X23 was created in a lab directly for the purpose of killing, but she is used to kill and she can’t be blamed for all those deaths. It’s true, but the subject I’m implying, surprisingly, wasn’t undertaken (well, it was, but only recently in the Ongoing series. Before that it wasn’t pointed out directly).
I will tell you what, in my opinion, is X23’s worst nightmare.
The first fact in that subject – in all her stories she had a lot of conversations. When she is asked the question “do you like killing”, she answers variously:
1. She answers that she is a killing machine made to kill (I don’t need to show an example, this answer is like a catch phrase for her). I know, nothing new, but why “killing machine” and not “killer”? Because Killing machine is a MACHINE – so the fact of being used by other people for their purposes is evident, but killer is a KILLER – it’s all about premeditated killing, at your own will. She keeps naming herself a killing machine, rather than a killer, to give herself a hope, which I will explain later.
2. She answers evasively, by saying that she is unable to argue and mentioning trigger scent. Look at this example:
Morales asks her: “Did you just do it, because you like it?” and what is X’s answer? Everything what is above. She doesn’t answer Yes or No about her likings. You could say, that there aren’t any, but there are. Here is another example:
You seriously believe in her explanation? It’s obvious, it was an act of revenge hidden behind her inhuman training’s results. You could say that she doesn’t feel any emotions, she was made like that, but after all she is a living being. I know other cold-blooded characters like her, but in all of those cases it was just a “mask” for others. All people, even X, have their limits. The guy, who she killed, was from the facility, the people who made her life a nightmare. She felt hate, although unnoticeable, and that’s why she killed him. It’s the same with her self-injuries, she does that not quite consciously, but subconsciously. I think you all experienced a situation when you felt the need of giving payback people who constantly insults you, but you refused (or not). I would say it’s the „payback instinct”. X here experiences the same situation, but the main difference is that they didn’t just insult her but destroyed her life, so her anger and hate are stronger and justified, she just have problems with expressing it. Pulling the trigger was an act of her subconscious hate.
The same is here, but more in the Punisher’s way. “All people, who does bad things, with the Facility on top, must be eliminated”. But this situation reminds me of another case. She always complained about the fact that she is manipulated, used to kill. Her greatest wish is to be free. But she NEVER complained about killing itself (as from I know, correct me if I’m wrong). She never said that she wish to quit killing entirely. I know that the story wouldn’t want her to do it – Kimura being out there, hunting for her and her friends, trigger scent still massively produced, and some people from the facility still trying to continue Weapon X project, but I haven’t seen any her significant reconsiderations or actions in trying to quit the killing, even with the help of her friends, and finally be free from the killing itself. When Wolverine asks her in the epilogue of Second Coming, where she would go, since she is now free, she simply replies, that he must tell her where she should go. She hates to be ordered, but wants to be ordered? Pretty confusing, but it matches my theory, which I will explain later.
And now the “greatly” acclaimed case, known from the Ongoing series – The Devil. In my opinion it’s not really the devil but the manifestation of X’s psyche and here’s why:
1. First case – WHAT THE HELL DOES HE WANT FROM HER?! He is the devil, and he said that he wants her to kill, but who? The newborn Jesus or something? Even so, it wouldn’t be better to haunt such a powerful mutant like Magneto or Protheus? If he is the Devil, he should want to do something very “big” and very “bad”. X’s a good choice, but not the greatest one to bring the Biblical Apocalypse.
1. Second case – rather than taking her to hell, he took her to her own mind and told her that he is her “true self that lives in a place deeper than her heart” and that he is “the part of her that scientists never touched”. He doesn’t say it directly, but don’t you think it sounds like the manifestation of psyche?
3. Third case – I had some problems with it, but finally I conquered them. The only person, who can see the devil, is the X herself. The same is with her scar, except Miss Sinister, who noticed it. But she could use her telepathy to see X’s mind, including her delusions and hallucinations (The scar might be a delusion)
4. Fourth case – origins of those delusions. In New-xmen Emma Frost was messing up her mind, and the devil might be a forgotten “secret bomb” implemented in her mind, which exploded in the beginning of the Ongoing series, causing the appearances of all delusions.
And that’s all about the devil itself. Going back to the main subject. As for being, perhaps, the manifestation of X’s psyche, he also deals with her subconscious emotions.
“You are so used to being used, after all. Or maybe you would have liked it”. After hearing those words, she does the best she can do to just silence him. She don’t want to listen to those implications. After all she know one thing – she might be a killing machine, but she’s definitely not a MONSTER, not a KILLER. “Did I touch a nerve?”. Oh yes, you certainly did, because it’s something that she don’t even want to talk about.
It’s her worst nightmare – the fact that, except her education in killing, the facility might have implemented in her something worse – taking pleasure in killing making her not a killing machine, but a bloody monster who enjoys killing people. She is scared, because she is not sure about it, and if it’s true, then there is no hope for her!
Look at this one
Three times “No”? She wouldn’t pass “America’s got talent”. After hearing from a survivor that she killed all those people, those three NO’s were her only explanation. She couldn’t explain what happened, but she didn’t want to believe, that she did it with premeditation, that she killed those people without trigger scent’s influence. She just didn’t want to accept it, even if it’s true.
Judging by your responses in my older post, you all agreed that X23 has two natures: innocent victim and a killing machine. I think they are represented by the Devil(killing machine) and the GamesMaster(Innocent victim) known from the one-shot and the first issue of the Ongoing series. In that issue he is in a cage, which means that those two natures battle themselves for domination. They were perfectly described in issue 10#:
“this was an accident”. Or is it? It was the first time when she felt really sorry for her targets, nearly cried, but when gambit touched her, she wanted to kill, just simply kill. It was her instinct. Maybe she doesn’t need to sniff trigger scent to simply want to kill (look at her eyes).
Indeed, who is X23? She was made a weapon, but as the story goes, we see that she has emotions. She can spare Sutter’s Kid, but not Greg Johnson’s. she is afraid of being used, but she can’t live without orders. She is both Innocent victim and a killing machine. She wants to be free, but (entirely in my opinion, maybe I’ve gone too far with describing her) she fears that when she will finally be free, she could discover that she can’t live without killing and that she would become a serial killer. I think that her mortal enemy is not really Kimura, Zander, the facility or the devil, but her killing nature. It’s like a cage for her and it’s decisive, because if she would deal with it, her story, without the main plot, would come to an end.
What do you think? Am I right or I’ve gone too far?
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