As Logan sits by himself, he thinks about where he is. It’s an ancient temple built into a wooded hillside on the outskirts o’ Tokyo. They built it out o’ wood ‘cause it was a place to reflect on the impermanence o’ the material world. It’s a haven o’ serenity just a tram ride away from the busiest urban center in the world. It’s the place Mariko and he had planned on for their weddin’.
From behind Logan a voice calls to him and says that she knew he’d come there on this day to light incense in her memory. The voice belongs to Yukio and she mentions that it is the anniversary of Mariko’s death and all. She adds that he’s come a long way to make a gesture that nobody else would care about. She then tells Logan that he has the makings of a bodhisattva. Walking toward Yukio, Logan informs her that there’s too much blood and bad karma on his hands for that. Besides, she knew he’d be there. Yukio tells him so did others and warns Logan not to go down the stairs, they’re waiting on him. Logan tells her that he’s trying to make peace with his past and he can’t do that by runnin’ away from it. With that, he takes the sword out of its holder on his back and tosses it behind him. He then asks Yukio to watch it for him.
As Logan walks down the stairs, he is watched by ninjas from the Hand. Logan says out loud that it’s a beautiful day. The birds are singin’ in the eucalyptus. The breeze carries the scent o’ pine and jasmine – it’s a good day to die. The ninjas use their bolos to trap both of Logan’s arms and tell him that it is good that he is resigned to his fate. Logan tells them that he wasn’t talkin’ about him. The ninjas say to him that it is his arrogance that has sealed his fate. They ask if he thought he could get away with maiming a master of the hand. They tell him that his life is theirs now. Logan responds by popping his bone claws and telling them that they have to take it first and he ain’t makin’ that easy. With that, he uses his strength to fling the ninjas restraining him away.
In the tussle, he is cut on the forehead by one of the ninjas behind him. Upon realizing it, Logan angrily challenges them to come on and get this over with. At that time, Yukio sneaks up behind one of the ninjas and asks if the ninjas of the Hand are so inept that they would slay the wrong man. The ninja asks his attacker who she is and what she wants. Yukio introduces herself and tells him that she is a friend, a free agent. She asks aren’t the Hand guys not supposed to be charged with bringing the head of Logan. And is this Logan not possessed of adamantium claws and a mutant healing factor? The ninja says of course, that is well known. Yukio tells him that this poor fellow has claws of bone and continues to bleed. She says that perhaps this is a ploy to draw ninjas away from the protective circle of their master, perhaps the real Logan wants the death of Matsuo to be personal.
As the ninjas disperse, they tell Yukio that they know of her – the female ronin with the man’s name, they will not forget this favor. With the ninjas gone, Logan tells her that he didn’t need that. Yukio tells him that she thinks maybe he did. She just returned from America where she spent some time with Storm. She had an exciting little adventure, one she’ll have to tell him about sometime. In addition, Storm told her the whole story.
In Tokyo, Logan makes his way to Yukio’s place. When he sees it he mentions that she still has the same ol’ place. Yukio says who can afford to move. Once inside, she says to him that it’s a little pathetic. All the adventures, the fast life and this is all she has. Logan tells her that he has a little bit stashed away with Landau, Luckman and Lake. Maybe he can help her out. Yukio tells him that she doesn’t need anything more than that. It’s not as if she had a family to look after. She tells him that’s his money and to keep it for a rainy day. Logan tells her that he don’t know how many days he got left, rainy or otherwise. That’s sort of the reason for his trip – to say good-byes and set things straight. Yukio replies that he doesn’t make things right by coming into her home with all this glumness. She tells him to pour her some drinks and they’ll sing a few songs and tell lies about all the good times they had. With that said, Yukio embraces Logan in a hug.
In a remote section of Canada, Bloodscream, wearing a hat and coat, drives a truck down the road. When the purloined conveyance can delve no deeper into the tangled wood, the forest redolent with bygone savories, he takes off on foot. He senses that the aura of ancient magick is there. The revenants of mystic skeins, unravel’d twixt the birches like unto the pagan sorcery that unmade the humanity in him and left him to live this pale parody of life.
Sniffing the air, he catches another scent there. It is most intriguing, wafting from the pile of Indian bones before him. There is mouldy death and something out of place in time there amongst the bones of forgotten aborigines. In the pile of bones he finds the body of a girl-child. She is fair and unspoilt by decay whilst all around her is fallen to dust. Holding her up he notices the fabric of her pinafore hath been woven of synthetic thread yet the mound hath lain undisturbed for centuries. He then realizes that the girl is an automaton – a simulacrum of clockwork and captive ethers. He wonders how it can be, perhaps the answer lies within the little mannequin.
