ALPHA FLIGHT 131

THE ALPHA FLIGHT GATEFOLD

Continuity Note - Alpha Flight and it's characters have appeared very rarely in MV1. While the events of AF v2 have not been referenced inside MV1, the line-up has. The question then becomes what has happened and what has not. This is the state of AF entering this relaunch: the characters of AF from v2 have been brought together, but none of the events of v2 have happened beyond that. The more of v2 that is included, the more the conspiracy angle must be played. I'm not interested in doing that here - Seagle did an excellent job with it and I want to do something else. For MV1 readers the recent history of Alpha has been the start of v2, then the destruction of Department H in X-MEN 68 & 69 and the dissolution of AF - which I'm deciding on as a creative choice with approval of the Branch Editors to help avoid any confusion with the v2 Alpha.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

GUARDIAN - James MacDonald Hudson; Mac was the founder of ALPHA and has been de-aged by Dept. H back to 19 years old under mysterious circumstances

VINDICATOR - Heather Hudson; estranged wife of Mac and sometime leader of ALPHA who's seen her husband die and return to life; has doubts about Mac's authenticity

SHAMAN - Michael Twoyoungmen; Shaman of Sarcee Tribe and accomplished surgeon who has at different times abandoned science for magic and magic for science

PUCK - Eugene Milton Judd; a long time adventurer who is considered the soul of ALPHA; has loved Heather from afar for years; Puck is a dwarf

SASQUATCH - Dr. Walter Langkowski; accomplished scientist and athlete, Walt can transform himself into a sasquatch and back with just a thought

AURORA - Jeanne-Marie Beaubier; suffers from a split personality between the reserved Jeanne-Marie and the outgoing Aurora, twin sister of Northstar

NORTHSTAR - Jean-Paul Beaubier; mutant speedster who has had a stormy relationship with ALPHA over the years, twin brother of Aurora

RADIUS - Jared Corbo; arrogant and impulsive, recruited from Hull House orphanage into ALPHA by the Mac regressing Dept. H, older half-brother of Flex

FLEX - Adrian Corbo; quiet and reserved, recruited from Hull House orphanage into ALPHA by the Mac regressing Dept. H, younger half-brother of Radius

MURMUR - Arlette Trufault; third new ALPHA recruit by Mac regressing Dept. H who enjoys flaunting her sexuality

BOX - Madison Jeffries; transmutor of metal, glass and plastic, has become BOX armor after the death of it's inventor and friend, Roger Bochs, wife of Diamond Lil

DIAMOND LIL - Lillian Crowley; one-time member of criminal Omega Flight who later joined ALPHA, wife of Madison Jeffries

Alpha Flight created by John Byrne

William Mantleux has been the first person to arrive at Parliament Hill - the Canadian capital building - almost every day for the last twenty-five years.

He arrives, every morning, at 2:50 AM, ready to work the 3 AM to 11 AM janitorial shift. He likes this shift the best - less people hanging around, less stuff to clean. He can quietly go about his work, bothering no one and not being bothered by anything. His wife works the night shift at one of the local hospitals and the Mantleux's go about their life on a schedule different from most of the rest of Canada. It wasn't easy raising children on this schedule, but they did the best they could and the extra money they earned working the shifts no one wanted gave them the ability to pay for their three kids to attend college. Their oldest, Raymond, had just graduated from the University of Calgary.

The overnight is the most boring shift of the day and William would have it no other way. Nothing ever happens.

Will smiled to himself. Almost without fail he has had that exact thought every single day he has walked into this building, hoping beyond hope that just once something extraordinary would happen. Nothing too crazy, and not more than once because he didn't know if his old heart could take it.

But yeah, just once he'd like to have a story that knocked everyone dead at the annual Christmas party.

Will looked up at the proud building and dropped his lunchbox. Scrawled across the capital building, in large red letters was the following message:

In the western wilderness of Alberta, Canada, a Sarcee shaman sits and meditates. The winds have shifted in the past few days, so he meditates more than is his norm.

