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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Cross-Over
The parking lot of the sprawling West Edmonton Mall, where four unique individuals are running from their confrontation with Canada’s premiere super-heroes, Alpha Flight. These four comprise some of Alpha Flight’s greatest enemies – Omega Flight. They are the android Delphine Courtney, a.k.a. “Dark Guardian” who has been impersonating Alpha Flight’s deceased leader, of whose death Omega Flight is responsible. Diamond Lil a.k.a. Lillian Crawley is the sultry indestructible and moody temptress, while Gardner Monroe, better known as “Flashback” is the man who can summon himself from the future, and Kyle “Wildchild” Gibney is the feral junior-league Wolverine.
As the four villains run through the car park Wildchild asks Delphine to run through the plan again, as he was of the understanding that it was foolproof. Delphine mocks Wildchild asking him if he could have done better and calculated all the possible permutations – such as the arrival of the “one from beyond”.  Kyle replies that he doesn’t profess to have all the answers, but that Delphine did, and even though they managed to get Alpha Flight on the ropes, Omega Flight still ends up running away. Diamond Lil agrees with Wildchild and asks Courtney what went wrong, as they were busted out of prison with this big plan to kill Alpha Flight – Flashback cuts Lil off and says bluntly that their “great leader” screwed up and they almost get killed because of it.
Delphine walks over to Flashback and grabs him by the collar, declaring that he has heard enough of his whining to last one hundred lifetimes. Wildchild and Diamond Lil are startled when a car a car appears to collapse into itself, but Lil realizes that it is changing shape, like something alive. Horror spreads across Delphine’s face realizing what is happening he orders Lil and Flashback to form a defense line, and Flashback summons two future-selves, mentioning that Courtney sounds scared, Flashback jokes that he thought nothing scared him. Suddenly, a man steps out from behind the car and declares that one thing scares Courtney – and it’s him. ‘Hiya Lil!’ he ads.
Diamond Lil is stunned to see her former boyfriend, Madison Jeffries, and reveals that she thought he was dead. Jeffries tells his ex that so did a lot of other people, which is the way he wanted it, but that he doesn’t ‘kick off’ so easily. Lillian asks Jeffries what happened to him, for when Delphine didn’t recruit him into Omega Flight she thought the rumors must have been true. Jeffries informs Lil that Delphine did not even try and recruit him for Omega Flight. Delphine tells Diamond Lil that if Jeffries is not with them, then he is against them and must have gone over to Alpha Flight, as that would be the only reason as to why he is here now.
Jeffries says ‘not entirely, but you know that, don’t you’ to Delphine before admitting that he was rather miffed when he heard the real Guardian was killed, as he liked him, for James Hudson was one of the few people who ever gave him a fair share. Jeffries reveals that if Alpha Flight was going to ‘kick your butt for what you did’ then he would like to be in on it. Standing beside the car, which he has changed into some kind of creature, Jeffries uses his transmorphic powers to control the robot into attacking Omega. Flashback stands to the side and tells Lil that she better do something as it is out of his league. Lillian shoves Gardner to the side and tells him that everything is out of his league as all he and his future selves are good for are ‘instant crowd-scenes’. She exclaims that she will prove why she is called “Diamond Lil” and she uses her super strength to punch the robot, but it grabs her and tosses her across the parking lot.
Jeffries cries out when he sees the woman he once cared for lying still on the ground and rushes over to her. Lil is okay and as he helps her up Jeffries tells her that she should have stayed out of the way, as even though she is indestructible, she can still feel pain if she gets hit hard enough. Lillian asks Jeffries why he is here, as he never cared about Alpha Flight, Jeffries agrees, but reveals that when Roger Bochs told him what happened he thought something was wrong. He tells Lil that he knows she is not bad, sure, she has a big chip on her shoulder, but nothing that would make her go wrong. He informs Lil that he figured whoever was behind it all had probably messed with her head, and Wildchild and Flashback’s too. Jeffries says that he doesn’t know Flashback from ‘a hole in the ground’ but that he, Lil and Wildchild were in Gamma Flight together and he figured he should try and get them out of this mess.
Jeffries turns around when he sees his robot approach Delphine Courtney and Wildchild. The robot picks up Wildchild, who asks Courtney to help him. Delphine replies that he cannot, as ‘that mystical glob’ Shaman hit him with jammed his defense circuitry so he cannot fire and electromagnetic bolts. Wildchild is tossed aside and the robot moves in on Delphine, who grabs one of Flashback’s future selves and shoves him in front of himself for protection. The future Flashback asks Delphine what he is doing when the robot’s metal claws go into the future Flashback’s chest. Gardner cries out in horror and future selves around him begin to disappear. He rushes over to the dead future man and declares that he is dead, he reminds everyone that his future men are al him from some period yet to come-  ‘you’ve murdered my future!’ he shouts at Delphine.
Jeffries walks over to Delphine and tells him that he was wrong in thinking he would take it like a man, so it is time to stop playing games and get down and dirty. Delphine backs away from Jeffries, pleading, he tells him that he doesn’t have to do this and that he can make him a rich man. Jeffries is unimpressed and tells Delphine that if he wanted to be rich he would not be digging ditches for a living, especially not when he can do what he can do. Jeffries tells Delphine that it is all over for him and says that it can start by ripping off the Guardian disguise. Unable to resist, Delphine tears the face of Guardian from its body, Jeffries telling Delphine that all he is, is another machine. Delphine’s mouth is wide open and the android’s body tips back as Jeffries reminds him he killed a man he respected and liked – and so now Delphine has to pay. With that, all of the android’s insides come up through its mouth, and Delphine Courtney is no more.
Wildchild asks Lil if she saw what happened to Courtney and Lil tells Kyle that he knew it was not a real person. Hands in pockets, Jeffries walks over to his former Gamma Flight teammates and declares that the android is nothing but scrap metal now – which is what he thinks will happen to any machine that starts thinking it is above humans. Lil asks Jeffries what is going to happen to her and Wildchild and Flashback, to which Jeffries replies that Flashback will ‘be busy going crackers’ for a while, but as for her and Kyle, they are still accomplices to murder and have to take the fall. ‘I’m dead…I’m dead! Maybe in a day or a week…or an hour!’ cries Flashback. Diamond Lil stands and watches Jeffries turn and leave, declaring that he will leave his robot to watch over them and make sure they don’t go anywhere until the cops arrive, before he tells Lil that he will see her some other time – like in twenty years.
Making his way through the sprawling West Edmonton Mall, Jeffries tells himself that according to Bochs, Alpha Flight should be around here somewhere, but in a place as big as this “around here” could be anywhere – but it looks like he has found them! Jeffries walks into a spacious area of the mall, only to see Alpha Flight – Heather Hudson, Shaman, Walter Langkowski, Aurora and Puck, as well as former members Snowbird and Northstar, standing before a mysterious being holding another member of Alpha Flight, Talisman, in his arms. The mysterious being is called the Beyonder and he declares that there is still much that puzzles him about the ‘business of being human’. He reminds Alpha Flight that they have battled against him and seen a fraction of his power, and they know he could easily destroy them, yet he senses that al but one of them would still fight against him.
Shaman reveals that it is he who will not fight the Beyonder now that he knows his true nature, and he agrees with the Beyonder when he says that he is from beyond and much more than human. Twoyoungmen informs the Beyonder that by saving his daughter he has proved himself. The Beyonder tells Shaman that he has something else to ponder – that within his daughter’s mortal frame dwells great power, yet that very mortality and humanity is a barrier to the power, yet it perplexes her. Shaman tells the Beyonder that it is less Elizabeth’ humanity than it is her youth, for in the fullness of her years, will come the fullness of her powers.
The handsome former Alphan, Northstar walks up to the rest of the group from where he was standing to the back and declares that he cannot believe everyone is talking to a self professed alien who appeared from no where, attacked without provocation as if they were talking to him about the weather! He adds that for all they know he could be a previously unseen member of Omega Flight. The diminutive Puck tells Jean-Paul Beaubier to calm down and reminds him that events were not so clear and simple. Team leader Heather Hudson agrees with Puck and tells Jean-Paul that it was they who were to blame, not the Beyonder. She tells everyone that it is time they stepped back and tried to be more analytical and less “hair-triggered”. Sitting down to nurse her wounds, Aurora tells her estranged brother to listen to Heather, as she is right.
