~Irene, you have to stay away from him, I don't think that's...able!~

"Did you hear something?" Irene asks.

"Hear what?" Nathan asks. They stop walking down the hallway of Rachel Summers' apartment building.

"I don't know, I think I heard Rachel say something to me telepathically...," Irene wonders.

"Come on, it's probably some kind of Askani training thing...maybe one of the kids accidentally relayed Rachel to you," Nathan suggests.

"Maybe you're right. Coffee?"

"One of those shops on Bleeker Street?"

"Yeah."

"Oh...sure," Nathan replies.

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--"

Rachel whips out her psimatar and hits Cable from every angle before he has the chance to blink.

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

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

Rachel's eyes glow as she yells to the children, "Matt, encase them in a TK shield, now!"

"Rachel, stop!" Cable pleads as the Mother Askani moves into hyperspace, hitting him too fast for him to counter. She doesn't plan on fighting fair. She thinks he's Stryfe. Cable spits up more blood. "Damn it! Rachel...!"

"Stop saying my name like you know me!!" Rachel screams as she leaps in the air at lightning fast speeds, kicking Cable in the head, sending him into a bookshelf.

"Ms. Summers?" Matt asks as he concentrates on the TK field around the other Askani, Iris, Eugene, and Julia.

With one last telepathic bolt, Rachel painfully delves into Nathan's head, reliving his experiences -- his entire life, death, and rebirth. She pulls herself back into her own body and gasps, falling over onto the floor. "N-Nathan? I'm so sorry...," she apologizes.

"Hello to you, too," Nathan grunts as he grips his chest, climbing to his feet. "Oh, and I'm not dead--"

Rachel suddenly wraps her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. Tears stream down her face. "I'm so sorry...," she repeats. "I thought you were...Oh, God, he's with Irene..."

"What?" Cable asks, jerking to life, "With who?"

Rachel breathes to calm herself, "You're not the only one who's back from the dead."

Location unknown.
Time incalcuable.

We take you away from the real world to somewhere...else. Forget what you thought you knew about life and death. Forget what you thought you knew about the woman named Domino.

She is a person of mystery. It surrounds her like a stench, an aura of enigma. How is she alive? Who has her here?

"...ungh," Dom grunts as she finds herself bound in a green energy field. She was hovering loosely. Various tubes were feeding into her bare chest and arms. She expects she has to go to take a piss, but she doesn't feel the pressure on her bladder. "What the...Shiro? Longshot? Peter? Fonty? Ever? Where the hell am I?"

She looks down and realizes she's missing the lower half of her torso.

"FUCK....!!" she screams. She feels her gag reflex activate, only her stomach isn't attached to her. A bunch of nutrient fluid drools from the corner of her mouth.

A man lurks in the shadows, his form lightly basked by the glowing of another energy field. The other field had the rest of Domino's body, hooked up to similar tubes and wires.

"Um...okay, am I dead?" Domino asks.

"Would you like to be?" the man asks. Domino can tell he has a pale face like hers.

Her brow furrows as she sees her legs twitch, "Gaunt. What's the matter? Tearing my body in half wasn't good enough for me? You gotta keep me alive like some fucking Frankenstein experiment?"

"Lady Luck has smiled upon you once again, my fair Domino," Gaunt smiles, stepping into the light. "Turns out I have use for you after all...oh, and your friends are still quite dead."

Domino remains silent.

"You may start crying now...if you don't mind me watching," Gaunt laughs. He looks over at the console nearest to him. He flicks two switches and presses a square yellow button. An electric shock is run through Domino's top half, causing her to scream, "Unless you need an incentive..."

Domino's head slumps forward as she appears to be dozing.

"What's the matter, woman?" Gaunt shouts. "Can't take the pressure?"

Domino raises her white-skinned, raven-haired head. The black mark over her left eye seems to symbolize her mysterious nature...and warrior spirit. And don't forget her wit. "You...are a bastard, Gaunt," Dom sighs. "Sorry, that was an insult I was saving for Fontanelle...had to revise it since you're not a female."

Gaunt remains silent as his face becomes rock cold, "I am not here to play games, Beatrice Jung. Yes, I know your real name."

"I was going to call her a bitch...but then I realized I couldn't...," Dom mutters.

"Are you listening?" Gaunt shouts. He walks over to her stasis field and whacks her across the face with his golden armored clawed glove.

Dom smiles as blood drips from a gash on her bottom lip, "Heh. I know that's my name...at least, one of them."

"It's your birth name, correct?" Gaunt asks.

"Well, from what I remember, yeah," Dom snickers. "Turns out that's not the case. Get this, I'm older than Captain America, hahahahahahaha! And my name's Katrina!" Her laughter is abruptly halted. Glaze fills her eyes, "I don't know what to believe..."

