What to say about this series... I'm not sure if words can describe it. The story is great in so many ways. The rich language, stunning description, the concept, it's phenomenal execution... then there is the characterization. What Alicia has done with Cable is amazing. She has completely deconstructed the character, providing a frightening glimpse into his soul. Truly astounding. I truly cannot recommend it highly enough. ~JenMorrioghan
Broken
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
(R)
Captured by the Dark Riders, Cable accepts
Apocalypse's offer of one-on-one combat--and loses. But that defeat is
only the beginning... I had huge amounts of help with this story. Not
just from Redhawk, but from a number of the original #plotting crew, and I
can honestly say that I'd never have gotten through this without them.
They shored up my courage, helped me whenever I was stuck, and were an
appreciative audience throughout the whole process.
Crusade
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 in progress...
(R)
Apocalypse continues the process of molding Cable
into his paladin, and the X-Men and X-Force begin to realize that rescue
may no longer be an option. Oddly, I've never been as happy with this
one as I was with 'Broken'. It suffers from a bit of a lack of focus, as
if it's reflecting the mental state of its main character or some such
thing. But it does have a number of moments I'm still quite proud of,
although it's gotten even darker than 'Broken' as it's
progressed.
This series is unique among my fics, in that I very often dislike it, almost always find it excruciating to write, and can never quite make up my mind whether I'm satisfied with any of it--but keep writing, despite everything. The reason for this, I think, is the reception that it's gotten. I certainly wouldn't have kept going without all the encouragement I've received from readers.
The whole series can be traced back to a story challenge on OTL, where the first line of the story had to be 'So this is hell; the walls need paint'. My original idea was for a short one-shot allowing a glance into Cable's mind in the event of the worst possible conclusion to his mission. Then Redhawk, who's been a faithful co-plotter on this, infected me with the idea of a longer story--which turned into an even longer story, which turned into a proposed trilogy.
It really is an experiment. How bad could things get for Cable, if he was defeated and left at Apocalypse's 'mercy'? What if Apocalypse didn't simply kill him, but decided instead to use him? JenMorrioghan called this a deconstruction of his character, and I think that's probably the best possible description. I've deliberately taken him as far into the dark as I can, if not quite as far as I might have.
Bringing him back out the other side is the part that makes it all worthwhile.
As always, if you read something you like, let me know . I'd love to hear about it.--Alicia