…Looks like there's a bit of chop to the river today.

The Constable leaned over the guardrail overlooking the Thames. Indeed, there was some pretty hefty turbulence in the water. Ever since the Shroud had come down and cut them all off from the outside world, that wasn't something that typically happened anymore. To him, the discrepancy was immediately noticeable.

A wholly unimportant detail to the bigger picture. And yet, his attention was always dragged to those little things, like moths to a flame. It was a habit he'd had as long as he could remember.

All the same, he didn't make any moves to rid himself of it. In his eyes, it wasn't worth kicking because - while it often was little more than a distraction - the times where that attention truly was important were practically lifesaving. Those who could measure the details, could see the signs of what was to come long before everyone else. So he noted it down all the same.

He tilted his head up, sweeping his gaze over to the far side of the bank. Just… watching. Watching the vampires creep around on the smashed rooftops, watching the thick webbing further ahead flutter in the breeze slightly where it spanned the river. Watching the moonbeams dance on the rippling water of the Thames. Waiting for something to change.

More than a week had passed since he'd last had the chance to tangle with his quarry. Last time he caught sight of Henry was… just after their fight under the river, if he recalled correct. It certainly felt like a lot longer than a week to him, given how much that blighter's continued existence chafed at his own sense of pride.

What annoyed him the most was that by all metrics, the victory was ridiculously one-sided. Sure, a few good licks were traded on each side, but he'd had him dead to rights.

So, so close… but the order from up on high had come the moment that damnable black cat showed up and staked its claim. Past that point, the decision was completely out of his hands.

"Talk about some bullshit powers…" he grumbled, reminiscing on how the fight had concluded. "I musta wasted, like… a whole month's worth o' special ammunition fer that…"

The Constable grumbled a bit more under his breath. He couldn't say he was really a fan of Exotic Domains, even if he was the not-so-proud owner of one. Too many variables. Too chaotic. If a tool couldn't be properly understood, it couldn't be properly controlled. If it can't be controlled, then there was no justifiable reason for its existence. It left the rest of the world with only one, regrettable choice… wiping the slate clean of unknown factors.

Whether it's by me, or the bigger fish watching over us all… It's just better that way for everyone.

He understood being a tool. It had been made very clear to him that he was a tool, and he was damn well fine with that. In the end, he hadn't fought it because that way of life just suited him better than anything else he could think of. End of story.

And, if he got to make sure that no monsters worse than him snuck past the radar of his superiors… Even better. He was even mildly interested to see how his handlers would manage the ones who'd already passed his tests. He entertained the thought a while longer, before a voice pulled him back to the here and now.

"S-sir!"

A high-pitched squeak of a voice, somewhere behind him. A boy, barely 15 years of age and with a constant look of worry on his face, hurried towards him from a makeshift collection of tents propped up against a nearby building.

The kid had shaggy brown hair that nearly covered his bespectacled eyes, and a face full of freckles. Not the best hygiene out of their impromptu group of Devil hunters, but then again it's not like any of them save Celine were exactly smelling like roses all the time. Overall, he just looked like a pretty unassuming kid, if you didn't know what to look for.

A heavy wrapped bandage circled his left ankle, and the Constable knew if it were to be taken off, the digits 0005 would be visible plain as day.

"Ah, Bentley," he rumbled in as close to a caring voice as he could manage. "Speak, boy. You've managed to see something again, have you?"

Bentley responded with several fervent nods, though whether from excitement or nervousness the Constable had no idea. His words came just a half second too early, like he'd known what he was about to say before he'd even finished saying it.

"Y-yes sir! That man you asked me to look out for, the one with the crystal in his chest! I… I finally managed to get sight of him!"

"Really? Come out of hiding now, has he-"

"Yes! Er, well no, I mean-"

"Easy now, son. Deep breaths, like I told ya. Deep breaths. In through the nose… out through th' mouth…"

Bentley did as he was told, closing his eyes as he tried to force himself to relax. It was, surprisingly, a bit of an endearing sight to the stony old officer. Kid spent so much time paying attention to the future, he had trouble working through things in the present.

"Now," the Constable intoned softly, once his junior deputy wasn't looking so high-strung. "Start from the beginning. What did you see happening, and when?"

Bentley wrung his hands a bit as he spoke, but otherwise made a pretty decent report.

"I-in about… two hours from now… across the river in… W-Walworth, I'm pretty sure…he came out of a manhole and headed towards t-those webs over there." He pointed across the river, to where the silken bridge touched down on the other side. "He definitely showed up, I saw, but after that… things got fuzzy. I… I couldn't quite make anything else out…"

The boy fidgeted nervously, expecting criticism. But, to his surprise, that fragment of news alone was more than enough to have the Constable riding high.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The much larger man let out a jovial laugh, with only a bare hint of madness lining the edges. Finally! he crowed to himself internally. Round two has been a long time coming! He clapped the much smaller Bentley on the back in congratulation, the force still enough to make him stumble despite holding back.

"Well done, lad! I knew ye'd find something eventually! Seems like yer time on th' beat's payin' off already!"

"Ah… y-yes, yes it is, Mr. Constable, sir," Bentley replied as he rose back to his feet, adjusting his glasses as he went.

"Out of curiosity," the Constable meandered, "There didn't happen to be a black cat anywhere near him that you saw?"

"A black cat?" The boy started wringing his hands close to his chest again, his previous moment of unwinding forgotten entirely. "No… I d-don't remember seeing anything like that…"

The Constable sighed, as Bentley fell back onto old habits that just didn't seem to die no matter how much he tried to work on them.

"Well, it's nothing to worry about, even if it is there," he said appreciatively. Before he'd even finished the first syllable, the boy started to relax again.

