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Gifted & Talented
The academy students are in Dining Room #38 of the infinite mansion. Reptil is a little upset, not because Finesse woke him up, but because she didn’t knock. He tells her he could have been in a ‘compromising position.’ What if he’d had a girl in his room? Finesse tells him that is unlikely, as the report on his escape from Norman Osborn’s facility indicated that he’s never kissed a girl. Mettle’s jaw drops. “Oh no she didn’t,” he gasps. Striker says it’s not like anyone’s surprised. Finesse doesn’t understand the problem. Statistically, it’s not unusual for a sixteen-year-old. Veil tells her that maybe true, but no sixteen-year-old boy wants anyone to know that. She’s humiliated him.
Finesse realizes her mistake and offers to make it up to Reptil. He replies that she can’t. She should put some food in her mouth so he doesn’t have to hear her talk. She then tells him that she is attractive. She’ll kiss him, right there where his peer group will see it. Reptil thinks she’s kidding but Mettle tells him that, if he doesn’t kiss her, he will. Reptil stands up, pointing out that he doesn’t even know Finesse’s real name. She informs him that it’s Jeanne… Jeanne Foucault. Can they get on with it as she’s getting hungry? Reptil leans in for the kiss but, with amazingly bad timing, Arsenal comes crashing through the wall.
Finesse thinks it’s a cliché that young people think they know everything. Well, she does. Almost. She is eidetic and so recognizes her foe immediately. She updates the others on Arsenal’s history, informing them that it is a doomsday robot built by Iron Man’s dad to keep fighting wars even after total Armageddon. It can analyze and react to any foe and almost killed all the Avengers… twice.
Striker says it’s up against the next-gen model now. He asks the others to make themselves useful. He needs a battle cry. Arsenal watches him, absorbs his electrical blast and counters by swiping Striker with its huge left hand into Reptil. Finesse knew that wouldn’t work, but she has a theory she wishes to test. Veil wonders if she can blind the robot but, as she unravels, it activates a vacuum which begins to suck her inside it. Mettle attempts to punch it, but Arsenal uses a chest repulsor to blast him. This confirms Finesse’s theory.
Watching on their monitors, Hank Pym realizes that it’s Arsenal who is attacking, but it was in pieces when he stored it. Tigra wants to get down there but Quicksilver sits with his arms behind his head, asking calmly what the rush is. Why not give their little know-it-all’s a chance to show what they’ve learned?
In the dining room, Finesse has learned all she needs from this. She hurls a billy club at Arsenal’s chest plate and jams it open. She asks Hazmat to attack it with a full-spectrum burst, now! Crying out that she hates this place, Hazmat does as she is asked and thrusts her hand inside the robot’s chest plate. This does the trick and Arsenal falls as its internal workings explode.
Finesse appears to be impressed by Hazmat’s passion. A moment ago, she was terrified. She herself had solved the mysteries of the electromagnetic spectrum before she bought her first training bra. She mastered robotics by the time she got her learner’s permit. People, though, they are like a foreign language that she cannot understand. She is an expert at everything other that what she needs to get through the rest of her life!
With the robot down, the three teachers appear and Hank asks them if they’re okay. Finesse replies that of course they are. They were never in any real danger. Arsenal was programmed to use non-lethal force. “I’m sorry, what?” asks Striker. Jeanne informs him that, according to Avengers files, Arsenal’s chest cannon has knocked out Wonder Man, but not Mettle. None of them were truly injured. This was a test. Hank admits that it was, but Tigra adds that it was one which they strongly disapproved.
Pietro responds by asking how they are to learn if they only face situations where they know they won’t be hurt. When he was a boy, Magneto would hire assassins to attack him and Wanda in their sleep. Tigra replies that Magneto is a terrorist. They are Avengers. How could he guarantee they wouldn’t be hurt? And, since when was he an A.I. wizard? Pietro motions to Jocasta and explains that he’s not. He had Jocasta rebuild and program Arsenal.
Jocasta admits that she did, though she believed the matter was approved by all instructors. Had she known, she wouldn’t have complied. Hank tells her it’s not her fault. If they all talked more, this kind of thing might be avoided. Jocasta says she is always available for professional discussions but, until Hank accepts that their romantic relationship is over, she thinks it best that they keep a respectable distance.
As Jocasta walks away, Tigra quips that, if he liked it he should have put a ring on it. Hank asks that they keep his private life private. Tigra reckons he should be grateful. ‘Single mom who sheds’ is not a profile that gets a lot of hits on Match.com. Hank apologizes to the students. This shouldn’t have happened, right, Pietro? Pietro replies with sarcasm that he is evil… misguided… but Hank has shown him the light. Hank tells them that besides that, they did well. They displayed bravery and teamwork. If they think this kind of impromptu exercise is valuable they could have others. Reptil reckons they’ll pass. They don’t like being attacked in the middle of breakfast. Hazmat says that they also don’t like being treated like idiots who need to be tricked into learning things. “Or,” adds Veil, “Y’know, lied to.” Hank takes her point and gives them the rest of the morning as a free period. They’ve earned it. Finesse realizes that this is why she is there. There is so much that they can teach her.
(Combat simulation room, later that afternoon)As the students battle solid-light constructs of old Avengers villains such as the Grim Reaper, Ultron and Whirlwind, Hazmat complains vociferously about why they are still there after what they found out that morning. All the teachers have done is lie to them. They told them they were there to be trained because they were the best young superhumans in the world, whereas they’re just the most screwed up and the ones they’re most afraid of. Veil shushes her, but Hazmat asks her to relax. She’s giving off E.M. energy that will interfere with monitoring devices. Anyway, she adds. What does she care if they can hear them? She says they walk. Striker asks where to. Back to her stuffed animals and Twilight posters. She should wise up. She’s radioactive. Her own parents will bury her under a gravel pit.
Hazmat pauses, not believing that they would, but Striker tells her that he knows this is supposed to be some new ‘heroic age’ with the original Captain America making everything all Norman Rockwell and apple pie again, but she should read between the lines. That means there is no place for rejects like them. They have to play along with their program to rehabilitate them or they’ll lock them up with Norman Osborn; the guy who messed them up in the first place and the guy they’re afraid they will end up like.
Reptil says they wouldn’t do that. They’re heroes. Striker reckons they’re just deciding whether they’re villains or not. Mettle asks them to pay attention to the training program as he grabs Ultron’s head. He almost smoked them. They go back into action once again, with Mettle pointing out to Hazmat that whether Striker’s right or not, he doesn’t see that they have any other choice. They both need the teachers to try figure out how to change them back to normal.
The training session is finally shut down, and Hazmat asks Finesse what she thinks. She pauses a moment before replying that she thinks knowledge is power. She thinks they should learn whatever they can teach them and then they can make their own decisions. No one will be able to stand in their way.
(later)Finesse hits the showers and wonders why she hesitated when asked her opinion. She knew what the best strategy was. Was it because they were all looking at her? She finds it ridiculous. She understands the mechanisms of psychology, her fellow students’ self-hate and the tension between their instructors. It’s all so obvious. Yet, every day they surprise her with their behavior. She even surprises herself and that shouldn’t happen. Not to her.Finesse recalls growing up with her parents. She never had difficulty understanding math, science or engineering. When she got older, she played pool and mastered how to play in minutes. The human body and anything it can do is an open book to her. Her parents were too, at first. Anything she did that brought them money, status or acclaim was rewarded. Why, then, were they so reluctant about her coming to the academy. Sure it meant giving up her Olympic training, but her rivals were already trying to get her banned for having superhuman abilities. Never mind that she tested negative for the mutant gene or any other known indicators of paranormal powers.
Her fellow students are no less confounding. She supposes she understands Veil’s crush on Justice in the abstract, but it seems so pointless. He’s older and a teacher. She’s opening herself up to humiliation and disappointment, yet she persists. Why would anyone do that to themselves? She thinks about how people on the autistic spectrum are prone to alexithymia - a deficiency in understanding, processing or describing emotions. Does she have Asperger’s, she wonders? She doesn’t display most of the other signs.
She looks at herself in the mirror and thinks about how psychopaths mimic normal human emotion without truly understanding it. But, she never started fires and cannot tolerate cruelty to animals. That seems as pointless as fantasizing about marrying a teacher… or marriage in general, frankly. She knows that the instructors watch her and know that she’s different. They fear her the most.
She feels that she meant what she said when they learned the truth about Avengers Academy. They have good reason to be afraid of them. Most of them were damaged in some way by Norman Osborn, but she thinks the teachers fear her because she wasn’t. He didn’t have to coerce her, torture her or experiment on her. All he had to do was offer her the chance to learn more - to learn the things she can’t just absorb from books or archival footage such as knife throwing. The Avengers afford her similar opportunities, yet they regard her with suspicion because she embraced those same opportunities when Osborn offered them. That puts her at a disadvantage and she finds it disquieting. However, she reckons she can fix it. It’ll mean leaving her comfort zone but that’s okay. She can do this. She can do anything.
Finesse goes to meet Hank Pym in his lab and asks if he’s busy. He asks what he can do for her. She tells him that she’s having trouble fitting in with the other cadets. Hank replies that they’d noticed. He’s glad to hear she wants something to change. He offers to get Tigra, but Finesse replies that she’s more comfortable talking to him. Pym feels too old to relate to ‘teenage matters,’ and admits that he wasn’t very good at it when he was a teenager.
Finesse says that is her point. He skipped grades the same way she did, so he knows what it’s like. They have a great deal in common. Hank supposes that makes sense. Finesse adds that his late wife, when she became his partner, was around the same age as her, wasn’t she? Uncertain where this conversation is heading, he replies that Janet was older, whilst he was much younger. Finesse finds his reaction interesting. She went too far taking cues from Veil in her interaction with Hank. She could have sworn Justice found her schoolgirl infatuation flattering, but clearly Pym considers it inappropriate to smooth things over.
She apologizes to him for saying that and tells him she just thought he might help her understand. She feels as though she doesn’t know who she is anymore. She’s not even sure her parents are really her parents. Hank replies that it’s a common feeling, but flawed. He’s certain they love her deeply. Jeanne tells him he doesn’t understand. She’s not some wallflower fantasizing that she’s really a princess. Look at her abilities. She can duplicate any action by seeing it performed once. She has a natural aptitude for everything. Doesn’t that sound familiar… like someone the Avengers know?
