Part 2

A surge of heat shot through Samus at the sight of her old space-pirate enemy. What was he doing here?! But there was no time for Samus to think things through. Weavel was her enemy, and if he was conspiring with these new opponents, then he had to be stopped. Samus quickly charged a full nova blast, and as Weavel reached the centre of the catwalk, she released it. To her surprise, Weavel seemed to sense her shot, and he threw himself backwards, skidding in reverse and hitting the far wall. As the middle of the skywalk melted and crumpled, Samus leapt down in front of the doorway, switching back to her power beam. Weavel pulled himself upwards-he hadn't seen her yet. Remembering his 'Halfturret' ability, Samus snapped off two shots-one to his face, and one to his legs in case he decided to split. Before he could fire at her, she quickly stepped through the doorway and ran, looking for her next place to ambush him. The next room was similar to the one she had just exited, but instead of catwalks going up, there were ramps leading down. Staying out of the line of sight through the doorway, she peered down at the floor. It wasn't that far. She pulled herself over the railing and fell down, the ground rushing up towards her. Just before she hit the floor, she activated her boosters, and she hit the ground with no more speed than had she come off a step. She was at the edge of a large circular area. The only doorway was one across the room, so she began to run. She could hear a rapid thumping as Weavel crashed down the ramps to reach her, but she was determined to reach the doorway and get through so she could defend it from the other side. However, as she reached the room's centre, the crashing stopped, and she heard a few quick clicks-like a weapon being readied. Before she could turn, six shots thudded into her shielding. They didn't do much - but with only five energy tanks left, Samus wasn't going to take them lightly. She turned slowly around, and blinked at the figure before her. It had a gun raised and aimed at her head, but that wasn't what fazed her. The figure, who she had taken for Weavel…was not. Yes, the armor was a dark green, and yes, the visor was a golden yellow. But the helmet lacked Weavel's red plume, and his signature energy blade was nowhere in sight. Instead, the creature had several weapons on it, including a knife, grenades and a rifle of some sort. Its voice startled her.

"Who are you?"

Samus cocked her head. That definitely wasn't Weavel's voice, but the armor was too similar for her to dismiss. A space pirate then. Apprehension gnawed at her. If the space pirates were outfitting their forces with armor like Weavel's then the Galactic Federation was in trouble. The pirate shouted again.

"Who are you and why did you attack me? I am Master Chief. Spartan-117 of the UNSC Forces. Identify yourself." The figure fingered its gun as it waited for her answer.

'So,' thought Samus 'the pirates have a new battle squad, the UNSC.' This was something she would need to investigate later. She smirked. The poor thing didn't even know who she was. Well, she was about to enlighten it.

"I'm a bounty hunter." She replied, her voice resonating throughout the chamber. "I kill things for a living." Before she even finished, Samus began charging her power beam. Her quickest beam to charge, Samus slapped her arm cannon into her other hand after a mere second and prepared to fire a super missile. Just as she released it, the pirate leaped sideways, and her super missile exploded right where it had been standing.

'The thing's quick,' Samus grumbled. This new armor was definitely going to be a problem. The pirate shot at her again, and the three shots pinged off her shields. For the first time Samus really looked at the weapon. It looked at bit…primitive. Not the usual weapon of choice for a space pirate, but then again, she wasn't complaining. Samus activated her boosters and she was propelled forwards, her feet thudding into the ground as she prepared to ram the pirate with her shoulder. The pirate readied itself to intercept, but at the last second, it turned, and Samus almost stumbled as she shot past it. Their shields flared as they touched.

'Since when do pirates have whole body energy shields?' she wondered angrily. Their alliance with these new enemies was looking to be worse and worse for the Galactic Federation. She skidded to a halt, not liking the pirate's above-average mobility. She changed to her ice beam and began charging, aiming to stop its movements altogether. For some reason, the pirate was unmoving, and Samus was able to charge a full shot before she released it. Again, the pirate dodged, and Samus began to feel irritated at its agility. In midair, the pirate took out another gun and aimed it at her. As her ice beam hit the ground, ice flowed out in a circle, and she saw the pirate falter and instead grab a grenade from its belt - the same type that the other enemies had used. Samus hated those things-they took out almost a whole energy tank, and she was down to four and a half now. She cocked her arm cannon back and made a throwing motion, her grapple beam sparking as it launched out towards the pirate, and it latched onto the pirate's leg, shield and all. Just as she jerked her arm back to send the pirate skyward, it pulled the pin on its grenade. Samus snarled and hurled the pirate into the air, which flailed – and threw the grenade. She quickly released the grapple beam as the pirate shot upwards, and she prepared to jump backwards. But as the pirate managed to grab hold of one of the catwalks, the grenade hit her right foot. The explosion made her teeth shudder, but she managed to stay still as the flames around her swirled and eddied. She hissed as her shields dropped - only three left now.

