Current Events

A quick guide to game history, both recent past and notable events that have taken place on camera. Items should be added to the timeline if they would be newsworthy.

Recent History: 1979-2012

• 1979 - Dr. Moira MacTaggert publishes research documenting the discovery of a gene that triggers superhuman powers in homo sapiens. This gene is named the X-Gene.
• 1980 - Scotland becomes the first country to require mutant registration of those with superhuman powers.
• 1986 - Scotland overturns their mutant registration laws, in a very narrow vote.
• 1994 - All branches of the U.S. military adopt a ban on mutants serving.
• 1999 - Fell Peak, NM becomes the first U.S. town to adopt anti-discrimination laws protecting mutants.
• 2002 - Senator Grover from Florida proposes a law barring mutants from holding federal civil service positions. It dies in the House after passing in the Senate.
• 2006 - Switzerland adopts a restrictive immigration policy banning all mutants from gaining resident status.
• 2008 - Philip Bancroft is elected President of the United States. A moderate Democrat, his views on mutants are, for the first time in several cycles, fairly progressive.
• 2009 - Under the new president, the Bureau of Mutant Affairs is established, a subsidiary agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.
• 2010 - Washington state becomes the first U.S. state to adopt anti-discrimination laws protecting mutants.
• 2011 - Derek Simon, the governor of Arizona, begins campaigning heavily for president. Favored to win the Republican nomination, his platform includes heavily anti-mutant views.
• 2011 - The Brotherhood of Mutants stage an attack on a gathering of diplomats in New York City. The resulting furor kicks anti-mutant sentiment to a record high, right in the middle of election season.
• 2012 - In the wake of Magneto's attack, Simon's election campaign jumps 15 points in the polls.
• 2012 - With anti-mutant fervor on the rise, the elections brought in a tide of politicians -- including the new president-elect, Derek Simon -- promising to take a Hard Stance on the mutant issue.
• 20 December, 2012 - The Open Door Shelter in Manhattan, previously quietly tolerant of their mutant population, decides under new management to evict the mutants currently living there and ban mutants from their shelter. A protest against this action turns violent, leading to eight arrests and a multitude of injuries.

