How Metroid: Other M Should Have Ended

by WDCain Man

Inspired by the hit Youtube series. This is how Metroid: Other M would have ended had all the characters a lick of common sense.

A Metroid fanfic – How Metroid: Other M Should Have Ended
Written by WDCain Man

Disclaimer: Metroid and all its related characters are owned by Nintendo. None were used with permission and no profit is being made from this story. I just love writing about them.

Yep, I decided to make another one of these. First off, let me say that I love MoM. Its graphics are beautiful and it plays fantastically for what it is. The game engine is perfect for a run & gun shooter and I hope like hell it's used for a 3D Contra or Metal Slug. Without a doubt, Team Ninja was the best thing that happened to Metroid. Auto aiming worked perfectly in this game and it's so liberating without having to hold down a button just to trigger a function that should be automatic. I would love it if they were put in charge of developing the next game.

It's its story that I have a problem with and not for the reasons you think. It doesn't work on a narrative level. On a character level maybe, just maybe, it could work if you took a big leap to disregard the Samus's history. But with an establish franchise like Metroid, that shouldn't happen. Hence this fanfic. So let's see if I can't make any of you guys and gals laughs, m'kay? Enjoy!

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How Metroid: Other M Should Have Ended
by WDCain Man
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Samus Aran's Chozo gunship approached the destination of the Baby's Cry distress call. "Code name: Baby's Cry. A common SOS with the urgency of a baby crying… The nickname comes from the fact that the purpose of the signal is to draw attention. The signal was coming from a remote part of space. I altered the course of my ship as if this detour had already been part of my flight plan. Baby's Cry… It was as though it was crying specifically for me…" Samus pulled out of hyper space; and blinked. "-and everyone else in the galaxy."

The Bottle Ship was surrounded by a dozen Federation warships. Half of them had their cannons pointed at the derelict Bottle Ship and the rest had them pointed at Samus.

Samus opened a comm-line. "This is S Class Bounty Hunter Samus Aran. Do you require any assistance?"

A beefy soldier in the typical Galactic Federation blue armor appeared on the screen. "Negative, Aran. This fleet is under the command of Commander Adam Malkovich."

"I see my former CO brought out the Marines, literally."

"Commander Malkovich has been authorized by the Chairman of the Galactic Federation to secure the safety of any survivors and the purpose of this Bottle Ship. What? Did you think Adam Malkovich, the perfect military mind, would do? Show up with just a half dozen men on a mission this important? He'd pull out all the stops and bring in an entire fleet."

"Makes sense to me." In the monitor, Samus saw a G-Fed soldier being dragged in chains by other soldiers. One of the guards was muttering something how foolish it was trying to delete data with hundreds of Marines nearby.

Samus paid him no heed and left on her way, eager to find her next assignment.

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Adam Malkovich sat in the Bottle Ship's Control Bridge command center watching the images presented through Samus' visor and issuing commands. "Samus, Plasma Beam authorize. Now proceed to-"

The military man stopped when he felt something hit his chair. He looked down to see what it was. It was a small round, yellowish object that pulsed. "NO!" It exploded and engulfed the entire command center in flames.

A moment passed as the bomb-grenade's shock wave diminished as the chamber's doors opened. The Deleter stepped in and looked smugly over Commander Malkovich's dead body. "Thanks for authorizing bombs back at the mission briefing, sir." The last word dripped with sadistic mirth.

"I was thinking about just shooting you like I've done with Lyle, Maurice, and K.G; but seeing how much super bad-ass Samus Aran respects you made me think maybe, just maybe, you might super bad-ass too. So I decided to act smart and use one of the grenade-bombs you so kindly authorized. Wonderful work, oh perfect military mind."

The Deleter gave a dark chuckle and walked out of the Control Bridge, heading for his next target.

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MB, otherwise known as Mother Brain, otherwise known as Melissa Bergman, and currently using the alias of Madeline Bergman, fiddled with the Bottle Ship's computers while checking the monitors.