Hank brings up an image of Taskmaster on screen and admits it occurred to them, too. She tells him that her parents have checkered pasts. Taskmaster ran schools for criminals. “It’s within the realms of possibility that my mother…” Hank interrupts her and asks what it matters. Who she is is defined by her, not by genetics. She replies that he doesn’t really believe that. He’s a scientist and genetics matter a lot. She needs to know the truth. Pym tells her he can’t give her the truth. Taskmaster’s DNA was in government databases at one time but, when he joined Osborn’s administration, he had all the data wiped.
But, he asks her what difference would it make if it was true. The man’s a criminal, a sociopath. Would she want to meet him or want him in her life at all? Finesse admits she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know what it would mean. Finesse thinks to herself that she was trying to elicit sympathy from Pym but he’s even more suspicious than ever. She wonders why this is so hard. Hank presses another switch on the console and tells her does understand something about what it’s like to be young and have power. The possibilities seem endless. And, it’s only natural to be drawn to people who seem strong or confident. In control. Especially when, in spite of her power, she may not feel in control. He’d like her to watch something.
Finesse takes a seat as Quicksilver’s face appears on the video screen. Hank hopes she’ll find it illuminating and if she’d like to, they can talk afterwards. He’ll be around.
The video is a program called Marvels Spotlight and it examines the turbulent life of Pietro Maximoff, better known as Quicksilver. It begins with Pietro and his sister being recruited by a mutant terrorist Magneto, not knowing that he was their biological father. It then moves on to when he joined the Avengers and, in the words of Leonard Samson, ‘Imagine what it took to break from Magneto who held an influence over him comparable to that of a cult leader and reach out to the Avengers, the embodiment of a human power structure Magneto had taught him to fear and hate. This in my opinion was an act of heroism.’
The video then moves on to his relationship with Crystal and the Inhuman Royal Family. Pietro finally seemed to have found a home amongst them; an entire race of outsiders. But, even there he wasn’t one of them and, ultimately, his marriage couldn’t survive the strain. It moves on to a dark period where Quicksilver struggled with mental illness – his increasing paranoia and megalomania eventually bringing him to blows with his former teammates.
As part of his rehabilitation, he joined X-Factor, which was at the time a government-sponsored team of mutants. Psychotherapy was a required condition of membership. It was then that Dr. Samson attained special insight into what it’s like to be the fastest man on Earth. He said, ‘Imagine there’s a long line at the post office, so you go to use their automated machine, but the person in front of you can’t figure out how it works. They’re pressing the wrong buttons, reading the instructions out loud to themselves, hitting cancel and starting all over again, while you could complete both their transactions in under thirty seconds. That’s what every moment of every day is like for Quicksilver. It’s to his credit that he makes any effort to put up with us at all.’
Finesse watches with interest, having not really understood what Pietro has gone through in his short life. The video continues to a more recent time when it was revealed that it was Quicksilver who instigated the war between the Inhumans and Earth, only for it to be revealed that it was actually a shape-changing Skrull, one of many who replaced victims worldwide to pave the way for their invasion. Parental abuse, mental breakdowns, divorce, alien abduction - any one of these would break most people, but Quicksilver has picked himself up and dusted himself off, embarking on a campaign of redemption with the mighty Avengers.
The video moves on to an exclusive interview held with Pietro where he summed up his views. He said it was hard, of course, asking himself every day how he can get better, admitting that he needs the help and support of his friends. That’s difficult, he added. The easy thing would be to run away - something he knows a great deal about, but the bottom line is that the lesson he’s learned through harsh experience is that even for the fastest man on Earth, life does not offer short cuts.
The video ends and Finesse thinks about what she’s seen. Hank appears and asks what she thought. She replies that she found it quite revealing. Hank asks if she’d like to discuss it but she says no. She understood everything she needed to.
Finesse makes her way straight to Quicksilver and she tells him that she watched the video. He trusts she found it educational. “Very,” she replies, “But I never thought of you as the type to care what others think of you.” Pietro says he finds life easier when the townsfolk aren’t trying to burn you at the stake. He adds that he was in the middle of something. Finesse informs him that she’s good with computers. She could help him find his sister. “My sister?” he replies. She thinks that’s what he’s doing, right? Looking for the Scarlet Witch? She wonders if he’s thought about what happens after he finds her. She went crazy and killed several Avengers. She doubts she will be welcomed back with open arms.
Pietro replies that his family is none of her concern. She should say what she came to say while he still has a sliver of patience left to listen to it. She says it’s about the Skrull who took his place and did all those awful things. “I’m aware of what the creature did,” he replies. “Your point?” She turns to him and says, “There was no Skrull, was there?” Pietro refutes the accusation, but Jeanne explains that she’s reviewed the reports of all the Avengers who were taken by the Skrulls and none of them mentioned ever seeing him among the captives. This supposed ‘Skrull’ regained his lost mutant powers by exposing himself to the Terrigen Mists, but they don’t affect Skrulls that way. She has more.
Pietro turns and tells her she’s making a fool of herself, spewing accusations without proof. Jeanne tells him she doesn’t need proof. The charge alone would be enough to make the others suspicious and make them look into it. Is that something he wants? Pietro replies that Pym already knows. Jeanne reckons he keeps quiet because he’s made mistakes himself. He believes in second chances, but what about the others? What if Tigra found out, or Justice or the media? She thinks Pietro is so desperate to disassociate himself from his father, but he’s just like him.
Pietro turns angrily. “Enough!” he barks. “Are you trying to blackmail me, girl. Me! Do you have any idea who I am?” Jeanne moves her face towards his and closes her eyes, saying she’d like to learn. She wants him to give her private lessons. She then opens her eyes and informs him that unless he wants the world to know his secrets, he will teach her what Magneto taught him in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.


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Scared Straight Part One: Boyfriend in a Coma
(flashback)Hazmat recalls how she came to discover her powers. It was all so perfect. She was on the honor roll and on track for a scholarship without selling her soul to conform. Her parents weren’t crazy. Boring, maybe, but in a good way… the way that brings home lots of money to spend on the kids. She had a DVR, iPad, a platinum card with a four-figure limit and pretty much everything she wanted. And, she had Greg. He was cute and funny and romantic. She didn’t know if they were in love but they were as close as you can get at sixteen in the twenty-first century. It was perfect, until one day, it wasn’t.Fumbling around on his bed the couple kissed, but Greg quickly sat up and coughed, wiping his mouth. She asked if he was okay and he replied that he was fine. He just swallowed wrong. Jenny asked if he was sure. He looked a little green. He replied that he’d been waiting for this moment since he figured out that girls weren’t just for throwing spitballs at. He wanted it to be perfect and wanted it to be with her. He wasn’t going to let a tickle in his throat ruin it for them. Jenny grabbed him and kissed him again, but this time Greg pulled back and his eyes betrayed his shock. He then fell to the floor, foaming at the mouth as Jenny stood over him, just as much in shock as Greg was.
Visiting a doctor, it turned out that Greg was in a coma caused by some kind of neurotoxin. At first, everyone was worried that Jenny had been exposed to it too until they realized that the toxin actually came from her. Then, everyone ran away. Her body was seething with deadly substances. Her spit could kill a lab rat. She was the all-American girl one day and a walking W.M.D. the next. The doctors said the trigger event for her powers was probably the excitement of being with Greg. ‘Safe sex’ was not an option where she was concerned.
She didn’t even have to look outside to know San Francisco was a sanctuary for mutants. Too bad for her that she wasn’t a mutant. She was just a freak. Greg woke a week later. He didn’t want to see her and she couldn’t really blame him. Her parents wanted to sue. They said Roxxon, where they worked, exposed her to something when she was little that caused all this. Greg’s parents wanted her arrested and the doctors wanted to write about her in their journals. The one thing that nobody wanted was to get anywhere near her… except Norman Osborn.
He said she was special and that he could fix her; show her how to control her powers by turning them off and on again. He said she could either stay where she was, getting prodded and poked by idiots, or she could go with him. She went, but he lied. He didn’t fix her. In fact he made matters worse. He had Baron Von Blitzschlag experiment on her and turned her into what she is now - powers jacked up high she could level a city; trapped in a suit for the rest of her life so she doesn’t kill anyone. Making sure she doesn’t get too close to the others in case it gets punctured, making her like a damn leper. Sure, she has anger issues, and she doesn’t think primal scream therapy will help because she doesn’t think she’d ever stop.
(present)The students train against weird green, mantis-like robots. Whilst Hazmat, Mettle and Striker take them on, she notices Finesse and Striker enjoying a kiss nearby. Finesse tells Humberto that he’s finally kissed a girl and everyone noticed. She hopes this makes up for her embarrassing him. Humberto reckons it does. Mettle asks him how it was. “Weird,” he replies. Striker calls over to Finesse and tells her that there are a couple of things he’s never done. She replies that if it’s up to her, he never will. Veil recons they look cute together, but Hazmat isn’t so accommodating. She reckons they might as well buy him one of those human-sized anime pillows. They’d bring more passion to the relationship.Ken asks her not to be such a buzzkill. If she’s feeling left, out he’ll kiss her. She reminds him that he doesn’t have lips and Ken agrees, but then adds that she doesn’t see him harshing on anyone else’s vibe just because he can’t share it. Hazmat turns on him and tells him she’ll harsh on his ugly face! Veil asks them to calm down before Justice appears and asks if everything’s all right. He uses his telekinetic power to raise Hazmat and Mettle off the ground, but Jenny informs him that it’s just teenage drama. He shouldn’t worry about it. Can he put them down now?
Justice replies that he wanted to give them a heads up. Do they remember how Dr. Pym said their faculty could be anyone who’s ever been an Avenger? Well, they’ll have guest instructors over the next couple of days and Friday they’re taking a field trip to the Raft. It’s the premier detention facility for superhuman criminals. One of the Avengers, Luke Cage, is helping run it. They figure it’s their best first encounter with the bad guys while they’re behind bars. So, can they save their fighting for the sparring sessions?
