Jesse & Jade #5

What has gone before - Jesse Chambers (Jesse Quick) and Jennie-Lynn Hayden (Jade) have relocated to the west coast in an attempt to get some of their life back. They have been joined in their endeavor by Kiku Thunder - destitute yogurt selling ward of Johnny Thunder, Libby Chambers - mother of Jesse and grand dame of the superhero scene and unbeknownst to them, Geist - former team-mate of Jade on the ill-fated Blood Pack team. The girls have all gone to parties tonight, and they have all fallen victim to circumstances beyond their control.

Kiku stands triumphant before her (very, very, never really was, but boy he is like, SO my...) ex-date with her hands firmly planted on her hips. Behind her, hovering in the air with a very serious look on it's sparking face is a bright pink thunderbolt.

" So what exactly were you thinking of when you invited me here? Was I just a cover for you to be able to sneak in here and do some deals? What am I? Some sort of junkie cover scheme? Well??" Kiku blazed at the boy she has just discovered was not a handsome senior and was actually the local drug dealer.

" Look, I can explain. I just need to do it to pay for.."

" To pay for what? What is there that you need so much as to be dealing this," She points down at the white powder that has spilled out of his pockets, " to these kids? What is it? Clothes? Beers? What?"

" Well, yeah..."

" WELL, YEAH!" By this time Kiku has marched across the room towards Carlo and is now standing face to chest with him. " Well, Mr. High and Mighty, it stops here and it stops now." She turns to the rest of the kids. " And that goes for the rest of you jerks as well. If you think it's fun to laugh at me because I've been held back a year, or that I'm not from here, or that you don't recognise where I come from, fine. But do it behind my back because I am Kiku Thunder, and I will - and I promise you, I will, kick your ass from here to Florida and back, OK! Now, you can all just back off and leave me alone and I will be fine."

The room is silent. Immutable forces of nature have worked to stop the CD system that was pumping music around the house. Even the dog from next door that was barking at the noise has stopped.

" Screw you, you stupid lil' ho!" One of Carlo's rivals levels his gun at her, his hand shaking slightly. Kiku jumps slightly and then grins, poking a thumb over her shoulder.

" Hey, GunBunny? Notice, if you can, the sheer embodiment of magical energy hovering behind me like a cerise stalker?"

Kiku continues. " Do you honestly, in that stupid little head of yours, believe that he would let you shoot me? Well, do you?" The punk shakes his head. " No. Well there's a shock, you have got a brain. Now why don't you just DROP THE FREAKIN GUN!!!!"

He does.

Four men huddle together around a rather scrappy set of sound equipment. As geeks go, they are pretty stereotypical - a tall thin one, a short fat one, a bald one and one that really should find the shower more than once a year. The room they are in is dark, except for a small desk-light shining on the microphone and the gentle green glow of a genuine piece of 1973 LexCo Toys replica Kryptonite on top of the TV.

" Dude, I'm telling you, that wasn't the sound a partying to me!" The tall, thin one - Gary (the guy that actually owns the apartment) - looks around at his friends in awe.

" This is bad, Gary! I knew we shouldn't have bugged that apartment." The short, fat one - Billy-Bob - looks even more nervous.

" So what are we going to do? If those explosions were some sort of super-villains nefarious plot unfolding in the rooms above us, we've got a responsibility to help those babes!" Dennis (the bald one) makes to get up and move out.

" Hey dude, chill out. The herospotter code clearly states that we must 'watch from as near as possible, but never interfere in the workings of the superpowered.' It's rule 2.1b man. It's sacred." Matty, the smelly one, folds his arms and shakes his head at Dennis.

Gary stands and puts his hand on Matty's shoulder. " Matty dude, you're right, but sometimes, just sometimes, we have to go beyond the Code."

" Go beyond the Code? Dude, that's heresy!"

