Kitty and Jake have a chat

[x-courier.livejournal.com]

Kitty had eventually decided on the library as the best place to work for the day. 'Yana was still to thrilled about the snow to be entirely still and quiet and Kitty really needed to get back to work on finding Ms. Frost.

She'd taken her laptop and jacked it into the system and was busily typing away, music coming from the headphones hanging around her neck. Kitty was in a mood, and had put the soundtrack to the movie Hackers into the laptop with a wierd smile, but had long since forgotten about it.

"I know that music..." Jake muttered to himself, making his way through the bookshelves. He was on a 'get the lay of the land' mission. So far he had found the kitchen, Charles's study, Betsy's bedroom, his own bedroom, and what appeared to be an entire floor of teenagers, and now apparently a library.

He stopped. And a teenage girl typing very quickly on a laptop. Jake tilted his head for a moment, listening. "Ahh. Angelina Jolie."

Kitty looked up, blinking. There in front of her was a strange woman - No wait. I ran into her on Friday night... "That's right. Hackers. Wonderfully stupid movie, but the sound track's amazing. Can I help you, ma'am?" After all, it never hurt to be polite.

"I don't know, I rather like the fire alarm scene..." Jake smiled, and shrugged. "Just making the lay of the land. I'll be staying here for a while, apparently. I'm Jake. I think I ran into you yesterday?"

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, I'm Kitty Pryde. You helped us hunt down Angelo." She grinned. "Thanks by the way. We got him eventually."

Jake looked shifty. "Yes. You're welcome." He quickly changed the topic. "What are you doing? Homework? This is a school, right?"

"Well yeah, it is a school, but this could only be considered homework in the losest sense of the word. I mean, I was set the task by one of the teachers..." She gestured to the computer. "I'm looking for... something that's gone missing." Kitty eyed Jake, not sure what she could tell her.

Jake nodded. "What're you using?" He started walking over to Kitty, intending to look over her shoulder. "Personally I find Interpol incredibly helpful, and, of course, our database... But, never mind me, I'm just talking here. What's missing? Something get stolen?"

Kitty quickly minimized the main window (because while not a lot of people could read code you never knew) leaving the results of a google search on Shaw Industries and Paris, as well as several other windows in the background. "You could say that, yeah," Kitty answered. "One of our teachers, actually, in, um, less than auspicious circumstances. What do you mean 'your database'?" she asks, looking up curiously.

Jake ignored the question, focusing on the google search. He arched his eyebrows in surprise, then looked down at Kitty. "Shaw... This place is getting more and more interesting by the minute. I have to tell you, though, if you're looking for something... Your teacher? Shaw's got?"

He stopped, realising where he was and what he was saying. "Never mind. Um. I'm sure you'll find her in no time."

Kitty grinned a bit at the sudden change. "It's been tough," she said, nodding. "Thanks, and you're right, Shaw's... Shaw's hard. But we tracked her up through Italy online, and Mr. Wisdom found a physical trail as far north as Paris. Which," she said, gesturing to the screen, "is where we are."

Jake did a double-take. "Wisdom? Pete Wisdom?! British Government Pete Wisdom? What the hell IS this place? And why don't I have nearly enough information about it?" he added to himself in a thoughtful voice.

Kitty arched an eyebrow. "Yes, Wisdom, Pete Wisdom. Ex-British Government Pete Wisdom. And why would you have information on it?" A quick keystroke put the laptop to sleep and she turned to regard the woman more closely.

Jake contemplated for a moment. On one hand, there was really no reason to tell the girl anything, on the other hand, the professor might be more inclined to really work at getting Jake turned back into a man, if he built up some good will... Besides, he really was curious as to why and how Wisdom was involved in this. "I'm a courier for International Infonet Inc," he said finally, as though it explained it all.

"You're a package girl?" she asked, the second eyebrow raising to meet the first. "And that doesn't tell me why you'd know anything about the school."

Jake looked affronted. "Package girl?"

"Courier," Kitty said. "Package runner." I wonder if she'll spill something if I get her worked up enough?

Jake glared. "I am not a package girl. I don't deliver packages. I just... talk to people."

"You talk to people? You talk to the kind of people who would tell you about Xavier's?"

"Would I be here if I didn't?" Jake asked rethorically. "Speaking of being here... Seriously Pete Wisdom? I thought he was doing shady stuff in Europe at the moment?"

