True Believers: Part Four
"Anything yet?" Domino asked impatiently. Scott shook his head, and went back to helping Hank adjust the sensors. She sighed, tapping her foot irritably. After they'd arrived back at the mansion, Hank had insisted on running a few scans on Nathan just to make sure the Phoenix-energy had truly gone dormant again. In the process, they'd discovered a residual temporal energy signature in the molecules of the T-O virus that should, theoretically, have allowed them to adjust the mansion's sensors to detect the temporal waves.
So far, it hadn't worked. Domino jumped as Logan appeared at her side. He gave her a chiding look.
"Sorry, darlin'. But preoccupied or not, you should've heard me."
She made a face at him. "Point taken, old man." She watched Scott and Hank work for a few moments, and then turned back to Logan. "How're our guests?"
"Well, if Wisdom doesn't start explaining himself, I wouldn't put odds on him living until evening. Kitty's starting to get more than a little pissed at him." Logan gave her a curious look. "Do you know Wisdom?"
"Met him once or twice, years ago," Domino said briefly. "He's a good man, Logan. Got Nate, G.W. and me out of a fairly tough situation in Ireland one time." She scowled. "Nate only ever said that he was an old friend, though--" She sighed, shaking her head. "I suspect there's a fair amount more to the story."
"There always is with Cable, isn't there?" Logan asked dryly. "Anyways, Askani's still out cold. Accordin' to Hank's monitors, she's still regenerating her psi-reserves. I'm not surprised the poor girl's done in, from what little Wisdom's told us. And as for the kid--"
The mansion shuddered around them. Scott and Hank looked up only briefly, and then returned to their work. Domino winced.
"Hasn't anyone tried to talk to him?" She wasn't a big fan of Nate Grey by any means. His role in Onslaught was one big reason, though she wasn't too thrilled by what he'd almost done to Nathan in Switzerland, either. But it seemed counterproductive to just leave him down there, locked in the Z'nox chamber, while he tried to bring the mansion down around their heads.
"Can't," Logan said with an attempt at a diffident shrug. "If we open that chamber before he calms down, we have a real problem on our hands." He gave her a faintly ironic smile. "Of course, we could always wait until Cable wakes up and then let the two of them have at it."
Domino felt her skin crawl at the suggestion. "Are you serious?" she nearly shrieked at him. "I think it would be nice to keep the planet in one piece, Logan! I know you had your own problems at the time, but didn't Jean or Betsy ever tell you what happened the last time they fought? The kid nearly ripped the astral plane apart." She shuddered. "And with all this extra power at his disposal, I somehow doubt Nathan would just sit back and let the kid hammer at him if it ever came to a rematch."
Something about the whole idea just terrified her, beyond all the logical reasons, on an instinctive level she couldn't even begin to explain. Domino scowled, realizing that she was trembling. What the hell's wrong with me?
Logan gave her a measuring look. "Darlin', why don't we go get some coffee?" His voice was mild, but as she looked over at him, she saw a flicker of real concern in his eyes. She told herself firmly to calm down, and managed a smile. "I think Scott and Hank'd probably finish faster if you weren't hovering."
"Beautiful idea, my beclawed friend," Hank said extravagantly, waving some kind of tool in their direction. "Begone, fair lady! I shall summon thee instantly with any news."
"You didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, did you, Hank?" Domino asked wryly, feeling her composure begin to return. She led Logan lead her to the kitchen, where they found Jean, Dana, and Sam eating a late lunch. She couldn't quite shake the sense that their lives were taking a turn for the surreal lately. Between the temporal waves, the out-of-control younger version of Nathan in the basement, and an Askani on an unknown mission lying unconscious in the medlab, they were facing something of a crisis. Yet here these three were, eating lunch like nothing was wrong. Just another day at the X-Mansion.
Jean gave her an inquiring look, and Domino shook her head. "Nothing yet." She started over to the coffee pot, but Logan gestured her away.
"Sit down, Dom," he growled. "Black, right?"
Sitting down at the table, she nodded at him with a grateful smile. "So," she said idly, studying Sam and Dana's body language with fond amusement. "What have the two of you been up to while Nate and I have been snowbound up in Alaska?"
Not surprisingly, Sam flushed. Dana, on the other hand, gave him a wicked grin.
"Not much," she said, although her eyes were sparkling merrily. "How about you?"
Domino snorted. "Less than nothing," she said. "I'm almost glad this happened. If we'd been trapped in that house together for too much longer, there probably would have been blood on the walls." She couldn't help but smile, though. She might have been ready to perish of boredom, but the last couple of weeks'd had their high points, as well. Especially that night on the roof, the one night when the sky had been clear and the northern lights were out in their full glory--of course, neither of us were paying very much attention to the scenery--
"Oh, really?" Dana said, and it was Domino's turn to blush as she realized the young empath had picked up on her brief reverie. "That's a shame," she continued mischieviously. "Must have been quite a disappointment--" She suddenly fell silent, going quite pale. "Oh, shit. I think I'm going to hide now."
