Mired In Destiny
Garrison Kane entered the Archives, just as he has done for nearly every day since Cable had left him here to recover from his injuries. He was becoming an expert on Clan Chosen history. He checks out the empathic full-sensory scan vid, which not only allows you to view the history but to actually feel the emotions of the people involved. You actually feel what they felt. Kane went to the same chamber he always used and inserted the vid and activated the empathic projector. As the emp-vid came online and his surroundings melted away and he was, seemingly transported to the Grand Canyon.
The Clan Chosen's base was under heavey attack. The enemy was gaining the upper hand fast and the Clan was in complete disarray. Then, suddenly, the enemy tide was slowed and seemed to falter. Kane could actually feel the tears of pride that many Clan soldiers had to well up in their eyes at the sight of The Chosen One, with a plasma pistol in each hand, as he met the oncoming tide of the enemy and rallied his troops.
"STAB HIS EYES!! They've found us again!" Cable shouted, "Break formation--Dispersal routine! Silo--Scramble it topside--We have to keep them away from the base camp! Jen-Skot and Tyler are transporting the children to safety."
"Scanned, Nate." Silo replied, "Genesis Group--Take 'em on a chase!"
"T-Blood, where are you?" Nathan shouted, as he continued to blast left and right.
"Here, Nate." Tetherblood shouted from off to Nathan's right.
"Tetherblood, take Magnus-Group and fall back--I want Jen-Skot protected, at all costs!" Nathan ordered.
"The base camp is well covered by Tyler and Dawnsilk! We'd best be served staving off the assault from here." Tetherblood argued.
"NOW, STAB YOUR EYES!" Nathan ordered, "Somethings not right here I..."
THWROUMMM
"By the Dream....No!" Nathan could not believe his eyes.
"They popped a Therm!!" T-Blood shouts.
"JEN-SKOT!! TYLER!!" Nathan screams, as he turns and runs back to the base camp where the thermite bomb has just exploded.
"Nathan, wait!" T-Blood shouts, as he sets off after him.
The synthoid known as Boak meets the Askani'Son at the entrance to the camp.
"It's too late, Dayspring. Please, for your own sake, go no further." Boak implores, as he steps in front of Nathan.
"But Jen...and Tyler!" Nathan's voice cracks.
"It's too late, Old Friend. Please, I'm sorry...There's nothing you can do." Boak tells him.
"No" Nathan's breath comes in short gasps, as the tears begin to pour forth from his eyes. "NO!!" Nathan picks up the synthoid and throws him to the side like a toy and runs to where he left Aliya transporting out the children.
"Nathan, don't look at her!" Boak shouts, in hope of sparing his friend of the sight.
"Jen--?" Nathan asks, as he looks over the ruins. Then he spots her. Nathan drops to his knees and takes in her injuries. From her collarbone to just above her breasts, there is a gaping hole. Blood pours out from dozens of major wounds. Nathan tries to telekinetically stop the blood from flowing but there are too many wounds.
"Lord, please, no..." Nathan gently cradles her in his arms and begins to cry in earnest.
As his tears fall on her face, Aliya opens her eyes. As she looks at the man she loves...so broken...she knows that there is no hope. She too begins to cry, not for herself, but for what she knows her death will do to him.
"Nathan...Oh God...it hurts..." Aliya says.
"Don't talk, Jen. It'll be all right..." Nathan tells her.
Tetherblood and Magnus Group have gathered around them. Tetherblood's tears flow as freely as Nathan's as he looks upon this scene. Many in Magnus Group begin to cry also, as they form a perimiter around their Chosen One. "Wha' abou' Tyler...Nate...Where's Tyler...?" Aliya asks.
"I don't know...He...He's safe, Jen. He's safe." Nathan tells her. He can't bear to see her in even more pain.
"Good...'M glad...Thank you...Nate...For protecting him...Love You...Forever..." Aliya says, as she raises her hand to his wet cheeks, halfway through the gesture her hand falls limp.
