SASQUATCH (EXILES): Page 2 of 2

Publication Date: 24th Sep 2024
Written By: Peter Luzifer.
Image Work: Peter Luzifer and Providence.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 2

Heather soon recovered but, a few missions later, she was again not feeling well. The Exiles ended up in a world where the ancient wizard Kulan Gath had formed a barrier around the city of Manhattan transforming everything within it into an ancient civilization. Kulan Gath's master spell, which had caused the transformation, also empowered all mystical creatures, such as Tanaraq of the Great Beasts, who was still the source of Heather's Sasquatch powers. Having no idea of all this, Heather only felt weakened and ill, and somehow sensed that transforming into her furry form would have made the situation worse. When she was almost killed during a battle with a villain, Heather suddenly remembered the deal she had made with Tanaraq way back, and desperately struggled to keep him at bay. However, to save her own life and that of her teammate, Beak, she was left with no other alternative but to use her powers. During the transformation, Tanaraq instantly gained control of their shared body, which was also indicated by Sasquatch's fur now being orange-brown. The ruthless Tanaraq quickly completed the Exiles' mission, forcing himself on the team in Heather's stead and claiming leadership of the group, as he was arguably their strongest member. [Exiles (1st series) #55-57]

Tanaraq finished the Exiles' next mission quickly, in hopes of buying some time to have the world's greatest minds study the Tallus, the Exiles' only connection to the Timebroker and a device through which they receive their missions. In the twenty-one hours they had before they would move on to the next dimension, Tanaraq blackmailed the Exiles to appeal to criminal scientists and their most reliable motivation, greed, so that they would help to find the location of the Timebroker and a way to get there. The Exiles had their own plan, though, and Blink secretly dropped Beak off at Alpha Base in Canada to request the aid of Shaman, one of the Great Beasts' enemies in nearly every reality. He attended the meeting of the villain scientists in disguise, but was discovered by Tanaraq, who recognized his scent and engaged him in combat. Shaman had cast a spell to awaken Heather within Tanaraq's body and Morph, taking on the shape of her late husband, Wolverine, inspired her to find the strength to awaken the Great Beast from within. Together, the Exiles and Shaman managed to shunt Tanaraq into the realm to which the Great Beasts had been banished, though not before pulling Heather out of his body. In the process, she lost her power to transform into Sasquatch. [Exiles (1st series) #58]

Heather wasn't teleported along with the rest of the team to their next mission, and the Exiles believed that she had been sent home by the Timebroker, as she was of no use without her strength. However, she actually ended up in the Stasis Wall of the Panoptichron, a crystal palace that exists outside of time and space. The palace was run by an insectoid race known as the Timebrokers, who are the ones responsible for messing up the realities in the first place. The Timebroker was only a holographic computer interface created by the insects, and everything he had told the Exiles about having become unhinged from time was a lie. The insectoids had specifically picked them to repair the damages to the timestream. In an attempt to not pollute the various realities any further, the insectoids gathered the corpses of their deceased operatives and put them into the Stasis Wall. The same was done with Hyperion's remains, only his body regenerated and he eventually broke free and took over the Panoptichron.

Of course, Heather only learned of all this after the Exiles had defeated Hyperion a second time, and released her from the crystal wall. As some of the team had been seriously injured during the fight, Heather’s medical background made her a rather valuable asset to the group at this point. With the treatments finished, Heather familiarized herself with the technological equipment and databanks of the crystal palace, to act as the Exiles' mission control, providing the team with useful information about the realities they visit. [Exiles (1st series) #59, 62, 66-67]

When the Exiles accidentally released the dangerous mutant Proteus into the multiverse, they had to chase him through several different worlds. Deciding that the team needed an advantage against the reality-altering mutant, Heather Hudson struck a deal with Mojo, the mad ruler of the Mojoverse. In exchange for him getting live-feed on the Exiles' adventures and the timelines they visit, the team got Longshot as an additional member, his luck powers and metallic throwing blades would prove to be valuable assets against Proteus. [Exiles (1st series) #73-74] Eventually, Proteus possessed Morph of the Exiles, but the team found a way to use a behavior-modifier on Proteus/Morph, brainwashing him into only accessing Morph's memories, as such making him believe that he actually was Morph. [Exiles (1st series) #82]

