Amaranthine

An hour later, Cait raised her head from the asscheek she was using as a pillow, the buzz of her comm pulling her out of meditation.

DS: u up?

C: I literally just finished having sex with your daughter.

C: This CANNOT be a booty call from her mom.

DS: Hmmm.

DS: I was just fucking with you, but it has backfired spectacularly.

DS: I do need to speak with you regarding our next steps against The Bookkeeper. Kennedy as well. Did you leave her in any condition to talk tactics?

Cait looked up, to where Kennedy’s head laid on Lira’s stomach, the redhead’s hand on her cheek as she slept peacefully.

C: i mean, shes asleep, and cute enough I dont wanna wake her up

DS: We all have to make sacrifices. Be at my office in 15.

Cait groaned, stretching. Looking back down at her pillow, she grinned.

15 minutes is enough time to wake her up real nice.

10 minutes later, Kennedy’s thighs clenched Cait’s face tight to her pussy, hands clawing at her ash-blonde locks as her body quaked in orgasm.

“Fuckin… phew, hell of a way to get woken up,” Kennedy said as Cait pulled back, wiping her mouth as she smirked down at her. “Can I go back to sleep though?”

“Nope! Your mom texted me to be at her office in 15 minutes 10 minutes ago, supposed to bring you.”

“What!?” Kennedy shot up, eyes growing wide and drawing a groan of protest from Lira, who had woken up just enough during Cait’s munch session to decide she was too tired to deal with it, and rolled over.

“Yep! Get dressed slut!”

Kennedy glared at Cait the whole time they were getting presentable, which only made Cait giggle harder.

They walked into the Director’s office 5 minutes late, finding she hadn’t been waiting for them alone.

Kevin and his mother sat opposite her at the desk, with Warhawk leaning arms crossed against the wall. The teen was visibly anxious, but the fact that Kennedy hadn’t even noticed him before entering meant he was keeping things under control. His face lit up when Cait entered the room, the Amazon holding out a fist for him to bump before ruffling his near-white hair.

“Thank you for joining us,” Director Swan said, eyes flicking conspicuously to the clock over Warhawk’s head. “Despite the hour.”

The Director looked haggard. None of the team had seen her in days, as she’d been in constant meetings with other NAAC leaders, coordinating the coming assault on Winnipeg. She was still beautiful, obviously, no amount of sleep deprivation could take that from her, but this was the first time Cait had seen her not impeccable. Even when she’d been naked, she’d seemed as put together as when she was fully clothed.

“Now that the relevant people are present, we can begin.” She spun her chair around, and the nighttime vista of the windows behind her resolved into a 3D rendering of Winnipeg and the surrounding area.

“As you all likely know, there has been little hope for Winnipeg’s population for weeks now.”

A myriad green dots Cait had thought were only window dressing winked out, and Kennedy hissed in a disgusted breath.

“However,” the Director continued, “new information from Technocago’s stealth drones suggests the situation is far worse than even that.”

The viewscreen switched to a feed of a street in downtown Winnipeg, apparently deserted. The drone floated down the street, before focusing on a building, scanning up the side. Its sensors caught motion in one window, a skeletal limb picking itself back up after a fall.

“Based on what we know of The Bookkeeper’s powers and his projected limits, we had been wondering why he hadn’t attacked with any truly hard hitting Altered Madmen, pulled back from the grave. Enemies such as Roidrage are a problem, but hardly insurmountable, as Amaranthine handily showed.”

She inclined her head to Cait with that, a feeling of pride blossoming in her chest, echoed across the link with Kennedy.

“Based on Lira’s readings however, he should be able to sustain a much higher level of power than we’d seen. This—”

She tapped the window where the skeletal limb was still displayed.

“—is where we believe that power is going. Are any of you familiar with TuTulang?”

“The guy that took out like, ALL of Singapore?” Cait said, incredulous that it was even a question. “Yeah, I’ve fucking heard of him. Didn’t they have to nuke the city?”

Director Swan grimaced.

“Indeed. Were only it so easy now. Dealing with the truly huge threats was easier before the Waves changed physics enough that those things stopped working.”

“Eh,” Warhawk interjected, “probably lucky for y’all honestly. The Godhead had a whoooole lotta dead nukes in the DC that he would’ve thrown y’alls way without a second thought.”

