A/N: Like I said in the first chapter, this is my first time making an OC centered fic. I hope he's not coming off as a Gary-Stu or anything. I'm trying to keep him realistic-ish; with flaws that make him relatable, while not having him be a stereotypical, annoying, angsty teenager or anything. Since I obviously didn't show everything he went through during the NYZ outbreak, I'll be showing his trials through flashbacks. You'll see what I mean.

Also, warning, I'll be doing a lot of back and forth between character perspectives this chapter.

XXX

(New York Zero- Day 12 of the Outbreak- 81% of Population Infected.)

Several squads of marines went to war with the infected, the monsters scrambling through the chaotic streets of Manhattan. Their mission area was located deep within' the Upper East Side. With this being the Red Zone, a haze of blood tox lingered in the air, turning the skies a shade of crimson like its zones namesake. The infected roamers were easily cut down by the soldiers assault rifle fire, though for every one zombie they killed, dozens more would take its place.

Although the marines held their own, with their use of tanks, RPG's, and Apache helicopters hovering over the streets, the odd soldier here and there would get swarmed by zombies if they strayed too far from their comrades. Their fates, getting torn to shreds at the hands and teeth of the infected.

Through all of the carnage and destruction, the soldiers main target was a certain building that stood out against all the rest. It was five stories high and covered with red biomass that would cluster towards the bottom and into the streets. Fleshy, pulsating mounds attached to the buildings surface served as incubators, for Hunters. When just one of the Hunters would hatch from its breeding pod, it was able to kill over a dozen soldiers before it went down. For this to keep happening, would take a serious toll on the number of marines that were able to keep fighting in the area.

This building, needed to be destroyed.

One of the squad leaders dived behind a car and pulled out his walkie, hoping to buy himself a bit of time to call out to HeadQuarters, "Red Crown, this is Buffalo, we've concentrated fire on the Hive in Upper East Side! We'll need more air support if we're gonna cripple this thing!"

A female voice on the opposite line responded, voice monotone, "Negative Buffalo, we can't spare any more units at your position. You'll have to make do."

"God damnit, you've gotta be shitting me!" The commander barked, the sound of explosions, roars, and screaming almost drowning out his voice.

"We on our own, sir!?" A grunt called to him, at the same time emptying his clip into a pack of infected.

Cocking his rifle, the officer nodded, "We're on our fuckin' own." Before he stood up, using the car he hid behind as cover while he gunned down infected.

Several roars ripped through the air, bringing some of the soldiers attention to the hive.

Four of the fleshy mounds attached to the side of the buildings burst open, hunters leaping out and instantly getting in on the action. While three of the hunters dropped down and tore into the tanks and soldiers, one leapt out a Apache helicopter firing at its home.

"Mayday Mayday this is Tornado 4," the pilot called out as the Hunter dug its claws into the nose of the chopper, the beast grinning hungrily at its prey through the glass window, "we got a hunter on us, I repeat, we got a fuckin' hunter on us! We're going dow-AAAAAAUUUGGHHH" The pilot screamed out as the mutant punched through the glass and ripped him out the cockpit, the hunter quickly bit the man's head off, before leaping off the helicopter that was spinning out of control.

The sound of metal tearing through the air caught a few of the soldiers attention. They watched as the chopper down spun like a cyclone before crashing into a random building, exploding in a fireball as it did. Glass and shrapnel rained down over the fleeing civilians.

One of the marines ejected the clip in his M4 before reaching down into his ballistic vest. He was down to his last mag, "This is getting out of hand, sir! We'll be thinned out in minutes!" He shouted to his commander over the roars of hunters in the background.

"There's nothing we can do but it's tough shit!" the marine officer said as he watched the three hunters tear apart one of the tanks with a bit of difficulty. "We hold the line, stand our ground, and follow our fuckin' orders to the end!" He barked out to all who could hear him as he switched his rifle to the grenade launcher underbarrel. He took aim at the pack of hunters, one of them eyeing him before the other two followed their siblings gaze.

With a shaky finger, the captain prepared to pull the trigger. When one of the hunters licked its blood coated teeth, he did. The grenade arced through the air, passing over several flaming cars and people (infected or not), before striking one of the hunters clearly in its shoulder. A medium sized explosion ruptured from the shell that engulfed the three mutants in fire and smoke. Flesh and blood splashed from their bodies, but it didn't kill them.

