They were just a bunch of kids. Hazard saw no point in riling them up over some sort of pride he had for his home world, as if Vegas didn't have enough pride to lord over the hybrids. And if anything did happen, there were plenty of New Powys police officers on standby in the area. He made sure to note this as he glanced left and right across the plaza. Security was already positioned at the entrance to the building, keeping the crowd from spilling into the atrium while a line of troopers in full riot armor, shields and batons at the ready, stood behind the gathering, waiting to jump at the first sign of trouble.
Hazard strode forward, making a beeline for the front door, not intent on avoiding the protest by trying to creep around the hairball; he was going to keep that dignity. Someone else might have been intimidated into reconsidering their position once they were surrounded by animal faces with the capacity to express disgust, but Hazard was used to hybrids enough to settle on being uneasy about the situation. The first people to step in his way were two humans, college aged girls, as they screamed their message over the leader with the amplifier at the head of the gathering. After them it seemed that the hybrids close by decided to show their bravado as well and join in.
"Down with the imperialist police state!"
"They deserved to die!"
"The Vegas Heroes are fascists!"
And blah blah blah, on they spouted their diatribes.
Hazard had an idea what the protest was about and why it was taking place here. More clear was the message that boomed from the amplifier: 'The planet state of Vegas has been promoting imperialism with its 'Heroes' as a flagship for the justification of brutal oppression', which probably not verbatim, but it was close he could say, and it was near impossible to make out the words now with fifteen hybrids, some towering a head above him, all shouting what they thought of the government. At this point, the one thing that concerned Hazard was the possibility of a fox standing somewhere in the crowd picking up on his identity. It had probably helped that he did not show up in uniform, but he couldn't help but wonder if they knew who he was whether the circumstances would be any different for them. Would they fall on him given this chance? With a good view of some bared ivories, it was not difficult to imagine that they were a small step away from being out for blood.
The entrance to the building was finally near. A few more protestors cleared the way and Hazard was face to face with the line of security guards at the ready. They all held him back, though they seemed more at ease that it was a human trying to get through, and their senior stepped up from inside the building to explain the situation:
"I'm sorry, sir, but with this protest taking place I'm afraid only those who have been registered as invitees to the reception can enter from now on."
Hazard reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a billfold which he flipped open and then handed to the guard. The guard look at it for a moment before he spoke into his mouthpiece
"Haze Hazard. Military," the guard said with confidence, though he still went on to check the number with a handheld scanner.
"Hey you, boy!"
Hazard turned his head a little, only glancing back before returning to the guard who was still scanning. It must have been just his imagination, for he could have sworn that the lead speaker had called out to him.
"HEY YOU!"
The voice was feminine, but it spoke force with such force and Hazard could almost feel the shockwave when it was apparent that she was talking to him. He whirled around to face it. The hybrids around him had taken a step back and looked at the speaker as well. She was far off to the front of the crowd, standing on a platform raising her four heads higher than the rest, pointing a black furred digit right at Hazard. The human drew a breath in shock.
"Hey you, boy!" called the fox, her golden eyes almost piercing as they stood out from her face covered in silver fur. Her dark jacket complimented her look and Hazard would almost agree to calling her pretty if her muzzle wasn't curling into a snarl. "How does it feel to honor the deaths of men who brought genocide onto an entire race, yet got off scot-free, huh?"
The first thing that struck him was the sight of the fox, but his concern dissipated when she confronted him with such a question. He stepped forward, glaring, not caring if any of the hybrids knew who he was at the moment. He was just about to open his mouth to shout out his rebuke when the guard grabbed him.
"Hazard, inside!" he ordered.
Hazard spared a fierce gaze at the fox before he complied, turning away and leaving the cacophony of voices behind him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------
Hazard had his suspicions when he had arrived. Inside the building was a funeral reception.
At the front of the hall were two framed pictures with bouquets of flowers placed all around. He could barely recognize the aged faces of Nikula and Valentine, only by the names on their uniforms could he tell who they were. Much like the outside, Hazard had to squeeze through quite a number of people to get anywhere, though they were much friendlier company, offering their sympathies despite that no one knew him by name. He was quite surprised at the number of people in attendance which was much more than he would have come to expect for soldiers, but these were the Heroes of Vegas after all. Their public image actually seemed just as strong, if not more so, from what he remembered fifty years ago.
"I know you're here, Hazard."
He could hear that voice in his head. It wouldn't have been meeting the Sergeant again if the psychic bastard didn't bark in his mind from the next room over.
"Why don't you quit wastin' everyone's fuckin' time and get up here already."
Hazard immediately got the impression of where exactly he was supposed to be. He did not even need to ask one of the servers to tell him to go down the west hall, take the second door on the left, and take the flight of stairs up on the right to find the door leading to the lounge area. Once the door was open, he was met with the stares of men seated around a table. The lights were turned down low and warm so that the smoke rising could waft densely through the air from lit cigars held in the fingers of uniformed men.
"Took you long enough. Did you stop to jerk one out on the way over?" one of them said in a raspy voice. He was the exception among the uniformed men, along with Hazard himself. Confined to a wheelchair, the man was no longer fit to serve the military in the common fashion. Sergeant Santelli was retired, but he still served as a psychic consultant.
Hazard thought up a___________________for the old man.
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