"What makes you so sure she's given up her power willingly? Or even done so at all? She nominated Samantha, after all, didn't she? I'm sure you're familiar with puppet governments..."

He knows that's not the case. There's no puppet here, at least not from Samantha. But Natasha doesn't need to know that. The more doubt he casts on to everyone else, the trickier it is to track his allegiances.

"I'm sure plenty of people were called dramatic before they were proven right." He sips his drink a little smugly.