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This Mortal Coil
Ungava Bay … a place that has caused much trouble for the Canadian Alpha Flight and their allies, the American X-Men, and a place they never thought they would return too. But having returned…some of them may never leave.
Heather “Vindicator” Hudson; Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier; Aurora; Wanda “Sasquatch” Langkowski; Eugene “Puck” Judd and Madison “Box” Jeffries, the current members of Canada’s premiere super hero team stand on the snow-covered plains and looking at a lone pink rose sticking up through the snow, Heather declares that there is some magic here after all. Jeffries, from within his Box armor, informs his teammates that his armor’s instruments cannot find any other explanation for a rose blooming out of frozen tundra.
Judd declares that there may still be hope Aurora and Northstar can be saved, as Sasquatch, who is carrying the dying Northstar informs Vindicator that there is a storm closing in so they better find whatever it is they are looking for and then leave. Heather glances around the snow and wonders what it is they are looking for…a miracle perhaps?
Heather thinks back to the team’s most recent tragedy, for while they emerged triumphant over the monster Omega, though not without the loss of Roger Bochs, they became aware that something was wrong with their mutant speedster twins – Northstar is dying, for apparently his body can no longer fend off any infection, while Aurora had been caught in a pitch-black area during the battle and her phobia of the dark drove her increasingly mad.
Box announces that his brother, Scramble, may have been able to cure both of them, had he not killed him. Heather reminds Madison that they brought the mad Bochs to see Lionel to be cured, but instead, Lionel used his flesh transmutative powers and incorporated Bochs into himself, to create Omega, and she declares that she would never suffer him to lay his “healing hands” on another Alphan.
Judd looks up at Heather, and recalls that as Bochs was destroyed by Omega, Jeffries inherited Bochs’ armor and transmutated it into the new Box, and realizes that Jeffries has the power to offer himself to Vindicator now – while he is nothing more than an acrobatic dwarf. But he remembers that it was in this very place some months ago that a powered-up Madelyne Pryor, as “Anodyne” lifted his curse for a time, returning him to his true height. He thinks that if the Fire Fountain, which imparted the power to Madelyne enabling her to heal still exists perhaps then another Alphan besides Aurora and Northstar may find salvation.
Wanda reminds the Alphans that she has been lost in limbo since they were last here, but since she came back she has scrolled through the Alphanex computers, her voice trails off, and Jean-Paul realizes she is referring to the catch that underlay the miracles. Vindicator exclaims that there was a dark side to the Fire Fountain, for although it transformed humans and even super-humans into godlike beings… ‘there was a price!’ declares Jean-Paul, who reveals that in order to transform people, the Fire Fountain consumed their inner magic – their imagination, but that also those beings whose powers were derived of magic, such as former Alphas Snowbird and Shaman, had to die.
Vindicator declares that in the end, they discovered the “gift” was a scheme of Loki’s, the Norse God of Mischief, and by raising mankind to Godhood he sought to earn favor with Those Who Sit Above in Shadow. But when Alpha Flight and the X-Men rejected Loki’s gift to save their friends, the powerful gods rejected Loki. The gift was withdrawn and the Fire Fountain and its magic destroyed. ‘Or so we thought’. Sporting a new green and black winter costume, Aurora kneels by the rose and smells it. She asks the flower if it can make her mind one again.
Heather declares that she might have known this was a wild goose chase, for the palace that was erected here has gone, and that it was madness to dream that the Fire Fountain would still be here. Judd asks Heather why she would lose hope now and reminds her that it was she who said the rose could not bloom in this wasteland unless there were some traces of magic here to nurture it. Box agrees with Judd and transforming the armor, Madison turns it into a drill, suggesting that if they cannot detect the source of the magic on the surface, then they must dig.
Sasquatch makes a joke about Box’s powerful capabilities as everyone crowds around the tunnel Jeffries has dug in the earth. Judd agrees that Jeffries has expanded the capabilities of the robot, as Heather thinks Madison is starting to realize the extent of his own inventiveness now that he cannot rely on Bochs anymore. Aurora gazes into the tunnel and remarks at how dark it is.
Box finally breaks through solid earth and enters the caverns beneath. He transmutates a lam so he can see in the dark and realizes just how big the caverns are and wonders if they are big enough to house the destroyed city. Coming to a Viking village he remembers Elizabeth Twoyoungmen telling him about how she discovered this place and jokes that if she couldn’t figure out how it got here with all her university degrees he will not even bother to try. Using some sort of loud speaker, Jeffries informs the Alphans still in the snow that he has found the Viking village.
‘Now that’s what I call iron lungs’ jokes Sasquatch. Aurora stands sullen and declares that if some of the magic that once made her whole still exists, then maybe there is still hope, but she is too scared to descend into the darkness and flies away screaming ‘I cannot!’ Jean-Paul tries to leap out of Sasquatch’s arms, declaring that he needs to go after her, but stricken with his illness he falls to the snow.
The Alphans gather around him and Wanda points out that the cold will not be doing him any good. Heather declares that they will have to get him down the shaft with or without his sister’s help. Aurora glances back at her teammates and sees her twin lying in the snow, as sick in body as she is in mind. Although every instinct drives her away from the blackness of the pit, she cannot abandon her brother, even though her last feeble hold on sanity may fade with the light. She flies back to her teammates and tells her brother that she will aid him.
Watching from his throne room, Loki sees the Alphans plight in his viewing portal. The evil god mocks at how touching it is that the selfish Aurora set aside her own fear to aid her brother. He smirks at knowing how fortunate it was that he cast an enchantment upon the Well of the Wyrd to summon him should any of the mortals to whom he once offered Godhood return to the scene of his shame. He thinks of how humbly he abased himself to They Who Sit Above in Shadow, and with what humility he – the Trickster God – offered to bring peace to Earth.
He believes it was a deed of goodness, given freely, and in return he was to have been granted power beyond compare. He recalls the mortals rejected his gift and when he sought to cram it down their ungrateful throats it was no longer a “gift given freely” – and They Who Sit Above denied his petition. It is for that alone that Earth’s heroes earned Loki’s undying enmity. However, Loki was forbidden by Those Above to revenge himself upon them in their own, or any other sphere.
Loki doesn’t think he should defy the ban, nor does he need to do anything except for observe from his throne in Asgard, while the mortals seeking a miracle race blindly into darkness. He supposes it wouldn't hurt to play the slightest bit of mischief with the signposts along Alpha flight’s way…so that they read salvation, where lies destruction! Smirking, he jokes that it will not be his fault that they make an error in their interpretation.
Aurora lights the way down the shaft as Vindicator flies Jean-Paul down and Sasquatch climbs down with Judd hanging to her fur. Heather tells Aurora that she is doing fine, to which the French-Canadian mutant replies that she feels as if evil eyes are watching their every move. Sasquatch recalls how before she was resurrected as a woman she loved Aurora – but now she can only feel sorry for her. Surprisingly, Jean-Paul asks what will happen to Beat Flight should tragedy befall Alpha Flight.
Speaking of Beta Flight, its only two members – the aptly named Purple Girl a.k.a. Kara Kilgrave and the intelligent Manikin a.k.a. Whitman Knapp have remained at Alpha Flight’s home on Tamarind Island. Kara asks her new boyfriend if he thinks the mansion is spooky with the rest of Alpha Flight away. Whit exclaims that he is too in awe of the place to be scared and remarks about the hidden technological marvels throughout the house. He thought he had seen everything as Dr. Jeffries’ intern, for every piece of equipment at New Life was top of the line.
Kara informs Whit that most of the equipment was made by Madison Jeffries, to which Whit declares that he knows that now, just like he now knows his boss was a ‘nutcase killer called Scramble / Omega whose goal was to unleash more super uglies like him on the world!’ Kara frowns and reminds Whit that Dr. Jeffries let loose his power, and yet he is not ugly.
Whit smiles and boasts that thanks to Scramble, he is now the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow man! He takes Kara’s hand and remarks that he should be grateful before asking her if she just called him ugly. ‘I just said you weren’t ugly’ Kara replies. Whit asks her if she noticed he moussed his hair. ‘Uh-huh’ she replies. Whit exclaims rather unconvincingly that the house is spooky with Alpha Flight away. ‘Uh-huh’ He asks Kara if she thinks it would keep any ghosts at bay if they cuddled. ‘Might take more than a lot of cuddling Whit…’ Kara replies.
