Unwilling Weapon

Consideration

Jubilee was back in the kitchen distractedly stirring the remains of a bowl of melted ice cream when Kate and Scott came in from their mission in high spirits.

"Seriously, one of these days, you and I are going to have to have a shoot-out," Kate was saying to Scott with a huge grin. "Because that, my friend, was a lucky shot."

"Yours was maybe," Scott replied. "I don't miss."

"Well, I never miss either," Kate said. "Wouldn't be a Hawkeye if I did, would I?" She was still grinning as she looked over at Jubilee. "What's up?" she asked as she dropped into the seat next to her while Scott filled up a water bottle only to down most of it.

"Oh you know, just the usual," Jubilee replied with a tired smile. "Hanging behind while everyone else has all the fun."

"What?" Kate shook her head and then bumped Jubilee's shoulder with her own. "Not possible. All the fun is with you."

Jubilee just snorted at that. "Right. So clear. How did I miss it?" She frowned at her bowl and pulled a face. "That is totally gross."

"You know, if you want to go out on a mission next time, you just need to say so," Scott said as he sat down across from her, head tipped to one side.

"Sure, Scotty. I'll keep that in mind." Jubilee glanced up at him then put on a very forced-looking smile. "You're my first call."

Kate and Scott shared a look before Kate draped her arm around Jubes' shoulders. "Okay. So. Did he dump you or something? Because I can punch him."

"If that had happened, you would still be seeing sparks," she shot back. "From space."

Kate smirked and snorted a little laugh. "Yeah, well ... half-melted ice cream, grumpy Jubes, it seemed like a good guess. Seriously."

She waved her hand a little and rolled her eyes. "No, some kind of super secret stupid thing for SWORD, of all people." She looked to Scott. "Brand was begging for someone to grab her by her ponytail and swing her around a few times. But it's fine. I promised to melt her face off if she pissed me off. You know. For Hank."

"I'll fly you there," Scott said quietly, with a soft smirk.

"So -— like I said. Back to staying home for all the cool missions. Alone. Mansion sitting." She gave Scott a significant look. "Seeing as I'm so well-versed in it."

"Really — if you want to go out more, I'm sure we can find missions for you," Scott said after an almost sheepish smile.

"For what? Blackbird watching? Yeah, that was a lot of fun too."

"You can always come with me and fight some tracksuits," Kate offered with a smirk Scott's way. "That improves everyone's mood."

"It's funnier with the video," Scott pointed out. Jubilee frowned at him, clearly not having seen it, so he just pulled out his phone to hand it to her, the 'seriously, bro' video queued up for her. "Enjoy."

It actually took a little while before she finally cracked a smile. "You're a dork," she told him with a faint laugh as she handed it back to him.

"Just wait until you meet them in person. It's not even a joke simulation," Scott promised her.

"If you are exaggerating even a little bit, you are going to wear one of those suits for a week."

"Go with Kate sometime if you don't believe me," he replied.

She looked over at Kate with raised eyebrows. "Only if I can wear one of your uniforms and make them think there are two of you."

Kate broke into the biggest grin at that. "Yes. Oh, yes, I like this idea," she said, nodding.