Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Readjustments

2018

In a townhouse on Staten Island, the three inhabitants began to hurriedly pack their car due to the fact that only just a day ago, a giant alien ship hovered over New York City, taking with it The Armored Avenger, Iron Man.

"Mom, do we really have to leave?" Jake Abiko, who just recently turned 14, asked as he placed his suitcase into the trunk. Naomi, his mom, just shot him a look.

"You remember what happened 6 years ago. There's no way in hell I'm letting you two be caught up in that again." She quickly responded as she shut the trunk of their car. Ian, the youngest at 12, looked at the two of them.

"So we're heading to Grandma and Grandpa's why?" He asked as he brought his bag to the backseat.

"To get somewhere safe." Naomi responded as she rushed back inside to grab some last-minute things, as her sons followed her back inside.

"Then what are we going to do there?" Jake asked in a bit of an impatient tone. Naomi quickly turned around with an annoyed face.

"It doesn't matter! Just as long as-…Where's your brother?" She asked. Jake turned around as he too noticed that Ian wasn't there anymore, but he did notice a weird amount of dust on the floor. The two rushed outside to check to see if he was in the car…And he wasn't there. Just as Jake was about to say something, he stopped as a car crash happened just a couple of feet down the road. Then people began to rush out into the street to see what exactly is going on. Then the horror began as suddenly, random people began turning into dust.

"Mom?" Jake asked in a horrified voice. "What's happening?" He then turned to face her…And he truly became scared.

"Jake?" Naomi questioned, as before his very eye, his mother turned into dust. Jake fell to his knees as he didn't know what just happened, but he knew that it was straight up horrifying. He closed his eyes as he waited to be dusted himself…But after a minute, nothing happened. He opened his eyes as he realized that this wasn't a nightmare. This was the new reality. And he could do nothing but scream in horror.

"Jake?!" Mr. Ichikawa, their older neighbor, rushed over as he dropped to his knees and grabbed him by his shoulders. "Where's…Where's Naomi?" He asked the boy, but no matter how he tied to grab his attention, Jake just stared in horror at the pile of dust that was once his family…

(X)

2024

"So, how are things back at home?" The question caused Jake to snap out of his trance of remembering the events that had transpired just 5 years ago.

"Oh, um…It's been, what's the right word, difficult to readjust to things." Jake answered back to his therapist.

"In what kinds of ways?" The therapist asked. Jake was hesitant to answer the man. "Jake, how many times do I have to say this to you? This is a safe place where anything you can say will never leave this room. Patient confidential, that's my number one policy."

"Sorry Doctor Samson." Jake sheepishly apologized.

"And you also know that my second policy is that a first name basis with my clients." Leonard Samson retorted.

"Sorry Doctor Leonard." Jake responded back. It took a minute for Jake to try and find the right words to explain things that were going on in his life. "Well…Mom really hasn't gotten used to it being…Me being 5 years older. She kind of jumps every time that I accidentally sneak up on her. Not that I can blame her really. I mean, the last time she saw me was when I was in high school. And now I'm about to end my first year of college. That shit's got to be freaking her out more than she's letting on. Ian has pretty much been himself since he got back but hearing what happened with the Avengers…It definitely has hit him hard. Hell, it hit us all hard, hasn't it?" Doc Samson let out a big sigh.

"That it most certainly has." He then wrote down some notes, and then focused his attention back to his patient. "Do you still have the nightmares?"

"Not as frequently as they once were." Jake replied. "And before you ask, I dropped out of the Survivor Counseling." Samson looked at him with a hint of both curiosity and disappointment.

"I thought you were making good progress with the group. What happened?" The good doctor asked. Jake looked down at his feet to avoid any looks that he felt would have been difficult to look at.

"It's because…I don't even know myself. I just want to help my family, you know?" Jake had expected some kind of disappointed reaction but was instead with a reaction of understanding.

"I suppose that is good motivation." Doc Samson said, surprising Jake. "The people who were brought back have been having a hard time readjusting to the world they find themselves in."

"So…You're not mad?" Jake asked.

"Mad? Of course not." Doc Samson replied. "Just shows you have a good heart." He then looked at his watch. "Seems like our time has run out. Same time next week?" Jake grabbed his backpack and jacket as he gave a thumbs up.

"Sounds good Doc." He responded as he head out the door. Reaching the outside of the building, he put in his earphones, pulled out his phone, and started to play music. It was the one of the only ways he really knew how to express himself. Choker by Twenty-One Pilots. A song about just trying to keep your head down, dealing with social anxiety, and just being someone who feeling like no one is coming to help you. If that didn't describe him to a t, Jake didn't know what else could. Just as he was about to put his phone away, he got a text from his best friend and "manager", Kerry.

Kerry: Have you hung up those flyers yet? We got to get your name out there!

Jake shook his head as he began to respond to the text.

Jake: DJ Jumpy Jake is a terrible name; I hope you know that.

Kerry was quick to respond.

Kerry: I didn't hear you come up with any ideas. Plus, those flyers were expensive, so hang them up! Mama needs to make money! Plus, if you hang them up, I'll tell you about the gig I got lined up.

"Why did I agree to let you manage me?" Jake whispered under his breath as he texted back.

Jake: Got it, boss.

Jake had unlocked his bike and began to pedal away from the building to search for telephone poles to use as advertising. As he came across his first one, he couldn't help but notice the many flyers of missing persons there were. He knew they were hung up around the first blip from the families that were desperate to find some kind of answers to why their family members turned to dust. Hard to believe that it was purple crazy space alien based on reducing the universe in half to be able to have spare resources. With that kind of power, he could have just doubled resources. But he knew that these missing people had to be reunited with their loved ones, so he hung up his first flyer. He then hopped back on his and continued to pedal.

After 20 minutes, he had hung up plenty of flyers around town, so he began to head home. As he pedaled, he came across a site that he had tried his best to avoid, until he unintentionally just came across it.

It was a recent put up memorial to the hero who gave his life to save the entire universe. Tony Stark. Iron Man. It was a graffiti painting of him in one of his many suits. Many people had placed candles, teddy bears, and other affectionate gifts they could come up with, showing the love that they had for the man who had saved them numerous times. Jake hadn't stopped by yet, because he didn't know if he had the strength to say the words that we wanted to say. Not wanting to be there any longer, Jake continued to pedal.

His ride passed by many different sites he enjoyed. A coffee shop on the corner that tended to have some nice indie groups stop by once in a while. A cool shop ran by this old guy named Stan that was very kind to everyone that stopped by there. There was also this new tech company that began popping up everywhere called Nugent Technologies. From what Jake has seen so far, they seemed pretty harmless. He then drove past by a blank canvas for what seemed to be some kind of new mural. He figured that it would have been a piece for the rest of The Avengers. But there have recently been talks about some kind of new superhero team running around lately, but he figured it must have been rumors to try and keep people calm.

As the bike continued along it's path, Jake's mind began to rush as many thoughts began to make their way into his mind.

The first were obviously about his family. He wondered if they were ever get used to what had truly happened. As well as him. He wasn't the same kid they grew up with. To them, he must have seemed like a complete stranger.

He was also concerned about his future. To be honest, Jake has not put any thought into what he would want to be for his career. Sure the DJ-ing gig was pretty fun, but he knew that it probably wouldn't last for his life. And it probably wouldn't be something that his mom would approve of if she found out about it as well. And whatever thoughts he had were suddenly gone…Because an explosion from the bank knocked him off his bike. As his ears were ringing, Jake tried his best to get a grip of his surroundings.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!" A voice suddenly called out, causing the confused civilians to look to see who was speaking. And they were shocked to see a man in a green ringmaster jacket with stars printed over it and a top hat with a spinning spiral on it. "We are glad you are able to join us today for our performance! I am The Ringmaster! And allow me to introduce you to my Circus Of Crime!" As soon as he announced that, many different people of all shapes and sizes followed behind him, revealing themselves to the gawking crowd. "For our resident Master of Strength, we have Bruto The Strongman! Bruto, care to demonstrate your magnificent strength to our dear audience?"

"You got it boss!" Bruto responded as he lifted up a giant piece of rubble and threw it on top of a car, crushing the roof in an instant. Jake then noticed that a man had his leg trapped underneath a piece of rubble. He slowly began to him to try and help him.

"Miraculously done!" Ringmaster cried out as he then pointed his can to the next member of his crew. "From the amazing country of Spain, with a burning passion for crime, our very own Fire-Eater!" In response for being called upon, Fire-Eater proceeded to eat a small amount of fire and spit out a huge plume of flame. "Excellent performance, my good sir! Now then, be amazed at their astonishing acrobatics! Presenting, The Great Gambannos!" Two men in purple in black and purple skin tight suits did flips over one another to try and garner a reaction from the crowd. Jake had reached the man as he grabbed a piece of rebar and put it underneath the rubble as he tried to use leverage to lift it up. He struggled as he barely got it to move a couple of inches, as the man managed to slip out. The rebar snapped under the pressure, causing the Circus of Crime to focus on their attention onto Jake.

"Well, seems the boy's trying to be heroico." Fire-Eater jokingly said as his crew began to laugh alongside him. Jake began to raise the rebar to use as a weapon and began to swing at Fire-Eater, but Bruto grabbed his hand and began to squeeze tightly, causing Jake to drop his weapon due to the immense pain that was inflicted onto him.

"Aw, did I break him?" Bruto asked as he let go of his wrist, which enabled Jake to drop to his knees. Ringmaster took a step forward to the boy and took a close look at him.

"Ah, a young man pretending to be a hero! Shame nobody told him that the age of heroes is over, and now it's our time." He said as he looked to his entourage with a sick smile on his face. "Shall we introduce him to our last member?" The members also had sickening smiles on their faces as a woman in a green dress holding a python. "Introducing our last member, the deadly mistress of serpents, Princess Python!" Princess Python let her snake down with a gleeful smile as it started to slither its way to Jake as Bruto held him in place.

"This is going to be fun. Precious has been dying for a snack." She said as the snake inched closer to its prey. Jake froze in fear as it began to slither its way up him and he thought to himself that if he was going to be a snack for a python…This is not a cool way to die. The python proceeded to lunge at him, and Jake quickly shut his eyes to not witness the horror that awaited. But after what seemed like a minute, Jake opened his eyes to see why he wasn't being attacked. That's when he noticed the snake trapped in a blue glowing cage, shocking the members of the Circus of Crime and the gawking populace.

"Death by snake? I have to admit, not really a cool way to die if you ask me." A new voice suddenly said as members of the Circus of Crime looked around to see the source of the interloper. All of a sudden, a red and black blur struck one of The Great Gambannos, sending them flying into a parked car and knocking them out. The other brother was about to react until he felt someone tap their shoulder. He quickly turned around and was met with a man in a red and black suit with gold highlights running across his shoulders and chest, and a black mask exposing his mouth and was equipped with red goggles. "Hi there." The man said as he dashed off faster than The Great Gambanno could recognize. The remaining twin went flying into another glowing blue cage. "Good one, Doc!" He screamed out to his floating teammate.

"Same could be said to you, Whizzer!" She replied as Jake managed to get a better view of her. Floating above them was a girl in a mainly black costume with the right side of her upper torso covered in a magenta color and her left side covered in a yellow color. In the center of her chest was a black and blue hourglass shape. Her face was completely covered in a black mask, with the only thing that was exposed was her red hair. The speedster stopped in his tracks at the mention of his name.

"I thought that we agreed it was Speed Demon! Not Whizzer!" He shouted out.

"It's not a heroic name!" The floating girl shouted back. "Why not Blur?"

"Nope! It's Speed Demon! No Ifs, Ands, or Buts! Plus, it's certainly better than Doctor Spectrum! What kind of name is that?" Speed Demon shouted, not realizing that Fire-Eater was about ready to set the speedster on fire. All of a sudden, a gold throwing object hit Fire-Eater in the face.

"Now isn't the time to be arguing amongst yourselves." A new voice said as a grizzled man in a black costume, with a red cape that looked like feathers, and a golden bird logo appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to punch Fire-Eater in the gut and then kneeing him in the face, knocking him out.

"S-Sorry Nighthawk!" Doctor Spectrum replied as she rounded up the knocked-out twin into the cage along with his still awake twin. Bruto let go of Jake as he was about to run off.

"You mortals never cease to amaze me." A voice behind him suddenly spoke up behind Bruto. He turned around to come face to face with a woman with black hair and shiny purple armor and a gladiator helmet. Bruto proceeded to punch her in the face…Only to hold his now broken hand as a result of the punch. She then proceeded to pick him up by the neck and punched him in the face, causing him to go flying back into the bank. "I mean, always with the constant arguing. Do you never get tired of the verbal fighting? Back home, we always settled things in a constant of strength, not words."

"Not many of us were on an island of warriors, Power Princess." Nighthawk remarked as he threw a capsule into the face of Python Princess, causing a gas to spew out of it. She coughed heavily because of it, but after a few seconds of inhaling the gas, she was knocked out cold. Ringmaster, seeing his group being defeated before him tried to run away. But he was suddenly picked up by one of his legs and started floating in the air.

"That certainly is true. Mainly of us were raised rather humbly." The man holding Ringmaster replied. He was in a mainly red costume with a yellow cape, yellow boots, what seemed like golden underwear, an atomic symbol on his chest, and a red domino mask.

"Who gives a damn how you were raised?!" Ringmaster shouted. "You ruined everything you simpletons! And I swear, if we ever meet again, I will destroy everything you hold de-" That's when the floating man dropped Ringmaster. As he began to fall, Nighthawk then rushed forward and timed it perfectly to where he kicked Ringmaster in the face, causing him to be knocked out and fly backwards a bit, landing on some rubble.

