Welcome, welcome one and all! Johnny Thunder here, to start the latest, greatest installment in the lives of our three heroines - Jesse Chambers (retired speedster), Jennie-Lynn Hayden (once and future Green Lantern) and Kiku Thunder (the teen with the t-bolt). I'm sure you'll agree that these three young ladies are just doing dandy at the moment?

No?

Well young Jennie seems to have come to have finally come to terms with not having her powers anymore, and she's also replaced that rather insipid young man Rayner with Ted's boy Rick. Jesse looked like she would be having a visit from the little green jealousy monster but she's got a more of her mother in her than we all thought and now she seems adamant that she's going to restart her crimefighting career. Good girl. Kiku has snagged an unlikely male friend in the form of Vince, and seems to have settled her differences with the other children at school. Even MZ, the delinquent thunderbolt seems to have settled down.

No, you're right...it's never going to last!

Jesse & Jade #14
Resolutions

by Neil Gow

The Mall.

Jennie bounces along the mall with a fresh and vibrant look about her. Glowing in fact. Taking the chance to get out of the apartment to shop for the last couple of details for the party also gives her the chance to clear her head and get something special for tonight. Something special for Rick. Jennie stops for a second and looks at herself in a mirrored wall panel. Could this really be the one? She'd been close to Rick before, but that was a long time ago when she was one of the JSA 'brats' (as Mrs. Chambers jokingly called Infinity Inc.) but now it's different. This time she feels really ready.

Maybe it was Kyle? Maybe it was finally being able to say goodbye to him and move on - the end of the last teenage crush. Maybe it was a little stability for once? Jesse is such a good friend and the rest of the gang; Kiku, Dwayne, Rick - they're like family now and over the last few years that's one things she hasn't had a lot of. Even Todd is closer to her nowadays.

She glances down at her palm and smiles. No, it's all about that little green birthmark on her hand. Ever since she sacrificed her own powers to subdue the Starheart she has been ignoring the truth. She is never going to get her powers back. Even when she wore one of Kyle's power rings it wasn't the same. Having the power externalised was nothing like having it held within your body, fighting to be set free. She never talks about it in those terms but it was a little like how she imagines a drug. Addictive. Exhilarating. Powerful.

Jesse has helped her get over it all. She has helped her realise that there is a world out there that she can be a part of - despite her green skin - even if she doesn't have any powers.

Of course, the fact that Rick is an absolute hunk doesn't hurt either! Jennie's inner thoughts are interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She scoops it out of her pocket and checks the number. It was her agent. What could he want on New Years Eve?

" Hi Jennie! How are you? Did you have a good holiday?"

" It was great, Pete. What can I do for you?"

"Well, for once Jennie, it's what I can do for you. I've had a call from a studio.."

" Oh no! No more dodgy b-movie science fiction babe flicks for me Pete. Thanks but no thanks."

" Jennie, Jennie, Jennie. It was Fox. They've seen your tapes and they want to talk to you about costarring alongside Van Carpenter in his next summer blockbuster."

" I beg your pardon? Van Carpenter? THE Van Carpenter."

" Yes, the Van Carpenter. They want you to be the newest member in 'Challengers of the Unknown II' "

" Yeah, but the downside is that they want me for my skin right?"

" Wrong. They said they actually had an issue with your skin but they could blend it out with computers."

" They want me for my acting?"

" Yes. And they are going to pay you - and therefore me - a lot of money dear. Jennie - you've just made the big time!"

Anaheim Heights High School New Year Dance

" Listen Vince, will you stop thanking me for the present. It was only a book! Yes, yes I know it was the one you've been after for years, but hey - you're my special guy right? So there. Anyway, I've got to get back to the dance. Have fun. Bye!" Kiku slips her cellphone into her bag and checks out her outfit one more time. It sucks that Vince has to be away with his family for this dance, but it was a chance for her to make some more friends and relax.

Kiku takes a deep breath and pushes open the doors to the school hall, where all her classmates were celebrating the New Year. The room is jumping to the heavy bass of the band on the stage, but as she walks through towards the refreshments, people stop dancing and just stare at her. Even the band stops, one instrument after another.

