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Auction
Mansion Alpha, Tamarind Island, British Columbia, Canada. Where Canada’s premiere super heroes – Vindicator, Snowbird, Puck, Shaman, Aurora, Box and Jeffries a.k.a. the super team Alpha Flight stand by their teammate, Northstar who has been taken control of by the young mutant girl known as the Purple Girl! Aurora turns to Kara Killgrave and declares that her brother has been turned into a purple zombie and all she can say is “I didn’t mean it?” Roger Bochs, inside the Box armor tries to calm Aurora down, telling her she is frightening the child. The goddess Narya, a.k.a. Snowbird points out that the “child” has mesmerized a member of Alpha Flight, not to mention having him bring her to Mansion Alpha points out team leader Heather “Vindicator” Hudson.
Madison Jeffries thinks that this whole situation shows she has a lot of spunk, and Eugene “Puck” Judd adds that this is also some good judgment on Kara’s part, as this is the longest he has heard the hypercritical Northstar stay quiet. Aurora asks them how they can joke at a time like this, as Box interrupts his girlfriend and tells her that they all know how serious this is, but that the Purple Girl hardly seems to be an enemy. Kara agrees and asks them if she were an enemy, would she have put herself in their power. Michael “Shaman” Twoyoungmen a.k.a. the new Talisman asks Kara if they are in her power now, and Judd asks her if she could do to them what she did to Northstar.
Looking at the frozen from of the handsome Jean-Paul Beaubier, Heather asks Kara what she has exactly done to their resident speedster. Sheepishly, Kara replies that she hypnotized him, a power that she inherited from her father, Killgrave the Purple Man, however when she takes someone over, their skin turns purple too. Aurora demands that her brother be released at once, and Kara exclaims that she would love to, proclaiming that she never meant to mesmerize him in the first place, one that she was afraid he would leave her in the South Pacific where she made him take her. However there is only one way to release him that she knows of. Heather asks how she can release him, and Kara declares ‘Northstar, go soak your head!’
With that, Northstar speeds out of the room, and everyone follows him, only to see him jump into the swimming pool. Now free of the Purple Girls’ thrall, in his native language of French, Jean-Paul asks who is responsible for this, only to see ‘the purple vixen’ skulking behind his teammates. Box tells Jean-Paul to calm down and reminds him that no one except Aurora can understand what he is saying. Jeffries asks Kara why she didn’t hypnotize the rest of them as easy as she did Northstar, and Box reveals that instruments built into his armor reveal that the Purple Girl’s power is olfactorally induced by pheromones secreted through the pores of her skin, and he doubts that she could affect him.
Aurora tells her lover that if he remains a robot then he will lose her, and that he must emerge from the armor soon. Purple Girl declares that she did not come to control them, but that she came for help. Pulling himself out of the swimming pool, Northstar tells everyone that Kara is lying. But Kara proclaims that she isn't, and that she did not ask for the powers, but became a ‘goofy grape’ on her birthday and is just scared! Heather remembers her late husband Mac telling her that many mutants do not discover their latent powers until reaching puberty.
Seeing his friend walk out of the room, Jeffries calls to Box and asks him if something is wrong. But Roger offers no reply, instead he thinks to himself that Aurora is laying down the law and he needs to find a way out of the robot body he retracted into when stricken with the bends. He needs to become a man Aurora can cuddle with, or else their relationship will be over! As he too makes his exit, Jeffries sarcastically remarks to Aurora that she should just take an ice pick to Bochs. Bluntly, Aurora replies that how she handles her affairs, is her own business. Jeffries frowns and tells Aurora that that may be the case, but she just happens to be messing around his best friend.
Northstar turns to his sister and asks her if she really loves the legless cripple, but Aurora just tells her brother to shut-up. Vindicator asks Alpha Flight what they should do with the Purple Girl and Judd suggests that because her power to control others is formidable, it could become even more so with proper training. Twoyoungmen declares that Alpha Flight is not a prep school and after what happened to his daughter, Elizabeth, he would think twice before endangering a child again.
Furious, Northstar declares that he cannot even believe that they would consider offering ‘this manipulative little Minx a place in Alpha Flight’. Hands on hips, Heather replies ‘Why not, Northstar? We accepted you, didn’t we?’ Jean-Paul declares that the Purple Girl used her powers to make him serve her – to love her – and he feels violated, as if he had been raped. ‘And by a woman! No wonder you’re so upset’ Heather remarks cruelly. Sternly, Jean-Paul tells Heather not to mock him and reminds her that he has been an Alphan longer than her and if he chooses to veto this decision – ‘Koff! Koff! Koff!’ Jean-Paul bursts into a fit of coughs.
Concerned, Kara apologizes to him, believing all the soakings she made him suffer to free him from her powers must have given him a cold. Heather notices the concern in Kara’s voice, which gives her reason to believe that she has a crush on Northstar. Aurora declares that the question still remains – what do they do about the Purple Girl, while Judd jokes to himself that Northstar being silenced by a cold must mean it is some cold!
Twoyoungmen declares that their choices are easy – they must turn this powerful young woman loose upon the world, confine her, kill her or... ‘Kill me? I cam to you for help!’ cries Kara. Frightened, Kara tells the Alphans that if they will not help her then she will not let them hurt her, and orders them to ‘Freeze’ and thus they are frozen before anyone can react. Running from the room, Kara tells them that they can stay that way until she can get out of there. What Kara does not know, is that if she waited for Shaman to finish his sentence she would have heard him state the final option – that they could adopt her into Alpha Flight where she and her power could be nurtured.
Meanwhile, in Bochs’ laboratory room, Jeffries declares that they will get Roger out of the armor. Roger asks Madison ‘how?’ and exclaims that he should know what the bends can do to a person, and that upon becoming human in a non-pressurized environment, the nitrogen bubbles that were floating in his lungs might burst and either paralyze him or kill him! Jeffries asks how divers survive with the bends, and Box reveals that they are placed into decompression chambers wherein a gradual normalization of pressure prevents the crippling embolism.
Jeffries declares that that is what they will do for him, and Roger agrees, though points out that there would be a risk from phasing into the chamber which might make him end up stricken, but that he would risk anything for Aurora! Jeffries winces, for he is doubtful that Aurora really loves Roger, but he keeps his thoughts to himself and informs Roger that he may not have to phase out of the armor. Roger is about to ask ‘how?’ when Jeffries reminds him that he is a transmutator and because his power made the Box armor, he thinks he can turn the robots metal into what he needs, without Roger having to emerge from it.
And so he does, with the Box armor becoming a chamber, to which a surprised Roger tells Jeffries that he didn’t know he could transmute the robot independently of his will, and adds that he is not sure he likes it. Jeffries tells Roger that metal is metal, but that they are pals and he would never use his power to hurt Roger. He adds that he has to guess at the pressure to set since neither of them are sure at what depth it was that Roger got into trouble. Madison asks Bochs if he is ready to phase out and into the chamber, and as the quadriplegic does so he declares that he is not sure that is the right description, for he is still inside the decompression chamber the Box robot has become.
Landing on the seat, Roger starts to say something about the pressure when he cries out in pain, for the pressure is obviously wrong. Panicking, Jeffries bangs on the chamber and tells Roger to phase back into the armor, when suddenly, along comes the Purple Girl, who uses her powers on Madison and telling him to help her escape from here. The mesmerized Jeffries follows Kara from the laboratory, leaving a pain-wracked Roger curled up on the floor of the chamber.
Soon, the Omnijet takes off and inside it, Kara asks what it is. Jeffries replies that it is Alpha Flight’s all purpose personnel carrier and looking around seeing how cramped it is, Kara exclaims that it gives her the chills. However she does not dispute the fact that it is fast, and the faster she gets away from ‘those Alpha Flight creeps’ the better. Kara tells the mesmerized Jeffries to steer a course for Toronto, as there is no place like home.
Some hours later, the six remaining Alphans come free of the Purple Girls’ power, yet they all clutch their heads, for as Puck points out it has left them all with migraines. ‘Apparently distance is as good as ducking’ remarks Snowbird unamused, and Jean-Paul agrees, hoping that they will never have to set eyes on the Purple Girl again. But Heather tells Northstar that he knows they have to find her, as her powers must be channeled towards good.
The Alphans split up and search the Mansion for Kara, when Aurora suddenly screams – for she is in Roger’s lab and has come across her boyfriends’ body, lying still in the chamber. Northstar rushes to his sisters’ side, fearing something to be wrong with her, but as the other Alphans gather around they all see that it is indeed Roger who is in danger. Heather turns to Shaman who is a doctor and asks what happened to Roger. Judd points out that the chamber Roger lies in seems familiar, and Twoyoungmen reveals that it is the Box armor, transmutated into a decompression chamber, the logical way to treat the bends.
