Metroid, Samus, Mother Brain, and all related materials are © of Nintendo. I do not claim ownership of any of them. This is a non-profit FanFic. However the text itself is intellectual © of Brian "Zero-ELEC" Vivero. I mean no harm to Nintendo or its affiliates. Please don't sue!

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It was too much.

My suit was flashing warnings at my face. Energy output minimal, fatal system error, the sort.

She just stood there looking at me.

Mother Brain. That bitch. Thanks to her allying with the Space Pirates the Chozo were dead.

I thought I had killed her 5 years ago. Of course I didn't think she had a backup body, much less a cybernetics-enhanced weapon of mass destruction.

I look at her, and saw her heaving, ready to fire another one of her beams… One that would finish me off.

Now, a normal person would, when faced with certain death, close her eyes or look away. I just stared at her eye hoping. Hoping for a Deus-Ex-Machina that would save me. I wasn't gonna' die here. Dying would mean lettin' the bastards that killed my family win. Dying would mean letting Adam's sacrifice be in vain. Dying would be letting my friends, how little amount they were, down. I was going to survive. One way or the other. I was ready to try and dodge. I wasn't expecting him.

A few days ago, I was sent by the Galactic Federation on a mission. Go and exterminate the beings know as Metroids. These… things were created by the Chozo, and dubbed Ultimate Warriors in their language, for purposes unknown. Old Bird said they were made to protect the galaxy, but I'd seen what they were able to do. I knew he was wrong. They drained the life out of living beings, left them as statues that crumbled into dust when touched. I eliminated all of the Metroids, including the Queen… Except one. After killing the Queen, I found an egg. A Metroid egg. Just as I was getting ready to destroy it, it hatched. A small Metroid Hatchling. It turned to me and I could've sworn it looked curious. It then started to spin around me while "squee-ing" cutely. It seemed to think I was its mother. I took him with me, and left him at the GF Space Colony Ceres in the FS-176 System to be studied. A few minutes after I left Ceres, I felt something. Aching. Fear? Before I could think of that my ship received a distress signal from Ceres. I quickly went to investigate and found the researchers dead. And Ridley standing in the next room holding the Metroid in a container in his talons. He quickly fled while the base self-destructed. I barely managed to get to my ship and un-dock before it exploded. I followed him to Zebes, and so I reach this point. With no energy, in front one of the two things I despise the most, ready to do anything to survive. And the Hatchling appeared, and latched onto Mother's face.

He absorbed Her energy and left Her on the floor. It then came over to me. I thought of running, or trying to freeze it, but I realized: I didn't fear him. There was no sense of "HOLYSHIT IMGONNADIE!" that one normally feels when seeing a Metroid. No. Just the sense of wanting to embrace one's child. It spread over my hunching figure and I started to feel better.

My power suit's functions started back up. I felt better than I'd ever felt before. Energy flowed from the Super Metroid to me. I was so distracted I didn't see Mother stand back up.

She released a Beam that was once meant for me into my Hatchling. It tried to float to safety but the She shot him again.

He fell.

I was still bursting with energy when I let out what at the time it thought was a bloodcurdling scream. When I look back now I realize that it sounded less like a scream and more like a "Skreeee!" that I'd heard so many times before, and once feared.

I let out wave after wave of my beam in my "Hyper" state. Much stronger than the one I once used when I was corrupted by the Great Poison. I attacked Mother and injected as much hate and anger as I could in each shot.

For the Ion-Faeria.

For the Chozo.

For Grey Voice.

For my Hatchling.

Finally she fell. Destroyed. No. Killed. As much as I hate to admit it Mother Brain was alive. She was defective, faulty, but alive nonetheless.

Once I killed her, a voice blared through the base: "SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. THREE MINUTES AND COUNTING"

I ran away blasting at the Space Pirates in my way. I was still too shocked to think straight as I ran. He died. My Hatchling died, and I couldn't save him. He'd save my life and I couldn't repay him. Before I went to my ship I stopped and helped the three Etecoons and the Dachola that had helped me learn techniques with my power suit that I'd never thought possible get out of Crateria. I reached my ship and left the planet, noticing that the charges didn't just blow up Tourian but Zebes as a whole. I spent a while aimlessly drifting through space.

"He died for me. He saved my life. I couldn't do anything for him. Like Adam. Like Grey Voice."

"No, this isn't you. You don't beat yourself up for something that you couldn't help. You look up and head for the next Bounty. You mourn their losses but you don't let them be in vain."

"You are Samus Virginia Aran, the greatest bounty hunter in recorded history. You are the Hunter, and you are better than this."

I meditated in the Maru Mari until I felt better. Yes, I'd mourn. But I'd move on. Like I'd always do. I would go to the next bounty, look back and see things for what they were. I'd go on. That didn't mean it didn't hurt, it just meant that I was going to accept that it hurt. That it's part of life, and I would cherish the memories of the people that died for me, instead of wallowing in self-pity. This was my promise to myself. And I intend to keep it.

See You Next Mission.

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Author's Note: This story started when I read a post at the MDb forums that said that when Fusion was announce someone thought that Samus' having Metroid DNA came from the ending of Super Metroid. And the only thing in my head was Samus' screaming "Skreee!" after the Hatchling died. And then this happened. So, in the immortal words of Hideo Kojima: "Did You Rike It?"

P.S.: Samus having the middle name Virginia is something I came up with, but Virginia is the name of Samus' mother.

P.P.S.: Yeah, I know it's short, but it was written in one day and intended to be a one-shot, although someday I may focus on one project for more than a day and actually write something worthwhile.

~ Zero-ELEC, Aug/9/'09