Withmore Globe

April 13, 2111 New Light Media HQ

What should have been a night of celebration ended in bloodshed high above Gold.

A select crowd gathered atop New Light Media Headquarters with Juicy Vee to witness the Incorporation Day fireworks. The atmosphere was electric, the music loud, the drinks flowing, and the skyline alive with spectacle in the unmistakable style that made Juicy Vee a household name across Withmore. By all accounts, the fireworks were everything the city had hoped for.

Then the violence began.

According to witnesses at the scene, several assailants believed to be mixers from Red Sector launched a sudden attack on the corporate security personnel assigned to protect the gathering. In the chaos, one of the attackers managed to catch Juicy Vee off guard and force him over the rooftop edge. He fell to the street below and died on impact.

For a murder this brutal to take place on any night would be horrifying. For it to happen during one of Withmores proudest civic celebrations makes the crime all the more vile. New Light Media extends its deepest sympathies to those in attendance, many of whom were forced to watch one of the citys brightest stars killed before their eyes.

In the aftermath of the attack, NLM Corporate Security locked down the scene and began immediate response measures. One attacker was killed on site. Witnesses report that NLM media star Hardcase personally put the assailant down while defending partygoers during the assault. Two additional suspects are believed to have fled. The Withmore Justice Force was subsequently called in and has begun collecting statements from witnesses and bystanders.

Details are still emerging, but early reports indicate the attackers were armed with swords and may have targeted Juicy Vee specifically. There are also unconfirmed reports that another prominent Withmore figure, Seven Ecks, may have been attacked and killed by the same terrorist group only days earlier. At this time, authorities have not confirmed a connection.

No official motive has yet been established. Even so, many citizens are already pointing to the same ugly truth: this bears all the markings of yet another act of anti-corporate terror carried out by Red Sector extremists against law-abiding corporate residents.

An NLM spokesperson provided the following statement to The Globe:

"NLM will not be intimidated by Red Sector terrorists. When we identify the cowards responsible for this atrocity, they will face the full weight of justice."

In a final outrage, Juicy Vees body was not recovered in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Anyone with information regarding its whereabouts is urged to contact New Light Media or the Withmore Justice Force immediately.

Withmore has lost a star, even if only a few hours. The city now waits for justice.

An ill omen to herald spring, a wave of viridans streptococci swept through Red Sector starting in mid-February. Urgent action by the WJF kept the outbreak from spreading to the upper sectors, but the toll exacted has strained city services and supply chains to an outrageous limit. In the end, the virus claimed 363,428 lives, permanently, and possibly more that were unreported.

Better known more innocuously as strep throat, v. streptococci routinely causes closure of the airways, painful swallowing, fever, and general aches and pains. However, this strain had a few novel features. According to Dr. Thomas Baker of Constantine General Hospital, this variant also caused weeping, oozing sores in what he termed "a wildly divergent mutation of the virus." The epidemiology lab in Constantine was too busy to supply comment, but a representative assured the Globe that they were in full collaboration with ViriiSoma's research team to determine the cause of this extremely deadly change.

The virus claimed so many lives in part because of an immediate and crushing demand for oxaprozin, the one anti-viral drug that it responds to. A representative from ViriiSoma said that the sudden supply shock caused ripples all the way along the production line. "ViriiSoma is committed to enhancing and protecting human life," said VSPR-032 in a SIC interview. "It is a tragedy that the city's reserves were not sufficient to combat the disease, but we cannot control how retailers stock our products. However, ViriiSoma chemical labs have done little else beyond synthesizing oxaprozin since the outbreak began."

Initial findings from research teams indicate that the virus had a long dormancy period, which is the period where a person may be infected and even contagious but not yet displaying symptoms. Contact tracing has shown that the disease began to spread in several regions around Red Sector at the same time, possibly due to an immigration influx as the harsh winter weather of the badlands rolled in. By far the most initial cases seemed to occur in northern Central Red and radiated out from there.

And even now that the disease has mostly run its course, there remain the problem of the remains. An anonymous Withmore City Services employee has reported that the massive amount of corpses has caused maintenance issues with the incinerator, leading to alternate storage locations for the bodies in public morgues. Private agencies that run crematoriums are also indicating a massive backlog and emergency shifts to see the diseased bodies disposed of. For now, however, Withmore breathes a collective sigh of relief that the worst is behind us.

March 1st, 2111

Announced moments ago by Judge Steele, the Withmore Justice Force has issued a temporary housing ban for Service Mixers curiously living on Green.

Put into effect until March 12th, 2111, the reason given was to help prevent disease spread as the ViriiSoma-engineered strain of streptococci C, the credit publicly claimed, runs rampant through Red sector and the death toll mounts into the tens of thousands.

Thanks so far to the hard work put in by the other megacorporations and the WJF, the illness has stayed contained to east, west and central Red. Despite attempts from some aggrieved souls attempting to cause infections topside, preventative measures put in place are holding strong.

Judge Steele was clear that the temporary ban impacted all service mixers and applied to all apartment and housing complexes on Green. People who fall under these categories have been given until 8AM on 3/2/2111 to find lodging in lower sectors, and failure to follow the order will lead to forcible removal or being shot.

Stay tuned to the Withmore Globe for future updates as the situation continues to develop,Vernide LerholfenBreaking Outbreaks News ReporterWithmore Globe