17 Chapter 17) – I Choose

As promised, the following morning Natasha arrived at the Stark Mansion to pick up Mara. However, the journey was significantly different from the day before.

As Natasha drove my host to the S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouse, the roads still had a fair bit of traffic, but it was noticeably less than the previous day. Fortunately, the pair used the time to discuss what exactly Mara should look for in her handler.

"Skill is obviously a predominant factor Mara, but it's not the most important aspect. Although there will only be the 2 of you, you're still technically a team and as such, the most important aspect is teamwork. In that regard you should look for someone that meshes with your personality or is the complete opposite to your personality. If someone is essentially another version of you, then all the plans will be in a similar manner to how you would naturally proceed and will allow you to specialize in a specific modus operandi. However, the opposite is also beneficial. If someone plans things the exact opposite to how you would normally do them, you will get a wider perspective and increase your repertoire of skills."

Absorbing everything that Natasha was telling her, Mara questioned back, "How will I know their personalities though? I'll be meeting them for the first time so it's not like I'll be able to immediately pick up on who would be a good fit just by looking at them."

Nodding her head in understanding, Natasha replied, "Don't worry about that Mara. We've done a personality evaluation on you, with what little we had to work with, since you appeared in Monaco. Every candidate chosen, either has a similar or total opposite personality to you. All of their information will be available for you to read through as well. Some of the candidates have more experience as a field agent than the administrative side of things, and some are the opposite, with minimal field work and the vast majority in administration."

With the traffic being significantly lesser than the prior day, their conversation regarding the handler candidates continued throughout the shortened journey.

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Once the pair had arrived at the location of the safehouse, the first thing that was apparent was that it was extremely ordinary. From the outside, it appeared to be just another Brentwood bungalow. It had a triangular roof, a pale turquoise primary colouring while all the wooden features, like window frames and the garage door frame, being painted white. The front door was the only part of the bungalow that stood out, as it was painted navy blue.

As my host followed the Black Widow through the front door, even the inside was visibly normal causing Mara to voice out, "I probably should have expected it, considering it is meant to be a safehouse. But isn't calling a normal bungalow a safehouse pretty misleading, Nat? I mean I get it's incognito and all, but if whoever uses it gets tracked down, they seem pretty helpless. At least tell me there's a button somewhere that flips the paintings and they become weapon racks? Or that the walls are made out of one of the strongest metals on Earth, and the bungalow can survive a bomb being dropped on it?"

Chuckling slightly Natasha replied, "Sorry to burst your bubble Mara, but no, the bungalow has no such modifications. Now follow me downstairs, we should be the last ones to arrive thanks to the LA traffic."

When Mara followed Natasha down the stairs, leading to the basement, she gave the spy a very disapproving stare.

The reason for such a stare, was that the basement of the very ordinary bungalow, was the complete opposite. It was almost exactly what Mara had previously described. The walls were lined with various weapons as well as unnamed technology that could either be classified as weapons or were tooling. Said walls, as well as the floor and ceiling, were also made from a dull metal that neither of us were able to tell what it was, but it would undoubtably be strong, otherwise why would the secret organisation use it as protection.

"Really Nat? 'The bungalow has no such modifications' she says-" Pointing at the walls my host said, more excitedly than angry, "-this certainly looks like those kinds of modifications! I almost believed you; you know?"

Turning to look at Mara waving her hand around to point at everything she found interesting, Natasha shrugged her shoulders before saying, "Technically, the bungalow has no modifications. It's the basement that has all the toys."

Mara shook her head while lowering her pointing arm, and said, "Nuh-uh, you don't get to pull a technicality on this! The basement is part of the bungalow even if it feels like we just walked into a completely different house."

Relenting so that they could do what they continue with the itinerary for the day, Natasha replied, "Let's agree to disagree. For now, though, these are your handler choices."

Distracting Mara with thinking, like she had learnt from the previous day, Natasha handed my host a binder. Said binder contained the overviews, and previous mission files, of all the handler candidates she could choose from.

After passing over said binder, Natasha walked over to one of the robust metal walls. Touching seemingly random panels, the 5th one she pressed receded into the wall to reveal a hidden passageway.

On the other side of the wall, and thus stood in the passageway, were 6 business clad individuals – 2 men and 4 women. Not standing on ceremony, the obviously handler candidates walked through the newly opened doorway and stood in a horizontal line in front of my host.

