Washington, D.C.

His name is Nathan Christopher Dayspring-Summers. But here in the nation's capital, he is known as Cable... a mutant terrorist. He's been held prisoner in the Pentagon for many days now, with no access to his mutant powers of telepathy and telekinesis. No way of reaching his friends... no way of freeing himself. No way to hold back the techno-organic virus.*

(* See last ish -- Brad)

Right now, Cable has the virus "fooled". A trick the Technarch, Warlock, taught him is the only thing keeping him alive at the moment.

Cable sits in his high-security holding cell with a grim look on his face. There are shackles binding his hands together, as well as his feet. There's an additional restraint holding Cable's body in a metallic chair. Suddenly, Carl Denti walks up to the energy beams crisscrossing the doorway. He presses a button, shutting them down.

He walks into Cable's cell, with Agents Tracy Raymond and Jack Paris following him. It is not known to many, but Denti is really the X-Cutioner. Out of revenge for his mentor Fred Duncan's death, Denti forged a suit of armor using advanced alien technologies the U.S. government had stock-piled. The X-Cutioner was a mutant's worst nightmare.

Cable's never had a nightmare he was afraid of, mainly because his entire life IS one. He isn't about to start getting scared now. Denti smiles at Cable. The man was imprisoned here before, only to dupe Freedom Force into letting him go.*

(* Back in New Mutants #87 -- Brad)

Now, it looks like Cable may be staying in lock-up permanently.

"You're in big trouble, mutant," Denti says coldly.

Cable's left arm seems to gurgle. Denti raises an eyebrow.

"Not as much trouble as say... the city of New York? That alien threat seems more important than apprehending me! I demand to talk with Commander Bridge of SHIELD!" Cable yells.

"He's unavailable at the moment," Agent Paris says with a smirk.

"Tell your lapdogs to get out, Denti," Cable yells. "Or should I say... X-Cutioner?"

"Sir, what is he--?" Agent Raymond asks.

"Do as the freak says--" Denti shouts.

Paris and Raymond exit hastily.

Denti turns back to face Cable, "So... you figured it out, hey?"

Cable gives Denti a stupid look, "Well duh. That alien armor doesn't block you from a mind probe I gave you back when you tried to kill Emma Frost in Westchester."*

(* Back in Uncanny X-Men #310. Luckily, Cyclops and Cable were able to stop him -- Brad)

Denti sighs, "Oh... that. It doesn't matter now, I've got the biggest outlaw in my custody. I sense a promotion is in order..."

"I sense I'll be out of here before that happens," Cable says.

New York

Boroh is surprised to see a small creature teleport twenty feet in front of him, armed with an array of weapons, one large metallic-chrome catches his eye. It was Blaquesmith, Cable's mentor. Blaquesmith has the mutant gifts of psionic ability, as well as the ability to make any technological device. Blaquesmith doesn't even have to know the mechanics behind it, he sets his mind toward what he wants, and he just does it.

He's focused this ability into making a device capable of creating a small black hole. Hopefully, the miniature gravitional wonder will defeat this vile alien named Boroh who has beaten almost every hero in the United States. Blaquesmith has also added a feature to this "black hole machine" to close the hole. Blaquesmith is also a trained Askani. Two-thousand years from now, they will be the most formadable peace-keeping force on Earth.

"Your rampage has ended, creature," Blaquesmith says coldly. He unsheathes his psimatar and begins blasting bolts of telekinetic energy in Boroh's way. Boroh quickly out-manuevers the blasts and charges at Blaquesmith.

Blaquesmith bodyslides out of the way and takes out a plasma gun and begins firing at will at the alien from behind. Boroh, unexpecting of the blasts, gets hit by them. His hide is actually burned.

"ARGH!!" he screams. "You foolish Earther!"

Blaquesmith smiles. He's found a weakness. It takes time for Boroh's device -- the mechanism attached to his heart that adjusts his blood pressure accordingly to deal with a specific force -- to cope with a different energy signature.

Blaquesmith takes out another weapon, which transforms into a massive cannon. Blaquesmith fires, sending three energy orbs at Boroh. All three hit, all three hurt.

Boroh stumbles backward, almost falling over. "You will pay for tha--ARGH!" He screams as he is hit by pink blast generated by a pink viper gun.

Blaquesmith reaches for his black hole device...

Elsewhere in Manhattan, The Hellfire Club...

Madelyne Pryor sits in the Inner Circle's gathering room. She sits in a large red chair in front of a fireplace. Her black leather jumpsuit reflects the light of the flame, the same color as her fiery hair. She stares emotionless into the flames as they snap, crackle, and pop.*

(* Eat your Rice Krispies, dammit -- Health-Nut Brad)

Suddenly, Madelyne's telepathic powers flare up. Images of Cable flash inside her head. She can feel the pain of his techno-virus slowly consuming him.

"NATHAN!" Madelyne shouts.

Sebastian Shaw, leader of the Inner Circle, rushes to Madelyne's side. "What is it, my dear?"

"My son is in danger..." Madelyne says.

"Now, we've had this talk before, Ms. Pryor," Shaw says sternly. "Cable is a threat to our operations."

Madelyne's eyes light up, and Shaw finds that he cannot move. "I say we negotiate a new deal, Sebastian. We wouldn't want anything to become of Shinobi, would we?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind..." Shaw says with a smile, despite his immobility.

Madelyne's glare intensifies. "I'm not turning my back on my son. I'm in his debt."

"For what?!" Shaw yells.

Madelyne looks toward the floor sadly. "You wouldn't understand..."*

(* Check out the Inferno Saga -- Brad)

Madelyne's body suddenly lights up and in a flash, she is gone. Shaw slumps to his knees. He growls and violently throws Madelyne's chair into the fireplace.

