Staten Island Squad vs Nick, Part 1

Instantly, Nick sits up with a gasp, like awakening from a bad dream. The dream of his past.

"LUIS?!" Nick cries as he frantically looks around, seeing no one of the sort.

Instead, he sees Grover, desperately punching his fist into the ground. "It was my job to teleport away, my job! And I failed!" Grover wails.

Austin stands above Grover, pacing back and forth desperately and biting his nails, probably scheming up some sort of plan to rescue Luis back.

Ella is sitting on the ground with her knees tucked into her chest, rocking back and forth in fettle position and muttering to himself. Jamie sits next to Ella, comforting her.

"So what's the game plan, boss?"

Nick slowly strains his neck up, seeing Mikey glaring down at him, with his arms crossed.

"I don't know…" Nick sobs as tears begin welling up in the corners of his eyes. "I just don't know…"

"The Cards of the King just had to come today?! DAMNIT!" Grover roars as he slams his fist into the ground again, blood exploding from his knuckles.

"What do they even want with Luis?! Why does the Chairman want to kill him?!" Jamie wails.

Ella is still muttering to himself, Austin is still pacing.

"You don't know?! What do you mean you don't know?!" Mikey snaps as he reaches down and grabs Nick's blood-stained suit collar, hosting him up to his feet. Mikey glares Nick in the eyes. Ashamed, Nick peers away. "You're our squad captain so you better know," Mikey growls.

Nick wipes the sweat and tears off of his face then turns back to face Mikey. "After a previous failure, the Slayer Hachi Squad is withheld from any information about the Cards of the King. But I have connections within the organization due to my time as an Assassin, so I can get that info. I'm sure the Organization has some whereabouts on the Cards of the King," Nick answers with a new confident gleam in his eyes.

"Assassin?" Ella asks.

"Great, then go get it!" Mikey exclaims.

"But I'm going alone," Nick replies as he knocks Mikey's hands off of him then turns around and begins walking away.

"Alone?! What do you mean alone?!" Mikey cries as he splays his arms outwards and follows after Nick.

"No offense, Nick, but strongest Slayer or not, you got your ass handed to you by Ace," Jamie adds as she stands up. "We all did."

"You need your help. You can't rescue Luis alone…" Ella whimpers.

"I'm going alone and that's FINAL!" Nick snaps as he turns around to face his squad. It's the first time Nick's ever raised his voice at them. Shocked, Mikey pauses and backs up a step.

Nick sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, but I can't bring you guys. This is a resume mission. Using my speed, I'll zoom in and grab Luis then zoom out, a simple operation. That way, none of you get hurt. I'll be stealthy and intelligent, like the Assassin that I was," Nick explains, before turning around and continuing his walk away.

"Nick, that's ridiculous! It'll be impossible to rescue Luis and escape all on your own when King is around! He can make it so that you can never leave!" Austin exclaims.

"Don't forget, you needed the help of that damn dem-er…Luis…and I to beat King in the first place," Mikey adds.

Nick pauses and sighs. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?" He asks.

Five "nopes" answer Nick's question.

Nick sighs one more time, before turning around, his entire body crackling with electricity.

"Electricity: Electric Fence."

Nick crouches down and places both hands to the ground. Tendrils of lightning shoot out of Nick's finger tips, crackling across the ground towards the five Junior Slayers.

"Woah!" Mikey cries as he hops backwards, dodging Nick's "attack."

Nick's tendrils of lightning spread outwards, forming a square barrier around the five Junior SLayers before flying upwards in multiple vertical lines, forming a cage of lightning.

"Damnit, old man!" Mikey snaps as he grabs onto the eclectic bars of the cage, causing Mikey to yelp in pain as his hands are signed by Nick's lightning.

"This should keep you guys trapped for long enough," Nick says before turning around and walking away again. "When I return, I'll have Luis with me."

But Nick isn't able to take many steps before he hears a large explosion boom from behind him. Quickly, Nick spins around with his eyes wide, seeing his Electric Fence dissipate back into his pale yellow Cursed Power.

