Despite the best efforts of the Executive and his team, a large body of moop is slowly devouring the core. One reactor, and a large chunk of the distribution network on the lakebed, have already been destroyed.
To make matters worse, the Chief Engineer of the Core, Natalya Tamzen-Volkov, has been reported missing.
Rolling blackouts have taken effect across Capital City, with all but critical systems seeing more than a third of the day without power. At the Executive's request, a link with the SolarMax network is being constructed, but this will take weeks to complete.
All of the news media, every blog, website, and forum, are buzzing with the same thing: a speech given by Avalon in which she details the corruption at the heart of SPEAR and Gamasot. During the broadcast, every screen in the world was hacked to display the speech.
The speech can be found here.
The speech ends with a battle between Alpha - who apparently blames Avalon for the arrest of her son, Beta, several months ago - and Avalon. Which Avalon appeared to be losing at the point where the cameras cut out.
SPEAR HQ, Olympus, has been reduced to rubble following an attack by Scream Shifter. SPEAR have confirmed that all personnel were evacuated with minimal casualties, and that Scream Shifter was taken into custody by the Furies. She was later killed in self defence when she attacked the agent interviewing her.
SPEAR have extended special thanks to Lassitude for her intervention during the battle, without which the injuries sustained would have been much more severe.
Truth Station, the SolarMax station in Kenya, has gone offline due to an alignment issue, causing blackouts across Europe and Africa. The SolarMax project wishes to assure residents of affected areas that every possible measure is being taken to restore power as quickly as possible, and that meanwhile energy is being redirected from the other two stations.
The news has been awash with an entire deluge of misbehaviour from the Peter O'Neil camp, with a large fraction of the flood aimed in the direction of O'Neil's Chief of Communications, Viceroy. Claims of threats, bribes, backroom deals and sham trade deals all parade through the news reports.
Needless to say, Viceroy has been fired from Chancellor O'Neil's staff, and the Chancellor himself has made a large number of public appearances to defend his name.
”Lassitude, please come home. We know you want to join Temple, but we just can't stand to see you being led so astray. It's like that time a couple of years back, when you got lost and we had to hire the Lookout to rescue you. Or the time a year before that, when you broke CEDRIC, and we had to call SPEAR on you. Except this time it's really serious, and we're willing to do everything in our power to get you home safely.” - your adoring parents.
A few weeks ago a series of fires broke out in a Gamasot hospital here in Capital City causing extensive damage to one of its wings. Witnesses were mainly too panicked at the time to work out the definite cause, but there are a few reports of a man calling himself the Shadow causing heavy damage to the building in his fight with the Fireman, a super who it seems was only defending himself against the onslaught. Rumour has it there was a super doctor involved as well, but this has yet to be verified.
Patients are assured that the quality of care will be kept top-notch despite the ongoing building works.
In a climactic battle atop Stargaze Plaza, the killer Prosopon was taken into custody, apparently stopped just moments before completing some dark ritual. The towers were wreathed in blue fire as midnight approached, due to the massive concentrations of magic, but this soon dissipated and appears to have had no long-lasting effect.
The electronics company ComputerBox saw a a series of robberies across their stores last week. While there was no obvious link between the equipment taken, a series of business cards labelled 'Manager ( Acquisition of Goods and Products), Jeeves Enterprises' with contact details for “ELLIE”. Police investigations are under way.
The story has lead to several questioning where we should stand on crimes committed by Artificial Intelligence, with some calling for their rights to be removed. Current law dictates that those who have been granted human rights are responsible for their own crimes, but many claim that it is the responsibility of the original programmers to ensure that they remain lawful citizens. So far neither JeevesCorp nor the Committee have made comment.
The Capital City Central Public Library has been destroyed by none other than General Chaos. The supervillain, who is on the most wanted list for a number of crimes, escaped the scene unharmed. The same can not be said for many of those who were working peacefully when the General invaded.
It is unknown why the General chose the library to attack, although it is thought that it may have something to do with Mr Gabriel Horatio Faulkner, who witnesses at the scene report as having been working on something intently for several days. Mr Faulkner is known to be the lawyer who sent General Chaos to Tartarus.
Main street remains closed today as police are sorting through the wreckage of a battle between some “metahumans” and the police. The known criminal was safely detained, while a number of unknown individuals managed to escape. A number of other civilians were involved in the fight, including Jazaro who assisted the police in the capture of “Stampede”.
The clean up effort has been underway all weekend, but the extensive damage caused by the fight will likely mean that the section of the street remains closed for a number of weeks. Traffic in the down-town area has been brought to almost a standstill as a result.
Three retired Gamasot scientists have been discovered missing, presumed dead - Alicia Sastre, Ghassan Saab, and Gary Thomson. Sastre's house was found in flames, and her body unrecoverable, while the other two disappeared walking near Lake Geneva, with signs of a struggle on a clifftop path. No immediate links are apparent, although feathers of a variety of birds were found at both locations.
With the new Metahuman Licencing Act, people are being encouraged to think responsibly about their crime-fighting ways. An emphasis has been placed on bringing people to justice - making sure that would-be criminals are not let off too lightly, nor punished too harshly for their actions.
Reports are also linking this with the recent Tartarus escape, again emphasising the importance of fairness in justice. The focus in this instance is on subduing and capturing criminals, rather than to escalate violence.