====================
 X-Writers is a non-profit making organisation. Many of the characters
 featured in this story are copyright of Marvel Comics.
====================

The story so far: After becoming infected with the Legacy Virus, which
reacted fatally with Cable's techno-organic infection, Cable went into
the wilderness to die. He then was confronted with a vision of the 
goddess Roma, who said she would ressurrect him, for reasons yet to
be explained. He then emerged naked in Africa, where he met up with the 
Juggernaut, who was attempting to purchase a Sentinel. Cable is not
quite his old self anymore.

The same could also be said of Domino, who has joined Tyler,
the man she claims is her husband, now that her "sleeper" personality 
has been activated. The full story is archived on the X-Writers
homepage at: http://darklin.telmaron.com/~vertigo/xwriters/

The story continues:
====================

Cable #35: "Investing in the Future"
Writen by Marty Blase
Edited by Andrew Wheeler

====================

Nathan Dayspring Summers, aka Cable, stepped quietly up to the reclining
Sentinel and put his hand on its the side of its head.

Yes, he thought as he looked up and down the length of the enormous
android. The bright noon sun of the Uganda savannah reflected off the
smooth curves of its polished metallic finish. He pressed his hand against
the curved wall of its skull. If anyone else had been looking, they'd have
sworn its surface caved in slightly under the gentle pressure of Cable's
fingers.

Yes, he thought. This is it.

====================

Cain Marko, aka the Juggernaut, cracked his knuckles one by one. The sound
reminded those listening of wrists being carefully, deliberately snapped in
half.

Cain had found and hired the Fixer to provide him with some technology that
would be able to protect him from Onslaught, in case they tried to come
after him again. The Sentinel was what the Fixer had provided. Thinking
about having to need physical protection against *anything* made him mad
all over again, though, and this unexpected visitor could be exactly what
he needed to get some of that anger out of his system.

"I'll give ya exactly five seconds to get out of here, Dead-man," he said
without moving his fists. "An' I'm only bein' that generous 'cause I've got
a major headache today, an' takin' the time ta stomp ya'll probably just
make it worse."

====================

Vinnie Yeardesley, aka the Fixer, had already ducked behind the other side
of the Sentinel in hopes of staying out of everyone's sight for the next
few minutes. He'd led Cain Marko out to this area, literally in the middle
of nowhere, to show him the Sentinel he'd been able to obtain through the
black market and to complete their business together. Why someone the size
of Marko should need a Sentinel for protection was completely beyond him,
but he was getting payed far too well to care about asking questions.

He covered the speaker ports of his diagnostic hand-helds and continued
checking the integrity of the Sentinel's new programming. He couldn't quite
figure out why, but it looked like some of the data he'd programmed was
changing already, and he'd only finished inputting those commands just
before this red-and-black clad loudmouth had appeared out of nowhere....

====================

Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, swallowed nervously. "Um. Hey there! Long time
no see, Marko ol' pal. Um. Say, you haven't by any chance forgived 'n
forgotten about that little bizness with Black Tom in the airliner by now,
have you?" [1]

"Nope."

"JustthoughtI'dask," Wade replied, dodging both of Juggernaut's massive
fists as they struck the ground where he'd been standing. The resultant
tremor was strong enough to shift the prone Sentinel two feet back. "Hi
there, Cable, how ya doin'?" he asked casually as he stopped in front on
the Sentinel.

Cable looked through him emptily, and said nothing.

"Hoo-kay," Deadpool said quickly. "Listen, Juggy, I understand that you're
having a bad day, so lemme make you a deal."

"I'm not in the mood." He surged forward to crush Deadpool between his
arms, and missed him by half a second.

"Oh, but you'll *like* this one!" Deadpool added as he bobbed and weaved
between Juggernaut's swinging hands. "Okay, here's the story. I was sent
here to make a pickup, and I have a hunch that big purple Gobot there is
the package in question. So why dont'cha just give me ten seconds, I'll
slap a tracker on the thing, and I'll teleport right back outta here before
you can say 'Husker Du'?"

"The Sentinel's MINE, ya skinny little twerp." An arm the size of a small
oak whizzed just above Deadpool's head as the merc dodged backwards and
pressed against the Sentinel's metal head. "I had ta go through hell'n high
water ta get that thing out here and repaired, and yer only gonna get it
over my dead body!"


