"Are you serious?" Donny asked me.

I looked at him with an intense, tight expression on my face. He saw it and went quiet knowing that the question he had asked was a common and stupendously stupid question to ask. Yet, he knows not to ask me such questions, though two years absent from them has given them time to develop other habits.

Marie completed her workout and joined us, wiping off sweat from her forehead. She was more toned than I remember, her muscles were more defined. She must have changed her workout program and she, indeed, reaped the benefits. She walked out of the training room and joined us out in the common room.

I informed every one of my observations in the city, and they were bewildered and disgusted all at once. I shared my insights on the city and its residents and suggested we split and get bearings of the city; however, it was a case of pairs split up rather than each of us. I told them for one reason; it was far too dangerous for one to be traversing in lonesome in land they are not familiar. Instead, I took upon myself to travel on my own.

Everyone was allocated an area in the city. Yes, we looked up the map of the city, if you were wondering. Why am I even explaining this to you as if you're a child that needs everything explained to you. Guess I will let your imagination go wild, if you know what I mean. I took the city's downtown area, which was said to be dense with demonic activity from the modest to the vilest of activities. Donny and Marie were given the corporate sector of the city. I felt that they were going to a part of the city they could handle but I warned them, "Just because it doesn't seem to be worse than the others, you're unfortunately mistaken." They grimaced the sector they had to go to and questioned my decision. I told them they had more expertise in the corporate area, and they would blend in more than Veronica, Dante and me.

The sectors of the city I picked and assigned the others were based on their expertise and not only that but to cover the city methodically. It's what I feel is necessary, it's what I know will get the get the job done. That was a lesson I learnt as a leader.

Lastly Dante and Veronica got the entertainment sector of the city. Knowing their personalities and skillset it seemed to be reasonable, right? No, not by a long shot. I saved the worst for last and those two besides me can handle it. They have gone through hell and back and I trusted their mental fortitude more than Donny and Marie's. The entertainment sector had a history of males and females going missing and eventually becoming part of the sector that no one could fathom. Pure people become tainted by such a sector, and I had them to check it out.

This was purely a reconnaissance mission and nothing more. I had to set a restriction to lower any sense of suspicion; no guns, no one goes into restricted areas and blend into the crowd. The last one was more important than the others, the residents -the demons that live in the city- would smell out fresh meat if they showed any signs of being new. The suits, the strippers, prostitutes, doctors and many others were bad enough though there were demons dressed as such making it much more difficult to discern.

A few hours later in the downtime sector of the city, I looked at the shops and it was way more densely populated than the area our safe house was in. I walked past a stall selling perfume with very strong scents and the merchant offered me some. I respectively refused the perfumes.

The streets were busy, honking of cars, sounds of passing cars, sirens blaring out in the distance from both police cars and ambulances, fights breaking out at random, lots of people either chatting with each other or on their phones chaotically making each word indistinct and inaudible for others. Though all these were happening around me I felt eyes on me from everywhere. I was being watched. I ignored the feeling and kept walking.

I stopped at a road crossing deep in a crowd of people waiting for the green man to indicate they can walk across the road. I looked up and around to see many buildings, tall and short, futuristic, rustic and old. None were modern currently.

Something felt off though. The eyes were off me and were replaced by a sense of power, some more suffocating than others combined with the treacherous heat of the midday sun and body heat of the pedestrians. It was my move now, if I didn't time it right, I would've put innocent lives at stake. That's how I would put it for the majority.

Seconds went by waiting for the lights to change. It felt like an eternity and my cover was about to get compromised. Then a hand grabbed my shoulder and looked over to find Amelia right beside. She was delighted to see me again under these circumstances, and I used that to my advantage.

"Amelia, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I didn't think you would remember me, uh…" Amelia said.

"Captain." I reminded her of my name.

"Right, Captain. I thought I would have not seen for a while after this morning. If you need your coat back you can tell me, and we will meet wherever you prefer."

"That's a nice offer, but I am very unfamiliar with Bronix City,"

"Oh really? Well, if you have the time I could show you around the downtown."

After she uttered those words, I took them into consideration and comparing to my current situation I took it the offer then and there. She was quite happy to hear from as though she could jump joyously in the crowd, but she maintained a calm demeanour.

The lights lit green, and the crowd moved as a wave across to either side of the street. The suffocating feeling went away, and the eyes lost me, searching for a nobody blended into a sea of people and demons. I couldn't do anything; I was far too exposed.

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