Chapter Text
The sound of crashing waves filled her office, its reverberation muffled slightly by her headphones. It was a poor imitation of the ocean, but at 4:20 AM, it was just enough to drown out the newsroom’s growing rumble.
Jen stirred in her chair, stretching against the tight ache in her back. She rubbed her temple, feeling the faint slick of residual moisturizer under her fingertips. The air smelled faintly stale, tinged with disinfectant and something sharper—like burnt dust from the heater’s first use of the season.
She squinted at her laptop, the glare casting shadows across her cluttered desk. Piles of manila folders teetered precariously beside a half-empty coffee cup.
Overhead, the soft hum of fluorescent light coaxed her eyelids to droop again, but the reprieve didn’t last. The shrill buzz of her phone broke through the fragile quiet. She flinched, jerking upright.
“All right, all right!” she muttered, fumbling for the device. She jabbed the screen with her finger, silencing the alarm.
Jen inhaled slowly, holding the breath for a moment before exhaling.
Three sharp knocks broke the calm. She pulled off her headphones, tilting her head toward the door.
“Come in,” she called, her voice scratchy.
The door creaked open, and Alice’s silhouette loomed against the brighter hallway beyond. The newsroom’s cacophony spilled into the room—the hurried thump of footsteps, the staccato ring of a distant phone, and someone’s exasperated laugh. A flash of white darted past the open door as an intern bolted down the hallway, clutching a precarious tower of takeout boxes.
Alice stepped inside, carrying the faint scent of coffee and something tangy—lemon, maybe. Her blazer hung loose over her shoulders, a size too big, and the first few buttons of her shirt were undone, as though she’d dressed in a hurry. She crossed the threshold, coffee mug in hand, her grin a mix of amusement and alarm.
“She’s back,” Alice said, her tone tinged with anticipation.
Jen groaned, planting her elbows on the desk and resting her head in her hands. “Please tell me you mean Lilia.”
“Yes, Lilia is the one scaring the interns,” Alice deadpanned. She stepped farther into the room, the door swinging closed behind her with a soft click. “Harkness is back, bright and early, terrifying the newbies as we speak. You should have seen it. One of them tried to offer her coffee. Poor kid looked like he might faint when she told him to get out of her sight .”
Jen snorted, the sound muffled by her hands. “Six weeks. She was gone for six weeks, Alice. Do you have any idea how glorious it was?”
“Oh, I know.” Alice slid into the chair opposite her, taking a long sip of coffee. “You practically glowed with the absence of her tyranny.”
“She’s not that bad—”
Alice raised an eyebrow.
“—okay, fine, she is that bad. And now she’s back, and the universe is Agatha’s again. What happened to easing back into things? We were supposed to have two, maybe three peaceful days. A buffer!”
Alice leaned back, crossing one ankle over the other. “A buffer wouldn’t help. Agatha would bulldoze through it in, what, an hour? Besides,” she added with a wicked grin, “we’ve got a new player on the field.”
Jen frowned. “A new—?”
“Billy Maximoff,” Alice interrupted, savoring Jen’s dawning comprehension.
“No we don’t.”
“Yes we do.”
“No, no, no.” Jen sat up, eyes narrowing. “Billy? As in TikTok Billy? Social media wunderkind? Thirty-five-million-followers Billy? What the hell is he doing here?”
“Breathing life into the station, apparently,” Alice said with a shrug. “Lilia had no choice; the board’s been desperate to attract a younger audience. Agatha’s, uh... more traditional appeal wasn’t cutting it.”
“ More traditional appeal— ” Jen threw her hands up in exasperation. “Alice, Agatha is going to kill him. Or Lilia. Or both. And I’ll be complicit because I can’t stop her!”
Alice chuckled, standing and tapping Jen’s desk with her knuckles. “Well, you’ve got about ten minutes before the circus starts. I’d power walk if I were you.”
Jen groaned again, slapping the surface of her desk lightly before grabbing her tablet. “Great. Let’s go face the storm.”