Not even acknowledging the new arrivals, Mara continued to read through the binder she had been provided to get as thorough an understanding of her options as she could from what information had been supplied.

After 10 minutes of silence, with the exception of pages being turned by my host, Mara finally closed the binder and looked at the professionally dressed contenders.

Giving her options the once over, without looking away from the candidates, Mara asked the spy behind her, "Nat, do the candidates know about my abilities?"

Stepping forward to stand level with Mara, on her right-hand side, Natasha replied, "Yes, they have been briefed on everything we know about you. That includes everything that happened, and was discussed, yesterday."

Acknowledging Natasha's words, Mara gave a simple nod, before I felt her desire for me to show myself like we had only done in private previously. My host had already picked out the candidate she wanted but had decided to invent some tests, so that her decision had a perceived logical process behind it.

Stretching out from between Mara's shoulder blades, I created a head that trailed over the back of Natasha's shoulders and came to rest on her right shoulder. Situating her between myself and my host.

Speaking in my head form for the first time in front of others, I questioned the Black Widow, "Clearly they are aware of myself then, right Nat?"

Turning to look at me right next to her face, she replied, "Well that's not terrifying, Elysium. And yes, your existence was included in the briefing they were given about the events from yesterday."

With my appearance alone, my host was already able to remove 3 of the 6 candidates with her imaginary tests, "Thanks for clarifying, Nat. The 3 that recoiled when El's head was created are out. It's nit-picky, but when all your résumés are equally outstanding, I have to make a big deal out of small things in order to make my decision. Knowing that El exists, and how they first spoke to Nat, you shouldn't be surprised or intimidated when it does happen, even if the form is unexpected."

Understanding that my host had already made her decision, and that they couldn't argue with her, 1 of the men and 2 of the women took a step back to move themselves out of the line.

Moving my head away from Natasha's shoulder and back besides my host, I asked, "Nat, which 2 would you recommend from the ones remaining?"

Taking a second to think about my question, Natasha answered, "Personally I would recommend Jasper or Melinda, Elysium. They-"

Interrupting the helpful assistant, I had never realised how strange it felt to be called my full name by someone else after having Mara use my nickname for so long, "Call me El, Nat. Elysium sounds too formal. And it would be unfair if I call you by a nickname, while not allowing you to do the same."

Instead of immediately using my nickname, Natasha rather confusedly inquired, "To be honest I was quite surprised you even spoke to me, Elysium - considering how our first conversation went yesterday. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Rolling the white parts of my head that represented my eyes, I responded with, "Surely you can recall that yesterday Mara said we were going up the mountain trail to sort some things out? This was one of those things. I was unhappy with you because of your treatment towards Mara. She convinced me to give you a second chance, so I am."

Whether it was genuine appreciation, or her impeccable acting, Natasha wore a slight smile and thanked my host, "Thanks Mara. Although I don't know either of you too well, with us working together going forward I would rather not be on hostile terms."

With Mara sporting a beaming smile, she blurted out, "It's fine Nat. I want to have a positive friendship with you as well. You're the person I've spoken to the most since I woke up nearly a month ago, so I wouldn't want to be on bad terms either."

Natasha's eyes widened slightly, possibly signifying that her façade slipped a little, but with how skilled the spy was, it was almost impossible to tell what was genuine and what was a falsehood.

Nevertheless, she quickly recovered, and turned to face me in order to continue with the explanation for her decision, "Well, El, like I was saying, the 2 I recommended have been with S.H.I.E.L.D. the longest and both have a plethora of experience in the field as well as the administrative side of things. That is not to say that Isabelle is inexperienced, but she mainly focusses on working undercover and meeting mercenaries, with lacking administrative experience compared to the other 2. She was chosen as a candidate as we believed her undercover experience would be opposed to your straightforward approach. Her already being acclimatized to working with people not trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. would help her mesh with you. Finally, she's an expert in hand-to-hand and bladed combat, which we think you would benefit from greatly if she trained you."

With Mara and me nodding along to her exposition of the 3rd candidate, my host asked for a similar breakdown on the 2 recommended handlers as some of the information Natasha stated about Isabelle was not explicitly stated in the folder she received, "Since you've already given a rather detailed summary of Isabelle, could you go through a similar description for Jasper and Melinda please?"

Natasha easily agreed and I noticed, throughout the day so far, she had been very accommodating with my host. Whether it was because she had ulterior motives or just genuinely wanted Mara to make the most informed decision, was irrelevant. As long as it benefitted Mara, I didn't care about the personal reason behind it.