"Good work Hyperion." Nighthawk remarked. Hyperion then began to land beside the hawk themed hero.

"I'm surprised you were able to give an actually compliment." Hyperion commented. Nighthawk kept his rather stern expression.

"It wasn't." He replied. The superpowered team then began to come together as the public stared in wonder at this new team. Hyperion noticed this and then turned to them.

"My friends, I am sorry that were not able to come sooner to stop this crime from happening. But I promise that will change. The heroes that we once looked up to and called The Avengers are no longer with us. They made the ultimate sacrifice to not only save us, but the rest of the universe from a genocidal mad man. And while we may have not known them, we promise to keep up the promise that they gave to us! We promise to keep the innocent safe from those that seek to harm those unable to protect themselves! To fight the battles they couldn't! This is our promise to you! And when you see The Squadron Supreme, know that you are safe!"

The crowd began to go wild as the speech ended and they began to swarm The Squadron to get better looks at these new heroes. Nighthawk hated it while Speed Demon was absolutely loving the attention as he was taking constant pictures with the new adoring fans. It was around that time that the police showed up to take the Circus into custody. Jake watched on from a distance. He had to admit; this team was certainly charismatic. He then began to search for his bike for a minute and then he found it…underneath a piece of rubble.

"Damn it." He muttered to himself as he stared in disappointment. He then tried his best to get it out from the rubble. But no matter how much he tried, there was no way to get it out. Then, the rock began to be surrounded by a blue glow and lift up in the air. It was moved a couple of feet away from the bike.

"Sorry about your bike." Doctor Spectrum said as she landed beside Jake. He then knelt down beside it to inspect the damage that it sustained.

"It was getting old…But it was still reliable." He commented as he picked up one of the broken handlebars. "I don't suppose one of your powers is making a new one?" He then asked. Doctor Spectrum shook her head.

"If I could, I would." She replied. "I can only make constructs, so it wouldn't be as good as the real thing."

"It was worth a shot." Jake remarked. Doctor Spectrum looked back at her team and then back at the now broken bicycle.

"Do you have anywhere you need to be? If you want, I can give you a ride." She asked. Jake looked at her in a skeptical manner.

"Give me a ride? Seriously?" He questioned. "You would really do that to a stranger?" She shrugged in response.

"I feel bad, you know?" Doctor Spectrum responded. Jake thought about it for a couple of seconds.

"My mom always said never to accept rides from strangers. Don't really know if that would apply to superheroes." He joked. Doctor Spectrum had to hold back a chuckle.

"That was totally cheesy, you know that, right?" She asked. Jake nodded his head. "So, where to?"

(X)

After getting dropped off by the superheroine, Jake placed his broken bike leaning against the garage door, he couldn't help but be a bit saddened by the fact that it was wrecked beyond belief, not only because of the sentimentally value, but also because he knew that it was going to be a pain getting places now. He took a bit of a deep breath as he opened the door to his house. Once inside, he heard noise coming from the kitchen and decided to go in there to talk to who he knew that was in there. He saw the woman in her scrubs making herself some food for her late shift at the hospital.

"Hi mom." He said. His mom then jumped in surprise at the sudden arrival of her now eldest son. She turned around to face him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He said in a rather sheepish voice.

"No, it's okay." Naomi replied. "I'm just still not used to…Older you, I guess I would put it." Jake merely shrugged it off.

"I get it." He said. That was when his mom noticed a smudge of dirt that was on his cheek.

"Mind if I asked what happened?" She asked.

"Oh, you know. Some crazy people dressed up like they were part of the circus tried robbing the bank I was riding past, then a new superhero team showed up and put a stop to them. But that was after I was almost eat by a python that was controlled by a weirdly hot woman. And then my bike got destroyed because of it." He said in a nonchalant manner. Naomi shook her head.

"What has this world come to? First, it was getting turned into dust. Then it was finding out that a number of Avengers died. Then that how thing in Westview. Now this." She remarked. Jake hung his head.

"Yeah. World's become really crazy." He admitted. He then started looking around in curiosity. "Where's Ian?" He asked. As Naomi went back to packing her dinner, she gave an answer.

"He's having a sleepover with that Chris kid up the street. Which means that you get the house for the night. Now, no crazy parties, is that understood?" She asked. Jake then proceeded to cross his chest.

"Scout's honor." He remarked. She then raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you never wanted to be a boy scout?" She joked. He then chuckled. She then walked over to him and hugged him. "Just promise me you'll be safe, okay?"

"I promise." He responded as he hugged her back. After a while, the two broke off the hug and Naomi went on her way to her job at the hospital. Jake head back up to his room. It still felt weird being back in there sometimes, but at least it was home. He proceeded to lie down on his bed as he was exhausted form the events that took prior to him arriving back home and was about ready to fall asleep…Until he heard a knocking on his window. Looking over, he was less than thrilled to see the black and blue hair of his manager sitting outside his window.

"You going to let me in or what?" Kerry asked, though it was very muffled. Jake pretended that he didn't hear anything, which got her a bit annoyed. After a few seconds, he chuckled to himself as he opened his window and Kerry quickly scampered inside. "Glad to see you are dead. Didn't know what I would do if my money maker was taken from me." She said as she hopped inside.

"Yeah, that's totally the way you greet someone after they just got out of a fight between superheroes and an evil circus trying to rob a bank and was almost eaten by a python." Jake sarcastically said as Kerry strolled her way onto his bed and sat down.

"Fine." She said as she rolled her eyes. "How are you doing?"

"I'm glad you-"

"Yeah, so anyway." Kerry said as she began searching through her bag, cutting Jake off. "Care to hear about the gig for tonight?"

"I assume it's the reason that you are here." Jake remarked as Kerry handed him a flyer. Jake briefly skimmed over it and was shocked to see who was hosting the event. "Alpha Nu Zeta?"

"That's right my sweet summer child." Kerry said as she reached her arm around Jake's shoulder. "Staten Island's number 1 sorority hosting a killer party tonight and they need-"

"Holy crap, I can't believe that you managed to get this gig!" Jake excitedly said. "What's the pay?" He then noticed an uneasy expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

"You…Aren't exactly performing." She sheepishly said.

"…What?" Jake confusingly asked.

"I was trying to explain but you rudely cut me off." Kerry said as Jake gave her a look that said, 'Are you serious right now?' "What I was trying to say was that they already booked a DJ for the event, and he needs an extra set of hands to help set up for the event, like taking care of speakers and that other stuff you know so much about." Jake gives her a disappointed look. "Hey, it was the best that I could do."

"I know, it's just…Still a bit disappointing you know?" He said as he sat on his bed.

"Yeah, well, at least the pay is good." She said to try and cheer him up.

"I doubt that." Jake scoffed.

"Yeah, I guess $700 is pretty bad for one night." She said, though she was unaware of Jake suddenly raising an eyebrow.

"…But maybe it's not too bad of gig." Jake said as he suddenly hopped off his bed.

"That's the spirit!" Kerry exclaimed. "Plus, we get to stay at the party, so who knows? You might meet some girl and finally get laid." Hearing that, Jake shot her a look that somehow went unnoticed by her.

(X)

"First college party?" Kerry asked as she and Jake arrived on the doorsteps to the sorority house with a good number of people already showing up to be there.

"Yeah, haven't been to many parties. Besides birthday parties of course." Jake honestly answered.

"You're going to love it." Kerry asked as she ran the doorbell. "Just don't make an ass out of yourself. And make sure that your drink is always in your eyesight. Or make sure that your pockets are tight. And make sure you knock before you enter a room because you never know who is in there having se-" She was cut off as a brunette-haired girl wearing a grey and blue hoodie with the Greek letter for her sorority opened the front door.

"Hi, I'm Sarah. You guys are here for the party, right?" She asked.

"We're actually here to help out with the entertainment for tonight." Kerry said as she shook her hand. "I'm Kerry, and this right here is my talent, Jake."

"Um…Hi." Jake said as he also shook Sarah's hand.

"Okay, the DJ is going to be set the corner." Sarah said as she pointed over to that location. "His roadie is already over there setting up, but….Word of advice, he is kind of unique." The two looked to her in confusion.

"What exactly do you mean?" Jake asked.

"Sarah, some help over here?" A sorority sister called over to her to help her set up the snack and drink table.

"Be right there." Sarah replied. She then turned back to go help out finish up setting up the party.

"Well, seems like you're about to meet a new friend." Kerry said as she began to walk off. "I'm going to go…Network with potential clients. You go help finish up set up, cool? Cool." And with that, she wandered off leaving Jake utterly confused.

"Gee, thanks." Jake remarked as he strolled over to the DJ stand and saw someone bent over the back of a speaker.

"Screwdriver." The guy mumbled as his hand fumbled about trying to grab it, but each attempt proved to be invalid. Jake raised an eyebrow as he was through off by the slightly modulated voice that came out of the guy. He then grabbed it and proceeded to hand him the screwdriver. "Thanks, whoever you are." He mumbled as he unscrewed the back of the speaker.

"I'm Jake, I'm supposed to help you out with set up?" Jake introduced himself. The roadie stood up and Jake was a bit thrown off by the guy's appearance. He was slim and of average height, a black hoodie covered up by a spiked vest with ripped up jeans, different kinds of bracelets that helped to show off his many different tattoos, and black studded shoes. But the most defining feature of the guy was the mask that he was wearing. It was a black studded with an LED visor that had X's for eyes.

"Oh shit, really?" He asked as suddenly his electronic eyes quickly switched to questions marks, then they shifted into exclamation points. "I'll be damned! Cheap bastard finally heard my requests." He said as he extended his fist out for a fist bump. Jake looked at it cautiously, but then decided that it wouldn't hurt to do it and quickly fist bumped him back. "Call me Wrench. Know anything about speakers?"

"I DJ part-time, so I happen to know a few things." Jake replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Really? Good to know." Wrench said as he replied went back to work on the speaker. "DJ Dipshit barely knows a thing about this kind of stuff, hence the reason why he hired me."

"Is DJ Dipshit really his name?" Jake asked he bent down to help him out. Wrench looked at him with an electronic expression that read as, 'seriously?'

"I wish. It's something stupid like The Trapster or something like that, I can barely be bothered to remember it." Wrench remarked.

"Got it." Jake said as he focused on the speaker and grabbed a couple of wires that were out of place to try and fix them. "So, is that outfit kind of like what the guy makes you wear or something?"

"What do you mean?" Wrench asked as his expression once again switched to questions marks. Jake looked back at Wrench with a confused expression.

"Well, it just seems like your outfit is something a roadie would wear, you know. Like to match the talent in terms of the get-up?" Jake asked. Wrench shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah man. This is pretty much what I wear." He remarked casually.

"Even the mask?" Jake asked he had finished put the wires in place.

"Yup. Can't going around without the mask on, otherwise the ladies would constantly faint as I walk by due to my...Impeccable looks. " Wrench joked as his mask winked.

"So…Why exactly do you wear it?" Jake once again questioned.

"Personal reasons that will never be told." Wrench mocked as he continued to work. Jake figured that it probably would be better to not press him to answer. After a couple of minutes of messing around, the two finished their work. "There we go! I think this bad boy is ready to go!" Wrench exclaimed as he looked out into the house. "Whoa, that's a lot more people than I expected."

"Sure is." Jake commented as he also peered out. "Kind of makes me glad that I'm not performing tonight."

"Yeah, bet you would have made a total ass out of yourself." Wrench remarked as walked out from behind the set-up. "I'll let DJ Talentless know his set-up's ready, then I'm going to be getting many, many beers. You want one?"

"Oh, no. I'm good." Jake quickly answered back. The expression of Wrench's mask changed to a pleased look.

"That just means more for me! I knew I liked you for some reason!" Wrench remarked. "Guess I'll be seeing you later, new bestie!" He said as he walked off, leaving Jake confused for the second time that night.

"Uh, sure." Jake said as he looked around, noticing that he barely recognized any of the people there. He figured that it would probably be best to try to get know some people. He made his way through the party trying to find Kerry to see what kind of hijinks she managed to get herself into. He then accidently bumped into an African-American male with a varsity jacket with the number 3 on it.

"Watch where you're go-…Jake?" The guy asked as he turned around and saw who it was.

"Marcus?" Jake asked in surprise as Marcus gave him a bear hug.

"Holy crap, I haven't seen in a while man!" Marcus exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's certainly been a minute." Jake responded. The two were best friends in middle school, but lost touch with one another once they reached high school. "See that you made it onto the football team."

"Managed to get a scholarship and became the wide receiver." Marcus said in a nonchalant manner. "You still do the music thing?"

"Whenever I can get a gig." Jake replied trying to act cool. "But not for tonight. My, and I use this term very loosely, manager just got me here to do some mechanical stuff for the guy performing tonight."

"Seriously?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah. Met the guy's roadie. He's…pretty unique." Jake responded. Marcus raised an eyebrow at that statement.

"In what kind of way?" He asked. Jake was about to respond, but they were cut off as the girl from who opened the door to him walked over.

"There you are!" Sarah exclaimed as she kissed Marcus on the cheek.

"Sorry babe, was just catching up with an old friend." Marcus said as he tried to hide his blush. Sarah then looked back and forth between the two guys.

"Oh, didn't know you two already knew each other." Sarah stated. Jake shrugged his shoulders.

"It's okay." Jake said. "It was middle school, so there's no way you could have known about it. So anyways, how long have you two been together?" The two looked at in a loving kind of fashion.

"High school sweethearts." Sarah admitted. "Started sophomore year and we haven't looked back since." Jake couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"Well, congratulations you two. Hopefully you'll-" Before Jake could let out another word, the entertainment for tonight finally came onto the stage.

