𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 & 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚑𝚎𝚖: 𝙰𝚌𝚝 𝙸

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

A local news helicopter circles low for the aerial shot of a multi-level parking garage in downtown Los Angeles, its focus centered on a figure in a green hooded cloak standing on the roof. Surrounding the figure are an estimated four or five dozen persons, on their knees, reverently faced in the figure’s direction. Sprawled on the chaotic street below: the contorted bodies of the men and women who, just minutes prior, leapt to their deaths from the same roof, seemingly of their own accord.

As police attempt to cordon off the area, redirect traffic and manage the growing crowd of onlookers, a random selection of those kneeled on the roof rise to their feet and slowly approach the ledge...

Eye witnesses are now reporting that at around 8:30am, less than half an hour ago, the suspect began drawing attention on the street a few blocks down from the garage. Described to be ‘costumed’ and wearing some sort of blue body paint under a dark green metallic armor, he was seen simply walking down the street, somehow gathering a throng of followers who were witnessed to deviate suddenly from what they were doing -- many abandoning their vehicles in the middle of traffic -- to join his procession towards what we’re currently seeing live. Police have also now revealed that the suspect may be armed with some type of oversized sledgehammer, although whether it’s meant to be used as a weapon has yet to be seen.

On the roof, another group of the kneeled gathering begin to rise. This time, the broadcast cuts immediately away from the aerial footage, preempting what would soon follow.

Over the next ten minutes, the scene plays out recursively, almost methodically -- if it weren’t for the prime suspect’s increasingly animated behavior. While initially he’d displayed a forebodingly statuesque composure, by the fourth round of victims, he’d begun pacing, as if impatient or ...excited. Only ten of his captives remain, and they too begin to show visible signs of confusion rather than reverent obedience. One then seems to panic, jumping to his feet and making a dash towards the edge of the roof, where he screams with his hands clawing at the sides of his head. Behind him, the suspect raises his hammer, pointing it towards the panic-stricken man who immediately quietens to repeat the solemn vow --

-- before throwing himself off the ledge.

We’ve just confirmed that police are now considering this a hostage situation, and-- And we’re now getting word that there may already be a sniper in position--

Shots are suddenly heard fired over the already tense scene. Some news broadcasts switch focus from the roof to the street below, where onlookers and law enforcement alike scramble for cover while police radios buzz with the frantic warning:

The next shots that whip into the street shatter the windshields of barricading police vehicles, in almost the same instant that another body plunges from the roof, where the prime suspect might be witnessed peering from the ledge, his new behavior seeming more curious than coordinated.

The two costumed figures in the street enter the garage only once the gunfire ceases. By then, news crews on the ground have been pushed back an entire city block, telecopters forced to clear the airspace for military use only.

The final aerial shot captured: A demolished street littered with the casualties of a war that few even knew was underway; the terrifying glimpse of the remaining civilians on the roof as they fell like sandbags towards the sidewalk.