Man, I am really cranking theses out. Thank God for summer, ya know? Anyway, I like parts of this chapter, but not all of it. I had to pull a lot of the descriptions out of nowhere, and they might sound boring. Then again, what do I know?

Guest Reviewer: Hey, you actually guessed some of the character roles correctly! I won't tell you which ones, but you'll see in the near future.

Note: All italicized dialogue is translated from the Space Pirate language.

Chapter 4: The Great Escape

Days turned into weeks, or possibly even months. When you're living in a cave, and don't see the outside very often, you tend to lose track of the date. Through this time, Samus and Old Bird continued to labor, attempting to disguise the fact that they weren't building small, flying bomber drones.

The Space Pirates keep constant watch over them. Gorea, being naturally paranoid, occasionally snuck up to the door, opened the viewing hole, and glanced around, searching for details the camera couldn't see. However, all he ever witnessed was the woman and the Chozo hard at work, welding pieces of metal together. Seeing nothing amiss, he left them to it.

However, as the suit progressed, it became harder and harder to keep it covered up. The Space Pirates were smart enough to always have at least one person watching the cameras, so they could never work without caution. The best they could do was place devices that were definitely suspicious out of the camera's view. The leg apparatus of the armor had to be tested to ensure it would extend properly, which meant Samus had to wear it, but that definitely couldn't be caught on camera. They ended up "accidentally" breaking one of the lights, and tested it quickly in the dark.

Of course, it was inevitable that doubt of their plans grew in the minds of the Space Pirates. In this case, it was Gorea, who kept comparing their creations to the picture of the Metroid Launcher. He knew very little about the engineering involved in creating such a weapon, but after several weeks, he grew suspicious that nothing they produced remotely resembled the Metroids, or the Launcher. Worried, he approached the Supreme Master, Weavel, for an update.

"Master," he growled in their native language, "It's Aran and the bird. I don't think they're building our weapon."

"Why?" asked Weavel.

Gorea showed him the picture of the Metroids. "Whatever they're building, it looks nothing like this. Unless they're making it better for us, they're up to something."

Weavel leveled his glowing yellow eyes at his second-in-command. Then he gave an order.

Samus was in the process of welding the chest plate together. Ideally, one would simply use measurements of her body, and build one with those dimensions, but Samus had another problem. Since the Aurora Unit Reactor would be the power source, the armor had to accommodate for it, as well as carry it's power to the rest of the suit. Basically, just because you're a genius billionaire, building a suit of powered battle armor isn't an exact science, especially when it's the first of it's kind.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by a loud bang on the door, and a snarl in the Space Pirate language before it opened. Samus removed her goggles and put her hands behind her head, and Old Bird followed suit. The action had become reflexive by this point. In marched Gorea and several of his henchmen, along with Supreme Master Weavel.

Now, Weavel was unique among his species. He had bright green scales, and his head had four short horns poking out of it. His limbs seemed a lot more muscular than those of his brethren, and it seemed to Samus that he had at least a couple more digits. He had lips covering his knife-like teeth, unlike the others. On his right arm, he held his own special energy scythe, which looked more like a massive sword blade.

He waved his hand, signaling Samus and Old Bird to lower their arms. He walked over to Samus first, poking the Aurora Unit Reactor through her shirt. Ordinarily, Samus would've booted someone in the important place if they'd come this close to groping her, but she had no desire to find out what he would do with that blade, particularly if he didn't kill her.

"Do you know what a conqueror requires?" he asked Samus, as he looked over their work.

Samus decided not to ask about the fact that he spoke English. "No," she responded.

"They require three things to succeed," continued Weavel, "First, there is the need for an army. Then, knowledge of tactics is required to utilize that army to it's fullest potential. Finally, to ensure they cannot be challenged, a conqueror needs the best weapons available. In this day and age, Aran International provides those weapons." He turned to stare Samus straight in the eye. "Yet you seem determined to deny that role." Samus blinked at him, wondering why he had changed languages, but didn't question it.

Old Bird decided to try and defuse this situation. "We've been working hard on the Metroids," he protested, "It's more complicated than it looks."

