A portal opened above one of the tallest skyscrapers in New York, tossing a figure out before closing in on itself and disappearing again.
Flux sighed and shook his head while taking in this similar, but slightly different, New York. He smacked his metal-covered head when he suddenly remembered: the Porsche was still under covers at the Mansion... He could only hope that it would appear again at the start of his next Jump, like the Marvel Jump Document had promised.
He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to finish business with the Fantastic Four but also a bit relieved; he knew better than to take Doctor Doom lightly and was glad that he didn't have to deal with him anymore...
Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Moments later, his attention was drawn to a familiar red and blue figure narrowly avoiding gunfire and rockets, swinging and bending his body, flipping at impossible angles while using webbing to throw loose debris created by the rockets back at the men wearing white oni masks that were firing them...
Flux noticed the extra white accents on Spider-Man's suit and knew where he was immediately: this was the storyline from the PlayStation Spider-Man games... This was the 104th Marvel Universe! Just like he had seen in his vision before taking part in the 'recovery' of the device Mr. Fantastic had invented.
Flux had already played through these games and understood precisely what was happening, which was a big part of why he eagerly leapt through the portal, theatrically feigning a noble sacrifice for Mr. Fantastic.
He had crossed paths with the Spider-Man of the Marvel 11052 universe he had just come from too—that Spider-Man was not surprisingly the one the animated show from the 90s was based on... A very pleasant experience regardless.
Needless to say, Flux was excited to cross paths with another Spider-Man. At this point, he was treating this Jumpchain isekai like a personal adventure, and rightfully so. He couldn't wait to take part in another plot he already knew the end of.
Spider-Man had noticed the glowing hole in the sky spit out a figure covered in glowing scarlet, purple, and white energy while evading the gunfire and felt his Spider-Sense go off more strongly than it ever had before.
He was about to panic until he noticed this new figure raise a hand and fire a purple-red beam toward one of the 'Demons,' the masked men he was fighting, knocking him back violently against a brick wall. Moments later, all of the gun barrels twisted and became inoperable.
Spider-Man had thought for a moment that this was one of the most powerful of the X-Men's rogue gallery—Magneto. He hadn't come across the mutants too often in his eight years of web-slinging, but he knew who the major players were in both the Avengers' and the X-Men's circles.
Upon realizing that this man in armor was indeed NOT Magneto and was clearly helping him, he turned back to the now unarmed men and cracked his knuckles, smiling under his mask.
Together, they beat down the Demon gang, and Spider-Man webbed them all up, as per his style.
"We should talk..." Flux released his helmet and suit back into their small spherical forms, stowing them in his ever-present backpack. Whenever someone would ask why he always slung it over the top of his suit during team-ups in the past, he would just give them a perfunctory answer: "Ya never know when you're gonna need it."
...
Flux, now Max, learned from Spider-Man—now Peter Parker—that he had arrived in this New York just one week after the funeral of Jefferson Davis, the father of Miles Morales, the future second Spider-Man of this universe.
With future knowledge and a soft spot for his childhood heroes, Max skipped months of mystery and hit Peter Parker with the simple truth: Martin Li was Mr. Negative, the main villain in this story. If he couldn't save Miles's dad, he was damn sure going to prevent the other tragic death in this tale—Peter's Aunt May.
By exposing Li early, Max helped Peter dismantle the Demons' infrastructure and means before the Devil's Breath virus released in the original game could ever be weaponized. With the city safe from the outbreak, Max turned his attention to Peter's personal life.
Knowing Aunt May already suspected Peter's secret, Max facilitated an honest conversation between them, using his own resources to move her into a high-tech, secure residence far from the F.E.A.S.T. shelter's eventual dangers.
For the first time in his life, Peter Parker had what he always lacked: financial stability and a partner who didn't need a secret identity explained.
This was a rare thing for any Peter Parker to experience.
Normally, any given Spider-Man—specifically any Peter Parker—had a pretty crappy hand dealt to them, so this was a nice change of pace, accommodated by a secret fan with a soft spot.
Let's be honest: if you were isekai-ed and you met Spidey, you couldn't tell me you wouldn't let him sleep on your couch.
