Avengers vol. 4 #4

Title: “Breakout! Part four”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Penciller: David Finch

Inker: Danny Miki

Colors: Frank D’Amarta

Editor: Tom Brevoort

At Stark Tower, Jessica Drew arrives and Jarvis lets her in. Captain America quietly welcomes her and says that she is just in time. Tony is speaking to Agent Hill on a view screen. Hill says that is “Special Agent Hill”, that she is acting director of SHIELD, and that whatever they want that the answer is no. She says that they have Sentry in custody and the rest of the prisoners in lockdown. She says that they will take care of it on their own. Tony says that they have put together a new team of Avengers. He says that she is looking at the core of the team and that he is assuming full responsibility. Hill says that she is going to have to hang up on him now. She says that it isn’t out of a lack of respect, but because she has no time. She says that this is the kind of crap that got Fury where he is and that she is telling them that this isn’t happening. Spider-Man asks where Fury is. Captain America identifies himself and asks Hill if she has access to his SHIELD file. Hill says that she does. Cap says that she can then verify for herself that he has full champion license. Hill says that she didn’t know that. Spider-Man says that he isn’t joining the Champions. Steve says that it means that he has the authority to assemble any team he sees fit to go on any mission he sees fit. Spider-Man says, “Yeah? I have clones.” Tony says that what it means is that they don’t need SHIELD permission to put the Avengers back together. Tony says that he means no disrespect to Hill, but that she has forty some odd super-powered threats, who were locked up last night, who are now running around New York City and beyond that he thinks she would welcome their expertise. Hill says that she isn’t interested in outside help. She thanks him anyway. Tony says that once again she seems to be missing the point of the conversation. He says that Jessica Drew is an active level seven SHIELD agent and now an active Avenger as well. He says that she has full access to the information she has on what happened at the Raft last night. He says that what they would like is to work with her and handle this quickly. Hill scowls at them silently. Tony says that he is sorry if she was under the impression that they were asking permission. Hill scowls silently some more. Cap asks if she can tells them where she is at in the investigation and that they would really like to help. Hill says that she wants to speak to Captain America privately.

Jessica Drew walks down the stairs in her Spider-Woman costume. She says that it looks like she is a super hero again. Tony says, “Well, Agent Drew… in the most P.C. non-threatening, professional way I’d like to say…” Cage interrupts and says, “Damn, girl.” Tony says that is it exactly. Jessica thanks them. She asks Pete how his arm is. Cage says that he forgot they knew each other. Spidey says, “kinda”. Cage asks if they are related. Pete says, “no”. Luke asks if he gave her her powers or something. Spidey says, “No. She’s totally unrelated to me in any way.” Luke says, “So she ripped off your name?” Pete says, “Exactly.” Jessica says, “Hey! You said it was okay.” Pete says that he didn’t say that she could lend it out and that there are like ten of them now. Jessica says that there are three of them and that they are ripping her off. Pete says, “And I’m not seeing a dime.” Jess asks, “A dime of what?” Pete says that he is just saying. Jessica says that she can’t tell if he is joking. Spider-Man says that she isn’t the first woman to say that to him. Luke asks about the golden guy that was there last night. Spider-Man says that he forgot about him and says that he thought it was Thor for a second. Spider-Woman says that he is the Sentry and that he saved her life twice last night. Cap says that the Sentry is a complicated story and that they are going to have to deal with that right after the emergency at hand. Peter asks if they know what happened… because it sucked. Cap says that it was a prison break. He says that they thought it was a system failure that turned into a riot, but that it was a prison break. He says that it was an assault on the island specifically to break out one inmate. Jessica asks who it was. Steve says that they don’t know and that no one is talking. Tony says that he just got folders from SHIELD. Jessica asks if Hill is cool with everything. Steve says that they will see. Tony tells his suit to patch in and display. Steve looks at the screen and says that this is who escaped. Spider-Man looks at them all and asks if these are the ones that escaped. Steve says that one of them was the person responsible and that he is their primary target. Spider-Man asks how many there are. Steve says that it is forty-two. Tony says that he has a small video file. Cap says that SHIELD was able to uncover a small bit of digital security footage from the wreckage. They all watch. Spider-Man asks them to freeze it. He recognizes part of Electro’s costume. He says that this is so embarrassing. He says that it was one of his bad guys, and that he knew this would turn out to be his fault. Cage says that only in his warped brain. Spidey says, “Well, yeah.” Iron Man says, “Open server nine. Password: Masque. Maxwell Dillon. Is it Max? Maxwell?” Spidey says that he doesn’t know and asks what he is doing. Iron Man says that he is finding him. He says that he is looking to see if he made any electronic money transfers, but before he can even finish he finds Electro in Boston. Spider-Woman asks if Iron Man can pull up his rap sheet. Tony does so. He says that an hour ago Electro transferred a lot of money from a Swiss bank account to an account in Boston and then took it out of a National Bank. Spidey asks what a lot of money is. Tony asks if he means to Spider-Man or to him. Luke asks what is in Boston. Iron Man says that he has eaten at the same restaurant every night for the last three weeks. Spider-Woman says that it is a woman. She says that he called the same woman from prison every week: Mia Salem. Waitress at the Brown Derby. Iron Man says that is the restaurant. Iron Man says that they are going to Boston. Spider-Man asks if they are all getting armor. Tony says to come with him.

The team is boarding a newly designed quinjet. Cap says that he thought Tony wasn’t sure about this. Tony says that he designed it months ago and was beta testing when the Avengers broke up. He says that he never got to debut it. Jessica asks if Matt Mur… if Daredevil is joining them. Cap says that he is still working on it. Iron Man tells them to put their seatbelts on. He says that on a quiet day that he will teach them to fly this thing and that it is easier than it looks. Peter asks if they are planning on having quiet days and says that is good because he hasn’t had one since he was eleven.

