Amaranthine

Ain’t fuckin’ going out like this, Cait vowed.

She felt Kennedy flow into her, more than ever before. Love, trust, fear and apology. It filled her chest like hot lead, threatening to spill out of her if she could move her mouth to scream.

Wait, no, I think I actually AM gonna throw up. Wonder if I can choke on my own vomit.

The roiling heat built in her chest, forcing its way up her throat as she frantically tried to part her lips. She managed maybe a millimeter. Then, instead of breakfast, a great belch of fire burst forth, washing back over her face and burning away her entrapment. Eyes wide, and ugly screaming like she always did when she puked, she directed the stream of fire over her body, finally free.

Her yell petered out as the fire dribbled to a stop down her chin. Panting, she grinned down at a shocked Kennedy, holding out a hand she noticed was much more talon-like than she remembered.

“Sorry you had to see that, wouldn’t be as shocking if you’d seen me drunk before,” Kennedy let out a stunned kind of laugh, before returning Cait’s feirce grin, locking her hand in hers, and pulling herself fo her feet. She winced, and Cait wished they had B-Man, Kennedy would already be healed up linked to him.

“Go help Qi,” Cait ordered, glaring up at TuTulang. “I got the big fucker.”

“I—”

“Yeah, I know, you get to kill Grandpa,” Cait said, turning her gaze back to Kennedy. “I know I like playing around with climax denial, but I’m making damn sure you get that revengegasm. Go.”

Kennedy nodded, then yanked Cait’s head down to kiss her, deep but quick. Then she was rushing back to the fray Qi held her ground in. With her help, that tide should turn quick.

Cait was moving at speed before she even looked back at TuTulang. She was there in three booming strides, fist slamming into its foreleg, sending splintering cracks throughout the limb.

Its silence in response was eerie, no reaction save to move the leg back out of danger as it brought a hand down to swipe at her. It slammed into Cait’s shoulder, sending her rolling, but if just punching her worked she’d be dead by now. She shot back into melee range, aiming for the same spot on the Beast’s leg.

Her aim was thrown off and she stumbled as a wave of bone sparrows pelted her from the sky, like the world’s creepiest hailstorm. She hawked, spitting out bone splinters from the cloud that grew as the miniature foes shattered against her skin.

TuTulang didn’t let the distraction go to waste, and Cait felt a shadow fall across her. She had just enough time to get her arms up and feet planted before an immense forelimb slammed her calf deep into the landscaping.

She strained against the titanic weight, the claw grasping against her hands where they were planted on its phalanges.

C’mon, she coached herself, you always liked leg day. Lira said she was jealous of these gams, show ‘em why.

Cait let herself be pushed down just a little, just enough to bend her legs, loading them with explosive power. She let it go in a nano-assisted squat jump that would have won her gold at the Meta-Olympics.

Unwisely, TuTulang had used its damaged leg to try and pin her. The cracked leg couldn’t withstand the force, and shattered, the power of Cait’s jump carrying her through and level with the monster’s chest. Even as it tottered on three limbs, it brought one of its upper arms around to swipe at her.

Cait met it head on, riding her momentum and pulling herself forward with a punch, to shoot straight through the approaching fist. As her momentum fled, she cocked back her own fist, shooting in between TuTulang’s ribs to latch onto it’s spine.

With its unshattered hand, it, creepily, reached through its own ribcage to try and pluck her off its spine. Its titanic grip closed around her, pulling her taut, but Cait found out that a skeleton could look confused, as her hand stayed planted on its spine.

Her fingers, while not the majestic talons of Qi, had grown sharp and long, and the second she could, Cait had dug them into the bone she clung too. With her own joints locked in place, she wasn’t going anywhere without bringing a vertebrae with her.

Looking up through the monster’s ribcage, she met its cavernous eye sockets. She grinned, drawing back her other fist to slam it home on its spine, impact shaking the whole beast. Its yanks grew more frantic, and it snaked its blunted arm in to hammer at her, even as she kept hammering on its spine, starting to choke on the flying bone dust.

Speaking of flying, it took her longer than she would’ve expected to realize they’d taken to the skies, panic apparently driving the monster to try anything. But Cait was like a machine with one purpose: fucking up this piece of bone. As she pounded and clawed through the other side, whatever magic let the bone support the rest of the skeleton finally ceased working. Cait looked down to see its dragon half falling away towards the earth.

An instant later, the odd feeling in her stomach let her know she was falling as well. She allowed herself a savage grin, as she pulled herself up the monsters spine, ignoring its desperate scrabbling against her back. Finally, she had a fist planted in its left cheekbone, staring into its gaping eye socket, imagining she could see fear inside of it.

“Don’t know if you can her me, Papercut dick, but you forgot one thing,” she said, yelling to be heard over the odd music the wind made as it rushed through bone. Behind the skull, the earth approached fast. “Bones break. I don’t.”

TuTulang’s skull shattered as it impacted the tip of the catherdral, Cait falling through to slam into the ground, with just enough time to prepare a proper superhero landing.

Fuck I hope Kennedy saw that, or better yet, Gwyn recorded it. Belongs on SuperCenter.

A slow clap, sounding genuinely appreciative, sounded from the cathedral entrance. Bookkeeper stood there, looking down at her with nowhere near enough fear in his eyes.

“Excellent wor—” Cait’s hand was at his throat before he could finish.

“Never understood why you’d let the bad guy monolgue,” Cait said, dragging him off towards where Kennedy and Qi were finishing off their own foes. She didn’t get more than two steps before her arm began to feel very wrong.

She looked down, to see Bookkeeper smiling as his skin melted around Cait’s arm, crawling up her skin like horrible, fleshy slime.

“Tricksy fucking hobbit,” Cait screamed, skin crawling literally and figuratively as she clawed at the creeping flesh. She tried to summon fire again, but that surge of power… it was gone.

Fuck.

“Guys!” she called, as the flesh slime reached her neck, “Help!”

Thundering footsteps were at her side in an instant.

“Oh gross,” gagged Qi, before following it up with a wash of flame over all of Cait, burning the invader to ash.

“That wasn’t actually him, right?” Qi asked, brushing paper ash off Cait’s shoulder. “Otherwise Kennedy is gonna be pissed.”

“Don’t think so, but now we don’t know where the fuck he is,” Cait responded.

Footsteps heralded Kennedy’s approach, dragging an unconscious HotGlue.

“I think I might,” she growled, dropping the body at Cait’s feet before sprinting towards the crushed bronze ball, covered in shredded pages.