"Sadly," Joker noted as he picked up some papers from his desk,
"we've only been able to assemble a minimal file on this 'Ogun." The
blonde haired man looked irritated at this, but in an elegant, sort of
British way.
Kitty blinked, and then the brown haired woman smiled, "I'm
surprised you have a file on him at all, honestly."
They had returned to the Library along with Nancy's sketches,
passing them on to the Great British Library's intelligence analysts to
go over. Now they all sat in Joker's office within the sprawling
complex, waiting for Wendy to arrive with the tea.
"That fight you had with Nancy sounds remarkable," Wendy noted
as she came inside with the fully loaded tea tray. Kitty jumped up to
help, the two quickly getting everybody served. "Thank you," the blonde
smiled.
"No problem," Kitty said before she sat back down, taking a
drink of her tea. 'You know, I could get used to this,' she noted.
"Kitty was incredible," Yomiko beamed at Wendy. "She subdued
Nancy so easily, it was remarkable," the black haired teacher gushed,
little circles of red on her cheeks.
Kitty blushed, "I doubt that Nancy was going all out, so don't
praise me too far." She looked over at Joker, "I don't know much about
'Ogun either, but here goes." She took a drink, "According to Logan,
'Ogun is an old-fashioned ninja, possessed of incredible skills. Logan
trained under him more than twenty years ago, and when we met again he
hadn't aged."
"In your report," Joker said as he looked over at her
thoughtfully from his seat behind the cluttered desk, "you mentioned
something about him raping your mind?"
Kitty nodded to him grimly, "He took me captive, then 'Ogun was
able to... reshape my mind and personality, by the time he was done
'Ogun had taken a girl with a bit of self-defense training and turned
her to a deadly ninja."
"I'm so sorry," Yomiko said gently as she reached out to put her
hand on Kitty's arm, "those weeks must have been terrible."
"It didn't take weeks," Kitty sighed, "only a few days. The only
way my friends were able to stop me was taking me by surprise, and it
took months before I fully recovered."
"This 'Ogun is a formidable foe," Joker quietly agreed. He
sorted through the file on 'Ogun and read, "From the data we gathered he
has been active as an assassin for decades, taking on jobs purely for
the challenge." He paused, taking a drink of his own tea before adding,
"But we were under the impression he was dead."
"He is," Kitty said gravely, "it just hasn't slowed him down
much. He first manifested as a spirit in New York, battling Logan there,
and he's tried to go after me as well."
"A ghost?" Yomiko squeaked.
"One looking for a body, one assumes," Joker mused. "Probably
why he allied himself with this Mr. Sinister, to create one."
"So we've got two suspects," Kitty mused, "and a possible
motive. What we need to do know is to find out the opportunity."
"Thinking like a detective indeed," Joker agreed. "We need to
find where, now that we know who and probably why."
"We're trying to trace back the movements of the original
Nancy," Wendy spoke up, "but it's still pretty slow going. When she
created her false history she was very thorough, and it's taking time to
determine where she really was and where she merely claimed she
visited."
"Joker-san," Yomiko said tentatively, "is there anything else
that Kitty and I can do today? I really need to get back to my apartment
and change."
"It should be fine," Joker smiled. He looked over at Kitty,
"Miss Pryde would you like to go with Yomiko or stick around here?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like to go out and stretch my legs,"
Kitty admitted. "I haven't visited Tokyo in a while, and it's a lovely
city."
"Of course," Joker nodded, "Wendy will lead you up and out."
"Thanks," Kitty got up, and then paused to look at Yomiko. "Go
see Nenene," she offered, "she'd probably like to see you."
Yomiko looked just a bit perplexed as Kitty left the room
following Wendy, but she still cheerfully said, "Sure."
Wendy led Kitty to an elevator, and they swiftly rose through
the Library complex. The hidden access put them in the ordinary library
on street level, where Kitty and Wendy parted ways. "How long do you
think you'll be gone?" Wendy asked.
"A few hours, probably," Kitty mused. "I want to check out a few
old haunts, that sort of thing," she explained.
"See you then," Wendy beamed before heading back inside the
building.
Kitty headed off down the crowded Tokyo street, taking a deep
breath of fresh air. The library was nice, but the scent of all those
books could get a little bit oppressive at times. She walked on, the sun
shining down, and knew she was being followed. She walked on casually,
not indicating any awareness of her tail, and then ducked around a blind
corner.
It only took a few minutes for the tall, blonde haired man to
come around the corner. Kitty smiled to herself, he rather reminded her
of Logan. It wasn't his appearance, of course, but something in his
attitude. It was like he was saying nonverbally, 'I've seen just about
everything, and I've made it through all of it alive.'
"Hello, Mr. Anderson," Kitty said dryly, "you tailing me?"
Drake Anderson actually smiled, taking his cap off and running a
hand through his rough blonde hair. "Not exactly," he smiled, "I'm
you're bodyguard."
"Bodyguard?" Kitty repeated in surprise.
"You're good," Drake hurried to say, "in fact you're better than
I though, spotting me that quickly. But we want to make sure nothing
unexpected happens."
Kitty looked over at him thoughtfully. "I guess if I try to
ditch you, you'll get in trouble with Joker?" she asked him pleasantly.
"Something like that," Drake agreed. He tilted his head to the
side, "And since we don't know the scope of the enemy's plan, wouldn't
you rather have back-up?"
Kitty made a face, "A good point. All right, you can tag along
if you want."
"Thank you," Drake gave her a smile as they fell into step
together. They probably made an interesting looking pair, the burly
blonde haired man and the slim American woman walking along the crowded
street together.
"So how long have you and Yomiko known each other?" Kitty asked.
"Years, literally," Drake shrugged. "Yomiko started doing book
authentications, and then became the Paper after the death of the last
one. She's a hell of an agent and a good friend." He tossed her a sudden
smile, "Just don't tell her I said that."
"Let me guess," Kitty smiled slightly, "you're usually working
with her, and have to be the one to get her going forward, by force if
necessary?"
"Pretty much," Drake agreed.
Kitty chuckled softly, "One of these days I'm going to have to
introduce you to Logan, you'll either become best friends or try to kill
each other."
"You think we're that alike?" Drake asked.
"You have no idea," Kitty said. They walked on silently for a
few minutes before she asked, "Do you think Yomiko was in love with
Nancy?"
"I saw them together, working and playing," Drake said after a
moment of silence, "yeah, I think Yomiko loved Nancy."
"And Nancy?" Kitty asked curiously.
"That's harder to say," Drake admitted. "I think Nancy cared for
Yomiko, so much so that she plead for Yomiko's life, but I don't know
about love."
"I think she did," Kitty said softly, the oddest look on her
face. She tilted her head back, "I trusted Yomiko as soon as I met her,
and I bet Nancy did, too."
Drake laughed suddenly, "That's true. Did Yomiko ever tell you
about the giant paper airplane incident?"
"Giant paper airplane?" Kitty echoed.
Drake grinned, "It sort of happened like this..."
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