Moscow.
22:00 Russian Time

St. Basil's Cathedral is in the background, being dimly lit in the Russian night. Various police vehicles are on the scene. Military tanks surround the area as well. It's the KGB Moscow and it's just been taken over. It's not possible, not under the Russians' noses. It's gotta be mutant activity.

I can't sense anything inside the installation. Trying my god damnest, but I can't pick up on a mind or minds in there. That's impossible. My telepathy should be able to identify at least something. Granted, I'm not the best when it comes to telepathy, but I make up for it with raw power. I mean, oath, I'm only a block away overlooking the entrance to the former Soviet intelligence headquarters on top of a bank...how hard can it be?

My name is Cable. I'm from the future so I can fix the present.

I died for my future.

And now?

I'm back...right where I started. Apparently, there's more to be fixed. Killing Apocalypse wasn't enough. However, there's something...that doesn't feel right. Like I'm not really who I think I am.

Right now, I'm confused. Why would someone invisible to my telepathy take this over? The KGB aren't exactly a threat anymore. Is this an al-Qaida thing? Have they got mutants in their ranks, now?

Wait.

The Russians are sending in a unit of men, all heavily armed. They go through the front door. Suddenly, there's a flash. A flash so bright, I have to cover my eyes. The ten soldiers are flung through the bulletproof glass door onto the concrete with their heads turned around a full 360.

I recognized the flash. I could feel the tingle in the back of my brain. That was psionic whiplash. Something was in there and it was powerful.

Fortunately, I excell when fighting things more powerful than I am.

Rule number one, don't be afraid to fight dirty. Because you just know they'd do the same damn thing.

"Prosh," I say, pressing my earpiece, "can you get me in there?"

{{Yes, but I should warn you, I am not picking up anyone inside. Are you sure this isn't some false alarm?}} Prosh asks.

I look down at the ten deceased, bloodied soldiers being taken away on stretchers, "No. Something's in there, all right."

{{It's impossible to elude my sensors,}} Prosh says, seeming frustrated. Can computers be frustrated? Well, yes, Prosh can.

"It's also eluding my telepathy, so don't feel too bad," I say.

{{Odd...,}} Prosh says. {{We've had a similar dilema before. In the future.}}

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

{{Remember? At Neo-Stalingrad?}} Prosh asks. {{The Dark Askani?}}

"Aliya called them the Dukani...," I mutter. Suddenly, I get that shiver in my veins as I recall my subsequent dream while meditating earlier yesterday. *

* ( check out last issue -- Brad)

{{Do you think it could be them?}} Prosh asks.

"I don't know, I mean we only saw them that one time, then they just disappeared," I explain. "Unless they were time-ripped and just now, they've arrived. But how in the hell could they elude telepathy like that or even your sensors? Not even 40th century tech could mask them from you..."

{{Unless they are...,}} Prosh pauses.

"Unless they're what?"

{{Trained Askani. True Askani,}} Prosh says. {{The ultimate outsiders.}}

"What in the hell are you talking about?" I growl. "I'm an Askani, I can't just totally mask myself from everything."

{{No offense, Nathan, but you just have your feet dipped into the proverbial pool that is the Askani arts,}} Prosh explains.

Oath.

"You mean there's more?" I ask. "How do you know?"

{{Because there was something that Blaquesmith was holding back on with you, I could feel it.}} Prosh explains. {{He only taught you the basics of control. He and your sister agreed you'd be too powerful if you knew the true ways of the Askani...}}

"Son of a bitch," I mutter.

{{I strongly suggest we get Rachel to handle this,}} Prosh urges.

"No disrespect to my sister, but what kind of edge has she got against these Dukani? I've never seen her do anything overly special with any kind of Askani skills."

{{That's because no one has the right perception to see what she can really do. Rachel knows how to defeat the Dukani. You don't. You're in way over your head, Cable,}} Prosh warns.

