Hey! Nice to meet you all at last! My name’s Dwayne Geyer, but nowadays I go by the rather exciting superhero name of ‘Geist’. What do you mean ‘who’? You don’t mean you missed my thrilling exploits with Batman, or my meteoric rise to fame as a member of the Blood Pack? Ok, yeah, you’re right, so did I, but hey, you’ve got to try haven’t you? The next question is usually about my power so I’ll cut to the chase. I can turn invisible. OK, so that’s a little liberal with the truth. I can turn invisible in the light, but I reappear in the dark. Great eh? Prime candidate for the Secret Society of Super Geeks. Anyway, this place here is where I live and these delightful ladies are my flatmates.

"Hey man! Watch that television will you? It’s not just some old piece of junk y’know?! It’s a state-of-the-art digital integrated communications device. I can watch TV, send e-mail, play games, chat to friends and record stuff with it. It is couch potato nirvana so you don’t throw it around! What happened to the last one? I’ll tell you what happened to the last one.. a supervillain used it for target practice and managed to total my games console with my nearly finished game of Final Fantasy VIII on it! When that sucker gets out of Belle Reve he’s going to pay! Yeah, that’s right, this is that flat.. Ah, I see, you can treat the TV with kindness after all?

That’s Kiku. As far as I can gather she used to be related to Johnny Thunder she even used to have her own thunderbolt. I mean, how cool is that? Anyway, she doesn’t have one anymore, and she’s at school nearby. She can be a little hot-headed…actually scrub that, she can be a lot hot headed, but the others assure me it’s just a teenage hormone thing.

That’s Jesse. She owns the flat and the one downstairs where I live. Jesse Chambers, daughter of the World War Two heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle. That’s some legacy for her to follow and she was doing it pretty well until it all got too much for her and she decided to come out here and relax. That’s something else about Jesse that you have to get used to … a woman that can give the Flash a run for his money has a pretty unique definition of relaxation!

And that delightful soul is my final flatmate. Jennie-Lynn Hayden, formerly the Infinity Inc. founder known as Jade. Now if Jesse has a big legacy to follow, Jade’s is immense. She’s only the daughter of the original and still the best Green Lantern! She also used to be my boss in Blood Pack, but I don’t remind her about that very often.

So this is my life. Four retired superheroes in a flat in LA. I mean, what could go wrong?

Jesse & Jade

The Quick and the Green : Prelude

" Oh my God Kiku, tell me it isn’t true?" Jesse holds up a silver and blue tasseled pom-pom and waves it in the young Bandhesian’s face. " You’ve joined the cheerleading squad, haven’t you?"

" Well…uhm…erhm… well, yeah I have. You got a problem with that?" It only takes Kiku a few seconds to switch from defence to offence. Impressive really, if it wasn’t her standard reaction to any threat, from an annoying insect to Darkseid and a horde of Dog Soldiers.

" Well actually yes I do have a problem with it. Do you wonder why there aren’t any fat cheerleaders? Any cheerleaders with braces? Are you getting my picture? It’s so … degrading!" Jesse throws the pom-pom across the room in disgust.

" Well hush my mouth and call me jealous? Can I sense issues here from the Quickster?" Kiku grins.

" Don’t call me that!"

" Don’t tell me to how to live my life then. This is the first time anyone other than Vince, the Nerd Soc. President, has shown any interest in me and I enjoy it. There is a certain pleasure in waving those things around, but I’m guessing that you never had the chance. Care to share?" Kiku steeples her fingers under her chin and puts on her best talk show look.

Jesse seethes." This is not about my schooldays, it’s about yours and you shouldn’t be wasting time at cheerleader practice when you could be doing other things. Need I remind you that you’re expecting a visitor any day now?"

" MZ? C’mon Jesse, who in this room is the expert in the care and feeding of Bandhesian Lightning Bolts, eh? Disappearing Lad over there on the computer.."

" Don’t drag me into this. I can the words ‘women as sex objects’ coming into the conversation anytime now and that’s when I leave the building. I’m not sure my medical insurance covers me for that kind of action."

Kiku continues. ".. as I was saying, who knows more? Him, you or me, the last true blooded Bandhesian in the world? I’m pretty certain that me doing some jumps, shaking some pom-poms and going rah-rah-rah isn’t going to spoil things with MZ?"

