Author's Note: The title of this chapter fits well. However, I tried to make it make sense, and while the science is completely fictional, it should work out OK. If there's anything that's too obscure to understand, let me know.

The giant face of Admiral Dane leaned against the side of his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk as he looked out of the viewscreen to the assembled group. When he finally spoke, his voice rang out of the speakers into the conference room. "I don't quite know where to begin," he grunted, his eyes shifting from one member of the odd group to the next.

Jacobs bit his lip. He was here to be questioned, but in the meantime, Dane was looking at a renegade Pirate and a suitless Samus with a makeshift arm cannon covering her left hand seated at the same table with a Luminoth, a human doctor, and only one face he would recognize. He could understand that the admiral was having a problem figuring out which question to ask first.

Dane sat up. "All right, let's try this. Connehan, why the hell is there a Pirate sitting in your conference room?"

"We didn't have time to take him to the brig, sir," Connehan replied, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, so he's a prisoner?"

"Yes," Connehan answered, at the exact same moment that R-Stl said "No."

Dane slinked back into his chair, lowering his head further down the screen. "I can tell this is going to be a long day," he sighed. "So, what is he?"

"A prisoner," Connehan said again, shooting a glare at R-Stl.

"An ally," R-Stl countered, meeting the human's gaze defiantly. "He's saved our lives multiple times."

Dane cocked an eyebrow. "Is this true?"

"Well, he saved Samus's life earlier today, and all of our lives just a moment ago," Connehan answered. "So, technically, he's saved each of us once."

"Ah, but he also saved my life when he saved Samus, and he saved Samus when he saved the rest of us."

"Well, if you want to split hairs…"

"This whole conversation is splitting hairs," Dane grumbled. "Look, you can do whatever the hell you want with that Pirate later, but for now, I want him out of this room. He shouldn't be hearing this."

"What, exactly, is this?" R-Stl asked.

"That's what I want you to tell me," Dane sighed. "Get the Pirate out of here, and then Dr. Jacobs can tell me what the hell it is he's done to Samus."

R-Stl turned to the Pirate. "I'm sorry, but–"

"It doesn't matter," he responded. "If any of this is important, you can tell me later—assuming, of course, it is decided I can be trusted with it." Without waiting for an escort, he turned and swept out of the room.

"Now," Dane's imposing figure said, reclining in his chair. "Where were we?"

Jacobs chose this opportunity to rise from his seat, fingering his lapel and trying not to sweat too visibly. He had known this moment was coming since he decided to help Samus, but that did little to calm his nerves. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and looked the projection of the admiral straight in the eye. "Very well, sir," he began. "I assume you know who I am."

"Kevin Jacobs, PhD.," Dane confirmed. "I looked up your file. I don't suppose you'd care to explain to us what it is you did to Samus."

Jacobs nodded. "All right. I suppose I'd better start from the beginning. A few months ago, while investigating the wreckage of the BSL station with the Zodiac, I encountered and captured a surviving X-parasite specimen."

Connehan and Dane both leapt out of their chairs. "WHAT?!"

"Knowing that you would react that way you are now, I chose to keep it a secret," Jacobs said, pursing his lips. "But after getting shot at by Samus's suit, and realizing that she would be left defenseless, I had an idea."

"Wait, wait," Connehan said, rubbing his temples. "You're telling me you've had an X-parasite in captivity for all this time?"

Jacobs simply nodded. R-Stl crossed his arms, watching the humans with a wary eye.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in?!" the officer shouted, leaning forward on the table. "How much the Federation wants to get their hands on that thing? If you had come forward about this when you should have, we could—"

"That's enough, Connehan," Dane growled.

The officer looked up at the screen, a little taken aback. "Sir?"

"Let the man finish," he said.

Jacobs was surprised as well, but soon regained his composure. "Thank you, sir. I remembered something Adam had said in one of his reports on Samus's progress through the station; one of the X had assimilated the Varia suit data from the download we were trying to send Samus. After she defeated the parasite, she absorbed the Varia tech herself. This led Adam to the conclusion that the X have the capacity to process data organically." He paused to make sure everybody understood what he had just said.

"And…?" Dane prompted.

"I realized that we could grant Samus the same—or, at least, similar—abilities that the Power Suit had given her by using these organic processors."

"That's what you meant when you said you'd screw with her DNA," Connehan said, temporarily forgetting the captive X.

"I've spent a while—ah—studying the parasite, to see if there really was a way we could use them to humankind's benefit," the biologist continued. "So far, the only conclusion I've reached is that they are too dangerous to take the risk. But I had also isolated the organelles responsible for the organic data processing. After receiving that message from Ridley, I realized I had to find a way to replicate those organelles in her own cells. It took a while, but I managed to find a way. They've been propagating within her for a few hours, and should have taken hold by now."

The others in the room went slightly slack-jawed. "You're telling me that there are bits of X in Samus?" Dane asked.

"In her cells, yes." Jacobs couldn't hide his nerves at all; sweat was virtually dripping off his forehead.

"And that didn't strike you at all as the least bit idiotic?!" Dane growled. "You just said these creatures are too dangerous to risk experimenting on, but you…!"

"It's the Metroid DNA," Jacobs explained hurriedly. "The vaccine Samus was given after she was initially attacked by the X."

"It allowed her to absorb the X-parasites, use them for energy or ammunition," Connehan remembered.

"And it allowed her cells to assimilate the X organelles without destroying them altogether or letting them grow strong enough to change her," Jacobs finished. "At least, in a way we didn't want."

