THE FAMILY THAT PREYS

Part V: Similar Principles

By Stuart Fairchild

Montreal, Quebec

Sasquatch’s words stuck at the tip of his tongue, not knowing what to say to the older looking James Hudson which stood before him. The awe of the situation did not leave as his view panned to see more versions of James Hudson across the room.

There was the older version, somewhere in his seventies who wore a white beard with hair to match, who had introduced them as the ‘Hudsons.’ To his right sat another version of James Hudson, balding and much more over weight then he had ever imagined James to become. Behind that version was a completely bald James with glasses which reflected the monitor in which he was analyzing. Two other versions stood next to the real James Hudson, one no older the thirteen while the other had incoming grays around his ears. They presented no immediate threat yet Sasquatch remained speechless.

“It is going to be okay, Walter,” the older James stated. “You are among friends.”

“James?” Sasquatch said loudly, hoping for an answer to the situation. “And I mean the one I was with before I ended up in this tunnel.”

“I know nothing, Walt,” Guardian answered. “I awoke minutes before you did.”

“Hudson Prime is correct, Walter. He awoke only minutes before you did, though not as excited as you seem to be,” the older James said. “Maybe an explanation of what we are would help your uneasiness.”

“That might help.”

“Very well,” nodded the older James. “I am referred to as Hudson-5. As I said before, we are the Hudson, clones of the original James Hudson which accompanied you on your visit with Northstar. Department H created us in a black ops project which originated when Wolverine went rampant and gutted Hudson Prime during a training mission way before you were introduced to the program.”

Sasquatch looked at Guardian searching for any validity in the story presented. Guardian simply nodded, confirming the story had merit.

“There were twenty of us then, each working on separate projects which was overseen by General Clarke.”

“How come I knew you were going to say that name?” Sasquatch uttered.

All the Hudsons merely nodded in agreement at the statement as Guardian posed a question.

“Did you know what the projects were?”

“Sadly, no,” the older James replied. “We were kept isolated on most projects. Each Hudson was given a specific task. Some projects were broken down into segments which we knew was just part of a bigger project.”

“I’m assuming that bigger project is the reason you came looking for us?” Guardian asked.

“That it is. When we heard that the Hudson files were stolen, it got us concerned. All of our work was on that file. We were all assigned to the Spear of Destiny Project. It produced the Lance of Longinus, an orbital weapon satellite which generates an immense amount of energy which disperses in a super heated atmosphere, only for the energy to reappear at the designated location.”

“Wait…that means…”

“That the Lance can fire its energy anywhere regardless to its location and the target’s.”

“How did Department H run this past SHIELD and SWORD?” A perplexed Sasquatch wondered loudly.

“They didn’t. For as much as we know, they don’t even know it exists. The satellite remains cloaked much on the same principles the Guardian suit uses to ‘teleport’ when it syncs up with Earth’s rotation. It remains in that state until firing codes are initiated.”

“You guys have these codes?” Guardian asked.

“No,” Hudson 5 answered. “You do.”

“So you got us because someone is looking to get those codes out of Mac’s head?” Sasquatch asked.

“His name is Romulus,” Hudson 5 said with a shudder.

“Never heard of him,” Sasquatch replied, stroking his chin in thought.

“He prefers it that way,” the overweight James interjected. “Romulus is a person that lives in the shadows. When we were done with our projects, the rest of us were hunted down and killed. We are the last remaining clones left alive. Romulus knows that and he won’t stop his hunt until he gets those codes.”

“Then let’s get Alpha Flight involved,” Guardian suggested.

“Romulus receives all communication going into Department H. That is why we had to be so frontal in our approach. We cannot be discovered.”

“Then Sasquatch can wait here and watch you guys as I get the rest of the team,” suggested Guardian, not wanting to remain idle.

“That would be a preferred scenario,” Hudson 5 agreed until the flashing lights on the monitor garnered his attention, causing his face to flush from worry as the others rushed from their positions.

“What’s happening?” Sasquatch asked.

