- The infant son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers, was kidnapped by Mister Sinister and experimented on.
- Baby Nathan was eventually rescued when his mother went insane and attempted to sacrifice him in an attempt to keep a portal to Limbo open. From then on, he was raised by Scott and his former flame Jean Grey.
- The first manifestation of Nathan's mutant power occured. The infant began to unconsciously wrap himself in a protective telekinetic bubble whenever he was in danger.
- During this time, he and his time-displaced half-sister Rachel Summers developed a psychic bond.
- Nathan was kidnapped by Apocalypse and infected with the Celestial Techno-Organic Virus. A mysterious woman known as Mother Askani contacted Scott Summers, and convinced Scott to send Nathan into the future, where he could be cured of the virus.
- The future Mother Askani came from was a nightmarish world ruled by Apocalypse. The Clan Askani believed that Nathan would grow up to be their savior.
- After being taken to the future, the infant was put in a specially-designed incubator that would preserve him from the effects of the Techno-Organic Virus. To hedge her bets, Mother Askani also created a clone of Nathan.
- Apocalypse's forces attacked the Clan Askani, and sucessfully captured the Nathan Clone. The clone would be raised by Apocalypse and eventually became Nathan's greatest rival: Stryfe.
- Mother Askani transported the souls of Scott Summers and Jean Grey to the future. There, they inhabited cloned bodies, and raised Nathan using the names Redd and Slym Dayspring.
- Nathan began to learn to use his telekinetic abilities to keep the Techno-Organic Virus from completely consuming him. However, a large portion of his body had already been converted. Outwardly, the only sign of infection were his metallic left arm and left eye. Keeping the virus in check placed a great toll on Nathan's powers, and kept him from reaching his full potential.
- Nathan was trained and educated extensively by both his parents, and the other members of Clan Askani. * Despite his reduced abilities, the teenage Nathan was able to defeat Apocalypse. During the aftermath, Scott and Jean were sent back to their time period, and Mother Askani was killed.
- Nathan continued to train under the tutelage of Blaquesmith. Blaquesmith took Nathan's role as the 'Chosen One' very seriously.
- Stryfe eventually took over Apocalypse's forces, and enslaved the world. During this time he captured members of Clan Askani. One of Nathan's friends, Aliya, was captured and imprisoned.
- As an adult, Nathan proved to be an enormous annoyance to Stryfe. Using guerilla tactics, he made life miserable for Stryfe's forces. Nathan set up ambushes, destroyed military bases, and liberated prison camps.
- In one of these camps he was reunited with Aliya. She now had a son named Tyler. Nathan married her and raised Tyler as his own son. Aliya never spoke of her time in the prison camps, or about Tyler's father.
- Years passed, and Nathan continued to fight against Stryfe's forces. Many epic battles were fought, and Nathan experienced many victories and losses. The years of training and the experiences of combat had forged Nathan into a consumate soldier and a peerless general. The man and his clone were never able to decisively defeat each other. However, Stryfe's forces were able to kidnap Nathan's adopted son Tyler, and kill Aliya. Tyler would be brainwashed into hating Nathan, and eventually became the mutant Genesis.
- Strye discovered an ancient time machine, and decided to go back and take over the world back in the past. In order to stop him, Nathan and a friend named the Professor developed a ship capable of time travel. The ship, Graymalkin, was loaded up with futuristic technology, and Nathan tracked Stryfe back to the present day.
- In the present day, Nathan set about thwarting Stryfe's plans. He avoided contact with his father, preferring to keep his presence a secret. Calling himself Cable, he formed a group of veteran mercenaries called the Wild Pack, though they later renamed themselves the Six Pack. It was during this time that he met a woman who would become his greatest ally in the present: Domino.
- The group would eventually break up after a confrontation with Stryfe. It was during this time that Cable would finally see Stryfe's face: and realized that he looked exactly like him.
- Cable returned to the future to nurse some injuries he received at Stryfe's hands. Eventually he returned, and took over the leadership of the New Mutants. He saw great potential in some of them, and decided to turn them into his own personal hit squad. Turning spoiled teenagers into a group of badasses proved to be a difficult task, but with the help of a couple of Cable's mercenary pals, X-Force is shaping up nicely. They do the dirty work that teams like the X-Men avoid, keeping the future safe by whatever means are necessary.
