Chapter 16: “The Smallest Super-Hero”
 Written by: Wngtom@compuserve.com (Sue Wong)

  Baby Thompson was growing restless. Young and new to the world as he was, he had the wisdom of the Northern gods and a recently-deceased Tibetan lama in his soul, and this was enough to make him sensitive to any potential danger his mother and her beloved team-mates might face. For all this, though, he was still an infant. And the only way he could express his fears was by crying.
   At first.
   “What's the matter, baby?” Alex came into the room. “Why can't you go to sleep, like your mommy asked you to before she left?” He jiggled various toys --a small white bear, a toy telephone-receiver-shaped rattle, some brightly-colored plastic keys-- in Baby Thompson's face. Angrily, the infant demi-god struck them away. And then, to both their surprise, spoke. 
  “I...want...my...mommy!...I...want...to...help...my...mommy!”
 Alex was startled. He had seen the infant glowing and levitating as if to leave the room several times before, and each time, he had reached the baby in time to hold him down. But now, Alex noticed some subtle changes in the infant. Baby Thompson seemed to have grown slightly bigger...and older. More like a one-year-old than the newborn he had been a few short hours before. And he was starting to develop a vocabulary somewhat beyond his years.
  “Mommy...needs me!” Baby Thompson started to rise into the air, and to Alex's astonishment, started to shapeshift into a gyrfalcon. He made for the nearest open window. “I can save Mommy! Nobody else!”
  Alex could only watch helplessly as the small gyrfalcon darted past him into the night. He was far too stunned at first even to think. Then, the thought came to him. “What will Jean-Paul say? He'll think I've let him down.” Jean-Paul was always first in Alex's thoughts. The rest of Alpha Flight could wait until later.

 Flashback was gleefully holding Aurora. “I always wanted to do
this. I think I musta been the only guy on Alpha Base you never went out with.”
 “And with good reason!” Aurora spat. “You were always the most conceited.... Oh, I cannot think of a word bad enough to fit you! If mon frere were 'ere....”
 “He will be,” Flashback grinned. “Never doubt it. Your twinship
gives you links even you don't realize.”
  “I would like to see 'im beat you up!”
  “Bring him on,” Flashback said enthusiastically. “I can hardly wait!”
   As if on cue, Northstar smashed down the door. “Gardner, librez ma soeur!”
   Delightedly, Flashback dropped Aurora, who dashed to the opposite end of the room, as if she couldn't get away fast enough. “Jean-Paul, I knew you would come! I knew you would not fail me!”
   Northstar had already seized Flashback, and was raining blows on him, hundreds in a second. Jean-Paul was a born fighter, and was enjoying himself. “And dis is for kidnapping ma souer. And for treating 'er so badly. And....”
   He never finished what he was going to say. In his eagerness to avenge his beloved sister, he had forgotten Flashback's unique power. Now, suddenly, the air was filled with strange “popping” sounds. Costumed doubles of Flashback were appearing by the dozens...and dozens. Where Northstar had been fighting only one man before, he now found himself being buried under an avalanche of opponents. 
   “Mon frere!” screamed Aurora.” Allez vous bien?”
   The fight, slowly growing on a massive scale, raged on.

