So it's not a good idea to go "Aren't you forgetting something?" at someone who constantly grins – not when it's four in the morning and he's clearly trying to get you out the door with the minimum of drama. Because assumptions will be made…

And right on cue the new guy – the one they called Killmonger for reasons I chose not to investigate – took out his valet and gave me a quick assessing look.

"Every goddamn time," I said under my breath as Klaue chuckled, waiting for the usual punchline. "I'm here to do two things – make Star Wars references and get mistaken for an escort. And may the force be with you. You'll need it. You just told your boss, who happens to be a violent sociopath, that you think he has to pay for it."

That rendered everyone momentarily speechless. I had a talent for saying things like that. I suspected that was most of the reason why Klaue even put up with me, showing up at odd hours with the oddest requests.

"You're… not…?" started Killmoger, giving me another long look, just in case he missed something the first time.

"She's a client," explained Klaue. Making no secret of how much fun he was having right now.

"She most certainly is. And shall remain one because where else am I gonna find this kind of professional behavior?" I said with a tolerant smile. "Now, seriously, are you not giving me even an estimate for when will my order be ready?" I said, just stopping short of spelling out for him how badly I needed to sorcerer-proof my place with Mordo still being at large and on a crusade.

"No," replied Klaue simply.

"Well, I hope you're ready for what that means," I said, trying one last time. "I'll be back."

"You do know that's not actually a threat," said Klaue opening the door for me.

"You know, I'll remind you you said that," I said trying to make it sound ominous and missing the mark quite badly. Maybe he was right. Maybe it just wasn't much of a threat. "Bye guys," I said, stepping over the threshold of the safehouse. With a cheerful wave, too. Several of the friendly neighborhood sociopaths returned my wave, making me laugh as I got on my way.

That was less than twenty-four hours ago. There have been some developments since then…

"So… Do you live here now…?"

I looked up from my coffee to find the man who just the other night mistook me for an escort. Then looked down to fully appreciate the fact I was wearing pyjamas so that was actually a very appropriate question.

"Yes I do. Wonder how that happened," I added with a smirk.

"You just showed up yesterday, with a bag, and announced I live here now," said Klaue, barging in, stealing my coffee and leaving the room before I could react in any way. I stared after him, eyes narrowed and wondering if I wanted to follow that with a comment. Probably not. He was in one of his moods. I was lucky enough he didn't question me too hard about the reason I suddenly needed the safety in numbers this place provided.

I sighed, got up, found another mug and poured myself some more coffee. It actually startled me to find that Killmonger was still in the room. He looked like he had more to say, too. I took a long sip to fortify myself for what was coming. "Some of my best friends are escorts," I said, seemingly apropos of nothing, seeing he was still just standing there, choosing his words. "So before you start apologizing – I don't actually consider it an insult."

At that he just nodded, looking grateful that I let him off the hook. The truth was I just wasn't up to having that conversation – or any, really.

I returned to the table where waited my worn paperback. Time to go back to pretending this was just like any other morning. Which was surprisingly easy, considering I was in a house full of incredibly dangerous and unstable people. I should probably start questioning how I made my life decisions one of these days…

"What do you actually do then?" he said after a second.

"Don't answer personal questions. Like a pro, too," I said, not even looking up from the page. That finally convinced him he wanted to leave me to focus on not being a morning person.

I watched him go through the steam rising from my cup. And before I could think twice about it, before I could do anything to stop the words leaving my lips…

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"You have a bad feeling about everything."

"Huh?" I said, startled to have the words repeated back at me.

"What is it now?" said Klaue, sitting down opposite me. I automatically tightened my grip on my mug in case he felt inclined to steal this one too.

"Where did you find that guy...?"

"None of your business," he replied, not unexpectedly. I nodded to myself.

"You should have his midichlorian counts checked," I said, keeping my expression serious. Which wasn't that hard. This felt serious, even though I couldn't begin to imagine why. "In case he's a..."

"I swear, if you say phantom menace you can start looking for a new place to lay low."

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." I said, shrugging. Because my bad feeling didn't seem to be going away.

"Go sit by the window," he said, seemingly out of nowhere, startling me from my reading a few pages later. He might have left the room and come back while I wasn't paying attention. But what he was doing now was watching me with an expression I didn't like. At all.

"What? Why?"

"To give the impression there's nothing suspicious going on in here. The rest of us can't quite pull off that nothing to see here look, not the way you can. So take your Heinlein and go read it by the window," he said in a tone I knew better than to argue with.

"You're the boss," I sighed as I did as I was told.

Normally I wouldn't put up with being ordered around like this, but it made very little difference. I did take my Heinlein and headed for the uncomfortable chair by the window, perfectly content to spend next few hours convincing any and every random pedestrian that might look too closely in our direction that this is the kind of house where people read big books in the early mornings, rather than the wretched hive of scum and villainy it actually was. It was preferable to having a robbery to plan as far as I was concerned.

"Shouldn't someone relieve her?" I heard what felt like a short while after. "She hasn't moved for five hours."

"Do you think you can pull off looking that harmless? Be my guest."

"Can you two shut up? Trying to read here," I snapped. I would have thrown something but the only thing I was armed with I didn't feel like parting with.

"Now does that sound like someone who needs a break?" said Klaue. I could tell he just grinned just by the tone of his voice. "You'll say something when you get really dehydrated, won't you?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not I'm at a good part. Now seriously - take your muggle conversation out of here," I said before I remembered myself.

"Our what?" said Killmonger giving me a weird look. Klaue was already laughing, knowing what was coming. This he found even funnier than people making all the wrong assumptions whenever I chose to do my negotiating at odd hours.

"I have magic powers. Which I'll use unless you leave. Now. Seriously, Erik. Fuck off."

It wasn't until an hour later that it came to me he never told me his name. Thankfully he assumed someone else did, saving me the effort of coming with a logical explanation for that. Something told me he was the person I didn't want finding out about my full skillset.