"Let's see, I've set this Bottle Ship onto a direct intercept course with Galactic Federation HQ. When this baby crashes those military S.O.B.s are going to pay for treating me like a piece of equipment. I can't wait to see their faces. Heh heh heh."

The android Mother Brain rubbed her hands evilly while crackling like a super villain. "I'll have my righteous revenge when this ship crashes and I'll see all the glorious carnage from a front role seat!"

She stopped in her tracks. "…a front role seat? Oh dear. I really, really shouldn't stay onboard this space station now that I've set it on a collision course with G-Fed HQ."

MB turned back towards the computers and started typing. "Let's see, I need to prepare an escape pod for myself. Hmmm... I also better disengage the Bottle Ship's emergency breaks and self-destruction protocol just incase Samus somehow survives the Metroid infested Section Zero. Better still, I'll just release all the Section Zero Metroids into the rest of the ship just to ensure there is so way Samus can win."

She typed several more commands and downloaded thousands of files. "Excellent. I've transferred all the Metroid and Zebesian bioweapon cloning data. Now I can restart the Space Pirates organization after I make my escape so I can fulfill my revenge on the Galactic Federation."

Melissa Bergman smiled fiendishly. "I truly am the superior mind and this goes to show why." With that, she headed towards her escape pod.

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And finally…

Samus laid on the cold steel floor in her form-fitting Zero Suit after Adam shot her. "Adam, why? I need to destroy the Metroids in Section Zero. So why did you shoot me?"

Adam knelt beside her. "Because these Metroids can't be frozen due to genetic modification and are invulnerable to conventional weaponry. The only thing that can destroy them all is with a massive explosion. Section Zero has a self-destruct protocol. If the sector receives a significant amount of damage, the unit is programmed to detach and self-destruct. A powerful explosion will eliminate the Metroids and MB without leaving a trace."

A light bulb switched on above Samus' head. She got up revitalized, powered up her Chozo Armor, and ran into Section Zero. Adam never noticed. He was too busy monologuing over his noble sacrifice."

"Listen, Samus: You are the most important person in the universe as you have the best chance to save everyone. As such, there is no way I can allow you to die. You are too important and thus I must die so you may live. Now listen to my final orders: You need to divert this shop off its intercept course with G-Fed HQ, rescue a survivor located in Room MW in Bio-Weapon Research Center, and finally defeat Ridley.

Adam touched heart to emphasize where he was speaking from (though he should have reached for his ass). "I know you can do this, even though not an hour ago you faced Ridley you broke down crying like a bitch and needed Anthony to save you who died cause of you but I'm sure you won't crawl into a fetal position again in this rematch with Ridley and die horribly which will result in the death of everyone at Federation HQ and will plunge all galactic civilization into anarchy. But no, I am leaving everything up to you: PTSD rattled Samus. I am the perfect military mind after all."

He opened his eyes and found Samus missing. "Uh, Samus? Where-?"

BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

Adam fell on his butt as the entire section shook violently from a powerful explosion. The entire Bottle Ship was shaking as the explosion's shockwave ripped up Section Zero and spread out to the rest of the space station.

Samus came running at full speed out of the Metroid infected Section Zero. She came to a complete stop just in time for both her and Adam to see Section Zero disengaging from the Bottle Ship and self-destructing.

"SAMUS? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"I used a Power Bomb." Samus answered like it was the most obviously thing in the world.

Bewildered, Adam looked at her like she had gone crazy, again. "WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

"After you told me that a super large explosion would cause the Bottle Ship to jettison Section Zero, I suddenly remember what you said earlier about my Power Bombs during the mission briefing. Remember? 'Power Bombs: As you know, they have the ability to spread a high-temperature heat wave over a large area'. So I just went in there and used a Power Bomb to get the whole thing done nice and quick. I'm pretty clever, Adam. I took down Space Pirate fortifications on a half dozen worlds. So I know a thing on how to get things done."

