Phase two of this plot is hitting now! The sequence of events will be as follows:

1) On Saturday the 15th, around 2PM, the virus Legion infected Orion Pax with during their brief encounter will go live, infecting both Orion and the Fake Dynamo with a replicating program that will cause any capable system it touches to start broadcasting its location to the Alpha Tower. This means that they will have access to the exact coordinates of the 3 prisons, though they are still not openly visible on the surface. If they go to investigate immediately, they will discover signs of a structure approximate 3 meters beneath the sand in the desert location, 10 meters under the tar pit location, and form reasonable assumptions about the downtown one being inside of a normal looking office building (that is surprisingly difficult to get into.)

2) Around 6PM, smack dab in the middle of supper rush, the AI known as Fake Dynamo will realize that its security has been compromised, freak out, and basically go nuclear. It will go into its phase two, which appears to be open war against the "Inhuman Threat."

3) Subsequently, three towers will appear at the prison locations (large, albeit smaller than pictured.) The ones in the desert and tar pit locations will spring out of the ground like daisies, whereas the one in downtown LA will appear to shed an "outer skin" that looks like a normal office building to reveal the alien architecture within. Yikes.

4) The towers all well defended, both with hard to damage and penetrate exteriors and defenses with the same sorts of energy attacks boasted by the cyborg soldiers. Also, unsurprisingly, more cyborgs are going to flood the streets, this time averaging towards the bigger and stronger - choice members of the flock perhaps.

5) The most dangerous of which are several superhumans that have been fully converted - namely the captured members of Nightforce (including the real Dr Dynamo). They are basically mindless cyborgs with super powers and robot parts who obey the AI's whim. Nightforce members will be mod NPCs who will appear in rescue logs. If you want to be responsible for the death of one of them, you can call dibs. There are four.

From any point past stage one, captives are able to be rescued or escape. How long it takes to infiltrate the towers depends on player actions but it will probably take at least several hours to deal with things, if not more, and longer to actually clear out the interiors. HOPE YOU LIKE DUNGEON CRAWLS, because all the towers go at least another full length beneath the ground, with extensive mining systems down beneath.

Fake Dynamo is an AI built into the three different towers, as described in the Scary Jail posts. Though in three different bodies, they are all the same mind, and run all three areas simultaneously. They have a lot of processing power, but given the fact that they are controlling all of their soldiers and all three buildings, it is possible to overload them with distractions.

STUFF YOU CAN DO:
1) Fight monsters yaaay.
2) Help breech the exterior walls of the towers. How you do this is up to you, but getting a ton of people in there should be relatively difficult. The exact defenses and potential methods of entry are flexible, so you can basically make up whatever plans you want and run with it. If you're unsure, as a mod.
3) Rescue living captives, which are mostly some animals, minor superhumans, and even some vanilla humans. Also all those player characters.
4) Try to get in an shut down the Fake Dynamo AI - this will have to be done in all three locations to truly get rid of them.
5) Capture the Ai...or destroy it! What happens here is up to you. The potential risks to trying to hold something like this are obvious, but if it can be restricted and questioned there is valuable information that can be gained from it, both relating to this plot and beyond!

As usual, if you have any questions, let us know!

[PS. If you noticed any eerie similarities to SCP-962 from The Foundation, you were correct! This plot has been an AU version of that entity, tweaked and fleshed out to better fit this setting. Just in case you forgot that these fuckers were still around.]

City hall has issued a Level 4 Outbreak warning after dozens of reported sighting of "mutant cyborgs" around the Los Angeles area. With descriptions ranging everywhere from "bipedal dogs" to "humanoid machines", CONDOR has suggested it may be the work of a Rank A super villian, or even a new alien invasion. Citizens are advised to stay in doors and well protected, and to move in groups where necessary. CONDOR agents have been assigned to locations across the city for the purposes of public safety, and all registered super heroes are being asked to aid them in the protection of the civilian population.

Despite many sightings made by the public, only two injuries have been reported. Correlations to recent missing persons cases are still being investigated.

---

Is this the nefarious work of Fake Dr Dynamo...? The answer is definitely yes.

