The rift had closed, and somehow Sabine was still around. That bitch was going to outlive a nuclear apocalypse.

Sveta could barely believe that Sabine had the audacity to poke her head out of the gutter again. And with an invitation none the less. It could have been a setup for an ambush, but honestly, if SUPER wanted to grab someone these days, they had less expensive ways to do it than an invitation to a very high-end New York restaurant.
Alright, so Sveta picked the place, but whatever. If Sabine wanted to play frenemies again, she could at least foot the bill.

They had an appointment. Sveta did not believe in the whole SUPER reform thing, and she definitely did not believe anything that came out of Sabine's mouth, down to plain breathing (the woman was a cyborg for sure). And yet, the message had not been wrong. Sveta was curious what on earth she could possibly want.

Threats? Favors? Deals?...

Sveta walked into the restaurant wearing a deep green dress. It looked expensive, but she had no qualms about ruining it if she had to punch out some SUPER agents. As usual, she was armed in tactical places. She followed the hostess to a private table, and slipped into her seat with a well-practiced smile that neither of them believed was genuine.

"Let me guess. You are in a Bigots Anonymous program and you've gotten to the apologies stage."

The transition to this new universe was not an easy one. Sure, the odd political climate here played a role, but that was an external force and Sabine did not blame her problems on those. She had limited control over those. She did have some control over the agents and personnel of SUPER, and they were enough of a problem to demand addressing.

Their new home had a kinder relationship to mutants, even if this was not universal and not necessarily the majority opinion. Mutants lived better lives here, which Sabine was fine with. She always found the inherent second-class citizenship of mutants on her side concerning.

That said, it made policing mutant threats easier. Even thumbing through the history of this world, mutant incidents were common and often devastating. Had even this city gone a full year without some nightmare scenario? SUPER had to adapt to keeping peace while adhering to the social norms of their new home. If SUPER could not play nice, their probationary existence would come to an end.

Sabine would not have that. She believed SUPER was meant to serve a greater good. More importantly, if the organization ended, she worried about what the determined or fanatical members of SUPER would do left to their own devices in a world that did not understand the mutant threat.

The fanatics were, therefore, Sabine’s concern. Some people understood SUPER was not meant to be “anti-mutant,” but rather, pro-security. Others saw mutants as an inherent threat, and of course, saw SUPER as a vehicle for that. These were the people who kept finding ways to cause her trouble.

As a begrudgingly appointed problem-solver of the group, Sabine had to think out of the box, and when she thought of unexpected ways to fix the problems of SUPER, she dove right into crazy ideas.

Calling Svetlana? A crazy idea. It would have been a nightmare dealing with the pretty boy of Haven, but he seemed to be away doing something or other. The person currently directing things at the main Haven office instead was a morbid example of irony.

And okay, maybe Sabine was intrigued. This would at least be more fun than dealing with Devon. Time would tell if that also kept it from being productive. After getting confirmation from Svetlana’s secretary, which had not been guaranteed, Sabine waited in a red dress at the backroom table of her favorite French restaurant. The place was actually out of her day-to-day budget, so it helped having an excuse to pull from her SUPER discretionary fund for dinner.

Sabine did not bother to stand when Svetlana entered, because she doubted Svetlana would accept a handshake. ”Ever the charmer, Svetlana.” Sabine apologized only when something was done for the wrong reasons. She did not see herself as a bigot, so most of her actual apologizing came in apologizing for her subordinates.

”I actually needed to speak to someone from your organization who has the authority to make or consider decisions,” she corrected, pouring and sipping her wine. She had picked out the bottle before her guest arrived, but waited to pour until Sveta could see her pour her own glass. She actually would not blame the mutant for being wary of the wine if she did not watch Sabine drink it first. ”The fact that the person ended up being you was just an added bonus. Congratulations on that promotion, by the way.” The power booster had come a long way since her premature retirement from SUPER. (That was, oddly enough, how HR recorded it.)

At least Sabine cleaned up okay. It would have been much more awkward to sit in on a dinner date with someone dressed in a tactical outfit or something. Sveta doubted the other woman was unarmed either, but... glass houses. At least they both did the courtesy of pretending.

