Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #212

In the wake of the massacre on the Morlocks last issue, Wolverine stalks through their sewers, coming across countless more dead bodies. Suddenly, Psylocke telepathically contacts him so that he can update them about his progress on capturing a prisoner to interrogate. She expresses concerns about Storm, but Wolverine brushes her off rather brusquely. Back at the mansion, Psylocke contemplates all who were murdered as the others try to save those brought to the infirmary. Moira MacTaggert was brought in to help treat the wounded but more and more keep succumbing to their injuries by the hour. The gravity of the situation starts to hit Storm as she watches over the now comatose Nightcrawler, wishing she could hear his laugh. She then wanders over to where Colossus watches over Kitty, now stuck her phased form, making her essentially a living ghost! Colossus expresses the desire to make their enemies pay, which hits Storm hard, since Colossus was always so gentle. The weight of leadership starts to drag her down and, feeling like she led them to this, Storm flees the mansion in anguish!

She runs far from the mansion, needing any kind of escape from her grief, diving into the river to swim as far as possible. Colossus means to follow her but ends up collapsing right onto Psylocke, evidently more injured than anyone realized. Psylocke telepathically alerts Rogue to come help Colossus off her while Moira tries to assess what’s wrong with him. Back in the Morlock tunnels, Wolverine realizes something might be wrong when he’s unable to reach Psylocke via their mindlink. He picks up the scents of the original X-Men (as X-Factor), including that of Jean Grey which naturally shocks him! Just then, Wolverine is blindsided by a vicious attack! Back near the mansion, Rogue flies out in pursuit of Storm who decries the fact that everyone close to her seems to suffer, feeling she’s unfit to bear the burden of continuing to lead the X-Men.

Back inside, Moira can’t find anything wrong with Colossus through conventional means, until Psylocke mind-probes him, discovering he’s only barely alive, and fading fast! Magneto then uses his powers to sense all of the subtle fractures in Colossus’s body and realigns him through a long and arduous process. Eventually, he seems to have succeeded and Colossus wakes up, only to reveal that he’s unable to move! This shocks Magneto, who felt he couldn’t have made a mistake and can’t fathom why Colossus is now paralyzed. Back with Wolverine, he discovers that he was blindsided by Sabretooth as he found him beating up on the Morlock Healer. Sabretooth reveals Mr. Sinister as the man who sent the Marauders, and he and Wolverine square up for a viscous fight! Meanwhile, Callisto tracks down Storm and calls her out for her cowardice. Callisto chases after Storm, pointing out that she can’t abandon everyone when they need her most, while Storm feels she has no more left to give.

Wolverine and Sabretooth fight briefly, before Wolverine collapses the tunnel, blocking Sabretooth off from himself and Healer. Wolverine espouses the difference between himself and Sabretooth, that while Sabretooth is a killer, he’s a man, who only sometimes kills. While Sabretooth lives only to fight, Wolverine lives with honor and though difficult, makes everything worth it. Back with Callisto, she knocks some sense into Storm, pointing out that all of the sacrifices her teammates have made will become worthless if she flakes out now. Though she thought she’d jump at the chance to see Storm fail, she admits she’s developed a certain respect for her and wants her to live up to that respect! Later, Wolverine, carrying Healer, meets up with Rogue and Tom Corsi at the edge of the Morlock tunnels. Just then, a huge heat pulse engulfs the entire tunnel, which Rogue only just manages to get them clear of! Wolverine points out that he detected the scents of the New Mutants there not that long ago, and if they were anywhere in the area just now, they’re as good as dead! To be continued!