The cab pulled up to an decrepit police station. It had a backlit neon sign over the doorway that looked faded and warn; the ancient wiring within struggled to keep power flowing through it as it flashed intermittently. It was an unremarkable building planted in the middle of the metropolis, wedged between two other office towers, and linked together with walkways that had been sporadically added on over the many years.

Along the sides of the Art Deco designed walls closest to the sidewalk, the graffiti sprawled slang words of hate blended with the various garbage laying around its base. The steps leading up to the main door way was full of trash as well, both of literal kind and of the wasted street kids that had no where else to go.

The cops didn't care that it was a mess, they ignored it all as much as any other person coming in and out of it. Mason rose out of the cab, paid his fare, and swiftly entered the bleak police station while trying to sidestep the throng of homeless begging for a handout. Stepping through the weather beaten wooden doors, the hinges yawning from lack of care, he continued onward up another set of stairs leading to the main offices.

Plexiglass and turnstile doorways were the routine security of this particular division. Bored officers stood behind them asking questions to the citizens bringing complains or filing reports of crimes they'd been a victim of. Sensors scanned each individual coming through the turnstile, an indicator horn alerted staff of Mason's weapon, who then flashed his badge and ident-card to the officer stopping him.

The Asian woman cop eyed him up and down, handed him back his card and made a slight comment about his profession. Derek ignored her mocking and proceeded over to the police chief's office. The labyrinth of police detective desks, (full of computers, papers, and evidence bags), seemed to stretch on forever as Mason worked his way past them all.

Everyone and then an officer would give him a dirty look or make a barely audible unkind comment about his profession. He knew nobody there like working with Blade Runners, but he was always amazed of having to hear the same insults over and over. It became like a daily greeting every time he was there.

Finally, he reached the chief's office and barged into the office unannounced. His superior sat behind his desk and was un-phased by his dramatics.

"That was a waste of my time." Mason forcefully uttered with grit teeth.

"Like I care." The chief scoffed at him. "It comes with the job, like I said, its not a perfect world and you're just a skin job cop."

The chief stood up and ordered him to shut the door. Mason glanced back and used his foot to shut it. The office was fairly spacious; adorned with various pictures of crime scenes, awards and personal commendations from the city. Mason stood in the room with an air of defiance.

"I'm tired of this crap, Barnes." Mason grumbled again. "Testing replicants at factories that make them isn't what I call doing my job. When they get twitchy, yeah sure, I'll go and give them a try. But, having me act like their quality inspector is bullshit."

"Hey, Omiashi gets what Omiashi wants." Barnes shrugged. A smile crept onto Captain Barnes face as he motioned for Mason to sit down. The chair infant of his desk was poised as if it had been anticipating his arrival. Mason nodded and cooled down from his bitter attitude. "You know as well as I do that he practically owns this city." The Captain continued as he sat back down as well. "But I do like to keep tabs on that old man and his Reps just in case. So, what did he want you to take a look at?"

Mason let out a drawn out breath, took out his small pad and flipped through the pages he scrawled some notes on. "Triplet replicants, very new models and hard to detect." Barnes shook his head at that. Mason flipped through more notes, "The man is definitely upping the game on these ones. It took far too many questions and their iris response was near average human kind. I'd say, probably even better than that, really."

"Shit..." The Captain said. He slapped the table lightly and sat back with concern. "It's bad enough these skin jobs are becoming more human, but they're going to take over if this keeps up."

"Better than human and beyond human..." A woman's voice said from the side.

Mason noticed the woman on the couch with her feet up and a newspaper over her face. She had been so quiet earlier that he didn't even notice her sprawled out on the faded and well used piece of furnisher.

"That's the nice little slogan they always tout, right? Well, guess they're dead set on proving it."

She sat up immediately and revealed her face. A blonde woman with short cropped hair (sculpted upwards and smooth) and near perfect alabaster skin. Yet there was something about her appearance he couldn't quite pin-point. She was caucasian, yet not in some way. Before he was caught staring too much at her, the captain made the introduction.

"Derek Mason, this is Anna Yuko, a new recruit from the Blade Runner division."

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The woman smiled at him and stood up to shake his hand. Mason, never one to be impressed by other Blade Runners, simply ignored her. She looked the part of a Blade Runner, formal in attire complete with a tie and a pair of solid shoes for walking. The long dark leathery duster style coat seemed to compliment her thin build frame. He could make out her gun that was strapped to her and slightly hidden underneath.

The gun looked fairly new in design. Probably given upon her graduation from the program, he figured. Still, he wasn't too confident she had enough skill to use it like he had, or any other Blade Runner for that matter. He wasn't sure what this was about. Hopefully he wasn't being reassigned or 'retired' himself.

The Captain watched his coldness with some hesitation and continued the introduction. "She's got a year under her belt already, good with tracking and street savvy skills, and..." The man paused while folding his arms looking at him with a skeptical eye, "Yuko is going to be your new partner."

