“No.”

“But Blinky—”

“No buts, Master Jim.” Blinky turned to face Jim and Claire. “Your agreement with the Wards is enough. While we are here, you will help defend the Bay from the powers that assail it, but as your legal guardian…” Blinky narrowed all six eyes. “I will not give you permission to undertake these… Endbringer fights.”

“But Blinky,” Claire said. “I wouldn’t be fighting them, I could just help move people around—”

“I studied all the documents,” Blinky said. “And all three of these monsters have been known to target those who ‘wouldn’t be fighting them’.” He sighed. “Master Jim, Fair Claire, I know you want to help, but those foes are beyond you, and you have a duty to the trolls back home—to your parents.”

“Okay,” Jim said, not sulking at all. But Blinky’s right. Jim had been given the quick rundown on what threats existed here and…

I don’t think hitting Leviathan with a sword would hurt it. I couldn’t even get close to Behemoth and the Simurgh… She scares me. At least Gunmar’s Decimar blade was obvious.

“But on a more pleasant note, enjoy your introduction to the Bay!” Blinky said, gesturing Jim forward.

“Right…” Jim said. In front of the news. The closest he’d come to that had been a single bored reporter at the play. Evidently, two new Wards, especially two open capes, were a big deal. There had been a little argument about that. Jim had to be out, but Claire could have stayed with a secret civilian ID. She’d just looked at the PR guy and Deputy Director Renick and asked, “So I’d have to pretend to not even know Jim when we’re not working? No.”

And that was the end of that.

But why were the reporters on the other side of the door sounding like an army of gumm-gumms?

“Hey,” Claire said, putting her small hand in his. “I’m here. Deep breaths, remember?”

“Right.” Jim nodded. “You know, I’m actually more worried right now than I was fighting Gunmar and Angor.”

Claire giggled. “So you’re saying they should have demanded an interview instead of launching their invasion?”

“Oh God,” Jim said, bursting into involuntary laughter. “Gunmar with a pad of paper and Angor as his photographer. I wouldn’t have stopped running until I hit New York.”

Claire smiled and pulled Jim down to her, giving him a quick kiss. “Just remember, you’re the Trollhunter.”

“And you’re the sorceress,” Jim said and then took a deep breath as they walked in to face the music.

----------------------------------------

“Fucking animal,” Stormtiger muttered. Kaiser had called a meeting to observe the newest Wards at their unveiling. The creature seemed nervous, while the small girl by him looked poised in her purple armor, flaunting her affection for her monstrous companion. She didn’t look nervous at all. She’d outright said that he was her boyfriend.

“Makes sense that the girl’s a Wetback,” Fenja said. “Wanna bet she’s been spreading for him since they met?”

Hookwolf leaned forward. “Wouldn’t mind seeing what he could do against a real threat.”

“He demolished Leet’s bots,” Kaiser said.

“Like I said, a real threat,” Hookwolf said. He leaned back. “So what’s the issue here, they’re Wards, and we keep our hands off Wards unless they get in our face.”

“James Lake Jr. is an open cape, and so is Claire Nunez,” Kaiser said. “No doubt because she wants to be with her… Boyfriend.” His distaste was clear. “But we can use that. Bring up the miscegenation angle at our rallies, Victor. Also, it’s a good time to remind our people that brown is just as dangerous to the purity of our nation as yellow is.” Kaiser leaned forward and smiled. “And if they should show their true colors by lashing out physically when our allies are merely using words, well, that’s even better. After all, we can’t be condemned for defending ourselves when we’re confronted with the kind of violence they resort to so easily.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, fight and preserve the white race.” Hookwolf shook his head. “I just want the workout.”

----------------------------------------

“I can make a shield that will protect him from the ultraviolet rays—”

“No, no, no!” Merlin cut off Colin. “I will not endanger the Trollhunter like that. Every one of his enemies would know that the best way to kill him would be to lure him into the daylight and destroy your device.”

“Then do you have a suggestion?”

“I do, but it would require a gem.” Merlin looked at the diagrams he’d put on the board. “The magic that infuses the trollhunter is vulnerable to the sun, it is true, but with the right materials, I could create a magical stone that would protect him.”

