#i feel like i should maybe make a sideblog for xfactor spec just to keep it organized.

[summerstrash]

Options for how Alex is the secret traitor in the upcoming X-Factor #2, given the solicit that dropped yesterday:

Option #1: Genuinely Scheming

Option #2: The Other Alex

Option #3: Down Bad Again

Option #4: Possession/Brainwashing

See below the readmore for my more lengthy thoughts about each, but right now, my money's on option #4.

Option #1: Genuinely Scheming

This is the option for Alex genuinely agreeing with Lorna's goals and feeding her info. This is technically possible given the way the solicit is worded, but it feels unlikely because Alex never chooses the non-institutional side of a conflict of his own free will. He will always choose a comfortable bed and incrementalist change within the system over liberationary terrorism when given the choice; it's just who he is. So I can't imagine him playing spy on purpose in a way that would risk his creature comforts.

Option #2: The Other Alex

This option is for Alex's dissociative disorder from Hellions coming back with a vengeance after the fall of Krakoa and whatever events put him in the gutter in Malibu, and while vanilla Alex has no idea he's dissociating, his violent, ruthless counterpart is feeding Lorna and her group info and possibly working more directly with them. This is possible, but I doubt it because Alex's disorder didn't really manifest in a way conducive to this kind of plotting before, because alter!Alex is kind of an immediate action violence kind of guy, not a schemer.

Option #3: Down Bad Again

In this option, Alex has reunited with Lorna in some fashion and is giving her information about what X-Factor is doing, not knowing she's using that info to further her group's goals, and thus the reveal in #2 is that Lorna has been leading this group and using him. This is entirely possible, considering Alex's down-badness is chronic and terminal, and all Lorna would have to do is act like she needs him, and he'd roll right over. I don't like it, though, because Alex/Lorna is my least favorite Alex relationship, and rehashing it again is not something Lorna deserves to have to endure. She's a fucking PhD now, she shouldn't have to have her role in the story be about how she and Alex are fucking again and it's causing him problems.

Option #4: Possession/Brainwashing

In this option, someone in Lorna's camp, with or without her knowledge and blessing, has possessed or brainwashed Alex in order to infiltrate X-Factor. I think this is the most likely option, because it keeps Alex from doing anything ethically dubious while still allowing for the betrayal plotline, and keeping it from Alex's knowledge that he's doing this. Alex also has a long and storied history of being brainwashed and used against his teammates, so like, it's kind of a classic trope for him now. My specific sub-theories here are:

A) Malice has joined up with Lorna and is doing what she does best, possibly without Lorna's knowledge. I like this theory because Alex being possessed by Malice would mirror the nostalgic 80s & 90s Malice possessions, and it would inevitably give me more lesbian Alex subtext to work with.

B) Alternatively, The Exes Have Unionized, and Maddie is manipulating Alex psychically because she and Lorna are working together to further Lorna's liberatory goals. If this is what happened, it's entirely possible that Maddie dumping Alex, which i think is what lead to his Malibu gutter era, was part of the plot, and I think that's a strong possibility, given the way Maddie treats Alex in Dark X-Men as a sort of pet or object, and how we don't really have an in-built reason for her to decide to dump him.

Either way, I'm curious as to which option Russell's chosen here, and nervous about what Alex is about to be compelled to do, but I'm feeling a little more positively than you might expect, given my typical opinions and thoughts.

I'm just hoping that, whatever happens, Alex gets some, like, genuine characterization and development out of it, rather than just reiterating everything the Krakoan Era did with him, which was to use him as a plot device and crutch for other characters' development rather than his own.

But, well, we'll see, won't we.