Pieces of Zero

Writer: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Andy Park
Inks: Jonathan Sibal
Colours: Jonathan D. Smith
Lettering: Dreamer’s Design’s Robin Spehar and Dennis Heisler
Cover Art: Andy Park, Jonathan Sibal, Jonathan D. Smith
Release: August, October 2001, January, February 2002
Original Price: US $2.50 | CAN $4.00 | UK £1.65
Issue # in Set: 16, 17, 19, 20

Lara is contacted by an old friend to find some missing contestants of a game show and she co-operates. They travel to Kenya and Lara goes missing. When she appears the next day, all is not what it seems and her friend notices something peculiar about her. It takes a person from her past to save Lara.

Allies:

Madeline Hovan
​Madeline offers a little support to Lara in these issues, warning Lara of a woman who is able to shapeshift, which she had witnessed after having been tied to a chair in Croft Manor.

Sammy
Sammy is a "very good friend" of Lara's, and she has known him for many years, even worked with him a number of times. He has a wife called Minnie and they are parents to boys. In 2001, he travelled to Kenya, Africa, with Lara, and "The Last" producers Alissia Lee and Styles to find missing contestants and crew. Unknowingly he followed a shape shifter into a cavern underground, along with the group and was joined by Samuel Quill. The avatar Lara led them to believe that Samuel was the bad one and chased him away. Later in the cavern, after Alissia found a piece of the crew's jacket, avatar Lara disappeared. The team chased after her, soon seeing for themselves that there were two Laras in the cavern. The two Laras jumped into a space ship and disappeared, travelling to a different time in the future. Samuel then took the team back to his home in the Swiss Alps, where he used to Eye of Shaharettin to see his future self using the object to bring Lara back to her time.

Samuel Quill
Samuel returns to ​help Lara, hoping to prevent the avatar from taking her. However, he was too late and followed her last known step to Kenya, Africa, to find her. He found Sammy and the co-producers of "The Last", Alissia Lee and Styles, but the avatar Lara showed up, shot him in the back and chased him away. He healed his wound and found a tunnel that led him back inside the cavern. He found the real Lara and she talked him out of shooting her. She showed him to a space ship that could travel through time but when the avatar Lara showed up, he was knocked unconscious. The two Laras jumped into a space ship and disappeared, travelling to a different time in the future. Samuel then took the team back to his home in the Swiss Alps, where he used to Eye of Shaharettin to see his future self using the object to bring Lara back to her time.

Artefacts:

Metal Shard
Found in Kenya, Africa, after a group of people, cast and crew from a TV show called "The Last", went missing. It was found by Sammy, and the show's co-producers Alissia Lee and Style in 2001 when they headed out to Kenya to search for them. Lara described it "like a fabric that becomes metal after its woven together". It has one sharp edge and one jagged. Lara later used it to free herself from the tentacles of a Beast, which then caused the Beast to explode.

Tsi Luin Idol (mentioned)
​It was found by Lara Croft and Sammy in Vietnam. Sammy added that on this particular job, Lara had woken the team up at 3:30am to find the idol.

Enemies:

Director
The leader of an army in the future. His army served to police time travellers. When Caronne and Lara Croft accidently land in a different time, the Director told Lara that as she came from the early 21st century, she had violated a law that carried a maximum sentence. He was later knocked unconscious when Caronne tricked him and some guards into believing that she had escaped, giving Lara the opportunity to break free from their prison chamber.

Beast
​A large blob-shaped creature with many tentacles. According to Samuel Quill, it arrived on Earth years before Lara Croft was born but was accidently awakened in 2001 by the cast and crew of the TV show "The Last". It had stayed hidden underground in Kenya, Africa. Ultimately, it sucked them into the ground and killed them. Not long after, when Lara was hired to look for the missing people, she too was taken underground. She had been held up in its webs and tentacles, but she was able to use a metal shard, given to her by Sammy at the campsite, to stab it to free herself. The single stab wound from the shard caused it to shrivel and explode.

Location:

United Kingdom - England – Croft Manor
​

USA - New Mexico

Africa – Kenya

Swiss Alps

Other Characters:

Turk
​​A scramble bike racer who was used to winning. In New Mexico, USA, in 2001, he lost to Lara Croft when he tried to knock her off her bike. However, she used his weapon back at him and chained his hand to the throttle. He was unhappy about this and tried to fight her, but lost again.

Alissia Lee
​​She is a producer of the show "The Last", along with Styles, and she is vice president of programming for UBN. She described herself as having a fondness for cats and disdaining shallow people. In 2001, the co-producers asked Sammy to take him and co-producer to see Lara. When Lara agreed to find lost contestants and crew, they travelled to Kenya, Africa, and stayed in their last known location. The next day, unknowingly she followed a shape shifter into a cavern underground, along with the group and was joined by Samuel Quill. The avatar Lara led them to believe that Samuel was the bad one and chased him away.
 
Later in the cavern, after Alissia found a piece of the crew's jacket the avatar Lara disappeared. The team chased after her, soon seeing for themselves that there were two Laras in the cavern. The two Laras jumped into a space ship and disappeared, travelling to a different time in the future. Samuel then took the team back to his home in the Swiss Alps, where he used to Eye of Shaharettin to see his future self using the object to bring Lara back to her time. She is in a relationship with a woman called Nanci. 

Styles
​​He was a producer of the show "The Last", along with Alissia Lee. He had met Sammy when he asked him to fly stunts for one of his films, and later, in 2001, he asked him to take him and the co-producer to see Lara. When Lara agreed to find the lost contestants and crew, they travelled to Kenya, Africa, and stayed in their last known location. The next day, unknowingly he followed a shape shifter into a cavern underground, along with the group and was joined by Samuel Quill. The avatar Lara led them to believe that Samuel was the bad one and chased him away.
 
Later in the cavern, after Alissia found a piece of the crew's jacket, avatar Lara disappeared. The team chased after her, soon seeing for themselves that there were two Laras in the cavern. The two Laras jumped into a space ship and disappeared, travelling to a different time in the future. Samuel then took the team back to his home in the Swiss Alps, where he used to Eye of Shaharettin to see his future self using the object to bring Lara back to her time. When Styles wanted to know what Lara had been through, for the purpose of their show, Lara told him to make it up.

Caronne
​In issue #16, she used a disguise of an elderly woman called Mrs Witherby to find Lara at Croft Manor. Madeline Hovan, Lara's secretary, told her that she was in New Mexico. She then tied her up and, after a change of plans, followed Lara to Kenya. She took the place of Lara at the campsite with Sammy, Alissa Lee and Styles and led them to an underground cavern. When the real Lara had located a space craft, she knocked her out and fought off Samuel Quill, and headed inside it. After starting it up, Lara woke up and joined her. A fight broke out, causing Caronne to accidently hit a button. She made the craft auto-land and told Lara that neither of them will survive the hour. They had arrived in a different time and were arrested. They were able to fight their way out of imprisonment and were soon joined by Samuel Quill of the current era and a space craft. He agreed to help Caronne after he had helped Lara to return back to her time.

Mrs Witherby (Caronne’s disguise)
Mrs Witherby was a disguise that Caronne used to find Lara at Croft Manor, tricking Miss Hovan into letting her enter the property.

Vehicles:

Motorbike

Jeep

Space Ship

Weapons:

Pistols

Variant Covers:

Issue #16 Jay Company "Busty Cops" Foil Variant

Issue #16 Jay Company "Busty Cops" Virgin Variant

Issue #17x Boston Convention Variant

Issue #19 Convention Exclusive Variant