Amaranthine

When Kennedy walked into the Council chamber 15 minutes later, her mind really was clearer. Cait could blank out a girl’s mind like nothing Kennedy had ever seen, and that kind of reset was exactly what she needed. Yeah, her cheeks might still be a little flushed as she stood before Chairman Zebrowski, but hopefully he’d just think she was upset about how things had gone since they arrived in the city.

“Well,” he began, the absolute picture of composure despite the Council he chaired’s many failings. He gave Kennedy the kind of polite smile a mother gives a child who has just seen them make a mistake, daring them to call her out on it. “Good to have the worst of things behind us, isn’t it?”

Yeah, definitely good thing we don’t have Cait running point. She wouldn’t let that slide.

“I hope that’s true, Chairman,” Kennedy said gravely, shooting an empathic warning to Cait when she felt her about to say something. “As we discussed yesterday, Director Swan has seconded the Dawn Posse to Technocago until things have stabilized. We’re here to be tasked.”

“To be frank, the city is more or less literally burning,” the Chairman continued, sweeping hard eyes across all of them. “Many beasts escaped to the under tunnels, and while they may not pose the same threat as an Ironhide, a regular coonbeast can still tear through any number of civilians. Without a guiding hand behind them, their attacks have become random and deadly. In time, we will have more specific direction for you, but as it stands, the best thing you could do would be to join our meager Guardian corps on patrol, or hunt in the sewers if you are so inclined.”

Kennedy nodded, unsurprised. This had all been decided before she went to bed last night, up late with her mother on the phone and making sure the immediate emergencies were taken care of with The Council.

Leadership sucks, I could’ve been getting dicked down by Cait with Qi until I saw god, but instead I was staring at stressed old dudes.

“We can do that,” she agreed, inclining her head to her right where Cait and Breastman stood. “Amaranthine and BREAST MAN will work on clearing things out below ground, while Qi and I patrol topside, get a feel for things on the streets. What’s your timeline for getting your technological defenses back online?”

This question wasn’t scripted. When she’d left last night, The Council had still been waiting on analysis from those beneath them. The Chairman’s grimace told her the information they’d received was not good news.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly, our defense corps. were the group most heavily affected by Powershell’s corruption. Many were in the middle of the heat when his power dispersed, and…. Well, I’ll spare you the details. The fact remains that we will be starting somewhat from scratch in the operation of our defenses, though thankfully much of the infrastructure remains untouched.”

Kennedy nodded, sharing his grimace. When they’d been unable to reach many of their experts yesterday, she’d suspected this was to be the case.

“Understood. I’ll leave Nano-Smith with you to consult, she’s the best we have at AEGIS, I’m sure her input will be invaluable,” Kennedy said, stopping herself from smirking at the way edges of The Chairman’s eyes ever so slightly tightened. The old politician knew as well as she did that Gwyn was being put there to make sure they didn’t fuck things up again as much as she was to help.

Her eyes flicked to Firewall for an instant, who had retained his Council seat for now, though whether he would long term remained to be seen. In the face of the ER’s threats, his actions were understandable, but now, without Splice, the need for Altereds other than PlazLoad on The Council was tenuous at best. Rather than the entire city, Firewall’s area of effect only extended as far as his eyesight. Point Defense had already been dismissed, his forcefield abilities much more useful on the streets now that they couldn’t be used to protect the city itself.

Point was, as it stood, Gwyn could kill everyone in the room without breaking a sweat, provided she started with Firewall. And assuming PlazLoad could be killed. Altered’s like him often defied the traditional definitions of what was ‘alive’ to begin with.

While Chairman Zebrowski might not be thrilled, Mark, the tech specialist, was ecstatic.

“That’s great!” he yelled, jumping to his feet and waving Gwyn over. “Listen, we were actually trying to get a nano-powered…”

Kennedy heard what he said next, but it didn’t make any sense. Gwyn looked at her questioningly, and Kennedy nodded her assent. The girl honestly looked just as excited as the Councilman did, and Kennedy hoped that the relationship there would turn out to be universally positive.

Willow’s voice, laced with the menacing whispers that appeared when she wanted to be taken seriously, somehow drowned out the two busy nerds despite never rising above the tone of casual speech.

“If I could,” she asked, drawing all eyes to her, “I’d like to have some time with Splice. I may be able to get more out of her than conventional interrogation techniques will.”

The Chairman cleared his throat, but assented. After a few words of clarification and goodbye, the team split up.

Kennedy found herself on the street next to Qi, walking towards the nearest column of smoke. The towering dragon bumped her hip into Kennedy, nearly at her shoulder, and entwined her tail in Kennedy’s fingers and up her forearm. Kennedy looked up at her to see a softer smile than she usually wore in full dragon form.

