“Breaking News!” Flashes across the television, interrupting a commercial for Sudohbucks.
The news anchor, a man with slick, black hair and just a hint of facial hair sits behind the desk. His usual, mandatory, upbeat demeanor was… missing. Instead, he sat behind the desk with a stoic gaze. His eyes, usually bright with an inquisitive look about them were now serious and almost less colorful. He cleared his throat and shuffled the papers on his desk before taking a sharp intake of breath.
“Ladies and gentlemen…” He started out, his voiced in line with the stoic face he wore. “I am… regrettably here to deliver some unfortunate news. If you have children in the room, please ask them to leave until the broadcast has ended.” He paused for a moment. Longer than a moment. “Now that you’ve had time to escort the children out..” He cleared his throat once more. “... There has been a bombing in the residential district of Vale this afternoon. At approximately 2:37 PM, two explosive devices went off in alleyways between buildings, across the street from one another.” The screen behind the man lit up, showing a scene almost out of a movie.
The street was filled with rubble, cast aside by the explosion. Cars that had tried to swerve to avoid the blast had crashed into other buildings or each other. The two apartment buildings in question were clearly beyond repair, with one completely without a front and the other with nothing but a few lone walls and rubble to remind you what had once stood there. All around them. Emergency workers frantically ran around the scene, trying to get injured into ambulances, trying to move large chunks of rubble out of the way. Toward the back, a small rabbit faunus could be seen sitting on the end of an ambulance stretcher, with her mother holding her tightly, not wanting to let go ever again.
The anchorman paused for a moment to recollect himself. “While we don’t have much information at the moment, we can offer the public what little we do know…” He looked down at the stack of papers on his desk, concentrated on the facts of the matter more than anything. “The area targeted had a majority of faunus living in it. The two apartment buildings caught in the blast have been broken beyond repair and nearly entirely destroyed. Witnesses describe two males, dressed in dark clothing and hoods, that were seen around the area of the attack with briefcases.” The man paused for a moment, not to recollect himself or to clear his throat, but to read and reread and rereread what was written on the paper below him.
“As many of you know, today is saturday, and as such even though many adults and young adults may have been at work at the time, many more adults still and… children… were still within the apartment buildings. We feel the need to inform the public that most that live within apartments do not have children, though there are still confirmed casualties.”
“As of now, the number of confirmed casualties has reached into the forties and the number of injured has reached the eighties. We can only hope and pray that the number does not rise any further.” The man looked up from the papers and glanced past the camera for a second before returning his gaze to the camera. “I’m getting word now that the police have released a statement they are completely focused on locating and apprehending those responsible for this horrible act. Currently, the council of Vale has officially enlisted the help of Huntsmen home from missions and Inquisition members.”
“We will stay with all of you and update you all on information throughout the day, but right now we wish to honor those who stayed and assisted the injured directly following the explosion. First year students of Beacon academy: Camille Alyssandra, Zwei Carter, and Brock Greenwood. Second year student at Beacon academy: Xavier Cendres. Local citizen: Vahn Crimson. We here at RNN would like to extend our thanks to you for admirably showing what it means to be hunters and huntresses and for not letting the tragedy of this event destroy this city.”
“As a last note, the police have confirmed the two men witnesses had seen are their prime suspects and for citizens to please call in if they have any information on the individuals.”