2014.04.06 - The Light to Show the Way

Prime is seated in midair beside one of the windows, his legs folded up under him and a book held in his hands. The Earth can be seen, hanging large and luminous beyond the window and lighting the pages before him. He's been reading almost at random, just soaking up anything he can to begin closing the gaps in his memory and knowledge.

It's been a couple weeks. Cable has not interfered yet with Prime, simply observing the records of him. What he's read. Where his interest seems to lie. It was not lost on him the first book he plucked from the shelf, but such can mean many things. Not all of them ominous. And finally, there's the blue crackle, before Cable manifests in the middle of the room. He's got that metal growth upon his neck, and his black trenchcoat, shirt, and pants are badly burned and worn. Only the black and gray armor beneath is slightly tarnished.

"Hey." he offers, sitting down heavily upon one of the black leather couches. His eyes close, and slowly the trenchcoat begins to mend. If Prime were to analyze the process with heightened vision, it's definitely an atomic-level restructuring; blue glow grasping things and shifting them, ambient particulates taken here and there to supply the needed mass.

"So. You've been at it awhile. What're your thoughts... on Earth?"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Prime has been reading a text on microbiology. His interests seem to lean decidedly toward the scientific--and, of course, combat. Cable has already taught him the value of that. As his host reappears, Prime floats over to face him, noting the state of his condition. "Earth... is home," Prime says slowly. "Even though I think it wasn't at first. But now it is. And I want to learn more. I want to learn... maybe everything."

Frowning slightly as he glances over Cable, his eyes focusing in that supernormal way of theirs. "You have some kind of... techno-organic affliction, don't you? I saw it before, when we first sparred."

"Learning everything takes time. And by the time you finish, enough new stuff has happened that you need to learn it again. Leave that to the Watchers." A few texts on 'Cosmic Beings' mentioned them, alongside other mainstays such as the Phoenix Force and Galactus, and the great Celestials. Information on such is hardly comprehensive, but Graymalkin has access to all the databanks the X-Men formerly did, and likely know much more about such things than most. "Graymalkin can technically teach you any academic you want to a level that would make you on par with the greatest scientific minds on Earth. A young Doctor Doom stuck in here for 20 years would emerge just as, if not MORE, capable." At least in matters not related to magic. The databanks are very lacking on that phenomenon.

It also is missing large chunks of things that might surprise Prime, such as Kryptonians themselves. The world Cable and Graymalkin came from was not the intermingled flow of the Alpha, making it feel like it has half of all the answers, and is oddly light on much of the rest. Cable's been interfacing with the data-streams as well as he can, but without tapping into the resources of the Justice League and such, it won't be nearly as potent.

"I'll tell you some things. I confirmed you are a pure-blooded Kryptonian. You probably know the broad strokes on that. A battery for yellow solar energy. You don't want to be around Kryptonite." The fact that this is not precisely the case with Prime, of course, is unknown. "You are a bastion of physical power, standing near the heights of the universe. Or will be, when you get older. But you are also capable of similar feats of intelligence, if you put your mind to it. The Superman here is nothing but wasted potential, to me. Painted blindingly by the patriotism and morality of the world. He can certainly achieve great feats, and also great sacrifices... but he holds back. Refuses to hurt."

"Refuses to kill."

Cable finishes fixing his trenchcoat, and there is no evidence it had ever been damaged. The shirt and pants come next, simpler to weave back together. "I don't subscribe to that philosophy. Society and humanity is like a living being. To exist and flourish, everything must be in harmony. But if there's a cancer... what do you do with it? Would constantly spray it with radiation into remission, each time causing it to grow back a little more immune, a little bigger? Living on the hope it won't wake up and destroy you someday? Or, alternatively, would you cut it out of the body, purge the remnants, and cure it so it can never damage the system again?"

At the question on his health, "Yeah. It's a long story. Convoluted and confusing. Cliffnotes is, a certain individual infected me with a virus that is trying to turn my body into a bio-organic metal machine bent on propagating the infection." Tea is summoned, and sipped at lightly.

"I suppressed it with my telekinesis, and have used it to my advantage. You could compare me to my clone to see the difference." Cable definitely towers over Nate Gray, modifying his body and even his growth to achieve his desired goals. "And yes. It's going to kill me in the end, if not cured."

