X-Men: Messiah Complex- Chapter Three
X-Factor Vol. 3 #25 is Chapter Three of Thirteen in the Messiah Complex event. It was written by Peter David, pencilled by Scott Eton, inked by John Dell, colored by Frank D’Armata, lettered by Cory Petit and edited by Nick Lowe. It has a cover date of January 2008.
In Chelsea, New York, Wolfsbane attacks a group of Purifiers hiding in a church. The fight spills outside where she attacks a passing pedestrian. However, the pedestrian pulls a gun and shoots her several times. A pick-up truck drives up and Wolfsbane dives into the bed while it drives away, escaping. The pedestrian claims he was looking for the purifiers in order to join up, so the Purifiers accept him. The pedestrian is really depowered mutant Rictor, pretending to be a mutant-hater so he can infiltrate the Purifiers on behalf of the X-Men. Back at Forge's Aerie, Forge has outlined a plan to send two of Jamie's dupes into the future. Jamie warns Forge about the dupes unpredictable nature, but generates them anyway. Just at the moment the second dupe is being sent to the future, Layla Miller jumps on the time machine and goes with him to the future.
Tropes:
- The Antichrist: The Purifiers are hunting the Mutant Messiah because they believe it spells doom for humanity.
- Deliberate Injury Gambit: At the Sacred Heart Hospital in Santa Cruz, an emergency patient is wheeled into the emergency room. Logan figured out the fastest way to get into the hospital was to get hit by an ambulance on purpose.
- Friendly Address Privileges: This is how Rictor prefaces his alias’s nickname Jake to the Purifiers.
- Staged Shooting: After attacking the Purifiers and fleeing, the bullet wound Rahne received where merely squibs filled with fake blood.
- Tempting Fate: Taylor tells his men that they cannot let the enemy get the drop on them-right before Wolfsbane does.Taylor: It means that we have to increase our vigilance. We can’t allow them to get the drop on us.
