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This story and all of its contents are a work of fiction. It has not been officially approved by the owners and therefore should not be counted as such. That being the case, enjoy this work of fan fiction based upon the events of the Iria: Zeiram OAV.

This is the second Iria fanfic that I’ve written, the first being Bob’s Karma, and is a bit more serious. This takes place at the very end of the OAV and deals with the aftereffects of Zeiram’s death. Rogue Influences is part one of three.

While Rogue Influences isn’t as graphic as Bob’s Karma, it is much darker than Bob’s fight with Zeiram. So expect a deeper plot this time and be prepared to be at least a bit disturbed by the story arc.

One last thing I should mention before you go on, this story isn’t as self-sufficient as Bob’s Karma. It is already assumed in this fanfic that you have actually seen Iria: Zeiram and know the plot. For those of you who haven’t been lucky enough, allow me to clarify a few terms. Kem is the standard form of currency, Zeiram is was a monster that could clone it’s self, and the Kreper is a compact vehicle that can fly and travel in space.

Written and thought up by the Confetti Yeti. Email any comments you have about this story to: Iria4ever@scifianime.com.

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It was dark, Iria could almost see the stars. The swirl of the galaxies in some strange and cosmic plan moved hypnotically through her vision. Even though she could see all of this, Iria had the distinct feeling that her eyes were closed.

It was so hard for her to remember why she was here, what she had planned to do.

Out of the nether reaches a vision materialized before her eyes, it was Gren, her brother. Except something seemed out of place about the image, something that made it impossible for him to be here.

He was dead.

With that instant realization came other, even less pleasant thoughts, to Iria’s mind. Gren was dead because of her, she had shot him in order to kill him and to…

Her mind blanked out and Iria struggled to focus her thoughts, there seemed to be something clouding her mind. It was holding back vital information and Iria fought it like she would any other enemy; without mercy.

The strange influence withdrew from Iria’s unexpected counterattack and she suddenly had all the information she needed. She had killed Gren in order to end his suffering from Zeiram.

Zeiram.

Just the mere mention of his name caused Iria to remember the horrors that Zeiram had inflicted upon her and just as rapidly caused Gren’s face to mutate into the hated white head of her enemy. At the same time her consciousness flooded back to her along with the secret to Zeiram’s weakness.

Without thinking, Iria aimed as close as she could manage to Zeiram’s assimilation tendril with one of her guns. She fired two shots but both were low and only served to blow out sections of it’s vast neck.

Zeiram reared back from the unexpected pain, probably more from surprise than from shock. It recovered quickly and sent it’s white head snaking out towards her in an effort to take her down.

Iria came to the sudden realization that it was scared. The unkillable butcher was actually scared. Maybe not real dread as she knew it, but in some dark recess of it’s alien mind it felt fear. In Zeiram’s moment of weakness it had made a mistake, it’s long red assimilator was exposed and vulnerable.

It was a mistake that Iria was determined to take advantage of.

"You won’t get away!" she yelled definitely and reached for the closest weapon available to her at the moment, a small blade hidden inside one of her hairbeads.

With a hiss of compressed air, the blade snapped into place and fell free from her hair into her waiting hand. Iria felt a sudden surge of adrenaline and lunged towards Zeiram with all the strength her rage had to offer.

As strong as he was, Zeiram had been weakened severely. Not only had he been cut in half, but had several puncture wounds from Iria’s guns. Zeiram tried to withdraw his head but his reaction time had been slowed.

With a satisfying abruptness, Iria’s blade stopped its lunge and penetrated the long muscular tendril at its base. Zeiram’s struggling only served to help Iria’s progress until she had sliced it up to Zeiram’s head. She felt resistance but nothing short of seizure was going to stop her now. With grim resolve, Iria shoved the knife further and dug through the monster’s pale countenance until her knife again fell through open air.

Iria stayed frozen in position as she felt the satisfying thud of Zeiram’s body impacting the ground. She turned to face the creature again and was greeted to the welcome sight of Zeiram’s split head and tendril shriveling up as life left the body.

Feeling no need to take chances Iria quickly smashed one of the shriveled ends beneath her shoe. The satisfaction that she felt from that one little action was immeasurable.

Iria looked at Zeiram’s corpse dispassionately and slowly felt the rage wash out of her. The nightmare was over, Gren had been avenged and the galaxy wouldn’t have to worry about the menace of Zeiram ever again.

Iria suddenly realized that she had no idea where she was, Bob never told her where he was going to transit her.

