Heather

Zero and Heather walked down the street together as they got to know each other better. Which was especially hard for Zero since he honestly barely knew who he was himself. Without his prior life memories he was learning something new about himself all the time.

So he just filled in the gaps with little lies to keep the conversation going. For some reason, he found himself interested in learning more about who she was.

"So after the calamity, my parents and I went from shelter to shelter - but no matter where we went safety was always a fleeting thing. The Reapers were just everywhere, y'know?" She said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Feels like your whole life is just dominated by their very existence." Zero replied. That part wasn't totally a lie.

"Exactly. But, once the war finally turned we were able to find our way here. Even with its problems it's definitely the closest thing to a home we've had in a long time."

Heather suddenly stopped in front of a shop.

"Oh! Wanna grab a coffee…? Well this is embarrassing. I totally forgot to ask what your name was!" She said in a bubbly tone.

Zero didn't really care much for coffee. They had a coffee maker back at the base that Two and Three used a lot, but he never really took to the taste. He could suck it up for a few moments though.

But even worse he couldn't tell her what his name was. It was just a number after all and it would give away who he really was.

"Sure, sounds good. And my friends just call me Z."

"Well that's different. But I like it!"

Zero smiled in relief. He would have to thank Five for that nickname after all.

As they walked up to the entrance, there was a bio-scanner right on top of the door frame.

"Ugh, I hate these things." She said, "ever since the murders started up more businesses have started utilizing them. Why, I have no idea. Maybe to know when to keep an eye on their hybrid customer. Sickens me."

She stepped through the door and the bio-scanner let off a soft *beep*.

However, Zero couldn't chance getting scanned. Since these things send daily reports back to wherever the main office is, then there will be evidence that he was here to begin with.

"How about you grab us a seat? I..think I dropped something out of my pocket while we were walking. Just gonna check real quick."

"Really? Need an extra pair of eyes? I have two sets to spare." She said as she jokingly lifted her glasses up and down.

"Haha no it's okay. It's probably not too far back. Will only take a sec!"

"Hm okay then. I'll meet you inside?"

"You got it." Zero replied. Heather walked inside the shop and Zero quickly walked back down the street.

Before Zero started making these trips to the city, he had been experimenting with ways to avoid detection by the bio-scanners at the base. He long ago figured out more than one way around it.

One way was that he could use Chronos Trigger to create a time field around the scanner and greatly slow down its detection speed. This seemed to have mixed results as sometimes it would still pick him up, but at a delay. What became his go to was just using his speed to go through the scanner. This way he could beat out the milliseconds it took for the scanner to pick him up and he would be like a ghost.

However, he knew disappearing in the middle of a busy street in broad daylight wasn't something that would easily be missed.

So he walked down the street a little ways and then rounded the back of a nearby store. Once he was out of sight he got to work.

"Chronos Trigger."

He established the time field around himself and took off back to the shop. This proved harder than he thought since it wasn't like he could just go right through people. Even at super speed he needed to avoid running into someone.

He weaved through the people seamlessly and dashed through the entrance of the shop.

*BAM*

The doors had slammed open as he hadn't been subtle when he entered.

Everyone in the coffee shop looked towards the door, frightened by the sudden sound. Heather was one of those as she sat at a table waiting for Zero.

"Hi."

Heather quickly turned back to see Zero sitting across from her now.

"Wow I didn't even see you walk up to the table!" She said surprised.

"Oh, sorry about that. I went to the bathroom first. Turns out it was a false alarm about dropping something; it was in my back pocket this whole time."

She giggled in a cute manner "Yea, weird how that happens huh?"

As they got up to order a coffee, the cashier called out to her. "Hey Heather. Just can't get away can you?" The cashier joked.

"Haha, yep." Heather replied. She turned to Zero, "Also just an fyi, I happen to work here part time. So coffee is on the house!"

Oh wonderful, Zero thought to himself. We don't actually get paid so I don't have any money!

The barista made their coffees and the two took their seats once more. She took a sip of her coffee and it was like just that tiny bit had washed away her stress from the day. Zero took a sip of his and he immediately wanted to spit it back into the cup.

"So, you live with your parents around here?" Zero asked.

"Sorta." *Slurp* "My Dad and I live a little further into the city, closer to the North side."

"I see. What about your Mom?"

Heather suddenly got a somewhat deadpan look to her face. Zero realized he had asked something he shouldn't have.

"Oh I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

She let out a little sigh. "No…it's alright. It's not like you knew anyways. My Mom..she…never actually made it to the city. It's a long story, but we lost her on the way. It's just been us for a few years now."

"I'm so sorry. I know that must've been hard."

"It was. It still is some days. But, you'll find a sad story on every corner in this city. Everyone has lost someone during all this." *slurp* "So, where do you stay?"

"Over at Alpha Base."

"Wait, what?"

Fuck, Zero thought. He had been so comfortable in the conversation that he completely let it slip out.

"Uh, I mean I live out near Alpha Base."

Heather seemed concerned by this. "But, there's no actual housing out that way. Cities are the only safe places these days after all. What are you staying in exactly??"

"I..um…" Zero was starting to flounder as he couldn't find an answer. Alpha Base didn't exactly hold classes on current events outside of the 'this is what fucked up stuff happened to the world' crash course in the beginning - so he had no idea what the housing situations were like outside the base.

However, he was saved from having to respond due to a large shadow being casted over their table.

Zero looked up and saw a woman, probably in her late 50s', looming over their table. She was a bigger woman and had a scowl imprinted on her face. Random people upset at him was nothing new, except she wasn't looking at him.

She was staring daggers at Heather.

Heather looked up at the lady as well. "Can we help you?"

The lady just continued looking at her. Then she finally bent down closer to Heather.

"Your father is a piece of shit, you know that?"

Heather let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. She didn't even respond to the lady. Instead she looked at Zero.

"Hey, let's get out of here actually."

Zero was confused, but also didn't appreciate how the lady was talking to her. "Um, are you sure?"

"Oh go ahead and run out." The woman continued in a loud whisper. "Good men like Salvatore are trying to fix this whole country and your father is nothing but a sympathizing idiot who doesn't know a lick of anything."

Heather grabbed her coffee and stood up. "Yes, I'm sure." She replied to Zero's question.

Zero stood up and looked the woman in the face with a look of discontent. The lady looked at Zero, "What? You gotta problem? Best concern yourself with who you keep company with, kid."

The lady then walked off after getting her final word in. Heather and Zero walked towards the exit, which thankfully didn't have a bio-scanner since it was a door only opened from the inside. As they walked back out onto the sidewalk, Heather leaned up against the wall of the store and just stared down at the ground.

What the hell was that about? Zero thought to himself. The way she talked to her…it was like she was one of us or something. And what's the deal with her Dad?

After a few moments Heather got up from the wall and took a deep breath.

"Sorry about that. You'd be surprised to hear that stuff like that follows me around a lot."

"It's totally fine. If you don't mind me asking, why was she so upset about your Dad?"

Heather rubbed the back of her neck as if she was nervous or hesitant to answer. "Wellll. I suppose you and I seem pretty like-minded so there's no harm in telling you. You see, my Dad is Lucas Bertram."

Bertram? Zero thought curiously. Why does that name sound so familiar?...

Heather saw his change in expression. "Sorry. I guess if you don't live here in the city you might not know him as well as everyone else here. My Dad is the one currently running for President against Vice-President Anderson."