When you run a circus, and you see the freaks come through the big top entrance on a conveyer belt like I do, you meet many damaged people.

I love damaged people, personally, they make great acts. My crowds love them too. But when you’re a damaged person like they are, you have scars.

Some scars are clear to see, like the sear markings left on Damien’s chest after our little session last week. Weeping, oozing, red grooves in the skin, that show a physical manifestation of the pain a person has been through.

Some scars are all psychological, like the torture poor Michaela went through as a child, before she found her way to the circus, which has left her desperate for a loving family, because she’d never had one before.

And some scars are hidden, like with Ajax, who uses his strength as a mask to keep his past hidden.

Destructo, you are the manifestation of the clear to see kind of scar, that fire that burns in your very soul reflected in the seared skin you and your ex-father both share. The pain in your eyes is a very real pain that you felt as you sizzled like a sausage on a grill, just like Damien.

Foley, you are the manifestation of the psychological scar, ripped apart from the inside of the mind to the out by a devious and despicable father figure that did not treat you the way he should. It’s no wonder you have sought family in other forms, just like Michaela did.

Doom, you are the manifestation of the hidden kind of scar – acting tough and strong to cover up the world of pain you are in. You hide it because you think that will hide your weakness from the world, which is why you want people to see you as strong and stoic, just like Ajax.

The problem with scars is that they can all be EXPLOITED. Dig a finger into that red weeping sore and Destructo will be floored. Kneed the psyche of Foley for just a few seconds and his brain will fall to pieces leaving him a quivering mess. And take off the mask, and behind it find the scared and weak Doom that really resides there.

I can find all of your weaknesses, and use them for my own benefit, so it’s only expected that you would all want to find mine too. Let me save you the bother. I don’t have any physical scars. I’m the perfect specimen! Just take a look when we’re in that ring. I don’t have any psychological scars either – when my father was a complete bastard I just solved the problem, and my psyche has never felt lighter. Finally you may think this paint is a mask, hiding my inner turmoil, but let’s be honest, you can see every emotion, thought and movement my face makes, because it’s not a mask, it’s my war paint.

And whether I’m preservationist, seeker, or somewhere else of my own making, I’m ready for war.