Shadows On The Rock

MEDICAL LOG UPDATE: CONDITION ANALYSIS:
 
SUBJECT: NATHAN DAYSPRING: SUB-REFERENT: CABLE:

SUBJECT HAS ENDURED SEVERE BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE DUE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC DISRUPTION OF ALL SYSTEMS' FUNCTIONS: OVER AN EIGHTY-THREE HOUR SPAN SUBJECT HAS UNDERGONE AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING BIOCELLULAR AND NEURO-SYNAPTIC RESTORATION AS WELL AS A TOTAL RECONFIGURATION PROCESS.

SUBJECT PROGNOSIS: CONDITION REMAINS CRITICAL:

"He's been like this for almost a week." Sam says, as he and the others gather around Nathan's bed in the Medi-Lab.
"Does anyone know if he came with a warranty?" Feral asks.
"Will you stop talking about him like he was a toaster, Feral? And stop pretending you don't care about him." Warpath tells her.
"Cut it out. Both a' ya' we're all a little nervous about whether Cable's gonna pull through or not. Hard ta believe just how much of him ain't quite...I dunno...organic." Sam says.
"Yes, it is. Every scar on his skin, tells the story of what he must have gone through, Sam. How could he have lived like that. Goin' through battle after battle, losin' his wife an son. The scars outside're probably nothing ta' the scars inside." Theresa says.
"We're better off not thinking about it, Terry. I mean, not to diminish the pain he's gone through, but we have to concentrate on his healing, his living. Not his dying." James tells her.
"But those parts of him, Jimmy, it's really all we have, isn't it? In so many ways it's all he has as well." Theresa says, as she goes over and places her hand gently on Nathan's face.
"When do old wounds heal, Terry? How long before the scars disappear? Haven't we picked apart the pain of our own lives long enough?" James says.
"Too long, Jimmy. An' I agree with you." Sam tells him. "Cable's fight for life, succeed or fail, has ta inspire us, not defeat us. It sounds corny, I know, but that's how he would want it."
"Whatever." Feral says, as she goes over and takes Nathan's left hand in her own, noting the warmth in it. "So this ain't mechanical, it's his flesh...I was hopin' we could, like, put in a slurpee dispenser or sumthin' cool, like that."
"You obnoxious pain in the..." Theresa tells her.
"That's it! I warned you!" James adds.
"It's..all...right..." Nathan says, as he raises himself up to a sitting position on the bed.
"WHOAH!" Sam shouts.
"What..flavor...would..you...like?" Nathan adds, smiling at them all.