It did royally piss them off though.

"Oh shit...!" The captain cursed as the three hunters set their legs and leaped forward, "oh shit!...oh shit oh shit oh shit!" he shouted as the mutants barreled and tore through the cars and infected that stood between them and the one that dared shoot at them.

Other surrounding marines immediately noticed the cars getting tossed to the side and through the air like they were made of cardboard.

"Fuck this shit!" A random marine shouted as he turned tail and ran.

Scrambling to load another shell into his grenade launcher, the marine officer silently said his prayers, knowing that at the speed the hunters moved, they'd be on him at any second.

"What the hell!?" A marine called out, catching the captains attention. He noticed some of his grunts were looking up, and when he did, he could see what caught their attention.

A person dropped down from the skies above, elbow pointed down as he simulated an extremely popular wrestling move on the hunters down below.

The hunter running in front of its brothers got its head crushed as it was slammed down into the concrete road. The other two stopped charging to see just what killed their sibling.

A boy dressed out in a black tank top and camo cargo pants rose up from the top of the hunters caved-in head, smirking as he just pulled off the ultimate elbow drop.

"Damn that's cool." Darren said as he rolled his arm and looked up at the skies. He had to have fell a good 1500 ft. And he landed right on target!

He eyed the two hunters in front of him, the infected beasts staring him down and licking their bloodied teeth in hunger.

"The hell are you morons lookin' at?" Darren challenged the hunters as he held out his hands. He tapped his palms with the tips of his fingers, a gesture that told the beasts to 'bring it on'.

With a roar the beasts leaped at the viral-hybrid, swinging their claws at him as he dived back. He immediately morphed his hands into his own set of claws, and flipped onto an overturned car. Undeterred, the hunters came at the Prototype, prompting him to grab onto a pipe on the vehicles underbody, jump up, and slam the car onto one of the hunters, crushing and killing it as the car exploded, the wave of fire and shrapnel shredding into the other hunter. It howled out as it flailed back in pain.

A strong arm wrapped around its neck, holding it in a tight headlock. Two clawed fingers jammed into the hunters eyes, eliciting a pained roar from its throat.

"Hey big fella, you ain't lookin' so good." Darren said with a smirk. Red tendrils slithered out from the teens arm before shooting into the Hunters head, consuming the biomass from within'. He let the creature fall dead onto the concrete.

Letting his hands morph back to normal, the teen gave a two-finger salute to the soldiers. "I'll take it from here boys, just enjoy the show." He charged down the street, forcefully shoving through infected and bounding over wreckage before springing off a burning car to run up the side of a building. As he sprinted up the brick structure, he gazed down at the Infected Hive and smirked before springing back, gliding in the air, before powering up a dive.

The soldiers gazed in awe as the mutant dropped down like a bullet into the building at mach speed, crashing and tearing through the buildings structure. The ground around the men shook like an earthquake as the building fell apart, collapsing into a fiery pile of rubble.

The marines looked around at the infected; hunters, walkers, and infected citizen alike, who suddenly froze, before collapsing themselves onto the concrete ground, their connection to the hivemind lost.

"The hell?" Many of them thought as they looked to the being that made it all happen. The Prototype walked out of the flames of the wreckage he'd caused, like a demon out of the inferno.

The heat cooked his skin, the blackened flesh healing just as quickly as it burned.

Darren stood before the soldiers, expecting some kind of thanks.

Instead what he got was,

"OPEN FIRE!"

"Say what!?" He shouted as the marines fired at him.

He growled in anger as the bullets tore through him. He hopped over to a nearby car, grabbing it by its underside, "I do 80% of your job and that's how you idiots repay me!?" He tossed the vehicle at the soldiers who scrambled to dodge, before jumping away.

XXX

Darren lay on his bed, arms folded behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.

"I miss the fast life." he said with a sigh.

"Yo Darren, get in here man." he heard Kouta call out to him from somewhere in the house. With his hearing, he could tell it was coming from the living room.

