When the woman came in, he was standing, calves braced against the metal of his bed. Around his hands were his MMA gloves and strewn around his feet were the contents of his bag. Everything too familiar and too foreign. He cried as he ripped up the backpack. He wanted to fill it with his frustration and confusion instead, but nothing tangible could ever hold them. That's what his doctor at Juvie reminded him of every week during one on ones. The push of the raft beneath his feet felt like the mats at the gym. Just enough give to absorb shock, but smacking down on it always reminded him of a belly flop into a pool. Stinging, breath-taking, and exhilirating in one go. Maybe that's what compelled him to drag his body out of fetal position on the floor and towards his gloves. His desire to cling to anything real (because, he's convinced, none of this can be real).

Maddie stared at the boy who was obviously stricken with what she hoped was fear. It was a sad thought that she wished fear onto another human being, but fear was better than sickness. Maddie approached the boy slowly and made sure to be gentle with him, which was going to be hard because Maddie was not one for gentleness. She's always been the cold hard medicated truth kind and not the sickeningly sweet type. The only she could do was be honest. "Saito?" Maddie opened. "Deepti told me that you're not one for touching so I won't touch you, but you need to tell me if you are hurt. Do you understand? If you are you have to tell me. I can help. I'm a doctor."

She reminds him of his mother. He knows the way she talks (the no-nonsense-get-shit-done voice). He heard it when he first woke up from the hospital, shaking from withdrawal. His mother smoothed down his hair, kissed his forehead, and put cotton balls between his wrist and the handcuffs on the railing of the bed. Saito says, "No." And he's confused by which question he's answering or if he's answering a question at all. "No," he tries again because he needs the control of knowing that he can assert himself. "I'm not hurt--" He doesn't want to say "I'm fine." It's a painful lie that he would tell his mom on days his stash was low and he didn't know where he could get his next fix. 
"I'm not hurt," he repeats instead, flexing his fingers. The crackling of leather helps him put all of his weight on his feet. 

Maddie knew the boy was lying. He recognized the face, the signs, and the symptoms. It was how addicts in denial and withdrawal acted. She treated people like him in the hospital all the time. There were two ways to treat these kinds of patients, acknowledge and go behind their back, or go at them from the front and attack head on. "Saito, I know that's not true. You need to tell me the truth or I can't help you." Maddie was never the clever manipulative type. "I know something's wrong, but you need to tell me. If you’re hurt you have to tell where it's hurt." Maddie was confident that the boy was physically fine. She was hoping that he was fine. The science department who briefed her on the matter told her that everyone should come out of it physically fine. 

He frowns. "I said I wasn't hurt and I meant it. What the hell do you think I'm implying by saying something like that? You can't mess around with that. I'm not hurt means I'm not hurt." He steps forward, ankle rolling a bit over a bundle of bright rope.. "Actually, what the hell are you implying, Doctor?" His shoudler relax down his spine and his scalp tingles. This is how it feels every time he faces a challenging opponent. This is how he felt when he first fought that German-style boxer. The shadow burn of vodka coats his tongue. "You know something about my body I need to know? If ya do, please, clue me in."

The kid was a textbook case, it was kind of sad. "Fine...if you want to pretend that you're okay then I'll let you, but if you start hurting then you have to tell me." Maddie was backing down. This was simply the easiest choice since aggravating the kid would lead to violence. She hated that she was backing down, but honestly she didn't have any medication to calm the kid down. "I do know this. I know about your past, I know about what you've done and what you did. I know about your tendencies and vices. I know about your parents, friends, habits, skills, and talents. I know what kind of man you are. I also know that you're clean and fine because if you weren't then you wouldn't be here. I know a lot about you Mr. Nijinsky." Maddie was playing a dangerous game, but she was quite ready to play. "You on the other hand know nothing. If you want to know more then you'll stop pretending to be the weak child we both know you aren't. If you really want to know what's happening you're gonna come outside and listen to what I have to say."

His stomach drops and then rushes up his throat. His finger tips burn with energy. Shame and anger twist inside of him. He wants to punch her for stealing his secrets. He wants to hug her for taking away their burden. So he settles with shoving her away from him because the idea of hugging her is repulsive and the idea of punching her is too seductive. (Or is it reverse?) He paces five steps, turns and paces back. His chest parallel to the Doc's as he talks. "Ya, sure, I'll listen to you. 'Cause you know it all, don't you." He's not asking her a question. "So herd me to my pen and I'll bark like a good 'ol doggy," he says cracking his wrists. "They say I do that in my file, too? Is that why I'm here? Fine. I'll play that role. I'll play it until I don't need it any more." 

It was a strong shove that was filled with emotion, but Maddie was used to such things. She got them from kids in her neighborhoods, the people that she worked with, and the patients that she took care of. It didn't faze her one bit. "Fine play all you want, but you won't be for long. None of us can play or have fun anymore even if you want to." Maddie was aware of what the kid was trying to get at, but she was also trying to make a point. "As for your file, well, it was expected given the circumstances. It's also what got you here and why you're perfect for this team." All of them here was troubled. She was troubled. It was the reason why they were formed. Maddie didn't bother to talk to him any further. The boy got to his feet, fixed himself, and followed her out of the tent, out of the dome, and into the open air. 

Moments after the two of them left Deepti and Simon followed suit. Maddie looked out into the other raft where the other members of the team were watching them. Maddie watched them one by one and was glad to see that he tehy looked fine. Arrios was lying down on the raft on his side. The man was looking pale and green in the face, there was vomit by his mouth. Motion sickness was her first clue. "Looks like we're all here" Maddie said sadly. It was time to face the music.