"Where am I?" Iria asked herself quietly as she noticed that she was surrounded by sand dunes that seemed to sparkle from the dim light. "I wonder-"

Iria cut her sentence off before it had a chance to complete itself and her eyes widened in shock. There was no way Bob would bring her to this place! "He wouldn’t!" she said, if only to reassure herself.

"Iria!"

Iria turned to face the sound of the voice, it was Kei waiting for her beside the Kreper.

Kei clearly didn’t realize the danger she was in. "Kei!" Iria yelled as she was about to run towards the Kreper but stopped before she had any serious momentum. In one quick movement Iria smashed the other half of Zeiram’s head just to make sure that the creature wouldn’t somehow be revived.

Then she bolted for the safety of the Kreper, yelling instructions to Kei along the way. "Kei, get in! Hurry up!"

Kei stood dumbfounded alongside the Kreper, still not moving. It was apparent by the sound of her voice that she was concerned. "What’s the matter, Iria? Is it Zeiram?"

Iria couldn’t take the time to placate her younger companion. "Zeiram’s dead! Now shut up and get in!" Iria leaped into the driver’s seat and immediately began to start up the powerful but compact vehicle.

Kei crawled obligingly back into the Kreper with a little resentment. "Alright, I’m in! What’s the big deal?

"This is the Stardust Desert." Iria replied matter-of-factly. Her only concern right now was to make it out of here before the sun appeared.

Kei was obviously lost. "The Stardust?"

Iria couldn’t keep a sound of disgust from escaping at the mention of their present location. She still couldn’t quite believe that Bob had actually transited her here.

"Are you okay?" Kei asked.

Iria gunned the Kreper to its maximum speed in a desperate attempt to escape the sunrise. "Never mind that. The sun is about to rise, and when it does…"

"And when it does?" Kei asked, trying to get Iria to fill in the rest of her sentence.

Iria looked at the time, just about sunrise. It looked like Kei was going to get her answer. "You’ll see."

Already the sand dunes were beginning to light up with a blinding glare as the sun crested the horizon. Iria kept the Kreper at maximum speed but the action was futile, there was no way she was going to outrun the sunrise.

"Oh, awesome!"

Iria looked behind her to see Kei looking in wide-eyed wonder at the mirror-bright dunes that were even now threatening to blind them. "Don’t look, Kei. You could blind yourself." As Iria imparted these words of wisdom she engaged the Kreper’s shield in an effort to reduce the glare. It didn’t keep Kei from watching the dunes behind them.

Iria couldn’t be mad at Kei, stuck on Taowajan her whole life, the kid knew practically nothing about the galaxy at large. If anything, Iria decided to put the blame were it was due.

Bob.

As if reading her thoughts, the main viewer came to life and Bob’s image filled the screen. "Iria! Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Iria wasn’t going to let him off easy, there were thousands of places that Bob could’ve dropped her off at. "Bob! Have you gone crazy or something? Sending me off to a place like this?"

"Uh, sorry about that. There wasn’t any time." Bob’s chagrin was apparent even though he had no readable expression to speak of. "Why don’t you switch over to autopilot and get some sleep?"

Iria was simply incredulous that he had the nerve to suggest something like that. "You’ve got to be kidding!" she yelled, albeit a bit louder then she wanted.

In the background she heard Kei laughing. Iria closed her eyes in a small effort to regain control of the situation. "What now?"

"It’s just funny."

"Brat." It figured that Kei wouldn’t give her a straight answer, she was probably playing with her.

Iria suddenly felt two small arms grasp her in a friendly hug as Kei again laughed good-naturedly. "I love you, Iria!"

Iria wasn’t sure what to do, it had been such a long time since anyone had been so friendly with her. She surprised herself by giving a small chuckle and grinning from Kei’s affection.

"Why shouldn’t I be happy?" Iria silently asked herself. Zeiram was dead, Gren had been avenged, she was still in one piece. She had her whole life ahead of her and when word got around that she had killed Zeiram her reputation would skyrocket.

Iria reflected that for the first time in a long time she was genuinely happy. Sure she was close to being blinded by the Stardust, but that was a minor discomfort. Once she got back to Myce she would finally have the chance to start her life.

It was like the ancient saying; "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

"Very accurate words," Iria thought as she drove away from the sunrise and on to better things.

And yet, there was something gnawing at the back of her mind. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on…

***

Fujikuro was upgrading his dempadon, thanks in no small part to the money he received rescuing Iria, when the communicator on the armrest started beeping incessantly. Fujikuro wouldn’t have minded the interruption so much if he hadn’t been installing some new electrical systems.

