Senator Robert Bradshaw and Kane stared into each others eyes as the seconds stretched on into over a full minute in silent before the politician heaved a deep sigh and threw himself down into a chair he collected from the side of the room and placed in front of Kane's desk.
"It has come to our attention after extensive investigations that you have all the capabilities for building a private army. We, the American government, are here to request you cooperate with us to build a secret, expendable and deniable force to defend and promote America's interests both domestically and abroad."
"Really? Tell me what would be in it for me and why would you need to come to a civilian like myself for such a force?"
"We can support you with anything you need financially or materialistically and if you need laws delayed or abolished then so long as it isn't too excessive then we can do that or at least turn a blind eye. Also you will never need to pay taxes again. That was meant to be the clincher in case you refuse initially but I can tell that you are going to be difficult, so I thought about laying all the cards out on the table for full transparency."
"Senator, I am a philanthropist. Everything I do for those children is to help them because they have nothing else. By taking them in and teaching them I keep them off the streets and from turning to a life of crime. That I think, is already a great contribution to the country. I would not like to abuse their trust in me to turn them into weapons for the country and would never condone them being cannon fodder or expendable. Furthermore presidents change after their time is up so while this one may promise me the Earth, the next one to take his place might be disgusted and rightly so by child soldiers and change things. It only takes one whistle blower to bring this house of cards that you are trying to build crumbling down. Also I do everything legally and above board senator, that is why I settled in this country rather then another more morally corrupt and easy to exploit country."
"Uh-huh of course it is. Neither of us are children or idiots here Titan, so you know I don't buy that bull crap. Why then, do you have all of your children in the many orphanages you own training in martial arts and archery? Clearly you are conditioning them and improving their hand eye coordination. That is the basic child soldiers you are building right there. Replace that bow with a gun and you have children with a very accurate shot"
At this Kane raised an eyebrow as he looked at the man opposite him. Obviously they had done an investigation into all of the local orphanages and possibly some abroad as well, which shows that they, the powers behind the man were serious about this. Still they sent the wrong man for the job as he didn't pick up on Kane mentioning he wouldn't form an army for the country but nothing about if he would form one for himself or another country.
"Senator, archery and martial arts are considered a sport and I am unaware that playing sports are illegal in this country. We even have local competitions and competitions abroad so I am not sure where you are going with this. A bow and a gun are completely different and they hardly transfer any skills over because of the way they operate. You are right to say I am conditioning them, as you have no idea how much energy one child has not to mention lots of them, all wanting to do their own things. It is complete chaos if you leave them to their own devices. This way we can channel that energy to something productive and it gives them discipline, a sense of belonging and camaraderie and a means to defend themselves. If you have done such a detailed investigation then you would know that I also teach them gymnastics, yoga, soccer, darts and all other traditional sports like discus and javelin throwing that school children learn, as well as team building excises and mental challenges. This is because some of the children are starving and malnourished so their bodies are in dire condition and this helps develop them. Some are missing years of education because their parents were too poor to send them to school or needed help on their land or farms so I try to stimulate their minds so they can think faster and learn more to catch up other children their age. When they grow up they will be a credit to any country and proof that anyone can make something of themselves not just those with money. Isn't that the American philosophy? I am merely providing them the tools to unlock their potential, they have the key and can choose what door to go through."
"What a glib tongue you have their Titan. You have an answer for everything don't you? Well let's see if you have an answer for this. I have a court order here to investigate all of your bank records and suspend your company from trading until the anomalies are resolved in a satisfactory manner. Furthermore if they prove any illegal trading or deals, and I am confident they will then they will be confiscated and run by the state."
"Hahahaha oh really. Come now senator do you honestly think that will be effective against me? Anomalies resolved in a satisfactory manner? Satisfactory for you and those above you yes, not so much for me eh? You are confident that they will provide proof of illegal doings, meaning you will manufacture that proof or already have. Tell me is this why you have blocked people from coming to work at my universities, schools and hospital? To try to force me into a corner with no other option but to cooperate with you like a muzzled dog on a leash trained to be obedient?"
"So you know that we did that? Truly you are a genius and able to work that out with no evidence. But so what, you are one man and no one man can stand against a country. Your analogy of being a dog on a leash is pretty good as that is exactly what we want. You bark at whom we want and bite whom we want the rest of the time you are muzzled."
"I wouldn't need to be a genius to work that out as anyone with their mental faculties intact can put two and two together. I believe I told you senator that I should not be made an enemy of. Here look at what I have."
Showing the senator almost all the the evidence of his transgressions and wrong doings it was amusing to watch the man. His face was like a kaleidoscope as it changed colors.
"So what Titan. You can destroy me but there will be others after me and I am only the mouthpiece. This comes all the way from the White House and there is nothing you can do to stop it."
"Go ahead then I promise you that you all won't live long enough to regret it. Do you think you are the only one I have dirt on? I have things on everyone in the senate and the president himself take a look. You can destroy me but I am only a businessman at the end of the day, but you guys are all high ups of the country. Even if you can control the press in this country then I can get other countries to publish my evidence. Also it doesn't matter if you destroy those copies as I have lots spread out already at numerous media outlets and radio stations, set be be released in the event of my death or incarceration."
Saying so he slid more files over his desk towards the man. This time the man only changed to a sickly green color, then to a pale white looking like one of the mythical vampire in stories.
"It seems we are at am impasse Titan. However you are now a nation threat to security and someone might do something about it."
"I am no threat to security senator. All you have to do is leave me alone and stop suppressing me and I will leave you alone and those files will never see the light of day. We can still go about our business as usual and pretend this never happened or we can both press the trigger both of our fingers hover over and see what happens but I can assure you I will be the last one standing. The choice is yours."
"It isn't up to me but I shall relay your words and intent to the letter and leave it up to the president or senate as a whole to deal with."
Saying that he threw the files down on the desk and left in even more of a hurry then when he had arrived. No matter how you looked at it he looked like a beaten dog slinking off with his tail between his legs. Kane wasn't bluffing earlier he didn't mind eradicating the people threatening him. Sometimes a cancer had to be cut out or limb severed to safe the whole and he was ready for any eventuality.
Kane pulled out the other half of the file he hadn't show Bradshaw and that was about his infidelity. Smiling to himself he sent it to the man's wife with a note containing two things. One was his number and the other was offering the medical services with the ability to cure her infertility and rejuvenation treatments to make her a few decades younger. While it was petty of Kane to disrupt someone's marriage he just didn't like the slimy, overbearing man and wanted to see if he really was the messenger or the mastermind of everything that happened and this would enable him to get a read on the situation depending on the results.
"Let's see what she makes out of this. I could gain an ally or nothing depending on whether she knew about him or not. She might have known about it and let it happen but with someone else exposing the dirty laundry it will force her to do something."
After that was done he sent a letter to the president with only a few lines. In it he stated he wasn't opposed to working with him over something like that but not with his currently listed assets as he didn't want it to be linked to him as he found the idea abhorrent and that there were ways to socialite his help and threatening him wasn't it. This left the ball firmly in their court with him not refusing cooperation but also not willing to be a patsy to be pushed around and blamed should anything go wrong. Also if the president wasn't involved then it would look like he was complaining about something but wouldn't make a lot of sense as he didn't mention anything specific. Either he knew or didn't and it could be thought that he was talking about a secret experimental facility.