Brand quotes, DW and TW fic recs
For topical reasons, I decided to collect some of my favourite Agent Brand quotes, with an attempt to explain why I like the woman so much. After all, she, like some other characters I like - Bester from Babylon 5 comes to mind - has a world view I find appalling and is the type of person I'd want far from any position of power were she living in my own reality.
Also like Bester, she gets introduced as an antagonist but doesn't always function as a villain. Her agenda puts her at cross-purposes with the X-Men quite often, but when it doesn't because of a mutual foe, they can also work as allies. It's a cliché worth repeating: the most interesting villains are the ones who can work as heroes in their own stories because they're not into power for power's sake, or because they are petty sadists, but seriously believe that they're working for the greater good.
Brand is a character invented by Joss Whedon for Astonishing X-Men. She first shows up in Gifted as an ominous figure in the background of established character's Nick Fury's office, keeping secrets from Our Heroes; her green hair, shades and uniform make for an oddly frivolous yet fitting contrast to her tough persona. We find out who she is - and what she wants - shortly after the X-Men have discovered that Peter Rasputin, aka Colossus, has been kept prisoner and experimented on for months. To say the X-Men want an explanation is putting it mildly. Quoth Fury: "Tell them the truth. It ain't like they're gonna like it." They won't, but in retrospect, the following exchange starts a relationship.
Brand: I'm Special Agent Abigail Brand. I head the Sentient Worlds Observation Response Department.
Hank Mcoy: The goverment and their acronyms... honestly, it's adorable.
Brand (a touch defensive): I didn't pick the name.
She goes on to explain that she's trying to prevent a war between the Breakworld and Earth and is singularly unimpressed by Wolverine threatening to tear her limbs apart ("deal with the facts, bumblebee"). Your faithful reviewer admittedly missed that this markedly different reaction signals Hank is getting to her the first time around, but no longe.*g* Anyway, back to why I like Brand. The reason the Breakworld is a threat is because every precog around agrees on a prophecy that says a mutant will destroy it, and they believe in preemptive strikes.
Brand: Thats a whole world gone because of one mutant. That wouldn't be a first now, would it?
Emma Frost: Jean Grey is dead, Agent.
Brand: That'll last.
Okay, perhaps this is only funny if you know that Jean Grey (who in the comic version as opposed to the lame movie version did destroy a world when being Dark Phoenix) is the Lady Lazarus of the Marvelverse, making an art of dying and resurrecting, and Joss is using Brand for meta snark here, but even from a Watsonian pov, it's an example of Brand's terse sarcasm which is something of a trademark for her. Also, like it or not, she has a point.
In the next arc, Dangerous, Brand starts out in front of a comitee because of the whole handing-over-Colossus-to-the-Breakworlder-Representative-for-experimentation thing (said experimentation, btw, provided the basis for the "cure" that rendered mutants "normal", which was why Brand helped; not because of anti-mutant bigotry but because the Breakworlders at that point were willing to accept the compromise of "cured" mutants making sure their world would not be destroyed by one. Decidedly dodgy ethics with a complete disregard for free will, and she's completely unrepentant about it:
"You think I've crossed a line. (...) There is no line. For the safety of this planet, there is no one I will not sacrifice, no monster I will not call friend, no enemy I will not sleep with. There is a bullet pointed at this planet's head. You all know exactly what I'm talking about. The Breakworld believes that we as a species need to be put down and there are others not far from accordance on that score. (...) So if I'm to be... demoted... well, I've left instructions on what to do with my body. But if I'm still the head of S.W.O.R.D, then don't look for me to change."
It's both chilling and impressive rethoric, and it means she keeps her job. Of course, having stated that conviction, it follows that she needs to be confronted with someone who doesn't believe that the end always justifies the means, and whom she can't just dismiss as naive or ineffectual. But before we get to that, here's an example of Brand's administrative style (and yet another example of Joss using her for meta snark). Anyone who ever watched Star Trek: The Next Generation will recall Deanna Troi (an empath, for non-Trekkers) in the early seasons kept getting groanworthy lines like "I sense... pain" while someone was agonizing right in front of her. As head of S.W.O.R.D, Brand employs some aliens along with humans, and one of them is, you guessed it, an empath named Sydren.
