X-Writers is a non-profit fan-fiction group using characters that belong to Marvel Entertainments Group. ----------------------------------- Cable #33 "Interpersonal Introspective" Writer: Starkalien Editor: Marysia ------------------------------------------ The jeep rumbled on over rutted tracks barely discernible as a path through the jungle. The enormous crate, being towed behind the jeep on repulsor skids, con siderably widened the path as it passed through, blind to the trees and brush t hat fell before its relentless passage. Every so often Cain had to exit the jee p and remove a particularly large tree himself using his considerable strength to wrench it out of the way of his cargo's enormity. His sidekick Vinny, and hi s ever silent passenger Nathan Summers (about whom Cain has been spending a lon g portion of this journey thinking about) were of no help in this effort, sitti ng silently, Vinny in a radiation suit like something from a B-Movie and Cable sitting staring into infinity wearing only Cain's oversized shirt as The Jugger naut went about his labours. Cain was sure that Cable could remove said trees with but a thought, but as yet Summers had only stared into the distance saying not a word. Cain got these mi ddle-brain headaches whenever he was around anyone with psionic abilities, the stronger the psi, the bigger the headache. Right now , he felt like Galactus hi mself was devouring his brain as he might a world in some distant galaxy. The o nly other psi that came close to causing him this much pain was his step-brothe r Charles Xavier who is known in the circles that count as the worlds most powe rful telepath. Cain grinned at the thought of how weak Charlie was compared to the power this guy now has. Cain Marko had faced Cable on opposite sides of the battlefield before in his a lter-ego as The Juggernaut and had never been affected like this before. That, and the fact that Nathan's techno-virus (a disease that caused much of Cables b ody to be consumed by living circuitry and was held in check only by donating a large portion of his psionic powers to checking the virus ) was no longer visi ble, had Cain worried about why Cable had appeared in the middle of one of his scams naked, silent and seemingly uninterested in the particulars of his situat ion. There was no mistaking that this was Cable. Sure, he looked a little younger th an he remembered, but he had encountered Cable enough times to know that either this was Cable, or a damned good clone. It was just getting dark and they came upon a rather large clearing, so Cain de cided to stop for the night. He stopped the jeep at one edge of the clearing an d the gargantuan steel crate wobbled slightly on its repulsors as it too slowed to a halt. Vinny immediately ran off into the jungle to relieve his jarred kid neys after the long bumpy journey of the day. Cable simply stepped out of the j eep and stared off into the trees as if in a trance. Cain got out, started to t ell Summers that he too was going to make use of a tree, then decided that it w as pointless and set out through the trees. He didn't really have to pee, he just wanted to get far enough away from Cable to ease the pain in his head. He trudged on, the fire in his brain slowing step by step, bit by bit. After a lengthy amount of time the pain had lessened to t hat of an itch and Cain sat down on a log, marvelling that he had had to travel at least a mile before Cable's psi powers no longer caused him torment. --------------------------------------------- Nathan stood staring sightlessly into the tangle of vegetation that made up a l arge portion of the continent that he found himself upon. He had run for days, stopping only to maintain his body by providing the essentials - food, water, w aste, and rest. He had not known why he was running, he only knew that he must go that way as quickly as he was able to. Now he felt that he had arrived, but was unsure as to why. Marko had been his enemy in the past, but he felt indiffe rent to the Juggernaut as if he were the biting mosquito that itches while you hide from the ferocious tiger who will hunt you, kill you and consume you with a similar type of indifference. He considered his situation and could not find relevance to the sensation he fe lt about having arrived here. The feeling he had was wholly uncomfortable, as w hen you have left your residence but can't remember if you had left some inane device on that had some astronomical chance of burning down all your belongings . It was something akin to the feeling of having a word on the tip of your tong ue and not being able to spit it out. He was looking for an epiphany. Cable could hear Marko's thoughts, but he simply ignored them as he did the mul titude of sentient organisms that lay within his sphere of influence. With his newly recharged psi-powers, he could hear the thoughts of any thinking being, w hether that thought were of the primal drive to eat or the theories surrounding the Fermi equation. To be quite honest, he had to expend a fairly large portio n of his mind powers to block many of the thoughts that intruded upon his consc iousness. The portion of his powers that were not required to control the mind noise he d evoted to searching out the source of the impulse that had brought him to this point. After an indeterminable length of time he deduced that his best course o f action were to wait for something to happen so he turned his conscious though ts to stretching and testing the bounds of his unfamiliar powers, limiting hims elf to exercises that would have no telltale signs in this particular plane of existence. Cable felt no apparent threat, but he somehow knew that he must prepare himself for what was to come. ---------------------------------------- Nicky's Speakeasy. Just about the grimiest, most rundown, most out of the way l ittle dive you've ever imagined. New York City has a gazillion little hidey hol es where you can disappear if you don't want anyone to find you, and this place is the best. Most bars have regulars. The only people that go to Nicky's are k nown as Furniture by the decrepit old wisp of a woman that's the bartender ther e. Not only does she know everyone that goes in there but when someone she does n't know comes in, she ignores them til they go away. Nicky's is an exclusive c lub, but instead of smelling of money, all it's patrons smell like danger. In a little back corner booth that happens to be the least visible spot in an i nvisible bar sits a figure clad in red from head to toe, aside from various bla ck markings like around his eyes and his bandoliers. His mask is rolled up so o nly his chin and mouth are visible. What skin that is exposed is horribly disfi gured. Freddy Krueger would have blanched at this man's complexion. "Freakin Secret meetings, and Mission Impossible bullshit. Cripes! I got a godd amn answering machine. You'd think a person could get his messages without havi n to give Broom Hilda at the bar some kinda secret handshake or some shit." He picks up his beer mug, holds it to the light and grimaces at whatever he see s floating in the expensive yet tasteless swill. He closes his eyes and drains half the mug before setting the offensive brew down and opening his eyes again. He barely manages to contain his surprise when he sees that someone has joined him. He gives her a good once over and settles back in his chair. "Shoulda known it was you guys who called me to this little cesspool of a beer joint. Couldn't you have chosen the Hard Rock or sumpthin' slightly classier, S pot?" he sneered the last word, multiple meanings dripping with unflattering im plications. She blinked her eyes at him, one of which was surrounded by a black circle that was the least aggrandizing gibe that could be construed from his barb. "You got some mouth, Merc. One of these days I'll have to shut it permanently," she said calmly, her skin-tight purple and black bodysuit drawing his attentio n away from her condescending expression. "For now, just keep quiet while I tel l you what you're gonna do for us." "What makes you think...." he started. "Shut UP! You'd be dead right now if we didn't feel you'd be more useful to us right now. I wanted to kill you back in the Sahara, but obviously you've done s ome profitable work in the past and that seems to have saved your ass. So here' s what you're gonna do. You're gonna go to Uganda and appropriate some equipmen t that is being brought to a wannabe who doesn't know when to keep his mouth sh ut." "Uganda! What the hell? I just got back from Africa a little while ago. I don't wanna go back to that hell on earth. They ain't got any good beer there. And a ll that heat and humidity is horrible for my skin," he made a show of touching his scarred and blistered chin as if he were modelling the newest wrinkle reduc ing cream. She glared at him like a middle school teacher would at the class clown. "Pack your antihistamine, pretty boy, you're bound for the Dark Continent. ------------------------------------------- Next: Juggernaut activates the mother of all Sentinels as Cable stands idly by, watching with detached indifference.