A/N: Ronnie Rude, here! A couple of people are probably going to be pissed at me. I did a complete rewrite of this story. I just wasn't satisfied where it was headed, and the more I wrote the more I wanted to go back and fix the beginning. So here we are, back to the beginning...and a lot has changed. Sorry if I confused anyone!

How did this all get started?

I took a long extended break from writing fanfiction and focused on Moderating and Administrating a Gantz Roleplay Forum for 5 long years! There I modded some great roleplays that really appealed to a lot of members. I soon realized that I might have a knack for writing. So I decided to put on my Writing Fedora and focus on an interesting challenge. The challenge is to use the plot and some of the characters from our roleplays and use it to write a Gantz story with just Original Characters. I've spent months outlining plot and characters. I'm pretty confident I can pull this off without the Canon Characters and still keep the occasional reader interested. Even if you aren't a Gantz Anime/Manga fan, feel free to read on, because I plan to provide a little of this and a little of that - hopefully providing a story that all readers can enjoy.

Read and review, and please BE HONEST.

Criticism is ALWAYS welcome.

I really want to know what you guys think!

Extended Synopsis: She knew her brother kept a lot of secrets; it was his way of always protecting her. However, she'd soon find out that this was the understatement of the century. Very few knew the circumstances behind his death, and her obsession with finding the truth, may very well lead to one of universe's most darkest secrets. Aliens do exist, and her and her team would fight to remedy that. At least that was the theory anyways.

Second Chances

"Where's the Team Spirit?"

Prologue

"You're the villain, not me!"

The car stops and he places a hand on her shoulder. She turns to face him, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her blue eyes. He holds his gaze on her; concern evident. Her eyes meet his. She knows this look; she hates it. She's no rookie and she prefers to not have him treat her as one.

"For pity's sake, Eugene, I've seen a damn corpse before!"

Eugene, adjusts his glasses, and smiles. "You're not like our old lieutenant. I figured ya for the squeamish type, but low and behold I stand corrected." He removes his hand from her shoulder, and takes the key out of the ignition. "I for one hate the smell of dead people," He grimaces as he exits the vehicle, and turns to face her as she follows suit. "It makes me sick."

She shakes her head, "Look who's squeamish, Detective." She shuts the car door and eyes the scene. "I prefer to be out on the field," she says, putting on a pair of white gloves. "I'm very hands on."

"Yeah, I'm sure the corpse won't mind." He responds.

"We shouldn't spend too much time here, considering we still need to look into that mansion."

"You're probably right, but I'm pretty sure the corpses won't mind if we run a tad bit late."

They reach an alley with yellow tape blocking their path. Two officers approach them and remove their hats. One is a little queasy while the other is nervous. "L-Lieutenant Ha-Harper, D-Detective Neville," his hand jittering as he gestures into the alley behind him, "You'll want t-to f-follow me."

Lieutenant Harper and Detective Neville follow him into the alley. Upon approaching the scene, Neville's nose wrinkles; the smell of burnt flesh is horrible. It's so overpowering, in fact, he turns and behind him the other officer is nowhere to be found. "Well at least I'm not THAT squeamish. Poor bastard is probably puking his guts out." He says, just above a whisper.

Lieutenant Harper ignores the comment and focuses on the crime scene. Just ahead a coroner is examining a man lying charred to a crisp, his hand outstretched as if reaching out to the sun shining above him. She swallows hard and clears her throat, "Have we gotten an I.D. on the body, yet?" she asks.

"N-no we thought it was best to not disturb the scene, Ma'am."

"No witnesses?"

"N-none, other than a couple of locals waking up at 4:45 p.m. A few claim to have heard the sound of gunshots and a black car fleeing the scene." The officer answers, his eyes avoiding Lieutenant Harper's. "I-I have already set the expectation that they may receive further questioning."

"What is your name officer?"

"Caden," he clears his throat, "Officer Caden Sinclair."

She nods briefly, looking him over despite his discomfort. "Officer Sinclair, I get the feeling there is something you're not telling me," she begins, closing the distance between them, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Why is that?"

Officer Sinclair, rubs his nose, "I-I really do like what you've done with your hair Lieutenant, i-it suits you," he says, his cheeks turning slightly red.

