that he may not have “brought his a-game” to this battle, but he did bring along a few friends. Blade looks up and sees a lot of armored SHIELD agents coming out of a ship, gliding down on cables onto the street.
Blade is ready to fight the agents, realizing they played him. Morbius reveals that he signed the superhuman registration act. He sarcastically welcomes his “buddy” Blade to the new world order. The agents hold Blade tightly, who reminds them of one small yet important detail: he’s not a superhuman or a super-hero. So they can go step over somebody else. Blade punches the agents out of his way and a new battle begins. He wishes they would just give up, but knows they won’t because the agents went through quite a bit of trouble to lure him into the open. Blade thinks that maybe they want to talk to him about having blown up one of their Hellicarriers a few months back. Or maybe about the federal warrant that’s out for his arrest. Blade knows he’s had a few busy months.
Blade points his gun at the soldiers, warning them to stop because he doesn’t want to use this. One of the agents points his gun at Blade, mocking that’s just another thing they don’t have in common. The agent fires his gun and hits Blade’s chest!
Then…
Somewhere in a pub, a badly beaten-up man called Hector explains to Mr. Brooks, who is sitting with his girl, Glory, that he was beating up by something. Hector knows it sounds crazy, but he was beaten by… a vampire. Blade takes a serious look on his face. Glory cuts in, telling Hector that’s not so crazy at all. She explains to Eric that there have been rumors for months about a Skel working the row and some people think it’s a vampire. Eric has heard those rumors as well, and asks Hector if he actually saw the vampire.
With blood still coming out of his nose, Hector describes the vampire as being a guy wearing a cowboy hat. Hector tried to steal the wallet from this guy, plus his target had this really nice black raincoat that looked badass, but the guy got the drop on him. Hector remarks that vampires tend to move fast, but Hector’s blade surprised the guy. He caught him… straight in the chest. Then Hector cut the guy’s throat for good measure. While the guy was down, Hector went looking for what he could take from him.
Eric believes the story will continue with Hector saying his target wasn’t dead. Hector says the guy flashed his fangs at him, and those eyes… Hector realizes his only hope of getting out is by cutting through the guy again. Hector swears on his mother’s life that he was really fighting a vampire.
Now…
At the office of SHIELD Director Maria Hill…
Maria, sitting behind her desk, asks Blade, who’s sitting in a chair, how his chest is. Blade jokes it’s a little sore. Maria thought so, as the thing Blade went through isn’t something Kevlar puts in their brochures. Blade corrects Maria he’s actually wearing Dupont and that Kevlar is just the brand name. He wants to know, just out of curiosity, what would have happened if he wasn’t wearing the vest. Maria admits in that case, her men wouldn’t have taken the shot. They had a real-time, 360 degree X-Ray on Blade. They could even tell what he had for dinner.
Blade calmly says he already knows what he had for dinner. What he doesn’t know is why Hill went through all this trouble. Maria points out the matter of a ninety-billion dollar Helicarrier formerly known as Pericles V. Blade reminds Maria of the vampire situation they had on board, and that he actually did SHIELD a favor. Maria knows, and explains that now SHIELD is hoping Blade could help them out with another problem. Maria shows Blade a filebook, which has pictures of Wolverine in it.
Hill asks Blade if he has met Wolverine, which he hasn’t. Maria thinks that with Blade’s skills and resilience, SHIELD’s tacticians have pegged him as having the best shot at taking Wolverine down! Blade agrees, but he’s only missing a reason to. Maria asks how full immunity sounds as a reward. Blade has state and federal charges, and now he’ll get a complete “get out of jail free” card.
Blade asks Maria what her problem with Wolverine is. She explains Logan violated the superhuman registration act and he ticked her off. Blade doesn’t care about either. Maria thinks Blade should, if he wants SHIELD to keep turning a blind eye to his…. hobby. Blade doesn’t know what that means. Maria explains to Blade he’s a superhuman under the terms of the registration act, which makes any non-government-sanctioned vampire-hunting a felon. Blade still doesn’t care. Maria knows how uneasy the last few months have been for Blade. She’d think being on the run from the law would complicate his style a little bit. If he brings in Wolverine – dead or alive, Maria doesn’t care much – and in return, Blade will have carte blanche to stake as many vampires as he wants. Plus, he’ll even get access to SHIELD’s resources.
Blade thinks about it for a while. He gets a small smile on his face, and asks Maria if there’s some piece of paper she wants him to sign.
Then…
It’s night. Blade is in a dark alley when he’s met by a green-skinned vampire wearing rags. The vampire hisses at Blade, who jokes that didn’t take long. He asks the vampire what happened to his hat and black raincoat, and is a little disappointed to see the vampire wearing such bad clothes as those rags. The vampire growls, and Blade jokes the guy apparently doesn’t say much. That’s fine by him, though. He shows the vampire a stake, wanting to do all the talking himself. The battle begins.
