2659/I'm here about a missing Hulk

I'm here about a missing Hulk
Date of Scene:	28 July 2020
Location:	Doc Samson's Psychiatric Practice
Synopsis:	Bobbi gains some insights in to Bruce Banner's behavior, and also suggests he might be a good consultant for SHIELD in general.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Doc Samson

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Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi pulls the SHIELD SUV up in to one of the angled parking spaces. The trees shelter the cars here and the brownstones stretch off down the street. Not many people live here now, these have all be converted in to various medium density businesses. The one she's interested in is Doc Samson's Psychiatric Practice.

There's a little ring of a bell as she enters the building. Wearing long black dress pants and a black suit jacket. She has a pistol at her hip and a stave on each thigh and who knows what else stashed away on her person. She approaches the front desk and takes out a badge with an eagle on it, the SHIELD logo. "Hi I'm Dr. Morse, here to see Dr. Skivorski. I made an appointment."

This is not a personal call though, she is all business. If it were a personal call, she probably wouldn't be packing the pistol. The identification is flipped away in its leather case back in to a jacket pocket quickly and she takes off her dark shades, raising an eyebrow, then heads to instructed direction. A knock on Samson's door is heard and she enters his office.

Doc Samson has posed:
The receptionist nods and depresses a button in an intercom system. "Your five o'clock is here, doctor."

"Please show her in," a voice replies from the intercom.

The receptionist stands and gestures to a nearby door.

As Bobbi enters, Leonard Samson sits in a lounge chair in the room, a neatly kept desk nearby. He crosses one leg over the other and adjusts his glasses.

"Dr. Morse. Hello. I have to admit--usually when someone tells me they're a secret agent and urgently need to speak with me, I prepare for a /very/ different sort of initial meeting. I'm glad to learn that this isn't one of those cases," he says cheerfully, a smile at the corners of his mouth. "Not that you shouldn't feel free to discuss anything you like, of course."

Samson snaps his fingers and stands. "Forgive me. Dr. Leonard Samson." He extends a hand. "Please, won't you have a seat?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi takes his hand and gives it a friendly shake, "Please call me Bobbi. This isn't any kind of formal interview or anything". She does sit down and nods her head, "I've heard you've been getting lots of great recommendations and reviews of late. You're in high demand. That's a little bit why I'm here, but also related to your prior work on gamma-radiation."

From a pocket on her thigh she draws out a tablet that's folded up. She unfolds it and brings up a picture of a holiday home in the north, half destroyed. She shows it to him and then moves on to another picture in some forest somewhere, with destruction of trees and rocks.

"Tell me, what do you know about The Hulk?" Secret agent lady from SHIELD asking about the Hulk, this can't be going good places.

Doc Samson has posed:
Samson's smile fades somewhat as Bobbi shifts focus from his own reputation to that of the Hulk.

"Ah," the psychiatrist says quietly. "Yes. Of course." He clears his throat. "I like to think I'm something of an expert--that is, I've had the unique opportunity to observe and understand his condition."

Samson sits back down in his chair. "I hope ... I /want/ to hope ... that you're not here on a mission to either weaponize the Hulk for national security or to try to punish a man for acts that are not entirely--some might say not at all--his fault."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi nods her head and gets herself comfy on the chair, one leg crossing the other. She rests an elbow on the back rest of the couch, taking up space. "Ah yes I can see how you might be concerned about that. No, he's a colleague. Not as close a colleague as some of the other people who have been helping me mind. You see, that big alien space ship that attacked us recently? The hulk, he went up there and fought the good fight for Earth."

She leans forward, none of that is especially a secret since parts of it ended up on news all over the planet, especially the footage of Captain Danvers throwing the Hulk up at the alien spaceship that looked like a giant skull.

"But he went down with that ship, then went mission. We have been trying to track him. He hasn't reached out to any of his friends or colleagues. Our best guess at this stage is he walked to a small town in Vermont. I'll be going there later today with a team to check out a lead there."

She pauses to let him catch up with what she's describing. "Why do you think he'd go on the run like this? he's not done anything wrong as far as I'm aware. I'm hoping you have some unique insights that I'm lacking."

Doc Samson has posed:
Nodding, Samson rubs his chin. "Yes. That seems to be the SOP, doesn't it? One day recognized as a hero, 'fighting the good fight for Earth'--and then the next a monster, terrorizing the populace and so on."

He exhales deeply through his nostrils. "That's the reason he's missing. Or hiding. Or underground. Whatever your preferred terminology is. Bruce is an individual whose psyche is /barely/ holding together because the consequences of gamma rays have all but shredded it."

"Bruce Banner," Samson continues, "desperately tries to distance himself from civilization because that's how he can work best to save it--when he's unencumbered by mobilized military forces dedicated to taking him down."

He's quiet for a moment before continuing. "Of course, the Hulk isn't /technically/ Bruce, either, not exactly. And I'm not sure the Hulk can bear to be alone ... even if he weren't hounded through the wilderness."

Samson looks at Bobbi. "Are you mostly interested in understanding /why/ Bruce is on the run? Or do you want to know where to look for him?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi's eyebrows raise a little bit and she leans forward thoughtfully, "He's come a long way since those days." She taps on the tablet a few times and brings up some footage captured by a camera phone during the battle with Brainiac. It is of the Hulk on the ground, screaming at people calling them Stupid and for them to Go Away!. The footage cuts to op ed piece by Dalton Eaves talking about 'the green menace' - "May be he saw this."