Prime closes the book, still frowning thoughtfully, and nods silently through Cable's speech. At the end, he muses quietly, "But who determines when killing is acceptable? I accept that it might become an ethical imperative to kill someone who has become a sufficient detriment to society, but I can't see how to fairly determine that." He quiets again for a moment, considering Cable's description of his medical condition. Then, he wonders aloud, "Could someone cure it? Would that be possible with... enough education and knowledge?" He finds himself thinking hard on the question of potential and ability. What, after all, is he worth if he does not seek to find the potential he can reach?

"Yeah. That's the issue. Being fair. People like the Punisher, they aren't helping anything. Atagonizing a presence in a manner that creatse power vaccuums that only perpetuates the criminal activity? No. Meaningless. Muggers, thiefs, debase people, they all fit the cycle. They are there, and there are antibodies."

"Heroes." Cable states firmly. He now looks hale again, outside the spreaded metal across his neck.

"The antibodies are good at purging things like sudden infections. Your Thanos, your Darkseid, your mole person invasion, or whatever calamity might befall the world through brute force. But those are short-term things. The Alpha universe is resistant to short-term change; I believe this after extensive study."

"Then there's Apocalypse." Suddenly images would bloom within Prime's mind, of the monolithic Mutant god. In a twisted, horrific world, where that bio-metal is spreading across the vegetation, humanity is a shell, and only Omega mutants are allowed to live. All others are genocided and used as fodder. Lesser mutants literally put into breeding pens, with the intent to use them to gain more Omegas. Each mental image, like some horrendous flipbook, shows tragedies and horrors that are unsettling to even a firm mind.

"It is the hidden threats. Those that linger beneath the eye. Spreading, slowly. Time is what changes the world, and the patient have their fingers in deep. The cancers."

Cable sips more at his tea, telepathy broken so he can focus on recessing the new flare-up of virus bit by bit. It's almost imperceptible to see it's reversal. "I want to make a permanent change to society and humanity that will last permanently. And it is not done through the backs of heroic icons. It is not done through conquering, or despotic coercion. ...And it is not done through pretty words, compassion, and love. Society, as I said, is a communal mind. It must be shifted, carefully, more and more towards the positive. What is happening now is no different than racism for the Blacks, or intolerance of the gay. When society embraces the innocent and publicly cries out against those still preaching intolerance, that is when the world begins to change."

The last of his tea is drained. "And that's what I do. I find obstacles, threats, and individuals that would be a barrier to those attempting to change public image for the positive. Did you know there's a drug that can be made from a living mutant, that will grant the user powers? What good happens to publicize this? Pro-mutant integration will be set back, seeing how they can be manipulated. Anti-mutant integration rally that it's just another reason they don't belong."

A smile. "So just erasing it, so the world never sees it... doesn't that seem the most rational course for the greater good?"

Prime sits in renewed silence at Cable's micro-lecture on the nature of evils. He floats over to the bookshelf, sliding the text back into its place. He floats back over, resting again in the air before Cable. The descriptions of the various sorts of dangers--the Punishers, the Apocalypses, the hidden dangers--bring a pinched look of concentration to his face, and he nods slowly along with each of them. Then things shift to the discussion of actual tactics, and Prime's attention visibly focuses even more.

Permanent changes. The idea of actual shifts in society. These are big concepts for Prime to grapple with, but between all the reading he's done since his arrival and his naturally capacious mind, he's able to at least begin to see what Cable means. The mention of the drug, in particular, makes his frown deepen. Drugs are something he's only just learning about, but they strike him as a kind of corruption given form. Not acceptable. And at Cable's last question, Prime finally speaks again.

"So it must be exposed. You have to pull it out to where it can be seen. Destroy it in the public mind, not just defeat it."

"Wrong." Cable states, fingers steepling before himself. He looks at Prime then, long and hard. "You have to do the opposite. You have to destroy it, and make it so that society never knows it existed. Things that, if they make the news--even if the 'heroes' win--will be destructive. Will set things back. If it never reaches the public mind, in time, society will accept."

The teacup is set on a pillar, which descends into the ground, showing no sign of any lines that allowed it to rise. "Here, you are not Superman. You've likely had enough time to confirm this. And there are enough people in the public, flying in capes. There are enough people maintaining the status quo. Fighting for Mutant rights. People like Xavier and Hank. And people fighting the public enemies of this planet. Every powered being that saves someone improves relations. But every powered being that hurts someone hurts it more. And if a powered being saves someone from being hurt by a powered being... it is a negative gain. It becomes a problem that seems only able to be solved by those that the majority cannot handle. Politics get involved. Governments. ...Programs. It creates a schism, that cannot heal, because both sides are right. How can you feel safe, if the only way to stop a maniac descending from the sky with laser beams, is someone rushing in firing laser beams in your favor?"

