Chapter 2

  Arc 1 - Ch 2: Roadtrip, Interrupted

  Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

  Location: Laughlin City, Alberta, ada

  As it grew ter, the once raucous crowd at the bar dwio just a handful of patrons. The boisterous ughter and cheers of earlier were repced by the soft king of gsses and hushed versations. The few remaining ers were slumped over their drinks or slowly he st drops of whiskey iumblers. Tyson sat at the bar, sipping water and ily studying a neer. Thanks to Wolverine's healing ability, which he had absorbed during their brawl, Tyson's body was pletely restored. His fighting had earned him some pity money, just enough to buy himself a det meal.

  Despite reading the paper several times, Tyson still struggled to believe the tents. The words on the page filled him with a sense of disbelief. Particurly one li the top of the neer. It was not an article or story that seized his attention, but rather the date itself.

  June 2, 2010.

  He stared, dumbfounded, rubbing his eyes again to ensure he was not halluating. Just yesterday, or so he thought, it was the year 2023. Now he found himself over a decade in the past.

  He khis was no joke or eborate prank. The dingy bar surrounding him, with its chipped wooden tables and worher barstools was far removed from any vintage memorabilia shop. There was no way they would keep an antique neer as a prop or y item.

  But was it so farfetched?

  He accepted that somehow he had nded in a parallel world where he possessed the mutant powers ue. g with being thrown over a decade into the past was ig on the cake. Tyson picked up the neer once more, rereading the articles ily.

  Stark Industries Stock Value Begins Recovery Amidst Shift to Energy

  By Betty Brant, Iional Business

  NEW YORK - Stark Industries, ohe foremost leader in ons manufacturing, has shown signs of a stock value rebound sinnoung its unpreted shift toward energy initiatives. Iors and industry insiders were initially skeptical about the pany's ued pivot, especially after its CEO Anthony Stark was captured during a ons demonstration in February, leading to a plummet in share prices. Stark's sudden disappearaed until May when he made a mysterious and dramatic escape. While details remain undisclosed, Stark's return has spearheaded the pany's reiion.

  Stark's return and public decration of moving away from ons caused a drop in the pany's value. In the month sihere has been a 12% recovery in stock value, which experts attribute to both Stark's reputation for innovation and a growing global demand for sustainable energy solutions. Experts specute that Stark Industries may reveal pns for an improved Arc Reactor. Arc Reactors were a promising energy source but were abandoned wheeology hit a development ceiling. The reactor was sidered a publicity stunt, but with Stark moving away from ons the cept of Arc Reactors has garnered signifit i from tedustries and eco-activists alike.

  However, the departure of Stark Industries from the oor has paved the way for other defense pao step up. Leading is Hammer Industries which witnessed a massive surge in stock prices and signed several key defense tracts over the st couple of months. Justin Hammer, CEO of Hammer Industries, ented, "While Tony's shift is, uh, noble, we at Hammer Industries are itted to ensuring global security, and someone has to take the helm."

  Other energy corporations like Roxxon Energy have also seen fluctuations in their values at Stark Industries' sudden shift from ons to energy. The shakeup tinues as insiders pce several corporations sidering shifting into ons manufacturing to fill the void left by Stark. Oscorp, primarily a chemical manufacturer, already has several military tracts, but insiders report the corporation has fallen behind on its promises to the gover. Other notable newers expanding into the sector include Advanced Idea Meics, Essex Corp, and several smaller petitors.

  The market waits with bated breath to see if Stark Industries' gamble pays off in the long run. For now, Tony Stark's return and his ambitious vision for a sustaiure have offered a glimmer of hope to iors. Yet, one 't help but wonder about the circumstances of his disappearand what truly transpired during his time in captivity.

  Tyson gulped dow of his water, the cold liquid doing little to settle his mind. There was so muformation for him to process from that article. But he was interrupted when the man he'd retly squared off against, Wolverine, approached.

  The bartender ambled over and dropped a thick wad of cash on the bar in front of Wolverine. "Your winnings, Logan," the bartender said, g him on the shoulder.