January-June, 2013

• 22 January, 2013 - A federal agent is murdered in the Garment District by a mutant who can seemingly grow animals larger.
• 6 February, 2013 - In response to the rise in mutant crimes and triggered largely by the FBI agent's death, Mayor Lovet announces that open, voluntary displays of mutancy are punishable now by ticketing up to $500. During his speech, a human gunman shoots at the mayor; a mutant stops the bullet before it can hit him.
• 15 February, 2013 - A series of explosions near a building in downtown Manhattan leads to the so-called Spider-Dude, a masked figure known primarily for his youtube videos of apparently superhuman acrobatics, being added to the FBI's terrorism watchlist.
• 20 February, 2013 - A mutant loses control in Central Park, shooting poisonous quills at bystanders. The same mutant who saved the mayor during his announcement of the ticketing ordinance responds by shielding the nearby people from the accidental attack. In response, he receives a ticket from the same police officers he just protected from the spray; pictures and videos of the incident go viral.
• Late February, 2013 - The wanted terrorist Spider-Dude has many more sightings around the city -- this time not involved in any criminal activity, but spotted at housefires rescuing occupants before the fire department has time to show up. There is much debate across the internet about whether Spider-Dude is a terrorist or a hero.
• Early March, 2013 - A handful of disappearances around the city lead to mummified bodies turning back up, drained entirely of blood. A shapeshifting shadow-woman is spotted with the unconscious bodies of one of the missing children; this mutant's involvement is suspected in the murders.
• 14 March, 2013 - The mutant responsible for the abductions and murders is found dead; the abducted victims rescued describe him as a giant spider made out of blood. Rumours abound -- that the shadow-woman suspected of the murders actually helped rescue several of the victims, that another mutant living in the sewers was responsible for hunting down the bloodmonster. Also, that the monster's corpse has vanished from the morgue.
• 15 March, 2013 - President Simon visits New York to personally present a silver star medal to Elliott Carruthers, the daughter of New York's senior senator. Carruthers, a Naval officer, was being recognized for her bravery in defending her ship against a pirate attack.
• 17 March, 2013 - Local musician Ryan Black is arrested on drug charges following an East Village raid. Tabloids are full of pictures of him being taken away in handcuffs; his upcoming show in the city sells out within hours of the press releases.
• 20 March, 2013 - Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp, announces an upcoming gala where he plans to demonstrate a new line of mutant countermeasures. In an unconventional move, he announces plans to invite prominent mutants to the party, with stated intentions to work with and not simply against the mutant community in these measures.
• 22 March, 2013 - A group of people calling themselves the 'Sons of Magneto' start gaining some internet notoriety with their conspiracy theory videos about mutant deathcamps where the government is rounding up mutants en masse to experiment on them/kill them. Shoddily made and full of kind of unhinged rants, nobody much takes them seriously.
• 24 March, 2013 - A mutant terrorist lights several storefronts in the Upper West Side on fire, killing one woman and forcing Zabar's Deli to close after the heavy damages. During the arson, the man was screaming about declaring war on 'homo inferior'.
• 28 March, 2013 - The Oscorp Gala ends in chaos as four mutants calling themselves 'Sons of Magneto' attack the party. The attack came right in the middle of Osborn's announcement of his plans to open a mutant school to help mutants understand and control their powers. No deaths or serious injuries are reported after the attack, largely due to the combined efforts of a number of Osborn's mutant guests to stop the attack.
• 29 March, 2013 - The Daily Bugle publishes an article about the Mendel Clinic, an upcoming mutant clinic in Manhattan; it speculates that places like this and the planned Oscorp Institute are fronts for mutant terrorism.
• 31 March, 2013 - News comes to light that the four youths responsible for the attack on the Oscorp Gala have disappeared from police custody.