" Matt - when was the last time you walked down the street and a woman stayed on the same side of the sidewalk? Above us, three very available young women are in mortal danger. We have the means, the will and the hormones to save them. Like I said, sometimes we have to ignore the Code and do what's right. Matty, get on the police band and see if anything has been reported. Dennis, keep listening to what's going on - we need all the information we can get. Billy-Bob, go to the cupboard and get.."

" .. Gary! We can't use them!" All three men look on with open mouths.

" Guy's, this is serious. Like I said Billy-Bob, break out my replica 1982 Green Arrow kits and my," Even Gary has to choke back the emotion and take a deep breath ",and break open the box seals on the Robin Utility belt sets. We're going in guys!"

Dennis turns to Matty and whispers. " Dude, he's breaking the seals! He's serious..."

The Monocole looks around with a sense of smug satisfaction. Trussed up in one corner of the room are the unconscious bodies of Jade and Jesse Quick. On the other side of the room is gathered a rather large, frightened group of high society party-goers, caterers and musicians who have just, rather helpfully, donated their jewels and cash to his pension fund.

Absent-mindedly, he picks up a rather exotic satay-style nibble and takes a bite. Nodding to the chef. " Pretty good stuff this. Could do with a little more salt, maybe? Now, what about my last victim. The stubborn one. The one that just refuses to give me here jewels." He shakes his head and looks across the room at Libby Chambers - Jesse's mother and the former heroine known as Liberty Belle. " Madame, you jewels?"

" No."

The Monocole unleashes a blast that incinerates the apartment's TV to Libbie's left. " Please Madame. I have no qualms about blowing holes in these young heroines. They are young, they will heal. If fear that someone of your more advanced years might find it harder. Surely that necklace is a small price to pay for functional knees?"

" No."

Another blast destroys the Playstation to Libbie's right. For a second, Libbie consider the possibility that she could spin this out long enough for Kiku to get home and see what he has done to her home entertainment system. She was sure it would end in milliseconds. " This is your last chance, dear."

Libbie could feel the adrenaline beginning to rush through her veins now. She hadn't had any use for her powers for months. It felt great!. " OK then, why don't you just come over here and get them?"

The Monocole grins and strides across the room, his hand outstretched to grab the necklace. Filled with confidence, he only notices the wry grin on the woman's face when it is far, far too late. Muscles pumped by hyper-adrenaline leap into action and Libby Chambers grabs his hand and flings him over her shoulder, across the room and into the wall. " So you think you can spoil my daughter's party, do you? I'll teach you to.."

The Monocole, for his credit, recovers from his assault pretty quickly. He takes stock of the situation and decides that, for once, he isn't going to have his plans foiled by one woman. Activating all of the hidden lenses he has planted in the apartment and smiles as the room is criss-crossed with sparkling scarlet beams. Some of the guests are caught in the crossfire - a regrettable consequence of the woman's foolish intervention - but the result is that Libby is frozen still between five bolts of searing light.

" I should have known there would be more of you in here! Now I'm really angry...."

And at that moment, four men burst through the door of the apartment and stumble into the room. Two of them - shorter, fatter men are holding what appear to be small replica Batman toys, whilst the other two taller ones have small green bows trained on the Monocole, bearing boxing glove arrows. " Freeze dude! Leave these babes alone!"

Libby slaps her hand off her forehead.

" So is this just a flying visit, or are you staying around for good?" Kiku looks up at the thunderbolt as he sets her down on a quiet piece of pier, a few blocks from the apartment.

" Oh... you mean J.J., don't you?" The venom in her voice is barely concealed.

" So how come you came when I called for you, eh? What was that? Rebellion, or have the thunderbolts got a Union now?" Kiku turned away and crossed her arms over her chest.

" How do you know that?"

" So I have to go back to being the old 'slap her around a bit' Kiku?"

" What?"

" You're kidding? There's more than one of you?"

" He's a newbie?"

" Oh c'mon, T-Bolt! I'm a veteran superhero. What would I want to be doing with some thunder-scrub?"