As many of you have already guessed, the disappearance of the vigilante team Nightforce has coincided with a rise of dangerous activity in Los Angeles, presumably at the hands of that weird asshole shitposting on #The Watch. If characters investigate, they will discover many cases of missing pets and other animals over the last few months, as well as some suspicious missing persons.

Worse yet, there are now some really freaky creatures roaming the street at night. The most common forms appear to be animals that have been mutilated with cyborg parts that force them to look more human - usually in the form of walking in a bipedal gate, with augmented "hands" and "feet", as well as cosmetic adjustments such as the removal of snouts, ears, and tails. While the bodies look heavily damaged, they are shockingly fast and strong, and many have robotic parts built into them that make them very good at what they're built for. What are they built for, you ask? Capturing inhuman creatures, including humanoids with powers.

Along with them seem to be sharp looking robotic creatures of various sizes, that are just human enough looking to make the fact that they aren't more unsettling. Some of them have scary human masks. Some of them look like half mannequins. Use your imagination. Almost all of these have dangerous energy weapons built for attacking and restraining. The average creature will be around a C Rank in power, though some of the larger ones could be considered either B or A Rank at their best.

These creatures will occasionally attempt to capture regular humans, but they will not hurt them if they can avoid it. (Though they might by accident because not all of them are super smart.) Non-humans, however, or humans with superhuman powers, they will attack, capture, and even kill without much care for their well being. If they kill someone or manage to restrain them, they will run off with the body.

There are three hot spots:
1) Several square blocks in downtown Los Angeles.
2) A particular area in the Mojave Desert.
3) The La Brea Tar Pits. (Wikipedia.)

There are lots of things you can do to start off with: the only thing that is off the table for now is actually rescuing anybody because the source has not been unveiled yet. Beyond that, you can:

1) FIGHT CYBORGS
- These guys are definitely around. You can FIGHT them. With your FISTS. Or OTHERWISE.
- They are pretty tough.
- Interrogating them won't do anything because they don't talk.
- However, you can definitely capture one or take a dead body for research if you want. (Ask a mod if you do this.)

2) INVESTIGATE
- Investigating can be done by simply asking mods questions or by arranging an interview scene with some NPCs (as played by mods via IM).
- You can cut up the bodies! We know how much you scientists like doing that.
- Ask witnesses things.
- Research missing persons.
- Etc. Just let us know what you're looking for. Be specific.

3) GET KIDNAPPED
- You can get kidnapped by these monsters, but this will mean something really terrible either will, or will be at risk of, happening to your character.
- There is potential body horror available, though we're going to want to keep this limited to a few people for tone reasons.
- Body horrors involve the things you would expect, like cyborg parts and removing "inhuman" qualities.
- Robots may get brainwashed, also, if they run off of any sort of code.
- If you do this there will be SECRET STUFF, so just let us know in this post if you're looking at getting kidnapped.
- It will probably put you out of play for a a few IC days.

4) ESCAPE
- UNLESS YOU ESCAPE but you're not really allowed to escape until the beginning of the next phase of the plot because reasons.
- Obviously you have to do number 3 before you can do this one.

5) GET AMNESIA I GUESS
- This one is kind of weird, but if you think it would be fun for your character to forget everything that's happened to them since just before Dr Dynamo's post, let us know.
- No long term consequences.
- But having a couple amnesia dust volunteers could be fun, for reasons.
- Only do this if your character has actually seen things related to this plot.

6) OTHER...?
- Seriously guys, get creative. If you aren't sure, just ask Harry or Quix.

You may remember that mysterious crystalline substance that was found at the bottom of the sinkholes and has been mentioned in the news a few times since. Your character might have been one of the people who took a fragment for research purposes, or maybe just as a souvenir.

Throughout the current in-game day (February 20th), all of the purloined crystals will hatch. Or, well, sort of hatch – it’s more as if the crystal itself unfolds and rearranges itself into something new, and – inexplicably, something larger. The creatures that emerge from the crystals will be made of the same clear, hard, colourless substance as the crystals themselves. Their forms vary but are affected by the emotions of the people who have taken the crystals.

Creatures that have emerged from crystals exposed to love and happiness will be fluttery, flying creatures – they may vaguely resemble butterflies or birds or something in between. They are friendly and easily tamed.