Kitty sighed. "Mr. Wisdom's in Paris, looking for our missing teacher. I'm, er, helping, with one of the other students. We're looking for records, messages, anything really. Whether that counts as shady or not," she said, shrugging, "probably depends on which side of the search you're on."

Jake chewed on this for a moment, looking around the library. It had the same look of Olde Money as the rest of the mansion, with the technology descretely incorporated into the interior.

"Shaw doesn't leave much of a paper trail," he said finally. "What've you got so far? And why your teacher? What does he want with him? Or is it a her?"

Kitty considered Jake seriously. "You first," she finally said. "You tell me what you know about the school, and how, and I'll tell you about my search. Fair trade of information."

Jake grinned at the business like manner the young girl showed. "My dad would love you. I know less than I'd like, to tell the truth. I had no idea Betsy Braddock was here, for instance. And I should have. I know Charles Xavier is in charge, and this is considered a sort of... Well, the Higher Ups in the Government doesn't seem to agree there. Some say school, some say terrorist training camp, some actually suggested a sort of mafia..."

Kitty nodded, not entirely surprised, although the mafia comment gave her some pause. "And you know it all, how? I take it there's more to this International Infonet Inc. than anyone let's on?"

"I've got my sources." Jake tilted his head. "Look, I'll help you out... Maybe. But I'm not going to start spilling my sources to all and sundry. I'm not _insane_, despite what my dad says."

Kitty grinned. "You hear that sort of thing a lot around here. Xavier's School for the Mildly Psychotic. And, it is a school," she added. "An odd one, but a school." Sighing she pulled the headphones off from around her neck and stretched in her chair. "Ok, about a month ago one of the teachers, Emma Frost," and Kitty was watching for a reaction to that name, "took two of the kids up to her retreat in Main. They were attacked, er, did your sources ever tell you what Sentinals were?"

Jake started at hearing the name of the teacher missing. "Emma FROST? _The_ Emma Frost? ...I'm going to kick Ross's ass so hard..." he trailed off and coughed. "Anyway. Yes, I know what Sentinals are. Big arse robot things?"

"Yeah, that's them alright." Kitty nodded, mentally filing away yet another question about this newest arival. "So, Ms. Frost and her students are up in Main with Brian Braddock and they get attacked. The kids get safe, but the Sentinals grabbed Ms. Frost and made off with her to the hills. Or rather, to Paris by way of Italy."

"Er. Why?" Jake blinked.

"Why? Why what?"

"Why did they grab Emma Frost? I assume, as Shaw's involved, it wasn't a random thing..." Jake paused, then nodded to himself. "Information, am I right?"

Kitty shrugged. "Probably. Or revenge. Mine is not to wonder why, mine is just to find her."

Jake gave her an incredulous look. "What do they teach you people? You always, always gather what intel you can on absolutely everything -- What am I saying? I'm not your teacher. I'm not responsible for what they teach you." He shook his head. "Anyway, you're going through docking and lease, right?"

Kitty grinned. She loved it when people showed up on the school's doorstep claiming not to be teachers. She'd have to start book in the students journal on how long it would take before the Professor had her teaching something. "Done it, yeah," she answered. "Following cargo manifests got us as far as Switzerland. I'm not sure what trail Mr. Wisdom tracked into France, but things dried up inside Paris. We're pretty certain she's not been moved out of the city, now it's just a matter of finding her. I've been trying to correlate all of Shaw Industries public and private holdings in the city. Found half a dozen werehouses the French government almost certainly doesn't know about, but I need something more solid."

Jake squinted in thought. "Zaran and Batroc operates from Paris... And, you know what? Is Wisdom the only one you've got out there? Because I have all possible respect for the man, but if he's going to comb everything personally, this could take quite a while, no matter how solid you get. Also, they're probably keeping her sedated. You been checking that trail?"

"Him and Mr. Braddock are it, yeah, which is why we're looking to narrow it down as much as possible. And I don't know if he's been looking into that or not. I can though..." She turned back to the black screen, typing a password to unlock it and opening a new file to stick notes in.

Jake leaned against the table Kitty was working on, tugging at his hair thoughtfully. "This would be live cargo, valuable... Shaw's not keen on subcontracters, but there could be some... Are you taking notes?"

