Synopsis
This issue will concentrate on 2 of the Avengers Academy students, Hazmat and Veil. The issue begins with them waking in their bedrooms in the Infinite Avengers Mansion. Hazmat (Jenny Takeda) luxuriates in the brief feeling of being a normal girl before she dons the Hazmat suit that she has to wear everywhere else to protect people from the radiation and toxins she emits. Veil (Maddy Berry) reacts similarly until a machine does a molecular density scan which reminds her that her ability to transform into gas is also making her gradually fade away, which will eventually kill her unless DR Henry Pym can cure her. Which won't happen if she gets kicked out of the Academy because of what she and 3 other students did in #8.
What they did was get revenge on the villainous Hood for how he terrorised their teacher Tigra. Because of that they're on probation and have to now attend a Superhuman Ethics class with instructors Justice and Speedball. The pair along with Hazmat and Striker and the teachers are in a simulation of a severe flood. They've been asked who in the sim they should prioritise saving. Veil suggests the policeman because he can help them save others. Speedball says it a good idea but the main priority should be helping those *least* able to help themselves, like an old person. Maddy thinks this will be another black mark against her but Justice assures her that she won't get thrown out for getting an answer wrong. Hazmat interjects that Tigra threatened that 1 more mistake would mean the end. Speedball says that she meant a mistake like secretly beating up a criminal.
Maddy desperately asks Robbie Baldwin *how* they can get back into good standing? How did *he* get everyone to forgive him for getting all those people killed in Stamford? And she immediately regrets what she's said. But Speedball says he knew he'd have to cover this sometime, so he's arranged a field trip (for the *whole* class) to the place where he made the worst mistake of his life, and 600 people died because of it. And he adds that far from *everyone* has forgiven him, and some mistakes you can never make up for.
Hazmat is also attending solo Anger Management class held by Giant-Man (Pym), but she says to his face that the craziest Avenger like him (he's had more than 1 breakdown) doesn't inspire her with confidence. His response is that the Sentry was crazier than him, but it's also true that her situation is making her lash out. He's been researching ways to lighten her load. Power dampening tech like SPIN Tech would remove her ability to control her power but wouldn't cancel her toxicity. But he's found a temporary solution, and introduces her to the young mutant Leech who's part of Reed Richards' Future Foundation. He can cancel the powers of anyone while they're near him. Dr Pym can remove all her current toxins/radioactivity and Leech will temporarily stop her producing more. So she can go out for the morning with him and do whatever she wants without her Hazmat suit.
Meanwhile we see the other students attending other classes. Guest instructor the Kree Protector (currently in the Avengers) talks to them about Extraterrestrial Cultures. We see him describing the telepathic amoeboid Fomalhauti in the presence of whom thinking the word 'jelly' would be an ethnic slur, while Striker commends Veil for pointing out that Speedball waa a much bigger screwup than them - which doesn't make Maddy feel any better. In Dr Pym's Applied Chemistry class about Fentanyl, the base for painkillers and knockout gases, Reptil advises Veil she'd better apologise to Speedball if she wants to stay in school. And in guest instructor Dr Strange's Rudiments Of Magic class while he studies the amulet embedded in Reptil's chest (which gives him his dinosaur powers) and declares it created by a prehistoric extradimensional sorcerer, Finesse counsels Veil to make sure Speedball's in a good mood before she apologises in case she makes him more angry.
So in the lunch break Maddy goes to the door of Speedball's room. She plans to slip under the door as gas to find out what mood he's in, and only knock if it's good. She tries to convince herself it's not really spying. She remembers barging in to Justice's room without knocking and finding him making out with his girlfriend Ultragirl. She hopes she doesn't see Robbie naked. Instead she finds him fully costumed and staring at his old Penance helmet. But then in shock she sees him using its spikes to add to scars on his arm. She quickly backs out but doesn't know what to do. She could ask him about it but he'll probably deny it. She could tell another teacher but she'd have to admit to spying. Either way she'd probably be expelled. At that point Justice walks by and asks if she wants something. She says no.