Weavel turned to him. "You know," he snarled, "I didn't need to keep you alive. But if you're so determined to be ungrateful..." He made a signal, and several Space Pirates grabbed Old Bird by the arms, forcing him to his knees. Samus' eyes widened in shock.

"I swear, we are building the Metroids," insisted Old Bird.

Weavel took a wrench, grabbing a hot coal from the fire pit. "If you keep regurgitating lies, I will plug that hole with this," he spat. He held the burning stone close to Old Bird's beak. "What are you working on?!"

"The Metroids!" screeched Old Bird.

Samus, who hadn't understood any of the conversation, stepped in. "What do you want? A time window of arrival?" she demanded, stepping forward. However, she was forced to put her hands up, as the Space Pirate henchmen immediately pointed all of their guns at her.

Weavel looked up from his torture preparations. "You have something to add, Aran?" he asked.

"I need him alive," protested Samus, "I can't make the Metroids by myself. You kill him, you lose them. None of your guys are assistant material for this."

Weavel looked at Old Bird, then at Samus. After a moment's consideration, he dropped the coal back into the pit, then snapped his fingers. His soldiers released their grip on Old Bird who struggled to his feet. The Chozo looked at Samus, nodding in gratitude.

Weavel walked back over to Samus, placing one clawed finger right in front of her left eye. "You have till morning. If my Metroids aren't finished by then, I will take this, and the bird," he snarled, sending drops of saliva into her face. He made another motion with his hand, and his troops followed him out the door, slamming it shut behind them.

Old Bird massaged his pained wrists, looking up at Samus.

"Time window's been narrowed," she declared, grabbing her welding torch, "We have to work faster."

The next few hours were spent rapidly hammering (sometimes literally) out the rest of the armor with a newly instilled sense of panic. An electric motor, the driving force behind the movement of the suit, was quickly fashioned out, and attached to the back. The Aurora Unit Reactor would provide the power for it, thankfully. Finally, the suit was complete.

Samus began by putting on a thick jacket, and her working gloves for insulation, while Old Bird hoisted the chest armor up on a crude crane system. Samus stepped into the lower body section, and the top was lowered onto her body, where she fit her arms through the suit. She felt the triggers installed inside the arm cannons, making sure they were tight. Old Bird attached the helmet to the back of the suit, slipping the face shield over Samus' face.

"Okay, get ready to start the power up sequence," she said, her voice muffled by the iron mask.

"Already on it," replied Old Bird, who was busy typing on a connected laptop.

In the security room, Weavel came in to take a look at the latest developments of their prisoners. Looking into the security cameras, he was shocked to notice that Samus appeared to have vanished. Old Bird was still on screen, but he was on the very edge of the camera's view, working on a laptop.

"What happened to Aran?" he demanded.

"She just walked off the edge," replied the Space Pirate on monitor duty, "I'm sure it's nothing-"

He changed that opinion pretty quickly after Weavel swiped his claw across the soldier's face. "Idiot!" screamed the Master, "Look in the room!"

The Space Pirate, knowing better than to argue, grabbed his gun, and took his partner down to the room, while Weavel stayed and stared at the monitors. If they thought they could stab him in the back, they were in for a terrible surprise.

"Are you still sure you can move in that thing?" asked Old Bird, as he kept typing.

Inside the arm cannons of the suit, Samus flexed her fingers experimentally, careful not to pull on the triggers. "I think so," she replied, "We won't know until it fully activates. Do you have the progress bar yet?"

"I'm trying!" insisted the Chozo.

They were interrupted by the familiar bang on the door. A Space Pirate stuck his head through the observation window, growling in his native tongue. The only words they were able to catch were "Aran" and "Bird," as the pirate tried to force the door open. Clearly, the door had been jammed from the other side somehow.

"What's he saying?" asked Samus.

"Let's just say he's not happy," replied Old Bird.

On the other side of the door, the two Space Pirates decided they had had enough, and rammed the door with both of their shoulders. Unfortunately all this did was activate the small bomb Samus and Old Bird had strapped to the door, blowing it off it's hinges and sending the two Pirates flying back. They slammed into the floor and didn't move.

