Five Years Ago... "Ack.." Shane staggered through the headquarters of the British Library, the smoke choking the long brown haired man as he raised another wall of paper sheets, blocking out the rapidly spreading flames. "Grab as many books as you can," Joker called as he limped along, his short blonde hair blackened with soot and the leg of his pants charred, "but don't slow down!" "The doors are jammed," Wendy yelled at the entrance, the little blonde tugging on the handles weakly. "Damn it," Shane muttered, trying to think faster. He had never used the paper like this before, he was just a normal librarian. He hadn't even known that he could do it, not until a falling beam gave him no choice. THOOM! Suddenly the heavy doors were slammed open from the outside as two figures quickly leapt to help the others outside. One woman wore a black leather bodysuit and the other had on a long coat and glasses. "Yomiko, good timing," Joker managed, then his eyes widened in surprise as he got a good look at the other woman, "Nancy...?" "It's been awhile," the leather clad Nancy Mukahari nodded as she assisted a older gentleman clutching books to his chest. "Time for reunions later," Shane yelled, feeling the rising flames on the other side of his paper wall, "let's get going, please!" "Hai," Yomiko agreed as she moved over to Shane’s side, giving him a sweet smile as she helped reinforce the paper barrier, the Library employees streaming by them. "Well done," she said to him softly. "Thanks," Shane agreed. The flow of people slowed, then stopped as he looked back at Wendy, "Is that everyone?" "There were fatalities in the original explosion," Joker spoke up grimly as he helped people outside, "including Mr. Gentleman." "Oh, no," Yomiko murmured softly. Her eyes narrowed, clearly angry, "They'll pay for this, whoever they were.." "Time to go," Nancy forcefully grabbed Yomiko and Shane, phasing them all as they broke and ran away from the burning building. As they gathered outside Shane took in Yomiko more closely, and saw a red stain slowly spreading on her arm. "What happened?" he frowned. "Someone tried to kill Sumiregawa Nenene," Nancy moved over to stand worriedly at Yomiko's side, "if we hadn't been there..." "When, exactly did this happen?" Joker asked thoughtfully. "About half an hour ago," Yomiko winced in pain as Nancy carefully pulled her long coat off to tend to the cut in Yomiko's upper arm. "Almost the same time the fire started," Wendy murmured, while Joker looked up at the burning building, his expression unreadable. "Joker," Yomiko worriedly asked, "where's Drake-san?". It was a few hours later that they had some of the answers, gathering in a temporary meeting place in an expensive Tokyo hotel. Most of the people in the room were cleaned up, but all of them carried an edginess, as if they knew the worse was to come. Drake Anderson restlessly paced the open area between the couches of the meeting room, waiting for word. His daughter had been clipped by an explosion, one that occurred almost exactly at the same time as the other incidents, and her condition was still critical. The muscular blonde scowled, "What's taking so long?" Nancy spoke up from where she was braiding Yomiko's hair, "I'm sure that Joker is doing everything he can." "Thought you were dead," Drake gave her a look. "I got better," was Nancy's dry answer. "Does anyone know why Joker asked me to be here?" Shane asked, his brown hair roughly tied back out of his face. "I’m sure there’s a good reason," Yomiko gave him a gentle smile. Just then Wendy opened up the door, the younger woman giving Drake a tired smile as she reported, "The medical team Joker brought in have successfully pulled her out of danger, she'll be all right." Drake visibly relaxed, "Thank you." "Don't thank me," Joker limped inside, leaning on a clearly new wooden cane as he said grimly, "when I suspect that I may in part be at fault." There was a moment of stunned silence as he sat down and added, "These events were part of a organized attack on the British Library itself and specifically this Special Missions group." "But why attack Nenene?" Yomiko blurted out. Joker gave her a wry smile, "She's the person that you're closest to, at least from what they could tell. Much like Drake and his family." "Who are they, exactly?" Shane leaned forward to ask. "You sound like you already know who they are." "They’re called Dokusensha," Joker admitted with a weary sigh, "we've even done business with them in the past." "Obviously they've decided we're a problem," Wendy said tentatively. "The attack on the library was intended to shut us down," Joker said grimly, "though thanks to Shane that failed, at least in part. I think that the personal attacks were to convince our best agents to stay out of this." "When I get my hands on them!" Drake growled. "No Mister Anderson, you won't," Joker said quietly. "Why.." Drake blinked in surprise. "There's your wife and daughter to consider," Joker reminded him, "I cannot in good conscience allow you to continue on when I can't guarantee their safety." "Damn it," Drake growled, but he didn't argue. "So it'll just be me and Nancy going after these Literary Mystics?" Yomiko asked worriedly. "We won't be going after them immediately, in fact we'll be going underground for a while." Joker smiled grimly, "I want them to think we're dead and gone, ideally." "I don't like the idea of Yomiko and Nancy operating alone," Drake muttered. "They won't be operating on their own," Joker said, giving Shane a smile. "Ah, me?" Shane blinked in surprise, "but I'm just a plain librarian, I can't..." "You're also a Paper Master," Joker reminded him. He looked over at Drake, "Do you think you could train our Mr. Llewellyn?" "Probably," Drake looked over at Shane thoughtfully, "from what Yomiko and the others tell me, he's got some potential." Shane pushed his glasses up as he softly admitted, "You've got a point." "This going underground," Yomiko said softly, "does that mean I can't see Nenene?" "For her own safety," Nancy agreed grimly. Yomiko reached up to adjust her glasses, her expression grave. "As long as it keeps her safe." she said softly. "Then lets get started," Joker said gravely. "Drake, you get to take Shane under your wing, I want him weapons ready in a few weeks, ideally. Nancy, Yomiko, we've got information on additional copies of some of the books that were destroyed," he said, "I’ll need you to go after them." "Yes sir," Yomiko nodded eagerly.
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