Leaning back, Cable continues focusing on the metal upon his neck. Slowly and surely, he's purging it. As much as he can. "Before you know it, society will begin to alienate powered beings. Registration acts. Defensive systems like Sentinels. Or creating artificial powered beings under a firm collar. This will lead to destruction, in the end."

Suddenly curious, Cable makes a lazy statement. "Professor. Genoshan Latest News." Suddenly, the shelves of books descend, and countless monitors appear showing information on events since Serbia was first invaded. Newspapers from all fronts, positive and negative, with videos with subtitles running. How the heroes react, how nations react, how politics react. There's no hurry here. He lets Prime absorb every bit of it, what Magneto is doing with his might.

"What do you think of this? Do you think what he's doing is right or wrong?" he would finally ask. With Prime's ability to speed-read, it shouldn't take more than twenty minutes to become an expert.

Prime shakes his head at that. "That doesn't make sense. You can't erase a thing from having happened." He rests his elbows on his knees, lifting his hands to support his chin on both fists. "It's true that I'm not Superman. It's true there are already that kind of heroes. Isn't what you're describing the essence of human history? It's always a confrontation between powers."

He looks thoughtful at Cable's projections for the future. Nodding slowly, he says, "They moved in that direction once. The system currently supports super-powered beings as long as they're legitimized by the government. Does that have to lead to destruction? Is the system so irredeemable?" The question seems almost rhetorical, lacking any real challenge to it. Then the Genoshan data spreads across the screens, and Prime turns in midair to face the nearest monitors.

Regarding the incoming data, Prime looks thoughtful. "Magneto's strategy is limited by his fixation on mutants and powered individuals. If he were interested in the whole planet--all Earthlings--he could start a movement that might include everyone. He's putting out fires--like Superman--instead of seeking holistic change."

"Is that so?" Cable asks, before gesturing as the monitors retract. "Books." Once more the immense library erupts into being. Cable then pushes to his feet, glancing around until one book is yanked off the shelf and drawn over. He flips it open, and shows the page to Prime. It is history, describing a certain place and time a few hundred years ago. "This is what the past looks like, to the future. If it is not recorded, it did not exist. You have read enough to know this. 'History is written by the victors'. Consider this proverb. 'If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, does it make a sound?'"

Cable replaces the book in another shuffle of telekinesis. "The answer is, yes. It made a sound. But with nobody to hear it, then it is just dust in the wind. An event that took place, and one day may be discovered. The rotting trunk of a tree, new life sprouting around it. Nobody heard it fall... but it did. The event took place. But as long as it's never percieved, then the world of humanity doesn't blink an eye. That is what I do. Enemies to the world are the trees. And I make sure the sound of them falling doesn't reach the ears of the world."

"It doesn't have to. But to put that power in the control of the government is dangerous. We may have some systems supporting powered beings, but what of Serbia? I personally saw those camps, and witnessed the hatred in the hearts of those men. They were not sadists. They were not inhuman. Not rapists, murderers, thieves. But soldiers. ...They genuinely believed and felt justified in what they did. And if you don't cure that... how can you change the world?"

"In some ways, Magneto is doing something beneficial, even if he's not aware of 'why'. He is drawing public attention to the terrible situation of living beings. Many can empathize with that. He cannot be ignored, and all eyes are on him. But that also makes him a scapegoat, a martyr. Every world power that hates powered beings can now use him as justification for why 'his kind' need to be controlled. For if a mere man orders their physical superiors around, shackled by nothing but society and law, then... that could start a revolution. Do you know what would happen, if every mutant in an oppressed country turned on those who keep them down? Death. Chaos. Hell. And god forbid someone actually instigates war with Genosha."

"Magneto was justified in what he did. But doing it in such a public manner... is dangerous. It feels like he is poking countries with sticks, daring them to do anything, so he can show the grandiose might of Genosha. His participation in Darkseid's invasion was likely a show of force, to demonstrate what he can do. ...I am truly hoping he intends to keep this political. If he steps too far..."

Well. Cable truly hopes it doesn't come to that.