"It's been three days since I woke up." Nathan thinks to himself as he stands on a hill overlooking the teams bunker headquarters.
"Three days seven hours, Nathan." Professor adds.
"And you haven't shut up, yet, Professor." Nathan replies.
"Forgive me, but it has been a while since I was directly incorporated into and with you, Nathan." Professor says.
"And didn't I just miss you a whole..." Nathan begins.
"Cable? Bobby an' I're ready ta' go. I would prefer we all flew ta Madripoor to tell Xi'an what's happened." Sam says, as he approaches Nathan on the hill.
"I think it would be best for all concerned if only you and DaCosta represented us. Only the two of you remain from the original New Mutants team." Nathan tells him.
"I disagree, but y'all can make your own choices." Sam says, as he takes out a comm-unit and speaks into it. "Computer--Prep the plane. We're going to Madripoor."
"He's upset. He cared for the girl, Illyana Rasputin. Her recent death has hit him quite hard. They're going to tell their old teammate, Xi'an Coy Mahn, about her death. When your peers pass on before you, it's just another sign you're growing older. Funny, I've seen so many come and go, young and old alike, that sometimes I forget that even one small death can have giant implications. I stand on this bluff looking at the others go about their daily routine and watching them is like a phantom pain from a missing limb. Their life here reminds me so much of my own youth, and look how I turned out. What kind of existence is this for them? Of them all, Shatterstar is the most and the least, like I was. Driven by an obsessive compulsion to perfect himself in the arts of war. All the while, building the perfect body at the expense of heart and soul. But I fought for a cause. He doesn't. So when you end up looking back on your life, what good is the perfect body if the soul is scarred? What good comes of having a unit composed of perfect fighting machines if they're all hollow, all empty inside?"
Nathan watches as Theresa approaches 'Star and they exchange a few words then 'Star walks off and Theresa throws up a six-pack she was holding and shatters it with a sonic scream. Nathan begins to make his way down towards her.
"Theresa, who comes across as the most mature, the most quietly assured of them all. What demons have driven her to stay here? A demon called the Shadow King, who tore her inside out, who showed her parts of herself that none of us should be forced to see. Then why is she trying so hard to see them inside herself again?" Nathan wonders, as he approaches Theresa.
"Now that was a sonic scream. Could we talk?" Nathan asks her.
"Talk, Natey, m'boy? We don't need t' be talkin' now, do we? Not when there's better things t' be done which don' need words!" Theresa says, as she reaches out, grabs Nathan and pulls him into a deep and passionate kiss. "MMMM...Not bad, Nate, not bad a'tall."
"Theresa..that was...I think you..I.." Nathan tries to find the right words to say.
"From the residue of her breath, I would imagine her blood-alcohol level is 1.6 percent." Professor tells him through their link.
*AHEM* "Did I interrupt anything?" James asks.
Theresa tries to turn around but falls to the ground, laughing madly all the while.
"I think she's drunk." Nathan tells him.
"I know. She does that a lot. The others don't know." James tells him.
"James...I know..how you feel about her. Why do you let her do this to herself?" Nathan asks, as James picks her up and carries her into the bunker.
"Because, I'm afraid, okay? If I confront her about her problem, she may ignore it...ignore me...cut me off completely. This way, at least, I get to help her out, even if it's just a little bit." James says, then turns and heads into the bunker with her.
"Prof, for the first time, I realize how alone James is. How he internalized all the pain and grief of having his people, his family slaughtered. Will all of that loneliness, that anger, that agony ever be released? And which would be worse, continuing to let it destroy him like a cancer, from the inside, or letting it all out? No wonder he's fallen for Theresa. They come from the same place. And they are going in the same direction. Unfortunately, that direction is straight down." Nathan thinks.
"Could you not see this development?" Professor asks.
"I've been blind, Professor. No, worse. I've been ignorant. I did see all of this coming, actually, in many ways, I caused much of this to happen. I purposely recruited a unit of young, confused, haunted and emotionally wounded mutants. The better to forge them into a hard-edged fighting unit. Ignoring all along their needs, their desires, their hopes and dreams. Just like I've ignored mine." Nathan thinks.
"So, contradictory as it may sound, you wanted them to become younger versions of yourself, though you knew how miserable that would make them?" Professor asks.
"Yes...no..I don't know, but I do know that it's time to put on the brakes." Nathan thinks.
As he enters the bunker, Nathan can see Rictor and 'Star watching the television. Rather Ric is trying to watch as 'Star turns the channel constantly.
"You can't say Shatterstar built a wall around himself to shelter his emotions, because chances are very good that he never had any emotions to begin with." Nathan thinks.
"We have so little reference data on his childhood, or of his home-world for that matter." Professor adds.
"For as much as he stays aloof and distant, he still goes out of his way to draw attention to himself." Nathan thinks.
"An odd contradiction, isn't that?" Professor asks.
Rictor, finally, loses his temper and gets up from the couch and shouts, "Bad enough you change what I'm watching without even asking, but could you at least stay on ONE channel?!!"
"Why would you ever wish to watch just one station when you can watch them all?" 'Star asks.
Rictor turns and walks away, cursing in Spanish.
"What is wrong? What?" 'Star asks.
Rictor stops short as he comes upon Nathan standing in the doorway. "Oh, great. First him, now you. A two-fer-one sale at Rictor's little house of horrors!"
"I told you, Julio. I did not kill your father." Nathan tells him.
"Yeah, an' I actually believe you, too. Doesn't mean I can't look for a whole 'nother bunch of reasons t' hate your guts, does it? An' never call me Julio again. Only my mom could do that." Rictor says, as he walks out.
"Wonderful. Out of all the one's whose problems aren't my fault, it has to be him. Stubborn, butt-headed, arrogant..." Nathan thinks.
"But--?" Professor asks.
"But, I am glad he's back." Nathan answers through the link.
"Just as I thought." Professor says.
Nathan turns towards the screen as 'Star has, once again, started changing channels non-stop. "Images rush in front of me, becoming a blur, and I watch them. Like I've watched my entire life. A rider on the time-stream, making occasional stops at different stations. Knowing who the people are, but never knowing anything about them. That has to stop. Like I said, time to hit the brakes, but can I do it? Can I be a soldier, a teacher, a father and a friend? Xavier couldn't do it. Neither could Magneto. I don't know if I can either, but one thing I do know. I know that I can start to try." Nathan thinks, as he goes to the computer and calls up the television programming.
"I've set the remote sequence to randomly change channels at a three second interval. I think that's pretty close to how you like it, right?" Nathan asks him.
"Yes. It is..uhm...thank you." 'Star tells him.
Nathan goes back out into to the now cool desert air and climbs back to the top of the hill overlooking the bunker, sits with his legs crossed one over the other and sets his mind to the Askani' meditation levels that Blaquesmith and Aliya taught him years ago.
"It has been a long time since you have done this, Nathan. May I ask, why now?" Professor asks.
"It's been a long time since I felt at peace enough to remember my Askani' teachings, Old Friend. 'What is, is' I can't change what I've done in the past, but I can change what I do with my future. I've found my home, Prof, now I've got to make this home a good one. Both for me and especially for these kids. Now, shut up and let me think." Cable thinks, with an uncustomary smile upon his lips.
"As you wish, Nathan, as you wish." Professor answers.
Nathan removes the necklace that had once been Aliya's and telekinetically holds it in the air in front of him, focussing upon it until all else is gone. Slowly he rises into the air and turns upside down as he reaches the deepest levels of meditation, and for the first time in years...
The Askani'Son is at peace, with himself and his surroundings.