Sydren: I sense... destruction.
Brand: Really. You sure? You don't wanna look at the photo of the enormous destruction some more before you make such a bold statement?
Sydren: You look it, I feel it.
Brand: Congrats on that.
Sydren: If I ate your head, two thirds of your agents would praise me in poems and song.
Brand: So my approval rating's up. Tell me what you got.
The paths of Brand and the X-men don't cross again directly until the end of the Torn arc which is when Brand enlists their help in the ongoing Breakworld problem by kidnapping them and taking them on a trip to outer space, which starts the current Unstoppable arc. Not to hand them over to the current Breakworld ruler (though that's still one of the options) but to use them either to render the long range world destroying weapon the Breakworld has against Earth inoperable or to make sure the prophecy comes true - i.e. to destroy the Breakworld first. ("I didn't kidnap you all for giggles, or even for the time I'll buy. i did it because right now, I need superheroes.") The middle option is of course the only one they agree on. At this point, we also get Hank McCoy, aka Beast, arguably the nicest guy on the team, the most ethical, the only one who genuinenly gets along with everyone else, starting to seek out Brand to spar with. And spar they do throughout the next issues. This leads to exchanges like this:
(After a crashlanding when half of the team is missing):
Hank: If anything happened to them, Agent Brand...
Brand: You'll do what? Eat me?
Hank: In fact I will. The new math, Agent. You're outnumbered and not well liked. And I've recently acquired a taste for human flesh, I say with considerable embrassment.
Scott: Stop bickering, guys.
Fat chance, Scott.
Brand: I think we ought to split up.
Hank: At least we agree on something.
Brand: You're coming with me.
Hank: And so ends that era.
Come with her he does, of course. This leads to an ethics debate in the middle of a snowstorm, said snowstorm being artificially created by the Breakworld's current leader, Kruun, in order to finish Brand and Hank who are trying to create a shelter while arguing:
Hank: I truly dislike this world.
Brand: Tactical weather deployment, Professor. Dig faster.
Hank: And how many people will be caught in this besides us?
Brand: Kruun will do whatever he has to.
Hank: Reminds me of someone.
Brand: Why can't you let up for one second?
Brand: You're amoral, you're abrasive, and right now you're looking at me like I'm a Taun-Taun.
Brand (removing her gloves in the newly created shelter): You can stop whining. I don't need your guts to keep me warm.
Hank: Oh. My.
Of course we can still get an entirely innocent explanation for the "oh. my" and the fade to white - say, Brand producing some kind of heating device - but her "why can't you let up for one second?" is proof she actually cares what he thinks of her. It's not like Hank is the only other character who points out her ethics, or lack of same, or insults her, but she's utterly indifferent with everyone else. There is also a hint that not just Hank but the point he's making is starting to get to her, because in the aftermath, when the snowstorm has passed and they both get out of their shelter and find all the dead bodies of innocent Breakworlders who, like Hank said they would be, were caught up in Kruun's action and frozen to death, Brand isn't glib or dismissive. Kruun uses her own "the end justifies all the means" ideology; it's an ugly mirror image.
In ensuing events, the team reassembles and splits up again on new tasks. Now whoever would Dr. McCoy chose to go with?
Hank: ...and I guess Agent Brand and I are still lab partners. Huzzah.
