The events of King In Black have revealed many things about SWORD — including the reveal that a major leader is planning to form a secret cabal.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #2 by Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia & VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
Given her history as a spymaster with her eyes on the stars, it makes sense that Abigail Brand would want to be in control of every situation. While she may be working with the X-Men as the new director of SWORD, she still enjoys a certain independence from the nation of Krakoa — and it looks like she’s trying to expand that even further.
Abigail Brand just confirmed that she intends to give a small circle of trusted allies a device that could hide them even from the Quiet Council — setting up a potentially vital new cabal of mutants.
Despite working closely with Quiet Council and technically counting as a part of Krakoa, Abigail Brand has been very clear that SWORD is a separate entity. That autonomous power for the organization was a major factor of Brand agreeing to take such an important role with the group. She’s reiterated to Magneto — her liaison with the Quiet Council — that she operates with the mutant government, not for them. Considering the sheer potential of SWORD not just for mutant outreach but spreading Earth’s interests throughout the universe, it makes sense. Brand still firmly believes this throughout SWORD #2 and the symbiote invasion led by Knull, hinting at the levels she’s willing to go to keep that independent power.
The events of King in Black have led Cable — one of Krakoa’s most powerful mutants and Brands chief of security — to be corrupted into one of his symbiote controlled agents. This has left Brand turning to Mentallo as her psychic agent for Protocol V: the emergency plan to evacuate the Five from Krakoa in case of emergency. Brand is fully shown to be fully aware of the mercenary nature of Mentallo, and how this prevents him from actually having a pure loyalty to Krakoa. But she also reasons that thanks to her vast monetary resources, this means she can effectively keep the criminal telepath on her payroll — and earn his loyalty. She notes that having people she can trust to not turn against her for the Quiet Council is a useful advantage.
It also appears that Brand wants to expand that circle. A private note from Brand makes mention of twenty special devices she’s procured. Thanks to the prevalence of telepathy, all the personnel on the Peak have had multiple languages downloaded directly into their minds. This means the staff technically don’t need the translator implants that were once key to communicating across the galaxy. But Brand still sees some use in the devices. She’s implanted one into her neck that operates through a special cypher — giving her essentially a secret coded language. The cypher even changes twice daily, making it incredibly difficult to decipher.
Outside of someone like Cypher, this gives Brand a special coded language to use if she needs to operate under the radar of even her fellow heroes. Brand is also revealed to have nineteen other such translators, which she intends to spread out to people she can trust. While there aren’t any confirmed people members of her staff yet who’ll receive the device, it’s still a major development for Brand and a huge step to be taking towards creating what is in effect a secret cabal within the current mutant society. If Brand can recruit a small and powerful enough team, she could become a key player in the future of Krakoa, even without other members of the group realizing it.
While there’s a chance this could backfire and further tear apart the already splintering Krakoan government, it does also help Brand stay ahead of any threats and further ensures she’s an independent player — with no real due to the Quiet Council. But who will Brand decide she trusts — and what kind of changes could they bring to the future of mutant-kind?
