BIRDS OF A FEATHER...

written by OZBOT

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"Wow. How long have we been out of it? Was this supposed to happen?" asked Jimmy "Guardian" Hudson innocently, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No," sighed the blue-haired young woman next to him. "I don’t think so."

She looked at her surroundings, frustrated. Shelley Holmes had wanted to join Alpha Flight and become <music please> ‘DOCTOR H2O, Canada’s premier superheroine for the next generation!’ Instead, she was simply a prisoner in a "Lord of the Flies" meets "Island of Dr. Moreau" horror flick. Did the Avengers have days like this?

Shelly, Jimmy, and their teammates, the diminutive Eugene "Puck" Judd and the mystic native Michael "Shaman" Twoyoungman, were trapped in a wooden cage with barely enough room to move.

The satyr called Woodgod stared at his prisoners. Thronged around him were dozens and dozens of his ‘Changelings," creatures and demi-humans of all kinds, a nightmarish hodgepodge of nursery rhymes and mythologies.

"Have you chosen your champion?" Woodgod intoned. The creatures grew still awaiting response.

"Yes," Shaman replied nobly. "I will speak for the group on behalf of Aquanea."

Judd grabbed Shaman by the shoulder. "Don’t do this, Michael," he whispered. "I may be small, but you know my super-dense body gives me the edge in a fight no matter what my size is. If we want to rescue Aquanea from these … kidnappers, we need all the edge we can get!"

Shaman smiled without turning to his friend, whispering back, "And what makes you think fighting will save the day?"

Woodgod had nodded to a lizard-man creature and swiftly turned, trotting on his goat legs to a throne made of thatched branches and long grasses. The crowd parted, creating an arena in the forest clearing, with the throne on one end, and the cage on the other.

The lizard-man escorted Shaman out of the cage and into the circle and handed him his rune-covered spirit staff. Two other rock-like creatures gingerly carried a large, velvet sack, dripping with dew. They laid the bundle before Woodgod. Slowly, the velvet sack opened, peeling outward, revealing itself as a giant flower as its petals unfolded. Inside, crouched, was the green-skinned Aquanea!

Aquanea raised herself from her fetal position, casting off streams of fragrant water, which gleamed in the sunlight as she stretched her arms wide. Her emerald hair was lush and full, her fish-like eyes luminous and animated. With a gasp, she recognized Shaman and the others. "Oh… Woodgod…!"

"Wow." Shelley remarked, somewhat more matter-of-factly than she felt, "Look at how … vivacious and healthy she looks! It’s… amazing!"

"I’m amazed they grew a flower that big," Jimmy remarked.

"Shh!" shushed Judd.

"All right, human!" Woodgod almost spat the word, "Now, you must prove yourself in order to claim the life of this, our newest Changeling!"

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A sleek black Ford mini-van soared low through the skies above Canada.

Yes, that’s right.

A sleek black Ford mini-van soared low through the skies above Canada.

People looked up from below, with a varied mixture of awe, surprise, anger, and confusion.

An old man just smiled and shook his head. He would have something to report to Alphanex now. He knew this would happen. It’s all because of those Magneto Territories up north. One minute, the Canadian government signs a treaty with a mutant terrorist, and the next moment, mini-vans are flying from the sky. Makes you long for the good-ol’ days.

The green-haired woman at the wheel of the minivan held no regard for the people she flew over. She was used to stares of strangers. She had GREEN HAIR after all. Instead, Lorna "Polaris" Dane thought the events of the past few hours… it had all happened so fast. But then, when Magneto, the Master of Magnetism and most powerful mutant of all asks you to jump, you pretty much ask how high!

Besides, he seemed… different lately. He made a humble request to use Lorna’s professional abilities as a geophysicist to assess his newly-acquired "Magneto Territories" for … well, civilization. Lorna had tried to say "no", as something so… practical… seemed a bit outside her normal duties as a scientist -- let alone governemnt operative as a member of X-factor. But Magneto wanted his Territories built and populated by mutants only, and there wasn’t too many other mutants known to have experience in surveying and other geological knowledge.

And her own powers of magnetism couldn’t hurt, either, she smirked, as she moved the minivan carrying herself and her geological equipment through the sky.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the minivan exploded.

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"No," replied Shaman.

"NO!?" Woodgod spat incredulously. Various creatures encircling the clearing began murmuring. "You refuse my challenge?"

"Instead of a challenge, why not a gift?" Shaman soothed. He raised his Spirit Staff high. Muttering in the tongue of his people, his chant began to cause bright glowing wafts of light to float around him.

"I can’t see!" whispered Jimmy. He tried to rearrange his body, pushing past Shelley in the somewhat cramped wooden cage.

Shelley ignored him. "Puck," she whispered to the dwarf, "there isn’t that much water, but I can try to manipulate it around Aquanea to lift her out of there. I mean, I *think* I can – I never tried anything like it before, but in theory…"

Judd shook his head, scanning the crowd of Changelings. "And what then? Jim-- uh, Guardian-- can blast us out of here, and we definitely have the upper hand when we aren’t surprised. But no. No, my friend. Maybe we all have gotton on the wrong foot with these guys. Let’s see what Michael does."

