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Backlash

"Um, newsflash guys, I don't really think that it's gonna be particularly easy to be the superheroes you want to be." Cooper pointed out. "None of us have the psychic ability to find someone out of the blue like that."

Strype and I both glanced at one another for a moment before sighing. Cooper was definitely right. As far as I knew, I could sense people's presence and emotions, but I was no psychic. I don't know what Strype could do, but I could tell by the look on his face that he couldn't find him either, and Cooper was right.

"Hah, your super powers are nothing now!" I heard Frost taunt us from upstairs. I ignored him, I didn't need his cynicism bringing me down.

I just sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "So what do we do?" I asked Strype.

"I guess we stay here, hope that someone with psychic powers does find him and do something about it." He said as he nodded slowly. "I still wish I could knock some sense into the guy....what's his problem? He's gonna make us public enemy #1."

"We're already public enemy number one." Cole noted. "Have been since yesterday."

"We're not public enemies yet. If more furries do this, then we may be singled out, but until then, we just have to go for a walk, reassure the people that we're not like that, and make sure the media know that he was just one wolf, we should not be treated the same as him, and that we hate what he did too." I said.

Coop just rolled her eyes. "Who are you kidding? People are fuckin stupid, they see one person do something, and all people like him are expected to do the same. Why do you think racism still is around, just because some black people steal bikes, it doesn't mean all black people do, but that stereotype still exists. We're gonna have a hell of a time proving that we're not a stereotype."

Strype just laughed when Cooper mentioned black people, and put his paw on her shoulder. "Well played hun."

Cooper held his paw in hers as it was on her shoulder, and she looked over at him, "Thanks, I thought you'd like that reference." They were, of course talking about the meme, 'nigga stole my bike!'

"So what do we do?" I asked. "Go outside and kiss babies?"

"That might work." Strype said after contemplating it for a while, nodding his head in approval.

I just blinked in confusion. "Excuse me? You really think that kissing babies is going to make everything all better?"

He just waved his paw dismissively. "Oh no, not literally, but if we can put on really good faces, then it would be far easier to sway the public than if we were hiding here, away from them, so their minds can be creative."

"I am NOT kissing any babies." Cole protested.

I slapped him upside the head, an act which elicited a growl. "He said it was figurative." I scolded. "Besides, I wouldn't let you near a baby, you'd eat it."

Cole licked his lips. "Mmmm, baby. I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, ribs!"

Cooper, Strype, and myself just stared at him.

"Cole, shut up." Cooper said sternly.

"Never!" Cole declared.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to rip those nuts off and shove them down your throat." Cooper threatened. Strype and I stayed out of it. I didn't want to invoke Cooper's wrath.

Cole just whimpered and slumped down on the couch. Cooper looked back over to Strype and myself.

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked Strype. "You seem to know what to do most of the time."

He took a long look at Cooper, then myself. "We go for a walk. Call Welnis and Ether, we can get them to go with us too. Ember and Lethias are gone for now, I'm sure they want their privacy."

"What about Madius and Hawk?" Cooper asked.

"They're smart folks, if they want to do anything, they'll do it whether we ask them to or not."

"You saying Welnis and Ether aren't smart?" I inquired.

"Not at all, I just figure they would actually want to come with us. I don't think Hawk and Madius would want to come."

I nodded my head, as did Cooper. "Anyone else who we could take with our rally?" I asked.

"HEY FROST!" Strype called up.

I heard some thumping around upstairs. "I'm coming!" Frost called back. Within a few minutes, he was coming down the stairs, all decked out in a white suit, a green tie, and black sunglasses. "Let's go." He said.

"Isn't your room downstairs?" I asked.

"Yeah, but some of my stuff is still in the bedroom upstairs." He answered. Made perfect sense, I guess.

"Alright, let's go." Cooper instructed us. "Time to show the world what we're not made of!"

All of us but Cole filed down the stairs, I was last in line, so I leaned over the railing and called him. "Hey, you coming?" I asked.

