A Real Headline

A missed opportunity. Agnes could not believe she was on the other side of the Exposition when the robbery occurred. It was bad enough that the woman could not seem to catch up with Elizabeth Ellington, that woman and her father was hiding something, they had to be. It was one thing for a twenty-year-old Eldren to have a clean record with no real blemishes to speak of. It was another thing, altogether, for it to be the same for a ninety-year-old Eldren. Yet, Duke Ellington had nothing, no black marks whatsoever that Agnes could find.

Then the fact that Lady Ellington seemed to have had a gnome for tea. Two to be precise. Talk of the crash had made it back to the reporter. Agnes would have loved to have witnessed that. Agnes had her “spies” and one or maybe two of them lived on the same street as the Ellington residence. They had reported about the gnomes. And various people going into the Ellington home but not leaving. She knew Lady Elizabeth had her chaperone Mr. Sung Shi but still, the whole thing seemed suspicious.

How Agnes just wanted to find out what was really going on. She knew if that story could be cracked, it would shoot her career to more exciting opportunities. That would have to wait, for this morning she had another assignment to tend to. A British company along with some notable names would be demonstrating a steam-powered sawmill. It was not hard-hitting journalism but it paid the bills.

Agnes arrived at the demonstration, a little early, met her photographer, Oliver, and set up at the press area. Being a woman meant all the men allowed her to be upfront, and useful when trying to ask questions. At first, it was mostly people setting up for the demonstration. Nothing noteworthy.

Then Mr. Lavigne showed up, now that was a name the reporter knew well. He was of little interest to her because everyone knew the man was not exactly squeaky clean. However, he clearly was involved in this demonstration. Off to the side stood Mr. Lavigne’s daughter. Miss Lily Lavigne with her - likely a chaperone of sorts.

The demonstration continued some of the reporters, including Agnes got in a few good questions. That is when the reporter noticed a dapper-looking gentleman standing in the crowd, he looked familiar though the reporter could not place the man and chalked it up possibly a person of upper-class society, which she covered a lot. However, the woman? The person standing next to the man was intriguing. A mask? Why would anyone wear a mask in public? Must be hiding something? Not that was great investigative work but it was certainly the logical conclusion.

It was during that brief moment of looking away that everything seemed to happen at once. A mage took aim and caused an explosion which caused a panic. Her photographer was shooting away as Agnes heard Lily Lavigne call out for her father. This was much better than any robbery, Agnes thought as she scrambled to take notes not bothering to move.

Which was a mistake. Things happened quickly and before she knew it a giant red beast came from out of nowhere, it seemed. In the rush of people attempting to get out of the way of whatever that monstrosity was, Several of them ran right into Agnes and Oliver. Knocking over both of them and the camera.

Agnes could not take the time to piece together what had happened. She grabbed Oliver and the two of them ran out of the demonstration area, off to the side, barely avoiding getting trampled on.

When the beast had gone down the street, and the commotion had stopped what was left was nothing short of carnage. Though the beast had caused some of it, the mage had also his fair share, and then people had trampled each other. Making it back to where they had left the camera, only to find it destroyed, all photographic evidence of what had occurred gone. It seemed that other photographers had the same fate. Except for the two whose bodies now lay mangled on the group, along with a reporter from an Italian newspaper.

After answering questions from the authorities about what she had seen, Anges made it back to her hotel room. The question of where the red beast had come from was playing over and over in her mind. The man, the dapper one with the strange masked face companion, he was there one moment and then just gone the next. Where had she seen that man before? The questions plagued her, but she did not have time to ponder that right now. A deadline awaited. The woman would have to be dead before missing a deadline. So, despite still being shaken by what had occurred, she went to work. This was definitely the best story of her career, so far.