Alpha Flight #4: “Alpha Omega.”
By: Tawmis

In a time of darkness, heroes stood up and fought for their country
that they loved so much. Hated by their own government, questioned by
the people of Canada – Alpha Flight never stops to ask why they do
what they do. They are heroes. It is their duty. Welcome – Vindicator!
Guardian! Sasquatch! Northstar! Aurora! Shaman! Puck! Snowbird! Welcome to –
Alpha Flight!


Vindicator leaned back in his seat, his fingers entwined within one another,
and placed thoughtfully under his chin. “So what do you think?”
Sasquatch shook his head, “I have to say I believe Wyre. I know my specialty is
in gamma radiation, but I have had my fair share of genetics. Even managed to
alter Aurora’s own mutant abilities by manipulating the DNA.” (1)
Sasquatch paused and added, “I admit I am shaky on Wyre and Wildchild’s past…
but I know its there. I know Wildchild was injected with Wyre’s DNA by the
Secret Empire, which was hoping to make an army of savage killers and trackers
to sell.”
Shaman nodded his head, “I agree with Walter. As a medical doctor, I have had
the benefit of giving Wyre an exam. His DNA does contain a genetic code, which
unleashes violence. I would have never found out myself, had I not known his
previous history with the Secret Empire.”
“So should we question The Department? Ask them where they got Narya’s DNA? And
why they’re selling it?” Vindicator asked of Shaman and Sasquatch.
“No,” Sasquatch answered flatly. “The Department and Alpha have finally split
ways, yet again,” he shook his head. “I can’t count how many times we’ve left
and come back – it’s like a revolving door. What I mean,” he said more firmly, “
if we got back, we will probably end up working some assignment for them. Next
thing we know, we’re right back to working for Department H.”
“Again,” Shaman gestured towards Sasquatch, who seemed to be nothing more than
a large mount of muscular orange fur, “I find that I agree with Walter. We have
cut our ties with The Department. We have recovered all of Narya’s DNA samples,
according to Wyre. We have no more business with The Department.”
“So what’s the next order of business?” Vindicator asked.
“I believe we should locate Wildchild,” Sasquatch nodded. “Wyre seems genuinely
concerned about his well being.”
“Okay then,” Vindicator stood up and brushed himself off. “Let’s get ready to
find him then.”

Wildchild threw his legs over the table and let them dangle for a moment as he
stared at his hands.
“Yes,” Master nodded his head. “I see that you’ve been granted Adamantium claws
and teeth.” (2)
Wildchild looked at Master, his brows together, in silent question.
“It made it difficult to adjust everything,” Master smiled, “I could do it at
the main base, but here,” he gestured to the sub, “I am limited,
considering.”
He walked around Wildchild. “I did notice quite a few things about your genetic
structure that I have managed to ‘correct.’ It would seem your DNA has been
spliced and examined a number of times. Aside from that of your comrade, Wyre,
it would seem you had also been injected with Victor Creed’s DNA as well.”
He paced around the operating table that Wildchild had been laid upon, and
paused at the screen that monitored Kyle’s heartbeat. He tapped the screen,
satisfied inwardly with the results.
“It would seem that Wyre’s DNA is what caused you to become so horrific in
appearance,” (3) Master smiled. “I was able to isolate the DNA strand that had
come from Wyre’s, based on the information I ‘obtained’ from Department H’s
mainframe.”
Master returned pet Stitch as he walked passed her and turned to face Wildchild
once more. “Wyre’s DNA is what made you psychotic. It made you the perfect ‘
hound.’” He raised an eyebrow. “Made you the animal that you were. The
injection of Victor Creed’s DNA puzzled me, since you were already a mutant
with heightened senses and a healing factor.” Master chuckled. “But with a few
keystrokes I was able to shatter the ‘firewall’ around Department H’s most
secure files and uncovered their reasoning. You were to be the replacement for
Wolverine, after his departure from Department H.” (4)
“When Department H found you in the wreckage of the Secret Empire’s base,”
Master continued, “with the help of Walter Langkowski, who buried your medical
records, you were brought into Department H, under the codename of
Wildchild.”
