EVENT : the debriefing of BARBARA MORSE, aka MOCKINGBIRD, in relation to abduction and time spent on skrull planet.
SUBJECT : barbara 'bobbi' morse, phd. formerly known as agent nineteen. former shield special service, level seven. former reserve avenger.
DEBRIEFING AGENT : agent lindsay wheeler, level seven.
DATE : october first, two thousand and fifteen, 09:15 hours.
LOCATION : classified.
WHEELER : thank you for joining us, miss morse. i'd like to start by ā
MORSE : doctor.
WHEELER : excuse me?
MORSE : my title is doctor.
[ wheeler's hand tightens a bit. bobbi doesn't watch her much, just stares directly over wheeler's shoulder, straight into the security camera on the other side of the room. she's in a fishbowl in here, feels eyes on her from all sides. she has felt this way for three years ā it no longer makes her want to crawl out of her skin, but she can't say the feeling is comfortable, by any means. ]
WHEELER : doctor morse. excuse me. i'd like to start by asking if you know why they chose you.
MORSE : i'd like to first confirm that barton is not, and will not be privy to this debriefing.
WHEELER : that's none of yourā
MORSE : i wasn't asking, and even if i were, i'm not asking you. i am informing the director that he is either removed, or i walk.
[ wheeler opens her mouth to respond, but then leans into her earpiece. bobbi waits for a long twenty seconds, visibly fighting the urge to leave, and looks into the camera until wheeler nods. ]
WHEELER : barton has been removed from the room, and will not be able to access this debriefing later. why did they pick you?
MORSE : i was easy to replace. i have no powers. in the grand scheme of superhero work, i'm an easy trial run.
WHEELER : your file spells out a good record with high marks.
MORSE : i'm a great spy. that's why i'm still here. but their priority isn't spies. it's superheroes. if they can figure out how to replace the superheroes with powers ā what good is a nine millimeter against a skrull thor?
WHEELER : understood. let's start at the beginning.
MORSE : it was april twelfth, two thousand and twelve.
WHEELER : we have you listed as flying into los angeles from new york.
MORSE : i was in the restroom in the c terminal at dallas international. i think they were disguised as facilities staff.
WHEELER : you think?
MORSE : i was knocked out, and woke up in a simulation of the west coast avengers' mansion. i can't tell you anything about the in between.
WHEELER : so, bobbi morse leaves new yorkā
MORSE : h'rpra shows up in los angeles, dies two weeks later.
WHEELER : . . . h'rpra?
MORSE : that was her ā it's name. the one that replaced me.
[ bobbi looks down at her hands on the table. they are both her hands and not her hands. ]
WHEELER : what happened when you woke up?
MORSE : i was in los angeles, in the mansion. or it was a replica. barton was there, he was making burgers. but you know that feeling where ā where something's just not right? everything felt a little too calculated, a little too perfect, and barton ā he looked at me like he was happy to see me, but that wasn't right. we'd been arguing so much for months on end, being near each other in any capacity was draining. we were exhausted of each other. i'd told him three three weeks prior that i wanted a divorce, and he was fine ith it. he shouldn't have been happy to see me.
WHEELER : and then what happened?
MORSE : i stabbed him in the neck with a skewer and ran. broke through a window and found myself in a skrull facility. he was chasing me. he thought it was fun, that i was running. it was a game to him, one that went on for the entire time i was there.
WHEELER : did he have a name?
[ bobbi shifts, uncomfortably. the urge to crawl out of her own skin returns. ]
MORSE : i only knew him as clint barton for the first two and a half years. that's all he called himself. that's all anyone called him. he knew what clint meant to me, and he knew ā no matter where i was, no matter what i was doing, making clint into the face of the thing trying to destroy me would haunt me. but there was one time ā i'd broken into a house. there was a pair sleeping in there, and i killed them both, and i took food and clothes, but he was waiting for me.
he came out of the dark, and he laughed. he called me birdie, and he told me he loved me, and that he knew i'd come back to him eventually because i loved him. and he tried to touch me, because he always tried to touch me, and i just remember ā i blacked out, and when i woke up, i was on top of him, and i'd killed him...
[ bobbi swallows, blinking rapidly. ]
MORSE : i'm sorry, what was the question?
WHEELER : did he have a name?
MORSE : right. there were more there, and they took me. somewhere between that house and their headquarters, they called him s'kova.
[ bobbi picks at a hangnail. wheeler watches her for a long moment. ]
WHEELER : we can pick this up again later, doctor morse.
MORSE : no. i'm okay. i want to keep going. can i just get some water?
WHEELER : let's take a fifteen minute break.
[ THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES AT 09:45. ]