The End of The Beginning

The intruder alert blasted alarms through every speaker in the underground bunker headquarters of The New Mutants. Cable, Domino and Warpath took off in a run, as Cable shouted,
"Computer--Isolate intruder location--"
"INTRUDER CURRENT LOCATION: DANGER ROOM" The computer answered.
"Wonderful. Sam--Did you copy that--?" Cable asked, through his wrist communicator.
"Hope so, Sir--I'm right behind you." Sam answered from directly above Cable, blasting down the hallway.
"Sneaky, Guthrie. Getting real good at dulling the sound of your blast field." Dom complimented him.
"On edge, people!" Cable ordered, "James--If you would? And welcome to The New Mutants." James made ready to open the door to the Danger Room, as Cable said,
"Ready...Go!!"
James threw wide the door and the foursome was greeted by the site of a young man, with a double-bladed sword, fighting three attack droids that the Danger Room computers had deployed upon detecting the intruders presence.
"You don't know who he is?" James asked.
"No." Cable answered.
"I take it that equipment he's destroying is expensive?"
"Very." Cable answered.
"Would you like me to stop him?" James asked as his third question.
"Have a party." Cable replied.
James moved in quickly and tackled the young man, and managed to get him in a bear-hug. As Cable moved in to question him, the young man swung his leg around in an arc and planted a solid kick right to Cable's chin, knocking him back. He then flipped Warpath over his shoulder and moved in to finish him off with his sword. He raised the sword high over-head...but the blow never fell. His wrist had been entangled in a line thrown by Domino. She jerked him around to face her just before he managed to cut himself free of the line. Domino dodged the slashes and thrusts of his sword, waiting for an opening. When it came, she managed a drop-kick to the young man's chest knocking him to the floor. The boy rolled with her blow, however, and was up in an instant, connecting with a right cross to Dom's chin knocking her to the floor. Before he could take advantage of the situation, however, Sam was moving in on him. The young man concentrated for a second and fired some sort of blast through his sword, which Sam felt, even through his blast field, and knocked him out of the air.
"You're still alive? Impossible!" The boy exclaimed, upon seeing Sam recover from his fall. "Tougher Mojo-Kissers than usual..."
"That's us, Boy...Toughest Mojo-Kissers on the block...And I think we've all had just about enough of you..." Cable said as he approached the young man.
"Pretty Boy's in trouble..." Dom said, as she saw the look in Cable's eyes.
"You've met your match..." The boy said as he slashed with his sword, meaning to remove Cable's head at the neck.
Cable ducked under the slash and came up with a left jab that dazed the young man enough for Cable to grab the hilt of the sword with his left hand as he grasped the Boy's head with his right. Cable brought the young man's head down, and his own right knee up to slam into the boy's face with crushing force and took the sword from his, now limp fingers.
"I have, huh?" Cable said to the barely conscious young man. "Pleased to meet you."
"You mock me?" The boy said, rising unsteadily to his feet. "I am Shatterstar! I am a blood-warrior of the Cadre Alliance! I am not to be made a fool of!"
"Looks like you don't need our help doing that, Kid, but you certainly do need our help in learning to keep your mouth shut!" Cable said as he delivered a right cross that spun the boy around like a top and landed him on the floor, out cold.
Cable ordered the others to take the boy to the medi-station, where they would find out who he was, once he woke up.

Everything that had transpired had been seen and heard by Feral, who was still slinking through the ventilation shafts. "They're pretty good." She thought to herself, as she moved off to follow them. "They work well together...like a family. Now, I just gotta figure out a way to get adopted by these folks...'cos when my old family finds out where I am...I'm gonna need all the help I can get!"

As Shatterstar awoke, he raised his hands to his chin and asked, "What hit me?"
"My fist...on your face. Now, please, tell me you're not interested in a second helping." Cable said.
"No. Enough. I am undone. I am defeated. I have failed in my mission." Shatterstar replied.
"And what mission would that be?" Cable asked.
"I have been sent by the Cadre Alliance to seek the heroes of legend--the freedom fighters known as The X-Men. I am in need of their aid in overthrowing the oppressive rule of Mojo V and his executioner, Spiral. Our alliance...our rebellion...is almost undone. Time and again our forces have been routed by the Imperial Protectorate. We stand on the brink of oblivion. Mojo and Spiral consume all that is--our hearts--our hopes--so a decision was made--one borne of desperation--we decided to seek help elsewhen--as another of my kind--the warrior called Longshot--had done one hundred years gone by--I volunteered to make the hazardous journey through time and space--but in doing so, I have only found defeat...the elsewhen transport took more out of me than I had expected. I was disoriented and a little--overwhelmed--when you found me. But it is appearent, that in regards to my mission, I have failed. You don't look like The X-Men I have seen vid of." Shatterstar told them.
"No. Not quite. We're better. And if I were inclined to believe your story. We could more than fill their role." Cable replied.
While the rest of the team was still questioning Shatterstar, Tabitha went to the kitchen to get some food for the young man. Upon arriving there, Tabitha discovered Feral going through all the cabinets looking for some food for herself. Feral, surprised by Tabitha's sudden appearance reacted instinctively and leaped for Tabitha's throat, claws bared. Tabitha popped one of her plasma bombs in Feral's face, stunning her. The noise of this altercation drew Sam and Cable at a run.
"I was just getting some food--I was hungry" Feral told them.
"She doesn't look familiar t' me, Sir." Sam said to Cable
"Morlock, maybe?" Cable guessed.
"I was a Morlock--living under Manhattan with a whole bunch of other scuzzy mutant refugees--but I'm running away from them--Masque wants to kill me--you have to help me--Please--?" Feral pleaded with them.
"If what Feral's sayin' is true, Sir. Maybe we should help her." Sam said.
"What do you mean, 'If'? Listen, Masque is buildin' an army of pretty radical Morlocks, people he's kidnapped and mutated--they don't want to hide in the dark anymore--they want to come topside and start kickin' some tail! And I hate t' tell you this--but he plans on startin' with all of you!" Feral told them.
"I'm not surprised. I also wouldn't be surprised if Masque sent you to us as a plant." Cable told her.