With that, Bloodscream drags her through the snow by her leg to the truck where he hooks her up with jumper cables. As he does, he mentions that ‘tis truly the spark of life in this instance. With this introduction, may the dormant rise and take on the semblance of divine animation. When the power hits the girl she wakes up with a jolt. She calls out howy smoke! She sees a twuck and realizes that her battewies have been wecharged. She asks what year it is. Bloodscream informs her that it is nineteen hundred and ninety four. The girl replies good gwief, thwee hundwed years have gone by since they put themselves to system sleep.
Digesting her tale, Bloodscream mutters “android time travelers,” to which the girl says that’s wight. She introduces herself as Elsie Dee and asks him if he knows a Mr. Wogan, who caws himself Wolverwine. Bloodscream tells her verily. In fact, they are quite a bit more than passing acquaintances. He then tells Elsie that she can call him Mr. Bloodscream.
Shortly, Elsie takes off running through the forest with Bloodscream in tow. She tells him to come on, they have to dig Albert out of the buwial mound and jump start him. Bloodscream asks who? Elsie tells him that he’s a Pierce-built andwoid, like she is. She named him after Einstein after she souped up his wogic and memowy. Bloodscream questions that he is a savant automation? Before long, Elsie finds Albert and hooks the jumper cables to him. She mentions that he is none the worse for wear despite the howwible time with Siksika when they set him on fire and made him wun the gauntwet. Looking at him, Bloodscream says that he hath a singularly horrific countenance. Elsie angrily asks howiffic and asks what that means – he wooks just wike Wogan.
Once Albert awakens and runs a bio-scan *bzt* spectrographic analysis of exhalation-carbon dating of skeletal tissue *bzt* voice stress/blink rate/twitch factor *bzt* raw data processing. When he is done he tells Elsie that, despite outward appearances, *bzt* the one before them is not human. Elsie looks at Bloodscream and says that he wies like a wug. Bloodscream tells them to sooth and puts his arms around both Albert and Elsie Dee. He tells them a dissembler he is, verily for is he not one of the persecuted and hounded, just as thy friend Logan is. Is he not, as he is a mutant?
On Muir Island, Zoe Culloden tells Moira McTaggert, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler that she is determined to do something positive for Logan whether he wants it or not. In fact, as an agent of Landau, Luckman and Lake, it is her job to see to his future. Moira tells her that he may not ha’e one. The test results were nae good. His condition and immune system are deteriorating and there seems to be a physical regression to some ancient gene-memory.
Zoe tells them what’s why she’s going now; she may have some leads that might help Logan. Kitty asks why she didn’t tell Logan. He’s gone off to Japan to do Lord-knows-what. There are all those Hand ninjas with grudges against him and the Silver Samurai and… Zoe tells her that he didn’t go to pick a fight, he went back to make sure his ward was being taken care of. Kitty then asks how he is going to find her again when he leaves Japan. Zoe tells her that she gave him her card. With that, she loads her car onto the arriving helicopter and takes off, much to Kitty’s chagrin.
On the streets of Tokyo, three young girls walk down the street from school. One of the girls talks about one of the other girls in their group and says why they have to put up with going to school with her, a lower-class orphan is beyond her, it’s disgraceful. The other girl agrees, it’s almost as bad as a foreigner. The tall girl then says to the orphan that is some fairy tale about her mother getting crushed by a falling building that was toppled by a giant dragon and asks if she is sure she isn’t really the bamboo princess in disguise. The shorter girl says princess and scoffs. She adds that is about as believable as that mysterious samurai protector of hers.
The orphan has finally heard enough and yells at them, telling them that it is true, she saw him, she remembers. He had armor, it was orange and brown and he had hair on his arms like a gaijin. The taller girl says hairy arms, maybe it was an ape. Maybe it was King Kong. Both of the girls begin to laugh hysterically. The orphan tells them to shut up and kicks the tall girl in the shin. The taller girl then tells the shorter girl, Nobu, to hold the orphan so she can teach her some respect. Nobu tells the taller girl, Teru, to teach her good.
Just then, Logan shows up and tells the two girls to stop. When the girls run away, Logan offers his hand to the orphan and asks her if they hurt her and if she needs help. The orphan tells him to get away from her. She tells him that he can’t help her, nobody can help her. As she runs away, Logan stands there, dejected.
