A+X #17

(1st story)
At Avengers Tower, Tony Stark vents out his frustration over his inability to get his latest invention to work. “I’m going to make you work and then I’m going to destroy you because I hate you,” he says as Beast walks into his lab. Tony immediately states that he’s too busy for anything, even if the X-Men destroyed the time-stream again. Beast points out that while he may have fooled around with time, he’s not the one in the room who met King Arthur. Tony remarks that he smelled terrible and asks Beast what he’s doing here. Beast says that he simply dropping “him” off. “Him? Him who?” Tony asks with concern.

“I believe you know Broo, one of our most gifted students at the Jean Grey School,” Beast says as Broo enters the room, dressed neatly in his school uniform and clutching a tablet. Broo thanks Tony for agreeing to a job-shadow day and says that he brought a study binder filled with discussion questions. Tony claims that he doesn’t remember agreeing to this but Beast informs him that he most certainly did. “I’m not the X-Men’s babysitter!” Tony shouts as Beast walks out.

Broo begins explaining to Tony the various topics that he divided his questions into in order to maximize his internship experience and asks which topic, such as Design and Innovation or Entrepreneurship and Risk Assessment, they should begin with. Tony remarks that now’s not the best time and continues tinkering with what he was working on. Perhaps they can discuss Teamwork and Conflict Resolution or Networking, Broo suggests. He expresses hope that Tony can enlighten him on the concept of Futurism if there’s time.

Realizing that Tony is busy, Broo asks him what he’s working on. Tony explains that he’s trying to build a homemade Shi’ar stargate using parts he borrowing from a space raccoon friend of his. Broo takes off his jacket and begins looking around, asking Tony if he’s ever built a cosmic wormhole generator before. Tony says it shouldn’t be so hard and that, despite working on it for weeks, he can’t seem to get the wormhole to stabilize on a fixed point in space. Broo begins typing at a computer module and says that although he’s only on his fourth A.P. course in Shi’ar Wormhole Theory, he should be able to help. Tony scoffs at the suggestion but suddenly the computer states that the stargate is online and the wormhole is stabilized. Tony is speechless as the stargate comes to life.

Bitter at being upstaged, Tony claims that he has to go out to do a crime patrol. “I didn’t know you did patrols,” Broo says. “Suit, find me patrols,” Tony says. “Command not understood…” the computer responds. “Just get me out of here…” Tony says as he suits up. He’s told of a minor disturbance in Hoboken, New Jersey. “Sounds important,” Iron Man says. Broo asks if he can come but Iron Man says that he doesn’t do sidekicks and tells him to stick around and file stuff. “Plus, you can’t fly,” Iron Man says as he takes off.

In Hoboken, the Chessmen are threatening patrons of a small farmers market. “Flee before the wrath of the Chessmen!” they say as they hover in the air, knocking over stands of fresh produce. “Excuse me, was the chess theme your first choice or did you experiment?” Iron Man asks as he arrives. “I feel like you would have nailed Candyland.” The Knight throws his spear at Tony but misses, destroying some kale instead.

“I solved the flying issue!” Broo says as he flies onto the scene on a small glider. He claims to have also done some filing and discovered a possible way to maximize future Stark patent revenue… “Not. Now. Broo.” Tony says. Addressing the scene, Broo asks if the Chessmen are Iron Man’s arch-nemeses. “Yes!” the three Chessmen respond at once. Tony swears that he usually fights cooler villains as he blasts the Rook out of the way. “I shot the Phoenix with a space-gun one time,” Iron Man says as he punches the Knight off his mechanical horse. “I remember,” Broo says, following behind Tony on his glider.

Suddenly, the Bishop sends an electromagnetic strike from his staff that sends Iron Man to the ground, depleting his power levels. “No more jokes, Stark?” Bishop asks as he continues to charge up his electromagnetic staff. Tony, who can barely lift his head, asks the Bishop how many times he’s been kicked out of Medieval Times and says that, if it’s all right, he’ll probably have his people lie and say it was Ultron who took him out.

Meanwhile, Broo is nearby, taking apart his glider. He asks Tony if the repulsor technology in his chest uses a hyperbolic electrotransformer. “Listen, kid, I know you’re just trying to help, but I’m a bit busy… being defeated by… the Chessmen. Go on,” Tony says. Broo asks if one of the aspects of the patent is to convert electricity. Iron Man understands what he’s implying and tells him to go for it. Broo puts a wire from his glider into Tony’s chest piece. “Who is this weird alien kid in a blazer?” Bishop asks as he readies his final strike. “This is Broo. He’s my intern,” Tony says as his suit absorbs the electricity Bishop throws at him and powers back up.

Back on his feet, Tony asks Bishop once again how many times he’s been kicked out of Medieval Times. Bishop hangs his head in shame and admits that it’s been eight times. “I love underestimating people,” Tony says as he blasts Bishop away with repulsor ray from the chest.

