Rusty's place in the Cable-era thread is a boundary story. He is still part of the New Mutants' unfinished business when #87 begins, but he does not settle into Cable's training…

Rusty's place in the Cable-era thread is a boundary story. He is still part of the New Mutants' unfinished business when #87 begins, but he does not settle into Cable's training group. The Mutant Liberation Front removes him and Skids from government custody in that issue. Their situation comes directly out of the previous run. While the others were trapped in Asgard, Rusty and Skids were arrested, isolated and forced through more danger on Earth. Rusty's attempts to protect ordinary people had not persuaded the authorities to treat him fairly. By the prison-hospital sequence in #87, the question is immediate survival. The MLF offers an escape, and the people supposedly guarding the prisoners are prepared to use lethal force to prevent one. Calling what follows a simple change of teams would make that choice sound far cleaner than it is. Cable enters the same issue as an opponent of the organization taking them away. The convergence is important, but it does not mean Rusty becomes one of his students. Their stories cross around the MLF, with Rusty already being carried out of the household the New Mutants were trying to build. His former teammates still care. In #88, the returning group learns more about his imprisonment and hopes he and Skids can be helped. Later encounters with the MLF continue to make their absence relevant. For this spotlight, the stop point is deliberate. Rusty's exit helps explain the circumstances Cable walks into and the emotional stakes of the new enemy. Later explanations for his position within the MLF are not needed to see the immediate problem: a teenager who wanted to protect people has been left dangerously short of people he can trust.