N/A: I wasn't exactly expecting much of a reaction from readers after that bland first chapter, so I really thank the votes this got. Regarding the story, this will somewhat follow the canon regarding the major events (in that they happen, not in how), though the specifics, if detailed, will be far different due to the inclusion of my organization (readers of my main fanfic will have the idea on what's different).

EDIT NOTE: Edited on January 17th-20th, 2023.

Disclaimer: "Highschool DxD" is not my property, all credit goes to its author. This is merely a fan project and I only claim ownership of the original elements of this story.

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Chapter 2
New Patrons

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Several days later...

The bar doors opened once again way earlier than usual, and this made Issei raise an eyebrow. He was crouched behind the counter with his back turned, so this became once more a guessing game: was the newcomer a new customer, or would be a regular that took a page from Alice's guidebook and came at a different time?

A short listening revealed multiple pairs of feet taping against the wooden floor, which just raised his curiosity. A relatively large group so early in the afternoon? There were at least five people coming in at the same time, so either an office had an early release and decided to celebrate, something really unlikely as they were in the middle of the workweek, or a bunch of free people decided to check out the bar taking advantage of the lack of customers in the early afternoon.

A second listening revealed another detail: most were wearing either dress shoes or hard boots. The former left many groups as options, as several people in the complex used them, but the latter? Only a handful of groups still used those hard-soil knee-high boots in the [Organization], and the Overwatch was not one of them – they had already transitioned to the shorter (and softer, he reminded himself with a grunt) combat boots. The few that did still use them were either from the security departments or from units he did not like to think about. That meant that, if those sounds were made by boots, it meant bad news. Really bad news.

His senses became alert. What if they really were security? Were they here to arrest him? He hadn't done anything that deserved the harsh treatment given by the hounds of the security departments, but then again, they weren't exactly known for playing clean either. He tuned his hearing, counting seven pairs of feet taping the floor. He started making plans for an escape, looking at his surroundings. A bottle against the head of the leader could...

"Are you sure this is the place?" Asked a soft voice, with an emotion he could only identify as shyness.

Issei froze. He recognized that voice.

"Yeah, it should be." Another voice spoke.

"Then where is he? I kind of notice this is quite empty." Added a third, slightly tired.

"I don't know, maybe he's out on break?"

"Shouldn't be." A fourth chimed in, his voice as tired as the third's. "It's not even six!"

"Well, it's just an idea. Maybe a shift change?" There was a slight pause. "Oh, what the hell do I know? I don't work at bars."

"I thought you were a regular at the bar in the main courtyard?"

"I mean, yeah... but I wasn't paying attention to their shifts, ya know? I was there for the drinks. Cheap drinks."

"Wait, so you never noticed that that waitress was staying long after her shift was over just to chat with you?"

"Just to chat with... wait, what?! You mean she had a thing for me?!"

"I don't know to tell you this, man, but she was head over heels for you. I mean, even the support dude we had at our table a few months ago could see that. And he was blind."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"...fuck..." he heard a pained whisper.

It was at that moment that Issei, relaxing after realizing those weren't from security or a threat, finally noticed that his right hand was on top the glove on his left, ready to remove it at the first chance it got. Sighing, he took his hand away and dried the small sweat bids on it in his pants, finally standing up and turning around to face the arrivals.

"Greetings, and sorry for the delay. I was just accommodating some bottles down there." He greeted them with the most natural smile he could muster, praying they didn't read through him. But his expression was changed for one of surprise at the sight in the middle of the group, opening his mouth once more while blinking repeatedly. "...Asia? Is that you?"

"Yes, I am! Hi Issei!" The girl greeted cheerfully, jumping ahead to meet him. She ended in-between the stools in front of the counter, but it was enough for her to grasp his right between her two hands and shake it vigorously with a bright smile. "I'm so happy to see you again!"

"Y-yeah, it's been a while..." He answered, smiling somewhat awkward. Asia's bright energy was always too much for him to handle. His eyes, meanwhile, scanned the rest of the group: four men and two women, all wearing the black civil uniform with magician bands on their arms. A rare sighting, indeed, as magicians were rare enough to hardly meet a full team of them. But that's where their similarities ended. Their specialty patches had little uniformity, their medal ribbons pointed at "field" medals, their veterancy stripes were more than a handful, and their shoulder straps and ties signalled four were from the Middle Ranks and two from the Superior Ranks. None from the Base Ranks.

That only left one probable option.

"Central Teams, huh?" He thought to himself, a grim smile briefly flashing on his face at the mention of the elite teams under Central Command authority. "Wasn't expecting to see any of those for a while..."

