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Just starting this as a sort of an intellectual exercise, but what if anything would the people and heroes (aka the Also People) of Freedom do about the ruined state of Kingston? This came up in chat, and I agree with the sentiment that something as dramatic as a Terminus invasion shpuld have a lasting impact on the city and the world, but could some use be made out of at least some of the land? Like a memorial park, a government lab to study the Doomforge and all things Terminus, or a heroic HQ. Just tossing this out there!

Stark Hill July 12, 2018 The world was on fire. But it took a long time for the ashes to reach some places. While the sky bled crimson and the towers of the capes burned off on the East Coast, Bedlam was in a state of gridlock. There was doomsaying, but only at a somewhat greater pitch at any other day. The Mayor had already talked about getting the National Guard ready to deploy, but word was the Governor was holding off until there was tangible evidence that the threat had gotten beyond Lake Erie - and even then, odds were he would be much more interested in anywhere that wasn't Bedlam. The Special Assault Squad was in the streets in force, but they seemed to be taking their exercise dealing with desperate and fervid individuals hoping to take advantage of an all-you-can-grab, end-of-the-world sale. And so, the morning of July 12 dawned in Stark Hill as it had any other day. With the blood being hosed into the gutters, with the rise of an oppressive heat fed by the winds off of Lake Michigan, with Obedieh Brick on the 12th hour of "BREAKING NEWS," screaming about the need to grab the biggest gun one could and use it as the ultimate deterrent against the death gods from outer space. The haze and the fury was growing, but it was the same haze and fury as might be expected as Bedlam approached the dog days of summer. That is, until the brownstone on 3rd Street was cut in half. Those who were nearby would say it started as a "flash of black light," a half-second glimmer of palpable darkness. Curiosity turned to panic as the sound of crumbling brick and creaking steel filled the air, as gravity took hold on the building and rent it like a hunk of bread, causing it to list and tilt towards the buildings at either side. And from within, there was still that glimpse of brilliant darkness...

The DuTemps Building July 10th, 2018 10:59 AM Before the sky bled, Temperance was taken in by the city below. Things were tranquil, and she wasn't quite sure where they'd go next. She and Sharl were still happy in their relationship. They weren't necessarily making any moves towards any particular destinations, but they were okay with standing in the middle ground. She had just graduated from college, and while she was putting herself out on the job market, she was still experiencing that difficulty of having a good - but not incredible - GPA and some internship experience. Maybe I'll put my "night work" on the resume and see how many heads explode. There was peace. There was quiet. There was a city below, remembering what was lost and celebrating the victory that had been gained through great sacrifice. She stood on the lip of a castle in the sky, wondering how her life had gotten to this point, and where it might go next. Then the screaming began. In a hundred different voices, from boiling asphalt to sparking power lines. Her phone went off in her hand. A message from her father. THE CITY IS GOING MAD. RUN. Before she could even more, a great red rent was torn in the sky, and a swarm of steel locusts descended. She ran to the lip of the building, struck dumb for half a second, before she got a good look... No. Oh, gods, no. She ran back into the building, reaching for her phone to send out a mass blast to the group. UNDER ATTACK. TERMINUS.

The Parkhurst July 12, 2018 The Parkhurst had been a hotel, at one point. Between being a family home and being a haunted wreck, and long before it was a dwelling place for some of Freedom's occult community. It made perfect sense that it would serve as a gathering place for travelers tonight. Outside, in the distance, Nick Cimitiere watched the great fires lick up from Liberty Park. He had done what he could, where he could. But after the first day, he knew there was a chance this would not end as anyone hoped. He remembered the stories of the first Invasion, remembered being dragged out of school as grim angels with steel wings flew through the air and the scent of oblivion spread through the city. Now, death walked through the city again, hungry and rabid, with a taste for destruction that would make Ammut herself cringe. If there was a time for a miracle - or an infernal bargain - it would be tonight. And he could only hope for the former, but prepare for the latter. Nick stubbed out his cigarette and returned to the manor, ready to make preparations for his guests. Corporeal and otherwise.

