Hey guys, it's been awhile. Finals, a new semester and college courses all have a role in making this take so long. I unfortunately will not be uploading regularly, I have extracurricular activities I have to attend to and then I have to go on a trip for said activates, so I most likely will not be updating a lot for the next 2-3 months, but it may be much longer, I have difficult classes this semester so there are no guarantees until summer, so enjoy this chapter because they are going to be sparse for some time.

LT. Jack Grant was an experienced police officer. Sure, his units were known as security forces, but everyone knew that they were really a police force. He had been there when the units were formed and had stayed with them for the last two years.

The units themselves were a mix of both humans and reploids, many of the resistance reploids had joined in the beginning stages as a stepping stone to adjust to civilian life. He respected them; the reign of terror that Dr. Weil had brought upon Neo Arcadia had been ended by them and a legendary reploid.

He had heard many of stories concerning this red reploid, his speed unmatchable, his skill unbelievable, and his courage unexplainable. With each story Jack saw a different aspect of this hero, his name however certainly wasn't very heroic, Zero, it was almost dull, it was the equivalent to nothing, but it was deceiving, he certainly wasn't someone to be taken lightly.

Some human officers laughed at the reploids, they said no reploid could do the things that they had described, that what they said was exaggerated beyond compare, but the reploids didn't care, they continued to tell the stories and Jack continued to listen. The red reploid's exploits were various and his foes even more numerous. Every time he thought he had heard the last story there was always another great tale about the legendary reploid.

He however did not let these stories affect his work, Neo Arcadia was changing, the reintroduction of reploids had caused a rift, gang activity, segregation, or simply resentment, all were growing because of this and it was his job to keep the peace and he was going to need every ounce of strength to keep it from falling apart.

That being said he had seen many things, two years as a cop can do that to you. He had seen murders, robberies, kidnappings, even full blown gang wars and lived to tell the tale; he never had to go through it alone though; he always had his partner, William. However, some things you can't be prepared for, as he was called to a robbery in a middle class part of Neo arcadia he had no idea what the night would bring.

When he arrived it was early in the night only around ten o'clock. He was met the sight of two human thugs battened and blooded, lying on the ground, a third was a reploid and was currently be beaten by a cloaked figure, the ground was littered with shattered glass from a window from small store in the background. As soon as Jack jumped out of his patrol hover car the figure looked up and took off. "Will, cuff them, I'll get the runner." Jack yelled as he ran after the mysterious figure.

The figure had chosen the best place to play tag, or at least for himself, to Jack it was a nightmare. The winding alleys were small, enclosed, and it was all too easy to get lost in-between the buildings. The man was fast, as much as Jack tried, he failed to gain much ground on him. Talking into his radio Jack shouted "I'm going to need some help getting his guy, could we use the Dragon?"

The Dragon was one of the many retired military grade equipment that the security forces had at their disposal, it was a former military gunship/transport, it was named so because when the security forces original received it there was a defect with the energy distribution system that fed the weapons, so instead of firing individual pellets rapidly they launched nearly all the energy at once creating a large unfocused beam that almost looked like the craft was breathing fire. Since then it had been stripped and rearmed to serve as a light attack gunship, a transport, or simply a spotter.

As Jack chased the man through the alleys the man finally chose to get into a more open environment. As he began to jump up the side of a building; Jack looked on in awe, Defiantly a reploid. Lucky for him there was a fire escape nearby, but by the time he reached the roof the cloaked reploid had run across several rooftops already. Then a hum of engines filled the air and a spotlight descended upon the reploid as he ran. Best. Timing. Ever.

He chased after the reploid as the Dragon keep pace. Suddenly the radio lit up "Sir would you like us to stop him?" I thought about it, I obviously didn't want him dead, I wanted him questioned, I called back "Only wound him, make sure he can recover." With that the Dragon accelerated, it went parallel with the reploid for a few moments before firing; the reploid dodged it by what seemed mere inches.

He kept running, not seeming to be fazed by the close encounter, but he wouldn't be so lucky a second time. As he jumped from a taller building to a smaller one the hovercraft shot a second round of energy, this time the reploid didn't have any time to maneuver. This one hit its mark. The figure was pushed backwards and hit the ground with a bone breaking force. "All for you sir." the pilot spoke over the radio as the Dragon flew away.

