xp_logs | Nathan and Shinobi, Tuesday afternoon, the medlab

It was funny, in a way, just how often his roommate wound up down here.. but, Angelo wasn't who Shinobi'd brought hmself down to the medlab to see, for a change. Hands tucked away in his jeans pockets, he poked his head inside to have a little look around, not entirely sure of where the mansion's newest arrival had been holed up in specific. "Mister D--" he stopped himself, reconsidering, and revised himself. "Nathan?"

An unfamiliar voice roused Nathan from his doze and he sat up, wincing at the way the room tilted around him. "Hey," he said tiredly, spotting the tall young man standing in the doorway. "Sorry. Just--" He trailed off, trying to remember what he had been doing when he'd dozed off.

"Nothing for you to apologize for. *I'm* sorry, though, if I woke you." Shinobi offered a sheepish smile, tilting his head slightly to one side as he gave the man a thoughtful once-over. "I'm Shinobi. If you aren't up for a visit, I can wait until you're out of here?"

Nathan mustered a faint smile in return, rubbing at his eyes and then giving his visitor a quick-over that he hoped wasn't blatantly obvious. "Definitely up for a visit. I hate sleeping during the dag, but I swear the sedative keeps coming back for another go at me. Or else Moira is slipping more into my food."

"Either's equally likely, at a guess," Shinobi mused, cracking a grin as he ducked into the room and wandered his way over to Nathan's bedside, offering him a hand before claiming a chair for himself. "Enjoy the rest while you can. This place is a spot crazed. Insomnia's been going 'round lately."

"Yeah," Nathan said dryly, sliding up on the bed so that he could lean against the nice, solid wall. "I get the sense I came at a busy time." Shinobi nodded, and Nathan tilted his head, regarding the young man for a moment longer. "I'm gathering what I said about your father piqued your interest, or you wouldn't be down here," he said.

Shinobi nodded again, his grin going a touch wry. "I'm likely to be bumping into him this weekend," he explained, shoulders rising in a shrug. "Haven't seen him since early December, and I've been learning.. quite a lot about him, in the time since. So yes, my interest is piqued."

Nathan mentally reviewed what Moira had told him about the younger Shaw, comparing it with the first-hand evidence sitting in front of him. He had jumped the gun making his 'offer', he suspected. But what Moira had told him had been intriguing, and he couldn't help sympathizing with the boy's situation. Fathers could be awkward creatures. Having Sebastian Shaw as one had to have been several different kinds of hell.

"Firstly," he said, holding onto the dry tone, "I should probably ask you if you have any moral objections to mercenary work. Because I don't think I have the patience to tell you all of this while you're making delicately pained faces at me." He made the comment deliberately caustic, just to see how Shinobi would react.

"No objections to mercenary work, no," Shinobi replied after a moment's due consideration, absentmindedly tugging at the collar of his grey hooded sweatshirt (with the omnipresent X on the chest). "I imagine I'll only ever have issues with it if the mercenary's looking to make off with what's mine."

Nathan couldn't help a laugh. "Very fair, Shinobi." One question answered, at least. He was feeling a little better about his spur-of-the-moment decision to stick his nose into the situation. If Shinobi could decide to stand up to his father and maintain a realistic attitude towards certain key issues, he would do well, and probably deserved a helping hand. Ironic how he found himself in the position of being able to give one. "I suppose this is my moment to confess that I have actually worked for your father. Twice, actually. Once because I didn't know what I was getting myself into. The second time was--under duress."

Shinobi offered the older man a wry smile, bowing his head slightly. "If it's any consolation, I didn't know what kind of depths my father makes his home in until I got *here*," he chuckled, shrugging helplessly. "I mean, I knew he was a jerk, but not that he was a jerk on such a wide scale. So we're even, I think." He waved a hand to dismiss the confession, or at least, any negative connotations that may have been attached to it.

"Well, I should have known better." Nathan paused for a moment, trying to decide just how much detail to provide. "Without getting too specific, let's just say I was fresh out of government service and a bit naive about picking my jobs." Not so much naive as uncaring, Nathan reflected bleakly. That whole first year after--after, had been bad. He sometimes wondered how he had managed to survive it. "Your father was too good to be true, in retrospect. After he screwed me for the first time, I tried to find out everything I could about him."

"I lived with the man," Shinobi observed calmly, with a wry smile. "*I* should have known better." He settled himself into a comfortable half-slouch so that he could listen, propping his chin up in a hand and focusing his attention on Storytime with Mister Dayspring. "Find anything interesting?" he asked after a moment, with a curious quirk of an eyebrow.

"A few bits and pieces. But I'll get to that in a minute. You need to hear the rest of the story first, so indulge me." It had been a while since he had been able to tell this one to an appreciative audience. Most of the people who had heard it had been shocked by his gall. "The second time, he had some of his people snatch a friend of mine off the street in Mexico City. The standard 'do what we tell you or your pretty friend gets a bullet' thing."