(soon)Iron Fist takes the class in intermediate hand-to-hand combat. As he spars with Finesse, Reptil comments that it’s awesome about the Raft. They’ve got to be starting to trust them if they’d let them in there. Hazmat asks if he’s really that dense. She explains that Luke Cage is in charge of the Thunderbolts program. They try to rehabilitate bad guys. This isn’t a field trip. It’s ‘scared straight.’ Striker reckons she’s right. He had it at his school for the ‘at risk’ kids. You bring youthful offenders into a prison and a bunch of inmates hoping to earn privileges scare the hell out of ‘em. They yell at them about riots and getting shanked and what happens when you drop soap in the shower. They’re trying, he adds, to scare them into being heroes because they think it’s the only way it’ll stick.Meanwhile, Iron Fist has Finesse in a body lock. He informs them that there’s a difference between replicating an opponent’s technique and knowing when and why they’re used. He tells Finesse that her physical skills are impressive, but her spiritual education is the key to realizing her potential as a warrior and as a human being. Hazmat whispers to Striker, thinking it’s rich that Mister ‘I wish I was an Asian’ is preaching spiritual purity while their sensei’s lie to them every chance they get. Striker agrees. They haven’t even done anything and they’re putting them on the same level as mass murderers like Crossbones and Norman freakin’ Osborn.
Hazmat is surprised when he mentions Osborn is locked up at the Raft. Striker tells her it was all over TMZ. Jenny thinks about it. She and Osborn in a jail full of homicidal maniacs. She apologizes to Mettle and tells him he’s right. They have a lot in common and should be helping each other instead of getting all Maury Povich. Mettle replies that it’s cool. As she watches Iron Fist kick Reptil in the face, everything is right in her world once more.
(meanwhile)Tigra and Hank Pym discuss the visit to the Raft. Tigra asks if Hank’s sure it’s safe. They’re just kids after all. Hank replies that Luke assured him that security at the prison is impregnable. He’ll be on site as well just in case something happens. He asks how the guest instructors are working out. Tigra says they’re great. Mettle and Reptil spent the last two days putting on pyjamas and imitating Iron Fist and he’s got Valkyrie in a special session with the girls as they speak.Tigra is pleased because studies show that girls thrive in single-sex classrooms, especially at subjects society deems ‘male.’ Math, science… armed combat. She wants them to meet women who’ve gone toe-to-toe with the Red Hulk and lived. Hank says he’s familiar with the research and he’s all for it. He just wants to make sure Val knows that she’s teaching them combat.
(elsewhere)Valkyrie is holding court before Veil, Hazmat and Finesse. In her own inimitable tone and holding a stein of mead, she proceeds to tell them that men will inevitably disappoint them, intellectually, on the battlefield and, most of all, in the bedchamber. She explains that many of the Valkyrie embrace a vow of chastity. It does wonders for focusing a warrior’s mind on what’s truly important. Cleaving Skulls! But, she recognizes that it can be difficult, especially for youths to ignore the natural appetites of the healthy female body. She is pleased to report that one need not turn to a male for satisfaction in this area. “Mortal men have devised…”Tigra rushes in and cries out Val’s name, stopping her before she goes that one step too far. She asks Val what she’s doing. She’s supposed to be teaching them to fight. Valkyrie replies that she is. She’s teaching them to fight the oppression of the phallocentric society they live in. She points to the three steins of mead sitting before the girls and asks if she’s crazy. They’re teenagers! She replies that, at their age, an Asgardian sword-maiden has eviscerated rock trolls by the score.
As they discuss matters, Hazmat whispers to Veil and mentions that she was tortured by Osborn too, right? She doesn’t need a response as Striker saw her file and told him she was. She knows that Veil’s powers are killing her and some day she’ll fade away because of what Osborn did to her. Veil admits that it’s true. Jenny mentions that they’re going to the Raft tomorrow where they’re holding him. She reckons they should pay Osborn a visit when they get there and tell him to tell them how to get back to normal. Does she want in? Veil isn’t sure. What if he can’t? What if he won’t? Hazmat replies that he will. She’ll make him.
Tigra informs them that they’re going to move into the sparring room and no, they can’t take their mead. She asks Hazmat not to worry about her suit. They have wooden swords for her. Hazmat asks Veil to let her know. Soon.
(Infinite Avengers Mansion Hangar)Hank gives them one last pointer before they head to the Raft. They shouldn’t touch anything or speak to any of the inmates unless instructed to. Tigra adds that they must not look at the Purple Man’s face or read his lips... especially the girls. If they hear voices in their head or feel strange urges, they should alert the teachers immediately. Striker is a little blasé and says they all saw Silence of the Lambs. Quicksilver warns him that this is not a joke. They have to muzzle Crossbones to keep him from using his own teeth as projectile weapons. They will listen and do as they are told.Mettle turns to Hazmat and says Veil told him about her master plan. She thought they all have something in common. Jenny asks what he thinks. Mettle replies that he thinks it would be nice to have lips. Nearby, Hank informs Justice that if Speedball’s not ready they’ll have to leave without him. Vance asks him to give him a second.
(Speedball’s quarters)Justice pays Robbie a visit and tells him he doesn’t have to do this. Robbie replies that he does. He mentions that Vance spent time in prison, too. He faced his mistakes and moved on from them. If he’s ever gonna put his time as Penance behind him, he has to do the same thing. Vance assures him that he won’t have to do it alone. Robbie appreciates it and asks if he can have a minute. Vance leaves and Robbie rolls up his sleeve to reveal all the scars up his arms. He makes one more cut and rolls his sleeve back down.(later at the Raft maximum security federal penitentiary)The Academy teachers and students arrive and are greeted by Luke Cage, standing in the pouring rain. He leads them inside past cells containing some of the most heinous individuals the country has to offer. He leads them past the cells of the Mandrill and Grizzly and they both make lewd comments. Veil asks Luke if he’s certain they can’t get out. Striker mentions that the place does seem to have a reputation as a revolving door for these freaks. Luke replies that it did before but now the whole island’s surrounded by a force field. They’ve got power dampeners specially tailored for each inmate and A.I. controlled guns. They learned a lesson from Electro’s little coming out party back in the day and backed up the high tech with low tech. Nobody’s getting out of there… not in one piece, anyway.Reptil looks inside a cell and reckons it’s the ones who don’t say anything that freak him out. Luke agrees. The crazies stay with you. Reptil says it’s not Vermin. It’s Crossbones. Can he make him stop looking at him. “Make him stop!” Luke leads them away from there and asks him not to be ashamed. He’s been around a long time and there are days he doesn’t want to set foot in the place. But, there’s a reason he stays. He points to a sign and informs them that the Thunderbolts program has always been about redemption. These days it’s a chance for inmates to turn their lives around. It doesn’t matter how messed up they are or what kinda hell they’ve been through; the only thing that determines where they go from there is them. He would like them to talk to a few of them but warns them to be ready for the answers.
The first person they see is the Ghost. He informs them that prison is an unpleasant place. Imagine being surrounded by your inferiors, persecuted for your intellect and for being a free thinker. Of course, he adds, that’s what the prison-industrial complex does. It perpetuates and enriches itself by incarcerating anyone who challenges their power structure. He asks who profits from all this. He begins to ramble on about Tony Stark’s involvement in the Bilderberg Group and the Illuminati, but Luke grabs him and tells him that’s enough. Someone hasn’t been taking their meds.
They move on to the Juggernaut, who tells them that his old man didn’t drink coffee. He woke up by beating the hell out of him. All he ever wanted, he explains, was power. Enough power so no one could ever push him around again. He got it and it didn’t change a damn thing. Guys like his dad and his brother, the punks who run the Raft… they’ve been pushing him around all his life. When you’re wired to think like a victim, that’s all you’ll ever be. He doesn’t care what they’ve been through. If they let fear pull their strings and decide what they do, they’re as much a prisoner as anyone there.
Next, they go and see Moonstone. She tells Speedball that they miss him in the Thunderbolts but it’s good to see him again, even in his ridiculous outfit. It’s so not him. He replies that she had her chance to decide what was him when she drugged and brainwashed him. Unlike her, he got better and moved on. She asks if that’s why, in that case, he’s threatening her with the blue kinetic energy he used as Penance. She says Speedball’s energy signature was orange as she recalls. Robbie has no reply to that, so Hank tells Dr. Sofen that’s enough. She’s there to provide her opinion as a psychiatrist only. Any other comments will earn a week in solitary. She’s had the chance to observe the students. What does she think?
Karla replies that they’re a damaged little group. Hank admits that they’ve been through trauma, thanks to her friend Norman Osborn. But, he wants to hear how she thinks they’ll function on the team. Moonstone reckons they’ll fit in perfectly. It makes a girl want to reform the Masters of Evil and storm Avengers headquarters again. An angry Tigra grabs Moonstone around the neck as she asks, sarcastically, if he meant will the fit in as Avengers? She thinks there’s one silver lining. They’ll make everyone forget what a mess he is. Hank asks Tigra to get her out of there. Meanwhile, Reptil raises his hand and Juggernaut asks what he needs to know. Humberto asks meekly, “Um… could you say ‘nothing can stop the Juggernaut?” Cain sighs. “Sure.”
Hazmat, unseen by all, uses her energy manipulation to cut the lights. Hank warns Juggernaut not to make a move but he tells Hank that, if he wanted to leave, he’s not going to stop him. Justice asks Quicksilver if he can give them a recon. He replies that he might break his neck in the dark. He was under the impression this wasn’t meant to happen there. Hank tries operating some of his equipment but nothing works. He figures they’ve been hit with an electromagnetic pulse. He explains that his pockets are actually portals to subatomic dimensions so he should have working devices in seconds. He adds that their first priority is to ensure the safety of the students. Quicksilver asks if he’d be so kind as to get the door for him, but they realize that it’s been torn off its hinges.
Pietro asks Luke what happened but Luke says he’s not sure. He thought it was Juggernaut. Nearby, Reptil tells Finesse and Striker that it must have been Mettle. He’s missing and so are Hazmat and Veil. The three missing students make their way through the facility and come to Crossbones’ cell. Hazmat asks where Osborn’s cell is. He asks why but is met with a glowing fist. “One floor down, third cell on the left,” he replies. He asks her to do him a favor and leave the doors open so he can hear the screams.
