chapter 11: Samus and Crecy: Super Spies Extraordinaire

A/N: Sorry for such the long wait, I hope you's of all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. By the way, we have changed chapter 10's ending as I was unhappy with it.

Previously: After being asked from NuPlan (a genetics company) and an Alice Unit (an android with near sentience) both Samus and Crecy went to save more Alice units and to capture Mr Raleigh (a slave trader). However, after they landed and Samus managed to get inside Mr Raleighs freighter thanks to Adam (Samus' ship AI) who, with Crecy, hacked into the freighter. However, the ship took off whenever Samus was being surrounded by guards, both because of Samus ordering Adam to leave her behind if she didn't come back in 20 minutes and a virus took that over the ship. After Crecy managed to get rid of the virus, the virus entered her, however she was saved by the NuPlan doctors. After a few hours Samus returned, severely burned and beaten, with the Alice units, before being put into a healing tube. After a few days of getting regenerated she and Crecy reunited, ready to go after Mr Raleigh again, thanks to a lead by one of the Alice units.

Security was heavy around the weapon's depot. Armed soldiers and automatic security systems of every description ensured that anyone hoping to sneak into the compound would be leaving in at least one small box. Power loaders carried crates of war materiel into massive warehouses to await for shipment, and one particular loader carried its cargo to the long term storage and had to wait until the pilot, machine, and cargo were thoroughly scanned. Having found nothing amiss, the great doors opened and the loader carefully placed the crate into its designated slot.

Some minutes later, after the loader returned to its duties and a rather bored security detail wandered past, a small door slid open and Crecy wormed her way out of the weapons crate.

"Okay, the room's clear. Come on out." Crecy whispered into her communicator.

A similarly suited person appeared from the shadows, "I'm here, Crecy," Samus whispered into their own communicator.

"Ah, there you are. Did you have any trouble getting in?" Crecy asked as she double-checked a blind corner to make certain that they were alone.

"A bit. This Armor is different to my original and it was a bit confusing at first," She stated as bounty hunter walked over to her, "Whenever, we get back, I have to finish fixing my suit,"

"Well first things first." Crecy reached into a pouch and tossed Samus a handheld scanner. "Scan everything and keep your eyes open for anything unusual. I'm going to keep watch so no-one takes us by surprise."

Samus nodded and began to scan the area, 'What kind of unusual?' she thought she scanned a nearby crate, "Crecy," She whispered into her reciever, "I've found something 'usual' in this crate." She then put the scanner down and tried to open the crate.

"Copy. Doesn't look like any patrols are heading this way yet." Crecy replied before sighing. "This would be so much simpler if we knew what we were looking for."

"I think I found it," Samus replied into her reciever as Crecy heard a slamming noise from the room that Hunter was in.

Crecy winced at the sound, but it didn't seem that anyone heard it. "Really, what did you find?"

"Bioroids." was all that Samus said as she inspected the humanoid robots. Her scans showed a mixture of synthetic and organic components, so she concluded that they must be bioroids.

"Why are they storing bioroids in a weapon depot?" Crecy asked, mostly to herself. "See if there's any more, and scan them for the manufacturer's tag. It should be embedded under the skin of the left wrist."

"Copy that, Crecy," she replied before her com went mute. After a few minutes of scanning the bioroids, she discovered that the manufactures were Pan-Life Industries and that there was something odd about them. There was an odd device built into each of the wrists and back to her elbow. it seemed, cylindrical in structure. "Crecy, there's something odd about these bioroids…"

"What do you mean?" Crecy doubled back to look over her partner's shoulder to see what she was talking about.

"Look at this scan of her arm," Samus said as she pointed out the cylindrical device, "Either this is a new model or these bioroids have been refitted with 'that'...Do you know what that thing is?"

Crecy took a look, but this wasn't her area of expertise.

"I don't know. A gun maybe? It'd be a pretty sneaky trick to turn these things into assassins. We should get a tally of these things and-" she stopped suddenly as she heard the warehouse doors start to grind open. "Quick! Hide!" she said as she activated her stealth field and started to blur out of view.

