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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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You Can’t Tell the Forest from the Trees
From outer space fall several seeds…falling towards the Victory Stadium in Haysboro, where the Haysboro Hawks are locked in a ninth-inning tie with the Calgary Chinooks, for the division title in the All-Canada Junior League Players of 1987. On the field, someone whacks the ball towards Tommy Mayhew, who all summer has dreamed of making the critical catch for the season. This afternoon, that dream is about to become a reality.
As Tommy holds out his baseball glove ready for the catch, he sees two balls heading for him, but, in his confusion, thinking it must be the sun in his eyes, he concentrates to make the catch – he does – and everyone applauds him. Someone on the opposition team points out that Tommy missed the ball … but if it is not the ball in Tommy’s glove, then what? Tommy opens the glove, which makes a hissing sound as he does. His coach calls to him, asking what it is he is looking at. Another kid points out there must be something in his glove.
The glove opens, and round object in it begins to sprout vines. Tommy cries out, but no one can hear him and his parents, spectator and fellow players are too far away to see the vines extend and crawl over him until they begin to cover him. The coach swears at Tommy as the boy turns and walks away from the field, mumbling that if he were him he would slink home, too . A kid points out that Tommy isn't heading home, but going towards the woods. For the thing that has taken possession of Tommy Mayhew, the forest bordering the stadium is perhaps the nearest Earthly analogue to what it would regard as home.
Haysboro was also home to a young woman named Heather McNeil Hudson … but that was a long time ago. Now she is one of Canada’s premiere super heroes, Vindicator, and it has been a long time since she has been home. Heather remembers that other people in the town called Claire and Ramsey McNeil, and their children “the Brood”. She recalls that they were happy times…until she met Mac.
(Flashbacks)
Claire McNeil holds her daughter back as Ramsey McNeil forces James MacDonald out of the McNeil home, telling him that he will not have him exposing his daughter to whatever dirty and dangerous work he is involved in for the government. Heather cries out, telling her dad that she loves Mac. So stifled by her parents overprotectiveness, Heather eloped with Mac one summer night.
However somehow Heather’s parents tracked her down and found her and Mac with one of Mac’s “dirty, dangerous government protégés”. Ramsey burst into the apartment, telling Mac that he has come to take Heather home – which causes Logan to jump up in front of Ramsey and unsheathing his claws he says ‘Only if she wants to go, old man’.
The McNeils leave the apartment quickly, Mac informs Ramsey that he can explain about Logan, but Ramsey snaps back that he cannot, for he is a animal, not a man. ‘Those claws!’ sobs Claire as Heather tries to console her mother. Mac tells Heather not to apologize, for it is not her fault that her parents are too narrowminded to appreciate that the work they’re involved in is for the greater good.
‘Whose good, Hudson?’ asks Ramsey, wondering what Heather is supposed to do with all the medals when Mac and ‘your “Department H” freaks’ go off and get themselves killed. ‘Hard words,’ comments Logan, to which Mac replies that they may have been true words, for they are in a pretty lousy line of work.
The McNeils returned to Calgary and cut off al ties with Heather, however her father’s words were prophetic, for Department H did splinter, Logan joined the X-Men – and Mac, as Guardian died not long after forging Canada’s first super hero team … Alpha Flight.
(Present)
Heather tells herself that Alpha Flight is her team now, with whom she was trying to find some sort of psychiatric care for the deranged Roger Bochs, when a call was relayed to their Tamarind Island HQ from their government liaison, Gary Cody that her parents were asking her to come home. Heather agreed, but with mixed feelings, for she feels that Mansion Alpha is her true home now and Alpha Flight is her family. She knows Bochs needs help, but realizes that Jeffries and Puck are as capable of treating him as she is, and after all these years of having purposely hardening her heart against them for casting her out, right now, Heather finds that more than anything else in the world, she wants to see her mother.
On cue, Claire McNeil walks out to the yard where Heather has just landed. Heather opens her arms, telling her mother she is answering the call. Claire tells Heather that they always knew Mac’s line of work was dangerous, then they heard that he had been injured, perhaps even killed. She declares that they were frightened for him, and she begins to cry at seeing Heather wearing the costume.
Heather asks her mother if that was the reason she asked her home – to rehash the same old fears and defiantly informs her mother that she is wearing Mac’s costume, the one he died in, but that he was called Guardian and she is called Vindicator – for she has much to avenge. Pulling some other clothes out of a bag, Heather reveals that the battle-suit feels more natural to her than any other sort of clothes before asking her mother if she understands that when she chose Mac, she chose his life – for better or worse.
Heather’s father, Ramsey McNeil, walks into the yard and tells his daughter that they couldn’t understand, for they thought danger was best left to the authorities. Claire informs her daughter that they did not want to see her or Mac hurt, and to Heather’s surprise, her father admits that the irony of it all is that now there is a danger in Haysboro which the authorities cannot handle, so they show her that they are hypocrites by calling on her.
Heather begins to ask about the danger, and her mother tells her it is horrible. Claire hugs her daughter as Heather declares she will take care of it, and Ramsey tells her that they will explain as much as they know inside the house.
Looking around the living room, Heather notes that everything is so familiar, yet so different too. Ramsey declares that the McNeils put down their roots in Haysboro because they thought nothing would ever change – but he was wrong. He informs Heather that after all of their children had grown up, he and Claire retired, and then out of boredom – or possibly fear of being alone he admits – he agreed to become coach for the Haysboro Hawks baseball team, which is why he contacted her, for in the past two weeks, several of his players as well as other kids from around the town … have disappeared! ‘And you thought Alpha Flight could help?’ asks Heather.
Later, Heather flies towards the baseball stadium, telling herself that if it were anyone other than her father she would not do it, for searching for missing children is the responsibility of the local police or the RCMP, and that calling in Alpha Flight is like ‘hiring King Kong to exterminate termites!’ Heather doesn’t see any of the children at the grounds, but sees her father pull up in his car at their rendezvous point.
Heather realizes it is a good thing she left the rest of Alpha Flight on Tamarind Island and came alone, for she would be furious with her father – if he wasn’t so frightened. Heather asks her father if the kids have just vanished and no one has done anything about them. Ramsey is about to call his daughter Heather, but changes it to Vindicator as he informs her the police and RCMP have searched the town thoroughly. “Whoops,’ Heather tells herself.
Ramsey informs Heather that so far not a trace has been found and now parents are frantic. He asks her why else he would have taken the ultimate step of contacting her after all these years. ‘Open mind, insert foot’ Heather thinks to herself. Ramsey tells Heather that he sympathizes with the parents, for he knows what it is like to lose a child. Realizing he is referring to her, Heather tells her father that she is here to help.
