Kree, Shi'ar, and Skrulls, Oh My!

The Company You Keep

That morning, Bobby was watching the news in the kitchen, monopolizing the remote from anyone else who had come down to breakfast, when Forge showed up with the old blueprints from the blackbird, ready to re-hash how to improve on the old design and work in some of the things that Scott had requested before he went back to Alaska. Seeing as the blackbird had been destroyed, they had to rebuild it anyway, so they might as well implement the upgrades he wanted.

"Why isn't he here again?" The tall Native American asked as he unrolled the blueprints that were stained here and there with old coffee rings and grease smudges.

"He's engaged to a nice girl. Doesn't want to screw it up," Logan told him as he went over to join him and Bobby hushed them both.

"JJ's on another rant," Bobby explained as he turned the volume up and the three of them looked up to see what it was that had his whiskers twisted this time.

"It's one thing to go back on a contract with someone who put in years of hard work just because a little girl got twisted around by one of these mutants and wants to hold them to arbitrary standards that weren't in place when the contracts were signed. It's entirely immoral and possibly illegal, mind you, to go back on these lifetime contracts for no solid reasons, but it's one thing to do that to these hardworking writers—" JJ was saying. "—but she can't even tell them herself — she's in hiding somewhere — can't even face the people whose livelihoods she's destroying! We hear about all these contracts being cancelled at Bishop Publishing, but does Ms. Bishop return even a single phone call from the people whose years of hard work are being flushed down the drain? No! Is this really how you run a business? Hiding from your own writers?"

Part of the way through JJ's rant, Kate had come down the stairs in her usual state of morning disrepair, but when she'd heard Jameson's voice, she'd woken up pretty darn fast and just started glaring.

"I was in space in a futzing space mine you lousy rotten little cretin," she growled out.

"Pretty sure if you told that to him he'd try to have you committed," Logan pointed out.

Kate crossed her arms. "For what? Not like he doesn't know aliens exist."

"Just because he knows doesn't mean that he'd ever say anyone outside of SHIELD and the Avengers have had any dealings with them," Forge answered as he went back to his blueprints.

"I have pictures from space on my phone," Kate pointed out.

"Photoshop," Forge said distractedly as he made a few notations. He hadn't even looked up.

"I had an alien boyfriend." Kate glared at him.

"Delusions of grandeur," Forge replied. "That or — you know. Just more proof of your 'poor' taste in men."

"Aww, who asked you anyway?" Kate said with a glare that could have killed if he was paying more attention.

Forge looked up at her and blinked a few times. "I'm not saying I agree; I'm just pointing out how he'd spin it." He frowned and started to carefully and lightly sketch out a new profile for the plane.

Kate glared at him for a while again and then tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I've got to call him now or I look like I'm still hiding. I hate his guts," she sighed, looking through her phone. "I think I'll call all the other networks first though. And maybe drop some suggestions that he look into the way he treats his writers. Jen and Matt made sure I'm perfectly within my legal rights, and he's a cesspool of verbal abuse and predatory low payments for his freelancers."

"Smile when you talk on the phone. I'm told it'll make you sound like you don't want to rip his head off," Logan advised halfheartedly as he started making his additions and writing down his requests to Forge's design.