Nick ended up wrapping Dawn tight, going for the thunder jacket method of comfort. After Cait and Kennedy had left, the woman had fully broken down, sobbing and letting a lot of emotions out that none of them had known were even building. During their hunt earlier, it had come out that Dawn and Chance were routinely intimate, but her feelings dump made it clear that the relationship was far more than physical.

  She was, however, able to pull herself back together impressively quickly.

  Director Swan had gone over inherited instincts with Nick, agreeing that much of what he was experiencing was due to his new form being predatory. She’d given opposite examples as well, pointing out that those with prey animal traits will look calm and healthy up until they are absolutely physically unable to do so.

  We failed as teammates here. I should have made the connection, checked in. Gotta be better, she would be for us.

  “Thank you, Breastman, Gwyn.” Dawn said, squeezing the couple and wiping her eyes. “It has been a long time since I had this kind of companionship. It is much appreciated.”

  NO PROBLEM

  HOW DOES NATURE MAGIC DO

  WITH WEED?

  “It is excellent at removing weeds, but I don’t see how that is relevant.”

  Nick shook himself

  NO

  THE KIND HERB

  MARIJUANA

  “Oh! Fine I suppose.”

  ??MIGHT HELP??

  “Uh,” Gwyn cut in, “Are both of you sure that wouldn’t fuck you up? You don’t exactly have the same biology as humans.”

  GETTING FUCKED UP

  IS THE POINT

  Gwyn slapped him on the bill

  “Ass, you know what I mean.”

  IF WEED KILLS ME

  IT MIGHT AS WELL

  DO IT NOW

  She rolled her eyes

  “Am I dating a stoner?”

  NO!

  BUT I PARTAKE

  DID BETTER WITH DEPRESSION

  THAN SERTRALINE

  While this conversation had gone on, Dawn had summoned her staff. Seconds later, sprigs of sticky herb were sprouting from it. Nick rummaged through his room, a quick process with 13 tentacles, and found his old rolling papers. AEGIS really had brought everything. A few minutes later everyone was feeling pre-ty good.

  DOESN’T MAKE THE PROBLEMS

  GO AWAY

  BUT YOU FORGET FOR A BIT

  Dawn just giggled and slapped at the joint he was waving in front of her face. Despite easy access, it didn’t seem like this was an avenue of nature Dawn had explored, and it was hitting her hard.

  “Team Amaranthine,” Bubb-bill’s voice crackled over the team comm, “I know you guys have already seen action this wave, but its all-hands. Got an Altered pickup we need you to run, south Alleny. Head to the motor pool and I’ll get you the coordinates.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Cait’s voice responded in the affirmative. Breastman and Dawn, however, just kept giggling.

  “Jesus Christ, of all the times,” muttered Gwyn. She wrangled the two giggling Guardians out of the room down towards the garage.

  Nick’s weird sensory world was even odder under the influence, and it definitely didn’t feel like he remembered. He’d been an extremely relaxed toker, but now he felt loopy, and had to keep being directed away from walls and doorframes by Gwyn. If anything, all his senses were dulled save for his Altered sense.

  YOURE SO BEAUTIFUL

  GWYN

  The clean bright green light that emanated from Gwyn’s forehead looked like a halo to him now. He kept losing track of everything but her as she led him along, which was probably for the best all things considered.

  For her part, Dawn was mostly lucid but very giggly. She kept summoning her wisps, laughing to herself as she made them play. Nick’s senses weren’t dull enough that he couldn’t tell she was leaning into it a bit. The smile usually made it to her eyes, but there were moments where her eyes would lock on something, and in those, there was still pain at the edges.

  However, the point had been to cheer her up, and it did seem to be working, even if it was a little bit fake-it-til-you-make-it.

  “All I’m saying is, TAPS didn’t try to fight a single ghost.” Cait’s voice entered Nick’s senses as they entered the garage. An exasperated groan announced Kennedy’s presence as well.

  “Cait, that’s a fucking positive!” she countered.

  “I dunno man, if I saw a ghost I’d be swingin- holy shit, Gwyn, are these two high?” Cait asked Gwyn, sniffing the air as they approached.