Ramsey tells Heather that he now understands about this “greater good” Mac spoke of. Heather wishes she understood it, for she hasn’t felt the same about Mac since Lady Deathstrike hinted that he was responsible for transforming Logan into Wolverine without his consent. Ramsey tells Heather that he almost wishes they did not contact her, he would rather she were far away, because having found her, he would hate to lose her again.
Heather is about to say something, when she sees something on the side of the road. Ramsey stops the car, and getting out to investigate they discover a kid’s bicycle. Ramsey points out that if the headlamp had not been on they probably wouldn't have noticed it. Heather realizes that it could not have been abandoned too long ago, or else the battery would have run down, which means whoever was riding it, was out alone at night.
Ramsey informs his daughter that Haysboro imposed a curfew when the disappearances began, ‘but you know kids…’ Opening a book that had come out of the bicycle’s basket, Ramsey sees that it belongs to Simone Chenen and that her brother Eric is one of the kids he coaches. He wonders how her parents could have let her out, but Heather reminds her father of what he said only moments ago… “Kids!”
Taking to the air, Heather asks her father to stay where he is while she scouts around. Ramsey agrees, when he seems some sort of seedpods all over the road. He realizes that some of them must have cracked open when he drove over them and picking one up he wonders what kinds of tree they become, when out of the pod vines sprout and take over Ramsey. Strange thoughts run like sap through what remains of Ramsey’s mind. “Join us. Join us. Join us”. And standing on the edge of the woods, are several more plant creatures, whom Ramsey joins.
In the forest, Heather scouts around and tells herself that her father was justified in summoning her, for the local authorities had their turn but couldn’t find anything. She thinks that for the future, she should establish some sort of “danger threshold” below which Alpha cannot be called upon to deal with. Noticing some holes in part of the forest, Heather realizes that maybe this exceeds that threshold after all, for kids aren’t the only ones missing! She suspects from the clearing that somebody has uprooted an entire grove of trees and carried them away.
Thinking it weird, she flies back to tell her father – but when she reaches the car she sees that the lights are on and the motor is still running, but her father is gone! Suddenly, from one of the pods, a vine touches her and she sees the seed pods strewn all over the road, some of them cracked under the weight of the car. Heather doesn’t know what kind of tree they fell off, but noticing one sizzled vine, she realizes that they cannot stand her electromagnetic forcefield, so uses a plasma blast on them, which causes them to open, and for the plant – or whatever it is – inside to wither and die.
Heather stands in amongst the mess and realizes that her powers destroyed those vines already out of their shells, but also opened up the shells of the others, releasing them. She sees that it took almost all of her battle-suits power to incinerate them and wonders what would have happened if she did not stop them. She wonders if they would have done to her what they must have already don’t to the missing kids…and her father!
Back at the McNeil home, Simone Chenen’s mother declares that she told Simone not to leave her Girl Scout meeting until she came to get her. Claire tries to comfort Mrs. Chenen and suggests that she tells the officers everything. One of the officers tells Claire that he understand what they have is another missing kid before his fellow officer asks where Ramsey is. Claire cautiously replies that Ramsey had to go out.
Suddenly, Claire hears Ramsey calls to her, and Mrs. Chenen hears her daughter. The two women go out into the backyard, where they are greeted by several plant creatures. The officers come to protect the woman and shoot the creatures with their guns. One of the officers wonders what good bullets are against a walking forest, and they soon find out – that they are no good.
Vindicator flies towards the creatures and keeps them at bay with a electromagnetic blast. Claire almost calls her daughters’ name, but quickly announces that it is Vindicator, and the policemen wonder what the leader of Alpha Flight is doing here. Heather recalls that she asked herself the same question when she first arrived back, for the disappearance of children was too common place to get Alpha Flight involved, but she now realizes that it is hazardous to overlook the seemingly ordinary.
She wonders how she can determine when to dispatch Alpha Flight into danger, just another thing she has to burden as team leader, and something to deal with after she has cleaned up the walking forest. “The Superhuman daren’t hurt us! Try and she dooms those within us!” remark the walking trees. The police officers declare that they recognize the voice, for even though it is distorted, it belongs to Ramsey McNeil!
Heather sees her mothers reaction to this revelation and thinks to herself that the trees have planted their seeds throughout Haysboro possessing her father and the children, and like any species struggling to survive, they will go on reproducing until they are stopped. Heather realizes the creatures must feel their numbers are sufficient enough to try and directly overwhelm the townspeople, and knows that she alone must stop them.  But she also understands that by destroying the creatures it means destroying family and cannot do it.
‘But I have to…for Mac’s “Greater Good”’ she thinks to herself, and even though she realizes she may earn Haysboro's unending hatred, at least she will stop the spread of these trees across Canada and the rest of the world. ‘I can take that into comfort…cant I?’ Heather unleashes her power on the creatures, the police officers have no other solution and the creatures begin to burn from the electromagnetic blasts.
Heather listens to the creatures as they cry out that they burn and notes that they no longer speak with the voices of those they took over, as if they sense their deception of holding the families hostage can no longer shield them from her assault. She wonders what kind of creatures they are and realizes they cannot be from Earth, guessing that they fell to Earth as seeds, encased in pods hardened against the rigors of space. She wonders if atmospheric friction – like her force bursts shattered the first pod, which setting down roots in some human soil grew and put forth a new seed, a viscous cycle!
Heather wonders why they have to have human hosts and why they had to force her to slay the children in slaying them. The creatures cry out as their alien bark blackens and burns and mingled with the acrid odor of wood, ablaze wafts the sour scent of singed flesh… or as the bark gives way, the children are revealed underneath.
Heather never dreamed they would still be alive inside the trees and never dreamed that she would actually be able to save them. She lands on the ground, realizing that the trees only encased the children in hard bark, much as the pods encased the children. Instead, assuming there was no hope for the children, she unleashed the full force of her battle-suit, thus incinerating those she didn’t think she could save.
One child has fully emerged from the plant, she falls into a small pond and Heather stands over her, wondering if it is a child, or if the soul of the tree has been internalized into it as part of some new deception, daring her to kill a fellow human. The child calls to her mother, and Heather decides that it must be a real child, and she then realizes why the trees needed human hosts, for their environment must be radically different from Earth’s. Every world must harbor’s its own diseases and pollutants, and the humans of Earth have had millions of years to acclimatize themselves, so by planting themselves in indigenous life forms the trees sought to parasitically acquire their immunities.