Sloane Manor North Bay, Freedom City New Jersey Thursday, July 12th, 2018 4:02 PM Erick Sloane's beachfront villa in North Bay was far from untouched. The prior day's assault on Kingston left much of the surrounding upper-class neighborhoods in a state of disarray. And North Bay was no exception. Especially after an entirely new force from the Terminus emerged to fight against both the Resistance Force and the invading force. Ironically, it seemed as if for the first time in the history of Freedom City someone could make the claim that the Fens was the safest neighborhood to live in. Of course, most residents didn't have a sprawling underground headquarters in their villas. A team of heroes had been risking their lives gathering and spreading information and equipment covertly to the Resistance in the city. The latest transmission pinpointed where one of the power sources for the device generating portals into the city was. Unfortunately, said generator was currently guarded by what had to be one of the largest armies of the Terminus sighted thus far. To make matters worse it was positioned deep inside the Raymond Nuclear Power Plant. Which had seen extensive renovations by Daedalus of the Freedom League to convert the plant into a virtual fortress. In short, any attempts to destroy the generator would be a suicide mission. Foreshadow sent a recruitment transmission through his headquarter's computer with the hope that anyone nearby would answer the call. When Sea Devil, Singularity, and Cobalt Templar arrived they found piles of Omegadrone armors strewn throughout the sprawling manor. The inside of the home appearing as if an explosive had been set off with the stench of entropic energies wafting through the air. Having to step over the burnt and battered Omegadrones they would find an open bookshelf that at one point covered the staircase that led down into Foreshadow's Forebode. The computer's holographic display had a Power Pike sticking through it slightly covering the top leftmost point on the 3d layout of the Raymond Nuclear Plant. A hooded man stood in the center of the room his back turned to the staircase, a dark blue cape flowing in tatters.

Dakana Parliament N'Gome ya Watu, Dakana 09:00 EAT (0:00 EDT) Thursday 12th July 2018 It was rare that all of the Clan representatives, both major and minor were all gathered in the main room of the parliament. Much more rare was that no one was arguing or trying to outdo the others, instead, they spoke in nervous hush tones. And whilst their nation had yet to be involved none of them, even the most isolationist of them, would dare suggest they do nothing, for an invasion from the Terminus was a threat to the entire world. After a few moments one of the nations chief scientists, despite her young age, K'Sema moved to the center of the gathered representatives and with a swipe bought up a giant hologram of the globe. As King M'Balla raised a hand to silence everyone else she began to speak. "As expected were have detected a vast amount of Terminus energies around Freedom City, but that's not the only place we discovered them. We've passed the information onto the Freedom League but we have a problem closer to home." With a sweep of her hand, the map focused on Dakana itself, with one region in the south-west being illuminates, the Singing Hills. Due to a fluke of geology, the Daka crystals found below the hills had formed in perfectly linked crystal strata. This allowed to natural collect and store energy in their structure which caused them to give out a low-level hum that was disconcerting to both humans and animals alike. It also tended to build up and release energy at random making it difficult to operate electronics in the area. All this made the area more or less uninhabitable, even mostly ignored by those that kept Dakana's borders secure. "We picked up an anomaly on the regions seismographs back on the 10th but paid it no heed, until we got news from America about the invasion, so we used a technology we'd been developing to use the natural frequencies of the area like a sonar and we've formed an image." The hologram changed to that of some sort of massive structure though apparently much of the image was made up of best guess and still it looked menacing in its structure. "Our best guess is that they're using the crystals to generate powers four there other structure on the planet. We're can't even guess at how it operates but it should be easy to shut it down safely." "Why can't we just bombard the place before they become more of threat? If they send people out to capture the sacred mountain or even the Beast itself?" ask one of the representatives "The feedback from that or any large-scale assault could cause a catastrophic feedback loop in the crystal below destroying them and most of the hill. The environmental damage would be catastrophic with that along, not to mention possible harm from terminus infused materials." having said her piece K'Sema stepped back to allow the parliament to discuss a solution to the problem. For the next hour, the parliament debated how to deal with this discovery, whilst still performing their ancient duty to guard the caged beast, with every one of them getting a chance to speak their piece. Finally, it was decided that the Dakana army would prepare itself to defend the sacred mountain, whilst a small band of heroes would go and hopefully destroy the structure. Naturally, the two defenders of Dakana would go on this dangerous mission as well as some assistance from experts from outside the country that could assist them in their own way.