• 4 April, 2013 - Following the exposure of the Mendel Clinic in the Daily Bugle, Dr. Iolaus Saavedro, the clinic's founder, makes a speech in Central Park to announce the clinic. Saavedro was arrested during the speech for speaking without a permit.
• 12 April, 2013 - An unidentified mangled body is found in an abandoned vehicle in Staten Island. Reports say that it looked like an animal had eaten right through the man's skull.
• 15 April, 2013 - Washington State overturns its mutant nondiscrimination legislation, rendering mutants once again no longer a protected class anywhere in the country.
• 17 April, 2013 - The Latverian Science Exposition opens in New York City, spearheaded by the recently arisen dictator of Latveria, Victor van Doom; it will continue throughout the rest of the week.
• Late April, 2013 - A wave of mutant disappearances is sweeping New York. Again. Must be Tuesday.
• 2 April, 2013 - An serial killer the police call the 'Chelsea Ripper' surfaces again after a year-long dormant stretch. Targeting pimps in the city, the killer's MO is to leave them mutilated, mailing body parts and taunting letters to the police.
• 3 May, 2013 - Latveria officially adopts mandatory mutant registration.
• 9 May, 2013 - A US diplomat and Doctor Doom are assaulted by a terrorist in broad daylight in Midtown Manhattan. Two casualties, both body guards that accompanied the duo. A dozen of people were critically injured after the car was driven into a nearby mall and then subsequently exploded.
• 13 May, 2013 - Reports come of an attack at Oscorp Tower. Largely speculative, what is known is that the high-rise was evacuated, an explosion heard shortly thereafter. In the wake of Oscorp's controversial announcement of their Institute, terrorist involvement is suspected.
• 23 May, 2013 - Much of the town of Grover's Mill, NJ -- stores, banks, restaurant, schools -- is destroyed in a sudden series of sinkholes. The cause of the sinkholes is unknown. Homes and the town's one hospital were oddly untouched by the event.
• 26 May, 2013 - An attempted bank robbery in East Harlem is foiled by customers on scene, notable among them the public figure and known mutant Luke Cage.
• 29 May, 2013 - An explosion in a tenement complex in Queens brought down a host of police and fire officials. A series of pipe bombs were discovered to have gone off; police reports state that five bodies were found in the apartment where the blast originated.
• 30 May, 2013 - A group of volunteers helping with cleanup after the Grovers Mill disaster were attacked by what witnesses say were giant ants. Reports claim the witnesses fended off the attack with mutant powers; the ants themselves are suspected to be the product of mutant powers as well.
• June, 2013 - The Mutant Registration Act is released from committee for a full vote in the House. As the vote draws closer, an ad campaign sweeps the country encouraging support of the Act. Its tagline, 'Human First!', can be seen on posters and in papers and on television nationwide. Its most prominent spokesperson can be seen, too, both in the ads herself and making the rounds on radio and television talkshows across the country.
• 9 June, 2013 - An NYPD Sergeant is killed on duty in Central Park, the first NYPD officer slain in the line of duty in over a year. Myriad eyewitnesses to a shadow monster as the perpetrator lead to a drastic spike in aggression from police against mutants citywide.
• 11 June, 2013 - Evolve Coffeeshop, a popular hangout with mutants and one of the only mutant-friendly business in the city, closes after a fire that claims three lives.
• 12 June, 2013 - A young man with a shadow-like mutation is shot to death by police outside a bakery in TriBeCa. Investigation is ongoing into his possible involvement in the death of a police Sergeant earlier in the week.
• 18 June, 2013 - A press conference at Stark Tower launches an investigation into the NYPD when it is alleged (along with video footage of the gruesome fights) that members of the NYPD were involved in kidnapping mutants and forcing them into fights.
• 21 June, 2013 - The City Hall was assaulted by insectoid creatures under control of a mutant. The terrorist was successfully apprehended.
• 21 June, 2013 - In response to the fight ring footage exposed at Stark's press conference, a subway train was derailed, causing plenty of injuries but no deaths. The terrorist is still at large, and speculation is abound whether another terrorist - known as the Spider - alleviated the disaster or helped cause it.

