The History of the NEW ALPHA FLIGHT!
NOTE: Alpha Flight was a government sponsored, and sometimes independent super team that operated under the auspices of Department H and the Canadian Federal Government. It's members included: Guardian, Vindicator, Puck, Northstar, Aurora, Box, Shaman, Talisman, Marina, Wolverine, Sasquatch, and many others.
The original Alpha Flight "pilot project" as it came to be known was disbanded in July of 1996 due to "performance concerns" and a lack of project funding. The funny thing is, nobody's too sure what happened to the members of the original Alpha who seemed to have just - disappeared...
Late-April, 1998: The new ALPHA FLIGHT is unveiled to the public as "Canada's newest, brightest, OFFICIAL super-team!" Their HQ is located in the same building that the original Crusaders used back in the 1980s located in Richmond, BC (actually purchased by the Canadian government when Manta-man moved the Crusaders HQ to White Rock). An official leadership vote results in the election of Sand King as leader, and Shadow Dragon as deputy.
May, 1998: Alpha Flight's first mission was to attend the opening of an exhibit in Tuscon, Arizona commemorating the greatest of North Americas super-heroes, including the deceased Manta-Man of the Crusaders. The opening ceremonies were interupted by the villainous organization known as TOTEM who planned to take over the world by stealing a special device on display at the museum. The American hero Tomahawk broke free of the brainwashing he had undergone with TOTEM and teamed up with Alpha Flight. TOTEM was finally defeated at their mountain HQ, but not before they were able to launch five ICBMs filled with a powerful mutagenic agent. ALPHA FLIGHT was able to prevent the launch of 4 of the 5 missiles, and Shadow Dragon succeeded in crashing the fifth missile into a sparsely populated region of Texas before it could reach its true destination: Washington, DC. They were not unscathed however: Silver Ghost, Tomahawk, and Sandking were exposed to high doses of the powerful mutagen. Silver Ghost and Tomahawk were apparently stripped of their powers and Sandking's powers were mutated from earth to ice based. The Saphire Mimick and Transmutator were also exposed to lower levels of contamination but the effects are as yet unknown.
Late-May, 1998: Sandking takes up his former super hero name Jack Frost and is re-elected as Leader of Alpha Flight, Shadow Dragon is confirmed as Deputy. Silver Ghost refuses to step down as a member of the team and equips himself with a "standard" laser pistol (which are also carried by Synapse and Transmutator). Days after the election, a 40 foot stone monster by the name of Siwash is spotted attempting to topple the Lion's Gate bridge in Stanley Park. Alpha Flight mobilizes and discover that Siwash is virtually unstoppable. After pulverizing him to rubble Siwash reformed to full strength in the blink of an eye! At this point Doomslayer received a telepathic summons that he and the rest of Alpha Flight (but not Silver Ghost) had to return to HQ IMMEDIATELY. After some debate at the thought of leaving the powerless Silver Ghost to keep Siwash busy, Alpha Flight quickly returned to HQ only to find the glowing Haida God Q'uas hovering in the gym. Q'uas explained that Siwash was actually awakened by a sorceror by the name of Dominion who had to be found so that they could return Siwash to his resting place as an eternal pillar of stone at Siwash Point, Stanley Park. Dominion was quickly tracked down and Alpha returned to confront the gigantic monster only to find Silver Ghost, goggles and laser smashed, battered but unhurt, apparently completely invulnerable to physical assault. The Saphire Mimick absorbed Shadow Dragon's Flight, Agility, and Strength and succeeded in pushing Siwash back into his magical resting place. Q'uas transmuted Siwash back into ordinary stone by draining magical energy from Doomslayer, Jack Frost, and Dominion. The restless spirit of Skalsh the Unselfish, also known as Siwash Rock was at peace once again.
