Alpha Flight #30 Jan, 1986

‘Enter… Scramble!’

Alpha Flight moves into its new base, the former site of Gilded Lily’s mansion on Tamarind Island. The government has refurbished the interior of the mansion’s shell and laced it with cutting-edge tech. The team quickly comes into conflict with the MPs helping them move in when Jeffries’ power to reconfigure machinery leads to the government attempting to confiscate his new creations, but Heather reminds Gery Cody that they’re only accepting their role as Canada’s official heroes as long as they can maintain autonomy, so the government reps back off.

From the home of Doug Thompson and Snowbird, Michael Twoyoungmen sets off on a quest to reconnect with his heritage in the wake of losing his powers. Though he needs to take the journey alone, Doug and Narya plan to follow him to see to his safety. Later that night at Mansion Alpha, Heather goes through the house wondering how she can best serve as the team’s leader. In the workshop, she finds out Jeffries and Bochs have been working on restoring the Guardian suit used by the Delphine Courtney robot. She’s angry at first, but is soon convinced of the benefits if new safeguards can be installed. Afterwards, she goes to the computer, Alphanex, to follow up on something Madison mentioned about his brother, since she didn’t know he had one. She learns of Lionel Jeffries, a surgeon at Montreal General Hospital, and figures she can make herself useful by investigating potential new recruits for the program, and takes off for Montreal in the team’s jet alone.

Heather finds out that Lionel Jeffries isn’t working at the hospital, but is currently a patient locked in a special cell, covered head-to-toe in a containment suit, and forbidden human contact. Heather uses her clearance to get in and meet Lionel, thinking he can’t be a threat, but as soon as she gets close, Lionel lunges forward and touches the one uncovered part of his mask to her hand, giving him the chance he wanted to escape. The rest of Alpha Flight catches up an hour later, having noticed Heather’s excursion, finding the hospital already overrun by hideously mutated creatures that were once patients and staff. Madison explains that his brother could do to flesh what his own power could do to metal, but Lionel went mad in attempt to restore people from death with his flawed ability. The team finds Heather in Lionel’s cell, immobilized by the mutations Scramble inflicted. Puck stays to look after her while the others fight their way through the other mutates in search of Scramble. Madison eventually finds him in the morgue, still trying to resurrect the dead. Taking a big gamble, Madison grapples with his brother and ignores his own twisting flesh enough to turn Lionel’s hands onto himself. Scramble is able to sense his own mental illness in comparison to Madison’s brain and uses his power to cure himself and everyone else in the hospital in turn.