Soldat reaches over, telegraphing the motion clearly, to rest the flesh hand on Buttercup's shoulder, gripping gently against the side of her little neck. Like Steve's, when he was small. "Buttercup," they say warmly. "Everybody's got programming. Whether it's like mine, burned into my head. Or like those girls, just taught to them from a young age. Don't mean they can't learn new things. I'm gonna have faith that at least one or two of them had a chance to get away. To learn better."

And if that might apply to her, as well, they're not going to close the door on it, even if they're not going to make it blatant they believe the same thing about her, too. It's just the truth that anybody can learn better. If a murder machine can learn that its keepers were evil, a brave and clever little girl certainly can. Soldat has always been a bit of an optimist.