CHAPTER 40
"What the fuck do you mean, she made her choice?" Kennedy screamed at Samsara. The teleporter had medevac'd the wounded, and was now staunchly refusing to bring Kennedy to Cait.
SHE WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT
Breastman's comedically accented voice took away some of his gravity, but he was right.
"Breastman is right," Samsara, Dawn pleaded. "Cait is new to this, believe me, I had a similar reaction when New Davenport fell. I only survived with Chance's intervention. That now falls to you."
Samsara ignored the doe and Breastman, focusing on Kennedy.
"I'm under strict orders from your mother to not port you into unreasonable danger," Samsara stated. "We have no clue how many of these things there are, or what would be waiting for you if I take you. No."
"Fuck you then, I'll do it myself," Kennedy snarled, and Samsara's newly yellow eyes went wide as Kennedy snatched her power. A portal appeared behind Samsara as she tried to flee, but Kennedy grabbed one of Dawn's hands and one of Breastman's tentacles, before focusing on Cait and falling backwards through her own.
Kennedy hadn't trained with Samsara's powers. She wasn't in the habit of forcibly linking with people, and the teleporter was almost pathologically private. That meant the weird golden line she felt herself following to Cait was new to her, although it also felt strangely familiar. It also meant she didn't know how to aim.
The trio fell out of a hole in the sky 50 feet up, and Kennedy cursed that she hadn't touched Rose before portaling out. Fortunately, in the interim, Breastman had time to regenerate, and the swiss-army monster whipped out tentacles to his friends and a tree, slowing their fall like a bungee.
He set Kennedy's feet gently on the ground, and she linked her mind to his, sending thanks. Her link with Samsara had cut off after they'd exited the portal, and she filled that slot with Dawn. Looking around to get her bearings, a chill ran down her spine.
What she'd taken for a dark cloud in the chaos of the fall was actually an undulating pillar of water, rising up from the rubble of one of the many destroyed buildings that surrounded it. That same rubble swirled within it, continuously battering a beautiful blonde form it held inside.
"Cait!" Kennedy cried involuntarily, then cursed when two silver figures at the bottom of the pillar turned to face her. She growled, extending her staff and summoning corrosion. "Aim for the mouths."
The Ironhides were on them in a flash, but found them prepared. Kennedy stepped aside as one barreled into her staff, and howled as she redirected it past her, the corrosion along its length eating away a patch of fur.
The second had made for Dawn, but the deer had played prey, extending only a single root to trip it at the last second. Immediately, Breastman began to pummel it with the plentiful rubble in the area, crushing concrete to powder against its body.
The one on Kennedy squared off with her, the leftover corrosion on its arm hissing angrily. She smirked, and beckoned at it. This motherfucker wasn't going to be shit compared to Black Swan. It approached cautiously this time, wary of another redirect. Kennedy repeatedly slapped away its probing attacks, leaving it with nothing but acidic pain for its trouble.
The continued crashing from behind her gave her comfort that, at the very least, Breastman and Dawn weren't dead. She really didn't have the bandwidth to focus on their fight any deeper than that. This fucker was learning.
It would strike out, drawing a parry it would dodge, before diving in from a new angle to strike in the worst possible place to move her staff. Her confidence began to fade when the first brush against her thigh began to seep blood, even from the most glancing of blows. It was buoyed again somewhat as the flesh knit together over the myriad small wounds, Breastman's regeneration making itself known.
Sandra was right. Gotta practice with everyone more.
Kennedy let herself become more aggressive, capitalizing on opportunities she wouldn't have if she didn't know she could shrug off minor wounds. There would be no death of a thousand cuts for her.
That lasted until the monster lashed out with a kick that severed her ankle. She had enough time to wonder what the fuck it had been waiting for before her back hit the ground. The monster stood over her, leering in a way she'd only ever seen from very bad men. It raised its face to the sky, releasing a long howl of victory.
Idiot.
Sweating from the pain of her severed foot, Kennedy's arm extended up and over the beast, jamming her corrosion coated staff through the monster's conveniently aligned throat.
It shook and gurgled as it tried to look down at her, but she jammed it deeper, feeling the resistance within it melt away along with its insides. It clawed weakly at the shaft of the staff, trying to pull it back out.
"Only way this is coming out of you is through your asshole, fucker," she growled. An instant later, she made good on the threat, and the end of her staff slammed into the ground as the monster slumped.
Then she passed the fuck out.