"I can show you." Cable offers, idly. "One of the cancers I speak of. And you can tell me what you think. Whether it is something that should be brought to light and snuffed out, or smothered in the darkness, and never seen."

Prime looks at the history book he's handed, reading the passage, and then looks back to Cable. Frowning, he listens again to the reasoning that's unfolded for him. He begins to nod along with Cable's words again, if warily. "So you are interested in the world of the future, not of now. You want to control what will be remembered tomorrow, not what is known today." His frown deepens. "So your point is that Magneto's mistake was not in thinking too small--it was in moving too openly. He made the oppression memorable instead of seeking to erase it, so in the future no one would ever have cause to think of doing such a thing."

Shaking his head, Prime says, "But what of the aphorism that those who do not learn of the past are doomed to repeat it? Doesn't this indicate that we should preserve the mistakes made today so that those who read of them tomorrow can learn what went wrong? Would not war with Genosha be akin to the World Wars of the Twentieth Century?" And then Cable makes that offer, and Prime nods slowly.

"I'd like to see it. Show me, please."

"Of course. One of the greatest flaws of humanity is that they only care within their lifetime. Within decadse. Problems are put off to the next generation, and the next, building up in weight and mass until eventually it crushes society. But... you are right. Wars are needed. And open moves are required. Magneto is doing something not dissimilar to what I have thought, although in a different way. If he freed everyone, not only mutants..." A slight exhale. He is not the most important thing to worry about at the present.

"Wars. What have we learned from war? Nothing. Two of them stem from the very same country, and from laughable sources. Examples of the failure in humanity's diplomacy, racial divides, and barrier between countries. All those should be broken down, which is what I approve of Genosha. He does not see race, only his brothers. It's a start."

And then, Cable's eyes harden. "Tell me once we see this, whether you think it is a lesson to be shared, and one worthy of history books. Bodyslide by two."

In a flash, and a temporal displacement, Prime and Cable are somewhere in the woods. There's a run-down house in front of them, with a dull light on. Cable's left eye flares orange, before he nods. "They won't notice us. Just follow me for now." Striding forward, there's someone rocking back and forth on a chair, shotgun across it and bottle of beer in the other hand. He's watching the winding road, where the lights of a larger city can be seen like a star in the distance. No blink or hint of notice is given to Prime or Cable. The door is opened, revealing the living room and kitchen, merged to one.

A few men are visible in the room, watching something on television. There's screaming and begging, as if it were a horror or slasher flick, cable running to an antique VCR. A pleased expression on their face. In a glance, countless anti-Mutant items can be seen. Headlines where they are oppressed taped to the walls and the morbid details circled in red pen. Piles on Genosha, and literature on many terrorist factions that wish to 'deal with the growing threat within'. Cable slowly walks over to the television, turning towards it.

It is a blurry, somewhat out of focus movie of a young physically mutated individual, being tortured by a group of humans. Kicking him, laughing at him, making him beg. Pouring a bottle of water on the dirty concrete and forcing him to lap at it, starved and dehydrated. The only difference? Gills on the side of his neck, and what seems to be a second set of transluscent eyelids. He keeps begging for more water, that he's drying out. There's a laugh from the men in the video, and Prime is tugged away. Better not to see the rest of it. What is most disturbing is the sheer pleasure in these three. It's something that drives their insane hatred. Fuels it. And worse.

A heavier door is yanked open, and Cable descends steps to a basement. One which is revealed to be the very one from the video above. In one corner, skin dried and cracked, body almost a skeleton and scarcely alive, is the chained mutant in the video without a scrap of clothing. A few video cameras are set up, and various instruments of torture and humiliation. The young mutant shivers now and then, eyes squeezed shut.

"Tell me." Cable says, simply. "These four extremists. What they did to this innocent. What they've done to many more before. Should this be dragged into the light of day? They create Mutant snuff. Copy the videos. Sell them. And there's buyers. Plenty of them."

Cable's words echo in Prime's ears as the two port to the new location. Wars clearly have their place--history has shown that a time seems to come when action must be taken. That, Prime wonders, is why Superman fights, is it not? The need to act? The hope to prevent the need for war? These questions reel in his mind as they enter the building, as they see the video, and confusion grows on Prime's face. When they reach the basement and he sees the mutant lying there, his expression hardens into something that would be brittle if it wasn't so much harder than steel. His eyes begin to shimmer with radiant heat, an angry red glow that lights the room around them.

