Brock shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "That's where you've got me wrong," he said, the corner of his lips rising with a smirk. "I don't need to be better than I already am; I'm comfortable in my own skin as it is. I was chosen to be here, but it doesn't bother me one way or another who gets choice." He let his eyes crawl over Steve before flicking to study Hodge, who he knew he was going to get personal with. Men like that listened to fists.

"Ah, Brooklyn boy," he said and relaxed more. "I'm from New York, the lower East Side," he replied. It was a rough part of town even in this stage of the game. "We're practically neighbours." If by neighbours, he meant he'd probably have knifed Steve when he was a feral little thing.