"You're asking for chaos by sending this many hunters after the worm." The voice that spoke to Zakara from the screen on the wall behind a curtain was a familiar one, the rasping, grating sound of it able to belong to only one creature. She didn't bother turning to look even as she flipped the switch that drew the curtain away, a smirk playing on her lips and one long fingered hand reaching up to sweep her hair from her face.

"Think of it as a good way, an easier way for you to get what you need to continue the weapon you so foolishly lost in the atmosphere of Tallon IV." She replied, and there was a gutteral curse from behind her. Tucking away the last of the documents pertaining to the accounts the money was to be transferred to upon a job hopefully well done by the victor, she turned to look up at the face of the Space Pirate who spoke to her from the lab beyond the room where she stood. "After all… you need someone new to start the treatment after you and your kind allowed the Hunter to escape with the last one in tow, isn't that right?"

"Your forked tongue is best kept behind your teeth, woman."

"That is hardly the way to speak to your benefactor." Zakara chuckled and moved to a door just beneath the screen on the wall. As she pressed the button for it to be opened, there was a pause before a green light blinked on and the door slid back into the wall. A blast of air hit her, pushing her long black hair back, as the increased pressure on the other side of it escaped, then she slipped inside and let out a gentle sigh.

Another door opened in front of her after a short lift ride downwards, revealing in flesh and blood the very same Space Pirate who had been speaking to her before.

"Our benefactor you may be in this system, Zakara, and that may make you privileged, but don't forget who you're dealing with here." The Pirate growled.

"Very hard to with you breathing down my neck about one thing or another every free second I get. How is the other experiment coming along?" She didn't wait for him to lead the way, striding down the catwalk over the lab on her much shorter legs. The Pirates towered over her, but there were those who showed her a great deal of respect after seeing what she was capable of and hearing just what she wanted out of them.

"Well enough. We've made some progress, but progress is slow. He's not growing as quickly as we would have hoped, and there's limited sentience. We're still a long way from a working prototype."

"Still, progress is good no matter how small. Just make sure you keep trying new strains on other test subjects before you introduce them to his system." Zakara paused to look over a console to her left, then continued onwards, moving to head down a ramp into the lab proper.

"There has been no rejection, not at this step in the process. His DNA is no longer deteriorating, and he's formed his own exoskeleton. Various tests need to be done to see how sturdy it is."

At this, Zakara paused and turned with narrowed eyes, looking up at the Pirate.

"You mean to inflict pain upon him?" She asked softly, and the Pirate gave her a frustrated look.

"Not enough to harm him. We just need to test to see what he can withstand."

"Remember that even minimal pain can cause him to lose his temper. Small as he is, he's strong and I don't need you to lose anymore scientists. The last three were bad enough." She gave him a poisonous look and continued down the ramp, stepping up to another console and pulling out a small card. As she scanned it, she began opening files in the database.

"We will be careful." The Pirate behind her added almost as an afterthought, and Zakara grunted in reply as she clicked on a file regarding the Metal Clad Hunter as the Pirates felt fit to call her.

"Speaking of being careful… any more progress locating Aran?"

"She continues to elude us. We have minimal forces on the planet and all those that can be spared are looking into the crash to see what might have gone wrong, and gathering up all that can be salvaged from the frigate." The Space Pirate shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but instead of Zakara lashing out as he had thought she would, she turned and offered him a brief smile.

"I want you to send out a message to those Bounty Hunters. I just had an idea… Tell them I will triple the price promised if any of them can bring me the Hunter alive."

When the Space Pirate looked at her for a moment in silence with an expression of what she took for surprise, she twitched an eyebrow at him.

"Chaos, as you said." She continued. "Chaos that will hopefully help us to eradicate those that may hinder us in the future. The more Bounty Hunters we get out of the way now, the less we have to worry about them in the future. The sooner we get rid of them, the sooner this world will belong to you and your kind, isn't that correct?"