Now…
It’s night. Blade looks at some buildings, and mentions that SHIELD was kind enough to hook him up with Wolverine’s Brooklyn home address. He easily climbs through Logan’s apartment’s windows and jokes that, when you’re Wolverine, you probably don’t have to worry much about vampires. He looks around at the empty place, joking that there’s not much to steal, either. Wolverine enters the room, and sarcastically asks Blade if he’s lost. Blade quietly hopes Wolverine doesn’t walk around in costume in his apartment.
Wolverine informs Blade that he just got back from fifteen rounds with Omega Red. He’s tired, pissed and all he cares about in this world is getting his hands on a beer. His point is this: if Blade wants to pick a fight with him, that’s fine, but he’ll be getting a beer first. Blade tells Logan that SHIELD wants to have a word with him. Logan realizes they’ve send Blade in to get him. Not knowing Blade’s name at first, Logan thinks he’s called Edge. Blade corrects Logan and introduces himself. Logan hates the registration act nonsense, and realizes SHIELD must have figured Blade was their best shot at defeating him. Blade confirms.
When Blade shows Logan his sword, Logan remarks he can see where Blade got his handle from and compliments him on the nice sword. Logan jokes he’s got Blade outnumbered by five, and snikts his six claws open. Blade jumps at Wolverine, starting the battle, promising Logan doesn’t need to worry: he’s called Blade because he only needs one sword. Logan asks Blade if he’s sure about that and slices his claws through Blade’s vest. He remains unharmed, and sticks his sword through Logan’s chest! Blade mocks he’s pretty sure. Logan isn’t hurt either. He asks Blade if he’s got a healing factor, and slices his claws through Blade’s face, which begins to spray blood.
Then…
The vampire tries to bite Blade, who does his best to keep the creature away from him. The vampire throws Blade over his shoulder. As he tries to get up, the vampire approaches Blade, hoping aloud that he struggles. As he tries to figure out what to do, Blade notices someone standing behind the vampire, quietly observing the battle. It’s the man with the cowboy hat and the long black raincoat. Blade realizes he made a mistake and is angry about it.
Now…
Wolverine punches Blade away from him and tries to pull the sword out of his chest. He succeeds, but then Blade shoots at Logan several times! Nevertheless, Logan still stands and continues to fight Blade. Eventually, he overpowers him and Blade falls on the ground. Logan goes to sit on him and holds Blade by his throat with one hand. He snikts out the claws from the other and wants to kill Blade, calling him a dead man. Blade jokes he’s actually half-vampire and that the night’s still young.
Blade pulls off Logan’s facial mask and points a vial with real vampire blood to Logan’s neck. Blade explains that, when the vial enters a person’s bloodstream, the vampire enzymes turns him into one. Something tells Blade Logan’s “healing factor” won’t keep him from vamping out. Then, all Blade will need next is a good stake, and the game will be set and match “bub.” Logan, taking a serious look on his face, wants Blade to go ahead and do his worst. Blade looks shocked upon hearing that, and Logan asks if Blade lost his nerve.
Blade denies that. He just remembered something. He pulls the vial away from Logan, telling Logan to let him go. This is over. He promises SHIELD won’t be bothering him anymore… he’ll make sure of it. Wolverine can’t believe Blade really thinks he’s going to just let him walk out of there. Blade really does. When Logan asks why, Blade says it’s because Logan knows they’re too evenly matched, plus Logan has better things to do with his time. Blade apologizes for the misunderstanding and leaves, leaving a wondering Wolverine behind.
Later, at Hill’s office…
A disappointed Maria asks Blade to repeat what he just said. Blade says that Wolverine is off-limits. Maria refuses to go along, but Blade is headstrong in this. Blade explains he doesn’t have a problem with taking marching orders. For as long as Hill lets him do what he has to do, they won’t have a problem. But unless Wolverine kills somebody he’s not supposed to, Hill will back off of him. When Maria asks what will happen if she won’t, Blade simply responds Hill will answer to him. Maria just wants to know what Logan could have possible said to him. Blade Wolverine didn’t say anything. He just… owes him.
Then…
The vampire grabs Blade by his throat and pulls him against a wall, ready to bite him. Suddenly, the man watching the battle interferes. He punches the vampire and asks Blade for a stake, who gives it to him. Blade quietly states he heard vampires moved fast, but this man, who can’t be human, moves fast as well. The man stakes the vampire, turning him into dust. The man tries to help Blade up, who feels cold. The man thinks Blade feels cold because of the blood loss, and gives Blade his black coat to wear. Blade thanks the man, who finally reveals his face: it’s Wolverine! Logan smiles to his new “bub” it’s nothing, reminding him that, now, he owes him one.
