Synopsis
Last issue ended with the robot Jocasta being found dead, coincidentally(?) at the same time as Reptil (Humberto Lopez) was mind-switched with a version from the future.
Avengers Academy Headmaster Henry Pym has been trying for days to find the cause of her shutdown but can only find traces of unidentifiable electromagnetic energy. Tigra (his current girlfriend) is concerned about him 'dissecting' Jocasta (his ex-girlfriend) but Hank replies that he's trying to reboot her. Quicksilver says they're really worried that he's too close to the problem. He agrees and says he'll call in help, but Pietro Maximoff might not like who it is.
The long-term students (Finesse, Hazmat, Mettle, Reptil, Striker) are having a basketball game with new students Lightspeed and White Tiger. It's girls (4) against boys (3), all in costume. Ava Ayala (WT) is about to score when Reptil turns into a mammoth to toss her aside with his trunk. (No-one seems as surprised as me that he can turn into something prehistoric that isn't a dinosaur.) Ava accuses 'Berto of having something against her. and he admits that the original WT (her brother Hector) was his hero and he thinks she needs to prove herself worthy of his id. The face-off is interrupted by Batwing and Wiz Kid flying in to tell them that Magneto's on his way here (which particularly shocks Finesse).
He arrives with Cyclops and White Queen in the X-Men's Blackbird plane. They spot a Sentinel who says "Destroy all mutants" until Juston Seyfert standing on its shoulder elbows its head and it says "Welcome honoured guests". Pietro Maximoff gives his father a frosty greeting. Erik Lehnsherr asks after his health. Pietro takes that as asking if he's still insane, and asks in return how how his dad's plan to destroy the X-Men from within is going? The 3 X-people follow Pym inside, and Quicksilver asks Finesse (who blackmailed him into teaching her what his father taught *him*) what she thinks of him now. She replies that he just seems old and sad, but Pietro says he's disappointed that he could fool *her* too.
New teacher Hawkeye also doesn't trust Magneto, or White Queen. He reminds Pym that the X-Men have split (in the Schism event), and Wolverine has taken all the good guys to the other side. He also reminds him that Magneto once mind-controlled the X-Men into fighting the Avengers (I think he means way back in #53 of the original series). Hank says Wolverine (who's also currently an Avenger) has vouched for them, and reminds Clint Barton that the Avengers gave both of *them* a 2nd chance. He's willing to trust Magneto if he can find out who attacked Jocasta, and he suggests Hawk keeps himself and the students out of the way. Clint tells them they're going to practice resisting mind control 'for no particular reason'.
But Reptil suggest to Finesse that they 2 slip away to eavesdrop on the adults. She can read leaps and he could give himself pterosaur ears. They observe Emma Frost offering to read the minds of everyone on campus to see if 1 of *them* is the culprit. Pietro thinks it typical of an associate of his father to violate the students' privacy. Pym accepts a *surface* scan, but WQ claims that she can't read the area anyway because of all the mystical energy from the likes of Reptil, White Tiger and Tigra. And she gets in a catty dig at Greer Nelson about how 'appropriate' her bikini costume is for a teacher. (This is the pot calling the kettle, er, white.) She'll need to scan each person separately up close, and Dr Pym reluctantly agrees.
Meanwhile Magneto can look at Jocasta, but he demands something in return - his son must agree to keep out of mutant affairs from now on. He reminds them of how Pietro persuaded his sister Wanda (Scarlet Witch) to change reality (the House Of M event), after which she depowered almost all of mutantkind. Pietro counterclaims that Magneto gave up on his daughter (after she tried to destroy the Avengers in the Avengers Disassembled event) and was about to let Wolverine kill her. So *he* saved her. Erik says Pietro's good intentions are perverted by his poor judgement and mental instability, such as when he tried to restore the mutants' abilities by stealing Terrigen Mists from the Inhumans (Son Of M mini-series), causing a war between them and humans (Silent War mini-series). Pietro makes his usual claim that that was a pre-Secret Invasion Skrull replacement, but Magneto knows this isn't true. And Pietro can no longer maintain the pretence.
