In The Name Of The Father

It is his son, Tyler Dayspring, Cable has to tell himself over and over. It is his son who confronts him and not the ancient madman Apocalypse. It is his son...
It is as if Cable woke up from a nightmare, to find out the nightmare had only just begun. Together with the X-Man Storm, who cannot be matched in her control of the elements, the Morlock Caliban, who possesses an uncanny ability to track mutants anywhere on the face of the planet and Domino, Cable's friend, lover, compatriot and pistol-packing partner, they followed the Dark Riders, Apocalypse's foot soldiers, down a path of death and destruction that took them here. To Akkaba, Egypt. The birthplace of En Sabah Nur, the once living embodiment of evil, Apocalypse. They found the village burned and the townspeople slaughtered for no apparent reason.
In his heart, Cable wishes for the unthinkable to be true. That Apocalypse were alive. Even that would be easier to accept than the fact that the man responsible for the blood all around him...is his son.
"Opportunities, Daddy dearest, are what make life grand." Tyler says. "Apocalypse is dead. Someone ought to take advantage of that opportunity. That someone is me. And you are going to help me. Kill them, my Dark Riders."
As the Riders attack, Storm rises up and summons lightening to strike their enemies. Dom blasts away with her plasma pistol. Caliban pounds away at Spyne. While Cable stands motionless.
"In our previous encounters, you had caught us unaware, Riders." Storm tells them. "You will not find that so now."
"Anytime you want to jump in, Nate, feel free." Dom shouts. "Nate?"

POOM POOM POOM POOM

"Caliban is confused." Cal' tells them. "Caliban doesn't remember finding the Morlocks...So how does Storm give back the 'X'?"
"What's Cable got up his sleeve?" Dom asks her.
"A telepathic whisper." Storm explains. "Two words. 'Open' and 'Follow'" Storm opens the medallion. "A homing device."
"Caliban understands now." Cal' says. "We will find friend Cable/Nathan. We will find him anywhere and save him."
"Um, Caliban," Dom tells him. "It's not 'Cable/Nathan' it's...Oh, skip it. If I have to live with 'Patch-Eye' he can live with 'Cable/Nathan.'"

Somewhere else...Overwhelming the smell of burnt ozone and nuclear waste, is the stench of true evil. The last known headquarters of Apocalypse.
"Impressive, isn't it, Daddy?" Tyler asks. "But I guess, when you've been around as long as Apocalypse, you collect a few things. What is this? No snappy come-back? Where's that famous Cable gallows humor?"
"Tyler, Don't do this." Nathan pleads. "You're nothing like Apocalypse. You don't know his evil. You don't know his hate."
"Don't." Tyler orders. "Don't presume to lecture me about hate! From this day on, I renounce the name Tyler Dayspring. When I sit upon the throne of Apocalypse, I take his power. And with it, I will be reborn. I will be...Genesis! You will no longer be my Father. Only 'Cable.' You and your cursed future where the rebels die in Akkaba. Where you abandon me to the Chaos Bringer Stryfe! I will change that future here and now!"
"You...slaughtered the innocents in Akkaba today...to keep it from happening in the future?" Nathan asks. "That won't work. Tyler, can't you see how you've set yourself up to fail?"
"Shame on you, Daddy." Tyler replies, as the Riders strap Cable into a huge piece of machinery. "Just because you've mastered the art of failure, doesn't mean the rest of us have to follow suit."

In the vastness of the desert, Storm uses her control of the winds to fly Dom, Caliban and herself on the course laid out by Cable's tracking device.
"Are we closing in yet?" Storm asks.
"Can't be much longer." Dom replies. "This thing is bleeping like mad. I'd say, set us down."
"Yes." Cal' agrees. "Caliban senses Cable/Nathan too."
"Perfect." Dom remarks as they land. "Other than sand, there's nothing around for about a jillion miles."
"Caliban is sure Cable/Nathan is here." Cal' tells them.
"Then I guess that makes you a lot like this homing device." Dom tells him. "Decorative, but not very useful."
"Domino." Storm tells her. "I do not think I have met anyone who has so much to say...about everything."
"Hey," Dom replies. "I resemble that remark."
"Caliban thinks you're funny, Patch-Eye." Cal' tells her. "Doesn't understand you. But still thinks you're funny." "If the homing device and Caliban's generally infallible mutant power tell us that Cable is here, then he must be here." Storm says, as she again rises above the desert sand. "As I have learned from my years as a leader of the X-Men, appearances can be, and often are, deceiving!"
In Storm's hands, the desert winds respond the way a child works with clay. Molding the air into a force ten gale, she blasts back the drifting sand. Peeling off the desert floors until it stands revealed: The Fortress of Apocalypse!
"This must be d' place." Dom remarks.

