“It does make me a bad person because that’s what I am.” Alexander clenched his teeth as he replied with a hiss, raising slightly from his seat to lean forward, “ You can’t imagine the things I’ve done to other people of our kind, Andi. What Camille made me do at her mercy. I was her fucking toy to play with and she always guaranteed I fought the most heinous rounds that left the other guy laying in a pool of his own blood or nothing left at all.” Sometimes, Alex thought Cami made certain he won his battles so she wouldn’t have to replace him so soon. Many would say it’s a blessing he had the help, he just knew it as a curse. “When we were freed, I knew my job was to make my life and that of my brother’s as normal as possible. I found a way to make ends meet, put food on the table, tried connecting with Scott…look where the optimism left me. I pushed the anger aside, hell, I buried it, and I knew I was a fucking ticking time bomb. You can go and suggest any mumbo jumbo yoga zen shit if you want, but I know the truth. I can’t let go of this anger.” Alex’s gaze hardened, “I’m acting on it. Towards Camille, towards Jack, and I won’t stop until the Brotherhood burns. I’ll take absolute pleasure in every single second of it.”
Her lips pressed firmly together as the boy spoke, never moving-- not even to bring her drink to her lips in case she broke him out of whatever he was feeling. Andi was finding more about him in that moment than she knew in general. She knew that he was abused-- him and his brother, heavily, by their own kind, but hearing it straight from his mouth made things hurt that much more for her. “Alex, no,” Andi said firmly, leaning forward to the boy-- her bright blue eyes never wavering from his face, “I’ve seen plenty of bad people, plenty of people who deserve that title that don’t think they do-- but you, Alexander, are not.” A small smile lifted the corners of her lips-- god, she just wanted to do everything she could to help him. No one could go through the things that he went through whole in the end. She barely met the younger Summers, but from she gleaned from Bruce-- both of the boys just needed someone looking out for them. “I understand the need to fight them, to gain back the things they stole from you and your brother, but you can’t do that when you can barely contain your anger,” Andi paused, her lips pursing slightly before she continued. She was about to press on boundaries that she really shouldn’t as a mutant, but it was something had worked for her in the past. Something to try. “I can’t stop you from going after them, and I know you won’t listen even if I told you no, but this anger-- it will get you killed. Yoga won’t help you, Alex, but perhaps I can.” She leaned forward again, her eyes shining with sincerity, “I don’t know the things they did to you-- I don’t know every sordid detail, but with me you have every choice. You can tell me no.” She took a small breath. “Remember when I told you that my mentor put a block on my abilities? I can do something like that for you-- something small that you won’t even know is there. Something to help you tame your anger so you can think through clearly; your anger will be there still, just... less-- more manageable until you can have it taken down again.”