Wildchild stared at the gleaming claws. “So I am cured?”
“Aside from the claws and teeth laced with adamantium, yes,” Master smiled. “
Just as I promised, for a price.”
Wildchild nodded his head, “Right. A price.”
Master smiled and gestured towards the man behind him. “I am sure you remember
him?”
Wildchild immediately saw the man, whose unique red irises surrounded by yellow
marked him as the man Wildchild had nearly killed not too long ago. “Mesmero!”
Wildchild sneered and leapt towards the hypnotic villain.
However, one swift fist struck Wildchild from mid air and sent him slamming
against the wall.
Wildchild wiped the blood from his lip, and stared at his sleeve, then looked
up at Master who had been the one who moved with lightning speed reflexes.
“You’d do well to remember who the ‘master’ is here,” Master sneered. “He will
be a part of Omega Flight, just as you will be. The two of you will work side
by side, and bring me the destruction of Alpha Flight.”
“What’s your beef with Alpha Flight?” Wildchild asked, his eyes never leaving
Mesmero.
“One of a simple mind,” Master replied. “Revenge.”
“I thought you were above that,” Wildchild sneered.
“Yes,” Master smiled, and shrugged slightly. “I am. But there’s something about
them… and how they’ve managed to stick their noses where it doesn’t belong when
it comes to me… time and time again. It’s time that ends. With Alpha Flight out
of the way, my domination as rightful ruler of the world, shall begin. I will
bring this world peace. I will end pollution, starvation, cancer, everything! I
will create a Utopia for this world.”
“And we’d all still be slaves to the ‘Master’ I see,” Wildchild shook his head.
“Well, when there is but one ruler,” Master began, “there is less chance of
conflict with opposing interests.”
Master turned to Mesmero. “Between people ‘tinkering’ with Kyle’s DNA – and
doing a horrible job, I might add,” he shook his head in disgust, “and you
messing with Kyle’s, already fragile mind, I am surprised that he’s still even
able to be saved, even by me. But tell me, Mesmero, have you told her about her
own past?”
“What do you mean,” Mesmero stammered.
“Do not be coy with me,” Master laughed. “I am the Master. When I took you both
in, I ran bio-scans and learned a very interesting point.”
Mesmero’s eyes widened.
“Yes,” Master nodded. “I know the truth.”

Within the room sat perhaps one of the largest collection of second-rate
villains. Brass Bishop peered through the curtain and smiled. “We have quite a
collection out there,” he nodded. “Unfortunate though, Doom or someone along
his lines wasn’t here. That would really have gotten my name out there. But at
least I see Quicksand, Mad Dog, Scarecrow, Unicorn, and Cottonmouth – probably
here on behalf of the Serpent Society. There’s Nitro, Will O’ The Wisp! And
quite a few of others as well!”
The Brass Bishop turned towards Overknight, “Get ready, it looks like they’re
getting restless.”
Brass Bishop stepped upon the stage, “Hello, hello and welcome!”
At that very moment, a shimmering portal opened beside Brass Bishop.
He took a step back, “Overknight, what’s going on?”
“Nothing on our end, sire,” Overknight replied.
At that very moment, Goblyn, Pathway, Highbrow, Persuasion, Talisman,
Windshear, Box, Feedback, and Witchfire stepped through the shimmering door.
Highbrow looked around the room. “Well, certainly most fortunate that we have
acquired all of our current staff for this engagement! The room is full of
unsavory sorts! One of which I recognize! Mad Dog!” (5)
“Not again!” Brass Bishop screamed. (6)
“What’s the meaning of this?” Cottonmouth shouted, as he looked around. “I will
have to report to Sidewinder!” He quickly turned and bolted for the exit. (7)
A blast from Nitro was deflected by Feedback, the blast shattered the south
wall. Goblyn lunged forward at Mad Dog, who dodged her attack. Goblyn collided
with Quicksand, who quickly turned to sand, to avoid Goblyn’s razor sharp
claws.