He connected the dots almost immediately: the mysterious official talking about the full scope of the operation a few days ago, the Overwatch deployment in Egypt distracting the ecclesiastical forces in the Mediterranean, the retrieval of a VIP in Milan, one of the Central Teams appearing with Asia a few days later in his bar, and, finally, said official revealing he knew that Issei dropping the hint on that specific VIP? It was way too obvious.

"I take it that the extraction went well, then?" He asked with an eyebrow raised towards the Superior Rank at the front. He nodded with a slight smirk, confirming his suspicion of him being the leader.

"The tip of you knowing about the mission was true. Truly something else for a bartender."

"While I appreciate the compliment, please don't think it's a regular occurrence."

"Of course, of course. Don't worry, I know how things work here."

"I'm sure you do." A couple seconds passed before Issei shrugged and pointed to one of the nearby tables. "Please take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."

"It's on the house?"

"A-ah, well..." he thought quickly, soon coming with a strategy to avoid losing the new potential customers. "I'll give you a discount for rescuing Asia, but I still need to cover the costs. My boss will kill me if I gift seven drinks."

"Fair enough." The group chuckled. "We'll take the offer if you don't mind. There's not that many places that allow a group to get drink so early without questions."

"If it's secrecy and privacy what you want, I think you'll find my humble bar quite pleasant. You may even become regulars."

"Sorry to disagree, but I think this is at least a few levels above 'humble.'" Noted the leader, arms crossed.

Issei shrugged. "Maybe. Either way, give me a second and I'll be with you."

"Sure thing, barman."

Sighing internally, Issei took the chance to pay attention to Asia: the blonde was patiently waiting for him, a small smile on her face, and he noticed she was still wearing civilian clothes with a touch of dirt on them. They probably headed to his bar right after debriefing.

"So, Asia... how have you been? Are you ok?" He pointed vaguely to the magicians in a table near the back. "I really hope they weren't harsh with you?"

"No, not at all!" Asia's smile exuded warm and kindness, and Issei, although smiling as well, had to avoid her gaze for a bit due to the metaphoric "brightness" in them. "Though the transport here was a bit harsh and slow... we're in Switzerland, right? Is not that far away, so I don't know why it took so long..."

"Probably to identify and throw off any pursuers. That if the church even cared about getting her back at that point," he thought grimly. If anything, the church would've sent extermination squads rather than recovery teams, which would've made the task of getting her out much more difficult. "I wonder who they would send though. The 1st Brigade? Section XIV? Or..." He shivered at the idea of the church deploying Section XIII to hunt for Asia. They wouldn't, right? The elite warriors of the Church required consensus to be deployed, and while Asia did commit a crime in their eyes, her skills as a healer surely made her excommunication a real controversy. Shaking his head free of these thoughts, he refocused on the blonde.

"Surely the team knows why. They are not from the ones to do things without reason." He sent a small smile while he got his notepad and pen, circling around the counter. "Why don't we go to the table for now?"

Asia nodded, and he led her to the magicians who looked at the two with either happy or complacent smiles. Issei chose to kindly ignore the latter, already too familiar with the comments they could muster to annoy him. He picked up a chair and set it for Asia to seat with them as he spoke:

"So, ladies and gentlemen, I take it you already have your orders?" Before any could make a single sound, he interrupted them. "I'm afraid kitchen personnel are not present this early, so most food I can offer you are simple snacks and pre-made simple foods. Drinks, on the other hand... well, let's just say there's no shortage of them."

"Ah, crap. I thought you served food here?"

"As I said: it's too early. Kitchen personnel arrive later for the evening shift."

"Isn't it evening already?" Asia pondered, a finger on her chin and curious eyes on him. Issei found himself smiling back at her antics.

"This is the opening shift, though you may call it the afternoon shift if you like. Makes things easier."

"Whatever," said the leader of the group, shrugging. "I'll have a water for now."

"M-me too!" Asia raised her hand as if she was in a classroom, attracting giggles from the rest.

"Two waters, coming right up. Anything else?" He eyed the rest of the table, pen at the ready.

"A beer here."

"What kind?"

"Lager, please."

"Make that two."

"Two lagers, understood."

"A mojito here, if you don't mind."

"You want it with soda added?"

"Yes please, if you would."

"A mojito?" One of the mages raised an eyebrow. "I know it's summer here, but man, we're in the middle of the mountains."

"Shut up and let me order, will ya? Worry about your chronic 'can't-spot-a-girl-flirting-with-me' problem first."