[[tab Personality]]
Grizzled: Cable has been either training or fighting literally since childhood. He's seen and experienced all manner of horrible things on hundreds of futuristic battlefields. This has made him extremely tough mentally. Virtually nothing shocks or surprises him. This has also made him old before his time. Though in his forties, he often feels like a man several centuries older.
Guarded: In order to accomplish his goals and protect the timestream, Cable needs to remain anonymous. He can't let certain people know that he's actually Nathan Summers. He is very careful to not let anyone know who he is or where he came from, even though the futuristic spaceship and the robot arm clearly distinguish him as not being your average mercenary. He attempts to avoid people who might be able to connect him with the infant Nathan they knew, particularly anyone whose last name is either Grey or Summers. But he is also cautious when dealing with his teammates. He tends to give them only the information they need to complete a job, and keeps them all at arms length.
Driven: Cable came back in time for a couple of specific reasons. He has devoted himself almost entirely to accomplishing those goals. Since his wife and son are both dead (or so he believes), and since he is an extremely world-weary middle-aged man, he doesn't really think he has very much to live for aside from his mission. One isn't likely to see Cable at the movies or at a single's bar.
Violent: Cable doesn't usually mix well with the traditional superhero crowd. Because of his direct, 'take no prisoners unless you want to torture them' attitude, he often comes across to people as worse than the villains he fights. Even some hardened government types consider Cable to be something of a menace.
Mechanical: Despite his best efforts, Cable has partially succumbed to the effects of the Techno-Organic Virus. Externally he appears to be mostly human, but a thorough scan would show that much of his brain has already been taken over. Because of this, he sees the world slightly differently. He tends to be extremely logical, and pays very little attention to the emotional sides of his personality. This makes him very cold, but also ruthlessly efficient.
Cautiously Optimistic: If Nathan didn't believe there was something about humanity that deserved to be protected, he probably would have given up and killed himself long ago. Even though he has lived a harsh life, he still believes in most of the core of Professor Xavier's philosophy. He disagrees with most of the X-Men on the manner that Xavier's dream should be realized, but he is still fighting for basically the same things. Specifically, he wants to create a future where everyone lives in harmony and peace.
Messiah: For his entire life, Nathan has carried the burden of being the 'Chosen One'. Although he has accomplished a lot, he hasn't really lived up to the hype. He is very aware of his failings, but still has a deep-rooted belief in himself and in the 'rightness' of his choices.
TELEPATHY: Cable has virtually unlimited Telepathic potential. However, the interference of the Techno-Organic Virus has left his abilities at only slightly more advanced than a basic empath. He can communicate directly with another person's mind over distances less than two miles and can read the surface thoughts of an unshielded mind. He can not control the brain of another, but he can sometimes plant a suggestion in order to get a person to act the way he wants.
Cable can on occasion use his telepathy to mask his presence, giving him an advantage when stealth is required. Using extreme amounts of concentration, he can sometimes alter a person's memories, or even remove memories entirely. This taxes the limits of his abilities, and leaves him unable to fight the Techno-Organic Virus.
TELEKINESIS: The majority of Cable's telekinetic abilities lay dormant as he is unconsciously using them to slow the effects of the Techno-Organic Virus to a crawl. Any time he diverts his powers away from fighting the virus, the virus takes over more of his body and brain, so he only uses his telekinetic abilities as a last resort. If he had full control of his power, he would be able to lift many hundreds of tons with his brain, and control or rearrange matter at the microscopic level. As his power currently stands, he can lift approximately 50 tons, and create basic forcefields and energy blasts capable of withstanding and dealing out 50 tons worth of damage respectively.
CYBERNETIC CNS: A portion of Cable's brain and the rest of his entire Central Nervous System has been taken over and turned into a cybernetic network. This augments his reaction times, his manual dexterity, and his physical agility to above peak human levels.
