Guardian shepherded the group out of the infirmary, with Smart Alec in tow. "We collapsed the remaining Plodex nodes after the Kang incursion, so this main hub in the Northwest Territories the only one of its kind left, and wet're using it to explore and adapt Plodex technology. It's also serving as Alpha Flight's primary staging ground, in addition to our government and public outreach offices in Ottawa. We recently located and successfully rescued over 3000 detainees of a mutant detainment camp called "Neverland" that, by all accounts, was run by a militant faction of the Weapon X program." Heather bit her lip. "Unfortunately, we've also recovered the remains of nearly 1000 other victims, and records indicate that other mutants were sanctioned by the program. That this happened on my native soil is..."
"-unbearable. We understand Guardian; this wasn't the work of your people or government, but it always feel like you could do more. That you failed somehow." Cap's tone was reassuring.
"Thank you, Captain." She continued as you proceeded down the hall. A pair of young children flew out of the hall.
"Look! It's Captain America!" The boy raced down. The girl turned into a cloud of vapor and raced past him to reach the Captain first.
"Are you here to bring us home?" The girl looked up at him.
Before he could respond, Foggy stepped in. "Actually, that's my job." He gave a big grin. "Am I right in thinking your the Taylor family?"
"You know who we are?"
"You couldn't have memorized all 3000 names." Gyrich was in disbelief.
"I didn't, but a few cases stood out - a whole family being abducted? That was a big deal." Foggy shot back. "And the Taylor's family members had reached out to my firm about a class-action suit against the government for failing to protect them from extraordinary rendition by an extremist organization."
"You're planning a class action against the US Government?" Gyrich had moved from surprise to anger.
"Depends on how the government is going to respond." Foggy's smile turned to a smirk. "Which is where I guess you come in; you're the government, after all."
The mother of the Taylor kids came down the hall. " Oh...Oh wow. I'm sorry the kids were just getting stir crazy and-"
Captain America defused the situation. "Not a problem, ma'am. In fact," He looked to Guardian. "If it's alright with our hosts, and Mr. Nelson, I'll stay with the kids here while he speaks with the parents, and catch up with you later?"
Guardian gave a nod of approval as the kids cheered.
Foggy looked to Gabby. "You're welcome to stay, but I will be doing a bit of work, and I know you can find that a bit boring, compared to what you do. No pressure if you want to finish the tour."
Leaving Captain America and Nelson behind, the group continued. The next hallway contained room with bigger, thicker doors, with greater security.
"So, this is Forum X, I take it?" Gyrich asked.
"Huh? Sounds like an X-men chat room." Atlas looked about. "Haven't seen security doors like that since the Vault was a thing."
Guardian responded. "Weapon X reached out to all members of previous versions of the project; this included several early prototype experiments. It appears that over the years, some of them did create a dark web forum as an improvised survivors' group."
Smart Alec chimed in with a sneer aimed at Wolverine. "You'll appreciate this - this was all the hard work that was needed to make you possible." He tapped on the door. "James Clemens? Had an early version of your memory implant process. Didn't quite take. Suffers from schizophrenia and has vague memories based on what appears to be a collection of old sitcoms." He then pointed to another. "Lisa Wong has adamantium dentures." Then to a final one. "and then there's Stephanie McNulty. According to the records we were able to salvage, she was an attempt to recreate your healing factor. Except-"
The door clanged and shook.
"-Gamma radiation may have been involved. Feel free to visit with any of them, if you like."
"That will be enough, Alec." Guardian's voice was cold and steely. "And now, we're in our main science lab."
The doors opened, and there were three people in the lab.
The first was a man who seemed to melded into a wall, connected to instruments and read outs. His eyes were wide open, yet seemingly unaware of his surroundings.
Wolverine recognized Madison Jeffries; a gifted engineer with an intuitive inventive ability much like Forge, able to invent nearly anything he could imagine. He was also a gifted technomancer - able to mold and meld with machines, which he clearly has already done with the wall.
The next was someone he knew only by reputation: the Alpha Flight member known as Windshear, able to make hard air constructs, augmented by a suit of armor that allowed him flight and strength.
And then there was James Macdonald Hudson, aka "Mac". Alpha Flight's founder, who had taken the names Vindicator or Guardian (though, he imagined given Heather's earlier announcement, that he was back to Vindicator for the moment). This was not the image of the man any of you had seen before. he wore a lab coat over his costume, with the helmet off. He had dark stubble to match the circles under his eyes and he looked thinner than you had ever seen him.
"We need to try. Madison is still in there. His mind-"
"I'm not sure what more we can do, James." Windshear responded. "He has some automatic functions - the fact that he's melded into the wall in the lab - but I'm not sure there's anything but time that will heal him."
Smart Alec cleared his throat. "Take it from the smartest man in the world," All the Alpha Flight members rolled their eyes. "His mind has been shattered, reprogrammed, and then shattered and reprogrammed again. I suggest lobotomy - at least he could be put to use that way."
James turned with a clenched fist. "Say that again and-" He finally notices the guest. "- Oh, I see we have guests. I am sorry." He looked at Logan. "...it's good to see you."
