Our issue opens with Colossus toiling away in the
fields behind the Xavier mansion. Angel comes to check on him and Colossus
admits that he enjoys the work and that it helps him to keep perspective on
himself and nature. Angel then receives a mental call from Professor X, and he
asks Angel how he feels about the new team now that he’s had a chance to train
alongside them. Angel admits that he has no problems, except for Wolverine,
feeling that he’s dangerous and unstable. Professor X retorts that helping
mutants such as Wolverine is the very reason he started his school and that he
sees much potential in the feisty mutant. Meanwhile, Storm picks up Kitty Pryde
from her dance lesson with Stevie Hunter, still feeling the pang of jealousy
when Stevie refers to Kitty as “our Kitten.” Kitty notices Storm’s shift in
mood and Storm pivots to claim she’s worried about Wolverine and Nightcrawler,
not having heard from them since they left for Canada.
Storm has very good reason to be concerned too, as
Nightcrawler has come face to face with the Wendigo! Kurt does everything he
can to keep away from Wendigo but ends up getting grabbed. He teleports away
but is quickly found again by Wendigo, dancing around the beast to keep him off
balance. It’s all for naught as Nightcrawler gets tagged anyway, getting thrown
clear through the forest and slamming hard into the cabin wall. Inside the
cabin, Wolverine, Vindicator, Shaman, and Snowbird hear the impact and rush
outside, finding the unconscious Nightcrawler and very angry Wendigo! After a
short tussle, Wendigo flees and Wolverine and Snowbird head off to find the
creature, while Shaman and Vindicator deal with the fire that sprung up from
the battle.
As they track the creature, Snowbird asks Wolverine
why he resigned from Department H. We then get a flashback to when a younger
Logan was found by James and Heather Hudson, bringing him in and caring for
him. However, his rage and killing instincts grew and he left them to join the
Canadian Secret Service, handling their most brutal and dark missions that no
one else would touch. He hated what he did for them, and so when Professor
Xavier offered him a way out, he took it. The two come upon Wendigo and his
cave, and Wolverine sends Snowbird back to get the others. Wendigo is about to
tear into the mother and child he captured when Wolverine jumps out leading to
a brutal, ferocious, bloody battle between the two. Wolverine lets loose with
all he has, giving into his berserker rage, but no matter how much he does to
Wendigo, he can only stun the beast and temporarily take it down. He uses this
chance, with the beast temporarily stunned, to try and get the victims to
safety, but Wendigo recovers quickly and grabs Wolverine.
Wolverine is at Wendigo’s mercy when Nightcrawler
teleports to attack the beast, arriving in the nick of time with the others.
Just as with Wolverine, they can only slow Wendigo down, until Snowbird
transforms into an actual white wolverine and savagely attacks Wendigo, going
for the neck. Their battle is just as ferocious, and the Snowbird wolverine
stands victorious. However, the animal side has taken over and she loses
herself to the instinctual bloodlust inside. Wolverine approaches slowly and
talks her down, having been down this road himself, until she finally reverts
to her human form, the two forever changed by this event. Shaman uses his
magical abilities to change Wendigo back to his human form of Georges Baptiste
and Alpha Flight heads out, promising not to bother Wolverine anymore.
Wolverine and Nightcrawler have a discussion on whether or not killing is
right, even if justified, giving Wolverine a lot to think about. Meanwhile,
Vindicator learns from the Canadian Prime Minster that Department H and Alpha
Flight are being disbanded, wishing him well. Finally, in an epilogue, the Blob
breaks out of prison as a test to join the new Brotherhood of Mutants, leading
right into another landmark story next issue!