Author's Note: Hello Readers! Thank you for coming and checking out my latest story!

Recently, I received a request from Fan FictionLover1 in order to start a story with a slight Shendu/OC pairing. I was intrigued, as I had watched the show 'Jackie Chan Adventures' when I was a kid but hadn't seen or thought of it since. So, I decided to give the first few episodes a go, just to see what I was dealing with... and then consequently spent the next WEEK staying up until stupid in the morning in order to watch all five seasons. My mind went spinning with ideas, and that is where this little baby has come from. I loved the Shendu character and this will focus on him and my OC, Valerie, as we follow their story through the majority of the first two seasons of the show.

Credit goes to Fan FictionLover1 for coming up with the initial idea, but also a personal thank you to her from me for helping me during the creative process. I hope everyone enjoys this, and please leave a review and tell me what you think! All reviews are appreciated very much. ENJOY! :)

The Ultimate Evil

Welcome to the Chan Clan!

She yelped as she jumped aside to avoid a speeding car, watching it flash past as it barrelled down the road.

"Hey! Don't mind me! Jerk!" she shouted after the car, growling before readjusting her bag strap and continuing on as she hopped up onto the pavement and walked down the street, following the crudely and hastily written directions on her sheet of paper.

Valerie sighed as she stubbornly tucked stray strands of hair that had escaped her small ponytail behind her ear, trying to walk and read at the same time without bumping into anybody. The woman did her best to not start panicking when she saw that she was going to be late and that she had no clue where she was. Great. She hadn't been living three days in San Francisco and already she was late for her bloody job interview!

Picking any stranger at random, she politely asked if they could tell her where to find one: 'Uncle's Rare Finds', an antique store. Although her guide didn't know the shop, he still knew of the street which she spoke of, and pointed her in the right direction. Valerie thanked him, and then quickly set on her way.

As she hurried along, Valerie once again tried to tame defiant strands of her scraggily blonde hair that escaped its short ponytail, thinking about what a hectic week it had been. Although the beginning of January, Valerie had arrived in San Francisco in order to go the City University, and was due to start her studies next week. She was cutting into the course late, but she'd needed to get away from home... and San Francisco seemed to be the perfect distance from Toronto, though it had only been her good test scores that had allowed her entry this late in the academic year. Having just moved into a small one bedroom apartment not two days ago, Valerie knew that she needed a job in order to pay off her bills. Luckily she had seen an ad in the local paper asking for an assistant and cleaner at an antique store; it offered good pay, flexible hours, and was supposedly just a few blocks down the road from where she lived. Valerie had leapt at the chance to snatch up something so great at such an opportune moment, and seeing as she was studying History at the University, she thought it would be a fascinating way to research more into culture and history through antiques. She'd phoned the shop, and talked to a man named Mr Chan, who had been all too pleased to have her come over to the shop so that she might meet him and they would talk about hours, pay, and what the job would entail.

But how embarrassing would it be to have a grown woman of 23 turn up at the job "interview" late and blaming it on getting lost?! Argh! This was not her day!

Eventually, Valerie managed to find the Antique store, down a seemingly uninteresting street, a yellow brick building with a red roof in a Chinese style. The front window was even filled with Asian antiques that Valerie could tell from a glance were all old, genuine and extremely fragile. Quickly glancing at her reflection in the glass of the window, Valerie tried to smooth out her grey long sleeved blouse and jeans beneath her long coat, and noticed that her dirty-blonde hair was still a mess, but tamed in its ponytail (for now). Bags were under her dull blue eyes, her skin a little pale, all from the stress of moving. Deciding that her appearance was going to be as good as she could get it, she took a deep breath and entered the shop.

A bell rang to announce that she had entered, and Valerie glanced around almost nervously as she tried to find someone inside. There were antiques piled around and put on display, and she had to admit that some of them were absolutely exquisite pieces, and would probably have an interesting history behind it. But she put those thoughts aside as she spotted an old man sitting at the front desk. He was an old Chinese man, with small eyes hidden behind spectacles that sat precariously on his hawk nose, his long face drawn down in a permanent frown of disapproval, his bushy brows furrowed as he seemed to be concentrating on a book in front of him. He wore a simple white shirt with a yellow woollen cardigan and baggy trousers, and didn't even seem to notice Valerie until she cleared her throat politely. The old man looked up, and seemed confused for half a second as he studied her, before his eyes widened and a grin started across his face.

"Hello!" the old man leapt from his chair behind the front desk and came towards her with a confident stride. "Welcome to Uncle's Rare Finds! You come and look at our antiques." He then paused by a spiralling staircase that led up to the second floor of the shop and presumably the private rooms above. "JACKIE!" he screeched up the stairs. "We have a customer!"

"Oh no," Valerie said quickly, realising the mistake as she put a hand out as if to stop the old man. "I'm sorry! No, er… I, uh, I'm not a customer. Sorry, I'm here to speak with a Mr Chan?"

