Prologue: Pirates
The lone bounty hunter stepped into the doors of Zebes, power suit armed and prepped to fire upon the slightest sighting of an enemy. Eyes of bluish green stared out from behind green visor. Her mission was simple, personal. Something of hers was taken and she wanted it back.
Well… perhaps two somethings. This did used to be her home after all. The very planet was her home and these creatures dared defile it. She hadn't even waited to be ordered to do this; she was here on a mission of her own.
It struck her as odd that she was feeling like this. It had been years since she'd felt such emotions. Something gnawed at her psyche and made her think about this in retrospect. She shrugged, deciding to ponder it at a later date.
The trek down into the depths of Zebes reminded her of the last time she was here. She'd been ordered to; otherwise she'd never have come back. Slightly recovering from PTSD, she'd managed to defeat her true enemy. But… to her dismay and recent injury, it seemed as if he wasn't dead.
She wished she'd actually known how to use Super Missiles at that point; unleashing the strength of a boulder shattering barrage into his reptilian body would have been satisfying. (A/N: If you haven't read the Metroid Manga, I recommend it since it does depict some of Samus' background.)
Unfortunately for her, he wasn't as dead as she thought. Of course, she'd encountered several robotic versions of him (A/N: Zero Mission and Prime; in this story, only Prime one happens prior to Metroid 2), which had set her on edge, but having recovered from her trauma, she was able to dispatch of both of them easily. Of course, robots designed to break her psyche were the work of one group, but she'd faced worse. Easily, taking on a Metroid Queen was a worse feat.
Walking back through the destroyed base of Mother Brain, she felt an odd solace, almost as if she'd enacted her true revenge against the freakish AI unit for helping to destroy her family and home. Unfortunately for her, the battle against Ridley had damaged her suit heavily and she'd been unable to restore her abilities at all.
On the other hand, she was venturing into the depths of Zebes, her home and the home of the creator of her very power suit. Surely, there was some tech she could use to empower her suit. It was highly likely the pirates hadn't combed every inch of Zebes, especially with Mother Brain gone.
She traversed to what she dubbed the 'starting point' of Brinstar. She walked to where she'd found the Maru-Mari before, oddly enough finding another.
Shrugging, she installed it into her suit, allowing the transformative ball to synch up with her system. After her ship had repaired her suit, it had installed an activation function to allow her to activate and deactivate her various capabilities at will.
However, a light that shone upon her gave her a nervous chill. It also clued her into one other thing: she knew they could see her.
Walking through Brinstar to attempt to scour any other Chozo tech, she managed to obtain some Missiles back.
"Should come in handy," She mused.
Stepping back into Brinstar, she discovered she'd been swarmed by pirates. Seeing her enter, they all descended on her like a plague, firing their makeshift attacks. But, unfortunately for them, she was quicker, all of the pirates falling to her Power Beam, despite it not having any power enhancements attached to it.
"I should probably get to Norfair," Samus said. "But, I have no Varia Suit thanks to Ridley… oh well."
She trekked through Brinstar, coming upon a slew of powerups of various varieties, including Super Missiles.
Stepping over to a statue, she discovered a new enhancement: the Charge Beam. Armed with this new weapon, she headed deeper, picking up the Spazer Beam. She walked through, stopping at a huge worm statue.
"Too suspicious not to look at," She said. "Probably something down where Kraid was."
Trekking into the area with some well-placed Bombs, Samus made her way through. Entering a room, she saw the huge, towering form of Kraid standing in the room, seemingly bigger than before, but not by much.
However, Samus wasn't afraid of this particular monster, deciding to hop up and leap towards his mouth to unleash Super Missiles down his throat. Stepping into the room behind him, she managed to discover her Varia Suit, trekking down into Norfair.
Obtaining her Wave Beam in Norfair, she also discovered her Ice Beam and Grapple Beam. She moved through with ease, blasting through waves of enemies and decimating them.
However, she discovered she needed more firepower as well as a suit capable of surviving the lava. Unfortunately for her, she'd lost her enhancements in the Ridley fight, so she needed to gather more.
