File P4534 - Permission request
Date: June 14, 2012
Name: Stella Moon
Subject: Permission request to see classified files on S.R.
Explanation: These files would be useful in order for me to understand some hidden frustrations and motivations of S.R. I think the therapy is on the right way but he is not willing to open up further. I would like to stimulate a conversation with the information.
Authority: Nicholas Joseph Fury
Permission granted: yes
Explanation: At least you asked for permission.
File SR9862 - Diary excerpt
Writer/Owner of diary: Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader (Dum Dum) Dugan
Entry date: August 21, 1943
Subject: This entry covers an argument between Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes about S.R. jumping on a fake grenade during his pre-serum training.
I absolutely have to write what happened tonight. We have an ongoing bet with Gabe and I am about to win a lot of drinks. So I'd better have some evidence of what happened in case the bastard wanna play me later.
We are in the middle of the woods. We set up this camp three days ago and we still have two days before we have to leave to the next Hydra base. Things were quite relaxed. Turned out Cap doesn't know a lot of card games and tricks, so we spent some time to train him.
It happened in the middle of a vicious poker game. Now it is important to note that Rogers is one son of a gun when it comes to bluffing, but he is still not as good as Barnes.
After the sixth or seventh round we were getting tired and that's when hell broke loose. Cap took too long with his cards, so Jim remarked, jokingly, "Come on, Rogers, for one who jumps on grenades without a moment of hesitation-"
"What?" Bucky asked and I swear his hands were shaking.
Steve glared at us which effectively made us all shut up and finally placed two cards on the crate on which we played. "Give me two." (Note: he should have asked for three. I know because after they left we checked their hands left behind.)
"No wait," Bucky said to Gabe who was the dealer for the round. "What grenade?" He asked.
The silence was almost frightening. Steve refused to look up from his cards.
"Steve," Barnes called irritatedly.
"Oi, just let it go, pal. It was fake anyway," Jim stepped in, wanting to right the mistake he caused, obviously.
"Oh so you all know about it, huh?" Bucky asked back. Rogers at this point was intently observing a bug on the crate.
"Perhaps," Gabe responded carefully.
"Bullshit. I want to hear the story," Barnes said. God, I swear when he talks like this he's scarier than Captain freaking America.
"I really don't see how it is important right now," Steve finally spoke as he got up.
But Barnes followed suit. "Steve."
Cap rolled his eyes. "Fine. Fine. In training before the serum the Colonel threw a grenade among us and I-" he swallowed. "I jumped on it, okay? It only seemed logical."
I couldn't help but snicker. Neither of them appreciated it. (Good news: I am still alive and kicking.) But really, who says jumping on a grenade is logical?
Bucky must have agreed with me because the sound he gave at that was basically a primal growl. He cleared his throat. "Are you kidding me?" He started softly.
"Buck." Rogers looked uncomfortable as hell and looked at us, but what could we have said? It really was the stupidest thing I've heard. "Buck, it was a fake. Nothing happened. I mean, I was chosen for the programme, so if you look at it that way…"
"Are you kidding me?" Barnes repeated. "Are you kidding me, Stevie? I was there for you, kicked all the asses you wanted to kick, helped you when your mother died. I look away for one second and this happens?"
Well, it happened about two hours ago and now that I look back at it, I would say it was not the right thing to say for Barnes.
Rogers didn't answer but retreated to his tent instead. Barnes looked over us as if we had been the ones throwing that bloody grenade at his best friend. Then he went after him.
I was just as pissed as Jim and Gabe for a perfectly good poker game having gone so wrong. But we clearly weren't as pissed as Cap and Bucky were.
Note: The entry does not end here, but the remaining part is not connected to the conflict between S.R. and J.B.B.
File ID: 64278 - June 15, 2012
Name: Robert Bruce Banner/Hulk
Species: Human
Date of birth: December 18, 1969
Place of birth: United States of America
Citizenship: American
Occupation: Physicist
Note: Patient is currently in a glass cell refusing to come out. He is in human form but previously transformed into the Hulk for a brief time.