Slowly…all five Junior Slayers begin approaching Nick, walking through the smoke of the explosion. Mikey weidling his dual pistols, Ella's hands bubbling with pink Cursed Power, Grover with his knives drawn, Jamie's fists already turned into iron, and Austin constructing his Cursed Power shotgun.

"It's always all about Luis, dammit!" A voice shouts through the smoke. "With the Chairman…with Daniel…with August…with the Cards of the King, and even with you… but what about me, dammit?! I'm strong too! And I'm the one who needs to be stronger than Luis for the sake of our revenge! The rest of your squad is powerful, not just him!" And when the smoke clears, Nick's eyes widen as he sees that it's Mikey shouting.

"Don't you dare underestimate…" Mikey begins to growl as he crosses his arms. "THE STRENGTH OF YOUR OWN SQUAD!"

Nick sighs, as his entire body begins crackling with electricity again. "I don't want to fight you guys, not now. We don't have the time for this…" Nick says.

"Well too bad, you're in the way of us rescuing our friend!" Grover snaps.

And then…they charge.

Nick zips over to the five Junior Slayers, starting with Ella.

"Crap!" Ella cries as her eyes widen.

"I'm sorry, Ella!" Nick apologizes as he thrusts an electrified spear hand towards his student. "But I'm an assassin…so I know when to target the greatest threat!"

But before Nick can strike Ella with his signature Bumblebee sting, a wormhole opens up in front of Ella, and Jamie leaps out of it.

"Adaptability: Iron Cloak!" Jamie shouts as she punches her fists together, and Jamie's entire body turns into iron.

"Jamie!" Ella cries as Nick's spear-hand slams into her. Nick's Bumblebee Sting manages to pierce Jamie's iron armor, but only slightly, causing bloody cracks to begin spreading in Jamie's iron skin.

"Damn…" Nick grumbles. "Electricity!" The lightning crackling around Nick's spear hand begins to intensify, and while Nick can't deal any blunt damage to Jamie, he begins shocking her with bolts of electricity, causing the girl to howl in pain as she drops to the ground on one knee.

"I won't let you…get past me…" Jamie winces as she peers up at Nick, causing her squad captain to scowl.

"Not much you can do from down there," Nick remarks.

"No…" Jamie answers. "Only buy some time for the rest.

Nick's eyes widen as he spins around, only to see a smirking Mikey perched before him, a flaming fist poised and ready to strike.

"Exploding Flame Bullets: Fire Fist!" Mikey shouts as he launches his fist forwards. But before Mikey is able to punch Nick with his Fire Fist, Nick electrifies his entire body and zips to the side, out of harm's way.

"Electricity: Electro-Spear!" Nick shouts as he thrusts his spear-hand towards Mikey, firing off an arrow of lightning his way. Mikey attempts to duck to the side to dodge, but Nick's lightning is too fast, and it slices the top of Mikey's shoulder and the side of his neck, electrocuting the boy as it does so.

"Wormhole!" Grover shouts, and Nick looks around as dozens of wormholes open up around him.

"Bullet Storm!" Grover and Austin then shout as Austin fires off his Cursed Power assault rifle into one of Grover's wormholes positioned directly in front of the barrel of his gun. Austin's bullets then fly out of Grover's numerous wormholes, surrounding Nick.

"You forget…" Nick begins to say. "JUST HOW FAST I AM!" Nick then shouts as he opens his eyes, again, his entire body brimming with electricity. Using his lightning- fast speeds and assassin reflexes, Nick manages to dodge, duck, and evade all of Austin's bullets.

"No way…" Grover marvels. "He's dodging them all?!"

"No…" Austin replies as he watches Nick's hands dance through the air. "He's… CATCHING them?!"

Grover and Austin watch in utter shock as Nick catches then electrifies some of Austin's bullets, before flinging them over to the two boys, and the bullets blast into them in a cloud of smoke.

"Now then, let's finish this…"

Nick zips towards the five Junior Slayers, but his charge is interrupted when Grover activates his Portal-Man mode and teleports over to Nick, at speeds able to match even the man as fast as lightning. Grover then kicks Nick with an Eight-Bit Scythe-Kick, sending Nick flying backwards.