  Wolverine, an as the bartender had just called him, grunted in aowledgment, scooping up the money before turning towards Tyson. He leaned over, the barstool creakih his weight.

  "You take a hit pretty well for a sy kid."

  Tyson barely had time to digest the gruff pliment when the man who had suffered a humiliati at Wolverine's hands earlier interrupted. His face of fresh bruises, his wrist and hand were ed, but his eyes clearly showed his desire for revenge.

  "No man takes a beating like that and walks away with nothing to show. I think you owe me some pensation."

  Before Logan could respond, Tyson's ughter echoed through the room, drawing the attention of the few stragglers.

  The man's attention swiveled to Tyson, he snarled, "Something funny, kid?"

  Tyson's shoulders tio shake with the st remnants of his ughter. "Yeah," he admitted lightly, his voice still tinged with humor as he gestured towards Wolverine. "You want him to pay you... For kig your ass so bad… That's just crazy."

  The man was not amused. His face darkened and he responded by grabbing a fistful of Tyson's jacket with his one good hand. Tyson's feet momentarily left the ground as the man hoisted him upwards.

  "You don't want to do this," Tyson advised evenly, his voice steady despite the precariousness of his situation.

  Ign the warning, the man hauled Tyshly to his feet. Tyson stood there calmly, his tinued nonly further infuriated the figure looming over him.

  "Think you're tough, eh?" the man sneered in a stereotypical adian at.

  Tyson couldn't help but chuckle at the man's exaggerated manner of speech. "Eh?" he mogly parroted back.

  The man balled his hand into a tight fist. The punch collided solidly with the side of Tyson's face. The strength behind the blow sent Tyson sprawling backward. He careened into the barstools, crashing painfully to the ground. The impact drew chuckles from the few lingering patrons. The man's fist unwittingly triggered Tyson's power the moment it ected.

  He was a young boy, hard-w, but slowly succumbed to the pressures of high school and dropped out. His marriage was scarred by loud arguments often ending with screams and sps which ultimately led to a bitter divorce. He was angry aful. He passed the days repairing cars, and the nights h them.

  Tyson groaned as he slowly regained his footing, one haly probing the tender swelling on his cheek. Fighting without Logan's power was far less eaining. He could already feel the skin purpling into a dark bruise. But he khat regardless of the hit he had taken, the odds were now tilted in his favor. The man's advantages of strength and fighting experience had been nullified when their skin made tact. Tyson's mutant power allowed him to siphon not just lifeforce, but skills and strengths from anyoouched. Though the man was no mutant, Tyson had stolen a piece of his essence for himself in that brief moment of tact. The man's knowledge, and even his experience brawling, had been temporarily copied.

  Rather than balling into fists, Tyson's hands remained open, palms out as if preparing for a spboxing match. Tyson accepted the ining punches with grimaces of pain, but his return strikes were open-handed sps rather than closed fists.

  To any observer, it would appear a poor strategy for winning a bar fight.

  Each of Tyson's open-palmed sps siphoned his oppo's strength. With every tact, his strength dwiyson's strategy was not about brute force but stealing life essence, orike at a time. The cheers from the remaining patrons faded as they sehe strangeness of the fight.

  Tyson reared back, ready to deliver another blow, when the chilling click of a shotgun cog echoed through the bar. He froze, slowly turning to find the bartender leveling the barrel at him.

  "We don't take kindly to your kind here," the bartender growled, eyes narrowed dangerously.

  Tyson wao quip, It's cause I'm bck, but he didn't give voice to his thoughts. Humor would not diffuse this situation.

  He raised his hands in surrender.

  Despite his newfound powers, a cle shotgun bst would still kill him.

  Holding his breath, Tyson backed toward the door with his hands still raised. The bartender's scowl and shotgun barrel tracked his every move. Tyson's boots scuffing across the wooden floor was the only sound in the bar as patrons watched with bated breath.

  Frigid air engulfed him as he pushed through the doors into the night outside. He shivered, his breath plumed, in the cold. The fabric of his jacket offered little prote against the adian chill. Acc to the neer ba town, it was June, but the biting wind told a different tale. How far north was he?