"Oh," the old man said as if understanding before turning his attention to shout back up the staircase. "JACKIE! You have girl-friend here to see you! Why you not tell Uncle?!"

"Oh no!" Valerie squawked, her face reddening as she tried to still her embarrassment. "No-no-no-no! Y-you don't understand! I-I'm not his girlfriend – no! I'm here for the job!"

"Job? What job?" the old man furrowed his brow at her in suspicion, and Valerie felt a slight sprinkling of nerves as she looked into those eyes. She was about to explain after her moment of hesitation, when suddenly they both heard a voice from above.

"Uncle!"

Both Valerie and the old man looked up to see a man at the top of the stairs with thick black hair, a well-built body, warm brown eyes and thick jaw. He was dressed in a blue jumper and beige trousers, quickly descending the stairs two or three at a time as he quickly stuck himself between Valerie and the older man, for which the woman was eternally grateful for. The man smiled at her, obviously trying to be charming though he seemed to be just as embarrassed as she was.

"Hello there, you must be Miss Payne!" he said quickly, taking her hand and shaking it hastily. "My name is Jackie Chan,"

"Good to meet you," Valerie mumbled as she took back her hand, feeling her shoulder ache slightly from the force of the shake. Where have I heard the name 'Chan' before? She asked herself as she tried to rack her brains, feeling as if she should know the answer, it was right on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't quite say it!

"I apologise for my Uncle," Jackie said again with great haste as he tried to keep that big smile on his face for her. "He can just be a little odd at times," he then stood aside so that she could see the old man again. "This is my Uncle, just call him 'Uncle', everyone else does. Uncle, this is Miss Valerie Payne,"

"Jackie…" Uncle didn't spare a glance at Valerie, he was too busy frowning at Jackie suspiciously as he drew out the name with great annoyance and distrust in his tone. "Woman is telling me she's here for a job, tell her she has the wrong shop!"

"Uncle!" Jackie hissed as if he wanted to scold the old man. "I'm hiring Miss Payne to be your assistant. She will help you clean the shop and watch over it whilst you do your own… private work," he explained, though Valerie did find it slightly odd how he put so much emphasis on the last two words. Perhaps Uncle was partially deaf, or didn't do this supposedly private work. Valerie simply shrugged to herself about it; wasn't any of her business anyway.

"AIYEEEYAAAAA!" Uncle shouted, eyes going wide as well as his mouth. "You got Uncle a shop assistant?! Uncle does not want assistant! Does not need one! Nobody asked Uncle!"

"Didn't want to bother you," Jackie replied with a slight smirk, as if it were some private joke between the two of them. But Uncle was clearly not in the mood for it, as he suddenly lashed out and struck Jackie with two fingers on the side of his head. The grown man flinched and ducked away from Uncle, rubbing his head as if it hurt.

"You never listen to Uncle!" he shouted, actually stamping his foot like a spoiled child. "Uncle does not want assistant! She will get in the way, mess up the shop, stop Uncle from doing research! Uncle does not want her!"

"Uncle!" Jackie hissed under his breath again, steering the old man away and began to speak to him in hushed tones that Valerie couldn't overhear, though she stood there biting her lip nervously, beginning to feel awkward as the minuets slipped by and the two Chinese-men were still discussing amongst themselves in whispers. Though from the wild gestures from Uncle, Valerie could only assume that it wasn't boding well. But then, the two seemed to reach an understanding as suddenly Uncle stormed off and plopped himself on his seat behind the till desk and went back to reading his book with a huff. Jackie came up to Valerie, but whatever fears she had were swept away by his words.

"My Uncle is stubborn, and may not like the idea of depending on someone, but he does need the help. His schedule is too busy for him to watch the shop and do his… other hobbies," Jackie told her.

"I'm so sorry," Valerie said quickly, almost pleadingly. "I really didn't mean –"

"It's okay," Jackie smiled at her, a real, genuine smile filled with warmth that Valerie couldn't help but feel reassured by. "So, when do you start at the University?"

"Not until next week," she told him evenly, regaining her confidence and surety quickly.

"Well, we'll pay you weekly by the hours you work. So how about you start the job today and work until half four. Then if you want to you can come back for the rest of the week and then work after school at what times suit you. But spend this week getting a feel for the job and see if this will work for you," he suggested.

"Sounds fair enough," Valerie gave a smile of her own. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just clean the antiques and keep the shop clean, then you can work behind the counter and hopefully make a sale." He chuckled at his own joke, though Valerie only smiled for the sake of manners. "And get Uncle whatever he wants. Just don't take any of his… eccentric ways to heart."

"Okay then,"

"Oh! And my niece will be coming round after school," Jackie added as he made his way back towards the stairs. "Call for me when she gets here, I'll just be upstairs if you need me."

"Okay, thank you Mr Chan." She called after him.

