Update 1
July 8th 2001:
Camera shows a news reporter standing against the backdrop of the National Park. Police lines stretch all the way around it, preventing access. Heavily armed policemen patrol the area.
Special correspondent Lin here on the field. A shootout! A firefight broke out between two unknown parties... We can't see what exactly happened there... the authorities have cordoned off this area... but witnesses have claimed that they heard automatic gunfire and bombs going off...
Yes, you heard that right, Mara, explosives. No, there is no word on what the firefight was about from the authorities... hang on, they are carrying the bodies out right now...
Armed Policemen: Get rid of that camera!
Hey! You can-
"Unmarked cars, weapon serial number scratched out, grenades, bulletproof vests, 2 dead paramedics, a leg bone, and some cooked human thighs. Oh, and a hysterical guy inside the ambulance."
"..."
"So any ideas what happened here? Do we know any cannibal paramilitary groups or something?"
"No, detective Craig."
"Well there goes that idea."
"Hey, this guy's one of us! I recognize him, he's the new guy! What's he doing here?"
Detective Craig sighed. "What the fudge."
Radford sighed. They were getting nowhere. "Goddamn town... it gives me the creeps..."
"Aww, it's not that bad..." Sheppard said. "I actually like this town."
"Really, you like the fact that there is a very creepy store clerk, the toughest bar lady in existence, AND the fact that there is an anomaly here that can potentially kill off every single men, women, and children in the town?"
"Oh yeah, aside from that."
Redford buried his head in his palms. "Can't still believe that the store clerk WASN'T infected, I mean what the ****?"
"Uhh..."
"I mean, come on, a mother of two children gets her shadow stolen, but that creepy jerk wasn't? I want to go and wipe that stupid grin off his face..."
"Redford?"
"What?" He looked back at Sheppard, who was, at this point, staring somewhere outside the window.
"Our shadows."
Redford looked down.
"Oh no."
July 11th
"Director Paul?" Director Paul looked up from his phone to see his assistant, Ellen. She was a strong, independent woman. Or so she said. Director had his doubts. She was, however, remarkably useful to have around. He had handpicked her himself for her performance, after all. And her bosom. Mostly for her bosom.
"Yes, cherie?"
"Wha-... err... I mean... Sir, Cavalry reports that they managed to form a ceasefire agreement with the Protectors.
Really, after that fiasco at the National Park? "Oh, good," he said.
"On the other hand Director Lin is demanding to speak to you."
"Oh. It's going to be bad, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Crap."
Annie sighed at the box laid out in front of her.
Well, she was going to have to deal with it sooner or later. She would have done it sooner, if she had a scissor. All of them seemed to be missing at the moment. That might as well do, wouldn't it? No need to open a creepy old box left behind by a creepy man. Yup, no need at all. She would just put it in a cabinet somewhere and...
The knife.
She supposed that she could have used a knife to open it. She always carried a pocket knife after all. But the tape would get stuck to the blade, wouldn't it? She hated to ruin a good kni-
She stabbed the box with the knife and then cut through the tape seal. **** it, she wouldn't let some idiot intimidate her like this. She opened the box and looked at the contents.
"Oh, that cheeky bastard," she muttered. She dumped the contents of the box over the floor to reveal her scissors, her cell phone battery, and yet another copy of the deed and the key.
The mission was a failure from the start.
We were misinformed. It wasn't that we charged into the situation, not knowing what to expect. It was that we charged into the situation thinking that it was something else entirely. No, it was deeper than that. It was as if we had a wrong state of mind.
We Keepers are well trained... well equipped... but nothing could have prepared us for what we saw beyond. Of course, by the time I realized this, I was already dead.
The Keepers that were sent to contain the situation was well-trained, ruthless, and most importantly well paid. Their loyalty was unquestionable, their resolve unbreakable, and their gun well-maintained.
So it was not unusual to see them level a tranquilizer gun at a defenseless teenager and pull the trigger.
What was unusual was what happened directly after it. The tranquilizer darts never hit their intended target. The Protectors arriving at the scene in order to observe the containment of the object, as per the agreement, never arrived. The desperate civilians hiding in whatever corner they could find away from metal shrapnel and bullets also similarly never emerged from their hiding place.
In that instance, every living being within 200 meter radius of the pocket watch disappeared, along with whatever possession they happened to be carrying at the time.
"The ****?" Director Paul muttered.
"Indeed, Mr. Paul," Director Lyn of the Protectors said with a frigid voice. "How do you plan on explaining this?"
"Explain what?!" Paul shouted out. "That bunch of troops disappeared while dealing with an anomaly? I would've thought that the Protectors would be used to that by now."
"Yes, that is exactly why we destroy these anomalies in order for them to not to cause problems to humanity anymore."
"How could anyone have known that this would happen?"
"It still does not change the fact that a dozen civilian, my entire Protector squad, and a couple of Keeper squads went missing in that instance," Director Lyn said. "In any case, this will be the Keeper's problem now."
