Fourth Story:
Five minutes ago, CSIS headquarters, Canada, where USAgent a.k.a. Johnny Walker holds up Agent Brown by his neck, shouting ‘A super-junkie, Brown? Is that what Weapon Omega’s all about, you sick, twisted *@#!!’. Gasping for breath, Agent Brown assures Walker that he didn’t know about this. ‘I swear!’ he pleads. ‘You’re lying!’ Walker shouts back. ‘You’ve got to trust me!’ Agent Brown exclaims. ‘Trust…my mom always trust is something you earn, Agent Brown’. Rachel Carpenter, daughter of the second Spider-Woman, now known as Arachne, remarks, sucking on a lollipop. Walker glances at Rachel through his one good eye - the other is covered by bandages due to injuries he sustained at the hands of Michael Pointer - before turning back to Brown and telling him to start earning.
Now, Walker, Rachel and Agent Brown stand in the doorway of Michael Pointer’s quarters, where a dire Pointer has been arguing with Dr Benning. ‘I’m a big confused as to why I had to hear about this little meeting from Mr Walker and Ms Carpenter here, Dr Benning’ Agent Brown exclaims. Flanked by CSIS security guards and scientists, Benning tells Agent Brown to remove himself immediately, assuring him that he will be debriefed later. But Brown replies that he doesn’t think so, and tells Benning that he is not certain the Prime Minister would like what is transpiring here either. ‘And I know that Mr Walker’s government will be very…enlightened’ Brown adds.
USAgent helps the withered Pointer to his feet, telling Benning not to look at him, as he heard about this from the kid. ‘Hello!’ Rachel exclaims proudly. Pointer reminds Benning that she is the one who suggested he reach out to Rachel, and explains that he contacted her telepathically, just like he did with her. ‘Might not have been what you had in mind…but - I needed help and she’s the only one I really trust around here!’ Pointer exclaims. ‘Um…yeah…and Mom was gone so I went and found Mr Walker’ Rachel explains, revealing that she was the one who pulled the medical equipment from USAgent. ‘And here we are. One. Big. Happy. Family’. Walker mutters sarcastically.
Agent Brown exclaims that Pointer is dying, and tells Benning to give him some power, now. Benning tells Agent Brown that if he is going to try and make demands, he needs to be in a position to make such demands. ‘Your pitiful show of force is far from intimidating - a teenage girl and two heroes who can barely stand!’ Benning exclaims. ‘Actually, I’m feeling a lot better, but thanks for asking’ Walker tells Benning. Michael explains that there are all different kinds of powers inside of him, and that three or four of them are healers. ‘Guess…using their powers was how I saved Walker’ he remarks. ‘Who gives a crap how? Point is I’m ready to kick some well-deserved ass again!’ Walker shouts, leaning towards Benning.
‘Be that as it may, Mr Walker, I implemented lock-down measures twenty minutes ago’ Benning explains, revealing that all recording devices and transmissions connected to the Guardian suit have ceased. ‘there will be no evidence of what’s transpired in this room here today’. The withered Pointer suddenly informs Benning that he took some measures of his own. ‘Ever hear of technopathy?’ he asks, explaining that it is a form of telepathy which lets you talk to machines. Pointer declares that he had not heard of it either, not until he was in his mind and met a guy named Key. ‘His power let me access…access all the computers and little cameras you both have everywhere…and I mean everywhere!’ Pointer exclaims.
‘You bugged me…she bugged me…you had each other bugged…I’ve accessed them all…and everything will be sent to Tony Star in…four minutes. Only I can stop that message from going out!’ Pointer announces as dozens of small hover-cameras appear in the room. Benning and Brown look nervously at the cameras, before Rachel exclaims ‘And, uh, I don’t know if this helps or not, but I also did text my Mom before going and getting Mr Walker’. Rachel receives a text response at that moment, ‘That should be her texting me back’ Rachel informs everyone as she looks at her phone, before laughing. Walker smiles and asks ‘What did she say?’