"Oh, my God..." gasped Old Bird, staring at the two dead Pirates lying on the ground.

"See?" said Samus, "I told you that was a good idea!"

Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by Weavel and the others. The bomb blew out one of the hall security cameras, turning one of the screen into a blur of static.

Seeing this, Weavel screamed in rage, ordering his henchmen to rush down to the room. They armed themselves, and followed his orders. Whatever Aran and Bird were trying to pull, they would suffer for it.

With the power-up sequence activated, a energy progress bar appeared on the screen, showing how much power the suit had accumulated. Old Bird was trying to speed up the process, with little success.

"Remember what we planned," said Samus, "I go out first. Three checkpoints to clear out: The security room, then the entrance, and then the camp outside. Do not follow me until I give you the signal."

"This thing's never gonna charge up in time!" said Old Bird, frantically, "They're already on their way!"

"Forget them!" snapped Samus, "Just stick to the plan. It'll be fine!"

Old Bird looked at the progress bar. Despite all his attempts, the power reserves of the suit had only gone up to about fifty percent. The Pirates would be here in less than one minute. If they arrived before the suit powered up, Samus would be helpless. "No it won't," he said bluntly. He grabbed a rifle from one of the dead Pirates, then turned back to Samus. "Wait here, I'll stall them for a while."

"No, Old Bird!" shouted Samus, as he rushed out the front door, "Old Bird, get your feathery ass back here right now!"

Old Bird summoned up all of his willpower to ignore his companions shouts, even as traces of concern and fear entered into her tone. Instead, he charged down the hall, taking cover behind a rock and prepping his rifle. As the group of Pirates sent rounded the corner, he fired a burst of bullets at them from his cover.

The Pirates may have been ruthless, but they weren't especially brave. At the sound of the gun, they turned around and dived backwards down the cave, praying they wouldn't get hit. Old Bird grew confidant at this particular development, and rushed down the hall, gun blazing. The Pirates, panicking, rushed away, screaming like little girls. Old Bird continued to follow them, spraying bullets into the ceiling and doing his best war whoops.

As he rounded the corner to the entrance, Old Bird raised his weapon and prepared to cover his enemies with bullets. However, once he actually reached the cave opening, something made him stop dead in his tracks. That something was Weavel, with his entire force behind him, all with their guns pointed at Old Bird.

"Was this really the best you could do?" growled Weavel, "I'm actually disappointed."

Gritting his beak in defiance, Old Bird raised his rifle.

Only one shot was fired.

Meanwhile, back in the work room, the computer indicated that the suit's power reserves had reached one hundred percent. The lights in the room dimmed, as an electrical hum was heard.

With the Bird disposed of, the scout group of Space Pirates returned to the work room to find Samus. The first things they noticed was the fact that they had two dead comrades on the ground, and all the lights appeared to have been extinguished. The Space Pirates walked inside cautiously, wishing they had brought flashlights.

One of them, being particularly stupid, wandered away from his comrades, noticing the table that had been converted into a crude crane. Suspecting that Aran could be hiding behind it, he walked over to it, intending to poke his scaly head around...and was met with a clubbing metal blow of the top of his head. He barely managed to let out a growl before unconsciousness claimed him.

Hearing their companion's sound of pain, the others immediately did what they do best: shoot. Bullets flew everywhere, covering the entire room, and bouncing off of pieces of metal and rock. After a few seconds of this, they were convinced that it was probably safe, and set out to search the room further.

That was when she struck.

A massive grey figure, composed entirely of hard metal, with a glowing white circle in the upper left corner of it's chest, lunged forward, catching the Space Pirates completely off guard. The being had no hands, and it's arms ended in long barrels, like those of guns. However, that didn't seem to matter, as the figure clubbed two of the Pirates over the head with it's arms, knocking them out instantly. The remaining one, in fear, opened fire on the being, but his bullets bounced off it's metal skin harmlessly. Eventually, the armored monstrosity reached him, and backhanded him, sending him into a wall.

"Not bad," Samus said with a grin. The armor was pretty uncomfortable, but it seemed to be serving it's purpose. The multiple layers of iron and steel that had gone into making the body was able to withstand the bullets, as well as deliver enough physical force to get them out of the way. Perfect. Now for the fun part.

