Synopsis
Last issue X-23 (Laura Kinney) joined the students and Reptil (Humberto Lopez), secretly taken over by the mind of a future version, started spreading discord among his fellows. He also tagged along on a mission that would bring in young mutant Jimmy Marks who he knows is really the half-Dire Wraith Hybrid, and he made a deal with him.
Now Class Leader Humberto answers a call from Juston Seyfert who says his pet Sentinel claims Jimmy is an alien as well as a mutant. 'Berto says he's right and Marks is half-Dire Wraith but it's OK because his alien dad fell in love with an Earthwoman. He invites him to come in and meet Jimmy. Juston's worried because his Sentinel's too big to come indoors and he himself has no powers. But Lopez points out that if anything goes wrong he can yell and his Sentinel will smash through the wall to save him. But as he opens the door to Jimmy's room he adds that Jimmy *killed* his own parents. And Juston is mesmerised by Hybrid.
But Reptil advises Hybrid not to kill him because that would alert the Sentinel, just make him think everything's OK. Hybrid complains that he's hungry but Lopez reminds him that he's going to bring victims 1 by 1 that he *can* feed on to rebuild his power that he's recently regained. And Humberto needs the right half of the Academy killed so the future works out as it should to produce *his* future. But Hybrid doesn't trust him because the magic amulet which gives Reptil his power blocks the Wraith from reading all but his surface thoughts. However he reluctantly agrees to stick to the plan, and we see Juston happily returning to the Sentinel.
Humberto now goes to find Tigra on a shoreside cliff where we learn that she's sent her son William to the Cat People again so he can learn more about his feline heritage. She's missing him and future 'Berto almost makes the mistake of commiserating about missing *his* future son. Instead he tells her that Jimmy isn't answering his door and he wants her to check on him. When they get to the door Tigra's senses detect a stench. But Reptil slams her through the door and Hybrid grabs her. *Her* magic he finds intoxicating but he's not going to kill her but keep her as breeding stock for an army to takeover Wraithworld. But he's concerned about White Tiger who also has magic amulets, and he sends Lopez to learn more about her.
On the way 'Berto meets Butterball who asks if he'll play the new Crystar, The Crystal Warrior video game with him. He declines but asks for confirmation that Emery Schaub is indestructible, and then sends him to play the game with Jimmy.
Humberto asks Ava Ayala if her amulets are related to his, but this somehow leads to her telling him her life story (which is new to us too). She was the youngest by far of the family, and her brother Hector was already grown-up and her sister Awilda already had a family when she was born. Hector found the magic tiger amulets which he used to become White Tiger, the 1st successful Hispanic superhero. He always seemed sad and her parents said they'd explain why when she was older. But then she came home from school 1 day and found them murdered because of WT. She went to live with Awilda. Hector kept away and later died.
But she recovers her composure and answers the original question. The amulets are bits of a statue from the hidden city K'un-Lun which has a dragon but no dinosaurs, so she doesn't think his amulet is connected. 'Berto says Hector was his hero and he's got some magazine articles about him if she'd like to see them. On the way he asks her hypothetically if she could go back in time to save her brother's life would she do it if it meant innocent people would die. She says Hector wouldn't want her to do that. Then he opens the door to Hybrid's lair.
Inside the Wraith has Lightspeed, She-Hulk (Lyra) and Striker as well as Tigra and Butterball. He takes mental control of Ava too. Butterball seems in agony and Hybrid explains that he may be immune to physical pain but not 'spiritual' pain. Reptil tells him that WT's amulets are just bits of a broken statue so the alien tries to take their power but it burns him. Striker regains his senses and zaps him with electricity, but Hybrid regains control. He sends Lopez to attack White Tiger as a dinosaur but the amulets allow the Tiger God to take her over and start tearing into him until he reverts to human. Ava Ayala then regains control and is shocked at what she's done. Humberto turns dino again and she prepares to allow him to kill her ... but instead he presses an alarm button. Hybrid forces the dinosaur back to human and grabs Ava and Humberto by the throats. He's now absorbed enough power to face the whole of the Academy.
Outside Finesse and X-23 are sparring while Hazmat (Jenny Takeda) and Mettle (Ken Mack) argue over Jenny's suspicious jealousy of Laura's friendship with Ken (stirred up by future-Reptil last issue). Ken protests that Jenny *asked* him to talk to Laura, and anyway she's not gonna go for him anyway (on account of his skinless metal body). Jenny takes that to mean he's only faithful to her because no-one else is interested. Ken raises the ante by pointing out that she ran away when they started getting hot and heavy (#21). Jenny says he *knows* the reason (because the only other guy she tried to have sex with died when her toxic power kicked in). They don't even notice the alarm going off but X-23 does and charges past them.
Hawkeye is with Giant-Man in his lab where he's been studying robot Jocasta's body which he's put back together after someone destroyed it (#21 again). But there's no AI inside, and all her backups have been wiped out by a virus. Whoever did it must have known her system very well. Clint Barton suggests her maker Ultron, but Henry Pym wonders if he had another mental breakdown and did it himself. But Quicksilver arrives to inform them of the new problem. When they get to the site they see Hybrid holding Pietro Maximoff (who had obviously run ahead) with Reptil, White Tiger and X-23 as his soldiers. Hazmat suggests Hybrid must be controlling Laura via her trigger scent, but the Wraith says its just mind control.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Butterball (
Emery Schaub), Juston Seyfert, Lightspeed (
Julie Power), She-Hulk (
Lyra), White Tiger (
Ava Ayala), X-23 (
Laura Kinney).
Enemies
Hybrid.