Persuasion attempted to seize the mind of Mad Dog, who shook off the effects. “
I don’t think so, little girl.”
Mad Dog lunged for Persuasion, however, found himself blasted in mid flight by
Talisman. “We watch over our own.”
Mad Dog sneered at Talisman. “I will have my vengeance.” ( He looked around and
saw that the villains were clearly losing against the child heroes! He shook
his head. They were acting like a team, while the villains were striking out on
their own. He growled, and fled in the chaos.
Overknight brought his sword down, so it struck Box’s armor.
“Sean!” Pathway called out.
“I’m all right,” Box replied. Box turned around and faced Overknight. “I
actually felt that,” he replied in a mechanical voice.
Box grabbed Overknight’s blade and used it as leverage to slam him into the
already shattered wall. “Not very honorable for a knight, to be striking your
enemy in the back.”
King Coal shaped his hands into two spears as he lunged at Highbrow who barely
dodged. At the same moment, Killer Queen attempted to ensnare Persuasion.
Persuasion took control of King Coal and used his hand to stab Killer Queen.
Killer Queen screamed, and fell forward. The wound was hardly fatal, as it
struck her in the waist. But it was enough to shock her and allow Windshear to
hit her with solid air.
Witchfire kept Dark Tower entangled with her magic.
Beta Flight looked around them, the other villains had made their get away. “
The rest of them, except Brass Bishop and Chess Set got away,” Talisman
sighed.
“Well, at least they know that we’re here, and if they come into Canada again,
we will find them,” Witchfire replied.
Talisman nodded and turned towards Pathway. “Open up the doorway back to
Department M, we will take who we have. I’d still call this a successful
mission.” She turned towards Box, “Did you find the weapon?”
Box approached Talisman and handed it to her. “Yes,” he smiled. He looked at
the blueprints in his mechanical hands, recalling some distant memory from so
long ago. “Yes, I did.”
“Good,” Talisman smiled. She turned towards the shimmering door, “Then lets
go.”
They stepped through the door and were welcomed by Madison Jeffries and Lillian
Crawley.
“Did you get it?” Madison asked, as Box stepped through.
“I did,” the robotic voice answered. Box handed the blueprints to Madison.
Madison looked them over. “These are it. No idea how Brass Bishop got a hold of
them in the first place, but glad to have them back.”
“What are they?” Laura Dean, better known as Pathway asked.
“The design for the Groundhog armor,” Box replied. “A powerful piece of armor
that was only used once.” (9)
Box removed the helmet and shook his head.
Madison smiled. “How does it feel to be back in armor, Sean?”
“Different,” Sean Bernard replied, “and yet somehow the same.”
“Does that mean you will be staying with us?” Lillian asked, as she slid her
arm around Madison.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Felt good. I still miss him though. Didn’t know him long,
but he was something special.” (10)
“He may yet come back,” Lillian replied with a smile. “It seems you can’t keep
anyone from Alpha down.”
“Yeah,” Sean nodded. “Maybe one day.”

“What does he mean, Mesmero? What ‘truth’ does he speak of?” Arlette asked.
Mesmero bowed his head and bit softly into his lower lip. “It’s true, what your
heart tells you.” He looked up at Arlette, who he had dubbed Murmure, the fresh
translation of the American word ‘murmur.’ He signed, “When I first learned I
had the mutant ability to hypnotize people, and make them do my bidding, I
turned to a petty life of crime. I went into backs, hypnotized clerks, had them
hand over all the money in their drawers, and I would walk out with no one the
wiser. But then, when I tried the same thing on a young woman behind a
convenience counter, little did I know she was a minor telepath and blocked my
hypnotic suggestion. She sounded the alarms, not entirely certain what I was
trying to do – and I heard the sirens of the police. I fled for my life, and a
police officer found and cornered me. I was fortunate enough to be able to
hypnotize him. I had him take me in his car, across the state lines into
Canada, under the pretense that he was ‘delivering’ me to author
ities in Canada. Once in Canada, I lived my life there, once again picking up
the petty crime spree. While there, I fell in love with one of the women at the
bank I robbed. Her name was Lenore Elaine Truffaut. I returned and asked for
her affection on a simple date, and she rejected me.”