Jean sat straight up in her chair, looking very alert, and Domino groaned as she felt fury pouring down the psi-link from Nathan's end.
#DOMINO!#
"Oh, Lord," she muttered. "Mind if I join you, Dana?" It was only partially a joke.
There was a flash of golden light in the middle of the kitchen. When it faded, Nathan was standing there. As angry as he obviously was, he also looked so disoriented that Domino was surprised he'd actually managed to teleport himself downstairs.
"WHAT did you do to me?" he roared.
"Well--" She took a deep breath and gave him her brightest smile. "Succinctly? I hit you. Then I drugged you."
He looked about ready to bellow at her again, but Logan planted himself between them, a strange smile on his face.
"Morning, Nate. Coffee?"
Nathan gave him a suspicious look. "Decaf?"
"No."
"Good." He took the mug Logan offered him and downed it in about two gulps. Then, walking with what seemed like a great deal of care, he went over to the coffeepot and refilled his cup. His hand was shaking as he did it, but he persisted stubbornly, and managed to avoid spilling anything. He drank this cup more slowly.
"We could set up an IV line if you want," Logan said in amusement.
"Hah, hah." He turned back towards them, quite obviously using the counter to support himself. "Why is the room spinning?" he asked planitively.
"Well, Dom did give you a little more than the reccommended dosage of the particular sedative she used," Jean said casually, giving him a bland smile. "Although I'd imagine that leaping out of bed and teleporting down here was less than beneficial to your equilibrium."
"Don't lecture me," he growled. Then he seemed to realize where they were for the first time. "We're back at the mansion?"
"Obviously," Logan said, raising an eyebrow. "Feeling a little slow this afternoon, Nate?"
Nathan gave him a warning look, and Logan, smiling faintly, backed off. "Why are we back at the mansion?" he asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How long was I out?"
"About eight hours," Jean admitted. He muttered something under his breath and she raised an eyebrow. "Don't swear at me, Nate," she said warningly. "I told you not to draw on that Phoenix-energy. Quite frankly, I'm getting just a little sick of you ignoring everything I say. I've had years more experience with my powers! That at least should give me some credibility!"
He flushed, but didn't protest his innocence, and Domino sighed. She was hoping the partial Phoenix-manifestation had been accidental, but from the look in his eyes, it had been quite deliberate.
"I had to find out--" he muttered.
"I know," Jean said, the anger gone from her voice. "But it was still a very dangerous thing to do."
"Neccessary things often are," he grated. It had the sound of another one of his Askani proverbs. They stared at each other for a few moments, neither blinking. Logan finally chuckled, breaking the stalemate.
"And I used to wonder what side of the family you inherited that stubborn streak of yours from, Nate." He shook his head at Jean. "Lecture delivered, Red. Let it go. And as for you, bub," he continued, giving Nathan a severe look, "you should be glad Dom found a relatively easy way to deal with the situation. Easy on you, I mean. I wouldn't want to have to resort to that little trick Bishop pulled in Alberta too often. 'Specially since we're not sure if that contributed to nearly wiping out your own psi-reserves."
"How did you know, Dom?" Nathan asked almost diffidently. He wouldn't meet her eyes, and Domino sighed.
"The color of that energy web you created," she explained. "Every time I've seen you use your powers intensely enough to create a visual trace, the ionization has been gold. This time, it was more red--and according to Logan, the same thing happened when you used the Phoenix-energy in Alberta." Tenatively, she extended a wordless apology along their psi-link. Eventually, he looked down at her, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, stop that. It's not like you haven't done worse. Remember the time in China when you shot me?" Jean looked appalled, Logan winced, and Sam and Dana just stared, their eyes as wide as dinner plates.
Domino swallowed. "Vividly." Not one of my more pleasant memories, either. The first and only time she'd ever been responsible for a case of friendly fire, it had happened not longer after she'd hooked up with Nate and G.W. She'd had nightmares about it for years.
"Then don't worry about this," he said gruffly, but there was a peculiarly gentle look in his eyes. "It's mostly my fault, anyways. Jean's right, I shouldn't have drawn on the Phoenix energy." He sighed, turning around to pour himself a third cup of coffee. "I was just getting so frustrated."
"Which is even more dangerous than using it in the first place, I'd think," Logan said soberly. Nathan glanced at him, and Logan continued, meeting Nathan's eyes unwaveringly. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, Jeannie, but I understood that Madelyne's link was to the Dark Phoenix, not the Phoenix-force in its pure form. I'm no expert, Nate, but I'd think that any negative emotion would just feed the piece of it you inherited."
