X-Writers is a non-profit making organisation. Several of the characters, places and plots featured in this story are the legal property of Marvel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cable #36 - "Flashbacks" Written for the X-Writers by Marty Blase Exerpts from previous issues written by Chris Delaney and Wix ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prologue: Otherworld Saturnyne never liked being woken up in the middle of the night. This went without saying, and she had still made a point of saying it to every last person that worked under her commands. So when a communication signal went off in her quarters at only two hours past midnight, she was understandably upset. And when Saturnyne was upset, everyone knew, it was best to find a good reason for what you were doing extremely fast. "This had better be damned important," she grumbled as she pressed the voice-only button on her bedside table. "Mistress, we've just registered some highly unusual distortions coming from Earth 616. The Lady Roma had ordered that particular Earth placed under your jurisdiction." "I know what my responsibilities are, you nitwit. Why couldn't this wait until morning?" "Mistress, we believe these distortions to be of a trans-spacial nature. Perhaps even cross-time." Saturnyne blinked twice. So it was going to be that sort of a day, she thought. "Send the information to the screens in my room." "Yes, Mistress." The activation light blinked off. Saturnyne stood up slowly, not even bothering to put on a robe, and walked over to the far wall of her bedchamber. A panel opened and revealed a large black screen, which immediately blinked to life and showed a map of Earth 616. A red crosshairs intersected with north-central Africa, and lists of descriptions and measurements displayed themselves beside it, scrolling almost faster than she could read. She ignored them all, waiting for one particular identifier to come up. When it did, she read the name twice to make sure she had it correctly: Data MATCHED: Nathan Dayspring Askani'Son : Earth 616-alpha "That was all I needed to know, thank you." She touched an area near the bottom of the screen and it went black again, hiding itself behind the wall panel. She returned to her bed and relaxed under the smooth covers, glad that it was nothing of consequence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was ready. Domino had suggested a last minute alteration in plans. I didn't really see the need as all it altered was the order in which I took out the targets. I ignored her suggestion; I could feel the evil that the Senator was emitting. It filled the room. If he was a psi, as I suspected, then he would know as soon as I fired that I was here and I stood no chance against him in psionic combat. I wished I could telepathically contact Domino but the psionic static in the room was too immense to overcome. I reached into my trenchcoat and pulled out the plasma pistol. From the corner of my eye I could see security reacting as I fired. The Senator's head exploded, spraying blood and brains over the podium. I went for my second snap shot at Graydon Creed but something struck me in the back and my shot missed him and hit a body guard as well. I kept firing, trying to spray the stage when I felt white hot agony strike me in the lower back. I screamed, I just couldn't help myself, and fell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cable had been here in the middle of the African savannah for the last four hours, meditating as only he could. In his case that means folding his legs together under his naked body, holding his palms together at the fingertips, and levitating about a foot off the ground upside-down. A unique method for a unique individual. Problem was, he couldn't remember where he'd ever learned it. But then if he could remember, he wouldn't have begun the meditation in the first place. His memories were scattershot. There was no amnesia, he knew all the memories were there. He just couldn't seem to find any of them. It was as if he had gone on vacation for a week and come home to realize someone had broken in and rearranged all the books in his library. Even his psi-powers seemed familiar in only an out-of-touch sort of way. He used them instinctively, all the time; he knew exactly what he was capable of doing, and what that was was almost anything he could imagine. Somehow he knew that he wasn't *supposed* to be capable of so much power, but another part of him said that the power had been there all along, waiting to be used. And so, in the removed, analytical way of thinking that came so naturally to him now, he decided that the best thing to do would be to try and put all the books back in order. Four hours ago he began meditating, using the special Askani (who?) techniques he remembered. Relax the muscles. Breathe deeply. Telekinetically lift the body from the ground to remove the sense of touch. Hover upside-down to remove the sense of balance. Close the eyes, draw the mind inward, telepathically slow the heart rate and breathing, so that nothing could distract from the mental journey inward. His mind instinctively began at the moment of greatest trauma. Letting the memories repair themselves, he stopped and observed as they passed again before his mind's eye.