While inside, another secret of Apocalypse stands revealed. The Dark Riders' prey are not always left for dead. Here in Apocalypse's throne, good and evil mutants alike serve as fodder for his power siphon. And now the siphon fills Tyler Dayspring until he becomes...Genesis.
"You like irony, don't you, Cable?" Tyler asks. "Apocalypse had a hand in creating you. And now, I'm using the both of you to recreate me."
"Tyler," Nathan tells him telepathically. "If I have to, I can make you stop. Don't force me to do that."
Even Cable doesn't know if he has the telepathic strength to back up that claim. But it will buy him some time. As he telekinetically reshapes the techno virus infection in his arm, and sets to work on his restraints.

Meanwhile, Dom and the others have entered the stronghold.
As Dom sees it, it's a textbook covert op. Get in quickly. Eliminate the opposition. And do as much damage as you can along the way.
Dom drops from the air vent right on top of the skeleton form of Deadbolt. The lower part of his skull shatters on impact.
"Ouch." Dom remarks. "That's gotta' smart. I hope the Dark Riders have a dental plan."
"Patch-Eye got to hurt bone guy." Cal' says. "When does Caliban get a turn?"
"Keep your voice down." Dom orders. "You're up next."
Spyne rounds the corner in front of them and Caliban grabs him by his tail and slams him into the wall.
"How did Caliban do, Patch-Eye?" Cal' asks.
"If we make it out of here, Caliban, I'll give you a cookie." Dom tells him. "The homing device indicates Cable is just ahead of us. Storm, can you get us in?"
"I would stand back." Storm replies, her eyes begin to glow as she stands before the massive door facing them.

While on the opposite side of said door...
"I know how Stryfe twisted you until you've come to hate me." Cable telepathically sends to Tyler. "But you're my son and I have to help you."
"Come on inside my head then, Daddy." Tyler responds. "But I don't think what you'll find will be very pleasant.
"Tyler," Nathan tells him. "You think Akkaba is a show of force, but you're wrong. You killed those people for nothing! Their sacrifice hasn't given you any power. You can't change the future with any certainty. Don't you think I would have tried? This massacre may be the very event that drives Apocalypse. I wish that I could have stopped this...You have no idea what you've done!"
"LIAR!" Tyler screams. "I changed the timeline. Nothing will be the same! You won't abandon me! My mother won't die! I--"

FRA-BOOM

"Tyler!" Nathan shouts, as he leaps down to confront his son.
"Before this day is out, you will bow down before me and call me Genesis!" Tyler screams.
"No." Nathan replies, as he pins his son to the wall. "Stryfe brainwashed you. Filled you head with lies about the world, about us. About how you were taken from me. That you could embrace anything having to do with apocalypse doesn't fill me with anger...only sadness. Especially for the innocents. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of you...knowing you're out there...hoping someday you'll come back to me..."
There was a time when Cable would have settled this with fists or guns. But this requires an even greater risk. He doesn't know if he's a skilled enough telepath to pull it off. With their minds linked. Cable opens up his heart to his son...and as much as Tyler would like to find it filled with indifference...there is only love...and a regret for what might have been.
"...I...Father..." Before Tyler can put words to his feelings, the platform he and Nathan stand upon collapses.
"Tyler!" Nathan shouts, and grabs the ledge with his left hand and Tyler with his right. "I've got you. I can't let you go, Tyler, you're coming with us. I know people who can help you. I can help you."
"We've gotta' book, Nate!" Dom yells, as the complex is rocked by another explosion. "Like now!"
"I...can't come back to you...yet." Tyler tells him. "I won't relinquish the power I now hold. Not for my father. Not for anyone. Harddrive, teleport now!"
And Nathan is left holding only empty air.
"This isn't over, Tyler...you've gone too far." Nathan whispers. Dom's heart breaks as she sees the pain that these words cost him.

Minutes later, as they exit the fortress of Apocalypse.
"By the Goddess!" Storm remarks. "I did not think we would make it."
Dom takes Nathan's hand in hers and squeezes it tightly, as she asks. "You gonna' be okay, Nate?"
"Me?" Nathan replies, pulling away from her grasp and turning away from them all as his shoulders begin to tremble. "Sure. We beat the Dark Riders...we got out alive...what more could I want?"
"Nate?" Dom says, as Nathan walks away from them to hide his tears.
"Why doesn't Cable/Nathan want to be with his friends?" Cal' asks softly.
"Go to him, Domino." Storm tells her.
"Not right now." Dom replies, angrily wiping away tears of her own. "He needs to be alone."

Away from the others, Nathan reaches into the pouch on his chest strap, the one directly over his heart, and removes an old photo. Aliya, still a teen, holding their baby son, Tyler. And new tears fall upon the already tear-stained picture.

This mission has given all of them a lot to think about. Domino in particular. Just when she is certain that she's got Cable figured out...she feels like she doesn't know him at all.
For years, Cable was seen by everyone, including Domino, as a man who was so hardened by battle, that his heart had gone cold. And now she knows a different truth:
Cable is a man who fights for a better tomorrow...to save the world from the pain he carries with him every day.

Our Journey Continues With
An Hour Of Last Things

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