"Yes, I am," she answered idly. "There haven't been any subcontractors yet, only corperations with bigger and smaller obvious ties to Shaw personally. He shipped her from Florence to Geneva with a company that looked completely unconected on the surface, but the C.E.O.'s clearly a sock puppet for Shaw himself.
"
Jake stared at her in surprise again. "Geneva? ...Wait a minute, what company?"

"Here, hold on a second." Kitty's fingers flew over the keyboard as windows opened and closed, passwords were entered and files were examined. "This is the one," she finally said, showing Jake the file on a small shipping magnate with it's head offices in Switzerland.

"Oh, well, well..." Jake said, nodding his head slowly. "Yes, I know this. We use them sometimes for the crap jobs." He regarded Kitty for a moment. "You know what? I think you need to get in touch with Wisdom. Fast."

"Why?" Kitty asked, looking away from the computer and up at Jake.

"Because I don't think he'd want me to get deeper into this without being told. He..." Jake paused, considering his choice of words. "Has issues with Infonet."

"Ah..." Kitty considered this. "Yeah, you're right." Within seconds the data files were gone from the screen and her email program was brought to the forefront. "What is your last name, Jake?" she asked, considering what to write.

"Gavin. Junior," he added after a moment.

"Jake Gavin, Jr? The Jake short for anything?" She was giving the woman a funny look.

"Jacob." Jake was lost in thought and answered automatically.

"Why on earth would anyone name their daughter Jacob?"

Jake blinked. "What? ...Oh. It's a long, long story. I'll tell you later."

"Ok," Kitty said, shrugging a little bit. She turned back to the email, then glanced at Jake. "Er... not to be rude, but..."

"...I'll go stand over there, shall I?"

"Thanks." Kitty waited until she was clear of the sightline of the screen and then her fingers began moving quickly over the keyboard. Within a few minutes she'd hit return and grinned. "All done," she said, somewhat cheekily.

Jake gave her a blank look, then shook his head. "Sorry, I was completely gone there."

"No worries."

Jake regarded Kitty for a moment. "Hey. What _do_ they teach you at this place, anyway? Evolution theory?"

Kitty grinned. "We've had that, yeah. These days I'm in Bio, Chem, Phys, Advanced Phys, Phys so advanced there's no class for it, Comp Sci, Dance, and Gymnastics. Oh, and Social Studies."

Jake nodded, reluctantly impressed. "What about International Studies? Current Affairs? Profiling?"

"Current Affairs kind of gets mixed into everything, and I don't think we've got International Studies right now. We've never had a course on Profiling to the best of my knowledge," she added with a look.

Jake shrugged. "It's useful." He frowned. "Or so they say. Don't actually do a lot of it myself, I just use the info." He changed the topic to something that interested him a lot more. "International Studies are really interesting, and not to mention, with so many foreign students... you should suggest it to the professor or who ever's in charge of the curriculumn."

"I don't know, it was your idea. You should probably suggest it." Her voice was bland as she said it, and she managed not to smirk.

"You think?" Jake blinked, then shook his head. "No. Absolutely not. I can see where that would end, and I'm absolutely not qualified to teach anything to anyone... Okay, you're smirking now."

"Only a little bit," she admitted the smirk widening to a grin, turning to the computer and booting her solitare program.

Jake sighed. "This happen a lot? Innocent people arriving here, only to be co-opted into teaching?"

"We've contemplated sticking a sign on the door: "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter", but we decided it wouldn't go over well with the parent/teachers association. Assuming we had one. Which wee don't."

Jake snorted. "Wonderful. So I'm doomed? Betsy did tell me, but I said, Betsy, I am made of sterner stuff. I am the Courier, and I courier and don't ask questions. ...She laughed."

Kitty grinned. "It may be doom, but it's at least a fairly well populated doom. Our staff are the best there is at what they do."

"And what they do is kill people," Jake finished automatically.

Kitty blinked. "Er, no, not where I was going, actually..."

"...Right. No, I suppose not. Er. I think I should be going now..." Jake started backing away. "Contact me when you hear from Wisdom? And do as he says. He knows his stuff. Unless, of course, he tells you to kill me and hide the body, in which case, you should definitely ignore him."

"Er, right," Kitty said, watching the woman as she backed away from her. "I'll do that."

"Um. Bye," Jake said, and walked away before he could let his mouth run away with him some more.

Kitty watched her go, thinking. I'm going to have to look into this International Infonet Inc...