Kane’s grin expands out to draw the joy lines at his eyes a bit deeper. He beams at her, delighted to find all the rumors exaggerated and false.

”Well my go-to opener would have been a comment about your hotness, but I didn’t think that was quite appropriate for meeting the boss for the first time,” he retaliates, casual in his teasing and immediately relieved she seemed to have a sense of humor and wasn’t a complete deadbeat.

”It’s definitely not,” sniffs Brock imperiously from the side.

Kane gives him a side eye from beneath a raised brow. ”Ok simmer down, chastity belt,” he snorts, ”You know I think you’re pretty too.” He makes a kissy face that has the other man’s eyes rolling back into his head with an exasperated sigh. Kane likes the guy, he does. They have a good working rapport. Kane admires his professionalism and the assistant in turn trusts his reliability and loyalty to the job. But Brock can be a real killjoy with a real flare for the dramatic sometimes.

The soldier is drawing the focus back to himself now, squirming in Kane’s deadlock to avoid the Reaper’s piercing gaze. But the much larger man tightens his hold, taming the escape attempts so he can watch the negotiations, eager to see her in action. He goes quiet and still, no more than a bystander to their narrowed in conversation. Her approach is much softer, warmer, than he would have predicted. She speaks to the kid with all the sensitivity of a hostage exchange, acknowledging the tension of the scene without trying to downplay it while at the same time refusing to barter arguement or let tears sway her resolve.

Only once does the kid attempt a break for it, slumping quickly back against Kane’s legs when it’s obvious he’s pinned beneath Aura’s icy gaze with nowhere to run. It leaves no place for the scathing hate and disappointment to depart except in his words, which he hurls at her like weapons - the only ones he has left. While Kane is sympathetic to his anguish, it still makes him bristle. He’s been on the receiving end of such a barrage too many times to know it doesn’t feel awesome, but he’s just a grunt. A soldier relaying the message and following orders. She’s top brass. Fuck, she’s a damn goddess, after all. Small and unassuming as she might be, he would have thought this snot-nosed punk would have had a bit more respect to his candor, at least to her face.

Kane smacks the kid on the back of the head hard enough to make him yelp. ”Watch your fucking mouth, dude,” he snaps, giving the boy’s still-captured arms a shake for good measure. The soldier jerks forward and ricochets back against the lieutenant’s legs with a gasp, having forgotten all about his captor in his passionate venting.

”You’re pissed at the wrong deity. She didn’t kill you, the bullet that painted your brains all over the ground did. Now you’re allowed to be mad, but don’t make enemies of those trying to help you.”

She invites him into the foray and Kane has no problem playing bad cop here. Especially when the soldier elbows him squarely in the solar plexus for his efforts.

”Oh you mother…” he growls under his breath as he flips the kid around to land a fist into the snarling teeth. Being mostly bravado, the younger man wails, collapsing and clutching at his face. Kane listens to him sob for a moment, frowning as he chastises himself for coming in too hot. Then the kid delivers a kick towards Kane’s kneecaps. He dodges it, muttering under his breath about trust issues and they scuffle for another minute, exchanging blows and kicking up a cloud of dirt with their wrestling. The boy makes one last desperate lunge for freedom, trying to escape again only to be dragged back by the ankles, clawing at the sand and screaming.

”Chill out, lunatic!” Kane bellows, reaching the absolute end of his patience as the soldier sinks his teeth into a forearm. He rips his bleeding arm free with a grunt and slugs the kid again, this time dropping him hard.

He lays sprawled out flat on the sand, wheezing and staring acerbically up at his conqueror with bloodshot eyes. Kane promptly straddles him, pinning him with knees and thighs as he jerks the kid up by the collar of his uniform.

”Alright Purple Heart, listen up,” Kane says, voice dangerously low and smooth. He waits until the boy has the good sense to lower his glare in submission, face crumbling in defeat and acceptance. ”You have two choices. You let her reunite you with whatever family and loved ones you have in the Realm of the Dead and you spend all of your eternity loved, frolicking in sunshine, rainbows and puppies. Or.”

He brings his face threateningly close to the soldier’s, the green of his eyes jaded and hard. ”You continue to be a huge dick and we leave your ungrateful ass here to rot until you forget everything. Your life, your family, everyone you ever knew, your own name - everything. And then you wander, sad and lost and utterly alone for a wasted infinity you can never escape from.”

It’s at this point he turns from the soldier’s trembling expression of horror to give Aura another, albeit slightly battered, grin. ”I leave anything out?” he asks cheerfully, subtling seeking her reaction and hoping to see approval.