"Please, call me Jackie!" he called back to her with a slight wave.

Valerie stood there for a moment, simply waiting for Uncle to start telling her what to do, but he simply sat there scowling at his book as he sulked. After an awkward silence, Valerie sighed and decided to simply get her hands dirty – so to speak – and went to the kitchen in the back of the shop. After dumping her bag on the table and rooting around in the cupboards, she soon found a duster and polish, and then came back into the main shop and began work on cleaning the antiques carefully. She didn't make it three seconds before she heard Uncle shout, making her jump.

"Aiiiiyyyyaaaa!" he shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at her. "That is from Ming Dynasty! You be careful with it! You break it, you buy it!"

"Yes Uncle," Valerie said as she turned back to her work.

"One more thing!" he shouted again. "You are being too rough! My antiques are worthless if you've sanded them into powder!"

"Okay…" she murmured, a sense of frustration biting at her stomach, but once again as she turned back to her work, Uncle called out to her again.

"One MORE thing!" he said as he turned back to his book. "Make Uncle some coffee!"

"Sure thing," Valerie mumbled, already becoming frustrated as she put down the duster and walked into the back room and began to make the cup of coffee, once again rooting around through every cupboard as she tried to find the right ingredients as Uncle didn't offer to show her where anything was. A few minutes later, she brought Uncle his coffee. He didn't thank her, and had only taken a sip when he suddenly spat it back out.

"HTCHA!" he exclaimed, looking at his cup before turning to her with a glare. "What is this crock?!" He demanded.

"It's coffee." Valerie replied defensively.

"It DECAFFEINATED coffee!"

"Full coffee can be quite bad for you at your –" Valerie was about to say 'your age', but quickly swallowed her words at the look on Uncle's face.

"Jackie drinks this garbage!" he stamped his foot as he thrust the cup back towards her. "Coffee is the only thing keeping Uncle's ancient heart beating! SO YOU GO MAKE COFFEE!" he screeched.

"Fine." Valerie growled out under her breath as she practically stomped back into the kitchen, throwing the decaf cup of coffee down the sink as she made another one.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't get any better, as every time she tried to do her job, Uncle would keep butting in with his comments, criticising her for everything she did. Sometimes Valerie would give subtle snarky comments back, but that would just encourage the old goat, and other times she just growled to herself in frustration and kept reminding herself that this was the perfect job… good pay… perfect for a student… but it was very hard to keep track of even those simply things when Uncle would constantly be shrieking like a banshee:

"Aiiiyyyyaaa! You're sweeping the floor, not knocking out all Uncle's Ling Dynasty vases!"

"Uncle is old, not deaf! Quit you're grumbling!"

"Do not question Uncle! You work for him – not other way round! Do as he says!"

It was actually a relief when three o'clock came around and a change of pace came when SOMEONE came through the front door.

Valerie looked up to see a small girl of perhaps ten years old walk through the door. She had short jet black hair that framed her face, with large honey golden brown eyes and a heart shaped face. She wore an orange hoodie with short jeans and red sneakers, a Melvin Moose bag slung over her shoulder. Valerie quickly concluded that this must be the niece that Jackie had mentioned earlier. As soon as the girl saw her, she frowned in confusion, before her face lit up as she beamed.

"You must be the girl Jackie hired!" she exclaimed happily.

"Jade knew about Uncle's assistant before Uncle did?!" the old man shrieked indignantly.

"I listened to the phone call, duh," Jade made the snarky reply. "So what's your name?" she asked Valerie with another big grin.

"Valerie, Valerie Payne," she answered with a polite smile.

"Cool. I'm Jade, Jackie's niece. Do you mind if I call you Val? Or Ray-ray?" she asked quickly.

"Jackie's told me about you. And no, please, just Valerie."

"Awww…" the girl moaned. "So where you from? I here you're a student at the University Jackie works for,"

"Well, I came here from Toronto, where my Mum lives, but I'm originally from Washington," Valerie told her stiffly, not wanting to answer but didn't want to appear rude. "And yeah I'm at the University. I didn't know your uncle worked there,"

"He's an archaeologist part time," Jade said nonchalantly. "The other half of the time, he's out working for the government!" the child suddenly bounced excitedly.

"What?" Valerie blinked in surprise. She realised then where she recognised the name 'Chan', he was the person who brought in the artefacts for the history students to study, she now remembered reading that in the University brochure. But the sudden news that her boss was a government official was new. "How so?" she asked.

"Well, Jackie is often sent out on top-secret missions around the world! It's all hush-hush, TOTALLY top-secret, but Jackie is SO cool! He's currently trying to find ancient magical talismans,"

"Really," Valerie deadpanned, her slight excitement dampened and replaced by amusement as she watched the imaginative child prattle on, completely enraptured in her own story.

"Yeah! He's up against a criminal group called the Dark Hand, and they want the magic in the talismans for evil! But Jackie is always there to kick their butts! Them and the shadow-ninjas!"