Max stands a distance from the restaurant. He creates a small electrical charge in his hand. This draws Mia’s attention. She asks him what he is doing there. Max says, “Let’s go.” Mia asks, “What?” Max says that they have to get out of there. She asks him what he is talking about. Max says that he is talking about the two of them getting on a private plane and getting out of there… right away… for good. He says that he promised her that he would get her out of all the crap and that he did. He says that right now they don’t have time to get into one of these things she likes to get into and that they can do it on the plane. She asks what he is talking about. She says that she hasn’t seen him in two weeks and that he hasn’t even called. Max tells her to shut it and listen. He says that he came into a load of dough and that the two of them can be sitting on a beach in Wakanda sipping coconut drinks. Mia asks what he did. Max says that they can talk about it on the plane. Mia realizes that he did the thing in New York last night. Max tells her to shut up. She starts to say that the entire city was blacked out, but Max cuts her off and asks if she is coming or not. Mia says that she can’t believe him. Suddenly, Max looks back and sees Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and Spider-Woman. He says, “Crap!” and lets off an electrical blast. It doesn’t even reach them. Max realizes that he is in some kind of bubble that holds his electricity in. Iron Man says that they did their homework and that he is done. Max goes to touch the bubble, but Iron Man says that he wouldn’t do that. Max touches it and screams in pain. Captain America asks Max who hired him and who he broke out. Max says that he wants his lawyer. Luke asks Spider-Man about how he fights him. Spider-Man says that he webs up his hands and then pounds the crap out of him. Luke says, “Do me up.” Spider-Man webs Luke’s fists. Luke says to open the bubble and Max passes out. Luke says that he was supposed to blurt out a name and not faint like a wuss. Jessica radios into SHIELD to come pick up Electro. Luke tells Spider-Man to get these off his hands. Spider-Man says that they don’t come off and that they dissolve in an hour. Luke says, “What?” Spidey says that he just told him to web his hands. Cap says that they still don’t know what they need to. Iron Man asks how they can wake him up without risking a big fight. Spidey says that he can escape via the city’s electric grid as well. Jessica says that she has an idea on how they can find out who was broken out, but that they need to stop by her house.

At Ryker’s Island penitentiary, Spider-Woman walks out into the middle of all the holding cells. She says that she knows they are all drugged and wearing power draining collars while their cells are rebuilt, but that she knows they can hear her. She asks if anyone wants to tell her who Electro broke out of the Raft last night. She says that all she needs is a name. No one responds. Jessica says that she figured. She tells them that tonight they will be eating a meatloaf like substance and a pureed potato substance for dinner. She says that it will be much like everyday of the rest of their lives. She holds up a box apple crumb cake Entenmanns’s donuts. She says that they are awesome. She says that she bought them for herself, but that now that she is back in tights she can’t eat them. She starts to say that the first person who tells her who Electro broke out gets them, but before she can finish everyone starts shouting out the name “Karl Lykos”. Hyde begs her to give him a donut. Spider-Man says, “Oh no…” Cage asks who that is.

Back in the quinjet, they find that Karl Lycos files is restricted. Luke asks Jessica if she can open it. She says no. Luke says that he thought she had clearances. Jessica says that she does, but that she doesn’t have that kind of clearance and that not many do. Cap says that something is going on. Luke says that Jessica should call her boss to open it. Cap says that someone locked the file, and that if they start calling around that it will alert them that they are onto them. Luke asks who Karl Lykos is. Spider-Man says that he is a mutant. He says that he has been smacked around by him. He says that he can suck energy, or your powers, or something. He says that when he overdoes it that he turns into a giant green Jurassic park thing. Spider-Man says that he is like a dinosaur, a vampire dinosaur. He says that either dinosaur or vampire would have been enough, but that this guy is showing off. He asks what he calls himself. Captain America says, “Sauron.”  Cage says that he broke out of jail and that now his secret files are locked. Jessica says, “Locked from the inside.” She looks and says that the SHIELD outpost outside the Savage Land is offline. She says that outposts never go offline. Cage says, “The Savage Land?” Jessica says that is where Lykos lives. Iron Man says that he is setting course. Luke asks if this is a real place. Spider-Man asks if he can borrow a phone and that he has to call his wife and tell her that he is off to get killed in Antarctica, the land that time forgot. Iron Man says to just say “phone” and then the number. Spidey says that is creepy. Iron Man says that it is the future.

As the approach the Savage Land, Luke asks what they have to look forward to here. Spider-Man says, “All kinds of mutates and dinosaurs and big cheetahs and a surprising amount of acceptable nudity.” Luke says, “Are you #$%$ing me?” Spider-Man says that it doesn’t matter and that they probably won’t survive the crash. Luke asks, “What crash?” Spider-Man says that you don’t go to the Savage Land without crashing. Iron Man says that he has never gone there with him driving. Iron Man announces “seat belts” again. Spider-Man says, “Yeah, that’ll help.” Iron Man flips over and says that they are almost there.

Iron Man lands the plane and as they get off he says, “See?” Spider-Man says that he stands corrected. Suddenly the quinjet blows up as a giant Tyrannosaurus steps on it and starts chasing them. Iron Man flies into the air and blasts it with a repulsor ray. He tells them to split up and head for the trees.

Luke and Jessica hide together. Luke says, “What the hell?” Jessica says that she is so glad she signed on. Luke looks at her stunned. Jessica asks what it is. Three razor sharp claws come out of the trees to point at her neck.

Avengers Files rating: 9 out of 10

Review and pictures by The Leader

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