"But the Dark Phoenix eventually--redeemed itself, didn't it?" Sam asked, sounding confused. "Ah mean--she sacrificed herself--ah mean her human form." He shook his head. "The files're a mess," he said planitively. "Ah'm still not sure ah understand what exactly happened."
"I don't think I need to worry about turning into a new Dark Phoenix," Nathan said calmly, sounding more self-assured than Domino expected. "Sam's right. The Phoenix did redeem herself on the moon. The--distortion ended when its corporeal form was destroyed. What Madelyne did later with the power it gave her was shaped by her own hate and bitterness. Power itself isn't inherently evil or good--that comes in the way you use it." He smiled somewhat sympathetically at Sam. "If I were you, Guthrie, I'd just leave the topic alone. It's hard enough to understand if you were there."
"Wait a minute!" Jean said sharply, catching the same implication that Domino did. "Nate, you were there? On the moon when Dark Phoenix died?"
"Obviously," he said, sounding a little impatient. "You know, Uatu was pretty pissed at you when you stumbled into his home like that, Logan."
"Where WERE you?" Jean persisted, still sounding like she didn't quite believe it. "I mean, no one ever said anything about seeing you--"
"I was with Uatu--and Blaquesmith, who insisted upon wiping part of that memory, Logan, which is why you don't remember." He gave Logan an apologetic shrug. "You weren't supposed to be there, and according to Uatu, half the timelines in this nexus would have collapsed if you'd seen me and remembered."
Logan walked over to stand right in front of Nathan, his expression deadly serious. "Nate, was that the only time you were skulking around?"
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
"Just answer the question," Logan said in the same level, overly controlled voice. "Were you there other times, too?"
Domino exchanged a quick, worried glance with Jean, not entirely sure what was going on. Nathan seemed unaware of their concern. He took another sip of coffee, and then gave Logan what could only be described as an enigmatic smile.
"Why am I not surprised that you'd be the one to ask me that?" He seemed to consider the question for a moment longer. "Well--there was that time on the moon. The fight with Proteus. Magneto's island, that mess with Mastermind and Madelyne, Magneto's trial, the fight with the Hellfire Club over Rachel--" He suddenly scowled. "Not the Mutant Massacre, though. Blaquesmith knew better, and kept me in the dark about that one. Ah--the so-called 'Fall of the Mutants'. I was in Roma's fortress when you all fought the Adversary. And then Inferno." He smiled faintly. "Which was a slightly disturbing experience in hindsight. There were other times, too--some not technically related to the X-Men at all." He frowned, looking unsure. "I had to see the--nexus points. Blaquesmith said it was part of my education."
Logan was much too calm, Domino thought nervously. "You were there," he said quietly. "All those times, you were there----and you didn't think to lend a hand?"
"I would have," Nathan said, forthrightly. "But I couldn't. I actually did try, against Proteus. But Blaquesmith used one of those lovely little Askani techniques that no one taught me, and I woke up back in one of the safehouses. I wasn't allowed to interfere, Logan. Only to watch." He chuckled. "And then I hooked up with X-Force, and started to play an active role in all of these momentous events. Blaquesmith was not impressed with me."
Domino picked her jaw up off the floor. "O--kay," she said slowly. "And to think G.W. and I used to think you were just somewhere blowing off steam whenever you disappeared." She shook her head. It's like peeling an onion, she thought wonderingly.
#I heard that.#
"Look, this is all very, very interesting," Dana said with some reluctance. "But shouldn't we be filling him in on everything else that's been going on while he was in dreamland?" Almost on cue, the mansion shuddered again.
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "And what, precisely, was that?"
Domino sighed, glancing around at the others. No one seemed inclined to answer his question.
"Dom?"
"We have company."
***
"Kitty," Pete said imploringly, but Kitty scowled at him and looked at his outstretched hand as if she wanted to take it off at the wrist. "Can't you trust me?" When she didn't respond, he growled, beginning to get a little frustrated. "For God's sake, Pryde, it's not like I turned out to be a bloody axe murderer or something."
She fixed him with one of those penetrating looks that always made him feel like she was looking right into his soul. "Rachel was my best friend," she said flatly. "She founded this--Clan Askani, whatever you want to call it. If you're mixed up in this somehow, I think I deserve to know how!" Her eyes suddenly widened. "You haven't--time-traveled, have you?"
He cracked a smile. "Me? Never. And believe me, Kitty, I will never time-travel, not even if the bloody world depended on it--"
"You shouldn't say things like that, Pete. It's the quickest way I know to find yourself in a situation you want to avoid."