There was another moment of silence, then the Space Pirate turned and barked an order across the lab at someone, finally looking back down at the diminutive woman before him.

"You haven't yet outlived your usefulness." He murmured softly, and she chuckled in reply.

…

…

…

Falcon watched Samus quietly as she wandered to the edge of the clearing, then leaned down to splash water in his face with a gentle sigh. He stared down at the pool when the water stilled after his disturbance, gazing at his gaunt face, pale skin and slender frame as his expression twisted with disgust. He wasn't sure how long he had been in that tank, or on that ship, he wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since his flyer had been overcome in space… judging from the way he looked, he had to guess it had been quite some time. There was nothing to do now but recover and help Samus on whatever quest she might be on here… whether she liked it or not.

He recalled her mentioning there was something unsettling about this place, and now that she had said it, he could feel it himself. There was something unnatural about the air, some sort of sickness that lurked beneath the earth they stood on, something threatening to poison this paradise. Whatever it was, it caused a stirring inside him, made him feel uncomfortably aware of all the things around him.

He glanced over at the area where she had been wandering, but she had disappeared from view. Quickly, Falcon stood and wandered across the clearing with his heart beginning to thunder, but the brief feeling of panic vanished when Samus stepped out of a short corridor to his left, reaching up to pull her helmet off.

"Found a door back there. There's a few more around this area, though I can't reach some of them with my suit damaged as it is." She said, Falcon offering her a nod in reply. She eyed him up and down and nodded as well. "You're looking better."

"Thanks. I'm feeling better. Wondering if it's a good sign though." He put his hand on his shoulder, then rolled his shoulder a few times with a grimace. "The infection seems to be settling down, but it's stiff and sore still. Can't do much climbing about, but I can hold and shoot a pistol, so I should be able to tag along with you while you're exploring."

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Her voice sounded so firm and stiff that Falcon was sure it was an automatic response.

"Well, then. I'll sit here and wait for you to get back. If it suits you better." He tried to come across as understanding, but the look that she gave him told him he must have failed. "What?"

"I have to contact the people who sent me here. I requested radio silence coming up on the frigate and I'm sure they're in a panic thinking I'm dead along with everyone else aboard that wreck. Give me a few minutes, then maybe we can go do some exploring." She muttered something about him having her back as she boarded her ship once more, disappearing inside.

He stared at the ship for a moment, then sat down the rock he had been propped up against the morning of the Space Pirate attack, sighing deeply.

Samus reached out and touched her communications console, letting out a barely audible sigh as she keyed her identification code in and waited for a response. She had honestly forgotten completely about contacting the Federation after getting Falcon off the frigate, and she was sure they weren't going to be happy that she had cut them off during the operation.

It didn't matter that much… she was still here and she had done the job she was sent to do.

"Samus! It's about time, you had us all worried!" The voice of the commander exclaimed, Samus unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. "What happened out there?"

"The frigate was badly damaged by some experiments the Pirates had, some mutated parasites. They were pretty big, and pretty surly. It's obvious they got ahead of themselves and didn't have the proper containment…" She gave her report, about the parasites, the phazon, the Pirates and anything else she had learned on the frigate before the explosion, also informing the commander of Ridley's presence and modifications.

"What about survivors? Did you find any of the hunters they took?" The commander's voice was hopeful, and Samus took in another breath, deciding her answer very carefully.

"I only found one." She murmured after a moment, and there was a pause from the other end of the communication.

"And?" The commander finally said.

"And… he's still alive. I've got him with me. Before you get excited and send an extraction team, however, there's something else I need to tell you about. There's something here, on the planet. Something the Pirates are after. I'm requesting you leave the survivor with me and hold off on extraction or backup until I can learn more." She said it quickly to avoid interruptions, and the commander once again fell silent when she finished speaking. There was muttering in the back ground, and Samus held her breath, waiting.

"Alright… we trust you on this one. Report back soon, Samus Aran, and good luck. If the Pirates are up to something, it can't be good. But watch your back, there's reports of increased Hunter activity out there and the last thing I need is for you to get tangled up in something."