“He has found us,” Hudson 5 responded, grabbing Sasquatch from his human arm and guiding him down the corridor as Guardian followed. “17, wipe the drives clean. We cannot let him know we were here.”

“Who is here?” Guardian asked as he paced the worried Hudsons. “Romulus?”

“No,” Hudson 5 replied frantically. “It’s his watchdog. Daken.”

“What can he do?” inquired Sasquatch. “Can we take him?”

“You may but I don’t want to take the chance of losing,” the younger James answered as he raced along. “He has the same abilities of his father though.”

“Who is?” Guardian asked.

“Wolverine.”

Thunder Bay, Ontario

“You really have to keep up.”

“Keep up,” Zuzha Yu scoffed as she landed a triple flip, half pike over some incoming weapon fire. “I’m watching your butt.”

“I can take care of myself. Always have. Always will.”

“This isn’t always about you, Radius. Believe me, I wish I wasn’t paired with your sorry crying ass, but I was. I can deal with that for now. Until then, we are a team, eh.”

“As long as I lead and you listen we will be fine.”

“You lead?” Zuzha Yu responded. “That would be a cold day in….Radius, watch out.”

Zuzha Yu reacted quickly, launching herself into Radius as both the two Beta Flight members tumbled into the ground.

“I said I can handle myself,” Radius barked as his back rested on the dirt while Zuzha Yu remained on top of him.

“You egotistical, self-centered buffoon. I was getting you away from enemy fire.”

“Ever-present personal force field, baby,” Radius smirked, tapping the invisible protection surrounding his body. “I think you just wanted to get close to me. Good luck with that one.”

“I’m going to…”

“End simulation,” Vindicator’s voice came. With the sun behind her, she cast a huge shadow, engulfing the lying duo. “Problems?”

“Yeah,” Radius said. “Zuzha must have forgotten about my force field.”

“Did you, Zuzha?” Vindicator asked, contemplating their current predicament.

“I did not,” she replied angrily. “Mr. Untouchable didn’t see an oncoming blast as he blabbered his superiority to me. I reacted to get us both out of the way.”

“It wouldn’t have hurt, Zuzha. Like I said before, force field,” Radius replied, slowing the pronunciation of his ability.

“What happens if it did, Radius?” Vindicator asked simply.

“What?”

“What happens if it did hurt?” Vindicator repeated. “I know for a fact that your force field didn’t work fully against the Brass Bishop.”

“That was magic,” shouted Radius.

“Who said the blast that was fired at you wasn’t mystical?”

“It was a simulation with the training robots firing at us,” continued Radius. “I knew the situation. It wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“When in battle, the bad guys aren’t following any rules,” Vindicator advised. “The purpose of this drill is to breed familiarity to each trainee. Even then, you have to watch out for the person you dive into battle with.”

“So you are saying I screwed up?” Radius asked.

“No,” Vindicator replied. “What I am saying is that you have to be aware of everything, regardless of circumstances. That goes for everyone. Dust off and head back to the Ranch. We will continue from there.”

Montreal, Quebec

As the sound of splashing puddles guided their departure through the dark tunnels of Montreal, Guardian and Sasquatch knew there was more information that they needed to know from the Hudson. More importantly, the sudden revelation that their former colleague, Wolverine, had a son.

“Mac, did you know Logan had a son?” huffed Sasquatch.

“I was as surprised as you were. Tell me 5, when where you going to tell us this piece of information?”

“I would have eventually gotten to it. Believe me, there are many other things you need to know, Hudson Prime. If it eases you, we were all surprised to learn that piece of information regarding Logan.”

“How did you find out?” Guardian asked, pressing for more information.

“We knew we had to find out who was killing the other Hudson. One of our own sacrificed himself to get a sample we used to test.”

“So you did your own version of Maury Povich and found out Logan was the father,” implied Sasquatch.

“The test just confirmed suspicions, Walter. The Hudson have complete access to all memory concerning Hudson Prime prior to our cloning. We have the same feelings regarding our past. We consider Wolverine as close a friend as Hudson Prime does. The moment we saw Daken when we started running for our lives, the whispers became louder and louder. The test just confirmed what we feared.”

