The Sentinel's Intern

by Nate Phelps

  I’d paired my love for technology and chemistry to create more durable building materials. Eventually, this had led to my creation of the safety foam, BTX. It hadn’t worked quite like I wanted, as it tended to dissolve after a while. In my session with Laevis, I had eventually realized I’d been thinking about this the wrong way. Fixing the problems would never be truly efficient, but if someone could prevent the damage before it happened… that would change everything.

  I worked for over a year and developed several different tools that could help someone from the Agency, the local policing force, to follow Johnny and implement these preventative measures. After a half dozen emails to them, we hadn’t heard much back. They didn’t seem terribly interested in the idea. I continued to perfect my theories and became obsessed with making it work. No other project would satisfy me for my Master’s.

  Finally, we received a reply and I was given a chance to demonstrate the prototype tools. That’s when I met Dr. Henry. He was the director of the Agency and ran the city defenses. When he watched my first demo with the foam gun, he immediately signed off on a grant for my work and gave me a selection of different agents to train once a week so we could select the best candidate to work with Johnny.

  It was a huge success for the school. I hadn’t been well-known before, but after that, everyone from the kinder grade to the soon-to-be graduates knew my name. The trainees from the Agency soon proved to be virtually useless as they didn’t understand the tools and seemed reluctant about the idea. After several weeks of trying, I sent a message to Dr. Henry, asking for different trainees. I received a reply saying that I would be employed by the agency on a probationary basis to put my tools to the test and prove their use.

  My fame grew in the school, and I had the chance to meet my hero, the immortal savior of Midhaven—what a letdown.

  After the incident with the Lutosians and the bakery, I followed Johnny through the city as he chased after the next call. I was struggling to keep up as he bounced from one building to the next. Shania was a temperamental jetpack, and today she didn’t feel like trying very hard.

  “There he goes!” The crowds below cheered as Johnny Q passed over them, pausing on a rooftop to wink and wave.

  “What is that?” they asked as I trailed behind.

  Shania coughed, and I dipped slightly causing a surprised stir in the crowd as I passed over.

  So embarrassing.

  Johnny took great pleasure in torturing me during our escapades.

  “Watch this!” he exclaimed at one point, before launching into the air with so much force that he cracked the asphalt.

  “Why?” I hurried to take pictures and file the necessary request form.

  Since he got around by jumping from building to building, he would invariably shatter a window or bend an air duct at least a couple times a day. This forced me to pause and take pictures, and I would often bump into things as I tried to fill out forms and fly at the same time.

  We rushed around the city chasing this call and that one. Most were wild goose chases, but Johnny went after each one greedily. This was how our days usually went—lots of running around to catch a few stupid crooks.

  “Three more months,” I mumbled to myself as I chased him from our seventh call. “Three more months.”

  After working this job for nine months, I’d surmised that Johnny didn’t fight crime out of a desire to eradicate evil or anything like that. According to him, that type of stuff became a bit trivial once you’d been around over a hundred years. He mostly did it because he was bored. Living among us normal folk wasn’t very exciting apparently.

  Rude.

  Before this job, I’d been a face in the crowd, drooling all over his polished boots just like everyone else. Now, I was the first assistant to the Sentinel. “Nanny” would be the more appropriate term.

  Every once in a while, Johnny would get a call to go check something in the forest outside the city. I refused to follow on these calls. There was nothing for him to damage. If he wanted to rip up a bunch of trees, he could be my guest. It would probably do the lumber workers a favor. But the real reason I didn’t want to go to the forest was because of the Crawlers.

  These pale, long-limbed creatures were why we’d built the strongholds in the first place. They were the reason for everything, really. First came the heroes, like Johnny. Super strong men and women, determined to bring peace. Shortly after, things went wrong and we were overrun by hordes of the pale monsters. After that, it was all about survival.

  We’d done it. They couldn’t get us here, especially with Johnny around, and we could rebuild now. There hadn’t been a sighting of the creatures in years. Many people thought they were gone for good.

  Regardless, I was going to be the last one to test this theory. There were plenty of others clambering to get out and build new communities as soon as they got the go ahead, but I would not be one of them. Once they survived for a few years, I might come visit, but I planned to live and die in Midhaven. Who cared if it was getting crowded?

  The city had been reluctant to let anyone else leave after a failed attempt years ago. Two hundred explorers had gone out and none had returned; Johnny had arrived at the massacre too late.

  Nope, not for me. I was plenty comfortable, thank you very much.

  Johnny and I soared through the air in the early afternoon. We passed by the Tower and I straightened, imagining the other students watching me pass through the windows.

  My watch buzzed. Good. I thought as I checked it. The next call was in the agricultural district. There weren’t so many buildings out there.

  We made our way across the city, following the beacon. According to the alert, we were dealing with more Lutosians. They’d stolen two trucks of produce.

  We found them halfway down a dirt road leading towards the backend of the Government District. Johnny leaped off a hill and descended towards them. I eased up, deciding to wait this one out.