Heather orders for Roger to be taken out of the chamber, to which Twoyoungmen sternly replies ‘no’ and declares that Roger has been shocked into unconsciousness. For apparently the pressure within the chamber was not quite the same as that at which Roger incurred the bends, however at the same time it was not so divergent as to cause any serious harm and that he should recover. But to remove him to a lesser pressure would compound the injury.
Northstar informs Heather that both Jeffries and the Omnijet are gone, and Heather realizes that the Purple Girl must have mesmerized Jeffries. She tells Twoyoungmen and Aurora to remain and look after Bochs while she, Northstar, Snowbird and Judd got find the Purple Girl. Judd is holding a homing device and informs Heather that the Omnijet emits a signal on a secret frequency, which they can track with the device. But Heather is more interested in the look of revulsion on Aurora’s face for the legless Bochs.
Outside, Vindicator flies through the air carrying Judd, while Northstar runs across the water and Snowbird…well, she hasn’t come. Heather remembers that Aurora was bored and so she flattered and flirted with Roger, until he took the ultimate risk to be with her, and now that he is useless to her, she couldn’t care less. Northstar asks why Snowbird didn’t come with them, and Judd declares that it must be her thoughts are still on her lost husband and child who was possessed by Pestilence. Because of it she has withdrawn further from Alpha Flight while she awaits Shaman’s spirits to discover the whereabouts of her family.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, Jeffries lands the Omnijet and Kara realizes that it will be no good, as someone is bound to notice the jet in the middle of the park. Kara asks Jeffries to do something about disguising the craft and he immediately complies, transforming the Omnijet into a convertible car. She asks ‘how?’ and Madison replies that he is a transmutator, able to alter metal and machinery. Kara reveals that she was going to dump Jeffries once they arrived, but now thinks it might be fun to have him around, and so she orders him to drive.
As they drive across the Gardiner expressway, Kara sees that there is traffic jam ahead and remarks that she wishes they could just fly over – and her wish is granted, as Madison causes the car to fly over the railing and take to the air across the lake. ‘Kinda droll ain’tcha?’ remarks Kara, to which the mesmerized Jeffries replies ‘Your wish is my command’. Kara declares that she wanted to get home unseen so that she would not freak out her mother, but on second thought she thinks that it is her mothers fault for bearing the Purple Man’s kid, so orders Jeffries to fly on.
On a nearby dock, the flight of the transformed Omnijet does not go unnoticed, and while most people would not believe in flying cars, there are those people that would see them as possibilities, and when one man in particular is informed of the flying car by the men on the docks, he orders them to keep it in sight.
Kara is starting to like this experience and orders Jeffries to set the car down so they can have some fun, which is exactly what she starts to seek out. When they get a speeding ticket, Kara orders the officer to tear it up, which he does. Soon, they are surrounded by mesmerized waiters at a restaurant where Kara and her girlfriends could never afford to eat at. Same goes for high style fashion, where with her new powers, she can buy anything she wants, and have Jeffries carry it all around for her. Looking out across Toronto from a lookout, she declares that it is all hers.
Back in the car, Kara wonders why she isn't happy, and realizes that it is because she only gets to act the way she does because she is a freak, and declares that if Alpha Flight had accepted her, then she would have been a freak amongst freaks, but now she feels so alone! Kara thinks that Alpha rejected her and remembers that they even talked about killing her – to make the world safe from her power. Kara boasts that they will be sorry they did that, that everyone will be sorry…except her mother.
Soon, Kara arrives home, and bursting through the door, she embraces her mother, who is relived her daughter is okay. ‘But I'm still purple mom, like dad’ says Kara, adding that she has her fathers power. Noticing the purple colored Jeffries in the doorway, Melanie asks Kara if she has used it to control others. Kara exclaims that she has, starting with Alpha Flight, because they wanted to hurt her. Melanie is surprised at this and tells Kara that it is not her fault she is the way she is. However, she informs her daughter that if she keeps using her powers like her father did, to bend people to your own will…her voice trails off.
Melanie pleads with her daughter, telling her that she cannot become a criminal like her father the Purple Man. Kara protest, asking ‘why not?’ after all, the “do-gooders” wont help her, so why shouldn’t she take what she wants whenever she wants it – ‘how else am I gonna make it in life as a grape-colored freak?’ Kara, followed by Jeffries walks out of the apartment and into the hallway, where Melanie watches her daughter and curses Killgrave for laying his curse upon their daughter.
Walking out of the apartment complex, Kara tells her “slave” to follow, and declares that they have a world to conquer. However, someone has arrived to throw Kara’s plan off its tracks, a man stepping out of a limousine, followed by several goons, the middle aged man tells Kara she is ambitious, but impractical. For even though her power is formidable to mesmerize Mr. Jeffries of Alpha Flight, it is hardly the world-conquering sort. The man continues, informing Kara that he has observed her spree through downtown Toronto and will admit that it has a certain value, which he has carefully appraised. Introducing himself, he declares his name is the Auctioneer, and has a proposal he thinks may benefit them both.
‘You mean, you can teach me how to use my powers to make me rich?’ asks Kara with enthusiasm. A Jeffries gets in the limo, the Auctioneer replies that he can teach her this very night, as he was in town for a very special auction, when he happened to witness her rather spectacular arrival. He tells Kara that if she and Jeffries accompany him it will be worth her while. Climbing into the car Kara smiles and says ‘As for your auction, it sounds like fun, lets do it!’
Suddenly, a partition comes up between Kara’s seat and the seat of the Auctioneer, and Kara asks what it is for. The Auctioneer smiles reveals that he analyzed her powers as they followed her and concluded that they are pheromone based, and that the plexishield between them prevents her from manipulating him. Gas starts pouring into Kara and Jeffries’ part of the vehicle and the Auctioneer declares that the psycho-tropic mist being pumped to them now should allow him to manipulate her. The Auctioneer orders his driver to the auction, where bidders are waiting!
Soon, at a hall which was rented in the name of a perfectly legitimate Canadian business man who knows nothing of the private affair taking place there tonight. The Auctioneer stands on a stage before the bidders and greets them, boasting that he knows they are all busy but have come nevertheless to bid on the latest martial technology. The Auctioneer announces he wishes to diverge from the order listed in the catalogue to offer two very special acquisitions, and so he motions to Kara Killgrave the Purple Girl and Jeffries of Alpha Flight. The bidders start a commotion: ‘we came here to buy weapons, not people!” ‘The heroes of Alpha Flight are human weapons!” “If a way could be found to control such super beings…”.
The Auctioneer announces that Jeffries passes out from the drug they use on the Purple girl to control her, which is why they are manipulating a manipulator, to in turn manipulate a transmutator. The Auctioneer asks the Purple Girl for a demonstration and rubbing her head, Kara realizes that she can think for herself but cannot fight off the Auctioneer’s drugs, so she has to do what he orders her to. Kara tells Jeffries to build and demonstrate a super weapon out of the other war-toys up for auction. Jeffries does as he is commanded, while Kara knows she is just the conduit for the Auctioneer’s commands now.
But now, Kara knows how awful others must feel by being manipulated by her. As the weapons are all transformed into a new super weapon, Jeffries asks Kara if it is satisfactory, and scared of the machine, Kara replies that she guesses so, ‘but what does it do?’ Jeffries monotonously replies that it is an assassination unit, fast, efficient and all-but indestructible.
It shoots at the bidders, many of them get out their own handguns and shoot back. Kara mumbles that it is the perfect Christmas present for organized criminals, corporate killers and terrorists.
The Auctioneer agrees, and asks the bidders why they should have to bid on conventional weaponry, ‘when the marvelous Mr. Jeffries…under the control of the Purple Girl, for the right price, could be yours to command’, adding that Jeffries can create newer and deadlier weaponry daily. Kara certainly feels now that both she and Jeffries are puppets, and that it would have been better if Alpha Flight killed her. She thinks to herself that if she could just fight the Auctioneer’s drugs, she would be able to utter the words that would let her control him, but she cannot, for every time she tries to her mind goes to mush! However, she has to do it, for herself and for Jeffries. The Auctioneer orders Kara to make Jeffries give them another demonstration, ‘if you please’.
While outside…Vindicator, Jean-Paul and Judd have arrived at the location of the Omnijet, which has been transformed, into a car. Heather supposes it is the work of Jeffries, but wonders why it is parked where it is. Jean-Paul declares that he remembers the Purple Girl telling him she ran away from Toronto. Heather suggests that she might have come home, Judd states the obvious, that it is a large apartment complex, and Heather replies that they should start ringing doorbells.