Over the next two years, the duo, then eventually trio, became an unstoppable force. Flux acted as the ultimate 'backup', jumping into the fray whenever a classic villain surfaced, turning desperate struggles into manageable skirmishes.
Max's presence smoothed over the 'Parker Luck,' helping with funding to keep Spider-Man's gear state-of-the-art.
He even navigated the temptation of the black suit, intentionally leaving the Venom symbiote alone to ensure the timeline's natural progression so that Harry Osborn remained intact.
The storyline Max was mostly familiar with was eventually interrupted by one multiversal anomaly: the Deadpool of the 'X-Men: Evolution' universe.
Instead of the expected clash when they finally met, the two bonded over their shared scars and extremely ugly appearances, forming a strange but genuine friendship.
Deadpool hung around for a handful of weeks and beat up quite a few bad guys with Flux and the Spider-Men, forming their own little unit, Deadpool insisting on going with 'X-Force'.
Max was delighted by this, considering it to be much better than the team name Magneto had come up with back when they destroyed Apocalypse.
The Merc with a Mouth hadn't come for a social call at the end of the day—well, in this case, at the end of the month. He had wasted a lot of time paling around with the Spiders and Flux before getting down to real business.
Deadpool had actually been hired by Reed Richards, who was desperate to find Max.
With the Fantastic Four now pinned down by the cosmic threat of Annihilus, Mr. Fantastic realized that only someone with Wade's unique skillset and experience—universe-hopping—could navigate the multiverse and bring back Flux to help stop the bug-king's invasion in time.
Max sadly had to decline Deadpool, however, as there were now mere days remaining before his Jump would be over, and he also knew how powerful Annihilus was—not just a sitting duck like Apocalypse had been.
...
...Wade Wilson was a streak of red neon, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of binary code and jagged reality-shards. He was not screaming.
He was humming the X-Men: Evolution theme song.
"Alright, Wade. Back to the land of baggy cargo pants and teenagers with too much hair gel... Sigh, not going to get paid again, huh? Well, I would rather hang out with that cutie Spooder-Man and beat up people like Scorpion and the Shocker than fight a giant god bug, too."
Deadpool adjusted his grip on his dimension-hopping device, enjoying the memories of the world he just left.
He thought about Max—that metal-throwing, luck-bending, future-seeing powerhouse.
"Gonna miss that guy. He had one hell of a sense of humor and one hell of a power set. Also, had the face of a guy who fought a lawnmower and lost. Real kindred spirit. Plus, he didn't even mind when I tried using his magnetic head as a bottle opener that one time—much. That's true friendship. And Pete... poor, sweet PS4 Spidey. So much trauma, so little render time..."
Deadpool held up what remained of his chimichanga and shoved it into his mouth, wiped his face with his sleeve, and pulled his mask down while chewing. "We really had fun, didn't we? It's nice actually helping the good side for once instead of being the guy who accidentally blows up the orphanage because he thought it was a front for a Foot Clan hideout..."
He stretched in this weird dimension between space-time and adjusted the dial on the watch-like teleportation device he nicked from the 'Mutant of the Future,' Cable, all those years ago, to head back into the X-Men: Evolution universe, where he had to tell not only the Fantastic Four that Max wasn't coming back but also the X-Men—for some reason, specifically Magneto, Wolverine, and Storm. He wasn't going to do it until he realized he could take this chance to piss Wolverine off. He would do that for free any day!
"I wonder if Logan still has those sideburns that look like two angry squirrels glued to his face... Or if Scott finally figured out how to blink without having a moral crisis." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Don't let me materialize inside a wall this time. I hate it when my spleen ends up in the drywall."
SCHLIP-POP!
-X-Mansion - DANGER ROOM Observation Deck - Nighttime.
"Aaaaaaaaand, Deadpool sticks the landing, crouching low—almost too low on the metallic floor! Family jewels just about swept up some of the dust in this dump... Oh no! One of the locals, and he looks, weally, weally angwee. Hey there, sparky, did you miss me?"
"Grrrr... Wade, ya got a lotta guts showin' yer face around here... kids, look away, this is gonna be ugly."