   At the Eye of the World, the portal was ready to open. Shaman was withdrawing the great key from his medicine pouch. Sasquatch, Talisman, Dr. Strange, and Snowbird stood ready. All felt the cold mystical wind blowing against their flesh...and into their very souls.
  Shaman raised the key and there was an intense white light. He began his incantation. Only Snowbird understood what he was saying. So could Talisman, if she cared to keep her mind on it. Everyone accepted that Shaman knew exactly what he was doing.
  Snowbird kept her secret fear to herself; that they would not have enough power to defeat the Great Beasts, and then, return to earth to defeat the Beasts' children. “If only my small son were older.... even if only by a small amount of time. If he were ready enough to come with us tonight and to learn.... Even the smallest amount of mystical power might give us an edge....” 
  Suddenly, Talisman cried out and pointed up to the sky. “Snowbird! Narya! Look!”
  Snowbird looked up, saw a small gyrfalcon circling above them, and felt her heart thump violently in her breast. “My son! My small son!”
  Sasquatch looked astonished. “What's he doing here? I thought you left him in Toronto with Alex.”
  “Indeed, I did,” Snowbird said breathlessly. “But, the god-blood within him is too strong. Infant that he is, he knows that his place to learn is at my side.”
 “Our side,” corrected Dr. Strange.
 Snowbird lifted her arms to the gyrfalcon. He streaked into her
embrace, and became her human son again, slightly older than she had left him. No one expressed any surprise at this. Hadn't Narya herself been born the size of a one-year-old child? And hadn't she grown to adult size in a year? No telling how much growth her offspring might achieve in a similar amount of time, no matter how diluted he was by his father's human blood.
 There was no more time now. The mystical portal to the Shattered Lands had been opened. And all present in the Eye of the World were sucked inside.

Chapter 17: “Deep Within.”
Written by: Wells

Walter Langkowski stepped, or rather was sucked into the dimensional doorway.  Around him the vortex spun, and the Shattered Lads began to take form in front of his eyes.  The terror that this place brought him began to rush back in I a surge of memories.  As suddenly as he was sucked into the portal, he was spit back out towards land.  He once again felt ground beneath his feet, and ventured to open his eyes.  Fully expecting to see the gray-scale backdrop of the shattered lands Walter was unprepared for what he
was faced with.  
     Around him the wind blew rain drops that felt like shards of ice.  He was standing once more in the middle of the mystic crater called the "Eye of the world".  His companions were not however with him, and he felt severely disoriented from the vortex.  The mystical wind rustled his fur, and chilled his soul as he heard the voice of evil behind him.
    "Hello Brother....." The voice spoke to him.  Walter spun around to face the owner of the chilling voice.  Walter  realized with horror just why this stranger had called him brother.  Looking him straight in the eyes was Tanaraq of the great beasts, his former symbiotic partner.  
     "NO!" Walter cried out in utter shock, but the sound was stolen by the chill wind of the crater.
     "Oh yes brother, it is I.  Your mortal fears have surly come true this day, for I have arrived on this plane of existence, my fellow beast shall follow in due course, and you shall aid the cause of our return dear brother."
     Regaining his composure, Walter realize that it was up to him to keep the rest of the beast from following Tanaraq to earth.
      "I don't know what the he-haw yer talkin' about ya cheap rip off, but if you don't stop callin' be yer dang brother, I'm gonna have to shove yer words back down yer throat!"   The bold reply came.  To follow up on his statement Walter took a step towards his distorted evil twin to engage in the inevitable battle.  However with each step e took closer to the Great Beast he felt more of his own energy drained.
     "Ah I see thine power is weakened my earthly presence brother." Tanaraq said to Walter with a confident chuckle.  "I had surmised this would be the probable circumstance.  It is in fact your energy that was the implement of my arrival on this earthly plain.  It was you existence on earth that provided me with the means to breach the barrier between lands."
     "Are tryin' to tell me that it's my fault yer here, and the other damn Beasts are comin' soon?"  Walter questioned weakly.
     "Indirectly the blame could be place upon you, however it is more the fault of Narya, daughter of Nelvanna.  For it was she who created the body in which you reside, and it was she who bestowed the power you now hold upon you.  Therefor it was she who failed to sever the link between your "Sasquatch" form and myself."  
     "Damn-it!  No wonder Narya was so anxious to play her part in preventing this coming of the Beasts!"  Walter Hissed under his breath. 
 

