An alley in London, Canada...

A battle between two equally opposed forces took place just minutes before. To an observer who was familiar with the ranks of Alpha Flight, it would seem that Diamond Lil with her near-invulnerable skin and her fighting prowess would easily overcome the ninja, Kamikaze. At this very moment, this ninja who had plagued Alpha in the recent past has struck again. Now, holding Lil by her hair, he was able to deliver the killing blow.

"You are definitely a worthy adversary, Miss Crawley," he purred like the sly cat he was and the villain he was capable of being. "I enjoyed fighting you in your apartment and I relished it now. Prepare to die!"

"Don't bet on it, friend, this girl bites back!" With a swift movement of her hands, she flips Kamikaze over her head, so that he lands on his head. The shock of such a blow should have knocked him unconscious but it had little effect on his ninja-trained body. When she saw that he was in a vulnerable position for her to enter into a new attack, she said, "This is ridiculous. We have no reason to fight. This is getting old, Kamikaze, or whatever your real name is. We should talk. Alpha Flight can help you. Whatever brainwashing AIM did to make you attack, we can undo. Guardian and Sasquatch are scientists, they already know about behavior modification techniques."

"For your information, AIM never brainwashed me," Kamikaze admitted, as he righted himself into a karate stance. Lil saw that he was reaching for the vast array of weapons at his disposal. She had to keep him talking. That was the only way she could end this battle, as foolish as it seemed.

"They didn't?! Then, why did you join AIM. You know they are not in the market for allying themselves with super beings or ninjas, for that matter. So, why then?"

"Well, to put it simply, I was a paid assassin, a ninja assassin. They were just the ones who signed my paychecks, but this job had one requirement. They wanted all of Alpha Flight captured, not killed. Pity. I would have killed you guys for free. The job was that necessary to me."

"You don't say?" This piqued her interest. To save her life and the life of her teammates, she would have to play part-psychologist in this venue.

"I grow tired of talking, it is time for you to die!" Kamikaze unsheathed his sword, swinging it in front of her face. One time a laser beam cut her skin. Could a sword do the same, like the sword of the first Nemesis did to Deadly Ernest?* That was one alternative she would rather not think about.

(* See Alpha Flight vol. 1 #31 - Russ)

Liliian looked down at her side and saw a circle of twine at her feet that must have fallen out from a garbage can. Kamikaze hurled himself in the air, grunting and screaming all the while, but Lil caught him, flipped him over and used the twine to tie him up. Once he was secured, she relieved him of all of his weapons. Now, the only weapon he possessed was his own body.

"Now, you talk, before I summon the rest of Alpha Flight. I'm sure Sasquatch would like to repay you for the beating you gave him, along with a bunch of other choice Alphans. Please, talk!"

"Hai... yes, I'll talk."

"First, let's see who you are behind that mask," Lil said, as she unmasked him, revealing a face as ruggedly handsome as her husband Madison Jeffries. He had long black hair that covered his facial features. "And you are?"

"Harada. That is as far as you'll get from me on my real name."

"That will have to do for now. You mentioned before that you are a ninja assassin. I assume that you were trained in Japan."

Kamikaze sighed. It was obvious he didn't like to be defeated in such a manner and that he was not normally as easily defeated as he was now. This was evident by his previous altercations with Alpha Flight. "I was born and raised in Tokyo, the place of my father and mother. My father was one of the kamikaze pilots that bombed Pearl Harbor. I was just a baby then. Cared for by my mother and the housemaid. I was too young to know him but later I grieved for him nonetheless."

"Obviously, you adopted the name of Kamikaze in honor of your father. Tell me more of your childhood." She was really sounding like a psychologist now.

"Well, like you, I am a mutant. When I reached puberty, I discovered I had the ability to disappear from sight, only to reappear in a place within a close proximity. It is a form of teleportation. AIM designed their Teleportals from my power base. Never let it be said that I don't contribute to my bosses."

"And the ninja angle?" Lil asked, curiosity tinging her voice.

"I studied the ways of the warrior to be like my father. He had the right idea. You have to be a warrior to survive in this world. So, after I graduated high school, I trained to be a ninja. I had the most skilled sensei in all of Japan, possibly the world. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. What else do you want to know, while you have me at a disadvantage?"

"No, that's about all. But I have an offer to give you. How would you like to use your powers for good and earn an honest living for a change?"

"Let me guess. You want me to join Alpha Flight, the Yukon Avengers? And why should I?"

"Because I think you would much rather fight with us against AIM, than be on the run from them and us forever until the end of time. Now, what say you?"

Kamikaze nodded, averting his eyes away from Diamond Lil. "Hai. I'll join you. Now, untie me, witch."

Diamond Lil smiled. "Hai."

The Alpha Complex...

The animal was all hyped up now. It was already in a maddened fury. Its claws were bared and they gleamed brilliantly in the lamps that shone overhead. The light beat down on it, pumping and sparkling like the sun.

The animal didn't mind this. It liked the heat. It felt an inner beauty in the light, in the energy that it gave off. It wanted to kiss the heat and caress the energy. It wanted the lamp so much that it hurt.

The animal was sweating profusely. The salty water dripped and flooded down and all around its body in overflowing gushes. It streamed on its legs and arms and face and cooled its hair. And the hair protected him, just as the sweat did. It cooled him down from the unrelenting heat that surrounded him. The hair was fuzzy and it felt like a bear's fur.

The animal growled, an almost inhuman guttural growl. It was a sound that no person could have made. It was unique and loud to the point where its ears nearly burst. It wanted to announce its coming, its coming into the fray. It saw the beast before it. It was waiting for him to come, to fall into the trap.

The animal looked at the beast. It smiled brightly but it wasn't a smile of amusement or over a funny joke, but a psychedelic one. A smile that hinted at lust and want and insanity.

"Rawr!"

Clang. The beast struck his hand out to block the animal's approach. It fell onto the ground with a loud thud and recoiled into a corner.

Klik-Kak. An energy something shot out from the beast's hand. It traveled in the air, humming loudly, and sizzled on the animal's shoulder. There was a short buzz followed by a quick hiss.

Slash, shikt, krripp.

The animal was alive now. Its claws connected with the beast's hide and started to tear him apart. Ripping and tearing at him with abominable fury. The vein on its forehead pulsed wildly and jumped with regular activity. And the blood in its body boiled and sloshed across its insides.

The door to the training facility that Madison Jeffries and Sasquatch were using opened and in walked Diamond Lil, still in her civvies, followed by their former enemy...

"Kamikaze," Madison said to his wife, "so you kidnapped him."

Lil smiled at him, then at Kamikaze. "Sort of. I've brought him here to see if he can become a member of the Flight."

Madison wasn't sure how the rest of Alpha Flight would like this recent turn of events.