Wolverine, surrounded by X-Men in training, looked at Deadpool, who had just managed to land right in the middle of a training session in the danger room—the late-night class being led by the hairy Canadian himself.
Snikt. Snikt.
"Hey, wait, no, no, no! I came to deliver a message from your old friend, Flux, no, I mean Max! Max!... HEY! I said wait! Agghhhhhh!"
...
Meanwhile, across dimensions, Max sat on top of the Chrysler Building, with both Spider-Men, and he glanced at his interface with a boatload of anticipation in his heart.
Two minutes until this Jump was completed.
Anticipation wasn't the only thing he felt. He also held a little regret that he would never get to see any of these Marvel characters brought to life ever again. He would especially miss the Spider-Men looking at him right now with their masks off.
Of all the Marvel characters, Spidey was easily his favorite, and the real-life versions had been an absolute joy to be around.
Despite his love for the wall crawlers, this last half year had seen him stepping back from gambling and from helping both Spider-Men—Peter Parker and Miles Morales—tackle crime and danger—unless they truly needed him, or the threat promised to be fun to handle. Asides from their adventurous month with Deadpool, of course.
He spent most of his remaining time researching and collecting the essentials for surviving in the wilderness. He had even taken a few classes and mock camping trips before the time finally snuck up on him.
And just like that, the Jump's duration was up, and the three had gone out on one last patrol. Max suddenly told them that it was about time he left.
Max had flown up to the top of the building with only a few items in hand while the Spider-Men 'thwipped' after him. He was dressed in the original tracksuit and high-tops he had shown up in when Vespera made them appear on his body when he fought the Doombots years ago. He had known he was leaving, and so he'd worn that outfit underneath his armor that day.
He also had his trusty backpack with him; inside were the two metallic balls containing his helmet and suit, and a large leather pouch capable of holding a volleyball if stretched to the limit. It was quite full, and besides that, it held his guns and a few magazines of ammunition.
A tightly rolled pillow and blanket were tied up and attached to the top of his backpack as well.
Max gripped a sleek, folded alloy gadget—a treasured gift from the Avengers that would be invaluable in the next Jump—in one hand, while in the other he held a large bottle of water, ready for the adventure that awaited.
Max already knew exactly where he was headed next, so he reached out to Stark to cash in on the favor the Avengers owed him from that unforgettable incident with the Spider-Men a year ago. That whole thing is a story for another day.
Anyway, Tony eagerly set to work creating something truly special for Max—a unique piece of tech tailored to his needs. Once it was ready, Hawkeye stepped in to train him on its use. After just a few hours of instruction, Max's [Instinct] ability seamlessly took over, filling in any gaps and leaving him fully prepared for what lay ahead.
'Three, two, one... should I expect to see some—oh, there it is. Guess I just needed to think about it.'
Max had counted down the time and was confused for a moment when the door he remembered didn't show up.
However, the moment he started wondering about it—aka, thinking about the door—it materialized. Not only that, if Max had not been utilizing the image inducer at the moment, both of his web-slinging friends would have noticed his ugly features starting to disappear, slowly returning to the impossibly handsome man he had been right before this Jump started.
"Whoa, what the!?" Miles gasped when the door popped into reality, only inches away from him.
Both Spiders looked surprised for a moment, but then it hit them again that this was the end.
"I guess this is goodbye then, Max. We're really going to miss you, man."
Max felt his throat tighten a little at Spider-Man's words. He was actually quite disappointed that he had to part ways now that he really had to go. He had a sudden thought and smiled before saying, "Hey, I'm really going to miss you guys—Miles, Peter... Hey, Pete, what was that thing your uncle said to you that one time again? I'd love to hear that before I head out..."
"Huh? Oh. You mean, 'With great power, comes great responsibility'..."
Max breathed in deeply, thrilled to hear the man himself say it. "Yeah, that's the one. You don't truly know how special it is to hear you say that, my friend."
Max gave them one last look and walked through the door. It closed, and he was surrounded by that same black emptiness from exactly ten years ago.
Max looked down at the folded device in his hands and felt the weight of the pouch in his backpack—and smiled. He had already picked his next destination a long, long time ago, and it promised to be a dramatic shift from the marvelous life he had known over the past decade.