"Stella Moon. I'm going in," I say to the guards who stand by the door leading to the special cell that Tony installed for the Hulk if something was to go wrong. I flash my card too, but the two men seem unwilling to let me in. "Ma'am—"
"I have a therapy session with Dr. Banner. I am going in," I repeat. "You can call agent Coulson if you will," I add. They do. I am not surprised. Some safety measures are certainly overreacted around here. But then again, I did sneak into the archives once, so who am I to complain.
Finally I can enter the corridor after Coulson confirmed my story. In the end of it I already see the cell with Bruce inside of it. He wears oversized but comfortable looking clothes and is reading a thick book with a couple of others waiting on the floor of the cell.
"Hello Bruce," I greet him as I walk to the glass and sit on the floor with my notes in my lap. "I hear you don't want to come out."
"Miss Moon," Banner nods and lowers the book to look at me suspiciously. "That's correct."
I nod. "I understand. Still, as you are back to your… tamed self, I think these safety measures you think you have to take are exaggerated."
He huffs. "Tamed self, is it, Miss Moon? Look, you were the one insisting that I need to rest, were you not?" He looks around theatrically and then fixes his gaze on me. "I am now."
"Ah, so did you take some days off?"
"Well, technically Hulk did."
"What happened?"
He shrugs. "I don't know."
"As far as I know it never happens without a reason or without your intention to turn," I respond. "Do you not remember what triggered it?"
He raises his eyebrow. Yes, I should have let him get away with the crap, but when Banner turns into the giant green monster the least I can do is try to figure out why and what changes need to be done in order for it not to happen again like this.
"Bruce. Please, throw me a bone." He shrugs noncommittally scratching his stubbled chin. "According to Fury you were back in your lab working and now everything is in ruins there. The whole equipment."
It is a painful spot for him, clearly. "But the good news is that all your research is constantly backed up in several copies. So you still have those," I add quickly.
He sighs. "That's something." He narrows his eyes at me. "Stella, did Fury send you to fire me?" he asks.
I shake my head. "You are not fired, Bruce. Furthermore, you'll get your equipment back. Whatever you need to continue the work." I pause for a moment. "But for that you need to come out of here, for one, and two, I have to write a report stating you are stable and ready to pick up work."
"Then write it," Bruce responses.
"First prove it," I answer. "Tell me what happened, Bruce."
"I just- I was in the lab working. I was observing a corpse actually, and it turns out it wasn't necessarily a corpse. It somehow spat venom onto my face." He seems uncomfortable. "I imagine it was venom because it started burning, but then I turned. And my green buddy smashed around."
I raise my eyebrow. "So it was a self-defence method?"
He nods. "Suppose."
I observe him contemplating if there is a chance of him lying. I will go with no, I do have to trust my patients telling me the truth after all. In Bruce's case I do not find it awfully hard to follow that therapy rule.
"That surely sounds reassuring. Did you turn back in this cell?"
"Yes. I hear I did not kill anyone."
I assure him he did not. I choose not to mention that the hospital wing is more crowded than usual this afternoon. "Come out of there, Bruce," I repeat.
He gives me a sweet smile but shakes his head. "Thanks for coming to see me, Stella."
"That's literally my job," I chuckle. "You say it was self-defence. So there is definitely no reason for you to try to save everyone else from him. He only comes when you need him to, doesn't he?" I ask ignoring his attempt to finish our session.
He titles his head to the side. "The only problem is, Stella, that it is him that determines when I need him."
"Are you saying you have no control over him?"
"I'm still trying to figure it out."
"Figure out what? How you two work exactly?"
"Yes."
I frown in concentration. "Perhaps you should experiment on it."
He blinks in surprise.
"I am serious. Here you could have safe conditions and a platform to discover what you are capable of." I smirk smugly at the way he's clearly thinking about his possibilities. "But of course before that you'll have to—"
"If you want to say I have to get out of here, don't," he cuts in. "I understood it for the first time as well."
"Right." I stand up. "Let me know if you are interested in the training. I'll ask around and see what we can do about it if you want."
"But first don't forget to write that report about me being able to go back to work."
I wink at him. "We'll see about that."