"Where the hell is everybody?" Cable asked, looking around the empty mansion. He had just returned home from a one of his many trips to the future and was almost looking forward to seeing his team again. "Must have gone out somewhere."

With that, this brave warrior of a time yet to be, set out in search of a beer, some chips, and maybe even a ball game. But first, he had to get the HELL out of all this gear.

Cable made his way toward his room, still looking for any sign of life. There was none to be seen though. The house was perfectly silent of all sounds that could even be considered human. The man of tomorrow shook his head, and pushed the door of his room open.

A large panther lay on his bed, gazing at him with the oddest purple eyes.

Nathan Christopher Charles Dayspring Askani'son Summers was not a man that you could startle easily. He was that kind of man that could stand in front of a raging sea monster and not bat an eyelash. He could laugh at the greatest threat ever known to mankind. Which is why, he could say, in perfect control:

"Now, what the FLONQ are you?!"

The large panther growled deep in its throat, jumped off the bed, and stocked over to where he stood. For some reason, he was reminded of his partner Domino when she was pissed with him.

"Umm, nice kitty-cat." Cable said, holding his hands out to the large cat. The cat seemed to glare at him and swiped at him with one of her paws.

Cable jumped back and decided he really didn't NEED to take his gear off in his room. He could take it off in the armory. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the strange purple-eyed cat snarling at him from her perch on the bed. Yes, he could definitely take it off in the armory.

Slowly, more cautiously this time, the Askani'son made his way toward the armory. How was it possible that that huge cat had gotten in his bedroom? Well probably the same way the huge black bear standing in the middle of the hallway had.

BLACK BEAR?! What in the HELL was going on here?!

The black bear looked at him for a long second then seemed to roll its eyes. It then appeared to…swagger off? Sort of like Roberto….

Cable shook his head and turned and headed for the opposite direction. Of course, being the size he was (and the fact that his mind was a little preoccupied with all the strange occurrences since he had gotten home) he failed to see the little tabby cat in his path.

The little cat was no more than a kitten actually. That didn't stop her from squalling to beat the banshee when his foot landed squarely on her tail.

"MEOW!" She screamed, hissing and clawing at the leg connected to the foot that had landed on her tail.

"FLONQ!" He screamed as her claws connected with his shin. Still swearing he jumped back and kicked the little kitten off. She cried piteously when she hit the wall, gazing at him with big hurt blue eyes. Wait a minute…weren't cat's suppose to have green eyes?

But Cable no longer had time to wonder about that little oddity, because at that moment, a puppy came barreling around the corner. He skidded to a stop in front of Cable and growled at him, showing off an impressive pair of teeth for such a young puppy.

"What the--?! When did we get a puppy?!" The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he had said. Of course they didn't have a puppy. They didn't have a kitten, or a bear, or whatever that huge cat thing on his bed was either!

While Cable was pondering this strange turn of events, the puppy darted in and bit his ankle. Howling with pain, Cable kicked outward at the small creature, intending to kick it to kingdom come. But the puppy had already retreated, and was licking the small kitten's head.

She purred in response, and snuggled closer to him. Cable stopped swearing and stood there staring at them for along second. Since when did kittens and puppies act like that?

After the puppy was certain that his kitten was all right, the little creature bounced back from her and barked loudly at the blue eyed kitten. She meowed in response and took off running as the puppy raced after her.

Cable, still confused, began to limp after this strange pair of animals. The little kitten raced toward the curtains and clambered up them, the puppy hot on her heels.

"Woof! Woof!" The puppy barked at the kitten high above his head. The kitten hissed in response, and clung tighter to the drapes. The puppy growled, and grabbed a hold of the bottom of the floor length curtain and shook it violently. The kitten howled in fear, and leaped from the curtain to a nearby table, knocking one of the lamps that had innocently been sitting there onto the floor.

The kitten then raced away from the corner, the puppy barking behind her.

"Okay…that was rather bizarre." Cable allowed, still shaking his ankle from the puppy's bite. And why did those animals remind him of Tabitha and Sam?

A sudden squawking caught his attention. He whirled and barely ducked in time to avoid being swiped by a large red bird of some type.

A large snow tiger came running up from the direction the bird had come, followed by a huge turtle of some sort. The snow tiger looked up at him with eyes that appeared almost…hostile.

That's ridiculous, Cable thought. Animals can't be hostile…can they?

A loud roar drew him away from his thoughts after a minute. The purple-eyed panther was back!

Cable had been trained as a field commander for his entire life. He KNEW how to make people listen to him. Now, was it enough for animals? He was about to find out.

"ALRIGHT! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, GET IN THE WAR ROOM NOW!" Cable bellowed. The animals stopped squawking, meowing, and barking, and turned tail and ran for the War Room.

Gee, I hope Dad doesn't mind all the animal hair, Cable thought as he walked after the odd little group.

When he reached the War Room, it was full of animals. The little kitten was sitting on the table, batting at the puppy with one of her paws. The puppy, for his part, was yapping away at her, jumping up and down trying to reach her. The huge bear was sitting in the corner watching the crowd with an almost superior air about it. The snow tiger was sitting near the door, everything about it alert. The turtle was lumbered down in the middle of the floor, with the red bird sitting on top of him, squawking away. The purple-eyed panther was sitting directly in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

Cable suddenly found himself at a lost for words. How exactly do you go about asking a room full of animals what was going on?

He was saved from having to find that answer though, by a loud clap of thunder and a flash of hot pink power.

And the animals were gone, replaced by his team of mutant outlaws, X-Force.

Tabitha was perched on the table, looking down at Sam who was sprawled out on the floor. Roberto was standing in the corner, and Shatterstar stood near the door, his swords drawn. Jimmy was in the middle of the floor, with Theresa on his back. Domino stood in front of him with one eyebrow raised, her lips turned up into a half smile of a predator.

Cable stood and stared at them for a long time, then shook his head. "Would somebody PLEASE explain to me what just happened?"

Boomer cracked her gum, and then snapped "I don't know boss, but you STEPPED ON ME! AND THEN YOU KICKED ME!"

Cable blanched. "Well I didn't know it was you."

"Well, you still kicked her. Mah God, you could have really hurt her!" Sam spoke up, putting a possessive arm around Tabitha.

"Don' you give me THAT, Guthrie! You chased me up the curtains!" Tabitha yelled at him.

"But Ah was just following mah instincts!"

"Oh, sure!"

Love Stories