“I need you to know something young Myles.” Said John Marquis from the comparatively spacious front seat. “I know you tried your hardest in there. Yes, there was loss, but if you had not been there then it would have been devastating… But I have to tell you.”
John Marquis choked up, unable to speak.
“It’s okay big man, we can handle it.” Said Myles.
“No, Myles, you don’t understand… the people you saved…” Choked out John Marquis
“John get it out or I’m stopping the car and making you sit in the back under Charlie.” Said John Barrington, eyes never leaving the road.
“One of the people you saved was Majorie Babbage.” Said John Marquis. “I saw her being escorted away after hitting the community staff with a newspaper and asking if they knew who she was.”
“Probably stinking of gin… To be fair, I saved her from a Bogglebear a few months ago. at least the effort didn’t go to waste.” Said Myles from under one-half of his cat on the backseat.
“Babbage? like the playwright?” Asked Dyna from under the other half of Charlie Murderpaws.
“Yes, she is actually his great-something granddaughter and part of the Arkwright & Fletcher Human Resources.” Said John Marquis.
“Why are poor people was pretentious guff and The Butler saw her Knickers is an absolute scam, you don’t see anything.” Said Dyna. “And Myles, I like cats and all, but this guy’s teeth are very big…”
“Do you want the bum end then?” Asked Myles. “Charlie, shift around buddy.”
“No, no…erm.. you keep the bum, I’ll just get used to the teeth… and drool.” Said Dyna.
“Myles, your super cool handsome mentor needs an Update.” Said John Barrington interrupting. “You were never supposed to deal with one of those dimensional bugger-ups at your stage of development so I need to know everything that occurred, such as how you survived and are you sleeping with Zara?.”
Myles recounted Everything from during his time under the purple sky from Barrington leaving and fighting Cerulean Sweet to Zara crashing through in a giant robot bat. Barrington stopped Myles and asked for more details about the woman he put off saving and his declaring war on the whistlers. Though he caught something out of the corner of his eye… something on the other side of the fields there were driving past. He spoke of meeting a legendary Trigger user who was apparently wanted for murdering himself.
“We will need to come back to some of those details Myles but first I have a question.…” Said John Barrington. ”Do you know what the average survival time for one of these little jihads is?”
“Obviously not.” Said Myles.
“Just shy of six weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to outlast it or make them give up by being far too expensive, but that is rare.” Said John Barrington.
“Could you not have told me this sooner?” Said an indignant Myles.
“I figured the problem would solve itself.”Said John Barrington
An attempt was made to burn two holes in the back of John Barrington’s head with glares alone.
“He means he thought you’d probably die” Said John Marquis.
“Yes, Thank you John.” Said Myles.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Anyway, the point is Myles you not only escalated but you caused physical harm to Mother. outlasting it is no longer an option. They will keep coming till the last man… it won’t end until either you or the soup-slurping monstrosity is dead.”
“I’ll admit it’s happening a bit quicker than I’d like, but I’m not running from those things anymore.” Said Myles. “In fact you might need to pull over soon.”
“Why? Do you need a wee? Can it wait until the next service?” Asked John Barrington.
“Because for the last ten minutes, all the cows we have passed had had long pink legs and dangly snouts..” Said Myles. “We should probably take the bull by the horns before they get close enough to set us all off at once.”
“That one has a pitchfork.” Said John Marquis peering out of the window. “What kind of scrub uses farming tools in a fight?”
The rest stop was a long out-of-use petrol station surrounded by fields, trees and row upon row of hedges. Myles swore he could still smell the lingering trace of fuel in the air. But the location served their purpose. The collateral damage potential was zero, Property damage was not an issue and most importantly the car wash made for a nice temporary home for the Morris Minor.
“What’s the call John?” Asked Myles
“I say we milk them for all they are worth.” Said John Marquis.
“Other John.” Said Myles.
“They are here for you Young Myles, what do you think we should do? Asked John Barrington.
Myles paused to think for a moment, scanning the surroundings and the slowly encroaching Whistlers. Every attack so far had been leading to this and now with a direct attack on Mother nothing would be spared.
“Dyna, when you said you were a troubleshooter were you implying you have guns like your Dad?”
“More and better.” Said Dyna “My code name isn’t Dynamite for no reason.”
“Wait.. you explode things? Should I be worried?”
“Just wait and see” Dyna said with an almost manic glee in her eyes.
“Okay, Trigger up and get on the roof.” Said Myles. “John, does your pay-to-win death armour have guns or a gun option available in the next minute or two?”