"Shadow ninjas," Valerie repeated, trying not to laugh in case it would hurt the girl's feelings.

"Jade?"

Both Valerie and Jade looked up to see Jackie standing at the top of the stairs as he quickly made his way down to them. He quickly stood in front of Jade, putting on that huge smile for Valerie again as if Jade had said something she shouldn't and Jackie was desperate to make Valerie believe that nothing was amiss.

"Haha, kids eh?" he said as he scratched the back of his neck, before quickly grabbing Jade by the arm and hauling her towards the back room. Unfortunately, this didn't give them the privacy that Jackie was obviously wanting.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Valerie could hear him demand in a hushed tone.

"What?" Jade whined.

"You know what! You're not supposed to – never mind!" Jackie sighed in exasperation. "Your teacher called me to say that you're getting into arguments with Drew again, what happened?"

"He's calling me a liar Jackie!" the girl said pleadingly. "He won't believe me when I tell him how cool you are and about the talismans and the shadowkhan!"

Valerie had to smile at the young girl's devotion and clear adoration for her uncle.

"He's not supposed to," Jackie told her. "And you're not supposed to tell him,"

"But –"

"No 'buts'," he said sternly. "Now go clean up before we have dinner,"

Valerie heard the girl humph sulkily, and a second later Jackie was walking out of the backroom towards Valerie.

"So," he said with a smile as he desperately tried to act as if nothing was wrong. "How was your first day on the job?"

"Assistant is good worker," Uncle spoke up from his desk before Valerie could speak. She had to literally stick her head out to see around Jackie as her jaw fell open in astonishment.

"Wait-what?!" she squawked.

"Assistant is good worker and has a level head, she will be good for the shop. Have her come back tomorrow," Uncle said calmly, sipping his third cup of coffee noisily. Valerie blinked in surprise as she turned back to Jackie… well, she hadn't expected that.

"What he said," Jackie shrugged. "If you would like to continue working here of course; I know my Uncle can be quite a headache,"

"Sure thing," Valerie smiled, not quite believing her luck. She would have thought that Uncle would have fired her for sure after his constant bad behaviour today.

"And I also apologise for my niece," Jackie murmured as he scratched the back of his head again. "She moved here recently from Hong Kong to live with me, and she's still not fitting in well at school."

"There's no need to apologise," Valerie held up a hand as she smiled at him. "From what I've seen, Jade's a good kid. Inquisitive, excitable, perhaps she has an over-active imagination, but she's young. She's allowed –"

"What?!"

Both Jackie and Valerie turned to see that Jade had exited the back room and was glaring at them angrily.

"You think I'm lying to?" she demanded.

"Jade," Jackie said. "Don't –"

"I'm not a liar! I'm not!" she shouted furiously, stamping her foot. "I'll prove it to you! I'll prove that I'm not lying!"

And with that she skulked off out of the door.

Shendu studied the human before him, his red eyes flaring with his already thin patience. He wanted to swat the man aside, beat him into submission for his impertinence; but of course, he could not, not whilst he was trapped in this statue form. The only reason he tolerated the human named Valmont and his fools for minions, was because he needed them, it was more out of desperation now. After nine hundred years of being frozen as a statue, Shendu was more than willing to put up with their incompetence if it meant that he would have a chance of regaining the twelve talismans, his rightful powers, so that he could break free of his prison and return to his true form.

"Four talismans have been found," Shendu spoke in his hissing serpent like voice, the disembodied sound filling the large and spacious office that was Valmont's base of operations for his criminal organisation known as the Dark Hand. He could tell that the human was still disturbed by his voice, even after they had spent months talking, as he spoke but his frozen stone lips did not move. "And thus far, I have not seen a single one. Chan seems to outwit your men at every turn,"

"No doubt he has the talismans locked up in Section 13 already," Valmont spoke, his aristocratic British accent making him sound sophisticated. It was what had convinced Shendu of reaching out to the man – metaphorically speaking. Valmont had bought Shendu almost a year and a half ago, for a hefty price so that the statue could hang on his wall behind his desk and throw an imposing image. Shendu had watched him and waited, as he had done the past nine centuries as he'd waited for the right moment, and he'd thought he'd found what had seemed to be a competent man with both the resources and the ability to get whatever he wanted, being the CEO of a vast criminal empire. As of late, Shendu was being proved wrong on a lot of points he had attributed to the man.

"Then why not have your men follow Chan?" Shendu suggested, his voice tight with impatience. "Let him lead you to Section 13 and retrieve my talismans!"

"Wouldn't your shadowkhan be better suited for that purpose?" Valmont raised an eyebrow at Shendu as he leaned on his cane lazily.

"The shadowkhan do not speak," Shendu growled out. "They could follow Chan, find the location, but they would then need to return to lead your enforcers there – so your men might as well have done it themselves in the first place!"

