Ayana Jones

The name or term "Jones" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jones (disambiguation).

Ayana Jones is a G.I. Joe-aligned human from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"Do I know you?"
"O'Brien from the Enterprise."
"Enterprise? Oh yes. Weren't you one of the little people?"

Ayana Jones, codename Mayday, is an ex-member of Skywatch turned member of G.I. Joe turned ex-member of G.I. Joe turned member of Earth Defense Command turned ex-EDC turned Joe again. As you can guess from that CV, she prefers being in the thick of the action. In her long history she's worked with top officers like Duke and Marissa Faireborn, but now she's the one who gets to run squads.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Ayana Jones was born in Brighton Beach, New York and grew up near Coney Island. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where her thesis on "ancient aliens" attracted the attention of Joshua Red. Intrigued by her aptitude, she was swiftly recruited into Skywatch, the agency aimed at investigating Transformer activity on Earth. By the time that Joshua Red went rogue, however, Ayana's skills had already attracted the attention of Conrad "Duke" Hauser, who had her transferred into the top-secret G.I. Joe program. Mayday profile

Now operating under the codename "Mayday," Ayana was based out of Berlin during her first years with the agency, serving under the command of David "Big Ben" Bennet." She remained a G.I. Joe soldier during the Decepticon invasion of Earth; when both factions of Cybertronians abandoned the planet, the soldiers of G.I. Joe turned their attention to battling the forces of Cobra after the ancient conspiracy went public and invaded Nanzhao. Mayday's unit was one of the last to extricate themselves from the region before Cobra's nuclear weapons annihilated the country, but safely managed to evacuate thanks to the efforts of her teammate Heavy Duty. Mayday profile The Iron Klaw

Over the next few years, a series of escalating crises — including a public hack that led to the outing of the formerly secret organization — eventually led to the mothballing of the team. Though the Joes were able to take down Cobra from the inside, the team was decommissioned shortly afterwards. Mayday profile She and several other Joe soldiers transferred to General Daniel Witwicky's Earth Defense Command, the successor to Skywatch. Crisis Intervention For the next few years, Ayana worked out of the EDC's headquarters in the Marshall Islands. Full Fathom Five

When a group of Decepticons led by Galvatron arrived on Earth, the EDC cut a deal with the Cybertronians: if they worked with the EDC to protect the Earth from Autobot aggression, Detonation Boulevard they would provide the aliens with the resources and infrastructure required to build a commune where they could live in peace. Full Fathom Five The EDC's predictions would come true some six months later, when the Autobots returned to Earth in search of Alpha Trion, who had been taken prisoner by the EDC some time before. As Optimus Prime's forces stormed the EDC base, Ayana monitored the situation, and was surprised when the Decepticons revealed their trump card, the Nemesis. Full Fathom Five

Ayana and the other members of the base continued to watch the battle play out, but when the Prowl-controlled Devastator attacked the building, the humans were knocked unconscious and thus failed to witness Galvatron execute General Witwicky in retaliation for unleashing the EDC's anti-Transformer mind bomb. I Dream of Wires In the aftermath, former EDC operative Marissa Faireborn became the new director of the EDC, and Ayana rose to become her de facto second-in-command.

"I checked the rear vision mirror like three times."

Following Spike Witwicky's hack of Onyx's new product launch, Jones accompanied Marissa Faireborn to Onyx's Tokyo HQ as the EDC's response to Garrison Blackrock's angry phone call. Signals, Calls, and Marches As a battle between Prowl's Autobots and Galvatron's Decepticons broke out in the city, the EDC took Blackrock to safety in an aircraft despite Jones' desire to intervene. She instead ended up trying to talk the Chinese out of invading Japan. Vs.

On Blackrock's request, they headed for Onyx's Wanmu facility, where Garrison showed them the collection of Cybertronian artifacts he'd built up, including the the crown jewel of his collection: the Enigma of Combination, an artifact that had supposedly guided the course of human civilization. Jones was skeptical of Blackrock's claim that he was descended from Gilgamesh; as the tour continued, however, the building was attacked by Devastator and Spike Witwicky. ONoffON As Spike dropped in and grabbed Faireborn, Jones was ready to shoot him, but didn't get the chance before Devastator breached the walls. She and Faireborn ended up hauling Spike clear as the battle continued to rage between Devastator, the Decepticon forces, and their temporary ally Arcee. The Obliterati

At one point, Marissa and Ayana listened to Thundercracker's attempt to write a Christmas story. It went as well as could be expected. The Thirteenth Day of Christmas

Some time later, Faireborn and Jones accompanied Blackrock and the Decepticons on a visit to the satellite commune which Onyx was building for the Decepticons in Jupiter's orbit, and Jones expressed her dislike of spacesuits. During the tour, the pair discussed Blackrock's mysterious origins and wondered if he was on the level. South of Heaven

