A/N: "What's a Babylonian Urn?" "Probably more than I do." Heeheeheehee hahahaha! Again, Tajeri Lynn can't stop when he hears these two lines. I'm glad Valmont and his cronies are back after two episodes, and you must be glad as well. I don't know when those guys will ever show up in my writings, but I'll try to somehow. Every JCA fan sure can't get enough of those guys. But right now, I grab the microphone and belt out those old words.

            Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore presents what I will dub Act 2 of "The Life Before the Party". Act 2, you say? Why yes, this is the midpoint of the fic! How long is this story anyways? Hopefully not as long as "Souls Between the Walls", which I expect to be my longest venture ever. (Sorry, lemon fans, but Extremo Luchadore promises a worthy ending with an iron fist.) Also in the works will be the sequel that will interconnect "TLBTP" and "SBTW".

            Tajeri Lynn has also observed forces to be reckoned with. Lil' Spleef and Shadowcell continue to pose literary lionsaults onto much of the competition. To put them in one word, Extremo Luchadore declares, WOWIE. (Sorry for anyone whose presence I have not seen.)

            Let's now move on with the fic, and always remember; "Jackie Chan Adventures" comes live to you at the Toonami Dome thanks to Kids WB and Sony Television.

The Life Before the Party

Chapter X: Silence

Jade was resting the right side of her face on her right hand, her usual gesture for the excruciating boredom that was Jackie Chan's apartment. Then again, it was Jackie Chan's apartment. Situated on the other side was Dr. Kepler, tapping furiously on the X-3 Laptop. Jackie and El Toro Fuerte already took a plane leading to the San Pedro Port, perhaps at the middle of the night, since Jade could not have been alert at the time to track them down. Boy, did Uncle Jackie get desperate when it came to her safety. Meanwhile, Tohru, his mother and Xu Lin were at the breakfast table, as T-Man reached into the fridge to pull out the grape soda pops that had been purchased the night before. Xu Lin eyed the fridge and frowned; nothing in it resembled her everyday diet in China.

Jade meanwhile was scribbling a half-used pencil listlessly on a notepad to finish her 500-word essay, which was due tomorrow.

Jade leaned on her wooden chair, and looked up at the ceiling, where a spider was weaving a nice little web, a spectacle far better than white spaces with red lines. "Urr..! Why do all the fun things have to happen before the work?"

"Jade", spoke Tohru. "Breakfast is being served. Why are you doing your homework in so early a time?"

"Simple," Jade replied as she jumped off the seat and rubbed her back. "This is the last homework to complete, and unless I finish it, there is no way I'm going to celebrate this J-Team anniversary the big way."

"Big way", questioned the confused Tohru. Jade was always a puzzle.

"Saving Paco, Viper, and ol' Horsie, duh!"

"Well, there is not much we could do right now. It is best to wait here until Kepler can get a reading on Chan and El Toro."

"I don't mean to be impolite," spoke up the humble little Xu Lin, "but how must we eat this breakfast?"

Jade and El Toro saw the table set before them. Lying there were pancakes, a stick of butter, fresh strawberries, syrup, and orange juice.

Jade smiled and held up two of the silverware beside her plate.

"This here is called the fork. Don't ask me why, it just is. Put it through the food, like this-" Jade did the said manner on her pancake, "then take this knife and cut a small piece. Now take the fork and put the slice in your mouth." Jade quietly swallowed. "Though I forgot to mention pancakes taste a lot better when you put syrup on them first."

"I appreciate the approach", said Dr. Kepler as he spilled maple syrup on his pancake, took a fork, stabbed it through the meal, and gobbled it up in one bite, all without making eye contact with anyone.

Jade, Xu Lin, Tohru and Mama Tohru looked at one another, as Kepler continued switching disks into the laptop.

"Not quite knowledgeable about American eating habits, are you, Kepler?" asked Jade.

"Indefinitely. Since my gestation period began, I have preferred clasping victuals on my upward extremity. Provides me extended time to ponder on my projects."

