Governor Kross retired in 2036 and was succeeded by Victor "Vic the Quick" Allenson. a former combat biker for the Tacoma Timberwolves. During the election campaign, he made clear his low opinion of Metahumanity. In one of his first trideo interviews, he was quoted as saying, "Orks and Trolls make great offensive combat bikers, but I'm afraid they haven't the brains for much else." This spurred the racists on to recruit more poeople and commit more destructive actions.
Later that year, 20 people, most of them Metahumans, were killed in the small town of Liberty Village, Ohio, when a well-organized gang of hooded thugs firebombed a church. Alamos 20,000, a branch of the Humanis Policlub and also the largest anti-Metahuman terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the attack. As a wave of similar attacks swept North America, the vicious terrorism further widened the gulf between Humans and Metahumans. From that gulf sprang the hellfire that has come to be known as the "Night of Rage."
On the night of February 7, 2039, the Seattle Metroplex Guard, under order of Governor Allenson, systematically rounded up all Metahumans and transported them under armed guard to a series of huge warehouses on the waterfront. They were told that this was the final processing place before deportation to camps near San Francisco -- all part of the governor's gran plan for "improved racial harmony."
What happened next is still unclear. With all the city's Orks, Trolls, Elves and Dwarves herded into these cavernous buildings, the level of anger and fear rose to a fever pitch. From one of the buildings came a series of screams. Then gunfire. Panic and hysteria swept over the scene. A series of explosions erupted and flames began to rip through the old, wooden warehouses.
Some witnesses claimed that memebers of the Hands of Five terrorist group were on the scene just as the explosions went off. What is know is that the Metroplex Guard simply stood by and let the infernos blaze.
As news of the holocaust reached the public, citizens sent up a cry of protest. Among those appalled by the governor's actions were members of the highly influential United Corporation Council. This formal association of Seattle's major corporations threatened Allenson with massive lock-outs and boycotts if he did not put an immediate end to the terrorism.
For hundreds of Metahumans, it was too late. By the time Allenson learned of the UCC threat and subsequently ordered his men to intervene, the warehaouses had burned to the ground. The death toll was staggering, even though many Metahumans aparently escapre through the sewer system.
The violence on the docks triggered other similar incidents throughout the city that night, and in the days to come, throughout the world.