Cary slammed his thermos down on the desk.
"Amelia! What the hell are you trying to pull?"
"Do you have any idea how much weight public opinion carries these days?"
"One complaint, and every bonus in this office, top to bottom, is gone."
"Let this blow up any further, and you might not even have a job here."
I stood up calmly and gave him a small smile.
"Director Lambert, I don't think it's blown up enough yet."
"Better if it gets bigger."
Early the next morning.
Jude and Daphne showed up with a dozen people in tow.
And went live right there in our service hall.
Cary kicked open my office door, his face dark as a storm.
"Amelia, get out there and look at the mess you made!"
"They've strung up a banner, brought a megaphone, and now the whole street's crowding in to watch."
I took a leisurely sip of tea before strolling out after him.
Jude had dug up some faded, washed-out T-shirt from somewhere.
There he stood, megaphone in hand, weeping his heart out to the gathered crowd and the cameras.
"A lot of you probably can't imagine how hard life is for someone with no official records."
"I can't pay into social security, can't get admitted to a hospital. Every single day I live in fear of getting so much as sick."
"I can't take the subway or a bus. Ten years, and I haven't been able to board a plane or a train."
"I've had all my paperwork ready. All I want is to live like an ordinary person again. Why is that so hard?"
The crowd around him flared up at once.
"These clerks are heartless."
"He's got the paperwork and they still won't process it. Are they trying to drive the man to his death?"
"Even if something's wrong with it, just tell him how to fix it. They won't even give him a reason."
The live stream view count blew past ten thousand in no time.
People started spamming the chat on their own.
"What gives them the right to push an honest man around? Give us an answer!"
Daphne seized the moment to whip up the stream.
"Today isn't just for my husband. It's for the millions of ordinary people who get stonewalled like this."
"Are ordinary people just supposed to be bullied at every turn?"
"Is this how power gets abused?"
The stream boiled over.
Endless comments scrolled past.
【So true. Ordinary folks can't get a single thing done.】
【We have to back him today. Drag that Director Simmons out here!】
【Thank you for standing up and speaking for the little guy.】
Plenty of people out on the street heard the noise and poured into the hall too.
Before long the place was packed wall to wall.
Cary couldn't take the pressure and shoved me out to the front.
"You made this mess, you clean it up."
"I'm in no position to protect you."
The second I appeared, Daphne swung the camera straight onto me.
"Officer Simmons, in front of all these people, I want an explanation."
I looked at her, unhurried.
"You keep saying you're speaking for all the ordinary people."
"But you're not an ordinary person."
"You're a big influencer. You want your records restored so you can collect a hundred-million-dollar demolition payout."
The air seemed to freeze.
The next instant the whole room erupted.
"What is this? You used us as your weapon?"
"A rich woman playing poor, throwing us out front as cannon fodder?"
Jude's face went stiff. He pushed through it anyway.
"So what if he's an influencer? Do influencers not need social security, not need hospitals?"
"The fact is you're holding up my application for no reason and disrupting my normal life."
"You're giving me an explanation today."
I nodded.
I turned the camera on myself, picked up my phone, and dialed the police.
"Fine."
"I'll make sure you accept it completely. The officers will come and give you your explanation."
