Well, I have returned! Once more, I am bringing another chapter, as per usual. I apologize for the long waits, but I am fairly busy, working forty hours per week, and going to school full-time, and it leaves me with immense Writers' Block. Hopefully, though, I can get vacation time from my employer, and I'll be able to put chapters out a bit faster in the future.

Kira made it back home, and she rushed inside to grab her phone, since she had left it when she went to the coffee shop in the promenade. Sam happened to catch a glimpse of her as she rushed inside.

"Hey, Kira. What's the rush?" she asked.

"No time!" Kira said, still in a state of panic.

She ran to her bedroom, and immediately dialed in Kai's number via her contacts list. She listened as the line rang.

"C'mon, Kai... pick up..." Kira uttered to herself.

After a moment, there was the sound of a brief shuffle, followed by a voice.

"...Hello?" Kai answered his phone.

"Kai, it's Kira!" Kira said. "Listen, I know that this sounds kinda crazy, and I get if you don't believe me, but..." she hesitated for a moment.

"...Kira, what is going on?" Kai asked, surprised from her worried voice.

She took a breath. "...Dr. Meyers has escaped from prison on Mars!"

The line was silent for a brief moment.

"Uh... did I mishear you? Did you say Dr. Meyers escaped?" Kai finally asked.

"Yes!" Kira said. "I saw him at Starbucks! He even chased me!"

"Are you serious?" Kai said.

Kira gulped. "...He also has a partner."

"Really?" Kai said. "Who is it?"

"...Stephen Baldwin." Kira answered.

"Baldwin..." Kai repeated. "...where have I heard that name before?"

"It might sound familiar, because..." Kira briefly trailed off. "...it's the name of that one Ares System cop who tried to arrest us... Aster Baldwin... my former high school crush."

"What? No way! How can that happen?" Kai said.

"I dunno... I guess it's just dumb luck!" Kira said. "But that's not what I'm trying to get at here! Remember what happened a few years ago, with what he tried to do to us?"

"...How could I forget?" Kai answered.

"So... we need to do something to make sure that he doesn't get the drop on us this time around!" Kira said.

"Well... if what you're saying is true..." Kai spoke. "...I think you're right. We can't let him take his revenge on us!"

"Anyways... let's just try and lay low, so he doesn't figure out where we live. And we need to come up with a plan fast!" Kira said.

"Okay, gotcha!" Kai said.

"See you around!" Kira said, hanging up.

She left her room to find Aster... only to find Sam hanging outside her door.

"Kira... seriously, like, what's going down?" she asked.

Kira sighed. "Sam, listen... I know this is gonna sound crazy, but... there's this madman who's looking for me and Kai."

"Huh?" Sam questioned.

"He was part of a high-end Xenomorph research project..." Kira began. "...but it turned out that he wanted to claim all the Xenos for himself, under the control of the Queen Xenomorph that he raised and trained personally, and do God-knows-what with them."

"You can't be serious..." Sam said.

"It's true! I was just down at Starbucks this morning... and he and his cronie, or whoever the other guy was, tried to kidnap me! But, I was able to get away with some quick thinking." Kira said.

"So..." Sam began. "...what do we do about it?"

Kira pondered for a moment.

"I don't think the police will be of help this time around; he would probably be a little better at hiding if he and the other guy could escape from a prison! We just need to lay low and think about what we can do, since we don't have a lot of options right at the moment. We'll meet up with Kai a little bit later, as well." Kira said.

"Well, okay..." Sam said. "...I still didn't agree to this when I signed the flatmate agreement!"

Kira immediately rushed downstairs to find Aster and Star watching a movie together. They looked at her as she entered.

"Kira..." Aster said. "...your heart rate is pretty high. What are you so worried about?"

"Aster..." Kira began. "...there's no easy way to tell you this but... Dr. Meyers has escaped. He's back on Earth!"

Aster immediately stood bolt upright from the sofa.

"No... this can't be!" he said.

Kira hung her head down. "I'm afraid it's true... he chased me when I was out earlier today!"

"That son of a..." Aster said, hissing. "...this time, it's REALLY personal! I'll find him... and kill him myself!"

"No, Aster. It's too dangerous right now. We need to avoid causing any disturbance for awhile. We can't let him know where I live!" Kira said.

"Who's Dr. Meyers?" Star asked.

"...He's..." Kira began. "...a very dangerous man. Remember those stories we told you about a man who tried to come after me and your father to capture him and I?"

Star nodded.

"Well, Dr. Meyers was that man." Kira said.

