Synopsis
The focus and voiceover this issue is Hazmat (Jennifer Takeda).
We begin with Jenny remembering her super origin. Her family were rich and she was popular and doing well in school. She was with her boyfriend Greg in her bedroom about to have sex for the 1st time when he suddenly got sick. At hospital they diagnosed a neurotoxin and were worried that she might be infected too. Then everyone backed away when they discovered she was the *source*. More very carefully administered tests showed that she generated many other deadly substances and was radioactive too, but none of them made *her* ill. Probably it was the sexual excitement that triggered her condition. She wasn't a mutant.
Greg recovered but didn't want to see her, and his parents wanted her arrested. *Her* parents were only concerned with trying to sue Roxxon where they worked. The doctors wanted to study her. Then Norman Osborn turned up and offered to help her control her power, turn it on and off. But he was lying because he and Baron von Blitzschlag just made her more dangerous.
Now she's in a permanent hazmat suit except when she's alone. She's taken the codename Hazmat and has been enrolled in Henry Pym's Avengers Academy in his Infinite Avengers Mansion. In #1 all 6 students discovered that they were really here to make sure they didn't turn into supervillains. Now they're involved in training sessions to hone the controlled use of their powers.
Polymath genius Finesse (Jeanne Foucault) is lacking in social skills, and last issue she embarrassed Reptil (Humberto Lopez) by blurting out in public that he had never kissed a girl. Then she embarrassed him further by offering to kiss him (she knows she's attractive). But they were interrupted by a robot attack. Now she fulfils her promise by kissing him in public, but he tells Mettle (Ken Mack) it felt weird. Striker (unnamed so far) says there are things *he* hasn't tried, but Jeanne turns down the offer. Veil (Maddy Berry) thinks they make a cute couple but Jenny thinks Jeanne has less passion than blow-up doll. Ken accuses her of wanting to make everyone as miserable as herself and she blows her top at him.
Teacher Justice (Vance Astrovik) breaks up the squabble and announces that they'll have guest instructors over the next couple of days and then they'll visit the super-prison, the Raft, where Luke Cage is in charge of the post-Osborn Thunderbolts program to rehabilitate villains (in the current issues of the TBolts series).
Martial artist Iron Fist (Danny Rand) has come to teach them 'intermediate' hand-to-hand fighting. He's currently sparring with Finesse whose ability to pick up physical skills at 1st sight has already made her adept at martial arts. Reptil is absorbed in the bout but the other students less so. He comments that the staff must be starting to trust them if they're taking them to the Raft, but Hazmat opines that it's an attempt to scare them straight. Mettle doesn't understand so Striker explains how at his school they brought in young offenders to tell at-risk kids how awful prison was. Meanwhile IF finishes his bout by defeating F, telling her it's not enough to know the moves you have to know *when* to use them. He's impressed with her physical skill but it is her spiritual education that will allow her to reach her full potential as a warrior and human being. Hazmat scoffs to Striker that their 'pure' teachers are lying to them. Striker agrees that they haven't done anything wrong but the staff are considering them as bad as people like Norman Osborn in the Raft. Jenny didn't know that's where Osborn was and she's suddenly more interested in visiting the place. While Reptil sprouts pterodactyl wings to fight Danny, she goes over to apologise to Ken for her harsh words earlier and suggests they have things in common. Her voiceover lets us know that being with Osborn in a jail full of homicidal maniacs is just what she wants.
2 days later Tigra and Wasp (Henry Pym) are discussing stuff. Hank has to reassure her that Luke Cage will make sure the kids are safe in the Raft. And Tigra tells him that Iron Fist was a hit with Mettle and Reptil. Now Valkyrie (Brunnhilde of Asgard) is here teaching the girls only. She says studies show that they thrive in single-sex classes, especially in traditionally male subjects like maths, science and armed combat. She wanted them to meet a woman who's gone toe-to-toe with Red Hulk. Hank's not sure that armed combat is all she'll be teaching them, and Tigra suddenly has doubts too.
