Chapter 7: Sadness
Samus was staring down the clone of Ridley, knowing that either
one of them had only one hit left before either of them died.
She held her cannon arm toward the clone the entire standoff.
At how close it was to her, it could see right through the
visor. It saw her face, it saw the emotions that were written
all over her eyes. The clone leapt backward and stood upright.
"Do it." Samus looked at the clone, puzzled. It takes a step
forward. "I asked you to finish this. I saw your situation
also, and I could finish this battle just as well. Or are you
not willing to end the existence of the X, just as you had held
back on the Metroids?"
"I...shut up." Samus' voice quavered, this was the same Ridley
that she knew, yet he was not the same Ridley. He was a clone
of the X now. But why -couldn't- she bring herself to finish
this?
"Hmph. Then finish this so I don't say another word." He
takes two steps. "I have just one question, though...are you
willing to commit genocide to save your Federation again? You
had done this once before. So what is stopping you from doing
it now?"
"I...don't know. Ridley..." He takes three steps, and is a
claw swipe away from Samus. He raises his arm to swipe...
"Do it...or I will." He flinches and brings his arm down,
while Samus launches a Super Missile at the clone's head and
jumps back to avoid the claws of Ridley's attack. She
watches the body slump to the ground and reform into a Core-X.
"...Ridley...why...? How did the X get to you?" Samus weakens
the Core-X and absorbs it. Tears had streamed down her face as
she ran to the nearest Navigation Room to speak to Adam.
"? Oh. So you managed to return. I have been ordered to keep
you in containment until the Federation's deployment has arrived."
"WHAT?! You can't do that! Can you imagine what would happen to
them? What would be worth the trouble?!"
"Catching the SA-X, of course."
"You saw what it can do, and even what the X can do. Please! Let
me stop it!"
"I cannot do that." Samus paced around, thinking about what the
stipulations of letting the Federation get infected with the X would
be.
"Let me out."
"? I cannot do that."
"Then activate the self-destruct sequence. Destroy the station and
all the X aboard it."
"And what would you do?" Samus pounded on the panel.
"Adam! Do it!"
"...Adam? Who is Adam?"
"He was...my CO."
"And what did he do? Sit comfortably in his office and give you
dangerous orders? Or did he risk his life for you, just so you
could throw it away later?" Samus' face contorted in shock.
"How would you understand, machine?!"
"How foolish..." Samus looked at the monitor. The purple lens-
like eye displayed on it shifted slightly. "If you were to adjust
the station's orbit and make it collide with SR388, you just might
destroy them all." She blinked, an extra wave of shock added to the
last. "You are to head to the Operations Room and use the controls
there. That's an order. Any objections, Lady?" Samus shook her
head and darted out the door, not knowing about the next battles ahead.
---------------------
Houston could actually believe that Ridley became a casualty.
He had over-reacted worse than Keaton, either out of his own
excitement, or something about his worry finally snapped. He
had always been worried about Samus since her mission to
destroy the X on Chauda. She had to go alone, and what
happened to her last time was unsettling. She was attacked
by an X the last time she went alone. She could have died
that time. Ridley didn't want that to happen again.
He probably didn't want to admit it, but he had harbored a
sense of caring for both Samus and Houston since that one
attack that separated them both. He knew where both were,
always. And Mother Brain always gave Ridley brownie points
for being such an 'active pirate'. True he was bad, cunning,
and the most on-duty of them all at the time, but he had spent
a lot more of his away time playing 'guardian angel' to
Gul'Gen even when he was a pirate. Houston was almost totally
safe from pirates, nested deep inside the Federation. But
Samus and Gul'Gen were another story, being in the sector that
Mother Brain controlled.
Houston had to cook up a funeral speech for Ridley. Yet he
had time. They weren't holding the funeral until Samus could
attend. He wasn't as emotionally panged as Samus was, but
he still hurt.
'A pirate that had begun his course of redemption by saving the
brother of a famous bounty hunter, by watching over the one
who raised that one bounty hunter to the strength and talent
that made her famous, and after his ties to evil all but broke,
he began to make headway on his path to becoming a hero himself.
His legacy short and his name still persecuted by some, he was
still beside us as one of the Federation since the battle
against the Kihunters.'
"Aw, who am I kidding? This kind of stuff is Hardy's
department, or Keaton's...nah. Can't count on Keaton to give
him a funeral speech. He'll just say a few derogatory words and
leave the podium." Houston really thought of Ridley as a
headache now. First by stressing him out, and now by having to
think of an elaborate speech for a dead dragon. Not to say that
he was dumb, but he hated concocting speeches, and hated having
to present them even more. He always messed up somewhere.
-----------------------
Ridley woke up and looked around. He didn't exactly remember
what happened last, he felt like he was drifting after walking
inside of a cold chamber. Drifting? His instinctual astral
separation. Now he remembered. He was attacked by an X, and...
and...froze to death. But why was he still alive? Where was he?
He couldn't possibly still be alive in this universe unless...there
was another body for him. He looked down at himself, perplexed at
what he was seeing...something he couldn't believe he was seeing.
Human hands. He was cloned into a human.