"I'll start with Jasper first. He has served with distinction as a field operative, as you've likely seen in his folder. With his deception abilities, his 'patsy' ploy - the ability to act easily cheated or misled to withdraw a wealth of information - is the stuff of legend within S.H.I.E.L.D. Additionally, since transitioning into the administrative side of the organization, a number of years ago, he has been trusted with extremely high-importance assignments. He was first assigned to Iron Man, or Tony, when he re-appeared from captivity and has since been moved onto another gifted monitoring post that he was in charge of before we brought him here. I would tell you more details if I could, but it's clearance level 6. If you chose Jasper, your modus operandi would be more focussed towards deception, investigation, and dialogue rather than head-on combat. You would be widening your capabilities and would be deployable in a broader spectrum of situations as opposed to specialising in a specific field. He's also a close friend of Phil Coulson who you met yesterday."

Giving myself and Mara a few seconds to store all the information she had provided us, Natasha continued with her explanation for Melinda, "Melinda on the other hand, didn't just serve with distinction in the field, she excelled, becoming one of the best field agents S.H.I.E.L.D. ever had. She also forged her own legend within the organization, known as 'The Cavalry'-"

"Don't call me that." The woman she was describing interjected, cutting Natasha off.

Evidently the nickname was a sore spot for the woman.

Picking up where she left off, Natasha continued after giving a quick apology to 'The Cavalry', "I apologise, Coulson did mention you were averse to the nickname. Anyway, Melinda has only been working in the administrative side of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a couple of years, so she obviously isn't as experienced as Jasper, but she makes up for it with her field experience. During her field deployment, she was also part of the Index Asset Evaluation team and thus has even more experience dealing with gifted individuals than Jasper does. By the way, the Index is a list that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses to record super-powered individuals or objects. As such, she may be able to give you additional inspiration for your abilities while also planning your missions around fully utilizing said abilities for combat. Melinda is an expert combat tactician, a master acrobat and martial artist, has masteries in sword and staff weapons, with the icing on the cake being expert marksmanship. Basically, if it involves combat, she's difficult to top. She's also a close friend with Coulson, and he specifically recommended her for this post. Like I said to you previously, these 2 recommended candidates are the extremes here. Melinda would allow you to hone-in on your combat abilities to an absurd degree, whereas Jasper would be the complete opposite, taking the subtle approach, and Isabelle would be a somewhat middle ground."

With Natasha giving the both of us such a detailed breakdown on each of the choices we had, there was no need for the other fabricated tests that Mara had come up with. Now, she could pick whoever she wanted and use the justification of basing her decision on the information that the spy had provided her as well as the recommendation.

"What do you think El? I've already made my decision, but since we're in this together your opinion is worth the same as mine."

Although Mara had asked me verbally, we had already discussed the reason for her decision while we were reading the files of all the candidates. Pairing Mara's justification with Natasha's description of the handler choices, it only solidified Mara's decision and made my verdict an obvious one. 

"Melinda would be the best option for us Mara. Having a broader range of skills would be beneficial if it were not for our overwhelming combat potential. As far as we are aware, there are not many super-powered individuals around, so not making the most of our gifts would be as waste. Other, non-combat gifted, agents would benefit more from Jasper and Isabelle's tutelage than we would. To put it into number form, say our combat abilities were currently rated at 5/10, and the skills Jasper would teach us were currently a 2/10. If we took Jasper as our handler, he would increase our non-combat skills to a 7 or 8, but other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents could also achieve the same results since our gifts aren't mind oriented. However, by going with Melinda, our combat ability would exceed the human limit going well above the maximum of 10/10, which is something impossible for non-gifted individuals."

Bobbing her head up and down, Mara agreed with my deduction, since it was who she wanted ever since my host first saw her name in the binder. Thus, she told Natasha, "We'll go with Melinda then please Natasha. I had a similar thought process to El, but I suppose that makes sense since we are one and the same."

With the watertight explanation we had just presented all the candidates, as well as Natasha, there was no room for any counter argument. As such, Natasha said, "Can't really refute that logic. Well, now that you're officially a team, I suppose it's time to formally introduce each other."

Taking the initiative, Mara stepped forward and put her hand out for a handshake.