As Iron Man and Broo are surrounded by thankful civilians taking their pictures, Iron Man compliments Broo on his smart thinking and tells him to grab his binder so they can get started.

For Design and Innovation, Tony shows Broo his armory and lets him try on his power skates, something he admits he may been drinking when he thought of.

For Entrepreneurship and Risk Assessment, Tony and Broo don tuxedos and go to a swanky casino where Tony lets Broo gamble with his money.

For Teamwork and Conflict Resolution, Iron Man and Broo assist Thor in stopping a demonic force known as Sveltheimfjurg. Although neither of them understand what Thor is saying, Tony tells Broo to simply hit the thing Thor is hitting.

For Networking, Iron Man introduces Broo to Nova, of whom who Broo claims to be the biggest fan and for whom he immediately has a dozen questions.

At lunch, Tony tells Broo not to worry if the other students call him a nerd because nerds build things and nerds save the world. He asks Broo if he wants to go into space.

Stepping out of a stargate in a distant part of outer space, Iron Man asks Broo if he knows how big the universe is. Broo says that he doesn’t since it’s constantly expanding. Giving a lesson in Futurism as the two take in the wide unknown of space, Iron Man tells Broo that the reason he loves coming out here is to remind himself that there’s no limit.

(2nd story)
Doctor Doom beams down onto Sagittarian Ranch from his ship, noting how odd it is that the Skrull warriors would be hiding out in such a place. Having learned all he could from his last Skrull captive, he allowed Captain America to take him, hoping he would lead him to fresh test subjects. “I am Doom,” he says as he rises to his feet. “Give me the wretches, and I shall depart at once.”

“American was built by welcoming the wretched,” Captain America says. Thinking about how often Captain America gives him a headache, Doom tells him that he will die alone in this pasture. “I’m not alone,” Captain America says and a dozen heroes, both X-Men and Avengers form up behind him, ready for battle. “Tonight, you feel the full strength of Doom’s iron gauntlets!” Doom says as Nightcrawler, Scarlet Witch, Colossus, Cyclops, Wolverine, Iceman, Hulk, Storm, Angel, Thor, Captain America, Beast, Iron Man and Wasp charge towards him.

Doom begins the battle by smashing Wasp between his gauntlets. Iron Man retaliates by blasting him in the back with a repulsor ray. Doom grabs Iron Man by the wrists and drains all his power, then cooks Tony’s head inside his helmet. As Iron Man falls, Hulk jumps to attack. “Hulk is the strongest one there is!” Hulk says as he punches Doom aside. “No, you imbecile giant,” Doom says as he grabs the Hulk’s fist. “Doom is the strongest one these is!” Doom bends the Hulk’s hand, breaking it. Hulk falls to the floor, begging for help and reverting to Banner. “I think I shall help Banner,” Doom thinks to himself as he crushes Banner’s head under his foot. Wolverine pops his claws but, before he can even reach him, Doom sends a small beam that ties around Wolverine’s neck, allowing Doom to behead him.

“Tonight you dine with Hela!” Thor says as he brings Mjolnir down. Thor is astonished when Doom easily catches the hammer in his hand and tosses Thor aside. Standing above Thor with Mjolnir in his hand, Doom realizes that something isn’t right. “This is… Beyond even Doom,” he says to himself.

“Lifting Mjolnir was laying it on a little thick, Z’Cann.”

“Sorry, Cap… He pushed me out.”

“Begone from my head, witch!” Doom says as he awakens on the ground with Z’Cann and Captain America standing over him. Captain America commends Z’Cann for buying them so much time and tells Doom that he has an E-M-P strapped to him that’s making his armor useless. Captain America says that Ant-Man discovered Skrull DNA in the nano-bots Doom deployed and figured he would want Skrull warriors to study. Doom asks where Cyclops is and is horrified to learn that Cyclops is in Latveria, destroying Doom’s Skrull labs.

In Latveria, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Ant-Man, the Stepford Cuckoos, and the rest of Cadre K fight their way through a small army of Doom-bots. Cyclops informs Captain America that all is going according to plan and that they’ve discovered shape-shifting robots. Ant-Man confirms that he took care of Doom’s backup data, leaving the only thing left to destroy behind a locked vault.

As Fiz breaks off the vault’s door, Emma warns them to stop as she senses a consciousness but is too late as a grotesque Skrull-like experiment comes walking out and easily throws Fiz aside. “You are not father,” he says. “Stand by, Cap,” Ant-Man says. “Doom has a prototype!

Back on the ranch, Doom teleports out of his armor and back onto his craft, leaving his armor to explode. Captain America shields himself and Z’Cann from the blast and Z’Cann saves them from falling into a huge lawn trimming machine using her telekinesis.

“Drop to the ground, you filthy alien!” Agent Adsit, leading a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents says as they arrive on the scene. “Stand down, she’s not a threat!” Captain America tells them. Unable to believe that Captain America would defend a Skrull, Agent Adsit declares that Cap himself must be a Skrull and opens fire on Z’Cann and Steve!