"Can I call you Lorna?"
Light Inksworth asked tentatively, gauging her reaction. When Lorna nodded, her green eyes wary, he continued, "We are a comic book company, but currently, I am the only artist. Most of our staff are focused on the business or animation side. Do you have any experience in illustration, Lorna?"
He had noticed the details. Her tray held the cheapest dessert on the menu, not the steak pizza Gali was devouring. Her clothes were worn, her posture guarded. Life was clearly difficult for her.
As soon as he asked, Lorna's eyes dimmed. She lowered her head weakly. "Uh, I'm sorry. I don't have any talent in that area."
She didn't even have a technical diploma. She had a police record for petty theft hanging over her head. No legitimate business would hire her.
Lorna had tried. She knew the reality: without papers, without connections, you either washed dishes under the table or you worked for a gang. She was a ghost in the system.
Light spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He wasn't running a charity. He didn't hire people just because they were beautiful or had a tragic backstory. He was a businessman.
If a friend like Peter Parker wanted a job, Light would find a place for him because he trusted Peter's character and intelligence. But Lorna? She was a stranger.
In Light's worldview, there were three kinds of people: Assets, Neutral Parties, and Threats. Lorna, currently, was a Neutral Party with no verifiable skills.
"Light, is it okay to let her come? She can learn," Gali piped up suddenly, wiping tomato sauce from her cheek. "She has... potential."
"Yes!" Lorna seized the lifeline, looking at Light with desperate hope. "I can learn. I work very hard. I learn everything quickly."
It wasn't an exaggeration; it was a survival instinct. Lorna had been fending for herself for a long time. The money for this dessert was stolen—a petty crime born of hunger. She was planning to leave New York, to search for the father she had never known, but the city still held a magnetic pull for her.
"Gali," Light asked, narrowing his eyes. "What kind of job do you think Lorna can do?"
Light was shocked. Gali wasn't a sweet, benevolent child. She was a cosmic entity with a morality spectrum entirely different from humans. She didn't vouch for strangers.
'There must be something about Lorna Dane that caught Gali's attention,' Light deduced.
In the next second, Gali's answer made Light freeze.
"She can be your assistant for drawing comics."
Gali chuckled, a mischievous glint in her violet eyes. "Well, I think you are very tired too. Don't you want to draw and update more in the future? Just relieve yourself of the pressure."
Light wanted to flick her forehead.
Gali lived with Light every day. She knew his secret. When Light used the System to [Ghost Trace], the virtual projection appeared on the paper. To ordinary people, it looked like he was drawing with impossible speed and precision. To Gali, who could see the energy signatures, it was obvious he was tracing a construct.
If Lorna became his assistant, she would see the process. She would know Light wasn't an ordinary artist.
Gali looked at him with a coquettish expression that clearly said, 'Trust me on this.'
Light was silent for a moment. He weighed the risks. Having an assistant would double his output. And if Gali vouched for her...
"Are you free now?" Light asked Lorna. "Come to my place. We'll do a trial run."
"Okay! Yes!" Lorna agreed instantly, terrified he would change his mind.
"One more steak," Light signaled the waiter. "This is a signing bonus for a prospective employee."
Lorna watched the sizzling steak arrive at the table. The smell alone made her eyes water. It had been so long since she had a real meal.
She wiped her eyes quickly, glancing at the two people watching her. Her cheeks flushed.
"Thank you," she whispered. "This is the best gift I have received."
The Loft, Chelsea
Light didn't take them to the Marvel office. Instead, he led Gali and Lorna back to his apartment. The police blockade had cleared, and the SHIELD agents were gone, though Light suspected plainclothes officers were now swarming Hell's Kitchen.
Lorna looked around the loft like a tourist in a palace. It wasn't a billionaire's penthouse, but compared to the squats and shelters she was used to, this clean, spacious duplex was heaven.
When they walked into the studio on the second floor, Lorna saw the drafting tables, the high-end art supplies, and the stacks of manuscripts.
Light stared at Gali, communicating silently. 'Okay, we're here. Explain yourself.'
Gali smiled and skipped over to Lorna. "Lorna, are you a mutant?"
"..."
Lorna froze. Her eyes widened in horror. The drawing she was holding slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the table. Her biggest secret, her most dangerous vulnerability, had been exposed in seconds.
