Rictor is an awkward fit for Cable's new arrangement, and the book has good reason to let him be awkward. He thinks he recognizes something dangerous in this man. A confident vo…

Rictor is an awkward fit for Cable's new arrangement, and the book has good reason to let him be awkward. He thinks he recognizes something dangerous in this man. A confident voice and impressive equipment cannot settle the question of whether Cable deserves authority over him. The tension develops in #90–91, around the move into the facilities beneath Xavier's ruined school and the trip into the Morlock tunnels. Rictor ends up needing help, and Cable comes looking for him with the others. Whatever Julio thinks of the man, those actions become part of the evidence he has to weigh. There is also a quieter shift when Rictor sees Cable training. The older man's effort complicates the idea that he is merely playing at leadership. Julio can respect what somebody does without suddenly resolving everything he fears about him. His bond with Rahne becomes more important as the run continues. Genosha puts them both through captivity, then leaves her profoundly changed. In #97, Rictor encounters the consequences of her conditioning before she regains her own will in wolf-related forms. Seeing someone he cares about treated that way gives the aftermath an urgency the rest of the team cannot simply argue away. Rictor leaves in #98, intending to go to Genosha for Rahne. That is his exit from this phase, before Shatterstar arrives and before the concluding lineup takes shape. It is worth allowing his departure to mean what it means at this point. He has an unresolved problem with Cable, but he also has a specific person on his mind. The team has become a place from which he has to leave in order to pursue what he believes matters most.