"The would should see," he says quietly. "The world should see them made an example. They want torture? They want suffering? They should HAVE IT." His fist clenches hard enough to shatter diamond, and he stands over the dying mutant. "Can we help him? He's innocent. He should be protected! The ones above--they should--they should DIE." He's shaking at this point, quavering with rage. "How can the world ignore this?"

"Maybe Magneto's right after all."

"Of course we can help him." Cable states, simply. "That's why I came here. But I stopped to pick you up, first. I wanted to show you what I do. And see if you can understand why it's done this way. Like I said, Magneto is justified in his actions. But he is a tyrant. I have taught you much about how society is a communal mind. No single speck in it can control it. No matter the strength. Whether intentions are good, or ill. It will bring only ruin. Come here." He beckons at Prime, with his metallic hand. "Superman would save this man. And bring those four to justice. It would create a giant debacle in the trials. Everyone would hear about the evils they did. And they would likely go to jail, where they are likely to be praised and heralded. And those who hate mutants would get them out. Political power and money. They would be freed, and likely do worse than this, under the banner of madmen. Do you consider that justice?"

"Killing is wrong," Prime says, just as if he's repeating something, but he sounds doubtful, conflicted. "But I want them--I want them to BURN. How could they torture an innocent life that way?" He's nearly sobbing from the emotion, and he has to put a hand to his face, literally covering his own eyes to contain the burning red glow of their heat. "I've always known it was wrong to kill, but how can anyone let monsters like THOSE live? I don't... I don't understand!" He slams the heel of his free hand into the wall, causing the whole building to shake and tremble. "WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING MAKE SENSE!?" he roads, all but screaming.

That causes people to jolt to attention. Cable wasn't prepared for Prime to lash out, and it takes another more powerful lash of telepathic probing to set them back to things and forget it. "Look. Look at this!!" A hand lifts, and in a flash, Prime would be seeing something else. The depths of humanity. Doing things to themselves, no better than what is being done to the human. Showing that the cruelty is not bound to hatred on something as simple as mutancy. But beyond that, flashes of other potentials. One of Superman acting as judge, jury and executor, crushing the world and freedom beneath him. One of Apocalypse, genociding and killing countless people, all for the supremacy of Mutancy. One of Magneto, sitting on a giant throne of iron, humans put into the very camps that he saved his people from. One where aliens herd all of humanity like cattle amongst strange structures, being lead into a peculiar machine from which there is no visible exit.

"This is what society has become. Humanity has become. It's broken. But not irreparable."

This time, a flood of the good. A man handing a meal to the homeless. People chipping in to save someone from a car wreck. Smiles, warmth, happiness, love, understanding. The exact opposite of everything witnessed.

And then the world settles back to the basement. "I have seen a future." Cable states, simply. "Where humanity no longer cares about differences. Where it can integrate with all of the universe, and join the endless galaxies. And it is not realized by any one person... but the fixing of what is broken. The environment that allows these people to grow and live."

But deep inside, Cable is beginning to wonder if it's possible to change the course of the world. The temptation to try to control it, and force people to do better. One that gets a little harder to dismiss, every time he sees something like this, knowing there to be a thousand more.

"I will tell you a proverb. Once, there was a young boy walking along the beach at low tide." Cable approaches the trembling mutant now. "Starfish were laying upon the sand, beached. Hundreds of them. Thousands. As far as the eye can see. But he was grabbing them, and throwing them back into the sea."

Suddenly the chains begin to snap and shatter, startling the mutant. His hazy, dried eyes slit open, trying to see.

"An old man watched for a moment, baffled. He said to the boy, 'What are you doing? There are so many starfish beached across the entire world. What difference can you possibly make?'"

And then Cable reaches down, pulling the shuddering mutant to his feet.

"And the boy picked up a starfish, looked at it, and threw it back into the water. And simply said, 'It made a difference to that one.'"

Prime slowly lowers his hand as the visions pass. He blinks, the glow fading from his eyes, and stares at Cable, trying to wrap his mind around what's being said. "Do you know how to make it happen? Do you know how to make the future better?" He waves a hand upward, toward the men above. "Will killing them help? Can we make them see mutants as people? What can we DO?" His voice still shakes, as he struggles to confront the horrors and uncertainty of it all.

