Writer's Note: This issue takes place BEFORE Team-X #1 -- Brad

Los Angeles

Nate Grey, a native of a dark timeline, and Vice, Cable's personified darkness, stand off in the middle of what looks like a scene out of "Independence Day". Vice had previously manipulated the San Andreas Fault, causing a 6-point earthquake on the Richter scale. Thousands are either dead or dying.

Blaquesmith, Cable's mentor, enlisted the aide of young Nate in hopes that he could put an end to this evil that has corrupted Cable.

Nate Grey is discovering this task is harder than it first seemed. The first time the two brothers fought, Nate Grey was killed, only to be revived thanks to Cable's quick-thinking. The question is... is X-Man out of his league?

"Hardly," X-Man yells as he generates another telekinetic blast in Vice's direction. Vice is too slow to block it. He goes flying in the other direction.

Vice laughs while on his back, "Don't flatter yourself, I AM more powerful. And if it weren't for you, my plans wouldn't have been ruined!"

"You sound a little too much like Stryfe," Nate says. "I was a little skeptical when Blaquesmith told me I had to fight you... again."

"The old man has done you a favor... join me, let your dark side run rampant. We shall rule the world, brother," Vice says.

"Nah, I'm more of a commoner," X-Man declares.

While this war of words goes on, the snake in the shadows peers with his red eyes at his two creations. More or less, he could be considered their father. And no, it isn't Cyclops. His name is Nathanial Essex -- Mr. Sinister.

Obsessed with genetics, Essex was empowered by Apocalypse, turning the mere man into something more. Essex has lived for over 150 years, continuing his research on DNA. The Summers gene was one particular piece of DNA that Sinister has been fascinated by. Ironically, the Summers family is descended from one of the circus freaks that made up the very first Marauders.

Even more ironically, it was Sanctity that transported the two X-Men -- Cyclops and Phoenix -- to Victorian England. Perhaps that was where Sinister learned of the Summers gene... as well as the Grey gene... and that a Summers-Grey offspring would lead to great power. He was most definitely right. *

(* Check out Marvel's The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix -- Brad)

He has the means to cure Cable of his techno-organic virus, as well as to unleash his hidden potential, which has been revealed to draw from the Fifth Force, a dimension of pure energy which only gods can command. Sinister unleashed this "darkness" within Cable before. Everyone thought it was Stryfe. They were wrong.*

(* Check Marvel's Cable #6 -- Brad.)

Sinister had hoped to disorient the X-Men and X-Force so he could apprehend Cable and use him for his own purposes, but that plan failed. Now that Vice's persona is dominant, he is vulnerable to a surprise psionic assault, allowing him to be captured.

But the battle is not all physical... Cable IS still kicking around in that head of his...

Cable's Subconscious

The area is dark. Cable is seated at one end of a tiny table, while Vice is seated at the other end. In-between the two is a chessboard. Call it an obsession, but the subconscious has formed a battle scene in the background. A war within the mind is metaphorically brought to life.

Vice has Cable on the ropes with the chess game. Most of Cable's pawns are taken, both bishops, one knight, and two rooks. Cable has only managed to steal a pawn of Vice's. Appropriately, Cable has the white pieces, and Vice has the black.

Vice smiles as he moves his knight in, "And that, my boy, was your queen I have taken. A few moves more and it will be the end of your control over this body!" Vice taunts.

Cable folds his hands together and rests his chin on them. He looks at the array of his pieces Vice has stolen. Pieces of himself. Cable knows that when the king falls, so will Cable... so will the world.

"It's your move, Nathan." Vice commands.

Cable grimly looks up at his own demon, "Don't call me that." He sighs, "You're a part of me, so stop treating me like I'm some sort of separate person."

"But," Vice begins, "you are a separate person. You are a loner. Even now. You've shut out everyone in your life. You're all alone. Stacey, Moira, Domino... they hate you for what you did to them... Move, already."

Cable nervously advances a pawn.

Vice takes the pawn out with a diagonal move by a bishop.

"You're making all the wrong moves, Nathan."

"SHUT UP!"