Lieutenant Harper blinks and Detective Neville snorts, and snickers behind her. A moment passes and Officer Sinclair excuses himself as the coroner, stands to greet them. He nods to them both before speaking, "Detective Neville, Lieutenant…My Lieutenant, you're looking abnormally red this morning." He adjusts his glasses. "Are you feeling alright?"

Detective Neville snorts, once again.

Lieutenant Harper glares at Detective Neville, "I'm fine, Doctor Jensen." She nods toward the body. "Do we have a cause of death?" She asks.

Doctor Jensen takes off his glasses and proceeds to wipe them with his handkerchief. "One would assume that multiple gunshot wounds to the victim's sternum would have certainly caused the victim to bleed to death," he begins, leading them to the body, "There is also a large puncture wound in the abdomen where a very sharp and long blade was used."

Lieutenant Harper arches, an eyebrow, "But?"

"But, the victim was obviously aware that he was on fire." He says, putting his glasses back on. "One can only assume that the victim was stabbed, set on fire and then shot multiple times."

"Jesus," Neville curses. He sniffs and frowns, almost immediately. He looks at Harper. "Do you smell that?"

She sniffs the air, "No, there's no indication a chemical was used."

"How was the victim set on fire, again?" Neville asks, taking out a notebook book and pen.

Doctor Jensen smirks, involuntarily. "Very good, Detective. Unfortunately that's a question that even I can't answer at this time."

Neville looks up from jotting down his notes, "What is the approximate time of the victim's time of death?" he asks.

"It's difficult to say really, considering the body's condition," he begins, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But, I would have to say within the timeframe of 4 o' clock and 5 o' clock a.m." Neville nods and Doctor Jensen looks at his watch. "I will leave you two to it then, if you'll excuse me."

Detective Neville looks on as Lieutenant Harper kneels beside the corpse. He is lost in thought as he reflects on the information thus far. "Makes you wonder just what the hell happened to this poor bastard." He whispers.

For Miles Kramer, it was strange, really. Everything was going according to plan. However, death, at least to him was never known to follow a plan of any sort. If you somehow live to tell the tale, you earn the right to gloat or to be thankful. Considering, unlike the rest, you are the one that cheated death; be it fate or dumb luck, you are still here.

He recalls each breath of air being exhilarating, and the next drink of water being that much more refreshing. It takes some getting used to, but you notice things, things that you once hadn't, and cherish loved ones more than ever before. You live for the moment, because when the stakes were high with your life on the line, the gamble was in your favor. He as well as the others accompanying him are of a select few, chosen to receive this reward. They've been given another chance - a second chance.

Miles Kramer scoffs, crosses his arms and sits down. Quite frankly, he hates this part of the mission. It's the part of the mission where realization sets in and newbs, as he likes to call them, finally arrive at the shocking conclusion that – yes, we're dead. He always finds it entertaining to watch them hypothesize on what may or may not be the reason why they are in a subway train, one they cannot escape, going god knows where – oh and there's a large black ball in the back of the train car. Just as soon as he thinks there are no longer any more reasonable explanations for this, a newb thinks of another, and their creativity truly amazes him.

That however, is not the case anymore, considering someone always thinks it's best to spill the beans, ruining all his fun. Miles hates it when people ruin the fun part, and begins to think that his friend, no, acquaintance, yes, acquaintance, Johnny Kudo does this just to spite him. His delusional acquaintance has this crazy idea that he is a superhero, and Miles is a villain. Miles may have robbed a casino, and a bank or two, but he didn't consider himself to be a villain at all.

When someone takes a dump in your cornflakes, and you punch them in the face for doing it, it doesn't make you a bad person, it's just you getting even. Even as much as people claim, two wrongs don't make a right, it doesn't feel right until you make it right, and Miles made it right. It's simple, but Johnny Kudo always fails to see things from his perspective, resulting in the two frequently bumping heads as of late.

Miles makes a fist, and whistles, considerably impressed. "Awesome." He whispers.

The black glove on his hand is out of the ordinary. On it there are a series of white, circular nodes, 4 in total, wrapping around the wrist. As his fist clenches and unclenches he can feel the nodes pumping fluid into the glove, making the small task effortless. He resists the urge to punch something, already knowing the result; he feels so indestructible.

