2013-08-25 - Stab My Eyes

Hope is wearing a t-shirt that has the image of 'Hello Kitty' on it with the pink words beneath her chest that read: 'Tickle my Tummy'. Hello Kitty looks to be giggling and holding her cute belly.

Hope is sitting on the couch in the student rec room alone, watching the news. She has a notebook out and some school books, doing some of her summer studying to catch up so she has to take less classes to 'graduate' or something. She apparently decided to be productive and sleep a little less, that means less pain killers. Her ribs are really bothering her, but she's doing what she can to block it out.

The bruises along one side of Hope's jaw are a little faded, but still a colorful yellow and blue.

It would set off the mansions sensors as the X-men were trying to shield the mansion from Teleportation tech and preventing what is happening now from happening again. But Hope finds herself bodysliding and there's nothing she can do to stop it. Then in a blink of an eye she's gone.

She then finds her teleported to a location she's never been before. It was all metal it seemed and utilitarian. Though there was something organic and soft beneath the surface. She looks to the right she can see the surface of Earth beneath her through a window. A voice growls, "Traveler, we need to talk."

As soon as Traveler is grabbed though, even wounded she's moving. Her notebook is being flung backwards at Cable along with the back of her hand, a snarl appearing on her face and instinctively defensive. Not that it does much, considering how much more powerful her 'Dad' is as his younger self, and she sucks in a harsh breath and wiggles her hand at the impact, notebook dropped. "You know, you could just -ask-. But that's a difficult thing for you, isn't it?" She sounds grumpy, and a bit of pain edges her words - physical pain - from her ribs and her sharp movement. But she's on her feet right now, and standing a bit defensively as she nervously looks about. She doesn't have her bodyslide device on, and not a single weapon, and the paranoia in her eyes is likely easily noticed by Cable. She...did not come out of the Mr. Sinister incident unscarred, and apparently hasn't been trusted with her tech back yet.

Cable shrugs, "You might have said no." He answers her honestly. He's armed because he's Cable and when is he not armed? But he's not Cable armed. "Like I said. Just wanted to talk." He motions to her, "Come on, There's a place to sit in the next room. That and the Professors provided food and drink." He turns and moves into the doorway and turns his back on her. Something Hope knows Cable doesn't do.

Well, to her he did, all the time. He always had her hiding behind his back for protection. It is an image she herself is used to. Though the action to her as and adult with him not her dad, it is strange. She bends at her knees carefully with a slight grunt and picks up her notebook. She then moves to follow after Cable with some grumbling beneath her breath. "I want juice." Hope still looks around, never having seen this place, being attentive while she searches for a seat to take. Her movements are stiff and sore.

In the next room, is well a kitchen. It got a counter, pantry, a cooling unit. There's a bar with stools. In many ways it resembles the X-men's kitchen with a futuristic on a space station look to it. There's food laid out, nothing fancy but better than rations. There's a pitcher of water, tea, and yes a pitcher of O.j." He stops to pour himself a glass of water. "How are you feeling?" He says to look out at the planet below.

A pause as Hope stares out the window, "Woooow...," she says, eyes wide. But the question then has her green eyes snap toward Cable, "Why?" She's suspicious. This isn't how Cable treated her before Mr. Sinister kidnapped her, something is 'off'. She goes to choose a glass and pushes it with the OJ toward Cable, silently asking him (if one phased it politely) to pour it for her. Course, lifting an OJ pitcher would hurt her ribs, but Hope doesn't say anything about it.

Cable takes a drink of his water, "Because I punched you pretty damn hard. But before that you were keeping up with my every move and seemed to know not just Ask'ani fighting style but how I fight, Hope Summers."

Hope scowls at that, "Just pour me some juice damn it." She turns to stare out the window, seeming to pout and gather her thoughts. She doesn't remember the details very much, and part of her didn't want to think about them anyway. But now, she forces herself to, trying to recall some of them.

