Wait… I get rewards for defeating supervillains?
You're kidding, right? I'm just a guy with superhero connections, not a superhero myself.
As someone with ties to powered people, shouldn't my "Extraordinary Relationship System" just assign me the wholesome role of being the guy who runs errands for them, provides emotional support, or maybe offers a couch to crash on after a long battle? You know, that warm civilian presence in a world of capes?
But here I am, standing over a half-conscious Adrian Toomes—the Vulture—like I'm Blade or something.
Jack Kadere, until recently an ordinary guy with a weirdly hard-to-pronounce English name and an art portfolio, shook his head. This system was doing everything but behaving.
What's next? Saving the world while Tony Stark is stuck in traffic?
Imagine Iron Man suiting up for a mission, only for Pepper to call and say, "Tony, don't bother. I already took out the drones. Go clean the kitchen."
At that point, the movie might as well be renamed Iron Pepper.
Still, as much as Jack grumbled internally, he opened the system rewards menu with growing curiosity.
It felt a little like comparing main storyline quests to random open-world side missions in a game. Defeating Toomes hadn't been a task issued by Gwen, Jessica, or any other hero in his circle—he'd jumped in of his own accord. So the rewards were different.
Let's see…
Option 1: $1 million.
Tempting for most people. But with Jack's art commissions, tech gigs, and Gwen occasionally bringing him superhero trinkets to flip discreetly on the black market—money wasn't a problem.
Option 2: Captain America collectible figure.
What even was this? A bobblehead? Life-size? Limited edition?
He imagined Agent Coulson crying tears of joy at the thought.
Option 3: Transform Adrian Toomes into a loyal subordinate.
Hmm…
Jack narrowed his eyes. Toomes was an ex-engineer, a brilliant one at that. The guy had built winged flight armor from scrap and could probably reverse-engineer a S.H.I.E.L.D. drone while blindfolded.
Alright, old man. You're hired.
He tapped the third option.
[Option 3 selected: Transforming target into Loyal Operative…]
Toomes, who had just started catching his breath again, looked up—only to suddenly freeze as his body and suit disintegrated into digital code, swirling into a compressed data stream and vanishing into Jack's gauntlet interface.
"…What the hell?" Jack blinked.
He tapped at his wrist. A holographic menu popped up. Moments later, the same stream reassembled beside him—Toomes, in full Vulture gear, standing silently with a faint green glow in his eyes.
So this was "absolute loyalty"? The man was basically a summon now.
Jack rubbed his chin. "Huh. That's a little more sci-fi than I expected."
...
A few days later…
Jack sat at his desk, a laptop open in front of him. His fingers idly scrolled through forums and news blogs.
Kingpin had vanished off the radar after that rooftop incident. Jack had checked every location Toomes gave him—but no sign of the big guy.
For now, he'd shelved the hunt. He had better things to do than chase New York's underworld boss without a solid lead.
Besides, they'd never even met.
"Bro! You're on the gossip trail too?" Jessica's voice snapped him out of thought.
She leaned over his shoulder, her small black backpack brushing against his arm. Her eyes sparkled as she scanned the screen.
"This new black-suited Spider-Man that showed up—he looks way too coordinated with Ghost-Spider. I'm calling it: they're totally a couple."
Jack sighed.
"I said I was Spider-Man," he muttered to himself. "Now the press is calling me the 'Black Spider'? What am I, Miles Morales?"
Jessica was still going on, half-distracted by her phone. "But he's really mysterious. The supervillain Vulture—who nearly crash-landed on us, mind you—just disappeared. Poof. Some people online think he was straight-up killed by that 'Black Spider' guy."
Jack Kadere didn't respond, but the twitch of his eyebrow gave him away.
Jessica continued, "Gwen told me her dad's pretty upset about the whole thing. He thinks vigilantism is already skating a thin line, but 'disappearing' suspects? Total red flag. He says criminals should be handed over to the police, not… vanished."
Jack raised his wrist, revealing the sleek black ring integrated with his battle suit. "Jess, if you don't head out now, you'll be late. First day back at Midtown High. Don't let your homeroom teacher write you off this early."
Jessica glanced at the time, gasped, and adjusted her shoulder bag. "Nice watch. Very cyberpunk." She paused, reached up, and tapped his cheek with a grin.
"Later, big bro. Don't forget the party tonight! Gwen's going to be there too~"
"Wouldn't miss it," Jack said, waving as she skipped out the door.
Once she was gone, he turned his attention back to the day's news cycle.
"No new threats. Stark hasn't even donned the armor yet, and the city's been relatively quiet."
There were no signs of Gwen's or Jessica's destined enemies—the kind of antagonists that would trigger a new system task.
Jack sighed, closed the screen, and leaned back in his chair.
"Maybe I should stop chasing down bad guys and go straight to networking with future heroes."
Lazy? Maybe. Strategic? Definitely.