"I know Bruce a lot better than I know the Hulk. It seems in my experience a person gets along with one or the other, rarely both. He should know he has a lot of support and friends still, hiding away isn't the answer."

"When you say the Hulk isn't technically Bruce either, what do you mean? I have worked with the She-Hulk too and she is very much herself." She folds up her tablet and taps it against her thigh as she thinks. "But yes, I'd like to understand the why and if you have thoughts on the where, I'd love to hear them too. If you have time in your busy schedule, it could be helpful if you joined my SHIELD team in the search too."

Doc Samson has posed:
"Are you familiar with Jung's theory of archetypes?" Samson asks, raising an eyebrow. "It's admittedly more than a bit reductive, but it can help explain the issue. For example--if we understand Bruce as the central 'identity' of his self, then the Hulk is like a shadow, a counter-persona. Bruce is a scientist who creates, builds; the Hulk destroys. 'Yin and yang' might be another way to think of it," he adds, cupping his hands to mimic the yin-and-yang symbol.

"But we could look further, consider Bruce as a non-dominant part. An equal to the Hulk. The flight into hiding could be a way to find some psychological equilibrium so that the two are not at odds." Samson pauses and looks down for a moment.

"Of course," he offers, "there's also the possibility that it /is/ all about resistance and opposition ... and that Bruce is not the identity epicenter. That, instead, it is the Hulk, and gamma radiation was merely the catalyst for his emergence."

Samson taps one of the arms of his chair and sighs. "And yes, of course. I'm always happy to help ... especially for Bruce. You may not believe it, but I owe him a great deal."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi tilts her head as she considers this duality within Bruce. It hadn't been something she'd really clued in to. She had naively thought that it was just Bruce.. being big, green, and angry. "Well that does clear up some things I suppose. During the fight with the alien ship, the Hulk swallowed a radioactive substance. We believe he spat it up again in that forest, inert of its deadly radiation. This was not something we knew the Hulk could do. But if the two of them have different goals in mind - the Hulk was protecting people from the radiation, and Banner.. is just protecting himself, perhaps excusing himself from society." She makes a circular motion with her hand, "Which brings us back around to where you might think Bruce could be headed and why he hasn't reached out to the Avengers, his friends, or even SHIELD for that matter."

Doc Samson has posed:
"I believe I noted that Bruce is headed as far away from anyone else as he can get. And I don't think it's to protect himself," Samson adds quickly. "He's protecting everyone else. Think of it like a kind of non-figurative 'critical distance.'"

Samson chuckles softly and shakes his head. "I've got a theory, actually, that the Hulk might be trying to protect Bruce ... at least, as best he can given his skill set. Swallowing something deadly could be one demonstration of that motivation."

"That said, I'm ... I'm not fully comfortable making suggestions about where to look for Bruce. Has it occurred to anyone that, perhaps, he hasn't reached out because he knows the moment he does you'll pinpoint his location?" Samson cracks the knuckles of his left hand.

"I'm happy to offer my insight so that you and your team can /understand/ Bruce," Samson states, leaning forward slightly. "And if it turns out that you do find him, I'm happy to be there to help try to mitigate whatever damage your search causes. But I'm not going to compromise his quest for peace and solitude."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi frowns a moment as she considers Bruce's motivations. One day he's helping Nadia Pym restore a bus to full size, saving those kids lives, the next he's running as far away as possible. "Yeah. Well.. may be I can convince him he's worth the risk. He's a valuable member of the Avengers and irrespective of that, he's a brilliant scientist." Not to mention they have that weird unfinished conversation that was interrupted by science.

"I'd be thrilled to have you there if we do catch up to him. I mean, we will catch up to him, it's inevitable. No one can hide forever from SHIELD. I dislike the idea that he thinks he needs to keep away from the rest of us." She checks her watch and then rises up from the couch. "Dr. Samson it has been a pleasure to meet you. I think you've got a lot of valuable insights worth exploring. But also, I'd like to recommend you to the consulting arm of SHIELD for your psychiatry services, if that's something you'd be interested in. SHIELD needs people like you." She offers her hand to him for another shake.

Doc Samson has posed:
"I'm always interested in making a difference how and where I can," Samson replies, standing as well to reciprocate the handshake. "That might mean helping SHIELD, but it also might mean helping Bruce in the best way I know how--by not being that much of an immediate help. Location-wise, at least."

He offers a thin smile. "Perhaps he'd be less concerned about returning to society if he didn't feel so tormented by various powers-that-be ... to say nothing of any individuals who grow terrified he might lose control at the wrong moment."

"But," Samson quickly adds, "I suppose that's better left to our next meeting--when I'm able to charge contracting fees to SHIELD." His thin smile grows somewhat. "Please let me know how I can be of service, Dr. Morse. Bobbi."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi grins at his mention of contracting fees. Well, that is one of the advantages of being a consultant to SHIELD, you don't do it out of the kindness of your heart. Everyone gets paid in this capitalist society. She shakes his hand and puts walks to his office door. "Well, don't be a stranger. SHIELD will be in touch about that consultancy." She puts on her shades and smiles, "I'll be seeing you around Doctor."