"Hi there, party people of all ages!" He enthusiastically said, to which he was met with a less than enthusiastic crowd. "Alrighty, that's what I like to hear! I'm Doc Mic, as in Microphone and not the name, but anyways I'm here to get this party started! If you liked my performance, go ahead and follow me on social media and tips are greatly appreciated!" He then started to play some songs that were…Less than desirable for a college party.

"…This guy sucks." Jake muttered aloud. Marcus nodded in agreement.

"This is the last time I am letting Carolyn pick out the entertainment for these parties." Sarah muttered under her breath. The three of them proceeded to walk outside of the house, where Kerry was waiting for them on the doorstep.

"I was wondering where you were." She said to Jake as she handed him an envelope filled with his payment for the night. "As soon as I met the dude, I knew he was going to suck, so I advise that we make our way to somewhere besides here." She then noticed the two-extra guest alongside Jake. She pointed to Sarah. "You, I recognize." She then quickly shifted her attention to Marcus. "But I certainly do not recognize."

"Oh, right." Jake mumbled. "Marcus, this is my manager, Kerry. Kerry, my best friend from middle school, Marcus." Marcus then lent his hand out for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you." Marcus said. Kerry hesitantly shook his hand.

"Likewise." She replied. After the awkward greeting, Kerry then turned her attention back to Jake. "So, shall we blow this popsicle stand?" Jake raised an eyebrow at the question.

"You booked this event and you don't even want to stay?" He asked. She then folded her arms.

"Oh yeah, because I would so want to hear shitty music played by a DJ that looks like he barely knows what he's doing." She replied. Just as Jake was about to interject, a new voice chimed in.

"Looking for a new place to party?" Everyone turned their attention to the source. "Luckily for you guys and gals, I just so happen to know some cool places." Wrench said as he walked up to them and his LED visor switched to a winking expression.

"Wrench, what are you talking about?" Jake asked. Wrench then pointed in a direction.

"There's a construction site not too far from here that a lot of people tend to use for a party spot. Figured we might drive by there and see if we could crash a party or not. What do you say? You in? You can even bring these random guys…Oh, I'm Wrench by the way." He said as he waved to the group.

"I am not too sure about this." Marcus suddenly spoke up. "Some random guy with, I must admit a pretty cool mask, is offering us a secluded spot for partying? That sounds a bit dodgy. No Offense."

"None taken." Wrench gleefully said as his expression turned to a pleased one. "But come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Jake pondered for a bit.

"It wouldn't hurt." He said. "Plus, we could just leave if we aren't really feeling the party."

"That's what I'm saying!" Wrench exclaimed as he hurried over to a van parked on the side of the road and opened the panel door. "Come on, let's go. In and out. 20-minute adventure. It'll be fun!" The four looked at each other, then Jake shrugged his shoulders as the four entered the van. After a 10-minute drive, they arrived at the site. Wrench opened the panel door and gestured as if he was a doorman. "Your party site awaits, my good sir!" Jake got out and proceeded to do a similar gesture.

"Oh, why thank you my good sir!" He joked along. Soon, everyone got out and Wrench locked the van. "So, where exactly would a party be here?" He asked. Wrench looked around and soon a disappointed look was on his mask.

"Damn. Seems like a dead night tonight." Wrench sadly admitted. Marcus scoffed.

"Isn't that great. So we just drove here for nothing?" Marcus questioned. Jake was about to step in-between them.

"Hey, it's not that ba-" But before he could finish his sentence, Jake suddenly fell through a loose cover of a hole in the ground. The group rushed over to the opening and looked down in horror.

"Jake?!" Kerry screamed down into the hole, but they were met with silence.

"OH SHIT, MAN!" Wrench screamed aloud as he began to freak out. "WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO?!"

"I don't know!" Marcus replied. "Um…Find a rope and one of us climbs down to go get him!" He quickly said. The group began running through the site trying to search for something to try and help their friend. After a couple of minutes, their efforts came up with nothing. They regrouped back at the hole

"How the hell does a construction site not have a rope?!" Kerry angrily asked as she threw a rock pretty far.

"Goddamnit!" Wrench screamed as he picked up a sledgehammer that was lying about and just started beating a wall that still remained intact…at least until Wrench started beating it.

"Okay guys, crazy idea, I think maybe we should call 911." Sarah suddenly said. Wrench quickly looked at her.

"Sure and have the cops arrest us for trespassing on private property! That's a great idea!" He responded.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do then?!" Marcus shouted.

"I don't know!" Wrench shouted back. The walked away from each other, knowing that fighting wouldn't accomplish anything. There was a good minute of silence, before Wrench raised a good question. "Are those headlights coming our way?" The group looked where he was looking and saw multiple headlights heading straight into the construction site. In what seemed like a matter of seconds, the vans suddenly surrounded the party goers. Half-a-dozen men with guns in gas masks suddenly got out and held the college students at gun point.

"What the hell?!" Marcus asked as the group held their hands up. One of the men began to zip tie their hands together and caused them to kneel on the ground. All of a sudden, one of the doors to the van opened up and a man hopped out. He was wearing a grey trench coat and a hat obscuring his face. On his left arm, he had a logo of what looked like an eagle that was perched above a globe.

"Sssso, it ssseemsss to me that we have a couple of tressssspasssersss on our dumping groundssssss." He spoke, his lisp very noticeable.

"Look man, we didn't mean anything by it." Marcus began to speak up. "We just-" All of a sudden, one of the men hit him in the face with the butt of his rifle. Wrench tried to get up to help him, but he was quickly pushed to the ground and was faced with a gun barrel to his head.

"EEEE!" They began shouting, causing the group to become a bit terrified.

"Now, thisss makessss thingssss a bit more complicated." The man in the trench coat said as he knelt down to look at the face of the now terrified Kerry. "We mainly came by to dessstroy ssssome harddrivesssss. Now we have to worry about the dissspossal of your bodiesss." Kerry was able to get a glance at the eyes of the captor, and she was shocked to see that they almost looked as if they were snake eyes. He then got back to his feet and then began to walk away from them. "Kill them." He ordered the men. They were about to pull the triggers…Until something quickly rose from the hole in the ground.

(X)

Meanwhile…

As Jake opened his eyes, the first thing he could feel was mainly pain. He looked up to the opening where he fell in, it must have been more than 30 feet drop. He was at least glad that he landed on something soft rather than the concrete.

"Guys?!" He shouted out, but there was no response from them. He figured that they must have been searching for something kind of way to get him out of the hole. "Great, that's just great." He remarked as he got up. "Mom's going to kill me for sure if she finds out about this." He tried to look for some kind of way to try and climb out, but there didn't seem to be anything to help him out. Then, he looked for a place to sit down while he waited for the rescue party to show up. That's when he noticed something in the garbage.

He picked it up and examined it. It was some kind of strange white belt with red button like pieces around it, big silver boxes on the sides of it, and on the front was this red fan device that was encased in this oval like contraption.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Jake muttered to himself. Figuring it would have been a while before he eventually got saved, he did he was at least going to have a bit of fun. For a goof, he put the belt on to see what it looked like on him. He then noticed a cracked mirror lying near him. He propped it up to get a look as to what he looked like with it on, and he had to admit, he looked ridiculous. But if was being honest that was the fun of it.

Then all of a sudden, the fan on the belt started to spin like crazy and lights started to originate from it. Jake, realizing that this could probably be dangerous, he struggled as hard as he can to get the device off of his waist. But no matter how much he struggled, he wasn't able to get it off. That's when his appearance started changing slowly thanks to the belt. Whatever struggling he once was doing stopped as he watched in amazement as the belt proceeded to make him some kind of suit. He then once looked back at the mirror. What was once just a jacket and jeans became something more.

He was now wearing some black leather under suit with leather gloves and boots that were a light green-blueish color. His chest had some kind of armor on it that was divided up into six overlaying pieces. Around his neck was a red scarf that hung down to his hips. Finally, he was wearing some kind of helmet with a mouth guard that was the same color as the gloves, boots, and chest armor. The helmet had these big red compound eyes and silver antennae that vaguely reminded him of a grasshopper.

"What the hell?" Jake said as he got closer to the mirror to get a closer look at the suit he was wearing. It felt weird, but at the same time…It weirdly felt like it suited him. He then noticed what looked like a heads up display finally starting popping in the eyes of the helmet. All the text were Japanese, luckily Jake was able to understand a good number of what was being displayed. But there was one that really stood out to him, that he read as...

"Jump Shoes?" Jake asked aloud. If what he was reading was true, then that means he finally had a way out. But he wanted to be sure it actually worked. He did a small hop, which resulted in him jumping a good couple of feet. As he landed, his eyes widened in surprise at the distance that he managed to get. "I'll be damned. That's actually pretty cool." He muttered to himself. He then looked up to the entrance of the hole. He winded up his legs and then proceeded to leap as hard as he could. He quickly began to rise out of the hole, and he was able to leap out of it. He then landed on the ground in a manner not too similar to Iron Man…Then he grabbed his knee. "How the hell was he always able to do that?" He asked to himself.

"That'sssss not posssssible." He suddenly heard a voice said. He turned around to see his friends…Being held hostage by many different men with guns. The man in the trench then turned to the gun wielding foes. "What are you waiting for? Get him!" He shouted. A couple of men started to shoot at him. Jake instinctively covered his face to hide from the carnage. They fired upon him, but the bullets had no effect on him. Jake then looked at his suit and was shocked that there were no bullet holes in it.

"I'm bullet proof?" He asked himself.

"Holy shit, he's bullet proof!" Wrench excitedly exclaimed as his mask's expression changed to exclamation points.

A couple of the men threw down their guns, pulled out knives and began to rush him. Jake had some basic self-defense training and he knew how to put up a fight. He proceed to punch one of the men in the face, causing a tube to a pack to be knocked off. The man began choking as if he couldn't breath and he fell to the ground. What shocked Jake the most was the fact that it seemed like the man was dissolving because of this. But he was taken out of this thought as he received a swift punch across the face, but luckily, the helmet took a majority of the force.

Jake then ducked under the attack of one of the men who swung wildly, and then he proceeded to kick the leg out of him, causing him to fall straight to the ground. Jake then proceed to kick him in the face, which surprisingly sent him flying into one of the vans.

"Holy crap!" Jake remarked as he say the damaged he done. Another man tried to attack, but it seemed as if Jake had suddenly developed a kind of, danger sense, and he jumped over the man. He then proceeded to kick the man square in the face.

"Complete and utter imbelclessssss." The man in the trench coat uttered as he began taking off his hat and coat. "If you want sssssomething done right, do it yoursssssself." All of a sudden his right arm began to change into what looked like a cobra and it began to extend to an obscene length. It then attacked the remaining henchmen, causing them to dissolve into nothing. Then he began to change into something truly horrifying. What once was a man, was now a blue and yellow Cobra Man with a red hood emerging from the side of his head.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Jake asked as he put up his fists, ready to fight the creature.

"The sssssame can be sssaid to you." The Cobra Man responded as the two began circling each other. "All our intel reported that you were dead, but yet here you are. The Kamen Rider in the flessssssh." He then shot out his cobra arm to try and attack Jake, but thanks to this new Danger sense, Jake was able to dodge out of the way just in the nick of time. As the arm began to retract, Jake grabbed a hold of the arm and began to pull the Cobra Man off his balance. Jake could now add super strength to his ever-growing list of powers, as Cobra Man began to fly right at him. Jake, seeing an opportunity, proceeded to deck Cobra Man square in the face, causing the creature to go flying into the hole that Jake was just previously in.

"Huh…Hole in one." Jake commented to himself as he walked over to his friends and broke their zip ties. "You guys okay?" He asked.

"Are we okay? Dude, what about you?!" Wrench asked. "I mean, you punched a guy and he went flying into the side of a van! And then you took on a Cobra man and won!"

"Yeah…What exactly are you?" Marcus questioned. The group then looked at him in wonder. Jake was quiet as he stared at his hands. Then, after a couple of second, the suit that he was in suddenly disappeared, reverting him back to what he was wearing a couple of minutes before hand.

"I…Don't really kn-" Before he could even finish his sentence, an explosion erupted from the hole that once housed Cobra Man, knocking everyone off their feet. After a minute, they were able to collect themselves, and Jake gave a pretty good suggestion. "RUN!" And with that word, the group began to scatter in different directions to get away from what had occurred there that night…But not before Wrench grabbed a couple of the hard drives that these guys were supposed to get rid of...

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: The Call to Arms

"Alrighty, my new friends. What kind of secrets are you hiding?" Wrench said as he plugged a couple of cables into the hard drives that he had "borrowed without permission" into his computer. He cracked his fingers, ready for the challenges that came his way in his grand task of decrypting. A screen then popped up asking for a password.

"A password, huh?" Wrench questioned. "Well, don't you worry your pretty little casings off. Uncle Wrench will have this down in just a couple of minutes." He remarked as he began type into his program that will help decrypt any kind of software. But in a manner of seconds, the program had found what the password was…And Wrench's eyes were just dots to convey the disbelief that he had when he saw what the password was. "…Just 'Password'? Seriously?" He asked in doubt. He shrugged as he plugged the password in, and now he was free to see the contents of the hard drives.

The first thing that he saw was designs for some kinds of weapons with the Nugent Technologies logo on them. Wrench then kept digging deeper and deeper into the contents of the hard drives. And with everything that he saw, he became more and more shocked at what he was seeing. And once he was finished, he was utterly horrified.

"…Oh, holy shit." Wrench muttered to himself. He then reached for his phone as he realized that he needed to make some calls.

(X)

"Hello?" Jake asked in a groggy voice.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" The voice on the other end of the phone asked. Jake almost recognized it immediately.

