Cable’s Safehouse, Manhattan
Cable stares in surprised horror as the Aentaros-possessed Irene charges at him, butcher knife in hand. Aentaros teases Cable that he would have to kill Irene to stop his assault. He then takes some swipes with his blade, which Cable deftly dodges.
Cable blocks another attack as Aentaros warns he will destroy Irene’s body if he is captured. Aentaros then leaps in the air with a somersault and scores a long gash across Cable’s chest. First blood goes to Aentaros.
Cable grabs Aentaros’ knife hand and pins him against the wall with his scimitar. It’s at this point Cable comes up with a plan, which he knows won’t be easy. He tosses Aentaros aside and commences with his new strategy.
Local Emergency Call Center
An operator receives an emergency distress call and dispatches an ambulance to the location.
Cable’s Safehouse
Aentaros/Irene gets up from among the debris. He gives Cable an ultimatum, either he or Irene dies.
Outside, an ambulance comes flying by, sirens blaring.
Aentaros charges at Cable just as he mentally shuts down the alarms guarding the safehouse.
Outside, the EMS workers rush into the building with their vital medical equipment.
Cable counts down the seconds in his head. Just before Aentaros reaches him he gets to zero. At zero, Cable uses his telekinesis to close one of Irene’s heart valves. Aentaros/Irene clutches her chest and drops the butcher knife. “You-you... killed... her!” is all Aentaros can say before falling into full cardiac arrest.
As Irene dies Aentaros flees her body. Cable tries contacting her telepathically. Irene responds saying she sees a beautiful light. The EMTs enter the room and Cable telepathically masks everything so as to make the room look normal. While he briefs the EMTs on what happened he tells Irene to stay away from the light.
The medics strap Irene to a backboard, hook her up to the O2 and ready the defibrillators. Irene tells Cable she’s drifting toward the light. Cable pleads with her to stay with him. The medics shock her, and pick up a heartbeat.
Cable thanks the medics for their help as they wheel Irene to the ambulance. Cable verifies they’re taking her to St. Clare’s and tells them he’ll catch up later. He wants to call her relatives personally and let them know what happened. As Cable watches the ambulance take off he wonders whom the Undying will target next.
Blaquesmith approaches from behind, startling Cable. Cable questions whether he should be up and walking around. Blaquesmith says there’s no time for him to rest and asks how Irene’s doing. Cable patches up Blaquesmith’s wounds while explaining the elaborate plan he set in motion by contacting EMS and causing Irene to have a heart attack just as they arrived. Blaquesmith says that won’t work again. Cable agrees and asks about that device he wanted him to make, the one that will bind the Undying within its host.
Blaquesmith reaches over, grabs it and hands it to Cable. He was working on it when Irene attacked him from behind. Blaquesmith says it will be finished within the hour. Cable decides to take that time to visit Irene and see if she remembers anything about Aentaros.
Harmony
Manuel, and his crew aboard the Harmony timeship, engage the teleportation systems and transport themselves 2,000 years into the past. Upon entry they power up the deflector shields making themselves invisible to any type of detection. The ship’s computers register the Ranshi timeship nearby remaining a second out of phase. Manuel is pleased with how things are going. Now all they have to do is find Cable and convince him the Ranshi timeline must be destroyed.
Manhattan, NY
Cable gets into a cab and tells the driver to take him to St. Clare’s hospital. Just then he receives a telepathic signal from Rachel Summers. He sees a vision of her trapped in a metal cage outside an ornate building. Warthog-looking bipeds, with long axes appear to be guarding her. She calls out his name a few times and then the vision disappears. The cabbie asks Cable if he’s ok. Cable tells him he’s fine and to get him to the hospital. To himself, Cable wonders how he can find Rachel.
Shire’s
Shire tells Key and Wall he’s going to miss them when they die. Key asks why he won’t just rule the world instead of destroying it. Shire admits that would be interesting, but it’s not part of the rules. The thought is tempting, however.
Key, meanwhile, uses his computer to access Clarity’s website. He offers Clarity some vital intelligence, for a price. Clarity accepts the offer so Key uploads the information. To keep Shire distracted, Key asks him why he would kill his friends. Shire corrects him, they were friends with Shire, but not Semijan. The Undying have no friends.
Shire leans over Key’s shoulder and asks what he’s doing. Key says he’s checking security and monitoring the news. The phone rings, which Shire finds rather odd, as he wasn’t expecting any phone calls.
St. Clare’s Hospital
Cable pays a visit to the woman he recently killed, Irene. He comes bearing roses, but that doesn’t help alleviate Irene’s bitterness towards his little stunt. Cable pleads with her it was the only thing he could’ve done. He asks Irene if she remembers anything about Aentaros, anything he was thinking.
Irene says she remembers a little. The Undying aren’t human, their thoughts are alien, hard to understand. Despite Clarity’s intel they’re millions of years old, not thousands. They live on blood and death, and intense emotions and pain make them strong. The more they kill the more powerful they become. There are five of them, and a sixth named Azazel who watches.
Cable asks if she has any more information on Azazel. Irene doesn’t recall anything else about him. She does, however, have one more piece of vital information. Randall Shire is possessed by one of the Undying and that’s why Aentaros wants to kill him.
