Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #261

In a warehouse in lower Madripoor, a mercenary group called the Harriers look over their newest assignment, to capture Jubilee, Psylocke, and Wolverine! Led by a man called Hardcase, the Harriers inspect their weapons and gather what they need to accomplish their mission. Elsewhere in Madripoor, at a seedy restaurant, Jubilee loudly complains that she’s hungry! Wolverine watches her bemusedly when a waiter brings her something that moves, causing her to freak out and shriek in surprise and frustration. As Jubilee complains about what a dive this place is, she notices Psylocke watching her from another table. Still finding Psylocke untrustworthy, Jubilee wonders why she has to travel with them but she’s distracted from her thoughts when the server brings out a tray of what turns out to be burgers! At the same time, Psylocke is telepathically conversing with Wolverine, which has her talking with Wolverine’s hallucinations of Carol Danvers and Nick Fury as well. While Psylocke asks why they’re sitting so out in the open, she tries to convince Wolverine that his hallucinations aren’t real. Just then, two of the Harriers called Axe and Shotgun show up, pulling Wolverine right through the wall and shooting Jubilee with a concussive shot, before disappearing just as quickly!

Meanwhile, in the subbasement beneath the ruins of the destroyed Xavier School, Forge and Banshee arrive as a stop on their way to find Dazzler. Banshee decided to try and use the computers at the mansion to locate the other X-Men, as well as determine who’s trying to stop them from finding them. Given no one else knew they’d be in Kirinos when they were attacked last issue, Banshee figures Moira must have been the one who sold them out, and Forge suggests she’s either being controlled or has been replaced with a duplicate. Forge gets the security scanners back up and running and through them they witness Jean Grey arrive at the ruins of the school above them. Jean reminisces a bit about everything when she’s suddenly attacked by strange creatures that seem to rise out of an old picture, bearing the faces of the X-Men! She holds them off with her telekinesis, when another one pops up, a seeming exact duplicate of herself in her X-Factor outfit. The creature’s tongue darts out, bearing a face of its own, and bites Jean on the neck, before disappearing with her in a flash! At the same time, in Athens, Donald Pierce and Lady Deathstrike pay a visit to Cylla Markham in the hospital, the pilot who was meant to fly Forge and Banshee to Los Angeles, when her plane was shot down (last issue). In severe condition, Pierce offers to remake her as a cyborg as long as she obeys him, and she happily accepts!

Back in Madripoor, Jubilee awakens in a bed, only vaguely remembering what happened. She spots her stained shirt, when Psylocke bursts into the room, startling her! Psylocke has located Wolverine but determines it’s a trap, telling Jubilee she should stay behind with Wolverine’s friend Rose. Jubilee convinces them to let her go and she and Psylocke head out, while Rose plans to gather other friends of Wolverine’s to help. At the Harriers’ warehouse, the two enact their plan, with Jubilee banging on the door disguised as a pizza delivery boy. As Jubilee distracts everyone, Psylocke sneaks in through a skylight in the roof, and perches in the rafters. Eventually, they’ve had enough of Jubilee’s antics, forcing her to drop the act. She spins in a circle, shooting out her fireworks until the entire room is filled with them! They explode, causing a huge commotion for everyone, with one even freeing Wolverine from his cage! Jubilee runs and hides from the Harriers, causing them to bumble around and trip over each other, which does not go unnoticed by Hardcase. At the same time, Psylocke is attacked up in the rafters by a couple more of the Harriers.

Eventually both are caught, until Wolverine intervenes and he and Hardcase greet each other as friends! With everyone thoroughly confused, Wolverine reveals that he hired Hardcase in order to simultaneously test whether Jubilee and Psylocke could work together as a team, and test the Harriers as a group, making the whole thing essentially an elaborate Danger Room session! Just then, Rose arrives with reinforcements and Wolverine tells them to pull up some seats and enjoy the pizza with everyone! Though satisfied with how his tests went, Wolverine thinks to himself that next time, things will be for real!