Pete whirled. Cable was standing in the doorway, watching them with a faint smile. "It's about bloody time you woke up, old man," he said with some heat, finding in Cable the perfect target for his frustration. "I was about ten seconds away from pinching a plane and flying home."
"Without delivering your message?" Cable asked. His expression was impassive, but Pete knew him well enough to realize he was teasing. "Dunworthy would hunt you down to the ends of the earth, Wisdom."
"Probably," Pete said dryly. He looked at Cable speculatively, noticing the weariness in his face with a twinge of concern. "How are you feeling?" he asked casually, firmly squelching the memory of that dreadful day six weeks ago when there'd been nothing to do but wait for news from Westchester. Few of his fellow Excalibur members knew Nathan as anything but Rachel's brother and Scott and Jean's son, but that had been enough to make it very quiet around the medical research station. Moira had been a marvel, but as soon as the good word had come in, she'd shut down the vid-link, gone to her rooms, and cried for hours. Pete had felt like a beast listening in, but as much as he and MacTaggert sparred with each other, he'd still wanted to make sure she was all right. Of course, Moira didn't know that he knew about her knowing Cable from years ago--
"Better," Cable answered offhandedly. "Then again, you know from personal experience that I'm a hard man to kill, don't you?" The gleam of amusement in his eyes was unmasked this time.
"Pete!" Kitty exclaimed, sounding appalled. Pete shot Cable a disgusted look. "Tell me you didn't try to--"
"I did," Pete grumbled, not meeting her eyes. "It was one of my early assignments." He glared at Cable. "Thanks ever so much, old friend. That was exactly how I thought I'd introduce her to this whole thing, too."
"So what happened?" Kitty asked urgently.
"Good old Nate here was polite enough not to laugh in my face, that's what happened," Pete growled, and then fell silent. "How much more am I allowed to say?" he asked quietly, staring at the floor.
"Pete," Cable said patiently. "Tell her."
Pete sighed. "You're sure?" The habit of secrecy was a hard one to break.
"Positive. She deserves to know." He smiled at Kitty, whose expression had softened a bit at his words. "Besides, Rachel would want her to be a part of this." He turned to go. "Then come and find me. We need to get a plan together--"
"Ah, Nate? The message?"
"You told me already, Pete."
Pete scowled. "I did no such thing, you--" He blinked. "Wait a bloody minute! You read my mind?"
Cable paused, and glanced back at him. "Obviously, Wisdom."
"Bastard," Pete growled. "I didn't feel anything."
"So? I'm getting subtle in my old age."
As Cable headed out the door, Pete half-heartedly threw a few Askani curses after him. Cable snorted. "Your accent is still atrocious, boy. Don't be too long."
And then he was gone, either to check on Askani or the kid, Pete figured. Or probably both. Grumbling under his breath, he turned back to Kitty, who looked intrigued.
"That went well," he said dryly. "His manners are slipping. Usually he wouldn't have just pulled it out of my head like that."
"Stop stalling and spill it, Wisdom," Kitty said sternly. "I heard him give you permission."
Pete sighed. "Let's sit down, then," he suggested. "It's a long story." He went over and sat down on the couch. After a moment, Kitty joined him. Pete took a deep breath and plunged headfirst into the story that he'd never told anyone.
"It started ten years ago," he began, smiling at how attentive Kitty looked. "Like I said, I was sent to kill him. He'd been interfering with some operation or another--I wasn't told, and at that point, I was too stupid to ask. It turned out that a few key people in British Intelligence were actually agents for Apocalypse."
"Yikes," Kitty muttered. Pete gave her a pained smile.
"Bloody monster's got people everywhere, Kitty. If I told you everything I knew, you wouldn't believe half of it. And what I know is only a fraction of the truth." He sighed. "Anyways, these agents were the ones running the operation, and it was them the kill order came down from."
"And you figured this out?"
"Hell, no! Like I said, I was a stupid kid at the time. I went merrily about my business, brimming with overconfidence in my own abilities--" Kitty laughed, and Pete gave her a dark look. "I tracked him to Mexico City, and I did my level best to kill him. Imagine my chagrin when I found out how bloody totally outclassed I was." Pete sighed. "He could've finished me off half a dozen times, but didn't. I think he felt a little sorry for me, actually."
"So what happened?"
"Well, after he'd finished giving me a lesson in hand-to-hand combat and why you shouldn't rely on your mutant power too much, he offered to show me what was really going on." He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing once again the inside of the warehouse that Cable had taken him to. "I still don't know exactly what they were doing in the warehouse he showed me," he said quietly. "There were people--men, women, even children on slabs, hooked up to machines like nothing I'd ever seen before. Some of them were screaming, writhing--" Kitty reached out and took his hand. Pete forced himself to give her a reassuring smile. "I'm all right, Kitty. But back then, I wasn't quite as jaded as I am now. I--now, how to put this without making myself sound like a bloody fool?" he mused.
