Thanks for all the awesome support so far everyone!!
Jai stepped off her private SHIELD sanctioned jet that had just landed in the High Town airport, feeling the enveloping humidity overwhelm her, instantly clinging to her skin, hair, and clothes and bathing her in a light sweat. She relished the feeling, trying to find a familiarity in the supposedly new sensation. After a few breaths she came to the tired conclusion that it would take far more than a change of environment to loosen her lost memory, but she just couldn't stop looking for opportunities.
And going on a mission with Wolverine should prove to be...what? He doesn't know me. Doesn't recognize my scent, doesn't recognize me.
She frowned in irritation. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe, after working for the Hand for so long, some of the rumor and fear and fantasy surrounding the man known as Wolverine had instilled in her a strange gut reaction. This was a job, an assignment, a chance for her to reclaim a part of herself from the people that took her life away. She needed to concentrate on that.
At this thought, Jai had to catch her breath, an aching loneliness welling up within her. She couldn't help it. She missed them--especially her master. She knew it was a programmed response, how she was made to react, but a part of her realized that the Hand and Japan and her Master still felt like home and, thanks to her amnesia, were the only things in the world that felt familiar to her.
Except for Wolverine. Jai was determined to find out why. Was determined to fight back at the Hand in anyway possible, to distance herself from her dependency.
If it even was the Hand that was infiltrating Madripoor.
If not, at least she'd get her hands on some action. And her hands were positively, literally itching to wrap around her blades and slice through a slew of Hand ninjas for the sheer pleasure of it. Underworld baddies who toted illegal drugs and weapons would totally do too though.
Her car drove toward her on the tarmac, the driver stepping out with a nod and stowing her luggage in the trunk. It was odd to have such treatment. He opened her door for her and said, "It will be thirty minute drive to Princess Bar, Lady Jai," in clipped, accented tones that spoke of only a passing familiarity with English.
"Thank you," she said, getting into the back of the wonderfully air-conditioned, leathered haven and suppressed the urge to giggle.
Lady Jai, she thought in amusement. This is going to take some getting used to.
As they hit the single highway the island could claim, Jai was awarded with the breath-taking and over-awing view of the cityscape of High Town. It was glorious in the light of the rising sun, a hidden paradise of opulence. And the contrast between High and Low town was stunning. Once they passed the midpoint, it only took Jai seconds of glancing out her tinted window to understand why Madripoor was commonly referred to as literally the seediest armpit of the world.
She liked it instantly.
The Princess Bar was located in the slightly less seedy area of Low Town and appeared to be surprisingly nice. A small oasis of High Town in the Low.
Not at all an ideal base of operations. It's stands out way too much. This Tyger Tiger person must really have a concrete hold on her part of Madripoor to advertise so blatantly, Jai thought, feeling slightly impressed.
The car was parked in the back, two of Tyger's men meeting her as they pulled to a stop, opening her door for her, and ushering her inside. Jai halted as soon as she crossed the threshold, inhaling the fresh, flowery scent provided by a plethora of potted plants and flowers that thrived in the humidity, increasing the sense of an oasis. Who knew the back way could be so fabulous?
"This way, Lady Jai."
"What makes everyone think I'm a lady?" she asked, looking up at Tyger's man who was a solid fourteen inches above her.
He stoically stared down at her.
"Okay. Thank you for being so...illuminating."
He pushed gently on her back urging her forward and Jai inexplicably dug her heals in.
"It's this way, Lady. Tyger Tiger and Wolverine are waiting."
Jai ducked to the side, dodging his incessantly pushing arm.
"Lady, I must insist--"
"Could you just shut up with the lady thing for a second--it's absurd!" Jai backed herself into the wall, her cool assassin cover totally blown, as she was holding her arms out against the ridiculously tall henchman with his overly tenacious arm. "I just--I just need a minute, kay?"
He looked down his nose at her, utterly confounded, but gave her space.
Jai leaned against the wall like it was her only friend--not that she had any to speak of right now--and sucked heady air into her lungs. This was crazy, insane, the brain washing must have completely undone her. She wasn't used to this feeling, this nervous, jumpy energy coursing through her, wasn't used to this vulnerability and it all started with the mere mention of a name.
She was a professional; she needed to be stone.
And that meant not cowering against a wall like a trauma victim who was overwhelmed.
God, how embarrassed am I for the last five seconds of my life?
With that thought, Jai willed herself to push off the wall and walk forward, the man trailing in her wake like a well trained, thankfully silent, dog.
The bar was closed, as early morning was hardly a decent time for such an establishment to be open, and she was gestured up the stairs, and behind a gauze curtain, into the presence of Tyger Tiger, Viper, and Wolverine.
She bowed to her host, Tyger, gave Viper a coolly appraising look, and absolutely refused to look at Wolverine, wanting to avoid him all together.
"So, you're Jai, Fury's Agent." Tyger said.
