2014.04.08 - A Hunting We Will Go

It has been almost a month since Nate dropped by Xavier's last time. Nothing much seems to be happening around the mansion lately, but Stormwatch is in trouble and Nate has been busy and far from New York.

About time to visit, he figures, besides Illyana asked him to pick her up here. But it looks like Magneto is back to bullying little nations again, so maybe this time the X-Men will do something about it. 'It is a mutant problem' said Spartan. Yeah, right, whatever. He lands in the forest at the back of the mansion after flying low for the last hundred of miles or so to avoid radars, then hurries towards the main building, scanning for known minds through telepathy.

Meeting somewhere is relatively easy for a teleporter and while she could have met Nate anywhere in particular, she's had him come to the Mansion to meet her. She's no where to be seen, just yet, as she's still within her room getting ready.

Her outfit today is mostly black, with only a few bits of white and silver color, and she'll pull on a close fitted leather jacket to ward off the chill, though it looks to have no real lining to it.

Finally with one last look at herself in the mirror, Illyana will do a little pirouette, before a disk opens beneath her feet and whisks her away. A short stop through Limbo and then Illyana is once more on her way. It's only as Nate is moving towards the main building, that he may spot the disk opening up to his left, which will eventually deposit Illyana near the young man.

There's another random presence that appears to use the background as his targetting point; one moment there's nothing, and in the next a blue crack of energy, displacing around the sudden form of Cable. The large man thumps heavily upon the ground, before tilting his head to the side. He's not alone. Students sneaking around in the forest? Infravision from his eye quickly locates two individuals, certainly young adults. Illyana is closest, the massive trenchcoat man slipping around a tree. "You are... Illyana Rasputina, right? Not sure I've had the pleasure." Honestly, at that.

The longer he is here, the more the echoes of the former Cable fade away. Nate's proximity, for the moment, is on the back burner as he approaches.

Nate is used to Illyana teleporting in without warning, sometimes in really bad moments. Accidentally on purpose, he is sure. It means he is not surprised, "hey Yana, I was going to see if I could talk with Jean or... hmm, I am late, aren't I?" Yes, he is usually late.

Nate is not used to Cable teleporting in without warning. He did maybe once. It is hard to miss the big guy, but it is even harder for Nate to notice his mental presence. His powers seem to work in very close 'wavelengths' to his relatives, so they tend to merge, and the younger Nate always gets the worse out of it. The others seem to be able to create better mind-shields. "Ow," he stumbles, quickly strengthening his mental defenses. "It is you... I have been looking for you, old man!"

"Jean?" Illyana says as Nate greets her, "I'm sure she's about. I suppose we could go /find/ her, but if this makes us even /later/ you owe me something." Is Illyana's response to Nate's question about being late. Yes, he's always late.

As for the appearance of the elder Cable ... Having not expected someone to teleport in (other than herself) or that someone to be a rather large man wearing a trench coat, Illyana immediately tenses, instinctively reacting to the apparent uncertainty of the situation. Thankfully her eldritch armor and sword do not manifest into existence just yet.

This is her home turf after all, and so, she feels she has the advantage here.

A blonde brow quirks upward as she eyes the rather large man. "And if I am?" She asks Cable, before she adds in a somewhat sarcastic fashion, "And you are? Besides looking like you could play the creepy looking perv next door." Of course, when Nate seems to clearly recognize him, Illyana will flick a glance towards the younger man, before she's warily watching Cable again. "I take it you know who this is, Nate?"

"Good. Cautious. A friendly greeting doesn't mean someone is friendly." Cable approves, of Illyana's initial reaction. He seems calm and fearless all the same, until the arrival of his younger half. Indeed, touching the elder Nathan's mind is like touching a blender. Telepathy whirls around his mind without even reaching his surface thoughts; combined with his own immense willpower, he's certainly amongst the hardest of the brood to penetrate in that manner.

"... ...Nate?" He had already prepared himself for this moment, but still a whirl of new thoughts cause his head to ache, grimacing in displeasure. "Who do you think you are calling 'old man'?" is allowed with a grunt. Cable takes in his genetic counterpart closely. He looks so different... is that how Cable would have looked at 20, if not for the wars, the Techno-Organic virus, the constant self-modification and Askani meditations? Certainly there's a resemblance, if Nate was aged 20 years, gained 6 inches, and put on 60 pounds of muscle. "You'd like to look this good at my age." A metal thumb beckons to Nate. "He's my... ...brother." That's the best way to describe it. Twin won't work. Given the age difference and not looking alike. "...So. Nate. Were you sneaking Illyana out on a date?" Eyes flicker between the pair.