Early the next morning, Cable summoned Sam and Theresa to the "War Room" for a mission debriefing. Sam was still half-asleep since he and Roberto had gotten back late from Madripoor and Tabitha had kept him up even later filling him in on what had happened during the day they were gone. It seemed that Feral was missing, but Cable wasn't worried and seemed to know where she was, but, as usual wasn't sharing that information with anyone. Sam soon snapped to full attention at Cable's opening words, however.
"Undercover? Where? An' why?" Sam asks.
"Where is the Foundations Institute in Denver, Colorado. Why is because the institute's run by a certain Martin Henry Strong. A man with money, power and a very strong anti-mutant agenda. A man I also happen to know is a mutant himself. I happen to have a very low tolerance for traitors to their race. I sent Feral in yesterday as a volunteer subject for his so-called treatments. You two are her back-up. The rest of us will be monitoring you all the while and at your signal we bust in and bust up his little operation. Questions?" Cable asks.
After Cable had answered all their questions and filled them in on their undercover identities, the pair set out on their mission and Cable briefed the rest of X-Force and followed Sam and Theresa to Denver, Colorado.

That night, Cable and the others saw a young girl escape from the institute and Cable had Professor to monitor her progress while he and the rest of X-Force watched to see if anyone followed her. Someone did. Cable and X-Force followed the girls hunter until he caught up to her in Phoenix, Arizona.
"I give up, Adam. I'll go back with you. Just don't flash me. Please, don't flash me." The girl pleaded.

