London
2:37 A.M.
Rain battered the streets as a solitary figure made his way along the pavement. Trigger held his overcoat shut tight with one hand, and desperately used a newspaper to try and shield his hair from the downpour with the other. Fucking rain. Why did it always have to be rain. You spend ages getting your hair just right, and then, by some divine providence, the heavens decide to open up and ruin it completely. Anyway, look on the silver lining, it wouldn't be long until he could go home and lie down. He ducked into a greasy spoon diner, taking off his overcoat and hanging it on a coat stand as he escaped the cold night air.
Looking around the place you could see the type of people who usually frequented places like this around this part of town. Taxi drivers, travellers, and of course the obligatory drunk twenty-something passed out in the corner after a long night of not being able to handle his liquor. Unhealthy burger sat in front of him, half eaten and attracting flies.
Trigger sighed, making his way over to the counter and taking a seat on one of the stools. He glanced at his newspaper, now completely ruined, and gently tossed it onto the counter. It was definitely 'one of those days'. The attendant behind the counter approached him, disinterestedly asking what he would be having. A coffee and a full English breakfast would suffice. After all, it's breakfast time somewhere, right?
He sipped on his coffee. Unfortunately for the patrons of this diner, Trigger was there for business rather than pleasure. Not that the place was exactly pleasurable to begin with, but at least the coffee was hot. He muttered some words under his breath and in an instant his consciousness rose from his physical form and hung lazily in the air like cigarette smoke. He was certain of what he'd find, but if Constantine had taught him anything, it was that it was always better to be safe than sorry. His astral form floated through the bar and into the men's toilet. It was a good job he couldn't smell in this form, at least.
In the toilet, a skinny, wiry man wearing glasses was washing his hands, just as the door to one of the toilet stalls slowly opened, and Trigger's target emerged. A minor vampire had sprouted up and had been causing mischief in the past few weeks. It hadn't taken long for the apprentice magician to pick up his trail, especially with John's help. This had turned into a solo mission not long after, another of his wise teacher's tests he often liked to spring on the young Geordie. Trigger had tracked the creature to these toilets; he was an amateur, for sure, using the same modus operandi since he showed up in town, and the press had affectionately named the series of murders "The Greasy Spoon Spree".
He finished the spell and his consciousness returned to him. Drinking one last sip of coffee and straightening his suit jacket as he rose from his chair, he made his way to the toilet. Magical energy swirled around his hands as he braced himself against the door; the energy was an impossible thing to look at directly, like you were looking into another dimension of moving stars and dark colours. Suddenly, he burst through the door, whipping out the energy like a lasso and grabbing the vampire by the neck just as it was about to sink his teeth into the thin man. He reeled him in, placing his foot on the vampire's neck as it struggled beneath him.
"Honestly mate, I know the food isn't great here, but next time maybe try the salad?" Trigger mocked. The vampire snarled beneath him, grabbing his foot and using his unnatural strength to throw Trigger off him and back into the main dining area.
Trigger tumbled to the ground. Note to self: less quips, more incapacitation next time. Before he had time to get his bearings, the vampire had leapt out of the toilet, snarling and aiming for Trigger's throat, its claws slashing at the air as he dove towards him. The magician barely had time to react but quickly created a small shield around his arm just before the creature could go at his throat. His brow furrowed; this was getting to be a lot stickier than he'd initially planned. As the vampire swiped and snarled at him, Trigger managed to get his foot on the creatures hip and in one quick movement grabbed it by the hair, rolled back and kicked it off to the other end of the room. He rolled to his feet, keeping his shield up as he sent eldritch blasts towards his foe as he walked closer. The vampire dodged each of the blasts and leapt at Trigger again, which he expected and narrowly managed to avoid. Ranged attacks weren't working; the creature was too fast. Trigger would need to resort to some up close and personal means of attack. His eyes darted to his right, his coffee and plate of food still lay on the counter. Fuck it. If he was good at two things, it was improvising and fighting dirty.
The vampire spun around to face him, and was met with some scalding hot coffee in his face. As it screamed it tried desperately to wipe the liquid from its eyes. Just as it managed to regain its vision it caught sight of the last thing it expected to see: a full plate of sausage, bacon, eggs, beans, and all that other good stuff that made up Triggers nations favourite breakfast. The full English hit the vampire square in the face, stunning it again, allowing Trigger to slide on his knuckle dusters and send a hard punch to its mouth, knocking out one of its fangs in the process. His magic shield morphed into a lasso once more as Trigger sent a hard hook to the side of the vampires face, spinning it around and giving him the opportunity to tie its hands together in a makeshift pair of magical handcuffs. He sent one last hard punch to the vampires temple, knocking it out and causing it to slump the floor.
Trigger looked around. Unsurprisingly the place had cleared out during the scuffle. More surprisingly, though, was that the drunk twenty-something was still snoring in the corner, albeit now he had slumped over and was using a piece of toast as a pillow. Trigger grinned, maybe tonight wasn't so bad after all. He gazed at the obligatory 'No Smoking' sign that hung on the wall as he removed his pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and lit one. Maybe not the classiest move, but he definitely needed a smoke after that dogfight.