>>"Ever the charmer, Svetlana.”

"You deserve it" she smiled back. They used to train hand to hand when she was in SUPER custody, but now, they were down to verbal sparring.

>>”I actually needed to speak to someone from your organization who has the authority to make or consider decisions. The fact that the person ended up being you was just an added bonus. Congratulations on that promotion, by the way.”

Sveta waited for Sabine to drink first. It was not a full protection against sneaky ways of poisoning someone, but if she had been that paranoid, she would not have shown up at all. She just did it to let Sabine know she was not extending any extra trust just yet.

Apparently, she was just a placeholder for Devon tonight anyway.

"It's temporary." she clarified. She was taking on de facto duties since Devon was busy, but she was by far not the leader of Haven. "But I do have the authority to tell you we want none of whatever it is you are thinking to offer."

All the research done on Mr. Hadden suggested he had his noble goals, but he never stopped being practical. He made the moves that benefited his interests and causes, which had Sabine pegging him as someone she could appeal to with a greater good. Not the generic greater good, but the specific benefits to his organization an the mutant rights cause they often championed.

Svetlana… well, she was a tougher nut to crack. This would have been the case if SUPER did not abduct and nearly brainwash her. And yes, now that she was slightly more important than a cog in the machine, Sabine would have handled her situation differently, but there was no undoing the past. Tonight would prove whether Svetlana could be convinced of a greater good offered by her own personal nemesis.

”Your time at the top is temporary, but when someone is put in a role like that, even in the interim, that suggests they were already pretty high up the ladder.” Sabine did not know how Haven structured its leadership; those details were vague, she guessed intentionally. Svetlana was not insignificant though; that was for damn certain.

Sabine scanned the menu before her, not that she needed to; she had picked out her meal before Svetlana arrived. She did want to keep what she said sounding off the cuff, though, and the casual lack of eye contact did not hurt. ”I’m personally glad it’s you. The boy king heard reports, but you’ve seen the problem. If I can’t convince you what I’m offering is worth it, there’s no point in talking to anyone else.”

Looking up from the restaurant's offerings, Sabine sought to meet Svetlana’s eyes, assuming her counterpart was not busy picking between duck or halibut. ”Besides, you would not have come here if you were not at least morbidly curious what I thought I could get you to agree to.” Svetlana had to know Sabine would not bother with a meeting like this if she was certain she had no chance of success.

”Meanwhile, I’m morbidly curious if you’d get in bed with devils if it meant your people would be safer.” After all, that's what she was to Svetlana. Well, devils made deals, right?

Sveta had taken on some responsibilities while Devon was otherwise occupied, but she had no real executive power. If Sabine was playing at their shared history to get something done with Haven, she would be sorely disappointed. Not that Devon himself would have been a lot kinder to the SUPER agent, after all that happened during the rift.

>>”Your time at the top is temporary, but when someone is put in a role like that, even in the interim, that suggests they were already pretty high up the ladder.”

She was. The Inner Echelon was as high as someone could go in Haven. But, again, that had nothing to do with this meeting. Sveta scanned the menu, and when the waitress made an appearance, she ordered something that sounded fancy.

>>”I’m personally glad it’s you. The boy king heard reports, but you’ve seen the problem. If I can’t convince you what I’m offering is worth it, there’s no point in talking to anyone else.”

"I'm looking right at the problem" Sveta shot back with a smirk. Sure, SUPER got a face lift, but she was not going to fall for the whole idea of them being anywhere near on the same side now.

>>”Besides, you would not have come here if you were not at least morbidly curious what I thought I could get you to agree to. Meanwhile, I’m morbidly curious if you’d get in bed with devils if it meant your people would be safer.”

"Aww, are you hitting on me, agent?" Sveta drawled "Still the wrong tree, darling. But sure, I'll humor you: what kind of bullshit are you trying to sell this time? It's all for the safety of mutants? We have a common enemy?"

Yes, this was going swimmingly. Honestly, everything about this meeting was falling in line with Sabine's expectations. She would try to work her way toward the reasons Svetlana should listen to her. Svetlana would retort with whatever dig at Sabine's moral failings came to mind first. Yes, this was according to the script.

