Miss Magaret is basically Umbridge okay? She's important later on.
It's barely days later when S.H.I.E.L.D. officials are called in. One day I woke up to find that the mini kitchen in the main lounge that I had grown accustomed to was not the same. They flooded the place. They sat on the stools by the counter, having conversations and laughing, and they opened the kitchen cabinets and fridge, grabbing food and sharing it amongst themselves. The lounge in the centre of the room was filled with boxes of equipment loaded in from the landing pad on the balcony. Personnel were crawling everywhere with clipboards and blueprints. Why the hell was the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. operative doing here?
Yoghurt drinks, salad, ice cream in the fridge? Gone. Chips, instant noodles, wholemeal biscuits from the pantry? Gone. Stupid glutton agents. A free schedule? Gone.
The physical trainers were back. And worst of all, I wasn't training alone anymore. The whole bunch of Avengers was grouped in. And nobody wants to train together.
Bruce is 'I don't think I should learn how to fight. I think the green thing – that's enough.' Or 'I'll just withdraw myself because I'm about to blow because this idea is stupid.'
Steve is 'Let's just do this.'. Not surprising.
Tony is either 'I'll hire my own personal trainer.' Or 'Steve has an unfair advantage here.' Or 'I have my suits, I don't care.'
And Clint and the red head would be 'We don't care because we are robots programmed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to do this shit and follow orders blindly.' And 'We can totally ace this because we've been training since we were babies.'
Then, there are team bonding games. After one session, I began to doubt this was the team that saved Manhattan. A lot of awkward silences and glances, shouting, passive aggressiveness and eye rolling. Eventually there was this 'Screw it' attitude and the trainers saw that there was no point in pushing us to work together in stimulated missions scenarios.
Oh I have to mention, we also have a psychologist. On my schedule it said 'Consultation' and under it 'Level 78: Room Beta 4 – Margaret'. Seemed harmless enough.
When I reached there I noticed the lounge chair with an armchair by the side. There was no table in between for… whatever I thought I was to be consulted about. This was going to be plain talking about things. Psychoanalyzing. I turned towards the door, with the slight urge to escape, but it was too late.
She stood by it, mostly in black except for an unsettling pink cardigan. Holding a grey clipboard and navy blue pen that I would soon come to recognize easily, she gave me a small condescending smile and assessed me from head to toe. She lifted one of those thin lines of an eyebrow.
'Ms Thorne? Please, make yourself comfortable.' A high pitched, girly voice rang out.
'Well, you must have heard of me. No? I am Miss Margaret, and I'll be your personal psychologist.'
I took one last glance at my schedule. 1 hour. Argh, bitch.
Describe your relationship with Peggy Carter
'I, uh, we were in the same sort of… military unit.'
'But you know each other intimately?'
'Yes – no, ma'am. I…'
'You do know that she is alive and well? Would you still contact her?'
'Mr Stark, you have displayed some very undesirable behavior in the past, and you still have some aspects of this, no?
'It really depends on perspective. Me fighting with my buddy in my suits? Not so good. Me doing that at my mansion, during a party where everyone was kept at a safe distance? Not so bad after all. Ever consider that that was for the life of the party? How about me removing the Mandarin as a global terrorist threat? What's undesirable about that?
If it boils down to a situation between saving your friend and completing the mission, as simple as that, what would it be?
'What is this about?'
'This is about you.'
'No, this is about Clint isn't it? Ever since Budapest, it always is.'
'We just want your answer.' 'Well?'
'I would complete the mission.' 'Are we done?'
'Not quite.'
'Mr Banner, you mentioned that you once attempted to commit suicide. Is that true?'
'Yeah. Yes.'
'But your alter-ego, the Hulk, intervened?'
'Pretty much.'
'Would you say that you struggle with control with your alter ego? Does that affect how you define yourself?'
'Uh, could you repeat?'
'You are both with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative. Projects that may clash in the future. Which of the two would you lend your service to if they did?'
'Shield.'
'Where do your loyalties lie? Explain this.'
'Shield. If I didn't pledge my allegiance to S.H.I.E.L.D. you wouldn't find me here.'
'Let's talk about Natasha.'
'Is this all it's going to be about?'
'Mr Stark, could you explain to us the reason for the destruction of 40 plus or so Iron Man suits following the battle with Mandarin and his forces?
'Look, I am not going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. and whoever controls them, ever, and I mean ever touch my tech. Only I get them. There is not going to be any deal with me and S.H.I.E.L.D. over the suits. What part of 'The suit and I are one' do you people not get? I let you all have my building, and the next thing you all want? Never.'
Do you ever consider your alter ego to be against everything you stand for?
'What I stand for?'
'Mr. Banner, you are, let us put it, with the Avengers. Your alter ego basically destroyed level 2 of the hellicarrier, which was acting as the Avengers' headquarters.'
'You spent some time with her after her traumatic medical checkup, yes?'
'Yes ma'am.'
Describe your relationship with Camila.
'She's… wait, are you using me to get to her? That's not going to work.'
'Go on.'
Do you doubt your ability within the Avengers?
What, the arrows? If I wasn't good enough, I wouldn't even be assigned there. What's the point of asking this?
One hour later, and with a friendly goodbye-
'Our hour is up. I suggest you be more cooperative so that we may help you with your transition into the Avengers Initiative, or else we might have to use other methods. We only want what's best for you.'
I finally got to exit.
Steve surprisingly, was waiting right outside.
'Are you alright?'
'What with Miss Margaret?'
'Yes, are you okay?'
'She's crazy. Basically that. Bonkers. Irritating Shit. Is she your psychologist too?'
'Yes. She asked me about you.'
I stopped walking. 'What did you say?'
Steve didn't realize I stopped. He looked left and there was confusion on his face when he couldn't locate me. Then he looked back quizzically.
'I told her to ask you herself.'
Tension is thick in the air.
The thing about this friendship, as I have come to accept it is, that we jump from being totally cool to at each other's wits end to tense moments like this. Then we snap back. It's a crazy ride.
'Can we go for lunch?' This is how I apologize.
'Alright.'