While Alpha Flight searches, Kara screams ‘No! I don’t “please”!’ Much to the Auctioneer’s surprise, Kara is defying him and resisting the drugs. Kara tells the Auctioneer that he is right, and is about to make her next move when suddenly he envelops her in plexiwrap, declaring that he was prepared for the possibility that her powers may enable her to develop immunities to his psycho-tropic drugs.
Kara exclaims that she wants to be let out before she suffocates, but the Auctioneer tells her that the wrap allows air in, but prevents her pheromonic powers from flowing out. Lara thinks to herself that she cannot stand to be trapped the way she is, and wonders if this is what the Auctioneer means about psychological torture, that he is going to torture her through her claustrophobia, when suddenly, Kara sees two goons bring her mother into view!
Kara asks her mother why she is here, and Melanie informs her daughter that they came to the apartment and took her, saying that they would kill her if Kara didn’t do as she was told. The Auctioneer exclaims that it is a cruder form of control than drugs, but more effective in the long run. ‘There won’t be any “long run” Auctioneer!’ Mr. Jeffries exclaims defiantly, suggesting that the Purple Girl’s control over others fades when she is under wraps. And as various weapons float around him, Jeffries tells the Auctioneer that by him placing Kara under his power, he forgot about him ‘And that was a big mistake!’
Suddenly, the metal roof of the building blows off due to Jeffries’ command, and then it is converted to energy in a pyrotechnic display, which alerts Jean-Paul, Vindicator and Judd, who fly towards the building.
Inside the building, the Auctioneer reminds Jeffries that they still have the Purple Girls’ mother. Suddenly, Alpha flight burst into the building thanks to Heather who uses her electromagnetic powers to shatter the wall and she declares ‘If that woman goes to an early grave, my friend, you’ll soon follow!’ Kara is surprised at the arrival of the heroes and asks Jeffries if they came to rescue him, he replies that they came to rescue them both.
Northstar swoops down and takes Melanie in his arms, freeing her from the goon. The astonished woman realizes that he is Jean-Paul Beaubier and informs him that her daughter’s room is full of posters of him’. ‘How flattering’ replies Jean-Paul unimpressed. Kara is surprised to see Northstar most of all, and thinks that because he came also, he must care a little bit…right?
Jeffries commands his weapons to attack the goons, thinking to himself that he could have transmuted the knife the goon was holding on Kara’s mother, but he is not complaining about the arrival of his teammates, and in fact he realizes that he likes working with a team…Vindicator’s team. Judd holds his own against the hired help, remembering how he used to revel in such action, but that all he can think about now is how ridiculous his agility seems compared to Heather’s newfound power as Vindicator. Heather deals with the various terrorists and crime lords by using the metal girders supporting the floor as conductors for her plasma bursts.
Northstar drops Melanie off on out of harms way on the other side of the auditorium and she asks him how she can ever thank him. ‘By placing your daughter in a distant boarding school!’ Jean-Paul exclaims, before clutching his upper arm, where Melanie notes that he is bleeding. Jean-Paul tells her that it is an inconsequential scratch from their dramatic entrance and adds that it is nothing and will heal.
The Auctioneer takes hold of Kara in the plexiwrap and is furious that his carefully programmed auction has been reduced to chaos, projections of vast profit lying in disarray. He tells Kara that he may have lost her mother as a hostage, but still has her. Kara calls the Auctioneer a creep as she stumbles backwards somewhat, the bag then tearing on a nail, Kara does not realize this and tells the Auctioneer that if she could get out of the bag she would order him to ‘Drop dead!’ – and the Auctioneer turns purple, and gasping for breath he falls to the ground.
Jeffries puts a comforting hand on Kara and informs her that the bag ripped on a nail. Confused, Kara asks if the Auctioneer did what she ordered him to, and declares that if she is a killer, then she is a menace and Alpha Flight should destroy her. Judd examines the Auctioneer and reveals that there is a heartbeat and a pulse, suggesting that the Purple Girl’s powers cannot affect the body’s involuntary systems, and that as soon as she leaves, he will recover. Heather declares that they will leave the mess for the RCMP, as they all need to go back to Mansion Alpha.
Everyone congregates around the chamber where Roger Bochs lies unconscious and Jeffries reminds Kara that she used her powers selfishly but now they are asking her to use them for good. Twoyoungmen informs Kara that their teammate Bochs lies unconscious and none of them can enter the chamber to help him for fear that it will depressurize. Kara asks why he has to wake up, and Heather informs her that he needs to be able to get into the Bochs armor, because it preserved his life once before and may do so again. Jeffries begins to transmute a pressure-lock and tells Kara that when she gives her order, they will draw out the air in the chamber, pressurize it and pump it back into Bochs.
Jeffries asks Kara if she understands what she has to do, and she replies that she doesn’t think she can. Jeffries tells Kara that she has to, as she is his only hope, and in part is responsible for putting him in this situation. Jeffries knows he could have created a pressure suit for any of them, but thought he would let the Purple Girl redeem herself. Inside a small compartment, Kara’s claustrophobia sets in, she is scared and thinks she is about to black out, but if she cannot get control of herself, how will she get control of Bochs? Kara orders him to wake up, and he does, where the containment chamber begins to fill with repressurized air, and Kara runs back out to her mother.
Jeffries transforms the Box armor back into its regular form and Roger asks if he is trapped inside it again. Madison tells his friend that they will find a way to get him out and into the arms of Aurora again. Roger asks how long he will have to wait, or more to the point, how long will Aurora wait, which Jeffries thinks is a very good question. Aurora exclaims that she will wait as long as it takes – as long as it is not too long.
Vindicator declares that the question still remains – what do they do with the Purple Girl? Jeffries exclaims that there is only one thing left to do – revive Beta Flight, where some of them got started. ‘And train me to be an Alphan?’ asks Kara excitedly? But her mother is not so sure, until Heather informs her that no one else in all of Canada is better equipped to deal with Kara’s powers. Melanie is about to mention the danger, when Judd points out that she was in danger tonight.
Jeffries smiles, and boasts that Beta Flight is reborn, with a membership of one! Kara thanks everyone, and Twoyoungmen mutters that he cannot say whether it bodes good, or bad. Standing away from the others, Jean-Paul thinks to himself ‘I can! The little minx!’


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Strike Across the Border
The Rainier Federal Correctional Facility at Yakima, Washington, Dr. Muramoto approaches the green-skinned mutant, Mesmero and asks him how he is today. Mesmero screams while clutching a metal device covering his head. ‘As bad as that? I’m sorry’ replies the doctor. In another part of the room, two security personnel are keeping watch and one of them remarks that he finds it strange how Mesmero – one of the meanest mutants to ever end up in federal custody, finally gets what is coming to him, yet some bleeding-heart psychologist says he is “sorry”.
The other security guard seems to disagree, and reminds the other that Mesmero has been screaming since the helmet was put on him. The first guard calls it “the negator” and reminds the second that it is the only thing keeping Mesmero from using his hypnotic powers, they need it to keep his eyes covered.
Doctor Muramoto announces that the neural monitors linked to Mesmero’s helmet are registering increased psychic agitation, meaning what he feared is about to happen, that by preventing Mesmero from using his power, they are killing him!
Mesmero collapses and the guards rush towards him, calling to the doctor and warning him not to go into the sealed part of the room where Mesmero is held. ‘Why not?’ asks the doctor, ‘He can’t hurt me now’. All three men enter the room and Muramoto kneels beside Mesmero, declaring that his theory was correct, that to prevent any mutant from using their powers, the resulting atrophy can cause a systemic shock. The shock will possibly lead to death, unless they get him out of the helmet and into the infirmary.
One of the guards tells Muramoto that there is no way they are doing that unless he is sure Mesmero is out of it. Muramoto informs the soldiers that they will be up on manslaughter charges unless they help him, and he snatches the keys off a guard while telling them to go and get a stretcher. But Muramoto removes the helmet from Mesmero – ands the green-skinned mutant’s eyes flare up as he thanks the doctor for being so gullible. Muramoto drops to the ground, as the guards realize Mesmero was playing possum, they pull their guns up to him, but Mesmero uses his power on them, ordering them to put their guns down and escort him out of the facility.
The guards are forced to comply, and as they and Muramoto walk with Mesmero outside towards a jeep, more guards approach, calling to the hypnotized ones, they declare that  they were not informed of any inmate transfers scheduled for today. Mesmero subdues them, but from up in the watch tower, the commotion is seen, and the officer inside it calls down to Mesmero and his hostages, exclaiming that if they do not halt then he will fire.