"Didn't you see the sign, pal?" Spoke a voice from the corner, sipping on a cup of tea. A figure Trigger hadn't seen on his survey. He'd have said it was an impossible for him to miss in such a small area, but the past few years had taught him nothing was impossible.
"They should hang a 'No Vampire Attacks' one right next to it, I'm sure it would do just as good a job at stopping that too." He joked, grinning. The figure rose to his feet, and the signature bleach blonde hair and tan raincoat of John Constatine came into view.
"Yeah very funny, Trigger. Good job with the vampire by the way, I didn't realise they were weak to sunlight, garlic, and undercooked rashers of bacon, that is definitely one for the notebook." Trigger groaned at his joke, and moreso the fact that he had seen his improvised 'weapon'.
"Yeah yeah, enough taking the piss. Did I pass your test then, old man?" He replied. Constantine chuckled.
"Yeah you passed alright. But that's not why I'm here I've got big news for you. Ever wanted to visit America?"
"I'd prefer Berlin or Spain, but can't complain about a free holiday. Why are we heading out there?""
We aren't heading out anywhere. This is a solo mission, Trig. One that might last a while. Robin has put out feelers to recruit a new set of Titans, and I volunteered your skillset and sunny disposition."
Triggers heart dropped a bit when John broke the news to him. His usual confident bravado weakening a bit to let his inner insecurity through. He was still relatively new to this superhero business, and he'd just made a number of mistakes handling one vampire. What use could a team like the Titans have for him?
"The Titans? Why am I joining them? Did I do something wrong here? Look I know using breakfast foods as a weapon isn't the most conventional thing, but it's hardly an excuse to send me halfway across the world, John." He pleaded.
Constantine's expression softened, understanding etched in his features. "Look kid, it's nothing personal. I like you and you're a great help to me here, but I'm worried about you too. It's not like you have many other friends to hang about with and I'm not much company for a young guy like yourself, I thought it would be good for you to meet some other people your age."
"Ouch, thanks John, way to make me feel like a loser. It's kind of hard to have a social life when you're constantly moving about fighting this weeks next big demon. And it's not like I don't have friends back in Newcastle!""I know, I know kid. But that's exactly why I thought this would be a good idea. You see those guys back in Newcastle how much? Maybe once or twice a year? What happens when they settle down and have kids? You join the Titans and you'll be used to the best of your abilities and get the chance to socialise outside of sitting in bars all night. Plus, when I was your age I was going at it alone too, it might be good for your magical development." Trigger thought on John's words. He was probably right, as much as Trigger hated to admit it.
Titan Tower
Jump City
Trigger woke up slowly and stared at the ceiling. This was a long way away from home that was for sure. The past while had been a blur. Moving to Jump City, joining the Titans, and settling in all happened so quickly. He hadn't realised it until now but he had even gotten used to hearing the American accent more than just when he watched TV. He sighed, thinking about home. If he could even call it that. His home had been wherever the next supernatural threat had been. But at least it was somewhere vaguely familiar. He didn't feel so different back home, but here he could barely go outside without someone commenting on his accent, always reminding him of how different he felt here. He looked around his room. He'd tried to make it feel like home as much as possible, but it was no easy task for him to get settled in one place. A few posters decorated his walls, and a picture of him and Constantinte sat on his windowsill. He hadn't realised how much he'd have missed the old bugger. He'd never properly said it to him, but he had really became something of a father figure to Trigger since they met. It was strange being out in the world on his own. Coincidentally, Trigger's phone buzzed next to him as he had these thoughts. It was John, texting him to check in with how he's been getting settled, and sending a photo of the latest demon he'd done battle with. Trigger would text back later, right now he was craving nicotine.
He crawled out of bed and after a quick shower got dressed. A pair of black jeans, white trainers and a t-shirt would do for now. He slid a packet of cigarettes into his pocket and headed out of his room. Glancing around the hallway and listening out he could see that for once in his life he was the first one up. He hadn't been taking to the time difference too well that was for sure.
He put in a pair of earphones and headed up to the roof. Leaning out over the city he gazed at the giant skyscrapers piercing the horizon. Slipping a cigarette into his mouth he flicked his thumb like a lighter and a small magical flame, flickered its way into existence above it. He held it up to the cigarette and lit it, shaking his hand to get rid of the fire. It was some city that was for sure, like nothing he had ever seen. His eyes traced the massive bridge stretching into the mainland. He wondered what his life would have been like here if he was an average person. What job he might have had and where he might have been at this exact moment. Definitely not smoking off the top of Titan Tower that was for sure. He still hadn't properly explored the city other than the times they'd been on mission. He scratched his nose with his thumb and flicked his finished cigarette off the tower.
Heading back down to the common area, he decided to start on breakfast. He flicked on the TV and the ever more familiar face of Sam Ansel came to life on the screen. Trigger listened half-heartedly to the news as he began to cook. It wasn't long into this task that he heard footsteps approaching and turned over his shoulder to see, Robin entering through the door. He grinned, turning to him and jokingly saluting him.
"Reporting for duty, Captain. What's the battle plan for today?" He joked
"Seen any of the rest of the gang this morning? It's not like me to be an earlier riser I won't lie, chief."
