Ghost Assassin Part 3
Disclaimer: Ghost Assassin belongs to James_Sate, Metroid belongs to Nintendo..Yeah
Ghost
She arrived at the engine room, it was concealed behind two large doors, much like a bank vault.
"I shouldn't be heard down here, and a little brute force never hurt anyone, well." Samus mused to herself as she pulled the jewel out from her pocket.
She placed it on her left hand and closed her eyes. The jewel began to glow again first blue, than orange as it began to melt into her skin. It spread across her entire body, enveloping her in an orange film. It stopped spreading and began to harden. Layer after layer it became thicker and harder. It built up at the shoulders and spiked at the knees. Finally, her right arm warped into a large cylinder that split at the end, and turned into her cannon. She opened her eyes just as her transformation ended. She shivered, she had not felt the coldness of her armour in a long time, and it was both familiar and strange. She wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. She braced herself and placed her hand on the cannon. Jagged streaks of electricity sprang from the gun and dove towards the opening. Inside it began to glow brightly, like the core of a sun. Brighter and more intense the light became until finally Samus let go. The orb screamed out of her cannon and hammered the door. It bore into the metal, melting it away like butter. Just as it broke though it dissipated and electrical charges ran all over the door and walls.
"Hmm, another second longer and I might have blown a hole through the damn hull," Samus thought as she eyed the large hole she just created. She hopped through and looked at the massive networking of pipes and engines. She would need to find a pressure valve to turn off fuel to the engines. She paced around looking for anything resembling a switch, but to no avail. She jumped on top of the engines and sprung from one to another, she had to find it fast, before she was noticed. Just about ready to blow the crap out of the engines entirely she saw the switch in between two engines.
"Man, they do not want the engines off," Samus peered down in between the engines. She stood up, lined her cannon up with the valve and fired. A long, blue cord shot out from the end of the gun and snaked its way in between the pipes. She focused on the cord and it erupted into a blue fire that caused it to become immediately magnetised. With a perfect aim that Samus had become so good at over the years it latched on the valve and Samus gave a hard yank. The valve gave way and the ship's engines began to shut down.
"Wow, that was fast," Samus said out loud as she retracted her cord. She bounded across the engines and back to the door. Once outside she once again closed her eyes and focused on the jewel. Her suit liquefied and was sucked back into the crystal. She felt relieved, although she had only worn the suit for a few minutes, it still made her skin crawl. Something unnerved her every time she put it on.
"Probably take a few minutes for them to mobilize and get down here, I should be on my way," Samus ran up the stairs and kept going until she reached the eighth floor. She ran back to her room, never taking a second to catch her breath. She ignored Kevin and hid behind the door. She heard a thunder of footsteps. The army of miners was running down to the engine room. One ran past her room and took a quick look as he leaned inside Samus reached out and broke his neck.
"Need this, sorry," she said as she dragged him into the room and stripped his uniform off. Moments later a "male" Samus came out of the room. She adjusted her hat and ran after the group. She caught up with them as they reached the engine room.
"What the hell happened here?" one of the soldiers asked staring at the gaping.
"Holy shit!" another gasped.
G.C. walked up to the hole and ran his fingers along the edge of the hole.
"Hmmm, melted. Ms. Aran I presume," he mused as he kept stroking the door.
"I want a full perimeter run; if you find Miss Aran, kill her on site. And make sure she's dies this time, got it! I need a team in there getting that engine running again," he said wheeling around.
"Sir, yes sir!" she said keeping her head down.
"Move out everyone!" he said running back up the stairs himself. Samus wiped a trickle of sweat from her brow and ran up the stairs with everyone else. As the group began to peal off and head down different halls, she held back and hid behind a bulkhead. When everyone was gone she walked out slowly and walked towards the helm room. Two very large men guarded the door.
"Personal bodyguards eh G.C.?" she said slowly walking towards them.
"Halt!! State your purpose soldier," the one on the right barked as he noticed Samus approaching.
"I was just heading in there to kill G.C.," she said very nonchalantly.
"Eh, what the hell did you just say?" the other one said pointing his gun at her.
"You heard me," she said as she looked up at him. She grinned as he saw his eyes light up.
"Wait a second, you're that chick everyone's looking for," he said lifting his gun up to fire.
"I hate being called chick," she said as she flipped backwards kicking his gun up to smack him in the face. Temporarily stunned his partner pointed his gun at Samus as she landed. She dropped low and uppercut him in the jaw. He was out cold and the other one shook off his daze just as Samus flying round housed him in the neck. "Male chauvinistic bastard."
She grabbed the key card off of the first guard and swiped it in the door with a hiss of pressurised air. She cautiously stepped in only to find the room empty.
"What the hell?" she murmured as she looked around. The room was completely devoid of anyone.
"There you are Samus. I thought you'd gotten away from us. I figured you'd stop by the helm room so I decided to be else where, but please enjoy the company of my pet. You will have to excuse his manner though, as he hasn't eaten in days," it was G.C. over the COM system.
"Pet? Wha." Samus said as she looked around and saw nothing, but than she noticed a console twitch. The entire console twisted and stretched out to reveal a large chameleon like creature. It had a long narrow head and beady snake like eyes. It hissed and flicked its tale as it slowly turned from the console into a greenish brown colour.
"Oh shit," was all Samus managed to get out before the thing lunged at her. She dove out of the way and slid behind another row of consoles. She braced herself against the system and pulled out the blue jewel. She once again placed it on her left hand. When the chameleon looked over the console it didn't see Samus anywhere and twisted its head from left to right looking for her.
Samus jumped up hitting the beast with her shoulder in the jaw. It recoiled back and once again disappeared as it ran to a wall. She had managed to get her suit on and had also turned on her cloaking. It was going to be a deadly game of hide and go seek. Samus stood up and her system flickered briefly to show her in her armour.
She mentally turned on her motion sensor and scanned the room. She couldn't see the creature, but she knew it was in there. Just then the beast swung down from the ceiling right in front of Samus and knocked her over with a swipe of its rather large, yet flat hand. Samus crumpled and was temporarily dazed.
"Fuck, that would have knocked my head off if not for the suit," Samus said shaking her head. She got it together only to realise that her motion sensor wasn't working. "That clever son of a bitch!"
She quickly got up and smacked her helmet few times, nothing. The thing had smashed the view control system (VCS). Samus was now blind to this camouflaged threat, and she didn't like it.
"It", unbeknownst to Samus had crept up right behind her and reared up on its hind legs. It slowly, but quietly brought its massive jaw down over the frustrated Samus.
"Boom," Samus said as she casually stuck her cannon against its middle. Her VCS might have not been working, but every sensor in her helmet was screaming a proximity warning. She fired a sizzling shot right into its midriff and blew the thing against the bulkhead. It screeched and flailed about as the burning orb bore its way into the creature's stomach. After a few seconds it rolled out of the way, smoking and enraged.
"Tough bastard aren't you!" Samus yelled at the thing as it circled Samus around the consoles. It had rage in its eyes and snipped at Samus whenever she got too close, than it hit her.
"Of course," Samus chuckled at herself, as she had not thought of it before. She clenched her left hand and it began to glow. The creature stopped and looked at her hand in curiosity. When she opened it she held a small glowing orb. As she wound up her throw she stuck her cannon out to the right and fired just as she threw the orb. The creature easily dodged whatever it was the Samus had thrown at her, but than looked at Samus as her grappling hook launched out from her hand and burst into a blue flame just as the bomb she had thrown blew out the entire front window. Her hook latched onto the wall as the entire helm was sucked out into the vacuum of space. The creature was sucked out immediately and its last breaths were screams. Samus was knocked about as consoles were ripped from their foundations and launched out into space. When the entire room was filled with the vacuum, Samus released her hook and floated to the door. She opened it quickly and shut it fast as the vacuum began to fill in the hall. The two guards were sucked out before Samus could shut the door. She leaned against the closed door and breathed heavily. She decided that she would remain in her suit until she was done with Merc.
