Summary of Cable #68 part II
by The Mighty Juggernaut
Rainer Ho Ten Soeng

And he did: fortunately that day came sooner than she expected but the downside was that the things Nathan revealed about himself were far more ground-shaking than she ever expected. The fact that he admitted to be a mutant born with strange superhuman abilities, would have probably been enough to disgust and scare away the majority of women. And his revelation that he was raised in a distant and horrible future and came back in time to prevent that future from ever taking place, would have likely been reason for most other people to mock him and doubt his mental health. But that isn't what Stacey did. Nathan took her heart and his explanations about who he was and where he came from didn't change anything about that. She simply fell in love with him whether or not he was a mutant and whether or not he was from the future. Perhaps that's just how it is when two people meet in that very special way.... The funny thing is that Stacey never wanted to date cops because of all the stress and uncertainty caused by their dangerous profession. She didn't want to have to wait night after night if he would make it home alive. And look what she has gotten herself into now: she has fallen in love with a mutant hero who is willing to risk his life whenever necessary to protect this world from all kinds of hideous dangers.... I mean, that is immeasurably worse than dating a cop, isn't it? But what can she do about it? She cares for Nathan way too much already to ever let him go anymore. No, the best thing to do would be to figure out some way or another how to live with her constant fears about Nathan's well being because losing him would after all they have been through be a much, much worse alternative. Unfortunately there is not much she can do for him right now except crossing her fingers and praying that he will make it through this night; hopefully that will be enough for the sake of them all....

Stacey is a wonderful young woman with a heart of gold and her best wishes would be more than enough for any man to make it through almost anything. But unfortunately almost is far from good enough in this case! Cable and the Avengers are facing the Harbinger once again and just like before it's giving them a merciless beating. The Avengers are supposed to be Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Cable is destined to confront the 'Eternal One' himself one day, but despite all that the Harbinger is more or less playing with them just like a cat can play with a mouse. The mouse can run and the mouse can fight but no matter what option it chooses, it has little or no chance against the bigger, faster and stronger cat, a born predator. Neither Captain America's heroism nor Wonderman's strength or Thor's Mjolnir, neither Vision's intelligence nor Iron Man's sophisticated weapon systems, yes, not even Cable's determination seem to be able to slow down the Harbinger in the least! It's a major war out there and despite everything they try the heroes find themselves blow after blow at the receiving end of the line! And to top that the Harbinger's energy emissions are continually growing in strength making the odds more and more uneven for its opponents with every second that passes....

Could this be the end? Has mankind finally reached the end of the line after inhabiting the Earth for thousands of years? Is the sun going down on all of us to make room for a long night of terror and darkness? Every second it is beginning to look more like it....

Cable realizes that the heroes won't be able to take much more blows from Apocalypse's servant; if the fight isn't finished soon each of them will without a doubt meet their Maker before the day has ended. That knowledge gives the Askani'Son the strength to fight the Harbinger with a courage born of despair: he has no idea how to beat the Harbinger or even how to buy the heroes some time so that they all can catch their breath again, but he does he know that something has to be done and it has to be done fast. And without any further thought Cable attacks the Harbinger from behind by stabbing his psi-mitar in the back of its head. Hell, attacking your opponent from behind sure is not heroic or something to be proud of, but this is definitely not the time to worry about the rules or etiquette of war. It's do or die right now, it's time to fight with everything you've got even if that would mean that you would have to fight dirty because the future of humanity is at stake here! Besides that stabbing this hellish creature in its head with his psi-mitar seemed to 'hurt' it before so why not try it again? Perhaps Lady Luck will be backing Cable up once again....

Things have changed however! The Harbinger has learned from Cable's previous attacks and its intelligent internal mechanisms not only anticipated this move from Cable but also thought of a way to withstand and deal with his attack! Once again the Harbinger proves to be able to learn from and adapt quickly to any combat situation and before Cable realizes his mistake he is being blown away by an incredibly powerful energy blast! The Harbinger has clearly been built to survive any enemy's worst and that's why Cable's attack this time doesn't even scratch it. What's even more frightening is that it is not playing a game! It has come to clarion the call of the coming empire of Apocalypse in which terror shall be the law and where the strong shall inherit the Earth and the weak shall be mercilessly exterminated. And that is as real and terrifying as you can get it! The heroes do whatever they can and they fight with the ferocity and courage of a lion but it just isn't good enough. It just isn't....