"Fuck off." A chorus of laughs followed the statement, with Issei taking the chance to approach the last two people.

"And what can I get you?"

"Gimme a Jack and Coke, if you will."

"I'll have an espresso martini. Extra sweet."

"An extra sweet espresso martini... any special sweetener?"

"Anything's fine, really."

"Okay then. Give me a minute please."

The espresso martini went first, choosing chocolate for the sweetener. Crème de cacao, as it was. A classical variation. The mojito came next, with special care to not destroy the leaves as he used the shaker, and the Jack and Coke followed soon after. In quick succession, he served the water and beer. He carefully put them on a tray, added a portion of mixed nuts, peanuts and almonds and headed for the table, professionally presenting to each their glass without interrupting the conversation until the last moment.

"I hope you enjoy your drinks. If you need, I'll be at the counter."

"Oh, don't be like that. There's no one else here. Take a seat." The leader invited him. Issei looked around: the bar was indeed empty aside from them, and everyone had amicable smiles on their faces. Plus, Asia was with them. He shrugged slightly and put the tray under his arm.

"I'll go for a drink first."

"Sure."

A glass of water later, Issei found himself sit between Asia and the leader of the team, quietly sipping his drink as he listened the stories about the group adventures. A lot of details were, of course, classified, but that didn't prevent them to enjoy the stories they toll. Asia, on her side, nodded from time to time, laughed at the small jokes thrown here and there, and looked at him with confusion when the conversation drifted into internal topics of the [Organization], chances in which he placated her curiosity with a tender head pat and the promise to explain later. The group, however, now included them both, so it inevitably drifted towards the topic the eight had in common: Asia's rescue mission.

"Must've been difficult without a teleporter," was Issei's initial appreciation. The leader raised an eyebrow, yet shrugged and laid back on his seat, nonetheless.

"How'd you know we didn't have one?"

"Shit." Countless similar expressions passed through Issei's mind in seconds, and surely through his face as well. He wasn't always that good hiding his feelings. Fortunately, he had better reasons than an uncalled "I've worked with teleporters before" that might've attracted more unwanted questions.

That, and teleporters didn't actually have anything special that made them stand out from other mages, so it's not like it would've worked.

"First, Asia mentioned you took a long time to exit the country," he begun, raising his index, followed by his middle finger as he numbered the reasons. "Second, while the distraction of the Overwatch in Suez was first and foremost for you to be able to infiltrate Milan undetected, the length of it wouldn't make sense unless it was so you could also slip out without issue several days later."

"Oh?" The leader slightly narrowed his eyes, though clearly amused. The rest of his team had similar faces, some more expressive than others. He chalked it up to the alcohol. "And wouldn't the distraction simply take that long because is a cover-up military exercise?"

"I don't think so." Issei shook his head, taking the chance to throw a smile in Asia's direction to calm her regarding the conversation's direction. "The Overwatch is basically light infantry with a secret police part-time job, so a war exercise of their own against the forces of the 4th Division wouldn't last more than a couple days being optimistic unless they brought a large part of the regiment, which I'm sure they did not. So, the number of days of the exercise was stretched so you had enough of a time window to throw off any pursuers and leave Milan unscathed."

A few claps interrupted his thoughts, and Issei found himself in the middle of the fond looks of the mages. Dumbfounded, he looked at the leader, who simply smiled still amused.

"That's quite the analysis you made with limited info. I'm surprised."

"Thanks, but I just had some early advantage. It was nothing that great."

"I wonder..."

"Right, but, uhm, what does have to do with the teleporter thing?" Intervened one of the Middle Ranks. Issei laid back on his seat before answering.

"If you had a teleporter, the exercise would've either been of a regular number of days or wouldn't happen at all, since all you would have to do would be to get in, grab Asia and disappear instantly, at most having to withdraw to a certain distance from the city in order to evade any sort of barrier in place. All that wouldn't take more than a full day, yet here we are four days after the beginning of the operation with you guys just returning."

"H-how do you know we returned recently?"

"The uniforms are clean, but you haven't exactly cleaned yourselves. Asia's clothes also have dirt in them, so either all of you went to play in the dirt earlier and changed clothes before coming here, of you arrived today, went to debriefing and took Asia here right after."

He took a sip of water after that, which allowed him to appreciate the sudden silence in the table. The mages were looking at him with faces mixing surprise, interest, and worry, while Asia was still partly confused as to the topic at hand. But the leader simply clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention and palmed him on the back.

"That's quite the good analysis you made there, mister Hyoudou. Is hard to think you only work as a barman."

