PREVIOUSLY, ON LOST—er, I mean…CABLE/DEADPOOL:
Over a year ago, after losing his powers in a battle with the Shadow King, Cable and his “Age of Apocalypse” counterpart, Nate Grey, fought off the mutant known as Holocaust—another refugee from the erased reality. By actually physically merging their two bodies together, Cable and X-Man became a godlike cosmic being.
The M’Kraan Crystal, which was in the possession of Holocaust, became lodged in the android form of Prosh—Cable’s artificial intelligence confidant. While the Cable/X-Man entity ascended to a higher plane of existence at the beckoning of the Celestials, Prosh retreated to the center of the universe to protect the M’Kraan Crystal—the nexus of realities…
Meanwhile, life went on for Wade Wilson—also known as the mercenary, Deadpool. After being hired by the Byron Agency and failing “take care of” the X-Men, he was imprisoned, but not before being released by a mysterious benefactor and put through vigorous psychotherapy sessions by Dr. Diana Russell—a low level psi-talent who had previously treated Cable.
The mysterious benefactor turned out to be a man named Malcolm Colcord—a disfigured victim of Wolverine’s rampage from his Weapon X years. Colcord at first claims Deadpool himself scarred his face at some point in the past, but nothing he says can be trusted. Malcolm reveals that “Department X” wiped Deadpool’s record clean in exchange for helping them “acquire” the mercenary T-Ray. Given their past together, Malcolm had to be sure Deadpool was up to the task—thus the therapy sessions with Dr. Russell.
Upon completing his mission, Deadpool learned that T-Ray’s zombie body would be part of the elaborate conduit that would actually open a rift into the Fifth Dimension itself. The process of opening the rift vaporized T-Ray’s body—and brought someone back. Of course, it was supposed to be Cable…but they got Apocalypse, completely de-aged to his prime instead. A brief fight ensued, and Deadpool was left battered and broken—lucky to be alive with his healing factor. Apocalypse, enraged with his former servant’s treachery, planed to seek revenge against Mr. Sinister.
The re-emergence of Apocalypse did not go unnoticed by the Cable/X-Man entity, now known as simply The Traveler, by his deity compatriots. The Traveler was unhappy with his existence as a god without a home realm like the Olympians or Asgardians—only able to look into the mortal realm from the outside without interacting with it. Enraged with the return of Apocalypse, Traveler met with Death herself—it was through the Realm of Death that he would be able to relinquish his godly status and return home to fix the mistake…
However, upon
returning as a mortal, Cable emerged exactly where and when he
“left,” stuck powerless in a military bunker one year prior to the
events that returned Apocalypse to the living. Not knowing the soliders
he killed were allies of Holocaust, Cable was imprisoned by the
Apocalypse’s return did not go unnoticed by the mutant-tracking machine, Cerebro, either. Every telepath on the planet sensed his return—even the comatose Rachel Summers began speaking Apocalypse’s true birth name, Phineasokpara.
Determined to fix
the mistake of Apocalypse as well, Deadpool enlisted the help of his
arms dealer and information broker, Weasel. Through his research, Weasel
determined that there was a mutant nullifier in
Sensing his master’s return and vengeance, Sinister relocates to a secret bunker and makes the startling discovery that the Summers family is directly descended from Apocalypse. Before he can process this information, the younger and more powerful Apocalypse attacks and severely wounds Sinister, teleporting away and leaving him to bleed to death…however Sinister finds refuge with some unlikely allies—the X-Men. Seeing as how Rachel Summers would be the only living Summers-Grey offspring to attempt to defeat Apocalypse, he forcibly awakens her from her coma…
Back in the Middle East, the military base is ambushed by AIM, which is supposedly being facilitated by Apocalypse, freeing Cable from his cell. Disappointed his former adversary was reduced to a babbling fool, Apocalypse reignited the remnant techno-organic virus in Cable’s system to replace his lack of mutant abilities. The virus appeared to consume him, however Cable seemed to find a harmony with it to the point where he could control it at will—thus stopping its spread. Cable was also surprised to find that his new symbiotic relationship with his T-O virus gave him a form of technopath abilities…
Deadpool soon arrives on the scene just as the battle between AIM and the US soldiers began. He begins to threaten some soldiers for information on where the mutant nullifier was—until Cable stopped him. Although reluctant, the two agreed to retrieve the nullifier together—destroying the robotic guards. Cable is able to deactivate the force field which surrounded the weapon, at the same time downloading its characteristics into his T-O systems. The two unlikely allies then bodyslide to Weasel’s bunker and we then learn he and Cable have met before—to Deadpool’s dismay.