"Wrench?" Jake questioned. "What kind of opening line is that?" Jake could hear Wrench groan on the other end.

"Scream? 1996? Wes Craven? That ring a bell for you." Wrench inquired. The moment that the masked man said the movie title, Jake immediately remembered the line in the movie.

"Right, sorry. Just still trying to wake up." Jake explained. That's when he had a sudden realization. "Wait, how do you have my phone number? I never gave it to you."

"I found one of your flyers." Wrench quickly blurted out. "Also, DJ Jumpy Jake? That's-"

"I know, it's a shit name. Blame Kerry, not me."

"Right."

"What's up? Why are you calling me so early?" Jake asked.

"It's about last night, you know how I took those hard-"

"Wait…So, you're telling me that wasn't a crazy dream that I had last night?" Jake had asked.

"Sorry to have to tell you this, but no." Wrench had replied. Jake took a second to process that thought.

"So you are telling me that I did transform into some kind of biker superhero that is bulletproof and I also defeated a Cobra Man with a kick that made him explode?"

"Yup."

"…Oh god." Jake muttered as he looked around his room and saw the belt that caused him to transform lying on his desk. "Okay, I need a quick second to process that."

"Should we talk in person, that gives you some time to figure it out." Wrench asked. Jake let out a sigh.

"Sure, why not?" He remarked. "Where should we meet? Something tells me that you don't want to meet in a coffee shop."

"I'll text you an address. And I'll text the others as well."

"How did you get their numbers?" Jake asked.

"Oh, I hacked their phones." Wrench said in a relaxed tone.

"That's coo-…Wait, what?" Jake quickly questioned.

"See you soon! Bye! And bring that belt thingy!" Wrench hastily said as he hung up the phone. Jake looked at his phone and couldn't help but have a confused look on his face at the previous two minutes. As Jake put his phone down, he closed his eyes and was ready to fall back asleep…Only for his alarm clock to start ringing. Annoyed, he quickly slammed his hand down on the top of it. The ringing stopped immediately, due to the reason that he had accidently destroyed it thanks to the slap. That was his sign that he should get out of his bed.

After he took a quick shower and brushed his teeth, he began digging through his closet trying to find a good-looking outfit to wear. He took a quick glance over at his mirror and was shocked by what he was say staring back at him. It was him but…He was jacked. Nowhere near Captain America or Thor jacked by he had clearly defined muscles, which shocked him as just yesterday he always considered himself on the side of having an average body.

"Whoa." He remarked as the image hit him. That's when he realized that his mom or his brother can't see him, otherwise they would get suspicious. He quickly threw on a large t-shirt with a Captain America logo on it, a black hoodie, and a pair of blue jeans. That quickly was able to hide his musculature, which made his feel a wave of relief. He put the belt-like device into his backpack, then he put on some high-tops and made sure his short black hair was well kept and he made his way downstairs. He was about to head out the door, but he was stopped when a voice suddenly called out to him.

"You're up early." Naomi remarked as she was walking towards the living room with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Yeah, I had plans to meet up with some friends today." Jake commented.

"This early?" Naomi asked as she sat down and turned on the tv.

"Doc Samson said that it's good for me to get out there and talk to people. Are you really going to question the orders of my psychiatrist?"

"No, I just-…What the hell?" She said as she paid attention to the news story that was playing. Jake looked at the tv screen as well and his eyebrows raised as he recognized the place where the news story took place. It was the construction site from last night. Naomi turned up the volume to better hear what was going on.

"-I'm here at the site where police were called to investigate a scene where people called to inform them that multiple vans were set ablaze. Arson Investigators are trying their hardest to determine what went down, but police also received reports that gunshots and explosion occurred before the fires. We comment more as the story occurs. I'm Dakota North for WHiH 7 News."

"What is going on out there?" Naomi asked to herself as she turned to look at her son. "Be careful out there, will you?" She asked. Jake turned to her and gave her a small nod. Without exchanging another word, he exited the house and began walking down the front steps.

"I made the news…" Jake whispered to himself. He went to go grab his bike...Until he remembered that it got destroyed yesterday. He looked at the address that Wrench texted him and punched it into his gps app. 45-minute walk. "Ah shit." Seeing no better choice, he put in his earphones, started playing Gone by Chiiild and began walking.

(X)

45 minutes later and Jake had finally reached his destination. And surprisingly enough, he was tired in the slightest. He wasn't even sweating or winded. He chalked it up to his new physicality.

"Look who finally showed up." Kerry commented as her, Sarah, and Marcus were already waiting for him in front of a garage door. Jake raised his hands to try and stop her from going on.

"Hey, my bike got wrecked yesterday and I had to walk 45 minutes. So keep it gentle with me, okay?"

"'Keep it gentle.' Says the guy who caused a Cobra man to explode with a kick." Kerry joked, much to Jake's chagrin.

"You may want to keep your tone down. We don't want people hearing about this." Sarah suggested.

"I'm assuming that you all say the news report?" Jake asked.

"Yeah. But I don't remember us setting fire to any vans." Marcus said. "Maybe a clean-up crew by whoever sent to those guys?"

"I don't like the sound of that." Jake commented.

"Why not? Afraid they might come after you?" Kerry joked as she tried to act menacing. But she could see that Jake really wasn't having as much fun as her and she quickly stopped. There was a couple of tense seconds between the four before the garage door suddenly opened and Wrench spread his arms wide open to show his welcoming side as his mask showed that his eyes were closed.

"Welcome to Casa de Wrench! Please keep your shoes, don't take anything that doesn't belong to you, refrain from taking any videos or photos as I don't want the NSA finding out where I live/work/relax/do some not so legal stuff. But do not tell anyone that I said that last part, okay? Okay." He then proceeded to walk back his workplace with the gang hesitantly followed after him. Once inside, they got a better look at the place.

It was a former garage with a second story composed mainly of cat walks and an office. It is clear that the ground floor is were Wrench spent most of his time. In one corner of the former garage is desk with a couple of computers. Next to it was a rather old looking couch sitting in front of a bunch of televisions, a good portion of the older looking ones were displaying digital skulls in different colors. Wrench's van was parked in the back of the garage, next to a variety of different toolboxes full of tools. There was a workbench filled with broken parts and half-finished experiments that looked more than capable of blowing something up. It was also next to large piece of machinery that Marcus instantly recognized.

"Is that an industrial 3D printer?" Marcus asked. Wrench gladly strolled over and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"The very wonders of technology my friend." He remarked.

"How can you afford such a thing?" Marcus questioned. Wrench's mask showed that he was currently looked away, almost as if he was trying to avoid answering the question. Marcus gave him a look and crossed his arms. "Did you steal this?" Wrench looked back at him with a rather shocked look on his mask.

"What? No!" He quickly rebutted. But he could tell that Marcus was not buying that. "Okay, so maybe the previous owners were blipped when I came across it. But that doesn't mean I stole it, I'm just…borrowing the shit out of it."

"Really?" Kerry asked. "That's what you're calling it? Also, how did you get our numbers? What's going on and why did you call us?" Wrench shook his head and quickly rushed over to his computer station.

"Okay, the first two questions are not important right now. What's important is what happened last night. So, you remember how we got ambushed by guys with guns?"

"I remember that very clearly. Had much trouble sleeping last night." Sarah admitted with a rate sheepish look on her face and what looked like tears beginning to pool in her eyes. "I thought we were going to die last night."

"We were. Until Jake saved us." Wrench said as he pointed to Jake. "Last night, he became a hero. And he's going to have to do it again." Everyone suddenly perked their ears as Wrench finished his statement.

"Wait, what?" Jake asked.

"Alright. So last night, those vans were not just carrying men. They were carrying hard drives. I figured they were there to dump those drives to get rid of what was contained in them."

"What was on them?" Marcus questioned.

"Pandora's Box." Wrench quickly answered. "You know that new start-up tech company? Nugent. They have a whole list of dirty little secrets. On those drives were a bunch of blueprints for weapons. And when I'm talking about weapons, I'm talking about the kind that could very well destroy this city. Or hell, even take over the country."

"You can't be serious." Jake commented. "I mean, I've seen their commercials. They're all about trying to bring jobs to America, the CEO is kissing babies, and all the other kinds of stuff that makes them seem like a happy company."

"Congratulations, you just got your first experience with propaganda." Wrench jokingly said, while his mask eyes' gave Jake a side eye look. "I usually tend to joke around, but I'm not joking here. And making more than just weapons. They're making more of those monsters like that Cobra Guy we met last night." Hearing that, Kerry stood up and raise her hands.

"That's it. I'm done listening to this clown." She said. "I mean, ever since we got here, you have done nothing but messed with us. Talking about Monster People, you are out of your mind!" Saying nothing, Wrench turned one of his computers around and on it was a blueprint of a Wolf/Man hybrid with a chainsaw arm. He then scrolled down to another blueprint of a what looked like a Hippopotamus/Man hybrid. Then there was another one of a Butterfly/Woman hybrid and so on and so on.

"Do you believe me now?" Wrench asked. The group was quiet, but they knew that what the masked mechanic was saying did actually make sense. "Thanks."

"What's Shocker?" Jake questioned. The group turned to him in confusion. He pointed to the bottom right corner of the screen where there was a logo of an eagle grabbing onto the world. "Shocker. It says right there."

"How did I miss that?" Wrench asked himself. Kerry quickly pulled out her phone and tried finding what she could on the internet.

"Alright, there was a guy who went by that name and was taken down by Spider-Man, it's apparently a sex move, and…a terrorist group that originated in Japan that also had ties to the Third Reich…" She read out very slowly.

"…Yeah, I'm going to take these guys down." Jake suddenly said, much to the surprise of the group. He then reached into his bag and took out the belt.

"Just like that?" Marcus asked. Jake looked back at him.

"If these guys really have ties to Nazis, then I have no qualms taking them down and burning their reputation to the ground." Jake responded. "Besides, the world needs more heroes." Marcus was about to retort, but then Wrench suddenly jumped in with exclamation points for eyes.

"Hell yeah, man! The barbarians are at the gate and ready to bust some Roman heads." He excitedly said.

"That's the spirit. Okay, let's get the appropriate attire on." Jake commented as he put the belt on his waist again. "And…Transform!" Jake shouted to try and activate it…But nothing happened. Jake shifted his position and once again mentally hyped himself up. "Transform!" He shouted again, and again, nothing happened. The group stared at him waiting for something to happen.

"Maybe you're saying it wrong?" Marcus suggested. Jake looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

"I don't know, how would I go about saying it a different way?" He asked. Kerry shrugged her shoulders.

"Try it in a different language maybe? Maybe German or Russian?" She proposed. That's when Jake remember something about the previous night. A detail that he overlooked with all the excitement and danger that happened. Something that the Cobra Man called him.

"…Kamen Rider…" He muttered under his breath. "Kamen…" Jake then took a deep breath focused his concentration as the group once again looked at him. "…Henshin!" Jake shouted. And with that, the device started humming to life and once again changed Jake's appearance to what it was last night, and he was fully suited up. The group took a step back as they were shocked by what they just saw. Except for one.

"Hell yeah man!" Wrench shouted, his masks' eyes now exclamation points, as he walked up to Jake. "That's some shit out an anime, dude! And you look sick!" The group then started to try and match his excitement. Jake chuckled a small bit.

"You really think so?" He asked. Wrench shook his head.

"Yeah! Though, I think the suit could use an upgrade. It's retro, but I don't think that it will hold up in a fight." Wrench commented. Sarah looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"You think that you are able to do such a thing?" She asked. He turned to look at her, with a look on his mask that could only be described as 'You seriously just asked that question?'

"Oh yeah, I can certainly do it. And come up for if you need any gadgets or weapons that you could think of." The masked mechanic commented, which got Jakes' attention.

"Seriously?"

"Yup! But that is a conversation for another day. Now, we have to come up with your superhero name as it is a vital part of any soon to be hero. I propose that your superhero name should be…The Masked Hero of Justice!"

"That's the best you could up with?" Kerry asked. Wrench looked at her with a rather annoyed looked.

"Okay, it wasn't the best thing that I could have come up with. But I mean, look at the costume. What would you suggest, Grasshopper-Man?" He question. Kerry shrugged her shoulders.

"There is a Spider-Man. And an Ant-Man and a Wasp, right?" She pointed out. "I think it could-"

"Kamen Rider." Jake suddenly said. The group gave him a skeptical look. "Last night, that Cobra guy, can't believe that I actually said that out loud, called me the Kamen Rider. I think that could be a pretty cool superhero name."

"What does Kamen even mean?" Sarah asked. Jake was about to answer, but Wrench quickly stepped in.

"It means Masked in Japanese. Sailor Moon taught me that one." As Wrench was explaining that, he had a sudden realization. "Hold on. He said that they had intel saying that you died. You aren't like a ghost or something?"

"Oh yeah, I'm actually been a ghost the entire time. Boo." Jake jokingly remarked.

"Haha, very funny." Wrench replied in a dry tone.

"So there was another guy that had that name before you?" Marcus questioned. Jake was a bit speechless when that question was asked. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I guess? But, I've never heard of him before." Jake then looked to Kerry. "Can you try to find something about him?" She nodded.

"I can try to. On one condition." Kerry added. "If we really are going to do this, then we need to let the public know that we're on their side. I say the best way to do that, is with social media."

"Are you seriously suggesting that we create an Instagram page for Jake?" Sarah asked. Kerry smirked in response.

"Totally. And I will be in charge of the entire thing." She commented. "In fact, I can see the headlines now. 'Meet the newest hero who is also a social media star.' Something along those lines to try and get views." Sarah was about to object, but Jake quickly cut in.