"Very well Shendu," Valmont sighed, retrieving his phone from inside his suit jacket and quickly messaging the order to his enforcers. "You know Shendu," the human said, turning back to face the dragon statue with a small smirk, obviously building to something that had been on his mind. "My men might have more success if they were more… motivated,"

"Motivated?" Shendu asked tightly.

"These talisman expeditions…" Valmont trailed off before his lips broke into a smirk. "Let's just say that I'm racking up some heavy out of pocket expenses, and as of yet there's nothing coming back in to my pocket,"

Shendu wanted to curl his lip in distaste at this human's audacity, if only he had a lip with which to curl. But he had known that this human's greed knew no bounds. When Shendu had observed him after being "purchased" he had seen that this man coveted money and riches more than anything else. It had been all too easy to break a deal with Valmont: help Shendu return to life, and he would be rewarded with treasures untold.

"When – and only when – your men acquire all twelve talismans," Shendu said, eyes flaring a glowing blood red. "The lost treasure of Ching Xi Hung will cover your expenses… ten thousand times over,"

"The reputed lost treasure…" Valmont added, if a little sourly.

"Ahhh…" Shendu drew out lazily, for he would have smirked as he realised the root of the problem. "So we have a sceptic…"

With the power of his will alone, Shendu summoned a single Shadowkhan, the ninja appearing from the shadows of the office beside where Shendu's statue was mounted on the back wall. Covered in black clothes as dark as the shadows it lived in, grey-blue skin, and glowing red eyes like that of its master, the spectral warrior walked forward, holding a golden vase that glittered as if with its own light. The Shadowkhan dutifully walked forward to Valmont, and held the vase to him as if in offering, opening the lid and revealing that it was filled with rubies, glowing from within to give it more effect. Shendu could see that Valmont was practically salivating as he stared open mouthed at the treasure before him. Before he could reach out to touch it however, Shendu willed the ninja to snap the lid of the vase closed, and withdrew back to the shadows from whence it came, disappearing with the treasure along with it. Valmont seemed a little disheartened as he stared at where the warrior had gone.

"Patience Valmont," Shendu said, the smirk obvious in his voice as he drew the human's attention back to focus on him. "All good things to those who wait…"

"What the hell we doing here anyways?" Ratso complained as he slouched in the passenger seat of the car, crossing his arms over his chest miserably. "This aint gonna work,"

"All we need to do is have Chan lead us to Section 13, that's what Valmont said," Chow replied in a bored tone from the back seat.

"But I'm tired of just sitting here! What if they don't go to Section 13?" Ratso whined, the large burly man acting rather childish for someone of his size.

"What the boss says goes," Chow grumbled back.

"Yeah," Finn said from where he sat in the driver's seat watching the antique shop across the road. "But he didn't say how…" he trailed off as he spotted Chan's niece come strolling determinedly down the street and head into the antique store. "Boys," Finn said to his companions with a cunning grin. "I think I may have just found a way to speed this along,"

It was her second day on the job, and Valerie was sweeping up the shop again when Jade came through the door from school. Uncle was out buying some rather odd ingredients which Valerie could only assume were for his herbal tea – though she had to wonder if one could drink powdered rat liver in a broth. She shivered, not wanting to remember half of what was on that list. Jackie was upstairs making an important phone call from someone called Black. So when the young girl came into the shop, she only had eyes for the woman before her as she stared at her, locking her jaw determinedly.

"Jade?" Valerie asked, frowning as she noticed the girl's mood. "Everything okay?"

Jade did not say a word, she simply dumped her bag by the door, marched into the back room, but only for a moment as she seemed to grab something from Uncle's desk and came marching straight back out until she was standing in front of Valerie like a general approaching her troops. Valerie had to commend the girl for her nerve.

"Jade…?"

"Okay, I know you don't believe me, but hear me out," she said in such a tone of voice that Valerie was suddenly rendered powerless as she listened as if she were the child here. "In September, I came to live with Jackie who had recently found a shield with a talisman in it. He was soon followed by two groups of people: one, was the dark hand, the bad guys; and the other was Captain Black with Section 13, they work for the government in trying to stop the Dark Hand. Jackie got the shield taken from him, but not before I took the talisman out of it! It turns out that the talisman was magical! It had the symbol of the rooster on it – an animal of the Chinese Zodiac. According to Uncle, there are eleven others, and the Dark Hand wants them all, and its Jackie's job to find them. The Rooster had the power of levitation, and since then we've found the Ox that gives you super-strength, the serpent which makes you invisibility and the Rabbit which gives you super speed." She looked up hopefully at Valerie once her speech was concluded. "You believe me now don't you?!"

Valerie looked at the girl, biting her lip as she struggled with what to say, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings but at the same time, this was just too much. It sounded like some sort of blockbuster spy-meets-magic movie. As a history student, Valerie liked to deal in the cold, hard evidence and facts that were laid out before her, and this was just… well it was just fantasy.

