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MARVEL 2000 PRESENTS...
"THE ADVENT OF THE BRAINWASHER"
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| PREVIOUSLY IN ALPHA FLIGHT: The Brainwasher has placed hypno discs on the necks of the female members of Alpha Flight and they have attacked the rest of the team. Jenny, Solarman’s girlfriend, has been injured and the team has to regroup for a plan of attack. At the Alpha Complex, Alpha Flight witness the female members of their team’s defeat. Mr. Gentry sees Solarman supporting Jenny in his arms. Soon the two lovebirds collapse unto the meeting room’s floor. In
a concerned tone, Guardian says, “Oh My God! Solarman and Jenny.
What the hell happened to them?”
Jenny mumbles, “The Brainwasher. It was the Brainwasher.” Not
having a moment to utter another word, Jenny is carried into the infirmary.
For the next few hours, Shaman examines his wounded comrades. Interlude: 1991. Kayla Ballantine raps
her knuckles twice upon the door. No answer. She tries again. Still the same. Usually, Wendall—Mr.
Vaughn—opens the door on the first knock. She mulls the situation
over and decides to use her private key. Thoughts of a suicide
attempt or Wendall lying in a street all bloody and his head cracked open
rush through her mind quickly and without pause. She gives the door
an extra push as she forces it open. Nothing in the office.
But papers are cluttered over a desk, accompanied by an open window and
empty swivel chair. “Oh my God,”
she whispers. She swiftly turns to the entranceway, her nervousness growing.
“Ken, I think you better get over here, now!” Ken Tanaka, upon hearing
her cry out, gets up from his work table and rushes to the office. “What’s
the matter, Kayla?” “Look inside,”
she points to the messy desk. “That’s the matter. No boss
when he specifically said that he’d spend the rest of the day in
his office.” Ken starts to think this predicament over. The energy bolt
had hit Quasar quite hard. He barely had enough time to erect a proper
shield in time. He swipes the blood
that is dripping from his mouth and tries to stand up at the same time.
It is indeed a truly difficult task. His skin is covered
with bruises and soot and his blue cape is torn to shreds. His eyes narrow tightly
on the bald man approaching him. Two words form in
his mind, as the man walks forward with four yellow-garbed men clearly
his bodyguards. Brainwave and A.I.M. This fight has just gotten interesting for Quasar. 2008, Canada. Solarman soared over
the country of Canada, looking for the Brainwasher. He was hurt that his
girlfriend Jenny and the other females were brainwashed by this vile villain.
All he wanted now was revenge against his friends. A metallic device
as attached to his neck and he felt pain. It felt little more than a pin
prick but it caused him great pain. His eyes started to glow amber and
he flew ever faster in the direction of the Brainwasher. Filling up with rage,
he saw another super hero in his general direction. It was Quasar, formerly
of the Avengers roster. He left that team to be a solo hero. Solarman
wondered if Quasar’s Quantum Bands would be any match for Solarman’s
Circlet of Power. He felt a challenge coming on and all he wanted to do
now was to fight this American hero. “You will not
stop the Brainwasher,” Solarman said, stopping Quasar in mid-flight.
He clenched his fists; whether he was going to punch Quasar with brute
force or use his solar blasts to annihilate him was questionable at the
moment. “Surrender at once or face your doom.” “Look, mister,
I don’t know who you are or who this Brainwasher is, but I’m
looking for a man called Brainwave and the science cartel named Advanced
Idea Mechanics. So I suggest you get out of my way, or you will be the
one to face your doom.” Quasar threw up his hands, showing Solarman
that he meant him no harm. When his force-field
was down, Solarman gripped Quasar’s arms, setting his body on fire.
Quasar yelled in pain and fell to the ground, many stories below. His
quantum bands protected him from a deadly fall. Some innocent bystanders
patted him down with a mat so that he wouldn’t catch on fire. He
quickly shooed them away so that he could continue his fight. Solarman landed mere
feet from Quasar. He looked ready and hungry for battle. Whoever this
Solarman was, he was protecting the Brainwasher and preventing Quasar
from going on his mission. Solarman slugged Quasar
across the jaw and mouth, drawing blood. This Solarman was vicious. With
the glaze in his eyes and his mindless mantras, Quasar guessed that Solarman
was himself brainwashed by this Brainwasher, whom he probably was after. “Look, mister,
I don’t know what kind of hold this Brainwasher has on you, but
why don’t we stop fighting and go after him together,” Quasar
admonished. “I don’t
think so,” Solarman said with an evil grin. “The Brainwasher
wouldn’t like that. He wants you too, along with all the females
in Alpha Flight.” Quasar understood
the Brainwasher’s modus operandi. “So, you are Solarman, the
newest member of Alpha Flight. I think I may have seen the press conference
last year. * And the Brainwasher wants to
undermine the inner workings of the Flight.” (*See
Alpha Flight #63—Gregg.) Solarman kicked Quasar
in the stomach and hurled him against a building. In retaliation, Quasar
fired a blast of energy at Solarman’s body, melting the disc that
was attached to his neck. Solarman looked confused
and disoriented, not knowing where he was. “What’s going on,
Quasar? Last thing I remember I was flying over Canada and I felt something
on my neck.” He put his hand on his neck and saw the disc in the
palm of his hand. “This must be the work of the Brainwasher.” “I think we
better go to the Alpha Complex to see to the rest of the Flight,’
Quasar said. Soon, Solarman and Quasar soared to their destination. Meanwhile, at
the Alpha Complex, Alpha Flight didn’t know that there were hypno
discs attached to the necks of the females or that Solarman had been brainwashed
and attacked by Quasar. They had tied the brainwashed ones in wire to
tables and chairs, hoping to find a way to cure them of their ailment.