Naturally, he has a good reason - he doesn't trust her. The readers, but not Hank, know that some of Brand's men, presumably on her orders, tried to get Kruun's Trusted Lieutenant to topple his overlord by promising said Lieutenant he'd get Rasputin, so it's not like Brand isn't playing a double game - just not the one Hank thinks she is, because he's increasingly convinced she set the whole prophecy up to begin with. There are some clues that could point in that direction - Hank finds out Brand can read and speak the Breakworld language, for example. And the reader is basically in Hank's position - is Agent Earth First By All Means capable of setting up a prophecy so she can get a planet she sees as a potential threat destroyed? She is. But has she done so? Hmmm.
Brand: This isn't going the way I hoped.
Hank: Isn't it?
Brand: You got something to say to me?
Hank: Scads.
On their way to disarm the Earth-heading missile/bullet, they get attacked and mid fight, Brand throws herself in the way of one of those futuristic weapons aimed at Hank and takes the blast for him, which is when I can't decide whether Joss is doing a film noir or Les Miserables, as Hank, kneels by the wounded Brand:
Hank: Brand!
Brand: Go to the missile.
Hank: Why did you take that hit?
Brand: You're supposed to be a genius, tabby. Be a genius and disarm the missile! Save the damn world already...
As I said in my review of the issue in question, I hope that this wasn't the end of Brand; though I'm not sure subsequent Marvelverse writers would keep her as morally ambiguos. Ellis, yes; Bendis, yes; JMS in his current mindframe would probably make her a completely evil fascist - he can do better, as we've seen on B5 and more recently in Supreme Power, but did not in Civil War; Cage, also yes; the Knaufs - depends (no, Daniel, I have not forgiven you for Brother Justin's degradation, though I will admit you do a good job with Tony Stark); Brubaker, yes; everyone else, no - and the absolute horror would be Millar getting his hands on her. So, half between nervousness, hope and fear, I treasure the Brand moments I got.
On another note, two fanfic recs:
Doctor Who:
Sometimes Forever: I love stories that include both Old and New Who characters, especially Companions. This one gives us the first two (excluding Susan), Barbara and Ian, after they left the Doctor in 1965, and Donna from the future, and it's just lovely in its quiet thoughtfulness.
Torchwood: I also love it when fanfic picks up on a random detail in an episode and uses it to make a point, or two, about a character. In this case, something Owen does in Sleeper: Five Reasons Owen Harper Waters Plants
Also like Bester, she gets introduced as an antagonist but doesn't always function as a villain. Her agenda puts her at cross-purposes with the X-Men quite often, but when it doesn't because of a mutual foe, they can also work as allies. It's a cliché worth repeating: the most interesting villains are the ones who can work as heroes in their own stories because they're not into power for power's sake, or because they are petty sadists, but seriously believe that they're working for the greater good.
Brand is a character invented by Joss Whedon for Astonishing X-Men. She first shows up in Gifted as an ominous figure in the background of established character's Nick Fury's office, keeping secrets from Our Heroes; her green hair, shades and uniform make for an oddly frivolous yet fitting contrast to her tough persona. We find out who she is - and what she wants - shortly after the X-Men have discovered that Peter Rasputin, aka Colossus, has been kept prisoner and experimented on for months. To say the X-Men want an explanation is putting it mildly. Quoth Fury: "Tell them the truth. It ain't like they're gonna like it." They won't, but in retrospect, the following exchange starts a relationship.
Brand: I'm Special Agent Abigail Brand. I head the Sentient Worlds Observation Response Department.
Hank Mcoy: The goverment and their acronyms... honestly, it's adorable.
Brand (a touch defensive): I didn't pick the name.
She goes on to explain that she's trying to prevent a war between the Breakworld and Earth and is singularly unimpressed by Wolverine threatening to tear her limbs apart ("deal with the facts, bumblebee"). Your faithful reviewer admittedly missed that this markedly different reaction signals Hank is getting to her the first time around, but no longe.*g* Anyway, back to why I like Brand. The reason the Breakworld is a threat is because every precog around agrees on a prophecy that says a mutant will destroy it, and they believe in preemptive strikes.
Brand: Thats a whole world gone because of one mutant. That wouldn't be a first now, would it?