As the two continue their verbal sparring, Jennie slips through the door with an armful of rather classy shopping bags. " Hey guys, guess who’s going to a premiere?" She stops and suppresses a giggle. " Oh make my day! Tell me that you’re taking up cheerleading Jesse?"

Jesse shoots Jennie a nasty stare. " They aren’t mine. They belong to Kiku. In her oh-so-special Bandhesian wisdom, she’s decided to join her school’s cheerleading squad."

" Excellent! I used to be on my high school squad too. You’re a bit short though, but then again so was I. I guess being green had it’s good points. Is this a thunderbolt related promotion in the social ranks? Do you want to practice sometime? I can still remember some of the moves." As if to underline the point, she drops her bags and executes a massive bouncing kick.

" I cannot believe that your condoning this. It’s … barbaric!"

" Jesse! It’s about as barbaric as .. well, put it this way. If cheerleading is barbaric, then so was that rather slinky dress that you wore for your date with Dr D. Or for that matter, are you going to go up and tell Wonder Woman that she should a) wear trousers, b) show less cleavage and c) lose the Angelina Jolie pout? What was the best way to meet guys at high school?"

" Hang around the library?"

" Meet guys Jesse, not geeks!"

" Cheerleading, I guess." Jesse looks defeated and Kiku flashes her a triumphant grin.

" So give her a break will you! It’s not as if she’s had much luck with guys what with Vince and Carlo. She needs to get to know some normal guys or she’s going to be left on the shelf and I refuse to take her to the prom!"

The smile is wiped off Kiku’s face at the veiled insult and she hurls the final pom-pom at Jennie, catching her in the head.

" What did I say? Was it something I said??"

Dwayne just carries on typing and tries not to laugh.

Rick wanders over to the coffee machine and swirls the jug. The acrid aroma of two day old coffee hits his nose and he decides that discretion is the better part of valor and he had better go out and get some fresh. Before that though, he had better move that safe from the reception area into the back office. He walks through the spartan office and kneels down next to the massive cast iron safe. God, he loves this bit! Under his breath he begins to mutter.

' Man of the hour! Man of the hour! Man of the hour! Man of the hour!'

Deep inside him, the residue of the hyper-addictive drug, Miraclo, that both he and his father, Rex Tyler (aka Hourman) were addicted and nearly killed them, kicks in. His system is flooded with a massive dose of hyper-kinetic hormones and adrenaline. He digs his fingers under the safe and hoists it into the air like a cardboard box.

A few years ago, he was nearly dead. The Miraclo had masked the growth of a cancer in his body and he had found himself in hospital, ready to die. It was then that Johnny Chambers, the internationally known evangelist of self-health and realisation ( and formerly the hero Johnny Quick, Jesse's father) had talked to him about the real power of Miraclo. It never boosted his strength, endurance and speed - all it did was allow him to access the man he had always been. There was so much in his system that all he needed to do was concentrate and whisper his mantra and bang - an Hour of Power!

Placing the safe down gingerly, Rick delved a hand into his pocket and sorted through his change. Enough for a coffee refill and a couple of bagels. After that he better start drumming up some work or he'd get kicked out of here too!

As he leave the office, the door swings closed behind him revealing the smart black lettering on the glass

An innocent voice comes from the heavily postered bedroom door. " Just getting a few things together. I’ll be two seconds Mom!" Courtney Whitmore tries to pull her sweater down further, but she is sure that her mother will still be able to notice the bulge of the cosmic converter belt under it.

" Courtney? I hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing?" The deep rumbling voice of her stepdad, Pat Dugan ( aka S.T.R.I.P.E and before that the veteran hero, Stripsey)  follows his head around the door of her room.

" Pat! Personal space, remember?" Courtney waves her hands around as if to illustrate the boundaries of her room.

" And remember our rules – No Star Spangled Kid at school anymore?"

" But I’m not going to be at school am I? I’m going to be at an inter-state football match a stones throw away from Hollywood. How stupid am I going to look when I go to the next JSA meeting and they find out that I was in LA when .. when .. when some sort of giant sea monster comes out of the ocean and threatens to swallow up all the kids at the match and I couldn’t stop it because my stepdad has had some ridiculous notion about a superpowered curfew?" Courtney looks suitably perturbed as she stuffs her last items of clothing into her bag.

