Suits of Iron
Chapter 4: Shadows and Dust
Iron Man's eyes still tracked the large, hulking form in front of him. Its pulsating brain now starting to emit a faint red light in the dark room. It bellowed out another cry and looked towards him and the still weakened Samus. The eyes penetrated into him and he shuddered beneath his armor. Samus had called it Mother Brain, but all that Iron Man, aka Tony Stark knew was that it wasn't here on a social call.
He looked down at the console on his arm and the power cable that fed power to Samus' suit. Three minutes Iron Man thought. Still too much time.
"This is not good, tin head," Samus said as if reading his thoughts.
"How are you feeling?" Iron Man asked as he looked up from the console. Mother Brain bellowed again, and the Metroids surrounding her let out their screeching sounds and floated around her.
"Not enough power to fight effectively," Samus said. "How much time?"
"Two and a half minutes," Iron Man said. "Maybe we can distract her," he indicated towards Mother Brain.
"We can try," Samus said with not much enthusiasm. Mother Brain walked passed Ultron's now still form, sucked dry by a Metroid, and turned her complete attention back towards Samus and Iron Man.
"Hunger," Mother Brain hissed. "Energy. You have interfered for the last time, bounty hunter!"
"Bingo," Samus said dryly. "Distraction granted."
"Gotta love supervillians sometimes," Iron Man said. "They like to talk." Samus smiled underneath her helmet.
"You can't win," Mother Brain continued. "Three times you thought to have destroyed my children, but three times they have persevered," she let out another roar. "Now I will feast upon your energy and the energy of your friend."
"Since when did I get involved in this?" Iron Man asked with a sarcastic sigh. Samus just glared at him. Iron Man looked at his console. One minute. Keep talking.
"Then why bring Ultron in to do your dirty work then if I'm who you wanted, Mother Brain?" Samus asked.
"Ultron was a convenient grunt for me while I was recovering," Mother Brain bellowed. "Something to be discarded when I was done with him!"
"Shall we tell her that Ultron said the same thing," Iron Man whispered to Samus.
"What, and ruin her ego trip?" Samus smirked.
"You're right, this is much more entertaining."
"Thought so. How much time?" A small green light shone on Iron Man's console, indicating that the transfer was done. "Perfect timing," Samus said with a grin. Iron Man disconnected the cable.
"Enough talk!" Mother Brain bellowed. "I have long awaited for the sweet taste of your energy, Samus Aran! I will now claim my prize!" Mother Brain reared her head back and shot forward a long blast of energy straight towards the two armored heroes. Each of them jumped to the side of the blast and hit the floor with a thud.
Iron Man rolled, and shot of a repulser blast straight at Mother Brain, hitting her body harmlessly.
"Great," Iron Man said sarcastically. Mother Brain bellowed again and the Metroids pulsed forward. Another bellow from Mother Brain sent the Metroids scattering back into the shadows. At least she called back the cavalry.
"Any ideas Iron Man?" Samus asked, pelting Mother Brain with plasma blasts. They hit with the same effect of Iron Man's repulsers. Okay Stark, time to use that brain of yours he thought to himself.
"I may be able to reroute the power from my flight systems to my weapons array, but it will leave me pretty drained and I can only guarantee one shot."
"That'll have to do," Samus said, still firing. "How long will that take?"
"Just a few minutes, can you keep the Queen Bitch distracted for a while?"
"Just watch me, Stark," Samus said. "I have something that can leave quite a mark," she said as she switched her weapon array from plasma beams.
"Go for it!" Iron Man said as he ran back into a corner and got to work.
* * *
"Hey, Mother Brain, got a present for ya!" Samus yelled as she let loose a volley of large missiles that hit Mother Brain square in the chest, large explosions lighting up the room. She's tougher than I remember Samus thought.
"Insolent whelp!" Mother Brain bellowed as she launched forward a jet of plasma fire straight towards Samus. The bounty hunter gracefully jumped and rolled out of the way into a crouch. She fired off another volley of super missiles, this time to Mother Brain's pulsating cranium. They hit square on the target and Mother Brain reeled back with a screech.
