“… That’s right Fela, the major news portals have been in an uproar with the amount of readers and commenters on the viral news article. The news article we are talking about is the leaked information that claims to list things being taught or not allowed to be taught at the free colleges on the first floor. The leaked information has been deemed to be fake by the Office of Reason. They say that it is just a tactic that the separatists are using to try and sow discord with the citizens of the first level and the party of Mother and Father,” said a female reporter who was standing just outside one of Everpreen college’s new buildings that had replaced several nearby old buildings.
“That’s good news to hear. I am sure that the Office of Reason is currently hard at work making sure that none of the fake news articles and past holo-vids exist to spread false information and harm the citizens,” said Fela sitting on a hover chair next to Kommy in their news studio.
“Even though this information has been deemed false there are still several conspiracy theorists that believe it. One of the main believers, Mr. Melo, has picked tonight to give a speech about the disproved and completely false leaked material. He says that the information was given to him by a professor with first-hand knowledge. The professor he is talking about was recently found to be a separatist and was normalized,” said Kommy.
“Tifa, what is the situation like down there right now?” asked Fela.
“So far it seems quite festival, with a lot of people gathering in the nearby city blocks just to see the speaker. The numbers are skyrocketing into the thousands.”
“And how is the security?”
“I have only seen a dozen or so M1 special officers and another dozen or so security drones. M1 is being lazy as usual,” said Tifa, not bothering to hide her disdain for the M1 officers.
Arron muted the news and let out an unhappy grunt before asking, “Why are they even allowing such a person to speak if this is considered harmful misinformation?”
Kix, who was standing next to him, only shrugged and did not say anything. They continued to patrol a small portion of the event area in front of the college, where a decent-sized stage had been erected to host the speech.
“Don’t think too hard about it,” said Captain Pointer over their helmet’s secure comms.
Unit 3 of the ERF had been called out to join another patrol unit in the area due to the several death threats that the speaker had received.
“Some of those people are just mental and not right in the head. They’re openly threatening to murder this guy as well as threatening all of his supporters…” said Arron.
As Arron patrolled the area with Kix, he kept an eye on the growing crowds that were mingling in several different large groups while they waited for the speech to start.
He had already scanned hundreds of people looking for any troubled people or wanted separatists that might cause problems. The gathering was indeed a big target that was ripe for a separatist attack.
Despite what the news said there were several other fast-response M1 units hiding in the nearby buildings and underground passages, all waiting for an order to spring out and stop any separatist attack. Even without them, there were over one hundred security drones flying high above the area keeping an eye on the situation.
As he was scanning a new batch of people, an older man with white hair stepped away from the crowd and walked toward Arron and Kix.
Arron quickly scanned the man. [Yure Bee SCS: permanent C, (suspected separatist, but no evidence found yet)]
“The event won’t be starting for another hour,” said Arron holding his gloved hand up to stop the man from walking closer.
“I know,” said Yure.
“Can we help you with something?” asked Kix.
“I was a professor before Mother and Father came to power. I only came to listen to the speech today but…” he looked back at the large gathering crowds with sad eyes. “I am too old for this stuff so I will head back home. I just wanted to wish you luck on tonight’s event and let you know that you should really think for yourselves. Are the orders you receive the best thing for everyone?”
Yure Bee turned around and walked back into one of the crowds and disappeared from their view.
Every M1 officer either patrolling or hiding in the nearby buildings could hear and see what had just happened as everyone was connected to a group holo-call.
“What the heck?” “Who was that guy?” “Information says he is a suspected separatist.” “Why has he not been normalized then?” “Rumors say that he has several connections under Father and in the military. So…”
A heated discussion was started over the matter with everyone agreeing that the man’s words were a bit out there.
Around a half hour before the speech was going to start, the thousands of citizens and young students started moving toward the boxed-off area where the speech was going to be held.
This caused every M1 officer to be on edge as they redoubled their search for any trouble. The security drones flew down closer to the ground as they hovered over the crowd and also began scanning for any signs of trouble.
