Cable & Deadpool #7

Issue Date: 
October 2004
Story Title: 
The Burnt Offering - part 1: Headless Horsemen
Staff: 

Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zercher (penciller), Rob Ross and M3TH (inks) Shane Law and Kevin Yan (Colour) VC’s Cory Petit (letterers), Erik Ko (Udon Chief), Molly Lazer & Andy Schmidt (assistant-editors), Nicole Wiley (editor), Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief), Dan Buckley (publisher)

Cable created by Rob Liefeld and Louise Simonson

Deadpool created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza

Brief Description: 

Deadpool fights ninja monks in Hong Kong to get an item they are guarding. He defeats them but is then in turn defeated by the mercenary known as the Cat, who steals the item. Cable gives an interview to Irene about his recent actions and plans. Though, he has been helping people all over the world, Irene is afraid that he is abusing his powers. However, Cable says that, as a telepath, he knows what people want and they want what he can give them. Later, S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors Cable trying to establish peace in Chechnya. G.W. Bridge wants to stop Cable, but Nick Fury isn’t convinced yet that he hasn’t done anything wrong yet. He does give G.W. an order to assemble a team to stop Cable, should he make a mistake. G.W. is convinced that Cable will make a mistake, but Cable (still in Chechnya) shows them that he heard the whole conversation and that Nicholas is right. The X-Men try to find a way to defeat Cable but, 75 Danger Room simulations later, they still haven’t found a way. Weasel tracks the Cat to Tokyo and Deadpool attacks the Cat at Roxxon’s base and the two fight again. Taking an employee hostage, Deadpool forces the Cat to give him the item he wanted back in Hong Kong. The Cat shows him the item and its counterpart, saying that it’s the only way to stop Cable. Deadpool grabs the item and bodyslides out. Merged again by the teleportation tech, Cable and Deadpool rip apart again after the bodyslide, but Deadpool doesn’t tell him about the item. After Cable leaves, Deadpool’s employer tells him about the next part of the item: it’s in the Savage Land. G.W. Bridge sees Cable leaving Deadpool’s apartment and finds this reason enough to deploy the new Six Pack to stop him.

Full Summary: 

In Hong Kong, Deadpool is fighting a large group of ninja monks while complaining about their body odor. The monks don’t reply, so Deadpool switches the conversation over to cursing in the TV show “Deadwood.” He finally realizes that blind, deaf and mute monks are not the best conversationalists.

He hears somebody behind him applauding and telling Wade that he’s really impressed. Deadpool turns around and sees the Cat. Deadpool turns out to be a great fan and asks for the Cat to show him his tattoo. The Cat rolls his eyes, but opens up his shirt to show off the tattoo on his chest. Deadpool continues, talking about how great the Cat is and how often he wanted to meet him… so he could kill him.

The Cat is not too worried, though, and easily dodges Deadpool’s attack. Deadpool goes on about what a great move that was, but is shut up by several shurikens in his face. The fight goes on, but the Cat is Deadpool’s superior in every way and Deadpool is soon silenced when the Cat shoves one of Deadpool’s swords through Wade’s back. He tells Deadpool that he already stole the item Deadpool was sent to retrieve about 6 minutes before he arrived. He advises Deadpool to stop looking for the object, because his employers need it more and a second battle would be fatal for one of them.

After the Cat leaves, Deadpool manages to remove the sword and his broken trachea is healed again so he can speak. He complains that the Cat never showed him the whole tattoo and then tells himself how much he hates Cable, who is the whole source of this mess. Outside the temple, Deadpool contacts his friend, Weasel, and asks him for information on the Cat. Weasel also turns out to be a Cat-fan and asks about the tattoo and says Deadpool that he’s not going to beat the Cat. Deadpool just tells him to do it, walking past an issue of the Daily Bugle with Nathan and his new base on the cover.

(published interview)

As the interview with Cable by Irene Merryweather begins, Cable asks if this is for the Daily Bugle, but Irene has been fired for keeping a loaded gun in her desk. Cable is bothered that Irene keeps calling him a savior and holy man (though she is sarcastic about the whole thing). Irene lists Cable’s accomplishments of the last few days: putting a floating sanctuary together from all over the world, rerouting waterways to irrigate the Sahara desert, throwing loggers out of the Amazon rain forest, 2 hours a day soothing the pain of every single person on the planet dying of any type of disease etc. etc. Cable makes some jokes about it.

Irene asks Cable after his mission. Cable states that his mission is to save the world. Irene wants to know from what. Cable answers “from itself” or from the superhuman demagogue of the week. Irene asks if Cable himself isn’t one of those. Cable points out that he knows of no demagogue who soothed pain and tried to cure diseases. Cable asks if Irene is accusing him of being a madman. Irene asks if he is. Cable replies that he doesn’t think so and, when Irene wonders if Hitler ever though himself a madman, Cable tells her about his past: he lived under the dictatorship of somebody far worse than Hitler: Apocalypse. Irene asks some questions about this future and how Cable is hoping to save the present if that future already happened. Cable tells her that the future happened for him, but that he can still save the present.

The interview then turns towards Cable being a mutant and the fear people have of mutants: Irene wonders if the world wants Cable to save them. Cable replies that he can read minds; he knows what people want and they want what he can give them.

(present)

The S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, hanging above the North Atlantic, monitors Cable’s actions. G.W. Bridge tells Fury that Cable is trying to get peace again in Chechnya. Nick asks Dum Dum Dugan about Cable’s floating city. Dugan, calling the city Providence, hangs about 40 miles off the coast of Tahiti and says that there are about 3,000 refugees onboard. Fury whispers “disciples” to himself and wonders how to approach this problem. Bridge goes for the simple approach: infiltrate the island, save the people, disable the technology and take out Cable.

