Ghost Assassin Part 5
Disclaimer: *Cough*This story belongs to James Sate, Metroid belongs to Nintendo.
Defective
It was still light out when Samus stormed into her room and straight past Kevin and Meryl. She stomped into her room, slammed the door and practically tore the dress off herself.
"Uh Samus, is there a problem?" Meryl asked lightly knocking on her door. She thought she heard and answer, but couldn't tell. "Samus?"
"Of all the egotistical, stuck up, money driven bastards," Samus nearly ploughed over Meryl when she came thundering out of her room. She had the dress and earrings off and was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She had the make-up removed and she was tousling her hair when she gave up and flopped down on the couch.
"What happened in their Samus?" Meryl pleaded as she began to untangle Samus's hair.
"Mr. Herin is by far the vainest man I have ever met," Samus said snatching the converter from Kevin and changing it to the news.
"Hey!" Kevin pouted. Samus just glared at him and he was silenced.
"I know he is hard to be around sometimes, especially when he starts talking about himself," Meryl said as she finished up with Samus's hair.
"Thanks," Samus said calming down. She was half focused on the T.V. when suddenly something caught her eye. "What's this, it says live?"
"Oh, it's probably just more Herin protesters. They are residents who live in the area, most of them workers. After last night's escapade, numerous houses were damaged and they all want some form of reimbursement," Meryl sighed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
"Oh," Samus said embarrassed. She was about to change the channel when she noticed a familiar face in the crowd. "Oh my god."
"What?" Meryl asked. Samus practically leaped over to the T.V. and pointed at a man in the crowd.
"Do you know who that is?" Samus asked pointing at Scott.
"Um, no never seen him before, why?" Meryl asked.
"That's the guy who bought the gun for Kevin, he's also a security guard here," Samus said falling back on her legs as she had been balancing on her toes.
"Than why is he out there protesting?" Meryl asked as if Samus knew.
"I am going to find out, stay here," Samus grabbed her jacket and ran out into the hall. She didn't bother with the elevators, and simply ran to a window and jumped out. She plunged some forty stories when she landed on a flagpole bearing the Herin Enterprise golden dart. She bent it horribly out of shape, but jumped down and landed behind a building just out of view of the crowd. She ran out and looked around for Scott. She found him talking with another protester when he turned and noticed Samus coming his way. Before he had a chance to say anything, Samus punched him in the cheek and he stumbled back.
"Whoa lady," the other protester said.
"Shut up," Samus said knocking him out cold. "Alright, I want some straight answers damnit, who the hell are you?" Samus asked standing straight over Scott and leaned over to stare him in the eyes.
":: Ahem :: This would be a lot easier if you weren't standing like that," Scott said. Samus looked down a little farther and saw that her shirt was slightly hanging open. She stood up and dragged Scott by his foot to the back of the building she had jumped behind. The crowd watched in awe, but ignored them and continued yelling at the Herin building.
"Alright, who are you?" Samus asked practically throwing him against the wall.
"Ok, but this has to remain a secret, for both our sakes," Scott said looking around to make sure no one was there. "My name is Scott Arlaman. After that fight last night I decided to do a little research on you Ms. Aran. I learned a lot about you, well as much as I could. You don't seem to enjoy being very public," Scott said as Samus sat on a garbage can.
"Whereas you seem to be everywhere," Samus smiled coldly.
"I figured that I could only fight Mr. Herin from the inside. That's why I became friendly with the commanders in the mining facility. Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I was a miner on M-62. Anyway, I worked myself up the line of command until I was offered a guard position by Mr. Guerrero himself. That's where you saw me inside the Herin Enterprise building."
"That would give you access to go inside and out of the building as you please," Samus mused.
"Bingo, so after becoming a star employ I began to stake out the building, learning its little hideaways and secrets. The building is a maze of passages that I have used to my advantage. I figured that after you let me go there was still something you wanted, but I wanted to find out for myself, without the armour." Scott finished.
"I meant to ask you about it, where did you get it?" Samus asked peering at Scott.
"It was a gift, I'm not sure who gave it too me though. I was abandoned as a child, but my foster parents told me that it was with me when they practically stumbled across me," Scott said pulling out the orange jewel and worked it over in his hands.
"What do you mean?" Samus asked as she felt her jewel in her pocket.
"They were on a transport ship heading over to M-62 when they found me in a small escape pod floating through space. Apparently the ship was pretty banged up and life support was failing. It's a good thing they found me when they did, huh?" Scott looked up from the jewel at Samus.
