(Flashback)
He is Wild Child. His life is the hunt. His world…is the kill! Two men are watching the young mutant as he attacks another human, one of them remarks that thirty six point zero seconds is the fastest time yet, so he believes it is time they moved on, for these hapless vagrants plucked from the streets hardly test Wild Child at all. The first man points out that Wild Child senses them, as he looks over at them. Even through the water fall and the plexi-steel screen, he is still aware. Magnificent, thinks the first man.
The bulky second man tells the first that he is wrong, for the artificial environment is secure, so if he is unable to smell Wild Child, then Wild Child cannot smell them. ‘But magnificent? He should be. Like father, like son…’.
(Present)
Kyle Gibney a.k.a. Weapon Omega of Alpha Flight leaps through the forest, for the beast once known as Wild Child is now contained, locked away in a dark corner of his mind…most of the time. Suddenly Weapon Omega sees some blood on his hands and wonders where it came from. He hopes that it is animal blood, but he thinks back hard to how he got to where he is now, and remembers a heated conversation with Puck, so he drove away. Then there was a scent, something old, yet terribly familiar…then nothing.
Kyle wonders what is happening to him, and recalls that the doctors said he was cured, that Wild Child was gone - except that is when he came face to face with his old self, it unleashed something and he could feel his control slipping away. He felt a hunger. Kyle tells himself to think about that battle - to think about anything except the blood on his hands. He reminds himself that he has always been so good at that - running, hiding from the truth, to afraid to take a long hard look at himself. ‘Just do it,’ he thinks, before sniffing the blood on his hands. Luckily for him, it is animal blood - this time.
Nearby, someone hidden in the shrubbery grins, ‘Been a long time,’ he thinks to himself as he watches Weapon Omega.
Elsewhere, at Department H, the home and headquarters of Canada’s premiere super hero team, Alpha Flight, and the junior team, Beta Flight. Heather McNeil Hudson, “Guardian” in both name and nature, descends onto the rooftop landing pad. She is Guardian because not only does she wear a powerful electro-magnetic battle suit, but she is leader of Alpha Flight - and guardian of her late husbands dream.
Heather thinks to herself that going for a flight on her own felt good, for it has been too long since she was really able to cut loose without feeling like she is carrying everyone’s excess emotional baggage around with her. She knows that memories of their recent battle are somewhat hazy, but the general feeling she gets is that they did good, all of them together as a team…or rather, teams, for since their undeniably impressive performance against no less than the Master, it seems vaguely redundant to keep Beta Flight in training.
Heather realizes that Beta Flight has grown up and proved that they can cut it without supervision, so it is time they moved on - question is, to where? Heather walks over to Colin Ashworth Hume a.k.a. Windshear, who is surprised that she is back already, and asks if it isn’t the life and death situation that they were led to believe. Heather informs Hume that it was every bit the life and death situation that they were led to believe, but it is being dealt with.
‘By who?’ Colin asks, pointing out that the core Alphans are right here at Department H, before suddenly realizing that Heather is talking about Beta Flight. Wide-eyed, Hume asks Heather what happens if one of them needs help, or if they get hurt. Opening the roof-top door to enter the large building, Heather reminds Hume that he spoke so eloquently on their behalf the other day, so she has decided to let them handle it, adding that she thought he would be proud.
‘Proud? What do you mean proud?’ Colin asks. Heather points out that it has struck her like he has almost adopted the Betans, and tells him to relax, as they will do just fine…’Dad’, she adds mockingly.
Meanwhile, ‘WHO THE HECK ARE YOU? I wanted Alpha Flight, not the god darned B-team!’ shouts the Chief of Police at the Houghton Chemical Research Facility in Sudbury. The past self, Apeman, of Whitman Knapp a.k.a. Manikin snarls, to which Witchfire suggests to Manikin that Apeman may not be the best spokesperson for the team. Whit replies that he thinks Apeman and the Chief of Police are communicating on the same level. ‘Grunt’ ‘Grunt’.
The Chief of Police turns to Whit, remarking that he heard that, he tells Beta Flight to listen up good, he has a costumed nut with two corpses to his name and four hostages, one to be killed every minute beyond the deadline - a deadline which is coming up fast. ‘I ask for specialist help and they send me kids!’ he complains. Annoyed, Witchfire thinks to herself that they will always be in the shadow of the core team - so how can they show their worth, when no one will give them the chance?
Manikin tells the Chief of Police that they are not the “B-team” and that they are certainly not kids, but that they are here to - the Chief interrupts, pointing at Whit he asks him if he is deaf, declaring ‘I want you -’ suddenly, the Chief turns purple and in a forced voice says ‘To free the hostages please’. ‘Oh great, that’s just great!’ Whit exclaims covering his face with his hands, while Kara Kilgrave a.k.a. Persuasion looks very smug with herself.
