59 Issue #5

Jack didn't stay the night in Genosha but returned to New York so he could prepare for the arrival of the women. Even though all their rooms were prepared, he still needed to update all of their SHIELD and Avenger files to change their affiliation. He also needed to prepare plenty of data for Callisto to look through and let her determine their first mission.

Jack got back to the tower swiftly and tried to get into his room. When he had his hand on the door handle, there were several voices that called out to him.

"Jack!"

"Jacky!"

"Foot Fetish!"

Jack turned and saw Susan Storm, Janet Van Dyne, and Scott Lang with their kids near them. The youngest of the kids was Valeria who had recently turned 3 while the oldest was Cassie who was 12, Scott's daughter.

"First: Hey, kids. Second: Hey, adults. Third: I have no interest in feet! In the song, it is 'nose' not toes. Jack Frost nipping at your nose! Fourth: I can watch your kids for 3 hours. I'm having drinks later."

"Thanks!" all of them shouted before flying, teleporting, and running away. Jack had become the designated sitter for the Avengers. At first, it was just when they had missions or SHIELD tasks. Later, they would rely on him when they had date nights, friend nights, or needed to run errands.

Jack didn't mind watching over the kids so he accepted without complaint. Since they were the kids of heroes, most of the children were well-behaved. His main task was to make sure they didn't accidentally kill themselves with recently awakened powers.

The 4 kids followed Jack into his room and each went to their own spot. Nadia and Cassie went to the couch in the den where they put on some movie. Franklin went to the kitchen to grab some snacks while Valeria followed Jack into his office. The little girl sat next to him in her personal chair while Jack got on his laptop.

As he was typing away and updating the information on the women he recruited, Valeria looked on in fascination.

"Oh. This is quite the interesting team you have, Uncle Jack. Former villain, former assassin, and former member of a terrorist organization as well as a complete unknown. How did this team ever get approved?"

Jack stroked the little girl's head after she asked the question.

"Captain America believes in me. As much as this is a team of equals, it has a hierarchy from the part-time to the full-time to the squad leaders to Captain America at the top. This keeps order since a true, pure democracy ends with groups doing nothing.

To answer your question: Captain America believes in me. From the moment he appointed me as a squad leader, he had silently said 'I trust you.' Until the day I break that trust, he will back the decisions that I make.

Take this as a lesson, Val. Never appoint someone you don't trust. And if you do appoint them, trust them until they fail you."

Valeria nodded again. Whenever he would babysit her, Jack would answer the little girl's questions and give her life lessons. This was why she called him uncle like she called doom. It was out of respect for the lessons that he gave her.

After writing up the new information on the women, Jack brought Valeria out to the main room to watch whatever the other kids had put on TV. It was a pretty boring movie about some blue aliens fighting off corporate Earth using bows and arrows.

After sitting with them for a while, Jack noticed that it was lunchtime. He went to the kitchen to make each of the kids a personal pizza. By the time he returned, the movie was already on the part where the humans were burning down the big tree to get the unobtanium.

The group enjoyed the 3-hour movie together before their parents came back to pick them up, exactly 3 hours later. When all of them had left the apartment, Jack went back to his office to start going through leads and missions for hours.

When it finally reached 9 at night, Jack set down his work and left his room to meet up with Captain America. Before he left, he took some nectar and ambrosia he got from Hercules and mead from Thor from his fridge.

He took his items up to the rooftop bar where Steve and Tony were both sitting. Tony gave him a dirty look when he saw Jack.

"You said it would be just the two of us, Steve. I didn't know that the snowman would be here."

Jack didn't allow Steve to reply but came up with an answer himself.

"Really? Cause I think it is weirder for you of all people to be at the bar than me. Sure you're able to resist?"

'Oh, damn!' Natasha and Yelena thought from their hiding spot on top of the bar. Tony finally admitted to his alcoholism a month prior but this was the first time anyone had brought it up. Neither was surprised though. Jack and Tony were like water and oil.

Tony stood up with fury written all over his face before throwing his glass of water at Jack's face. The sound of glass breaking could be heard. Jack turned his head and looked at the cup that had just phased through his body with interest.

'Oh. So now you wanna try and get physical?'

Jack and Tony's relationship had been deteriorating ever since Jack figured out that the spy in his squad was Simon several months ago. This especially bothered Jack because Simon was not just a spy but a potential assassin.

While Elektra may have been a true assassin, the possibility of her harming Jack was slim. But Simon was a different story. If Jack only had the powers that the Avengers knew about, Wonder Man would be more than enough to bring him down.

Tony glared at Jack before he picked up his jacket and stormed off toward the elevator. After he made it past Jack, Tony slipped on some ice beneath his feet before his nose hit the floor and started bleeding. Shooting Jack one more glare, Tony walked away.

"Sit down, kid. We need to talk," Steve said after sighing at their behavior

'They are both adults. They haven't let this relationship cause issues on missions so I have been ignoring it but if it gets any worse, I may need to ask one of them to leave.'

Jack placed his items on the bar counter but Steve didn't pick any of them up. Seeing that this talk was going to be really serious, Jack stopped smiling and paid attention.

"Jack. I know what you are fighting for. And I know what you're fighting against. I never liked bullies. I always fought against them no matter how big or how many there were. But I could never really win those fights.

I was just a small kid from Manhattan that wasn't even qualified to join the military. I had to go through an experiment just to fight for what I believed in. And then I ended up as a national hero. But that still didn't get rid of all the bullies. Just made them less obvious.

I need your squad to succeed. Because if you do, I'll be allowed to give you more benefits. Benefits that make your mission easier. But I can't openly support you due to pressure from above. So I can only reward you based on results."

Steve stood up and patted Jack on his shoulder

"Get those results kid. I hope to see a day where no one has to live in fear in this country."