Chapter Text
Dressed in tour-guide uniform, which consisted of cargo pants, steel-toed hiking boots, hooded ski jacket, and her favorite flannel shirt, Campbell Goode arrived early Friday morning at the Albuquerque Studios. Before exiting the car, she briefly checked her reflection in the review mirror and tucked her brown hair back with her hands. In spite of being here for her job, she at least wished to be presentable. Her only make up was a bit of moisturizer and a transparent gloss, the basic necessities, against dry skin after hours spending outside. Her early arrival would allow her to get the luggage of her six new charges loaded into the back of her black Chevy. She intended to be sure they would be on the road to their destination as quickly as possible.
A week ago, Mr. Joss Whedon had phoned the corporate office of “Goode’s Adventures and Travel Shop”, inquiring about their teamwork offer. Her older brother took the call, and explained the details of what the full package initialed, two nights and three days in the great outdoors, with team-building exercises. Joss admitted he was employed by Marvel and needed his actors to work together as a cohesive unit. He also revealed that he wouldn’t be in attendance, but he would be leaving a parcel for the guide to open and a letter to read to the team. Right now, she rested her hand on the box and waited for her clients to appear.
Campbell had been surprised that her brothers suggested her for this job, as they all read the comics when they were kids, except her. She was never a fan of superheroes. She preferred to stay outside, reading Jack London’s books or climbing trees. Definitely, she was ignorant in all things Marvel.
Not far away, sitting in the stark white conference room, fidgeting in his seat, Chris Evans was excited to get a new adventure started. He had been cooped up here since six am, and he was looking forward to getting out into the great outdoors. This buddy trip was just what his restless spirit needed, before kicking off the next project. Playing Captain America was a demanding role, and the young Bostonian actor needed to unwind and recharge his batteries before throwing himself fully into the role.
Script readthrough finally over, Evans bolted from his chair and headed towards the door.
“Avengers Assemble!” he bellowed to his fellow cast mates as he sprinted out the door of the studios and progressed towards the waiting, tricked-out black Chevy Suburban. It was the third week in April, and the beginning of their team-building camping event.
“Whoa Chris, wait for the rest of us.” Robert raised his shoulder with arms open, “I’m not as spry as I used to be.” He laughed.
“Come on, Grand-Pa! You seem pretty vigorous to me.”, said Chris as he excitedly slapped the older man’s torso with the palm of his muscular hand. “I see you are fully suited up, and I mean, ready for adventure in the woods.”
“Don’t make me regret canceling my weekend of golfing, it’s not too late to go back to my clubs, Cap!” Winced Robert, stroking his chest.
“Cheer up,” answered Chris who knew that Robert had suspended his trip to join their team-building function. It was widely known that the elder man was more inclined in having a peaceful weekend playing golf in California than spending time with his coworkers. However, according to Robert’s current facial expression, Chris understood that his colleague was glad to be part of the team and have fun with the younger fellows.
Progressively, the rest of the cast filtered out of the studio and moved towards them. They were set for three days in the wild. Everyone had adopted a sporty casual attire, completed with old jeans or cargo pants, T-shirt and a warm flannel shirt, rounding out the outfit was a heavy waterproof jacket. Appropriate hiking shoes were added, and they looked ruggedly handsome, in their outdoor-mountain-man's clothes.
Hemsworth, always appearing as a cool surfer, was wearing an oxbow T-shirt, so Jeremy immediately made fun of him, as well as of his singular Aussie accent. However, Hemsworth who wasn’t about to let that slide by, laughed loudly and pointed at Jeremy’s wife-beater with “Cowboys Ride’Em Harder” emblazoned across the front. “You American boys couldn’t be more cliché.” The Aussie shot back, with a gigantic toothy smile on his face.
“It’s a gift from my girlfriend,” retorted the Californian with a duck-face smirk.
Ever the father figure and peace keeper, Mark stepped into the middle of the two bantering young men, “Wow! What did you do to that girl?” he teased.