Manikin turns to his former girlfriend and reminds her that not long ago she used her power on Windshear, and now she is using it on a Chief of Police. Whit asks Kara if she is going to use her power on everyone that disagrees with them. Hands on her hips, the former Purple Girl declares that Guardian gave them a job to do, and points out that the idiot Police Chief is just delaying them, meaning the longer they stand around her debating, the more chance there is that someone will die.
‘Maybe…’ Whit remarks, while thinking to himself that this is happening a little too often for comfort. A police officer walks up and asks what is going on here, asking the Chief if he is okay, ‘You look a bit off-color’. Witchfire smiles as she watches the situation while Manikin turns to Laura Dean, correcting himself and calling her by her new codename, “Pathway”, and asks her if she can teleport them inside, preferably near where their opponent is holed up.
Pathway replies that she thinks so, but explains that her power only works inter-dimensionally, but theoretically she should be able to take them all briefly in and out of a randomly selected dimension, making the “exit” within the research complex. ‘Theoretically, huh?’ asks Whit, before remarking ‘Ah well…life dangerously!’ and with that, Laura Dean opens her portal.
Back at Department H, Aurora stands naked in the laboratory of her teammate and former boyfriend, the handsome Doctor Walter “Sasquatch” Langkowski. With wires attached to her body for recording purposes, Aurora tells Walt that she is beginning to question his professional detachment. Walt clears his throat before informing Aurora that it is clear from recent battles that when she switches persona, her powers change also, so they need to know why, or at least how, this happens.
Walt explains to Aurora that he has given her a full bio-scan, so next time Jeanne-Marie is dominant he will need to give her one too. ‘Work, work, work!’ exclaims Aurora, asking Walt if there is anything else he can think of. She presses her body up against his and wraps her arms around his chest, exclaiming that she, for one, can think of many thing she would rather be doing, and asks Walt if he can too.
‘Look, Aurora…I…ah…’ Walt’s voice trails off, when suddenly, ‘AH! What I am I doing with you? Like this?!’ exclaims Jeanne-Marie. Jeanne-Marie turns away from Walt in an attempt to cover herself. Walt hands her a coat, explaining that Aurora didn’t seem to want to wear it. ‘That figures! The less she has on the happier Aurora seems to be…especially if there is a man about!’ Jeanne-Marie exclaims. Walt and Jeanne-Marie both glance at each other out of the corner of their eyes, and Walt thinks to himself how much this chance still unnerves him, even though he and Aurora had something between them long ago - a relationship that he wouldn’t have been averse to rekindling. But now, it would be like dating two completely different women, never knowing when one would “pop out” and the other “drop in”.
Suddenly, Jeanne-Marie’s brother Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar enters the room, asking if he is late. Jeanne-Marie looks blank, to which Jean-Paul exclaims ‘Do not tell me you have forgotten, dead sister’ remarking that it has been too long since they had a chance to really talk, and he is looking forward to lunching - ‘ALONE’ Jeanne-Marie exclaims coldly as she storms past Walt and Jean-Paul.
A look almost of sadness spreads across Northstar’s face, and after a moment, Walt tells him to give his sister time, for while Aurora finds his recent announcement not only acceptable, but admirable, Jeanne-Marie is having problems dealing with it. Walt suggests she will come around and is about to say something else when Northstar turns away from him and angrily tells him to spare him the patronizing bedside manner, adding that this is probably Walt’s doing anyway, for if he didn’t mess with his sisters powers in the first place, then this would never have happened. ‘In the future - stay away from my sister!’ Walt watches Northstar leave, ‘Sheesh!’ he thinks to himself.
Back in Sudbury, Beta Flight emerge from Pathway’s portal into the research facility, with Manikin muttering ‘That was certainly different’. Witchfire tells everyone to move fast, for freed from Persuasion’s hold, it won’t be long before Police Chief Conrad makes his presence felt. Persuasion informs Witchfire that she still has a lock on the Chief of Police, to which Witchfire, surprised, replies ‘From this distance?’
Kara detects the tone of surprise in her teammates voice, and knows she cannot blame her, for she is surprised herself! Kara thinks to herself that as of late, it has been too easy, almost disturbingly straight forward, and though she could never admit it to the others…it is quite a seductively enjoyable feeling. Kara wonders if this how her father, the Purple Man, felt when he controlled people - is this the road to crime and insanity? ‘Am I on that road too, destined to follow in his footsteps?’ she asks herself.
Leaning against a wall beneath a window, Whit tells everyone that he hears voices, so he peers through the glass, when suddenly, a green man with extremely large ears shoves his hand through, shattering the glass and his sharp claws scratch across Whit’s chest. Whit screams, before passing out, with his teammates calling out to him in horror.
