This episode in the lives of Kickers, Inc. began several months after the team's last escapade, right before the Smasher's first exhibition game. Looking for his jock strap (?), Suicide Smythe walked in on Jack, who was working out with over a ton of dead weights, trying to exhaust himself; you see, Jack felt that if he played tired, his 'edge' would bring some challenge back to the game.

Questioning the common sense of this, should his 'edge' either wear off or he suffers some serious injury in his tired state, Suicide left Jack to his own devices. Soon after, Jack joined him in the locker room, where Coach Kirby had some bad things to say to the team, as coaches typically do to psyche up their players. After that was done with, the game was on!

Playing on their home turf, the Smashers were up against the Austin Wreckers, a team of rather surly ball players who tried to use intimidation to disorient their opponents. The Smashers didn't fall for this, though they didn't account for the team's unbridled savagery and rules-bending, and their linebacker in particular, one 'Ugly' Mack Thornton, was a force to be reckoned with.

On a late tackle after a Smasher touchdown, the man managed to injure one of the Smasher's new kids, one Billy 'Hawk' Hawkins, an injury that turned out to be a permanent one. When the Wreckers started laughing over this, Jack lost his cool and went after Thornton, though he got thrown out of the game as a result. This didn't help Jack's mood any, either... he was fuming.

Weeks later, Jack was still having bad dreams and episodes of anger regarding the incident, which wasn't helped any when, on the practice field three weeks later, Jack was given a mysterious message, in the form of a football burst with a bullet from on high! He didn't figure out that that was what happened until later, however, when he received another message in his locker.

A message from Fist himself! Jack tried to downplay the incident when Brick Wall discovered the little Smashers 'voodoo doll', but the man insisted the Kickers talk about it after they left their locker room. Heading to a rock and roll bar with Dasher Corbin and Suicide Smythe, Jack and Brick Wall talked about the mess, and agreed not to tell Darlene about the mess, so she wouldn't worry.

That night, Jack noticed that Dasher was having issues of his own regarding guilt over Billy's injuries, and with some of his usual charismatic talk, he managed to bring the man out of his funk - if not his own. As the Smasher's next, regular season game against the Wreckers drew near, Jack was contemplating some payback against 'Ugly' Thornton, though Darlene tried to talk him out of it.

Again, though, the Fist's threats were clouding his judgment, causing him to continue his fuming. Eventually going for a drive to clear his head, Jack went to the Kickers, Inc. building, where he found Thornton's file, which his secretary had acquired for him a week or so ago. Reading it, he actually managed to put a face on the life of the man he wanted to kill, which caused him to drop his rage.

Jack still planned on getting even, though. Sending Thornton a message that ticked him off upon his arrival in New York City, Jack tricked the man into heading to a nearby gym, where he demonstrated his superior strength and ability to 'Ugly', mostly in an attempt to scare the snot out of him - which was essentially the same bullying tactic the Wreckers use against their own opponents.

It worked, though. That next day, during the Smashers - Wreckers rematch, Jack was on the man like an angry freight train, smashing him again and again until he could take no more. Almost irrational with fear, Thornton begged for mercy, though Jack said it wasn't him that 'Ugly' needed to beg to, but Hawkins, who was sitting on the sidelines in his wheelchair.

Quitting the field right after a terse apology, Thornton fled the scene, never to play football again... and Jack didn't have to resort to murder to achieve his goal, either... made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you know. After the game, feeling rather good about himself, Jack found that he was no longer scared of Fist, for when the man left yet another calling card, Jack simply shrugged it off.

Having dealt with their football duties for the time being, the Kickers were ready to take on some more oddball, paranormal mysteries... paranormal being the operative word, for three days later, the Kickers, Inc. telemarketers received a curious call from a small child in Wisconsin, who claimed that his mother had been missing ever since she was checked in to a 'special' hospital...

After an action-packed splash page, we join Darlene 'Doll' Magniconte as she manages affairs in the Kickers, Inc. call center, going through various calls the facility had received. Most of them seemed rather mundane, save for several U.F.O. sightings near Pittsburgh (possibly due to Ken Connell's activities), though before Darlene could make any decisions, she was nabbed by Jack!

Giving her a big bear hug, he was quickly admonished for manhandling her in the office, and after apologizing, the two got to talking in Jack's exercise room. There, Darlene told Jack about the call the center received last issue, and how much she wanted to help the little boy. Of course, without receiving a call from one of the kid's parents, there wasn't much that the Kickers could do...

Meanwhile, in a Wisconsin trailer park, we find seven rather odd paranormals going about their daily business, mostly the makings of grilled burgers and such for lunch. After the meal concluded, one of the paranormals, Stephanie Harrington, described how horrid she felt about not being able to talk to her kids, since her husband was keeping her from doing so - he was scared of her paranormalcy.

When yet another attempt to get through fails, this time due to the interference of her mother in law, Stephanie is only encouraged by her pals after they tell her about Kickers, Inc., a group of 'paranormal investigators' who help people that have no one else to turn to. After taking their call, and dealing with their duties as New York Smashers, the Kickers made their way to Wisconsin.

