“The demon queen,” Dani spat out. “We need to take down that bitch for good this time.”

“We’re not armed or equipped enough for that,” Rebecca said with a grimace. “We’ll have to let the third deal with her for now.”

“The problem is, where do we go?” Nicole asked.

Lisa just grinned and said, “Don’t worry. That much is taken care of. Come on.”

We raced out of the concrete building, running into several more soldiers who were either standing guard or trying to head towards the demon breakout. We were much faster than they were and were able to quickly disarm them before they’d even absorbed the fact that we were there. I felt a little guilty for disarming them when demons were nearby, but we had a legitimate fear that they were just as likely to shoot us as the demons.

As soon as we’d exited the building, Rebecca pointed out the two helicopters who were coming in for a landing. Lisa and I grinned at the sight, then raced to the flight line as fast as we could, or at least as fast as we could without leaving Dr. Merrit behind.

The helicopters landed right before we reached the helicopter pads and a half dozen soldiers jumped out of the first helicopter. They were each wearing lightweight gray armor that was similar to what we angels used, and their outfits included hoods and masks that would protect them from harkon infection. These were the outfits Lisa had designed to protect our soldiers, and they were one of the presents she’d given to Colonel Roberts upon her return. She’d only had six of them made up so far and we’d had to stop off at a small airfield to collect them from her Cessna, but when it came to offering protection, they were worth their weight in gold.

“Good to see you guys again,” Mike said, though I couldn’t see his face through the mask.

“Monica,” Gene greeted me, though I couldn’t see his face either.

A moment later, the soldiers in the other helicopter came out as well, wearing battle gear but not the gray suits that Lisa had provided. Still, even if they weren’t as well protected as the others, I had no doubt that they’d continue to do their jobs just as they always did.

“I was expecting more of a greeting,” Captain Brooks stated, pointing out the lack of hostile soldiers.

“Well, we all knew the demon queen was going to be trouble again,” Rebecca said grimly. “Unfortunately, her timing stinks…”

“I don’t know,” Nicole pointed out, gesturing to the soldiers who had been part of our rescue plan. “She broke out when we actually have people available to take her down. It sounds like good timing to me.”

Captain Brooks stared at Dr. Merrit with a nasty glare, then he looked at the rest of us and demanded, “Okay, explain exactly what is going on here…”

Once we’d explained, Captain Brooks cursed. “This was supposed to be a rescue operation, not a demon hunt…”

“Then it’s a good thing Lisa brought us these presents,” Mike commented, patting his suit.

Captain Brooks nodded at that, then gave Lisa a curious look. “And I thought you were being paranoid to bring this gear…”

“Is it paranoia if people are really out to get you?” she asked calmly.

“I’ve been listening in over the radio,” Rebecca said. “The demon queen has been releasing the rest of the demons. The third is trying to engage but are overwhelmed and outnumbered.”

“Exactly how many demons are there?” Captain Brooks asked.

Dr. Merrit immediately answered, “Twenty-two demons were contained here, including the demon queen.”

Captain Brooks scowled at that and muttered, “And I thought all the demons were supposed to be destroyed here.”

No one said anything to that since we all knew that this was due to Lawrence and Dolenz. After everything else they’d been up to, I didn’t think that anyone was surprised that they’d keep demons in a zoo in order to further their projects.

“And we can’t even bug out with our people still here,” Mike commented with a snort.

“Team one,” Captain Brooks announced, gesturing to those who didn’t have Lisa’s extra gear. “We’re going to recover the colonel and our other people. Team two,” he gestured to those who were wearing the extra gear. “You’ll focus on containing the demons.”

Lisa and I rushed to the helicopter we’d arrived in, bringing out sisters with us. Once we were there, Lisa began pulling out the bundles that contained our combat armor and passing them around. Julie gave a look of surprise when we handed one of them to her.

“You’re not trained yet,” Rebecca told Julie, obviously impressed by the fact that Lisa and I had come prepared. “But you’re stronger, faster, and better able to survive the demons than any of those soldiers…” She gestured to the ones who were already starting towards the concrete building. “Just stay close and follow my lead.”

“Gotcha,” Julie responded, obviously nervous but excited at the same time.

Lisa had left her own suit of gray biohazard armor behind and was wearing standard angel armor just like the rest of us. It was a strange sight to see so many sisters around me at one time. I could imagine that it was even stranger for Rebecca, Dani and Nicole, since Angel Squad had gone from three members to six in a two month time.