Samus looked around before quickly ducking into the crate and lifted the crate door to hide her, forgetting that her borrowed suit had the same stealth technology as Crecy's. It was cramped but she had enough room to crouch.

A massive power loader tramped into the room with a veritable platoon of armed guards as escort. The loader was carefully carrying a large metal container plastered with biohazard warnings directly towards the back of the warehouse where Samus was hiding. One of the members of the escort approached the rear wall and opened a small secret door and entered a code onto a number pad.

The entire rear wall flickered and vanished as the holographic cover dissipated, revealing a massive set of doors that started to slowly open to an equally massive freight elevator.

"That looks pretty suspicious." Samus heard Crecy say. "Let's follow them. If we keep on their heels we should be able to get past any security. Don't forget to use your stealth field."

Samus pressed a button under her neck and felt the faintest of tingles across her skin as the stealth field wrapped itself wrap itself around her, bending light around her until only the sharpest eye could detect her presence. She watched through the crack of the crate's door until the guards waiting for the elevator weren't looking in her direction before sliding the door open and stepping out. After closing the crate she almost immediately blundered into an invisible Crecy who gave a small yelp in surprise and grabbed at Samus to avoid falling over.

One of the guards looked over in their direction at the sound and the two held their breath. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to notice something and took a few steps in their direction.

The elevator finally arrived and one of the guards companions tapped him on the shoulder, indicating that it was time to go. The two women sighed in relief as the loader and its guards started filing into the elevator.

The legendary bounty hunter remained holding onto Crecy, waiting for a few more minutes until everyone was out of the elevator before saying, "That was a close one. We should hold hand so we don't walk into each other again," She said, finally letting go of her impromptu embrace of Crecy.

Samus put her arm on where she guessed Crecy's shoulders where and then dragged the hand down her arm, before reaching her hand. She then gently grabbed her hand. 'I could get used to using this suit if it means I get to keep holding her hand,' Samus thought as she forced her eyes to see the almost invisible Crecy. Her invisible companion led her by the hand to the keypad where entered the same code she saw the spied earlier.

Before too long the doors of the massive freight elevator opened up and the two filed in. The elevator only had one stop and immediately began its descent as the doors closed. With only the whirring of gears to accompany them they travelled not only down, but an an angle as well, deep into the bowels of the planet.

"What do you suppose is down here?" Crecy asked.

"Considering the amount of security to get to this point and with my luck, it's probably some type of world destroying weapon," Samus replied, a little chuckle escaping as she finished her sentence.

The elevator stopped and the double doors slid back. Crecy gasped at the sight, a massive cavern so large that they couldn't see the top, stuffed full of gantries, crates, technological equipment, and anyone's guess what all else.

A pair of security robots walked past on patrol, but their sensors didn't seem to detect the invisible duo.

"Holy hell." Crecy whispered. "We didn't go that far down did we? There's an entire base down here!"

Samus shrugged, forgetting momentarily that Crecy would be unable to see the shoulder movement, "I know, but what is it housing?" she whispered to her, "A pair of advanced cybernetics just walked past and they would cost me my arm and half my leg."

"Only one way to find out. Stay close now."

Crecy started leading the way into the cavern, stopping here or dashing there to avoid patrols of robots and humans alike. As they proceeded deeper into the base they started finding signs of old wiring and sweeping architecture that only one race with a penchant for underground labyrinths developed.

"I know this wiring, I've seen it a thousand times on…" she began before stopping letting out a small shocked gasp. She quickened her pace, now forcefully dragging Crecy forward, in order to see if she was right about this being chozo tech.

"I heard that there used to be a pirate base on this planet," Crecy said as they hurried past a rack of anti-air missiles, "but I thought it was bombed to ash before the first settler even set foot on this planet."

They didn't have to go far to determine the truth of the matter. Carved into the far wall was a mural half-covered by a currently inactive broadcast screen.