Adam was left slack-jawed. In the end, the only thing he could say was, "I never authorized that."

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How Metroid: Other M Should Have Ended
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At the Game Hero Café…

"He never authorized that?" Mario repeated. "I have to say, Samus; Peach would never let me get away treating her like that."

"Wa-pish!" Sonic the Hedgehog made a whip-cracking sound. "That's why I don't get tied down, no matter how much they beg and crawl for the perfection that is me."

Mario looked up behind Sonic. "Oh hi, Amy!"

"WWWAAAAAHHH! AMY I DIDN'T MEAN THAT! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!" Sonic twisted around blithering in a panic to find no one there. Then the fastest thing alive slowly turned back around to glare angrily at Mario. "That's. Not. Funny."

Mario gave a goofy grinned and looked back at Samus, who was in her blue Zero Suit next to Adam. The pretty blonde lady stifled a small giggle prompting a grinning Mario to point at her. "Samus thinks it's funny!

Sonic had to change the subject lest he be the butt of anymore jokes. "I got to say, Adam: You didn't leave me stunned by your perfect military mind. You got everyone under your command killed and if Samus, a wild card like me, hadn't shown up then your whole mission would have failed. Miserable."

Commander Malkovich eyed the blue hedgehog coolly before speaking. "I followed my plan and adjusted it to accommodate for Samus. That accounts for the losses my squadron suffered."

Mario had to add in his two cents. "If anything, Samus' arrival was the best thing that happened. She did more to foil the Deleter than you ever did. It's almost like you were trying to get everyone killed."

"Don't be preposterous." Samus defended her ex-Commanding Officer like a mother protecting her baby. "He just had an off day, that's all."

"Yes, I just had an off day." Adam said the words with a bad taste in his mouth. He got up to leave. "Samus, I have important paperwork I need to fill out in regard to the Bottle Ship muck-up and debrief Anthony alongside Madeline Bergman. Any objections, Lady?"

"No, Adam. No objections." Samus gave him a dopy smile as he left. Sonic and Mario exchanged looks.

"Uh, Samus? You sure Adam cares for you? More than for your body, I mean."

Mario rolled his eyes at Sonic's blunt insensitive questions. "It's just that Adam seems a lot different than how you described him to us. I can't imagine he would have talked Dr. Bergman into surrounding peacefully like Anthony had. Heck, if he pulled that alpha dog attitude on her than odds are she would have unleashed that Queen Metroid she had locked in the next chamber."

"It doesn't matter. I was able to make things better for Adam and for that I am at peace."

"Must be a Chozo thing." Sonic grumbled.

"There's got to be more to this that we're not seeing." Mario cut in. "Adam Malkovich is one of the highest ranked officers in the space marines. There is no way they would have put a nitwit into that position and not immediately realized their mistake and start the paperwork to remove him." Mario reasoned. "There has got to be an angle here we're just not seeing."

Their waitress, a busty chestnet-haired young woman named Yuka Takeuchi brought the three their meals. "Two chili dogs for the blue hedgehog, a plate of spaghetti like mama use to make for the Brookline plumber, and today's special for the lady: A Jill Sandwich!"

"Jill Sandwich?" Mario asked.

Samus started eating. "It's good but if you want a bite then get your own."

"Jill Sandwich…" Mario couldn't get the idea out of his head, even though the top heavy Yuka wrote down his pondering as an additional order.

A flash of insight, an epiphany struck Mario. "Could it be? A commanding officer leads his men to a secret non-disclosed facility whose purpose is creating monsters to serve as bio-weapons. There, he orders all his men to split up and work alone as they investigate the area where they all die one by one leaving him free to pursue his own agenda. Mama Mia! Adam is Albert Wesker!"

Samus rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Yes, there was a traitor on the team but there is an abundance of evidence proving the Deleter to be James Pierce. If Adam was working for the splinter group behind the Bottle Ship's bio-weapon manufacturing then why would he ever have shown up to expose them and put him and the 07 Platoon in danger? Adam just had an off day, Mario."