Heather decides that she may have a chance to stop the trees’ spread and save the children and unleashes more electromagnetic power on them. Mrs. Chenen declares that they have to stop Vindicator for she is killing their babies, but Claire informs her that it is for the greater good. Although it would appear that nothing – alien or human could survive Vindicator’s assault, Heather has no intention of harming the possessed children. She sees the bark burn away and expose the alien organisms to Earth’s environment, which means the trees are dying.
However Heather realizes that the children will also die as they are consumed by the fires her force bursts have set, unless she makes use of her mothers pond, and with an electromagnetic pulse she knocks the water over the blazing fire, extinguishing the flames and revealing her father and the missing children, safe. Ramsey tells Vindicator that they are all safe, thanks to her. As she flies over to them, this time it is Heather who nearly makes the mistake of addressing Ramsey as her father, but quickly calls him Mr. McNeil, relieved at his survival.
The police officers examine everyone and announce that the burns are mostly first-degree, but otherwise okay. Heather and Claire hug Ramsey as he tells them he feels so soiled and violated, for the trees were feeding on them, sinking their roots into his arteries. Ramsey informs Heather that she saved them just in time, as the creatures were slowly taking over their minds, and much longer and they would have been reduced to nothing but food supplies.
Tommy Mayhew walks up to Vindicator and asks her if they will be back, and motioning to the sky, Heather informs him that she thinks they cam from “out there” and that whether space harbors more of their kind and whether destiny will guide the pods to Earth again, all she can say is…the little boy says it for her: ‘Look to the stars’. Heather agrees, and informs everyone that after they clean up all the pods, she thinks Haysboro and all of Earth will be safe.
But half-buried and unnoticed in the McNeil backyard an unearthly capsule goes unnoticed, waiting only for time, weather, or the blades of a lawn mower to penetrate its hard outer shell, and set the terror free!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Madness
Tamarind Island, the home of Canada’s premiere super heroes – Alpha Flight, where today, in the sub-levels of their mansion headquarters and home, the team is divided. Held in a tank for his own safety and the safety of others, the scientist Roger Bochs calls his teammates traitors and liars and boasts that he will kill them all for doing this to him, starting with Aurora, who led him on. He asks Aurora if she hears him, and looking away, Aurora replies that she does.
From inside the Box armor, Madison Jeffries tells Bochs to calm down as he is just making things worse. Team leader, Heather Hudson a.k.a. “Vindicator” wonders how much worse it could get – for Roger’s love was rejected by Aurora and he attacked Alpha, forcing his best friend, Jeffries, to expel him from the armor. Adding to all this of course is his recently restored legs which seem to be decaying – it is enough to drive any man to madness!
 Roger reminds Heather of all her “team spirit” talk and asks how that is upheld with everything they have done to him. Heather reminds Roger that it was he who left them and that he was trying to destroy Aurora. Roger calls her a tramp, but Heather declares that she is a fellow Alphan, despite what transpired between the two of them. Roger boasts that he had the power to destroy them all and pointing at Jeffries exclaims that he would have succeeded if he hadn’t stolen his robot. Jeffries reminds Bochs that while he designed the robot, it was his own transmutative powers that built it and declares that he couldn’t watch as he hurt his friends.
Aurora tells everyone to look at Roger’s eyes, that she can see his hate for her. Aurora’s handsome twin brother, Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier tells his sister that she gave him every reason. This surprises Wanda Langkowski, who knows Jean-Paul would have never criticized his sister in the old days, but she realizes that a lot has changed since between the time Walter Langkowski was reborn as Wanda.
Eugene Milton Judd, the diminutive Alphan known as “Puck” tells Roger that he is still an Alphan and they intend to help him. Judd wonders to himself whether he is still an Alphan or if Alpha Flight has outgrown the need for an agile, but otherwise powerless dwarf? Kara Kilgrave, the Beta Flight member known as “Purple Girl” asks if they can help Bochs, and Jeffries tells her they are going to try –that is what friends are for.
From inside his holding tank, Roger exclaims that none of them are friends of his, as the ill Jean-Paul thinks to himself that all of Alpha Flight blames Aurora for what has happened to Bochs. Aurora stands before Bochs and asks him why he accuses her, for it is no her fault she was lonely when Walter died. ‘I did give you pleasure, did I not?’ Aurora asks before exclaiming that when she thought her Walter could be restored to her, how was she supposed to know he would return as a woman?
‘Caught me by surprise too, beautiful,’ mumbles Wanda. Heather tells Wanda – after almost calling her “Walter” – that her remarkable rebirth as a female Sasquatch caught them all of guard. Heather wonders what kind of team it is that she leads now. She is sure of herself after inheriting the battle suit from her late husband, but wonders if she can count on Judd, who is continually being injured in battle. The same goes for Northstar – who has been sick ever since their encounter with Pestilence. ‘Aurora? If Bochs is nuts, she’s borderline’. Heather continues with her thoughts, knowing that Snowbird is gone and in her place they have an Albino Sasquatch. Heather realizes that the Purple Girl’s powers make her formidable, but that she is just a kid, and feels the only one she can count on if Jeffries …
‘Penny for your thoughts, Vindicator?’ Wanda asks. But Heather doesn’t answer, knowing that it is not her thoughts that Sasquatch really wants to hear, but her decisions for as team leader, all the hard choices fall upon her. Northstar coughs that he does not see what choices they really have, for clearly Bochs has gone insane and therefore must be put away. Jeffries lunges at Jean-Paul, calling him a creep, and boasting that he never cared for anyone but himself and his sister.
Aurora leaps to her brother’s defense, telling Jeffries that she will not let him harm Jean-Paul as long as he defends the mad Bochs. ‘Coming from a flake like you, that’s a hoot!’ laughs Jeffries before telling Aurora not to push him, or else he just may turn out the lights. Aurora halts as Box takes Jean-Paul in one of his hands. Jean-Paul calls Jeffries an ‘insufferable insensitive lout’ and asks him how he dare threaten his sister with darkness, the one thing she fears the most.
Jean-Paul begins to use his super speed to smash the Box armor, telling Jeffries that he will not talk once his fists shatter the armor – but Jeffries lifts Jean-Paul up, suggesting he catch his breath first, and Jean-Paul has another coughing fit. Vindicator orders Sasquatch to separate them, and as Wanda transforms into her white Sasquatch form she jokes that it is nice to know nothing changed much while she was a floating phantom in another dimension, ‘Alpha spends more time fighting among itself than it does fighting the enemy’.
Kara turns to Judd and asks him if what Sasquatch says is true and whether or not it is like that all the time around here. ‘No, Kara, sometimes it is even worse!’ Judd replies. Heather exclaims that this is about the lowest point she has presided over and wants it stopped now. She tells Jeffries, as Jean-Paul is set free and Wanda restrains him, that she is disappointed in him especially.