She slogged through the Wrecked Ship in the east near her own ship. Discovering the ancient device was out of power, she carefully treaded through so as to not disturb the creepy zombies she'd rather not tangle with. Not that she was afraid of them, but they just kept coming and coming and she was tired of blasting them all away.
Defeating the guardian of the Wrecked Ship, Phantoon, was a bit of a chore, but she didn't mind. Next, she found Power Bombs, a new device that she'd never seen before (A/N: she didn't get Power Bombs in the Zero Mission portion) and her Gravity Suit. They packed a huge wallop and she knew that she couldn't just use them willy-nilly.
Breaking into Maridia, she made short work of Draygon and obtained a new Space Jump.
With this, she was now capable of traversing into the depths of Norfair to take on Ridley. Her blood was pumping faster and faster in her chest as she travelled downward to battle him in the depths. As she entered the room he dwelled in, Samus paused.
He appeared, roaring and laughing at her.
"Come for your little Metroid?" He asked. Samus tensed, taking a deep breath and readying herself.
"I see you're taking the silent stance," Ridley cackled. "I like that. Makes it more fun to rip the screams out of you."
He let loose a barrage of fireballs toward Samus, who dodged them, firing wave after wave of Super Missiles at him.
Ridley fought back with his tail and claws, but the lone bounty hunter had a huge advantage in nimbleness and firepower. Eventually, the monster fell, lifeless to the ground, Samus unleashing a powerful Super Missile into his face as she walked into the next room.
Once inside, her heart froze in her chest. Inside the room was a shattered tank, the same one that her quest had brought her searching for. But, the contents were gone. The baby was gone.
Samus clenched her fist, taking a deep, shaking breath as she turned back to face the door. She knew where she was going and she knew what she would face once there.
Shattering the entrance to the newly excavated Tourian, Samus walked through, shooting pirates and Metroid alike. Obviously, the pirates had been cloning Metroids form the baby and they were loose. Another thing she had to kill and destroy for the sake of the universe. At first, she had thought that one of them was the baby, but it was clear it wasn't once it shrieked at her and attacked.
Standing in the final stretches of Tourian, Samus walked to fight a huge Sidehopper. However, before she could fire a single Super Missile, a Metroid ten times the size of the Sidehopper flew in out of nowhere and sucked it dry in an instant. Samus, in a slight moment of shock and slight terror at a Metroid that size, began to run, but the Metroid grabbed her, sucking her dry almost as fast as the Sidehopper.
Samus felt her suit beginning to dissipate, but managed to hold it together so she could survive and escape. She knelt down, panting and sweating at the extreme change in her body's energy, both in the suit and her body. The suit's warning for critically low power kicked in, blaring outside due to the intensity of the damage the Metroid had done. She tensed up, waiting for the end to come and her body to black out.
However, it never came. She also felt the Metroid release her and squee as it seemed to react… ashamedly.
Samus looked up at the enormous Metroid, confusion setting in until… it hit her. She held her hand up to the Metroid, but it began to run, er, float, away, sadly making Metroid cries. Samus chased after it weakly, not having recovered from the attack the Metroid did to her and attempting to stumble towards it. But, it was gone before she could do anything.
Stumbling into the next room, the bounty hunter reached a recharge station that the Chozo had created. The pirates must have moved it. Recharging her suit, Samus leaned back and panted, resting her body. Once she'd rested some, she stood up, heading to where she knew the leader of the Space Pirates would be.
Smashing through the door and fighting the energy rings, she moved into the main room, gasping slightly when she saw a newly resurrected Mother Brain.
"Welcome, Samus," Mother Brain spoke telepathically. "I have been awaiting you. I am going to make you suffer for this. Obey your mother. I only want what's best for Zebes. Doesn't that make sense, Samus dear?"
"You are not my mother," Samus spoke calmly, firing a Super Missile into Mother Brain's tank, shattering it. The brain fell to the ground. Samus walked over to pop it for good, but the AI had other plans.
A huge, cybernetic body formed below her and she stood up, roaring at Samus. Samus took a step back, shocked, but decided to unleash her Missiles and Super Missiles at this new form Mother Brain had taken.
Letting her frustration pour into her shots, she aimed to dish out damage to Mother Brain to repay her for everything.