But at least she was being humored, which was the other thing Sabine was depending on here. "The common enemy is bigotry," she explained simply after her order was taken by the waitress who seemed nervous around the obvious tension of the table.

Svetlana folded her hands on the table and leaned forward, because she did want to keep this part of their conversation to a lower volume. She kept this meeting off her itinerary, but in this day and age there were eyes and ears everywhere. She should know. "Some of the big decision-makers from the other side stayed there when the rift closed. As you're aware... their decisions were extreme. Some of them thought it was practical and I did my best to stand by that because I and many of my peers wanted an end to mutant disasters." It was always how Sabine justified the methods of SUPER because no one else was doing anything proactive.

"Obviously, those tactics also appealed to agents with... lesser motivations." Sveta, of course, counted Sabine among them. "Believe what you want, but as much as my mother's tragedy motivated me to push the limits of personal liberties, I was never motivated by a desire to hunt or hurt mutants. Many of us weren't. Anyone in SUPER who spoke ill of our mutant recruits or people like my mother... well, there are benefits to working in a place that includes hand-to-hand combat." Sabine never blamed her mother for what happened to her father. She blamed the world for not keeping her powers in check.

Sabine let herself get on a tangent, which was pointless because Svetlana was no going to believe her intentions. "I've been part of the team trying to push SUPER in a better direction. Voluntary enrollments only. No catching mutants deemed to be a potential threat; containing mutant threat as they present themelves, not before. And most importantly, none of the mad science at mutants expense. I acknowledge this is a chance to be better."

This push was approved by almost all of the remaining board, and they were going to address the holdouts soon, but there was another pressing matter. "As you can guess, for the people who joined because they hate mutants, this news is not going over well. I'm dealing with anti-mutant extremists in my organiization, but they've been literally trained to hide in plain sight. Rooting them out... it has been a challenge."

>>"The common enemy is bigotry,"

Svetlana snorted, and sipped more of her wine with an amused look. "You got that printed on a poster?"

The whole SUPER rebranding was ridiculous. As if they had not come into her apartment and shot her boyfriend. Hypocrites.

Sabine went on to do the full pitch about how SUPER was different now. She clearly had done her homework. Sounded like SUPER was not sure what to do with itself, being cut off from their original dimension, and the bigots were in the process of tearing it apart from the inside. Sveta was willing to raise another glass to that.

>>"I've been part of the team trying to push SUPER in a better direction. Voluntary enrollments only. No catching mutants deemed to be a potential threat; containing mutant threat as they present themelves, not before. And most importantly, none of the mad science at mutants expense. I acknowledge this is a chance to be better."

It sounded good on paper. In fact, it sounded so good that it was basically inventing the wheel: mutant containment and response was the job of the MRC and occasionally the X-men in tandem with them. The rest was just propaganda smoke screens.

>>"As you can guess, for the people who joined because they hate mutants, this news is not going over well. I'm dealing with anti-mutant extremists in my organiization, but they've been literally trained to hide in plain sight. Rooting them out... it has been a challenge."

Bo-hoo, my mutant-catching organization is full of racists. Lie down with pigs and all that.

"So, if you've got a fascist problem, why not just shut it all down?" Sveta asked, leaning on her elbows as well "You know we have our own people working on those non-bigoted parts. Why not just toss out the toxic brand and join MRC or something? I'm sure they could use your intel."

Svetlana's attitude was predictable, but it did not change how's Sabine wished she could place a five-minute moratorium on the sass. It was good snark, but it was drawing out their ability to be productive. Of course, that was likely Svetlana’s point since she saw this meeting as a waste of time.

The answer she received was unexpected, if only because of how shallow it was in the face of the issue. Despite doing her best to play nice, Sabine’s sharp laugh slipped from her painted lips. ”Yes, because I have the power to shut down a federally sanctioned, funded, and connected organization. Why don’t you suggest I tear down the FBI or the Senate?”

