Iron Phoenix

Chaos Incarnate

If Kana thought Holden's car was messy, then Farley's had to be a dumpster on wheels. She'd had to haul several boxes of papers out and cram them into the overflowing boot just to get into the passenger seat. As they sped down the mountain road, Farley chattering incessantly, Kana had to remind herself that it would only be for a month or so, that Farley was incredibly generous to let her stay, that she shouldn't complain.

She turned back to the window, watching as the bushes rushed by in a blur of green, the colours seeming to swim and swirl together as she gazed at them absentmindedly.

"Anyway, I just got a new crop of interns." Farley jabbered on excitedly, "All puppy eyes and notebooks for now. They're adorable!"

Kana couldn't help but imagine her as a crazy cat lady, fawning over her interns and research alike. "So, Kana – it's alright if I call you by your first name, right?", she continued on, her words an unfiltered stream, "The Colonel told me it's your birthday. I'll get a cake from the store if you like. Chocolate? Vanilla?"

Kana's breath hitched. "Oh, thanks but, um – I don't really do my birthday. It's kind of a running joke in my family that some awful tragedy always happens." Her eyes began to cloud over, and she laughed slightly, trying to keep the conversation light. "I mean, last year I fell down two flights of stairs, and that was one of the better years. We always celebrate on the opposite day of the year, my un-birthday, I suppose."

She finally stopped her ramble and looked up at Farley, bracing herself for a look of condescension, or worse, pity. But Farley merely shrugged, plastered her usual grin back across her face and cheerfully remarked, "Well, guess I'm spared from cake duty for a while."

Kana was relieved, but as Farley continued her verbal tirade, she began to wonder whether the woman was simply oblivious to everything around her. "Ooh! I loved what you did with that rocket."

Does she ever stop talking?, Kana thought.

"I mean, firing the flares was my idea, but Roth said you recognized the rock or something?" Kana shrugged. After the hellish debriefing, she was sick to death of talking about the mission. Still, unfortunately the odds of Farley dropping the subject were about the same as them meeting a friendly goliath.

"Anyway, it saved the outpost. The commander was definitely pleased... or at least slightly less grumpy than usual."

Kana raised an eyebrow. Farley was really laying it on a bit thick. She would have to try and seem more cheerful. "I thought it was literally just weather equipment.", she said dryly.

"Well, it must have been gold plated weather equipment then, 'cause the commander would not shut up about it the whole time we were in the control room. I think Art was a couple of seconds away from telling him to shut it."

Kana could sympathize. Still, as the car drove through the now deserted streets of New London, the tall buildings looming above them and casting shadows over the narrow streets, there was a rare moment of silence as Farley seemed to be thinking.

"It's funny, we were supposed to be protecting a weather station last year in the Arctic." Kana raised an eyebrow, her interest finally piqued. "It was destroyed though, and the commander was, like, irrationally angry about it. Docked all of our wages. Talk about a control freak..."

She trailed off at the end, a slightly uneasy silence creeping into the car. Kana was sure that they both knew something wasn't quite adding up, though Kana had no idea quite what it could mean. Still, in her mind, coincidences simply didn't exist, and, though she would never say it in front of someone so senior in the organization, she had a creeping suspicion that something was being hidden from them.