" What's up guys? Is everything alright?" Kiku looks around nervously.

Some of the kids turn their backs on Kiku, a couple begin to walk away and one glowering boy spits at her feet as he barges past her. "Guys?"

A latino girl waves her hand at Kiku. " I don't think your sort should be here tonight, you insensitive bitch!"

Kiku looks around, totally bemused by what is happening. Realising that the entire room was staring at her, she turns and runs from the room. She stands in the corridor breathing heavily, her face burning up with embarrassment and confusion.

" Ms Thunder. I hoped I would see you here. Indeed, I hoped I would catch you before you were ... inconvenienced." The leering figure of Mr. Bryne, the schools allocated metahuman counselor looms out of the shadows. " You see, Ms Thunder, there has been a tragedy over the holiday. Jessica - I believe you know her from your short tenure as a cheerleader - I'm afraid she has met with an unfortunate accident...a fatal accident. She was crushed under a falling building when a battle between the young 'hero' Damage and some misguided metahuman menace got out of hand."

" Jessica is dead?"

" Yes, Ms Chambers. Dead through the 'unthinking carnage caused by vigilante metahuman teenagers' - yes, I think that was the line I added into the letter that was sent to the parents. Oh, but wouldn't have received that would you?"

Kiku is lost for words as the older man leans down, face to face with her. " Listen very closely Ms Thunder. This is a quiet school but ever since you arrived things have gone wrong. Well now the game has changed. No one wants you here, no one needs you here and through my contacts I'm going to make sure that no other school in this state will ever take you again. So leave Ms Thunder. Leave without your high school diploma and wallow in your ignorance for the rest of your life. You think you are so superior, but you are nothing. Nothing do you hear?"

Kiku wants to say something, but the words fail in her throat. She bursts into tears and runs down the hall. Byrne smiles and rubs his hands together.

" Job done."

The Twilight Streets of Los Angeles

Believe it or not, I used to be part of the drone like collective that is Corporate America. A tiny tooth in a cog that is attached to the smallest part of the big machine. Still, I remember enough about that oh-so-glamorous time of my life to be able to carry out a rudimentary cost-benefit on my current predicament.

I'm dead. This is not generally considered a Good Thing. Most people would see this as pretty much the end of Good and the eternal beginning of Bad. Not so for me, as life wasn't exactly a bed of roses for me to start with. After one of the downright silliest alien invasions this planet has had to endure it would appear that I was a metahuman - which is Good right? Well not when your miraculous superpower is the ability to be invisible when it's light. Great eh? Totally invisible during the day. That does zip for your social life, I can tell you that! At least now, there are some people who can see me - Jesse, Jennie, Kiku, the Geeks and a few others. And there's the entire eternal life thing going on as well.

" If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a ghost that thinks it's cool to talk to themselves!"

Dwayne's head snaps upwards, towards the voice and the two people walking behind him walk straight through him, getting that shiver-up-the-spine feeling simultaneously." Who? What?" The figure above him, floating in midair cross-legged floats down. His skin is a deathly white, his eyes dark and sunken but his attire gaudy red and skin tight.

" In order of shocked revelation, Boston Brand - known to some people as the rather obvious Deadman - and I'm a ghost too. The boys upstairs said that you might need some guidance, y'now - getting used to the dead thing."

Dwayne raises an eyebrow and looks himself up and down and then does the same to Deadman.

" Is there something the matter Dwayne? You're staring.."

" I was just wondering about your... well, your clothes? I'm still in the outfit I had on when those kids shot me but you could NEVER have been wearing that get-up when you were killed. The collar, the spandex, the big 'D' on the chest. A bit of coincidence?"

" I have an astral tailor. Go figure. So how are you handling your unlife? Have you materialised for anyone yet? Have you discovered your calling yet?"

" Is there somewhere else we could do this? I feel a little...exposed, talking about this sort of stuff out here in the open."

" So, you haven't got the anonymous thing yet?"

" Obviously not."

" Well get used to it. If you can handle a dog walking through your leg," Deadman points down just as a scrawny black dog saunters through Dwayne's calf ", you'll handle being a virtual null-space."