Fury wonders if the people want to be rescued and that Cable has only helped people so far. He gives an example of Cable throwing the loggers out of the rain forest, but getting them new jobs in Northern Canada. Fury continues to wonder what they should do if nobody else thinks that he’s doing anything wrong. Nick orders Bridge to assemble a team. If Cable makes a mistake, they have to intervene. Bridge thinks it’s more when Cable makes a mistake. On the monitor, they watch Cable in Chechnya, telling the people to solve their differences or he will drop them all in Siberia. Then, Cable turns to the camera and tells G.W. that Nick really meant “if.”

In the Danger Room, Wolverine and Cyclops fight a holographic simulation of Cable and are defeated. Beast stops the simulation and Wolverine keeps up the score: Cable 75- X-Men 0. Cyclops scolds Wolverine from deviating from the plan. Wolverine replies that it wouldn’t have made a difference. Cyclops doesn’t accept it, but Emma agrees with Wolverine. Cyclops says that they need to find a way to stop Cable before he tears the world apart.

In Hong Kong, Deadpool asks Weasel who the Cat was working for if it wasn’t the Chinese. Weasel replies that it was, in fact, the Chinese. Deadpool doesn’t understand; they tracked the Cat’s flight to Tokyo and Japanese and Chinese don’t mix. Weasel thinks that Cable’s actions have forced them to co-operate. Deadpool figures the same: Cable is uniting the world against him. He asks Weasel to book him a flight to get him to wherever the Cat is.

At the Roxxon International Research institute in Tokyo, Deadpool is fighting a large group of security guards, as usual, and telling them, as usual, why he’s killing them, including the Valdez. One of the security guards tries to tell him that that was done by Exxon, not Roxxon, but is shot.

Deadpool asks a scared woman where the Cat is. The woman points him in the right direction and Deadpool crashes through the door, demanding to see the tattoo. The Cat takes off his shirt, Deadpool is pleased and the Cat attacks. The Cat tries to convince Deadpool that they are all on the same side, but Deadpool doesn’t think so. The fight is a bit more even, but Deadpool takes the scared woman from before hostage. The woman asks him not kill her; she’s only a temp. The Cat demands that he let her go, but Deadpool wants the item he came for.

Five minutes later, the Cat shows Deadpool the item: it seems to be some high-tech device. Deadpool asks why the Cat brought it here. The Cat says that Roxxon had its mate and takes a similar device. The two devices click together and form a whole. Cat claims that this is the only way of stopping Cable. He says that there are many people interested in a way of stopping this mutant when the need arises. Deadpool corrects him with an “if.” When the Cat offers Deadpool to join them, Deadpool replies that perhaps he doesn’t want Cable to be stopped. He grabs the device and bodyslides out before anybody can do anything.

In Deadpool’s apartment in Manhattan, Cable and Deadpool are merged again and rip apart. Cable reminds Deadpool that he wasn’t supposed to do that anymore until he found a way around the merging. Deadpool says he didn’t have any choice, but doesn’t answer Cable when he asks what Deadpool was doing. Deadpool says that it must annoy Cable that he can’t read Deadpool’s mind, due to his unique cell structure. Cable leaves, telekinetically taking the wall apart, flying through and repairing it behind him again.

After Cable has left, the phone rings and Deadpool answers. It is one of his mysterious employers (he notes that he can never tell them apart) and, when asked if he got the device, he replies that he even got 2 parts. His employer then tells him the third part is in the Savage Land.

G.W. Bridge is told that Cable left a Manhattan apartment belonging to a certain Buchanan Neket. Bridge concludes that this “Buck Naked” must be Deadpool (he knows Deadpool’s idiotic sense of humor). Bridge tells the others that he thinks consorting with a wanted felon qualifies as a mistake, so the new Six Pack may now take action. The new Six Pack is shown to be Bridge, Hammer, Domino, Constrictor, Solo and Anaconda.

Characters Involved: 

Deadpool/Wade Wilson

Cable/Nathan Christopher Summers

Weasel (friend of Deadpool)

Irene Merryweather (former reporter at the Daily Bugle and friend of Cable) (not seen, only interview written by her)

Eugene Canty /Hammer (member of the new Six Pack)

The Cat/ Shen Kuei (mercenary and expert martial artist)

Nick Fury (director of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Dum Dum Dugan (S.H.I.E.L.D. officer and Nick Fury’s best friend)

G.W. Bridge (member of the new Six Pack)

Domino, Constrictor, Anaconda and Solo (members of the new Six Pack)

Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Wolverine (X-Men)

Story Notes: 

The Cat is a Chinese mercenary and one of the best martial artists in the world. He is the main rival of Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung-Fu.

Weasel used to be Deadpool’s best friend and provided him with technology, information and weapons, till they had a falling out some years ago. They later made up, but Weasel no longer worked for Deadpool, except on some rare occasions. They must have restored their working relationship.

The old Six Pack was a group of mercenaries lead by Cable. Its members were Cable, G.W. Bridge, Hammer, Domino, Grizzly and Garrison Kane. The team was originally known as the Wild Pack, but Silver Sable’s Wild Pack let them know that name was taken. Six Pack members Grizzly and Kane Garrison have died.

Constrictor has a history with Deadpool: the two of them used to share an apartment.
Domino is Cable’s former lover and friend.

Anaconda is a criminal, formerly working for the Serpent Society, and Solo is a vigilante who targets terrorists. Neither of them has any history with Cable or Deadpool as far as is known.

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