Mario still wasn't sure.

Far away from the planet Earth, Adam arrived at an undisclosed location not on any Federation record.

Adam spoke aloud though no one could be seen. "My plan was not a total success. While I did manage to capture the precious data aboard the Bottle Ship and expose my competition thus leaving them hiding like weak mice and me free to develop a secret army, I failed to fake my death to remove myself from any suspicion. All of this was due to an outside factor: My old soldier, Samus Aran."

Adam removed his blue and white military jacket to reveal a black business suit underneath his uniform. "Her skills haven't diminished since her resignation, unfortunately. I emphasized extreme regulation to limit her advancement throughout the Bottle Ship while I fulfilled my tasks yet still she proved more bane than boon when she foiled my plot to die heroically in the field and leave me free to build my army in secret. After all, who would suspect a dead man?"

Adam put on a pair of sunglasses with pitch black lenses. "It was child's play to allow my competition to co-op the Federation to plant one of their agents within Platoon 07. I worked quite hard to ease James' mission to whittle his way through my forces while I was free to steal the precious data. Now with their operations exposed to the Federation Chairman, they will be scattered and easy pray to hunt down and destroy with my clone army."

Adam looked over the incubation chambers growing Zebians, Metroids, and monstrosities before settling on the captured Mother Brain unit Melissa Bergman, which Adam had creepily dressed in a copy of Samus' Zero Suit. "MB itself proved just as unreliable as Samus. The machine had neglected to disable the station's emergency breaks which were used to save Federation headquarters. A pity, as the resulting chaos would have made conquering it a simple matter with my clone army. The Slave Collar I've placed on her will ensure she follows all my commands so no further mistakes such as that will happen again."

The traitorous Adam walked by a cloning tank which had an adorable white birdie incubating within it. "I had to rearrange my chess pieces for everything to come together as it did. I still need to fake my death, but my day of reckoning is still on course. As the perfect military mind, only I know who needs to live and who needs to die! Only I am fit to rule!"

Adam's insidious laughter filled the darkness, heralding the darkness that is to come.

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THE END
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Be honest, if that last scene was at the end of MoM, all of you would say Adam was the greatest character ever written. Confession time: The last scene was completely inspired by DC Douglas' awesome VA as Albert Wesker. I bought Umbrella Chronicles thinking it'd be just a fun rail shooter but I was memorized by how deliciously evil Douglas was at RE's resident baddie. While playing UC, it occurred to me that everything Wesker does, Adam does (pointed out above by Mario). Seriously, the scene above is the best way to explain all the dumb things Adam does in the story.

I love the Metroid games but I admit Sakamoto dropped the ball. The game is a near copy & paste of Fusion: A space station has problems, Samus goes to investigate, is placed under the command of Adam, she monologues about him in an elevator, the station is divided in areas that mimic Zebes, Samus learns they're cloning Metroids but not why, but along the way to blow the space station up Adam stops her and chooses to do it himself, and she has to fight an evolved Metroid before escaping. I'm surprised no one has made a rom-hack that turned Fusion into MoM.

A big gripe I have is Samus isn't the main character. Think about it: She makes no impact in the story. She doesn't kill the Deleter, MB does. She doesn't kill Ridley, the Queen Metroid does. She doesn't destroy the Metroids in Section Zero: Adam does. She doesn't stop the Bottle Ship from crashing into the Federation HQ, Anthony does. She doesn't destroy MB, the Colonel's army did. She doesn't rescue Madeline Bergman, Anthony does. I am not joking when I say this but if Samus had never shown up on the Bottle Ship, nothing would have changed. She had NO impact in the game's story. How hard is it to write a story where the main character is the main character?! This game is Adam's story.

Another thing that bothers me is the character of Anthony. His backstory is the exact same as Adam's: He worked alongside Samus in the G-Fed army, he obviously cares for her, he even has a cute nickname for her, and he (supposedly) dies saving her. I wouldn't be surprised if in a previous script version Anthony was Adam. It would make his line to Ridley "Hey punk, don't you know how to treat a lady!" resonate better as Lady was Adam's nickname for Samus.

