Marvel Genesis: Alpha Flight, Chapter 6

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SOME OF THE LOGOS, CHARACTERS AND SETTINGS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MARVEL, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Rated M for Mature

Appropriate for readers 18 and over. May contain extreme violence, sexual themes, nudity, or profanity.

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Marvel Genesis: Alpha Flight, Chapter 6- Playland

I was a small child crying out for someone in the dry lands. I didn't know where I was at the time. Nobody could hear my cries. A baby crying out for his mother or father. But the problem was that they abandoned me. There couldn't be a reason for it. But I had the feeling that it was because of my smaller appearance. My parents knew that I had some kind of dwarf condition. Yeah, I was a baby dwarf alright. So tiny, that my parents were shocked to find out that I was different.

It was one day that I was laying in the sands. Apart from it, there was cold weather. I didn't have the slightest idea if I was stranded somewhere in the regions of Canada. But the next day, it was very hot. I knew that I would die at that point. But it didn't happen yet.

While I was crying, I heard a cart running by the deserts. It was an actual carnival that travels around the world. A carnival of freaks, you might say. But that isn't the case of their wild appearances. They had great talents and yet have been showing off their tricks. A trick which had been used for stage performances.

An old woman heard the cry of my little voice. She found myself lying in the sands. She felt sorry for what happened to me. I didn't know how old was the woman's age. She was like pretty old if you look at it. I think she was about like 50 to 60 years old. I could be wrong here. Anyways, I was taken by the old woman and she showed me to her family. The old woman's family contained a different variety of freaks. I couldn't say if there were mutants. Because I heard of the existence of these so-called freaks who were born with special abilities or powers. I for one person, wouldn't be a mutant. I can tell you that there are normal dwarves out there. Yet, I was the only dwarf who wasn't accepted by my parents. It may sound harsh but I guess they have their own reasons. Or they might thought I might be dying due to my smaller appearance. Since I didn't grow big enough as other babies, I could tell that I was normal.

"Hush...Little one. Don't worry. I'll take good care of you", said the old woman. She prevented myself from not crying anymore. I did cried a lot at that time. She gave me food to eat. I was assuming that the old woman might be a good cook. She did cook some good food. The food was actually porridge for babies to eat. I never stopped eating porridge because it was that tasty.

Over the years, I grew up to be a small kid. I played along with the other freaks. I wouldn't consider myself as a freak. Like I said, I'm not a mutant. I'm just a normal dwarf who had to develop his own abilities. I was able to bounce myself forward and backwards. The other kids saw me that I was able to perform this wonderful stunt. My mother, or the old woman was happy to see what I did.

"Look Mom! Look what I can do", I shouted in joy and the old woman was still standing there. She saw all of my tricks outside the travelling carnival. She knew I had the talent of doing something in my life. She said that there is a circus which we were going to. I never been to a circus in all my life. I heard stories that freaks joined the circus for enjoyment and performances. Yet, they still earn a lot of money. The circus was actually funded by an unknown billionaire. He's a rich man who was born American in Texas and had only one son. The rich man decided to create his own circus just for his son. His son always likes to play games whenever he wanted. He never stops playing them. All of these stories seemed to be true. But the fact is that their real names were never mentioned to anyone in the world. However, I heard the name of the circus though. It was called....Arcade's Playland.

I grew up as a man and finally joined the circus. There were lots of people watching the grand finale. It's like I have found myself in a whole new world of adventure and excitement. I was excited to see the fun stuff which has been played out. There was some bad news that broke out like a week ago. The billionaire actually died of lung cancer. I never knew it would happen to a rich man. But it was really sad. Now his son has taken over the family estate back in Texas. He became the next billionaire in line. But the only problem was that the billionaire's son never matured enough to become a great man like his father. He still likes to play silly games for free time. I never met the son yet. But now I heard his name was Arcade. It makes sense why would his father would name the circus after his son. But I'm pretty sure that isn't the son's real name. It was still a mystery and yet nobody visited them from time to time.

There was a circus grandmaster who was looking for more great talent. It was an actual line-up of freaks with different features and abilities. They showed their stuff in front of the grandmaster. The grandmaster was tall and had a slight moustache which curled up a bit. He was holding a stick and had a pet monkey sitting on his left shoulder. He wore a long black hat and red shirts and white pants. He was the grandmaster all right. I could tell from the looks of him.

I was up next to show off my next act. I told the grandmaster that I can bounce myself like a ball. I jumped and covered my whole body along with arms and leg. I bounced to the left and right and then made sure that I didn't hit any of the other freaks including the grandmaster. While I was still bouncing around the big tent, the grandmaster told me to stop. I stopped bouncing and looked upon the grandmaster. He was happy to see that I have my own talent. He then hired me to join Arcade's Playland.

For two years, I was part of the big circus family. My status quo went high up that it took long for Arcade to notice my talent. That's because he was too busy playing his own dirty games. But surprisingly, the grandmaster told myself that Arcade wanted to see me in private. This is was my first time meeting him.

I went with Arcade's female assistant to show me Arcade's secret place. It was actually quite a small playhouse where Arcade used to have fun as a kid. I stepped into the playhouse and there sat the young man who claimed to be known as Arcade.

The young Arcade was sitting on his fancy chair. He had his own toys all over the front desk. He looked like a kid but was also a grown young man. He had a red hair which was slightly covered by his hat. I can totally see the white shirt that he was wearing. He looked like a real businessman. He stared at me for a while and told me to sit down. I bounced up a little so that I could sit on the big chair. Arcade was surprised to see my neat small trick.

"So...you're the one who's everyone talking about?"

"Yes...Mr. Arcade."

"Tell me...Ummm."

"It's Eugene Judd, sir."

