Post by L. A. Blackwater on Mar 9, 2021 18:28:55 GMT -6
Michael Scott sits down on a bench outside of The Luxor Hotel and Casino, he happily observes the busy crowd of people gathered outside ready for the next BPW event.
His phone vibrates in his pocket, he removes it to check the notification.
8 NEWS NOW LAS VEGAS
Cult leader’s mass suicide attempt thwarted
Michael presses on the notification alert and the 8 News mobile app opens. A live stream starts.
April O’Toole, 8 New’s on the scene reporter stands outside an old, dingey looking house in South West Vegas, within The Bastard Lands.
“Good evening, I am stood outside this run-down house in the south-west region of Las Vegas, an area that as of recently, has been under the rule of The B*****d Warlord, Corey Bull. Police were called to this property just shy of 18:45 after an apparent mass suicide attempt was prevented by a man fitting the same description as that of the individual who thwarted an attempted burglary of the National History Museum by (alleged) extraterrestrial beings”.
A male cult member, roughly in his early twenties, dressed in a white robe with ‘CB’ marked on his forward steps into the camera shot.
“Now I am joined by Peter McFadden, a young member of this cult who witnessed the events of tonight”.
She turns to Peter ready to ask him a question.
“Hello, Peter, can you please tell me what occurred here tonight?”
Peter still looks a little green around the gills following the life-altering moment he experienced earlier in the evening. After a moment he shakes out the apparent cobwebs in his head and regains focus; he answers April’s question.
“Uh… sorry April… it’s been a funny kind of night. I’m just a bit lost for words. My… our leader, he tried… tried to kill us all”.
April has a concerned look on her face as she continues to hold her microphone up towards Peter as she waits patiently for him to answer her question.
“Franklin, our leader... our protector... our guiding light… he tried to kill us all”.
April brings the microphone back to her mouth to ask another question.
“Can you please elaborate your statement, Peter?” she asks.
She returns the microphone towards Peter.
“We were meeting up tonight to worship the excellence that is The Bastard…”
April quickly pulls back the microphone.
“We apologise for the use of that curse word… Peter, we are live on the air, please refrain from addressing Corey Bull with that name”.
She returns the microphone towards Peter with a stern look on her face.
“I’m sorry April… I’m just in a state of shock. As I was saying, we met up tonight to worship The Ba… I mean Corey Bull. Franklin read the opening statement as he always does. We all sang together whilst holding hands, we sang ‘Cry Little Sister’ in unison as we always do. But then Franklin, he insisted on us all drinking out of these red cups”.
April asks another question.
“What was it he asked you to drink, Peter?”
She returns the microphone once more.
“He said it was a special punch that he’d prepared earlier that day. He told us that in order to show our love to The Warlord, we had to drink this punch. But then something else happened…”
Peter looks anxious, he looks down to the floor.
“Please continue,” April asks.
“A member of the group spoke up against Franklin. I didn’t recognise the voice, it wasn’t one of our regular members. We’ve had a few new members join recently following The Warlords continued success in the ring. We get one or two newbies a week, some stay, some don’t, I presumed it was just a new member. But he questioned Franklin, he questioned his intentions… and worse, The Warlords intentions. Why we had the cult, why we needed to drink the punch. He was very interested in The Warlord as if he was scouting him, y’ know, trying to learn about his excellency. Franklin was offended and quickly became flustered, he didn’t like the new members' defiance”.
Peter mops his sweaty brow with the sleeve of his robe, the letters on his forehead smudge.
“Franklin began raising his voice, then suddenly the new member removed his robe… HE HAD ONE EYE!!”
April’s eyes open wide with excitement, surely this was the same man that thwarted the Museum burglary.
Peter continues…
“Under his robes, he was dressed in a military-style outfit, and then he pulled out a gun and demanded we drop the drinks! It was terrifying, we quickly complied, dropping the drinks and scarpered to the edges of the room, all of us except Franklin. The man insisted that Franklin keep hold of his drink, threatening him with his gun. He demanded that Franklin drink the punch. It was a weird request at the time, Franklin was scared and didn’t want to, but the man pressed the gun against his forehead and insisted. He told Franklin that his scam was up, no more deaths, The Warlord’s sacrifices would end now. That statement startled us, and then it happened…”
“What happened?” asks April.
Peter struggles to find his words.
“Franklin… took a sip of the drink. At first, nothing happened, but then he started convulsing, white foam started leaking out of his mouth… he quickly collapsed to the floor and continued to convulse. Then he made a gurgling noise as he grasped for his throat. He struggled a bit more, then he finally stopped… he… he died”.
“What happened to the man?” asks April keenly.
“He told us that he had spared our lives tonight, that Franklin had intended to murder us all, all in the name of The Warlord. I cannot believe I’ve been so stupid… this man, he really did save my life tonight, I don’t know how I could possibly repay him”.
April redirects the microphone towards herself one final time.
“Well there you heard it, folks, in this dingey house, a mass suicide was attempted, likely orchestrated by The Warlord, Corey Bull. But when it looked like the fate of the twenty-something individuals in this house were condemned to death by a mindless dictator, in swooped a hero, a one-eyed hero who continues to help save the Las Vegas public from the many horrors encountered…”
Michael grows bored with the news feed and closes it, locking his phone and returning it to his pocket. He turns and is startled to find L.A. Blackwater sat next to him on the bench, smoking a cigarette as he enjoyed listening in to April’s news report on Micheal’s phone.
He stands and drops his cigarette, stomping it out with his boot before finally looking down at Michael with his only eye and smiling.
“Those cults, they can be an awfully messy business”.
He nods at Michael and heads inside The Luxor Hotel and Casino in preparation for his matchup with The Bastard Warlord, Corey Bull.