" That's good to know. And here I was thinking I had a 30-day cooling off period on this thing! How am I handling things? Fine. I spent most of my living-life invisible so this is pretty much par for the course. The little metaphysical things like no sleeping, eating or ... well, you know?"

" No. No, I don't know.."

Dwayne glances around and nods quickly towards his groin. Deadman rolls his eyes. " No toilet business. It's a little weird. You don't realise how much of routine you have until you don't have to go!"

" Excellent, fine, wonderful. And now with the manifestation?"

" You mean can people see me?"

" Yup"

" Lots of them. The Host was spot on when he said my nearest and dearest would be able to see me. It's all good."

" And finally, the calling?"

" Pardon? You're going to have to explain that one to me. I'm no nun!"

" The Calling is the reason for you being allowed to exist on this plane longer that your corporeal form. Usually it's the tried and tested 'revenge' or 'unfinished business' route - that's my schtick. Might be something bigger?"

" What's bigger?"

" Being the Instrument of The Lord's Vengeance?"

" That's the Spectre, right?"

" Yes."

" Why does everyone get so serious when they talk about that guy? I mean, I've met a few of those JSA old-timers and they seem pretty cool guys. A few too many 'back in the war' stories for my liking, but hey, they've earned the right to ramble a little."

" Have you met the Spectre?"

" No"

" When you do, you'll understand. Anyway - any idea what your thing is?"

" No."

" Nothing?"

" Nothing. So far I've carried on as I did before I left with a few slight modifications. I got Kiku to ask MZ to conjure me up a ghostly remote so I can change channel on the TV and I've managed to resist all those urges I've had to use the 'invisible and walks through walls' thing to take advantage of all those A-list celebs that live near here - if you get what I mean?" He nudges Deadman and winks.

" Dwayne! Even Caspar the freakin' friendly ghost has a calling!"

" Good for him. Look, leave me some sort of number I can get you at and when I work it all out, I'll let you know, OK? Is it THAT important?"

Deadman holds Dwayne by the shoulders and talks to him very slowly - just so he might stand a chance of breaking through - " Without a calling, there is no reason for you to be here. All that keeps you here are your friends and your environment around you. If they leave, or it disappears - so do you. Get a calling Dwayne, because your friends will die and then you do to - and ghost death is not pleasant!"

" You're serious?"

" Deadly."

" That was a joke, right?"

" No."

" ..... "

Libby's House - far away from Los Angeles

Libby Chambers opens up her bag and runs through the contents one more time. She has checked it a dozen times and in her heart she knows that everything she needs for her trip is in there. It was really kind of Jesse to invite her to Los Angeles for the New Year. Despite their spats, Jesse is a good girl and she knows that her mom hurts at this time of year.

Johnny was an asshole sometimes, but he always made sure that they had the best New Year's parties. Great food, great music and great fun. She can remember way back in '51 when Johnny and Jay were having a game of tag in the garden and it started snowing and they were trying to dodge the snowflakes. Al nearly had an accident laughing at them, especially when Johnny slid on some ice and crashed into Terry, just as he was mixing the perfect eggnog.

Her face drops as she remembers the aftermath. Johnny brooding for days about the laughter, accusing her of making eyes at Jay and Alan and making fun of him. The brooding and the bourbon and the tantrums.

A tear rolls down Libby's cheek. " Damn you Johnny Chambers! I miss you so much!"

Tyler Private Investigations

Rick sits back and takes a sip from the steaming cup of coffee. Business was picking up. Despite his efforts, eventually someone was going to put two and two together deduce just who he was. There were enough people around this part of the country that had seen him without his mask on when he was with Infinity Inc.

So, for the price they were paying, they could get a normal detective, or a bona fide superhero. No contest really. It just annoys him that he some of them were ignorant enough to address their letters to 'Hourman'. It has been a long long time since he thought of himself as Hourman. Sure, he still has the power - the good old Power of the Hour - he even has a better version than his father had, thanks to Mr. Chambers and his mantra but... no, he is no Hourman. Not anymore.

Rick puts the coffee down and thumbs through one of his files. He thumbs through it again. And again. Finally he succumbs to destiny and hurls it across the room. Grimacing, he rubs the heel of his hands into his forehead and tries to get his mind straight.

