"What do you want me to say? Hello my name is Michael Morbius, I'm an addict, a monster? I screw up a lot and everyone around me has died as a result? I'm just tons of fun to be around, is that what you want to hear?" He sat hunched uncomfortably in the leather chair, on the other side of yet another piece of shatterproof glass. His hands moving in time with his words flitting in the air before folding with his arms tightly around his chest.
"Nothing so crude, Dr. Morbius. They warned me you had a dark sense of humor." She tapped her notebook impatiently and then leaned forward from her gray suede office chair to bump the glass. An action that startled him into sitting upright and staring through to her. The speaker that carried her voice came through once again as she pointed. "Behind you on the counter there's a warmer with blood. You were promised a meal."
He turned nervously scanning the faux granite countertop and there sat a thermos inside a cylindrical device. He took clawed fingers to grasp the lid and it beeped, an indicator light coming on and a small puff of air popped the thermos up as if it were toast that was now crispy and ready for breakfast. He almost laughed. "I normally get it cold in bags, what is this?You're not planning to poison me are you?"
"It's a modified baby bottle warmer, goes to human body temperature. I thought you would appreciate the effort Dr..."
He was already gulping downing the contents while she replied. Poison, drugs, it didn't matter. Without it he would go feral and then where would he be. The blood was clean of course, freshly donated and free of chemicals. It had been so long since he had anything that comforting that he closed his eyes for a second in savoring it, afterwards hungrily licking the rim of the now empty thermos and his lips. She raised an eyebrow at him through the glass with a somehow still-cold gaze.
"Hungry were we?" It sounded mocking and was the wrong thing to say, she knew it as soon as the words left her lips. His eyes shot open, red slashed orbs analyzing her eyes again with a sneer plastered across his face. He was a caged animal, it was easy to forget in a place like this. They were all caged animals.
"I'm not an animal..or a monster really. I'm just a man."
She blinked and lowered the notebook to her lap while he stared at her unmoving. "Dr. Morbius please get out of my thoughts. It's because I made eye contact isn't it?"
He sat back smugly. "Lucky guess. If I were in your mind you'd feel it."
Damn him, she squinted in his direction and sat back prepared to finally take some notes. "Do you take pleasure in invading other's thoughts?"
"No."
"You don't?"
"I'm sorry I was not clear, I meant no. No as in I'm done talking. You fed me, you can take me back right now and drop someone else's IQ with this foolishness. I don't need the blood that badly." He stayed leaned back in the chair, arms crossed but rather than look at her he focused on the motivational posters plastered around him with headings like 'Dream of a better you' and 'Reach for your goals'. His lip curled yet again. The walls would be less offensive in plain beige, fire would improve the decor significantly.
She sighed and put down the book, fingers combing through her red hair in aggravation. "You'd really rather be alone, in your cell, where you have been for the last three weeks, again alone, rather than talk with me?"
He almost cracked a smile as he nodded and mouthed "Yes." in agreement.
"You know I don't have to get them to escort you back until our talk is done?"
He glared at her without turning his head. "I'll sit here then. I'm done talking."
"Dr. Morbius, this is childish. Would you say you're emotionally immature?"
It was a wasted effort. He refused to respond in any way. Wrong strategy, she noted.
"You said you were in pain? How much blood do they give you? There are rules against cruelty in confinement. Even if you won't talk to me I could try to do something." She looked up again to meet red eyes staring her down. He obviously didn't trust her and was analyzing her yet again. However Instead of more obstinance the words that came out of him caught her by surprise.
"Why are you so willing to look me in the eyes?"
"I've read everything on your condition I could get a hold of, yes, even your somewhat edited and blacked out A.R.M.O.R. file. Secretive people aren't they? Make S.H.I.E.L.D. look like the Boy Scouts of America. None of what I've read suggested you ever used the power in a situation not involving your own self-preservation, so in short I am trusting you."
"Trust in me is misplaced, I already told you I screw up a lot, endanger those around me. Just ask your hero Spider-man." He gave an honest to god smirk, trying so hard to not admit to himself that this was the most entertainment he'd had in weeks. "I get three pints a day, enough to survive but not be comfortable. There are times when I've been able to drink five liters in one sitting. What is it with you Americans and the metric system? As if liters and meters will break you as a country. What foolishness are pints? Barely a drink."
He rambled on and she smiled a bit taking a few notes now that she had him seemingly at ease. "I'll see if I can get you more, now will you talk a bit? These sessions will be once a week."
He leaned back with a deep breath, hands folded in his lap as he calmly stared again at the posters in front of him. "I'm not going to talk about anything personal. I want you to know that now."
"Whatever you're comfortable with."
"And the meals will be a requirement."
"But of course."
"From that... pleasant warmer.. thing." He waved his hand at the device on the counter with a lazy flick of his wrist.
She tried hard not to laugh. "We are in agreement then?"
There was a pause before he responded in kind. "I suppose we are. Forgive me if I know no weather to mention, nor the local sports team's victories or defeats. I mostly read."
"And talk." She tapped her pen again. "You talk to the lizard, the cameras show you doing so."
He froze up completely, crossing his arms. Damned if he'd out his friend. "The Lizard can't talk, his mind is gone. I'm just amusing myself..."
"Yet you still talk to him, I even saw tape of you singing once. What was the song again?"
He groaned and slumped forward, elbows on his knees and hands rubbing his face. "The Sound of Silence.."
"Simon and Garfunkel? Really? A bit melodramatic perhaps."
"My tastes are eclectic, as my age is older than it seems Miss... dear god I don't even know your name." Hands were still rubbing his head. This was a bit much to deal with.
"Doctor Autumn." She corrected, pen dashing between her fingers in the air like the conductor's baton it may as well have been.
"Autumn." He replied, making it a point to leave out the title, turning his head towards the glass with a tiny twitch of his lip. "A man such as myself has odd tastes.."
She jotted down a few more words, connecting a loose venn diagram bubble to another. The page now full of various circles encapsulating words. A sky full of balloons, it had always been her favorite way to map mental connections. "I had heard you enjoy disco. Little-Sky made a note of what he called the cacophony coming from the biology lab."
"Oh of course they wouldn't censor that in their damned files!" He growled. "I suppose they also made note of the time I got drunk and hit on one of the female guards?"
She stopped mid drawing with her lips pursed in confusion and her eyebrows raised. "No mention of that. Perhaps you'd like to talk about it?"
He leaned to the side to lay his head down on the counter a bit more loudly than he'd intended. The thump reverberated through both sections of the room as did his groan of pain afterwards. "No. I think I'll pass. Please forget I mentioned it. It never happened."
"Are you sure? Because I think it sounds fascinating. What exactly do you find attractive in women?"
"Please stop."
"..I mean physically of course, though I should ask if you often have to be drunk to approach women?"
"Please..."
"That is common for a lot of men you know? Most often for men who project hopes and fears onto their partners, do you tend to view women as better than men, or worse?"
"Stop.." He thumped his head again on the counter but turned when the sound of her laughing came through the speakers.
"Relax, we're done for the day. I have all I need for now, I was just seeing how you would respond to some light teasing. Please don't break my office countertop." She stopped the laughter, though a mischievous smile remained and he stood as she buzzed for the guards who stepped in from the now open section of wall. Morbius was stunned into silence as he was forcibly cuffed and caught a last glance at her through the glass before being pulled from the room by gruff hands clad in armor. He saw the smile on her lips and swore under his breath on the walk back to his cell now convinced that she was the most confusing woman he'd ever encountered.