This trip was gonna be different. Not that Oliver wasn't expecting a little action, cause that just seemed to be a natural part of his life. What was gone, and he was happier for it, was all the politics and power plays. For now, he was giving all that up. He didn't care about super-spy agencies, worldwide terrorism, and sinister madman bent on world conquest. This was Oliver Queen, out on his own, trying to find himself again, trying to remember who he was, before he let others shape his destiny for him. He was a nomad, alone on the open road, always moving, always changing.

Oliver smiled in satisfaction as he fumbled through his compact discs, looking for something that would match his mood. He chuckled to himself as he found his Styx's greatest hits album, and plugged it in, playing ‘Come Sail Away'. Singing loudly, he admired the beauty of the forest around him. He loved Ontario. He loved Canada. There was a time when he had considered giving up his adventurous life, moving out into these woods, building himself a long cabin, and living the simple life. That thought brought another chuckle, because to be honest, even though he was kind of getting up there in years, he couldn't imagine ‘settling down'. He just had too much passion and spirit in him to lead the ‘quiet life', whatever that was.

The start of snow brought Oliver's attention back from his introspection to world outside of him. He remembered the early news reports that the harsh snows weren't expected until after nightfall, and so he had started to North Bay early enough so that he would make it there at least an hour before nightfall. There he would spend a night at the Winter Castle Lodge, soak in a nice hot tub, get a good night's sleep, and in the morning watch one of the most beautiful sunrises one could see.

Oliver noticed something unusual on the side of the road, and pulled over to take a look. He was glad that the country road was very unoccupied because his abrupt stop would have surely caused a commotion on a busy highway. He got out of his Pathfinder and looked at the trees at the left side of the road. Something had apparently cut quite a swath through the patch of trees, leaving a large path in the otherwise dense forest. Oliver made a closer observation, and noticed that all the broken limbs and trees seemed to point in the direction of the road, indicating that whatever had cut the path had been moving in that direction. Despite the light fluttering of snow, Oliver looked on the ground and was able to make out scattered tracks here and there. Whatever had come through had been animal in nature, and quite large. Oliver had learned about hunting and animal tracks when he was little, and had hunted with his friend Forge years ago, so he knew something about the subject. These were not wolf nor bear nor anything he had seen before.

His curiosity now peaked, Oliver went back to his truck and pulled out a couple of items. He grabbed his thick winter jacket, his Viper NarcoJet pistol, his Sinntech AutoPistol, and a pair of sunglasses, and then locked his vehicle, deciding that he would investigate whatever had plowed through the trees. He figured he was making good time, and could spare at least an hour or two from his journey. He smiled to himself because he knew that his curiosity would someday get him into more trouble than he could handle, but he doubted that today was the day. If he could survive an alien army of robots, vengeful gods, and being married, than whatever this was should be no problem.

Oliver looked on the right side of the road to see if the creature had crossed the road somewhere and entered, and soon found the location. It wasn't very difficult to see. About twenty feet down the road he discovered a similar path to the one on the left side of the road, with a swath of crushed tree limbs and large animal-like prints. Oliver began to follow them. One thing he observed from the prints he could find is it appeared, whatever it was, it was moving very erratically. Several times it appeared as though the creature stumbled and once, thanks to a huge breaking of trees off to his left, appeared as though it had even fallen. Oliver also noticed that whatever it was, it appeared that it was moving fast, with little care for it's own welfare, because several sharp, broken limbs that Oliver passed appeared to have blood on them.

Oliver cleared the forest and, although the tracks ended with no trees to protect them from falling snow, the direction of the creature was unmistakable. In front of Oliver lay what was left of a chain link fence, ripped to shreds. There was more blood here. Oliver looked past the fence to what appeared to be a farmhouse. Everything was very quiet. It was too quiet. Oliver didn't like it at all. He quickly pulled both pistols from their holster and made his way through the gaping hole in the fence.

As Oliver slowly crept towards the farmhouse and barns that lie close nearby, he noticed a complete absence of sound. Normally a farm would have some type of animals making noise, but here there was nothing. Oliver made his way to the farmhouse and walked up the steps to the porch. He noticed that the front door was open and looked inside. He thought up a quick story about who he was, a Canadian Mountie investigating a wolf sighting, should he encounter the farmer and found this was all nothing, and proceeded to enter the home.

The entry room seemed normal, no signs of trouble or forced entry, but the kitchen told a very different tale. For Oliver's observation, somebody had started a dinner meal. There were bowls and plates filled with still steaming plates of food, half-eaten. There were half drank glasses of milk. Something or someone had stopped these people's meal in the middle, and forced these folks from their places.

Then Oliver heard a noise from below him. He guessed there must be a basement or something, and looked around the room. After discovering a door that lead to a pantry, he found a door that led to a downward stairway. Unsure how to proceed, not wanting to get shot by some scared farmer, he quietly uttered a greeting down the stairs, hoping someone would answer.

"Hello?" said a little girl's voice, sounding very scared. "Is that you papa?"

