2014.04.17 - Brothers in Arms

It takes Nate about five seconds to break the speed of sound. He is extremely fast in the air, telekinesis coming to him more easily than telepathy. He is heading straight to New York, towards the Halo Building in the Financial District, but a quick telepathic communication makes him change targets, moving instead towards the city block where Cable and Jean faced Apocalypse a few days ago. Not much of a plan, just start searching where the ancient mutant was seen last.

Sheathed in telekinetic energy, Cable breaks the sound barrier rather faster; he does not need to 'ramp up' in speed, and at first begins to overtake his younger half. "Goddamnit, wait a--" But then he's gone. Okay, so he's unhampered in releasing his full telekinetics. With a grunt Cable ramps up his own speed, breaking five thousand miles an hour with a loud burst. He can feel the metal threatening to creep...

Unable to use his telepathy while in hot pursuit, and having lost sight of Nate, Cable lands heavily on a building in the general area. His mind whirls out, and Nate stands out like a glaring sun. Again he bursts into the air, heading towards where he last was. "I said WAIT. I know where Apocalypse is!!" he shouts, at the top of his lungs.

Nate’s rage is a palpable thing; he certainly has some anger issues. Must come from being the last survivor of a rather hellish world. But Cable’s message gets through it because, well, it is just what he needs to know. <> He turns back and flies to join the older Nate. “Where is he? Tell me!”

Heavily, Nathan descends to land upon a building, looking to be in pain. A look would tell that there's a small amount of metal creeping up his neck from the exertion of chasing. "Slow down... We've been needing to talk for awhile, anyway." Standing up, he focuses on slowly receding the momentary burst of infection. "The world you came from. It's like the one I..." A beat. "...Went to. I don't think you were from it. That one collapsed. But I think it was related."

Nate is very reluctant to descend. He wants to act, not to talk. The past few months he managed to almost forget, and he let his rage and hatred fade into the background. A good year of almost normal life did wonders for him. But it has perhaps given him even more to fight for now a threat has appeared.

He wants to grab Cable and get all he knows out of him. Only seeing him falter gives him pause. “Yeah, yeah...” he says impatiently, “any worlds were Apocalypse gets some power is going to hell. That is why he needs to be stopped as soon as possible!”

"You're right. But look at me, Nate." Cable's head raises, and there's an intensity there. A startling one; without any psionics, it is clear the cold, hard determination. And the burn of hatred, no smaller than Nate's own. "What he did to me, what he did to my life, is worse than you will ever know." His metal arm flexes slowly, looking down upon it. "You escaped that hell. And you can live the kind of life I never could. The kind I never even dreamed of. For to dream, there has to be hope." Another glance. "Stop acting like a child. There is nobody, /nobody/ on this planet who knows how to take down Apocalypse better than me. I've done it twice. And I know the one here, inside and out. Now tell me. Do you want to rush off like a psychic sun until you find him? He will crush you. You aren't strong enough to do this alone. Not while he's at his peak." And then his arms cross. "Or would you rather work with me... and make sure he's erased from this timeline for good?"

“You are wrong, I can take him out. I almost did once,” states Nate. “Hope? Hope? That is an odd world.” He had no hope back in his world, just survive and make the best of every day. He never expected to live to be twenty. “I don’t have big dreams, Cable, I have no plans for next week or even tomorrow. But I have no fear either. I left all that behind before I was sixteen. I don’t care how strong he is now; waiting for tomorrow means he has one more day to ruin the lives of others. Don’t you see? Every day we don’t act means more people dead or worse than dead.”

"Can you, now? I wasn't able to. Do you think you are stronger than me, Nate?" Cable states, looking up with intent. There's a powerful crackle of telekinetic energy over him, audible whirr coming from his metal form. "I have literally rebuilt my entire body to wage war on him. That is why I tower over you. I can be blasted through a wall by Cyclops, without any telekinetic guards, and stand back up. Can you do that?" Although he understands. Truly, more than any other, he does. How could he not? The situation may have been different, but the core catalyst... yet this Nate did not have years under the Askani. Twelve years being tutored by Scott and Jean. He missed out on the incredible foundation that built Cable into what he is today.