They soon find themselves standing before Osborn. “Well, aren’t you a sight,” he says upon seeing them. He tells Hazmat that they didn’t know she could generate an electromagnetic pulse, did they? He did and he knew she’d learn but he admits he’s surprised at how soon she did it. He couldn’t be more proud. He mentions that they have EMP shielded backup systems which will go online in minutes. Hazmat replies coldly, “That’s okay. You’ll be dead by then.”


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Scared Straight Part Two: Fix You
(flashback - Hawaii)Kenny Mack is surfing as usual. He’s always been big and he’s always been mellow. Some people think that it’s a weird combo… usually folks who’ve never been to Hawaii. He was born to it; born to the beach and born to the board. His crew was laid back and his folks too. Life was easy. Nothing seemed worth getting bummed about. Things happen, like falling off your board. You simply get back on and try again. First though, you stop and soak it all in, thinking about how awesome it was before the fall. That’s what he holds on to. The sun on his face and the sound of the waves.
He is flipped by a large wave and settles into the water. As he sees another surfer heading straight towards him, this is going to be his last good day. Everything goes black and when he finally comes round, the first things he can sense are the voices of people standing over him. “The hell happened?” asks one. “Stupid wax boy hit ‘im dead on,” replies another. “Get him out of the water! Call 911,” says a third. Ken opens his eyes and sees the strangers standing there. Their faces tell him something bad has happened. One guy tells him to stay where he is and that help is on the way. Kenny sits up and asks what the matter is. He feels fine! What he doesn’t know is that half of his skin has gone, revealing a strange, metallic and red second skin underneath.
Before long, a rescue helicopter arrives along with Kenny’s mother. One guy assures him that it’s gonna be okay. The paramedics will take him to the mainland where there are doctors who know how to deal with this kind of thing. His mother gives him some crystals and asks him to visualize being whole. His body will then heal. “Heal?” asks Kenny. What’s happening to him?
(later)Kenny is linked to a machine and remains silent as a doctor speaks with Norman Osborn. He explains that there seems to be a transformation occurring under the skin. In the region of the trauma, it appears to have accelerated. Osborn surmises that it’s a defense mechanism. Kenny asks if he’s gonna be okay, and Norman tells him not to worry. He asks Ken to breathe deeply. He introduces himself and assures him that everything’s going to be just fine.
(later again)Osborn asks Kenny how he’s feeling. Kenny tentatively replies that he’s okay and asks if he did it. Did he fix him? Osborn replies yes. He did indeed. He looks at Kenny who no longer has any of his original skin left. What remains is a red metallic skin and a skull-like face.
(present - The Raft Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary)Veil, Hazmat and Mettle stand outside Norman Osborn’s cell. Veil is surprised that Hazmat wishes to kill him. She told them they were seeing Osborn so he could fix them and tell them how to get back to normal. Veil tells her to grow up. If Dr. Pym can’t fix them nobody can. This is about making Osborn pay! Veil asks her to hold on. She didn’t sign on for this. She asks Mettle to tell her, but Kenny instead grabs the cell door in his huge fingers and wrenches it from its hinges. He then strides inside the cell and grabs Osborn by the throat.
Veil tries to hold him back to no avail. Mettle asks why they shouldn’t do this He deserves it. He reminds Veil that she’s going to die. She will just drift away like a cloud. Dr. Pym says he could live forever like this. He can’t touch or feel. He has a face that make his sister scream. He asks Osborn if he knows what he did to them? Does he have any idea? Osborn smiles back at him and replies that he made them magnificent.
Osborn explains that he gave them the tools to rise above the sheep, and he doesn‘t mean their powers. Yes, he augmented them, but powers without direction is just sound and fury. What he provided them with is the means to control their own destiny. The strength, the motivation and the example. “You ruined our lives,” replies Mettle. Osborn laughs at the idea. He says that Pym is ruining their lives with his colorful uniforms and priority identicards and secret clubhouses. He knows what they’re capable of and he’s trying to leash them before they figure it out for themselves.
Mettle, still with his fingers around Osborn’s throat, tells him they’re not talking about Pym. Osborn took everything they had and now he’s gonna suffer for it. Osborn remarks that he’d forgotten how histrionic his son was at their age. He asks what it is they want. Is it more control over their abilities? The freedom to have awkward inept sex with their inferiors without killing them? He can give them that easily. Mettle is surprised at the last part and he relaxes his grip, letting Osborn go.
Hazmat warns them that Osborn’s lying. Pym’s smarter than he is and he can’t help them. Osborn replies that Pym is shackled by his closed-mindedness and fear. What he would no doubt call “professional ethics.” He never could have brought them to this point but he seems to have no problem exploiting them now that he’s done it. He asks if it has occurred to them that he may already have the answers but is withholding them to give himself leverage over them. He would give them everything they want. He would have given his time, but unfortunately he’s hit a bump in the road. Veil asks if he’s saying what she think he’s saying. “Fix you. Yes,” he replies.
Hazmat reckons that he’s trying to play them and manipulate the team into breaking him out of there when the power comes back on. Osborn informs her that it’s too late for that. The alarms have sounded and the backup systems will kick in at any moment. He’s afraid it won’t be today, but it will be someday soon. He’d like to finish what he started with them and show them the unlimited potential that lies within them. The greatness. The realization of their fondest dreams and some they never knew they had. He advises that they go. They don’t want Pym and his cronies thinking they’re too cozy. But, they should know that he’s very proud of them. “Run along now.”
(Thunderbolts Tower)Luke Cage heads off with Juggernaut. He asks Pym if he didn’t drill his kids into knowing what to do in emergencies. “Many times,” replies Pym. Cage whisks Juggernaut away. They need to find the kids before they get themselves killed. Pym tells him that they’ll search as well. If there’s any trouble with the prisoners, they’ll handle it.
Reptil doesn’t get it. Why would Mettle, Veil and Hazmat leave without saying anything? Striker replies that it’s probably because they’re weenies. They probably ran for the nearest Quinjet the second the lights went out. Finesse reckons that makes no sense. If they’re afraid, the safest place is there with Mr. Cage and the instructors. Tigra says she knows where they went. Pym replies that it occurred to him too. Does she really think… “I would,” she answers. Pym shrinks in size and asks Quicksilver to run him to the cells. He orders Justice, Speedball and Tigra to follow them. They need to make sure the inmates are secure and if he’s wrong about where the kids are… well, he hopes that he isn’t.
Moments later and Pietro and Hank are at Norman Osborn’s cell. Osborn calmly informs him that his students just tried to kill him. Clearly, he isn’t teaching them manners. He looks at Quicksilver. “Still his errand boy I see,” he quips. Hank grabs Osborn by his jacket. “Students? How’d you know?” he cries. Osborn tells him he still has more friends then he would imagine. Hank demands to know where they are, but Osborn says he has no idea. They stormed in posturing like the Punisher but lacking his killer instinct. Perhaps Pym beat it out of them?
Pym asks Pietro to remain there until the power comes back on and to make sure Osborn doesn’t escape. Osborn replies that escape is for convicts. He is a political prisoner. He has every confidence he will walk out of there - his freedom won by those who believe in him.
(elsewhere)Mettle, Veil and Hazmat make their way from the cells. Hazmat can’t stand that they believed Osborn. Veil says she doesn’t know. She just knows she doesn’t want to kill anybody. She left him there too. Hazmat knows that and she wants to punch herself because she doesn’t know why. Mettle turns and replies that it’s because they’re all drowning, and he might have a life preserver.
Suddenly, the wall crashes in on them and through it comes a huge guy with Justice, Speedball and Tigra hanging on to him. Tigra warns them that his name is Powderkeg, and anything he hits explodes. Powderkeg scatters the heroes and the three kids by smashing the ground. Veil and Mettle fall through the hole into the room below where they discover Juggernaut standing there. He puts his hand on Mettle’s shoulder and tells him it’s the end of the road. Mettle turns quickly and punches Cain Marko in the face. “Get off me! he cries. He unleashes on Juggernaut, punching him again and again, but Cain is big enough to take it. He tells Mettle that it looks like he’s enjoying himself. He’d better watch out or he could take off someone’s head. That would ruin his whole G.P.A.
Veil has more pressing problems. She is petrified as she faces Man-Thing. Mettle asks her to mist up. He recognizes Man-Thing and he asks her to remember their T-Bolt briefings. Cain says it won’t matter if she’s gas, stone or ice. If she’s scared of him, she’ll burn. “If he touches you.” He claps his hands together and Veil unravels, scattering to the corners of the room. He explains that his teammate is drawn to emotions. He guessing that their teen dramas are like an ‘all you can eat’ sign. He grabs Man-Thing and tells them he’ll get him back to the terrarium. They should head back to the tower. If anyone messes with them, he suggests, Mettle can just hit them. It seems to be his thing.
Veil asks Ken if he’s okay. Mettle looks at his clenched fist and tells Veil that it’s the first time in his life that he’s been in a fight with something alive. He was always so big that nobody messed with him. He never hit anyone before… never wanted to. He knew he could be killing Juggernaut, but he didn’t want to stop. Veil reckons they should find Hazmat. She thinks she’s not far away.
Nearby, Hazmat is surrounded by several inmates who are scaring the guards. One of them notices Hazmat. “Ha!” he exclaims, “Lookee here… a little lost lamb.” He stands tall over Hazmat and informs her that she’s just been elected hostage. She must do whatever he says. Hazmat orders him to get back to his cell or she’ll give him cancer. The guy is visibly shocked, and puts his hands up. He remarks that usually they just smacked you in the mouth…
Hazmat then hears a warning shout, but it’s too late. She is punched from behind by another inmate. Veil and Mettle appear and the sight of downed guards as well as Hazmat upsets Veil. Mettle tells her to mist up and get out of there, but she doesn’t want to leave him. Before he can argue the point, the instructors turn up. Wasp grows to giant-size and grabs one of them whilst Tigra, Justice and Speedball take on the others. The fight is over in seconds.
