Inside the Red Right Hand (RRH) compound, Shadow Stalker viciously attacks Logan. When Logan slumps to the ground and grimaces in pain, Shadow Stalker says look at him, trying to scream her name in pain. That is so adorable. It’s Shadow Stalker, by the way. But please, momma prefers quiet while she’s working, so… shhhhh.
Watching what is transpiring on a monitor, one of the old women members of the RRH recalls her childhood. After her mother died, she was all her father had. Well, her and his work. Her father was a man of great importance, a high-ranking official with the O.S.S. during the war. He said he knew things that few other men in the world would ever know. But none of those things ever seemed to make him happy. So she always wished that he would one day just forget them. Sometimes he did, too.
(then)
Walking into her father’s office, the young girl tells her daddy that she’s hungry and then asks him if he’s still working. With a blank stare, her father loads a single bullet in the pistol, spins the barrel, points it at his head, and pulls the trigger. When it clicks but does not fire, he tells her that it looks like he’s still working. The young woman then sees the notes up on the wall behind him. They read: “Keep an eye on Victor Creed.” “The Winter Soldier must die.” “Drop the bomb on Madripoor.” The Marvels project will destroy us.” Never trust Raven Darkholme.” “John Sublime is lying.” “Where is Weapon II?” “Landau, Luckman and Lake.” Fear the Hand.” The Red Room.” Who is Romulus?” Save Seraph” “Whatever happened to Dog Logan?” “The Hudson Bay Company.” Turning around, the young girl tells her daddy okay and leaves him be.
It was the same thing every night. She asked her father one time why his work was so important. He told her that, even though the fighting had ended overseas, there was still a war going on all around them. A war in the shadows that hardly anyone knew about but that would ultimately decide the fate of them all. There were bad guys fighting to rule the world and good guys fighting to save it, he told her. When she asked him if he was one of the good guys, her father never answered her.
After eating a bowl of cereal for dinner, reading a “Millie” comic and brushing her teeth, the young girl went to her father’s door and told him goodnight. When she couldn’t sleep, the young girl made her way to her father’s office to tell him she had a bad dream. In her heart, she knew her father was a good man, which would make the man who killed him something else entirely. Walking into the room, the young girl sees Logan dressed in black, holding a pistol. Her father was slumped over his desk, dead, and his notes were in flames.
When the young girl asked the man in black who he is and what did he do to her…, Logan tells her to shhhh and carries her out of the room. As he does, the young girl cries out to her dad to wake up. Outside the house, she watched her whole world burn to the ground that night. Her first thought wasn’t of revenge. That would come later. Nor was she yet worried about what would become of her, now that she was all alone. No, her first thought that night was of her father’s work. And that without him there to do it, it could only mean one thing… the bad guys were going to win. And though she would be wrong about many things in the years to come, in regards to that very first thought, she was indubitably right.
(now)
Continuing her assault on Logan, Shadow Stalker tells him that she must admit she thought his claws would be bigger. When Logan growls and lashes out at her, Shadow Stalker dodges his attack and hits him with one of the spiked balls attached to her hair. As she does, she tells him that she bets he says that to all the girls. Grabbing his face, she tells him to just give her one kiss and she promises him at least a moment of pleasure amidst the suffering. Logan responds by biting her on the chin. He then proceeds to grab hold of her hair that has the spiked balls attached and starts to pull them. Shadow Stalker tells him that’s more like it. He even pulled her hair. He loves it when a man…
Reaching up Shadow Stalker realizes that Logan has ripped her hair out and, with it, the spiked balls. Angered, Shadow Stalker leaps towards Logan and tells him that haircuts aren’t his specialty. He should stick to what he’s good at, like bleeding. With that, Shadow Stalker kicks Logan backwards and through a door. Picking himself up off the ground, Logan finds himself in what looks to be a Logan museum. Some of the items inside are Sabretooth’s head, a Japanese coffin, and various incarnations of Wolverine’s costume. Upon seeing it, Logan asks what the hell…
Entering the room, Shadow Stalker tells Logan that they bill him as the best there is at what he does. She hates to break it to him, but she’s had better. She then rushes at Logan as they prepare to do battle again.