The Beyonder puts Talisman down as she wakes up, clutching her head she asks why everyone has to talk so loud before declaring that she ‘feels like I’ve been smoking out of the wrong pipe’ and asks everyone what happened. The Beyonder tells Talisman that her friends can inform her of what happened, for it is time for he to depart. Talisman asks him to wait, but in a blinding flash, the Beyonder is gone. Elizabeth declares that the Beyonder was awesome, but that she still does not remember what happened. The serene goddess Snowbird walks up to her friend and informs her that it is he human side which clouds her memory, for it seeks to protect her sanity after all that has happened to her – in the void!
Talisman looks at Narya and remembers the false Guardian turning Shaman’s medicine pouch inside out trying to find Smart Alec. Shaman reminds his daughter that the void is the universe, which lies beyond his medicine pouch, the universe from which all his power flows, and that it was only her power as the Talisman that could contain the void and force it back into the pouch. Talisman frowns and proclaims that she remembers now – and punches her father in the face.
Shaman wipes his mouth and tells Elizabeth that he is sorry, but Elizabeth screams ‘save it’ and furiously upset she tells him that she doesn’t want to hear any more of his lies, which is all she ever gets from him, lies, half truths and broken promises. Elizabeth reminds Twoyoungmen that he promised to save her mother and didn’t, and that when he told her to put on ‘this wretched headband’ he didn’t tell her it would never come off and now she has turned into ‘some kind of mystical freak!’ She reminds him that he promised to save her from the void – and he let her down again.
Hoping to calm her former charge, Heather tells Elizabeth that there were ‘extenuating circumstances’ Power begins to swirl around Elizabeth and her eyes flash a blood red color as she tells Heather that she thought she was her friend. She asks her foster sister how she can take Shaman’s side, after all he has lied to her about, over and over again and this time it almost cost her sanity! Heather tells Elizabeth that she must know Shaman didn’t do it deliberately, and he had to make a choice about who to save first - she or Snowbird – and he thought he could do both. ‘But he didn’t,’ Talisman reminds  her coldly as she tells everyone to stop trying to make it better, in a fury she screams ‘why don’t you all just go away!’ and with that, Alpha Flight, Northstar, Snowbird and Jeffries are all teleported away.
Suddenly, Alpha Flight appears in their downtown headquarters, much to the surprise of roger Bochs who is in one of the labs. Aurora stands aghast and asks if Talisman really has such power, to which a forlorn Shaman replies that she has, but that she does not realize it, for she could have sent them anywhere, to any time and any place. Heather remarks how incredible that is before noticing Snowbird is not present and asks where Narya is. Shaman reveals that Snowbird is not so east to transport against her will and that she would have remained in Edmonton or used the teleportation to send her to a place of her choice.
Heather tells Twoyoungmen that he sounds terrible, to which he asks why should he not, for everything that Elizabeth said was true, he has broken promises to her again and again. And when he is not breaking promises he is using her, manipulating her despite his intentions being for the best, ands in the end he treats her not better than one of his mystical tools. From within the Box armor, Walt declares that he feels sorry for Shaman, but asks what of Omega Flight, for they left them running around loose. Madison Jeffries steps forward and announcing his presence he informs Alpha Flight that he took care of Omega Flight.
Bochs sees his friend and asks Jeffries what he is doing here, to which Madison replies that he doesn’t know, for the last thing he remembers is watching Alpha Flight have a family squabble. Northstar proclaims that Elizabeth’s spell must have transported him too, and Judd is also surprised to see the one member of Gamma Flight who did not end up in Omega. Heather raises her voice and tells everyone to ‘hold it right there, this has now gone ten steps past crazy’. She reminds everyone that they spent twenty-four hours ‘full clip’ so now everyone can chill for a while and they will debrief in two hours. She tells everyone to take time to clear their thoughts while she has a bath.
While in the bath, Heather listens to her voice journal she recorded, where she states that everything is back to what is considered “normal” for Alpha Flight, and she can see now that Mac’s resurrection was a plot right from the start, a very carefully constructed lie. She continues to say that Shaman is her main concern now, for when his wife died fifteen years ago it tore him apart and he took ten years to get back together. Heather thinks that the business with Elizabeth is affecting Shaman the same way, and she is worried about him, as he is an old friend. Heather recalls that before Mac’s death, Michael was as much team leader as her husband was, for Michael was the older and wiser one, the council they needed to keep their sanity whilst playing super-hero. Since the mantle of leadership fell to Heather, she too has come to depend on Michael the same way, without realizing it.
Heather stops the playback and begins to record new thoughts, fearing that if the incident has triggered some kind of regression in Shaman, then she is not certain Alpha Flight can cope with it, for his power is as much sureness of self as it is anything else he pulls out of the pouch. Putting on her clothes, Heather reminds herself that Alpha Flight has survived the loss of Mac and Sasquatch, the resignation of Northstar and the multiple personalities of Aurora But if they lose Shaman, it could prove a devastating blow, for he has been the team’s inner strength.
Suddenly, the lights go out, Heather decides that it cannot be a power outage, as they have their own generators, so she strides towards one of the labs and asks Roger Bochs what is going on. As she enters the lab she sees Walter inside the box armor with some kind of fishing rod ready to go “interdimensional fishing”. Roger apologizes to Heather s he had not anticipated such a sudden surge of power and that before he could compensate, the breakers tripped automatically, but the lights should return any minute. Ignoring all the technical talk, Heather just asks Roger what he thinks he is doing.
Aurora, who is watching from the edge of the room with Northstar, Puck and Jeffries, tells Heather that there is nothing to worry about, just that Bochs has come up with a way to get a new body for Walter. Heather is shocked and reminds everyone that Walter’s body was destroyed when Snowbird killed the monster that possessed him, which is why his soul now resides in the Box armor. Heather asks Aurora to explain herself, but Judd speaks up, telling Heather that it is a sound plan, as Bochs deduced that since Walter’s Sasquatch body came from another dimension, crossing the boundaries by a mystical means, using scientific means, they may be able to probe adjacent dimensions to find a more suitable body for Walter. Judd adds that they have been planning this for some weeks now.
Furious, Heather asks if anyone thought it would be worthwhile to tell her about it, even though the premise is sound, she asks them when they became experts on interdimensional stuff. She tells them that for all they know they may be on the verge of freeing the Great Beasts again or worse! Heather asks where Shaman is and tells the others that she would have at least expected them to tell him about it. Roger tells Heather that Shaman does know what they are doing but wasn’t feeling well – Heather cuts Roger off and exclaims that Michael is the only one of them with any knowledge in the interdimensional field yet he is too shaken up to be of any help, yet they all go ahead with it anyway. Heather declares that as team leader she thinks the plan is too dangerous and orders Walter and Roger to stop it.
Walt tells Heather that it is too late, as they have already hooked their target and the “fishing rod” is not designed to let go once it has latched on. Box struggles to reel him in, as the Beast they have caught seems to have his own idea how to play the game and is not cooperating. Heather is in dismay and orders Judd to go find Shaman and orders Walt to let go of the rod if he has to so he can stop this. Walt tells Heather that he will not, as he has been cooped up too long in the Box armor and informs Roger that he is preparing for trans-interface fusion and tells him to get ready to re-emerge with Box.
‘“Trans…?” What? Bochs, Walt, don’t!’ cries Heather, but it is too late, as Walt’s soul leaves the Box robot and Roger re-emerges into it. Now in control of the Box armor, Walt realizes that their “prize” is fighting back, and he calls to Jeffries to boost more power to the rod as Walter should be making contact any moment now. Jeffries fiddles with the control panel as Heather turns to him and asks him if he is in on this too as he has only been with them half a second! Jeffries tells Heather that he and Bochs go ‘back a bit’ as he used his transmutator powers to help rebuild the Box robot, and that Bochs filled him in on the plan while Heather was having a bath.
Jeffries tells Heather that it is a solid plan as there are strong scientific principals behind it. He points to the “fishing rod” and informs Heather that it projects a cohesive stream of Epsilon Particles and at the other end they penetrate living matter without damaging it. The Particles then lock onto the genetic pattern like a super hook, and ‘the line is just played out until the catch can be reeled in’. Heather asks Jeffries what the “trans-facial infusion” is and what they have hooked. Jeffries tells Heather – calling her “Mrs. H” – that it is called “trans-interface fusion” and that is a bit trickier, though it seems like Walt has fired himself from the Box armor and transmitted himself down the epsilon stream and theoretically into whatever is on the other end.
