Tomorrow came, and with it, a setback. Myotismon screamed in rage as it emerged a number of citizens had not been infected, and worse, a number of workers from City Departments had avoided the "vaccinations" entirely.  Another problem had come to light: The zombie-like citizens were slow to act, and slow to work.

Myotismon had spoken in metaphor, but these setbacks threatened the pace of his takeover. He had hoped to be using the city as a springboard, to strike out from the Multidimensional Airport to the real world. His first target: the United Nations Headquarters, New York City.  It was a symbolic and diversionary attack: At the same time, his forces would strike more important targets.

With the eyes of the Human world on the United Nations raid, his other troops could attack such things as oil and gas pipelines, mineral mines, and other key resources. He would steal what he could, bringing it to his own base of operations and using it to further expand. Meanwhile, the resources would be denied to the humans by damaging or destroying access. Oil rigs sunk, gas lines severed, and mines collapsed.

However, that had relied on speed. To have the numbers of expendable units, and the quick use of existing resources to force the human world on the defensive, allowing him to expand and consolidate power as well as having the ability to steal the resources. With citizens resisting, his first plan to obtain resources was delayed, and the longer it was delayed, the faster someone would notice.

"Time... I need more time!" He cried out.

And then he smirked.

"Of course... I can have the Digital World's timeflow sped up. And I have plenty of resources here..."

He looked at the city, and smiled. His plan was delayed, but in a few days, he would carry it out.

"The Human World will be mine at last..."

***

Captain Patrick Dale of the Digi City Police Department, his partner Commandramon, and four other Police Captains plus partners arrived back in the city at the Multidimensional Airport, returning from a two day conference. It had been an International Law Enforcement Summit, laying the groundwork for a Criminal Database shared between the Human and Digital worlds. However, the conference had been marred slightly by the failure of the Digi City delegation's main member failing to arrive, an email message informing the five Captains that Police Chief TK had been unable to attend.

What the message had not said, was any reason, and the five were annoyed.

"Any idea why TK bailed on us, Patrick?" One Captain, Jane Pearce, asked.

"Yeah. It's not like the chief." Her partner, a Renamon, noted.

Patrick was the senior Captain of the five, and as a result, had been forced to pick up the slack of the absent Chief.

"I know as much as you guys do. I'm going to have to ask him myself. I'm not happy either." He sighed.

The five plus their Digimon walked through the terminal, having landed in the early morning. The sun was just creeping up, and the whole group had managed to avert jet lag somewhat by sleeping on the plane. But they were still cranky from the no-show.

They were not so cranky to miss a glaring problem.

"Hey... Where is everyone? The terminal is usually busier..." Mark Miller, another Captain, noted.

Sure enough, the terminal was empty. Only a few security guards, and the oddly tired looking passport control officers, had been around.

"This wouldn't be why TK never showed would it? He'd call us back if there was some emergency, or warn us, right?"

Patrick considered this.

"Yeah... Unless the emergency moved fast..."

Another Captain, Ed Hudson, scoffed.

"Yeah, right, Patrick! What could move fast enough to stop TK from warning everyone?"

"We could ask someone." One of the Digimon Partners advised.

"No. We'll just head for the cars, then City Hall."

The ten had arrived in three cars, with four, four, and two to a car. Mark Miller and his Mikemon had used their own car, while Patrick had drove Ed and his Gazimon there. The remaining two partnerships shared the last car.

The ten were confused to find that the park and ride tickets seemed to be dated wrong.

"...It claims we left it here a year. Must be another glitch." Ed shrugged.

"Maybe that's the emergency?" Pearce wondered.

"We'd know about an emergency, guys. It's just us having odd luck." Miller claimed, unlocking and entering his own car.

The three drove out, noting yet more tired looking security guards, and that the streets too were quiet.

"Weird... Not a car on the route... And none parked..." Ed mused.

"I have a bad feeling about this now." Miller radioed in.

"Oh, sure. Now you're paranoid." Pearce replied.