Apocalypse then appears before the Xavier Mansion, intent on finishing the job with Sinister. The X-Men put up a valiant effort, but are quickly defeated by the surprisingly spry Apocalypse—until Rachel Summers joins the fight, completely imbued with the Phoenix Force.
Meanwhile, at Weasel’s bunker, Diana and Malcolm appeared, revealing that “Department X” was the cover name for the current incarnation of Landau, Luckman, and Lake. Malcolm intended to bring back Cable and involve Deadpool based on a message from the future—from Deadpool himself. Having newfound proof that the two must work together to bring down Apocalypse, Cable and Deadpool bodyslide to Westchester, to assist Rachel in defeating him…only the mutant nullifier is destroyed by the collateral damage. Thinking quickly, Cable downloads the nullifier’s schematics into his systems. As Apocalypse begins to drain Rachel’s life force and access the Phoenix Force for himself, Cable blasts him with the nullifier—taking a good chunk of his power with it. Cable and Deadpool then fought Apocalypse—now powerless, but still immortal—to a stand-still.
Time then froze and Cable was met with his sister Rachel, now a White Phoenix. She tells him that his altered memories were a result of living as a god, experiencing the lives of every single of his counterparts across nearly infinite universes. Rachel then returns to the White Hot Room—the “Valhalla” of Phoenix avatars. When time resumes, Cable realizes that Apocalypse and Sinister are gone. The recovered X-Men, weary of Cable’s return and partnership with Deadpool, especially Cyclops, begin to question his state of mind. Cable and Deadpool bodyslide…meanwhile, Apocalypse and Sinister realize they must strike up their own unlikely alliance if they are to stop the mysterious oncoming threat the future Wade Wilson spoke of…
Back at Xavier’s, Bishop meets with Cyclops, who is busily updating Cable’s Xavier Protocol entry. There, Cyclops made a difficult decision and gave Bishop, the only time-traveler left—the only one who could think outside the box like Cable, the task of putting Cable and Deadpool down.
Back at Landau, Luckman, and Lake’s Department X or “Triple L,” Malcolm gave Cable and Deadpool intel that a likely candidate for causing the apocalypse was a former Weapon X and Triple L employee, Dr. Janis Suriyama—a woman Cable was somehow familiar with. Suriyama was conducting dangerous temporal experiments on the island nation of Genosha…This prompts Cable to repair his orbiting space station, Greymalkin II using his new technopath abilities. Deadpool is along for the ride to assist and soon learns Cable has a plan all his own…to kill every agent of Triple L. With Weasel assisting with reconnaissance, Cable would go to Genosha, and Deadpool would go to Department X…Malcolm seemingly shoots and kills Diana out of nowhere as they realize Greymalkin is back online.
In Cable’s future, the Askani resistance has dwindled down to almost nothing—their mission essentially a failure. We see that a 2000 year old Deadpool or “Pool’Death” is the leader of the New Canaanite regime. As the tampering of the time stream becomes apparent, Tetherblood and Pool’Death are the only survivors of their timeline—including an alternate version of Aliya—Cable’s slain wife. Tetherblood, having his wife Hope blinked out of existence, deduces Cable’s doing destroyed everything—and must be stopped. We also learn that Pool’Death sent those messages to Malcolm Colcord…the trio then travel to the present-day to deal with the threat of Cable.
Bishop, unnerved with his mission, goes to Nick Fury, whom he had connections to during his days with the SHIELD-sponsored X-Force. Not entirely thrilled with killing Cable (Deadpool wasn’t a problem, however…seeing as how it’s been done in his time), Bishop reveals to Fury that Cable had been tortured and might offer an explanation of his current state of mind and alliance with Deadpool. Fury doesn’t hear any of it and still considers Cable to be dangerous. Bishop warns him to stay out of the way and leaves. Fury, on the other hand, deploys someone named Soldier-X.
While Cable prepares
for his mission by coercing Magneto, Deadpool arrives inside Department
X and mows everyone down—until Malcolm is left. He sprays Deadpool with
a strange compound, which seems to stop his heart. Deadpool retaliates
and slashes Malcolm with his katana—except “Malcolm” returns to his true
form, that of Copycat—Wade’s former lover—and dies…just as Deadpool
collapses himself.
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#7 |
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Cable |
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Deadpool |
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Weasel |
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Dr.
Colcord |
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Dr.
Russell |
MARVEL 2000 PRESENTS...
