Title: New Job

Author: Ethiercn

Rating: MA

Disclaimer: I don't own them, and I am making no profit.

Note: This story ties in with Fallout and Revenge, which can be found in the files section for this group. This story takes place some time after the Revenge epilogue. The bit about Firestar and the bomb was used in The Avengers. The story of "Blubber Boy" is a retelling of the story as it appears in The Old Wives Fairy Tale Book ed. by Angela Carter. Charlotte Smith is Archangel's ex-girlfriend, Charlotte Jones. Scott and Conrad were guardsmen from New Warriors.

Standing at the closed bathroom door, Pumpkin cocked his head and listened. He heard giggling. Perhaps the cat god Bast would smile on him, and he could have a second breakfast. He could hear voices over the sound of running water.

"You need a bigger shower."

"We could've tried this at your place," his owner replied.

"With Rich outside with a stop-watch? Hold on, I've got an idea."

There was a pause, followed by a low moan. "I'm sure Rich would be taking notes."

The man chuckled, "Being a telekinetic has certain advantages."

Conversation stopped. Pumpkin waited. Eventually, the moans stopped, and the sounds of movement changed. A phone rang.

"That's mine," the door to the bathroom opened, and the man who could throw all the cat toys at once, so fun, rushed out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. As the water shut off in the shower, Vance grabbed the phone. "Hello?" He listened, and his whole body language changed. "Okay. I'll be right there." He closed the phone and rushed around the apartment getting dressed.

"They need you?" Angel asked, as she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a robe and toweling her hair dry.

Vance nodded as he finished getting changed in his uniform. "They'll brief me at the mansion." He looked around for his belt.

"Here," Angel said, holding out the belt. She reached out with her hand and used her power to quickly dry Vance's brown hair. "It wouldn't do to catch a cold."

With a smile, he took the belt from her and put it on. "Thanks. I'll call when I can." He kissed her quickly on the mouth. "I love you," he finished as he took off though the window.

"Love you too," Angel called out quickly, hoping he heard. She dried her own hair and then picked up Pumpkin. She scratched behind his ears, "I hope he'll be okay. He's so nervous," she told the cat. Pumpkin patted at her cheek, "You already had breakfast," she replied. "And you're not a hobbit." She looked at the clock. She had to meet her own team in a little while.

"So I can talk all I want?" Mac asked.

"Yes," Charlotte Smith replied, and Firestar could just see the small sigh she heard though the gear. "As long as you do so softly."

"And I can say whatever I want, and you guys can't interrupt me?" Mac continued, and Firestar could hear the amusement in the other woman's voice. Dressed in her new uniform, a variation of the body armor the X-Men used, she scanned the abandoned warehouse the team was using for the exercise. Where would Lt. Smith be hiding Mac, she wondered.

"I see a drawback to this exercise," Conrad mumbled.

"You would be correct, Mac. Just keep the channel open, and as Firestar tries to track the signal, the rest of us will try to stop her," Charlotte Jones Smith finished. "Scott and Conrad are suited up."

"Iron Man wannabes," Mac quipped.

"Go," Lt. Smith said.

Firestar didn't flick on her power. Instead, she closed her eyes for a second, blocking out the warehouse with its maze like arrangement of boxes. She opened them, trying to look for the signal that Mac's phone put out. A couple weeks ago, during a mission, she had been able to see the signal coming off of a bomb. Since then, they had been experimenting to see if they could track people using the signal put out by the phone, like how Mac could track people simply by the sounds that they made. Lt. Smith, used to working with mutants, believed this was how Stephen had tracked her after he had escaped from the Vault.

"So how many of you know the story of Blubber Boy?" Mac asked over the gear.

Good try, Firestar thought, but there was no way she was going to give away her own position.

"It's an Eskimo tale," Mac continued.

There, Firestar thought, she could see something in the air. She hoped it was Mac's signal and not some fake. She moved slowly in its direction. They would be except her to fly. Let's see what happened when she walked. She had lost to Smith a couple days ago, so she wanted to win this one.

"There was this girl, young woman, who was engaged to a handsome young man. Sadly, one day her fiancée went off to hunt for whale and died," Mac continued as Firestar made her way slowly though the pathways formed by the boxes. The hardest part was not getting distracted by Mac's story.

Out of the corner of her eye, Firestar saw movement. She knew it couldn't be Mac, for the signal waves weren't strong enough. She reached the conclusion quickly, and she flicked on her power and fried off a blast in the direction of the movement. Scott let out a muffled curse as her microwaves fired the circuits of his suit. After making sure she had taken him out, Firestar continued tracking the signal.

