"We can't just turn a blind eye to this, we have to do something."

"Mr Salvatore is right. There is a lot at stake if we let those people into this building and there is even more at stake if we try to look away. Think about the reputation of the company?"

Angelo wasn't sure if the six people in front of him, arguing amongst themselves were ready to listen to anything he had to say. He wasn't even sure if he had anything to say at all. He wasn't sure he knew how he was going to settle the problem, not with everyone panicking the way they were.

He slowly turned to Anna

She just sat there staring at everyone while they talked about her like she wasn't sitting right there. She wasn't even sure if she was supposed to say anything at all.

He exhaled

"I think if the people want Anna, we should let them have her." Someone suggested

Angelo and Anna quickly turned to him

"What?" Angelo asked him as the room became quiet again. Angelo glared at the man two seats beside his "Mr Scott, you're not really suggesting I let my wife go out there."

"Angelo, I understand you want to protect your family," another man added "but I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr Scott. Let's think really well about this. Anna just has to go out there and prove herself to them, that's all she has to do, to show them she's not a threat. At least not anymore ."

"A threat- what are you even talking about. You think those people out there are going to give her a chance to talk? They'd literally lynch her once she steps her foot out of this building."

"Not exactly." Donald stood from his seat. Angelo glared at him. "Think about it Angelo, I think they have a point. Trusk has a very effective security, one who would do anything to protect the chairlady. I don't think anyone would try to harm Anna if we have them surround her."

Angelo rubbed his temples. This was unbelievable, he couldn't believe it, he couldn't buy what they were selling, what they were suggesting.

"Mr Trusk," a woman continued "I think we need to do what's best for the company. We can not afford to be sentimental or selfish right now. All our lives are at stake here, we need to tread carefully and smart."

"This is crazy. How is using her as bait what's good for the company?"

Angelo turned to the rest of them

"Can someone here please tell them how crazy this is?"

Angelo looked around. Everyone else was quiet, no one made a sound. It looked like none of them disagreed.

"We've made up our minds Angelo." The woman said "we have to do what's best for Trusk enterprise. We have to send Anna out there to calm the situation at least until the authorities arrive."

"I'll go."

Everyone paused

There was a lot of silence as everyone turned to her. She sat up straight, trying so hard to look fearless.

"If the people want me, if they want me to prove to them that I'm not a danger to their safety,  then that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"No you won't."

Anna turned to him, she knew Angelo was never going to let her do what she had suggested.

"I already made up my mind."

She told him

"Anna," She turned to Donald,

"you are well aware that this is something you have to do on your own don't you?"

Anna nodded faintly

"If anything happens out there, we won't be able to save you. Do you also know that?"

Anna exhaled

Of course she knew. She wasn't expecting anything less. She was sure she heard them right. She knew the risks.

"I'm ready."

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

Anna exhaled.

She wasn't ready. What on earth was she thinking? Lots of thoughts clouded her mind as she watched the mob right from outside the transparent entrance door. She could also see the security guarding the door and stopping them from moving closer

She could see everything set for her great speech from right in there. She wasn't even sure if she was going to be able to get through with it. She looked around. There were so many cameras in her direction and her best bet was that everyone in the building were watching. Even him, she turned back to the door slowly

You can do this Anna .

She shook her fingers in anxiety

This was it.

She took a step forward when she felt a hand wrap itself slowly into hers, followed by the sweet smell of Angelo's perfume. That was exactly how his hands felt whenever he grabbed her. They always swallowed hers and it made her feel safe, it always did.

She could feel her heart skip multiple beats as she slowly turned to him, not sure what to say as her lips vibrated so fast and tears welled up in her eyes

He looked at her and then smiled warmly

"I see you ." He told her "Only you."

Anna held her breath. She was trying so hard to hide how she felt, how loved and better she was. All of a sudden it was like she had all the energy she needed with just him standing beside her, all her courage came creeping back in. She felt safe, safer than any security would have ever made her feel.

"Let's do this ."

He told her as he noticed the tears in her eyes. She smiled in relief as she nodded quickly not bothering to hide her excitement. They took a step closer and the door opened, they stepped out.