Of course, flippant as he was trying to be now (had to put Shaw Junior at his ease, after all) it hadn't been at all funny at that time, and he couldn't quite keep the edge of cold rage out of his voice, remembering the picture they had sent him of Domino, bruised and bound with a gun to her temple. Nathan took a deep breath and continued.

"After I--resolved that," he said, deliberately glossing over the mess it had been, "I--well, to be perfectly honest, I lost my temper. Your father wound up with several fewer holdings in Latin America over the next few months. At one place in particular, I had the foresight to clean out the computer before I blew it and everything else up." He looked up at Shinobi and shrugged. "Some of what I got wasn't really helpful then. Some of it is probably out of date now. But what I thought might be particularly useful if he ever came after me because of my little tantrum is what seems like a fairly complete list of his covert personnel in the Americas."

Shinobi is a rather good audience, silent and attentive, quite obviously giving Nathan the entirety of his attention as he relays the story. He gave the ordeal a long moment to fully sink in before he nodded his head, straightening his posture slightly and lifting his head so he could speak, letting his hand thoughtfully cup his own chin. "I hope your friend is alright," he said carefully, with a brief, but genuinely apologetic smile. "The list of personnel.. I know someone here who would very much like to hear what you know, if you'd be willing."

"If you can make use of my file on your father, I'll hand the whole thing over to you," Nathan said bluntly. "Since I haven't had the opportunity to put it to use yet, I doubt the day will come. Hell, I doubt I was any more than a minor irritation to him at the time. He probably decided it wasn't worth his time to swat me." He paused, considering. "As for talking to someone else about this--you're free to share the information with whoever you choose, but I'd need some assurances that this other person isn't ever going to turn around and remind your father that I once stung him before I talk to them." Nathan mustered a humorless smile. "Your father can offer a great deal in the way of incentives, and I'd prefer to keep flying under his radar."

"My father's tried to kill her at least once, so the last thing she'd ever do is lend him a helping hand," Shinobi replied, just as bluntly. "But if you'd prefer, I'll take what you know, give it a looking over, and pass it on to her. Say a little bird told me." He gave a casual shrug, running a hand back through his hair before returning his chin to its place in his hand.

Nathan opened his mouth, and then closed it again, his mind racing at something approaching its normal speed and making some rather surprising connections. "Not Emma Frost?" he ventured.

Shinobi cocked his head to the side, making a curious noise. "That would be her. I do hope you're on *her* good side, at least?" He offered a good-humored grin, but he was quite interested to hear the answer, watching the older man expectantly.

Nathan started to answer, but bit his lip hard as a laugh tried to escape. "Uhh--actually, I doubt she knows I exist," he managed, his voice wavering a little. "But my friend, the one your father used as a hostage - she's fine, by the way - wanted to send that file to Emma Frost, once she knew it existed." The urge to laugh died suddenly as he remembered just how long it had taken for Dom to get to the point where she had been interested in such things again. That cold rage came back in waves as he remembered Shaw's people throwing her out of the car in front of the Pack's safehouse. The days sitting beside her hospital bed while she looked at the walls, ceilings, anything but him--

"Dom's a very vindictive person," he forced himself to say, donning a smile he knew was probably transparently false. "I just find it ironic that I'm about to do what she suggested, all these years later." Shinobi watched him, still smiling, and Nathan shrugged. "Tell Ms. Frost I'm at her disposal. To be honest, Shinobi, I think much better of your chances, knowing you've got her on your side."

"I'm glad she's alright," Shinobi replied sincerely, smiling and allowing himself to relax, though the physical evidence that he had been tense at all wasn't very noticable. He had, after all, been paying very close attention in Emma's classes. "I'll let Emma know. She'll probably be quite pleased to know there's someone else out there intelligent enough to want my father's head on a silver platter." He paused a moment, and added, "And to be honest, I think my chances are much better with her on my side, too."

Nathan nodded, breathing deeply in an attempt to relax. "I can retrieve the file from here. The next time I'm back on the computer, I'll send it to you." He was about to say more when those reddish lights flickered at the edges of his vision again. "Shit," he grated, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment and pressing his hands to his temples. That iron-like taste was at the back of his mouth again. Blood? Or dirt? "Shinobi--you might want to go. Suspect I'm about to emulate--a felled tree again."

Shinobi blinked once at the curse, frowning in concern and pushing himself up to his feet. "I'll let Doctor McCoy know on my way out," he agreed, giving the older man a worried look before reluctantly turning to make his way towards the door. "Thanks for seeing me, Nathan. Sit tight, the doc'll be in in a second."

Nathan managed a wave in the younger man's direction, before slumping back against the wall. The lights were still there. They hurt, sparkling and burning, and those underwater voices were back again. Not singing, this time. Screaming.