The subways of Tokyo- afternoon

[throughaphase]

Kitty knew that the Path were watching her. She pretty much worked under the assumption the last few days that someone was always watching her. So she didn't bother trying to sneak around. In fact, she kept Ginrei in hand as she walked back down to the subway, because she wanted them to know that she was coming, and that she'd gotten what they wanted.

Nao	"Thank you all for coming," Nao said to the ninjas who had gathered in the tunnel. "Our spies report that Kitty Pryde should be returning any minute now." She probably wouldn't expect this large a group of ninjas to meet her.
Ninja	"Why meet her here, in the tunnels?" one of the ninjas asked.
Nao	"There will be no surprises this way," Nao replied. "This is the only way she knows how to get in."
Kitty	<>"Well," said the ninja, pressing the image inducer to reveal Kitty's image. "She may have found another way in." And now she'd drawn Ginrei to have it pressed against Nao's throat. How was that for a surprise?
Nao	Nao was looking down at the sword the best she could, seeming pretty calm, all things considered. "Impressive. Ginrei is even more beautiful than I could have imagined!"
Kitty	"Cute," Kitty said. "But don't make me show you how cutting my wit is right now."
Nao	"Fetch the dragons!" Nao ordered, watching one of the ninjas run toward their holding pen. Only then did Nao dare to raise her hand and slowly push the blade away from her neck. "I did not think you had it in you, Kitty. To go so far as to take the life of the Silver Samurai..."
Kitty	"I'm capable of more than you can imagine," she said, sheathing the sword.
Nao	"Then it is a shame I will never see you live up to your true potential," Nao said. "Now give me the sword." As she held her hand out for it, she heard the ninja who had gone yell, "Nao-sama! The dragons! They're gone!" Nao whirled on Kitty. "This reeks of you, Pryde. Where are the dragons? Just what game are you playing at?"
Kitty	"Dungeons and Dragons seems appropriate, but this is all a simple hide-and-seek gamble," she said with a smirk. "I hid here..."
Also Kitty!	"-While I went seeking," said a second Kitty, standing at the edge of the tunnel with a dragon on each arm. The first Kitty tossed her Ginrei, and while the dragons left her arms with the movement, she caught it easily. "Much obliged."
Nao	Nao saw the whole situation spinning wildly out of control. She wasn't actually sure she still had any, honestly. "Who would dare-" she demanded, turning on the first Kitty.
Ryoko	That Kitty hit the image inducer again, revealing Ryoko, suited up for combat. And grinning from ear to ear as she pulled a gun with one hand, brandishing an energy weapon with the other. "Ryoko Oshiba, JDSS. And you're all under arrest."
Nao	"I should have expected betrayal from a gaijin!" Nao screamed at Kitty. The real one.
Kitty	"What goes around comes around, Nao," Kitty replied.
Nao	"And shall come around again," Nao said, and whistled so that the green dragon knew to come back to perch on her hand. By their reactions, neither Kitty nor the purple dragon expected that one. "It is still three against an army. You will give us the sword, and you will die."
Kitty	Kitty was actually more worried about Lockheed's reaction to his little dragon girlfriend working for the enemy than she was about that, but she was distracted from saying anything like that by a loud rumbling sound that filled the entire cavern. "You might want to hold off on the self-congratulation..."
Clint	The rumbling sound got louder until one of the walls of the cavern finally gave way, crumbling into pieces as it was crushed by a drill-fronted tank. As the tank came to a screeching stop the drill stopped spinning, the top flipped open, and Clint peeked his head out. "Sorry I'm late. This thing's top speed isn't very impressive."
Kitty	He was probably totally getting lucky later just because that timing was awesome. "Nah, it's cool," Kitty said, trying to shrug all casually while she was smiling. "You got here just in time for the fun stuff."
Nao	Beside Clint, a group of armored JDSS soldiers/agents gathered, flanking none other than the Silver Samurai, who didn't seem happy about any of this. "Is there no end to your deception?" Nao demanded, determined not to let this get any worse.
Kitty	"Actually," Kitty said, leaping after her with Ginrei drawn as the soliders poured out of the tank, "that was my last trick."
Clint	"So, are you guys going to turn yourselves in peacefully?" Clint asked. One of the ninjas he hadn't managed to run over yelled and tried to climb up the tank, so Clint was going to take that as a no, and grabbed his bow accordingly. "Yeah, I was hoping that would be your answer."