Oliver decided to take a chance and go down the stairs. He turned on the stairway light and made his way down. At first, at the bottom, all he saw were piles of boxes and rows of jars and canning goods. Then he saw the children, trying to hide behind a high stack of boxes. There were three of them, none more than ten years old. A cute girl, apparently the oldest, and most brave of the bunch, stepped out in front of the others to protect them.

"Who are y-y-you?" said the little girl, trying to be brave, but unable to mask the total fear in her voice.

Oliver thought for a minute. "My name is Oliver, I am with the police. Where are your parents miss?"

The little girl seemed a little less scared at the mention of the police, and stepped from the shadows, "Mommy isn't here, she is in Mattawa with Auntie Louise. She is sick. Daddy made us come down here when he and Marcus heard somethin' out by the cows."

"Who is Marcus?"

"He is daddy's helper with the cows. They took their guns and went out there. That was long time ago. Will you go check on my daddy, policeman?" said the girl, as one of the smaller children began to whimper behind her.

"I will, you kids stay here, and I will be right back, alright?" replied Oliver, and he watched until the little girl nodded, and made his way up the stares and out to the barn.

Once he got within sight of the barn's doors, he knew he was in trouble. The doors had been ripped off the hinges and scattered to either side of the building. Oliver stealthfully crept up to the side wall, then to the door's edge, then inside. As he entered the stench and sight before him was almost overwhelming. Something had attacked the cows. Everywhere Oliver looked, there were pieces of cow. There was also blood, splattered everywhere.

Then Oliver heard the grunting from farther into the barn. As quietly as possible, he made his way farther back. For someone who hadn't lived a life like Oliver, he was sure the sight would have been overwhelming. Bodies of bovine were everywhere, some appeared to have been chewed on, others simply looked as though they had been torn limb from limb. Under half a cow, he found one of the two men. He was very dead, he skull crushed into little more than pulp.

Then, near the barn's back wall, he saw the creature that had rendered all this harm. Worse still to Oliver, he recognized the creature. Under all the blood and gore, sitting on the ground, quietly feasting, was the orange-furred form of Alpha Flight member Sasquatch.

Oliver had met Sasquatch on several occasions. As far as he knew, the creature was respected scientist Walter Langkowski. Walter's conscious had been placed, by accident, inside the creature. He then had become a founding member of Canada's premiere super group, Alpha Flight, which was headed by Oliver's good friend Heather Hudson. Oliver had fought alongside Sasquatch, when he was with Suicide Squad, versus Zodiac, and later with SHIELD against Hydra.

Oliver was jarred from his thoughts as the creature raised it's head, sniffed, and noticed his presence. It let out a vicious roar and rose to its feet, the carcass's surrounding it flying in all directions. Oliver managed to fire off several shots from his NarcoJet pistol, but notice that they had little affect on the enraged creature. Decided his best bet was to run and get outside the barn, Oliver turned and ran. Noticing that the creature had picked up speed, he tried a desperate plan to give himself a little time. Quickly he turned and rolled, firing several rounds from the AutoPistol.

With a sickening thud, the bullets struck their mark, Sasquatch's left foot. The creature roared in unexpected pain and shock, and fell over as blood began to pour from the bullet wounds.

Oliver took his opportunity to get outside the barn. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do. He doubted the shots would keep the beast down for long. He didn't have anything stronger to stop the creature, and was sure that the only weapons on this farm had been the rifles on the hands of the farmers, and he doubted those had been very effective. He also had the children in the house to think about. He considered going into the home and calling some real police, but that wasn't going to help him in the short-term.

As he made his way to the house, the bloody creature emerged from the farm, in an even greater rage than before. It picked up one of the barn doors and flung it at Oliver, but it sailed over his head and smashed into the porch in front of him.

Then the blast came. A shot of pure energy flew from the sky above him and hit the creature, square in the chest, knocking it backwards and into the barn wall.

Oliver looked above him, and recognized the four people flying towards him. One was a huge robotic form, and Oliver knew him as Box. On a hovercraft skysled were the non-flying Diamond Lil and Puck. Leading the group, in her high-tech green and white suit, firing the blast, was Oliver's friend Heather Hudson, known to the world by her codename Vindicator. Together, they were known as Alpha Flight.

Vindicator flew down beside Oliver.

"Sir, are you alright . . . OLIVER?" she said, the shock on her face unmistakable.

"Hi, Heather," said Oliver sheepishly. "Your timing is perfect, to say the least."

She still looked to be in total shock. "What the hell are you . . . but I thought you were dead . . . .how did you . . . "

Oliver smiled, "Maybe we can do this someplace else . . . "

Heather nodded as she noticed Sasquatch lifting itself from the ground, ready for another attack. Nodding to Box, she and Nomad watched as Box fired a massive barrage of weapons from his arm. First some sort of gas landed, filling the creature's lungs, making it fall to its knees, gagging. Then Box fired a net, which seemed to wrap tightly around the creature, making it unable to move, forcing it to absorb even more of the gas that enveloped it. Then a series of needles struck the creature's hide, and Oliver assumed they contained a narcotic stronger than the ones his NarcoJet had. Soon it was incapacitated and unconscious.

Satisfied with the capture, Vindicator placed her arm around Oliver's and dragged her close, "You mister, have a lot of explaining to do . . . "