ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

[headandhand]

WHO: The entire dang city.
WHAT: Dualis Days, a week-long summer celebration.
WHERE: Central Square Park and the rest of the city.
WHEN: June 17-23.
WARNINGS: Terrorist violence, likely some blood and injuries. Please warn in individual threads!

June 17; Central Square Park.

Every year for as far back as anyone can remember, the start of summer is heralded by the week-long festival known as Dualis Days. This celebration officially kicks off at midday in the middle of Central Square Park with a commencement speech by the current mayor. This year marks Marcelina Dubanowski's third term as mayor of Dualis; she is an average-sized, middle-aged human-presenting woman with blonde hair styled in a short bob and a plastic, toothy smile that never seems to turn entirely off.

"Welcome, one and all!" she begins, with the practiced cadence of someone who is quite comfortable with public speaking. She invites all citizens, new and old, to spend the next week indulging in festivities in all districts of the city and getting to know their neighbors a little better. This is a joyous time of celebration, and the crowd responds with enthusiastic applause as the mayor finishes her speech and introduces this year's parade marshall, Peshtigo Tengfei.

Tengfei blows a whistle six times to signal the start of the parade - and this is where the celebration goes sideways.

A loud explosion tears through the air, and it's followed by panicked screams and the sharp screech of microphone feedback. A bomb has gone off at the platform where the mayor was standing, collapsing the wood and tearing it to splinters and dust. Chaos erupts in the gathered crowd, and as the people shift in all directions to get clear of any possible additional bombs, a loud siren cuts through the cacophony, calling attention to the sudden crackle of video feed present on all television screens throughout the city, including those set up in the park to broadcast the mayor's speech for those standing far from the stage. The picture is plain, a black background and bold white block letters filling the screen:

WAKE UP
WAKE UP
DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES

The final image is an anatomical graphic of a human heart, displayed for about three seconds, and then the feed goes black again.

Confused murmurs sweep through the crowd as citizens resume tending to the injured and evacuating the area until official first responders arrive.

June 17-23; aftermath around the city.

Dualis Days continues as scheduled, though Mayor Dubanowski is unable to enjoy the festival, as she is spending the week in the hospital recovering from her injuries. A team of Iterations guard her door - no visitors allowed - but the news media frequently report updates on her condition. Nothing to worry about, folks! Return to your celebrations, and don't mind the increased visible presence of the Hand as Iterations are stationed every few blocks throughout the city. It's only for your protection, after all.

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

"Well, if they're there, I promise not to break any of their bones while I restrain them for you," Nida offered, without a smile. He was serious, almost deadly so.

But he does frown at the man for calling a hypothetical kid 'it'. As for him, he shakes his head.

"I always found that bombs tended to be the resource of the less intelligent than they really thought they were, the quick to act without considering the surrounding people they hurt, and the rarely armed when they come into the area they're attacking, to try and minimize additional attention. But if that's your insistence, officer, then I'll accept it."

Which isn't important anymore because the kid is crying. Nida goes down to a knee and reaches up to tuck some of the kid's hair behind his head.

"Hey there," Nida coos lightly, in the tone of someone who is used to working with kids, "it's all going to be okay. I know it's sorta loud now, but that's just because one of the fireworks went off super early. But see? This guy here, he's a police man. Your parents ever tell you about police men? They're here to protect us, and they're really good at it. He's helping keep people away just in case. But everyone got really scared. It's okay, that happens. I got scared too because I didn't see it coming, and I'm a professional monster hunter. Not even kidding."

Yeah, the kid doesn't entirely look like he's buying that, but at least he's calming down just a little.

"Now, there's some really nice ambulance people over that way. They're going to want to see if your ankle is okay. After that you stay put, so the people like this nice guy here can help get you home or to your family, okay?"

He reaches into his pocket and fishes out a stray piece of candy he'd bought earlier and hands it over with a smile. And ruffles the kid's hair with a smile before looking up at Hank.

"Isn't that right, mister officer? Everything's okay, right?"

Work with him here.

[sociallychallenged]

"Citizens arrests still might get you interrogated if they're just a jackass overreacting. Look, play it cool, I don't care if you are a one man army, nobody should ever fucking act without back-up."

But his partner isn't around, is he? The one person he'd started reliably trusting to get his back. And the wave of irritation at being alone in this hits him. He'd been isolating himself for so long, driving himself into the ground, hopeless and miserable until there came one person who held onto him and refused to let him go. He'd promised to be anything he'd wanted, and that alone Hank had needed. And this fuckin' place took him away.

It's a short-lived thought, pushed through in the blink of an eye, but when the kid's settled Hank points to the kid. "Tell the paramedics to call the people you live with. And when they talk to me I'll tell 'em what a good job you did."

It's quick words, but he can't take too much time on it. He hauls himself back up on the horse. "You wanna check out the damn things, come with me." He checks on his radio for verification that he can step outside of his instructions and approach the floats, using the horse now more for speed since much of the crowd has moved away.

[skyward_eyes]

Well, the cop gets a softer look from Nida at the way he talks to the kid and the promise to tell his parents how good he was. Officially better than the soldiers who had occupied Nida’s home town growing up. Which wasn’t a high bar to cross.

