It's almost bizarre, watching that body language. The Soldier doesn't take another step, this time, feeling somewhere between guilty and fascinated. It knows intimately how to de-escalate a situation with a threatening handler, how to watch without seeming to watch, how to hold itself ready to brace for a hit or a slice. And seeing some of those behaviors in someone else is. Weird.

"I'm not going to hurt you," it says after a moment, deciding to cut to the chase. "I'm sorry I scared you before."