2014.03.18 - Revelations

The news spreads rather quick, but it was likely the initial sound that clued in Clark Kent. A huge, green creature has emerged from the street out of nowhere with explosive force, blowing debris into the surroundings and causing multiple cars to screech and rear-end. Citizens are already shrieking, as the Hulk-like being roars and beats his chest in a mindless rage. Nearly eight feet tall and so heavily corded with muscle that how it can still move those joints is a wonder. Only the most miniscule of clothing scraps keeps the creature modest. Most reports are calling it a 'Hulk-like monster'; most likely, someone with a dormant metahuman gene had it painfully manifest within the sewers perhaps, or one of the monster-like group that lives in the deepest recesses and tunnels to occasionally cause havoc. Whatever the cause, it's very mad right now, gnarled and mottled skin flexing as it shifts to grasp a car in both hands, casual touch crunching it together like an accordian as those inside shriek; not yet hurt, but likely about to be. There might be need for a hero...

Quietly thankful that he’s on his lunch break, Clark looks up when the distant sound of something that doesn’t belong in Metropolis draws his attention. He slips into an alleyway and then a moment later Superman is darting across the city, eyes scanning the steel and glass canyons below for signs of the disturbance.

It doesn’t take him long to spot the creature and he makes a beeline for it. Both arms extended out before himself, his first goal is to tackle it and lift it up and away from the busy street and into the skies. Or, at the very least, the rooftops.

The creature is heavy, but heavy in the way that an ant is to a human. Tackled readily, it's hauled up into the skies; but the issue is the car that it holds. With a roar it hauls it aside, multiple stories up, and shifts to grapple Clark. It's one of those very rare moments in his life where things might be mildly problematic. Something genuinely strong trying to hold on tight, while a car is spiraling through the air towards the side of a building. He can handle it. It's like slow motion for him, after all; slug the beast in the face, hurl it into the sky, fly over, catch the car...

Only suddenly blue energy flashes around it, and it quickly decelerates. Floating in the air is a large man, similarly sheathed in that cerulean energy. His left eye shines red, extended left arm rippled with shining segmented metal. A tattered black trenchcoat is wrapped around black and gray body armor, boots massive and steel. White hair whirls in the wind, as Cable almost sounds casual.

"Superman. Was hoping to find you. Figured heading to the biggest noise was a strong bet, in this part of the city."

"Good guess," he calls back to Cable, not turning his attention from the beast nor bothering to offer instruction on what to do with the car. He assumes the man who is flying and moving things with his brain knows what he's doing.

The first slug knocks the creature nearly senseless, grip weakening. But restraint is ever an issue, when it is difficult to gauge the power of an individual. This one is durable enough to survive a few blows that crack like gunshots upon it's armored torso and squat face. Impressive, even if it's not the mightiest; after all, hitting it with genuine force would break all the windows on the block. Superman might need to fly it up higher, so he can unleash enough of a beating to take it down without collateral damage.

The car touches down gently upon the street, Cable himself appearing in no hurry. The monster rears back it's arm, prepared to strike... but suddenly it spasms, eyes rolling into the back of it's head. White bubbles gurgle out of the corner of it's mouth, tongue lolling, and it goes completely limp in Superman's hands. A glance to Cable would show his hand raised once more as his left eye and hand flashes blue; he did something to it. And it was bad. There's no sign of conscious thought any more, as if it had just been lobotomized. "Let's get him out of the way, first."

Superman frowns as the monster suddenly starts foaming and then goes still. He descends quickly towards a nearby rooftop, dropping it and turning to glare at Cable. His brow furrows, a frown on his face.

“What’ve you done?”

Cable descends all the way to the street level, landing heavily. "I put it down." he states, with a dispassionate air of someone who had to euthanize a dog. Almost businesslike, as if it's the cost of doing business. He extends a hand to the squashed vehicle, family trapped within still frantic and unable to get out. Flaring with energy, suddenly the car is sheathed in a similar glow. Slowly it begins to unsquish, as if time was reversing. With creaks and groans it is straightening out, although the display appears to not be soothing to those within. "Oh... right. You have a problem with those sort of things, don't you?"