  “Good luck!” Gwyn announced, spinning on her heel and leaving the garage.

  “Oh my god,” Kennedy said, bringing a palm to her face. “Should we even bring them? I mean, good work on comforting a friend B-boy, but this could be a rough first impression.”

  WE GOT PICKEDUP BY EYEBITE

  IF U WANNA

  TALK ABOUT IMPRESSIONS

  “Damn, high Breastman is catty. Pete likes that costume!” Kennedy responded. She sighed, then gestured towards an SUV. “Alright, pile in, I’ll drive. You two are sky high, and Cait has no self preservation.”

  “True! I was a bad driver before I was invincible,” Cait agreed. “I ever tell you about the time I hit a parked bus? Wasn’t even drunk, just distracted by a burrito.”

  FUCKIN’

  COULD FUCKIN’ GO

  FOR A

  BURRITO

  They got on the road, and Kennedy tossed some waters back to Dawn and Breastman.

  “Jesus, I know this isn’t how it works, just try to sober up.”

  Dawn giggled, and Breastman ate the whole bottle.

  “Christ,” Cait said. She turned her eyes skyward, indicating she was talking to dispatch. “Bill, what are we driving into here? Why a full team?”

  “Well, for one, you guys are still pretty green, accomplishments aside. Two, Sonder actually has been trained for intake, but hasn’t actually done it before. Three…. We, uh, can’t actually see what’s going on in there. We’d like you to go in first, Amaranthine.”

  “Call me your canary, Bill.” Cait responded with a grin. Nick made an eerily accurate chirping sound from the back seat.

  “Do you have anything you can give us, Bill?” Kennedy asked. “Radioactivity, chemical hazards, ya know?”

  “Absolutely nothing, in terms of readings. The call described a roughly 10 meter radius area within which people lost sight. That same area gives us zilch on sensors, which I guess is something in and of itself. People seem to be able to enter and leave the area without issue, save the temporary blindness.”

  “Alright, so what’s the pickup? We can’t just grab an area in space,” Cait stated.

  “Oh right, the area is moving, and a human voice is coming from inside of it. No one is visible within, but we expect this to be a result of an Alteration.”

  Nick let out a low whistle from the backseat.

  “You said it buddy,” Cait agreed. The SUV pulled into the parking lot of a large supermarket. The entrance had been cordoned off, and two ARMOR officers stood near the doors.

  Cait and Kennedy hopped out of the car, followed by Nick and Dawn. Kennedy turned to address the group.

  “Alright, let me do the talking, at least up top. Especially you two.” She made the universal ‘eyes on you’ gesture to Dawn and Nick, who brought a tentacle to his hat in a jaunty salute. Cait laughed, Dawn giggled, and Kennedy sighed. She turned to approach the ARMOR officers.

  “Evening, officers. Sonder and ‘Team Amaranthine’ here to take over.” She made air quotes around the team name. Nick had a sneaking suspicion her mother had dubbed them that just to screw with her daughter. “What’s the situation?”

  “One presumed Altered inside, everyone else evacuated. No injuries, just a lot of people shaken up by temporary blindness. Voice from inside the blackout zone sounds young, male, and pretty scared.” At the last couple words, his eyes flicked towards Nick. “Otherwise, there was an Elevated Race contact team here earlier, but they scrambled when we showed up, no heavy hitters. Wouldn’t mind if one of y’all stuck around in case they come back though.”

  Welp, two birds, one stone. Might scare kids, but should also scare racists.

  SHOULD I STAY OUTSIDE?

  NO POINT STRESSING THE KID OUT ANY MORE

  Kennedy grimaced. She looked at Cait, and something passed between them before the Amazon nodded her reassurance. Kennedy turned back to Nick.

  “I think that’d probably be best. This is going to be a sensitive situation, and I appreciate you volunteering to take one variable out of it. Honestly, it’s a hard choice, you’re becoming very popular, but on the off chance this kid hasn’t heard of you it could set things off.” Kennedy explained, clearly pained to reinforce Nick’s poor self-image, but unwilling to let that affect public safety. It was an impulse Nick could get behind, which lessened the sting a bit.