"No doubt Merc will be sending more men," she thought as she caught her breath and started to walk down the halls to the ballroom. Samus figured it was the right place to go next. When she got to her room she checked in on Kevin. He wasn't on the couch where she left him. Samus looked around and couldn't see him in the room; he was gone.
She ran out of her room just as ten soldiers rounded the corner at the far end. The noticed Samus and raised their rifles.
"Halt!" one of them yelled. Samus just smiled and ran at them. She became a streaking blue blur as she charged at them. The leader hollered, "Fire!"
Their shots bounced off Samus like pellets and only made her run harder. When Samus was about twenty metres from them she jumped into the air a little and balled herself up. Her body became liquefied as it became encapsulated in her balled armour. She screamed through the air like a meteor and hit the first soldier knocking him against the wall, dead. She, in mid flight reformed and clothes lined two more soldiers breaking their necks. When she came to a stop she had gone right through the group and landed behind them. Stunned, they turned around and opened fire just a Samus dove out of the way down the hall they came from. In her dodge she turned around and launched her cable that hit another soldier in the face. She slowly got up just as she pulled her cord back, but didn't retract it instead she left it out like a whip. Four down, six to go. They all rounded the corner and opened fire on her. She tried to dodge again, but took a hit in the leg causing her to spin around awkwardly. Her whip dragged against the wall and left a massive gouge in it. The soldiers seeing that she was down cautiously crept towards her motionless body. One rolled her over with his gun, but he noticed that her hand was clenched, and glowing. They all leaned over to see what it was. Samus smiled.
Merc felt the ship shake again as another of Samus's mines went off.
"How fucking hard is it to kill her?" Merc asked a soldier coldly.
"We are trying sir, but she seems to be behaving oddly," he said cautiously.
"What do you mean oddly," G.C. asked leaning over to peer at the soldier.
"Uh, well sir she appears to be moving more methodically than expected. She is moving in a sweep pattern around the halls, and we never see her coming. It seems as though she is purposely wasting time," he said.
Merc laughed callously and pointed at the soldier. "If you don't bring her head in here within ten minutes, I will personally stuff you in a suitcase and throw you out into space, got that soldier?"
"Sir, yes sir," he said shakily. He motioned to twenty soldiers and silently gestured for them to lock and load. They all cocked their guns, and left the room. Merc grabbed his mike for the COM system.
"Samus, it would seem as though we've had a change of plans. I now give you an ultimatum. Hand yourself over, or I may just have to use your friend as the first example of things to come. A shame too, he looks like I did when I was young," Merc said as he shut off the mike and wheeled around to look at Kevin, who still slept, but was tied to a chair.
A long time ago
Samus sneaked around the halls completely silent. When she was encountered by a group of soldiers she quickly dispatched of them, receiving minimal injuries. So far she had minor fractures to her suit's torso as well as on her leg and her gun was totally overheated, but other than she was only scratched. When the latest armada came tromping around the corner, Samus released the cord and made it run stiff. She held it at her side, like a samurai preparing to attack. She charged forward as the soldiers opened fire. Her suit took many hits and she was badly damaged, but she kept charging.
"Die you bastards!" Samus screamed as she charged right into the group and became hacking and cleaving away at them. When she was finished her suit was covered in blood and she was breathing heavily. Her suit was seriously damaged and was close to shutting down. She put the suit away in the jewel and took a minute to collect her thoughts as she stared at the jewel in her hand. She had killed many already, more than she had hoped, but it was necessary in order for her to be successful with the remainder of her plan. When she was in that armour she lost all thought of remorse, or sadness. She became a cold killer and almost delighted in her work. Her adopted parents gave her the jewel as a child. Her foster parents were the Chozo. She was orphaned as a child when her parents were killed by Space Pirates. Samus was alone in that colony for months. It was labelled as a derelict and was left for future colonisation if necessary. She ate what little food was left, and wandered the barren halls alone. One day (or evening she was never really sure) an odd spacecraft began to dock on her space colony. Samus quickly hid, frightened that it was the pirates coming back to look for her. Instead it was an odd race of bird-headed aliens. They never spoke, and moved slowly as though each step were carefully calculated. Samus watched them from the shadows as the examined her colony and sifted through the files in its database. When they reached her room and began to sort through her belongings she became angry and ran out of hiding.
"Leave my stuff alone!" Samus yelled in defiance as she stood before these six and a half feet monsters. They looked at her quizzically and than at each other. Samus just stood there with her arms spread protecting her stuff. One of them leaned forward and touched Samus's forehead.
"We apologise for our intrusion," it said this through telepathy. Samus was shocked.
"Who, I mean.who are you?" Samus asked through telepathy herself. The creatures looked puzzled. "What?"
"We have yet to meet another race capable of using telepathy, or learning so quickly," the apparent leader said.
"Really, it wasn't really all that difficult," Samus said looking up at them.
"In answer to your question, we are the Chozo, please tell us your name," the leader asked putting a talon like hand on her shoulder.
"I'm Samus, Samus Aran," she said slowly as she looked at its hand.
"Samus, you are very special, would you please come with us?" he asked gesturing towards the doorway.
"Uh, ok why?" she asked hesitantly.
"Because you are interest us, and we would like to learn more about your people," it said as it led her out to the docking bay. They boarded their ship and took off. Samus looked around at all of the Chozos that sat motionlessly in the ship that seemed to fly itself, without any piloting or navigation at all.
When they got near a planet it slowed down and began a decent. The doors opened to reveal a very organic world, seemingly primitive.
"What is this place?" Samus asked as she looked around in amazement.
"This is our home, Ainumaria, we are a race that strives knows all and have over aeons slowly started to die out. Our intelligence has limited our need for knowledge and knowledge is the foundation of life. Without a need to learn, there is no reason to live. We, in order to preserve ourselves have begun to place ourselves in stasis until the universe once again needs to restart and be re-taught," he said as they waked towards a large temple. It was a simple stone temple that looked almost ancient. When they reached the top, a single blue jewel was embedded in the altar in the temple.
"This is what we keep our knowledge in. We transform it into an energy that is then kept inside. All of our people have one, except this one has been somewhat of an extra," an advisor said beside Samus. "The reason we called you here is because we believe that this stone would be best used by you."
"Me?" Samus asked as she walked up to the stone. She reached out to touch it and it sparkled in her presence.
"It has accepted her," the advisor whispered to the leader. Samus touched it and it liquefied. She looked back at the Chozo, than at her hand, which was covered in a blue, sludge that kept growing. She tried to run, but it held her back and covered he entire arm. As it slid its way across her body it began to turn orange and translucent. When it was done she was covered in the film that began to harden like a cocoon. When it dried, Samus was clad in orange armour that looked very much like what the Chozo were wearing.
"I can't breathe in here," Samus screamed through the suit.
"Stop fighting it, just become Varia," the leader said as he looked on.
"Varia?" she asked relaxing a little.
"Varia is the name of the suit you wear Samus, and it is the name of our Goddess," the leader said as he lowered to one knee. The others followed in suit as she looked around at them. They were bowing to her. When they arose, they gestured for Samus to follow them. They went down the stairs and Samus found it extremely easy. She felt as light as air. Just for fun she skipped down two stairs and jumped. To her surprise and the Chozo's she flew off and launched through the air. She began to come down and landed at the end of the stairs, a drop well over a hundred feet. The Chozo hurried down to check on her.
