Summon Swat Squad

Chapter 2 Trolls on memory lane

The Captain’s car was an old fashioned police cruiser it didn’t have all the extra technology that you see in the Hub, of course this makes sense being we mostly do things in the human world. The human world is nowhere near as advanced as the Hub and places with heavy summon influence with all the magic to amplify technology efforts. Even the simple phones that each summoner gets upon becoming a summoner would blow the minds of human world scientists, although tech didn’t interest me enough to go any farther into figuring it out.

“So how much activity do we usually get on any given night?” I asked getting into the car not before noticing a large amount of scratches and dents in the cruiser.

“It varies sometimes we get nothing for weeks and other times we have entire gangs fighting for territory and it causes a giant mess.  Recently there was a giant struggle between a local human mafia and a gang of troll summoners. Usually the troll muscle would wipe out any human resistance, but for some reason all the trolls vanished it’s a little fishy if you ask me.” The captain said starting the car and moving onto the streets. “In any case how far did you father get in training with you and Grog before his disappearance. Did he teach you about the SBB and how we use it?”

“No he didn’t what is the SBB” I asked. I did not want to keep the subject of my father out in the open for too long. The feeling of pain of not knowing what happened to him was still pretty fresh in me.

“There are three basic spell types that all summoners can use summon, bind, and banish. Summon is what we use to call our creatures into this world it is what you use every time you bring Grog into our world. Bind is a spell a summoner can use to capture a summon and keep it in place so they can use a banish spell. Banish spells are what we use to send summon creatures back into the summon world we use a basic form of it every time we send our summons back into their realm. Doing so is easy because the summons do not fight it. Now if you had a summon that you are trying to apprehend and rip from its summoner then you have to concentrate and put your will into it.” She said keeping her eyes on the road and on a computer screen beside her connected to the dash.

 “Sounds like allot of work what if you meet up with something more powerful then you when it comes to will” I asked.

“Usually something does not have much will after you beat the crap out of it, although our badges are crafted from a metal forged in the summon world that amplifies our summon magic.”

“If that is true then why don’t the dragon summoners and other people have them sounds like some something the area fighters would be clamoring to get.”

“The council puts a tight lid on the stuff and is only imported for SSS use, when it comes to dragon summoners its basically plugging a coffee pot into a nuclear power plant there is no point and the thing will blow.” She said making an explosion sound.

“Makes sense I guess.” I said. Did not figure the captain to be one for sound effects.

“Look Max I know it’s a touchy subject, but I also brought you out here to talk about your father’s disappearance. It could have some real bearing on a case I am working on right now and might even lead to finding him.” Stryker said with a face of a serious commander making it almost like an order, although I could hear the concern in her voice. Her and my father both took the Hub guard test at the same time and kept in touch sort of a way for her to keep tabs in the Hub.

“I know about as much as you do Captain he went out one day to patrol then he never came back he just vanished.” I said.

My father was a Hub guard which basically translates down to being a mall cop most of the time. There was some altercations at times in the hub although having everyone with a summon and basically a loaded gun kept crime down to a minimum. When he tested for the Hub guard at 18 he actually was good enough to make it into the SSS he turned them down though to be able to spend more time with me and mom. At least until I was 15 when my mom and I were walking back from the grocery store to our apartment in Nocturne and a mugger came out of an alley way and demanded that my mom hand over the purse. I tried to jump the guy when he grabbed it and my mom must have seen him raise his gun because after that from what I remember I felt my mom push me and heard a gunshot then I hit my head on the pavement and blacked out. When I woke up I was in a hospital bed with wrapping around my head and my dad was sitting in a chair. I could tell he had been crying and from there I knew she was gone I could not talk to him for a week. He was there though everyday by my side until I got out and after that we were inseparable. We did everything together with his summon a female water hellhound named Roxy. Then when Grog picked me as his summoner my dad was so happy we trained everyday working on my stone skin magic, and other skills. Then two weeks later he was gone he never came back from patrol I could not find him anywhere. For two weeks Grog and I searched the hub and the back alleys of Nocturne getting any kind of info I could get and getting into allot of fights as well. Luckily for Grog and his magic I was able to stay alive. I decided if I was going to find my dad I needed some power and authority so I went and took the hub guard test and hoped to make it into the SSS luckily I did and here I am now. The computer console on the dashboard of the car started to fire up and blink a red dot on a map of the city.