"I ask for your guidance, Great Spirit," he whispers softly, for the attention of the gods can be gained no more by shouting, "help me see what it is that is approaching."

His name is Michael Twoyoungmen and there was a time when he was one of the finest surgeons in the world, when he had rejected the magic of his people for the science of the outside world.

After the death of his wife, Michael turned away from his science and embraced the ways of his grandfather - the Sarcee shaman before him.

In time - and after many long and arduous journeys, both out in the world and inside himself - Michael Twoyoungmen came to the conclusion which makes his life the complete place it is today.

Michael Twoyoungmen - Shaman - is a long standing member of Alpha Flight, a team, he knows, that has been seemingly eternally burdened by the schism that resides within the souls of it's members. So many of them find themselves split between seemingly two people within the same body. For some, like Sasquatch, the difference is physical. For others, like Aurora, the difference is mental.

He has the growing feeling that the world may soon take a step away from the light if the rest of Alpha Flight can not.

But which Alpha Flight? Who to summon is the question, because somewhere deep inside - or deep outside - Michael knows that the time is soon approaching for Alpha Flight to fly once again.

He scolds himself for letting his mind wander away from his meditation and towards contemplation and comes out of his trance, not gaining any more knowledge than he had before today, though the fear he feels has picked up it's intensity. Something is coming, of that Michael is certain. He's had the visions.

He's seen the horror of a horror that is almost known to him, but yet remains just out of his grasp.

He's seen a bird's egg hatch and the bird grow into a horrible monster, eliminating all wildlife in the area.

He's seen a bear cub playing with a fallen egg, only to have the egg hatch a green demon.

Slowly he comes back to the present, letting his mind, like a swimmer rising from the depths, surface slowly adjust to the different pressures of the waking, walking world.

He takes two deep, slow breaths and opens his eyes to a sight he never expected to see again.

"Surely you are not surprised, Michael Twoyoungmen," the soft voice asks, "did you not give me warning?"

"Shhh," the form approaches the non-moving form of Shaman, "now is not the time. There is a great evil approaching, that is true, but Alpha Flight is not ready. Not yet. They must prove they can be without you at this time. In the present, as it was in the beginning, we are together, father who wasn't a father."

The figure touches a finger to the forehead of Michael Twoyoungmen and he falls into a deep, deep sleep.

How many people have fantasized that thought? To find some fountain of youth that lets you take a second chance at all that life has to offer.

The top of the ladder Canadian hero is fifteen years younger than he should be with a memory that only goes back two months.

I stand in the rubble of Department H, not quite sure where I want to go, or where I can go, or what I should do, or …

I'm a confused man - there's no sense denying it. Since the Sentinels destroyed Department H,* I've been underutilized by my government. Sure, there was the bodyguard mission in Europe,** but that felt like busy work more than anything. Yeah, it was important, but it wasn't what I should be doing. Leading Alpha Flight.

I don't know myself, but I know what's happening around me. Funding for Alpha Flight has been cut by a government leery of spending billions on a program that just doesn't seem to work the way they want it to. But I know the people in Alpha Flight and I know them all to be honorable people.

Yeah, save the day and all that, but don't forget to thank You-Know-Who at the press conference.

I squeezed my head in my hands. Since Dept. H was destroyed, I've suffered from a constant headache - a buzzing that ebbs and flows, but it's always there somewhere in the back of my brain.

I like my former teammates, trust my former teammates … I know that they're real heroes and honorable people, but …

But there's something about them that won't let me get close to them. I don't feel the need to see any of them, and haven't since the lack of funds and distrust in our government caused everyone to go their separate ways once again. That bothers me because I feel like I should care about them a great deal.

Why is it that I can remember kissing my wife, but I can not remember what it felt like? Why can I remember our missions together as if they were yesterday, but can not remember the times in between?

In my heart, I know I want to be here, at Dept. H, leading Alpha Flight. And I want it more than anything else in the world.