"That's not a bad idea." He commented. "And maybe we can use that to help get evidence on who Nugent Technologies really is." He then looked to Marcus and Sarah. "Are you guys in? You can say no if you want to. I would understand." The two looked at each other with a sense of determination. They both nodded and turned back to look at Jake.

"Last night, I was terrified." Sarah remarked. "I thought we were all going to die. That our families wouldn't see us ever again and we would be buried in unmarked graves. Then you showed up. And when you did, I was filled with a mixture of shock, confusion, and hope. If we're able to give everyone that same feeling as well, then I would know that we are doing the right thing. So count me in. Plus, you probably are going to get hurt a couple of times. Luck for you, I'm a med student." She then smirked.

"And you've been my bro since we were kids. You know I got your back." Marcus responded. Jake nodded in response.

"Thanks man."

"No problem. And you know how you said something about your bike getting smashed? I'm sure I can get you a new one to you soon if you want."

"Seriously?" Jake questioned.

"Yeah. And luck for you, I do work on bikes as a side job. So, you're in safe hands." Marcus said. Kerry then looked to Wrench.

"And what will you be doing?" She asked. Wrench then scoffed at her.

"Pretty much everything concerning tech. I know computers, have a 3-D printer that can make anything I want, can make upgrades to the suit, I'm also an excellent hacker, and you can also consider me the demolitions expert on the team." He remarked. "Unless, anybody else wants the role." Wrench said with question marks for eyes. Jake let out a small chuckle.

"Nah, man. That's all you." He said as he patted Wrench on the back.

"Alrighty, so we're officially a team now! So, when exactly do you we get a cute cuddly mascot that kids will want plush toys of for Christmas? My best guess is when we get a sequel movie for when we sell our film rights." Wrench jokingly asked.

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked Wrench. The eyes of the mechanic switched to question marks, then to those that looked rather sad. "Obviously we have to add the cute cuddly mascot for when we get a Saturday morning cartoon that not only depicts the wacky adventures we get up to not only in our superhero lives, but also in our regular lives as well."

"Good point." Wrench said. "I forgot about the Saturday morning cartoon. We also need to figure out our toy line. Think we are able to get electronics into the toys?"

"I'm not too sure, but we also need to make multiple variants of suits. You know, so that way we can drive up toys sales as well as create a sense of collectability." Jake commented.

"Oh yeah, that will certainly get our name out there in a big way. But the only way that we'll know that we truly made it to the big leagues…We need to get you on a commemorative lunch box." The group let out a small laugh at that comment. "Wh-…Why's everyone laughing?" Wrench asked.

(X)

Nugent Technologies Staten Island Headquarters

Jason Quantrell, former CEO of Cortex Inc., and now CEO of Nugent Technologies looked at the approval ratings for their newest project. While pretty recent, many people seemed to be approving of their newest group, which should be great news for his board of directors…And his other bosses. As he was reading the data, he got a knocked on his door. He set down his datapad as he slicked his brown hair back.

"Come in." He said as he put on his iconic, charming smile as a lab technician came in.

"Is now a bad time, sir?" The technician had asked.

"Not at all, just going over some figures. I assume that this is about our next manufactured crisis?" Quantrell questioned. The technician nodded in response.

"Yes, we do have a prototype and a backstory that we believe that a good majority of the populace will believe in." The technician began to explain. Quantrell had an eager smile on his face. He could already see the potential this would do for the project.

"Can I see it?" He questioned. The technician responded by talking into an ear piece.

"Send up project J3-F7." He said. As if on cue, the hidden elevator opened as Quantrell could hear the platform slowly moving upwards. Spotlights on the sides of the platform showed the outline of the creature's body. A dorsal fin was on its back, a tail swung back and forth in anticipation, and Quantrell could hear a low grumbling coming from the creature. To say that he could see dollar signs would be a complete understatement.

"So what exactly is the back story?" Quantrell asked. The technician looked at his datapad and read what the team had come up with.

"Due to humanity's heavy pollution, some nuclear waste spilled out into the seas." He began to read aloud as the creature was nearly in the office. "When a school of Great White Sharks came into contact with this waste, it heavily mutated them into something even more dangerous. Whether in the sea or on land, no creature is safe form these deadly creatures. They are no longer sharks as they are now, noticeable pause for dramatic effect, The Landsharks." As if on cue, the elevator finally reached its destination and the Landshark prototype was in full view of Quantrell and he…was confused.

"Is…Is this some kind of joke?" As he looked at the creature. The spotlights made the creature seem more feral but seeing it in person was a completely different experience. The Landshark couldn't have been more than 15 inches tall with a length of 22 inches. And it almost looked like the Landshark was smiling, not a devious smile but a genuine smile as if it was happy to see the two of them. The technician quickly tried to explain himself.

"We tried our best to combine shark DNA with the DNA of canine breeds. The majority of them were unsuccessful, except for this one which was based on the Boston Terrier." He explained as J3-F7 walked over to Quantrell and started to smell him.

"And how much did this cost?" Quantrell asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The technician was about to answer, but his boss stopped him. "Actually, I don't want to know. Can we do robots or something like that instead? Or what about the Combatmen? We have plenty of them going around." The technician just nodded along with every word his supervisor said, not wanting to be fired and/or killed.

"I will let the team know, but what should we do with the Landshark?" He had asked as Quantrell looked to the creature, who looked back at him with no clue on what is going on.

"Put it with the other rejects in Warehouse AV-69, no one will miss it." He demanded. The technician nodded solemnly and picked up J3-F7. J3-F7 made a sound that indicated it wanted to be put down, but its multiple pleas went unheard as the technician stepped onto the platform and the elevator descended downwards. The cries of J3-F7 could be heard as the hatch closed. Quantrell let out a sigh as he sat back down into his seat, wondering how he could even explain where the money went for this failure of a project.

"How terrible it must be to be you." A new voice remarked. Quantrell didn't even need to turn around to know who exactly spoke up.

"Not now Richmond." He said as Nighthawk walked to the front of Quantrell's desk to face him, and in doing so removing his mask. Gray hairs could be seen amongst his natural black hair, his blue eyes told a story of hardship and pain, which matches up with the scar running down his right eyebrow all the way down to his cheek.

"I received some troubling new, and I thought you should hear it." Kyle Richmond said as he took a set opposite of Quantrell. The Executive shook his head at that statement.

"I swear if this somehow turns into a story about how you and Zarda hooked up, I will-"

"We lost contact with Kobra last night." Nighthawk quickly stated. Quantrell face shifted into one of disbelief.

"You're kidding right?" He asked. Nighthawk shook his head in response.

"He didn't make contact with this morning. And you know how he always informs us of what he has accomplish. And you know how I'm a pessimist when it comes to these kinds of situations, but I wanted to run this by you before I reported it to the overseers." Nighthawk explained. Quantrell scoffed in disbelief by what he heard. Then a sudden thought came to his mind.

"You don't think it was -"

"The Rider? Is that seriously where your mind went?" Nighthawk asked. It was his turn to scoff at the idea. "You know that he hasn't been seen since the 80's. It's been 40 years. He's more than likely dead."

"Then what do you think happened to Kobra then?" Quantrell questioned.

"My best guess is that he probably kidnapped. The Squadron has been tracking a new group that has tech we never seen before. The most advanced shit you have ever seen. We beat a couple of their lackeys and gave them to the police, but all we got out of them was just the name of the group. And given the fact that it's an acronym, our best theory is that it's a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. cell." Nighthawk explained. Quantrell raised an eyebrow at that idea.

"Really? What's it called?" He asked.

"W.H.I.S.P.E.R. No idea what it means, but I'll keep chasing leads to see if anything comes up."

"And if it is the Rider? What then?"

"If it is that ridiculous idea, I'll convince the rest of the Squadron that he's our enemy and we should take him down." That's when Nighthawk stood up and put his mask back on. "Then when he's beaten and bloodied, lying on the floor wishing for some kind of help or some kind of last-minute energy…That's when I'll slit his throat and watch the life drain from his eyes." He began to walk to the window to exit the building.

"I would hate to be him." Quantrell remarked as he stood up. "I'll get in touch with the overseers and let them know about this development. And I'll also let the rest of our agents know about this as well and help hunt down whoever did this. If they fail, hopefully you and the Squadron can find the son of a bitch that did this and put him down before anymore chaos comes our way." And it was with that remark, that Quantrell gave a salute. "Glory to Shocker." Nighthawk turned to look at him before he leapt out the window, and he did the same salute.

"Glory to Shocker."

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: A Hero's Debut

Starlin Junk & Scrap Yard

The gang had scouted out the junkyard thinking that it would be a great place for their new superpowered friend to test out his new power set. And it was. There was no one around for a couple of miles and they could destroy as much as they wanted to without anyone being concerned.

"You ready, superstar?" Kerry questioned as Jake hopped out of Wrench's van, already in his costume.

"Yeah, I think so." He remarked, with cautiousness in his voice.

"Everything alright?" Kerry asked.

"It's just that…" Jake began to say as he shifted around slightly. "The suit tends to ride up in a couple places and-"

"Okay, TMI." Kerry said as she began to walk away.

"Yeah, no. That's a fair response." Jake muttered to himself. He then walked over to Wrench who was playing looking out for any cops. "You sure that we're not going to get into trouble for being here?" He asked.

"I already told you man, there's no one around for miles. We got the place to ourselves." Wrench reassured the new superhero. "I'm like 90% sure that the cops won't come…Okay, maybe 85%. Or 80%. 75 at max."

"That's totally reassuring and not nerve wracking whatsoever." Jake commented.

"Yeah, well I guess that's what I'm guessing it's like to be a superhero." Wrench said with an unassured tone in his voice.

"I don't know, this is my first time being a superhero, so I have no idea where to go from here. Well, I did dress up as Iron Man for Halloween once, but I don't think that counts." Jake joked. Wrench gave a slight chuckle.

"Nice. I was more of a Thor guy myself." Wrench remarked.

"Was it because of his dreamy eyes?" Jake responded.

"That, his muscles, and he had one of the most badass hammers I have ever seen." Wrench quickly replied. "Oh, the things that hammer and I could destroy."

"Something tells me you really wouldn't be worthy enough to wield it." Jake jokingly stated.

"A guy can dream, can't he?" Wrench asked. Jake chuckled in response as he pulled out his phone. He saw a text from his mom.

Mom: How's the hangout going?

Jake: Going pretty well. Just hanging out at our new secret hang out spot. Can't tell you where it is, otherwise, the government would swarm the house.

Mom: Okay, 007. Just promise you'll be back at a reasonable hour.

Jake: Will do. Love you.

Mom: Love you too.

Just as he was about to put his phone away, he then got another text from someone he was hoping to never hear from again.

Lexi: Can we talk? I want to give this another chance.

Seeing that text from his ex-girlfriend made Jake's heart drop. Not from excitement, but rather dread. He remembered all the fights, all the broken promises, how it ended, and how she was not a good person. He scoffed and put his phone away.

"Everything okay?" Marcus questioned as he walked towards Jake. The budding hero had a feeling that it wouldn't be great for him to tell people about his relationship troubles, so he figured it would have been better to lie about it.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just jitters, you know?" Jake replied, not sure if his friend would believe his bluff. Marcus made a sound of acknowledgement as he heard what Jake said.

"Yeah, I really do." He admitted. "Especially when I get out on the field. Having all those people cheering for you, knowing that if you get injured your scholarship is over? That scares the shit out of me."

"Trying to meet expectations? Yeah…Guess I know what that's like, huh?" Jake muttered. Marcus nodded.

"Expect if you fail, then you let an evil organization that uses people/animal/cyborg hybrids as foot soldiers win." Marcus commented. Jake looked at him.

"Way to make me feel better about myself." He replied.

"It's what I do best." Marcus jokingly replied, which got a small chuckle out of Jake. "Oh yeah, I got in touch with a guy, you'll get your bike tomorrow." Hearing that, Jake extended out his fist.

"Man, you're the best." He stated as Marcus fist bumped him right back. Jake then sprang up on his feet with a newfound excitement. "Alright! You guys ready to see what I'm able to do?" Jake asked.

"Ready to roll!" Kerry said as she was about to hit the record button. But before she could, Wrench took the phone out of her hands, opened the back of it with ease and began fiddling with the components. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"

"Tech companies make their phones so easy to track. So I'm just doing a little tech wizardry and now," Wrench then tossed the phone back to Kerry, "your phone is untraceable." The group stared at him in amazement at what he was able to in just mere moments. His eyes then turned into question marks. "Anyone else want me to do the same thing?" Without a moment's hesitation, the rest of the group proceeded to pull their phones out and give them to the masked mechanic. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Okay, ready to go?" Kerry asked. Before he said anything, Jake quickly stretched out his limbs just to make sure he didn't pull anything.

"Ready!" Jake shouted back. And with that, Kerry began to record the new super hero.

"Anything you want to say to your adoring fans, Mr. Hero?" Sarah quickly called out. That caused Jake to take a momentary pause.

"W-…Was I supposed to prepare a speech or something?" Jake asked. "I'm going to be honest; I didn't get a good grade in my Public Speaking class. Or am I supposed to do an intro like they used to do in Jackass?" The group groaned and rolled their eyes at the same time as a response to Jake's remarks.

"Never mind, just show off what you are able to do." Kerry remarked.

"Okay. You could have just started off with that, you know?" Jake quickly replied as he began to turn around. Wrench then decided to test something out as he grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could at Jake. Without even fulling turning around, Jake outstretched his arm and caught the rock in mid-air.

"Whoa." Marcus muttered under his breath as the new hero turned around.

