Amaranthine

On the short walk over to the Pantheon, the team placed bets on what ‘Tasking’ awaited them, now that Dawn took care of 99% of the hero work in the city.

“I’m telling you,” insisted Lira, “She’s finally forming her superhero harem. We all knew it was coming. Hoped it was coming, even.”

“I’d be a pretty wild choice to start that off,” said the woman in question’s adopted daughter, her face carrying more warning than her tone suggested.

“Really?” Lira responded, looking pointedly thoughtful. “I mean, I’d fuck you. I do fuck you.”

Qi and Cait let them bicker, trading more grounded suggestions.

“Maybe she’s going to try rolling you guys back out to the public,” suggested Qi. “It’s been awhile since B-Man went berserk, and folks have developed some pretty short memories for tragedy. Plus, the people do love Amaranthine.”

“Yeah, but everyone’s favorite tentacle monster is still doing Star Wars cosplay in the Bunker. If she thinks I’m going to let that stand, she doesn’t know me as well as she thinks she does,” Cait responded. Still, it seemed a possibility. No point having an asset like her keep sitting around forever. Even if there weren’t any monsters to punch, she’d been informed quite enthusiastically that she was a marketing dream. She sighed. “Man, I hope you’re right though. I was just getting used to being an actual hero, and now I’ve spent roughly as much time sitting around the compound as I did being an active one.”

“Fair complaint,” admitted Qi. “I’d been doing the solo act for years, and gotta admit, it never really got old. Felt like I was made to kick monster ass, you know?”

“I think I kinda do!” Cait said, pushing open the door to the Pantheon as the group entered. Her face took on a thoughtful cast. “Maybe it’s the opposite, and she’s sending us away, let us do some good elsewhere while ARMOR cools off. Not like they need the garrison with Dawn’s Arbor anyway.”

Qi hummed in assent, and let the conversation drop. They each waved hello to Shelly as they passed the tortoises iridescent enclosure, receiving the ancient creature’s constant, placid smile in return.

Voices could be heard from Director Swan’s office before they even reached the door. It was odd, how Dawn’s voice carried now. It wasn’t louder, or any less soft and reassuring. However, it pulsed with power, echoing with a primal force that seemed to propel it into a part of yourself you didn’t usually have access to. It didn’t carry understanding with it, but it did mean without a doubt that the Director had at least one guest with her to wait for them.

The woman was laughing as they opened the door, head thrown back, completely unguarded. When she recovered, she looked at Dawn wearing what Cait thought might be the first truly genuine smile she’d ever seen from her. She’d believed she’d seen the Director at ease, but looking at her, slightly slouched as Dawn’s tawny hand rested on her shoulder, she realized she’d been wrong.

Powerful as the tableau was, it only lasted for an instant before Director Swan transformed back into the controlled vision of competence she presented to the world.

Really, it was a testament to how surprising that scene had been that Cait had barely registered the third person already in the room. She was a short woman, and Cait’s eyes were immediately drawn to her brilliant white hair. The hair was odd. Beautiful, but odd. It wasn’t the off white of age, and didn’t have the brittle quality of bleach. It fell like strands of silk behind her ears, and following it down, Cait met her eyes, silver-white and alive with amusement, as she looked over her shoulder towards the group.

“Yes, please, come in,” the Director said dryly. “all of you are welcome to enter as you please, with no knock required.”

“Should’ve raised me better!” Responded Kennedy, striding up to the desk and flipping the chair beside the mystery woman around, straddling it like a youth preacher and tanking her mother’s eye roll. “What’s up, old timer?”

The Director arched a perfect eyebrow, glaring past her daughter to Cait and Lira in turn.

“Which one or you am I to blame for that? I did raise her better.”

Lira caught that before Cait did.

“I dunnoooo Elizabeth, she’s been doing things to all of us that I didn’t teach her,” Lira said, with a sweet naiveté that pretended ignorance to what she could possibly be referring to.