"Um, lemme think about that....NO! I'm not going out there where people can throw sticks at me and laugh even more."

I just shrugged. "You know what they say, if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem....suit yourself, I guess."

"Oh....you are a bastard!" He said begrudgingly, then got up to follow us.

All four of us out the front door, with all the world waiting to hear from us.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed up Welnis. A few rings later, and he picked up, panting ever so gently. "Yeah?" He asked between breaths.

"Hey, If you're not busy, we could use your help. Did you see the news?"

"Yeah man, we saw the news." He answered.

"Fuckin eh!" I heard Ether shout in the background. "Is that Runa?"

Welnis calmed Ether down a bit. "Why?"

"Well, we're gonna go show the world how not violent we are." I explained. The group of us were all standing at the bus stop as I talked. Cole, Cooper, and Strype were waiting for me to finish the conversation.

"Sure, sounds good to me. Where are you?" He asked.

"We're out front of Strype's apartment complex...meet us at the bus stop?"

"Sure, be there soon." He said, then hung up.

"They're coming, gonna meet us here." I confirmed.

It wasn't long, perhaps 15 minutes, before a red car drove up to us and dropped Ether and Welnis off. Gemini was driving. "Have fun boys!" She encouraged.

"Oh, we will mom!" Ether laughed back.

"Any of you want a ride uptown?" she offered.

We all just shook our heads and let her drive away. We all had a long way to walk to get our points across, and we had a lot of talking to do on the way.

As expected, people were staring at us for the entire trip downtown, only this time it wasn't in wonder and awe, it was in potential fear. Some people went out of their way to avoid us while trying to make it look like they weren't avoiding us. Others would retreat into stores to get away from us.

Everyone was talking, we could hear it clearly.

Hearts beat faster when they caught sight of us.

Cars sped by, trying to stay away from us.

"Well, this isn't ideal." I muttered.

"What did you expect?" Strype asked. "A parade?"

"We are a parade." Frost commented. I guess it was true, we were becoming a bit of a spectacle. People were staring, altering their behavior for us.

It didn't help that Strype was as wide as he was tall...buff fucker.

THUNK!

I felt a small rock hit me in the back of my head and fall to the ground. I took in a deep breath and rubbed the fur on the back of my head where it hit in frustration. The others gave me a glance, wondering what I was going to do.

I slowly turned around to see who threw it. It was a younger boy, perhaps 12 or 13 years old, with a group of his friends. His friends were laughing a little at the thrown rock.

"Dude, don't put up with that shit!" Cole protested. He tried to go after them, but I stopped him.

"No, we're here to show that we're peaceful, not violent." I told him. Strype and Cooper were nodding their approval, while Frost was shaking his head in disgust.

Instead, I walked toward them. Cole was about to protest, but Welnis stopped him. "Let him go." He said. Good old Welnis, he knew me well.

The crowd of 6 people all started running, but I upped my speed and caught up with them within seconds. I jumped up and landed in front of them, facing the young boy who threw the rock.

They gasped and stopped in their tracks, frozen in fear.

"So, you want to throw something? Go ahead, throw something at me now." I growled. A crowd had gathered around, watching to see what I would do.

The kid just shivered in fear but didn't respond.

"You pitiful humans. You poke fun of people that aren't like you, and you wonder why so many people fight. Throw rocks at us, despite what you think we can do, and you act all surprised when we lash out. Well I have something to tell you.....FUCK OFF!" I roared, which sent a wave of fear through the hearts of all those around.

The punk who threw the rock at me started to tear up.

"Awww, look at that, big tough guy with a rock acting like a baby now." I taunted.

The others in his group all began to run away. He tried to follow them, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close to my face. "Are you listening to me?!" I growled. "Look here you little punk, I'm sick of human prejudiced BULLSHIT! If you have a problem with me, then say so to my face, don't do something just to look cool for your friends. Got it?"

He whimpered. "Y-yessir."

