Spiral is a bizarre person to put on a federal strike team, which is part of what makes her presence work. Everybody else can at least explain their abilities in terms the other…

Spiral is a bizarre person to put on a federal strike team, which is part of what makes her presence work. Everybody else can at least explain their abilities in terms the other members understand. With Spiral, the rules of the encounter may change before anyone realizes there were different rules available. She is already with Freedom Force when it makes its first move against Magneto. She isn't one of Mystique's old Brotherhood regulars making the switch. Her arrival brings six arms, blades, teleportation and sorcery into a team that already had plenty of conventional destructive power. Rachel Summers discovers how serious that difference is during the San Francisco confrontation. A powerhouse like Phoenix ought to make an arrest attempt much harder. Spiral instead becomes the person capable of turning that advantage against her. Being enormously powerful doesn't mean Rachel automatically understands what she is fighting. Spiral also has interests that do not fit neatly inside Mystique's assignments. Her involvement with Rachel and the Body Shoppe runs through a very different part of the story from the government's official objectives. A place on Freedom Force gives her opportunities, but it never makes her feel like a dependable employee. In Dallas, she magically fixes Destiny's mask onto Dazzler's face. Then the surrounding chaos interferes with her ability to undo it. That is a nasty little reminder that casting a spell and reversing its consequences are not always equally simple. She can transport the team and overwhelm opponents who could handle several of her colleagues. The price is uncertainty. Mystique has recruited somebody whose usefulness is obvious and whose priorities are much harder to pin down. Every operation involving Spiral has another possible agenda inside it, whether the person giving the orders knows about it or not.