Sabine did not want to dismantle SUPER because she saw a purpose for them, but even if she wanted to, it would be impossible. ”If I leave, that’s one less person to give a shit, Svetlana. When people with power at SUPER did not have to give a shit, children got hurt.” There was the slightest hint of frustration on the word. Maybe guilt. The world she had come from treated so many things as normal or necessary, but in this new world, as a slightly more important gear in the machine, Sabine had to recognize the things she looked the other way for.

And so, maybe SUPER’s soul and her own were linked now. ”There are politicians who are not going to let SUPER die, and your politicians are just as corrupt as mine were.” Was there a universe somewhere with good politicians? She doubted it. ”We’re already in talks with the MRC, hoping to take some lessons from their experience, but as things stand, if we can’t find our problem children, they can infect everything SUPER touches.”

Svetlana did have a point; when you spent years inviting toxicity into your world, it was hard to cleanse every corner of it when you came to your senses. ”I need to weed out threats. Make examples of them. I’m sure there are human supremacists. I am also near certain there are cells of our research division who may still be performing unsanctioned experiments in off-site facilities. This is why I called you, Svetlana,” she admitted, a sense of exhaustion in her voice. ”Because I figured you and Haven would give a shit about stopping mad science at your people’s expense.”

Sabine looked like she was losing some of her very precious patience. Whatever crawled up her ass was clearly bad enough that she reached out to her in earnest, not just to do some fancy dinner word sparring. If what she said was actually true, then SUPER was worse off than Sveta imagined, and that thought went a long way in souring her appetite for the fancy dinner.

>>”Yes, because I have the power to shut down a federally sanctioned, funded, and connected organization. Why don’t you suggest I tear down the FBI or the Senate?”

Sveta frowned. SUPER put down roots mighty quickly on this side of the rift. Sabine might have been in a prominent position, but she could not just walk out and turn off the lights. Sveta wished she did. Supervillains were so much easier than government sanctioned bigotry.

>>”If I leave, that’s one less person to give a shit, Svetlana. When people with power at SUPER did not have to give a shit, children got hurt. There are politicians who are not going to let SUPER die, and your politicians are just as corrupt as mine were. We’re already in talks with the MRC, hoping to take some lessons from their experience, but as things stand, if we can’t find our problem children, they can infect everything SUPER touches.”

They already had. SUPER infected everything SUPER touched, including media information and general views of the acceptance of mutants into society. The whole idea was flawed from a start, but if Sabine was right with her whistle blowing, then it was also increasingly dangerous. Again. The worst thing about parallel universes: you had to go through the same shit over and over again.

Sabine at least was doing a good job at showing penitence. Sveta wondered if it was genuine.

>>”I need to weed out threats. Make examples of them. I’m sure there are human supremacists. I am also near certain there are cells of our research division who may still be performing unsanctioned experiments in off-site facilities. This is why I called you, Svetlana. Because I figured you and Haven would give a shit about stopping mad science at your people’s expense.”

Sveta sighed, and emptied her wine glass before she went for a refill. No one could expect her to have this discussion without taking the edge off.

"So... what do you need us to do, exactly? Raid your off-site facilities? Damage control? Weed out the bad ones? Why us? Why not the X-men?"

It was clear Sveta had strong opinions about SUPER being tied into the government of the country. To an extent, Sabine could not blame her. Her lack of a quippy remark did suggest she recognized that her problems were not just going to go away because Sabine was convinced to pick up an idealist mindset at forty. Dismantling a government organization was not easy, not even for a group like Haven that seemed to have their hands in more than they let on.

The agent did not care if Sveta believed in her sincerity if she could at least believe in her motives. They were not two women on the same side, but they had a chance to be on the same page with parallel goals.

The downing of a wine glass suggested Sveta was resigning herself to being part of this conversation. Progress.

Sveta had questions, and Sabine smirked and latched onto the last one first. ”Well, I’m sure there will be things we ask for the X-Men’s help with if the time comes to it, assuming they can stomach getting in bed with monsters.” Sabine knew cracking that nut might require a different approach or opportunity. ”When we have facilities to raid, that sounds like a job for them, but their team seems more equipped for those big flashy problems.” Hence the silly costumes.

