Cable gives that remaining team a very different direction.

Cable gives that remaining team a very different direction. Sam doesn't respond by switching his brain off and doing whatever Cable says. In #99, he objects when Cable won't go after Rictor. Then Bobby leaves and Cable barely seems concerned. Sam wants to know what game he's playing. These people are Sam's friends, and he isn't happy watching the team fall apart around him. By New Mutants #100, the group is being rebuilt with people like Warpath, Shatterstar, and Feral around Cable. Sam is one of the links back to the original class, but this is no longer the same kind of operation. What stands out across this run is how much responsibility he's accumulated. The kid Pierce could recruit after a mine accident is now somebody who's survived years of team problems and has opinions about how a team should be run. He's still willing to follow someone. He's also learned that he needs to pay attention to where they're taking him.