Emma Frost: Jean Grey is dead, Agent.
Brand: That'll last.
Okay, perhaps this is only funny if you know that Jean Grey (who in the comic version as opposed to the lame movie version did destroy a world when being Dark Phoenix) is the Lady Lazarus of the Marvelverse, making an art of dying and resurrecting, and Joss is using Brand for meta snark here, but even from a Watsonian pov, it's an example of Brand's terse sarcasm which is something of a trademark for her. Also, like it or not, she has a point.
In the next arc, Dangerous, Brand starts out in front of a comitee because of the whole handing-over-Colossus-to-the-Breakworlder-Representative-for-experimentation thing (said experimentation, btw, provided the basis for the "cure" that rendered mutants "normal", which was why Brand helped; not because of anti-mutant bigotry but because the Breakworlders at that point were willing to accept the compromise of "cured" mutants making sure their world would not be destroyed by one. Decidedly dodgy ethics with a complete disregard for free will, and she's completely unrepentant about it:
"You think I've crossed a line. (...) There is no line. For the safety of this planet, there is no one I will not sacrifice, no monster I will not call friend, no enemy I will not sleep with. There is a bullet pointed at this planet's head. You all know exactly what I'm talking about. The Breakworld believes that we as a species need to be put down and there are others not far from accordance on that score. (...) So if I'm to be... demoted... well, I've left instructions on what to do with my body. But if I'm still the head of S.W.O.R.D, then don't look for me to change."
It's both chilling and impressive rethoric, and it means she keeps her job. Of course, having stated that conviction, it follows that she needs to be confronted with someone who doesn't believe that the end always justifies the means, and whom she can't just dismiss as naive or ineffectual. But before we get to that, here's an example of Brand's administrative style (and yet another example of Joss using her for meta snark). Anyone who ever watched Star Trek: The Next Generation will recall Deanna Troi (an empath, for non-Trekkers) in the early seasons kept getting groanworthy lines like "I sense... pain" while someone was agonizing right in front of her. As head of S.W.O.R.D, Brand employs some aliens along with humans, and one of them is, you guessed it, an empath named Sydren.
Sydren: I sense... destruction.
Brand: Really. You sure? You don't wanna look at the photo of the enormous destruction some more before you make such a bold statement?
Sydren: You look it, I feel it.
Brand: Congrats on that.
Sydren: If I ate your head, two thirds of your agents would praise me in poems and song.
Brand: So my approval rating's up. Tell me what you got.
The paths of Brand and the X-men don't cross again directly until the end of the Torn arc which is when Brand enlists their help in the ongoing Breakworld problem by kidnapping them and taking them on a trip to outer space, which starts the current Unstoppable arc. Not to hand them over to the current Breakworld ruler (though that's still one of the options) but to use them either to render the long range world destroying weapon the Breakworld has against Earth inoperable or to make sure the prophecy comes true - i.e. to destroy the Breakworld first. ("I didn't kidnap you all for giggles, or even for the time I'll buy. i did it because right now, I need superheroes.") The middle option is of course the only one they agree on. At this point, we also get Hank McCoy, aka Beast, arguably the nicest guy on the team, the most ethical, the only one who genuinenly gets along with everyone else, starting to seek out Brand to spar with. And spar they do throughout the next issues. This leads to exchanges like this:
(After a crashlanding when half of the team is missing):
Hank: If anything happened to them, Agent Brand...
Brand: You'll do what? Eat me?
Hank: In fact I will. The new math, Agent. You're outnumbered and not well liked. And I've recently acquired a taste for human flesh, I say with considerable embrassment.
Scott: Stop bickering, guys.
Fat chance, Scott.
Brand: I think we ought to split up.
Hank: At least we agree on something.
Brand: You're coming with me.
Hank: And so ends that era.
