Vancouver, British Columbia, on the Pacific Coast. A soldier stands on a newspaper, with the headline “Nation United: Cody heads new coalition government”. An army truck, loaded with civilians drives off in a hurry, but one of the women calls out: ‘Wait, no! My daughter! Jenny!’ she cries. ‘Mommy!’ Jenny calls out as the soldier holds her up. The soldier assures the woman that Jenny will be on the next transport. ‘Final call for evacuation!’ another soldier calls out as more civilians are loaded onto army transport vehicles. ‘Come on, people! Let’s move, let’s move!’ the soldier holding Jenny orders, and as he places Jenny on the back of the truck, tells the driver to go, as they are loaded. But the driver revs the vehicle and announces that it will not start. ‘Oh, hell’ the soldier remarks as he stands behind Jenny. ‘This is…this is it, isn’t’ it?’ another asks as they all look up. ‘This is the end’ the soldier utters as water washes around his feet - and a MASSIVE wave washes over the city.
In amongst the wave are various Atlantean warriors, all carrying weapons, and large sea creatures, which move across the Vancouver buildings. But at the center of the wave is none other than Attuma, now calling himself Nerkkod! Wielding a massive hammer, Nerkkod boasts that he is the breaker of oceans and despoiler of Atlantis. ‘In the name of the Serpent - I gift you terror - and DEATH!’ he booms as he casts forth a massive ship, which rides a wave towards the remaining civilians and soldiers. An old woman begins to say a prayer, while the soldier tells young Jenny to close her eyes. But, suddenly, ‘Hey, you can’t park that thing here!’ Sasquatch a.k.a. Dr Walter Langkowski declares as he uses his incredible strength to knock the ship off course. ‘Sasquatch!’ the soldier calls out as a wave of water washes over the boat, and Jenny falls from it.
The soldier calls out to her, while Jenny screams - before anyone else can act, water and debris hit a force field that has surrounded the vehicle. ‘Why aren’t we drowning?’ someone asks. Dr Michael “Shaman” Twoyoungmen hovers nearby, and answers that question: ‘The sea spirits defer to my presence’ he explains. ‘Shaman! Thank God! Or, uh, thank whatever it is you believe in…’ someone remarks. But, flailing about in the raging water, Jenny calls out to her mommy as she struggles to stay afloat. Suddenly though, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll see her soon. I know she misses you very much’ Heather McNeil Hudson a.k.a. Vindicator reassures Jenny as the remarkable super hero pulls Jenny from the water, and flies up above the rising water, where she watches as Shaman levitates the truck Jenny fell from out of the water, before Vindicator goes over and drops Jenny down into the arms of the soldier.
Nearby, inside a chopper, reporter Alice Hu is keeping the rest of the nation informed of the trouble in Vancouver, as she announces that Vindicator and the rest of Alpha Flight have arrived - that Canada’s own super hero team is doing what they do best against a crisis of unimaginable magnitude. Alice Hu explains that Alpha Flight’s enemy appears to be a shockingly powerful new incarnation of the Atlantean warlord, Attuma, and informs her viewers that Alpha Flight fought Attuma’s undersea barbarians before. ‘If anyone can handle this -’ she begins, but does not get to finish her sentence, as Nerkodd heaves his hammer towards the chopper, and it breaks the tail.
Alice screams as the chopper plummets downwards, Heather looks at the situation, but before she can act, her husband, James “Mac” MacDonald Hudson, better known as Guardian, flies through the opening of the chopper, and rescues Alice and the pilot. ‘Hold on, miss. I’ve got you’ Mac announces, while the cameraman continues to fall to the water below, although Alice calls out to him, and orders him to keep shooting - lucky for him, Vindicator flies over and grabs him. Alice holds her microphone to Guardian and describes him as Canada’s most beloved super hero, while asking him how he feels about Northstar’s apparent rejection of all things Alphan. ‘Well -’ Mac begins, but Alice continues with the questions, asking why Puck is not on the team. ‘Uh…’ Mac responds, before he sets down on a rooftop, where Department H foot soldiers have assembled.