"Oh...Crap," Was all Samus could mutter out as she looked at the screens, "This is a Chozo research facility," she said turning her head to look at where she assumed Crecy was.

"How can you tell?" Crecy asked. "Can you read those carvings?"

"Yes, I can," She said simply still looking at Crecy, "And this is a weapons. research. lab." she said, making sure to put emphasis on each word.

"Well, if you say so-" the broadcast screen suddenly came to life and the giant face of an older woman with half her face replaced with cybernetics loomed over them.

"Attention all hands" her voice boomed over the loudspeakers, "A special guest will be joining us within the hour. All hands without exception are to report to their stations until further notice."

The screen winked off just as suddenly and the air was filled with a sounds of frantic activity.

"Samus, that was Mrs. Calliope, one of the people we're supposed to be hunting! I recognize her from the dossier." Crecy said urgently.

"So we can get rid of two with one journey, great," Samus said flatly as she looked at Crecy, "How are we going to fight them though?"

"You said it yourself, we're in a weapons research lab. Shouldn't be that hard to get our hands on something we can use. The hard part is escaping after we've opened fire."

A team of five technicians or so bolted past them, each hurriedly pulling uniforms on as they ran.

Samus got an idea and quickly pulled on the last two technicians and hurriedly bashed their heads together, "I got a plan," she whispered to Crecy as she looked around.

"I think I see where your plan is going." her partner replied as she grabbed one of the unconscious technicians and started dragging towards a secluded corner.

Samus did the same with the other technician before turning off the stealth on her suit, "Crecy, do you want to change first?" she asked, already turning around so that Crecy could put on the technicians jumpsuit.

"Hey, we're both professionals here." Crecy said, already halfway through stripping down to her black and white zero-suit. "Don't know what we're going to do with the stealth suits though. I don't like the idea of these guys getting a hold of their technology."

"Me either, especially being able to turn invisible," Samus responded, forcing herself not to turn her head to look over at Crecy. "Should we destroy them?"

"It's a shame, but they can always be replaced." Crecy said as she zipped up the jumpsuit. It was a size or two too large, and baggy enough that her hidden sidearm wasn't obvious. She paused long enough to slip on the earpiece from her helmet. "Okay, you can turn around now."

Samus turned around and smiled beneath her helmet, "Lets just say, you're not going to win any fashion show with that on," she said with a small chuckle.

"Hey, if this ruse gets us out of here alive I'll chalk it up as a win anyway." she replied as she set about tying up and gagging their unwitting donors.

Samus just smiled and nodded, "A win, and after we take those two out, we can get enough credits to buy you a good dress," the bounty hunter said taking off her helmet, waiting for her companion to turn around. She eventually took the hint and dutifully turned around.

"Are you implying my other dresses aren't nice?" she asked jokingly.

"I'm implying, that I didn't even know you had dresses," Samus responded while taking off the armored shell, "You're always wearing your stealth suit or jeans and a t-shirt."

"Sometimes a jacket too." Crecy corrected her, before suddenly going silent as another group of people hurried past.

Samus quickly put zipped up the jumpsuit that she had just momentarily before stripped from the engineer, "Okay, sometimes a jacket," She whispered. The Jumpsuit fitted her perfectly, which had the effect of making her sidearm stick out like a sore thumb.

"I suggest we split up now." Crecy said. "I'll look for a computer terminal to disarm the security while you find a weapon and see if you can't get a drop on our 'host'."

"Okay," The bounty hunter responded as she took the communicator out of her helmet, before smiling at Crecy with a warm grin,"And we'll be done by dinner."

Crecy smiled back and tapped her ear where her earpiece was hidden "Keep in contact miss…" she looked down at the nametag stitched to her partner's jumpsuit. "Roberts."

"You too, Miss…" Samus began before raising an eyebrow, "Aran...huh, what a coincidence," was all Samus could say.