Back at Department H, Heather sits in her quarters, staring at a photograph of James “Mac” MacDonald Hudson, her dead husband. She whispers his name, before telling herself that it serves her right, as she is so busy making wise cracks at Windshear that she forgot there are still open wounds. Heather recalls that Mac always wanted a family, but that she was just too busy to be “tied down” with kids. ‘What I wouldn’t give to have a son, a daughter, a tangible reminder of you to hold at times like this’ Heather exclaims, admitting she knows it is selfish, but that she misses him so much.
A tear begins to roll down Heather’s face as she kisses the photograph of Mac and exclaims ‘Tsk. Listen to me! I have a family, one that’s as much a part of you as any flesh and blood’, with that, she promises to do her best to look after them, when suddenly, the doorbell to her quarters rings.
Heather opens the door and is somewhat surprised to see her teammate Eugene Milton Judd a.k.a. Puck. Judd informs Heather that they have to talk - and that it is about Weapon Omega. Heather allows the long-serving Alphan into her quarters and Judd explains that he is worried about Kyle’s state of mind, for every time he tries and talk to him, Kyle blows up at him and leaves, such as has happened now.
Heather tells Judd that he is overreacting and that Weapon Omega just lost his temper, pointing out that everyone has bad days. ‘Not like Kyle. His bad days…are killers!’ Judd reminds Heather that they never questioned his miraculous cure, just accepted that Nemesis took him to a hospital where the doctors were able to bury his wild side. Judd reveals that he has checked and there are no records of any one answering Kyle’s description being admitted to any State institution in Canada or the U.S.A.
Heather agrees that it is a little mysterious, but points out that Kyle is cured, to which Judd asks ‘Is he?’ and points out that Kyle blew up at him, screamed at him, and it wasn’t Weapon Omega that Judd saw, but Wild Child.
Back in Sudbury, the mute Betan known as Goblyn, whose appearance is contradictory to her nature - she looks savage, but she isn’t - leaps through the glass, shattering it everywhere, claws outstretched, she growls. For sometimes, like right now, having just witnessed a friend and teammate struck down, she is happy to play the part of the savage. The green man introduces himself as the Jackal and holding his deadly claws up to the throat of a security guard, boasts that he will kill again if he has to.
The Jackal declares that he will not be caged, nor will he go to prison. He orders Beta Flight to grant him a safe passage out of here, otherwise more blood will be spilled. Goblyn’s sister, enters the room and tells her to do as the Jackal says, for his claws are poisoned. The Jackal remarks that his father taught him well, taught him all the tricks of the trade - except how to live with himself.
Back in the corridor, Persuasion nervously checks for a pulse on her former lover, exclaiming that she cannot find one, that Whit is so cold. She exclaims that Whit was the doctor, not her, when suddenly Witchfire declares that if it is poison inside their teammate, then there is a cure, and whatever it takes…’I will get it!’
Power ebbs and flows around the furious young woman, who enters the room where Laura is telling the Jackal that she can feel his pain, his actions hurt and confusion. But Pathway’s speech is interrupted by Witchfire, who screams ‘YOU! Give me the antidote - NOW!’ The Jackal remarks that he thought she might actually understand what it was like, what his father expected of him, but no, instead, the force his hand and by doing so, force him to be like his father.
Claws flex and begin slashing - but to Witchfire, it is like slow motion, for the mystic might she has always feared, its origins lost in a past she knows nothing of…is a song within her, suddenly clear and keen, Witchfire unleashes a powerful blast without hesitation and compunction - without mercy.
The Jackal lets go of the guard as he grabs his own throat, screaming. Pathway tells Witchfire to stop it, and asks what she is doing to him, before asking her why she didn’t wait, give her a chance as she was reaching him, for the Jackal trusted her and told her about his father, Miles Warren - the original Jackal. Laura asks Witchfire if she knows what the Jackal’s father did to him, and reveals that after his mother died, Warren kept him locked away from the world, a prisoner - his whole childhood, his whole life was sculpted for him, fashioned by a madman’s hands into his own twisted image. ‘His sins…the sins of the father!’ The new Jackal throws up, then turns to Witchfire, and stares intensely at her.
Weapon Omega races through the forest. Back when he was known as Wild Child, his life was the hunt. His world…was the kill. But now, known was Weapon Omega, he has become the hunted - as someone is chasing after him through the dense forest. An explosive weapon fires, knocking Kyle off balance and causing him to land off a small ledge. A man wearing army pants and carrying a very large weapon looms over Weapon Omega, greeting him and declaring that the touching family reunion will have to be cut short. ‘My blood line ends here and now…with the death of Wild Child!’