"Forever, Jen." Nathan pulls her close and kisses her one last time, then his huge body beging to shake and he weeps.
For a full hour, no one dares to approach him, as he gently cradles her body and weeps for his lost love. Finally, Tetherblood goes to him and places a hand on his shoulder, and says,
"Nathan, I'm sorry."
As suddenly as if a switch had been turned off, Nathan stops crying and sit up ram-rod straight, wipes his eyes and asks,
"Where's Tyler, Boak?"
"That is a problem, Dayspring." Boak replies.
"Where is his body?" Nathan asks.
"You do not understand, Dayspring. He is missing. He was taken. This was not a Canaanite operation. It was the Chaos Bringer." Boak tells him.
"Stryfe." Nathan says, in a voice Tetherblood has never heard before this moment, though he would hear it from this day forward.
"Yes, Dayspring. He took Tyler. He popped the therm. Stryfe killed your wife and has stolen your son." Boak tells him.
Garrison Kane cuts off the emp-vid, his own face wet with Nathan's tears. "A wife and son? He never told us. Then again, he never told us anything. 'Cept maybe for Dom. All along we thought you had no compassion...No Soul...But the truth of the matter is, you do...You did...But they were taken from you, by Stryfe. And this is how I get to find out. Pouring over emp-vids...All my senses reeling in your pain, as I learn about your past."
Kane returns the emp-vid to the caretaker and leaves the Archives. On his was back to the Clan Chosen's headquarters he is attacked. He makes short work of his attackers and puts it off to a simple mugging attempt. He makes it the rest of the way to the Clan's headquarters without incident and places his hand over the scanner to gain entrance.
"What happened to your clothing?" Hope asks.
"I got jumped by some rowdies, Hope, but I got away clean." Kane tells her.
"Id-ee-ut U B. How U no 4 shoor? Eb'ry step U take B trubble 4 us!" Dawnsilk tells him.
"Listen, Silk. I know where the chip on your shoulder comes from, but don't take it out on me all the time. Besides, I was losing tails almost two thousand years befor you were even born." Kane tells her.
"Forgive Dawnsilk her angers, Kane. She bears great burdens. It is simply comfort enough that you remain unharmed." Hope says.
"Your vid-scanning has obviously upset someone, Kane. Maybe you should avoid the Archives, for now." Tetherblood tells him.
"That's possible, Tetherblood. I thought it was a simple mugging, but you could be right. Can I scan some more Clan Chosen history from you guys?" Kane asks.
"You are quite the information sponge, aren't you, Kane. Name a time and place." Boak tells him.
"I want to know about Tyler. I want to know what happened to Cable's son after he was kidnapped by Stryfe." Kane says.
"Garrison, I do not know if that is such a good idea. We can scan it, but Elevendoesn't 'ject touchie-feelie." Boak informs him.
"To tell you the truth, I don't think I could handle another empathic full-sensory scan. Feeling what you felt...Hurting like you hurt." Kane replies.
"Yah..jusd B thinkin' how we feel." Dawnsilk tells him.
The wavelength displacement unit numbered Eleven, begins to project the events that happened shortly after Aliya's death, when Nathan had led a squad of the Chosen after Stryfe.
Hope drew in her breath as she recognized the events.
"This was in Chi-Town wasn't it? The day...The day we lost...My nephew."
Everyone grew quite as they watched the squad, led by Nathan, make their way through the tunnels.
"Keep it tight and quite. If our info scans clear, Stryfe is operating out of the old abandoned Lake Michigan Venting Tunnels." Nathan tells his group.
"Dayspring, do you think the autosystems are still online?" Silo asks.
"We won't know until.." Nathan begins.
FACHOOM
Automatic weapons systems suddenly extended from the walls of the tunnel and opened fire on Nathan's squad.
"I'd say yes they're still online. Pump some Plasma, People! Emp-Sizz the perimeter!" Nathan orders.