Crecy looked down at the unconscious Mr. Aran. "Any relation?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Mrs Aran said looking at him, "and to be honest, if he's working for a slave trader, he might as well some random person for all I care," the bounty hunter explained simply before getting rid of her sidearm, "Lets go then, no time like the present,"

She nodded and the two stepped out of their secluded corner. Crecy gave Samus a brief thumbs up before jogging off in a random direction in an effort to look busy while she searched for a terminal or mainframe.

Samus gave a small wave before walking in the other opposite direction, reading all the small parts of Chozo she could understand, hoping that it would lead her to some sort of weapon. Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, you're one of the new techs right?" someone said behind her.

The galaxy renowned bounty hunter stopped in her tracks. "Uh, yeah…" She said, not yet turning to face whoever was behind her.

"Are you in the weapons division? We've need one of these security bots fixed before the VIP arrives."

"...Okay, lead me to patient then," Samus said turning to face the person with a small, nervous chuckle. She hoped that it the robot came with instructions. The youngish security guard lead her to through the hallways of crates and into the complex proper where a pair of his squadmates loitered next to a deactivated combat droid still in its charging station. It was quite a large model and in had two cannons where its arms should be.

"We think its a problem with its battery." her guide explained. "It won't turn on whatever we do."

The bounty hunter gave the robot an inquisitive look before asking the guide for tools. 'Hopefully, I can stall for time..'

"Tools? Um...if you haven't been assigned your own toolbox yet I guess you could check at the service depot…" the guard ventured. "You know where that is?"

'Shit' was al Samus could think right now, 'why couldn't she just have been able to walk away,' "Um, yeah, it's over there, right?" She asked, pointing to the right in a vague angle.

"There's a closer one. I'll show you." her guide volunteered.

"And hurry up with it." one of his companions said. "We're supposed to be guarding the Bio wing by now."

Needing no further encouragement her guide started leading her deeper into the base at a brisk pace.

Samus scanned everything that she could as she followed her guide, knowing that it would probably help later. Before too long they arrived at the depot, where a small handful of techs and mechanics were gathering up their toolbelts and toolboxes before pushing past the two in a rush to get to their posts.

"So uh, how long have you been assigned to this base?" her guide asked now that they were alone.

"To tell you the truth, this is my first day," Samus said, hoping that acting bashfully and looking down would aid her rouse.

"Ah, that explains a few things. Who do you report to, by the way?" he asked casually as he shifted his grip on his rifle.

Samus looked at the rifle and said, "Mrs Calliope," she said, hoping that it sounded plausible.

"Really? A new recruit like you reports to the base commander herself?" he said suspiciously. He brought his weapon up so it could easily be brought to bear.

Samus just looked at the rifle in his hands. If he wanted to he could easily kill her. "Yeah, she bought off the slave market," the bounty hunter replied quickly, guessing that some slaves would have some knowledge of engineering.

"Uh huh." he said as he keyed his radio. "Command, I thi-" was the last thing her guide could say before the bounty hunter aimed a kick at his face. The kick was like a bullet, it utterly destroyed the radio he was carrying and even forced chunks of it into the mans head. He went over like a sack of cement and ceased moving as soon as he hit the ground. Even without her power armor she still had a monstrous kick.

Samus sighed as she kneeled down, "Sorry, I wish things could have been better," she responded as she stripped him of his clothes. After quickly redressing in the guides clothes and taking his rifle. No sooner had she made the switch when her earpiece started to buzz.

"Technician Aran here. Good news, got control of the elevator in the event of a lockdown. Bad news, I'm being herded towards a general inspection. How are things on your end?"

"Security Guard...Lyons here, had a change of uniform and gained a rifle, over all situation is neutral," She said whispered back, as she dragged her guide into the nearest closet.

"Roger that. The VIP should be any moment, so if you have any other preparations left to do you'd better…" she stopped and a moment later started again in an exasperated tone, "Your doctor friend from that pirate ship is back."

"Technician Aran, what sector of the base are you in? I will come and get you," Samus replied, feeling anxious over a general inspection that involved that Sadist.

