Incredible Hulk #444
Cable Vision
This story continues from Cable #34...
Storm is pursuing the Hulk after he defeated and captured Cable, she attempts to use her powers to control the weather to summon up a wind that will slow the Hulk down, demanding that he let Cable go. The Hulk mockingly tells her to make him, but this gives Cable enough time to recover and fight back. However, when Storm orders Cable to release the Hulk and get clear, he refuses to do so and the Hulk takes another leap into the air. Elsewhere, at an old Pantheon safehouse, Janis Jones wakes up to find herself wracked with a fever. Her dreams of the Maestro, the Hulk, and her grandfather causes her to wake up and fall out of bed. When she does so it activates a hologram of the Hulk that he has brought her here until she can get well and how he used one such safe house to escape a bomb blast. Suddenly, the Hulk is enthralled by Onslaught and given orders to find and destroy Cable. When Janis tries to stop him, she finally realizes that it was a hologram and the Hulk has been gone for hours. With no energy left because of the fever, Janis then passes out on the floor.
Back in Baltimore, the Hulk and Cable go smashing into a magazine distribution company there Cable struggles to get an advantage. Spotting a poster of Betti Page, Hulk thinks he is seeing a photo of his wife, Betty Banner. This gives Cable the opening he needs to use his mental powers to invade the Hulk's mind. Inside the Hulk's mindscape, Cable finds himself climbing up a massive staircase. He is opposed by Onslaught who makes a mental boulder roll down the stairs to try and stop him. In the real world, Storm finally catches up to the two combatants and is horrified to see Cable using his mental powers at the risk of making the Technorganic virus in his body take over. In the astral plane, Cable manages to dodge the massive boulder and get to the top of the stairs. There he finds a massive door, but when he forces it open he finds nothing by a yawning abyss on the other side. This was all a trap set by Onslaught, who then knocks Cable down into the pit below. This knocks Cable out of the Hulk's mind and with the Hulk now free, he tries to resume his attack on Cable. Before he can smash the mutant mercenary, Storm catches him up in a wind that sends the Hulk high into the air. However, before the Hulk can be swept away, he knocks Storm out of the building and into a nearby body of water.
Struggling to get to his feet, Cable asks some locals for some help but they run away from him. This causes Cable to think back to when he was a child and how he left an enemy to die in the battlefield instead of helping him when he begged for help and wonders if this is any different. Getting to his feet, Cable spots a gunshop and heads there to get some means of defending himself. When the Hulk recovers from Storm's attack and pushes his way outside he finds that Cable has procured a massive gun. The Hulk merely stands still as Cable fires, figuring that they are normal bullets that will not harm him. However, they are gas pellets and as soon as he realizes this, the Hulk tries to leap away. But, he gets caught up in another wind put up by Storm who also uses her powers to force the gas into the Hulk's lungs. Meanwhile, back at the Pantheon safe house, Janis is woken up again by the approach of Ajax, who wants to know who she is. Meanwhile, with the Hulk weakened from the gas, Cable devises a hail mary play by combining one of Storm's lightning bolts with a powerful psi-blast. This is sufficient to completely incapacitate the Hulk.
Afraid that the Hulk might be dying, Cable then enters his mind and frees the persona of Bruce Banner from Onslaught's hold. Storm then revives the Hulk's heart with another lightning bolt. Finally free from Onslaught's influence, the Hulk insists on joining Cable and Storm on their journey back to New York so he can face Onslaught one-on-one.
… Onslaught continues in Wolverine (vol. 2) #104.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, Cable, Storm, Janis Jones, Ajax, Onslaught
Continuity Notes
The events of this story run concurrently with the following Onslaught related titles: Avengers #401, Excalibur #100, Fantastic Four #415, X-Factor #125, and X-Men (vol. 2) #55.
At the time of this story, Cable was still suffering from the Technoganic Virus that he had been infected with as a child in X-Factor #68. It has been flaring out of control since Cable #31. It eventually gets back under control in Cable #36 and Cable is ultimately cured of the affliction years later in Cable #100.
Onslaught Reading Order
Onslaught Reading Order
Onslaught: X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men #335, X-Factor #125, Excalibur #99-100, Cable #34, Incredible Hulk #444, Wolverine (vol. 2) #104, X-Men Unlimited #11, Avengers #401, Fantastic Four #415, Generation X #18, X-Men Unlimited #12, X-Men (vol. 2) #55, Green Goblin #12, Amazing Spider-Man #415, Spider-Man #72, X-Man #18, X-Force #57, Excalibur #101, X-Factor #126, Uncanny X-Men #336, Cable #35, X-Force #58, Generation X #19, X-Man #19, Punisher (vol. 3) #11, Incredible Hulk #445, Iron Man #332, Avengers #402, Fantastic Four #416, Wolverine (vol. 2) #105, Thor #502, X-Men (vol. 2) #56, Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1
