Lorraine felt sick. She leaned against the counter, gloved hand clasped over her mouth, eyes squeezed shut. She gripped the counter with her other hand, but all the strength in her body could not save her from swaying with nausea. Horror had settled into her stomach, but she had to push it out. She didn't have long.

It was a test. Someone had to do it, and she had to prove her loyalty. Her heart sank again as she remembered why she had to do that. They had found out. She'd always been terrified, in the back of her mind, that they would discover her and Kenna. She had stopped it, before it went too far, but that wasn't enough. It was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This was their punishment.

She had to do this. They were watching. She knew how. She had started already. She just had to finish. She forced her eyes open, only for them to lock onto the small flecks of color on the skirt of her white coat. Blood. Kenna's blood. She shut her eyes again. If she did it right, really right, she told herself they could be done in an hour. But Kenna would never let her, and so it would take longer.

She knew why this was happening. She knew why it had to happen, so why wasn't that enough? Kenna wasn't what she remembered, she told herself. Kenna was a terrorist, protecting those _things. _She knew what they did to people. She remembered what they'd done to her. That should have been enough. Her hate and fear _should_ have been enough. They had to be. She had to make them.

"It needs to happen," she muttered. "I need to do it, so they can see. I can do it." Slowly, she pushed herself up from the counter. She began to murmur NAIDER's mission under her breath.

"The defense of America," she swallowed, "humanity," she opened her eyes, "and our plane of reality from the threats... the threats posed by..." She scanned the room, body unstable. "By creators of tears and those who..." She grabbed what looked like a very large pair of shears. She had to take them with her. She knew, once she left this room, she wouldn't have able to come back and leave it again. "And those who harbor them."

She inhaled. Straightened. Balanced and composed herself. She turned to reenter the room. She would do it. It had to be done.

"Humanity, Order, Understanding."

She opened the door.