After several hours of flying Link and John finally arrived in Siberia where there final destination await. John explained earlier that he isn't the only Snake in the world, and that there were about five others that he helped trained while they were injected with a special serum that Rodney Aran had developed over the decades. The same serum that both Link and David were injected with to give them their superior strength. John grabbed a few weapons from the cargo hold of the jet and two spare ammo clips. The door opened and the two felt the cold air of the Siberian mountains hit them full force.
"Remember that time we hitchhiked all the way back from Rockaway beach?" Link asked, recalling a memory the two once shared over eighty years ago.
"Wasn't that the time we used our train money on that carnival game?" Snake recalled with a smirk.
"You spent five bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for that Red head," Link recalled with a laugh.
"What was her name again?" he asked.
"Meryl," Link answered. "She has a nice tattoo on her left arm and a bullet earring."
"I bet she's like a hundred years old now," Snake said.
"You and me both pal," Link said as he patted Snake on the back. He placed his helmet on and the two walked towards the bunker. To their luck it was open, but that meant that Zant was already inside doing Hylia knows what with those Snake clones.
"Couldn't have been here more than a few hours," Link deduced.
"Long enough to wake them up," Snake added.
The two walked inside and immediately saw the damage that Zant had caused. Various circuit panels ripped part trying to open the various doors and a number of dead guards. The stepped into the elevator to bring them down to the lower levels. They stepped out and readied themselves for whatever might happen next. Just then a loud bang came from behind them from the elevator shaft. Snake cocked his gun, ready for what might appear. The door began to open and the two recognized the bronze colour of the armoured finger tips along with the greenish lights coming from the rest of the amour: Samus Aran.
Samus walked forward an unformed her helmet. Link held his whiled high and walked towards her. Snake still had his gun pointed at her head.
"You seem a little defensive," Samus remarked.
"It's been a long day," Link replied still cautious of Samus.
"At ease Snake, I'm not currently after you," she added looking at Snake.
"Then why are you here?" Link asked while still keeping his shield high.
"Maybe your story's not so crazy after all," Samus began. "Maybe. Groose has no idea I'm here and I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise I got to arrest myself."
"Well that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Link joked as he began to lower his shield. "Good to see you Samus."
"You too Link," Samus replied, realizing that the two had one another's trust. She looked at Snake, who was still pointing his weapon at her. "Can you please lower your weapon? This is a peace talk."
Link gestured to Snake to lower his gun, which he did. The three walked farther into the bunker. They saw the various amounts of destruction that had plagued the bunker over the decades. Shattered windows, broken cells, cracked walls, some of which Snake might have been responsible for over the decades. Just behind the three, Lucario snuck in and began to plan his attack. He still holds Snake responsible for the murder of his father and the destruction he caused. He was here to end it.
Samus led the group and turned a corner. Her scanner popped up when it detected a heat signature.
"We got heat signatures," she announced as they got closer to a bigger room.
"How many?" Link asked.
"Uh… One?" Samus replied confused. The group walked closer to the large room where the heat signature was emitting from. As they entered they spotted six cryo chambers. The lights of the chambers turned on, revealing five bodies in them while one chamber was empty. Link was spooked by the appearance of them but then noticed something strange about them. As he got a closer look, he could see that they all had a wound on their foreheads with fresh blood. They were all recently shot and killed, most likely by Zant. Snake walked over to them to read the labels: Venom Snake, Solidus Snake, Liquid Snake, Solid Snake and The Boss. They were all clones of John and one was altered to be female. The one chamber that was missing one had the name Raiden written on it. The one that was found dead in the hotel that was responsible for the death of Lucario's father.
"If it makes you feel better, I killed them in their sleep," the voice of Zant sound over a loudspeaker. "You really think I wanted more of you?"
"What the hell," Snake said under his breath, freaked out by the sight of the dead clones.
"I'm grateful for them though," Zant began again. "They brought you here."
Just then a light turned on at the front of the room showing Zant behind a window. Link tossed his shield while Samus prepared to attack. No luck. The glass was strong enough to survive the impact of Link's shield.
"Please Captain," Zant explained. "The Gerudo built this chamber to survive anything the Hyrule could throw at it."
"I bet I could beat it," Samus remarked, ready to fire a missile at it.
"No hurry Ms. Aran," Zant joked ready to start his grand plan. Just then Lucario entered from the corner of the room, confused at to what was going on in front of them. "I have a special place for you in all of this."
"You killed countless of innocent people in Sinnoh just to bring us here," Link argued. Lucario retracted his claws, realizing that he might have made a mistake targeting Snake this entire time. Link walked closer to the window so he was face to face with Zant.
"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," Zant began as narrowed his vision. "I've studied you, I followed you. But now that you're standing here I've realized…. there's a bit of green in those blue eyes of yours. How nice to find a flaw."