July 12th, Third Day of the Terminus Invasion 2248 Hours Briefing Room A1, Subbasement Level 1, Claremont Academy In the hours and days following the Invasion, only few safe areas remained for the citizens of Freedom. One of them was Claremont Academy, as it turns out the Summers had planned for the eventual inevitability, the Academy was prepared for an attack. Or at least, that had been the expectation. As it turned out, the systems themselves could not hold off the hordes of bodies being thrown at them, and what heroes had made it to the Academy spent their time in shifts, assisting with the defence to the best of their ability. The Subbasement was, for the time, fully secured, and the dorms were filled up with people receiving first aid and doing their best to recover before heading out into the fight once more. Walking through the hallways, one had to avoid stumbling over weapons, equipment and clothing, hastily thrown away, with nobody having the energy to try and keep things organized. Keeping up the fight was more important. Which was why a small crowd of heroes had been gathered in the briefing room, for a top-priority assignment. The group was being briefed by headmistress of Claremont, Callie Summers herself. It was a simple briefing, no fancy graphics, no extended speeches, just right down to business. “As you may have noticed yourself, the Annihilists have changed their method of attack. They’ve incapacitated multiple people and dragged them off, something that we’ve been trying to keep under wraps as good as possible in order to preserve some degree of morale. “ “Now, I’m not telling you this for nothing. Our scouts have managed to track down the location these people have been brought to, the College. We need to get them out, and with every minute that passes, they are in more danger. As are we. I need you to get in and extract them. We have no idea how many people are being held there, or what exactly is being done to them. “ “This will be dangerous. You will probably see things I wouldn’t want anybody to see. You will face what we can only assume is a massive force of enemies. We won’t be able to keep up any radio contact, you will be on your own. But don’t ever forget this, all of these people rely on you. This is your chance to save potentially dozens of lives, while also dealing a major blow to our enemies. “ “Now, any final questions? The faster we’re done with this, the more people you can save.”

GM Tuesday, July 11th, 2018 The North End, Freedom City 3:44 PM Nothing. Even after several hours straight of observing, theorizing, and experimenting Dr. Eliot Westermen couldn’t figure out the Nexus Problem. He knew he had everything he needed to figure it out. ASTRO Labs was one of the greatest scientific facilities on the planet. They had reliable information on the paraphysics of the Cosmic Coil, access to salvaged Terminus tech and even an intact Omegadrone corpse for study. This should be easy. He should be able to see where everything connected. How this new portal system worked and how it could be deactivated. Westerman put his forehead against his chalkboard board and signed. “But you can’t, West. They’re right. This is beyond you. Beyond any of us.” It took him a minute to really grapple with that. To finally put his pride aside and admit the truth. “Chakwas couldn’t do. Oladeyle couldn’t do it. And you can’t either. They were right, we need outside help. A fresh pair of eyes to look at this nonsense.” Westerman had sworn that it wasn’t necessary. That the heroes needed to be out there helping people instead of slumming it with the eggheads. That if he had just a few more hours he could crack the Nexus Problem and stop the invasion. No one believed him. Senior expert on Terminus Tech and Paraphysics be damned. They put out the call for help about a couple of hours. Any heroes with an advanced knowledge of “exotic” technologies were asked to come to ASTRO Labs and help figure out how to dismantle the portal network that allowed the invaders to send wave after wave of monsters to wreak havoc on Freedom City. Westerman didn’t have to look at his watch to tell that the heroes would be in the “War Room,” as the scientists had started to call their primary laboratory working on the Nexus Problem, in a few minutes. Perks of being a super-genius he guessed, you get a great internal clock. That put a smile on his face. Westerman couldn’t remember the last time he smiled since the invasion began. Moving away from the chalkboard, he took a seat in one of the rolling chairs scattered across the lab and tried to relax. The lab was a mess. On all four sides of it there was notes, files, tech, empty coffee cups and lab gear scattered everywhere. Not to mention one scary looking Omegadrone on a medical table. Westerman didn’t look much better. Lack of sleep does that. The heroes would be here soon and Westerman knew he had to be at his best to get them up to speed on what little he and the others had figured out and answer any questions they may have.