The mutant laughed crazily. "Aren't you a smart one? I didn't think you'd recognize me."

"Sergeant Jake?" Samus held her gun towards him as she said it. "You're the one who attacked Spire!"

He shrugged. "Thank you for seeing that, little lady. But, I've done a lot more than that. I survived Phaaze's destruction, merged with a Metroid, and gotten more toys to play with!"

Samus and I exchanged glances. "What do you mean?"

"So Rundas," he said, and I got into a fighting position. "you say you don't like heat, right?" I didn't respond. "Is this hot enough for you?"

Jake lunged forward, magma exploding out of his hands and directly towards me. Caught totally by surprise, it hit me square in the chest, eating through my armor and dripping onto my legs and feet. I screamed in absolute pain. Barely touching my melted plating, I looked back up to him, panting.

"Did that tire you out, buddy?" he teased. "How about an extra dosage of ice, then?" Jake shot an ice blast at me from his claws, which chilled the lava on me into hard rock. I shuddered, the newly made ice tickled. "Feel better?" I snarled at him.

"You took the hunters powers?" Samus gasped.

He nodded. "Impressive, right? My favorites are Weavel," he extended his right, mutated arm, the same energy sword that the Space Pirate had emerging from his wrist. "Gandrayda," electricity shot from his fingers and into the sky, and his suit transformed into the shapeshifter I knew well. He smiled with Gandrayda's lips. "Trace," he pointed his finger towards Ghor on the ground, the same red laser coming out of it and landing on the back of the robots head.

He was about to fire, but Samus shot his arm with a missile that froze the limb solid. "You're not hurting Ghor!" she spat.

He tilted his head to the side. "Unfortunately, I don't have all their abilities. Kanden was awake, Sylux was shut off, and, well, I didn't have any time to get you, now did I?" he spoke to me. "But, since I'm on strict orders to take each of your powers, I'd better get cracking!" Jake ran forward, morphing back into himself again and creating ice swords on his hand that wasn't frozen.

Samus ran to the side, and I took off into the air on an ice path. I circled around the perimeter, then dropped to the ground and landed next to the girl. "Okay Rundas, what do you suggest we do? I don't see any part he favors."

"Hm..." I watched Jake turn around and face us, hurling globs of magma to where we were standing. We both kept our footing and were able to avoid the puddles they made once they landed. "What about the weaknesses of the bounty hunters he's taken? I haven't fought them before, but you have. Can't you remember what they were?"

"It's been a little while, but I'll try. I just can't quite get him when he's in his normal form. I don't know what hurts regular Galactic Federation troopers!"

Jake bounded across the area in a few leaps, then fired electricity directly at Samus. She didn't have enough time to dodge, so I tackled her to the side and away from the sparks. I was on top of her when we landed. "Thanks," she breathed.

I nodded. "You're welcome," I looked back and rolled off her, right as Jake blew a hole in the ground by his new Imperialist. I stood, Samus turning into a morph ball and rolling over to me. She straightened out and stood by me as Jake unsheathed his energy sword. He came for us.

"Wait, didn't he say he was part Metroid?" I asked, ducking beneath the beam and grabbing the sergeant's legs, hurling him across the ground and into a tree. I hoped that it would fall down on him, but I hadn't thrown hard enough. "Dang it!"

"Metroid's weak spots are their mouths. But Jake's is beneath his helmet! If only-"

"If only what?"

She looked at me. "If only we could somehow take it off. Then I could shoot and see if it'll hurt him."

I turned towards the demented trooper, who was getting up and rubbing his back from the collision with the trunk. "I'll hold him down if you take it off."

"What? No! He'll kill you!" Samus protested.

"It's worth the risk, Samus. We have no choice. I'll go in, get rid of the helmet, and then you hit him, got it?"

She looked unsure, but complied. "Okay."

I ran forward, colliding with Jake. He expected me to stop once we crashed into each other, but I kept running till I pinned him against a tree. I froze my hands on his spiked shoulders, which cut into my palms and bled all over. Jake saw Samus coming, and started kicking my chest and stomach frantically.

I didn't falter, merely grunting and coping with the blows he dealt. Samus approached, reaching for his helmet. She about had her fingers around it when Jake jerked his head back, wings breaking through the ice around him. I stepped back, crying out at the pain in my middle finger. It was the longest one, and the most sensitive.

Jake extended his wings, laughing. Then, he flapped them, flying above the trees. Samus looked at me. "What happened?"

"I think he broke something..." I stared at my crooked finger, sharp stinging shooting through it.

"We'll deal with that later, I have an idea. Come on! We've got to get to Sector Zero's cannon."

"But that means we have to go inside!" I said, following after her as she ran back into the forest. I had to dodge lightning bolts that cracked to the ground and Imperialist rays that could've blown my head off.

"Exactly! He didn't dare show himself on Olympus, so why would he reveal what he is in front of the entire Federation?"

I nodded. "Makes sense. But what if he comes back down to the ground before we can shoot him?" I asked.

"Don't worry. There's a zooming feature on the cannon's aiming device. It's in orbit above Norion, so we'll be able to hit anything that's on the planet."

