Thank you very much for the reviews I have received. This story is in a slightly different layout, hopefully its better. (Some dialogue may be confusing if you don't know the basic Metroid storyline). On with the show.

Bounty

Featuring Samus Aran and Captain Falcon

The city was not unlike those found in Tokyo on Earth. It had lights and buildings everywhere. It was raining. There was a figure in the recently evacuated city center who was sporting a breathing mask, life-support armor and what seemed to be jeans.

"Is that all you've got!?" yelled the angry cyborg criminal.

He was the bounty.

Samus had received the mission to apprehend the elusive Duros Headstrong to justice only mere hours ago, Samus was less than happy with last minute arrangements but notherless knew that she could do with the money. Besides, this guy was a pro at hiding. His mind contained information that allowed him to cross the borders of many planets without detection, security codes and the like and Samus knew that if she was to let him go he would not be found for many more years. During that time he could harm a great deal of people and she could never allow that.

Duros raised his forearms at Samus and fired balls of plasma at her at speeds she had not expected. Samus, aided by the combination of her body enhancing Chozo armor, genetic alterations and intense acrobatic training managed to get herself clear of his assault with a series of back flips that would be impossible for a regular human to accomplish. Samus ran back towards Duros and leaped into the air. She curled her body in mid-air and became surrounded by energy. She rapidly spun in the air with the power of her screw attack and speeded towards Duros.

Duros fired off another barrage of plasma projectiles but they bounced off due to the sheer force of the screw attack. But Duros was smart enough to know that if he continued to stand there and fire blindly at Samus, her screw attack form would end up cutting his arm off. Duros stopped firing and waited on the spot. Before Samus could register the fact that he was no longer firing she was already too close. Duros arm transfigured into a gigantic blade and he smashed it directly into Samus not unlike how somebody would knock a baseball from the sky. She landed in front of him with her shields severely drained from the strain of preventing her from being cut in half. As Samus recovered from the shock of being snapped out of screw attack form Duros prepared to swing down his blade on her.

"Falcon Punch!!"

The muscular figure of Captain Falcon had appeared from seemingly out of nowhere at high speed. In a single instant his fist was already in contact with Duro's blade, which was less than an inch away from making contact with Samus. The blade shattered into pieces that flew everywhere in the very next second. After realizing what a close situation she had just been in Samus spun around and smashed her armored fist into Duros's gut, sending him flying into a nearby building and leaving a massive visible zone of impact on the wall.

Samus got to her feet and gave a thumbs-up to her fellow bounty hunter and smash brother Captain Falcon. The captain moves and an outfit that seemed right at home in an anime cartoon, but no matter how over the top Captain Falcon may seem Samus knew that he was the real deal. Captain Falcon was a hardened bounty hunter who risked his life even more at the F-Zero racing tournaments; he had gained many enemies over the years and Samus's respect.

"That's not the only weapon he has!" yelled Samus at Falcon's direction.

"I know, I was watching" replied the captain "Let's do this!"

Captain Falcon charged towards Duros with his hands covered in flames, dodging the barrage of Duros's plasma balls on the way. Duros continued to occupy the Captain's attention with one hand's projectiles while turning his spare hand into a missile launcher. Duros stopped firing at Falcon and quickly aimed his missile at him. Samus fired a super missile into his side and disrupted his aiming, the missile flew harmlessly in the wrong direction and Captain Falcon took advantage of this spare moment. He smashed his fist into Duros's face and ended the fight.

--

"That was tougher than I expected from him" said Samus, throwing the sleeping body of Duros over her shoulder "But I guess that's how he survived this long, thanks for the assist".

Samus was about to walk off but Captain Falcon held his arm in front of her.

"Excuse me, but I was hired to catch this guy and I intend to complete my mission" He declared.

"My client hired another bounty hunter?" asked Samus but was responded by the Captain shaking his head.

"Trust me. I sincerely doubt they hired you, they don't like you that much."

Samus frowned beneath her mask. She dreaded the day this sort of thing happened.

"Look Falcon, I know this guy is worth a lot but I need the money far more than you do" declared Samus. She felt ashamed for making a selfish sounding statement but wanted to get this awkward situation out of the way as soon as possible. "And besides. You own a chain of Islands as your safe-houses while I have to split my time between renting my way around the universe and spending the night in that cramped ship of mine."

"Do you think those islands come cheap? F-Zero only comes around once a year and you get regular galactic federation missions that pay a lot more than most bounty hunters get for an individual job. Besides, you owe me. That guy was going to destroy you!"