"And what makes him think you'll be any help?" Viper would be beautiful if not for her evilly sour expression which was currently emphasized by an upturned nose.
And the green hair is all wrong, Jai thought.
"She's a Hand assassin that just got over her brainwashing," Wolverine piped up, sending an electric jolt down Jai's spine. "Know anyone else who'll have inside info on how they're currently operating?"
"If it is the Hand," Viper said with doubtful irritation.
"You used to be their best friend back in the day," Wolverine pointed out. "True love didn't last?"
Viper glared venom at her former husband.
"One could say I...overreached."
"And got dumped," Tyger purred.
"Look Hoan" Viper spat, "What happened to my shipments and my people at the docks will eventually happen to yours as well--"
"Maybe not," Tyger said. "My shipments don't include drugs and weaponized pathogens. Looks like they have specific interests, Viper, dear."
Viper was less than pleased to hear her rival accurately name the merchandise she was dealing in. Even if this momentary truce with Tyger and SHIELD--and Wolverine--proved successful, Viper could already see the numbers adding up exponentially in her head in the amount of money she would lose.
"This is bigger than just going after my merchandise. They want everything. That will include your operation too, Tyger. And they're vicious enough to make even me--"
"Go to SHIELD?" Logan suggested.
"Yes," she admitted.
"What, exactly, do you mean by vicious?" Jai asked quietly.
Viper looked at the shorter, younger woman levelly, sighed her resignation, and took a file from her female associate. The pretty asian secretary with short, spiky hair was in a smart business suit that contrasted sharply with Viper's exotic jade gown and Tyger's elegant scarlet dress. In jeans and a black, fitted t-shirt, Jai felt positively underdressed, yet another emotion that was strange and new to her.
Within the file were photographs, like evidence to a macabre crime scene.
"We didn't lay them out like this," Viper explained. "This is exactly what we found when I received a phone call from an untraceable number saying my shipment had been intercepted."
Viper laid the pictures out on a table, one after the other, painting a scene of mutilation and horror.
"Damn," Wolverine whispered.
"That," said Tyger Tiger "is not what a turf war looks like."
"They were outmatched on every front," Viper provided. "They apprehended the merchandise with little difficulty and then...took their fucking time."
"Can you tell what shit they used on 'em so that they look like that?" Wolverine asked.
"Acid," Jai answered, distracted enough by the pictures that she didn't notice Wolverine draw nearer in an effort to look over her shoulder until she felt the body heat radiate off of him. She felt her skin erupt into goosebumps and ignored her slight shiver.
"They used acid. Probably while they were still alive. Look at the expressions on their faces."
"That's not typical of the Hand," Tyger commented, her color blanching.
"It's not about that," Jai said. "It's about psychological tactics, vindictiveness, showing you that they can come to your docks and do this to your people, and you didn't even know it happened until it's too late."
"They're here to take over; not just jack a few shipments," Wolverine stated in a cold voice.
"I still don't think it's the Hand," Viper said.
"It is," Jai stated simply. "Only five bodies were left intact. Splayed out in a starburst for exhibition. Five fingers in a hand. The others were cut up and left nearby."
Jai flipped through the photos, finding one where corroded, acid-burnt body parts were concisely stacked in a pile.
"Neat. Organized. Professional."
"Almost fucking zen," Wolverine agreed. "Any idea who's runnin' the Hand these days, Viper?"
"Shouldn't you ask your little assassin?"
"I know exactly who's running it," Jai answered. "My master. And this has...him all over it. I can feel it."
"So who's your master?" Viper asked in disgust.
"I don't know," Jai said quietly, backing away from the photos, trying to stifle the confusing emotions rising within her. Even now, even after seeing those photos, she still missed her Master, her home.
Abandonment. God damn it all to hell, why can SHIELD wake me up, but not get me over my fears?
"What the hell do you mean you don't know? Is this some kind of sick joke?" Viper asked.
Logan, who was privy to Jai's mental status via Nick, stepped between the girl and Viper.
"They fucked with her brain; she can't describe him or name him in anyway."
"Yet she's on our side?" Viper was incredulous.
"Well, not your side so much as--"
"No one wants to get back at them more than I do," Jai said fervently. "They took everything from me. This is the only way I know how to get it back."
"Okay." Viper narrowed her green eyes in suspicion and contempt. "What do you suggest we do then?"
"We need more information," Tyger stepped in. "I suggest we have our people hit the streets and casually inquire about the events that don't usually involve us."
"Which isn't many," Viper said.
"So it shouldn't take long," observed Wolverine.
"Fine. But if my people end up taking an acid bath again there is going to be hell to pay."
Viper motioned to her pixie-haired secretary and they moved toward the staircase together.
"I like your hair," Jai said as the assistant passed her.
Viper and the woman gaped at Jai in derisive confusion, then descended the stairs and left the building.