====================

The Fixer wiped the screen of his palmtop computer off on his bellbottoms
and peered at it again. He couldn't believe what he was seeing there. If he
didn't know better, he'd swear the Sentinel was reprogramming itself.

Putting the computer down for a second, he reached out toward the Sentinel
with his hand and extended his awareness, using his mutant ability to
control technology at the molecular level to try and figure out what was
happening inside. He tried to interrupt the electron flow, the power
conduits, anything that might be causing this, but none of it seemed to
have any effect. Even when he shifted the wires on the microchips inside
its mechanical brain, they just shifted right back into their old
configurations.

How the hell did this happen? he thought as he scrolled through command
after command. I'm good, but I was *never* this good....

====================

"Yeah, well, about that," Deadpool quipped as he leapt over another
thunderous punch. The impact made a visible dent in the side of the
Sentinel's head. "I'm kinda in a hurry at the moment, and seeing as my
paycheck today doesn't cover preparing roast Goliath for my client...."

He landed squarely behind Juggernaut, taking advantage of the lack of
peripheral vision his helmet provided. Pulling both his swords from their
sheaths, he leapt up onto his opponent's shoulders and sliced quickly
through the rivets attaching his helmet to his costume. "Get OFFA me, ya
lousy merc!" Cain demanded, grabbing the empty air over his head as his
helmet came off in Deadpool's hands.

Deadpool somersaulted backwards, holding his swords in one hand and the
helmet in the other. He tossed it over his shoulder nonchalantly. "...so I
think I'm just gonna finish this up the quickest way possible. Hit 'im,
Cable!"

Cable didn't move, or even blink. Juggernaut brushed his hair back with one
hand and ground his teeth.

"I said, hit 'im Cable! The ol' telepathic one-two! C'mon, big guy! Up and
at 'em!" He held his swords out in front of himself tentatively.

"Yer wastin' yer time, shrimp," Juggernaut said ominously as he took one
slow step after another toward Deadpool. "That guy hasn't said five words
to anyone since I found him, an' he won't even breathe on anyone else's
say-so. Now put those toothpicks away an' gimme my helmet back, an' maybe I
won't break your spine between my fingers when I finally get my hands of
you."

====================

It is almost ready....

Cable's hand was now pressing two inches into the surface of the Sentinel's
head. The metal flowed like molasses under his fingertips, swirling slowly
as Cable went deeper and deeper.

When he finally lifted his hand, the purple color seemed to pour back into
the space it had left, returning it to a smooth, featureless finish. His
arm fell gradually, noiselessly, back to his side. He blinked, twice.

....NOW.

====================

........>
........>>
>>>>>>>>12@%^07&&1234APOR
^^&if()then#include'ioparam.h'
stopcheck(memprm)if(ok)thenopenPort1024.... ........>> ........>
...>



SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS COMPLETE.
SENTINEL ALPHA PRIME READY FOR INSTRUCTIONS.

====================

Deadpool and Juggernaut stopped where they were and looked at the Sentinel.
They looked at each other. They looked at the Sentinel again.

The Sentinel levitated itself two feet off the ground and pivoted into a
standing position. Cable took two steps back from it, his expressionless
eyes staring up into the robot's mechanical face. The Fixer stumbled
backwards away from it, apparently confused and obviously frightened.

"*What* did that thing say?" Deadpool asked, but the Juggernaut was already
jogging around to the other side of the robot.

"HEY!" he shouted. "Yeardesley, what're you doin' to it? I thought you said
it was just gonna lie there until we told it what to do...."

"I *did!*" the Fixer replied. He was staring at the screen of every
diagnostic device he'd brought along and tossing them over his shoulder one
by one. "Something changed its programming, I don't know how, but it won't
listen to my overrides anymore!"

====================

Deadpool resheathed his swords and folded his arms behind his back.
Whistling 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' through his mask, he strolled casually
over to Cable's side.

"Hey there, Mr. C," he said quietly as he rested his arm on Cable's
shoulder. Cable continued to stare up at the Sentinel and appeared not to
notice. "Listen, I been watching you outta the corner of my eye for the
past couple minutes. I know you did something to the Mega-Thunderzord here
to make it start moving. I know you know it. I also know they don't know
it."

