[He gives the slightest laugh, dry and short, but it communicates sincerity in the glint of his dark eyes as he watches her. This is the last place he'd expected Peggy to appear. And yet it doesn't surprise him, because the puzzling aspects and motivations behind Peggy's every action are still beyond his reach. Cain will be willing to bet that's how she prefers it.

At the good wishes and question at its heels, his attention steers out over the city. The skyline is jagged against the black sky, no stars visible in the narrow spaces between buildings, glass reflecting lights of activity in every direction. A bigger city than he's seen in his life. Or ever thought he would see.]

Fuckin' weird. I can't be the only one, right? Shit like this doesn't just happen. [He throws a vague gesture over the railing to indicate New Amsterdam as its own strange and mysterious entity inflicted upon him.] Superpowers, time traveling, the multiverse, crazy dreams that turn real.

[He goes quiet, lingers for the space of a few heartbeats.]

I'm twenty-three. Dropped out of school when I was fifteen, got locked up couple of years after that, then the military blackmailed me into enlisting... Figured I wasn't coming back alive, but it was still better than prison. [One hand lifts to drag through messy hair.] Last thing I thought is that I'd be somewhere... I dunno, important? Just not in the books for someone like me.