『Stoked』

It had been a good day, at least for Jessica Jones. Eugene never showed up to school, nor did his posse, after having attended to the front of Jack's house earlier in the morning that day.

At first, Jack didn't seem to mind. Though he definitely though it was strange, they had been dressed in their school uniforms. So he was easily able to deduce they didn't plan on playing hooky. Could it be that they changed their minds and headed home? Or had something else happened? Still, he didn't think too much about it. They were teenagers, rowdy ones at that.

Plus it was normal for the sports star of the school to just not show up to school.

It was actually rather peaceful with no random acts of violence or screaming of profanities in his general direction. However, it just wasn't sitting right by the end of the school day.

Sitting in study hall, sketching out ideas for Gwen's costumes, he glanced over towards her as she was seated in the desk beside her. His eyes danced around, watching the mechanical pencil as it practically scorched the surface of paper pad.

A small grin formed over his lips as she glanced up at him and smiled lightly. They planned on leaving mid-period, and he could tell she was looking forward to it, as she wanted to shop.

A few minutes later, they were gathering their things, slinging their packs over their shoulders and walking towards the exit of the room. Entering the corridor, Jack glanced down the hall towards the main entrance, then towards the direction Gwen was leading him in.

Pursing his lips, his eyes rested on one of Eugene's posse members running down the hall. Her uniform was in ruins, she had a bruise on the side of her face, and a flat lower lip.

The moment she saw us, her eyes widened and she ran towards them. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, and the first thing he noticed was the blackened eye on the left side of her face.

"What happened to you!?" Gwen immediately rushed over, checking the girl.

"I... We were on our way to school, not too far behind you..." This student seemed to be in pain as she spoke, one hand moving up to hold onto her ribs. It was likely she was badly beaten.

Frowning at this, Jack walked over to the girl, observing the visible damage before looking to Gwen. This seemed like a personal attack, people don't just go around beating others up unless they're some type of psychopath or maybe a sociopath on a psychotic break.

"... When this limousine pulled up... A big man told us to get inside, Eu...Eugene told us to ignore the guy, and we kept walking... That's when a bunch of men came out of the car. They... They beat us and tried to force us into the car!" She held onto her abdomen with her other hand as she tried to control her breathing. The pain was all over her face, her body was shaking.

"...This big man... Was he bald and wearing a suit...?" Jack leaned in with his inquiry, whispering it, "Don't speak. Nod or shake your head..."

The girl's lips parted before she nodded frantically, fear of the encounter still in her eyes.

"Did he say anything to you?" Now that he knew who it was, or at least assumed he knew who it was, he was pretty sure she didn't get away... She was let go.

"Let's...Let's see if the Recluse will heed my command if I take children as hostages..." Coughing, the girl groaned as she swayed slightly, she likely had a broken rib.

"Gwen... Lets take her to the school infirmary," Jack coldly frowned, extremely annoyed at the fact that the one known as Fisk had taken not his friends hostage, but his school bully instead.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Gwen huffed at the situation at hand, the two of them taking the girl by the arms and helping her down the corridor. Once they reached the nurses office, they found that the Nurse was out for the next ten minutes, so they helped her over to a bed.

Just as the nurse was coming in through the door, the two then rushed out. "Bye Ms.P!" Gwen and Jack darted from the office towards the exit without the camera and made their way outside.

It didn't take long before the two of them made it out to the sidewalk, and began walking along the side of the street. For a time, they were silent, making their way in the direction of their homes.

"I... I wouldn't blame you if you didn't try to save them. If anything, it would give me a great debut!" Gwen seemed energetic, jumping and draping an arm around his shoulder, a devilish grin across her lips as she brought him to her level.

"You don't have a suit yet..." He uttered quietly, looking her over.

"You don't have any spares?" She blinked at him for a few moments before pushing the side of her face against his. "Where do you keep your suit anyway?"

"I'm wearing it, always." Jack uttered with his eyes blankly looking forward, a faint smirk across his lips that was reminiscent of a youth purposely peeing in a public pool and getting away with it.

Gwen pursed her lips into a pout, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"...You'll see," he responded with a snicker of his own seeing her pout.

