The X-Project

Kane goes to visit Brand and remind them of her deal. She makes an interesting offer and in the end, something new starts.



The executive level of the Triskalion was reserved entirely for the upper echelon of the service. As the Director of SWORD, Brand had earned an office here, one of the coveted ones that faced inside the complex, looking over the interior of the buildings, as if it was her domain she was looking down on. A dedicated elevator served the level, past multiple lines of security. Kane stood silent through the five different security stations, a combination of his badge, his reputation, and the rumours of being an X-Men allowing him to percolate through the screeners. Finally, he stepped out on to the floor and rapped on Brand’s door.

“Enter!” Brand’s tone was as clipped and business-like as always, and as Kane opened the door, she was sitting behind her large blonde wood desk, impeccable in a black business suit and white blouse, her green hair, eyes and lips the most vivid colour in the room. But when she looked up at him, there was a brief flash of something in her expression… was it shame? Embarrassment? Or was it defiance? Whatever it was, it was gone almost as quickly and she directed Kane to come in. “Agent Kane. I see you’ve recovered.”

“To an extent. My omni-skin is gone. One last gift from Olivier.” He said, coming in and taking a seat without being offered one. “I wanted to talk to you about our deal. I’m hearing through the channels that you’re getting credit for kicking the Brotherhood in the teeth, neutralising both the West Coast Maggia and the demonic weapons smuggling, and as a palate cleanser, you have also been identified as the woman who saved the administration a massive black eye by routing the totally illegal Sentinel program in the Pentagon.”

“Your channels are absolutely correct.” She shrugged with faux modesty. “There’s talk of some kind of award from Washington, in-house of course. SWORD could ask for anything and it would be granted. So I can afford to be generous.” She leaned back in her chair, stepping her fingers under her chin. “So let’s talk about our deal.”

“We fulfilled our end. And more. So we get our pipeline into SWORD and SHIELD’s mutant intel.” Kane said, looking relaxed in his seat, as if the months of hell he’d been through was already forgotten. At least, for people who didn’t know him. In Brand’s case, she could tell otherwise.

“Of course. The points of contact… you and Sefton?”

“Sefton for now. She’ll be the one to organise how they want to set up the intake.” Kane said. “We’ll get our information through them.”

“The two of you, you’re very close,” she observed. “I take it she was your contact while you were with the Brotherhood? I can’t believe I didn’t consider that.”

“With her powers, she was the only one I could communicate with without any chance of discovery. She was also the one who was going to figure out how to properly take the son of a bitch down, so it made sense.” Kane grinned. “Fortunately, you were so focused on how clever the set up with the Brotherhood and the Sentinels were, you made some assumptions. Like the fact your contact in the secret facility would be killed in the attack, as opposed to our people pulling him out.”

“And Barton lives to be a pain in my ass another day,” she returned in kind. “The Sentinels attacking Olivier… that was his work?”

“In part. I passed along Olivier’s DNA profile as a priority upload for the targeting system. All he knew was that it was his secret contact sending it along. Once they chewed up his guards, it gave Erik a clear shot at Olivier.” Kane shook his head. “What about you? How badly did he hurt SWORD’s resources?”

Her face clouded and when she spoke, all sign of playfulness was gone. “I lost people,” she said, getting up from her chair and walking to the large window behind the desk which faced out into the central tower of the building. “Olivier didn’t care what it took to get the information he wanted, and so neither did I. And then there were the others I simply gave to him because he demanded them.” She spoke without turning back to face him. “In my career, I’ve done many things that could be considered… self-interested. Perhaps even unethical. But I never wasted lives like this. And instead of facing any kind of censure, here I am being lauded with accolades about how I saved the government.”

“That’s why the call it sacrifice.” Kane got up, walking over to look at the window. “I pretty much lost everything in order to stop these threats as part of my commitment as an X-Man, and now, I’m not even sure if they trust me enough to continue as part of the team.”

“They don’t?” Brand turned back to him, sounding surprised, but them considered his words. “No, they wouldn’t, would they. They tend to lack the objectivity required in this line of work.” She paused a little longer and then went on: “You know, I could get you a place with SWORD. Or SHIELD. Your own team with legal authority, As high up as you like. Hell, you could even be an Avenger, if that’s what you want. With my clout right now, I can have you in front of Rogers for an interview in a half hour.”

“It’s tempting.” Kane didn’t want to admit to anyone, especially himself, just how tempting it was. To go into the field without having to hide the badge? Or to not have to wait and hand off villains to real authorities and sneak away a mission would be a dream. But he’d made a commitment. “But no. I’ll figure things out.”

“If that’s what you want,” she repeated. Her tone made it clear she didn’t understand his choice.

"What I've learned from this whole experience is that what I want and what I need to do are very different things, and often at cross purposes." He sighed. "But for now, I at least get to rest for a few weeks where the slightest mistake won't get me executed for once. It got pretty hard to enjoy breakfast." The same patter and jokes, almost like normal. Almost.

Brand shook her head, but refrained from commenting. Instead, she looked silently at elevators going up and down, people going to and fro, bustling on errands and heading to meetings. "I need to thank you," she said at last. "You could have left me there. No-one would have blamed you, especially after what I've done to you." At last she looked back to him. "Thank you."

“You don’t need to thank me. Because it’s who I am and what I do.” Kane said, turning to look at her. “That is the point, Abigail. Call it fate. Call it karma. Call it whatever you will, but we keep getting thrown into the shit together. Whether we like it or not, I don’t see that ending any time soon.”

Her eyebrows rose at the sudden vehemence. “And? What do you propose we do about it?”

“I think we’re going to have to learn to trust each other. We might not like it, but if we don’t, one day we’re going to get each other killed. So we can curse the universe the rest of the time for this match, but like it or not, you and I in some way are in this together. So how about we stop spending most the time getting in each others way and try to work together, eh?”

“Working together?” She turned back to the window, contemplating what he’d said. Then she sighed heavily. “You don’t ask for much, do you, Kane?” She said, before turning back to him. But there was a glint of amusement in her eyes that belied her tone. “If only so I don’t have to keep thanking you for saving my life. It makes being a bitch stupidly difficult.”

“I already have the intel. If that was the end of it, I’d be downstairs by now getting a fro-yo before catching a cab home. But we both know it likely isn’t. Wouldn’t you like not having to bribe us for help next time?”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “Not bribing you would make things much easier on my next audit. I call when I need you, lay it all out, no surprises. And in return, what do you get?”

“Reciprocity. When you lay it out, you give us all the details. No more hidden agendas or plans within plans.”

She grimaced, but nodded. “It seems like your people are getting the most benefits from this deal. What do I get for my reciprocity?”

“Next time, I don’t leave you to a Hell Lord for eternity. Sound fair?"

Another grimace. “Fair,” she said after a struggle and put out her hand. “A new partnership, then.”

“Sure. Or an old one finally being honest.”