Grunting in annoyance, the virus got up, and headed deeper into the house. As he strolled down the hall, he could hear a scuffling from somewhere behind him. He turned around, spotting Nyu doing a crappy job at hiding behind a counter. The girl was dressed in a pink sweater under a red sleeveless top and skirt. A green winter hat covered the horns on her head.

He rolled his eyes and kept walking, though he heard the diclonius giggle before scampering over behind a chair, thinking that would be a good hiding place.

Darren smirked before looking to Nyu, the pink-haired girl quickly covering her eyes.

'She thinks because she can't see me, I can't see her.' Darren inwardly snickered, 'Dummy.'

Nyu uncovered her eyes, thinking she would see the black haired teenager. He was no longer in the hall in front of her.

"Nyu?" she mumbled in confusion.

"Boo." a husky voice whispered in her ear, making her cry out in shock.

Darren snickered as Nyu sprung up, though he immediately stopped laughing when he saw a puddle form at her feet.

"Oh, come on! I thought we had you housebroken!" He groaned out loud.

Yuka appeared from the living room doorway further down the hall, the commotion drawing her attention, "What are you two up to no-" she saw the puddle, looked at Nyu, and then looked to Darren, "Clean it up." she said irritably as she disappeared back behind into the living room.

XXX

(Diclonius Research Facility)

"Alright, D-Code serum has been prepped," A scientist said as he flicked the syringe containing a blood red liquid. The man turned to Bando, the blinded soldier strapped to a slab, the metal table propped up to keep the man upright. "You'll be receiving four shots, Bando." the scientist said, "Two into your deep muscle, and two into your bone marrow."

"Bone marrow, the fuck!?" Bando asked out loud, "That gonna hurt?"

"Like hell." The scientist said as he approached the psycho for hire. "If I say so myself, the pain will be worth it. As the serum amplifies your healing, you'll be getting your eyes and your arms back."

Bando's dismembered and amputated arms lay on a small table next to him. They'd been kept on ice to prevent decomposition. Two surgeons stood idly by, awaiting the time to reattach the man's severed limbs. The soldier breathed heavily as the sound of the scientists footsteps wound up next to him.

From an observational window overlooking the operation, were BlackWatch Commander Byron, Kurama, and Shirakawa. The BlackWatch Commander had already seen the Super Soldier production process, so this whole scene was nothing new to him. Kurama and Shirakawa watched, both fascinated, yet Shirakawa was the only one expressing it.

The woman flinched a bit as the needle slid deep inside of Bando's right bicep, the soldier grunting as it did. Once the serum was injected into his body, Bando's nonexistent eyes widened. Whatever was in that serum, it burned, yet at the same time, it felt great. It made him feel better than he ever had. Like a boost of adrenaline and ecstasy at once.

The scientist repeated the process with his left bicep.

"Alright," the Gentek scientist said, "the easy part's over." He grabbed another needle and walked up behind Bando, positioning the syringe to back near his spine, "Now, get ready."

Shirakawa had to look away as Bando yelled. Deciding she'd need a distraction, she turned to Kurama, "When will she be ready?" she asked the man, making reference to his surrogate daughter.

Kurama kept his eyes on the procedure, the scene reflecting off his glasses, "Her training's been brutal. She's still on the road to recovery. Though she's coming through a lot quicker than expected." he said, "Wounds to her flesh and bones are healed, though she's still rather sore."

The woman nodded. She wouldn't question Kurama's judgement, him being her superior, but something in her instincts said this plan of his couldn't be good in the long run.

Her eyes went back to the medical procedure.

XXX

Darren walked into the living room, seeing Kouta and Yuka sitting around a small coffee table.

"I think we should put pinky on a walking schedule." The virus said as the Diclonius peeked in from behind the door frame.

Kouta smirked as Darren kneeled down in front of the coffee table, "That's a good idea, have fun with that." That response was met with a foul glare from Maverick.

Yuka smiled at her housemate, "Now don't get upset Darren, we know what'll turn that frown upside down."

Darren's gray eyes lit up as he looked to Kouta, "You mean they came in?"

"Hell yeah." Kouta said slyly as he pulled out a small plastic card and some documents, "You're officially a student at Kamakura community college." He set Darrens student ID and enrollment documents on the table. The young man let out a nervous laugh, "But I'll be honest with you, if you didn't finish high school, you might not do to well in a college setting."

