Everything in the Metroid franchise belongs to Nintendo

This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so any comments or suggestions, however harsh, would be greatly appreciated! Also, to clear any confusion, Samus is equipped with her beams from Metroid Prime.

Chapter Two: Assault

The massive ship shuddered under the impact of multiple missiles. Samus ran to the view window just in time to watch the Space Pirate ships launch another volley

"Warning. Warning. Hull breach has been detected in the Residential and Combat Simulator sectors. Please move quickly to your battle formations." The mechanized voice of Adam repeated over and over again.

Samus felt a flash of fear as she heard the news. Anthony was in the Combat Simulator! Concentrating, she felt the familiar weight as her Power Suit once again materialized around her. She took off running towards the sector, determined that no harm should come to him.

"Where the hell are you all coming from?!" Samus screamed as she turned the corner to find another group of Pirates. "At least they're all foot soldiers," she thought, as she wove and ducked around the pirates. Formidable though the pirates might be, they could not match the Hunter. One after the other, they fell to her fury. Some burned from the plasma beam. Some exploded from missiles. And still more continued to twitch well after death as electricity from the wave beam continued to course through their bodies.

Samus had almost reached Anthony when she found a barricade with several Federation soldiers guarding it.

"Aran! Thank goodness you came. The pirates must have saved a Berserker somewhere, because he rampaging just past us. We need your help!"

"Stay here. I'll take care of him," Samus replied coolly. She had thought they had all been eradicated after the destruction of Phaaze, but the pirates must've kept a few locked up. The fearsome pirate hissed as he saw her. The pirates must've taught him to destroy the Hunter on sight, for it immediately abandoned beating in the door it faced to come at her.

"Will they never learn," Samus sighed as she sent its energy blasts back at the beast, looking on with utter disdain as it fell. "Clear!" she yelled to the troopers behind her. Just as they emerged, calling their thanks, a reptilian voice split the air. Samus was surprised that it issued from the Berserker; she had never heard one speak before.

"You lose, Hunter!" came the labored voice of the dying behemoth. A small canister rolled out from it and began spewing blue smoke. Samus quickly scanned it. She couldn't help but stare at the ominous alert pulsing on her screen: Phazon Detected. He mind raced. "Phazon?! Impossible! All traces of Phazon were eradicated when Phaaze was destroyed!" Samus thought, "Thank goodness the Federation managed to download the data for the Phazon Suit." So busy was she with her thoughts that she never considered the Federation troopers behind her, who no such protection. Samus heard a tortured scream behind her. She turned to find the dozen soldiers she had rescued, doubled over and groaning. She barely managed to register this when the one closest to the Berserker suddenly locked eyes with her. She could see the blue glow of Phazon madness clouding his eyes. He charged her, screaming again. But now it wasn't a scream of pain and confusion. It was a scream of pure bloodlust as the soldier leapt at her, eager for her blood.

Only to taste one of her missiles as her self-preservation instincts took over. She knew she had to finish this one quickly before the others transformed. The first soldier fell to the ground, his armor cracked and smoking, his head little more than a twisted ruin in a grotesque impersonation of a human head. She felt a brief flash of relief, only to look up to see the eleven other soldiers converging on her.

Just as she was readying for battle, she had a brief thought. "Oh shit. Anthony!" Realizing that she had no time to waste, she curled into her morph ball and let a power bomb loose. The attacking, Phazon-crazed soldiers were vaporized instantly. Samus didn't pause as she sprinted past the smoking crater. She had to find her friend before it was too late.

She was almost there! She could see the entrance to the Combat Simulator just ahead of her. She was praying that she wasn't too late. There was so much she had to say to Anthony. Just as she reached the doors, though, a massive explosion rocked the ship. Samus could only stare in complete horror as the door-the only way into the sector-collapsed into a burning wreck. She had no time for despair though. A squadron of Galactic Federation troops ran towards her, sprinting from another Berserker. Seeing Samus there, the Berserker slid to a stop.

"Hey, Hunter! Here's a little gift…from Kraid!" the reptilian beast hissed at her.

"Kraid is dead, you bitch!" Samus yelled back.

"Oh, you fool! Kraid has come back, and he has an infallible plan. The Hunter shall become the hunted!" And with that final declaration, the behemoth fired a Phazon grenade into the midst of the fleeing soldier. It looked on, and its face seemed to twist into a disgusting façade of amusement as the soldiers thrashed.

Samus was angry. There was no other word to describe it. "Damn. I haven't felt like this since the B.S.L. Station," she thought. And she hadn't. No matter how many mock combats she had done while instructing new recruits, they did nothing to create this feeling. She didn't feel afraid. That emotion in combat had been quelled during her Chozo training. She didn't feel anger. That had been taught to her as a death trap, as the bloodlust could overwhelm her sense and reasoning. She felt only one thing as the squad of Phazon-crazed soldiers rushed at her, the Berserker lumbering towards her behind them. Her enemies were in front of her. And they were going to die.

One battle, several explosions, and a bad-ass line delivered as she sent the fatal shot through the Berserker's skull, Samus felt…great. She had forgotten what it was like to engage in this bloody battle of life and death. But then her thoughts returned to Anthony, and she rushed towards the door to see if there was anyway past it. Her built-in computer confirmed what she had feared. There was no way through. There was no time for despair, however. The general of the spaceship had just contacted her with orders to go to the engine room. It seemed the Pirates were making a full press for that critical area.

"Strange," she thought, "Pirates usually don't try to go there. They typically gather what loot they can and leave the ship a metal tomb for its crew." Then the realization hit her, and she felt an icy grip of fear constrict her. The reborn Kraid was plotting something big. He knew, from her defeat of their operation on Zebes, that she was their biggest threat. Furthermore, the Pirates somehow knew she was assigned to this ship, and this wasn't a random attack. They knew she was aboard. So they were going to take the ship down. With a burst of adrenaline also not felt since she had battled the SA-X, Samus turned a sprinted towards the engine room, determined to save the ship.