‘Quack quack’ Rachel replies. ‘I’m sorry?’ Benning asks, confused. ‘Quack quack. You know…as in duck!’ Rachel exclaims as Julia “Arachne” Carpenter and Dr Walker “Sasquatch” Langkowski burst into the room, sending rubble flying and knocking several CSIS guards over. ‘Hi, Mom!’ Rachel exclaims. The sultry Julia tells her daughter that she got her signal and asks if she is all right. ‘What happened?’ Julia adds. Benning coughs due to all the dust the heroes’ entry created, before turning to the scientists and scowling at them. ‘We - we screened all outgoing messages as you requested, Doctor’ one of them replies urgently.
Rachel reads out her text to everyone: “Mom, we’re out of bologna. Can u pick some up?”, and explains that it is their own little secret code for trouble. ‘It - it seemed innocuous…so we let it through’ one of the scientists reply, before Julia asks ‘What exactly is going on here?’. Agent Brown exclaims that what is going on is that Dr Benning is relinquishing control of the Guardian suit and giving the power back to Pointer. ‘Do it now!’ he shouts at Benning. But Benning just stares blankly at Agent Brown, to which Sasquatch declares that he is not entirely sure of what is going on, but that he is getting the idea that Dr Benning is the bad guy. ‘And I don’t like that’ he snarls at her.
Benning gasps at Sasquatch, before she turns to one of the scientists, ‘Do it’ she tells him. The scientist presses a button on the console that he carries, and Pointer’s withered form begins to glow - he moans, and moments later, is restored to his healthy appearance. ‘Damn!’ Walker exclaims as he, Julia and Agent Brown watch what transpires. Pointer then strides over to Dr Benning and looks her in the eyes, grabbing her around the neck, he whispers to her ‘It’s time to go inside now, Doctor…’, and takes her into his mind. ‘This is what you wanted, isn’t it?’ Michael asks Benning as they are surrounded by Susan Catrini and the others inside Pointer’s mind. ‘The opportunity to see what makes me tick. Well, here it is, Doctor…here it is!’ Pointer exclaims.
Moments later, Benning collapses in Pointers’ arms. Pointer shoves Benning at one of the scientists and declares that she has met her victims face-to-face now - ‘She’s seen the Collective. What happens to her next? I don’t care’ Pointer declares. ‘”Physician heal thyself”’ he quotes. ‘If she can’ he adds, before turning to the scientists and exclaiming that they are all going to help him now. ‘Or you’ll take the same little journey she just did!’ he warns them as he destroys the console that controls his powers.
‘What just happened?’ Sasquatch asks. ‘Long story’ Walker replies as the two of them, Julia and Rachel watch Pointer stride towards Agent Brown, asking him ‘How much did you know?’. ‘Michael, listen -’ Agent Brown begins, but Pointer punches him in the face. ‘How. Much. Did. You. Know?’ Pointer asks clearly. Agent Brown wipes the blood from his face, revealing that he knew the suit had to be integrated with Michael, that it had to synch up with his biology. ‘The result - the result was a dependency, yes, but there was no other choice. It was the only way it would work!’ Agent Brown exclaims.
As Pointer grabs Agent Brown by the collar, Brown swears to him that he didn’t know thy were feeding him like that. ‘I was trying to help you - I still am. I still can, Michael!’ Agent Brown exclaims. ‘You turned me into even more of a freak than I was before! Now I’m a murderer and some kind of super-junkie!’ Pointer shouts. The rest of Omega Flight, and Rachel Carpenter, gather at Michael’s side, while Agent Brown asks ‘So what now? What do we do?’
Epilogue:
Michael Pointer a.k.a. the new Guardian hovers in the sky, thinking to himself ‘Choices. That’s what life is all about, I guess. Sometimes they’re easy, sometimes they’re hard. Sometimes you’re the innocent bystander caught up in the mess made by the choices of others’. He tells himself that he didn’t choose to be a mutant, didn’t choose to be stuck with the residual powers of a thousand mutants inside of him - and didn’t choose to be turned into an addict. ‘But I’m making the choices now. Now I have the knowledge to guide me and protect me from the choices of others. And I won’t be their pawns anymore’.
Soaring downwards to a construction site, Michael tells himself that he will not be their Weapon Omega - and he won’t be their Guardian, either. The construction workers look at Pointer oddly, before he helps set down a large sign that says Welcome to North Pole, Alaska. ‘Those are the names they chose for me. I am not their weapon. I am not their opportunity. I am Michael Pointer…and this is the beginning of my story…’
