A/N: I'm back despite what might feel like the world is ending just outside our windows. I sincerely hope everyone in the real dangerous areas (the fires on the west coast and the storms hitting down south). There have been scumbags in the wake of these disasters but we have seen far more amazing people step up and helped the countless victims from donating provisions to braving the melee to recover survivors.

I promised to come back with a big story and here we are. Of all the stories I've written over the years, probably the one I was most disappointed how it turned out was "Last Victory." It began with such promise but I felt the end result didn't deliver. I deeply appreciate your kind words but I knew it wasn't my best, especially when compared to "Edge" or "The Princess and the Knight." I kept wanting to write something that was on that level.

And since we live in the age of reboots as far as comic books are concerned; why not take another whack at it and do it right this time. Now in this new story, I wanted to mix it up a bit and make Jade the focus as the heroine. And what of Tori? You will have to wait and see. But this will be a JORI tale I assure you.

As always, please leave your comments and let me know what you think. Its's a little short but the next one will be longer.

;-)

The turnout was impressive. Then again it was the funeral of one of the wealthiest and most famous men in the world.

Alexander Lee West was 56 years old when he past. An enthusiast of aviation, West spent hundreds of hours in the air. His flying instructor have told the press that he was one of the best pilots he has seen. So one could imagine the shock of the tycoon's helicopter going down in the mountains overlooking Carbajal Valley, in Argentina. His copter was discovered about thirty hours after last communication, his body found in the wreckage. News of his sudden death spread through all media outlets and social networks.

The papers tried their damnedest to sum up the life of such a man within a few paragraphs in the obituaries but most found it impossible. So, a lot of editors just put the story on the front page. Alex West; industrialist, inventor, all around innovator... He made his fortune from about sixty patents that go back as far as when he was nine. One of the very first times his name saw print was when he was expelled from Wade-Paulson Elementary School after his science project accidentally blew out the glass windows of the gymnasium.

By the end of high school, he had already made his first million - making him one of the youngest to do so. By his twenties, he was enrolled in Harvard. Alex wasn't particularly interested in higher education in the traditional sense, though he was well-read and always looking for something new he could handle. He would always saw how much school bored him. Alex's reason for going to Harvard was because his classmate from senior year, Emily Heard became accepted to the ivy league school. He was smitten with the fair-skinned brunette but despite his confidence he lacked the nerve to simply ask her out. Women have always been after him, not only because he wasn't bad looking but certainly the burgeoning bank account helped.

When it came to Emily, none of that mattered to her. Well she did admit that she found Alex handsome, it was his intellect that turned her on most. She would be studying late at night, occasionally catching glimpses of Alex sketching in his notebook of some new idea for an invention. She would give him a sneer when she saw his homework was already finished for the next day. Alex found even her look of scorn attractive. After graduation, the pair were married. And only one thing made them happier than that moment. It was the day Emily told Alex she was pregnant.

But the three quarters of that year, which was so blissful, quickly ended when Emily died during childbirth. Alex felt so alone until the nurse brought him his daughter.

It was at that moment everything changed. Jade became Alex's whole world. He promised to his late wife that he would be the best dad he could be. As a billionaire who was single, any woman in the world would have happily courted him. But he wasn't interested in going on dates. When he was done with work and Jade done with school; the two would play games, watch movies, cook dinner together. And they loved every moment of it. Alex also learned early on when Jade was old enough to start assembling things with LEGO bricks that she had that same spark that he had - the knack of an engineer. Remembering how little his own parents supported him, Alex quickly enrolled Jade into art school. He knew the frustration of having vivid imaginings and lacking the skilled hands to illustrate it on paper.

Jade was her father's daughter through and through. She was supremely intelligent, gregarious when necessary but preferred to be left alone, distrustful of authority, and had the penchant for breaking the rules. Alex felt personal flashbacks when he would sit in the disciplinary office of whatever school Jade was attending to hear the latest infraction his daughter committed. On one occasion, a boy touched her inappropriately but since the only other witnesses were his friends, her story wasn't believed. Alex said he believed her and took her out for ice cream, proud of her left hook to the creep's jaw. Jade may have been wealthy on paper but with a father who thought the world of her, it was in that regard she felt truly rich.

