Stay Alive

• Writer - Frank Tieri
• Penciler - Sean Chen
• Inker - Norm Rapmund
• Lettering - Richard Starkings
• Lettering - Comicraft
• Lettering - Saida Temofonte
• Ass't Editor - Mike Raicht
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  With Wolverine firmly in his grasp, Mauvais / Wendigo (Mauvais had taken Wendigo's powers from the last issue after he had ingested Wendigo's heart) looks behind him to see that the Canadian superhero group Alpha Flight, lead by Guardian, had arrived on the scene. Alpha Flight goes on the offense, as Wendigo abandons Wolverine to concentrate his attention on the attacking team. As the majority of the members of Alpha Flight do battle with Wendigo, Wolverine (who had been thrown by Wendigo towards Alpha Flight, only to be caught by Puck and tended to by Shaman) asks Shaman how Alpha Flight had known to go to this particular location where they were doing battle. Shaman tells Logan that Snowbird had lost contact with her people, and had told them to come to this location where the connection between her world and this world was the strongest. Wolverine deduces that Mauvais' power feeds the mystical column that was trapping the Gods of the Great White North and allowing Mauvais to have the opportunity to capture Canada as his own, and that their effort should be concentrated on getting rid of the column to free the Gods.

  Meanwhile, the rest of the Alpha Flight team had their hands full battling Mauvais. Mauvais causes Aurora's alternative split personality, Jeanne-Marie, to take control of her body. Sasquatch tends to her as Snowbird transforms into Wendigo (for her powers enables her to change to any creature native to Canada) to do battle with Mauvais. Mauvais suddenly notices that Shaman and Wolverine were attempting to destroy his column with a mystical weed that Shaman was using to try to squeeze and destroy the column, only to have Mauvais destroy the column with a mystical blast. Snowbird, now even weaker due to the weakening of the connection between her and her people, transforms back into her human form. Mauvais raises the dead by bringing back all the past Wendigo creatures back to life to do battle against Alpha Flight while he strengthens the mystical column.

  In the meantime, Wolverine manages to break free to keep Mauvais preoccupied as Guardian, Snowbird, and Shaman joins forces to unleash their power towards the column in an attempt to destroy it while Sasquatch, Puck, and Jeanne-Marie (Aurora) battled with the undead beasts. Having to keep the resurrected beasts intact, while trying to reinforce the mystical column and battling Wolverine at the same time taxes Mauvais' powers to the limit, as he loses hold of the undead beasts' physical form. With them gone, the entire Alpha Flight squad concentrates their full effort on destroying the column. Sasquatch launches Wolverine towards the column with a "fastball special". At the instant Logan's claws hit the column, the column collapses and the mystical energy from it pours back into Mauvais, using it to neutralize Alpha Flight and Wolverine. However, with the column now gone, the Gods of the Great White North are freed, and they punish Mauvais by opening up a gateway to another world to banish Mauvais into. Mauvais grabs onto the doorway, refusing to go in and gnawing on his own arm to boost his own powers. Wolverine uses his claws in an attempt to break Mauvais' grip on the doorway so that he would be sucked in. In a last-ditch attempt, Mauvais grabs Wolverine to drag Wolverine in with him. Mauvais lets go at the last minute however, as using the last of his powers, he sees a vision of Wolverine's future, one which according to Mauvais: "...for the dark path your [Logan] life is about to take is far worse than any place I [Mauvais] can take you!" Mauvais finds himself in another world inhabited by beings he nervously call "The Great Beasts", whom tower over him.

  Meanwhile, back to Canada where the Gods of the Great White North thanks the superheroes and departs on their way, knowing that "...Canada shall be in safe hands indeed ... as long as heroes such as thou [Wolverine & Alpha Flight] are there to protect it". As they disappear, Wolverine asks Shaman, since he was well-versed in the mystical arts, whether he had any idea as to what Mauvais was talking about about his future. Shaman has no idea, for seeing the future was not his strong point. Guardian tells Logan that it might have been a last-ditch attempt by Mauvais to scare Logan before he disappeared.