Jan 14, 2014 10:09
Wolverine is prowling through the sewers, looking for the Marauders, but they appear to be gone. Psylocke contacts him telepathically and asks for an update. She says she's worried about Storm, but Wolverine tells her not to be. He rather brusquely dismisses her as soft. At the mansion, they are tending to the wounded. Callisto says that a hospital wouldn't be safe, since the Marauders would likely come to finish the job. Storm muses to herself that the X-Men have also been hiding from society, behind the facade of the school. Nightcrawler is in a coma and Kitty is still stuck in permanent phase. Colossus makes some rather bloodthirsty comments, and Storm flees, fearing she has lead the X-Men to their current state. Colossus goes after her, to make sure she's all right. Colossus stumbles across Psylocke, in pain, before leaving the mansion, and collapses on top of her. Psylocke telepathically summons Rogue, who flies in to help. She finds Colossus has become paralyzed, and Callisto finds that Psylocke may have some broken ribs.
In the Morlock tunnels, Wolverine picks up the scents of X-Factor, including Jean, and he can't figure out what it means. He is suddenly slashed across the back and thrown into the side of the tunnel. Back at the mansion, Psylocke says that Colossus is just barely alive and that they need to do something soon. They are at a loss, since he's still in metal form, but Magneto says that he can use his powers to help. I'll quote what happens, here:
"As casually as blinking an eye, Magneto shifts his awareness from one reality to another where all things are perceived as solid objects but as patterns of force and energy.
"In Colossus's case, their smooth alignment has been viciously disrupted.
"'He cannot bleed in the accepted human sense,' Magneto says softly. 'Instead, he loses energy through those blast points. His condition is far worse than I suspected. It's a miracle he's survived this long.'
"He draws his strength from the Earth's magnetic field -- until he is filled to overflowing. Simultaneously refining his perceptions until he can make out the shape and structure of every molecule -- each individual atom -- in Colossus' body.
"When he is ready, he releases the energy pent up within him, letting it flow like a gentle wave through the young Russian, pausing at each locus of disruption to restore the broken pattern, realign the bionic matrices -- his power as inexorable as the ocean -- until all the damage is swept away.
"How long this takes, he does not know.
"The strain is awful -- but he endures.
"He has taken life so often -- brought harm so easily it has almost become second nature.
"Now, he has a chance to heal.
"He will die before he fails."
After it is finished, Magneto almost collapses, but Colossus lets out a creaky smile. He almost immediately finds that he cannot move, otherwise. Magneto is devestated that he tried so hard only to fail. (Magneto failing as a good guy is a recurring theme with his days as an X-Man, and ultimately it is why he turns away from them.)
Wolverine finds himself confronted by Sabretooth, who has the Morlock Healer unconcious in his grasp. Wolverine realizes that he can't let on how important the Healer is or Sabretooth will kill him in an instant. Sabretooth goes on to say that "Mister Sinister's dealin' a game that don't allow for wild cards like the Morlocks -- or you X-Chumps either -- so he sent the Marauders to resolve the situation." Sabretooth taunts Wolverine, saying he could have "chopped you smooth as sin while you were dreamin', bub, but where's the sport in that? When I kill you, Logan, old son, I want you to see it coming." Wolverine extends his claws and leaps to the fight. (A few interesting things here. First, Mister Sinister is mentioned for the first time, plus why the Marauders were killing the Morlocks is alluded to. He also shows great familiarity with Wolverine, calling him by his real name. He calls Wolverine "old son," one of many condescending names he calls him, which made fans wonder if they really were father and son.)
At the mansion's grounds, Callisto tells Rogue that she'll find Storm if that's what she really wants. Rogue hands Callisto the vest she was given by Storm in the tunnels to give back to her. Callisto realizes she once wore one like it as her badge of leadership for the Morlocks. She decides that it would be fun to take the X-Men away from Storm. She finds Storm wearing a white dress, and tells her it's not her style. Storm asks Callisto to leave her alone, she's suffered enough, but Callisto says "Not hardly." Storm asks that someone else lead the X-Men, and Callisto asks why she took the job in the first place. Storm says she thought she was needed and "Perhaps I still am -- as a gravedigger." Callisto punches her in the face, asking if she thinks she's the only one who's suffered, and telling her things are probably going to get a lot worse. Storm flees, saying she has nothing left to give, and Callisto chases after her, telling her people put their trust in them and they have to be true to them no matter what.
In the tunnels Wolverine and Sabretooth fight it out, with Sabretooth having a noticeable advantage. Wolverine draws him away from the Healer, then collapses the tunnel. Wolverine carries off the Healer, reflecting that he's changed: in the old days, he would have fought Sabretooth for the fun of it, but now he realizes he has bigger obligations. Outside, Storm is being browbeaten by Callisto, telling her she can't cop out on the X-Men now that they've suffered so much. Storm wonders why she's encouraging her, and Callisto says she's come to respect Storm and she means to see her worthy of that trust, holding out the vest for Storm to take. Rogue and Officer Corsi see Wolverine helping the Healer out of the tunnels, and lend him a hand. Wolverine says he picked up the New Mutants' scents down there. Suddenly the tunnels are blasted with hot energy. Wolverine says that it reached them from forty miles away (Manhatten, where the Morlock tunnels are) so if the New Mutants are down there, they're dead. The end! (That energy blast is courtesy of Thor, who is incinerating the dead Morlocks in his own book.)
Overview: Lots of good Storm and Wolverine stuff. Poor Colossus, who was originally slated for Excalibur, stays paralyzed for a while, then just shows up, recovered, after a while. The first Wolverine/Sabretooth fight is fairly disappointing, but they get their rematch in the very next issue, and it is spectacular.
x-men