“Does he know?” Guardian asked.

“Highly unlikely,” the young Hudson 13 replied. “His state is much like when we…sorry…you first met Wolverine in the Northwest Territories.”

“That’s not very comforting,” Guardian said.

“Refresh my memory, Mac,” requested Sasquatch.

“Heather shot him in the back.”

“With a shotgun,” Hudson 13 continued.

“We can continue this trip down memory lane later,” Hudson 17 shouted. “Right now, we have to make it down three more corridors just to be safe.”

The sudden burst of dust and debris from the large corridor slowed their pace until the Hudson’s eyes widened in fear as figures appeared from the shattered fragments which was a wall. A tall burly figure appeared first which Guardian and Sasquatch instantly recognized as Taurus from the Zodiac. Other members from the constellation-themed group appeared along with another person that they did not recognize.

“Is that Daken?” Guardian whispered to the Hudson as he stared at the man with the mohawk.

The look of horror appeared on Hudson 5’s face once he too recognized the man with the Zodiac.

“Yes.”

The Zodiac remained still until Libra moved from the rear, hoisting her sword toward the Hudson with a strange glow as the blindfolded Zodiac member initiated the attack.

“Balance.”

The Zodiac leapt into action as Daken calmly commanded their action. “Take the members of Alpha Flight.”

“That doesn’t sound too good,” Sasquatch said as the linebacker-sized scientist transformed into the massive orange-furred creature of his namesake, grabbing Leo and slamming him into the chest of Taurus. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can. Try to get out of here.”

The other Hudsons waited, looking to see what to see what Guardian would do. Not wanting to leave his friend, Guardian hesitated, then started to scatter the other way with the other Hudsons as he knew he couldn’t allow Romulus access to the Lance of Longinus.

Guardian bit his lip, still hating his decision but he knew he had to get more information from the Hudson. He had learned never to underestimate Sasquatch but even against his enormous strength, the Zodiac had the advantage in numbers. Sagittarius’ arrow piercing the back of Hudson 9 signaled that their numbers had caught whatever distance Sasquatch allowed them.

“I can easily pick off each one of them one by one if you want, Hudson,” Sagittarius snickered as his hand readied another arrow at the group.

“You’re a monster,” Guardian replied as he held the quivering Hudson 9 in his arms. “Why doesn’t the Zodiac find better things to do then bully?”

Aries laughed as the ram-like member crept slowly next to his centaur colleague. “Why don’t you play nicely and come with us. We left your friend still alive back in the tunnel. How about everyone stays that way?”

A snarl could be seen on Guardian’s face yet he knew he had no other options. He had no access to his control helmet that powered his Guardian suit. He was just a normal Hudson in front of the might of the Zodiac. Guardian’s head fell, ashamed of surrendering, but he could think of no other options as he and the other Hudson were herded back where Sasquatch remained.

“Good work my Zodiac. I see you have captured what we have come for,” Scorpio, leader of the Zodiac praised, his smile as bright as the Zodiac key which he grasped in his hand. “Let us go.”

Random sparks of light filled the tunnels as each member began to teleport away. With the unconscious Sasquatch departing with the other Zodiac, Scorpio raised his Zodiac key toward the Hudsons as Sagittarius held on firm grasp upon Guardian.

“What are you doing?” Guardian shouted as the Zodiac Key’s energy sparkled brilliantly.

“We are taking Sasquatch for our own pleasure but the others have no use to us. It’s time to lighten the load,” Scorpio said as he unleashed a surge of energy into the Hudson, dispersing the group into scattered bodies along the ground.

“Damn you,” Guardian roared, the strength of Sagittarius holding back the Alphan from leaping at Scorpio’s neck as they too began to teleport away. “DAMN YOU!”

Thunder Bay, Ontario

“You guys mess up too?” Zuzha Yu asked.

“Totally,” grunted a sore Flex, his hand rubbing a tender shoulder. “This is a lot harder then I expected.”

