BIOGRAPHY - Page 6
Unfortunately, all was not smooth sailing with Jubilee’s new team. They had yet to master their new technologically-based powers and Jubilee was tasked with getting them into fighting form. It didn’t help that Night Thrasher was distant and had yet to reveal his true identity to any of them. Despite their early successes, the New Warriors 
were still largely inexperienced with their tech and with each other. This cost them dearly when they faced off against a new incarnation of the Zodiac. The battle did not go well and Longstrike (previously known as Tattoo) was killed. The team was rescued by the powerless Sofia Mantega (formerly Wind Dancer), whom they were trying to recruit. Sofia was gravely injured for her efforts and Wondra and her team barely escaped with their lives. In the wake of this tragedy, the team was deeply conflicted and Night Thrasher unilaterally decided to disband the team. Still, Jubilee wasn’t about to lose the new family she was helping to create. She sought out Sofia’s help and, together, they convinced Night Thrasher to give the team a chance. [New Warriors (4th series) #4-6]
Jubilee dove into the challenge of bringing the team up to speed with their new abilities, while forging them into something more, something they were all truly seeking – a family. Unfortunately, Night Thrasher’s mysterious comings and goings, coupled with his refusal to reveal his true identity, left Jubilee feeling paranoid that he was using her and the team. Jubilee’s suspicions proved to be well-founded. After a battle against the Machinesmith that nearly got half the team killed, the team finally learned the truth: Night Thrasher was actually Donyell Taylor AKA Bandit, the younger brother of the original Thrash. Jubilee didn’t even have time to say “I told you so” before the New Warriors were attacked by a heavily armed government squad. Outgunned, the team took heavy losses and both Ripcord (formerly Stacy X) and Skybolt (formerly Redneck) were killed.
The Warriors retreated and Night Thrasher offered them the chance to make it all right again. He revealed that he had been using the team’s activities to help him acquire technology and mystic items he needed to construct a time machine. By going back in time, he planned to prevent the Stamford tragedy and save his brother, as well as their teammates who had been killed in action. Jubilee didn’t trust Donyell but had little choice but to go along with his plan when the strike team sent to apprehend them burst into their headquarters. Night Thrasher’s plans went awry and they ended up in a dystopian future. Their time there convinced them that changing the past was impossible. Devastated by the loss of three team members and disheartened by their inability to fully trust Night Thrasher, the team disbanded. One positive thing did come from their time as New Warriors: Jubilee and the others realized that they did not need powers to have self-worth or make a difference in the world. [New Warriors (4th series) #7-20]
Shortly after Cyclops established a haven for the world’s remaining mutants on an island outside San Francisco, Jubilee moved to the “City by the Bay.” She wasn’t sure if she was welcome on Utopia since she was no longer a mutant but, after the dissolution of the New Warriors, she needed to start a new life. 
She began hanging out with some of the younger mutants, who marveled at her tales of the “old days” with the X-Men. Despite her tough talk, Jubilation wasn’t sure where she fit among her former teammates. [Nation X #2] She found it hardest to reconnect with Wolverine. She’d been his sidekick and one of his closest friends but, now that she was powerless, she didn’t know how to reconnect. They worked it out while on a night patrol, easily sliding back into the rhythms of their partnership as if nothing had changed. Jubilee finally opened up to Logan about her difficulty adjusting to life without her powers and he reaffirmed that she’d always have a special place in his life – powers or no powers. [Girl Comics #3]
While hanging out with Pixie in San Francisco, Jubilee was at “ground zero” of a biological attack by the vampire nation – the first salvo in a major plot involving mutantkind. A vampire exposed himself to sunlight in the middle of a crowded food court. His body exploded and bathed everyone nearby, including Jubilee, in his bioengineered blood. Those exposed were infected with a virus that gave them certain vampire-like traits and a compelling urge to seek out the vampires to quench their emerging thirst. The X-Men took the offensive, rooting out the vampire cells in the Bay Area. 