     Kolomaq stood in the form of the winter like giant prepared to face off against the being known as "The Light keeper".   The bearded deity tartan robes flowed in the thing air of the Shattered lands as he rushed towards "The Preserver" with the force of a juggernaut.  
     To one side of the impending battle Shaman lay in a daze.  Only moments ago it had seemed that all was lost for him, and Kolomaq was on the verge of destroying the weakened mystic.  Yanking a shard of sharpened ice from his thigh, shaman pulled himself to his feet to provide what assistance he could to his mysterious savior.  Looking up at the two behemoths Shame came to the sudden realization of who this "Lightkeeper" truly was.
    "Elmo??" Shaman gasped audibly.
     "Yes it is I,  Friend Michael Twoyoungman " The Lightkeeper spoke in a jovial tone as he surged forward with glowing fists raised toward the giant Beast of Winter that was Kolomaq.
 

     Set back Elizabeth Twoyoungman looked down at her hands in aghast wonderment.  Her power had just failed her when she most needed it to face the might of TOLAMAQ, The Great Beast of Fire.
     The voice of the beast sounded around her in crackling laughter.  "Art thou having troubles child of power?  It seems thine power has fled in terror of my might.  Now child your destruction is in hand."
     Talisman could feel the searing heat of Tolamaq as he came descended down over her body.  As his flames engulfed her body he began to emit smoldering laughter.  As her body was consumed by the fire and reduced to mere ashes that laugher abated.  Now the beast of fire began to emit a deep hiss, much like the sound of water landing on a campfire.  The ashes of Talisman began to come together.  The solidified ad took the shape of a young strong human body.  In mere seconds the form of Talisman stood
strongly in the center of Tolamaq's inferno.  Her entire body was bathed in a blue nimbus that began to grow as the hissing amplified.
     With a ear-popping shriek the fiery mass of The Beast of fire leaped back away from Talisman.  It seemed to almost cringe against a gray-scale outcropping.  
     "You poses powers beyond comprehension."  The best hissed in a weak voice.  Slowly Talisman watched as the fiery mass subsided and virtually sunk into the alien ground of the Shattered Lands.
 

     Consciousness returning Steven Strange found himself in a land unlike any he had ever visited before.  It seemed that all around him was sucked of it's color, yet his form remained unchanged.  Just then what appeared to be a piece of the bizarre landscape began to move towards him.  As it grew close Dr. Strange realized that this was no object, but a being seemingly composes of the matter of this land.  No larger than he, the thing of bland features stopped about ten feet short of the Sorcerer Supreme.
     "Welcome Mystic you may call me Somon the Artificer"   The frail looking creature said addressing Strange.
     "Yes I know who you are beat, just as I am sure that you know of me and my role of Sorcerer Supreme.  I have come to this your land to stop you evil plans to dominate the plane earth."
     "It as I assumed, you knowledge of the arcane arts gives you a slim chance of accomplishing your goals, but I fear that you will not live to see the doom of you world." 
      On that note Somon raised a hand slowly.  As he did so the earth about Steven Strange began to lift to form a tight cage around the sorcerer.  In the "floor" of the cage a deep crevice opened and a green substance began to ooze from it toward Strange.

     Soaring from the vortex Snowbird and her child set down on the black and white ground of The Shattered Lands.  Suddenly a pungent stench overwhelmed Narya as the shape of Kariooq emerged from a pillar of steam. In her Arms the small boy began to weep silently in fear as the Beast spoke.
     "Ah the child of the gods has brought me a present, a pure form to corrupt!"

Chapter 18: “Untitled Again.”
Written by: Morgue

  “What do you mean, he just disappeared?”, Donovan yelled at a field agent.
 “I dont know sir, One minute he was on our scanners, and the other he
wasn’t”, replied the field agent.
 “You DID plant the tracer on him didn’t you?”, Donovan was getting furious.
He had worked long and hard tracking Alpha Flight and he wasn’t going to lose
them now.  “I want you to scan as wide as possible and you better find out
where Vindicator is”, Donovan barked.  Donovan and four other field agents
were in a helicopter flying over Northern Canada.  They were following Alpha
Flight by a tracer they had placed on James MacDonald Hudson.  Hudson didn’t
know it though.  “I wonder if they found the tracer”, Walker thought to
himself.  “Or maybe Alpha has already started the battle against the Great
Beasts, and the tracers was destroyed, or maybe...”
 “Sir, we got him”, an agent screamed out, interrupting Walker's line of
thought.
 “Well, WHERE IS HE?”, Walker yelled.
 “Several hundred kilometers South West of our location sir.”
 “Damn, that will take too long on this thing”, Walker thought.  “You, grab
me a jet pack”, Walker ordered an agent.
 Several minutes later the agent returned with a sleek, silver jet pack.
“Here you go sir.”  Donovan slipped off his trench coat and pulled on the jet
pack.  
 “Continue to where we lost contact with Hudson, I'll go see where he is at
now”, Donovan ordered as he grabbed a hand held electronic device and flew
out of the helicopter.