Alice’s questions continue, as she asks Guardian about the ongoing legal dispute over the custody of his daughter. ‘Do you feel you should be above the law because you’re the nation’s first official super hero?’ Alice asks, before moving on to the next question, asking if it is true Mac’s daughter was born on Canada day. ‘How apt! How long until she gets her own maple leaf uniform -’ Alice asks, but Heather drops down on the rooftop, landing purposely between Alice and Mac. ‘Watch it!’ Alice shouts as she is knocked to the side, while Heather sets the cameraman down. ‘Pardon me, Ms Hu. Duty calls ‘Vindicator announces. Heather and Mac take flight, as Mac thanks his wife for the save. ‘Don’t mention it. Didn’t particularly see the need to air our private tragedies…when there’s a big fat public one waiting to have its ass kicked!’ Vindicator replies as they swoop down towards the water.
‘Die, Earth scum!’ Marrina, exclaims as she smacks her old foe, Nerkkod, I nthe face with her now webbed feet. A whirlpool forms as Nerkkod shouts ‘Fools! You cannot escape the hammer of Nerkodd!’, as Guardian drops down and picks Marrina up out of the water, asking her what they said about her new battle cry. ‘That it was awesome?’ the Plodex replies. Mac tells Marrina that he is glad she is getting something out of those “alien pride” message boards, but reminds her that they are the official Canadian super hero team. ‘We have a certain reputation for politeness to maintain’ he explains. ‘Die, human scum’ Marrina whispers. ‘What?’ Mac asks. ‘Nothing’ Marrina tells him, before they both punch Nerkkod upwards, where Snowbird a.k.a. the goddess Narya hovers. ‘Hey, Snowbird! Want a piece of this?’ Marrina asks. ‘Just a nibble’ Snowbird replies, before transforming into a gorgosaurus, an ancient Arctic dinosaur, and bites down on Nerkkod’s arm.
‘Save me some, Narya! I wanna pop open a beer on his helmet!’ Sasquatch calls out as he slams an Atlantean robot into the wall of a building. ‘Burn, abomination!’ an Atlantean exclaims as two of them fire their weapons at Sasquatch, striking him in the arm. ‘Actually, that’s an entirely different gamma-powered monstrosity’ Walter replies, when suddenly, the Atlanteans look confused as their weapons mysteriously disappear - only to re-appear an instant later, in the possession of Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, a.k.a. Aurora, who flies upside down in front of Sasquatch, with her back to him, as she fires the weapons back at the Atlanteans.
‘You’re a welcome sight, Aurora. In pretty much every way imaginable’ Sasquatch declares. Aurora tells her long-time off-again, on-again lover to stop looking at her rear, as he is throwing off her aim. ‘I’m not looking at it. It just happens to be in the way of my eyes’ Walter jokes. Nearby, Alice Hu has resumed her reporting, announcing that one-half of the super-speed due of Aurora and Northstar has arrived to help repel the aquatic hordes. Alice explains that controversy rages as to why Aurora’s twin brother Northstar has refused to join the pride of the nation. Alice adds that a recent CBC poll shows four out of five Canadians prefer Northstar and Aurora as a crime fighting team, and a whopping fifty-three percent believes Northstar hates Canada.
At that moment, in Montreal, inside the apartment home Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier shares with his boyfriend, Kyle. ‘Psychomotor agitation. She’s started again’ Northstar declares as he holds a television remote and watches the report on Alpha Flight’s battle with Nerkkod. ‘Psycho what?’ Kyle asks as he stands in the kitchen. ‘Obsessive movements. Hand-wringing. Twirling her hair. She’s displayed five repetitive behaviors in the last ninety seconds’ Jean-Paul explains. But Kyle asks him how he can tell anything from that footage. ‘Your sister moves so fast she barely qualifies as a blur!’
