"I don't know if it'll be so easy." He rubbed at the nape of his neck, now very aware that she was closer.

People didn't know who he was. He was supposed to be elated at that, he could pretend everything was fine, but that was how he got to where he was in the first place. If he'd tried to get help more after he was put into the system as a child maybe he wouldn't have become what he was now. Murkoff wouldn't have sought him out for their experiments.

"I'm not always in control. If this field works, like you say it does, then everyone will be much safer." He rubbed at his face, the open wounds stung from the sweat on his palms. He grimaced. "It's... difficult to talk about. Where I'm from, they were conducting experiments on people like myself... it didn't go well. The facility's half destroyed and the 'patients' rule the roost. There was so much suffering."