Back in the caverns beneath Ungava Bay, Alpha Flight have met up with Box, who tells them that this is a big place to search. Heather hands Jean-Paul over to Sasquatch as she tells everyone they need to get started. Jean-Paul remarks that it is humiliating to be carried about like a babe in arms. Watching Aurora, Judd asks her if she is with them. ‘We are, Cher Puck – Jeanne-Marie and I!’ Heather thinks that if both sides of her persona are wresting for control, Aurora could crack up at any moment. Heather knows that Jeanne-Marie represents Aurora’s repressed side, which ruled in her convent days when her powers were regarded as sinful.
Judd has found something and calls Alpha over – Heather flies through it, for he found a shaft way, and Box supposes it may be the same one Talisman described Rachel Summers blasting from the Viking Village to…’The Fire Fountain!’ exclaims Heather. Aurora and the others enter, and as Sasquatch, Box and Judd wait on the narrow walkway that surrounds the giant cavern, Aurora flies around it, seeing nothing she flies swiftly downwards in the mighty cavern, screaming that there must be some magic left.
She thinks back over her unhappy life: orphaned at birth, she matured in the cruel environment of a convent school. James MacDonald Hudson liberated Aurora in the hopes that her powers would be used for good in Department H. It was there that she was reunited with her long-lost twin – Jean-Paul, and speed was only half of their mutant specialty, for together they emitted a brilliance that rivaled the sun. In a fit against Northstar, Aurora had Walter Langkowski alter her powers so that shine alone, perhaps not so bright, but shine alone. This change drove a psychological and physical wedge between the siblings, for no longer could they touch, as their powers would be negated for a time. Now that both twins are sorely afflicted, and need each other more than ever, it seems that all hope of undoing the error is in vain.
Heather exclaims that Aurora dove so deep down that she can no longer even see the glimmer of her powers. Heather doesn’t think there is any point in Aurora subjecting herself to the darkness down there, for the Fire Fountain is gone – there is no magic left. She asks Box to amplify his voice again and call her back. Jeffries begins to do so – until Aurora appears before them, declaring that there is no need to shout, and revealing that she has returned with news.
When asked if she has found the Fire Fountain, she replies no, but that she has a doorway, which beyond it may lie the magic. Heather and Aurora fly down towards it as Box turns into a device, which carries Jean-Paul and the others down. Upon seeing the golden circular door, Heather remarks that the circumference is as large as the shaft itself. Judd declares that from it’s position at the bottom of the shaft, it is entirely possible that the Fire Fountain’s source may lie behind it. Weighing up all possibilities, Heather remarks that it is also possible that it conceals nothing, or evil.
Aurora disagrees and asks Heather to look at the runes that are imprinted upon it, for she thinks they are so beautiful and benevolent. Vindicator tells Aurora that flies are drawn to a trap by honey, not castor oil and suggests she is forgetting that it was Loki, god of evil, who created the Fire Fountain. Judd asks Heather how they knew that for a fact, Heather just replies because Loki said so, to which Judd points out that Loki is also the god of deception and supposes that Loki may no have created the Fire Fountain, that he may have found it amidst the ruins of the Viking village and opened this Faerie gate, which may have existed from that time or even earlier, and from that let the magic flow forth.
Vindicator tells Puck that since they have come this far they better find out which of them it right – but they can only do that if they open his so called “faerie gate”. Using her battle-suit, Vindicator’s strength is slightly enhanced, but as she pulls at the large opener in the center of the gate she finds it is not enough. Box transmutates his armor into a winch to aid Heather, and together they make the gate budge. They lift it high enough so that Sasquatch can get a grip of it and as Judd helps he points out that there is smoke rising from beneath the gate.
Wanda warns Judd to stand back, for when she swings it on its hinges they will see what is below. Peering down past the gate, Judd informs the others that it is like looking down into another world. When the gate is fully opened, Sasquatch looks into it and remarks that it is not a nice world from what they can see of it. Box declares that the darkness is so deep that even his optic-sensors can barely penetrate it. Aurora wonders if the healing magic of the Fire Fountain could really have flowed from down there.
Unselfishly, Aurora declares that for her brother’s sake she must find out, to which Heather smiles and informs Aurora that lots of them blamed her selfishness for what happened to Roger Bochs, but because of the way she is pressing forward, despite her terror of the darkness to save Northstar, she has done a lot to redeem herself. Heather announces that whatever is down past the gate they will meet it together.
As Sasquatch places Jean-Paul onto Box, who has transformed his armor into a flying bed for the ill super hero, she asks Heather if she doesn’t want to leave someone to guard the gate. ‘Why? To write our epitaph should we fail to return?’ Heather asks as she enters the darkness, and Wanda jokes that she likes that thinking, before Judd remarks he hopes it is poetry and not prophecy.
In Asgard, Loki declares that he thinks the dwarf will find it a measure of both. He stirs the Well of Wyrd and the runes raised in the relief on the faerie gate assume their true, evil form – and the massive metal portal slams closed. Loki laughs as he reveals it was the signpost he originally spoke of that the mortals mistook. He cannot bear this passive observance, for it does not suit the Prince of Mischief. He supposes he will not be defying the ban if he reveals hidden truths to the Alphans, though such revelations may cause them pain. He wonders where to start, and as he lights his stick with a green fire he decides on Northstar, ‘Fire and water now combine, let a burning thirst be thine!’ Loki exclaims as he plunges the stick into the Well of Wyrd, striking Jean-Paul.
The handsome Alphan suddenly cries out in pain and Aurora rushes to his side as they travel through the hidden cavern. Box reports that his sensors are monitoring Jean-Paul’s condition and that he suddenly is burning up with a fever. Jean-Paul tells his sister to have a care and reminds her that if she touches him then her light will vanish, plunging her into the darkness she so desperately fears.
As she leans across her brother, her light vanishes, and Aurora admits that she fears losing her only living flesh and blood far more than she fears losing her light. Northstar coughs that his heart rejoices to hear such sentiments, for logic deplores such senseless sacrifices. Jean-Paul reminds Aurora that he is doomed and would not have her torture herself in a vain attempt to save him.
Heather watches the twins and tells Judd she thinks this is a waste of time, for she cannot believe that there exists any “good” magic in this ill-smelling hole that is capable of curing Northstar. Judd tells Heather that she is forgetting about the rose and the runes on the faerie gate, and so he believes that having come this far they should press on, while thinking to himself even if there is the slightest possibility of curing his dwarfism he cannot leave until he finds it.
Heather supposes that Judd is right, but Wanda points out that they may not have any choice in the matter, and tells them that in case none of them have noticed, the faerie gate has slammed shut behind them. Aurora asks if they are trapped in the darkness then, and Jeffries declares that as they got in, they can get out. Heather tells everyone that they are not leaving until they make one final attempt at finding the Fire Fountain.
As Northstar is laid on the ground, Jeffries returns Box to his regular form and Aurora tells her teammates that they will go faster without her and her brother. Vindicator asks her if she is suggesting that they leave them here in the darkness. Aurora informs her that her light will return soon and can tend to Jean-Paul so long as they do not touch each other. As Heather, Jeffries, Sasquatch and Puck depart, Aurora declares that she could not bear to leave her brother now.
Sasquatch tells the twins to take care of themselves, as Heather informs them they will be back. Jean-Paul coughs for water and Aurora finds a small pool of water, as black and tainted as the pit in which it collects. She cups some into her hands and declares that she hopes it can slack her brother’s thirst and cool his fever, before she realizes just how dark it is and begins to feel her terror returning.
Further on, Vindicator leads the way as she asks Box if he couldn’t have turned some segment of his body into a lantern in order to leave the twins some source of light. Box informs Heather that he couldn’t have, and reveals that the only draw back about being phased inside the Box armor is that he can only transmutate himself as a unit. Wanda remarks that it seems a small price to pay for such power.
Judd asks the others if they hear something – like waves breaking on a distant shore and as the quartet enter another vertically large cavern they see the Fire Fountain! Sasquatch asks the others if this thing was supposed to be composed of pure white light, for this one is of eternal blackness. ‘Then we have been tricked after all!’ remarks Judd.
