- "I make you nervous."
"Around Oscar? Yeah. Because the last boyfriend you met, you killed in an alley." - ―Alisa Jones and Jessica Jones[src]
The Murder of Stirling Adams was an attempt by Alisa Jones to stop Stirling Adams from exploiting Jessica Jones' abilities for personal profit.
Background[]
- "Where is she? Where's my little girl?"
"Patsy Walker's family. They adopted her." - ―Alisa Jones and Luanne McClure[src]
During their trip to Florida, the Jones family got into a car crash, which resulted in deaths of Brian and Phillip Jones, while Alisa and Jessica Jones were in a critical state. The two of them were taken to Industrial Garments & Handling Facility, where Karl Malus and IGH put them through an experimental treatment that saved their lives but altered their physiology, giving both Alisa and Jessica superhuman abilities. While Alisa was too unstable and had to be kept sedated, Malus arranged for Jessica to be adopted by Dorothy Walker so she could have a family, although they had to declare Alisa officially dead due to the nature of their experments,and had Jessica to believe that she lost her whole family.
Jessica bonded with her adoptive sister, Trish Walker, although they drifted apart due to Walker's carrer as an up-and-coming pop star and drug addiction. She met Stirling Adams at a bar and the two started a relationship, while Adams worked on opening his own bar, Club Alias. He was harassed by Wyatt, who invested into his club and was frustrated that Adams was taking his time with a return on his investment. When Wyatt assaulted Adams, Jessica stood up for Adams and attacked Wyatt, fighting off his friends and making them back off for the time being.
Alisa Jones demands Luanne McClure to tell her where her daughter was
Meanwhile, as Alisa slowly became more stable, Malus informed her that her daughter was adopted by another family, which she took rather well, wishing for Jessica to have a normal life. However, Malus also confessed that the treatment that saved Alisa's life was illegal, so they had to declare her legally dead so they could continue, which devastated Alisa as her daughter was led to believe that her mother was gone. She insisted that she was stable now and demanded to see her daughter, refusing to believe Malus' words, so he had to sedate Alisa. However, Alisa eventually woke up and escaped from the clinic to find Jessica, killing Luanne McClure in the process. She managed to track Jessica and Adams down at a bar, watching them from afar and decided to keep her distance and not tell Jessica about herself for the time being.[1]
Murder[]
- "You don't get to screw her over and then just walk away."
- ―Alisa Jones to Stirling Adams[src]
At the bar, Alisa Jones saw Stirling Adams being harassed by Wyatt and his crew, who dragged him out to the alley, and Alisa followed them. She stayed at a distance, while Wyatt told Adamas that he was willing to write off his debts in exchange of Jessica Jones' services. He commented on Jessica's superhuman strength and mentioned that she could be useful in their line of work, to which Adams replied that he did not even need to convince her as Jessica loved him. Adams accepted the offer in exchange for a quarter of their profits, which Wyatt had no problems with, and the two men they shook on it.
Alisa was furious to find out that the man her daughter loved was intending to exploit her for his own profit, so she waited until Wyatt and his men left and confronted Adams. She angrily lashed out on Adams, telling him that he could not just use Jessica, to which Adams claimed that he only said that to get Wyatt off his back. Alisa did not believe Adams and in a fit of rage, she grabbed his head and repeatedly smashed it against the wall until Adams died. She rushed to hide near a staircase when Jessica entered the alley. Jessica then saw Adams' dead body lying on the street and broke down in tears before the authorities eventually arrived.[1]
Aftermath[]
- "I'm so sorry. Is there any way you could forgive me?"
"No." - ―Alisa Jones and Jessica Jones[src]
In the wake of Stirling Adams' death, the New York City Police Department arrested Wyatt and his crew, as they were seen by multiple witnesses harassing Adams and leaving the bar with him. Jessica Jones grieved over her boyfriend and decided to reconnect with Trish Walker as she was the last person she was close with. She met with Walker at the club and fended Gus away from her, telling Walker that Adams was killed and asked Walker to get help with her addiction. She also convinced Walker to get back with her mother.[1] Years later, Jessica decided to open her own investigation firm, naming it Alias Investigations, after Adams' Club Alias that did not come to be.[3]
Alisa Jones returned to IGH telling Karl Malus that she could not be with Jessica the way she was now, feeling guilty over the lives she took and the emotional damage she caused to her own daughter.[1] Alisa allowed Malus to continue his research and the pair gradually fell in love, before they eventually got married. Malus then shut down IGH so he could be with her.[4] Alisa feared that if the truth about IGH experiments were to be discovered, it could endanger her new life with Malus, so she set on a mission to kill anyone who was ever involved with IGH and silence them for good.[5] However, Jessica started to investigate the chain of murders and discovered the IGH connection, which resulted in her meeting her mother.[6] While talking to her daughter, Alisa confessed that she murdered Adams and asked for Jessica's forgiveness, although Jessica refused.[1]