"Nice try." Jake said as he tossed the rock back to his friend. He then noticed a scrapped car around 100 feet away and he figured that would be a good target. Taking a single leap, he was able to reach the car. "Super jumping abilities, check!" He remarked as he grabbed the bumper of the car, the metal bending as he grabbed it. Then without ever breaking a sweat, he was able to flip the car into the air, eventually it landed upside down. "Super strength, check!" Jake remarked. Seeing his chance, he struck a pose and then proceeded to run at full speed and then jumped in the air. "RIDER KICK!" He shouted as the kicked the side of the car, causing a huge dent in it. He then waited, but then nothing happened.

"Rider Kick?" Sarah asked as the group looked around all confused. The new hero turned around and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, I thought it sounded cool in my head." Jake commented.

"Okay, but why did you kick the car?" Wrench asked as his eyes turned into question marks. But as the group was distracted, the impact of the kick started to slowly glow a bright red color, spreading it to the rest of the car's body.

"I thought the same thing that happened with that snake guy was going to-" Before Jake could finish his train of thought, the car suddenly exploded, which knocked everyone off their feet and Kerry to stop recording.

"HOLY SHIT!" Marcus stated as he got up and proceeded to help everyone up.

"That…Was…AWESOME!" Wrench shouted as his eyes turned to exclamation points. "YOU HAVE EXPLOSIVE KICKS! THAT'S THE MOST BADASS THING I'VE EVER SEEN!"

"Not what I was expecting, but I'll happily take this power." Jake remarked. The group looked at the burning wreckage.

"Well, that's certainly going to give Shocker a run for their money." Kerry commented.

"It certainly is." Marcus said as he turned to Jake. He then looked then and noticed something about Jake. "Um…You feeling okay?" He asked. Jake gave him a weird look.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" He asked. At the exact same time, everyone pointed to his right leg. He looked exactly where they were point to and saw a sharp piece of scrap metal pointing out of his leg. "Oh, that." Jake said in a nonchalant voice. But it was in that exact moment the situation he was in and proceeded to scream.

(X)

30 minutes later…

"GETITOUT, GETITOUT, GETITOUT!" Jake screamed as he laid on the table. Marcus, Wrench, and Kerry were holding down the hero as Sarah put on gloves.

"Wow, that's in pretty deep." She remarked. She then tried to grab the piece of metal but couldn't grab it.

"What's wrong? Just grab it!" Wrench yelled.

"It would help if he wasn't squirming around so much!" Sarah barked back.

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WITH SCRAP METAL STICKING OUT OF THEIR LEG!" Jake screamed in agony. Finally, Sarah took ahold of the metal and looked at Jake.

"You're going to want to bite down on something, because this is going to hurt." Sarah remarked.

"Wait, what?" Jake questioned. The next thing he know, Wrench suddenly grabbed a screwdriver put the handle sideways into Jake's mouth, all while the hero had a confused look on his face.

"Ready when you are!" Wrench said in a cheery tone.

"1, 2, 3!" Sarah counted down and she pilled the metal out of Jake's leg. The muffled scream of Jake rang out through the warehouse. "Alright, that's out." She commented as she let the metal drop to the ground. Jake spit the screwdriver out of his mouth. "How do you feel?" She asked her patient.

"Oh, you know. Still in pain." He commented. "What's next? You have to amputate my leg because I might get rabies?"

"No, you're thinking of tetanus. Rabies is if you get bit by a feral animal." Sarah corrected.

"Yeah, I remember when I got rabies. It wasn't a good week for me." Wrench remarked. Everyone gave him a weird look.

"Dude, what is your life?" Marcus asked.

"An awesome one." Wrench instantly shot back.

"Back on track," Sarah began to explain, "first we need to disinfect the wound with alcohol, stitch the wound up, then-"

"I don't think we have to worry about that anymore." Kerry remarked as she stared at the wound. Everyone also looked at it and was amazed that it was healing at a remarkable fast rate. In a manner of seconds, the wound was no longer there.

"Holy shit." Jake muttered under his breath as he rubbed his leg. There was no way to even tell that was even a wound there the first place. He quickly stood up.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Marcus asked as Jake began to hop up and down.

"Absolutely not." Jake remarked. He then looked back at Marcus. "Do you remember how long it took my arm to heal after I broke it when we were trying to create the next viral bike jump."

"Oh yeah, your mom was pissed." Marcus said back.

"So not only do you have super strength, super jumps, a danger sense, and a rapid healing factor?! Badass!" Wrench exclaimed as his eyes turned into exclamations points.

"Can you…Heal from anything now?" Kerry asked. Jake shoot her a skeptical look.

"I don't know. I'm discovering that I have this now." Jake remarked. "It would probably be a good idea to still have a couple of first aid kits around just in case if I can't heal from everything."

"Or…You know…You can go to the hospital?" Sarah suggested. Before Jake could even say anything, Wrench jumped into the conversation.

"Oh yeah, go to the hospital almost every single day, that totally won't raise suspicions from the staff. And I'm sure that the hospital would tell the cops about this kid that keeps coming back every day, which then gets their suspicions up and the next you know, Jake is in a police station getting interrogated." Wrench quickly pointed out.

"That's…a pretty good point." Marcus stated.

"Plus, the American healthcare system is a joke. They would charge him so much for every visit." Wrench stated.

"That's another good point." Kerry said. "So, who wants to go out on a supply run?" She asked as she made her way to the van. Marcus and Sarah got up as well and Marcus got into the driver seat.

"We'll be back soon!" Marcus said as he drove the van out of the garage. Once the door closed, Wrench took the belt from Jake's hand and placed it on the table. He took a screwdriver to the cover of it and proceeded to open it up.

"Okay, this is interesting." Wrench remarked as he examined the now opened belt. Jake looked over to see what he was talking about.

"What is it?" Jake questioned. Wrench then held up a little microchip that was inside the belt.

"Well, the tech in the belt is old school but at the same time, also very advanced. Take this microchip for example. I think it controls how the suit looks." Wrench began to explain. "I'm still trying to figure it out, but it seems that the chip has a complex system of data that allows the neural processor to connect with the user and-" Before he could finish, Jake cut him off.

"Wrench, English please?" Jake asked. "I have no idea what you're saying. Explain it to me as if I'm a 10-year-old." The eyes on Wrench's mask suddenly turned into question marks as he tilted his head slightly.

"I don't really talk to 10-year-olds that much, but I can try to think like I'm talking to one." Wrench said under his breath. "Okay, the chip is able to tell the belt how the suit should look through very complex compute magic, and then the belt makes the suit for you."

"Thank you." Jake said. "That makes sense."

"That's good. Need me to explain how the birds and bees work?" Wrench asked in a joking manner as his masks' expression changed to a wink. Jake simply chuckled.

"Yeah, I definitely don't need that explained to me. I already have some experience in that area." Jake remarked.

"Oh? Pray tell." Wrench jokingly asked. Jake rolled his eyes.

"Maybe later, can we get back on track?" Jake questioned.

"Right." Wrench said as he placed the chip into a slot on one of his computers. On the screen, a digital version of the suit came up. "Okay, how do you want it to look?" Wrench asked.

"You're letting me decide how the suit looks?" Jake questioned with a skeptical look.

"Yeah, man. You're the superhero, you should be in charge of how you look." Wrench remarked.

"Man, you're the best." Jake said. He then leaned in close to the screen to get a better look. "Okay…Can we add more armor to suit. We have no idea what we're going to come up against, so it's better safe to be sorry." He pointed out.

"Good point." Wrench said. He began to type away on the computer. The digital model now had a more heavily armored chest, gloves, boots, and it now had black shoulder pads. He also changed the look of the helmet in order to make it fit with the rest of the updated suit. "What next?"

"How about brightening up the green and, but making the black part darker?"

"Done and done." Wrench commented as he began to type away. The suit then had the color scheme that Jake requested. "How about we add a camera feed and microphone into the suit? So that way we can keep in touch with you while you're on the field and we're here in the whatever cool code name we think of for this place?" Jake shrugged in response.

"Makes sense. Would be nice to keep in contact with you guys." He then suddenly thought of a very important question. "Can it play music?"

"You're damn right it can." Wrench quickly shot back. He then turned back to the monitor and looked at the suit. That's when he noticed something. "What do you want to do with the scarf? Trash it?" Jake shook his head.

"Nah, I think it looks pretty cool." He remarked.

"Alright, it's your suit." Wrench commented. He then pressed the enter key on his keyboard and a progress bar showed up and began to load slowly. "Alright, my best guess is that it will probably take around an hour for the chip to make the changes and then, boom! The All New Kamen Rider is ready."

"Sweet." Jake replied. "What happens if there's some kind of attack in like the next couple of minutes? Will the belt still make the suit?" Wrench shrugged his shoulders.

"Not your new suit. My best guess is that it will make the original suit since that was the template, but once you put the chip back in, it's the new suit." The mechanic suggested. "Now then, I hope you know that this wasn't free. I'm going to need some kind of payment." Hearing this, Jake rolled his eyes.

"Fine. She invited to help her do some English homework. Then, me and her got to chatting for a bit and one thing lead to another-"

"What? No!" Wrench said as he interrupted Jake's story. "I was thinking like a cup of coffee or something!" Jake's eyes suddenly went wide.

"OH! O-Okay, I misread that."

"You certainly did! There's a coffee shop like 15 minutes from here. Take a right on Ditko Lane and you'll see it. 3 creamers, 2 sugars." Jake then grabbed the belt and began to walk away.

"3 creamers, 2 sugars. Got it. Are you going to give me any cash or something?" Jake asked.

"You're the hero. Heroes are eventually going to have to learn to make major sacrifices." Wrench remarked as he turned back to look at the computer monitor. Jake scoffed at that parting statement.

"You got that line from a Simon Williams flick." He said in an angry tone.

"Wonderful Vengeance! One of his greatest!" Wrench clarified as Jake left the garage. Wrench sat and watch the progress slowly ticked along.

(X)

30 Minutes Later…

Jake had been waiting 15 minutes in line at the coffee shop and it felt like he was there for at least an eternity. It didn't help that for a good majority of the time, he just kept staring at the text message that he got from his Ex. It couldn't have been worse timing. With him now becoming a hero and trying his best to deal with the survivor's guilt, this was the last thing that he wanted. He didn't know how to respond. Does he respond or just ignore her? And why did he suddenly want Thanos to come back to life and wipe him out of existence?

"Next!" The cashier suddenly shouted out, breaking Jake out of his trance. He put his phone away and walked up to the counter.

"Hi, can I get a coffee? 3 creamers, 2 sugars?"

"Size?"

"Uh…I don't know, he didn't give me the size. Let's just go with medium, play it safe?"

"Name?"

"Jake." After paying for the cup, Jake had to wait a couple more minutes for the order. And once he did get the order, he looked at the cup and saw the name…Jack written on it. "Seriously?" He asked aloud. "How hard is it for them to get names right?"

"I know, right? It's like the simplest thing ever." Jake suddenly heard a feminine voice address him. He turned around and saw a woman around his age dressed in a baggy black t-shirt, ripped navy-blue jeans, and red canvas shoes. "It's good to see you again." She stated.

"Hey, it's…You…It's great to see you again. I haven't seen you in-"

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"I'm being completely honest; I have no idea who you are." Jake responded in a rather quick fashion. The red head smirked in response.

"Yeah, I wouldn't blame you. It's hard to recognize someone when the first time you meet them they're wearing a mask." She said. Jake gave her a curious look.

"Wait…" He did feel like he knew her from somewhere and the hair color was some kind of give away. "You're the hero that gave me a ride home, didn't you?"

"Bingo." She replied. "Doctor Spectrum, at your service." Jake let out a short chuckle as the two walked over to a table and sat down.

"Are you an actual doctor? And is your last name Spectrum? Because if it is then that is a great way for your enemies to find to you." He jokingly said. She laughed in response.

"I am studying to be an oceanographer, but my name isn't actually Spectrum. It's Ledger. Nenet Ledger." Nenet held out her hand as she stated her name. Jake took it and proceeded to shake it.

"Jake Abiko. Thank you again from turning me into snake food." He shyly admitted.

"It's no problem whatsoever. Though, you really should be thank Whizzer, or Blur, or Speed Demon, or whatever James decides to call himself." Nenet said underneath her breath, but she then let out a small cough and tried to get the conversation back on track. "Anyways, we didn't get a chance to talk afterwards and I was wondering how the guy I dropped off was doing."

"Oh, you know, I'm doing good. Making new friends, partying like there's no tomorrow, and whatever regular people do." Jake jokingly admitted. Nenet laughed in response.

"So what, did you become an alien between the last time we met?" She playfully questioned. Jake really didn't know how to answer, considering what he is currently going through. So in response, he just shrugged. Nenet laughed once again. "Relax, I'm just messing with you." She said.

"Oh yeah, I totally knew that. Master of Jokes right here." Jake commented.

"Yeah right." Nenet stated.

"Okay, I'm terrible with jokes, you got me." Jake admitted. "So…What's it like being a superhero?"

"Looking to get into the business yourself?" Nenet asked. Jake played it off nonchalantly.

"Nah, I think I would be a terrible hero. Just curious, that's all." He replied. Nenet's smile slowly began to fade.

"It's tough. It really is. Trying to stop bad guys and save people is truly hard to do. Especially when you have a company breathing down your neck." She stated. The last part caught Jake's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Jake questioned. Nenet looked around and leaned in a bit to try and be quiet.

"Promise you'll keep this a secret?" Nenet asked. Jake nodded his head in response. "Alright, so…They haven't officially announced this yet, but the Squadron Supreme was brought together by Nugent Technologies." When Jake heard that, his heart sank. The new superhero team on the block was actually brought together by a spin-off of the Third Reich. He let Nenet continue speaking while he tried his best to not to show his disgust. "We fight crime and they help out with advertisement, public relations, and all that. But…They're very particular about what crimes we face, what we do, and all-…Are you okay?" She asked as she finally noticed that he was making some kind of face. Jake quickly looked at his watch, trying to play it off.