With this crisis over, at least for the time being, the Exiles took some needed downtime. Although they decided to continue their mission of correcting damaged timelines, they first wanted to use the crystal palace's equipment for brief visits to their homeworlds, to tell their friends and loved ones what became of them. Heather was among the first to do so and, because she had not seen her husband in over a year, it was quite a reunion for the Hudsons. Unfortunately, the Timebrokers didn't agree with the Exiles taking these brief vacations without their permission and once again plotted behind the team's backs. Making them believe that there was a crisis on Heather’s homeworld, Earth 3470, they lured the entire Exiles team to that Earth, only to leave them stranded there. [Exiles (1st series) #84]

Over the next couple of weeks, Heather and her husband tried to make the other Exiles feel comfortable, and even organized governmental clearance for them if they wanted to join that reality's Alpha Flight. However, as suddenly as they had been fired, they found themselves in their Exiles job again. In the meantime, the Timebrokers had recruited several replacement teams, but none of them had been successful, causing them to revoke their decision. [Exiles (1st series) #85-86]

Heather deemed her work with the Exiles quite important and resumed her duties as the Exiles' scientist and mission control. She continued to show her resourcefulness by discovering Proteus' newfound immunity to metal, thanks to Morph's unique physiology. Heather took the necessary precautions by looking for potential recruits who would be capable against Proteus should he regain his own consciousness. She reluctantly enlisted the help of Psylocke of Earth-616, who was immune to all sorts of psychic attacks. [Exiles (1st series) #89-90]

Heather could not have recruited Psylocke at a more opportune time, as the Exiles were already on their mission on Earth-1720, a world on the brink of a major destabilizing event. Half the team was already defeated at the hands of this world's version of Susan Storm. Meanwhile, Heather had also overlaid the Tallus with her own holographic projection. This allowed her to link to her teammates on missions as well as creating an artificially intelligent entity called Icon, much like the Timebroker, but based on her own appearance and the vast knowledge of the Panoptichron.  Things looked bleak for the Exiles when they were unable to fulfill their mission on Earth-1720 and communications between Heather and the team were cut off. The entire dimension collapsed. [Exiles (1st series) #91-94]

As far as Heather could determine, her teammates were wiped out of existence, news that she did not take too well. In her fury, she thrashed the palace's equipment and drank herself to sleep. The morning after, she sorted herself out and began to work on the mess she had made out of the palace. After the loss of her friends, Heather realized she no longer had the strength or will to recruit another team with the prospect of ending up with the same results. She decided it was time to return home to her husband. She was not entirely sure of what she wanted and, while she was trying to figure things out, her husband and her made up for all time they spent away from each other. Soon, Heather realized that she was pregnant.

Half a year later, now living in her beach house with her husband, Heather had some unsuspected visitors. To her delight, it was her old teammates, Blink and Morph. She learned that they managed to survive along with the rest of her team. Unfortunately, the Exiles came too late as Heather's pregnancy had put her out of commission. However, she was not missed for too long, as her former fellow Exiles Blink, Nocturne and T-Bird took a hiatus from reality saving as well and took a break on Heather's world. [Exiles (1st series) #95, 100]

It is unclear what happened to Heather's baby, as she soon found herself resuming the position of mission control for the Exiles. The previous team of Exiles had become absorbed by the Panoptichron while Heather and her friends were plucked out of her reality once again to continue with the task of saving the multiverse. Heather and the other Exiles decided to create multiple Exiles teams, each with an experienced member. [Exiles (2nd series) #6] It is likely that Heather eventually returned home to her husband as she was not present on the subsequent team of Exiles led by Blink.