“You don’t know what this creature is or WHO it could be,” Superman chides, still glaring, “There could be a person inside all of that. You’ve got no right to ‘put it down’.”

He doesn’t seem happy at all and the fact that Cable has sought him out for a reason has now fallen by the wayside. Instead he crouches by the monster, x-ray vision examining its brain through its skull to check for any permanent physical damage.

The creature is still alive and breathing; there's no sign of brain damage, either, at least of the physical sort. Whatever Cable did to him appears to be purely psychic. But how reversible and how severe, those eyes can't tell. "Could be. I made a judgement call." The car finishes unfolding. The bumper realigns, tires reinflate, and pieces of glass swirl around before assembling back where they were. Other bits of metal that had been knocked off similarly are grasped and pulled over, fitting it back together like it were a puzzle. When the glow fades, it seems perfectly repaired, and the family quickly pours out of the doors and heads away. "...Sorry." That was the least empathetic statement possible.

"You should be."

For all his anger at what's been done, there's nothing for it. Psionics is something that is well and truly beyond him. So he leaves the monster for the authorities, turning to float towards Cable.

"What did you want?"

"Don't misunderstand. I'm sorry that I did something to upset you. I'm not sorry I shattered the mind of a rampaging beast into a thousand pieces." Striding forward, Cable's eye glows as he takes in the surroundings carefully. A wary crowd is a distance away now, watching. Both hands raise, and once more Cable becomes a whirlwind of telekinetic energy. Pieces of the street are plucked up, swishing about at high speed. One by one they descend down, beginning to reconstruct the damage done. "I'm here to warn you about someone. Someone capable of destroying this world. Someone who's done it before, in more than one timeline."

“Who?” Superman asks, immediately concerned as he crosses his arms over his chest, “Who are you talking about?”

Cable isn't in a hurry. It takes a lot of concentration to repair damage like this. Telekinesis assembling a 3D model of the world around him, and then having to figure out what bit goes where. But it's good practice; the sort of thing he has done hundreds of times in his relentless training. And almost intuitively autopilot, at this point. The street is fully assembled with a waft of dust. "His name is Apocalypse. I assume he's well known in this timestream, too."

"Not to me," Superman answers, still frowning. He's met the being in question, of course, but not under that name. "Who is he?"

"...Are you serious?" Cable stops in the middle of attaching the bumper to a car that rear-ended another when the monster first burst free. "Apocalypse? En Sabah Nur? One of the First Mutants, over 5,000 years old by now in this timestream? How can you have never heard of him?!" Superman would feel an uncomfortable and unwanted feeling as the bumper drops to the ground; a telepath trying to probe his thoughts invasively. Someone has no manners.

“En Sabah Nur? I know that name. I didn’t know anything else beyond –“ The intrusion into Superman’s head does not go unnoticed. Though his strength and durability do nothing against such attacks his will is still strong and he does his best to force the unwanted presence out.

Cable was not trying to probe into anything personal. All he grasps is the image of Apocalypse in the Fortress, at the main computer terminal, before withdrawing. Not a single other neuron was touched, it would seem. Nathan may be unethical in many ways, but he holds the responsibilities of a telepath in high order. He was taught that from a very young age by a very able telepath, herself. "So you've seen him. Interesting. Did he also overwrite the original when he came here...?" It must be the case. If he truly exists in this timestream, it's impossible to have a duplicate. Cable knows this well, as he had unceremoniously replaced the original on his own arrival. "I'm new here." Cable then offers. He resumes repairing the surroundings. Superman might find that more than a little dubious. Cable's name isn't common, but he's been a presence for many years in this city. A questionable one. "Apparently, he got here a lot longer before me than I thought. I can only wonder how many people he's spoken with, not knowing his true colors..." Once the rest of the vehicles with minor damage are repaired, hands lift. All of them raise up, align, and settle back down in an orderly fashion. "Sorry about the mind probe. I had to know for sure." Brainreading speaks louder than words.