Early-June, 1998: Silver Ghost's powers mutate once again; Heightened senses galore, but that's it. Alpha Flight is asked to test a prototype "time-machine" captured by CSIS agents from a hostile foreign power. The first test was a successful jaunt to 1968 and back. The second jaunt however...Alpha landed on a weird desert-swamp world with a deep red-sky, the time-machine apparently burned out. Half-buried in the sand, 100 yards away, was a second time-capsule of identical make, also apparently dead. In the distance was a 50 foot green tower to which the heroes travelled by way of a boat across a small bay. Halfway across the bay the heroes encountered a giant sea serpent (which swallowed and then regurgitated Synapse) which they were able to fight off. Arriving at the spire the heroes found it to be of an indestructible material which Spectre could not phase through. Alpha travelled up the inside of the spire only to be soundly defeated by the mental powers of the dimensions native race. Alpha was put on trial for violating the spire (their holy place) and were forced to complete 3 tests to prove their guilt or innocence: The Test of Skill, the Test of Wisdom, and the Test of Courage. Alpha successfully completed all three tasks with ease and the aliens found them "not guilty" freeing them. Alpha then proceeded back to the Spire to finish their investigation. They located a map of the pocket-dimension with the location of the power source for the spire (the spire being a temporal beacon necessary for the heroes' escape back into the time stream). After locating the power station buried under ground in the desert the heroes had to defeat the villain Time Synch who was working on an escape capsule of his own. Alpha narrowly defeated Time Synch (Transmutator, Silver Ghost, Doomslayer, Synapse, and Shadow Dragon were all knocked unconscious!) and wired components from their original time capsule to that created by Time Synch and repaired the temporal beacon in the spire. A short trip later they returned to the gymnasium in alpha's HQ...
Late-June, 1998:...Only to find they had been gone for 2 weeks! Gary Cody had declared them dead or lost in the time-stream and replaced them with the members of Gamma Flight...Who were QUITE displeased to be demoted back into their former positions with the return of Alpha. The time-machine disabled (Shadow Dragon stole a vital component and hid it in his room) all seemed to return to normal. Silver Ghost's problems continue as he seems to have become entirely powerless once again.
Mid-July, 1998: Gary Cody "suggests" Alpha go on a nice relaxing vacation camping upcountry in British Columbia. Everyone went for the idea and soon they were all travelling (in their non-super identities) by RV along the quiet roads of the interior. This quiet ride was interrupted when the engine and electrical system in the RV suddenly died (rather explosively). Alpha wandered back to the last town they had passed, the quaint town of Waynesborro. A town which time seems to have forgot, reminiscent of 1950's small town life. Their RV was taken to the local garage and the mechanic said he could have it repaired by the next day. The heroes went to stay at a local boarding house for the night run by a very nice old woman who treated them to a wonderful home cooked meal of turkey with all the trimmings (Silver Ghost went and got some tofu-dogs from the RV's fridge instead). As it got late everyone went up to their rooms to relax and before long they all fell into a deep sleep...At 11pm that night Spectre and Saphire Mimick awoke to see dozens of townspeople carrying torches, lanterns, and flashlights towards to the town church for some kind of late night rally. Waking up the rest of Alpha and breaking out of Miss Virginia's boarding house (they had been locked in) the heroes went and joined the congregation inconspicuously blending in in their civilian identities. Inside, a powerful sermon was given by the extraordinarily handsome and charismatic Brother Angel. A sermon striking of racial hatred, white supremacy, and religious fanaticism! After a demonstration of Brother Angel's "God-given" healing powers the crowd was whipped into a frenzy and left the church following the core members of what was soon revealed to be The Greater Good, a powerful religious organization based in New York state. The mob went to the end of town and summerily executed the town's librarian (who just "happened" to be black) before the heroes could act to stop them. Alpha quickly subdued the Greater Good and the 300 or so townspeople who had followed them and reluctantly turned them over to the town Sheriff. In the confusion, no one noticed that Silver Ghost had vanished into thin air! Alpha went back to search for their teammate only to find a single shoe near the librarien's house, but nothing more...Worse yet, while they searched, the town sheriff released The Greater Good into the custody of the RCMP, or so he claimed. Shadow Dragon remained at watch across the street outside the town jail and saw no RCMP show up...The next morning, posters were popping up all over town advertising a big rally at BC Place in Vancouver featuring The Greater Good happening in just over 2 weeks. With little else to go on Alpha returned back to Vancouver hoping that Silver Ghost would return on his own.