He stands up and paces around the room, talking to himself in hushed tones. "Jennie Lynn Hayden ... Jennie ... Jade...I can't believe I just spent the night with Jennie. I ... oh c'mon Rick, this is ridiculous. It's Jennie...what the Hell is wrong with that! She's a grown woman, you're a grown man."

Rick walks over to his shelves and picks up a picture of his father, taken in the 1940s when he was forging his business. " What would you do Dad? Mom always said you were one for the ladies. I like Jennie, I really like Jennie Dad, but ... it never works does it? Between people like us. One of us will die, or turn evil, or disappear into limbo or something. You have to be bonded in ancient Egypt to even have a chance! Me and Jennie are doomed from the start." The picture of Rex Tyler just looks back up at him, a beautiful dilettante on his arm.

Jesse and Jennie's Apartment

" No, no, I need to have the big screen over there, where the TV was!" Jesse stands with her hands on her hips as the guys from the TV company gently maneuver the massive projection screen across the room towards her latest favorite position. " Yes! Yes! That's it - perfect. And you're sure the package we've got for the night will work?"

" Yes lady, for the third time, it's going to work perfectly. The dish will tune into midnight in each timezone as it falls into the New Year. You'll be able to cheer in the New Year in Moscow, Paris, London, Times Square and all the places in-between."

Jesse jumps up and down like a claps like a delighted little girl.

One of the men wipes his brow with a cloth and says " If you don't mind me asking lady, this was all the rage a couple of years ago, but nowadays we don't get many requests?"

Jesse pats him on the head " Ah yes, big New Year parties are just so twentieth century, yeah? Well guys, this is going to be the first ever Millennium Retro Party! All of the excitement of Y2K without worrying that the world was going to end when the clocks turned over. Great idea eh?"

" Uhmm...yeah, sure lady. Now if you could just sign here?" Jesse scribbles her signature on the invoice and the man slips his pen into his overall. " Have a happy New Year, Ms Chambers."

In a few moments, Jesse is alone in the apartment looking around at the decorations, the audio-visual equipment, the extensive range of chilled drinks, the small stage where the band would play. This was easily - easily - going to surpass the last party she threw. Especially as she has had all the guests checked out five times for past convictions and connections to covert supervillain organisations!

Her self-congratulatory thoughts are punctured by a brisk knock at the door. She skips over to greet a delivery man. " Hi there!"

" Letter for Ms Chamber?"

" That's me." He hands her the letter and then stiffly holds out the pad for her to sign.

" It must be the day for it! All I've been doing is sign my name recently." She hands it back to him and he leaves without a word. Jesse shrugs and tears open the seal on the package. She dips her hand inside and pulls out a legal letter.

Dear Ms Chambers

Following our previous correspondence, we have been forced to freeze your various assets as part of the settlement with your debtors....

Jesse's face falls for a second and then she grins again, mutters her super-speed formula and zips across the apartment to her room. She lifts the mattress on her bed and slips the letter neatly alongside the dozen or so other letters that are hidden under there.

The Geek Apartment

" You are so totally lead by popular culture Dennis! Yes, she was dynamic. Yes, she was popular and yes, she did more for star-spangled hotpants than any other being on this planet, but Wonder Woman was never the hottest TV babe of the 70s!"

" Matty, Matty, Matty. Dear deluded Matty. The juxtaposition of reality and myth? The fluid form of the transformation? The catchy and yet eternally playable theme tune? Who could top that?" Dennis leans back in his seat and bridges his hands in smug satisfaction.

Matty grins "Isis. Out of the left field and onto the TV. All the myth, all the transformation and dude...mini-skirts are waaaaaay sexier that those hotpants."

" Ouch! Oh boy, he got you there Dennis!! Isis - who would have thought?" Billy Bob slaps his stomach and howls with laughter.

Before Dennis could fire off his pithy retort Gary comes into the room with his arms full of presents. " I'm sorry I couldn't be here over the holiday guys, but I always go to my folks in New Jersey for Christmas. So I thought we could all get together before the party and I could give you guys your gifts now."