"I should g-" Before he could even finish his sentence, an explosion outside rocked the coffee shop, causing the window to explode. Everyone was knocked off their feet as they saw two animal-like creatures outside, one that looked like a spider and one that looked like a bat, leading a group of armed men through the street.

"RIDER! Come out and play~!" The bat creature screamed. Nenet turned to Jake.

"I should go!" She stated as she ran off toward the front entrance and she made a beeline to the East. Jake followed her out the door, but instead he went West, trying to find an alleyway to turn down. Meanwhile, Nenet went towards an alleyway until she was out of the public eye. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a multicolored stone. She closed her eyes as beams of light shot out of it. When she opened up her eyes again, she was in her hero costume, ready for a fight. "Control, this is Doctor Spectrum, reporting in."

"Control here, what's the situation?" A voice on the other end of her communicator spoke up.

"We have a situation here, multiple hostiles attacking downtown Staten Island. Many civilians are in danger." Doctor Spectrum quickly explained. "I'm ready to engage, do I have approval?" She waited for a response back, it took a couple of seconds before she heard the voice again.

"Negative, wait until the rest of Squadron is there." The voice stated. Nenet looked surprised.

"Are you kidding me?" She shouted back.

"Sorry, it's not my decision." The voice replied. "This comes from the big guy. Just wait a couple of minutes and you'll be ready to go." Nenet shook her head as she took a seat on the ground, waiting for her back up, all the while, hearing the sound of people fleeing in terror.

(X)

Meanwhile…

Wrench was rolling around in his chair as he was currently bored. Besides waiting for the coffee, waiting for chip to recognize Jake's new suit, and being by himself, it was certainly getting to him. It was also making him angry. Making him so angry that he wanted to break things with his very handy and sledgehammer. However, that would have to wait as the garage door opened up as the rest of the gang backed the van in. The back doors opened up as Kerry got out, and Marcus got out of the driver's side to begin the unloading process.

"Got everything you were looking for?" Wrench called out as he gave one last spin in his chair, before getting up and strolling over to the van. Sarah exited the passenger side.

"Snacks, drinks, burner phones just in case we need them." She began to point out.

"You're welcome for giving you the idea!" Kerry called out as she was carrying multiple bags. Sarah turned back to look at her.

"Thank you." She calmly said, before turning back to Wrench. "We also got some Bluetooth speakers, couple of journals, and some medical kits. Though, I'm not sure we're going to need them considering how fast Jake can apparently heal." She stated as she began to walk back to help with the unloading process. Marcus looked around the garage and noticed something. Or rather, the lack of someone.

"Speaking of Jake, where is he?" He questioned.

"Oh yeah, I sent him out to get coffee." Wrench quickly mentioned. Kerry's ears perked up.

"Did you sent him to get anything for us?" She inquired. Wrench's mask proceeded to give her a side eye emote.

"You guys weren't here, so I just wanted coffee for myself." He commented.

"Really?" Marcus questioned. "You couldn't wait until we got back to ask for drinks." Wrench's mask went blank for a second, then quickly turned into question marks.

"How was I supposed to know you guys wanted stuff?" He asked. "Seriously, you guys weren't here! Besides, I was doing hard work making the new suit for the newest hero on the block!" It was just then that Wrench's phone started ringing. "Quick pause in the conversation." Wrench said as he pulled out his phone. "Speak of the devil, guess who's calling?" He remarked as he showed his phone to the rest of the group that Jake was calling.

"Put him on speaker, tell him we all want coffee." Kerry commented. Wrench did exactly what she said and put the phone on speaker. "Hey, it's all of us. So we are going to need you to add to-"

"Wrench! You better tell me that the chip is ready!" Jake screamed over the phone. "More of those guys we met last night showed up with some kind of Tarantula Man and Bat Guy!" Hearing that, the entire group looked at each other for a quick second, then rushed over to the computer to see what the progress on the chip was.

"There's 6% left!" Sarah called out.

"Okay, I'll hold them off for as long as I can!" Jake began to order his crew. "Once it's done, rush to my location and then we'll get the chip back into the belt! Let's just hope I don't die!" And with that statement, Jake instantly hung up. Which just left the crew to watch in peril as the progress only moved slightly.

(X)

"God, I really don't want to die right now." Jake muttered to himself as he put his phone back into his pocket. Once he was done, he quickly put on the belt and took a deep breath. It was time to prove himself to the world. He then felt something come to him, almost like it was an instinct. He stuck his right arm towards the direction of his left side. His arm then moved in a counter-clockwise motion until it was it was right at a 105-degree position. He then quickly put his left arm in the exact same position as his right arm while his right arm moved down to his side.

"HENSHIN!" He screamed. As he did, the belt once again came alive and started to wrap him up in the suit. In a matter of seconds, he went from a regular guy to a fully armored warrior ready to fight. As he began to walk back towards the chaos, he took a quick look at a window and he caught a glimpse of his reflection. He was suited up in the retro looking suit, it would have to do for now as he caught a glimpse of the threat at hand. A dozen of those men he fought the other night and only the two Monster Men. "Hey! I heard you're looking me?"

"Huh…Looks like the rumor is true." The Tarantula creature comment. The creature's entire head looked like the body of a spider, with it having eight small legs protruding out of the sides, it had eight eyes and pincers on the sides of its mouth. Its body was covered in brown fur while having read marks on its arms and legs. "The Rider really is back."

"You're damn right he is!" The Bat monster commented as he proceeded to take a seat on the trunk of a car. The creature was a sickly blue color from head to toe, with sharp claws on its hands and feet, it was using his cape as a cloak as two sharp points on its alula wrapped around his collar bone. It had huge ears and giant red eyes. "The famous Kamen Rider, standing right in front of us! Can you believe it Tarantula? We were told that you were dead!"

"While, as you can see, you were told wrong!" Jake said, trying to put on a tough voice. "Guess you better tell your friends that I'm still here! That's assuming that you even have friends in the first place!" After saying that, the bat creature playfully grabbed his heart.

"Oh, how that pains me to hear that, woe is me!" It then began to chuckle. "You seriously need to work on your comeback game, kid! That would barely pass in middle school these days."

"Just what exactly do you think you are doing, Battle Bat?" The Tarantula creature asked. Battle Bat chuckled as a response.

"You know that I like to play with my prey." He remarked. "What do you say, get him boys!" Upon hearing that, a couple of the Combatmen rushed towards the new vigilante. Jake got into a fighting stance and kicked the first one that rushed towards him square in the chest. Jake then tried to take a swing at the second Combatman, but it dodged at the last second. It tried to take as swing at the vigilante, but Jake caught the punch in his hand. Jake then grabbed the Combatman by the shirt and then proceeded to throw it at another Combatman. The next two then pulled out small Karambit knifes and they charged towards him. One of them swiped at Jake, cutting a small portion of his upper arm. It had managed to cut through the suit, causing him to start bleeding. Jake let out a small hiss of pain. He realized that he had to go on the defensive otherwise he would be cut again. As the Combatmen tried to swipe at him, Jake quickly jumped backwards, landing right in front of a car. Jake then grabbed the car's front bumper and tore it clean off, ready to use it as a weapon.

"MY CAR!" Someone in the crowd called out in a high-pitched tone.

"SORRY!" Jake replied as he then proceeded to swing the bumper at the two Combatmen, knocking them out instantly. As soon as they hit the ground, they began to disintegrate into a puddle of white bubbles. Jake tried his best to catch his breath, but he couldn't as all of a sudden, his danger sense went off and he was tackled from behind. But then, he was shocked as he began to go straight into the air. He quickly realized that Battle Bat had grabbed him from behind and began to fly up high towards to the air. "Uh, Is there any way that I can talk you into letting me go at all?" Jake proceeded to ask Battle Bat as the two continued to fly up high. Battle Bat scoffed at the remark.

"You know what? I'm in a good mood today, so sure!" Battle Bat snidely remarked. "After all, I'm about to get a big promotion." And with that, the Shocker Monster Man dropped the new hero from about 100 feet in the air. As soon as he was let go, Jake realized the error of his ways by asking the Bat Man to let him go.

"OH SHIT!" Jake screamed as he began to quickly plummet to towards the ground. Battle Bat fly right pass him. And in what seemed to be a second, the new hero crashed through the concrete roof, smashing through each floor of the five-story building, until he eventually ended up crashing through the roof of the coffee shop that he was just in and he crashed straight through the counter. While he had no external injuries due to the armor, Jake felt like everything hurt. "Ow." He muttered to himself. He looked to his right and he say a couple of the baristas hiding behind the counter. He saw the look on their faces as they were terrified. "It's okay," he began to reassure them, "I'm here to help. Just stay down and hopefully they won't come in here."

"Go in there and bring me the body!" Terror Tarantula commanded the Combatmen, but they were too busy terrorizing civilians to follow the orders immediately. Kamen Rider then looked back at the baristas after the order was issued.

"Never mind. Is there a back door?" He quickly asked. Before they could even point it out, the boor door suddenly opened. "Wrench?" Kamen Rider suddenly asked as the mechanic quickly made his way over to him.

"Hey, saw the fall through the building. How are you feeling?" The mechanic asked. He then looked over and saw the baristas as well. "Hi folks, I'm this guys' helper. Please be patient, this is first time being a hero." That statement didn't fill the citizens with confidence. "Oh no! Don't worry, you won't die! At least I don't think you will, but too many variables and all-"

"WRENCH!" Kamen Rider yelled back.

"Sorry!" Wrench stated as he pulled out a screw driver to pry off the cover of the belt.

"What are you doing?" The masked hero questioned. Wrench then pulled out the microchip that controlled the look of the suit.

"Time for an upgrade, baby." He commented. Jake smirked underneath his mask.

"Get everyone out of here. And try to stay out of danger." Jake said as grabbed the chip from Wrench's hand.

"You got this?" Wrench asked as his eyes turned into question marks. Jake then put the chip in place and then put the cover back on.

"Yeah, I got this." Jake said as he began to get up. Wrench quickly rushed to the aid of the coffee shop workers and rush them out of the back door. As Jake got up, he felt as if he was a new person. That's when the belt's turbine started to turn at an increasingly fast pace.

"What are you waiting for?!" Terror Tarantula questioned his subordinates. "Get in there and kill the bastard!" One of the Combatmen shrieked in acknowledgement and went through the broken front window of the coffee shop…Only for him to go instantly flying back out, smashing into the side of a car. The remaining Shocker forces turned to the window to see who would come out of the shop next. Almost instantly, a table was thrown out of the shop, hitting Battle Bat square in the chest.

"Sorry to disappoint ya, but I'm still standing." A voice called out as the Kamen Rider stepped out, but this time, his suit was completely different. His suit was more of an armored appearance, with his chest, gauntlets, and boots thicker and more streamlined. The green parts of his suit were brighter and the parts of his suit that were black were darker, almost jet black. His eyes began to glow a bright red color. Terror Tarantula, still completely shocked, fired out a web from his mouth. Kamen Rider moved out of the way before it could hit him, and he grabbed the web instantly. He then pulled on the web as hard as he could, pulling Terror Tarantula off his feet and he was hurtled towards his opponent. Kamen Rider then proceeded to punch Terror Tarantula in the face as hard as he could, sending him flying towards the remaining Combatmen, knocking them to the ground, and the Combatmen disintegrated immediately. Now, it was just the two monster men and the new vigilante. Battle Bat pushed the table off of him as he tried to stand up.

"What the hell are you?" Battle Bat questioned.

"You should already know." Jake responded back. "I'm the Kamen Rider." Upon hearing that, the two monster men rushed towards the vigilante. Battle Bat flew up into the air while Terror Tarantula rushed Kamen Rider on the ground. Kamen Rider then sprinted towards Terror Tarantula and right before these clashed, he jumped up a small bit enough to kick Terror Tarantula in the head. He then used that opportunity to use his opponent as a type of springboard to jump higher in the air, hurtling toward Battle Bat. The Bat creature was caught off by surprise as his opponent ran right into him. Kamen Rider then punched Battle Bat in the face, knocking him off balance causing the both of them flying towards the ground. Terror Tarantula rolled out of the way at the last second before they could hit him. Battle Bat scraped along the ground as Kamen Rider jumped off of him and he rolled to his feet. "Rider Kick." Jake muttered under his breath as his right foot began to glow slowly red. As Battle Bat got to his feet, Kamen Rider rushed towards him and jumped into the air, landing a diving side kick straight into the monsters' chest, sending him flying across the ground.

"You little-" Battle Bat began to say, but before he could say anything else, he staggered in pain. Then all of sudden, red glowing marks began to show up on his body. The monster tried to move, but he couldn't as he let out a cry of pain as his body was engulfed in an explosion. The crowd watched in silence as the vigilante got up and turned to look to his last opponent.

"You…You son of a bitch!" Terror Tarantula cried out. "I'll kill you and everyone you love! You hear me?! I'LL KILL-" He stopped screaming as all of a sudden, a sword was plunged deep through his chest. He was dead instantly as Power Princess pulled her sword out of the creature. Then, one by one, the rest of the squadron surrounded her as they stared at the new vigilante.

"What the hell took you so long?" Kamen Rider questioned. Landing right in front of him, Hyperion put his hand on Kamen Rider's shoulder.

"Our apologizes," He began to state, "there were other situations that required our attention. And while it does pain us that we weren't here sooner, I'm glad that there was a brave individual who-"

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Power Princess impatiently questioned as Nighthawk slowly began to walk around the group.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Doctor Spectrum questioned, with a genuine look of shock under her mask.

