Chapter Text
CHAPTER TWO
Richard’s conception had been a miracle in itself. A year before, Narya had suffered a miscarriage and then, been gored by the Great Beast, Kariooq, resulting in having her reproductive organs destroyed. Narya and Douglas had badly wanted to start a family, and this experience had been a blow to them. Gradually, they learned to live with their infertility, and started to consider other ways of starting a family.
But then, Narya discovered that she was pregnant again! Her healing factor had regenerated all the organs she had lost. And she and Douglas could finally have their baby.
But with the miracle came complications. Michael Twoyoungmen, Alpha Flight’s Shaman and Narya’s lifelong physician, determined through the use of a sonogram that Narya’s baby was a shape changer, just as Narya herself had been at birth. The infant would have to be bound to the earth in a place of power, which would have the necessary mystical elements that could create a solid form for him.
Narya’s pregnancy was also high risk. Due to her healing factor and age acceleration, her gestation period took two weeks. Shaman, along with Narya’s husband, Douglas; Heather; her baby, Claire; his daughter, Elizabeth; the two nurses, Leta Maltby and Beatrice Foley; Leta’s husband, Narya’s cousin, Philip Maltby, and the Maltbys’ baby, Jay, went into seclusion on an island in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in British Columbia. There he carefully monitored Narya’s pregnancy, while at the same time, consulting with Elizabeth, a powerful sorceress, and Dr. Strange, to find a suitable place of power.
In spite of the risks, Snowbird’s pregnancy went well. But on her last morning, things changed drastically. Her weight went up five pounds, and her blood pressure, which had been low before, suddenly shot up. Michael listened to the baby’s heartbeat, and determined he was in fetal distress. Then, Snowbird suddenly had a convulsion, and turned into a polar bear. She had developed eclampsia!
Michael used both magical and medical skill to stabilize her condition. But time had almost run out….
It was then that Elizabeth had burst into Narya’s bedroom.
“Dad! We’ve found it! The place of power!” She went on to tell them excitedly that she and Dr. Strange had located a place in the high Arctic called Beechy Island, which held the necessary magic in its soil for the baby to be bound to the earth.
Shaman, as well as the rest of Alpha Flight who had assembled for the birth, was relieved and happy. Snowbird was prepared for transport to the Arctic immediately. She and Douglas held hands in the med bay of the Alpha Flight Omniship all the way to the birthplace.
“Our baby,” Narya had whispered to Doug. “Oh, dearest Douglas, our baby at last.”
Doug smiled gently and squeezed her hand. The deep feeling between them needed no more words.
Once they got to Beechy Island, after the rest of Alpha Flight had scoured the island for any threats and pronounced it clean, Shaman brought Snowbird out onto the ice and the mystical birth began.
But there was an unforeseen and dreadful complication.
During the birth, a green light streaked up from Snowbird’s abdomen. It was the mystical way that her baby would come into the world. This was briefly –but excruciatingly painful—for Snowbird. Fortunately, it was not to last long.
But then something else happened.
The baby’s body began to form in the green light above Snowbird’s body. But then, the shape elongated into an adult body. And then, the light dissipated and the figure drifted down to earth.
Everyone gasped.
Snowbird’s baby had turned into a hideous zombie!
The creature laughed wickedly. “I am Pestilence! I was buried under the ice while still alive, though my ship’s crew thought me dead. And now, I can use this godling child’s magic to rise again, and bring plague and destruction to the earth---” All around him, the ground began to convulse as his reign of terror was about to begin.
Alpha Flight was ready to attack when suddenly, the zombie screamed in disbelief.
“No! No! This cannot be! This child’s purity is corrupting me! I cannot use his body! I must find another host – quickly!” His spirit dissipated from the solid body he had assumed, causing it to shrink into the form of a baby. Shaman caught it in his strong arms.
Elizabeth stepped forward. “Oh, no you don’t! Possess this, you bastard!” She seized her father’s medicine pouch, and hurled it at the intruder.
The evil spirit screamed. “No! No!....” But whatever else he was going to say was never to be heard, for he was sucked into the limbo of Shaman’s medicine pouch, never to be seen or heard from again.
The ground immediately settled into peaceful lines. And there was another sound now, a beautiful sound.
The sound of a healthy, crying baby.
Shaman held out the baby to his eagerly waiting parents. “Behold your son, Narya and Douglas! Your very strong son!”
And yes, Richard had indeed proved to be strong. He had defeated a horrible zombie at his birth. And, as the year unfolded, Narya and Douglas, along with the rest of Alpha Flight, waited to see what future powers would unfold for him.