Samus fired again, but nothing happened. She looked at her gun arm and swore. She was out of super missiles and Mother Brain was still standing. Samus switched to the plasma beam and watched as Mother Brain walked forward, the pulsating brain glowing a bright myriad of color in the shadows. Samus fired off a stream of plasma shots at Mother Brain. Her hulking form still continued forward, shrugging off the beams.
Blast it Stark, what's taking so long?
Mother Brain stood in front of Samus, drooling on the ground, the brain still glowing. Samus' eyes went wide as she realized what Mother Brain was doing. Mother Brain let out a bellow.
"It ends now Samus," Mother Brain yelled. Samus stood her ground, sweat beading down her face. She glanced at her power gauge, grimacing when she saw that it was in red. Her teeth clenched, she put her other hand on her gun arm, and kept it level at Mother Brain. Looking back towards Mother Brain, she steeled herself and stood tall. Every second, every heartbeat dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. A flood of memories cam back to her, of the last time she fought Mother Brain. The same glowing brain and the wave of energy that nearly destroyed her, and did destroy the hatchling.
"It ends all right, Mother Brain," Samus said between clenched teeth. "Once and for all." Mother Brain bellowed and reared back, ready to attack. Samus tensed, and a blast of energy struck Mother Brain square in the face, knocking her to the ground. A large shriek arose from the staggering giant.
Samus caught her breath and looked over her shoulder. Iron Man stood there, gauntlet blasters pointed forward and still smoking from the blast. His red and gold armor was charred and smeared. She smiled.
"Miss me?" Iron Man asked.
"Perfect timing, shell-head," Samus said.
"Anytime," Iron Man said. "Shall we go look over our kill?"
"Yes," Samus said with ice in her voice. "I want to make sure she's dead this time."
Samus walked forward with Iron Man walking stiffly behind her. They walked up to the large reptilian body. It rose up and down slowly with breathing. Samus walked towards the bulbous head of Mother Brain. Drool drained out from around clenched, needle like teeth. The brain pulsated slowly, and an eye slowly opened. Samus lowered her gun arm towards Mother Brain's face.
"Samus," Mother Brain said weakly. My children, I have lost. I have failed you.
"Just thought you'd like to see your undertaker," the bounty hunter said as she plugged every missile that she had into the big bulbous head. One bellow of pain and the body was still. Iron Man walked up behind her. "It ends today," Samus said in a whisper.
"Samus?" Iron Man asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine, Iron Man," Samus said with a slight edge, and he removed it slowly. The two stood there in silence, watching the huge body that was once Mother Brain. A screeching from the shadows broke silence. Iron Man and Samus walked backwards from the body as they saw the swarm of Metroids come out and hover around the body.
Iron Man and Samus tensed wordlessly, readying what weapons each of them still had online, and silently waited their end. But the Metroids ignored the two armored heroes, and instead hovered almost mournfully around their Mother's body. Low screeching came out from the Metroids.
"We should go," Samus said.
"What about the Metroids?" Iron Man asked. "Aren't they dangerous?"
"Not any more, Stark," she said. "Not anymore." The two walked away from the body, back towards Samus' ship on the surface of Planet Zebes.
Epilogue:
Tony Stark stirred on his small bed in his ruffled bedclothes. Despite not having any sleep through his previous ordeals, the best he could manage was a restless half sleep. Images of Ultron, of Metroids, the Mother Brain and Samus darted through his head. Samus he thought. He saw an image of her in his head. Deep brown eyes and flowing brown hair streaming down her back. No! She's not ever from your own time! What are you thinking Stark!
The hiss of a door opening jarred him out of his thoughts and he opened his eyes suddenly. Samus Aran stood there in a red jumpsuit. Tony Stark looked around the tight cabin to get his bearings. It was a small, cramped cabin on Samus' ship. His own red and gold Iron Man armor stood in a corner.
"Samus," Iron Man said, squinting in even the dim lighting of the cabin. "What is it?"
