So, this is my attempt to make Jubilee more relevant to what is currently going on in comics. Of course, I'm going to take what I like and use it, so it's a little on the alternate universe side. I'm also trying a new writing style. Hope you enjoy it!
Not Even The Stars In The Sky
Jubilation Lee was out of the superhero business for good. Really, after some reflection, she decided that this was a long time coming. How many signs from above did she need, anyway? Her team of young mutants had disbanded a while ago, her powers had been lost, and her foray into the world of technologically-powered superheroes had met with one disaster after another. Once, she had even died.
So that was it.
Making the decision had been easy. Figuring out what to do with herself afterward had been anything but. She was adrift in a world of normalcy and had very little practice in dealing with it. And she got bored easily. After several weeks of coming to terms with her so called lot in life, she decided that what she really needed were all of the basics covered. And these basics were what she had missed out on completely during her days as a teenaged superhero. It was amazing the things that had been overlooked.
Like a drivers license and most basic form of identification. Who needed a driver's license anyway when you had jets that flew, friends that flew, rich headmistresses to arrange drivers, and technology that allowed you to fly or teleport wherever and whenever? And more often than not, it was easier for Jubilee to not be identified while traveling and use whatever fake happened to be provided by the X-men or Frost or whomever. She was pretty sure that the only complete file on her that spoke of her existence was with the X-men. And maybe SHIELD. Which was now HAMMER. And that would never do.
Luckily, a certain Canucklehead had provided her with at least two financial accounts with her name on it and the information had been sent to her a scant week after M-Day. A debit card, a check book, and a short note saying to call if she needed anything ever. It had taken a great deal of resolve to not call to not need or want or feel vulnerable or alone or a myriad of other things. She had sent a quick thank you note and worked hard to not spend more than strictly necessary, but after the New Warriors and their financing had fallen through, it became paramount to find a job that offered more than just minimum wage.
So now, Jubilee needed the basics covered. And since Wolverine was on every superhero team the world had left, and was therefore extremely busy, Jubilee opted for another avenue.
It took Gambit two weeks to get back to her. He was, of course, off with Rogue and dealing with the typical drama that built up around a life of being in a mutant minority, an X-men, a man who would sometimes find himself on the other side in a fight, and having a near-crazy girlfriend with life-sucking powers. Apparently, Rogue was doing well, all things considered.
Gambit's response had been a manilla envelope complete with three separate I.D.'s, each including driver's license, passport, social security, and on top of this, yet another bank account with a hundred thousand dollars in it. For emergencies, of course. Gambit was shameless. One of the I.D's was even Jubilee's actual name, but it was nice to know that if trouble ensued she could hop a flight to anywhere in the world as Jing Mei Ziyi, or, God forbid, Lilith Banks.
Also, because he's Remy, all three I.D.'s listed Jubilee as twenty-one years old despite her nineteen years of age. The Cajun knew his priorities without a doubt.
So, naturally, Jubilee got a job at a bar.
She told herself that is was a temporary measure, a chance to figure out what to do and where to go next. Six weeks later, Jubilee discovered that it was rather difficult to leave as the money was damn good and it was the type to attract men prone to fighting. And this satisfied a deep and secret need within her to bust a couple of skulls together and watch with satisfaction as surprise dawned across their rough--and sometimes ruggedly handsome--faces as they realized it was the cute little Asian waitress with the nice, grab-worthy ass that was able to kick them around like so much trash on the streets. And not even mess up her makeup while doing it.
It was a small, but delightful pleasure.
"Alright, bub, here's your table!" Jubilee used the biker's natural momentum to pitch him forward, nose over his toes, and his large bulk helped his head collide with the cheep wood very nicely.
A hearty cheer went up through the bar, followed by good-natured applause. After a short week, the regulars had quickly decided that they appreciated Jubilee's ability to kick asses much bigger than her own. Nothing like the entertainment value of watching a cute waitress show you the error of your ways. This had been an immense relief to Jubilee who thought she was going to get fired in her first week for breaking some dumb-ass's nose.
"You little bitch!" The newcomer did not take his abject lesson well. Jubilee braced herself, planning on going for the groin next. However, Tom and Jerry--no joke--decided to intervene. Both guys were big in their own right, and came up from behind Jubilee, each grabbing the newcomer's hefty arms and helped his ass find his seat.
"Now, look here you asshole--" Jerry started.
"You want to grab a beer and some grub here, that's fine--" Tom continued.
"But don't expect to insult the pretty help--"
"Without getting your balls kneed up to your neck--"
They knew Jubilee's work well.
"So how about you sit down here and let Rachel over there grab you a brew--" Jerry continued.
"Cause Jubes won't be inclined to," said Tom.