* * * * * 

 Heather and Mac were several yards ahead of Puck when the attack came.  In
a burst of speed a black and white blur flew past Vindicator.  The next
second Mac fell to the ground unconscious.  Another blur flew past Puck and
rendered him unconscious as well.  Heather looked around surprised.  
 “Hello Heather, how are you?”
 “Northstar!  What are you doing?  We're here to help you”, Heather stated
angrily.
 “My brother, and I have seen the light, Guardian.  And soon so will you and
the rest of Alpha.”
 “Aurora?”, Heather said as she spun around to look at the woman they had
come here to save.  But before she could say anything Northstar made his
move, knocking her unconscious.
 As darkness engulfed Heather her only thought was “Why did I turn my back
on Northst-?”, and then nothing.

* * * * * 

 Donovan landed in a forest several hours later.  He took off the jetpack
and put on his trench coat again.
 This prototype jetpack can last a lot longer than those other ones
Department H has.  I'm glad they keep some of these around for me.  Dont
believe they actually want me to wear those suits.  I mean if they're not as
good as Guardian's then what’s the point.  It like saying 'here you go, go
out with Alpha Flight and fight bad guys, oh by the way your name is now
Cannon Fodder.' “  Agent Walker followed the electronic signal from his hand
device.  He was close now, really close.  He stepped into a clearing and saw
the burned remains of a mass of flesh, and a suit of armor that looked charred.
 “What the heck is going on here?  That looks like Caliber, and Omega.  But
Omega is dead, but then again so is this mass of flesh.  Man it stinks”,
Donovan said as he walked towards Caliber.  Walker bent down and removed a
section of the suit.  “Oh MAN, that reeks”, Donovan yelled as he took
several steps back.  
 “Oh lookie here, more heroes.”
 Donovan spun around just as he was clawed across the stomach by WildChild.
Donovan took a few steps back.
 “WildChild, what are your intentions?”, Walker asked as he drew two Glock
17s from his shoulder holsters.
 “Im going to gut you and then kill you”, WildChild said calmly.
 “I know this isn’t the real WildChild, I know for a fact that he is still
somewhere in the States.  My contacts would have told me if Kyle was in
Canada again”, Donovan thought to himself.  “Thanks, that’s all I wanted to
know”, Walker said as he opened fire on WildChild with both guns.  The
bullets pierced flesh and WildChild let out a scream of pain.
 “What’s the matter 'Child?  In all your time in hanging out with super types
you never taken a bullet?”, Donovan yelled through gritted teeth.  WildChild
fell.  “Lets see your healing factor handle thirty four bullets,” Donovan
yelled as he continued firing.  Finally the bullets stopped.  Donovan let
the empty clips fall to the ground.  As he reached for an extra clip he was
shoved from behind.  On the ground he turned onto his back to look at his
new attacker.  
 “Oh great, bullets would be useless against her,” Donovan thought to
himself as he looked at Diamond Lil.  “Guess I'll have to do this the old
fashion way.”  Donovan stood up and assumed a martial arts stance.
 And then Lil attacked.

