In the dead of night, a garbage truck wound its way up a steep mountain road, heading toward the research institute perched at the summit.
Logan sat in the driver's seat, wearing a blue-and-white jumpsuit, disguised as a sanitation worker.
All alone, he had dodged several ninja assassination attempts and tracked them back to this very spot.
Of course, he had seen through the enemy's clumsy lure long ago.
But as a man who had fought through World War I, World War II, and lived for over a hundred years, Logan came anyway, despite knowing it was likely an ambush.
It wasn't just because of his courage, but because he had a powerful ally.
Two thousand meters above the garbage truck, Harvey followed along, hidden by a Disillusionment Charm.
Since the battle at Zojoji Temple that afternoon, they had split into three paths.
Mariko and Yukio had used brutal interrogation to force the location of the true will out of Shingen.
Using that "twice-modified" will, they had rapidly convened a board meeting to "legally and reasonably" seize control of the Yashida Corporation.
Meanwhile, Hermione, Wanda, and Cho Chang followed the clues Logan had left behind.
They were prepared to uproot The Hand's headquarters in Tokyo and its branches in Nagasaki, Nagoya, and Kyoto, thoroughly purging the cancer that was The Hand.
Finally, there was Harvey, using Logan as bait while tracking from the shadows to find Madame Hydra's hiding place.
Now, under the hazy moonlight, the garbage truck slowly came to a halt before the institute's main gate, which was guarded by heavily armed sentries.
A sentry in the guardhouse asked with a wary expression, "Who goes there?"
Logan leaned his head out of the window, his face mostly obscured by a ball cap and a surgical mask. He respectfully handed over a stack of bills and spoke in a humble tone.
"Sir, I'm just here for the trash. Please, look after me!"
The sentry took the money with a stiff face, unhappily feeling the thickness of the bills, but said nothing.
Logan suppressed the killing intent in his heart and forced a smile. "Apologies, sir. There's more here, more."
He then handed over another stack of cash.
Only then did the sentry nod in satisfaction. "Proceed!" He then raised the automatic barrier.
Logan tapped the accelerator, and the truck smoothly passed the first checkpoint.
In the driver's seat, Logan gripped the steering wheel firmly, a drop of cold sweat trickling down his forehead from the tension.
As a man who usually preferred to just kill his way through, he didn't enjoy this kind of cloak-and-dagger infiltration at all.
But his mutant healing factor was growing weaker by the day, to the point where he could barely control the extension and retraction of his claws.
That was why he preferred the hassle of a silent, disguised entry.
If it weren't for the desperate circumstances, the blunt and brutal Logan would have simply started a massacre and carved a path through the front door.
A few minutes later, the truck drove into a warehouse used for the temporary storage of bio-research waste.
The five-hundred-square-meter warehouse was filled with black sealed bags containing biological waste.
On the surrounding walls, every few meters, there was a yellow equilateral triangle with a skull in the center.
The biohazard symbol.
Logan opened the door and slipped out of the warehouse silently. He bypassed the patrolling sentries and crept toward a square building in the center of the complex.
Everything went as smoothly as if he had divine help.
Due to his weakened mutant abilities, Logan's reflexes and agility had significantly decreased.
Yet, as he moved, he wasn't spotted by a single surveillance camera or enemy.
He didn't believe for a second that it was because the enemy was stupid.
"The enemy definitely has a trap waiting for me in this building, just waiting for me to walk right in."
"But will I retreat?"
Logan stopped hiding; in fact, he couldn't hide any longer, as a squad of sentries burst from the building, clearly heading straight for him.
He picked up a confiscated katana and charged the enemy without a hint of hesitation.
That aura of being willing to drag someone down to hell with him almost broke the sentries' defensive line.
"Look out! Open fire!"
But the sentries quickly regained their composure, reorganized their line, and squeezed the triggers of their M4 carbines.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat...!"
Facing a torrent of lead, the weakened Logan's pupils shrank. He grabbed the nearest sentry and used his body as a human shield.
Squelch! Squelch!
The sound of bullets burrowing into flesh rang out in rapid succession.
When the first volley ended and the sentries were busy reloading, Logan shoved the bullet-riddled corpse aside.
Seizing the opening, he charged into the crowd of reloading soldiers and began a slaughter.
"Argh! Help me...!"
"Report to command! The main entrance is being breached! Request immediate backup...!"
Five minutes later.
Exhausted to the point of collapse, Logan gasped for air. He rested for a brief moment, but as his stamina drained faster and faster, he knew he couldn't stay still.
He dragged his tired body toward the glass doors of the first floor.
The smart security system chirped.
"Please present your access credentials!"
Using a blood-stained employee ID he had swiped, Logan easily bypassed the lock.
"Identity verified!"
As the glass doors slid open, Logan felt a sense of disbelief.
"Whatever. I'll deal with what comes. Time to head in."
He stepped into the lobby and took the elevator down to the fifth basement level.
The main structure of the institute was built into the mountainside, consisting of a complex cylindrical multi-story layout.
Elevators connected the machinery rooms and power center at the bottom, the labs and research areas in the middle, and the offices and conference rooms on the upper levels.
The entire environment featured a cold industrial design. Cold gray metallic walls and vast expanses of tempered glass kept the facility as bright as day.
"Ding—"
Logan stepped out of the elevator. Looking over the railing, he could see even more research levels below.
"The intruder is here! Call for backup!"
A dozen fully armed sentries shouted as they charged up the spiraling staircase.
His stamina severely depleted, Logan only wanted to find the mastermind and had no desire for a meaningless fight with these grunts.
He decisively ran down the stairs on the opposite side, trying to lose his pursuers.
Clang, clang...
Several round grenades traced a beautiful arc through the air, landing right in front of Logan and blocking his path.
In that instant, the air seemed to freeze.
With lightning reflexes, Logan vaulted over the railing, descending level by level like an extreme sports athlete.
"BOOM—!"
The sound of the grenades exploding echoed from above.
The pursuers clearly wouldn't be catching up anytime soon.
Logan reached the middle levels. Through a glass curtain wall, he saw a conspicuous suit of silver metallic armor in a laboratory.
Aside from that, the lab was empty.
He picked up a steel pipe, shattered the glass with a heavy blow, and walked warily toward the silver armor.
Clang, screeech, bang...
The silver armor seemed to come to life, its metal components grinding together with an eerie sound.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A massive silver "Giant," wielding a high-powered laser katana made of Adamantium, strode toward Logan with heavy, thumping steps.