And shortly after completing college with an MBA, Jade's father was gone.

She was prepared to take up a position in her father's company, likely within research and development. But that was no longer. Now Jade West was to take up the mantle as CEO of Westbound Enterprises. It was always a possibility in the back of her mind, but she never envisioned it would happen so soon.

The rain had begun to slacken once his body was interred.

Everything Alex West did was larger than life and his family plot was no exception. His gravestone was marble, with dates and a couple simple words. What was more opulent was the grave marker next to his. The one for Emily West had a nine-foot stone angel holding a book and a flower. At the base of the statue, was a tablet showing the dedication which contained a favorite quote of hers:

Rapidly, merrily,

Life's sunny hours flit by,

Gratefully, cheerily

Enjoy them as they fly!

- Charlotte Bronte

Jade's eyes filled with tears upon reading that. Her father had taken her to her mother's grave more than once but she never fully understood that quote until now. Nothing like a dead woman to use the words of another deceased woman to remind her only child to make every day count.

The dark-haired woman got on one knee to place fresh flowers on both graves, a ritual she promised to keep as least weekly. There would never be any dead plants on her parents' graves if she had anything to say about it.

"Take care of mom, dad. I'll try to make you both proud."

Jade got back up to her feet and slowly walked down the hill to the waiting matte black Acura ILX at the bottom. It was customary for someone of her position to be transported by driver but she kindly declined. She would rather be alone with her thoughts. Her father had one driver in particular, Randy, that would take him around town when he had to divide his attention with phone calls and emails. Jade knew Randy ever since she was little and didn't want to be rude by keeping the partition up, effectively avoiding idle conversation. It would be less awkward to simple have no one to talk to.

There would be plenty of time for that with the impending press conference as well as her first time addressing the board of directors. Jade wasn't looking forward to that one bit. She knew she was going to have her work cut out for her, being the youngest one there by at least thirty years.

With a slam of the door, a resigned sigh and turn of the key; Jade was off.

The ground was already quite wet from the rain and the clouds above didn't look like it showed any sign of stopping, so Jade proceeded with purpose but caution as well. She hydroplaned once as a teenager learning to drive and it scared the hell out of her, completely losing control like that. Fortunately, no one was hurt then. But that was a long time ago. Though with things as they were, Jade found it difficult to not get lost in memories. Memories of a happier, simpler time.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the SUV tailing her. Jade wasn't the most observant at this time but even she began to notice the vehicle was matching her every maneuver. She knew downtown quite well so she tried an alternate toward Westbound Tower to try and shake off the mysterious driver. Upon closer inspection in the side view mirror, Jade could make out it was a midnight blue Chevy Equinox.

"Has to be more paparazzi," she thought. "Can't these bottom feeders leave me alone right now?"

When the car bumped into her from behind, Jade's head jerked back and forth.

"The fuck?"

Now its high beams came blazing out, reflecting a blinding whiteness in her mirrors. Then the Chevy rammed yet again.

"This guy's crazy!"

Jade saw her phone on the passenger seat and tried to reach for it while keeping her eyes on the road and her left hand on the steering wheel.

"Come on, come on, come on..."

She stepped on the gas and turned sharply right. Unfortunately, her worse fear happened and she begun spinning violently. Jade screamed for her life until she banged into a rudimentary fence made of PVC pipe and plastic orange netting. This barrier was under construction. Jade peered outside and could see she was about three stories from the bay below. Now stopped but not in park, Jade quickly reached for her phone and began to dial for the police.

9...

SCREEEEEEEEEECH...

1...

SMASH...

The Acura was airborne, very briefly, before succumbing to gravity and the cold indifference of the dark waters.

It didn't take long at all for the car with a frightened Jade inside to be completely swallowed up by the bay.