  Johnny landed next to the first truck and pulled it to the side. Dust plumed into the air. He punched his fist through the window and pulled the terrified driver out, tossing him aside. The other truck swerved. One of the front tires hit a hole and they lost control, crashing into the leg of a water tower. The leg bent and the large structure groaned.

  “Ack!” I flourished with my pilot glove, which turned me about and sent me into a dive. The tower groaned even louder and tipped slowly towards the road, threatening to crush the men in the vehicle.

  I twisted the nozzle of my foam gun. The tipping tower was part of a pair. I zipped into the space between them and fired my foam gun. A stringy, purple line shot out and attached to the metal with a splatch. I flew over to the adjacent damaged tower and secured the other end of the line. It hardened and began to pull taut. I did this several more times. Each of the lines tightened and the groaning became low and prolonged as the damaged tower slowly stopped tipping.

  “Please hold, please hold….” I begged as I inspected my work.

  Suddenly, the second tower trembled and several of the lines snapped. The first tower screeched and then descended faster than before.

  “No!”

  The Lutosians climbed out of the vehicle, struggling to get clear, but moving too slow.

  I closed my eyes. There was a loud bang. I looked. The tower had stopped. Johnny was propping it up with the first truck, heads of lettuce and carrots spilling everywhere.

  He smirked at me. “You’re welcome.”

  “Wow!” I laughed as I dropped down next to him. “That was actually really cool of you.”

  “I’m always willing to help damsels in distress.”

  I glared at him as he pushed the tower back into position and bent the leg into a semblance of its normal shape. A few dozen wraps around it with my metal tape and it stayed upright well enough until I could get someone out here to fix it.

  “You know,” I said to Johnny as he dropped the truck and brushed his hands off. “I thought you were just going
to move them out of the way and let the water tower fall.”

  Johnny frowned. “You’re right. That would’ve been way easier.”

  The farmer wasn’t too happy about his trucks. After I finished up with the tower, he sought me out—probably at Johnny’s direction.

  “What did you do, son?” asked the old man as I struggled to pull up the correct forms.

  I looked around and then pointed at myself, genuinely confused. “Who, me?”

  “You can’t let these things happen!” The man spit on the ground and squinted at me. “You should have called the Sentinel. He could have fixed this up?”

  “He could have…? Seriously?”

  “Speak up boy!”

  I sighed. “The city should refund you. Just…”

  “You know kung fu?” The man leaned forward, cupping a hand over his ear.

  “I said, you will be fully refunded!”

  “Don’t take that tone with me, child. What are you… twelve… thirteen?”

  “Yup, thirteen,” I said sarcastically. In reality, I was eighteen and I was sick and tired of taking crap for being young.

  “Oh good,” he said. “I thought you were a teenager.”

  I didn’t respond as I rubbed my temples. This job caused such headaches.

  “Hello? Where’d you go?” He swung his head back and forth.

  “Still here, sir.”

  “There you are! Stop moving so much.”

  “Can you sign this?” I begged, offering the waiver I’d pulled up.

  He leaned over and squinted at the hologram. “What’s this garbage? I’m not buying anything.”

  “No, sir, please just sign here on the line.”

  “Oh yes, I see.” He took my hologram pen and signed his name in the date box. On the signature line he wrote, ‘No tip’.

  “Good enough,” I said, before rushing off after Johnny who had left me behind again.

  Our final call of the day took place at a parking garage right in the middle of the Government District. Why anyone would risk bringing Johnny crashing down on their head was beyond me.

  I realized that this last call was of a more serious nature as there were two squads of Enforcers on scene when I arrived. They were lean and tough from rigorous training, tasked to maintain order in the city. They were the ones that sent us the calls. Johnny was technically an Enforcer, and I’d once considered joining their ranks.

  They were wearing heavy body armor. I spotted Johnny and landed next to him just as they were finishing the debriefing.

  “He hasn’t hurt anyone yet,” Brad was saying. Brad was a little bald man and the office manager, my supervisor. He’d always wanted to work in the field and had recently been promoted and given a squad close to the agency. This meant he usually didn’t do much—it was rare for anything to happen in his area.

  Today was an exception.

  He must be loving this, I thought, but I could tell by the annoyed expressions on the squad members’ faces that it wasn’t necessarily mutual.

  “He started throwing grenades about ten minutes ago,” Brad said to Johnny. “No one knows how he got them.”

  “Throwing grenades?” It slipped out before I could stop it. I knew what grenades were, but had never seen one.

  “Late again?” asked Brad.

  “Oh, but he…” I motioned to Johnny.

  Johnny grinned. That smug little…

  “I’ll deal with you later,” said Brad, interrupting my thought. “Don’t follow on this one. Fill out the waivers afterwards.”

  I winced. The damages caused by the bomb guy were none of my concern, but once Johnny entered the garage, I’d be responsible for every bit of paperwork that ensued.

  “Could I just…”

  “No!” It came out as a squeak and my boss’s face flushed. He coughed and smoothed his salt and pepper mustache. “Just stay here.”

  Johnny was already ignoring us and had wandered over to look at the garage.

  “Be right back,” he said, before leaping up to the second floor and disappearing inside.