July-December, 2013

• 4 July, 2013 - Another NYPD officer -- coincidentally the same responsible for the shooting of the young shadow-mutant in June -- is killed on duty, this time apparently as the result of a bar fight.
• 9 July, 2013 - Four unidentified (allegedly mutant) terrorists attack Sing Sing correctional facility, breaking into the Control Unit where highly dangerous mutant criminals are kept; five prison officials die and 8 mutant criminals (including Thea and Cain Marko) escape. The Brotherhood is suspected of involvement.
• 21 July, 2013 - Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn announces his company's development of the world's first technology for blocking telepathic signals. Previously tanked after Osborn's announcement of plans to build a mutant institute, Oscorp's stock skyrockets overnight.
• 26 July, 2013 - News reports announce the death of the Shadow woman responsible for the murder of an NYPD sergeant in June. Reports say the woman was killed during a raid on the sewers, where apparently she had been hiding.
• 12 August, 2013 - Police pursuing one of the escaped fugitives from the Sing Sing jailbreak end in a firefight against a group of mutant motorcyclists. The ensuing violence results in the death of three officers and one of the mutants. The mutants involved hole up in a church in Harlem, remaining there amidst enormous community controversy and law enforcement uproar over how to deal with the fugitives.
• Late August, 2013 - The contingent of mutants hiding out in the Harlem church continue to grow; news coverage including a visit from prominent mutant persona Luke Cage publicizes one of the instigators' announcement that the church will be a safe harbor for all mutants in need. Following this, many homeless, fugitive, and otherwise displaced mutants begin to take up residence while both support and protest from the surrounding community continues to grow.
• 17 September, 2013 - Mutant activist Luke Cage, during an interview on the local morning talk show Alison!, announces his intention to run for Harlem's newly vacated City Council seat.
• 26 September, 2013 - A joint effort between the NYPD and Hammer attempts to round up/evict the mutant fugitives from the Harlem church. Despite tens of thousands of dollars of damage, all the mutants escape. The church is destroyed in the process. Mutant city council candidate Luke Cage is on the scene; his polling numbers drop a few points following his arrest for smashing his way into the government truck that broke through the wall of the church.
• 11 October, 2013 - A mutant teenager dies in Harlem, after Mount Sinai hospital denies him treatment following a bullying assault at his school.
• 31 October, 2013 - A Times Square flashmob rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" turns violent when some of its dancers begin attacking each other.
• Early November, 2013 - A particularly severe start to flu season prompts a barrage of free flu clinics to open up around the city, with strong encouragement for people to get vaccinated.
• 5 November, 2013 - News that infected patients demonstrate severe unpredictable aggression is joined with rumours that even death does not cure this -- the dead victims of the sickness only continue to attack.
• 5 November, 2013 - Election Day has a record low turnout, with a climbing death toll from the supposed flu strain hitting the city and numerous reports of attacks on the voters waiting in line citywide. Mayor Lovet is re-elected to a second term, while Luke Cage loses his City Council bid.
• 5 November, 2013 - With its opening gala postponed due to public health emergency, after months of controversy about opening a mutant clinic, the Mendel Clinic opens -- and closes again -- with little fanfare. Citing the current public health emergency, the Clinic says it is looking forward to a grander reopening once the crisis is contained.
• 7 November, 2013 - With the sickness still spreading and attacks on the rise, New York City and the county of Westchester are both put under quarantine. A curfew between the hours of 11pm and 5am is also put in place.
• 8 November, 2013 - A health warning is announced throughout the city -- research out of the Mendel Clinic pinpoints /language/ as the disease transmission vector. People are heavily cautioned to refrain from saying certain words and avoid repeating words spoken by infected patients.
• 8 November, 2013 - With the ravenous dead roaming the streets and no way out of the city, waves of looting have begun spreading through the city. Many wealthier neighborhoods are hardest hit, both by looting and by the plague of dead crowding the streets.
• 10 November, 2013 - Around the city, shelters are put in place by relief organizations and guarded by the National Guard, safehouses for the uninfected to take refuge from the violence that comes both from the dead and from the infected -- or sometimes simply opportunistic -- living.
• 10 November, 2013 - As the swarms of dead grow, there are rumors of some sort of robot dropping into the areas where shelters have been set up to assist the National Guard in keeping he hordes at bay.
• 11 November, 2013 - Word of a treatment -- not a cure, but at least a way to slow the progression of the disease and dampen its symptoms -- comes at the same time as news that the sickness is now starting to pop up in different locations around the globe. Trucks loaded with the medicine spread throughout the city, though the police and the Guard have their hands full trying to contain riots over the supplies.
• 13 November, 2013 - News spreads that the Mayoral mansion has been burned down, with a plethora of bodies (a few still moving) charred crisp inside it. Though most all the bodies are too burned to identify, it seems clear that New York City's mayor is dead.
• 16 November, 2013 - With the city still under quarantine, an acute food crisis is adding starvation to the city's rising death toll. Though food and other essential supplies are being continually airdropped into the quarantine zones, the relief supplies are only being delivered to the safehouses -- which, following two catastrophic events relating to superpowered zombies, have banned mutants from their premises. Exceptions are made for mutants coming to receive their cure treatment, though they are only allowed in long enough to get the shot and then leave.
• 21 November, 2013 - The good news that a cure has been developed for the disease triggers a wave of riots around the city as people fight to be first to receive the new medicine; wait times days long and a lengthy treatment process makes demand for this cure even more intense than for the treatment that preceded it. Around the world, instances of the disease continue to grow, but with treatment already developed none of these outbreaks reach the same catastrophic scale as New York's.
• 24-26 November, 2013 - Following concerted eradication efforts, the quarantines in NYC and Westchester are lifted, as well as the curfews.
• 2 December 2013 - An article in the Daily Bugle claims the zombie virus was created by a mutant, and unleashed when the government attacked him in an effort to take him into custody. Anger directed towards both mutants and the government handling of mutants is high.
• 8 December 2013 - National news calls out mutants as both the villains and the heroes of the zombiepocalypse, naming Andrew Kinney, a mutant who controls pathogens, as the originator of the disease as well as recognizing the work of Jackson Holland in instigating a cure and fighting back against the zombies.
• 16 December 2013 - The National Oversight and Registration of Mutant Abilities Law, more commonly known as mutant registration, passes into law. The newly created Mutant Affairs Division (a child agency of the Department of Homeland Security) has 60 days to design and implement the mutant registration regulations.
• 17 December 2013 - A protest over the recent mutant registration bill, meant to be peaceful, ends in chaos when a pyrokinetic loses control of their mutation and the police respond violently. Luke Cage and Jackson Holland-Zedner are arrested in the ensuing confrontation, together with Micah Holland-Zedner, Dusk, and the pyrokinetic who began the incident. Video footage of the incident draws far more sympathy for the mutants, with video of the police beating people while kneeling with their hands behind their heads.
• 23 December 2013 - Housing discrimination is highlighted in the news with the mass eviction of over a dozen apartments with mutant residence at the Village Lofts apartment buildings in the East Village.
• 29 December 2013 - Malthus Rogers, the head of HAMMER, a federal law enforcement agency dealing with the most dangerous of mutant threats, dies in an apparent accident, caught in the crossfire during a zombie attack.
• 29 December 2013 - A video released by Malthus's lawyer immediately after his death accuses Jackson Holland not only of Malthus's murder, but of extensive terrorism, including unleashing the plague that killed nearly a million in New York City. Jackson is subsequently arrested.