"You're from Twilight," Link realized. "Is that what this is about?"
"Twilight was a fail state long before you and the smashers blew it to hell," Zant said, a subtle tone of anger filling his voice. "I'm here because I made a promise."
"You lost someone?" Link realized. The battle for Twilight led to about a hundred and fifty or so deaths. Odds are a few of them were Zant's family. Zant nodded from Link's realization.
"And so will you," Zant threatened. From the window he activated a switch which turned on video of sorts in front of Samus and Snake with the title: December 16, 1991. "An empire toppled by it's enemies will rise again. But one which crumbles from within… That's death…. forever."
Link walked over to see what the video contained. He recognized the date all too well and he worried what it might do to Samus. Samus removed her helmet as she also recognized the date of the video. On screen a road in a forrest appeared with a dim light. Samus instantly recognized the location.
"I know that road," she said nervously. She continued to watch the events unfold before her eyes. "What is this!?"
Just then a car crashed into a tree with a motorcycle passing behind it. Samus instantly recognized the car and the image of its wreckage. The motorcycle and its rider circled back and dismounted: Snake. Snake couldn't bear to watch and turned away but not before cocking his gun, ready for what might happen next. A figure emerged from the wrecked car trying to drag himself across the ground.
"Please…. help my wife," the man mumbled as he tried to wipe the blood off of his face. Snake picked him up by the neck and slammed him into the side of the car. He then proceeded to punch him ferociously with his robot arm until he stopped moving altogether. Samus looked at Snake, realizing she is watching what happened the night her parents were found dead. Snake was ordered to murder them. From within the car, the woman, the man's wife began to call out.
"Rodney, Rodney… Rodney!" Virginia yelled out. Snake picked up Rodney's lifeless body and place him in the driver seat of the car, placing his head against the well to appear he died from the impact of the crash. Tears began to roll down Samus's face as she witnessed the horror of it all. Snake walked around the car towards the passenger seat. Snake grabbed Virginia's neck and began to strangle her.
"Samus…" were her last words before being silenced forever. Snake walked over to a security camera and shot it out, leading no witnesses what so ever. Samus was huffing fro breath at what she had witnessed. She looked over at Snake and began to charge but Link stopped her from moving. Snake pointed his gun right at her head in response.
"Samus!" Link called out trying to calm her down. Samus turned to Link with an angry look.
"Did you know?" Samus asked wiping away her tears. All this trouble for Snake and she's beginning to wonder if she should have killed him when she had the chance.
"I didn't know it was him," Links said, trying to reassure Samus.
"That doesn't matter! Did you know!?" Samus asked again, freeing herself from Link's grip. Link hesitated for what he should say. He could lie but whats to say Samus would believe him or not. If he told the truth this would certainly end in blood shed. He had to tell the truth.
"…Yes," Link said quietly.
Samus processed this information. Samus back handed Link to the floor as her helmet formed around her head. She was gonna kill Snake and nothing was going to stop her.
Snake open fired but to no affect. Samus ripped the gun out of his hands. Snake through a robotic punch at Samus but she caught and cracked his fight with a squeeze of her own hand. Zant decided no was his best time to make his escape.
Samus grabbed Snake by the neck and activated her thrusters, smashing him into a wall. She pointed her arm cannon t his face but just before she could shoot, Link tossed his shield and knocked her over. Her attack missed.
Link tackled Samus to the ground but she got back up seconds later, ready to counter attack. She flew up and smash Link against a wall. She flew back and fired a bind disk around Link's legs, stopping him in his tracks. Snake managed to get in three punches before Samus grabbed him and slammed him against a wall fifteen off the ground. Just as she tired to blast his face off, Snake grabbed the arm cannon and cracked it, preventing Samus from using it for a while. Samus was startled by his strength.
She tried to fire a missile from the wrist oh her left arm but Snake pushed it away and it fired into a wall away from them causing a chain reaction. Link managed to cut the binds from his legs onto to see one of the cryo chambers begin to fall over with Samus and Snake still against the pillar. Samus looked behind her to see it falling and the two escaped before getting crushed by it. Snake got hit with some rubble while landing. Samus got toppled by a large piece pif concrete and tried to free herself.
"Get out of here!" Link yelled out as he saw Snake get up.
Samus freed herself and fired a concusive blast from her arm cannon which she managed to fix in the time she got out. The attack missed and Snake escaped into the silo chamber. Link landed in front of her preventing Samus from passing. Snake activated a switch within the silo chamber which opened a door; an escape route. He began to climb.
"It wasn't him Samus," Link pleaded realizing that Samus wasn't acting on reason but emotion. "Gerudo had control of his mind!"