YESTERDAY TO TOMORROW
Part I: "This
is your life, Wade Wilson"
Written by Brad
Horton
Now-ish (a few seconds out of phase).
Within the confines of Department X—the current home-base of the interdimensional law firm Landau, Luckman, and Lake—the metahuman known as Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool) breathed his last breath before he succumbed to the poisonous weaponized gas that solidified within his lungs—preventing him from talking.
He had been sent to Department X to tear it apart and kill every single agent Triple L had in its employ by his newfound confidant (and former enemy) Cable.
When he confronted the malevolent man-behind-the-scenes of Triple L, Dr. Malcolm Colcord, Wade was horrified when he was actually Vanessa Carlyle—Copycat—his ex-girlfriend, in disguise. Not before she let slip one last bit of information…
“You can’t stop her, Wade…”
Her?
Stop who? A woman? Who was she talking about?
Wade’s thoughts raced even though the conductivity of his neurons slowed to a standstill.
I can’t move or breathe…this isn’t good…never been suffocated by a weird gas that solidified my lungs before and paralyzed the rest of me…
2x2=4. Taco
“Alright, I think that’s enough,” said a feminine voice. “End simulation.”
Deadpool could hear the powering down of high-powered generators—the kind that generated hard-light constructs like the X-Men’s Danger Room. The whole thing was a lie. They were smarter than he thought. Than Cable thought.
Dr. Diana Russell, uber-psychiatrist, walked out into the open corridor where Deadpool lay paralyzed. She had blood over her blouse and suit jacket. She sighed, “Sorry, Wade…it’s great that you’ve built bridges with a former enemy…but you’ve turned your back on us before. We can’t let that happen again. If you’re wondering, Malcolm is doing just fine.”
If I could talk, we would be having quite a shouting match right about now! Deadpool shouted in his mind.
Diana looked down at Wade with a knowing smile. Did she read his thoughts? Was his mind healing itself, allowing her telepathic access? Was she the “she” Copycat warned him about?
“It’s time for the final phase of your therapy,” Diana explained as her eyes became an opaque white. “It’s time to reconnect the dots. I’ll be reconnecting synapses with Agent Montgomery’s research of your life as reference. You’ll learn who you were…who you are. If you thought you were crazy before, wait until you see your true origins…”
Crap…
Age 17.
“Listen up, maggots!” a middle-aged drill sergeant yelled as rain drenched the already-muddy field upon which dozens of potential army recruits have been mercilessly training since the early hours of the morning. “I want some goddamn hustle—this ain’t no high school football game—this is your goddamn life! MOVE IT!”
Wait…I kinda remember this…? Am I looking at this in real time? Or am I nuts? I’m experiencing everything. Except I’m replaying it…exactly how I did before.
Seventeen-year-old Wade Wilson couldn’t help but notice the rain and mud mix with his sweat and blood. He wasn’t used to the completely buzzed haircut—especially since he was more of a death metal kind of guy. The hole below his bottom lip was still fresh from taking the pierced stud out of it only a few days ago…after his father’s funeral—a well-respected general. Wade even dropped out of high school to be here.
Perhaps it was worth it—he didn’t have anyone. At least the military would keep him fed—and would pay for his college after he got his GED.
Wade in college? He couldn’t even fathom the thought. What the hell was he even good at? Aside from getting into trouble.
Wade grunted as he scaled the nearly vertical wall, landing in a foot of pure sludge at the bottom. He grinned at one of his bunk mates, who landed just behind him.
“Fuckin’ hell of a day, Lady Wadey,” the young soldier grimaced as he ran for the next obstacle, his wet and heavy clothes wearing him down—but not wearing him out.
“Can’t help but think I came up short when we were giving each other nicknames,” Wade remarked as he soon passed his fellow soldier. “As if T-Ray is much better, numb-nuts!”
Tiberius Raymond Wilson simply shook his head and laughed at his cousin.
Genosha.
Now.
Electrified air crackled with
a bright light until it solidified into the form of a large muscular man
with a futuristic blue jumpsuit. His name was Cable. To his surprise,
however, he fell for twenty feet until he plunged into the
Cable grunted underwater as he struggled to get to the surface. His techno-organic limbs made it difficult to stay afloat. With a brief moment of concentration, however, his integrated force field activated, creating a sustainable environment for him to breathe underwater.
Another eye blink switched his vision to both ultraviolent and infrared simultaneously with his techno-organic right eye. Ever since embracing the full extent of the abilities his techno-organics offered him, he barely missed having his telepathy or telekinesis.
