Sabretooth: Open Season #2

Issue Date: 
December 2004
Story Title: 
Open Season - part 2: Cold Comfort
Staff: 

Daniel Way (writer), Bart Sears (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks), Mike Atiyeh (colors), VC's Cory Petit (letters), Warren Simons (editor), Axel Alonso (executive editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Dan Buckley (publisher)

Brief Description: 

Officer Hamilton tries to comfort the two kids he has found. The kids tell him their story, of how their parents were killed by a brutal monster, and they survived it. Hamilton promises to do everything he can to safe the kids, however they can’t go out because there is a heavy snowstorm outside. Meanwhile, Sasquatch has arrived at Hamilton’s base and offers his help in locating any survivors and defeating their enemy, but wants to go alone. He finds resistance in the form of Sabretooth. They fight, and end up with Sabretooth heavily wounding Sasquatch and leaving him bleeding behind in the woods. Mitchell’s search crew refuses to answer Sasquatch’s orders that he would go out alone and want to retrieve their missing teammates, no matter what. However, they are all killed by an unseen monster. Eventually, the snowstorm gets down. Hamilton and the kids prepare to go to the Captain’s boat. Just as they want to leave the cabin, they get an unwelcome visit from their worst nightmare.

Full Summary: 

Officer Hamilton has found two kids, who were hiding in an abandoned hut. The kids cry and want to go home. Hamilton himself has a headache, and tells the kids that he wants to go home as well, but they’ll have to wait until the snowstorm gets down. The kids asks what they are going to do in case the monster comes back. Hamilton comforts the kids not to worry about that, since he’s got plenty of ammunition in his guns to take care of that. He promises that things are going to be just fine. The kids aren’t so sure and cry even harder, because that’s also what their father told them…

They explain that their dad went outside with his gun and their mom didn’t stop crying. She told them to hide in the closet, and then the screams came! Hamilton looks serious, but calms the kids down. The kids beg the Captain not to make them stay there while he goes outside. Hamilton promises that he won’t do that. The kids aren’t so sure, because their dad told them that as well. Mitchell realizes something and takes some food out of his bag, and hands it over to the kids.

Meanwhile at Mitchell’s base, Sasquatch’s Alpha Flight credentials get checked up, and are found as all right. But the officers want to know what the orange beast is doing here. Walter explains that he was flying Alpha Flight’s tactical jet over the lake when the officers’ distress call came across. And the only suitable landing was a smooth patch of ice on the other side of the island. Sasquatch wants to know if any survivors have been found. Mitchell explains that they send a search party ashore, but that the only thing they found were some stiffs. And the crew lost contact with the search patrol when they entered a cabin. Hamilton shows Sasquatch on a map where the cabin is located. He adds that the officers’ GPS signals haven’t moved in over two hours now, so he fears the worst.

Mitchell suggests to send out another search party once the storm has cleared. Sasquatch doesn’t want to do that. He feels it to be unwise to send more men ashore at this point, at least not until they know for sure what they are dealing with. Hamilton is surprised that Sasquatch doesn’t know what they are up against. Walter says that if he were privy to any information that would help Hamilton out, he would most defiantly share it. However, he is not. Sasquatch will go ashore, but alone. Once he has completed his reconnaissance, he will return. Mitchell understands. Walter opens the base’s door and walks out. The crew asks Mitchell what they are going to do. Hamilton stares quietly, and wraps the map up.

Sasquatch wanders around in the Canadian woods. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by the snow at all. He stands still for a while and concentrates. He opens his eyes wide, and shouts that he knows that he’s there. Walter can smell him. He shouts to his enemy that he needs to leave this island, and that he can help him. Suddenly, he gets a hit on the head from… a shovel! The punch is hard enough to knock Sasquatch on his knees. Wanting to know who hit him, Sasquatch looks up, and finds… SABRETOOTH!

Sabretooth mocks that he finds Sasquatch’s offer to be a sweet one, however his dance card is already filled. Sasquatch has heard enough and attacks Sabretooth at full strength! Sabretooth drops his shovel and is ready for a heavy battle. Sasquatch jumps at Sabretooth, but he dodges the attack and slices through Sasquatch’s stomach at the same time. Sasquatch lands in the snow and starts to bleed. Sabretooth wants to finish it off and jumps at the fallen Sasquatch, who in return throws a snowball into Creed’s face! Temporary blinded by it, Sasquatch takes advantage of that and punches Sabretooth a few times in his face until he’s down.

At the base, a crew has gathered to go ashore and bring their teammates back. One way or the other. Mitchell realizes what that remark means, but choose not to insult the men and tell them something they don’t already know. Hamilton only wants to know if his men know it. The search crew has already worked it out and are ready to go. Mitchell is fine by it, and tells them to gear up. But he warns them to be careful, as they have yet to see the face of the enemy.

Sabretooth is down. Sasquatch tries to get away from him, but that’s a hard thing to do since he’s still bleeding. Sabretooth wakes up, and tells Sasquatch to stop, or else he is going to die. Sasquatch calls Creed a sick idiot and continues his walks, not noticing that underneath him, the ice is starting to crack! Sasquatch falls into a deep well. It becomes clear what Creed was doing with the shovel: he was making a trap. Sasquatch lands, and falls into the well, which is filled with pointy thorns! Sasquatch warns Creed not to do this: some animals are just not meant to be hunt. Uninterested by the theory, Creed only knows that he will do his job a lot better without Walter’s interference and walks away.

Meanwhile, the search crew has left the base. However, the blizzard gets bad again and the crew can’t see a thing. One of them, Smith, is holding a compass and tries to figure out their route. But he can’t see anything on his device because the snow has covered it all up under the snow. He tells Anderson and Taylor to bring up the gear, as they can’t lose sight of each other. Getting no response, Smith looks behind him. The two are gone. They’ve lost them.

Suddenly, a huge monster stands behind them! The crew freaks out and opens fire upon it. They fire in the wild, but the monster is so fast and eventually kills them all.

Some time later, the storm eventually dies down. Hamilton notices that and tells the kids that they are going to his boat now. But first, Hamilton wants the kids to wrap themselves up in silver blankets. They are important because they will keep them warm. But he also warns the kids that they’ll have to run fast, like in a race. The kids promise to run as fast as they can. The kids suddenly stare behind Hamilton. He asks what they are looking at - but doesn’t realize that, outside the cabin, a monster is approaching the cabin.

Hamilton sees it coming through the window and orders the kids to go downstairs again. A hand opens the door. The kids start to cry again, and shout at Hamilton that he promised they would be safe. The only thing Hamilton can do at the moment is hug the poor kids…

Characters Involved: 

Sabretooth

Sasquatch

Captain Mitchell

Officer Hamilton

Anderson, Rogers, Smith, Taylor (search crew)

two unnamed kids

unseen monster

Story Notes: 
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