"We did," she agrees. Half-agrees. She has no illusions about what she is now - a ruthless killer, no matter how she got that way. None of the things she deserves are things she particularly wants.

"But it wasn't your job to save us. Though it is very funny to think of you with a gaggle of little schoolgirls following you around Saint Petersburg." Her smile is a little wan, but it's an attempt to draw the sting from her earlier sharpness.

A brief pause, and then she adds, "I didn't just mean that we survived because of the lessons you taught us. I meant the way that you were. We knew we might get injured if we did something wrong, but you didn't hurt anyone for failing, or just because you could. And we knew if any of us failed badly enough to be decommissioned, if you were the one who was sent to do it, it at least would be quick."