He drew one sword out again and held it level in front of Cable's throat.
"So. Why dont'cha just tell me where you found the power switch, so I can
go back and tell my client, and I'll get my paycheck, and Juggy and his
peace-love-flower-power friend over there will get the great big shaft, and
we'll all be shiny happy people again?"

Cable continued to do absolutely nothing. Deadpool waved his sword up and
down a few inches to make sure it was visible. No response.

"Allllll-rightey then," he sighed as he took two steps back and held his
sword in both hands. "We'll just have to turn it back off again. My way."

He squinted in the sunlight, levelled his weapon again, and swung both arms
around in a perfect arc.

Well, almost perfect. He stopped short and blacked out before he actually
made contact.

====================

"Whadayamean, it won't listen? Ya mean it's workin' on its own now?"

"It *can't* work on its own, Marko! I wiped out its initialization primer
so I could install my own command sequences! As far as I can tell -" he
tossed another device over his shoulder "- someone else is feeding it new
commands instead!"

Juggernaut looked up. The Fixer stopped manhandling his palmtop and looked
at him, then followed his gaze. He saw Cable looking up at the Sentinel,
with Deadpool beside him, staring passively in the same direction.

Cain's brow furrowed in anger as he shoved his companion aside and stomped
around the Sentinel's massive legs toward Cable. "Damn you, ya old geezer,"
he thundered as he bent forward into a tackle position and charged toward
his target, "give it BACK!"

====================

Deadpool regained his awareness just in time to see Cable fold his arms
around his chest and throw him back twenty feet with just his momentum. One
sword flew out of his hand on impact, but as soon as Cable impacted on the
ground he was able to roll free and leap back a safe distance.

"Y'know, I've never been much of a football fan," he sneered as he drew a
pair of bolos out of his belt pouches and began spinning them in each hand.
"How about, oh, say... badmitton? Now there's a sport for *real* men. Watch
the birdie...."

As Cable crouched for another attack, Deadpool threw both of the bolos into
his face and dodged the clumsy frontal assault. They wrapped themselves
neatly around Cable's head and neck, forcing him to the ground coughing.
Then he worked his fingernails under the tightening wires and ripped them
apart, tossing them aside and suffering no apparent damage in the process.

"Or maybe backgammon instead?" Deadpool gulped. "I haven't played
backgammon in ages...."

====================

The Fixer watched in confusion as the fight proceeded. Twice he thought of
calling out to Juggernaut and asking why he was calling that spandex-clad
merc a "geezer" and trying to knock him senseless again, but he decided it
wouldn't make much difference anyways. He'd already seen enough of Cain's
temper to know when to let certain things slide.

Still watching the display on his palmtop, he sauntered over toward Cable,
making sure the combatants stayed a comfortable couple hundred feet away
from both of them. Cable hadn't moved his gaze for an instant, even when
Juggernaut had slammed headfirst into the merc and thrown him halfway
across the savannah.

"So tell me, Mr. Cable," he asked as he folded up his palmtop and slid it
into his back pocket, "Was Cain ranting about you there, just before he
started beating up your buddy again? Neat trick, by the way, making them
each fight each other thinking they were fighting you. Or at least, I'm
assuming that was you - Cain mentioned briefly that you were a telepath."

Cable said, "Yes."

"Ah, so you *can* answer direct questions," the Fixer said with a smile. He
stared up with Cable at the Sentinel's unmoving face. "Good. Maybe you can
provide me with a couple of answers, then. For starters, just how did you
manage to jump-start my Sentinel and override its commands before I could
even get in there?"

Cable said, "I entered it's mind and told it what it needed to do. I'm
still in there. Please don't interrupt me again, it impedes my progress."

The Fixer tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You mean, you're *linked* with
that machine yourself? Telepathically? But it's not even alive."

Cable said, "Please don't interrupt me. It impedes my progress."

The Fixer thought for a few more seconds. Then, on a hunch, he extended his
technological awareness once again, this time toward Cable.


====================

Oh, my *God*....

====================

INTERNAL DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE.
SENTINEL ALPHA PRIME READY FOR DIRECTIVES. ENTERING HIBERNATION MODE 
NOW....

====================

"What the...?" Juggernaut said. The Sentinel's unexpected statement
surprised him enough that he relaxed his grip around his opponent's throat.