"In a more simpler statement, you would rather hold the food and eat it?" said Tohru as he was opening grape soda, his fifth bottle for the day.

"Affirmative. The paramount victuals tend to be those wraps you put in microwave units. Burritos, I surmise?"

"No, you rock-star scientist!" yelled Mama Tohru. "It is called sushi! You wrap fish and rice in seaweed and then eat it! How dare you discredit my family line!"

"Uh, mommy", corrected Tohru as he put a giant hand on her shoulder. "Sushi isn't put into microwaves."

"Huh? Oh," Mama Tohru hushed. "I guess it is burritos…..But next time you make a mistake, Doctor, Mama Tohru will make you regret it!"

"Oh, burritos!" Xu Lin beamed ecstatically, clasping her hands together. "Burritos taste very good. I remember Paco showed me how to make them, so easy and quick. Oh, to have Paco around to make more of those. Do you have burritos in America?"

"Believe me, Xu Lin, America is like the home of a thousand tastes", replied Jade, as she took in another slice of pancake, this time with syrup. "There's soda, there's burgers and fries. Why, I'm sure Tohru can tell you a lot. He's probably experienced all the culinary tastes in the world. Right, Big T?"

"Um, Jade, all I've ever eaten was food from Japan and Mexico, but…"

"Whatever. The point is you'll find a lot in here."

"I'm sure I will", smiled Xu Lin. "Though I still can't get Paco and Viper off my head. I am so worried."

"Add 'befuddled' to that," replied Kepler as he looked down at the laptop. "Satellite feed is not being appropriated yet. No display. But I did receive a message from Jackie Chan. He and El Toro have deduced Kenzo's boat to be on port level 17. There lies a cargo holder which the Yokanawa misanthropes once utilized for their transgressions, crimes, if you will."

"Did you give them anything, Kepler?" said Jade. "Any super weapon or cloaking device to help them?"

"Only the device installed in Kenzo's means of transportation. I tweaked the circuits so Jackie and El Toro will remain invisible for 1440 minutes. One hour."

"One hour?!" exclaimed Jade.

"Do not fret, Jade", said Tohru after finishing his soda pop, and putting it right next to four other empty bottles. "One hour must be more than enough to find our friends. Right now, the magic talisman should only be an option. It would seem the culprits are planning to leave the country. Perhaps the talisman was meant for something outside of America. Whatever the case, it will take them longer to use the talisman than to waste Paco and Viper."

Jade looked at the laptop, with its largely fuzzy stream of live footage, static lines dancing in annoying ineptitude.

"I hope you're right, Tohru. Come on, Jackie. Come on, El Toro."

******************************************************************************

Kenzo whistled a nervous tune as he paced onto the foul-smelling deck when he noticed a human arm in front of his Italian shoes. He then noticed it was a man hired to guard the ship, and whoever struck him rendered him unable to activate the silent alarm on his pocket. Kenzo cursed softly and raised his KBR launcher, his eyes planted on the infra-red scope. As if losing Xu Lin to Chan wasn't disruptive enough, now Chan seemed to have found where he was.

From behind the crates, Kenzo heard the grunts of other guards. He leapt stealthily onto the crates and saw the guards flying off the floor and onto the murky sea. Kenzo readjusted the launcher and ferociously fired a KBR. It whistled through the atmosphere and split into 10 smaller units. Each unit of the KBR circled around the suspected location of Chan and El Toro Fuerte, burying the section of the pier into collapsing, catastrophic storms of fire.

Knowing for certain that he had missed his mark, Kenzo yelled out a cold taunt. "You won't last this time, Chan! If I can't see you-" he straightened his spectacles and raised the launcher, "Then the KBRs will."

All of a sudden, the misty area around him became ghostly quiet. Then the thud of metal ringed his ears. Kenzo moved his weapon towards the source of the sound, only to recognize it as the steel door leading to the interior of the ship. He couldn't risk blowing the ship into scrap, not to forget the mission along with it.

