John Barrington executed a spin kick to the face of a Bogglebear. His suit scanners were telling him the host was very much alive so not only was the damn thing at its peak power. this was now a rescue mission.
“Are you sure you don’t want some help John?” Asked John Marquis
“Don’t suppose you could give bash him non-lethally if I move him into position? .”
With a backflip john Barrington avoided the claws of the bogglebear. Blocking, dodging and evading its attacks. He needed an opening. The bogglebear dropped to its knees and face planted on the grass unconscious. Behind it Was John Marquis, gleaming in green and gold having struck the bogglebear in the back of its head with the butt of his scythe.
“Death is only at the top end. The bottom reliably provides blunt force trauma.” Said John Marquis.
The victory was quickly replaced with a more harrowing undertaking. John Barrington removed a small purple mouse and clipped it to his Trigger. The jacket that appeared was a short cut leather bomber jacket. its length barely extending past his ribs. It was and animal print of dark purple and light purple with white fur lining. In his hand John Barrington held two razor sharp looking daggers. He knelt down and found what looked like a line of thick scar tissue on the back of the bogglebear. The blade of one dagger was slid inside carefully and in a slow smooth motion drawn down the one of the scar tissue. The smell when the tissue was pulled apart was something john Marquis would never forget. It was the vilest of stomach acids mixed with pork that had been left to spoil in the sun.
“Shouldn’t our armour be protecting us from things like this?” John Marquis asked, trying his best not to spew.
“Scent is an often reliable information source, so the suit won’t cut off our access from it. More is the pity in cases such as this.” explained john Barrington.
The skin of the bogglebear was peeled back revealing a man who skin when not entirely missing, was blistered and sore. John Barrington had summoned community assistance as soon as they had engaged the bogglebear. It seemed counter intuitive to remove the parasitic fae before her was on the scene, but too often in the past the few had accelerated its digestion of the host in a bid for freedom. Risky as it may seem, removing the vile thing was always the hosts best chance for survival. The adult human male who had been its victim looked terrible. But with the right care he would probably survive, even the scarring could be reduced to the point he could still live a decent life. The mental trauma however would be much harder to deal with, especially since he would remember nothing, just vague feelings of trauma he would never be able to articulate. When the empty bogglebear started to twitch and write John Barrington put a blade through its brain in a flash. Their armour dismissed in response to
“How does a creature like this even exist, I understand that fae are alien to us, but even so how does a haunted onesie like this even come about?” asked John Marquis.
“These bastards are unnatural even among the unnatural things. Said John Barrington. “But Humans are to blame this time. a trio of wizards tried to bring about a new power like the Triggers. Their names I believe were Burton, Tucker and Marks. Though this is going back centuries now. Anyway, They succeeded in turning a kind of fae into… into this.” John Barrington kicked the remains of the bogglebear.
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“So we turned an already dangerous fae into something we exist as a squishy biological battery for…. Sounds about right” Said John Marquis.
A familiar orange and green flashing light signalled the arrival of a community its clean up crew. Though this time one of a different sort. The Vehicle was large, white, and gave off a very distinct hospital smell. Two people stepped out, an Indian woman who John Barrington knew to be Dr. Maya Singh and a tall pale skinned red headed woman he did not recognise.
“Barrington, long time no see, though in my case thats probably a good thing. ‘Said the cheerful Doctor. “Come on, help me get the patient into the tank.”
John Marquis was surprised to find the tank was an actual tank with translucent pink liquid sloshing around. The former bogglebear host was placed inside. It was slow, but his skin cold be seen regenerating in real time.
“This is amazing, why are you not selling it and making ungodly amount of cash.” Said John Marquis
“Maybe because it’s for fucking helping people you Fairy Trigger prick.” Said the red head in what sounded like an Irish accent. Not that John could place it any more accurately.
“Easy there Thin Blue Line, he’s new and doesn’t know any better.” Said Dr. Singh “He is the new guy right John?”
“One of them, I have two, This guy.’ John Barrington used his thumb to point at john Marquis, who had gone back to watching skin regrow on the bobble bear victim. “This fellow got the Cash armour.”
“That explains a lot.” Said Dr. Singh with a chuckle “You need to be a dosh hound to get that thing working properly.”
“The other guy has the Tomnadashan Trigger.”
Dr. Singh’s smile dropped into a look of utter shock.
“No bloody way… You found a compatible user, after what, five decades.” Said Dr. Singh, who got lost in thought a moment. “We could not make heads nor tails of that damn thing… is the user… normal?”
“There are a few anomalies, I haven’t told him some of them, and I think you should meet him before I tell you the others. But the kid thinks it is normal to just be able to pull a whistlers head off… Like I said, you need to come and meet him… Maybe not his cat.”
“Whats wrong with his cat?”
“Nothing, it’s just a really mean cat.”
“Don’t listen to him, Charlie Murderpaws is a good cat.” Said John Marquis, who had met Charlie several times and got on quite well with the ginger moggy. He presumed one apex predator recognised another.
“His name… is Charlie Murderpaws. Even Myles, at least on some level, recognises the little demon.” Said John Barrington defensively.
“Myles is the user, he thinks he is normal but isn’t and he has a mean cat?” said Dr. Singh trying to keep up with the nonsense being spouted by her colleague and his apprentice.
“It’s all just more Fairy Trigger bollocks.” said the woman referred to as Thin Blue Line. “I’m sure he will go nuts and need putting down soon enough.”
“I would bet every last pound I have on Myles mastering the frenzy.” said john Barrington, staring daggers at the red head.
There was an awkward tension in the air after John Barrington’s vocal declaration of support for his new anomalous apprentice.
“That would be a ringing endorsement if you actually cared about money John. Bet one of your fancy suits and I’ll believe you.” Said Dr. Singh in a teasing tone.
“You don’t care about money?” Said John Marquis in a hurt tone.
The conversation was rudely interrupted by Johns special community issue phone. He looked at the message.
Endeavour
What do you know about something called an Engine Dynasty? I just met one in town
John Barrington started typing a reply on his phone as fast as possible.
“Myles just encountered the Engine Dynasty. Fuck! First he pisses off the whistlers now he runs into that flaming bag of trouble.” John Barrington put his face in his hands as an act of frustration. “John, we need to head back, Maya can you finish up here and report the Engine Dynasty sighting.”
There was a buzz of activity as John and John helped clear up what they could before leaving the site and patient to Dr. Singh. John Barrington was worried, the Engine Dynasty didn’t hold a grudge like whistlers, but they were strong enough that one of their petty whims could vaporise most people on the spot. He had seen it happen. Those biomechanical arseholes hated their lessers talking back, it did not help that from their perspective everyone was lesser, including most fae.
John Barrington had been warning people for a while something big was coming. He felt sometimes he should change his name to Cassandra. His gut told him that the Engine Dynasty appearing again was not the big thing, but a symptom of evens ramping up towards it. still if it was not just a one off he could do with some back up. Some who would be unable to say no to his pleas for help. john Barrington would call one of the most dangerous Trigger users he knew, someone he had trained personally. He would call his daughter.