It was like no one really cared about her presence. Whether she stood right in front of them or not, the mob didn't seem to care. They all kept shouting and trying to force their way to the front door. Anna looked around. No matter how she looked, all she could see was a bunch of angry people ready to tear her apart. It didn't look like they were ready for peace, it didn't look like they were ready to listen

"You can do this."

Angelo whispered into her ears as he squeezed her hand,

"I'm right here." He reminded her

He was right there. She kept on reminding herself
He was right there

Okay Anna, this was it .

She took a deep breath and then moved to the podium her secretary and his had set up earlier. She stood on it. She pushed the mic to face her lips and then tapped on it.

"Good day everyone." She announced but no one listened, they kept yelling. Anna's heart was racing. She turned to Angelo who stood some paces behind her, he nodded slowly. She had strength again

"Hello." She spoke into the mic. "My name is Anna Trusk."

The noise became worse

"Murderer!" She heard someone yell  "Monster!"

Anna refused to be shaken or disturbed. She chose strength, she chose courage.

"Go to hell!"

Someone threw an egg at her. It hit her face and broke, emptying itself on her white silk top. She was trembling again.

"I am-" her voice broke

"We don't want you here you monster! Go back to where you belong."

More eggs

They kept on coming and coming till she was tired of talking, no one was listening, no one wanted to.

"You think you can fool us?!" A woman yelled from the crowd "you can't fool us, your kind would never be welcomed here. Your kind is a curse, we won't let the integration program continue."

"We won't!" Everyone chorused

"We want you out of your home!"

"Yes!"

Someone threw a heeled shoe at her. It went directly on her face and hit the side of her face. Anna cringed back in pain as security rushed to Anna, Angelo too.

She was bleeding.

"Are you okay?" He asked her

"I'm fine." She turned to him "I'm fine." She nodded breathing fast."it's just a scratch."

It didn't look like a scratch.

"This won't do." Angelo looked up, he turned to the crowd. He was so furious now. Anna already knew what he wanted to do.

"Angelo don't -"

It was too late. He was already finding his way to the podium.

"Traitor!" They all yelled. "Traitor! Traitor!" They chorused as they boo'd him. Angelo was barely moved. He didn't care, he was already used to people saying what they wanted . None of it mattered to him anyway, he just knew he had to wait it out until the crowd was quiet again.

"Can I have a moment?" He asked for their attention. "Can I please have a moment!"

"Give us the Atian!"

"Please be quiet for a second."

The noise didn't stop. Angelo rolled his eyes, that was it. He was tired of trying to reach out to them. He quickly turned to the security in desperation and pulled out a gun from one of the security officers, he shot once in the sky.

Silence

Just right after the rumbles of fear followed. That was it, the attention he needed, the one he craved for as all eyes were focused on him.

"So now you'd hurt your own people?"

A man stepped forward just as Angelo slowly dropped his arm and returned the gun "for them?"

"I'm hoping it wouldn't come to that sir but that's exactly what I'm going to do if I feel one of my people is trying to hurt my family, because one thing we all share in common is the will to do anything to protect those that we care about, it's what you're doing right now."

They all turned to look at each other. They knew how right he was

"You have all come to talk and make your voices heard, now I believe there is a better way to do that that doesn't involve violence."

"The only thing we want is our home, we want our home back, free from the likes of them."

"Yes!"

"We want our freedom!"

"Yes!"

"We want peace!"

"Yes!"

Angelo nodded to every word, he was listening carefully.

"Why?" Angelo asked them "why do you feel the Atians are responsible for your insecurities? for the world's issues?"

"Isn't it obvious? They are responsible for everything."

"They are?" Angelo asked them

"They should not be allowed here if they still have access to their powers. What's going to happen to us if they decide to use it on us? What would happen to our children?"

"Yes!"

"We have the right to feel safe in our home!"

"Yes!"

"We don't want them here!"

"Yes!"

"We don't want the integration program!"

"Yes!"

Angelo heard the crowd chorus and agree to everything the woman said. He didn't try to argue or disagree with them. He was going to wait it out, he was going to wait for them to finish, and then they did.

