Chapter 149
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After the battles president Odonnell visited the memorial services. There were too many to visit all of them. Those he did attend was at the request of the families, those who wanted to see him there. More than one of these loved ones asked the president to use his influence to bring their loved ones back. There was only so much he could do, even if the deceased were actually in Hell. Anti-alien hatred did rise higher by the end of January. But now, there were aso those who felt that superheroes could bring their loved ones back. This ofcourse put them at odds with the SBA, whose platform said that all aliens, even superheroes, should be viewed with mis-trust. This new group called themselves Survivors for Rescue. They began supporting the rights of alien refugees, if for no other reason than to get on the good side of these superheroes. On Febuary 6th 2024 president Odonnell was preparing to deliver his annual State of the Union address. It was not unusual for people to protest outside during this. D.C. police kept them a fair distance away, let them excercise their first amendment rights to speech. This night, the SBA and the SR were both protesting, one against superheroe rescues, the other supporting it. D.C. police were somewhat used to this, people protesting different agendas. They figured if they could just keep the two groups apart everything would be fine. But the way is usally worked was that two oppossing groups merely wanted to expess their views, neither side was interested in confrontation. This was not the case tonight. Some impusive young SBA member tried to jump over the barrier and attack the SR. D.C. police stopped him, arrested him. His fellow SBA claimed that the police were brutalizing him, and they responded in kind. It would eventually escalate into a full scale riot. When it was over, three SBA members and one police officer were dead. Although none of the SR were killed this night, it soon became clear that tensions between them and the SBA would only get worse.