Previously in Cable: The Askani'Son ventured to China after Prosh picked up a hotspot near Lanzhoa. There, the Zealots of the Ahm-Zuin massacred many villagers and tried to release the evil force they are named for, but failed thanks to the efforts of the mystic warrior, Liu Shan. Unfortunately, Drake Lee, a former technology tycoon, was possessed by the Ahm-Zuin, which could spell disaster. Meanwhile, the CIA is getting closer to finding out about Cable's past.

China

Smoke emanates from the rocky coastline. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of scrap metal lay everywhere. A scrawny mountain stretches upward towards the setting sun, which has turned a blood red here in the East. On that mountain sits a temple.

In that temple, there are three beings. One, a mutant warrior from the far future. Another, a Chinese woman living up to her ancestors' legacy. The last, a greedy business man possessed by an evil force.

"We have to fight him on two sides!" Liu Shan, the Chinese woman, shouts.

"You can speak English?!" Cable exclaims.

"Well, I figured you needed practice with your Cantonese."

"Well, it gave me a brain overload when I learned it in point-two seconds."

Liu ignores that comment and takes a swipe with her sword at the reptilian creature that is the Ahm-Zuin. The creature roars in pain and pulls its fist back, extending it along with a blast of emerald energy. Liu and Cable dodge to either side to avoid the blast.

"I don't think this mountain can take much more punishment; it's going to collapse soon," Cable yells.

"Don't worry about the mountain!" Liu shouts, taking another swipe at the creature.

"You will feel my wrath, Shan-Daughter!" the Ahm-Zuin shouts. "Your family imprisoned me...for that, you and your foolish friend shall die!"

With every utterance by the creature, the fragile mountain shivers ever so slightly. Cable concentrates and focuses his telekinesis on keeping the mountain steady. Veins bulge out of his forehead with blood dripping from his nose. "Do your thing, Liu...and hurry!" Cable grunts.

New York

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Irene Merryweather waits outside in an apartment hallway. She double-checks the number she wrote down on a pad of paper and compares it to the number on the door. It looked like a 52.

A muffled voice calls out, "Come in, Irene."

Irene jumps, grabbing her chest. Her heart is pounding. She opens the door and sees a dark, open space. Hovering upside down in front of an old, green couch towards the back of the small area is a young woman dressed in a purple cloak of some sort. Irene can hardly tell, for the blinds are shut tight, blocking the sun's light.

"H-hello?" Irene asks.

"Close the door," the voice calls out.

Irene closes the door, cringing when it makes a loud creaking sound. The cloaked woman hovering gracefully flips upright, standing up and walking up to Irene. "What is it?" she asks with a sense of urgency in her voice. By the way she talks and acts, the woman seems like an oracle or sage.

The woman removes her hood, revealing a fresh, young face. The sunlight creeping under the edges of the blinds form a corona of sorts around the woman's red hair.

"Rachel...there's a problem," Irene says finally. "It's Cable."

"He got himself into this," Rachel says. "He let his darkness consume him." She turns her back slowly. "He is no Askani...only a coward...Blaquesmith's death was inevitable..."

Tears pool slightly in Irene's eyes. She can understand Rachel's bitterness towards her brother, but not the disrespectful tone in her voice when referring to Blaquesmith, her former lover and friend. Irene swallows to get rid of that nasty lump in her throat that stings her eyes. "The CIA wants me to turn over my biography of Nathan..."

"Do it."

"But, Rachel...you don't understand..."

"I understand you love him, but you cannot be drawn into his senseless violence. Your feelings for him will be the end of you."

"How did you know I loved--?"

Rachel turns her head slightly. "Mind probe."

"Oh...I understand, Rach. I know you're like over 100 years old in your mind, but to me, you're still a teenager. I will not be pushed around like this. I happen to know the Askani motto, What is...is. You turning into a hypocrite, Mother Askani?"

Rachel turns to face Irene once more. Tears are running down her face. "After all these years...death was a part of life...I never knew it would hurt this much after Blaquesmith...*sniff*...look at me, I'm crying like a child!"

Irene grabs Rachel by her arms, "You're not a child. We all grieve. Cable did it in his own way...you can't bottle your emotions up like this."