"Hmm, so you have no idea where it came from?" Samus asked.
"Other than from my parents, no I don't" Scott said stopping to look at it closely, than up at Samus.
"What about you? Rumour has it that you have one much like?" Scott smiled at Samus. She ran it through her mind whether or not to show him.
"Actually I do," Samus said as she produced her own jewel from her pocket.
"Wow, it's blue," Scott said as he looked it over than his own. Suddenly his own began to melt and slowly creep its way towards the blue jewel, Samus's followed in suit and in almost a daze the two brought their hands together. The jewels were just about to mix together when Samus quickly wrenched her hand back.
"That was odd, it's never acted that way before," Samus said as it hardened again and she shoved it back in her pocket.
"Yeah, it was like they were drawn together," Scott said putting his own jewel into his inner jacket pocket. "Samus, there is something I want to show you."
"What," Samus asked looking at Scott curiously.
"I want to show you why I and so many others fight," Scott said standing up and walking towards the courtyard.
"Uh.Ok," Samus said a little apprehensively. She was not sure whether or not she could trust Scott, but something told her she could. The two walked behind the crowd over to the main street where Scott flagged down a taxi and the two climbed in.
"Where are we going?" Samus asked as Scott told the driver to head to the spaceport.
"I am going to show you the mines on M-62. I am going to show you exactly what kind of monster Mr. Herin is."
The taxi pulled up to an interplanetary space port where Scott and Samus got out and went to grab the next flight to M-62. As Scott was a worker and Samus was, well Samus, they got on for free. They grabbed a seat on a rather uncomfortable bench that looked out a window. A ding came over speakers and the ship launched off. With in seconds they were in space and heading for M-62.
"So do you still work at all in the mines?" Samus asked she gazed out into space.
"No, but it is one of the numerous rebel headquarters. We manage all neighbouring planets from there," Scott said. Slowly as they neared the planet Samus noticed that he lost his boyish charm and became very cold. They touched down onto a large barren planet that reeked of sulphur. Scott led Samus over to a large elevator port where they were quickly taken down to the mines. Samus was blown away. It was as hot as Norfair down there and when Samus saw the endless army of miners working against the edges of the caves she was horror-stricken. People of all ages where everywhere, young children, the elderly, no one seemed spared. And they were all a greyish, brown tint from working all the time in their dirty environments. As far as Samus could see in all directions people worked in this inhuman anthill.
"What is all this?" Samus asked finding the sense to talk.
"These are the trisulphate miners of M-62. It is used as a coarse fuel in tankers and heavy engine vehicles," Scott said as he walked over to a sentry. "Scott Arlaman, I would like to take a guest down to the residential apartments."
The guard looked over at Samus than at Scott.
"Sure whatever," he said waving them through without a second thought.
"Thanks, Hank", Scott said as he passed him and began a long trek down a huge flight of stairs. Samus looked down.
"How far are we going?" she asked as she leaned over the edge and looked down.
"All the way to the bottom," Scott said. "It gets a little cooler down there."
Scott turned around in time to see Samus jump over the edge.
"Shit!" he screamed as he jumped over too and pulled out his jewel. They screamed through the air like a pair of peregrine falcons in a dive. Scott put his jewel on and in mid flight his armour morphed around his body. Samus went head first down, holding her arms to her side to pick up speed. The ground was in sight and she quickly grabbed her jewel and put it on. Just as it hardened she flipped around and landed with a massive crack that split the ground. Scott landed behind her and also left a large impression. They both took their armour off and Scott ran up to Samus.
"What the hell was that?" Scott asked jamming his jewel into his pocket.
"That would have taken too long to walk, besides I haven't jumped that far since my last mission, actually it was quite a rush," Samus said smiling like a mischievous school girl.
"Dear God, it's a good thing that there are no guards this far down otherwise my cover would have been blown," Scott huffed.
"You didn't have to follow," Samus protested casually.
Scott got the look on his face as though he had no idea how to deal with her.
"Follow me please," he said changing his tone. They walked for a bit until Samus started to notice windows in the walls. Than soon doors and finally people. People were everywhere, either casually hanging out on the stairs, or watching their children play. Some were walking hand in hand while others were sleeping on chairs out side their houses. "These are the residents of M-62. They are workers, but are currently off duty. As you can see there is an entire society of people down here who rely on each other rather than on the practically non-existent government," Scott said as he shook hands with people and waved to others. "These are the people that I and so many others are fighting for, we fight because they cannot."