The woman first introduced as Melinda had warm, olive skin, with shoulder length dark brown hair and eyes. She appeared to be in her late 30's to early 40's, but with how physically fit she was, due to her relentless field duty over the years, it would not be surprising if she was older than she looked. As for her attire, she was wearing a grey blazer with matching business pants. Underneath the blazer was a plain white office shirt with the top button undone, displaying her prominent clavicle bones.

Copying my host, also stepping forward, Melinda accepted Mara's handshake as she officially introduced herself, "Melinda Qiaolian May, nice to meet you."

Releasing the handshake, my host gave her and myself a proper introduction, "Mara. Just Mara. This is Elysium, or El for short."

As I was currently just a head, I didn't shake the new handler's hand, and instead just nodded my head at her, to which she responded in kind.

Before anyone else could speak and discuss what came next, Mara questioned the new handler, "Sorry if this is a bit forward Melinda, but I have a penchant for nicknames so would you mind if I used one with you?"

Appearing nonplussed with the question she answered, "That's fine with me, Mara. Well, so long as it isn't the one Miss Romanoff used earlier that is."

With my host shaking her head once, she chirped, "Nah I won't use that, don't worry. I saw how much you disliked it. Do you have a preference between Mel or May? Or is there an alternative that people use?"

With a neutral face Melinda replied, "May is fine."

Once the nicknaming had been completed, Natasha briefed Mara on the plan for the following days, "Now that you've selected your handler, as we discussed previously, the coming days will mainly be Melinda giving you a general overview of what exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. does. This will also include how the organization is run and a brief history of how S.H.I.E.L.D. became what it is today. These briefs will be through the day, while during the night you'll be residing at Tony's mansion to assist him if Ivan Vanko decides to go after him. After you're up to speed with S.H.I.E.L.D. it'll be up to you 2 and Melinda on what you do throughout the day, for now. Whether that be learning combat skills or continuing to tour around the city, so long as Melinda is with you and she informs S.H.I.E.L.D. what you're up to in case there's an emergency, you have free reign."

All the other candidates had already returned through the passageway by the time Natasha finished her briefing. With all 3 of us – Me, Mara, and May – nodding our collective heads at Natasha's words, the spy made her way towards the staircase to leave the safehouse when, halfway up the stairs, she paused as she remembered something.

"Oh right, Mara. The second request you wanted has been sourced. Melinda, it's stored in the floor panel under the bladed weapons. The first should be ready by tomorrow, so that'll be delivered here, to the safehouse. See you in the field, Mara."

Saying such, the spy finished walking up the stairs and was out of the bungalow before my host could get a word in.

Before starting the informational dump, my host was inevitably about to receive, the handler walked to the wall opposite the passageway she came through. Performing a similar serious of taps to what Natasha had done to open the passageway, a large section of the wall flipped over to reveal a display covered in all manner of bladed articles.

Although Mara was impressed, she couldn't see the popcorn Natasha had mentioned.

Before she could ask why May had flipped the weapon panel instead of the floor panel, like Natasha had stated, the new handler kicked the bottom of the wall. Whether or not the weapon panel needed to be flipped first, or May just wanted to make sure she got the correct wall was uncertain. But what was certain was that as soon as she had kicked the wall, a hatch popped up out of the floor.

As May lifted the hatch open, a box was raised up from inside the floor. Mara, eager as ever, didn't hesitate to open the box once it had reached its maximum height, revealing a multitude of completely silver, air sealed, packets.

Grabbing one of the packets, Mara immediately ripped the top open to reveal a golden treasure trove. Toffee Popcorn.

Throwing one into her mouth, she moaned in pleasure, "Mmmm~ So good~"

Turning to face her handler, she requested, "If it's not too much to ask, May. Would you be able to keep a stock of these on hand at all times? I'll keep some on me, but I may need some as emergency rations."

It went without saying, but Mara's definition of emergency rations was not an actual emergency. Her intention was to ensure that she always had some of her snack available for events or the interludes. Even if she planned to be involved in said events, she was adamant about having her precious snacks to munch on.

With the request being something negligible, May naturally responded with, "Seems easy enough."

Happy she got the answer she wanted, Mara cheered, "Perfect! Thanks, May. I feel like we'll get along rather well. Now, should we get on with the history lesson?"

Instead of verbally replying, May nodded once before performing more taps on another wall. This time, the tapping caused a screen to creep down from the ceiling. Evidently it was to provide a visual representation of everything Mara was going to be told.

Thus began Mara's induction into all things S.H.I.E.L.D. for the remaining days until the birthday brawl.