The world at large was never supposed to know, and Kankri shut it down as soon as he took power, taking helmshunters off the payroll and freeing hundreds of confused psions in one fell swoop.

Capital Auxiliary Power Trolls Regime

Just a fancy name for a psion breeding machine, forever creating more and more powerful psions and culling the weakest out. It never sat right with Kankri, but he had to admit that psions were as powerful as they were because of it. He would never say it was a good thing, but Kannus had really achieved something with this program.

‘Something’ culminated in small, naive, macabre, poorly-educated Mituna, and Sollux by extension. Mituna CAPTR had, at a young age, begun calling himself Mituna Captor, and had gone on to make a name for himself.

Surviving his adult molt without sopor, surviving his life malnourished and abused until Kankri had taken him in, and he was the most powerful psion in recorded history. Frighteningly so. His psionics burned like fire in the darkness, and a minimal expenditure could level a city. 

Wrapped up in such a small package.

Kankri pressed his eyes into his hands and groaned. He always ended up going on about how bad everything had been! It wasn’t anymore. He was free of it, so...why wasn’t it leaving him alone?

Just. Everything Kannus ever did to him, from beating him when he spoke out of turn to executing Kankri’s loved ones, fell down on him at once, like it always did. His eyes and throat burned.

Kannus had been Wrong to treat him that way, he told himself, and yet under his breath he muttered ‘sorry’ to no one in particular, because he could hear the tiny but terribly intimidating madtroll berating him even then.

Why the fuck would you do that Kankri? You know I have to punish you for running around with those swill. They’re here to serve you, not be your friends. I suppose I’ll have to make an example of...Illina? Yes, Illina.

Illina disappeared. He found her body perigees later. Her death had not been quick.

He isolated himself, did not speak to those around him. Anyone that he came to be attached to and love disappeared. Kannus wanted him isolated. Sometimes he even told Kankri he had killed someone, how he had killed them, and that it was Kankri’s fault for not just keeping to the appropriate castes.

Why couldn’t he just behave and make friends with good trolls? Why always these garbagebloods, swillveins, roaches, vermin.

Kankri got up from his desk so hard that he knocked his chair over and threw his arm out like he could physically throw the assault of terrible memories away from him.