Omega Flight - A New World

[Mokole]

The setting: a plain area with an old coal mining processor building. Outside it looks like traffic has been busy by the building from several directions, with only 8 cars/trucks still parked outside. It is late afternoon, about an hour before sunset, a bit of wind sweeps the grass around with a slightly wispy sky. Walter Langkowski, in a lab coat and dark clothes, looks out from the front door at the sky. Agent Jeff Brown approaches him, anxious.

JB: Everyone is ready. Armed and ready. What about your threesome?

WL: Talisman has Nemesis and Earthmover at work already. We will give SHIELD every trick and punch we can.

JB: Three of the most powerful mystics the world has ever seen, and we don't stand a chance.

WL: Don't be such a pessimist. SHIELD will bring Strange and maybe 10 more magicians if they can find them that fast, but we are on home turf and can prepare our defenses, they have to come in shooting and react to us.

JB: Still, the odds are pretty long. We only have 73 people, lots who've never fired a weapon. If it wasn't for all those ex-mutants Alpha Flight had we'd be boned.

WL: Thank heavens for small miracles. Legaciees, Betas, even a Gamma or two came to help. Even knowing it's suicide.

JB: I could see most of them coming and helping with the way you explained it. They had nobody to tell them you're wrong. I'm surprised Jared came.

WL: He couldn't let Adrian and Lil play hero while he stayed home.

JB: Too bad the powers never came.

WL: Don't be too harsh. Wild Child is out of touch, Lillian and Madison are on the run themselves, while Aurora, Northstar and Persuasion are under SHIELD's eye and likely don't know who's telling the truth.

On a SHIELD Helicarrier, sky is turning orange. Mr. Fantastic walks in on a lone DIrector Stark. They nod at each other and Stark rises to shake Richards' hand.

TS: Glad you could come on such short notice.

RR: Given the circumstances, how could I stay away?

Both look at a large screen, showing the SHIELD forces converging on the refiner

RR: So what exactly are we planning on doing here?

TS: Langkowski has lost his marbles. The Sandler/Yu child is throwing off tremendous temporal energy and could go critical at any time. He wants to let the baby run out of energy and hopes that will end the threat. If that child loses cohesion the planet will be thrown into the stone ages in an instant.

RR: So what's Langkowski think he's doing with him, then?

TS: He thinks if we try to control the baby that we'll create a temporal tsunami that will sweep half the galaxy, and the universe will suture the damage and kill untold billions.

RR: You think we can stabilize the baby?

TS: That's your job. Stabilize him or bleed off the energy somehow. If we can study the baby and see what's really happening we can solve this conundrum.

RR: So Omega Flight has the baby? What are they planning.

TS: To refight the Alamo, I'm guessing. Several CSIS employees and around 20 ex-Flighters have joined them. Suicide. WE have no choice but to go in shooting and gain control of those babies.

RR: Those??

TS: The boy is somehow using Marie Hudson as an anchor to this reality. She's there too. That means we'll have to be as surgical as possible with this assault, we don't want the children harmed.

RR: You're thinking that if the Hudson girl is killed that the boy may leave this reality? It's possible. If she's acting like an anchor it may be preventing him from losing his temporal energy, or controlling it. She may be what maintains his cohesion, then.

TS: Maybe. But we'll never know unless we can get custody of those children. We need to see what is really going on, do the science to get control of the situation.

RR: You think Langkowski is blinded somehow?

TS: Walker says he never got over the Collective deaths or his time-travelling experiments. I think he sees the problem but can't bring himself to give the children up, he survived and their parents died. Survivor's guilt is messing him up, I'm sure of that.

Specks start appearing in the sky near the refinery. The sky is turning orange. Langkowski squints at the approaching vehicles

WL: No gunships. Good, they realize that wiping us out is stupid, at least. Likely they'll send in agents and Avengers, with plenty of backup on a Helicarrier.

JB: If only we could teleport the children out of harm's way, where no one could find them til all this is over...

WL: Bad idea. Adding any energy to the equation would only make things worse. The kids are fine and will stay that way as long as we leave them be. In two weeks the temporal energy will dissipate and the boy will no longer exist.

JB: Who knew that Pointer's death would create a temporal baby who never was conceived because his parents died months before.

WL: Without the Guardian suit this never would've happened. Same with our position, he blows up near Edmonton and this doesn't happen, Marie still sleeps with her aunt and we would still be chasing down American criminals. But wishes aren't fishes.

Adrian Corbo: Sorry to intrude, sirs. How much longer?

JB: Three minutes, tops. As soon as they are close enough to lay down ground fire they will, test us out and give their mystics some time to think.