"Flipped?" she guessed, a strange gleam in her eyes. "Lost it? Blew like a volcano?"
"Thanks ever so much, Pryde," Pete said dryly. "Anyways, I went running down into the middle of it all like the fool amateur I was. I'm surprised Nate didn't turn around and leave me there."
"Somehow I don't think that's his style," Kitty said softly. "Go on."
"Anyways, they were expecting an attack. Mutants started popping out of the woodwork. I held my own for a while, but my career was about to come to an untimely end when Cable finally stepped in." He smiled at Kitty. "Ever seen him fight?"
"No, actually."
"It's not for the faint of heart. He didn't use his mutant powers back then very often--couldn't, from what I understand--but I still think he would've taken them all down if he hadn't had me to worry about." Pete hesitated. "I'm--not really sure what happened next. Nate told me later that there was another telepath there, that I ended up on the receiving end of a psi-attack. All I can remember is the pain--like being turned inside out. I passed out, I guess. The next thing I can clearly remember is waking up in one of Nate's safehouses." Pete sighed, staring down at the floor. "The psi-attack just about killed me, Kitty. I still have nightmares about those weeks. I couldn't move, couldn't speak--" He swallowed hard. "I could hear Nathan arguing with Blaquesmith about what to do with me, though." He smiled faintly at Kitty's uncomprehending look. "That's right. You never met Blaquesmith, did you? Lucky girl. Anyways, the little rat thought they should throw me out in the street to die. Nate wouldn't let him."
"But you recovered," Kitty said, holding onto his hand very tightly.
"Not without help. Oh, Nathan was under the impression that he was just a low-level psi back then, but he did what he could. Blaquesmith wouldn't lift a finger to help me--it was either Nate did it himself, or I stayed a vegetable for the rest of my life. He knew the technique, but it was so much harder for him, Kitty. Night after night, I'd feel him inside my head, stitching my mind back together piece by piece. It took weeks. But while he did it he talked to me, for hours on end, about everything under the sun. It was the only thing that kept me sane, I think." Pete blinked at his lover, surprised to see that she looked on the verge of tears. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said hurriedly, rubbing her eyes. "What didn't you ever tell me about this?" She laughed breathlessly. "I seem to remember you making a derogatory comment about Cable and his guns one time. Was that to throw me off the trail?"
Pete squirmed. "Kitty, I wasn't very proud of myself. After all he did for me, I turned around and laughed in his face when he told me who he and Blaquesmith were and what they were doing." He shrugged. "But even for a stupid kid, I suppose I had some sense of honor. I told him that I owed him, and if he ever needed anything from me, to ask. Then he gave me this--" He fished out the medallion and handed it to Kitty. "He told me to go back to my own life, and if he needed to call in the favor, he'd find me." Pete grinned wryly. "A year later, Dunworthy showed up on my doorstep."
"Who?"
"Oh, you'll like Dunworthy, Kitty. Anyways, I ended up becoming an unofficial member of Cable's European organization. Every so often they'd need something from me, and I'd do my best to help. Even when I worked for Black Air." He shook his head ruefully. "And Nathan kept tabs on me, too. I actually ran a couple of missions with him and the Six-Pack, although he warned me that if I ever spilled the beans to any of them he'd break my neck." He stared out the window, trying to find the right words to explain the impact it had all had on his life. "I'd come off a mission for my 'real' employers, hating myself, hating the world--and then I'd get a message from Nate or Dunworthy, or someone would show up on my doorstep. Then I'd go off to do something different, something that actually had a chance of changing the world for the better. It gave me hope, in a way." He smiled at her. "Every time they drew me in a little deeper. I was still a cynic, but I started to wonder if there wasn't something better out there. Then I met you, and I knew for sure--"
She leaned forward and kissed him. After a long moment, she drew back, her eyes a mystery.
"I love you, you know," she said softly.
"I should bloody hope so," he grumbled, feeling like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "So are you coming? Nate's going to be waiting for us."
"Too bad. If he's as much like Rachel as I think he is, a lesson in patience won't hurt him," she said cryptically, and kissed him again.
***
As he approached the medlab, Nathan finally couldn't take it anymore. Leaning against the wall, he gritted his teeth and fought stubbornly with his flickering shields. It was becoming quite clear, as the last of the sedative wore off, that what Emma had said to him had been all too true. His shields hadn't improved nearly as much as he thought they had. Quite frankly, they seemed little better than they'd been the day he'd teleported to Alaska.
