Disclaimer: The movies and its characters don't belong to me. They belong to their rightful owners and I'm just borrowing them for this (of course) non-profit story.

A/N: So... this is a little scene for "Rogue Nation", playing during the timeline when Ethan and the others follow Lane's order. What if Lane tries to convince Benji of his own point of view?

SPOILERS for "Rogue Nation" and "Ghost Protocol".

/Reasons/

Benji swallowed hard, when he saw Solomon Lane entering the room, that he'd been captured in for about three hours, to check it his people had done their work efficiently.

Slowly, the man took a few steps towards him, glancing at the earpiece and contact lenses supposed to broadcast Benji's vision and, of course, at his plan's masterpiece.

Benji's eyes too wandered towards the timer and the many cables attached to the vest he'd been forced to wear.

He knew what Lane was planning to do with him. And the expression in the man's eyes told him that he'd have no scruple to detonate the machine he had chosen to be his weapon.

This expression of coldness and lack of emotion... it scared Benji.

That man in front of him was an immoral terrorist who'd sacrificed thousands of people to reach his goals. He had so many lives on his conscience.

No... that wasn't right.

Solomon Lane didn't have any conscience. Benji was sure of that.

So it confused him even more when the man grabbed a glass of water, which had been standing on the kitchen units and put it against Benji's lips, simply saying: "You must be thirsty after all this time."

Benji looked at Lane's face, trying to read what the man was intending to reach. He couldn't find anything. His throat felt quite dry and he probably could have drunk a whole bottle of water, but he wouldn't drink something that a man like Lane offered to him.

The man just laughed when he saw the agent hesitating.

"What's wrong, Mr. Dunn? Do you think that I will poison you?", he asked while leaning forward, his face getting closer to Benji's just like when they had first met.

Benji tried to keep their eyes locked. Don't look away, don't show weakness! He had learnt it in training. But it was getting harder with every second passing.

Lane's eyes wandered towards the glass and he slowly put it against his own lips, taking a sip. Then he wordlessly put it back against Benji's and this time the agent couldn't stop himself. He quickly took three big gulps before leaning back in his chair, trying to enlarge the distance between himself and his enemy.

Lane straightened his back, put the glass back on the kitchen units. Then he nodded towards the door. A clear sign for his men to go and Benji watched them leaving the room, a bad feeling in his guts. It was as if Lane's intimidating presence grew even stronger. For a moment both men stayed silent. Until...

"Am I right assuming that you are a smart man, Mr. Dunn?"

This voice. It filled the silence in an eerily way which would probably follow Benji into his worst nightmares. If he would ever get to experience a dream again...

"Then I don't see why you never questioned your actions or who you work for."

Benji narrowed his eyes in confusion. Lane was wrong about that. He knew exactly whom he was working for and why. He helped his country! He saved the world! He... supported Ethan in his fight against darkness. His fight against people like Lane.

"I'm working for humanity's welfare."

His voice was still hoarse and the words weren't more than a mere whisper, but Lane seemed to have heard him because he gave him a bitter laugh.

"Humanity's welfare... oh please. Do you really think that the people leading this world are aiming for humanity's welfare? No... they are just working for their own profit."

Benji didn't know what to reply. Should he say something against Lane's words when he was holding his life in his hands? Then again... as long as Lane wanted something from Ethan he wouldn't kill Benji. He was quite important for that deal to happen.

"And you don't?", he asked and Lane turned around, once again walking towards him.

"I want to change this world. I want humanity to see that they are putting their trust into the the wrong government which doesn't care about them at all. I'll bring destruction so that peace can rise from it."

Benji swallowed. What had happened to this man that he was thinking about things like that? Why did he believe in something like that? He had lost his faith in this world... if he ever had possessed it.

"Destruction and grief... will never bring peace."

Lane nearly sighed while he took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes.

"Tell me, Mr. Dunn, did you ever kill someone?"

The image of a man trying to strangle Brandt appeared in front of Benji's eyes. He felt his finger pulling the trigger, a shot stopping the man from doing more harm.

"Yes."

"Why did you do it?"

Benji's mouth felt dry again. He knew what Lane was trying to tell him, but... it wasn't the same! Still, he answered truthfully.

"I... saved my friend's life", he explained and Lane gave him a nod.

"To bring peace to your friend and yourself, you destroyed another person's life. And now you try to tell me that your actions were justified and mine are not?"

Lane got even closer and once again he looked into Benji's eyes, seemed to look into his soul. This damn eyes!

"Deep inside you know that I'm right. But I understand... your loyalty to Ethan Hunt won't let you admit it."

Benji clenched his hands into fists at hearing these words. Everyone, be it Hunley or Lane, seemed to believe that he did all of this for Ethan. They seemed to doubt that he was able to make decisions for himself.

"This has nothing to do with Ethan."

Suddenly it wasn't that hard anymore to look into Lane's eyes. The feeling of anger gave him the power to oppose.

"It doesn't? Are you trying to tell me that without Mr. Hunt you would have killed a person? That you would have destroyed lives to bring peace without him?"

Lane shook his head.

"No, Mr. Dunn. Without Ethan Hunt you would still be in a small office, repairing hard disks. And maybe, just maybe, you would have asked yourself sometime what you are doing."

Benji softly shook his head. Even as a technician he had done his works. Work that surely had harmed some people. But... these people had tried to threaten the world, to destroy it. With his work he tried to end wickedness not cause it. He acted to avoid catastrophes, to save lives.

"What I'm doing is my own choice. This has nothing to do with Ethan but with my faith in believing that I, as an IMF-agent, save the world from people who want to destroy it."

The glance he threw at Lane while saying this made clear whom he was talking about.

"Do you really think of this world you're trying to save as worthy? A world, revolving around power and money and consumption?"

"You're wrong. During my work as agent I saw a world revolving around humans! Our missions had the goal to save lives, no matter how poor or rich, no matter of man or woman. That's the reason our organization has been created... to protect lives! Even though... it sometimes means to hurt people to save others. I would never do someone harm willingly!"

Lane listened to him the whole time, didn't say a word or showed some kind of reaction in his face.

"It's a pity, Mr. Dunn. I really thought that you would understand it. That you would understand that the world we currently live in is no place for human beings."

Benji swallowed again. He knew that he had lost all safety he had had up until now, but if Lane did really think that Benji would ever understand him, then he apparently wasn't as clever as they all had thought.

"I will never understand how someone is able to erase so many lives just to enforce his own view of the world."

Lane just smiled silently while he straightened himself and walked to the door.

"It really is a pity."

Benji glanced at the clock. One hour left until it was midnight. He could call for Lane, pretend as if he had changed his mind. But even though he loved his life... he wouldn't lie for it. Because he was not that type of person... and he would never be.