But Heather Hudson
had been wearing her Vindicator geothermal suit and had burned through
her bonds with her powers. In the blink of eye, she had freed the rest
of the women, including Jenny. They turned to the male members of Alpha
Flight, ready to attack them anew. Walter Langkowski,
already not trusted by the rest of the team and especially his wife Aurora,
had morphed into Sasquatch. His strength was more than a match for the
rest of the brainwashed female team. Aurora intercepted him from attacking
her girlfriends. She kicked him in the jaw. She drew blood and
he gripped where she had struck him. “I don’t
want to hurt you, darling,” Sasquatch warned her. “Don’t
make me hurt you, please.” He approached her, surrounded her with
his large furry body. “You couldn’t
even begin to hurt me," she snarled. Just at that moment,
Sasquatch noticed that there was something on her neck; a disc. He grabbed
her by her costume and removed the disc. With it in the palm of his hand,
he crushed it. ”Walter, what
happened? The last thing I remember I was going grocery shopping with
Heather…” “Shaman, now!!!”
Sasquatch yelled at the top of his lungs. Shaman knew exactly
what to do with his mystical prowess. He reached into his Shaman’s
pouch and released eldritch energy. This mystical energy ripped off the
hypno discs from the female’s necks, deactivating them immediately.
The female members
of Alpha Flight looked rightfully confused. But they all remembered that
the Brainwasher was behind all their recent troubles. Quasar ‘phased’
both he and Solarman through a closed window. Solarman was glad to see
Jenny all healed up until now. They embraced as if they hadn’t seen
each other for years. Guardian approached
Quasar. “How did you get mixed up in all this, mister?” “That’s
simple,” Quasar explained. “This ‘Brainwasher’
person that your team is after seems to have brainwashed Solarman and
he attacked me. I realized that science, not supernatural, means were
the root of this evil, so I deactivated his hypno disc. It seems that
you had similar problems with your female members. Since I’m not
a member of the Avengers anymore, I would like to help you out.” “If you’re
free for the moment, I think I can speak for the rest of the team that
we would love to have you spend time with us. For as long as you can.” “I think I will
but first, we have to stop the Brainwasher. I would like to take Solarman
with me, along with you, Guardian. With our energy powers, we have the
ability to stop the Brainwasher and his hypno discs.” Solarman and Guardian both shouted, “Agreed!” “I am picking
up the heat signatures of his discs,” Quasar reported, as he, Solarman,
and Guardian soared above a run-down apartment complex in Calgary. Quasar
made a left arc and headed straight for the third floor entrance. “That must be
where the Brainwasher is,” Guardian said also. He upped his electromagnetic
field so that he could be well protected upon impact. He blasted the window
and crashed through the kindling. Solarman absorbed
the powers of the sun and entered too. Quasar was the last
to make his presence known, realizing that they could have just walked
in but that wouldn’t have been dramatic enough. The Brainwasher hadn’t
his mask on so that all three of them could see his real identity. Solarman
and Guardian knew the man behind the mask to be Albert Menken, formerly
Mr. Satan. Guardian deduced that he regained his powers since their last
encounter* and donned a new guise. (*
See M2K’s Alpha Flight #67-68—Gregg.) “So this is
how you put the girls under your little spell,” Guardian remarked,
as he saw a digital camera with mesmerizing strobe effects on the light
lens. “All you had to do was point this little doohickey at them
and they were completely brainwashed.” “And he used
his hypno discs on them to ensure their enslavement,” Solarman said.
“He used one on me to stop Quasar from finding out the truth behind
his crimes.” ”But I was smart
enough to discover a potentially novice hero could never mistake me for
an enemy,” Quasar commented, as he shot some quantum band energy
at the form of the Brainwasher. This encased him in a cage of pure force. “Now, what do
we do with him?” Solarman asked. “We put him
in a Canadian prison, alongside the other rejects. He can rot in there
for twenty some odd years,” Guardian admonished. “So, Quasar,
have you ever thought of joining the ranks of Alpha Flight?” Quasar smiled, and
the three of them flew off toward the Alpha Complex, carrying the Brainwasher
in tow.
NEXT ISSUE: The Metal Master returns to take over Canada. Be there!    |
