It reassured her a little, that the person that she cared very much about shared no biological connection to Doom. And that he'd missed out on the damage that might have been done in his younger years. "But ... he's so loyal to him," she said. "And, that's very admirable in many ways, but to the point of taking another person's life? I couldn't ... He's so compassionate, so caring. He stood up for me. He's ..." a deep breath.
"Kristoff was the first person my own age who stood up for me when others teased. The only people who have ever done that were adults much older than I am, like a teacher. But ... he came to my defense, without knowing me very well at all."
She was tearing up again at his attempt at comforting. "I tried so hard, I was starting up the wind, because maybe I could stop that axe and blow it away, but then I passed out and woke up in this lab and hi-his father came in and told me that he took my blood and found nanomachines and" she was shivering again at the memory as she babbled, eyes wide. "He TOOK my blood. He didn't ask, and I was so scared, and then he was berating me for being weak, but I wasn't! I was just trying to cope and things were happening too fast and then he told me that the machines shouldn't have worked with me, that other people would have died and," Maxine was now in the full throws of a mild panic attack, shaking all over, and unable to continue.