“I cannot believe he asked that!” Claire fumed as they walked along the boardwalk, Clockblocker, and Vista with them. It was their first patrol. Vista had muttered something about a waste of time doing PR, but once she was out on the Boardwalk she put a smile on her face. “I know they said some people might be… bad on the AMA, but I—”

“Well, Clockblocker said that Void saying something inappropriate and getting a two-week ban is like a right of passage,” Jim pointed out.

“But still, talking about how big you are and then asking how we…” Claire turned red. “I mean, he didn’t start out asking if we—” she turned redder.

So did Jim, but nobody could really tell.

“Eh, imagine Mary and her gossip on a world with superheroes,” Jim said.

“Please. No.” Claire said. They stopped, and Jim filled out some autographs.

People are asking me for autographs. Me! The December evening had come early, the sun safely below the horizon, so Jim and Claire were out for the first time since they had done their news conference. Merlin and Armsmaster were working on something to help Jim walk during the day, with Blinky playing “peacemaker”.

Jim snorted. “Did you hear what happened earlier?”

“I was out with Vista getting clothes,” Claire said. “What?”

“A big robot flew up to the Rig and gave Armsmaster some of the stuff Merlin wanted. So he walks up to Merlin and says: This is from Dragon. So yes, I did get it from a Dragon.”

“Oh, he didn’t!” Claire said with a giggle. “What did Merlin do?”

“Looked annoyed. I don’t think he likes it when someone gets the best of him.”

“It took you this long?” Claire asked. “I—”

“She’s my fucking girlfriend!” Claire looked up to see two teens in a face-off.

“Really?” she said. “In front of us?”

She raised her hands, but Vista beat her to the punch, and moments later, the two teens were flailing away at each other, somehow both standing next to each other and dozens of feet apart. Vista held the warp until one of BBPD officers that patrolled the boardwalk was close enough to them to intervene.

Jim stared at the two disgruntled teens, now being spoken to by the annoyed officer. “That was a nice trick.”

“Yeah,” Clockblocker said. “Vista can’t directly affect people, so nobody can claim assault unless she does something to hurt them.” He shrugged. “I’m not allowed to use my power on people unless it’s an “injury or life-threatening” situation because technically, it could count as assault with a parahuman power.”

“Not that it stops you from jokes,” Vista said.

“Only when they’re funny,” Clockblocker replied. “So you do morning patrols with the Protectorate?”

“Yeah,” Jim said. “My sunlight issues. You’re not coming along?”

“Too early. I’m surprised Youth Guard let you, but then you’re from another world… You going with him?”

“Oh yes,” Claire said. “Besides, school isn’t starting for a while yet.”

“Christmas, and then school,” Vista said. “And back to only being allowed to patrol when it ‘will not harm our educational opportunities,’” she said in a high voice.

“I dunno,” Jim said. “I’m kinda looking forward to school.” He grinned. “It beats fighting a war.”

“Yeah,” Claire said. She linked her arm around Jim’s. “It does.”

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

Their first morning patrol was with Miss Militia. Jim was used to being nocturnal since trolls didn’t need that much sleep, and Claire had long since adjusted, though she fortified herself with some black coffee. The boardwalk was almost deserted this time in the morning, nobody seeking autographs, a light snowfall blowing dusting their hair.

A jogger went past, taking a single glance at Jim and Claire as she continued down the boardwalk, her curly black hair flecked with white snowflakes. A few early morning storefronts were open, mostly selling snacks or getting set up for the day.

“So Wards only patrol in the safe areas?” Claire asked.

“Yes. Ideally, Wards should never engage in combat, which in the Bay… Isn’t as ideal as we would like it. Still, most of their actual engagements have been with well, petty villains, like Uber or Leet.”

“And the back areas?”

“There we keep Wards out,” Miss Militia looked over at a pair of loitering youths, tattoos half concealed by their jackets. “Technically, to avoid the danger of engaging parahuman’s who are likely to do serious injury.”

“Hookwolf,” Jim said.

“Or Lung.” Claire nodded.

“Yes,” Miss Militia replied. “But you two have far more actual combat experience than many of the Wards, and so, Mr. Blinky suggested I explain the other reasons. First of all, it’s not the parahumans that we need to worry about. Lung and Hookwolf both know that seriously harming a Ward would result in their destruction. Killing a Ward would bring the full might of the Protectorate down on their head, possibly including the Triumvirate. However, not all of their supporters are smart enough to understand that, and Vista, Gallant, Clockblocker—they’re all vulnerable to being shot, and it wouldn’t matter if Alexandria destroyed the gang in response.”

“So why not send Alexandria in to get Lung and Kaiser?” Jim said.

