It was a cool, summer night, with the wind blowing in the evening. In one of the lesser traveled sections of the Canada, what would be called in the United States the warehouse district, or the inner city, a couple of men were unloading cardboard boxes filled with one side weapons, other side drugs. It was not an unusual scene to be discovered in the early days of Alpha Flight. In this particular case, the only members of Alpha Flight that were witness to this were Guardian, Puck, and Kamikaze. They were the fiercest warriors in all of Canada's small array of super heroes. They were here for the sole purpose of disabling this illegal activity and bringing the perps to justice.

"This brings back a lot of good memories, eh, Guardian?" Puck remarked to the leader of Canada's premier and only super hero team. "When Wolverine was an operative under Canadian law, he fought the Leader soon afterward before he as assigned to first battle the Hulk."

One of the perps used a crowbar to open a cardboard box marked ' Fragile' and then, he or she, it was hard to tell with his androgynous look to his long mane, uncovered the top layer of plastic and revealed to all concerned the plastic bags of white powder.

"Well, I think that we've seen enough," Guardian commented.

"What do you suggest, fearless leader?" Puck asked.

"I'll go down first via teleportation, then Kamikaze and finally, you, Puck."

"Sweet mother of Molson, this is going to be fun."

But before the three Alphans could launch into action, Guardian was the first to notice a new figure helping them out. They all recognized him immediately. He had long hair tied back in a ponytail and equally long talons attached to his forearms. He was one of the last victims of the Weapon X experiment. He was the former Weapon X, he was Kane.

"What the?!" Guardian expounded and the rest of the Alpha Flight team assembled echoed his sentiments. The last time that these Alpha Flight members, Kamikaze included, saw Kane he was a member of the Advanced Idea Mechanics paranormal strikeforce. Now he was a hero. This made no sense but upon closer inspection, Guardian realized that he followed where the best jobs were. In his early days, Kane fought the Merc-With-A-Mouth, Deadpool and Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front. Now he seemed to fancy himself a hero. What was his angle? Guardian wondered.

"Alpha Attack!" Guardian commanded in his role as leader of the Flight.

"Why couldn't this have been an easy night, eh?" Puck asked.

"Nothing is ever easy in our line of work," Kamikaze said, philosophizing. "You should know that by now."

"Yeh, I do," Puck responded, half-heartedly. "But let's not mince words, and fight this battle. I, above everyone else here, want to know what Kane wants."

While Kane slashed at the drug and weapons runners, Alpha Flight fought by his side. It was strange for all of them to do so since he was so close to their arch nemesis for so long after the "B" Team was disbanded. The rest of Alpha Flight that was not an active member adapted to their civilian life. One in particular, Persuasion, preferred it. The others may have liked the action and the hustle and the bustle of a super hero or heroine's life.

Guardian used his CB in his helmet to call the local authorities and RCMP to pick up the drugs and weapons. As one drug runner was trying to rescue his stash, Guardian confronted him, blasting him, really stunning him, with his electromagnetic force blasts. The man fell into unconsciousness.

Puck, Kamikaze, and Kane fought the remaining perps. Puck cartwheeled into action knocking other men to sleep, Kamikaze threw Chinese stars at the rest, and Kane slashed some with his claws. Soon the battle was over and done with.

Guardian approached Kane. "So, you mind telling us what the devil is going on here? Why are you all of sudden helping us?"

Kane smirked underneath his breath. "It's a long story but I'll give you the Cliff's Notes version. A.I.M. gave me a job to do; to protect them and to battle Wolverine when MODOK captured you. It was good dough so I accepted it. But I failed in my mission so I went rogue for a while. I couldn't get a job anywhere. Then, I found out that A.I.M. used a robot duplicate of me to distract you fine fellows in Alpha. I didn't like that so I've been tracking you ever since to join you."

"Is it just me or is this guy going my route?" Kamikaze asked.

"Let's go home to the Alpha Complex and put it to a vote."

