I really dislike TADC AU's where Caine is humbled by the circus troupe without dignity and the AU narrative treats it like this is the correct way to address the situation. Common examples, stripping him of his powers and then physically attacking/humiliating him as "revenge" for what happened in episode 8. Bringing him back only because the circus stucturally relies on him, not because the circus troupe believe he fundamentally is a person that deserves to exist, and reminding him/telling him such. Making him into a prisoner of living, but without giving him anything to live for , giving him no hope for things to get better or ever stop being isolated and held at arms length no matter how much he apologizes, but forced to continue living anyway. Treating being put in that situation, for their benefit, as a privilege and that he should be grateful to be alive while being treated like shit.
Caine understands violence and revenge, he understands hurting someone in response to them hurting you, that's what episode 8 was from his end. Nothing of value is taught by further hurting him, it just reinforces his episode 8 behavior, that the approriate response to being hurt is to hurt others. It reminds me of people who hit small children, or hit their dogs for bad behavior or think its okay to declaw their cats. The dog isn't going to learn anything from that except to expect harm. A cat without claws compensates by biting twice as hard and is more aggressive than one who wasn't irreversibly damaged by humans. A realistic emotional reaction from Caine's end isn't to grovel in total servitude to humans who depowered and continue to dehumanize him, it's to get even angrier and maul them with what teeth he has left. Because that's what he's already shown to do in canon, bite back when hurt and cut off from connection. Or try to escape his situation, to hell with the consequences for them. He knows, cognitively, that there is no point to caring what happens to people who don't care about him.
If you want Caine to learn empathy, you don't do that by first approaching him with more hurt.