"You aren't a leader. And you aren't a tactician. You are saying this from your heart." Telepathy whirls up, and if Nate allows the images, he would see young-faced boys, adamant and impatient. Dying. Dozens of them. Falling like flies. "But your heart is no armor. Your will to succeed is no sword. And your arrogance an archille's heel. I told you. I know where he is. Do you think I'm not acting because I'm unaware? I've seen him consume a world TWICE... one of them for two thousand years!" There's frustration for a few moments, before it vanishes. "But he cannot be taken out this way. Even if we track him down and kill him... he'll just revive. We're setting back the clock. That's not worthless, but I'm working on getting the manpower. The two of us combined might fail, and if we die, it's for good. ...Spreading the word. People need to KNOW he is here, and what he is capable of. Then... with the weight of this world's heroes behind us... he can be cast like dust into the wind."

“Of course I am stronger than you,” snarls Nate. “I am stronger than Cyclops, I am stronger than Rachel, or even Magneto. Only mutant I have seen as strong as me was Jean when she was boosted by some kind of a space firebird.” He accepts the memories Cable tosses at him. He tosses his own memories back. He was young and unskilled when he was fourteen. He would have died without Forge, to protect and train him (gruelingly so) for four years and a hundred skirmishes that left dozens of scars on his body. At twenty Nate is more a veteran than most of the established superheroes of this world. Not leader, no. He would never send others to fight for him. Not a tactician, perhaps, because he is driven by passion and rage. But it has been enough to let him win many battles. Often conviction and courage are more important than tactics and tricks. He is firmly at the side of Thor and Hulk in his style of fighting.

As for his power, he opens that too for Cable, so he can see the near infinite psychic energy than flows like an untamed torrent from his mind to the Astral Plane and back. He is as strong as Cable would be without the technovirus restraining him. As strong as Cable would be right /now/, at the peak of his power, not when he was twenty. And that is something that should be impossible.

"Heh." Cable states, grinning up at Nate. "I wonder if I'd have been that cocky if I grew up the way you did." The power he observes is seen clearly. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to overwhelm the elder Nathan in the slightest. The boiling, wild power; it's strong. Obviously strong. It might be beyond what Cable would have at his age, most certainly. "I'm going to do something I usually don't. A trick I learned, those three years I was out of the picture. Take a good look." He slowly steps back, closing his eyes.

Suddenly, a massive flood of power is apparent. Like a grand sun within his mind; it is likely the greatest psionic potential Nate has ever seen since coming to Earth outside himself. And it's potential, fully grown and manipulated, focused like a laser beam from decades of training... is also infinite. But there are massive barriers, incredible roadblocks, and he has shut himself off almost entirely from accessing it.

"Right now, you're at your peak... but if I shut these off..." Cable taps the side of his head. "I might be the strongest person in the world. You aren't that much higher above me, even though I'm sealed tight as a jar lid. Do you know why? Because your power is going to kill you in the end. You already sense that, don't you? Only what I can use and survive I let out. Tearing away these barriers, I could touch every mind on Earth at once, and drag Genosha to the ground. But that would be a death sentence for me. Once these psychic blocks are gone, there's no putting them back up."

With effort, Cable shields his mind once more, as if he were placing it all within a vault; again, escaping easy contact despite Nate's exceptional prowess. "You aren't the strongest being on this planet. And I'm not saying this as an outside observer. I'm saying it as what you could become. The virus no longer hampers me. I can keep it shut away without even thinking about it. But this is the limit of my body... what about you? Are you already past it...?"

A few moments of peace. "I can teach you. How to shut it away. To make it manageable. Raw power is meaningless without finesse. Without technique. ...I could help you become much more than you think you are right now."

