Read Or Die Fan Fiction / X-Men Fan Fiction ❯ Read or Die: Shadowcat! ❯ Chapter 6

Shadowcat: Read or Die!

Part Six

The little yellow car bumped it's way along the road, moving through the green hills towards the coast. Yomiko Readman was behind the wheel, the dark haired teacher humming to herself softly while she drived. Kitty Pryde sat in the passenger side, her short brown hair blown back by the gentle breeze from the open window.

"Thanks for driving me out here," Kitty said quietly.

"It's all right," Yomiko gave her a smile, "I try to visit Nancy's sister whenever I can."

"My sister, too," Kitty mused. They were going to visit the surviving clone of the woman called Nancy, a person created by using samples of Kitty's own DNA. It was all just a bit unnerving, especially considering they had no idea where the clones had originally came from.

Anticipating Kitty's next question Yomiko explained, "Nancy's last request was that I take care of her little sister."

"Ah," was Kitty's quiet answer. They pulled in to a concealed lane, driving up to a little private clinic. Getting out Kitty paused, stretching nervously in her jeans and T-shirt.

Yomiko got out her suitcase and cart, pulling it behind her as her long overcoat rustled in the breeze. They fell into step going up to the building, and Yomiko gave Kitty a worried look. "Are you all right?" she asked the young lady.

"I'll manage," Kitty answered as they reached the door.

"Ms. Readman," the blonde attendant who answered the door gave a smile, then she looked over at Kitty, "Miss Pryde, we were notified of your arrival."

Yomiko presented her ID even as she quietly asked her, "How is she?"

"Nancy is out in the garden," the attendant explained.

Kitty nodded slightly. They went through the building together, then out along a path to where a purple haired girl sat on one of the benches. She was dressed in a medical style gown, and over on one side of the bench were sheets of colored paper.

"Yomiko," Nancy beamed as she saw them coming up the path.

Kitty was sort of in behind her, and once they got close she waved Kitty forward. "Nancy, I'd like you to meet Kitty," Yomiko smiled.

"Hi," Kitty said softly, meeting her clone's eyes.

Nancy froze, the girl stiffening on the bench. Eyes strangely blank she vaulted over the back of the bench, shoving Yomiko aside as she went right for Kitty, her hand stiffened to strike.

"Oof!" Yomiko hit the ground with a gasp.

"Stay down," Kitty barked at Yomiko as turned the blow aside with a single gesture, then ducking the follow-up kick almost instinctively. The two of them sparred back and forth across the green grass, Nancy pressing her hard, Kitty defending cautiously.

"Don't hurt her!" Yomiko blurted.

Kitty met the purple haired girl's eyes, seeing an odd blankness in them. 'She isn't doing this of her own free will,' she realized, catching a fist in her hand. Nancy tried to phase, but Kitty kept up with her and forced the girl to the ground.

Nancy gave a noiseless growl, grimacing up at Kitty as she struggled in her grip, but she couldn't get free. Slowly the fire in the girl's eyes faded, her struggles easing before she finally went limp. Blinking up at her captor in confusion she managed, "Kitty-san?"

Kitty helped her up, keeping a firm grip on the slightly younger woman. "Are you all right?" she asked her softly.

"Hai." Nancy looked at her in pure bewilderment.

"Thanks," Yomiko blushed slightly as both of then helped her up. After straightening up her clothes she demanded worriedly, "What just happened?"

Kitty gently helped Nancy down to a seat, then nodding for Yomiko to sit down there, too. "It looks like Nancy was programmed to go after me like that," Kitty quietly explained, "probably without her even being aware of it."

"But why?" Nancy blinked.

Kitty gave her a slight smile, looking down at the girl who looked so very much like her. "Because of our resemblance," she explained, "it tells the story." Yomiko nodded slightly, the two women looking like mirror images as Kitty continued, "If someone wanted to keep Nancy's origins a secret, they had to make sure we didn't meet."

"Big sister?" Nancy asked Kitty hopefully.

"Eh?" Kitty blinked.

A bit of a blush appeared on Yomiko's cheeks, "I told her about her big sister, not much, just that she was a hero."

Kitty looked at the hopeful girl sitting beside her and smiled slightly as she agreed, "Yeah, I guess I am your big sister."

"Nancy," Yomiko said softly, "do you remember where you came from?"

With a little frown Nancy concentrated, looking oddly childlike sitting there. "I'm.. not sure," she finally admitted. "It's all blurry and confused."

"Are there any people there?" Kitty asked softly. Nancy nodded slightly, and Kitty reached over for the sheets of paper, "Do you think you could draw them?"

Yomiko's eyes widened as she murmured, "I never tried that before..."

"I'll try," Nancy smiled nervously. She took the pencil, scrapping it across the page as she tried to harness blurry memories into solid images. In a moment a smiling man's face appeared, a face that was oddly frightening. On his forehead, there was an odd triangle emblem.

"Sinister," Kitty narrowed her eyes, "I was almost hoping it wasn't."

The pencil began to move again, another image. The girl's hand began to shake slightly as she worked, as if the image she was creating frightened her, somehow. A final line then she all but thrust the sheets at Kitty and cried, "Here!"

"What?" Yomiko blinked at the drawing.

The Japanese demon mask was startlingly familiar to Kitty, so much so that she nearly dropped the paper. "'Ogun," Kitty said softly, slumping down beside Nancy.

"Who is 'Ogun?" Yomiko demanded, looking at both women in confusion.

"A martial artist and psychic," Kitty clenched her hand, crushing the image, "who forced me to become his apprentice. He would have raped my mind, if I hadn't been rescued by a friend."

Nancy simply whimpered softly, the smaller girl curling up into a little ball. Yomiko looked down at her, putting her hand on Nancy's shoulder. "Lets talk about this later," she said to Kitty softly, trying to calm Nancy down.

The girl was so shaken that they finally had to sedate her, the staff of the hospital putting her to bed. "Please try not to strain her so much," the blonde attendant scolded them fiercely, "it isn't good for her recovery."

"Sorry," Kitty said wryly as they left. They both climbed into the car, pausing to look at each other. "Sinister and 'Ogun may have been involved in all this," she sighed, "it could be a trick."

"Eh?" Yomiko looked confused.

"It's not that hard to create false memories, a friend of mine had some problems because of that," Kitty sighed. Gravely she continued, "But for now, we assume that it's true."

Yomiko looked over at Kitty worriedly and asked, "But if that's so, then why would they want to clone you?"

Kitty made a face, "When we last met I found out 'Ogun wanted to possess me, more or less. It could be he wanted a clone of me for the same reason."

"And the other Great Ones?" Yomiko asked.

"It could be that was unrelated to Nancy," Kitty rubbed her face tiredly, "Sinister and 'Ogun taking advantage of someone else's project to create her."

"So what do we do now?" Yomiko asked.

"Head back to base," Kitty shrugged, "and hope that Joker and his people have had some luck in chasing down the original Nancy's movements. And we'll add 'Ogun's name to their list of people to look our for, too."

"Then lets go," Yomiko started up the car and they headed out onto the roads again.

To be continued..