The last man grunted as the kitchen knife struck him. He fired off all the bullets in his gun, ruining the surface of the island, and did not even continue putting pressure. Kevin opened his eyes and moved his hands away from his face, just in time to see the man twisting at the back door knob - the door’s locked from inside as well, and he started limping his way to the window, through which he and his cohorts came into the room.

“He’s trying to get out!” Kevin struggled to stand up, but he was too shocked to get up in time.

Keryn’s shoulder was bleeding from some cuts possibly from the bursting marbles from the crossfire. But this did not deter her from charging from behind the counter and right at the stumbling man.

By the time Keryn reached the man and grabbed him by the ankle, the man already had his head and shoulders out of the window. The kitchen knife was stuck to his left leg, and blood was dripping onto the ground.

“Let go of me!” The man screamed and kicked back, almost pushing Keryn back while pushing himself slightly forward.

A deafening female scream rocked the entire house. Everyone in the room got struck by a devastating blow of chilling energy to their bodies and minds. The man stuck in the window cried and his limbs all stopped moving for a moment. Keryn almost fell down, but still had her hand firmly on the man’s ankle.

The door to Captain Ko’s bedroom busted open. The captain rushed out of it, with his eyes, nostrils and ears bleeding. “What the fuck happened? What the fuck!?”

He stopped asking as he saw the open window in the back, the man stuck in it and Keryn trying to pull the man back in. He ran forward and lent Keryn a hand to pull the man back. Then he cuffed the man’s hands behind his back.

The man tased by Kevin was thus cuffed and forced to sit at the foot of a wall. The man who was shot three times had already stopped breathing. Captain Ko pulled out a first aid kit from below the kitchen counter and addressed the wound on the last man’s leg, with the knife stabilized.

Mick fell onto the ground from the scream, and was struggling to stand up when Keryn went to check on him. He wretched a few times while walking down the stairs, but he held it back. That was until he got to the kitchen area and saw all the mess. “What happened here? What - ”

“You’re a sound sleeper for sure.” Keryn chuckled: “Yeah - the people chasing us, they’re here.”

“What the fuck? That means we’re sitting ducks here!” Mick gasped.

“Don’t worry. I made the necessary calls already. There will be people handling things. Even if they came they wouldn’t stand a chance.” Captain Ko wiped his face with a handkerchief stained with red.

“Captain, are you okay?” Kevin asked as he brought cups of tea to the coffee table.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You can now see that I was not lying about you cannot leave.” Captain Ko shook his head: “I’m kinda used to it by now. Some day my marriage is gonna kill me.”

“What is happening to you, sir?” Keryn helped Mick sit down on the sofa. “I’m not as experienced in these things but - but even I can tell this is bad.”

“Let’s worry about these men first.” Captain Ko shook his head and pointed at the two men who were cuffed and wisely chose to remain silent: “Do you have any theories on who they are?”

“I don’t know. But my guts say they are connected to the community collective of the South-Eastern District somehow. ” Kevin sighed.

“I don’t think that’s gonna be anything significant. Maybe superficially, but that’s probably not who they actually are, or what their actual allegiance is.” Captain Ko shook his head: “They must be from THOSE people in the city.”

“‘THOSE’ people? Who are ‘THOSE’ people?” Mick asked.

“A group of rich and powerful people in the city, from all three districts and obsessed with the paranormal.” Captain Ko sighed: “And naturally, their henchmen would be scum from all backgrounds.”

“But - have you been going against these people in the past few months?” Mick frowned and straightened his body: “That’s - that’s serious.”

“That’s what SOME detective has been dealing with. As you can already tell. Our precinct has no official stance on it. ” Captain Ko reached below the coffee table and started looking through the drawer: “And - if you want me to talk about anything real here, we’d better have ways to make sure they wouldn’t hear anything.”

“How about just locking them up in a spare room?” Keryn rubbed her temples: “Your house is big, sir - you surely have one of those.”

“There’s - there’s a storage unit under the stairs.” Captain Ko sighed and shook his head: “It’s also ventilated, so - ”

Keryn nodded, then snapped her fingers at Kevin and Mick, signaling them to come help her. The two men whined and complained, but they had no choice but be led into the narrow storage unit. Out of the kindness of her heart, Keryn even brought a chair for the man with a knife in his leg.

“Alright, time to spill, captain.” Keryn came back, pulled a small stool and sat directly on the opposite side of the coffee table to Captain Ko.