  Tyson sed the darkened road. No streetlights, no traffic, just ay two-ne highway slig through the wilderness. He was well and truly alo here. No transportation, no money, no options.

  The creak of the door snapped his attention back. He turo see Logan fill the doorway.

  "Need a ride, kid?"

  Logan jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at a dipidated camper with a small trailer hitched to the back.

  It wasn't much to look at.

  The offer surprised Tyson, but he did not hesitate, knowing he had few options. With a nod, he walked over and slipped into the passenger seat. The worher creaked as he settled in. Logan turhe key and the engine rumbled to life before pulling the vehicle onto the deserted highway.

  They drove in silence for a while, the only sound the soft hum of the engine. Logan was the first to break the quiet, his voice tinged with curiosity as his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead. "Those hits of yours pack a punch, kid," Logan began. "And you bounced ba that ring quicker than any normal man should've. Those were no ordinary sps. What's your secret?"

  Tyson looked between Logan and the trees passing by. He had nothing to lose by telling the truth. "I absorb other people's life force through skin tact," Tyson admitted. "In the ring, I... borrowed your strength and healing. It was only temporary, but it was enough. I 't trol it… It's always on. Aouch starts to die."

  Logan g Tyson, one eyebrow raised in surprise before he chuckled, "Now that's a rick. Girls must love it."

  Tyson couldn't help but smile at the humor in Logan's gruff voice. He leaned his head back against the worher headrest and sighed. "Fuck, I hadn't thought about that," he admitted with a small ugh. "I haven't gotten that far yet."

  "Don't worry, kid. Maybe it'll happen one day," Logan mused with a hint of a smile.

  "That's not what I meant," Tyson mumbled. Now Logan probably thought he was a virgin.

  "But you ha well, kid," Logan added after a pause, a note ing approval in his voice. "Not everyone go toe-to-toe with me in the ring, then have a gun pulled on them aheir cool."

  Tyson chuckled. "Well, I had a bit of help in the ring. From you, actually."

  As the old camper chugged down the winding wooded adian backroads, its worn suspension creaking over every bump, Tyson found the cab was surprisingly fortable despite its run-doearance. And Logan was not so callous as he expected.

  His only was the implications of his situation. If this was truly the world of the X-Men films he remembered, then danger lurked just around the er.

  Sabertooth would attack them soon.

  The road ahead wound through a steep ravireacherous cliffs looming oher side. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. Tyson braced himself. He spared a g Logan.

  Wolverine's senses were far sharper than his ow he seemed rexed.

  — Rogue Rept —

  The old camper rumbled down the mountain road as bright m sunlight gradually faded behind ominous gray overcast skies. Tyson had barely slept a wink the night before, his senses on high alert as he anxiously anticipated the ambush that Sabertooth would soon unleash upon them.

  But as the hours dragged on, no attack ever came.

  Exhaustion finally overtook him ie afternoon. Tyson colpsed into a dreamless sleep. It had been nearly aire day since he arrived in this world. Now he awoke to find himself still rumbling along in Logan's rickety but fortable camper.

  Tyson peered out the camper's grimy window rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Dark, heavy clouds unfurled across the horizon. Light flurries of snow fluttered down leaving a fresh, white dusting. The snowfall gradually intensified, turning the world outside into a swirling, white wondernd.

  Logan began reting the story of a bar brawl in Saskatchewan, narrating the fight enthusiastically.

  Without warning, a massive, frost-bitten piree crashed onto the road.

  Logan's eyes went wide with arm, but there was no time to swerve or brake, and the ice-slicked road offered no grip for the camper's bald tires.

  They crashed into the felled tree.

  Metal screeched a, gss shattered into a thousand shards, and the harsh jolt khe breath from Tyson's lungs. Logan, who hadn't bothered to put on his seatbelt, was hurtled through the windshield by the violent collision.

  The seatbelt bit into Tyson's chest, holding him in pce. But his forehead smashed against the dashboard, leaving a raw, throbbing wound that immediately began weeping warm blood. The world wavered before his eyes, darkness crept at the edges of his vision. An eerie silence desded, broken only by Tyson's ragged breaths.