Northstar announces that Aurora moves at a kilometer a second, the same as his own extraocular muscles. ‘Yeah, but the video’s only twenty-four frames per second, so -’ Kyle begins, but Northstar interrupts him, declaring that he is reading the blurs and knows what he sees. ‘Damn you, Hudson. I told you. I told you she wasn’t ready for this’ Jean-Paul mutters. Kyle smacks several cans and other food items on the counter, knocking them over, and exclaims ‘Okay, fine, I believe you! But Jean-Paul, the whole world’s going up in flames! Everybody’s freaking out - I’m freaking out!’ he declares, before reminding his boyfriend that New York is burning and DC is under attack. ‘I still haven’t been able to get my sister on the phone. And she doesn’t have super-powers’. Northstar looks at Kyle, before going over to him, and putting an arm around him. Kyle rests his head on Jean-Paul’s shoulder and tells him that he does not want to start another fight over this. ‘But if there was ever a good time for Northstar to get back in tights…’.
Meanwhile, inside Department H, beneath Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Jeff Brown stands in a communications room, various images of the current catastrophe displayed on monitors, ‘Guardian, this is the Director. Do you read me?’ Brown announces through a communicator. ‘Brown! I’m uploading energy readings to the H servers!’ Mac replies as he blasts past an Atlantean warrior, while asking Brown to get Shimizu cranking, as he needs to know exactly what is Attuma’s power. ‘Fine, good. But something else has come up…the Prime Minister wants to talk to you’ Brown replies. ‘Cody? Follow protocol - send him to General Edmundson’ Mac replies as he flies towards Nerkood, who has just hit Snowbird, still in her dinosaur form, with his hammer, knocking her backwards.
Director Brown explains to Guardian that the Prime Minister asked for him, and that he is preparing some kind of address. ‘Is this all you can muster?’ Nerkkod demands. Mac reminds Director Brown that Gary Cody wanted his face on his Unity Party posters, despite the fact that Alpha Flight members are constitutionally prohibited from electioneering. ‘Tell him I’m a little too busy for public relations right now’ Mac declares as he blasts Nerkodd from behind, while Nerkkod smacks Sasquatch in the face. Director Brown reminds Mac that Gary Cody is not just the Unity Party leader any longer, but now he is the Prime Minister. Mac replies that he is well aware of that, before informing Brown that he serves the nation, not the Prime Minister, before ending their communiqué. At Prime Minister Gary Cody’s location, Gary is getting made-up before his press announcement. ‘He…hung up, Mr Prime Minister’ an assistant announces. ‘Hrm. His loss’ Gary mutters, before mysteriously adding ‘We’ve already signed up the Alphan that we really need’.
‘Now, lung men - behold the true power of the ocean breaker - and the wrath of the Serpent!’ Nerkkod booms as clouds swirl overhead, and he causes the water to rise upwards, with he on the top of a funnel like water spout. Alpha Flight are tossed about in the water, debris floats alongside them. Vindicator gets close to Marrina and asks her if she can break though this, but Marrina replies that even in the heart of the strongest whirlpool she has never felt such power. Aurora is tossed about roughly, and screams something in French, although Sasquatch does his best to get to her, assuring her that he is coming for her.
Snowbird is still in her dinosaur form, and her head bobs up out of the water, with Shaman clinging to her. ‘Do you feel it Michael? The coldness radiating from him -’ Narya begins. ‘Yes, Narya. Attuma has never evidenced such raw might - there are much darker forces at work here. Older ones’ Shaman replies as his spirit form rises up from his physical body, and soars towards Nerkkod. ‘Walking through the Atlantean’s soul in my psychopomp form might -’ Shaman begins, before pain washes over him as his spirit form connects with Nerkkod, and he shouts ‘The Serpent! Coiled around Earth mother since before the first man! Squeezes her last breath!’ Guardian uses this opportunity to fly over to Nerkkod, and wrapping an arm around his neck exclaims ‘Kind of starting to wear out your welcome, you know’. But Nerkkod asks ‘Haven’t you learned yet? You cannot defeat me’. ‘Yeah, well. I guess we’ll just have to see if I can -’ Mac begins, before vanishing.
