If you're reading this thinking that it's a new chapter….. well, it's a bit different in places, but it's almost identical to the second half of what was previous the third chapter. What used to be the first half of the third chapter was changed very much and is now its own chapter, so go back and read that before this. If you just starting reading this story in 2009, then disregard all of this.
Again, I do not own Samus, Adam, or any of the characters or anything found within the Metroid universe. I merely claim ownership the inventions of this story, such as Malthius and its inhabitants.
In the area just outside the prison cells, she found herself in a small corridor with a door on the other end and one to the side. The one on the end was where she had come from, so she chose the door to her right. Shooting the door and causing it to open for her, she stepped through only to stop just inside the next room. She found herself in what appeared to be a control room and directly in front of her were two Pirates, one of which was just then turning its head around to look at her. They both just stood there staring at each other for a second before one dared to move.
The Pirate was the first to act, releasing a ferocious roar that caused the other Pirate to whirl around as well. Other roars sounded from elsewhere in the room, but she had no time to worry about that just yet. Both her and the two Pirates opened fire at the same time, all of them dodging to the side and avoiding each others' shots. Samus rapidly fired off a line of shots across the path of the two Pirates, catching each of them a little and slowing them down. With this small opening, she focused her attack on the one to her left which was now standing on top of a desk where some computers were set up. A few well placed shots to the head sent him falling lifeless to the floor in a tangle of wires.
While she had removed her attention from the other Pirate it had taken cover behind a beam and started firing at her with alarming accuracy now that it could stand still and focus. A few of the shots connected with her shoulder, though her power suit protected her from most of the damage, only allowing her to feel what was like a small punch.
At first she did not see her attacker, but as she scanned the room she spotted him barely sticking out from his hiding spot. Not only did she see him, but other Pirates were visible on the level above and were on their way down to join the fray. She needed a better position or, even better, a way out of there. Running to avoid the beams coming at her, she quickly looked around the large room trying to find another door. "Aha! Of course it has to be all the way up there," she rolled her eyes.
Running towards the small elevator platform, she fired a few shots at the legs of one of the Pirates on the next level up causing its leg to give out and fall to the floor below, impaling it on tall, thin piece of equipment. As she stepped into the hologram on the platform, it started to rise and take her to the second level.
Just as her head peaked over the floor she saw a Pirate flying at her in mid-leap. She attempted to raise her arm cannon to blast it out of the air, but wasn't left with enough time to react and fell to the ground under the force of the vile creature. It grabbed and clawed at her, trying to hold her still for some reason. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what that reason was; another Pirate was on his way to aid his comrade.
Ignoring the clawing and scratching from the Pirate on top of her that seemed to be doing minimal damage, she kept her eye on the other as he approached and prepared to attack what he thought was a helpless target. The instant that he released a series of blasts from his weapon Samus grabbed the Pirate that was straddling her and forced it to her side, causing it to receive the gunfire intended for her. Blood sprayed across her visor hindering her vision for a moment, but otherwise she had momentarily avoided trouble yet again.
Leaving no time for the shock of the other Pirate to wear off from her quick little trick, she threw herself to her feet and sprinted to the opposite side of the room, making her way to another elevator. Unfortunately, this one didn't seem to be working and remained firmly planted on the floor of which she stood. Spying some pipes slightly higher off to the side of the platform she was on, she quickly decided to make a jump for them, just barely making it and steadying herself as she felt a shot hit her in the midsection, almost causing her to fall down to the bottom floor.
Quickly glimpsing the snarling Pirate that was rushing toward her, she left it no chance to score any more hits and leapt yet again, this time reaching the top floor where the door was located. She quickly fired to open it up and made her way out of the room. Just as she passed through, she heard the door down below opening and more roars reached her ears. Just great, she thought and added an extra burst of speed as she sped through to the other end of the corridor where another door was waiting for her. Luckily for her, inside was just the kind of elevator she was looking for; one that led to another floor. She pressed the button to go to the bottom floor, where she expected the exit of the ship should be.
She caught her breath while she had the chance as the elevator moved down the shaft. Then, when she was about halfway down, red lights began to flash along with the sounding of an alarm. She cursed as she closed her eyes and threw her head back. As the elevator stopped at the bottom and the door opened, she found herself staring out into a small, open room. Beyond that was an area where things could be loaded onto the ship and, of course, it was now crawling with Space Pirates. She was met with a rumble growls and fierce glowing eyes all staring at her now.
Without wasting even a second she aimed at a group of Pirates straight ahead and fired a missile directly into the center of them. They had no time to react and the one at the front took the brunt of the blast, bowling over most of the others as he was forced backwards. Before the missile had even made contact with its target, Samus was out of the elevator and on her way to some cover behind a pile of crates.
Taking a quick peek from behind her cover, she saw some canisters of the type that usually held explosives, and as luck would have it there were several Pirates in that immediate area. Not too far from her were some more crates so she prepared to make a run for it. As soon as she had revealed herself there were beam blasts from all directions coming toward her. She aimed as fast as possible and let another missile fly at her target and then did a somersault into the air attempting to avoid the shots fired at her. Before she had landed, the missile found its destination and caused a large explosion, instantly killing any Pirates that were directly by the blast and severely burning those that were in the vicinity. Roars grew louder and beams flooded the air more than ever despite having killed and wounded over a dozen Pirates now.
