Queens Squad, Part 2

"Am I late?" A voice then booms as I hear someone step through the door. I turn and look, seeing Nick enter the fray.

"Nick, you came!" Grover cries.

"Of course I did," Nick answers. "I have to come."

"What about your important business?" Austin asks as he raises an eyebrow at Nick.

"Oh, that? I lied," Nick answers. "You kids are too noisy in the morning, plus I would have had to wake up early to drive you. I wanted to sleep in a bit."

"Typical…" Jamie sighs.

"Great timing, Hachi," Renzu interrupts. "We were just introducing ourselves."

"I'm sure y'all already know who I am-" Nick begins to say, but the bow and arrow guy cuts him off.

"Nick Hachi, Slayer Boras, also known as the Bumblebee!" The bow and arrow guy swoons, sparkles in his eyes. "I'm your biggest fan!"

"Great, another Grover," Austin grumbles.

"I don't like this guy…" Grover growls.

"Are you sure about that?" Ella awkwardly chuckles.

"So what's our mission even about?" Ralph asks.

"We've got word of a demon meet up place in the city," Nick explains. "Typically, higher level demons like to create "demon sanctuaries" together such as these."

"This meetup spot is a bar where high level intelligent humanoid demons meet up. Your job is to go in and shut them down," Renzu finishes.

"What's up with these demons? Have they been hurting anyone, or causing any trouble or anything?" I ask.

"Er...no. But your mission is to say them anyway," Nick awkwardly answers. Nick looks uncomfortable when he says that.

"The bar is in a back alley, called Hell's Bar, a popular Demon Nest and meet-up spot for 'em. The location is all that you kids will be getting out of us. Strategies, attack plans, escape routes, everything is up to you kids. It's a true test of your skills to see how far you've come, so strategize away," Renzu explains.

 "Well, while those kids are busy thinking of strategies for their next mission, why don't the two of us get a drink, Dianne?" Nick seductively asks with a smirk as he elbows Slayer Renzu in the ribs. Is he...flirting? Well here I was thinking that Nick already had his eyes set on my mom.

"Nick, it's eleven in the morning. Give me six more hours and maybe I'll consider," Renzu answers.

"Oh come on, the two of us aren't getting any younger! We have to settle down eventually!" Nick laughs.

"Weren't you already married once?" Renzu asks as she raises an eyebrow at Nick.

"Yeah...but that was a long time ago..." Nick answers. Huh. Another piece of Nick's puzzle figured out So he was married, huh? Well considering his age, that can't be too surprising. Divorced, maybe?

Renzu shakes her head and walks deeper into the house.

"Welp. I guess there's not much left for me to do. See you all whenever you finish your mission," Nick waves as he follows after Renzu. I still wonder what that man does in his free time?

"All right! Let's get to strategizing! Anyone here good at that sort of thing?" Ralph asks.

"I'm...not the best at strategizing," Ella answers.

"I'm above average when it comes to intellectual work," Ivy adds.

"I understand maybe half of what's going on right now. I'm not too good at anything, especially not anything too intellectual," Lycan twitches.

What the Hell, it's like watching a more blunt, more open me.

"Hey man, don't put yourself down! I'm sure you're smart!" I say, trying to encourage myself, I mean Lycan.

"No. It's true. I don't get much sleep due to my Wild Side, so my brain...haha, it doesn't function all too well," Lycan replies, as he twitches some more.

"Aren't you guys our seniors? Think of something!" Grover snaps.

"Well Austin here is a genius! He'll be our strategizer!" Jamie exclaims as she roughly pats Austin on the back, causing him to flinch.

 "Alright four-eyes, get cracking then!" Ralph exclaims, causing Grover to snicker.

"Can you please not call me that?" Austin sighs as he adjusts his glasses from Jamie's rough pats. "First off, does anyone here have a computer here?" Then Austin asks.

"Oh, I do!" Ralph answers as he hurries away. When Ralph comes up, he's holding a laptop which he hands to Austin. The six of us all huddle around the laptop as Austin taps away. "We'll start by finding a map of Hell's Bar," Austin mutters to himself as he continues tapping away. "Here it is," Austin then says, and the rest of us study the map.

"So it's on Albringer street...my parents always warned me not to go there with my brother…" Ella says.

"A street filled with drug deals and prostitutes. Sounds fun," Lycan apathetically adds.

"Hmph. I seriously do not want to go touch a decrepit street, such a street devoid of life like that one," Ivy pouts.

"So what, we just have to waltz in and slay all the demons?" Grover asks.

