Zero sat on the ground against the tunnel wall with his mask off, but the hood of his cloak was still up.

Several feet across from here was a blood mess that was once known as Private Connors. He turned his head slightly to the left and saw the body of Private Yilmaz as it still swayed from the rope he had tied to the statue up above. Little *drips* could be heard as blood ran down Yilmaz's leg and onto the ground below. Before hanging him from the rope, Zero had broken off a piece of wood from a nearby bench and impaled him with it several times.

An hour had passed since then and he was still sitting there in the tunnel with his thoughts. And two corpses.

"I..I thought I would feel worse afterwards."

Zero held up his hand to see if it was shaking at all from nerves or anxiety. But it was dead still.

"Does this mean I'm a monster, just like them?"

After his mission with Two, he realized the weight of Two's words that day: "All we can do is fight for each other as long as we can and hope that those who come after us carry that torch. No one else is going to risk anything for us other than the people beside you in this squad."

Then the Major General's test when they came back. Someone as strong and resilient as him, instead chose to sit back in the comfort of his office while sending the rest of them out to fight for their lives.

Despite his conviction to kill Harvey, Zero had been on the fence ever since. Taking a human life didn't feel great. No matter how disgusting they may have been. But he realized that if they were ever going to live a life outside of constant battles, that if the hybrids who lived in the cities would ever be free of the daily torment….something would have to change.

So here he was.

Back in Capital City to tie up the loose ends of Nora's death. He had decided to only kill a few and not all of them as he mainly wanted to send a message. A message that was paid for in their blood.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out the red keycard that had a picture of Haji in the corner. Zero had swiped it a few days ago when he was in Haji's office. He knew that the best way to get out with little detection was not the elevator. No one was expecting someone unauthorized to come out of the stairs so it just made things easier.

"So…what next?" He asked himself. "I still don't know what to do about the tracking. They have no reason to be checking it as long as they don't know I'm not there. But there's gotta be a way to figure out where the tracker is. But even if I did, I have no plan on how to do any of this.." He couldn't come to the city during the day or he would risk his absence being noticed. So how would he choose any next targets? Enacting random violence isn't what he was there to do.

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Zero looked towards the entrance to the tunnel as he heard what sounded like footsteps.

There stood one of the men that the soldiers had hassled by the fire earlier. He had on very baggy clothing that had various stains on it and ripped in a few places. His facial hair was overgrown and his eyes almost seemed sunken in.

He looked at Zero and the gruesome backdrop of his handy work.

Damn it, thought Zero. Did he hear the gunshots?? Did anyone else hear it?

He quickly got up from the ground. "H-hey, it's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you!" The last thing he needed was for this man to run off and draw attention to the scene while he was still there.

But the man only walked further into the tunnel.

Zero held out his hands as he pleaded. "Listen, I'm not a murderer! These guys..these guys did a terrible thing and would've kept doing it if I didn't step in!"

The man didn't respond as he walked up on Zero. He merely looked down at what was left of Private Connors. He didn't show any type of expression on his face as he did so.

Zero watched the man, not knowing what was going through his head right now.

What should I do?! Zero thought. Should I remove my mask to make him feel more at ease? But if he freaks out and runs..do I…no! I'm not here to hurt hybrids! I've got to try to reason with him somehow before it's too late.

"I-is there anything I could say or do to make you understand? I promise, I'm not a bad guy! I'm just-" Zero stopped as the man kept walking on.

He approached the hanging body of Private Yilmaz and simply looked up at him.

"....." Zero didn't know what to say anymore. The man hadn't spoken a single word since he walked in the tunnel. Finally, he turned and looked back at Zero. Zero didn't say anything in fear the man would try to run. It's not that he couldn't catch up to him, he just didn't want to have to make that choice if he did.

The man walked towards Zero. Zero looked at both his hands and didn't see that he was holding any type of weapon. What's he playing at here? He thought.

Zero didn't move as the man stopped only inches away from him. He looked straight into Zero's mask as if he could see the nervous teenager hidden behind it. That's when he did the most peculiar thing.

The man reached out and put his hand on Zero's chest where his heart was. He closed his eyes and just kept it there for several moments without saying anything.

Zero was unsure how to respond - as far as he knew, civilian hybrids didn't have any powers. So?...

"Are you scared?" The man finally spoke up.

"Huh?"

"Your heart. It's racing right now."

Zero hadn't even realized how fast his heart was beating right now.

The man opened his eyes. "That means you're not dead inside. You're not like them." He removed his hand from Zero's chest. "When you no longer feel that, that's when you know that your humanity has left you."

"What…are you saying exactly?" Zero asked him.

The man looked down to Private Connors not far from where they stood. "These men. Everyday they would come out here. They humiliate us. Call us names. Sometimes even beat us for things we never even did. They're truly heartless beings."

"......"

"Only someone with a strong heart can stand up for people they don't even know."

"How do you know I'm a stranger?"

"No one who lives in this city has the willpower to fight back anymore. We just learn to live with it and try not to cause problems."

He looked back to Zero. "But please, don't let this vengeance drown out your humanity. Or you may end up just like them."

The man put a firm hand on Zero's shoulder and started to walk away. He looked at the man as he walked off.

I'll never be like them, he thought to himself.