"That guy is Hope's dad," so everything that redhead pest says and does: Cable's fault. Nate directs a grumpy glance to his older 'brother', his psychic shields falling into place. He is usually not bothered by other telepaths powers, no matter how strong, it is usually the other way around, but with Cable (and at a lesser degree with Jean and Rachel) he has serious psychic feedback.

Yes, there is a resemblance. Nate is still growing, his hair is still more auburn than white, he is still adding scars to an already alarming collection, and has yet to lose a limb or three. But genetically they are identical. "He is..." brother. Okay. "Yeah. But It is not a date. And it is not even sneaking. Otherwise you got it right."

"Yes." She agrees to Cable's initial words, "Pretty packages don't always mean they're friendly, do they."

"Brothers." States the blonde as she looks between the two, "I see." And both can likely tell there's a vague note of disbelief there, even with their resemblance to one another. Illyana never liked to be surprised and because of that, she allows her distrust to continue to color her reaction to Cable.

Arms will cross over her chest, as she eases back from ready to throttle someone to simply wary. Nate's words are nodded at, as she adds, "Date? Ha. No. Besides, we're not the ones sneaking around. I'd say you are. So, Nate's 'brother' what can we do for you? It doesn't look like you need medical attention. Unless you count some anti-aging treatments." A corner of her mouth quirks upward at her quip.

"I wasn't aware I was pretty." Cable offers with something of a smirk towards Illyana. The elder Nathan, at least, looks casual and at ease. Obviously it's a subject he doesn't feel is going to be any better if explained. She'd be MORE likely to disbelieve the truth, after all. Towards Nate, cybernetic fingers slowly curl, audible whirr as they clench hard enough to rupture titanium. "Are you saying my daughter has any negative traits...?" Still playful, but tone almost daring.

Cable shouldn't present any psychic feedback to Nate, much to his relief. He emits literally nothing, and the younger Nate's powers do not touch his mind, whirling about and dispersed instead. A very advanced and high-end method of psionic shielding; even his surface thoughts seem a long way away, not common for a man of Nate's capabilities. "Why not a date?" Cable asks, glancing between the pair as if suspicious. "Although you are making a fairly bold claim. Are you aware I've full access to the Institute and every inch of the private facilities? If you'd like to bring up seniority... I've been affiliated with Scott for many years now." Well, one of him has. "And believe in Charles' dream more than any other."

Hope, negative? Nate draws breath and raises a finger as if to start counting. "Hope is..." pause. "Nevermind, I love that girl, but man... sometimes I want to strangle her." He glances Illyana. "Her blonde highness doesn't date," he explains, "and I have a girlfriend, who maybe will join us later. As for you..." he frowns as the elder Nate's shields himself so he almost seems to vanish. Damned be all those old telepaths and their neat tricks. Nate is like a white nova in the astral plane, completely unable to hide and rather scary for lesser psions. "... you know? I think maybe Xavier mentioned that. And you seem older than last time I saw you, though. What are you up to?"

"Sure, doesn't everyone have negative traits?" Illyana says with a quirk of a smile. She heard that dare in Cable's voice, and Illyana just can't resist a dare sometimes. It doesn't' matter that she has yet to meet Hope, either, she still says what she's said.

"Bad traits, bad sides, bad personality. We all got them." She quips lightly enough, her own challenge in those teasing words as she smiles sweetly at Cable.

At Nate's little nickname for herself, Illyana can't help but snort, before she shakes her head briefly. She'd say more, but Nate has eloquently summed up the outstanding question that still has yet to be answered. And while Xavier and/or Scott has likely mentioned Cable, it's clear Illyana isn't all that familiar with the who's and the what's of the roster. Which isn't surprising. This is Illyana, after all. She only pays attention when it directly affects her, like now for instance.

"..." Cable's left eye glows faintly orange, slowly twisting his neck to the side until there's an audible pop. An air of raw menace suffuses the forest, as if the shadows themselves cast the cybernetic man in a demonic light. "...I think I misheard you. What is it you want to do to Hope?" His fist impacts an open palm, an audible crack echoing through the woods for a good mile. But the smirk still indicates he's teasing. Mostly.

"Oh? You do, huh? I guess you take after my looks." Cable rubs at his stubble, running fingers through silver-gray hair with a flourish. He /is/ ruggedly handsome, but that's rather the opposite of his younger self. Illyana gets his attention next. "Good. Dating leads to nothing but trouble. Emotional weakness, tactical mistakes, awkward incidents. Can't recall it working out for me before." Yes, he just said that after Nate's confirmed he has one of his own. But Cable seems... disturbingly comfortable with Nate nearby. Not surprising. The power he keeps bottled up is far beyond what he's still growing into.