" Is it me, or is it totally beyond exciting that we got an invitation to the girl's party this time?" Matty grins and rubs his hands together.

Dennis answers. " Well Matty, you see it's like this. When they came to the convention, they saw our world and they understood. They have now entered our circle " He stretches out his arms to include everyone in the room. " And that means that we do things together. As friends." He pauses and then grabs Matty by the collar. "OF COURSE IT'S EXCITING!! THAT'S JESSE QUICK AND JADE UP THERE AND WE WILL BE SHARING THEIR CANAPES!!!"

" Guys! C'mon ... you know we don't think about the girls that way nowadays!" Gary shakes his head.

" So what were you doing with that button hole camera over there on the desk?" Billy Bob hooks a thumb over his shoulder.

" That..that..that's for another project. Yes, another secret project for The Committee."

The other three geeks all just grin and wink at Gary.

" Anyway, on with the gifts." Gary hands out a parcel to each of his friends.

The three friends all rip into their parcels, anxious to see what Gary has managed to find for them. Last year he bought them framed action photographs of Superman and the year before that it was a genuine piece of rock from the JLA's cave base in Detroit.

" Gary...this is a shirt?"

" A normal one Gary, and there's some deodorant here as well."

" Maybe you got our gifts confused with your Uncle Arnold's? Because this is a necktie Gary - and it has a paisley pattern!"

Gary nods and smiles gently. " Guys...friends...tonight is one of the most important nights of our lives. We are crossing the rubicon, going where no other spotter has gone before. We are going to go to that party and we are going to have a good time. We are going to make civil conversation with the guests and we are NOT going to embarrass the girls. That means that we will be washing, we will be shaving, we will be wearing crisp, clean unemblazoned shirts and Matty, we will be revisiting the reasons your Momma taught you dental hygiene. Gentlemen, we are going to prove that we are more than spotters, we are more than geeks! we are ... intelligent, sociable young men!"

Billy Bob stops in the middle of scraping the wax from his ear. " We are? That's news to me..."

New Years Party, Jesse and Jennie's Apartment

Jesse stands in the middle of the apartment and laughs politely with one of her guests. The party had gone perfectly. Everyone was here who she had invited - although Kiku seemed a little quiet for once. Jennie was secreted in one corner with Rick, having one of those gentle little conversations that couples have in the beginning. Even her mother seemed to be having a good time - with Billy Bob of all people, teaching her to line dance!

The giant screen flickers to life as it shows the scene around the west coast as the seconds count down to midnight. Jesse mutters her formula and whizzes around the room, ensuring that everyone has a full glass for the chimes.

Bong! " Remember everyone" Bong! " Make your New" Bong! " Years Resolution" Bong!

Jennie smiles as she looks at Rick. Inwardly she thinks " My resolution is never to let this man go, no matter what. I deserve some happiness."

Rick looks back at her and then over her shoulder at the party. " This year ... this year ... this year I'm going to avoid getting hurt again."

Billy Bob takes a sideways glance at Libby " I'm gonna get me a girlfriend."

Matty looks at Billy Bob, looking at Libby " I'm gonna get me a girlfriend."

Dennis looks at Matty, looking at Billy Bob, looking at Libby " I'm gonna get me a girlfriend."

Gary looks at them all and sighs " I'm gonna keep looking after these guys."

Dwayne sticks his head through the screen and looks at the crowd who start to laugh at his antics. " I'm going to find my calling!" he thinks.

Libby ignores the doe eyes of Billy Bob and looks only at her daughter. " I'm going appreciate Jesse more each day."

Kiku sulks in the corner of the room and mumbles to herself, " My resolution? What's the point? I'm finished here anyway."

Jesse looks around her, at her friends and her life, and realises that it is all about to dissolve. " I'm going to survive...."

Next Issue: Who knows? You think I plan this??

Greener Pastures

Welcome back to Jesse and Jade, especially if you are a new reader who has stumbled across the All Star 2000 site or J&J. This issue was written with you in mind - one of those patented 'jumping on' points that comics are so enamoured with. Whilst not everything about the story or the characters is instantly apparent, the host of new storylines that start in this issue should keep us all going for a while!

Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting AS2K

Take care

Neil