Samus was staring down the clone of Ridley, knowing that either
one of them had only one hit left before either of them died.
She held her cannon arm toward the clone the entire standoff.
At how close it was to her, it could see right through the
visor. It saw her face, it saw the emotions that were written
all over her eyes. The clone leapt backward and stood upright.
"Do it." Samus looked at the clone, puzzled. It takes a step
forward. "I asked you to finish this. I saw your situation
also, and I could finish this battle just as well. Or are you
not willing to end the existence of the X, just as you had held
back on the Metroids?"
"I...shut up." Samus' voice quavered, this was the same Ridley
that she knew, yet he was not the same Ridley. He was a clone
of the X now. But why -couldn't- she bring herself to finish
this?
"Hmph. Then finish this so I don't say another word." He
takes two steps. "I have just one question, though...are you
willing to commit genocide to save your Federation again? You
had done this once before. So what is stopping you from doing
it now?"
"I...don't know. Ridley..." He takes three steps, and is a
claw swipe away from Samus. He raises his arm to swipe...
"Do it...or I will." He flinches and brings his arm down,
while Samus launches a Super Missile at the clone's head and
jumps back to avoid the claws of Ridley's attack. She
watches the body slump to the ground and reform into a Core-X.
"...Ridley...why...? How did the X get to you?" Samus weakens
the Core-X and absorbs it. Tears had streamed down her face as
she ran to the nearest Navigation Room to speak to Adam.
"? Oh. So you managed to return. I have been ordered to keep
you in containment until the Federation's deployment has arrived."
"WHAT?! You can't do that! Can you imagine what would happen to
them? What would be worth the trouble?!"
"Catching the SA-X, of course."
"You saw what it can do, and even what the X can do. Please! Let
me stop it!"
"I cannot do that." Samus paced around, thinking about what the
stipulations of letting the Federation get infected with the X would
be.
"Let me out."
"? I cannot do that."
"Then activate the self-destruct sequence. Destroy the station and
all the X aboard it."
"And what would you do?" Samus pounded on the panel.
"Adam! Do it!"
"...Adam? Who is Adam?"
"He was...my CO."
"And what did he do? Sit comfortably in his office and give you
dangerous orders? Or did he risk his life for you, just so you
could throw it away later?" Samus' face contorted in shock.
"How would you understand, machine?!"
"How foolish..." Samus looked at the monitor. The purple lens-
like eye displayed on it shifted slightly. "If you were to adjust
the station's orbit and make it collide with SR388, you just might
destroy them all." She blinked, an extra wave of shock added to the
last. "You are to head to the Operations Room and use the controls
there. That's an order. Any objections, Lady?" Samus shook her
head and darted out the door, not knowing about the next battles ahead.
---------------------
Houston could actually believe that Ridley became a casualty.
He had over-reacted worse than Keaton, either out of his own
excitement, or something about his worry finally snapped. He
had always been worried about Samus since her mission to
destroy the X on Chauda. She had to go alone, and what
happened to her last time was unsettling. She was attacked
by an X the last time she went alone. She could have died
that time. Ridley didn't want that to happen again.
He probably didn't want to admit it, but he had harbored a
sense of caring for both Samus and Houston since that one
attack that separated them both. He knew where both were,
always. And Mother Brain always gave Ridley brownie points
for being such an 'active pirate'. True he was bad, cunning,
and the most on-duty of them all at the time, but he had spent
a lot more of his away time playing 'guardian angel' to
Gul'Gen even when he was a pirate. Houston was almost totally
safe from pirates, nested deep inside the Federation. But
Samus and Gul'Gen were another story, being in the sector that
Mother Brain controlled.
Houston had to cook up a funeral speech for Ridley. Yet he
had time. They weren't holding the funeral until Samus could
attend. He wasn't as emotionally panged as Samus was, but
he still hurt.
'A pirate that had begun his course of redemption by saving the
brother of a famous bounty hunter, by watching over the one
who raised that one bounty hunter to the strength and talent
that made her famous, and after his ties to evil all but broke,
he began to make headway on his path to becoming a hero himself.
His legacy short and his name still persecuted by some, he was
still beside us as one of the Federation since the battle
against the Kihunters.'
"Aw, who am I kidding? This kind of stuff is Hardy's
department, or Keaton's...nah. Can't count on Keaton to give
him a funeral speech. He'll just say a few derogatory words and
leave the podium." Houston really thought of Ridley as a
headache now. First by stressing him out, and now by having to
think of an elaborate speech for a dead dragon. Not to say that
he was dumb, but he hated concocting speeches, and hated having
to present them even more. He always messed up somewhere.
-----------------------
Ridley woke up and looked around. He didn't exactly remember
what happened last, he felt like he was drifting after walking
inside of a cold chamber. Drifting? His instinctual astral
separation. Now he remembered. He was attacked by an X, and...
and...froze to death. But why was he still alive? Where was he?
He couldn't possibly still be alive in this universe unless...there
was another body for him. He looked down at himself, perplexed at
what he was seeing...something he couldn't believe he was seeing.
Human hands. He was cloned into a human.