"Car up ahead. It's probably nothing guys but I think we should be alert." Patrick warned.

His warning seemed to be right. The car braked, and tried to block the road. The three police vehicles halted too, the officers getting out.

However, the other vehicle carried two police officers as well.

"Captain Dale! Is that you?" One of the two cops that had halted them asked.

"Yeah. What's going on here?"

"Captains, you have to trust us. Get in your cars and follow us. They'll be here any minute."

"Who will be here?" Ed demanded.

"...Ed, now isn't the time. In the cars and follow them."

"What? Patrick, we have no idea what's happening here...." Jane protested.

"And things are feeling very weird, Jane. Besides, hear that?"

The group was silent, but the unmistakable hum of a distant, but approaching, number of helicopters could be heard.

Without another word, the ten got back in their cars and followed the officers. They drove off the main route, and found, to their shock, they had been driving through a sham.

"...What happened to the city?! All the buildings off the main route..."

Light poles and fixtures were torn up, some buildings were just piles of rubble, and it seemed anything salvageable had been removed. But this was not the result of attack. Everything had been neatly taken apart, as if a deliberate act to cannibalise the resources each of the buildings represented.

"Officers, can you explain what happened here?" Dale demanded.

"Sorry, Captain, but we need to keep radio silence. They might be listening." One officer quickly said.

In silence, they drove through deserted former streets, where homes and businesses had been taken apart seemingly for spares.

Three other cars approached, and the radios crackled.

"Captains, we need to abandon your cars."

The three cars pulled up, wary of the advice. The two officers left their own to explain as the other cars neared.

"Sorry about this. We'll explain more later, but your cars were probably bugged. They've been keeping the batteries topped up in cars at the airport car park."

"Wait, who are 'they'? And what's going on here?"

The officer shook his head.

"We can't talk out here, sir. Like I said, the cars could be bugged."

Reluctantly, Patrick had to agree.

***

The destination, it emerged, was Precinct Five, the location of the  Public Safety Maintenance Complex and Auxiliary Emergency Management Centre, the latter an underground facility below the main precinct with a number of hidden entrances.

The precinct building still stood, but the lights were out, and the convoy went in a side route to access the underground AEMC.

The five and their Digimon were taken to within the faculty, noting that a number of heavily armed police, and high-level Digimon, were on guard.

"Alright, what's happening here?" Patrick demanded, as they finally stopped in a small office . A Lieutenant sat within.

"Captain, I wish I could tell you it all, but I need to summarise. Our time is running out."

"Time for what?" Jane asked.

"A year ago, from our perspective, Myotismon attacked." The Lieutenant said, pulling no punches.

"Wait, what? How is that possible?" Mark asked,

"He sped up the timeflow of the city, but before that, he infected most citizens with a mind controlling virus.  Most cops and firefighters were captured too, but his plan had some problems. First,there was us. A number of First Responders, Firefighters, Cops, Doctors and Department Workers all managed to avoid capture. Second, he found the zombie workers weren't so good, so he just had the enslaved cops become enforcers, and put everyone he needed working into slavery at the crack of whips."

"...You're telling me the city fell? What about all the destruction? How many resistance members are there?"

The Lieutenant raised his hand.

"Captain, I can't tell you that last part, even though under the city charter you're in charge now. I had been in charge but you all outrank me, and you're senior. So, technically, you're the new Mayor."

Dale was surprised. The City Charter proclaimed that in the event of any Civic Leaders being unable to fulfil offices, the next highest official took over their roles. For the Police to start getting into Civic roles, demanded a state of emergency.

Given what he had saw and heard, Dale had no doubts that this was such a state.

"Okay, fine, Tell me everything. Why has the city been levelled?"

"I can explain this, Captain Dale."

A forensic scientist entered. Dale did not know the man, but let him explain.

"As a part of Myotismon's plan, he has been removing all recyclable materials to build weapons. Most buildings have been dismantled, except those he needs as symbols of power, such as the Precinct above. He also left the routes to city hall from the airport and other transit hubs intact, so anyone entering the city had a good chance of walking into one of his mind controlled patrols."

