The slim blonde haired man studied the documents that were laid
out before him on the messy desk, a frown on his delicately handsome
face. There was a soft knock on the door and Joker looked up to call
out, "Come in."
Drake Anderson strode inside, the burly man closing the door
behind him. His short blonde hair fell into his blue eyes, ones that
were focused on Joker as he asked, "You wanted to see me?"
'It was odd,' Joker noted, 'how such a large man could move so
gracefully, not tipping any of the piles of books and papers around the
cluttered office.' He set the sheets aside as he said, "I wanted to know
what you thought of Miss Pryde."
"You thinking of recruiting her?" Drake asked directly, his
T-shirt and jeans making him stand out in the old English styled room.
"Yes I am," Joker calmly admitted, "though I suppose it does
depend on how this 'Ogun situation resolves itself."
"I like her," Drake admitted, "but I'm not sure I trust her yet.
She was the genetic basis for Nancy and we both know how untrustworthy
she could be."
"There is always the question of nature versus nurture," Joker
quietly noted, "Nancy was raised, if you want to call it that, by Ikyu
and the Ijin." He sighed, "Not at all under the same sort of conditions
that Miss Pryde was."
"Yeah, maybe," Drake obviously wasn't entirely convinced. He
smiled slightly, "But I do think Pryde's been straight with us so far."
Joker nodded. "Keep an eye on her, of course," he said as he
tucked sheets of paper away, "but we will be considering making her the
offer."
"You got it," and with that Drake slipped out of the office.
A few moments later there was a quiet knock and Wendy stuck her
head in. "Did you talk to Drake about it?" the pretty blonde asked him
curiously.
"Yes," Joker smiled slightly as he continued dryly, "as I'm sure
you know, having been pressing your ear to the door."
"How could you tell...?" Wendy blurted.
"The hair on one side of your head was flattened slightly,"
Joker shrugged casually. "And do you approve of Miss Pryde's addition to
our ranks?"
"Yes, I do," Wendy nodded, holding a set of files in front of
her casually. "She works well with both Yomiko and Drake and she brings
us unique skills and experiences."
"The only thing that concerns me is Pryde's connections to the
international intelligence community," Joker said with a frown as he
tapped a document, "she's been involved with Britain's Weird Happenings
Organization before."
"What?" Wendy blinked.
"No, W.H.O. ," Joker smiled slightly as Wendy groaned. "She's
tangled with Black Air," he tapped a sheet, "and even joined SHIELD for
a short time."
"Something we could use to our advantage," Wendy offered
optimistically.
"That we could," Joker agreed. He slid the sheets together into
a file labeled 'Pryde, Katherine' and passed it to her, "Could you put
this back and get me some tea?"
"Yes, sir!" Wendy beamed, spinning around to leave the room,
nearly tripping over the doorway as she left.
"She never changes," Joker shook his head with a smile as he
returned to his work.
"No, she doesn't," the older man's voice echoed in the chamber,
filled with gentle amusement
Joker didn't exactly jump but his eyes widened slightly as he
looked up. "Mr. Gentleman," he said respectfully.
"We may have a problem," Mr. Gentleman said, "something
dangerous has turned up in my search for information on 'Ogun."
"Yes?" Joker asked, his eyes narrowing again.
"You may recall the attempt on my life over ten years ago,"
Gentleman continued, "the assassin whom escaped our best security. After
reviewing the data Miss Pryde provided I feel certain that he was in
fact 'Ogun."
Joker sat back with a frown as he mused, "Then our own
organization's involvement in this situation merely grows deeper. For
our own honor as well as to find the answers to Nancy's existence we
must stop 'Ogun and his allies."
"Well isn't that just great," Drake muttered as the briefing
concluded, leaning up against the back of a well stuffed chair.
Yomiko Readman and Kitty Pryde sat in a couch nearby, the two
young women sitting side by side. Kitty was wearing her new uniform, the
simulated black leather clinging to the brown haired woman's slim body
while Yomiko wore her overcoat over her typical school teachers clothes.
Yomiko shook her head slightly as she murmured, "Well, 'Ogun
certainly was busy."
"Tell me about it," Kitty muttered before continuing, "I keep
forgetting how old he's supposed to be, how long he's been operating."
"Not that it changes our current situation much," Drake reminded
them, "it just gives us one more reason to take him down."
"There is one piece of good news," Joker said smoothly, turning
the screen in front of the group, "we've had some luck tracing the
original Nancy's movements and tentatively concluded that she first
appeared here in Japan."
"So Sinister-san is here in Japan?" Yomiko offered the question
quietly.
"Let's not jump to that conclusion just yet," Kitty said softly,
"we just know that he has a operational base here, but it's pretty
likely." She looked thoughtful as she looked up at Joker, "What sort of
sources of information do you have in Japan?"
"Fairly wide ranging, why?" Joker looked curious.
"I have some contacts in the Japanese underworld," Kitty said
frankly, "with 'Ogun's long history as an assassin they might know
something."
Drake raised an eyebrow as he smiled down at Kitty, "You
certainly have some unusual friends for a university student."
Kitty shrugged eloquently, "Not that unusual for an X-man,
though."
"Just like the detective in the novel I just read," Yomiko
gushed. Her eyes brightened and she asked, "Can I come along?"
"It might be dangerous," Kitty quickly cautioned, "and least one
of the people I mean to talk to is not a nice man."
"All the more reason to have back-up," Drake offered, clearly
interested in coming along.
Kitty looked at the both of them and shook her head with a smile
as she said, "As long as Joker doesn't mind, all right."
"May I ask whom you intend to go see?" Joker asked.
"An old ally named Yukio," Kitty said, "she's a self-styled
ronin and adventurer who's helped the X-Men in the past, she might be
able to help. Then I guess we'll go see the Yashada family."
"The Yashada family?" Drake actually looked mildly startled,
"They're not connected to the underworld, they run much of it."
"Especially with their current leader, the Silver Samurai,"
Kitty said with a tight little smile, "but I think I know which buttons
to push to get answers from him."
Joker nodded slightly, "I rather doubt we could get information
from such sources normally." He looked at the three, "You have
permission, but please be careful."
Kitty looked over at the beaming Yomiko and the not much less
eager Drake and smiled wryly. "I'll try to keep an eye on them," she
said as she got up.
"Kitty," Yomiko scolded as the two ladies got up.
"More like I'll be keeping an eye on you two," Drake commented
as they headed out.
"You wish," Kitty grinned.
To be continued....
Author's Notes: Kitty did indeed join the international spy organization
SHIELD in a three issue miniseries and ran into the Weird Happenings
Organization often in the series Excalibur. Later the covert
organization Black Air was introduced, leading to more spy activities by
Kitty.
Back to Shadowcat: Read or Die! Index - Back to Crossovers Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction