Duty (An Armorer/Paladin Story)

Get a life!

The next morning, I found myself called into Promotions, sure I was going to get a scolding for my performance in my individual appearance. When I saw Natasha and Wanda there, I wasn't sure. And I could hear somebody talking in the next office.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked bluntly, and Marketing blinked owlishly at me.

"No, why?"

I relaxed. "I thought because of that individual appearance..." I explained.

She flashed me a smile. "Oh, no. You did well. That sort of candor is not what we'd have advised you to do, but it really worked. But this meeting today is related to ComicCon, so your performances are responsible for getting you some really interesting offers, which I advise you to do. It will help people have a favorable opinion of you the next time there's a public relations disaster."

"I don't know what you were thinking," PR said loudly from the next office, clearly audible through the wall. "Whatever you do, it cannot look like you're using and tossing Paladin." I flinched. Everybody looked at me. "She is solid gold after the convention; people view her more favorably than anybody on the team right now, including you. I don't care what you were thinking, kissing her in public. If you weren't going to go public on a relationship, you should have kept your lips off her. And now that you tell me there's nothing going on...well, the internet's on fire with speculation. You need to be sure you're not seen in public with another woman for awhile; then if anybody still cares, we can say it just didn't work out, no hard feelings exist." There's an irritated murmur in response.

"Um...We were just contacted this morning with an offer from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. They're mounting a major exhibition of historic clothing and jewelry, mostly from their own collections but also borrowing some important pieces from private collections and other institutions. They would like you to put a face on the exhibition for the public; you'd be photographed in some of the dresses and jewelry--" Marketing plowed on.

"You need to learn how to manage your fans better!" the man next door said sharply. "The fans may be cruder and more demanding than what you'd prefer, but they aren't going away. It won't kill you to sign the top of some girl's breast, you're not going to be groping her. And kissing random women doesn't help your image--"

Wanda glanced at me and held up her hand. "Sounds fun. I'm in." Natasha and I also voted in favor. Anything to get out.

"And one more. The GIA is also doing...something... they want you to model important pieces of jewelry for some publication." We agreed to that one too, and scuttled out before we heard any more.

By mutual agreement, we walked in silence for a bit. "Geeze. They need thicker soundproofing in those offices," I said, provoking Wanda into giggles of nervousness, which broke the ice.

"I wonder what we just agreed to do," Natasha said.

"I have no idea," I confessed. "Clothes and jewelry, I think. You don't suppose this was a ploy by Promotions to make us more docile, do you?" Everybody laughed at that, and the topic was abandoned.

I said goodbye to the others at the turnoff for the obstacle course and gym. Since I knew Steve was otherwise occupied, I ran it myself. And discovered that he'd had a whole new obstacle put in while we were in San Diego. It was a mud pit, for some reason. Probably because of the landslide from the Yucatan mission. It must have been fifty yards long and so deep it came past my knees. I lost my footwear in it and was pooped when I got to the other side. It was hard to extract myself from. When I got out, I quit the course, showered, and went to medical. It had done a number on my knees, which weren't as young as they'd been. After I spent a couple hours on and off with ice packs, I made a sign and stuck it in front of the pit. "Mud Bath! Save yourself!" it read, and just as I finished tapping the post into the ground, Tony and Bruce burst out of the trees on the path, and stopped, looking from me and the sign to the pit of death.