“I figured you would screw up too,” murmured Radius as he filed into the rest of the group. “It was just a matter of time.”

“From the conversation I remember, we didn’t do any better,” Zuzha Yu said.

“That’s because I got paired with you,” snickered Radius.

“How about I pair you with my fist,” Zuzha Yu replied.

“Anytime you want to try, Zuzha.”

“I hope everyone had an eventful afternoon,” interrupted Vindicator as she approached the group. “It’s going to get a lot harder. I told you that.”

Vindicator’s vague nature of the tier training was interrupted by the sudden push of a communication dish from Manbot’s giant red hull into the open.

WCH-CHK “Incoming transferred message to Heather Hudson.” CHK “Subject urgent.” CHK

“Who is it, Manbot? “ Vindicator asked, wondering who would direct a message using her real name.

WCH-CHK “Message from Ramsey McNeil.” CHK

“My father? Show it, Manbot.”

WCH-CHK “ Heather. Hello, dear. I hate to bother you but we got a call and I thought it would be best to contact you. It was James. He said help him and that he is under Montreal.” CHK

“Under Montreal?” questioned a concerned Vindicator.

WCH-CHK “James Hudson’s last scheduled appointment was in Montreal with Alphan Sasquatch and fellow member Northstar.” CHK “All other information is unknown.” CHK

Vindicator could feel her heart pound as she feared the worst for her husband’s welfare. Sasquatch and Northstar were well equipped to handle many situations but for her dad to call directly to her parents was odd. Vindicator looked at the trainees, trying to remain calm.

“Manbot, contact Gentry and show him that call. That should mobilize Alpha Flight to Montreal. I will meet them there,” Vindicator ordered.

“Are we coming too?” asked Flex.

“No. You guys are to remain here until Department H sends someone else to watch over you. Hopefully its nothing but I have to go.”

Northwest Territories

Guardian remained on his knees, bound behind his back at the wrist, still cursing the demise of the Hudson while he remained in his darken cell. He had no clue where they were. No idea where Sasquatch was being kept. All he thought of was the maniac leadership behind all of the events.

Romulus.

A hiss of something could be heard as a thud followed. Lights along the perimeter of the room systematically came to life. Guardian squinted as the room began to come into focus, realizing that the source of light as odd. Giant bugs, the size of microwaves, emitted a familiar glow under their hard shelled exterior, revealing the light as their wings expanded in size. It was one of the weirdest things he had ever seen and as the lights continued to illuminate the room, an unconscious Sasquatch in his human form revealed himself as the source of the thud.

“Welcome back, James Hudson,” a voice boomed.

Guardian wondered what the welcoming meant as he straightened his back, looking for the source. “Who are you? Are you Romulus? Answer me!”

A strong laugh replied as the material which Guardian assumed were the bars of his cell slowly dispersed downward, revealing beetle like creatures overlapping themselves toward his position as their hard shells formed a pebble like path for the figure that finally appeared.

“We know each other quite well, James Hudson,” Romulus uttered as he strolled his way toward Guardian.

“I have never seen you or this place.”

“That actually isn’t quite true, James,” Romulus chuckled, gripping the iron mask and helmet which masked his appearance for so long, revealing the face of a man with black hair, randomly accented with white streaks.

Daken followed, both his hands cupping an object of a red squid like creature which was placed in front of the kneeling Guardian as Daken silently took a position behind him.

“You have something I want, James,” Romulus said coldly. “Unfortunately, you can’t just tell me what I need to know.”

Daken quickly clutched the back of Guardian’s shirt, slowly guiding the resisting Guardian toward the opening squid creature.

“Daken, stop this,” Guardian pleaded. “Your father would not have wanted you like this. Trust me. I know this.”

Guardian’s cries elicited no response from Daken as he continued to push Guardian into the squid, until its tentacles wrapped itself around his face, releasing an unknown enzyme into Guardian.

Guardian began to gag, his attempts to breathe becoming harder by the second. He could feel his face losing muscle control as his mouth began to twitch, then numb by the effects. The room began to spin as his sight began to distort until he fainted to the floor with the color of his eyes showing an empty whiteness to its once brown tone.