"What happened?" the advisor asked as he ran up to Samus.
"I don't know, I just sort of took of," Samus said as she looked at the suit. It was then that she noticed that her right arm was different than her left. She looked it over and pointed it instinctually up into the sky. When she focused on the gun it began to glow. The Chozo looked on in amazement. She kept focusing and focusing as the gun glowed brighter and brighter. She suddenly sneezed and the gun split open quickly and a massive orb, well over fifteen feet in diameter took off into the sky, splitting the clouds. Samus was pressed into the ground about 6 inches as she pulled her gun down and stared at it. "Whoa!"
So her life with the Chozo began. She lived with them for over ten years, studying about their culture and learning about their customs. She remained in the suit the entire time and in turn grew quickly. She was at five feet by nine and at six feet by twelve. When she was old enough, the Chozo gave her one of their ships and bade her farewell as she was off on her own to learn and become the true Chozo goddess, Varia. Her life began here, but it was difficult. She grew weary of simple learning and wished to experience things for herself. It was then that she took on the job for the Galactic Federation. Her experience with the metroids was really more of a learning experience than anything else. When she lived in that suit, it began to change her, physically and emotionally. Her physiology became more like that of the Chozo, tall and powerful and her weight became heavier in order to compensate for her light weight in the suit. She became aggressive, and also much more intelligent. When that metroid saved her life it also changed her. Her body became more durable and her strength increased without the suit. She slowly became what the Chozo had asked of her. She became Varia.
Touchdown
When Samus was all rested up she shoved the jewel into her pocket and walked towards the ballroom. Four guards stood in front of the door and looked at her surprised. She walked towards them in surrender. They grabbed her quickly and hustled her into the ballroom. She was brought before G.C.
"What are you doing?" he asked the guards.
"Uh, she surrendered sir," one guard said nervously.
"You fool! She was tricking you." he said as he saw Samus smile. She easily got loose from the guards' grasp and grabbed two rifles from them. She shot the guards beside her and pointed both barrels right into G.C.'s face. She looked around the guns and grinned.
"I really don't need much of a reason to blow your fucking head off right now, you've given me plenty," she said with a cold subtlety.
"Calm down Samus," Merc said as he tilted his head over at Kevin. Samus looked over at the sleeping Kevin, than back at Merc.
"G.C. you call yourself a man, you would kill women and sleeping children?" Samus said vehemently.
"You, Ms. Aran, ordinary woman," G.C. smirked.
"No shit!" Samus said as she pointed one gun at his head, and another at Kevin. She fired four shots at Kevin and blew away the chair he was on. He fell to the ground, hit his head and woke up.
"Ow that hurt, oh, hi Sam what's going on?" Kevin said as he looked around at everyone.
"Kevin, come here," Samus said as she pointed a gun at the soldier beside Kevin. Kevin walked over beside Samus and clutched her leg. She brought the other gun back to point at Merc.
"Well, I really should kill you, but I won't," Samus said as she saw the fear wash off of Merc. She handed Kevin a rifle "Kevin, hold this and if he blinks shoot him."
She grabbed her jewel and placed it on her hand. Quickly her suit went on and she held the cannon up to Merc. His eyes went wide with fear. Samus began to charge up a shot that made the room run cold. Frost surrounded the floor around her, and her cannon turned blue. Her gun had frost and ice well up inside it as her arm expanded and quivered. She fired it right into Merc's face and he froze solid. When soldiers ran to his aid, she held op her cannon as well as a rifle.
"Back off!" she yelled at them. "I'm running things now got it?"
The soldiers looked at each other than back at Samus.
"What do you want?" one asked stepping forward.
"First, get the engines going; secondly take G.C. here down to the storage room and put him in the freezer. When the ship is going and Merc is away, wake everyone up and get this ship back on its way to C-421, I have an important appointment, and I really would like to make it. Is that clear!" she asked as she pointed at soldiers giving out commands.
"And if we refuse?" another soldier asked. Samus just walked up to him and held her cannon right up to his face and leaned up to whisper in his ear.
"Than I guess you'll have to start looking for a new head," Samus said as she put down her cannon and walked away. He nearly wet himself as he began to bark out orders to the soldiers and they scrambled everywhere. When things seemed to be moving she knelt down beside Kevin. "You ok bud?"
"Yeah," Kevin said. He looked rather odd holding a rifle taller than he was. Samus put down her rifle and took his away and put it down also. She stood up and destroyed both guns with a shot from her cannon. When she felt the ship lurch and watched as Merc was slid out she motioned for another soldier to come over.
"When everything is done, I want you to throw all of your guns out of the ship. Than head back to you rooms and act like nothing ever happened ok, tell everyone else."
"Uh yes ma'am, but why let us go?" he asked looking at her both frightened and curious.
"I don't think what you were doing was right, but I won't hold it against you. I know how it feels to get screwed around with," Samus sighed. The soldier nodded, smiled and left the room.
All of the guns were thrown out into space and the soldiers went back to their rooms. An anti gas was pumped through the ducts and everyone began to rise from their slumber, totally unaware as to what had happened. Samus went back to her room with Kevin. She took off her suit and looked at the jewel.
"Go to bed Kevin, I am too ok," Samus said as she walked back to her bedroom.
"But Sam, I ain't tired," he complained.
"Fake it," Samus pointed at Kevin and went to bed herself. She was exhausted and slept for the remainder of the trip. Pity the Rich
When they arrived at C-421, Samus was awakened by Kevin who was bouncing around the room, as hyper as ever.
"Kevin pipe down I'm sleeping," she moaned out from the bedroom.
"But Sam, look at the shiny city," Kevin said running into the bedroom.
"City," Samus was a little confused and still very tired. "You mean we're here?"
"Where?" Kevin asked scratching his head.
"Never mind," Samus said as she got up and went to the window. It was a the largest city Samus had ever seen. She went to her room and got dressed. She decided that she ought to look somewhat presentable, so she put her hair up with a metal dowel and applied a little makeup. The ship docked and Samus got off. She was greeted by a limousine and a woman in a black business suit.
"Ms. Aran?" she asked as Samus walked down the platform, Kevin tagged along behind.
"Yes?" she asked as she as she put down her bags and shook her hand.
"I'm Meryl Vista, Mr. Herin's secretary, please come with me," she said in a very cheery yet official voice. Samus went for her bags, but they were already put in the back of the limo. Just before she got in the limo she quickly ran over to the flight attendant on the platform who was checking off names on her list. Kevin stayed with Meryl and looked up at her, she smiled and Kevin waved back.
"Hey," Samus called out as the attendant turned around. "I heard someone mention something about a body in the storage freezer. You may want to go check that out."
"What?!" the attendant first looked at Samus incredulously, than ran into the ship
"There we go," Samus grinned as she and Kevin got into the limo and it lifted off and flew towards a massive building that dwarfed all others in the area.
"We really appreciate this, Ms. Aran. Mr. Herin is as you know a very wealthy man and has more money than an entire planet could ever spend, but he has been under attack recently," the secretary said as she sat across from Samus. Kevin was pressed up against the window trying to absorb all of C-421's wonders.
"Call me Samus, what kind of attacks," Samus said grabbing a beer from the mini bar and twisting it open. It was not a twist off. The secretary looked at her in utter disbelief, than shook it off.
"Mr. Herin has had numerous attempts of assassination on his life, three within the month," the secretary said looking at her clipboard.
"I see, than why call me? I am a bounty hunter, not a bodyguard," Samus said after taking a swig from her beer.
"Because Samus, this assassin is far more advanced than any we have ever encountered. Normally we would capture him or her and interrogate them as to their buyer and motives, but this one is a little different. It pops out of nowhere and disappears without a trace. Mr. Herin has been shot twice, but not fatally. And the most interesting thing is that the person has a suit very similar to yours," she said as she held up an image of Samus's suit. Samus nearly choked on her beer.