Gaunt crosses his arms, slightly amused, "Come now, Domino. You didn't actually believe that memory implant gibberish?" Gaunt uncrosses his arms and gently caresses Dom's cheek, "According to history, that was Nathaniel Essex's way of attempting to control you. Apparently, he saw something in you."

Dom chuckles, "Sinister saw something in me? What? Inherent genetic potential?"

"No," Gaunt responds. "Love."

"Eeew. The guy's like...obsessed with genetics. He probably jerks off a lot just to study it," Dom quips. "He didn't like...clone me, did he?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he wanted the real thing," Gaunt smiles. He licks the side of Domino's face as he squeezes her breasts. "As do I..."

"Stryfe's back?" Cable yells.

"Well, I think it's him. I can't think of anyone else that it could be," Rachel explains. She looks over at her students, "Matthew, it's all right."

Matt skeptically drops his TK shield, "What's going on?"

Rachel sighs, "Sorry. Matt, Iris, Eugene, and Julia, meet the real Cable."

"Huh? I'm a little confused here, wasn't that other guy Cable?" Julia asks.

"It was a clone," Rachel whispers.

"Hi," Cable says briefly. The students find themselves left cold. Ironically, they liked Stryfe's Cable better. He immediately turns his attention back to Rachel, "Stryfe is back, but amnesiac?"

Rachel nods, sending the students into the living room to take a break, "He's powerful, but I don't think he poses an immediate threat. Irene actually has him convinced he's you. Perhaps with further therapy, he can be controlled."

"A murderer never gets tired of killing. Once they get a taste of it...they become addicted. The rush of it...," Cable explains. "Even if he has the vaguest of memories..."

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him," Rachel explains. "And sorry for roughing you up like that. You have poor timing, I thought you were Stryfe and caught me telling Irene to stay away from...him."

"You mean you're sorry for never allowing Blaquesmith to train me as a full Askani?" Cable asks.

Rachel appears hurt and amazed Nate knew about that. Maybe not, he was a telepath, after all. "Nate, I did that for your own protection--"

"My own protection? I was almost killed by a bunch of Askani-trained hardcore feminists from the future!" Cable shouts.

"What?" Rachel shouts back. "These four are the only Askani I've trained here..."

"No, the ones that fought me in Moscow weren't Askani...I think they're Dark Askani...Dukani," Cable explains. "And I think Sanctity is their leader. They almost took over the KGB. Who knows what else they could do? Rachel, I need to know how to move in and out of time."

Rachel sighs. "It's not that simple. Training to telekinetically increase your speed is a difficult thing. It was, even for me. Sanctity actually perfected the art, since it was part of her natural mutation. She taught me and Blaquesmith how to do it, but it took a great deal of time. She called it temphasng."

Rachel continues to explain, "Even if I downloaded the information into your mind, it would overload your sensory input."

"That's what Blaquesmith said about psimatar training, but I was able to use it the moment I picked one up. It was like it was a part of me," Cable says. "I feel a little gypped not having the full knowledge of an Askani all this time."

"What would have happened if we did train you fully?" Rachel asks. "What would Vice have done to LA with that knowledge? Believe me, Nathan, I wanted to hope you could handle it, but we agreed it wasn't meant to be for you..."

"Then at least help me take these Dukani down!" Cable shouts. "What's different from the Shining Path or Apocalypse? Why am I picking up fear from you?"

"It's not fear, Nate," Rachel warns as her eyes begin to glow, "it's guilt. I should have stopped Sanctity when I had the chance..."

"Nyet!" the Russian guard shouts as he draws his gun on the five cloaked women charging at him. Before he could blink, he had a psimatar jabbed into his gullet.

Suddenly, fifty other cloaked women appear behind the initial five. They were standing outside the United States Embassy in Moscow. The Dukani weren't finished. The KGB was a minor setback. Cable will be dealt with soon enough...

"Um jahks shue werh Americans...," the ranking Dukani mutters with a smile. Suddenly, the front gate to the embassy is thrust open. Dozens of American troops storm the scene and open fire with their M-16 rifles. Not a great stratagem against a band of powerful telekinetics.

The bullets are blocked by a collective TK shield as hundreds of psimatars are activated. With a noise sounding like supersonic jet breaking the sound barrier and a flash akin to lightning, the soldiers had holes burnt through their flesh by telekinetic force.

The Dukani moved as fast as thought and sacked the US Embassy like a brood of locusts, leaving no one alive. They didn't know English or Russian, but they shouted with such passion and fury like they were fighting a war.

