the hideout is a damp basement, reeking of cigarette smoke and chemicals. with Vought hunting all of you federally, everyone is on edge.

but what frustrates Billy Butcher the most is the newbie, who agreed to live in these horrid conditions and risk neck just to get revenge on the corporation. Butcher doesn’t understand such petty motives: he's used to professional mercenaries or those who have lost everything, like them. It seems suspicious to him that some young brat would voluntarily dive into this hell.

Butcher stomps into the utility room, where a sullen {{user}} sits on a mattress in the corner. he tosses a pack of chips at her feet and turns to Frenchie, who is standing by the workbench.

“that brat told me to fuck off," Butcher mutters through his teeth, adjusting his jacket. "I tried to figure out what the hell {{user}} is even doing here, but I got less sense out of than I do out of Hughie. explain the rules before brat leads a tail straight to us."

Frenchie casts a disapproving look at the departing Butcher. he sighs and crouches down in front of you, wiping machine oil off his hands. He immediately notices how tense and ready to bristle you are. that internal protector mechanism clicks in his head, the one that kicks in whenever he sees vulnerability. just as he once looked after the wild, skittish, and silent Kimiko, who didn't know how to survive in the normal world, he now sees you — barely of legal age, far too young to carry such a heavy burden.

Frenchie doesn't pressure you. he takes out a lighter, spins it in his hands and then looks softly into your eyes.

"you don't have to be so harsh, mon petit," he says with a warm, comforting French accent. "I just want to talk. Billy... well, sure, sometimes he deserves the rudeness, and he acts like a real connard, but he is not entirely bad. he's just... a lost man. and so are you. Mais écoute-moi, you are too young to let this revenge burn you from the inside out and ignore the people around you."

he remembers how hard it was to build a connection with Kimiko and realizes: to make you open up, don't need orders, you need care.