Despite Arthur's display, nobody seemed to be taking the bait. He suppressed the urge to furrow his brow, wondering if he'd done something that discredited his story. After a moment, however, he realized that the people looked not at him, but rather past him. He glanced over his shoulder, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Hogan himself heaved himself over the bridge toward the group, though something in his gait struck Arthur as odd. A bigger problem, however, lay in the contradiction the reptile's arrival introduced; with Hogan here rather than elsewhere, Arthur's story about the show poised to start fell to pieces.

Baffled and surprised, the mustached man hurried to pick those pieces up. "H-Hogan!" he stammered, "What are you...!?" His question got cut off as the crocodile gave an off-putting moan and proceeded to barf a gruesome hunk of trash out onto the the ground. All those nearby recoiled in disgust, Arthur included. The large man did, however, catch on to what his companion was doing. [i]Oh, he's pretending to be sick. It's a bit rude and risky to pull a stunt like this instead of going with my plan, but...fair, since I didn't think of any alternative or ask what he thought. I'll follow his example this time to make up for my thoughtlessness.[/i]

The next moment, he clapped a hand to his forehead in dismay. "Good God almighty! Hogan, what happened to you!? You're sick as a dog! I've gotta get you help." He took a step toward the crowd, motioning for them to clear out. "Move, move! Hogan's in critical condition, and I need to get him to the clinic, pronto! Sorry, but the show's canceled!" Rushing through the civilians to get to the van, he threw open the back doors in haste. If the people didn't clear out immediately, he knew, he'd have a rough time getting Hogan into the van fast enough to lend credence to the new story.