But all his friendliness vanishes, with such rapidity it's as if it was never there. "I jumped into a volatile timestream that risked leaking into ours. Took almost three years to deal with. Month or two passed here." Rather... brief, to say the least. It does explain the age and shift in personality, though. "Back now. Failed my mission. That world's cancer is hiding somewhere in this world..."

"Pff, you were pretty chummy with Domino last time I saw you both," there was a lot of banter going about shooting and stabbing each other, too. For a moment Nate wonders if Rose and he will be like that in ten years. Dreadful, if amusing thought.

Time-jumping for good and justice, uh? He smirks in Illyana's direction, that also sounds familiar. "Wait. Cancer? You mean someone from that other world came here?"

The flash of light from Cable's eye is given a curious look, before Illyana snorts softly again at Cable's 'threatening' gesture.

"A tactical mistake? Really, who talks like that." She interjects with, although she does agree with the other descriptive words he used concerning relationships. It is an emotional weakness even at the best of times.

The mention of another timestream causes Illyana's gaze to sharpen as she considers Cable yet again. "What was the world like?" She asks, sounding only vaguely curious, though there's more to it than that. "I've had some experience with other realities myself. It's interesting to see where it all has gone wrong. Lessons can be learned from those."

"Domino's in the past." Cable states firmly, jest still gone. "Like I said. Dating's never worked out for me." And a past that wasn't even his to begin with. Looking at it all objectively... it's clear exactly what that relationship was. Lustful passion. Mutual comfort. Although he nods direly once more. "Yes. A mutant named En Sabah Nur. Apocalypse." He lifts his metallic arm. "The one who gave me this. It's a long story." And as convoluted as they come, honestly. "They aren't any better than Darkseid. Worse, if he wins." When asked for a description, Cable simply looks upon Illyana. "Crack open your shield. Let me transmit. I'll show you. Words don't do it justice." A shrug follows that. "You too, Nate. I'm hoping everyone in the institute, and this world, will know the threat I fought long and hard to defeat."

Nate loses the faint smirk he has kept the whole conversation when Cable mentions Apocalypse. He tenses visibly. "Apocalypse... wait, an alternate one?" There were some traces of the ancient mutant that Nate has been investigating ever since he crossed over from his native Earth. This is different.

"I know him. Show me," he growls. He will also show Cable what Apocalypse did to his world. Although it was nuclear armageddon what finally killed it, Apocalypse started the war and the worst atrocities were his responsibility. Nate's hatred burns bright, barely dismissed after almost two years of peace.

Blue eyes narrow slightly at Cable's request. It's not often she allows people to enter her mind without a fight.

Still, she'll glance at the metallic arm that almost mirrors her Eldritch Armor for silveriness, and with a glance toward Nate, Illyana makes her decision.

Focusing once more on Cable there's an unvoiced threat within her gaze, even as she nods slightly to him, a supposed 'friendly'.

"All right." She says begrudgingly, before her once closed off mind appears on the psionic map around the three. "Go for it.

There's a touch of surprise from Cable. "You know about Apocalypse, too?" He searches through his Cable's mind. It's muddied. Certain portions are... whitewashed. Had he ever spoken to Nate about it? He can't remember. Hopefully it doesn't make him suspicious. "Hrrm. Then let's have a little psychic party here." In a flash of orange light from his left eye, Illyana and Nate will be privy to horrors.

A world two thousand years after Apocalypse succeeded. Only Omega level mutants have tyrannical freedom. Humans are like cattle, penned, used for experiments, or hunted for sports. The Horsemen rule huge regions of the globe. Broken, shattered remnants of what humanity was, overlaid by black skies and the creeping metal of the TO-Virus. Breeding pits of low-end mutants, intent to be genetically manipulated to produce more Omegas, if they are lucky. In the end, the world is lost. There is no hope of recovery. Cable can be seen going back in time.

<< That's where I was born. >> he allows. << I jumped here at that point. >> A lie. But one hidden from everyone present. << This is the one I went to. >>

Much the same, but in the early stages. Maybe a decade into his conquest, it is clear Apocalypse and his Horsemen are winning, having conquered much of the globe. Yet then Cable appears. Flashes of almost three years guerrilla warfare, leading the remaining X-Men and other opposing forces. Brutal, cut-throat guerilla actions eventually lead to Apocalypse being cornered at his full might. He was defeated by Magneto, ripped in half, but fled to a prepared heir and opened a portal in time. He leapt through it, and Cable did, too.

