Kitimat, British Columbia

Heather MacNeil had been holding her hands in front of the heater for the best part of ten minutes and they were no closer to being warm. Beside her James Hudson was bristling in the driver’s seat. His face was as white as a sheet and the blankness of his expression worried her. Rather than break the silence, MacNeil slid one of her icy cold hands around Hudson’s as he reached to shift gears. Usually it elicited a smile from him, but this time he didn’t so much as acknowledge the gesture. Finally the silence became too heavy for Heather to bear anymore.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Hudson murmured without so much as looking in her direction.

“It’s obviously not nothing, James,” Heather sighed. “You’ve hardly said a word all evening.”

Both MacNeil and Hudson worked for the Can-Am Corporation. Three years ago, Heather had been secretary to Truett Hudson, James’ half-brother, but she had given that up to follow James to Kitimat because she believed in him – but most of all because she loved him. It had been hard living for both of them, but the research James was doing had the potential to change everything.

Perhaps sensing that he’d been too brusque, Hudson cleared his throat quietly, and looked away from the snowy road for a second.

“They gave to grant to Langkowski.”

Heather’s hand slid back around Hudson’s and she gave it a sympathetic squeeze. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

“I’ve got to break the news to Jaxon in the morning.”

Jerome Jaxon was Can-Am’s chief executive. He’d humoured Hudson’s little venture in Kitimat out of sympathy more than anything else. James had needed an escape when Truett passed away and the Guardian project had provided him with it – but it was leaking money like a sieve, and having missed out on a grant for three years running now, there was no way that Jaxon would support it anymore.

“God, Langkowski’s such a hack,” Heather sighed. “I can’t believe it. There must be some other way? What about next year?”

The grimace that appeared on Hudson’s face as the words left her mouth all but confirmed the impossibility of their being some way out for the pair of them.

“You don’t get it. We’re screwed, Heather, without that money we’re not going to make it through the winter, let alone to next year. Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve worked for these past three years, it’s all been for nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

Suddenly MacNeil perked up as if struck by a lightning bolt.

“You still have that money that Truett left behind in his w-”

James shook his head grimly.

“We might as well pack up and head back to Toronto because the Guardian project is officially dead in the water as of this afternoon."

A deflated rattle left Heather’s lungs and she glanced out of the window at the unpressed snow reaching out into the darkness. Hudson’s icy hand switched on the radio. He flicked past a news station, then past another playing metal music, until he settled upon something more to his liking. Kenny Rodgers echoed around the front of the truck as they crept through the cold towards the ranch the pair called home.


For a second, Hudson’s eyes began to close with tiredness but he jolted away just in time to see a sudden flash of movement appear in his headlights. His foot crashed down on the breaks and the truck skidded along the icy road, very nearly flipping onto its side at one point, before coming to a screeching halt.

Heather’s eyes were fixed on him in desperate confusion. “What the hell, James?”

“There was something in the road.”

Hudson could tell from the look on MacNeil’s face that she didn’t believe him. He let his hands, now wet with sweat, slip free from the wheel and cut the engine. Now the truck had come to a halt it was clear that there was a carcass in the road in front of them, but it wasn’t the carcass that concerned James. It was what was stood over it.

“It almost looked like a person … but that doesn’t make any sense,” Hudson murmured with shock. “All the way out here in this cold? They’d be dead in minutes. It doesn’t make any sense.”

James tried his best to reconcile what he’d seen with what he knew about the Tundra. Whatever he’d seen didn’t look anything like any animal he’d seen before, but there was no way it could have been a man. He tugged the keys out of the ignition and slipped them into his coat pocket. As he reached for the driver’s side door he felt Heather’s hand clamped tightly around his bicep.

“I think we should call the Mounties.”

“No,” James said with a shake of his head. “It’s fine, I’m going to go out and check.”

Hudson pulled his arm free and stepped out into the road. He slammed the door shut behind him, smiling unconvincingly to Heather through the frosted glass, and slowly made his way towards the carcass. It was a deer – or at least what was left of one. He knelt beside it and pressed his hands against it. It was still warm to the touch. There were no teeth marks, only long, straight gashes along its stomach and neck.

“Whatever that was, it's long gone,” James muttered. “Christ, it really went to town on this poor thing. It’s all torn up. There are claw marks here I’ve never seen before.”

Hudson tried once more to parse the images that had flickered through his brain in the moments before he’d slammed down the brakes. He was still struggling to make sense of it as he set the deer’s head down on the road and rose to his feet. The least he could do was move the carcass out of the road, he thought, as he took one last look down at the savaged animal.