Back on Earth at E.D.C. HQ, Jones waited with Faireborn outside Spike's cell as Blackrock visited the prisoner. The pair were forced to listen to Thundercracker's latest script until Blackrock eventually emerged. The Nothing Man Learning that Blackrock had been running several side bets of his own, including the revelation that he had captured several Autobots and imprisoned them beneath the EDC base, Ayana held him at gunpoint after Marissa and Spike took him down. Before they could take him into custody, however, Galvatron arrived and took Blackrock hostage, revealing that the man was a Cybertronian sleeper agent and a servant of Onyx Prime. Helden

Galvatron's arrival led to a tense stand-off with the E.D.C. and the newly revealed captive Autobots until Skywarp teleported Galvatron and his hostage away. His objectives realized, Galvatron mustered his assets to begin a full-scale invasion of Earth, beginning by shooting down the Ark-7. Jones tracked the crashing shuttle to Shanghai and the EDC prepared to mobilize against the Decepticons, Perihelion but were unable to coordinate a response before Optimus Prime arrived and announced that Earth was now a protectorate of Cybertron's Council of Worlds. In the ensuing crisis, Ayana and Fairborne stayed behind at the EDC headquarters, overseeing the detonation of a full-spectrum mindbomb to temporarly incapacitate all the Transformers around the Ark-7. Once Upon a Time on Earth

With Galvatron's forces in retreat, Jones and Fairborne were called to the White House to meet with the furious President, who blamed the EDC for allowing Optimus to get this far. Ayana urged Marissa to keep a cool head, which proved futile. New Worlds Order Following the White House's new orders, to reclaim Earth before the Transformers could colonize it any further, Ayana picked up Spike Witwicky in an EDC jet as part of a joint operation with China's People's Liberation Army Mecha Force. The two teams stormed Prime's last known base of operations — Thundercracker's old home in the Sierra Nevadas — but found that the Transformers had anticipated their arrival and evacuated, leaving behind graffiti that read "we are here to help." Edge of the Earth

Having tracked the Autobots to Monument Valley, the alliance launched a blitz on Prime's biouvac there, with Marissa and Ayana supervising from. Alerted to the position of Blackrock via secret signal, the duo headed underwater to the wreckage of the Nemesis to extract their asset. Though the two had a brief standoff against Arcee, Skywarp, having struck a deal with Blackrock previously, used his powers to teleport all three humans away. As Above...So Below They arrived on the White House lawn just in time to learn that Optimus Prime had raised a titan from beneath the desert; the President was not pleased with this turn of events, concluding that they'd lost Monument Valley. Jones tried to stick up for her commander, pointing out that the EDC had secured several Cybertronian assets, though the President didn't want to hear it and stormed out to meet with the United Nations. No Fair Fights

As a result of the EDC's disastrous attempts to contain the extraterrestrial threat, the President made the decision to replace Jones with celebrated special-ops legend Joe Colton, former head of G.I. Joe. Ayana was not pleased with the change, even as she tried to console Fairborne on her recent demotion. White Light Following Sentinel Prime's rampage across Earth, deposits of Ore-13 all across the planet began destabilizing, threatening Earth with nuclear annihilation. Believing that the Transformers were at fault, the President opted to disband the EDC, reinstituting G.I. Joe as Earth's new international peacekeeping force.

Ayana was transferred back into the forces of G.I. Joe, taking up her old nom de guerre of Mayday. She joined the team for their first mission against Autobot relief efforts in Portland, Oregon, but the op went poorly; Mayday attempted to talk down Mainframe when the latter attempted to kill Soundwave, prompting the Decepticon to knock out G.I. Joe's mechanized forces with an EMP wave. While the Joes reeled from this attack, the Space Knight Rom arrived and began vaporizing Joes — unbeknownst to the humans, they had been replaced by Dire Wraith imposters, including "Joe Colton" himself. Concorde Hymn

Following M.A.S.K.'s capture of Kup in Greece, The Divine Source of Liberty, Jones was stationed at Joe headquarters on Governor's Island when the British special agent Action Man breached the perimeter, intending to liberate Kup from his prison. Though she initially mistook Kup for an attacker, a few brief words with Action Man made her realize that Kup was escaping, and Action Man and Kup were able to escape unscathed. The Modern World After Baron Karza arrived unannounced in Monument Valley, Mayday was one of the many Joes who joined the battle against the monstrous alien by riding into battle aboard a fleet of mothballed Joe hardware. Valley Forge