“Good work up there,” she said, and Kennedy squeezed her tail like it was a hand.

“Thanks,” Kennedy breathed. “Honestly, most of that was more or less scripted last night. Was really hoping that they’d have better news this morning on the defenses, but….”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Qi reassured her, titanic claw reaching down to pat Kennedy on the head. Her talons ticked her scalp, sending tingles down her spine. “We were wasted back in DSM anyway, with Dawn taking care of things. I didn’t mind being the scaly sexy face of AEGIS for a bit there, but it’ll be good to be more than just a public figure again.”

“Yeah,” Kennedy said, bumping her shoulder back into Qi’s side, “you’re right. I missed it too.”

The city was pretty messed up. With Splice not performing her duties correctly even before she was taken down, the buildings had been exposed to more damage than they’d been in years. Nearly everywhere you looked, some degree of debris clearance or rebuilding was going on.

While back in DSM you might have seen powerful Altereds mixed in with the construction crews, easing the process along, in Technocago things were a little different. The crews themselves were typically enhanced, either using advanced robotics to speed the work, or themselves equipped with exoskeletons that gave them strength on par with many Guardian level Altereds.

Qi and Kennedy offered help where they could, but outside of melting down a few big pieces of stone or steel, their abilities were really redundant for this kind of work. That said, they were never dismissed out of hand. A man in an exoskeleton might be strong, but he was slow, and his body was no less vulnerable to Coonbeast claws than anyone else. Having a dragon of myth and a terrifying sexy version of a scaly xenomorph in eyesight went a long way towards helping people feel secure, provided they knew those things were on their side.

To be frank, they were right to be worried. More than once, when the pair stopped to help, a manhole cover had been thrown open, and beasts began to pour out before they were quickly dispatched by the ready heroines. One of those times it had actually been Cait, thrown out of the sewers by a particularly large and irate beast. She’d given a jaunty midair wave to the pair before launching herself back below ground.

It was wild that a day of work and combat was so relaxing, but compared to dealing with Characters, Ironhides, or intercity politics, it just was. These monsters might be an immense threat to your average citizen, but a normal Coonbeast posed about the same amount of danger to Qi or Kennedy as a fly.

Kennedy’s mind was sent back to her earliest days as a Guardian, before she’d even met Cait, and when Qi was just the hot dragon that usually sat alone in the food court. Those first few patrols with Eyebite or Dust Devil had seen next to no action, but taught her loads about cultivating a community presence. They were lessons she’d been putting to use as they’d helped out, shaking off her instinctive aloofness to smile and joke with the work crews. It didn’t come naturally to her, like it seemed to for Cait, or even Qi when she was dragoned up like this.

But that was kind of what her powers were for. She drew on both of the girls’ confidence, Qi’s draconic self-surety, and Cait’s genuine interest in other people, to become someone a little better than herself. No different than using their conventional superpowers.

As the sun finally dipped well below the city skyline, and began to paint the sky the deep red of a sunset after a fire, that same link told her Qi was flagging. Sure, she had tremendous physical endurance, but it had been a long few days, and unlike Kennedy, linked up to Cait as she was, fatigue was still a thing for her. Kennedy scanned the storefronts of the buildings around them, eyes landing on the bubble letters every boba tea shop in existence seemed to use for their sign.

“Hey,” she said, bumping her head into Qi’s arm. “Support local business?”

Qi followed her gaze, and Kennedy felt a wave of relief from her. Qi grinned down at her, wide and sharp and warm.

“You know that just cause I’m Asian—”

“Oh fuck you, I didn’t even think about that. Half the time you just literally look like a dragon anyway,” Kennedy said, reaching up to grab Qi’s claw and dragging her towards the shop. She felt it shrink in her hand as Qi let some of her size and armor fall away, shifting from the craggy, powerful, claw of a beast to something far more elegant. She looked back, seeing the features of Qi, the woman, looking back at her, ruby red eyes shining. “Honestly, if you weren’t naked, I’d make you pay. Exhibitionists have no place to keep a wallet.”

She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a thin card carrier and shaking it at Qi.

“Mommy gave me an all-ow-aannncceee,” she sang, giggling as Qi boggled at her. Kennedy would have been surprised in her place too. Not only at Kennedy’s out of character behavior, but at the realization that, in a different city, everything probably wasn't just going to be as easy as scanning a thumb.

Honestly, how does that work for her anyway? She literally never has human enough hands to have thumbprints.

“Uh, should we all have one of those?” Qi asked, following her inside. She’d shrunk, but still had to duck to get her horns through the door.