He reaches out to help support the weakened mutant, frown seeming etched into his features. "Isn't that what Superman does? Isn't he helping every single person he can, no matter how many people there are? That's being a hero, isn't it? It means... you don't stop. You do what has to be done. But you're saying that isn't enough?" He reaches up again, pressing a hand to his forehead and letting out a frustrated growl.

"My memory is all mixed up echoes. Give me something that makes sense!"

Cable's quiet for a long time. "Yes. That's one way of being a hero. And it is not a wrong way. But in that capacity, you only have the appreciation of those few who reach your hands. ...What if there was a way to save countless starfish at once? Wouldn't you take it?" Cable reaches out, and a large jug of water is telekinetically drawn over to him. Pouring off the cap, he then pours it upon the mutant. A whimper of relief is evident. He must be aquatic based, or something similar. "I am not Superman." Cable states softly. "I am not content to save people one at a time. Not when my powers could save so many more. ...But due process. The legal system. All of that. I don't have time for that either." Slowly Cable turns and begins to walk towards the stairs. "This is your defining moment, Prime. Decide now. Do you wish to save one starfish, and have it forever grateful? Or would you save a thousand, and not only would they not know the savior, but perhaps never even know they had been saved...?"

Once the mutant seems to be doing better, Prime turns to follow Cable, if uncertainly. "It's more important to help people than to have them know you helped them," he answers with conviction. "But I still don't understand how to stop people like these. Can you... show them they're wrong? Can they be BETTER?" He's clearly desperate for clarity, for a way to make sense of this all. He's just as clearly lost as to Cable's big picture right now. All he can see is the wrong, the offense right in front of his face.

"I agree. Saving society is more important than being recognized for it." Cable states, beginning to stride up the stairs. "As for the second part..." Only this time when he reaches the top, the three men who are on the couch push themselves to their feet, one going for a pistol on an adjacent table. "What the fu--" A moment later, within the elder Nathan's hand is a heavy plasma pistol. Three shots are fired. Two are struck in the chest, the third in the head. A moment later the door bursts open as the fourth comes, shotgun raised. A shot is fired, slug whirling with telekinetic energy as it slows. Before jutting out his hand, it strikes the last man in the chest, sending him hurtling out the door to roll to a stop, shotgun clattering away. Only after does he holster his weapon.

"I told you at the start. Cancer has to be cut out of the body. But I'm not like the Punisher. Nobody will ever know these men died. They will just vanish. And so will their crimes. If the public never knows what they did, then it cannot set back progress in the world. It simply ends here. ...Set the mutant down somewhere safe. Then, in the corner. The boxes. Bring me them." There's three, stacked on top of each other; and they are filled to the brim with video cassettes...

Cable is now moving out the front door, where the last of them is coughing and hacking, mortally wounded by the rebounded shell.

Prime watches this, brow furrowed thoughtfully, but even for all he's said, he flinches as the men die. He sets the mutant down on the sofa cushions or whatever passes for them over in the corner, and then he picks up the boxes of tapes. He lifts these and takes them back to Cable, tilting his head. "We will... destroy these, right? Make it so no one can ever see what these men did?" He looks down at them, eyes flashing with read heat again. "I could burn it all away. Erase this whole place in fire." But even now, he sounds dubious. There's so much that seems conflicted--and not only in his memories anymore.

Cable's hand extends, grasping the wounded man and pulling him forward, grasping him by the throat. And then there's a flash of gold light from his left eye, and a horrible shriek of pain. After a few moments, he's thrown back into the house, collapsing catatonic. "Yes. Erase it. Erase it all." Cable states. The boxes are dropped into a heap on the ground, before both hands strike out. In a flash of cerulean energy they are shattered into motes of plastic and cardboard, whirling up in a stream like a tornado. Only to be condensed into a small, amalgamated ball. And then slowly, they dissipate into dust, vanishing in the wind. "From the fourth man, I found out who paid them. A mutant-hating sadist with a net worth of over a million. He likely funds dozens of these operations, enabling people to commit these atrocities." Walking into the house, Cable gently lifts up the mutant, moving to shift him through the door and set him upon the grass. Before roaring with energy, his arms extend. And then the entire house begins to collapse inwards, wood snapping, electronics shattering, drawn up in a storm of debris. Cable bursts up from it unscathed, before with a growl thrusts down. The rubble crashes into the basement in a great plume of smoke, concentrating as he crushes it down more and more. Metal blooms across him, before he lands with a grunt. "Now you can burn it. If you want."

