Riot

We'd been on high alert ever since the mushroom bomb on Monday.  The MICE had gotten the roads reopened by the end of the day, but construction crews would take weeks to rebuild the roads.  We'd been working hard to get the story out there that this was an unexploded ordinance from during the war, but it was  thin cover.

I think most people knew better.

The thing is, most of the Cohm seemed to be very happy here on Earth.  The Angus-Reid polls were showing an uptick in the top 2 boxes for Cohm repondants.  

Honestly, I have no idea what that means; but the big blue apes seemed to be settling in okay and I didn't have to deal with them in my face, so that was okay.

As a Hellion at least half of what I do is about PR; the stage appearances, the mall rallies, even the bike and the uniform, were all designed to help the public know that we; R.I.T.A.L.I.N. were there for them, listening to them as well as watching over them.  We knew it wasn't easy living with aliens that had destroyed so much and killed so many, and we knew the news laws didn't make it any easier.

But we, the Hellions, were there to remind people that there were good things in this world; and we would protect them, stand for them.  Good things like peace, and prosperity and the right to express oneself, up to a point.

That Saturday morning we were more than a little worried that things would go beyond that point.  Standing on the stage in the park, leading a Citizen's Rally for Peace had never felt quite so dangerous.

The crowd was made up of both humans and Cohm, but you couldn't say it was mixed.  Pockets of Cohm were given wide birth, even individual Cohm were given space.  The resentment was visceral.  Grim faces stared out of that crowd, unable to say what was on their mind; or act on it without repercussion.

After the opening music, Korean Monkey Baby's “Peace is a Choice” piped over a cheap PA, died down TJ approached the podium.  I coudn't help but laugh a little at the choice of music; KMB weren't exactly Pro Ritalin, but since we only used the first chorus the line “A choice I wouldn't make” got cut out, and the energy was right for the event.

TJ's speech was full of the usual company BS, and we all stood behind him in our dress uniforms smiling silently while he rambled on.  He ended on what should have been a high note.  

“We are one people now, together.”

Except, that the crowd didn't see it that way, and the response, was immediate and unanimous.

“No, we aren't.”

It was almost like it had been planned, almost like someone knew what TJ's speech was going to end with, and had gotten that information out to the public.

We really didn't have any choice, they had all broken the law.

A flash of blue energy from the stage left everyone of them in a stupor, leaving us to go back to base to edit the highlight reels from the rally to share with the media division.