Issue #32

While Jack was off to meet up with Flash Thompson, Cyclops and X-Force were heading toward the pool where the Hellions and Inquisitors were having a fun pool day. The Hellions had just finished their training under Emma and wanted to unwind.

Unknown to Jack, Cyclops had led the others to propose and try to get the young teens he had been teaching for the past month into the X-Force team. How this situation would pan out, only The-One-Above-All would know.

Jack flew outside of Flash Thompson's apartment building before phasing through the window. When he entered, he was greeted by a young woman in her 20s as well as a young man also in his 20s who was sitting in a wheelchair.

"Mr. Frost," the pair greeted him

"Mr. Thompson. Ms. Brant. Nice to see you both," Jack greeted them before taking a seat on the chair across from them.

"I want your skills, Mr. Thompson. Spider-Man recommended you and I completely support it. You were a great soldier and an even better hero. You did what you needed to do and more. You always thought of the bigger picture but made sure to never abandon your principles.

But I don't want you to feel forced. So this is what I'm going to do."

Jack pointed his right hand at Flash. Light surrounded Flash's body for a few seconds before it disappeared.

Flash and Betty looked confused but then Flash felt something he had not felt in a long time. He look down and saw that his legs which had been blown off almost 2 years ago had reappeared.

Betty also noticed that his legs had returned and tears began to fill her eyes.

'They're back? He was able to get his legs back!'

"This is what I am giving you. A choice. You can walk away, literally, from all of this before it begins. You can marry this beautiful woman right here, go back to your family, or do whatever else you want. Because you will be risking your life for this job," Jack gave Flash the option. He wanted a team of heroes that believed in him, not those that felt forced to join him. So he would never hold Flash's legs against him or try to rope him in without fully informing him of the consequences.

Flash looked at Jack before turning to Betty. The young woman nodded back at him and both turned back to Jack.

"Do you know why I joined the military? It's because I looked up to Spider-Man and wanted to be a hero. Like most guys, I wanted to be like Captain America and get invited into that super-secret unit and get turned into a super-soldier.

You're offering me that and more. Because I don't have to keep it a secret from the woman I love.

I'm in," Flash was ecstatic to be given this chance. It was everything he dreamed of and more.

Jack smiled and summoned a jar to his hands before placing it on the table. Inside was a black and white blob. This was the Symbiote that Jack had created the night before but it had changed from its original white color to become both white and black.

"Here is the Symbiote for you. It has the abilities of several different Symbiotes and is the most powerful. It will grant you physical abilities similar to Toxin, the healing of Anti-Venom, immunity to sound-based attacks, and as resistant to fire as a Spider-Man is. Besides that, you get all the typical Symbiote powers.

But the most important part of the Symbiote is this: it has no consciousness. Once bonded to you, you will be in full control."

Hearing what Jack had given him, Flash was surprised. The deal kept getting better and better.

"Monday evening at 7 pm. That new island is 20ish miles outside of the city. I plan to have the heroes of the team meet up then."

Jack left after leaving the capsule on the table. Both Betty and Flash were unable to say anything due to him leaving so fast. The only thing that Flash could do was show up on time.

After meeting Flash, Jack was off to find Kaine which wasn't too hard.

He just had to find a couple of drug dealers screaming out in pain with one of them having their face ripped off.

Jack looked at the clone in the red and black uniform in amusement.

"Spider-Man isn't going to like you dressed up so similar to him and killing drug dealers," Jack commented as he floated down from above, putting the dealer and his men to sleep.

Kaine looked around and saw that no one was resisting. He let go of the man in his arms before turning to face Jack.

"Fuck off, Frost! I already told you my condition to join your boy band," Kaine was about to swing off but he felt something approaching him. He subconsciously caught it and looked down at it.

Jack had thrown a syringe at him.

"I think we are closer to an idol group. Also, I always deliver. This will cure you of your DCC but it won't help with the fact that you lost your spider-sense. Still, I have something else for you for that."

Jack threw a small, metallic hemisphere at Kaine who caught it as well.

"What's this?" Kaine asked looking puzzled

"That," Jack said while pointing to what he had just thrown Kaine, "Will take you from the Scarlet Spider to the Steel Spider. If you wanna change your name. I don't care what you call yourself honestly. That new island is a dozen or so miles away from the coast. Monday at 7:00 pm. Meet the group and decide then if this is suitable work for you."

Jack flew away without giving Kaine a chance to pass the syringe or hemisphere back to him.

The Jason Todd/Red Hood of the Spider Bros watched Jack fly away before shaking his head. Kaine spewed out some web from his arm before flying off to the nearest church to get some guidance on what he should do.

On Jack's end, he had just gotten back to the Institute. He decided to check on his team since Emma said that they were socializing with the Hellions when he left. But when he arrived back, he saw that the Paladins and a few other teens had joined them but Quentin was no longer with the rest of the group.

Jack had a bad feeling at this scene.

"Where's Quentin?" he asked all of them

They each looked at each other while pushing one another to try and get someone to say it. In the end, it seemed like Melody was pushed in front of the others so she had to be the one to answer.

"He, um... he got recruited by X-Force," Melody reluctantly whispered, hoping that Jack would not be able to hear her properly. Unfortunately, her wishes did not come true.

"Oh. He decided to leave the team without informing me himself before he did it and Scott decided to try and recruit you all behind my back?" Jack asked them for confirmation

"Mhm," Melody hummed in agreement

"I see. If you all will excuse me, I need to go turn a few people in eunuchs."