"Jade…" she tried to begin gently, but was cut short when the girl angrily growled to herself.

"I swear I'm not lying! You can even ask Uncle!"

"I know," Valerie replied automatically, wanting to calm the child before her as she bent down to her level. "I don't doubt it… But Jade, you need to realise that adults don't think of the world like a story anymore. It's just too much for me to believe,"

"I thought you'd say that," Jade murmured as she took a step back, a crafty smile forming on her lips that put Valerie slightly off guard. "That's why I thought of giving you a demonstration," she then held up in her hand a stone octagon with the carving of a rabbit on the front, Valerie looked at it curiously.

"And this is supposed to be…"

"The rabbit talisman," Jade finished with a devilish grin. "Section 13 hasn't finished building the vault yet, so Uncle still had it. But let me show you what it can do…"

Jade then leant forward as if she were about to charge, and Valerie saw with confusion how the rock in her hand suddenly began to glow, the rabbit symbol lighting up in Jade's palm. And then, Jade suddenly shot forward, so fast that she was literally a blur of orange and black as she raced around the shop, going from corner to corner, top to bottom, and back to front in a matter of seconds! A wind was created from her passing so strong that some of the antiques began to wobble and threatened to fall from their places. Valerie brought out of her stupor long enough to shriek with alarm before diving to catch the historically priceless objects before they crashed to the ground, placing them beside her books by her bag. Not a second later, Jade stood in front of her again, smirking as she stood there as she sank into a hip, tossing the talisman in her hand smugly. She didn't even appear to have broken a sweat.

"Believe me now?" she raised an eyebrow at Valerie, who was staring wide eyed at the girl before her, shaking as she pointed a finger at her fearfully, her mouth hanging open in pure astonishment, awe and terror.

"Y-y-y-you j-just… b-b-but how did you… h-h-how? What? Wha –" she gaped shakily. And then suddenly, the woman was shrieking as she clutched her head as she was still staring at Jade in panic. "Oh my GOD!" She screamed. "Holy hell! You just… oh no! This can't be good! It can't be possible – but it is! History books say it shouldn't be – but it is! Oh dear aunt Josephine-on-the-porch, you shouldn't be able to – but you did! How-what-when-why-?!"

"Whoa," Jade murmured as she watched the woman ramble on and on in hysterics. "Information overload…" she then quickly jumped forward and grabbed Valerie's arm and giving it a tug as she tried to get her attention. "Valerie! Hey! Listen, it's okay! Jackie can explain everything, I don't know how it works – but it's magic! Isn't that cool?!"

Before Valerie could answer with a stern 'No', the front bell rang and both of them turned to see three men standing in the doorway to the shop. On the left of the trio, was a tall and hulking man, slouched forward with a dumb expression on his face, his grey skin and dark grey hair giving the man an air of sickness to him, especially with a bandage across his nose. The one in the middle was a man with red hair and sideburns, a long nose and a white suit that looked something straight off of 'Saturday Night Fever'. The last man on the right was the shortest of the bunch, Asian with spiked black hair and huge orange sunglasses. All three were looking at Valerie and Jade intently, and Valerie felt a chill go down her spine as she realised that these did not appear to be the type of men who came buying Chinese antiques. Jade gasped when she saw them.

"What are you jerks doing here?!" she yelled, but Valerie quickly caught the girl's arm and pulled her behind her protectively.

"Jade – Shhh!" she whispered, her gaze never leaving the men in the doorway as she unconsciously picked up the broom again and held it a little too tightly. "Can I help you three gentlemen?" she asked in a cold yet politely professional voice. The three men studied her, their eyes travelling the length of her body, making Valerie want to bare her teeth at them like a dog.

"Didn't know Chan had a girlfriend," the guy in the white suit said with a whistle.

"I'm not his girlfriend, I'm the shop assistant," Valerie narrowed her eyes at the men. "Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave,"

"Sorry sweet-cakes, no can do," again the man in white said with a smirk.

"We're here for the girl," the Asian man said with a nasally voice.

"What?!" Jade exclaimed with wide eyes.

"That's right kido," the man in white grinned evilly at her. "You're gonna take us on a little tour of Section 13,"

Valerie placed herself firmly in front of Jade, holding her broom in both hands as she tried to appear as intimidating as possible, even though she was terrified inside, realising that she was one woman against three men. But still she could not and would not let them waltz in here and take Jade, for even though they had only known each other for twenty four hours, Jade was still an innocent child, and Valerie would not see her victimised. It was something her father would never have stood for, and neither would she.

"She's not going anywhere with you," she hissed, trying her best to sound threatening, though it didn't quite work.

"Oh yeah?" the big man said in a slow and deep voice with a thick down-town accent. He was so stereotypical of a thug it was almost laughable. "And who's gonna stop us?"