John Marquis poked and prodded at a window only he could see…hand hovering ready to press something.
“Myles…” John Marquis Said.
“Out with it John.”
“It would cost eight thousand pounds…” Said John Marquis, voice dripping with financial angst.” Myles… the money.. I.”
“Nevermind. You can back me up down here. Hide and come in from the side when they focus on me.” Said Myles. “Barrington, up on the roof with Dyna. Prioritise any Fae that looks named other than that thin out the ranks.”
“You know, I was hoping you’d say fuck it and go in guns blazing but that actually sounds like a reasonable plan.” Said John Barrington. “But how the bloody hell am I supposed to look heroic stuck on a garage roof?… Also, my Daughter does not have better guns than me, just more.”
“Good to know! Grab a tape measure, get up there and fire at will.”
“Myles… You seem more excited than usual about getting into a fight.” Said John Barrington.
“This will save me a ton on cat food!.” Said Myles, thumbs up and a manic glint in his eye.
Myles watched Dyna and Barrington initialise their Triggers. Dyna, he noted was surrounded with bright red bubbles in her transformation, a stark contrast from the black lightning of her father. Speaking of her father, Barrington then equipped a Jacket, it had a kind of urban camouflage pattern from what Myles could see. It clashed horribly with his base armour but this augment came with a huge gun blade. A duel-purpose weapon like that was probably not the best of his firearms, but it would save time when Barrington inevitably joined the melee.
The pair wasted no time and opened fire upon the oncoming swarm of Whistlers. From behind hedges and trees, they appeared. No longer content to stalk now their prey had stood firm. All pretence of stealth was given up and the horde rushed forth. Myles knew what he wanted. He wanted to run. The size of the horde was fast approaching his worst days in the dimensional bugger up and it was still growing. He was guessing… but maiming their scaly god queen was probably a clarion call for every Whistler already earth side in the UK and they were all heading right for him. This was fine though. He had burnt through his reserves and while he would not admit it to the others, he felt the hunger and worse, how close that part of the Trigger was to the surface. A horde of charging Whistlers might on one level rattle his nerves. But on another level… it was a food delivery service.
“HARMLESS LITTLE BUNNY LEAPS FOR THE STARS, THAT'S NO ORDINARY RABBIT!”
Two stood in white armour, gleaming in the setting sun. Myles gave a pat to the armoured head of Charlie Murderpaws. He told himself it was to comfort Charlie, but deep down he knew it was to treasure himself. The Whistlers were close now and picking up speed, fury writ large on their face… or at least writ as large as pink fur and whatever the snout nozzle thing was. Myles hated the bloody things.
“Come on fur-ball, it's go time!”
The two burst towards the Whistlers. The this action was caused a few of the marauding Fae to stumble in shock. Generations of bred-in instinct told any given Fae which way prey was supposed to run, towards them was not it. For many of the horde, it made for a jarring experience. The second jarring experience of note was the crackling Glaive Myles manifested, blinding the nearest Fae. The pack-leading Whistlers, now stunned from the arcing jolts of red lightning also found their vision obfuscated by the flash blindness. Defenceless and quickly decapitated they were pulled into Myles’ inventory. The amuse bouche of fairy corpses kicked some new instinct into high gear. Myles was empty… he was hungry. But the Whistlers were serving themselves up to him like violent bowls of angel delight. Myles grabbed a big fucking metaphorical spoon.
Charlie tore his way through spindly legs and guts. What he didn’t kill was left to bleed out slowly. This didn’t bother Charlie as there would be plenty for him later. More importantly, but not sure how he knew, he was able to borrow from his Dad. The cat happily played with the big funny mice. He remembered one of them hurting him before he needed a long sleep, now they needed disabusing of their current food chain paradigm.
Myles Endeavour sliced his way through the horde. Whistler flesh offering no more resistance to his thundering glaive than a sweaty pat of butter. Corpse after corpse was added to the Triggers inter dimensional digestive system. He was able to go all out not because he had friends watching his back. A furry murder machine by his side, two snipers covering his advance, dropping the fae before they could pin him down. Most dangerous of all, a man who got erections reading the Financial Times. myles hopes he hadn’t found a copy of the Economist in the hedge and got distracted. Every lesson, every experience thus far had forged Myles into something more than he was. Myles would make sure the Whistlers or any Fae for that matter never looked at him as prey ever again. Red lightning began to crackle.
“BREAKTHROUGH FIRST STAGE - UPGRADE COMMENCING”
“Oh not now.” Groused Myles as he was swallowed by a giant bolt of red lightning.