Earthside

Chapters

Shadow Protocol - Part 1
Shadow Protocol - Part 2
Shadow Protocol Part 3 - End of Section 1: Shadow Protocol

Shadow Protocol - Part 1

The large shop was brightly lit, the shelves neatly stocked. Two people sat behind the counter: a clerk and the shift manager.

“I'll be in the back for a bit, Sam. This time, you deal with the customers.” The manager stood up and pushed open the door to the break room. Settling down into an armchair, he picked up the remote and flipped on the television. Several of the programs were reports of robberies and other crimes committed by people wearing ski masks. Some were pointless and boring sitcoms. Others were action movies, or science fiction. One caught his eye, a speech which had been repeated constantly. The President of the Western Alliance had the most stone cold face anyone could muster.

“Man itself is in a state of peace. The one evil we must fear comes from beyond Earth itself. Extraterrestrials. Invaders. Each person on Earth must do his or her part to protect themselves from imminent threats. Anyone who witnesses a friend, neighbor, or stranger should call the local authorities to call it in. If we do not keep our world free, then—” He turned the television off.

“Political propaganda, all of it.” He got up, and walked to the door in the break room that led outside. Opening it, he watched strangers walk by from his position at the top of a long flight of stairs. Sam pushed through the door to the break room, panting heavily.

“You wouldn't believe the guy that just came in! He asked for me to repair his console, and wouldn't even tell me what was wrong with it. The guy was downright rude, Victor!” Victor glanced at him, waving his hand.

“Sam, calm down. We've gotten rude customers before, so don't sweat it.” He stared out the door as Sam returned to the front counter. A scene occurring outside the door caught his eye. Two agents in grey uniforms were dragging a tinfoil hat-wearing man, a Tinny, as they were called, out of his residence. He was kicking and screaming, flailing his legs around as the two agents pushed him inside an unmarked, black van. The agents hopped in and drove away. Sam stormed through the door, fuming in anger.

“That guy's system is broken, and yet he refuses to buy a new one! 'If you can't fix it, then I'm done with this system!' Idiot!” Victor was half-listening to him as he watched the night sky. The clouds were rolling in, obscuring the night sky. Sam jabbed him in the side, eliciting a groan from Victor.

“You're not even listening at all! Seriously! Gah!” Sam stomped out of the break room, back to the counter, and immediately went quiet. Victor, sensing a problem, shut the outside door, and opened the break room door slowly.

“Hello, and welcome to Thor's Games. How may I—” He stopped. The exact same agents he had seen through the window were in front of the counter, as still as marble statues, their grey uniforms sharp and straight. The one on the right wore a gold chain around his neck. The agent to Victor’s left had a gold ring on his finger .A wave of fear and awe spread through Victor. Swallowing hard, he walked out with a nervous smile. He looked to the right, where Sam was cowering in fear.

“W-welcome, agents! M-may I h-help you with anything?” The agent standing on the right flipped a pre-order card onto the counter for Borderlands 2. Victor sighed in relief, and picked up the card.

“A-alright then. That will be sixty-one dollars and ninety-three cents.” The agent on the left whipped out a government credit card. He swiped it through, and took the receipt. As they left with huge smiles, Victor took a step back and leaned against the wall. Sam stared at him.

“Victor? Y-you seem about as scared as I am.” Sam gulped with fright, while Victor looked down at the floor, his eyes wide.

“I was scared to death, but it's much better to try not to let it show. A customer's a customer, Sam, no matter if they scare you to death.” Victor looked at him, a spark of fear still in his eyes. He slid his keys out of his pocket, and flipped to the key shaped like a hammer.

“It's about time we closed, anyways. It's getting late.” Sam nodded, and bolted into the back room, only to reappear a minute later, hurriedly putting on his jacket as he sprinted through the front door. Victor shook his head. Sam was still in high school, just a bit younger than himself, but only Victor actually bothered to talk to him at all.

“Makes me think of a little kid, sometimes.” He shook his head in wonderment. He flipped off the lights inside the shop. Sliding his jacket over his work shirt, he walked through the front doors of Thor's Games, and locked them.

Walking at a steady pace, Victor watched the night around him. Three more Tinnies were being taken in for “questioning”, whatever that meant. He turned the corner at the end of the street, and walked right into a situation. Two agents were dragging his neighbor, elderly Mrs. Gimsley, out of her home, and forcing her into a van parked near the curb. She kept trying to keep her tinfoil helmet on.

“I'm not one of those 'Tinnies'! Let me go!” One of the agents whipped the back of her head and tossed her unconscious body into the van. Skirting the scene, Victor walked down the sidewalk, whistling a game theme. The agents seemed to buy that he hadn't seen anything, so they drove away.

Sighing in relief, Victor stopped to look around. His neighbors were repairing damage from the wave of robberies from the previous week. He shook his head in amazement.

Destructive. Not good at all. He resumed walking, arriving at his house quickly. It was one of the older homes on the block: a two story, six-bedroom house. The paint was peeling on the outside, and many of the windows were smudged, but it was a well-built house nonetheless. Pulling out his keys, he flipped to his house key, and slid it in.

As he entered, he was greeted by the warm scent of chocolate chip cookies. Something was off. Throwing off his jacket, he marched into the kitchen, his suspicions confirmed. A tall, blonde-haired woman was standing there, in his mother's apron, holding a baking tray full of cookies. He lowered his head and sighed. Ever since his parents had introduced her to him a year ago, she had been completely infatuated with him, to the point of being a stalker. He stared at her. She smiled.

“Hello, Vicky! I made cookies for you! Here, try one!” Refusing the cookie, he grabbed the tray, and slammed it down on the table.

“Ms. Goman, you're not allowed within a solid city block of my home! What gives you the right to just barge in here? I know you were a friend of my parents, but this is overstepping your bounds!” She walked up to him and slid her hand across his chin seductively.

“I just can't stay away from you.” Gripping her wrist, he pushed her away and picked up the wireless phone sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Ms. Goman, if you are not out of here within one minute, I will call the police, citing you on a charge of direct violation of a restraining order!” She went white and pulled off the apron. She ran to the door and threw it open.

“T-there's no need for that. I-I'll go. But remember, Vicky, I'll never stop lov—” He slammed the door in her face. The scent of the cookies returned, and he drifted over to them. Lifting one up, he examined the “chocolate chip.” As he scraped away with his fingernail, a small pill popped out.

“Thought so.” Tossing the cookie back on the tray, he dumped the entire batch into the trash. He grabbed a sponge, and scrubbed the tray until it shone. He didn't want any trace of that woman in his home. Putting the tray away, he ascended the stairs to the second floor, and walked to his bedroom. Opening his door, he found a small package on his bed, with a USB drive taped to it. A message attached caught his attention.

“‘To Victor Hernandez. I trust you will keep this safe. Anon.’ Huh, well this is interesting. Let's see what's on it.” He turned on his desktop, watching the computer quickly boot up. It was a joy for him to see the machine start up, since he had built the computer himself. The Windows 7 logo appeared, and the computer was running. He plugged in the USB drive, and waited for it to load. When it had finished, a strange video began playing. The name “Shadow Protocol” flashed across the screen.