Jeffries apologizes and admits that he lost his cool, and as he leaps out of the Box armor declares that Northstar also got him thinking, that there is somebody who may be able to help put Bochs’ scrambled brain back together again – his brother, Scramble! ‘No!’ cries Heather, ‘Yes!’ exclaims Jean-Paul, ‘Huh?’ says the surprised Jeffries. Everyone turns to Jean-Paul after he agreed with Jeffries, for he has always disliked Scramble, but Jean-Paul exclaims that Lionel Jeffries is the only one who can cure … Bochs.
Heather realizes that Jean-Paul almost said, “cure myself” and wonders why he would want to go to Scramble for a cold – unless he is suffering from something worse and hiding the extent of it from them. Heather hates running to Scramble every time an Alphan gets hurt, for it is a growing “quick fix”. Most of all though, Heather hates placing herself at the mercy of the once-madman who made her hate her own body. Wanda tells Heather that she understands her hesitation…Heather knows where Wanda is going with this, and exclaims that Scramble managed to cure his own madness so he is the perfect choice to cure Bochs…but reminds everyone that Scramble was also responsible for supposedly restoring Bochs’ legs.
Northstar suggests that you cannot blame the doctor because the patient failed to recover Judd declares that in some societies people do – with a noticeable decline in the mortality rate. Judd thinks to himself that Northstar is very insistent upon consulting Scramble, and recalls that he has suspected for sometime that his lingering illness is worse than he has let on. Judd admits to himself that he would like Scramble to use his healing hands to put himself back into fighting shape, and only if he dared ask him to cure his dwarfism … though that would mean unleashing the demon inside him upon the world.
Jeffries declares that Bochs is his friend and will trust no one but his brother with his care. Heather still doesn’t like the idea but cannot think of a decent reason to veto taking Bochs to Scramble She realizes that Lionel Jeffries did restructure his own mind, thus curing him of his own insanity – or so it would seem at least. However, Heather wonders if Lionel Jeffries is still unbalanced, but in a more subtle way - Alpha would still be at his mercy! On the other side Heather realizes that if Lionel can cure Bochs’ mental and physical problems, they will have back an Alphan and Jeffries will have back a friend.
Heather agrees to taking Bochs to New Life and Jeffries leaves to put in a call to his brother. Heather watches Madison leave the room and realizes that he would do anything – risk anything – for friendships and that she likes that. Heather realizes she finds herself liking everything about a man for the first time … since Mac died.
Later, at the New Life Clinic, an isolated sanitarium to which Canada sends all of its hopelessly incurable, unsuspecting that the medical magic taking place here has its secrets source in the transmutative powers of Doctor Lionel Jeffries – Scramble. Alpha gather around a small pool where Bochs is being held and Lionel Jeffries, garbed in robes, stands over him, declaring that this is very sad. Jeffries asks his brother if he can cure Bochs like he cured himself, but Lionel replies that it was a very different situation.
Lionel reveals that while he was mad, there was another mind – that of his brother – that was close enough to his own physiologically that he was able to use as a matrix for re-ordering his brain. He declares that transmutating other minds without such a matrix, is far more difficult than mending bruised and broken bodies by a laying on of hands. As he says that, Lionel Jeffries demonstrates by healing Judds injured arm.
Jean-Paul watches and declares to himself that he needs to seek Scramble’s aid and ask him to cure his Pestilence-provoked illness – but out of the presence of others. Heather asks Lionel if he cannot cure Bochs’ madness then, to which the healer informs Heather that she sounds almost relieved. ‘Do I?’ Heather asks, while thinking to herself that although she heartily wants Bochs to be restored, she is almost glad for anything that reduces Alpha’s reliance on Scramble.
Scramble asks Heather if she still mistrusts him for what he once was and declares that he cannot fault her fear, but reminds her he has tried to demonstrate his repentance by aiding Alpha Flight, even though he failed to permanently restore Bochs’ legs or Sasquatch’s masculinity. Wanda tells Lionel that he did his best, to which the doctor replies that he must do better if he is to earn their leader’s forgiveness. He knows he must adhere to Vindicator’s high standards of perfection, that he must not fail as she never fails.
Heather picks up on Lionel’s sarcasm and tells him his point is taken, for she understands that she is not perfect and has made lots of mistakes, but is not happy about her errors, though she has never had Alpha blame her for them, they just tell her that she has done her best – just as Lionel is trying to do. Heather asks Lionel to try and cure Bochs …‘please’.
Lionel declares that he shall and asks his brother to transmutate Bochs’ containment tank into a more suitable form. Jeffries informs Lionel that he cannot so long as he is inside the Box armor, so instead he lifts the tank up. Lionel turns to his intern, Whitman Knapp and crossly tells him to tear his eyes off the Purple Girl so that he can assist him. The surprised young doctor complies and follows his employer as they leave the room. Alpha are informed that it may take some time, to which Wanda declare that they will wait. Northstar thinks to himself that he will seek Scramble out on his own, while Aurora exclaims that she hopes Roger can be cured – but Puck wonders if she really does at all.
Time passes, and Alpha Flight are sitting around waiting – which Heather wishes was something that they didn’t have to do. Sasquatch points out that it has been hours, while Aurora exclaims that knowing there is several hundred feet of earth between the surface of the clinic is as suffocating for her as being plunged into darkness. Kara agrees with Aurora, and thinks to herself that she never thought she would have anything in common, least of all claustrophobia with a ‘nympho like Aurora’.
Judd stands by Heather, longing to speak to her about his love for her, but she has already rejected him once, and his recent failures in battle can hardly have made him any more desirable in her eyes. Heather has thoughts of love too – but she wonders if Madison feels the same way about her as she feels about him. Sasquatch walks over to where Jean-Paul is sitting down and jokes that they hope the hordes of evil lay off the world while they are stuck down here and asks Jean-Paul if he would mind getting up. Jean-Paul does so, and as he asks why his question is answered – for Sasquatch transforms back into Wanda and asks Jean-Paul if no one told him it was good manners to ‘rise and give your seat to a lady?’
In the “operating theater”, Roger calls Madison a “Judas” for turning against him and caging him, not to mention delivering him again to the madman who grafted the rotting limbs to him. Jeffries tries to calm Bochs, but Lionel declares that Bochs’ outburst was perfectly just, for he did promise to make him whole again yet failed miserably.
