The elevator opened to the third floor and security directed Elroy. Even the office workers were transfixed on the unfolding of Chad's gambit. Police officers littered the halls and offices. From what Elroy could tell, all the employees were barred from doing anything during the investigation. There wasn't much time left. Traffic clogged the aeroways, and he regretted not taking the highways. Regardless, he had one goal in mind.
They reached the end of the hallway, which brought them to the Paragon office front. They entered, were redirected by the concierge, and stepped into the inner sanctum. The central point of Paragon's player center resembled a huge living room. Leather L-couches and poufs were set up in front of dozens of wall-mounted televisions. Each gaming station accommodated its members with fighting games from different eras.
Near the front, to the right, was one such station. Its members noticed the security escort, and alerted the whole station. Another member turned, and was a dead ringer for Elroy's son.
Dimitri, like his father, didn't sport as much muscle as his avatar. He was taller, and lanky, with longer, curly hair in a loose ponytail. In his advertisement-laden e-sports shirt and shorts, he shot up from the couch and approached, "Dad? What are you doin' here?"
Security allowed Elroy to approach his son, but stayed by the doors. The room switched their attention from the news or games to the confrontation. A couple phones came out and started to record.
Elroy recognized a character on the screen Dimitri and his group were playing on, "Woah, haven't seen that game in ages. Are ya winnin', son?"
Dimitri checked over his shoulder, and cracked a smile, "Oh, yeah. The team wanted something a bit more old school. I'm showin' them some strings and...wait, hold up. Why are you here?"
Elroy planted his cane in front of him and perched both hands atop it. He paused so the weight of his words were felt, "I don't want us to hate each other."
Dimitri could feel everyone's judgement. It burned his ears. He meagerly said, "I don't hate you. We just hate our differences."
"There's a lot problems I've been dealing with these past few weeks," Elroy glanced at one of the monitors showing the news. "Family is complicated. What the Mortimers are dealing with is harsh and cruel. It's made me reflect on my past mistakes."
"Which ones?" Dimitri rolled his eyes.
"All of them," Elroy admitted. "So I know whatever happens here today, it doesn't involve us. So I'd rather spend it with you."
Dimitri awkwardly judged his father's expression. It was unlike in the virtual world. He caved, "Doin' what?"
Elroy nodded to the retro fighting game, "Let's go a few rounds. I want to see if I can beat you and even our high scores a bit."
Dimitri gave a cocky laugh and peered around at the center, "I don't know bout that, dad. I'd hate to embarrass ya in front of my friends."
"Is this the world's best?" Asterion antagonized.
Dimitri snapped to attention, and for a blink, he saw the phantom that was the mountain of muscles. He focused and the minotaur avatar faded to Elroy; they shared the same, dark eyes.
Per usual, family affairs were the cornerstone of the fighting genre. There was really only one way to 'talk' in those situations.
"You're on."
They quietly stepped over to the couch and television. The room gathered around the champion and his father. The match went out on socials and streams picked it up. The word spread, and soon enough, even the barred out employees of the IGC HQ rushed to Paragon to watch the bout.
Martha poked her head out of Chad's office door. She asked a passerby, "What the devil is going on out here?"
"Asterion is facing off against D-mon!" an enthusiastic fan skipped to their loo.
Chad raised his gaze to the hallway. While Martha brought the new development to the masses, the councilor straightened up and sharpened his anticipation.
Down in the lobby, at the security check-in, everybody's phone dinged and sang. Alerts of the impromptu big match between Elroy and Dimitri were sent out. Now two big family names were contending in the same building. Paragon even posted on their socials to advertise the event.
An influx of players and interested bodies scampered to Paragon's office. This caused issue with the elevators, and a hazard soon developed.
Shortly thereafter, the two security escorts called in on the radios at the desk, "We need help on the third floor. These idiots are blocking the exits. We need a hand to manage it."
The directing officer instructed half his men to the elevators, and the other half took the stairs to reach the higher floors. An already stressed day became worse.
The wanderlust receptionist worried, "Why does this feel like a distraction?"