Rachel grabs the edge of her cloak and smiles, "I was thinking Cable and I were the last of the Askani...I got scared..." Rachel's forehead glows slightly as the blinds slowly allow the sun to shine in the room. She and Irene shield their eyes for a moment.

"You know Cable's a hero. Will you help him?"

Rachel wipes her eyes, "I...I shut off our rapport...searching for him will take awhile..."

Irene smiles, "That's all right. We just need to convince the government that Cable isn't a killer...at least...well...he kills with good intentions...I guess."

"Wait, all you said the government wanted was Cable's biography...why not just give them an altered version? How would they know? They don't know anything about him."

Irene smiles, "I like the way you Summers kids think."

Meanwhile, watching from a parked, black Porsche on the other side of the street in front of the run down apartment building, Jack Paris adjusts his binoculars. He taps his earpiece to listen to the conversation. He dials a number on his cell phone. "Raymond? Paris."

{{What's the big word?}} Tracy answers.

"Well, I'm shadowing Merryweather here in New York..."

{{And?}}

"She's talking with some teenager in a costume."

{{Your point?}}

"I heard Ms. Merryweather say Cable was this girl's brother. And something else interesting came up."

{{Which is?}}

"The girl's name is Rachel Summers."

{{Summers...I've heard that name before. Someone from the Air Force years ago.}}

"Honey," Jack says with a smile. "Cable's used the name Nathan more times than none."

{{Gotcha. I'll see what information is out there on Nathan Summers.}}

"Don't bother with an electronic search, go straight for the hardcopies. Oh, and be prepared for a bogus biography from Merryweather. I guess she's in love with that trigger happy son of a bitch."

{{Screw the bio, we have his name. All we need now is a lot of patience. We've got him.}}

"Right. Agent Paris, signing off," Jack says with a smile, turning the cellphone off. He turns the ignition, pressing a button to roll up the window. He puts the car into drive and peels out from the curb.

Rachel peers out the window, glaring at the Porsche.

"What is it?" Irene asks. Rachel's index finger rushes to her lips; Irene remains quiet.

Rachel sends out a telekinetic probe, "feeling" the area in her apartment. She picks up on something unusual in Irene's purse. Rachel plunges her hand into the bag, pulling out a small blinking chip. She crushes it in her hands.

"A bug? How did you know?" Irene asks.

"A hunch. I've seen what the government is capable of doing before."

"Then that means--"

"The Agency heard everything. They know Cable's real name, which means they can search records and link him to everyone he knows. Their lives would be ruined."

"Oh God," Irene breathes. "Cable knows a lot of people. What are we going to do? What's going to happen to me?"

Rachel's eyes flash psionic energy. "I'll handle it."

"Um kala ung olpad!!!" Ahm-Zuin yells, pounding its fists into the floor of the temple. As the cracks travel throughout the unstable building, shadows seem to pour out of them, forming into samurai warriors. The samurai move at inhuman speeds, leaping into the air to challenge Ms. Shan in a duel of the sword.

Cable's head is pounding from keeping the mountain upright. Thick crimson fluid trickles down his nose from the broken blood vessels. The techno-virus suddenly jerks to life, forming into shards of living metal. The claws scratch at Cable's face. "Damn it, Liu! We gotta get out of here!!!"

Liu is too busy fighting the samurai to listen. She wields her mystic blade with such ease, as if it were her own limb. She seems to move without thinking, relying on instinct instead of skill. She, too, moves at faster-than-normal speeds. Her tao-chi style of fighting, concentrating her brain's full potential, is pushing her body to its limit as well.

Cable, keeping his telekinesis focused, reaches out with his telepathy to contact Prosh. Prosh is a sentient computer psionically attuned to Cable. That comes in handy in situations like these.

"Prosh, get us out of here, I can't hold this mountain...it's killing me!"

{{Understood. I am locked on to you both. Relax your telekinesis--}}

Cable shouts in agony as the rush of his telekinesis lowering backlashes on the rest of his body. Liu, about to take a swipe at a samurai, is suddenly dematerialized along with Cable in a clash of thunder and lightning -- or at least, that's what the bodyslide signature seems like.

