File:Alpha Flight Vol 2 12 001.jpg

Description
Alpha Flight arrive back from the Microverse to find Department H under attack from the Zodiac. Almost immediately, Murmur is seriously injured, while Guardian and Puck squabble over a plan of action. Alpha Flight discover Dr. Haddock, seriously injured, and learn that the Zodiac are after something in her lab. Alpha Flight make a hasty retreat as they are far too over powered. Eventually they split up, with Heather taking the wounded Murmur and Haddock to the med-labs, Manbot taking Radius and Flex to the Monitor Bay, and Guardian and Puck going to round the Zodiac up into a place more manageable. Sasquatch however is left on his own to fight the Zodiac. Manbot takes Flex and Radius to the mysterious Floor 13, only Radius wants to go and fight, so he runs off on his own. Heather finds some medics and drops her injured off, with Murmur making a surprise “thank you”. From the Monitor Bay, Flex is able to see all around Department H and project a holographic image of himself to his teammates, alerting them to any Zodiac that are nearby. Heather comes across Sunfire, relieved as they need more manpower. Radius finds his Epsilon friends and discovers that they are all running from a deadly bacteria. Three of the Zodiac engage Radius in combat before unleashing the bacteria upon him. Radius is about to be engulfed by it when Sasquatch comes to his rescue, lifting him high above the ooze, but losing his own life, all of which is witness by Flex. Mac and Judd corral six of the Zodiac into Combat Centrale, which will keep them occupied for some time. Heather and Sunfire come across the skeletal remains of Sasquatch, and Heather briefly mourns the loss of the being she believes to be Walter Langkowski, until they are alerted to Radius’ plight. He is keeping back the bacteria with his force field, protecting himself and the Epsilons. Heather and Sunfire begin to burn the bacteria when General Clarke rushes past them in a radiation suit, and Heather flies off to follow him. In combat Centrale, Judd and Guardian unmask one of the Gemini twins, revealing that it is their missing teammate Madison Jeffries. Jeffries is obviously brainwashed, and uses his mutant powers to make an opening in Combat Centrale so that their teleportation signals will work. Flex explains to Manbot what the device is that the Zodiac are stealing, which Manbot identifies as a serious threat, and brings Flex into a compartment on his form. Guardian and Puck make their way to the Hangar Bay where the Zodiac are, and on the way run into Radius and Sunfire, who have destroyed the bacteria. Heather meanwhile catches up with General Clarke, who is in the reactor core. He reveals that it has to be shut down, for if it reaches critical mass it will kill everyone in Ottawa. The unlikely duo team up to try and cool the reactor, but in the process Clarke is burned alive. In the Hangar Bay, Scorpio discovers that Alpha Flight have learned of Jeffries, while they load their precious cargo onto their ship - until Guardian and his team arrive. Manbot suddenly shows up and releases Flex from his compartment, who knocks open the box the Zodiac were stealing, which reveals the dangerous device Manbot was going on about - the Nth Projector. Scorpio reveals that they plan to use it to create a rift in space. In the reactor core, Heather manages to use her battle suit to cool the core down, which works, however her battle suit begins to over load. The Zodiac inform the male members of Alpha Flight that their reactor core is going to explode, and that they cannot stop that from happening and prevent their escape at the same time. Mac and Judd realize that Heather is there already, and rush to the core, enabling the Zodiac to escape with Jeffries and the Nth Projector. In the core, Heather’s battle suit is about to explode, and Guardian enters the room as it does - but in the nick of time, Heather prevents her own destruction after saving all of Canada. In that moment, Heather and Mac are reunited, and Canada is safe once more. Elsewhere though, Northstar arrives at the old school his sister Aurora grew up at and later taught at. He wonders why he is there, when an old Nun informs him that it caught on fire, killing everyone. To Jean-Paul’s surprise though, he discovers a very unstable Aurora in a classroom, thinking she is still teaching her students.