Samus put the body of Duros on the floor and stepped towards Falcon. "Excuse me, but I have survived a lot worse than that in my lifetime. I have been a fighting since the age of sixteen."

Captain Falcon was secretly cringing inside as to how childish this argument was sounding but knew that Samus did not actually hold any malice towards him and that this was expected when two bounty hunters had conflicted assignments. Some tried to kill each other over the bounty; Falcon decided that the schoolboy argument was the better option. "I destroyed his sword and inflicted the finishing blow! You got yourself in that situation yourself!"

"You would not have reached him if I had not fired a super missile!" yelled Samus who threw her arms into the air "And besides don--"

They both stared at each other awkwardly.

"This is getting kind of pointless" admitted Samus "Look Captain...this guy has killed a body count of well over 200, my client has a very large bone to pick with him"

"This guy has destroyed entire planets because of his meddling! My client happened to know some people on those planets"

Samus winced at this statement. She was very glad that Falcon could not see the expression. She still felt guilt as to how many planets where destroyed during her own missions. Her guilt was quickly drifted aside as she noticed something vitally important about the sentence that the Captain just said. "Who is your client?"

"Sorry?" said Falcon surprised. He was clearly not expecting the conversation to go this direction.

"That client of yours... You said they didn't like me." Samus pointed her finger at Falcon furiously "Please tell me...oh how could you!?"

"Look that's classified info. I'm not at liberat--"

"Screw that Falcon!" yelled Samus "you accepted a bounty from somebody who you knew was my enemy!? Please tell me it wasn't the space pirates! Was it Ridley himself dammit!!?"

Captain Falcon could not see though Samus's visor but knew this was upsetting her. No doubt she saw this as a betrayal of trust. He could not imagine how much this would be hurting her, he knew her long enough to realize that Samus did not have that many friends. She was too scared of losing them; she had suffered so much with the death of her parents and the Chozo that she pushed everybody away from her in fear. The Captain's conscience finally caved in. This was far beyond the whole "schoolboy argument" crap, he was causing emotional scars. There was no other option now. He had to tell her.

"It was the Kriken" he said quietly. He was looking at his knees.

"Are you Blood Falcon!?" yelled Samus furiously "Or Maybe you just--What!?"

The Captain looked back up. Samus stood in front of him still. Her violent gestures had stopped. She looked directly at him. She was saying nothing. The silence continued for just a full minute. To Captain Falcon, that minute was utterly unbearable.

"How?" said Samus at last. No hint of anger was in her voice. Instead he could now hear her disappointment. "How could you work with the Kriken? They decimate civilizations. Dominate worlds. Perform genocide. How could you deal with those butchers?"

"Samus?"

"..."

"Samus. I had to." Captain Falcon wiped his brow and continued "Samus, you don't know how much they want this guy."

"Why should that be any of your concern?" asked Samus bitterly "Why do you care what they want?"

"Listen Samus, I met them by pure chance. Through circumstances I would rather not discuss I found that they were going to send a unit to go after this guy anyway."

Samus was confused as to why this mattered but steadily realized. "They would have wiped out anybody in the surrounding area."

"That's right. I convinced them that since this guy shows up very rarely and I was closer to the area of which he had been sighted and would be more likely to catch him before he escaped. They probably would not even consider making a deal with a human like me if not for the situation"

"Hmmm" said Samus who was deep in thought. "If I hand them over to mine or only other clients then they would be attacked by swarms of Kriken until the planet he is on is left uninhabited. But! If we left him here then the same would have happened to this planet."

"That's why I think it's important that we hand him over to the Krikens."

Samus shook her head grimly. "What do you know about Duros Headstrong Captain?"

"I don't come to your world so often Samus. I only heard about this guy a few minutes back and skimmed his life history file to know that he is very elusive and that he blew up a few planets that the Krikens wanted their hands on."

"Captain. By means unknown Duros has information that allows him to infiltrate the borders of many, many planets. There is nobody else with that much security information and he is untouchable as a result. That's the sole reason this poor excuse of a person is still alive. What would happen if the Krikens managed to get that information out of him?"

"Oh good lord..." gasped Captain Falcon in horror "If we don't hand him over..."

"...Then they will rip up the galaxy trying to find him. If any planet executes him then they will do the same, just to set an example" finished Samus "And if we do hand him over..."

"...Then the Kriken Empire will have access to...Oh God!"