"Um. I'm in some sort of parade ground with a couple dozen other personnel. There's also a kind of bird-like statue with loudspeakers and wires and stuff hanging from it off to my right. Does that help?" she asked.

"You're in the main chamber, where the experiments take…" Samus began as her eyes widened, "Crecy, you've got to get out of there," The bounty hunter hissed as she ran down the corridors looking at any and all things so that she could find the main chamber.

"Don't forget the mission." she whispered back before she stopped transmitting.

The hallways were empty before her. It seemed that since everyone was at their posts there was no-one left to guard this part of the base from intruders.

Mrs. Calliope's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, "Everyone stand at attention for our research expert, the esteemed Dr. Galway!"

The slam of dozens of heels striking the ground in unison off to her right brought Samus to a window overlooking the scene. In the main chamber below the base's guards, mechanics, combat robots, and so forth were arranged in military blocs, forming an avenue for the unpleasantly familiar doctor flanked by two gemini beasts to parade down. Looking almost straight down she caught a sight of Crecy standing at attention in the middle of a regiment of technicians, but no sign of where Calliope was directing the ceremony from.

The bounty hunter let out a small breath she didn't know she was holding, "Crecy's okay…" she muttered to herself as she then quickly strode down the hall and down the stair to find a way into the main chamber. She eventually found one but it was guarded by a pair of combat robots, the same models as the kind she was asked to fix less than an hour ago.

Samus looked at them, then took a deep breath, 'this should work,' she thought as she walked up to them, "Let me through," she ordered, holding the rifle in attention. Her bluff seemed to work. The door swung open and the guards made no effort to stop her, though their eyes tracked her every step of the way. The bounty hunter entered and quickly scanned the room with her eyes. How she felt naked without her armor without all the many visions that she had installed over the years to help her see everything with vivid clarity, now she had to rely on her own instincts and vision.

What she didn't need any special visors to see was that she was outnumbered and outgunned. Perhaps the only advantage she had was the element of surprise since no-one yet suspected that the base had been infiltrated. Samus marched around the group of engineers and Crecy, wanting to get the dimensions of the room and all exits if she needed to run fast. Due to her wearing the outfit of a security guard, everyone assumed she was just on patrol. Aside from the side entrance she just came from, there were two large entrances on opposing sides of the main chamber, and above the nearer was another observation window where Calliope watched over the proceedings below. The large door below opened for the sadistic doctor and his two abomination bodyguards before sealing behind them. After a few moments the assembled personnel started to mill around before finally breaking off to return to their normal duties.

Crecy walked up to Samus and whispered, "So what now?"

Samus looked at her, not knowing how to answer. For once she didn't have an immediate plan of action, "Crecy...I don't know…" she whispered back, "Have you discovered anything?"

"Well, I found an auxiliary control station, but it doesn't control anything like the alarm systems or the security 'bot routines. Got a map of the complex though, for what it's worth." she handed over a folded sheet of paper with the floorplan of the entire base printed on it.

Samus quickly skimmed over the map, "Wait...There, there's the main power source," the half-breed said as she pointed at a room that appeared to be at random. Crecy looked down at the indicated room.

"Okay...so we can take out the main power source. Then what?"

"While everyone is confused, we go to the Chozo statue." The famed hunter replied, looking around discreetly for anyone who could have heard them.

"What's so special about the statue?" Crecy asked in a quieter voice.

"It's a chozo data transfer terminal," Samus whispered back, "It could transport data caches from one space constellation to the other without the need of mass, however, it only works with Chozo's" she explained very basically, not wanting to tell her what would happen if a non-chozo (or at least someone who didn't have chozo armour on) tried to activate the statue..

Her partner scratched behind her head. "Useful, but how does that help us with the mission?"

Samus looked at her, "Well, all we need to do is find a basic Chozo armor, then we upgrade it using the statue, then we will have them outgunned in every respect," she muttered with a small smile.

