Dreams

Somehow, like any person would, Andi Berch found herself one mid-afternoon in the presence of not one, not two, but four Avengers. Y’know, of the “Earth’s mightiest heroes”, “save the world from an alien invasion” variety. Before her stood a genius smart enough to invent his own flying suit, a man with astoundingly good self-control, a sharp shooter who never missed, and a literal demigod with amazing hair.

“I’m sorry, but I fail to see how a, no offense, normal person is supposed to help us contain the self-proclaimed ‘God of Mischief,’” said Tony Stark, sounding not the least bit apologetic about what he clearly considered a negative quality.

“Oh, none taken, Dr. Stark. Frankly, I don’t really see what I have to offer that the team literally assembled of the most incredible people in the world don’t,” I admitted. “If Maria Hill didn’t recommend me, there would be no way in hell I would have offered myself up for this position. Those around Loki usually don’t have things go in their favor, and I am, compared to you guys at least, dreadfully normal.”

“According to Maria,” interjected the man most often known by the codename Hawkeye, “you have incredible patience and are near impossible to manipulate or force information out of. Even more, you have one quality that none of us do. The desire to actually protect your prisoners not only for the sake of preservation of assets. But for their own good.”

I smiled softly. “Well, Maria is quite generous with her praise. Not to brag, but I am very difficult to corrupt or trick. Autism is quite the superpower when you use it to your advantage. Because I don’t care for normal social convention and choose only to bond with those who I see fit, it’s almost impossible for someone to manipulate me against myself or my friends. Because I align myself with SHIELD, I consider everyone involved with them members of my extended team, including the Avengers. Because I am so calculated and reserved, I find it very easy to keep myself in check and prevent saying anything out of line or that could compromise myself. It’s also very easy to pick up on body language because I do not see it as something that just happens naturally, but rather as something that one purposefully acts out to express themselves, which helps me to be very intuitive.”

Tony quirked an eyebrow. “Well, Rainman, looks like you have quite the portfolio of extra skills. Still not really comfortable handing you one of the biggest threats to all of human kind because of an impressive resume, though.”

“Look, I’ve trained with her,” Clint said. “Physically, she’s not remarkable. Truthfully, she’s not even a particularly healthy person compared to those who don’t have the world depending on them.” I nodded, knowing my pudgy stature would give that away anyway. “Mentally, though, she’s one of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. She’s gone through SHIELD training to be a spy, including interrogation simulation and what I can only describe as the most high staked internship in the world. Through it all, she never cracked, never even came close. Maria told me that she ranked right up there with me and Nat. It was only her inability to blend in seamlessly that prevented her from becoming one of us.”
“That’s when it was suggested that I work internally at SHIELD,” I explained. “I may not have what it takes to seduce a terrorist into giving me information or infiltrate a dangerous organization, but I’m damn good at taking care of my own and getting a read on the big bads.”

The Lord of Thunder shifted in his seat. “With all due respect, Loki is not as easily managed as one of your mortal ‘big bads’. He can shapeshift and use his dark magic to deceive you. I, myself, have fallen for his tricks on several occasions.”

I sighed. “Look, I know that you guys are looking for me to convince you that I’m a capable… what are we even calling this job, babysitting? Wardening? Chaperoning? Whatever you want to call it, I don’t have any strong opinions one way or the other, and I’m not going to insist that you hire me to take care of this. I do want to be a part of your team, and I do think that I have a lot to offer in terms of levelheadedness, resistance to manipulation, and data gathering, but the only reason why I felt the need to come here and make my case is because Maria Hill put her faith in me, and that means more to me than my own judgement.”

The heroes were silent for a few seconds before a voice spoke up from the other end of the table.

“I, uh, I think that we should do it.” Dr. Bruce Banner, quite possibly one of the smartest people of all time, tapped his folded up glasses nervously on the table. “She has a recommendation from Fury’s right hand person, and made a good case for herself without getting pissed off at you guys for kind of insinuating that she’s incompetent. If she can handle that, and training to be a superspy with Clint and Natasha, let alone get ranked with them, I think she can handle just about anything that we can throw at her.”