Maverick waved the other teen off. Sure he was telling the truth when he said he didn't finish all of high school, because of the outbreak, but with all of the smart guys with PhD's he's consumed, he was seriously overqualified for a community college.

"How'd your friend get me in, anyways? He work for the school system?" the virus asked.

"Nah." Kouta said, "Honestly, I don't know how he does it. But you never ask someone in the black market how they get their supply, right?"

"Fair enough." The virus said, "So, two weeks?" he asked in reference to the start of classes..

"Two weeks." Yuka nodded.

XXX

Mayu and Wanta walked through the suburban neighborhood, the young girl looking back and forth between the address written on the napkin, and the houses to either side of the street. The young girl felt as if she'd be making a mistake, visiting the address Darren left for her, but she was beginning to run burn through the money the he'd gave her on food, so she wasn't looking too good on alternative options.

It'd been about a month since she'd confronted the young man out in the town, and over those next few weeks, she'd only been hearing rumors and stories about various shenanigans he'd gotten himself into.

'I heard it was a group of terrorist's who'd slaughtered those soldiers.'

'Nah man, that's not what I'd heard. I heard it was just one dude.'

'What? No way.'

'Yes fuckin' way man, people are saying some hooded guy showed up in town and he's wreakin all kinds of havoc.'

'I heard something like that too, I heard he took on a group of gangbangers by himself, killed all but one of them.'

'Oh really, what happened to the last guy?'

'They say he ran, but the guy chased him down and beat him to death, dragged his body off somewhere, and who know's what else.'

'Guy in a hood? Man, I swear I've seen some hooded cat pulled some sweet parkour moves around town; jumping off buildings, pullin' off all kinds of flips and shit.'

'Whoever he is, he's doing good. Not a lot of druggies or thugs roaming around anymore.'

'Not alot of homeless either...'

Mayu gulped and shook the thoughts away as she came up on a large house/restaurant styled building. The sign out front read just as it did on her napkin, 'MAPLE HOUSE'

Shaking in her boots, she turned to her dog, "Better keep you outside." she said.

Once leashing Wanta up to a the water drain by the front door, Mayu rapped her knuckles against the door.

XXX

(Diclonius Research Facility)

Shirakawa walked with Kurama to the room where silpelit '7' was held, a set of clothing in his hands. The woman thought back to the moment he'd approached the young diclonius those few days ago...

"Nana…" Chief Kurama said as he entered the chamber where specimen '#7' was held to a wall by chains.

"Pa… pa?" The girl asked as she looked up at the man. "Papa… came to see Nana?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Kurama simply stared at her.

"Papa, its Papa!" She cried out in joy as she struggled against her chains.

Kurama walked up to her and unlocked the chain, freeing her. Nana ignored her swollen wrists and looked at Kurama.

"Nana, I have a favor to ask you." the man said.

"What kind of favor, Nana will do everything Papa asks!"

On the other side of the glass window, Shirakawa looked at the scene, confused. "Papa? She can't be Chief Kurama's daughter, can she?" She asked to the scientist beside her.

"Not really…no. You see, Seven has been locked in this chamber ever since birth and spent her time subjected to horrible experiments, some worse than torture. In order to keep herself sane, she needed a reason to keep going, something that would make her feel that all the pain was worth it, so she convinced herself that the Chief was her father. She'd kept going on to live up to his expectations, to impress him, and she had…" Explained Isobe.

"I want you to go after someone." Kurama said flatly. "You may be forced to kill them."

Nana looked shocked, then sad.

"Oh… I-I don't want to kill anyone." She said, lowering her head. She couldn't bear the idea of killing another being, she spent all her life suppressing the urge to take lives that now, even the thought of killing revolted her.

"Nana, listen. The enemy, like you, is a Diclonius. She escaped last night and killed a lot of people. I know your kind can sense each other, and that's why only you can find her." Nana's 'Papa' stated.

Nana looked up to him, "…Alright, I'll find her if you want… but I won't kill her." She ended, averting her gaze, struggling between her desire to please her Papa and her aversion to killing.

"Then you do that, and contact us when you find her." Instructed Kurama, Nana then looked down again.

"Papa, Is this person… someone who had bothered you?" She asked.