"Shimatta!" he bellowed the Japanese equivalent of "Damn" as he rushed inside the cargo holder. As he ran, he put his ring right next to him, and pressed a button.

"Jackie Chan came….as you expected."

"Then destroy him, as I expected."

"He's made his way into the vessel!"

Click!

The abrupt cut-off of communications was enough to make Kenzo speed faster. Hopefully, this wasn't how it was going to be at college.

******************************************************************************

Jackie and El Toro stormed through as their combined weight of almost 600 pounds sent every unwary sentry flat as pancakes. Those guards who avoided their trail could not make of their position, and risked firing at one another to find the perpetrators. Fortunately, Jackie and El Toro were kind enough to slam their heads right onto one another, and cease their friendly fire.

The duo momentarily paused in front of a dimly lit corridor. Jackie pressed his ear onto the cold, thick steel door at the end of the room, and heard words like "Jackie" and "El Toro".

"They're in here, El Toro. Quickly," said Jackie.

El Toro made a nod visible only to Jackie, and executed every rippling muscle on his arms to wrench the rotating handle that locked in their friends. When the handle was torn off its bounds, El Toro pulled the door.

The sight of Paco and Viper arguing as they were wrapped together on a crude rope was a welcoming sight for Jackie and El Toro Fuerte. Jackie temporarily switched off the cloaking device to reveal to the captives their rescuers.

"Jackie", spoke Viper.

"El Toro", spoke Paco.

The two pointed at each other. "See", they chided in unison, "I told you he would come to save us!"

Jackie and El Toro frowned and both shrugged their shoulders, before rushing to remove their friends off the rope.

"Can you walk?" Jackie asked as he lowered the pulley, with El Toro catching Viper and Paco in his record-size grasps.

"Not as well. You try moving your feet after a week hanging up like this," bemoaned Viper. "Ah!" The ex-thief almost tripped following just a few paces across the floor. Jackie valiantly skid his feet, sliding across the floor, swooped her up, and made a huge, smile of triumph.

"I appreciate the heroics, Chan, but we need to find the Horse Talisman first."

"Right." Jackie whispered as he reactivated the cloaking device, enveloping every J-Team member present in an artificial bubble that was clearer than the fog outside. "Stay within. Most of them won't be able to see us."

Viper stared at Jackie teasingly. "Guess I'm not the only one trying to avoid the public eye."

"That's because the public isn't welcome to us," replied Jackie warily. "Let's rush out of this safe and into safety."

The fast four motioned out of the corridor, forming soft, temporary footprints on the wet, slippery floor of steel.

"We were so afraid, nino Paco," spoke up El Toro Fuerte. "Why did these gringos capture you?"

"It's a very long story," Paco said. "But to make it short, the Viper lady was after a coated man."

El Toro gasped. "Coated man, like Xu Lin said?"

Now it was Paco's turn to widen his chocolate-brown eyes. "You have Xu Lin?! Is she okay?"

"She is," whispered Jackie, as he removed his 3-inch Section 13 cell-phone. "You'll be able to talk to her once we leave this ship. But we need to know where the Horse Talisman is."

"The Horse Talisman, I'm afraid, will not be in your grasps," an aged, hoarse voice bellowed from behind.

Jackie turned and saw a spark, followed by a cracking clamor. For the moment, the wind felt like it was converging on a straight line. With that, the cloaking device erupted into a shower of metal and electrical wires. Jackie yelped as he moved his face away from the burning bits. He collapsed on his right side, and turned up to look at his attacker.

The smoke trailing from the gun was concealing the man's face, but he haughtily motioned himself into the light as if expecting how Jackie would react to him. His face was long, and narrow. Tufts of white hair formed a crown around the bald top of his head, as well as his mangy eye-brows and a beard that took decades to be at its current extension.

Jackie's heart raced in a jolt of disbelief. "You're Dr. Necrosis!"

"I'm glad you still know of me, Jackie Chan, much as I am glad to know who you really are."

"Huh?"