“Record Five of our research. The government commissioned us to create a way to find a new world for humanity. Well, through our research, we did. We can't reach it though. A key component, a specific program, is missing, and without it, we cannot stabilize the portal. A defector, Goman, took the program with her, and disappeared without a trace.” He stopped the video, unable to completely process what he had just been told.

“No. No! They can't mean Ms. Goman. They mean someone else, that has to be it.” The video ended, with an installation notice for a strange program called “3-qu35t-R14.exe.” The data on it made it out to be another game, one to add to his mighty collection.

“Doesn't seem to be a virus. AVG seems strangely quiet about this.” He initiated the installation, when a loud voice came over his speakers.

“This is the Hand of Nod, reaching for you.” He nearly had a heart attack. Picking up the headset lying on his desk, he slid it on, and sighed.

“John, you idiot. You could have killed me that time.” Laughter on the other end followed.

“That was kind of the point, Vic. Anyways, 8r1nk needs you on. Obviously, I can't join you because of obligations to my dad. You know how it is.” Victor nodded.

“Yeah, no. No I don't, John.” He turned off the voice chat to stare at the ceiling in silence. He and John had created the clan a while ago, but other players had taken control of it away from them, specifically a member named J4ck455. It had made John ready to hunt them down and inflict grievous injury on them, but Victor had been more levelheaded in the matter. He had suggested to let them have control, and silently watch. Their clan became the most hated of all gaming clans.

“I guess I'll play with them.” He started up the server chat, and checked which game the match was in. That day, it was on Team Fortress 2.

“Great, just great. Well, I can't abandon them.”

About six hours, sixteen grudge matches, and eighteen sodas later, Victor finally got away from his clan. That had been the worst group of matches he had ever had. As usual, 4Tank had destroyed his clan, 8r1nk. He sent an email to the leader of the clan, asking for the leader to boot Victor.

“Your clan just isn’t fun anymore. Most of these idiots wouldn’t know a space bar from a Hershey Bar!” He sent the message, and closed out the game. He checked on the status of the install. It was half-finished. Starting up his browser, he checked his email, and logged into Youtube.

“Ah, finally. Someone uploaded that Stargate Atlantis episode. Awesome.” He had come to love that kind of show, where people from Earth go out among the stars, and kill aliens who are only good when dead. He started up the episode, the nostalgia of his memories of the first episode of Stargate Atlantis kicking in.

After the hour of the episode was up, he sat there with a huge smile on his face.

“Nothing beats nostalgia, hands down. I’m still happy they added Ronon Dex. That guy’s awesome!” The speakers emitted a sound like a ding, signifying that the installation was complete. Opening up the program, the logo “Shadow Protocol” came up again, followed by a black screen, with one word in blazing white. Equestria.

“Wait a second! 3-qu35t-R14.exe? That's—” His sentence was cut short by a blinding light that emanated from the computer monitor. He could barely see anything.

“What's going on?! This isn't physically possible!” He attempted to reach his computer, but as he got close, small bolts of static electricity zapped him, forcing him back. He stared at the screen. A “hole” of sorts had inexplicably appeared in the middle of his screen.

“Okay, I have got to be dreaming! How—” A flash of lightning shot from his computer monitor, catching him in the shoulder. He flipped backwards, slamming against the wall. He slid to the floor, and coughed up some blood. As he pulled himself to his knees, he watched as the “hole” expanded more and more. Another bolt of lightning arced out, and slammed him to the floor, knocking him out.

“What do you mean, you lost the Shadow Protocol? How can you lose something that important?!” The general at the end of the table was flustered. The scientists in front of him bowed their heads in shame.

“General Gettysburg, the defector must have taken it with her.” All of the scientists froze. Even Gettysburg was shocked.

“You assured me she could not have taken it before! What made you change your mind?! Speak, or you will be shot as a traitor!” The scientist backed up, fear in her eyes.

“It was accessed using Dr. Goman's pass-code, sir. There is no other way. She has the Shadow Protocol, and with it, the key to Project Homeworld.” Gettysburg stared her down, then sat up. He waved them out. Pressing a button on his desk, he summoned in two agents.

“Agents One and Two, reporting, Director.” Gettysburg stood up from his chair, and walked towards the office window. He sighed, watching the construction of Project Homeworld. Flipping around, he pointed at the two agents.

“You are tasked with tracking down and finding the Shadow Protocol! Use any means necessary, just find that program! Power surges, illegal activities, anything could be evidence of use of the Shadow Protocol! Now get going! We don't have much time!” The two agents bowed, saluted, and sprinted out of his office. Returning to his desk, he opened up the top drawer, pulling out a bottle of whiskey. Popping the top, he took a long gulp of the liquid, coughing afterwards.

“If we don't get that Protocol back, we're all doomed.”

The two agents gathered up seven fellow agents, and handed them each a fully armed and loaded prototype pulse rifle.

“We have our orders, Agents. We are to hunt down the Shadow Protocol, and retrieve it by any means necessary. Do not hold back! If a civilian gets in our way, do not hesitate!” The seven agents saluted, and ran off in separate directions. Agent One pulled off his sunglasses, and rubbed his forehead.

“I wonder if we're doing the right thing, with what we've been ordered to do.” Agent Two glared at him.

“You're not getting cold feet, after all these years, are you?” Agent One stared at Two.

“No. I just wonder, what is it all for?”

Victor slowly awoke from the pain. There was a little blood on the floor; he guessed it probably dribbled out of his mouth when he was unconscious. Pushing himself up, his body tensed with the pain from his shoulder. He wiped his mouth, and stood up slowly, shaking a bit.

“Gah! What was that?!” He looked around, his vision blurry. He could barely see.

“This is just great.” As he stood there, his vision began to clear. He could make out his computer monitor, and a rippling, shiny mass behind his desk. His vision almost fully clear, he saw what it extended from. His monitor was missing. He assumed it to be part of the rippling mass. The rest of his computer materials were safe, at least.

“This isn't possible. What am I supposed to do?!” The mass began rippling, colours rolling through the shapeless mass.. As he stared at the mass, an image appeared in the centre, rapidly expanding. He could barely make out something seemingly familiar in the image. As it continued to expand, it hit him. It wasn't an image; the mass was similar to a window into another world, but the world was somewhere new, somewhere alien.

“No, that’s impossible. It can't be real!” There were six creatures one the other side like he’d never seen before. The form they seemed to resemble was strange, and somewhat blurred. They were all staring at something, as if they were looking straight at him.

“Hmm. Let's try something.” He picked up a pen from the floor near his desk. Winding up like a pitcher, he threw it straight at the mass. Instead of it bouncing off, as he believed it would, it flew straight through, and smacked one of the creatures in the face.

“That's new.” As he sat there, he watched one creature trot up to the “portal” and wave. Victor tentatively raised his hand and waved. The reaction on the other side was delayed, but the creature was apparently shocked to see that he could see it. He backed up, away from the “portal”.

“This is just like that Stargate Atlantis episode. The one where Sheppard got pulled through that portal, and couldn't break free!” He backed further away, and tripped over his bed. Falling head-over-heels, he stared at the “portal”, as the creature was testing it. The creature attempted to cause something to occur, which was unclear to Victor. A surge went down his spine as the creature put a limb into the portal

“It’s going to get dragged through! It’s going to get dragged through!” It tried pulling its appendage out, but it went in farther. Two creatures tried their hardest, one pulling hard, the other trying to lift the one away from the portal. The strong forces of the portal dragged it through even faster when its friends let go. Victor tried to stand, but was knocked over by a gust of wind. The creature was coming through the portal, and part of it was coming through on his side. He crawled over his bed. He wasn't prepared for what happened next.

