Encroaching Chaos

Walking along the street was a group of three men wearing dark clothing and large burly jackets with beanies on their heads.

With hands in their pockets and and neutral expressions, they turned the corner and walked in the front door to a bank.

Waiting in line patiently they finally got up to the teller window, where they each immediately pulled down their beanies and leapt over the tellers desk and smashed through the cheap protective glass with their limbs.

Standing above the the tellers that had been knocked to the floor, and were covered in glass, the men produced pistols and started firing into the air.

"ON THE GROUND OR YOU DIE!" yelled the three men.

The crowd of bank goe'ers undoubtedly started to panic and cry in fear with more than a few of them trying to escape out the door.

Three people were close and brave enough to make an escape, but all they were met with was three gunshots that brought them to the ground in a pool of their own blood.

The bank security guard finally arrived from the back room, bursting through the door and opening fire immediately. With the element of surprise on his side, he nailed two of the robbers in the chest with three bullets apiece.

Adrenaline filling his body and time dilating from the rush, the guard snapped his pistol towards the last robber and was about to open fire when he was gunned down.

Shock and disbelief filled his last moments, as his eyes focused on who had shot him: The first robber he had thought he easily killed.

The very last thing he saw before he entered deaths cruel embrace was a red glint in the eyes of the three robbers and the wounds they had sustained healing before his very eyes.

----

Sitting in the very same meeting room that he had first roped in the Southern Central Police Department leadership in, Bazel was being briefed on the massive surge of crimes of all levels in their jurisdiction.

"This surge came out of nowhere," explained the Vice Chief, who was also the head of the new intelligence network focused on the supernatural, "there are no new criminal organizations or cultural problems that could be the reason for this sudden increase in criminal activity.

"In fact, most of who we have caught are just random citizens that seem to have no real connection between them or even a real motive. If we just look at the surface, it's almost like these people suddenly woke up today and decided that it was a good day for crime.

"In the past week there have been increases in petty crimes such as vandalism, destruction of property, obstruction, and plenty of attempted larger crimes.

"As of yesterday though, we immediately detected a string of robberies,assaults, and grand theft auto. The trend is only continuing upwards, with the source unknown until new information came out today."

The Vice Chief then pushed a button on the remote he was using to control the projector above him, and video of witness questioning played alongside CCTV footage.

The men in the room witnessed through the footage a robbery in action, where three civilians had been tragically killed as well as a security guard.

"The two robbers were shot, but they did not even show signs of distress as if they were completely fine," began Schwarz in a grave tone, "and the witness testimony confirms that the three robbers had pale skin that showed when they leapt over the counter and strange iris'...almost as if they were wearing contact lenses to hide what they really looked like."

The Vice Chief agreed with Captain Schwarz's analysis and with another press of the remote the scene changed to a heat map of various residence blocks in Southern Central.

"With the information gained from the robbery combined with this data here, which shows all the residences of those who have been committing the crimes...if we overlay this on the same map that has all the confirmed and suspected Sanguis areas of operation, it matches perfectly.

"It becomes clear, then, that we can interpret this crime increase as an attack on us from House Sanguis."

While Bazel pondered as to why they would be doing this, the Chief spoke,

"They are testing our resources, our limit. By slowly causing more fires for us to put out, they will get a feel of our total strength. They are being cautious, maybe due to the amount of casualties we inflicted on them in our first assault.

"When they finally figure out our breaking point...That is when they will truly begin their assault."

A tension descended in the room, for they knew that such a time would arrive sooner than later if they did nothing about it. To Sanguis, for whatever reason, they appeared as a far larger threat than they were. Causing the actions of the House to be methodical and careful, which was both a blessing and a curse.

"We can't remain passive anymore," said Neto as he drummed the table with his fingers in contemplation, "DASF will have to complete its training in the field and fast. The combat data we will gain from its successful operation is necessary to fully bring our entire department up to speed.

"Its two birds with one stone, we get to retaliate to make the enemy more cautious while delaying them and also strengthening ourselves.

"Even though I would like more time to train them, we no longer have that luxury."

No one in the room was able to deny the truth in Neto's words.

Speaking in finality the Chief said,

"Then we will activate DASF and have them start to take out all the areas of Sanguis operation, slowly whittling them down. Run them as hard as you can for today, feed them good tonight, and have them rest up.

"Tomorrow, they will begin the cleansing of our city."

----

The meeting had ended without so much as Bazel uttering a single word, for that was to be expected when his area of expertise lay in the micro end of things rather than the macro.

He was already planning several ways of attacking Sanguis strongholds, more than ready to wet the flames of vengeance with Sanguis blood.

A hand reached out from behind him, patting him on the shoulder and stopping him in place in the middle of the hall exiting the meeting room.

"Special Adviser Vasa, can I ask you for a favor?" asked the man who had stopped Bazel, Captain Schwarz.

Turning around Bazel met the man face to face, noticing the look of nervousness that filled the normally reliable and calm Captain.

"What's the matter Captain?" asked Bazel with a raised brow, "You have done a lot for me in so short a time, as has the entire department, feel free to ask away."

His words reassured Schwarz visibly, who asked his favor without any more hesitation,

"My eldest has kidney problems so she has to undergo daily dialysis to keep her healthy, while also doing weekly testing and checkups on her blood.

"With recent events, however, I am beyond worried that something might go wrong. I already delayed her checkup last week, but she could be seriously harmed if she does not go this week as well...

"I wonder...could you escort her for me?"

While Bazel could sympathize with the man, for he himself would only want the best for his own family member, but he could not help but wonder why exactly a bodyguard as powerful as he was suddenly needed.

Noticing the strange look on Bazel's face, Schwarz laughed awkwardly and hurried to explain,

"I can't help but have a gnawing feeling whenever I consider how entrenched these Sanguis fellows are with anything that involves blood, not to mention that the clinic she has to go to is far too close to one of their known locations for my liking.

"If anything happened to her I would go insane, and while I would personally like to go I have to get DASF ready for you tomorrow and so does Neto. I don't trust anyone else or even if I do they are too weak for my liking, thus I am asking you.

"How about it, from one parent to another, could you do me this favor?"

Bazel was clearly not too convinced at first, but when he heard that there was a nearby Sanguis location his eyes lit up for a moment and he changed his mind almost immediately.

"The request is sudden, but I have nothing else to do until DASF moves out tomorrow so I suppose I can help."

Schwarz's tension deflated in real time upon the acceptance of his request, and shaking Bazel's hand wildy he thrust a card with his address on it and urged him to arrive exactly on time.

Watching Schwarz walk off, Bazel turned back around and continued on his path as Lucky appeared from across him.

"Salvador, why do I feel that your intentions are not pure? Are you going to stick me with guard duty for the lass while you go have yourself all the fun?"

Laughing at how easily read Lucky read him, Bazel just ignored the look of dismay on Lucky's face and hurried towards the exit.

'Looks like I have an excuse to satisfy the flames within me sooner than I had expected,'