From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Paragon’s Pop Princess Not Just Another One Hit Wonder

By Evangelina Desislav for The Paragonian Gazette

Jenny Ashton never asked to be a hero. She wanted to be a rock star. But fate had other plans.

Most people in Paragon City are familiar with the Ashton family and the beautiful estate on the outskirts of Founder’s Falls. Sophia Ashton, the matriarch of the family, has run Ashton Aeronautics since her husband’s untimely death in 1960. Tragedy befell the family again in early 1974 when one of Sophia’s daughters, Perdita, went missing, and again later that same year on May 23 when her other daughter, Josephine, died in childbirth. The babies, twin girls Jennifer and Anastacia, survived, and were raised by their grandmother.

Jenny has always loved to sing. “I think my first words weren’t spoken, they were sung.” When she was sixteen, she was signed with Lollipop Records and barely four months later, her single, I Wonder, hit the top 20. The label held a big party in her honor, and Jenny remembers getting into a black limousine at the end of the night. “The next thing I knew, I was standing on my front porch holding a newspaper dated a week later. I thought it was some kind of joke. I went inside to ask about it and everyone was freaking out, asking me where I’d been. I still have no recollection of that week.”

At least one question of what happened that week was answered about a month later, when Jenny collapsed on the set of her video shoot. She was rushed to the hospital, where tests showed she was pregnant. Jenny was shocked. “I had never even been with a boy! I was only sixteen and had so many other plans for my life.”

A teenage pregnancy and not being able to name the father did not fit with the wholesome image Lollipop Records had carefully cultivated for Jenny, and they dropped her like a hot potato. The tabloids were merciless, calling her a One Hit Wonder and obviously not referring to her musical career. Jenny returned to Paragon City to await the birth of her baby. Or babies, as it turned out.

On June 10th, 1991, Jenny gave birth to twin girls, which she named Kaydance and Lyrick. They were quite healthy, but they had cat ears and dark red stripes on their faces! Subsequent tests revealed the girls had some tiger DNA entwined with their own human DNA. “Apparently their father is a mutation of a tiger or something.” Jenny shrugs. “I don’t really know.” Jenny looks upset for a moment but quickly shakes it off, motioning for this reporter to resume her questioning.

Unwilling to allow the girls to become fodder for the paparazzi, Jenny secluded herself and her babies on the Ashton estate. When they reached school age, Sophia had private tutors brought in. Jenny decided to go back to school herself, eventually earning a degree in Broadcast Journalism. She was hired by The Cape radio station in July of 2004, as a DJ. She can currently be heard on Monday nights from 11pm to 2am Eastern time.

But that is only half the story. There is a whole other side to Jenny Ashton. A heroic side.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” Jenny states modestly. “I just help out however I can.”

Christa Morales would beg to differ. “She saved my life! I was getting mugged in Atlas Park by some Hellions and she came in and set their hair on fire! They left me alone real quick. It was funny watching them run away looking like human matches.”

Evan Baker agrees. “I was kidnapped by the Circle of Thorns and dragged into this weird cave. She came in like an avenging fire goddess, laying waste to the bad guys. It was so sexy!”

I asked Jenny to describe her powers. “Well basically, I can manipulate fire. It’s kind of like fire runs through my veins and I can shoot it out through my skin. In fact, I have a very high body temperature. This pendant I wear helps to regulate it some but anyone touching me usually thinks I have a fever. But nope, that’s just me!”

The pendant is a nickel-size ruby set in chased silver and suspended from a black leather choker. Jenny received it as a gift from her grandmother on her sixteenth birthday, when her powers manifested. “Actually, all the women in my family, as far back as we can trace, get powers on their sixteenth birthday. My grandmother has psychic and healing powers, as does my sister. My daughters have fire and sonic powers. And we’re all twins. We haven’t had a boy or just one girl born into our family in centuries.”

So what’s it like having fire powers? “Hot!” jokes Jenny. “Seriously, I never get cold, or sick. I’m impervious to fire, and ice doesn’t bother me much, as I can melt it pretty quickly. My grandmother and sister have taught me how to guard against psychic attacks, though I’m nowhere as good as they are. It’s those kicks to the head that get me!”

Jenny registered as a Hero soon after the Rikti invasion. “It was the right thing to do. This princess couldn’t hide in her tower after that.” She chose the name One Hit Wonder as a bit of a joke. “I was kind of thumbing my nose at the tabloids that had been so mean to me back in the early nineties. Plus, criminals usually rethink their crimes after just one little fireball,” Jenny laughs.

So what about her love life? “What love life? I haven’t even been on a date in like three years. I’ve only had a couple semi-serious relationships, but they didn’t work out. It’s hard for a guy to deal with all the publicity, the superpowers, and my now teenage daughters. He would have to be a really great, understanding guy to put up with my life.”

What about all those men she’s been linked with in the tabloids? “Lies, all lies! What’s funny is that a lot of the pictures aren’t even of me, they’re my twin sister, Stacey. She’s an actress and thinks it’s funny to play along when someone mistakes her for me. She’s a brat!”

So no special man in her life? “No, no one special.” Jenny blushes and looks away. “Not yet, anyway.” This reporter smells a story, but Jenny remains tight-lipped.

Our conversation turns to a more serious note. In 2005, Jenny was inside a building that exploded. It is surmised that a falling beam hit her in the head, or the concussive force of the blast slammed her into a wall. She was transported to Chiron Medical Center where she stayed in a coma for three days. Upon awakening, she could not even remember her own name. Family and friends rallied around her and over time she was able to remember or at least piece together most of her life. “There are still blank spots though. I still have no idea what I was doing in that building. It can’t be linked to any of the missions I was assigned at the time. I still have nightmares about that explosion. Also sometimes I’ll meet a person who seems to know me well but I draw a total blank on who they are. It’s so embarrassing. But sometimes some gesture they make or word they say will trigger something in my memory.”

So what’s up next for One Hit Wonder? “Oh, I have all kinds of things going on. My girls are sixteen now, so I’m helping them learn how to use their powers. They’ve already registered for Hero Licenses. I am continually striving to increase my own security clearance and help my friends with their missions. Of course I want to keep working for The Cape, I love DJing. We have a ton of talent at the station and are working on all kinds of projects. I also have a few personal projects in the works.”

Musical projects, perhaps? Is there another hit down the road for Jenny Ashton? “Possibly! But then I’d have to change my name, wouldn’t I?” Jenny laughs.

Of course not, Jenny. You will always be Paragon’s beloved One Hit Wonder, in more ways than one.