At that moment the lights come back on and Wasp asks Tigra if she’s okay. She stops clawing Vermin’s face and licks the blood from her hands. “Cat versus mouse,” she tells Hank. “What do you think?” Justice notices that Speedball is bleeding, but he reckons it’s just a scratch. Vance guesses they should get these guys back to their cells and figure out exactly what happened.
(soon)“Sweet Christmas!” bellows Luke Cage. Veil, Hazmat and Mettle are on the receiving end of a verbal tirade. He tells them that if they wanna kill Osborn, then fine. They can get in line. However, there’s no excuse for being stupid. They could have set him free or got who knows how many people killed… not to mention themselves! Hazmat replies that he doesn’t know what Osborn did to them, but Luke informs them that Osborn put a bomb on his heart and went after his wife. Do they see him trying to tear off the door to his cell? He asks Hank to take over before he starts cursin’ for real.
Hank apologizes to Luke. He knows he is right. It was reckless and dangerous and he shares the blame. Given their history, he should have thought twice before bringing them to the Raft. He tells the students that he understands how they feel, but they need to understand the magnitude of what almost happened. He asks for an honest answer. Did they have anything to do with the blackout?
Veil, Mettle and Hazmat don’t know what to say. Mettle realizes that it might be the last chance he has to ever be the guy he once was. However, he tells Hank no… they wouldn’t even know how. They talked about going after Osborn and fantasizing, but when the lights went out it seemed like fate. However, they couldn’t hurt him, even after everything he did. They just couldn’t.
Hank says all right. He accepts that they made a mistake and they will be disciplined for it. But, what they didn’t do today is just as significant as what they did. They all understand why they wanted to kill Osborn, but when the time came they walked away. That speaks to their character… to the kind of people they are. He doesn’t want to minimize what they did and how wrong it was, but they made the right choice in the end. It gives him hope for everything they’re doing.
Hank then tells Luke that he’ll work with him to pinpoint the blackout’s cause. There are no shortage of suspects. He’ll be back tomorrow with repair-bots to fix the damage. He’s sure he can improve the backup systems’ response time. Luke doesn’t really care. He just wants Hank to leave the kids at home next time or they’ll end up in the cell next to Osborn.
The kids climb aboard the Quinjet. Mettle looks at the water below. He can still hear the waves but every day it’s a little harder to remember what the sun feels like. The wind, the sand, a board under his feet. Being mellow, even. He looks at Veil and thinks she looks ashamed; like she wants to say something. Hazmat looks like she’ll stab her in the neck if she so much as writes it in her diary. He believes that Hazmat’s right, though. They couldn’t tell the truth or they’d never get near the place again, and he can’t close that door just yet. He’s not sure what Veil and Hazmat are thinking about regarding Osborn. He isn’t sure what he’s thinking himself. But, he can’t give up on that chance that someday he’ll look in the mirror and recognize himself again. He used to cling to that last good day on the surf like it was a life preserver, but every day that passes, it’s more like an anchor. And man, is it dragging him down.


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Teach Your Children
Tigra is with Hazmat, Striker and Veil and she wants to make her position quite clear. She explains that they broke the law, endangered lives and engaged in unacceptable behavior. “You’re expelled from Avengers Academy.” Hazmat says she’s got to be kidding. They did this for her. They found the guy who assaulted her and gave him a beating his grandkids will feel. Tigra doesn’t wish to have them use her to justify their actions. She’d dealt with it in her own way. She asks, rhetorically, what they did anyway. They found out the Hood, one of the worst criminals they’ve faced, had escaped from prison and they located him. Instead of arresting him or calling them, they beat him up, put it on the internet and let him go!Striker says he loves the part where no one mentions that they were shot at. Tigra replies that this would never have happened if they’d shown any sense. Now every human being that the maniac kills is on their heads. She turns her back and asks them to be out by morning. They’re done at the Academy.
Veil turns to Hank Pym and pleads with him, reminding him that, without his help, she will die. Hank assures her that she’s not going to die. Tigra’s just… He asks them to go home for the time being. Be with their parents. He’ll call them back when they’ve figured some things out. Mettle tries to remind Jenny that he told her not to do it but she tells him to get bent. She thinks to hell with this. They can’t expel her. She quits! Striker agrees with her. He reckons this will just make them more famous, like Conan O’Brien. He thinks they’ll have a TV deal by Thursday. Mettle assures Veil that it’ll be okay.
Reptil says that he is class leader. He should never have let this happen. Finesse agrees. He shouldn’t. He displayed no leadership whatsoever. Reptil turns and tells her to go to hell. Finesse says she was agreeing with him, but it’s too late. She is surprised by the drama and the histrionics. The teachers are as bad as the students and now they’re supposed to go to their parents from whom she can learn nothing.
She heads over to a lab and finds Quicksilver quickly moving things around. She informs him that they’ve been told to visit their parents. Pietro replies that she’s still there, annoying him. “How sadly surprising.” She mentions her theory about how her real father is Taskmaster. He trains criminals. Her parents were criminals. The timings line up and their photo-reflex abilities are virtually identical. He’s the parent she wishes to find. She wants some answers once and for all and he wants Pietro to help her. “Or you’ll reveal my darkest secrets to the world?” he replies. He is quite familiar with the extortion threats by now. Still, he sighs, the alternative is a faculty meeting and frankly, he’d rather have his brain extracted through his nose.
He says he’ll help her. They’ve just identified a training facility which Taskmaster established in Nevada which appears to have been recently abandoned. However, its contents haven’t yet been inventoried, so perhaps there’ll be something useful which will lead them to him. If they can apprehend him, they can test his DNA. Granted, he adds, searching through files is only slightly less tedious than listening to Tigra sermonize, but he supposes he should resign himself to it.
(Infinite Avengers Mansion Faculty Meeting Room)Justice and Tigra are not seeing eye-to-eye. He can’t decide what upsets him more. That he made such a horrible decision or that she did it without consulting them. Tigra says she didn’t realize it would be open for discussion. They’re guilty of aggravated assault! Justice reminds her that she was also when she beat up the Hood’s gang. Tigra reckons that was different. Norman Osborn was in charge of national security and he’d branded them outlaws. He made the Hood a government employee. She’s not saying there wasn’t some element of revenge to what she did, but maybe she learned something from all that.Justice agrees: a lesson she’s not giving the kids a chance to learn. Tigra replies snarkily that she’d take this conversation more seriously if he didn’t have a relationship with Veil that borders on ‘To Catch a Predator.’ Justice can’t believe she’s suggesting he would do anything inappropriate with her. Tigra replies that he may not have laid a hand on her but even a blind person could see the way he eats up the hero worship… the things he does to encourage her crush on him.
Hank grows in size and gets in between them. He says this is getting them nowhere. He thinks it’s obvious where they stand. “Speedball?” Robbie says he’s with Vance which doesn’t surprise Tigra in the slightest. Robbie explains that he’s with Vance because these kids haven’t done anything they can’t come back from… yet! Once they do, it’ll be too late and they’ll have more criminals who can blow up a city or turn a school bus into an electric chair. He doesn’t wish to downplay the incident, but saying it makes it that much more important for them to work even harder to get them off the path they’re on.
Hank asks Jocasta for her thoughts. She replies that Avengers Academy was formed to help troubled young superhumans salvage their lives rather than throw them away. She believes that by abandoning them when circumstances are difficult is contrary to the reason that they are there. Tigra walks towards the door and says fine. They can bring back the delinquents. Hell, she adds, throw them a kegger. If they’re not gone, she is.
(Nevada)Quicksilver and Finesse easily take down a bunch of hired employees in the Taskmaster’s facility, which wasn’t quite as abandoned as they thought. Quicksilver says he’s found nothing which could lead them to Taskmaster, but he thanks her for the excuse to leave the meeting, which, by the constant buzzing on his card, he still needs to attend. Finesse replies that she’d like to carry out a more thorough search through Taskmaster’s files. Pietro reckons the others would frown on it, but he has experience with unorthodox fathers, as annoyingly Oedipal as it sounds. If he is her father, then helping bring him down will let her forge her own identity. He does, however, ask her to signal him if there’s any trouble. Taskmaster is one of their deadliest foes and they should underestimate him at their peril.As soon as Quicksilver departs, Taskmaster makes his presence known, leaping down towards Finesse with sword in hand. A throwing star narrowly misses her head, as if to grab her attention. He tells Finesse that he knows her. They say she has skills like him. If that’s true, she might just live to see prom night. She asks him to wait. “I… I think you’re my father.” Taskmaster replies that her comments brings to mind something his dad used to say. “I brought you into this world. I’ll take you out!” He brings his sword down but Finesse blocks it with her Billy clubs.
(Infinite Avengers Mansion)Pietro arrives back and spots Tigra. He asks surely they haven’t finished trading self-righteous platitudes just yet? She replies that the meeting’s still going on but she’s done. He asks if she was overruled. Tigra replies that they all think they can turn those nasty little narcissists into another ‘you.’ Well, so does she, which is why she’s quitting. Pietro says he’s gutted by her well-aimed barbs. They strike to the very heart of him. She turns and slashes with her claws, asking him to go away. Pietro tells her she’s employing one of Magneto’s old tactics. He delighted in placing him and Wanda into situations where they’d rescue some poorly educated peons from a fire or whatnot, only to have them brand them witches and try to kill them.Then, he adds, he would save them, tell them how much better they are than ignorant humans and that only he understood their true greatness. He feels that, by expelling the students for coming to her defense, she’s just serving them up on a platter for the first master manipulator that comes along. Congratulations, he smiles. She’s managed to achieve the opposite of what she formed Avengers Academy to do.
Tigra replies that the students need to learn that actions have consequences. Pietro agrees, but learning something does little good if one never has an opportunity to use the newly acquired knowledge. She calms down, smiles and informs him that his cologne makes him smell like a French gigolo. He replies that her scent calls to mind the snow leopard enclosures at the Bronx Zoo. He thinks they can agree never to get this close to one another again. “Hm?”
Tigra tells him she wanted so badly to do what they did to the Hood that she fantasized about it. But, even when they were outlaws and she was attacking the Hood’s gang, when she could justify it by saying they were in a guerrilla war, it made her sick to her stomach. Those kids were proud of themselves. What does that say about them? Pietro replies that it says they’re young and that their parents certainly aren’t providing good role models. If she decides to leave, could she let him know? Her bathroom is bigger than his and he’d like an upgrade, assuming the drains aren’t full of furballs.