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NO! Not like this! What went wrong? Where was Domino? I tried to use my mutant abilities but something was blocking them. Then I saw her kneeling down over me. She whispered, "I can't believe how stupid you were Cable, to trust me in the least. My husband, Tyler, sends his greetings." I try to grab her by the throat but she melts away into the crowd. Then the security forces are there, clubbing me into submission. They drag me out, bloody and battered, hurt as bad as I have ever been. I can hear the yells of reporters as my identity is splashed all over the news. Mutant terrorist maims Presidential Candidate (did I get Creed?) and kills Senator. Links to the fringe group of mutant freedom fighters, the X-Men. Why did I ever trust her? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Why did I ever trust her...." The voice startled the hyena for a second, and she darted back behind the bush she was using as a hiding place. She peered around it slowly, looking at the strange creature floating before her, sniffing the air and trying to make sense of what her nose told her. It was alive, she believed, although the scent was completely unlike anything she had come across before. Of course, so was the appearance of the creature. Pink-skinned, no fur, and its legs were bent into the strangest position she had ever seen. The fact that it was floating in mid-air was just one more oddity out of many. But the savannah had been dry for weeks now, and her pack had failed to move along with the herds to fresher grasslands. They had already reduced the surviving populations in this area below what could be expected to replenish itself, and her packmates had been forced into actually pursuing live antelopes across the grasslands rather then settling for scavenging others' kills. They'd only ever downed one animal that way, though; natural selection in this environment meant that any survivors in the remaining herds were the strongest, healthiest animals ever, and the reduced demand for food meant that they stayed that way. She had found this creature entirely by chance while looking for a new water source nearby, and she wanted to enjoy the best parts of it before her packmates came looking for her and got to it first. But something deep in her brain warned her of danger in this creature. It was larger than her, but it hardly appeared to be a predator - not with those long, blunt toes on its forelegs and that small nose and mouth. The sheer improbability of such a creature even existing in the savannah caused her to be cautious around it. But then again, she *was* hungry. Ravenous, actually. And here was meat, fresh and warm, right before her eyes and not even trying to run away.... The hyena stepped foreward slowly, wondering if the creature would make another noise at her approach. It did not. Gingerly she sniffed at its left foreleg, licking it. It was colder than it should be, she believed, but warmer than if it were dead. She drew back her lips and began to nibble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I coughed a dry wracking cough and ignored the swellings that had begun on me. It was Legacy Virus. My vestiges of telepathic talent that I could exercise through the power inhibitor had even told me when they had infected him with it. Less than 12 hours ago, when I had first come in, at the order of Agent Gyrich. They wanted to study it's effects on a mutant from beginning to end and it appeared I was their guinea pig. I couldn't believe that yesterday I was with a woman who had loved me; betrayed me. That only a few days ago I had felt so cocky after fooling Deadpool and had felt so invincible. Now I was going to die a slow, painful death at the hands of sadists. How quickly life could turn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cable the observer winced sharply as he witnessed this memory again inside his mind. The Legacy Virus - he remembered the infection, the pain. He had already known the ultimate effect the virus would have on his system; weakening his body while amplifying his powers, until his own psionic abilities overloaded and killed him. And the particular strains Gyrich had infected him with were potent enough to cause death in days instead of months. So what had happened? His body was completely free of the virus now. Somehow he knew that it was free of every kind infection there was. But no one ever survived Legacy. Once infected, there was only one way to ever be free of it. Had he taken it? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. The bear 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 sidestep 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 be torn apart. Twice the bears claw's break skin, as his attacks become more and more brutal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The hyena was tearing at the ribs of the strange creature now, mildly surprised that it failed to react or even to move as her teeth worked into its flesh. In her current state of malnutrition flavor was hardly important to her, but she was rather pleased to find out the taste enjoyable. Much better than lion-chewed antelope, at any rate. Suddenly she stopped, and turned around to see two of her packmates approaching, both males about her size. She flattened her ears and growled low, but then gave up. They were starving as well, she knew. The pack was dwindling as it was. Besides, she had hardly eaten enough to renew her strength for a fight with them. This was no time to be possessive about food. They approached warily, as she had, and she grunted and whined an all-clear to them both. They were confused, but as she began to nibble at the foreleg of the creature they came closer and sniffed the meat floating before them. They watched the female as she swallowed, licked her teeth, and bit in again. Satisfied that this meant everything was okay, the two males sat down beside the creature's shoulders, one apiece, and eagerly