Jeffries tells Heather that whatever is on the other end is rather vague, and pointing to a computer screen he tells her that that is the clearest image Bochs was able to get from the dimensional interface - a being that is big, humanoid and with almost no brainwave – perfect for what Walter needs. Bochs cautions everyone that their catch is coming through, and as Shaman enters the room he asks Bochs if he stabilized the warp. Bochs replies that there was no time for something happened at the other end, and their catch has stopped fighting for a moment. Bochs declares that this is their chance to get Walter back, so he pulls on the rod and soon a green creature lies on the ground of the lab. Aurora calls to it but they realize too late – that it is the Hulk, and he stands up and smashes Box.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Enter…Scramble!
Today is moving day for Canada’s premiere super hero team, Alpha Flight, after recently receiving funding from the government again they move into their new home, the mansion on Tamarind Island. The army helps with all the equipment being placed into the mansion, all flown in by helicopter. As one piece of equipment is lowered to the ground, Roger Bochs, aptly code-named Box, for the robotic armor he wears calls to the pilot to take it easy as the interdimensional scanner being lowered is delicate, he should know, he built it. Alpha Flight’s ally, Madison Jeffries corrects his friend, reminding Box that he only designed it, and that it was he who built it. The cynical Jean-Paul Beaubier, a.k.a. the handsome Northstar tells Jeffries that the two ofd them can divide the pieces should it fall. Jean-Paul’s sister, Aurora asks what should happen if it were to fall on Puck, to which the diminutive Alphan declares that he will be even smaller than he is now.
Watching everyone as they help out with the moving task, Alpha Flight’s government liaison, Gary Cody tells Heather that it is finally happening. Heather turns to the man she has known for quite some time and tells him that she wishes Mac had lived to see it all, for it was part of her husband’s dream to see Alpha Flight refunded and established with a permanent headquarters – a home. Gary tells Heather that it is she who keeps her husband’s dream alive, by keeping Alpha Flight together while government bureaucracies came and went. Gary admits that the new administration has finally accepted the reality that, like the super heroes of the United States, Alpha Flight can play a strategically important role in Canada’s defense plan.
Heather declares that like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers do in the U.S. Alpha Flight will defend Canada – because it is their home. Gary tells Heather that that is all the government expects, and that they have already guaranteed that there are no strings attached to the funding. Overhearing this conversation, Eugene Milton Judd, a.k.a. Puck thinks to himself that there must be some strings attached, as it is a bit easier to keep an eye on individuals as unpredictable as the ones in Alpha Flight when the government is signing their paychecks. He remembers the recent battle with the Hulk and thinks that perhaps the government cannot be blamed for wanting to keep Alpha under observation. After all, they nearly destroyed Vancouver when they accidentally brought the Hulk to it, just another reason to relocate them to an isolated island. Watching Heather he wonders if they have accepted government welfare in exchange for a government watchdog – or perhaps a government warden?
Heather wonders top herself if she is leading Alpha Flight as Mac would have, and wonders if Mac hadn’t died would they have lost Sasquatch, Marrina, Talisman and Shaman? Walking with Gary Cody she thinks to herself that if Mac were still alive she would be a housewife and not the leader of this amazing team, even without powers, just as Mac only had powers thanks to a super suit, but a super suit nonetheless, it killed him in the end. Gary Cody asks Heather where Snowbird is, as from her speech last week he assumed she would rejoin Alpha Flight. Heather replies that Narya will be here when they need her, while thinking to herself that she feels she can rely more on Snowbird than Northstar and Aurora.
Heather realizes that the death of Walter Langkowski hit both the twins hard, and while drawing them closer together, they find they can no longer touch each other without negating their powers. Heather tells herself that her “super-team” consists of depressed twins, an absentee Goddess, a pain-wracked dwarf with no powers, and a legless cripple who cant stay long inside his armor without becoming part of it. Watching Box, she then looks at Jeffries, a transmutator, who practically defeated Dark Guardian single-handedly, but Heather is unsure about him, as they do not know where his allegiances are, nor what else he can do with his powers.
Above the heroes and army personnel, a load of mechanical equipment strung inside a net and hanging from a rope snaps, and begins to plummet to the ground. Box cries out that the equipment is valuable, to which Judd snaps back that so are the lives ofd the army technicians and leaps in to the fray to push them out of the way. Heather orders Alpha Flight to save them, to which Northstar says ‘As if we needed to be told’. Judd sarcastically tells Jean-Paul that he is too kind, and the speedster snaps back that false kindness will one day either get Heather or Alpha Flight killed. He feels that when danger strikes, Heather should not be in Alpha’s way, let alone act as their leader without any power to call her own.
Just then, Northstar and Aurora brush against each other, and the twins both lose their ability to fly and fall to the ground, as the equipment continues to drop. Box leaps in and uses his incredible strength to hold the equipment, stopping it from falling on the twins, while joking that he is not bad for a fellow who has been described as ‘looking like a `56 buick’. Heather declares that the danger is not over, as each cargo unit is heavy enough to cause serious injury, which is when Jeffries steps forward and tells Heather that he will deal with it, and indeed he does, using his transmuting powers to turn the equipment into small, harmless toys.
Heather thanks Jeffries, to which he replies that it is nothing compared to the debt he owed Heather’s husband. Box knows that Jeffries is talking about when Guardian invited him to join Gamma Flight. Box thinks to himself that the rest of Gamma Flight went bad, but that if he suspects Jeffries then he needs to suspect himself as well, because he too was once in Gamma Flight. Judd brings Roger’s wheelchair over and asks him if he is ready to phase out of the robot armor now. Roger replies that he is, unless he wants his atoms and the robot’s atoms inextricably merged, but Roger thinks that with being stuck in the wheelchair all the time, he sometimes wonders if that is an option.
Roger asks some of the army technicians to carry Box into the mansion for him, to which the reply is ‘you’re kidding right mate?’ Judd knows that Roger hates his handicap as much as he hates his. Gary Cody turns to the Alphans after the incident with the equipment and asks them if they are ready for a tour of their new home. Heather tells Gary to lead the way before Judd exclaims that there is probably not much left of the mansion after Aurora described its gutting by Gilded Lily. Aurora reminds everyone that the house belonged to Walter’s great aunt who disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago. Noting how his sister’s accent and pronunciation just changed when she mentioned her dead lover, Jean-Paul realizes that it tips her into her Jeanne-Marie persona.
As Gary enters the foyer to the mansion, followed by Heather and Alpha Flight, Gary asks Judd if ‘this’ looks like a gutted shell. He informs Alpha that within hours of deciding to refund Alpha Flight, the government took over Tamarind Island by Eminent Domain. They then put their best brains to work remodeling it so that the interior, while resembling some of the original décor actually conceals some of Canada’s most sophisticated technology. As Gary speaks, technicians are installing equipment and making the place fit for living. Gary tells the Alphans that they will find their quarters comfortable while the Ready Room is equipped with sophisticated early-warning systems to help them cope with any emergency that may arise. He asks if they noticed the enclosed gazebo outside and informs them that beneath it is the hanger bay, from which their Omnijet can be launched. Also on the lower-levels are labs, workspaces, entertainment, communications, data storage and training areas.
Gary suggests they all follow him so they can see for themselves, and so begins to lead them around the mansion. The first floor consists of the kitchen, dining room, living room, day room, library, game room, and an office. Upstairs on the second floor are the bedrooms for Heather, Judd, Jean-Paul, Aurora, Box and Jeffries, along with a conservatory and informal meeting room. The Third floor has the medlab and infirmary, as well as a room for Snowbird should she ever need to stay, and Marrina and Shaman in case they return. There are also several guest-rooms. All this contained in the 19th century mansion, packed with modern day marvels, which is officially the new headquarters of Canada’s premiere super heroes.
Judd comments that there is not a lot left for any of them to do, to which Gary tells him to think of the mansion as an incredibly equipped car that still needs Alpha Flight to drive it. Seeing Heather staring out of a window, Gary asks her if something is wrong. Heather replies that there is a commotion outside.