He definitely sensed a lot of mutant activity with his custom Cerebro application. Without even flinching, he brought up the island’s map within his partially computerized mind. He could see where Magneto resided…as well as his Cabinet. And finally the Fallen Angels…his former students.
With his nanotech bodysuit, the soles of his boots opened up to form two miniature propellers, which thrust him towards the surface of the water.
Cable grunted as he spit the salt water from his mouth, “Weasel, are we online?”
{{Loud and clear, big guy,}} Weasel responded via Wi-Fi from Greymalkin II, Cable’s personal orbiting space station.
“Alright,” Cable said as he used his force field to push him towards the rocky shoreline. Eventually, he attained lift-off and landed just at the bottom of the ridge. “I’ve got the area mapped out…standby if I need backup.”
{{G---*ztt*}}
“Weasel?” Cable wondered. A sudden blockage of sunlight from his view answered his question as Magneto descended to a safe distance overhead. Cable was the only one that always looked at him with a sense of jealousy and guilt. Cable stole his students—and eventually Magneto won many of those students back to his cause.
It was an awkward situation for both men.
Cable crossed his arms, “I thought I had safe passage.”
Magneto hovered as a flash of energy electrified in his eyes, “Don’t think me as naïve, Summers. The collateral damage will be kept to a minimum, do you understand?”
“Can’t promise anything,” Cable said as his left eye briefly flashed with blue light. “I’m only trying to protect your citizens, after all.”
“Let me rephrase that,” Magneto sneered, “if you turn my island into a warzone, I can’t promise that your space station will stay in orbit much longer.” Magneto smiled at Cable’s shocked facial expression, “It may be cloaked, but I can tell when satellites are being commandeered with…whatever your abilities are now.”
Cable smirked, “Sorry about that. I had to get my house in order.” He nonchalantly offered his hand to shake, “Truce?”
Magneto, ever the diplomat in his newest environment, hovered to Cable’s level and reluctantly accepted. However, while gripping Cable’s techno-organic hand…
Something happened.
“AHH!”
A warming sensation overcame Erik Lehnsherr. And as if losing his balance on the electromagnetic waves, Magneto fell into the ocean. Cable furrowed his brow at Magneto as he coughed and struggled amidst the heavy waves.
“Your power loss will be temporary, asshole,” Cable shouted.
Magneto coughed as he violently removed his helmet, trying to stay buoyant, “I’ll kill you! You insufferable…*glup*…”
Cable thrust his left arm forward, stretching beyond its normal form into the water, grabbing Magneto out by the end of his purple cape. Bringing him to eye level, Cable head-butted him and kneed him in the solar plexus.
“Guh!” Magneto wheezed as he dropped to the ground.
“That,” Cable growled as he lifted Erik by his throat, spitting in his face, “was for Shatterstar!”
Cable grunted as he lifted Magneto over his head and brought him down over his knee, “You could have made the kids better…they were meant for MORE, damn you!”
Magneto winced in agony and could only manage a groan in response.
“Back away, perp!” a rambunctious voice shouted, followed by an intense energy blast—a warning shot. Cable looked up and there she was. Magneto kept his promise not to send all of them—still, it was difficult to see even one.
Cable wouldn’t even look her in the face, “Hello, Tabitha…this isn’t any of your concern. Back away.”
“Cable?” Meltdown gasped. “I thought you were…”
“I was,” Cable muttered. By stretching and shape-shifting his techno-organic limbs, Cable scaled the rocky shoreline to the main level in mere moments. Cable probably hadn’t seen his former soldier-in-arms for years. Meltdown was battle-hardened. Weathered. And probably hitting the bottle or the cigarettes a little too hard, too fast.
It was the first time she had seen her former mentor in years, as well. The sight of the heartbroken stare he gave her was more fatal than any mortar blast or plasma fire.
“This is a safe-haven for mutants…not all of us have that right now,” Meltdown said as she didn’t even have to try sounding like an adult. Cable knew it, could feel it. She was mature. A soldier. “Besides…you’re palling around with Deadpool. I mean, you can’t exactly give me the talk that I disappointed you…we all made our choices. Yeah, the thing with ‘Star was fucked up, but…it’s a war—the fuck do you expect?”
“I’m not going to judge any of you,” Cable said. “The line between Xavier and Magneto was always shades of gray. When it came down to it—it’s up to the individual to interpret that difference...”
Tears welled up in her eyes, “I’m sor—”
Cable shook his head as he ran past her, leaping into the air, carried by the weightlessness of his force field, “Your boss needs a medic. His powers should return in about a day or so.”