‘Oh, yes dwarf! Tricked indeed!’ Loki gleefully says to himself as he continues to watch Alpha Flight’s journey. He then reveals that Puck guessed right, for it was not he who wrought the benevolent magic of the first Fire Fountain, for it sprung from one of the realms of the Faerie, that are known in Earth’s mythology as Alfheim, where the Light Elves dwell. Loki remarks that the gate to Alfheim has been forever shut, but that there are other gates leading to other Faerie realms, and it was one such gate which his deception lead Alpha Flight into, and Alpha Flight has entered the realm of Svartalfhiem, and laughs that the Dark Elves who dwell there shall seal Alpha Flight’s doom!
As Heather begins blasting the Dark Elves that attack her she boasts that she knew something like this would happen, to which Box tells her that he cannot say she didn’t warn them. Sasquatch joins in the battle and remarks that there is no use in crying over spilt milk, and as Judd engages in the battle too, he decides that whoever these creatures are, there is not an ounce of good in them – nor is there good in the roaring mockery of the Fire Fountain.
Judd thinks that even if it did possess the power to cure his dwarfism as its white counterpart did, he would wager such a cure would only come at a terrible price. Judd uses his acrobatic skills against the odds, fighting his best – but unfortunately for Judd, as the case has been of late, his best is not good enough – and a Dark Elf knocks him off the small ledge.
Sasquatch calls to Judd when she sees him fall, and fall Judd does – into the dark Fire Fountain! His clothes begin to rip as he feels his body start to change – just like when Anodyne cured him! He thinks to himself that he is whole again – his original elderly age, but his original size, for the curse that made him a dwarf has been lifted. But he knows that it is not canceled like Anodyne negated it, and he realizes that is the price the evil Fire Fountain has extracted.
Judd knows he is cured, but only because the Fire Fountain has released the demon that dwelled within him, so while Judd has obtained salvation, he has unleashed the Black Razer on his friends. ‘I’m sorry!’ he calls to them, but the soul stealer’s laugh drowns out Judds cries as the helpless Alphan continues to plunge down into the pit.
Meanwhile, Aurora continues to sit by Jean-Paul as he calls to their mother and father. Aurora thinks her brother’s fever has made him delirious for why else would he cry out to their long dead parents? They never even knew them! She declares that she can no longer hold the fear back and wonders how she could have been so stupid. She wishes her light would return, for it is becoming hard for her to breathe. Her heart races and she feels as if the darkness surrounding her and Jean-Paul is swarming with…
…‘Evil!’ Aurora exclaims as she spins around and with her light powers returning illuminates the darkness. This sends the goblin-like creatures scuttling back behind their master – Loki. Aurora looks up at him and declares that they should have known he would come for his revenge. Calling Aurora ‘wench’ he tells her that she has wronged him, for he has not come to torment her, but open her eyes to the truth. ‘What truth?’ Aurora snaps back, to which Loki informs her it is the truth, which is already being revealed to her ailing sibling.
Aurora tells Loki that Northstar is raving in a fever-induced delirium, but Loki informs her that Jean-Paul is seeing visions raised by the black water, which he enchanted and which was then used to cool his thirst. The creatures begin pulling Aurora as she asks what manner of visions these are. Loki tells Aurora that she doesn’t need to wonder when she may share in them, though of course she must first be made receptive…and at Loki’s command the lesser Dark Elves force Aurora to touch Northstar, once more plunging her into darkness.
Loki declares that some truths are best revealed in the darkness and the Lesser Svarts force the brackish water down her throat, and though it burns like frozen fire, within seconds, both twins share the same dream…but of what?
(Flashback / dream created by Loki)
A man walks towards a small mound and declares he has found a genuine Elf barrow, that after all the years of having his research into the factual under-pinnings of Norse and Celtic Mythology derided in the journals and sneered at by academia he has actually found one! He reminds himself that it stood to reason that so many myths from so many cultures pointed to a race of little people, so there had to be some basis for it. He enters the barrow and realizes that the runes match those identified as Elvish in the early texts.
He exclaims that the “wee folk” did dwell here once, and that Jean-Claude Baptiste will prove their existence by whatever artifacts they left behind. But to his surprise, Jean-Claude makes the most astonishing discovery of all – ‘Elves! They still exist!’ He runs after the dancing creatures as they scatter when they see him. He decides he will now be able to being back living proof. Jean-Claude manages to catch one of the white-haired vixens, and as she changes forms he tells her to just add proof to what she is, before revealing that he knows the legends – so long as he does not let go, she becomes his.
The Elf looks at Jean-Claude and tells him that perhaps she wished to be his, to which he asks why, she reveals that she might love him all his days. None of Jean-Claude’s studies had prepared him for the revelation that Danae told him – that it was boring being an Elf, that one of the Children of the Light may hunger too after mortality. Jean-Claude and Danae were married and soon had children, twins. Jean-Claude asked Danae if she wished them to have Elvish names, but instead she decided on Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie.
However, their happiness was short-lived for Danae’s race forbade such human-elf mixings, and several elves tracked Danae down. Breaking into Jean-Claude and Danae’s home, the elves told Danae that they cannot let their bloodline be polluted and that she must return with them. The couple fled, but the Elves pursued them. Tragedy struck when Jean-Claude’s car spun off the road and crashed in a forest.
The Elves found Danae and seeing that she was dead, wondered how death could have come to the undying. Another elf points out that Danae chose to live like a mortal and therefore could die like one. The elves were so stunned by Danae’s death that they ignored Jean-Claude’s death mere moments after rescuing his twin children and bringing them to safety.
(Present)
‘Then our powers, our pointed ears!’ exclaims the shocked Jean-Paul as Aurora declares everything is explained by their parents having been a mortal man and an Elvish woman. Loki informs them that they both bore blood that would, by mankind, said to be blessed, and by the Light Faeries claim to be tainted – in truth, it was both. Loki tells the twins that while their birthright gave them great powers, it also subjected to them great pain, for the pure blood of Alfheim in their veins is so pure that is cannot survive for long upon Migard – Earth.
Loki turns his back to Jean-Paul and Aurora and exclaims that the stress of surviving on an impure earth has afflicted Northstar physically and Aurora psychologically. He reveals to the twins that they could both be cured if they were infused with the Pure Light of Alfheim… ‘but it seems you have stumbled through the wrong gateway…’ Loki mockingly tells the twins that it is a shame, for they sought the light, only to perish in the utter darkness of Svatalfheim.
The Lesser Dark Elves attack Aurora as Loki informs her that they delight in tormenting others and take great pleasure in the taste of flesh. The creatures attack Jean-Paul too as Aurora tries to fight her assailants off, while exclaiming that there is a cure – that she and her brother could be made whole again, in body and mind. The Lesser Elves tear at Aurora’s face as she announces the darkness dooms them, and their only hope is to somehow fight free to the light!
On cue, Aurora’s powers return, sending the Lesser Dark Elves scurrying away into the shadows before fighting off the ones who are attacking Jean-Paul. As Aurora hovers over Jean-Paul, the handsome speedster asks his sister why she postpones the inevitable. Aurora frowns and asks Jean-Paul what he means, to which Jean-Paul coughs ‘We are doomed!’ and reminds Aurora that she too heard what Loki said, that unless they can somehow attain access to their mother’s realm, every instant they spend on the world of their father brings them closer to madness and death.
Aurora tells her brother she knows where salvation lies, and that as long as they are trapped down here they are denied it, but reminds Jean-Paul that Loki said that an infusion of pure light may save them. She reminds Jean-Paul of how they used to emit such a light together, but because of her selfishness it now shines only half as bright and from her alone. She wonders what would happen should she give it all to Jean-Paul.
Jean-Paul tells his sister that she must be mad, for such an act would leave her defenseless in the dark. Aurora asks Jean-Paul not to call her crazy like the others do and exclaims that her terror of the darkness might indeed drive her to insanity, but that she would risk madness so that he might live. As Aurora bathes Jean-Paul in the powerful light sprung forth from her body, Jean-Paul asks her not to do this, for why should his life be saved if it is to be at the cost of hers?