Sucking her teeth, she shook her head as she hung onto his side, her smile vanishing. She could only think of the pain those people were in, her classmates, and it was all because Jack wouldn't hurt her or her father.

The need to sacrifice the minority for the majority, it seemed it wasn't something either of them could accept. Her eyes rested on Jack, who was keeping his gaze forward as they moved on.

When they returned to their street, he walked up to the front porch of his house and walked inside, Gwen following close behind. "You have your sketchbook?"

Gwen blinked a few times, taking it out as she followed him to the basement door. "I don't really think this is the time for it..." She said as she held the item out over his shoulder.

Reaching back with his left hand over his right shoulder, he grasped the book and opened it to the first page. There were several sketches and he nodded lightly. As he opened the door to the basement, he began to descend.

Gwen of course, continued to follow.

The stairs down into the basement were hard and metallic, but they hardly made a sound on the way down. She quickly began to notice that there were no lights on where they were going. Glancing to the top of the stairs, there wasn't even a light switch up there. "What are we doing down here? Where are the lights?"

"You'll... See..." Jack dismissed her questions.

So when they did reach the bottom, all of the lights in the basement turned on all at once, revealing a state of the art laboratory and a compact fabrication machine of some sort.

"Whoa!" Gwen stared at everything that was down here, "When did you get all this in the house!?" Her eyes darted over the white sterile facility under the house. It was like she had stumbled upon the lair of a mad scientist!

The walls were white panels, and the floors were a very cool blue five by five tile.

How had she not noticed this place being built!? Then that's when it hit her, perhaps it had been put together after the house was sound proofed? Or was it all at the same time!? Her eyes moved towards Jack who was walking casually towards the fabricator and opened up a terminal.

"What is this...?" She looked down at the screen of the terminal, revealing an operating system she wasn't familiar with. It seemed to be in some sort of coded runic language she couldn't quite understand. Was it some sort of alien tech?

Jack shrugged lightly at her question, again dismissing it. "Built by Advanced Ideas Mechanics, used to maintenance and build new suits."

Hearing him say this, she pursed her lips slightly. "Am I going to be bullet proof?"

"Resistant," his eyes darted over to her for a few seconds before going back to the screen as he began to rapidly type information into the machine.

Gwen watched this and narrowed her eyes on the numbers he typed in. The only thing she could recognize, and her jaw slackened slightly. "Where did you get my measurements?"

Jack gave her a once-over before giving a brief and faint smile.

"... I'll remember this," Gwen grinned before looking towards the sketchbook he was looking at now, raising a brow. He was looking over the one she had starred with blue pen.

"I like the design... You want to include your blue dance shoes?" His eyes flickered over to her once more as she nodded. "Alright..." Turning his attention back to the screen, he began to input a number of factors and information into the terminal.

Several seconds later, the fabrication machine began to roar to life. Various other mechanical devices within the room also seemed to begin moving. Several canisters attached to the fabricator began to his and the smell of metal, fabrics and oil filled the room.

Gwen's eyes scanned the room, there was no danger, not at the moment anyways. She then walked over to one of the canisters and began glancing over the labels.

They weren't filled with liquid, at least not normal liquid. Nano-weave, polyester, metal composites and various other alien materials that sounded like fictional elements... Everything here was manufactured to be used in a giant three dimensional printer.

Her eyes jumped over to Jack, staring at him.

"...My father had always said that 3D Printers were the future," Jack cocked a brow to her silence.

"So when you said that we weren't going to find what we needed at the store... You meant we'd find it in your basement?"

"...Yes..." Jack responded with a monotonous voice as he turned towards her and pointed towards the fabrication window, revealing her suit. "Nano-compression Ghost Spider Suit, the NGSS Mark One. Complete with independent web shooting capabilities, stealth optical camouflage and pocket hacking for those pesky electronic locks."

The NGSS Mark One, was based on her favored design. Black legs, white torso, red and blue webbing under the arms, and a white hood along with a white and red mask, the Spider Gwen multiversal classic.

Staring in through the window, she bit her lower lip taking in the designs. There was a hexagonal pattern, it looked sleek. "It feels like I'm in the middle of one of those James Bond films... Can I call you Q for now on?"

Jack shrugged lightly, humming the 'Secret Agent Man' theme song.