"Damn," he muttered. "I don't need this. I can't afford this!" His head was throbbing, and he knew, from the experiences of the last six weeks, that it would just get worse. He tried to control the pain. After a few moments of concentration, he felt a little better. Taking a deep breath, he turned and walked into the medlab.
"Hey, Cable," Cecilia said idly from where she sat at the monitoring station. "Come to check on the patient?"
He grunted, and went over to the biobed where the Askani lay, still unconscious. "How is she?" he asked, studying her face with increasing uneasiness. He would bet money on the fact that he had never met this woman before, but something about her face was very familiar.
"She should regain consciousness soon," Cecilia informed him. "Her psi-levels are nearly back to normal--I think. It's difficult to tell, when we don't have any idea of how strong she is."
"Very strong," Nathan murmured. "All the Askani sisters are what we'd call alpha-class psis." Hesitantly, he reached out and touched her mind. Her shields were at their thickest, barring him from seeing even a stray thought. I remember when my shields used to do that, he thought with a flash of black humor.
He sensed, rather than heard Cecilia come up beside him. "Jean tried to read her earlier," the young doctor said. "She didn't get anything. She thought you might have more luck."
He gave her a faint smile. "Not likely. An Askani would have even more reason to keep me out of her head."
Cecilia looked puzzled. "That---doesn't make much sense, Nathan. Aren't you supposed to be their 'Chosen One' or something?"
"Which gives them every reason to keep things from me," Nathan said dryly. "To them, I'm incapable of crossing the street without someone holding my hand." Cecilia looked even more baffled, and he sighed. "Ignore me. I tend to rant sometimes."
She gave him a hesitant smile, and Nathan noticed for the first time how attractive she was. Drake would be a lucky man if he ever woke up and recognized the obvious, he thought tiredly. Of course, who am I to be pointing that out?
Turning his attention back to Askani, he set a mind-tag that would activate when she awoke, telling her where she was and filling her in on the situation. From what he'd seen in Pete's thoughts, she'd pushed herself too hard right on the heels of her time-jump, so she'd probably be more than a little disoriented when she woke up.
I should stay. It would be the wise thing to do--after all, the chances were better than good that she was here to see him for some dire reason or another. But he couldn't just sit there and wait for her to wake up. There was something else he had to do.
"Would you let me know when she comes to?" he asked Cecilia, who nodded. "Thank you." He teleported.
The moment of transition silenced the telepathic roar in his head, but as soon as he reemerged into normal space, the renewed noise seemed so much louder that it drove him to his knees in the shallow water of the tunnel.
"Cable!" Bishop's thoughts exploded dangerously against his fragile shields as the other man tried to help him up.
"No!" he gasped, pulling away. "Don't---"
He felt Bishop back off, but only a short dsitance. "Your shields?" the X-Man asked him carefully. "Should I get Jean?"
"Shut--up for a minute!" Nathan growled, and managed to strengthen his shields slightly. He took a deep breath, willing his heart to slow down to a normal pace. "I have got to stop doing that, I think," he said with a sort of desperate humor, looking up at Bishop.
"What, teleporting?" Bishop asked, looking troubled. He rose to his feet and offered Nathan a hand up. Nathan shook his head, and struggled to his feet without assistance. No sense in testing his shields any further.
He glanced around, relieved to see he'd come through exactly where he'd intended. He'd visualized this part of the tunnels, right outside the Z'nox chamber, very carefully before he'd made the jump. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally reematerialize into solid rock.
"Open the chamber," he said.
"Excuse me?" Bishop nearly choked. Almost on cue, the walls around them shuddered again. Nathan smiled tightly. If the room hadn't been so securely psi-shielded, he'd almost have suspected that Nate had sensed his arrival. "Have you gone quite insane?"
"Bishop, do me a favor? Don't argue with me."
"I will most certainly argue with you, Cable," Bishop growled. "You teleport down here, fall on your face, and then expect me to open the door and let you in there when the boy is clearly out of control?"
Nathan considered it for a moment. "Sounds about right."
"You are insane."
"No, just practical." Nathan said casually. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For--" Bishop's expression went blank as Nathan reached out and telepathically froze him where he stood. It took surprisingly little effort, and Nathan scowled as he took the lock code from Bishop's mind.
So easy to do something that was so wrong--the paradox of his life, he sometimes thought. Or maybe he'd just spent too much time under Blaquesmith's tutelage--too many years of obeying, rather than trusting his own instincts. He tapped in the lock code, throwing up a TK shield just in case Nate bolted as soon as the door opened.
But as the enormous hatch swung open, it was very quiet. Nathan sent Bishop a telepathic command to wake up in five minutes, and then telekinetically scrambled the lock mechanism. That should buy us some time, he thought, and stepped into the chamber, pulling the door shut behind him.
