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Experts claim link to Alpha Force disaster
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Heather Hernandez
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Search and rescue efforts continue at the site of the massive sinkhole that opened under the UCLA campus on Tuesday. The hole reportedly measures over 300 feet deep, making it nearly twice the size of the mysterious desert sinkhole where Alpha Force heroes Fissure, Druid and Zoom were last heard from in November. 12 people have been confirmed dead in the catastrophe, with 47 more injured and others still unaccounted for.

It is currently not known whether any of the individuals reported missing since the disaster have vanished without a trace in the same way as the missing Alpha Force members, but with investigators reporting fragments of a crystalline substance allegedly similar to the unidentified mineral that was found in the November sinkhole, and experts claiming this sinkhole to be every bit as unexplained as its predecessor, the possibility can’t be ruled out. “Even if nobody has vanished mysteriously this time, there is a clear link between these two events,” said Dr Irene Dilibe. “We need to uncover the cause behind these anomalous catastrophes as soon as possible so that we can act to prevent any future tragedies like this one.”

None of the heroes and emergency service members who ventured into the UCLA hole’s depths to help civilians have been reported missing, but CONDOR hero registration bureau spokeperson Alisha Daly stated in a press conference on Friday that although those there’s no way of knowing whether every hero is accounted for. “These kinds of catastrophes are one of the many reasons registration is the best option for any aspiring hero – we have no means of confirming the safety of any of the rogue vigilantes who volunteered their help at the UCLA sinkhole, and thus no way to help them if something has gone wrong.” Agent Daly declined to respond to detractors who pointed out that so far no way to help the Alpha Force heroes who disappeared last year has been found.

Many victims were patrons of the Fowler Museum’s Lands Apart exhibit, which debuted on the day the sinkhole opened and showcased artifacts that some claimed pointed to evidence of extraterrestrial interference in human prehistory and antiquity. Archaeologist Melissa Ortega, the curator of the project, is among those who have yet to be retrieved from the sinkhole.

( READ THE REST OF THE SUNDAY EDITION! )

Those of you who read the newspaper will be aware that a Celebrity Singles Auction is being held for Valentine's Day.

We don't have to account for every single celebrity who's up for auction but we are hoping to be able to see a few dates threaded out! SO,comment here if you have a character who would submit themselves to this stuff, OR you want to make up a public figure to NPC as for the purposes of the auction! Feel free to use this to discuss stuff too.

The auction itself will be taking place this IRL weekend, and the actual dates will occur around Valentine's Day in-game (so a couple of weeks from now IRL). For the auction we will also be allowing and encouraging people to NPC auction winners to thread out dates with other people's characters, but of course player characters can also bid for other player characters. Not all the dates have to take place on the same day, so characters who are up for auction can bid for other ones if they want.

Heroes submitting themselves as celebrities will be allowed to do so without revealing their secret identity, and can attend the actual date in costume. Unregistered heroes are welcome to participate as well as registered ones – CONDOR tends to discreetly look the other way in circumstances like this for the sake of their own public image.

If you end up wanting to app your NPC celebrity or bidder, you can of course do so – but these NPCs should be OCs rather than existing canon characters, although we may make exceptions for characters who are tied to ones you already play, if they are sufficiently obscure.