Samus stomped down the hall, taking down enemy Pirates as she went. One brave (or stupid), soul ran up to her, frantically shooting and hoping he could penetrate the suit at close range. He was knocked out immediately. Samus stomped on his gun as she passed, crushing it into scrap metal.

Ahead, another group of Pirates slammed another metal door closed, and she could hear them trying to jam it. Inside the armor, Samus fought the urge to laugh. Good luck with that one, guys. She marched up to the door, pulled one foot back, and kicked the door once, then twice, causing the metal to buckle. She delivered one final kick, sending it falling back like a ton of bricks. The Pirates on the other side hadn't even had time to react before they were pinned under the metal panel.

Once it was clear they couldn't stop her, most of the Space Pirates began to run, although some of the idiots remained to try and take shots at Samus. She thrust her right cannon into one's face, but a piece of loose metal got caught on the rock wall. As she tried to dislodge it, a Pirate drew his handgun, ran up to Samus, and fired point blank into her helmet. The bullet ricocheted off and shot back into his forehead. Samus looked down at him, wondering briefly why this exact scene from the movie made it into this story. Then she wrenched her arm free.

She mad a quick stop at the security office, just to be sure no weapons stored there would go unnoticed. Everybody seemed to have run out of there as soon as her escape plan was enacted, and all that was left was a rack with some extra rifles. Samus smashed these just to be sure.

The rest of her journey through the cave was obstacle free. Once she reached the end, however, she was greeted by a dreadful sight. Old Bird lay against the wall, holding one feathered hand to his chest. She could clearly see the spread of blood covering his natural cloak.

"Old Bird!" shouted Samus, unable to comprehend the horror she was witnessing.

"Look...out..." croaked the Chozo.

Samus turned towards the opening of the cave, just in time to see Weavel, armed with a long black rifle with green stripes. Recognizing an Aran International Battlehammer, Samus attempted to leap backwards, but thanks to the suit's weight, she only fell backwards into a wall.

Thankfully, this was enough. Weavel fired a green energy ball that zoomed past Samus' face, hit the back wall, and exploded. Getting back up, Samus pointed her right arm at him, pressing a button inside the armor. The cannon fired, launching a small, yellow sphere at Weavel, who managed to duck. However, the power bomb burst behind him, blowing up the wall and slicing his body with dozens of stone fragments. The explosion's force sent Weavel flying, where he slammed into a wall face first, passing out on impact.

"Take that, ya son of a bitch," said Samus, before she moved over to Old Bird. She put her fingers through the side of one cannon to raise her face shield. Then she pulled his hand away from his chest, discovering the source of the blood: One bullet hole. She couldn't tell if it had penetrated a lung or something, but at the moment, all of her knowledge had flown out the window anyway. She applied more pressure to the wound as she kept talking, "Okay, I'll take the rest of the guys. You get ready to follow the plan. Follow me when I signal, okay?"

Old Bird laughed. A hoarse, painful sound, causing him to wretch slightly. "For such...a genius, Samus,...you're being pretty...dumb here," he coughed out.

"No," insisted Samus, trying to ignore the drips rolling down her face, "You are getting out of here. You are going back to your family."

"They're dead..." choked out Old Bird, "The Pirates...killed them...I'll see them." He reached up with one feathery finger, wiping a tear from Samus' face. "It's okay...it's okay."

Samus tried to object again, but found that she could not. She gave in, smiling bittersweetly as she held Old Bird's hand. "Thank you," she whispered.

Old Bird nodded, coughed one more time, then leaned back. The life slowly faded from his aged eyes, and his body fell completely limp. He was gone.

Samus did not cry out, but the tears continued to come. She had seen the Chozo as a friend, one of the closest she'd ever had. This despite the fact that she'd only known him for two months, at most. She felt all the times she had been carelessly cruel to those close to her, and how she hadn't even been the nicest to the Chozo. Yet, when the time came, Old Bird had traded his life for hers.

At that moment, Samus Aran made a vow. Wherever she went, she would never waste her life again. Old Bird had given her another chance at life, and she was going to take it.