“No! Don't let it drag me through!” The creature was screaming as it came through, and its momentum transferred from the other side. It landed on Victor, sliding on him for a fair distance. When they stopped, it hopped off of him, quivering in fear.

“Just what are you? You're not a pony!” Victor stood back. He had no idea what was going on. He looked behind the creature, and, with a stunned look on his face, stared as the “portal” closed. He sat down, and glared at the creature sitting in front of him. He couldn’t think of anything to say. No creature like it existed, though it did seem similar to an actual pony, besides the fact it was vivid lavender. He just sat there, his mind blank. Eventually, his attention drifted towards his desktop computer. It was a smoking husk of what it had been. The hardware that had been plugged in was fine. He yanked the USB drive out, examining it closely

“Well, I doubt that the 'Shadow Protocol', or whatever that was, will open that 'portal' again, or whatever that was. Computer’s completely fried.” He walked slowly to his bed, and sat down, resting his head in his hands. The pony looked at him with a sideways glance.

“It looks like I'm stuck here. Introductions are proper in this predicament, right?” The pony held out its hoof as a gesture of peace.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you are?”

Agent Two stood outside a large, six-bedroom house, holding a report for One.

“There was a power surge a few moments ago, from this very location. It could indicate a use of the Shadow Protocol.” One nodded.

“Get any men we need. We're going in, and we'll take that individual in for 'questioning.'” Two stared at him.

“One, are you sure? It's just one teenager. Victor Hernandez is his name. Shift manager at Thor's Games?” Agent One froze. He pulled out the pre-order card for Borderlands 2. He held it in front of him, and tore it in two.

“Terrorist.” He radioed nearby military units, sending them coordinates. Victor would be taken in, whether or not he wanted to.

Shadow Protocol - Part 2

Victor stared at Twilight. His mind was racing with all sorts of implications of what it meant. Either he had brought what could be considered an alien into his world, or he was absolutely loony, and unable to tell reality from imagination. He looked down at his hand. He had wiped it on his mouth, a dark red streak on the back of it. He couldn't even begin to think of what he could say to Twilight. Eventually, he held up his hand for a handshake.

“I'm Victor Hernand—” He barely got part of his name out before Twilight's hoof slammed down on his hand, causing Victor to scream in agony.

“Oh, for the love of Pete! Get! Off! My! Hand!” He retracted his hand as Twilight removed her hoof. Victor rolled around, holding his hand. He couldn't tolerate that level of pain. Twilight backed up, unsure of what exactly Victor was doing.

“Ooh, uh, what do I do?” She backed up in shock when Victor glared at her.

“Don't step on my hand again.” He was visibly angry, a metaphorical shadow crossing his face. He held his hand underneath his arm, trying to keep the pain from showing on his face, even though he could feel it clearly was.

“I'm sorry!” Twilight sat down, her face a mask of worry and shock. She had no idea what she had done, or what she could do to help. Victor held up his hand, trying to calm her down.

“Don't shriek, okay? The pain's subsiding already. Wait, what's that?” A voice could be heard coming from somewhere. Victor got up on his knees, creeping towards a window down the hall. He slowly peered over the sill, to a sight of what seemed like the entire police force sitting on his front lawn, and the whole SWAT team as well. He ducked down. As soon as he did, shots riddled the wall, scaring him half to death. His snoring sister didn't seem to budge at all. Victor slowly moved, being careful not to show himself through the window, lest they get a bead on him again. Twilight was standing down the hall, shock in her eyes.

“This can't be happening! I'm not even supposed to be here!” Her face started twitching, prompting Victor to run past her. She had a horn, and he didn't want her trying to gore him with it. He didn't even know how the lavender unicorn was handling nearly being shot. He peered into his sister's room, looking at her sleeping form.

“Can't be helped.” He shut her door, sprinting to his room. Reaching into the smoking husk that had been his computer, he retrieved the hard drive, sliding it into his pocket. Walking over to a shelf near his bed, he picked up his laptop, pushing it into its bag. He slung that over his shoulder, staring at the floor.

“Twilight, we can't stay here. We've got to get out of here, or we're going to get killed!” He tried to open his window, but it wouldn't budge. In a fit of rage, he kicked the window, knocking it loose. It slipped down into the pool without so much as a splash. Victor heard the front door crash in, heavy footsteps preceding loud shouting, alerting him to the SWAT team that had broken in. He dropped his laptop bag out the window into some bushes below. It landed on the ground quietly and softly. Without thinking, he dived out the window. He landed in the pool with a great splash, giving away that he was escaping.

“Get him! He jumped out a window!” The heavy footsteps thundered around, clearly audible even from outside. Twilight, seeing no other choice, dived out the window after Victor. She landed on the edge of the pool, watching Victor as he dragged himself back up. Running over to the bushes, he picked his bag back up, sliding it back onto his shoulder.

“Let's get out of here!” Victor ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction from the house. Hedges surrounded the back part of the property, beyond which lay a large, undeveloped lot. Twilight didn't need any coaxing; she didn't want to die, and going with Victor seemed like the best idea.

“What do you mean, they escaped?!” Agent One seemed dangerously close to having an aneurysm out of pure rage.

“You're the best SWAT team in the country, and you couldn't even catch one measly teenager?! He jumped out a window! You should have had men waiting outside!” He shook the SWAT commander vigorously.

“I'm sorry, sir, but we didn't know he'd kick his window out of the wall, then dive out after it! That kind of thing is impossible to plan for!” He stood still, resisting the attempts by One to shake him. One stopped as Agent Two approached them.

“Sir, I've got the information you wanted. Unfortunately, we can't tell whether or not Victor did use the Shadow Protocol, as the hard drive from his computer was either destroyed, or removed.” Two stared at One as the latter clenched his fist.

“We have to find him! Period! What's beyond that empty lot beyond those hedges?”

“Sir? That's a no-mans-land.” Two took One aside to speak with him quietly.

“One, that's where 'they' go.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about. In the off chance he makes it through, I want a single security checkpoint on the other side, to neutralize him if necessary.”

“Sir, if I may─”

“One checkpoint is all we need.”

The lot was annoyingly huge. Victor noticed a grouping of tenements off in the distance; unfortunately, he couldn't see what stood between them and the tenements.

“Twilight, I don't trust this. I can barely see anything, let alone my own hands and feet.” He crept along carefully, grabbing each rock with care. Twilight crept beside him. As they crossed one small little hole, Twilight froze. Victor shook his head, turning to face a dead body. He nearly screamed in surprise.

“As I said, I don't trust this. We've got to hurry.” He examined the body as best he could in the darkness.

“He's been eaten. There are bite marks all over. What could have─ crap.” There had been cloud cover overhead. It cleared, allowing moonlight to illuminate what actually was ahead of them. Dead bodies were everywhere, but that wasn't the shocking part. Twilight turned green from the people shambling around, some appearing to be crying in agony, others in pure terror, many bumping into each other and tearing each other apart. Victor had to look away to keep from retching. Twilight smiled a little bit, her face contorting into a mask of insanity.