“It feels strange to be wearing this again,” Lisa commented as she finished putting on her armor.

“It still looks good on you,” Nicole told her with a grin. “But we’re still going to have a talk about where you’ve been once this is all over…”

“Of course,” Lisa responded, then giving Nicole a mock glare. “And we can also talk about what happened to all my shoes.”

Once we were all armored up, Lisa handed out weapons. Julie kept looking down at herself as though surprised by what she saw.

“You’ll do fine,” I assured Julie, giving her a grin. “I mean, I was just an EMT but you’re already in the Army and have training.”

“Good point,” Julie responded with a grin of her own. “If you can do this, I shouldn’t have any problems at all.”

Once we were all armed and armored, our newly grown Angel Squad started back to the containment building that we’d just escaped from. Of course, this time we were ready to fight, and so help any third DSU soldier who tried getting in our way.

Almost as soon as we entered the containment building, I heard the high pitch shrieking from the demon queen coming from somewhere down the hall. I wondered if that shrieking had something to do with how she controlled the demons. Maybe it was a way of communicating to them and giving them direction. However, I didn’t have time to worry about that as several demons were coming towards us from one of the side halls.

One of the demons was over seven feet tall, massively overweight, and had slimy green skin. Another of them was so skinny he was almost gaunt, though his skin was the same gray color as the concrete floors. The last demon had red skin, black claws on his hands, and a pair of horn growing from his forehead. Out of every demon I’d seen, that one looked the most like the classic devil stereotype.

For some reason, I took another look at the red skinned demon, having the strange feeling that I knew him. Then it suddenly struck me. There was enough of his human form left for me to make out who he used to be. This was the soldier who’d helped us fight against the demon queen and who’d been infected because of it.

“Jason,” Nicole blurted out, obviously recognizing him as well. Her voice was filled with horror as she exclaimed, “That’s Jason…”

“Oh fuck,” Dani snarled. “The poor bastard deserves better than this…”

Rebecca just fired a single shot through the demon’s head, and when he fell over, she quietly said, “Rest in peace soldier.”

The rest of us opened fire on the remaining two demons, both of which went down quickly. Then we began going down the main hallway so we could catch up with the rest of our unit.

A minute later, we followed the sound of gunfire into a large courtyard where I found our soldiers crouched down along with several third DSU soldiers, firing at a mass of demons on the other side of the courtyard. The demons were going down from the sheer amount of gunfire, but more of them kept coming into the courtyard.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” one of the third DSU soldiers was repeating, nearly panicking.

I gave the soldier a sympathetic look, knowing that he was not only terrified of the demons but of getting infected as well. With this many demons running around, the chance for getting infected was very high. And though the other third DSU soldiers had the face mask and gloves to help reduce the chances of infection, this one seemed to lack them. Then my sympathy faded as I recognized him as the guard who kept telling Lisa to shut up.

“I guess Marrit’s tranquilizers don’t last long,” I muttered.

One of the demons was bigger and nastier than the others, with thick scaled hide that seemed to protect against gunfire. Without discussing it, my sisters and I spread out and began attacking from multiple sides. I’d dealt with enough bulletproof demons by now that I immediately aimed at his face and mouth. In moments, that demon was dead and the remaining cluster in this courtyard were either dead or retreating back into the building.

“Thanks for the help,” Mike told us.

Gene gave me a thumbs up and said, “You do make that look good.”

“This is team leader one,” a voice called out over the radio. “We have recovered our people and are returning to the evacuation point.”

“Did the locals give you any trouble?” Captain Brooks asked.

“Negative,” team leader one responded. “They were more than happy to cooperate once they realized which way the wind is blowing.”

Rebecca looked at the rest of us and then our backup soldiers. “There’s twelve of us plus the stragglers from the third. Normally I’d suggest we split into three groups, but with the number of demons running around I think we’re good with two groups.”

“Sounds good to me,” Mike responded. “But as dangerous as all these demons are, I think our primary focus should be the demon queen.”

“Agreed,” Rebecca told him. “But I think Angel Squad will focus on the queen. You guys focus on taking care of the loose demons.”

Just then, Captain Brooks came over the radio, exclaiming, “The demon queen has just exited the containment compound with a small force and is coming in our direction. We need backup here now.”

“On our way,” Mike and Rebecca answered at once. Without bothering to stop and talk about it, all of us turned and began running back the direction we’d just come from.