"So, this is the man who is going to replace me?" Kamikaze asked Guardian as the leader of Alpha Flight presented Kane to the board and the mainstay members of the team.

"Whasamatter, Kam, jealous?" Sasquatch asked.

"Nothing of the sort, I am not jealous or envious. What I want to know is what this team is going to do with members reaching the double digits. Didn't we learn anything from the Evil Mystic Affair?"

'What is that supposed to mean? You're making less sense than usual."

"Listen and learn. Ever since I became a member of this team, I have noticed that Guardian has had a habit of enlisting more members than this team can handle. I know that Kane saved our lives hours ago and we should be thankful for that, but that doesn't mean that he should be a member of the team."

"This from a man who is emotionally attached to a married woman."

"That's not fair. I just kissed her. And I am already beginning to regret that action."

"And well, you should. Lil and Maddie are happily married and have been for years. Then you came along. You kidnapped her, hurt Maddie a lot, and when you suddenly turned to the side of the angels, you professed your love for her by kissing her passionately in front of her panicked husband. Can you explain that?"

Kamikaze folded his arms in front of his massive chest. "No, I guess I can't explain that. I guess I made a bad judgement call."

"Bad judgement call?! That's a funny way of saying it."

"Up yours, Sasquatch! At least I'm not engaged to a girl torn between her love for you and feeling that by marrying you she would betray her brother's trust."

Before a fight could ensue, Guardian and Mister Gentry entered the room with Kane. Kane retracted his claws so that he would not appear to be threatening. "Gentry has approved the added membership of Kane. And Kamikaze, you are on probation for kissing Diamond Lil out of turn."

"Oh, the glory of madmen and Alphans…"

Wyre

For the past several years since the first disbandedment of Alpha Flight, I have been a loner. I was a hitman, an assassin, but that life that I once led is over and done with now. On one of my recent assignment before I joined the ranks of the Canadian super team called Alpha Flight, I hunted Kane and Wild Child or Wildeheart or whatever he was calling himself now. That failed because Alpha Flight intervened. They invited me to be in their ranks. I fought alongside Shaman, Diamond Lil, Box, and Nemesis to fight the villiany of Carcass. He's dead now. Mystical threats just aren't my forte.

I recently got a call from a Mr. Gentry and Guardian, leader of the Core Alpha Flight, saying that several of their members have decided to leave, mainly Sasquatch and Aurora due to their upcoming marriage, and asked me to join. At first I said I'd think about it. But then, I thought what was there to think about? I enjoyed my time in Alpha Flight and would love to rejoin their ranks.

So, now, I walk towards their new headquarters, the Alpha Complex. Guardian comes flying out of the main entrance to greet me. He has a big smile across his face and he alights on the ground ahead of me. He reaches out his hand to shake mine. I shake it and he leads me inside.

"I'm glad that you could make it, Wyre," he says to me.

"No prob. It was my pleasure. "

Marrina

In his quarters, Puck has a long philosophising talk with the Flight's newest/oldest member, Marrina. He hasn't seen her since her miraculous return from the dead after defeating the Master of the World. She had to prove to the group that she was indeed the genuine article. She passed with flying colors. Now he has a very important question to ask of her.

"You want me to what?" Marrina asks him in response to his question.

"It's simple, Marrina. I want you to join Alpha Flight again."

"This is sort of sudden, Juddsy. I mean, this only complicates matters, with my husband in the Defenders on the opposite coast. You can't be serious."

"I am very serious. A lot of us are leaving the team, taking a leave of absence. We need some replacements. We asked Kane, the former Weapon X, and Wyre. We are thinking of asking the Jade Dragon. We need you, Marrina. I'm sure Sub-Mariner would approve of this. We are more than your teammates, your friends, we are your family."

"When you put it that way, how can I say no?" she says.

"Good. I'll tell Guardian and Gentry that you agreed and we'll set it up."

"Next time you twist my arm like that, remind me never to forgive you."