January-June, 2014

• 1 January, 2014 - A second arrest is made in the terrorism investigation into the zombie plague.
• 6 January, 2014 - Videos begin flooding the news, recorded testimonials from mutants formerly held in Prometheus laboratories. The horrific accounts within begin to sway sympathies for the alleged terrorists who raided the labs.
• 8 January 2014 - A short statement is released from the Department of Defense in response to the testimonial videos. Among other things it states a full investigation is being launched into the alleged abuses.
• 20 January 2014 - Several whistleblowers come forward from within the Prometheus project itself; though the evidence they bring forward is not publicly disclosed to the press, it is evidently enough to strongly substantiate the video testimonials released countrywide by the mutant former test subjects. Jackson Holland-Zedner and Ryan Holloway are released and all charges cleared; prosecution is looking instead into charges against Promethean officials.
• 25 January 2014 - A Mutant Affairs building on Roosevelt Island was blown up by known agents of the mutant Brotherhood. Anthea Garretson, wanted for numerous violent crimes, was positively identified at the scene by he lone surviving police officer, who was able to confirm the presence of her giant insects as well as a male accomplice. The pair set several of the upper floors on fire and ignited a gas leak from below.
• 26 January 2014 - Ryan Black takes home all four of the Grammys "Big Four" general awards; promptly upon receiving his Best New Artist award, discloses that he is a mutant, was also a test subject of Prometheus and that his hit single was written about Jackson Holland-Zedner.
• Early-Mid February 2014 - A series of odd THINGS begin appearing around the city. A Hug Bank in the financial district manifests out of thin air overnight with all the characteristics of a legitimate financial establishment save that it dispenses hugs instead of legal tender; it lasts a week or so before vanishing again. On Sunday Feb 2 the city wakes up to find itself "painted" in the very distinctive artistic style of Jackson Holland-Zedner; the brilliant coloration lasts only a day before vanishing. Tuesday Feb 4 had a day-long burst of chocolate rain. Saturday Feb 8 had the city overgrown with tropical jungle plants for the weekend. From Wednesday Feb 12 - Friday Feb 14 everyone in the city received their own personal animated snowman assistant, cheerful and helpful to answer questions, carry packages, hail taxis, offer fashion advice, whatever! From Friday Feb 21 - Sunday Feb 23 the city's buildings get a futuristic sci-fi makeover; also many varied stars are scattered all around the city like a giant city-wide scavenger hunt.
• 14 February 2014 - Mutant Registration opens nationwide. For New York State, the deadline for everyone to register is one month.
• 22 February 2014 - June 3 is set as the date for the Special Elections to fill the vacant mayoral seat.
• 26 February 2014 - The days since Registration began have been protest-filled, with a large push towards convincing people to boycott registration. There are attacks outside three separate Mutant Affairs offices on visible mutants heading to and from registration.
• 28 February 2014 - Bodies begin to turn up around the city, in various states of dismemberment. Though it's largely kept quiet, rumor in mutant communities says that these corpses have all been noticeably mutant.
• 8 March 2014 - An anti-registration protest organized by Jackson Holland-Zedner sours when a group of counter-protesters show up; someone opens fire. Eyewitness accounts say both bullets and arrows were fired with many claiming Holland himself was shot, but by the time police and medics arrive on scene, both the shooters and all the injured have vanished. In the wake of this, support for the registration boycott skyrockets.
• 8 March 2014 - A bar in Morningside is the site of an altercation; according to eyewitnesses, some sort of 'wolf-monster' mutant attacked the bar's patrons; one patron pulled a gun and opened fire. Other mutants on scene apparently attacked patrons with some form of blood-based powers.
• 13 March 2014 - The deadline on registration is pushed back a week after a series of explosions destroy over two dozen Registration offices, killing thirteen and injuring dozens. Investigation is still pending into who is responsible for the attacks, with witnesses claiming such contradictory stories as bat-demon-monster people and lightning-wielding Sith lords or Sergeant Kyle Whelan all spotted at various locations. Whether out of political support or simply fear, the number of people refusing to register is growing.
• 18 March 2014 - An explosion at the Village Lofts in the East Village burns the apartment building to the ground, killing 17 residents and 1 firefighter and injuring dozens. Though the perpetrators are unknown, the fire originated from an explosion evidently set outside the apartment of mutant rockstar Ryan Black, leading to strong suspicions of the detonation being an anti-mutant hate crime. Or someone who really dislikes indie rock.
• 24 March 2014 - A new media campaign sponsored by Luke Cage's Heroes for Hire organization has added a mutant-rights support ribbon to the roster of ribbons available to show support for various causes. The ribbons are blue and yellow in the shape of a double helix; together with rubber bracelets embossed with the emblem, the media campaign encourages all to display the symbol as a support for mutant rights and stance against the MRA.
• 24 March 2014 - An awards banquet is given by the city to honor heroes of the Rising Plague; the acting Mayor distributes Keys to the City to a number of people who showed exceptional valor in their services to the city during the zombie crisis. Among those so honored were Luke Cage, Lt. Commander Elliott Carruthers, Jackson Holland-Zedner, Dr. Iolaus Saavedro, Dr. Rasheed Toure, and Regan Wyngarde. Among the political buzz about the city honoring two controversial highly public mutant activists, there was a second layer of gossip across social media and entertainment news when Luke Cage's date, talk show host Alison Blaire, unexpectedly outed herself as a mutant with a sparkling light show in support of one of the award honorees.
• 25 March 2014 - Elliott Carruthers formally announces her candidacy for the Mayoral elections in June.
• 6 May 2014 - Elliott Carruthers calls for the establishment of a special mutant division in the NYPD to handle cases involving crimes by or against mutants.
• 29 May 2014 - Nearly a year after the firebombing that shut it down, openly mutant-friendly coffeeshop Evolve Cafe reopens.
• 4 June 2014 - The special elections to fill the city government positions left vacant by the zombie plague result in the election of Elliott Carruthers, the youngest person to ever be elected as NYC mayor as well as the first woman and first Latina to hold the position.