"I think that's all, it should be an easy mission, right?" Ralph replies. "Remember, Nick said that these are high ranking, intelligent, humanoid demons. It should be a challenge," I explain.

"So operation TTS won't work?" Ralph asks.

"TTS?" Ella replies.

"Take them by storm," Ralph answers, causing Austin to let out a defeated sigh. 

"Most likely not. At the very least, if we do "take them by storm," it would be valuable to at least have a backup plan," Austin explains.

"What if we do use operation TTS, but we adjust it a little?" I suggest.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Ralph asks.

"Maybe instead of busting in through the front door, there's some secret or less used entrance into the bar that we could take, that would throw the demons off guard?" I ask.

"Ah! Good idea, Fūjin, I'll look it up!" Ralph exclaims. It still feels awkward, someone calling me by my codename.

Ralph grabs the laptop out of Austin's hands and begins to tap away. "Okay! So there appears to be a side door by the side of the building, but it's a VIP entrance only" Ralph explains.

"VIP? That's a bit of an issue…" Jamie mutters.

"You say that like they won't allow fifteen and sixteen year olds into a bar without ID," Lycan sarcastically replies.

"Though they are demons, I'm sure simple things like laws or ethics don't apply to their kind anyway, right?" Ella asks. Wow…how crude…

"What about time, when should we even attack Hell's Bar?" Jamie asks.

"Why does time even matter?" Grover replies.

"Yes, the amount of demons in Hell's Bar determines the time in which we carry out our plan," Ivy explains.

"On the Hell's Bar website it says that the bar is open from ten AM to ten PM, giving us a ten hour window for our mission," Ralph adds.

"Considering we're talking about demons, they'll be more likely to go out to a bar when it's night and no humans are around, so we should go after sunset," Austin suggests.

"What time is sunset?" I ask.

"The sunsets at six thirty tonight, so we should attack Hell's Bar at seven. But considering it takes twenty minutes to get there by foot, we'll leave at six thirty," Ralph answers as he checks his phone.

"You see this rooftop?" Austin asks us as he zooms in on the area surrounding Hell's Bar. "Ralph and I will snipe from here. Luis, Jamie, Ivy, anc Lycan will rush in, with Grover as backup. Ella, you'll stay at this corner by Hell's Bar and wait for Grover to teleport out to get you, a few minutes the attacker group rushes in."

 signal. Jamie, Ivy and Lycan, and Luis will rush in with Grover as backup who will enter Hell's Bar seven minutes after the Attacker Group enters" Austin explained. 

"So, we have our plan?" Ralph asks.

"We have our plan," Austin answers.

And so...now we just wait for seven.

***

The clock struck five thirty and the eight of us head out to Hell's Bar. Once we get closer to Hell's Bar, we separate into three groups. Jamie, Ivy, Lycan, and I approach Hell's Bar while Ella and Grover hang back at the corner that leads to the back alley where Hell's Bar is located in. As for Austin and Ralph, they scale the fire escape of a nearby apartment building looming over the bar, gun and bow in hand. 

"Ready?" I ask Jamie, Ivy, and Lycan one we are in front of Hell's Bar.

"Ready," they answer.

We walk up to the VIP door of Hell's Bar. I knock on the door with one hand, while grasping my sheathed katana tightly with my free hand, prepared for anything, ready to attack. But then, someone opens the door. And rather than being faced with a violent demon, or an attacker, we're just faced with…an employee? A demon?

"Ah! Hello there, come right on in!" The demon says. They have humanoid appearance, and I couldn't distinguish them from your average Joe. Just like Daniel and I, maybe these high ranking demons can transform into their more demonic state?

The four of us look at eachother, nervously.

We were expecting to get stopped right at the front door and have to force our way in. But instead…they're inviting us in? Could it be the fact that two of us were demon kins and I was a half demon?

"Uh, give us a second," I say, before turning to the rest of our group. "Do we go in?" I whisper.

""Does it matter? The plan was to storm in and kill all of these demons. Barging in versus getting an invitation? Doesn't it matter not?" Ivy asks.

"What if it's a trap?" Jamie adds.

"What if it's not?" Lycan replies.

"Maybe we can use this chance to scope at the bar and then attack some other time?" Jamie suggests.

"Yeah...that sounds like a good idea. Let's do it!" I exclaim, before turning back towards the demon blocking the back door. "Thank you for the invitation!" I say politely. "Now may we enter?"

"But of course!" The demon answers as they step aside and motioning towards the inside of the restaurant. The four of us exchange nervous glances, before entering the bar.