CYBERNETIC BODY: Outwardly, only Cable's left arm, shoulder, and eye have been taken over by the Techno-Organic Virus. If one were to look inside his body though, one would find a vast interconnected network of cybernetic parts and partially cybernetic organs. His skeletal structure is both organic and Techno-Organic, making it highly durable while enabling it to continue producing bone marrow and blood cells. His musculature has been partially enhanced, giving him superhuman stamina and above peak human strength. The enhancement of his musculature and skelton also make him more durable. He is not bulletproof, but depending where he gets shot a bullet will typically get embedded either in his muscles or be deflected by his skeleton. Higher-grade armaments will still tear right through him, as will most energy weapons. He can take a great deal of damage though.
The Techno-Organic Virus is capable of repairing itself. Thus, any portion of his body that has been completely taken over by the virus will regenerate quickly. The negative effect of this is that any time his human tissues are damaged, the virus will quickly replace them with purely Techno-Organic tissue. So while fast healing might be nifty, it comes with a really hefty price.
Finally, Cable is capable of functioning with less than an hour of sleep per day. He often sleeps longer than this, but he could theoretically sleep for only an hour each night for the rest of his life and suffer no ill effect other than to his sanity.
CYBERNETIC EYE: Cable's left eye is entirely cybernetic. Using his cybernetic eye, he is able to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum. This effectively gives him 'X-Ray Vision', and allows him to see the heat signatures of both people and objects. The eye also allows him to see things far away, working as a telescope of sorts. It puts all but the most high-end sniper scopes to shame.
CYBERNETIC ARM: His entire body is enhanced by the Virus, but Cable's left arm has been completely replaced with Techno-Orgainc tissue. The cybernetic skin covers most of his left shoulder, a portion of his back, and his entire left pectoral. This renders these areas virtually invulnerable to all but the most exotic of weaponry (adamantium claws, magical ninja swords, lightsabers, super-mega blaster guns). His left arm is also incredibly strong, capable of lifting more than ten tons. However, since the rest of his body isn't quite so enhanced, he is only able to lift as much as his legs can support (around one ton without telekinetic assistance). He can punch through solid concrete, and through most commercially-available metals, with his left arm.
WEAPONRY: Cable has extensive training and experience with all kinds of futuristic weaponry. He focuses almost exclusively on firearms and energy weapons, and is able to clean, repair and operate virtually any weapon that has a trigger. Since arriving in the 'past', he has begun to use more and more conventional firearms, although they are crude and simplistic to someone who is used to wielding laser pistols.
MARKSMANSHIP: With the aid of his cybernetic eye, and with the increased stability his altered body provides, Cable has virtually flawless aim. He is able to hold a heavy machine gun as if it were a water pistol, and use it to effectively target things that normal people would have to use an enormous scope and a sniper rifle to hit. He is also capable of reacting much more quickly than a normal person, which enables him to fire off accurate rounds in the time it would take a normal person to take their weapon off of 'Safe'.
MARTIAL ARTS: A rough childhood of nearly constant training has given Cable a pretty solid background in martial arts. While he is not in the top tier of martial artists, he would still be able to hold his own in most fights even without the aid of his cybernetic enhancements. However, his enhanced body causes him to be a bit sloppy sometimes and he tends to rely more on brute strength or on his firearms than on pure martial skill.
SURVIVAL: Life in the future isn't utopian by any stretch of the imagination. Cable has had to survive for long periods of time out in the wild with minimal to no assistance. He can erect basic survival shelters using either primitive equipment, or just his bare hands. He knows how to find water, and how to test it to keep from getting poisoned. He isn't a particularly skilled hunter, but if he were left alone in the wilderness, he would be able to find enough food to keep himself alive for a while, and might even be able to catch enough game to thrive for several months.
TACTICS: With an extensive education in the subject, and decades of experience on the battlefield, Cable is an extremely gifted tactician. He has been instructed in techniques that haven't even been invented yet on Earth, and has faced overwhelming odds on multiple occasions only to emerge victorious. Or at least not dead. His partially-computerized brain helps him to weigh options quickly and make snap decisions that are usually pretty sound.
Despite having future knowledge, his tactics are far from infallible. It is not unheard of for Cable to be surprised or defeated by someone from our time, and there are many people on Earth who are his intellectual and tactical superior.