Shaman continued his ritual. It was a bit unnecessary, he knew, for a simple conjuration spell. But even a wise man knows the value of a bit of showmanship. His chanting began to reach a crescendo… the wafts of light increased in frequency and brightness… a wind began to blow across the clearing… the Changelings’ eyes opened wide… AND…

It all stopped.

Silence.

Shaman whirled his head, stealing a quick look at Judd in the cage. Judd inhaled sharply. He had never seen such a look in Shaman’s eyes before-- terror. A helpless, confused terror.

"Was that…" began Jimmy.

"No," Shelley anticipated the question, "I don’t think that was supposed to happen!"

The Changelings began to murmur again.

"A gift?" asked Woodgod, standing up from his thatched throne and drawing himself high on his goat legs. His tone was accusatory and incredulous. "You are mocking us?"

"Woodgod, please," whispered Aquanea, half-reaching out to him and turning her wide, black eyes to Shaman…

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 Lorna Dane came out of unconsciousness. Rubbing her eyes and wondering how long she had been out of it, she drew a sharp breath as she took in the scene around her. "Wha-?" she thought, "Bandits?"

"See!" shouted a cyborg to about a dozen others of his kind "I told you there were more muties about!"

"Koolness," muttered another, his torso sticking out from a mini-tank. He cocked his impossibly large gun.

The cyborgs looked like refugees from some post-apocalyptic movie. Smoking debris and broken earth were strewn about-- evidence of some large battle that took place. Scattered among the rubble were the remnants of Lorna’s Ford and all her scientific equipment. Lorna rolled her eyes… "Great," she thought, "That was a *rental!*"

"What should we do with them, Bonebreaker?" another cyborg asked the tank-bottom.

"Frag ‘em, Reavers!" And Bonebreaker turned to group of cowering, innocent families. "We took whatever we could!"

"NO!" Lorna screamed, sending a wave of magnetic energies from her hands.

And the families watched as the cyborgs screamed.

Several of the Reavers tried to fire their guns in response, but the magnetic force sent them flying in the opposite direction -- like throwing leaves against a gust of wind. Unfortunately, the bullets flew back in the direction of the families, and a little girl screamed.

Lorna stopped her attack and clutched her head. What a dumb mistake! She must have been still groggy from the explosion-- even though her magnetic aura had protected her from the brunt of it.

"Hey, this one’s got *teeth!*" shouted a cyborg, and extended delivered a powerful blow from a telescoping arm across Lorna’s chin. "Don’t let up! Don’t give her a chance to recover!"

And the dozen Reavers began to converge.

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"NO!" shouted Judd from his prison, "We aren’t mocking you, Woodgod. This, uh, this *is* our gift-- it’s the gift of peace."

Shaman looked down on the ground. The panic on his face had faded, but he still was troubled. His magic… had vanished.

"Yes, the gift of peace," Judd continued. We obviously didn’t know what had happened to our friend. But now that we see that she has *new* friends…"

Woodgod sat back down in his throne, and Aquanea beamed up at him.

Judd sighed. "And she is obviously happy and healthy here. Better than we have provided, eh?"

"Oh, yes," breathed Aquanea, "The Changelings are so much like me! Woodgod was even captured by a big alien man and forced into tests and pain, just like me. I want to stay here. Thank you, Mr. Judd, for everything. But this is my home now."

Woodgod patted the girl’s hair. With a wave of his hand, other monstrous Changelings broke the wooden cage open, letting Judd, Shelly, and Guardian join Shaman in the center of the clearing.

"Are you okay, old friend?" Judd whispered to Shaman. The old Native just slightly shook his off the question.

"So… that’s it then," asked Guardian, flexing his knuckles in his gloves. "No big fight? No violent disagreement or misunderstanding?"

Shelley smiled, "Kinda nice, actually. I mean, Aquanea looks the best she’s ever been." (And, she thought to herself, it’s one less responsibility for ME as Alpha Flight’s resident tech-head. Ah, what an idea! Does this make me a terrible person?)

Guardian sighed. "I know I don’t have any of the original Guardian’s memories anymore, but it seems to me we should be fighting right about now."

Judd continued to whisper to Shaman. "So, can you whisk us back home?"

Shaman drew himself up. "In actuality, we are not very far indeed from the Sarcee Reservation. We can easily walk there."

"All right…" Judd considered, "if you say so." (But what, he thought, would it mean to have these Changelings literally in Alpha’s backyard?)

"Cool," saluted Guardian. "Meet ya there!" And he flew up and out of the forest.

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Lorna Dane was on the ropes. A focus magnetic blast here, a repulsion field there. She was keeping the Reavers at bay, but their sheer numbers and her injuries were beginning to take their toll. At least she was leading them away from the families they had ravaged.