In the aftermath of the Ore-13 crisis, Mayday was promoted and began leading a team of her own. On her very first command, Mayday led a team, consisting of Heavy Duty, Flash, Quarrel, to the Schletevan city of Verenya to investigate a mysterious communications blackout. They soon discovered that the city's inhabitants had somehow been transformed into monstrous Dire Wraith hybrids, which drew the attention of Rom. The heroes joined forces, using Rom's Analyzer to trace the energy to an abandoned I.R.O.N. bunker underneath the city. There, Mayday found the body of an Oktober Guard mercenary, which led the group to Blackrock and Action Man, fighting for control of an enigmatic "Talisman". When the rest of the Oktober Guard intervened, the Talisman activated again; while Rom used his Neutralizer to shield her, Blackrock, and Action Man from the energy surge, her teammates weren't so lucky and became Wraiths. The Oktober Guard absconded with the Talisman, and once back on the surface Mayday joined forces with Kup and Blackrock in the hopes of finding a way to return her teammates to normal... a quest that began with retrieving a kidnapped Action Man from the clutches of the Iron Ring. Crisis Intervention While her teammates were taken into the custody of the Action Man Programme until a cure could be found, When Eagles Scream G.I. Joe commander Scarlett authorized her to work outside the G.I. Joe's parameters during the subsequent adventure. Power and Glory

Searching for a lead on the Talisman, the team managed to corner the alien Micronauts at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and after some initial tensions the two groups managed to reach an understanding while confirming Blackrock's suspicions that the Talisman was extraterrestrial in nature. Using the sensors of the Heliopolis, the group were able to track Action Man to an abandoned Cobra base on the Moon. Despite the best efforts Baron Ironblood and his forces, they were able to retrieve the Talisman and destroy the base, with Kup sheltering the two humans in his chest to protect them from the explosion. Enter The Shadow

Using data from the British National Security archives, the team, The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb at Action Man's urging, Enter The Shadow tracked down former Adventure Team operative and movie director Richard "Bulletman" Ruby. He told them the story of a mission in Egypt that led them to the Talisman; learning that I.R.O.N. founder Garrison Kreiger had connection to the Talisman, the group headed off to investigate the company's largest stockholder: Kalistanian dictator Count van Rani. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb On the way to his castle, they learned that the villain had found a way to recruit the Predacons, and so the team recruited Snake-Eyes for help infiltrating the base, using Blackrock as a Trojan horse. When their cover was blown, Ayana and the others stormed the castle, and while Kup and Action Man grappled with Predaking, Mayday linked up with Blackrock and Snake-Eyes, and hatched a plan to take down the artificial Talisman responsible for keeping the Predacons combined... only for an impatient Snake-Eyes to smash the machine, forcing the Decepticons apart. The trio subsequently fought their way back to the castle's M.A.S.S. Device and used its teleport function to escape. Thanks to Snake-Eyes masquerading as Ironblood's agent Tomax Paoli, the team learned that Ironblood and Kreiger had been involved in "Project: Ice Man," and set out to intercept the real Tomax as he arrived in San Francisco to retrieve data related to the "Ice Man". The Iron Klaw

The team managed to catch up with Tomax outside I.R.O.N.'s headquarters, discovering that Kreiger had forewarned him of their arrival and provided him with a Cobra Commander uniform. While Kup battled Tomax's limousine, Mayday and Action Man chased Tomax through the building. Mayday eventually managed to incapacitate Tomax by firing a bullet at his throat and grazing it. Tomax had little to offer the team, but Blackrock had learned from Kreiger's files that the base containing the "Ice Man" could be found in Brasnya. Strange Visitors Realizing that their team would need extra muscle to break in, Ayana contacted Adventure Team veteran and G.I. Joe member Stalker for more information regarding the "Ice Man." Impressed by her idealism, he called in Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker of M.A.S.K. for assistance. During the subsequent mission to Brasnya, Mayday waited outside with the two M.A.S.K. operatives until until Action Man flooded the network of tunnels, at which point she hitched a ride aboard Matt's Thunderhawk as they battled the reanimated bodies of the "I.R.O.N. Cybertronians". The heroes and villains engaged in a running battle across the breadth of the base until they reached the nexus of the base; discovering that the "Ice Man" was, in reality, the barely-conscious remains of Mike "Atomic Man" Power, Mayday was able to take Kreiger into custody after his cybernetic asset committed suicide, deactivating the base with him. Power and Glory

Notes

• Jones as a Joe was a retcon done for the Revolution crossover.
• The codename Mayday comes from G.I. Joe Extreme, the short-lived mid-1990s revamp. Mayday also appeared in the Devil's Due Press Joe comics, wherein her real name was "Paige Adams".
• Her surname is taken from David Bowie's birthname, David Robert Jones. Ironically enough, she would later go on to work alongside Action Man.

External links

• Mayday at the IDW Hasbro Wiki