However, once she was completely out of ammo, Mother Brain began to glow a rainbow sheen, firing out a powerful blast straight into Samus' chest. The bounty hunter could no longer stand, kneeling in weakness before the tyrannical monster as she roared again, preparing to fire another blast.
Samus tensed, being completely unable to move. Her shoulders heaved with the strength of the attack and she couldn't feel anything anymore. She closed her eyes, expecting the blast to hit and resign her to her fate.
But, it never did. Mother Brain let out a shriek and there was a sound almost like a squeal. Samus opened her eyes to see the baby Metroid latching onto Mother Brain and draining her energy. Mother Brain quickly turned into a husk of dust, the baby latching onto Samus and beginning to give her energy. Samus was shocked; was this what the scientists were talking about when they said peaceful purposes?
But, Samus amazement was short lived as through the membrane of the Metroid, she could see Mother Brain begin to revive. Samus called out to the baby, but it just kept giving her energy. Mother Brain was angry now, blasting the baby with her firepower.
Mother Brain charged up an attack, unleashing it just as the baby released Samus. Samus fell to the ground, holding her hand out to the baby, who exploded into particles from the attack. They rained down over Samus as she was lost in her thoughts for a second.
Defeating the Metroid Queen and finding the hatchling Metroid. Taking it to the scientists. Returning to Zebes to retrieve it. She realized now that she hadn't been acting on some sort of good will for the galaxy. This one had been personal. This had solely been to save the baby. And now… now, she had lost something like family once again.
The bounty hunter was in a haze as she let out a yell of anger and anguish, letting her frustrations and anger burst forth. A slight blinking on her HUD let her know that she had achieved a new upgrade, which was odd since she hadn't picked up any sort of Chozo tech.
"Hyper Beam activated," The display read. Samus clenched her fist, glaring right at Mother Brain.
"You took my home." She said, Mother Brain actually pausing. A single tear slid down her cheek as she felt emotions she hadn't felt in years resurface. "You took my family. You took the baby."
Mother Brain was beyond enraged at this point, preparing to fire another blast.
"Mother," She said loudly and with authority, aiming her cannon arm at Mother Brain, a blast more powerful than she'd ever fired before charging up in it. "Time to go."
The blast nearly blew the bounty hunter back, causing her to have to steady herself as the blast shot forth and tore through Mother Brain, eviscerating her and causing her head to fall to the ground, mechanical and synthetic blood spilling from it. Samus walked over to the head of her enemy, stepping on it with enough force to crush the head. She walked forward, hearing the alarm of self-destruct going off. She ran through the corridors of Zebes, blasting through any Space Pirates that were still stupid enough to get in her way.
Reaching the surface, she managed to rescue some animals that had taught her abilities she would have use for later. Watching them leave, she took off for her own ship, making it out just before the entire planet blew up.
It was bittersweet. She missed the old times on Zebes, but she certainly didn't miss what it had become after the Chozo were all murdered. She decided to rest and recover after the mission, her thoughts turning to the baby.
Later
After stopping in to report the success of her mission, she had a diagnostic from a… complete douchebag of a scientist who was snarky because he was quite certain he was in no harm… he was lucky Samus had turned off her Plasma and Wave Beams for said diagnostic.
But, now, some time later, she was back in her ship, simply cruising along and deciding to head to a space colony to get something decent to eat when a distress call popped up. The codename was "Baby's Cry", which made Samus pause. That was usually a distress cry of near desperation… but, it also reminded her of what she had lost. She looked down at her left hand, setting a course for the coordinates.
I know this is a bit of a shotty retelling of Super Metroid, but this story isn't about Super Metroid. I simply wanted to establish some story and character for Samus since the end of Super Metroid was in Other M.
So, a thing to note about this. I am doing a retelling of Other M with this story. But, I'm going to fix some of the things (except not the controls cuz no writer can fix that with a story) that were a bit flawed. The biggest flaw I want to fix was the very, very anticlimactic fight between Samus and Melissa/MB. So, let's see how well that goes.
But, another thing to note is that this will be a prologue to Metroid X, my other Metroid story. Yes, I'm working on it, but no, I don't have any ideas.