"What, another suit?" Samus said as she leaned forwards.
"Yes, we have not been able to get any decent pictures yet, but it is very much like yours, except blue, and much broader in the shoulders and hips," Meryl said as she looked back at her clipboard. "What we need you to do is hunt down this "ghost" and bring it back to us."
Samus leaned back in her chair and poked Kevin in the back while thinking.
"That tickles Sam," Kevin said twitching and laughing.
"How much," Samus asked looking out the window.
"However much you need, if you manage to pull it off Mr. Herin will be very grateful," Meryl said putting the clipboard aside. They landed on top of the Herin Enterprise building and they all got out. There was a very distinguished man on the landing pad. He had silver hair and a constant five o'clock shadow. He was short, and had a little paunch on him, but seemed to be in good shape. He was Mr. Herin, the richest man in the Taurus system, and also the most powerful.
"Samus, a pleasure to meet you," he beamed as she walked over to him and they shook hands. He knelt down in front of Kevin and shook his hand. "And who is this fine young gentleman?"
"Hi, I'm Kevin," he said as he smiled and shook Herin's hand dramatically.
"Well hello Kevin, are you staying with Samus?" he asked looking over at Samus who just looked away.
"Uh huh, she is taking me on a vacation," he said jamming his thumb towards himself.
"Well, that's very nice of her," Herin said as he stood back up and smiled at Samus. "Well, we really must head inside, this building catches a terrible updraft and things get far too chilly up here."
Herin ushered Kevin and Samus inside to a large elevator. Meryl and the chauffeur also came in with her bags.
"Have you been briefed?" Mr. Herin said as he looked at Meryl.
"Yes, Ms. Vista has informed me entirely," Samus said looking over at Meryl who just nodded. "So, for a man who has been shot, you seem rather cheery."
"Yes, well my doctors have worked wonders," he chuckled. He rolled back his sleeve to reveal to large burn marks. Samus quickly grabbed his arm and examined the marks closely.
"This is from my gun," Samus said perplexed.
"No, Ms. Aran, it is from another suit, very similar to yours," Mr. Herin said pulling back and rolling his sleeve down. "I have studied you for some time now, all of your missions and everything about you," Herin said patting Samus on the back.
"Wow, I feel so violated," Samus said sarcastically.
"Hence the room number right?"
"Oh yes, 388 a little joke, please accept my apologies," Mr. Herin said chuckling a little.
"Yeah, no problem," Samus said as they stepped out of the elevator into a large hall.
"Now, if it is ok with you, I would ask that you please begin your job immediately," Mr. Herin said as they strolled down the hall. Workers bustled about everywhere and two janitors were washing the floor.
"Wait a second, first I would like you to take Kevin to my room and than I will start," she said as she stopped in front of Herin.
"Of course, Meryl would you please guide Master Kevin to his room, Samus has work," Herin said without even looking at Meryl.
"But Sam, I wanna stay with you," Kevin pleaded.
"'Fraid not bud, I have work to do," Samus said shaking her head. "Just go with Meryl to our room ok."
"Ok," he said dejectedly as Meryl grabbed his hand and they walked towards the elevator.
"Excuse me Mr. Herin?" the janitor said as he walked over to Mr. Herin.
"Yes," Mr. Herin asked looking around Samus. The janitor said nothing; rather he pulled a gun out of his utility belt and pointed it at Mr. Herin. Before he could fire, Samus casually grabbed is arm and twisted in an odd angle than let go. The janitor dropped the gun and stepped back a little than screamed.
"My arm you broke my fucking arm!" he said as he dropped to his knees. Mr. Herin began to laugh.
"Very well done Samus, you immobilised him in less than three seconds," Mr. Herin said as a group of guards swarmed around the janitor. "This is my personal body guard, Jenero."
Jenero waved and grimaced as he was carried away.
"A test," Samus mumbled as she waved back a little at Jenero.
"Yes, I just need to check your reflexes. Don't worry about Jenero, he has already broken every bone in his body, and my doctors are the best in the galaxy," Herin smiled as they continued into his office. The guards standing outside opened two large steel doors in front of his office. They opened to reveal a large office, devoid of any furniture save for a massive desk, a luxurious chair and too smaller chairs in front of the desk. Mr. Herin walked over to his desk and sat down. Upon sitting down, his whole office came to life, panels slide down, keyboards and monitors appeared everywhere and even Mr. Herin seemed to be more business like than before.
"Samus, please," Herin said as he gestured towards a chair. Samus walked over to it as she observed the room and sat down. "Like you were told, someone exceedingly dangerous is after me. It is my personal belief that only you can stop it. It is wearing a suit of armour very similar to yours, but we believe it to be a male model, hence the broader shoulders and hips. We would appreciate any information you can give us on your suit."
"No," Samus said flatly.
"No?" Herin asked a little confused.
"No, this suit's little secrets are what makes me so efficient" Samus said as she held out the crystal.
"Is that it there" Mr. Herin said leaning forward.
"Yes," Samus said sliding it towards Herin. Herin went to touch it. "Careful, it doesn't like being touched."
"Surely you jest Samus, it is mere suit of armour, it can't like or dislike anything," Herin said, but still pulled his hand away just to be safe. Samus grabbed the jewel and put it back in her pocket.
"I will tell you everything I feel you need to know under one circumstance," Samus said leaning on his desk.
"And what is that Ms. Aran," Herin said in a sugary sweet attitude.
"I get to talk to the assassin first, plus I get his armour," Samus said looking pensively at her fingernails than at Herin.
"Absolutely not, once he is captured, you are to report immediately to me, do you understand?" Herin said pounding his fist on the desk.
"Uh huh, ok than, where did you want me to stake out?" Samus said brushing off the subject like it had never been brought up.
"Yes, well you are free to roam the premises for now, but be on guard and expect to be called upon at all times," Herin said standing up to see Samus out. She waved him away and walked out on her own.
"Oh, Herin by the way, If I were the assassin, you'd be dead," Samus said with her back turned.
"What do you mean?" he said staring at her quizzically.
"You didn't even check to see if I was armed," she said casually.
"You're only wearing a shirt and pants, where could you possibly hide a gun," Herin said looking her over.
Samus reached into her hair and pulled out the metal dowel holding her hair up and threw it at Herin. It buried itself into the wall beside him.
"I really don't need one. Please be more careful, I would like to get paid," Samus said as she loosened her hair and walked out leaving Mr. Herin stunned. She walked out into the hall and began to look around. With Kevin currently not present, she was a little more relaxed. She paced around and looked out of the massive windows of the Herin Enterprise building. C-421 was a massive C class planet, C standing for city.
C-421 was one large city with many high buildings and vast skies. Surprisingly, very few people actually lived on C-421. It was mainly a business planet with Herin in charge. Most commuted from the moon colonies that surrounded C-421 much like an interplanetary slumber town. The lower levels of the city were home to the general labourers that worked inside Mr. Herin's Enterprise. Anyone of them could be the assassin. Samus stepped out on to a balcony and watched as a flock of licradons took off from the rooftops. She looked over the edge to look all the way down to the slums and housing units. Just for kicks she climbed up on the railing and jumped. She hung there for a moment than plummeted ten stories until she landed on the balcony below her, cracking the steel and shattering the tile. She brushed herself off and smiled. She felt alive when she was in the air, and free. She paced through the lower halls and noticed that they seemed somewhat less extravagant than the upper floors. As she walked through the corridors, she noticed that she wasn't alone, but didn't let on; rather she just walked over to the stair well and slowly opened the door. She took one look back and went up to her room.