FUTURE KNOWLEDGE: Cable is from a time 2,000 years into the future. In his time, our future has already been written down and extensively analyzed. Imagine going back to the year 10 BCE and you'll have some idea of the advantage that Cable has over most people on Earth. He isn't familiar with the minutiae of every single incident that ever occured in the past, but he knows enough about a lot of the main events to be able to pick his battles appropriately.
However, just because he knows how things are 'supposed' to turn out, doesn't mean that they do. By coming back to the present, Cable has already altered the timeline, as has his 'brother' Stryfe. Many times knowing how things are supposed to happen actually causes Cable to make mistakes that he wouldn't if he analyzed a situation objectively.
TECHNOLOGY: Cable's knowledge of technology is thousands of years ahead of what is currently available. This places him in an intellectual sphere with only a handful of Earth's residents. But just because he can assemble a computer that is thousands of years more advanced than an Ipad doesn't necessarily mean that he could reconstruct that technology himself. Realistically, he is only slightly ahead of most of Earth's great technological minds. This margin is lowered when one factors in all of the people on Earth who have either dreamt up technology that defies all logic (such as Reed Richards) or who have actually seen the future (such as Kang, Doctor Doom, or Reed Richards again). Put simply, Cable is an expert but he is not a visionary.
ESPIONAGE: Most of Cable's time on the battlefield was spent using guerilla tactics. This necessitated his learning ways to keep himself hidden. He does most of his best work when he is operating secretly. Impossible as it might seem, even a man who is 6'8" and has a robotic arm and a glowing eye is capable of being discrete. He knows how to camouflage himself effectively, and can move pretty stealthily. Often, he is able to get to an objective without being spotted. Usually though, he has to fight his way in and out of everything.
VEHICLES: In the future, Cable has operated lots of very advanced vehicles. Most notable is his time-travelling spaceship Graymalkin, which he is able to pilot competently. Since vehicles in the future are mostly capable of piloting themselves, he shouldn't be considered any sort of professional driver. Still, he is occasionally very creative when he needs to use a vehicle on the battlefield.
ACADEMICS: Young Nathan's training and education focused mainly on the religious philosophy of Clan Askani and on martial tactics. However, he was considered well-educated in the future, which means he is considered more knowledgeable than most geniuses in our time.
GRAYMALKIN: An elaborate space station run by a millenia-old intelligence calling itself The Professor, Graymalkin is Cable's home and base of operations. It is equipped with technology that only a handful of people on Earth have even dreamed of yet. Most notable is the teleportation system that allows Cable and his team to go virtually anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. It also has a weapons complement that enables it to defend itself from enemy spaceships, or from missiles that might get sent from Earth. Because of the recycling technologies onboard, a crew would be able to live on the ship indefinitely.
Because of his desire to not interrupt the timeline any more than is necessary, Cable leaves the ship cloaked and effectively out of reach of anyone who might be tempted to either attack the ship, or use its technology for nefarious purposes.
X-FORCE: Cable has founded a strike team known as X-Force. While not as recognizable as the X-Men, they are considered by many to be a more threatening team due to their apparent lack of morals. There are some relatively heavy hitters on the team, and they have developed a small circle of allies in their short time together. They also take quite a lot of flack from government types and anti-mutant activists. The net result is that Cable has a small group of competent, battle-hardened mutants at his disposal who will most likely follow him into whatever tough spot he might find himself.
CONTACTS: From his days as the leader of the Six Pack, Cable has quite a few contacts from the shadier side of vigilantism. He knows a lot of mercenaries like Silver Sable with whom he is on relatively friendly terms. He also knows a few out and out criminals who can supply him with goods and/or services whenever it is mutually beneficial.
WEAPONRY: In his arsenal, Cable has a lot of futuristic energy-based weapons. For the most part, his weapons consist of energy rifles that are capable of blasting holes through most metals. Some can even puncture depleted uranium armor when placed on higher settings. He also has access to explosives, in addition to the Graymalkin's external armaments.
Because his stated goal is to improve the future, Cable has been relatively careful about overusing his future weapons. Under normal circumstances, he tends to rely mainly on conventional firearms (of which he has a growing stockpile) and supplements this with more exotic weaponry as the need arises.
