The next day, Wolverine leaned out of a second-floor window of the old house and happened to see Mariko returning from grocery shopping in the distance. He smiled and waved at her.
"You're back, Mariko."
Mariko politely waved back.
But at that moment, a van suddenly stopped beside Mariko. Two black-clad men in traditional ninja garb rushed out, knocked Mariko unconscious, and dragged her into the vehicle.
They then tossed down a sheet of paper and sped away.
Seeing this, Wolverine leaped straight down from the second floor and rushed over. Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, the van was already nowhere to be seen.
He picked up the paper from the ground and found an address written on it.
"She'll be fine. Let's go!"
At that moment, a figure descended from the sky. It was Hawking, who had been monitoring the town all along.
He glanced at the address on the paper, then flew up with Wolverine and entered the X-Jet, which was hovering invisibly in mid-air.
"Don't worry. We won't lose your Mariko."
Seeing Wolverine board the jet, Deathstrike curled her lip and accelerated after the van below.
With the X-Jet's flying speed, tracking a van was effortless. Besides, Mariko had a tracker on her, so there was no way they could lose her.
"I only see her as a daughter. There's nothing else between us."
Wolverine hurriedly explained.
He truly had no romantic feelings for Mariko.
"No way, Logan. That's kind of messed up."
Hawking patted Wolverine on the shoulder, teasing him with a look.
Actually, he did not think Wolverine was lying.
In the original plot, Wolverine had personally killed Phoenix. Haunted by his inner demons, he had retreated deep into the mountains to live alongside bears. Later, after Mariko healed him in the town, the