Kitty	Meanwhile Kitty had Ginrei out and was fighting off Nao pretty easily, but she did notice that she was being drawn away from the main fight, into another tunnel where she could still hear the sounds of fighting, but couldn't see any of it. "Luring me somewhere and quiet and romantic to take advantage of me?" Kitty said, parrying. "Sorry, but I'm taken." Before Kitty could do much else, Puff was flying at her, and she was in the weird position of fighting a ninja while trying not to hurt a dragon who wouldn't get out of the way. Lockheed dove in to protect Kitty- of course- but Puff didn't stop her attack, biting him in the underbelly instead. It was apparently a good enough distraction that Nao had the chance to kick Kitty in the face, and hard, ow.
Clint	Shooting his way through ninjas was really satisfying at this point, and the backup from the JDSS was doing an admirable job, though not as admirable as the Silver Samurai. As Clint cleared himself a path through the mess of people, and realized far too late that there was someone missing. "Kitty!" he yelled, looking around. He had not come this far only to lose her now.
Kitty	Lockheed had managed to get past Kitty and Nao to chase Puff off, and while Kitty was worried about him, she had a really pissed off ninja trying to put a sword through her, so she had to focus on that first. When Nao swung at her, Kitty backflipped over the blade to land on the stone staircase headed below, and Nao followed, herding her towards the subway tracks. Kitty could hear louder fighting, though, and even while fending off the attack, said, "Looks like the cavalry's coming, Nao! Wouldn't want to cut your losses and come quietly, would you?"
Nao	"In your dreams, gaijin!" Nao said, swinging again.
Kitty	"Figured as much," Kitty said, shrugging with one shoulder as she parried. "Figured I'd ask."
Clint	Clint ran towards where he'd last seen Kitty, pecking off ninjas as he went--carefully, since he couldn't afford to run out of arrows. Behind him, he could hear the Silver Samurai trying to reason with the Path ninjas that were still alive. "Enough you fools! Lay down your weapons or die like your friends at my blade!" he cried. It was a noble, if futile effort, but Clint didn't have time to point that out. More of the reinforcements from the JDSS had arrived, fanning out to try to keep any members of the Path of Destiny from escaping, and that meant Clint, as far as he was concerned, was free to go after Kitty. The screeching of dragons, while telling him he was on the right track down the tunnel, wasn't a good sign.
Kitty	Kitty and Nao were getting deeper into the tunnel now, and while it looked like Nao was tiring, Kitty wasn't. Also, Kitty could easily dodge slashes and thrusts just by phasing parts of herself at will, so this was going very much in her favor. "You can't beat me, Nao!" she warned, honestly trying to give her an out.
Nao	"I shall die trying!" Nao retorted. Puff flew between them, apparently trying to get away from Lockheed, and Nao answered that by backhanding the poor dragon. "Get out of the way, you stupid beast!"
Kitty	Everything went quiet for a second as everyone realized what a bad mood that was, and Nao even managed a quiet, "Oh no," before Puff breathed out a stream of fire towards her. It seemed to miss Nao herself, but the old wood of the tunnel was catching on fire fast.
Clint	By the time Clint reached them, the fire was really starting to blaze, and he had to skid to a stop to avoid getting too close. "Kitty! What happened?"
Kitty	Screen Freeze Track This Select "It's always a bad idea to piss off anything that can breathe fire," Kitty said, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Watch the dragons, and if it gets too bad, just go." And then she phased and ran right into the fire. Dating her was probably pretty interesting some days.
Clint	"Kitty!" God, she was actually worse than him sometimes. He kept an eye on the dragons, but he definitely wasn't going anywhere.
Kitty	The flames were getting really bad and spreading down the tunnel, but Kitty managed to get to Nao and grabbed a hold of the pommel of her sword, phasing them both. "I've got you! Let me get you out of here."
Nao	"Never!" Nao said, stubbornly tugging on the sword.
Kitty	Oh, god, seriously? "It's one thing to die with honor," Kitty said. "It's another to be burned alive."
Nao	"Different means to the same end," Nao replied. "Destiny will decide my fate." And then she let go of the sword, disappearing into the flames.