Back in Vancouver, strange things were afoot: Bank robbers motivated to "liberate" money in the name of God, an angry mob out to torch the local hospital for performing abortions and creating prosthetucs, etc... Alpha tested out the new Department H prototype teleport platform, teleporting all of them from Vancouver to Toronto and back. Unfortunately, Synapse had an extremely adverse reaction to the process and was taken to MacroTech Industries for analysis (MacroTech being the group who gave Synapse his Bionic implants). The heroes were also introduced to a new member of Gamma Flight, Deadly Ernest, who promptly killed ShadowDragon by death touch (Gary Cody forced Ernest to revive ShadowDragon). Alpha also befriended the local televangelist Bishop Fairwell and together they came up with a plan to confront and expose The Greater Good for what they truly are: A dangerous extremist cult! At the rally Bishop Fairwell, escorted by Alpha Flight (who were dressed in subtle disguise), confronted the leader of the cult and was...converted to their side!!! Alpha (being the suspicious lot they are) suspected treachery on Fairwell's part and were'nt too surprised. Brother Angel, leader of The Greater Good then provided an example for those who don't believe in the power of the Lord...They planned to murder the drugged and beaten Silver Ghost (a not too prominant local atheist, but a heritic nonetheless) on stage in front of the assembled crowd! Before Alpha could act Brother Angel plunged his ceremonial blade into Silver Ghost's chest spraying blood everywhere! Transmutator transmuted Silver Ghost into solid stone to stop the bleeding and protect him from further attack. Then, ShadowDragon attempted to ram Brother Angel, only to lose his aim and smash the stone Silver Ghost into thousands of pieces! A heated battle ensued and although it looked bleak for Alpha in the beginning, they eventually triumphed! Jack Frost read from the Book of Revelations to the assembled crowd while DoomSlayer summoned one of his "Imp" minions to restore Silver Ghost to his original form. When Silver Ghost finally transformed back into flesh and blood, he found that he was not only still alive but his powers had been fully restored! The Greater Good were placed under high security in the Alpha Flight HQ until transfer becomes available to the Vault in Colorodo.
August, 1998: Saphire Mimick and Synapse both switch to Reserve status and a new election is held. Jack Frost is re-elected as Leader and Silver Ghost is Deputy. A few days later, Jack Frost winds up in hospital in his civilian identity, a victim of a bomb at his brother's townhouse. Jack Frost recovered quickly (with some sorcerous aid from Doomslayer) and Alpha began the investigation into the attack on Jack Frost and the abduction of his brother Martin! After staring their investigation, Alpha was contacted through Martin's abductor, a villain known as Attica. After some more investigating, Alpha set up a stake-out in east downtown Vancouver only to be summoned by Gary Cody to a firefight at a warehouse near the docks close to their stake-out! They interrupted what appeared to be a gang fight (with sub-machine guns). A group of thugs appeared to be firing blindly into a warehouse. Transmutator charged in to investigate only to be promptly blown clear of the building by an explosion. Doomslayer and Spectre engaged the thugs in the alley to protect the unconscious Transmutator while Jack Frost and Shadow Dragon then entered the warehouse and were attacked by a pair of missile launchers mounted on tall posts. Silver Ghost flew over the warehouse and entered through the room quickly disabling the launcher racks using his disintegration powers. The villain in the warehouse escaped through a tunnel he apparently burrowed below the ground with an energy blast. Alpha followed only to lose the trail in Burrard inlet (under water). Alpha returned to find the police just arriving on the scene. Silver Ghost and Shadow Dragon took a couple of the thugs and both missile launchers back to the citadel for interrogation and examination...
