Carol Danvers typed away at her desk, smiling faintly as her fingers flew across the computer keyboard. She was working on putting the last few touches on her latest article, her third one of the day. With the small staff at the Herald there was a lot of space in the paper to be filled by their reporters, and the blonde was discovering she sort of enjoyed it. "Yo, Danvers!" Ron Black yelled from his office. Saving her work Carol got up, leaving the rows of desks that were occupied by busy reporters and headed over to the editors office. "Yes sir?" she asked him meekly, well aware that she was still on probation here. "Don't look so worried," Ron looked up at her mildly, "you've been doing good work." The editor rummaged around the messy desk until the equally messy man finally found a print out that he gave her, "What do you know about this?" "Huh," Carol frowned as she quickly read the news release. Apparently Olivia Stane wasn't wasting any time, loosely describing her new planned superteam and sketching out what she hoped to do with them. No members were actually named, but she did say that several 'prominent' superheroes were involved. "Might not be anything much," she said to him, "I notice she hasn't got anyone named as being on board yet." "Pretty much what I thought," Ron agreed as he ran a hand through his thinning hair, "but keep an eye on it, will ya?" "Oh, I will," Carol agreed. Returning to her desk Carol fought back a flash of irritation at the news. Part of her was very tempted to call up Olivia Stane and tell her off for jumping the gun, especially considering that she and Thunderstrike hadn't even agreed to join yet, but she restrained herself. 'It could be she had other superhumans on tap, too,' she thought. A soft chime from her computer signaled an email had come in, and opening up the program Carol noted it was from her friend Jessica Jones. "I finished up the background checks," Jessica wrote, "Stane checks out clean as a whistle, though I still need to do some digging on her life in Japan. Jackie Lucas is a different story, however." 'Stane was in Japan for awhile?' Carol blinked in surprise, then frowned as she remembered something that Jackie had said to her. 'She did tell me to look into her own background,' Carol recalled the other hero's parting words. "Once upon a time Jackie was a supervillain called Bloodaxe," Jessica revealed, "who fought Thunderstrike. Apparently she was under the control of an enchanted weapon, one that later enslaved T-strike himself. She had some run ins with the law when she was younger, but since her supervillain period she's been clean as a whistle." After composing a fast 'thank you' email to Jessica Carol went back to work, finishing off the article on a group of minor crooks who called themselves the Raiders. Wearing matching costumes and using advanced weapons they had hit banks in different parts of the city, quickly cleaning out the vaults of valuables before the police could arrive. 'I wonder if Warbird should look into this?' Carol wondered before a presence by her desk made her look up. "Did Ron scold you?" Monica Stewart asked, the older redhead smiling down at Carol impishly. She looked good, as usual, wearing casual clothes that helped bring out her fine figure. "No, he just gave me a heads up on a new story," Carol answered pleasantly. There was something almost earthy about the other woman, a nearly hedonistic quality that drew Carol in. 'Probably because I'm nearly the opposite of that these days,' she noted. "Good," Monica grinned. She dropped her voice a bit, "A few of the guys are a bit cross with you, especially over you getting a front page story so soon." Carol smiled wryly, knowing exactly what she meant. At a paper like this there was a certain pecking order, and her arrival had probably shaken that up a little. 'Then add in my getting a scoop so fast and you have a recipe for trouble.' she thought. "They'll just have to manage:" she said mildly, "or maybe they'd like to switch jobs with me?" That got a snort of laughter from Monica, "Take over crime? Not likely." She looked at Carol impishly, "So, do you want to join a few of us for drinks?" Carol hesitated, "Would anyone be offended if I don't drink any booze?" "Ah," Monica smiled slightly, "No, Elisa down in accounting doesn't drink, either. She'll be glad to have the company." "All right then," Carol finished up her work, saving the document then mailing it over to editorial. Grabbing her coat from the back of her chair she followed Monica out of the bullpen, "So, what should I expect?" "All women pretty much," Monica said as they took the old elevator down, "most of us have enough of our boyfriends during the week. There's on average five or six of us, depending on who's available, and they're all pretty nice." "Other reporters?" Carol asked curiously. "Just you and I," Monica flashed a grin. "There's Elisa and Heather from accounting, Bette from shipping, Catty from records and Lynn from maintenance," she said, "as well as any guests they may haul along." "I guess that's why the number varies?" Carol guessed. "Yup." They exited into the parking garage as Monica continued, "We usually meet over at a dive called the Oasis, do you want to follow me or ride with me there?" Carol thought of the various ways this night could go bad and smiled, "I think I'll follow you there, thanks." The amused look in Monica's eyes clearly showed she guessed what Carol was thinking but she just smiled and teased, "Chicken." She lead the way out of the garage in a older Toyota, Carol meekly following her in her sport's car. LA at night was as varied as any city in the world, with the best and worst side by side and cheek to cheek. Carol again found herself relaxing as they drove, moving across town until they arrived at a club off the main drag, decorated in a faux island theme. Despite the cheesy exterior with neon palm trees the Oasis was comfortable inside, with subdued lighting and a nice atmosphere. "Hey Monica," a tall brunette waved to them from a corner table, a smile of welcome on her pretty face. "That's Bette," Monica chuckled softly as she lead Carol over to them, cheerfully adding, "she's not nearly as brash as she looks." The corner table had a interesting mix of people, all with slightly different looks. Bette sat at one end, then a elegant black haired woman in a business suit. Beside her in sweats was a mousy brown haired girl, and beside her was a dynamite blonde. Finally a tough looking lady with a sparkling red/gold tint in her hair sat at the other end. "About time you got here," the elegant woman drank from her glass of gingerale as if it was filled with the finest wine. "Elisa, you are so anal," Monica shook her head. She smiled over at Carol, "You can imagine why she got into accounting." She addressed the table, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet the Herald's newest crime reporter, Carol Danvers." Carol had to fight back a smile. "I'm Heather," the mousy young woman smiled, "don't mind Elisa, she always gets grouchy when she has to add a new employee to the rolls." The dynamite blonde grinned, "I'm Catty, welcome aboard." She patted a empty chair at the table, "Grab a seat." "I thought you'd never ask," Monica said as she and Carol sat. "Anybody order yet?" she asked them curiously. "Lynn," the woman with reddish gold hair smiled at Carol then Lynn addressed Monica, "No, we were just waiting for you to arrive." "Since you're new," Monica looked at Carol, "any preferences?" "What's good here?" Carol addressed the table. She grinned as charmingly as she could and added, "I bow to your superior wisdom." Heather chuckled at that, reaching over to pat Carol's hand as she purred, "Don't worry, we'll take very good care of you." "Especially Heather," Monica laughed, "are you still looking for a girlfriend?" "Monica," Lynn scolded, "you shouldn't spring something like that on a new comer like that." Carol looked at Heather in surprise, "You're...?" "Yes," Heather blushed then tossed a glare at Monica, "I'm sorry Miss Blunt there decided to blurt that out." Carol hastened to reassure her, "It's all right, really." "Oh really?" Elisa gave her a thoughtful look. Carol felt everyone's eyes on her and blushed. "As cliched as it sounds," Carol said with as much dignity as she could muster, "some of my best friends are lesbians." "Don't worry everyone," Catty said, the dynamite looking blonde tossing Carol a sympathetic glance, "we can always grill her about her romantic background later. For now, let's have dinner!"
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