(Nevada)Finesse bats another throwing star away with her club and kicks at Taskmaster. He asks if that’s all she’s got. What’s the matter, he asks, she doesn’t like weapons that do damage? She flips over and replies that she likes them but her teachers don’t. She flips the sword from his hand and into hers, instantly bringing it down on his shield. She then kicks him in the stomach and punches him in the chin sending him flying.He gets up and tells her that she disappoints him. Daredevil vs. Bullseye on live TV? That’s what she’s got for him. He reckons her generation isn’t interested. If it ain’t on the internet, it doesn’t exist. He throws his shield at her to force her to the side and follows up by kicking her in the face, knocking off her face mask. He then punches her and asks if she knows who’s got a hell of a library? The government, that’s who. They’ve got footage of the original Angel. He made it through the big one with no powers. Helluva fighter. He uses a lariat and wraps it round her neck, pushing his heel down on her back to tighten it. He explains that the American Avenger choked people with one and turned it into an art form.
Finesse, however, isn’t done yet. She crouches quickly and throws Taskmaster to the floor. She replies that she fought Iron Fist in person. She picks up the sword and explains that she trained in swordsplay with Valkyrie. She pins his cape to the wall behind him and cracks him in the head with her knee, adding that she’s fought Steve Rogers herself. She doesn’t need his damn newsreels! As she strikes again, he calls time on their battle. It’s all fun and games ‘til someone loses an eye, he quips. “You’re giving up?” she asks. He laughs and tells her she has moxie. He’ll give her that. “Damn cape. I know it’s a liability but I love the way it looks,” he adds. He tells her that there’s no point fighting unless she wants to try and take him in. She pauses and then asks, “Could I?” He says maybe someday.
He informs her that he heard the speculation as soon as the students hit the airwaves. He’s got to admit, they do seem a lot alike. She asks if he knew her mother, but he replies that he doesn’t really know. He’s trained a ton of crooks and known more than his fair share of broads. It’s hard to remember them all. She asks for some of his hair so she can check their DNA, but Taskmaster is too sly for that. He isn’t about to hand his DNA over to the freakin’ Avengers. She asks, in that case, why bother fighting? He could have just left. He replies that he guesses she could be his kid. The odds are pretty high so he’s gonna take a chance.
He admits, though nobody knows this, that he has something which might help her down the line. He explains that he has this memory thing. He picks up other people’s moves just be seeing them. That’s a lot of data… more than his brain’s got room for. So, he forgets some things; things that aren’t combat or survival related. He forgets people and places. By Monday, he might have forgotten this entire conversation. He wanted to fight her because he thought that, if he remembered her moves, he might remember her. He says all her moves are somebody else’s, just like his. He reckons she’ll do just fine. She’s smart and the Avengers Academy gig is the sweetest scam he ever saw. She can live off Stark’s cash and, when that goes sour, she’ll have inside info worth a fortune to the right buyer. The bottom line, he concludes, is that she’s getting better and that’s what life is all about. He asks her to take care of herself and leaves.
(Infinite Avengers Mansion, six hours later)Tigra meets the students and informs them that they have spoken and she stands by everything she said. However, she may have been overly harsh. They are no longer expelled but they are on probation. She tells Hazmat that she will take extra classes in anger management and ethics. The next mistake she makes will be her last at this school. Jenny asks what if they don’t want to come back. Tigra says, in that case, she can go. No one’s forcing her to remain if she has someplace better to be. Hazmat stares at her a moment and then turns away. “Whatever. I’m going to bed,” she replies.Veil wraps her arms around Justice and thanks him. Self-consciously, he replies that there’s no need really. They should just earn it. Mettle welcomes Striker back. Striker says he figures he’ll build his brand name a while longer. His agent was talking ‘The Real World,’ can he believe that? He’s ‘Survivor’ or nothing. Speedball tells Tigra that she did the right thing. He admires her for how she’s dealt with this and everything that happened. She’s a great example for these kids. If they don’t know it now, they will someday. She thanks him and hopes he’s right.
Tigra retires to her quarters, flicks on the internet and sits down.
"Say you’re sorry,” demands Hazmat.“Sh-shove it up your…” KZZZT
The Hood screams. “I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he cries.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Redemption Song
(Infinite Avengers Mansion, Veil’s quarters)Madeleine wakes up and forgets, just for a minute, that the atoms in her body are slowly losing cohesion. She is brought to reality by a small robotic arm that pops out of the wall. A voice asks her to extend her arm which she does, checking her molecular density. It only serves to remind her that she’s dying. Dr. Pym has promised to help her and to find a cure, but now she’s on probation because she was stupid. If she makes one wrong move she’ll be kicked out. Every day, Maddie hopes things will get better, but they only get worse.
(Hazmat’s quarters)Hazmat stretches out the night and remembers a happy dream. She feels the way she used to feel. Then, she remembers that she’s only really alive in this room. She looks at the yellow suit hanging on the wall, knowing she might well be stuck inside it for the rest of her life. After a few minutes, reality has sunk in. Today’s gonna suck as much as all the others, but just a little bit harder because it’s one more day with no end in sight.
(superhuman ethics class)The students take part in a virtual reality training session. Veil struggles with the scenario and fears that she might get kicked out if she doesn’t do well. Justice assures her that it’s part of the learning process. She won’t get kicked out for getting an answer wrong. Hazmat disagrees. She quotes Tigra when she said that the next mistake will be their last at the school. Speedball explains that by that she meant ‘irresponsible choices,’ like trying to kill or beat up criminals, which they did… behind their backs. However, when they’re training, no one expects them to be perfect. The teachers are there to help them get better and they can only do that by taking chances.
Veil replies that they’re on probation. These extra classes are the only way they can get back in good standing. She asks how he did it. How did he get everyone to forgive him after he got all those people killed in…
She stops talking and cover her mouth as she realizes what she’s saying. Everyone is equally shocked, but Speedball takes it in his stride. He admits that he’s the poster boy for young superhumans making disastrous decisions. He turns to Vance and mentions that he’s been in touch with ‘them.’ He asks if he thinks tomorrow could still work. Vance says he’ll have to confirm but he can’t see why not. Robbie is pleased and he tells the class that they’re going on a field trip. Not just those on probation - All of them. They’re going to the place where he made the worst mistake of his life, and six hundred people died because of it. He walks away, but tells Veil that some people may have forgiven him, though not everyone. Not even close. That’s why they’re trying to reach them. Some things you can never undo.
(the next morning)Hazmat is at her enforced anger management class with Giant-Man. She reckons it sucks. It’s bad enough she’s the only one who has to attend this class, but she’s been taught mental health by the craziest Avenger of all time. Hank corrects her on a few points. One, the Sentry was far crazier than he was. Two, she’s not managing her anger very well at the moment and three, she’s not being punished. He knows it’s hard to control your temper when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, so he’s been working on giving her one. Power dampening technology, he continues, like S.P.I.N. tech, would just remove her ability to use her powers, not her inherent toxicity. However, he’s found another, albeit temporary, solution.
He introduces Leech, who currently works for Reed Richards at the Future Foundation Think Tank. With Reed’s approval, he has graciously agreed to spend the day with them. Jenny’s eyes widen. “He… he can make me normal?” she asks. Hank tells her he can, for a short time. He bets she’s dying to get out of that suit.
She soon heads to her quarters and removes the suit, putting on her normal clothes instead. He tells her that it’s okay for her to come out. He’s drained all the toxins from her body and, with Leech present, she won’t produce any new ones. He will stay with her but, aside from that, he’s giving her the morning to with as she wishes. “Have fun.” Jenny rushes over and hugs him tightly before grabbing Leech’s hand and asking him to go with her. She hasn’t been to the park in ages. Meanwhile, following her outburst yesterday, Veil’s day goes from bad to worse.
(Extra-terrestrial culture class with the Protector)As Noh-Varr speaks, Striker whispers to her that he loved it when she just pointed at Speedball and said ‘Hey! There’s a big honin’ elephant in the room and it’s wearing blue and yellow.’ He doesn’t see why they should get into trouble when he’s done a million times worse.
(Applied chemistry class with Giant-Man)As Hank speaks, Reptil leans over to Veil and tells her she needs to apologize right away, otherwise she just passed Hazmat in the ‘most likely to get booted out’ pool.
(Rudiments of Magic class with Dr. Strange)As Strange tells Reptil that he finds his amulet fascinating, being created by a prehistoric extradimensional sorcerer, Finesse tells Veil, who is looking distinctly down by now, that she finds apologizing risky. It might just make Speedball angries. If she were Veil, she wouldn’t say anything without first gauging his mood.
(lunch break)Veil goes walkabout. The last time she went into a teacher’s room without permission she walked in on Justice and his girlfriend playing tonsil hockey. However, this is different. She just wants to find out what kind of mood Speedball is in before she knocks and apologizes. If it’s bad then she’ll disappear. ‘Please don’t be naked, please don’t be naked,’ she thinks. She transforms into her mist form and moves silently through the crack under the door. She finds Robbie looking at his Penance helmet. It looks like he’s reflecting on his past. That seems kind of normal. She then sees him move the helmet to his left arm and use one of the spikes to make another cut across the inside of his forearm. ‘Oh. Oh, my gosh,’ she thinks.
She wafts back under the door and reforms once she’s outside. She can’t believe it. Teachers aren’t supposed to cut themselves. She tries to recall what they learned in psych class. People cut themselves to get a sense of control, or just to feel something besides numb. Usually it’s triggered by stress… like going to the place where you killed six hundred people. She covers her mouth as she thinks about what she should do. Talk to him about it? He’ll deny it and kick her out. Talk to someone else? Then she would have to admit she was spying and they’ll still kick her out. As she think, Justice appears and asks if she needs something. She flashes a smile at him and replies, “No. Everything’s fine.”