Lea enters the hospital room bearing chocolates for Irene. She also tells Cable Clarity wants to see him. Cable asks Irene if she’s going to be ok. Irene just asks to be informed of anything. Cable agrees to those terms and follows Lea out. He asks her how she found him. Clarity followed the digital trail, hospital reports, emergency listings, hospital admissions and so on. As Cable gets into the car Lea tells him Clarity found Azazel.
Above Manhattan
Ranshi Timeship: Sandella and Holdyne discuss their monitoring of Cable. Holdyne says the droids and assault teams are ready to go whenever the Harmonists try to contact Cable. Sandella is pleased.
Harmony Timeship: The computer system picks up a chronotron reading on the ground below. Eyla thinks the system will locate him shortly, but points out they’d have to drop their shields in order to transport him on board. Manuel says it’s a risk they’ll have to take. They need to convince Cable that Harmony is the proper future.
Ranshi Timeship: One of the crewmembers reports small traces of chronotronic energy nearby. She determines it’s a nearby ship, shielded from detection.
Harmony Timeship: The computer almost has Cable locked in. The range is down to a hundred square meters.
Ranshi Timeship: Sandella surmises the Harmonists will act soon. She makes sure her troops are ready to transport once the Harmonists go for Cable.
Harmony Timeship: Manuel warns the crew the Ranshi might teleport in once they grab Cable.
Clarity’s
At that moment, Cable arrives inside Clarity’s inner sanctum. Greg tells him of the website Clarity found run by an archaeologist named Berger. He seemed to have found a temple, which he claims is guarded by the demon, Azazel. The location is in the middle of the Sinai desert and legend has it Azazel kills any who speak of its exact location.
Cable asks if they have it. Greg says it’ll take a few hours to find it by satellite. Cable wants to be kept informed on any progress. Lea adds that the doors are made of a very strong, unknown metal. Cable assures her they won’t be a problem.
Greg grabs some paper from the printer, telling Cable they have some other information. They’ve received a report from a hacker named Key who is very interested in seeing Randall Shire stopped. The files he sent explain a lot about what’s been going on.
It turns out Randall Shire ran a small traveling carnival in Australia, along with two brothers. Key was the fortuneteller, who actually used his mutant gift of computer wizardry to gain access to information about anyone. Wall was the strong man who let people beat on him. The fact that his body was denser than adamantium helped a lot. Last was Shire who a clown. His power as a psycho-morph would make people feel the emotions he projected.
They enjoyed their lives in the carnival until one day Semijan, one of the Undying, possessed Shire. Semijan was able to boost Shire’s power to untold strength and has been using it to enslave those who come to hear him speak. Semijan came to America to build his empire. Shire’s power only works face to face, which is why he doesn’t hold any TV or radio speeches. He needs people to come to his lectures in order for his mind control to work. Key warns that soon the government will be under his control, and with it the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Cable doesn’t like the idea that a creature that feeds on death would be in charge of WMD’s. There’s no response from Greg because at that moment Cable disappears.
Shire’s
Bridge stops by to let Shire know Blockade’s dead. Shire is pleased to hear the news, but Bridge isn’t done. He’s heard there’s another assassin coming for him a lot deadlier than Blockade, though they’re taking every precaution. Shire becomes agitated. He tells Bridge he won’t be canceling tonight, it’s too important. Bridge says he understands. Shire stands up and orders Bridge to triple the number of agents and if anyone tries to stop him, kill them.
Harmony Timeship
It’s Ranshi vs. Harmony, saber-tooth cat vs. Eliminator droid, Eyla vs. Sandella. Explosions rock the deck and the wounded take cover. Cable tries taking it all in, then his focus is directed at Sandella and Eyla. He finally understands why he’s attracted to the two of them. They’re both very similar to a third woman he’ll never forget.
Cable yells out for everyone to stop and uses his telepathy to make sure everyone does so. Cable acknowledges his reputation as the Nexus and demands to know what each of them wants him to do. Sandella answers first, explaining that a man called Cable prevents the assassination of a man named Randall Shire. Over the centuries the Ranshi empire will be born and mankind will rule the universe.
Eyla explains that in their timeline Cable failed and Shire was assassinated, but his message of “Peace and Harmony” lived on and Earth became a place of freedom.
Sandella interrupts her speech to point out the Harmonists got rid of all mutants. Eyla admits that mutants were blamed for Shire’s death and were eliminated, but explains the process they use now to prevent the X-gene is completely harmless.
Malan can’t hold back his emotions any longer and starts calling the Harmonists a bunch of murderers and mutant-haters. Manuel argues they kill no one; they only perform medical procedures to ensure normal growth.
Sandella approaches Cable and embraces his right arm. She offers him the chance to rule by her side as Lord of the Universe if he saves Shire. Eyla cozies up to his left, asking him to let Shire die and then he can be with her in paradise, and be cured of the techno-virus.
Shire’s
Shire asks Bridge if he knows anything else about the assassin. Bridge doesn’t, but assures Shire they will be stopped, dead or alive.
Harmony Timeship
Cable asks for more information on the assassination attempt. The Harmonists and the Ranshi only know one other thing, the name of the assassin: Domino!
The docks
Domino emerges from the watery depths of the Harbor.