The commotion involves the army technicians and Jeffries, who is being held back by two of the officers while he tells Bochs to make the other men let go of the equipment, or else he will turn it on them. Bochs suggests to the men that they do as Jeffries says, as the equipment is their “private stock” and they will attend to its placement. One of the men declares that it is nothing but toys, and a senior official adds that they are toys, which they saw Jeffries transform with no one’s authorization. Bochs is shocked by that statement and angrily tells the man that if he is saying that Alpha has to come bowing to the government every time they want to install some new device then they can ‘take your government funding and stick it up your –’
Gary Cody rushes out and cuts Bochs off before he can say something someone might regret, and informs Bochs that the men are just following orders. Heather tells Gary to ‘hold it right there’ and getting riled, Heather reminds Cody that despite her reservations she took his word for it when he said that Alpha Flight would be free from interference. Sternly, she tells Gary Cody that “no strings” means “no strings” and that Alpha Flight will not be answerable to Ottawa or anyone else. Heather declares that she and Alpha Flight are to be given total autonomy and complete control to take the governments funding and use it as they deem necessary, with absolute privacy in all that they do – or else Alpha Flight will go back to being free agents.
Everyone stands silent until one of the technicians tells Heather that she is the boss, breaking the astonished silence. Gary knows that Heather is indeed, and thinks to himself that Mac would be proud. He turns to the technicians and asks them if they should get going and let Alpha Flight enjoy their new home. As the army begins to depart, Jeffries uses his transmutator powers to transform the toys back into their original object. Bochs asks Heather if he is glad that he convinced Jeffries to stay as their resident machinesmith. With the toys now back into their original form, Heather declares that she is more impressed each time Jeffries uses his powers.
Jeffries proclaims that Heather should have seen what his younger brother could do. Heather is surprised at this remark and remembers that it was she who personally keyed the information Mac gave her about Jeffries into Alphanex – Alpha Flight’s computer, and she never came across any mention of a younger brother. Heather folds her arm and declares that Jeffries is certainly a mystery – and one she intends to solve.
While the rest of Alpha Flight continue to move into their new home, another Alphan has made her home in Yellowknife, McKenzie, part of the Northwest Territory, her name is Snowbird, goddess, super hero, and more recently, lover, of Doug Thompson. Standing with her lover, Narya tells her former teammate, Dr. Michael “Shaman” Twoyoungmen that he is welcome to stay as long as he wishes. Thompson declares that a Mounties home is not always the roomiest, but that there is always the couch. Twoyoungmen thanks Narya and Doug but informs them that other voices urge him on.
Doug asks Michael if he is getting the “call of the wild” and admits that he has often longed to pack up the Land Rover and set out into the North Country himself. Twoyoungmen tells Thompson that it is not the spirit of adventure that moves him – but the spirit of his ancestors! Narya takes her old friend aside and tells him that even though Doug knows of their other identities, he is an outsider and cannot comprehend what it means to wield the power of a goddess or a mystic. Michael reveals that he envy’s Doug’s ignorance and asks Snowbird what power has ever brought him – when death threatened his wife and daughter he could save neither. He adds that Elizabeth surviving is a miracle – but not one of his own making.
Michael declares that he is done with power – forever, and with that gets in his car and leaves. Doug asks Snowbird if Shaman can ever give up being who he is. Narya replies that Shaman does not know who he is anymore, for he is not sure if the power failed him, or if he failed the power! Narya reveals that Michael is going on a pilgrimage to the land of his ancestors to find out. Narya tells Doug that Shaman wishes to go alone, but asks her lover if he wouldn't mind if she follows Michael to see to his safety. ‘Could I stop a goddess? Should I try?’ says Doug as Snowbird looks at him lovingly she tells him that she loves him with all her heart. Doug tells Narya that they will look after her friend – together.
Later that night, Heather walks through her new home and comes across Jean-Paul and Aurora sitting together, saying nothing, Heather remembers that the twins were separated at birth and never knew of each other’s existence until Mac brought them together. Now though, they are traumatized by the death of Walter Langkowski and the alteration in their powers that keeps them from touching each other, Heather thinks that they are more apart than ever! She walks away, leaving them to sort out their problems in peace.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs, Heather tells herself that peace is something no one has had much of lately and wonders if they will find it here. She admits that the mansion already feels like home to her, despite the fact that she can almost sense the technological wizardry that the government built into it humming beneath her feet as if it were one vast nerve center, just looking for a head. Heather knows that she is supposed to be the leader of Alpha Flight now that Mac is dead, but wishes that she had some sort of power to back up her orders.
Hearing a loud groan from upstairs, Heather walks up the massive staircase and stands in the doorway to Puck’s quarters. Heather feels somewhat bad about her talk about “privacy” earlier when here she is now sneaking into Judds room. Looking at him, she sees he is soaked in sweat and not at rest. Heather closes the door as she leaves Judds room, telling herself that Judd was always consumed by some sort of pain that goes back before any data she has seen starts keeping track of him. Heather realizes that there is so much about her team that she doesn’t know and wonders if Mac knew everything there was to know about his Alphans past, or if there were even secrets kept from him.
Heather tells herself that since she is snooping on her team she may as well check in on Bochs and Jeffries, however walking into the lab they are working in she sees them and cries ‘No! Have you two gone out of your minds? How could you?’ Jeffries and Bochs look up from the super-suit copy of Guardian’s original that they are working on and Bochs tells Heather that he can explain. Jeffries grabs Heather as she rushes over to the costume and Heather tells Bochs that he had better explain why he cannot let her husbands memories rest in peace. Jeffries informs Heather that it is just Guardian’s costume draped over a simulacron.
Heather touches the costume as Bochs reminds her that the original suit was destroyed along with Mac, while Delphine Courtney managed to simulate the suits electromagnetic powers. Heather asks Bochs if he and Jeffries are trying to put the remains of Delphine’s suit back together, which would mean that anyone who wore the suit would be as powerful as Mac was – before the suit killed him. Heather asks Roger if he knows anyone willing to assume that risk, before leaving the room without waiting for his answer.
Heather’s travels throughout the mansion take her to the computer room, sitting at the Alphanex she tells herself that she has to stop letting every reminder of Mac set her off like that, as he is dead and she needs to learn to go on without him. Heather admits to herself that Box is right in trying to reinvent the Guardian suit, for with fail-safe controls built in to prevent what happened to Mac happening again, its wearer could restore some much needed power to Alpha Flight. Heather wonders if Jeffries may be the person who is going to wear the suit before remembering how he mentioned earlier about a younger brother. Heather searches through the Alphanex and finds that Jeffries, who was a former member of Gamma Flight, has his history under a security lock. But Mac told Heather the codes so Heather enters them and reads that Jeffries has military experience from serving in the United States army during the Vietnam War, while his parents are dead, he has a brother – Lionel Jeffries – who is a surgeon at Montreal General Hospital.
Heather wonders if power runs in the Jeffries family and thinks about going to seek him out, but doesn’t think she should leave at this very moment, what with everyone settling in, and as team leader she should stay put. Heather quickly changes her mind, telling herself that she is rather useless around the place at the moment, she remembers that Mac’s mission, as head of Department H was to help track down people with power. Heather decides that as leader of Alpha Flight she should continue that task. Heather sarcastically tells herself that talking herself into action will make her feel useful for a change.
Judd wakes up in his bed, wondering if it was the pain that woke him, he sees he was wrong as someone has launched the Omnijet!
By the time Judd assembles the other Alphans and realizes that it is Heather who is gone, it is several hours later, in Montreal. Heather holds up an Alpha Flight Priority Clearance Card and asks a doctor if there are any problems admitting her. The doctor asks Heather to forgive him, as he has not seen one of those before, and no one has ever been allowed to visit the patient whom she inquired about. Heather queries the “patient” and tells the Doctor that she is here to see Doctor Lionel Jeffries. The doctor asks if Lionel was a physician once and realizes that he was, but tells Heather that Dr. Jeffries has not practiced – or done anything else – for quite a few years!