"You'll have to kill yourself before that happens. Your move, again."

Cable calms himself, "Jean has pulled through darkness, and so did Charles... I'll follow suit. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

"Ah, yes... but that does nothing to help you with your chess prowess, does it?" Vice asks. "Your move... I don't have all day."

"So...is this where you were born? Planning your attack on the world?"

"Nurtured by your own personal torture through the years..." Vice says with a smile.

Cable takes his single knight and overcomes Vice's bishop.

"Do I really talk that much? Your move, dipshit."

The Safehouse

*ZZZPPP*

Irene reappears from the surface, with tons of grocery bags in her arms. Blaquesmith is fiddling with his weapon against Boroh. Without looking up he telekinetically nudges a bag that was about to topple out of Irene's grip.

Irene grits her teeth as she hustles into the kitchen, where she plops the bags on a counter. "Whew... how's that gizmo you're working on? I've never gotten groceries this fast in my life. With Boroh out there, everyone's running scared."

"I'm calibrating the trans-spacial--"

"Oh, okay..." Irene says offhandedly.

Rachel staggers into Blaquesmith's lab area. Blaquesmith and Irene's eyes bulge. "I'm not the old crone anymore... so stop staring," Rachel says sternly. She limps to peer over Blaquesmith's shoulder. "Is that going to be enough?"

"Why shouldn't it?" Blaquesmith asks.

"A black hole won't stop him."

"How do you know?"

"He's strong... he gets his strength from... I don't know where..." Rachel declares.

"He gets his strength from his own opponent," Blaquesmith says. "He has a device, a computer chip, which is fastened to one of his hearts. It adjusts his heart rate accordingly, depending on the strength level of the challenger. Suffice to say, yours and Rogue's attack almost... almost wore him out."

"So how is this black hole device going to work?" Rachel asks. "You're going to endanger lives!"

"No, I have added a feature to my weapon which can control the intensity of the extreme gravitational forces generated by the hole."

"And what of Nathan...?" Rachel asks. "He came to me telepathically just before Boroh almost put me in a coma. He wasn't himself at all."

"Our dark sides are not an easy sight to bare..." Blaquesmith declares.

Cable's Mind...

Cable is picking up in the chess match for control of his body. He has advanced one of his pawns to the other side of the board. He has converted the piece to a queen now. Vice's king lies in its path. "Check," Cable says with a smile.

Outside...

"NO!" Vice yells. X-Man takes this opportunity to deliver a massive TK-reinforced punch to Vice's jaw.

"You seem to hate losing, don't you?" X-Man sneers. "Well, get used to it, pal! You're dancing with the devil... and I've got my horns nice and sharp!"

"I CAN'T BATTLE THE BOTH OF YOU AT ONCE!!!" Vice screams.

X-Man gets a questioning look on his face as his left eye spews psionic energy. "What the hell is going on in there?" X-Man closes his eyes and his astral form emerges. He flies directly into Vice's cranium.

X-Man finds that Vice's mind is blocked. His eye glows once more, his astral form seems to light up. Meanwhile, his nose begins to bleed back with his body.

*CRASH*

The psionic shield has been broken. X-Man is now inside Cable's mind. He walks a little ways, but gets a faint premonition and dodges to the side at the last possible moment, where a grenade explodes to the side of him.

"What the hell--?"

X-Man walks a little further and sees the arena. It was just a chessboard with two hulking men sitting on each side. Both opponents had many of the others' chess pieces.

X-Man sees Cable and shouts, "Cable!

Vice violently swings around, instantly appearing in X-Man's face. "Fool... you should pay attention to your body."

X-Man raises an eyebrow, but soon realizes his error. "Aw sh--" X-Man's astral form vanished.

He awakes in his body, tied up with very thick chains around the steel skeletal structure of a fallen building. Not only that, a wrecking ball is about to cram into him. A telekinetic shield will protect him...

*KLANG*

X-Man rises to his knees, a little wobbly. The chains that are immobilizing him are sure doing their job. The wrecking ball swings back once more...