"Ray couldn't hold her own against Boroh, or were you 'asleep' during that part?" I ask. *

* ( check out issue 15 -- Brad)

Prosh sighs, {{My programming was inactive inside 'Boroh's ship,' but I still analyzed the data from the fight after regaining control of myself. Boroh was able to adapt to anything, as you remember...even the abilities of the Mother Askani. You realize they called your sister the Mother Askani because she's the best?}}

"Well, I figured she was like a mother to them all by I don't know...creating them?!" I half-whisper. "Just bodyslide me in there."

{{I won't do that. I won't let you get yourself killed...again!}}

"Then I'll just mentally access the program...," I say as my left eye lights up.

{{DON'T!}}

But I'm already gone, only to reappear in a flash inside the KGB.

Whoa...never realized how disorienting this bodysliding thing is. It's been awhile...kind of tipsy. Look out.

{{Nathan, don't be a fool--*tic*}}

I shut off our radio contact, even our mental connection. Don't like the distraction of a patronizing computer.

Everything's mostly empty. Just a few computers here and there. Couple rooms with a desk in them. Telekinetic probe shows nothing. Can't feel anything inside.

Wait. Aw, shit...

I turn around slowly, and see a small girl, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She looked about 15. Tan-skinned, pink hair, wearing a skintight black jumpsuit. She looks up at me with tear-stained cheeks, "Mu kala cheiu?"

She just asked me if I have anything to eat. Guess she hasn't learned English yet...or Russian. "Ti neta cheiu, curi," I respond. Basically, I gave her a 'nope, sorry.'

I look to my left to see if there's a frig in this place. Nothing. I look back only to see she's gone. Damn it.

Okay, these Dukani are definitely from the future. The only living person who knows the Canaanite language is Rachel. Scott and Jean might remember it, too. Oh, and Prosh. Other than that, it's like the opposite of Latin. It's not a dead language, it hasn't even been born yet...

Oath, Sanctity. It was her. She brought them here. Brought herself here, too. But she looked younger when she appeared...I distinctly remember her being a really ugly Bea Arthur kind of woman.

I turn around again just to see three blurs of black boots kick me square in the head, chest, and below the belt.

"ARGH!" I slump to the ground. There is a very unpleasant feeling going on down in the family jewels area...see what I was talking about with Rule Number One?

Rule Number Two for fighting impossible odds, if they ambush you, ambush them back. I pull out my plasma blaster, firing in all directions. The three girls in black suits evade the blasts like something out of the Matrix. They're just psis, right? Not speedsters?

Before I know it, one of them has the gun crushed with telekinesis and the other two come out of nowhere and kick me on each temple on each side of my face. I flip over onto my back and can taste blood. One of my bottom incisors is loose.

What the fuck? Am I that rusty, or was Prosh right? Sorry son of a glitch.

One of them yells as she does a flip of some kind, creating some kind of ripple effect as she drives her elbow into my ribcage. I try to kick her in the jaw, but she disappears out of the way. They're not teleporting, just moving fast as all hell.

I twirl my body around, twisting my legs as I go and get to my feet. I reach behind me and grab my psimatar hilt and extend it to full size, "All right, you hyper-bitches, welcome to my world." The blade lights up.

They pull out their own psimatars.

God damn it.

They all leap at me at once twirling their psimatars like batons as they try to hack at me. I block their advances, but I'm nowhere near as fast as they are. I try a radial telekinetic pulse. It just passes right through them.

One of 'em slashes into my right calf. Damn it, I had a 5-inch TK shield around my body. The other two jab the blunt ends of their psimatars into my gut, knocking the wind out of me. How the hell am I supposed to beat them?

Wait, Blaquesmith...he used to appear to me and time would freeze. Sort of like how Aéulgo, the manifestation of the Fifth Dimension, came to me. I used to think Blaquesmith had some time-travel like abilities, but maybe that's what the "true" Askani can do? Manipulate time?

They must be a few seconds out of phase with the timestream, that's how they elude my psionic attacks and Prosh's sensors. And that's how they move so damn fast. All right. Time for a little Fifth Force action.

"What the...?" I blurt aloud as the three Dukani seem to split into twos and again into fours. There were now two dozen Dukani, all armed with psimatars. I can't read their minds.