The shock he received was enough to make his fingers numb for half an hour. He cursed loudly and slammed a fist on the receiver. "Whoever this is had better have one damn good reason for calling me!"

The person that answered was that of a young male who couldn’t quite keep a tone of nervousness out of his voice. "I’m sorry to interrupt you sir, but I got word of a hot job going around Ghomvat Security."

Fujikuro felt his temper slowly ebb away. It was only Jaksan, a snoop he had hired to keep him informed of potential easy-money jobs. Jaksan wasn’t too experienced in the art of information gathering, he was only a lowly intern after all, but he helped the bounty hunter keep in touch without actually going to the Ghomvat Security offices.

Fujikuro didn’t actually feel any anger towards the intern, but there was no need for Jaksan to know that. He made sure to keep his voice angry to serve as a subtle lesson about interrupting his work. "This had better be one sweet job, I can still remember the last one you told me about. I barely broke even and the quarry turned out to be nothing but child’s toy."

"I am really sorry about that, but the reward for this bounty is astronomical. I’m sure that it ranks pretty close to being the highest ever posted." Jaksan paused for a moment. "I could tell you the price but I don’t think you’ll believe me. Would you mind if I sent a copy of the requisition order to your personal files?"

Fujikuro sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. The kid was probably exaggerating again. "Why not? I’d be a sucker if I passed up the biggest bounty in history. This had better be the genuine article."

In response he got was a double beep over his communicator to indicate that the file had been sent. "There you go, I think you’ll find this one worth the effort."

Fujikuro picked up a nearby data tablet and quickly found the order form that Jaksan had sent. His eyes widened when he saw the figure, enough kem to keep him secure for at least a year. There was always the possibility that Jaksan had doctored the bounty, it wouldn’t be the first time, but Fujikuro didn’t believe that even Jaksan would be so extravagant.

He scanned down through the requirements; the subject had to be taken alive with no serious injury or mental conditioning. Then once this person was captured, the instructions were to bring the quarry back to a designated location were the hunter would be paid up front.

Fujikuro exhaled deeply, this would be a tough job. He browsed down lazily, taking in the various sub-requirements that helped to define exactly how far the hunter could go and still get paid. Fujikuro rolled his eyes, he couldn’t imagine how anyone could make themselves so valuable and yet nearly untouchable.

Then he came across a line that made him stop and stare in disbelief. "Son of a-, I don’t believe this."

"Well? I was right wasn’t I?"

Fujikuro nodded even though he knew Jaksan couldn’t see him. "You’ve done your good deed for the day, kid."

"No offense, but I’d like to see that statement in kem."

"Don’t worry, the money’s on its way," Fujikuro growled as he shut off the communicator. He looked at his dempadon critically, a few pieces were missing, but he was confident that he could get it working within the next few minutes.

Fujikuro scrambled to reassemble the small transport as quickly as possible, because he knew that every minute he wasted was a minute that Iria didn’t have.

***
Iria sighed and leaned back in her seat, Bob had finally persuaded her to relinquish control of the Kreper and relax. Kei had fallen asleep in the back because of the extraordinary distance that they had to travel to find a transsembler. Iria had to admit that she was feeling a little sleepy herself. The adrenaline rush that she’d felt during the battle had long since worn off, leaving her feeling weary.

Night had fallen. It was a crystal blue evening that let the stars poke through the sky and glimmer with full force. Still, there was something about seeing the stars in all of their glory that made Iria uneasy.

"We’ll be at the house in a few minutes," Bob stated, bringing Iria’s thoughts back to more immediate concerns.

"Thanks, Bob. Sorry for my outburst earlier, I was under a lot of stress and I just needed something to release it. Looking back, I can see that the Stardust was actually a good spot for the fight," Iria said in apology.

"Forget about it, Iria. There isn’t any need to apologize for something that you couldn’t really help. Besides, the Stardust wasn’t what I had originally picked for your battleground. I know how much you dislike that place."

Iria had to smile. Although Bob was just represented by an abstract object, at times she could still find traces of her old friend and mentor in the image.

The Kreper swerved to avoid one of the many rocky outcroppings that surrounded her house. The place still looked like she remembered it. The curved roof, artistically placed support beams, spacious garage with the living quarters placed on top.

