Cable (1st series) #107

Issue Date: 
September 2002
Story Title: 
Out with the old
Staff: 

Darko Macan (writer), Igor Kordey (art), Randy Gentile (letterer), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Lynne Yoshii (assistant editor), Andrew Lis (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Bill Jemas (president) Special thanks to: Vanja Miskovic.

Brief Description: 

Cable is meditating on a cliff, while a red haired guy is filming the corpse of his employer, Lazarus. They talk about the red-haired mans job which involves filming every death of his employer for a TV show, when a helicopter lands. Children wielding machine guns step out and tell Cable to accompany them. Lazarus “resurrects” tells Nathan he has to stay and kill him. One of the kids shoots Lazarus and tells Cable to come with them or he will shoot on of the little girls. He is taken to Mr. Singapore luxurious penthouse. Once there, Mr. Singapore tries to convince Cable to come and work for him. Nathan gets very upset and temporally poisons Mr. Singapore. He tells him he can’t be controlled. He flies off in the copter and heads towards a thunderstorm. Mr. Singapore knows this isn’t the first time Cable has attempted suicide and that he will survive because his powers won’t let him die. Indeed as the copter is struck Cable’s telekinesis forms a bubble that protects him as he falls into the sea. Nathan thinks that he is afraid of himself.

Full Summary: 

Cable is meditating, while a red-haired guy is filming a corpse being picked on by sea gulls. He asks Cable for a light, but he answers that he doesn’t have one and would like to be alone. He asks the cameraman why he followed him. The cameraman answers that he is only following his boss’ orders. Cable tells him that his boss is dead; he has the firing pin of the pistol lodged in his head. The cameraman tells him that it is no big deal as Lazarus Ganglion, his boss, has been dead before. The cameraman is filming the resurrection for a network special called “The many deaths of Lazarus Ganglion”. Their conversation is interrupted when a golden helicopter lands right next to them.
Several children dressed in black and gold uniforms and wielding machine guns step out of the copter. They tell Nathan that he is coming with them on Mr. Singapore’s orders. Lazarus who has “awakened” interrupts them and demands that Cable stays and kill him properly. One of the kids recognizes Lazarus as a minor mutant with healing powers due to a decentralized nervous system. Lazarus doesn’t care what they think, he just wants Cable to atomize him like he did to some people in Kazakhstan. He believes Nathan cheated the first time, because he only twisted the barrel of the gun so Lazarus would kill himself once he fired his gun. The leader of the children, Richard, is no longer amused and begins to shoot at Lazarus to make him dance. He tells him he will need another skill for when his show goes under. Lazarus screams; although he heals he still feels the pain. Richard shoots him in the head nevertheless, while the cameraman films everything, moaning about how boring the show will be.
Richard turns to Nathan who has yet to react and tells him that from reading his profile he expected Cable to be unfazed by the situation. However, he also knows he has a soft spot for children and aims his gun at the little girl of the group. The girl tells him Richard isn’t bluffing.

Cable remarks that he could kill Richard with a thought. Richard replies, that he won’t because he doesn’t trust himself anymore and he’s curious about them and Mr. Singapore. Villa in Singapore

Mr. Singapore is playing with his pet rat with a maze, when Cables’
Arrival is announced. Mr. Singapore’s Villa is located on the roof of a large building. Richard tells Cable Mr. Singapore is richer than Tony Stark and Bill Gates.
Mr. Singapore greets Cable and asks him to call him Jackie. Mr Singapore tells him that he is so powerful in the area that 17% of the population think the city was named after him. Cable asks why he uses children as mercenaries. Richard replies and explains to Nathan that he is 35 years old. Jackie explained that they are a gift from his father and that their growth is temporarily suspended. They are excellent because no one dares to harm them. The girl then tells Nathan that there is 30 million dollar bonus for each to do their job and that if any of them die that persons money will be split among the rest. That is the reason she tells him, Richard wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her.
Jackie offers Cable his help, but Nathan doesn’t want it. Mr. Singapore reminds him of his incidents in Peru, where he toppled the government. Kazakhstan and the Balkans, where he caused massive destruction. And Rio de Janeiro, where he mind wiped over 80 people. He begins to eat grapes and tells Nathan that he lacks a purpose. He can give him one by being the carrier of his ideas. The world organism is very weak he says, so he will insert a virus in the form of new ideas. These will create new ideas and new fears through which he can control.
He asks Nathan one more time if he wants to have a purpose again when he begins to choke. Tears spring from his eyes as the mercenary children arrive and surround Cable. Nathan is furious, he tells Singapore he doesn’t know who he is talking to. He has transformed the molecules in Jackie grape into poison. He also removes the oxygen from the kids’ proximity and they begin to choke as well. He tells them he is the man who got shot in the head and didn’t die. He is not in control of his own powers, so how can Jackie presume to be. Finally he tells Singapore to be afraid of him. Cable then steals the helicopter and flies of into a thunderstorm.
As they regain consciousness Singapore is very happy with Cable, while Richard is ashamed and worried. Cable is shouting at the storm to hit him. Richard tells Jackie that Nathan is trying to kill himself. Singapore tells him not to worry since every time he tries his mutant gift doesn’t allow it. A lightning bolt hits the helicopter making it explode. Cable falls unconscious into the ocean. When he wakes up he finds himself surrounded by a telekinetic bubble he unconsciously created. As he swims back to surface he thinks of his last words to Mr. Singapore: “Be afraid of me”. He knows he is.

Characters Involved: 

Cable

Mr. Singapore / Jackie

Jocko, Richard and 3 other mercenary kids.

Lazarus Ganglion

a cameraman

Story Notes: 

Mr. Singapore is first mentioned in Cable (1st series) #106, this is his first appearance.
The incidents Mr. Singapore mentions happened in the following issues: Cable topples the Peruvian government between Cable (1st series) #97-100. Cable caused massive destruction in the Balkans Cable (1st series) #101-104. Mind wiped about 80 people in Rio in Cable (1st series) #105. Cable killed people with an explosion in Kazakhstan in Cable (1st series) #106.
This last incident is the one Lazarus refers to when he asks Cable to atomize him. Nathan completely vaporized three people with his powers in that ´story.
Eddie Hoyle shot Cable in the head in Cable (2nd series #102 and he “resurrects” in #103.
Cable lost control of his powers in Cable (1st series) #100, when he purged himself of the T.O. virus.

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