Instead, Sabine’s present concern was far more subtle. ”Weeding out the bad ones. You hit the nail on the head there. I have some new blood coming in that I hand-picked, but anyone who was brought in on the other side, or by agents of the other side are variables. Everyone knows me, so it would be obvious if I start probing around our agency taking polls on mutant-approval.” She was a good actress, but no amount of acting was going to make covert rogue groups trust the intentions of an established senior agent who never aligned with their beliefs before.

”Haven has resources. Resources not tied up in SUPER systems,” she clarified, sipping her own wine glass and finding it empty already. It really was going to be a long dinner, wasn’t it? ”Tracking allocated funds and facilities, seeing where money is going missing and where it’s running off to; that’ll suss out rogue operations and their bases. Beyond that… well, um.” Okay, how did she actually phrase this part without making it sound like both a terrible idea and (debatably) treason.

”Any chance Haven would be interested in getting a spy into SUPER?”

Sabine had been well prepared for this conversation, because she managed to wade through Sveta's flood of smart comments and keep going with her intended plan. And clearly Sveta was not the first one to suggest the X-men for some anti-anti-mutant work. Sabine was smarter than to not consider all of her options, even the unlikely ones.

>>”Well, I’m sure there will be things we ask for the X-Men’s help with if the time comes to it, assuming they can stomach getting in bed with monsters. When we have facilities to raid, that sounds like a job for them, but their team seems more equipped for those big flashy problems.”

"True." she allowed with a smirk. It was one of the reasons she was not with the X-men anymore.

>>”Weeding out the bad ones. You hit the nail on the head there. I have some new blood coming in that I hand-picked, but anyone who was brought in on the other side, or by agents of the other side are variables. Everyone knows me, so it would be obvious if I start probing around our agency taking polls on mutant-approval.”

She wasn't wrong there. Sabine was a determined leader and did what she could, but it would have been painfully obvious if she suddenly started heading up an internal questioning about how much people liked mutants.

"Hence, Haven."

>>”Haven has resources. Resources not tied up in SUPER systems. Tracking allocated funds and facilities, seeing where money is going missing and where it’s running off to; that’ll suss out rogue operations and their bases. Beyond that… well, um... Any chance Haven would be interested in getting a spy into SUPER?”

Sveta let out a surprised laugh. The question was not entire unexpected, but it sounded funny anyway.

"Honestly, I have never been hired for corporate espionage... by someone who's on that side" she admitted, enjoying the irony of the whole situation "You mean you'd hire one of ours as a SUPER recruit, and investigate from the inside?... Active agent or administration? What are the qualifications for that?"

Svetlana had her own experience with the X-Men, so she understood the team was not known for their subtle tact. When Sabine needed a sledgehammer, she’d call the X-Men. It was her hope that Haven could be a scalpel. They were also a pragmatic organization, from what she researched. That was much easier to deal with than a group of idealists in her eyes.

It was a pipe dream to expect she would find genuine allies within Haven, particularly with Svetlana, who clearly associated Sabine as a willing accomplice to her own kidnapping. It was not an unfair assessment. Still, she could see Sveta understanding the practical need Sabine had for some third-party involvement.

And really, who did not want to install a spy in a government organization they did not trust? In Sabine’s eyes, this was the easiest part of the sell. ”Trust me, I’m still learning the ropes of openly traitorous acts. We can learn this new experience together.”

It was not difficult picturing what Sabine needed out of a potential spy. She thought through her mental list, since she would not dare write this plan down. ”I was looking for an agent. If new administrators came in and started buddying up with high-risk groups, that might set off red flags. An agent is a more natural target for recruitment. Investigative instincts, combat training would be a plus, but we have trained new recruits up, so it’s not necessary.”

Of course, those were just basics for an agent, and Sabine could train up anything else they needed. They key qualifications came with someone not getting themselves busted. ”More importantly, I need someone who can be unassuming and approachable, and who is not going to flinch at things that make them uncomfortable. Trying to suss out extremists gets harder when you can’t conceal your disgust.” And there may be disgusting viewpoints shared if this spy infiltrated the right groups. ”If your spy is a mutant, we’ll need them to have a non-physical mutation, of course, because I doubt human supremacists are going to welcome a winged-woman into the fold.”

