Amaranthine

Cait woke up, having surrendered to sleep for the first time in a week, to find a world that was almost…. Boring.

Maybe that was unfair. She had healthy-ish relationships for maybe the first time in her life. She had friends again. She was a goddamn superhero. And it was that last part that was the problem.

One of those aforementioned friends had undergone a pretty major upgrade a few weeks ago. The Dawn Posse had all joked about their namesake being the resident nature goddess before she’d merged herself with a mythic rose, and now…. Well, within the bounds of the Des Moines metro, the term was as apt as it could be.

Few and far between were the threats Dawn couldn’t deal with instantly, and with a hell of a lot less damage to civilian life and public property than Cait’s fights tended to leave. Sure, another Titanocarp had shown up last week, and Cait had dispatched it in the usual fashion, but otherwise, she was basically window dressing.

They, or rather Cait specifically, didn’t even get to patrol anymore. The Director had pretty quickly smoothed out overall tensions with DSM ARMOR after Breastman’s rampage in the aftermath of Winnipeg, but that hadn’t extended to amnesty for Cait. They were, perhaps understandably, still upset she’d wrecked one of their fanciest mechs in service of protecting said tentacle monster.

Didn’t help the pilot is married to my ex… Like Captain Schwinn didn’t have enough reasons to hate my ass.

Her pity party ended with a hard smack to her morning wood. She turned to her left to glare at Lira, who scowled back in return.

“Seriously? Gonna wake up next to us—” Lira pointed to herself, then poked Kennedy, snuggled up to Cait’s other side, on the forehead, “with that look on your face? Kids these days. Don’t know how good they fucking have it.”

‘Mmf,’ Kennedy groaned, eyes fluttering open. “Whathfuck?”

“Look what you made me do! She was sleeping so peacefully too.”

“I feel like this is a no-win situation for me,” said Cait, fighting the urge to raise both arms in defense and thus disturb both women further. Lira’s frown shifted from playful to a little more genuine.

“Uuuuugghhhhh! Cait!” She scolded, “That’s the point! You already won!”

In a flourish befitting a magician, she whipped the sheets off of the trio, revealing some sights that never got old.

“In the words of literature’s 2nd best redhead, ‘Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!” her grin was infectious, and Cait couldn’t help but return it, at least once she tore her eyes away from Lira’s insane body to notice it.

“MJ fan huh? Who’s the first?”

“Me, when I finally write my memoirs,” she said, planting a big kiss on Cait and hopping up with some truly astounding athletic ability. “Now c’mon! Up!”

Cait didn’t ‘up’, instead turning to look at Kennedy, who had latched tight onto Cait and had been making sounds reminiscent of an angry cat since Lira had torn away the blankets. Cait turned back to Lira, eyebrow raised.

“Bring the bitch!” Lira commanded dropping to one knee on the bed and slapping Kennedy’s copious ass, drawing a much more human yelp. The jiggle did nothing to calm Cait’s morning problem. “No matter how hard I work her, this fucking dumptruck never gets any smaller. You two have been useless lately, so its boot camp with Sergeant Light until morale improves.”

“Stolen valor!” Kennedy groaned, earning another slap on the ass. In return for her glare, she got the manic grin Lira only wore when training or weapons testing were about to happen.

“And this would be domestic abuse, if this weren’t a training situation. Now it’s just motivation. Up!” Kennedy’s butt began to play the role of bongos, the pale skin of her cheeks quickly reddening, until she finally relented and pulled herself off Cait to slap Lira away.

“Staaahp, I’m up! You know that doesn’t hurt right? My ass might look like jello, but its Cait powered and could tank…. Like… a tank.”

“Yikes, you do need to wake up,” Lira chuckled, “your wordplay is usually way better than that. Anyway, yeah, duh, I’m dating her too, have you not figured out annoyance is the second best way to manipulate her?”

Kennedy looked down between Cait’s legs, making the flagpole she found there twitch as she caught her lip between her teeth.

“I prefer to focus on the best way.”

She reached out to caress Cait, but her wrist was intercepted by Lira.

“Nope! Work first, then play.”

“When have you ever followed that order?”

“Everyday! That’s why I look like this,” Lira waved her free hand over her slender, athletic torso, “and you look like some kind of sexy cow.” She brought the hand back up to flick at one of Kennedy’s nipples, adorning her admittedly impressive breasts. She giggled as Kennedy lunged for her, scuttling off the bed, happy to have gotten a rise out of the goth and also accomplished the goal of getting her out of bed.

Jesus, after that I’m more inclined to play as well, Cait thought, stretching as she rose. She sorted through athletic wear till she found a set Lira hadn’t switched out for a size too small, and waited till Kennedy got bored of chasing Lira. Like it or not though, Lira is actually trying to help us out of a slump, so only play I’m gonna be doing is playing along.

“Alright sarge,” Cait said, snapping off a jaunty salute when Lira looked away from Kennedy trying to wriggle into some yoga pants. “What do you actually have for us today?”

In 5 minutes, Lira had them in the Colosseum, having chased them both with a twisted up towel into a dead sprint. She was the only one without superhuman endurance, but to be fair, she wasn’t breathing hard either.

“Okay!” she announced, clapping her hands together once she’d herded them both into one of the Onyxiron training rooms. “So, Elizabeth told me to make sure you two were actually staying in fighting shape, so, you’re gonna fight!”

Kennedy’s hand shot into the air.

“Yes, Private Swan?”

“Permission to speak, Sergeant Light?”