" Courtney!! Pat!! Are we ever going?!"

" I’m warning you Courtney .. keep yourself out of trouble whilst you’re away. Just this once?….Please?"

" I can't hear anything?" Jennie is feeding the apartment's fish - a new feature Jesse had built in during the renovations after the battle with the Monocole.

" Exactly. Mother's gone, Dwayne's gone out to have a better look around and Kiku is at college. The decorators have finished and the dorks downstairs have turned that infernal soundtrack music off. Peace and quiet at last…"

" Don't call them dorks! They rescued us and they are quite nice when you get to know them. Just up your street I would have thought - bookworms, computer experts, y'know?"

" Jennie, I do have some standards."

" Ah yes, Dr D. How are things going?"

" Badly. Very badly. I discovered, by accident of course, that he has a history of romancing his associates. I'm just the next prospective notch on his bookshelf…dammit!"

" Disappointed?"

" Just a bit, he was gorgeous. Look at us - we are two independent, self-reliant young women, with huge potential, living in the best place in the world. We're both good looking, fit, intelligent - so why on Earth can't we get men?"

" Hmmm… at least I've got the old 'green skin' excuse?"

" Oh thanks, that makes me feel much better!"

" You just have to get used to it. A long time ago I accepted that I'm not going to be having a 'normal' relationship with anyone quick. People have a hard enough time accepting relationships between white people and black people - imagine the problems they would have with a pale green child at a school?"

" I never realised? I always thought.."

" Yeah, well there was Kyle, but he's sort of used to green things isn't he?" Jennie puts the fish food down and slumps in a huge armchair. " I have to admit though, that moving out here again hasn't been the glitzy fun it used to be. I was sort of used to the media attention, the showbiz premieres and the constant whirl of the limelight. Now, I'm the ex-superbabe Jade, people don't seem as interested anymore."

" Do you regret coming out here? It has put some distance between you and Kyle."

" Yeah, sure, but even that's fading away now. It's been a few months and I've kinda moved on from him. Maybe you're right, maybe I need something new too?"

" You could ring Todd? Do you still have his number?"

" You know, I'm not sure I have. He's been really distant recently and after all that business with the Starheart, even my own brother makes me feel creepy sometimes. I used to keep in touch with him more through the superhero gig, but now I don't even have that."

" But you two were real close, weren't you?"

" Yeah we were… I should look him up, shouldn’t I?"

" Well it'll be a start for you, but what about me?"

" Maybe you should start off the hero stuff again? Spend a few hours on patrol or something?" Jennie's comments are met with a blank stare by Jesse. " Ring Nightwing and see about a Titans West expansion?? Nope… didn't think so."

" We need a road trip!"

" You've got to be kidding! Kiku's the one in high school, not us."

" Not a keg-swilling, bar crawling road trip - more a Thelma and Louise journey of discovery. We need to just get away and find ourselves, and maybe some men as well!" Jesse was getting quite attached to the idea.

" Errrhmm, I hate to get all psychoanalytical on you, but didn't you, like, run away from the last problem you had? By coming here?"

" Did not! It was just too crowded on the east coast…"

" Jesse, isn't that sort of a relative thing for someone that can run around the planet in the time it takes to boil an egg. You could have stayed in Gotham and patrolled LA without breaking sweat."

Jesse raises her hands. " OK, OK, cut the chat-show analysis! Are you up for this road-trip? We go tomorrow, in the car, and head off towards … Las Vegas! We have a fun time, do some mad shopping, and then, when we've got this little period of angst out of our system, we come back and grab this town by the balls! Yes or no?"

" Well, if you put it that way… yes!"

Kiku looks up and the round-faced, balding, spectacle wearing 'district youth metahuman counsellor' Mr Byrne and shakes her head. She simply cannot believe that she is being put through this indignity just because she used to be a superhero. As in past tense! Add to that the fact that she is missing English, where she sits behind that rather gorgeous blond specimen and she is not in the best of moods.

" Now dear, if you could just remind me of your surname?"

" Summers."

" Yes, and your first name?"

