Avengers Academy (2010 series) #34

The Avengers Academy students have been sent home (or elsewhere) because the school has been closed due to the Avengers Vs X-Men event.

Hazmat (Jenny Takeda) and Mettle (Ken Mack) are sitting on a beach in Kauai, Hawaii and not enjoying it. She has to stay totally enclosed in her suit which protects everyone else from her radiation and toxicity. He's in shorts but his red metal 'skin' isn't designed for sunbathing. And everyone on the beach is keeping well away from them. The duo wish they were back in school but the AvX conflict shows no sign of ending as these things should, with both sets of heroes teaming up against the 'real foe'. Then Jenny gets a call from Jeremy Briggs (the super-rich super-powered tech genius Alchemist). She gave him samples of Mettle's skin (#26) to see if he could turn Ken back to normal human. Briggs now says he can, and he's sending his jet to pick them up.

Reptil (Humberto Lopez) and White Tiger (Ava Ayala) are visiting sorceress Jennifer Kale in ARMOR's secret HQ in Florida to find out if their magic amulet's are good or evil. 'Berto has a 'dinosaur' amulet embedded in his chest and Ava has inherited the 3 amulets of the Tiger God that she wears round her neck. Kale tells them that these artefacts aren't good *or* evil but she warns them that such magic power comes at a cost. They can decide whether the power is worth the cost but the longer they have the amulets the more difficult it will be to let go of them. But then she has to take a call about another incursion from the dimension of talking ducks. And Reptil gets a call from Hazmat for support because she doesn't fully trust Briggs.

Elsewhere in Florida, Miami to be specific, Lightspeed (Julie Power) and Striker (Brandon Sharpe) are with his mother who's got them starring roles in Manphibian 5. Julie isn't interested in the 'few tasteful nude scenes' and Brandon thinks this will end his movie career rather than starting it. Luckily Julie gets a call from their old teammate Veil (who now works for Briggs) inviting the pair to Hazmat & Mettle's 'big moment'.

The last of our motley crew are Finesse (Jeanne Foucault) and X-23 (Laura Kinney) in the Savage Land. They've come there thinking that they might fit in, but now they're facing Brainchild and his cyborg dinosaurs. The robot Jocasta contacts them with the invite and expects them to come anticipating betrayal.

Jocasta, Veil (Maddy Berry) and Jeremy Briggs welcome them all to the Briggs Foundation in New York. Briggs continues his usual rant that while superheroes fight each other (in the AvX event) he's getting on with making the world better. Jocasta tells him to tone it down and Reptil is still suspicious. But Maddy shocks them by telling them that he's already cured *her*. Her power was to turn gaseous but it was slowly making her insubstantial, and now it isn't (but I note that she's still wearing her Veil outfit). Most of her friends are overjoyed. X-23  can tell that she *believes* it's true. Jocasta shows Finesse some data which convinces *her*.

Jeremy explains that the kids he recruited from the old Avengers Initiative program told him about the SPIN Tech they used to inject to depower captured opponents of the Superpowers Act after the Civil War event. It was costly and problem-ridden but he's cleaned it up and improved it. Now it's an aerosol that reads your DNA and returns you to normal. He calls it Clean Slate.

Hazmat is desperate to try it and Briggs gives her the dispenser in his hand. Humberto Lopez says it could contain *anything* but she's willing to risk it.  Mettle is doubtful it would work on him because he lost all his natural skin. Jerry thinks for a bit and says his case will be more complicated but he thinks they can persuade his stem cells to grow a new skin. 'Berto is *still* concerned but behind him Jenny Takeda breathes in the gas. Then she announces that her suit's built-in radiation/toxicity detector says she's clean. And she removes her helmet in public for the 1st time in ages, crying tears of joy.

This convinces Ken Mack to join his girlfriend. He apologises to 'Berto for asking him here and then ignoring his advice. 3 female assistants take him next door to a restoration tank (sounds to me like Briggs already had everything set up for Mettle). Suspicious Finesse asks Jocasta who the assistants are and where the ex-Academy Machine Teen & Rocket Racer are, and the Initiative recruits (Cloud-9, Hardball, Komodo & Prodigy)? Jocasta answers the last part by saying they're out on missions helping people. They all troop into the adjoining room where Mettle with breathing apparatus is in a tank full of liquid. His metal covering dissolves and Jenny fears he's in agony. She can't watch and turns away in tears again. But suddenly a hand on her shoulder turns her back and she sees Ken Mack in his human form for the 1st time. And she hugs him and kisses him passionately.

Humberto is amazed at how fast it all was (so am I). Briggs gloats. White Tiger says she wants to keep her powers but she'd like more control over them and wonders if he could do *that*. He hands her over to his magic experts Lisa & Sylvie. Reptil at last caves in. He still doesn't like Briggs but he seems to be telling the truth.

But now their benefactor unveils his real plan. He reminds them that Avengers Vs X-Men is merely the latest in a long line of superhero conflicts that do nothing but rain destruction on normal people. Well he's going to stop all that by deploying Clean Slate worldwide to take away *all* superpowers. This is the 1st time Jocasta and Veil have heard of this. Jocasta had agreed to licence the drug to law enforcement for use on the worst super-criminals, but she won't allow *this*. Then she drops with a klank and Briggs explains that he's just moved her consciousness to 1 of her spare bodies in his China office.

Finesse's suspicions are confirmed and Lightspeed asks who'll be left to deal with extreme weather and alien invasions. Briggs says *they* will. He'll allow people he trusts to keep their powers, and he has an antidote to restore powers to any who prove worthy. He's more concerned at the moment about some who Clean Slate won't affect:- gods like Thor, humans with skills like Hawkeye, humans with tech like War Machine. He'll need the help of chars like those here to deal with them. Humberto goes part reptile and stands up to him. Then Briggs reveals the real reason he invited them here, to be a wide spectrum of test subjects. They've all been breathing the drug for a while now.

Reptil goes full reptile because his power is magic-based. X-23 still has her adamantium claws. And Finesse still has her fighting skills and weapons. But White Tiger had handed over her tiger amulets for study so she like the others is powerless. Briggs of course has the antidote so *his* Alchemist power still works as he demonstrates by turning Finesse's battle-staves into steam. Then his 3 female assistants reveal themselves as Coat Of Arms (Lisa Molinari with 6 arms and 6 blade weapons), magic-wielding Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton) & giant-size Big Zero (Amity Hunter), all members of the Young Masters (Of Evil). Briggs says he depowered them all but let them earn their powers back.

BZ flattens X-23. COA attacks Finesse. Sylvie turns Reptil human and magically brings him to Jeremy who rips his amulet off his chest. He tells trapped Laura Kinney that her healing factor's gone and she's probably dying from adamantium poisoning but he can help her if she wants. Finesse is still standing with a shuriken in her hand but Briggs keeps on with his spiel. He offers Striker more fame than he ever imagined because he could be the last and greatest superhero on Earth.

But Finesse throws her shuriken to cut some pipes which cause a large explosion.  And when the smoke clears she and some others have disappeared through a hole in the ground. Briggs says he wants them found and given any medical attention required. Brandon, Jenny, Ken and Maddie are still with Briggs, and Striker speaks for them all when he says they're on his side. Briggs gives Reptil's amulet to Sylvie and tells her to analyse it and the other for some way of using them against Dr Strange. Big Zero and COA agree between themselves that when they find the other teens they'll die. And we see Finesse, Lightspeed, Reptil, White Tiger & X-23 lying unconscious in some rubble.