Before they could arrage for a translator (the thugs were members of the Balck Lotus gang and spoke only Chinese) they received news that the Ozone nightclub had been completely destroyed killing 70 people! At about the same time a house belonging to Black Lotus gang members was riddled with bullets and the members inside were killed (messily...) and in Chinatown the body of a known assassin for the Lotus gang was thrown through the window of a restaurant by a "large costumed guy".
Alpha started to piece the puzzle together: It looked like these russians known as the Troika were trying to kill the members of the Black Lotus gang and had kidnapped Martin to keep Alpha out of it. Alpha then broke up into teams of 2 and "staked-out" a number of known russian mafia gang members houses. Before the first night was through Alpha received word that Martin had been returned, badly injured, but alive. The note that accompanied him said something to the effect of "Thanks for not interefereing. My work here is done."
The assassinations had apparently ceased and Martin had been returned. This left the team dazed and confused as they never found out what Attica's objective was and essentially just bumbled around until his mission was complete. Master Detectives Alpha ain't!
February, 1999: PRELUDE TO THE BIG CRUNCH Top secret stuff went down. So top secret I can't post it here. Let's just say not everyone in Alpha Flight is Privy to what is "going on"...
I'll post this episode when the sh*t finally hits the fan...
...and that'll be pretty soon...
Mid-February, 1999: Some members of Alpha Flight are contacted by an outside agency regarding the activities of their team-mates...
Late-February, 1999: Alpha are alerted by the super-team StormWatch as to possible super-villain activity in a barn near the centre of the lower mailand's agricultural district. It turns out to be six members of the super-villains known as the Ani-Men, weird intelligent humanoid animals armed with power blast rifles. Just as Alpha seemed to be mopping up the Ani-Men, six members of StormWatch burst through the barn's roof and started attacking Alpha! The tide quickly turned as Doomslayer, Transmutator, and Shadow Dragon were all knocked out. Silver Ghost made good with a "strategic retreat" by phasing outside the barn to escape the mental powers of Battalion. Finally Jack Frost and Spectre fell just as Silver Ghost ambushed Battalion from behind - to no avail. Silver Ghost then surrendered, and to his surprize, StormWatch accepted and attached broad range power nullifiers to all of them.
Alpha was loaded into StormWatch's shuttlecraft and were flown to their orbital HQ where eventually everyone recovered consciousness. It turns out that StormWatch never contacted Alpha regarding the Ani-Men. Moreover, someone had contacted StormWatch to tell them that Alpha had gone rogue and StormWatch was dispatched to capture/subdue them!
Someone is playing games with our heroes...
On the way back to Earth in their own mini-shuttle (alongside one armoured guard and a pilot) three "Daemonites" appeared to teleport into the shuttle and attack Alpha! The shuttle lurched and began to dive sharply as the already badly wounded Alpha defended themselves. Shadow Dragon went to the aid of the pilot in the forward compartment while the rest of Alpha fought the Daemonites. Transmutator mind-controlled one of them only to be promptly knocked out, then Doomslayer took possession of the same monster and had it attack it's allies. A crash of glass was heard in the forward compartment and shortly after one of the Daemonites teleported away. Silver Ghost phased into the pilot's room to find the pilot dead and Shadow Dragon gone, apparently through a gaping hole in the front windshield of the shuttle. Silver Ghost took over the controls while Alpha finished off the last Daemonite. They they removed the mind-controlled Daemonites armour (through Silver Ghost's distintegration) and immobilized him (through Jack Frost's freezing cold blasts).
Jack Frost called StormWatch to help interrogate their monstrous prisoner, hoping that that organization would know more about these creatures and why they attacked...
Late-February, 1999: Stormwatch arrives to aid in questioning the Daemonite prisoner. A telepathic probe reveals that its mission was to capture Alpha and bring them to an island located in the middle of the Atlantic. As StormWatch was escorting their prisoner from Alpha's HQ to their shuttle craft waiting on the building roof, the Daemonite was suddenly attacked by Transmutator! Shot in the head several times with a blaster stolen from the HQ Armoury, the Daemonite died almost instantly. Transmutator then jumped over the side of the building and apparently disappeared!