"Yes, she killed a lot of my associates. Good people with families they can never return to." He answered. "And she'll only hurt more people the longer she's around. "I need you to find her; I have no choice but to count on you." He added in the end.

Nana took in this information and thought. She knew that she'd not only be helping her 'Papa', but other people as well. But on top of all that, her Papa finally had a use for her.

At last, she had a purpose; this was the proof that all the horrible tests and experiments that she endured, were worth it! She was so happy she started crying again.

"Y-you really mean it?" She asked hopefully, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. Kurama nodded.

"Then, I won't let you down Papa!" She cried happily.

"Have Number 7 ready for combat, you have six days." He told Isobe, with not even a hint of emotion in his voice.

Shirakawa and Kurama walked into the room to see Nana, still nude, though not covered in the vicious wounds she'd suffered during experimentation.

Her red eyes lit up in glee at seeing her father figure, "Papa, you're back!" she glanced to the clothing Kurama held in his hands, "D-Did you bring me a present Papa?"

Kurama glanced to the clothes and back to Nana, before nodding, "Yes. Wear these." he handed her the garments that she gleefully took.

This was actually the first time the diclonius ever wore clothes; her outfit was a black dress with a white collar and orange shoes.

"Nana, are you ready?" Kurama asked.

The pinkette nodded, "I'm ready to make you proud Papa!"

"Excellent." Kurama said as he turned to one of the building officials, "Ready a transport back to the mainland."

XXX

The door to Maple House opened, Mayu expecting to see Darren, though to her surprise, it wasn't him, but a young woman around his age.

Yuka raised a questionable eyebrow at the girl, "Um, hello?" she greeted, "Can I… help you?"

"H-Hi…" Mayu said timidly, glancing to her right and left to see if the object of her search may have been nearby, "Um, does Darren live here?" she asked.

"Oh, yes he does!" Yuka smiled, "If you need Maverick, well, he's out and about right now." she admitted.

Mayu's shoulders dropped, "Oh, well, I guess I'll come back later then." she said as she turned on her heel.

"No need for that!" Yuka stopped her, "You can wait inside for him, if you'd like."

Mayu bit her bottom lip and took a hesitant glance behind her, before turning back to Yuka and nodding.

The young girl found herself sitting at the dining room table with Yuka smiling at her warmly while Kouta's expression was more that of concern.

"Sooo, how do you know Maverick?" the young man asked the little girl.

Mayu, still rather uncomfortable, said "Well, h-he helped me out when I'd... fallen on hard times. He said I could come here if I needed anything."

"Really?" Yuka asked as she eyed the girls clothes, her yellow sweater grimy and worn out. It was easy to see what kind of conditions she may have been living under, "Well, I think Darren did the right thing pointing you our way. Are you hungry?" Yuka asked.

A growl came from the girls stomach. "I'll take that as a yes." the young woman said as she got up and went into the kitchen.

As Yuka went back into the kitchen, Kouta kept glancing to the girl sitting across from him. Something was off about Darren meeting her. He wasn't exactly an extroverted person, and although he was a good person, he wasn't someone whom Kouta knew to be… completely altruistic.

"I'm curious," Kouta asked her, "how exactly did you meet Darren?"

This shook Mayu. She wasn't sure whether to tell this guy everything or not. "I-I, was walking my dog by the beach-"

"When?!" Kouta asked, voice serious.

"About a month ago, I guess."

"The night the soldiers came through?" Mayu didn't shake her head no. This made Kouta lean forward in his seat, spooking the girl, "What did you see at the beach that night?!"

Shuddering, the girl opened her mouth but Yuka shouted at him,

"Kouta who do you think you are, a police detective?! Leave her alone!"

Though Kouta ignored her, "Talk."

So Mayu did. She told him what she'd seen, though she left out a few major details.

"So the soldiers were looking for something else along with Nyu, huh." Kouta said as he rubbed his chin.

Mayu drank the last of the ramen broth in her bowl, staying silent to avoid igniting anymore questions.

Yuka looked on worriedly as she thought to herself, "Just what's going on in this town?"

*Thump*

"What was that?" Kouta asked.

"Nyu." Yuka gasped as she put two and two together. The three rushed into the hall. The girl was getting up from the ground, water bucket spilled on the floor next to her. A small wooden music box was on the ground, opened.