* * * * *

 “It appears we have a new visitor”, Flashback said to the two speedsters
behind him.  “He is not like other super types is he?  He actually used guns
against WildChild.  I wonder if he has any powers.  Surely if he does  he
will use them against Lil. Dont you think?” Flashback looked at the two
twins again.  “No of course not.  You cant think can you?  After all, you're
in my control now.  And soon the other three Alphans will be as well.”  And
then laughter filled the hallways of the complex.

* * * * *
 

Chapter 19: “A Call to Dead Friends -- The Battle Rages On!”
Written by: magik@glinx.com (Matthew Davidson)

 James MacDonald Hudson looked around, disoriented. One minute he had been with Walt, Michael, Elizabeth, and the others at the Eye of the World, the next he was in the middle of a forest? He looked around frantically, and his cybernetic sensors buzzed inside him, looking for movement. 
 “Maybe the Great Beasts are trying to divide our forces?” He
thought, slightly robotically, which half-annoyed him, half-registered as correct.
 Suddenly the mechanical implants in his brain focused, and zoomed in on infra-red silhouettes through a grove of trees. The readouts on the periphery of his line of sight identified two of the figures as his wife and Puck. Several of the lifeforms were unidentified, and suddenly his mind dove into the chaos of a paradox. Three of the outlines registered as four: Roger Bochs, Lionel Jeffries, Caliber, and Bedlam. He hadn't fought these villains, but from the information he had gleaned from Alphanex, he was able to identify them. The problem was, his cybernetic brain was having trouble coping with the fact that they were there when they should have been dead. Manipulating the electromagnetic spectrum, Jimmy lifted himself into the air and sped towards the battle seeking an answer to hi conundrum. 

* * * * * 

 Alex yanked open the top drawer of the desk. “Where is it? She must have written it down!” He yelled frantically to himself. He pulled out the drawer, and dumped it's contents to the pine floor of Elizabeth Twoyoungmen's apartment. Paper clips, thumbtacks, pens, and other useless items fell out, along with a novel-sized black manual. Alex bent open the worn cover and searched for what he was looking for. He found what he thought might be the key to his problem. Scribbled on the inside cover of the book were the words Kathryn and Tamarind.
 Alex threw the book down, and raced to the computer screen which illuminated the room with an eerie glow. Her typed in the two words which he had just discovered, and pressed enter. He was able to tap into Elizabeth's e-mail program. “Great,” he whispered pervasively, and clicked open the address book. He found the following addresses:

Kara Killgrave- purple@toronto.ca
Kyle Gibney- Agent4XF@usa.government.com
Madison & Lillian Jeffries- Diamond@perknet.org.com

 “That's it?!” He screamed in despair, hoping that he would have found more help than that.
 He wrote them each and sent the messages on their way, unaware that the message to Kyle Gibney would have trouble reaching him, now that the world assumed he was dead. Kara Kilgrave was in England, and the message from the Jeffries bounced back. He only hoped that the other two would reach
their destination.....

* * * * * 

 Aurora suddenly snapped out of her damsel in distress mode, and flew into the frenzy of men that were piling upon her twin brother. She emitted a flash of light, blinding the multiple versions of Flashback.
 “Merci, sister!” Jean-Paul shouted, flinging the men off of his at
super-speed, unaffected by the blinding power he had once possessed also. 
 “C'est my pleasure, frere.”
 “What is going on here?” Northstar asked, stepping over an
unconscious body of Flashback's.
 “I've told your sister all she needs to know, Northstar.”
 The twins looked over to where Flashback stood. An Asian woman clad in a yellow and white suit similar to Vindicator and Guardian's stood on his left. A sullen looking woman in her late thirty's to early forty's stood on the opposite side of him. The older woman glowed. She started to scream.
 “Mon frere, what are zey doing to zat poor woman?!” Aurora shrieked.
 “I do not know, Jeanne-Marie.” Northstar was about to fly at
Flashback and his obvious partner when the other woman's body split open and the two entered her. There was a suction sound, a blast of green light, and all three were gone.
 Northstar looked down. Jeanne-Marie was unconscious.
 