"You told me to wake you when we reached Earth."
"We're there already!?" Stark exclaimed getting up. He stroked his chin and ran a hand through his messy hair.
"You were asleep for quite a while, Tony," Samus said.
"Don't you ever sleep?" He asked.
"Occasionally," she said with her typical grin. "Come on, I have some food waiting for you on the bridge."
"Sounds good," Stark said, listening to his growling stomach.
He followed Samus to her bridge, and looked out of the large viewscreen. In its center was the bright sphere of the planet Earth, but not the way that Tony Stark knew it. Space stations and freighters formed a ring around the planet.
"Earth's a busy place now," Iron Man said as he took a seat next to Samus. It is so different, I can't believe it!
"Much different that your boring Earth, isn't it?" Samus asked with a grin.
"Not much, deep down it still looks the same," Stark said. "No matter how many times I've seen it from space, it still awes me. Don't you ever miss being away from it?"
"Me? No. I never grew up there, so it's always just been another planet to me."
"Where did you grow up?" Stark asked.
"Long story," Samus said with a chuckle.
"There seem to be a lot of those," Stark said with a laugh. He and Samus both looked out of the viewscreen and stared at the planet for a few minutes, then Samus turned towards Stark.
"Ready?"
"Huh?" Stark asked. "Oh! About going back. Sure."
"Well then, let me say first off that it has been a pleasure serving with you Iron Man," Samus said. "Best of luck to you and take care," Samus extended her hand towards him.
"Likewise Samus, take care of yourself and try to stay out of trouble," Iron Man said, shaking her hand and the two of them laughed.
Samus brushed her hand over the black time travel device and the ship lurched forward through space and time once again.
* * *
Iron Man walked forward in his armor through the towering factories and buildings of Stark Enterprises. He checked his armor. All the smear marks and grime were wiped off and the armor gleamed as if new. Plus it was up to full power again, which always made Tony Stark smile.
"Tony!" Pepper yelled as she ran up to him. "What happened?" Iron Man looked back over his shoulder and saw Samus' ship fly off, just a small flash of light on the horizon. Take care Samus. Maybe we can see each other again.
"Nothing, false alarm," Iron Man said, not wanting to explain everything there. Maybe later. "The intruder just left after I got here."
"Left? That's weird."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Iron Man said as the two walked back towards his office.
* * *
Samus reclined in her seat, watching the vast emptiness of space float by. I can't believe that they survived all of that. All of what I did to them. But now Mother Brain is dead. I can be sure of that. But I was sure of that before as well. Twice.
She looked to where her armor stood in the corner when a beeping sound startled her. She looked towards the control panel and the intercom light was blinking. She flipped on the switch.
"Samus!" Gyllin's frail form appeared on the screen.
"Gyllin," Samus said. "What's up?"
"Are you done with my toy yet?" He asked in his raspy voice.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm done with it. We took care of Ultron."
"We? So you did bring back Tony Stark!" Gyllin started jumping up and down excitedly. "Why didn't you bring him by?"
"Hate to break this to you Gyllin, but I didn't bring back Stark," she lied.
"Then who did you bring back?"
"Iron Man," Samus said.
"Oh," Gyllin said a bit disappointed.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Stark is a pill anyway," Samus grinned to herself. "Why so anxious to get the time travel device back?"
"I want to use it. I just saw this excellent movie, Back to the Future, have heard of it?"
"Do I even want to now?" Samus asked in a bored tone.
"Probably not," Gyllin said with a smile. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your skulking or whatever it was you were doing."
"Thanks," Samus said dryly. "I'll get you the time travel device shortly."
"Okay, Gyllin out." The screen went black and Samus sighed. Her eyes drifted to the viewscreen and the brilliant nebula that filled it. What does it all mean? Why do we fight? What difference does it make? In the end we are all just shadows and dust. She looked back to her own red and gold armor. She smiled. Who knows, Tony Stark, we may yet meet again. Two people whose destinies are tied together by a suit of iron.
Well, here ends Suits of Iron! I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any comments/questions, feel free to ask!