"Obviously it's a distraction..." his cohort grumbled. "Anybody and their mother can tell Elroy is trying to cause trouble."
"What are we going to do, Gon?"
"The same thing we do everyday, Roger. Serve, protect, and file reports," Gon dared to do what most feared.
The front doors rotated quickly. A larger-than-normal humanoid entered the building. It was a slightly rounded woman in an incomplete hedgehog fursuit. She only wore the head, paws, and feet. The colorful quills crowned her blue-furred head, and the eyes were animated and expressive. Her human get-up was a striped tank top and jeans. Keychains dangled numerous game characters at her side. She danced her way through the security gate, since the receptionists were the only ones present. It didn't beep to indicate weapons, thus it failed to grab the receptionists' attention.
"If it comes to it, I'll do the stamps and letter licking," Roger offered up his bargain.
"That's mighty brave of you, Roger. But there's only one problem with that," Gon held a finger up with superior wisdom.
"What's that?"
"Paper letters and stamps went extinct years ago. Everything is digital."
Roger snapped his fingers, "Well, shoot."
"Yatta! Are wa tanoshikattadesu!" the furry spoke way too loud across the counter. She exaggerated head and body movements. Gon and Roger finally noticed the glaring blue hedgehog eyeing them like a modern day lycanthrope. (Yes! That was fun!)
Roger raised an eyebrow, "Is that a fu..."
"Dear Miyamoto!" Gon reacted with dread. He slid a hidden drawer open below their desk, which revealed a big red button. A plaque beneath read 'In case of furries'. He slapped that shit. A siren blared across the entire headquarters. Lights flashed around the exits, and the advertisement boards went blank. Security and police blew up their radios and communications to figure out the situation. Gon dominated the radio waves, "We need immediate reinforcements at the lobby! I repeat, reinforcements are needed!"
"How did you even get past the police units?" Roger asked Natsuki.
"Eh? Me? Buddy, do I look like I'd get caught by those slow tin cans? Please, I barely stand out!" Natsuki waved dismissively.
"Furries are banned from this premises! You can't be here!" Gon slammed the counter to try and spook her away. The panicked receptionist glanced at all the freaked out attendees in the lobby. A few security guards were making their way over, hands on their handgun holsters.
"Riiight, the Bite of '87 incident. You guys really have it ruff trying to keep us in line," Natsuki feigned caution. She vaulted up onto the countertop in a Slav squat. The two officers backed up against the wall. Natsuki's furry face beamed with glee, "I just wanted to bring my pack to see how all this Gamer stuff unravels. They were so excited to come."
"Pack?" Gon and Roger parroted with ample fear.
The rotating doors spun like an airplane propeller, and an entire league of furries began to pour into the lobby. Colorful wolves, grantastic foxes, heckin' hedgehogs, bouncy bunnies, the cutest of kitties, playful puppers, and boss-ass bears scooted in. They ran wild once through the checkpoint. They cheered, laughed, howled, roared, and yipped with energetic happiness. There were hundreds...nay, thousands...nay, millions upon millions of furries – greatly exaggerated by the horse furries.
Gon screamed, "How did all of you get past the police?!"
Outside, the world watched with supreme confusion. A large gathering of furries stormed the headquarters with no harassment from the robot units. It's as if they weren't even seen. Some protesters tried to pass, but got the usual warning from the patrol. The helicopter reported the hoard's encroachment.
Down by one of the building corners, Nuckolls and Talis watched with amusement. Talis received a text message. He read, "Talis ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻) did it work?"
"You bet it did, and with flying colors," Talis flicked his attention about. His thumbs moved as fast as his lips, "You really are great at hacking! To bypass their security systems and register pets as non-threats is flat out cruel. I see why you guys have gotten so far."
"No cap, it's all thanks to your proxies. I am so glad Sonia called you in," Samira texted.
"She deserved better than how Mr. Khom treated her. This is more about honoring all her hard work, and showing the big wigs to not punch down at us."
"ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ Dope! Now all we need is the finishing touch!"