NOTE: This story takes place after Marvel's Wolverine #143.

As the full moon hung in the sky like a distant pendulum, Lillian Crawley walked through the darkened streets with her husband and fellow Alphan, Madison Jeffries. They indulged themselves in a romantic leisurely stroll, lost in conversation.

Since she and Madison returned to the Flight, their time was spent within Department H, training for their next mission. The training session consisted of Madison using his transmuting powers over metal to create weapons and projectiles to hurl at the Alphans who remained within their training room. Today, it had been Lillian versus Madison's weapons. Lover vs. lover. Wife vs. husband. She never stood a chance, even with her diamond hard skin.

"Life in Alpha Flight has been pretty dull since that AIM affair which we weren't even a part of," Lillian commented, as they passed a withering oak tree.

"Yeh," Madison replied, with a smile clearly on his face, "I'm not complaining, mind you. No news is good news, right?"

Lillian returned his smile with one of her own. On certain occasions, she was happy not to be working with the Flight. "But if I am going to be a part of this team, after my long absence, I wish we would be doing more than just training. Doesn't Gentry have anything for us?"

Madison smiled. "Like what? We can't do anything until the villains, any one, makes their move on us. But you have to think of it this way, not too many world-dominating villains are going to set foot on Canadian soil, unless they're on the run from our American counterparts."

"Yeh, I guess yer right," Lil agreed.

As they approached their apartment, Lillian ran lithe fingers through his hair, enticing him, trying to arouse him. It was working. He responded in kind, embracing her, and before either of them knew it, they were kissing. With eyes closed, Madison blindly fiddled with the door handle and finally opened it. They both backed into the darkened apartment.

Once the light was on, he was there, standing in their apartment, apparently waiting for them to return. Dressed in a black ninja's costume with swords slung over his shoulder and a belt armed with throwing stars and nunchukas, Kamikaze approached them. His cowl was made of a thin fabric, covering his face except for his eyes.

"You hit him first," Lil said. "I'll hit him second. Go, Maddie."

"Gotcha, Lil!"

Lillian's face flushed with rage, as she reached over to the oaken table for some kind of weapon. Madison, on the other hand, was much quicker to respond to the threat. Madison concentrated and suddenly, several objects-pieces of watches, clocks, plates, etc.-- flew in the air to form into a makeshift gun in Madison's hands. Good thinkin', Maddie, she thought.

With Lillian watching, Madison pulled the trigger and bullets soared in the air with unerring speed. They were both wide-eyed when Kamikaze pulled out his nunchuka, swinging it in the air in front of his face, blocking every one of the bullets.

In a flash, Kamikaze disappeared from sight, only to reappear seconds later right behind Madison. Before Madison could fashion a new weapon, Kamikaze knocked him unconscious with a swift blow to his head. The movement was nearly instantaneous.

"Maddie!!" she screamed.

The next few moments became a blur in her mind. There was a sudden crack in the air as the report of a gun sounded. The bullet streaked forward. Lillian swung a vase in an arc.

The light from the moon glinted all over Kamikaze's silhouette and he disappeared. Again. A fist hit her jaw hard and vicious and a foot jabbed her in the stomach.

Kamikaze's body was very flexible, ready to pounce all over her.

Kamikaze's fist smashed against her cheek. With rapid speed, his fist flowed forward, connecting with her stomach again.

Then, Kamikaze drew a weapon and threw it on the floor. A wispy gas filled the room and she slowly lost consciousness. All was lost.

Several hours later, as the moon was replaced by the rising sun, Madison Jeffries flew over the Canadian skyline, in a jetpack composed of the metallic remains in a trash can. That was one of the downsides of leaving his Box armor back at the Alpha Complex, the same place where he was headed now. Only Alpha Flight could help him find Lil and the identity of her abductor.

Who was this mysterious ninja and what possible motive could he have in abducting his lady-love? This and many more questions haunted his mind as he made a swift left arc, landing at the Alpha Complex. It was still early in the morning, barely breakfast time, and no one greeted him at the entrance. This was true to form in the Flight.

His body was still aching from the blow that that ninja gave him as a parting gift. After landing, he stretched briefly, getting the aches and pains from last night's beating out of his mind and system, and entered his headquarters.

Soon, he walked into the conference room where most of the Flight was gathered.

"What the hell happened to you?" Heather Hudson, AKA Vindicator, asked. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Are you all right, Madison?" Mac reiterated.

"Lillian's gone and the guy that took her sucker punched me."

"That'll teach you to leave Box here," Vindicator said. When she saw that he wasn't amused by her humor, she continued, "Okay, tell us everything that happened. Right from the top."