Nate seems to be paying only token attention to Cable’s words. He sees he is far stronger then what he expected. Okay. That is logical if he is essentially the same person. Nothing to do with the issue at hand: Apocalypse.

Wait, the power will kill him? That draws his attention. Nate didn’t really know. Although it is not really a great surprise. Jean had told him he was ‘overcloaked’ and she and others had already warned him avoid using his full power, because it hurts him physically and also psychically. An older him, he would know for sure.

“Past my limit...” he frowns, hesitating for the first time. “Hell if I know. But it is not important right now. I need to bring him down. Stop Apocalypse. Otherwise we have no tomorrow to worry about. Afterwards, I will happily learn whatever psychic techniques you want to teach me.”

"You might get as strong as me in another five or six years. You're beyond what I was at your age. ...But maybe not. There's another clone of me... called Stryfe. He was powerful... but he reached a cap. Apocalypse discarded him as a result. He wanted the original." Nathan taps the side of his head again. "Whatever the reason, being actually physically born from the genetics manipulated by Sinister is key for me. My power never stops increasing. And what good is power that kills you if you access it?"

Not good for much, really. In telepathy and telekinetics, despite what Cable just showed Nate, he's significantly inferior outside technique. "You seem different. Stryfe was not as strong as you at your age. I wasn't, either. That means that maybe where you were from, the missing piece that made me special was found. And maybe you'll never stop growing, either. And if that's the case..."

Cable looks solemn.

"You will definitely die. I can guarantee it."

As for Apocalypse, Cable lets out a sigh, holding up his hands. "I've already spoken with Scott. We are arranging a strike team against him. I promise you that you can be part of it. You have as much right as me to want him dead. But you need to *wait.*"

Suddenly, Cable gets an idea. "How about this. Danger Room. I know the precise power level of the Apocalypse that is here. I'll let you fight him. If you still want to go after him afterwards... ...I won't stop you."

“You don’t understand, I don’t care if I die. My life is not important! Destroying Apocalypse is what is important now!” Truth is where Nate was born life was a privilege, not a right. Living a long, happy life was never part of the equation. Not even now. If it was he wouldn’t have joined Stormwatch.

“Scott will... ah,” That is a good argument, of course. “Do they have the faintest idea of what Apocalypse can do? They aren’t even able to handle Magneto.” That failure still stings to him. “Scott is okay. Most of them are teachers and dreamers, not like the X-Men I knew. This world has not put them through the... hell we got.”

Cable levitates up without haste, to settle himself in front of Nate. He simply looks at him a moment. Before in a flash of speed, bolstered in a crack of telekinesis that gave no indication it was to come, he attempts to /smack/ him across the face. He has the strength to cause that to bloody his younger clone's lips, even if he manages a full shield in time.

"Never say that to me again." he states, voice hard. "Your life isn't important...? Pathetic. I thought you-- I thought /I/ was *STRONGER* than that. Was I wrong? I know you weren't lucky like I was. You were trapped within that lab. But you are gone. Letting the shadow of Sinister and Apocalypse linger in your mind like this... don't. You're better than that. And if you aren't, then go. Fly away. He'll find you. He'll kill you. And I swear, I won't feel any guilt at all."

Nate’s life is not important against the millions that Apocalypse will murder. Every minute he waits might mean dozens, maybe thousands of dead. Punching Nate, and indeed he is partially protected by a telekinetic field, only succeeds in making him lash back. “You think you know me? You don’t! I am not like you!” He punches Cable back and he is not particularly restraining himself. If he hits, it will hurt. “While you make your plans and plots, people die. You aren’t more important than them, either!”

A crack of telekinesis whirls up, and the fist impacts Cable right back. Much like Nate, it causes his head to snap to the side, but nothing much else. It does hurt, but he is not sent hurtling back any more than his own titanic blow did to his other half. In that regard, they are fairly equal.

