John Zest

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> When darkness rises, there can still be light. Where evil lives, good triumphs. We will never have a perfect world. It is inevitable for that. But, we can at least make the world a better place. The Time Corps was made for that. But, there were flaws in the system. Many flaws.
>
> Zest at the end of The Final Battle.

**John Zest** is a major character in the Shadowverse. He was the former head of the Time Corps and the father of Agent ZERO. He was drafted to the Vietnam War at the age of 19, and joined the Time Corps at age 37 after he was recruited by Anthony Smith. After realizing his superior was corrupt, he exposed Anthony Smith, making him the head of the Time Corps, helping Agent 12 track down The Archer, The Annihilator, and Augustin Dubois.

After leaving the Time Corps, Zest joined forces with Jake Watson to take down the Time Bureau, but Zest was killed by an explosion within the ruins of Lee Technologies set by Director Wilson.

## John Zest

### Occupation

Time Corps agent, former general in the army

## Appearance

Zest is a middle aged man, with a black beard and determined eyes. He always has a cap on and sometimes has a suit on. He is an expert at weapons and is very strong and muscular. He always has big work boots on.

## Personality and Skills

Zest is good friends with Agent 12, and they both have a lot in common, considering they work with each other. Like the rest of the Time Corps, he was specially trained in many different forms of marcial arts. Zest is also fairly intelligent, and he likes doing research on many things.

## Biography

### Early Life

Zest was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War in June 1970 when he was 19 years old. He was first sent to Camp Delta, a military camp in Maine. On the flight to Vietnam, he met Mark Johnson, who would become one of his friends. Later, Zest realized that two months later, in August, he would be able to return back home.

Zest suspected his general, Miller, that he was plotting something. Zest was soon recruited for a mission out in the field. With plenty of hesitation, he wanted his friends to come with him. They stormed a Vietcong warehouse and found out that they were building a bomb with highly advanced technology un capable at that time. While storming the base, they encountered Professor Hoot (from 2022), who teleported away. They couldn’t deactivate the bomb in time, so one of Zest’s friends, Robert, sacrificed himself to blow it up. Zest ran into the cover of the jungle, and found himself in the middle of a battle. Mark was obscured from Zest’s view, and was presumed dead. This cutscene is seen in The Final Battle.

Zest was later approached by Anthony Smith fifteen years later, asking him to join the Time Corps. Zest agreed, and one year later, he joined.

### Mysterious Murders

Zest is now Assistant Commander of the Time Corps, and he finds two agents dead in their offices. Both agents were corrupt, and both committed suicide. Zest later has a strange dream about seeing Agent 9 get murdered, which was seen at the end of End of Times. With the help of Agent 6, he exposes Anthony Smith to the Time Corps.

In January 1997, Zest had a daughter, Agent ZERO. It is known that Zest had her before he had amnesia and the death of Smith because he did not even remember his daughters name. He also oversaw the X2 Experiments.

### Agent 12 series

Twenty years later, Zest sent Agent 12 off on a mission to stop The Archer and said he would take care of the monsters in 2017. He was also seen in the first book fighting off monsters with other Time Corps agents, even though they were heavily outnumbered. After Agent 12 returned from 2025 and went to stop The Annihilator, Zest prepared a strike team in case Agent 12 was in trouble. Sure enough, Agent 12 got shot, and the strike team rescued him.

When Agent 12 woke up from his 6 month coma, Zest told him that he had been framed. Zest was also one of the suspects, that’s why he went with Agent 12 to Jones Industries to prove his innocence. After he came clean from accusation, Zest tried to find The Annihilator with the help of Agent 12. Zest did not go out in the field to stop him, however, and he lost connection with Agent 12 after him and a newly independent Jake Watson went to stop Augustin Dubois. Zest also did not go back to 1972 with Agent 12 and Co to stop The Archer and his younger self. Zest helped participate in the cloning of Agent 12.

### Defenders of Time series

Commander Zest returned in The Warped Portal, he is investigating the Warped Portals that are appearing across Paterson. He went to an abandoned building because it was the source of a warped portal. However, he was abducted by Dark Beings. He was later rescued by Agent 9 and Juan Marquez from Professor Robert Hoot.

### Aftermath

Zest helped rescue and tried to hide Big Güino from Cyclone Dawn, but things went wrong and Zest was shot in the leg. He had a estimated 69% chance of survival because the bullet was infected. But, he managed to take part in the Siege of the Time Order and eventually killed Anthony Smith.

### Last Mission and Death

After finding out what happened with Jake, Zest teamed up with Agent 12 to rescue him. In doing so, Lee Technologies collapsed and Agent 12 was trapped, but Jake was freed.

Zest eventually joined forces with Jake and Malcolm Green to stop the Time Bureau, but as they were investigating, Zest was killed when a grenade blew up in a room.