Bobbi’s primary motivation is and always has been to help people. To be a shield for those who couldn’t help themselves. She swore an oath to that effect when joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and she’s been loyal to the idea of it ever since. That said, Bobbi is very much a “bigger picture” kind of person, meaning she is both capable and willing to accept losses if the end result is worth it. It also means that she isn’t above hurting those around her, those she cares about for that greater good. Her loyalty is to the idea of SHIELD, not to the institution of it and not to individual persons within it. She will do good when and where she can and help when she can, but if it comes down to a choice between saving one or saving many, Bobbi will choose the many and she’s willing to go to great lengths to do so. SHIELD has given her a number of tools to do just that, from her scientific abilities to her fighting skills to her skills as a spy and manipulator. In particular the last often put her in conflict with those around her and those she cares about: for the greater good, Bobbi is willing to lie to just about everyone, including her own (now ex-)husband, to the point where he thinks that their entire relationship was based on lies and that he cannot trust a word of what she says, including her reassurances that the lies stopped with him and her feelings were genuine. Her loyalty to the idea of SHIELD more than to the agency means that she’s willing to manipulate and even betray her team, her friends, people she cares about a great deal. She puts that idea above everything else, even when it hurts her to do so and leaves her conflicted. Despite her willingness to manipulate, hurt or betray just about anyone for the greater good, Bobbi is not a cold and calculating person. Quite the contrary: she is warm and feels deeply and much (even if she will use her own emotions as tools to manipulate others, too). She isn’t above telling others about her own fears and insecurities or opening up to them emotionally in some other way (even if, again, this is at times also a tool to manipulate them or gain their trust). Her life is an emotional rollercoaster in many ways and Bobbi likes it that way. This ties in to her not being someone who does well with boredom or enforced inactivity. She needs to feel busy and like she’s doing something, achieving something. This provides a further (secondary) motivation to her actions; she uses this drive to fuel her actions, but her loyalty to the idea of protecting people to point the way and determine the path her need for action takes her down. Bobbi is exceptionally strong-willed and determined, which may explain why she keeps pursuing the greater good by means that, often enough, hurt her and those she cares about in some way or puts them on a path of conflict. In addition, Bobbi is very capable and knows it, certain in her own abilities. tl;dr— Bobbi cares about the greater good and about protecting people, she’s loyal to an idea more than anything else and focuses on the bigger picture, lying and manipulating others when necessary despite not enjoying it. She’s capable and strong-willed and truly cares — and she doesn’t cope well with boredom.

- earned a degree in biology
- shield academy of operations (one of the best scores)
- read more

- army brat, father in the army
- moved around a lot
- studied biochem @ uni
- started working at a commercial lab
- uneventful life before finding herself in new amsterdam