The Director nodded her head, conceding the point.

“Regardless, the point stands that this and other evidence points towards the bulk of Bookkeeper’s power going to reanimating TuTulang, and in turn—”

“—reanimating the entire fucking city,” Kennedy groaned in realization. Her mother nodded grimly, the view dissolving back into the 3D model of Winnipeg, dots returning, all red.

“Correct. That is in addition to the Altered forces he commands, as we have no reason to believe he is unable to bring back those we have put down.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cait said, sliding her hand down her face. “Fuck are we supposed to do against those kinds of numbers? I could punch for weeks, and not make a dent.”

“Overwhelming force, as has so long been the North American way,” The Director declared, her lips curving up for the first time that night. “The largest joint strike force in NAAC history is already mobilizing. However, even with Guardian support, their assault will only be a distraction. For you.”

“I’m sorry,” Brittney interjected, not sounding sorry at all. She clutched her son’s shoulder protectively. “I still don’t understand why my son and I are here, or how this possibly pertains to us. With Kevin’s progress, I was under the impression we’d be able to return to normal life soon.”

A million emotions flashed across Director Swan’s face, uncertainty chief among them, the first time Cait had seen it darken her face. They all coalesced, however, into resolve.

“Brittney, I believe we will need your son in order to finish this.”

The soccer mom’s jaw set, the muscles of her arm visibly tensing around her son.

“I’m sorry,” she hissed, again sounding anything but, “I must have misheard you. You want my untrained, civilianson to participate in an armed assault on an Altered Madman!?”

Her voice and face had assumed the practiced ice of a threatened parent. It would have gotten Cait to back down, for sure, but it was useless against Director Swan. For Kevin’s part, the kid looked absolutely stoked about how things were progressing.

“’Sall right, Mama Peach,” Warhawk volunteered, before Director Swan could respond, “I flew my first combat mission for the DC when I was 10, and I turned out alright.”

Her voice didn’t match her words. The red-hot scorn of her tone was mirrored by the glare she shot the Director. Cait caught a wave of concern from Kennedy in the direction of her friend.

“That is not constructive, Sandra,” Director Swan said dismissively. Her eyes didn’t so much as flick in the winged Guardian’s direction. Her attention remained laser focused on Brittney, whose knuckles were going white against Kevin’s arm. “Brittney, we are up against a cities worth of foes that can simply rise again when killed. We cannot win this with conventional tactics. We need an undetectable strike force, one that can get through millions of foes that all share the same mind. I can think of only one powerset capable of that.”

“I can do it!” Kevin yelled, all but bouncing out of his seat in excitement. “Cait’s the only person my power doesn’t work on! Mom, I can walk them right in and no one would know!!! I’ll be fiiine!”

He sounded like nothing so much as a child begging a parent for a sleepover. Director Swan allowed her mouth to crook upwards in a slight smile.

“Not quite what I had in mind. Sending a child directly into enemy territory is beyond the pale, even for our current circumstances. Allow me to demonstrate what we have in mind.”

The viewscreen shifted, to a similar setup to what Warhawk had used to illustrate expedition formations. Cait, Kennedy, Sandra and Kevin were all represented as T-posing figures. Cait and Kennedy remained on the ground, while Kevin superimposed onto Warhawk as they rose into the sky. A line linked Kevin and Kennedy, causing a dome to cover her and Cait. In a surprisingly adorable animation, Cait and Kennedy’s avatars snuck past a group of cartoon skeletons to bonk an old man with a book on the head.

“Did Gwyn do that animation?” Cait asked, drawing a glare from Director Swan.

“You try getting a meta-brain to take things seriously when she’s still giddy from a tentacle dodecateam,” she replied, as Brittney gasped, clasping her hands over Kevin’s ears. “As you can see, we would be keeping Kevin far away from the fighting. What’s more, he would be able to remain cloaked in the air with Warhawk, as she is an expert in blind flight. The risk to your son is minimal Brittney, but I understand that it likely seems like too much to you. If it helps, please, recognize I am sending my own daughter to accomplish the actual assassination.”

She inclined her head towards Kennedy, and Cait finally noticed the fierce excitement pulsing off of her girlfriend like emotional fire. Kennedy was ready for this.