No one stops, and so the guard begins to fire as Mesmero shoves Muramoto into a jeep, he follows him and orders the guards to cover him, while he and the doctor escape. Inside the car, Mesmero orders the doctor to drive north.
The next day, in an isolated valley nestled somewhere in the Okanagan range of Northern Washington State, several Sentinels are launched into the air. Inside the compound, someone announces that all Interdefense monitoring systems show “go”, meaning they have a launch! A woman at a computer monitor exclaims that the Sentinels are airborne, and the man beside her says ‘so?’ before reminding her that he came here behind his bureau chiefs back, because word at the FBI headquarters is that the people here are experienced mutant hunters. The man tells the woman that it would be a real coup for the agent who captures Mesmero after his escape from Rainier and murder of Dr. Muramoto.
However, he tells the woman that he is not sure the Sentinels of hers are right for the job, adding that the latest intelligence has it that Mesmero has crossed into Canada, and if the Sentinels follow him, they risk starting an international incident. The woman agrees, but declares it would only be true if the Sentinels are spotted in Canadian airspace, which as she informs her companion, they will not be. She tells him to watch the computer screen, where the four Sentinels on the radar suddenly disappear. The woman reveals that the Sentinels cannot be picked up on radar, and liquid quartz displayed on the “skin” of the Sentinels will mirror their surroundings.
In a forest somewhere, two men are cutting down trees as the Sentinels fly past. One of them calls to the other, asking him if he just saw something weird. The other replies that he thought he did, but now is not so sure.
Back at the compound, the woman informs her companion, Agent Billings, that he has just observed the visual masking capabilities of Interdefense’s new Mark VI Stealth Sentinels. A man runs towards the woman and calling her Ms. Kelly, he asks her if she has gone out of her mind. Billings asks who this other man is, and Kelly introduces him as Carmody Whyte, the engineer who designed the Stealth Sentinels. Whyte tells Kelly that he cannot believe she launched the Sentinels without his approval, as they were not ready. Kelly furiously declares that the Sentinels would never be ready if Whyte had his way with the endless tests he was conducting. Kelly tells Carmody that she wonders if his sympathies may lie elsewhere before boasting that as project manager of Interdefense she decided to field-test them now. Billings calls Carmody a ‘mutie lover’ and tells him that the die has been cast.
Meanwhile, flying over Vancouver, British Columbia, which is currently host to the “Expo ‘86”, is the Omnijet belonging to Canada’s premiere super hero team, Alpha Flight. Inside the jet, team leader, Heather McNeil Hudson, a.k.a. “Vindicator”, calls to her teammate, Madison Jeffries, and asks him to hold the Omnijet steady while the rest of them try to restrain Box. Eugene “Puck” Judd is also trying to restrain Roger Bochs, the man inside the Box armor, and Judd reminds everyone that the thought he may be trapped forever inside the armor has driven him to despair.
Flying around inside the jet is the handsome speedster, mutant Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier, who thinks to himself that Bochs has not been helped by his skittish sisters repeated reminders that she will stop loving Bochs if he fails to become a man again. Box calls to Jean-Paul’s sister, while Jean-Paul wonders still if Aurora really loves him, or if she is toying with his affections. Jean-Paul barely dodges a swipe from Box, which Jeffries sees sitting at the controls of the jet.
Sitting beside Jeffries is Kara Kilgrave, a.k.a. the Purple Girl, the first member of Alpha Flight’s new in-training team, Beta Flight. The aptly-named girl tells Jeffries that she should do something to help, while reminding herself that her power is to control people’s minds and that she promised Alpha flight never again to use her powers on them. Kara gets so confused about using her powers, especially as they have gotten her into trouble so many times.
Northstar thinks that Aurora could stop Box by telling him that she loves him, but Jean-Paul realizes the words are stuck in his sister’s mouth. Aurora’s flirtations have endangered them all, and Northstar calls to Box, telling Roger that this is madness and that his sister wouldn't love him as man or machine!
Box lunges for Jean-Paul, calling him a ‘callous creep’ he asks him what he would know of real love. Judd reminds Jean-Paul that the idea was to calm Box down, but as Jean-Paul declares that he can handle Box, he is overcome with a coughing fit and falls to the floor.
Box is moving in on Northstar now, so the Purple Girl steps forward and thinks to herself that she doesn’t know what Box meant about Jean-Paul not understanding what real love is, or what is wrong with him, but she has always had a crush on Northstar, and has to use her powers to help him, even against a fellow Alphan and even if she gets killed! ‘Bochs, stop! I command you!’ exclaims Kara, hoping it will work.
But it doesn’t, and as Aurora points out, Box is about to strike “zee child”, but Heather will not have it, and uses her electromagnetic powers, granted to her from the super suit that she wears to send a blast at Box, knocking him back hard into the Omnijet’s hull. Kara dodges out of the way, feeling totally useless, she wonders how she will ever be able to prove to Heather that she belongs in combat situations when she pulls stunts like this.
Heather surveys the damage to the ship, including metal shards of the hull that are falling to the highway below, while noticing that she has shocked Roger back to his senses. Box keels over and wonders what came over him and what he did. Heather jumps from the Omnijet and flies towards the metal shards, as Box approaches Aurora and starts to say he must have been insane – but Aurora tells him that she thinks he is insane and that perhaps she was mad ever to think that she loved him.
Aurora stands between her brother, who is still on the floor, and her lover, and she tells Roger that she will not let him hurt her brother again and uses her mutant light powers to blind him, effectively overloading his video-receptors, adding to this the rejection by his lover, Bochs goes berserk once more and starts to tear the Omnijet apart.
Purple Girl tells Jeffries that Box will smash the Omnijet, but Jeffries declares that the damage is done, for Box just trashed their main propulsion unit. Kara asks Jeffries if he cannot do anything about Roger, and Jeffries informs her that he built the robot using his transmutive powers, and they man inside is his friend. Auto-pilot seems to be working, and Jeffries turns to Box and uses his powers to restrain him by turning the armor into a straight-jacket and melding the armor to the floor.
Northstar sees Bochs is restrained, and Roger calls Jeffries a “Judas”, while Puck takes the controls after the auto-pilot cuts out. Judd jokes to Jeffries that it was a good thing all he had to do was pull back the throttle as he could never have reached the foot brake!
Back outside, Heather manages to vaporize the falling debris before it rained upon the highway, but notices the Omnijet in a nose-dive plummeting towards a car. Heather knows she has to choose between saving Alpha Flight or rescuing the innocent motorists, and because she is leader of Canada’s premiere super heroes, she chooses the innocents – while Alpha, as it seems, are completely capable of saving themselves, as Jeffries transforms the Omnijet into another craft that lands on the highway.
Heather flies into the transformed craft as Kara looks at her and thinks Heather to be a real hero, as she cleaned up the mess of someone else’s mistake and saved the lives of civilians that Alpha Flight are entrusted to protect. She wishes that she had the same courage and confidence. Jeffries calls the transformed aircraft a “Monopede” as Heather asks what they are to do with Box now.
Madison tells Vindicator that they should do what they planned to do since all of their efforts to cure Roger of the bends failed and left him stuck in the armor – ‘take him to the one man capable of doing to flesh what I can do with metal’. Somewhat nervously, Heather asks Jeffries if he means his brother, Doctor Lionel Jeffries, also known as Scramble. Jeffries can sense Heather’s apprehension and reminds her that his brother uses his power for good now. Heather tells Jeffries that she knows that now, but cannot help remembering when he didn’t, and she was on the receiving end of his abilities.
The transformed Omnijet enters a long underground tunnel, a last coming to a halt in a vast underground facility. Doctor Jeffries approaches everyone and welcomes them to New Life as his brother informs him they have another patient for him. To the side of the room, by a console, a man declares ‘Doctor Jeffries! That’s Alpha Flight!’ Lionel declares that he should have prepared his intern for Alpha’s arrival, and Madison informs his brother that he has tried to prepare Alpha for the situation here, for they know Lionel is not licensed to practice medicine after what happened, but explained to them that he cured a rich tycoon who thought enough of the unorthodox methods to pay for the clinic and the secret research lab.
As Box is pushed down the Omnijet ramp by the twins, Roger exclaims that he will not be experimented upon as there is nothing wrong with him. Jean-Paul says ‘au contraire, you are  ill – in both body and mind’. Jean-Paul wonders to himself whether or not he should tell Scramble about the cough and weakness that has affected him since he was kissed by Pestilence, but decides against it, believing it to be his affair alone.