“I’m sorry,” Tabitha whispered.
Age 5.
“I’m sorry…so sorry, Wade,” a young woman said as she lay inside of her room at the hospice. Her voice was weak and gurgled. Her skin was pale, her body was gaunt and death-like. Dark circles permanently resided under her eyes. The lung cancer had eaten away at her life—but also the life she would have had with her son.
Wait…this…we’re going backwards…this can’t be conducive to my therapy. Come on, fast forward…
“I don’t unnastand why yer sick, momma,” Wade wondered as his mother gently stroked his hair.
Mrs. Wilson smiled, “Me neither, kiddo…” She sighed as she looked out the window, “It’s a shame…summer’s almost over. You’ve been too worried about me…it’s not fair to you, baby.”
“You can have some of my chocolate pudding,” Wade offered.
Mrs. Wilson smiled faintly, “It’s okay…not hungry. You’re my little caregiver, aren’t you?” Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, “Can you do something for me, sweetie?”
Wade eagerly nodded.
“I need you to go into the drawer over there and grab a little orange bottle of pills,” his mother explained as she pointed to the small night stand next to the bed.
“Is it your medicine?” Wade wondered.
“Shhh,” Mrs. Wilson pleaded. She closed her eyes, pushing the tears down her cheeks, “I just need you to get it for me, okay? I can’t get it…I’m too tired.”
“Okay,” Wade said as he opened the drawer and gave his mother the bottle of pills. She put one pill in her mouth and swallowed. Followed by another. And another. And another…until the entire bottle was empty.
Wade smiled in pride, knowing that he helped his mother ease her pain. Except, from a five year old’s perspective, there was no way of knowing his mother had to take one pill a day…
“Marlene?!”
Wade jumped at the sight of his father, always wearing his more formal service uniform. It was quite a shadow to live within. Even at five years old, Wade Wilson had little hope of ever escaping that shadow.
“What the HELL did you do?!” General Wilson growled as he lifted his hand and delivered a swift back hand to Wade’s face. The edge of his father’s wedding ring caused a small gash as blood seeped from the wound.
“I-I-I was helping her!” Wade wailed in horror as he gripped his forehead.
Mom…oh God…why did you do that to me?!
Age 19.
Sgt. Wade Wilson calmly sat in the dimly-lit military carrier alongside four others in his unit of Special Forces soldiers. In the military for no less than three years, and he had already shown promise in the field. So much so that he outgrew the need to be a conventional soldier in conventional warfare. Sitting next to him was his cousin, Tiberius. While Wade’s original nickname eventually faded into obscurity—“T-Ray” stuck for his cousin.
T-Ray seemed to be crouched in a genuflecting position while mumbling incoherent nonsense while holding onto some sort of trinket tied around his neck. Wade shook his head at the strange occult religion his cousin seemed to be married to.
“Holding up alright?” someone with a Canadian accent asked.
Wade looked to his left and shrugged, “I guess.”
“Your dad was the general, wasn’t he?” the soldier asked.
“What’s it to you?” Wade asked
curtly. “Isn’t
The man, annoyed, nonetheless, offered his hand to shake, “Malcolm Colcord, Canadian Special Ops.”
“No rank? Never heard of a
‘special ops’ in
“Sergeant, hm?” Colcord mused.
“First Sergeant, actually,” Wade grumbled. “No, seriously…why don’t you have a rank?”
Malcolm shrugged, “My involvement has to be off the record, unfortunately. I answer to someone who has to remain that way, as well.”
Wade rolled his eyes, “Alright, well…we have our orders. You answer to me, got it?”
Malcolm smiled, “Actually, this is my mission now, son. You might have risen through the ranks to get where you are like your father—but you won’t get very far without respect.”
{{Drop point ETA one minute, thirty seconds,}} the pilot commented over the radio.
“Let’s get rid of some Haitian death squads, shall we?” Malcolm smiled as he leapt out of the plane backwards and head first.
Wade couldn’t help but scowl for being upstaged by some kind of secret agent. Still, the carefree attitude he had was somewhat striking. Wade was never one to obey the normal rules of authority. Not his father, and certainly not Malcolm Colcord.
“Alright, men…let’s go,” Sergeant Wilson ordered as they poured out of the plane one by one…
Age 25.
“It’s six years to the day
when T-Ray died, Mercedes…,” Wade grumbled as he sat, nude, at the edge
of the king sized bed with his girlfriend. “Those monsters seized his
body before we had a chance to give him a proper burial. I can’t help
but feel guilty.” The small cabin resided in
“You can’t blame yourself for what happened, Wade,” Mercedes said as she reached from behind and hugged Wade, her bare chest rubbing up against his back.
