------------------------------------------------------------------ ** Copyright ** X-Writers is a non-profit, fan-fiction group. These characters are Marvel's. I'm just using them in some fantasies... so don't sue me or anything because hey...everybody's got fantasies! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ** Welcome to Cable #28, under a new writer. Before we get started I just thought I'd tell you a little about myself, and my plans for everybody's favourite cyborg. I live in Utah, and have been reading comics for about 10 years. My favourite books are; Sin City, Scud, Wild C.A.T.S., Wolverine, Sandman, and of course Cable. I am currently attempting to get published as a writer in the comics field and have 2 mini- series in the works. As for Cable by a cruel twist of fate he got injected with the Legacy virus... which spells death for the Chosen One. But if you think I am going to take over this book just to kill Cable off (well actually that's exactly what I am doing... hehehehe) you're dead wrong. Therefore the first 2 issues (28 & 29) will focus on getting Cable cured, from there he will go through two story arcs "Prometheus Bound" (30-33), and "Hunter" (34 & 35), after that I have a few more surprises. I would really like to get your feedback on how I handle Cable's character and what you think of the changes that will be made to the character and the style of the book. If you want to get in touch just e-mail me at: Wix@wolsi.com And I'll reply ASAP. Thanks for reading this long, hope you enjoy the issue!! ** --------------------------------- Cable #28 "Do Not Go Gently" Writer: Wix --------------------------------- They look at me. Of course, they always have looked at me... but now it's different. They change directions when they see me coming, no one makes eye contact. They fear me because I carry the virus, and in turn I fear the virus because I cannot fight it. Three days on in space and still nothing. The others promise a cure soon, but they block their thoughts and I know that they are lying. Sometimes I think I see pity in their eyes, and I hate them for thinking me weak... I hate myself for being weak in the face of the virus. I can feel it, inside me just as I feel the techno-virus. At first they were both silent, fighting... or making a truce. Now they work together, the telekinetic shields I have crafted fall, the telepathic stops are overridden. I do not doubt that death waits for me... I do not fear death, an Askani Warrior learns to think of death as another stage of life.... but that's all a lie, death is the final battle. But death never loses, so why fight? Why fight? Because if one does not fight one loses the battle, in defying death... if only a few minutes we win. It is a small victory, but a victory none the less. But I cannot die here. Space is lifeless and will not mourn me, I need to be back on Earth... I need to be home. The shuttle drops me at the base of the Rockies. I inhale the crisp mountain air like I was breathing for the first time. If I am to die, let it be hear among nature, on the Earth I was meant to save... the Earth I never will. Let me fight one more battle before I die... - - - - The prints are deep. A male. Powerful with a deep roar. I follow the trail silently, I have shed my weapons and clothes. I fight nature as nature fights, naked with only my prowess and instincts to preserve me. The trail winds around the peak for the better part of a mile, sometimes the prints are light, some- times heavy, sometimes the four prints turn to two where the male stood. Sometimes the they disappear altogether. But I am able to follow, for I have haunted man and beast and I know the moves each makes... Askani are trained to kill, it is not intended to be pleasurablebut sometimes a man needs pleasure. The male sits in front of me, he is casually eating carrion. He is oblivious to the world...that is no way to fight. I take a rock in my flesh hand and throw it. The bear starts and looks around... not frantically but casually, he has no natural predators here... not until now. I spring from the trees, and I roar a deep man roar... the bear rises, he is no stranger to a challenge and greets me as he would any other whelp... he roars, and his roar is louder. I land on my feet, inches from the bears snout. As if swatting a fly he brings his hand around slowly, I break it in three places before the swing is over. Now the bear is mad, and now the fun can begin. The male charges on his good three legs. I leap, my heel hits his brow, my nails dig into the skin on his back, the bear howls. Now he feels rage, and now the fight begins. The bear rises on his hind legs, I thrust my flesh hand into his stomach. For a minute the bear looks confused, no one has ever struck him so hard before. But the bear does not hurt or scare easily and he strikes... faster this time, and with more force. I side step the blow and plant my foot in his chest, two more kicks follow along with an elbow to the jaw. The bear is feral now, now he becomes dangerous. He thrashes wildly and I am forced to block and dodge or by torn apart. Twice the bears claw's break skin, as his attacks become more and more brutal. I am tempted to lash out at his mind, for the bear is a simple beast and a mental assault would finish the battle. But the bear has no mind tricks, and I will fight the bear on his own terms. The beast lunges, but it is slow and I am the faster. Three blows to the sternum in quick succession followed by a blow to the kneecap, I think I shatter it, but the bear is to maddened with rage and fear to notice. It comes again, I side-step... this dance is becoming old. The bear rotates frantically, bringing its claws across my back. I hear flesh tear, my human arm goes limp as nerves are severed. Now I feel rage, and now the fight ends. I turn to face the bear, he is dazed with pain and thinks he has won. My metallic palm opens wide and plunges forward. Metal, it is not natural and so I am cheating by using it... but natures law is survival of the fittest, I am the more fit and so I survive. The palm breaks skin and bone and I drive it deeper to the heart, the fingers close and I jerk down hard ripping the organ from its ordained place. The bear lashes out once more in its death throes, claws rake against my embedded arm but they do no good. The bear falls. I can feel the blood running down my back, that doesn't worry me, I can't feel my arm and that does. But it is better to die of wounds inflicted by something I can fight than something I cannot. I am breathing heavily and sweat pours down my brow. But I have won, I have beaten nature only soon be beaten by her... I have won a small victory, that in the long run is meaningless, maybe even damaging to the local ecosystem. But damn it felt good! - - - - Three days have passed. I am still in the mountains, I have not bothered to bandage my wounds. I eat the bear meat raw, uncivilised but fulfilling in a primal way. It is close now, death looms above me like a shadow just out of sight. I invite it, it promises peace and an end to this fire in my bowels. I do not know if the others will go like this, the techno-virus and the Legacy work together... maybe they work differently but they work toward the same end... and that end is approaching. - - - - Another night, and another day roll by. My world has become one blur after another, crows flock to the bears carcass now and maggots breed furiously within the chest cavity. I can feel death touching lightly on my brow, she promises me peace eternal, and I know she does not lie. In my final moments I think about my life... what have I really accomplished? A few "evil-doers" out of the way, a lot of property damage, maybe a good influence on the children of X-Force... I won't live up to my "destiny" that Blaquesmith rants about, but the X-Man can do that we are the same he and I but he is pure and I am soiled by time, fate, and design. I breath the mountain air once more, it is so much cleaner than the air I breathed at birth. I take death's hand and follow her into oblivion. ** Next Issue ** Yeah, like we were really going to let him stay dead!?!?!?!? -- *Marysia* |"Just love me, fear me, do as I say and I Keeper of the | will be your slave." Jareth, Labyrinth. Labyrinth Flame |----------------------------------------- and Holy Virgin | x-writers at majordomo@minuteman com of Scotland. | Info at http://minuteman.com/x-writers