Disclaimer: Ghost Assassin belongs to James_Sate, Metroid belongs to Nintendo..Yeah
Ghost
She arrived at the engine room, it was concealed behind two large doors, much like a bank vault.
"I shouldn't be heard down here, and a little brute force never hurt anyone, well." Samus mused to herself as she pulled the jewel out from her pocket.
She placed it on her left hand and closed her eyes. The jewel began to glow again first blue, than orange as it began to melt into her skin. It spread across her entire body, enveloping her in an orange film. It stopped spreading and began to harden. Layer after layer it became thicker and harder. It built up at the shoulders and spiked at the knees. Finally, her right arm warped into a large cylinder that split at the end, and turned into her cannon. She opened her eyes just as her transformation ended. She shivered, she had not felt the coldness of her armour in a long time, and it was both familiar and strange. She wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. She braced herself and placed her hand on the cannon. Jagged streaks of electricity sprang from the gun and dove towards the opening. Inside it began to glow brightly, like the core of a sun. Brighter and more intense the light became until finally Samus let go. The orb screamed out of her cannon and hammered the door. It bore into the metal, melting it away like butter. Just as it broke though it dissipated and electrical charges ran all over the door and walls.
"Hmm, another second longer and I might have blown a hole through the damn hull," Samus thought as she eyed the large hole she just created. She hopped through and looked at the massive networking of pipes and engines. She would need to find a pressure valve to turn off fuel to the engines. She paced around looking for anything resembling a switch, but to no avail. She jumped on top of the engines and sprung from one to another, she had to find it fast, before she was noticed. Just about ready to blow the crap out of the engines entirely she saw the switch in between two engines.
"Man, they do not want the engines off," Samus peered down in between the engines. She stood up, lined her cannon up with the valve and fired. A long, blue cord shot out from the end of the gun and snaked its way in between the pipes. She focused on the cord and it erupted into a blue fire that caused it to become immediately magnetised. With a perfect aim that Samus had become so good at over the years it latched on the valve and Samus gave a hard yank. The valve gave way and the ship's engines began to shut down.
"Wow, that was fast," Samus said out loud as she retracted her cord. She bounded across the engines and back to the door. Once outside she once again closed her eyes and focused on the jewel. Her suit liquefied and was sucked back into the crystal. She felt relieved, although she had only worn the suit for a few minutes, it still made her skin crawl. Something unnerved her every time she put it on.
"Probably take a few minutes for them to mobilize and get down here, I should be on my way," Samus ran up the stairs and kept going until she reached the eighth floor. She ran back to her room, never taking a second to catch her breath. She ignored Kevin and hid behind the door. She heard a thunder of footsteps. The army of miners was running down to the engine room. One ran past her room and took a quick look as he leaned inside Samus reached out and broke his neck.
"Need this, sorry," she said as she dragged him into the room and stripped his uniform off. Moments later a "male" Samus came out of the room. She adjusted her hat and ran after the group. She caught up with them as they reached the engine room.
"What the hell happened here?" one of the soldiers asked staring at the gaping.
"Holy shit!" another gasped.
G.C. walked up to the hole and ran his fingers along the edge of the hole.
"Hmmm, melted. Ms. Aran I presume," he mused as he kept stroking the door.
"I want a full perimeter run; if you find Miss Aran, kill her on site. And make sure she's dies this time, got it! I need a team in there getting that engine running again," he said wheeling around.
"Sir, yes sir!" she said keeping her head down.
"Move out everyone!" he said running back up the stairs himself. Samus wiped a trickle of sweat from her brow and ran up the stairs with everyone else. As the group began to peal off and head down different halls, she held back and hid behind a bulkhead. When everyone was gone she walked out slowly and walked towards the helm room. Two very large men guarded the door.
"Personal bodyguards eh G.C.?" she said slowly walking towards them.
"Halt!! State your purpose soldier," the one on the right barked as he noticed Samus approaching.
"I was just heading in there to kill G.C.," she said very nonchalantly.
"Eh, what the hell did you just say?" the other one said pointing his gun at her.
"You heard me," she said as she looked up at him. She grinned as he saw his eyes light up.
"Wait a second, you're that chick everyone's looking for," he said lifting his gun up to fire.
"I hate being called chick," she said as she flipped backwards kicking his gun up to smack him in the face. Temporarily stunned his partner pointed his gun at Samus as she landed. She dropped low and uppercut him in the jaw. He was out cold and the other one shook off his daze just as Samus flying round housed him in the neck. "Male chauvinistic bastard."
She grabbed the key card off of the first guard and swiped it in the door with a hiss of pressurised air. She cautiously stepped in only to find the room empty.
"What the hell?" she murmured as she looked around. The room was completely devoid of anyone.
"There you are Samus. I thought you'd gotten away from us. I figured you'd stop by the helm room so I decided to be else where, but please enjoy the company of my pet. You will have to excuse his manner though, as he hasn't eaten in days," it was G.C. over the COM system.
"Pet? Wha." Samus said as she looked around and saw nothing, but than she noticed a console twitch. The entire console twisted and stretched out to reveal a large chameleon like creature. It had a long narrow head and beady snake like eyes. It hissed and flicked its tale as it slowly turned from the console into a greenish brown colour.
"Oh shit," was all Samus managed to get out before the thing lunged at her. She dove out of the way and slid behind another row of consoles. She braced herself against the system and pulled out the blue jewel. She once again placed it on her left hand. When the chameleon looked over the console it didn't see Samus anywhere and twisted its head from left to right looking for her.
Samus jumped up hitting the beast with her shoulder in the jaw. It recoiled back and once again disappeared as it ran to a wall. She had managed to get her suit on and had also turned on her cloaking. It was going to be a deadly game of hide and go seek. Samus stood up and her system flickered briefly to show her in her armour.
She mentally turned on her motion sensor and scanned the room. She couldn't see the creature, but she knew it was in there. Just then the beast swung down from the ceiling right in front of Samus and knocked her over with a swipe of its rather large, yet flat hand. Samus crumpled and was temporarily dazed.
"Fuck, that would have knocked my head off if not for the suit," Samus said shaking her head. She got it together only to realise that her motion sensor wasn't working. "That clever son of a bitch!"
She quickly got up and smacked her helmet few times, nothing. The thing had smashed the view control system (VCS). Samus was now blind to this camouflaged threat, and she didn't like it.
"It", unbeknownst to Samus had crept up right behind her and reared up on its hind legs. It slowly, but quietly brought its massive jaw down over the frustrated Samus.
"Boom," Samus said as she casually stuck her cannon against its middle. Her VCS might have not been working, but every sensor in her helmet was screaming a proximity warning. She fired a sizzling shot right into its midriff and blew the thing against the bulkhead. It screeched and flailed about as the burning orb bore its way into the creature's stomach. After a few seconds it rolled out of the way, smoking and enraged.
"Tough bastard aren't you!" Samus yelled at the thing as it circled Samus around the consoles. It had rage in its eyes and snipped at Samus whenever she got too close, than it hit her.
"Of course," Samus chuckled at herself, as she had not thought of it before. She clenched her left hand and it began to glow. The creature stopped and looked at her hand in curiosity. When she opened it she held a small glowing orb. As she wound up her throw she stuck her cannon out to the right and fired just as she threw the orb. The creature easily dodged whatever it was the Samus had thrown at her, but than looked at Samus as her grappling hook launched out from her hand and burst into a blue flame just as the bomb she had thrown blew out the entire front window. Her hook latched onto the wall as the entire helm was sucked out into the vacuum of space. The creature was sucked out immediately and its last breaths were screams. Samus was knocked about as consoles were ripped from their foundations and launched out into space. When the entire room was filled with the vacuum, Samus released her hook and floated to the door. She opened it quickly and shut it fast as the vacuum began to fill in the hall. The two guards were sucked out before Samus could shut the door. She leaned against the closed door and breathed heavily. She decided that she would remain in her suit until she was done with Merc.
