Amaranthine

It was quickly decided that Gwyn would be what they did about that, so the team stuck around for now. Cait did get up, much to Kennedy’s chagrin, and walk over to turn the tap on the canister of ‘Juice’.

Perhaps predictably, it was revolting. Cait hadn’t made a habit of spending time on slaughterhouse floors, but she imagined this is what it would smell like. The blood was… rotten for lack of a better term. It squelched sickly out of the tap, seeming to move slow, but in an instant Cait had to step back, lest she get some of the quickly growing puddle on her toes.

She turned the tap as she did, cutting off the disgusting stream. The blood pulsed as it soaked into the dust and dirt covering the concrete floor, the streaks of black through it staying distinct at all times. The patterns it made, the way it moved, the fucking smell….

Well, Gwyn would have to get her own sample. This one was now contaminated by half digested pancakes. Cait heard Kennedy alternating between laughter and gags behind her. Breastman, however, seemed interested.

“You good, buddy?” Cait asked cautiously, stepping between the terror ball and the puddle as he scooted over.

THINK SO

SMELLS…..

REALLY WEIRD

REALLY BAD

BUT IN A GOOD WAY?

“Huh, well, keep any urges under control, for now,” Cait cautioned, “that seems like something worth exploring, but under controlled conditions, with your girlfriend around to serve as a sacrificial fleshlight in case what this does is make you unaccountably horny.”

TECHNICALLY

I THINK ITD BE SAFEST IF YOU TOOK THAT ONE FOR THE TEAM, the words scrolled across his hat, bill perking up pleasantly.

“No, no, I couldn’t risk our friendship like that,” Cait demurred, unwilling to admit B-man had a point there. She walked around the stinking puddle, picking up the hose that had connected the machine to Goliath. She followed it until she found the needle that had been jammed into his arm.

“Fuck is this made of?” she asked, flicking a finger against its metal. It made a dull thud, that unexpectedly rose to a high, shrill ring after a moment. “I cheated my way through physics, but that seems wrong, right?”

“I think you’re the most educated one here, big girl,” Kennedy said, voice muffled and nasal from beneath the shredded t-shirt she’d pulled up to block the smell. “but fuck no, that doesn’t seem natural.”

“Welp, someone was gonna do this experiment at some point,” Cait said with a shrug, then jammed the tip of the needed at her forearm. Its fine tip didn’t penetrate, but neither did it bend.

“Almost disappointing,” Kennedy sighed, brushing a claw possessively over Cait’s shoulder. “I don’t think it fits my aesthetic to leave exes alive, but if you ever leave me its gonna be hard as fuck to kill you.”

Cait laughed, pulling her close with an arm around her waist. “Now why would I ever go and do a fool thing like that?” she asked, beaming down into Kennedy’s coy smile. Then the scent hit her again, and she quickly let go, lest she fill her girlfriend’s mouth with breakfast instead of tongue.

Kennedy’s talon traced lazily over her back as Cait got the evil out, cooing soft reassurances. “Its okay, babe, probably not the best time to get romantic anyway.”

The low thrum of engines announced the arrival of the research team they’d sent for, and the cleanup team they needed. Few of the gangsters had survived, and many had died messy. Cait didn’t miss the fearful glances some of the hazmat-suited workers sent her and Breastman’s way as they cleaned up piles of chili that had recently been human-adjacent beings. It clicked in Cait’s head again that she should feel worse about that.

Really though, they should be scared of the babes in black, she comforted herself, I just killed these goons. Immortal soul left untouched. She thought of the two times she’d punched Kennedy’s ghostly father, and frowned. At least I think they were untouched.

Gwyn floated out of the driver’s side door of a black SUV, carried gently over on her customary cloud of ‘bots. Immediately, the passenger door opened and she was followed out by a scowling Lira.

“Gwyn! Fucking walk when you don’t need to float!” Lira scolded, receiving nothing but a lazily extended middle finger for her trouble. “This is why you never keep any gains!” Lira persisted, “consistent effort, Gwyn! The gym isn’t enough!”

Not one to fight a losing battle, the redhead turned off trainer mode pretty quick, bouncing up to Cait and taking her off guard by leaping up to wrap her legs around her waist and aim a kiss at her lips.