"And we can all go back to our pleasant evening," finished Jerry, who then turned back to Jubilee. Jubilee couldn't quite decide if she was was angry or just upset with the two for spoiling her fun. Her face contorted into a sort of pout coupled with her infamous glare. Jerry, who was retired Special Forces and twice her age, recalled a mission in China and a girl he'd met there, and a small part of him wished he was in a different phase of his life. One in which he was younger and unmarried.
Thinking this, Jerry gave Jubilee a self-satisfied smile.
"Why the fuck did you guys go and do that?! I ought to knee you in the goddamn groin for thinking I couldn't handle it myself! Talk about insulting a girl, Jerry, geez louise, did I ask for your assistance? Didn't anyone ever teach you to mind your own damn business?!" At this point, Jubilee's pretty, luscious pink pout had completely given away to her full on fiery blue glare and Jerry felt the smile fall right off his face.
"Hey, Jubes, we were just trying to give you a friendly hand."
"Yeah, well, next time don't! I don't need it and I don't want it and I sure as shit didn't ask for it! God, you all are just so-so--your just--men! You are just so a freaking man!"
With that, Jubilee turned sharply and stalked toward the bar, so incensed that if she still had the ability, she'd literally be shooting sparks from her fingers, hot, fire-red, angry globules that would spit and hiss and burn. This unbidden thought about her lost powers increased Jubilee's anger ten-fold--so much that tears pricked her eyes, proceeding to make her even more furious. She was not helpless, she did not need overgrown men intervening on her behalf, and she did not need Rachel giving her that exasperated look all over again as she went off to tend to Jubilee's latest victim.
"Anyone ever suggest that you might just have an issue with violence, Jubes?" Tom had followed her in her huff, enjoying the sight her hips and butt made in their angry stride away from him.
Jubilee sniffed, glad to have someone to focus her wrath on.
"Yeah. A couple of idiots have mentioned it. I made them realize that I didn't have a problem with violence so much as they had a problem with sticking their noses where they don't belong!"
"Well, the first step is admitting--"
"Oh, shut the hell up. You are hardly one to talk after putting two guys in the ER last weekend."
Tom gave her a wolfish grin that reminded her of another's wolfish grin and her hands itched with her absent mutation all over again.
"True," he concedes happily. "I often find that if there were less so-called idiots in the world, then there would be less of a need to implement such violence. Ultimately, we're not exactly responsible for stupid people."
"And therefore not responsible for the inevitable violence?" Jubilee decided that Tom was growing on her more and more.
Tom gave her an amused look as Jerry came up to join him once again.
"That's...one way to put it." Jerry gave him a look and Tom quickly decided that Jubilee wasn't in the mood to talk about being responsible for her own actions tonight of all nights. There was something eating away at their favorite little blue-eyed hellcat and despite their dual background as professionally trained, government sanctioned badasses, neither of them particularly wanted to get on her bad side tonight.
Jubilee capitulated with a smile. This is why she liked this bar; because it catered to guys like Tom and Jerry. Veterans and current soldiers of SHIELD, military, and Special Forces especially. Fights happened when badass-wannabe's wondered in and decided to to get uppity, or sometimes there was just an enjoyable tussle between some of the regulars when they simply got bored. And once they realized that the little Asian girl could actually hold her own, she quickly became their favorite.
What they didn't fully realize, is they liked Jubilee for the same reason she liked them. It was easier for Jubilee to be around people who had experience with combat, all that went with it and generally disastrous situations. What they didn't understand about Jubilee, is that she was a veteran in her own right, had indeed fought in some battles that would make some of the most experienced patrons raise their brows in shock and surprise. Aliens do that.
"Yeah, well, Jer, that's nice of you to say. Shocking as it may be, I did grow up with a guy who believed in the concept of peace...even if you did have to brake a bone or two in order to achieve it." Jubilee's thoughts drifted towards the Professor, who recently had dark secrets come into the dawn, and Scott, who had sanctioned an X-team full of killers.
"Is he the guy who taught you that haymaker from last night?" Tom asked.
This time, Jubilee's grin was infectious. "Nah...the guy who taught me that...well, let's just say, he'd impress even you two." The veterans exchanged a look of amused doubt, fully confident that they had seen far too much to be surprised by Jubilee's anonymous fight instructor.
The two men watched her grin give way to a soft, despairing look that made her look beautifully vulnerable. They both recognized it as a sign of trouble, because as soon as Jubilee realized that she had allowed herself to show said vulnerability, she'd then find the quickest way to pick her next fight. It was an exponentially growing problem.
They distracted her with beer.
"Two more, Jubes, and keep 'em comin' huh?" Tom asked.
She quickly obliged them as Rachel came back up to the bar. With a very familiar frown on her face.