"No doubt Merc will be sending more men," she thought as she caught her breath and started to walk down the halls to the ballroom. Samus figured it was the right place to go next. When she got to her room she checked in on Kevin. He wasn't on the couch where she left him. Samus looked around and couldn't see him in the room; he was gone.
She ran out of her room just as ten soldiers rounded the corner at the far end. The noticed Samus and raised their rifles.
"Halt!" one of them yelled. Samus just smiled and ran at them. She became a streaking blue blur as she charged at them. The leader hollered, "Fire!"
Their shots bounced off Samus like pellets and only made her run harder. When Samus was about twenty metres from them she jumped into the air a little and balled herself up. Her body became liquefied as it became encapsulated in her balled armour. She screamed through the air like a meteor and hit the first soldier knocking him against the wall, dead. She, in mid flight reformed and clothes lined two more soldiers breaking their necks. When she came to a stop she had gone right through the group and landed behind them. Stunned, they turned around and opened fire just a Samus dove out of the way down the hall they came from. In her dodge she turned around and launched her cable that hit another soldier in the face. She slowly got up just as she pulled her cord back, but didn't retract it instead she left it out like a whip. Four down, six to go. They all rounded the corner and opened fire on her. She tried to dodge again, but took a hit in the leg causing her to spin around awkwardly. Her whip dragged against the wall and left a massive gouge in it. The soldiers seeing that she was down cautiously crept towards her motionless body. One rolled her over with his gun, but he noticed that her hand was clenched, and glowing. They all leaned over to see what it was. Samus smiled.
Merc felt the ship shake again as another of Samus's mines went off.
"How fucking hard is it to kill her?" Merc asked a soldier coldly.
"We are trying sir, but she seems to be behaving oddly," he said cautiously.
"What do you mean oddly," G.C. asked leaning over to peer at the soldier.
"Uh, well sir she appears to be moving more methodically than expected. She is moving in a sweep pattern around the halls, and we never see her coming. It seems as though she is purposely wasting time," he said.
Merc laughed callously and pointed at the soldier. "If you don't bring her head in here within ten minutes, I will personally stuff you in a suitcase and throw you out into space, got that soldier?"
"Sir, yes sir," he said shakily. He motioned to twenty soldiers and silently gestured for them to lock and load. They all cocked their guns, and left the room. Merc grabbed his mike for the COM system.
"Samus, it would seem as though we've had a change of plans. I now give you an ultimatum. Hand yourself over, or I may just have to use your friend as the first example of things to come. A shame too, he looks like I did when I was young," Merc said as he shut off the mike and wheeled around to look at Kevin, who still slept, but was tied to a chair.
A long time ago
Samus sneaked around the halls completely silent. When she was encountered by a group of soldiers she quickly dispatched of them, receiving minimal injuries. So far she had minor fractures to her suit's torso as well as on her leg and her gun was totally overheated, but other than she was only scratched. When the latest armada came tromping around the corner, Samus released the cord and made it run stiff. She held it at her side, like a samurai preparing to attack. She charged forward as the soldiers opened fire. Her suit took many hits and she was badly damaged, but she kept charging.
"Die you bastards!" Samus screamed as she charged right into the group and became hacking and cleaving away at them. When she was finished her suit was covered in blood and she was breathing heavily. Her suit was seriously damaged and was close to shutting down. She put the suit away in the jewel and took a minute to collect her thoughts as she stared at the jewel in her hand. She had killed many already, more than she had hoped, but it was necessary in order for her to be successful with the remainder of her plan. When she was in that armour she lost all thought of remorse, or sadness. She became a cold killer and almost delighted in her work. Her adopted parents gave her the jewel as a child. Her foster parents were the Chozo. She was orphaned as a child when her parents were killed by Space Pirates. Samus was alone in that colony for months. It was labelled as a derelict and was left for future colonisation if necessary. She ate what little food was left, and wandered the barren halls alone. One day (or evening she was never really sure) an odd spacecraft began to dock on her space colony. Samus quickly hid, frightened that it was the pirates coming back to look for her. Instead it was an odd race of bird-headed aliens. They never spoke, and moved slowly as though each step were carefully calculated. Samus watched them from the shadows as the examined her colony and sifted through the files in its database. When they reached her room and began to sort through her belongings she became angry and ran out of hiding.
"Leave my stuff alone!" Samus yelled in defiance as she stood before these six and a half feet monsters. They looked at her quizzically and than at each other. Samus just stood there with her arms spread protecting her stuff. One of them leaned forward and touched Samus's forehead.
"We apologise for our intrusion," it said this through telepathy. Samus was shocked.
"Who, I mean.who are you?" Samus asked through telepathy herself. The creatures looked puzzled. "What?"
"We have yet to meet another race capable of using telepathy, or learning so quickly," the apparent leader said.
"Really, it wasn't really all that difficult," Samus said looking up at them.
"In answer to your question, we are the Chozo, please tell us your name," the leader asked putting a talon like hand on her shoulder.
"I'm Samus, Samus Aran," she said slowly as she looked at its hand.
"Samus, you are very special, would you please come with us?" he asked gesturing towards the doorway.
"Uh, ok why?" she asked hesitantly.
"Because you are interest us, and we would like to learn more about your people," it said as it led her out to the docking bay. They boarded their ship and took off. Samus looked around at all of the Chozos that sat motionlessly in the ship that seemed to fly itself, without any piloting or navigation at all.
When they got near a planet it slowed down and began a decent. The doors opened to reveal a very organic world, seemingly primitive.
"What is this place?" Samus asked as she looked around in amazement.
"This is our home, Ainumaria, we are a race that strives knows all and have over aeons slowly started to die out. Our intelligence has limited our need for knowledge and knowledge is the foundation of life. Without a need to learn, there is no reason to live. We, in order to preserve ourselves have begun to place ourselves in stasis until the universe once again needs to restart and be re-taught," he said as they waked towards a large temple. It was a simple stone temple that looked almost ancient. When they reached the top, a single blue jewel was embedded in the altar in the temple.
"This is what we keep our knowledge in. We transform it into an energy that is then kept inside. All of our people have one, except this one has been somewhat of an extra," an advisor said beside Samus. "The reason we called you here is because we believe that this stone would be best used by you."
"Me?" Samus asked as she walked up to the stone. She reached out to touch it and it sparkled in her presence.
"It has accepted her," the advisor whispered to the leader. Samus touched it and it liquefied. She looked back at the Chozo, than at her hand, which was covered in a blue, sludge that kept growing. She tried to run, but it held her back and covered he entire arm. As it slid its way across her body it began to turn orange and translucent. When it was done she was covered in the film that began to harden like a cocoon. When it dried, Samus was clad in orange armour that looked very much like what the Chozo were wearing.
"I can't breathe in here," Samus screamed through the suit.
"Stop fighting it, just become Varia," the leader said as he looked on.
"Varia?" she asked relaxing a little.
"Varia is the name of the suit you wear Samus, and it is the name of our Goddess," the leader said as he lowered to one knee. The others followed in suit as she looked around at them. They were bowing to her. When they arose, they gestured for Samus to follow them. They went down the stairs and Samus found it extremely easy. She felt as light as air. Just for fun she skipped down two stairs and jumped. To her surprise and the Chozo's she flew off and launched through the air. She began to come down and landed at the end of the stairs, a drop well over a hundred feet. The Chozo hurried down to check on her.
"What happened?" the advisor asked as he ran up to Samus.