"You're right." Cable admits, slowly. "I'm not you. And to be honest, I value my life no higher than anyone else's. But that is different than acting in a manner that throws it away." Hovering backwards, he faces the other man. Two men, brought from the same genetic bases, tampered by Sinister in different ways and sent to different lives. A much starker contrast than he expected.

"Listen. Let's take a step back. You want Apocalypse dead. I want Apocalypse dead. Both of us managed to do it, at least once. ...Tell me this, though. Did you do it alone?"

That was the plan (or rather, the lack of a plan). Nate went alone to kill Apocalypse. But as it happened, he wasn’t alone in his battle. “I was going to... but no, the X-Men were there too. To rescue Magneto, but I got to him first.” He licks his bloodied lip, surprised to taste some blood. Cable hits hard. “Why are you waiting? If you aren’t strong enough you should go looking for Superman or Thor. Tell them what you know, make them see, so they help you stop him.”

"I am." Cable says, firmly. "Magneto is on my side. Superman understands the threat. Scott and Xavier, too. I plan to speak to the JLA and the JSA. But you seem to be missing something. Right now, Apocalypse isn't killing people every second. Right now, he's a pathetic, hiding worm. As I said, I know where he is. And he's, for now, not doing anything dangerous to the world. He is patient. I will use that patient to spread the word, gain allies, and plan. And I am hoping, very soon, to strike him down. Afterwards, we can pinpoint each location he revives at, and destroy them. Then, he should be dead. For good." Cable leaves out one thing, though. That he would /let/ a million people die, if it meant being sure to succeed, as opposed to moving faster, losing much less, but not having a sure shot. That... would not help matters at all.

"Of all the people in this world, you should know I understand Apocalypse and his threat every bit as much as you. I am approaching this the best way that I believe. ...Can you trust me on that?"

Nate snarls, tense and angry. He is not stupid, though. Cable has a point... although he has difficulties seeing Apocalypse as someone that hides. “What if... what if he finds the other one. The Apocalypse that is native to this world. I know he is somewhere, I have seen hints. Sinister knew him.”

"I have reason to believe that this world's Apocalypse is gone. That when this one arrived, he overwrote the other." Cable does not explain why this is the case. To do so would be to reveal... that such is what happened to him. In temporal terms, Cable is a virus, a cancer, something that invaded and took over something in the true reality. Apocalypse doubtlessly did the same. "But while I know where to find him, we need a team. A team that can remove him for sure. Like I said... you're in. Yet you are underestimating this one. I don't know how strong the one you attacked was... but the one in this world is beyond it. Beyond what even I remember, or thought possible. In his temporal fall, it's possible he absorbed the essence of countless other En Sabah Nurs. ...Like I said. If you wish to fight him... I can show you in a Danger Room."

That sounds very weird and... Nate can’t even say he has not heard even weirder. He is also pretty sure of himself and his ability to fight anyone and anything. “You can program the Danger Room with whatever, it is just a tool, nor the real thing,” he uses it about once a week. Usually to fight Magneto’s simulation. Not a fan.

“Alright, I will go back to the mansion. But I want you to tell me all you know about this Apocalypse. Tell Illyana too, she is reliable and knows how this shit goes.” Meaning Illyana is one of the few mutants Nate knows had it as bad, or worse than him and yet managed to survive.

"Fine. I'll tell you both everything. And keep you in the loop. This is Issue #1 for me also, Nate. Together, we're the perfect Ying and Yang. Both of Sinister's attempts can become the greatest weapon against him and his master. We can change the entire world. Don't throw your life away." Digging around in his pocket, he pulls out a small coaster-sized device, maybe a centimeter thick, with a red button. "If you do accidentally run into Apocalypse, hold down that button. I'll come. Maybe we can both take him down. If not, I can get us out of there. ...Take care." And then, "Bodyslide by one." In a temporal crack of blue energy, Cable is gone.