Cable talked to Cyclops of X-Factor and informed him that a dangerous new terrorist group known as the Mutant Liberation Front were planning on waging a bloody war against the human population. He convinced him that he should train the young mutants in the use of their powers to combat the potential threat the MLF posed. Cyclops agreed and Cable took the team to the X-Mansion that had served as home to the X-Men. Though the mansion itself had been destroyed a while back, the underground complex remained intact. Most of the team welcomed Cable as their leader but Rictor was steadfast in his wariness of the militaristic old man. He recognized Cable as the Shark, the man who had burst into his family’s home many years ago and murdered his father. As Cable started to order the team around, Rictor began to resent him for seemingly taking his new family away from him, just like he had done with his real family.
After falling to pieces in a Danger Room session, Rictor was determined to prove that he didn’t need Cable. He entered the forbidden Morlock tunnels in a bid to rid them of the dangerous Masque and his gang. However, when he entered the tunnels, he found the body of a Morlock and his old ally from X-Factor, Caliban. Caliban had been augmented by Apocalypse into a hulking version of his old self and he didn’t recognize Rictor. 
Before the young mutant could explain, he was caught off-guard by Sabretooth of the Marauders, who had murdered the Morlock Rictor had previously seen. Sabretooth and Caliban started fighting but, when Rictor interfered, the feral Sabretooth turned his attention to the young man. He was no match for the Marauder and was soon pinned against a rock. Deciding that there was no point in being afraid, he unleashed an enormous earthquake and drove Sabretooth away temporarily. The rest of the New Mutant team eventually found the battered and bloodied Rictor and took him back to the mansion. Afterwards, Rictor reluctantly realized that maybe he did need training in his powers and Cable was the man to do it. [New Mutants (1st series) #90-91]
Rictor’s impulsiveness was a lot harder to get under control inside and outside the Danger Room. He would often unleash his powers to save a teammate but not think of the repercussions of such a destructive force. Whilst on a mission to stop the MLF from poisoning the water supply in Madripoor, Rictor inadvertently caused a warehouse to catch fire by not paying attention to what was going on around him. [New Mutants (1st series) #93-94]
Soon after, whilst relaxing with some of his teammates, Rictor was captured by some Genoshan magistrates, along with Wolfsbane, Warlock, Boom Boom and Storm. They were taken to the island of Genosha, where mutants had their free will removed and were forced to work as slaves for the government. The kids were stripped naked and drugged, ready to be processed. Rictor was alarmed to see that the mastermind behind it all was no other than his old adversary, Cameron Hodge. Rictor had his powers removed and he was given the designation Unit 527. When Hodge confronted them a short while later, Rictor was frozen with fear, as he could clearly remember all the things Hodge had done to him in the past. 
After escaping their cells and splitting up to try and find help, Rictor and Wolfsbane shared a tender kiss as they too separated in a desperate bid to find an exit. After escaping the citadel, the powerless Rictor and Boom Boom met up with a few of the X-Men who had infiltrated the island. Rictor’s training with Cable paid off, as he was able to handle himself well against many of the island’s soldiers, despite not having any powers. When he saw Wolfsbane on TV and realized she had been turned into a mindless mutate, he was overcome with guilt for leaving her back at the citadel.
As events escalated, most of the X-Men and X-Factor who came to rescue the teens were captured themselves and awaited processing. Rictor, Jubilee and Boom Boom were some of the only free mutants left on the island and so they stealthily made their way into the citadel again. There they met up with some other escapees as well as Wolfsbane, who had been given her mind back. After Rictor’s powers were promptly restored he, along with his fellow New Mutants, destroyed the lab and all the equipment in it. However, Hodge had fled deeper into the citadel and so Rictor, along with an augmented Wolfsbane, sought him out. When they eventually found him, Rictor managed to overcome his earlier fears and he bravely held off Hodge until help arrived, at which point they let the older mutants tackle the maniacal villain. Once the fight was over, Hodge was reduced to an animated severed head, still alive and immortal due to a demon pact he made during Inferno. Rictor used his powers and caused the citadel to crumble, burying Hodge under a mountain of debris. [X-Tinction Agenda crossover]
In the aftermath of the events on Genosha, Wolfsbane decided to stay behind after the ordeal she went through. Rictor took it badly and was determined to find a way to put her back to the way she used to be. With no one else willing to help him, he left the New Mutants in the middle of the night and departed for Genosha. [New Mutants (1st series) #98]
Rictor never made it to Genosha, and Wolfsbane later joined the new government-sponsored mutant team X-Factor and was being cared for by them. Whilst Rictor was gone, the New Mutants disbanded and a new team called X-Force rose in their place. Rictor managed to find his way onto the anti-Cable task force Weapon P.R.I.M.E., who were hunting down Cable because they believed he was in charge of the MLF as well as X-Force. This suited Rictor perfectly, as he had a lot of unfinished business with Cable himself. 
