He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he realised that other children grew up in homes that weren’t laboratories and didn’t have to spend hours every week being tested for who knew what, but it was only the first in a whole series of signs that something was different about him.

He thought joining SOLDIER would put an end to it: there, nobody would know. But he found himself the youngest by some years, because despite not wanting it, he was always the exception; the others seemed to have collectively decided to overlook him.

There was no alternative, so he grew into it: he could never blend in, so he learnt to stand out.