Lionel turns away from his companions and declares that having already failed, should he dare tamper with Bochs’ mind? Jeffries leaves the Box armor and reminds his brother that there is no one else, but Lionel declares that there is – that Canada has plenty of competent psychiatrists and psychologists. But as Madison points out, all of their patients are normal people. Lionel concurs, as his patients are abnormal – Alphans, requiring unusual treatment.
Lionel excuses himself while he seals off the area, to which Madison asks why, for he thought the lab was secret. ‘Can’t be too careful,’ Lionel replies before revealing that he learned that when he first attempted to restore Bochs’ legs, for instead of using living human tissue, caution compelled him to extract flesh from corpses. This shocks Madison, and he exclaims that he thought he used Bochs’ own body mass.
‘Of course you did’ Lionel exclaims as he tells Madison that no one – especially Alpha’s judgmental leader could have known the truth. Cautiously, Madison asks ‘what truth, Lionel?’ Lionel reminds his brother that New Life caters to the incurable, and that some he has successfully restored by giving them parts taken from others. Madison exclaims that he knew his brother was using body parts, but didn’t think he killed to get them. Lionel informs his brother that he did what was necessary to create superior beings – but that those experiments failed paled in comparison to the prospects of what he could do – with such already superior beings as Alpha Flight!
Jeffries is horrified at what his brother just revealed and tells him he has to be kidding before reminding him that it was that sort of stuff – messing with the dead to make some kind of “new man” – that got him locked up in the asylum in the first place. Lionel reminds Madison that Alpha freed him from it, to which Madison points out that Lionel was cured of his madness by then. Lionel suggests that he was never truly insane and was merely able to convince everyone that he was sane – or as sane as society measures sanity, which is enough to function outside of the asylum.
Lionel informs his brother that the administrators of New Life trust him, that they do not know of the subterranean clinic, and that all his patients trust him – except for those who “Expired”, and even Alpha Flight trusted him – except Vindicator. Madison starts to leave, declaring that he has to warn – but Lionel doesn’t want this to happen and grabs his brother by the shoulder, reminding him that as he transmutates metal, he re-orders flesh, blood and bone. Lionel has used his powers on his brother so that he cannot speak and that his arms have been molded together.
Doctor Jeffries stands over his brother as he tells him that immobilized he can watch – and Lionel opens a chute from which several dead bodies tumble. He declares that he is no longer limited by the use of such ordinary organic material as embodied in his former patients, for Alpha Flight’s superior biogenetics will create a truly superior race of new men, whom he calls “Omega”!
Whitman Knapp steps forward, declaring that he has heard enough, he reminds Lionel that when he thought he was using his powers to cure the incurable, he idolized him, and when some patients died and Jeffries used their bodies for experimentation he told himself it was for the good of science, ‘but now you’ve indicted yourself by word and deed, you’re insane!’ Knapp tells Doctor Jeffries that he will not stand by and watch and leaps at his employer, knocking him to the ground.
Scramble reveals to Whit that he tolerated his presence only because he is a brilliant surgeon, but also because he detected the dormant seeds of power with the potential to make him a superior being. He punches Whit and exclaims that he will propagate that seed, whether aided or not. Whit’s face becomes deformed and he screams as Lionel walks over to Roger. From within his tank, Roger asks the doctor if he is going to turn him into one of his so called “Superior beings” and the reply is ‘that is my design’.
Bochs asks Lionel if he will give him the power to get revenge on Alpha Flight, to which Lionel exclaims that revenge is a short-term goal and proposes something infinitely more interesting – a merger of both of their powers. Roger, wide-eyed, declares that he does not understand, so Lionel reminds him that he was the inventive genius who devised the Box robot, not to mention the capability to dream up thousands of mechanical marvels, while he has the ability to re-order organic materials into an infinity of forms.
Lionel Jeffries suggests to Roger Bochs that together they can create an invincible being capable of sweeping humanity – or even super humanity – before it. Roger exclaims that Alpha will either join them or die, and Jeffries agrees. Roger is raised from the tank as he says ‘You’re nutty as a fruitcake, Scramble, but I’m with you’, and Jeffries tells him to prepare himself for a laying on of hands, as his now-helpless brother watches, straining to open his flesh-fused lips in a futile effort to sound an alarm.
Meanwhile, the Alphans are still waiting around. Wanda asks ‘anyone for Parcheesi?’ as Jean-Paul begins to sneak out of the room. Aurora sees him shatter the lock with his vibrating hand and he enters a corridor, coughing as he walks down it. Aurora wonders why her brother would feel the need to slip away from the waiting room and the rest of Alpha Flight and recalls a time when they would have shared such confidences. As she quietly follows Jean-Paul she remembers that in a fit of pique she had her powers altered during a rift between her and her twin.
As a result of this, for the siblings whose closeness once augmented their abilities can no longer even touch without negating the powers. Aurora thinks that even so, the adversity it posed seemed to unite them until recently, when Jean-Paul’s illness made him secretive and withdrawn. She decides to aid him whether he wishes it or not and due to his cough it is easy for her to follow him.
However, the building grows darker the further they walk from the waiting room and the darkness disorients Aurora. She wonders where her brother is as she can no longer hear Jean-Paul’s cough to guide her. Aurora exclaims that the corridors of New Life are more labyrinthine than King Minos’ famous palace.
Aurora enters a room and exclaims that she must have light! Using her own mutant powers to illuminate the room – but she is horrified by what she sees in the room. Four large glass cages hang from the ceiling, each with people held inside. In one cage a man tries to break out , while two red-headed men fight with each other in another. A woman lies on the bottom of her cage clutching herself, while in the final cage, one girl huddles to the side, while a deformed creature scratches at the glass. Aurora wonders if the people are patients of Scramble, and if so why are they kept as animals? She proclaims that it is inhuman, just like the creature in one of the cages.
Jean-Paul stands outside Scramble’s operating theater – his last hope – he begins to cry as he realizes that if Scramble cannot or will not cure him then he will die, a victim of disease with which he was already infected when his encounter with Pestilence accelerated it. He thinks back to his past – when he was an Olympic winning skier, spending time with friends who have a certain something in common with him and his time as a member of the terrorist organization wanting Quebec to be separate from the rest of Canada.
Jean-Paul knows he has had many good years – fame; fun; fortune and special friends. He has no regrets about his past, only a longing to live his future. He begins to open the door, calling to Lionel he asks if he may come in – the reply is a loud ‘by all means, speedster,’ and an explosion, blasting the door off its hinges and knocking Jean-Paul off his feet.
Jean-Paul lies on the floor for a moment until he sees what – or who – emerges from the operating room. Its tentacles reach for the handsome Alphan who gets up just in time and races through the complex. When he reaches the waiting room, he flies through the window, shattering it, he reaches for Heather and says ‘It’s coming!’ ‘What’s coming?’ Heather asks – when the computer console in the room explodes, taking with it the entire wall.