Iria silently chided herself on her somewhat lame observation, of course her house looked the same. It wasn’t more than a day or so since she’d left with her desperate plan to kill Zeiram. It just seemed so long ago…

Iria gently nudged Kei out of her slumber. "Wake up. Kei, we’re home."

Kei sat bolt upright, startled. "Iria! I wasn’t sleeping! I was, uh, thinking with my eyes closed."

Iria grinned in amusement. "You know, it isn’t a bad thing if a hunter takes a nap now and then. It helps to keep the energy up."

Kei’s eyes widened. "Really?"

"Sure," Iria confirmed. "I used to see Gren take small naps when on a stake-out."

"It’s true," Bob chimed in. "I even rested my eyes every now and then, before my mind was transferred into this computer of course. The trick is knowing how to wake yourself up at a moments notice."

"Speaking of stuff that bounty-hunters do, when are you to start training me as your apprentice?" Kei asked expectedly.

Iria took it in stride. "All in due course, technically someone your age isn’t supposed to be eligible for an apprenticeship."

Kei looked crestfallen. "Oh."

"Hey," Iria said as she crouched next to Kei. "It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to teach you anyway. Hell, the way you helped out with the Zeiram situation should practically guarantee you a license."

Kei’s frown made a sudden flip. "Really?"

Iria winked. "You bet. Now, why don’t you check on the house and make sure the security system is still working? I need to take some time out and relax a bit."

Kei’s spirits rose considerably. "Sure thing, Iria. I could use your help, Bob."

"You go ahead, Kei. I’ll transfer over in a sec."

Kei left and only when the pair heard the familiar whir of the lift rising, did Bob speak. "Are you sure you’ll be alright? You’ve been uncommonly quiet ever since we picked you up."

Iria closed her eyes, suddenly too tired to look at her friend. "Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m just having a hard time accepting the fact that it’s all over."

Bob was quiet for a moment. "When should we expect you to be back?"

Iria reopened her eyes. "Soon, I promise."

"Just remember that Kei and I are always here for support." Then Bob’s image snapped off, leaving Iria alone with her thoughts.

Again, Iria looked at the stars and the uneasy feeling that she’d had in the Kreper returned. She made her way out of the garage and wandered into one of the groves of trees that were growing all over this area. Occasionally, she would look back at the sky but every time she did the uncomfortable feeling would return.

She sighed, sat down on a nearby knoll and buried her face in her palms to block out the sky.

That’s when she heard the noise.

Off to her left was the sound of rustling leaves that stopped suddenly as she turned her head in that direction. The instant she looked away it started up again, getting a bit louder with each passing moment.

Iria didn’t want to take chances, she sprang up from her spot and whipped out her sword. The weapon snapped together with a quick flip of Iria’s wrist and the hunter was in a combat stance instantly. Iria turned slowly, keeping all of her senses on full alert.

"Come out and show yourselves! I won’t hurt you unless I’m forced to," Iria warned.

The rustling got louder as a figure popped out of the scenery, followed by another and another. In less than a minute, Iria was surrounded on all sides by dark silhouettes. None of them were close enough for Iria to make out features.

Iria turned to the largest shape, and presumably the leader, with her sword. "Listen to me, I suggest that you leave before I get dangerous. I may be alone, but I can easily beat you and your cronies."

The group didn’t budge and kept their silence. Iria was about to call Bob for assistance when her sword was hit by a sticky, heavy weight, forcing her to drop it involuntarily. She instantly knew that trying to pick up her fallen weapon would be folly. Instead she rushed towards the nearest body and used their shoulders to catapult herself away from the gang.

Iria sprinted towards the house and was again about to call Bob when her feet suddenly became stuck in the same substance that had knocked her sword away. Before she even hit the ground, the hunter was struck repeatedly with the same gooey material. When she finally impacted Iria was bound tight, the substance was covering every part of her body that could possibly be used for help.

When her vision cleared from the unexpected attack, Iria found herself looking at one of the people that had attacked her. Even with a sky full of stars, Iria wasn’t able to make out any distinguishing features. She then realized a bit too late that the figure had it’s fist drawn back.

With a swiftness that Iria wasn’t expecting, she felt the impact. Stars of her own appeared before her eyes but were soon washed away by a black sea of unconsciousness.

***
Kei had just finished checking the security systems when the alarms went off.

"Bob!" Kei yelled over the rising din of noise. "What’s going on!?"

The alarms stopped just as suddenly as they had started, although Kei could still hear the ghostly echoes in her ears.

"Sorry about that, the alarms were set off by Fujikuro." Bob explained. "I think the system needs a bit more fine-tuning.