Cait and Qi high fived over Lira’s head while Kennedy, false bravado broken, went as red as the dragon’s ruby eyes.

A laugh, pleasant but eerie, like hearing wind chimes in the forest hours from civilization, sounded from behind the white haired woman’s hand. Her eyes were fixed on Kennedy now, and Cait noted that they were nearly as white as her hair, only a shade or two of silver separating then from the sclera surrounding them.

Either she spends more time than Kennedy on makeup every morning, or those black clouds flowing from her eyes to her temples are some lucky cosmetic gifts from the Waves.

“This conversation will not be going any further down that route,” the Director announced, even though she was clearly as pleased as anyone at her daughter’s embarrassment. “I did call you all here for a reason. First, introductions are in order. Dawn Posse, Lira, this is Willow.”

The mystery woman, Willow, raised a hand that jingled with rings and chains to give a jaunty wave.

“Hello!” she said, cheerfully, and with a soft, sweet voice much higher than Cait expected. When your entire vibe screamed ‘witch’, you weren’t expected to sound like a cheerleader. The way her voice echoed, as if spilling from more than one mouth, was about right, though.

“Hey,” Cait responded first, letting her easy, ‘first impressions’ grin grace her features. She walked forward, placing one hand on Kennedy’s shoulder and extending the other for Willow to shake. “Cait Smith, or Amaranthine if we’re doing hero names.”

She looked up at Cait without turning her face all the way up as well, a move Kennedy and Lira used to devastating effect during some of Cait’s favorite activities. This didn’t feel like that though. More like she found Cait amusing, looking at her the way you might watch a cat doing something stupid out of the corner of your eye. It was entrancing. When she took Cait’s hand, her own felt off, ice cold for an instant, then hot, like there was a furnace underneath the skin. The only thing Cait could liken it to was when she’d been tossed into some power lines during a particularly chaotic Kaiju encounter.

“Pleased to meet you, Cait,” she said, breaking the spell she held over the Amazon as her eyes slid to Kennedy. The goth introduced herself, and the rest of the team followed in short order. Names known and hands grasped, Director Swan took control of the room once more.

“Willow is here on loan from Verdant Vegas,” she began, inclining her head politely towards the woman, who returned the gesture, amused smile never leaving her lips. “While such things are subjective, she is in my estimation the foremost general-purpose magic practitioner in the NAAC, and a specialist in Animancy. As neither myself, Lira, or any of our own Thaumaturges have made any real progress in understanding the truth of Kennedy’s abilities, I’m attaching her to the Dawn Posse for your next task, and perhaps longer.”

It was difficult to tell when Dawn was blushing, but the whole team had picked up on the subtle tells around the corners of her mouth and eyes over the last month. She’d certainly done it enough, every single time the team’s chosen moniker passed someone’s lips. The deer had tried to get them to change it, since she was no longer injured and was in fact better-than-ever by essentially any measure. However, she did not have the uniquely human experience of middle school to teach her that such protests would only cause the name to be set in stone. The Director’s eyes had flicked up towards her when she’d said it as well, so it was a safe bet she found the bashful Bambi as adorable as the rest of them did.

“In addition, she will be able to fill a utility role on your team that is conspicuously missing with the absence of Dawn and Breastman,” the Director continued. “While at this point the three of you,” she indicated Qi, Kennedy and Cait, “have proven yourselves to be capable of any combat feat in memory, you are lacking in versatility unless Kennedy has someone else to draw on.”

Cait’s hand shot up.

God, I never did that in school. Is it Director Swan? Hard to get past the strong dommy mommy vibes.

The Director’s eyebrow arched as her mouth mirrored Willow’s ever-present amused smile.

“Yes, Cait?”

“Uh, where the fuck is Gwyn? We aren’t lacking utility. We have a girl with more tricks than tits, and that’s saying something with her.”

Again, that eerie, pleasing chuckle from Willow. It sent chills up Cait’s spine that couldn’t seem to decide if they were from fear or arousal.

