By: Daiyu Tang
Photos by: Daiyu Tang ((No AI))
The call came from a number I didn’t have on file. I guess dear reader that you know that this is likely to be the least unusual thing about the story. Anonymous calls are basic bitch stuff in Hathian. The caller on the other end claimed to be HPD and said there was action at Rader Records before suggesting that I haul my cameras and sass over there. I do love a chance to observe chaos and the butterfly effect, so agreeing to this suggestion I decided to make sure the Observer got a camera there.
By the time I arrived, the raid was already well underway. I could tell by the shouting, cussing and the sight of Vanora preparing to swat a cane at the women in our header image. So far, so Hathian.
Rader Records, the acknowledged home turf and gathering point for the Rejects had been crowded by HPD officers in helmets, body armour, shields and at least two armoured police vehicles. The sky above was low and filled with menace and the old red Rader Records sign loomed over the lot, another silent witness like myself. As I unstrapped cameras Officers were already pushing forward because let’s be honest, did anyone expect the Rejects and associated others to go quietly? Hell no.
And yes, I should point out that this also wasn’t likely a surprise, it was fairly clear that nobody had come dressed for de-escalation.
Realities (and Batons) Collide
So, as I said what I saw was not a clean police operation. I didn’t see the Mexican, but even without her presence it was a collision. There were shields up, batons out and apparent blades appearing. There was Fitz climbing where people should not climb and enough shouted insults about mothers, body parts and sexual services to fill out a few citation books for sure. Some of the chaos was met by attempted control. Of course there were commands (directed at Fitz) to get down. There were orders to drop weapons. Did any of it really work? Nah reader. Nah, nah, nah. Did I mention there were also knives, a machete, sai, fists, a cane from Vanora, and what in reality appeared to be a truly remarkable commitment from all parties to make the afternoon worse for each other. Yay, go Hathian!
Get Down From There! The High Ground Is No Place For a Fitzgerald!
It’s close to May the 4th, right? I had to. Anyway near one HPD vehicle, Wilbur Fitzgerald climbed onto and then into police hardware with what I took to be the confidence of a man not fresh to the discovery of stealing Hathian PD equipment. If (and this is conjecture) he had discovered, mid-brawl, that someone had apparently left roof access available then this was going to be the end result and despite the ninja efforts of Hiroshi it didn’t appear to quickly resolve. Still, the thought of battling Wilbur in close confines made me feel a twinge of sympathy for Hiroshi…
[Editorial note: If your armoured police vehicle can be entered from the roof during a gang raid, that is either a tactical problem you acknowledge or you repaint it and make it Hathian’s most expensive clown car.]
Elsewhere in the lot a man was confronted by an officer with a shotgun after moving towards them with a machete. “Drop the Weapon” led to the escalatory response of the machete being thrown. The shotgun fired and the man was hit by buckshot but staggered forward and as far as I could see the fight became a brutal ground level struggle. Hathian does good mud-wrestling, but this was the Backwaters kind of fight… nasty. The end result appeared to be one bloodied, dazed, and eventually down on the pavement man after further baton work.
Women’s Rights
It’s Hathian, of course the men don’t have all the fun and we had Vanora there, so there was fun from that angle as well. My gender was well represented and weren’t the background scenery to this violence. They were, in several corners, conducting their own private wars…
Foxy (the woman in our header image) moved on Vanora with a knife… Vanora, already armed with a cane and wearing protective gear gave reply. It was a solid effort involving the tried and tested Hathian physical language of helmets, fists and the side of an armoured car. Foxy was bashed, bloodied and pressed against the vehicle while from what I could see Vanora took a blade wound to the leg. Before the day was over both women were bleeding, both were furious, and if I had to be a judge neither looked like they were ready to acknowledge the other as the winner.
In our inset photo above, a goth (yay!) advanced on Carter Ellis (boo!) with a small blade and a song… A song? Yeah it’s Hathian reader and the city has apparently decided choreography and the ‘Greatest Showman’ (woman in this case) is no longer optional during attempted stabbings. Carter, armed and armoured, tried to meet her with force.
A Birdy Is a Golf Score. A Birdie is a Coffee Mug Abuser.
Noah Birdie (yes her again), meanwhile, made perhaps the most Hathian use of a travel mug I have ever witnessed. Facing an officer behind a shield, Noah dumped her drink over the officer and then used the mug itself as an improvised weapon. Of course, this was answered with baton strikes and shield shoves eventually leading to a de-throning. I though this article was where I could use ‘de-fenestrate’ again after not using it since that time with Landon and Rhys… but alas. It was just falling from a chair.
Leadership – Usually Means Being The Bigger Man
Bryce (the leader in this case) became another centre of gravity. Literally. A veritable black-fucking-hole of a gravity well approached him in the shape of Officer Booker. This did not not remotely fair, but Bryce did have a weapon, though it appeared after being sprayed with CS or other gas he stumbled and went down after the spray hit. Not the bigger man this time Bryce, but as always a cute boy backside. I’ll get a photo for your admirers’ next time but the photo a little above the one of Noah shows the height difference… yep. Booker is basically NBA material for CU.
Other fights existed… A woman charged Officer Asuka and the two traded baton hits, kicks, punches and a near headbutt by the bushes. There were bystanders too, if that word can still apply to someone recording a riot beside an armoured truck. One man (and he wasn’t a journalist – just in case any of you reading this think I have help… God I need help… but no he wasn’t it…) held his phone steady through much of the mess. Others lingered at the edges, watching the police line, the Rejects, the vehicles and the broken rhythm of a raid that seemed to be happening everywhere, everything, all at once (God I love that film).
HPD will likely say officers entered hostile territory, issued lawful commands, and were met with armed resistance. On the visible facts, they were met with armed resistance. Rejects and their associates drew blades, threw weapons, attempted to fight through officers, and in at least one case tried to enter or interfere with a police vehicle. But that cannot be the whole story. This is Hathian.
The police arrived with armour, shields, impact weapons, lights, chemical spray, and a shotgun. The result was not a neat raid, nor a swift containment, but a sprawling melee in which a man was shot, several people were bloodied, officers were cut, and the street outside a known gang stronghold became a combat zone. If the goal was to show control then what unfolded instead looked very much like Hathian’s oldest civic tradition that the Observer reports on time and time again: authority and outlawry proving, once again, that they deserve each other.
[Editorial note: It is possible for the Rejects to be violent and HPD to be reckless at the same time. I appreciate this may distress readers who prefer morality served in single portions.]
What remains unclear is why this raid was launched when it was, what warrant or intelligence supported it, what HPD expected to find inside or around Rader Records, and whether the department anticipated this level of resistance. It is also unclear whether the anonymous tip that brought the Observer to the scene was an act of transparency, internal politics, or one officer making very sure someone outside the department had a camera on the mess.
The Observer will be seeking comment from HPD on the purpose of the operation, the use of shotgun fire, the deployment of armoured vehicles, and the identities and conditions of those detained or injured. We will also be seeking comment from the Rejects on what they claim happened before our arrival, whether the group expected a raid, and why so many weapons were drawn so quickly in a public lot. I suspect it’ll be a short response., but I need to try. In this city, even eyes can be deceived as sometimes the connections run deep.
