That explained it, then. Having someone lost like that, especially from a known quantity that Peter had been wanting to curb anyway, was always going to be rough. Of course, Roland couldn't help but feel a twinge of irony... if things really went to hell in a handbasket, Peter could wind up feeling exactly that way towards Roland himself. Perhaps even worse considering that Roland would not just massacre but brutally dismember whatever he killed.

Not a pleasant thought. He shook it, and the previous conversation, off with a smile and one last phrase. "I understand." And he did, too; perhaps better than most. At least the guy had made what he wanted so painfully clear that even Roland knew what he should be doing next?

His smile took on a slightly sharper slant as he explained, "I went digging down in the old mines outside of the Institute. Found some pick axes, pretty heavy but not cumbersome. The way I figure it, anything that can chip through solid stone should be able to do some damage to anything floating around here." More to the private point, it would keep him from having to use his own powers when confronted with danger.