Cape Race, Newfoundland, on the Atlantic Coast. ‘- move you!’ Mac finishes his sentence as he re-appears in a blaze of electromagnetic glory. ‘And stay out, eh?’ Mac declares as he lets go of Nerkkod, and fires another bolt of EM energy at him. As he falls to the ocean below, Nerkkod declares ‘Well played, lung man. You’ve actually drawn blood from a hammer-wielder. But how much worse…have your hurt yourself?’ he asks before plunging into the water. Mac begins to fall, too. ‘Mac! Do you read? Are you -?’ Heather asks over their communicator. ‘Fine, Heather…just used the battle suit to tap into Earth’s magnetosphere and travel instantaneously…but never tried…carrying such a payload’ Mac explains, admitting that it took a bit out of him, before he crashes down onto the cliff that hangs over the raging water beneath.
Back in Montreal, ‘Oh thank God I finally got through to you!’ Kyle exclaims down the phone, asking his sister if she is still in Georgetown. ‘No, I’m on the bus - they’re evacuating us to freaking Baltimore’ comes the reply. ‘Jean-Paul! It’s my sister Stevie! She -’ Kyle begins, before seeing a note on the bench. Kyle stops his sentence, and goes over to the note, while Stevie tells him that it was insane, that they could hear the gunfire and spent three hours in the bathtub. The note says that Jean-Paul has gone to Vancouver, and that he will be back by dinner. ‘Don’t worry, Stevie…everything’s going to be all right’ Kyle tells his sister. However, out on the balcony, in amongst some potted plants, a small piece of metal equipment of some sort is seemingly hidden, and something inside it begins to beep.
Back in Vancouver, the water has departed. Boats and debris lie strewn through the streets, as the Atlanteans race back to the ocean. Snowbird has transformed into a deer, while Shaman hovers in the air. Sasquatch sits next to Marrina and exclaims that the Atlanteans are not so brave without “Commander Hammer Time” egging them on. ‘Maybe they just caught a whiff of your fur when it’s wet’ Marrina mutters, holding her nose. ‘Hey, whatever it takes’ Walter replies, adding that it is too bad Vindicator had to go and fetch Mac, as she would love to have seen this.
Suddenly, ‘Don’t break your arms patting each other on the back just yet. Those Atlantean water helmets require an external power source - it took me three minutes to find which of their vessels housed the generator. Apparently it doesn’t work without this’ Northstar announces as he drops down amongst his teammates, holding up the small generator. He announces that he remembered that from the briefing the last time they warred with Attuma. ‘Oh, right. Back when Northstar was a hero…not a quitter who shows up at the end of a battle trying to take credit!’ Jeanne-Marie exclaims. Northstar says something to his sister in their native French, but Aurora tells him to say his piece in front of the others or he can shut his mouth. ‘Not that I’ve ever known you to choose the latter’ she remarks.
‘As you please. I suppose they should hear this, anyway’ Northstar replies, before announcing that he has been watching his sister. He tells her that she is not well. ‘The stress of this crisis - I don’t want you to undo all you’ve achieved in therapy -’ Northstar begins, only for Aurora to lunge at him, slapping him across the face, she tells him that she is jealous of the success that she has. ‘Alpha Flight is back - and loved by everyone! You have to be the only one praised’ Aurora exclaims as she begins to leave with her teammates. ‘This is exactly what I’m talking about - you’re not making any -’ Northstar begins, but Aurora shouts ‘Enough! I’m happy, and you’re just going to have to deal with it!’
At Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Cody sits at a desk, two Canadian flags stand at each side of him. ‘My fellow Canadians. I speak to you, at a moment of grave worldwide crisis’ he begins his live televised speech, as Alpha Flight arrive back at Parliament Hill, their jet soars into the hangar bay beneath the lavish parliament buildings. Gary Cody continues: ‘Though our brave super heroes saved countless lives in Vancouver, the situation there remains critical’. Gary reveals that refugees from the attacks in the United States have begun to clog up checkpoints, and the Border Services Agency has requested the assistance of the Armed Forces, who took up their positions an hour ago.
