Zemo: Off To See The, Uh...

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

The X-Men and Christian Kane travel to Europe to meet with some contacts, and they learn a little more about who and what he's afraid is loose.



"I keep telling Didi that we need to get one of these. Do you think the Professor would give us the number of his salesman?" Christian Kane said with a smile, leaning back in the Blackbird's jumpseat. Behind him, his son scowled.

"This is not a pleasure jet, Dad. If you want a Lear for you and your 'wife', I'm sure you stashed enough away to afford it." The Canadian was in his typical foul mood around his father, something they had seen when Christian had come by with the intelligence about the Chinese smuggling ring. Which in turn had led to them facing a giant green dragon in purple underwear. Garrison liked to mention it every time someone brought up his father.

"You see, Garrison's never liked Didi, which is a shame. She and Victoria get along fine."

"Vikks. She prefers to be called Vikks. You'd know that if you spent more than five minutes at a time with her."

"Not really the time, Garrison." Kane said placating. "Miss Munroe, how long before we reach France?"

"Not long," the silver-haired woman said smoothly, checking the nav controls before glancing at the older man. "With any luck we will arrive within an hour." Plenty of time for more father-son bonding, she thought dryly. What was it with the X-Men and their daddy issues?

Marius' head was tilted far back, a full waterbottle expertly balanced on his forehead. He'd been following the conversation with keen interest. Not only was it revealing a good deal about one of his teammates, but Marius was finding it rather charming that a man of the elder Kane's apparent predilections would take time out of his busy schedule to settle into matrimony. The last time Marius had bothered to commit the name of his mother's most recent paramour to memory had been somewhere around age 7.

"That is a relief," the Australian remarked, tilting his head forward to drop the bottle into his lap. "At least there will be a bit of civilization before we go galavantin' about Europe. I must say, Mr. Kane, I find myself a bit disillusioned as to the retirement package of the average superspy; one would think a spare stealth jet or two would serve as proper severance. Instead, you lot are reduced to international carpool."

"You'd be amazed, young man. Back in the sixties, when a station chief retired, he was presented with a Rolls Royce and a country estate in order to fossilize as part of the intelligence training community. Now, sadly, they all run their departments like a branch of Lloyds. I spoke with one of my old assistants, and he was in the process of putting together a cost-return analysis. Can you imagine?" Kane settled back and sighed. "I almost miss the Cold War. We came up with the plans, and the Americans drove a truck full of money up to the bank we named. And when one of those super villains like Zemo appeared, the Soviets would pawn Albania in order to make sure that they could stop them in case the master plan involved smuggling blue jeans and Ayn Rand novels into the Motherland."

Perking up from her bored stupor at the elder Kane's 'truck full of money' comment, Adrienne turned her attention to the tail end of the conversation. "So you're telling me that we won't be getting a truck full of money for doing this?" She glared at the back of Garrison's head. "I think I've been brought here under false pretenses," she accused. "Ms. Munroe, could you possibly turn the jet around? I don't want to help Mr. Kane anymore." It was childish, yes, but Adrienne considered the pointless statement her show of support for Garrison, for whom she felt a strange sort of loyalty that had only increased when learning of his daddy issues.

"I'm afraid turning around is not an option - you are welcome to abstain from helping once we reach France," Ororo replied, feeling more and more as if she had taken over the bus run to the city in lieu of flying a jet full of highly qualified, capable adults over international borders. "I certainly cannot force you if you feel you are not being duly compensated."

Shiro looked up from the book he was reading and raised an eyebrow at the younger Frost, then shook his head and muttered something about Americans before turning to the elder Kaine. "What is even the purpose of building a machine to supposedly destroy the world? It is so counter-intuitive."

"It was also the basis of global foreign policy from 1953 until a few years ago. And Zemo is insane enough to not care if he has to go through his own destruction at the same time." Christian Kane leaned forward in the jumpseat, with his arms resting on his knees. "The entire group of the Masters of Evil have never had traditionally sane goals, at least not in the way we expect from another nation state. The Melter was obsessed with punishing the United States military industrial complex. Radioactive Man pushed a pro-ChiCom policy so blunt that even the Chinese disavowed any connection with his aims. Black Knight was fighting for the return of the 10th century and Skurge... well, his motivations seemed to be based around swinging his axe at as many people as possible."

"What Dad is saying is that logical motivations do not apply with these people." Garrison Kane sighed. "After all, this is a guy who even the Nazis considered went bad after fusing a purple bag to his head with a secret adhesive, right?"

"Indeed. And it was a cloth designed to filter dust and particles. Standard issue. The Fuhrer liked purple."

"It is my sincere hope the individuals we're meant to retrieve are possessed of somewhat better taste," Marius remarked. "And, as agents of Good, may also be addressed by names which may be uttered without embarrassment. It was my impression 'Radioactive Man' was now a licensed trademark of The Simpsons franchise."

"The names are laughable, but they are not. For example, Radioactive Man could level your entire mansion and kill everyone inside in less than a minute with his powers. The Melter can destroy vibranium and adamantium. Black Knight once flipped a tank and then cut it in half. The second you don't respect the power the Masters of Evil possess, they kill you." Kane said warningly. "They terrified the powers of the world enough to make the United States and the Soviet Union to work together in the 60s. Nuclear weapons didn't even scare the politicians as much."

"Dad, no one wants to hear all of your stories."

"Not yet. Now, we're off to speak with some of the men who worked with me to bring down Zemo. Being an intelligence officer is a little like being a doctor; you never quite fully retire. If I know them, they'll have been keeping an eye on the news, and their contacts could confirm that Zemo is active. Miss Frost can provide us some insight on another matter in Moscow. There was a break-in to an old Soviet storage facility, and if one of my old… well, rivals, can provide us access, it might just prove my suspicions." Christian Kane relaxed back in his seat and looked out the window. "Just be nice to them. This field tends to attract the, well, eccentric, and I don't think old age will have smoothed that out."