At this point Finesse (whose blackmail of Pietro was on exactly that secret) breaks through a glass ceiling and hurls a baton at Magneto, telling him to leave Pietro alone. The master of magnetism reacts by wrapping her in some metal pipework, but his son super-speed punches him through a wall telling him to leave *her* alone. Pym tries to stop him but Erik propels some machinery at *him*, telling him to keep out of this family affair. Cyclops tells Emma to stop them but Reptil turned dinosaur stops *her*, shouting out that the mutants have attacked Finesse. Cyclops optic-blasts *him* ...
... but outside Hawkeye has heard Reptil and fires a blast arrow which scatters them all, calling "Avengers assemble". Mutant Wiz-Kid doesn't know which side to support. Hazmat takes Lightspeed aside and suggests that she also needs to pick a different kind of side - a hint carried over from the Loners mini-series that she's unsure of her sexuality. Those 2 with Hawkeye, Striker and White Tiger move towards Magneto but he tangles them up with some of their metal training equipment, saying that the Avengers are just playing dress-up with their students while he is preparing mutant kids for war. Finesse hits him with a flying kick to the back of his head, saying that he messed up his own kids but Pietro is a better teacher than he ever was. Erik causes a metal pipe to douse Jeanne Foucault with a refrigerant(?), saying that he might be so to inspire her loyalty and maybe he underestimated him. Quicksilver says he always *did* as he races round his father with a whirlwind effect.
Arrow meets optic blast as Cyclops tries to get Hawkeye to stop the fight, but Clint thinks Scott Summers is being mind-controlled by ex-villain White Queen. He comments that anyone who dresses that provocatively *must* be a villain, but Tigra points out that by that theory *she* must be Dr Doom as she grabs his bow out of his hand. Emma Frost takes the opportunity to mentally stop everyone in their tracks, except Magneto whose helmet protects him from psychic attack. But she makes *him* pause by pointing out that it would be bad press for a 'mutant terrorist' to be seen fighting Avengers.
When she releases them all from her 'spell' Magneto removes his helmet to have a conversation with his son. Erik admits that he was a poor parent but he's trying to atone for that among other sins. It's too late to undo the damage he did to Pietro but he *can* try to stop that damage being passed on to others. Pietro reluctantly agrees to consult someone like Storm or Beast (but not *him*) before 'involving' himself in mutant affairs, and Erik has to accept that.
So at last Magneto gets to examine Jocasta. He detects tachyons and anti-particles and suggests this implies time or dimensional travel. Giant-Man immediately suspects Kang or Ultron. But whatever, it points away from his students and staff so he can't justify mind probes. And the X-folk prepare to leave. On their way out Tigra gets Finesse and Reptil to apologise for their attack on Magneto, but he asks they not be punished. Jeanne asks him if his training regime really included hiring assassins to attack the Maximoff twins in their sleep (as Pietro told her in #2). He whispers that they were ordered not to injure the duo, but he asks her not to tell Pietro that.
Hank suggests to Scott that it might be a good idea to have regular get-togethers with the X-school to avoid fostering distrust between them. Cyclops echoes Magneto in saying that *he*'s preparing his students to resist genocide. But Wolverine split over this (in Schism) and he's reopened the old Westchester school (in the Wolverine & X-Men series). He might like the idea.
We finish with Quicksilver playing tennis against himself. Finesse says she admires the way he stood up to his father when he was young. She just did what her parents wanted but they were never satisfied. Pietro answers that both their parents were criminals and are best forgotten about. Jeanne joins the game but also says she no longer wants him to teach her to be like Magneto, she wants to learn to be like *him*. Q agrees to that, and they'll start with her abysmal tennis serve.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Batwing (
Jimmy Santini), Butterball (
Emery Schaub), Juston Seyfert, Lightspeed (
Julie Power), White Tiger (
Ava Ayala), Wiz Kid.