The medical tent was white with a red cross over the open flap. When John stepped into the tent, he spotted the woman and a man on a white bed. He recognized them from the stadium before Tiara helped them escape.

The man in a white coat was overweight with a short brown beard and a robotic left green eye. His beard stretched around his toad head, giving him a grizzly bear-like appearance. The black shirt beneath his white coat couldn't cover up his round belly that nearly hung over his waist. Besides his cyborg eye, he also has a right bionic orange arm with green tubes beneath his black muscle fibers. His arm looked ancient than John’s stronger mechanic arms. 

The woman wore a yellow jacket with tight brown pants on, suitable for an expedition. She tied her blonde hair into a bun and she wore glasses over her blue eyes. She appeared to be young, unlike the middle-aged scientist women whom John saw at the SPD station.

When the two caught the squad's attention, Alexia approached them. "Greetings, I'm Alexia and we are the Purple Squad. Are you the expedition team who found the demonic relic?"

"Yes, the director sent you?" The woman asked.

"We came here to help," said John, "but we need to know where the artifact is."

The bearded scientist beamed his eyes toward John. "Hold on!"

He walked toward John and pointed his metal finger at him. "I know you! You're the cyborg werewolf! Am I right?"

John glared. "Are you a fanboy or something?"

The man grinned, showing his yellow teeth. "You can say that." He held his hand out. "The name's Butcher. Gil Butcher. I built those bionic parts for you."

John glanced at his arms. "Really?"

Butcher chuckled. "They never let you know, do they?"

"Well, the engineers only equipped them to my body. I never ask who built them."

Butcher frowned. "Now that hurts my feelings."

"Sorry. You want a thank-you card?"

Butcher shrugged.

"I'm Dr.Quinn," the woman explained, sitting up from the bed. "I was in charge of the expedition."

John narrowed his eyes. "Did you activate the beacon?"

Butcher raised his hand. "That was me. My bad."

John felt the urge to punch the bearded scientist's face very hard. Because of his mistake, billions of people on Earth are dying. He should have known better.

But John's wish came true when Kara swung her fist into Butcher's face. The man fell to the bed and growled. 

"Ouch!" He rubbed his bleeding lip. "What the fuck!"

"That's what you get for endangering the entire world!" Kara snarled and licked the blood off her knuckles. She grimaced as she swallowed Butcher's blood. It must have left a sour taste inside her mouth.

Dr.Quinn pulled Butcher off the bed. "That was unprofessional."

"Unprofessional?" John pointed his finger at Butcher. "That dumbass sent the Earth to Hell! Billions of people are dying because of him!"

Butcher spat blood to the ground. "Errrrrrr, you want me to say sorry? Quinn told me to examine the damn thing. We didn't know the beacon would activate by human touch. Shit happens, okay?"

Kara crossed her arms. "Maybe you should be out there, getting eaten by the demons."

Butcher glared at her.

"Enough!" Quinn shouted. "What’s done is done, but we can still save this world. Arguing will only lead us closer to extinction. So, do you want to know where the beacon is or not?"

John sighed and nodded. The demons out there should be the ones to fight instead.

“Where is it?” Alexia asked.

Quinn stroked her blonde ponytail. “The demons took it….. To their base in Central Park."

John rubbed his forehead. "Fuck….."

He feared the demons would take the beacon to a secure location after they found it. But there still might be a chance his squad can reach it. "Did you see their base?"

Quinn shook her head. "We only watched them carry it to a strange structure while they locked us in cages. But it is possible they have a strong defense there."

Tiara shrugged. "Demon bases are not strong without an army. I know ways to sneak through one."

Butcher glanced at her while his mouth dropped. "Oh my god! You are a demon!"

Tiara hissed through her face mask. "You didn't notice?"

He pointed his finger at her suit. "And you are wearing the relic Quinn found!"

"Is that true?" Tiara asked.

Dr.Quinn wiggled her glasses as she examined Tiara's armor suit. "I did find it and sent it to the lab for studies. I didn't know they would modify it into a functional cyber suit."

Tiara chuckled. "Why thank you for finding it."

"How in the hell did you recruit a demon?" Butcher asked. "We are fighting them!"

"It's a long story, which we don't have time to tell," said Alexia. "We should tell the general the location and prepare our next mission."

John nodded. "Then let's get it over with."

*****

Back inside the large temper tent, John and his squad stood around the table. General Shaw approached the table and placed a black plastic photo down on the city map. 

The purple and black image has a pentagram shape with a square on the top. The demons sure liked the upside-down star. 

“That is their base in Central Park,” General Shaw explained. “There are other bases like this one in the other countries. But this one has the beacon?” He glanced toward Dr.Quinn.

“Affinitive,” she answered. “The square is a pyramid structure. Their transport took the beacon there.”

Shaw turned toward Tiara. “Can you predict where they could have secured the beacon in there?”

Tiara stared closely at the map while holding her face mask. “Hmmmmmmmm….. Whoever is in charge of that fortress will have the beacon. I cannot be sure because the architecture is different.”

“What about possible defenses? We need to know what we will be up against in there.”

Tiara rubbed her chin. “If they have defenses, they will attack on the ground and in the air.”

Shaw hummed. “Then I guess we will attack them with force. We have enough battle aircraft ships to invade the base.”

“It is still risky since we do not know what their defenses actually are,” said Alexia.

John grinned. “Sometimes you have to jump into action to see for yourself.”

Alexia glared at him. “And get everyone killed?”

“We know the risks, but getting the beacon is our top priority,” said Shaw. “While my air force attacks the base, we will drop you in the park. But there is no guarantee we will make it."

John nodded. "Then let's make it count."

*****

While the trooper aircraft flew over the city, John sat near the open sliding door, feeling the cold air breeze through his brown mane and smooth brown fur. 

He could still transform back into his werewolf form as if he had never got zapped before. Whatever the demon’s attack did to him, it wasn’t worse than the other attack. 

The air assault was almost close to Central Park. He could see the demonic pyramid structure on the demon’s base, past the skyscrapers.

Tall as the Empire State Building, coated in black metal and red lights, spread across its smooth surface. An upside-down star glowed toward the pyramid top, and tiny red lights sparkled all over the bottom base. The demons surely looked more advance than the ancient ruins they left in normal space.

“It might look close, but we still have a long way to go!” the pilot shouted. 

Kara clicked her sniper rifle, and Alexia switched her purple energy blades on. Tiara sparked flames on her left palm, checking if she could still shoot her attacks. Lena held up her grenade launcher and rotated its barrel. John will activate his mini-gun once the trooper transport lands.

“Incoming!” the pilot shouted.

Red fireballs blasted from the streets toward the air assault. One of them hit one trooper vessel and exploded.

“That must be their anti-air defenses!” Lena shouted.

“No shit!” Tiara exclaimed.

Every fireball exploded around them like fireworks, booming everywhere. John couldn’t see where the demons were firing in the city. It was too dark except the blasts shimmered redness across the trees for a bit. With so many fireballs blasting into the sky, the air assault won’t make it. Already a dozen ships were crashing into skyscrapers.

Suddenly, John felt an explosion beneath the floor, and the trooper transport spun through the air.

“Oh, shit!” he shouted as he landed on all-fours. “We’re hit!”

Kara clenched her seat. “Looks like we are landing sooner than we expected!”