Wonderman hammers away at the Harbinger, Iron Man totally unloads himself by firing devastating repulsor rays at Apocalypse's minion while Thor and Cable tag-team together against their opponent but it is just no use. Most opponents would have probably gone down when confronted with such heavy resistance but the Harbinger doesn't even blink its eyes. To make things even worse Iron Man's sensors suddenly discover that the internal mechanisms of the Harbinger have most probably been set to detonate anytime soon! An internal and continually growing energy surge is building up inside the Harbinger threatening not only to kill the heroes but to completely destroy the entire city of New York in one single explosion as well! The world is going to burn like never before and there's seemingly nothing the heroes can do to change that fate! The clock is ticking and time is running out for all of us faster than any of us could have ever feared....

But perhaps not all is lost yet. Perhaps there is yet one last glimmer of hope in the dark surroundings of this terrible nightmare. Much to Irene's surprise Blaquesmith and Ozymandias suddenly appear out of nowhere inside Cable's safehouse.

Where has Blaquesmith been? What has he been doing while she was holding down the fort here? Does he know already that it's like the end of the world out there on the streets of New York? And to make things even more confusing: who the heck did Blaquesmith bring with him? Irene has never seen anybody, or for that matter anything, as strange and alien looking as Ozymandias.... Can he be trusted? Does Blaquesmith know what he is doing to bring his 'friend' to Cable's safehouse just like that?

Blaquesmith however has no time however to answer all of Irene's questions right away. Irene was quite right about one thing though: the crisis at hand could very well mean the end of the world as we have known it. That's why he immediately needs to speak with Cable if mankind wants to have a chance of avoiding a hellish future. There's no time to waste anymore; Irene needs to contact and find his pupil at once without further questions or delay. Hurry up girl, the world is waiting for you! But Irene is not the kind of girl to be ordered and bossed around like that! Blaquesmith's commanding behaviour completely goes down the wrong way for Irene! Who does Blaquesmith think that he is to bark at her like that? End of the world or not, she is not his maid; no way, he can forget about that! - Sigh - Sometimes Blaquesmith really doesn't understand Irene or why his pupil chose her to be his chronicler.... He doesn't like her and she apparently doesn't like him either but this bickering is pointless. They have tolerated each other in the past and for now that will have to do. Right now petty things like personal likings or dislike of each other are not important; what is important now is to work together and support each other in these dark times. Blaquesmith needs Irene on his team, he needs her quiet courage and her friendship for Cable which never failed to strengthen and encourage the Askani'Son in desperate times. This could very well be the end of the line for all of them and for the sake of the little chance that humanity still has, Cable needs to be as strong and possible in each and every way. And if that means that Irene and Blaquesmith need to be on the same team working together then so be it; it will just be one of the little sacrifices both of them will have to make for the sake of us all.... Unluckily however it seems like that will not be the only sacrifice made today.... Ozymandias' prophecies have predicted that humanity will have to give up New York City and 'allow' it to be destroyed by the Harbinger if it wants to have a chance of averting the ascension of Apocalypse. It's a carefully thought out no-win scenario devised by an evil mind in which either the Big Apple and its inhabitants or the future of mankind has to be sacrificed! The equipment in Cable's safehouse shows how this horrible plan of Apocalypse will work out: sensor-readings have indicated that the Harbinger is nothing less than a walking atom bomb, an incendiary device of unimaginable power! Its internal mechanisms have been set to detonate at a specific point in time and it won't be long anymore before the Harbinger blows itself and the entire city to Kingdom's come! By the Bright Lady, it seems like all is really lost this time: the Harbinger is so cleverly designed that it can't be defused or defeated by Earth's heroes but saving the city by removing it somehow nevertheless from the scene would mean that the future of mankind would be lost to Apocalypse! What to do, what to do? Where's the way out of this mess? How to stop Apocalypse in his evil tracks? Is that still possible to do even though humanity is standing with its back against the wall? Blaquesmith desperately wants to find a way out, a solution to this crisis but where should he look; what should he do? How to beat the cunning evil of the 'Eternal One'? Things are as bad as they can get and much to his horror Blaquesmith has to admit that a solution to this dilemma is way beyond him.... And to make things even worse Ozymandias stresses once again that there is nothing anybody can do to prevent a disaster from happening this time. The current crisis, a no-win scenario as Blaquesmith called it, is merely another test designed by the High Lord. And make no mistake: the goal and objective of this test is not so much to give humanity a fair chance of proving itself; no, the goal of this test is to wipe out humanity from the face of the Earth one way or another. In Apocalypse's eyes humanity has already proven that it has reached its evolutionary zenith and that, despite thousands of years of evolution, it still is a weak race which should be exterminated by the truly strong. That is what Nature, and its process of evolution and development, has always been about and that's what he has always fiercely believed in. This crisis is nothing more than a trial to cull the weak from the strong. And after having served Apocalypse for centuries, Ozymandias just knows that the High Lord won't allow anybody to interfere with his plans! So that's basically it: the End Times have arrived and mankind has reached the end of the line.... and the sooner we all accept the inevitable the better. The sun really seems to have gotten down on humanity but despite the odds Blaquesmith simply refuses to take over Ozymandias' resignation! No, no, no! He will not give in to such despair and neither will the Askani'Son! They just can't give up and quit now because that would mean that Apocalypse would have broken their spirits and would have really won! And no way Blaquesmith will ever give that monster that kind of satisfaction! No, the true test must be to see whether or not humanity is strong, calm and determined enough to carry on in the face of certain death no matter what. And despite everything he says, Ozymandias must believe there's still some hope as well because why would he otherwise have summoned the mentor of the 'Chosen One' in the first place? If there would really be no hope anymore for humanity then it would have been pointless to show Blaquesmith the prophecies and give him all kinds of information which could be to the advantage of his pupil in the upcoming confrontation with Apocalypse, wouldn't it? So what is Ozymandias talking about? Why is he so pessimistic?