“Looks like we got a bite” said Stryker putting the car into overdrive and rushing to the position on the map.

When we were on top of the red dot on the map Stryker drifted into a position in front of a jewelry store that that has had its front window busted out. We got out of the car and surveyed the situation whatever had broken into the store was strong it was not only a glass window this is Nocturne. It had iron bars that looked to be casually thrown to the side on the street. By the way that they were bent I could tell it was pulled off there was no alarm going off because in Nocturne it took forever for the cops to come if they came at all. I held out my hand and summoned Grog for a second pair of eyes or nose in this case. One of the powers of a Gargoyle and his summoner is to sense evil presence which considering both me and Grog were rank one came down to evil smelling like something rotten. I could smell a whole truck full of rotten eggs in that place.

“Hendricks scout out the area see if the assailants are still in the building” Stryker said motioning towards the broken window.

Part of me wanted to say that was a horrible idea, but the other part said that Stryker could probably do something worse to me then what was inside that building…I hope. I walked slowly to the window crouching on the bottom half and stood summoning my Sai. I could just get a glimpse of what was coming at me soon enough to put stone skin on my abdomen before it made contact. From what I felt I figured this is what getting hit by a car feels like. I was blown back to where the captain was standing my chest in a jolt of pain and my lung feeling like smashed putty. To whoever said what does not kill you makes you stronger try taking a shot from a troll and see if you still feel the same way.  As I lifted up my head to see what had hit me a ten foot giant ugly green monster crashed his way through the store did I mention he was ugly that is how ugly he is it bears repeating.

“Good job Hendricks you lured the criminal out in the open. Seems like hiring you for bait position was the right move.” She said opening her hand and summoning what looked like a katana with feathers attached to the hilt. She crouched down into what looked like a kenjustu stance and what happened next was straight out of a Japanese samurai flick. The Troll rushed at her and in the blink of an eye she was behind the creature blood suddenly erupting from the Troll’s stomach and it falling to the ground. She then took the badge off her uniform and aimed at the Troll.

“Under the law of the Summon Council you have broken the code between humans and summon world. For the Crime of theft and attempted murder you are found guilty.” Stryker said as a magic circle formed around the troll and runes then circled around it. Before the Troll could stand up again its wounds already healing it disappeared in a flash of white light and was gone as if it was never there in the first place. A human scream came from the store as a man with what looked like bags of jewelry suddenly dropped them and started running down an alley way.

“I got him captain” I said standing up.

“No need when it comes to humans unless they are super dangerous we let them slip who is going to believe that a giant green monster was cut down by a woman with a katana. Besides I don’t want to put my people in more danger then there needs to be this is not the arena you don’t duel and then if you lose you get a handshake and a good job. This is the streets the summons out here don’t give a second thought to killing you where you stand. I need you to understand that when you fight you do it to survive and protect the ones around you are we clear?” She said he pose with the sword and blood on her making her look like the heroine of a movie.

“Yes Mam.” I said nodding.

“Besides she is right Maxey you make great bait.” Grog said.

“Where were you when I was getting thrown half way to Neverland?” I said with a bit of irritation in my voice.

“Cheering you on of course what do you expect I am a three foot statue.” Grog said with a mischievous grin.

“Alright boys if you are done we need to get back to the station there is a good number of paper work to be filled out on this.” Stryker said unsummoning her katana and walking towards the car.

What a night I get to be a troll’s punching bag and do paperwork maybe there is another troll who can finish the job before those papers do.