Wolverine #56

Overview

Wendell Rayfield is a recently divorced, down on his luck ex-cop who's looking down the business end of 40 with no hope for the future and with demons from his past still haunting him at every turn. All he has going for him is his new job. A job that involves a very large machine gun, a hole in the ground, a certain hirsute mutant and several thousand bullets. We all know what damage Wolverine can do with his claws, but how dangerous can he really be when all he's able to do is talk? Wendell Rayfield is about to find out.

In what seems like an average house, in an average neighborhood, an average man named Wendell makes his way to work. He tries making small talk with some armed guards he sees on his way to his station through a series of locked doors with high security. He notices that Doris the receptionist is wearing the sweater that he really likes and thinks he should try to make smalltalk. He doesn't. Apparently he is too eager to get to his work station.

Inside another highly secure room, he sees a co-worker sitting in front of a gattling gun shooting bullet after bullet into a pit. Wendell refers to him as "the kid" and he stops shooting noticing that his shift must be up. He asks Wendell if he ever heard "him" make a sound as he looks down into the pit. They've been at this job for six weeks. The kid tells Wendell that he's never heard him make a single sound, not even a whimper. Wendell tells him not to think about it and to move on. Down in the pit, Wolverine is sitting, bloody and full of bullet holes. As the blood flows down the drain, the guy asks Wendell what he thinks the reason for him being there is. Wendell says they're paid to keep him in the pit. That's all there is to worry about.

As the kid leaves, Wendell thinks about the mystery man in the pit. He thinks to himself that he has seen lots of killers in his time and the man in the pit has that look in his eyes. He can tell that this guy is as mean and deadly as they come.

Wendell sits and shoots. He finds this job to actually be therapeutic. He thinks that as he shoots one thousand rounds of bullets per minute, it helps him to relieve stress. Doris comes in as Wendell is taking his lunch break. She has a poloroid camera and takes a picture of Wolverine down in the pit. Wendell decides this is his moment. He makes an attempt to ask her out. She quickly turns him down throwing the fact that he has a wife in his face.

Wendell starts mentally kicking himself when a voice tells him he's pathetic. The voice tells him that a girl like Doris would never go out with him "even if she knew the truth" about his wife. Wendell is thrown off guard by this. The mystery man in the pit is talking to him after six weeks of silence. He tells Wendell to be a man and to tell everyone that his wife left him weeks ago. Not knowing or wanting to deal with this conversation, he asks him to stop talking and begins shooting at him once again.

Five hours later, at the end of Wendell's shift, he heads out. In the parking lot, he throws up. He drives over to what looks like a motel and tries to talk to his wife. She doesn't even take off the chain on her door and just asks for her alimony. He wants to talk to her after he gives her the money but she just slams the door in his face. Wendell returns home. He eats a lonely meal, ignores the messages on his machine about payments that are past due, and then lies awake in bed all night.

The next day at work, right before his shift starts, he asks the Wolverine how he knew about his wife. Wolverine mentions that he saw her last night. Wendell is shocked. The man in the pit tells him that he could smell her cheap perfume on him everyday since he arrived. Then a few weeks ago, the smell was gone. He can also smell the scotch that he's been drinking. He asks if he brought any when the alarm goes off signaling the start of Wendell's shift. Wendell tells him he has to start shooting. Wolverine tells him to go ahead and do his job, they'll talk more later.

Five minutes later Wendell stops. Wolverine tells him that he must have been a cop before. When he shoots, he doesn't go for the kill shots like the others do. He just shoots to wound. He can also tell by the way that Wendell holds the gun that he has broken his hand a few times. This means that he must like to hit people. He asks if that's why he's not a cop anymore. Wendell flashes back to him standing over a beaten man that didn't call him "sir." Wolverine asks him if he likes this job. Wendell said he used to. Seeing him would let him know that there was someone more pathetic and miserable than he was. He starts shooting again.

Wendell keeps trying to tell himself he's just doing his job. He wonders if he should tell anyone that the man is talking to him. He figures there's nothing wrong with a little talking.

Two weeks later, Wolverine asks about Wendell's father. Wendell doesn't want to talk about him. He had said before that his mother died during his birth. Wolverine tells him his father must have blamed him for that, for everything. Wendell thinks back to all the brutal beatings he received at the hands of his father. Wolverine asks Wendell if he ever wondered if his father was right and it was all his fault? He tells Wendell to think about that.

After that day, the man in the pit stopped talking to Wendell. He does wonder if it was all his fault. Things are getting worse. His place is trashed and he is drinking more. He decides to go visit his father at an assisted living home. In his father's room, his dad doesn't even recognize him. Wendell asks him if he remembers how much he hated him and wished he was dead. His father has no recollection. Wendell puts a gun in his dad's hand and asks him to do it as he puts the end of the gun to his head. His dead drops the gun, not quite sure what is going on.

The next day, Wendell goes to work. He is upset that his dad failed him once again. He knows that he has someone else he can count on. He knows the man in the pit won't hesitate to kill him. Wendell sits in his chair as the alarm goes off signaling it is time to start shooting. Since he doesn't start, four armed guards rush in to see why there is no shooting. Wendall turns his gun on them and chops them down. He tells Wolverine he can come out now. A smile comes across his face and Wolverine makes his way up. He tells him to go ahead and do it. Wolverine grabs him by the neck and pops his claws.

Wolverine asks Wendell how did he get there and who hired him. Wendell says he doesn't know. He never saw the man that hired him and he was already in the pit when he started. He begs to be killed. Wolverine puts his claws away and throws Wendell in the pit. He tells him that he really is pathetic. He tells Wendell that everything he told him was B.S. It wasn't his fault. His dad was a scumbag. He tells him that he's going to go out and kill everyone that is out there and then find and kill the man that hired him. He's not going to kill Wendell because he won't give him the satisfaction. He leaves him in the pit, where he belongs.

Epilogue

Wild Child delivers that last set of photos of Wolverine to his boss. He is told to put them "with the rest." The walls are covered with the photos. Wild Child comments that it's too bad they weren't able to cover the entire wall but they're off to a good start.