Aurora’s decision is made however, and there is no stopping her, for Jean-Paul, at first, is too weak to stop her, though soon he feels his feeble form flushed with restored health. He stands up without the help of any other and exclaims that his fever is gone – he is no longer coughing either. ‘Sacre bleu, I am cured!’ He now emits his own light and sees the horrible Lesser Elves attack the powerless and frightened Aurora as they begin to drag her further into the darkness. Jean-Paul knows that stripped of her light, his sister has nothing to sustain her sanity in the darkness.
Northstar is attacked by the Dark Svarts as one of them informs him he shall never know where Aurora is gone, for she belongs to them forever. Northstar fights off the elves while calling to his sister, telling her that no matter where she is, how far they drag her into the darkness, he will fight free to save her and deliver her from the eternal night into their mother’s world of light. But the creatures swarm over Jean-Paul, and disorientated in the attack, as time passes he loses direction of which of the many chasms in this mammoth honeycomb cavern that his beloved sister was taken down.
Meanwhile, Vindicator, Sasquatch and Box continue to fight the Dark Elves as Heather sees Razer come howling up out of the Fire Fountain that Judd fell into. She wonders if the fact that Razer has been released from his prison within Judd means that the diminutive Alphan is dead, to which Razer tells Heather that Puck’s demise was a preface to her own, for to insure his immortality he needs to constantly take the life-force of others using his sword.
Box realizes Heather is in danger and decides he has to save her. Coming in between Heather and the demon, Razer asks Jeffries is he offers himself to his soul-stealing scimitar. Jeffries is hoping for the fact that he is as much machine as he is man that means Black Razer will not be able to hurt. But Razer strikes Jeffries with his sword, and the result, as Sasquatch points out, is that Box has been shrunk. Box remembers that this is how Puck became a dwarf.
Heather declares that she does not intend to lead a team of Micronauts and gets Sasquatch to pull Box back while she uses a plasma blast to hold the Arabian fright at bay. The Black Razer tells Heather that he has not encountered her power before, but points out that it appears to be as ineffectual as any of her teammates. He uses his sword on Heather, who cries out as he does. The Black Razer points out that only one man has ever bested him, and it is only because he was willing to doom himself to unending agony to contain him within -–for there is no other way to defeat him.
He asks the Alphans if they would do the same, and Heather begins to weigh up the odds – until Jean-Paul flies onto the scene and tells her that there is no need to make that choice. He blinds the Black Razer, who cries out at the purity of the light. He exclaims that he can bear no more of it, and as Heather points out that by some miracle Jean-Paul is back, he has brought them a diversion. Heather tells the Alphans to make use of the diversion and points out that there are overwhelming numbers of enemy approaching. ‘Get the blazes out of her!’ she screams.
It is said that discretion is the better part of the valor, but such platitudes to not mitigate Alpha Flight’s shame at having to turn tail and run. Box lifts up the giant gate as Jean-Paul flies through it, followed by Sasquatch and finally Vindicator. When Box is pulled through, Heather orders the gate closed, for the enemy is right behind them. Jean-Paul declares ‘But my sister!’ and Sasquatch asks if Aurora is still in there. Box points out that so is Puck, if he is still alive.
But Heather will have none of it, she points out that if they leave the gateway open the evil that almost destroyed them will spill out over the Earth, but as leader, she is knows she responsible for their safety. She tells Jean-Paul, Sasquatch and Jeffries that she is sorry two Alphans didn’t make it out, and that she will grieve about it all her life – ‘but close the blasted gate!’ she screams, and with that, the gate is dropped.
Jean-Paul asks Heather if she realizes what she has just done, and taking flight, Heather replies that she does. Using her electromagnetic powers, Heather then proceeds to seal the gate – forever, and by that act both she and Box are returned to their normal heights. Jean-Paul angrily tells Heather that his sister is still in there and that she gave her light to ignite his, thus sacrificing her own sanity for his salvation. ‘Aurora!’ he screams before scratching at the sealed gate. Jeffries turns to Heather, but she tells him that she doesn’t feel like talking right now.
Soon, Vindicator, Jean-Paul, Sasquatch and Jeffries have returned to the surface after Northstar’s story has been told. Jean-Paul kneels by the pink rose as the others stand and watch. ‘So Loki got his licks after all’ remarks Sasquatch. Heather declares that obviously the sanctions of They Who Sit Above in Shadow do not hold much weight. Jeffries asks if this means Loki will come after the rest of them next, to which Jean-Paul replies ‘I think not, the God of Mischief has had his little jest’.
Jean-Paul tells the others that Loki’s revenge is complete, for while they came to cure two Alphans, they have instead lost three. ‘Three? Who besides Aurora and Puck…’ Northstar takes to the air and shinning brightly he reminds Vindicator that Loki revealed to him his and Aurora’s origin, that they are children both of Earth and Alfheim and whereas the former was destroying them, the latter still offers hope, to the one who is left.
He says nothing more before he begins to fly towards some brilliance in the sky. Sasquatch points out that it looks like a gateway was opening, to welcome him home. Jean-Paul is greeted by two white-haired Elves and the brilliance disappears. Jeffries tells the others that he hopes Jean-Paul finds the happiness that has always eluded him among his own people.
Heather continues looking up at the sky and tells Box that she thinks he will. The Alphans turn and head back towards the Omni-Jet, as Sasquatch points out that the storm they saw earlier is almost here. But Heather tells Wanda that she is wrong, for they have already fought the storm…and lost. As the remaining members of Alpha Flight depart in the Omni-Jet, the petals of the pink rose are swept away.
Back on Asgard, Loki has continued to watch the goings-on through the Well of the Wyrd and exclaims ‘And so hope, like the belief in the magic that fostered hope, dies!’ It amuses him to see the mortals humbled as he was, but he thinks that humbled is a far cry from crushed and tells himself that now he knows They Who Sit Above have no intention of enforcing his ban on him, he shall…suddenly Loki finds himself elsewhere, drawn through the Well of Wyrd by some power greater than his own.
He finds himself in darkness, and is about to ask ‘Who’ when the booming voice comes ‘Who else, trickster, than We Who Sit Above in Shadow?’ One of the women tells Loki he should not have thought his acts have gone unobserved, and another tells him that he has defied their ban by seeking revenge against the mortals, and the center figure informs Loki that it is now time to pay the price.
‘Hold, Lords! Why wouldst thou punish me? I have done naught but good!’ The center figure tells Loki to ‘have a care’ for they are not mortals who are taken in by his deceptions. Loki grins and tells They Who Sit Above in Shadow that he has not deceived them, nor would he dare! He tells them that he did engage in some “entertainment” in which the mortals played a part, but mindful of the ban he claims he did them no harm, and great good. He creates a looking device in which they see Aurora, and they see her, huddled in the darkness, teetering on the edge of insanity.
As the foul Dark Elves surround Aurora again, Loki declares that he had no intention of leaving her there, and Aurora vanishes from the darkness, and is deposited at a covenant where some nuns take her in. Loki tells They Who Sit Above in Shadow that thanks to his revelations, Aurora gave her light to save her brother, yet purged of that light she is mortal now, and cannot be harmed by life on Earth. Loki adds that although she is now memoryless, he has seen to it that her multiple personalities are now one. He remarks that he has also delivered her to a place where she will be welcomed, sheltered and hopefully find the peace that eluded her.
‘And the dwarf? Didst thou not bring about his demise?’ ‘Most assuredly not, Great One’ Loki declares as he creates the same device to see Judd as his did for Aurora. He reveals that the Fire Fountain of the Svartalfer did cure him as he desired, and takes credit for arranging his plunge into the Fire Fountain and then transporting him, to a land dear to his memory.
Sitting on a cliff, Judd knows he is in Tibet, and recalls how he started his career as a soldier of fortune here long, long ago. He knows that if his encounter with Razer hadn’t turned him into an immortal-pain-wracked dwarf, and then not hooked up with Alpha Flight, he doesn’t think he would have ever left the place. Tall, old and gray, Judd stands up and asserts that things were not working out with Alpha Flight, that his talents were not up to the power levels of the new team, and Heather clearly loved another. He realizes he was on the verge of leaving anyway, and now it looks as if someone has given him a chance at a second shot of happiness. ‘Whoever’s responsible…thanks!’