The two long time friends pause in their expedition through the ice and snow. Walter Langkowski and Eugene Judd - Alpha Flight members Sasquatch and Puck, respectively - have come here to get away from the world, to spend some time together that isn't tied to Alpha Flight and share their mutual love of adventure.

"Of course, nothing's stopping you from turning into Sasquatch and taking care of this cold, is there?" Eugene smiled up at the taller man. It was not a new circumstance, very rarely did the dwarfish man meet a person his height or smaller.

They felt good, both reminded of something they had known for a long time. Something that Michael Twoyoungmen would readily agree with - you never felt more alive as you did out in the wild open, experiencing life, body and earth.

"So what have you been up to, Puck?" Walter asked as they marched on. "When you showed up at my laboratory, you were hot to get out here, but cold with the updates on what you've been doing since Alpha was disbanded again by the government." *

Puck snorted, "You should know by now that the government doesn't control Alpha Flight, Walt. They can cut our funding as many times as they want, but they can't shut us off and on because of it."

"True," Walt nodded. "Alpha never really stops, does it?" He smiled, "Or is it that we never really come together?"

"Who knows, eh?" Puck laughed. "But not to avoid your question, Walt," he continued more seriously, "I've not been doing much but drinking and getting into fights. Trying to get over … things, you know? Had one real crazy time with Pip the Troll.* But mostly just trying to forget just what it was our beloved government was doing to us this last time." 'And Heather,' the dwarf reminds himself.

"Raises some interesting questions, doesn't it?" Walt continued. "Like why did you not all know it wasn't me you were fighting with?" *

* The Sasquatch featured in v2 of Alpha Flight was actually a real Sasquatch. Go figure.

"We were so drugged up we didn't know what was what and who was who," Puck apologized. "Hell, we were all under the mass delusion that Snowbird was fighting with us that day we took on the Sentinels, but Narya's been dead for years, eh?"

Walt nodded, not bothering to remind Puck that he himself was "dead" at the time of Snowbird's death. "Which, of course, leads to the big question, doesn't it?" Walt asked seriously.

"Yeah, just who - or what - is playing the role of Guardian. Department H claims it's really Mac, only regressed back to a nineteen year old …"

"Yeah. So does Heather. It's not that it doesn't seem possible - we've all seen and done too much to use that argument - just that it didn't feel like Mac."

"Let me ask you the question this way, Walt," Judd stopped in his tracks. "Have you ever known Mac to want to lead Alpha Flight? I mean, really to be the guy who was out front and in charge of the whole thing?"

"No, he was always uncomfortable with it. There were days when he was more comfortable with it then others - especially when they pumped him as the "Canadian Captain America" - but all things considered he was much happier in a laboratory than out in the field."

"Exactly," Puck nodded. "This Mac had no interest in the laboratory at all. None."

"It was tough on the kid, but yeah, he wanted to be the leader. Worked at it. I don't ever remember seeing him in the laboratory."

"Damned if I know, eh? Maybe it's- aaaaaarrrgghhhh!" Puck grasped his chest and fell face forward into the snow.

In seconds a shadow had descended over Eugene Milton Judd's body, but this shadow was not an omen or a herald of dread.

Standing eight feel tall over his body was Sasquatch. 'Let's get you outta here, Puck,' Walt thought to himself as he scooped up his friend and ran back to his laboratory as fast as he could run.

The woman who stood watch over Michael Twoyoungmen's body nodded to herself. "Cleanse the evil within you, Alpha Flight, or you are no good to the Great Spirit. Puck is only the first."

He'd spent the day being interviewed by what felt like every media outlet in the world and the night wishing he got half the channels that showed up to do a story on the graffiti on Parliament Hill. He wondered how far into his fifteen minutes of fame he was?

He bound up the front steps with more energy than he had his first day on the job, twenty-five years ago. He only half-heartedly looked up at the building.

The words that had been there the day before were replaced. Not just gone. But replaced.

I've heard that the old me never really wanted to lead Alpha Flight. That he- that is, that I - was more comfortable in a lab than out front of Canada's premiere superhero group.

