Synopsis
In the middle of the night Tigra thinks she finds the Avengers Academy students using the Comms Room to watch porn on the Internet ... but it actually shows her being attacked in her bedroom (not here in the Infinite Avengers Mansion) by the Hood (in New Avengers vol 1 #35). She orders them to go to Meeting Room 4 where she'll join them with Henry Pym.
Pym (now permanently switched from his Wasp costume to his old Giant-Man duds) asks them where they found the tape and Striker says it's all over the Net. A Celebrity Sex Tapes site released it as a teaser and they're going to sell the whole thing. Tigra confirms that it's real. The Hood wanted to lead a large supervillain gang and did this to prove his power. He broke into her house, threatened to kill her mother, beat her up and shot her in the knee. She assures Reptil she's fine now, but Hazmat wants to know what she did in revenge. She replies that the Avengers caught him and he's in Ryker's Island prison - not in the superprison Raft because he's lost his powers. She insists that she didn't seek payback. Pym says Justice will discuss the ethics of the situation later and they'll get the full tape shut down, and then he sends them back to bed.
But instead the students go back to the Comms Room and call up a view of Parker Robbins in his cell. However Finesse uses her facial recognition skill to declare that the prisoner is a fake with plastic surgery. And they also access the Warden's bank account which has a suspiciously large payment into it. Finesse says Tigra's begging in the video made her lose all respect but Veil scorns her lack of empathy. Reptil thinks they should tell the Avengers about the fake Hood but Hazmat thinks they should go after Robbins themselves. Reptil and Mettle disagree, and Finesse can't see the point although she *could* track the money trail. But Veil is with Hazmat this time and Striker suggests they make their own tape.
Meanwhile Giant-Man and Tigra *do* track the source of the tape to 1 of Hood's old gang called the Slug. He gives them the USB stick but whines that he desperately needed the money to get out of the country. He used to rule Miami but since the Hood went down he's lost everything. The cops take him away and Pym gives Greer Nelson the good news that the full tape won't be released. But the teaser is out there and can't be clawed back. Tigra claims that she's got over her anger that led her to go after Hood's gang (during Dark Reign) so it's fine.
Now we turn to the real Hood's safe house in Brooklyn where Robbins sends his cousin John King to buy something from Hydra. He's not going himself because he doesn't want them to see him powerless. When he's alone his room is invaded by Hazmat, Striker and Veil. Veil records the scene while Striker zaps the gun out of Hood's hand and tells him they're here to deliver a message. Striker keeps shocking the villain and Hazmat puts the boot in. She tells him they'll keep going until he says he's sorry for what he did to Tigra. Eventually he does. But then King gets back and shoots at the kids, who run away because they've got what they came for. John's got what he was sent for and Parker tells him he's going to use it to get power. And then he's going to kill everyone who's crossed him, including those kids.
Back in the IAM Greer's having a nightmare about Hood and starts ripping her bedsheets to pieces. Hank comes in to see what's wrong. She wakes and comforts her baby William, and tells Pym it's a nightmare she *hasn't* really dealt with, but she will.
Next night Dr Pym calls the students together to view a TV program Focus Point where Tigra is being interviewed by Trish Tilby. But 1st they show the complete Hood/Tigra tape (from the USB she got from Slug). Then she admits that she's been ashamed to show weakness by admitting how badly she was affected, but now she's going to get therapy. But she publicly showed the tape here to tell people about the Always An Avenger centre she's setting up with veteran's, women's and children's groups and the financial backing of the Janet Van Dyne Foundation which will offer help and support to anyone who's been through trauma.
Now Tigra joins Pym and the kids and Hank holds up the bravery she's just shown as a lesson to the students. But Striker's response is to play the video *they*'ve uploaded to the Internet. After the explanation that the guy in prison isn't the real Hood, he and Hazmat expect praise. But Giant-Man wants to know why they didn't arrest the villain. And Tigra is angry that they've sunk to Hood's level. She demands to know who was holding the camera, and Veil 'fesses up. Greer admits that she wanted to do something like that and she had the opportunity but she didn't take it. The 3 have proven themselves not Avengers but bullies, and they're expelled.
Characters:
Plus: John King, Slug (
Ulysses Lugman), Trish Tilby.