“Take them away,” Romulus commanded. “He will remember soon enough.”

Montreal, Quebec

“This is quite a mess Walt and Jim left,” Madison Jeffries stated as he looked at the many Epsilon guards rummage through the debris that laced the tunnel.

“I doubt it was made by them,” Puck concluded as he too examined the wreckage. “The surfaces that were struck by energy weapons are too erratic and small to be coming from Mac. If they were here, they didn’t get the best of this ordeal, eh.”

“As much as I hate to hear that James and Walter are missing, this is really altering my schedule for today,” Northstar said with an annoyed posture showing his displeasure for attending the investigation.

“I have known you for a long time, Jean-Paul,” Puck replied. “But what comes out of the mouth of yours still amazes me to this day.”

“I have a lot of things to attend to,” Northstar hissed.

“Then attend to them,” an annoyed voice of Vindicator said as she arrived at the scene. “I don’t have time to fuel your ego. My husband is missing.”

“I meant no…”

“I meant want I said, Jean-Paul,” snapped Vindicator. “Either help or get out of the way.”

“Madison, Eugene…Heather,” Diamond Lil’s voice changing as she saw Vindicator. She too was married to an Alphan as she only could wonder what Vindicator was going through emotionally. “We found something.”

“What is it?”

“You will have to see this for yourself,” Diamond Lil suggested.

Diamond Lil led the others to the location she was referring to. It had many Epsilons hovering over something, each parting a path as the Alphans made their way to inspect their discovery.

“It’s…” Vindicator’s words choked as she saw a half dying, older version of her husband lying in front of her. Vindicator had no doubt it was James Hudson, though he was a lot older then the man she knew, she still could see the resemblance.

“Heather…” Hudson 5 coughed in pain. “It is so good to see you for myself. I could never forget your parent’s number.”

“James?” She asked moving closer to the man as her hand grasped his. “What happened to you?”

“I am James Hudson, but not the one you currently know,” he explained as streams of blood raced from his mouth, his awareness wandering. “The real James needs your help. Romulus has found him…cough…you must rescue him and Walter.”

“Who is Romulus?” Vindicator demanded, knowing he did not have that much time left.

Hudson 5’s grip tightened as his chest tightened with a roar of blood filling his lungs. “He is near…cough, cough…where we had our honeymoon…Hurry.”

“We will,” Vindicator stated as she could notice his eyes slipping into death.

“Heather…we have always loved you,” Hudson 5 stated as his strength in his grip left him, leaving only a dead body in Vindicator’s arms.

“Michael,” Vindicator called out, searching for Shaman as she cradled the dead Hudson 5. “We need you to get us to the Northwest Territories.”

Northwest Territories

It was a blizzard.

The snow riding the frigid arctic winds could still be remembered. In the falling white blanket of snow, a figure appeared, cold and lost but determined to find help. He dropped to his knees, his strength leaving him as his torso and face fell too, thinking he saw something in coming in the blizzard. The cold was getting to him.

Or was it.

“James Hudson,” a familiar voice called out in a whisper. “We have come to get you.”

Guardian’s eyes fluttered, the memory of a blizzard fading as his eyes focused on a blonde man, squatting on all fours in purple and black as he peered into his cell.

“Wild Child?”

A quick wink was shot at Guardian as Wild Child signaled for someone else. A cloaked woman with red hair quickly responded, stripping off her hood to show sparks of energy from her eyes as horns grew from her head. She reached out silently, sparking the prison bars made of beetles into flame leaving burnt husks on the floor.

“Ananym, you okay?” Another figure asked as she stumbled into his white and black costume.

“I am fine, Flashback,” Witchfire responded. “Let us get Hudson out of here and leave.”

Flashback nodded as two copies of him appeared in similar costume yet with an inverted color sequence, slowly flinging Guardian’s arms around their heads as they helped him to his feet.

“When did Alpha Flight get here?” Guardian asked.

“They didn’t,” Wild Child answered. “Omega Flight did.”