"What? That's ridiculous- we are in it to..."
"My entire squad, gone. You are the only one with manpower nearby. Good luck, director," Lyn hung up the phone.
Erlang put down the phone and sighed. Perhaps this was fitting. While he did not receive the pocket watch, it was far gone for the Keepers and the Protectors as well. At least for a little while, at least.
"Ah, hello there," a voice said behind him. Erlang whirled around to see a man with all the emotional disposition of a bureaucrat staring back at him.
"I've been looking for you."
"Who are you?" Erlang demanded, putting his hand into his desk drawer where he kept the pistol.
"Gabe," the intruder answered.
Erlang pulled out the gun and shot him. Bubbles emanated from the barrel of the gun and harmlessly dissipated over the man's face.
"Actually I changed my mind," the intruder said. "My name is John."
"Really," Erlang said, dropping the gun.
"Yes. I believe it is the right of all to be called whatever they want to be called."
"What do you want?"
"A simple partnership..."
Jack flipped through the newspaper. It was the same old news as always. In fact, he had been reading this exact same issue since about... oh 20 years ago. They didn't make them like they used to anymore.
In fact, they didn't make it at all now.
Jack whistled as he cleaned his bar. The cat mewled, purring beside him.
"Looks like we'll actually get customers today, little fellah," Jack whispered to the cat. The cat seemed to nod briefly before trotting off to someplace else.
"That's a good cat," Jack muttered. "Bring them back here safely, m'kay?"
"So you really have no idea where we are," Earl said.
"No, sir," agent Stockwell said. "The GPS units are no longer functioning. Radio cannot reach command. Even a compass isn't working, sir."
Earl sighed. Jyoungmin was being kept under watch along with the rest of the civilians in a building. The pocket watch was safe in his hands, so the Protectors would be wanting it sooner or later when they eventually emerged from their swiftly constructed safehouse in a nearby apartment complex. Without the Command's support, they were in this situation blind.
"So what are we on then, another planet or something like that?"
Agent Stockwell let out a grunt as he surveyed the landscape. Roads of asphalt stretched as far as eyes can see in every direction. Monolithic skyscrapers of cement and glass rose on every side. Everything seems to be in good repair, but there are no sign of human life. There are no cars, no trash strewn about in the streets, and no voices nor footsteps of the pedestrians. There is only a cold wind that seems to come from a certain location of the city.
"Not unless the aliens built a larger scale model of New York City, sir," Agent Stockwell said.
"Hey Charlie, it's time to go home."
"I just can't believe that she's dead."
"I can't either."
"I just don't buy it."
"Me neither."
"It just feels as if... she's calling out to us somehow..."
"What are you doing, why are we packing up?" Detective Craig said, grabbing ahold of a nearby forensic investigator.
"I dunnow, sir, some Spook BS way above my pay grade," the investigator replied. "Can't help it. Gotta get out of here, sir."
"Oh for heaven's..." Craig let the investigator go and ran straight towards the scene of the crime. It was now full of unfamiliar faces bearing FBI insignias. He shouted "Who's in charge here?!"
Or at least he would've had he not immediately been surrounded by three men holding assault rifles.
"...Uh... can I speak to the one in charge of this investigation?" he asked.
"That would be me," said one of the men with the assault rifles.
"Really."
The man shrugged. "I'm what you get. Who the **** are you?"
Detective Craig smiled. "Well, I was just wondering whether or not you needed assistance with the investigation. You have to agree that I have more local-"
"We have plenty of witnesses already," the man said. "Shoo him off."
"Hey wai-"
"Actually," the man said. "There is one thing. You recognize this guy?" He held up a photo.
"Yeah, that's Chavez. He's a patrol cop. I don-"
"You cops always work in pairs," the man cut him off. "Where's his partner?"[/quote]
When Alan woke up, he was in a bar.
The last thing he remembered was the tranq dart being fired at the girl who possessed the pocket watch... then...
"Oh look who's finally awake," Jack said from beyond the counter. He was busily trying to clean a stain from a glass and failing. "Now you can stop drooling on the counter that I just cleaned. You buying anything?"
"Wha-"
"Oh, by the way, my star waiter had to drag you all the way from the 143rd street to here. You are going to need to pay for that. Preferably in fish." There was a small mewling sound from somewhere.
"I don't have a-"
"Dollars work as well."
Alan grasped his head. It felt as if somebody took a gold brick and hit him repeatedly with it. "Who the hell are you?"
"Name's Jack," Jack said. Alan blinked.
"You are the guy that Gabe told me..."
"Gabe? That's what he said his name was?" Jack said inquisitively. "Huh, funny. He told me he was Falafelraptor or something like that. So what did he send you out for?"
"The watch... he wants the watch..."
"So he can ruin my business more, I presume," Jack said, waving his hand. "Ah well. I don't suppose you have the watch yet. Maybe you could buy a beer and cool your head a little. Welcome to Limbo."
