0005 The Side Between the Sides

With the man backing away, Lucius tried to approach the policeman who was supposed to be watching over his group, but was actually exchanging his cell number with the excited woman with the ponytail, where the two were very close and without masks chatting happily and completely ignoring all the shit going on around them.

"Lucius! No!"

He turned to look at his pleading friend in concern for him, Alex was a very positive guy and extremely playful, no matter what difficulty he was in, he always tried to make people smile.

But today, Lucius saw his friend angry, and it made him feel even more hate for all the shit that goes on in this place he calls his country.

"We need more information, maybe a polite conversation will help us to end the situation once and for all, without further problems...".

Alex tried to stop him, but in the end he understood and let him go.

"I'll stay with Helena taking care of Julia, stay safe man...".

Both nodded to each other, Lucius looked at Julia who was already crying with all the distress, and then looked at Helena holding her, who returned a thumbs up sign, then went to the far side of the group, where the two unusual lovebirds were.

"Excuse me, sir?".

"Talk fast!".

The scowl in response made Lucius realize that a harmonious collaboration would be difficult, but then he saw something bizarre, the woman took advantage of the policeman's eyes not looking at her, and squeezed his ass, rubbing her hand between her legs, causing the cop's ugly face to be replaced by a smile.

"Talk fast, I'm working here, I can't waste time talking idly...".

In a less irritated voice, but still in a hurry, the policeman drew the attention of the astonished Lucius to what was happening in front of him.

"It's... Well... 
... Could you tell us what the suspect you're looking for is like?
Maybe we can help...".

The man who now had both hands in his pockets in an attempt to hide the recent movement happening in his pants was no longer thinking straight, looking with a silly smile at the woman beside him.

"Rhump! Rhump!
We're looking for a black brat, with a cell phone with a black cover and a blue flame design...
... That's it, now get out of here!
I'm finding you a very dangerous woman, how about I take you to search in the car...".

^"Fuck these motherfuckers!!!"^

Lucius swore in thought as he listened to the last part of the two idiots' conversation, returning to the group with his mind jumbled, taking a moment to recover the information he was given.

"Hey man? Stop staring at nothing like a fool!
Did you get anything?".

"Actually yes, it seems that they are looking for a black teenager, but they don't know exactly what he is like...".

He responded to Alex's taunts as he watched what looked like ten or eleven teenagers, four of whom had already been searched, and of those that hadn't yet been searched, Nathan was one of them.

"Ah, the only thing they know is that the boy has a cell phone with a black cover with a blue flame design...".

"Nooo! My son!
Nathaan! Nathaaan! I want my son!".

Julia's cries of despair caused not only Lucius, Alex and Helena to look away, those around them also looked doubtful. But apparently, the cop was doing a serious search and no physical abuse, and besides, he hadn't even gotten to Nathan yet.

Nathan on the other side who was completely scared, was paralyzed looking at his mother screaming his name on the other side, even the police officers did not understand the reason for the woman's commotion, bringing the attention of the group of police officers talking in the distance to approach.

The chubby police commanding the operation was extremely nervous, as an unforeseen event had just occurred that he was trying to avoid, returning to his side, three of the four newly arrived police officers were interested in the even greater riot.

The biggest among them was a tall, apparently muscular white man with a big clean beard, he wasn't the least bit happy at the sight of a bunch of people lying in the mud, people on the other side screaming in despair, and spectators cursing the police, who should be friends with the people.

"What the fuck are you doing?
I thought you were chasing armed suspects, but this?".

He spoke loudly pointing to the scene, while one of the other policemen ignored everyone and focused on the woman screaming and then looked at the boy standing there like a scared idiot, and suddenly an idea came to mind, so he stepped forward next to his colleague and pointed at the boy saying something in his ear.

"It's like I said, it's not my fault the suspects are black, and every time we try to do our job we're treated like racists...".

"Ooh seriously? Why are they lying on the floor? And fuck! Some are even bleeding!".

Furious, he didn't want to accept the co-worker's attempt to deceive him, the only thing he could do was help the people who were suffering there and give some kind of statement if the case was investigated.

"I don't care about the anonymous tip you received...
... Let them go...".

The police officer leading the operation didn't want to leave it like this, he needed to find a good excuse to continue his operation, but looking around, things were already getting out of his control.

"I found!".

"Hey my cell!".

The new commotion drew attention, the man who was previously worried about the operation, now showed a wide smile as he recognized the cell phone in his colleague's hand.

"Very good, handcuff him and take him with the cell phone...".

"My son!! Nathaaan!".

"Wait, you told me you were after armed robbery suspects... Now a cell phone?".

"Yes, it's part of the belongings taken this morning by the bandits, he must be one of the accomplices...".

"He is lying! I gave this phone to my son as a gift!".

"Yes I was with her when she gave it, it was on his birthday!".

"I saw, too!".

"Me too!".

"Me too!!".

The quick switch between Nathan's cell phone being confiscated, the cop's accusation and Julia's retort left the bearded cop confused, but Lucius and Alex's support made him consider the situation, and then people who seemed unknown to the three expressed support for the accused teenager.