“They kicked me out for letting Malcolm take command…,” Wade sighed. “I don’t understand why the US Government hired him in the first place…”
“It’s all in the past, baby…,” Mercedes said as she gently kissed Wade on the back of his neck.
Wade stood up and walked over to the window, “You were his wife. I feel like such an asshole…you’re an army widow for Christ’s sake…”
“Damn right!” shouted a voice just as he jammed his fist into Wade’s skull.
“AH!” Wade yelled as he toppled over.
“AHHH!” Mercedes screamed.
A large man with torn leather clothing, pale white skin, and a bandage over his nose grinned as his eyes glowed an unearthly green, “Miss me, darling?”
“Tiberius?” Mercedes gasped as she tried to cover herself with the bed sheets. “How…?”
“It’s T-Ray now…no use calling me by my old name…considering I’m dead, hahahaha!!!” the large brutish man bellowed.
Wade leapt into action, trying to tackle him from behind, but was thrown—literally—out of the window, crashing into the snowy ground. Grunting as he tried to shake himself out of the shock of the cold
T-Ray crashed completely through the wall of the cabin and landed just a few inches from where Wade lay naked in the snow, “You defiled my wife, you son of a bitch…”
Wade held up his badly gashed forearm, “I…I thought you were dead…T-Ray…I saw you die…shot in the back of the head…the exit wound…blew your nose right off…”
T-Ray cocked his head, “You can thank my rudimentary dark magic for my presence this evening…those Haitians and their voodoo. Death is a wonderful thing, Wade. It’s connected to us all.” He paused and smiled…his glowing green eyes smiling along with him, “And it lingers over you like a dark cloud…you practically reek of it.”
“I’m not in the military anymore, T-Ray…in fact, I’m saving lives instead of taking them. I’m a surgeon now…,” Wade pleaded. “The last thing I would ever do is—”
“BETRAY ME!?!?!?” T-Ray growled. “We were practically brothers—and you took everything from me!”
Wade held out his arms as he kneeled in the snow, “Then kill me!”
“No…,” T-Ray grinned as he pulled a small device from inside of his jacket, pressing the button. “You’re gonna suffer…”
*BOOOM*
“Mercedes!!” Wade shouted as the cabin was completely pulverized.
T-Ray laughed as he back-handed his cousin, knocking him unconscious…
Department K.
Age 26.
“Jesus, what happened to your face, Mal?” Wade asked jokingly as he walked into the darkened office.
“I could ask you the same thing, luckily I had a good surgeon save me,” Malcolm said. “My plastic surgeon, on the other hand…didn’t have much to work with. Please, sit.”
“Yeah, well…,” Wade paused. “I don’t think the surgeon job is gonna carry me much further…I feel just as empty as ever…”
Malcolm slid a manila folder across the desk in front of Wade, “My employers have a job for you…they’ll pay two-million up front as leverage.”
Wade opened the folder and arched an eyebrow, “Are you serious?”
“I know it’s a lot, but if you play your cards right, you can hide it from the IRS, if that’s what you’re—”
Wade slammed the folder shut, “I don’t do that kind of special ops crap anymore!”
Malcolm sat back in his chair
and folded his hands, “This isn’t the military,
Wade clenched his teeth, “It was your fault, damn it! If you wouldn’t have botched that mission, my cousin would still be alive—Mercedes would still…”
“I trust you, Wilson,” Malcolm said. “You can get the job done. This will open doors for you…this is what you were born to do.”
Wade stared intensely into the eyes of the man he still isn’t even sure is an ally, “I’ll need some munitions…”
Age 28.
“I have cancer, Vanessa…,” Wade sighed as he slug a large duffle bag over his shoulder. “There’s no need for me to put you through the loss—trust me.”
“But, Wade…I love you,” Vanessa said with tears in her eyes.
Wade fought off his own tears, “That’s why I have to go…”
Department K.
Weapon X – Phase II.
Age 30.
“Are you sure about this, Wade?” Malcolm asked as he stared down at his friend, who lay inside a vat of chemicals with various wires and tubes hooked up to his body.
Wade smiled faintly, “I promise not to go all berserk and cut the shit out of your face…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not taking anything away,” Malcolm said. “Sure as fuck not giving you adamantium claws, either.”
Wade smirked, “Heh…”
A man with pale white skin and a dark blue armor walked in next to Malcolm, “Is his mind wiped?”
Malcolm became concerned,
“N-no! We had a deal!”
