It isn't easy. [He hesitates, because this isn't easy, either, and forcing Tony to open up demands no less from him in response. Bruce has never liked it, even with someone he knows he can trust, and he has to struggle himself with what to say for a moment.

His gradual coping with the idea of being a clone had been convoluted, slow, and pained. It had happened behind the scenes, with him barely breathing a word to anyone, only short interludes where he'd revealed the intensity with which it affected him. But Bruce had never truly spoken of it, never voiced why and how it affected him.

He looks down, mustering the words.] I don't know if I've really accepted it now. When I change-- I don't remember what I do. Except for, sometimes there's, there's flashes. Violence. Pieces of memory that come back.

It's not the same, but you can't dwell on it. You have to just keep going. Sometimes the worst enemy you have is, is doubting yourself. Second guessing what your memories mean about who you are.

[Self-doubt has been like a tumor his entire life, a cancer that spreads through him and destroys him, cell by cell. It hamstrings him and removes his ability to fight, to keep struggling against the fears he has about who and what he is. Bruce doesn't often reach the end of his rope, doesn't often feel a surrendering of his will, but when he does, it's always because of that. Because of the voice whispering to him, insidious, that nothing he knows about himself is real.

He looks up.] I can't afford not to. I guess that's your answer.