Loki also reminds They Who Sit Above in Shadow that he reversed the effect Razer’s sword had on Vindicator and Box. He tells them that they can surely see he has done good by these mortals and asks them not to accuse him of tormenting them. He begins to take his leave when the central Shadow Sitter tells Loki that he is clever to have engineered so effective an avoidance of the punishment which he most surely deserved. Loki asks if he is free to depart, and They Who Sit Above in Shadow tell him that he is and inform him that the door leads from this place to Asgard.
Before he enters the door, Loki waves to them and bids them well, but as he closes the door he calls They Who Sit Above fools and exclaims that like Odin, they are easily fooled by one born to deceive. Although it was true, no mortal suffered this time and he declares that he has not finished with Alpha Flight. He starts to think of what he will do as soon as he returns to Asgard, but to his surprise, he finds himself not in the realm of the Gods like They Who Sit Above said this passage would lead him to, and as the Black Razer stands before him, he informs Loki that this is the realm of Svartalfheim, and asks upon who better than him should he and the Dark Elves vent their frustration? And Loki realizes that They Who Sit Above in Shadow have tricked him, just as he tricked Alpha Flight.
High above the Arctic storm, the Omni-Jet is bound for Tamarind Island, and inside the craft, Heather sits alone with her thoughts. She realizes that the Alpha Flight her late husband forged is gone, and she is left as leader of a trio that comprise three of the most powerful Alphans ever. Heather realizes that to get to where they are now, they have had to suffer the deaths of some members and the loss of others – and she has had to preside over all that misery.
Heather wonders if she can go on, and even if she should, for she feels that each loss carves another notch in her heart, making her cruel, callous and cold. She wonders if she will have to sacrifice the other Alphans in time, or worse – will she have to offer up the fledgling Beta Flight for some elusive notion of “The Greater Good”.
She wonders if she is being too hard on herself, for other leaders of other super teams have had to deal with the same tough choices. She knows she never asked for this responsibility, but like the others, inherited it. She wonders if someone else would come to carry the torch should she let it fall, but they would have to start from scratch, whereas she has already run the gauntlet and survived. She realizes she has already answered her question, for better, or for worse, Alpha Flight is hers. ‘May heaven help me’ and Heather McNeil Hudson begins to cry.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Friends in High Places!
Heather McNeil Hudson a.k.a. "Vindicator" is leader of Canada's premiere super hero team - Alpha Flight. She leads a new, streamlined team after recent tragic events. Madison Jeffries, a.k.a the new Box, and Wanda Langkowski, better known as Sasquatch. Under Alpha's protection are two young mutants, Kara Kilgrave a.k.a. the Purple Girl, and Whitman Knapp, known as "Manikin". They have just arrived back at their home base on Tamarind Island - only to find themselves under attack by the Canadian military.
From a helicopter, someone orders Operation Thunderbolt to proceed as planned, and pointing out the obvious, states that Tamarind Island is under attack by land, air and sea. A soldier calls to his fellow soldiers that their only resistance comes from a handful of so-called super heroes. Another soldier boasts that their weaponry is the most advanced and that their numbers are overwhelming. He believes that despite Alpha Flight's powers, the super beings will not be able to hold out for long.
Vindicator suddenly takes to the air, but from within the Box armor, Jeffries uses his mutant power of metal-manipulation to extend one of his armors hands to pull his lover back down to the ground, asking her what she thinks she is doing. Heather tells Jeffries that there is to be no more holding down the fort and orders her team to take the offensive. Jeffries tells Heather that he thought their first duty was to protect Beta Flight, but the Purple Girl can answer that question and pushing aside the shield that Box created to protect her, Kara points out that their island home is under attack from all sides and therefore they cannot safeguard her and Manikin and still mount a resistance.
Jeffries reminds Kara that he promised her mother to look out for her, but Kara tells him that if Alpha Flight falls, then Beta Flight will be the next to go. Heather declares that Kara is right and proclaims that their only hope of saving any of their lives lies in hitting back hard. Heather prays to herself that her order will not lead to any Alphan's death. As Box mechanically grows some wings and flies off into battle, Sasquatch turns to the youngsters and tells them to stay together. 'Like glue!' exclaims Kara before wishing Alpha Flight good luck.
As Vindicator uses her electromagnetic powers to strike down those attacking her home from the air, she thinks to herself that the Purple Girl has got pluck and has proven herself time and time again. However Heather realizes that Kara's mind-manipulating powers are of limited range and effect against an invasion of this size. On the other hand thinks Heather, Manikin's ability to summon forth three other selves representing various stages of his own evolutionary development make him potentially more powerful, but he is even newer to Beta Flight and untested in battle. Heather believes that as Alpha Flight's leader she must look to the safety of the young Betans ahead of her own. As a soldier tries to evacuate his helicopter, Heather pushes him back and welds the chopper shut for the duration of the battle. 'One down, only a thousand or so to go'.
Box thinks to himself that Vindicator seems to be doing a better job of clearing the skies than he is, so as Jeffries transforms his armor into a giant wheel complete with guns, he races through the land soldiers, joking that he always wanted to be a big wheel in this organization. As he jumps off the cliff, changing his armor back to his regular form, he jokes that it is time to "sea" what he can do to the foes on H2O, and he plunges through a sea craft.
As Sasquatch hurls a large tree she plucked from the ground at several tanks, she jokes that she has given more workouts to more bodies than Jane Fonda. She remembers that first she was Walter Langkowski, scientist, before becoming the original Orange-furred Sasquatch, until its Great Beast owner Tanaraq reclaimed the form. Then he was "dead" and reborn as Box, then "dead" again only to be return in Smart Alec's mindless body, this time able to wrest Snowbird's abandoned Albino Sasquatch form from the villain Pestilence. Because of that last act, Walter is now Wanda.
As Wanda is struck by a blast from a tank, she vows not to let them destroy her, until she can learn who she truly is. Picking up an upturned tank, Sasquatch heaves it at the tank which shot her. Declaring she can't and won't be destroyed again.
Suddenly, a blast lands near Kara and Whit, Kara just manages to pull her teammate to the ground in time. Landing on top of Whit, Kara smiles and tells him that they have to stop meeting like this. Noticing blood on Kara's jacket, Whit realizes that she has been hit. Kara tells him it is just a flesh wound as Whit looks up and sees soldiers surrounding them. Kara gets off Whit and exclaims that the soldiers are right within range of her powers and prepares to use her mind-controlling powers as Whit reminds her she has never manipulated so many minds at once.
The Purple Girl boasts that a girl has to grow up sometime, and as her power kicks in on the soldiers, she tells them to turn around 'and join the purple generation!' Whit congratulates Kara as her plan worked, and the soldiers are now defending them against their fellow soldiers. Motioning to the aircraft that is descending towards them, Whit asks Kara if her powers will work against it. The pilots of the aircraft lock a missile onto their targets - Kara and Whit - and it explodes right near them, sending Kara flying, and injuring Whit.
Seeing the blood pour out of his arm, Whit exclaims he thinks he is going to die, but Kara tries to calm him, telling him he is panicking. The soldiers have realized that the Purple Girl's power is transmitted by scent and protect themselves by putting on gas masks. One of them asks about the Purple Girls' boyfriend, but someone else points out that he is a geek who is too scared to do anything but surrender or die.
Kara shakes Whit and tells him that he has to do something, because she cannot do anything anymore. Whit exclaims that he only learnt how to take care of others at medical school, to which Kara tells him that it is high time he learnt how to take care of hisselves and Whit uses his mutant power, unleashing his past and future selves Highbrow asks Manikin, whom he addresses as "Prime Unit" what the orders are. Healed, Whit informs Highbrow that he wants him to use that future brain of his to teleport the five of them into the middle of the enemy troops. 'I wish I'd thought of that' mutters Highbrow as he snaps his fingers and teleports them into the heat of the battle.
'Come to think of it, I did' Highbrow realizes once he has teleported everyone to their destination Kara smiles and asks Whit if he is going to tell his past selves what to do. Manikin points out that Apeman and Proto do not need any instructions to wreck havoc, which is exactly what they do. Apeman physically confronts the soldiers, while Proto goes from soldier to soldier, eating their uniforms, leaving them butt naked.