Panic surged through her. As her emotions spiked, the room reacted.
Clang! Clang! Rattle!
Every metal object in the studio—the pens, the rulers, the keys in Light's pocket—began to tremble. They lifted into the air, drawn toward Lorna like iron filings to a magnet.
'Magnetic field control,' Light thought, watching the phenomenon. 'Magneto's daughter indeed.'
Light narrowed his eyes. Energy began to crackle around his body, a subtle warning.
"Lorna, calm down. Otherwise, I would be very angry," Gali chirped.
Her voice was sweet, but her eyes flashed with a terrifying purple light. A wave of cosmic pressure, heavy and suffocating like the gravity of a collapsing star, descended on the room.
Lorna broke out in a cold sweat. The metal objects froze in mid-air. She felt like a mouse staring down a dragon. Even though Gali hadn't moved, Lorna knew with absolute certainty that she could be erased in an instant.
"Lorna, mutants are nothing special here. Haven't you realized that yet?" Gali asked, tilting her head.
"...You are also mutants?" Lorna whispered, staring at the faint white energy circling Light's hands.
"No," Light said, dispersing the energy. "But we are all 'Enhanced.' We can talk openly."
"Gali, what did you mean by manga assistant?" Light asked, turning back to business.
"Here," Gali opened a drawer and pulled out three metal-tipped stylus pens. She handed them to Lorna. "Control these."
"Control them?" Lorna looked confused.
"Use your magnetism," Gali explained. "Move the pens. Draw."
Light blinked. 'Damn, Gali. You're actually a genius.'
A manga assistant's job was usually to help with backgrounds, inking, and shading—repetitive tasks that consumed time. If Light hired a normal assistant, they would be limited by human speed.
But Lorna? If she could manipulate metal with precision, she could wield multiple pens simultaneously. She could be a human printer.
Scritch-scratch.
Lorna focused. The three pens lifted into the air, guided by invisible magnetic tethers. They hovered over three separate sheets of paper.
At first, the movement was clumsy. The lines were shaky, resulting in a mess of graffiti.
Light rubbed his temples. "Even if you can hold three pens, the human mind can't focus on three distinct drawings at once. Multitasking has limits."
"Oh," Gali deflated slightly. "I thought it would work."
Lorna looked at them, nervous. She felt like she was failing the test before it even began. The floating pens trembled with her anxiety.
Light looked at her. He saw the potential.
"Lorna," Light said gently. "I can see your situation. You're living rough. How about this: I hire you as my assistant. Monthly salary: $2,000. Five hours a day."
"Huh? Didn't you say it wouldn't work?" Gali glared at Light. "You just said she couldn't multitask!"
"Fool," Light flicked Gali's forehead. "She can't do three things at once yet. But two? Or just speeding up one task? That's trainable."
He turned back to Lorna. "And if you need it, I can provide accommodation here. The spare room is yours. Condition: You handle the cleaning."
Lorna's green eyes lit up. Two thousand dollars a month plus free rent in Manhattan? It was a lifeline she never expected to find.
But pride was a stubborn thing. She hesitated. "I can be an assistant... but I'll live outside."
Light sighed. "Lorna, I know where you live. An abandoned factory? Under a bridge? As a mutant, being homeless makes you a target. You need stability to work effectively."
He looked her in the eye. "Live here first. Plan your escape later."
Lorna bit her lip. She looked at the warm room, then at the floating pens. Finally, she nodded.
"Okay."
The Training Begins
Scritch-scratch.
The sound of pens on paper filled the studio.
This time, there were two sheets of paper. Lorna sat with her eyes closed in concentration, her hands folded in her lap. Two metal pens danced across the bristol board, guided by her magnetic field.
The lines were cleaner now. Not perfect, but usable.
Light nodded in approval. He would still need to touch up the work, but having Lorna handle the shading and beta effects for Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul freed him up immensely.
With her handling the grunt work via magnetic multitasking, Light finally had the bandwidth to start his next project.
There was a skill in one of the manga that he'd read that would allow him to be liberated from copying, but also participate in the drawing of each book.
That is...
_______________________________
Word count: 1578
Comment below on what you think so far.
If anyone of you is interested in reading some advanced chapters, you can check out my p@ tr*on.
p@tr*on.co m/Rai_jin
Thanks for reading guys!