Meet the new boss

[cutting_edgex23]

X, Security badge pinned to her belt, is settled comfortably at a corner table, contentedly munching her way through a sandwich.

She may be on her second root beer float.

And, of course, she is keeping an ear -- and a nose -- out for anyone who might be approaching her.

It is only polite.

Comments

[harryhotspur]

"I do not ask you to trust my word," Harry says. "Put me to trial and you shall see."

[cutting_edgex23]

"I will."

X's attention shifts from Harry to Brienne, her gaze sharp and clear.

"Both of you. It will be good. To see what you can do. And how you do it. When things are dangerous."

Beat.

"And you are not allowed to kill."

[maid_of_tarth]

Brienne, who is devoutly hoping she won't have to deal with anyone having sex, nods in response. "I am glad to hear killing won't be necessary. And that partiality is frowned on. What weapons do you use, to stop combatants?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I use my body," X says. "Hands and feet."

A pause.

"Sometimes claws are faster. Or swords. You are both acceptable at hand-to-hand?"

[harryhotspur]

"Acceptable," Harry agrees. That's an accurate assessment, he thinks.

[cutting_edgex23]

X absorbs that for a moment, then shifts her attention to Brienne.

Silently.

[maid_of_tarth]

"Yes." Hand to hand is something she's long considered the province of commoners unable to use or afford a sword. But she can do it, more or less.

"But--claws?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes."

X holds up her left hand.

snikt

Two adamantium claws emerge from the space between her knuckles, accompanied by a thin trickle of blood that is hidden by her black fingerless gloves.

(Ah, multipurpose gloves. So handy.)

"Claws."

[harryhotspur]

Harry starts back. Aaaalright, then.

"--well, you would never lack a weapon."

[cutting_edgex23]

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick, and resheathes her claws.

"I am a weapon. It is why I was made."

Obviously.

[maid_of_tarth]

"Made? Why, by whom?"

Brienne has met people here who are not like the people she's used to, but never one that was made, rather than born.

[cutting_edgex23]

"The Facility. It was useful for them. To have a weapon that looked like a little girl."

Beat.

"To make money."

Another, longer pause.

"I am a person, too. Now."

In case they worried.

[harryhotspur]

Harry doesn't understand what she's saying well enough to worry, but he nods anyway. There are some Milliways oddities he has decided it's easier to just let drift by.

"And how came you to this position?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"I am very good at what I do."

Even Apocalypse acknowledges her determination.

"And it does not hurt me to do it."

[maid_of_tarth]

"You can't be hurt?" But that would make her an even more useful ally in seeking out the Stark girls. "Not even by a sword?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I heal. Fast."

X considers how to explain this.

"Re-attaching severed limbs is not difficult, either. Explosions are also not problematic."

[harryhotspur]

"O, wondrous!" Harry cries. "A goodly magic, that!"

[maid_of_tarth]

"Can you share this magic with other people, or teach it?"

Brienne's asking for reasons.

[cutting_edgex23]

"It is not magic," X says, after a momentary pause.

"It is what I am."

Beat.

"I cannot teach people to be pale, either. Or to have black hair. Or green eyes."

[harryhotspur]

"A just reply," says Harry, though the ability to heal any wound still sounds a hell of a lot like magic to him. "But what more, madam, is to be done?"

[cutting_edgex23]

She is silent for a minute, watching both Harry and Brienne unblinkingly.

Then --

"I will think about how best to test you. In the field. In a way that will be useful."

Beat.

"Then I will tell you. When I know."

This pause is shorter.

"It will be soon."

[maid_of_tarth]

"Very well." Brienne does well at tests, if they're just; still, she is not looking forward to this one. She doesn't know what to expect from it. "Will this test require preparation?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"No."

X's response is swift.

"You will not have preparation for what Security business will require of you, either."

Beat.

"Sometimes that is annoying."

[harryhotspur]

"I mind it not-- a battle is often so," Harry says. "We shall await your word."

[maid_of_tarth]

Brienne nods. "You can leave a message for us with Bar, I suppose."