(Golden Gate Park, San Francisco)Hazmat is with Leech and reveling in her newfound freedom. She strokes a friendly dog during a game of Frisbee and tells her companion that this is heaven. She can’t remember the last time she felt sun on her face. The dog tries to lick her face and she teases it. “Okay, boyfriend. We’ve played long enough. How’d you like to meet my parents?” Leech’s face drops a little and Jenny notices. She asks what’s wrong. She then realizes that Leech’s parents were mean to him. She informs him that hers weren’t like that. They live in San Francisco and some of their best friends are mutants. She reckons that when they see her like this it’ll be better than Christmas morning.
She drags Leech over to see them and bounces into the house. Her mother hugs her tightly thinking Henry Pym has finally cured her, but she admits it’s not permanent. It’s only a temporary thing thanks to her friend Leech. She explains that as long as he’s around he takes away her powers for a little while. Her father apologizes, but they’ve prayed for so long that all this could be over. They thought things could go back to normal. Jenny replies that she’s not normal. Not even close. Her father looks at Leech and asks, “You and that boy… you’re not...” She tells him that he’s like twelve or something. He says it’s hard to tell with her. She takes Leech’s hand and leads him to the door, telling them Leech has to head home. Her mother says she’s just got there but, as tears form at the corners of her eyes, Jenny says now she has to go.
(the Stamford Memorial)Robbie Baldwin explains that the New Warriors started a reality show. They were still super heroes but now they had cameras following them. A lot of it was orchestrated beforehand and they knew what they were getting into. They’d found four escaped criminals hiding out in Stamford, Connecticut. They were Nitro, the Cobalt Man, Coldheart and Speedfreek. They moved in to take them down. They weren’t running in blind, he adds, like some people say. They knew who they were and what they could do. What they didn’t know was that Nitro had enhanced his powers using Mutant Growth Hormone. His normal explosive force was magnified dozens of time. Six hundred people died, including sixty kids and three of his friends. “Gone. Just like that.”
The students listen intently and Reptil says that if he didn’t know about the growth hormone, it wasn’t his fault. Robbie replies that it was their fault because it shouldn’t have mattered. They should have been ready for anything. You always consider the worst-case scenario… the unexpected, because when you don’t, this can happen. He asks them to go ahead and read the names on the memorial and think about each one; what it means and what was lost. He turns to walk away and Justice asks him if he isn’t staying. Robbie replies that he hasn’t earned the right and he knows them already.
Veil looks at him and reckons no wonder he’s in pain. But, if he’s dealing with it by cutting himself he needs help. If he doesn’t get it, she figures, he’ll get worse. He could get them killed, or someone else. She then notices something out of the corner of her eye. Five armored men approach quickly from the air and the leader tells Speedball that he has a nerve coming back to this place - the place where he committed mass murder! Another says that’s fine with them. He should have died and now the Cobalt Men are gonna correct that mistake.
The students ready for battle. Veil becomes mist and Justice creates a TK shield to protect them from the armor’s blasts. Justice informs Hazmat that their suits run on radiation. Can she overload their power cores? Jenny explains that Dr. Pym drained her energies and they haven’t built back up yet.
As Striker uses an electric blast to attack one of them and Mettle grabs another in his massive powerful fingers, Reptil takes to the air. Justice asks Mettle to take point, for Veil to try and infiltrate their suits and knock them out. The rest of them… He then stops talking when he sees Speedball clench his fists. Energy emanates from his eyes as he cries, “No. Not here.” He then unleashes a blast which takes out all five of their opponents. Justice tells him that was amazing, but Veil can only wonder that if he can do that, what if he has a breakdown? Justice tells him he knew Robbie was getting together, but this…
Veil then blurts out that Robbie isn’t getting it together. He’s cutting himself. She saw it. He needs help. She apologizes to Speedball for spying on him but it’s true. Justice asks if what she’s saying is correct. Before he can answer, the cops arrive and one of them congratulates them on their victory. If the place had been wrecked, it wouldn’t have looked good. He figures these idiots were counting on that. They’ve got alerts about them - a bunch of pro-Norman Osborn whackjobs out to turn folks against the Avengers. He explains that they got hold of some cheap knock-offs of the Cobalt Man armor and had been raising hell ever since. The ring-leader said they were watching this place, hoping to catch one of them there so they could ‘make a statement.’
He calls them dirtbags. None of them are even from Stamford. No one there would do this kind of thing. Robbie replies that he’s sorry about what happened and they’ll pay for the repairs of course. He tells Robbie that he lost a lot of friends in Stamford and spent a long time blaming him. But, he adds, he was a cop in New York for twenty years and knows how a bust can go wrong. When someone gets shot, he blames the guy with the gun. He admits he wasn’t sold on the whole reality show thing, but they saved Washington from the invasion and what they’re doing with these kids… he can tell he wants to make it all right. What he’s saying is, if he wants to take a minute, it’s all right with him. With the cop’s blessing, Robbie stands before the memorial and says a prayer.
(Infinite Avengers Mansion, later)Speedball, Gant-Man and Justice have the kids gathered for an explanation. Robbie tells them that he wasn’t cutting himself in that way. His Penance powers are activated by pain. When they’re going into a situation where they might be needed, he’d charge them up beforehand. He adds that he’s trying to put being Penance and all that he became behind him, but the powers are useful in a fight. He admits that he was wrong to keep it a secret. He wanted people to think he’d moved on, but the truth is, he hasn’t. Hank reckons he can find a way to activate his abilities without him having to actually harm himself. Robbie adds that it was wrong of him to keep this secret and tells Veil that she did the right thing in telling Justice. But, he adds, she also shouldn’t spy on people. If she wants to know what kind of mood he’s in she can just ask, okay? “Okay,” replies Maddie, meekly.
Hank asks Hazmat if she has a minute. He has good news. He informs her that he’s just finished examining Leech and he shows no ill effects from having neutralized her powers, so they could make this a regular thing. Bi-weekly perhaps? “Pass,” she replies. “Excuse me,” says Hank, surprised. Jenny explains that she almost got killed today because her powers were dampened and she doesn’t want that to happen again. Hank tells her it was a bad idea to schedule it on a day when she was going into the field, but on an off day… Hazmat cuts him off and asks what an off day actually is. How do they know when a zombie cyborg alien is going to beam in and attack them?
She leans down and kisses Leech on the cheek and tells him no offense, and he’s her hero for trying to help her and hanging out with her all day, but she thinks she’ll stay combat ready. Hank guesses that makes sense, but isn’t there some other reason? Jenny puts her helmet back on and asks like what? When it’s permanent he can sign her up. She can quit all this and go home and things can be like they were. Until then, she’s not giving anyone the chance to hurt her.
(Hank Pym’s lab, later that night)Veil, in her mist form, drifts into the lab through a ventilation duct. She gets it now. They forgave Speedball because of what he did, both before the disaster as a New Warrior and after, as Penance. The people of Stamford forgave him because he saved the capital and Justice forgave him because they’re friends; because he knew he was a good person. However, no one knows her, not well enough anyway. So, she’s going to have to do something.
She grabs the controls on a machine that Dr. Pym built for his wife, the Wasp. The Skrulls used some doomsday weapons on her and scattered her body into separate molecules, like her body will, someday. The machine was supposed to save her, but Hank hasn’t activated it because he thinks she wouldn’t want to come back if her mind wasn’t intact. Veil thinks that, maybe, that’s what she said when she was healthy but, as somebody who’s staring down the barrel of the same gun, she knows she’d take the chance to save herself. And she just did. They’re all going to forgive her now because she’s doing something none of them could.
With that, she activates the machine and it lights up a dazzling orange color. A human form begins to coalesce inside it. ‘I’m bringing the Wasp back to life!”


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Growing Up
(Giant-Man’s lab)Veil figures she’s either redeemed herself or gotten herself kicked out of the academy for good. Hank finds Veil inside his lab and one of his machines in full swing. With alarms going off, he asks her what she’s done. She tells him that she’s doing what he was afraid of. She’s bringing back the Wasp! She knows that Hank wouldn’t want to risk her coming back damaged, but she is looking at the same fate and she’d take any chance to survive. Hank can’t believe it. He wasn’t even close to being ready. There are many more tests to run. However, he knows that it’s now too late to stop the machine. If he switched it off, it could cut Janet in half. Veil tells him he built the machine. He should trust himself. “Oh, God,” he sighs. “Please work.”
The machine glows bright orange before a female form drops from it and kneels on the floor before them, just as Quicksilver arrives. Veil knows that Dr. Pym can’t cure her and at some point she will fade away. All she’s done since she got there is screw up so she needs this to prove she deserves to stay. She needs this or she dies. Hank takes a closer look and exclaims, “You’re not Janet!” Veil asks who, if it’s not Janet, it could be. Hank recognizes her but can’t remember from where. The naked woman stands up and Pietro quickly covers her blushes. She asks where she is before seeing Hank. “You!” she cries. She tells him that if the place has cloaking technology then he should engage it now. “He’s coming,” she adds.
Hank assures her that his entire Infinite Mansion is in a dimension called Underspace. Whoever is after her couldn’t possibly find her there. He asks who she is and who is looking for her. What do they want? A voice from behind informs Hank that he will tell him. Hank turns to see Michael Korvac standing there. “I am Korvac,” he states, “And I want you to get your hands off my wife!”
Quicksilver remembers her now. He tells the others that her name is Carina Walters, bride of the demigod Korvac. Surely they remember, he adds. They nearly enslaved the entire universe and killed them all! Captain America reported him dead but it seems that megalomaniacal deities are quite resilient. Hank is perplexed, saying that, in her energy form, Carina looked just like Janet. Carina replies that she was a blank slate but, when he fed her his late wife’s memories, she became what he wanted until Veil forced her into physical form.
Korvac explains that before attaining cosmic power he was a mortal man. He is still prone to mortal thinking even now. Though he survived his body’s destruction, he never dreamed his wife had. As thanks for returning Carina to him, he is prepared to forgive the indignities he has visited upon her and he will take her without hostilities. Hank asks what then. His agenda has always been conquest. Can he offer them any assurances that his agenda has changed? Carina asks if it’s occurred to anyone to ask whether she wants to go with him. She tells Korvac that she doesn’t want him. She chose non-existence over him. She says she doesn’t love him anymore. He should go away and leave her alone.