Box declares that he will not consent to this, and Lionel begins to say that they cannot force him, but Madison asks Box if he would like to become a man again. ‘Free from pain?’ asks Lionel. Although reluctantly, Roger consents to the treatment he will receive. Lionel exclaims ‘good’ and suggests that Roger settles in, for this may take some time.
Meanwhile, asleep in the back of the jeep is Mesmero, while Muramoto drives, the radio announcer informs listeners that authorities in Washington State have revealed that a dangerous mutant criminal may have crossed the border into Canada. Because he is asleep, Mesmero’s power lies dormant and he is undetectable to the Sentinel flying overhead, a Sentinel that is also undetectable as it continues to sweep the extrapolating probable flight patterns taken by the fugitive.
At Interdefense, Ms. Kelly declares that the Sentinels should have detected Mesmero by now, Billings adding that the longer it takes the Sentinels to find Mesmero, the greater the risk is that Canada will detect the Sentinels! Kelly decides that they will give the Sentinels another two hours before initiating recall.
Locked out of the room Kelly and Billings are in. Carmody calls Kelly and Billings fools for locking him out, for he could have told them that he suspected the Sentinels untested stealth capabilities interfere with their mutant sensors, while other Sentinels can detect mutants at all times, stealth version can only detect mutants are actively employing their powers nearby. This means the Sentinels will go on searching until Mesmero uses his powers. Carmody thinks that by then there might be a war with Canada and decides he has to alert Interdefense’s owner – Sebastian Shaw!
Meanwhile, Mesmero wakes with a throbbing head, an after-effect of having to wear the negator helmet, which he thought would kill him unless he got it off. He swears he will kill before he lets anyone put it back on him, just like he killed Muramoto for torturing him. Looking around, Mesmero wonders where he is and thinks he must have blanked form the pain and exhaustion, but his memory is so hazy he doesn’t even remember arriving here.
All of Vancouver throbs with the pulse of Expo ’86, a grand international exhibit, but hardly the place for a green-skinned mutant to escape unnoticed. Mesmero sees that the vehicle is out of gas, and knows that to get through the crowd unnoticed he will need a disguise. He approaches a motorcycle, which has sitting on its seat a jacket and helmet, so he puts them on, even though it feels too much like wearing the negator again, he cannot stand it and so pulls the helmet off.
A man approaches Mesmero and asks him if he is okay. Mesmero touches the man on the head and smiling he exclaims that he is just fine and now, and will remain that was so long as he forgets he ever saw him.
In the air above, the Sentinels turn in their flight as they have located the target, they commence interception mode and land in amongst the crowds of people at the Expo. They phase out of stealth mode and walk around hunting their target as people gape up at them. ‘Are those things part of Expo?’ ‘Somehow, I don’t think so!’
Monitoring the Sentinels from Interdefense, Kelly is shocked to see that the Sentinels have become visible in the heart of Vancouver. Billings asks her to recall them, and she tries to, but the Sentinels do not respond. She calls for Whyte to be brought in, and Carmody enters the room, informing Kelly that he cannot help her, revealing that the unperfected stealth circuits also inhibit long-distance command signals between Interdefense and the Sentinels, whether they are active or not!
Stepping out of the shadows of the room is Sebastian Shaw a.k.a. the Black King of the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle who informs Kelly and Billings that if the Sentinels unauthorized invasion of Canada cause an international incident that might interfere with his carefully nurtured relationship with the defense department, the two of them will pay most severely. Kelly and Billings take Shaw’s words to mean that a disaster could cost them their lives.
Back at the New Life Clinic, Purple Girl calls to her seniors and informs them that a report has just come over the Alphanex alert channel, announcing that something weird is going down at the Expo, and while reports are not clear, there is a lot of panic.
Shortly, Jean-Paul, Aurora and Vindicator carrying Puck are flying towards the Expo. Aurora tells her teammates that Purple Girl and Jeffries both wanted to accompany them, but Vindicator reminds Aurora that Kara is too young and Jeffries is needed in helping cure Bochs. Being carried by Heather, Judd thinks to himself that once again his powerlessness is cause for him to be a burden on Heather, and he wonders how he could ever hope that she would return his love.
At the Expo, on a high platform, Mesmero has several humans as hostages and tells the Sentinels that he has been caught by them before and knows what they want – to take his powers away. He exclaims that they tried that with the negator, and boasts that he will die before he is subjected to that kind of pain again, however he declares furiously that if he has to go, then these human sheep around him will go before him.
A Sentinel announces that the humans are mesmerized, another says ‘We are faced with a quandary’ as Mesmero reminds them that they are programmed to preserve human life at all costs, before telling them that just in case he thinks they are bluffing sending a person to walk out on a beam and he orders them to jump – which they do, plummeting to the ground.
One of the four Sentinels announces that the human lies ‘broken-unmoving-dead’, and Mesmero tells them that he can only be executed once, no matter how many people he murders, so they had better back off and let him go. ‘We must capture Mesmero. We must also preserve human life’ states a Sentinel as another points out that attempting to capture Mesmero may result in more loss of human life, yet they must do something.
‘That’s where you’re wrong Sentinels!’ exclaims Heather as she, Judd and the twins fly onto the scene, announcing that she recognizes the Sentinels ‘You American-made-mutant-hunters who’ve plagued the X-Men over the years’. ‘But this is Canada – Alpha Flight’s jurisdiction!’ Vindicator boasts.
‘The Sentinels seem unimpressed, Vindicator’ remarks Aurora as Jean-Paul reminds her that the Sentinels have nearly defeated the X-Men in the past, as their metal alloy is all but indestructible, and Judd points out that Alpha Flight’s roster is halved, what with Snowbird and Twoyoungmen seeking Pestilence, Bochs incapacitated and Jeffries with him.
A Sentinel informs the Alphans that they are programmed to neutralize Mesmero for unless they do, other humans may die. Aurora points out that humans may also die if they try to apprehend Mesmero, and another Sentinel declares that they must carry out their programming. ‘You must do nothing’ says Northstar, and Heather finishes off his sentence by telling the Sentinels that they can leave Mesmero to Alpha Flight. Judd drops from Heather’s arms to attack Mesmero, as his agility is useless against the metal Sentinels.
‘Alert! We are being attacked by super humans!’ announces a Sentinel as Heather and the twins attack them. Jean-Paul repeatedly punches a Sentinel while Jean-Paul finds the “Super-humans” comment somewhat odd, for while Heather is, and he can understand his sister being overlooked due to her genetic alteration by Walter Langkowski to mask her mutant nature, yet, he wonders, why they do not react to him as a mutant. Just when he didn’t need it to happen, he is overcome by another coughing fit, and while his sister blinds one Sentinel with her light powers, he falls to the ground, neutralized by knockout gas.
Aurora stops in mid-air when she sees her brother fall to the ground, but her moment of hesitation enables a Sentinel to whack her, sending her to the ground also. Heather sees the twins are down and notes that Judd is not doing much better against Mesmero.
Judd has covered his eyes, as Mesmero cannot control him if he cannot see his eyes, but doesn’t worry because he has other, more sufficient means of stopping the diminutive Alphan and commands the humans to attack him, until they hold him down and Mesmero manages to get Judds eyes open. As Heather struggles in one of the Sentinels’ tendrils she realizes that she is the only one left, and wonders what kind of leader she is by sacrificing her people to fight the Sentinels, simply because they have violated the sovereignty of a government guilty of spying on Alpha.
Approaching in the reconstructed Omnijet are Jeffries and Kara. Jeffries exclaims that he hated leaving Bochs, but knows he will be okay in his brothers’ healing hands, while it is Alpha who needs him now. Kara asks Jeffries what it is they are to do now, and swinging around in his chair, Jeffries it seems did not know Kara had stowed aboard, as he asks her if he told her to stay at New Life. The Purple Girl replies that she wanted to help, before telling Jeffries that he cannot treat her like a kid, as she is in Beta Flight now.
Jeffries tells Kara that being in Beta Flight means she is a hero in training, not a combatant, before reminding her that he promised her mother he would look after her, so he orders her to stay in the Omnijet. Kara asks Jeffries what it is he is going to do, and leaning out the hatch of the jet, Jeffries exclaims that he has to figure out how to help, as the Sentinel as Heather and her super suit doesn’t seem to be able to help her.
Looking down at the giant robot, Madison knows he is too far away to use his powers on it, as he has to be at least within spitting distance from it. He sees the Sentinel extend its hand to crush the ensnared Heather and Jeffries knows he cannot let Heather die. He doesn’t have time to put on a parachute and cannot believe what he is contemplating…but with no more time  to think, Madison Jeffries leaps from the Omnijet, hoping to land near enough to the Sentinel so that his power can save Heather, but if he misses…then it is curtains for the both of them.
