The minister concludes the wedding ceremony: “By the power vested in me by the city of Las Vegas and the State of Nevada, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may…er… you may…” he flounders as he sees the newlyweds, Wolverine and Sara Pezzini, already locking lips, oblivious to his words. The minister interjects and stresses that will be twenty dollars, please!
“Viva Las Vegas, baby,” Wolverine tells his beautiful pride, a scantily-clad Sara Pezzinni, dressed only in her bra, a pair of white shorts and white high-heel boots, complete with the mandatory bridal veil. Tonight, Wolverine feels deliriously happy. It can’t get any better. However, he and his wife can give it a try, he cheerfully contemplates. The ceremony concluded, Wolverine exits the chapel in customary fashion, carrying his bride in his arms, before the couple enters the enormous limousine waiting for them outside.
Sara sits on top of him and kisses him… and just then, Wolverine’s prediction that it can’t get any better is proven painfully correct: all of a sudden, he screams with pain and squeezes the bottle of whiskey he was holding. Under the tremendous pressure of his fist, the bottle shatters. Terrified, Sara asks him if everything’s okay; what’s the matter? Gritting his teeth, Wolverine explains that something hurts, deep in his chest. He feels his trunk and exclaims, “What the hell?” as he realizes it’s inexplicably swollen. Sara confirms it looks nasty and tries to touch it. Wolverine groans that it feels rough to the touch, like there’s something beneath the skin…
Suddenly, he howls in pain as a spike is violently expunged from his chest. He then collapses as a panicked Sara begins screaming: “Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!” Addressing Wolverine as “Scotty,” she begs him not to die on her! She then urges the driver to take them to Desert Palms Hospital… and to floor it! “No!” Wolverine protests – no hospital! “Are you insane?” Sara snaps at him. She stresses this is her wedding day – she is not going from bride to widow in the same damn hour!
Suddenly, she gasps in shock as she sees the open wound on Wolverine’s chest healing itself at a rapid pace. Within seconds, it is like the wound was never there. Wolverine and Sara exchange glances of pure astonishment.
Later, Wolverine and Sara are still in their limousine, facing each other, perplexed and wary. Sara remarks this is unreal. Wolverine seconds that. Sara grouses there’s no more champagne. Logan asks her if she’s drunk. Sara admits she’d wish. She remarks this sucks. Wolverine agrees. He suggests they take a look at the spike. Sara tells him it’s stuck on the briefcase. They notice a card on the case. Wolverine reads it: “For you new lives together, may love conquer all.” Wolverine wonders whose gift it is. Sara doesn’t know. Logan suggests she takes the spike while he opens the briefcase. In your dreams, Sara retorts – they’ll open this case together.
They finally open it, only to see it packed full with money. “How much?” an astounded Sara exclaims. Logan estimates it must be at least a million. Upon realizing they’re rich, an ecstatic Sara hugs and kisses Logan. Still, a suspicious Wolverine wonders where it came from. “The tooth fairy, who cares?!” Sara impatiently retorts. “What about the spike?” Logan insists. “Who cares?” Sara snaps back. “All that matters is that I love you, Scott!” she stresses. Wolverine protests that’s not his name! Sara retorts that of course it is – it says so on the marriage license! He is Scott! Wolverine goes berserk and roars that’s not his name – and then unsheathes his claws and presses them against Sara’s throat!
Wolverine and Sara don’t talk much after that incident; there isn’t a whole lot either of them can say. Sara soon finds herself sitting alone in a restaurant, having a drink by herself, brooding and staring at her wedding ring, lamenting everything that happened. As she studies the spike that was expelled from Wolverine’s torso, she watches in awe as it is absorbed by her right hand and merges with it. Moments later, it re-emerges, now fully covering her.
Wolverine suddenly shows up behind her. Noticing she has used her claw to carve something on her table, he asks her what she’s drawing. Good question, Sara replies; what is she drawing? Looks like he isn’t the only one with an edge, she quips. She realizes she has carved the face of a young woman. She senses she knows this girl – but more than that, she can’t remember.
Wolverine hands her his cell phone and urges her to make a call; the first number that pops into her head. Sara complies. She is greeted by an answering machine, which informs her she’s reached the voice mail of Sara Pezzini of the New York Police Department. Sara immediately realizes the badge is her; she’s a cop.
Now it’s Wolverine’s turn. He instinctively calls the 9-1-4 area code. Sara realizes that’s directly north of the city. A female voice answers the phone: “Xavier Institute, good evening.” Wolverine instantly recalls her name: “Sage?” “Logan?!” Sage exclaims in shock, realizing who he is. She asks him where he is. What’s his status? He’s been missing for three days. They were getting concerned. Does he require assistance? “Not yet,” Logan replies. He’s still got some things to work out. He promises he’ll be in touch and hangs up.
The morose duo sits silently on the table, until Sara breaks the silence, telling Wolverine that he’s a mutant. “Come again?” Wolverine exclaims. Sara reminds him she’s a detective. The healing; the blades in his hand; the place he called. He’s from that school in Westchester. He’s one of the X-Men. He is Wolverine. Logan retorts his name’s Logan and has a sip of drink. Mocking her, he tells her that since she’s tonight’s “Answer Gal,” what’s the spike that she now wields on her hand? Sara explains it’s a fragment of the Witchblade. “The Digitabulum,” Logan remarks. Sara asks him if he knows it. Wolverine admits he knows of it. He’s been around awhile. He’s heard some stories.