"Move!" Samus yelled out. Samus flew past him but Link managed to catch Samus by the right leg and managed to damage her thruster by bashing it with his shield. Samus got free but crashed onto the floor. Link began to chase her but Samus used her arm cannon laser to blast the wall, creating a landslide preventing Link from stopping her.
Samus looked up to see Snake climbing his way up towards the silo exit which was still opening up.
"Truster jet failing," Friday informed Samus. Samus tried to fly anyway and was mostly successful. She finally managed to catch up to Snake and kicked him across the silo chamber onto another platform. She fired a blast from her arm cannon only to have it deflected by Link and his shield, who managed to save Snake at the last possibly moment. The blast hit Samus's head and damaged her visor in the process. Link helped Snake get up.
"She's not gonna stop," Link deduced as he saw Samus get back up.
Snake began to climb once again. Link pulled out his claw shot from his back pocket and place his shield on his back. Samus began to fly up to catch Snake. Link fired his claw shot at Samus's neck and it managed to wrap around her. Link jumped and dragged Samus with him. The two crashed on different levelled platforms. Snake was nearing the top of the chamber.
Samus got up and armed a missile to shoot at Snake. Link tossed his shield at Samus but she was able to blast it away with her free hand. The shield fell to the bottom of the silo chamber. Samus aimed her missile at Snake but her targeting system was too damaged to lock on to anything.
"Targeting system is damaged boss," Friday informed.
"I'm eye balling it!" Samus informed as her helmet formed into her armour. She aimed for the mechanism that was opening the silo doors. She fired her missile and direct hit. Snake heard the explosion as saw the door begin to fall onto him. He jumped down on a different platform to avoid getting hit.
Samus flew up to catch Snake. Snake armed himself with a rusty pipe and smashed Samus right across the face but to little of an effect to bring her down. Samus grabbed Snake and put him in a choke hold.
"Do you even remember them," Samus whispered ready to kill him.
"I remember all of them!" Snake proclaimed. Snake pushed the two of them off the platform down the shaft. Link grabbed onto them and dragged Samus down to the bottom of the shaft. Their combined weight was too much for Samus's thrusters. Snake hit a platform about twenty away from the bottom. Samus and Link crashed to the bottom where a large three pillared opening was. The two stood up, battered and broken but ready to finish one another off.
"This isn't going to change what happened," Link tried to reason with Samus.
"I don't care," Samus said not caring for whatever were to happen next. "He killed my mom."
The two collided trading punches and blasting one another into walls. Link got Samus into a choke hold but Samus propelled herself into a wall knocking him off of herself. She got on top of him and slammed her arm cannon into her face multiple time, more and more spots on his face drawing blood.
Just then Snake slammed Link's shield into her back, destroying what was left of her thrusters. The two began to gang up on Samus, chipping away at her amour and causing her many injuries. The whiled got tossed around and slammed into Samus many times. Finally she was able to blast Link in the chest and sent him hurdling into a wall temporally knocking him down.
Snake, enraged by her action slammed her against the opposite wall. She aimed her cannon at his face and fired but Snake grabbed and forced it to fire on the ceiling above them. With his right hand holding her face away, he took his robotic left hand and jammed into Samus's power core, which was the glowing green ball of light in the center of her chest plate. Snake ripped it with every ounce of force he had in him. Just as he was about to rip it out, Samus fired a laser from the core of her armour. Snake was knocked down and when he looked at his left arm, it was nothing but a stub of wires and circuits. Samus blasted it off. She blasted a concussive round into Snake's back, knocking him down. Just then Link got up and charged at Samus.
Link deflected one attack, then a second. Link was ready to kill her at any chance he could have. He noticed Samus charging both her hand laser and arm cannon. With two hands he placed his shield in front of them of deflected both attacks. The two of them could feel the force of the attack. Link moved closer to Samus and Samus moved closer to Link. She added more power to the attack while Link tightened his grip. The energy being released from the attack was building up to an extreme. Then finally an explosion filled the room and the two were knocked back to their respective walls. Samus's suit was heavily damaged from the ongoing attacks and her visor was cracked and covered with her own blood. Link could feel blood spilling down his face and hear his bones crack.
The two charged at one another once more, nothing holding them back. Link blocked Samus's attacks with his shield and pinned her against her wall, bashing her with his bare fists and shield. His hands started to bleed and her armour began to crack.
Outside Zant sat in the snow, listening to the last phone message he wife left him before she and their son were killed. He finally decided that this was the last time he would listen to the message and deleted it. From behind him, Lucario snuck up to him, planning his attack.
"He almost killed the wrong man," Lucaro stated, making his presence known to Zant.
"Hardly an innocent one," Zant added, referring to Snake's past.
"Is this what you wanted?" Lucario asked. "To see them rip each other apart?"