When a large RUMBLE sounds, Kara asks Highbrow what it is. Highbrow mumbles some scientific geek-talk before revealing in laymans terms that it is the sound of tanks. The large tanks close in on the kids as Kara shouts at them, telling them they are not welcomed Manikin orders Highbrow to teleport the tanks, which he does. As Kara commands more soldiers under her control to attack their fellows, she tells Whit it is a shame his four selves do not share one brain, for it would cut down the communication time.
Whit smiles as he sees his selves 'kicking tail', before realizing that with his selves where they are, and he where he is - alone - it leaves the man main unprotected - and as if on cue, a soldier puts a gun to the back of Whit's head. The soldier orders Whit to recall his past and future selves, or else to say goodbye to his present Kara sees that Manikin it in trouble, but knows that the soldier is too far away to be influenced by her powers.
Suddenly, 'I may be powerless, pal, but I'm not stupid!' exclaims Whit as he kicks a log up at the soldier, and grabbing the soldiers gun whyen it leaves his hand. Kara runs over to Whit and congratulates him, before admitting that she doubted him before, but will never again. 'You did? You won't? Gosh!' replies Whit. Manikin fires the gun at the soldiers as Highbrow announces Alpha Flight's return. Kara declares that Alpha Flight will find they held the fort, and as Box congratulates them, Whit jokes that they cannot call them the "Playpen Patrol" after this.
Box exclaims that he didn’t think he ever called them that, but Whit tells him that they never did, he just likes the way it sounded. As Sasquatch leaps out from the forest, Kara asks where Vindicator is, only for Heather to drop from the sky, informing Alpha and Beta that she has seen the invaders in full flight leaving the island. 'We've won!' she exclaims, unleashing a blast of electromagnetic energy into the air to celebrate.
Watching from nearby is Alpha Flight's government liaison, Gary Cody, who agrees with Heather, Alpha did win, but he wished they didn’t make it look so easy. Gary turns to the soldier in the vehicle beside him and asks him if he is still monitoring transmissions from the A.O.W. The soldier replies that he is and informs Cody that they have recorded the entire exercise, which will give the men back in Ottawa enough data about the new Alpha Flight to keep them in research for a very long time.
With mixed emotions, Cody leaves his observation post and makes his way to the battle field, where Heather greets him and asks him how they did. 'Make your little wargame real enough?' Cody replies that Alpha Flight exceeded expectations, before revealing that when it was decided to launch this mock invasion of a corps of Canada's crack commandos armed with the most modern military technology and firing pain and paint pellets to simulate actual battle conditions, the odds were that the new Alpha Flight would merely hold its own, but instead they did more.
After lighting a cigarette, Cody smiles and tells Heather that Mac would have been proud. Heather smiles back and declares that the team assembled by her late husband earned its renown, but her Alpha Flight is every bit the equal in power to the old. 'As I believe we've just demonstrated'. Gary agrees, but Heather asks him what is wrong and tells him that if it is because there are only three Alphans now, she tells him not to forget the Betans, who may be young, but are fighters. Making Whit blush when she calls him handsome, Heather points out that he doubles Alpha's battle strength all by himself.
As Gary turns his back on Alpha, Heather tells him that they are also a more cohesive team than Mac's 'maladjusted amalgam of misfits ever was'. She believes that is bound to make them a more effective fighting force, and asks Gary if he agrees. Gary Cody offers no reply, instead he looks around a the destruction caused to this part of Tamarind Island says to himself 'Equal in power to the old Alpha? Well-adjusted? More effective? May heaven help us mere mortals'.
Soon, inside Mansion Alpha, Heather tells Gary to make himself at home while she and the others freshen up. Watching Manikin take Kara's jacket off for her, Sasquatch jokes that she thinks Kara can take it off herself. Kara tells Wanda not to tease and points out that Whit is just being chivalrous. 'Just watch his hands!' declares Wanda teasingly.
Gary turns to Heather and tells her that it seems she has forged more than just a new team, and as Jeffries exits the Box armor, he declares that Alpha Flight has become a family. Gary is surprised to see Jeffries emerge from the Box armor, to which Madison asks him if he was expecting someone else. Gary replies 'no' and reveals that he had been briefed about the death of Roger Bochs and Madison subsequently taking over the Box armor.
Handing Cody his cigarette case that he dropped on the floor, Sasquatch calls him "cutie" and tells him that there are a lot of changes around Alpha Flight that he has to get used to. "Cutie?" asks Gary as Sasquatch walks away, but as Sasquatch returns to her human form, Vindicator introduces Wanda to Gary. Gary declares that he does not recall Walter having a sister. 'I don't! Taa!' smirks Wanda/Walter before exiting the room.
Rubbing his head, Gary asks Heather what else there is. Heather informs Cody that she has been too busy to file reports on all the changes that have undergone Alpha, to which Gary reminds her that it is her duty to keep Ottawa informed. Heather tells him that her actual duty is to keep Alpha alive - and she think she has done her job
'Race you to the pool?' Kara asks Whit. As Whit uses Highbrow to teleport him there, he shouts 'last one there's a rotten egg!' 'Cheater!' declares Kara shaking her fists Heather laughs at the youngsters actions and tells Cody that he can now get to know her Alphans for himself - and maybe even come to love them as she does. As the duo enter the mansion library, Cody informs Heather that she has done a far better job than he would have ever believed, to which Heather asks him what he means by that. She asks him if he had doubts about her ability to hold Mac's team together after his death, even though he had encouraged her to assume leadership of Alpha.
Gary tries to calm Heather and tells her that she is not being fair, and declares that he is not the only one who was surprised when she went beyond an honorary title and became a true leader. Thinking back to Heather's housewife days, Gary tells her that apart from a stubborn streak there was nothing in her prior history to suggest she would ever become a super hero. Heather asks Gary if it was his doubts about her that led the Mansion to being bugged when he offered it to them as their headquarters Gary reveals that it was in part, before reminding Heather that Alpha Flight represents a major investment in Canada's defense, and declares they have a right to know how their money is being employed.
Walking away from Gary, Heather asks him what happens if Ottawa disapproves - will they ask her to resign? Gary begins to say 'It's not like that...' but Heather cuts him off, coldly suggesting that their relationship is just a business one despite all Alpha Flight has done for their country. Heather excuses herself as she declares she needs her bath now. Gary realizes Heather is angry, and while he knows he cannot blame her, he also knows that he cannot blame Ottawa for being scared. Gary knows that no one expected Alpha Flight to triumph today, nor do they know the Alpha Flight who beat Canada's best. Looking up at a portrait of James MacDonald Hudson - Guardian - Gary realizes that this Alpha Flight is made up of strangers, not the team Mac forged, starting with the day when then Prime Minister Trudeau called Gary into his office....
(Flashback, takes place between Alpha Flight Special and Uncanny X-Men #120)
Prime Minister Trudeau introduces Gary to a red and white clad super hero, James MacDonald Hudson, and informs him they will be working together in Department H. Department H (after "Hudson") was the spawning ground of Alpha Flight - Snowbird, Northstar, Aurora, Sasquatch and Shaman - Canada's premiere super team. Back in the good days, Mac and Gary scoured the nation looking for beings with innate and special powers, to fill the rosters of not only Alpha, but the nascent Beta and Gamma Flights also And they found them, in Marrina, Puck, Diamond Lil, Madison Jeffries, Box, Wildchild, Flashback and Smart Alec.
But then a shortsighted government put the budget over brains, and though Gary argued for Department H's survival, it was no use. Alpha Flight lost its funding. Until time, and Guardian's death at the hands of Omega Flight, proved the necessity of Canada's utilizing her own team of super beings. Alpha Flight were again employed by the government, but Cody was ordered to keep close tabs on them. So the liaison became a spy, watching Alpha Flight grow strong and independent, and more unknown and unknowable with each passing day.
(Present)
The handsome Madison Jeffries enters the library and asks Cody if he cares for a beer. Cody tells Jeffries that he didn’t hear him come in, to which Madison tells him he thought he may have been wandering down some memory lane, before reminding Cody that they both go back a way. Cody agrees, for Madison was in the original Gamma Flight. Madison agrees, and reminds Cody he joined Gamma Flight to find some use for his powers, before it drove him as mad as his brother Scramble, or as his best friend, Roger Bochs. Jeffries looks down solemnly as informs Cody his brother and best friend died as one, Omega, and declares that there are some folks Alpha Flight cannot hold in the fold.