I let him go. "Good." He began to run away again, and I looked up to the crowd. "That goes for all of you! Leave us alone, we're not going to hurt anyone if you don't do anything to us!"

Still, people were stunned into silence. I just rolled my eyes and went back to the group.

"Well, that wasn't too helpful." Frost pointed out. "Threaten a kid then tell people you weren't going to hurt them."

I just shrugged. "I didn't hurt anyone. Besides, I meant what I said. I won't do anything to hurt them unless they do something to me first."

He just shrugged. "If you say so. They won't feel that way."

Strype just turned and walked. I guess it was time to keep going.

We were going by an electronic store, when we caught sight of some TV's showing the incident. We all stopped for a moment to watch it again. The explosions, the killing, the terror in the voices of the cameramen.

"It doesn't get any easier to watch, eh?" Ether noted, his tone quite sad, despite his usual upbeat attitude.

"We'll be fine." Welnis comforted him as he gave him a sideways hug.

After the repeat showing of that horrible accident, a reporter came on the screen. It wasn't the same reporter, it was a London reporter. "Yes, ladies and gentleman, that was the horrible tragedy that struck San Francisco yesterday. We have word now that the government has issued a countrywide national warning. All citizens are expected to report any signs of furries in their area. Rewards will be offered."

"Excuse me?!" I shrieked. "They can't do that!"

"I think they just did." Cooper said as she shrugged.

"No, they can't, this is Canada, we don't have the patriot act, they can't just investigate us without good cause." I protested.

"I'd have to say a magical wolf who blew up part of San Francisco is good cause." Strype pointed out.

I let out a low growl. I knew this was illegal, but it was happening anyway. Fuckin politics.

"So what do we do now?" Welnis asked.

"I don't know. I wouldn't resist though, no real point in it." Strype pointed out, shrugging. "If we resist, that shows guilt. If we go peacefully, it means we have nothing to hide." I nodded in agreement. I didn't like it, but Strype was right. We had nothing to hide, so there was no reason to hide it. Just go in, let them talk to us, and we can get this all sorted out. Who knew, for all we knew, it was just to ask us about what we could do and couldn't do.

I noticed some people were walking away from us, picking up their cellphones, trying to make sure we didn't see.

Fuckin people.

"We need to get out of here." Cole urged. "I really don't want to be here when the fuzz get's here. The last thing I need is my Dad to see me like this."

"Yeah, for once, I have to agree with Cole. I think it's time to get back to your place Strype. Ten minutes of running and we should be able to make it." I noted.

"You want to lead them to my place?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"It's better than making a commotion here, and by the sounds of it, they're on the way anyway." Cooper pointed out.

Strype just shrugged and bounded away in a heartbeat. We all followed, running at incredible speeds, faster than most cars were driving.

Of course, we were careful to not hit anyone or cause any problems, but that didn't stop people from ducking and covering like we were gonna hurt them, or people screeching their tires in an effort to dramatize us.

Granted, we were leaping 20 feet at a time to get home. It was admittedly a bit of a spectacle to watch.

We were all home in no time at all, and we quickly entered the house with minimal fatigue, and slumped down on the couch.

"This isn't going too well." Welnis pointed out. "Should we really be here?"

Everyone was a little panicked. Well, everyone but Strype. He was very calm and relaxed. It was weird, I was almost feeling less panicked because of him. I knew deep down inside that I was fine, there was nothing on this planet that could kill me or even wound me significantly, yet I still didn't want it to come down to anything too bad.

I really didn't want conflict. That's the only reason I was going to follow Strype, just cooperate. It was overall the smartest thing to do.

Yeah, a lot of people think they'd go rebel, make a big deal out of it and fight their way out, but looking at that realistically, you can't do that. You have to be polite, Because the last thing you need to do is start a fight.

Stupid kids, always making things worse than they already are.

Stupid humans, can't just live in harmony.

We all lounged around, waiting for the inevitable shitstorm to hit us. Cooper, Cole, Strype, Frost, Welnis, Ether, and myself. Seven of us all sitting in Strype's apartment, just waiting.