“James,” Heather called out nervously from the truck.

“What’s wrong?”

There was a desperation in her voice this time. “Get back in the truck, James.”

Hudson nodded. “I’m coming, I’m just going to make sure this thing’s out of the road. It’s dangerous enough out here witho-”

Without warning, James found himself on his back with the taste of blood in his mouth. His ears were ringing and there was a dull pain in his chest. In the distance he could hear Heather screaming and managed to lift his head enough to make sure he hadn’t been shot. Standing over him was a hairy brute of a man with blood caked around his mouth. There was a crazed look in his eye that made Hudson’s blood run cold.


“Whoa, take it easy there bud,” James spluttered feebly as he tried to push himself onto his elbows. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

A guttural growl left the man’s chest as Hudson tried to climb to his feet slowly and James froze. He met the feral man’s gaze but something told him not to hold it. Instead he lowered it, glancing towards the hairy, torn feet that looked as if they were frozen through. After a few seconds, James carefully tried to climb to his feet again, slower this time, taking care to step back away from the man and to seem as small and unthreatening as possible.

“Alright, I get it. The deer’s yours. Look, here, I’m moving away from it. You see? Take it. I’m going to just back away slowly and head back to my truck, you hear me? Nobody needs to get hurt here.”

The growling quieted as James retreated and he was sure that the truck was only a few metres behind him. He was almost counting the inches as he moved. He felt the hood of the truck hit him in the back and moved to turn around but as he did so made the mistake of making eye contact with the wildman one last time. James heard the roar and saw a glint of metal as the beast seemed to cut the distance between them in a millisecond. It was inches from him when a loud bang rang out.

In Heather's hands was an old shotgun that James kept in the truck in case of emergencies. It was so heavy that she could barely keep it aloft. The naked man had been flung by the impact of the shot into the snow and looked, as far as either of them could tell, to be dead. Hudson was planted to the spot in shock. It took him a few seconds to realise he hadn’t answered.

“Are you alright?” Heather called out. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“I’m fine,” James mumbled. “Though I don’t think we can say the same for our friend here. That was one hell of a shot, MacNeil.”

It was clear from Heather’s face that she saw through his bravado. “I don't care what you say, this time I’m going to call the Mounties.”

James took the shotgun from MacNeil and trained it on the naked man’s bleeding husk. Heather scuttled towards the truck in search of a phone as Hudson drew closer to the man. The snow around him had been splattered with blood. Under other circumstances, the patterns in the blood-flecked snow would almost have been beautiful. James set that thought aside as he nudged the body with the shotgun. A gentle groan came from it. Hudson staggered backwards in shock.

“Wait,” James shouted towards the truck. “This crazy son of a bitch is still breathing. Get some blankets.”

Heather’s face twisted in revulsion. “What? You’re not seriously suggesting that we try and move h-”

“The blankets, Heather.”

MacNeil groaned and ran towards the back of the truck. Hudson shot her an approving look, and then tightened his grip on the shotgun. The man in the snow stirred ever so slightly, revealing the wound in his chest to the elements. Seconds ago it had been the size of a basketball. Amongst the mess of blood and hair, Hudson could have sworn the muscles were reaching out to one another. The naked man was healing.

Vance Astrovik is a telekinetic mutant, and formerly the superhero Marvel Boy, now going by Justice. Coming from an abusive home he knew what pain looked like. When his powers activated he used them to fight crime. In doing so he met another mutant hero named Firestar. The two quickly formed an attraction and began dating. However one night Vance returned home and found his father beating his mother. In a rage Vance used his powers, accidentally killing his father. Vance decided to turn himself over to the police, but not before breaking up with Firestar to protect her. Vance was charged with aggravated assault. After getting out of jail early on good behaviour Vance put down the mantle of Marvel Boy. Instead he decided to focus his life on helping fellow mutants, taking the name Justice and creating the X-Factor website.

Megan Gwynn is a winged mutant and sorcerer who goes by Pixie. Born in Scotland she was hidden away because of her mutation. While hiding she learnt of her aptitude for magic. It was because of this that she was kidnapped and taken to the realm of Limbo. It was there that she grew up, where she learnt magic. By the time she was a teenager she knew a great many spells, and used a teleportation spell to return to Earth. There she learnt that her mother had died, leaving her alone in the world. Megan travelled to America where she was accosted by a group of mutant haters. Using her magic she nearly killed them but was stopped by Vance who told her that there was a better way. She decided to join X-Factor, becoming the team’s mode of transportation.