“We almost got shot, and now we're in a field of things that look like you, but eat each other! This is so much better!” The shambling people stopped. All of them stared at her. Her face returned to normal.

“Oops.” She stood beside Victor, whose face had gone whiter than the moon.

“Twilight, when I say run, run. Don't ask, just run.” He stood up slowly, looking towards the tenements.

“Run!” He broke away at a dead run, sprinting as fast as he could away. Twilight galloped, catching up with and passing him easily. The shambling people shrieked, alerting others to the prospect of fresh meat. More and more began to chase them.

“Oh, for crying out loud! These guys are fast!” Victor vaulted over a rock, slamming his foot into the head of one who had just happened along at the wrong moment. He held his hand over his mouth as he kept running. Oh God above, I just killed someone! Twilight didn't even see him hit the person; she was intent on her own survival. They neared the other side of the lot.

Twilight leaped onto the asphalt as Victor clambered up and ran away screaming. She looked behind, seeing the large numbers at the base of a hole at the end of the road. There were other shambling people on the road who stared at them, baring their teeth.

“Great, we trade one group of cannibals for another group! Run!” Victor and Twilight sped down an alleyway between two tenement buildings, turning at one junction to hide behind a dumpster. Victor watched as the shamblers ran past.

“They're not as bright as one would think. Twilight?” He turned around to see her slowly walking away.

“Twilight, what are you doing?”

“No, I can't do this! I don't even know why I'm with you!”

“Twilight, those cannibals are going to find you, and most likely eat you!” She kept walking away as he watched.

“Victor, why should I stay?”

“Because I'm the only one who can help you! I brought you to Earth, so now, I have to be responsible for what I did. Also, besides the fact that as soon as you walk into the middle of that junction, they'll see you.” He looked at the dumpster. The tenement was missing its ladder, but the dumpster was in the perfect place for them to climb up. Facing Twilight, he watched as she approached him.

“Well, you're definitely responsible, that's for sure.” She sat in front of the dumpster, confused by what the container did.

“What exactly is this thing for? Storage?” Her comment made Victor chuckle.

“It's a garbage dumpster, but right now, it's our way up.” He clambered up, stopping to lift Twilight up as well. She seemed slightly disgusted by the fact they had to walk on the garbage to get up. Victor climbed up onto the rickety tenement stairs, pausing yet again to help Twilight up.

“You're incredibly heavy, you know that?” He dragged her up, struggling as he did. She glared at him as she came up over the edge of the stairs.

“Let's just hurry up and get out of here already. I don’t want to be stuck here.” She pushed past him, forcing her way up the rickety metal steps. Victor followed carefully behind, unsure of those steps. He looked up, watching the dark sky. It was almost morning, the night being in the period of time called twilight. He chuckled at that thought.

“Twilight, be careful. These steps might not be very—” He put his foot on one step, causing it to break off the stairs.

“—safe.” He moved quickly, the steps breaking under his weight as he ran quickly up the stairs. Twilight turned around to stare at him. She started moving faster when she saw the steps breaking under him.

“Hurry up! Don't block my way, Twilight!”

Agent One stood at the checkpoint, smiling as he waited. He was incredibly confident that Victor would take that specific route. Agent Two ran up behind him, clearing his throat.

“One, no sign of the fugitive yet. It's incredibly unlikely he made it out alive.” Two looked the other direction before One could see the relieved expression on his face.

“He'll come. They always do. See, that's got to be him right there!” One pulled out binoculars, examining the incoming person. He dropped the binoculars, one of the lenses shattering as it hit the ground.

“Get everyone into position. If that was Victor Hernandez, I'd hate to meet him face-to-face.” One slid his pistol out of its holster, pulling back the slide to check the magazine. He let go, the slide locking back into place. He pulled out his radio, his hand starting to shake from tension.

“All units, this is Agent One. We are about to be attacked, repeat, we are about to be attacked!” The creatures sprinted, some stumbling and staggering as they ran at the checkpoint, where panicked soldiers tried to take down as many as they could. Agent One, Two, and Five were waiting, but even they felt a little panicked. There was no training to deal with sadistic, cannibalistic people who had been alerted into attacking. They had to rely on their wits, and they were at their wit's end. Soldiers lobbed grenades into the charging group, to no avail. Even though some lost limbs, they seemed to not notice as they kept running at them. A few fell over from sheer blood loss. The agents backed up slightly, then sprinted in the opposite direction, looking for some place to hide, somewhere where those “things” wouldn't get them.

Victor reached the fire escape ladder at the top of the tenement stairs as Twilight did. She seemed to be panicking, glancing about for any way out. Victor watched as the last of the steps broke off.

“Well, no way we can get down from this side. Only one way to go, Twilight, and that's up. Unless, of course, ponies can climb ladders, I'm going to have to carry you up.” His unspoken question was answered when Twilight lowered her head in defeat.

“I can't use magic at all here. I don't get it at all.” She sat down on the metal landing, her head down on her hooves. Victor put his hand on her head, patting it lightly.

“Earth isn't a magical place, Twilight. If magic were real, you need a source to use it. On Earth, there are none, so you're screwed in that regard. I'm sure you'd have used your 'magic' many times by now if you could.” He looked up the fire escape to the roof. Motioning to his back, Victor lifted Twilight up, wrapping the laptop bag strap around them both. He was deep in thought as he climbed up to the roof. Many things puzzled him, but above all, the stuff about “magic” that Twilight had mentioned. As he climbed over the lip of the roof, his mind was still churning the facts and figures over in his head. When he had gotten onto a flat area, he let Twilight off of his back, and sat down himself. She sat down a few feet away, somewhat distrusting of Victor still. He couldn't blame her. He wouldn't even trust himself if he were in her shoes, or hooves. He laid back and looked up at the night sky. The stars were quite vivid, and he could make out many constellations. A ringing from his laptop bag brought him out of his concentration on the stars. Reaching inside, he pulled out his sister's cellphone.

“Must have forgotten to return it. Probably her boyfriend.” When he answered the call, it was not the person he expected. Instead, he got someone that he doubted even his sister knew.

“Well, Mr. Hernandez, it seems you are in a bind, I see.” The voice chuckled a little, then coughed for a few minutes. The wheezing voice came back after the coughing, but it sounded like whoever the caller was, they were terribly sick.

“You're in more of a bind than me. You should see a doctor if your coughing is that bad.” His eyes widened as the voice on the other end of the line laughed. The caller's breaths came through as wheezing, as if he was breathing through a mask of sorts.

“It's nothing. Only dust. You are curious about the Shadow Procotol, yes? Your friend, the code analyst, he can help in that regard. Make sure you find him.” The voice cackled.

“What do I tell him when I meet him? Who are you?”

“I think you already know that. 'The queen and all her elves come here anon.' Know the reference?”

“'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Yeah, I know it. So, you're Anon?” Anon wheezed again while Victor spoke.

“Yes. I work for Dr. Goman, and you will end up meeting her. Not now, however. Your journey has only begun, and you must discover the truth of what you seek.” Anon cackled again, laughing heartily before coughing and wheezing once more.

