Chapter 10

Conflict of Interest

"If you don't get off me right now, I swear I'll break every appendage you have, you short circuited piece junk."

"Alright, first off... I am not some cheap piece of hardware," Zero held Samus down firmly to the ground," And, second, why are you trying to kidnap me?"

"It's none of your business, maverick!' Samus tried to squirm out of Zero's hold in vain.

"W-... what did you call me?" Zero asked through clenched teeth. His grip tightened on Samus's wrist and began to crush her armor. Samus let out a little gasp in her helmet and pushed even harder on the ground to which she was pinned. Zero quickly lifted Samus in the air and threw her against the wall that he was bound to only a few moments ago.

Samus turned around quickly and pointed her arm cannon where Zero used to be. She looked around and found Zero standing in the door way from which Samus, herself, entered. Samus again positioned her arm mounted cannon and was preparing to fire when Zero threw his beam dagger into the open barrel of her gun.

Electricity arched from Samus's right arm and she quickly withdrew it from it's outstretched form.

"No need for that, whoever you are." Zero took a step forward. "Why did you call me a 'maverick'?"Samus cautiously took a step forward and stopped half way between the wall her "captive".

"Who are you?" Zero tilted his head slightly as he inquired. "Why did you bring me here, and for what?" Samus came closer to Zero, slowly, almost facing off with him. With her armor, Samus stood taller that Zero, by about six inches. Her pale green visor cast his reflection back at him, coldly.

"I know everything about you, Zero. " Samus said in a passive aggressive tone. Then, with all her fury, she swung her right arm, still equipped with her heavy metal cannon. She caught Zero across the head, landing square against the left side of his helmet and face. Zero was sent sliding across the floor and crashing into the wall.

"What? Did you think I would just let you walk around my ship until you stab me in the back? I know everything about you. All those people you murdered, all those innocent people killed because of you- you demented genocidal piece of metal!" Samus shouted at the limp body of Zero. She stood there for a moment, poised to defend herself. There she waited for almost a minute, however Zero did not move at all. After another moment of waiting and scanning Zero's lifeless body, Samus finally concluded that she had neutralized what little threat her former prisoner had given.

"Not so bad after all..." Samus said as she stood over the helpless body of Zero. While gloating, though, in her perceived success, Zero acted. He stood up, thrusting all his weight up and out, tackling her hard with his shoulder. Surprised, Samus was taken down to the floor with Zero on top of her.

Quickly, Zero flipped up using his hands against Samus's armor to push off . Zero was on his feet, but Samus was still reeling, silently chiding herself for being so gullible. Zero kneeled down over Samus and grabbed her by the back of the throat, lifting her off the ground with one arm.

"What the hell is your problem?" Zero shouted. His frustration was building faster than he could calm himself. He didn't know where he was, he didn't know who his captor was or what they wanted, and most frightening of all, he didn't know if he could get back to Earth. The thought of X and Axl fighting off endless numbers only to fall and be overwhelmed... and then... No! He would not allow that to happen.

"My problem is simply this:" Samus's voice came out masked and mechanical. "You won't be alive much longer." Samus imagined her goal, and as if on command, her armor morphed into what she pictured: a tightly compressed sphere. Zero, however was still holding onto Samus when she shifted her form. the result: a huge electrical surge was discharged from the new metal shell formed by Samus to the red armored warrior. Large blue bolts of electricity shot up Zero's arm and jolted through his entire body, racking his body with pain. His eyes turned white because of the stunning force from the shock but Zero would not or could not let go.

"Stubborn bastard.." Samus said as she struggled in her compressed form. Theoretically, the force from the shock should have been enough to kill a normal space pirate twenty times over, a lesson most had learned only once. Zero held firm and was slowly fighting through the pain when he noticed the the new sphere which was bound to his hand began to glow, faintly at first and then stronger. Soon his scanners began to register a growing power flux.

Then Zero realized what was happening... it was charging up. Quickly, Zero tried to let go and break free of the metal orb that now clung onto his hand and forearm, but to no avail. Zero, who had no intentions or urge to kill his captor quickly came to a decision that threatened not only Samus's life but his own as well. Zero's technological brain sent a signal to his arm and hand, signaling servos and various circuitry boards. The result was that his arm was quickly transformed from a mirror of a human appendage to a cannon similar to X's x-buster.