"Back when you foiled my Necropolis, I had thought of you as Agent Tag, my once-most formidable adversary. Do you not recall?"

"Once? Wasn't he always?"

"No, 'was' is the better term. As luck would have it, Taggart McStone was trapped in an elevator in the Bellagio Hotel. It took me 10 hours to set up the explosion, but at least the elevator still failed to work."

"Nice story," smiled Jackie. The archaeologist, having held the cell phone behind him, pressed the Speed Dial and Mute 1 instantaneously, before dropping the item beneath his khakis. "I give it two thumbs up. Thank you. Now we will go." He began sliding sideways to the exit.

"You will NOT fall back on me, Jackie Chan!" growled Dr. Necrosis in unkempt ferocity, as he held up his revolver, in a disturbingly shaky manner. "There are still 5 more bullets inside, and there are only 4 of you. My aim may not be perfect, but a murder will be guaranteed."

"Oh, yes, it will be guaranteed," came the voice of Kenzo Yokanawa as he raised his fist, with the miniature gun strapped around the rough side of his palm.

Jackie sighed in reluctant resignation and reserved his momentum, in hopes that he might strike both men with one swift move. "You love to talk, Dr. Necrosis. Were you the coated man who took Paco and Viper?"

"Coated ma- Oh, no, Jackie Chan. That was my superior, and even then Kenzo had to do the dirty aspects of the duty."

"Finally, you gave me a compliment," spoke Kenzo sarcastically.

"Silence!" said Necrosis as he stared back at Chan. "I didn't know you had a team who fought crime. I must say this is far tougher than Agent Tag. Better yet, you're better than Agent Tag."

"Then, uh, perhaps we should fight another day? You know, or else I'll be good as dead."

"The offer is intriguing, but you are in the way of the plan, and so long as you breathe, I won't get what I want."

"So what's the plan? Trying to rob the LACMA?" accused Viper.

"What are you talking about?" asked Chan.

"Necrosis and Kenzo's gang were pilfering museums in the most profitable cities of China. So Paco and I found the gang and stopped the operation cold. Unfortunately-"

"Unfortunately, you could not catch up to our plans for long," added in Necrosis. "And no, we simply went to America just for the Horse Talisman. There is no need for anything else, not anymore."

"El Toro is confused, gringo. The talisman was stolen days ago," said El Toro Fuerte in suspicion. "If you went just to receive the Talisman, why didn't you leave without troubling us?"

"Let me reply that I wasn't ready to leave." Necrosis made a quick turn to Kenzo. "Keep Jackie Chan and the others at bay, since you have the better gun. Forget the wendigo girl. She has only delayed us."

As Necrosis conversed with Kenzo, Jackie felt a solid object on the floor that didn't seem to be even there. It must've been the last operational part of the cloaking device! Jackie slowly wiggled his pants as if he had a miniature itch, until the cell phone fell off the left leg and landed right in the radius of the invisible piece, making it unseen as well. He then slid the little pack further onto an air grate, and put his left leg back on the flat floor.

"Do you suppose Chan and his friends have any other devices on them?" Necrosis then asked Kenzo.

Kenzo searched any suspicious areas on the four's clothings. He searched Viper and Viper actually gave him a sock on the head. Necrosis raised his revolver.

As Kenzo limped back to the doctor, Viper spoke, "That was for the last search."

"Forget it, Necrosis. They've got nothing on them. The cloaking device was it," said Kenzo  as he kicked the shrapnel of the aforementioned mess.

"Then we should be on our way. Ah, just in time," said Necrosis as he saw the guards receiving their bearings, and raising their half-used rifles. "Lock up Chan and his friends in the vault. Our Higher Order will also want a few final words from the archaeologist."

As the four were glumly shoved and hoisted by the guards, Chan could do the only thing undetectable to the captors; think.

I hope the X-3 knows where we'll be going, Kepler. And I hope somewhere along the way you'll find the phone very useful.

Near the entranceway, the cell phone still laid invisible, but continued to record any words that can come within its receiver.

To Be Continued……………