steve.

   Call it a bad habit, but Steve liked to know who he worked with. It begun with the issues that arose within SHIELD, where goodness was assured in a name; there was a difference between respect earned from actions, and respect demanded out of prestige. He liked to get the picture for himself, on as many levels and angles as he could ascertain. This included his coworkers, perhaps to a fault.

   A nervous tick, hands wound and unwound, set his mind on the way his mother would do the same when she worried. He kept his attention on her face, hands set behind his back. “No doubt – the way technology has shifted in the past century alone is enough to disconcert even those who lived through the change. Add to that the fact technology can uh, tell you what it thinks of that advancement is… It’s weird, not gonna lie.

   It was foolhardy to think that humanity was above any other life form, whether it was the environment, other species, and perhaps even AI. “I think anything that can process loss can feel pain. I doubt some people I’ve met have ever known pain.”

His answer didn’t exactly help. She lifted her eyes again, fingers still entwined together. ❝ Oh. ❞ she licked her lower lip, seemingly still a bit pensive. So JARVIS had suffered, and Ultron… he could feel pain, too. Maybe it wasn’t physical pain. Maybe it was emotional one. She couldn’t say. Her domain of expertise was only organic beings. It all sounded so silly. She would’ve asked Tony about it earlier, but she wasn’t sure he would even take her seriously.

❝ I think everyone knows pain, in a way. ❞ She pondered. She never dared calling herself a soldier. Back then, back during the 70s, she was just… a nurse. She had seen her share of horrors - but she imagined those who spent their entire life on the battlefield have had it much worse. ❝ Even… Even if they don’t show it. ❞

❝ What do you think is going to happen next? Do we have a… single chance at beating him? ❞