"Sort of. Like I said, there were attempts to duplicate it, just...the subjects ended up with a hell of a lot more side effects. But I also work with a group of people with extraordinary abilities. Not all enhanced the same way, but there's a guy with an exo-suit that enables him to fly, a couple really good spies, and--"

"Well. Wanda Maximoff. She has incredible telekinetic abilities, and probably more than that, things we haven't discovered she can do yet. But she wasn't born with them. She and her brother, Pietro, kinda volunteered for an experiment the way I did. Different era, different experiment, but..."

He shrugs. "I like the idea of natural evolution of these kinds of things better. I don't think, in the light of cruel people doing cruel things in the world we can sit back and just let evil win, but maybe some of us paid too high a cost to be able to fight back."

Once they're by the machine, he sets him down gently--and slowly, so he can adjust his balance without having to put any weight on that broken leg. "I'll be a century old in a few weeks. Go ahead with all the jokes; if you come up with one I haven't heard, I'll buy you an ice cream."