FACHOW

Cable blasted the young man clear across the deserted street, with his plasma pistol set on heavy stun.
"No reason to give up so quickly, Girl." Cable told her.
"Who the Rakk would be stupid enough to hit me from behind?!" The young man asks, as he gets up from the street.
"Oh, that would be us. We're called X-Force. What should we call you? Besides our prisoner, that is." Cable tells him, "Now what say we try this with a minimum of bloodshed. You don't look like the type who could spare the blood."
"You're Cable, aren't you? Cool then, let's dance!" The young man says, as he leaps and jumps about. He reminds Cable of Spider-Man with his speed and agility. During his leaping and jumping about, the young man manages to, not only dodge X-Force's united attack, but to inflict small cuts on the whole team by means of small throwing blades which he seems to have an unlimited number of.
"If you'll all take the time to check over your arms and legs, you'll notice a bunch of little nicks and cuts which I apologize for having caused, but, you see, in order for me to use my mutant power, I have to oxygenate your blood. Having done that, then I can do this!" The young man tells them.
Suddenly, the whole team hits the street, rolling in agony. It is as if the very blood in their veins has caught fire.
"I guess you'll think twice about dealing with me again, Cable." The young man says and then turns towards the girl, "Michelle, I'll be back. Strong wants you to come home and you know as well as I that he gets whatever he wants. Including us." With this the young man disappears into the night.
"Za's Vid! That madman was even able to hurt me!!" 'Star says.
"I should hope so. I mean when Adam flash-fries you, you feel it!" Michelle tells them.
"Who was he?" Cable asks her.
"The only names he has were given to him. Adam-X, and when he gets going we call him X-Treme. 'Cause that's what he becomes. Extremely angry. Extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. He's a mutant. So am I. I guess you guys are too." Michelle says.
"You guess right. So what did he hit us with?" Cable asks.
"Oh, he can ignite the electrolytes in a person's blood supply, but he has to oxygenate the blood first." Michelle explains.
"Cut first, fry second. I think I like this man." 'Star says.
"You would." Tabitha tells him.
"There are too many civilians around. We can continue this elsewhere. Professor: Body-Slide by Seven: PAC-RAT Bound." Cable orders and the team is instantly transported to their craft, in the desert, just outside of town. Warpath and Rictor immediately go to their stations and activate the monitors.
"James, do you have a read on him at all?" Cable asks.
"He's in a small craft, Cable, just taking off now. I've got a lock on it. We can follow him anywhere he goes now." James answers.
"Good. Let him think he's on us. Then we teach him a lesson about tailgating. And after that, maybe he'll be more receptive to giving out some information about Martin Henry Strong so we can bring Strong's torture chamber crashing down around him. Providing that Cannonball's unit accomplishes their part of the mission." Cable tells them.

Shortly before dawn, Cable had Professor teleport three sky-cycles about a mile away from the PAC-RAT and sent 'Star, Warpath and Rictor out to take them and circle around behind X-Treme and bring him in.
As dawn breaks across the desert, Cable pours a cup of black coffee and goes outside to join the others.
"They should be coming back in a few minutes with our new young friend in tow." Cable tells them.
"You don't know Adam like I do. He won't just surrender without a fight." Michelle says.
"That's what I'm counting on. All the better to gauge his abilities, test his sympathies and soften him up a bit." Cable tells her.
"You won't do that by hitting him. From what I gather, everyone's tried to do that to him his entire life. You have to get him here, in his heart, where he's all alone and desperately looking for someone, something to call his own." Michelle says.
"Is that what you tried to do for him?" Tabitha asks.
"I tried. I wanted to. Lord knows he is something special and I needed him as much as he needed me. My problems started three years ago, when I was thirteen, living in Rosemont, outside of Chicago. I ran away from home when my mutant powers started to flare up. I can lock eyes with someone and I can route an energy pulse through their optic nerves and through their entire nervous system. I ended up in Denver, where I was an ad offering paid research help for 'Young people with special gifts and abilities' Turned out to be a place owned by Strong Industries. So I lived there, along with some other mutants. They took good care of us and we got paid for being guinea pigs. I also met Adam. Strong had hired him to be a bloodhound, a hunter who brought in potential mutants, or like in my case, mutants who tried to run away." Michelle told them.
"Why would anyone want to run away from such a cushy set-up?" Cable asks.
"Because some of us found out that even though the scientists who worked there were good people with good intentions, Martin Strong had his own agenda. A very dangerous one. He wants to find a way to eliminate the genetic DNA helix which causes mutations. Basically, he wants to make sure that no one can ever become a mutant again." Michelle tells them.
"Ain't that one been tried several dozen times already?" Tabitha asks.
"The difference is, that this time, Strong's work is being funded by the Government. Something I heard him mention called Project: Wideawake." Michelle says.
"Droga! They're responsible for the Sentinels that X-Factor confronted, as well." Roberto says.
"Sentinels we'll also be confronting soon enough, DaCosta. But one problem at a time. And here comes one we've taken care of." Cable says, as he notes the approach of 'Star and the others with X-Treme among them. "Let's debrief this X-Treme punk and plan a course of action. My take on this is--Two things make what's happening at Foundations different from what X-Factor found at Project: Wideawake. Number One: I know for a fact that Strong is a mutant, himself, which means he's a traitor to his own kind. Number Two: We deal with things on a much more Permanent basis than X-Factor does.