The news drones were being just as nosey as usual, while the reporters interviewed several of the students about the speaker and their thoughts about the content that would be in the speech. Most of them were interested to see what he had to say while the rest were vehemently against it but still wanted to see what he was going to say.
As Arron passed several students he listened to snippets of their conversations to gauge the mood of the crowd.
“Damn! The rich people on levels 2-4 have is so nice…”
“…I wish I was rich. I now have a large debt I owe to Mother and Father because I chose to get the advanced 2 years of college…”
“I heard from my bro that it’s a waste of credits. He said that all he is doing is taking useless classes that are not going to help him in real life.”
“… well at least he can learn to code.”
Ten more minutes passed. That was when Arron noticed a group of 100 or so students all wearing red marching out from a nearby street. Several of them were carrying projector batons normally used for portable holo-signs and banners. They were not activated right now.
“Everyone, possible separatists have shown up,” said Kix, alerting everyone to the suspicious group. The rest of the M1 officers looked at the holo-feed from Arron and Kix’s helmets to see what they were dealing with.
“Everyone! Keep an eye on them, but don’t stop looking for others in the crowd that might cause trouble,” said Chief Pointer.
Arron watched as the group of people, who were all wearing red hoods and bandanas to cover their faces, pushed their way through the gathering crowd to try and get to the front where the supporters of Mr. Melo and the people most interested in hearing what he had to say were waiting.
The people that were shoved to the side all gave the group weird looks as they moved forward.
The reporters sensing something interesting was going on, swooped in to get a good view of the red-clad group.
Arron, Kix, and the other ERF officers near the stage were forced to move closer to the stage as the time started ticking down and the crowd kept pushing forward.
“Remember, we are not to act without orders from HQ. The news is just waiting for someone to slip up so they can talk smack about us for the next month,” said Captain Pointer, reminding everyone of their duty.
When the time came for the event to start, the holo-screen blocking the stage turned off revealing a man in his late 40’s walking toward the stage.
Arron could hear a wave of cheering erupt as several shouts of support came from the front rows of the crowd.
“Melo, I support you!”
“Mr. Melo! Hurry up and tell us the information you have!”
“I respect you for taking a stance and sticking to it!”
When Mr. Melo was halfway up the long ramp to the stage, the projector batons held by the red-clad students activated. They held them high above their heads for all to see the large red 2-d holographic banners that were now lighting up the area along with the flowing yellow block letters that made up several different messages.
[SAY NO TO SEPARATISTS.] [MELO IS A SEPARATIST.] [PUNCH A SEPARATIST!] [DEAD SEPARATIST ARE THE ONLY GOOD SEPARATIST!][THIS IS WAR!][…] […] were just a few of the more tame messages that were floating in the air for everyone to see.
“What a bunch of smart young students, I’ll try to get an interview!” shouted Tifa as she focused the news drones on the newcomers.
All of the news reporters and news drones went into a gleeful frenzy as they stumbled over themselves to try and spit out coherent words as they rushed toward the red-clad students to try and get an exclusive interview with one of them. It was proving troublesome with how packed the crowd was in front of the stage.
The cheering and shouts of support toward Mr. Melo were replaced by a wave of murmurs sweeping through the entire crowd after they read several of the holographic messages.
The people nearest to the red-clad group had split apart creating a small circular opening in the several thousands of people that were cramped near the stage.
The crowd and the news drones had all forgotten all about Mr. Melo and had turned their full attention to the red-clad students.
Seeing that they had drawn everyone’s attention, the hundred or so red-clad students each stomped a foot on the ground letting out a loud thumping noise similar to a hundred drum beats.
The beat picked up pace growing faster while they still held the banners and signs high above their heads.
When the speed seemed to have reached the fastest it could be, one last loud ‘THUMP!’ of over a hundred feet stomped on the ground. There was complete silence for several seconds as everyone stared at them. A moment later the group of red-clad students took in a deep breath and bellowed out in a loud voice.
“A~! ANTI~! ANTI-SEPARATISTA!”
With that shout, all hell broke loose as they charged at the people nearest to them and started attacking them.