As the Russian authorities arrived, the Dukani disappeared without a trace...

Rachel, Cable, and the four Askani students sit around the television. Eugene and Julia are sitting on the floor, resting their backs against the legs of the couch, while Matt and Iris sit in-between Rachel and Nathan.

Cable sighs, "I'm sorry about...not being polite back there."

"It's okay," Rachel says.

"No," Cable reiterates, "I was talking to your students."

The four turn their attention to the Askani'Son.

"What you're doing is very admirable. Being psionic is a difficult thing to live with, even if you don't have a physical mutation," Cable explains. "We perceive the world differently than non-telepaths. Everyone 'sees' the world based on what electrical impulses their brain interprets. Naturally, we see something a little more.

"There are dark desires in society's minds. They try to hide it with a cheery smile or a perky personality, but we see through them. The world becomes dark, the superficial cover is turned over, and we see the truth...," Nathan pauses.

"What's that?" Eugene asks.

"That there is no such thing as a good person. Everyone is your potential enemy whether you like it or not. It could be your friends, your family, your coworkers. The people don't even realize it until it is too late. But we do know and we go crazy with that knowledge. After all, what is the purpose of knowledge if we can't put it to use?" Cable asks rhetorically. "I know this because I have been betrayed by friends and family. It's not an easy feeling to deal with. Nothing is ever easy for us."

"Nathan," Rachel reprimands.

"Right now, there is a good chance some underage girl is getting raped. There are 14 year olds getting high on ecstasy. Politicians are signing away an innocent someone's life. Palestinian children are being taught to hate the Western world. Children are being locked in cages by their own parents and thrown into bodies of water. Young male virgins are blowing themselves up so their poverty-level family can get a $250,000 check," Cable continues. "People hate when others have a different ideal than their own, so they start a war..."

"Nathan, stop it!" Rachel yells. Eugene, Iris, Matt, and Julia have become deathly afraid of Cable's words. It was merely the truth.

"That's why I'm here, to put a stop to this bullshit before it escalates any further. For a brief moment, I was omnipotent. I saw something not many people pay attention to. I felt the hate, even with everyone's memory blocked--"

"NATHAN!" Rachel growls through clenched teeth. "Stop." She turns to the students, who are huddled in a corner. Matt glares at Cable. "Matthew, take everyone home."

Matt does as he says as the other students rush to grab their possessions. They are out of the apartment in a flash.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Rachel yells.

"I told them the truth, Rachel," Cable responds. "Hell has gotten into me."

"I know that the world is bad, but...did you have to lay it on them like that?" Rachel asks.

"They needed the perspective," Cable says gruffly. "If they really want to be Askani, they need to hear it. They can't be peacemakers if they aren't prepared to deal with--"

"I AM THEIR TEACHER, Nathan!" Rachel yells. "I decide the order of learning around here."

"Oh?" he asks. "Is that what the Askani is about now? Listen to me, or else?"

"That's not what I meant!" Rachel shouts.

"But it is," Cable says. "You're worse than the oppressors you've fought all your life."

"Nathan...wait!"

"Bodyslide." With that simple command, Cable was gone in a flash.

"I don't believe it," Stryfe says. "This is coffee? I don't remember ever having it."

Irene smiles as she sips her double expresso, "You're missing out." She puts her hand on top of his, which was resting on the coffee shop table. "I'm really glad you're back, Nate."

Stryfe smiles, "Me too." He fails to notice his coffee mug too close to the edge. The hot liquid spills all over the crotch of his pants. "Argh!" he shouts.

"Oop!" Irene shouts. She looks around frantically, and finds the napkin dispenser at their table. She pulls out about ten brown paper napkins and hands them to Stryfe, but he won't take them. Irene shakes them in her grasp, "Here."

Stryfe's teeth are clenched. He's breathing hard. Something is rekindling within him. He just doesn't know what.

"Can I get you two anything else?" the waitress, Helen, dressed in a white shirt and black slacks and green apron, asks. She had blonde graying hair tied up into a bun. "Oh, did you spill, hun?"

"Yes, how...observant of you, ma'am," Stryfe mutters as he dabs his jeans with the napkins which he finally nabbed from Irene. Stryfe looks into the waitress' eyes and feels a throbbing pain in his sinuses. "What the...?"

"Are you sure you two are all right?" Helen asks.

Irene looks at Helen, "Yes, thank you. Um, we'll just have our check now, please."

"Hokey-dokey," Helen says as she walks into the back room behind the counter.

Helen seems dazed and confused as she suddenly feels like she's had a case of fugue, amnesia with flight, "Where...?"

"Helen?" a woman with a hairnet asks, "Didn't you get off work at 3 o' clock?"