So taking a clue from SFDebris, one of my favorite web-shows, I'm going to offer how I would have handled MoM's story.

I'd have Samus show up at the Bottle Ship but finds Adam has brought hundreds of soldiers with him. This is an important mission and he is a bigwig in the G-Fed military so naturally he'd have a whole platoon under his command but there is a dangerous monster in a sealed sector so Samus volunteers to go in to prevent any soldiers from dying. She beats the monster but on the way out she sees a GF soldier killing several of other soldiers. She shoots him but he starts screaming that Samus has gone insane and is killing everyone. The rest of the soldiers come in and start attacking Samus thinking her corrupted by whatever she fought in the sealed sector.

Samus has no choice but to defend herself and has to kill the hundreds of soldiers trying to kill her. Adam's trying to order his men to stand down but someone has disabled the communication channels. He heads down there but by the time he makes it Samus has had to kill nearly half his platoon. He believes her story even though this angers his men. To relieve their tension, he has her leave. But as she enters her gunship, she sees the Deleter run away from Adam's space cruiser. Then it blows up, heavily damaging Samus' ship & suit thus causing her to lose all her abilities.

When Samus comes to, she finds Adam taking care of her and working hard to keep his men from lynching her since now they're stranded and they all think she did it. No one but Adam believes her tales about this Deleter. The remaining grunts now have immense hostility for her so Adam has her do solo missions while they work to get the Bottle Ship working and call for backup. Fortunately Samus is able to find all her power-ups since it turned out that after the explosion that depowered her sent the armor/weapon circuits she lost flyinginto random monsters which she has to kill to gain them back ala Prime 2.

This is explained to Samus by a scientist the troops found, Melissa Bergman (MB). She's there pretending to be on their side but is spreading a lot of false intel. She tells them that some bigwigs in G-Fed set this up and have cloned Zebesians and Metroids. The head scientist is her mother, Madeline, and if they can capture her then they can learn who exactly order this Black Op. But first Samus needs to regain her lost gear because the state she's in now leaves her no chance to winning.

So she goes to troubled sectors with Adam guiding her, fighting monsters and regaining her lost powers/weapons. Unfortunately the Deleter is setting multiple traps along the way and worse, several of the other soldiers are disregarding Adam's orders and are attacking her since they believe she's there to kill them all. The woman was raised by aliens after all so who knows how her mind works? Adam does. He knows Samus is the most dedicated and honorable woman alive and would never betray them. So facing a mutiny, he chooses his friend and works with her even as his remaining men are trying to kill them both; just as the Deleter planned.

What wasn't planned was Ridley arriving to the Bottle Ship. A big problem I have with MoM is the lack of characterization for him. I've read the manga and I know that Ridley isn't a mindless space dragon, but an intelligent villain who'll backstab anyone he works with and loves hurting people. Basically he's Starscream if he was a sadist. So I would have Ridley play mind games with Samus. He hacks her codec and does the Hannibal Lector stuff.

The guy is needling her, joking how yummy her mom tasted and other sick stuff. In a near berserker rage, she barges into a chamber to fight but finds Ridley has deliberately recreated the image of him killing her parents: one course in a burning shuttle and him munching on a female scientist. This triggers the breakdown but here it's handled with appropriate backstory and believable circumstance. It ends with Adam grabbing Samus and escaping but he's badly injured during the retreat.

There is a good bonding scene and Adam states that even though Samus was raised by aliens, she is still the most human person he's ever known. Then he drops a bombshell as he found Madeline's personal file and learned she has no children. Melissa isn't who she claims to be. I follow this by having MB showing to meet with Ridley. Ridley at first thinks she's just another human but he promptly gets his ass kicked when she summons Metroids to smack him around like a bitch. She lets him live but just to know that she's the boss and that she's now in charge of the Space Pirates.