Tessa stealthily approaches Shaw from behind, "Don't worry about her, sir."

"She has dangerous connections," Shaw says through gritted teeth. "I'm wondering whose side she's on these days..."

Washington

"Amazing," Tracy Raymond says as she sits in front of a computer console, monitoring Cable's statistics. "His left arm isn't cybernetic... it's completely made out of something very similar to the transmode virus."

"You mean that Phalanx shit?" Paris asks.

"Yeah, only it's stronger and more durable. And apparently, this transmode virus is programmed to consume organic tissue. X-rays have shown that there are little 'pieces' of the virus everywhere in Cable's body, but his left arm and shoulder are one-hundred percent infected," Raymond explains.

"So, how does he hold this virus in check?" Paris asks. "For a virus that should be consuming him right now, it seems pretty lazy, if you know what I mean."

"My only guess is he used his telekinesis to hold the virus back," Raymond says.

"But, he'd have to do that like... all the time. Like breathing. Jesus," Paris says.

Tracy Raymond's face suddenly turns to a look of concern, "His powers are negated..."

"How is he still holding the virus back?" Paris asks.

"I don't--"

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

The alarm interrupts Tracy, "--know?"

Paris and Raymond look into a camera image of Cable's left arm spewing out what looks like sharp spikes. Cable is uncontrollably shaking.

Agent Raymond runs into Denti's office, "Sir, you might want to consider turning Cable's powers back on!"

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"He's dying, sir!"

New York

Blaquesmith activates his black hole device, generating a portal right in front of Boroh. Pieces of trash and dust swirl around endlessly as they are sucked through. Boroh squints his eyes, all six of them, to cope with the intense pressure.

Blaquesmith bodyslides himself to a location, a few hundred feet away. He activates a feature he's wearing on his boots, which magnetically fastens him to the ground.

Boroh staggers backwards, trying to deal with the intense pressures of the miniature black hole, the natural vacuum cleaner of the cosmos.

Pieces of buildings begins to crumble and get sucked into the hole. Blaquesmith growls. Boroh is still not going through. He thought he could overload Boroh's "adaptation" device, but it wasn't enough.

Blaquesmith sighs and deactivates the black hole. Boroh goes flying backwards at an alarming rate. He crashes into a newsstand. Boroh rises to his feet slowly, "That's... cheating..."

Without saying a word, Blaquesmith bodyslides back to the safehouse...

Rachel Summers is in a dream. She's walking in Central Park on a sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky. People of all races are out in the open. People are accepting one another, even mutants. The United States basks in the sun as a peaceful nation. Iraq and China have resolved their differences with America. War is the stuff of history.

Rachel smiles and sits down on a park bench. As she watches the sunset, thunder starts rumbling. Lightning flashes.

Rachel's peacefulness is turning into a nightmare. Ahab, the leader of the Hounds, appears. Rachel screams as tattoos are branded all over her face. She feels her entire mind ripped apart and reassembled to do Ahab's bidding. She's foaming at the mouth, ready to track down mutants and kill them.

She picks up the "scent", a faint telepathic awareness of a mutant presence. Without warning, Rachel darts into action, jumping over fences, evading rebel fire. She comes upon a mutant who is wounded, dying.

Rachel turns the wounded mutant over to face him... but the killer instinct within her disappears. It is an infant.

"Nathan!?" Rachel exclaims.

Little Nathan barely has the strength to say, "... the... virus... it hurts..."

Rachel suddenly feels the whoosh of time pass her. Her red hair is replaced with gray tresses. Her skin-tight, red leather Hound suit is replaced with a violet cloak. She holds the infant in her arms. Rachel is the Mother Askani, and the infant is fit to be her son... she drops the infant and sees it fall into a world full of hate and violence.

She shouts in protest, "I didn't mean to drop you! Come back!"

She sees the infant instantly turn into a young boy. He smiles at her, "It's okay. The nice red-haired lady made the virus not hurt me anymore."

The married couple, dressed in tattered robes, turn to Rachel. "Where have you been, young lady?" the man asks. His red eyes shine through the shadow of his cloak.

The woman puts her hands on her hips, "We were worried sick!"

A bird of fire forms out of the campfire the family made. The bird asks, "Why have you abandoned me?"

Rachel sheds a tear, "I-I-I don't know...! Don't be mad! I just wanted to help!"

The boy grows up even more, into a man. There is anger in his heart. "STRYFE!!!!!!" he shouts.

Rachel notices the man is holding a brunette woman in his arms. She has tattoos on her left cheek to signify military status. She isn't breathing. Rachel can feel the coldness around the woman. She is dead.

A bright light explodes, and now the white-haired man is fighting alongside mere children with amazing powers.

The light explodes again, and the man stands before the grave of someone named Tyler.

Again, the light explodes. The man is standing around with others, telepaths.

She feels Apocalypse breathing down her neck, "Your feeble Calling will do nothing to me, foolish Askani!"

Rachel then sees the man clutching yet another dead woman. She has short blonde hair. The man is actually crying. His durable exterior has a sensitive interior. He looks up at Rachel and touches her. She returns to her current age.

Rachel takes Cable's hand and watches as techno-organic spikes explode from his left arm as well as other areas on his body. "Make the hurting stop, Rachel!" he shouts.

Rachel wakes up with a start. Sweat drips from her brow. She realizes she's in a bed, her own bed. Her injuries from Boroh are still healing partially.

Nathan's in trouble...

NEXT ISSUE: Who comes to Cable's rescue? And what will he/she sacrifice to do it? And someone better take this mo fo Boroh out quick, I'm starting to get sick of him!