Dictation
I don't own Creed. That pleasure/pain belongs to Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and Fox Entertainment, (and now perhaps to Seed Productions from the latest rumors about the new Wolverine Movie).
A/N Ok at one point I realized that Victor Creed has to have some way of laundering all that money he makes on illegal assassination and terrorism, and since the comics have him shown in a more traditional business environment on several occasions, I wondered how he would deal with a Temp. As far as I know Creed Industries doesn't exist in the Marvel Universe but I think it should.
I didn't plan on continuing this past the one shot…but well…it gets in my head and I can't get it out….
Chapter Three
"Spruce up my wardrobe, order lunch for clients…and how the HELL am I going to keep him from smelling LOGAN for crying out loud." She was saying as she grabbed dinner from the microwave.
Marie and Logan were out to dinner; Jubilee had ordered herself a mini pizza, so Bron was on her own for dinner. Leftovers would work.
"Well, Chica, I can help with the wardrobe bit, you said that guy Varden was giving you a menu for the client meeting, and as for the Logan thing…you might try getting up earlier and taking a LONGER shower."
"I am going to spend a fortune in soap…and it will have to be the unscented stuff too, yuck. And NO you are not helping me with my wardrobe. He wants me looking like a Fifth Avenue secretary, not a mall rat."
"Hey, I offered. I can loan you some cash to pick up a few things though. Pay me back when you get your first check." Jubilee was stuffing her face with pizza so it was hard for Bron to make out what she said at first.
"NO! I owe you guys enough already." She said.
"Hey…you want to KEEP this job don't ya. Well, you will just owe me a little more, and I am NOT taking NO for an answer." Jubilee pulled her wallet out of her purse and handed Bron a stack of bills.
"Where'd you get this?" She asked, suspicious.
"Don't ask."
"JUBILEE!" She had been doing something that the Professor and Logan wouldn't approve of.
"The fire works were rained out on the Fourth…the city offered me three thousand dollars to hide at the top of the Statue of Liberty and shoot off my fingers so they could have their display…yea the Professor would be pissed I got paid for it, but it was fun."
"They paid you CASH!"
"Yea…it was under the table stuff. They didn't want to look bad." Bron laughed, well that was one way for a mutant to make cash in this town.
She counted the bills Jubilee handed her, eight hundred dollars. It would buy her a couple good pieces she could work with until her first pay check came in.
"Thanks, Jubes, I owe you – again!"
"Just don't tell Logan, OK!"
They both laughed. Bron finished up her dinner, and then went to grab a cab and go do some shopping. She was grumbling when she came back into the apartment. Marie and Logan were back and they were curled up on the couch with Jubilee in the recliner watching TV.
"What's the matter, Kid, Boss bein a jerk.' Logan said with a smug grin.
"Yea – he made me go buy new clothes and shoes just so I would look more professional in the office." Logan snorted, but Marie looked back over the couch.
"Where'd ya get the money, Sugar?"
"I took out another loan…from First Jubilee Fidelity." Jubes choked on her soda.
"BRON!"
"I'll pay you back."
"Jubes, I thought you were broke."
"I took some money out of my savings – so shoot me Logan, she needed the stuff."
Logan just glared at the mall rat, but went back to watching the TV, his cigar filling the room with smoke.
"Logan, could you smoke that outside or something." Bron asked.
"Why…boss doesn't like my brand?"
"Yea."
"Fuck that…Creed can kiss my ass."
"If I get fired, it's your fault." Bron said as she closed the bedroom door.
"It would be good for you if you did. Remember who he is, Bron." Logan shouted through the closed door.
"Logan, leave her alone. She wants ta keep this job." She heard Marie say.
"I don't like it and I ain't goin ta stop sayin so." She heard him grumble back at Marie.
She unloaded the bags. Two hundred dollars for one suit, and that was without the blouse, just the jacket and skirt. She hung the new suit on a good hanger. She had been lucky and found a pair of slacks that matched the jacket so that would give her two outfits to wear with that jacket. She had spent every penny of the eight hundred Jubilee had given her and had to pull two out of her own savings to finish picking up enough clothes for a week. She just hoped he would be happy with what she bought. She knew she would hear about it if he wasn't.
She heard a knock on the door. She opened it a crack, it was Marie and Jubilee, Logan was no where to be seen.
"Mission so Logan had to leave and we want to see the spoils, Chica." Jubilee said.
They pushed into the room, and started going through the bags. Five blouses, another jacket and three pairs of shoes, two more skirts, hose and another pair of slacks were quickly piled on the bed.
"Ok, how much did this set you back?" Marie asked.
"I gave her eight hundred…" Jubilee said. Marie just looked at her, shocked.
"EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS for this little…"
"Well, I had to pull two out of savings for the shoes and bath supplies." Bron said sheepishly.
"ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! This job better be worth it, Bron." Marie said.
"It is – please. I know it's a lot, but my first pay check I will be able to pay rent and bills and pay you both back, so come on."
Marie grinned. "Well, as long as you are making that kind of money…you can take us out to lunch too."
"After my first check." They grinned. "Now some of us have to work tomorrow…"
"Hey…We have a mission tomorrow."
"OHHHH finally going to earn those paychecks…" Bron teased, she knew the girls worked hard for Xavier, but it was fun to teas them.