Jeffries looks up, and smiling, he announces that there are some folks who can be kept in the fold. Gary asks Madison how one can determine who will remain heroes and who will turn bad. Jeffries tells Gary that that is Heather's job and tells him she is good at it. Gary thinks that this is unusual, a woman who, despite her pretensions, is actually presiding over a team every bit as unstable as that forged by her husband. Gary thinks back to how Mac could not hold together all of his proteges either - like Wolverine, his first and most dangerous recruit, or the bulks of Beta and Gamma Flights who banded together as Omega Flight and tried to kill him
Gary stubs out his cigarette, believing he would be insane to think Heather could do any better, and he wouldn't be doing his job either. Gary leaves the room, reminding himself that he works for the government, no matter how many years he spent as Alpha Flight's liaison, he has to put the best interests of Canada first - that means making sure Heather really can control her team - or replacing her with someone who can. Gary realizes that to do that he must learn all he can about the new Alpha Flight.
As he enters the Alphanex computer room, he tells himself not to feel like a Judas, for his duties require him to know everything about Alpha Flight. After all, Heather has been slack in filing reports, and she did tell him to make himself at home after all. Cody knows that all data regarding Alpha Flight since its inception as Department H is stored in Alphanex's memory banks, and while the government has access to some of it via modem, any attempt to download the data stored herein would, Gary believes, be considered by Heather as spying.
Taking a disc from his jacket pocket, Gary knows he has to move fast and undetected, and the raider disc should prove effective. The disc Gary slips into Alphanex's drive possesses the unique capacity to swiftly encode the data stored in any computer's memory banks. "encode" equals "steal". It gains access, it copies information, information about Alpha Flight, about Wolverine, Talisman, and Alpha Flight's enemies - the Master of the World, Loki, Lady Deathstrike and more. And its mission is accomplished.
Looking over his shoulder, Gary knows that analysis of the data he has raided will have to wait until he returns to Ottawa. However, he can now safely say to his superiors that none of Alpha Flights secrets are hidden from him. He leaves the Alphanex and re-enters the library, thinking that while Alpha Flight has shown itself to be superior to Canada's best forces, it has also shown itself to be both independent and unstable 'The first two, combined with the third give us mere mortals cause to fear'. He doesn’t think there is anyone who would fault them for wanting to keep watch on those with the power to destroy them.
Looking up at the memorial portrait of Mac, he asks 'Is there?' Suddenly, Heather, followed by Jeffries, Wanda and the Betans enter the room. Heather tells Cody that she wants to apologize. After Gary asks what for, Heather smiles and tells him for forgetting that he has stood by Alpha Flight no matter which way the political winds blew, no matter the pressures that brought to bear on him also. She tells Cody that she understands it couldn't have been an easy job and must have been a thankless one, defending super beings to bureaucrats who couldn’t possibly understand. Jeffries smiles and tells Gary that what Heather is trying to say is...Wanda finishes the sentence off for him: 'Thanks for being the best friend Alpha Flight's ever had!'


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Specters!
One man's dream died here. Mankind's nightmare is about to begin.
His name is Gary Cody, he stands alone in the abandoned compound beneath Parliament Hill that once served as the headquarters to Department H. He listens to the silence, though there was once much sound. To the rest of Canada, Cody is almost unknown, laboring in obscurity at a thankless task: keeping the peace between Canada's premiere super heroes, Alpha Flight, and the government that is beginning to fear them. Gary tells himself he thought he knew everything there was to know about Department H, the place where Alpha Flight was born - but he now knows he was wrong.
Looking at the disc of information he recently stole from Alpha Flight's personal database, the Alphanex, Gary realizes that there were so many things James MacDonald Hudson, the originator of Alpha Flight and super hero known as Guardian never told him. But in saying that, Cody also knows that even Mac's widow, Heather, who took over as leader of Alpha Flight after Mac's death doesn’t know everything. The information that Gary copied onto his raider disc was meant for Mac's eyes alone, but Gary cracked the encoding Mac had on the files, and uncovered...a mystery.
Gary wonders if perhaps he should have alerted Alpha Flight, but decides against it, for he already spied on them, and besides, he works for Canada, not Alpha Flight. Gary knows what his orders are: to figure out some way a nation of non-powered people can maintain control over their super powered champions. 'And you may have helped me to my job, Mac'.
(Flashback, takes place in between Alpha Flight Special and Uncanny X-Men #120)
'I just want to serve Canada,' Mac exclaims that that is what he told Gary Cody when he made his pitch for Government funding for Department H. He supposes that the "H" standing for Hudson, after himself, may have been a bit presumptuous. But putting on super powered Weapon Alpha suit, Mac declares that everything about his power and proposal was without precedent as far as Ottawa was concerned. 'After all, I am Canada's first super hero'.
Mac knows he is only a super hero thanks to the cyber suit he invented as an exploration suit for the American Am-Can Corporation, and reclaimed from it when he learned they intended to sell it to the American military. It was following that that Mac decided he could use the suit he designed to expedite oil for Canada's defense. Mac is glad that Ottawa bought his idea and gave him this unused Augean stable has his headquarters. Ottawa also gave Mac permission to locate - or create - a team of like-powered people to rival the American Avengers.
(Present)
The device Gary is carrying, a portaputer, synthesizes visuals for the data captured by the raider disc, recreating the excitement of the early days. Gary knows that Mac covered all of Canada searching for people with extraordinary powers. 'A pity the first one he found didn't last'.
(Flashback, takes place circa Giant Sized X-Men #1)
Mac reminds Weapon X that it was Department H who trained him, who made him the super agent that he is. He tells Logan that he cannot walk out on him now, but Logan tells James to get one thing straight - nobody knows who made him what he is today. He pops his adamantium claws right near Mac's face as he tells him that he was a killer long before he became Department H's killer. Mac hangs his head as Logan storms from the room, telling Mac that he has to go, and that he should know why. Logan tells Mac to scratch Weapon X from Canada's corps of commandos, and to call him Wolverine from here on in.
(Present)
Gary knows that the loss of Logan was Mac's first and greatest failure, and Mac went to get Wolverine back from the X-Men as Weapon Alpha. But Mac saw his mistake, and in addition to the recruit he already had, he changed his name to Vindicator and gathered the first founding members of Alpha Flight. Snowbird! Northstar! Aurora! Sasquatch! Shaman! Gary recalls that Mac did not stop with Alpha Flight, for waiting in the wings were the trainee teams Beta Flight: Marrina! Puck! Box! Flashback! and Gamma Flight: Diamond Lil! Madison Jeffries! Smart Alec! Wildchild!
(present)
Gary remembers that membership in the teams became fluid, for some trainees became full members of Alpha Flight, while the others dropped out to form the renegade Omega Flight. Gary believes that the time before Department H's disbanding of the teams was one of high hopes, and Alpha Flight's Golden Age. But the Golden Age would end, because the original Alpha Flight soon fell apart, its members departing or dying. The only thing familiar about the new Alpha Flight is their name, and the fact that the new team is led by Mac's widow, former house keeper Heather Hudson has not made it any easier for Gary, or Ottawa to swallow.
Gary knows that he did urge Heather to accept leadership when it was offered to her, though he thought it would be an honorary role, but instead she forged Alpha Flight into a formidable team, far more cohesive than what Mac did. But Heather's team is also a team that owes Canada far less than Mac's did. Meaning, this Alpha Flight is far less accountable and completely uncontrollable. Gary recalls the test last week in which they defeated a strikeforce of Canada's top commandos. Gary fears that if the new Alpha Flight turns against humanity, Canada would be defenseless and they would have a right to be afraid - and seek to safeguard their race.
Gary inserts the raider disc into his computer, thinking it lucky that Mac pointed the way to what it may be that could safeguard humanity. Gary watches data play out before him - Alpha Flight and Department H's history. It takes him back, past Heather as Vindicator, past Mac as Guardian and Weapon Alpha, right back ,to plain Mac.