Kevin Sidney is a shape-shifitng mutant also called Morph. Growing up he had a good life, no one giving him grief for being a mutant. As such he was unaware of the challenges his kind faced. The class clown eventually left for the big city to attend college. He immediately became aware of the difference in how mutants were treated. Kevin decided to anonymously become a mutant activist. He began to come in contact with Justice online, talking with him often. Shortly after his first term of college, some fellow students became aware that Kevin was a mutant. They attacked him in his dorm, only for Kevin to be saved by the arrival of Justice and Pixie. With his secret out Kevin decided to leave with X-Factor.

Neena Thurman is a probability altering mutant who calls herself Domino. Growing up in a foster home for mutants, Neena experienced first hand how the system treated mutants. As soon as she was old enough she left the home and joined the military. There she received her combat training and it was there that she met Dr. Milo Thurman. Milo was a civilian scientist who Neena was ordered to protect. However they quickly fell in love and got married. The honeymoon was cut short however when Milo was killed because of his pro-mutant stance. Neena went mad, going AWOL and hunting down her husband’s killers. After that she decided to give up killing and go into hiding. She came out of hiding after encountering X-Factor and deciding to train them on how to protect themselves.

Jean-Paul Beaubier is a super-strong, flying mutant whose nickname is Northstar. Jean-Paul was separated from his twin sister after their parents died in a car crash. He was sent to boarding school where he found he excelled at sports. After finishing school he made the Canadian Olympic team as a professional skier. However before he could compete it was discovered he was a mutant and as such was disqualified. After that he went into a depression only to learn that his sister had disappeared after a violent confrontation in which she used her powers. Jean-Paul went looking for her and ran into X-Factor. In exchange for helping him find his sister Jean-Paul agreed to join the team and fund it.

The pink energy of Pixie’s spell washed over the darkened alleyway. Where once there was only a passed out vagrant, five mutants now stood. Dressed in a less eye catching garb then their regular outfits, the group quickly looked around where they had materialized. Content that no one had seen them arrive, as the only other person here was unconscious, they relaxed a little.

“So how come we never appear in a wall or something?” Morph asked, his face briefly shifting to resemble that of the homeless man.

“Because it’s magic.” answered Pixie as she took of her jacket, letting her wings extend.

“Yeah but how does magic work?” Morph questioned as he cycled through various outfits.

“The same way that you are made of silly putty,” laughed Northstar.

The French-Canadian stretched out his arms as he lifted off into the air. Northstar always loved flying over the skylines of new cities, it was like his own way of taking in a new culture. The young mutant turned to look at Justice, the leader of X-Factor. With a nod he allowed Northstar to go off and explore, knowing that even if he didn’t approve Northstar would still do it.

Justice glanced down at his phone, “Well the young lady in question said she was on the east end of the city. So I guess we start heading there.”

Morph turned to him, “But boss, I’mma so hungry. Can’t we find a burrito place first?”

“Ooh, one with ancho pork,” Pixie added.

The usually quiet Domino spoke up, “I could go for a burrito.”

“Fine we go get burritos and then go help this lady,” Justice relented.

The young hero sighed as pulled up his web browser on his phone, checking Mexican restaurants near him. This had become something of a routine the past month since the last member had joined the team. Northstar was always flying off. Morph was always hungry. Pixie would bug Morph. And Domino was, well, Domino.

“OK, there’s a place a few blocks over. Big Boy’s Burritos, at Main and 4th,” Justice stated.

“Race you there!” Pixie shouted at Morph as she took flight.

“No fair! You can fly!” he shouted back.

“And you can reshape your body into any physique,” Pixie grinned.

Morph frowned, “Oh yeah.” In a split second he had become Usain Bolt and was sprinting down the street.

“Now who’s not fair,” Pixie grumbled as she flew off.

Justice sighed once more as he texted Northstar to meet them at the burrito place. Justice could imagine that part of the reason Northstar always flew away was to get away from the others, something Justice could understand. Still his team meant a lot to him so he put up with a lot of things. It was kind of his job to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Domino tapped his shoulder, “We going boss?”

Justice nodded as he began to exit the alley. Domino had been teaching him not to get stuck in his head, it wasn’t very useful for someone in a leadership position. Part of that was trusting your team mates. Justice was still working on that. Perhaps this town would be different. This rescue different. Justice wasn’t sure if this is when the team was supposed to come together as he headed for the burrito place.