Nate knelt on the far side of the chamber, huddled against the wall. Nathan reached towards him telepathically, flinching as he encountered the turmoil in the boy's mind.
His heart sank as he saw the remains of the psi-link. "Oath, what have I done?" he whispered, horrified. The more logical part of his mind pointed out instantly that that it was hardly his fault. But he could see how the psi-link had snapped into existence, probably at the same moment his TK shield had shattered in Alberta. And the psionic feedback that had nearly killed him had been reflected, in part, into Nate's mind.
What do I do? He had healed the boy's mind once from damage much worse than this. But with his own shields so weak, linking with him would be even more dangerous than usual. Remembering the sort of psi-attack Nate was capable of, Nathan felt a little queasy. Such an assault would slice through his pitiful excuse for shielding like a hot knife through butter.
"But I can't just leave him like this," he muttered to himself, seeing fractured images of Nate's confrontation with Askani. Nathan frowned, realizing that the boy was blocking something from that meeting, supressing something so deeply that it would take hours to dig out. A puzzle for another time, Nathan thought uneasily, wondering what she could have said to him.
"Nate? It's me, Cable." The boy seemed not to hear him. Cautiously, Nathan walked over to him, keeping his TK shield up. That, at least, he could rely on. "Nate? Can you hear me?"
"Go--away," Nate hissed, not looking at him. But utter hatred suddenly lashed out at Nathan, and he staggered backwards, his shields buckling under the assault. He almost countered with an attack of his own--but no, he couldn't do that. It would just worsen the situation--
He heard someone pounding on the door, shouting. It seemed to distract Nate for just a moment--and Nathan seized the opportunity to reach out and pull the boy into a psi-link.
It was remarkably painless, considering how much agony they usually went through whenever their powers intersected. But something was different this time. Nate was struggling, fighting him, but somehow Nathan was managing to hold him off. Quite a switch from their first encounter, when he'd barely managed to keep the boy from killing him.
It's me, Nathan realized dimly. I'm different. He began to realize that something had changed in him since his near-death experience. It wasn't only greater access to his telekinesis, but something else, something--
He reached out and wiped every trace of the previous psi-link from Nate's mind. Then he set about repairing the rest of the damage, knowing he was pushing himself dangerously. But he couldn't help but marvel at how natural, how right it felt to be using his gift to heal, rather than to fight.
Preoccupied by what he was doing and with the struggle to keep the boy calm while he did it, Nathan didn't even hear the growing commotion outside the door.
***
"CABLE!" Bishop roared. He took a step back and blasted the door, but it didn't even make a dent. "Damn it, Cable, open the door!"
The alarm was shrilling continuously. The first thing he'd done upon realizing what had happened had been to hit it. He almost wished he hadn't--the damned thing was beginning to seriously irritate him.
He heard splashing and running foosteps from farther back in the tunnels. It was only moments before a whole crowd of agitated X-Men appeared, all ready to fight. When no threat presented itself, the shouting started. Part of Bishop was disgusted at the breakdown in professional behaviour, but he fought down that emotion and bellowed for silence. Surprisingly, they obeyed.
Jean pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Scott and Domino were right behind her. "What's going on?" she said urgently.
"The short version? Cable teleported down here, pulled the lock code out of my mind, left me in some kind of telepathic stasis, and locked himself in there with Nate Grey." Bishop gestured at the Z'nox chamber. "He's done something to the mechanism. I can't get the door open, and I can't blast through it."
"Goddamn it," Domino breathed, her eyes wide with fear. "What the hell is he doing?"
Scott, with a typical directness, tried blasting the door himself, with no effect. "Let me try," Joseph said, stepping forward. "I'm more familiar with the construction of this chamber, after all the time I've spent down here--" Bishop watched a halo of eerie blue light grow around Joseph's body as the former Master of Magnetism bent all his will to forcing the door open.
It didn't budge. Beads of sweat stood out on Joseph's forehead. "He's--there's a telekinetic shield on the door. I can't break through it--"
Bishop nearly stopped breathing. Joseph couldn't break through it? I honestly hope it's Cable's shield, and not the boy's
"We have t'get in there!" That was Sam, who looked about ready to try the head-first approach. "Didn't any o'you notice? The walls have stopped shaking. God only knows what the two of them are doin' in there!"
"I think that's where I come in," came a voice from the other direction. Bishop whirled to see Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom appear from down the tunnel, apparently having used a differnent access from the others. Either that, or she'd simply phased the two of them down directly. Kitty strode purposefully through the knee-deep water, shooting the door a measuring look. "I should be able to phase through the shield," she continued. "It'd take some concentration--and longer than usual, but I think I can do it." Wisdom looked like he wanted to protest, but surprisingly enough, kept his mouth shut. "Who am I taking in with me?"
