Watchdog operatives pose as janitors in a shopping mall built on an alien graveyard.
Aliens visited this world. Some crashed, some got sick, some we shot down. It's all buried here... at the mall.
Ghosts from beyond our galaxy, inter-dimensional portals, technology so advanced it's indistinguishable from magic. Shoulda cleaned it up 'fore they paved it flat, but you know how it is. We're here to catch the things they missed. We're the Mop-up Crew.
Disguised as janitors, we're really a wildfire saw line. Our job's to eliminate dangerous leftover alien technologies that unchecked would climb into the outside world and do untold damage. Stuff in here's like a gangrenous limb - can't fight it, can't fix it. Only thing to save the rest of you's to cut it off.
We don't use names on the saw line. Whole operation's top secret, anonymous and non-attributable from superintendent to hotshot smokejumpers. And it's a dangerous gig, no point in getting too attached.
We go by our job descriptions:
Swamper One
...thinks he's a hotshot but doesn't have the skills to back it up. An experienced blue-collar worker, the hero of his own story. He’s career Handcrew, been at this a long time, but he never gets promoted. He’s just moved around the bush leagues a lot because he’s a screw-up, keeps getting in trouble. Swampers are just supposed to collect and carry out. Also, he’s a bit of a lech.
Swamper Two
...she's the new kid; here as a bailout, it was this or jail. This is her first posting. She’s handy, trained as an EMT, but she’s trouble too. Nice people don’t wind up in her situation. Might be the chip on her shoulder – she’s not going to take even a little flak. She’s a sassy punk, a juvie hall thug who wears makeup like warpaint. Always looks for shortcuts.
Sawyer
...the point man – a monosyllabic, dependable heavy hitter - cuts through jobs with a metaphorical, and sometimes a literal, chainsaw. Strong, gentle, mild mental handicap or PTSD, but he’s also strangely intuitive. Left shell-shocked and nearly mute by the horror of what he’s seen here, and whatever happened to the last two swampers posted to this firecamp.
All contents and characters © and ™ Austin Mckinley all rights reserved unless otherwise noted.