Sean Cassidy has experience the defenders badly need, but the attack begins by taking him out of action. He is shot while bringing Amanda Sefton and Alysande Stuart to Muir Isla…

Sean Cassidy has experience the defenders badly need, but the attack begins by taking him out of action. He is shot while bringing Amanda Sefton and Alysande Stuart to Muir Island. Before he can help anybody else, other people have to save him. Amanda gets him out of the water. The care he receives on the island includes the Morlock Healer’s intervention, which restores his sonic abilities as well as treating the wound. Sean returns to battle in #255 with his scream available again. His usefulness is immediately obvious, but the speed of that return leaves little room for an ordinary recovery. There is a difficult personal situation underneath the superhero comeback. Being able to fight and being well enough to fight are different questions. People Sean cares about are in danger, and declining to help would mean leaving that danger for them to face without him. The choice is his, but the circumstances make it a painfully pressured one. His sonic power also suits a defense where distance matters. Sean can bring force to bear without standing beside every opponent. For a group struggling to hold separate parts of the island, an experienced flyer offers possibilities that a collection of strong individuals on the ground cannot automatically supply. The older X-Man therefore contributes more than a familiar face in a replacement lineup. He understands the responsibility attached to being someone others expect to act. Here, that expectation reaches him while he is still a patient. By the end of #255, he asks Forge to help search for the missing X-Men. Surviving this emergency opens another responsibility. Sean has been reminded how much people need one another, and he is ready to start looking.