Unlocking the door to the high-tech security padded cell reveals Dr. Lionel Jeffries sitting in a corner of the room, with a metal helmet and mask covering most of his face, he is strapped in a straight jacket and is connected to various tubes. Heather looks at Dr. Jeffries and asks the other doctor if he is… ‘Mad?’ the doctor replies, telling her that he supposes so, before admitting that he has never been involved in Dr. Jeffries case, but asks Heather to think why else he would be kept in a padded cell with a straight jacket, be fed intravenously and be denied any human contact. Another doctor tells Heather that no one is supposed to be allowed in to see him and that she is his first visitor in years – and only because of he security clearance.
Heather came to Montreal seeking to duplicate her husbands’ success in finding uniquely endowed individuals to add to the ranks of Alpha Flight. Feeling extremely foolish, she realizes that there was a reason Mac passed over Lionel Jeffries in his search. Heather approaches the strapped man, introducing herself she gets no response and wonders if he is autistic, or perhaps that strange helmet they have on him prevents him from hearing her. She tells herself that no wonder he is insane after all the years being treated this way. Heather tells him that she is a friend of his brothers and as she extends a hand (not that he could shake it back) Lionel lunges forward and the only portion of his flesh left exposed by his all-enveloping straight jacket, the part of the face surrounding the eyes, makes contact with Heathers hand. Dr. Lionel Jeffries cries ‘thank you “friend of my brother” – for setting Scramble free!’ in the cell, Heather starts to scream.
An hour or so later, Northstar, Aurora, Puck, Box and Jeffries arrive, Box joking that they are not going to make it as a one Omnijet team. Jean-Paul adds sourly that especially not if their “leader” is going to continue sneaking off alone. Judd tells Northstar that being in Alpha Flight does not negate Heather’s right to act on her own adding that it is lucky they were able to track her by tracing her search through Alphanex’s files. Jeffries clenches his fists and asks what right Heather had to read into his private files, revealing that he made Guardian promise he would never do that when he joined Gamma Flight. Puck tells Jeffries that Guardian obviously honored the request, but that Heather is her own person.
Jeffries exclaims that Heather has no idea what kind of obscene power she may be unleashing by coming here, which is when a startled Aurora declares that Heather will certainly know now, and Alpha Flight and Jeffries look at the hospital, from where hundred of mutated horrors burst forth. Northstar declares that they should be destroyed, but Box asks Jean-Paul if he does not want to find out what they are first. Judd remarks that their sarcastic speedster was obviously too busy assuming a leadership role to notice that al the creatures are wearing scraps of hospital uniforms and clothing. Aurora asks if they are doctors and patients, to which Jeffries replies that they were – before having their anatomies transmutated by his brother – Scramble the Mixed-Up-Man!
Jeffries leads the way down hospital corridors that he has walked hundreds of times before – and tells the tale of two brothers, both possessed of strange transmutative powers.
(Flashbacks, circa Vietnam War)
Madison hated his mastery over metal and grew moody, while Lionel accepted his ability to alter organic materials and became a respected surgeon. For different reasons – one to escape his power, the other to employ it – both were among the thousands of Canadians who enlisted in the United States army during the Vietnam War. Lionel was a medic, while Madison as a mechanic first class. However, after a mighty explosion, what was left of the squad did not make for a very pretty picture. Body parts were scattered everywhere like some demented jigsaw puzzle. Lionel must have felt like Chief Surgeon in a slaughterhouse, for he tried to transmute all the pieces back together – to make the dead whole and restore them to life. When he couldn’t do it, something snapped within him, and Madison was forced to use his own metal commanding powers to restrain Lionel.
(Present)
Jeffries reveals that he has been his brothers’ keeper from then, until now. Running through the hospital still, declaring that Heather has set Lionel free and he has set Hell upon the hospital, scrambling everyone he can lay his touch on – including their team leader! Alpha Flight look into the padded cell that was once the home to Lionel Jeffries, but what the see is poor Heather Hudson, her body twisted and distorted almost beyond recognition. Box asks Jean-Paul if he would like to take Heather’s place now before Heather asks them why they followed, and orders them to leave before Scramble touches them.
Jeffries realizes that Heather must have been the first Lionel touched and informs Alpha Flight that his brother is “nuts” and that they have to stop him. Judd tells Jeffries to lead the others while he stays with Heather. Heather tells Judd that she is so sorry, and he just tells her to rest easy.
Taking to the air, Aurora asks her twin if he heard how caringly Puck spoke to Heather, but Northstar shrugs it off, suggesting that he was just trying to comfort her. Box reveals that he has always suspected that Heather holds a special place in Judds heart, and Jeffries declares that Heather is not going to live long the way she is twisted now, unless they can get his brother to unscramble her. Aurora tells her brother that they two are the logical ones to search for Scramble, and Jean-Paul agrees, declaring that even wit Aurora’s former super-speed now halved, they can still cover the entire hospital in a matter of moments.
But the plan is not to go accordingly, as a mutated person crashes through a skylight and onto Aurora, scared, she calls to her brother to save her from the creatures loathsome touch. Northstar flies over, thinking to himself that while the twisted beings inflict themselves upon his poor sister, they reveal the twists and turns of her own tortured mind. He punches the creatures away from his sister and recalls that ever since the Sisters at the convent where Jeanne-Marie was raised suppressed the natural Aurora persona, she has been split into two personalities. Aurora sits on the ground, giving up as more creatures surround her and her brother, while Northstar tells himself it is unfortunate that the meek Jeanne-Marie has a tendency to surface just when the fearlessness of Aurora is most needed.
Box also begins to search, declaring that he finds it perverse how amongst all of this horror he finds he is enjoying himself for the first time in his life. He wonders if it is being free from the wheelchair, or if it is that being part of the power that the robot body is bursting with. He decides that it must be the latter, for what else would make ‘a pudgy paraplegic’ feel as if he were invincible. A mutated person smashes Box over the head as he rounds a corner. Box sees that this is not one person, but several dozen-hospital patients and workers joined together in one body and eager to get at Bochs under the armor.
Meanwhile, Judd holds onto the mutated Heather, trying to calm her he tells her that Alpha Flight will find scramble and make him undo his evil, then she will be as lovely as ever. Heather asks Judd if he finds her lovely and tells him that she doesn’t feel as if she will ever be beautiful again. Judd realizes from the terror in Heather’s tone of voice that the deformity twisting her body is getting to her sanity as well, and he knows all too well what that kind of pain is like.
Jeffries however is having more luck, as he gets closer to his brother. Madison tells himself that it may be because they both possess power that he has always been able to sense when his brother is near. He declares that he will need a weapon and transmutes equipment from a hospital gurney into a gun. Heading down into the morgue, Jeffries realizes he should have known that he would find his brother where the dead are and remembers that his brother was trying to unscramble the destroyed bodies of the GIs back in Vietnam before he went crazy. Madison realizes that his brother was trying to bring the dead back to life in Vietnam and still is now.
As Madison enters the morgue, Lionel greets him, informing him he has been waiting for him. Madison tells his brother that they both knew he would have to come. Lionel tells Madison that he expected him to come and lock him away again, to shut him away from using his powers to heal. Madison tells Lionel that he hasn’t healed, but made a mess of everyone he has touched, including a friend of his. He tells Lionel to put on his gloves and come back with him to the cell. Lionel raises his head and declares that he will never, for he needs to be free so he can care for his patients. Madison believes there is no one who can screw people up so bad that they stop being human, and tells his brother that he needs to be caged, and that he put him away once, so he can do it again.
Madison uses the weapon he created on Lionel, but the younger Jeffries brother reacts fast enough, and pushes a table at Madison, breaking his concentration over the weapon. Lionel tells Madison that he knows he has always hated him, and always been envious over his power to reorder flesh, blood and bone, while all he got was the ability to restructure metal. Lionel declares that his brother him him from the world so that people would praised him, when they should have praised him.
Madison leaps at Lionel, telling him that he is his brother and loves him, but hates the powers that have kept them from being normal people. Powers that made him his brothers keeper, but that this doesn’t change the fact that Lionel is dangerous and crazy – which makes it his duty to put his younger brother away. Both brothers charge at each other, Madison ready to use his powers to restrain his brother. However, Lionel gets to Madison first, and the younger brother reshapes the elders flesh. Madison cries out and tells Lionel to stop screwing around with the living, for it is not going to teach him how to bring back the dead.