"The young woman mourned," Mac went on; her tone amused for she had heard Scott. "But then she took a piece of whale blubber and craved a likeness of her fiancée. In short, she made a doll. And then, for some reason known only to herself, for it was quite sick, she took the blubber doll and rubbed it on her . . .hmm .. . womanly parts, if you know what I mean."

That, Angel had to agree, was sick and unhygienic.

"And the fatty doll came to life. In all the ways that mattered, if you know what I mean."

There was a slight sound, and Firestar turned to see a fast approaching Conrad. She flashed him as she rose into the air. Conrad moved quickly out of the way of her pulse. She closed in on him, getting in as close as she could, something that she normally didn't do. He tried to use the electric shock defense of his suit. The trick didn't work for she used her own power to counter it. The result was sparkling lights. She reached out and grabbed his right wrist, and then flipped him, like he had taught her. He chuckled as he landed on a box, but kept a hold of her wrist and pulled her in his direction. He, however, had opened himself to the attack of her microwaves, and her pulse took him out. "Good one, kiddo," he approved.

"And so the girl and the blubber boy loved and lived as husband and wife until he melted because apparently blubber melts when it gets too hot," Mac continued. "The young girl mourned again, but was undaunted."

With Conrad down, that only left Smith, Firestar thought, the hard one. The waves got brighter and that meant that she was closer. Smith would do something soon. Firestar kept her power on, high enough that it would form a heat shield against anything.

"So the girl craved another doll out whale blubber," Mac said.

A box came crashing down from above. Firestar moved out of the way quickly. She looked up. Smith knelt atop a pile of boxes, gun at the ready. Firestar cocked an eyebrow, "I could melt the gun, but you mention something about funding refusing to replace any more weapons lost in training the other day, ma'am."

Smith smiled, "True, and you could've flashed me as well. You've got me. I should've known it won't have worked twice."

"She rubbed the new doll like she had the first one, and poof! Another husband. Eventually that one melt, and away she went again," from her hidey hole, Mac looked up at Firestar and waved. "Well done. Nice to see another fast learner."

Angel changed in the locker room. She had already fed Pumpkin, so she just had to meet Vance at the theatre. If he could still make it, that is. She ran her fingers over the picture of Vance on her locker door. The Avengers had made the news, so it looked like the situation was over, but Vance hadn't called her yet. She sighed. She hadn't thought she would worry so much. It felt strange being on two different teams; it had been a kick to see him on television though. She pulled on her shirt as her phone rang.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

"Fine," Vance replied. He sounded tense, Angel thought. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have canceled on tonight."

"Oh," Angel replied closing the door to her locker. "Okay. You sure that you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Ang," he sighed. "I just want to go over a few training tapes and mission records. Study up some. The other Avengers fought this Morgan le Fey before; I need to know things like that, which means I need to study more. I'll make it up to you. Take Mac or Scott."

"Sure, Vance; it's not a problem," Angel knew how important this was to him. She wanted to nothing but supportive. "Do you want me to leave dinner out or something?"

"No, hon. I don't know how long I'll be. If it's late I'll sleep here or head back to my place. I'll talk to you later. Love you," he finished before hanging up.

Conrad sat next to Scott at the table in the conference room. The four of them, himself, Mac, Scott, and Angelica, would usually meet here just before they left for the night. Team bonding, Scott called it, for it didn't seem right to go to a bar when one of your team was still too young to legally drink. Stupid age limit, Conrad thought as Mac and Angel came into the room. He had to admit, the team's newest member was very good. She had been shy around them for awhile and slightly embarrassed because she had flashed him when trying to stop Vance from going to the Vault. She learned quickly, however, and she did have a sense of humor and a willingness to learn. She worked hard and made a good teammate. Today when she had won the training exercise, there had been none of that smugness that annoyed him so much about Justice. What she was doing with a self righteous twerp such as Vance Astrovik, he had no idea.

"Does anyone want to go see The Producers?" Angel asked as she opened a bottle of juice. "I've a spare ticket."

Mac shook her dark haired head, "Normally, I would jump at the chance, but I've got plans."

"Justice still busy with the Avengers?" Scott asked, and Conrad groaned internally. He never understood what Scott saw in that kid.

Angel nodded, "It's too late to switch the tickets."

"I'll go," Conrad said before Scott could say anything. Surprised both Angel and Scott looked at him. "What? Who doesn't like Mel Brooks and "Hitler in Springtime"?" Especially when escorting someone who literally embodied flaming hot, he added mentally. He rose from his chair. "I'll even pay for dinner before the show. Indian okay with you, Red?"

Angel nodded.

Scott narrowed his eyes.