Summary by Eben Rackland:
Xavier’s strike team is on the Blackbird jet, piloted by the X-Man named Bishop. Bishop chooses to relinquish the commander’s chair to Quicksilver, who is surprised by that decision. Meanwhile, as Wolverine is being stabilized physically, the Professor and Jean Grey enter Logan’s mind to lighten his mental and emotional suffering. Inside Wolverine’s mind, Xavier and Jean have to be careful not to mess with anything they see. Moving through his psyche, they become privy to the dark and haunting memories that have dominated Logan’s life. They pull themselves back into reality as Xavier becomes aware of the Blackbird’s trouble getting to the ground. The heavy turbulence slams Wolverine’s medi-unit into the side of the plane, waking him up. He refuses, however, to accept painkillers to numb his senses. His healing factor can’t keep up with the degeneration of his body. All of Logan’s wounds open back up, and bring him into a high fever.

While Bishop and Quicksilver struggle to keep the Blackbird in one piece, Xavier contacts Moira MacTaggert, who gives him advice for treating Wolverine. In order to stabilize the Blackbird, Quicksilver manually bypasses the computer controls, taking advantage of having speedy limbs. This is where Bishop’s decision to switch seats with Pietro comes in handy, showing off Bishop’s knack for handling pressure situations. Despite their adjustments, a stress crack begins to form in the wing, which forces Jean to focus her telekinesis on preserving the structural integrity of the Blackbird.

Once again, Wolverine’s life signs are deteriorating, and Xavier chooses to re-enter his mind, in order to calm him. He leaves Gambit in charge of monitoring Logan, because if Wolverine were to die while the Professor were still in his mind, then Xavier would expire as well. Inside his mind, Xavier tries to save Logan, but the Wolverine wants to go into the light, he just wants it to end. As he drifts into the light, Wolverine sees the recently deceased Illyana Rasputin, and reaches toward her. Illyana says nothing, and then pushes Logan away.

Wolverine goes into cardiac arrest, as the Blackbird hits a storm front. The plane’s main hatch opens, threatening to depressurize the cabin. Jean now concentrates her powers on the securing the hatch. Despite her power, Jean loses the hatch as a lightning bolt stroke the jet. Rogue and Gambit are about to get sucked out the hatch, but Jean telekinetically propels back to the cockpit, to help Bishop. Jean herself gets sucked out, and is hanging onto the edge of the Blackbird with her life in the balance. A miracle occurs, and none other than Wolverine reaches out to pull Jean back in to safety.

Two weeks later, Wolverine enters the danger room for the first time since his near death experience. It is his first conflict without his adamantium skeleton. He fights two battle droids, in order to prove that he still belongs on the team. His abilities however, have been reduced, and it is even thought that Logan is, for the first time, afraid. After being beaten around by the battle druids, Wolverine makes one last attempt at proving that he can fight. With a loud and painful “SCHUKK,” Logan extends his claws on both hands. Blood pours from the opened channels in each hand. The other X-Men realize that, like the rest of his body, underneath the adamantium his claws are bone as well. This brings Wolverine to his knees in agony, and terminates the exercise.

Later, Wolverine and Jubilee have a long talk. Jubilee shows off a new control over her powers, while Logan hints that with his weakened healing factor, he can’t help the team much. He takes a long drag from a stogie, and comes up coughing, something he has never before experienced. That night, Wolverine writes letters to the whole team, explaining that he can’t help the team anymore, and needs to move on to a new life, with new adventures. He leaves Jubilee his cowboy hat, and as he rides his motorcycle away from the Xavier Institute, Jubilee watches from her window, wearing the hat.