July-December, 2014

• 1 July 2014 - Ads begin to go up around the city promoting Themis House, a center that started in Atlanta and has recently come to NYC. Themis offers counseling and suppression services as well as help with plastic surgery, all geared towards helping mutants achieve the ideal of normalcy and encouraging their human side into dominance over their mutant side.
• Mid July 2014 - Processing for mutant registration has been getting more and more delayed, with most new registrants not being processed at all. Rumors point to a string of deaths in the Registry staff as cause for the backlog.
• 17 July 2014 - Heavily pushed by the mayor's office, the NYPD starts a new division, officially called the Mutant Incident Division but popularly referred to as the Freak Squad. Largely populated by mutant officers, the MID receives special training for how to handle mutant incidents and responds to crimes involving mutants, whether as victims or offenders.
• 24 July 2014 - The Daily Bugle breaks the story of a new attempted raid on a Prometheus laboratory led by Ryan Black and Jackson Holland-Zedner. The raid goes disastrously when Prometheus slaughters nearly all the mutants held in the lab. Documents leaked from the lab show that the mutants had been fit with explosive chips in their head that detonated to kill all the imprisoned mutants at once. The slaughter prompts a wave of outrage, with large numbers of national government officials promising an investigation.
• 26 July 2014 - With stories of the Prometheus slaughter still dominating the news, there is yet more outrage when statements from the few surviving mutants at the lab link Themis House to Prometheus, claiming that Themis's mutant suppression treatment was created not by its founder Dr. Edward Leone but by Prometheus research. Further statements claimed Dr. Leone's purported daughter Neve is not actually who she claims, but the shadow-woman Nox, who chose to leave the labs to assist Themis's mission of turning mutants normal. Though the statements are given in anonymity, documents from the lab back up all the claims and corroborate Themis working with the labs extensively prior to opening their facilities.
• 28 July 2014 - The body of a Friends of Humanity activist is found in Midtown, a mask placed over her face. The M.O. matches that of Pierrot, an anti-human serial killer active two decades earlier in Los Angeles and responsible for at least a dozen murders of those with anti-mutant sentiments. It is unknown whether the same killer ha returned or if a copycat has surfaced.
• 28 July 2014 - Themis House releases an official statement that Dr. Leone has been placed on leave while they conduct their own investigation into the claims of his Prometheus ties. The chairman of the board states that the rest of the board and Themis's staff still believes in the Themis House mission and intends to continue their work. Though the chairman made no statements about Neve Leone, media reports that Neve was seen leaving her apartment early Sunday morning with a small suitcase. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.
• 1 August 2014 - A second body is found in the East Village matching Pierrot's M.O., this time that of Krystal Marquet, a receptionist at Themis House. A note had been attached to the body, reading "Justice is blind. - The titans will fall."; many speculate that this is a threat against both Prometheus and Themis.
• 1 August 2014 - A police raid is conducted on the pro-mutant pirate radio station NeXGen, though by the time the police entered the warehouse they were suspected to have been broadcasting from, it was found empty. NeXGen has been suspected of possible terrorist ties, though there has been no evidence of actual acts committed by them.
• 1 August 2014 - An attack of arson burns Themis House's building in the Upper West Side to the ground. The fire was started in the small hours of Friday morning and raged on for much of the day. Security footage has two suspects openly waving and gesticulating rudely to the cameras before igniting the blaze with gasoline and pyrokinesis. Though one of the suspects was masked, the other has been identified as Kay Hesse, already on the FBI's most wanted list for murder and acts of terrorism.
• 6 August 2014 - Following the arson that burned down Themis House, Mayor Carruthers promises extra funding to increase the ranks of the Mutant Incident Division. Additionally, the city ordinance prohibiting intentional display of mutant powers has been strengthened -- effective September 1, the intentional use of mutant powers on public city grounds is not merely a ticketable offense but a misdemeanor, punishable by severe fines and/or imprisonment for up to a year.
• 7 August 2014 - Dr. Leone's firing from his position at Themis House is overshadowed by the release of a statement by Nox, a.k.a. Neve Leone. The lengthy statement speaks to her abuse at Prometheus hands, both in her teen years and again more recently, as well as her kidnap by the NYPD for the mutant fight club and her subsequent murder of Sergeant Kyle Whelan. It notes her choice to cooperate with Themis in order to escape Prometheus tortures and the false identity that had been built for her by Prometheus and Dr. Leone.
• 9 August 2014 - The body of Dr. Edward Leone is found in his Upper West Side apartment; the killing once again follows the pattern of anti-human serial killer Pierrot.
• 11 August 2014 - Amid a rash of arrests of high-ranked Prometheus officials comes the announcement that, pending a congressional investigation, all operations of the Prometheus project are indefinitely halted.
• 9 September 2014 - A raid is carried out by the NYPD on a co-housing neighborhood, searching for wanted murderer Neve Leone, f.k.a. Nox. Security footage found onsite shows the shadow-woman sneaking out with bags packed, leaving her whereabouts unknown and a nationwide search underway.
• 11 September 2014 - Footage is spread around the internet of the first arrest under the new law criminalizing use of mutant powers in public -- the first New Yorker to be apprehended turns out to be a misidentified human, leading to a rash of speculation on the effectiveness of this law and just how problematic it is going to be for the city.
• 17 November 2014 - One Ryan Avery Holloway, a mutant convicted of second-degree assault, sentenced to five years but given a suspended sentence contingent upon complying with the terms of his probation. What is making the news here is what those terms were -- mandatory "reparative therapy" at Themis House, the non-profit organization whose mission is to assist (via psychological therapy, drug treatments, and plastic surgery for those to whom it is applicable) with turning mutants into Normal Humans. In the end, Themis house refused to comply with the court order.
• 20 December 2014 - Stark Industries finishes its initial barrage of tests on auto-pilot cars. Around the same time, Mako Industries releases a new toy - Hoverboards!

