After arriving back in the present, Cable and Garrison Kane are greeted with absolute darkness. Not even Cable’s sentient computer system is answering them. Kane begins to find it ironic that two men who have lived through so much are now going to die like this. To pass the time, Kane attempts to put things together in his head, such as Cable’s methods of time travel and teleporting, and wonders why the systems are no longer working. Cable, of course, has no idea what has happened, but he does have a plan. After opening a panel in the wall, Cable begins to tinker with something while Kane relates what a crazy life he has led over the years. Then, after he asks if what Cable was doing is going to get them out of there, Cable says he has something better … two six packs of beer. Despite a short complaint of how he doesn’t like warm beer in cans, Kane opens one up anyway and begins to drink, followed directly by Cable. Kane asks that with having so much time on their hands, if he could ask a few questions about Cable’s past…
The Swiss Alps:
An unknown intruder makes his way down the mountain, heading for Cable’s hidden chalet, however while doing so he accidentally activates the defense systems and the computer informs the trespasser that it has been primed for level two response. The intruder states that if he knows Cable, level two could mean anything from a slap on the wrist to decapitation. The intruder opens fire on the defense blasters, while evading the returning fire. Some of the shots come close; however the intruder manages to activate the jets on his skiis and jumps off a ramp to crash directly through the chalet window, and then landing very hard through a table.
After stating that he is getting to old for this, he removes his hood and glasses to reveal himself to be G.W.Bridge, while the computer, after confirming his identity asks him if he could do anything for him. Bridge replies that calling him G.W. would be just fine.
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia:
Weasel makes his way through the war torn streets, on his way back to his hidden safe house, singing a version of New York, New York but improvising “Sarajevo, Sarajevo” instead. Once inside his safe house, he is fired up by a shadowed intruder who asks him if he is the “ rat known as Weasel”. Weasel returns with a response by stating that he prefers being referred to as an “information broker.” Sinsear informs Weasel that he is looking for Deadpool, and demands to know where he is. Weasel states that Deadpool is away looking for his old girlfriend, Vanessa Carlysle…among other things. Sinsear, not the most patient man in the world, closes Weasel’s mouth and demands that he stop his prattling. After being released, Weasel asks why he is looking for Deadpool, at which point Sinsear responds by stating that he is actually looking for “the other”.
The Temporal Displacement Core:
With beer cans scatter about the floor, Cable takes stock and tells Kane that he is drinking too quickly. Kane responds by stating that he’s claustrophobic, and that it was caused by Cable when he buried him in back in Yucatan in the same explosion that caused him to lose his arms and legs. Soon, Kane asks Cable why Stryfe is his exact twin, at which point Cable says that he was just as surprised to learn that Stryfe looked liked him as Kane was. Cable explains that Stryfe isn’t a twin, but that Stryfe was him, or rather he was Stryfe. Cable figures that since Stryfe possesses the superior power, he must be the original and Cable is the clone. This takes Kane somewhat by surprise, wondering how they were separated and why they are so different.
Cable informs Kane of his Askani past, and that Stryfe was raised among the Canaanites and that when he started his terrorist activities he was already wearing his metal mask, so there was no way of knowing what he looked like. Cable goes on to explain that when Stryfe had traveled into the past; it was his agenda to kill his parents, Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Cable exclaimed that when he attempts it, he is going to succeed, and then to prove his point with a flash of telekinesis he crushes a full can of beer with his bare hands.
The Swiss Alps:
G.W.Bridge is making himself at home in Cable’s safe house, even brewing a cup of coffee. Bridge states that he is confused, and that he thought that Graymalkin had destroyed itself during their battle with X-Force. Professor corrects him, stating that the explosion was just a ruse, to make SHIELD believe that Graymalkin had been destroyed, but much of its systems had to be jettisoned and the remainder went back into cloak in orbit.
After sitting down, Bridge informs the Professor that he has quit SHIELD, and how weird it is to be carrying on a conversation with a computer. He states that how in the past, everyone among the Six Pack knew that Cable had some sort of elaborate computer system, they just didn’t know the Professor’s origins, but he did find it strange that after finally finding the Professor, it was nothing like he expected … especially after Cable was not dead. It is then that the Professor asks why Bridge thinks Cable is dead. This startles Bridge, who drops his coffee, and asks if Cable is indeed still alive. Apparently, the Professor isn’t sure either, but if they wait long enough they’ll find out together.
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia:
Sinsear is confronted by a group of mercenaries, but gives them a chance to tell him where Deadpool is in exchange for their lives. The mercs, smug that they have the drop on Sinsear, make a counter offer, tell them where the Tolliver Will is and they’ll let him live. Sinsear quickly takes on the mercs, blasting through them with ease, and even sending out a Peesbee (a razor sharp Frisbee) which tracks whatever body parts Sinsear orders, in this case the mercs’ throats. Leaving only one alive, Sinsear wraps the last mercenary in a series of metal coils from the back of his hand, and raises him above his head. Sinsear asks if he heard correctly “Did you mention Tolliver?”
At the TDC:
Between the two of them, Cable and Kane have finished off quite a few beers, the cans now lining the floor around them. Kane states that they have had some nice lives, having lost out on just about everything most normal people take for granted. Kane notes that these are substantial losses, but Cable seems hardly affected by them. He asks why he hasn’t given up, since they have already seen the future, they both know that they have lost. Cable informs Kane that that would mean that the other side won, and that after all the losses none of it would matter.
Cable stands up with gun in hand and asks if Kane is ready. When Kane asks for what, Cable informs him that it is time to go, and that while he was getting the beer, he had tapped into the TDC’s power source and connected it to his own personal energy supply. And though it has taken a while, they now have enough power to bodyslide to his Swiss safe house. Cable has also deduced that the only way that the Professor wouldn’t be on-line is because it has abandoned its programming, and that the TDC was jettisoned to Earth. After stepping onto the pad, Cable activates the system and they teleport away.
The Swiss Alps:
Cable and Kane arrive and suddenly find themselves face to face with Bridge, who obviously is taken totally by surprise with their sudden arrival. Cable now holding his gun up toward Bridge’s face, asks why after all Bridge has put him through, why he shouldn’t pull the trigger and blow his head off. Bridge replies that he can tell him where X-Force is…