"I left my family with my father just outside the city," Zant said, referring to the last time he saw his family. "I thought they would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Hunter from the window. I told my wife 'don't worry, they are fighting in the city we're miles from harm'. When the dust cleared, the screaming stopped. It took two day, then I found that body. My father… still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Smashers? I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men then me have tried to beat them. But if I could get them to kill each other… I'm sorry about your father. He was a good man. With a beautiful son."
"Vengeance has consumed you," Lucario deduced, realizing that Zant was holding a gun in his left hand. "It is consuming them. And I'm letting it consume me."
Lucario retracted his claws, not wanting Zant to get the wrong idea for what he was about to do.
"Justice will come soon enough," Lucario added.
"Tell that to the dead," Zant smirked. He cocked his gun and stuck it to his throat. Lucario tackled him, his shot going in the air instead. Lucario placed Zant in a choke hold.
"The living are not done with you yet," Lucario explained and Zant tried to free himself.
Link bashed his whiled into Samus's face then proceded to throw two punches at her. One in her face, the other at her chest.
"You can't beat him hand to hand!" Friday advised Samus showing that her armour was failing rapidly with every attack Link threw at her. Samus could feel her right eye swelling up from the impact of his attacks..
"Analyse his fight pattern!" Samus ordered Friday.
"Scanning!" Friday announced. Samus let her guard down to be bashed by several of Link's attacks but there was an obvious pattern to them. Bash, Bash, Punch. Bash Punch Bash. Punch, Bash, Punch. Repeat. "Counter measure ready!"
Friday took over Samus's movements for a brief moment. Samus caught the shield before it could bah her again.
"Let's kick his ass!" Samus said, ready to finish Link off.
Samus ripped the shield out of Link's hands and tossed it. Link was distracted by the throwing of the shield that he didn't see Samus blast him right in the chest sending him flying back against his wall. Samus layered down the punches and kicks. Feeling his bones crack with every impact. Blood drooled down his mouth and nose. One concussive blast to this lower torso brought Link to his knees. Samus walked up to Link. link looked up, his face covered in blood.
"He's my friend," Link panted out, not ready to give up.
"So was I," Samus replied. She threw three more punches at Link's face, breaking his nose entirely at this point. Link feel on all fours limbs. Samus picked up Link and tossed him against a pillar behind her.
"Stay down, final warning," Samus said as she charged her arm cannon for one final attack.
Link forced himself to get up. He could feel his left leg was twisted, his nose broken, his ears ringing, his jaw cracked, his ribs cracked and one massive headache. The triforce began to glow on his right hand. He could not let Samus win no matter the cost.
"I can do this all day," Link panted out as he wiped the blood off of his mouth.
Samus readied her charg beam, but just then Snake grabbed her right leg to throw her off. Samus turned around and kicked Snake in the face, breaking his nose as well. Link used this moment to grab Samus and lift her up over his head. She activated her remaining thruster put Link slammed Samus to the ground, her armour cracked, leaking fluid and now wires were lose.
Link got on top of Samus and began to go all out on her. Throwing every ounce of strength he had left at her head, chest and arm cannon. Samus's visor began to crack and her sensors began to fade. Link grabbed his shield and began to slam it into Samus's armour. She aimed her arm cannon at his face but Link intercepted it and destroyed it with his shield. He began to bash her helmet with his shield next. Samus knew this was the end.
Samus could feel the impact every attack he threw at her. Her forehead split open and blood began to spill onto her face. He smashed her helmet with enough force that it shattered into pieces. Samus grit her teeth, ready to face death with a fire in her eyes. Blood covered most of her face and her right eye was swollen shut. Her blond hair was stained with blood and suit fluids.
Link held his shield high ready to finish her with one last impact. Samus shielded her face.
"Hhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Link let out one last battle cry.
Then all was silent.
Link jammed his shield into Samus's reactor core, deactivating the suit entirely. Samus gasped for breath, expecting the end only to be thankful she was alive. Link collapsed on the ground next to Samus, gasping for air. He finally stood up and pulled the shield out from her armour.
Link walked over to Snake and helped him on his feet. If it weren't for his distraction, Link would not have won the fight. Samus tried to get up but her deactivated armour made it difficult to move.
Link helped Snake to his feet to escape. Snake's right leg was broken and Link had to carry him.
"That shield doesn't belong to you!" Samus blurted out in pain. "You don't deserve it! My father made that Shield!"
Rodney Aran gave Link that shield more than seventy years ago when the world was at war. The title of Captain Hyrule was in the hands of whoever see fit. His era was over.
Link dropped the shield and walked away with Snake.
Samus's panting began to slow down. The fighting was over and she had lost. She spat out blood that filled her mouth. She sat up and rested against the pillar, trying to process everything that just happened.
The Smashers would never be the same again.