Through the dust and debris, Heather, Jean-Paul, Wanda, the Purple Girl and Judd see a figure begin to emerge. Heather asks Northstar who or what it is, to which Northstar coughs ‘Scramble! Bochs!’ Heather proclaims that it cannot be both, but the creature declares that they are, and as its form mutates further, it declares that the man whose mind is capable of conceiving thousands of fearsome forms, has merged with the man whose transmutative body can give substance to those forms.
It boasts that together, they are the first race of new men, ‘Together, we are…Omega! Its form is masses of flesh, all from dead bodies, strung together through Bochs’ mind and Jeffries’ powers. Heather gasps while cursing herself for not having heeded her suspicion regarding Scramble and for having put the issue of bringing Bochs to see him to a vote. Sarcastically she thinks that this is where leading a super-team according to parliamentary procedures has led them.
Heather wonders what they should do now – for crazy or not, there is an Alphan inside that thing. She believes that Scramble must have played on Bochs’ madness to get him to merge, therefore Scramble used Bochs so Roger cannot be blamed – but on the other hand, she thinks, how long are they able to go on excusing Bochs while he keeps trying to destroy Alpha Flight? Worried, Heather thinks that he may have already destroyed Jeffries, so reasoning with “Omega” is probably not going to work – yet somehow, she doesn’t even want to try and reason.
‘Hit that thing, Alpha – with everything you’ve got!’ cries Heather as she flies towards Omega, followed by Jean-Paul, Sasquatch and Puck. Wanda asks if they should try and spare Bochs, to which Heather replies ‘if you can’. Judd asks what they are to do if they cannot rescue Bochs without hurting themselves, ‘what is your order then, eh?’ ‘Kill if you must’ Heather proclaims.
The four Alphans all use their abilities to attack Omega. Some would hold super-heroes to an impossible standard, where expecting them to dare death on a daily basis, it would prohibit them from dealing it even in self defense. Sasquatch is the first to be taken down. The justification usually given by armchair commandos is that killing makes heroes no better than villains, but there comes a time in the life of every super team, when it is kill or be killed. Judd attacks Omega, but is quickly ensnared by strands of flesh.
Huge spikes jut out of Omega’s back, and they fire missiles at Vindicator and Jean-Paul. Heather tells Jean-Paul to remember what it is that they are dealing with – a creature whose body can do anything Bochs’ insidiously inventive mind can come dream up. Heather orders Northstar to take evasive action, but it is too late, for out of Omega’s jagged-toothed mouth comes bloody tendrils, which twist their way around Jean-Paul.
Heather calls to the founding Alphan as she thinks she has never seen him so slow and wonders how she could have ordered him into battle. Omega exclaims gleefully that as each Alphan falls he or she will be absorbed into his mass and soon they will see the folly of individual might as their powers become a part of him.
Omega reminds Heather that, stripped of her battle suit, she possess no inherent powers, and he knocks her out of the air with a single blow. As Heather falls to the flesh-pit that has become the floor of the room, Omega informs her he has no use for her – except for savoring the sweet suffering that shall accompany her destruction.
Meanwhile, in Scramble’s lab, Jeffries is still deformed and wonders what it happening in the rest of the building – what is his insane brother doing to Alpha Flight – to Heather? He wishes he could move his fused legs to get near enough to Box and phase inside, but Scramble saw to that. Jeffries thinks he has only one chance left and recalls that Lionel mentioned he only kept his intern, Whitman Knapp, around because he was a good doctor-in-training and because he detected some sort of latent powers.
Jeffries thinks that if he could somehow communicate with Knapp and cut through his terror of what Scramble has done to him he could try and tell him to activate his powers – but Jeffries cannot talk through his fused lips. He manages to swing his body around to face Whit – only to see his face and head all split open, the flesh mutated in his fingers and fear in the young man’s eyes. Whit cries out in pain as Jeffries realizes something is happening to him.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Flesh of my Flesh
‘Mr. Jeffries! What’s happening to me?!’ cries young Whitman Knapp as from his body spring new beings. Jeffries, horribly mutated by his demented brother, Scramble, watches, but even if he could open his fused lips to speak, he wouldn't be able to give the kid any answers. Jeffries knows that Knapp has been transmutated by his employer, but while Knapp has shrugged off the effects of Scramble’s touch by splitting into four beings – the question remains though, which side are they on?
‘Oh, gosh!’ exclaims the young doctor as he looks at the other three beings – a pink glob of protoplasm; a hairy ape-man and a dorky, very tall skinny man. The tall man declares that today is perplexed, therefore it is for tomorrow to explain, and informs Whit that he, who is their present, stood in attendance when Alpha Flight brought their teammate Roger Bochs to be cured by Dr. Lionel Jeffries a.k.a. Scramble, the owner of the New Life Clinic. However, unknown to all, the good doctor was every bit as mad as his patient, and his insanity was revealed when he offered to merge his flesh transforming abilities with Bochs’ inventive mind.
Once combined, Jeffries and Bochs became the being known as Omega. He then transmutated both Knapp and Jeffries before attacking the rest of Alpha Flight. The tall man informs his present self that his terror apparently released the latent power, which Scramble sensed within him. Whit declares that he doesn’t understand and asks what kind of power he is talking about. The tall man informs Whit that his power is to release who they three are – what Whit was and what he will one day become. Whit asks if he is the present-day Whitman Knapp and they are his pasts and future. ‘Evolutionally speaking;’ is the reply.
Whit sarcastically remarks how great his power is – that he gets scared and out pops a protoplasmic blob, an Apeman and a Highbrow future man ‘How’s that gonna help Alpha Flight?’ he mumbles. Highbrow suggests to Whit that he might firstly assist Jeffries back into the Box armor, but Whit asks how. As he needs to be near the armor and will be too heavy for him to carry. Highbrow tells Whit that as he currently is, but not as he was and Apeman picks up Jeffries, holding him high into the air.
Knapp begins to asks if all he has to do it think something and they will all act – but tells Apeman not to be so rough with Jeffries. Apeman just grunts in reply, for he cannot speak. Highbrow apologizes to Whit, and explains to Whit that they three may advise and assist him, but as it is he whom they have emerged from, he must formulate a plan of action and communicate his desires with specificity or else they may act as their ages accustomed them to. ‘Oh great,’ mumbles Whit again.