AC: The babies are doing fine. Do you think we can save them?

WL: Trust me , Adrian. If either baby is harmed or if Stark experiments on them to stabilize the situation, everyone dies. We have to hurt them and do more than give them a bloody nose.

AC: I saw Witchf.. I mean Nemesis, I can't believe she's so calm.

JB: Must be nice.

WL: Get back to your post, Adrian. And good luck. I'm sorry we had to meet like this.

AC: Hey, a guy can take only so much of summer school. I can finish biochem in the Fall anyway.

Adrian runs, with a quick wave, up the stairs to join Lil Crawley and Jared Corbo. People start to settle in when music is heard. As it grows it's obviously Prism's Armageddon.

WL: I miss him.

JB: Who?

WL: Eugene Milton Judd. He'd have given us a better chance, a better strategy. He'd have everyone ready. And he'd love that Jared plugged in Armageddon.

JB: I'm not so sure everyone else appreciates his choice.

WL: Just listen, you'll get it. So will they. When the crescendo hits, we open fire and don't stop. Talisman and her crew can only give us a chance if we make SHIELD pay dearly for intruding on our sovereignty.

A CSIS secretary sighs: Time to die.

Brown and Langkowski together: All the time in the world.

End of issue one. Too late for me to write issue two tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

[Mokole]

Part Two

Rockets explode in all directions near the refinery. Smoke bombs and tear gas rain in. The people holed up in the refinery don't wait, they open fire through the smoke while Talisman, Nemesis and Earthmover clear away the gas. Langkowski morphs into Sasquatch. Jeff Brown raises his own weapon and fires.

SHIELD agent: Heads down! They're firing wildly! Get your bearings and let the mystics do their job, then move in and shoot anything that looks remotely human!

As the smoke clears Dr. Strange and his allies start their mystical assault. Much to their surprise the ground rolls and buckets around, rocks appearing and disappearing as they look on helplessly.

Dr. S: Well done, Talisman. Give us the first shot to open up your trap.

Brown smiles as the SHIELD forces try to regroup.

JB: Passive aggressiveness, gotta love it.

Sasquatch: Pick off as many as you can! The sooner we can bring in their reserves the better! Keep them off balance and don't let up!

Talisman: They've got close to 10 mystics. We can hold them off but we won't be able to do any damage to the SHIELD forces.

Sasquatch: Never mind, do what you can. Good luck!

The SHIELD forces remain pinned down, unable to launch a major assault in case they hit the children or do too much damage to the building. The rest of the Avengers fall in.

Hawkeye: Move in fast, let SHIELD provide cover fire! Keep your eyes wide and don't stop 'til all is quiet!



JB: Time for our surprise?

Sasquatch: Oh, I love surprises. Let's go.

Suddenly, a red and white blur flashes past them and out the door. Sasquatch follows.

Black Widow: What the Hell?? Guardian? Who?!?

Hawkeye: Anybody can wear the suit. Don't waste too much time with him, or her, time is on our side if we don't waste it. Walker?

USAgent: No idea who he is. But he's tearing apart the SHIELD forces awfully fast!

Hawkeye: Ares, Wasp, take care of the clown!

As the two Avengers go to 'take care of' Guardian, they find him more than a match for them. In no time at all they both are out of action and other Avengers soon follow, with Sasquatch taking out Widow and USAgent himself.

JB: The reserves are coming in! The Helicarrier is coming down fast! Everyone take cover! Move! Talisman, Nemesis, we need a cover NOW!!!


TS: Fierce. How many people have we lost?

Agent 141: Half the Avengers are down, 42% of our agents.

TS: No more Mr. Nice Guy. We'll take them down with one blow. Get us down to ground level and use the main gun. Blow the building into the ocean, 1.1 m off the ground and up. See how Langkowski likes life with no knees.

The Helicarrier lines the structure up and fires a tremendous volley meant to shear the building from the earth. A mixture of earth and energy rise up and deflect the blow at right angles, saving everyone inside.

JB: A little close, don't you think?

Nemesis: You're alive, stop complaining.

The Helicarrier turns for another shot. The SHIELD mystics and Dr. Strange are making life hard for Earthmover, Talisman, and Nemesis. Earthmover buckles, just for a moment....

JB: Moss!!!

Earthmover vanishes into a cloud of dust. Those around him are stunned but Talisman and Nemesis hardly blink. Quickly everyone goes back to firing at will.

JB: Dammit, dammit. We're in for it now. Everyone! Get downstairs! I SAID NOW!!!