The two reappear on the rocky shore, just in time to watch the scrawny mountain topple on itself, and inevitably, on the temple.

"NO! We have to stop the Ahm-Zuin! It's still bonded to its host! We have to exorcise it!" Liu shouts, punching Cable in the gut.

"ARGH....God...." Cable moans, still recovering from his head rush. Suddenly, about twenty shadow warriors appear out of nowhere in front of him. They draw their swords.

"Stand down, mortal," the warriors say in unison.

Cable sighs, raising his hands in a surrender. "Sure, what ever you say." The warriors fail to see that Cable has his retracted Psimitar hidden behind his back. At the last second, Cable flicks a switch on the hilt of his Askani weapon, extending it to full size. He fires a massive blast at the samurai, which passes right through them. "Damn."

The samurai cut the Psimitar in two and dogpile onto Cable, punching and clawing. Cable swings at them, but he passes right through their immaterial forms. They strike him again and again. Blood spews from his mouth.

From the rubble of the mountain, a scaly fist bashes through the rock. After a few seconds of tearing through, the Ahm-Zuin roars in anger as it stands upright. Liu is standing before it with her sword drawn in the defensive position.

"I am going to kill you."

The Ahm-Zuin laughs, "You cannot kill me."

*SLICE*

*PLOP*

The Ahm-Zuin looks at its severed left hand, instantly glaring at Liu. She smirks in a spunky kind of way. "No, but I can draw you out of that host of yours."

The Ahm-Zuin twirls around in midair, assuming the traditional attack position. "KYAI!"

Meanwhile, Cable telekinetically propels himself upward, above the mob of shadow warriors, doing a forward flip and landing on his feet. Cable hacks a wad of blood out of his throat. "So," Cable asks as he wipes blood away from his eyes, "prison rules, huh? I'm game."

Through his techno-organic infected right eye, Cable is able to scan the warriors using the infrared spectrum. "So...all you are made up of are concentrated electrons?" Cable draws a barrel from his knapsack, calibrating the blaster by pressing a few buttons on the handle. Psionic energy sputters from his left eye like a miniature explosion that fades away. "I just happen to have an ion scrambler feature on this blaster. All I have to do is point and shoot."

"Blasphemous mortal!" the warriors shout, almost instantly leaping in front of Cable. Nathan, thinking fast, steps between the moments, meaning he uses his latent time-traveling powers to move faster than he would in the physical world. Cable converts his body to its normal phase directly behind the warriors with his gun drawn.

"You're lucky you don't bleed..." Cable declares aloud as he pulls the trigger, unleashing a barrage of thin, blue energy rays into the beings made of shadows. The warriors grasp themselves where the blasts hit and disappear.

Suddenly, just as Cable turns his body to aim the weapon at the green creature Liu is fighting, the world seems to leave him. Everything is a gray shell of its former imprint. It's an annoying indication to Nathan that time has stopped. Cable let's out an exhaustive sigh. He puts the gun back in his knapsack and sits down on a rock. He rubs his chin, which has grown a slight stubble.

"Why am I not surprised...someone sound the fuckin' horns," Cable mutters.

On cue, a bright light from the heavens opens, spitting out a robed man. The man, or god, is named Aéulgo - at least, from our primitive mortal dialect. His true name would cause our brains to fizzle out and die if it were uttered. At first, he says nothing. After what seem like a few minutes, he opens his mouth. Before he can speak, Cable interrupts him.

"Did you tell Blaquesmith he had to die?" he asks, rather bitterly.

"He knew his fate was coming, yes--" the black-skinned being says solemnly.

"Did you tell him?"

Aéulgo sighs, "No...Nathan, we don't have time for this--"

"We have all the time in the fucking universe, Aéulgo!" Cable shouts, standing face to face with the godly sage. "Don't call me Nathan, either. You don't know me!"

"Well, I feel I do. You are the Chosen One--"

Cable puts his hand on Aéulgo's shoulder, sighing. He looks in the distance of the frozen world, pointing to Liu and the Ahm-Zuin. "She claims to be a Chosen One as well."