"I don't know, I just sort of took of," Samus said as she looked at the suit. It was then that she noticed that her right arm was different than her left. She looked it over and pointed it instinctually up into the sky. When she focused on the gun it began to glow. The Chozo looked on in amazement. She kept focusing and focusing as the gun glowed brighter and brighter. She suddenly sneezed and the gun split open quickly and a massive orb, well over fifteen feet in diameter took off into the sky, splitting the clouds. Samus was pressed into the ground about 6 inches as she pulled her gun down and stared at it. "Whoa!"
So her life with the Chozo began. She lived with them for over ten years, studying about their culture and learning about their customs. She remained in the suit the entire time and in turn grew quickly. She was at five feet by nine and at six feet by twelve. When she was old enough, the Chozo gave her one of their ships and bade her farewell as she was off on her own to learn and become the true Chozo goddess, Varia. Her life began here, but it was difficult. She grew weary of simple learning and wished to experience things for herself. It was then that she took on the job for the Galactic Federation. Her experience with the metroids was really more of a learning experience than anything else. When she lived in that suit, it began to change her, physically and emotionally. Her physiology became more like that of the Chozo, tall and powerful and her weight became heavier in order to compensate for her light weight in the suit. She became aggressive, and also much more intelligent. When that metroid saved her life it also changed her. Her body became more durable and her strength increased without the suit. She slowly became what the Chozo had asked of her. She became Varia.
Touchdown
When Samus was all rested up she shoved the jewel into her pocket and walked towards the ballroom. Four guards stood in front of the door and looked at her surprised. She walked towards them in surrender. They grabbed her quickly and hustled her into the ballroom. She was brought before G.C.
"What are you doing?" he asked the guards.
"Uh, she surrendered sir," one guard said nervously.
"You fool! She was tricking you." he said as he saw Samus smile. She easily got loose from the guards' grasp and grabbed two rifles from them. She shot the guards beside her and pointed both barrels right into G.C.'s face. She looked around the guns and grinned.
"I really don't need much of a reason to blow your fucking head off right now, you've given me plenty," she said with a cold subtlety.
"Calm down Samus," Merc said as he tilted his head over at Kevin. Samus looked over at the sleeping Kevin, than back at Merc.
"G.C. you call yourself a man, you would kill women and sleeping children?" Samus said vehemently.
"You, Ms. Aran, ordinary woman," G.C. smirked.
"No shit!" Samus said as she pointed one gun at his head, and another at Kevin. She fired four shots at Kevin and blew away the chair he was on. He fell to the ground, hit his head and woke up.
"Ow that hurt, oh, hi Sam what's going on?" Kevin said as he looked around at everyone.
"Kevin, come here," Samus said as she pointed a gun at the soldier beside Kevin. Kevin walked over beside Samus and clutched her leg. She brought the other gun back to point at Merc.
"Well, I really should kill you, but I won't," Samus said as she saw the fear wash off of Merc. She handed Kevin a rifle "Kevin, hold this and if he blinks shoot him."
She grabbed her jewel and placed it on her hand. Quickly her suit went on and she held the cannon up to Merc. His eyes went wide with fear. Samus began to charge up a shot that made the room run cold. Frost surrounded the floor around her, and her cannon turned blue. Her gun had frost and ice well up inside it as her arm expanded and quivered. She fired it right into Merc's face and he froze solid. When soldiers ran to his aid, she held op her cannon as well as a rifle.
"Back off!" she yelled at them. "I'm running things now got it?"
The soldiers looked at each other than back at Samus.
"What do you want?" one asked stepping forward.
"First, get the engines going; secondly take G.C. here down to the storage room and put him in the freezer. When the ship is going and Merc is away, wake everyone up and get this ship back on its way to C-421, I have an important appointment, and I really would like to make it. Is that clear!" she asked as she pointed at soldiers giving out commands.
"And if we refuse?" another soldier asked. Samus just walked up to him and held her cannon right up to his face and leaned up to whisper in his ear.
"Than I guess you'll have to start looking for a new head," Samus said as she put down her cannon and walked away. He nearly wet himself as he began to bark out orders to the soldiers and they scrambled everywhere. When things seemed to be moving she knelt down beside Kevin. "You ok bud?"
"Yeah," Kevin said. He looked rather odd holding a rifle taller than he was. Samus put down her rifle and took his away and put it down also. She stood up and destroyed both guns with a shot from her cannon. When she felt the ship lurch and watched as Merc was slid out she motioned for another soldier to come over.
"When everything is done, I want you to throw all of your guns out of the ship. Than head back to you rooms and act like nothing ever happened ok, tell everyone else."
"Uh yes ma'am, but why let us go?" he asked looking at her both frightened and curious.
"I don't think what you were doing was right, but I won't hold it against you. I know how it feels to get screwed around with," Samus sighed. The soldier nodded, smiled and left the room.
All of the guns were thrown out into space and the soldiers went back to their rooms. An anti gas was pumped through the ducts and everyone began to rise from their slumber, totally unaware as to what had happened. Samus went back to her room with Kevin. She took off her suit and looked at the jewel.
"Go to bed Kevin, I am too ok," Samus said as she walked back to her bedroom.
"But Sam, I ain't tired," he complained.
"Fake it," Samus pointed at Kevin and went to bed herself. She was exhausted and slept for the remainder of the trip. Pity the Rich
When they arrived at C-421, Samus was awakened by Kevin who was bouncing around the room, as hyper as ever.
"Kevin pipe down I'm sleeping," she moaned out from the bedroom.
"But Sam, look at the shiny city," Kevin said running into the bedroom.
"City," Samus was a little confused and still very tired. "You mean we're here?"
"Where?" Kevin asked scratching his head.
"Never mind," Samus said as she got up and went to the window. It was a the largest city Samus had ever seen. She went to her room and got dressed. She decided that she ought to look somewhat presentable, so she put her hair up with a metal dowel and applied a little makeup. The ship docked and Samus got off. She was greeted by a limousine and a woman in a black business suit.
"Ms. Aran?" she asked as Samus walked down the platform, Kevin tagged along behind.
"Yes?" she asked as she as she put down her bags and shook her hand.
"I'm Meryl Vista, Mr. Herin's secretary, please come with me," she said in a very cheery yet official voice. Samus went for her bags, but they were already put in the back of the limo. Just before she got in the limo she quickly ran over to the flight attendant on the platform who was checking off names on her list. Kevin stayed with Meryl and looked up at her, she smiled and Kevin waved back.
"Hey," Samus called out as the attendant turned around. "I heard someone mention something about a body in the storage freezer. You may want to go check that out."
"What?!" the attendant first looked at Samus incredulously, than ran into the ship
"There we go," Samus grinned as she and Kevin got into the limo and it lifted off and flew towards a massive building that dwarfed all others in the area.
"We really appreciate this, Ms. Aran. Mr. Herin is as you know a very wealthy man and has more money than an entire planet could ever spend, but he has been under attack recently," the secretary said as she sat across from Samus. Kevin was pressed up against the window trying to absorb all of C-421's wonders.
"Call me Samus, what kind of attacks," Samus said grabbing a beer from the mini bar and twisting it open. It was not a twist off. The secretary looked at her in utter disbelief, than shook it off.
"Mr. Herin has had numerous attempts of assassination on his life, three within the month," the secretary said looking at her clipboard.
"I see, than why call me? I am a bounty hunter, not a bodyguard," Samus said after taking a swig from her beer.
"Because Samus, this assassin is far more advanced than any we have ever encountered. Normally we would capture him or her and interrogate them as to their buyer and motives, but this one is a little different. It pops out of nowhere and disappears without a trace. Mr. Herin has been shot twice, but not fatally. And the most interesting thing is that the person has a suit very similar to yours," she said as she held up an image of Samus's suit. Samus nearly choked on her beer.