"Me," Jean and Domino said at the same time.
***
Nate Grey was confused. His powers, his will, everything that could have fought back and broken the psi-link with Cable, was frozen, held in a grip of iron. But a part of his mind was free--if only to watch--and thinking more clearly that he'd been able to in weeks.
When the hell did he get so strong? Nate thought in amazement at what he sensed in his 'other self's mind'. Power to match his own, but more controlled and disciplined--and deep, deep within Cable's mind, a core of incredible strength. It seemed to burn with its own light, dwarfing anything Nate had ever touched before.
But what is he doing to me? Nate watched uneasily, but soon realized there was something very familiar about this. Tenatively, he reached into Cable's memories, and suddenly understood. Oh, hell, he thought, appalled at what he'd nearly done to Wisdom and the Askani girl. But why had no one tracked him down and told him what had happened to Cable in Alberta? Surely Jean or someone must have realized that he'd have gotten caught up in it all--
Well, as long as he was here, he might as well look around. He wasn't going to get a chance like this anytime soon. And something told him it might be good if he got to know his 'big brother' a little better. Nate started to move back into Cable's memories, beyond X-Force, before the Six-Pack--
And saw a war that wouldn't happen for another two thousand years. The psi-link was so close that Nate saw through Cable's eyes, felt everything he had felt. He held a dying Aliya in his arms, pulled a trigger and shot the brainwashed Tyler--felt despair choke his soul as he watched his rebellion die on the battlefield--
#Out, boy,# he heard Cable say. He sounded exhausted. #I don't go rooting through your memories, do I?#
Nate realized he was free, and hastily pulled out of the psi-link. Too fast, he realized. He opened his eyes and saw Cable stagger backwards, his face ashen.
"Whoa!" he said hurriedly, springing to his feet in time to keep Cable from falling over. "I'm sorry--I didn't think."
"You rarely do, as I recall?" Cable said dryly, pulling away. Nate frowned as he saw the pain and tension in the older man's eyes.
"What's the matter?" He reached out towards him tenatively, and swore. "Shit! What happened to your shields?" Appalled, Nate realized what kind of risk Cable had just taken for him--again. If I'd attacked him before we'd psi-linked, I could have killed him!
Cable gave him a faint smile. "You noticed. I'm touched." He suddenly scowled, and turned towards the door, where three heads had just appeared. "You could have waited another minute or two!" he snapped, sounding thoroughly aggravated.
Nate gaped to see Kitty, Jean, and Domino slowly phasing through the door. "Drop the shield, Cable," Kitty grated, a look of strain on her face.
"It's not mine," Cable said, giving Nate a hard look. Nate started, totally unaware that he'd raised a shield in the first place. He took it down, and the three women passed through the door much more quickly.
As soon as they were through, Domino wrenched her hand free of Kitty's and stalked over to Cable, livid. "Idiot!" she snarled at him. "What were you thinking?"
Nate glanced worriedly at Cable. He could feel him struggling to keep his shields up against the anger coming from all three women. The psi-shielding was somehow creating a telepathic echo, making matters worse.
"I had to do something," Cable muttered, looking dazed. "It was my fault."
"No, it wasn't!" Nate put in quickly. Jean glared at him, and he gave her a sheepish look. "It wasn't anyone's fault. It just--happened." He opened his mind to her, and Jean sighed, the anger vanishing from her face as she saw what had happened.
"I wish I'd known that. I could have fixed the problem myself." She gave Cable a reproving look. "Bishop is not happy with you. I don't blame him."
Cable didn't seem to hear her. He stared down at Domino, an almost pleading look in his eyes. She finally sighed, reaching out to take his hand.
"I wish you'd stop doing things like this, you lout," she said softly. "What are you trying to do, scare ten years off my life?"
Nate blinked, startled by the complex, tender emotions he felt coming from both of them. Looks like there have been some other changes in 'big brother's' life since last we met, he thought, obscurely pleased. Although with the shared memory of Aliya so fresh, he was amazed that Cable had found the courage to open his heart to Domino after Aliya's death had nearly shattered it.
"I'm glad you're all right, Nate," Kitty said. He looked over at her, smiling hesitantly. She grinned at him, and then turned back to Cable. "Pete told me everything," she said in that forthright manner he'd admired in her since they'd first met. "If you're done here, shouldn't we--"
Nate suddenly heard noise outside the door again. It began to open, slowly, and his heart sank as Askani stepped through. But she paid no attention at all to him. He might as well have not existed. Her eyes were locked on Cable, and she did not look happy.
to be continued...
[FOOTER]