As Rusty becomes part of X-Factor’s younger group, there’s more to him than that original accident. He builds connections with Skids, Artie and the other kids, and eventually he…

As Rusty becomes part of X-Factor’s younger group, there’s more to him than that original accident. He builds connections with Skids, Artie and the other kids, and eventually he’s one of the young mutants having to act when the adults aren’t available to solve everything. That becomes especially important with the X-Terminators during Inferno. The younger characters have their own part in the crisis, with Artie and Leech in danger and demons taking children. Rusty’s ability can be frightening, but in that situation it’s also something the group needs. He has to make decisions and use it, rather than spend the whole story being rescued from it. His later trouble with Freedom Force keeps pulling him back into the question of who actually gets to decide whether he’s dangerous. These are people operating with government authority, but that doesn’t make every encounter with them fair or every accusation against him true. The reader has spent time with him by then. We’ve seen the fear and the mistakes, but also the efforts to help other people. The Vulture and Nitro situation makes that particularly frustrating. Rusty and Skids have an opportunity to think only about getting away, and they still involve themselves in stopping a danger to others. Doing something helpful doesn’t suddenly make their own circumstances easy. By the time their story intersects with the Mutant Liberation Front, that history is sitting behind it. They’ve already been chased, detained and separated from people who might have helped them. Rusty’s early story keeps coming back to what happens after a young mutant makes a terrible mistake. There are consequences, but there should also be room for him to learn, build a life and be judged by more than the worst moment he’s had.