There are few things in the world that make me more anxious than just WAITING for something to happen. It really puts you on edge.

It was about an hour later when I heard the sirens off in the distance. Lots of them. "You hear that?" I asked.

Everyone nodded, they all had ears as sensitive as my own.

We all stood up and waited at the front window, waiting for the cars to arrive.

It took a few minutes, but an entire squad of cars showed up. There must have been a dozen cars and a few emergency vehicles milling into the apartment complex at once. I slowly shook my head. And walked downstairs, waiting.

Someone reported our location, obviously.

They all did their thing where they form a circle around the front door, and they all got out of their cars, guns pointed at the door.

"Furries, come out with your hands on your heads, we have the place surrounded!" They called in with a megaphone.

I opened the door and walked out. I didn't put my hands up though. Strype, Cooper, Ether, Welnis, and Frost all followed. Cole did not.

"Where's Cole?" I asked hurriedly. "He shouldn't be fucking this up for us!"

Strype just shrugged. "Probably running."

I just rolled my eyes.

"We said hands on your heads!" They repeated insistently.

"I'm not putting my hands on my head." I responded. "What do you want?"

"We need you all to come with us under national security emergency law." The man on the loudspeaker boomed. Everyone else tensed up their guns, keeping them trained on us.

I heard a shot, which made me cringe and instinctually put up a telekinetic barrier around us all, but nobody shot us. I heard a loud yip and a howl from out back.

Cole must have slipped out the back, and been shot. By people who'd hidden themselves back there. I felt a cringe of pain because of that, but it really was his own fault. I knew he'd be safe as long as they didn't try and kill him.

"Don't try anything stupid!" The cop ordered. "We've got the place surrounded!" he repeated.

"Well of course you do, that's your job." I muttered under my breath.

I began to walk forward, which made them all cock back their guns in a form of warning. I backed off. "Whoa whoa! No need to get hostile here, I'm coming freely." I protested.

"Runa, just shut up and do what they say." Coop warned.

I looked back to see Strype, Coop, Ether, Welnis, and Frost all with their hands on their heads in compliance. I slowly shook my head in disproval and did the same. I felt like an idiot too, I didn't want to be treated like some criminal.

Like trained, the cops came up close to us, guns drawn and pointed at us, handcuffs in hand.

I looked over to the side to see three men carrying Cole around the side of the building. He was only tranquilized, thankfully. I could still hear his heart beating faintly in his chest.

The cops came to us and told us to kneel, so we did, all six of us. Then they tried to put the cuffs on us. Welnis, Ether, Frost, and Cooper were easy enough, but Strype's arms were too big to fit any handcuffs.

The man responsible for cuffing him looked back at the sergeant and shrugged. The sergeant motioned to leave it be.

I, however, wasn't so simple. When the man tried to cuff me, I shook my head. "No, you're not treating me like a fucking criminal." I stood up and looked at the cop, right in the eyes. This made everyone in the crowd tense up and re-cock their guns again. "I haven't done anything wrong, if you want to take me in for questioning or some shit, I'll gladly go peacefully. I'm not letting you push me around because someone who looks like me did something bad."

The officer responsible for my cuffs looked confused. He too looked back to the Sarge as if to ask what to do.

The sarge brought the megaphone up to his mouth again. "What about your friend?" He asked, pointing to the animal control van they held Cole in.

"He's kinda foolish, isn't as rational as us. I'm glad you shot him, it'll shut him up for a while." I sighed.

"Okay officer, don't worry about the cuffs." The sergeant said to the man in charge of cuffing me up.

"And while you're at it, take the cuffs off my friends too, they won't hurt anyone." I instructed.

The sarge took a moment to think, then nodded. "Okay, take the cuffs off them." He then raised his hand to the officers who were aiming at us. They all lowered their guns.

Free of their cuffs, the group of us all were escorted to some sort of big security van, where we could all be taken to the station.

Once they realized we weren't gonna hurt them, they were really quite pleasant to get along with.