"Perhaps I could be of aid to you, Kira?" SORIA asked.

Kira looked up at the AI-enhanced computer.

"SORIA... jeez, you gotta stop interjecting at odd times!" she said.

"Understood, Kira." SORIA responded. "However, if you need me to, I can access an online criminal database, and cross-check facial features and physical description via tapping into security cameras around the general vicinity. This will allow you to become aware of the perpetrator Meyers' movements."

Kira shook her head. "I think we're done with hacking for a while... I don't wanna land in jail myself!"

"Very well, Kira. But you may always request assistance from me if you require it." SORIA answered, just before wheeling herself out of the room.

"Okay," Kira said. "for now, I think we should just continue our usual daily routine, as long as things don't get too crazy around here. Hopefully, it takes a long while for the two psychos to track us down."

Aster stepped forward.

"But no matter what happens..." he said, wrapping his arms around his mate. "...I won't let him harm you, Kira. And if he does... I'll make sure he SUFFERS."

Kira hugged Aster back.

"Thanks for being protective of me, Aster..." Kira said.

Star, however, had her mind on other things.

What's gonna happen? What will this man do if he finds Chase, and I'm not there...? she thought.

(XXXX)

Kai found Sugarcube in the kitchen, eating a leftover beef brisket.

"Sugar... I gotta tell you something." Kai said.

"Yes, my love? What is it?" Sugarcube asked, facing Kai.

He pulled out a chair from the table and sat down.

"Listen..." Kai began. "...I think we might be in trouble."

Sugarcube tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Kai took a deep breath. "...Dr. Meyers has escaped from prison."

Sugarcube froze, her mouth falling slightly open from shock.

"Um... what? You said... Dr. Meyers... the man who tortured me all those years in that lab... he escaped!?" she asked.

Kai nodded. Sugarcube began to hiss in anger.

"Well, let's go find that ugly bastard, and put him in a bloody grave!" she said.

"No, Sugarcube." Kai said. "At this point, we need to lay low and come up with a plan for how to catch them before they realize we're onto them."

Sugarcube sighed. "Alright..." she said.

"So," Kai began. "we know that he escaped from prison... who's to say he wouldn't do it again if he's caught once more? And he has a partner... damn. This is gonna take a while to figure out."

"Do you think we should kill him if he finds us?" Sugarcube asked. "I'd LOVE to sample some of his blood and flesh!"

Kai pursed his lips together. "...Only if push comes to shove..." he said.

"Should we tell Chase about this?" Sugarcube said.

"No." Kai said. "I don't want him to be all stressed out. Hopefully, this can be resolved before anything serious happens. For all we know, Kira is the only one Meyers saw, so I think the Sykes' are his only target for now, not us at the moment."

Little were the two aware... Chase happened to be at the edge of the room, listening in. He was getting extremely worried, not for himself, or just his family... but for Star. That beautiful, young, Xeno girl who visited him quite often.

Ngh... why does this have to happen? I don't wanna lose them! Especially not Star! He thought.

(XXXX)

Meyers and Baldwin were both creeping around what appeared to be a large computer mainframe, having froze the images of security monitors to make it seem like no one was around.

"This is definitely the place!" Meyers said.

"So... what is all this fancy tech stuff?" Baldwin asked.

"This..." Meyers said, putting a hand on one of the computer modules. "...is one of the most advanced quantum supercalculator structures in the world. This is something I dedicated my life to completing! It runs a highly-complex quantum algorithm that makes up my creation... and that is Virax."

Baldwin tilted his head. "What's 'Virax'?"

"Patience, my friend..." Meyers said, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out the flashdrive from earlier.

"Now... to link the Superkey. This will allow me full access to the system, completely undetected! I created it in the event my access would be suspended!" Meyers said.

He put the drive into an open port near a laptop computer that was linked to the mainframe, and began to input lines of code into it.

"Now, just keep an eye on the quantum printer in the middle of the room..." Meyers said, pointing to what looked like a large metal cylindrical cabin device in the middle of the massive mainframe.

After several more lines of code, the device began to emit bright light from nearly every small opening, making a loud hum. Eventually, the hatch to the machine opened, emitting a bunch of steam...

...and Kira Sykes stepped out. But... it was not Kira Sykes herself...

Meyers smirked. "Perfect... the com-synth program finally works!"

I think things might be going from bad to worse pretty soon! Anyways thanks for waiting for these chapters to come! I'll get back to you guys as soon as I can! Don't expect frequent updates, but don't expect really long waits, either. So, see ya! Keep holding on...