Flinching despite himself at the contact, Mantis was quiet for several moments, desperately not looking at Nathan. "I am not a.. good person. I kill. Not by accident, like Peter. I burned my entire village to the ground." He paused, glancing back up, gray eyes daring Nathan to feel the same way after hearing such a thing. "They were innocent people. They were afraid of me. I killed them and tried to die with them."
The KGB had discovered him, a skinny boy-child, burned and scarred and disfigured, and had taken his name and his right to die.
He didn't even remember his name, any longer. It seemed a little sad to him, suddenly, that he was known only by a codename he didn't really need, any longer.
"I won't always be around," he warned after a silent moment, sounding exhausted and matter-of-fact. "But I will try to find someone who can replace me when I'm gone. I've been looking at several people." He hesitated, then offered that curious, half-perceived smile again from beneath his mask. "Luke might do very well. He's much more patient, and he has potential that he isn't quite willing yet to use." He paused, and gave a delicate shrug. "There is also the benefit, of course, that he isn't insane." He'd always been rather candid about his own madness. After all, why argue something that was so glaringly obvious? "If you think Peter would respond well to him, I'll speak to him about it."