"Nyu, are you hurt?" Kouta asked, stepping closer to the girl.

She turned around, and unknown to Kouta, four vectors surrounded his body, prepped to rip him to shreds.

Once getting a peek at her target, they stopped and retracted.

"Kouta." she suddenly whispered, too low for anyone to hear. Her voice was rough and harsh, but now carried few emotions that one wouldn't have heard from her in years. She turned to leave the house.

"Hey Nyu, wait up!" Kouta called to her, but he was suddenly stopped as the sound of music reached his ears. "What the… could it be?" He thought as he kept listening to the melody.

"Oh." Yuka smiled as she glanced to the opened music box.

"This song is…" Kouta said, trying, and failing, to arrange his memories.

"You gave me this music box at the festival," she said as she picked it up, making sure to keep it open, "don't you remember?"

"That melody, it's beautiful." Mayu whispered. She looked back and forth between the two teenagers, and saw that the girl with pink hair was gone, "Umm, I'm sorry, but I'll be leaving now." The homeless girl said, walking away.

"Oh, are you sure? Darren should be here any minute." Yuka said as the girl shook her head,

"I'll just come back later, I guess. Thank you for what you've done for me." she said with a bow as he exited the Inn. She glanced around for her dog, the leash having been cut.

"Wanta, Wanta where are you!" The girl yelled, at the verge of tears. Without her dog, she'd have nothing. She'd truly be alone. "Wanta!" she shouted out.

Before she could drift further into despair, the pup's yapping could be heard. She gasped in relief and joy as the small blonde dog scampered up and licked her,

"Wanta!" The girl cried as she hugged the puppy. She gazed questionably at the cut leash around the dog's neck, "What cut you loose?" she asked herself.

XXX

Nana ran around the heliport, spinning in her new black dress. She smiled and laughed happily.

"I've never worn these kinds of clothes before!" She said happily. "Does it look good on me, Papa?" The girl asked Kurama.

"Yes." was his flat reply. "Remember Nana, I'm counting on you."

"I know, I'll do my best for Papa, and be sure to pat my head if I do a good job!" She answered happily, her good mood never ending.

"All right, but if you think you can't handle it, just abort the mission and escape, be sure to come back." Said Kurama, a nearly indistinguishable hint of concern in his usually cold voice.

"Ok… umm, Papa may I ask you something?" She said timidly, making puppy-like eyes.

"Huh?"

"C-can you give me your neck string?"

"My tie? Fine, take it." He said flatly, taking it off and giving the tie to her.

"Yay! I'll make you proud, Papa!" She cheered as she entered the helicopter, which took off a few seconds later.

"Number seven will be able to locate Lucy if she's still in Kamakura, but… if there's a real combat situation, Number 7 would have no chance of defeating her." Shirakawa stated as she watched the helicopter part.

"I know, but it's safer than putting our stock in with a group of psychopath's like Blackwatch." Stated Kurama. He watched as the helicopter flew off into the horizon, "Nana, please be safe…"

XXX

The Prototype hopped across the Kamakura buildings, enjoying the wave of cool wind that whipped through his black hair. He made sure to move fast, a small precaution to anyone who could potentially see his face.

Darren vaulted over a railing before grabbing hold of a telephone pole, swinging from it before flipping and landing on the sidewalk. He got a few glares from passer-by's that he ignored, stretching his shoulders as he turned to his left. What he saw was his destination, the Kamakura Public Library.

"Bingo." he said as he headed inside.

Upon entering, the virus saw that the inside was sparsely occupied, the few people inside being college students doing work. Darren approached the front desk, the aide a woman who had to be around her forties.

"Where's your computer's?" He asked plainly.

The woman passed the young man a odd look, taking offense to the curt tone he took with her. Though she did her job and answered him just as plainly, though her tone was of irritance, "In the back, across from the children's section." As he turned the woman said, "You aren't getting on without an account with the library."

'Great.' Darren thought as he slouched his shoulders. He turned back to the woman who already had a form on the desk for him to fill out, clicked pen at the ready.

After taking care of that annoyance, he rushed over and sat down at one of the empty computer desks. Quickly logging into the desktop, he scrolled over to the 'Internet Explorer' icon, and clicked.