"Correct. Most of the planets in this galaxy will be under their threat. Defense systems would do nothing."

"Who are your clients Samus?" quickly asked the Captain, trying to take the initiative and think of how they could get out of this mess.

"The Vhozons. They have a strong sense of justice and wanted to bring Duros to Vho so he could be executed. I went to fetch him for the same reason as you. I was closer to his location and more likely to intercept him. Fate sure likes to be cruel to us."

"We could hand him over to the Vhozons? They are powerful enough to fight off the Krikens..."

"No. The sheer size of the empire is too great. Many planets are taken by the Kriken each year cycle. I don't want to attract their attention to any particular one."

"We could risk taking him to the Krikens? From what I hear, they are so bloodthirsty that they will probably kill Headstrong before they even remember about his information."

"We can't take that risk. There is too much at stake." Samus sighed and rested her head in her hand "I'm going to have to kill him."

"What!?" The Captain was surprised that Samus would even consider the idea "But you just said--"

"No government will be killing him. The Krikens would not target planets but me instead. The Vhozons would not mind. They care more about justice than who delivers it." Samus had said this in such a stern tone that it scared Captain Falcon.

"That's a death sentence Samus!! To yourself!! Can you really even bring yourself to do it? He is unconscious"

"I had to detach myself from caring about sentiment life the second I chose this path in life. Besides, no matter what we do, he will be executed anyway. I can't back down now."

Falcon panicked as his friend began to turn around. She was ready to risk her life for countless others. "Samus! They would just destroy whatever planet you are on!"

"Then I will have to be really careful in not being spotted" she replied in a tone with no regret "If they find me, I will have to turn myself over to them."

"Samus wait!" the Captain's mind desperately raced for solutions to this dilemma. Duros needed to die to ensure the lives of many others. Even if they helped him escape, he would only continue to destroy more lives himself. Duros needed to die. Duros needed to--That was the answer!

"Samus!!" yelled Falcon very loudly "I know what to do!!"

Samus turned around curiously and stopped in her tracks. "Seriously?" she asked in a mixture of disbelief and relief.

"Samus. What if we fake his suicide?"

"What?" asked Samus, confused. "What do you plan to accomplish?"

"If the Krikens think that he put an end to his own life then they won't go after anybody" explained Falcon. "We could hand him over to the Galactic Federation and they could hold him without anybody ever knowing. Nobody risks their lives. Nobody has to kill anybody. And we would probably still get paid by the GF."

Samus could barely hide how impressed she was at Falcon's plan. "That could work...as disturbing as it sounds I know a place nearby that can have a lifeless clone of Duros's body created. He won't give us away either, he would have too much to risk." Excitement flooded Samus's being. "Captain! You are a genius!" she exclaimed, punching the air.

Falcon's face now consisted entirely of a big wide grin. He was very relieved to stop her from performing the action that would condemn her. "I try to do my best miss. Now let's get to work!"

The two bounty hunters turned around and froze on the spot. Their smiles vanished from their faces. "Where did he go?" whispered Samus in horror.

--

Things moved very quickly from that point on. Samus used her visor's thermal imaging to locate a building that contained four people. One of them was lying on the floor, his temperature had dropped. "Oh God no. Please no. Pease no." Samus chanted to herself as she speeded towards the nearby diner. Captain Falcon had trouble catching up with her, if she was this desperate to reach Duros then there is only one thing that could have happened...

Without hesitation Samus ripped the doors to the diner straight off, refusing to waste time waiting for them to open themselves. She found Duros standing in there. He had blood dripping down his mouth. She saw a very evil smile. Her eyes darted to the table near them. A man was lying on it with his heart removed. Like some barbaric sacrifice. The guy who worked here was cowering behind a counter. Her eyes darted back to Duros. He was holding a woman. The dead man's girlfriend? Fiancée? Wife? Sister? Associate? A bystander? She would never know. What mattered now was that Duros stood in the middle of the diner with the woman being held as a human shield.

Duros laughed. He coughed up blood and pressed his palm to the woman's head. He said stuff. She could not really catch any of it. It didn't matter. She knew that resistance would result in the death of the hostage. She was a little girl now. She could hear an older woman screaming as a monster ripped her apart. It should have been her. She could hear a man she knew all her life scream from his attempt at fighting these monsters. It should have been her. She was older now. She could hear more screams. Somewhere on Bryyo a man impaled himself and screamed. She did that. Somewhere acid was filling the heavens and she witnessed herself scream. It was a reflection of what should have been. A man sacrificed himself to save her. It should have been her. Dammit! Why!? She knew that if that woman in front of her died then her screams would echo though her head for the rest of her life. She knew that if she tried to save her then she would be killed. If she gave herself up, the woman would be killed anyway. She had thought that her dilemma with the Kriken was hard. She now knew what a tough decision was.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

A plasma bolt hit her in the chest. She didn't notice before. She had just hit the wall as a result of the recoil of the attack.