Meanwhile Jenny and Leech have used 1 if the Mansion's 'infinite' doors to get to Golden gate Park, San Francisco. They've been playing frisbee and have been befriended by someone's dog. Now she takes Leech to her parents house where they're overjoyed because they think she's cured. But she has to admit it's only temporary courtesy of her friend Leech. They're immediately disappointed. Dad asks if Leech is her boyfriend but she says he's only 12. She gives the excuse that Leech has to go home and they leave, Jenny crying.
Later at the Stamford Memorial Speedball tells the class the story. His New Warriors had a reality show, so their exploits were carefully planned beforehand, some of them even set up for them. They'd tracked down 4 escaped supercriminals including Nitro. But they didn't know that Nitro's powers had been enhanced by Mutant Growth Hormone. The resulting explosion killed 600 people including the rest of the New Warriors (of course this is Marvel so some of *them* 'got better'). Reptil tries to say it wasn't Robbie's fault, but he counters that a superhero should always be super-careful when using his powers. He asks them to read the names on the Memorial and think about them. He tells Justice that he himself hasn't earned the right to be here, and besides he knows the names off by heart.
This only increases Veil's dilemma over knowing he's cutting himself. But she can forget that now because Speedball is attacked by 4 armoured figures calling themselves the Cobalt Men. Teachers and students react. Justice tells Hazmat that the armour runs on cobalt radiation and asks is she can overload their power cores, but her power hasn't yet recovered from Dr Pym draining it. So he tells Mettle (with his armoured skin) to attack the foes direct, and Veil to infiltrate the suits as knockout gas. Meanwhile Striker has blasted 1 of them. But Speedball, angry at the desecration of the Memorial, unleashes his Penance power with a blast that takes all the Cobalt Men down.
But when Maddy sees what Robbie Baldwin is capable of she can't avoid telling Justice that he's self-harming and needs help. Justice's reaction is delayed by the arrival of police to arrest the villains. The lead cop explains that they'd been alerted to these Norman Osborn supporters who'd got hold of knock-off Cobalt Man armour, and they're not even Stamford residents. Robbie apologises and says the Avengers will pay for repairs. But the cop says he lost friends here and blamed him at 1st. But he's been a cop long enough to know that a bust can go bad. He wasn't happy with the reality show aspect, but he saw what Baldwin did during Secret Invasion, and how he's teaching these kids. So he thinks Speedball *has* earned the right to spend time here in respect.
Later back at the Mansion Speedball explains that he wasn't 'cutting himself' exactly. But he admits that the extra powers he gained as Penance require pain to activate, so he charges them up before a mission. However he agrees that he needs help to move on. Dr Pym adds that now he knows about this situation he can work on a way to activate the abilities without pain. Robbie tells Maddy she did the right thing telling Justice what she knew. But spying on him was wrong, and next time she should just talk to him.
Later still Dr Pym tells Hazmat he's examined Leech and found no adverse affects of his cancelling her powers, so she could have regular days out with him. Jenny declines, saying that having her power drained could have got her killed today. DrP says they could avoid days when she's going on a field trip, but she counters that the Mansion could get attacked anytime. Because Leech is here she can take her helmet off to kiss him on the cheek and thank him. But she says she'll wait for a permanent cure when she can go home for good. In the meantime she's not going to let anyone hurt her. (And we know that includes the reaction of her parents.)
That night Veil sneaks in to Henry Pym's lab. She's still desperate to do *something* to get her out of probation. Hank's wife the Wasp was discorporated at the end of Secret Invasion and in #7 he'd created a device to reincorporate her. But then he decided not to try until he's sure she'll come back sane. Veil overheard that, and now she decides she's going to do the job for him.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Justice (
Vance Astrovik), Leech.