Rachel Summers, known to some as the Mother Askani or even the Phoenix, adjusts the blinds to the solitary window in her Manhattan apartment. She shields her eyes with her hand from the sun's rays. The twin towers weren't there like they were a few months ago.

I don't even remember that happening on account of terrorists in my native era, Rachel thinks to herself. I always figured it was Sentinels...I was wrong. I guess that detail was left out because something bigger happened later on...

( *Rachel hails from an alternate future where Sentinels enslaved mutants and conquered America -- Brad, who just wanted to point that out )

The young woman flings the hair out of her eyes and pours herself a cup of coffee. She reties her robe after she notices the sash was coming undone.

There's a knock at the door. It was the paperboy. Rachel could sense the thoughts. She tried not to eavesdrop, but sometimes raw emotion stuck out like a bright light for telepaths.

Rachel chuckles to herself, "Radiohead concert tonight with a 24 pack? The kids of yesteryear..."

She opens her door to bend over and pick up today's issue of the Daily Bugle. She sees a photo of a certain friendly neighborhood vigilante seen fleeing the scene of a terrorist attack. She sighs, wondering why she paid for a subscription to such gibberish.

Rachel sits down at her kitchen table and begins flipping through the paper between sips of her coffee.

An article of a modern-day Jack the Ripper murder spree in Chicago, reports of damaged satellites still creating a concern for international defense, ramifications in Australia from a second Gene Nation...all in a day's work for a Bugle reporter to write down. Still relatively old stories seem to creep their way in.

( *Check out recent issues of Bishop, Captain Marvel, and X-Men Omega. Hop to, slackers -- Brad )

Rachel inhales deeply, closing her eyes. When she opens them, a hulking man in a dark trench coat is standing in front of her. She chokes on her coffee, "N-Nathan?!"

Nathan raises his eyebrows innocently, "Mind if I come in?"

Rachel calms her racing heart by placing a steady hand over her chest, "Guess I don't...have a seat, dear brother."

Nathan removes his coat, placing it on the back of the chair which he sits in. "Sorry for bodysliding in like that. Didn't want to attract attention by appearing outside your door."

Rachel shrugs, "It's fine."

"I've been, uh...practicing using my own latent bodysliding talents...I don't make that annoying zip sound, but it really disorients me. I actually kind of feel light headed right now."

Rachel smiles, "I could teach you to step between the moments if you wish. I've done it a few times. Then again, I had the Phoenix to help me with the vomit-enducing trips that follow."

Nathan exhales a weak laugh through his nose, "I think I'll let Prosh handle the long-distance stuff, anyway. But...it helps to have an ace up my sleeve...to quote LeBeau."

"He said that?"

"Probably. He uses cards more than...well...anyone." Nathan looks at the paper Rachel was reading. A few circular stains from her coffee mug have been imprinted on the pages. "Irene's work in there?"

Rachel puts down her mug and searches the paper, "Um...uh...oh...no, wait...she did a small editorial on the effect of long-term computer radiation on America's youth. She hasn't really done anything big since the Hellfire Club scandal."

"Oh," Nathan declares. He pauses, "That Urich guy rules the yard, huh?"

"Guess so." Rachel runs her fingers through her hair, "Uh...you remember Special Agents Raymond and Paris?"

Nathan smiles slightly, "They almost killed me. You tend to remember people like that."

"Well, they linked Irene to you and forced her to turn her biography to the Agency."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, I took care of it."

Nathan grasps his chin, "Last time I saw them, they were thanking me for saving their asses from the X-Cutioner...they even said they'd pull some strings to try to get my record cleared."

( *Back in issue #19. Don't you just hate it when promises get broken? -- Brad )

"They work for the CIA. Apparently, they lost their conscience when they signed the dotted line. Maybe with all that's happened--" Rachel looks out the window. Two massive shadows were missing. "--they're just trying to be extra sure?"

"I don't have access to 747 airliners, Rach."