began to dine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "NO!!!!" Cable jerked awake from his meditation, forgot where he was, and fell to the ground. He twisted to his right to keep from landing on his head, but he still couldn't stop himself from flopping to the ground like a rag doll. Before he could ask himself why, he opened his eyes and found himself staring a half-starved hyena in the eyes, blood smeared all across her chin. He knew enough about wild dogs not to break eye contact with this one, but as she backed away uncertainly from Cable, he rolled onto his side and glanced around him to get his bearings. Another hyena was standing near the first, just a bit further back. And then a third, beyond both of them, still with a piece of meat between its jaws. A hand. His. Forgetting himself, Cable looked down to his right arm, only to see there was nearly nothing there. One of the hyenas had made quick work of it. He looked quickly at his left shoulder, which was thoroughly chewed up but still where it belonged. Blood all over the skin, he noticed, but oddly enough there was no bleeding. Cable tried to move it, slowly -- the motion was jerky, due mostly to the fact that his entire bicep had been gnawed off already. Then he fell to the ground, teeth and claws suddenly everywhere around him. Hyenas are craven cowards; it's a defining characteristic of the species. But when they've been starved for weeks, like these three, that changes out of necessity. Either as individuals or as groups they'll begin attacking living prey, instead of settling for the remains of a larger animal's kill. And they knew that any prey with one and a half of its forelimbs missing shouldn't pose too much of a challenge. Cable felt what remained of his left arm being pulled from the bone by jaws like pliers, and his legs were suffering another assault by the remaining two hyenas. The animals expected him to panic, and were holding on as tightly as they could, until their prey either exhausted itself or bled to death from the injuries. But instead of panicking, Cable became more and more still. His breathing steadied itself, but remained strong. Then the blood disappeared from his skin, and the bite marks on his left shoulder gradually healed themselves. Without thinking, Cable knew that his immediate injuries had been taken care of. Now he had only to repair the missing muscle and right arm. But first, the hyenas. The attack was completely unexpected. The hyena locked onto Cable's left shoulder suddenly shot off and away from him as if he'd been thrown by an elephant. The other two hyenas looked up for an instant to see what was happening, and then they joined the first sprawling in the grass, nearly thirty yards from their prey as Cable finally stood up. The female hyena was the first to get back on her feet. She had found this prey, and she was by far the most hungry of the three of them. She wanted to run, to return to safety, but something in her needed that meat still standing in front of her. She took a loping run, eyes locked with Cable's, and lept at his still-damaged arm. And then, the arm moved. Cable caught the hyena in mid-air by the throat, faster than she could react. She twisted and clawed at the empty air between them, but Cable's arm didn't shift an inch. Snarling, snapping, she tried her best to make him let her go, without effect. Cable stood rigid, unmoving, looking the hyena not in the eyes, but somehow right *through* them. And then, she began to change. The two remaining hyenas watched from a distance, uncertain what was happening, but knowing better than to get any closer. It started with Cable's hand, as it turned grey and metallic on the surface and then melted, flowing between the fur of the hyena's neck. Her fur began to take on the same appearance, starting from the neck and growing outwards from where he held her. In five seconds her entire body was changed, and she was no longer moving. A faint yellow glow surrounded her rigid form, and then disappeared as Cable's body began to take on the same glow. And then, when the glow was completely gone, Cable dropped her to the ground. She bounced off his foot with a sharp "CLANG", and then lay stiffly on the ground, like a chrome statue that had fallen off of a building somewhere. The two males took a short glance at her paralyzed form, then at Cable, and then they ran. They had gotten barely ten yards before something sharp and solid speared each of them through the back and stomach, killing them instantly. They collapsed to the ground, twitching slightly, and then were still. Cable walked toward them, letting his extended arm contract as he approached their bodies. The metallic spikes that had once been his fingers found what they needed and began to reabsorb that part of him that the hyenas had eaten. When his fingers retracted, both his arms were whole again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Closer the light spirals, until it stops a few feet away. I can make out features now, it is a woman... she has high noble cheekbones, a slender figure, hair like neon-gold, and eyes that shine with a light not entirely holy, and entirely damned. I ask her if she's an angel. She laughs... We stare at each other awhile. She is studying me. I am bored and too weak to look below and watch the crows peck at my dead eyes. Finally she speaks, a voice like a church choir. She asks me if I am the Dayspring. I nod an affirmative. She asks me if I am aware that I was to save the world. I smile and nod, I am only too aware. One does not train one's whole life for a destiny and forget it easily. She asks me if I wish to