“That's incredibly cryptic! What am I—” The phone clicked, and the conversation ended. Victor tried redialling the number, but could not get a signal.

“Well, that's just great. 'Discover the truth of what you seek.' Cryptic idiocy that doesn't make any sense!” He kicked a large air conditioner beside him, his irritation visible. He wasn't happy at all, not one bit. He put his back against the air conditioner and slid down to the ground in defeat. Twilight stood in front of him.

“What's wrong? You seem kind of angry.”

“I've lost everything. Home, family, a job. All of it lost because I decided to do the right thing, and help you. Is there such a thing as cutting a guy some slack? That's all I ask for, but no! They have to go and make me out like a criminal! I should have just let them shoot me then and there.” He was knocked back against the air conditioner, Twilight having hit him across the face with her hoof.

“I'm stuck here because of what happened. We're both without homes right now. Victor, you brought me here on accident, and you're trying to fix that. I can respect that. But pitying yourself isn't the way to go about fixing it! We have to work together to save ourselves.” She held out her hoof. Victor grabbed it and hauled himself up.

“You're right. And all those things my teachers used to say about me being mature. I'm such a child.” He looked down at the phone. Several messages had appeared in the inbox, both text and picture. He opened three of the picture messages, and nearly dropped the phone. Anon had detailed them out a route to the house of Victor's friend, and Victor hadn't even told him where John lived.

“I guess that's the power of someone with an information network. You get all the cool stuff, and information that people want hidden. Twilight? This is the safest route we can take. The agents seem incredibly incompetent, so I doubt they'll be waiting for us. We can take the fire escape down on the building across the way over there.” He jogged over to the edge of the roof, staring down at the roof that he was thinking of.

“Unfortunately, we're going to have to jump. Twilight?” Twilight had gone to the other side of the roof, and was pawing at the ground. Victor got the message and dived out of the way, just in time for Twilight to come barreling towards him and jump off the roof. He scrambled to the edge of the roof, watching her descent. He couldn't bear to watch, but he was compelled to. His jaw clenched as he stared at her sailing across the alleyway. She landed on the other roof with a resounding smack, turned around, and motioned for Victor to jump. He ran to the other side of the roof, and closed his eyes.

“Okay, okay. It's not a long way down, it's just a shallow river. Just like jumping the creek at Grandma's house.” He opened his eyes and set his face in a determined expression as he sprinted across the roof. He put his foot on the edge of the roof and pushed off, sending himself tumbling through the air directly at Twilight, who was scrambling around trying to find a place to duck under.

“Incoming! Move out of the way!” Victor barely missed Twilight as he hit the roof and rolled. He slammed into a patio chair that had been lying on its back behind an air conditioner, breaking the flimsy chair into pieces. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, groaning as he did.

“That's the last time I do that. I feel like I hit a concrete wall.” He looked over at the edge of the roof, where the fire escape ladder was. He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't undershot his target and slammed into it. Twilight looked at the ladder tentatively, unsure of what to do. Victor glanced over at her, shaking his head in exasperation.

“Guess I have to carry you down again.” He looked up at the stars, taking it in again.

“The stars are the same no matter where you go.” He chuckled and hauled Twilight onto his back, her legs gripping onto him, freeing up his hands to grip onto the fire escape ladder. As Victor climbed down, a realization came to him.

“We should have seen some more of those cannibals. Yet, there is none. Wonder what happened?”

Victor's question was answered as he and Twilight came to a park-like area that was on the path that Anon had decided for him. The remains of a military checkpoint were there, along with the bodies of many soldiers. As they both got closer, Victor noticed other bodies besides the ones from the soldiers. The cannibals, or at least what was left of them, were all around, some partially intact, others just simply a torso. Victor had to look away for a second, his stomach gurgling as if he was going to lose his lunch. Twilight had near the same reaction as well. He skirted around a pile of dead soldiers when a hand grabbed him. He nearly let out a shriek when he felt it. However, when he looked down, he saw an injured soldier lying underneath the bodies. Beside the pile was a medical kit. Victor pulled the bodies off of the soldier, helping him to his feet.

“T-thank you. At least someone decided to help.” The soldier stared at the carnage around him: twisted metal husks that used to be jeeps, bodies that had been torn apart by cannibals and explosions, and his own leg, which appeared to be broken. He toppled over, landing on his side. He screamed in pain when the shock jolted his leg. Victor grabbed the medical kit and a nearby straight piece of metal.

“That leg will only get worse if I don't take care of it. Hold still, let me patch you up.” Victor grimaced as he worked on the soldier. Not only had the leg been broken, but it had been hit by a piece of shrapnel. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but he couldn't leave someone to die, after what he did to his sister. The operation took a short amount of time, after which Victor hauled the soldier to his feet again, holding him up with his arm.

“A-as I said, t-thank you. What's your name?”

“I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm Victor Hernandez.” Victor studied the soldier's face as it went completely white.

“Victor Hernandez? You're the one we were supposed to capture. Eh, they're wrong about you, from what I can tell. I won't forget this, Victor.” Victor walked off towards the carnage, spying an almost intact jeep. He made his way over, the soldier holding onto him, and Twilight following behind. Victor opened the door and helped the soldier sit down.

“You should be safe in here. If any of those 'things' survived, don't make any noise. It seems to be what pushes them into insanity.” The soldier nodded silently, taking Victor's advice to heart. Victor shut the door and looked towards the city. He pulled out the phone and looked at the map again.

“Well, we've got a long ways to go. Better get going before something catches us.”

Agents One, Two, and Five crawled out from under the remains of a jeep, scorched in areas, but otherwise unscathed. One was furious enough to kick the side of a relatively intact jeep, but was stopped when he heard moaning from inside. Drawing his pistol, he opened the door slowly and carefully, to reveal a soldier with a splint on his leg.

“Agents. What are you doing?”

“Who put that splint on your leg? We're the only ones who survived.” One holstered his gun, his face a mask of irritation.

“The one you are hunting. Victor Hernandez stopped to help me, of all people. You're wrong about him. You don't realize it, but you're hunting a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly.” One slammed the door shut in the soldier's face, rattling the jeep and causing the soldier to yelp in pain.

“One, maybe he's right. Victor Hernandez has no record for someone of his age, which is remarkable. Maybe the general had this all wrong, so—” Two was interrupted by One drawing his pistol and shooting Five through the head. He waved the gun over to Two's face, holding it steady.

“We are going to kill Victor Hernandez, and that's that, Two. If you want to run, I will shoot you.” He looked off into the distance, deep in thought.

“When I get my hands on you, Victor Hernandez, I'm going to tear you apart, limb from limb.”

Shadow Protocol Part 3 - End of Section 1: Shadow Protocol

The sun broke upon two figures as they walked side-by-side into the city, a man and a pony. Victor was panting and breathing hard as he staggered over to a nearby wall and leaned against it for support.