" As in Ali Babar and the Forty Thieves."

" Whatever. He was an Arab, right?"

" Arab!"

" So what has Ye Olde Open Sesame got to do with me?"

" Like you're called YZ?"

" So you're telling me that my new thunderbolt used to belong to an illegal immigrant in a fairy story, was the victim of mis-pronunciation, and despite being over two thousand years old, is still considered a kid?"

Kiku shakes her head and then grins. " Jesse and Jennie are never going to believe this!!"

The stand-off is laughable. On one side of the room are four nerd with action toys, defending the honour of the two semi-conscious heroines in the corner, whilst the mother of one of those heroines is standing amidst a criss-cross of lasers in the centre of the room, being mocked by the villain of the piece on the far side of the room.

" What the Hell do you think you are going to be able to do with those?!" The sheer disbelief in the Monocole's voice makes a few of the former party guests snigger. He twitches his eye and his laser-lens blows one of the green bows to smithereens. Gary, the nerd holding it flinches visibly and a tear rolls down his cheek. Dennis puts a hand on his shoulder.

" Dude, you knew the risks!"

Matty steps forwards, resplendent in his Robin utility belt and cloud of stench. " Aw man, now you've done it! You can mess with a guys neighbours, you can mess with his babe, you could even - at a stretch - mess with his comic collection, but dude, when you break his memorabilia, that's just too much." With practiced ease his right hand whips out and a small die-cast back boomerang spins across the room and smacks the Monocole in his face, knocking the monocole out of his eye.

" Cool dude! All those years practicing paid off!" Gary is jubilant. They high five each other.

Libby takes the window of opportunity to jump up and grab the light-fitting above her head. Swinging back once and then forwards she spins in mid-air and lands a firm foot on the Monocole's chest, knocking him to the floor.

The villain curses under his breath and then palms another disc of glass from up his sleeve and incinerates the floor under him. The blackened disc falls away and he drops straight down into the Crash Pad.

Libby takes the chance to knock out the first lens and the criss-cross of lasers disappears just as Jesse and Jennie come around.

" What the.."

" Mom? Mom? Jennie? Are you OK?" Jesse looks around and her face drops. " Aw..shi....3X2(9YZ)4A!" Her hands move at superhuman speed, burning through her tethers and untying Jennie in a second.

" Jesse, it was the Monocole, he blindsided you, and he got me with something hidden." Jennie-Lynn stood up and waited. She'd been living with Jesse for a couple of weeks now and she had spent roughly 75% of her waking time perfecting this party. Allowing for shock, the blow she had taken, a certain reserve in front of her mother and the crowd, Jennie reckoned she would go ballistic in 3...2..1...

" I rip his throat out!!!" Jesse zooms across the room, past her mother and straight down into the apartment below...

... to find the unconscious body of the Monocole slumped over the chair. Standing next to him is a teenager with rather wild blonde hair and a really nervous look on his face.

" Who are you?" Jesse squares up to yet another intruder.

" Urhhmmm.... my name's Geist. I'm a superhero, honest."

Jennie pokes her head through the hole in the roof. " GEIST?!!?"

Kiku looks around at the gathering of rather stunned looking adults. The party has ended and the police have come to take the Monocole away. Kiku past him on the way in, and all he was muttering was 'I never saw him..'

" So, lets get this straight. The Monocole managed to knock you two out - for which you should be suitably ashamed. After harassing all of the guests at your party and stealing their goodies he had a rumble with your mom and then you were rescued by the guys from downstairs, but only because one of them lost it when he broke his toy.?"

Jennie looks sheepish " No-one said it was going to be a quiet party?? Who would have thought those guys would have helped out? Are we going to get them anything to say thanks?"

Libby smiles. " I'm sure I can find them some real memorabilia to take the place of the one they lost."

