Chapter 16

The Mass Murder at Dionaea Salon and Spa 11

-:-

“This is Penelope Morka of FNN news and we are live just outside the Dionaea Salon and Spa where an intense gun battle ensued a few minutes ago. As you can see behind me, there are about 50 of Vermilion City Police’s finest completely surrounding the building.”

The camera went from Penelope Morka to the barricade behind her.

The police cars lined up to form a wall of steel with heavily armed police

While Penelope said that there were 50 officers, this was because those were what she saw.

In reality there were about 80 officers on the scene.

Some were in the buildings acting as snipers.

Others served as crowd control that kept the masses away from the area.

“Let’s see if we can talk to-… looks like the SWAT are taking action! Use night vision and keep the camera on them!”

The camera went from colored to black and green. It zoomed to the side of the Dionaea building where 4 figures were stealthily approaching what seemed to be a garbage disposal area.

As the group stealthily opened the door, they were met by a very enthusiastic welcoming wagon.

A barrage of 9mm bullets peppered the team.

As you’d expect as Vermilion City’s finest, their equipment was top notch.

The SWAT’s armor was able to keep the men wearing it from becoming Swiss cheese

Unfortunately, the SWAT’s armor was nowhere near an actual power armor’s spec. The SWAT team may have avoided becoming a beehive, but they experienced something similar to being beaten down by a mob of stick wielding thugs.

The SWAT team were able to limp away with their lives intact.

-:-

5 minutes later

“This is Penelope Morka of FNN news and we have here with us Lieutenant Jerry Thomas of the Vermilion City SWAT team.”

Beside Penelope was a beast of a man.

Broad shoulders, thick chest and arms with bulging muscles.

It was as if he was force fed steroids during his childhood days.

Jerry Thomas was a MAN in every sense of the word.

As proof, Penelope was barely able to hide her desire to feel up the manly man

Jerry on the other hand didn’t give a rats ass about the slut beside him.

He had a very negative view of FNN that has constantly presented the police as evil racists.

If it wasn’t for the higher ups ‘insistence’ that the FNN be attached to any news worthy stories, Jerry would have thrown them out in a heartbeat.

“LT. Jerry Thomas, based on the failed attempt to infiltrate the Dionaea compound, what’s your take on the situation?”

“We’re talking about a group of professional terrorists here. All of the cameras within the facility are knocked out except for all possible entrances. You can barely see it in the video feed but there’s a shadow of a gunman at each entrance. Sending in anyone in any entrance will be met with lethal force.”

“I see. Then how many criminals are we talking here?”

“Based on the thermal images we have, it could be around 20 armed terrorists.”

This was a misunderstanding in the SWAT’s part.

Since they didn’t know Raymond Dionaea had magical capabilities, they assumed that the large amount of heat signatures generated by the observer wards were humans

This was the same as the ‘armed gunman in every entrance’

Since there were observer wards in every entrance (a standard security measure), Theo simply blew out the light in that area for the shadows, place a gun in a place barely visible to the camera and viola! The illusion was complete!

“I see. I understand. And as you can see by the large electronic billboard on top of the building, this is clearly an extremist motivated attack”

At Penelope’s words, the camera went up to the large TV screen on top of the Dionaea compound.

There was the run of the mill demands you’d find in a typical hostage movie.

Release person X,Y,Z from prison

A few million rooks

An escape vehicle

Fail to comply, all hostages will die

Time limit: 2 hours

If anyone that approaches within 10 meters of the building = Hostage dies

Last but not the least: Nothing of the previously mentioned demands are up for negotiations.

Naturally, all of these were some random crap Theo used to direct the blame to some scum within the prisons.

It was nothing more than a strategy to buy time to make Theo’s escape as clean as possible.

If he did not do so, many of the more intelligent superheroes would eventually catch on to his trail.

-:-

5 minutes later

“This is Penelope Morka for FNN news and we have an update in the Dionaea hostage incident. Aside from the failed SWAT infiltration a few minutes ago, everything has been quiet. However, the Vermilion City Police has just pulled out the big guns. Dr. Peter Craif of Vermilion State University has just arrived on the scene”

The camera focused on an aging fat man with dark skin color, brown business suite and a respectable overall appearance.

He was surrounded by multiple SWAT personnel while talking to the much larger Lt. Jerry Thomas.

“Who is Dr. Peter Craif you might ask? He is a criminal psychologist in Vermilion State University and a professional hostage negotiator. He has brought many hostage situations into a peaceful resolution and saved countless of lives with nothing more than his words. He may not look like it but he is a bona fide hero”

Penelope tried to get an interview but she was ignored

Dr. Peter took of his outer coat and approached the Dionaea building.

“My name is Peter Craif! I am unarmed!”

Peter raised his hands and turned around to show that he was truly unarmed.

“You have made your demands crystal clear with the big TV! But in order to begin meeting your demands, can you at least show us if the hostages are unharmed? Please! Give the police a reason to keep their fingers off the triggers!”

About 20 seconds of silence passed before multiple silhouets approached the main hall where everyone from the outside easily see.

There were 6 women that had their hands bound on their back and their mouths gagged by cloth.

Their necks were between 2 long metal tubes that was made into a makeshift stocks. This greatly hindered their ability to move because they had to move in unison.

There were long chains tied to each end of the makeshift stocks.

One strong pull from behind forced the women to fall on their butt.

“Thank you! Now please, can I please talk to your leader? I need a medium of communication if I am to give updates on the progress of meeting your demands!”

Peter Carif made one small step forward.

He immediately regretted it.

A robotic voice could suddenly be heard from the building-wide broadcast system.

“Read the demands again. It states NO NEGOTIATIONS”

A gunshot blew a small hole on one of the girl’s leg

“That was a Brachial Artery. She will die in a minute. Talk again and another one will join her.”

Horror spread through all those who have witnessed it.

Dr. Peter Craif forced down his emotions and quickly left the area.

-:-

2 minutes later

“This is Penelope Morka for FNN news with Dr. Peter Craif. Can you tell us what happened?”

Peter Craif was clearly displeased at the very idea of speaking to Penelope.

The FNN was widely known to twist facts or lie outright, thus he was forced to be careful of what to say.

“As the good lieutenant stated earlier, this group are experts at hostage situations. If I held my ground after the first one was shot, they would have killed another one in cold blood. They don’t care about the host-”

It happened so fast, no one could react until it was too late.

They couldn’t hear the missile approaching due to the noisy nature of the area.

Everyone did feel and was blown off their feet by violent explosion that immediately followed.

Those present could only watch in horror as the purgatorial flames burned the Dionaea building into nothingness