"Nothing like a little random weapons discharging to settle the nerves, eh, Nate?" Tetherblood asks.
"This isn't the time or place to play crip-shoot, T-Blood. If Stryfe is here, then theres nothing to be found but trouble." Nathan replies as he continues to blast away at the weapons units in the walls.
Suddenly the weapons fire stops and the tunnel is flooded with light and Nathan's squad find themselves surrounded by Stryfe's troops.
Well, Nathan Dayspring Askani'Son, the Chaos Bringer is here, indeed. And for the rebel forces of The Clan Chosen, that means more than trouble...It means death!" Stryfe tells them, as he steps to the front of his troops.
YEEEAAARRGGHH
"Dawnsilk?" Nathan yells, as he turns towards the young girls scream and feels very soul drain out of him at the sight of just who has caused the girls terror.
"By the Dream! Tyler!" Nathan cannot believe his eyes.
"Don't attempt a Body-Slide to escape, Father. I'm neural-linked to her. You slide now. Dawnie downloads into fleshsoup." Tyler tells him. And, indeed, he has attached the neural link to Dawnsilk's temple, this is what caused the girl's scream of agony.
"Tyler, what has Stryfe done to you? Why are you doing this to your own Clan-Mates?" Nathan asks.
"Because he has no choice, False-Face. Meet Frisco. He plays with minds when I ask him to." Stryfe says, stepping aside to reveal a man who must be helping Stryfe maintain some sort of mental control of the boy.
Nathan took in the situation in a moment. He raised his gun and fired, quicker than thought itself, blasting through the link and into Tyler. Nathan was across the tunnel in a second to catch Dawnsilk before she could fall to the ground.
"Unit Gene-Scan Body-Slide NOW!" Cable ordered. As the squad began to teleport out he turned to Stryfe and said, in a voice colder than any grave, "I will kill you for making me do this, Stryfe."
"Program completed." Boak stated, as the projection stopped.
"Cable knew that Tyler was totally compromised, didn't he?" Kane asks.
"It was a choice between the fate of his unit and a futile chance he might be able to save his son. I guess it was as simple as that. Hard men make hard choices. The hardest of them make the choices first and deal with the consequences later." Tetherblood explains.
"And if there's one thing Cable's always been, it's rock hard." Kane added. "So he sacrificed his own son to save Dawnsilk and the rest of his unit and this is what caused Dawnsilk's...Uhm...Neural damage. No wonder he hated Stryfe with such a passion."
THAKAKOOM
The entire wall blew inward and three armored men entered.
"The Flatliners!" Hope exclaimed.
"But how did they find us?" Kane asks.
"They followed you, Kane." Hope tells him.
"No. They couldn't have. I was clear." Kane tells them.
"Watching emp-vids like you do records ceph-waves. We traced your ceph-waves and now we flat-line you but good." One of the armored men tells him.
"Oh, shut up." Kane says, and delivers a blow which shatters the Flatliners helmet and knocks him cold.
"Dat's D way 2 B, Historee Buff! Fight like U want 2 live!" Dawnsilk tells him, as she performs a spin-kick taking out another of the Flatliners. Before she can even draw in another breath, however the third Flatliner grabs her and puts his knife to her throat.
"Scan it, Remnants! Shut down or she's flatlined!!" The Flatliner tells them.
"No. Not again." Dawnsilk screams.
"Ion-Blade, decapitate and cauterize. Same time. Neat and clean." The Flatliner informs them.
"Everyone, back off." Tetherblood orders.
"What does Haight want with us now, Assassin? We will submit to his vile ways if it serves to save Dawnsilk's life." Hope tells him.
"Compassion. Always the undoing of the Chosen." The Flatliner tells her.
FACHOOM
The Flatliners head exploded in a mass of red and yellow pulp.
Standing on the rubble of the shattered wall, sporting a new beard is Cable.
"Stab My Eyes!" Tetherblood shouts.