"Ah yes. Eugene. I head that you earned the title of Puck. Am I right?"

"That's right, sir."

The young billionaire turned his chair around and looked upon the rest of the circus. Even though the playhouse wasn't big enough for him, he still has his own ways of doing some business. Not even mature enough, I would think.

"Puck. I want to see your new trick in the next act."

"What's that, sir?"

"Your bouncing ability. I have seen it on TV. You have such a wonderful gift."

"Why...Thank you."

"You see, Puck. I was being told a tale by my late father."

"Yes, I heard about his past condition."

"That's right. He said to me that I could do anything I want in this world. I paused for a moment and said it. Do you know what I said to him?

"Ummmm. Well no."

"Fun! It's all about fun, Puck."

"You can call me, Eugene. It's fair enough."

"No. I liked to call you that name. Because you're one. Imagine hitting a puck with a hockey stick. Ever played hockey?"

"No, sir."

"You should play it. It's a good game. You not only get to hit the puck and score a goal. You also have to fight with another player."

"That game wouldn't be suited enough for me. If you ask me, I'm too short."

"You should try new things, Puck. New games for a chance."

I didn't said anything for a while there. I only stared at him and wonder what he was about to say next. I still sat on the chair and watched him taking a hockey stick from a stack. He used his hockey stick to hit the small black puck across the window. The window smashed a bit and it accidentally hit one of the circus freak's head. The circus freak shouted in anger.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?", the circus freak shouted as he was interrupted while trying to perform his new trick. He was a large man with a similar moustache as the grandmaster. He was bald and had strong muscles that he could carry heavy tons of stuff. He looked at the smashed window and saw Arcade. The big guy didn't realize at first but he started to apologize.

"Oh Arcade! I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry. I thought it was someone else."

"Don't worry about it. Just focus on your new game."

"Sure, Arcade. I'll do my best."

Arcade turned around and stared at myself. He sat down on his chair and began to continue his fancy talk. I wish I knew whom I was actually dealing with here. This young businessman is certainly not the type of guy you would mess with. I also wonder how the big guy knew about Arcade. Maybe, he's secretly working for the young and corrupt businessman.

I began to ask Arcade about his late father. Arcade mentioned that he was left a note saying that he inherited his fortune. Arcade began to use that money to buy a big empire for himself.

"Puck, have you ever heard about the story of Peter Pan?"

"No, I haven't."

"It's a story about a boy who never wanted to grow up. He was taken away or somehow found an island where he lives forever. Do you know what happened to his father?"

"No."

"His father was dead. He worried too much about his boy who went missing for years and never came back. So he decided to end his life."

"I...see."

"Yes. But I'm not like Peter Pan. I know I wanted everything in my father's behalf. But I do care for him. Anyways...your visit here is over. I'll see you at the circus?"

I got up from the chair and said farwell to the rich guy. I then walked out of the secret playhouse and didn't tell anyone about Arcade. Because the grandmaster told me not to tell anyone including my new friends. I decided to forget the visit and concentrate on my next act.

It took like several days to master my new bouncing act. It wasn't easy at first. But I practiced several times just to make it perfect. There were crowds of people coming to the circus. They must be tourists from around the world to see our wildest performances. I and the other freaks have performed our acts very well and impressed a lot of people on the seats. I used the hangar ropes to roll over and bounced next to another one. The grandmaster would always say it's a magnificient performance.

An half an hour later, the lions and tigers were suddenly released from the cage. The wild animals began to attack innocent people who were screaming like h*ll. I was horrified of what was happening to them. The rest of the audience ran off outside the big tent. Some of them were killed and eaten by the wild animals. The hangar ropes were suddenly broke apart and the freaks tried to stay on it. But they crushed themselves on the ground. The other one was blasted off from the fire cannon automatically and flew across the tent. Everything was going haywire inside the tent. I tried to save my own family including my new mother who was watching my performance. But she was killed by the wild lion. I screamed for my mother as she layed dead on the seat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"While I cried to her, I heard a laughing sound coming from the big microphone. It was the sound of a kid which I have met before. It was...Arcade."

I was angry and went inside the secret playhouse to confront him. He was sitting there on the chair and still laughing at what happened back in the tent. I bounced myself and hit across his gut. There were piles of circuits coming off from Arcade's body. I realized that Arcade was actually a robot. But the sound still came from somewhere and I had the bad feeling it was the real Arcade.

"How dare you kill her? HOW DARE YOU?"

"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! YOU SEE, PUCK. IT'S ALL ABOUT FUN AND GAMES. WELCOME TO ARCADE'S PLAYLAND! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

The laughter still haunted me to this present day as I still watched the abandoned location of the tent. There was a short guy standing besides me. I never knew who he was. He introduced himself to be known as Logan.

"Hey bub, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"So this is the place where the circus used to be at?"

"Yeah. Those were good times."

"I got my own circus you could join. But it's your choice."

"Why would I join this...circus of yours?"

"I know you're strugglin' to kill your own enemy."

"It happens all the time."

"You know...I was just like you, Puck."

"How do you my name?"

"Let's just say I know everything. Look...I understand what you went through."

"But I was...abandoned. Now...here I am. All over again."

"You're not alone anymore, Puck. Or shall I say Eugene Judd."

When he called my real name, I realized that this Logan guy must know everything about me. If I join this superhero group of his, I could find the real Arcade. It's been years I was trying to find him. No matter what happens, I will not give up.

"Ok Logan. Where do I sign up?"

To be continued inMarvel Genesis: Alpha Flight, Chapter 7- Goddess of the North.

Puck has joined the Alpha Flight team. But will he find the crazy Arcade in time? You'll find out later in the future chapters of Alpha Flight. Next up, we have a goddess on the loose. A goddess? You're half-right, bub.

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Edited.