By: Daiyu Tang with contributions from various field reporters ((TY: Tori and others!))
Better late than never. It seems that somehow we missed the smouldering ruins caused by a very large fire that occurred a little while ago! I blame being on ‘holiday’ or perhaps just accepting that Hathian devastation is ‘normal’. Never-the-less it appears to the case that over the last month quite a few things happened that while they made Twitter, or some of the whispers in the City didn’t hit these venerable pages you now hold between your hands.
As far as we can tell somewhere between Tori visiting the Observer and her involvement in the death of a young woman, the Yuugen both attacked and were attacked the Rejects. With Rader Records being damaged extensively it then seemed that the Anime Cosplay party was hit by a bomb but between these two events, there appeared to be a fire near what is apparently the Yuugen turf around Southside. So just to emphasize this:
- Rader Records was burned
- The Yuugen ‘forced’ a Reject member to murder a girl
- The Rejects burned down a block associated with the Yuugen
- Someone (Rejects most likely?) bombed the Anime Party
A Block Fire on Southside
Witnesses on the street have reported to us that they saw a large fuel truck barrelling through the city. Apparently this was followed by three smaller pickup truck that also had some kind of fuel trailers attached.
Across from the slab, the fuel tanker ploughed into the condemned building and the other vehicles were left near the exits to the building. This appeared to be an attempt by the Rejects to block the exits from the ‘rat maze’ that the Yuugen are said to operate in.
A witness reported the known Reject ‘soldier’ Bryce leaving the tanker before it crashed and they were able to describe his bleached blond hair and Reject armband. Although there was less detail, armbands were mentioned again.
With vehicles in position they then appeared to be detonated. The fire started on all four sides of Southside with the tanker itself exploding. Witnesses advised the Observer that there were plenty of calls to the FDH who were almost immediately on the scene. Despite their prompt attention it became apparent that with half the block on fire that there were people trapped in the building or via the burning vehicles blocking the exit.
Tori, an unknown Japanese male, Z and Nyx were identified as being trapped and with our recent article outlining that Nyx is a Yuugen associate, we can only assume that Z is as well. We’ll update our list in due course.
FDH Saves
Witnesses reported that Lt. Jari Seo-Jun and firefighter Sam Warrhol-Kelly were instructed by the fire chief to extend a ladder to the roof where Tori, Nyx and the unknown male were spotted up flagging the fire trucks for help. This reporter likes to hope that the fear of fire was put into Tori, but the FDH did what we pay them to do and what they are heroes in and got to work saving lives.
In a rather poetic turn of event, someone actually had to help Tori by carrying her down the ladder that the FDH had extended. Nyx also made it down, but there was no sign of Z or the unidentified male. Has Z finally met her match in fire (again) – that would be a little tragic for Hathian in some ways, but it is the case that she has disappeared for a bit. Time will tell whether Zoey will rise again from the ashes.
Meanwhile on the streets, witnesses reported that EMTs were standing by as HPD Sergeant Aubin and another officer were questioning Bryce who was the Reject who had remained on the street to watch what we expect was his handiwork (considering he had exited the tanker in the first place!) Photos from the scene are below and can be expanded with a click.
Once down from the ladder, even if suffering from smoke inhalation, Tori was seen jumping off the fire truck and heading right for Bryce who was about to be cuffed. Witnesses report that HPD Officer Aubin, seeing Tori approaching, didn’t cuff Bryce and let the two criminals fight it out in the street. Sometimes we at the Observer wish we could be everywhere at once. That would have been something to see. We understand that eventually, Tori was knocked unconscious by Bryce with the effects of the fire no doubt not helping. Some arguments between FDH and HPD staff were reported about whether allowing criminals to fight was the right approach, but no one was really close enough to hear the details.
Eventually both Tori and Bryce were arrested and we understand that Tori was transferred to the HPD for jail time a few hours after she had been cleared at the HGH of her injuries.
Conclusion
The Observer is aware that we missed reporting on this in the weeks it happened. But hopefully in the context of the other events we’ve reported on or mentioned above, Hathian citizens can understand the bad blood between the Rejects and Yuugen. Will the anime bombing be the end of this feud? We’re not clear…
And with Z missing, possibly dead…. That’s an awful position for Nyx and others. This newspaper… despite all of Zoey’s crimes and ego does think she makes Hathian interesting, so hopefully she didn’t become a crispy fried Z, more than she already was.