Later, outside a restaurant, the orphan’s mother grabs her by the ear and berates her for what she has done to her school uniform and calls her an ungrateful brat. She asks her if she knows how much those things cost. The dad, who is in the process of waxing his BMW, yells at her for fighting with her betters again. That she was so overcome with envy of the other girls because they are so much better than her. He tells her that she has to show more humility. He then adds that after all she, Amiko, is just a…
Just then Logan asks that she is ‘just a what?” The dad asks him what he wants and who he is. Logan gives him his card. Looking over the card, the dad reads Zhio-ay Cu-ro-dan, Randau, Ruckman and Rake. The mom recognizes Randau and Ruckman as the ones who sign the checks for the upkeep of the brat. The dad asks what kind of name is Zoe. Logan tells him that it is the Scottish spelling of Zoe. He then tells them that he is there to interview the child and inspect her living quarters on behalf of her benefactor, Mr. Logan. The father says he wants to see her room, come follow him. Logan mentions that they didn’t know the “small business” they owned was a nomi-ya, a drinking shop.
Once in their dwelling, Logan mentions that they certainly have a lot of consumer goods. The father says they have more in storage. They used to sell luggage, but who can travel anymore? He then points to a small room and tells him that is where the brat sleeps. Looking around the room, Logan sees that it is very small and only has a bed in it. The father says that it is too good for her, if he asks him. Logan tells him that he is required to interview the child. The father leaves Amiko with him and tells him that he has five minutes, she has chores.
Once they are alone, Logan tells Amiko that he wants her to know that her benefactor did not know about this. They thought she was being cared for by a nice family. Amiko hangs her head and says the good samurai knows but he is far away and can’t come himself. She remembers that he promised her mother that he would always take care of her and she saw it in his eyes that he told the truth. Running her hand over the drawing she did of the samurai, she says that he is very busy saving many other people from fierce dragons but someday he will send a fierce ninja to punish the horrible people and take her away to a nice place.
At that moment, the father stepped in and said oooooh – he’s so scared. He tells the gaijin that time is up and to get out of there and never come back again. Logan turns to him and says that he’s been pocketing Amiko’s money every month. He’s going to get her taken away from him and put in a decent home. The father says that the gaijin thinks he can come there and buy little Japanese orphans. He can try messing with their social services system. Her money is tied up in a special trust that pays out to them. There’s no way he can take her away from them or stop them from getting her money. He then begins to laugh and tells Logan to beat it, before he calls the cops.
Later that night, Amiko’s step-father and step-mother are watching a movie with ninjas on their big screen television while drinking frozen margaritas and sitting on their reclining vibro loungers. While they do, Logan climbs into Amiko’s room wearing his yellow and blue costume and a mask. Amiko notices him as a ninja and asks if he is there to come and rescue her. Logan tells her to keep it quiet, he has to cover all the bases first. With that, he calls out loudly that now, the low-born dogs must face the wrath of the Hand. The father turns to the mother and says that sounded like somebody was right behind them. The mother replies that the home theater sound system was worth every yen they paid for it.
Behind them, Logan is holding Amiko and tells them that this is no video soundtrack. He says that the child was under the secret protection of the Hand, and they have displeased them greatly. She will no longer be under their care. Amiko tells them that she told them the good samurai was going to send a ninja to rescue her. The father and mother raise and arm themselves with a golf club and a ski rod, respectively. The father says that’s no ninja mask; it’s a pair of pantyhose. He adds that he’s no ninja and especially not one of the Hand. He’s just that stupid gaijin with underwear on his head.
The mother tells her husband, Tosh, to whack him, knock his block off. Logan, using his sword, slashes the air and calmly walks past them. Once past them, their weapons fall apart, as well as the glasses they were holding in their hands much to their surprise. Logan recommends that they think abut immigrating to someplace like Peru.
Still later that evening, Logan and Amiko have made their way to Yukio’s place. Logan says to Yukio that he made her a promise and he ain’t been all that good at keepin’ it all this time. He tells her that a kid needs a parent, not a trust fund. He tried to set it straight, but he don’t know if he’s gonna be around to see it through. He knows it’s a lot to ask o’ anybody he knows, but he can set it up with Landau, Luckman and Lake so there won’t be any financial burden. When Yukio doesn’t respond, Logan says that even if she can find her some real nice folks… Yukio tells him that even if she could, which she can’t, the child welfare authorities would never permit a ronin like her to…
Just then, the door opens and the Silver Samurai enters. He says that the child welfare authorities are petty bureaucrats who are easily bought by one as powerful as the Obayun of the Yashida Clan. Yukio asks Logan what the Samurai is doing there. The Samurai replies that a bargain has been made and now, terms must be met. Logan tosses his sword to the Samurai. Upon catching it, the Silver Samurai exclaims that, at last, the honor sword is restored to the Yashida Clan. Logan tells him that’s right Harada-san and that he is now honor-bound by it to see to the welfare of the child. As Yukio hugs Amiko, she tells Logan that she will raise her as if she were her own, she promises. Logan gives Amiko a kiss and walks out the door. As he does, he says to Yukio that he knows she will; he knows she will.