"Come and try it," Valerie dared as she lifted the broom up and held it like a baseball bat. "Jade, go and phone the police!" she said over her shoulder.

"Better idea! I'll go get Jackie!" Jade beamed, before running off towards the stairs.

"Jade – No! Phone the –" Valerie tried to say but was quickly cut off when Finn shouted:

"Ratso! Get the girl!"

The huge burly man that Valerie assumed was "Ratso" came charging towards Valerie, his eyes on Jade who was running for the stairs a few feet behind her. Valerie panicked for a second as she saw him coming, but quickly tightened her grip on the broom handle and ground her feet into the floor, a determined look on her face as she saw him come within range. With a burst of power in her muscles, Valerie swung the broom like a bat, twisting her body and executing in near-perfect form as the hard straw needles hit Ratso square in the face. He cried out in pain as he was knocked off of his feet and fell backwards onto the ground.

Everyone stared in wide-eyed amazement, Valerie included.

"Whoa…" Jade murmured, breaking the silence. "Valerie, you had martial arts training?"

"No…" Valerie mumbled, still shocked at what she had done. "But I played in the Highschool Baseball team…"

"Get her!" the man in white shouted as he and the Asian man suddenly charged.

"Argh!" Valerie shrieked in alarm. "Go! Go get help!" Valerie heard the 'WHOOSH' of motion as Jade used the speed talisman to race up the stairs.

The Asian man leapt into the air and tried to place a blow with the side of his hand towards Valerie's head, but she quickly held the broom in both hands and held it up horizontally in order to parry the strike and send the little man off to the side. Swinging the broom around to her right hand with the momentum, Valerie then held it like a javelin and jabbed it forward as the man in white came at her, hitting him in the stomach with the handle of the broom and winding him as he doubled over. Flipping it back around, Valerie held the broom again like a baseball bat and swung it as it hit the red-haired man around the face so that he spun around on the spot. She heard a shout and turned in time to see the Asian man come flying at her, and she barely had enough time to get out of the way rather awkwardly.

But Valerie had not noticed that Ratso had gotten back up and quickly charged up the stairs after Jade, searching for her on the landing as he saw her pounding on a door.

"Jackie-Jackie-Jackie-Jackie!" she yelled furiously fast, pounding her fist on the door, which opened just as Ratso was coming up behind her to grab her.

"Jade," Jackie moaned as he opened the door. "I thought I told you to – BWHA!" he exclaimed, eyes going wide and jaw dropping as he saw the member of the Dark Hand about to snatch up his niece. With a lightning fast strike, Jackie punched Ratso in the chest, sending him reeling back until he hit the banister and fell back and over it to fall to the floor on the level below – which conveniently happened to be on Chow, who Valerie was desperately trying to get away from as she run away from him around the shop. However, Finn came around the case she was running behind, causing Valerie to trip over her own feet as she tried to turn around too quickly. Finn wrapped his arms around her, pinning her against his chest as he held the broom with her in front of both of them, pinning her against him. She shrieked and kicked and struggled, managing to accidentally stand on his foot, sending them both to the ground with a yelp. But Finn was up first, grabbing the first object he could as a weapon, which just so happened to be one of Valerie's books.

"Nobody touches my books!" she yelled furiously, jumping to her feet, rage filling her as she swatted the broom at him. To Valerie, to disrespect a book was sacrilege! But she was no fighter, her swings were wide and Finn easily side stepped her.

Seeing the Dark Hand Enforcers in the shop, Jackie set his face into a mask of grim determination, as he jumped up from the upper-level balcony, flipped through the air and landed on the balls of his feet on the bottom floor, directly between Valerie and Finn, as he and the other Enforcers looked up at him with panicked expressions.

"Leave. Now." Jackie told them firmly.

The Enforcers quickly got up and fled the shop.

Jackie sighed in relief, sagging slightly as he gave a small smile and turned around to look at the woman behind him, who was staring at him with her mouth hanging open in astonishment.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly. Valerie quickly shook her head as if to clear it, and grinned at her boss – perhaps a little too brightly.

"Fine? Well of course I'm fine, I mean it's not like three men just came in and tried to kidnap a young girl! I mean, who does that?! But I'm FINE! I'm totally fine! I beat them with a BROOM, you did your little backflip through the air which I didn't even know you could do, but I'M FINE! Yeah… I think I'll just…"

Her fast rambling came to a sudden end as Valerie promptly rolled her eyes and fainted.

The darkness of unconsciousness slowly thinned and Valerie slowly came back to the world of the living to find herself in a chair in Uncle's kitchen with Jade sitting next to her and staring at her, whilst Uncle was sipping his tea over a book, and Jackie was standing on the other side of the table talking with some bald headed man in a trench coat.

"Hey!" Jade yelled happily with a big grin. "She's waking up!"

Everyone turned to watch Valerie as she groaned as she sat up straighter, bringing a hand to her head and moaning as she felt a headache pound against her skull.