In a few moments Jack reached the wounded reploid, as he reached him the reploid was sitting against a vent and clutching his side. The first glimpse of his armor that Jack saw was pitch black, but it soon began to turn white, like insects scurrying to one area they went under the reploids cloak. He then pulled it off to see the extent of his damage. The shot had gone through his hip on his left side; the shot had taken a fairly large chunk with it leaving wires hanging and oil gushing out.

It was then that Jack saw the entire reploid, his armor was sleek and stealthy, his hair long and blonde as it descended into a long ponytail. Suddenly a red blade activated from his wrist. Jack by instinct grabbed for his gun, but an arm stopped him and a blade was put to his throat.

"Don't." was all the reploid said as he gently reached and took Jack's weapon from him. The reploid threw it off of the building and sat at the edge, it was then that he noticed his armor had changed, he shook his head and his armor began to change to red.

That was when Jack saw something else, not a criminal, not a thief, but a hero. Every time he had heard a story of the famous Zero he had made an image in his mind, he had never seen the legendary reploid in a photo, but he could tell that it was the one sitting in front of him. However it was impossible, from everyone's accounts Zero had died in the Ragnarok crash. Yet, Jack would swear it was the reploid in front of him.

They starred at each other for a while; neither said anything until his radio went off. "Yes?" Jack spoke to the radio. "Were you able to apprehend the suspect Jack?" was what he got for an answer. He looked at Zero "No, he got away." He was greeted with silence. Suddenly the legendary reploid stood up, the oil had stopped flowing, but Jack had to guess that he was still in pain.

The reploid nodded to Jack before picking up his cloak, turning, and jumping off the side of the building, Jack ran to the edge and watched as the cloaked figure ran off.

Ciel's POV

It was growing late and I had had a long day. I was currently in the basement working on a new body for aulotte, she wanted something more mature. She wanted to basically grow up like a human. I had been working on it for some time, but I needed it to be perfect, however I couldn't think straight this late at night and I needed rest.

I began to wrap up when there was a bang upstairs, I immediately dropped what I was doing and set out to find the source of the noise. I ran through the maze of rooms to find nothing, but once I entered the living room I found a collapsed Zero sprawled out on the ground. I raced to him, his head was down so I tried to turn him over, he seemed to realize I was there and started to pick himself up.

With my help he fell back onto the couch, it was then I noticed the gaping chunk out of his side. Dried oil was all around the wound "What happened?" I asked.

Zero however simply sat there no answering "What did you do." I asked again this time a little more forcefully, Zero realizing he couldn't stay silent forever sighed "What needed to be done." I looked at him with curiosity "And what exactly was that?" I asked.

He growled "Do you even look at the streets, do you go for a stroll in the slums?" he asked. I shook my head, he sneered "If you did you would understand." I looked at him with slight annoyance, I was a patience woman but he could test my patience sometimes "And what is that." This time he snapped "That this system is broken Ceil!" he yelled, "Humans. Reploids they hate each other, slums, poverty, there are legitimate problems and you don't do anything about them!"

I had never been yelled at by Zero, he was always calm and collective, but then again this was a different Zero one who only knew never ending war. I tried to be calm, "Do you really think I'm not doing anything about this?" I asked, he just glared "I'm trying Zero, they're just in such a close proximity, I need to expand Neo Arcadia to give them some breathing space." I tried to explain, I had people criticize me before, but Zero was completely different.

He scoffed at my answer "Do you really think that's the answer?" he asked "These people have lived without reploids for years and you expect them to simply take reploids back with open arms simply because they have more living room?" He didn't understand, he didn't even remember the last few years that we fought together so he couldn't understand.

I threw up my arms, no one understood "What would you have me do Zero?" I asked him "There's no other alternative!" I yelled. He simply glared at me "If you talked to them, if you walked the streets as they do, hell if you made a public statement condemning their hate, then maybe people would look up to you, maybe people would follow your example." He replied calmly. This made me angrier "Words are useless at this point, I have explored ever alternative and the only thing that might work is room and time, they will get used to each other, all they need is time."

Zero laughed, "Time is a valuable thing, if you waste too much of it on a lost cause you may not have enough to fix the problem with something that works, just remember, you will not be remembered fondly if you let another Maverick War happen."

With that he got up gingerly and started to walk towards the garage, "Now if you will excuse me I have a large hole in my side that needs attending to." At that point I was so angry I didn't even want to find out why he had a hole in his side.