She looked around to try and formulate some plan of action. The next thing she knew, she heard a pair of thumps and then she saw gnarled faces not two feet away from her own. These Pirates were wielding scythe-like weapons which were currently inches from her body. Reacting on instinct the second that this had happened, she jammed her arm cannon forward and landed it squarely in the face of one of her attackers. It staggered backwards, his face covered in blood that ran down and off of it; he was even uglier than before despite her not thinking it was possible.
The other Pirate grabbed hold of her outstretched arm and locked its grip with surprising strength for something so scrawny looking. She tried to wrench her arm away but another Pirate jumped from a platform above and toppled them all over in a tangle of limbs. Now that it was two to one with her on the bottom, Samus was having difficulty doing much of anything that would help her out of this predicament. She glowered through her visor at the eyes that were glaring back at her. "Get your filthy paws off of me you scum!" she shouted. Soon another face staggered into view, one that was severely mangled and bloody.
Samus was starting to feel like all hope was lost as she began feeling the battle take its toll on her suit, but just as the third Pirate was about to join in on the melee, a loud noise sounded throughout the area and the sound of guns blazed in. The Pirates that were on and around her momentarily lost their concentration due to the sudden surprise and allowed her to gain the advantage and shove them off of her. Quickly rolling backwards and standing back up, she saw where the sound had originated from; it was Adam in the Astraeus.
Samus grinned and let loose a volley of shots of her own while Adam used the guns on the ship to tear through the other Pirates in the area. Between the two of them they were able to clean up the filth in the area, allowing Adam to quickly land. Knowing that more Pirates would likely be on their way, Samus ran to the ship as Adam lowered the platform for her to board. Once inside, she staggered into the room with Adam and plopped herself down in a seat, taking her helmet off and letting her blonde hair fall to her shoulders. "You know, I could've finished 'em off on my own. I was just about give 'em a real piece of me," she remarked with a heavy air of sarcasm.
"Oh yeah, and I'm sure they would've taken a few more pieces themselves afterwards," his face remaining straight aside from the gleam in his eyes as he cut them toward her. Normally she would have said something back, but the ship started shaking with impacts from beam blasts as more Pirates arrived. "Let's get outta here. You ok?"
"It's me. I'll be fine," she tried to cover with a smile as she winced.
Not wasting any time, Adam maneuvered the Astraeus with excellent control and sped out of the landing area. Rising out of the mountains, he they began to explain to each other what had happened while she had been unable to communicate.
"Not very long after you were ambushed, a ship took off and left the atmosphere. It was different… It didn't belong to the Pirates and it definitely wasn't Malthian design. Or any other I've seen for that matter. The craft must have been custom built. I think I know the general direction it was headed but--" he broke off as something flashed across their veiw and slammed their ship, causing them to momentarily lose control.
Adam had just regained control of the ship when they were rocked yet again. There was something showing up on their scanners but they weren't able to see it. Picking up speed, they headed away from the surface and broke through the atmosphere. Still not having shaken whatever it was that would not give up on its pursuit, Adam prepared to make the jump to light-speed.
Before he was ready to make the jump, Samus looked out the window to try and get a glimpse of their attacker and almost leapt back at what she saw; piercing yellow-orange slits for eyes and a mouthful a razor-sharp teeth. "Ridley…" she said almost inaudibly and standing frozen in place. Horrible images flashed through her mind. Images that sent shivers running down her spine. It took her a moment to snap out of it before she could actually put any force into her voice. "It's Ridley!" she yelled this time.
"What!?" Adam jerked his head around toward her in surprise. "You sure?"
"Yes I'm sure! I just saw him out the window! Don't… don't make the jump, let me take the guns. I have to take him!" she sounded hesitant but at the same time determined.
"Are you crazy!?" he yelled back. "This ship has guns but it sure as hell wasn't designed to take on anything like this monster!" The ship gave another violent rock as Ridley rammed into them yet again.
"I don't care! Just--"
"LISTEN TO ME!" he shouted, causing her to freeze. "We've got something else to do right now. Staying here'll only get us killed. What good will that do us, huh? What good will it do you? Do you think that'll satisfy the vengeance you want for your parents? No, I didn't think so."
Another harder hit shook them as he looked into that troubled face filled with a mess of emotions. She was torn between what she wanted so bad to do and what she knew was realistic at the moment. Torn between fear and pure hatred. "We go now. Your chance will come," he looked firmly at her as he reached for the button that would send them speeding far away from their threat. She just turned her head and gave a small nod. Looking back out, the last thing she saw before they jumped into hyperspace was the silhouette of the dragon against the stars.
Alright, so while I didn't do much to this part, I did change a few minor things. Even then it wasn't a lot. I still feel like I need to work on my dialog and fleshing out my characters properly in the way I envision them, but I figure I'm not going to be overly picky like it's my habit to do. Instead I'm going to do my best to focus on getting the gist of it out and then as I gain more experience I'll go back and touch it up. That's one thing this is for anyway, right? To help people get better by getting critical comments from other writers.
Oh, and since this wasn't really so much a new chapter as a revision of part of an old one, I feel like I should go ahead and post a little more. Yep, three chapters at once.