Welcome to the nightmare… at the Rocky Mountains!
Domino is her trade name. She earned it from her uncanny – and perhaps mutant – ability to have things go her way. Right about now, she is questioning all that.
An out of control Grizzly begs Domino to pull the trigger… while she still can. Domino instead asks Theo to listen to her. She’ll get him to someone who can help. Xavier, or someone else Cable knows.
Domino hesitates not out of inexperience… but out of loyalty. She came to this house in the Colorado Rockies in search of a serial killer. A feral madman who was responsible for the deaths of at least thirteen innocents. Hoping against hope, Domino tracked him to prove his innocence. They had been teammates. Co-workers. And hardest of all… friends. But the raging beast before her hardly resembles that man… Theodore Winchester… aka Grizzly.
Grizzly angrily growls at Domino and punches his fist into the ground. He shouts he won’t be brought to Cable. Nobody can help him – especially not Cable! Domino doesn’t understand. She dodges Grizzly’s punch and fires a shot in the air. She realizes that, friend or not, Grizzly is out for blood – and that sooner or later, one of them is going to do something they’ll both regret. The shot makes an opening in the ceiling, and Domino jumps out of it. She wonders how she’ll get through to the man she once knew, when all that’s left seems to be a wild maniac? Grizzly shouts after Domino that she shouldn’t have come here. Six Pack is in the past. There is no escape. NO ESCAPE!
Domino takes some time to catch her breath on the roof. She’s glad to finally have some fresh air, because those bodies in there stank. Suddenly, she realizes Grizzly is right behind her and needs to get away. Grizzly punches another hole in the roof. Domino states he’s faster than expected. This battle is like trying to take out Sabretooth. As he growls once again, Grizzly starts fighting Domino. She believes she has to roll with him, and try to cushion the upcoming fall. Grizzly jumps straight at Domino and pushes them both off the roof.
Baltimore, Maryland…
In a nearby abandoned shipyard, a rusty frigate rocks in her slip. As one mystery deepens, another barely unfolds. Cable enters the ship and immediately calls out to Blaquesmith. In his arms, he holds an unconscious Jenskot. Cable hopes Blaquesmith will be able to help her.
Cable cannot hide the anger in his voice or the anguish in his heart. The woman he carries in his arms should be dead, killed in a war-torn future that was once Cable’s world. The woman is his wife. Theirs was a love which was split asunder by a decades-old war. But, never, in all the time-jumps this man has made, did he ever think he would hold her – his beautiful wife – again. In another time, she was known as Aliya, a warrior of the clan Askani. A warrior who took the battle name Jenskot, out of reverence for the near-mythical “First ones.” Cable held her close when she died. The pain of that moment is fresh… the wound never to heal.
Nathan quickly crosses the ship and finds Blaquesmith in his room. He explains he went to Tyler’s sanctuary. He didn’t find Tyler, only… her. Blaquesmith asks who it is. When he looks closer to the woman in Nathan’s arms, he is shocked to discover it’s Aliya. Cable tells him Aliya died in his arms, and yet, now she is here. He wants to know if he can help them.
Cable gently places her on a table, and Blaquesmith tells Aliya to rest. Her journey was long. He remarks how young Aliya is. Cable wants Blaquesmith, out of respect for each other, to please tell him what he knows! Blaquesmith promises to reveal as much as he can but, first, he has to tend to her.
On that moment, Aliya wakes up and again speaks in the Askani language, to which Blaquesmith responds in kind. Aliya then begins to speak in English. She wonders where she is, and can’t focus. She takes a closer look at Blaquesmith and finds him familiar. Blaquesmith smiles that, sometimes, things do work out the way they should. Cable still thinks this is impossible. He accepted this. He was told this couldn’t be reversed. He fears something is terribly wrong. Blaquesmith wonders if the teachings mean so little to Nathan now. He reminds Nathan that the ways of Mother Askani are often mysterious, or has he simply forgotten the why of any situation is secondary to the situation itself? They need to focus now and deal with the matter at hand.
Aliya explains she was sent to bring him back. She asks Nathan if he is the man called Cable. At first, Nathan cannot answer her. Just hearing the sound of her voice speaking directly to him, is like being lost in the music of a song he thought was gone forever. But eventually, Cable confirms Aliya it is him. But he wants to know why she came here. Aliya says that only the most desperate of situations would make them risk the temporal journey. But, if her love – Nathan Dayspring – is to live, she wants Cable to return with her now!
The Rockies…
Domino tells Grizzly she doesn’t want to fight him, but won’t let him rip off her head, either! As she engages the huge, red mutant, she proclaims he needs help – and she’ll find a way to get through to him. Grizzly ignores her please, instead using his claws to rip Domino’s coat apart! Luckily, Domino manages to slip out of the coat, avoiding the claws.
Moving swiftly, Grizzly grabs Domino by her leg and pulls her down. He tells her he has been trying to fight it… but can’t. He makes him do these things. Domino is certain they can fight whoever it is, but Grizzly pushes her down into the snow, claiming they can’t. Domino believes otherwise. She reminds Grizzly they have been in the field long enough to now never to say die. Domino takes out a flash grenade out of her utility belt and points the blinding light into Grizzly’s eyes. As he covers his eyes, reeling in pain, Domino is given the chance to get up again. She tells Theo to fight it, to take over control again. However, Grizzly says he’s too strong, and that Domino will see, for she is next. He falls on his knees.
Domino points her gun at her friend. She asks him to get back up… slowly. She knows they’ve all lost control at sometime in their lives. It’s part of this insane business they’re in, where live and death are so close you could barely put a straight-edged razor between them. But, she tells Theo, the man she knows him to be, who watched her back in countless battles, would never give up hope.