Chapter 20: “Something.”
written by: gratton@worldnet.att.net for

  Kolomaq's ice fell like crystal knives, biting into Michael Twoyoungmen's
arms and legs.  [It isn't real,] he tried to tell himself.  [The sorcery of the Beasts cannot harm one who has armed himself with mental res--]--”Aargh!” he screamed, as a particularly thick shard slammed into his shoulder.  
 Kolomaq laughed.  It was an unholy sound; the sound of dying souls and rotting bone--the sound of men being murdered and women being raped.  “You cannot hope to defeat me, little mortal.  You cannot hope to defeat my brothers.”  The Great Beast's eyes gleamed in anticipation of the kill.  “Indeed . . . . you dare not _hope_.”
 “But hope he may!” roared a voice from above.  None of the Great Beasts like to be disturbed when at their most private of works, and so Kolomaq looked up, annoyed.
 From the ink colored sky of the Realm of the Beasts flew a shining star; a giant man in a simple wool tunic, his chest spanned by a tartan sash, and his legs covered by a matching kilt.  His body was surrounded by the silver burning light of the stars.
 “_You_,” Kolomaq growled.  “How dare you interfere here, Lightkeeper?  This is the realm of me and mine brethren; Turoq's champions have no place here!”
 “Where Nelvanna's daughter goes, there go I, monster!” the warrior
rumbled.  
 Kolomaq laughed again. “I see the whelp's returned, Lightkeeper.  And if you wish to wreck your life upon the rock again; as you did before—to return to your slumber--well, then, _mortal_--I shall gladly oblige you.” 
 The Lightkeeper narrowed his fiery eyes.  “I am mortal no longer, Son of
Misuse.  And as an immortal, I can safely say--you will harm Nelvanna's
daughter and her comrades over my own corpse.”
* * * * * 

 “I don't _care_ if you have to break a commitment, Whit--this is important!” Kara Killgrave's face was quickly turning from lavender to magenta.
 “Look, Kary, honey--this is the chance of a lifetime.  Peter Fairweather doesn't give lectures anymore.  This refresher course is the only way I can keep up with the other physicians my age.  I'm sick of being a bloody temporary doctor.  I want residency, Kary, and this is the only way to--” 
 “Don't you 'Kary' me!” Kara hissed.  “Liz and the others are in trouble. 
You have a commitment to Beta Flight, Whit.”
 “I'm a doctor first, Kary--”
 “If you call me either 'Kary' or 'honey' even _one_ more time, Whitman Knapp, I'm never talking to you again, let alone marrying you.  And I'm not kidding.  Now look: I'm calling out the cavalry.  I'm going to contact Gobbs and Laura, and I'm going to drive them to 2439 Viking Drive.  It's here in Toronto.  We should get there in about three hours; plenty of time for you to get to town.  If I don't see you there--well, I won't be seeing you again.  Are we clear on that, Whit?”
* * * * * 
 

 Donovan Walker shook his head once, twice.  He was hanging by the wrists from a ceiling.  [What happened?]  He smiled a wry, bitter smile.  [Diamond Lil's bloody _fist_ happened.]  
 “Ah, you're awake.  Good.  I was hoping to gloat before I subverted you.” The speaker was thin--gaunt, actually.  He was pulling on a white-and-sable costume with red glass lenses over his eyes.  His voice was nasal and grating.  “Now, Agent Walker--can I call you Don?” 
 “No,” Walker snarled.
 “Good.  Don it is.  Now, Don, what is Department K doing up here?”
 Walker snorted.  “If you think I'm going to tell you anything, you're even
nuttier than you _look_.”
 The costumed man chuckled.  “You know, it's funny.  I was actually hoping you'd say something like that.”  He turned to the doorway behind him.  “Jean Paul!  Lionel!”
 Northstar and Omega, both shuffling slowly--well, Northstar was shuffling;
Omega was slithering--entered the dark little room.
 “Now,” the thin little psycho said, his eyes twinkling savagely behind the red glass, “let me ask again.  Why is Department K crashing my little tea party?”