"Fujikuro!" Kei repeated a bit surprised. What’s he doing here?"

"I’ve come to save your ungrateful lives again!" A coarse voice, which could belong only to Fujikuro, said angrily.

Kei spun around, and sure enough Fujikuro was standing there with arms crossed and his customary scowl on his face. "I don’t have time for delays, tell me where Iria is!"

"What business is it of yours?"

"Listen, you little brat! I’m trying to help you guys out, for free I might add, and I don’t have time for your games!"

Before Kei could come up with a response, Bob beat her to it. "She’s outside, I don’t know where exactly. The detection routines on this system are still in their infancy and not very accurate."

"I was afraid of that," Fujikuro grumbled as he ran back to the lift and made his descent.

Of course, Fujikuro wasn’t registered as a ‘friend’ yet and the alarm klaxons promptly returned in full force. Kei and Bob wasted precious seconds shutting off the sirens before it was quiet enough for them to talk.

"I want you to follow Fujikuro," Bob ordered. "The very fact that he’s doing this for free means that the situation is very serious. I’ll stay at the house and try to contact Iria."

Kei didn’t waste time with words, just a simple nod and she was down the lift.

The Kreper was still warm because of its long journey from the Stardust Desert, although it was a bit low on fuel. Kei ignored the fuel meter. If Bob was right, there wouldn’t be time to waste with refueling.

Kei started to hot the gas when she had to stop just as abruptly, Fujikuro and his dempadon were sitting right in front of her. Or rather, Fujikuro and something that used to be a dempadon.

Fujikuro was frantically trying to reattach a few key pieces when he noticed Kei watching him. "I had to rebuild this thing fast in order to make here by today," he explained, "It’s a pile of junk now."

Kei bit her lower lip in thought before coming to a quick decision. "Get in!"

Fujikuro looked like he was going to refuse her offer, but then he shrugged and hopped in.

"Hold on!" Kei warned as she gunned the engine and plowed through Fujikuro’s defunct dempadon.

"Hey!" Fujikuro protested. "I just bought that thing!"

"I’m sure you’ll be able to afford another before this is over."

Fujikuro just leaned back and folded his arms. "God, you and Iria are way to much alike."

The Kreper sped away from the garage and out into the night.

An hour of intense searching and regular check-ins with Bob yielded no sign of Iria, but towards the end of the hour the group got a break. Fujikuro managed to catch a glimmer of metal on one of the hillsides. Closer examination revealed that it was Iria’s sword.

It was covered in a brown gooey substance that was rapidly dissolving itself away. Kei eyeballed it, but couldn’t identify what the brown stuff was. "What do you make it of it, Fujikuro?"

"I have a hunch, but I hope like hell that I’m wrong," replied Fujikuro cryptically as he kneeled down to collect some of the substance. "It’s too late for Iria, but we might still be able to find out what happened to her."

"How can you say that?!" Kei argued. "She might be injured, or unconscious and laying somewhere over the next hill!"

Fujikuro wasn’t moved. "Listen to me, kid. This is the only area where there are any signs of a struggle and I don’t see any bodies which means that Iria has probably been captured. We can’t do anything for her now except find out what happened!"

Kei just crossed her arms and let out a noncommittal noise.

"Now either drive me to Dr. Touka’s lab or get out of my way so I can use the Kreper!"

"You don’t mean…" Kei started to ask but finished her sentence with the answer. "Zeiram."

"That’s exactly what I’m thinking, but I can’t be sure until Dr. Touka confirms it."

Kei climbed into the driver’s seat. "What are you waiting for? Dr. Touka is a busy man."

Fujikuro only smiled.

***
Dr. Touka peered through the microscope and examined the brown substance carefully before checking the data on a readout. It was almost identical to Zeiram’s organic structure in every way, a lesser scientist probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish the difference between the two.

Behind him, he heard an impatient grunt. Touka ignored it and preformed a few more tests before he was completely satisfied that the substance wasn’t from Zeiram. He turned to face the other two people in the room and wiped his glasses before he spoke.

"This bio-material is very similar to Zeiram with a few minor differences. For instance, whatever creature this came from wouldn’t be able to resist fire like Zeiram. Therefore I must deduce that this came from a zeiramoid."

The younger of the two, a mere kid that Touka had the misfortune of meeting before, was trying to appear calm but wasn’t doing a very good job of it. The other, a tall man who Touka had instantly disliked, gave no visible reaction besides a scowl.

"Well that settles it," the man said. "Thanks doc."

