Author's note: This is yet another offshoot of my multi-chapter fic, Leaving Marks. It takes place once again in the future, some time after Warren and Claire have graduated from Sky High and start their jobs saving Maxville from disasters and villains.

Sometimes a job just ain't so glorious-smelling...

CHAPTER ONE: JOB CALLING

I clicked off the phone in my hand, swallowing around the dryness in my throat for one second, and glanced up at my newly assigned sidekick with quite a façade of bright assurance. "First assignment, Psychomet. Ready?"

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, wow," Joshua Galton sputtered as he emerged from behind a large display of electronics he'd been puttering around with. He drew to a vibrating halt before me. And, of all things, saluted. He'd done that the first day, too, when I'd shown up at his doorstep when I'd received my Hero Support assignation. "Psychomet reporting for duty, sir – ma'am!"

Giving a faint scoff, I decided to cut him some slack and, on the way up our Secret Headquarters, gave him the run-down even as I secured my hair into a tight ponytail. "There's a jam in the sewage system; solidified waste they need us to drain."

Josh's excitement had wilted right at the word "sewage". Now he positively grimaced. "Oh great, sewage waste is just my scent," he grumbled. "Gonna make an impression when we come out of there. I'm sure the mayor will want to shake our hands afterward."

Cutting an amused glance at him as we climbed into my car, I said nothing, precisely because I'd thought the exact same thing when the mayor had made his hurried request. "Within an hour, if this pipe isn't drained, the pressure will make it explode" had not exactly done much in the face of decomposed… things, and smelly… fluids.

Now Josh paused in his heartfelt diatribe just as I peeled out of the garage in the abandoned backstreet I'd chosen as our headquarters location a week ago, and he turned to me, frowning. "Um, Claire?"

"I'm Freeze Girl," I reminded him automatically by sheer force of practise. Nothing like spending a week twiddling your thumbs waiting for bureaucracy to get a move on and find you a partner. You ended up shrinking your own head in front of the mirror and brainstorming names, trying them on for size in a heroic – or so you thought – voice. Or… you know, twiddling your thumbs some more.

"Sure. But, um, how do you plan on draining that pipe? Icing it won't exactly work…"

As I contemplated the problem, I knew a moment of total self-doubt. What the hell good was ice when you wanted to…

Melt…

Inspiration striked, and I threw a puzzled Josh – Psychomet – my coveted brand-new superhero cellphone. "Speed-dial 1."

Even as he punched in the two digits, Josh obviously couldn't keep his curiosity bottled up. "Do I want to know who you've put on speed dial? Some kind of–" He cut himself off. There were a few milliseconds of tense silence where Psychomet held in his breath. Then he blinked and blubbered and made a deer-in-headlights face at me.

I grinned, hearing his interlocutor's mounting impatience. "Put him on speakerphone," I instructed, swerving to avoid a head-on collision. "And lose the 'I just crapped' face."

A click, and Warren Peace's dry amusement shone through the small piece of hardware. "Hello, Snowflake. Done terrorising your new sidekick?"

"Nah, that would be you, hon," I quipped, narrowly missing a little Smart.

He chuckled. "My point exactly. What's up?"

Taking a deep breath ("She may make me lose my dinner," Josh whimpered) as I stopped at a red light and surveyed the intersection's car traffic, I glanced briefly at the phone Josh clutched like a lifeline. "I know you're pretty much off today, but can you please please please come meet us at the corner of Bryant and Jackson? I swear I'll make it up to you," I added quickly for good measure, studiously avoiding Josh's eye.

Josh, who made like the suddenly zipping scenery was the most fascinating thing on earth. Or maybe he was perving around seeing stuff that had happened in this car.

There was a bit of static on Warren's end, and I could see him frowning from here. "This is your other cell," he realised, clearly having just checked the incoming number. "You in trouble?" he asked quietly, but the anxiety in his voice coming through loud and clear.

"No," I said fairly lightly, "but we'll need your firepower where I'm going." Then I begged again. "We're on a time constraint, War. Please?"

In the background on his end, I heard the comforting rev of his car. "Coming," he said unnecessarily, then clicked off to drive like the maniac he always was behind a wheel.

Author's note: Francis Galton is often referred to as the father of psychometrics. A person who has this ability can know the psychological history of an object, that is, feel the emotions of a person who previously held an object. Just thought I'd explain Josh's last name for those interested, and even explain his power before you guys ask :)