A headache started to sprout in him, something was wrong there, and the support of the population together with the injured people, completed a cocktail of problems.

"Ma'am, can you prove that the cell phone belongs to your son?".

"Yes, I still have the package in storage... Oh yes, I'm still paying the installments...".

"It is not necessary! Look! I have some pictures of him using his cell phone, look at the dates, there are pictures from last year..."

Lucius quickly intruded, and handed the cell phone to the apparently honest man, who, looking at them, went to check the photos together with the cell phone that was about to be seized.

It didn't take long for his gaze to get ugly again, handing back Lucius' cell phone, he rubbed his forehead with his fingers in thought, then turned to his subordinate beside him.

"Call an ambulance to attend to these people...
... Call central and explain the situation, and say I'll take over here...
... Guys attention here...".

As he waited for the other dispersed officers to gather, he stood there, staring steadily into his companion's hateful gaze, then, when everyone was close, he continued.

"... I don't know if our Henry here told you all that he got a letter to report for his withdrawal this morning, right?
... By the way, not only him, but his three friends who are here with us, right guys?".

Those who were away keeping the perimeter, hadn't seen what happened there, they just saw the boos and curses as a normal reaction from the community that had been behaving this way towards them in recent years.

Perhaps the community was not entirely wrong, seeing how ordinary people were treated by some of their police partners, and now upon hearing their superior's statement, a bad bitter taste was left in their mouths for following such an operation.

One of the three mentioned, the thinnest of all, surreptitiously hid Nathan's cell phone in his body while winking at Henry who received the tip and winking at the other of his group that was further away, the one who is blonde with blue eyes.

"Watch out! The boy is armed!".

Pinng! Pah!
Alex and Lucius, who were keeping an eye on everything, noticed the discreet movement of the cell phone being hidden and the blonde raising his gun to Nathan.

Alex jumped up grabbing the man and snatching his cell phone, and Lucius used a rebar to hit the revolver, causing the blonde police to miss the shot.

"This morning's news!
About the death of the two young black men, the cell phone that recorded and posted the video that unmasks the police!".

The sudden movement of the two stunned everyone in the place, looking at the boy accused of being armed, but who was still standing there and without any gun, made doubts in everyone's mind.

Lucius' words made everyone think about the situation, the bearded man widened his eyes and looked at Henry who just shrugged his shoulders in response to the look.

"No witnesses...".

It was the only thing he said before pointing a gun at the bearded man and shooting, but he still missed as the man turned his body jumping and was only hit in the bulletproof vest he was wearing. 

And then more shots were fired.

Lucius who hit the gun of one of them previously became one of the first targets who was hit with two shots in the belly, people ran desperately in all sides, the police clashed with each other, the villagers watching hid, only one showed up armed and started shooting amidst the confusion.

Julia ran into her son's embrace who started to cry, both sitting on the floor during what happened, Helena scared clung to Alex who tried to go find Lucius who was now down, being torn between protecting the girl or helping his friend.

Others were lying on the ground trying to avoid the shots when something happened... 

Bruumm!!!

Incredibly loud crashing sounds sounded in the air, stopping the conflicts from all sides, where everyone was looking for where such noises were coming from, expecting lightning to be falling, but accompanied by the sound, the air and the ground began to vibrate and no one understood anything.

Small black lines appeared passing from one side to the other as if they were small shooting stars in the form of lines, scaring everyone, the rain in the surroundings became chaotic, stopping to fall on the ground and going in all directions at random.

“Aaahhh the final judgment! 
The doom of sinners has finally arrived! 
My lord Exalted!! Your servant is here, give me the command and I myself will send these sinners to hell in your name!!” 

Laughing fanatically, the man acted like a madman on his knees while other people cried or screamed, some prayed, few tried and managed to keep their sanity.

“Fuck!
What's going on in this shit man! I should have stayed in bed today, fuck this test, I didn't even want to do it!”.

Alex cursed as he tried to get closer to Lucius who was now on his feet again, taking Helena with him. 

Vroommm!!!
Kaboomm!!!

The cacophony of pops, explosions, crashes and screams resounded everywhere. Helena tried to understand the phenomenon taking place, but new booms resounded causing the two of them to stop a few meters away from Lucius and look at the sky around them, only to witness something incredibly strange.

The black streaks got bigger, until they all came together in a huge amount, and an incredible black sphere appeared in the street, enveloping dozens of people in the place... 

And in the next second it disappeared...

**************************************************

Some time later... 

The rain had stopped, the destruction had stopped, the confusion and shooting had stopped.

Thum thum thum thum thum thum...

“It is now 8:08 am.
We are live flying over the city that suffered a currently unknown incident...
... Witnesses said that a large black sphere appeared in the region, causing explosions in some neighboring buildings leaving behind only destruction and this large half-sphere crater on the ground as you can see in the images we are showing...
... Local authorities brought us the information that this black sphere that covered this entire area, looked like a kind of energy or explosion, but no studies have yet been done about it...
... Police, firefighters and citizens work together in search of survivors in this tragedy that took everyone by surprise...
... President Taschenaro made a statement a few minutes ago saying the incident was caused by a terrorist attack by political opponents trying to destroy his image and his government...
... Watch his speech...".