10252/From Mother Without Love

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
From Mother Without Love
Date of Scene: 23 February 2022
Location: Security: Triskelion
Synopsis: Natasha talks to the imprisoned Melina. About life. Ethics. Suffering. And the conditioning that both have gone through. There is rage, games.. And perhaps some catharsis.
Cast of Characters: Natasha Romanoff, Melina Vostokoff




Natasha Romanoff has posed:
She hadn't come in to talk since Melina's.. Presence had been reported and her placement within Security announced. Natasha Romanoff had taken her time. Ruminating on her own demons and her own hate. But some things she couldn't move beyond. Some things had to be faced.
    Making an 'appointment' in advance, now sitting in a room adjacent to the location that Melina had been put in, Natasha would just wait. Staying completely still in a chair.

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
Melina had given up asking things. She's fairly certain she's going to die in this prison or when someone from the Red Room manages to infiltrate long enough to kill her. She has given up trying to survive. So, she's now slumped in a chair in that interview room, chained to the chair and table, in her boring gray prisoner's clothes. Her dark hair has grown too long and restless. She's simply staring. Lifeless.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Sometimes one needs to poke the bear. To take them out of their groove. And so Natasha moves over now to take a seat. "Greetings, mother." The words sarcastic and openly. But hoepfully in just the right tone to spark Melina's attention and to get her out of her stasis. Natasha would have left the recorders on. There might be something useful for this. Even if it was just catharsis for herself.

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
A bitter laugh rasps out of Melina's throat, hazel eyes flickering up from the table for just a moment. "Do not call me that. They tell me Mother is dead." She's almost numb sounds about that. She should be more overjoyed, but there might not be anything left in her to feel that joy. Of course, she was talking about Ludmilla, ALL the Black Widows mothers, not herself.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would nod over and kick back, "Of course. I'm thinking of talking to you. But I'm wondering if you've moved beyond the 'I don't know' phase." She would hold her hands up ih an ironic set of quotes. "What do you want to have done to you? I don't know. What do you think should happen? I don't know."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
A deep smirk pulls at her full mouth, bloodshot eyes narrowing in Natasha's direction. "Of course I know you. That is why I find you here. That is why I gave you that drug, before I... before they had a chance to kill me. That will be inevitable. You know that. I am a dead woman walking. I just hope... I hope you all manage to be free. That is what matters, no?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would smile icily, "Yes. And you wonder sometimes how much of you is really in there. Are you doing this of your own will? Or arey ou afraid that this is just another little game that you're doing from them and you're still in the role of puppet to something deeper?"

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"I am the one who makes the drug, who can control the brains. I know... what they program. I am the one who can do that. Which is why I give that to you, so... So if they try it -- when they try it -- you all have a way out. Do you truly think they would send that over here with me and then try to kill me?" The smile on Melina's features grows more sickly strange and bitter. "Then you are more paranoid than even me. It is a sad life you live, and one you call freedom."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug over and lean back, "I don't know. I think I've seen the end of thing. but I wonder sometimes if the light in the end of the tunnel isn't there. Each time I think I'm being too paranoid I find that I'm not enough, and that there are things far beyond which I could have ever imagined. And I have gotten soft."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"Is that not why you come to SHIELD? So you can have a life? Go soft? Stop watching your back all the time?" Melina asks almost wistfully. Most of the emotions behind her voice are deadened and quiet, but they are there. She's just not letting them flare to life like they might used to.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And there they are. Getting at least a little bit of a reaction. Natasha goes to allow some own to creep into her voice. Sincere? Or just expertly faked. The best lies always had a litlte truth in them after all. Or maybe she meant it.
    "Because they remind me that there is an end of the tunnel."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"For you, perhaps. You have others that... trust you here. That do not hate you. Are willing to take risk on you. For me... I am alone. Yelena, she would be better without me. She does not need any ties left. Neither do you." There is something else. Something she isn't saying. Possibly she likely cannot say. But it is there, hovering behind Melina's words.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug over and tehn move for another probing question, "Why then did you do it?" Shew ould go over, "Start in the first place. Researching. Experimenting. Or do you not eevn know at this point? Or has it undergone so many changes that you're not sure what is real, what is made up, and what parts you just justified?"

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
That gets her eyes, dead of emotion and a plain hazel, they were probably once so lovely but now they are drained of near everything. "They put you through the program... the brain washing... so many times... I think I have been through more than anyone else. They have scooped out more my mind than I thought was possible, and I am a neuroscientist. I am given orders. I follow orders." Melina shrugs, "It is that simple."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would nod, "Oh, a bit beyond just following orders. Eveyrthing is so specific, so tricky. Pass, fail.. Repetition, pattern. Did you do it because of the challenge? The thrill? One can't order someone to do something like that if their heart really isn't in it."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"...then maybe I am just evil. I believed in Mother Russia and will do anything, including betraying the only daughter I ever had, to support her. Is that what you wish to hear?" Her greenish eyes narrow on Natasha harder with those words. It's hard for Melina to say. She doesn't mean them, not about Yelena, at least.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug, "I don't know what I wish to here, Melina. Whehter or not you were a good person or bad.. That gets into things like nature, nurture.. In your own mind you wanted to do good for them. As you saw it. And I think you've had just as much recreation as some of the rest of us had." Is Natasha being sympathetic? Or just faking it? Impossible to tell.