Samus stealthily smuggles Adam to her ship where he can be safe, fix the gunship, and act as mission control. Her mission now is to blow up the Bottle Ship to kill Ridley & the Metroids and make it back so they can escape. The remaining G-Fed soldiers are now heavily armed with weapons provided by the Deleter and are on the prowl for Samus. Along the way, Samus finds Madeline and learns the tragic story of MB.

I would not change a thing here. MB has such a tragic origin that I wouldn't change a thing. She was built as a tool to control the Metroids but developed emotions, specially love for her creator, Madeline. And Madeline returned that love and christened her Melissa Bergman like she was her own daughter. But the higher-ups feared what MB could do and decided to lobotomize her. So when they came and dragged Melissa away, she turned to her mother and begged for help. And what does Madeline do? Nothing.

Her co-workers betrayed her, her government betrayed, and now her mother had betrayed her. They never considered her human. She wasn't Melissa to them. She was just the machine, MB. She had no loved one and no friends. The only thing MB truly has is revenge. She would make it her life's goal to make those bastards pay!

Then Madeline screams as a Metroid under MB's control consumes her. The last thing Madeline sees is her creation's hateful glare and realizing that this is all her fault: All actions have consequences, even inactions. Madeline's last words are a plea of forgiveness that goes unheard.

Samus activates the self-destruct countdown. Then begins the final battle. This is one fight Samus cannot win. She's up against 3 large forces. The first army is the remaining G-Fed soldiers all armed to the teeth and most in power armor like the one the Deleter used in MoM. The second is MB, controlling a legion of Metroids in every stage of evolution from Alphas to Omegas and even a Queen. The third group is lead by Ridley which includes Zebesians, Crocomire, Kraid, Draygon, Phantoon, and Nightmare. And all of them are trying to kill Samus.

It's a losing battle and eventually Samus is worn down. She accepts her death proudly and radios Adam to pilot her ship and escape. Samus stands defiantly as the villains move in for the killing blow. But then Adam comes in flying Samus' gunship and blasting every enemy to rescue her. She hops in but Adam is fatally wounded. Tragic stuff but they put it aside to retreat along with the Deleter in an escape pod. Behind them are the remaining G-Fed soldiers being massacred by MB's Metroids and Ridley's forces.

MB disarms the self-destruct and takes the Bottle Ship to the Outer Rim where she'll rebuild the Space Pirates and plot the destruction of the Galactic Federation. In the background, Ridley quietly schemes and vows to kill MB and take back control of the Space Pirates, but for now he will play the loyal soldier while biding his time.

On Earth, Adam gets a hero's funeral and Samus gets all emotional. But in the shadows of Galaxy Federation HQ, there is great concern as the Deleter reports while he succeeded in killing Adam and retrieved all the DNA data, they will have to start over their cloning operations. It turns out G-Fed isn't cloning Metroids because they're stupidly evil but because they need the troops. There is a great evil, the Dread, heading towards the Federation to destroy it and as things are now they don't have the resources to beat it, much less survive. They need an unstoppable force, the Metroids and Zebesians, to fight this threat or trillions of lives will die!

So it's time to start over and hope they complete their army in time. Fortunately they have a new advantage. A new A.I. program was built by using the memories and thought processes of their greatest military leader. This A.I. will handle the project. Everything should go smoothly now.

Time passes. The new space station is built in orbit around planet SR388. All is going smoothly, but on the planet's surface, an X-Parasite comes out of hiding. Cue Metroid Fusion.

That's my story outline. What do you think? I really think MoM could have pulled this off though the final fight of Samus vs. 3 armies might be too much for the Wii to handle. Were there any 2 disc Wii games? That would solve the problem.

This fanfic was fun to write, but in retrospective I wish I had thought to have a Game Hero Café scene at the end of my Xenogears HISHE. I'll make sure to have Mario & Sonic dish insults in all future HISHE based on video games.

Read and review, everyone!