“Maybe I am the real Hulk in the bedroom,” winked Jeremy.
“Yes, but I am the one who gets paid to be him,” rascally answered Mark.
The last to arrive at the car was Tom, he was all smiles and was exhilarated to begin this adventure. “Group Hug is the perfect name for this movie and for our future exploits.” He crooned in his posh British accent.
“Hey, Princess, you made an effort for us, thank you,” RDJ said while admiring the English man’s outfit. The short man was notorious at giving his fellow actors fun nicknames, and during this trip he was going to try to figure out a name for each of these boys.
Robert noticed that everything Tom had put on was brand new, from the comfy shoes to the bright red plaid shirt. He even spotted a white paper label hanging from the collar, and torn it away. Holding it proudly into two fingers as a trophy, he showed it to the others.
“Wow, I am impressed you pulled out the Land’s End Catalog and purchased your whole outfit, did you even spring for underwear?” Robert ribbed the young Brit.
Tom not one to succumb to ribbing from friends, countered back, “What underwear?” His tone was serious, but his coy gaze betrayed him.
RDJ rolled his eyes, smirked and bantered back, “Please I don’t want to know if you’re going commando. I mean this is a get-to-know-you-trip, but that's way too much information.”
Six actors were standing in front of the black Chevy, when the driver’s side door opened and a pretty young woman slid out of the car.
“Good morning gentlemen, I am Campbell Goode, your guide for this weekend.” The spunky brunette smiled at the men that were staring slack jawed at her. She was used to this reaction, growing up with the name “Campbell,” most people upon meeting her for the first time naturally assumed she would be a man.
Robert was the first to snap out of his surprised state. “Campbell? As in the soup company?” he chuckled.
Jeremy was the next to chime in, “Campbell? As in Mmm-Mmm-Good.” He joked as he suggestively waggled his eyebrows, trying to express the double entendre.
Crossing her arms over her full chest, she stated in an exasperated tone, biting her lower lip, “OK Boys, get it all out now. Take your best shot, I have heard them all. You are not the first clever children to come up with jokes about my name.” She dropped her arms to her side and shook her head, laughing at them with a bright smile on her face that radiated her good humor about the situation.
“However, if you are finished clowning around, we need to get on the road, it is about an hour drive north to Santa Fe, and I would like to arrive there before ten am. I hope you’ve filled your bellies with a nice breakfast and strong coffee, because we have a lot of intense activities planned until Sunday evening.” Campbell said in an authoritative voice, showing them that she was ultimately in charge.
The boisterous actors quieted down, and rapidly filed into a single line. Before climbing into the Suburban, they greeted Campbell and introduced themselves with a smile and a handshake. Chris, Jeremy, Robert, Mark, Hemsworth and Tom, what a team! The giddiest of all was obviously Chris, who was excited to do one of his favorite activities. Naturally, he was the first to jump in, as he screamed, “Shotgun,” grabbing the front seat, the one next to the lovely guide. Robert and Jeremy exchanged an accomplice glare as RDJ, kept on overacting.
“Hey Cap, you have no respect for the seniors. You just relegate me to the backseat with the children. Who said you’re the boss? … Unless you want to show off who’s the strongest?”
“Grand-Pa, I thought you needed a safety seat,” chuckled Chris.
Climbing into the driver’s seat, Campbell clearly captured the blatant mood of the weekend, boys together are always competing and shooting jabs at each other. She breathed deeply to gain a bit of courage.
“Speaking about safety,” she interrupted the kid’s banter. “I will have to give you some rules about our expedition. First and most important of these is that I am primarily responsible for your well-being! I have been entrusted that I will have you all back Sunday night, in the same condition as I picked you up in. Second rule is that you will not put yourselves into any unnecessary risky situations. And finally, if you have any questions about the previous two rules, then you are not smart enough to be on this adventure, you can get out of the car now. So, we understand each other, you will have to follow them scrupulously. Now that’s finished one other thing before we start the weekend, Mr. Whedon left a letter for you and a box. Chris would you mind taking care of this?”