January-July, 2015

• 14 February 2015 - Initial reports of a bombing at the controversial mutant clinic have since been substantiated; the NYPD's Mutant Incidents Division says they have the bomber in custody. There were no reported fatalities from the bombing, though several of the Clinic staff were taken to a nearby hospital.
• 13 March 2015 - The engineers at Oscorp have come up with robots that have quite advanced skills in the field of health care. Sturdy enough to withstand dangerous situations that human medics cannot, these robots -- called Sentinels -- are able to provide lifesaving treatments even in disaster and combat scenarios that otherwise would be impassible, improving the survival rates of their patients by 30-50% in initial tests.
• 21 April 2015 - Hand in hand with these Mutants-not-welcome Neighborhood Watch signs (ones saying 'Humans Only'), many local business in these areas have taken to putting /explicit/ "No Mutants Allowed" signs in their windows, the same silhouetted figure inside the red prohibited circle marking many doors and windows.
• 22 April 2015 - A warrant has been released by the NYPD for the arrest of mutant separatist activist Jackson Holland. According to the warrant, Holland is alleged to have assaulted three human's rights advocates last night, putting two of them in the hospital, one with severe burns and a fractured jaw. The Mendel Clinic where he works had no comment.
• Summer, 2015 - From June - September, most of Manhattan was affected by an erratic phenomenon where caffeine no longer had an effect in the city. The City that Never Sleeps was -- a lot more inclined towards napping, this summer. A lot more irritable, too.