Lionel tells Madison that he is wrong, and asks why else would he have been given these powers if he cannot heal those with the ultimate disorder – death? Lionel tells Madison that it is the only reason he has these powers. Madison grabs Lionels’ arms and tells him that he didn’t think there were any answers for his power, until he used them to defeat Dark Guardian before she could destroy Alpha Flight. Madison informs his brother that he is going to use his flesh reshaping power to give him the answer to why he was born a mutant - so he could straighten himself out.
Madison shoves his brother’s hands up against the metal helmet and because they possess similar powers they are locked together, Lionel “sees” his own disordered brain in juxtaposition with that of the sane sibling. So synapse by synapse, hands capable of shaping organic matter use Madison’s ID as a model for untwisting Scramble’s mind, until eventually, the two men slump to the floor, and Jeffries welcomes his little brother back.
Sometime later, Box declares that everything has been straightened out, Northstar adding that cured of his own insanity, Scramble used his powers to undo the damage he had done. Madison tells his brother that he may not be able to “cure” the dead, but that he can certainly heal the living. Wit Judd at her side, Heather says that she is glad, but wishes someone else could have been the catalyst. Judd tells Heather that eventually someone else would have had the same pity for Lionel that she did, and by reaching out to touch him, the same situation would have arisen.
Lionel declares that his restoration to sanity came sooner rather than later, he owes to Heather, and as she cries he puts a hand up to wipe away the tears and says ‘thanks’. Heather cringes at his touch, for she was already violated by him once and will never feel easy in his presence again. Lionel tells Heather that he knows what she is feeling and that all he asks for is forgiveness. Heather shakes his hand and replies that she thinks she can give that much.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the battle, no one thinks to check a certain slab in the mall, on which rests a very large body - the last body the insane Scramble reassembled out of several parts. Rejoined, these parts take a life of their own, rise and the huge body lumbers off into the night.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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The Grateful Dead
Montreal, a large naked man walks down an alley in a less-than-respectable part of town with the need to cover his nakedness. The fact that he does so by taking the life of another to get the clothes does not concern him. He kills the man with one touch of his mighty hand, and although he chose his victim because of their similar size, the fit is not exact, nor is the style one he is familiar with. It doesn’t matter for he has over several lifetimes seen styles come and go. In this sordid environment he fits right in, the streets teem with life and he lumbers through them. He looks at his hands and knows how easy it would be for him to erase every living thing with a single touch. He cannot until he settles his score with the only being ever to “kill” him. To partake of too many others might alert his enemy to his return. He laughs with anticipation of their next encounter and still laughing, Deadly Earnest vanishes into the night.
She stands on the statue of Jacques Cartier, the famous French explorer who first came to this land 450 years ago. The statue can only offer passive protection however, though on this night it is another living sentry that must safeguard Montreal from murder, the ebony and blood clad woman known as Nemesis. She stirs in the rain and looking upwards senses that “he” has killed again Nemesis extends her blade to the sky and calling to Mother Night she declares that her blade howls. She admits that she knows now why she was not allowed to rest, as the freedom from strife can never be hers while Earnest St. Ives lives. She declares that she has slain him once and can again send him to his grave. Leaping into the air, she shouts For such is the curse and calling of Nemesis!
Meanwhile, at the Montreal General Hospital, Canada’s premiere super hero team – Alpha Flight, prepare to leave after an encounter with Scramble the Mixed-up-Man, the brother of their ally, Madison Jeffries. Madison asks his younger brother, Lionel, if he is sure that he will not come with them. Lionel asks if he is being asked to join Alpha Flight and reminds everyone that as Scramble he used his transmutive powers to horribly alter his fellow man but he hopes that deranged part of his persona is gone forever. Alpha Flight’s resident celebrity, former Olympic skier, Jean-Paul Beaubier, now known as Northstar, asks Lionel if he will restart his career as a surgeon so that he can use his mutant powers to heal others as he healed himself.
Lionel Jeffries declares that he will try and if the department of national health will readmit him to practice. Eugene Judd, a.k.a. Puck informs Lionel that Alpha Flight will make a recommendation to that effect, which quickly prompts team leader Heather Hudson to tell Lionel that only if a psychiatric evaluation shows him to be completely cured. Lionel tells Heather that he can understand her caution, as she has experienced first-hand the dark side of his power, as she was transformed by him, and cannot back him without Alpha Flight becoming responsible should he become Scramble again.
Heather starts to bring up the idea of a probation period when suddenly Puck keels over in pain and her attention is turned to him. Lionel asks Judd if he was hurt while fighting one of his creatures, but that he cannot see any wounds. However, Lionel suggests there may be an internal injury and asks Judd if he can help him. Puck grits his teeth trying to bear the pain and tells Lionel that his pain is beyond Lionel’s, or the medical profession power to cure, and that all he can do is try to focus past the pain.
The scream of an ambulance siren diverts Alpha Flight’s attention from Judds’ pain, to one who has transcended the capacity to suffer from all human frailties. As the paramedics bring the body from the ambulance on a stretcher, Lionel rushes over and asks if the man is dead and what it was that killed him. The paramedic reveals that they do not know, all they got was a call about a corpse in an alleyway, and arrived to find him stretched out naked. The other paramedic reveals that there are no vital signs but that the body stays warm.
Lionel Jeffries wonders if it might be a coma and as a healer he places his hands on the victim. Lionel attempts to revive the man, but after a short time declares that there is something missing from him, something which not even his powers can put back – something akin to the mans soul! Lionel reveals that without it, although he is technically not dead, he has simply “stopped” like a light being suddenly switched off. Shock now falls on Northstar’s face a he remembers those same words – words used to describe the man who was like a father to him…only the murderer was slain in this very city.
Just then, a doctor emerges from the hospital and approaches Alpha Flight, supposing they have some connection with the authorities he asks them to send out an alert, for a body has gone missing from the morgue. Northstar picks the doctor off the ground and asks if by chance the “runaway corpse” was in pieces before Scramble reassembled him with all those bodies, which he tore apart in his insane attempt to restore life to the deceased. The doctor, somewhat taken aback by Jean-Paul’s abruptness, informs the handsome mutant that it was the bloodless sectioned body of a criminal given over to their pathology unit for study. Jean-Paul asks the name of the criminal, and the doctor declares that his name was Earnest St. Ives. Northstar and his twin sister, Aurora, look at each other instantly and say in unison Deadly Earnest!
Elsewhere, in the frozen tundra, where blizzards can blanket the Northwest Territories without warning. The goddess known as Narya, a.k.a. the Alphan Snowbird soars through them, reveling in the isolation it affords her. There are times she feels more at home with the unfeeling elements than with the mortal occupants of the Earth. However, there are certain mortals whom Narya has befriended, and one of her friends is lost. Realizing she cannot see any sign of Shaman in the air due to the storm, Narya drops to the blanketed ground assuming the form who has keener senses that will not be confused by the swirling snow. However, even the arctic lynx fails to find any trace of Shaman’s scent.
However, the lynx has ears sensitive enough to detect even the desperate breathing of a snowshoe hare, and soon senses another sound – the sound of man trudging through the snow. Dressed up to keep warm and armed with a rifle he calls to Snowbird, asking where she is. Here Douglas Thompson, comes the reply from behind him, and Narya transforms from lynx to beautiful young woman. Somewhat frightened, Doug tells Snowbird that if she had not spoken he may have shot her.
Snowbird takes to flight, grabbing her lover as she soars, proclaiming that he may have tried to shoot her, but it would have been a strange way for him to show his love. Being towed through the air, Doug wonders what isn't strange about a relationship between a mortal man and an immortal woman. Doug asks Snowbird how long they are going to search for Twoyoungmen for and she replies that they will search for him until they find him and convince him to continue his pilgrimage in calmer weather. Suddenly, Snowbird cries out in pain, and drops Doug!
Doug calls to Narya asking her what is wrong as she composes herself and flies downward to catch him. Narya informs her lover that the pain, whatever it was, was transitory and she has recovered, as a relieved Douglas admits that she gave him quite a scare, for the both of them before adding that she seems rather wobbly in her flight. Doug suggests she call it quits and have Shaman or one of her Alpha Flight friends examine her. Snowbird pauses before telling Doug that she will follow his advice and she turns and flies shakily to the South.