Helen nods, "Yeah...I did."

Outside, on the roof of the coffee shop, Cable gets up off of one knee. He saw through Helen's eyes. He's seen all that he had to. He bodyslides without saying a word.

23:00

Rachel sighs deeply as she plops back down into her couch, sinking into it, pulling a pillow close to her. She realizes the local nightly news was on, interrupted by the national desk.

{{"Good evening, this is Charlie Gibson. If you're just joining us, several US Marine Corps troops have been killed in what appears to be a Russian retaliation against America. It seems the Cold War has been rekindled...and it could not have come at a worse time."}}

The scene switches over to that of a press conference at the White House, {{"Mr. President, what are your views on the subject?"}}

George W. Bush straightens his tie and sighs, somewhat nervously, {{"I cannot express the words of sorrow for the families of American soldiers not involved with the War on Terrorism, but I will tell you this: whoever was involved with this massacre, know that we will deal with you when the time comes. Be ready. And here's hoping the US and Russia will continue their peaceful coexistence in the world..."}}

Gibson appears on the screen once more, {{"Russian President Vladimir Putin had this to say--"}}

Putin is behind a podium surrounded by various microphones, {{"The Russian Federation had no involvement on the attack on the American Embassy nestled in Moscow, but we have reason to believe a team of American special forces tried to overtake one of our intelligence installations. If President Bush is insinuating that the Russians were behind the embassy attack, then I would like to question him about the attack on Russian soil first..."}}

Charlie again takes the camera. He looks down at his notes, as well as the TelePrompTer, {{"Now, Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, has apparently told the media that the UK will sit this one out and let the UN decide what should be done about this situation."}}

Secretary of State Colin Powell appears on screen, {{"My colleagues and I think it's best that we try to work things out before we start pointing the finger at anyone. Russia and America have been allies for a long time now since the fall of communism."}}

A reporter asks, {{"What are your views on the Iraq situation?"}}

Powell clears his throat, {{"Well, my former partner next to Schwartzkopf during Desert Storm was General P. Haight. Haight was essential to ending the war with Iraq over ten years ago, and he's opposed to it today..."}}

"Damn it," Rachel growls.

Cable leans against the couch, startling Rachel. He sighs, "You're watching this?"

Rachel nods, "Back so soon?"

"Prosh told me about it. The soldiers' guts were blown clean through. Russians don't have access to that kind of tech," Cable explains. "Moscow has been a hot zone for psi-activity, lately."

Rachel's brow lowers, "The Dukani...they're trying to start a war between the US and Russia! Between terrorists and the rest of the world, particularly the United Nations and SHIELD, trying to keep order, this could set up a domino effect of events that will lead to the birth of our era...or something similar."

"So, you'll help me?" Cable asks.

"Count on it, brother."

"All right," Nathan says. "Meet me at Greymalkin at 08:00 tomorrow. Bring Irene with you."

"What should I tell her?" Rachel asks. "And what about you-know-who?

"Say I told you to tell her it's for her own protection," Nathan explains. "That way, once she sees me face-to-face, she'll get it through her head that she's been hanging around with my worse half."

"What are we going to do about Stryfe?" Rachel asks. "We can't just leave him out there with the public."

"You were right about him being harmless, for now," Nate says. "But once he sees me, he'll think I'm the enemy...and that will lead to him having flashbacks of pinching his scrotum in heavy chrome armor and killing people for fun."

"Right," Rachel replies, "but first, we take out the Dukani and Sanctity. I have the sickening feeling in my stomach that we should tell Scott and Jean that Stryfe is back...I mean, he did try to torture and kill them."

"No," Nathan says as he turns his back away from Rachel, walking a few steps towards the door. His eye glows as it does from time to time. "I think whatever brought me back brought him back, too. Hell, there's a part of me that wonders if I'm even Cable. This is my mess, Rach. I'll deal with it."

"I'll be there to help," Rachel responds. "If you need it."

Cable smiles with his back still turned to his sister, "Thanks...and I'm sorry. It's not my place to judge your method of training. Lord knows I was a little punk under Blaquesmith's sessions."

"What...?" Rachel asks as Cable suddenly becomes disturbed by something.

He looks back at the television. A blonde, buzz-haired man dressed in full on military garb is standing next to the Secretary of State posing for photos. "Haight...?"

"Who?" Rachel asks.

"After your time. He's a Canaanite general. Essentially, he's their leader by default after Stryfe decided to go on his time-travel crusade," Cable explains. He turns back to Rachel, "We have to dissolve the Dukani fast. If the Canaanites are next to invade...all bets are off. They'll tare the world apart. I am NOT losing against them twice."