Places To Go, People To See
by ozbot

Outside the cabins of the Sarcee Reservation, Canada, the air blew cool. Inside, the temperature was even cooler...

"Doctor H20?" came the innocent voice from the doorway. "Shelley? What are you doing?"

The blue-haired woman didn't even look at the costumed young man. "I'm leaving, Jimmy." She continued wrapping the scientific equipment and placing it in the cardboard box.

"But, why? You can't!"

She half-laughed at his naivete but caught herself. Ever since Guardian -- no, Jimmy -- erased the memories of his template, James Hudson, creator of the heroic team Alpha Flight, Jimmy was left with the powers and physique of a superhuman adult, but the awareness and emotion of a child.

"I have to go," she turned. "There isn't a place for me here. I thought that there might be, once. Sasquatch-- uh, Walter -- was a great friend and mentor. I want to help you guys find him, but I'm running out of time."

"Time?"

Shelley closed the box and walked over to hold Jimmy's hand. "I don't know how you guys survive! I need a job, a city, a ... a PLACE."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. Somewhere. Shaman and Puck and you -- you guys just sit around *waiting,* and I can't do that! I need ... something more."

"We do more than waiting! We save the world, you know. Occasionally."

"Ha. I know. But you'll understand when you find your place. Good-bye, Jimmy."

Shelley left the makeshift laboratory, leaving Jimmy in the doorway. "My ... place?" he whispered.

"Ah, jeez, we just got back!" gestured the midget Eugene ("Puck") Judd at the television.

The breaking news story detailed the chaos in downtown Ottawa. Mysteriously, strange creatures were descending upon the populace, causing massive panic and property destruction. The demonic, slimy-gray creatures rained down from nowhere. In the middle of it all stood the 12-foot tall hulking behemoth known as the Great Beast, Tundra!

"What's *he* doing?" Judd grumbled. "Guardian! Shelley! Shaman! Don't bother changing! We gotta go out again!"

Shelley had just entered the room as Judd yelled. She took one look at the television and sighed. "Oh, man!"

Jimmy came bounding into the room behind her. "What! What is it?"

Judd thumbed at the TV. "You tell me. I'm off to get our resident magic man!"

"Cool," remarked Jimmy after seeing the television coverage. He looked at Shelley with raised eyebrows.

She exhaled. "Fine!" and with a finger raised, "But JUST. ONE. MORE. TIME!"

"Michael!" Judd called as he ran out into the cool Canadian wilderness of the Reservation.

Judd ran up to the man sitting cross-legged in a small patch of dirt and leaves in the distance.

"Shaman," Judd slowed to a walk, "are you okay?"

Michael Twoyoungman had been crying. He raised his head, his voice cracked and dried to a whisper. "There is something ... terribly wrong with the world."

"Rrrr-iiiiight," Judd paused. "We could use a little help then, eh?"

"You must go on ahead. I need time."

"Michael, we need to talk."

"NO!" Shaman's head spun to look at Judd for the first time. "I NEED TIME. NOW GO!"

"All right, friend," Judd surrendered. "Next time you want to lead Alpha Flight, you speak up. We'll go, but I expect you right behind."

Michael listened to the small man hobbling off. He tried to concentrate-- to feel the power of his faith turn into a tangible thing that might enter the world. For the thousandth time, it seemed, he failed.

"Oh, grandfather!" he wailed softly, "is there no magic because I doubt, or do I doubt for there is no magic!"

He nearly sprawled out in his distress. "And which, grandfather, is worse for this world?"

In the sparse plain now known as the Magneto Territories, several people stand around Magneto, the world’s most powerful mutant, perhaps literally if not politically… also shuffling nearby are perhaps two dozen families of all types.

Lillian "Diamond Lil" Crawley wiped the sweaty hair from her brow. Her husband Madison Jeffries could only use his mutant powers to a certain point-- the rest of the city must be built on the Territories with good old-fashioned blood, sweat, and tears. But know it’s time to take a break-- as Alpha Flight members Snowbird and Jeannie-Marie swooped down from the sky with these families in tow and one very special guest.