"Aw, Marrina, it wasn't like that. I think you wanted to join us."

"Of course, I did. I love you, Juddsy. You're the friend a mer-woman can have." With that said, she kissed Eugene Milton Judd on the cheek and exited his quarters.

The Jade Dragon

"Thank you, one and all," Mr. Gentry said from the plexiglass shield in the Combat Room of the Alpha Complex. "Kane, Wyre, Marrina, and the Jade Dragon, you fine fellows are the newest members of Alpha Flight. As we do with all new members, including Kamikaze, we have them pass a rigorous training operation before we put them on our first mission. The same shall be done with you. You are the B-team fighting the core Alpha Flight. You may now begin…"
Dei Guan is nervous and still in human form. He seems to have no confidence while he is still human but when he transforms into his dragon self he has all the bravery that goes with his superhuman mutant powers. He doesn't know if the other Alphans will accept him with the rest of them. He hopes and prays they will but he is still unsure.

He breathes a sigh of relief as the rest of both teams launch into battle. He concentrates and transforms into the Jade Dragon. Then, he bucks his head back and out from his dragon mouth he breathes his fiery breath. The jet of fire separates the two teams and melts the metal flooring to so much molten slag.

Kane attacks Guardian and Vindicator. He slashes and claws at their respective forcefields. He uses his tremendous claws to do this. The Jade Dragon watches him as he prepares to make his next move. Guardian touches Kane's claws and channels EM energy through his battlesuit into the body of Kane. Kane should have been knocked unconscious but since that time, he has a strong constitution. He merely slashes and claws some more.

As Box, Madison Jeffries attacks the Jade Dragon. He holds him in a bear bug and forces him to swallow a pill. This pill makes him transform back into his human self. This was a derivation of the same concoction that Kamikaze used on him at Llan's skyscraper HQ.

"First lesson of being in Alpha Flight," Mr. Gentry says, "know your enemy's weakness and used it against him or her. Try the exercise again. From the top, people…"

Eugene Milton Judd, known to some as the Canadian 'superhero' and Alpha Flight mainstay named Puck, was not one to feel sorry for himself.

Lord knew, if he wanted to dwell on it, there was plenty of material for some righteous self-pity in Judd's life. Nearly 100 years old and barely three-and-a-half feet tall, his body had once been a living prison for a demon that made him extremely long-lived. His past was riddled with blood and misdeeds, and even now that he was on what he was pretty sure was the right path, misfortune followed him in the form of a manipulative government and unrequited love.
Sometimes it just got to him, was all. This was one of those times.

"You wantin' another one, Judd honey?"

He looked up from his beer, took in the waitress and the dark tavern that surrounded them both, then looked back into his glass. It was nearly empty.

"You got it, Winona." He tipped the half-empty glass at her. "Molson's, when you get a chance."

Winona vanished, and Judd looked around the room. McHenry's was crowded tonight, and that suited Judd just fine. It was easier to put yourself in a corner and be alone when you had a hundred-body shield surrounding you.

"Eugene Judd, is that you?"

Judd looked up, and his face snapped into a grin in an instant. "Papa! What the hell are you doing here, old man?"

The new arrival slid into the seat across the table, a beer of his own in one hand. He wore a graying beard and had the squarish build and tough eyes of a boxer. He extended a hand and Judd took it in both of his.

"You know me, Judd. I'm everywhere. Walking the Earth. Reliving my misspent youth." The man Judd knew as 'Papa' chuckled. "Damn, son, how long's it been?"

"The bullfights in Spain." Judd's eyes narrowed and he set his glass down with a soft thump. "1957, that was. Forty-five years ago. And you don't look a day older."

The man waved a dismissive hand. "Like you're one to talk."

Judd shrugged. "Oh sure... but I have an excuse. I'm a superhero, y'know."

"We're all superheroes in our own way."

Eugene shook his head, grinning in spite of himself. "I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you, am I? Writers! Why do you all have to be so damn oblique?"