"You seem to have a massive ship floating in orbit. A ship with technology that could conquer the world in a day--"

Nathan sighs, "I didn't come here to-- Ugh, just listen!" He bangs his fist on the table.

Rachel clears her throat and sits attentively. "All right."

Nathan breathes slowly for a few moments. "I came here to ask you about something."

"Care to enlighten me?" Rachel asks.

"I don't know if this is something to do with the Fifth Dimension expanding my telepathy, or...I just have no idea. Every time I meditate or dream...I see this vision."

"And...?"

"It's...well...it's a giant clock."

"What? Like Big Ben or something?"

"No, it's like an ancient clock. Something like the Romans would--"

"A sundial?"

"No...it was made out of stone. It had Roman numerals on it--"

"A sundial, then."

Nathan grunts in frustration, "But it had hands pointing to twelve o' clock."

"Are you sure they were hands?"

"What do you mean?"

"Were you looking up at this clock? Your eye tends to light up. It was probably causing the dial to cast a shadow. Since you were looking up, the shadow pointed up...towards the twelve."

"The...twelve?" Nathan echoes.

Suddenly, the words of his dying mentor, Blaquesmith, flood his mind:

"The Twelve....Do not....forget......who they are.....more importantly....do not forget......what they mean to you.....your destiny......."*

( *Check out issue 24 -- Brad )

Then, the phrase that was chanted in his visions clicks in his mind as well:

"Mystery is revealed by time, now they must be gathered..."

"Nathan?" Rachel asks, tugging at his sweater sleeve.

He jolts back from his little daydream. "Huh? Um...nothing. I...it's nothing."

"Did Aéulgo speak to you or something?"

"Um...what? No."

Rachel closes her eyes, attempting to probe her brother's mind, but gets shut out. His mind was beginning to reside on a higher level for even a skilled telepath like Rachel to handle.

"You're getting more powerful by the day, Nathan. Your telekinesis might be hindered slightly, but I've never seen this raw power before...and I thought I experienced it with the Phoenix...but you...you're nothing like I've ever seen. What's happening to you?"

Nathan looks down at his left hand and watches as it flashes between metal and flesh. He uses a quick Askani technique to lower his blood pressure. His hand returns to its metallic state.

He gets up, grabbing his coat. "I...I have to go."

"Nathan--"

"I'm fine. Prosh, bodyslide by one."

{{ Your perspiration rate is a bit extensive. Is everything all right? }} the sentient computer asks through his mind-link with Nathan.

"I'll see you later, Rachel...thanks for helping Irene."

"I was helping you--" Rachel calls out to him, but before he can hear it, he was gone in a flash of light.

She takes another sip of her coffee.

Nathan reappears in Irene's apartment. She must have just left for work, since a box of cereal was left open on the kitchen table. She was probably in a rush.

He closes the box of Rice Krispies and puts it back in its respective cupboard.

He walks down a small hall, passing the bathroom. It reeked of Herbal Essence, but it was the good kind of reek. The smell was pleasant.

Nathan closes his eyes and visualizes Irene in a silky white dress walking in a field of sunflowers. The sunlight makes her hair glow. She begins to slowly raise her skirt, revealing her bare thigh...

"No..." he mutters to himself. He only recently professed his love for Irene and didn't want to cheapen it with sick, twisted fantasies. It's been a long while since Cable has made love.

But every time Cable has experienced true happiness, something much worse happened to overshadow it. His life is the definition of tragedy. One event after another has been a struggle to survive and endure terrible hardships.

The Askani taught peace and negotiation and fought the tyranny of the Apocalypse in a time far beyond our comprehension.

The Canaanites fought and destroyed the Askani, eventually. Only a few remained, most notably Aliya, Blaquesmith, and Nathan himself.

Blaquesmith preferred to abide by the old-fashioned Askani teachings while the war with the Canaanites raged on across the world.