Fingers moving rapidly, he typed into the url, 'Facebook .com', and logged into his account.

Maverick bit his lip, not knowing what to expect when he made this particular search. He typed into the search bar, 'Helena Maverick'

"Come on mom, have something recent up. Anything." He mumbled desperately.

There wasn't anything posted from her this month, the month of April, and nothing for the month of March, February, or January...

Darren furrowed his brow and bit his bottom lip as he got desperate. If he still had a heart, it'd be pounding in his chest. Sure his parents were out of town during the outbreak, but it wasn't unlike Blackwatch to go after his parents for no other reason than because they were connected to him.

"Come on… come on…" he mumbled as he went down the timeline.

Suddenly his eyes shot open. There was a post in December, two months after the outbreak.

What his mother posted was a picture of some kind of memorial, a building sized slab of stone that must've been plotted in Central Park. All around this stone were lit candles that had to have been spread out and around the stone for over a half-mile.

Scrolling down, he saw a close up of the stone, and what was inscribed into it.

Names.

Names from the known people who'd died during the outbreak were etched into the black marble.

The Prototype could tell that his mother had focused her picture on the names of her three dead kids.

'Felicia Maverick'

'Courtney Maverick'

'Darren Maverick'

Underneath the post was her final words to her children, a quote, "No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye. You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why. I'll never forget the joy you brought, and the experiences we'd sought. Goodbye my beautiful daughters, and their handsome brother, and above all, thank you, for making me a mother."

Darren's lip quivered as he turned away from the screen. He took a second to recompose himself. 'If only you two knew.' he thought.

He scrolled down the timeline a bit further, only for his heart to sink more. A picture of his father, Dean Maverick, consoling Helena as she cried into his shoulder. Apparently it was a picture they were tagged in, some inconsiderate prick probably taking pictures to garner likes.

The virus shook his head and exited out of Facebook.

He rubbed his chin as he pondered his thoughts. He was curious how an incident like what happened in New York didn't make the world erupt in furor. Seriously, there was a freaking zombie outbreak and he'd hardly heard mention of the hell that'd occured on any news or local talk.

He typed into google, 'Manhattan Outbreak'

He scrolled through various pages, his search earning him nothing besides 'small-pox', 'salmonella', and 'Legionnaires' in the results.

Nothing related to Blacklight.

He instead searched, 'New York City Tragedy'

Of course, he wound up with the obvious, September-11th terrorist attack.

Nothing about the millions who'd gotten torn apart by zombies or military.

"The hell?" Darren whispered as he continued typing, 'Military in Manhattan'

Nothing in relation to the outbreak.

'Blacklight Outbreak'

Nothing.

Now Maverick was getting pissed. He began hammering away at the keyboards keys, nearly snapping the entire damn thing in half.

'Millions die in Manhattan'

Once again his eyes narrowed as he found a source he was looking for,

'A series of repeated terrorist attacks leave untold number dead in Manhattan' news sources said. 'The bombing of several dozen buildings and the poisoning of the cities water supply kill a large portion of the cities populace, labeling this one of the most vicious acts of terrorism known to mankind. Over 1 and a half million died during this tragedy, while hundreds-'

At this the Prototype slammed his hand on the desk, rattling every object in the building.

'You bastards covered it up.' He thought in fury as he continued. The zombies, Blackwatch, the nuke, everything. The Blacklight Outbreak was nothing more than a myth. An urban legend.

And the public bought it.

Upon further reading, he found that the President used this as an excuse to launch another war on terror in the middle east.

With the amount of marines that died in Manhattan, you'd think there weren't very many soldiers left.

Darren searched up housing in the city, and noticed that there was now a big real estate boom. No surprise there, almost everyone in the city died.

It was impressive what the government was capable of. They managed to effectively cover up a zombie outbreak.

He shook his head as he typed into google, 'Alexander Mercer'

Everything about that man was wiped. Gone. There was no Alexander J Mercer.

'Son of a bitch!' Darren thought as he dug his fingers into his scalp. In an outburst, he swiped the keyboard to the side, sending it crashing into one of the bookshelves.

Can I not get what I want?

He got up from his seat, and left.

XXX

Nana stood in the helicopter as it flew over the seas of Kamakura, the smell of the sea filling the girls nose as the winds blew through her pink hair.

