Vanadium Comics Presents:

ARKADI-LAMPPOST NEWSLETTER By Staff Writer Tina Hayward June Edition Headline: "Chopping Crime, One Day at a Time!"

The Retri-Butcher Strikes Again: Spores-X House Destroyed, Sons of Crete Dismantled

Last night, chaos met justice at the corner of 47th and Halter in the Rustline District. Witnesses report that the infamous Retri-Butcher, Arkadium’s brutal vigilante with a thirst for righteousness, single-handedly dismantled a known Spores-X drug house — and turned a deadly trap into a message etched in blood and broken concrete.

The building, once a hive of chemical decay and human trafficking, was reduced to scorched rubble after what locals are calling a “one-man purge.” Explosions rocked the alleyways, and screams echoed into the early morning hours as the Butcher stormed the premises. Inside were several mid-level members of the Sons of Crete — the Minos-affiliated gang that’s been flooding Arkadium’s underground with Spores-X, a hallucinogenic sludge that rots the mind and enslaves the soul.

Not anymore.

“They didn’t stand a chance,” said one anonymous source, a former Spores-X runner turned street informant. “One minute the Butcher was outside — the next, he was through the wall, like a wrecking ball in boots. Blades out. No mercy.”

According to Arkadium PD reports, Retri-Butcher neutralized nine gang members and left three chained outside the ruins — duct-taped with a handwritten sign across their chests: “Your Crete crumbles. Clean up or get chopped.”

This marks the third Spores-X den the Retri-Butcher has targeted in two weeks. And while Commissioner Rowland continues to condemn vigilante justice, public opinion seems to be leaning toward grim approval.

“Honestly, I sleep better,” said Inez Morales, a Rustline resident and grandmother. “These thugs used to loiter outside my building, selling that poison to kids. The police never came in time. But he did.”

Sources suggest the Butcher’s campaign is part of a larger effort, possibly coordinated with other Arkadium vigilantes. Rumors place him working in tandem with the elusive Märlük, and some allege even Hiroshi Miike and Ben Ferguson were spotted in the aftermath.

What’s certain: wherever the Spores-X spreads, the Retri-Butcher won’t be far behind — ready to carve justice into the city’s bones.

Stay sharp, Arkadium. Justice walks with a butcher’s blade. – Tina Hayward, Arkadi-Lamppost No story is too dark.