(Flashback, prior to Alpha Flight First Flight Special)
'What's up Jimmy?' asks Logan, cigar in one hand as the handsome James MacDonald Hudson approaches him. Mac tells Logan that he wants to show him something. They walk down a corridor of the secret complex beneath Parliament Hill together, Logan telling Mac that it better be good, as the only other "super agents" he has seen exist in Mac's head. Mac tells Logan that their must be more beings with super powers like theirs living in Canada. 'Why should the U.S. be he only nation blessed?'  'Or cursed,' mutters Logan.
Logan reminds Mac that without his super suit, there is nothing "super" about him either. Mac takes Logan's point, adding that neither of them were born super heroes, but Logan reminds Mac that he has more going for him than adamantium finger nails. Mac exclaims that all he is trying to say is that it is becoming harder to locate super beings than he originally thought, revealing to Logan that unless he comes up with results, and soon, Ottawa may begin to question its commitment to Department H.
Logan glances back before asking Mac what he intends to do it he cannot find any more people with powers. 'Make `em?' 'Exactly!' replies Mac as he places his hand on a security panel, allowing them access to a restricted room. A room that to this day remains undiscovered by the Canadian government.
Staring at the completely bandaged body on a table, Logan asks Mac if he has decided to go to medical school. Mac reveals that he recently developed a device capable of locating those with latent powers, powers which are not fully developed or realized. The two men walk over to the body as Mac points out he obviously hoped the device would lead him to conscientious Canadian citizens whom he could convince in joining him as super agents - instead it led him to a provincial prison in Nova Scotia.
Looking at the wrapped body, Logan asks Mac if the man is a con. Mac reveals that the man was convicted of murder, but that there is power in him. Mac declares that if he can activate that power, he will be able to create heroes and fulfill the nation's faith in him. Logan points out that he will also be able to keep his funding assuming he is successful, but asks what he is planning to do with a super-powered murderer. Mac reveals that the criminal consented to being experimented upon in exchange for a pardon, and vows to train him to use his powers for good. Logan asks Mac what he intends to do if the criminal is not so cooperative once he is made into a super human, to which Mac replies that he will cross that bridge when he comes to it.
(Present)
Gary witnesses Mac's desperation in the early years of Department H, and Logan's disgust that his friend would risk the safety of society for the sake of saving his dream. The data ends, and Gary wonders if Mac's experiment succeeded, did he manage to create a super being? Gary thinks it unlikely, as Mac did go on to gather other beings whose powers developed naturally. Cody ponders the alternatives - did Mac's experiment fail, therefore he committed murder?
Gary believes that may be why the data on the experiment was erased from the Alphanex, but wonders why the convict was never heard of again. Did this experiment have anything to do with Wolverine quitting Department H. and surfacing as a member of the X-Men soon after? Gary wonders if Wolverine was so horrified at Hudson's crime but at the same time unable to expose his best friend.
Cody finds the door of which behind it lies the answers. He places his hand on the panel and the door opens, accompanied by the whine of long-unused hydraulics. Gary tells himself that no matter what the answer, he must know, especially as if Hudson did succeed in creating a super being, then there may be no limit to the number of super humans that exist in the world. Gary believes a new race could be created in the laboratory, super humans that are produced on an assembly line to outnumber, or at least outpower regular humans. Gary thinks that such an experiment would spell the end of mankind and all data on it should be destroyed.
But on the other hand, thinks Cody, super beings do exist, some born with powers, others who have gained them by accident. There are nations that fund some super beings, fight others, and fear and distrust them all. 'But if we could breed and control our own!' he tells himself, as entering the sealed laboratory, where he sees the table the convict once laid on - only now, there is some sort of cocoon growing above the empty table.
Gary walks over to the cocoon, remembering that the government shut down Department H and stripped it of its machinery, but obviously the work crews missed Mac's well-hidden lab. Looking up at the cocoon, Gary realizes that this lab must have its own generators and life support system to sustain the thing growing in the room. Gary knows that whatever is inside the cocoon, after all these years is alive. He wonders if it is Mac's convict, or at least what is left of him.
Gary believes that even if Mac did fail, there exists the possibility of recreating his experiment and correcting his errors. He presses some buttons on the control panel, thinking that one could manufacture a race of super beings amenable to human control should those heroes who already exist - like Alpha Flight - one day prove uncontrollable. Justifying his betrayal of his friends, Cody seeks to unlock the secret better left buried in the long dead past.
Meanwhile, on Tamarind Island, where it is a gentle summer evening, and Alpha Flight are enjoying a well-deserved night off. Watching team leader Heather Hudson enter the water off the small islands' shore, Beta Flight member Whitman "Manikin" Knapp asks his fellow Betan Kara "the Purple Girl" Kilgrave if she is going to join Heather for a swim. Kara tells Whit that Heather has been moody all day and thinks she probably wants to be left alone. 'After all,' she adds 'this is the anniversary of her husband's death'.
Entering the rocky waters, Heather tells herself that she is at peace with herself for the first time in a long time. 'Does that sound callous?' she wonders, before realizing that she loved Mac, but never truly knew him. The woman codenamed Vindicator dives beneath the waves, thinking that to her, Mac was a hero ever since he turned his back on militarism and decided to use his battle suit for mankind's benefit. But Heather never realized Mac would carry his commitment to creating a super team, as far as making human beings inhuman as he did when he transformed Logan into Wolverine.
Heather wonders how Mac could have done that to a friend, but believes it explains the makeup of the 'original, mismatched, seriously disturbed' membership of the original Alpha Flight - as a mirror to Mac's aberrant ambition. She believes the team she has assembled to be a model of stability. Heather comes up for air, telling herself she is happy to have freed herself from the shackles of Mac's memory.
Watching Heather from a large rock, Whit tells Kara that he wishes they could so something to cheer Heather. 'You could work on cheering me up!' Kara exclaims. Whit asks her if she us unhappy, and wonders why she would be, after all, 'you're purple, pretty, have power over people's minds...and my heart!' Whit glances to the side as Kara looks at him and asks him if he really likes her. Releasing his three past and future selves, Apeman, Proto and Highbrow, Whit smiles and tells Kara that they all do. Highbrow tells Whit that he doubts the Purple Girl desired a demonstration of his powers at this particular moment, to which Manikin sends them back to where they came from, declaring that he was kidding. As he tickles Kara, he exclaims he is going to show her how serious he can be.
Watching from Mansion Alpha, Madison Jeffries, from within his Box armor, thinks that the kids look happy, before worrying that while Kara is a teenager, Whit is a med-school graduate, and hopes that he knows not to take advantage of Kara. Box walks over to the edge of the island where Heather is swimming, deciding that he does trust Whit, before realizing that moments for simple, human pleasure are few and far between for those in Alpha and Beta Flight. He would hate to be some kind of scrooge and put a damper on their puppy love.
The handsome Jeffries, wearing only shorts, emerges from the Box armor, telling himself that while he spends half his life merged with a robot of living metal, he is man enough to know when to stop being a robot. He dives into the water, and swims over to Heather. She smiles at him before a wave crashes into her, knocking her into his arms, where he embraces her, and they kiss.
Sitting on a swinging bench on the veranda of Mansion Alpha, the pretty Wanda Langkowski, who transforms into the beast known as Sasquatch is amused that Heather has found a new love - her first since Mac died. Wanda thinks that it is about time, before realizing that cupid seems to be working overtime on Tamarind Island this summer, his arrows hitting everybody - except her.
Wanda jokes that the God of Love may be confused, not sure what to make of someone who was formerly dead, and formerly a man. Wanda is happy that she is not losing any sleep over it, in fact she feels like for the first time in years, everything is going right. 'For me, for Alpha Flight, and for the world'.
But to see how wrong Wanda can be, she needs to look only at what remains of the former Department H beneath Parliament Hill. The life support veins that were attached to the cocoon are scattered all over the floor. A light flashes on the computer console and an alarm signal sounds. The cocoon has been opened. Gary Cody lies motionless by a hole burned into a wall. Braindead, this Judas has found his reward.
Westchester, New York, the home of the Uncanny X-Men. A certain alarm system taps into the phoneline, and in a dimly lit room, a phone rings. A shirtless man puts down his cigar as his picks the phone up. 'Hello?' 'LOGAN? THIS IS HUDSON. BEDLAM IS FREE!' The pre-recorded message left by James MacDonald Hudson chills Wolverine, who instinctively pops his claws, knowing that the worst kind of trouble lies ahead.