"But they seem happy here, why the problem?" Samus asked looking around at the seemingly happy subterranean village.
"They are act happy in order to stave off the insanity of realising that they are simply tools of Mr. Herin. On M-62 the average life span is 40 and at best 60 and those who make it that far are still forced to work. These people have to deal with the threat of cave-ins, gas emissions, and dying from lack of rest. I would wager that we lose on average 10 people a day here. More are shipped in as needed, like my family was."
"10 a day, That must cost Herin massive amounts of money!" Samus said incredulously. "People aren't cheap--"
"Samus, my family cost less than that shirt you are wearing! This entire village alone could be bought by any midsize company easily. In the eyes of Herin, we are lower than dogs," Scott roared as he spun around and stared at Samus coldly.
"Scott, I'm sorry," Samus said quietly. "I really didn't know."
"If Herin continues with his tyrannous way of handling his business more people will die simply for the excuse of cheap labour. There is someone I want you to talk with, follow me," Scott said as he continued on his way. They walked a little further until Scott stopped at an apartment and walked in.
"Mari, I'm home," Scott called out as he took of his boots and walked to what looked like the living room. Samus followed in suit and just stood in the living room.
"Scott?" it was a woman's voice from the kitchen.
"We have a guest," Scott said as a woman walked in wiping her hands on a ragged towel. She was a little shorter than Samus, but looked very powerful. She had her hair up in a bun and wore absolutely no make-up. She had blue eyes and red hair.
"Oh, hello," Mari said as she shook Samus's hand. She looked her over. "Have you come to work in the mines?"
"Of course not, Mari this is Samus Aran, the legendary bounty hunter," Scott said as if presenting a queen. Mari's eyes widened and she quickly wrapped her arms around Samus.
"Have you come to save us?" she asked nearly squeezing the life out of her.
"Yes, I believe she has," Scott piped in before Samus could say anything.
"Oh thank God, thank you so much," Mari said with tears in her eyes. Samus didn't know what to say.
"Daddy, who's here?" said the voice of a little girl. She looked like Mari, but had the hair and eyes of Scott.
"Hey Raini, this nice lady is going to help us--" Scott started.
"HOLD IT! Would someone mind filling me in as to what's going on," Samus yelled out.
"Of course, sorry," Scott said gesturing for everyone to sit. "This is my wife Mari and my daughter Raini."
"You're married, and a father?" Samus asked incredulously.
"Surprised?" Scott asked a little surprised as well.
"Actually, um never mind," Samus said a little dejected as she was too confused to bother trying to straighten anything.
"Anyway, I figured that you two should meet seeing as I will be working with Samus," Scott said as she leaned against Mari.
"That's fine dear just make sure that you don't get hurt," Mari said as she patted Raini's head and looked at Samus. "So Ms. Aran, have you ever worked as an assassin before?"
Mari had lost her previous absent minded character and became as official as Scott was.
"No, actually, but I have done a fair amount of mercenary jobs," Samus said a little stunned. "But what are you talking about?"
"Aren't you going to help Scott kill Mr. Herin?" Mari asked looking a little confused.
"I am?" Samus looked over at Scott who simply nodded. Samus jumped up, grabbed Scott by the arm and dragged him outside.
"What?" Scott asked innocently.
"Just what the hell is going on? First you drag me to a hot as hell planet just to show me a corrupt mining operation, than you show me your destitute little village, than you tell your family that I am going to help you kill Mr. Herin. What the hell are you trying to do?" Samus asked stamping the ground.
"Calm down I haven't done anything I can't undo. First I showed you all of this in order for you to get a better understanding of just what it is these people go through. Secondly I told Mari that hoping that you would actually consider it," Scott explained.
"Are you out of your mind, why would I help you guys, it's almost a suicidal task, besides I was hired to kill you, not my employer. You have no idea how much I am making just to bring your head to Herin--"
"So is that the only reason you are working for him, for money?" Scott said coldly.
"Look, it is the only life I know. I am a bounty hunter, and as much as I which it weren't true that's just the way it is. I can't lead a normal life anymore, it just isn't possible," Samus said.
"I'm not asking you to change your life, I am just asking you to do the right thing," Scott pleaded.
"The right thing is what ever puts money in my pocket," Samus said turning around and heading back to the stairs leading to the surface.
"Samus wait," Scott shouted.