Grizzly thinks Domino doesn’t understand. He remembers all the horrible things he made him do. He cries, as those memories will never go away. He wants Domino, if she cares for him in any way, to pull the trigger! She refuses. She believes there’s something Grizzly isn’t telling her. She wants to know what he’s hiding. She again says she knows Theo: this isn’t like him. Domino remembers when she found the picture of Grizzly at his home. She admits to him she doesn’t have that many friends. Particularly ones that go back as far as him. And, it may sound selfish, she’s not ready to let go of him!
It happens with a terrifying swiftness. Grizzly grabs Domino again. His hand forces hers… and pulls the trigger. She does not miss. Domino screams in anguish, as she watches Grizzly fall right before her feet. She attempts to tend to her friend, who is barely alive, and wants to know why it had to be this way. Grizzly reveals it was Tyler. He made him like this. Tyler used his powers, and there was no way out. He doesn’t want Domino to tell Nathan about this, as it will only hurt him. Domino is surprised to hear that, and tells Grizzly to explain to her what Tyler did. However, on that moment, Grizzly dies, leaving Domino alone and in tears.
At Blaquesmith’s ship…
Nathan is full of bittersweet joy… feelings very foreign to him. Nathan stands at the end of Blaquesmith’s ship and looks to the city in front of him. He can only hope that something or someone could be different. And yet, in his heart, he feels there’s nothing he can really change. But she’s back and that has to mean something. He wonders what the old lesson is, the one he learned as a child.
Blaquesmith explains it to Cable telepathically. First in the Askani language, and then says into English: “What is… is.” Cable sees Blaquesmith walking over to him. He asks if Blaquesmith knew this was going to happen with his beloved Aliya. Blaquesmith asks Nathan if that is the important question here. He explains to Nathan that he has to decide if he wants to take up this responsibility, but, he swears to Nathan, he does not know if the trials he faced are nearly finished… or just begun.
Aliya approaches the two, and has overheard Blaquesmith calling Cable “Nathan.” She wasn’t sure before, as the temporal change was so draining, but when Blaquesmith called Nathan by his proper name, she could see it all so clearly. She’s stunned to find out they’ve sent her back to get him. Cable wishes to himself that if only he could tell Aliya how he feels right now. Aliya moves closer to Nathan, telling him his face doesn’t show the same. She wonders if the life her beloved has chosen has proven to be such a difficult one. Cable confirms that. But, he adds, there are moments… moments of joy… moments of hope that make it worth continuing. He wants Aliya to remember that.
Aliya says she knows this knowledge is forbidden but, the way Nathan looks at her, there is such sadness in his eyes. She wants to know what caused him such pain. She wants to know if he can tell her why he came to this time. And what happens to… Cable stops her there. Aliya apologizes for asking. She knows that is not the Askani way, to speak of things that have not yet occurred.
Blaquesmith interrupts by saying there is no more time. Nathan has to decide now. Aliya wonders what there is to decide. She doesn’t understand. She reminds Blaquesmith that he, of all people, knows the importance of this night. Cable is impressed by the passion Aliya has for this mission. He apologizes to her, but it was a long time ago. He asks what she needs him to do. Aliya is surprised Nathan can’t remember this night. They are on the eve of a battle for the village of the Clan Chosen and… the Askani’Son has taken ill. They say he will not last till morning and, without his leadership, she fears they’ll be destroyed by the enemy. The illness was sudden… and unnatural in attack.
Cable realizes Stryfe must be behind it. Aliya confirms, as that is what the Clan also believes. That is why Nathan has to come back with her. Somehow, someway, the elders believe he is the key. Or else, the Askani’Son will die tonight!
Cable telepathically contacts Blaquesmith, believing something is wrong. He knows Aliya never time-traveled. Blaquesmith telepathically asks Nathan if he’s sure about that. As things stand now, he asks, who among them can predict how a wrinkle in their yesterday will affect their tomorrow? Nathan believes that, in other words, he doesn’t have a choice. He wishes there was time to explain it all to her. Blaquesmith tells Nathan that, as he knows, each of them has a role they are destined to play. They stop their telepathic conversation.
Nathan assumes Blaquesmith has a way to make the jump, since he no longer has that ability. Blaquesmith says Nathan wouldn’t be asked if there wasn’t a way. In that case, Nathan is ready to do it!
He and Aliya hold hands, as Blaquesmith begins the connection. It is a sound which Cable only remembers from his earliest childhood. And all at once, he realizes the danger he has placed himself into. They are tapping into a power that only a few would attempt to… and even fewer would survive. However, as he looks into Aliya’s eyes, the woman who will someday be his wife, the woman whom he’ll always love, Nathan would not have it any other way. As a green light surrounds the two and they fade away from this reality, Blaquesmith, one of Cable’s architects of these acts, wonders if he’ll see his oldest friend alive… ever again.
Once Cable and Aliya are gone, an image of Mother Askani appears in the sky and flies towards Blaquesmith. Blaquesmith rises, and telepathically tells Mother Askani, who just quietly stares at her, the following: “I know… there is still one task before me… each has a role to play. As in answer, the night is filled with the image of Mother Askani and, in her presence, Blaquesmith trembles.
The Rockies…
Domino dug a grave for Grizzly, and covered it with rocks. She stands quietly before it, wondering if she’ll tell Nathan about what she discovered about Tyler. And, can she, even?
Suddenly, a green, telekinetic burst knocks Domino on the ground, causing her head to hurt. She gets up, immediately thinking Blaquesmith was responsible for it. She calls out to him, not knowing what he thinks he’s doing, but… On that moment, another green light spreads itself around Domino… and she is teleported away!
After she is gone, Grizzly’s house is set on fire.
On his boat, a saddened Blaquesmith says: “What is… is.”