The thought is more foreign to me than the feeling I'm supposed to get when I kiss my wife.

Back when we met, she was a good ten years younger than me - only seventeen at the time. I was in the process of quitting Am-Cam, thanks to Jerry Jaxon selling my design for the original Guardian prototype to the American military. She came with me, helped me get out of there and into a secret contract with the government, a partnership that led eventually to Department H.

I get things confused about me and Heather. Puck told me back during the brief relaunch of Alpha Flight that I should just go watch that American movie Jerry Maguire and replace me for Tom Cruise and Heather for the cute blonde. And forget about the kid, he said.

I think he was just worried about me making a short joke, but I don't remember having a sense of humor.

My head hurts again. Memories seem to make me hurt most of all, like my subconscious doesn't want me thinking about it all too much. I can almost hear it telling me, Just accept it and move on. Easy for it to say.

It's ironic, or comical - depending how you look at it, I guess - that our situation is reversed. Now, Heather's the mature older woman and I'm the kid with wide eyes.

But there are times when I feel I just might … if I could only … only break through the barrier that keeps me from getting close to any of the Alphas.

I have to admit, though, that in the darkest hours of the night when I stop thinking about leading Alpha Flight … sometimes I think of her and just wonder if she ever thinks of me.

The one where Mac, her former current husband, and her are reunited in the throes of passion and everything in the world is made right by their rekindled love.

They told her that it really was Mac, just a de-aged version of him. They found the virtual Fountain of Youth and Mac took a nice long bath in it.

Heather doesn't buy it - there's something wrong about the whole affair that leaves her cautious.

He's just not … right. The government told her that by de-aging him, his memories were also regressed to a point prior to their marriage, so even though they're still married legally, they have no real attachment to each other.

This morning, however, Heather Hudson's unconscious played her for the fool. She had the dream again and this time … this time it made her feel more alive than she's been in a long, long time.

She wallows in pity in her large, empty bed, because the dream left her feeling great.

This morning, for the first time, she dreamed of Kid Mac instead of her dead husband.

Heather Hudson rolled to look towards the large, open window to her left and gasped.

The two brothers, Adrian and Jared Corbo shared a downtown apartment with their brief teammate in Alpha Flight, Murmur.

The brothers were as different as day and night - Flex was unassuming and introverted, Radius desperate for attention and extroverted. Under the surface they were similar than they both wanted to admit, the difference came in how they showed themselves to the world.

But if the world was given a look into their bared souls, the Corbo Brothers would look awfully similar.

Life had taken them on a twisted path of late - recruited into the relaunched Alpha Flight, only to see it destroyed around them.

The stipend they were given allowed them to move into this apartment in downtown Toronto - a place found for them by the government that told them they were no longer needed. It was unbelievably cheap and a great location.

"Cheese-Whiz," Flex answered in his quiet tone. His power belayed his nature - despite his unwillingness to fight, he could turn his hands into any metal object he desired - knives, claws, razor sharp talons.

"How dizgusting. I shall have to program you never to buy it again," she smiled seductively. Flex wondered if she could do it, her power allowed her to command anyone to do whatever she wished just by speaking it.

"I'll let Radius do the shopping then," Flex smiled. "With his power you can not touch him and thus you are powerless against him!" He raised his voice in typical bad-villain dialogue causing Murmur to smile.

The front door crashed, spilling Radius into the room. "Help! My … chest … fire … uggg …"

Flex froze. When he finally was able to move again, it was only to look to Murmur for help.

Flex froze again, as he was want to do. He couldn't calm down long enough to think of what he should do. Murmur and his brother needed help and it was up to-

The woman who stood watch over Michael Twoyoungmen's unmoving body nodded to herself. "Cleanse the evil within you, Alpha Flight, or you are no good to the Great Spirit. Let the purge continue."

Madison Jeffries worked the grill, cooking up two prime cut steaks for him and his wife, Lillian Crawley, the one-time member of Omega Flight named Diamond Lil turned trusted ally of Alpha Flight turned wife of Madison Jeffries, the former member of Alpha Flight codenamed Box.