No, there has to be a way out of this even though Blaquesmith himself can't find it. But perhaps Cable can.... after all his pupil has proven in the past on several occasions that scoring victory in the shadow of death is something of his specialty! Cable must be contacted at once; there's no time to lose anymore. His pupil may have lost his telepathy recently but Blaquesmith still has a few devices which can be used to contact him, thank Goodness. And despite Ozymandias' doubts about Blaquesmith's course of action, after all the prophecies haven't said anything about the Askani'Son influencing the outcome of this crisis, Blaquesmith will not be persuaded into doing something different. There has to be a way out and if anybody can find it then it's Cable! Well, so be it then. Ozymandias is not about to argue with Blaquesmith. The stones in which the prophecies are carved down will become dust in time just like everything else on the face of the planet. That is something neither Blaquesmith nor Cable can do a thing about. So if Blaquesmith feels that Cable can make a difference here then he's free to contact him; hopefully Blaquesmith's belief in his pupil will not be as unfounded as Ozymandias fear it will be.... And with those warning words Ozymandias teleports himself away out of the safehouse. His task has been done, he has warned and informed the mentor of the 'Chosen One' of the things to come and there's nothing left to do for him anymore. Let's just hope that when they meet again it will be under happier and less stressful conditions....

A few blocks away the Harbinger proves once again however how right Ozymandias was and how unlikely Blaquesmith's hopes are of solving the situation at hand in a nice and decent way. Thor and Cable are giving it their very best shot against the Harbinger: while Cable is holding it in check from behind, Thor is hammering away at their opponent full force with Mjolnir. Buildings would have surely collapsed and many, many opponents would have definitely been brought down on their knees by the divine power of Thor's mystical hammer but the Harbinger is most obviously quite another story!

Wonderman is already down for the count while Cap and Iron Man sure have seen better days as well. The Harbinger is just too powerful, too strong, too untouchable and it seems like yet another battle is lost in the war over the future of humanity. As sad and disheartening as it may sound the truth is that once again the heroes were not able to even scratch or worry the Harbinger. That's how it is and that's why Captain America suggests to stay clear and retreat for now.This battle may be lost but with a little rest and the proper preparations perhaps the next battle, and in the end the war against Apocalypse itself, can be won. Besides that Iron Man's sensors have registered another sudden and powerful energy surge within the Harbinger and after their recent experiences with their opponent, Cap wants himself and his team out of the way before the Harbinger creates a mass explosion again! But Thor is not one who will run from his enemy! By Odin's beard, Thor will confront and stand up to the Harbinger until it is defeated and Midgard is safe once again! The God of Thunder is a born and proud warrior and born warriors do not retreat; no they face their opponent like a man and defeat him! The Harbinger has shown to be a serious threat to Midgard and a foe most worthy of his attention and that's why running away is the last thing on Thor's mind right now.... Thor and Cable are indeed brave and respectable warriors who should be admired for their sense of responsibility but in this case they actually should have listened to Cap's wise advise.

