Chapter 25

Further Complications

Samus ran out of the room, right into the path of a Space Pirate kill team! The Pirate Troopers fired upon her, taking her by surprise and heavily damaging her shields. At the same time, a Zebesian kill team also arrived, and also started firing upon her. Samus dodged and countered to the best of her ability, nimbly dodging the enemy fire. But she couldn't avoid everything. She lost an entire energy tank to the kill teams. The alarm continued to blare, and then Samus realized that Ridley hadn't activated the alarm for her area, he activated the alarm for everywhere. Samus attempted to roll into an air vent, but all vents near her were blocked off.

"I have blocked the air vents in case the 'Huntress' attempts to make a quick escape. If you would like your air conditioning back, bring me her helmet to confirm the kill. Preferably, with the head still in it." Ridley's voiced said over PA system. Samus continued to charge through the base, not even bothering with stealth. She was being attacked at every turn, and realized that there is no way she could beat everyone. She arrived at the room which allegedly held John prisoner. She entered the shield door and noticed a pair of dead Space Pirate Scientists. She kept moving, briskly, but cautiously. As she rounded a corner she saw a Brute get thrown against a wall, dead.

"The Demon must die!" she heard another Brute speak.

"The 'Demon' stays alive until MY leaders say otherwise. It is OUR quarry," she heard a Pirate say. She rounded the corner completely and saw a Brute cornered by two Pirate Commandos. One of the Commandos turned it's attention on her, but Samus shot him through his skull with a Nova Beam. The other Commando turned to her, but that distracted him enough for the Brute to grab his head and twist it 360 degrees, then charge into the cell, which likely held John.

"No!" Samus said, then ran in after the Brute. She entered the cell to see John already finishing the Brute off with it's own Combat Knife. John favored his ribs, looking down at the Brute. He coughed a bit, then looked up an saw Samus.

"Please tell me you're an attractive woman under there," John said, in a someone exasperated tone.

"Don't worry John. It's me," Samus responded.

"Good. I didn't want to be stuck in here with the dead brute. They smell anyway." Samus dematerialized her helmet, then smiled and said,

"I brought you something," she then took his collapsed armor off of her back.

"You, are amazing."

"Well, I had help," John activated his armor, which then rose to it's full height and opened up, allowing him to step in. Much more convenient then older models.

"Really now..." he responded. Samus removed Cortana from her suit, feeling the same weird sensation she felt earlier. "Cortana!" John said, then eagerly took the construct from her.

"Careful, John! I'm getting dizzy!" Cortana said jokingly. John placed her into the A.I. port in the back of his helmet.

Hey John? Cortana said, exclusively in his mind.

Cortana, John said curtly.

Wanna know a secret?

Hmm?

She fantasizes about you.

Fantasize? How so?

...You know...

I don't.

Humorless...

She's seen me armor-less,

Jump-suit-less, undergarment-less. Chief was still having trouble making the connection. Ugh, John, you are more naive than you know. Sex, John. She wonders what it would be like to have sex with you.

John slapped himself in the head for not understanding earlier, then let out an audible

"Oh!"

"John? Is something wrong?" Samus asked, who was standing guard as John finished configuring his armor.

"Oh, n-nothing Samus. Nothing at all. Are you prepared?"

"I was waiting for you, John."

"Right, of course. Let's move."

"Word of warning, Ridley's triggered the alarm. The base is on maximum alert."

"Well let's get ready then," John said. They exited the prison cell to be greeted by a Pirate Kill team lead by a Zebesian Commander. A pair of Urtragians, and a new breed which Samus' scanners identified as "Enrykitian", fired at them from a distance, while the Commander hung back, and the Zebesians advanced on them. Samus and Chief coordinated their movements to deal with the Pirates. One-by-one, they killed the Pirate enemies, until only the Commander remained. The angered Pirate stood in a martial arts stance, then proceeded to throw his own hand at Chief, who instinctively ducked it.

"You know, I've seen Kamikaze Grunts before. I thought THEY put a new meaning to 'tactical suicide', but removing one's own hand is just dumb," Chief commented.

"It grows back," Samus said, and sure enough, the Pirate sprouted a new claw, ready for battle. Samus and Chief fired their weapons at him, but he nimbly dodged, avoiding that shots as if they moved in slow motion for him. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the both of them. He kicked Chief hard in the chest, then threw a claw strike at Samus. She ducked, the retaliated with a punch from her left arm. The Pirate parried the blow, knocking Samus off balance. Chief grabbed the Pirate from behind, but he slipped from Chief's grip, then came up with a tough uppercut. Chief was knocked onto the floor. The Commander prepared to finish Chief, but Samus fired a Nova Beam through his chest. The Pirate was injured, so he cut his losses and teleported away. Samus helped Chief off of the ground, then said,

"Come, my ship is this way," Samus said. The pair layed low, and made sure not to be spotted by cameras or the like. Eventually, they made it to the first courtyard Samus had seen before entering the base. Overhead, although storm clouds began to form, a good omen in the form of the Allied Fleet appeared. Chief, slightly ahead of Samus at this point, asked,

"Where's the ship?"