Cable picks up the pitcher and pours her a glass of juice. "Here you want me to fix you a peanut butter and Jelly sammich too? I got a knife right here." He says pulling his blade and sitting it on the table, "That's of course you don't have your own."

What did she let slip?! But he was there, her memories are foggy, but Cable was there with Scott and Jean, along with Rogue. Did they tell him her surname, or is it a wild guess? And Hope's eyes flicker toward the knife. "I never had peanut butter and jelly sammich before, so maybe that might be a nice thing to do." Never had one? Not like she thought to fix herself one at the Institute. But fingers reach out, and trace the old handle...a handle not yet worn by the use of her own hand, her eyes darkening.

But Hope then reaches for her juice, settling on the stool carefully before she takes a sip of it. "So, what do you think you do know?" And when those green eyes lift up to Cable's, they are guarded and...perhaps a bit sad.

Cable shrugs, "You're somebody from my future. It also means somebody trained you to be an Ask'ani. It may have been me." He shrugs, "That would also explain your stubborn as hell too. I'd demand to know what your doing here but you've already told me."

Hope seems to relax a bit in her shoulders. That is perhaps more telling than anything else, that Cable is 'off' by a mile-and-half. But she does nod, taking another drink of her OJ as she gathers her thoughts. "It's...complicated. Your future self trained me, but the Cable I knew isn't you. You are a bit different from how you became," and Hope twirls her glass a bit. "You already led X-Force and completed what you were born to do. Just things didn't quite work out as planned. I'm here to handle the distractions, the little things that can build into much larger and more dangerous things down the road, so you can concentrate on what you need to do."

Hope turns her head to stare at Earth. "It's beautiful like this, you know? I really want to keep it this way. There are so many threats, and I don't think they are as random as people originally thought. Your future self didn't think so either. So I took the old stories, I took the bits of information, and I came back to -stop- it. Because...sometimes fixing something already broken doesn't work so well. So I thought....I would try what you did, come back and stop it from happening in the first place."

Cable looks at Hope and smiles. He knows she's lying. He did train her. He considers for a moment, "So you pissed him off a lot didn't you. You still have a talent for that. Did he approve of your plan?"

"We pissed each other off a lot," Hope grumbles at that, though her eyes blink rapidly as she stares at the view of Earth. "And...he didn't know," a bit of roughness slipping into her voice, and she strives quickly to hide it. "He wouldn't come back with me even if he approved, and neither of us were big on long good-byes." The girl doesn't cry as she stares at the window, but there are unfallen tears in her eyes. She hides it well, but not good enough. She left without saying anything...and to this day, it eats at her. Her fingers had tighten on the glass of OJ.

Cable seems satisfied at this. Cable reads in-between the lines. "You left without his permission and he's not sure where your at. Unless you telling me this causes him to know." He actually chuckles, "So how's your head? Mr. Sinister did a number on you."

A wince at that, "I don't know if that would let him know or not as...it's rewriting the timeline." Hope almost sounds...hopeful though. But at the question of her head, she scowls, "Scott says I have to get 'checked out' to make sure no nasty surprises were left behind. I selected Professor Xavier," she grumbles, moving to look at her OJ to take another drink of it. "He hasn't looked yet. Not sure how to hide a lot of stuff from him, cause...it isn't pretty." She taps her glass a bit. "Still grounded, using the time to heal. Got a lot of work to do, plans to make and implement. Using the time to think. Could be worse. Could be in the morgue. And maybe I'll get lucky and Mr. Sinister didn't look too deep." Her fingers tighten on the glass again.

Cable nods, "Don't hide it from Charles, You can't. He won't be happy or approve. But it's the past and he's optimistic. He gives people second chances or twelfth chances. You've heard of Magneto right?" He takes a drink of his water.