“Because the Bay might not survive.” Miss Militia said. “The arrival of the Kyushu refugees and the rise of the E88 led to tensions that survive until this day. As bad as Lung is, as bad as the E88 are, they actually restrain their people.” She shook her head. “If one of them were taken down, the other would move in, or their people would and… blood bath. If both were taken down, the riots would blow up the city.”

“Seems awfully hard on the people they do hurt,” Claire said. “I mean, according to some of the online supporters, I’m just a Monster Fucker, so what do I know.” Jim patted her on her armored shoulder.

“There are idiots on the Internet back home,” Jim said, but his voice was lower than it had been.

“Director Piggot agrees. To effectively suppress the aftermath, she believes that we would need vastly more support, not just parahuman, but police and even the national guard, to sit on the non-powered gang members and dismantle them. But so far, nothing serious enough has happened to convince her superiors or the state government itself to free up those resources.” Miss Militia shook her head. “I have to say, I’d love to see this city freed from the gangs. Most of the people here are good people, and even many of the gang members get started because they see no alternative.”

“Miss Militia, this is Console. The silent alarm at Wix Electronics and Importers just went off. Could you investigate?”

“Confirmed.” Miss Militia turned to Jim and Claire. “Okay, if there are armed criminals or dangerous parahumans there I want you to back off immediately. Do you have your earbud communicators?”

“Got ‘em,” Claire said.

“Go high?” Jim asked.

“Yeah,” Claire said. “We can check.”

“Do it,” Miss Militia replied. Moments later, Jim and Claire vanished into a purple portal as the heroine started advancing up the street.

When they appeared on the roof of the building, Jim poked his head over the edge.

“What the hell are those?” He muttered. There were three big, lizard-monster things sitting on the street, one of which was… Scratching its ear? A girl in a ragged jacket and jeans was with them, a dog-mask on her face. Several boxes sat by her.

“Okay, Miss Militia, there are three monster things out there,” Claire said.

“Those are Hellhound’s dogs. Do not engage,” Miss Militia said. “Hellhound is wanted for murder and is prone to violence.” She paused. “And Wix is believed to be an ABB-owned property, so watch out for any other groups.”

“Gotcha,” Claire said. “I could just portal them out…”

“Velocity is on—wait one.” Jim heard her mutter. “Really?” Then. “Velocity won’t be able to make it. Coil’s Mercenaries just shot up an E88-affiliated bar. We’re on our own for now. We can try to get them to surrender, but the police and PRT are both focusing on the E88 situation.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I have an idea,” Claire said. “If I can see them all, I can just drop them in my shadow-space, until we can get them back to the rig.”

“You sure?” Jim asked.

“I…”

“I’m coming around the other side,” Miss Militia said. “If you can, do so, but only if you can stay out of their reach. With the exception of Hellhound, the Undersiders are not known for violent crimes. They’re small-time thieves, and I doubt they’d want to increase their visibility.”

Moments later, Miss Militia came around the corner, her weapon morphing into a large grenade launcher. “Undersiders!” she called. “Come out with your hands up!”

Hellhound was on her feet, and the dogs were now growling at Miss Militia. Moments later, a group came out, and Jim wanted to laugh at how over the top some of their costumes were. A kid in a renfair outfit, a big guy with a skull helmet, and a girl…

“That is someone who is really confident,” Claire said.

“You’d look good in it,” Jim said.

Claire lightly punched him in the arm. “I don’t have the assets.” She started focusing. “Get ready.”

“Right.”

“Why, it’s Miss Militia,” the blond said, a confident smirk on her face. “Don’t mind us, we’re just getting some stuff to fix Regen—” then, somehow, she must have realized they were there. She whipped her face around to look at where Jim and Claire were. “Grue! Cover us, now!”

Moments later, the street just exploded in a shadowy mist.

“Shit!” Claire snarled. “I can’t see them—Miss Militia?” There was no answer.

Jim tried to remember—then he did. “That mist, it cuts off radios. I’ll go down and try to help.” Without waiting, he dove into the shadow.

After all, when you fought people who lived in the darkness, you learned how to fight in the darkness.

But when Jim entered it, he realized that he had misjudged. Normally, Jim used his sense of hearing to fight in the darkness, but this was doing something to the sound and was more disorienting than mere darkness.

Nice of you to not mention that in the report—ooof! Someone kicked Jim square in his back. He staggered forward slightly, but whoever they were, they weren’t strong enough to hurt him. Another kick, this one from the side. Why aren’t they using the dogs? The answer came. They don’t want to get a rep for seriously hurting a Ward.