"Uh… w-what happened?" she asked drearily. But suddenly, she felt a sting against her face and yelped in surprise, and looked to see that Uncle had struck her with two fingers on the back of her head. "What did you just –?!" she hissed angrily but was cut off when Uncle spoke.

"You let the Dark Hand in the shop! They could have destroyed Uncle's antiques!" Uncle scolded her.

"That's not my fault!" she yelled.

"No, it's not," Jackie said softly, and Valerie turned to look at him as he sat down across the table from her. "It's our fault that you were not better prepared,"

"Better prepared…?" Valerie repeated, a slight shake in her voice as memories came back to her of a few hours ago. "What the hell is going on here?! Last I remember, my world was fine until I see Jade turn into a mini version of the Flash with the use of a magic rock! Then suddenly three thugs come in and want to kidnap her and I'm in the middle of a fight! I've never fought someone in my life! So can SOMEONE please tell what is going on around here?!" she demanded almost furiously.

"We need to tell her Jackie…" Jade said quietly.

"You little lady," the bald man spoke in a deep and soothing voice. "Have caused enough trouble already. Don't add your comments before you dig yourself a deeper hole,"

"Uh… hehe…" Jade chuckled nervously as she looked at the man imploringly.

"But Jade is right," Jackie said as he sat down and leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "Valerie, I'm ever so sorry about what happened today," he began softly. "But I never thought that the Dark Hand would do this,"

"Who's the Dark Hand?" Valerie interrupted sharply.

"The Dark Hand is a criminal organisation," the bald headed man spoke to her, crossing his arms over his chest as he gave her a level gaze. "They have ties to most criminal activity around the world, and it's my job to stop them,"

"And you are…?" Valerie raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"Captain Augustus Black, head of Government Specialist Group: Section 13," he replied smoothly without even blinking.

"Okay…" Valerie gulped.

"Perhaps I best start at the beginning…" Jackie said. "About a few months ago, I discovered a shield that held a talisman,"

"These magical talismans? Like the one Jade showed me?" Valerie raised a brow at him.

"The properties of the talismans are still being investigated," Captain Black grumbled out with a disapproving look at Jackie.

"Anyway," Jackie said. "It turns out that the talisman was wanted by this criminal group, the Dark Hand, and so Section 13 wanted to stop them getting it. There are supposedly twelve talismans, each for an animal that represents the Chinese Zodiac, though we have only found four so far. As an archaeologist, I'm working with Section 13 in order to advise them on these ancient artefacts."

"And why are you telling me this?" Valerie asked with a suspicious look to Captain Black.

"Because you became partial to this information when Jade took it upon herself to tell you the story and then when the Dark Hand encountered you." The agent told her steadily. "Now that they've seen your face and Jade mentioned your name, they can find out who you are, they may try to hurt you."

"What?!" Valerie shrieked in panic.

"So for the time being, you will continue to work here where we can keep an eye on you and where you will be safe,"

"Also, because Uncle needs his assistant," Uncle added in.

"And besides," Captain Black continued. "We need to make sure that you don't go spreading classified information to the tabloids… treason is a bad sentence…" he let the statement hang, leaving Valerie with no room to doubt his meaning.

"Valerie," Jackie said imploringly. "I know that this is a lot to take in, and I understand if you do not want to work here anymore. But please let us protect you, it is the least we can do…"

Valerie looked at all of them, wondering at their sanity and partially her own for actually starting to believe this nonsense. Jade was trying to pull the puppy-dog face on her, Jackie was watching her as if she would faint again, Captain Black watched her with that calculated look, and Uncle raised a brow at her as if daring her.

"Well…" Valerie murmured, wetting her lips nervously as she took in a steadying breath as she looked at them all. "I guess I need SOME form of work to pay the rent."

"Woo-Hoo!" Jade cheered.

"You're telling me," Valmont growled out as he looked at his enforcers who were standing before his desk with their heads hung in shame at their master's scathing words. "That a woman beat you with a BROOM?" he asked them in a dangerously calm voice. "At first I thought your failures were because Chan was rather good… but now I see that you are all incompetent buffoons!"

All three men flinched as if they feared to be struck, especially with Shendu's seething red eyes on the back wall staring at them with barely suppressed fury.

"What do you know of her?" Valmont asked tightly.

"Not much," Finn spoke in a shaky voice. "Name's Valerie – kid didn't say her last name. Young, about early twenties? Chan's hired her as a shop assistant."

"And did you find the location of Section 13?"

"Uh…" Ratso murmured nervously.

"I wouldn't say…" Chow tried.

"Not so much," Finn finished.

"I see. You will be punished. You are dismissed." Valmont said coldly.

The Enforcers turned and all but ran from the room.

"I will look into this young woman," Valmont said. "See what we can find out about her and stop this from happening again,"

"See to it that you do, Valmont," Shendu hissed.