"Umm, sir?" Called the girl timidly.

"Yeah, what is it, have you located her?" The pilot asked.

"Yes, we're close up."

"Alright then, there's a watchtower on the edge of town, I think I can't trust you not to go on a murder spree."

"No, Papa told me to be a good girl, so I won't kill anyone." She answered honestly, making the pilot sigh in relief.

"But don't think I can't do it." She added, her tone cold and dangerous. The pilot turned back to her in horror, the man tense to the point he was shaking. Seeing this Nana let out a small giggle.

"Just kidding!" She said as she started laughing.

"Hey, that's not funny!" The pilot called out as they arrived at the watchtower, Nana stood at the edge, blushing as she stared at her Papa's tie.

"Something wrong?" the pilot asked.

"No, nothing." she answered quickly.

"Then get off, I have things to do!" The man said harshly.

"Okay." Nana said as she stepped into the watch tower. Lucky for her, there was no one around. She gulped slightly as she tied the tie on her horns. She went down the tower with her vectors, and went straight to the city.

XXX

(Moments ago)

Lucy sulked out of Maple House, her head lowered and her attitude daring something to so much as annoy her.

"Aarf!"

She turned to Wanta who yapped at her, eyeing the pups leash. Staring at the dog, she felt something for the animal that she could never feel for a human being.

Empathy.

She knew what it was like to be trapped, restrained against your will. She wouldn't allow this to such an innocent creature.

With a swipe of her vector, the dog was free.

Wanta licked the young woman's leg, Lucy looking down passively at the pup, "You remind me of an old friend." the pup yapped at her happily, "Take care." she said as she walked away from the animal.

The young woman walked down the stairs leading to Kamakura's cemetery as she collected her thoughts.

"Kouta…" Whispered the girl "I see… either the idiot inside of me somehow found Kouta, or the other idiot with the leather jacket brought me to him." she pondered, "Either way, I'm by his side… If I could just control my body for a little longer…"

Lucy's train of thought was interrupted when she sensed a silpelit right behind her.

"Probably sent by that bastard Kurama to get me back." She assumed angrily.

"Umm, you might've already knew I was coming, didn't you?" The girl from behind her asked nervously.

"…" Lucy stayed silent, not even bothering to look at her.

"I've come to take you back home." Nana said softly.

XXX

Darren walked alone down a quiet street, not having the emotional energy to jump, run, and hop his way on back home.

So many people died; horrible, brutal, nasty deaths, and nobody knew the truth. He was still alive and his parents couldn't know the truth. There was no way he could find the man who made all this possible; to avenge everyone and bring closure to the madness.

How could his reality be this unfair? Could th-

*BAM!*

Faster than he could process, something socked him in the jaw, sending the teen crashing over a car and tumbling over the concrete road.

Darren was dazed. His jaw was broken. That punch was harder than anything he'd been hit by, excluding Mercer or a hunter.

Through his blurred vision, he noticed the car he was knocked into was overturned, all of the glass shattered on the vehicle.

He could see someone's feet on the other side of the car, through the window, though him being sprawled out made him unable to see anything above the ankles.

The figure approached the overturned car, grabbed a hold of it, and tossed it like it was made of cardboard.

When Darren got a good look at the man, his eyes widened. "Y-You?"

It was Bando, the soldier he'd seen from the other night.

Though the man looked different. For one, he had his limbs and his eyes back. The other thing, he was taller, bigger, buffer. His flesh was paler, the major arteries and veins in his body blackened and visible.

The sociopathic soldier flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders, grinning as he looked down on the Prototype he'd just blindsided.

"This D-Code crap works out great." Bando said as he pulled out a shock baton, and activated it. The crackling of electricity could be heard for several dozen yards. The man lifted his foot over Darrens head, and said "Just so you know, this isn't personal. You're just practice."

Before he stomped down.

XXX

A/N: And that's it for this chapter, ladies and gents. The reason this fic takes so long for me to update, is because I needed to take time to go back and revise things in earlier chapters. You gotta know, I started this fic when I was back in highschool, so ideas changed and evolved as time went by.

I managed to flesh out my outline and go back to freshen up some of the earlier chapters.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed.

Until next time!