Cable, Michelle and the others, manage to convince X-Treme to help them penetrate Strong's Foundation. Cable telepathically probes the young man to be sure he really means to help them. Satisfied that X-Treme is telling the truth, Cable maps out a plan of attack. When he seeks to contact Sam and Theresa, he discovers that he has lost contact with them, which can only meant that their cover's been blown. He has Professor teleport X-Treme, Rictor and Tabitha to the Foundation and X-Treme enters with Tabitha and Rictor posing as his prisoners.
Martin Henry Strong is a huge mountain of a man, with ebony skin and beard with a shaved head. X-Treme approaches him and dumps Ric' and Tabitha at his feet, explains that though Michelle escaped that he did manage to capture these two and moves behind Strong towards the coffee pot and pulls out the communicator Cable had given him and activates it, while Ric' and Tabitha suddenly rise up and attack Strong.

Outside the Foundation,
"That's the signal, they're in. Professor: Comm-Link Signal Lock: Body-Slide by Five." Cable orders.
Cable and the others are instantly transported into the midst of a battle between X-Treme, Rictor and Tabitha and a couple of dozen of Strong's guards.
"Where's Strong?" Cable asks, looking around for the man behind this torture chamber and seeing him opening a huge door on the far side of the lab. "Over there! Where are they headed?"
"That's a security access corridor." X-Treme tells him.
"STRONG!!" Cable yells.
"Mr. Cable, I presume? It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I'm afraid ours will be a brief meeting." Strong tells him, as the huge door slides shut.
"NO! STAB HIS EYES!!" Cable yells, as he draws back and strikes the door putting a healthy dent into the three inch thick steel. "Just what we don't need. Another barrier to get through. X-Force--We're taking this place apart 'till we find him!" Cable orders.
"No, wait. Stop it!" Michelle yells, "Some of these mutants have no choice but to be here and this equipment is the only thing keeping them alive." She tells them, pointing towards the many containment units with mutants in them which line the lab walls.
"You are saying we cannot tear this facility down?" 'Star asks.
"You can go after Strong, but don't hurt the very people you came to save." Michelle answers.
"But Strong's home is his castle. Without this place, then mutants can't be hurt by him, right?" Roberto asks.
"Too fine a line to cross, DaCosta. The days when I believed in burning the village in order to save it are over. Let's clear out of here and see if we can locate Strong." Cable tells them.

FACHOM FACHOM FACHOM FACHOM

Cable blasts away at the steel door to no avail.
"Uh...once I figure out what it'll take to make a dent in this blockade." Cable says.
"I can get you through, Cable." X-Treme tells him. "It is coded to provide access to my palm-signature. In some ways, I guess it pays to be part of the system. After you." He says, as the huge door slides open.
"It never pays to be party to the betrayal of your own people, Soldier. Have your actions made you proud? If not do not seek to take comfort in the petty boons you have been granted." 'Star tells him.
"Trust me...I don't." X-Treme replies.
"Keep it tight, back there. Stay alert." Cable orders, as he leads the way down the narrow, dark corridor.
"Aye, aye, Captain." Warpath answers.
"Let's just do it right, Gang, cool?" Ric' says.
"Rictor's right. We're in a grey zone here and I'd just as soon not get ambushed." Cable tells them.
"I am sorry, then, that I must be such an ungracious host, for an ambush is exactly what you've forced me to provide you." Strong says, as he steps out into the corridor.
"He's flushing himself out in the open! X-Force--Form a perimeter--Spread around him! Either Strong is a complete idiot or he can actually back up his gumption." Cable tells them.

THUKKAPOOM

Strong moves like lighting and lands a blow which knocks Cable twenty feet back down the corridor.
"I assure you, it is the latter! You rise? How fortunate for you, Cable, that your neck is not easily broken." Strong says, as Cable gets to his feet.
"I'll give you this much, Strong, that's one of the hardest hits I've taken." Cable tells him, as he wipes the blood from his lip.
"I'm honored. How well do you think your flesh and metal could hold up against another one?" Strong asks.
"Thanks, but no thanks. X-Force--Blow him into tomorrow!" Cable orders.