"Look, Jubilee, maybe you should spend the rest of the night behind the bar and leave the tables to us, k?" Rachel did a good job of hiding her annoyance in an effort to sound diplomatic toward the most recalcitrant cocktail waitress the bar had.
"Yeah, Jubes, your damn near genius at making drinks," Tom offered up in a helpful tone.
"And the way you pour beer..." Jerry grinned with appreciation.
Jubilee rolled her eyes and glared. "The way I pour beer? Really? You guys are pathetic, but yes, I'll stay behind the bar like a good little girl and cater to your manly needs of alcohol and staring at my ass."
Jerry leaned towards Tom. "She knows we stare at her ass, Tom," he said in stage whisper.
"She's on to us, Jerry," he returned.
"Scared for your own ass yet?"
"Just promise me you won't leave me alone with her, man."
"You guys do realize that neither of you have actually gone up against me yet, right?" Jubilee's voice was sweet venom.
The two men quickly decided to go for pleasing her without even bothering to share a glance between them.
"And you won't be doing it anytime, either, Jubilee," Jerry said.
"We're too concerned about our image to risk letting the whole bar watch us get beat up by the prettiest girl here," said Tom.
Jubilee ground her teeth, knowing they were simply trying to placate her. "Shut the fuck up and drink your goddamn beer."
****
Jubilee let out a long suffering sigh as she made her way through the bottles of liquor, cleaning and mentally noting what needed to be restocked. Her hands itched. Her hands always itched on days when it really got to her, when it really weighed her down. An irritating, tingly feeling right below the skin that no amount of scratching could alleviate. A sort of buzzing of absent energy that drove her to distraction.
She knew it wasn't really there; that is was all in her head. There could be no real feeling, no real itching because there was no real energy there.
She was one of the decimated.
"Damn it!" The beer glass slipped through the wet towel she was holding on to it with, hit the counter on the way down, and slammed into the floor, shattering into pieces. "God damn it!"
A large figure slowly made his way behind the bar and towards her with a broom and bin in one hand.
"You seem distracted," Jerry observed, starting to sweep the shards into the bin. "Don't touch any of it."
"You shouldn't be behind the bar, Jer." Jubilee had no real emotion in her voice as she blankly watched the big man handle the broom like a pro.
"Do you have any idea how many times I saved Joe's ass in the field?" Joe was the owner and manager of--wait for it--Joe's Bar. He knew how to run a great business that accommodates his old buddies, but he had zero imagination. "I go where I want."
"That excuse is used by every ex-soldier here when they want to go where they shouldn't. Usually it's to get in with a cute waitress."
"Nobody gets in with you though, huh?"
"Since when are you interested in my love life?"
"I'm just saying...a guy to date might lighten your mood."
Jubilee rolled her eyes in disdain. "And you've got the perfect young Marine for my to meet, huh? Don't bother. I like guys who's hair doesn't have to follow the strict dress code."
Jerry laughed out loud at this. "Hell no. Never in a million years would I ever suggest some young asshole in our line of work. You deserve a nice, decent young man."
Jubilee chuckled. "A nice, decent young man wouldn't know what to do with me. But your sweet for saying so. I guess."
"How bout you call it a night, Jubilee?" Joe came round from the back to collect the cash register. "I can finish up here with Jerry."
"Jerry doesn't even work here."
"Do you have any idea how many times I saved his ass in combat? He can stay and help me clean up one damn night." Joe gave a lopsided grin, pronounced by the fact that someone had introduced his face to a knife at one point and the resulting scar crossed one whole cheek and sliced into his upper lip, giving him a one of a kind smile that scared children and bad patrons.
Jubilee gave Jerry a look. "What? Is that like a running joke with you guys or something? Ass-saving? Do you have a running tally somewhere?"
"I wish. Cause then there would be proof that Joe owes his life to me more times than I owe my life to him." This, he said with greater volume and Joe's grin got even uglier.
Jubilee's face grew thoughtful. "Yeah, well, if you really try, it can get hard to keep track of, huh?"
"Done a lot of ass-saving in your time?" Jerry's tone was puzzled and doubtful.
Jubilee opted for evasion. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Y'know, Jubes, one of these days we're gonna figure you out." Joe said.
"Smarter men than you two have tried." Jubilee smiled to take the sting out of her words.
"See, Joe, this is why she's my favorite. Always quick with an insult, our Jubilee."
Jubilee reached into a back cupboard to retrieve her purse. "Well, if you say I can go, I'm outta here. Thanks guys!" Jubilee headed quickly towards the door; she didn't need to be told twice.
"Make sure you get a cab and don't walk home at this time of night, Jubilee!"
The two men watched her leave with some concern, but totally unaware that it was the last time they were going to see her.