<< He's here now. One at the height of his power. I met him once. He has regenerated from all of the damage. And it is critical he is not allowed to establish himself here again...! >>

Nate's memories are not as neatly organized. He remembers a devastated world, red, cloudy skies, dying forests, ruined cities and desperate survivors. Apocalypse started a world war a decades or two before he was born. By the time he was freed from the labs where he had been kept, the battle was almost lost. Magneto's X-Men, defenders of the dream of peaceful coexistence, still fought, even decimated as they were. In Europe humans resisted, hiding behind a small army of giant mutant-killing robots, slowly losing a war of attrition against the Infinite cyborgs of Apocalypse.

Nate himself lost most of the members of his adopted family, a rebel cell led by Forge, to Horseman Sinister manipulations. He joined Magneto in the final battle against Apocalypse, but was wrenched away from his dimension by the power of a glowing jewel Cable might recognize as the M'Kran Crystal. When he left nuclear bombs were annihilating what remained of inhabitable land in the world. It was the end.

Apocalypse must die. <> He projects to both other mutants.

Illyana doesn't say much as Cable presents the images and 'history' of Apocalypse. She simply absorbs it and commits the images presented to her to memory.

She's seen enough in her life to not be shocked by the brutality of guerrilla warfare, or what Earth had become in that particular timeline, or the fact that the weak have lost.

"You met him here? In this timeline?" She says, making sure's under the correct assumption as she looks between the brothers, "I could attempt to locate him. See if he can be found. Unless he has magic on his side, he shouldn't or rather wouldn't know he's being spied upon if successful. You'd have the advantage upon him, if so." She considers for a moment, "And if you had something of his, that would allow my spells to work even better at finding him. Though perhaps memories would work just as well." She says thoughtfully, as she considers how best to locate this man.

Cable shuts down the psychic triumvirate as his eye stops glowing. No reason to continue using it; not as if the topic is secret. "Yes. Shortly after returning here I tracked him down and ambushed him. It turned out he had arrived here three weeks before me due to temporal distortion. Even though I had followed him in seconds. ...Jean Grey managed to send him away, almost dying in the process." Nate likely knew that their genetic mother was badly injured recently, if not by who. "No. Apocalypse can manipulate energy. Magic, too. Chances are he would absorb a probing attempt. He could even channel the Phoenix Force itself." With difficulty, but that means that cosmic energies are not beyond him.

"At least, not easily." His metal hand raises once more. "When the time comes, the only other person on this planet with the techno-organic virus is him. We can use it to pinpoint him. A sudden spike when he doesn't expect it should work. Then we can descend on him and finish things permanently." As for material possessions, again he taps the metal. "This is him. This is what he is. And what he tried to make me. Combined with my memories, there should be no issues."

A glance to Nate follows. They both were in similar timelines... ones where Apocalypse was raging his war. Of course, they must be different. Cable won his... and then the timeline collapsed, erasing the offshoots. He cannot help but wonder where his relative twin's is located. "Sorry to interrupt. I'll be heading back to the institute now."

Nate did know Jean had been injured, yes. No one told him why, which was somewhat annoying. But he didn't pry, and he had business elsewhere involving killed cyborgs enhanced with alien tech.

People get hurt in their line of work. He should have asked anyway. Wait... they should have told him about Apocalypse! Rachel, Scott and Jean knew his history. Maybe they thought he would do something crazy.

They thought right, of course. "I will find him! This time I will kill him!" He swears, and takes off, flying straight for New York. Leaving Illyana without a no-date. But hey, maybe she can grab Rose for herself.

Illyana was just about to make another point when Nate all but leapt to the sky.

Glancing upward at her wayward teammate, Illyana says, "That was unexpected." Looking at Cable, she'll point towards Nate's retreating form, "Can you grab him? Not much of a flier here."

Already a stepping disk is starting to form beneath Illyana's feet, "I'll go see what I can do to find our errant Monster under the bed." Even though Cable specifically said no, but now Illyana is curious. "Tell Nate I'll catch up with him soon. And don't let him get into trouble please, we always have to patch him up afterwards." And with those words said, Illyana is disappearing within the depth of her circular portal.

"Wh--Goddamnit, Nate, WAIT!!" Cable states, before suddenly sheathing himself in telekinetic energy and bursting into the air in hot pursuit. "DON'T let him know you are looking until we are ready!!" is all Cable calls back. Right now, he's got something else to do. He doesn't know Nate's history... never looked it up... why he was never told makes sense.

At his age, Cable would be doing the same thing.

Fini - For now!