Too late. A massive wave of mystic energy rolls through the building , throwing Nemesis and talisman back. Then the building disappears, and with it 50 of the fighters. Most ex-Alphans who came to help perish.

Sasquatch: Guardian! Hit the Helicarrier hard!

Guardian: With pleasure.

A massive bolt leaps from Guardian. The Helicarrier shudders and crashes into the ground behind the SHIELD line.

TS: Everyone out! Grab your armour and weapons and take them all down!

RR: They're still fighting, even without cover. They've lost but they'd rather die. Fanatics.

Guardian and Sasquatch remain to fight the forces while the survivors tend to the wounded or fire as before. Time is running out.

JB: Sasquatch! Fall back! There's nothing more you can do!

Sasquatch: Get underground, we'll carry on down there. We can't hold the line up here, they'll run us over. Guardian can give us cover; Talisman, Nemesis, hold the fort!

Guardian sails high above, providing cover fire and neutralizing the occasional Iron Man. The real thing decides to ignore him and goes to lead the charge underground.

TS: Strange! Can't you take out those two witches??

Strange: It's not like we're up against dime store magicians! Those two are defending very well and keeping us busy with their own spells! We'll give you an opening in a minute, they can't hold everything back.

The SHIELD mystics are no match for Talisman and Nemesis but quantity can beat quality, if Dr. Strange helps. Soon Iron Man has his opening. He rockets in to get the children.

JB: Here he comes.

Sasquatch: Winding up And here he GOES!

Stark is pounded through the wall into the ground. Reed Richards comes in and assesses the situation.

Sasquatch: Admit it, Richards, I just made your day.

RR: I take it you're surrendering?

JB: In your dreams. There's doings a-going on.

Suddenly a series of waves emanate from Talisman and Nemesis. All of the fighters vanish!

TS: What happened? Where are they?

Strange: They bored a hole right through us, we couldn't stop them. That was one great teleportation spell.

TS: Where are the children? Langkowski wouldn't dare risk a teleport with them, not with the consequences.

RR: He didn't. I'm betting the children left during the battle.

TS: How? We had the place surrounded, under fire, 100 eyes on them at all times, monitors! How could they move those children??

RR: My guess? When you blew up the building...

TS: Tore the roof off.

RR: ...they were waiting. They had a flier who had the babies and flew right through the debris field. Guardian, Talisman, Nemesis shielded their escape.

TS: So all Lagnkowski's people were cannon fodder?

RR: No. They hoped to win, they hoped to find another way. I think the escape was opportunism, not planned. Look around. They were prepared for a siege, look at the stocks and weapons. They never expected us to kill Earthmover, to risk blowing up their building and possibly injuring the children.

TS: the force we hit that building with took it clean off. There was never any danger to the children.

RR: Maybe. But once that happened someone came up with an emergency plan B and went with it. I bet Langkowski didn't know what happened until he got down here.

TS: Fly through the debris field?? If either baby got hurt then we'd have millions dead, including us. I don't feel dead. Another Guardian or mystic couldn't have moved them, their energy would've been absorbed by the temporal child and he would have cracked the Earth wide open. Who could've moved them without those risks??

RR: Who indeed. Without Helicarrier sensors we can't even track them in this mess and the satellites watching this...

TS: Could still pick up the trail, one way or another.

Strange: There is one other possibility.

TS: Yes?

Strange: They didn't run away. They walked. Straight down.

RR: I doubt they have access to anyone who can phase through rock. Ghost Girl and Flinch have no powers, remember?

TS: However they did it we can track the Temporal child. No matter what they did they left clues. Let's find them, then arrest Omega Flight and throw away the key.

Where are the children? How did they escape? Where is Omega Flight, the CSIS survivors? Hmmm....

[Mokole]

Nemesis, Talsiman, Sasquatch, Agent Brown, Guardian and 17 others appear in the same blasted building they had been fighting in. The children are already there, with two caregivers.

Sasquatch: I never thought a simple game of hide and go seek would work. Good job on keeping us whole, Talisman.

Talisman: Hopping second by second through the Earth for two weeks was not the best plan...

Jeff Brown: But it worked and you lost no one.

Sasquatch: How are the children?

CSIS agent: It's not been easy. The pocket in time we stayed in slowed down everything for a while but the Sadler boy kept fading in and out, his powers didn't want to stay in the pocket. I am surprised we lasted this long. His powers seem to be fading, though, and I guess they must be low enough for you to have activated the tag.

JB: It's not over yet. Even at 40% that boy could do more damage. SHIELD probably knew where you were but couldn't get at you. At least they left us alone.

