The fading remains of a migraine greeted Myles as he awoke. His mouth was dry and the light was far too bright. At least he couldn’t smell toast. As reality swam back into focus he realised he was not alone. Zara was sitting by his bed with a weapon aimed at his head.

“I don’t suppose this is a very roundabout way of asking me out is it?” asked Myles

“I don’t like taking chances. When zombie boy passes out for no good reason I want to make sure he wakes up normal. Or at least as close to normal as you people get anyway.”

“You know about that being dead part?”

“Barrington had to submit a report. Does that man not tell you anything? No don’t answer that, his idea of mentoring is roping you together to a dead cow and throwing you to the sharks to see who swims back to the surface. But he gets away with it because he’s ‘charming’ or some nonsense.” Myles could practically hear the quotation marks around charming.

“Speaking of charming, I like your gun The barrel coming out of a bat’s mouth is a nice touch.” Said Myles who knew he was terrible at flirting but since she was pointing a weapon at his face things could only get better.

“Thank you, it was my mothers. The sound waves would have liquified your brain quite painlessly.”

“So, can you stop pointing it at me please?”

There was a moment when Zara seemed to stop and weight up her options.

“Fine, I suppose you seem safe for the moment.” Said Zara, returning her weapon to her own sub-space storage

“John, told me why you hate us so much, I understand if…”

“I don’t hate Fairy Triggers, you are the best counter to the fae we have, you pull you weight when any cult or evil organisation pops up, not to mention the alien invasions.” Sais Zara with absolute sincerity. “You may even think I hate my Dad, but I don’t. What happened was terrible and part of why I do what I do now is to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If it was up to me I’d lock you up until we needed you, but fae don’t operate that way. Even with the occasional berserker, you probably save more lives as a lightning rod for fairy bullshit than if we all had you stuffed in a barracks somewhere.”

“So this isn’t a secret come on then?” Said Myles

“Firstly I prefer to wait for the danger of night unstoppable madness to have past before considering a partner and secondly, maybe when pigs fly.” Said Zara matter-of-factly.

“I have understood and taken note of your position. But would you be willing to give me a rundown on the community? One that you think is appropriate since you feel my mentor’s learn as you go approach is unsuitable” Said Myles.

“Fairy Triggers are usually trouble. Sentinels are our best and brightest. Fairy Triggers cause more problems than everyone else combined. Paragons are a mystery, but ultimately a huge force for good. Fairy Triggers need constant supervision. The Knight Mettle are the emergency services of the community and handle a lot of the sci-fi bollocks. Fairy Triggers can be counted on for gross shit and who knows what the independents get up too but most are weird.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“So, when you say you don’t hate Fairy Triggers.…”

Zara didn’t reply, but did give Myles the honour of a death glare.

Myles had not been out as long as he thought, having woken up just shy of nine am. He would be back home to give his cat a fuss and receive the obligatory rebuke of Charlie showing off his arsehole in no time. He defended the stairs with Zara in tow and got a knowing look from his Mother as a consequence. He idly wonders what story had been told to his mother to justify having so many surprise houseguests. But it was obvious and he berated himself for not realising sooner. His Mum was lonely. There was no estrangement between him and Betty Endeavour but he quite simply had not been home. He had met up with his mum, but he had not returned home once since he set foot on the train to University. Even with whatever friends she had made, this house was constantly empty. Now the thing he had been avoiding was gone he resolved to visit more. He would take better care of his family.

“Is Mr. Barrington single?” asked Betty Endeavour

He saw Zara stifle a snigger but Rusty gave him a look that suggested empathy and understanding… right before he started corpsing

“Honestly Mum, I don’t know, but if you wish to pursue a relationship with John thats between the two of you.” Said Myles hoping to not get any further involved.

“Oh I’m not after anything serious, I just want to hit it and quit it.” Said Betty Endeavour

Rusty’s corpsing burst into a full belly laugh and Zara lost her remaining composure. John Marquis giving his mother a high five was the nail in the coffin. Apparently the group had bonded while he was passed out upstairs.

Breakfast had been a buffet, Betty Endeavour had been putting out sausages, bacon and a whole host of the usual breakfast foods, along with a few special treats such as black pudding and haggis. Myles filled a plate from the offerings and poured himself a coffee. The reason for the extra food had been the appearance of the clean up crew… the new one, not Zara and Rusty who were disqualified due to helping out in the melee the previous night.

“So you and Rusty are Sentinels?” Myles asked Zara

“Technically. I’m a legacy and an Auxiliary at that, Rusty is the original.” said Zara.

“I’m old as fuck” said Rusty, raising his cup of tea in salute.

“Sentinels normally have a core team, with a couple of extras who can bring a powerful punch to any given fight… It is hard to describe as there are no hard set rules, but we get our power from a sentient benevolent universe .”

Myles, took a look at his mother drinks cabinet and wondered if it was too early to add some rum to his coffee… then he remembered Zara had used the word aliens before so why should ‘sentient universe’ come as a shock. He was pouring rum in his coffee before the thought had time to cool

“Myles!” Better Endeavour said with stern judgement.

Ignoring his mother Myles sat back down by Zara.

“Please carry on, but I would appreciate a heads up if I need to top up the booze in this thing.”

“So this sentient universe empowers a number of people in our universe to fight whatever is threatening it at any given time, sometimes it needs to adjust that and adds and extra sentry or two who normally end up a bit stronger. Just for example my mother, Animalbion Silver. The threat Animalbion was created to fight is all but gone so now we play a different part in the community.”

“Before I forget, why do we just refer to people like us as the ‘community’ it seems very unspecific…” Asked Myles who needed a break from the existential crisis brewing in his mind.

“Operational security, plain and simple. You mention ‘the community’ out in public and no one gives a damn. We start adding cool nicknames and we draw attention to ourselves.” explained Zara

“That makes sense, but how do you keep aliens secret, I know fae pretty much take care of themselves but in this day and age how do you even hide something that big.”

“You are not at a high enough security level for me to tell you that, but what I can say is photoshop was one of the biggest boons we have ever been given. Anything leaks, then it was photoshopped. We can pin some pretty serious events on some random hobbyist, maybe flood the internet with some actually fake images and anything real gets lost in the noise.

“This is the kind of information I feel I should be given in a government compound or NASA HQ, not a terribly out of style living room” groused Myles who was more rattled by aliens and other universes than he was willing to let on.

After breakfast was over, goodbyes were said, promises to visit were made and Myles and his friends all set off home, or to whatever work the clean up crews were about. tThe supplementary training that the Saturday had supposed to be had gone well of piste but had resulted in a greater understanding of the world of which he was now part. He also had to admit he may have a slight crush on a certain bat powered clean up crew member. Though giver her propensity for pointing a weapon at his face he may have to put any of those notions to the side.. and find a therapist.

The car ride home was blissfully uneventful. After the previous day, boring was a panacea all on its own. Upon arriving home Myles was kicked out of the Morris minor outside of his home so John Barrington could take John Marquis off for some one on one training. John Marquis had acquitted himself well, but resting on those laurels was a good way to get dead. Myles treated himself to a hot shower. Next on the agenda was giving a fuss to his cat who predictably was not happy about having been left alone. Myles suspected he would need to break out the real chicken to win his cats forgiveness. Clean and with a fresh coffee in hand Myles finally collapsed back into his comfy sofa. Now he was alone it was time to examine the thing that had caused him ti miss most of last nights merriment and networking… he couldn’t believe his Mum now knew more members of the community than he did. He was unsure if he would be able to access this without equipping his suit but the menu screen flared to life in front of him. it was there in front of him, Inventory, breakdowns of his abilities and most importantly crafting.