Listening to the stories of the seven displaced paranormals, the various members of Kickers, Inc. talked about it in private later that night, and eventually agreed on a course of action. While Darlene talked with the ladies of the bunch, the rest of the Kickers made their way to the Clinic that the seven paranormals were so afraid of, and talked to the head of that place, one Philip Nolan Voight.

There, the four football players were bamboozled by Voight's superior wit (and of course, his assistant's psychic powers), and were made to believe that the seven displaced paranormals they were trying to help were highly dangerous. Remembering that Darlene was hanging out with them, Jack blew a gasket, and after grabbing his fellows, made for their trailer park hideout at breakneck speeds!

Insane with worry about his wife, Jack confronted several of the paranormals there, and when he couldn't find Darlene amongst them, he got belligerent. This quickly escalated the situation, and before long, the male members of Kickers, Inc. were involved in a nasty brawl with the displaced paranormals - a brawl which, incidentally, they managed to lose - a lot.

When Darlene returned from a walk with the three females of the paranormal bunch, she saw Jack in a dreadful state, and naturally freaked out herself. Of course, Stephanie managed to use her healing powers to put Jack back together, though before everything between the two groups could be ironed out, the seven displaced paranormals bugged out, expecting Voight to send more thugs after them.

As they left, Darlene berated her teammates for their testosterone-filled ways, and vowed that even though the Kickers lost this fight, they'd ultimately help the kid that first got her involved in this case. That next day, she sent the guys after Stephanie's husband, and once they found him, Jack and the guys told the man that he would let Stephanie talk to her kids - or else they'd be back.

Meanwhile, Darlene herself talked to Stephanie's kids, and let them know that even though she couldn't see them, since she was on the run from the Clinic's goons, she still loved 'em and all that. She also reassured them that their mother could now talk to them on the phone, since her teammates had dealt with their dad, and that everything would be fine from there on out. It was almost a happy ending...

After a nice splash page with Coach Kirby, we see him whining to the owner of the Smashers about Jack Magniconte's recent performance and Kickers, Inc. moonlighting. After being talked down by her, one Christie Chase, Kirby finds out that there's apparently some special deal involved with Jack about to come down, which settles the matter for him - at least for the time being, at any rate.

Once he stalks out of her office, we cut to Jack and his wife, Darlene, as they return from a false alarm that Darlene talked him into checking out with her. Of course, things aren't all good between the two, as they're arguing about the results of their trip, which has caused Jack to be somewhat late for his plane ride to the next Smashers game, to take place in Washington.

Suddenly, as they're sniping at each other, their left passenger side tire blows, and in an effort to grab the wheel, Jack accidentally smacks Darlene upside the head in the process. As she put herself back together, and while she helped Jack change the tire, the two continued to squabble about Jack's continual excuses about his lack of control regarding his powers, and other sundry items.

Heck, once they were moving again, the two even quibbled about directions to the airport! Meanwhile, we cut to the rest of the Smashers, as they prepare for their game in Washington D.C. There, as the other three members of Kickers, Inc. wonder what happened to Jack, we find that Coach Kirby is rapidly working to push Bobby 'Bullet' Baker in as his replacement - at least for this game.

Back in New York, we see that Jack has run out of gas, since he was sure he knew how to get to the airport, and wound up getting lost. After more arguing, he ran to the nearest gas station - a good six miles - and picked up enough to get himself and Darlene moving again - with his impressive speed, it was easy. Once they got going, they even got a police escort to the airport - even if this was totally unnecessary.

During football practice in Washington, as they got ready for the game, the quarterback directly behind Jack in the team lineup wound up breaking his thumb. This, of course, meant that Baker would have to actually start up as team quarterback after all, as Kirby wanted. This all took place as the team still hoped that Jack would make it to Washington in time to play in the game.

As Jack and Darlene got in their plane, they tried to make up, but were assailed by one Sally Rothman, a little girl who just loved Jack on television. To try and get rid of her at least for a little bit, Jack gave her his jersey, though this just made her latch onto the couple even more. Soon enough, to get her out of his hair, Jack arranged to have her see the cockpit.

Shortly after he got her up front, however, one of the flight attendants went nuts and decided to hijack the plane. After announcing a new destination for the plane, she shot at a large woman who was playing her music too loud and shattered a window, thus causing the plane to lose cabin pressure altogether. In the mayhem that ensued, Darlene tried to stop Sally, the flight attendant.

This almost got her killed, though when the co-pilot came to check out what was happening, Susie shot him, instead. With the cockpit door open, Susie made her way in, taking Sally and everyone else inside hostage. When Susie decided to shoot the kid, Jack had to act, even though it meant he might expose his 'edge', and accidentally killed her when she fired her gun.

The bullet bounced off of him, see, and into her. Once the plane landed, Jack explained what happened - sort of - to the feds, though he was detained unnecessarily by a bad cop who'd bet fifty bucks on the Washington Centurions, and wanted to delay the man as long as he could. Once in the stadium, Jack took his normal place, but not having worked out before the game, he had too much energy.

Still functioning at peak strength levels, he wound up doing more harm than good to the team, and by the time he finally got his act together, the game was over. So, even though he saved a plane full of people, he couldn't win one of the Smashers' most important games. However, this was the least of his worries, as a man working for the C.I.A. saw that things didn't add up regarding this incident.

At least, as far as Jack's story went. So, he started digging...