Title: Murder
By: Ana The Dark One
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine and the characters have been borrowed and submitted to my twisted, disturbedmind.
A/N: This is my first story under this name so be lenient and remember to review.
Summary: Domino City is plagued by recent deaths that have yet to be solved. One reporter goes undercover only to meddle with something that she should have left alone.
Chapter One
The evening news report in Domino, Japan emitted a warning of heavy rain downfall and a few thunder shows to occur during the night.
Barely anyone was out as the wind howled and roared against anything it could find. Puddles became rivers as the debree from the streets piled up against the storm drains, placed at every intersection in the city and blocked any escape into the sewers below.
Street signs, which had fallen off their posts, banged recklessly against the stores they had crashed into. Cars skidded on the road, as it was no longer safe to drive, and halted nearby for shelter.
A massive stream of lightning struck an oak tree that had stood in the city for decades and caused it to fall on the concrete floor below.
A gash appeared at the place where the tree had first hit and a small hand was uncovered but it wouldn't be until morning that it would matter.
For now the small being would remain unseen and uncared for as she had been originally intended to be.
The city's construction crew was alerted, by the city's chief of police Tristan Taylor, to arrive immediately at the Domino Memorial Center.
Another victim of the brutal on going murders within the city had been uncovered. Ms. Serenity Wheeler, age 19, and resident of Lower Heights, Domino, had been discovered by the city's clean up crew when they reported for work to begin the process of relieving the city from it's painful state after the storm had ended only a few hours after midnight.
The young woman was a student enrolled in Domino University and was reported missing only a few days prior by her brother and guardian Joseph Wheeler. She had been said to not arrive home after her evening classes had ended and her brother had gone to look for her.
Her car had been present in the student parking lot but campus security could not identify if she had indeed entered the school grounds after parking her car.
Her teachers reported her to assist her classes until seven that night which is the time when police officers have established her to have vanished.
Her body was found with lacerations on her wrists, ankles and on her neck, which indicated that she had been tied up and then possibly strangled. It was known that Ms. Wheeler had been killed somewhere else and later moved to her final resting spot.
No further details could be determined yet it has already been stated conclusively that her disappearance and murder are in connection with the other murders that have claimed the lives of countless young women from the city.
"Hey Weevil, I finished tonight's edition" came the tired voice of Anzu Mazaki, the reporter for the Domino Times that was left in charge of the Murders occurring in Domino.
Some people had begun to call them "The Campus Murders" as all victims were students enrolled in Domino U but Anzu wouldn't dare to publish that. If she did, she would be liable for a lawsuit from the University and the paper couldn't take any more hits.
The parents of some of the victims had already called to threaten Anzu and her colleagues over her stories and she was really walking a thin line.
But she could at least keep a clean conscious at the fact that she had no involvement in the murders nor did she know the killer. She could thank her lucky stars for that.
Seeing as Weevil Underwood, the paper's copy boy/gopher wasn't anywhere in hearing distance, Anzu collected her freshly typed report and headed towards the copy room where she hoped and somewhat knew he'd be in.
She sometimes hated working with the guy. Now that's not to say that he was hard to get along with but she found him beyond repulsive. He was short with slimy/greasy hair and wore glasses that were always falling off his face. He screeched when he talked and always snorted when he thought he had said something funny, which was never. His clothes, the thing Anzu hated the most, were always a limesh green that reminded her of a squashed bug.
When Anzu arrived at the copy room she found Weevil making photocopies of his hands and snorting while he did so. " I wouldn't let Yami catch you doing that if I were you" At Anzu's sudden presence, Weevil accidentally bumped into the machine and slammed the top shut.
He let out a howl of pain as his hands were caught between the processor and it wouldn't budge. "I left you tonight's edition. I'm going home now." And with that Anzu made her way to collect her things and have herself a goodnight's sleep. She really needed it.
Morning came as it always does, and Anzu went through her daily routine before heading out the door to go to work. Half an hour later through traffic and one trip to the corner coffee shop and she had arrived at the Domino Times building.
The domino Times had been, in it's prime, one of the top media channels. Anzu had read their paper everyday while growing up after borrowing it from her father of course. She had fallen in love with journalism and had dreamed with becoming a reporter for the Domino Times. But now, as she was turning 25 soon, she could really see what time had done to it.
All that readers wanted was gossip; no longer caring about the real news, people turned their backs on them and turned to the tabloids. In effect, only a few people remained at the media source, ten give or take.
Her editor in chief, Yami Mouto, could barely pay them let alone hire anyone new. It was sad to see the once proud media now scathing by to pay the bills. Anzu looked once last time at the bright letterhead and went it.
She made her way towards her desk and began to organize her belongings. Her desk was one of three that belonged to reporters, her colleagues.
Mai Valentine was their fashion reporter and barely ever got their on time, only when it was pay day would she ever get there before seven and leave after four.
Duke Devlin was the other reporter only hired for his good looks to serve as a field reporter, it was a good try to get people interested in them and it would work if he didn't spend all his time looking at a mirror.
The only other people that Anzu knew by name were Weevil, of course, Rex who was the building security guard, though Anzu wondered why anyone would dare try to steal anything from them, and Raphael who was the building maintenance expert. He could fix and build anything you needed in no time flat and Anzu suspected that the only reason he worked there for such a lousy pay was because of Mai. Guys did crazy things for women they found attractive.
Anzu looked over to the conference room, which was in all honestly a former coffee room, they barely managed to fit in there and it was hard enough with everyone boiling up in the closed space, and noticed that everyone was already in there including Mai which meant that something serious was going on. She grabbed her coffee container and proceeded to go in, maybe it would be an interesting day.
Anzu found herself in the spotlight as soon as she entered. Mai shot her a dirty look after noticing what coffee Anzu had. It came in handy to know the owner of Domino's finest coffee shop, which was her childhood friend Miho.
She would come in ten minutes before work and find a different flavor everyday; today's was French vanilla. She hot Mai an innocent look and proceeded to sit down in her worn out seat and waited for Yami to speak.
"Well now that everyone's here we can begin today's staff meeting. Duke, you'll be taking over Anzu's story on the Campus Murders while…" Yami never got to finish his sentence as Anzu busted up in outrage.
"You can't. That's my story, I've been covering it ever since it started, you can't do this to me." Yami waited until Anzu calmed down to speak.
Anzu was looking anxious as she had never spoken up against her boss and became very fearful for her job. There were a lot of unemployed people in Domino who would gladly take the pay cut just to put food on their family's table.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted Mai you'll be in charge of Anzu's wardrobe and make-up. We need a fresh, younger look something fitting of a college student." At this point Anzu was perplexed, why would she need a younger look, it wasn't like she was old. "Yami, why would I…?"
At this point Yami was the one to interrupt her. "Why Anzu, you'll be going undercover at Domino U. We need someone who can go in there and ask questions that they won't allow someone form the media to ask. I've already spoken to the dean who's an old friend of my grandfather's and he's accepted that you enroll all the while you not tell anyone of our arrangement. You see it's not exactly legal what we're doing and he doesn't want any repercussions for helping his best friend's grandson."
Now Anzu was faced with a big dilemma, going back to school and worse of all having Mai be her fashion helper. "But Yami I don't understand why I can't go," came Mai's plea, " I mean people there would be better persuaded by me don't you think?"
Mai sent him a wink as she flaunted her blouse, which showed most of her breasts. "No, I'll do it" came Anzu's reply she wouldn't let Mai show her off as a bad journalist, besides it wouldn't be hard for her to go back to school, she had been there once right?