Look out for alchemically mutated chimeras and watch your step around the wormholes…

Sci-Fi

Blue…all I can see is blue, all around…

"Specimen One Four Seven Two gaining consciousness."

Voices…who was talking?

"Excellent. Inject him now."

Pain burns my back. But I do not mind pain very much.

"That should be enough."

The burning stops. Things are clearer now. I'm suspended in some kind of liquid, my arms and legs held away from me, long hair floating freely around me. But I can breathe. What's wrong with me? Is there something wrong with me? Is this normal?

Who am I?

I don't know.

"Drain the capsule."

A loud clank sounds and bubbles rise from the floor. I feel my arms and legs released and I drift to the floor as the thick blue liquid flows away. I raise my head. Clear glass is in front of me now. A man is standing there. Stringy, black hair falls over the shoulders of his white coat. The coat has red stains on it. His eyes are red and his mouth is curved into a mean smile.

Somehow I know he is to be hated.

"Do you know how special you are?" he asks. I glare at him. It doesn't appear to bother him, and he continues speaking.

"You are the first to survive the alterations." His gaze drifts, like he's not talking to me anymore. "When I saw you, I knew you were strong enough. And now…you're even stronger." His evil eyes shoot back to me, now accompanied by a twisted grin. "You are the first demon cyborg!"

All this does not mean much to me. I'm standing up now and looking at him. Suddenly my silence seems to perturb him.

"Well? Don't tell me you could destroy this whole nation but you can't speak," he snaps at me.

"Why speak when I have nothing to say to you?" I ask. That doesn't seem to be the response he desired. His expression changes to a frown.

"Don't you think you should show me some more respect, demon?" There is a mocking note in his voice that I don't like.

"I was not aware that you had done anything to merit my respect," This seems to touch a nerve, and all traces of mirth vanish from his face.

"I gifted you with unsurpassable strength. I created you, as you are now!" he hisses. "I am Doctor Naraku, and now…I have created the perfect fighting machine." He laughs in a low tone and looks back at me, a slightly mad light kindling in his eyes now. "All previous experiments to unite machine and demon have failed. I myself have had trouble keeping specimens alive. But when we found you…I knew we would succeed. Look at yourself!"

He presses a button and a mirror moves up in front of me. Though I have only a vague recollection of my own appearance before now, I am surprised at my looks.

The left half of the skin of my face has a silvery metallic sheen, and my left eye is no longer golden like the right one, but glows blue. Two reddish stripes mark either side of my face. My upper body is covered with silver metal plates, and though my right arm appears unchanged aside from some black armor, the left is entirely metal and wires, with what look like various guns circling the hand. My feet seem to be covered by metal boots, but I know that I could not remove them if I tried. I find that I know all the new functions of my body already. The mirror sinks away into the floor and the one called Dr. Naraku is leering at me.

"Do you see? You are perfect. With your demon immortality and powers, mechanical weapons and enhancements, nothing can stand in your way!" He smiles insanely. "And I control you."

I have been calm thus far, but now I feel something stir in me. It feels like…anger. This Dr. Naraku…what right did he have to change me so? And if I am all-powerful, how can he control me?

Of the first question, I decide that I enjoy my new power and that it is not an issue. But I feel that we should straighten a few things out concerning the second.

"If I am as powerful as you say, why should I obey you?"

His face hardens at this question.

"Do you think I would create a killing machine without safeguards?" he sneers. "You may think you can rebel, but I removed your free will in the process of enhancing you. You must do as I say."

He laughs confidently, but I don't believe him. I feel no sense of oppression or control. I will test his claim.

"If what you say is true, then I cannot break out of this capsule without your permission," I say. He answers, "Yes."

"I'm going to shatter this glass, then I'm going to kill you."

He is visibly taken aback, but recovers himself. "Oh, you're going to kill your creator? Isn't that precious." He snickers. "No, you will stay where you are"

I draw back a fist…and smash it through the glass. Dr. Naraku's eyes widen in shock and he shields his face from the flying shards. I take the opportunity. I've got his throat in my hand before he realizes I'm even close. I grip tightly and raise him off the ground. He chokes, then…he starts to laugh.

"It appears…I've made an error," he gasps, still snickering. "So…now what? Are you going…to kill me…like you…said?"

"To be honest, I don't care to waste more time or strength on you than I already have. I may spare you…if…"

He stops struggling. He doesn't have the breath for it. "If…what?"

"If you tell me my name."

He smiles defiantly. "Specimen One Four Sev...Ah!" He gasps as I tighten my grip.

"Not that name, you inane cretin," I snarl. "Not the number you assigned. My true name."

"Your…name…Sesshoumaru."

I level my gun arm at his head. He winces and cowers as best he can while dangling. I laugh, twitch the gun to the side and blast a hole in the wall.

"Thank you for your assistance…Doctor." I throw him into the half shattered capsule, where he slumps unconscious. I head for the newly made exit.

Sesshoumaru, Demon Cyborg.

It has a nice ring to it.

The End

A/N: This surprised me as being one of my favorite stories in this collection. I thought I would be terrible at Sci-fi (even though that happens to be a T.V. channel my dad watches often) and racked my brains for any suggestion of a story idea that wouldn't turn out as a hopeless cliché. Then the idea for this hit me so hard I swear it bruised. The thing I was most pleased about in the end was that Sesshoumaru seems to stay in character, which I had trouble with to start. But you can be the judge of character in your review. Hint