Forge and Peter: getting people out alive

Forge and Peter: getting people out alive The rescue in Uncanny X-Men #263 gives Forge a lot more to do than produce a convenient gadget at the last moment. He is trying to keep frightened, injured people moving through hostile territory. His memories of Vietnam make the responsibility painfully personal. The present situation keeps bringing him back to people he could not save before. His devices help him gather information and find the captives, but the important part is what he does with that information. He has to make decisions while other people are depending on him, and he cannot let the past consume all of his attention. Peter Nicholas becomes another part of the escape. Masque can imitate the look of Colossus’ metal form, but the appearance alone does not reproduce the real thing. When Peter’s actual power asserts itself, Masque has a much more serious problem in front of him. The moment Colossus gets hold of him is a sharp reversal. Masque has been making other people feel helpless. Suddenly he is the one who cannot control the encounter. Forge also finds a way to reverse the changes to Jean and Banshee, using the genetic information he preserved. The rescue needs both kinds of intervention: somebody to stop Masque and somebody to deal with what has already been done to his victims. Peter’s situation remains different. Being able to become Colossus does not mean his memories have all returned. The people who know him have to consider whether their desire to have their teammate back gives them the right to pull apart the life he is currently living. That leaves this faction update at a sensible stopping point. The immediate captives are helped, and Masque is stopped in this encounter. It does not rewrite the entire Morlock community, settle every loss after the Massacre or promise that all of its problems have been solved. The people who get out of those tunnels are the reason the rescue matters.