Which meant that it was the big guy who was fighting Jim, and that meant that he couldn’t use his full strength, not without risking hurting him. Jim had thrown Gunmar down the street and through a building, and that would reduce a human to a bag of broken bones.

So he’s trying to keep me off balance, and I’m trying to grab him. Jim went still, straining to listen. He didn’t hear Miss Militia, but…

There! A rush of feet, and then he lashed out with a hand, getting a grip of someone’s jacket. Then a boot smashed into his face, and with a twist, Jim was left holding a Jacket.

But then, there was a roar, and purplish light blazed as the Darkness was blown away by a portal.

“Yes!” he heard Claire shout, followed by a female voice.

“Shit, she’s a trump!”

That was from the blond, on one of the dog monsters, the boxes secured to it. Miss Militia was getting up from where someone had hit her, Jim wasn’t certain. He started to move to grab the now jacketless big guy.

“Brutus! Hurt!” That command was followed by a “Bitch, what the fuck!?” from the big guy, and moments later, Jim had a rhino monster bearing down on him.

There was no time to pull Eclipse. On the other hand, Jim didn’t have to hold back. He met the dog head-on, slipping under its bite and getting a grip on its neck before he flipped it and threw it onto its back, the impact actually cracking the concrete and sending a shudder through the building. Then Jim had time to call his blade to him, an angry shout from the girl responding to it.

“Bitch, call Brutus back!” the blond said.

Jim wasn’t certain, but the other three seemed a little put out at the girl in the dog mask. But she whistled, and the dog was growling at Jim, but it was backing off.

“Down!” Miss Militia shouted, raising her grenade launcher. Jim ducked down, but then, Miss Militia’s leg just spasmed, and she fell…

Just in time to shoot Jim with the confoam grenade.

His world went white, then black.

Well, crap.

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

Claire stared at the mess in disbelief. She wanted to go after the robbers, but they’d done something to Miss Militia, and the heroine had been close enough to Jim that she was partially entrapped in the rapidly spreading foam.

“Uh, Console?”

“What is it?” The operator's voice was tense.

“The Undersiders did something to Miss Militia, and she, ah, shot Jim and herself with a confoam grenade. They’re running, so do I…”

“Do not pursue!” That was Director Piggot. “We’ll get some PRT troopers with solvent to you.”

“I under…” Claire felt the air change around her. She turned around, and just about five feet away from her, there was a demon-masked man, grenades, knives, and guns festooning his form. “I—Oni Lee is here with me on the roof.”

“What? Withdraw immediately, Shadowdancer!”

But before Claire could do anything, Lee looked at her, looked down to the mess on the street, and just… fell apart into ash.

“He’s… he’s gone. I think he was here for the robbery.”

“Understood. Stand guard until the PRT arrives, and then we’ll talk.”

Clare stared down at the mess on the street and then to where some dust was still swirling around.

“Okay,” she said to the air. “Not the best day we’ve had…”

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

Director Piggot stared at Jim and Claire. They’d come back, been checked out, and now were standing in front of her desk, along with Miss Militia.

Jim was trying to make himself small, a feat that he was failing to achieve.

“Explain why you felt the need to jump down there,” Director Piggot asked.

“Aum, well, Miss Militia can turn her gun into anything, but she isn’t more durable than anyone else, so when the smoke came out, I thought she might be in danger. I mean, they were using the smoke to keep her from seeing them.”

“And what made you think you could help?” Emily asked.

“I’m… Kinda better at fighting in the dark?” Jim said. “I mean, when Gunmar had me, there were times he would beat me up in the dark, and I got good at avoiding him, and after that, I kept in practice.”

“Gunmar, the warlord who tried to kill you,” Emily said. “You told us you’d been captured by him, but not about being beaten by him.”

“Yeah, he was pretty pis—I mean, angry that I killed his son. He wanted to use his Decimer blade on me, you know, the blade that was sort of like Heartbreaker, but he couldn’t until he could force me to take my helmet off, and he could only do that by breaking my will. So he beat me a lot.” Jim suddenly was looking anywhere but at Emily. “Can um, we talk about the fight?”

“It’s okay, Jim,” Claire said.

“Right,” Director Piggot looked down at the report, Jim’s sloppy writing contrasting with Claire’s neat handwriting. “So when you jumped down, Grue attacked you.”

“Yeah, I really couldn’t see that well, but I don’t think…” Jim shook his head. “He was trying to keep me off balance, I don’t think he knew that I couldn’t see, or at least not completely. I couldn’t just hit him because well, he didn’t act like he was an um, Brute.”

“He’s not. Regardless of anything else, your restraint was admirable. Then you were attacked by Hellhound’s creations after Ms. Nunez dispersed Grue’s power. How did you do that, by the way?”