Sasquatch: No point waiting for them. We have to keep the boy stable for another 7 hours, tops. His power is in a cascade failure now, the temporal wake Nemesis created for you has broken and nothing can stop his power loss now.

Talisman: What is Nemesis had died in the battle? Did you have a plan B? A real one?

Sasquatch (smiling): No. This one was one-shot deal. If Ghost Girl or Flinch would've had their powers I did have another option. But we are wasting time. Talisman, Nemesis, and Guardian, find the SHIELD forces and engage them. Good luck.

Guardian: Life is good. I intend to live it.


Stark and Richards, surrounded by even more scientists and specialists, ride another helicarrier towards the battle scene.

Stark: Back right where we started. The temporal energy has fallen but it is still enough to kill everything. Langkowski's plan hasn't failed yet but he's gambling with all our lives. Time to end the game.

Strange: I don't belive it!

All eyes turn to the monitors. Guardian, Talisman, and Nemesis appear directly behind the ship. In moment a torrent of energy leaves their position and the helicarrier falls from the sky.

Stark: I don't believe it! They took us out miles away from action! Strange, how come you didn't see them coming?

Strange: They worked fast and we all were concentrating on your briefing. I see that your SHIELD personnel, on duty, did no good.

Stark (glaring): Prep the transports. We take the main force their at top speed and end this. Strange, you and the other mystics engage them NOW!


Not surprisingly Strange and his crew are misdirected by Talisman and take time to zero in. When they arrive they find a car in the distance but do not give chase; instead, they take on Talisman and Nemesis.

Sasquatch: Mystics first. Guardian, how far away are the rest of SHIELD's forces?

Guardian: 20 minutes. Less now.

Sasquatch: If we could mask the temporal energy or find another pocket, we could put an end to this, hide the baby and force them to give up.

JB: But we can't now, so we have to hold fast and make life hard on them. Damn spy satellites.

Sasquatch: SHIELD has the nest spy tech in the world. I'd think they've heard every word we've said. Otherwise that car over their may have drawn a mystic's attention.

JB: At least we can head underground where the spy satellites won't see us, or hear us. Everybody to work!

As Talisman and Nemesis defend against Strange and co., the rest of the crew head underground. In a few minutes specks appear, as SHIELD transports arrive in the distance.

Stark: All right people, hit hard and fast. Richards, have your people on the move, we'll cover for them. Get those babies in your nets, ignore everything else! We need those babies captured before disaster strikes! We have 43 minutes according to my sensors, no more! MOVE!


The SHIELD forces arrive and charge into the hole, only to find a surprise.

Stark: Tunnels? That's their plan? Tunnels?

Richards: Given the rock strata I'm having trouble reading where to go exactly to find the boy.

Stark: My sensors can map what Guardian dug. We need to go..... damn it.

Richards: What?

Stark: We're miles from them.

Richards: What?? How.

Guardian drilled the holes and down went the people, at one low junction he enveloped all of them in his force field and simply held them in place while the world moved around them. The baby was kept in the center of the bubble, away from the energy.

JB: That was soooo cool! How far away are the SHIELD forces now?

Guardian: Three hours at least, maybe more. They can't teleport in, no magic transport, they have to run us to ground.

JB: How far undeground are we, then?

Guardian: 12.8 km's. And we have enough air for 12 hours now. My force field will hold us hear safely.

Sasquatch: I wonder if Iron Man recognizes checkmate?

JB: I hope Nemesis and Talisman are OK.

Sasquatch: They should be, they could disengage the moment we left.

Guardian: Now what?

Sasquatch: The Sadler baby will dissipate in about 6 hours now. Then cease to exist. You can bring us up and take us home, but I want you all to remember: SHIELD will declare us enemies of the world so stay low, keep to yourselves. Omega Flight will help you if we can.

JB: So you intend to stay active?

Sasquatch: Given the circumstances, why not? Mr. Louis is Guardian now, Talisman and our new Nemesis might as well use their powers in the team instead of on the run alone. In time maybe the twins, Lil, Madison, Kara, maybe they'll join us too. Even Wild Child.

JB: What about Marie Hudson?

Sasquatch: She goes home to her parents, adoptive but still family. If SHIELD tries to mess with her we'll get to find out how many more helicarriers they have. Stark, Richards et al will hunt for us but face it, we're going to be persona non grata more than public enemy #1. There's a lot more evil to deal with before they get to us. Taliban, the Hand, HYDRA, Apocalypse...

And so it ends. Omega Flight saves the world from people who don't know enough to save themselves. Lives were lost but this time not in vain!