Colin rolled his eyes. “And where do we get this gem? A dragon’s lair?”

“Why would we need to do that? I thought they said you were a skilled artisan!” Merlin walked up to the board and frowned, before he started drawing of diagram of carbon and chromium atoms. “We need a gem synthesized to appear thusly. I’m presuming that is within your capabilities?”

Testing his nanothorn system on a guest would get him in trouble, Colin reminded himself.

----------------------------------------

“Where was Gunmar when we needed him?” Jim moaned, laying back bonelessly on the big bean bag chair that had been brought in.

“You did fine,” Claire said, running a hand through Jim’s hair. She frowned. “I don’t know why people think I’m related to this Oni Lee.”

“You said you’re a teleporter. He’s a teleporter. Reporters are idiots,” Clockblocker replied. Vista nodded at that wisdom. “So, where are you going to live?”

“Here, for now,” Jim said. “Merlin…” he looked around. “We told Merlin that he has to see if he can help the PRT before we go home. So we may be here for a while.”

“He told me that he might be able to help Jim walk around in the daylight,” Claire said. She dropped her voice and continued in a mutter. “He never bothered to bring that up on the walk to New Jersey.”

“You walked to New Jersey?” Aegis asked as he came walking in.

“Yeah, the trolls needed a new home, and we couldn’t exactly book a flight,” Jim said. “So we walked. It wasn’t too hard on me, but…”

“I told you, Jim, I was fine,” Claire said. “And it wasn’t like we could have sent Merlin into a town for supplies.”

“And the three-hour bath you took when we got to New Jersey?” Jim asked.

“I said I was fine, not that I enjoyed not bathing for days at a time.” Claire said. “Especially after…”

“After what?” Vista asked.

“You’re not going to tell her?” Jim asked. “Okay, I will. About three weeks out, we got out of the Rocky mountains, and Claire really wanted to get clean. So we found this little pool, and she just tore off—ah, she pulled her swimsuit on and took a dive.”

“So?” Clockblocker asked.

“She didn’t realize it was a glacier-fed pool.”

“I screamed, turned blue, and then Jim had to fish me out and start a fire to warm me up,” Claire said. “But I was clean.”

“So he was a supportive boyfriend?” Vista asked.

“After he stopped laughing,” Claire said. “Then he saw how blue I was and started panicking until Blinky made him sit down and do breathing exercises.”

“Hey!”

“You tell embarrassing stories, I tell embarrassing stories.”

There was a snort from the door. Jim looked up and saw the crossbow-wielding girl they’d met at the mall. “Oh hey, I haven’t seen you since the mall.”

“She’s been in trouble,” Clockblocker said. “I heard it from Piggy’s secretary—you were supposed to tell Vista to get out.”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to run away, and I figured that Vista would be able to handle herself instead of being protected like some little girl. Shadow Stalker. Where’d you learn to fight like that?” Jim noticed that the exposed parts of Vista’s face turned red at the comment. Shadow Stalker held out her hand, and Jim took it.

“Oh, here and there,” Jim said. “But honestly, the robots didn’t seem that tough.”

“They were Leet-shit,” Shadow Stalker said. “And he wasn’t expecting to hit someone who knew how to fight back. I saw you chuck that robot across the mall.”

“They were doing all that just to rob a mall?” Claire shook her head. “You’d think he could find something else to do.”

“They also stream their fights,” Clockblocker said. “But they’re pretty much the lowest in the Bay—well, other than Skidmark.” He shrugged. “Also, I’ll apologize for the masks. We’re not supposed to unmask until all the paperwork is finished.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jim said.

“So, you working full time?” Shadow Stalker asked.

“Nah, they’re working on school for us,” Jim said. “Arcadia? Merlin wanted closer to the mall, but the only school there is Winslow, and for some reason, they didn’t want us to go.”

“Winslow is a fucking pit,” Clockblocker said. “Ask Shadow Stalker. She goes there. I hear she likes it.”

“Fuck you, Clock,” Shadowstalker said. “So you’ll be going to Arcadia. Why the hell would you do that?”

“I sort of like school,” Jim said. He grinned at a sudden thought. “And I might be able to graduate from being a junior!”

Claire patted his arm at that.