Chief George stood at the command-room podium, looking a little overwhelmed.
The battle-hardened old cop could only smile wryly as he mobilized New York's police force to surround and drive back the enormous swarms of Giant Rats.
They weren't difficult to deal with, especially for the New York police these days. After several massive Battles of New York, the officers' equipment might not have been top-notch, but they certainly had plenty of firepower.
Modified patrol cars with large-caliber machine guns mounted on their roofs were standard issue at every precinct. They'd been bought with real money from a Gunrunner.
But there were still more Giant Rats than Chief George had expected...
The departure of Hell's Kitchen's "meddlesome" but formidable fighters had left Chief George feeling more pressure than ever before.
The one thing that comforted him was that, after so many battles, New Yorkers seemed to have grown more resilient.
The rats were as big as pigs, and though they looked awful, a few men could handle them with melee weapons even without guns.
It was because people seemed to have grown braver that New York's casualties had been kept under control. They hadn't suffered the massive loss of life they had during the Demons' invasion.
Still, even though it looked as if Hell's Kitchen hadn't helped this time, Chief George had to admit that they were shouldering the greatest burden in all of New York. Whoever was causing trouble in the city seemed to be targeting Hell's Kitchen, where the Giant Rats were most numerous.
Just as Chief George was considering whether to requisition helicopters from New York's tycoons to speed up the hunt for the rats, a communications officer said to him, "Chief, you'd better come take a look..."
Chief George hurried over and watched the footage on