  We waited around for several minutes without hearing a thing. Most of the Enforcers were sent to secure the perimeter. Brad started talking to someone on his watch and wandered out to the road. This made me perk up. Maybe I could sneak in. Then again, there was a mad man with grenades wandering around.

  There was a loud eruption and smoke swirled out of an opening on the third floor.

  “Come on,” I groaned. I glanced at the Enforcers nearby. They were focused on the building and talking amongst themselves.

  Finally, I gave in and activated Shania.

  “Hey!” one of the men yelled, as I lifted to the third floor and moved inside the garage.

  Brad was going to pop a blood vessel once he found out.

  I hovered past rows of cars and found a large burn mark on the ground. Many of the nearby vehicles had sustained structural damage; I counted at least five shattered windows.

  “Such a mess,” I grumbled, snapping pictures.

  There was a muffled boom from another explosion and I flinched. Maybe coming had been a stupid idea. I’d gotten so used to having Johnny around I was ignoring the danger. I took a few more pictures and then began to retreat the way I’d come. Brad was right—I’d deal with it later.

  Something hit the ground next to me and I shouted, then relaxed when I saw it was just broken glass from a window.

  “Phew.” I slapped my chest in relief, tapping the glass with my foot.

  That was when I was grabbed from behind by two strong hands and shoved to the ground. The assailant sat on my chest and ripped my pilot glove off. I cried out and received a stunning blow across my face. White spots bloomed across my vision. I held up my hands to ward off further blows.

  None came. The weight lifted off my chest. I looked up as a grey-haired man reached down and pulled me to my feet.

  “Get away from me!” I shoved him, looking for my glove. He was holding it up in one hand.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, smiling in a way that almost seemed apologetic. “I mistook you for someone else.”

  I wiped at my mouth and my hand came away red. Warily watching my attacker, I moved my hand to my foam pistol. Then, thinking better of it, I reached for my watch instead.

  “Could you wait a moment before calling him?” the man asked. “Johnny’s not listening to me.”

  I ignored him.

  “I will send you flying around the room,” the man threatened, brandishing my glove.

  I doubted this. Not many people knew how to operate a pilot glove. It was probably a bluff. Still, I hesitated.

  “Thanks,” the man said, looking relieved. “I managed to lose him on the second level, but I’m sure he’ll be back soon. My name’s Leon, by the way.”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “Your city is in danger.”

  Oh great. A doomsday prophet.

  Apparently, my cynicism must have been evident because he frowned at me. “Look, I don’t have much time. Johnny won’t listen, so you’ll have to do.”

  I looked him over more carefully. He had a trimmed beard and was wearing grey form-fitting body armor. Was that Lutosian make or Sanitatem? I’d never seen anything like it in Midhaven.

  “Fine,” I said. “Tell me.” All I had to do was stall for a couple minutes and Johnny would catch up.

  “You won’t understand most of this,” Leon began. “But remember to tell Johnny once he’s calmed down. The city is in danger. They know about the weapon, and sooner or later they will find it. Also, Johnny needs to be careful. They’re watching him closely, but I can help you get to them first.”

  “Okay,” I said, completely uncertain to what he referred.

  “You have to help me warn everyone. Things are about to get bad. Really bad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Before he could respond, there was another crash as Johnny came hurtling out of the stairwell, his eyes blaz
ing.

  The man slipped my glove on. “Just tell them.”

  He made a motion, and I instantly knew that he knew how to use it. Shania picked me up and tossed me directly into Johnny’s path. Johnny Q paused just short of crushing me. I bounced off his chest and tumbled to the floor.

  The Sentinel disregarded me as he pursued his prey. Leon threw off my pilot glove and wove his way through the cars. Johnny tossed them aside as he gave chase. I stood groggily and followed, morbidly fascinated with Johnny’s fury.

  The man had nowhere to run. He pulled something out of his pocket and threw it in the air. A metal pin clinked on the ground as the grenade flew towards Johnny. I covered my ears. Johnny caught it midair and squeezed. There was a muffled, ‘Whumph!’ and he tossed aside the smoking remains.

  Leon leaped towards Johnny and landed several quick blows to his head and neck. This had no effect. Johnny backhanded the man. He crunched against the cement wall and fell onto his face. Johnny stood over him menacingly.

  “Don’t kill him!” I cried out as I stumbled to his side.

  The fire in his eyes dulled slightly. He backed away and shook his head. “No one’s outsmarted me like that in a long time.”

  I looked at the unconscious man. “Yeah, he’s a weird one.”

  After a moment or two, I gathered the requisite courage to take a look behind me. It was chaos. Glass littered the floor and various car alarms were sounding from all parts of the garage, complaining about their dented hoods and shattered windshields.

  “Why’d you follow me?” asked Johnny.

  “I was trying to prevent extensive damage.”

  “Oh…” He glanced at the mess. “Nice job.”

  “Thanks.”

  Chapter 3

  It was over an hour before I could leave the parking garage. I had to transfer all the pictures back to the Agency and label each one with the corresponding license plate, but that was only half the work. Once I got back, I’d have to submit a damage waiver for each one and send updates to the car owners.