2012 09 03 4

Mon Sep 3 2072 And there's a sudden transition to the network anchor. "We break from our coverage from downtown Denver with another story." Trid feed: a man wrapped in a bulky vest and surrounded by the blaze of sorcerous armor of explosives darts towards the entrance to the Wells Fargo building. The wide angle shows cops charging after him, the familiar sharp crackling of Ruger Thunderbolts filling the air, but the bullets seem to have no effect on him as he barrels through the front doors of the building. A close zoom shows little detail through the bright, magical glare. Wide eyes, wide open mouth. Two cops have given up on firearms and leap to grab him. One catches a leg, stumbles, falls behind. The other tussles for a moment, and the two go down. What happens next is hard to make out, but the man is up and running again and the cop stays down. Somewhere, someone is shouting, "Drek! Get mages, get the fragging mages so—" Then the shouter is cut off as the feed lights up with the massive fireball exploding outward from the lobby. The two Star officers are engulged, and the others who were pursuing collapse as the shockwave hits them. Then expanding cloud of debris smashes into the camera and the view skews wildly upwards before flickering out. There's a moment of cursing in the sudden darkness before the view cuts back to the anchor The conservatively dressed, impeccably coifed anchor at the desk simply stares at the images behind him: a still frame of the expanding blast and an ongoing feed of the one remaining elemental staggering under a barrage of spells from the mages. The anchor starts to speak, clears his throat, starts again. "In addition to the elementals rampaging downtown, we have a magically-enabled terrorist who has bombed the Wells Fargo building. We will continue to report as these events unfold."