" Buffy"

" Buffy Summ… haha, yes, thank you for that one. Most amusing and highly original. Now, what is your name?"

" Kiku Thunder."

" Excellent. Now, as you are aware, the aim of this preliminary session is to give us a baseline from where we can work. As the Principal mentioned earlier, the state of California tries to enact a progressive programme to aid our teenage metahumans and help them integrate themselves into society. As I'm sure you will agree, not all of you are going to become member of the Justice League, and you need to be given realistic guidance for your future. All I want to do today is ask you some questions to set some baselines for our work. Are you OK with that? Ms Thunder?? Ms Thunder???"

" Pardon? Yeah..questions. Go ahead, feel free, knock yourself out."

" OK. Are you currently in the possession of superpowers?"

" No."

" Really?"

" Yes really - that's why this is such a crock! I'm not a superhero!!!"

Byrne ticks a box marked 'denial' and continues. " Are you a member of a superhero team?"

" Not officially, no."

" Do you want to be?"

" No."

" Do you have someone whom you would consider to be your arch-enemy?"

" Besides you, no."

" Very droll. Are your parents dead?"

" Yes…"

" Were they killed by an enemy of yours?"

" No!"

" Were you adopted as the ward of a superhero?"

" Yes.." As Kiku answers a warm smile spreads across Byrnes face.

" And did your guardian pass on their superpowers?"

" Yes he did but.."

" At what age?"

" Thirteen, but it really wasn't like that!"

" Are you an alien?"

" NO!!"

" How do you know?"

" … "

" Do you consider any metahumans as your friends?"

" Well yeah.."

" How many? More than five?"

Kiku does the maths. Johnny, Jay, Alan, Ted, Jesse, Jennie, Dwayne, Rick.." Yeah, more than five, less than ten."

" Do you know them by their first names?"

" I live with three of them! Sure I do."

" You live with three superheroes? Interesting. Now we'll move on to some more interesting questions. Batman - vigilante or good friend?"

" You sure you want to hear that answer?" Kiku grins.

" Have you ever been taken part or operated on by your own government because they thought you were a danger to National Security."

" Not the last time I looked."

" Do you have a costume?"

" No."

" If you did, could it be described as quasi-military?"

" No!"

" Buckles? Belts? Shoulder pads? Insignia?"

" None. Nada. Nothing."

" Have you ever travelled to an alternative dimension?"

" No."

" Would you want to?"

" No."

" I'm going to show you some photos. I want you to tell me what you see?" Byrne shuffles a set of cards and then shows one to Kiku. Getting bored with this charade, she decides to spice things up.

[Superman] - " That'll be Uncle Kal."

[Nightwing] - " Cute buns."

[A car crash] - " Roadkill"

[Britney Spears] - " Arrgh! Darkseid!" Kiku leaps up over the back of her seat and pretends to shoot the photo with an imaginary pistol.

" OK.. I think that's all I need for now Ms Thunder. I'll see you again next week."

" Aw! Where are the ink blots? I was looking forward to the ink-blots and the lie detectors and the regression hypnosis! C'mon Mr Byrne, p-l-e-a-s-e!"

The bemused man shakes his head and waves her towards the door. Kiku giggles as she walks out. Maybe this was going to be more fun than she thought?

J&J's Apartment 

" You're doing what??!!" Kiku stands with her fists firmly planted on her hips

" We're going away for the weekend, to Las Vegas. You'll be OK, Dwayne and the boys downstairs can look after you." Jesse pats Kiku on the head and the young Bandhesian scowls at her.

" I can?" Dwayne's eyes open saucer-wide at the suggestion he chaperones the rather feisty young woman.

" It's not being left alone that's the problem! It's that you never invited me along!!"

" Oh.." Both Jesse and Jennie look cowed. Jesse tries to make amends. " Look, you've got that game this weekend. Important cheerleading stuff. Big responsibility. Lots of guys and …"

" I get the apartment for a party." Kiku looks adamant.

" No way Kiku, we've just had it redecorated!" Jesse waves a finger in Kiku's face.

" No party, no road-trip."

" Say's who?" Jesse is getting angry with Kiku now. How dare she threaten them!

Ironically Kiku is trying to work out what galactic force of coincidence forced those words from Jesse's mouth at that time. Sometimes things are great and sometimes they just get better."