live again. My mouth gapes (or I suppose I envision my mouth lolling open and so she sees it doing so). She smiles. Her fingers extend and rest upon my brow. Electricity flows through my body like water across the sand.... ...I fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The techno-organic virus, Cable thought as he walked across the savannah again. At the moment of his death from the Legacy virus, the techno-organic virus that had infected him since infancy was finally allowed free reign throughout his system. The last of his dying tissues were infected, transformed by the virus into a organic-metallic *something* that should have signalled his death. But that didn't happen. During the decades he had lived with the virus, Cable had learned to control the infection with his own immense telekinetic powers, but at the cost of his ability to develop those same powers. He had even learned to control the exact shape and appearance of his infected arm and leg, to a limited degree. His new-found analytic awareness was now able to deduce what had happened to him. As he died from the bear's attack and from the Legacy virus, his astral self separated from his body. But the woman he remembered seeing, the slender, golden-haired "angel", was able to preserve him, keeping his mind and soul from discorporating. And then, using his own phenomenal telepathic abilities to do the deed, she pushed him back into his new techno-organic body. His powers were different now, though. Where his mind had previously been limited by the organic brain it dwelled in, his thoughts now raced through his entire body at the speed of light. But it came at a price -- even with his magified psionic abilities he had to divert a tremendous amount of power to keep his body in its current shape. The more he exercised his telepathic and telekinetic powers, he knew, the less control he would have over this new body. He could potentially shape-shift into anything he imagined, but the virus had a mind of its own. The last shape it wanted to be in, it seemed, was that of a human body. "Human...." Something else was different, too. Cable knew his mind was intact, his memories once again complete, but something was still missing from his... self. He couldn't quite remember what it was. Certainly his body had changed, but his mind, his personality, was the same as it had been before his death. Wasn't it? Cable disregarded the question. It didn't matter, anyways. Along with his newly-liberated psionic powers he was now able to fully realize his mutant abilities, the power to control the fabric of time and space itself with his thoughts. It would take a little time to learn the fine-control necessary to use these powers, he knew. But not too long. He learned more easily now, in this new form, and his memory was flawless. Control would come quickly. And he would need as much control as possible, if the future was to unfold the way he now foresaw. But first, he thought, a few things personal things to be taken care of. As Cable continued to walk forward across the savannah, a point of blue light appeared several feet in front of him. In seconds it grow to a spinning, shifting sphere, ten feet in diameter and resting lightly on the ground, displacing the grass around it. Cable stepped forward into it, and a second later the sphere contracted into a point again and disappeared. The dry grass stood up again, leaving no trace of his passing. A warm wind blew between the blades, rustling them gently, and then moved on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vinnie Yeardesley deactivated the half-dozen psionic jammers and cloaking devices he'd been using to conceal himself and his jeep, and stepped forward through the grass to where Cable had disappeared. A diagnostic computer in his hand counted the subatomic particles in the immediate area, generated a few calculated projections, and displayed its results on a small screen in his other hand. "Remarkable," Vinnie whispered, and then he turned around, searching the savannah for something else. When he saw the petrified remains of the female hyena, he walked toward it and picked it up in both hands with a short "umph" of effort. He extended his mutant awareness into the transformed hyena, searching not for identification but for confirmation. As he focused his technological sixth sense further, he saw an increasingly complex web of circuits and wires, of microscopic servos and piezoelectric crystals, organized and structured with an efficiency human manufacturing could never hope to match. It was exactly what he had seen when he looked at Cable, with one notable exception: this hyena was completely inert. Dead. It was interesting to study, but practically useless. The technology was the same, but the hyena was obviously killed by the transformation process. But the fact that there was a living, thinking being out there using this sort of body, and that he could transform *other* living beings into the same sort of technology.... No. Vinnie stopped that train of thought dead in its tracks. The last thing he wanted was to wind up as a petrified mechanical statue like this one. Which means he had to make a few preparations before confronting Cable again. Tasers obviously didn't do the trick, not with Cable's powers protecting him. He'd have to come up with something entirely new, entirely different.... Oh, yeah. Vinnie looked over the hyena statue in his hands one more time, then thrust it over his shoulders and walked back toward his jeep. "Let's go, Fido. Maybe you're not as useless as I thought." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Continued....