When I heard that you were back, I tried not to, but I had to see you. Five years ago I got called to a crime scene outside the city. I saw Etta for the first time, and even though she was turned away from me I could have sworn I was looking at you. It wasn't until I told her who I was that she admitted the truth: that she was your daughter. Once I knew, I had her transferred to my section. I had a mind that I was going to look after her, but she taught me. She recruited me into the resistance. Taught me how to block them from reading my thoughts.
I can feel you banging around inside there. But it doesn't matter what you find out, 'cause you and I both know... you're never walking out of here. Whatever the closest thing it is to fear that you can feel, I know that you're feeling it right now. You're not the only one with a skill for reading people.
I think of you as I would an ant colony as I pass by it. I don't care about the workings of the colony, why one ant is mad at or another or why one ant would kill another or not. To me, it is insignificant. And like an ant colony, you are oblivious to your limitations. You think the black over your head is dark skies... when it is really our shoe.
Don't you see? I'm not safe. It's my mind. Ever since the pieces of my brain were reimplanted, it's been changing me. Back into the man I was before, bit by bit. I'm losing myself, Pete. I'm losing the man that you helped me become.
Listen to me. I'm not going to let that happen. We need you. You are our only hope to defeat the Observers. And I'm going to be here with you every step of the way.
The man I was before, he was consumed by ambition. By hubris. He never cared about anyone. All he cared about was walking with the gods. It's different this time. I'm different. I have Peter. He won't let me become that man again.
I'm scared, Nina. Every day that goes by, I feel him more and more. I'm losing myself. I'm becoming the man I was and just like before, everyone that I care about will be driven away and will suffer because of me.
Simone, you have a gift. You can see things that other people can't. I don't doubt that. But wherever you think this gift came from, or whoever you think bestowed it upon you, it's simply an anomaly. I know that because I'm an anomaly. I have moved things with my mind. I've lit things on fire. I've caught bullets midair. I've seen things that people only dream about. I've seen... the seams between universes ripped apart. Things that humans shouldn't see. People make up explanations, assign meanings to things without knowing, because it's reassuring, comforting. But I can't do that. Because I know too much. It's all just numbers. And the invaders, as you call them—— they're just better at math than we are.
She saved my life today with the bullet she brought to us. She's alive inside us. And there's nothing that Windmark can do about it, because the love that we can share with her now is invulnerable to space and time, even to them. And I know that our hearts are broken and that it hurts, but that's what makes us human.
No, Peter, it's our strength, because it's the one thing that they don't have. Now, we need to hold on to our connection with Etta, feeling what we felt for her, or she dies all over again. And we cannot let her be erased. Peter— Peter, I'm not asking you to abandon her. I'm asking you to hold on to her. You're not one of them, you're one of us.
