The temporal storm is ravaging Cable’s future. Things vanish. They never were, are, or will be. Cable struggles with his dilemma: he will not help Apocalypse, but for him –and his world—to exist he must ensure that Apocalypse’s plague occurs. His future is dependent upon the antibodies produced by the virus. Cable runs to his headquarters, but he is not safe. He watches in horror as his son Tyler is erased. Spurred to action, he uses his time machine to intercept Bishop in the alley he landed in.

Bishop crash lands in the same alley he did before. “Here we go again,” he murmurs. However, this time a well-armed stranger named Cable materializes in front of him. Cable calmly attempts to tell Bishop that another way must be found to stop the plague, but he does not listen. Bishop’s temper gets the best of him and violence ensues.

Two future warriors with big guns and bigger egos cause a commotion. Bishop thinks he gains the upper hand with a direct hit, but Cable instructs his computer to body slide him to intercept Bishop again. Amidst the firefight, Cable and Bishop argue ethics. Bishop claims Cable’s problem is unrelated to his own. Bishop is trying to save his future, not all futures. Bishop gets in another direct shot and escapes. Lying on the floor of the building Bishop demolished, Cable realizes that Bishop does not understand the gravity of his actions.

At the Westchester Mansion, Cyclops watches the news. A riot has begun over mutant quarantining. Storm recognizes the FoH thug from the mall, stirring up commotion, and Cyclops orders the X-Men to intervene.

Cable watches the same news footage and wonders why he is inadvertently helping the FoH agenda. There must be a way to save both futures –a way to stop the plague but still create the required antibodies, a way to spare Bishop’s life. He body slides away.

Cable re-materializes at the quarantine riot. He sees Bishop, well-intentioned but again causing trouble. Cable has a clear shot, but he cannot kill Bishop with a clean conscience, so he decides to wait.

Meanwhile the X-Men must restrain the mob, Bishop, and now Cable. Wolverine tackles Bishop, Cable bests Rogue, and the sight of a bunch of vigilante mutants is enough to scare away the FoH. It takes the entirety of the X-Men and Bishop to match Cable, he only retreats after Bishop blasts his cybernetic arm.

After Cable body slides to safety, the X-Men have questions. Cyclops wants to know what Bishop is doing back in the present (or past… if you are Bishop).

Bishop repeats his mantra. “I’m trying to save lives, yours and millions in my future.”

Safely in hiding, Cable repairs his arm. He asks his computer for reference information on the X-Men. He will not be caught unaware next time. The computer provides information on Cyclops, but Cable already knows about him -- him and Jean Grey. The computer then describes Storm and Wolverine. Cable stops his computer after it describes Logan’s mutant healing ability.

“Computer, you’ve given me an idea and just saved the future… for everybody.”

In Washington DC Beast prepares his testimony for the Senate Hearing Committee on the plague. He answers a few cursory questions for the media, and then enters the council’s chamber. He is followed by a body-sliding Cable –who the journalists don’t know what to make of. Even from the outside of the chamber, Cable can hear the fight that Graydon Creed started with Beast.

Cable enters the room; but this time his target is Wolverine, not Bishop. Cable and Logan square off. Cable taunts his elder and calls him “outdated.” This only makes Wolverine angrier. Cable grabs Wolverine and body slides them away. Jean Grey attempts to stop him and reads his mind. She pauses when she realizes what Cable’s mission is and more importantly, who he is.

Beast separates Bishop and Creed. Then in front of national television, Creed becomes infected with the plague. The X-Men regroup and realize they must go on without Wolverine for the time being.

Cable transports Wolverine to his hideout. There, he tells Logan that Apocalypse is behind the techno-virus, but Wolverine does not believe him. Wolverine tries to escape so Cable is forced to knock him unconscious.

In the Blackbird, Bishop explains that he attacked Creed because he saw him pull a viral weapon out of his suit pocket. Beast confirms his assertion with a tape of the fracas. Meanwhile Jean Grey tells Cyclops what she saw in Cable’s mind. “You have no idea how important he is to the future,” she warns, “our future.”

At the motel, Cable wakes up Wolverine and they body slide to Creed’s Virginia headquarters. The X-Men and Bishop are also there. They trailed Creed from DC. The X-Men make short work of FoH’s outmatched defenses and break into a secret laboratory hidden in the basement.

Cable blasts Apocalypse who consequently reveals himself. Cable and the X-Men attack En Sabah Nur, but are defeated with unsettling ease. Apocalypse even blasts Wolverine into a vat of the techno-virus. Bishop tries to stop Apocalypse, but Cable prevents him.

Cable explains, “Right now Wolverine’s immune system is healing him and in doing so is creating the antibodies all mutants will need to survive.”

Cable throws a futuristic grenade that traps Apocalypse behind a force field temporarily. The X-Men, Bishop, and Cable use the time to destroy Apocalypse’s lab. Beast kindly carries Creed to safety. They all escape just as the lab explodes. Apocalypse departs promising vengeance.

Bishop returns to New York in 2055 AD. It is still a wasteland, but at least Forge has no recollection of the plague.

In the present, Beast gives Wolverine a clean bill of health and muses over the potential of his antibodies.

Cable returns to 3999 AD and is greeted by his son Tyler.