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[There's been a lot building up to this, and she hasn't even been here long enough to claim that. But two plus solid weeks tells her everything she needs to know about Heropa, about this registration, and about what came before. Kate's granted herself the opportunity to hear from every side, and given her past history with this, she knows it's almost her place to say something.

Of course, as much as she's willing to step up, she'd prefer that she didn't have to. But here she is.

When the video switches on, she's in uniform, complete with a pair of dark purple shades and the appearance of her quiver disappearing behind her.][There's a pause, and she draws off her sunglasses and sets them down, relaxing.]

I thought it might be an okay idea to drop the dramatics a little. Sunglasses are dramatic, aren't they? [She smiles easily.] Here we go.

The other day, a man named Nelson suggested that we stand together no matter what. And I've got to say—I agree with the sentiment. I wouldn't put it the same way as him. I doubt most of us would. But you've got to give him points for trying, and again, the sentiment wasn't a bad one. It got me thinking about what happened back home for me ... and for my friends.

I've mentioned this here and there. Hints and ideas and everything. All those little points of foreshadowing for this intentional reveal. [It's a bad joke, but she smiles briefly at the idea that she set up some narrative. Kate isn't that into big dramatics; that's more other people's thing to do. But hell, she can't help but think Loki would approve of it.

Actually, that's not a good thing. But she doesn't focus on the thought, she's here for a reason.] This is in my file. But it's just a brief note. I fought against a registration like this before. I was on the losing side, until it turned out that it was more complicated than that ... [She waves her hand in the air. Talking about the skrull invasion isn't her idea of "things people need to hear right this second."] But I've been arrested for it before. I saw the people desperate to keep this going do some terrible things. It started a series of events. One thing after another. I even had to fight on the opposite side of my best friend. Heroes hiding in private. Heroes couldn't be heroes because someone would swoop in and arrest them.

What I'm trying to say is ... it'd be good to avoid that. But they've already got a leg up on us. These tattoos don't go away. We come in prepped and ready to register. To get on with our lives. We're called outsiders, so we've got to fall into line. And anyone who goes against it might just be tainting things. [Okay, so that's a subtle snipe at Tony Stark. Less subtle for him, she imagines.] And someone might argue that I feel like I'm entitled to freedom, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. What is this government's trump card? [Their cyborg Thor. Their band of "former" supervillains. After all, Norman Osborn has just as much of a right to register, doesn't he?]

I know it wasn't easy for some of you guys before. The world you came from wasn't great. I've seen suspicions. I've seen what happens when the public reacts badly to people in costumes, but that doesn't mean the opposite is better.

The big thing I'm asking for after telling you is this: let's not fight. We can do better than that. And I think it'd be better if we were in a situation where we don't have to register our right to help people. I'm willing to fight for that. I don't want to take it to arms right away, so I've been asking around. I think none of us want Civil War here, so I'm getting ahead of myself to ensure that doesn't happen.

I do think those of us who don't like this could take a stand, but I—well, I understand if you don't want to take that risk. I can't say I blame you. We've got ... there are wifi transmitters in our arms. But I'd still like to talk to anyone about this.

Okay. [She grabs her sunglasses.] Hawkeye out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Actually, no. I think the sentiment's important.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have your own opinions, by any stretch of the imagination, at all. I think sometimes there are better ways of changing things than brute force.

[ As long as it's his way. ]

Wasn't the SHIELD task force prepped and ready before the act happened? I seem to recall that.

[What's that about brute force? At least she isn't wielding the Thor card yet.]

But my memory might be foggy. It's been a couple years.

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Nobody will give you credit if you aren't prepared. That's how people get hurt.

[That does it.]

Yeah, guess everyone just grows Thors in their backyard for fun.

I'll let Loki know he can have an imitation brother in a short time.

Edited 2014-03-01 09:02 (UTC)

And if we were dealing with your average problem, that might not be necessary. Some of the superhumans in our world were powerful, and if they tried to fight us with muscle, what else can we do but have someone ready to hold them down?

[ It wasn't supposed to do what it did god!! ]

Is making up half-assed excuses a part of your suit's programming?

[ A look. He's not playing this childish game, Kate!! ]

You can come up with all the cute little phrases you want, but sometimes there's no black and white solution to a problem. If there were, we wouldn't be needed.

You cloned a friend and he set out and killed another one of your friends.

[She sighs, shaking her head.]

My friends could have died that day. Hell, one day Billy could have been a target of that thing had stuff gone differently. [For many reasons, she singles out Billy. Billy is the most dangerous, after all; Billy is the one who was partly let down by the Avengers. Everything involving him is why she remains reluctant to claim "full" Avengers-hood.]

And if he took out a school full of children? And then vanished?

[ He said it bluntly. ]

We have power, Kate. A great deal of us have more power than we could possibly need, and there are repercussions to that power. If that means that we have to take a risk, and use something to make sure that it can be handled? Then so be it.

If that thing never saw the light of day, I would've been more than happy. It could've been avoided, but it wasn't.

Am I upset about Bill's death? You're damn right I am. I wouldn't have wished that on anyone, and it showed that we hadn't made it correctly in the first place, a mistake I'm going to hold for the rest of my life. It shouldn't have happened -- we got sloppy, and that is nobody's fault but my own.

