Read Or Die Fan Fiction / X-Men Fan Fiction ❯ Read or Die: Shadowcat! ❯ Chapter 17

Shadowcat: Read or Die!

Part Seventeen

 

"Eeep," Yomiko managed as she was bodily hauled out of the school buildings towards the unmarked van. "But I was reading to the class," the black haired young woman protested, her square framed glasses gleaming.

 

"It's an emergency," Wendy said firmly, the smaller woman tugging her forward firmly. "You've got extra paper in your suitcase?" the blonde asked as she slid the van door open, Yomiko climbing into the back seat.

 

"Hai." Yomiko agreed, belting herself into a seat nervously. "What's going on?" she asked curiously even as Wendy revved the engine and pulled out into the street.

 

In almost the opposite of her usual clumsy style Wendy drove quite well, weaving them through traffic easily. "Kitty and Drake had a brainstorm," she explained, "and came up with a plan to track a Ijin back home to their base."

 

"And find this Sinister-san," Yomiko nodded, her expression serious.

 

"Exactly," Wendy agreed as they pulled in front of a office building at least partially owned by the Library. Hopping out she lead Yomiko inside and to the elevators, the two reaching the top floor in a few moments then taking the stairs to the roof.

 

The black helicopter waited there on the pad, rotors spinning rapidly. Kitty Pryde waited by the open door, the brow haired girl grinning as she said, "What took you so long?"

 

Yomiko smiled back, pushing up her glasses as she said cheerfully, "I wanted to finish reading the chapter to my class."

 

Drake laughed as he checked over the 'copter's controls, a headset relaying information from the Library to him. "Why am I not surprised," the burly blonde haired man murmured, tapping a monitor on the main panel, a blip glowing from where the tracking device had stopped.

 

"Good hunting, all of you," Wendy said, stepping back even as Kitty helped Yomiko climb on board. "We'll have a tactical team ready to move out on your signal," she added, "but you'll be our primary team."

 

"Got it," Kitty slid the door shut and with barely a lurch the 'copter rose into the sky.

 

Without seemingly thinking about it Yomiko got out a paperback and began to read, a happy smile on her face. "She doesn't change," Drake murmured to Kitty fondly.

 

"No, I guess not," Kitty said as they rose above the city, moving towards where the signaling device sent out it's beacon. "This almost reminds me of an X-Men caper," she added, "but we usually have more people on our side."

 

"The Library likes quiet ops whenever possible," Drake said, "smaller teams tend to help us pull that off." He flashed a grin, "And we like quality, not quantity."

 

"Why did I know you were going to add that?" Kitty joked. She peered out as they swept across the city, "So what do we do once we get to the base?"

 

Drake shrugged, "We really don't know what we're getting into, Pryde. I figure we're going to have to drop in them improvise."

 

"Really sounds like the X-Men," Kitty muttered.

 

"Really, Kitty-san?" Yomiko asked, peering at her over her book.

 

Drake tapped the monitor then looked out the window at the surroundings. "It looks like we're here," he said quietly.

 

"Just a regular office building?" Kitty blinked, looking at the smaller, older building. Only six floors tall, a bit shabby looking, it almost looked like it had bee abandoned by it's landlords.

 

"Appearances can be deceiving," Yomiko gently reminded her, "you remember the ''Purloined Letter?"

 

"Think we can sneak in?" Drake asked, looking around for a place to land nearby.

 

"Worth a try," Kitty said, "but I sort of doubt it."

 

They finally descended to a nearby street, Drake bringing the 'copter down on to the thankfully mostly deserted road. Ignoring horn honks he helped the two women out as he asked, "You figure this place to have good security?"

 

"Considering the sort of technology Sinister has, I'd bet on it," Kitty said. They ran towards a nearby building, peering at the offices then headed to a alley running behind it.

 

"So how do you want to get inside?" Yomiko asked, calmly dragging her suitcase behind her on it's wheeled carrier.

 

"Well, a shaped plastique charge might do it," Drake murmured, laying a hand on the brick wall thoughtfully.

 

"I think I have a quieter idea," Kitty said to them quickly. She offered one hand to Yomiko and the other to Drake, "Just hold on."

 

"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Drake blinked, taking her hand trustingly.

 

Yomiko took Kitty's hand, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "I'm ready," she said softly.

 

Kitty focused her concentration, a faint tingling sensation washed over all three of them. Together they walked through the wall, passing through brick, plaster then metal and allow before emerging into a internal hallway.

 

"Well," Kitty blinked as she looked around them, "this doesn't look like an office building."

 

The hall was dim, pipes and conduits running along the roof and walls. Cables hummed with power, digital readouts mounted on junction points spaced out in the hall. A odd scent of ozone and chemicals, iron and alloy hung in the air, along with a disquieting sense of something dangerous hanging in the still air.

 

Drake shook off his surprise, always a professional. He pulled a portable version of the tracer and noted, "Amelia is above us, according to this."

 

"But do we go after her or...?" Yomiko asked.

 

Kitty stalked over to one of the junctions,. studying it intently for a few moments then softly asked Drake, "Did you bring that laptop I asked for along?"

 

Drake pulled a laptop from his backpack, passing the slim computer over to Kitty. "It's configured as you asked," he added.

 

"Thanks," Kitty took the computer and pulled a connection cable, plugging in and accessing internal systems. "I've had a bit of experience with similar systems," she noted absentmindedly, "I should be able to...."

 

Yomiko was careful not to interrupt, having seen people like Nenene and others work with that same sort of intensity. Instead she covertly studied Kitty's face, surprised to see yet another side to this attractive young woman.

 

"Mind on the job," Drake reminded Yomiko gently, "you can drool over her later."

 

"Drake-san!" Yomiko protested softly, but Drake just smiled impishly.

 

"All right," Kitty said, "I've got internal schematics." She brought the map up on her monitor, pointing out details, "The living quarters are up top, there's only two people there apparently." Her hand slid to several red highlighted sections down below street level, "As you can guess all the cloning labs are down there."

 

"So where do we go first?" Yomiko asked.

 

"The Ijin can wait," Drake said firmly, "we need to hit the cloning labs first. That was we stop more Ijin from even being made."

 

"Not to mention stopping them from creating 'Ogun clones," Kitty added. She smiled wryly, "I was going to suggest the labs anyway, but I have a more personal bias."

 

"You want to know if Nancy-san came from here," Yomiko observed.

 

Kitty disconnected, rolling up the cable but keeping the laptop out, map prominently displayed. "That and have a little talk with Sinister," Kitty said as they headed towards where an elevator was on the map, "about why he did it."

 

"Talk as in punch someone in the head?" Drake asked. When Kitty nodded grimly he added, "Be glad to help out with that."

 

"Me, too," Yomiko agreed, reaching out to take Kitty's free hand again.

 

To be continued....