Blaquesmith's lab suddenly illuminates with the energy signature of Cable's bodyslide. Irene and Blaquesmith both smile when Cable materializes with the ion chamber glowing - a sure sign he retrieved Rachel's energy form successfully with the help of GW Bridge. *

(* See last issue--Brad)

"I got 'er," Cable declares. "But I think she may fade out soon."

"That's quite alright, Nathan," Blaquesmith says confidently as he grabs the ion chamber. "I've replicated the body, so now all we have to do is transfer Rachel's energy matrix into the clone's neural system."

"Sounds complicated," Irene says.

"It isn't," Blaquesmith boasts. Irene rolls her eyes.

Cable stops celebrating as his eyes land on the television. "What the hell?!?!? Deathglare has taken the UN building hostage?"

"Oh... crap, we were going to tell you, Nathan!!" Irene says sorrowfully. "We just got caught up with you getting your sister back." Irene forces a laugh out of herself. It doesn't lighten Cable up.

"Do you need help, Nathan?" Blaquesmith asks. "I'll be more than glad to--"

"No... I'll handle this, I was meant to. Aéulgo said so," Cable declares.

"May I suggest some... accessories?" Blaquesmith offers. He presses a button on his gauntlet, and a weapons display case rises out of the floor. It's a metallic cylindrical tube of sorts. Doors swing open to this metallic tube, revealing a myriad of guns and devices. "I studied the effects of Deathglare's energy and made weapons that could counter those energies."

"Thanks, 'Smith. Go to work on Rachel... I'll need to meditate before I go into battle," Cable says calmly as he looks at the weapons. In a way, they're a part of his past... they're a part of him... he's just evolved into a warrior who doesn't need to pull a trigger to win fights. But it's always good for a soldier to be prepared.

"Do you need... ya know... help strapping all that stuff on?" Irene asks awkwardly. "I hate to play squire, but I just figured... I mean, Deathglare almost turned me into the oldest living Askani'son biographer... that's not to be taken lightly with a woman my age who's concerned with her looks. Just wanna help out all I can."

Cable smiles, "Sure."

Suddenly, without warning, Sanctity appears and spears Cable in the chest. Then she lunges for Irene and begins clawing at her face with her nails. Then Tanya takes a piece of metal and picks the lock on the inhibitor collar around her neck. The collar falls off, leaving Cable surprised about what Tanya might do.

Tanya smiles as she telekinetically blasts Cable in the stomach. "I won't allow you to revive your whore of a sister!!!" Sanctity screams. She grabs a prototype psimatar from the weapons closet and delivers an upper cut to Cable's jaw with it. Cable crashes into the wall opposite the room.

Irene, disoriented, jumps on Tanya's back, but gets flung into another wall in the opposite direction.

Blaquesmith's astral form appears to Cable, "What's going on?!"

"It's Tanya, she's loose and no longer negated!" Cable yells. "Stay where you are, she's trying to kill Rachel!"

"Understood."

Cable grabs his psimatar from his belt and charges the sharp edge. He growls as his left eye lights up. Sanctity smiles as the two stand-off. "I don't have time for this, Tanya," Cable says through clenched teeth. "If Deathglare reaches full power before I can stop him, we'll all die!"

Sanctity shrugs apathetically, "Oh well. Saves me the dirty work." She generates a TK blast in Cable's direction. Cable instinctively fires a counter-blast; both blasts cancel out upon contact. Sanctity instantly flips above Cable and delivers a sharp kick to the area between his shoulder blades.

Cable winces, but instantly delivers a reverse roundhouse to Sanctity's jaw. He then crouches on the floor and swipes Sanctity off her feet. Tanya telekinetically pushes herself upright and attacks Cable with a psi-bolt. Cable screams in pain as his techno-virus spews out of control. Apparently, his psi-shields weren't put up fast enough.

Sanctity laughs as she tastes her own blood gushing from her mouth. "I know your every weakness, dear Nathan... fighting me is pointless." Suddenly, Cable's left arm returns to its sleek metallic form. Tanya is dumbfounded.

Cable smirks, "Psych!" He gets up and kicks her straight in the abdomen and uses the split second Sanctity lets down her shields to deliver a massive psi-bolt directly into her cerebral cortex.

Tanya shrieks from the neural disruption and telekinetically rockets through the ceiling of the underground base, crashing through layers and layers of concrete, steel, and asphalt.

Irene runs up to Cable, rubbing her head. "Should we--?"

"No," Cable says as he pants. "I'll deal with her later. Right now...Deathglare is on the top of my shit list."

"I demand that you tell us what you want with us!" the British representative, a female, yells at the top of her lungs. The ropes binding her to her respective nation's chair were getting too uncomfortable for the young woman to handle.

Deathglare hovers from the middle of the debate room to the young lady's face. Deathglare smiles. "In time, you will understand perfectly! I need to draw the Chosen One here... He has a soft spot for you pitiful defenseless mortals."

"What are you talking about?" the India representative speaks in broken English. "What Chosen One?"

Deathglare gives the annoyance a sharp glance, causing the forty-something Indian man to tremble. He knows what Deathglare's glance is capable of doing... as poor Nikilai Mikgraf of Russia found out. "The Chosen One is capable from drawing from the Fifth Force. His body is a conduit... a cable, if you will. The Chosen One is the only mortal who can do this. His techno-organic virus was supposed to keep him from reaching his godly potential... but that apostate Aéulgo's been sneaking around, pulling strings of time, coming to the Chosen One, telling him of MY plans! Telling him of what he can do...to me."