“Well... at least that's over now.” He stumbled towards a bus stop, tripping over discarded soda cans and cardboard boxes. As he sat down, the sun finally came up slightly over a nearby building. Leaning back, he smiled in relief. “Morning... finally. Like a nightmare lifted.” He rolled his head to face Twilight, who was also quite ragged. He chuckled a little. “We're both out of sorts, aren't we, Twilight?” He didn't wait for a response from her. He leaned forward just as his stomach started to grumble. It dawned on him that he actually had not eaten anything for dinner, and it was about breakfast time. Pushing himself back up, he moved outside of the bus stop as Twilight lay down. As soon as her head hit the hard wood, she was out like a light. Victor watched her for a few minutes. “Animals always look so cute when they're asleep.” He jogged across the street, looking for anywhere he might get food. As he entered one alley, he spied a vending machine. There wasn't much in it, but it would have to do. He pulled out several quarters and plopped them in, withdrawing two bags of chips and a soda from the machine. Returning to the bus stop, he was shocked to see that Twilight was not lying down anymore. She wasn't even in the bus stop anymore. Quickly making his way across the street, he jammed the chips and soda into his pockets and glanced around. Muffled noises from an alleyway not six feet from him drew his attention.

“This sorta thing oughta fetch us a bright penny on the black market.”

“She's incredible. I want her as a pet.”

“Mike, shut up. There's only one of her, and you know we needs the money.” They continued to argue and bicker about what to do with their captive as Victor rounded the corner. Three skinny teens were congregated around Twilight, who was tied up and had a gag in her mouth. She was trying to say something, but when she noticed Victor, she stopped. Victor pulled out his soda, nodded at it, and threw it, clocking one of the three teens on the head.

“Hey, you kids! Beat it, or I will beat you!” He didn't get the response he expected, as the three approached him.

“What'cha gonna do, pops? Call our mommies?”

“Yeah, gonna call the cops?”

“Nope,.” He smiled as he jabbed hard with his fist. He wasn't partial to fighting, and hating to whenever he could, but when he fought, he always did with everything in. The other two came after him, but he socked them in the face as well. They backed up, sweat streaming from their brows.

“Come on, guys. This pony ain't worth a broken nose.” The three hoodlums left. Victor sprinted to Twilight and undid her bindings.

“You okay, Twilight? They didn't hurt you, did they?”

“They were... going to sell me. Do you have any idea what that means to me?!”

“Whoa, psycho! Calm down! They won't be bothering you any more.” He helped her up to a standing position and looked around. The hoodlums had left behind two wallets, and some extra rope. Victor picked them up, looking at each one in turn. “Good for something, I guess.” He tied the rope around his waste and picked what was worthwhile out of the wallets. They definitely had needed the money that selling Twilight would have garnered, but they had not wanted to mess with him. He sat down beside her and hugged her, trying to dispel the fear she might have been feeling at that point. “Twilight, you've just witnessed firsthand what the human race is capable of. We're almost always out for some kind of profit, which makes us worse than super villains sometimes. Super villains at least have an ultimate goal. All we want to do is amass wealth.”

“I know a pony who would agree with that philosophy. Good thing she isn't here. She'd be taking advantage of all the opportunities, too.” Twilight stood up and shook her head, trying to clear her messy mane out of her eyes. Victor chuckled and stood up as well.

“Well, we'd best get a move on. Whoever set up that military checkpoint is probably not far behind.” He stopped talking when he heard voices from the other end of the alleyway. “Twilight, stay behind me,” he hissed in a harsh whisper. He watched the end as two grey-suited figures walked slowly by the alley's end. They made Victor's heart jump into his throat. He recognized the agents from when they had bought that pre-order card at the game store. He stood still. Whatever reason they had to hunt him down, it must have been so important that he needed to be killed. He slid down the wall, sitting quietly as he waited. He pulled out the USB stick and examined it. “The Shadow Protocol, huh? You're worth a lot to them, but what are you really for exactly?”

Agents One and Two swept their rifle sights over the area. They hated to use up valuable experimental ammunition, but they wanted Victor Hernandez dead. The lights on the sides of their pulse rifles blinked slowly, the cerulean blue bulbs blinding if one looked directly at them. The Agents wore goggles for the back-blast from the rifles, and the light glinted off of them onto the walls. As they stopped, One heard a crack behind him. He flipped around and fired, a large blue blast vaporizing the ground and leaving a large crater behind. Two tapped him on the shoulder.

“Keep it together. You're letting the stress get to you. Calm down and keep moving.” Two crept along carefully after imparting that wisdom to One, who seemed like his head was about to explode out of rage.

“I can keep it together, Two, but this is... gah! Failure after failure! There's no end to it at all!” He pulled back the slider on his pulse rifle, popping out a still-smoking shell. Two shook his head in amazement.

“If you can, don't go shooting your shadow. Just keep moving. We need to sweep this entire area.” As they turned the corner, two soldiers saw them and ran for cover, fearing the worst. When no shots came, they peeked out, to find no one there. As they sat back down, they came face to face with Agent One, who was less than pleased.

“What are you leadheads doing here? You've deserted your post. Help us sweep this area, and we'll overlook it just this once.” One smirked a slightly crooked smile, which scared the soldiers into obedience. They trained their weapons on the different areas around, leaving nothing except the first alleyway unchecked.

“One, didn't we pass an alleyway a minute ago? We haven't checked that yet.” Two jogged back to the alleyway, scanning it to make sure. Victor sucked in his breath and covered Twilight's mouth, trying to keep her from making any noise. “Well, nothing here. It's clear.” Two sprinted to catch up with One and Five. Victor slowly let out his breath and uncovered Twilight's mouth, only to have her bite his hand. Right then and there, Victor realized something that slipped his mind: ponies have incredibly strong jaws. As he pushed her away and bit his lip to keep from screaming, he glared daggers at her as he held his bleeding, lacerated hand.

“Just be glad it was my left hand, you dolt! If it was my right, I wouldn't have been able to do anything again!” He pulled off his jacket and tore it apart, taking strips out and applying them to his hand. “Why'd you even do that?!”

“You had your hand over my mouth. It's an appropriate reaction, Victor!” They stopped talking afterwards, staring at each other every so often as they tried to make less noise than they had already made. Victor, in his thoughts, wondered why the Agents had not heard him harshly talking to Twilight. It did not make sense to him at all. He tied what remained of his jacket to his head to keep the sweat out of his eyes. Fear was pounding in his heart and he was fully aware that he was scared. He could tell that Twilight was scared, too.

As they reached another cross street, Victor sat down and looked at his hand. The blood had seeped through. He needed to get it stitched up, or he was either going to bleed out, get a serious infection, or lose his hand. None of those options seemed very good at all for him. Twilight came up and attempted to use her magic again, but got sparks, nothing else.

“I can't help you at all. Even if I could, I don't know if I would be of any help. I was never prepared for anything like this. Not even Celestia, in all her great wisdom, could prepare for a test like this.” She sat down beside Victor, who had begun to chuckle.

“Heh... you think this is some sort of test? Let me tell you something, Twilight. A test, for me, is to see how much knowledge of a certain subject you have. This is not a test. This is reality, Twilight. There is nothing in the history of any planet, at all, that will prepare you for running for your life from maniacs with guns, or any weapons that could be used to kill you in various, nondescriptly unpleasant ways.” He forced himself back up, cradling his hand as he moved out into the street. Down one way, there was several boarded up stores. One was a drugstore. Victor smiled as he looked up and down several times. Down the other way was access to a draw bridge, but even at that time, it was up. Twilight stared at the boards on the windows as they walked passed the various old stores.

