HEADCANON 001. EXPERIMENT 03 & EMOTIONS.
despite the serum used on zig having the desired effects in terms of enhancing the strength and speed he already possessed as a teenager, amongst other things, it also had a secondary affect that had not been predicted. however, due to the nature of their missions, O.R.I.O.N. did not see the side effect to be and issue. instead they believed it might become an asset to them; a supersoldier who was unable to process emotion ? perhaps he would simply learn to block them out to become the most efficient soldier possible.
during his time within the facility, it did not bother him that he could not feel the sadness and isolation that he was certain he should be feeling. in fact, he barely noticed his lack of emotions until experiment 05 came to them. though he could see when something was wrong, or when she was feeling pain, he could not figure out how he was supposed to react to those emotions. there were times where he felt angry, but did not know where to place this anger, so instead lashed out at those around him. it frustrated him that he could not FEEL like he was supposed to, that he could not properly help others when they needed him, because he could not understand what he was supposed to do to help.
eventually, astrid was able to figure this out about him, and was able to help him. this became especially necessary whilst on the run and trying their hardest to blend in. she would be able to recognise the emotions both in himself and others, and could signal to him what those were. she taught him ways to approach these feelings, ways to handle them and manage them, and he learnt a great deal from how she coped with doing the same. it is still difficult for him to wade through both his own and other’s emotions, especially when they are not vocal of them, but he is learning to break through this barrier put in him by O.R.I.O.N.
