Nathan didn't understand where the idea of him being 'fascinating' would come from, but the touch to his arm made him back down from the illusion. To see and and know it was to take on that pain, but if he raged needlessly at this image, he would be once more doing what he had during the time he had thought Peter dead, just as he he had once fought his own nightmare face.
Of course, that nightmare had been horrific on an entirely different scale. This was several levels of unsettling, yet Nathan still did not flinch away, not even as Mantis tasting the blood from the illusion. To shy away, to avert his gaze, would be to say he objected to who Mantis was and that was something Nathan wasn't will to say. Strangely of all, or perhaps not so strangely, was that Mantis' appearance beneath the mask was the least startling, and Nathan met his gaze without flinching away.
He realized the statement about inflicting pain was absolutely truth, because Mantis always spoke the truth as Nathan could see it. Sometimes what he said, such as his posts to the message board, were imagery more than direct, but this was direct. Still, he still didn't feel Mantis would hurt him, or anyone else in this hotel for that matter.
Shrieking and shattering. All right, that was unnerving. Nathan knew what it was to be dislike or hated, but to contemplate someone would simply want to destroy him was far different.
"And Luke, he's destined to be the one to deal with Kun again?" he questioned, still struggling with the idea that of all the others to want to bring down, Kun would target him for himself, not just because of Peter. "It's so much to ask of him, to learn to help Peter and to deal with Kun when he has lived through so much again. Even if he's 'unbreakable', I still don't want to see him hurt." It was the same with Peter. Indestructible or not, Nathan still wanted to keep him from what pain he could. Even though he knew Mantis perfectly capable, Nathan would feel the same about him hurting too.