“Thanks,” Nida actually says, and be genuinely means it as he moves to keep up with Hank and his mount. Didn’t expect to thank a cop this morning, but it was all what it was. And as they moved he went silent, mostly to keep up with the mechanical monstrosity as it moved with purpose. Thing made him uncomfortable. Just underlines the lack of chocobos. This place was nowhere close to home.

At the edge of the first float Nida knelt, took a breath, and lifted the draping fabrjc. His eyes were quick and careful as he searched he darkness.

“Been at this long?” he asked as he searched. The noise of casual conversation could help if there really was a kid around. “Police work that is.”

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah, twenty odd years. Went to the Academy right out of community college." He says as he gets off the horse. "Then you love the job but figure out about half your fellow officers are assholes and about half are decent people. Believe it or not those happen. Just gotta deal with the assholes as they happen."

He says 'deal with', not 'put up with'. He sure as hell never let people like Gavin Reed have the upper hand on him, even if it tore up his reprimand folder. He'd been aiming for 'War and Peace' levels before he quit, but sadly he thinks he only made it to 'Needful Things'.

But that's why he's playing along with this. He doesn't know these cops yet. He's been pretty certain they'll check, but he'll go ahead and double check. He recalls how easily Connor pinned a guy in an attic they might have looked over, the rest of the group having thought the android surely would have left the premises.

Again, another thought of how Connor was the best to have around. Fuck of a lot better support than his ex-wife had been, too.

Hank stoops to look under the next float. But it's not a kid under there. It's a fuckin' young, barely fourteen or fifteen-year-old punk with janky looking mods, spiked hair, looking shit scared and clutching some pink purse he'd swiped right before the bomb.

"Get your ass out of there!" Hank reaches in and pulls him out, pulling the purse away. He holds him by the collar as he makes a cursory check of the bag's items. Just standard make-up and feminine looking stuff. He leaves the purse on the float for someone else to pick up and pats the guy down. No phone. A shitty threadbare wallet with a weathered ID. And the guy reeks of actual urine. Like he fuckin' pissed himself in shock when the bomb went off. "Go home!" He shoves the wallet back at him and just lets the guy run off rather than detaining him as a suspect. Having the hell shocked out of him is enough of a lesson learner for the day, and he'll go with his intuition here.

[skyward_eyes]

“Easier to believe the assholes than the decent men,” Nida admits as he moves to look under some larger structures on top of the float. Nothing. “But I spend part of my formative years in a small city-state annexed by a hostile military, and the rest at an orphanage slash military academy, so... biased. Beyond belief.”

But the ‘deal with’ had earned a pleased smirk. The more Hank talked, the more Nida approved. A fact that only grew when he found, and ultimately released the punk. Well, if he has to deal with cops in the future, he would opt for this one.

“Hopefully he doesn’t steal again. This might have put the fear of some god or another in him.”

[sociallychallenged]

"Depends on how poor he is." In his experience, people that are poor settle into whatever way is easiest to get by. But he's going to give the kid a chance. Next float seems fine, and he does a cursory glance for bombs.

Someone more experienced with suspicious devices in this world will have to do their own check, of course, but at least there's nothing immediately strange.

"Nothin' here." He verifies, moving down to the next one.

[skyward_eyes]

“Most cops I’ve met wouldn’t care. Nice to see a head on your shoulders.”

Nida heads past him to the next float. He ducks just under the edge and sees her, a small sobbing little girl. He holds out a hand and she grabs it, letting him kill her out. Within second he has her in his arms, standing and coping to her softly.

“Now now, don’t cry sweetie. The officer asked me to help find you. We’re going t help you find your parents, is that okay?”

Nida mouths a quiet ‘thank you’ to Hank. All the toughness melts as he whispers with the girl.

[sociallychallenged]

He sort of cares. He almost forgot how to care about abusive fuckers being murdered after drug binges, sure, but when people are trying to get by and make mistakes? Yeah, poor downtrodden people in need of help he cares about, it's just hard when most of the other cases have involved the worst in his life. Before the androids, anyway.

"Yeah, get her over to the caution line. They'll probably already have a place for kids to safely wait for their families and trauma officers." If they're anything like home, where they should be. "Tell 'em I let you back here 'cause you had a suspicion. I'll keep checkin' the rest of the floats."

That way he wouldn't get in trouble. If anyone did, then it'd be Hank. And, frankly, Hank is very used to getting into trouble. So what the fuck would be new, huh? Way to start out an alternate universe career.

[skyward_eyes]

Nida nods and offers the girl a sweet from his pocket.

“Can I get your name, then? Only so they believe me?”

Mostly because he wants the officer to know good policing is appreciated. Send him a gift card for coffee or something. Guy looks like he is going to need it, busted back down to a beat cop here. Must be a new arrival. And, Hyne help him, the spy in Nida just needs to cultivate sources.

[sociallychallenged]

"Hank Anderson." A dismally normal name to his nation in his universe, but maybe not so much in other universes.

"Yours?"

So he can verify, if need be. And to double check and make sure that little girl made it to safety. He's assuming she will, but he likes to know. If the parents come looking, they'll know who to thank, too.

[skyward_eyes]

“Nomura. Nida Nomura. Have a good one, Hank. Or, well, as good of one as is possible in these circumstances. Don’t get yourself blown up.”

Then he’s cooing at the girl again as he carries her off, heading toward the now rather distant barricades. He’s done his bit of hero work. Time to get the girl safe before trying to pinpoint his troublesome companions who all would have run toward the blast. They were all idiots, himself included.