Cody announces that, following an analysis of the facts, his administration has decided, with the full support of Parliament, to proclaim the Emergencies Act. He informs the nation that his government did so at 4:23 this afternoon, in order to permit the full weight of government to be brought quickly to bear on all those persons seeking to exploit this crisis through rioting and looting. ‘The Emergencies Act gives sweeping powers to the government - it also suspends the operation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ the Prime Minister reveals, explaining that the police now have the powers they need to detect and eliminate conspiratorial organizations which seek to rake advantage of this calamity.
The Prime Minister continues, explaining that the new powers of the police include the rights to search and arrest without warrant, and to detain suspected persons without laying out specific charges, or bail. ‘Grave times require serious responses. But I assure you we in Ottawa recognize out responsibility to protect both people and our democracy…and will revoke this proclamation as soon as possible’ Cody assures the nation, remaining calm as he announces that this government is not acting out of fear, but act to prevent fear from spreading, and destroying everything that they all hold dear.
In the hangar bay, Snowbird, Shaman, Sasquatch, Aurora and Marrina walk together towards the exit, as Shaman tells his friends that the entity to which Attuma has pledged allegiance is evil beyond conception. He adds that deep meditation will be required to understand it fully. Snowbird informs Shaman that she will watch over his corporeal form as he attempts this meditation, while Marrina exclaims ‘Man! I got Mother Mother tickets tonight - you don’t think they’re gonna cancel just because of some dumb apocalypse?’
As the heroes reach the door, they find it will not open. ‘Hey! What’s the deal? Open the pod bay doors, Hal!’ Sasquatch calls out. ‘Sapristi! Can you let five minutes go by without a cultural reference?’ Aurora asks. ‘That guy’s name is Benjamin!’ Sasquatch explains, before asking if he ever mentioned that there are few things hotter than a young lady in spandex who knows her ‘60s sci-fi. ‘Ugh’ Aurora mutters, however as they stand by the closed doors, no one notices several pieces of metal equipment lying in the back of the hangar bay, which begin to beep.
Back in Montreal, the metal equipment on the balcony of Jean-Paul and Kyle’s apartment begins to take a very familiar form. Kyle hears something and calls out - ‘Jean-Paul? Even by your standards - that was quick!’ he exclaims, before announcing that he has good news. ‘I finally got ahold of -’ Kyle begins, only for a Boxbot to burst into the apartment, causing wall to fall on Kyle, which knocks Kyle over, head-first into the glass coffee table. ‘Box unit 235908HF: On-line scanning: subject: Northstar H-Protocols: Executing…’ the Boxbot announces as it stand over Kyle’s unmoving body.
In the hangar bay beneath Parliament Hill at that very moment, the pieces of equipment have all transformed into five more Boxbots, each of who walk towards the five Alphans, each assigned to one of the heroes. ‘Box unit: On-line scanning: Subject: Snowbird H-Protocols: executing’ one of them states, while the others are assigned to Aurora, Sasquatch, Shaman and Marrina.
At Newfoundland, Guardian stands up, his battle suit slightly damaged. A voice calls out ‘Hey, you!’, and Mac looks up. ‘Hey, yourself’ he replies, before announcing that they need to get back to Department H before Gary does something stupid. ‘He’s a well-meaning enough guy, but I never thought he was cut out for high-level decision making -’ Mac begins, before suddenly, he is attack from above by a burst of energy. Mac falls to the ground. ‘Brainwashed?’ he asks. ‘No’ the voice from above replies. ‘Robot?’ he asks. ‘I’m afraid not’ comes the reply. ‘Alien?’ Mac wonders. ‘For your sake, I almost wish I could say yes’ the voice replies, before dowsing Mac in another burst of energy - ‘But it’s me, Mac. It’s really me’ Heather announces as she hovers in the air. A flock of gulls swarms around Heather as the sky turns a purple-orange color and Heather stares down at the motionless Guardian….
