In an undisclosed location, Romulus tells Ruby Thursday that he wants to know everything about Wolverine’s plan. When Ruby asks to know what’s in it for her, Romulus tells her everything. Ruby then asks so he’s the guy Wolverine is so freaked about. She then asks him if he’s so powerful, how come she’s never heard of him. Romulus answers that he’s powerful because she’s never heard of him. Placing her hand on Romulus’ cheek, she says ooh a man of mystery. She likes.
Romulus says to her to tell him what he wants to know and he’ll make her dreams come true. Ruby then asks what happens if she doesn’t give him what he wants. Will he make her nightmares come true? Grabbing hold of her arm, Romulus states she doesn’t have nightmares but her daughter does – every night.
The next day, Ruby Thursday meets Wolverine in an abandoned building. When she enters, Wolverine proceeds to ask her where she’s been. Ruby tells him getting her hair done and then asks where everyone else is. Wolverine replies that they’ll be there later. He wanted to talk to her alone. When Ruby asks about what, Wolverine says he thinks she knows what. Offering her a seat on a nearby crate, Wolverine tells Ruby to sit down and relax.
Sitting down, Wolverine asks Ruby where she’s been and asks her to tell him the truth. After Ruby says she was visiting a friend, Wolverine asks her a known associate, she knows better than that. Ruby tells him it was a friend who owed her money. Wolverine says so not really a friend. Ruby answers no, not really and then asks Wolverine if he has any more questions. When Wolverine asks what her friend’s name is, Ruby tells him she’s not gonna say. Wolverine asks why not and Ruby answers because she doesn’t think they’d appreciate an X-Man showing up on their doorstep, asking about her. Wolverine states that she seems awfully concerned about somebody that ain’t really her friend. Ruby says what concerns her is that they didn’t have the money they owed her. She convinced them to go get it. Wolverine asks and she doesn’t want him interfering. Ruby tells him emphatically that she does not.
After Wolverine asks her if she needs money, Ruby says to him that she just got unexpectedly busted out of prison. Her personal finances are in disarray. Wolverine asks if he used that against her. When Ruby answers who, Wolverine tells her that he thinks she knows who. He asks her if Romulus has approached her and Ruby answers no. Sniffing her, Wolverine notices that there’s no telltale flush o’ sweat, no skip in the heartbeat, nothin’. Ruby’s body is a mass of organic circuitry, more machine than anything else. Truth or lie, he can’t tell the difference. He wonders if she knows that. Just then, Ruby extends a bunch of tentacles from her head and attacks Wolverine. When she does, he thinks to himself, “Nope. Guess not.”
With Ruby’s tentacles wrapped around his neck, Wolverine exclaims to her that she sold him out. Ruby replies that she did what she had to do. Slicing some of the tentacles with his claws, Wolverine states that what she had to do was rot in that prison he got her out of. Ruby angrily asks that he thinks she owes him. Think again. With that, Ruby tosses some projectiles from her head into Wolverine’s gut. Removing her coat, Ruby tells Wolverine there’s only one person in the whole world that she owes anything to and it’s not him.
As Ruby continues her assault on Wolverine, he thinks to himself that Romulus found somethin’, by the sound of it, someone, to use against her. He doesn’t know what it is but it’s pretty damn clear she’s willin’ to do anything to protect ‘em. Guess what? So is he.
After getting slammed up against the wall with great force, Wolverine asks Ruby if that’s all she has. Unleashing a blast from her head directly at Wolverine and then wrapping her tentacles around his neck, Ruby calls him a stubby little dirt bag and asks him why he involved him in this. Slicing her tentacles again, Wolverine thinks to himself that he’s sorry. He had to, he has his own to protect. Leaping at Ruby, Wolverine slashes her and wounds her. Standing before her, Wolverine tells her whatever he, Romulus, promised her he’d do or not do is a lie. Once he has what he wants from her, she’s expendable. Standing up, Ruby says well then, she guesses she has nothing to lose. With that, she jams her tentacles straight through Wolverine’s gut.
Ruby proceeds to tell Wolverine that this isn’t her first time around the block. She knows how this works. She can take care of herself. As his stomach begins to heal, Wolverine thinks to himself that he knows she can. He just hopes she can take care of whoever it is she’s fightin’ for, too. Good luck, she’s gonna need it.
Just then, Cloak arrives with Skaar, Bruce Banner and the Silver Samurai in tow. Turning around, Ruby asks four guys against one girl? Sounds like her kinda party. With that, Wolverine yells out cover just before Ruby unleashes a bunch of projectiles against the new participants in the battle. Noticing that Skaar was blocking her projectiles from meeting Bruce, Ruby mentions how cute. She then asks them if they are together then. As Skaar leaps at her, Ruby dodges his attack and remarks that she wasn’t judging them. Cracking her in the head with a karate chop, Bruce tells her she is making him, Skaar, angry though. She won’t like him when he’s angry. Raising up her hand and making it glow, Ruby tells Bruce “you’re outta your league, pencil-pusher.” Bruce remarks he knows that, he was just distracting her.
Just then, Silver Samurai comes up behind Ruby and slices her across the back. After deftly dodging her counter-attack, a barbed tentacle, Silver Samurai is told he can put his sword away. He, Skaar, has her. Wolverine yells out to Skaar that she’s charging up again and to get rid of her. At that moment, Skaar tosses Ruby into Cloak who transports her back to the Raft prison much to Ruby’s dismay.
Standing up with Bruce’s assistance, Wolverine thinks to himself that puttin’ Ruby back in prison means she’s no longer a loose end. Romulus won’t waste time on her. Especially since he’s gonna be puttin’ all his resources towards him. Wolverine then informs his surprised rag-tag team that Romulus knows his plan, Ruby spilled. He adds that Romulus is gonna move fast. He already has a head start on him. He’s gonna isolate every element an’ either negate it or turn it against him. Once he’s cut him off from everything, he’s gonna hit him with everything he’s got. He’s gonna miss by a $%&*#’ mile. Shocked, Bruce asks what. Wolverine informs him this was all a setup, a red herring. He put it up for sale an’ Romulus bought every single bit of it. Bruce asks so this whole plan of his… Wolverine replies that it wasn’t his plan at all, actually. When Bruce asks whose plan it was, Wolverine tells him that he goes by the name The Answer.
The next day, in the Bronx, Wolverine enters an apartment where a man with a solemn look on his face tells him he’s sorry. Wolverine says to him that he knew Ruby could be trusted, that she’d betray him. The Answer tells him yes, it’s… what she does. Wolverine says but he let him go ahead anyway. The Answer replies because he loves her, because he wants them to be together again. He had to get her out of that prison. He tells Wolverine that he was the answer. As Wolverine starts to walk away, The Answer tells him again that he’s sorry. He just doesn’t know what it’s like loving someone who is incapable of loving you back. Stopping in his tracks and turning around, Wolverine thinks to himself “yeah, he does.”
Standing atop of the building, Wolverine thinks to himself that The Answer’s plan was a bust – Romulus knows everything. He’ll use every resource he has to armor himself against it. Smiling, he knows that means he has the bastard right where he wants him. See, The Answer was only the first person he went to. He had a backup. An’ boy, did he deliver. Romulus knows him too well. Anything he coulda come up with, he’d have seen comin’ an’ figured out a way to use it against him an’ for himself. In order for him to play Romulus outta position, he needed a plan that was so outside the box that nobody could have figured it out. The Answer’s plan was good but this guy’s was better. After Wolverine enters another apartment, Deadpool triumphantly tells him that he told him it’d work.