"What, another suit?" Samus said as she leaned forwards.
"Yes, we have not been able to get any decent pictures yet, but it is very much like yours, except blue, and much broader in the shoulders and hips," Meryl said as she looked back at her clipboard. "What we need you to do is hunt down this "ghost" and bring it back to us."
Samus leaned back in her chair and poked Kevin in the back while thinking.
"That tickles Sam," Kevin said twitching and laughing.
"How much," Samus asked looking out the window.
"However much you need, if you manage to pull it off Mr. Herin will be very grateful," Meryl said putting the clipboard aside. They landed on top of the Herin Enterprise building and they all got out. There was a very distinguished man on the landing pad. He had silver hair and a constant five o'clock shadow. He was short, and had a little paunch on him, but seemed to be in good shape. He was Mr. Herin, the richest man in the Taurus system, and also the most powerful.
"Samus, a pleasure to meet you," he beamed as she walked over to him and they shook hands. He knelt down in front of Kevin and shook his hand. "And who is this fine young gentleman?"
"Hi, I'm Kevin," he said as he smiled and shook Herin's hand dramatically.
"Well hello Kevin, are you staying with Samus?" he asked looking over at Samus who just looked away.
"Uh huh, she is taking me on a vacation," he said jamming his thumb towards himself.
"Well, that's very nice of her," Herin said as he stood back up and smiled at Samus. "Well, we really must head inside, this building catches a terrible updraft and things get far too chilly up here."
Herin ushered Kevin and Samus inside to a large elevator. Meryl and the chauffeur also came in with her bags.
"Have you been briefed?" Mr. Herin said as he looked at Meryl.
"Yes, Ms. Vista has informed me entirely," Samus said looking over at Meryl who just nodded. "So, for a man who has been shot, you seem rather cheery."
"Yes, well my doctors have worked wonders," he chuckled. He rolled back his sleeve to reveal to large burn marks. Samus quickly grabbed his arm and examined the marks closely.
"This is from my gun," Samus said perplexed.
"No, Ms. Aran, it is from another suit, very similar to yours," Mr. Herin said pulling back and rolling his sleeve down. "I have studied you for some time now, all of your missions and everything about you," Herin said patting Samus on the back.
"Wow, I feel so violated," Samus said sarcastically.
"Hence the room number right?"
"Oh yes, 388 a little joke, please accept my apologies," Mr. Herin said chuckling a little.
"Yeah, no problem," Samus said as they stepped out of the elevator into a large hall.
"Now, if it is ok with you, I would ask that you please begin your job immediately," Mr. Herin said as they strolled down the hall. Workers bustled about everywhere and two janitors were washing the floor.
"Wait a second, first I would like you to take Kevin to my room and than I will start," she said as she stopped in front of Herin.
"Of course, Meryl would you please guide Master Kevin to his room, Samus has work," Herin said without even looking at Meryl.
"But Sam, I wanna stay with you," Kevin pleaded.
"'Fraid not bud, I have work to do," Samus said shaking her head. "Just go with Meryl to our room ok."
"Ok," he said dejectedly as Meryl grabbed his hand and they walked towards the elevator.
"Excuse me Mr. Herin?" the janitor said as he walked over to Mr. Herin.
"Yes," Mr. Herin asked looking around Samus. The janitor said nothing; rather he pulled a gun out of his utility belt and pointed it at Mr. Herin. Before he could fire, Samus casually grabbed is arm and twisted in an odd angle than let go. The janitor dropped the gun and stepped back a little than screamed.
"My arm you broke my fucking arm!" he said as he dropped to his knees. Mr. Herin began to laugh.
"Very well done Samus, you immobilised him in less than three seconds," Mr. Herin said as a group of guards swarmed around the janitor. "This is my personal body guard, Jenero."
Jenero waved and grimaced as he was carried away.
"A test," Samus mumbled as she waved back a little at Jenero.
"Yes, I just need to check your reflexes. Don't worry about Jenero, he has already broken every bone in his body, and my doctors are the best in the galaxy," Herin smiled as they continued into his office. The guards standing outside opened two large steel doors in front of his office. They opened to reveal a large office, devoid of any furniture save for a massive desk, a luxurious chair and too smaller chairs in front of the desk. Mr. Herin walked over to his desk and sat down. Upon sitting down, his whole office came to life, panels slide down, keyboards and monitors appeared everywhere and even Mr. Herin seemed to be more business like than before.
"Samus, please," Herin said as he gestured towards a chair. Samus walked over to it as she observed the room and sat down. "Like you were told, someone exceedingly dangerous is after me. It is my personal belief that only you can stop it. It is wearing a suit of armour very similar to yours, but we believe it to be a male model, hence the broader shoulders and hips. We would appreciate any information you can give us on your suit."
"No," Samus said flatly.
"No?" Herin asked a little confused.
"No, this suit's little secrets are what makes me so efficient" Samus said as she held out the crystal.
"Is that it there" Mr. Herin said leaning forward.
"Yes," Samus said sliding it towards Herin. Herin went to touch it. "Careful, it doesn't like being touched."
"Surely you jest Samus, it is mere suit of armour, it can't like or dislike anything," Herin said, but still pulled his hand away just to be safe. Samus grabbed the jewel and put it back in her pocket.
"I will tell you everything I feel you need to know under one circumstance," Samus said leaning on his desk.
"And what is that Ms. Aran," Herin said in a sugary sweet attitude.
"I get to talk to the assassin first, plus I get his armour," Samus said looking pensively at her fingernails than at Herin.
"Absolutely not, once he is captured, you are to report immediately to me, do you understand?" Herin said pounding his fist on the desk.
"Uh huh, ok than, where did you want me to stake out?" Samus said brushing off the subject like it had never been brought up.
"Yes, well you are free to roam the premises for now, but be on guard and expect to be called upon at all times," Herin said standing up to see Samus out. She waved him away and walked out on her own.
"Oh, Herin by the way, If I were the assassin, you'd be dead," Samus said with her back turned.
"What do you mean?" he said staring at her quizzically.
"You didn't even check to see if I was armed," she said casually.
"You're only wearing a shirt and pants, where could you possibly hide a gun," Herin said looking her over.
Samus reached into her hair and pulled out the metal dowel holding her hair up and threw it at Herin. It buried itself into the wall beside him.
"I really don't need one. Please be more careful, I would like to get paid," Samus said as she loosened her hair and walked out leaving Mr. Herin stunned. She walked out into the hall and began to look around. With Kevin currently not present, she was a little more relaxed. She paced around and looked out of the massive windows of the Herin Enterprise building. C-421 was a massive C class planet, C standing for city.
C-421 was one large city with many high buildings and vast skies. Surprisingly, very few people actually lived on C-421. It was mainly a business planet with Herin in charge. Most commuted from the moon colonies that surrounded C-421 much like an interplanetary slumber town. The lower levels of the city were home to the general labourers that worked inside Mr. Herin's Enterprise. Anyone of them could be the assassin. Samus stepped out on to a balcony and watched as a flock of licradons took off from the rooftops. She looked over the edge to look all the way down to the slums and housing units. Just for kicks she climbed up on the railing and jumped. She hung there for a moment than plummeted ten stories until she landed on the balcony below her, cracking the steel and shattering the tile. She brushed herself off and smiled. She felt alive when she was in the air, and free. She paced through the lower halls and noticed that they seemed somewhat less extravagant than the upper floors. As she walked through the corridors, she noticed that she wasn't alone, but didn't let on; rather she just walked over to the stair well and slowly opened the door. She took one look back and went up to her room.