Raven: She scoffed at Evelyn, but not particularly angry. To Natasha, she said. "Figures. Why, because she's an awful parent, which probably makes er not such a great human being. 'Course, I don't know why I care. I'm supposed to be jaded."
Evelyn: "Hey I'm not a liar. Only when I'm doing stuff for SHIELD like trying to get information out of Lokison."
Raven: "No, you don't understand. Hill is practically encouraging Nova's weaponization." She explained the story quickly, how she greeted them as they came in, and they briefly spoke of the mission, how to her she seemed a little too eager, a little too pushy, a little too controlling, and how Nova looked clearly uncomfortable, so Raven had tried to suggest taking it slow, use caution, don't move too fast, warning that 'it only takes one mission to make a monster' and explaining that Nova was not yet as much a monster as she, and how Hill had gotten all cold and frosty and negative until she left. "She's asking Nova to bloody her hands and for what? A future of of violence and weapons and monsters that she might not even want? Doctrine?"
Natasha: She was silent for a little. "I'll talk to Hill. I don't want Nova to be encouraged for weaponization. I've always been a firm believer in SHIELD, bit a bigger believer in self happiness. One's will to a good life comes before SHIELD, and for a lot theey don't mix well. Thanks for the insight Raven."
Raven: "All right. Thank you and you're welcome. But when you talk to her, it didn't come from me, okay? I'm not supposed to care or feel or interfere or be too much of a person."
Natasha: "Oh I wouldn't throw you under the bus like that. I won't mention you at all." She took a bite of banana. "No, you are supposed to care or feel and interfere and be too much of a person. See, this is why I fought so hard for Evelyn not to get the super solider treatment. I forgot if I told you, but with Evelyn being... created from SHIELD... she'd be easier to modify. Plus they had been keeping data on her for years. But I saw how much other supers struggled. Being part of SHIELD can be great, but it shouldn't be forced upon someone. And I'm sorry your life has been that way. I always wanted to keep SHIELD an option for my children, but I didn't want to force it. Like imagine how unhappy Jay would be as an agent. Bit being a recruit is a lot less extreme that the wouldn't treatment." She adjusted herself on the couch. "The supersoilder serum part of you can be deadly and a weapon. But that's a little part of you which isn't used most the time. The Raven Fury is you. She's a real person who cares about her family, loves music, and does normal teenage things like crush on boys and enjoys finding her style. You are not a weapon. You have a small part of weapon that is a part of you. You are RAVEN."
Natasha: "It's not too late to be a child for a few months."
Raven: "You don't get it. It's all pretending now, all acting. I'm a weapon, not a human, and nothing will ever change that."
Natasha: "What about the time spend making memories with your band mates? Was that acting?"
Raven: "No. But the thing is, it's not real either, is it? This period of time here, it's like stasis, like a dream. Soon I'm going to wake up and the vacation will be over, and it'll be back to killing, because that's what I'm programmed to do."
Natasha: "It can be real if you choose it to be. It is possible to stray from programming."
Raven: "I'm not strong enough."
Natasha: "You are one of the strongest people I know."
Raven: "But it's never enough!"
Natasha: "I believe it is."
Raven: "You aren't a normal human, what you believe likely doesn't apply to normal humans. What I don't understand is why you can't just condemn me in my monster inhumanity like everybody else."
Natasha: "Nobody in this tower sees you as a monster. And what do you mean by I'm not a normal human."
Raven: "I meant no offense. You're an assassin like me. You have red in your ledger like me. Most normal people don't."