Aliya was torn between Nathan's and Blaquesmith's ideals and mottos. Nathan rejected the Askani way of fighting and adopted a ruthlessness that rivaled the Canaanites. Eventually, Aliya adopted her future husband's militaristic methods.

Nathan Dayspring and his Clan Chosen eventually spread its influence in the hearts of the oppressed. But then it was all shot to hell in a single attack handled personally by the Canaanites' leader.

Stryfe. The Chaos Bringer.

The monstrous, psychotic, arrogant prince had attacked a Clan Chosen stronghold. Capturing Tyler, his bastard son, Stryfe then set the stronghold to explode. Aliya was wounded mortally. Nathan held his wife in his arms, feeling every last bit of her dying. In a way, pieces of him died that day, as well.

After finding out his erratic life was a mere training session to forge him into some kind of agent of the Fates from the godlike Aéulgo, Nathan has questioned his reality and his true purpose.

"I don't want her to die..." he mutters. "Do you hear me? She's linked closer to my destiny than I am. Aéulgo, tell your bosses that if she dies, I die. Find yourself another Chosen One..."

Cable isn't sure if the beings of the Fifth Dimension were listening, judging from the eerie silence, but it's their loss if they didn't. He wasn't going to repeat himself.

Nathan sits on the couch facing the television and buries his face in his hands. He rubs his wounds sustained from battling mystical entities and androids in China. Lethal combination.

Now I know how Irene must feel...the one day I have off, and she's working. Wonder if she's got cable...as in channels...

With a mental gesture, his telekinesis presses the power button on the television. Good Morning America was on. To Cable, it was the afternoon. Living in an orbital spaceship sure screwed up his sleep patterns. He wasn't even sure what day it was.

He looks over at the calendar, clamped all the way over on the refrigerator. "Tuesday..."

When I was fighting wars, the names of days didn't matter. All I cared about was the fact that the sun came as the moon went. That, and Apocalypse pretty much crushed everything modern society created, paving way for his own little personal calendar year.

In this era, most use the Gregorian calendar - using the birth of Christ as year zero. Nur used his own ascendance point as year zero. Thing is...it was inaccurate when the Nur calendar was converted to the Gregorian. Some Askani historians thought the ascendance was 1999 AD or 2000 AD...but not even Prosh would know.

The Calling killed him, didn't it? My future's dead? But then how was Sanctity able to come back? It must still exist out there...

I know Reed Richards explained timelines a little bit. Every time someone like me, Rachel, or Bishop travels to the past and changes something, their futures immediately become an alternate timeline.

A tangent.

So what was the point? My future still exists in some way. In reality, there is no future. It's whatever we make it.

All I've done is escaped that hell I lived in for almost forty years, just to lay back and relax and beat every potentially dangerous being I encounter here in the past?

I'm living amongst legendary heroes. Why? To help them?

Fate has set up my life as a row of dominos...and it's falling down the line...are the Twelve my final destination?

Cable looks over at a photo of Irene, from about ten years ago. She looked exactly as she does now. She was beautiful. She is beautiful.

Suddenly, Cable is whacked in the head, sending him onto the floor. He rubs his temple to see his slain wife, Aliya, standing over him.

"You dare break our marriage code, Nathan?" she asks in disdain.

"Aliya...? You...you died...I had to come here to stop Stryfe and then Apocalypse...Irene and I fell in love...you have to understand me. I still love you..."

The psychic apparition fades away, leaving Cable strained emotionally. He sighs.

Later that night...

Irene unlocks her door, opening it, carrying some groceries in, along with juggling her purse and laptop. Cable, who fell asleep on the couch, jolts up. Irene screams when she sees him, dropping her items on the table.

Nathan rubs his eyes. "Sorry...I...you weren't home, and I kinda dozed off."

Irene breathes calmly, "Oh." She straightens out the table, putting various food items into the fridge. "So...um...*tt*...You coulda called, you know?"

