Amaranthine

By the time Kennedy and Qi made it back through the chaos of the city, the result of what had to be even more coordinated diversionary attacks, the siege on AEGIS was already over. They found their way to the battleground, both staring in awe at the titanic willow standing silent guard over the AEGIS grounds.

“If that’s because of who I think it is,” Qi said, “I’m not sure I’m enough of a replacement.”

“You never were…” said Kennedy absently, then realized she’d said the quiet part out loud, and looked at the dragon, a fully inadequate apology on her lips. “Fuck, I—”

“No, I mean, yeah, you’re right. You guys already have bruisers, and instead of a fucking nature goddess, you got half a dragon that keeps trying to steal your girlfriend,” Qi said, a whole lot of pain and a little bit of challenge in her eyes. “Not a whole lot of ways that’s an upgrade. But, I’m what you’ve got, and I’m helping, and goddammit Kennedy I’m trying to be part of the team. We’ve all got issues, mine just happens to be Cait.”

You and me both, sister. Wait, that’s the thought that should be said out loud.

“You and me both, sister,” she said, with a tired smile. “Qi, I really am sorry, you didn’t deserve that. You kick ass, and… I mean, technically Cait and I aren’t even dating. Not going to say I don’t get crazy jealous when she’s with you, but…”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s see what your mom is saying,” Qi said, nodding towards where the victorious Guardians and staff were gathered around the base of the tree, Director Swan using an enormous raised root as a podium.

“… will not go unanswered. All of you, Guardians, fighters, survivors and nature goddesses inclusive, were strong today. But we each lost something we were already holding onto by our fingertips. A sense of even a little security. The last few weeks have been a stark reminder that we are not invincible. If anything, the Elevated Race proved themselves wrong tonight, showing the world that we aren’t gods, even when they insist Altereds should be treated as such. Remember though, as much as this was a black eye for us, it was a hole in the fucking chest for them. More than a dozen Altered ER operatives were confirmed KIA tonight, without a single Guardian lost. Still, the human cost was high, and unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that we were already dealing with an Altered Madman’s terrorist attacks. All of you, rest up, because tomorrow, I’m done playing defense. Dismissed.”

No applause. The speech wasn’t bad, as far as off-the-cuff post fight debriefs went, but they’d been attacked in their home. Victory alone wasn’t enough cause for celebration.

Kennedy felt Cait approaching through their link, and looked over to see the blonde stumbling to a halt after blasting over. She grinned at both of them, gesturing to the tree.

“Dawn did some landscaping,” Cait said, receiving an eyeroll for her trouble. “She was up and around, by the way, looks like she built herself a plant endoskeleton. Even split between that and Gwyn’s nano-mech for coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Shut up, Cait,” Kennedy said, and Cait stuck out her tongue, but stopped rambling. “Is everyone okay? Lira?”

“Yeah, I thought you would’ve felt that, pretty major wave of relief. As far as everyone…. Not really. I think your mom was right, I didn’t see any Guardians go down for good, but that many dudes with guns…. AEGIS as a whole had losses.”

Kennedy sucked in a breath. At times like these, she was glad she’d been pretty antisocial the last few years.

“Listen, this fucking sucks. I’m gonna grab everyone, get ‘em to the apartment, have a fuckin’ movie night. I’m thinkin’ Neighbors. A classic. Has Zac Efron. I know I don’t wanna be alone right now, I bet none of our friends do either.”

“That’s…. actually a pretty good idea,” Kennedy agreed. Cait was right, spending the rest of the night surrounded by friends would be a balm for the soul.

A tentacle wrapped around Cait’s leg, quickly followed by a speeding Breastman, Gwyn in tow.

DID SOMEONE SAY MOVIE NIGHT?

“Jesus, how did you hear that?” Cait asked, slapping his appendage off her tree trunk of a thigh.

OMNIPOTENCE

“It’d be omniscience, here, babe,” Gwyn corrected him.