"Well, it's about time! Where have you been?" Kane asks.
"Here and there and back again. Staring at my life in the mirror and seeing death reflected back at me. You know, the usual." Cable tells him.
"Well, welcome back, Dayspring." Tetherblood says.
"There's no time for that right now." Cable says, as he points to the Flatliners body, "He's a dead body, but a live wire! Move!!"
The group has barely gotten half a block away before the building explodes.
"The Flatliner Popped!" Tetherblood exclaims.
"How did you know the Flatliner had an auto-destruct?" Kane asks.
"If a Flatliner gets killed in action, that means the opposition is heavy. At least they can use a dead body to nail any opponents hovering over their kill." Cable tells them.
"Actually makes logical sense. How should we know, since we never iced a Flatliner in battle before? Do we clear before the City Police shows up?" Tetherblood asks.
"We're going up to Niagara. Pay a little visit to the new Time Displacement Nexus they've built." Cable tells them.
"We thermed the Tinex five years ago, Nate." Tetherblood tells him.
"They have a new one, ready to come online. We have to stop it. Even if it costs us as much as it did the last time." Cable takes a communicator out of his belt-pouch and activates it. "Computer: Body-Slide by six."
The group is transported inside the remains of a now ancient headquarter deep inside the Adirondack Mountians. Cable used this base as his headquarters for his X-Force Unit two thousand years ago. He had a computer running the base since the Professor was still on Greymalkin back in the 20th century.
"Anyone want anything to drink?" Cable asks, as he heads immediately for the coffee pot.
"Dayspring, how could General Haight have a tinex online?" Tetherblood asks.
"They've been working on the Tinex for the last five years, ever since we took out the other one. They disguised it's intent by making it a part of their International Waterfall Energy Output Program. All of that was a ruse to allow them to build the new Tinex. They needed a new source of power now that the E-M radiation twist they caused in the atmosphere has ruled out cold fusion." Cable explained, as he sipped from his coffee cup.
"U nev'r 'round How U know all dis?" Dawnsilk asks.
"I have my ways, Little 'Silk." Cable tells her.
"Now that's the Cable we all know and love." Kane says.
"Indeed it is." Hope says with a sneer.
"Hope, you've never forgiven me for what happened to Jen-Skot and Tyler. They were your sister and nephew after all, and I can stomach that...Because I haven't forgiven myself either, but you have to stay focussed. You're the only Chrono-Physician we have who can tear down the Tinex without creating a rip in the E-M field." Cable tells her.
"I have always served the cause! Can you say the same?" Hope puts to him.
Cable is silent and the tension grows thick. Kane breaks it, "Hey, let's get back to what's really important here, me. Can this Tinex thing send me back home, I mean back to the past?"
"If that's what you really want, Garrison. Though from experience, I can tell you that the potential to use time travel leads to the potential to abuse it." Cable tells him, as he walks to the holo-projector and activates it, bringing up a layout of the Tinex.
"Well, it would appear the Tinex is not near Niagara Falls, the Time Displacement Nexus is Niagara Falls." Tetherblood says, as he takes in the huge structure.
"Pardon me for doubting you guys, I mean with your track record and everything, but we're supposed to break into THAT?" Kane asks.
"Yup." Cable answers, as he opens up the armory and arms everyone with plasma blasters and thermite grenades.
"Okay, cool. And other than hauling my cute buns out of this timeline, why are we doing this?" Kane asks.
"'Cuz we cand let Canaanites use Tinex 2 send back more time-thieves." Dawnsilk tells him.
"Of course we can't. I knew that. And why would they want to send someone back in time?" Kane asks.
"Same reason they always have, to maintain rigid order, to target and terminate anyone in the past who could threaten their control over the multitude of High-Lord ascensions." Tetherblood tells him.
"Naturally. And say they did send someone back. Who would they be trying to target and terminate?" Kane asks.
"Me!" Cable answers.
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