Creatures that have emerged from crystals exposed to anger and frustration will be aggressive and scuttly, and may have sharp claws or stinging tails, or both. They will actively seek to attack people and destroy things around them, but they behave enough like animals that they can be distracted or will give up pursuit if their target gets away from them.

Creatures that have emerged from crystals exposed to sadness and depression will be armoured and fearful animals that may resemble tortoises, beetles or hedgehogs. They will avoid people.

Creatures that have emerged from crystals that have not been exposed to a lot of any specific strong emotion will be vaguely reptilian and behave like ordinary animals, albeit rather curious ones – they can be sort of tamed and will not attack anyone or tear your house apart if you try to keep them in there, but they will not listen to you very much and will probably rifle through your stuff.

The forms of the individual creatures will vary and you can decide whatever you like about the specific details of the creature/s that emerge from your character’s crystal. Depending on the emotions of the people around their pre-hatched crystal, they could combine traits from more than one of the described types. Typically they will be at least the size of a loaf of bread, but creatures exposed to particularly strong emotions may be larger, and they will get bigger in time.

They are unaffected by intense heat and energy weapons, but can be shattered by blunt force if enough of it is applied. Once shattered, the pieces will remain motionless and will not re-hatch.

If you tame one, you are absolutely welcome to keep it as a pet (although you may need to conceal that from CONDOR).

An enormous sinkhole has reportedly formed in the center of the UCLA Campus, swallowing enormous portions of the Fowler Museum and its patrons! Hundreds of artifacts and dozens of people have already been reported missing, and these numbers are only expected to grow as the dust settles. The hollowed out exterior of the museum threatens to topple into the hole's depths, and the injured are still being removed from the area.

Authorities are baffled by this phenomenon, stating that it should be geologically impossible. Citizens in the surrounding area are advised to keep their distance while the LAPD and registered heroes prepare to launch a search and rescue for survivors!

Similarities to the Mojave sinkhole are still being examined.

---

And with that, Capital H is open!

The mods will make a log for the area surrounding the Fowler Museum, but everyone is free to make as many other related network and log threads as they like! Here are some helpful links about the real place this is happening:

THE FOWLER MUSEUM WEBSITE: For real life examples of its appearance and activities - everything is the same, except for the Land Apart exhibit, which was entirely consumed by the sinkhole.
GOOGLE MAPS: The location of the UCLA Campus in LA. We highly recommend using street view if you want to see what the surrounding area looks like!
A REAL SINKHOLE: While this is not the Guatemala Sinkhole, it is about the same size. That's right, you could fit two Statues of Liberty in that sucker.

THINGS YOU CAN DO:

Search for survivors in the rubble.

Help get the injured to safety.

VENTURE INTO THE EXACT SORT OF SINKHOLE THAT EFFORTLESSLY DEVOURED THREE MEMBERS OF THE ALPHA FORCE...?

If you do venture into the hole (and who are we kidding, we know some of you will) you will find that it terminates about 100m down. The earth there is very soft and malleable, like sand. If you search, you will be able to find six survivors in or on the sand, as well as a number of lost artifacts. You will also find a number of small, white crystals, about the size of a walnut. Characters who go into the hole are free to take as many as they find (realistically to a limit of a few dozen over all.) Let me know below if you are snatching some.

And that's it! You can NPC for any the police and survivors involved that you want - the mods will not be doing so. You have full liberty to make up whatever NPC drama you want. You can have your character know someone who might be lost, know some of the police officers, or have any other relations to this event that is reasonable.

If you are not sure what is reasonable, or if you have any questions about evidence, feel free to ask below!

Also, YOU ARE COMPLETELY FREE TO IGNORE THIS! If you have other stuff you would rather do, or if your character has no reason to get involved, then you are totally allowed to just comment from afar and move straight on to whatever other plot you'd rather deal with! This is a sandbox first and foremost, and the mod plot is not meant to overwhelm everything else. It's just something we can use to toss you guys some mystery once in a while. ;)

If you have any questions, please ask below! Also, let me know if and how many crystals you take if you find them, or who you give them to if you pass them off to someone else.