Deadpool pushed Juggernaut's fingers up and apart with a quick two-handed
motion, just enough to be able to slip his neck free. He rolled away
quickly, gasping for air. He was feeling a bit of a headache, but as it
cleared he could see who he'd really been fighting for the last several
minutes. He almost slapped himself for being such an idiot, then
congratulated himself for holding out as long as he did against Marko. Then
he drew both swords and took several large steps backwards, just to be on
the safe side.

Cain didn't pay him any attention, however. How Cable had managed to be in
two places at once was something he'd try to puzzle out later. Something
far more interesting was happening with his Sentinel, and this time he was
positive it was Cable's doing.

The blue-white fireworks erupting across the air between them was his first
big tip-off.

====================

The Fixer withdrew his awareness and staggered away from Cable just as the
energy bursts appeared, then began to flow between him and the Sentinel. He
didn't know why or how this was happening, but he had a good idea what
'hibernation mode' meant and made several logical leaps from there.

"Cable," he said warily, "that's my property you're messing with. Whatever
you're doing, stop it right now."

Cable ignored him as the energy flow increased. The electric light spun and
leapt across the Sentinel's entire body, bathing the entire savannah in its
light. As the Fixer focused on it, he saw...it *had* to be a trick of the
light...he saw the Sentinel slowly disappear, fading away under the flowing
energy as he watched. Dammit, he wondered, what was this guy *doing*?

He reached behind his back and drew a futuristic-looking pistol out of his
waistband. He lined up its sights at Cable and closed his finger around the
small trigger. He generally tried to avoid violence, at least when his
occupation permitted it, but the Sentinel was worth way too much money for
him to just let some schizo psychic take it away like this.

Clenching his teeth, the Fixer pressed the trigger firmly, and a
50,000-volt burst of electricity shot through the air and struck Cable in
the head.

An instant later, having caused absolutely no damage whatsoever, the taser
bolt came back at the Fixer and struck him full in the chest, knocking him
unconscious as well as several feet backwards. He collapsed in the high
grasses, twitching for several seconds, then lay still.

Cable appeared not to notice.

====================

Deadpool took several more steps backwards. Whatever was going on now, he
decided, he wasn't getting paid *nearly* enough money to jump into the
middle of it.

====================

Juggernaut, on the other hand, was far too confused by all the recent turns
of events to come to his own conclusions about what Cable was doing. He
simply stood his ground as the electric fireworks intensified between Cable
and the Sentinel, until he had to shield his eyes to block out the light.
The air and space around him seemed to hum and vibrate, as if the four
dimensions themselves were rubbing against each other. Juggernaut braced
himself for an explosion...

...which never came.

Juggernaut dropped his hand and blinked in the savannah daylight. Cable was
still there, unharmed. The Fixer was somewhere out of sight. Deadpool was
standing several yards behind him, trying to be inconspicuous behind a thin
sapling. The Sentinel...

The Sentinel was gone.

Cain took another visual sweep of the savannah. Nope, he decided, the
Sentinel was most definitely gone.

"What happened to it?" he demanded angrily.

"I've shifted the Sentinel out of normal space-time," Cable said without
moving from his position. "It's being stored, for when it will be needed
later. When it is the right time, I will be able to retrieve it again."

Juggernaut narrowed his eyes at him. "You're gonna retrieve it *now*,
future boy, or I'm gonna throw *you* into next week instead!"

"No," Cable replied.

Juggernaut crouched into a running stance and barrelled directly at him. "I
*said*, bring it back here NOW!"

"NO." And with a gesture of one hand, Cable redirected Juggernaut's forward
charge into a flying leap, sending him hundreds of feet into the air and in
the opposite direction. Deadpool watched him until he vanished into the
distance. It was too faint a sound to be sure, but as Juggernaut
disappeared from sight he could swear he heard him shouting "Not
agaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnn!!!!!".


====================

Deadpool stepped out from his hiding place and picked up his missing sword
from the grass. "Nice maneuver you did there, C," he commented. He stepped
into the flattened footprints that the Sentinel had left in the grass and
looked around idly. Nope, he thought, no telepathic illusions this time.
Wherever the Sentinel was now, it wasn't here. "Ya figure he'll run aground
in the Sahara for a while?"

"No. He will be landing in the South Atlantic in a few seconds. He won't be
a problem to anyone again for some time."

