Kitty had to smile slightly as Yomiko beamed at her, "I'll let
our pilot know we're aboard, we'll take off almost immediately."
"Got it," Kitty grabbed a seat, smoothly belting herself in.
For a moment she remembered piloting the Blackbird, but she quickly
surpressed the feeling. This wasn't one of the jets she was used to,
and explaining how she was qualified would take far too long.
The plane shook slightly as it taxied down the runway, then
the vibration eased off as they rose up into the air. With the
casualness that came from long practice Drake made his way up the
aisle carrying a thermos and a tea cup. "Knowing Yomiko she hauled you
off without giving you a chance to eat," the burly blonde smiled
slightly, "would you like some tea?"
"Please," Kitty smiled up at him. He sat the cup down,
unscrewed the thermos and the poured it into the cup without spilling
a drop. She raised it to her lips, taking a moment to savor the scent,
then she hesitated.
"Is something wrong?' Drake asked.
'I know what's in this,' Kitty thought to herself grimly.
Making an instant decision she drank it down in one gulp, then held
out the cup, "More."
"Wha.." Drake gaped at her.
"One cup isn't going to put me out, Mr. Anderson," Kitty
ordered him crisply. He topped up the glass and Kitty quickly drank
that one down too.
Yomiko was returning to the cabin as the cup slid from Kitty's
nerveless fingers to fall to the floor. "Drake-san," Yomiko cried out
worriedly, "What did you..."
Kitty didn't hear the rest, the darkness rising up to engulf
her.
Some unknown amount of time passed before Kitty awoke once
again. The bitter scent of ammonia dragged her out of pleasant dreams
and back to wakefulness. She warily opened up her eyes to find a blond
haired man in a tailored suit looking over her worriedly as she lay
there on a long couch, in the middle of an old fashioned office.
"It's good to see you awake at last," he smiled, walking over
to pick up a antique phone. He pressed a switch, "Wendy? Could you
bring in two cups of tea and biscuits for our guest, it would be
greatly appreciated."
Kitty sat up a bit uncomfortably, "I assume that your
organization was able to check me out while I was still unconscious?"
"Indeed," he nodded. He smiled slightly, "Thank you very much
for cooperating with our Mr. Anderson when he drugged you."
"Once I realized he wanted to, it seemed to be the quickest
way to get in here and get some answers," Kitty answered him simply.
She shook her head, trying to clear out the last cobwebs and asked,
"So what should I call you?"
"Joker," he bowed slightly. The door was opened, and a young
woman with long, blonde hair came in, carefully carrying in a tray and
biscuits. "Thank you," he turned and smiled, "you can set it down on
the desk."
"Hai," Wendy smiled happily.
"Could you go get the files on Nancy Mukahari?" Joker asked
cheerfully.
"Right," Wendy turned to leave, but as she was stepping out
the door her foot caught on a rug and she fell forward with a loud
cry, the door thumping shut behind her.
"Is she all right?" Kitty asked, half out of her chair to go
help her.
Joker sighed, "She's fine, she does that all the time." He
poured out tea for himself, then her as he explained, "We were
concerned that you might simply be another clone, part of a second
attempt to infiltrate our organization."
Kitty picked up the cup, a single breath confirming that it
was clean. "You checked for any genetic drift, one of the sure signs
of cloning, right, Joker-san?" she remarked as she took a drink.
"You were clean," an oddly smiling Joker remarked as he took
another drink. He hesitated, "I'm curious, how did you know what Drake
was doing?"
"The sedative you used was a very good one," Kitty picked up a
biscuit and nibbled on it, "but there is a slight scent to it,
especially when combined with something hot. You'd have to be pretty
well trained to pick it up, though."
"A leftover from your training under 'Ogun," Joker speculated,
drinking a bit more of his own tea. He set it down in it's saucer,
"I'm glad you're so well trained, we may need your help."
"Wait, you can't go in there," they heard a bit of what
sounded like an argument from out in the hallway. The door to the
office suddenly burst open, two female figures tumbling to the ground
and a pile of papers were sent flying. Kitty jumped up to her feet,
Joker right behind her, then they both relaxed once they saw who it
was.
Yomiko pulled herself to her feet, awkwardly helping Wendy up,
too. "I'm sorry, Joker-san," she nodded to him then she turned to look
earnestly up at Kitty, "I'm so sorry, Kitty-san. I had no idea that
Drake was going to do that to you!"
Kitty gently put her hand on the anxious young woman's
shoulder and smiled, "It's all right, Yomiko. I knew what Drake was
doing, and I let him."
Yomiko blinked in surprise, "But why, Kitty-san?"
"Otherwise you would have had to knock me out some other way,
or find some method of blindfolding me before you could bring me here,
to your headquarters," Kitty said gently. She found herself
remembering the lengths the X-Men had once had to go to when keeping
the Mansion a secret, and decided she could forgive being drugged.
"You're not angry?" Yomiko asked her anxiously. When Kitty
shook her head no Yomiko smiled, her eyes glittering with tears, "I'm
so glad!"
"That's so sweet," Wendy sighed to herself happily even as she
finished sorting out the large pile of papers once again.
Kitty looked up at Joker curiously, "So can you tell me where
we are?" She took a breath and smiled slightly, "Though the scent
tells me we're in a library."
Joker smiled slightly, "Are you certain you don't share the
abilities of your colleague, Logan? Yes, we're beneath the Tokyo
branch of the British Library."
Kitty's eyes widened just slightly, "The Great British Library
Special Missions Agency."
All three people in the room looked at her in mild surprise.
"You've heard of us?" Yomiko finally managed to ask.
"You mentioned Logan," Kitty nodded to Joker, "he had a run in
with one of your agents a few years back in Madripoor, while he was
trying to recover a lost book."
"You might want to ask Mr. Anderson about that," Joker smiled
slightly.
Kitty chuckled, drinking a bit more of her tea. "I should have
guessed," she agreed.
A few moments later Yomiko was sitting at Kitty's side as
Joker reviewed the documents. "The genetic matching has come in," he
read, "and Kitty has been confirmed as the single donor of genetic
material for Nancy Mukahari."
"What?" Kitty blinked in surprise as she sat forward, "but
what about the claim that her DNA had come from Mata Hari?"
"The differences between you seem to be mostly cosmetic,"
Joker noted, "she was likely told that to help keep her under Ujin's
control."
"You and Nancy have the same DNA?" Yomiko murmured, the oddest
look on her face.
"The record we had on Nancy was mostly fictional," Joker
admitted, "but we are aware that she traveled in Europe and Japan
before we first encountered her."
"You've already got your people tracing her movements back,"
Kitty said thoughtfully. Joker nodded as she sipped some tea, "You
might want to keep an eye on certain names, like Nathan Essex or Mr.
Sinister."
"Sinister-san?" Yomiko echoed.
Kitty smiled slightly at how Yomiko put that. "He's a
scientist and geneticist whom the X-men tangled with a few times," she
said, "and he's an expert on cloning."
"You think he might have created Nancy and the others?" Joker
asked.
"To be honest," Kitty admitted, "no, I don't. It's a little
too obvious, in a way. But he's got the technology, and I wouldn't be
surprised if he had my DNA, too."
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