When Alpha was alerted to events they also found that Doomslayer was gone, the cameras in his room were destroyed (not that those cameras worked anyway thanks to Doomslayer's enchantments), and there were blaster burns in his walls as well as traces of fresh blood on the floor.
Jack Frost used his high security clearance to gain access to the video surveillance tapes monitoring virtually every inch of the building and discovered some *very* odd things had happened in the minutes previous to the assassination -
During the telepathic interrogation of the Daemonite Doomslayer apparently teleported into the HQ Armoury and stole a number of weapons and a suit of Department H Armour. This is interesting in itself since Doomslayer was present for the interrogation!
After the interrogation Jack Frost and Silver Ghost went and played air hockey while Spectre watched (Jack out finessing Ghost with his agility and ghost keeping up only by virtue of his super strength - needless to say the blockers, puck , and table had to be replaced and/or repaired several times...) and Doomslayer, Shadow Dragon, and Transmuator each went to their rooms.
Shortly thereafter, Doomslayer exited his room and knocked on Transmutator door. As transmutator answered, Doomslayer teleported behind him and Blasted him once in the head, knocking him out. He then blasted the cameras in Transmutator's room and calmly closed the door.
As the StormWatch guards escorted the immobilized Daemonite from the elevator to the roof Transmutator suddenly appeared (teleported?) into the elevator behind them and fired 4 shots into the Daemonites head before jumping over the side of the building.
Alpha soon discovered Transmtator unconscious and tied up (with metal wire. Whoever KO'ed him knows his powers) in his room's closet - but he never saw what hit him. And Doomslayer is missing.
With few leads to go on Alpha proceeded to the island in the middle of the Atlantic being greeted cooly and warned that they had violated Gamoran air space. Alpha pulled away and then tried a low approach flying over and under the water...only to be greeted by a half dozen member of the islands heavily armoured defenders (coined "Flying Monkeys" by Silver Ghost for the appearance of their armour). Alpha surrendered and was brought into a very sophisticted holding cell-block with force fields to prevent escape.
Eventually they are escorted off the island nation of Gamorah, deported actually and returned home to Canada...Only to find out from Gary Cody the truth behind Gamorah (an independent nation that just wants to be left alone) and behind the bizarre assassination that transpired earlier: Apparently while the assassination took place diverting attention away from other business, someone broke into the Department H computer systems and stole data including some of the Departments secret program information (Psi-Latency and Project X) as well as the locations of many of Department H's secret labs across the country!
Not too much later, Alpha was alerted to an attack on one of the Department's so called secret bases and they proceeded there with all due haste - just in time to come face to face with a number of villainous looking supers attacking the installation!
Late-February, 1999: Alpha fought the baddies incapacitating one of them (Tranmuted into baby spetum - YUK!) before they retreated having succeeded in their goal of pilfering the Time Machine Department H aquired a while back as well as some secret computer codes. Department H was able to track the Time Machine and stolen codes to a small gas station in the middle of the Nevada desert. After searching the area, Alpha was attacked by a number of phenominally powerful villains who pummelled, mind controlled, and generally beat Alpha into submission.
Early-March, 1999: Alpha were taken prisoner and were equiped with power dampening 'cuffs and were all dumped in a single holding cell. Jack Frost found that the 'cuffs didn't impede his magically bestowed ice powers and Synapse contorted his hands to free himself. Jack Frost then accidentally knocked out Silver Ghost while trying to free him from HIS dampers...the hillarity ensued as the villains entered the room to subdue Alpha in their escape attempt while Alpha did a good job of incapacitating themselves with a well planned series of fumbled attacks (culminating with Synapse, the last hero left standing, Mind Blasting himself into unconsciousness...). Alpha was later escorted to the "hangar" where they were to be transported elsewhere as research subjects in fiendish experiments!
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