Aéulgo folds his arms, hovering away from Cable. "The prophecies told the Shan family would send their sons and daughters to keep the Ahm-Zuin in check...but the Chosen One refers to you, Cable. There is only one. You."

"Me? Does every single apocalyptic threat involve me? What the hell is this? You know, I just started remembering these suppressed memories of you talking with Blaquesmith when I was a teenager..." *

(* Which Cable became aware of in issue #20 -- Brad)

"Your mind is beginning to reside on a higher plane. It was not going to be a secret forever. I never intended to keep it from you. The truth will be found, soon."

"How was Rachel involved? Did she know?"

Aéulgo turns his head, "No. She was a pawn--"

"How the hell much have you staged here?! What influences have you spread? What have you done to screw up the course of natural events? You can't do that--"

"You do it with every breath you take. By remaining here in the present time, you are taking a breath that was meant for someone or something else. That is a risk the Powers That Be take for the greater good. You are on the verge of becoming a god and yet you still think inside the box."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but just because you are a god doesn't mean you can push me around. So, I'm almost a god, huh? Should I start spreading prophets around?"

Aéulgo smiles, "I believe you've already done that unconsciously."

"More like influence from a god. Damn it!" Cable bangs his fist into a rock. "I like having the upper hand in situations. I don't like it when I don't know. I can't probe your mind and it makes me uneasy. What if you're not who you say you are and you're just some cosmic entity like Galactus who wants to eat the universe...? Am I being used for some evil plot?"

"Plot? Yes. Evil? No."

"You sound like a human," Cable observes. "Didn't know gods were loose."

"I even use contractions sometimes...not typical god-talk. I've been around mortals, observing them, for millions of your years."

Cable walks around, adjusting his battle gear and grabbing at his left arm. He chuckles, "Rachel said she left me infected so my powers wouldn't kill me before I reached puberty. Was that--?"

Aéulgo reluctantly nods, "As per Blaquesmith's suggestion...from me."

"Alright, since you're surprisingly cooperative today, was Aliya's death staged?" Cable's tone becomes cold. "Did you plan that? Was Tyler's brainwashing part of the greater good?!"

Aéulgo remains silent. Cable vengefully slugs him in the jaw, causing him to fly backwards slightly. "Well, whatever you wanted planned -- looks like you got it. I'm in the present, preventing madmen from ruling the world...did you ever think I didn't want this? I was happy in the future! My friends I sweat and bled with are there. Yes, it was a hellish existence, but I still had hope! I wanted to eventually help reform civilization after the Canaanites were overthrown!"

"You must understand your family had to be eliminated. That was not your native era, it was merely a way of forging you into the warrior with the skills needed to--"

"WHY!?! Why do you need me here?! Apocalypse was stopped! Deathglare was stopped! What more--"

"The Ahm-Zuin. Usually, the Sorcerer Supreme handles this kind of threat, but his clairvoyance has told him this isn't his fight..."

"That's because it's Liu's."

"No. It's yours, Nathan. The multiverse is intertwined. Everything is related, even the energy of the mystic realm. Remember, the Fifth Dimension is beyond all physical and mental states of being..."

Before Cable realizes it, time resumes its course, causing a rush of kinetic energy - in the form of heat - to come over him. He slumps to the rocky ground and watches as the once frozen Ahm-Zuin and Liu come to life. A large mystic blade made of emerald energy pierces through the heart of the young woman.

Cable's eyes gauge. He tries to shout, but can't. Liu slumps knees first onto the ground. She can't even feel the rocks scraping her legs. She falls to her side, coughing up blood. She breathes heavily until her body finally releases her spirit...

Alright, Aéulgo...I'll play your game, Cable thinks to himself as he telekinetically grabs Liu's sword.

"You?" the Ahm-Zuin asks, cackling. "You're still alive?"

These tao-chi lessons Liu gave me better work..."You bet your green ass I am!"

NEXT ISSUE: The climatic battle with the Ahm-Zuin awaits for Cable. Will he win, or will the mystical threat overwhelm him? Plus, Rachel and Irene try to evade the government, but will it all be for nothing? And a gloomy outlook of the future is made clear for someone else close to Cable.