HYDRA decided. The people who gave me the arm and had me kill for them for seventy years.
[That's sort of true. It's certainly due to HYDRA that they came to this conclusion. Being treated like a dog that needs correcting for fifty years with the Russians, and then a machine that needs rebooted for the twenty after that with the Americans, drives the lesson home pretty well. But even then, there's a solid chunk of it's just a plain old defense mechanism. If you're not a person, then there's no trauma to work through, just glitches and shitty maintenance that had to be endured.]
Part of it's the memories. Part of it's the programming. Real people don't assign themselves handlers and technicians, follow protocols. Don't need people to tell them what to do with their downtime. Don't do their damndest to kill their best friends just cuz a handler told them to.
[They look a little mopey about the last bit, in particular, but thankfully they have more casserole to take consoling bites from. Their arm buzzes a little, plates resituating under their sleeve, when they add,]
I'm willing to. Concede. Maybe I used to be a person. Had parents. Sisters. A brother, for a little while. But I'm not that anymore.
[That's actually a big-ass step that Riku just got, there, so hopefully he appreciates it.]
no subject
[That's sort of true. It's certainly due to HYDRA that they came to this conclusion. Being treated like a dog that needs correcting for fifty years with the Russians, and then a machine that needs rebooted for the twenty after that with the Americans, drives the lesson home pretty well. But even then, there's a solid chunk of it's just a plain old defense mechanism. If you're not a person, then there's no trauma to work through, just glitches and shitty maintenance that had to be endured.]
Part of it's the memories. Part of it's the programming. Real people don't assign themselves handlers and technicians, follow protocols. Don't need people to tell them what to do with their downtime. Don't do their damndest to kill their best friends just cuz a handler told them to.
[They look a little mopey about the last bit, in particular, but thankfully they have more casserole to take consoling bites from. Their arm buzzes a little, plates resituating under their sleeve, when they add,]
I'm willing to. Concede. Maybe I used to be a person. Had parents. Sisters. A brother, for a little while. But I'm not that anymore.
[That's actually a big-ass step that Riku just got, there, so hopefully he appreciates it.]