Then, a sucker punch! Focusing on one cyborg as it fired bullets from a forearm-converted machine gun, another hulking cyborg tore a tree from its roots, swatting her across the head. Lorna crumbled to the ground.

She raised her head, to see through her blurred vision a group of the Reavers converge, looming over her.

Then, her vision was flooded with pure, white light.

The Reavers screamed in surprise. A hand helped Lorna up, and she blinked to clear the spots from her eyes.

Lifting her up, a beautiful, raven-haired woman stood beside her in a black costume, dotted with several large white star patterns and surrounded by a flowing, white cape. A 12-foot polar bear swatted several stunned cyborgs to the ground and made its way next to Lorna as well, slowly transforming into a stunning, otherworldly blonde woman.

"A-- Aurora? Snowbird?" Lorna began, recognizing the heroines.

"Ach!" she spat, "NOT Aurora! NEVER Aurora, not if Jeannie-Marie can help it! But yes, Alpha Flight stands beside you. These villains shall regret their transgressions against the innocent!"

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"By the way," Judd said good-naturally, trying to break the awkward silence that the Alphans had descended into on their trek home, "I really appreciate your suggestion back there, Shelley. You are really thinking creatively about your powers. How is your practice going?"

"Practice?" Shelley began sarcastically, but then she softened. "It’s just I’m really started to doubt how effectively I can be in … battle. What am I supposed to do if we ever fight Juggernaut or something? Splash him to death?"

"Now, Shel," Judd started.

The forest began clearing to rolling fields, the cabins of the Sarcee Reservation appeared in the distance.

"Seriously," she grinned in spite of herself, throwing up her hands, "there wasn’t any significant source of water back there in that clearing of the Changelings. I couldn’t even--"

Before she could continue, Guardian came flying down to join them again. "Guys, we may have a problem. Take a look."

The other three gazed across the plains. The cabins were there, as was the outdoor "Pond" and various equipment sheds.

"What?" asked Shelley. "I don’t see anything."

"Exactly." Guardian responded.

They stood looking.

"Tundra." whispered Shaman, shaking his head in dismay.

The Great Beast and archenemy of Alpha Flight… forced to join them as a human-sized version of its true might… was gone.

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"There they are!" shouted a man. The small group of families cheered their thanks as the three women returned to the side of the road.

Lorna looked terrible, she thought, not indignant as the righteous Jeannie-Marie or alert and tense as Snowbird. But she was relieved that the battle was over. Outnumbered and nearly decimated, the Reavers had soon split ranks and teleported away.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" several began, and soon a crowd of men, women and children surrounded the heroes and shook their hands gratefully.

"But why?" asked Lorna as she surveyed the damage around her. Her geological equipment was ruined. This would set back Magneto’s vision of raising his Magneto Territories into the city he imagined. "I can understand if they held a grudge against me or the X-men or Magneto or something…"

Lorna held up a girl’s doll, half-charred from the battle.

"They called themselves ‘Reavers,’ no?" asked Jeannie-Marie. "Truly, bandits and rogues."

One of the men nodded. "Please, we are just families, on our way to the Magneto Territories. We hear he’s building a haven up there, for folks like us." He gathered his family near him, his wife and daughter. "I thought… I hoped that he would give us safety, freedom from persecution. But this… We packed up our whole life in that truck!"

Others nodded agreement. What had started as a pilgrimage to a new life of hope and promise had turned into ash and scrap.

Lorna waved her hands, and reassembled what she could of the scattered trucks, Winnebagoes, and cars.

"It’s not exactly the Mayflower," she said. "But I can fly us there the rest of the way."

"And we shall guide you," Snowbird suddenly spoke. "A pillar of light to guide you to your promised land."

Jeannie-Marie placed a hand on Lorna’s shoulder. "But you must then return with us to Alpha Flight’s base, to gather new equipment."

"Okay," Lorna agreed. "But I’m going to start to ask for hazard pay."

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Lance Loquemion walked down the street to get some late night coffee. Strange, how his routine always required that he get coffee *AFTER* work. But he was looking forward to getting home tonight and updating the Alphanex web. Maybe Old-Timer had found some more information about Alpha Flight’s current whereabouts. For national heroes, they sure disappeared an awful lot.

That’s when the demons fell from the sky.

Descending from nowhere, gray, mildewy beasts rained upon the busy post-afternoon traffic. Causing immediate panic, they terrorized the pedestrians and banged on the roofs of the cars.

Lance ducked behind a mailbox as the chaos erupted. Maybe *he* would be the one with information about Alpha! They would be sure to respond to something like this!

Instead, however, Lance slowly rose from his hiding place in wonder.

Melting upwards from the ground, the 12-foot Tundra roared in defiance. The Great Beast reached out to swat a nearby demon, and continued to defend itself and the area as the demons turned their attention to him.

Lance gaped. If this was Tundra, Alpha’s archenemy, what would it take for *him* to work on the side of good?

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CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

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