Tony sighed dramatically. “Fine. Fine, she can join the team. But,” he faced Bruce “if anything goes wrong, Banner, I’m coming for you, and I know where you live, because you live with me. So,” he turned back towards me, “when can you start? Because we have a giant green clad baby currently pacing around his room wailing and monologuing because we won’t give him the attention he wants.”

”I suppose I can come back tomorrow and start working for real. In the meantime, could someone please give me a tour? The last thing I want is to accidentally walk into someone’s private area or a top secret weapons lab when I’m looking for the bathroom.”

Thor raised his hand. “I can do that. I also have done that. We should also get you introduced to the rest of the team when we get the chance, make them more comfortable with the idea of having a neutral third party here.”

Nodding, I agreed.

The Avengers Compound was much larger than it seemed from the outside. Some of it was because the bulk equipment and technology that you would expect to take up at least some space was actually built into the walls. Also most everything was or could be automated by Tony’s invention, and friend, JARVIS, from the food delivered to the fridge to the exact temperature of the showers. All of the Avengers had their own room and private area in the Compound for when sleeping over was necessary, although Tony and Bruce were the only ones to live there full time. I was told by a cheery Thor that once they saw how well I handled his nuisance of a brother, they would probably give me my own room as well. The rooms were scattered around the building, each one close to the room of the building which best suited the inhabitant’s interests. Bruce shared a hallway with the lab, Natasha and Clint stayed near the gym and shooting range, Thor slept near the kitchen, the star spangled Steve Rogers stayed by the conference room, and Tony lived at the top of the tower to best enjoy the view. 

“Where do you believe Stark would add your room?” asked the god of thunder.

I shrugged. “I would assume somewhere close to Loki’s containment chamber, since that’s kind of my purpose in staying here. But I wouldn’t mind being closer to one of your guys’ rooms so we could hang out. I hear you get quite festive after a victory, and I’d love to be around to enjoy the fun.”

Thor grinned. “I am quite fun. Back on Asgard, we would celebrate for weeks once we defeated a great enemy. Here people just move on to the next threat. I guess that’s why I am here though, to make Midgard as safe and prosperous as I hope Asgard stays.” He glanced at me. “I hope asking you to guard and protect Loki is not asking too much of you. Back home we would have squadrons of guards tasked to protect him, and he would still always find a way to escape. Usually the guards were hurt, and I don’t want to see another person get hurt looking after my brother.”

”Don’t worry, Thor. I can handle this. I think taking a different approach might actually give us better results than we’ve had in the past. Usually, my wards end up liking me by the time I switch jobs, at least enough to avoid directly harming me. For a lot of these people, that’s as much as you can ask. I’m not just here because I want to help you and the other Avengers protect the world from Loki, but I also want to help Loki heal from some of the pain the world has caused him.”

Thor frowned. “Are you, what they call a therapizer? I have never heard anyone speak of Loki in such a way other than our dear mother.”

”The word is therapist, and I’m not one, although I may consider it in the future. The lack of compassion shown to Loki may actually explain a lot of his behavior. I imagine it’s difficult living with the pressure to be perfect for the sake of protecting the image of the crown, while also being disrespected by one’s own parents and treated like they don’t belong.”

Thor stared at me, brows furrowed.

”Maria Hill gave me his case file, and he’s mentioned during past attacks that Odin isn’t his ‘real’ father and that he was lied to about his true identity,” I explained. “Anyway, at the very least, I can act as a neutral third party whenever you guys have a disagreement about what to do with Loki. I figure having a bunch of superheroes arguing is the last thing New York needs.” We stopped in the lobby of the Compound.

”Well, I guess this is it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow at nine to meet the rest of the team and get introduced to Loki.”

Thor padded me on the back with such force that my knees buckled. 

“Alright, till morrow, good Lady Berch.”

I walked back to my car, shaking my head and laughing at my interesting new coworker.