Seemingly out of nowhere the Harbinger suddenly releases the energy which has been building up inside it, creating a powerful explosion which hurls both Thor and Cable away at a tremendous speed! What Iron Man was already afraid of did happen after all.... Fortunately the momentarily dazed Thor can be caught by Vision in mid air but Cable is not that lucky and the impact of the explosion has sent him flying through the air like a rocket! The heroes are having their behinds handed over to them for what seems to be like the umpteenth time. The Harbinger has grown tired of playing around with these pathetic humans and their petty resistance and he is already hovering above hovering about his opponents planning to finish them all off with a powerful bolt of energy when he's suddenly being challenged to stand up and fight like a real man by Captain America! Cap has realized the danger his team is in and to prevent them all from being killed by the Harbinger right there and then he decides to challenge it. That may give his teammates the opportunity to catch their breath again and recover a bit from the harm done to them by this unbelievably tough creature. Cap proves to be a real red-white-and-blue hero who is not afraid to look death itself right between the eyes if that's what it takes to save and protect this world. There's no doubt about it: Steve Rogers is an exceptionally brave and courageous man. But perhaps he should however have listened better to the advice he himself gave to Thor and Cable just a few moments ago and retreat himself instead of confronting this weapon of Apocalypse all on his own. Without any hesitation the Harbinger fires a powerful energy beam at Captain America knocking him off his feet and slamming him down hard! Cap is down, knocked out cold by the impact of the blow! And with Thor momentarily out of action, Wonderman down and out, Iron Man gone to see how Cable is doing after that tremendous explosion and Vision being in a rather bad shape, there's little doubt anymore that this could indeed be the end of the line for all of us.... If the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, were not able to stop the Harbinger then who can? Who would be willing to try if even the Avengers couldn't get the job done? Who would dare to try knowing that the Avengers were defeated rather easily? If there's no one left anymore to fight for humanity then who will stop Apocalypse from taking mankind as his hostage in his now surely coming reign of terror? Who or what's gonna save us now that all seems lost?

The people hiding in the underground shelters don't know anything of the imminent crisis upstairs but that doesn't mean that they are not afraid or scared about what might be happening. Stacey Kramer has always been a normal, hard working young woman with an optimistic view on life and the world around her. She looked at life in a quite 'simple' way and she never made things more complicated than they actually were because that way life was understandable and clearly structured. She has always known what she wanted and what she was aiming for but now, hiding in this underground bunker and separated from Nathan, she is not so sure of all that anymore. For one of the first times life doesn't seem to have any clear and simple answers anymore. Things suddenly don't make any sense anymore and life has all of a sudden become a big mystery. What's happening up there? What kind of danger is threatening New York City? And just as important what kind of danger is threatening Nathan? How would he be doing right now? Is he OK? Is he still alive? Or is he struggling for his life right now? How come Stacey is sitting safe down here while Nathan is risking his life in an attempt to save hers and that of millions of others? Shoot, Stacey just wished she could do something for Nathan, that she could help him out somehow, that she somehow could strengthen and support him with all of her heart and soul.... She's worried sick about his well being but what can she do? How can she possibly help him? The uncertainty, the not knowing and the worrying are almost killing her up to a point where it becomes easier to try and forget about Nathan and deny everything which might be happening to him now. Perhaps it's better and most certainly easier just to lose herself in her feelings and just let herself go and give in to the sadness she's feeling at the moment. But just when Stacey is about to crack her little brother Kenny wraps his arms around her ensuring her that Nathan's going to be all right.... Kenny must have sensed his sister's mood and in his own simple, 'childish' but touching and well meant way he tries to cheer her up a bit. Stacey never needed him more than she does now and she gratefully hugs her little brother for trying to lift her spirit. It's a beautiful scene to see Stacey and Kenny hug each other and seek comfort in each other's arms amidst of all these scared and depressed people in that underground hide-out. Kenny may just be a little boy and he may be suffering from Down's Syndrome but he shows that as long as there are compassion and love around, Apocalypse will never win the battle which is raging outside! Yes, one could say without a doubt that little Kenny has in a way done as much in defense of humanity as respected heroes like Captain America or Iron Man have done in their battle against the Harbinger....

Somewhere across the river, many miles away from where the other Avengers are or from where Stacey is hiding, Cable slowly recovers from the enormous impact of the explosion which hurled him away from the Harbinger faster than he ever thought possible. An instinctively created telekinetic shield saved him from getting hurt really bad but he still took a fair blow nevertheless; the crater which was formed when his body hit the ground speaks for itself in this respect. Ouch.... the Harbinger sure knows how to deal with its opponents.... What to do next? Nothing seemed to have worked so far against the Harbinger so now what? How to stop Apocalypse's minion in its evil and destructive tracks? And how are the Avengers doing? Does the fact that he doesn't see any of them around mean that they have been defeated by the Harbinger? Is he all alone now? Suddenly and quite unexpectedly Blaquesmith's image appears right before his eyes however thanks to a thought projector Cable's mento managed to create. His timing couldn't have been better and Cable is glad to see that he is not alone fighting on the side of the Angels no matter what. But that is about the only thing Cable can be glad of especially when Blaquesmith informs him of Apocalypse's evil schemes. The Harbinger apparently brings with it the fulfillment of a twisted prophecy which states that if New York City is obliterated mankind may have a chance of averting the rule of Apocalypse in the coming millennia. It's a horrible dilemma and an awful choice to make but right now it looks like the situation they are facing is designed for either New York or the future to become lost....