"Trust me, with the help I've got with me, there'll be no trouble." Samus reached out and flicked off the communication console just as the commander asked "Who is it?" She ran her fingers through her hair and stood, moving to exit the ship once more and join Falcon below. She wasn't sure why she had hesitated in telling the commander about Falcon…

Perhaps she wasn't sure herself what the Federation would do to him when they found out what the Pirates had done. Perhaps she wasn't sure she wanted to share all the details because she hadn't yet come to realize what the details might implicate.

When the lift brought her out of her ship, she found herself looking down at Falcon…

And another figure that hadn't been there when she had gone into the ship. Her beam cannon swung around and trained on the second figure standing below, her eyes taking in his features hurriedly.

Dark hair, bronze skin, and dark glasses over his eyes. Formfitting black body armor, a heavy gun across his back and two blades at his hips. Whoever this man was, he had the nerve to smile at her playfully as he looked up.

"Well well well…" The strange said, Falcon glancing up at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the man before him, the pistol Samus had given him also aimed at the other man as Samus' beam cannon was. "You're just as lovely as the rumors say, Samus Aran."

"Where did you come from?" Samus demanded, leaping easily from her ship without losing aim.

"Somewhere."

"What are you doing here?" She circled around him slowly so that she stood behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder, raising his hands slowly. There were curled claws on his fingers, and when he smiled again, she could see the delicately pointed teeth in his mouth. "You're a scavenger, aren't you?"

"One question at a time love." He said, still smiling. "And one answer at a time, too. I'm here chasing after a bounty. And why yes. I am a Scavenger, though I rather detest being called that." He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting out a soft noise.

"Samus?" Falcon asked, eyes flicking between her and the Scavenger.

"Keep your gun on him." Samus replied, lowering her beam cannon and moving around to face the newcomer. "What's your name?"

"Call me Raven." He flashed her another playful smile and laughed. "Fitting name for a Scavenger."

"Alright then, Raven. What bounty are you chasing? Answer this carefully, because if it's me, you're going to end up as a smear on the ground in a few seconds." Samus' tone was fierce, and Raven twitched an eyebrow at her.

"So feisty… if you must know, the bounty I'm after isn't you. I'm not stupid or desperate or greedy enough to chase THAT bounty. Though seeing you in the flesh does make it tempting." He wisely kept his hands up as he was talking, well away from his weapons, but Falcon kept the gun on him regardless.

"You're saying someone has a bounty on me?" Samus' tone of surprise made Falcon glance at her. "Who?"

"A woman named Zakara. Lives on a moon she owns quite aways from here. We got the job a few days ago, but she added bringing you in alive as a bonus. Could net us three times the amount she offered originally." Raven looked Falcon over and flashed him a winning smile. The other male didn't move, though his hand tightened on his gun a little more.

"What is the bounty she's offering the original amount for?"

Raven looked back at Samus and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, breathing deeply then exhaling once more. He seemed to be mulling over his answer, and when he did speak, it was quietly with a note of seriousness that hadn't been in his tone before.

"There's something here in a crater caused by a meteor. She wants us to bring it back alive and is offering more than enough for me to buy my own moon and live very comfortably for the rest of my life."

Samus and Falcon exchanged glances, and she put a hand on his arm, causing him to lower the gun at last.

"What is it, Raven? What could be worth so much to her?" Samus asked quietly, narrowing her eyes.

Raven paused again, straightening and lowering his hands. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small electronic device, opening the mission file and offering it to her.

Samus took it tentatively, taking her time in removing her eyes from Raven to look down at it. When she looked back up, her expression was so terrible that Falcon felt his heart beginning to race once more.

"How many of you are there? How many are coming?" She demanded, stepping closer. "And how did you find me here?"

"I knew what I was looking for. As for how many of us there are… every Bounty Hunter this side of space and more from the other are coming for this Bounty Miss Aran. Every single hunter she could find is coming for the Metroid worm."