  Logan's body hit the ground with a siing thud, limp limbs sprawling across the snow like a rag doll. It was a twisted, unnatural colle of jutting bohat would have spelled instah for any normal man. But Logan was no normal man.

  His body twitched, limbs jerking as if animated by an unseen force. With a grimace of annoyance, Logan slowly rose to his feet. He cracked his neck, creating a grotesque sound as the moveme his dispced bones back where they belohough his adamantium bones could not break, his ligaments had stretched to their limits as joints separated and then snapped bato pce with audible pops. A deep gash ran along Logan's scalp, blood matting his hair. Before Tyson's eyes, the wound sealed itself, leaving only a streak of rusty red behind.

  Logan called out to the boy trapped in the wreckage. "You okay, kid?"

  Tyson gnced down, taking in the colpsed dashboard that pinned him ihe seatbelt csp was well out of reach. Acrid smoke began to spread through the interior.

  "I'm stuck!" he yelled, straining against the seatbelt and dashboard. Pain throbbed through Tyson's head, each pulse a hammer blow inside his skull. His thoughts skittered wildly, hazy, impossible to grasp. He knew he should remember something important, but the details swirled just out of reach.

  Wolverine,

  The bar fight,

  The car act...

  Then it clicked into pce. Sabertooth.

  The fallen tree had been no act. It was an ambush. The long car ride had lulled him into a false sense of security. He'd been on guard initially, but after aire night of driving through the unging adian wilderness, he grew pt.

  They were utack.

  Tyson's lips parted to warn Logan, but it was too te.

  he saw Wolverine sniff the air through the cracked windshield as if he sehe danger and his metallic cws extended. But before Logan could act, a figure exploded from the treeline.

  Tyson caught a glimpse of the attacker. The man was massive, a hulking figure that dwarfed Wolverine. His long, matted blond hair cascaded around shoulders as broad as a bear's. A wild, u beard added to his feral appearance. A manic grin split the man's face, revealing es te and sharp for any human. If Tyson hadn't knower, he might have thought the creature a werewolf.

  Sabertooth had e.

  Tyson was trapped, helpless, in the middle of the ensuing battle. Acrid smoke filled the camper as fmes licked at the interior behind him. Tyson squirmed desperately in his seat, fingers straining towards the tch of his seatbelt. But the crumpled dashboard pinned him back, preventing him from reag the release buttowisted his wrist awkwardly, fiips brushing uselessly against the pstic csp as panic rose in his throat. He worried about being trapped, killed by the fmes or smoke before he ever had to worry about Sabertooth.

  Outside, the feral muta out a primal roar. With a savage grin that dispyed his ulih, he called, "Happy birthday, Logan. It's been a few years since I nearly killed you. Have you missed me?"

  Sabertooth grabbed a nearby fallen tree and swung it like a baseball bat. The heavy log struck Wolverine head-on, ung him through the air to nd with a resounding ch atop the crumpled hood of the camper. Logan y still and unscious as his adamantium cws retracted bato his knuckles.

  Wolverine was down.

  The hair on the back of Tyson's neck stood on end as Sabertooth's malicious amber gaze drifted to the camper van. The creature's grin stretched impossibly wide, exposing the full horror of his monstrous fangs.

  At that moment, Tyson realized that he was .

  Trapped and defenseless, he was easy prey for Sabertooth.

  Behind the Ses

  - This se is directly inspired by the events of X-Men (2000)

  - Sabertooth attag Wolverine on his birthday is ion. His actual birth date is somewhat ambiguous. For this story, Logan was born in the 1830s. At the beginning of X-Men ins: Wolverine he’s seen fighting in the Civil War, so he had to be an adult by the 1860s. Sabertooth is around 60 years older than Logan.

  - The neer is chock full of easter eggs and provides text for the story's timeframe. X-Men should take pce around its release year in 2000 but was bumped up, to remove the need for excessive time skips. MCU shifted Iron Man's date to 2010. In this story, Tony was captured in February and released in May. So at this point, the story is running currently with the events of Iron Man.

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