As he drops past the Sentinel he realizes that Heather is a special lady and worth any risk. Jeffries has come in close enough contact and uses his transmutative powers to pull apart the Sentinel, while in the process he designs his own flight suit out of the Sentinels’ spare parts. Heather saw everything that happened and tells Jeffries as she flies over to him that he is amazing. Jeffries blushes inside his super suit, but then notices the Purple Girl’s own peril, for the Sentinels have detected her as a non-target mutant and plan to intercept her!
Kara manages to swerve the plane out of the way, but in the process she starts nose-diving towards the Sentinel blinded by Aurora, who is kneeling on the ground. Heather and Jeffries are too far away to help, and as Kara is blasted from the Omnijet by an ejector-chair, she hopes that she can use one Sentinel against another – and as the two Sentinels clash, it works both of them being destroyed in the process.
Jeffries is most relieved that Kara is all right, but Judd is still suffering punches from the hypnotized mob attacking him, and one piece of debris from the Sentinel clash wounds him. From her high seat in the ejected chair, Kara sees Judd get hurt and wonders if it is her fault, for if he wasn’t hypnotized he may have been able to avoid the debris, but she sees also that Mesmero could not have cared less, for he is already sending more humans to their deaths to keep the Sentinel at bay.
The Purple Girl thinks that Mesmero is as merciless a manipulator as her father, the Purple Man was, and wonders if she could ever become that evil. Kara realizes that it may be up to her to take Mesmero out, but she doesn’t know whether her powers will override Mesmero’s or if he will be able to make her ‘take a high dive’, then she thinks that she may screw up again and more people might die.
Jeffries flies past the last Sentinel and informs Heather that it is the last one. Vindicator asks him if he will be able to transmute it like he did to the other one. As the Sentinel fires at Jeffries, he realizes that it saw what he did to the other one and so is trying to keep him away. Jeffries tells Heather that they have a chance at stopping the Sentinel if they work together and explains his plan to Heather, who tells Jeffries that she likes the way he thinks, and the put the plan into effect!
Jeffries loses the armor he is wearing and as he falls into Heathers arms he transmutes it into something else, while the Sentinel believes Jeffries to be ‘temporarily neutralized’ it returns to its primary target. Jeffries exclaims that it takes the stuff of Sentinels to beat Sentinels before declaring that he could get used to this – and Heather replies that she could too, before propelling the giant-sized harpoon with the power of her battle suit.
The harpoon strikes the remaining Sentinel in its chest and as it does, Heather contemplates her feelings for the man she holds in her arms. Mesmero sees the last Sentinel begin to fall, just as the Purple Girls’ parachute takes her down on the platform where he stands. Mesmero thinks he is saved and can now control the rest of the ‘heroic twits’ if they are stupid enough to come after him. Kara thinks that the situation is going to come down to her now and which one of them can dominate the crowd of people. Kara realizes that Mesmero has had more experience than she has and thinks that she should just run.
Purple Girl decides against it however, as she knows she has to prove she belongs in combat situations, and prove she should become a full Alphan. Kara thinks that if she lets Mesmero escape he will only kill more people,and she is the only Alphan with a chance of withstanding his power – he might kill the others if she leaves it up to them. Kara gets Mesmero’s attention by telling him that he is not getting away, to which Mesmero asks her who is going to stop him? Her? Kara tells him that she will, and in case he hadn’t noticed, she has her eyes closed. ‘Just try to find me that way!’ boasts Mesmero before sending her some “playmates”.
Kara thinks to herself ‘Here goes nothing’ and calls ‘STOP’ to the Mesmero’s mind-controlled hostages – who suddenly turn purple and halt in their tracks. Covering her eyes, Kara tells the civilians to ‘sic him’ and as the humans attack Mesmero he is shocked that Kara was able to override his abilities, as it has never been done before, no one has such power! ‘I do! Lucky me!’ mumbles Kara sarcastically before telling Mesmero as he is lead away with a bag over his head by some police that if she practices real hard, then one day she may be better than even he is at messing with peoples minds.
Someone examines Judd and declares that they don’t know how he can still be alive as Jeffries tells Kara that the test is how she uses her power, and so far she is doing fine. Heather announces that Puck is hurt and that they have to get him to New Life. Clutching himself, Judd realizes that Alpha Flight is victorious, and yet despite the concern for him that he detects in Heathers voice, he knows that his powerlessness has again proved a liability to the woman he loves…then everything goes dark.


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

[Assistant]
Plague!
Upon returning home to Tamarind Island, several members of Alpha Flight: Heather McNeil Hudson, a.k.a. team leader “Vindicator”; the handsome Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier, and his unstable sister Aurora; as well as the diminutive Eugene Milton Judd a.k.a. Puck; and the codename-less Madison Jeffries; and Kara Kilgrave, the only current member of Beta Flight, also called the Purple girl enter a room, only to be greeted by Astral projections of two other members – the beautiful goddess Narya a.k.a. Snowbird, and Michael Twoyoungmen, the new Talisman.
Snowbird pleads for Alpha to heed her call and to help her aid her son, to which Judd remarks that it would be nice for once if they could return to Mansion Alpha to find nothing more interesting awaiting them than the mail. Aurora points out that the image is wavering, Jeffries declares that their must be a bad connection, but Heather tells everyone to be quiet before they are cut off. Twoyoungmen informs the Alphans that he has dispatched the spirits he commands via his medicine pouch to implore Alpha’s aid. Snowbird reveals that they have located her son, yet his body is still possessed by the evil soul of Pestilence. She asks her friends and teammates to aid her in seeking her son’s salvation by hastily coming to Burial Butte.
Aurora asks if there will never be any rest, to which her twin brother declares that they will only get rest when they lie cold in their graves, coughing as he says it. Puck tells Jean-Paul that he should take care of his cold, or else he will end up in a grave, and asks him why he didn’t let Scramble cure him, like he fixed him. Northstar just tells Judd to mind his own business.
The Purple Girl protests to Jeffries that she doesn’t want to be left behind, to which Jeffries tells her she will do as she is told. Heather crosses her arms and thinks that for all of Alpha Flight’s bickering, they are starting to sound like a family more than ever, and she has managed to unify them as her late husband never could. She thinks that she may be a better leader than she knows, as Kara informs Jeffries that he is starting to sound like her father. Jeffries tells Kara she is lucky that she never knew her father, as from what he heard, nobody talked back to the Purple Man.
The Purple Girl declares that she could order Jeffries to take her, but Jeffries reminds her that if she uses her manipulation powers on anyone then she is out of the training team Beta Flight, before telling her again that he promised her mother he would look after her. Jeffries tells Kara that he needs her to wait here, just in case his brother phones with news on Bochs. Heather watches Jeffries intently and thinks to herself that his concern for his teammates embodies the new Alpha Flight, and realizes that she likes him, a lot.
Shortly, Kara waves goodbye as Alpha Flight head off in the Omnijet, while at that moment, inside Mansion Alpha something – or rather someone – emerges from Twoyoungmen’s abandoned medicine pouch. His name is Alec Thorne – better known as Smart Alec!
 Meanwhile, at the New Life Clinic, a very unusual treatment is going in one of the underground laboratories. The injured Alphan Roger “Box” Bochs lies on a table, while Jeffries’ brother, Doctor Lionel Jeffries hovers over him, and his assistant, Whitman Knapp stands at a console. Knapp asks Lionel if he really thinks he can cure Box, to which the flesh-mutator declares he can before reminding Whitman that when he hired him as his intern he informed him of his power to make broken bodies whole.
Whitman exclaims that he knows that, for he saw how he cured Puck, and declares that he thinks the authorities are wrong to deny him a license because of his unorthodox methods. Jeffries agrees, but reminds Knapp that as Scramble, he gave the authorities a reason to fear him. However, there are some who Scramble is their only hope for a new life, hence his clinics name! Roger Bochs is one such individual, who incurred a severe case of the bends and now cannot emerge from his armor.
Lionel orders Knapp to initiate the auto-phase, which causes the machinery to come to life, and the incredible occurs: Bochs is phased out of the armor. Lionel compliments the machinery his brother Madison created that wrenched Bochs from the armor, and now he gets to use his own power, on Rogers’ flesh. Bochs is disorientated, and asks where he is. Lionel informs Bochs that he is in his care, and healthy again. ‘Healthy? I’m still only half a man!’ exclaims Roger, before informing Jeffries that it is only a matter of time until Aurora gets tired of loving a cripple, until something better comes along. A glean in Scramble’s eye and the former villain tells Bochs not to despair, especially when he can make him whole again!