"All right." Madison sighed. Then, he told the tale of the few minutes that the ninja was in their apartment and the battle that quickly ensued. He also related how he easily evaded their attacks. Madison felt so powerless against him.

Vindicator walked over to Alphanex and punched in the data into the massive computer. They all waited a few minutes for the result to come through. What it spit out was a profile of a ninja that Wolverine once fought called Ogun. It could be a perfect match, except for the fact that he was dead. But then, super-powered beings were known to come back from the dead. Mac was the case in point.

Mac stood up from his seat. "We have to find Diamond Lil. She's our top priority..."

Just then, Mr. Gentry walked quickly into the room, with urgency on his face. "I just listened to the local police band and there was a Kane sighting in London, Canada. I want you all to secure him. He could be the missing link to Snowbird and why she won't wake up."

"Gentry," Guardian said, "I'm afraid that will have to wait. Diamond Lil was kidnapped last night and I think-"

Gentry frowned. "I'm sorry. This is a matter of national safety. I want you to bring Kane here and make him talk. You can deal with Lillian later."

"But. Mr. Gentry..."

"I won't take no for an answer. It's Kane or your job."

There was a long pause.

Seeing a reluctant nod from Guardian, Gentry exited the room.

Guardian laid a hand on Madison's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "I'm sorry, Madison. We'll find Lil... after we take care of Kane."

For Alpha Flight, Madison Jeffries had no words.

Only a section of the core Alpha Flight landed in the grassy plain in a suburb called London in their Omnijet. The team assigned to apprehend Kane was Guardian, Vindicator, and Puck. The husband and wife team was important to this mission because their powers were the most effective in incapitating their target and Puck was used as back-up. Puck really wasn't needed but Gentry insisted. And Guardian wasn't in the mood to contradict him.

After Heather shut the engines off, the three Alphans proceeded to find Kane. All the police band, tuned to super human beings in particular, revealed was that a man fitting Kane's description was seen in the area, wearing a long tan trenchcoat to hide his identity but failing miserably. A blind man could spot him. He was that conspicious.

"Okay, I'll take an aerial view of the surrounding area," Guardian ordered, immediately taking to flight. "You two, search the town."

"Sounds good," responded Vindicator and to show his agreement, Puck nodded.

Once Guardian was out of sight, Vindicator walked with Puck through the small, almost deserted town. She had never been to this section of Canada. With her career as co-leader of the Flight, she had neither reason nor the time to travel outside of her super-heroing.

For the time that they were searching the town and coming up empty-handed, Puck was extremely quiet. She knew the reason for this; he still had not gotten over their falling out. It probably cut wounds very deep.

Suddenly, without any warning, Kane attacked the two Alphans. With one swipe of his hand, he threw Puck across the street, throwing him through a tumble, and with the other, he slashed into Vindicator's battle suit, trying to wreak havok with the electromagnetism housed within.

"Always trying to get the better of us, eh?" Puck said, as he regained his footing and his second wind. In no time at all, the diminutive Alphan cartwheeled across the street into the heat of battle. His goal was to save Heather. He would sacrifice anything for her, even his life.

Hitting Kane in his backside caused minimal damage, at the very least. As she used electromagnetic pulses to attempt to knock Kane unconscious, Vindicator knew that Puck's athletic prowess would be no match for Kane's superior strengths, not to mention his claws. It looked like she would have to deal with him on her own. If only her husband were here...

Before he was able to deliver what could be described as the 'killing blow', Vindicator maneuvered her way out of Kane's reach, flying in the air to encircle him. She knew that something was different about this Kane. Something vital to his personality. She just couldn't quite place it.

Kane pounced in the air, launching into another attack.

A bolt of pure electromagnetic energy hit Kane with deadly force. Vindicator looked up, for the bolt had not come from her battle suit. She saw her husband Guardian landing mere feet from the tide of battle. Good, she thought, now, we can win this thing.

"Back off, Alpha, this man is mine!"

Guardian stood between Kane and the rest of the loose members of the core Alpha Flight, his forcefield up. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Where is AIM?" he shouted, repeating it several times.

Kane was silent.

Then, Guardian knew. Two important factors were missing from Kane; his killer instinct and he was less talkative. Something was wrong and he meant to right it.

Guardian let loose. He focused a bolt of pure E-M energy at Kane, concentrated slightly, and let the energy field build up in momentum for several seconds until Kane couldn't stand it anymore. Unlike before when he merely collapsed, Kane exploded into a million pieces.

Vindicator ran to her husband's side, concern all over her face. "A robot?"

"Yes, a robot. And if my guess is right, we were just played for fools."

"Doesn't take a genius to know who's behind Kane's appearance, eh?" Puck wondered.

"Then, who took Lil?"

The question hung in the air for several minutes before they returned to the Omnijet.