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"Yes. Very likely. None of us is... who we were. We will never be again." Melina says, her unchained hand coming up to rub fingertips across her eyes and down her cheeks. She sighs deeply, "Look. I do not care. Kill me. It would be easier. Just... take care of Yelena. That is all I care about. Please, promise me... Take care of her?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shake her head, "I will not kill you, Melina. If I wasa sked I woudl argue against it." She would go to choose her next words carefully then. But going to insert a small,s mall amount of joviality into it. "And we both knwo that if we told Yelena that I would take care of her she would kill us both."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
A roll of her eys comes and Melina forces herself to sit up straighter, leaning across the table as she stares Natasha in the eye, "And yet, we both know she needs it. She does. She... does not know how to be free, like you. She hasn't figured out how to have a life. You... you help her with that. I am on a ticking clock. It is only a matter of time. But you... you are out. Be free. Teach her to be free." This seems the only scrap of passion she really has at all, but she means it.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would go to cross her fingers together, "Perhaps. Perhaps not. but she's also allowed to if she wishes make her own mistakes and failures. I don't say that she can take care of herself universally.. but also that she doesn't need guided and watched, perhaps. Something to think about." She would allow casually. "But you won't be dying anytime soon."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"When you put me out there... it is just a matter of time. I will get free, one way or another. You really want to watch me rot in here? Is that any good death for a Widow?" Melina asks coldly, her voice on the edge of begging Natasha not to leave her stuck in prison for the rest of her life.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would look back casually, "Did I say anything about rotting either? Ifyou're going to judge me, do it by my actual words rather than the ones you presume I imply or hear only for yourself. What then, if you do escape here out of your little guilt trip and tiding of woe do you plan to do?"

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"Then what DO you plan, Natasha? Why be here and quietly torture me? Stare at the caged animal when you know all the answers." Melina's features tighten, staring harder, a bit more angry, at the woman across from her. When she's asked what she plans to do? She just gives a bitter, quiet little laugh. She shakes her head slowly, "I do not know... Run until I die, I suppose."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug, "I'm not here to torture you, Melina. I'm not here to get things from you. I'm not here to take out revenge or wanting to inflict guilt upon you for your wrongs or take my kilo of flesh from you. I wanted to remind myself that there's still someone there. Behind bars. And that it's not a number, a thing, or a file. and that's what SHIELD made me learn as a lesson. And one that I have to remind myself of. Who knows? Maybe it's one that you'll learn as well. I make no pretenses of having any power or say over your fate or direction."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"And that is why, in the end, SHIELD will fall. Maybe not soon, but one day their softness will be too much. We are not... people. We are numbers. Black Widows. Tools. But... while you and she wish to be soft, maybe you can have something near to a life. That will be worth it, right? Is it worth it to have a life not as a number?" Melina asks that last bit rather more softly. She might not even really want an answer.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would lean back over, "If we are just tools then.. Well.. Then something will come down the line that's better. Cheaper. easier to replace. A widow takes time. Effort. expenses. the next level isn't going to be girls or men or women. It's going to be when they make the next big leap in efficiency and take things to the level of mass production. Make a robot. Flash imprint a mind. Clone a body. Why spend decades and millions? the future's in automation."

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
"Yes, well... the drug they had me made, that is a part of it. When you can just program minds without years and years of brain washing, it's easier to get more models faster. That is why you all must take what I got to you. Replicate it. They scooped the knowledge out of my head. Dreykov wants... no one but him to have it in his hands. That is my gift to you. Now... let me be." Melina rasps out quietly, eyes burning just a moment. She wants nothing but peace. She wants to jsut finish giving up.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would look over at Melina for a few moments. "I cannot speak for her. I cannot speak for anyone else. I cannot speak for thsoe that you -made- into things. But I can speak for myself." Natasha's tone is sincere. And sad. "For all that you've done, for what've been made to do.. I forgive you." Then she's going to get up to walk away.

Melina Vostokoff has posed:
Green eyes press tightly shut as she hears that. Melina won't let Natasha see her cry, but there is probably a sting of tears behind her eyes. She doesn't know what to say to that. Maybe there isn't anything she CAN say to it. So, she takes in a ragged breath and sits there in silence, waiting for the guards to come drag her away again.