I'd just like to say a quick thank you to those of you taking the time out of your day to read my work. And if you're one of the fans from any other the earlier iterations of this story, welcome back. They say the third time is the charm, right?
Duel 1 – Toppling Towers
A Hispanic woman dressed in a red business suit sat at a news desk, staring directly into the camera. "I am Janelle Ortiz, with channel 6 news. We interrupt your program to bring you breaking news." She shifted through several papers on her desk before starting.
"An attack was made on the head Iniquity Industries building located in the business district of its hometown, Neo Copan City. It appears that there is smoke billowing from one of the higher office floors of the building, and people in the immediate vicinity are being evacuated. The police are isolating the area from spectators, and rerouting traffic out of the business district. The source of the smoke, according to eyewitness accounts, is the aftermath of a sudden explosion. No suspicious persons were observed throughout the morning, but now in the early afternoon, it would seem there was terrorist activity."
Janelle Ortiz became silent and looked away from the camera. "We are getting word now that the organization known as the Black Tempest is attempting to make contact with us here at Channel 6." She became silent again, the whispers and murmurs of the behind the scenes staff were picked up on the microphones. "Our producers have decided, for the sake of getting the truth to all of you in Neo Copan City and the world as a whole, we will allow limited communication with the Black Tempest."
People rushed back and forth across the set, both on and off camera, as devices were rearranged. There was a moment of microphone feedback. Janelle waited until she was prompted and began to speak.
"Hello, this is Janelle Ortiz with Channel 6 news. You are now being broadcast over our channel, and we ask that you refrain from using any foul language or-"
"We do not care," came the distorted voice. "We are only using you as a means to get the truth into the homes of all the sheep in this country."
"Sheep?" Janelle asked. "Are you referring to the viewers at home?"
"The viewers," the voice scoffed. "The consumers, the nine to fivers, the so called average citizen, and the conspiracy theorists we lay breadcrumbs for. We of the Black Tempest consider those not among us as sheep, simply following the shepherds."
"And who would be the shepherds?"
"The media…" the voice began. "Is a tool used by the shepherds, so you are lower than the sheep."
"My," Janelle faked a laugh, obviously annoyed. "That's quite the outlook."
"The ones in control of this country are the shepherds. We do not speak of the politicians or the business owners. We speak of the manipulators from the shadows, who use those two entities as a curtain to keep the sheep blind. We speak of the man who is attempting to control the very world itself for his own selfish desires."
"The man trying to control the world?" Janelle asked, stumped by the comment.
"Eagle D. Iniquity." The voice spoke with absolution. "We of the Black Tempest will dismantle his evil empire and save the world from his dark ambitions."
"Eagle D. Iniquity, the owner of Iniquity Industries, is trying to take over the world?" Janelle looked into the camera and scoffed. "His company, although rather young, has already helped millions of people worldwide indirectly or otherwise around the world."
"Spoken like a true tool." The voice cackled.
Janelle frowned, her eyes falling on the producer standing behind the filming camera. "Are the Black Tempest taking responsibility for the attack on the Iniquity Industries headquarters?"
"That was indeed our handiwork," The Black Tempest member spoke with pride through the voice modifier. "And it was just a small taste of what is to come."
"A small taste? What else do you have planned?" Janelle waited, but there was no response. She looked to her producers who shook their heads. "Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a member of the Black Tempest, and as you can clearly see, their views on the world are… quite unique." She arranged some papers on her desk and cleared her throat.
"We have Channel 6 staff at the location of the recent Black Tempest attack. We now join reporter Kirk Whyte at the scene…"
There was a large crowd of people surrounding the still smoking tower, their necks craned upward to try and see what was going on. They were all kept at bay by the police. A Caucasian man with black hair in a horseshoe balding pattern cleared his throat before speaking.
"Thank you, Janelle. Just moments ago, the scene was that of an ordinary day like any other. But now, there are emergency respondents and rescue workers working tirelessly to evacuate the area…" As Kirk described the events, his cameraman fumbled to steady the camera. His raven black hair was graying early, and his skin border lining on sickly pale, but his tired green eyes trained on the tripod camera lens without issue. As he peered through the lens, his eye caught something in the background, near the emergency respondents. Once he was certain the tripod camera was stable, the cameraman retrieved the personal camera hanging from his neck, adjusting its telephoto lens and aiming at the emergency vehicles.
While most workers moved toward the building, escorting civilians away from the building, three particularly shady looking workers seemed to be scurrying away from the building. Two of them were burly men, and the third was a slender woman, apparently bossing the two around. She had short, blond hair and a fierce demeanor that one could pick up on from far away.
The cameraman felt his instincts call out to him. As the woman turned her head in his direction, he snapped two quick photos and returned his focus to the tripod.
"And if you look towards the top of the tower," Kirk spoke through gritted teeth, clearly upset with the blatant disregard for his job and giving the vocal cue for the nth time, The cameraman gasped, swiftly changing the shot. "The billowing smoke is beginning to thin out…" Kirk's expression shifted to one of shock.
"As you can see, the building itself has been warped and is still smoldering. The once mighty tower of Iniquity Industries, the up and coming symbol for ease of life through technology and recently entertainment, is now damaged. How will this affect the morale of Iniquity Industries staff? More coverage later as emergency officials release more information."
"And cut." spoke the cameraman, turning off the equipment.
"You're going to be cut, alright!" Kirk roared, his head whipping with such intensity that his hair piece moved. A few onlookers snickered at the horseshoe hanging from his chrome dome.
"Huh?" The cameraman managed to keep a straight face, although his eyes were watering from holding back laughter.
"Do you have any idea how stupid you made me look?" Kirk snarled. The rest of the news crew backed away from the argument. "I've had it up to here," Kirk's hand stopped a centimetre shy of his hair piece. "With your absent mindedness and sub par ability with a camera! One more mess up from you, and I'll make sure you can't even buy a camera phone anywhere in America!"
"Sub par?" The camera man seemed more hurt by the comment than the threat of termination.
"And your Little Orphan Arnie sob story?" Kirk turned his nose up and nearly spat the sentence. "Won't spare you or your bratty brother! So you'd better shape up, Uraki!"
The cameraman's face twisted with a snarl; Kirk smugly grinned at the cameraman, taunting him. The cameraman almost literally bit his tongue to prevent himself from snapping back. "Understood."
"Good." Kirk crossed his arms triumphantly. "Now go back to the trailer and make me coffee."
The cameraman grumbled to himself as he did as instructed. He took out his personal camera as the coffee brewed, and began flicking through the digital photos of teh incident he had taken. He started sorting through the images of the building still smoldering and worked back to the shots of the emergency crew. He trained his eyes, focusing on the three members who were going away from the site.
He gasped, his brain finally registering the face of the woman. "Oh no." He grimaced. "It's bad enough the Black Tempest attacked, but they have her leading the charge?!" He gulped; while he knew he shouldn't get involved, his personal sense of justice wouldn't let him ignore what was going on.
Even if that sense of justice was what got him in his current predicament of doing freelance camera work to pay off some debts. "But no matter what," He shifted through other photos of his camera, until stopping on a picture of himself and a young teenager who resembled him. "I can't let my little brother get hurt..."
He sighed heavily, pouring the coffee into a paper cup. "I'll just have to keep investigating and hope to find some way of getting help…"
"Uraki!" The cameraman nearly jumped when he heard Kirk how for him. "Coffee!" With a low snarl, the cameraman briskly started walking back to his job...