Lorna LaFey's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

The board wanted proof. Not one lucky pairing, not Terra's word. They wanted to see the chain work with their own eyes, or they would pull the money before the next Kaiju arrived. Lorna had one demonstration to give them. She stood in the clinical gray hall of the Initiative and stared at the observation glass. Behind her, three board members waited with folded arms. Terra could calm a Kaiju. Everyone knew that. But Terra was one creature, tired to the bone. Lorna needed to prove that a calmed Kaiju could pass the calm on without Terra in the room. If she failed, the guns would come. She found Azzie in the corridor, checking her wig in a dark window. The second Kaiju Lorna ever rehabilitated. A water serpent, teal scales, blonde hair she fussed with more than her own past. Azzie never talked about what she had been. She talked about her look. "I need you," Lorna said. Azzie turned. "For what? I'm filming later." "For the new arrival. The one screaming in enclosure four." Lorna kept her voice flat. "You were calmed. You can calm." Azzie's smile dropped. "That's not my thing." "It has to be today." Lorna stepped closer. "The board is here. If they don't see one of you help another, they cut us off. Then Terra does this alone until she breaks." Azzie looked away. Her fingers stilled in the wig. "Terra found me first," she said quietly. Then, sharp again: "Fine. But I keep the wig on." They walked to enclosure four. The new Kaiju thrashed against the restraints, roaring, spraying spit at the glass. The board members leaned back. Terra stood at the door, plates dull, and Lorna raised a hand to stop her. "Not you," Lorna said. "Her." Terra frowned but stepped aside. Azzie hesitated at the gate. She smoothed her skirt. Then she went in. She did not crouch or speak low like Terra. She sat down on the floor in front of the raging creature and started fixing her wig, calm as a mirror. The new Kaiju screamed. Azzie ignored it. She flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder. "Loud," she said to it. "I was loud too." The creature slammed the barrier. Azzie did not flinch. Minutes passed. The roaring cracked, dropped, softened to a wet rumble. The new Kaiju sank down and watched her comb her fingers through the wig. Behind the glass, the board members uncrossed their arms. Lorna breathed out. It worked. Not Terra. Azzie. Two links in the chain, proven, counted, seen. The lead board member turned to her. "You've shown it spreads," he said. "The money stays." Then he tapped the intake schedule on the wall. "Six more arrive Friday. If your chain holds, you get your sanctuary. If it snaps, we finish them." Lorna looked at Azzie, still fixing her hair beside the calmed beast. She had bought the season. Now she had to hold it.