Chapter 1: Prologue

"Location: Bavaria, April 1945"

"Bombers are clear, sir." a soldier announced.

"Alright, Sergeant Arthur, it's time." another soldier said.

Lieutenant Brooke pointed to the duo of jeeps that were pulled up by an alpine road. His men leaped into them, ready to move out.

Okay, maybe we need some background. Let's start at the beginning.

"Eyes on the road and keep sharp. Command isn't expecting any resistance here, but that doesn't mean that you can go to sleep on me." Brooke ordered as the jeeps began to move.

That guy is named Lieutenant Oscar Brooke. He's an officer in the British Army, back during World War II. A year earlier, he and his men got trapped in the realm of the 'Man in the Black Suit', a demonic entity who managed to take over the world for a day.

The jeeps roared down the hill, heading towards a destroyed base in a valley.

Now he's in command of a top-secret unit of Allied commandos... Americans, Brits, Canadians, French... tasked with finding any and all information on the Man in the Black Suit and his plans.

The lead jeep rolled right through the front gate and pulled over, the second pulling up next to it. The commandos aboard jumped out, spreading out and looking for any signs of trouble.

"Clear!" one yelled.

"So far so good. Conli, Kahrs, cover the jeeps. The rest of you, on me." Brooke ordered.

You see, the Man in the Black Suit was trying to pre-empt someone called 'the Nightmare King'. Since nobody wants to tangle with somebody who literally has 'Nightmare' in their name, Allied command wanted to be prepared for when he turned up.

Brooke forced a bunker door open, raising his weapon at two hapless guards inside.

"Hande hock! Schnell!" Brooke shouted in broken German.

The two guards dropped their weapons and raised their arms up.

By this time, the German Army had mostly given up, so the main problem wasn't fighting their way to the information they wanted...

The commandos pushed through the bunker, ignoring the staff as they headed for the command room.

It was getting it in time.

Brooke and Arthur forced their way into the central command room of the bunker. An officer was standing in the middle of the room, holding up a file in one hand and a lighter in the other. Arthur threw his ration tin at him, knocking him to the floor. Brooke stared at the sergeant.

"It worked, didn't it?" Arthur asked.

"I guess so." Brooke replied, crossing his arms.


About two hours later, a company of American soldiers had arrived at the base and were rifling through the bunker for anything that might be useful. Brooke and his commandos were standing casually next to their jeeps, the officer tied to a nearby pole.

Just then, a olive US Army sedan pulled up in front of them. The driver jumped out, ran around the car, and opened the door for its occupant. The man was short, slightly balding and bespectacled, and clad in a drab grey three-piece suit. He looked every bit the pencil-pusher, but the look in his eyes betrayed a sharp mind. He walked purposefully towards Brooke and offered his hand.

"Bobby Anders, OSS. I'm here on behalf of Colonel Chester Phillips and the Strategic Scientific Reserve." the man introduced.

"He couldn't come himself, sir?" Brooke asked, shaking the agent's hand.

"No, he's busy. Did you find anything interesting?" Bobby asked.

Brooke pointed to the officer.

"Our friend here is one Hauptsturmführer Schrader. Back in '43, he was the German Government's liaison to an individual called 'Der Mann im Schwarzen Anzug'." Brooke replied.

"The Man in the Black Suit. Why did he leave them?" Bobby asked.

"The schweinhund failed to produce anything that could help the Reich attain total victory. The Führer was not a patient man, so we turned to Der Albtraum König." Schrader replied pompously.

"You dealt with the Nightmare King?" Bobby asked.

"We attempted to. We tried to accelerate his arrival by making a portal into the Ghost Zone. We nearly had it, but then the Man in the Black Suit found out. He destroyed our equipment. Months of hard work, ruined! And by the time we had regained even a fraction of our progress, your General Patton was crossing the Rhine." Schrader replied.

"You poor man." Arthur said in mock sympathy.

"They did make a few interesting notes. Corporal Conli, give him the file." Brooke ordered.

"Oui, Monsieur." a French commando said.

He handed Bobby the file.

"Some of it might be hard to read. Some bright spark decided to coat it in lighter fluid in an attempt to burn it, but they've studied prophecies, ancient runes, and word of mouth from the Man in the Black Suit. It turns out that his arrival is directly tied to the existence of man-made ghost portals." Brooke explained.

"How so?" Bobby asked, flipping through the file.

"They act as beacons to him, like radar. If you open too many, or build one on a place with a lot of dormant ectoplasmic energy, he takes it as his cue to attack. After that, it's only a matter of months before he gathers his forces and comes through to our world." Brooke replied.

"There's a map of the United States here. What's this thing that they've circled?" Bobby asked.

"It's the highest concentration of dormant ectoplasmic energy in the universe. The city of Amity Park, Illinois, in The World Of Nickelodeon." Brooke replied.

And 164 years later, that's where they came in...