"Now you know. Don't do it again." That said, Superman furrows his brow at the description, "If this Apocalypse is a threat then he needs to be dealt with before he can be a problem."

"I won't do it without reason." Cable confirms readily. That's definitely a 'maybe'. This man is not remotely attempting to make any friends. Glass shifts up and the fragments assemble, the last touches repairing the sides of the building. Swishing his hand, a slender lamp pole is raised upright, and the bend removed. "Damn right, he needs to be stopped now. Before he can sink his tendrils into this planet like a cancer. He can't be killed. Not easily. Destroying him only sets him back. My hope was to attack him while he was not yet reformed, and before he could attune with any of his pools that allow his body to regenerate on death. ...I failed. I can't stop him alone anymore. But I can warn everyone who will listen about just what kind of threat he is."

"I'll bring it to the League," Superman promises, nodding his head, "They'll want to know about this. Any other information you can provide will be appreciated. If he's as powerful as you say we'll need a plan rather than brute force."

"I can tell you everything you need to know." Cable says, turning to walk back towards Superman. His right hand, the organic one, is extended. "Take my hand. I won't invade your mind this time. I'll just show you. And you'll know in a heartbeat just how dangerous he is..."

Superman looks at the hand. Cable isn't exactly trustworthy in his eyes but if this Apocalypse is a threat then he needs to be ready for it. He does as he's told, reaching out to take the offered hand.

A thrum of psychic energy flows into Superman. He can tell that what Cable said is true; this isn't a mind probe, but simply output information. He would see a horrible, burning world. Advanced technology that might remind him of Krypton. People fighting and dying in twisted battlefields, a losing battle. The great, monstrous form of En Sabah Nur, looking much like the one he saw within the Fortress. Breeding pens of mutants, used only to improve the bloodline by culling the weak. Humans assembled into camps, only to be dissected, experimented on, or reduced to component parts for research. A world where a metallic virus seems to be consuming the entire planet, bending it to the will of Apocalypse. It looks like hell on earth; No better than if Darkseid succeeded in his conquering. No, it might actually be worse. The God of Evil wanted people to kneel and surrender, to be worshipped as a God. What En Sabah Nur is doing... is much more twisted than simple conquest. Releasing Superman's hand, Cable exhales. "I killed Apocalypse in the world I came from, but it was too late. The world was done. Slowly being destroyed by the radicals who followed him like a God. So I came back in time... but it was wrong. That world, too, was almost conquered. I spent two years fighting him, organizing the resistances from a literal lifetime of opposing him at the prime of his empire, and ultimately he was forced to flee the timeline. It was destroyed as a result... I'm not sure how... but now he's here. And as strong as I've ever known him to be."

"We'll stop him," Superman answers. After all, in these last few weeks they've managed to hold back and defeat a god. Surely they can do the same with this Apocalypse? The gravity of the threat is not lost on him, however, and he at once takes on a serious look, "I need to get this information to the League straight away."

"I've read the papers. I don't know that Darkseid fellow from dirt. He wasn't in any of the worlds I'm from. But I wouldn't take this threat any less seriously. That man... Mr. Sinister. I believe he created Four Horsemen in the recent past? ...He's nothing but a cronie to Apocalypse. A pawn under his thumb. Beneath him in every way, from strength to intelligence. You remember that, as well." Slowly, Cable hovers back into the air. Superman might be pleased that the destruction is literally back to what it was. Just how fast could Metropolis be repaired if this man lent his aide? But Kal-El would sense that asking is pointless. He only fixed it out of habit, because it didn't interfere with the discussion. A strange, complex mindset, to be sure... but one who seems out for the greater good. "I'll admit one thing. I checked something else when I probed your mind. ...Your code of conduct. It's reckless. It almost got you killed by Darkseid. Probably more than once. Don't make that mistake again. Sometimes, people deserve to die. And sometimes, you have no other choice. ...But I also glanced at it enough to know you won't change." A smirk. "But when he goes down... I'll do the finishing blow for you. Bodyslide by one." And then in a flash, Cable is gone.