"Maybe I should punch, Kudo?" He thinks to himself, and smiles at the thought of his fist connecting with his jaw. He dismisses the thought soon after,"He'd probably cry. I hate it when he cries."

"Miles!"

"What, Kudo?"

Johnny smirks, and makes a fist of his own, "Tell them about the suit, and how important it is to wear it."

"No."

Johnny frowns, lowering his fist and faces the three other passengers on the train. "Don't mind him; he's always like this before a mission." He says, and a smile once again graces his features. "Stick with me and you'll be safe."

"Wait a minute; don't I know you from somewhere?" A male passenger asks.

"Yes, he does look vaguely familiar now that you mention it," says a female.

Johnny Kudo's grin widens as he reaches in his coat pocket and retrieves an assortment of cloth. "You could say I do have somewhat of reputation." He says rather smugly.

"Not you, him."

Johnny turns and Miles sighs, "Here it comes."

"You're that guy the police are looking for!" The male passenger shouts, looking back at the female passenger. She nods back as he continues, "You robbed those banks!"

"I did."

"And that casino!"

"I did."

"You're a wanted criminal!"

"So they say," Miles states, smiling despite himself. "Do you want an autograph?"

"Um, does this make us hostages?" The female passenger asks him.

Johnny Kudo turns away. In his hand he holds a yellow, white and purple luchador mask. He drops it and sighs dejectedly. He was foolish to think anyone would recognize a hero without his mask.

"Excuse me, mister!" A little girl passenger calls out to him and tugs on his pants leg.

He looks down and a little girl with a missing front tooth smiles back up at him, because in her hand she holds his mask. "You dropped this?"

"Um, thanks."

She nods, and hands it to him. And with a finger to her lips, she shushes him, "I know your secret, Mister, you're Muscle Rider!"

Johnny winks at her and runs a hand through her hair, smiling, only to have that smile fade as a strange, but familiar song plays throughout the speakers of the train car. The mission would start soon and this game they'd be playing was not meant for children.

"This is bullcrap, Gantz!" Miles Kramer shouts, his fist connecting with the screen on the large black ball. "Give us the real target, and stop screwing with us!"

The picture of a girl with long brown hair disappears and reappears once again. Below her picture are several lines of text. The text doesn't require much deciphering and reads clearly as, "I want you to find and kill this Nikki Alien."

"Jesus, Miles." Johnny whispers, not really knowing what else to say. "Why is she the target?"

Miles turns, facing him with tears running down his freckled cheeks. "She is NOT, the target!" He shouts, before adding, "Gantz is just screwing with us."

"What did she do, Miles?"

"She didn't do anything!" He shouts once again, running his hands through his red, unruly hair. "She's NOT the target!"

"Miles calm down, man." Johnny states, placing a hand on his shoulder, "We just need a second to get our bearings." He laughs, "Gantz doesn't send us to kill people. We kill aliens. Maybe it's just one that looks like her."

"You'd take that chance?" Miles asks him. "You're really thinking about going through with this aren't you?"

"That's not it at all!"

Miles' eyes go wide as he considers the possibility of Kudo actually killing Nikki –his Nikki. He couldn't trust him; he couldn't trust any of them. They'd kill her, and wouldn't think twice about it because they all think it isn't real. They think it's a game. He couldn't allow the game to end in such a way. He wouldn't let Nikki be killed.

He turns and points at the other passengers, his voice that of venom, cursing them. "If any of you come near her, I'll kill you! I swear to god I'll kill you!"

The little girl begins to cry and Johnny kneels to console her. He shakes his head. "Miles, you're upset and not thinking straight!" He shouts.

"Kudo, I'd kill you too. You'd be a fool to think otherwise." Miles whispers, turning to face the Black Ball, referred to as Gantz.

He'd have to be smarter than the others, smarter than Kudo. He'd have to disadvantage them someway, somehow, but how? He smirks, as the ball opens, and several compartments containing various forms of equipment on the shelves are now visible for all to see. He reaches inside, cursing the mannequin of a little girl inside. A chill runs up his spine as she morphs into a malnourished little girl, attached to a breathing apparatus.

Her eyes open and she whispers, "Don't do this."