"So we were heading for a trap?" Ed asked. The Lieutenant nodded.

There was silence for a moment, until Dale realised something.

"Wait... Is the station above under his control?"

The Scientist nodded.

"Yes. We resistance members have largely hid in plain sight, acting loyal or concealed in areas he never knew of like this bunker. For the last year, we have been working on a counter virus to his mind control virus, but we all lack the correct protocols to gain access to point of delivery, and none of us are high ranking enough to bypass security to try and reach people who could. We would need Chief TK at the very least to be able to get to the City Network Nodes."

"...And as Captains, we can gain access to Police HQ and try to drag him out." Ed realised.

The Scientist nodded.

"Correct."

"So what's the plan?" Patrick asked.

"Simple. Upload the code to TK and Ken's D-3s. This will infect them with the counter-virus, and allow you to try and remove them from the building. Luckily, they are both stationed above."

Patrick nodded.

"Okay. I'll go upstairs soon then and do it. But what about the citizens?"

"Most of them are in the Industrial Sector, building weapons. The rest are being trained as soldiers." The Lieutenant replied.

"What for?" Jane asked.

"To attack the real world. And he plans to do it in eighteen hours." The Scientist said.

"What kind of forces does he have in the city? And what do we have" Mark asked

"He has everything, pretty much. We have a few cars, and we recovered a pair of SWAT helicopters, but no pilots. We had to conceal them down here, but they're more heavily armed than anything he has. He just has a lot more numbers on his side for now and if it came to a straight fight we'd be a bump in the road, nothing more."

"Then we need to get this done fast if we want to be a full blown roadblock. " Patrick said.

"I thought as much. I will upload an infecter program to your own Digivice. Get it near TK or even Ken, and it will infect them both, and delete Myotismon's virus. They will slump down and be unconscious for an hour. If all goes to plan, they will awaken their normal selves. If the virus is not removed, it will leave them comatose until we can remove it ourselves. Either way, in an hour we know if we can save the city.... And the world."

"Wait. What if we all get infected?" Ed asked.

"You won't. The counter-virus acts as a vaccine too. All five of you and your Digimon will soon be immune and able to start saving our people." The Scientist explained.

"That's good, but I'll go save the chief myself. If I don't come back you guys can think up a new plan. Better not to risk all the Captains at once..." Patrick commanded.

The others tried to object, but they knew he was right. Besides, he was, under Charter, the Mayor...


***

Getting in had been too easy. Just don't speak to anyone, walk like you own the place (Which under City Charter he technically did for now) and access the security-locked area where the targets were. They were, luckily, in Conference Room Five, the same one with a hidden passage that could lead into, but not out of, the bunker below.  Whatever they were doing just now was unknown given they were mind controlled.

The automatic doors recognised him as a captain, and allowed him in. It did not take long to find the two enslaved senior offices. They were not in discussion at all, but were in fact sitting at the table, reviewing statistics of Police reports coming in. They didn't even notice Dale enter.

"Sorry, boss, but this is for the good of the city..." Patrick muttered as he entered, allowing the virus uploaded to his own Digivice to infect the two D-3s. A moment later, the pair slumped down.

***

TK blinked, confused to hear cheering. Quieted, but still cheering.

"What... Captain Dale? What's going on?" He asked the first person he saw. Last he remembered, he had been in a meeting...

"Chief, it's a long story. But right now, we're celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" Ken asked, confused.

And Dale explained. TK and Ken were stunned to learn of all that happened and their current location, but the pair quickly recovered.

"Okay. Give us the uploader code now. We can go back up, and start spreading it among the First Responders at least. Other departments, we need to get the Department Heads free, but we need to try retake City Hall. And we need to be fast, so we can't be subtle." TK noted.

"And we can lock down other City resources. I bet Myotismon has hijacked all the helicopters and the transport system? We can shut them all down remotely from the precinct above." Ken said.

In less than a day, Myotismon had taken the city. In less than a day, he was about to lose it again...