Meanwhile, the X-Club worked round the clock to develop a cure for Jubilee and the other infected. Despite this support, Jubilee found herself consumed with a dark, compelling desire that she could not resist… and didn’t want to. She subdued Dr. Kavita Rao and stole away into the night in search of relief. Her hunger led her to Xarus, Dracula's son and the leader of the vampires since he defeated and killed his father. Xarus' entire plan had been launched to lure Jubilee into his embrace. Given her outsider status but importance to the X-Men - and Wolverine in particular - Jubilee was the key to Xarus’ plan to add Logan to the ranks of his vampire assault team. His bite transformed Jubilee into a full vampire. [X-Men (3rd series) #1-2]
As Xarus anticipated, Cyclops dispatched Wolverine to find Jubilee. Logan tracked her to Xarus’ lair where she appeared to be held prisoner. In reality, Jubilation had fully embraced her dark side and was willingly aiding Xarus in his scheme to turn Logan. 
The moment Logan turned his back, Jubilee bit him. Logan’s healing factor failed to halt his transformation into a vampire and soon the change was complete. Xarus and Cyclops exchanged words and Xarus revealed his master plan – to transform mutantkind into vampires and create an unstoppable and unified coalition between the two populations. Cyclops bluntly refused Xarus’ offer and vowed that he would stop at nothing to expel the vampire influence from the region. Xarus then revealed Logan and Jubilee as part of his vampire army. However, when this did nothing to sway Cyclops, he launched a full assault on Utopia, with Jubilee at his side and Logan at the forefront of the attack. [X-Men (3rd series) #3-4]
However, Cyclops proved to be the superior strategist. Knowing that Logan might be turned in his efforts to rescue Jubilee, he had the X-Club suppress his healing factor with nanites to create the illusion that Logan was fully turned. At the height of the vampires’ siege of Utopia, Cyclops turned off the nanites and Wolverine’s healing factor was fully restored and reversed his vampiric transformation. Scott countered the vampires’ superior forces with creative tactics and a helping hand from his Atlantean allies. Xarus’s defeat was cemented when his father, Dracula, whom Cyclops had resurrected, arrived in his headquarters and challenged his leadership. The fight was brief and Dracula beheaded his son. Jubilee was shocked to see her new master killed but was quickly put in her place by the true Lord of the Vampires. As a parting gift to Cyclops for his assistance in restoring him to life and power among the vampire nation, Dracula allowed the X-Men to leave with Jubilee. [X-Men (3rd series) #6]
The X-Men contained Jubilee while she adjusted to her new reality as a vampire. This was made easier when the X-Club devised a blood-based therapy designed to help her fight her vampiric urges. The treatment consisted of a continuous transfusion of Wolverine’s blood, which imbued Jubilee with a semblance of his healing factor. This process restored Jubilee to her previous personality and also reduced the natural vulnerabilities she faced as a vampire, such as exposure to sunlight. However, Jubilee still had to contend with the radical changes she had undergone and was understandably angry. Despite his hatred for vampires, Logan stood by Jubilee, taking personal responsibility for her rehabilitation. He convinced some of the students to talk to her to make her feel better but that just aggravated Jubilee’s already delicate temper. She ran off into San Francisco and ended up meeting a mysterious vampire woman at a bar. Things took a dire turn though when the women framed Jubilee for the slaughter off a hundred illegal immigrants in a shipping container.
Wolverine saw right through the ruse though and, after tracking the container’s origin to Siberia, he took Jubilee to the cold and bleak region to investigate. Jubilee continued to dwell in her own misery as she struggled to come to terms with her new condition but her mind was soon to become distracted by other things. The woman who framed Jubilee found the two X-Men and revealed it had all been a ploy to get Wolverine to work for her. Before anyone could stop her, the woman teleported Jubilee away to another dimension and held her as hostage so Wolverine could undertake a job for her. Trapped in this strange universe Jubilee was clueless as to how to get out and she had to rely on her own wits to survive. In the process, she even managed to turn herself into mist, a vampiric trait that regular vampires take centuries to learn. She eventually found her own way out of the universe and proved that there was a good part of her old self still in her. After taking a little time off and with a steady dose of Wolverine’s healing blood, Jubilee rejoined the X-Men. [Wolverine and Jubilee #1-4]