“You’ll recall that I did not approve the debut of Gwyn’s ‘Nanosmith’ persona. Given that we are no longer in a state of emergency unseen since the beginning of the Waves, I am pulling on those reins,” the Director explained, a tone in her voice that brooked no dissent. Cait dissented nonetheless, before the Director could continue.

“Fuck that, you saw her, she could beat all of our asses and not even be in the same room, why the hell are you—”

“Cait,” the Director cut back in, tone no longer a warning, carrying an almost physical force as it made Cait shut up. “If you would allow me to finish. I agree, that cat is somewhat out of the bag. However, Gwyn is likely to be unavailable to you all during much of this mission, as she is in many ways the subject.”

“Uh, sorry,” Cait responded, while Kennedy patted her on the ass in mock comfort.

“Noted,” the Director said, conversational dominance restored. “You will be escorting Gwyn to Technocago for a long awaited tech exchange. Miss Stine is not at this meeting because she has already been briefed, and is now prepping Breastman’s containment for transport, as she flatly refused to leave him behind.”

She sighed, and Cait saw Dawn’s fingers tighten gently on her shoulder, and the Director’s lip curve up ever so slightly. She collected herself, and continued.

“Honestly, it will be good to get all of you out of the city. You’re wasted here for now, and our own people have had no luck determining Breastman’s condition. Sending you away takes an arrow out of ARMOR’s quiver, and might open some new avenues for dealing with your friend.”

Cait raised her hand again, drawing a scowl from the woman’s beautiful face.

“Yes, Cait?”

“We are about as heavy as a security detail gets, for a girl who is already a fuckin’ powerhouse. I get what you’re saying about getting us out of the city, but c’mon, what else?”

The Director smiled then, mildly impressed.

“You’re correct, Cait,” she admitted. “The Dawn Posse would be overkill for a fragile baseline human, and is essentially silly for a girl like Gwyn. Your real task will be to figure out why the fuck Technocago never sent the aid they promised during the Bookkeeper crisis. In addition, multiple Ironhides have been observed on the route between the cities, and seem to be gathering in mass outside of Technocago. Given that you and Kennedy are the only Guardians on staff with a proven track record against them, you are to assist the local forces in dealing with that threat.”

Cait sat back, nodding in satisfaction.

Hell yeah. Gonna be good to get back to some real hero shit.

“Any further questions?” the Director asked, meeting each of the team’s gazes in turn. Kennedy looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke up.

“This a Samsara job? If so, we could pretty much leave whenever.”

The Director grimaced, then shook her head.

“It would have been, but Gwyn is concerned about the interaction between the tech in Breastman’s stasis field and Samsara’s portals. My own expertise tells me the risk is unlikely, but the potential consequences catastrophic, enough so that I’m assigning you an APC to make the drive.”

Cait winced, not really from anything she’d said, just from remembering that the group’s driver was currently frozen in silver, and locked in a box. Her eyes met Willow’s, the woman’s brow shifting in concern even behind that faint smile.

“If there are no more queries, that will be all. Go find Gwyn at the… I’m still calling it the Accessibility Bay, but I believe she has changed most of the signage to ‘The Nano-Forge’. I will leave the decision on what to call it amongst yourselves to you.”

The whole team smirked at that, and Cait went around the desk to wrap a surprised Dawn up in a hug before leaving.

“Gonna miss you on this one, Bambi,” she said, feeling the soft fur on one side and sharp thorns on the other as Dawn returned the embrace. “Hold down the fort for us, okay?”

“Of course, Cait. Lira and I will ensure the ‘fort’ is held, and the cat is fed.”

“And pet!” Cait reminded her, releasing the hug to look her in the eye sternly. “Salad cannot live on food alone. He needs belly rubs. Just make sure you use the hand without the thorns.”

Dawn chuckled, squeezing Cait’s shoulder before waving at the rest of the group as they left the room, trailed by Willow.