Korvac believes that she is confused, but Carina replies that he is insane. He hasn’t changed a bit, she says. He still wants to bring ‘order to the universe’ by taking total control. He wants everything there is to obey him. Korvac tells her that it seems they have a few differences to work out, but informs the Avengers that this is none of their business and they should step away from his wife. Veil steps up and tells him that he really doesn’t care what she wants. It’s just what he wants. She is sick of people like him. He scares Carina so much that she’d rather be dead than with him. Doesn’t that tell him something? Justice appears and agrees. Korvac isn’t wanted there. Hank asks him to leave peacefully and prove that he’s changed.
Without a thought, Korvac blasts them and only a quickly erected forcefield created by Justice saves them. He exclaims that he is a God. Do they really think that he and his motley band of rejects and failures can stand against him alone? At that moment, another group of Avengers arrives including Iron Man, Captain America and Thor who informs him that an Avenger never stands alone. He hurls Mjolnir and smashes Korvac in the face with it. As the more powerful Avengers take the fight to Korvac, Giant Man asks Reptil to take Carina to the safe room and for all of them to get inside. They shouldn’t come out for anything. Carina tells them that no place is safe. They can’t hide from Korvac. Striker replies that he’s gonna try anyway. He tells her that Korvac’s a freak. Couldn’t he just Facebook stalk her instead?
As the students leave the room with Carina, the fight intensifies. Jocasta informs Carina that they aren’t intending to hide her, but rather put her out of reach. “I am Jocasta. Come with me if you want to live.” Mettle turns to Striker and asks if she just made a joke! Hazmat reckons she knew this would happen. You hang out with the Avengers long enough and sooner or later some cosmic whack job shows up wanting to kill everybody. And who ends up dying? Not Iron Man or Thor. It’s people like them who get the dirt nap. She feels like the black guy in a disaster movie. Jocasta motions towards the safe room but Striker reckons it must be the worst safe room ever. He could get in with a can opener.
Once inside, the doors close and Jocasta informs them that the walls are not the safe room. She is the safe room. Her image appears on screens all around. She explains that she is using the mansion’s technology to shunt them to a different dimension every 2.3 seconds. Carina tells her that’s worse than useless. They’re just delaying Korvac, that’s all. Veil tells her that for someone who complains so much, she doesn’t see her offering any solutions. She looks at Veil and says she’s the one who stood up to Michael. She has spirit and more than she had at her age. She defended her so she will overlook the fact that this is all her fault. “So not surprised,” sighs Hazmat. Striker asks if she’s in the middle of every disaster. Veil tries to make her excuses, but she knows that she was just trying to make someone save her. Striker is right, she feels. Every decision she’s made since she arrived was because she was desperate.
Carina tells them that they have questions and she will answer them, but first she will open a portal so they can see how the battle goes. She holds her hand out and a portal about ten feet across appears showing the Thing and Korvac fighting. She reckons they’ll last a few more minutes, anyway. Veil can’t believe that she put her life on the line for her, all their lives, and she’s had powers the whole time. She informs Veil that of course she does. Her father is the Collector, an elder of the universe. She has more power than she can imagine. “Good for you,” replies Hazmat. She asks why she can’t just go with her crazy ex and leave them out of it. As they watch the Avengers struggle against Korvac, she tells them that it would solve nothing. Michael is from the future, an Earth conquered by aliens who tortured him, as Norman Osborn did them. She knows their histories. Time is an open book to her.
She explains that when Michael gained great power and came to this era, her father sensed the danger. He sent her to gain Michael’s confidence, seduce him and learn his plans. Veil is shocked that he would do that, and Carina says that, even by an abstract entity’s standards of morality, it’s a disgusting thing for a father to do to his daughter. But, he was her father and her whole existence up to that point. She lived to please him.
That was, however, until she met Michael Korvac and fell in love with him, or at least became infatuated with him. She saw his passion for bringing order to the universe as benevolent and visionary. She was naïve in her youth. Michael had no power and no control. Now that he did, he wanted to rule everything so that nothing could ever hurt him again. But, she adds, he was scarred. He hated the universe for what it had done to him. Ruling wasn’t enough. He wanted to subjugate all life and with his power… he could.
As Spider-Man, Mockingbird and Tigra get caught up in Spidey’s own webs and even Quicksilver’s super speed doesn’t save him from being blasted by Korvac, Carina continues her story. She says that she was a cliché - the sheltered girl who ran off the first rebel who comes along. But, on some level she sensed how damaged Michael was and he saw that doubt in her. He committed suicide and in her grief, she did the same. A foolish young girl and her tantrums, she sighs. Her father cannot die and neither can she.
She tells them that her body became pure energy while it healed itself. She had every intention of finding her beloved and resurrecting him, but there was no need. To escape the attention that they had drawn, Michael had hidden his life force in the bodies of his ancestors, tricking everyone, including her. Michael and her father, the two men in the universe that she’d given everything to, had betrayed her. She didn’t want to live, but then she couldn’t die. So, she continues, she stayed in an energy form hidden in Underspace and let her consciousness drift.
Then, Dr. Pym found her and thought she was his late wife, Janet. He transmitted Janet’s memories to her which, she admits, was a revelation. She experienced the growth of a woman, who began much like her - beholden to a father, then a husband, defining herself through them and hurt by them. However, Janet Van Dyne was stronger than she was. She rose to be a hero, a leader of the Avengers. A complete woman in her own right. She wants to be like her and the only way that she will achieve this is if she stops Michael.
Finesse asks, in that case, why doesn’t she? She seems more powerful than any of the Avengers. Carina replies that she is but it’s not enough. Michael knows her intimately and his power surpasses hers. He can overcome her with ease. Veil closes her eyes and says that it’s hopeless. She screwed up again. Carina turns to her and asks, “Have you noticed that the only time you show confidence in yourself is when you declare everything your fault? That you’ve doomed yourself and everyone around you?” She should listen to what she’s been telling her. She doesn’t need Giant-Man or Justice to save her. Michael is not omnipotent. His defeats have weakened him.
She recalls the time when the villainous Red Skull used anti-matter to disintegrate Michael, scattering his atoms into multiple dimensions. It took him a while to recover from that. Madeline asks what she is telling them. She gets that Carina is all about empowerment these days, but they should face facts; they’re the most useless people in the entire Avengers organization. Carina finds that statement ridiculous. Why does she think she’s allowed herself to be locked in there with them and spent precious time explaining Michael’s history? “You are my only hope of defeating Korvac!”
The students look at her as if she’s insane. Mettle thinks she may have confused them with somebody else. She has Iron Man and Thor out there - living legends. They’re not even in any of the cartoons. “Reptil is,” remarks Striker. He reckons he needs a new agent. “Pfft. Kids love dinosaurs, my butt.”
Carina tells them that none of them listen very well. As she’s said, time and space hold no secrets from her. She creates an image of futuristic heroes in action - Deathlok, Spider-Man 2099 and Killraven. She explains that she can see an endless array of possible futures; things they could never conceive of. She didn’t choose them because of who they are. She chose them because of what they might become. She asks if they’d like to see what they’ll become when they grow up. The kids are visibly shocked at the idea.
Veil asks if she’s saying she can grab their adult selves and bring them here. Carina says that it would be inconvenient for many reasons. She can do better. She can allow them to ‘borrow’ the bodies of their mature selves from specific timelines while replacing their conscious minds with theirs. They will retain their present thoughts and personas, but they will be able to draw on the skills that their future selves wield instinctively. She admits that it’s too delicate a process to force upon them. She needs willing participants.
Veil’s mind runs all over the place. “Won’t I be dead in the future?” she asks. Striker is all for it. He’ll kick her hubby’s butt and then hit Vegas! Carina spaces out a little and informs them that she’s looking at a timeline right now in which Veil is alive at age thirty. Time is running out, however, and she needs a decision. Veil thinks about the choice before her. Dr. Pym said that the atoms in her body are slowly drifting apart. What if she’s only partially there? What if she can feel herself dying? She chastises herself for sounding desperate again. Whatever she turns into, it can’t be worse than she is now. “Do it,” she says. With no one asking otherwise, Carina opens her arms out and reaches out into several possible futures. Veil feels the changes happening and smiles. Oh… she thinks. Oh wow!
(Infinite Avengers Mansion, Main Atrium)The Avengers are putting up fierce resistance against the mighty Korvac. He tells them that they test his patience. He is trying to be merciful and restrain himself from slaughter. However, if they don’t bring him his wife he will erase them from existence! Thor replies that these are bold words and hollow ones. Had he the power he would already be victorious. But, the Avengers still stand and they shall lay him low. He once again hurls Mjolnir which smashes him down and Speedball and Ms. Marvel assist.
Korvac, however, is resilient and he zaps Ms. Marvel. “Enough!” he cries. Thor orders him to unhand her and tries to hit him with the hammer but Korvac holds his hand out and stops it in its tracks. “Oh, do shut up,” he replies. He then redirects Mjolnir’s power back through the hammer, blasting Thor with an almighty ‘shrakabooooom.’ Thor drops to his knees and slowly drops to the ground unconscious. Speedball sees the other Avengers also out for the count leaving him all alone. Korvac turns to Speedball and asks him if they’re ready to surrender now. Robbie looks up, pauses a moment and replies, “No. Not now. Not ever!”
Speedball blasts Korvac to the ground but the output of energy has weakened him enormously. He too drops leaving Korvac to recover. He is impressed. He has hurt him and weakened the energies he thought infinite. He realizes they are a greater force than he realizes, perhaps enough to defy his will. So… he is afraid that he cannot ignore them any longer or allow them to survive.
Before he can act, he is zapped by several bursts of electrical energy and cries out in pain. Carina then approaches him and tells him that that’s his problem. He thinks that no one should so much as draw breath unless he allows it. He would choke off all the potential anyone has, keeping it locked away for fear it might threaten him. “I prefer to unleash potential.” Korvac calls her a fool and warns her that she cannot stop him. Carina says she won’t. “They will.” Out of the smoke comes the adult versions of Avengers Academy and they look like they mean business.
Veil never dreamed. She never imagined. Her worst fear came true. She knows that now. No one is going to save her. She’s going to have to save herself.