I know I know! I'm so sorry (again). It's holidays now so I promise I won't get so bogged down with work and stuff. My reasons for not updating sooner are as following: Exams, family stuff and I'm no longer single so yeah there you have it. Anyway sorry once again but thank you all soooooo much for sticking with me through this story. Unfortunately it is coming to an end :( I think there will be 2 more chapters until THE END! Noooo. Well anyway enough of this onwards to the chapter.

VIN

"Nothing! My name is Nothing!"

I stand in the door way. My mouth hangs open, eyes wide with shock. When we had snuck into the CIA base which was a glass, office building in disguise, we had to climb through the air ducts or something. Well that's what we had assumed we would have to do. Once someone spotted us the ran over and gave me a slap on the back, glad to finally meet me and even gave us directions to the interrogation rooms. When Trixie had opened the door I had suspected Zero to be sitting in a chair, arms crossed refusing to acknowledge my parents existence. Finding her panting, standing up, shoulders hunched over in defeat and screaming at the top of her lungs made me break internally.

I step into the room. The reaction was instant. Zero backed away, eyes full of terror and…tears?! My parents rushed over blocking my path and view of the room and Zero.

"What do you think you're doing here, Vin?!" My dad booms.

"I'm here to help my friend dad."

"We told you to stay out of this and away from her." Mum practically growls.

"Yeah well usually I would do as I'm told but in this case I decided to do what I think is right." I say folding my arms across my chest, frowning.

"Vin sweetheart please leave, both you and your friends." My mum whispers.

This is going to hurt, but I have to pull the guilt trip.

"Oh I see. You don't want me is that it?"

"No! Never, we love you." Mum wails.

I'm about to ramp it up a bit more but a voice at the back of the room silences everyone.

"Vin, leave…please." Zero says flatly.

To my surprise my parents step aside. Obviously when she agrees with them she's no longer a threat. I walk up to her. Her face is concealed in shadow but I can tell she's on the brink of tears. She won't look me in the eye either. Her words echo in my head. Nothing, my name is Nothing! I gulp down the gulf ball lodge in my throat.

"Zero –" I falter but only for a moment, "I'm not leaving. I'm…we're here for you."

"I don't want you to be."

I take a breath and look her directly in the eye, "Zero, if this is about what you just said…"

"Stop. I don't want to talk about it. I was lying any way."

"You weren't though. I know. You chew your bottom lip when you lie." Trixie says evenly coming up to stand behind me with Newton.

"Ok fine. My name isn't actually Zero….it's Nothing. My dad never wanted a child and I don't think my mum ever did either, that must have been why she took off when I was five…."

I draw in a shaky breath. I never knew. How can I have a crush on this girl, been her friend for years and never know about her past. Well then again this is…Zero. Yes Zero.

"So they called me Nothing because that's all I was and meant to them, nothing. That's why I decided to call myself Zero when I started at Pinkerton. Means the same thing but sounded nicer,"

She turns to stare daggers at my parents.

"You happy now?! You've destroyed my life and forced me to reveal one of my darkest, no just one of my secrets to my friends! Can I go now?"

"No we still have more questions," June snarls, "like for example where is your father and where did this coin come from?"

I watch Zero tense up. She glances at each of us (excluding my parents) for a moment. I swear her gaze lingers on me longer than others. Me and my imagination….Her eyes go to the ground and she starts to fidget a bit. I've never seen Zero nervous before. What have my parents done to her?

"Fine," She growls, then softer, "fine, I'll talk. First though c-can you p-promise me something?"

"What is it?" June asks hesitantly.

"D-Don't let him hurt my friends…or m-m-me. He said he would k-kill me and them i-if I told a-anyone, but you're the CIA s-so I thought that I-I could go to you for h-help. T-Then you yelled at me and…."

I don't think I just act. I launch myself at her and hug her. Silent tears, only a few, slip from her pale cheeks onto my shoulder. We stay still. The worlds disappeared. It's just me and Zero. No Trixie, no Newton and no parents. Her dad threatened to kill her?! I can see though that the only reason she didn't say anything was to protect us. I know Zero that much to know she would happily sacrifice anything for us, her friends. Maybe we're the only friends she's ever had? Some how I know that's the truth, as painful as it is to consider. She's the one to pull away, of course. She gives a shaky smile that lasts so briefly I'm left wondering if it was there at all.

"We promise Noth- I mean Zero that we will protect all of you, please just…just tell us everything you know."

Zero nods, takes a deep breath and stares us straight in the eye, piercing us with her glare.

"My dad attacked me in at school. He gave me that coin and told me not to tell anyone or….he would k-kill my friends and me," One shaky breath, "I know he used to be a criminal. I used to be forced to help him if I wanted to remain in his house, with shelter and get my daily meal. It was petty crime, but slowly they became larger. He said one day that was organising something big. He started to get violent, even more so and then I realised he didn't need me. I ran away then before I-I was….d-disposed of,"

I cant help but gasp.

"No not in that way I mean as in left on the street to fend for myself, which I could do either that or I would be given away to someone else. There you have it my sap story,"

"I'm sorry to do this to you Zero, but what about this coin? Do you know where your father might be hiding out?"

"The coin I have no clue about, but my best guess would be it's a key of some sort. He would've gave it to me because he thinks I won't go to the police or anything….also so then I can take some of the heat if he's caught. He can say I was involved. That's why he faked his own disappearance. Now he looks like a victim rather than a criminal. The CIA were hot on his heels so he acts like he's the one in distress. He will assume that they won't catch him and everyone will eventually forget about him and he will be free. As for where he is, I know some of his hide outs but he won't be there for the very reason that I do know,"

All the while Zero's been talking I've watched her transform, first from the weak, emotionally shattered girl, to a clever, decisive detective. The real Zero we all know.

"He's at the airport's cargo holds. One of the cargo containers will be his base. It allows him to ship goods in and out easily. Even better in the night he could just steal a plane I guess. I don't know but I once saw a design for it."

My dad walks up to Zero and places a firm hand on her shoulder, "thank you."

I smile at her and she returns the smile to me. I clap my hands together and a cheeky grin spreads over my lips.

"Come on then let's go cargo window shopping shall we!"

I decided not to leave all of you with such an annoying cliff hanger as the last ;P. I would like to thank everyone for all your reviews, favouriting and following. I had also sort of given up on this story mainly because I thought I wasn't receiving any reviews on my email but then I finally logged into my account and found a few. So yeah ta everyone :)