Meanwhile, the former Alphan, Dr. Michael “Shaman” Twoyoungmen, the man Snowbird was searching for treks through the snow. He had to abandon his Land Rover, for driving visibility was zero. Shaman could not rely on the vehicle’s heater, as with the tail pipe burned he would have risked carbon monoxide poisoning. Shaman knew his only chance for survival was to get out and get to shelter such as a cave or  - a cabin!
Opening the door to the cabin, Twoyoungmen thinks to himself that it seemed to appear almost as soon as the thought of shelter crossed his mind. Shaman realizes that he knows this cabin but that it should not be here, for it belongs thousands of miles to the South, near Banff, Alberta, where he spent ten long and lonely years trying to escape from his failures and himself. However it was in that time that he gained the power from the spirit of his Sarcee ancestor and became the mystic Shaman, and founding member of Alpha Flight. Shaman closes the door and remembers back to how he failed again, for he sent Elizabeth, his daughter into a peril which he had failed to protect her from, just as he had failed to save the life of her mother many years ago.
Twoyoungmen believes that in his weariness his imagination must have run riot, and tells himself that this cannot be the same cabin. Just then, light glows from a table where the skull of his grandfather sits and greets him. Shaman declares that the skull has no more business being here than the cabin itself and proclaims madness. The skull of his grandfather reminds Michael that that is what he said when he first took this means of communicating with him from beyond the grave, for in Michael’s stubbornness he had rejected the gifts of his ancestors.
The spirit of Shaman’s grandfather reveals that it is now doubts, of which he warned Michael long ago about, that have stripped him of his Sarcee medicine skills he had come to command. Shaman’s grandfather tells him that he has left the great home to help him overcome his doubts ad restore to him his powers.
The light flashes brighter and Twoyoungmen’s cloths disappear as Michael rejects his grandfathers offer, asking the spirit what his skill as a surgeon or his mystical might ever done but fail those he loved the most in their hour of direst need. The spirit tells Shaman that he has always blamed himself got circumstances beyond the power of any man or mystic to change. Kathryn Twoyoungmen was ill and dying and no power on Earth or beyond could have helped her. The skull states that as for Elizabeth, she had become the Binder of Spirits, the Talisman, and had passed her fathers ability to protect her.
Shaman turns away, remembering his daughter, and he proclaims that she saved herself. The form of Shaman’s grandfather emerges from the skull and informs his grandson that it is time he did the same for himself. Twoyoungmen reminds his grandfather that he has lost his power and that his medicine pouch is empty. It was never full, says the spirit, reminding his grandson that the wonders of the medicine pouch stemmed from his imagination and that it is not power he has lost, but faith.
The form of Shaman’s grandfather disappears and Shaman looks to the skull, telling it that with the power again comes the responsibility of seeing to the safety of others and he doesn’t know if he is ready to assume that burden. Shaman’s grandfather informs him that he can only guide him back to the way of the power, and that the choice of setting again onto that path must be his alone. For what seems like an eternity, Shaman struggles against his doubts, for it was easy to reject the power once he thought he had lost it. But when it is offered to him anew it is the hero in him that overcomes his hesitancy. Shaman cries Help me, grandfather – back to the way of the power! With that, the skull cries so be it’ and both Shaman and the skull of his grandfather disappear from the cabin.
Later, Heather, Judd, Jean-Paul, Aurora and Box have reached the alley where the corpse was found. Judd reminds Heather that she was badly shaken after being transformed by Scramble and suggests she should have stayed at the hospital, to which Heather declares that her place is with Alpha Flight, as its team leader and asks the others if they expected her to fill that position just as a figurehead when they elected her. Northstar boasts that it would spare them having to constantly protect her from danger to which Roger Bochs, from within the Box armor asks Jean-Paul if he pulled wings off flies as a kid.
Northstar ignores that comment, however his sister, Aurora comes to his defense declaring that given her brother’s past – twice orphaned, first by their real parents then his adoptive parents, who were killed in accidents, she can understand, if not excuse his insensitivity. Aurora suggests that Jean-Paul may speak the truth when he points out that Heather has no power capable of protecting her against whatever uncanny evil they may have to face tonight. Aurora asks her teammates if she or Jean-Paul ever told them about their encounter with Earnest St. Ives, and informs them that they came to Montreal to visit a friend of Jean-Paul’s. A friend whom Earnest slew before their very eyes with a touch of his hand and then took Aurora hostage.
Aurora declares that she played along as poor, meek Jeanne-Marie and listened to Earnest’s tale, of how he was the sole surviving soldier of a blasted battalion, lying alone on a First World War battle-field when Death came to claim him. Weak from his wounds, which had become infected from the mire in which he lay, exposed to noxious gasses drifting over the trenches, Earnest should have been eager to embrace Death – but despite his pain, he rejected her. Northstar takes over from his sister’s storytelling, adding that by vanquishing Death, Earnest was somehow reborn immortal, however with a price to his victory – his touch had become as lethal as Death’s own.
Northstar informs his teammates that he learned this information from Nemesis, who named herself after the Greek goddess of retribution and was inspired in part by Alpha Flight’s own exploits. Nemesis had an incredible blade scarcely an atom width thick, which was capable of slicing through anything by cleaving between the molecules. Her blade was also consecrated to one task – ending the endless existence of Earnest St. Ives. Nemesis was good, and she sliced up Earnest easily. Northstar continues his story, declaring that after Nemesis had sliced and diced Earnest, he decided to unmask Nemesis, however after pulling her mask off he learnt that she was not Danielle Belmonde as he suspected, but a haunted horror whose humanity had been crushed by ages of untold anguish.
Judd suggests that with Deadly Earnest afoot again, Nemesis probably wont be far behind. Alpha Flight’s Omnijet hovers above, where Madison Jeffries monitors the teams’ conversation via telecommunications built into Box, and informs the heroes that he has picked up something small and swift soaring over the city on the radar scope. The signal is rather weird he ads, but believes it to be the blade Northstar said belongs to Nemesis. The hunt is on eh?, says Judd, but Heather declares that this time Alpha Flight will be letting the hunter lead them to the hunted. Northstar tells Heather that they could travel faster if she joined Jeffries in the Omnijet, to which Heather snaps back Northstar if your legs moved as fast as your mouth we’d have found Deadly Earnest by now. Judd settles the argument by saying that Box can carry both Heather and himself, but that if they do not hurry, Alpha Flight may not be in on the kill.
Nemesis glides across rooftops in the pouring rain and realizes something is wrong. She declares that her blade should be burning with desire to drink Earnest’s immortality, but it glows only dimly. She asks Mother Night where their quarry is and wonders how he could have hidden himself from them, as if the Earth itself opened up and swallowed him whole. Nemesis suddenly realizes that Deadly Earnest is near, but buried alive – and she swoops down to the Metro!
Beneath the streets of downtown Montreal lies a high-tech environment comprising the Metro transportation system and a subterranean shopping complex known as the Underground City. It is down into these depths that Deadly Earnest has descended, and walks along a platform onto which people get on and off the trains. He does not move from his direction and walks right into a woman, knocking her to the ground. The woman’s boyfriend calls to Earnest and asks him why he just walks away after making her drop her parcels. What are you…a tourist?, he calls to him. The woman tells her boyfriend to let it go as there is no harm done and the other man is awfully large.
The boyfriend agrees and shouts that he probably figures his size will let him get away with all manner of rudeness, but he wants an apology out of him. Earnest turns to the man and tells him that the only thing his failure to heed his wise friends warning will get him – is death! And Earnest clamps a hand over the other mans face, the man falls to the ground as if his body just stopped. At that moment, Northstar, Aurora and the rest of Alpha Flight burst into the subway, realizing they are too late, for Earnest has killed again. Nemesis arrives at that moment and Earnest turns to see his enemies and proclaims that he has jinxed himself by letting his anger overcome his pledge of abstinence, adding that as his years multiply so do his enemies.
Facing Box and Heather, Deadly Earnest admits that some of his enemies are not known to him, but that does not matter, and asks who of them will be the next to sacrifice themselves to his death-touch. Box exclaims You can’t “kill” a robot, fat man! as Heather tells Bochs to wait, for they do not know enough about Earnest’s power. Earnest realizes that his “power” as Heather refers to it, is “Death’s gift” to him and declares that it simply is the ability to strip others of their lives that his own might be extended immeasurably. Placing a hand on Box, Earnest declares that life indeed pulses in his circuits and metal – therefore his touch can stop him as easily as it does.