He figures he is seeing things. He ignores her and finds what he is looking for –controllers. They allowed the user to see where the mission targets and allies were at all times. 6 controllers in total and he would destroy all of them. Quickly, he grabs two at a time, one in each hand, squeezing and crushing the PDA devices, to nothing more than crumpled scrap metal.

A hand falls on his shoulder, "Miles, what are you doing?"

"Get your hands off me, Kudo!" Miles turns and pushes Johnny Kudo away. He laughs, as tears continue to fall from his eyes. "I'm playing the game, you idiot." He whispers, crushing the last and final controller. He stands, drying his eyes on his sleeve. "Send me out first, Gantz!"

Miles closes his eyes and reopens them. Another chill runs up his spine. Gantz didn't seem to mind sending him out first. The damn ball was mocking him, baiting him, considering he was now right outside of Nikki's household, an extravagant Victorian mansion, a reminder that; this is real- Gantz does want Nikki dead!

He felt his body move on its own, up the stone steps and arriving at the large oak door. He takes a moment to breathe, realizing that it's very hard to do so when his heart is racing as much as it was right now. He considers knocking, but knows he has little time for such pleasantries.

No time, Nikki's life is at stake!

He kicks down the door and raises his gun; it is oddly shaped like an X. He frowns. The house is quiet, too quiet. Any normal family would have made a sound or noise at the sound of their front door being kicked in. He looks down at his controller's PDA screen. The others, his allies, were green dots about a block away, and he could see a red dot; he figures that had to be Nikki. Her dot wasn't moving, so he assumed she was hiding.

Smart girl.

He enters the house and uses a scoped screen on the back of his X-gun, a name he came up with for simplicity sake, as a means to navigate the halls of the mansion. The uses of this gun were endless considering the user could toggle between night, thermal and X-ray vision.

Eventually he arrives at his destination, and on the other side of this door he'd find Nikki, and he'd explain everything to her.

No more lies.

"Nikki, it's me." He calls out. "It's Miles!" He reaches for door knob.

"Stay away from me!" He hears her cry, followed by sobs.

Why was she crying?

"I'm coming in, it's just me." He reassures her, opening the door.

Inside, a shadow of a figure runs to the right of the room. He turns on the light switch and his eyes widen. The library is a mess, but there isn't just books lying about. There's so much blood and Miles searches frantically for the source. Thankfully the blood didn't belong to Nikki; however his face becomes pale upon realizing the blood had belonged to Nikki's parents.

"Jesus Nikki, what the hell happened in here?" Miles asks, covering his mouth, and turning to face her. He sees that she too is covered in blood, her parent's blood. He swallows, feeling a lump in his throat. "Nikki, you didn't."

"I did, I was so hungry, Miles." She cries, hugging her knees to her chest. "I'm a monster!"

Miles shakes his head and runs to her side, kneeling beside her and taking her into his arms. "Shut up, Nikki. Just shut up."

"You have to kill me Miles or I don't know what I might do!"

Miles rests his forehead on hers, and caresses her blood stained cheeks. "NO." He shakes his head as tears begin to falls from his eyes as well. "There has to be a cure. We can fix this, and make it all better!"

Nikki shakes her head. She sniffs the air, and lashes out at Miles, burrowing her face into his neck. Her fangs latch onto to the nape of his neck and draw blood. His blood tastes hot and sweet, almost like nectar and nothing like her parents blood.

Strange.

Why did he hug her as she continued to suck, why didn't he struggle?

Didn't he know he too would soon die by her hands?

She pushes him away and he falls back, wincing. He clutches his neck, attempting to prevent more blood from escaping the wound. He couldn't believe she bit him, and he stares up at her in disbelief. "Why?" he asks her.

"Miles, I couldn't control myself!" She shouts, licking her lips. "I told you to stay away!"

Miles chuckles, despite the pain in his neck. "Well that settles it then. We're in this together." He whispers, falling limp.

Nikki's eyes widen as he passes out and immediately runs to his side. She places her head on his chest and still hears a heartbeat. She sighs in relief, cursing herself for biting him and cursing him for accepting her despite becoming a freak.

