Anyway, so let's assume most people had plenty of time for escape before the detonation of debatable size.

I'm really looking forward to the reaction of the nations at large to the advent of the Aeon Brood. Most of them should already know about the Dark Zone, but were too preoccupied/uninterested/terrified to properly investigate it. Now they have a pretty good idea of what was causing it, and what lurks inside of it. Do they keep it a secret from the populace, as not to invoke mass panic? Do they send exploratory probes into the zone? Do they attempt to capture and experiment on live Brood? This is really fertile ground for RP.