When you went after Billy, you did it for less.

[It's snappish and ... true. No matter what apologies, what reparations they provided, that much was true.

Cassie died. Jonas died. Nate slipped off, possibly to become the person they all feared he would become. And Billy slipped into depression. The rest of them struggled to figure out who they were in the world.

Everything's a step. She'd be willing to forgive one thing if he didn't seem so fond of the set up here. If he wasn't making excuses.]

You have a knack for sloppy, Mr. Stark. [Mr. Stark, still, of course.] A lot of people's sloppy gets other people hurt, but yours does more.

[Kate admits to herself that if they were back home, if they were in similar circumstances to these, she might not step up. Oh, she might be bold, she might stand in resistance, but some part of her gets extra leverage from standing on the same, level ground as him.]

Edited 2014-03-01 19:51 (UTC)

No, I don't have a knack for it. I made mistakes, yes, I'm not going to deny that. If I do, then I'm refusing to grow from them, and that gets more people hurt. The problem is that you look at these incidents on a personal level.

[ And that's the crux of it, isn't it? He looks at people as numbers, at the end of the day. Like this, they're factors, calculations, not people, not friends, because he can't afford to look at anyone based on sentiment. ]

But I'm not sloppy. Everything was done that had to be done, because if we didn't, it would've been a hell of a lot worse than if we'd just left it. I don't expect everyone to see that, I don't expect everyone to understand that, but there's a point that you have to understand that I'm not just doing this for my health. I don't want the superhuman community to be divided, but it is. I don't want to have to divert SHIELD resources to taking care of friends that are for the most part harmless, but I have to. If we don't, then we're showing favoritism, and then this entire thing goes out the window.

[The problem is that you look at these incidents on a personal level.

Kate can be hard-nosed about the facts as well as anyone, but she isn't able to completely dislodge her compassion. And that's the difference here, isn't it? At least, that's how she sees it.]

You have a funny way of speaking about the past. [Everything he said was in present tense, after all. It makes her wonder about what's going on back home that she doesn't know about. Given her recent adventures with her team, she imagines it may be way more than she expected.]

And a funny way of speaking about necessity.

Because my knowledge of necessity has had to evolve, along with my knowledge of how the world tends to operate. I used to be just as optimistic as you are.

[ Not really, but the amount of which that's changed over the years says it all. ]

But I don't speak about the past, I speak about he present. Not all of us are from the same point in time.

[Oh, he's from the past.

Of course he's from the past. It explains so much. Her eyes widen with realization and then she leans forward.]

I'm not sure if that gives you a good excuse for being an ass or a bad one. But it's the only good one you've had so far. In this conversation, at any rate.

Edited 2014-03-01 22:35 (UTC)

What? There's no excuses. If I were excusing myself, I'd be talking about how it's not my fault, or laying blame at someone else's feet, which I haven't done -- despite some of these things being not entirely in my hands -- but I take full responsibility for them.

If it were an excuse, I'd be looking for pity, or for you to forgive me -- two things I refuse to do.

[She sighs and tries to settle differently, but she mostly looks unsettled.]

No. It just means you're not speaking with hindsight. It sounds like an excuse when you don't.

[She'll grant him that. She's not that critical.]

Do you remember the invasion at all?

[ He says nothing on that first part. ]

What invasion?

If specification is necessary, odds are that you don't, but—the skrull one. [She pauses.] Though it was underway before you left.

[ He doesn't pause, but it hits him hard. He knew -- undetectable. ]

I see.

I've heard about it, from people coming in, but I'm afraid I'm a bit too far behind to know what happened.

[She debates over her next words before she speaks in a softer tone.]

I'll have to tell you about it someday. I think it'll be relevant here. [Kate doesn't want to speed up the process of forcing a man to learn from his mistakes, but she does think it'd be good if they were on the same page.]

You know an invasion isn't going to change my opinions, don't you? No matter what happened, I don't consider it a mistake.

From where you're at, you can think it is all you want, but the fact of the matter is that there were greater forces at work than just one side against the other.

I think you come to see the light. [He doesn't push the matter in spite of it all, anyway, but she doesn't know his personal experiences first hand. That's something that Kate won't ever be privy to, and she hasn't asked Clint.

Then again, Kate doesn't know if Clint would know that. If they'd even talk about it, or if they'd just sweep it under the rug.]

And there are always greater forces at work. It's always complicated. And there's always someone who's willing to take advantage of it. You're not telling me anything I don't know.

Then it's surprising that you act like you continued to not know it.

[ Tony Stark: professional asshole. ]

The only thing I'm sure I'll possibly come to see is that things may have worked out differently if I'd been able to watch every factor, or if there were people I could trust at all sides.

Maybe next time I'll have to make sure to be a little more cautious about it.

[Well, they're back to it, aren't they? She glares at him for that.]

I was being nice. Thanks for reminding me that was a mistake.

[There's a beat.]

And what you're telling me is that it would've been more productive if you'd been more controlling.

So what's your plan now?

Those words didn't come out of my mouth.

[ They were just the words he wasn't saying. ]

My plan now? Is to actually keep this place afloat, and make sure we don't ruin this second chance.

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