In the classroom with a mug of mead in hand the warrior woman is telling the 3 girls not to believe the patriarchy's myth that a woman needs a man. Women are superior in intellect, on the battlefield and in bed. The girls have mugs of mead before *them* too and Jeanne is sampling hers. She tells them that many Valkyrior take a vow of chastity but she understands it's a lot to ask the girls to ignore their natural appetites. So she's here to tell them that they still don't need a man because mortal craftsmen have devised .... At this point Tigra bursts in to stop her, to complain about the alcohol and that she's supposed to be teaching them to fight. Val says she was teaching them to fight the oppression of the phallocentric society.
While the women argue Hazmat takes Veil aside and talks to her as someone else who was harmed by Osborn. She knows that Maddy's enhanced power will soon make her fade away to nothing. She proposes that when they go to the Raft they should pay Norman a visit and make him tell them how to be cured. Then Tigra says they're going to move the lesson to the sparring room (without the mead) and they'll learn to fight with swords (blunt wooden ones so Hazmat's suit will be safe).
The next day the students gather at the aircraft hanger with the regular staff including Quicksilver. But Speedball's not there and Justice goes to find him. Pym tells them not to touch anything while they're at the Raft, and not to speak to any of the inmates unless they're told to. And Tigra warns them, especially the girls, not to look at Purple Man's face or read his lips, and report any strange urges or voices in their heads. Pietro Maximoff says some of the prisoners can be dangerous, for example they have to keep Crossbones muzzled or he'll spit his own teeth as projectile weapons (sound more like Bullseye). Mettle quietly tells Hazmat to count him in her plan.
Vance finds Speedball in his staff quarters looking at the spiked helmet he wore as Penance (when he was punishing himself for his part in the Stamford disaster). He tells Robbie Baldwin he doesn't have to come to the Raft where he was imprisoned. But Robbie reminds Vance that he also spent time in prison (for killing his father in self-defence) and has come to terms with it all, so he too needs to move on. Justice leaves him to follow in a minute. But when he's alone we see Robbie cutting his own arm with a spike, and there are many other scars.
They all (including Speedball) arrive at the Raft where Luke Cage greets them in the driving rain. They pass Mandrill in his cell who who threatens to use his power to make the girls do anything he wants, and some other guy who wants to eat them all. Maddy is worried they can get out, and Striker doesn't help by reminding Cage how often there *have* been jailbreaks. Luke explains that they've got a forcefield around the island, the inmates have personal power-dampeners and there are AI-controlled guns. And they've learned since the breakout caused by Electro (at the start of New Avengers vol 1) to have the high tech backed up with low tech. They pass Vermin eating something and Crossbones (1 of the TBolts) who won't stop staring at them.
They are led to the Thunderbolts' new base within the Raft where selected inmates are offered the chance to earn their freedom by acting as 'heroes'. There they meet the Ghost who begins by telling them how bad it is to be stuck with your inferiors for the 'crime' of being a free thinker, and then spirals off into a conspiracy theory until Cage takes him away to renew his meds. Juggernaut tells them how he sought power to get free of abuse but it didn't work because he was trapped in the victim mentality. Until you free yourself from your fears you're a prisoner wherever you are. Meanwhile Moonstone is with Pym, Pietro, Vance and Speedball. She taunts Robbie about his time with the TBolts as Penance and gets under his skin. Wasp reminds her that her job here is to observe the students and evaluate them. She predicts they'll make great villains, and as Avengers they'll make everyone forget what a mess Pym made of it.
The students are still with Cain Marko when Hazmat secretly emits an EM pulse which turns of the lights and all other tech. Speedball gives the staff some light but when they reach the students they find Hazmat, Mettle and Veil missing. Those 3 pass Grizzly trying to break out of his cell and when they reach Crossbones Jenny asks him where Osborn is. He's not inclined to tell them until he sees how angry she is. Then he points the way and tells them to leave the door open so he can hear the screams. Norman congratulates her on learning how to generate an EMP but warns them that the system will be back online in minutes. Ken and Maddy are shocked to hear her say that he'll be dead by then.