Jeffries had an amazing power, something he reminded himself of from time to time when the slowed down married life got a little too boring for him to take. Jeffries had the power to transmute metal, glass and plastic into anything he wanted. Anything. He could take a pile of junk and turn it into a robot, turn that into a car, that into a plane and that into a spaceship - all provided there was enough material to go all the way through the steps.

He frowned, missing his old friend Roger Bochs, the original inventor of the Box armor - not too mention the original Box, as well. He was dead now - had been for quite a while.

Jeffries turned in time to see his wife hit the patio deck, spilling the lemonade she had prepared for them to sip on. He dropped his spatula, rushing to her side, panic in his heart. Lil had had a scare with cancer a short time ago, betrayed by her body that also blessed her with diamond hard skin.

Madison Jeffries was already reforming the metal and glass deck into a stretcher that would bring Lil to their car, which he would have to reconfigure into having a bigger back seat so she could lie down on the way to the hospital.

He was half-way through the process when he felt his own chest explode inside him. He knew there was no way he'd be able to get them to the hospital in time.

Somehow, through the haze, Jeffries saw a pure white snow owl sitting on the ledge of his patio deck.

The woman who stood watch over Michael Twoyoungmen's unmoving body nodded to herself. "Cleanse the evil within you, Alpha Flight, or you are no good to the Great Spirit. Almost the purge is complete … almost Alpha is ready to fly again. The wolves will care to the three, but the two are in need of assistance. Guide my voice, Great Spirit. Guide my voice."

Aurora was the member of Alpha Flight, the one that loved to flaunt her powers and her looks. Jeanne-Marie was a prudish school teacher.

They were both the results of the nuns at the catholic school where she was raised. Jeanne-Marie was the girl who needed and wanted the discipline. Aurora was the rebellion of that structure.

There were times when Jeanne-Marie was in power and times when Aurora was in power.

At the moment, Aurora/Jeanne-Marie found herself in a decrepit church in the bad section of Montreal. She was clothed in her original Alpha Flight uniform, black with white maple leaf designs. Her hair had grown out and it hung in clumpy tatters about her face.

She knew only one thing - she was completely insane. Too often recently she had been tossed from Jeanne-Marie to Aurora. Too often have her powers fluctuated on her. She has vague recollections of a romance of some kind with Wild Child, but she has the feeling that it was more from his side than hers. She had no real feelings for the boy.

She remembered falling and falling and falling deeper and deeper and deeper into herself.

She was at her lowest point. She hadn't eaten in days. She has slept on the floor of a dying church, too miserable to even pray for help.

A bright light glowed above Aurora/Jeanne-Marie, reminding her of her twin brother Northstar. When the twins touched each other, a bright light would burst forth.

Aurora/Jeanne-Marie found the strength to look up into the light and saw the face of a snow white owl.

The light vanished and the bird soared northward, leaving Aurora/Jeanne-Marie convinced even further that she was going mad. She rose from her feet and looked directly into a mirror where she looked into the eyes of Jeanne-Marie Beaubier. Panicking, she turned left into the eyes of Aurora.

And then she noticed that on both sides of her in this decrepit, dying place of holiness, two large, clear mirrors shone in the afternoon light.

And she saw Aurora and Jeanne-Marie reflected back onto each other into infinity, a visual trick of the mirrors.

Aurora/Jeanne-Marie did not know who the woman in the middle who was herself really was, but she knew that she suddenly knew that she had two teammates in Newfoundland who desperately needed her help.

With a brilliant flash of light, she rose into the air and sped for the home of Madison Jeffries and Lillian Crowley.

In the laboratory of Walter Langkowski, Puck lay unconscious on a table, his body twitching and burning.

"Dear god, Walter, what happened?" came the voice of his assistant, Shelly Holmes.

"Dunno, Shell," Walt answered, quickly running diagnostics of Puck's body. "We need to lower his body temperature. Go get some snow outside."

