Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #251

Day breaks, and the sun beats down on Wolverine, tied to a giant wooden “X” after having been captured by the Reavers. He’s confronted once more by Donald Pierce and his Reavers and Pierce demands that Wolverine look at him. Wolverine remains defiant, which enrages Pierce, causing him to lose his cool, giving the first metaphorical victory to Wolverine. Pierce leaves Wolverine, claiming it’ll be his last victory, as Wolverine braces himself for a very long day. Meanwhile, the Reavers scout the area, having thought they saw something, even though Bonebreaker claims the place is empty except for them and Wolverine. They move on, and Jubilee crawls out of the vent she was hiding in, desperately wondering what’s going on!

As Wolverine suffers through the day, he’s apparently approached by Gateway who teleports the rest of the X-Men there! However, Wolverine immediately notices something’s wrong since another him is there with the rest of the X-Men. Rogue, Longshot, and the other Wolverine then begin to fade away, and he sees a vision of Havok accidentally killing Storm! Thinking the Reavers are somehow doing this, another Psylocke approaches him, revealing herself to have been transformed into a Reaver! She admonishes Wolverine for not being there when the X-Men needed him, before sprouting claws much like Lady Deathstrike’s. She slashes at Gateway before clawing down her own face, tearing it away to suddenly become Sabretooth underneath! Sabretooth taunts Wolverine for being sloppy, and having been nailed so easily by the Reavers when he returned home. They ambushed him and beat him and tied him to the wooden X where he now resides.

Sabretooth then suddenly sports Ogun’s mask before turning into Ogun himself, continuing to taunt Wolverine for having seemingly given up. Ogun then frees Wolverine, or at least his spirit, before turning into Kitty Pryde. She tries to help Wolverine as they make their way up to the hilltop where the rest of the X-Men arrived home through Gateway’s portal. Wolverine tries to warn them, but Kitty reveals to him that this has all been a fever dream and that the events they’re witnessing already happened! As the Reavers begin to make their way up to attack the X-Men, Havok wonders if they can even keep things going with just the four of them and thinks they should call it quits. They feel they should just give up and walk away and decide to use the Siege Perilous to be sent to new lives. Psylocke activates the Siege and has a heartfelt goodbye with Colossus as he walks through. Dazzler then walks through, and Havok wonders if they’re making the right decision, and Psylocke assures him they are as he walks through too. With only Psylocke left, the Reavers arrive at the hilltop demanding to know where the X-Men went. Psylocke tells them that they’ve gone where the Reavers cannot touch them, as she steps through the Siege as well, and it closes behind her!

Wolverine realizes that Psylocke telepathically forced the X-Men into using the Siege, as Kitty turns into the Brood Queen and lunges to bite Wolverine! This wakes Wolverine up from his dream, as Pierce and the Reavers approach him once more. Pierce nails Wolverine to the giant X, as Jubilee looks on in horror from her hiding place not far away. Pierce is furious that Wolverine won’t scream, when the others tell him that a massive storm is coming in and they should get to shelter. Pierce congratulates Wolverine on his temporary reprieve and destroys the Siege, promising that Wolverine will be his until he dies! As the storm comes in, Wolverine hallucinates several women from his past including Storm, Jean Grey, Mariko, and Carol Danvers, all wondering why he’s given up. The storm intensifies and Wolverine wonders why he sees Storm as a little girl. Jubilee looks on, debating with herself on whether she should help or not. Finally with the resolve to keep going, Wolverine struggles through the pain, tapping into the berserker part of him in order to pull himself free from the nails! Now free, in the pouring rain, Wolverine looks over to Jubilee and asks if she’s going to give him a hand or not! To be continued!