"Ahh!" Pop sighed, placing down the glass of coffee. He gave a wink to the maid who refilled his cup, the latter who gave him the cold shoulder. Shino muttered under his breath but said nothing. Pop's demeanor was something he had learnt to ignore. He just didn't understand why he had to be paired with him.
"So, who's paying for this meal?" Pop asked, staring outside.
"Who else."
"C'mon Shi. Don't do that to your old pal."
"My old pal wasn't a pervert."
"My old Shi wasn't a shut in."
"Shut-in?"
"When was the last time you ever had a girl of your own, huh?"
Shino looked at him. "There are much more important things right now. Girls can wait."
"I'm just saying. A guy has to have some company once in a while, you know, away from all the guys who are busy getting blood sprayed on them almost every day of the week."
"There are girls in the inquisitors."
"Heck Shino, I'm not into girls who can crush skulls with their bare hands."
"There are a few who can't."
"The few who can't have this vibe to them, Shi. It's scary no matter which angle you look at it from."
Shino shrugged, still stirring the black coffee he held in both of his hands. The subject of girls always annoyed him. Mainly because it was one of the few things that his sister had always insisted on. Shino knew deep down that his sister had only wanted him to quit the Inquisitors altogether, to at least give herself one thing less to worry about. But Shino had seen enough. Enough to burn his resolve till he died.
A silent beeping sound made him jump. It was an Inquisitor distress signal. Pop got the same signal. The two stared at each other before taking out their devices.
"I'm reading this wrong, right?"
"You're not, Shi. Its Barry's signal."
"That guys in trouble?"
"Better hurry with that cup of coffee. Or should I finish it for you?"
The two quickly dashed out of the bar with tremendous speed, leaving the onlookers in awe and curiosity. Pop however came back to the counter and dropped a couple of notes before rushing back out, giving the maid a wink.
Aaron stared at the beeping signal in shock. Barry? Calling for help. This couldn't end well. He glanced at Brandon and Rachel and at the other two Shield agents and sighed.
"Guys. Scouting's over. You guys need to go back."
"What? We barely just started." Brandon whined.
"Yeah, I don't want to go back to Barry's crude training sessions. The guy's a demon." Rachel added.
"Well, I've got an emergency to take care of, and I can't do it while babysitting the rest of you guys."
"So that's what this is about." Spen said, looking at Aaron. Aaron looked at him and remembered that there were five Shield recruits. Funny enough, Ross had actually forgotten this as well, and he could see why. Aaron would forget someone if he wasn't in standard uniform as well.
"What?"
"That button thingy you looked at." Spen said, "It's a distress signal."
"An emergency from an inquisitor?" Felicity said, "Then we should all go."
"No." Aaron said, "You are all inexperienced."
"How are we supposed to be experienced if we don't ever get the chance to shine?" Lukas asked.
"Yeah, and although I don't like Lukas, I agree. We can't move forward if you keep on holding us back." Rachel said, "Lets come along."
"Yeah." Brandon said.
"No!" Aaron bellowed "And that's an order. Return to the HQ. You three Shield recruits should go back to yours and alert them. I'd send the coordinates if I can but I am not taken you guys along."
"Why?"
"Haven't you figured it out?" Spen asked with a grin on his face. "The person sending out the signal is a higher classed inquisitor, right."
Aaron refused to answer, only walking away. "Do as I say."
"C'mon." Rachel groaned, "I hate this undermining…"
Rachel stooped her sentence short as she saw something crawl out from the sewer from the corner of her eye. It was a daemon, one with Sharp thorns on its back and saber tooth teeth. Aaron saw it and stood in front of the five recruits.
"Go!"
"I don't think that's possible." Spen said, as a scream rang out, followed by the panic of individuals. Two more daemon had appeared, all unique, staring at them with their bright yellow eyes.
"Dammit!" Aaron said, activating his rei. The metal gloves he wore glowed red, as if burning with aura. He rushed at the one in front of him, punching it squarely in the chest, sending it flying all the way to a truck. He spun round only to see that the five recruits had begun their assault. Brandon charged with his nunchaku at the first one. He broke the chains of his weapon and, using them as batons, slammed its head into the ground, followed by a burning upward kick performed by Rachel. Felicity finished it off with rapid stabs to its core with a needle dagger. Rachel smiled turning to Aaron, who only stood there, watching in shock. But he wasn't shocked at them, and Rachel soon realized why. The second daemon was crushed by a giant black hand, belonging to Spen. He held it up, crushing and crushing on till its core burst. He stopped when it dissipated and turned to the others with a smile.
"You're right, Rachel," Spen grinned, "We should come along."
Aaron stared at them and smiled. "Still, no"
Kyler looked down at the city, with Martha right beside him. In the far distance, they could see the smoke rising from where the signal had come from, and the sounds of daemon and humans screaming.
"Should we go to him?" Kyler asked.
"No," Martha said, "The daemon aren't just there with Barry, they are all over Boston. Let Shino and Pop go there."
"And Aaron?"
"Aaron knows best to send the recruits away. Let's just pray that the recruits will obey him. Are there other Inquisitors around, Latifa?"
"Pop and Shino have responded. Jake is leaving HQ. Ricardo is responding. Queens is responding. Um…one…two…minus the three of us and Aaron, seven inquisitors have responded."
"And Shield?"
"They're on site, helping with the evacuation."
Martha sighed. "Then, let's move."