The X-Men have barely returned from their adventure with the Sentinels and now they finally have time to mourn for their lost friend. Nightcrawler simply misses Wolverine. Kitty cowers in the shower, watched by her dragon Lockheed. Jean has begun the funeral preparations, helped out by ‘Ro. Charles Xavier has withdrawn, trying to find a cure for “Burnout.”
Noting all this, Cyclops suddenly noticed a noise as an angry Sabretooth attacks Gambit, shouting he’s had it with him. Feeling’s mutual! the Cajun snaps back. Throwing a charged up card in his face, Gambit warns him that Kitty and ’Ro are off-limits to him. Cyclops orders them to break it up. Sabretooth throws Gambit out of the window, announcing for him nothing is off-limits!
Having heard the noise, Nightcrawler teleports to Cyclops’ side with Beast also appearing. Sabretooth snarls out of the window that he doesn’t play games. Gambit throws down with him, he better be prepared to bleed!
Joining them, Jean shouts “enough!” ’Ro warns Sabretooth to lay off Remy or he will bleed. An angry Kitty also arrives, ordering him to stop. Because ‘Ro and Jean aren’t the ones he needs to worry about. How dare he?! she shouts. Logan is his son! Either he start showing him respect or she swears to God!
Seems like he hit a nerve, Sabretooth smirks. He doesn’t care if she doesn’t like his style. But she meant more than she knows to the boy and like it or not she’s a part of him now. So this once, he’ll do her the courtesy of playing by her rules. Just bear in mind, down the road it’ll be her turn to play by his. Should be fun.
Cyclops walks to the lab where he finds Xavier, who clearly has been at work for long. When Cyclops want to ask about Kitty’s state, Xavier tells him to save the question, he is steering clear of Katherine’s mind. The nature, the very structure of her thoughts has become too violently unbearable. Doesn’t that worry him? Scott asks. It terrifies him, Xavier replies, but it’s sometimes better to let the storm pass before moving ahead, to better see the way. What if they are talking about Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii? Scott points out. Rational caution can turn a crisis into an outright disaster. Has he an alternative? Xavier asks. Not yet, Scott admits. He’s still working on his. Then he still has work to do, Xavier replies. Scott reminds him he can’t help anyone if he doesn’t take care of himself, but realizes he might as well be talking to the wall.
He finds it hard to deal with Xavier, because he’s so angry at him for not telling him the truth. He looks at a picture of the original X-Men, all young and innocent and can’t believe how much has changed since then.
He runs into Jean, who is clearly out of sorts but thanks him for doing this. She falls asleep in his arms. Scott is torn between anger for losing her to Logan and his desire to help, the latter of which wins out.
Later, guests begin to arrive. SHIELD agents identify the first batch, four of the original New Mutants, Cannonball, Mirage, Wolfsbane and Sunspot, all of whom are greeted by Nightcrawler. More guests are coming. Moira MacTaggert and Banshee, the Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch, her brother Quicksilver and his Inhuman wife Crystal, as well as the Fantastic Four and Jean’s parents.
There is an awkward moment when Forge sees ‘Ro, who wonders why he is staring at her so strangely.
Iceman and Archangel find Scott alone in the garden. Solitary as usual, Warren jokes He loves Scott but he can be such a cliché! Scott lights up when he sees his old friends and thanks them for coming, especially since Warren and Logan had their trouble in the beginning. In the end, Wolverine was there when they needed him. Can’t ask for more, Warren replies. They all owe him, even if most of the time they didn’t like him very much.
Did they get the latest data updates from Hank? Scott asks. New sentinels, new bad guys, Storm’s some kinda traitor, and they are all doomed, Bobby summarizes. That about cover it? Pretty much. Scott hugs his two friends as Warren asks what the plan is.
Elsewhere, Kurt and Kitty greet the Braddock twins. Brian tells Kurt that everybody in Excalibur sends their love and sympathies. Kitty greets Betsy, who telepathically tries to calm her. Brian asks Kurt how things are holding up. Alistaire Stuart and his sister are already working with Moira. What else can they do to help? After all, Excalibur has always been very good with miracles. So speaks the man whose habit is rising from the dead, Kurt jokes and gives Betsy a peck on the cheek. She tells him she misses the X-Men but he advises her to stay clear of them for the moment. Kitty hugs Brian crying, admitting she is happy to see them all and is miserable because of the reason. He empathizes and suggests the two of them talk after this. That’d be nice, she admits. She considers the Braddocks like elder siblings but silently fears this time even that won’t help.
Elsewhere in orbit is COSA - the Consortium orbital surveillance array - a scanner system. The Consortium watches the X-Men and finds that, since their return from South America, the place has been quiet. A woman criticizes they are depending too much on technology. Haven’t they got local spies? Given the enhanced SHIELD presence and the number of psychics among the X-Men, that’s not to be recommended. It just looks like the X-Men are going to ground. Which is uncharacteristic of them, the woman replies. They decide to keep up full surveillance.