"What?" Derek scoffed immediately. He glanced at her, sizing up the woman and quickly back to the Captain. "Why? I've never needed a partner, point of fact, no Blade Runner ever gets a partner. This is bullshit, Barnes..."

"Wow, okay, do I get a say in this too?" Yuko questioned to Barnes.

"No, you don't," Barnes glared at her. He then focused back on Mason as he thumped on the desk in anger. "Look, I'm not giving a choice here, this is how it is! You want to walk away, then you know what that means. If your not a cop, you're little people!"

Derek hated that expression. They used that in the Los Angeles police departments as well. A motto that all officers adopted as a means to threaten those thinking they could just walk away from their jobs, more so for Blade Runners. They had no choice at all and still don't to this day. Mason knew he'd be given no special favours or treatment by the NYPD if he should suddenly quit.

Barnes new he was a drinker, that he was sometimes found at bars getting into fights when an off duty cop hounded him there. Once the leash was off, there would be no 'brushing it off' as he would often say. He'd be put in jail like any other low life scum they dealt with on a daily basis. So rather than debate the point further, Mason reluctantly silenced himself.

"Yuko is your damn partner," The Captain motioned bitterly. "Two Blade Runners can do the job better in my view. Especially when they're caught off guard. Or did you forget that last skin job that wrecked your leg a few years back?"

"No," Mason grumbled. Rubbing his right leg in memory. "That was a mistake that will never happen again."

"Damn right it won't." Barnes said thumping the desk again. "Cause now you'll have someone to watch over your stupid ass."

Yuko clucked her tongue at him and sat back down onto the couch. She seemed pleased he was getting chewed out and continued to give a smug grin as that bit of information was almost priceless to her. He was being a jerk to her. She could see it in his mannerisms and his very obvious vocal objections.

"Fine..." Derek said, his voice trailing off slightly. "Is that all you got for me? Or what?"

Barnes motioned to him to hand over his notes from the Omiashi tests. Derek obliged and ripped out the pages from his small note pad. That caused Anna to giggle a bit, she had never seen such 'old school' notes in all her life. Barnes looked at it with frustration and fiddled the pages in his hands.

"I hate your methods..." He grumbled at him. "Here we are in the height of the modern age, and you still work with this crap. Scribbles and out dated writings, get with the times, my friend. I hate having to re-enter this stuff into the computers."

"Gives you something to do." Mason quipped. "Can't have you sit on your ass all day with a thumb up there."

That immediately made Barnes glare up at him in anger. Yuko quickly tried her best to hold back a smile. She liked that comeback and cleared her throat to break the tension. Barnes pointed at Mason for a second and then at the door––for him to leave.

"I'll send the new case file to you, get out!"

Derek said nothing and exited the room with a loud slam of the door. The love/hate relationship they had would be rather confusing with many in the station. They got along, of a sorts, but it was more of a tolerance out of obligation of the job. He walked over to one of the empty desks outside and waited for his new 'partner'. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for getting one, he knew he wouldn't be able to ditch her despite his objections.

Yuko and Barnes chatted for a moment while he was outside. He could see through the windowed office, the dirty blinds barely closed, as the two seemed to argue about something. Probably about him, he thought. She looked like someone who didn't like being paired up as much as he did. Nevertheless, he waited for her. Once the two had finished shouting, she stepped out of the office and approached him in a calm manner.

"Looks like we're stuck with each other, eh partner?"

"First off..." Derek sighed. "We're not partners. I don't do partners. I may have to work with you, but I don't have to get to know you. You're just a trainee as far as I'm concerned."

"A trainee?" The woman eyeballed him. "Give me a break, Mason. I've probably got more kills then you're entire career."

"See now..." Derek quickly responded. "That scares me. It scares me that your so trigger happy that you boast about it. The young trainees always brag about killing replicants as if it were a game. But it's not a game, this isn't some job anyone should enjoy."

"Listen, old man..." She leaned into his face. "I'm good at what I do. So yeah, I'm going to brag about it. I kill those Reps because they are a plague on society. If I had my way, they'd all be retired from existence. Maybe even those that make them as well, but, my job is only to take out the ones who sour. So, I'm going to make the best of what I've got." She patted his shoulder slightly. "If you can't handle this job anymore, or like the other burn outs, can't get a grip with reality, then maybe you should just 'retire' yourself here and now." The woman motioned her hand like a gun and made the sound of it going off near his head. She gave a smile at him and winked. She moved back and adjusted her coat. "I'll see you in a few hours, at the Dragon Bowl, once you've had a look at the case. You know where that is right?"

Derek nodded and watched her leave afterwards. He couldn't understand this woman's mentality; She was cocky, overconfident and seemed overly blood thirsty for Replicant death. The swagger in her steps seemed to say it all. But even with all of her attitude, he felt there was something more. It was definitely something to check out at home, far away from prying eyes of the officers around him. He'd have to see just who this Anna Yuko truly is all about.