Deathglare pants for a few moments. "If I do not stop him now, he will breed an entire race of mortals capable of becoming GODS! I will be outnumbered and unable to rule this universe as my own!"

"You'll never rule the universe!" the British rep spits out. "There are heroes that will hunt you down... and they will win!"

Deathglare laughs, "I welcome their challenge. But as you can see, no one is challenging ME! They know they will lose. Not even Aéulgo can stand up to me. He'll have to start doing a million good deeds to compensate all the bad deeds I have done if he is to reach his godly potential in this realm as I have!"

Cable awakens from his meditation with a start. Blaquesmith and Irene are standing next to... Aéulgo? The myserious blue-cloaked black man stood on two feet. He did not hover, he was not glowing like an angel. He was human. A mortal.

"Greetings, Cable," Aéulgo says.

"You... you're--"

"Flesh? Yes, I know. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait another minute. But I do not have my link to the Fifth Force in the mortal realm. I'll have to gain it back through good deeds. Nagruha gained his power through bad deeds. You'll have to put a stop to him... I have some power within me from the deeds you have done acting for me... but not enough to stand up to Nagruha," Aéulgo explains.

Cable doesn't know what to say. "Is Rachel... okay?"

"Yes," Blaquesmith says. "Now we must wait. She is resting."

Cable turns back to face Aéulgo, "Why didn't you come to the mortal realm from the start and do a bunch of nice things!? You had to wait until Deathglare was all pumped up on power for ME to take care of?!"

"You don't seem to understand, Nathan--"

"Oh, I understand completely, Aéulgo! You are a fucking dumbass!" Cable exclaims.

"Nathan!" Blaquesmith protests. "Such language is--"

"Zip it, E.T.!" Cable shouts back.

"STOP!" Aéulgo yells. His eyes are glowing. Suddenly, Cable shakes his head and regains his senses. "Your darkside is getting the best of you."

"I'm sorry, Aéuglo... sorry, 'Smith..." Cable says shamefully.

"As I was saying," Aéulgo continues, "my timing is the work of the Fates. There is a reason for everything. Once you battle Nagruha, and destroy his mortal shell, the deed will increase my power here in your dimension to my true levels! I will be able to undo what Nagruha has done!"

"Are you saying... you can bring back all those people he's killed... back to life?" Cable asks.

"Yes," Aéulgo says with an eager smile, "even those he didn't directly kill."

Stacey* Cable's mind echoes. What am I saying? Deathglare didn't kill her... it wouldn't be right... but poor Kenny is in some orphanage when he shouldn't be... his parents bailed on him... Stacey was the only true family he had...

(* Stacey was Cable's girlfriend, raped and killed by a couple of thugs in issue #1--Russ)

Cable points a finger at Aéulgo. "I want you to bring Stacey Kramer back to life after all of this is done!"

"But she is beyond my reach--"

"I don't care!" Cable barks. "Once I kill Deathglare, you'll have the power to bring her back! If you have to sacrifice another life to do it, then take me."

Aéulgo shakes his head. "As much as I'd like to bring back your late lover... I can't--"

"It's not out of selfishness! It's for Kenny, Stacey's brother," Cable says. "If she has no idea who I am when she's brought back, then so be it. I don't care if I never see her again, just knowing that I've made Kenny's life whole again... is all that matters. God damn it, I know how he feels not having a family..."

Aéulgo silently nods. "It will be done... but first, you must succeed against Nagruha."

Blaquesmith walks up to his student. "Do not focus on the future. Don't even think about Stacey. Concentrate on Deathglare... do to him what he has done to countless others."

Cable gives his mentor a reassuring glance as he straps on a bunch of weapons, thermite bombs, and grenades to his body. "I know. I'm a soldier. I'm an Askani." He grabs his psimatar and watches the glow in his eye reflect on the psimatar blade. "I'm Cable."

Nathan turns back to the three staring at him. "I'll die for those people if I have to, Aéulgo. Irene, I want you to type a final journal entry and print every page of that blasted biography out. Then I want you to take that job at the Bugle. Blaquesmith, I want you to tell Rachel I love her and make sure none of my safehouses fall into the wrong hands."

"You're not going to die, Nathan," Blaquesmith laughs, trying to hold back tears.

Irene embraces Nathan and kisses him intimately on the lips. Nathan is a little shaken, but he manages to stroke Irene's hair and whisper, "Goodbye."

"Computer," Cable commands, "bodyslide by one... sector 6712."

Irene sheds a tear as she watches Cable bodyslide out of the safehouse, for what may be the last time. Aéulgo disappears in a greenish mist.

Cable reappears at an undisclosed location within the UN Headquarters. Even with the distance between them, Deathglare laughs in the background. "Come, Askani'son," Deathglare says within his mind. "Let us dance on the tightrope. Let us tease Death with our souls. But first, tell the pathetic mortal pointing a gun at your head to get out!"

Cable slowly turns around and sees, none other than, Agent 18! "You're interfering with a SHIELD operation, Cable. I'll give you until the count of three, then I'll start pulling the trigger... did I mention this gun I have is a mutant-nullifier?"

OATH!!!!

NEXT ISSUE: Agent 18 and Cable must form an uneasy alliance if they are to take on Deathglare and his forces! Stay tuned for Part 2 of "Dance With Death"!