Nathan tries to defend himself, "I...I told you I have a job--"

"Lots of men have jobs...and still have time to love someone, Nathan."

"Well, mine's a little dangerous, in case you've forgotten."

"Did you mean what you said?"

"What?"

"Don't pull that crap, Mr. Mind-Reader! You know...about not wanting me in your life, because it's too dangerous?"

Nathan sits back on the couch. Irene walks over and sits on the arm. Nathan sighs, "I had to watch Aliya die because I wasn't there to protect her...have you ever watched someone you love die?"

Tears well up in her eyes, "My childhood dog, Baxter..."

"A person," Nathan emphasizes. "I lost a piece of my soul when Aliya died. Another when Tyler was killed...another with Stacy...and another with Blaquesmith..."

"I thought you said Stacy was alive because of Aéulgo--"

"I still haven't gotten that part of me back. I just couldn't bear to think what would happen if...you were the next one to go."

"I'm not going to die, Nathan. Not for a very long time. How else am I supposed to write the Bible of the future?"

"...The what?"

Irene sighs, "Aéulgo came to me...just before Blaquesmith, um...I guess your exploits and my words will create some sort of religion a couple thousand years down the line."

Nathan nods slightly, "That means you'll have to see me die."

"What? Why?!"

"How else will the biography end? Not just because you stopped, but because I die. I can't force that tragedy on you."

Irene stands up, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "I seriously don't get you. If you can't bare to have faith in us...then get out."

"Every woman I've ever loved ends up a target. Even Moira was infected with Stryfe's Legacy Virus. She was targeted...a virus designed to kill mutants infected her, a normal human...just because she was the first person I met when I came here."

"They found a cure, Nathan. Remember? Moira's fine." Irene places a firm hand on Cable's shoulder. "Do you love me?"

"Yes...but I can't let myself to do so..."

"Then why the hell did you come here, other than to sleep on my couch? Love is a risk people take all the time. Of all people, I'd expect you to bask in the unknown."

She begins sobbing. Nathan sits next to her, consoling her.

"I...I don't know, Irene. I just needed time to myself. Finding out you're a pawn isn't an easy thing to grasp."

"Time travel isn't an easy thing to grasp! The ability to move objects with your mind isn't an easy thing to grasp! But love is!" Irene shouts between sobs.

"Sometimes, I wondered when I told you I loved you...if that was somehow influenced by the Powers That Be...so that I'd protect you."

Tears travel down the saltwater path of Irene's face, "Is that what you believe? They can't invoke love no matter how powerful they are."

"Why do you love me?" Nathan asks. "Is it the guns, the muscles - what?"

Irene holds back laughter, wiping her eyes, "Don't flatter yourself. I don't love Cable. I don't love the mutant outlaw who saves people's lives. I love Nathan Summers, the man, the person."

The two move in closer and kiss. After they brake their embrace, Nathan wipes the tears off Irene's face.

Irene unbuttons her shirt, "I'm willing to take the risk of loving the Askani'Son...God willing..."

She straddles Cable, reaching over and turning off the lamp...

NEXT ISSUE: What happens when Cable and Irene consummate their love for each other? Not what you'd expect.

I gotta admit, the Ahm-Zuin thing didn't interest me all that much, so I'm glad it's over and done with. What really kept my interest was the stuff going on with Rachel and Irene. These two have great chemistry together.

Yeah, the Ahm-Zuin thing was sort of me having fun with the title. Obviously, mystic threats don't belong in Cable. I thought it would be interesting watching Cable tackle something he isn't used to, but some dreams are meant to stay dormant.

And yes, Rachel and Irene are kinda like Laverne and Shirley meets Rachel and Monica from Friends.

The best part of this series is the set-up. I'm psyched about the Canaanite guy, as well as whoever kidnapped Madelyne.

Glad you're psyched about the Canaanite guy, as well as whoever kidnapped Madelyne. Just goes to show you how well I've planned my seemingly never-ending run. >:)