“Why are they all boarded up? What happened?” She read some of the signs out loud to herself, trying to make sense of them.

“This was the old Chinatown district. After the Western Alliance formed, China and Russia had a bit of a feud. Then the Chinese attacked North America. Suffice to say, the Chinese had no safe place to go. It was a warzone here. There's still no one here at all. Maybe a few drifters, but none with any way to survive outside of criminal aspects of life.” He approached the drugstore and pulled the board off the door with his good hand. “The boards got old. Rains quite a lot in this district.” He kicked the boards on the inside down and clambered through the broken door inside. There was shelves stocked with expired over-the-counter medication, some of it three years old. Victor whistled and shook his head as he rummaged around to see if there was any bandages left. “The Reds put up one good fight after another wherever we found them. President called in the army to forcefully remove any Russians or Chinese from major cities, fearing sabotage. Heh, he sabotaged a major portion of industry to settle fears.” He hummed as he opened a first-aid kit he had found underneath the counter. “Ah, that's more like it.” He pulled out a hermetically sealed bottle of antiseptic, and two rolls of self-adhering bandages, along with a gauze pad. He pulled the strips of jacket off of his hand slowly, clenching his teeth as it ripped scars off. The sight was unbearable, so he didn't look as his shaky right hand poured the antiseptic all over his left hand. He grabbed a nearby piece of cloth which had fallen out of the first-aid kit and bit down hard to keep from screaming. After he was finished, he placed the gauze pad slowly on, grimacing through the tremendous pain. He wrapped it up quickly with the bandages and looked at it. “Better than nothing, I suppose. Come on, let's-” He stood up to face two Chinese teenagers aiming rifles at his head. As they forced him backwards, they began questioning him rapidly in Chinese. Twilight shouted at them, which seemed to make them stop.

“What is going on here?!”

“Do not be afraid, strange pony. We have business with Westerner here. He enter our store, take items of value, and leave without saying anything.”

“Hey, I was bleeding out, all right? She... she bit me, all right? Pretty badly too.” They lowered their weapons long enough to allow Victor to stand up. “So, are you with Anon?” When Victor mentioned the name, it had not occurred to him what sort of effect it would have on them. They raised their weapons and backed away slowly.

“How do you know Anon? He does not like outsiders.” Victor watched one as his hands began to twitch, a finger getting close to the trigger. He squeezed a shot off just as Victor ducked and leaped forward to knock him off his feet. He fired a few more shots as the other tried to get Victor in his sights. Victor pulled himself and slammed his fist into the other teen's face. He stood there, panting, as the one he had knocked down got up and ran away as fast as he could. Cracking his hand, he coughed and sighed.

“It had to be done. They would have shot me- Twilight?” Looking around, Victor saw Twilight laying down on the ground. Her leg had been shot. It was still moving, but it looked like it was in immense pain. “Twilight! Don't worry, I'll fix this... somehow!” He hurried over to the medical kit and rummaged around, attempting to locate forceps and bandages. Once he had located those items, he sat down beside Twilight and began attempting to pull the bullet out. Piece after piece, shard after shard, parts of the bullets came out one by one until he had all of the pieces sitting on the floor beside him. He grabbed the bandages and wrapped them tightly around Twilight's leg. He did not understand what her anatomy was like – to tell the truth, he did not even understand his own anatomy all that well. He sat with her until they both fell asleep.

Victor awoke to Twilight groaning as she tried to move her leg.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Twilight. Don't try to move your leg. You got shot yesterday. It was an accident, but you were hurt pretty badly. Where's some rope? Rope, rope, rope... ah, rope.” He got down on all fours and lashed the rope around Twilight's abdomen, then tied it tightly around himself. “We can move slightly faster this way, and this way, I'm protecting you.” Twilight mumbled something in response as he jogged out of the store. Looking around, it appeared just as deserted as before, except now Victor knew otherwise. He could feel eyes watching him as he re-entered the drugstore, removed the clothes from the teen he had knocked out, and set them aside as he set Twilight down and changed into them. When he stepped back out, he was in a grey hoodie, with black, baggy jeans. In his mind, it certainly changed what he appeared to be as he re-attached Twilight to his back. “We're going now. Don't worry, Twilight. John should be able to help you. He's paranoid, which means he might have what we need.”

One and the other Agents had heard the rifle shot go off, but arrived only to find an unconscious, almost-naked teen groaning as he woke up.

“Hernandez. He's taken to violence. They all do. You've seen that, right, Two?” One knelt down and quickly knocked the teen out again. “I'm not going to let him see us. The Chinese who still live here don't trust us anyways. The less of them that see us, the better.” He stood up and looked at the other Agents. “Come on, we have to keep searching. He may have left the area already. Check the drawbridge too!”

Victor stood at the foot of the drawbridge and stared up. It was quite large for a drawbridge, but it had been meant for large cargo ships carrying materials into the city. He sighed and crept carefully over to the shack where the controls were. Looking inside, he could see one guard sleeping at his post. Smiling, he opened the door carefully, making sure that it did not squeak as he tapped the guard on the shoulder.

“H-hey, w-what?!” Victor placed his hand over the guard's mouth and whispered so as not to alert anyone else.

“Shh. I need you to lower the drawbridge, or at least give me some way to get across. I need to get out of this district now, and without delay.” The guard stared at them.

“There's a boat tethered to the maintenance ladder on this side. The bridge has been out of commission for a few weeks, so you won't be able to cross over the bridge.” Victor smiled before punching him in the face. “Ow! What was that for?”

“To make it look like I forced the information out of you. Trust me, it will save your life.” Victor backed into the shadows and made his way quietly to the maintenance ladder. Sure enough, there was a motorboat tethered to it, just like the guard had said. Clambering into it, he laid Twilight in the middle on top of some nets that were inside and started up the motor, getting it to move as fast as possible across the river before the Agents could discover him.

The boat ride ended up being uneventful as Victor carried Twilight on his back up another ladder to street level. Pulling out the cellphone, he looked at the map Anon had given them. A point appeared, showing where he was in relation to John's house.

“We're almost there, Twilight. Just hang on a bit more.” Stumbling a little as he tripped over a crack in the road, he regained his footing and kept moving, holding the phone in front of him as he staggered every so often when Twilight struggled weakly. “Don't worry, Twilight. You'll be okay.” He stopped. Something warm was on his face as he stumbled again, his knees giving out and sending him tumbling to the ground. He put the phone away and put his right hand up to his face. There were tears coming down. He had not noticed before, but he had been crying. He sat down against a wall after setting Twilight down on a nearby bench. He grabbed out his wallet and pulled out a photo of his grandfather. He remembered the last time he cried, eight years before, when his grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. He eventually buried the emotions so he could function, but at that point, there was no one to hide them from. He was alone, a lavender pony out cold on a bench in front of him. Standing back up, he sniffed and picked Twilight up. Lashing her to his back again, he started out again, following the phone's map.

Agent One scanned three bloodstains on a ladder leading down to a makeshift boat launch on the drawbridge. He smiled.

“They definitely came this way. Remember the samples we took of blood on the counter in the drugstore?” Two shrugged.

“One, yes it was him, but from the amount of blood, he seemed badly injured.”

“Good, then he'll bleed out before I get to him. He will count himself lucky if he doesn't meet me.”