" Say's who? Sez Me!" There is a brilliant green flash of light to the right of Kiku and a small, emerald thunderbolt appears.

Jesse, Jennie and Dwayne look on shocked and the thunderbolt floats in mid-air facing Kiku.

" Hi MZ! Nice to meet you at last. Guys, this is MZ, he's my new t-bolt!" Kiku looks very pleased with herself.

" New …thunderbolt?? You never told us you were getting a new one Kiku?" Jennie looks on, almost enviously.

" He's a sort of bolt-in-training - which reminds me, MZ, cut the 'mistress' thing will you? It's just Kiku .. and while you're on, can you ditch the neon, jagged spiky topped look for something a little more, well, human?"

The thunderbolt shudders a little and then with a flash he takes the form of a tall, gangly teenager, with brilliant green eyes and spiky short green hair. His clothes are a mixture of street-punk and old arab - a strange combination that seems to work. Kiku nods approvingly.

" So, as you see, I have a way of keeping the party from getting out of hand, as well as Dwayne and the dweebs downstairs. What about that party?" Kiku looks more relaxed now.

" And what are you going to do if we say no?" Jesse hasn't calmed down

" Well, I could ask MZ to turn your car into a pumpkin?" Kiku smiles a truimphant grin only to lose it when MZ intervenes.

" What is it with people and my TV! Hands off, bolt-boy! OK, OK, have your trip. PLEASE can I have a party though?"

Jesse looks at Jennie and Jennie looks back with that ' you just know she'll have one anyway' look on her face. " OK, you can have it, but it's downstairs - sorry Dwayne - and I want it spotless when we get back!"

Kiku punches the air and then high-fives MZ.

Dwayne looks around bemused. " Am I the only one that's regretting this already?"

" I'm more concerned that this car's not going to blow up again like it did when we first met? I thought you'd given up on it?" Jennie looks a lot less confident than Jesse does.

" Oh I was being stupid then. The car's not really doing that much work. I've slipped it a little dose of speed force - it's not taking the strain. Anyway, I've had some really good mechanics working on it. It'll be fine."

" So, bearing that in mind, where are we going?"

" Well, it'll take two days to get to Las Vegas, even with the help of the Speed Force, so I suggest we find somewhere to stay overnight and …"

" Maybe we should stay over there?" Jennie points over to the left.

" Where? OH, the small town on the horizon with bolts of emerald green shooting into the sky … Oh Jesus! Jennie is that what I think it is?" Jesse screeches the car to a halt.

" Let's see. Bolts of coherent green energy? Check. Itching on my palm? Check. Yup, that'll be either Dad or Kyle doing what they do best." Before she can take another breath, Jesse has whisked her off her feet and is carrying her across the desert.

The pair zoom into a run down old west town. Think a slightly more modern version of a typical western set! In the centre of the high street, amidst a twisted wreck of cars and other street debris, stands a man in a costume very similar to that of Jay Garrick, the Flash. In fact, the man he is holding up from the ground, by the collar of his costume is Jay Garrick.

Behind him, a young woman with curly ginger hair and a very poor Gambler-esque costume on is standing over the unconscious body of Alan Scott - the Green Lantern!

" Well, what have we hear then? Is this some sort of masked man exposition?" The man in the Flash costume sneers at the two young women and then laughs a wild and maniacal laugh!

Before you read the next issue - Speed over to The Flash#4 for the start of AS2Ks inaugural crossover - The Quick and the Green. Who are these villains, why are they here and how did Jay and Alan end up in this predicament! Play catch up with Kell Carpenter, soon!

Next Issue - Jesse and Jade#7: The Quick and the Green Part Two - The villains plot is revealed! It's big hero action as Jesse battles Alan and the powerless Jade comes to blows with The Flash. Why? How? Keep reading!

And after that? - What!? An issue with no Kiku? Fear not, Thunder-fans. After the crossover, we look at what happens when the girls are away, when Jesse and Jade gets hijacked. The rare, only-to-be-seen-once issue - Kiku and The Kid #8!!!

Sorry for the delay in this issue - loads of stuff happening over the summer that sort of got me sidetracked. Nevermind though, because now I'm here and cooking with gas! Onwards to the letters…