However, for Jeffries it is great, for once Apeman has brought him within range of the Box armor he commences to phase, and is merged inside the armor. Jeffries congratulates Knapp, telling him that together with his kin he has added up to one ‘heckuva man!’ Taking flight, Box orders Whit to stay where he is while he goes to help Alpha. Running after Box, Whit declares that as Manikin there must be something he can do to help – suddenly, Manikin and his other selves disappear.
Meanwhile, in another sector of the New Life Clinic, Heather “Vindicator” McNeil Hudson, Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier, Wanda “Sasquatch” Langkowski, Eugene “Puck” Milton Judd and Kara “Purple Girl” Kilgrave are facing off against Omega! Omega tells the Alphans that even if they break free from one of his forms, he can transform himself into a million more to recapture them! Heather blasts Omega with an electromagnetic pulse, realizing that with Boch’s mind and Scramble’s power, there is no end to Omega’s metamorphous.
Hunched up against the wall, the scared little Purple Girl asks Vindicator what they are to do – for half of the monster they are fighting is an Alphan. But as handsome Jean-Paul tries to break free from Omega’s grasp, he declares that Bochs is no longer an Alphan, but a madman! Judd starts to attack Omega again, thinking that if insanity were an impediment to membership in Alpha Flight, many of the members might not be on the team – with Jean-Paul and his sister Aurora heading the list!
Puck recalls that it was a troubled team James MacDonald Hudson assembled and which his wife inherited, but thinks that they have come a long way since then – but even so, with everything that has happened, perhaps they are beginning to regress? Omega traps Judd and exclaims that he has little to offer, but still may contribute he dexterity and daring to his mass. Heather dodges Omega’s blow and sees that Judd has been captured again, and she is annoyed at how easily it happened.
Heather sees Northstar struggling in Omega’s grasp, and realizes that he is too drained by the mysterious illness to employ his super speed and escape.  splutters Jean-Paul. Heather exclaims that with Jeffries and Aurora both unaccounted for, it leaves defeating Omega to herself, Sasquatch … and the Purple Girl!  Heather thinks that the mind-manipulating powers Kara inherited from her father might just stop Omega, but she is only a kid, not even an Alphan and she is so scared.
Heather thinks that she should probably be ordering Kara to flee not fight – but if Alpha falls, then she would be doomed anyway. Heather knows that as leader of Alpha Flight she must put the survival of the team above an individual member and calls to Kara, telling her that she needs to try and stop Omega. Kara hesitates, asking Heather if she wants her to go close enough to the monster so her power can have an effect on him – but asks what will happen if it doesn’t listen – will it do to her what it is doing to Northstar and Puck?
Heather tells Kara that it is her own choice – act now or abandon Alpha. Kara exclaims that she cannot do that, for everyone has been so good to her. She declares she will help, so long as she doesn’t have to touch Omega – but Omega touches her anyway, grabbing her from behind, he pulls her into his horrid flesh form. Omega tells Kara that she hesitated too long and that while he is aware of her powers whether they would have any effect on him he does not care to discover, and nor shall he have to, for Kara cannot command if she cannot talk – so he covers her mouth with his flesh.
Heather blasts Omega, asking him to let everyone go as Sasquatch tries to pull Kara free. But Omega declares ‘No!’ and whacks Heather away from him as he informs her that he needs her Alphans, for each possesses a power that makes him or her more than human and asks her to imagine how much greater they would be if their powers were pooled. ‘What of their individuality?’ asks Heather as she gathers herself.
Omega replies that it is a poor excuse for an inefficient allocation of resources and that it should be obvious that if the combined powers of Bochs and he could defeat Alpha Flight, then the merger of Alpha and Omega will make them nigh invincible! ‘Not if I can help it, Lionel!’ exclaims Madison to his brother as he bursts into the room, adding that he can help it. Lionel is surprised to see his brother, and after exclaiming ‘Madison!’ Jeffries tells him to call him “Box!” because it is as the living robot that he will stop him!
‘How in blazes did we get here?’ asks Whit as he and the other three appear in the room. Highbrow exclaims that he used teleportation, ‘oh, well that’s useful!’ exclaims Whit as he and his other selves rush towards Omega. Highbrow asks him what course of action he would suggest against Omega, and Whit orders Apeman to attack. Sasquatch asks Box who his friends are, and as Jeffries grabs his brother’s face amongst the masses of flesh, he reveals that they are four stages of Scramble’s former intern.
Dr. Jeffries is stunned at this, but Madison reminds him that it was he himself who said that Whitman had a latent power, and it was him who also helped him release it. Apeman bashes Omega with a piping and growls as Sasquatch jokes that the mutant power was a multiple personality and that this part of it – Apeman – is quite the conversationalist! Box tells Wanda not to look a Gift Horse in the mouth, to which she replies that she will not knock the Neanderthal so long as he keeps knocking Omega.
Manikin sees Kara in danger and alerts Highbrow to Omega absorbing her. Highbrow tells Whit to save her, but the flabbergasted young man asks how? The dorky Highbrow tells Whit that something in his genes has chosen to give him help, but it does not mean that he himself is helpless. ‘I’m not?’ asks Whit – and as he picks up a metal pipe he exclaims ‘I’m not!’ and rushes to save the girl he has a crush on.
As he slashes at Omega’s flesh, Whit informs Dr. Jeffries that he quits. He pulls Kara free and Box congratulates him on doing a good deed, joking that he sees he has claimed his reward. Manikin replies that he is giving Kara mouth-to-mouth. ‘If that’s your story, stick to it,’ jokes Jeffries before declaring that he will stick to Scramble. Omega smirks and informs his brother that he is no longer Lionel Jeffries or Scramble the Mixed-Up-Man, but Omega!
Jeffries just tells his brother that he is as nutty as a fruitcake whatever he wants to call himself and that he always has been. Jeffries reminds Lionel it is for that reason that he had to lock him up after shipping him back to Canada from Vietnam for trying to make whole men out of pieces of men. Jeffries tells his brother that he is flesh of his flesh, the only brother he is ever likely to have and that he didn’t want to hurt him then and doesn’t want to hurt him now.
However, Jeffries informs Lionel that he will put him in a rubber room for life before he lets him hurt Alpha Flight. Lionel reminds Jeffries that he is talking to Omega – the one-man-army! Madison tells his brother that he is obviously forgetting that makes two of them, and before the startled eyes of all, the Box robot undergoes a major transformation, as Madison remakes the design of Roger Bochs to better reflect his own metal-molding powers. Where once stood a clunky black, yellow and silver robot now stands a sleek red and silver one.