Meanwhile, back in the medi-station, an alarm on Shatterstars wrist began to go off.
"What's that?" Warpath asked.
"A proximity alert on my sensory equipment! It means members of the Imperial Protectorate are transporting here! They are regenerative biochemical constructs--not living beings--do not let up for an instant!" Shatterstar told them as the unliving soldiers of Mojo V appeared all around them. The trio was instantly on the attack, but the enemy seemed to be endless in number and they were soon, barely holding their own.

Cable, and the others, heard the noise of the attack and rushed towards the sounds of the battle. Cable ordered Sam to fly ahead and do a quick recon and to report back. They were almost at the medi-station when Sam came flying back towards them yelling,
"Behind You!!"
Three of the unliving constructs had appeared behind Cable and the others. Cable had sensed no thought patterns so he knew that they were not living beings. He told the others, "Don't pull any punches!!" As he neatly snapped the neck of one of the constructs. Before the others could make a move, Feral leaped in and slashed the last two of their attackers into pieces.
"Reminds me of Wolverine an' Sabretooth!" Sam said after seeing Feral in action.
"They must be here after Shatterstar! Come on!!" Cable said, once again making time towards the sounds of battle.
Once Cable and the others joined up with Dom, Warpath and Shatterstar, they made short work of the unliving constructs that Mojo had sent for Shatterstar.
Before they could even draw a breath after this battle, however, Masque and two of his most powerful Morlocks, Brute and Hump appeared in the doorway.
"Return Feral to us! Do it now or you'll be numero uno on our topsider kill list!" Masque demanded.
"Masque, the girl wants to stay here. Now get out of our home!" Cable told him.
"I think not. Get 'em boys!!" Masque ordered his henchmen.
Brute rushed forward, eight feet tall and five hundred pounds of sheer mutant muscle, towering over Cable, and saying "Ya made a big mistake, Mistuh."
"I'm sure." Cable said as he drew the plasma pistol from it's holster and blew the top half of Brute's head off!
Cable then leveled the gun at Masque's head and said,
"Okay then Masque...Maybe you didn't hear right the first time...Get Out Now."
Masque and Hump gathered up Brute's remains and left as meekly...and quickly as they could.

Two hours later the full team was assembled in the mission debriefing room. Cable looked around the room, made eye contact with each one...and said,
"Now then--you're all showered and rested. So let's talk turkey. The soldiers who were after Shatterstar disappeared after they were beaten. We can only assume they had a fail-safe system which sent them back to their own dimension. They are just another addition to the ever-increasing list of opponents who want to attack us. It means that now, more than ever, we have to band together to fight against the people trying to tear us down. James Proudstar has agreed to join us. In return for fighting our war, we will help him fight his. Shatterstar is now stranded in this dimension. In return for helping him fight his war, he will fight ours. Feral has asked us for asylum. In return for protecting her from her Morlock oppressors, she has agreed to join our cause. We now have the kind of Fighting Unit I've felt we needed all along. There's only one problem. We can't stay here any longer."
"What? We have to move again? Just when I was gettin' used to this hole in the ground too..." Tabitha said.
"Tolliver knows I'm here. The Morlocks know Feral is here. The warriors from Shatterstar's world have this location as their last transport point. And quite frankly, I don't feel our method of operating will coincide with those of our 'Land-Lords' The X-Men and X-Factor." Cable told them.
"Where will we go, Sir? What will we do if we ain't learin' t' use our powers here?" Sam asked.
"You've already learned how to control your powers--Now it's time to start using them. It's time we became a Force for change in this world. A Force--legal or not--for what's Right." Cable said.
"Take Professor Xavier's dream and fight for it!" Warpath stated.
"An X-Force? A little crude, but it's got some possibilities..." Sam added.
The time was 6:36 P.M. An Ending...

Cable had one of his vehicles warmed up and ready. He asked the others, "Everything's loaded up? Everyone's ready?"
"As we'll ever be, Big Kahuna." Tabitha said.
"Let's get it over with, Sir...Let's just go..." Sam added.
The sleek craft lifted off and soon sailed over the horizon.

The time was 8:22 P.M. A Beginning...