Come with her he does, of course. This leads to an ethics debate in the middle of a snowstorm, said snowstorm being artificially created by the Breakworld's current leader, Kruun, in order to finish Brand and Hank who are trying to create a shelter while arguing:
Hank: I truly dislike this world.
Brand: Tactical weather deployment, Professor. Dig faster.
Hank: And how many people will be caught in this besides us?
Brand: Kruun will do whatever he has to.
Hank: Reminds me of someone.
Brand: Why can't you let up for one second?
Brand: You're amoral, you're abrasive, and right now you're looking at me like I'm a Taun-Taun.
Brand (removing her gloves in the newly created shelter): You can stop whining. I don't need your guts to keep me warm.
Hank: Oh. My.
Of course we can still get an entirely innocent explanation for the "oh. my" and the fade to white - say, Brand producing some kind of heating device - but her "why can't you let up for one second?" is proof she actually cares what he thinks of her. It's not like Hank is the only other character who points out her ethics, or lack of same, or insults her, but she's utterly indifferent with everyone else. There is also a hint that not just Hank but the point he's making is starting to get to her, because in the aftermath, when the snowstorm has passed and they both get out of their shelter and find all the dead bodies of innocent Breakworlders who, like Hank said they would be, were caught up in Kruun's action and frozen to death, Brand isn't glib or dismissive. Kruun uses her own "the end justifies all the means" ideology; it's an ugly mirror image.
In ensuing events, the team reassembles and splits up again on new tasks. Now whoever would Dr. McCoy chose to go with?
Hank: ...and I guess Agent Brand and I are still lab partners. Huzzah.
Naturally, he has a good reason - he doesn't trust her. The readers, but not Hank, know that some of Brand's men, presumably on her orders, tried to get Kruun's Trusted Lieutenant to topple his overlord by promising said Lieutenant he'd get Rasputin, so it's not like Brand isn't playing a double game - just not the one Hank thinks she is, because he's increasingly convinced she set the whole prophecy up to begin with. There are some clues that could point in that direction - Hank finds out Brand can read and speak the Breakworld language, for example. And the reader is basically in Hank's position - is Agent Earth First By All Means capable of setting up a prophecy so she can get a planet she sees as a potential threat destroyed? She is. But has she done so? Hmmm.
Brand: This isn't going the way I hoped.
Hank: Isn't it?
Brand: You got something to say to me?
Hank: Scads.
On their way to disarm the Earth-heading missile/bullet, they get attacked and mid fight, Brand throws herself in the way of one of those futuristic weapons aimed at Hank and takes the blast for him, which is when I can't decide whether Joss is doing a film noir or Les Miserables, as Hank, kneels by the wounded Brand:
Hank: Brand!
Brand: Go to the missile.
Hank: Why did you take that hit?
Brand: You're supposed to be a genius, tabby. Be a genius and disarm the missile! Save the damn world already...
As I said in my review of the issue in question, I hope that this wasn't the end of Brand; though I'm not sure subsequent Marvelverse writers would keep her as morally ambiguos. Ellis, yes; Bendis, yes; JMS in his current mindframe would probably make her a completely evil fascist - he can do better, as we've seen on B5 and more recently in Supreme Power, but did not in Civil War; Cage, also yes; the Knaufs - depends (no, Daniel, I have not forgiven you for Brother Justin's degradation, though I will admit you do a good job with Tony Stark); Brubaker, yes; everyone else, no - and the absolute horror would be Millar getting his hands on her. So, half between nervousness, hope and fear, I treasure the Brand moments I got.
On another note, two fanfic recs:
Doctor Who:
Sometimes Forever: I love stories that include both Old and New Who characters, especially Companions. This one gives us the first two (excluding Susan), Barbara and Ian, after they left the Doctor in 1965, and Donna from the future, and it's just lovely in its quiet thoughtfulness.
Torchwood: I also love it when fanfic picks up on a random detail in an episode and uses it to make a point, or two, about a character. In this case, something Owen does in Sleeper: Five Reasons Owen Harper Waters Plants