Camera

" Our Miami affiliate identifies one of the young crimefighters as Brandon Sharpe, who calls himself striker... A name he lived up to tonight, Chuck!" The news anchor reported.

The students and staff of Avengers Academy watched the coverage of tonight's events.

" Slow news tonight. They're all over it." Tigra told Hank.

" This is the last thing I wanted. We need to contact Steve, clamp down on this before any more information gets out." Hank told the woman.

" Dr. Pym, can I say something?" Striker asked the man. " It's already out. Trust me, I grew up around the media. We try to stonewall them now; it'll be like blood in the water. They'll find Hazmat's old Facebook page, And Veil's old classmates will sell the story of how she misted up in school to the tabloids, and so on. We can't stop this. Our only hope is to try and control it. But if we want to do that, we have to get in front of it now." Striker explained to the man.

" He's got a point." Tigra said to Hank.

Hank mewled over his thoughts and sighed. " Okay, tomorrow at five we'll hold a press conference and introduce you all to the public." Hank told the students. " You wanted the camera's Brandon, looks like you're gonna get them." Hank told the boy before walking away.

" Oh boy, we're going to be on T.V." Reptil exclaimed.

" This is gonna be awesome!" Mettle yelled joining in on Reptil's excitement.

Orion however, seemed slightly troubled by the thought of being in front of the camera.

" You don't seem excited about this. Are you alright man?" Mettle asked.

Orion looked up at the boy. " Huh? Oh, no not really. But I guess they've already seen me now. So, I might as well get over it." Orion told the boy.

" Hey, don't be like that man." Striker told Orion. He walked up to the boy and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. " Look you just let old Striker, handle all the hard work. Trust me this will be the night of your life." Striker told Orion as he walked with him.

The next night at Five Hank had called a conference to introduce

" Thank you all for coming. I'm sure you all know why you're here. I'm sure you've seen the video. So, let's just get right to it. The Avengers have always played a pivotal role in the superhero community. For years we have strived to do our best to keep the planet and beyond safe from its enemies. But we can't always be there. We won't always be around. So, who does it fall to protect the planet when we're gone? The next generation. The kids of tomorrow. That is why the Avengers feel it's our duty to train the next generation of heroes to use their powers effectively and responsively. That starts here." Hank explained to the crow of people. " So, please join me in welcoming the inaugural class of Avengers Academy. Reptil, Striker, Finesse, Veil, Mettle, Hazmat, and the Juggernaut." Hank stated as he introduced the team to the rest of the world.

Camera's flashed as pictures were taken and the reporters each shouted over each other to ask questions.

" Please, one at a time." Hank told the crowd.

" Mettle, is there any connection between you and The Red Skull? Are you, his child?" One of the reporters asked.

" No, I'm not." Mettle replied.

" You! Juggernaut! Is there any connection between you and the supervillain going by the same name?" Another reporter asked.

" Well, he actually gave me the name. And my powers pretty much make me unstoppable." Orion explained.

" So, you got your name from a villain? Does this mean you aspire to be like the Juggernaut?" The same reporter asked.

" Uh, no actually. I'm just trying to do right." Orion responded.

' Kill them all!' Cyttorak ordered.

Orion grabbed his head in pain and squeezed.

Sensing something was wrong, Hank stepped forward and spoke to the crowd. " Uh, let's not focus too much on one topic. Let's move. Who else has any questions?" Hank asked the public.

After bombarding Hank with questions about the kid's identities and other questions Hank eventually ended the conference and had the kids return back to Infinite Mansion through one of his dimensional doors.

" Can you believe those guys think I'm the Red Skull's kid?" Mettle asked in disbelief. " The dude's a Nazi! I'm half Jewish!" Mettle yelled.

" Don't worry about it, dude. People love you. Look, you're a meme on 4chan!" Striker told the boy

" Where'd Orion get too?" Hazmat asked.

" He went straight to his room when we got back. Guess not everyone likes being in the spotlight." Striker told the girl.

" I'm gonna go tell, Justice how the event went. I'll stop by Orion's room later to see if he's okay." Veil said as she left the room the others were in.

