Inside the complex of the Red Right Hand (RRH), the followers gather around the old man. As they all raise their glasses, the old man leader tells them at long last, here’s to revenge. Simultaneously, his followers echo “to revenge!” As the followers drink their wine, they begin to die, one by one. Peering at the door, the old man laments if he could only see his face. He then tells his followers to die well. Die with victory in their hearts. Die with a smile.
Before he takes a drink, the old man sees a young boy standing near the door. When the old man asks him why he’s not drinking, the boy informs him that he wants to be there when he realizes what they’ve done to him. He wants to see his face. The old man tells him he understands. Believe him, he does. But he knows the plan. Better than anyone. They must first deprive him of his revenge, if they are to have their own. So come. Now is not the time for regret. Now is the time to rejoice. After taking a swig from his glass, the old man collapses and dies. As he does, the boy walks towards the door. He may be just a kid, but there are still many things in this world he has grown to hate. But only one he ever loved.
(flashback)
At that moment, the kid recalls the day when his mother dropped off at school. She told him she’d see him when she gets back. It had always been just her and him, for as long as he could remember. His father had never been around. His mother was all he had. She worked hard to provide for them. She worked her way through nursing school and was excited when she finally got the job. She loved it. She said she got to meet all sorts of strange new people and go on exciting adventures. She was never supposed to tell him about them, but she did. She thought he’d be excited too. And he always pretended to be. But inside he hated it because it took her away from him, sometimes for weeks on end. His only joy came from knowing that she would always come back. His mother worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and was killed, unbeknownst to him by Wolverine when she was trying to save his life.
Nobody would ever tell him how she died. Killed in the line of duty was all they’d say. Killed fighting the bad guys, he assumed, like a foolish little boy. She’d been dead for over a year before he learned the truth, even though everyone else had known it all along. A man called Wolverine killed his mother. The same man he’d seen lurking at her funeral. The same man he’d seen on TV sometimes being hailed as a hero. He killed her in cold blood, while she was trying to help him. And yet he never stood trial, never had to answer for his crime. Instead, they made him an Avenger. He’d been out of his head, he was told, supposedly under the control of evil ninjas. Did he think that should excuse him for killing his mother, he was asked. No, he answered. He definitely did not. Would he like the chance to pay him back, he was asked. Yes, he replied, without even pausing to consider it. Yes, with all his heart. One day, after being in six foster homes in less than a year, he was adopted by the old man leader of the RRH.
Sometime later, the old man is holding a meeting with the other members of the RRH. One of the men, Roger, the one who lost his wife to Wolverine during a battle with the Hulk says that they’re all agreed. They send him to hell. They steal his soul and leave it to burn in the fires of damnation. That’s what he deserves for what he’s done. The old man says they can do better. The question is asked – better than hell? How? The old man states all he knows is that he needs to suffer, in this life, just as they have.
Sitting in a corner in the room, the young boy listens to them talk. He recalls that he used to dream about his mother every night. But now he finds she’s even left him in his dreams. Now he only dreams of him. Sipping his wine, Daken tells the others that he’s given them all the tools they need. They’re standing right outside that door. The only question is, do they have the guts to use them? One of the old ladies says if they do what he’s suggesting, then how are they any better than him.
Roger says enough talk. It’s time to make him pay. He votes they send him to hell and that’s that. The little boy steps in and says no. Hell isn’t enough. Not for him. Hell is just the beginning. They do what this one, Daken, says, despicable though he may be. Daken tells the boy to mind his tongue. The boy continues that they use what weapons they have to make him hurt. Doesn’t matter who dies in the process, doesn’t matter who they have to kill. He has to feel exactly what they’ve felt. He has to know what it’s like to be him.
(present)
Entering the room with a rush, Logan sees the floor littered with dead bodies. Walking past the bodies, including the boy, Logan remarks “such a damn waste.” He hopes they enjoy hell as much as he did.
Just then, a video begins to play. It is a video of the old man leader, flanked by his followers. He says “Greetings Mr. Howlett.” If he’s seeing this message, that means that they are dead. He imagines he is left with many unanswered questions. Such as, who were they? And why did they go to such great lengths to make him suffer? He regrets they could not answer his questions face-to-face, but they thought it best to deprive him of the joy he would have no doubt taken from killing them. Nevertheless, his answers await. This is who they are. In this folder, he will find the faces of people who were precious to them – fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters. The faces of people he murdered. Keep it as a memento of this day.
Tossing the folder on the table, Logan angrily states that he don’t need nothin’ from them to remember these faces. The video continues… They sought revenge against him for what he had taken from them. That is why they sent him to hell. Why they attacked those closest to him. And if he is there now, in this room, then it can only mean that their vengeance is finally complete. He came there, looking for revenge against them, but instead, it is they who now have revenge against him. To reach this room, he killed five people…
Years prior, the members of the RRH look at five photographs laid out on a table. The lady who was resurrected by the Hand asks the old man if they know. The old man says they know what they tell them. The lady asks what they tell them. The old man tells them whatever it takes to get them to fight. The young boy says mongrels. They call them the Mongrels.
By way of the video, the old man tells Logan there are files on each of their Mongrels, as they were called. He believes he will find them interesting. They spent years studying him, searching for ways to make him suffer. Some of them spent their entire lives in that pursuit. During that time, they learned everything there was to know about him. He daresay, they came to know him better than he knows himself. They know who he’s killed and who he’s loved. They know everywhere he’s ever been. And everything he’s left behind.
With a surprised look on his face, Logan exclaims this… can’t be true. The old man tells him these Mongrels he killed; they gathered them together over the years from the far corners of the globe. They trained them to fight him, never expecting they could actually win. Quite the contrary, in fact… they wanted them to lose. They wanted them to die by his hand. Why, he might ask? Because they were his children. Now, at last, he knows what it is like to be them. Welcome, James Howlett, to the Red Right Hand.
As the video turns off, Logan peers at the folio in complete and utter shock and dismay. Looking up, the young boy laughs and says look at his face, before finally dying. When he does, he and the other members of the RRH find themselves in hell. Every one of them finds their loved ones and embrace, save for the young boy. He continuously calls out for his mother, but no response comes.