Kitty	Kitty would have gone further in after her, but part of the wooden beam above collapsed in the way, and she realized it was more important to get herself and everyone else out. She didn't look happy when she emerged from the fire totally unscathed, even if she did have two swords now.
Clint	Clint gave a sigh of relief when Kitty came out of the fire. "You really need to stop doing that," he said, frowning when he saw the dual swords. "Where'd she go?"
Kitty	"She burned out while I faded away," Kitty sighed, not feeling really great about that. "Come on, we need to get out of here." Kitty hadn't realized just how far her and Nao's fight had taken them till they all got back to the clearing where the rest of the fighting had taken place. There were some ninjas in custody, some injured JDSS agents, but for the most part things had quieted down. That was good, at least.
Ryoko	"Two dragons and two swords," Ryoko said from where she'd been sitting. "Looks like it was someone's birthday."
Clint	"Except our host left without saying goodbye," Clint grumbled. He'd been really looking forward to slapping some handcuffs on Nao for all the trouble she'd been for them.
Kitty	"Though who knows if she's gone for good," Kitty said. On one hand, she'd rather no one died from this, but on the other hand, all her nemeses tended to come after her at least three times and she never ever wanted to see Nao again.
Kenuichio	"We all fought nobly and emerged from this conflict unscathed," Kenuichio said. His mask was off, and he was petting Lockheed, with Puff waiting her turn. "There should be no regrets."
Clint	"Clearly, you don't know how well regrets and I get along," Clint said. Still, the guy had a point - they had mostly won, right?
Kitty	Kitty gave him a tiny smile before heading over to Kenuichio, bowing to present him with his sword. "You have my eternal gratitude, Kenuichio, for helping me with this ruse, for entrusting me with Ginrei, and for fighting by my side."
Kenuichio	He bowed in return. "You are as worthy an ally as you are an opponent, Katherine," he said. "The Clan Yashida was honored to allow you to wield our sword."
Ryoko	"Speaking of swords," Ryoko said pointedly.
Kitty	"A dragon's freedom in exchange for an ancient sword? You've got yourself a deal," Kitty said, handing the other sword over to Ryoko. It didn't really matter to her that Puff had been on Nao's side, since she obviously hadn't stayed there, and she and Lockheed were sort of eyeing each other awkwardly. "I'll need my image inducer back, of course."
Clint	"You handled yourself out there pretty well," Clint added to Ryoko. "I'm glad we were all on the same side, in the end."
Ryoko	"The same to you," Ryoko said. "I'm glad I was wrong about you." She was not planning on disclosing what, exactly, she'd thought of him. She got her job back, she was happy.
Kitty	While they were doing that, as soon as Kitty had her image inducer in hand she'd walked over to where Lockheed and Puff were, and scritched under his neck. He looked like he was doing much better, at least. "Looks like you two have some things to figure out," she said. Lockheed made an inquisitive sound, and she replied, "That's for you and your lady love to decide. Why don't you take a few days? You know how to find me."
Lockheed	The dragons looked at each other, and Lockheed nuzzled against Kitty's hand in thanks before he and Puff took off, flying towards the exit.
Kitty	"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Kitty called.
Clint	"You know that's not a very long list, right?" Clint teased.
Ryoko	While Kitty was giving him her best 'shhh not in front of the secret agents' look, Ryoko was about to flip out. "Katherine, no! You can't just let them-" It was too late, though, since the dragons had happily disappeared into a tunnel, and there wasn't anything she could do about it now. "Who knows what kind of trouble they'll get into? How can we monitor them? How am I supposed to explain this?"
Kitty	Kitty shrugged. "Guess you'll have to leave it up to destiny, Ryoko. But we're done."
Clint	"We'll see you next time." Which would hopefully be never, but Clint wasn't making any guarantees. He slipped his arm around Kitty's waist as they started heading out. "So, do you think we need to fly back to town right away, or do we have a little time left to go back to the hotel?" Look, Kitty couldn't blame him for wanting to celebrate, right?
Kitty	"I think we've earned a vacation," she told him. Actually she thought they'd earned like twelve. "Which starts with the hotel. And then ends anywhere not here."
Clint	"Oh, I like the sound of that," Clint said. "I'll go wherever you lead."

[And that's it! Taken from Shadow and Flame, and thank you so much to so_hawkward for being awesome!]