From the Shadows

Mortuus Lupus

OCTOBER 4TH, 2001

A large pole stood by Fort Lee. Several Furs stood by the flag as the American flag was taken down, and a rainbow flag with a paw print in the middle was replaced with it, waving in the autumn wind. Frenzy was one of the Furs standing by, watching the flag get taken down.

"Burn the flag." Frenzy ordered. "Leave no trace."

The Furs standing by quickly obeyed and took the flag away. Frenzy, with a gun in paws, walked inside the base. It was trashed, rummaged through, and void of any life. He slowly walked around as he came across several photos on the wall. He stopped at one of them, and looked at it.

"Lance Corporal." He ordered, as he came. "What is this photo?"
"It's a photo of the first president of the United States of America. He was called George Washington, and in this photo, it shows him crossing the Delaware River." The Lance Corporal replied
"Why'd he do it?"
"A surprise attack, I'm guessing?"
"I like this photo. Preserve it."
"Emperor, you stated yourself to destroy any items influenced by the Humans."
"I'm guessing you can make an exception."

As Frenzy continued to walk through the base, with the Lance Corporal following behind him, they came across another flag in the dining room. Three horizontal stripes, being red and black. In the center was a paw print, streaked out by a black line.

"Lance Corporal, what flag is this?" Frenzy asked.
"I have no idea, sir. It's a new one." He replied
"Burn this flag too. Primogenitors know if this has bad significance or not."

Frenzy watched as the Lance Corporal ripped the flag off the wall and took it out the room. Frenzy stayed in his same spot, looking around. He slowly began walking around as he came across a photo of various soldiers, smiling and laughing it seemed. Frenzy looked up at it, with hate.

"You're not in control" He said.

—------------------------------

"Thousands of Furs are being shipped by sea and air to Europe. I hope you know what you're doing, Davidson." First Marshall Lupis spoke, sitting across from me.
"I do. Raeal has gone mad, and now, he's destroyed Anthropolis. Primogenitors know if he'll commence something much more dangerous."
"We know how he is, and I agree with what you are doing. But lives are being put at risk, and we need to think of what we're doing."
"What is there to think of? Raeal is going to die, not us."

Lupis sighed as he stood slowly up.

"A direct assault on Europe." I said "We need to do that. Raeal needs to be stopped."
"I know, sir."

—------------------------------

"Drew?" Alek asked me, arriving at my room.
"Yeah?" I replied
"It's time. Come on."

I slowly stood up from my bed as I walked to him.

"Where's Mia?" I asked
"Still bummed out, brother. Not talking with anyone." Alek replied
"Tell her to meet me in the War Room. Call the others as well."
"I was already on that."

Me and Alek both walked through the hallways, where several other Furs were waiting for us.  Walked over to the table in the center, and a hologram of Europe showed.

"Furs, this is it. This is our chance to take down the UFN and the UPS. With Frenzy gone, that only leaves Emperor Davidson, and Raeal. We need Raeal dead. Of course, none of us know where Raeal is, but Davidson does. He's being transported by train through Rosemont, so we need to hop aboard and get him to talk. Once we know where Raeal is, we get to him, and shoot him in the head, ending this war." I explained
"And I'm guessing while all of this is going on, our fighters will be joining on the fight in Europe?" Tim asked
"You sure as hell will. The Elysium will be there to help you, but you need to Berlin, the UPS' central command center." I replied "Destroy their communications. Pave the way for our fighters."

—------------------------------

The loud sound of the massive train roared through the tracks. Hundreds of miles per hour, and around 20 carts on board. Behind, we were pursuing it with a jeep, barely keeping up with it. I sat in the driver seat as Mia sat next to me in the passenger seat. As the jeep catched up with the train, Mia climbed over the front window and kept her balance as she crawled to the hood of the jeep. She threw a hook on the train as I let go of the gas pedal and crawled onto the hood with her.

With the train moving the jeep, I jumped onto the rear of the train as Mia followed behind, and the two of us walked in the train. I held a rifle in my paws as Mia did the same, and the two of us walked through the train. With several guards in it, we had to ambush our way through the tran until we arrived at the passenger cabin.

At the passenger cabins were several offices, and at the end was an office with a label at the end, reading "Davidson"

"Stay here." I said, holding my paw out, stopping Mia.
"Please, be safe." Mia said as I slowly walked to the office.

I slowly approached the door and walked in, finding the room empty. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I could see a pistol in the corner of my eye, and quickly drawing my rifle, I fired at the gunman. I could hear a thud as I saw a gray Fur fall to the ground, bleeding from his chest. I quickly went over to aid him, and there I saw who it was.

"D-Drew...it's been a long time" It was Mia's dad.
"Sir...I-I'm sorry" I said
"Don't be, they were going to kill me anyway...How's Mia?"
"She's good. She's out there right now."
"Don't let her see her old Fur. She can't know. I bet she knows what I've done."
"We all do. A full on assault on Europe. You're the Emperor of the UFN now. You have the chance to make things better. Stop the UFN from being a tyrannical empire. End this war."
"Too late for that now. We're Furries, and we're all born the same way, and forced to live with the same idea. It's our nature."
"It doesn't have to. Help the AFC. Join our cause. I know you have the heart to do so."

Davidson sighed as he coughed up blood, then looked back at me.

"Will there be peace after I die?" He asked.
"A world full of peace cannot exist. Nor can a world full of hate survive." I replied as I kneeled down to his level.
"You do what you need to do. Keep my daughter safe." He said, handing me a file.
"I promise."

I slowly stood back up to my feet as I pulled out a white Deagle from my pocket, and pointed it at Davidson's head. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. It went all silent from there.

I put the Deagle back as I slowly walked out of the room, and towards Mia. I didn't say a word to her.

"What happened?" She asked me.

Just then, we could hear a loud whirring sound from above, and immediately the windows were shot, destroying them. I tossed myself and Mia to the ground as the bullet fire continued, and the two of us crawled through to the other cart. The two of us quickly stood up and ran through the cart as bullet fire pursued.

"We need to get to the roof of the train!" Mia shouted, and there I spotted a ladder.

We both ran towards the ladder, and climbing it, arriving to the roof. Several Protogens with rifles in paws stood on the roof. Fighting them back, more and more came the more died, and it was only me and Mia fighting against an army. Eventually, the Protogens had gotten a hold of her and took her away from me. Low on ammo, there wasn't much I could do.

"Drew!" She shouted to me. "Go! Get out of here!"

As I ran out of ammo, and cornered, I leaped off the train, falling to the ground below.