The 10th Kingdom - Consultation

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Shiro and Marie take their concerns to Remy and Betsy. They're as incredulous as he is.


If the simple act of climbing into Marie's car to make the long journey to Manhattan was hard, then crossing the threshold into the offices of Snow Valley Memorial Center for Mutant Affairs was like having wisdom teeth pulled sans anesthesia. Partly because of the general anxiety surrounding Shiro's visit, and partly because the music blaring from the front desk made him want to cry and blow things up. They were directed down the hall to Remy's office, and with a resigned sigh Shiro knocked on the door.

"Would he be more or less likely to attack if he sees you first?" Shiro asked Marie.

"More," she said without hesitation, only partially kidding. Marie had a feeling that Remy still viewed her as a mostly annoying pain in his side on the few occasions they interacted, though at least his active dislike of her seemed to have diminished. Glancing at her obviously tense and anxious friend, Marie reached out hesitatingly to pat Shiro's shoulder as they walked down the hall. "It'll be ok," she said reassuringly, though she wasn't at all confident in her own words. Knocking on the partially open door to Remy's office, Marie stepped inside, Shiro right behind her.

Remy looked up from his paperwork as they walked through his door and scowled. Marie showing up usually meant bad news. If Shiro was involved, it had to mean sometime cataclysmic and in another language.

"Salut, Marie, Shiro. What is it?" He tossed down his pen.

"Nice to see you too Remy," Marie said, smiling at him despite his scowl. She sat in one of the chairs across from his desk and nodded to Shiro. "It's probably nothing, but Shiro got word of something that might bear a little...looking into. Figured it'd be better to say something rather than nothing."

"I assumed it wasn't a social visit, non." Remy leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat out of place in the midst of the stacks of papers and files. He looked more like a mid-level executive than an operative. "What did you hear, Shiro?"

"The Sino-Japanese War take two has been declared into San Francisco," Shiro said simply. His eyes wandered around the room, surprised to see an actual office and not the Batcave. "Clans of the Chinese Triad and Japanese Yakuza are warring, which in and of itself is no different than usual, except that there are reports of the Triad recruiting Japanese members."

"Dat's unusual. Yakuza and de Triads hate each other. Damn near burned Seattle down ten years ago fighting for control." He rotated his pen absently, letting it spin between his fingers as he thought. "Dese recruited locally? Some boss getting creative wit' his pitch to de Nisei and de Chinese-American kids in de areas?"

Shiro just shook his head. "I don't know. I was told by a family friend" - that's one way to put it - "that the Yakuza has been losing members in a volume unheard of. Granted, losing any members in general is unheard of, but for them to be joining the Triad? And for the Triad to be accepting Japanese people . . . China and Chinese people haven't forgotten what Tojo did to them."

Marie shrugged, glancing from Remy to Shiro and back again. "That's why Ah told him we should probably have someone look into it. Ah mean, Ah don't know much about Asian gangs, but Ah was pretty sure they didn't usually shift allegiances for anything. Especially not in bulk."

"Hmm..." Remy reached over and picked up the phone. "Betts, can you drop by my office? I need your expertise." He set it back down. "After all, she's had a Yakuza assassin in her brain. See what she knows 'bout dis."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. "The Hand isn't Yakuza," he corrected. If he was going to defend them, he figured, then he might as well differentiate between them and a genuinely evil organization. "For all I know, The Hand is responsible for this. They would do anything to weaken the Yakuza."

"Wit' de Chinese? Dat sounds suspect. Not dat I wouldn't mind it being de Hand. I have an appointment to keep wit' de head of it." Remy said calmly.

"Ah don't want to know," Marie muttered before clearing her throat. "So yeah, figured an investigation of some sort was in order. We didn't know what kind of resources y'all had, but this seemed up your alley - needing research an' all."

A quick rapt at the door and Betsy entered briskly. "You called for me?" Her gaze quickly falling to Shiro and then shifting to Marie. "Welcome, you two. Was I brought in for a rescue mission or are you always this cheerful looking?"

"Seems like Shiro's family business is running into some weird situation wit' de Triads on de West Coast. Yakuza actually joining up wit' de Chinese to help take over San Fransisco and push out de existing families." Remy said, summing up quickly. He leaned over to his sideboard and pulled out the coffee pot, filling a group of mugs. "Dat seem odd to you, Betts?"

"It's more than odd. It's downright unlikely." Betsy replied incredulously. "I'm sure that whoever told you is mistaken, Shiro. The likelihood of such a thing happening would be something as ridiculous as dinosaurs coming back to life and rampaging Manhattan."

"You have no idea how much I wish I were mistaken," Shiro replied. "But either it's true, or it is a trap from the Yakuza to get me, and that is even less likely. Harada Keniuchio might be a criminal of the highest caliber, but he is not a liar. He would not resort to dishonor like this to get me, not after Mariko's death." Of that much, he was sure.

"If Keniuchio is a criminal of de highest caliber, he'd do whatever he wanted. His sense of honour is self-delusion." Remy had no patience with the idea of assassins or criminal honour. After years of experience with the Guilds, he knew that they used such terms only as long as it was convenient for them. "And I doubt it's a trap. First off, dere's no reason dat dey'd use such a roundabout way. Dere's a dozen ways a halfway competent operative could either kidnap or kill you outside of de mansion every day. Why try to lure you, and through you, potentially de whole damn X-Men halfway around the country? If dey had de firepower to handle dat, dey'd go for de mansion instead. Betts, Triads grew out of secret pro-nationalist Chinese societies. STRIKE ever run across dem teaming up wit' other groups? "

"Not that I can recall," Betsy said thoughtfully. "I'll have to check with some friends to see if there's been a recent power struggle or obvious shift in the players but this is as much as an anomaly to you as it is to me. Let me get back to you on this."

Shiro blinked. "So you are going to look into this further?" he asked. It made him feel guilty, though, to push one of his own problems onto someone else. "Let me help if I can," he offered before he could stop himself. "You surely know far more about organized crime structure than I do, but I know Yakuza, and I know the Silver Samurai. If he is in fact involved . . ."

Betsy interjected, bowing her head slightly. "You will be the first to know." When she raised her head, she shared a knowing look with Remy before bringing her attention back to the younger pair. "Field trip, then?"