Meanwhile in his lab, Beast has created a holographic cloak over Xavier’s estate to fool exactly spy satellites as those of the Consortium. Bobby surprises him and asks what is going on. Hank explains to his friends that today is private. Villains have no right to watch and gloat. Does Scott know what he is going to say? Warren asks. Still working on it, Cyclops admits.
At the door, Jean takes flowers from a special delivery man. “Remembrance of moments past,” she reads, but there is no signature. The delivery man, Bruce Banner, silently recalls how, before the X-Men, Wolverine helped him against the Wendigo. He’s sorry the Hulk wasn’t there when he needed him. Jean senses something familiar about him but hasn’t the strength for a psi-probe. Bobby and Warren greet her while Scott is getting ready.
Outside, Daisy Dugan commands the SHIELD guards. One of them wonders why Daisy is running the show when his partner Bill has way more seniority. Fury, in his dress uniform, informs them that in his command assignments are based on skill, not seniority. Besides, both of them are better in the field. He asks for the status on Sabretooth and is told he is quiet. The younger agent comments about the “fruit salad” on Fury’s chest. Distinguished service cross with clusters, silver star with clusters, purple heart with clusters and a medal of honor. He’s a real hero! the other agent agrees. His friend Logan was better, Fury replies simply.
The guests gather on the mansion’s ground outside where the ceremony is held. Looking around, Scott silently figures there should be a lot more people. But too many of the folks Logan knew best, Mystique, Yukio, his Madripoor friends, won’t come anywhere near a place watched over by the law. Imperial Japanese security refused to allow Mariko Yashida’s presence. Considering the circumstances with Jean, that’s probably for the best. Kitty got a letter from Balmoral, delivered by crown courier. She’s wearing the Torque she brought back from Scotland after that adventure, an ancient symbol of Celtic warrior royalty. So much of the past she shared with Logan is a private thing between them. She’s still just a kid. Scott hopes she can handle his loss and be smart enough to let them help her.
Scott begins his eulogy. Knowing Logan wasn’t easy, he admits. He was the best at what he did but what he did best wasn’t very nice. Certainly not what anyone would expect from a super hero. Then, he doesn’t think that’s a term Logan ever felt applied to him. He was a man who lived his life, did his job, made no apologies, because none were ever needed. When he came to the X-Men, they didn’t know his name. He was just called “Wolverine.” When the truth came out and they wondered why he never told them, he said simply “you never asked.”
He was a man who volunteered nothing. If you wanted to open a dialogue with him, you had to meet him halfway. And always treat him with respect. Yes, he killed, when the circumstances required it. It was to save lives. People tried to change that, to make him something darker, but he couldn’t be bought and he wouldn’t be broken. He was a man who stood beside Captain America and turned down Cap’s offer to be his first sidekick, suggesting that instead Cap would be better suited as his. He befriended Charles Xavier throughout the professor’s tours of duty in Southeast Asia, helping him through countless combat search and rescue retrievals to bring lost troopers home safely.
They all knew Logan lived a long and wild life but he doubts any of them imagined the sheer number of people he met over the decades. You want to know the kind of man he was, the life he lived, just look around.
Everybody is listening. Only Sabretooth is inside the building, nursing a drink.
The thing he remembers, Logan never gave up. He knew he wasn’t perfect, he didn’t care. What mattered wasn’t so much the victory as never giving up. He had a dream, a goal. He knew it was probably doomed. That no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t beat the animal in his nature. But that never stopped him from trying. Logan was a hard man to know, often impossible to like. He certainly never made it easy. Probably because he didn’t care. You took him or not on his terms, no questions asked, no quarter given. But if you were his friend, he was with you to the end.
Funny, he never thought of him as a friend, quite the opposite. They fought about pretty much everything. Yet he always knew he could trust him, that he had his back. He wishes that, at the end, he’d have had one last chance to do the same for him.
Logan was an X-Man. They may not see his like again, but they can do their very best to try to live up to the standard he set.
Rogue, Nightcrawler, Fury, Cyclops, the Thing and Walter Langkoswksi carry the casket adorned with the Canadian flag to the hearse. Everyone says their goodbyes. Scott watches Kitty and Mrs. Grey taking care of Jean.
Later, he flies to Alaska and lands outside his family home. His grandmother and father welcome him. He tells them he’s angled himself a leave of absence. His son Nate - a 5-6 year old boy - comes running outside and happily hugs Scott. Exuberantly, he tells Scott all the things he has done and that his grandpa is teaching him flying. The family walks inside for dinner.