"Good. He's starting to really piss me off," I grunted, keeping up with her fast sprint. "What with taking everybody's powers and everything,"

Samus gasped, which made me stare at her anxiously. "What? What's wrong?"

"We left Ghor back there. Oh, I hope he's okay..." she sounded guilty.

"Hey, didn't he turn himself off? Jake couldn't take his abilities even if he wanted to. Sylux was offline too. He couldn't get its powers."

She nodded. "You're right. I need to calm down," she pressed her finger to the ear lobe of her helmet. "We're here." We emerged out of the forest and plowed through the door, getting back inside Sector Zero. Nobody was around the hallway we were in, and the windows that revealed the outside were dimming.

"It's nightfall already?" I wondered, tagging along behind Samus when she continued to run. "That was fast."

"Days are shorter on Norion. You should know, Rundas. Don't you only have four hours of daylight on Phrygis?"

"Yeah, but I haven't been there in year," I responded, looking towards an elevator that we passed. "Why aren't we taking the-"

"No time, we've got to take the stairs," she kicked down the stairwell door, dashing up the steps with me behind her.

I hurried to get behind her, then I scooped my hands beneath her legs and cradled her in my arms. Samus gasped as I skated along an ice path almost vertically, ascending the well. "This is faster," I said, looking towards the skylight.

Samus chuckled. "Brings back memories, huh? When Ridley had me in that shaft and we were falling? How you rescued me?"

"That was a little too hot for my liking. Well done, Samus. But, now you owe me one." I recited from what seemed an eternity ago. "That was when I first met you."

She laughed. "Those were the days, hm?" I smiled as we reached the top, and I landed on the top step. I stood, with Samus still in my arms. She fit perfectly. "Um. Rundas you can let me down, now," she said after a few moments.

"Oh! Of course!" I got her to her feet, blushing and scratching the back of my head with my injured finger. "Ow..."

She turned and opened the door. I looked around and saw the elevator where Gandrayda, Ghor, Samus, and I rode in a while back. Why did I want to ride it in the first place? After all, I did get to hold Samus (extremely closely) for the first time...

"Rundas? Are you all right?" she asked from inside the control room. After snapping out of my daze, I nodded, following her inside.

Eyeing the familiar room, I remembered exactly where I had fallen after getting struck with Phazon. I saw the once-broken window Dark Samus had come through, and recalled the ball of Phazon that she had arrived in.

I pried my gaze from the pane and my joined Samus at the console, where she was pressing buttons that alerted the cannon of her orders. She stopped typing suddenly, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. "Uh..."

"What?" I asked, staring at her.

"I'm not sure where Jake is... Or the coordinates of his location," she face-palmed. "I knew I should've written those down..."

"Didn't you have the area stored in your database?"

"I did, but it didn't keep track of where I was. My map was only of the base. How are we going to stop him?"

An alarm blared noisily from speakers around the room, and a recorded voice said from the intercom, "Lockdown protocol engaged. Complete sealing of Base Sector Zero initiated. Repeat: lockdown protocol engaged. Complete sealing of Base Sector..." the voice restated the message as heavy metal covers slid in front of the windows, also in front of the door. The cannon's computer shut itself off, and the chamber was only lit by flashing red floodlight that swirled on the ceiling.

"It's Larsen! He did this!" Samus worried, looking at me. "He's going for the other bounty hunters!"

"Then when he's got everybody's powers..." I said, and Samus joined with me on the last four words slowly, "He'll come for us."

"No! No! No!" she cried, going to the door and banging on it with her hand and gun. "We can't let him take their powers!"

I approached her, gently scooting her aside. "Allow me." I leaned back and kicked the door as hard as I could, not even making a dent. A little startled, I continued, even when nothing happened after my many attempts.

Samus was scanning it, her visor glowing green when she did. "This is Jovian Steel. The hardest material in the entire galaxy. And as luck would have it," she turned her head around. "the entire room is made from Jovian. Ugh, we're never going to get out of here!" she slumped to the floor. "This has never happened to me."

I put my arm around her shoulders and kneeled. "We'll make it. After all," Samus turned her helmet towards me. "we're the good guys. Justice will prevail and all that stuff... right?" I saw her smile, and then sit.

"I guess we wait until he comes. Until then, we'll prepare, somehow." I sat next to her, watching the glowing light that spun overhead.

Static came from the intercom, but was cleared by a husky, deep voice. "So you're both in the control tower, eh? It must be pretty cold up there, how about I warm you lovers up a bit?"

A groan came from the walls, and the heating vents exerted hot, dry air that drifted to Samus and I. I breathed in, coughing raggedly as the stale oxygen entered my lungs. My comrade held my shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I rasped, covering my mouth. "just a little heat, that's all."

"If it gets bad you need to cover yourself in ice, got it?" she asked, and I nodded. "I wouldn't want to lose you too."

"Don't worry about me, Samus. I'll be fine," I repeated, my tone hoarse and rough all of a sudden. Neither she or myself realized how heavily I was lying. Not again...