After P.R.I.M.E. filled out its membership, they took the fight to Cable, with the intention of bringing him in and making him answer for his various crimes. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, and Rictor was knocked out by his former teammate, Cannonball. A third party blew up X-Force's headquarters during the fight, burying X-Force and Weapon P.R.I.M.E. while Cable escaped solo. After coming around, Rictor stopped his teammate Kane from shooting Boom Boom. With Cable out of the picture, Rictor switched his allegience back to his former friends. They were all attacked by SHIELD and in the ensuing chaos Rictor and X-Force managed to escape the area in a SHIELD vehicle to avoid being apprehended by the authorities. [X-Force (1st series) #10-14]
When Professor Xavier was shot by a man looking remarkably like Cable, X-Force suddenly found themselves hunted by their former allies. They decided the best course of action was to try and find Cable themselves and figure out what was going on. 
By chance, they ran into Strong Guy and Wolfsbane from X-Factor and, when Rahne saw Rictor, she passionately kissed him in front of everyone. Unfortunately, Wolfsbane was having trouble with her feral side and she ended up biting Rictor’s lip and drawing blood. It got worse when he realized that she was now interested in her current teammate, Havok. X-Force managed to give X-Factor the slip after a brief battle but later on they were captured when a larger group of X-Men hunted them down. Whilst Cannonball and Boom Boom managed to convince the X-Men to let them help, the rest of X-Force were detained and put in makeshift cells in the Danger Room. Wolfsbane visited Rictor but he was rather cold with her, as she had personally helped capture him. It was eventually revealed that Stryfe, the leader of the MLF, was Cable’s clone and it was he who had shot Xavier. Cable and Stryfe fought and both were seemingly killed in a large explosion. With the situation resolved, the remaining members of X-Force were allowed to go free. [X-Cutioner’s Song crossover]
The team stuck around the X-Mansion for a short while but decided to leave again to follow their own path. They set up a temporary base at the Camp Verde Reservation but, when they saw that Greymalkin, Cable’s space station, had suddenly appeared in Earth’s orbit, they leapt into action. Gaining entry to the complex, they found that they were not alone and a SHIELD team consisting of some of Rictor’s former Weapon P.R.I.M.E. teammates had also been curious about the station. Naturally, a fight broke out and Rictor ended up going toe-to-toe with War Machine, amongst others. The battle ended with the entire space station being blown up and the team escaping back to Camp Verde. [X-Force (1st series) #19-22]
The missions came thick and fast after that. Not only did Rictor have to save some of his teammates from a group known as the Externals, he also had to rescue his former teammates Rusty and Skids from the anti-mutant group, the Friends of Humanity. [X-Force (1st series) #23-24]
An unpleasant surprise was in store for him when he arrived back from his latest mission to find Cable had miraculous returned to them. However, before Rictor could do anything, Cable explained to him that it wasn’t he who had killed Rictor’s father but rather his identical clone, Stryfe. Whilst Rictor now knew that Cable was not responsible for his father’s death, he still found it hard to welcome him back to the team and he would often be quite hostile towards the man. Rictor’s emotions were starting to overrun him and he ended up kissing Boom Boom, although she did not reciprocate his feelings, since she was now with Cannonball. [X-Force (1st series) #25-26]