"Neat. You ought to find a job at Disneyworld watching for line-jumpers or
something, you'd make a killing." Deadpool got out of the footprint and
stood in front of Cable with his arms folded. "So where'd you *really* put
the Sentinel, anyways?"

"It's been shifted out of normal space-time. It will be able to stay where
it is indefinitely until I need it again."

"No kiddin'?" Deadpool shrugged; he had a hunch that was the best
explanation he was ever going to get about it. "Since when could you do
stunts like that, anyhoo?"

"I...." Cable paused, and blinked slowly. Except for that his expression
remained immobile.

"Yee-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss?" Deadpool prodded.

"...Excuse me. I have to leave now." Cable walked forward, and Deadpool
stepped out of his way as he continued forward into the brush.

He watched him walk, making a straight line away from where the Sentinel
had been, for about a minute. The tall grasses opened and closed silently
as he walked forward until his path was completely hidden from sight.

"Hrrmf," Deadpool finally said, and pressed the stud on his belt that
teleported him away.

====================

Several minutes later, the Fixer regained his senses and stood up slowly.
He looked around carefully, but no one else was anywhere to be seen. The
Sentinel was definitely not anywhere to be seen. Maybe Cable made them all
vanish the same way, he thought. He shook his head. Meaningless
speculation, anyways. What mattered wasn't how they left, but where they'd
gone.

He walked tentatively forward through the grass around the Sentinel's
footprints until he found all of his diagnostic devices and palmtops. He
picked them up one by one, scanned them briefly with his powers to make
sure they were fully functional, and tucked them into each of his pockets.
With a grimace he trudged over to his empty jeep and climbed in. The engine
started easily, and he drove unhurriedly back down the dirt road the way
he'd come.

What mattered now was where they'd gone, he thought again. He flipped out
one of his palmtops and started typing with one hand. Or more specifically,
where Cable had gone....

======EPILOGUE======
Nicky's Speakeasy, New York City

"If you didn't get what we sent you after, merc, just say so."

"All right already, you dumb broad, I didn't get it!" Deadpool slammed both
hands loudly on the small table and stood up from his chair. This
assignment had been enough of a pain as it was, he thought, without his
client belittling him for it on top of things. "But I'm thinkin' I oughta
get some hazard pay for this idiot job you gave me! When I'm expected to
track down a hundred-foot-tall Sentinel that's being sold to the
*Juggernaut*, fer cryin' out loud, it'd make my life a helluva lot easier
if I'm expecting it first!"

Domino didn't even uncross her arms. "Are you through?"

"Well, I guess I am, ain't I?" he replied tensely. Domino's unshakable
attitude was unnerving even to her best friends, but Deadpool still had a
good head of steam left in him. "I mean, you stole back my advance, you've
already threatened *two* of my best contacts - not that I care for 'em
personally, but networking is everything in business, you know - and you
*still* haven't even told me what you wanted that tin-plated behemoth for
in the first place!"

"You were hired for your services, Deadpool," she answered coolly, "not for
a partnership and stock options. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm meeting my
husband here in a few minutes. And I can promise you he'll be a lot more
upset at your blunder" - she spat the word at him - "than I am."

Deadpool gritted his teeth under his mask, then kicked his chair over and
spun away from the table. He stomped upstairs and into the bathroom, still
swearing under his breath. A soft flash under the door told Domino he'd
teleported himself back home, wherever that was.

She sighed and finished off the whiskey Deadpool had left on the table,
then ordered another. She didn't mind lying about her husband's
participation in this job - he'd known absolutely nothing about it, of
course - since it was the only way she'd convinced Deadpool to work for her
in the first place. There was no love lost between her and the mercenary,
but money was money, and as Tolliver Tyler still had a bit of leverage as
far as Deadpool's past was concerned.

But it had all been a waste of time. She should've known the job would be
too much for a merc like Deadpool, but then again she hadn't been expecting
the Juggernaut, either. Domino looked down into her glass and sighed. The
Sentinel had been her best chance for tracking down Cable and capturing
him, and now she was going to have to start all over again from scratch.
Not something she was looking forward to.

Tyler entered the smoky room, folding down the collar of his trenchcoat as
the door clicked shut behind him. Domino looked up. Swallowing hard, she
raised her hand to draw his attention. Well, dear hubby, she thought, I'll
just have to be extra-careful you don't track him down before I do.

====================

[1] Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2