Her mouth met the scaled skin of Kennedy’s talon, interjecting itself just in time.

“Gonna want to hold off on that, babes,” Kennedy chuckled, then frowned as a sound suggested Lira had begun to lick at her palm, “no, really, this big baby has puked twice in the last five minutes.”

“Eugh!” Lira yelped dropping from Cait’s waist like she’d been shocked, “for real? I mean, it stinks, but not like that bad.”

Kennedy gestured to half-digested piles of pancake littering the floor. “In her defense, it was much worse a couple minutes ago.”

“Well, fuck it, you were next on the list anyway,” Lira said with a casual shrug, before grabbing Kennedy by the horns, pulling her into a passionate kiss the black-scaled beauty came away from beaming.

‘Haah,’ Lira gasped, wiping a rivulet of blood from her lips. They curved into her own sly smile, the slight welling of bright red doing nothing to diminish her beauty. “Sharp, I like it.”

Kennedy blushed, but if she was going to say anything, Gwyn beat her to it.

“Lira!” she called, waving vaguely without looking over at the group of women, “Over here, I need your ‘special eyes’.”

Cait watched Lira’s ‘special eyes’ roll, then watched her bounce over to where Gwyn hovered in front of the jar of ‘Juice’. As ever, pretty though Lira might be, there was nothing quite like the view as she walked away.

“Do your thing,” Gwyn ordered, gesturing at the jar, already engrossed in some readout or another on her tablet.

“Gwyn, this is dead, you know that’s not how it works, I’m not going to get anything,” she looked at the jar, eyes glowing faint blue, “See—”

She looked confused for a moment, eyes flicking as they scanned text unseen for all but her. “What the fuck?”

“Thought so,” Gwyn said smugly. “That black stuff is alive, isn’t it?”

“It must be….” Lira said, voice trailing off as she continued reading. Or, based on what she said next, trying to keep reading. “Its mostly, like, wingdings basically, just like when trying to read the link between Cait and Kennedy…. Might be a clue in and of itself,” she muttered, keen analytical mind she preferred to keep hidden away kicking in at the promise of a new mystery. Cait thought she’d probably been getting along just fine with the nerds on The Council. “Really, all I’m getting is a name; Outgrowth, and a few repetitions of the word Infinite where the body of the text should be.”

“Hmm,” Gwyn grumbled, scowling at Lira, then at the readouts on her tablet. “That is less than enlightening. Honestly, Lira, we gotta do some tests on you, figure out where your information is actually pulled from. Knowing who or what refers to this stuff as Outgrowth would be useful in figuring out what the fuck it means.”

“I mean, probably in reference to the Outgrowth of power in an Altered Madman, right?” Lira said, sticking her tongue out mockingly after Gwyn’s scowl left her face, “given the feed you had of the fight, this guy definitely qualified. Like, damn, poor Qi!”

“She’s good, right?” Cait interjected. “I just kind of assumed, given that The Director said she’d be sending medical personnel, and our girl is tough as nails.”

“Oh she’s good,” Lira said brightly, blushing just slightly, “was very upset after Siobhan healed her, wanted to run back here. Had to distract her, you understand.”

“Quiet, slut,” Gwyn continued, rolling her eyes at Lira’s mock offense, “focus up. You’re probably right. But Outgrowth of what exactly? We’ve found no purely physical representation of Wave energy.”

At that, Lira just shrugged helplessly. That sounded like a job for actual research. Gwyn sighed, directing ‘bots out of her cloud to lift the ‘Juice’, transferring it to a holding apparatus that was quickly materializing on top of the SUV. “Right, well, who the fuck knows,” she said, “maybe one of the Meta-Brains here knows more, or at least can help us figure it out. God knows none of the ones left are any good with defense tech.”

Cait winced. “So, that mean we’re here for the long haul?”

“Oh, I dunno,” Gwyn grinned, “I’m pretty badass. But it’ll be a few days at least, yeah. Which, to be frank, is good. I’ve been listening in on Zebrowski and Impish, and this city has some fuckin’ issues. How do all of you do versus magic?”