July-December, 2015

• 15 July 2015 - Pro-human protesters gathered outside the Mendel linic found themselves at the epicenter of a mysterious telepathic attack. Targeting a wide swath of the Lower East Side, the psionic attack ground much of the neighborhood to a halt, freezing residents in place and briefly controlling their movements. The NYPD's Mutant Affairs Division could not find the perpetrator.
• 16 July 2015 - Another psionic attack targeted the city -- and, indeed, the country, just one day after thelast. Less noticeable than the one the day before, this was just a fleeting few seconds of mental synchronicity. A few seconds of faint but unpleasant sensory memory experienced widely by a good swath of the country in tandem -- the sound of screaming, the feel of rending flesh, the report of gunfire, the smell of rotting flesh; for New Yorkers who lived through the zombiepocalypse, all too familiar. For anyone who didn't, likely just a bizarre moment of intrusive thought that passed quickly.
• 20 July 2015 - The political section of the city paper features an article profiling a staunchly anti-mutant congressman from Ohio, Rep. Peter Stepford. A sympathetic piece focusing on the congressman's ideas for anti-mutant legislation, it also gives mention to the story of the loss of the congressman's wife and his two son's to mutation last year.
• August 10, 2015 - Prominent mutant rights activist Jackson Holland pled guilty to three counts of third-degree assault following an attack on several human's rights advocates in Harlem in April. Sentenced to anger management and a year of probation, there has been a severe backlash against what is seen as unreasonably lenient sentencing from those infuriated that the notorious activist will not see jail time.
• August 17, 2015 - A pair of mutants attack one of the FDNY's garages for their new EMS robots, destroying over two dozen of the city's fleet of Sentinels. Though some footage has been released -- showing a young woman with talons and large wings together with a man whose face was hidden under a motorcycle helmet who appeared to control electricity -- nobody has stepped forward to claim responsibility or offer an explanation for what is being called an act of mutant terrorism against the city's emergency healthcare infrastructure.
• August-September, 2015 - Most of the spring and summer has been a period of relative calm, with the crime rate the lowest it has been in years. The end of summer is bringing the tranquility to an end, though, with violent crime abruptly spiking. Together with the few high-profile cases -- terrorism, arrests of mutant celebrities -- the report that the spike in crime has come with a very disproportionate bulk of the cases passing through the jurisdiction of the Mutant Incidents Division has led to a sharp uptick in anti-mutant sentiments. More businesses refusing to serve mutants, more reports of targeted anti-mutant crimes. More mutants being injured or killed in police custody, though the NYPD is quick to assert that their officers are using only the minimum amount of force necessary to effect arrests.
• August 22, 2015 - A lengthy and surprisingly sympathetic piece in the New York Times gives a detailed profile of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a private boarding school in Westchester County that, for the past two decades has been quietly providing comprehensive education for young mutants. The profile piece goes into a good bit of detail about the school's mission about helping young mutants understand and live safely with their powers. The immediate public uproar about having MUTANT TRAINING CAMP operating under people's noses all this time is predictable.
• August 25, 2015 - Another incident of mutant violence in Central Park attracts quite a bit of news. Responding to a report of an out-of-control hydrokinetic, the responding officers came under attack from a trio of mutants. Low-quality cameraphone footage can be found on the internet -- an enormous green creature smashing the pavement hard enough to crack it and knocking the police easily aside before running out of the park. The other two mutants involved in the incident have been identified as the winged terrorist who destroyed the Sentinels earlier in the month, and Rasa Djalili, a recent graduate of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Djalili was taken into custody under charges of assaulting a police officer; the winged mutant and enormous green mutant were still at large and considered dangerous.
• September, 2015 - Around the country there has been a quiet increase in raids and deportations as ICE and the Mutant Affairs Division collaborate to crack down on unregistered immigrants.
• September 27, 2015 - Pope Francis's visit to the city, besides being a traffic and security nightmare, proved to be a large source of controversy as well when the pontiff gave a mass at St Martin de Porres church -- the same very mutant-friendly church that two summers ago was the site of a standoff between mutants and law enforcement. Francis's mass included a large number of open mutants celebrating the mass together with him, and attracted a huge crowd of protesters.
• End of September, 2015 - The crime wave that began in the city in August seems to show no signs of relenting as fall begins., with the number of cases of both violent and property crome involving superhuman abilities escalating drastically in the past couple months.
• October 12, 2015 - A group of mutants said to be affiliated with the Brotherhood of Mutants attack the Homeland Security offices in Washington, DC. The attack specifically targeted the Mutant Affairs Division offices, destroying the entirety of the Division's headquarters. One security guard was killed on scene by the bomb that they planted, though the news reports that most of those in the building safely evacuated before detonation.
• October 12, 2015 - A large and sudden blackout takes out power in most of Brooklyn and much of Lower Manhattan, late Monday night. It takes a couple days for ConEd to get power restored to the millions of people without.
• October 15, 2015 - Overnight, the bulk of the country's population has been re-registered; everyone currently on the Registry as well as enourmous swaths of adults who had not registered in the first place finds themselves now classified as Alpha mutants, with the description of their ability one that matches Magneto's. The chaos this causes across the country is immediately apparently, with arrest rates skyrocketing, ordinary humans finding themselves stunned when their job applications/rental applications/etc are being summarily denied. It seems that the real purpose of the attack on the Mutant Affairs office earlier has become clear, with a message distributed to news outlets, evidently from an anonymous Brotherhood member, claiming responsibility for this hack.
• October 17, 2015 - Another explosion, in New York this time, destroys the largest Mutant Affairs Division office in Manhattan. No injuries were reported in the detonation, which given the latest series of events is highly suspected of being a related act of foul play.
• October 22, 2015 - Hospitals and doctor's offices around the city are reporting an unusually high surge in reported cases of flu. A critical shortage of flu vaccines in the city has proven nowhere near enough to meet New York's demand and is being blamed for the population being evidently unprepared for this year's flu season.
• October 25, 2015 - A series of explosives planted at NYPD stations have left police on high alert. Several injuries but fatalities have been reported, with the explosions set at docking stations for the NYPD's prototype Sentinels; evidently the machines rather than human officers have been the target. The chief of police is nevertheless pushing to have any crimes that target the Sentinels prosecuted with the same severity as though they had been against a flesh-and-blood member of the Force.
• November 6, 2015 - Reports of a zombie outbreak at Mount Sinai hospital dominate the evening news and put a more ominous spin on the recent cases of flu spreading through the city. Accounts conflict as to exactly how many zombies were involved, but the official word is that five patients and three hospital employees were killed, with as many as a dozen others injured; the rampage was fortunately ended (says the news) by the timely arrival of the NYPD who contained the carnage. Eyewitnesses also reported an enormous green mutant and a red-and-gold robot fleeing the scene; their connection to the attack remains unclear.
• November 7, 2015 - A bizarre twist of news is spawning rampant speculation as mainstream and social media alike report that America's first supersoldier is back and ready to save the day. Steve Rogers, better known to most as Captain America - the very same who led a highly decorated special ops unit during WW2 - was seen rescuing a group of volunteers trapped by a zombie outbreak at a homeless shelter in Staten Island. A press release from the Strategic Science Reserve confirms that this is the same Captain Rogers of a bygone era, recently recovered from his revival and returning to serve the American people as he did seventy years ago.