“I um, opposed it,” Claire said. “I can’t say much more. I’ll have to talk to Merlin about that. I’m still learning. I mean, maybe you could ask Merlin?”

Director Piggot’s eyes narrowed at that.

Jim winced. Merlin, why can’t you even try to make friends?

“So, Hellhound tried to kill you.”

“I don’t think so, she said hurt, and Grue sounded pretty angry at her. That’s when Miss Militia fired, and, well, that happened.”

“Regent can introduce muscle spasms… as he did, and since you were on the ground…”

“Yeah,” Jim said. “Sorry about that,” he told Miss Militia. “If I’d seen you, I might have stayed where I was, but I didn’t know if they were…”

“The Undersiders very rarely engage in violence, with the notable exception of Hellhound,” Director Piggot said. “Still, once she attacked, you had no choice but to fight back, and fortunately, you didn’t engage Oni Lee, Ms. Nunez.”

“Oh no,” Claire muttered. “But I think he was just there to check out the property.”

“So, how much trouble am I in?” Jim asked. “I mean, Claire did what she was supposed to. I was the one who jumped down and messed everything up.”

Director Piggot frowned. “For now, nothing. You made errors, but I can’t condemn someone for moving to assist a partner who they believe is in danger, especially since your coms were interrupted by Grue. I take it you aren’t going to seek out them for a rematch.”

“No!” Jim burst out. “I mean, I didn’t think I would survive my sophomore year, so I’m not going to try to get myself killed for my junior year.” He brightened visibly. “Especially since nobody’s going to run for the hills screaming when I show up to Arcadia!”

“Then, for now, I want you to make a complete report about Grue’s power, how it interacted with both of your powersets and how you might counter it in the future. Also…” Emily tapped the paperwork. “You might need to work on your penmanship.”

Jim’s skin darkened, and he covered his four-fingered hand with his regular hand. “I’ll try, but you know, Trollhunters don’t need to write.” I didn’t make you to write reports, I made you to kill Gunmar. Merlin’s voice.

“They do if they’re going to pass school,” Claire said. She had her hand over his hand. “Is that all, Director Piggot?”

“Yes.” Jim and Claire left, Claire pulling Jim out. “The Wards going to show Star Wars,” she told Jim. “I know you love it, and we can see if it’s different here…” The door closed behind them.

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

“Why are we keeping Merlin around?” Miss Militia finally asked, her voice tight with anger. “He created this amulet, arranged for a fifteen-year-old to gain it, and we’ve clearly not been told the whole truth.” She shook her head. “’Trollhunters don’t need to write.’ Any bets on who said that?”

“And on patrol?” Emily asked.

“They’re polite, get along well with people, and use a minimum of force. For all that he made a mistake, it was an understandable mistake, and he didn’t freeze. He’s a soldier, Emily, not a parahuman who joined the Wards, but a sixteen-year-old soldier.” She shook her head. “You heard him, he really didn’t think he’d survive his sophomore year, and he’s still going to be in contact with Merlin.”

“Yes. Merlin who might be able to crack Gray Boy loops. Merlin, who was able to change a child into a… Trollhunter, even though our medical check shows no sign of him being a parahuman. Off the books, there’s some pressure to see if we can get him to do the same with other candidates.”

“To make parahumans like Jim?”

“If he could, yes. There might be enough people, people dying from illness or injury, who would accept such a deal.” Although whether I’d trust people who would accept such a deal…

“So we can’t do anything?”

“We can ensure that Merlin and Mr. Lake aren’t left alone together.” Emily frowned. “The only thing we know about his transformation was that ‘Merlin convinced me’ and the fact that Ms. Nunez and Mr. Blinky are unwilling to go into details, quite possibly at Lake’s request.”

“Should we press them?”

Emily shook her head. You got a feeling for people. The feeling with Jim was that there were places beyond which you couldn’t force him. For all of his and Claire’s oddly… passive take on their powers.

Passive hell. They’re resting. Even with all they’ve evidently kept out, we know they were fighting a war. The way Jim acts about school, it’s almost like I offered him a dinner date with Alexandria. That was not normal for many Wards, who often found the idea that their new identity also included school to be a great letdown.

And the idea that someone could see the Bay as a place to rest…

“So, how was he in terms of fighting capability?” Emily finally asked.

“Well, it was short, and Jim wasn’t trying to kill anyone, but… he’s good. Very good. He didn’t freeze or overthink. Neither did Claire and keeping your calm next to Oni Lee is no small feat. I wouldn’t want to be the cape that made them lose their temper.”

“Agreed.”