"Just beyond that door, in a garage filled with stolen Federation ships," Samus responded. She then shot the doorway, allowing Chief access through. Just after he passed through it, it shut again, this time locked with a blast shield. Samus Fired upon it as a reflex. No luck.

Her absence of luck got worse, however, because just then, a two Phantoms and two ATC's flew in overhead. She only had two energy tanks left. She could not deal with this.

"Chief, I'll find another way, get to the ship!" she said over comms, as she ran to the door she just came out of. No luck there either. Another blast shield. She then looked up and realized it wasn't raining. Except it was. The rain simply stopped when it hit the energy shield keeping Samus from looking for a vertical exit. Samus then realized what she just got pushed into.

Damn it Ridley. She thought. You got me, you son of a bitch.

But she wasn't going down without a fight. She fired upon the Brutes and Pirates exiting their dropships. They dealt heavy damage to her, since each one was wielding heavy weapons, but she managed to kill the first wave. Another Phantom flew in overhead, dropping a Berserker Knight of all things. Samus was still recovering, so it managed to get the drop on her and swat her with one of it's claws, knocking her back. She landed on her feet, but stumbled. The Knight charged her, then swung at her again, but she caught onto it's arm, jumped onto it's head, the put a Nova Beam straight through it.. She landed on the ground, just to be hit by the hammer of a Chieftain, leaving her with half an Energy Tank. The Chieftain charged her, but she put Nova Beam through his head. She then looked up again and saw a very unpleasant sight.

The gunships of Weavel, Sylux, and Kanden appeared overhead, and each Hunter landed in front of her, fresh and ready for battle. Samus stood up, barely able to keep her balance after so much blunt trauma. The three Hunters raised their weapons.

"Kill her," Weavel commanded. They all fired.

But Samus Morphed into a Morphball and laid a Powerbomb. They were prepared however, as they each locked their armor. As soon as it deactivated it's armor lock, Sylux was bombarded by punches and kicks from Samus, who finished by knocking it's helmet off, and her out. Then Samus fired a Nova round through Weavel's head, then went after Kanden. She unleashed a flurry of blows, capping it off with a kick that sent him flying. Samus stumbled and fell to her knees after that, then looked toward the door she had tried to exit earlier. She saw John watching in a nearby window, trying his hardest to break through. But he couldn't. It was shielded Urtragian Optic Fiber.

A Berserker Lord would break his hand trying to get through there.

"John... go...," Samus then noticed him putting up the (apparently universal) hand-sign for "behind you". She stood up and turned just in time to see Weavel slash her chest with his Energy Scythe, depleting her shields. Samus was knocked to the floor, but she proceeded to get back up.

"Nice try, shooting me in the head like that. Unfortunately for you, my brain is not in my head. I would not allow for such an obvious weakness to be exploited. Now as, I was saying," Sylux walked up alongside Weavel, dark hair flowing, and highly canine teeth shining, smiling at her chance to get rid of Samus Aran. "Kill her." The two fired at Samus, their shots striking Samus directly, with no shields. Samus looked down, and for one of the first times in her entire life, saw her own blood on the ground. Then, she lost consciousness. Her Power Suit dematerialized, leaving just her now tattered Zero Suit.

"Enough!" Weavel said, calling a cease fire. "Damn. She is resilient. That would have outright killed anything else." He walked up to her body and lifted her by the neck. "Yep, she definitely has a pulse. Sylux!" Sylux was distracted. She could have sworn there was someone in that window over there. She turned to Weavel. "Get Kanden. Activate his ship controls. Have it follow us. We're taking this flesh bag back to Scylla." The two entered their respective ships with their quarry. Both ships flew off, with the Allies battling the Exterminatus overhead.

A/N: How's it goin' Fanfic?

Just thought I'd take this time out to offer a little developer hint type stuff.

1: For the Human and Covenant Separatist side, I chose the name Allies because, as many of you may know, the Allies were the "good guys" of WWI and II. They've never lost. Overtime, they'de eventually just have to exist as the UN, and more specifically NATO. Now, my logic is, if the United Nations Space Command and the Galactic Federation (essentially, the United Nations on steroids) teamed up, why wouldn't they pick the name of the team that never lost?

2: I do have another story related to this one up RIGHT NOW. It's called Halo Prime: Other S. PLEASE go check it out. As it stands it has a whopping FOUR reviews. As opposed to 115. See why I'm saying this?

Well that's all for today folks, as usual Read and Review (and also, let me know if you'd like more of these "Author's Corners" if you will)