"Ah! And they'll never know what hit them!" Crecy smiled back. "First thing's first though, we need to find some of that armor."

"Correct," Samus said slyly, "There should be some in the general area," She said, drawing an imaginary circle around the north-west most area of the map. The power grid was in the east while they're current location was just south of the middle.

"Looks like we'll have to split up again to synchronize this. I'll wait for your signal before I sabotage the mainframe." Crecy said as she stepped back.

"Okay. Good Luck," Samus concluded as she walked away from the jumpsuited spy. She hurried along the corridors as quickly as she could without looking too suspicious. Eventually she found it. The armory.

However, a pair of hardened-looking security guards were standing outside a heavy blast door. They were already watching her suspiciously.

"Technician Aran here, I'm in position. Just give the word and I'll have the power down in one minute or so."

Samus just walked over to them, "Open the door," She commanded, hoping that this would work, "Commander Calliope wants me to make sure that everything is accounted for in there," she stated, pointing at the room for which they were guarding.

The two guards looked at each other, then back to her. "We weren't notified of any inspection." one said.

"She wanted to make sure that everything was running smoothly, without her needing to warn you," Samus replied giving the soldiers a look. The senior of the two guards rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"All right, just hurry it up in there." he said as he unlocked the door.

Samus entered, neary a smile on her face. "Thank you," she said simply, before pressing a button that closed the armory door. Fortunately for her, there remained a few chozo suits still in their rightful places: In azure-glass closets. Unfortunately, there was quite a lot of security patrolling the armory. "Technician Aran?" She whispered as she walked in a patrol like manner towards the encased Chozo Armor. "It's time.."

There was no response.

She tried again. "Aran? Are you there?" a chill ran down her spine as silence responded. "Crecy?"

The room was plunged into darkness. After a moment low red emergency lights lit up and a deep klaxon, more felt with the teeth than heard with the ears, started resounding throughout the base.

Within the limited time scale that Samus had, she managed to force one of the glass closets open. Through the dim lights she found the button on the back of the neck that transformed the armor into a glowing ball of light.

It blinded the guards, as they had only about adjusted to the emergency light. Whenever they blinked the brightness from their eyes they managed to see the grey, armored bounty hunter to whom they all had heard of: Samus Aran.

The guards shouted and started shooting. Most of the shots went wide, the flashes of laser fire only serving to briefly illuminate their impending doom.

Samus smiled softly behind her helmet, for she had finally got her suit back. She walked forward and, using her reaquainted hand cannon, fired a quick plasma blast at each of the surrounding guards, vaporizing them on impact.

"I have the suit, come to the armory now," Samus said as she exited said room.

She still got no response from her partner but the base was on full alert now. Hopefully she would be able to keep out of trouble during the confusion while Samus did what she did best.

The main room was filled with Plasma shots, some from Samus and a lot from the opposition. Due to the room only being semi-lit, Samus had the advantage of not worrying about who she shot as all of them were the enemy. It started feeling like old times again as she killed the last guard in the main room, "Much better," she sighed as she walked over to the chozo statue.

She placed her hand on the flat palms of the statue, it's eyes beginning to glow a warm scarlet colour. The statue let out an audible hum as it transferred the data into her suit, replenishing her with all her suits original weapons.

"You sure know how to make an entrance."

Samus whirled around to see Crecy, back in her stealth suit with the other one slung over her shoulder. "Sorry for losing contact but I got into a bit of a scuffle and my communicator broke." she stepped over a pile of scrap that was a security robot. "Essential personnel are locked down in the center of the base, and I'll bet they're trashing sensitive data as we speak."

"I don't care about that, we need to get Calliope and Raleigh," Samus stated as she looked around to make sure that the robots/guards were in-fact dead. "Let me guess, Nuplan would like that data?"

She shrugged. "If we can, but it's not a priority. Our main concern should be finishing off the two targets we've got cornered."

The large door opened and two hulking gemini beasts stomped towards them.

"I think we got bigger concerns than that.."