"Polaris," Magneto’s tone of voice was as much a commandment as it was a greeting.

"Hello, Magneto. You called, I came." the green-haired Lorna Dane replied, then shook her head. "Sorry, forgive the cliché."

"Please start at once," Magneto ordered in a voice cracked with more weariness than he would prefer. "I require a full geological survey of these territories for purposes of building my city."

"And these?" he remarked without allowing Lorna to respond. "What are you doing here!" he commanded of the families.

The palpable tension swirled through the scene with the wind. Magneto’s presence and speech seemed so grand and to fill the air with a tangible power. The families, overawed, merely gaped in awe, and everyone else merely shifted their weight from one foot to another.

"Uh," Lil crossed her arms, "they’re probably here to find a home. You offered the Magento Territories for a refuge for mutants, after all."

"What?" Magneto seemed taken slightly back, "already…" he breathed. He shook his head. "No, it’s too soon. Too soon for you all."

"Now wait a minute," Lorna cleared her throat. "It’s not that simple. You think they can just turn around? Can’t you see our bruises and torn clothes? We were attacked by mutant-hunters on the way here. As it is, I don’t have any of my equipment I brought over. I’m going to have to start from scratch again, which will delay your building and…"

Lorna trailed off as Magneto continued to stare at her.

"We can help," offered a man from the group of families. "I myself don’t have any flashy powers or anything, but I can swing a hammer as good as anyone. Dave here was even a contractor before he packed out of Edmonton."

Magneto half-turned to stare at the ground. "Very well. Make whatever housing you require and sort everything out amongst yourselves. Polaris, I expect a geological survey within the week."

"A week? But…"

But Magneto had used his powers to lift himself from the ground and disappear into the sky above.

"Guess I’ll be working overtime," she sighed.

Just then, Madison checked a beeper-sized device on his belt. "It’s Puck. Alpha Flight needs help, apparently. Nice timing."

Snowbird, having stood quietly by during the altercation, stepped forward. "It is just as well. Jeannie-Marie must be go--- ARG!"

Suddenly, the caped woman clutched her head and crumpled to the ground. Crying out in pain, she began stretching her arms out to grab at some unseen object. Lil and Jeannie-Marie rushed to her side, but Snowbird pushed them aside in her flailing.

"AH!" she screamed, "TORN! CAN’T! AAAHHHH!"

Her body started to flicker and stretch, as if her figure was merely a television image losing reception.

"SNOWBIRD!" called Jeannie-Marie, but as the hero grabbed for her friend, Snowbird had disappeared entirely.

The people stood by, stunned.

A beep from Madison’s belt broke the silence. "It’s Puck," he intoned, looking at his pager-- styled after his Box armor. "Show of hands all who think it’s a coincidence."

After leaving the government building for the day, Lance Loquemion never made it further to the mailbox. And there he crouched for cover, as a wave of demons crashed down on Market Street in downtown Ottawa. Something they don’t teach you how to deal with in Political Science 101.

"C’mon, Alpha Flight," he breathed. "Show Canada that you’re still alive-- no matter how much you’ve been hiding lately."

The other thing they don’t deal with, even in internship programs, is dealing with primordial mystic Great Beasts which melt upwards from the ground to fight off the aforementioned demon attack.

"Whatever happens, we may have to update Tundra’s entry on Alphanex," Lance thought. "If he’s working for the good guys for some reason."

A shadow passed overhead, and someone let out a shout amid the chaos and panic brought by a riot (gaggle? pack?) of demons.

Alpha Flight’s modified Leafjet hovered down the street. Leaping out of the hatch came Canada’s foremost heroes. Well, at least three of them.

"Dr. H20!" Judd pointed. "Looks like we got a broken fireplug for you! You’re gonna be able to join the fun, eh? Guardian! Use your plasma to funnel the largest wave of creatures away from civilians and keep them corralled!"

With multiple cartwheels, Judd, now Puck, spun down the street, stopping to knock a demon from a screaming, huddled woman.