Have to find some way to anchor them, knock them into phase with reality. Wait, how are they able to make contact with me if they're out of phase? They must be tuning in and out of time as they attack. The ultimate outsiders...oath, that's what Prosh meant.

More and more Dukani suddenly become visable. There must be 100 of them. Goddamn it, the Fifth Force isn't working. It's like I'm...cut off!

Okay, think. They have to be totally in phase with time to make contact with me. I'll blast them then. I'm concentrating on turning my body into a psionic lightning rod. They touch me, they'll get a nasty shock. Just hope the virus doesn't spin out of control during this.

Thirty of them attack at once. Just as planned, they get the shock to their systems and they're actually knocked out and solid. The other 70 or so give me a dirty look and they disappear. Just as they start to recover, I psionically anchor one of them. The rest of them mercilessly disappear, leaving her behind.

It was the 15 year old that initially distracted me. "Let me go!" she shouts, squirming in my telekinetic grip.

"Who sent you?" I ask. "Did Sanctity send you? Answer me!"

"Suck my twat, you stupid son of a bitch!" she shouts.

I've got a hold on her, she can't get away. I try delving into her mind, but she's blocking me out. I try harder, my eye is shining like hell. Still nothing. I'm going to make her brain dead if I increase the power.

"All right," I say. "You ever play Twenty Questions before?"

The girl remains silent.

"It's a 20th century game," I explain. "You might like it."

"Go. To. Hell," she says through clenched teeth.

I limp up to her, my leg was still wounded. I grab her shoulder with my metallic hand and squeeze it as hard as I can. The bone cracks under the pressure, "Question the first, who sent you?"

The girl tries not to scream, but lets out a whimper, "...the Easter Bunny...mother fucker!"

I sigh as I grab her forearm and break it with a swift elbow. She screams bloody murder. I ask, "Did Sanctity train you girls?"

She growls, trying desperately to hide her pain, "I don't know what you're talking about...Sanctity who...? That Askani witch? I am Dukani!"

I pinch her nose with my left hand, "I have eighteen questions to go. The question you have to ask yourself is...how many unbroken body parts will there be before this guy kills me?" I pause before my next question.

"Do you know what it was like for those soldiers out there to die?" I ask. "How painful and scary it is?"

"They dope batter," the girl mutters with her nose being plugged. I smile as I twist my fingers, breaking her nose. She screams as blood oozes out of her face.

I pull out a gun and activate it, pointing the barrel at her skull, "Want to find out the exact place in your brain that can take a bullet and not kill you...?"

{{Nathan! Stop this instant!}} Prosh yells. He re-established our link. {{She's just a girl.}}

"Yeah," I say as I place my gun in her hand. I begin telepathically tweaking her body movements, causing her to walk out the front entrance with the gun pointed in front of her.

The Russian military opens fire.

"...just a girl."

Well. This sure puts everything back into perspective for me, getting my ass kicked by a bunch of girls. Guess I'm not as powerful as I think.

{{Nathan, you--}}

"Get the regeneration chamber charged, I'm coming home," I say as I bodyslide.

New York.
14:00 Eastern Standard Time.

There is a knock at the door. I get up from my floormat and wave my hand at the four younglings sitting in Lotus positions in front of me, "I'll get it, keep concentrating on that image of the phoenix."

I am Rachel Summers. I am the Mother Askani. In my mind, I feel like I'm over 100 years old...but my healthy, rejuvinated body tells me otherwise. I feel like a kid again. I'm from the future to fix the present. Seems like the family business.

This is my first day back in two weeks. I've been in Peru, stopping a terrorist organization known as the Shining Path. My four Askani pupils are the first of this era under my direct tutalage. I'm going to train them to be the best. Soon, I will find others. Until then, their protection is my top priority.

I telepathically scan the immediate area outside of my apartment door. It was Irene and...oath...

I open the door.

"Hey, Rach!" she shouts, giving me a tender hug.

"Irene!" I say. "I wasn't expecting you."

Irene smiles anxiously, "Um, I'm afraid I have some good news for once." She looks to her left and calls out to someone who was further down the hall, "Come on, don't be shy." She looks back at me with an eager smile, "He's nervous."