Apocalypse will win no matter what Cable or the Avengers will decide to do! It's pretty much like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun: no matter when you pull the trigger, no matter what you do, you will always end up dead. How to choose between two equally bad and appalling options? Many of us would have probably not known what to do, which option to choose. But the Askani'Son doesn't hesitate at all: no matter what the future consequences may be he just can't sit back and watch New York getting destroyed and blown to pieces. He just can't watch idly while millions of innocent people get killed for nothing. It's just impossible. He has come back in time to prevent mankind from the terrible threat of Apocalypse and that's exactly what he's going to do no matter what any prophecy might say about the consequences for the future! Cable has a job to do in the here and now and by the Bright Lady he will see to it that he does that job as properly as he can! Blaquesmith can only admire and respect Cable's heroic and brave attitude because when the going gets tough and everything boils down to the basics that's what heroes are all about. No hero would have let millions of innocent people die and Blaquesmith is proud to see that Cable is apparently made of all the right stuff.

In case this is the end of the line for all of them he wants Cable to know that he has meant more to him than anything else in his life.... It has been a pleasure and honor to be the mentor of the 'Chosen One' and if he would have to live his life all over again he would want Cable to make the exact same decision as he just did. Cable's determination and heroism prove without a doubt that that the Askani'Son is exactly the kind of man Blaquesmith always hoped and dreamt he would be; so even if this is the end then at least we will all go down with our heads up high. And with what could very well be his last farewell greeting, Blaquesmith's image disappears from the sky. G'journey, Nathan Dayspring, hopefully we will both make it through this night and live to tell the tale afterwards....

Almost immediately after Blaquesmith's image disappeared, Iron Man arrives at the scene to see how Cable's doing. It turns out that the Harbinger hit Cable so hard that even though his psi-shield absorbed most of the impact, the blow was still hard enough to send the Askani'Son flying through the air from New York City all the way to Hoboken, New Jersey! Wow, talk about a designated hitter here; that Harbinger-guy sure wouldn't do bad in the World Series! But what to do now? How to defeat an opponent who's not only invincible and highly adaptable to any combat situation but who's also probably stronger than a respected and feared power-house like the Hulk? That fact in itself would be bad enough already but unfortunately that is not all. Thanks to his mentor, Cable now knows that the Harbinger has become nothing less than a walking H-bomb which will detonate itself soon. And when it does the entire city will go up with it! Apocalypse has done it again and has created a situation in which humanity can never win no matter what it chooses to do! It's either New York or the future getting lost forever and in each and every way Apocalypse will be the one with a big smile on his face in the end! But regardless of the consequences for the future Cable will not allow the Harbinger to destroy the city. No way, no how is that going to happen even if it means that he has to die for it! Nothing else matters anymore except the survival of the city that he has come to love. Everything that means anything to him is in that city and Nathan is not about to let them down. He will not let them die even if it's the last thing he will do in his life....

Iron Man is a bit surprised that Cable knows about the energy build-up inside the Harbinger and he's not sure whether or not to trust him. How did Cable know about the detonation mechanisms set inside their opponent? How could he know? Does he perhaps know more about the Harbinger than he has been willing to admit so far? And if he does know more about this terrifying creature then why hasn't he shared that information with the Avengers? Could Cable have a secret agenda somehow? Could he somehow be fooling the Avengers or use them to his own advantage? Iron Man has seen Cable in action against the Harbinger but he still not sure what to make of the Askani'Son.... But there's simply no time for questions or suspicions anymore. It's time to act and not to ask; it's time to have some faith in each other and hope that that trust will not be disappointed. If humanity wants to have a chance against Apocalypse and his hellish Harbinger then it will have to unite itself and fight as one instead of falling apart because of distrust and doubts. Iron Man may not know Cable all that well but he senses nonetheless Cable's sincere determination to save the city from the wrath of Apocalypse. And that's what counts right now. So without further questions Iron Man decides to put his trust in Cable. Cable obviously wants to go after the Harbinger again and he is going to need some help in that case.

End of Part 2

On to Part III

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