"Well, I wasn't always serving drinks, that's for sure."

"I'm sure of it." He took a glance at his wristwatch, throwing a low whistle. "Well, it's been a nice talk, but I'm afraid is time to go. There's still work to do, including kicking a certain someone out of our office."

Issei grinned. Central Teams were always very, very territorial with their offices, something made much more entertaining by the fact that those were shared due to lack of space.

"If you lend me one of your payment cards, I'll charge everything to it."

"With the discount, I assume?"

"If you remember it, then I'm afraid I'll have to do it."

The leader passed his card to him amidst a chorus of laughter, one he promptly got to the cashier machine and inserted into it after adding up the sum of the drinks. The group, meanwhile, help him tide up the table and chairs, all save their leader and Asia waiting by the door to leave.

"It's been nice to see you, Issei! I hope we meet again soon!" Asia once again grasped his right between her hands with a beaming smile, getting an awkward reaction from the Japanese and a laugh from the team leader.

"W-well, I work here, so you can usually find me in the afternoon shift if you like..." he managed to answer back, doing his best to fight the brightness in the blonde. She nodded and said her goodbyes, quickly leaving for the door.

"There she goes." Commented the mage leader, arms crossed over his chest as he waited to get his card back. "She's too pure. Naïve, even. It's people like her that remind us that there's still good in this world from time to time."

"Agreed." Issei's answer was soft as it was brief, his eyes quietly following the girl as she went from mage to mage speaking of something he couldn't make the words of thanks to the distance.

"I'm sure you have your problems too."

"I'm not the first and won't be the last."

"Unfortunately. If it serves as any comfort, we'll probably make this place out meeting point. We'll try to pass the tip to others in the Central Teams."

"...Central Teams?"

"Don't act dumb, I know you know."

He smiled listlessly, admitting defeat.

"Since when?"

"I know you had it figured out when you asked about the teleporter. Maybe since you sat down with us."

"Guess I did a bad job hiding it."

"Nah, you did a good job. I was working with advantage there."

"What do you mean?"

"..." the team leader stayed in silence for a while, receiving back his payment card and storing it back on the inside pocket of his uniform's jacket. "The person who told us where to find you and to take Asia here also warned me of something, aside from the rest."

"..."

"You know what he said?"

Issei grabbed his left hand's glove, yet said nothing.

"..."

"He said: be careful of the dormant dragon in the friendly mask." Issei narrowed his eyes but didn't get the chance to speak. "Personally, I don't know why he called you a dragon, but I know he was speaking of you. Just thought that you should know that."

He turned on his feet and started to walk towards the entrance.

"Wait," Issei called him. The magician stopped in his tracks, partially turning towards him. "... who said that?"

He gave him a dejected smile, eyebrow falling to the sides as he relaxed his stance.

"I think you know him already."

Through Issei's mind flashed the memory of the mysterious bureaucrat that visited his bar a few days ago, at the same time as Alice. He felt a frown appear.

"And what's his name?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"You are not the only one with secrets." He shrugged. "Though even if I knew it, I couldn't tell you."

Issei was about to ask about that, but a quick pointing to the tie made him understand. It was not the tie itself that was important, but what its colour represented. Issei felt a self-deprecating smile appear on his face, one he shared with the client in front of him.

"The high command really does what it wants, huh?" Said the team leader, his spirits defeated.

"And sometimes the ones above that, too." Issei added in the same voice.

Both shared an understanding nod before the team leader turned away and walked to the door, soon leaving with his group. Behind stayed a lonely barman in his place of work, a glass in one hand and a piece of cloth in the other, slowly cleaning the former as he turned off his awareness of the world. But before that a single strain of thought crossed his mind, cruelly reminding him the state of the world whether he was there, serving drinks, or in the battlefield, fulfilling his place as one more of the Numbers.

"Nothing has changed after all."

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A/N: I actually had to scrap (more like push for later) a couple ideas of this chapter that would've heavily disrupted the flow of the narrative. Instead, though, I actually got an ending that kept the idea of this part, so is a win-win (because I now have more content for later).

On a side note, I also wrote this part first in english to then translate it to Spanish. Why? Dunno, simply felt like it. Many thanks to the several discord users who helped me with some of the dialogues for this chapter.

On the edit note side of things, the part dedicated to the drinks was scrapped for reasons listed in the final's A/N of the first chapter. I also tried to polish a bit more Issei's personality, something clearly not my forte, and fixed some writing issues.

Other than that, hope you liked this, leave a comment or vote (or don't) and read you later,
RedSS.