"Makes us feels smarter than the rubes, I imagine." Papa took a long pull from his glass and belched prodigiously. "You look well, Judd. How the hell you been? Besides, the superheroing stuff, of course. I read the papers, after all."

Judd opened his mouth, probably to spin some polite lie about being fine and content and making it in the big, bad world. Then he shut it. He didn't want to lie to Papa. They hadn't known each other long, but the man was hard to forget. Rough and tumble, educated and private, with a secret sadness on his sleeve he thought no one could see.

"I've been thinking about how much time I've had," Judd said. "And what I've done with it. And how much time I've got left."

"Those are good thoughts," opined Papa. "Kind of thoughts that improve a man."

"You think, eh? All it's ever done for me is remind me of all the people I've left behind."

"Kinda like how I left you behind at the Running of the Bulls."

"What do you want, old man?" Judd demanded, laughing as he said it. "I'm three-foot-six! And at least I didn't get gored."

"You had to bring that up..."

"That bull lifted you right up in the air. I'm surprised you can sit down even now!"

"Keep it up..."

Judd grinned. "Damn, it's good to see you."

Papa nodded distractedly, as if this went without saying. Someone had put George Jones' If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me on the jukebox, and the old man seemed to mutter a few words from it for a moment, then he returned his eyes to his companion. "Let me tell you something about people, Judd, for the next time you get to regretting you've left 'em behind."

Judd's eyebrows wagged up. "Another trait of writers. Always giving with the sage advice."

"Ah, shut your trap," Papa replied amicably. "The thing about people is, there are a whole lot of them. You lose one, there's always gonna be fifty more there to take their place."

"So you think friends are interchangeable."

"No... but everything has to move on, Judd. Everything and everyone. You don't accept that and get on with your own life, you're going to make yourself crazy. I know you. You've got to have friends. Some of them aren't as good as the old ones, sure, but some of them are probably a helluva lot better. In summary: Get your head out of your ass, short round. Smell the goddamn roses today and stop obsessing over how they smelled yesterday."

Judd sighed. "You're right, Papa. I know you're right. It's just this Alpha Flight thing, you know? This girl..."

"Ah-hah... a woman! It's always a woman! Redhead?"

Judd grinned. "You know it. You'd like her, old man. She's gutsy."

"The best ones always are. Why don't you tell me about her?"

"Well, she's kind of my boss, for one thing. I--"

"Here you go, honey."

Winona appeared at Judd's side and dropped another glass mug down in front of him. Judd jumped and aimed a distracted smile up at her. "Thanks, darlin'."

"A fun guy like you in a crowded place like this..." Winona mused. "What are you doing sitting here all by yourself, Judd?"

Judd eyed her quizzically and turned to point across the table at Papa... but the old man wasn't there anymore.

"... The hell...?" Judd breathed. The tabletop was undisturbed, the chair was pushed in. There wasn't even a ring on the table where the old man had set his glass down.

Of course there wasn't. Papa had died back in 1961, four years after they'd first met. Judd had read about it in the paper when it happened and raised a glass or ten to the man's memory.

"Judd, honey?" Winona ventured.

"Just doing some thinking, doll," Judd replied, trying on that smile he'd given her a moment ago and feeling how poorly it fit his face now. "Long day behind me and a longer day ahead."

Winona nodded. Concern was evident on her face, but she was a busy woman, and this was a busy night for her bar. She couldn't dally. "Well, let me know if you need anything. I'll be around."

She moved away, and Judd turned back to the table that, until a moment ago, he'd been sharing with Papa. Judd felt suddenly very old, and very tired. But it was like that Blake poem, he supposed: he had promises to keep, and miles to walk before he could sleep. That thought made him smile. If there was one thing he and Papa had had in common, it was a love for literature.

"To today's and yesterday's roses," Judd said, and raised his glass at the empty seat before him. "And to absent friends.

"Rest in peace, Papa. I'll be seeing you."