Turning the corner into a trailer park, Victor began jogging, trying to move faster. His destination was a trailer that looked like someone had outfitted it to withstand a war. There was barbed wire, razor wire, and electric fencing. He smiled, then frowned when he heard Twilight moaning.

“We're here.” Approaching slowly, he raised his hand to knock when a figure quickly opened the door and dragged them in.

“Victor, I thought I told you to only come here if it was an emergency.” A figure in a green jacket, grey jeans, black goggles, and red sneakers held Victor by his shoulders.

“John, it is an emergency. One that threatens everything we know. And it has to do with a conspiracy by the government.” Another head popped out from down a hall to John's left.

“Conspiracy? What kind?”

“Dad, just stop, please!” John's father stepped out and turned on the hallway lights.

“Well, if it isn't Victor Hernandez, our favourite... eh, that's all I've got. Wait, what's that? Is that some kind of government experiment gone wrong and now you're trying to hide it so that they don't kill it?” Victor stared at John's father and raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing like that actually. Unfortunately, this has to do with something else entirely, mainly, the government hunting me because of this.” He held up the USB drive and handed it to John. “Someone called Anon directed me to come here so you could look at the coding and figure out the true purpose of the program on here.” Victor backed up as John snatched it quickly out of his hands.

“I'll get right on it. Anon called ahead, said to be ready. Let's hope this isn't as well encrypted as he made it out to be.”

Agent One stopped as he examined more bloodstains. One was a long skid, and it made it out to seem that there was a second person who was assisting Victor. He punched a wall in anger.

“He's got help?! Who would help this two-bit thief? Who is there that we don't know about?” One stared at Four as he watched the window.

“His co-worker, Samuel Irues. He could be harboring the fugitive. I suggest mobilizing all available assets – what military we can get a hold of, and any police in the vicinity. Seven, get on the horn with Gettysburg. Ask him for reinforcements. This punk won't make fools out of Agents.”

John sat in front of a large bank of twelve monitors, typing rapidly as Victor entered. He pointed over to a nearby cushion on the floor.

“There. Sit. I will crack this, or my name isn't John S. Nipez!” The lines of code stretched across the screen when a few lit up as red.

“Wait, what are those?” Victor leaned in just before John thrust his hand out to push him back.

“Watchdogs. Like security lasers. Trip one, you're instantly traced. Thankfully, I've met a few before, and they are relatively easy to bypass.” He smiled as he pulled up one section of data on something known as Project 'Homeworld.'

As the time wore on, more data piled up, composing an entire cabinet's worth of hidden data, all on Project Homeworld. Victor stopped John at one piece of data regarding the Shadow Protocol.

“'The Shadow Protocol was designed as a program for stabilizing the event horizon of the Shadow Gate. On its own, even with a relatively low-powered device, like a home computer, it could create a small dimensional rift. Contact with such a rift would pull a subject through.' That sounds like what happened to Twilight, John!” Victor was about to run out to the couch where Twilight was laying down when he saw her enter the room.

“Something about me? A rift? What kind?” As she sat down and read the data, she became even more visibly distressed. “Is this what happened? What if I can never go back? What if they catch us, and kill us, Victor? What then?”

“Twilight, John won't let that happen, right- John?” Victor turned around to face a bank of monitors with red exclamation marks on them, warnings. “John, what happened?!” John turned around to face them with an expression that could only be described as absolute fear.

“Victor, a Watchdog. They had a hidden one that activated once you dug in too far. They've got our location! I suggest you run, now!” John stood beside Victor as they were about to run, but they were stopped by Mr. Nipez, John's father.

“I couldn't help but listen in. I guess that it's time, John. In the back, there's a motorcycle. It's fueled up and ready to go. I'll keep them off your backs while you get away!” John held his father's arm.

“What are you going to hold them off with?! Coat hangers?!” He backed up when his father lifted up a heavy machine gun.

“With this. I had a few... favours to call in, and they sent me this. Those government lackies won't know what hit them!” Mr. Nipez stood still as he watched the trio rush out the back door of the trailer. “Well, let's see what those lackies are up to, shall we, Resolute?” He opened up the front door to prepare for the almost-certain assault.

Agent One was about to yell at Seven for a terrible plan when his radio beeped. Activating it, he was greeted by the screaming voice of General Gettysburg.

“You let him dig into the software! He knows about Project Homeworld! He's going to find out about everything!” Gettysburg rattled off geographical coordinates to One. A smile crept across his face as the call dragged on. Turning off the radio afterwards, he laughed.

“We've got him! One of the Watchdogs inside of the program sent a digital beacon out! He's in the old trailer park that was supposed to be turned into a park a few years ago! You remember the one I'm talking about? Green Groves Trailer Park? Come on!” He picked up his Pulse Rifle and turned off the safety. “Gettysburg gave me a kill order. He must be dead, and nothing left of him, but keep the program safe!”

John sat on the motorcycle, trying to get it to work as he heard what sounded like hundreds of heavy boots running down the road. Gunfire erupted from the front of his house as Mr. Nipez opened fire. Kicking the engine, he got the motorcycle to start. Twilight sat in a side car with a helmet barely fitting her, sitting on Victor's lap. John wiped a tear from his eye.

“Thank you, Dad. I won't ever forget you.” Gunning the engine, he sped away as the gunfire echoed off into the distance.

Agents One, Two, and Five arrived ahead of the other three that had been assigned, their weapons ready for anything. As soon as they exited the military APC they had commandeered, a private pushed them down as a spray of bullets took his body apart, piece by piece. Two cocked his Pulse Rifle and fired at the source, detonating the box of MG shells.

John turned around to see his home explode in a flash of blue light. Hitting the brake, he slid to a stop. He stared at the wreckage, light glinting off of a trail of tears down his face. He stared at the motorcycle he was on, and stared at the wreckage.

“You're going to pay for this, you government lackies. You're all going to pay for the death of my father!” He gunned the engine again, zipping away before any person could locate them. Twilight looked over at John, who had tears flying off his face in the wind. She turned to Victor.

“John is really upset. What's going on?”

“Twilight, they killed his father! They murdered him, and we're going to stop them! They are not about to get away with

this!”

Agent Seven combed through the wreckage as Five gave the report to a nearby radio operator. He found one body, and nothing else.

“Agent One, sir! There's no trace of Victor Hernandez or John Nipez! They're not here!” Seven turned to see One grit his teeth in anger. A radio message came through, startling him out of his anger.

“Agents! This order comes from on high! Victor Hernandez, John S. Nipez, and whoever the third individual is, they are all now Priority One targets! I repeat, Priority One! Clearance granted for any and all assets needed to hunt them down! Recover the Shadow Protocol, or you're next on the Priority list!”

Victor stared down at his right hand, which tightly grasped the USB stick that contained the Shadow Protocol.

“This contains the key to bring down a government that has lied to every single one of its own citizens. We are not free, but slaves to propoganda. John, you did get some of the information, right?”

“Yeah! Three locations – the first one's in the ruins of New York! We'll head there first; it seems like the best course of action!” The motorcycle rumbled on into the coming darkness as the day drew to a close, with three of the Western Alliance's most wanted individuals onboard.

There would be time to grieve, but the time for action....

… had arrived.

End of Section 1: Shadow Protocol