Re: jack's room, x-mansion
[He nodded to her question. Particularly in the state he'd been in then, she had looked wholly not of this world, something like an avenging angel, deadly and elemental.] You were on fire. [By way of an explanation. He imagined anyone would look different like that, obscured by orange flame. He hadn't been thinking much at all, though, not enough to make the connection on anything more than a basic level. It was a lucky thing that he had recognized her at all, before things had a chance to spiral.
Thinking about it made him think about the facility, about the day before, about the events that had led up to her stepping into that room. They were refracted in his memory, shiny, slippery fragments of slippery blood and bone, and he let them slide away, looking out the window again.
He didn't say whether what he could do was dangerous or not, but he didn't argue with the implication. Instead he tried to imagine Max not touching anyone for the rest of her life. Impossible. It made him feel strangely. The image was recognizably sad, but he couldn't make the sympathy hook up or make sense in the way it was supposed to.] I'm sorry. [He glanced back in time to see her smile joylessly, and wondered, as he had more than once in the last few weeks, if he was awake or sleeping.
Her non-answer about asking Gwen where the other captives were was answer enough. He took it to mean they'd left them there, and he said nothing. If they hadn't helped the rest of the captives, he would go back to that place, make sure it was empty.
As for who'd done it, he sat up a little straighter.] No. [A pause.] Those in charge never said, of course. [His eyes narrowed a fraction, and he carried on, slowly.] But I did see a man there. The observation room. They had him watch while they...
[Strangled nothing. It was as if someone had cut out his tongue. He pressed his thumb down against the back of his knuckles, hard. He couldn't find the words for it. After a moment of disconcerting silence, he tried to continue.] He watched. With a researcher. [There was so much that was different in this room from how things used to be between the pair of them, but she'd know the glint in his eye.]