“Sure Babe! OK guys, so apparently I have been designated as the boss after all.”
“Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute! Babe! What am I, a cute little pink pig? No… I am not, you may call me Miss Goode, Campbell or even ‘Boss-Lady,” she stated, keeping her attention to driving.
Chris blushed as he was put into place by the feisty guide. RDJ piped up, “Oh look, Cap is turning all the shades of red. I like her fiery spirit!”
“Yes, Capcicle, has been iced by a pretty girl,” said Mark.
Chris, searching for getting the attention off of himself and his chastising, moved to the task he had been assigned moments ago.
As a kid, he always opened the box first, he discovered six navy-blue caps, embroidered with a red “Avengers” logo. He took one for himself and threw the rest to five pairs of outstretched arms. The boys simultaneously performed the same gesture, they brushed their hair back with their hand and placed the hat firmly on their head. When Chris checked his reflection in the review mirror, Hemsworth searched for his phone to see himself in the screen, RDJ tried to steal the Australian’s mobile, and Tom asked, “How do I look?”
While they jiggled at the back, Chris employed a serious tone and read the note out loud.
Avengers Assemble,
My dear team, it is the beginning of an incredible adventure. I am looking forward to working with you on this fabulously epic movie. Most of you have been there before and understand the big machine that is a Marvel enterprise, but Marvel is also a human venture, a little family. This weekend is the appropriate opportunity to get to know each other. Your guide and I have concocted a rustic and challenging experience. While the girls are relaxing in a prestigious SPA—lucky them—you will be hiking, rock climbing, camping and team-building activities, so much to look for and use your natural superpowers. You are expected to work as a team, but you will have to form pairs. So please, don’t mistreat our villain yet, he might be useful.
As you may have noticed, Sam and Clark are missing, they couldn’t be with you, as the first is going to his daughter’s wedding and the other will assist his wife’s birthday. They send their best wishes.
I hope you will have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you on Monday for the start of the next big adventure.
Your fearless leader,
Joss
Between two loud smacks on his gum, Hemsworth shouted at Tom, “Hey Mate, are you sure you wanna come with us or would you rather join the girls at the posh SPA?”
“If Joss thought he needed to mention it in the letter, to prevent you from killing me, maybe I should,” said a crestfallen Tom.
“Don’t worry Tom, I’ll protect you from those punks,” answered Mark with a comforting hand patting Tom’s shoulder, “I’ll hulk-smash you later…”
“Mark!” barked Jeremy, as he hit him with the back of his hand. “Spoiler alert!” Which caused the others to snicker loudly.
“Oh Fuck, I don’t want to get fired before we even started!” Cringed Mark.
“Guys, no need to censor yourselves I signed a nondisclosure agreement, and frankly I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” The guide makes a fast check into the review mirror, enjoying the good-natured ribbing over her companions for the weekend
Once the laughter subsided, Campbell provided them with the safety information while she kept her eyes on the road. They diligently listened to her, fully aware about insurance issues and production problems if they were to get injured and wouldn’t be available to act in the following weeks. Then, she had to answer their inquisitive and numerous questions. She managed to satisfy their curiosity while still maintaining suspense about the trip. As they had to transport the necessary items for their accommodation, they would receive a tent for two, sleeping bags, food, water and various equipment and they had to distribute the weight and their strengths.
Everyone wanted to team with the Chris’s, they evidently struck the team as the toughest, most capable. Campbell suggested that she would choose for them as she had no preconceived notions. Hemsworth and Mark would share a tent and they seemed to be pleased with this idea. Jeremy high-fived RDJ when he learned he would be his tent mate.
“Welcome to the dark side, Robert.” The younger man joked.
“Oh my God, really! I will pair with Captain! Oh my God!” Tom expressed, trying to do an impression of Evans, which everyone cheerfully applauded.
TO BE CONTINUED...