Judd looked up at the comparatively huge Tundra, who swung large hamfists at demons as they appeared in the sky. But for each one that he pounded into dust, four others would drop and scatter into the scene.

"Hey, big guy, you decided to join us finally, huh?" Judd narrowly avoided a demon’s raking claws and flip-kicked him senseless. Tundra merely continued his pummeling.

Shelley finally felt that she could live up to her Dr. H20 moniker. Using the geyser shooting from the broken fireplug, she sent jets of water spouting out of it with her hands clasped and index fingers pointing like a gun. Each jet smashed into demons with enough force to send them splattering against walls or knocking them into unconsciousness. One or two came frightfully close, but with her back to the source of water, she was able to keep the creatures at bay from herself and the fleeing populace.

Guardian flew above the streets, forming a V-shaped trowel that scooped up demons as he came upon them. Some of the demons flashed into fire as the plasma engulfed them, but others allowed themselves to be shepherded down the street. One demon landed on Guardian’s back somehow, and he cried out in pain from its claws and teeth. Guardian shook himself, sending a quick plasma-field coursing over his body and frying the demon. Soon, he set up a circle of plasma to hold the creatures he’d gathered.

"Arg! There’s just… to many of ‘em," shouted Judd. Fortunately or unfortunately, the demons had stopped terrorizing the citizens, and turned their full attention on the most obvious threat-- Alpha Flight! Multiple demons began to swarm on Judd, giving as many blows as they were taking. Even Shelley was hard pressed to blast the creatures as they began to swarm.

"Converge on Tundra, Doctor! Guardian, keep those guys together!" Judd yelled. Jimmy tried to keep his plasma shape cohesive, but with James Hudson’s memories gone, he wasn’t sure he remembered exactly how this trick was done. He grimaced, trying to concentrate.

There was no street anymore -- just a teeming mass of writhing gray creatures!

FWASH!

A beautiful caped woman glided down beside Tundra, Judd, and Shelley. "JEANNIE-MARIE!" shouted Judd triumphantly.

"Look at the demons!" Shelley pointed. The creatures had screamed and scattered from Jeannie-Marie's blasts of light. "It causes them pain!"

A green-haired woman also settled beside the team. "Looks like you're making a habit of last minute saves," she remarked.

"Thanks," admitted Shelley.

"Lorna Dane," she introduced herself, sending a wave of magnetic force from her hands at the demons. "You might remember me from such mutant hero teams as X-Men and X-factor."

Judd smiled, "Can you help Guardian keep his plasma shapes intact?"

Lorna nodded. "I'll bolster it with one of my own."

"Excellent," Judd slapped his hands together. "Jeannie-Marie, help us filter this crowd down, and we'll round 'em up like an Old West cattle drive!"

Lance Loquemion never went too far from the scene, even though he was forced to flee or be swept up alongside the other demons. He took in every detail so that he might report to Alphanex that evening an eyewitness report. But wasn't someone missing? Lance looked around, and finally saw him: Shaman. But why wasn't he doing anything?

Shaman stood far down the street. As he watched his teammates and friends battle the demon horde, he stepped back and paused.

He stepped forward and paused.

He regarded the imaginary line beneath his feet and then looked at the air about him, as intent as a building inspector.

In the distance, Alpha Flight had just mopped up the last creature and held them all contained behind plasma-magnetic barriers.

Judd was making the rounds to each member, congratulating them as appropriate on their victory.

But Shaman just shook his head.

This was not good.

This was not good at all.

CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

WHAT about Shelley's decision to leave? 

WHY

did demons flood downtown Ottawa?

HOW

will the Magneto Territories be built?

WHERE

did Shaman's magic go?

WHO

is Lance Loquemion and who is Alphanex?

YOU DARE NOT MISS IT!

Do you have any questions or comments on MV1's Alpha Flight? E-mail the author ozbot@earthlink.net or go back to the main MV1 page and find out how to join the MV1-Talk mailing list!

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