Captain Falcon came in. He was yelling at Duros. Making threats. Reading charges. Performing negotiations. The women kicked Duros and attempted to flee. Samus heard the sound that she had hoped not to hear.

Gunshot. Scream. Scream. Screeeeeaaaaaaam.

Samus sat up. Duros noticed that she still lived. She switched to Plasma Beam. Is he still firing at me? Aimed her arm cannon. Am I hurt? Charged her cannon. Is she hurt? Her arm cannon fired. Is she still alive? Please. Please Bird Grandpa. Please birdies. Please Dad. Please Mum. Don't let her follow you yet...Don't...

Samus blacked out.

--

"Samus!" yelled a voice "Samus!!"

Samus's eyes slowly opened. A blur was standing in front of her. There was a bird on his head. No, it's not the birds I want to see. They won't ever come back. "Falcon?" muttered Samus in a disorientated way "Where--?"

"You are on board the Falcon Flier. It's parked on a moon somewhere. Could you please get your ship to land on where those landing beacons I set up are? The last thing we need is for your involvement to be known. So get it off that planet."

"Huh? Oh! Right!" Samus then used her command visor to summon her ship to the moon that the Falcon Flier had landed on. "Wait...!" Samus shoved Falcon aside and instinctively leaped to her feet. Alert. She then noticed that Duros was nowhere in sight. "What happened?"

"You destroyed him. Your Plasma Beam completely disintegrated his body. That means--"

"No. The woman. What happened to her?"

"Some doctors where heading to the area as soon as your fight with Duros had ended. That headed into the zone to see if anybody was injured, that fight was enough to have the area evacuated after all. It was practically a disaster zone."

"So...?"

"They got to her. I have her medical files here. They saved her see? She was pregnant too. Two months. I managed to take a copy from the doctors when they were not looking. I felt that you would want to know."

Samus was relieved at hearing this information. She was too relieved for words. "Thank you." Then she remembered. "Falcon! The Kriken!"

"Duros's body was disintegrated. I could not fake his suicide and had to change my plan." The Captain did his cheesy, happy, self-satisfied grin once again. "Wanna hear it?"

"You stopped them?"

"Oh heavens no. I changed their target." Captain Falcon leaned against the wall and began unwrapping what seemed to be a chocolate bar "I called my "clients" and told them that I had killed Duros Headstrong. Want some? It's good for stressful missions" he said, offering Samus some of his chocolate.

"You...You..."

"I try to do my best! Seriously though, have some."

"You...You arrogant...You idiot!!" yelled Samus "This ship sticks out in the galaxy like a copper lighthouse and you just gave them a reason to hunt you down!!"

"Samus. Calm down." said the Captain calmly "I rarely go to your world, the Kriken definitely don't know how to get to mine or any other worlds. Despite the fact that neither of us got paid, I am safe."

"Thank God" whispered Samus. Thank God. Thank God.

"Samus."

"Hmm?"

"What happened back in the diner?" Falcon's voice was now serious.

"Nothing" she replied a little too quickly.

"You froze on the spot when you saw the hostage. You let Headstrong blast you. I heard you whispering to yourself after you blacked out from your injuries."

"...It's nothing" added Samus in desperation.

"Samus. You have survivor's guilt."

"No...No, I don't. I don't Captain. I really don't."

"Samus. I am not in the mood for stalling. Take off your mask."

"What? I don't want any of that choco--"

"Take. It. Off. Please."

Samus's helmet disappeared. Her eyes were red. She collapsed into Captain Falcon's arms. "The screams." she stuttered "The screams. The screams of friends. The screams of comrades. The screams of family. The screams of my victims. The screams. The scr--"

"Calm down Samus. Nobody is in danger right now." said the captain reassuringly. "Please. Please calm down."

--

Okay now. That's another brief encounter all written up! Did you like it? Hate it? Prefer the previous one? Prefer this to the previous one? Know where I could do better? Wanna make recommendations? Wanna just say what's on your mind? Then please review! It makes me happy :)