Chapter 34

"Oh God…" Connor moaned, sitting up, "What the hell happened?"

Off to the side, Kruzer sat holding an unconscious Shessa curled up in his arms, "We got gassed, kid."

"What?"

"You were under the influence of an extremely powerful hallucinogenic." Said Zack, standing off to the side, inspecting the Suros Regime, "We're not entirely sure what was in it…but anyone unlucky enough to inhale it was instantly stricken with pure terror. You guys were completely out of control; thankfully you all passed out about fifteen minutes into the ordeal."

Connor's eyes widened, shuddering as he recalled everything that had happened, "I remember now…"

"You seemed pretty frightened." Said the Titan, setting the Suros down near the young bounty hunter.

"I've never been so scared in my entire life... Where's Kelly?"

"We don't know." The Chief answered, looking out through a nearby window, "Samus went off to go find him, figured she could reason with him."

"I thought it was a bad idea," said Zack, "But she insisted..."

"Well, if it's Samus, it's quite likely he'll listen." Connor explained.

"What is it with those two, anyway? Does the kid just look up to her a whole lot, or something?"

"You know, I'm honestly at the point where I'm almost a hundred percent sure that he secretly has a crush on her. You can see it in his eyes when she's around."

"Can you blame the guy?" Kruzer jumped in, "The woman is an absolute beauty."

"Yeah…can't argue that."

For a minute or two, no one spoke. The distant stars shifted like a static kaleidoscope, the faint rumble of the ship's enormous engines reverberating throughout the halls setting calmness about the group.

Connor got up, stretching as he made his way over to the window, "You know, I can't lie…Dark Samus was actually pretty attractive…"

"Well, she's basically a carbon copy of Samus, so it's really no surprise." said Zack, looking up.

"Yeah, I know… Only real way to tell them apart is their differences in color."

"True, however, Dark Samus was a bit curvier, did you notice that?"

"She looked fairly thin to me…"

"No, I didn't mean that… I was talking about her curves."

"Oh…yeah." Connor replied, almost hesitantly, "…her rack was actually pretty amazing. Like, were those even real?"

"And did you see those hips? Hot damn. I almost don't blame the kid for defending her…"

"The first thing you two notice when you see the queen of the Metroids is her sex appeal?" The Chief scoffed, "You really are young."

Off to the side, Kruzer snickered.

"It's only natural for men to find women attractive, but of course, by all means, Chief, judge away." Connor shot back.

"Don't you see?" the Spartan went on, turning to face them; "This is exactly how she managed to snag your friend. She's using nature to her advantage. It's sneaky and clever…but not nearly clever enough; I can see right through her. Kelly's still quite young. He has a lot to learn."

"Well, whatever the case," Connor sighed, "he better have a pretty damn good explanation for using that…that…hell gas on us."

"This will all be cleared up soon enough." reassured the Chief, turning his gaze back to the window. Outside, the planet's orange glow warmly enveloped the Void Angel's gleaming broadside.