"Why bother?" Shelly answered, knowing this moment was going to come sooner or later. She placed her hands on Puck's chest as Walter looked on curious, his scientific mind taking over.

"What are you doing?" he asked, somehow finding his shapely, blue-haired twenty-something assistant much more attractive at the way she simply took charge of the situation.

"Just watch. You see, Walter, there's more than one reason why I requested this assignment," she closed her eyes and ice spread out from her fingers across the dwarf's chest. "It's not a big secret you're Sasquatch. Well, it is a secret that I have these powers. I can control water - freeze it, move it, shape it, gas it."

"You were hoping I could teach you how to use your powers?" Walt asked, feeling his ego rise.

Shelly laughed. "Don't be silly, Walt. Look around this place, there's nothing but ice out here. I wanted to see just how vast my powers are."

Walter was about to ask her just what she meant when the door crashed in behind them.

Shelly made no sudden move, but backed slowly around Puck's body to get a view of the door as the wind and snow whistled into the lab.

Walt spun on his heels, instantly turning into Sasquatch to face whatever it was that had -

Sasquatch stopped and dropped his arms. A large white polar bear had entered the laboratory.

Shelly looked to Walt, confused at what just happened, but there was no doubt in Walt's expression or voice. "Get Puck ready to travel, Shelly. I'm going to Ontario. There is a gathering that I must attend."

William Mantleux could not wait to get to work this night. He was early by a good ten minutes, something he hated doing for he was a man of order and schedules.

But he couldn't wait to see if there was anything else on the building this night. Last night's message had only increased the intensity of the story and Will was a bit disappointed to see a crowd of about fifty people standing in front of the capital building already, hoping for a glimpse of tonight's message.

Will's disappointment grew when a cloud descended out of nowhere onto the building, blocking it completely from view. Part panic and part excitement worked it's way through the crowd. Within a minute, the cloud dissipated outwards.

Thirty seconds later, people could again see the building clear enough through the remnants of smoke to read tonight's message.

"Guardian," she nodded as she landed next to me. Not Mac, but Guardian. She was decked out in her recent green and white Vindicator costume, a surprise to me. I started to ask her about it when she caught my roaming eyes and answered it before my voice could escape my mouth. "It's been reworked by Jeffries."

I nodded. I didn't want to get into it. She and Jeffries had been more than friends once.

She looked so beautiful standing there, strong and yet somehow just a bit vulnerable. She was a fighter, but her body was still soft, still real. Most of these female heroes running around have bodies that are tighter than a statue, but Heather was still undeniably feminine.

"I'm glad you got my signal," I spoke softly. "I didn't know if anyone would get it, let alone respond to it."

"What signal?" Heather asked honestly. "I didn't get a signal from you, I just got this feeling all of a sudden that I needed to be here."

That was a feeling I could relate to, but I was surprised to see Heather feeling it, too. She probably received my signal but her mind interpreted it some other way. Maybe she had been sleeping.

Aurora was next to descend from the Canadian sky, carrying a large metal container with wings in her arms, extended below her. She was struggling to carry it, but it had clearly been designed to float through the sky, so Aurora didn’t have to expend much energy lifting it - just steering it.

She landed the craft gently. She looked like hell. Her costume was ripped and her face was a mess. "They need help," was all she said. Heather went to the flyer and saw a sick Jeffries and Diamond Lil inside her.

"Madison complained that their chests exploded," Aurora offered in her thick French-accent before turning away to look out into the forest. I wanted to ask Aurora how it was that she had come across these two - seemingly in the nick of time - but I didn't want to press her just yet. Being the leader of Alpha Flight required me to not only know the right questions when to ask them as well. Now was clearly not the time.

Walter Langkowski and a woman unknown to me exited the ship. The blades hadn't yet stopped spinning when Walt turned into Sasquatch - ducking down to avoid the blades - and reached back into the craft, gently pulling out a small object.

"Puck!" Heather screamed, running over to help them. Not that Sasquatch needed it, but it was the thought that counted I supposed.