Nathan Summers, my brother, stops beside Irene. My heart seems to stop beating from fear and excitement...most of all, relief.

He smiles, speaking in a tone I've never heard before, "Hi, Rach!" he shouts, giving me a hug. Since when does Cable hug? "Sorry, for dying. But now I'm back. I think it was Uhwalego that brought me back...good as new. Even the virus is gone."

"...you mean Aéulgo?" I ask.

"Yeah," he smiles. "Sorry, some faulty memories."

"I...don't know what to say, except...," I pause, feeling a tingling in my throat. "Wow."

Wait. Something isn't right here. There's some strong psionic aftershock in his mind...like a car having a high mileage on it. If Cable's good as new, his body wouldn't have that ware and tare.

"Are these the Askani?" Nathan asks as he walks in.

"Come right in," I say.

Irene shrugs as she walks in and sits down at the kitchen table. She calls out to Nate, "They're meditating, Cable."

"I don't remember doing it...not this way...Sanctity...," Nathan pauses. "She...didn't train me as an Askani..."

The four students are startled by Nathan's psionic signature and they wake up out of their trance, "Nathan, maybe you should come back tomorrow when they don't have a session," I suggest.

"But why?" he asks. "Hi, I'm Nathan, Rachel's little brother," he greets to my students.

Matt, the Asian, smiles and immediately jumps to his feet, shaking his hand, "Oh man, it's an honor to meet you, sir! I mean, you took on that Apocalypse dude, right! You saved us all, man!"

"Matthew," I say sternly, clearing my throat.

Iris, the blonde-haired exchange student from Austria is the next to greet Cable, "The Askani'son? Vow!"

Soon, Eugene and Julia are next to join the bandwagon. They were the blue-haired African-American twins and the youngest of the group. "What was it like fightin' Apocalypse?" Eugene asks.

"Yeah?" Julia asks.

"Well...," Cable says, stroking his chin. He smiles, "I remember winning, that's all, really."

"I thought the Askani Mother said you died...," Matt wonders.

"Well...yeah, I did, actually. The Fates brought me back...at least, I think they did," Nathan explains.

"Did you see anyone you loved...?" Julia asks.

"Honestly," Nate begins, "I had this strange notion that I didn't love anyone...I didn't see anyone...couldn't..."

"Well," I begin, clearing my throat again, "if you don't mind, brother. These four need to hone their meditation skills. You know it can't be learned in one day."

"When do we get psimatars?" Eugene asks.

"When you earn my trust and you pass the training," I say. You have to make sure you're calm when dealing with kids. If you get pissed at them, they'll turn it back on you tenfold. Plus, the fact that I look younger than their parents, but older than their oldest sibling, places me in the "fresh out of college teacher" bracket. They'll listen to me and have a laugh with me. Perfect harmony.

Nate nods, "Well, you heard the Mother Askani. Get back to work, kids. Heh."

Irene is standing at the door.

I imagine she has a lot of catching up to do...oh, crap. She's practically mentally speaking to me for Nathan to...oh, crap. It's been months. She's been waiting for so long to...

"Bye, sis!" Nathan calls out as he and Irene walk through the door and slam it.

Sis? What in the flying monkey crap? This isn't like Nathan at all. The mannerisms, the posture, the tone of voice. It's...Have to do something.

~Irene...you have to stay away from him, I don't think that's Cable--!~ I shout telepathically. Suddenly, a bodyslide signature lights up the room.

"Sorry for intruding like this, Rach," Cable says. He had his battle gear on. Armed to the tee. "I just got back from Mos--"

I whip out my psimatar and hit him from every angle before he has the chance to blink. It's dirty fighting considering he doesn't know all of the Askani techniques, but -- ugh, what am I saying? This isn't Cable.

He wipes blood from his mouth, "Rachel? It's me, what are you--?"

"What are you doing, Mother Askani?" Iris shouts.

My eyes glow as I yell to the children, "Matt, encase them in a TK shield, now!"

I concentrate my focus on this imposter. Cable's dead. There can be only one explanation of who this is.

Stryfe.