Nathanial
Wade, in a haze from the cancer medicine, asked, “What’s…who’s…what’s going on, Mal?”
“A human?”
“With cancer,” Malcolm added as he grunted, “…can you put me down, now?”
Mr. Sinister complied as he lowered Malcolm to the floor, “What kind of cancer?”
“The rare kind,” Malcolm said as he cleared his throat. “You wouldn’t fix my face—because you wanted a real challenge…so, here it is.”
Sinister, somewhat caught off-guard, smiled and gripped his chin, “Hm.”
“What do you say?” Malcolm asked.
“It won’t be easy,” Sinister said as he looked down at his patient. “I wasn’t expecting this, honestly…I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise his brain activity will remain as precise as it once was…”
Genosha.
Now.
“Well, you’ve got me where you want me,” Dr. Janis Suriyama said as she folded her arms across her bleach-white lab coat. Behind her was a large arch or doorway, peering directly into the timestream. The abandoned warehouse was littered with unconscious Genoshan citizens—mutants—people Suriyama recruited for her “dangerous” experiments.
“How did you create the Askani?” Cable asked. “More importantly, why did you do it?”
The middle-aged Japanese woman shifted her weight, “It’s not as simple as—”
“I’m growing impatient,” Cable growled as his left arm formed itself into a large energy cannon. “Where did you get the knowledge to build this thing?”
Dr. Suriyama’s shoulders slumped, “Give me some credit here. I all I was given was an idea to this story, the beginning and the end…and then I filled in the blanks. Tell me, Cable, haven’t you ever heard of the predestination paradox? Or more commonly referred to as the grandfather paradox?”
“Well, I know I’m not my own grandfather, if that’s what you’re implying,” Cable mumbled.
“You want to know why I created time travel?” Dr. Suriyama wondered. She held up a miniaturized CD and inserted it into a computer terminal. But Cable could read the contents of the disc even before she put it in.
And his eyes widened.
Data flashed before the screen as the converted PDF booted up. The document was titled, THE BOOK OF THE ASKANI, by Irene Merryweather.
“Your biographer told me to,” Dr. Suriyama said.
Weapon X.
Classified Location.
Age 30.
“His body is rejecting the procedure…,” Sinister sighed while in the guise of a Weapon X surgeon. He looked at Malcolm, who had a surgeon mask over his face.
Malcolm regrettably nodded, “Send him to Killebrew.”
As Wade floated in a vat of pink chemicals with wires and various spikes sticking out of his body, his head bald from the procedure, he simply floated. While he looked at Malcolm and “Dr. Windsor” through the fish-eye lens of his cylindrical prison, he could tell something was wrong.
Little did Wade know the Dr. Windsor that gave him his healing factor was actually Sinister in disguise…or that Sinister knew the healing factor worked—and had all the information he needed on his latest experiment.
“Flush him,” Dr. Windsor said while smiling beneath his surgeon mask.
Now.
“Wade?” Malcolm asked. “You can wake up now.”
Deadpool cleared his throat and blinked a few times to add moisture to his dried eyes, “Is it over? Are you real or my ex-girlfriend shape-shifted into Malcolm Colcord?”
Malcolm grunted within the darkened room, “It’s me, Wade. No more smoke and mirrors. We showed you your memories…”
Deadpool snickered, “How long do you suspect I’ll remember them? My brain is like a lava lamp…”
“Not long,” Malcolm said regrettably. “But it was just a gesture of good faith on our part…who knows, maybe on the subconscious level, you can move on?”
“Where’s Diana?” Wade said as he sat up and pulled his mask over his face.
“Recovering,” Malcolm said. “I had to kill her in order for our mystics to take over her body and access her powers in order to reboot your memories. There are ways of getting around your fluid brain…unfortunately, it’s a little messy. But don’t worry, we put her soul back in her body and patched her up. We’ve got our hands in interdimensional technology. Repairing a dead body is quite easy. Recently-dead, anyway.”
“You killed her just to give me my memories back?!” Deadpool growled. “And for what?!”
“To help set into motion what needs to be,” Malcolm said.
“I don’t know what you’re after, Colcord,” Deadpool said. “But you better stay out of my way. Consider this my resignation…”
“Perhaps…you should stay out of ours?” Malcolm stated as the darkened room suddenly began to fade away, leaving Wade in the middle of an open lot of concrete. The operators of Department X no doubt adjusted their settings to be a few more milliseconds out of phase.
Deadpool focused his thoughts on Cable and commanded, “Bodyslide by one.”