She sighs again and scratches her shoulder, and it bubbles; it feels as if it were boiling on the inside. She looks down at it in confusion and her entire right arm is blown to bits. She screams in agony and slumps backward. She clutches the wound where her arm use to be and looks up to see 4 people have joined them; two men, a child and a woman. One of the men is wearing a mask and tight, black, spandex suit that matched that of the child's. The other two held guns.

"Did you see that? I hit her!" The man that shot her cried, obviously pleased with himself.

"Didn't I tell you not to shoot?" Johnny Kudo shouts, behind his mask. He looks around the room, seeing all the blood. He knew this type of scene too well. "Jesus, what the hell, is this? I thought we killed that freaking' clown!" he shouts.

"What is this?" Miles asks himself.

He feels as if he's dreaming, but this isn't a normal dream. He sees Johnny Kudo open the window to his apartment room, hop inside and and let out a sigh of relief. He is wearing a tight, black, spandex suit covered in white nodes; they called it a Gantz suit. While worn it increases your strength and speed and protects you from tremendous amounts of damage. Unfortunately, Kudo's suit is leaking a blue liquid, thus, signifying his suit is now useless- and that Kudo himself was a fool.

He rips off his ridiculous luchador mask, and gives a sigh of relief. "That was a close one, I could've died falling from that height." He looks down at his suit and sighs once again. "Damn, now I got to wait until the next mission to get a new one." He groans.

"Johnny, is that you?"

Oh, crap.

"Yeah mom," He replies, attempting to squeeze out of the slippery and sweaty suit.

She tries the door, and he thanks the maker that he remembered to lock it prior.

"Why's the door locked?"

"Why do you think the door is locked, mom?"

"Johnny, open this door, right now!"

Johnny Kudo does as he is told and greets his mother in nothing more than a towel. "Are you happy? Your son now stands before you naked!"

"Clean your room, Johnny, and stop locking this door. "

"Alright mom!" He shouts shutting the door.

He sighs, walking over toward the window. He looks outside and a rather large bum, dressed as a clown looks up at Johnny. He is pissed. The food he had just got done scavenging was now covered in Kudo's blue, suit goo, after Kudo had thrown the suit out of the window. Try as he might to wipe off the goo, it still remained. This however, did not stop the clown from finishing his meal – no matter how strange it tasted.

"That can't be good," Kudo whispers.

Miles shakes his head of the thought, still enraged by the vision still fresh on his mind.

"Kudo you idiot! You bastard!" He curses him. "This is your damn fault!"

He looks up and the sky is crying; tears pelting down with no remorse. Perhaps he is crying too. If so, he couldn't tell; he is soaked head to toe. Thoughts in his head are racing a mile a minute. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't even differentiate a tear from a rain drop. Maybe he should consider lying down for a moment. He feels so tired.

One misstep, a splash and he is lying face down in a puddle. "So c-cold."

The puddle gets redder by the minute, staining the ground with his precious life stream. Not far away, a bronze coin twirls on its side. The face side of the Sacagawea coin reveals itself, mocking his pain and suffering. "W-what are you s-smiling at?" He lunges for it, wincing at the effort it took to perform a simple task. He sighs, holding it in his grasp.

Heads, you hide. Tails, we both hide.

His fist hits the puddle, splashing it repeatedly. "D-Damn it, Damn it!" He cries out, tossing the coin out into the alley. The blood stained coin echoes in the distance, disappearing into a sewer drain.

Panic sets in once again. Wet footsteps are heard in the distance. Something inside tells him to run, but he's tired of running. There hadn't been a point to it anymore. It was better just to lie still -he didn't plan on running anymore.

A black car enters the alley, and its high beams force Miles to shield his eyes from the bright light. He hears the clicking of a group of men's shoes as they approach him. One of them raises a hand, stopping the others and he continues down the alleyway by himself.

"Hey, buddy."

Miles turns over to face the man who had discovered him. The man almost sounds friendly, but after recognizing who it is he knew better than to trust this man. Even as the man in the pin-striped suit holds an umbrella over his soaking wet form, Miles doesn't thank him for the gesture.

"Miles." A chuckle escapes his lips. "You don't look so hot."

"G-go to hell."

The man smiles down at him, watching him clutching at his stomach, coughing up blood. "I'm sorry, I didn't get that." Leaning in close, he feigns interest. "Come again?"