I hated myself at this moment. Here were a gathering of old friends - some dying from seemingly the same illness - and I wasn't the least bit concerned for them. Sure, I wanted them to get better - but only because Alpha Flight would be better with them than without them. I had no real feelings for the tragedy here.

We gathered together in a circle, wondering what to do. All eyes went to Heather, so I jumped in as quick as I could. I had to lead Alpha. I had to. It was what I was born to do.

"I'm glad you could all come," I began, noting the look of concern on the faces around me. Most looked to the ground for the most part, but Aurora kept staring off into the distance. Walt kept stealing glances at her. The unknown woman kept stealing glances at Walt. Heather kept stealing glances at me.

"Though I admit I'm surprised that Walt came, as you weren't a part of the recent Alpha Flight," I mentioned cautiously, not wanting to seem that I didn't want them here. "Did you hear the call through Puck?"

"What are you talking about, Mac?" he asked pointedly. "I didn't get any call from you, I just … felt it."

"It seems we have two mysteries on our hands. One, the most important, is what happened to our sick team- friends - and what can we do to help them."

"I can't imagine there's anything more important than that," Heather said sharply.

"No," I answered slowly, not wanting confrontation. This was hard enough without Heather all over me. "But I don't think we can overlook the possibility that it's all related." I held up three pictures for them to see. "Someone has been defacing the capital building. The messages are clearly directed at us. What do you see?" I asked, holding up only the first.

"what iS alpha flighT?" Sasquatch said impatiently. They clearly weren't in the mood for what they perceived as games. But information needed to be presented in an orderly fashion so the audience could best comprehend it. I wasn't going to rush it just because three people were lying sick on the ground. I had already pressed a button within my armor suit to call in medical attention immediately.

"Look at the capitalized letters. Not a big puzzle to solve, but then, I don't think he wanted it to be hard. He just wanted our attention."

We stood there for a few moments in silence. In the distance you could hear the approaching sirens.

Then it got real dark and we all looked up at a descending spacecraft. A door opened and a figure dropped out. We all knew who it was before he hit the ground.

"Greetings, Alpha Flight!" he smiled underneath his mask. He looked at the bodies lying on the ground, his smile growing wider. "Now, why don't you tell me just how you're going to kill … MARRINA!"

Those involved with MV1 on the writing side know that ALPHA has had a tough time getting off the ground, but it's finally up and running. There were several reasons why I took this title, the most important one being that I thought MV1 needed to get this series launched before the Branch Editors considered it a lost cause and allowed these characters to be split up amongst the other books and writers of MV1.

Which, if you know the writers of MV1 would be akin to dumping chum in shark infested waters. There's nothing we like better than a character that isn't being used by someone else.

I've got some interesting stories to tell here, including explaining just who this Kid Mac person is and an all-new Omega Flight that you will just not believe until you see. I hope. <g>

As for the dedication, some may find it odd to dedicate my work here to a guy who is widely criticized (including by one of the writers who followed him) for screwing Alpha Flight up.

Alpha Flight is far from Bill Mantlo's best work, but it was the first ALPHA I read and thus, the one I got hooked on. Nobody was doing better covers at Marvel at that time than Mike Mignola. Mantlo was a very talented and dedicated writer. From what I have heard, he was also in a terrible car crash a few years back and his recovery has apparently been a very slow and painful one. I wish him and his family the best.

My work here will probably be closer to my Fantastic Four run than anything else I've done. I like these characters a great deal and I want to take them places they haven't been. Along the way you'll see some new characters introduced, some old characters return, some old villains doing old things, some old villains doing new things and some new villains sailing the seas of cheese. Well, not really, but it doesn't hurt to throw a little Primus into the pot.

Thanks for joining me for the first issue. Hope you stick around to see where I go with all of this. Let me know what you think as we move along, eh?

Is Marrina really back from the dead? What's sending Alpha Flight members on a spiral to their deaths? Who's responsible for it? Who will save Radius, Flex and Murmur? What's the connection between the sick Alphans? Why was Puck the first to fall? Questions answered, questions raised.