FYASHAKATHWOUM

Sunspot, Rictor and Tabitha strike as one. Blasting Strong back and into the wall.
"It is my turn to give credit where it is due, for that is the hardest which I've ever been hit." Strong tells them.
"Well, let's play a game of 'can you top this' shall we?" X-Treme says, as he and 'Star leap to the attack.
"Adam, you do disappoint me. Betraying my trust this way. I would have done right by you. I would have helped you solve the mystery of your past. Eventually. I would've helped you with all your problems. Just as I have helped Michelle." Strong tells them, as he shrugs off their attacks as if they were nothing. 'Stars swords cannot even scratch the skin of Strong's impervious, steel hard body.
"Michelle, the female?" 'Star asks.
"'Chelle? This was all a set-up?" X-Treme asks her.
"I'm sorry, Adam. Strong promised to help my family. He promised to cure me if led more mutants back here." Michelle as she uses her power to shock them all, except for Cable and Adam, who looked away from her before she could shock them.
X-Treme throws one of his blades, slicing her arm, as he tells her, "You cut me deep, Michelle. I actually cared about you, but guess what? I just cut you good, too. BURN!"
As Michelle falls to the floor, Adam turns to Cable and yells, "Cable, TAKE HIM DOWN!!"
"With Pleasure!" Cable says, drawing his Ion-Blade from his boot and advancing on Strong.
"And how do you propose to do this, Soldier? With strong convictions?" Strong asks.
"Sometimes, that's all it takes." Cable replies.
"Unfortunately, Cable, that's not enough when dealing with someone whose skin is impervious to all but an adamantium knife." Strong says.
"How about an Ionic Molecular Blade, then? Nifty little item which you won't see around these parts for another thousand years or so." Cable tells him with a predator's smile.

CASHUNK
AAAAARRGGGHHH

Cable sinks the blade deep into Strong's gut, twists the blade and drives it up into where Strong's heart should be.
"Look at that, Marty, you're cut." X-Treme tells him, "Back away from his, Cable, Now!"
As X-Treme uses his power to ignite Strong's blood, Strong's entire body explodes, leaving only a small dwarfish body with fins instead of hands and feet, flopping about on the floor. Looking more like a baby seal with a human head than anything else.
"What did my flash fry just do?" X-Treme asks.
"It showed us the secret that Strong's been hiding. It showed us that Strong's mutant ability isn't incredible strength, but an incredible mind, because he created a synthetic body for himself when his natural one simply wouldn't do." Cable tells them. "Have any of you, besides possibly Feral and Adam X ever had to endure the agony, of being an outcast from all sides of the society you live in?" Strong asks them.
"Apocalypse made me half metal, you made yourself a body. We all make of ourselves, whatever we can just to help us get by, from day to day. It's just not our right to make of others what we decide they should be." Cable tells him.

Sam, Theresa and Feral are found and set free and soon the team is ready to leave.
"What about Michelle?" Cable asks. "She chose to stay, knowing that even though we couldn't restructure her mutagenic matrix we could still help her family." The doctor tending to Strong tells him.
"What happened to her? When she ran away?" Tabitha asks.
"When her powers first manifested themselves, she had no control over them whatsoever. Her parents have both been in vegetative comas for two years. Her family's financial status is in ruins. Michelle did what she did because Martin promised to pay their mounting medical bills." The doctor explained.
"Then she can stay, and Strong better fulfill his commitment to her. We ever hear of any mutants being kept here against their will...we'll be back!" Cable looks at the small, seal-like body of Martin Strong being put into a holding-tank and then turns to his children and says, "Look close...There but for the Grace of God...be us all..."
"Professor: Body-Slide by Ten: PAC-RAT Bound." Cable orders softly and the team appears back at their craft. Cable turns to Adam and asks, "You planning on coming along with us?"
"Are you asking me?" Adam asks.
"Not really, but you can come anyway." Cable says, smiling.
"I would like to. To belong again...to a family...even a dysfunctional one like yours...but I can't...not yet. I have to find out more about who I am before I can be a part of what you are." Adam tells him.
Cable and 'Star turn to enter the PAC-RAT, but at the hatch 'Star turns and draws his sword, raising it high, "A Noble Warrior have you shown yourself to be, X-Treme. I salute you and wish you well on the lifepath you choose to follow."
With this, 'Star enters and closes the hatch behind him and X-Force is on their way
Home.