"Watch it – working girl." Marie grinned as she shut the door.
She set the alarm half an hour earlier and crawled into bed. She could hear the other two teasing in the living room but she was just too tired to care. She lay back and thought about what she had to do tomorrow and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning she took a long shower, washed her hair with the new shampoo, and threw up a little prayer that her boss would be pleased. She dressed in the new suit, one of the new blouses, new shoes and tried to do something with her hair. She finally just threw it up into a French Knot and hoped it would pass muster. The strands that hung down the back and sides curled from the damp of the shower as she threw on her makeup and headed out for work.
She made it to the office with twenty minutes to spare, Varden grinned at the new outfit and nodded. She just hoped Mr. Creed would agree. His coffee was on his desk and waiting at nine o'clock. The elevator doors opened and he didn't even glance up from the paper he was reading, just dropped his briefcase and overcoat on Varden's desk.
"VARDEN!" He shouted from the open door as he sat down at his desk. Varden winced and scrambled to get into the office quickly.
She sat down at her desk, and finished up a few items from the day before and waited for her morning dictation to type. She kept glancing at the mirror, but she couldn't tell what was going on in that sound proofed office. He didn't have an appointment until ten o'clock, and that was the head of accounting, no coffee for him.
She jumped as the door opened and a white faced Varden came out.
"Oh, my…he is in a mood this morning." He said as he handed her the note pad.
"That bad?" She asked.
"My advice, stay out of there as much as you can today." He gathered up the overcoat and briefcase, hanging the coat on a rack near the main office door. He opened the briefcase on his desk and started pulling out papers from inside.
"I have some legal things to take care of today, and I may be out of the office this afternoon, watch yourself, keep your head down and do your job, and hopefully he will ignore you." This didn't bode well for the day. She sat at her desk and started typing, waiting for his first appointment to show up.
The morning was actually quiet, except for the few times he yelled loud enough to be heard over the soundproofing. She felt sorry for the people in his office at that point. He seemed to be ignoring her so she worked quietly, refreshed his coffee when she could and otherwise played church mouse, praying he wouldn't see her.
Varden sent her to lunch early, and she rushed out of the office. She was tense – no she was scared. She was counting on the fact that he hadn't said anything to her all day to keep her safe for the afternoon.
"How's it going?" Jubilee said as she joined her at the table.
"Scary. He's in a mood today; I swear if he wasn't in the office he would have literally bitten the head of accounting's head off." She whispered.
"Are you safe?"
"Jubes, he's yelling, not killing people, ok. Pissed off and yelling I can deal with." She said with false bravado. She was scared out of her wits, but her friends had done enough to help her the last couple days. She would deal with this on her own.
"Just be careful." Her friend said as she left. Bron finished her lunch and headed back to the office.
"I will be out for a couple hours, so you will have to handle anything he needs. The menu for the meeting Friday is on your desk, along with a couple suggested restaurants, price them and choose what you think is best. Your card came, so use that to pay for anything that needs to be done for Friday."
She looked at the menu and shrugged. Time to get to work, she slipped the corporate card into her purse, it had her name on it, which was almost scary. Lunch was easy to arrange, she happened to know the restaurants on the list and the basic prices. Catering was arranged quickly. She worked quietly. His schedule was clear for the afternoon, which surprised her. No appointments, so all she had to do was watch to refresh his coffee and take care of the morning's dictation.
"VARDEN!" He shouted suddenly. She jumped.
"He's out of the office, Mr. Creed." She said from the doorway.
"Fine…I need the expense reports for Research and Development, NOW!" He growled.
"Yes, sir." She went back to her desk but couldn't find them anywhere, she checked Varden's desk but they weren't there either. She checked the computer, but there wasn't a file that she could find and Varden's was locked with a password. She let out a little moan of despair and called R&D to see if they had a copy.
"Those won't be ready until next week." The clerk in Research said, coolly.
"Mr. Creed needs them now. Can you email me the base report and I can compile it for him?"
"If you would, that would help." The clerk was happy to comply.
She quickly pulled the raw data into a report format and printed it out to give to him.
"I needed these five minutes ago." He snarled as she put it on his desk.
"I'm sorry it took so long, sir." She said quietly as she took his nearly empty coffee cup.
"Just don't let it happen again!" He snarled back.
She just nodded and went to refresh his coffee. By the time Varden got back she was almost in tears. He had snapped and snarled all afternoon, one thing or another wasn't right. Varden patted her on the shoulder, and heaved a huge sigh.
"Hopefully he will be in a better mood tomorrow." It was the only consolation she had, but somehow it was enough to know she wasn't the only one suffering. He left promptly at four thirty, and they both heaved sighs of relief. Varden packed up his desk and left by four forty five, and she was just shutting her computer off at five when the elevator doors opened again.
"Varden!" She heard him growl.
"He's left, sir." She said quietly.
"Damn…I forgot to tell him to pick up my dry cleaning. Wang's Cleaners, do you know where that is?"
"Yes sir."
"Have it here in the morning…and nice suit." He actually gave her a small smile as he turned and walked back into the elevator. She stood there in shock for a full five minutes, and then picked up her purse. She had dry cleaning to pick up.