That's what Nick thinks, as well -- if she hadn't been treated so badly, she wouldn't be who she is now, wouldn't be who he'd come to know and care about. Life was funny like that: experiences could shape one for both good and bad. Hell, Nick knows all too well that while he's occasionally bitter for being thrown out like the Institute's trash, he wouldn't be a detective if things hadn't worked out like that. Sometimes, the good does come with the bad; the trick is finding it.

He paces slowly across the room, his eyes still on her. That synth helped shape her, but Nick can't help that overprotective streak in him, one that gets him mad on her behalf. "Was that kind of cruelty programmed into him, or did he come up with it all on his own?"