“Okay, this is annoying, let’s drop that. What?”

“Uh, Cait will beat my entire ass. Eventually, I mean. You know what she’s like.”

“It’s true,” Cait agreed, nodding sagely. “I am incorrigable.”

Lira rolled her eyes.

“C’mon, Kennedy. You’re in a gym full of superhumans. This is, like, the single best possible situation for you.”

Cait watched Kennedy rock back on her heels as she realized a truth both of them probably should have picked up on. Her look of awe changed to one of concentration, then took on a fierce edge as her features became slightly more angular.

Well fuck, how am I supposed to know what that means?

“Looks like you’re ready, slowpoke?” Lira asked, and Kennedy nodded, smile growing wider by the second. Lira flicked her eyes at Cait, then shrugged. “Welp, not like you ever get any more ready. Fight!”

Cait’s eyes hadn’t left Kennedy, mind flicking through half recalled powers she’d seen around campus, and which one of them came with some prodigious cheekbones. She came up with nothing.

Kennedy just charged. Not the wild sprint Cait typically did, but a perfectly controlled dash, coming in low and fast.

Sorry, babe, Cait thought, and drew her arm back for a haymaker. Kennedy was coming head on, which was exactly how Cait liked to meet things. The room shook as her fist boomed forward, only to meet air. Kennedy had dropped, sliding between Cait’s legs and just barely dragging one finger across her inner thigh.

Immediately, Cait toppled forward, all of the momentum of her strike suddenly directed straight downward. She slammed into the Onyxiron floor, bouncing slightly. Then the floor swallowed her.

The black metal made a horrendous screech as it deformed around her, cracking shut around her arms and legs, leaving her able to wiggle her body uselessly. A soft, familiar weight landed on her shoulder blades, and she craned her head back. Kennedy, pleased as punch, had sat upon her new throne and was picking at her nails, doing her best to hide a smirk behind a bored expression.

“Fuck me,” Lira breathed, then blowing an unnecessary whistle. “Round 1, Sonder, and not close.”

The floor screamed once more as it released Cait, who immediately did an enthusiastic pushup, toppling Kennedy off of her. The goth just chuckled, golden eyes filled with mischief.

“Someone’s a sore loser,” she teased, sticking out her tongue. Cait scowled, proving her right.

“Counterweight, right?” Cait growled, stretching out and resolving that round 2 would go differently. Kennedy nodded, smirk looking like it might be a permanent addition to her pretty face. “Okay, fair play, but who’s got the fuckin’….. flooromancy?”

Cait took psychic damage from Kennedy’s eye roll.

“Not flooromancy, Cait, metal shaping.” Kennedy’s head tilted to the side, and her black lips parted in a grimace. “Don’t actually know his name though. Frank maybe? Does a lot of the infrastructure remodeling after the Hobbyist summons shit.”

“You beat my ass with construction powers,” Cait said, flatly. She knew that was reductive, but Kennedy’s ability to merge and utilize the powers she borrowed was as impressive to behold as it was aggravating to spar against. She gave up thinking about it and turned to the ref. “Also, Lira, how do I like…. Win? Most people don’t survive my fights, and while suicide-by-lover fits Kennedy’s whole aesthetic, doing it to her sure don’t fit mine.”

“Cute that you think you’ll even need to worry about it,” prodded Kennedy, and Cait didn’t even look her way, just raising one finger in particular towards her voice. Lira, for her part, looked thoughtful.

“Good point,” she admitted, “I mean, obviously, win condition for her is immobilizing you, which, fuck, we gotta make that less easy, you get tied down like Princess Peach gets kidnapped, but for you….” She looked serious for a moment, fixing Cait with a hard stare and raising one hand skyward. “Hand to god, do you think one of your full power punches would kill Kennedy?”

“Probably not?” Cait said, wishing she was more sure either way.

Two months ago, definitely. One? Probably. Now…. Well, Kennedy got tougher the closer they got, and they were close. The L word was getting thrown around the apartment a lot, and with each day that passed it looked like it might be real love, not the kind of puppy love or sexual trance Cait was used to inspiring. She couldn’t say for sure. Never felt it before.

“Hey!” Lira’s fingers snapped in front of her face. “I know that look, stop thinking about that thing I do with my tongue. What’s the verdict?”

Cait grinned, now very much thinking about that thing Lira did with her tongue. She gave her a shrug, and turned her grin on Kennedy. “Only one way to find out.”

They weren’t stupid about it. They put combat padding on Kennedy’s chest, and on where she was likely to bounce off the wall. Doctor Siobhan even hopped off the elliptical to oversee things, on the off chance some magical healing was needed.

So it wasn’t stupid when Cait punched Kennedy as hard as she could in the sternum. Admittedly, she’d have pulled it if she could. But really, it was regular human punch or freight train impact with her, no in between. So, her fist might as well have made a big ol’ choo-choo as it slammed into Kennedy’s chest.

As expected, the padding exploded, but Kennedy didn’t, which was a good sign. She was, however, thrown back against the wall hard enough to bounce off the thick impact foam Lira had called up from the controls. She caught herself on all fours, and promptly vomited blood.

“A-abuuuuse….” Kennedy wheezed as Siobhan ran over to help her. In a flash of soft green light, she was back on her feet, wiping the blood off her mouth and ready to pay Cait back for that.

“Right,” Kennedy snarled, a fierce grin on her face that Cait wondered if her power had somehow stolen from her own. “Time to remind you why the Black Swan decided to raise me herself.”