A snort, "Duh. Though Genosha isn't going to survive if he keeps at his current pace," Hope warns. "Missiles? No...it rebuilt after that. I think a giant Sentinel." So many stories, she sometimes has trouble keeping track of it all. "Sometimes I'm not all sure on their order, got to watch the news and investigate organizations, talk to people...fill in the holes. Watch for warning signs, that sort of thing. It's...really tough. And when I find one lead, it dries up as if never there to begin with. I'm just tending to festering wounds, rather than finding the cause of the disease," she ends with a growl of frustration.

But Hope's eyes then flicker toward Cable. "And that's it? Just let him see? See how it all falls apart, how the fa...how it gets messed up." She shakes her head at that, "I don't know about that. I want to protect them," she ends with a softer tone. "I want them to keep hope. I don't want them to see...that side of me." And as a result, things are dropped too, to protect Cable.

Cable shrugs, "He's the most powerful telepath on the planet. You know. He can see if he wants. He may not look and he may not discuss it with anyone. The man's got his own secrets but he seems to respect others." He takes a drink of his water. "He's a better man than me."

A shrug at that, "Maybe. You get the job done though." Hope doesn't go into detail with that. Though she fidgets a bit with her glass. "So...you found X-Force yet?" She peers up at Cable. Someone knowing your future, may just get a tad bit annoying. Poor Cable.

Cable shakes his head, "Don't know what you're talking about." He is such a liar. "Well other than Pete Wisdom's got a team called X-Force."

"Ya, but his doesn't last. Yours does." Hope then narrows her eyes, "You already started, didn't you?" Yes, she looks suspiciously at Cable! "Oooooh, you dragged me up here, don't you dare hold out on me!" And that's Hope for you, demanding little thing. And when she does a real pout? She looks like she has an angry pout.

Cable takes a drink of his water, "What? You going to join it? Your going to leave the x-men to run with me? I'm going to do things your not going to like. Hope go home and be a X-man."

"Huh?" The join it part causes Hope to look surprised. "Wait, I'm not part of the X-Men, or even Generation X. I saved the Queen of England from an assassination attempt, saved Bruce Wayne from kidnapping by Kobra, took out a Kobra base that was creating artificial meta-humans, I've saved research from being stolen from S.T.A.R. Labs that would have been used to create a deadly virus that would infect only mutants, took down a hidden AIM facility in St. Roch to stop an experiment there that would have caused the death of Hawkgirl and turning Hawkman mad, and yes, I've lost count on the number of people I've killed. Proud of it? No. Did it need doing? Yes. I'm not a hero d...shit, whatever." Hope stops her little rant, and falls silent for a moment before she says, "I'm a soldier. A soldier with a mission. That mission is my purpose for existence, my moral compass, my drive for survival. I'm not some hero that people should look up to."

Cable shrugs, "Are you sure. I'm going to break the law and Stab my eyes I won't give a damn. I'm planning on fighting for Xavier's dream with Magnetos methods. Look you got your own agenda. I got mine. I doubt they cross."

A shrug, "Sometimes, sometimes not. I don't know." Hope finishes her OJ and sets the glass aside before she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and moves to stand and move toward the window to gaze down at Earth again. Her movements are still stiff, but she doesn't like staying still so long if she doesn't have to. She is silent while she stares down at the Earth. "I wish I had all the answers, but none of us really do. None of us," her words softly spoken.

Cable frowns as Traveler once more throws his plans into a tailspin. "Fine, I'll consider it."

Hope sighs at that, "Just call me if you need backup, and don't be all stubborn-like as per usual. I'll be fine. But if it's Mr. Sinister, I want to bring lots and lots and lots of explosives." A pause, before she says, "I'm really not trying to make things harder on you Cable. Quite the opposite. I'm here to help. I do have my own agenda, but even if I succeed in mine, if something alters and yours is not successful...mine means nothing. In the end, the end goal is the same. Save the damn world from its own stupidity."

Cable laughs, "You were raised around me." He shakes his head, "I told you I'd consider it. Professor body slide by one." With that Hope disappears in a flash of light and is returned to the rec room with her note book. Not big on goodbye. It's Cable.