CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT

Membership: None named, numerous street children, both boys and girls

Purpose: Unclear, Nemesis called them “Warriors fighting a divine war against evil”, Rok briefly used them as assassins

Affiliations: Nemesis, Wild Child/Weapon Omega (Kyle Gibney)
former Rok

Enemies: Rok, any who intrude upon their domain, unrevealed forces of evil.
former Alpha Flight, Weapon X (Garrison Kane), Wyre

Base of Operations: The Sewers and tunnels beneath Montreal, Quebec, Canada

First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#116 (January, 1992)

History: (Alpha Flight I#116 (fb) - BTS) - To prepare for some unrevealed battle against evil, Nemesis began to gather (presumably) homeless children, and take them to her underground lair, where she trained them in various forms of combat. At some point during her membership in Gamma Flight, Nemesis was deposed by the villain Rok as leader of the Children of the Night. Nemesis enlisted the aid of her teammate, Wild Child, to overthrow the "fat slug." When Rok was defeated by the pair, the feral Wild Child decided to teach Rok "a lesson", clawing his face and chest, permanently scarring him .

(Alpha Flight I#115 - BTS) - Years after Gamma Flight disbanded, Rok returned and usurped control of the Children from Nemesis again, mobilizing them into an elite group of assassins. He kept Nemesis chained, waiting for Kyle (now known as Weapon Omega), to seek her out so he could exact his revenge upon both of them.

(Alpha Flight I#116) - Kyle, feeling confused about his identity due to recent encounters with the Wild Child Doppelganger and his "father" Wyre, traveled to Montreal to take Nemesis up on an earlier offer to help discover his past. As he arrived, the Children immediately attacked him. In the darkness, Kyle fought them, until, coming to his (moral) senses, he realized he was fighting small children and tried reasoning with them, at which point Rok snuck up behind him and clobbered him. As Rok tortured the chained Kyle and Nemesis, Weapon X (Kane) arrived; on a mission to save Kyle from Wyre, who was hunting him at the time, Kane fought his way through the Children to attack the villain. As Rok and Kane fought, Kyle, sick of being a pawn in somebody else's gang, broke free, and clobbered Rok with the concrete slabs holding his chains.

(Alpha Flight I#117) - Wyre arrived, shooting Kyle with a stun dart, and all hell broke loose as Alpha Flight got into the act, battling the Children as Kane tried to kill Wyre, who, in turn, was trying to kill Kyle. Realizing the Children were shying away from her light, Aurora lit up the tunnels with a light burst, leaving the Children of the Night awestruck and pacified. Finally Kyle was able to convince Wyre of his humanity, and Wyre's own, and forgave him for his part in creating Wild Child. Wyre surrendered, and broke down crying. Nemesis regained control of the Children of the Night, and they haven't been seen since.

Comments: Created by Simon Furman, Pat Broderick and Bruce Patterson.

    It's a total mystery where Nemesis got these kids, why she's training them in the darkness of the underground and sewers, and what evil they are fighting. The kids don't appear to have any free will, and will fight to the death to defend whoever's in obvious control. As soon as Rok displaced Nemesis, they were obeying him without question. They rarely speak, are trained combatants, and appear to have no knowledge of any other life, and have probably never seen daylight, at least, not for years. It's not to much of a stretch to call them feral. They're like little Morlocks on crack cocaine...I'm sure Canada has it's version of Child Protective Services, and somebody needs to turn Nemesis in and get these kids help!

    If I recall correctly, Nemesis has some sort of mystical powers. The Children of the Night don't appear to have any, but then, they were only very briefly seen. It's possible, but unlikely. And, while they're trained warriors, they're still kids, and have to tackle strong opponents en masse.

    Wyre was seeking to kill Kyle because, as part of the Secret Empire, Wyre had helped create and train him and other superhuman assassins whom he called the Breed, all of whom had been kidnapped of the streets and altered by Wyre's DNA. After developing a deep sense of guilt over what he had done, he destroyed the Secret Empire (Canadian) and all the Breed (to end their suffering, and keep them from killing others), only Wild Child escaped. Eventually he was able to come to grips with his own guilt, and become a valuable ally of Alpha Flight.

by Darc_Light

CLARIFICATIONS:
Nemesis' Children of the Night have no known connection to:

• Children of the Night, extra-temporal tribe of Native Meso-Americans, living in the Bermuda Triangle, @ Skull the Slayer#6
• Children of the Night, servants of the Darkholders, @ Doctor Strange II#59
• Children of the Night, attacked Werewolf by Night @ Werewolf by Night II#6
• Creatures of the Night, possible name for a pack of 16th century Werewolves associated with with the Silver One, @ Savage Sword of Conan#14
• Creatures of the Night, agents of the Undying Ones, @ Doctor Strange I#83
• Any other groups or cults using the name "Children" or "Night"

Images taken from:
Alpha Flight I#116, p10, pan 4
Alpha Flight I#117, p18, pan 2

Other Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#117 (February, 1992) - Simon Furman (writer), Pat Broderick (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)