"Me? I could be asking you the same thing!" Kamen Rider stated. "Where were you guys while all this was going down? There could have been more causalities! I had to step in, otherwise people could have been hurt!"

"And yet, it still looks like people got hurt regardless." Speed Demon pointed out. "So as your first time trying to play hero, I would maybe give you a D or D-."

"As if you're perfect." The Kamen Rider called out. Speed Demon almost looked insulted.

"I mean, speed and metabolism wise, I would definitely say that I am perfect." Speed Demon remarked. "By the way, what's with the costume? I mean, the red eyes are a bit much, don't you think?"

"You're wearing red goggles! 'Pot calling the Kettle Black much?'"

"Okay, that's actually a fair point, I will admit that. But still, you suck." Speed Demon teased with a shit eating grin on his face. But in the very next second, a golden projectile flew past Speed Demon's head and was going straight towards the Kamen Rider. Before the vigilante could even react, Hyperion had suddenly caught the projectile.

"What exactly do you think that you are doing?" Hyperion questioned as the team turned to look at Nighthawk, who was already in a fighting stance.

"Just got word back from HQ, he's wanted in 30 countries." He said in a gruff tone of voice.

"WHAT?!" The Kamen Rider shouted in complete shock.

"How come they didn't relay that information to the rest of us?" Doctor Spectrum asked in a rather impatient.

"Problems with comms, must be a jammer nearby." Nighthawk briefly suggested. "But as of right now, this man belongs in a cell!" Hearing that, Speed Demon got into a runner's position while Power Princess hesitantly pulled out her sword and shield. Doctor Spectrum stepped between the group and the vigilante.

"Hold on, there has to be some kind of mistake!" She tried to plead, but it went on deaf ears. She turned to look at Hyperion, who gave her an uneasy look. But what she didn't notice was that the super being's eye twitched a small bit, then he grabbed the Kamen Rider by the throat. As the vigilante tried to punch Hyperion in the face, he could see that it had no effect whatsoever. And as the oxygen was slowly cut off from his brain, one dumb idea came to him.

"Rider…Kick…"

"Rider what?" Hyperion questioned. But he learned quickly what it was as red energy began to swirl around the Rider's right foot much like earlier and he let off a quick kick…Straight to Hyperion's groin. The entire crowd groaned in pain as they took in the sight. The alien warrior screamed out in pain and doubled over in pain as he let go of the vigilante and he tried desperately to catch his breath. The rest of the Squadron was shocked by what had happened as they had never seen the alien warrior in pain before. As they got ready to fight the masked vigilante, Nighthawk turned to look at Hyperion, who was still doubled over in pain and trying his hardest to regain his composure.

"Seriously?" Nighthawk questioned. While he had his eyes taken off his opponent, Kamen Rider suddenly rushed forward and was about ready to throw a right hook straight into Nighthawk's face. But then, Speed Demon used his speed to rush into the two of them and he caught the punch in his hand. He then effortlessly toss Kamen Rider towards Power Princess, who recognized the move from the team training and threw a punch which landed straight into Kamen Rider's chest. It sent the vigilante flying and he landed right on top of a car roof.

"Ow." Kamen Rider remarked as he tried his best to shrug off the hit. The next thing he knew, Nighthawk had jumped up in the air and fired off his grappling hook right next to the Rider's head. He then began to zip towards his opponent. Trying to think fast, Jake quickly rolled off the car, nearly avoiding Nighthawk landing on top of him. The Kamen Rider then grabbed Nighthawk by his cape and quickly threw him onto the ground. As Nighthawk aimed his grapple gun at his opponent, the Rider kicked him in his face, causing the gun to go flying in the air and landing on the ground. As soon as Nighthawk regained his senses and realized what was happening, he performed a sweep kick on his opponent and swept out the Rider's legs from underneath him and he quickly got up onto his feet. Speed Demon then rushed to his superiors aide as he grabbed the vigilante by his scarf, and he threw him across the hood of the car. Jake landed flat on his face. As the Rider tried to get up, he felt a swift kick to his ribs, then a quick punch to his face and he barely see the speedster grabbing him by the arm and proceeding to throw the vigilante through a window of a nearby building. Nighthawk got up and he was about to go into the building to pursue their opponent, but he was stopped when a glowing blue wall suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nighthawk questioned as he turned around to look at Doctor Spectrum, who was making the construct.

"Just stop a moment and tell us what the hell is going?" She suddenly barked back. "Why did you even attack him? And don't use that 'Wanted in 30 Countries' excuse, because I know for a fact that's bullshit!"

"Stand down." Nighthawk calmly stated, but Doctor Spectrum kept going.

"He stopped these guys! He was helping people!"

"Stand down!" Nighthawk once again commanded.

"He was doing our job for us! Why the hell did you tell me not to-"

"STAND DOWN!" Nighthawk suddenly yelled, causing the entire team to take a step back. That's when Nighthawk noticed the crowd gathering around them. They were reacting in a frightful manner. All of them on their phones, filming what had just transpired between them and the new vigilante. This would cause some damage to their reputation, that's for sure. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "We will discuss this back at base, but just know that he is a dangerous individual who has not yet registered under the Sokovia Accords."

"We aren't even registered with them." Nenet said, but she could see that Nighthawk wouldn't budge from his stance. She reluctantly let her construct disappear. Nighthawk nodded towards Speed Demon to rush in term. Speed Demon followed his orders as he sped into the building. In a matter of seconds, he rushed back towards his team.

"He's gone. I even checked the back and he's gone." Speed Demon explained. "No sign of him anywhere." Nighthawk let out a frustrated sigh.

"Back to base everyone. No interacting with any of the public." He stated as he reached for his grapple gun…But then he became more frustrated as he realized it wasn't there anymore.

(X)

"I would say that was the worst way for a superhero to show off what they can do." Jake stated as he laid on the couch, letting his ribs slowly heal as the group watched the news.

"I would say that you did pretty well." Sarah commented, trying to make the hero feel better. But then she made a bit of an uneasy face. "…That is until the Squadron Supreme showed up." Jake let out a sigh.

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better. I could use that right now. Especially my ribs. I think all of them are broken." He remarked back as he sat up right as the news played footage of him fighting the Squadron Supreme.

"What the hell did you do to piss off Nighthawk so much?" Marcus questioned. The garage was silent for a moment, before Jake tried his best to answer.

"Because he's a part of Shocker." He said. Everyone turned to look at him, with a shocked look on their face, hoping for some kind of explanation. "I met up with the girl who is behind the Doctor Spectrum costume. She stated that the Squadron Supreme was brought together by…Nugent Technologies."

"So you have to deal with a super hero, or I guess in this case villain, group as well?" Kerry asked. Jake shook his head.

"Maybe…I-I don't know." He stated. "I mean, Doctor Spectrum stood up for me. Not too sure on the rest of them. But at least we know one enemy."

"That's totally not a terrifying thought." Wrench stated.

"Oh yeah." Jake said. He then proceeded to pull out a gun like object from behind him and showed it to the group. "And I also stole his grapple gun from him." Everyone looked at him with a sense of astonishment. Jake then proceeded to toss the grapple gun to Wrench. "Think you can take apart and rework it for us?" Wrench looked at him.

"You do know who you are talking to, right?" Wrench questioned.

"I know." Jake said. "I got to go. My mom's probably worried sick about me. See you guys tomorrow." He stated as he walked towards the exit of the garage.

(X)

"HE'S A MENANCE!" J. Jonah Jameson screamed to his viewers. "First, this so called "Kamen Rider" dared to pick a fight with multiple people in a crowed area and damaged many cars and businesses! Then, he started an argument with the law-abiding Squadron Supreme, and then proceeded to try and fight them! Luckily, the fight ended quickly, but that Masked Hooligan managed to slip away and will probably cause more mayhem, just like that menace, SPIDER-MAN!"

"I would be surprised if he doesn't have a heart attack on camera one of these days." Speed Demon remarked as he watched the ravings of J. Jonah Jameson. His mask was pulled down, showing his blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Another thing that I will never understand about you mortals." Power Princess stated as she took off her helmet, revealing her black hair and the unnatural purple color of her eyes. Doctor Spectrum also took off her mask and looked at her fellow comrade.

"We're not in public anymore, you can drop the act Zarda." Nenet remarked. Power Princess looked back at her and let out a deep sigh.

"Look, I get that you're angry right now, but that doesn't mean that you have any right to take that out on me." Zarda said, dropping her act. Nenet let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, I'm just…A lot of people got hurt and they told me not to help out whatsoever." Nenet began to explain. "And then we attack that guy who helped out? Explain to me how that makes any sense at all." Zarda looked down, trying to figure out something that she could say to her comrade, but she was unable to come up with anything.

"Hey, they wouldn't have done it if they didn't have a good reason." Speed Demon stated. "I think it's best we just follow what they do. Otherwise, they'll find someone to replace us."

"Of course you would say that." Nenet muttered under her breath as she got up to get something to drink. Elsewhere in the building, Nighthawk and Hyperion were watching back the footage, both of them unmasked.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Marcus Milton, better known as Hyperion, asked. He clenched his fist in anger as he rewatched the footage of Kamen Rider kicking him in the groin. He almost used his heat vision to destroy the monitor, but he quickly shut his eyes to try and stop himself. It was in that moment that Quantrell walked into the room, with a rather angry expression on his face.

"What the hell happened out?" Quantrell questioned.

"We got embarrassed, that's what happened!" Kyle stated as he kicked over a trash can. "And you were right, you want to hear that? You were right. It was him! The Rider is back!" Quantrell made a face of confusion.

"It really is him? It's the Kamen Rider?" Quantrell asked. Milton looked at them in confusion.

"What the hell is a Kamen Rider?" He questioned. The two senior members of Shocker looked at their newest recruit with a look of disbelief.

"Right, we haven't explained that to you yet." Nighthawk stated. "Kamen Rider is our greatest mistake.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Milton's asked. Quantrell let out a sigh.

"In 1971, the Japanese branch of Shocker kidnapped a man named Takeshi Hongo in the hopes of turning him into one of our." Quantrell began to explain. "They successful turned him into a cyborg, but before we could fully turn him, a traitor helped him escape. They later found and killed the traitor, but we were unsuccessful in killing Hongo. He used the powers that we gave him to seek revenge on us. We called him Kamen Rider. He was able to wipe out the Japanese branch and then…he disappeared."

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this guy?" Marcus questioned.

"Because we thought that he had died a long time ago and that he was no longer a threat to us anymore." Quantrell stated.

"He still isn't, this guy is new." Kyle corrected his Shocker college. "When we spoke, he sounded young, he was inexperienced in a fight, and Hongo would be in his 70's to 80's. No old man could be as nimble as this kid was."

"Still doesn't matter," Hyperion stated as he got up, "if this guy is a big of a threat as you say he is, then we need to stop him. We'll find him sooner than later, and we'll bury the name Kamen Rider." Quantrell smirked at Milton's dedication.

"Spoken like a true Shocker general." He then looked at the two 'heroes'. "We will tell the public that Kamen Rider is a threat, but the Squadron Supreme will hunt him down until he's brought to justice." Quantrell explained. "But no matter what, we must keep our public image clean."

"I'll go tell the others." Hyperion said as he began to walk away. He looked back to his two superiors. "Do we tell them about our true goals?"

"Not yet." Nighthawk stated as he put his mask back on. "But soon. Glory to Shocker."

"Glory to Shocker." Hyperion stated as he exited the room. Nighthawk was about to follow him, but then Quantrell stopped him.

"Kyle, has Milton been acting…weird, lately?" Quantrell questioned. Kyle shook his head in response.

"Not that I can tell." He stated. "Why do you ask?" Quantrell gave an uneasy look.

"The serum we gave him that gives him his powers…It may have some side effects."

"What kind of side effects?"

"Behavioral changes. The lab techs think that it could also affect his mental stability. We don't know what is going to happen to him, so keep tabs on him." Quantrell explained. Nighthawk gave him a look of disbelief.

"What happens if he does lose control? Do we have anything that can stop him?" Nighthawk asked.

"I already explained this to the overseers, they're having one of their top scientists coming over to try and not just help us with our Rider problem, but with this as well." Quantrell said. "They say he's former Hydra, so luckily he knows about us."

"Let's just hope that works, otherwise we just created the world's most dangerous psychopath." Nighthawk said as he walked off.

(X)

The night was a relatively quiet night for Mr. Ichikawa. It's been that way for the past 30 years. Ever since he lost his family, he tended to keep himself nowadays. Expect for his next-door neighbors, he rarely talks to anyone. It was nice to take care of Jake during the 5 years when people were snapped out of existence. It felt like he had his family back. As he prepared his dinner, he had his tv on in the background, barely paying attention to it.

"And our top story of tonight, terror ravaged the streets of downtown Staten Island as deranged men and animalistic creatures tore up a square block. But luckily, a new vigilante was there to stop them. And then he proceeded to get into a fight with the new super hero group, the Squadron Supreme. People on the streets are conflicted on who to thank, but what we do know is that this vigilante, who called himself 'Kamen Rider' was the first to stop these deranged men." The newscaster stated. Mr. Ichikawa stopped dead in his tracks as he looked towards the screen. As he watched the footage that the news was playing, caught by civilians on their cellphone, it was if all sound faded out as all Mr. Ichikawa saw this footage. A ringing sound played as he tried to struggle to understand what he was witnessing. But he recognized the new hero. He thought that no one would ever see the Kamen Rider again. But his stomach turned as he slowly began to realize who it was underneath the mask. There's only one person that it could be.

"What have you done, Jake?"