{{Command belayed}}
“Wha--?” Deadpool wondered. “Damn it, Weasel! Help a brother out!”
“No one’s getting in or out—until we find Cable!” a man shouted as he revealed himself from the shadows. “And save the future!”
Deadpool unsheathed his katana, “And who might you be, stranger?”
The bald man stepped into the light, his own katana drawn with a smirk, “I’m you…a few thousand years older.”
“…yeahbutwhat…?” Deadpool garbled.
Deadpool blinked a few times as he was now standing on the main deck of Greymalkin. Weasel ran up to the railed ledge of his computer station, “Wade! You okay, man? This is the second time I’ve been cut off from you two—what the hell—futuristic tech my ass!”
Deadpool sheathed his katana, “Hrm. That was weird…and by weird I mean I just discovered my origins and I’m not totally sure if it’s sunk in yet…especially since I was just about to get into a fight with my future self.”
“I’ll take that as a maybe, then,” Weasel retorted.
“Where’s Nate?” Deadpool asked. He pulled off his mask, revealing his scarred and calloused skin. “We need to talk…”
“About what?” Weasel wondered. “I think he’s a little…tied up at the moment. Possibly trying to avoid an international incident and pissing off Magneto’s posse.”
“I don’t think Triple L is as evil as we once thought…,” Deadpool said with some regret. “Malcolm isn’t, anyway…he was the one who saved me from...The c-word.”
“…?”
“Cancer,” Wade emphasized.
“Oh,” Weasel nodded. “Are you sure it wasn’t some illusion?” Weasel wondered.
Wade shook his head, “My mind can’t be tampered with…I was reliving the whole thing. It must have been true…right?”
“I guess you learn something new every day,” Weasel advised.
Genosha.
Now.
Cable frowned as his left arm returned to a more humanoid, albeit mechanical, appearance. “Damn it, Irene…I thought it was destroyed.”
“She gave it to me before Apocalypse took over the world in confidence…ever the reporter—she tried to reach me for months until I finally had enough time in my schedule. But then, the Apocalypse happened. And after you helped defeat him…and Irene met her untimely death, I decided to take it a little more seriously,” Dr. Suriyama explained.
“But I don’t get it…,” Cable said. His heart sunk for his one-time lover that died simply for being associated with him—after the Shadow King used her as a puppet to brutally kill herself. “Why would she go to you…someone she didn’t even know?”
“I…I suppose she had a feeling,” Dr. Suriyama said as she shrugged half-heartedly. Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, “It runs in the family…”
“Momma…?” a young voice croaked as a young boy wandered into the lab.
“No, honey…,” Dr. Suriyama gasped as she ran up to her son, hoisting him into her arms. The boy had an odd skin coloration—almost a pale yellow, and somewhat scaly arms.
Cable sighed, “Oath! Your son’s a mutant. I’m sorry…I didn’t know. I guess there would be no place safer for you than …?” He paused. “Wait…he’s…”
Janis wiped her tears with her son still clutching to her for dear life. His protruding, insect-like eyes seemed to look into the time portal with a sense of wonder. “Don’t hate him for not telling you he was born around the same time you were…,” was all Janis could say.
“Who’s he?” the young child asked.
Cable sighed as he peered into the eyes of the boy that would someday become his mentor and sensei in the Askani arts, “…Blaquesmith?”
NEXT / ISSUE: Hopefully you’ll see it before next year! If not, Happy New Year 2012, everybody! (uh…hopefully that Mayan prophecy is bullshit, anyway!)
CABLE / DEADPOOL
BIBLIO/GRAPHY
- Upon Charles Xavier’s death by assassination, many members of X-Force joined Magneto in Genosha and became the Fallen Angels. During an attempt at rebellion, Magneto killed Shatterstar. Cable never had a chance to rectify the death of his former teammate and the defection of his former protégés until now.
- The Askani were founded 2000 years in the future by a time-lost Rachel Summers as a rebellion against Apocalypse. Upon Rachel’s death, her second-in-command, Madame Sanctity (also known as Tanya Trask—daughter of the Sentinels’ creator, Bolivar Trask) formed the group into a right wing religious sisterhood. Blaquesmith, being a member of the original group, eventually trained a young Cable in the unique martial arts and philosophy of the Askani.
- Although not entirely known or confirmed, it seemed the Weapon X program that spawned Wolverine and later Deadpool had access to many of Mr. Sinister’s notes. The totality of his involvement in the program is unknown. As we learned this issue, Deadpool’s healing factor was tailored by Mr. Sinister himself.