With his transmutative powers, Jeffries is able to do vastly more with the armor than Bochs ever could, and as he tells Omega to go ahead and turn himself into whatever organic frights he can dream up – because he will match him change for change. Box punches Omega, but Heather tells him to pull back, reminding him that Lionel is still his brother and that somewhere inside of him exists the mind of his best friend, Roger Bochs. She tells him that he must not be the hand that destroys them, and declares that she is the leader, so it is she who should take responsibility.
Box asks Heather what it is she wants to do and tells her that just because she is the leader does not mean she has to do all the dirty work, for this is a team, and he is prepared to do his share. Lionel tells his brother that if he stands with Alpha then he will fall with them, before exclaiming that the ability to transmutate metal as well as flesh would be a decided asset to Omega. Jeffries responds by shoving a large piece of metal into the fleshy creature.
‘Mr. Jeffries…is…amazing!’ Heather cries to herself, before realizing that despite Madison’s disclaimers that he could only construct what Bochs designed, he has metamorphosed the Box robot before everyone’s eyes into what Omega called himself, a one-man-army. As Heather sends a stream of electromagnetic energy down upon the fleshy creature, she sees that Jeffries has also given Alpha the breather it needed to start acting like a team.
Kara comes to and stares up at her savior as Whit asks if she is okay. She replies that she is now as Highbrow informs them that Omega is weakening, for even as a revived Alpha tears at him from without, he is also being rendered asunder from within – and Omega cries furiously as Roger Bochs tries to come to the surface. The outline of his face seen in the fleshy beast now, and Roger declares that he is asserting the mind that is enabling Lionel to undergo the monstrous metamorphous. Roger reminds Lionel that he has called all the shots so far, so now it is time for him to exercise some free will.
Roger admits that sharing this corpus with Scramble has shown him the depths oh both their insanity. Roger exclaims that Alpha Flight was right all along, he is nuts, which is why he is calling the fright-fest right now. Scramble tries to cover Bochs’ face with his hands, and calling Roger a fool he reminds everyone that just as he transmutates bodies he can also transmutate minds. He declares that he needs only the inventive aspect of Bochs’ intelligence, not his independent thought.
Bochs screams as Scramble destroys part of his mind – and Madison calls to his best friend seeing his brother lobotomize him. Madison creates a gun from the Box armor and exclaims ‘Blast you, Lionel! Yeah – I will blast you! I can do that now! I can do anything!’ and with that he fries his brother and best friend. Smoke pours through the room, as Heather exclaims ‘Mr. Jeffries! Your brother’! Jeffries replies that he doesn’t have a brother anymore, that his brother died when he killed his best friend.
‘A pretty figure of speech, Madison!’ sneers Scramble, and when the smoke begins to clear, they see Omega, disfigured further by the explosion and the demented creature reveals that although he is hurt, he survived the blast and he suspects Madison intended him to. ‘Heroes! You’re all so moral! So predictable!’  Vindicator, Jean-Paul, Sasquatch, Jeffries, Puck, Purple Girl, Manikin and his other selves all watch and listen as Omega tells them they are laughable, which is why, in the end, he will win, because they cannot bring themselves to slay the very creature who will not rest until he has absorbed them all.
‘Shut up!’ shouts the Purple Girl, and immediately, the big glob of flesh is silent, and very purple. Heather asks her what she thinks she is doing, and Kara replies that she is tired of listening to ‘this maniac monster’ and declares that he has nothing to say until he undoes some of the evil he has caused. She reminds everyone that Omega is in her power now and will restore whoever she tells him to – starting with whoever he transmutated first.
As Jeffries emerges from the Box armor, he lands on the floor, for his body was horribly disfigured by Scramble. Heather is shocked at what has happened to the man she likes, and Wanda is astonished at how someone could do this to his or her own brother. Heather rushes to Madison’s side and touching him, she exclaims that they never knew he fought on inside the armor despite all the pain he was in. ‘I fight in pain every moment of my life, but Heather never notices!’ Judd depressingly tells himself.
Kara begins to cry and says ‘You did that to the man who has been like a father to me? Fix him Omega! Put him back together, you inhuman, insane…do it monster, now!’ Omega is forced to comply, and one of his tendrils touches Jeffries, returning him to his normal self. Jeffries asks about Bochs, but Omega replies that nothing remains of his mind to restore. Heather realizes that Lionel murdered Roger, and asks what they are to do now. Jean-Paul reminds everyone that they came to commit Bochs and suggests that they do the same to the criminally insane Omega.
Sasquatch asks what kind of facility could cure or contain him, and Kara declares that there is no place, that only her powers hold him harmless now. Judd tells everyone that they cannot expect the Purple Girl to devote her life to standing guard over Omega. Heather suggests that some kind of special cell could be built, but Madison tells her that she is dreaming, and that it is what Omega is counting on, that they will be too moral to do what has to be done.
Jeffries reminds everyone that his brother almost destroyed Alpha once, as Scramble, but they thought he was cured, only he wasn’t. It was then that he became Omega, he thinks they could never trust that any doctor could cure him again, and of the rest of their lives they would have to live with the fear that Omega could absorb his keepers, and then unleash his powers on the world again. ‘What are you suggesting Mr. Jeffries?’ Heather asks.
Running back to his Box armor, Madison exclaims that since he is not willing to be his brother’s keeper, ‘I gotta become his destroyer!’ He leaps into his armor and adjusts its form, adding a large canon to it, he doesn’t hesitate in firing it at the fleshy mass that is his brother and best friend. Alpha watches again as the smoke clears, and as the forlorn Madison Jeffries leaves the building.
Whit suggests to Kara and his other selves that they should clean the lab, as Jean-Paul declares Alpha Flight should better find his sister, who has been missing since the battle began. Jean-Paul begins to cough uncontrollably, and holding his wound he crouches over. Vindicator asks him what is wrong, and finally, Jean-Paul reveals to his teammates that he is dying.
He reveals that all of his body systems are breaking down, and that he was apparently already ill when Pestilence sensed the disease within him and exacerbated it. Jean-Paul admits that he insisted they bring Bochs to see Scramble hoping he would cure him, ‘but now that hope has been shattered!’ With that, Jean-Paul falls to the ground, unconscious. Heather rushes to his side and orders Sasquatch and Puck to search New Life and find Aurora and to tell her that they need to get her brother to a doctor.
Vindicator’s cry echoes throughout corridors in New Life, all of which have been plunged into darkness as a result of the battle with Omega. But deep within New Life, four glass tank have been shattered, the beings that were held in them long gone. Aurora sits in that same room, she asks the Sisters of Madame Dupont’s School for Girls – not that they are there – how the song they sang to ease her fear of the dark went.
“One flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest!” By the time Alpha Flight reaches the chamber, they will find Aurora sitting hugging herself in the darkness, singing that same song, over and over again.