ARMOR: Cable has acquired a set of Stryfe-like armor. It is highly durable, and the forcefield which protects it is capable of deflecting bullets and protecting him from the effects of a building collapse. It is still susceptible to very strong energy attacks, and doesn't seem to put up any resistance to mystical weapons.
AMBIDEXTROUS: Nathan is naturally righthanded. However, the Techno-Organic left arm is more dextrous than his right and his left eye has become more dominant than his right. This effectively makes him ambidextrous in a sense.
SIZE: Why Cable is so large is something of a mystery. Most likely it is the result of the experiments that Mister Sinister subjected him to during his infancy. Regardless, Cable is a massive, physically imposing man. He is able to intimidate most people simply by looming over them. In a society that values height, Cable is seen as more socially valuable than his shorter peers.
MENTAL RESISTANCE: Because his brain has computerized components, and he is naturally a very powerful telepath, Cable presents a unique challenge for people who would attempt to read his thoughts or control his mind. It would take a top-tier telepath to muck aroud with Cable's brain. Also, because his left eye is so advanced and can see the entire EM spectrum, the likelihood of a mystic or mental illusion fooling him is comparitively slim.
TO VIRUS: The Techno-Organic Virus is the root of most of Nathan's problems. He has to use the majority of his vast psionic abilities just to keep it from killing him. Even with most of his telekinesis and telepathy diverted, it is still constantly spreading through his body, albeit at a significantly slowed rate. The more of his brain that the virus takes over, the more his powers get reduced. And the more his powers get reduced, the quicker the virus is able to spread. Which in turn reduces his powers even further. The Virus is a death sentence, and it will eventually take over his entire body and leave him nothing more than a lifeless metallic husk.
MEAN: Cable comes from a very harsh future. He is considered by the people there to be the Savior, and thus virtually infallible. These two factors have caused Cable to develop into the sort of person who doesn't expect to be questioned when he gives an order. He comes across to people from our time as incredibly abrupt and rude, if not downright cruel. First impressions matter a lot, and the first impression that most people get of Cable is that they don't like him.
STRYFE: Nathan's clone is both far more powerful than Nathan and a nutcase. This often makes things less than pleasant for Our Hero. As the two are locked in eternal struggle for the future of the planet, there is no limit to the amount of poo that Stryfe will fling at Cable in order to ensure his eventual takeover of the world. Cable spends most of his time trying to think of ways to beat Stryfe, and to figure out ways to keep from being murdered by his evil clone. However, Stryfe seems to keep getting more powerful, while Cable continues to be weakened by the Techno-Organic Virus.
DISTINCTIVE: It's virtually impossible for a man who is 6'8" and weighs 350 lbs to pass as a normal human. Especially when he also has a glowing left eye and an entirely metallic left arm. Cable tends to attract unwanted attention anytime he goes out in public, which forces him to stick to his base more often than he would prefer. Cable also shows up as an anomaly on any type of sufficiently sophisticated scan.
HEAVY: Because he is so large, Cable is a bit of a liability if he is ever injured. Not everyone on his team is capable of carrying him off to safety. In addition, not every piece of furniture or structure can support his weight, which sometimes limits his options in both social situations and when attempting to be sneaky.
ENEMIES: Stryfe isn't the only person who hates Cable's guts. Cable has angered people on both sides of the law, as well as several people who consider themselves above it. Both Apocalypse and Mister Sinister have unfriendly designs on Cable, as do anti-mutant activists, the governments of several countries including the US, and competitors for mercenary work.
SECRECY: Cable is forced to keep his presence in the present a secret from everyone who would care. He can't contact his family, despite how badly he often wants to. This also keeps him from allying himself closely with the group of mutants who would normally be the most likely choice: the X-Men. Having the X-Men on his side would make things a whole lot easier, but would also possibly muck up the timestream in some catastrophic way. Better to keep his head down and handle his problems his own way for now.
KUMQUATS: Cable has an intense hatred of kumquats. He will not eat them, and will not eat any food that has even trace amounts of kumquat in it.
