Who: Bruce Banner Where: His lab, S.H.I.E.L.D When: July 13th What: Does not enjoy the selection process
This, Bruce thought, was exactly why he needed an assistant. Maybe it wasn't in the job description, but there had to be some perks to not working alone.
He was sitting at his desk, or more accurately at one of the multiple benches that dominated his lab, the whole workspace covered entirely in piles of letters. Why exactly the HR department hadn't been able to scan them and send them through in digital form so they wouldn't get mixed in with his research the way they'd been doing all morning was completely beyond him - that was actually their job, not just cluttering up his lab by delivering his mail. Of which there was a surprising amount that day, the morning after the close of applications for the position of lab assistant to Dr. Bruce Banner.
He'd had an assistant, once upon a time, a grad student who was also moonlighting as the grader of minor tests of choice for half of the science faculty, whose class grading he'd applied himself to quite happily while she shook her head and organized his bills for him. It turned out to be a good trade; he'd been in gamma research back then, fascinated, consumed, the number of final notices that came in for his electric and phone just staggering. The number of times he'd gone to call Betty and found his phone had been disconnected had gotten ridiculous in the end; he had no real need to worry about that kind of thing these days since S.H.I.E.L.D was doing a great job of paying his way, but he knew he was falling behind in documentation and though he tended toward a tyrannical overseeing of all of his work he knew an assistant would make all of this at least five times easier and ten times quicker.
That was why he hadn't objected when General Fury suggested he might want to look in to hiring. Part of him had balked at the idea, insisting he liked to work alone, but truth be told he was getting more and more isolated in his lab, especially now that Captain America - Steve - was back out in the world. He sighed, resigning himself to another hour of reading through the sheaf of applications, students and recent graduates, a few mature candidates looking to get back into pure science after years teaching high school biology. People from all over the country, it struck him, though mostly New York state - he hadn't realized the competition in the field was so fierce, but he supposed he hadn't actually been on the job market in years, since... well, ever. He couldn't think that it had anything to do with his reputation. He'd been absent from the journals for far too long for that, respected as he'd been once upon a time.
A note in the top corner of one caught his eye; he fished it out of the stack and gave it a look, handwriting he recognized, something about the importance of giving particularly close attention to this application, the candidate came highly recommended. He scanned it; as much as he was reluctant to give preferential treatment to Fury's pet projects, for an undergraduate the application was quite impressive. Peter Parker, New York. He added the name to the list. From over a hundred he'd whittled it down to ten. It had taken him far too long.
Interview invitations would be going out by email later in the day.