Elsewhere, Alpha Flight approach Klondike guided by wind spirits summoned by Twoyoungmen for his teammates. ‘Guide us where?’ asks someone in the Omnijet, as Vindicator, who was flying beside the aircraft, sees where the spirits take them all down. A north-woods mining town which Alphanex identified as Burial Butte, which Heather thinks is named appropriately, as the streets are littered with…’Bodies!’ cries Aurora as she and Jean-Paul fly out of the aircraft.
Northstar reminds his sister of the power of Pestilence, adding that as he possesses Snowbird’s son, he is linked to the life of the land. Jean-Paul continues, (in amongst his coughs) to remind everyone that because Pestilence is one with the dark forces, being linked to the land through Narya’s baby, he can control death. He adds that Pestilence was trapped under Arctic ice for one hundred and fifty years, where he developed an insane jealousy of all things that life, and he is now out to “cure” that situation.
Heather leads the way up to the local RCMP headquarters where Aurora points out that there are dead rats all over the place. Jean-Paul suggests they are probably carriers of some disease Pestilence conjured up. Entering the RCMP post, everyone covers their mouths and noses due to the foul smell, and Jeffries recalls that Snowbirds estranged husband, Doug Thompson, was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As they enter another room, Vindicator declares that he was – and in a room reeking of mortifying flesh, they see Thompson lying on a couch, covered in a blanket.
Heather walks over to Doug, but wracked with some disease, and with not much energy left in him, Doug just tells everyone to listen.
(Flashback)
Thompson tracked across Canada to save his son, he did so by following a mysterious trail of death. The trail was so bizarre that he knew it had to be Pestilence – and he found him too. It was then that Pestilence released the plague. Not long after, Snowbird and Twoyoungmen found Doug, after Twoyoungmen followed his spirits that homed in on the place. Standing over her dying husband, Snowbird asked where her son was, and Thompson replied ‘The mines!’
(Present)
Wearily, Doug looks at the Alphans and reveals that Snowbird and Shaman went into the mines, which is the last he ever heard. Heather clasps Thompson’s hand and asks if Shaman – a doctor – didn’t even try to cure him? ‘And Snowbird’s your wife!’ exclaims Jeffries. Thompson reveals that the plague is incurable, not that Shaman tried, ‘and you take your chances when you marry a goddess, that one day she will regret a union that bars her from paradise’. Thompson exclaims that both he and Snowbird love their son, and he asks Alpha to promise that they will save the baby from Pestilence. ‘We…’ Heather is about to say, but Thompson dies before she can finish speaking.
Soon, Vindicator, Jean-Paul, Aurora, Jeffries and Judd stand at the mouth of the mines. Heather exclaims that you can feel Pestilence’s evil emanating from the caves. Heather declares that two Alphans have already entered and failed to return and that she doesn’t expect any of the others to follow her down. Jeffries tells Heather that she doesn’t have to, as Judd points out, they owe it to Doug Thompson.
Heather and Jeffries lead the way into the cave, but Aurora doesn’t enter – she thinks it is too dark. Jean-Paul reminds his twin that she can generate all the light she needs, while the others all wear light devices designed by Jeffries, and that she has nothing to fear. Aurora realizes her brother is right, before reminding him his cough is getting worse, and that he keeps trying to hide the wound he received in his shoulder while battling the Auctioneer by clutching it all the time, while the two of them cannot touch lest they negate each other’s powers. Judd watches as Shaman’s wind spirits swirl away, almost as if their master no longer lived to command them. ‘Still, we have nothing to fear, but fear itself’ Judd thinks to himself.
As the quintet walks deeper into the mines, the shaft divides in two. Jeffries asks what they should do, and Heather declares that they will split up. ‘Divided we fall’ mumbles Judd, but Heather points out that united, they might not locate Pestilence.
Jeffries thinks to himself that Pestilence will probably find them, but sometimes it doesn’t pay to be right, as he finds out when he is struck at by some giant bugs.
Elsewhere in the cavern, Judd hears Jeffries cry of pain, though he cannot tell who it is from, nor where it comes from – yet the vibrations are setting off a cave in – and the rocks crash down on Judd, burying him.
Aurora looks behind her, and in her native French, she asks Jean-Paul if he lags behind because of his wound. Jean-Paul asks Aurora why it doesn’t heal, and his cough…he has always been in excellent health, as he is an athlete and has never had an ill day in his life. ‘What’s wrong with me?’ he asks, to which Aurora asks him why he did not ask Scramble to examine him. Clutching his wound, Jean-Paul says ‘Perhaps, because I was afraid of what he’d find’.
Aurora tells her twin that he must live with his fear and pain then, when suddenly, a flock of rats begin to swarm over the mutant siblings. Aurora keeps them at bay with her light, while Northstar whirls them away by creating a vortex by spinning around, that is until he is overcome with another coughing fit. He calls to Aurora to help him, but they accidentally bump into each other, moments after Aurora reminded him that if they touch their powers will be canceled out, and robbed of her light, they will both be plunged into darkness – which is exactly what happens.
Jean-Paul cannot see in the darkness, while Aurora reverts into her Jeanne-Marie persona, begging the Sisters of the orphanage she was raised at not to lock her in. Her fear of the dark prevents her from coming to her brother’s aid, abandoning him in the mine while she goes in another direction.
Elsewhere in the mines, Heather thinks to herself that it certainly is dark and wonders how Aurora is going, but lucky for her, her battle suit provides sufficient illumination in the darkness. ‘You mean my battle suit, don’t you darling?’ Heather spins around where she sees her husband – her dead husband, Mac – standing meters away from her. Heather reminds herself that Mac is dead, she saw him die. Heather exclaims that she has gotten over the guilt that it was she who killed him, and tells “Mac” that he is just an illusion Pestilence has dredged from the doubts of her mind, adding that she has learned that in a fight, doubts can lead to death. With that, Heather fires an electromagnetic blast at the illusion of her husband, and he disappears, only to be replaced by Wolverine!
Hands on hips, “Wolverine” tells Heather that she is learning to fight fast, even without his help, but slagging her own old man? “Wolverine” suggests that she might be turning into a killing machine, like he is. Heather exclaims to Pestilence that that would make her more amenable to his control, before blasting the image of Wolverine away.
Suddenly Judd walks up to Heather and asks her what she was doing by killing Mac then Wolverine. Heather declares that Mac is already dead and Logan was an illusion. Judd suggests that maybe Pestilence can raise the dead, ‘and if Logan is really the “Killing Machine” that he claims to be…’ Heather understands what Judd means and realizes that their enemy may have been able to control him and bring him here. But she is not that gullible, and exclaims that Logan was no more real ‘than you!’ and fires at the Judd image.
Jeffries appears next and asks Heather what she plans on doing – frying every guy who she ever loved or who ever loved her? ‘Mister Jeffries!’ exclaims Heather, but Jeffries tells her to call him “Madison” as it is his name, but suggests that she would probably like to call him something else – ‘like husband?’ ‘No! Yes! Maybe! I don’t know!’ exclaims Heather, before realizing that this is not the place to discuss it, and the mere fact that Jeffries is discussing it, means that he is not really him, and somehow Pestilence is playing upon the doubts that eat away at her self-consciousness.
Hoping she is right, Heather acts to dispel her doubts, and the illusions, and there is enough doubt to unleash a less than lethal blast. When the Jeffries illusion is gone, Heather sees Puck lying in amongst some fallen rocks and rushes over to him. Judd is still, not breathing as Heather wonders if Pestilence’s plan was to get her to blast away at mirages, while positioning her so that her blasts would slay the weakest Alphan. She declares that she won’t let Puck die and begins to give him mouth-to-mouth.
Judd stirs, and waking he says to Heather ‘So you can love a dwarf?’ Heather asks Judd if he was faking, and pulls away from him quickly. ‘Hardly’ Judd replies before explaining that yogic-breath control comes in handy when you get buried alive, before telling Heather that she didn’t answer his question. Matter-of-factly Heather reminds Judd that Pestilence just tried to use her to kill him, and so questions about their feelings for each other will have to wait until they find out what he is doing to their fellow Alphans.
‘I will do penance, Sisters’ exclaims Jeanne-Marie while she admits that she understands she is only a humble, lowly creature capable of only crawling her way towards the divine ‘light?!’ exclaims Aurora as her powers return and she is bathed in light and the Jeanne-Marie person fades away like a bad dream.