'The pirate has a good throw.' She mused. She heard the pirate drop back down, and the smoke cleared. The pirate stood up, and flinched when it saw her standing there, apparently unharmed. Her shields buzzed, and faded as the last of the energy from the grenade disappeared. Samus snarled – no single pirate had ever taken out so many of her shields before – and she shot a single missile at it. The pirate jumped sideways, but the homing properties of her missile kicked in, and it landed closer than the pirate expected. It was lifted off its feet and thrown down, and Samus felt a surge of triumph as she saw its shields flicker - and go out. Wasting no time, the pirate leaped up and sprinted towards the nearest doorway, its feet almost blurring as it escaped.

'Oh no you don't!' snarled Samus inwardly. She sprinted after it, rage giving her energy. She wasn't called The Hunter for nothing!

The pirate was running up the ramps towards the top, and its speed meant Samus couldn't get a shot in - and it was gaining distance. It dashed through a doorway, and Samus saw its shields shimmer back to life. She put on a burst of speed as she hurled through the doorway – but the pirate wasn't ahead of her. 'Where-'

Samus shuddered as she was hit point blank in her back. The dammed thing was hiding behind the doorway! She spun, but the pirate mirrored her movement, still behind her. There was a horrible crack as the pirate viciously stuck the back of neck with the gun, and her shields drooped - half a tank left. Fear rushed through Samus as warning signals began ringing in her helmet – this couldn't be happening! But then the pirate ferociously kicked her in the back, sending her crashing into a wall. Her suit screeched in warning…and went silent. Her shields were…no. She couldn't be down to hard armor. That couldn't be possible. Samus' thoughts spiraled into a tiny, hard point of action. Fury rushed through her veins, and she cradled her arm cannon in front of her, discreetly charging her power beam. She heard the pirate step up to her, meaning to shoot her right in the back of her head, and she angled the arm cannon under her left arm, releasing the shot right into the pirates' face. Her head snapped forward as the pirate released the trigger and the shot hit the side of her helmet, pain lancing through her face and neck. She fell forwards into the ground, shuddering. For a second, Samus felt nothing but despair. Her suit was completely drained-by all accounts, she should be dead. But then, she heard a sound. Scrabbling, as the pirate sat up. She pulled herself to her knees, and for a second she didn't realize why she couldn't see. But then she realized. The shot had blackened her visor, and she could faintly make out a crack that traveled from the right of her visor down to the mouthpiece. On her knees, she hesitantly reached up with her left hand to pull it off. She had never had remove her suit manually before. Never. Her helmet clattered to the floor and she stood up, raising her arm cannon to the downed space pirate.

Human.

The word flashed into her mind like a neon sign. The figure in armor was standing up, its own visor on the floor, melted from her power beam blast. It raised its own gun to her head, waiting. Not it. Him. A human. Samus dropped her arm cannon to her side, staring at the man. His face was hard and angular, the brown hair cut short - military short. His hazel eyes started deeply into hers, and Samus couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity in his tired, bemused gaze. Finally, he too lowered his weapon. Samus swallowed, her throat dry as she prepared to speak.

"I'm Samus. Samus Aran." Her words seemed to calm the man down, and she relaxed slightly. He sighed and slumped against the wall, sliding down into a seated position. The silence grew, and Samus, surprisingly not liking the silence, gave a wry smile.

"I've never come that close to dying, nor have I had someone survive a point blank charge blast from my arm cannon." The revelation lightened her, and the man ran a hand over his face.

"Same here, with the dying. Though I thought I was done for when you took that plasma 'nade like it was nothing." He grinned, looking a bit embarrassed. Samus' smile grew at the man's rough voice and she walked closer, before sitting down in front of him, exhausted.

"It wasn't nothing, trust me. That thing took a nasty chunk out of my shielding, you know." Samus wasn't sure why she was giving this man such detail about her shields, but she found she liked the conversation. "You said your name was…Master Chief?"

The man grimaced.

"That's my rank actually." Samus waited for him to go on. The Master Chief held out his right hand and Samus hesitated, before grasping it firmly.

"But you can call me John"