Raising her gloved fingers, Samus closed Old Bird's eyes. Standing up, she turned back towards the entrance. It was time to leave this place.

The Space Pirates outside the cave had been charged with guard duty, as well as protecting the massive piles of Aran International weapons. They'd heard the screams, bullets, and explosions inside the cave, but had been ordered to stay outside. The sounds had ceased, but there was no word from their comrades. So they had grabbed their weapons, aiming them at the entrance to the cave, just in case.

This turned out to be a good idea, as the silence was followed by several loud thumps, like the sound of metal plates slamming against stone. Then, Samus came into view, and the sounds turned out to be her gigantic footsteps. Not recognizing the armored person in front of them, the Pirates decided the best course of action would be to open fire.

The bullets flew forward, but did absolutely nothing to slow the armored woman. The only indication that the metal projectiles were even touching the suit was the sparks and the metallic clang that resonated throughout the desert. Eventually, the onslaught of bullets simply stopped, as the Pirates ran out of ammo.

"Is that it?" asked Samus, staring down the dumbfounded creatures, "Okay, good. Now I'm up."

Reaching to the edge of her cannons, she pulled the triggers, igniting tiny flames at the tip of the tubes inside. The tubes which led to the fuel pack.

Immediately, massive streams of fire burst out of the tips of her cannons, spraying over everything in sight. Space Pirates everywhere began screaming and running in all directions. Only a couple of unlucky ones got right in the path of the flames. Samus stomped down the path, directing her flamethrowers at all of the Aran International weapons. Missiles, bombs, guns, and everything else all went up in flames. Explosions burst around Samus as she continued her walk of destruction, burning everything within reach. A couple of Space Pirates managed to reload their guns and fire at her again, but it produced the same useless result.

Suddenly, Samus felt a massive thud on her foot, and nearly fell face-first into the ground. Looking down, she realized she had jammed one boot into a small hole, and was now immobile. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that everything was currently exploding around her, and the surviving Space Pirates were still trying to shoot her. Samus stumbled, angrily trying to pry her foot free, to no avail.

There was one other option. Taking her right hand out of the arm cannon, she reached over to her other metal sleeve, flipping open a metal compartment, and revealing one red button. She jammed her finger into it. Time to jump the shark.

Sparks began to fly from her boots, followed by erupting flames. A few seconds later, the built in jets sent Samus rocketing into the air, just as one final explosion consumed all of the weapons. Samus went flying through the flames, rising above them like a missile, and soared out of the mountainous region. She was free.

Then the boots gave out.

Samus shouted, more out of surprise than fear, as she immediately plummeted towards the ground. As she fell, air friction caused pieces of her armor to break off, spinning in the air along side her. Eventually, she plunged into the endless sea of sand.

Dazed from the crash, Samus opened her eyes. Most of her armor was in pieces, having shattered around her on impact. On top of that, she was buried up to her elbows in sand. Thankful her body hadn't suffered the same fate, Samus shrugged off what remained of her arm cannons, then pulled her helmet off, exposing her to the rays of the sun.

"That...could have gone better," she muttered.

Despite the fact that she had been a prisoner, living in a cave had one benefit: it was extremely cold. When you're cold, you can just throw on more layers, but when you're hot, you can't just take off more layers, unless you're willing to be arrested for public indecency. The deserts of Zebes were known for being brutally hot, and Samus was trudging through one without water. She had wrapped her jacket around her head to avoid sunburns, but if she didn't find any help soon, she'd pass out from heatstroke.

Of course, that was when a United States helicopter went flying over her head.

"Hey! Guys! Hey!" called Samus, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. She raised both hands and waved furiously, only stopping when she noticed the helicopter landing. Her legs decided they'd had enough, and gave out, causing her to collapse on her knees.

Several soldiers came out of the helicopter to help her. Samus' spirit was lifted even further when she noticed who was leading them. Anthony rushed over to her, tears of joy running down his own face.

"Sammy! Sammy! You're alive! You're okay..." he cried out, throwing his arms around her shoulders.

Samus returned the gesture, her eyes wetting a little as well.

Sorry if this chapter seems really corny. This is just an emotional moment in the movie.