Jackie Lucas briskly walked up to the gates of Stane Enterprises, the black haired woman dressed in one of her best business suits, a large carry bag at her side holding her enchanted Asgardian mace, Thunderstrike. Her rental car was parked in the secondary lot not far away, the back seat and trunk both loaded with her worldly possessions as she joyfully moved out of the dive she had been living in. "Good morning," Jackie nodded to the guard as she passed over her new company identification card. "Miss Lucas," the brown haired young man nodded a greeting as he scanned the card into the computer system. "All clear," the brown haired man smiled as he hit the switch to open the gate, "go on in." "Thanks," Jackie smiled back, walking at a brisk pace up the lane towards the main set of office buildings. Stane Enterprises was a busy complex, even this early in the morning, with men and women hurrying about. There was a set of warehouses to one side, where crates of equipment were being off loaded, while a group of young men and women carrying blue prints and personal organizers cheerfully headed to work. "Welcome," Connie Leeds jogged up, the brown haired woman falling into step beside her, "you're early for the meeting." "Thought it's be better to be early than late," Jackie answered as they headed towards the main office tower. "And you're a little nervous," Connie said perceptively, the personnel administrator looking positively impish. . "Well, yes," Jackie admitted, blushing a bit. "Don't be, nobody bites here," Connie said as they went into the air-conditioned lobby. "Hi May," she waved to a black haired woman sitting at the front desk. "Hi there," May smiled, her long hair held back by two blue clips that nearly matched the color of her suit. She gave Jackie a almost predatory look, "Who's your friend?" "She's new, down girl," Connie sounded amused. Turning to Jackie she said, "Meet May Scott, security and unofficial staff Romeo." "Hey," May protested indignantly, "I'm way better than Romeo." "Whatever," Connie rolled her eyes jokingly. "Nice to meet you," Jackie fought back a smile as she offered May her hand. "Charmed, I'm sure," May nearly purred as she held on to Jackie's hand just a little longer than needed. "Let go, May," a clearly amused Connie said as she tugged on Jackie's arm, "we're on our way to a meeting." May sat back down at her desk as she called, "I hope I'll see you around." "She's such a flirt," Connie sounded more amused than anything else as they went into the elevator, the doors closing with a soft hiss. "You don't seem too bothered by that," Jackie smiled as they went up. "May is harmless," Connie waved it off. She looked up at Jackie, "Does it bother you? I can tell her to lay off..." "No, it's all right," Jackie blushed a bit as she hesitantly admitted, "I'm actually kind of complimented, I guess." "That's the spirit," Connie mock punched Jackie in the shoulder then visibly winced. "Owww," she cupped her hand, "you have muscles like iron under that suit!" "Sorry," Jackie sighed. What Jackie didn't say was that her muscles were in fact a side effect of her seemingly permanent transformation to Thunderstike. She always seemed to be in Asgardian form, in disguise or not, and her body was pure sculpted muscle. It was something Jackie was still trying to get used to, even months after her initial change. "I'm kinda curious to see what you look like under the business wear," Connie admitted as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Ah..." Jackie started, not entirely sure what to say to that. Connie winked, "Just kidding." They headed out with her leading the way, "The meeting's just down the hall here." "So, have you been working here long?" Jackie asked. "Nearly a year," Connie said cheerfully, "I was one of Olivia's first recruits, then I helped her head-hunt the staff she wanted." "She sounds like a very capable woman," Jackie noted as they reached a door. "Oh, she is," Connie agreed as she knocked on the door with her knuckles. "Hey, it's open," she pushed, the door swung in and... "Eeep," Jackie quickly grabbed the door handle and pulled it shut again before they got a even better view of what Olivia Stane and Jennifer Swensen were doing there on top of the board room table. "Guess we're a little too early," Connie noted, apparently entirely unbothered by what they had just seen. "Oh god," Jackie fought back a blush, rubbing at her face. "Want to go get a coffee?" Connie offered, "It'll give them a chance to, ah, finish up." "You're taking this awfully calmly," Jackie sighed as they headed down the hall, presumedly to go to a cafeteria. "They're sort of in the newlywed stage," Connie said impishly, "while it doesn't happen often they have had a few such... incidents." "That had to have been interesting." Meanwhile, back in the boardroom a fiercely blushing Jennifer was pulling up her skirt as she said, "I though you said we had time?" Olivia hopped down from where she was sitting on the table, the nearly white blonde haired woman doing up her blouse, "We should have." She made a face, "I guess Jackie got here early and Connie brought her up." "Remind me to give Connie some grief for that," Jennifer said, the redhead typing up her clothes as much as possible. "I shouldn't have started something here," Olivia admitted wryly. She strightened her clothes then brushed at her hair, "How do I look?" "Beautiful," Jennifer smiled slightly. "Thank you," Olivia smiled back, "though it was comments like that, that got us into this mess in the first place." "True," Jennifer chuckled softly. Once she looked reasonably presentable Olivia asked, "Should we go look for them?" "Yeah, because if we stay in here alone we're probably going to get in trouble again," Jennifer said with some amusement. "I can think of worse things," Olivia said. After a fast pit stop in the ladies bathroom to clean up and a fast mirror check, both women set out looking for the other pair. "You even have Starbucks here?" Jackie said in surprise as they collected their coffees and sat at a table by the window. The cafeteria was styled more like a restaurant, with nice tables, indirect lighting and plush carpet from wall to wall. "Only the best for our staff," Connie said cheerfully. Jackie munched on a breakfast sandwich and blinked, "I see what you mean." "Try the eggs one time," Connie winked, "they're to die for." "The meeting today," Jackie dropped her voice, "what's it about?" "I really shouldn't tell you," Connie looked down at her cup, stirring her coffee. "I'm nervous enough about all this as it is," Jackie said, abandoning her bravado a moment and letting her nerves show through. Connie gave her a sympathetic look, "It's nothing too bad." "No, not at all," Olivia said as she and Jennifer walked up to the table. "Nice to see you, boss," Connie smiled. Her expression became wicked, "Or is it, nice to see less of you?" "We got distracted," Jennifer conceded as she grabbed two chairs and pulled them over to Connie and Jackie's table. "I'm sorry that we..." Jackie started. "It's all right," Olivia waved it off. "What I intended to talk about was the planned media push we'll be doing for the team," she said, "we'd like you to participate in it." Jackie puffed out a breath, "As long as I have Warbird and War Machine backing me up." "They'll be there," Olivia nodded. "I'm going to ask Danvers to coach us on interviews, too," Jennifer added, "Maybe give her a exclusive, too," Connie suggested. "Not a bad idea," Olivia agreed.
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