(then)
Reminiscing, the old woman recalls that, after her father died, she spent many years adrift. She never stayed in one place for long. Never felt safe, no matter where she was. She tried dating lots of boring little men with their safe, boring little jobs, but it only made the fear worse. At the end of the day, there was never any question what sort of man she would marry.
Entering her husband’s office, she asked him if he was coming to bed. Her husband answered not now. He’s very busy. Behind him are notes, much like what her father had. These read: “The gamma bomb is coming.” “Is C.I.A. planning a coup of Wakanda?” “What is Fury’s secret plan?” “Omega Red is just the beginning.” “Kill the Gorilla Man, live forever.” “Beware the offspring of Lord Darkwind.” “Life model decoys are everywhere.” “Infiltrate Department H.” “Buy stock in Roxxon.” “Who is Romulus?” “Control the adamantium.”
Making her way to the kitchen, the young woman ate dinner alone while reading “Lady Chatterley’s Lovers” and then brushed her teeth. Her husband worked for the N.S.A. They met at a pro-McCarthy rally. Like her father, he talked about saving the world from those who would destroy it. The communist, the oriental, the mutant… Her husband said he woke up every morning with the goal of making the world safe for the children of tomorrow. Even though he never seemed particularly interested in having children of his own. His work was the most important thing. She understood that. She never questioned it. It was what she loved about him. His devotion to the job. There were times he would stay in his office until the wee hours, working hard to save the world. There were plenty of nights she never even heard him come to bed. She was a heavy sleeper in those days, she supposes. Not so much anymore.
That night, she woke up to find her husband lying next to her, shot dead. Upon seeing him, she calls out “oh my God! Please, no!” Standing nearby, Victor Creed asks Logan if he heard that, she said “please.” She’s practically begging him to do it, ain’t she? Logan tells him to leave her be. Creed tells him to mind his own business runt. Target’s dead, ain’t he? Anything else is just whatchamacallit – “collateral damage.”
Making his way over towards the young woman, Creed tells her she is about the cutest little collateral damage he’s ever seen. He then tells her to go ahead and snuggle on up to her hubby there and make some room in the bed for old Victor. This won’t take but a… Pointing his gun at Creed’s head, Logan tells him they’re leaving. Turning towards him, Creed says look at little Logan, with his panties in a wad. All right then, junior. If he’s so sweet on the little lady, he can do her. With that, Creed leaves the room.
Once he is gone, the young woman yells at Logan that she knows him. He’s a gutless little coward. She knows him. Logan proceeds to fire his weapon and leaves the room. As he does, he tells her no, she doesn’t. In truth, when Logan fired his weapon, he intentionally missed her and shot her pillow.
The woman recalls that he has many different names – Logan to some, to others, Weapon X or the Wolverine. His mother named him James. Some have called him a monster, an inhuman beast. Others say he’s a mindless killing machine, a weapon, who’s been brainwashed so many times he doesn’t even know who he is. He’s far older than he looks. All but impervious to injury. Impossible to kill. All he knows how to do is murder and ruin lives and he’s been doing both for a very long time. He is the foulest villain who ever walked the earth and he deserves every ounce of suffering and misery they can ever possibly bestow upon him.
That’s what she knows about the man who killed her father and killed her husband. That’s what she learned from the Red Right Hand. He was the thing they all hated. That’s what brought them together. Their thirst for vengeance against him, their need to see him suffer, just as they had suffered. But the more they schemed, the more he remembered the words of her father. About the war being fought for the fate of the world between the good guys and the bad. And the more she thought about that, the more she began to wonder which side she was on.