*KLANG*

"I know you can't take much more of this," Vice says with a smile. "Especially while I'm dampening your powers with my telepathy. While there's still more than enough juice in you for me to even hamper it all, your body is working overtime..."

*KLANG*

Each time the wrecking ball comes at X-Man, he erects a telekinetic shield. But it is taxing his mind. Veins are pulsing around his forehead. Blood drips from his nose. He's too weak to attempt an astral battle. He's never been on the verge of being defeated by telepathy... especially Cable's limited experience. But this wasn't Cable... this was someone else. Something else.

Vice manipulates the techno-virus and forms a sharp-edged sword with it, pressing it gently against Nate's throat. "Any last words?"

X-Man tries to telekinetically strangle Vice, but Vice simply laughs. "I guess that's a no..."

Vice prepares to behead his brother, but is surprised to see a blur of light. Standing in front of him is Mr. Sinister. Sinister blocks the blade with his forearm, but loses that appendage. Sinister takes his other arm and fires a blast at Vice's forehead.

Vice staggers backwards, falling down on the cracked pavement. X-Man, regaining his full ability rips the chains off of his arms like they were noodles. He then wraps them telekinetically around the arm-less Sinister.

"Is this any way to treat the man who saved you?"

"Shut up," X-Man yells as he propels Sinister to the next zip code.

Both of X-Man's eyes glow as he delivers a massive psionic pulse right at Vice...

Cable moves his queen into position. "Checkmate."

Vice screams, "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" His astral form seems to twist out of existence, bursting into tiny specs of stardust, being reabsorbed into Cable's astral form. Cable smiles and his astral form disappears...

Cable awakens in his body. He blinks a few times to make sure he's the one doing the blinking. He realizes he's got a telepathic image around his body. He "turns it off". X-Man walks up to him and offers his hand.

"Cable?"

"X-Man?" Cable grabs his brother's hand. He immediately sees the destruction he has caused. "Oh God..."

"Aw, it's not that bad," X-Man says. He swallows, "Well... maybe it is... But don't worry, it wasn't you. It was Vice."

"Is was me, Grey, and you know it," Cable yells. "How am I supposed to fight evil when I can't even control myself?"

"Maybe you needed this," X-Man says. "Now you won't make the same mistakes you did before that led to this..."

"To do that, I'd have to wipe my mind clean... and I can't do that... God... years ago, the only way I could do this kind of damage was with an ion cannon and some viper guns... this was all me under my own power... I took on Deathglare all by myself too. And he was a god."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Seems everything's hectic for our family these days," X-Man declares. He sighs, "I haven't been able to find Jean anywhere..."

"I'm sorry to say I didn't have the time to search for her..." Cable says. "Jean's strong. That's one thing both of us inherited... She'll pull through."

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat," X-Man says as he rockets into the air, "but I've got things to do. And so do you. There's this alien who's beating the shit outta everyone. Rachel got hurt pretty bad...."

"WHAT?!"

"She's fine, just some broken bones. Nothing Yoda couldn't handle. Well, adios, bro."

Cable sighs. He looks at the rubble around him. He can hear faint screams from those injured. Cable suddenly feels a burning in his chest. "UNGH!!!"

He slumps to the ground. Agents Paris and Raymond approach their prisoner. Cable notices Agent Paris has some sort of EM-pulse gun. He must have dampened Cable's powers. Agent Raymond snaps an inhibitor collar around Cable's neck. The light in Cable's left eye suddenly goes out. Cable can feel the pressure of the techno-virus full-fledged. But it isn't spreading, thanks to his training with Warlock.

Cable grits his teeth to cope with the pain of his left side. Some restraints are placed around Cable's wrists. Agent Paris shows Cable his CIA identification, "You are under arrest for terrorist acts against the city of Los Angeles. You have the right to remain silent..."

Cable blocks out whatever else is said. He's heard it before millions of times, but then he had his telepathy. Now is a different story...

History has been made... Cable has been defeated!

NEXT ISSUE: Blaquesmith must face Boroh. Will his black hole device work, or will it backfire? Plus, Cable on trial!