"Thirteen years." Angelo announced as the crowd broke into silence. They all focus their attention on him. "My wife was thirteen years when she discovered the glitch in her bracelet. A glitch which I assure you, has been corrected by the NSS a week ago." He pointed at Anna's ankle bracelet so they could all see it

"and would you like to know how this happened?"

He turned to the crowd

"It was her third week at school. A group of her classmates, her human classmates who used to bully her, locked her into a box and set the room on fire."

The crowd broke into a murmur, loud ones.

"And she changed,"

Angelo kept on talking despite all the whispers

"Her first change, was triggered by fear, by the desperate need to save herself, by the need, her need to stay alive and in that process, there was a glitch in her bracelet and she turned just in time to save herself. She had no control of her powers, she was only a child, a child who was doing all she could to have a chance at a normal life. To live like you all wanted to as kids. And when her human froster parents discovered what she could do, they exploited her. They'd beat her and force her to use her powers and had all this recorded on tapes which they used as leverage to get her to do their bidding, and she had to deal with this for the rest of her life until weeks ago."

Angelo scoffed

"I have no idea why I'm letting you all in on so much but it's so I can ask the question, this question,"

Angelo looked at them carefully.
He had all their attention. They were listening, and couldn't believe it too.

"Are the Atians really responsible for our world and lives being such a mess? Or do we just like to blame them for being the reasons we are such failures to our own race?"

There were a lot of heads turning now.

"July seventeenth, Nineteen eighty seven," Angelo's voice broke as he said those words . Anna looked at him, she knew exactly where he was driving at

"That was the last time in records, of an Atian ever commiting a crime, a criminal offense, murder." He swallowed hard

"She was a child, about eight years old. She had just escaped from the base and she was scared. She needed to feel safe, she ran to my home and asked me to protect her, I should have, I wanted to, but I couldn't and on that day, I lost my mother to the effect of the choice I made."

He held his breath, then exhaled.

"And just yesterday," he continued "two men robbed a store upper town and killed seven people, three teenagers were arrested for trying to bomb an entire school last week, I mean, what on earth are we fighting for? Who are we fighting ? Why are we fighting ? Because from where I'm standing, we aren't any different from what we hope the Atians are. We have gotten so used to having them in chains, having the world look down on them, forgetting that they are the ones behind that walls and not us. They are the ones drowned and killed for wanting to exist. They are the victims not us. We've always had it easy, I think it's time we begin to see things for what they really are. It's time we live and stop trying to hold on to some dumb old story our ancestors used to tell us because none of them are alive, fighting our battles right now."

Angelo turned slowly and then reached for Anna's hands. She smiled warmly as he held them

"So you can throw all the eggs and shoes and curses you want at my wife, but none of it is going to change the fact that she's going to be standing right there , watching you humans hurt her, and she isn't going to fight back or defend herself because it's what they always do, and it's what we'd always do, hurt them and watch them refuse to fight back because they know, and we know whose side the law would always be on, just like with the NSS."

No one said a word, that was a lot of sense Angelo had made and they all knew that. They were beginning to see it now.

It took a while, a short while before Anna watched all of them them drop all their banners and weapons slowly from the air. They were finally beginning to listen.

For the first time in her life, she had actually felt she had made someone understand, like she had made someone really listen. She turned to Angelo, he was just as excited. He rubbed her hands.

"Darn it!" A man in the crowd yelled, "Ain't no Atian gonna share the same land with me."
He got out a gun and aimed it straight At Anna.

"Everybody get down!" Someone yelled just in time for Angelo to notice.

The loud sound of gunshot filled the air as soon as he pulled the trigger. Angelo didn't think twice, he knew exactly where the bullet was headed. He jumped in front of Anna just as the bullet hit him, he fell on her

Security rushed to the scene as the crowd dispatched, taking to their heels.

Static.
Everything had suddenly become a haze, she could barely see things clearly as the tear gas from the police started to fill the air.

"Angelo!"

Anna screamed as she saw how his blood stained her hand right through his shirt. She placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding

"Help!" She screamed as tears began to fall from her eyes as fast as it could "help me!"