He shook his head. “I returned and hypnotized her, and together we lived a life
of bliss. We spent our time in Port Arthur, also known as Thunder Bay, and
Oshawa, Ontario.”
“But,” he continued after a long pause. “I knew I was living the life of a lie.
If I really cared for her, I would not have hypnotized her and made her do the
things I did.”
He heaved a sigh, “And so I released her from my hold and left. I returned to
the states and began yet another career of crime, where I joined master
roboticist, Samuel ‘Starr’ Saxon.” He shook his head, “Defeat after defeat, I
tried to give up the life of crime. Even when I moved to New York to try and
become a stage hypnotist, I ran into Spider-Man who fought with me and defeated
me. Realizing I could never have a normal life in the United States, and too
many memories in Canada, I picked up my bags and went to England.”
He sat down, “And there, I ran into Excalibur and Fenris. Uncertain what to do
from there, I returned to the United States. It was there, the Dark Riders
attacked me in Seattle, Washington. They threw me from the balcony, where I
managed to catch the ledge. One of them named Barrage, I was able to hypnotize.
It bought me precious few seconds, but allowed me to get a better handling.
Then Gauntlet reached over, I managed to hypnotize him partially, but he pulled
the trigger so fast. It struck me in my right shoulder. I made Gauntlet believe
that I fell to my death. I did fall, but I fell into the balcony two stories
below my floor.”
He sighed, “I laid low after that. Got out of the United States, and went back
into Canada. It was there that your mother, Lenore found me. She informed me
that she had been pregnant so many years ago, and had spent all these years
looking for me. I was foolish, I should have hypnotized her to forget
everything… but that would have been so damaging to her mind.”
Her looked at Arlette. “I agreed to meet you when you were but seventeen years
old. I was glad to see you were not born with my skin… problem, of being green.
Your mother always saw me with normal skin, because I kept her hypnotized every
time we met face to face. I couldn’t bare with the idea that she would reject
me because of my appearance.”
“Then, three months ago, your mother died,” Mesmero whispered. “She made me
promise I would take care of you. So I came back and found you once more, only
to discover that you too were a mutant. Since then, I have been trying so hard
to train you, so that if you ever get in trouble like I did, that you could
always protect yourself. The world is changing,” he looked at his daughter. “It’
s growing darker by the day. There’s so few lights of hope that remain…”
“Touching,” Master smiled, as he sat down, his hands folded before him. “That’s
what this is about isn’t it? Reunions? Fixing things that have been wrong for
so long? Soon, I will be reunited with my ‘daughter’ as well.”
He took a deep breath. “Then we shall see Alpha Flight fall.”


1. Indeed he did! And it changed Aurora forever! Check out Marvel’s Alpha
Flight #17 (Volume One)
2. See Alternate Marvel’s Deadpool: Triple X #5-6 for more on Wildchild’s
adamantium!
3. Indeed, Wildchild once looked very normal! Check out Marvel’s Alpha Flight
#117 (Volume One) for Wildchild’s transformation due to Wyre’s DNA.
4. See Marvel’s Giant Size X-Men #1 for more details!
5. Indeed! Beta Flight fought Mad Dog during Marvel’s Alpha Flight #111 (Volume
One)
6. Brass Bishop fought the full version of Alpha Flight in Marvel’s Alpha
Flight #121 (Volume One)
7. Keep an eye out for the Serpent Society in the pages of Alternate Marvel’s
Defenders!
8. Keep an eye out for Mad Dog who will also be bothering the Defenders in
Alternate Marvel’s Defenders!
9. It’s true! See Marvel’s Alpha Flight Special “First Flight” for more
details!
10. He is referring to Saint Elmo, who gave up his life to stop a rocket in
Marvel’s Alpha Flight Special “First Flight.”