With her part of the mine glowing, Aurora sees Jeffries battling some giant insects. She is stunned by the armor he is wearing, and Jeffries asks her if she likes it, before revealing that he created it out of the metals in the mine. As Aurora strikes one of the creatures, she tells Jeffries that his armor is ‘most becoming’. Jeffries exclaims that his armor is fast becoming soaked with sweat, and suggests they mop up the creatures made form coal and join the others so he can slip out of the armor.
‘Coal creatures?’ Aurora asks, before Jeffries explains that as Pestilence controls the forces of death and decay, coal is composed out of the compressed remains of long-dead organic matter like trees and dinosaurs. The finish fighting the bugs and Jeffries removes his armor as Aurora exclaims that they have defeated Pestilence’s pawns together. ‘That’s teamwork’ says Jeffries, before Aurora puts a hand on Jeffries shoulder and tells him that their relationship could be more than that.
‘Our what?’ asks Jeffries before realizing Aurora is making a pass at him, so he reminds her she is Bochs’ girl. Aurora tells him the thing she has with Bochs is merely a flirtation, ‘and when I could have a whole man…’ Jeffries walks hastily away from Aurora declaring that he feels rather soiled and doesn’t think it is caused by the coal dust. ‘Am I not allowed to love any man I like?’ Aurora asks. Jeffries replies ‘Sure, but don’t expect them all to love you back’.
Elsewhere, the handsome Jean-Paul stumbles through the twisting caverns, coughing as he calls to his sister, he wants to make sure that she is all right after she abandoned him when her powers canceled out. He wishes he had the strength to run, when he sees a light ahead. Coming around the bend he sees not his sister, but the glow of Twoyoungmen’s staff, commanding Snowbird, in the form Jean-Paul’s friend has adopted of late, the Albino Sasquatch, and she is being used to slay Pestilence!
Jean-Paul can hear Pestilence tells Talisman that he is right for summoning his teammates, as their arrival has kept his evil powers diverted, so that Snowbird has almost destroyed his corporeal form. Jean-Paul races down to the battleground where he asks Shaman to stop Snowbird, for the body she is attacking belongs to her son. Twoyoungmen reminds Jean-Paul that the baby's body is now shaped by the evil of Pestilence’s soul, and declares that it is better one child should perish than the entire world allowed to be corrupted by Pestilence.
Jean-Paul asks Shaman if his transcendence to Talisman has caused him to become so removed from humanity that he can make that choice, when the speedster is struck down by the controlled Snowbird. Pestilence gets up and declares that it seems that the all-seeing Sarcee is unwilling to allow Jean-Paul to postpone his demise, to the extent that he would even order Snowbird to drive him into his embrace! ‘What are you doing?’ cries Jean-Paul, as Pestilence picks him up and kisses him, thus feeding on the decay he senses within him which makes the villain stronger.
Jean-Paul trembles as he asks Pestilence what he means by decay within him, and as he regenerates, Pestilence reveals that Jean-Paul is dying, and that his kiss has accelerated the slow disease that spreads like a cancer through his cells. ‘Thank you, Northstar! Your death has given me new life!’
Vindicator and the rest of Alpha Flight arrive on the scene and Heather tells Pestilence he will not savor it long. Twoyoungmen approaches his teammates and tells Heather that she knows not what she is about to do. Heather boasts that she does – that Alpha Flight will destroy Pestilence without sacrificing any of their own. Shaman states that Pestilence is too powerful and that to defeat him one must destroy his host body. Heather suggests to Shaman that the way he has distanced himself from humanity has blinded him to a more human solution, and tells him to join Alpha in finding a different way to stop Pestilence, or step aside.
Twoyoungmen declares that he cannot go against his judgment and therefore releases Snowbird. Narya uncontrollably changes back into her default form, and Shaman tells Alpha Flight to do as they will. ‘As we must!’ exclaims Heather as she orders Alpha Flight to take Pestilence down. Those capable spring into action, as Judd reminds them to be careful, as the power of death flows through Pestilence’s hands.
Aurora does not heed the warning and flies too close to the villain, who adds that he also controls decay and grabbing Aurora, Pestilence exclaims that if he cannot kill outright, he will hasten the death within each human. He tosses Aurora into the arms of Jeffries, who catches her as she is now transformed into a withered old hag. Judd points out that unless they defeat Pestilence soon, Aurora will die of old age.
Pestilence asks Puck how he plans on defeating him when all he has to do it unleash another death force on Alpha. Judd does cartwheels around Pestilence while realizing to himself that Pestilence must be talking about the demon Razer whose dark soul remains trapped inside his small body. It is this energy, his being a human prison, that turned him into a dwarf. He knows that if he lets Pestilence release Razer, he will case being a miniature mockery of a man, and become someone Heather may be able to love. But Judd knows that faced with two foes, Alpha will surely be doomed.
Puck cannot let Pestilence touch him and so darts aside as Heather asks him why he does not fight. Judd doesn’t give his answer out-loud, merely thinks to himself that he cannot, and after already being called the weakest Alphan, Vindicator may now consider him a coward as well. Vindicator strikes Pestilence with an electromagnetic blast, to which the demon tells Heather that if she harms him then she risks harming the child whose form he has possessed.
Pestilence fades away and the form of Snowbird’s son is only seen. The baby turns to Snowbird and says ‘Mommy! Don’t hurt me anymore!’ Narya turns away from the child, as Heather asks her to help save the baby. Narya reminds her friend that the child binds her to humanity as her husband did, and if he should die, she would be free to join the Gods in paradise.
The baby lies on the ground and Heather reminds Narya that it is her baby. Pestilence assumed the form of the child to cause Alpha Flight to hesitate – but his ploy has some unexpected side effects. The baby begins to cry as it calls to its mother. Snowbird turns and looks at it, she thinks it calls to her with such love, such longing, and picking it off the ground she wonders how she could ever have thought to disown the flesh of her flesh.
The child’s needs are genuine, and Pestilence realizes the danger of too long remaining in a vessel filled with such longing for life, so to the horror of Snowbird he transforms back into his true form, for the child nearly corrupted him, just as he has sought to corrupt the child. However, Pestilence senses that he may be able to control Snowbird, by forcing her to become the Albino Sasquatch again, one of the Great Beasts who were embodiments of death and decay when the planet Earth was still young.
Snowbird uncontrollably transforms into the Albino Sasquatch and forced to do Pestilence’s biding, he gives the goddess her first command – ‘Slay me!’ Alpha Flight is shocked by this, Judd asks Heather whether they help Snowbird or try and stop her, to which Alpha’s leader replies that she doesn’t know. Twoyoungmen declares that he knows now, as it has all become clear. He informs the other Alphans that the child’s life force is corrupting Pestilence, and by slaying the child, Pestilence’s spirit will be released and free to seek another host.
Judd leaps forward, as Snowbird is still attacking the demon, but Heather reminds Judd that Pestilence is in control of Snowbird, and that he will not be able to stop her. ‘Keep reminding me of my powerlessness and I may come to believe it’ says Judd, just before he is swatted away by Snowbird.
Vindicator realizes that she is alone and has to decide what to do. She knows Pestilence is evil incarnate and if his spirit is freed there is no telling what havoc he will wreck on Earth, but so long as he possesses the body of Snowbird’s baby, there is a chance the infants soul will corrupt him. As Snowbird looms over Pestilence, Heather realizes that all they have to do is let Pestilence live so the child can take over… ‘But to do that I may have to destroy Snowbird!’
Vindicator calls to Shaman to help her, suggesting that he wrest control of Snowbird and to take her away from Pestilence. Twoyoungmen declares that having been proven wrong once already, he cannot predict with any accuracy the consequences of such a course of action, and therefore dare not act.
Pestilence tells his “mother” that there is no one left to stop her – and Snowbird drives a hand into the form of her baby, one moment before Heather unleashes the plasma blast she should have fired a moment ago. Snowbird, in the Albino Sasquatch form, cries out as she is struck down, while Pestilence flies free from the dead baby’s body.
Hours later, back on Tamarind Island. The Alphans carry the bodies of the dead from the Omnijet, Heather telling Jeffries to be careful with them. Purple Girl rushes over to them, when she suddenly she sees the body bags. Aurora asks Kara if she has never seen one before, and Judd tells her she better get used to it. Jeffries tells her that it is Snowbird in her Sasquatch form as well as her husband and son.
‘You mean, sometimes even heroes die?’ asks Kara. Heather walks away from the others, telling Kara that it is worse than that, for ‘sometimes, especially when we stand alone, some of us even have to kill them’. Inside the mansion, nobody sees Heather McNeil Hudson cry, for the death of her friend and the fact she killed her, except the six-inch tall member of Omega Flight that once tried to destroy her!