“Idk, Qi, do you ever have pockets?” Kennedy teased, getting a ‘fair enough’ shrug from Qi in response. “Anyway, I knew what the teams for today would be ahead of time, so B-Man and Gwyn both already have one.”

Qi grinned at that, and Kennedy knew why.

“Daaaammmmnnn, didn’t trust Cait with that, huh?” Qi said, her turn to tease.

“Shut up, no,” Kennedy laughed, “Mom doesn’t trust Cait with it. She showed me Cait’s tab for snack stops on patrol once. It’s insane. If she had control of the card, AEGIS would be going into debt for deep-dish, and the bitch doesn’t even need to eat.”

“Touché,” Qi agreed. “I think I’ve sampled the apps at every restaurant and food stall in Des Moines, just from a couple patrols with her.”

Kennedy sauntered up to the counter, smiling at the teen attendant who stared at the two superheroes like they were aliens.

“Not used to seeing Guardians in this city, huh?” she asked, purposefully keeping her voice cheery. It snapped the girl out of her shock well enough, and she put on a shaky smile.

“Uh, No! I’m sorry!” she stammered, visibly trying to collect herself. “What can I get started for you?”

“Peach milk tea, extra boba for me,” Kennedy said, then waved behind her to Qi, who was staring down the menu like it was written in Greek. “and whatever the embarrassing scalie wants, when she actually makes a decision.”

“You have scales right now too,” Qi reminded her, and Kennedy cursed. “I’ll do the same, no need for the extra boba though. Never had this before, but Kennedy and I usually share the same tastes.”

Kennedy glanced up to find Qi smirking down at her, a look she returned with an added roll of her eyes.

“Okay!” said the attendant, as Kennedy paid. She went ahead and left a tip that was about half the price, just for that little extra boost of goodwill. “Just one minute here.”

The girl looked back at Qi just a second too long before she turned to the drink machines.

It rose Kennedy’s hackles instinctually, before logic caught up with her. That look had not been threatening. It hadn’t been thirst, either, for that matter. Admiration, maybe?

Kennedy took a moment herself to run her eyes over Qi. The woman was regal. People used that word to describe her mother a lot, but it really was a different kind of royalty. Her mother was the American type, that of a high powered CEO or A-List celebrity. Qi, for all that she could be an awkward goof, or a horn-dog bro, looked and held herself like a queen.

She noticed Kennedy staring, and grinned, putting an arm around her shoulders to pull her into her side.

“Thanks, K,” she said. “Needed a break.”

Kennedy beamed up at her, and it was only later she’d realize that was the first time she’d given Qi a look she’d, till now, reserved for Cait and Lira.

“Extra boba?” The attendant called, smiling pleasantly at Kennedy as she held out the pinkish-tan drink, filled nearly halfway with little balls of deliciousness. Kennedy took it, thanked the girl, and found a seat at the window bar. She looked back over her shoulder to see Qi reach out for her own drink, only for the attendant not to let it go.

Kennedy suppressed her fight response again. The look in the girl’s eyes wasn’t dangerous.

“You-, I think you saved me yesterday,” the girl said, and Kennedy saw Qi’s eyes go wide. “You were the big dragon right? With the monster and the blonde woman?”

Qi nodded, immediately outside of her comfort zone once explicit adoration was directed her way.

“One of those things was trying to tear into my car. It was reaching for me through the roof when this huge claw grabbed it and threw it to the monster. It hit it with the woman so hard it exploded.”

This was all said with perfect gravity and sincerity, so Kennedy choked back the laughter the description threatened to send tumbling out of her.

Qi stared for a second longer, before she smiled, and once more Kennedy was taken aback by how soft that sharp smile could look.

“It’s my job,” Qi said, raising her glass in toast. “Glad you’re okay, Annie.”

Kennedy’s eyes fixed on the girl’s nametag, which she probably should have read earlier. Annie watched Qi walk over to Kennedy with the reverence of a nun watching Jesus descend from heaven. Qi sat next to Kennedy, and smiled sheepishly.

“What are the chances, huh?” she asked. Kennedy sighed contentedly, and wrapped her arm around Qi’s craggy bicep before resting her head on her shoulder. She took a sip of her tea, delicious by the way, enjoying Qi’s warmth before speaking.

“Probably pretty good, honestly,” she whispered, raising her eyes to meet Qi’s. “I bet you saved a hell of a lot of people yesterday.”

This time, Qi’s smile wasn’t sheepish at all.

“Guess I probably did, huh?” she said, taking her first tip of her own tea.

They stayed like that for awhile, watching the city rebuild behind the window as their cups drained.