"Go get some rest. We'll be movin' out in an hour or so to prepare the battlefield, so I want you in tip-top condition, y'hear?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Instead of turning to leave, Bentley hesitated. An awkward moment broke out between the two of them, leaving them to stare at one another for far longer than could be considered a momentary lapse.

The Constable cleared his throat. "...Something wrong, kid?"

"What? N-no! No... it's just…"

There they were. More of those nervous tics he had. The slight hunching of the shoulders to make himself appear small, the refusal to meet the eyes of anyone he talked to, the white-knuckle squeezing of his fingers between his hands… it all led the Constable to believe that Bentley must have been quite the antisocial type, even before any of them had become Devils. Add to that the fact that Exotic Domains tended to exacerbate personality quirks, and it would seem like the world had brewed a perfect storm for poor Bentley here.

They'd work on that, while they had time. He couldn't hold his hand forever, but…

"Y-You'll make sure the monsters don't get us… right?"

The Constable said nothing at first. That moment of hesitation might have meant nothing to the kid, or everything. He didn't know, and he'd never learned to know if others were the type to pick up on that sort of thing. Sometimes, all he knew how to do was find the pieces of the puzzle, not put them together.

But… how could he not choose his words carefully, in this instance? After all, once he stopped stalling with his little crusade against Henry… he'd be that much closer to the day where Bentley had to be tested, too.

The world had a nasty streak worse than his own, sometimes. It wasn't enough to make him wade through monsters and high-powered mages alike. Now he had to find ways to delay the inevitable, just to avoid being the one to kill a child.

Oath or not, I won't go through life with his death on my conscience, he'd decided. I've seen how that goes down for other officers, and it was never pretty. If their precious boundaries need some clever interpretation to make that happen… so be it.

He turned to face Bentley, taking his glasses off and putting on his best friendly policeman smile. The Constable's white irises gleamed like stars as he knelt down in front of his junior deputy, to look him eye to eye. He patted him on the head, offering what reassurance he could muster.

"None of us can run from them forever, kid… But if you're worried about those wee beasties… don't be. I'll be there if things go wrong, okay?"

Bentley sniffled, and nodded.

"Good. Go on, now. Get some rest."

He trotted off, back towards the tents. Looking over his shoulder the whole way before lifting the flap and entering. The Constable waited until all movement inside came to a standstill, then a few minutes longer just to be sure he'd done as was asked of him.

He's a good kid, he repeated to himself. Shame he had the rotten luck to be thrown into a place like this.

Sparing one last look at the river, it seemed to him that the time for action was due to come around once again. No harm would come to anyone here until they made their move – Devil number 10 had made certain of that – so for the time being, he was free to move about and tie up loose ends as needed.

"I'll be back, don't ye worry," he said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "Jus' need ta find a place where the kid's safe, is all..."

< -|- -|- >

"Cecil! Your boys mobilized yet?"

Henry was on the move, walking and talking fast to keep the element of surprise on their side. It had been decided that all the stops would be pulled out for today, and he fully expected everyone present to know every card in his hand by the end of it. Shotgun in one palm, phone in the other, artifact pipe at his hip and a bag full of assorted gimmicks slung over his shoulders, he and everyone else coming with him were ready to raise hell in order to give the Palatial Remnant a chance at escape.

And, once that's done… if we're still alive… those arch-vamps are getting the war they didn't know they asked for.

Cecil came in loud and clear through the distortion the fog provided. "We've been mobilized for the past week!" he complained. "Hope you lot can deal with a few casualties, because the rate we've been having to pull folks off the frontline, even the great Dr. Helmut's been complaining about the number of patients."

"He always complains about having patients! Tell him to focus on just stabilizing people for now," Henry instructed. "We have a way out for everyone, but only if they're awake and even then it won't be pleasant. I think we can both agree we want to avoid anyone shitting themselves to death today."

"...That's a possibility?!"

"Who knows. I, for one, do not intend to find out."

Cecil murmured silent agreement as Henry and the five others with him rushed down the center of the street. He stood out in the front, flanked by Claire and Dee. Giselle and Robb stood in the center of the formation, and Grace watched their backs, amped up on as much harvested vampire blood as she deemed safe to ingest. Most of it came from low level servants that had died in the suicidal charge on the warehouse, so while the source wasn't exactly powerful… it was certainly abundant.

"Here's the crossroads," Robb noticed. "Guess this is good luck to you all, then."

"You need it even more," Henry responded. "Get them all out for me, yeah?"

"Will do."

Robb hefted the canvas-wrapped mirror once for good measure, then broke off for the point where the Shroud met the river alongside Grace. Between her supernatural agility and his stealth techniques, they'd been determined early on to be the best fit for the underhanded side of this mission. Once they were in place, they'd set up the artifact mirror on their side of the river, and wait for the Remnant to arrive as scheduled.

"Alright, Cecil," he explained into the phone. "Once you get to the river, there's going to be something shining on the far bank. I need you to make sure that everyone, repeat, everyone takes a look at what it is, but only one at a time to avoid crowding the landing zone. Do not look at it until it's your turn, this thing has a hair trigger if you're not careful."

"Shining on the far bank, don't look at it right away, one at a time. Got it. Can I expect you there or are we still going to be doing this long distance relationship shtick?"

"Unfortunately, I'm needed elsewhere at the moment. Two people with my group will be there to coordinate. One you'll probably recognize immediately, the other might have to wait until he speaks up. They'll lead you back to the safe zone we've established as quick as we can, but just know that it's still going to be a piecemeal process. Watch for vamps."

"Hah. As if that's anything new. Well, I suppose I'll see you when I see you."

"Likewise. Until then."

He clicked the phone off, and returned his attention to the remaining three who were coming with him.

"Alright, wrecking crew," he addressed them with a slight grin. "Who's ready to go make some noise?"

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