The younger kid smiled. "Yeah, thanks grandpa!"

"I’m glad I could help you," Touka said calmly. "Now get out of my lab before I call the Authorities! I’m trying to get a good night’s rest and I don’t need you people waking me up every time you have a Zeiram crisis!"

***
Iria awoke in a cold, dark room with a pounding headache her only companion.

She was laying on a flat metal slab and found that she couldn’t move her arms or legs due to that fact that they were strapped down. Iria tried to make out some of the room’s features but everything was blurred into the background.

Suddenly a break in the dark appeared, spilling harsh white light into the room and forcing Iria to close her eyes against the glare. When she reopened them, Iria saw a figure standing in the doorway. Again, Iria wasn’t able to distinguish any features.

Then the figure spoke, "Turn the lights on."

Iria knew that voice, and all it did was bring back unpleasant memories...

Her suspicions were confirmed when the room lights flickered on. "Puttubayh," she said needlessly.

Puttubayh smiled and walked over to the bound hunter. "How are you doing, Iria? I hope you like your new clothes. I imagine that they’re much more comfortable than your old ones."

Iria looked down and noticed for the first time that she was no longer wearing her armor. Instead she was dressed in loose civilian clothing and Iria was relieved that Puttubayh hadn’t chosen something skimpier.

Her anger began to rise and Iria strained against her restraints. "What do you think you’re doing?"

Puttubayh paced back and forth. "Ever since you blackmailed me, my career has gone steadily downhill. Tedan Tippedai refuses to acknowledge my existence and none of the other big name corporations are even looking at my resume." Puttubayh looked pointedly at Iria. "You, my dear, are going to help me rise back to the top."

"I don’t think so."

Puttubayh shrugged. "It’s not up to you, I never said you were going to do it willingly. I was already prepared for your refusal as evidenced by your kidnapping and restraints."

Iria became horrified by a sudden thought. "You aren’t going to brainwash me, are you?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Puttubayh laughed. "No, no, nothing as barbaric as that. I just need your body."

Iria was astonished, she couldn’t believe that even Puttubayh could be so unabashed. "Don’t even think about it," she growled. "If you lay a hand on me I promise you that it won’t be there to pull back!"

Puttubayh stopped, confused, before he realized what Iria was saying. "No, I should be more specific. I’m not here to take advantage of you, I just need a few of your cells." He pulled out a syringe from a pocket to emphasize his point.

Iria finally relaxed a bit, but kept her body on alert. "I don’t understand. Why would you need my cells?"

Puttubayh rolled up one of Iria’s sleeves and began to dab an area with an antiseptic. "I’ll tell you, but only because I feel you deserve some kind of explanation. When I was at Tedan Tippedai, I had access to all of Dr. Touka’s files, which included his interactions with you. One of the files that particularly interested me was the story about the zeiramoid that looked like your brother."

Iria groaned, not liking were this was headed.

Puttubayh ignored her and stuck the needle into her arm, withdrawing a good dose of blood before he pulled it out again. "Anyway, it gave me the idea that if I cloned a copy of someone who has successfully fought Zeiram, I could easily regain my power. And why stop there? If I infused the clone with some of Zeiram’s cells, I could make a copy that was better than the original. The perfect warrior, so to speak."

"This won’t work, Puttubayh," Iria argued, trying to find some train of logic that would stop him. "Zeiram and that clone of my brother were both very unstable. I hope you realize that you’ll never be able to control that copy of me."

Puttubayh held the syringe up to the light, admiring Iria’s blood. "Obviously you’re still recovering from my kidnapping or you’d know that I’ve already solved that problem."

Iria’s eyes widened with realization. "Those were zeiramoids that captured me!"

Puttubayh exited the room and turned to face Iria one last time. "I’m not going to kill you yet, it may turn out that we’ll need some brain tissue. In the meantime, try to comfort yourself with the thought that you’re contributing to my return to power. Soon I’ll have an army of assassins under my control, and they’ll all have your face."

Then the door slammed shut and the room lights died abruptly. Iria was again enclosed in darkness.

Her feeling of uneasiness earlier suddenly had a purpose attached to it. Yet, somehow it was worse than anything she could’ve possibly dreamed up.

-The End Of Part One-

Iria captured, Puttubayh is within reach of his loftiest goals, Kei and Fujikuro are actually getting along... Certainly a lot to think about, and I haven’t reached the main plotline. Let’s just say that part two will answer some questions and raise a few more. Look for it soon.

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