I KNOW WHAT I SAID

Gwyn rolled her eyes, but turned to Cait. “If we are doing movie night, which is a good idea, there’s this dope horror classic I’ve been keeping in the chamber for a special occasion. This little girl’s head gets taken clean off by a telephone pole, swear to g—”

“Thinkin’ a little more upbeat than that fascinating picture sounds, Gwyn,” Cait said, cutting her off, and giving a look that said ‘you fucking good, buddy?’ to Breastman, who just shrugged. God forbid a girl have hobbies.

“Yeah,” Kennedy agreed with a sigh, “That sounds right up my alley, but I’ve made enough headless corpses tonight. Don’t feel as psyched to look at more as I usually do.”

“Fine,” Gwyn sighed, “some people have to lack taste for those of us that do to matter. Should we get Lira?”

15 minutes later, Kennedy snuggled into Cait’s shoulder, laying her head on her chest while she held hands with Lira, who had her head in the big girl’s lap.

Fuck, she looks sexy stretched out like that, Kennedy thought, running her eyes down Lira’s taut tummy and along her legs, barely covered by sleep shorts where they rested on Qi’s.

On the way back up, her eyes locked on Lira’s arm, stretched above her head to link with Kennedy’s hand. She felt herself linger on Lira’s armpit, and shuddered.

Christ, no, I have enough weird fetishes. Speaking of…..

It hadn’t escaped her notice when Lira’s stomach twitched as Qi ran a claw along her abs, her other arm wrapped possessively around Cait’s shoulders, its enormous talons sometimes brushing against Kennedy’s hair.

Her phone buzzed.

What the hell? I thought he was like, busy.

She glanced over at Breastman, who had his tongue so far down Gwyn’s throat he might be able to taste her lunch. He also had two tentacles behind himself, tapping away at his phone.

B: Need some help. Was going to talk to you about this in a less urgent setting, but I think Gwyn’s done waiting.

B: I’m worried about hurting her. Losing control, you know? I was hoping you’d be willing to, uh, ride along while we, y’know…

K: fuck?

B: Yep! I know you do it with Lira sometimes. I swear to god this isn’t a sex thing, well, besides it absolutely being a sex thing, I mean, it’s not a fetish thing. I really do want some help.

K: I know, youre a pure soul, b-man. That’s why youre asking your best friend's girl to watch you make your girlfriend more airtight than a space station.

Kennedy watched the little murderball go black with blush, she was having way too much fun with this.

But can I handle that? I do want to help, and I have ridden along with Lira, but…. Nah, fuck it, I know he’s got bad inside him, and I’m not gonna be the reason Gwyn doesn’t get laid tonight

K: fuckin with you. Literally, I guess, since this is me saying yes.

B: THANK YOU

Taking a deep breath, Kennedy linked to Breastman.

It was a mess in there. An odd, hungry kind of lust battled against a wall of… yep, love. B-boy had it bad for Gwyn.

Makes sense, fucking look at her, Kennedy’s eyes flicked to the pretty nerd, immediately regretting it when she saw the girl’s throat bulge. Well, her body at least.

Kennedy worked on separating the parts of that lust that felt like… almost literal hunger, or killing intent.

Man, he was right to ask for help. Too bad Cait’s not into tentacles, she could probably take what his body wants to do, but Gwyn….

Another glance, the girl was greedily sucking on Breastman’s undulating tongue.

Well, I think she thinks she can handle it, but I bet she’d be surprised.

“Oh my goooood,” Lira groaned, “Can you guys take it to the bedroom? I love love, but you two manage to sound like a 10 person blowbang all by yourselves.”

'Pwah', Gwyn panted as Breastman pulled out of her mouth.

“Fuck you, Lira,” she replied, then fixed a wickedly hungry grin on her eldritch lover. “And you, fuck me.”

She pulled him up off the couch, and he wiggled comically as she pulled him to the room. Kennedy gave him a thumbs up right before the door closed.