Pointing at the woman’s face she just carved on the table, Sara asks him if she’s from her side of the street or his. “I’d say a little of both,” Logan replies. Sara wonders: what’s her game? “Happily ever after, maybe?” Wolverine exclaims. He reminds her they’re in love. They’re married. They got a cool million in cash. What do they need with Kaylie? What do they care? They go their way, she goes hers, end of story. Sara notices that he talks like that’s a good thing. The best that ever happened, Logan insists. Sara stresses that he knows the young woman’s name. Wolverine insists that Sara’s the one who matters. Deep down inside, isn’t this what she wants? More than my life, Sara admits. However, she wonders: is that what she wants… or what they’ve both been told?
Logan suddenly tells her they’ve got company. A group of formally-dressed, imposing men stands before them. Sara asks Logan if he knows these guys. Wolverine stresses they know the type. And he definitely knows the girl that is with them – Kaylie. “Oh, Kaylie… what have you done?” he wonders in agony. Extracting his claws, he urges Sara to hit the deck and leave this to him!
As Wolverine leaps up against the gang of thugs, their leader orders his men to spare the woman… and kill the man. Riddled with bullets, Wolverine collapses to the ground. Mourning his passing, Sara tells Logan she is so sorry. Standing on her feet, she addresses the ringleader by his name: Simyon Lebedev. “You know me, pretty lady?” the mafia boss exclaims. Sara is familiar with him. He runs the Odessa mafia up and down the Pacific Coast. He wants to expand to New York.
“My condolences… Detective Pezzini!” Lebedev replies. He realizes he has made her a widow and on her wedding day. He clarifies he knows who she is – and what she is. Among certain circles she has quite a… reputation. So does he. Pointing at Kaylie, he asks Sara to see that exquisite creature. Her father was a federal witness against Lebedev. The only reason the daughter’s escaped is that she’s a mutant, attending some school outside New York. Kaylie wanted Lebedev dead and she acquired Sara’s famous trinket to do the deed. Apparently, she wanted to give Sara a better life in return. He believes Sara should have taken the gift.
The girl thought she could control the Witchblade as she did Sara. Instead, it bonded to the rage and violence in Kaylie’s soul. And because she is innocent, because she is not Sara, she could not resist. The Witchblade loves her because of what she asks it to do. The devil is free; it will never be caged again. The question now is, Lebedev stresses, what to do with Sara? Horrified, Sara watches as the magical Witchblade begins expanding all over Kaylie’s body, shredding her clothes and covering her body like armor.
Lebedev still wonders what he will do with Sara. A bullet to the head? Too many complications. He decides it’s better to keep things neat and simple. Tough but lonely big city cop comes to Vegas in search of true love. She finds the man of her dreams, only to have him break her heart. She loses everything. She has nothing. She is nothing. Life is unendurable; best to make an end of it. As Lebedev speaks, Kaylie commands the Witchblade artifact to generate a simulacrum of Sara, a mirror image of her to further taunt her and push her to suicide. Sara finds herself ready to jump off the ledge of the roof restaurant… and then she makes her decision: “No.”
“As you wish,” Lebedev says and prepares to shoot her in the head. “Weren’t you listening, tovarisch? The lady said no!” a fully recovered Wolverine growls and swiftly cuts Lebedev’s armed hand off! What follows isn’t much of a fight of Wolverine. Lebedev’s hired help are great with guns – but so is Sara. Wolverine quickly makes short work of the thugs, thanks to his adamantium-laced bones, his healing factor and his claws. Of course, none of that helped much the last time he faced the Witchblade – and indeed, at that very moment, Kaylie pierces right through his chest with her Witchblade spikes and keeps him nailed on a wall. Kaylie wishes to see how well he fights… after she carves out his living heart!
Seeing one of Kaylie’s spikes going right at Logan’s chest, Sara intervenes and places herself in front of Logan’s body. Kaylie’s spike pierces through her left shoulder. “Finish them, my pet. Burn them to ashes, body and soul!” Lebedev urges Kaylie. Logan moans that he’s got no leverage, no way to cut them loose. Sara tells him it’s okay; she can leave this to her. Logan groans that Kaylie is just a kid. All the more reason she has to be stopped, Sara retorts.
Exhibiting tremendous strength, Sara extracts Kaylie’s spike from her shoulder and grasps the spike, pushing Kaylie towards her. She retorts that even though Kaylie caught her by surprise before, now it’s her turn. Kaylie stole what’s hers, by right and by destiny. Sara wants it back. The Witchblade suddenly goes wild, engulfing both women, just as Kaylie screams.
All anyone knows about the Witchblade is stories. Some call it a weapon, some say it’s alive. Only one woman in a generation can wield it. Kaylie didn’t know any better, she thought of it as a magic gun. If she had, she wouldn’t have gone near it. For Simyon, the slaughter was a turn-on. He worshipped the Witchblade because he loved the killing. It never occurred to him that he’d be among the victims. As Sara slays him, she hates what the Blade does. It’s plain in her scent and the stance of her body. Maybe that’s what makes her the ideal champion to wield it.
After the ordeal is over, Logan and Sara stand outside the restaurant, watching as the ambulances pick up the dead and injured ones. Logan wonders how much trouble they’re in. Sara thinks it could be worse. Kaylie’s under observation at the Desert Palms Hospital. A day or so, he should be able to take her home. Logan reminds her they’ve still got the car. They’ve got the mil. They’ve got the dream. Sara retorts it’s still a dream. For now, for them, his claws, her Witchblade, and all they entail… that’s reality. Maybe, Logan concurs – but you never know, he adds. Dreams are what make reality worth living. And even for the likes of them, sometimes they come true, he concludes and holds hands with her.
