Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In Madripoor Yakuza boss Kimura is told by his assistant Sachiko that she's detected Patch (which we know is an alias of Wolverine) entering the island country. She reminds him that Patch killed Dai Kumo (in Wolverine (1988) #31-33). Dai Kumo was Kimura's 'elder brother' in the Yakuza and honour requires him to take revenge. Sachiko says he's gone to Tyger Tiger's Princess Bar, so her boss sends enforcers to kill Patch, and Tyger if she gets in the way.
In the Bar Tyger buys 'Patch' a drink, commenting that she figured he (Wolverine) wasn't really dead. But then she sees that the man is an android, with some exposed metal, who just looks like Logan. The 'droid says he (Albert) was made in Wolverine's image by Donald Pierce, with a robot companion Elsie Dee, a bomb in the form of a little girl. They were supposed to kill Logan but refused to go through with it, and the X-Men then disabled the kill command. Tyger asks why the android isn't involved in the ongoing robot revolution (the 2020 event). He claims not to care about that, he just wants Elsie Dee back from Pierce. Tyger warns him that Pierce is Madripoor's Ambassador to the UN these days.
At this point Kimura's assassins burst in and spray Albert with bullets. He's unaffected and Tyger pulls a pistol to shoot back. The attackers are out of bullets, and Albert slices with Wolvy-claws those who Tyger hadn't shot. She gives him a letter of safe conduct and Pierce's current address, Reavers Universal Robotics.
Albert enters RUR and is spotted by Bonebreaker, 1 of Pierce's cyborg Reavers with 4 metal crab-like legs, who alerts the boss and Security. But Donald Pierce himself joins them before they start to fight and invites his creation into his lab. On the way he asks Albert why he hasn't got rid of the speech impediment (a 'bzt' in most sentences). The android says "What 'bzt' speech impediment?" The lab has partially-created bodies in fluid in the usual containment tubes. Pierce says he builds them with biological 3D-printing these days.
Albert asks where Elsie-Dee is. Pierce replies that she came to him asking to have her self-destruct mechanism removed, but he decided to re-use her parts. The angry android starts to throttle him, but guards rush in and restrain him with electrified grapples. But he told Bonebreaker earlier that he'd upgraded himself so that won't work, and his claws despatch the guards and crack 1 of the containment tubes. He persuades Donald to tell him that Elsie-Dee's head was sold to Kimura, her arms to the Jade Dragon Triad and the legs to Vladivostok Mafia.
But before he leaves Albert hears the body in the cracked tube say "Kill me". After he's fought his way out, Bonebreaker enters the lab to look for his boss and finds all the tubes smashed and the partial-bodies dead. Pierce swears to implant a 'suffering chip' in the android's head and turn it up to 10 (what, no 11?).
The 1st stop on the trail is Kimura's casino. Sachiko sees his image trying to talk his way past the bouncer and realises what he really is. Kimura sends more goons down to kill him but Albert fights his way through them. As he enters the Oyabun's office Sachiko attacks with knives but she's easily disposed of. It turns out Kimura is using Elsie-Dee's head as his accountant. Albert leaves with it under 1 arm.
The head still talks in ED's cutesy way, with Ws replacing most Rs and Ls. She directs him to the Madripoor Novelty Company where the Triad use slave labour to produce cheap knockoffs. There is a robot on the production line with her arms. Albert grabs the whole robot. The boss Turtle Head Wu and his gang try to stop them leaving. Albert throws Elsie's head to KO 1 of the Triad and bounce off him so Elsie can sink her teeth into the Turtle's ear. And Albert then dispenses mayhem.
The 3rd stop is Club Azimut where Albert just wades through the bullets to reach Elsie's legs *and* torso. The Karamazov Brothers had her dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl with a tray on her neck to deliver drinks to customers. He replaces the arms and head and (presumably) disarms the self-destruct. He apologizes to her for not having her trademark pink dress, but she says she likes the new look. And they head off for the airport.
But the Reavers, the Yakuza, the Triad and the Mafia are all after them.