Kiku shakes her head. " But then it gets better! The villain, escaping from the fan-tastic four, drops into my hideout and gets smacked in the head by stalking boy here," She points at Geist, " who just happens to have been squatting here since we arrived and living in the same space as Mrs. Chambers?? What's your power again... only being invisible in the light? Geez, that's useful. Did you miss the audition for the Mystery Men?"

" I was going to introduce myself, but I didn't know how to. I didn't think Jennie would want to hear from any of us Blood Pack types, especially not me. I was an admin error after all."

Kiku sniggers.

" Kiku! It's great to see you Geist." Jennie smiles at her former team-mate.

" GREAT TO SEE HIM! That perverts being stalking around this apartment whilst I've been staying here. You are a dirty, dirty young man!" Libby seethes at Geist.

" I didn't look, honest. There was nothing else I could do. I've been scraping a living since the Blood Pack went belly up. I just needed somewhere to stay. You're not going to throw me out are you?"

" Too right we are!" Jesse is incredulous.

" Jesse, can I have a word." Jennie stands up and waves her friend over to the corner of the room. They huddle for a moment and then they giggle and come back over.

" OK, Jennie's persuaded me that you can stay. On one condition. She tells me that you used to work as a decorator?" Jesse smiles.

" Sure did."

" Well, we have a rather messy apartment upstairs and it needs redecorating. If you do that, you can stay for as long as you want." Jesse smiles and sits back in her seat.

" That's all well and good, but where will I stay?" Libby looks from Jesse to Jennie.

" But Mrs. Chambers, I thought you said you were only staying till the party? We sort of assumed that would be the case when we decided about Geist here. We can't have him living on the street now, can we, eh Kiku?"

Kiku caught on and nodded her head. " No-one should have to live on the street Libby. I know.."

" OK, OK, I'll be moving on. I get the message. I suppose I just made things too exciting for you anyway." She smiles at her daughter. " But don't think this is the last you'll see of me." And in her very best Arnie accent she says "I'll be back."

The room stops for a moment and then bursts into fits of laughter.

What a weekend! Despite all the things that have happened, Kiku was not looking forwards to going back to school. All of the angry bravado that she had shown at the party has fallen victim to quiet contemplation. She was having a bad enough time settling in, what with being the new girl, but now she had the entire 'superhero' thing stacked on top. Life was going to unlivable. She might as well just give up now and turn truant.

" Hi Kiku! We've got a place on the cheerleading squad if you're interested?" The lilting voice of Jessica Sanderson, head cheerleader and all-round pin-up girl rings out around the hall.

" Whatever..." Kiku just strolls on and then " WHAT?!!"

" We thought you might want to try out for the Cheerleading squad. We all heard what you did at the party and like, that was just so cool!"

" You think that I am cool?" Kiku is forced to jump start her autonomic functions to close her flapping mouth.

" For sure. You're like a real super-hero! What's not cool about that?"

" Errrr....nothing I guess?"

" So you'll try out?"

Kiku weighs up the options for just under a second and then blurts " Yeah, yeah, of course I will."

" Excellent! We've got a game next week. Inter-state challenge against Blue Valley High from Nebraska." The leggy blonde skips off down the hallway and Kiku turns and leans against a locker. This is just getting weirder and weirder!

" Miss Thunder!! My office, NOW!" The booming voice that echoes up and down the hall could only be that of the School Principal, Mr. Delaney. This is the first time Kiku has run into the principal and she has no idea what it could be about. Quickly though, she hurries over to his office, past Mrs. Goodwin, the school secretary and into his inner sanctum.

Inside the room, the principal is standing by his desk with his hands clasped behind his back and another bearded man is sitting in a chair near it. " Sit down Miss Thunder." Kiku sits down and looks around suspiciously. " Miss Thunder, I'm glad I managed to catch you this early in the day. I want to talk to you about your activities this weekend. Oh yes, we know exactly what happened at the party - and I have to say I'm disappointed. We've tried to run a friendly and open school. We try to have an atmosphere where our students can talk to us. I thought that the small fact that you are a metahuman might have been something you would have wanted to share?"