Box proclaims that he didn’t think he could be killed, and as Deadly lifts the robotic Alphan up, telling him that he knows better now and tossing him at Nemesis as she leaps down from the roof and orders Alpha Flight away for they do not know what they are dealing with. Earnest tells Nemesis that she will need to forgive him for not wanting to experience her blade again, as it condemned him to lie for long months sectioned-yet-alive on a sterile morgue slab.
Aurora declares that two “hunters” are down in as many minutes as Heather orders them to hit Earnest but to watch for his hands. Annoyed, Northstar asks Heather if she always feels compelled to utter such self-evident commands, but Judd tells him that it pays to heed good advice. The twins rush Earnest from behind as Earnest agrees with Judd when he swings his hands back and stops the twins by catching them in mid-flight. Heather is astonished at this, and Earnest informs her that he has surprising speed before declaring that one learns many strategies of survival when they have lived as long as he has. As he lumbers towards Heather he declares that one such strategy is to take a hostage in order to forestall all attacks by an enemy one truly fears.
Heather tries to run away, but Earnest tells her that she will not be able to, and grabbing her after ripping his sleeve down to cover his hand to prevent him from killing Heather with his touch, he adds declares he will not take her life unless Nemesis insists on taking his. Nemesis has wiggled free and says to Heather Woman, you are apparently leader of Alpha Flight, you must have some power then, use it to save yourself. Nemesis will not strike Earnest and Heather calls back that she is only human and useless. Earnest tells her that she is hardly the latter, and still holding onto Heather, they jump onto the train tracks.
Judd calls to Heather, promising to find a way to free her, but Heather asks him why he should bother, as all she has done is lead Alpha Flight to death and disaster. She declares that Deadly Earnest can have her, for it is all she deserves. Nemesis informs Judd that he must save Heather and tosses him her blade. Judd asks why she is giving him the blade instead of going after Earnest herself. Nemesis kneels next to the fallen Alphans and other people Earnest used his death touch on and informs Judd that they are not dead for she can keep them in the semi-living state for a short time. However, they can only be fully restored if her blade recaptures their spirits from Earnest.
Judd drops onto the train tracks and realizes that Nemesis’ comment “recaptures their spirits” means he has to kill Earnest for the sword to drain Earnest of the life forces he has stolen. However, Judd once promised Guardian that his days of killing were over when he paroled into Beta Flight. Yet it is now Guardian’ widow who is in Earnest’s clutches, and Judd wonders if there is anyone he wouldn't kill to save Heather.
Puck suddenly stops in his tracks, overcome with the pain that cripples him, he realizes that it is his pain responding to the blade he carries and crying out to possess it. He knows it would be so easy to let it – but cannot, for he has fought to contain the pain inside him for years. Judd sees Heather being pushed along by Earnest further down the tracks and suppressing his pain he darts along the tracks telling himself he has one shot at separating Heather from Earnest before he can uncover his hands and steal her life and this one chance means using Nemesis’ blade and killing.
Well I'm the dwarf for the job, thinks Judd as he leaps towards Earnest and strikes him in the back causing him to drop Heather. Puck cries out inside himself, for he has broken his promise even if Heather could hear it she doesn’t for the drop causes her head to strike the Metro tracks. Earnest turns to Judd and after being cut by him wishes his hands didn’t kill upon contact because he would like the pleasure of crushing Judd before he dies. Judd tells Deadly Earnest to surrender, announcing that he knows Nemesis blade can kill him and that he is not afraid to use it.
Deadly Earnest tells Judd that the blade is the only thing he fears, for it is the only weapon on Earth capable of ending his existence. Lunging for it, Earnest declares that once he possesses it he will fear nothing. Judd leaps out of the way, surprised that for someone so massive Earnest has such superior speed. Judd realizes that he actually fears Earnest because as Death’s dispatcher, he can kill him – and let him loose the source of pain inside him, letting him be free at last. But if that were to happen, an evil greater than Earnest would be unleashed to walk the Earth again and Judd cannot let that happen – so he slices off one of Earnest St. Ives’ arms.
Earnest howls out as the sword writhes in Judds’ hands, for it has drunk deep the life forces stolen from others by Earnest and it wants more. Judd remembers that long ago he held another black blade just like it, and it too lived off stolen life. Judd thinks it is no wonder Northstar described Nemesis’ face as “anguished” for what the sword must have done to her soul as the price for wielding it over the course of a lifetime. Judd wonders what it will do to his soul if he uses it to slay Earnest. Judd will not and wants to reject the blade, but wonders if he can without dooming Alpha Flight.
Earnest leaps at Judd declaring he still has one hand left, but Judd maneuvers himself so that he flips Earnest over and crashing into a wall, but in the process the sword is knocked from Judds’ hand. Both Judd and Earnest rush for the sword, Judd telling Earnest that he knows he will not stop coming for him until he has forced him to kill and do the swords biding. Puck had prayed that there was some other way, for his souls’ sake and for a way to resurrect Alpha Flight and to keep Heather safe – Judd remembers Heather and his eyes go wide as he sees her sprawled across the train tracks and a train speeding down towards her.
Judd picks up the sword and shouts that there is no longer any time to weigh the alternatives, and with that Judd uses the sword to slice off Earnest’s head. The head falls to the ground, near the severed arm and screams at Judd while the diminutive Alphan leaps to Heather’s side and pulls her off the track. However, much to Judds’ dismay the body of Earnest still lumbers around, still flowing with the death touch it comes towards Judd and Heather. Holding Heather in his arm, Eugene Milton Judd races towards Deadly Earnest and cuts off the remaining hand. However, both ands crawl towards Judd and Earnest still speaks, laughing, Earnest boasts that even though he is limb-less, he will still seek the pleasure of ending Judds own accursed life.
The hands continue their crawl towards Puck who leaps with the still unconscious Heather off the train track – just as the speeding train plows into Deadly Earnests’ body. Heather regains consciousness and looks at Judd who informs her that it is not over, for the blade still glows meaning whatever is left of Earnest still lives. Judd tells Heather that it would be best if she did not look …
Soon, Heather and Puck walk back to Nemesis who stands on the platform and seeing them alive realizes Earnest must be dead. Judd replies that her sword did its job – with the help of the Montreal Metro. Handing the sword to Nemesis Puck asks her to use it to restore the lives of his friends as she promised. Northstar, Aurora, Box and the civilian who was hurt are lined up as Nemesis declares that she sustained them by imparting them to the life energies of others who have succumbed to Earnest’s death touch. The residual energies of the victims passed into Nemesis the first time she slew Earnest, and deprived of life for too long, those victims died before she could save them, however Alpha Flight are more fortunate.
Nemesis reveals that the life energies of the fallen Alphans resided in Earnest and when he was slain her sword reclaimed their “souls” – which she now returns to the rightful owners. Alpha Flight is revived and Nemesis declares that her blade is drained. Calling to Mother Night she announces that her misery is over and her time on Earth done. Heather asks Nemesis what she means by that, and as the mysterious woman removes her mask she announces that by slaying Earnest St. Ives she has ended the life of a man born nearly one century ago.
Northstar and Aurora avert their eyes from Nemesis’ face while the others look at it shocked. Nemesis declares that Earnest was once a good man who was drafted away from his wife and child to fight an indecent war in the forests of France during 1919. So fierce was St. Ives’ will to live and return to his family he was able to reject Death when she came for him. However if Death was not to have him, then she ensured that he would deliver others to her, and he did so helplessly and hopelessly, including his young wife when she ran to embrace him.
In horror, Earnest St. Ives fled from his daughter’s accusatory screams, however as St. Ives’ life stretched on his self-loathing faded and he came to love and serve Death, becoming powerful and feared – by everyone. Nemesis continues her story, revealing that there was one person who was not afraid of Earnest St. Ives – the little girl who was so determined to avenger her mother and free her father from Death’s curse. She turned to science and sorcery to create a blade capable of draining the life from Deadly Earnest. Nemesis begins to keel over and wither as she reveals that she was that little girl, Earnest St. Ives’ daughter, and now after too long, a lifetime of defying Death herself, her mission is done.
Alpha Flight can do nothing but watch as the dust settles and Nemesis’ blade screams and stands upright, before going as silent as the grave.