Looking at a board, she sees notes on “How to hurt him.” “John Howlett – dead” Elizabeth Howlett – dead” “Rose O’Hara – dead” “Itsu – dead” “Silver Fox – dead” “Thomas Logan – dead” “Dog Logan - ?” “Seraph – targeting” “Raven – targeting” Just then, the leader of the RRH comes up to her and says she looks troubled. He adds that the task they are facing is a daunting one, isn’t it? But they will find his weakness. He assures her. No matter how long it takes. But it’s not failure that bothers her, is it? She answers that she’s sorry. She just, she doesn’t think she can be a part of this anymore. She thinks she would like to leave now. The leader tells her, of course, by all means. This isn’t a prison. She’s free to leave whenever she likes. But please, before she goes, allow him to show her one last thing.
The woman then follows the leader to Golden Oaks Retirement Home. When they get there, she tells him she doesn’t understand. Why did he bring her all the way out there? Entering a room, he shows her an old woman lying in the bed. He tells her she’s dying of cancer. She maybe has a month or two left. The lady replies that she’s sorry but she doesn’t know this woman. The leader informs her they are in the most expensive nursing home in the country. Her every need is catered to there. When she dies, it will be a peaceful, completely painless experience. As pleasant and humane a death as anyone could ever ask for.
When the woman asks who she is, he tells her that her name is Victoria. Victoria Creed. He believes she’s met her son. He then tells her that Victor likes to tell people that he murdered both his parents when he was a boy. He did kill his father, that part’s true. But his mother he’s kept hidden away, living in the lap of luxury for years now. He visits her every other week. Brings her gifts, dotes on her like you wouldn’t believe. Victor Creed, it turns out, is a momma’s boy.
The woman then asks why they are. Can’t they just leave? The leader tells her that men like Creed have few things that are ever truly precious to them. Like her husband was precious to her. There are so few opportunities for man like that to ever know loss, the way she and he have known it. This is their chance to teach him. Putting a hammer in her hand, he tells her to kill her. When she says she can’t, he tells her that this woman gave birth to a monster. A monster who murdered her husband. This is her chance to even the score. He yells at her to do it now. Strike her down. Become the Red Right Hand.
The woman starts to cry and says she can’t. She then remembers closing her eyes and saying no over and over. And then opening them, thinking only seconds had passed. She didn’t know where she went during that moment. Somewhere deep inside her. Somewhere she didn’t know existed. When she opened her eyes, her hands were covered in blood. Somewhere she hopes never to go again. Smiling, the leader tells her that he’ll see her tomorrow night, at the usual hour.
Once upon a time, she believed in such a thing as heaven and hell. In God, in forever. But now her only prayer is that there is no god. And no such thing as forever. And that beyond the veil of death, there is nothing. The thought of dying doesn’t scare her. No matter the pain, no matter the circumstances. So long as death is truly the end. It’s the thought of the afterlife she can’t bear. Of having to face her husband and father again and tell them of their legacy. And the story of the Red Right Hand. Please, with death let there come only darkness. And let it come for them soon. Let it wash all the trace of them from the earth, so that no one will ever have to know all the things they have done in the name of revenge.
(now)
Amidst the path of destruction throughout the floor of the mansion, Logan emerges from the rubble with Shadow Stalker dead. He yells out that he’s still there. Do they hear him up there? He’s still coming. Watching via a monitor, the leader of the RRH tells him to come along then. And see what’s there waiting for him.
(then)
Years ago, an individual comes to the meetings of the RRH, looks at the board of “How to hurt him” and says to them that it’s not much of a plan the have there, is it. The leader asks him who he is, how did he get there. The person states the Red Right Hand. A rather lofty moniker for such a motley assortment of incompetents, all playing at revenge like children with their tiddlywinks. By the looks of them all, they have about as much chance of sprouting wings and fluttering to the moon as they do of actually wounding their target in any sort of meaningful way.
The leader says to him that he’s seen him before. Who is he? Where does he know him from? Removing his hood, the man reveals himself to be Daken. He says from his dreams, he would guess, as he’s the man who can make them all come true.