>>”Trust me, I’m still learning the ropes of openly traitorous acts. We can learn this new experience together.”

"How romantic." Sveta smirked. At least Sabine knew that she was playing with fire. Given the organization she worked for, it might have been actual, literal fire.

>>"I was looking for an agent. If new administrators came in and started buddying up with high-risk groups, that might set off red flags. An agent is a more natural target for recruitment. Investigative instincts, combat training would be a plus, but we have trained new recruits up, so it’s not necessary.”

Sveta nodded. They'd need to find a candidate who was at least agent material, not some bleeding heart philanthropist. It made sense. It was increasingly dangerous, but it made sense. She still remembered her own SUPER training, and it had not been an easy thing to go through. But at least this other person would be prepared for it.

>>”More importantly, I need someone who can be unassuming and approachable, and who is not going to flinch at things that make them uncomfortable. Trying to suss out extremists gets harder when you can’t conceal your disgust. If your spy is a mutant, we’ll need them to have a non-physical mutation, of course, because I doubt human supremacists are going to welcome a winged-woman into the fold.”

"Well, I am fresh out of winged women." she sighed. "I have an immortal twelve-year-old, but I'm not sure that's what you are looking for, either. Plus they would have to be low profile. Haven leadership is pretty well documented at this point. You'd need a fresh face. We might need to recruit first before we hand them to you. And then we'd need to be damn sure they can't be turned."

It took time and effort, but Sveta was playing nice by her standards. They were speaking productively by the time Sabine’s confit de canard arrived. She was glad to see it arrive at the table, pausing their conversation for privacy’s sake. The duck and roasted potatoes would help soak up the wine bottle they were working through quickly.

Sabine was not particular about the identity of their potential spy, but she did have requirements. Unfortunately, it sounded like Sveta had no one she could suggest off the top of her head. Maybe Haven was also working on its own recruitment challenges. ”By all means, take your time. I don’t think they’ll be putting heads on pikes in the next ten business days.” At the moment, the more controlled voices were still in power, though they did not want to rest on their laurels.

”If you can find someone competent and not swayed by appeals to power or rhetoric, let me know,” she requested, wanting to know sooner rather than later if they could get another few bodies in the bullpen working on this secret agenda. ”In the meantime, does your organization have the means to do a quiet audit? I don’t want to act like I know everything about Haven, but I’m also not going to insult you by playing dumb; your organization has spent the last few years developing very strong relationships with some important companies.” At least some of that was public record.

Sabine was willing to bet plenty was not. ”I don’t need or want details, particularly with this. But do you feel like you have enough influence over one of those ‘relationships’ to get something like this done without drawing too much attention or raising suspicions?” Just sending confidential monetary records to an unknown accounting firm sounded like a recipe for a whistle-blower, or worse, someone who would report findings back to SUPER.

>>”By all means, take your time. I don’t think they’ll be putting heads on pikes in the next ten business days.”

"Scheduling is key." Sveta muttered. Food arrived for Sabine, but hers was not showing up just yet. If she wanted to catch up to SUPER in other regards, she would have to seriously start thinking about recruitment. With very specific criteria.

Could anyone trust anyone these days?...

>>”In the meantime, does your organization have the means to do a quiet audit? I don’t want to act like I know everything about Haven, but I’m also not going to insult you by playing dumb; your organization has spent the last few years developing very strong relationships with some important companies.”

Sveta tilted her head. Sabine was not wrong, but somehow she managed to make not wanting to sound insulting - sound insulting. And also, Sveta ssumed even she did not know everything about the relationships she mentioned. Devon handled a lot of that stuff. Sveta, with all the bling and fancy training, was still an outsider to the world of business.

"Quiet audit?" she tilted her head.

>>”I don’t need or want details, particularly with this. But do you feel like you have enough influence over one of those ‘relationships’ to get something like this done without drawing too much attention or raising suspicions?”

Did she? It was kind of refreshing that Sabine already knew so much. As enemies, they were at a stalemate, and they sure as hell were not friends, but at least they spoke the same language, and gave up pretense around the first glass of liquor.

"That depends. What would you need exactly?"