" I..I.. I'm not really a superhero, I just sort of have superhero friends?"

" I see. Well, until the matter is cleared up, I'm afraid there are going to have to be one or two changes. We've had to deal with this sort of situation before. The first change is that you are absolutely forbidden to perform any of your so-called powers in the school grounds. I will not have you showboating in front of the other students. The second change is that you will meet weekly with the state's special 'Youth Metahuman' counselor, Mr. Byrne, " he gestures to the man in the chair, who nods, " who will help you come to terms with your situation and hopefully prevent you turning into some sort of planet-destroying megalomaniac."

" You're kidding, right?"

" I've never been more serious young lady. The state of California has seen enough metahumans to have developed policies to cover all the bases. Anyway, now that we've covered that, run along to your class and remember, no superheroics!"

As she walks down the hall, Kiku doesn't know whether to burst into tears or split her sides laughing. Only in L.A.....

And so ends the first storyline of Jesse and Jade! We've got a pretty massive cast of characters and some interesting plots and boy, am I looking forward to the crossover with Kell Carpenter's 'The Flash'!

One thing I would like to do at this point is thank EVERYONE who has e-mailed me regarding the series. I'm been absolutely stunned by the sheer volume of feedback I've received - either on the AS2K list or in personal mail. I've never had this much feedback, and from such diverse sources! It's the stuff that makes me smile in the morning and it's the reason that I write fanfic. Thanks to each and every one of you, because without you, this series wouldn't exist! And on that note - Letters!!

Just caught up on my reading of Jesse and Jade. The premise of the title is a refreshing change from the ordinary superhero tale. I hope that we'll see the girls in action outside of the apartment as well. I had forgotten how much I liked the character of Kiku, and you've made her even more endearing.

Thanks Bob. The girls will indeed, be getting out of the apartment, starting next issue when they go on a road-trip to Las Vegas! As for Kiku, she really is a favourite of mine, and I hope to spotlight her more in future issues.

Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying your story.

"how much I'm enjoying your story"

Now I got that out of the way...

Its great to see Jennie-Lynn portrayed as something other than Kyle Rayners token green weak willed bimbo girlfriend and with her name Her Appearances as "Jenny" (ugh) in Green Latrine were travesties and GL #109 should be pulped. (In My Opinion of course)

And Jesse and Kiku straight out of JSA '92. Excellente.

And Geist? My favourite of all that Bloodline business. No really.

And is that Rick I spy? Hourman is quite a cool comic but the treatment of Rick was ... typical actually, he's an infinitor after all. And Libby - Not particularly like her post-All Star Squadron Appearances but cool none the less.

Oh and did I mention Jennie-Lynn? The greatest of all superheroes? Bearer of the powerpulse and a mean left hook?

Thought not.

I've read your stuff before and lemme just compliment you on the best characterization I've ever seen from you... I'm really enjoy the series and look forward to more.

I read J&J #4 this evening and I'm answering the plea for feedback...!

I enjoyed how you switched between Kiku's and J&J's parties - nice contrast between the two social groups. I knew the Monocle was up to no good, but I didn't know it'd be this quickly - and at the ladies' party to boot!

Your portrayal of the high school party was pretty accurate, although it's been many a year so my recollections might be fuzzy...! ;)>

I loved the T-bolt coming through for Kiku at the end!! Are you going to explain why he left JJ for Kiku (as if that really needed explaining!), or just move on with no mention? Either way would work for me...

Nice quip from the Monocle about Jade's plant powers. Even nicer note from you on said powers - I'm assuming they'll not rear their insipid head in the AS2000 universe, yes?

Another wonderful J&J issue, Neil. Keep it up and I'll keep reading!

P.S. - About that next issue blurb: "...it's time for the men to arrive..."? Does that mean what I *think* it means? Perhaps time for a J&J team up with Jay & Alan? Let's talk...!

I love J&J! The opening storyline has been a lot of fun ...