Standing beside the rubble, Prime glances back at Cable. He almost looks frustrated that Cable's swept everything away without giving him a shot, but then he shakes his head and looks down at the pile of was-a-building. He opens his eyes wide and lets that radiant heat flow, the red glow flaring as the rubble is bathed in the heat of a blast furnace that would melt steel. The fire spreads instantly across the whole collapse, and by the moment Prime has turned around, the glow fading from his eyes, the blaze has reached massive bonfire levels.

"So, what now?" he asks. "You go and kill their backer? You go on ripping out the cancers instead of going after what made them?" His fists are clenched tightly, as if that force is the only thing keeping him from shaking again. "How can it ever be enough? How can you ever make a better world?" He flings his hand back to gesture at the burning ruin.

"Is this all we can hope for?"

"I don't know." Cable admits, looking off into the distance of the city. "How do you change the hearts and minds of billions of people, Prime? All of the mistakes of two thousand years, that lead to where we stand? I've been searching my whole life for that answer." There's a whirl of telekinesis, drawing more air into the fire and making it burn even brighter. "What would you fight? How would you change it? A single being, human or not, can be reasoned with. But society is an ugly beast, and humanity a vicious animal. All I can do is hope. Hope that in the end, good outweighs evil. And that if enough of these monsters are put down, those who raise public awareness and slowly change the world will succeed, with the path just a little easier." Gently, Cable holds up a hand to the downed mutant. Going through and deleting every memory he has, back to the moment he was captured. Removing that burden from his life. He's asleep now, looking more at peace. "He'll never know I saved him. He'll never even know this happened. ...That's my martyr's battle."

Prime stalks a few feet away from the building, leaving his back to the fire, and he seems to be only tightening in on himself, lost in the moment--and then Cable mentions that most important of concepts, the one that resonates as deeply within the would-be Superman--or Superboy, or whomever he might have become in this world--as any concept possibly could.

Hope.

"That," Prime says, now more quiet. "That's what Superman does. He brings hope. That's his real purpose. He shows people that they're not alone, that someone cares. He makes them better by his example. He told me. He--someone. He said, 'They can be a great people--they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way.'" He wobbles a bit, lifting a hand to his forehead again, and groans wearily.

"I wish I remembered who told me that."

"...That's one way of looking at it. But the line between hope and dependence is thin. And the line between powered and normal needs to be removed." At the second phrase, there's a bit of a frown. "Yes. Humans can be great, and many of them are. And yes, they need to be shown the way. But shown. Not forced. Never forget that." Cable looks into the fire, refracting off his metal limb. Wondering whether all he's done since arriving here has been ultimately pointless. But then, there's the starfish he's rescued... and the knowledge no more will be succumbing to certain tides. "I'm not a hero. I'm not even a vigilante. I'm..." What is he? He's not even sure anymore. "..." Some moments are spent looking at the fire. "Well. Now you know the Earth. The good, the bad. The history. You have great power, that will only grow greater. What you do with it is up to you. And your new identity is up to you." With a gesture, the fire smothers all at once, leaving blackened coals. In another great movement, dirt roars inwards, burying the house beneath into a giant hill. After some telekinetic modifications, it now looks like the road simply leads to an empty hill. "It is hard. Being judge, jury, and executioner. It's a responsibility nobody should have. But I believe I am qualified. I'd take some time now. Look over the Earth with your own eyes. See the good and the bad, the flow of the world." The way of the Askani. "I wish I knew a better way to do this. But if humanity is to have free will..."

Prime watches Cable do this, and then he gives a slow nod. "You're... a soldier," he says slowly. "You're fighting a war for the future. I could fight with you, or I could find a different place." He squeezes his eyes shut for another long moment. "But you're right. I have to go... see the world. I have to find what being 'Prime' means. I have to find a purpose." He lifts his hand, pressing it to the S-shield on his chest. Hope. He wonders--is he really worthy of that legacy? Or is he just the broken castoff of another reality?

Shaking his head, Prime darts up into the air, hovering for a moment. "You have shown me much, Cable. I'm--I'm grateful for it. I believe I will see you again, maybe--maybe after I've found out more." He looks around, sweeping the horizon with his enhanced vision. "Maybe when I figure out how many starfish I can save." He ascends again, increasing steadily in speed.

By the time the last wisp of smoke has lifted, he's long gone.