Miles' answer is a thick wad of mucous and blood that barely misses the man. The man frowns at Miles and his trademark grin. He drops the umbrella and draws his pistol. The look on Miles' face disgusts him; the look of a man on the verge of death, with nothing more to lose, but a heck of a lot more to gain.

He'd wipe that smile off his face, soon enough.

"I never liked saying I told you so, but you knew this would happen Miles…" The pistol gives a reassuring click, indicating the chamber was live and loaded. "You can't keep cheating death, boy…and I assume you knew this fairytale would one day end." With the pistol aimed at Miles' sternum, the man's smile fades. "However, it doesn't have to end this way." His shoes click off of the wet pavement as he circles around Miles, aiming and still poised to kill. "I can have an ambulance here within minutes, and all you have to do is cooperate – understand?"

"C-cooperate?"

"YES, I want it ALL back. Every stinking penny; it all belongs to me!"

"T-the money?" Miles snorts. "You'll never f-find it." It hurts to laugh, and even as blood escapes his lips, laughter ensues. "You'll keep searching, a-and searching, b-but you'll never find it. You'll NEVER find it!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The bullets hammer into Miles' chest, ceasing all laughter quite abruptly.

"You think you can make a fool out of me?" Another shot fires, and another right after. "Nobody makes a fool out of me!" He grabs and tugs at Miles by his red locks of hair, determined to literally catch him before leaving this world. "You listen to me when I'm talking to you -You little piece of crap!" He bellows, ignoring Miles' coughing and wheezing. "Until I get back what's mine…I'm going to do whatever it takes. Your family, your friends…Dead! You hear me? Dead!"

A fist connects with the man's face, and he stumbles backward, relinquishing his hold on Miles. Johnny Kudo cracks his knuckles and takes a fighting stance. He glares down at the man in the pinstriped suit, daring him to stand up for another knuckle sandwich.

The men lined behind the fallen man, draw their guns, but the man stops them from firing. He spits out a tooth and glares at his masked assailant. "We're leaving, NOW!" He shouts.

Johnny Kudo breathes a sigh of relief as the men load the man in the pinstriped suit into the vehicle. Not long after this the car immediately pulls out of the alley and out of sight. He could always pursue this man later, his biggest concern was Miles.

"K-Kudo, you IDIOT, y-you could have killed him!" Miles shouts, coughing up blood.

Johnny Kudo kneels beside him, checking his wounds. He wasn't going to make it if the mission didn't end soon. Ironically enough, he feels a familiar feeling in his head, signaling that they soon would be arriving back on the train with Gantz. The mission was a complete and utter, failure; Nikki was still out there somewhere.

"This is your entire fault, you idiot." Miles shouts at him. "All because you wanted to play hero! Y-You're no hero, you're a villain!"

Johnny Kudo turns unable to face him. "I'm sorry, Miles."

"Y-you're the villain, not me!"

"Jesus, Miles, I'm so sorry."

His apology is in vain. Miles can no longer hear him. With blood pouring profusely from his mouth, his freckled cheeks rise, baring a sharp toothy grin. He is in awe. Even as Kudo continues to address his bleeding wounds, his now red eyes remained focused on the sky. He didn't ever recall it being so beautiful before. It was no longer raining and the sun was peeking out from behind a cloud. It burns him, but he welcomes it. At first he had doubts, but this was how it was all supposed to end - this was fate.

"Found something?"

"I did."

"Let me have a look."

"It's an I.D on our friend here..."

Detective Neville hands her the driver's license. The card itself is slightly charred, but it's legible.

"Miles Kramer," Lieutenant Harper whispers.

"Hey!" She blinks, hearing Neville shout at her. "What's the matter with you - turning pale all of a sudden?" He grabs the I.D. card from her, eyeing it closely. He holds it out in front of her, pointing at the person it identified. "Fay, do you know this guy?" he asks her, addressing her by her first name.

"Know him?" She shakes her head. "I've been, the city has been trying to track this guy for months!"

"Him?" Neville tries not to laugh, "You mean Mister Crispy over here was that hard to find? Forgive me if I say I don't believe you."

"I was pulled from the case, promoted and transferred over to Homicide." A sigh escapes her lips. "I almost had him too."

"I guess justice has been served then, eh?" He responds, crossing his arms. "So, any next of kin?"