"What?" Dane asked, clearly lost.

"She can absorb the X's organic processors the same way she could absorb their abilities before," Jacobs said. "Then they will allow her to access abilities—like the high jump and morph ball—that she needed the suit to use before."

"Wait, wait, wait," Dane said slowly. "So what you're telling me, is that Samus can now regain all the abilities of her Power Suit—without her Power Suit?"

"Exactly."

There was a long pause as the implications of the statement sunk in.

Dane bit his lip for a moment. "…and there's no danger?"

"Even if there was, the Metroid DNA would keep it in check," Jacobs replied, beginning to feel more confident. "I wouldn't have done this if I thought it wasn't perfectly safe for Samus."

"And the weird cannon thing on her arm…?" Dane asked warily.

"The data for her beam and missile weapons exists in Samus now," Jacobs said. "But she still needs a way to fire them. This weapon was based on her own arm cannon, only instead of reading data from the Power Suit to configure its beams, it reads data from Samus herself." He pointed to the device on Samus's arm. "It also has a matter-energy converter, a miniaturized version of the one that maintained the Power Suit's shields and ammunition."

"And you just happened to have this thing lying around?" Dane asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Jacobs hesitated. "A… colleague of mine had been reverse-engineering it from Pirate beam trooper weapons for some time now."

"You mean Justin Bailey?" R-Stl asked.

"A colleague of mine whom I will not name," Jacobs hissed at him.

"Oh," the Luminoth replied. He fell silent.

Dane paused for a moment, sitting back in his chair and interlocking his fingers. "I want you to send me the specs on everything," he said at last. "I want to send this to all the scientists I can, to make sure it's safe." He leaned closer to the monitor. "Now, there's one person I haven't heard from yet. Samus?"

Every eye in the room now shifted to the bounty hunter. She had remained silent so far, leaning back and looking on as the others in the room questioned each other. Now that the attention had shifted to her, she sat up in her chair, faced the admiral, and shrugged. "I have to admit, I feel fine," she said.

"No negative side effects?"

"Not yet, at least. I feel…" she looked down. "I don't know. Different." She pointed at her chest. "A Pirate shot me here a few minutes ago. But now I'm fine."

Dane blinked. "…are you sure?"

"I'm a little dizzy," she said, waving her arm. "But Jacobs says that's from exhaustion. Apparently spending an hour getting infused with X DNA doesn't count as rest."

"She'll be fine tomorrow," Jacobs assured the others.

"Was she really just shot?" Dane asked, glancing at Connehan.

"I didn't see it myself, but there was one Pirate who went to attack her, just as Jacobs's… uh… 'infusion' was finishing up." He gestured to the woman. "And that is a pretty nasty scorch mark on her clothes."

"The X infusion gave her a tougher carapace," Jacobs explained.

Samus frowned. "My skin doesn't feel any different."

"It shouldn't," the biologist replied. "Your skin is still as soft and—uh—I mean, it has the same texture, but it's very durable, almost to par with combat armor. If I'm not mistaken, the infusion will also give her the X's adaptability, allowing her to survive in harsh environments."

Dane shook his head. "I still want to see it with my own eyes. This whole infusion thing—will it really work?"

Samus answered by entering morph ball form.

Everyone in the room gaped at her, including Jacobs; he knew this would happen, or at least, probably could, but was still shocked to see it. There had been a quick noise, a brief flare of light, and the morph ball was sitting on the chair beside him. It had a clothy texture to it, opposing the metallic surface the morph ball normally had, and was in the same shades of red and black of Samus's clothes. Still, Jacobs supposed, it was better than nothing—and at least it wasn't a disgusting, fleshy mass, as he had feared it might become.

Samus unrolled after a few moments. "Wow," she said. "That's going to take some getting used to." She checked herself briefly. "But in the end, it's not all that different from when I did it with the power suit." She turned to Dane. "So yes, it works."

Dane closed his mouth, shook his head, and sat back. "I… I'll call you back, Connehan." The screen went blank.

Connehan sat back and sighed heavily. "I think he has the right idea. We'll reconvene as soon as Dane picks his jaw up off the ground." He looked over at Samus. "You've been through a lot, so I suggest you try and get some sleep. Jacobs, R-Stl, escort her to her quarters, then try to get some rest yourselves." He stood up. "I'll be in my quarters."

As Connehan left, Jacobs crossed over to Samus. He offered an arm, but she waved it away. "I'm fine," she said. She slowly stood up, and started towards the door. "Like I said, this'll take some getting used to, but I think I can handle it."

When Samus made it out the door without either of their help, R-Stl turned to Jacobs. "I'm going to find the Pirate, to make sure no overzealous trooper's tried shooting him yet. You stay with Samus." He glided down the hall before the biologist could word a protest.

Jacobs turned to Samus as they continued to the temporary quarters that had been prepared for her. "You sure you're all right? The infusion was completely experimental. I don't know what's going to happen."

Samus shrugged. "Neither do I. I never do." She stopped, and looked at her hand. "But whatever does happen, I've now got the power to deal with it." She clenched the hand into a fist, then turned to the biologist. "For that, Jacobs, thanks."

He blushed again. "You're welcome." She was definitely starting to treat him with a good deal of respect, since he had risked his career to save hers.

They continued on in silence for a while.

"I'm still sore about you killing my suit, though," Samus said.

"That wasn't me!" Jacobs protested.

"I'm sure."