When it was discovered that three of us were mutants, we were let out of our cages and saw the sun for the first time since we were three. Don't get me wrong. We had seen sunlight, barely filtered through the high "windows" of the laboratory, but it wasn't often.
The windows to the laboratory, there were three, were small and, at best, minimal light could get through. I think, at one time, when I was younger, I cherished the moments I would pass under the small windows and feel light, and warmth, on my skin. Then, Andrews caught me sneaking to the windows. He boarded them up for a period of a three months. When the boards were removed, he watched us carefully to see that none of us ever passed under the windows again. He wanted us to have no contact with the outside world but what he provided for us. Eventually, he bricked up the windows, and it was a long time until I felt that feeling of warmth again. Fluorescent lighting became our "sunlight".
When he let us out of our cages, he "branded" us with tattoos on our faces. It wasn't ink that he used to mark us, it was some kind of substance that was used as a tracking device. With it, he was able to keep track of us, no matter where we went. He also used this tattoo as a sort of reminder. Wherever we went, whatever we did, any time we looked into a mirror, we would see a reminder of the Project, what he had done to us, and who we had been in our past. In this way, he would always have control over us.