At the same time, Samus could feel the energy her suit was collecting reach its peak. She also had no use for her prisoner dead, but if it came down to survival of the fittest then she would have to sacrifice the money for her life. The suit had taken the energy it needed, pressurized it, and was awaiting the command of it's owner. Samus's plan was simple, drop the energy bomb right as it detonated and roll away from the force in her armor. The explosion would blast her free of her assailant and most likely kill him in the process.

"Now!" They both yelled. Samus's armor glowed radiantly and then a the ball of energy separated from it. At that simultaneous moment, Zero fired off a blast from his newly morphed cannon. The two energies collided instantly. The blue bolt of super heated plasma met with the golden pressurized energy with uneasy quietness. At first, it seemed like the two energies canceled each other out harmlessly. However, the eerie silence was broken with a blinding flash and a brutal shock wave.

Zero was thrown straight into the wall with incredible force, leaving an impressive dent in the metal panel. Zero hit with such a force that he bounced off and fell to the ground in a motionless heap. Samus was likewise blown across the room. The force of the energy explosion caused her armor to revert back to her normal, human like from. She landed hard and slid across the floor right up into the door. As she skid across, her armor and the floor became scratched and dented where they made contact.

Smoke rose from Zero's armored skin, Samus's exo suit, and the gash across the floor that she created. Minuets passed and neither moved from their impact sites in the room. Finally, Samus began to stir. Samus's movements were slow at first. Her body was in pain with every movement and her suit seemed heavy and sluggish. She thought the blast must have damaged her power distributors and lost some of the power to her suit. She turned her head slowly, cautiously moving her neck. When she turned and looked, she saw that her entire shoulder armor was shredded from the brute force of the impact. She also noted that there were gashes in her armor. Her chest plate, which took a massive amount of the impact from being balled up and so close, was heavily dented and pressing against her chest hard, and her visor had several cracks and fractures.

Zero also began to move with sluggish motion. Zero's internal scanners ran diagnostics. Much of his internal insulation had been melted and damaged, but he was able to function. His right arm was terribly damaged, it had a large hole in his forearm which exposed much of his internal circutry. Much of his right hand, which had reverted from its buster form after the blast, was badly scorched. He tried to move it but found that not only his did his hand not move, but nearly his entire right arm was unable to function. Zero's optical sensors had trouble focusing due to static and damage. He deduced that the pulse generated by the blast must have disrupted several of his systems.

"Okay..." Zero said. "I have no wish to fight you..." His voice was strained but just as firm as ever. "I know you don't trust me. Frankly, I don't trust you either. But if we continue like this, one or both of us will end up dead. If that's how you want to do it, that's fine. But first I want to know something..." Zero lifted himself up slowly with his left arm, leaning on the wall heavily. "Why did you kidnap me, and why do you think I'm a Maverick?"

"Like you don't know. I have no use of playing along with someone like you" Samus tried to retort. Samus's voice output device was damaged by the battle and the only way she could speak was to remove her helmet. Samus, against her better judgment, removed her visor and revealed her cold and determined blue eyes. "Why would I indulge a deranged, malfunctioning piece of machinery?

"If I am what you think I am, which I am not, then it won't make a difference if you answer a few questions. If I am as crazed and psychotic as you perceive me to be, then we will kill one another regardless." Zero reasoned almost desperately.

"I told you before. I am here to bring you to justice. A bounty has been put on your head of considerable amount for your crimes. I'm here to collect on it." Samus's true, feminine voice rang out bold and strong.

"And what are my crimes?"

"Genocide, terrorism, and crimes of war." Samus stated almost as mechanically as her suit. Why was he so interested in his charges? None of her other bounties questioned why they were being pursued, they either just ran or fought, but not him. It was almost like he was just defending himself. "The files said you were a machine who had gone berserk, on your planet the term is "Maverick". It said you killed hundreds of sentient organic life forms and machines. You led other Mavericks against humanity and destroyed more than you could ever comprehend. You were the one responsible for the near destruction of your planet."

"I know you won't believe me, but it isn't true."

"You're right. I don't believe you. I don't believe killers." Samus almost yelled spitefully.

"No, I wouldn't expect you to. After all, you're just a bounty hunter. You're only concern is getting paid. You don't really care about justice, just the money that comes with it." Zero smirked as he spoke his words cool, with equal spite.

"What would a sociopath machine know of justice?" Samus tried to walk forward but could not.

"More than you know..." Zero stated.