Time / Location is determined 100% - Nobileen, Arizona, United States, 1974.
Locals going about their business suddenly stop and stare at something – or someone – walking past them towards a saloon at the end of the dirt street. A frightened man rushes out of the saloon and looks up.
Inside the saloon: 'So when y'reckon we're done bein' here? Move on?' a blond man asks sitting around a table with several men wearing hats playing cards. The saloon staff go about bringing drinks to customers, while several well-dressed men lean against the bar. Saloon girls stand with them, while the bodies of a man and a woman, possibly a saloon girl, lay strewn on the floor, blood splattered around them. 'What'ya mean, Al? I'd say we ain't but started' one of the men tells the blond man. An older man calls the second man Clyde and announces that he agrees. 'Considerin' what we're packin' we got this town sewn up. Seems a shame t'hit the trail just yet. Mean t'say... look at'em. Folks here to scared t'squawk' the older man declares, as the men and women at the bar watch them.
'Raise ya' a man wearing a green hat sitting around the table declares. He then states that as far as movin' on is concerned, he is not in any hurry. 'Look around. We can take what we want, do what we, an' it's just like Butch here said... there ain't nobody s'got the means t'stop us'.
Suddenly, the saloon doors burst open, 'Well, lookie, lookie' the man with the green hat remarks. Clyde turns around to face the doors and remarks that he reckons this is the fella they were told about.
The men and the woman at the bar stare at the new arrival in awe, as standing before them is the mutant hero Cable a.k.a. Nathan Summers. Several large weapons are strapped to his back and more hang from pouches around his hips, from straps across his large chest or belted to his muscular thighs. 'Good... no need for introductions' Cable points out, his left eye glowing with energy.
Butch is tossed through the window, and Cable remarks 'Now...' 'Now, what?' the gangster with the green hat asks. 'You think we weren't expecting you?' Al calls out as he and the others get to their feet 'Maybe you got yerself a big gun, fella... but so do we!' Clyde calls out as he and the others raise their strange weapons, energy glowing around them. Cable smirks and declares that he has seen bigger.
Shortly, 'Know what time it is?' Cable asks as he stands inside the saloon. It is now riddled with gun shots, and Al hangs from the ceiling, upside down, tied up with a rope, while his fellow gangsters lay motionless on the floor. 'Question and answer time' Cable tells Al, who is wide-eyed and replies 'No! I won't! Can't say! He said he'd come back n'kill us if we told ya stuff!' Cable tells Al that it could happen – maybe. 'But he isn't here' Cable points out. 'I am. Now. Talk' Cable frowns, his face inches from the frightened Al's.
Al suddenly reveals that he and the boys held up a stage in Tuscon. 'So we wuz holed up on the hills outside o'here. Suddenly there was one heck of'a bright, loud whizbang. N'he apppeared out o'thin air' Al informs Cable.
Cable listens as Al continues, explaining that they were told he was looking for something, and wanted their help finding it, and said he had something to trade for their time – the guns. Holding the other end of the rope that Al is tied to, Cable asks 'He found what he was looking for? And Al reveals that he vanished back into thin air again. 'Where?' Cable asks. 'Three hours out' Al replies. 'Show me' Cable tells him, releasing the rope, and causing Al to fall to the ground, where he lands on his shoulder, while Cable walks out of the saloon.
Later, Cable and Al are on horseback as they ride across the sun-scorched landscape. 'He had some doodad with him. A gadget. Part'o the way there that doohickey started chirping like a canary' Al reveals. He soon alerts Cable to the location where the mysterious “he” got what he was after. 'He dug around – blasted away some of it with a different gadget -' Al begins. 'And then?' Cable asks. 'Over yonder. You see?' Al replies as they look out over a ridge, where the sprawling desert in front of them has some strange markings etched into it. 'That was burned into the rock where he vanished. Whatever it is' Al reveals. 'Well, I done told ya all I know. We done?' Al asks. 'Almost' Cable replies as a blue light starts to engulf him. 'Your friends in jail, back in town – go join them...or I'll come back' Cable warns Al. An instant later, Cable disappears in the blue light. 'I believe it, too' Al remarks to himself.
Cable slides through time again. A portal opens over a field. Cable falls from the portal and slams into the ground. He steadies himself and gets to his feet, discovering that he is in the middle of a strange sign that has been burned into the field. He uses his technology to determine his time and location and discovers, to 99% accuracy, that he is in Japan/Nippon, the Hida Province in 1543. Looking out over the field, Cable sees smoke rising from a forest at the foot of a hill. He smiles then starts to run down the path cleared through the field by the strange markings.
Shortly, Cable arrives at a village which has been set ablaze. Bodies of villagers lay strewn about the street which Cable makes walks down. He turns when he hears a noise, and looks over to see a woman clutching her dead baby. 'Are you a demon?' the woman asks in her native Japanese. Cable responds in Japanese, telling the woman that hr is no demon – at least not one who would do her harm. Cable asks the woman 'Who did this?' and she tells him that it was men – men with swords of fire. 'This village?' Cable asks. The anguished woman informs him that they are all dead but her – the “lucky one”. Cable moves closer to the woman and asks her what was the reason they attacked. 'Why do men of power ever do what they do? Because they can' the woman replies, still cradling her baby. Cable asks her who she holds and she tells him that it is her son. 'I will avenge him' Cable announces, before turning and walking down the flame-filled street. Cable walks up a slope and looks back at the village, now fully ablaze. He examines the hills and cliffs around him, then looks out over a lush forest and river.
Nearby, within the dense forest, several warriors are gathered around a fire. 'All I'm saying is the next time won't be as easy' a young warrior tells the others as he is crouched by the fire, roasting some meat on a spit. 'What are you talking about? What hope do they have?' one of the other warriors asks, before calling out to Itaru and asking him to talk some sense into him. 'No, I am the one with the sense! Word will have gotten to them. They will be ready' the young warrior announces. Itaru is standing away from the others and turns back to them, stating 'Ready for men, yes. But we are so much more now'. 'I know, but -' the young warrior begins, but Itaru silences him: 'No! I know! Your enemy is yourself! That we are ronin means we have no master, but you have further lost your will'. Itaru points out. The younger ronin gets to his feet as Itaru tells him that whatever spirit he still retains, he should ready himself for the one they were foretold of. Itaru glances sideways when he hears a noise. 'Ah, and here we are. A haiku. I recall from youth. Boredom seeks the dance. Of wasted time and folly. Best to wait the course'.
Cable reveals himself, rushing through from the forest into the small clearing, two large weapons at the ready, the three ronin raise their swords which glow with amber energy. 'We were told to expect you' one of the ronin announces as Cable kicks another of them over. 'So were the last men I defeated' Cable announces as he drops one of his guns and knocks one of their swords out of their hands. 'Didn't help them' Cable remarks. 'Whoever they were, they may have planned for a fight' Itaru declares as one of his swords clangs against a large knife that Cable has produced. '...we prepared for a war' he reveals as Cable turns and sees several more ronin, some on horseback, rushing towards him. Several arrows are fired, an energy radiating around them, they plunge into Cable's side. 'Looks like the arrows drain his power! He is half the man he was!' one of the ronin announces. Cable pushes them away as they crowd around him. 'There! Strike!' Itaru calls out.
Suddenly: 'Yes!' the young ronin exclaims as Cable's bionic arm is severed by their energy swords. 'And so it is...”tomorrow” becomes yesterday' Itaru calls out as they stand over Cable's fallen body....
