She listened to him completely without interruption as he spoke.  Her eyes couldn't help but follow the coin as he played.  Her mind was completely focused.  She heard much of what he said.  She also understood things he didn't say.  She didn't take him up on the unspoken dare to look into his brain.  She respected his privacy and she meant it.  She didn't even feel tempted.  She did grow indignant at a few things though, but waited her turn patiently.<br/><br/>Now she paced the floor quietly a moment, with Jake's help, she kept control of her mood and chose her words carefully.<br/><br/>"First and foremost, you accuse me of willingness to subject people to countless horrors and restructuring their brain's as if they were play things.  This is not quite accurate.  Yes, I have taken hold of some soldiers' minds.  However, they were men already in line to kill others.  Your saints were in the mix, yes.  But when you called me off, I was having a slight issue with my brain.  Jake and I fixed it while you had... uhm... diverted my attentions, shall we say?  The men I pulled out of the ranks, weaken both sides, give us some already in the mix to put to far better use and hopefully save some lives.  The children... I only called the ones in danger, the ones with no parents or were hurt.  I didn't take their minds or bring them to be experimented on.  Just to be fed, cared for and saved."<br/><br/>She pauses, looks at him and says, "and I'm learning to control myself more and more." She resumes pacing.  Her arms crossing themselve as if warming her body against a chill.  "It wasn't that long ago I had no idea I was anything but an average everyday nobody.  And then the whirlwind since things sort of... flooded back in.  So yeah, had a few things to sort out and a lot to relearn.  But a big part of the reason I want an AI is to keep control.  I felt those children upstairs die as I screamed when I heard of Gabriel's death.  I had portioned Jake off for controlled access before that moment, knowing he had too much information on me that should remain mine only.  I needed him at that moment to have full access though.  He didn't and I lost it.  I let him back in or I would still be upstairs accidently dealing pain and possibly more death as I deal with this new twist of fate."<br/><br/>She stops again and looks up with a tear on her cheek, just one and her voice stays strong and no mental waves occur.  "I need help and I know it.  I ask it in the only way I can.  I don't trust you and you don't trust me, but we have to in order to stop the real evil going on out there.  And if I live, I need the steady hand to keep regulated as emotions are one thing a girl never has full control on, but losing control of my emotions seems more dire than most.  So yeah, I agree to your terms.  I might even let you negotiate what you mean by 'use them responsibly'."  She smiles sheepishly in hopes of clearing some of the anamosity between them.  A moment from a few days ago floats through her mind (was it only a few days ago?  seems a lifetime), her head in Luke's lap.  He swipes a hair from her face.  He speaks and somewhere in his words, she hears 'cutiepie'.  The warm that washed over her then flushes her now.  Then the cold present reasserts itself.