As the others celebrated their time in the spotlight, Orion was busy fighting back his demons once again.

" Huhhh!" Orion breathed heavily as he leaned against his dresser. His hands.

' Despite your feeble attempts to resist, I can feel you slowly slipping, boy. The beast wants to be let out. So, why not just cut loose?' Cyttorak asked.

" Why don't you just stay the hell out of my mind?" Orion replied. Orion slumped over to his books and picked one up. Orion then sat on his bed and started reading from it, effectively pushing Cyttorak's will back into the corners of his mind. Orion just sat in his bed reading for five hours until his room door opened.

" Sorry. Am I interrupting?" Madeline asked as she walked into the room, she was only wearing pink booty shorts and a black tank top.

Orion sat up and placed his book down. " No, I just finished. What's up?" Orion asked the girl.

" Do you mind if I sit down?" Madeline asked as she approached the boy.

" Sure." Orion replied. He scooted over and patted the spot next to him.

Madeline nodded and plopped down, right next to Orion. She leaned over and Orion's eyes shot open when she kissed him. She then retreated back and looked at the boy's shocked expression.

" What... What was that?" Orion asked.

" Sorry, to be so sudden. But I've been doing a lot of thinking. I'm going to die, Orion. Whether I like to admit it or not. I'm just going to get more and more ghost-like until I fade away into nothing completely." Maddy told Orion.

" But why me? I mean you're gonna be famous now, right? Isn't there anyone better?" Orion asked the girl.

" I can't spend my life waiting for prince charming to show up. Especially not when I got a prince right in front of me." Madeline told the boy. " So, wanna hook up?"

Orion looked at the girl and hesitated.

" I... I've never had a girlfriend before." Orion told the girl

" And I've never had a boyfriend. Most guys our age usually don't go for the flat chested girls who had to wear glasses." Maddy replied.

" Okay. But I'm kind of tired. Can we just talk?" Orion asked the girl.

Maddy smiled and pushed the boy down. " So, what were you reading tonight?"

"A couple of things actually. I started with Romeo and Juliet, and I just finished beauty and the beast." Orion replied.

" Yeah? I thought you only liked those old timey books." Maddy said.

" Well, I like most books. It's all about the immersion. It helps me clear my mind and think." Orion told the girl. " That and fighting anyway."

" Fighting. You actually like to fight?" Maddy asked.

" Well, yeah. It's a contest. A battle to be the greatest. To see who will come out on top. It's exciting isn't it?" Orion told the girl. " You know, I noticed whenever we're together we talk about me. But we never talk about you. So, tell me what was it like for you growing up?" Orion asked the girl.

" Well, I was your ordinary girl, really. Nothing exciting about me. I liked princess dolls and ponies, then when I got to high school I started liking this guy named Brad, but well like I said guys didn't like flats. And well, the pretty girls bullied me pretty much every day. I just didn't have a good time I guess." Maddy told the boy.

" Bullied you? For what?" Orion asked.

" Well, I wasn't pretty like they were." Maddy told the boy.

" What? You're beautiful, Maddy. You're funny and smart and you're defiantly a nicer person than they are. Honestly I never thought anybody other than mom would give me the time a day, let a lone a girl like you." Orion told the girl. " Back when I was in school, people were afraid to come near me. The weird boy. I actually got kicked out of school once when I broke a kids arm."

" Jeez sounds like neither of us had a normal life. But hey, here's to being extraordinary." Madeline told the boy.

" Yeah." Orion replied. ' Yeah. When did things change?' Orion asked himself as he thought back to his younger days. ' I used to enjoy challenging bigger opponents. I enjoyed breaking things. When did all of that change? It wasn't the accident. I remember the same feeling when... When I trained with Shang. So, when did it change? I think it was after my mental sessions with strange. But I don't really remember those that well. I just remember. Ugh!!!' As Orion thought back to his mental training sessions with Strange a sudden searing pain shot into his mind. ' What was I thinking about?' Orion asked himself as he stared up at the ceiling.