Brittney, however, was not. Her jaw remained set, face pale and eyes tight. Kevin shook her hands off of his ears.

“Mom! Let me help!” he pleaded, his mother staring at him for a moment before a tear of fear escaped the corner of her eye, tracing down her cheek.

“I—” she croaked, her voice cutting out on her. She swallowed, composing herself. Steel in her expression, she fixed each person in the room with her gaze, utter disdain plain in her sky-blue eyes. “I won’t allow it. This is insane, and I won’t stand for it.”

Director Swan sighed, rising to her feet.

“I’m sorry, Miss Peach, but you will note at no point did I ask for your permission.”

It barely seemed possible for Brittney’s face to fall further, but as Director Swan met her eyes with steel of her own, it looked as though the floor fell out from under her.

“You, you can’t!” she protested, but Cait could tell the words sounded weak, even to her. Director Swan’s face didn’t break, but the barest twitch at the corner of her eye betrayed her own pain.

“Kevin, the only permission I require is your own,” she stated. Cait felt like she could see Brittney’s gaze burning holes into the Director’s skin as Swan kept her focus on the teen. The kid, still excited, bounced his gaze between his mother and Director Swan, his face falling and rising in turn, before his eyes finally rested on Cait.

Fuck me, Director, if you had me befriend this kid just so I could convince him to go child soldier, consider this my villian origin story.

Cait held Kevin’s pleading, adoring gaze for a long moment. She didn’t fucking like this. Hell, she had told the kid personally he wouldn’t be a Guardian for years, and now their leader was asking him to sub in a month later.

Cait nodded, and Kevin reflected her movement towards the Director.

Kennedy’s hand squeezed Cait’s reassuringly. The girl had been what clinched it. Not that the Director was willing to put her at risk, that decision was as much Kennedy’s as it was hers. But the fact that now Cait knew what Kennedy had gone through, and for her to still be the woman she was now…. Well, the Director must know what she was doing.

“ARMOR is already beginning to mobilize at the former Canadian border. As you’d expect, they have a great deal more logistical work than we do to prepare for an assault like this. Our own Guardian detachment leaves to join them in two days. Inform your teams, you will all be going.” The Director met everyone’s eyes in turn, softening when they met Kennedy’s, lingering on Kevin’s and finally locking on Brittney’s. Cait could feel the woman brace for the incoming, well deserved, tirade, and rose to her feet.

“I think we’re dismissed babe,” she said, as the screaming began. Kennedy shook herself, and rose alongside her, the pair following a stormy Warhawk out of the office.

The second the group entered the doorway, Warhawk spun, grabbing Cait’s wrist and slamming her against the wall.

What the fuck? I weigh 800 lbs, note to self, Warhawk is stronger than she looked.

The woman’s hazel eyes burned into Cait’s, the heat in them entirely rage.

“Had the chance to tell him fuckin’ no. Don’t think I didn’t see that," Warhawk hissed. She released Cait’s wrist, pushing her back against the wall once more before storming out.

Damn. Not like me to let someone dress me down like that without responding, but speechless twice in one night…. The times, they are a’ changin’.

Kennedy squeezed Cait’s hand.

“It’s alright, babe,” she said, her other hand pulling Cait’s jaw around to look at her face, soft, but filled with resolve. “Sandra…. Well, she was always going to be sensitive about something like this. She isn’t wrong to be, but it’s the World of the Waves. We do what we have to.”

Would you be cool with it if it wasn’t to kill the motherfucker that kept you in a… better to leave that unsaid. Cait shook herself, smiling down at Kennedy, and pulling her into a gentle kiss.

“Yeah, you’re right. Gonna have to give me her backstory some day, because I have questions.”

“Not my story to tell, babe.”

They walked back into the apartment, and everyone was, of course, asleep.

“Fuck it, news can wait till morning. Doubt these folks are going to be getting a lot of sleep next few days, we’ll let ‘em rest,” Cait said, running her gaze over the closed doors off of the living room. “Let’s go cuddle up with Lira.”

Kennedy happily stripped back down as she walked towards the door, crawling back into bed. Properly this time, instead of the sex coma they’d all fallen into hours earlier. Cait picked up a grumbling Lira, disturbing Salad where he slept on her butt and getting her head onto a pillow and actually under the covers before spooning into next to her, and letting her mind run free.