"I'll have to think about it. I agree the guy is a monster, but I have to make a living. Justice doesn't pay for what it costs to live. I'll talk to you tomorrow, maybe" and she left. Scott watched as she walked away and thought of what he would tell Mari and Raini. He walked into his house and shut the door slowly.
Right or wrong, it's always the hardest question to answer.
When Samus left she quickly put on her suit, morphed into the ball and quickly rolled up the side of the cliff. When she got to the top she kept the suit on, past the guard who looked shocked as hell, but let her go. She decided to "tour" the mines. She felt cooler in her suit, but not any more comfortable. She walked past rows upon rows of seemingly endless caverns where she could hear the sound of sonic drills emanating their low warp of a sound. She passed women pushing along hover-carts as well as children dragging around "smaller" tools. She took a turn down a shaft and strolled along the mine until she arrived upon the end where the workers were. She watched as an elderly man tried in vain to steady his sonic cannon in order to bore away at the sides of the caves. Samus walked over to him and grabbed the cannon from his hands and he gave it up without a second thought. The cannon felt so light in her hands and she immediately cranked up the power.
"Everyone clear out!" Samus yelled. Quickly all of the workers stepped back and took off around the corner. Samus braced herself and aimed the cannon at the wall. She opened fire as an insanely huge blue beam was launched out from the end of the barrel and smashed into the wall shredding it apart. She continued until she had dug at least one hundred metres in, and
was surrounded by rubble. She grinned, placed her hand on the gun and memorised how it worked, its mechanics, its power. The gun's signature was sent to her cannon and she left the mine. As she walked out she gave the cannon to the elderly man as they walked back in to see what she had accomplished. Feeling minutely better Samus decided that it was time to leave. She went back to the elevator and went topside. When she got to the surface she removed her suit and walk over to the pad. A clock on the side said that it would be another 10 minutes until the next transport came by. She took of her suit and she figured that she had some time left and went over to sit on a bench. She had just sat down when she fell asleep. She dreamt of children being worked to death in Herin's mines. Of elderly people collapsing from exhaustion and of Scott's family being killed by a cave-in. She awoke to the sound of engines blaring. She awoke to see her transport pull in and open its doors. She slowly got up and strolled onto the ship. When she arrived back on C-421 she quickly headed back to Herin Enterprises. She took the elevator up to her room after being run through the guard station. She got to her room to see Meryl and Kevin asleep against each other.
"Thanks Meryl, but I'm back so you should go too home ok," Samus said as she nudged Meryl awake.
"What, oh hi Samus, where did you go? You were gone for about 3 hours," Meryl said groggily as she got up and went for the door.
"I got called away on so business, thank you for staying with Kevin," Samus said as she shut the door and went to bed herself.
She woke up late in the morning, and quickly put on something to wear. She passed a sleeping Kevin and went up to talk with Mr. Herin. She got up to his office and knocked on his door.
"Who is it?" Herin asked in a very kind manner.
"It's Samus, we need to talk," Samus said yelling through the door.
"Ah yes of course please come in," Herin said, a little less cheerfully. Samus opened the door just in time to see Herin's office turn from command central to a regular office. She walked up to his desk as screens and panels made themselves hidden. "So how may I help you today?"
"Mr. Herin, I took the time to go on a little bit of a field trip," Samus said leaning against his desk.
"Oh really, and where did you take this trip?" Herin asked in mock curiosity.
"To the mining facilities on M-62--" Samus began.
"You did what! Who gave you permission to leave the planet?" Herin asked as he pounded his fist against the table.
"I do not need permission to leave the planet, I work for you by my own decision, not by yours," Samus said vehemently.
"You were not to leave, especially to a restricted facility such as M-62," Herin stammered.
"Why, are you hiding something?" Samus queried.
"Of course not, but it is like anything else in my Enterprise. You do not meddle with things out of your jurisdiction," Herin said a little more casually.
"I saw how you worked those people, the old and the young. I must admit that this couldn't possibly being going on with your knowledge of the situation," Samus said casually.
"Ms. Aran, you must understand that in the Herin Enterprise there is no one who is unable to work for their pay. When a child asks for a toy, they should pay for it for themselves--" Herin said sound as pompous as usual.
"We are not talking about a fucking news panel route. These children are doing hard labour, labour that even I find trying. What the hell do you think you are doing?" Samus asked as she smashed a fist into his desk leaving a large imprint.
"Running a business, simple as that," Herin brushed off the comment like it was nothing.
"Well, it's one I refuse to be part of. As of this moment I hand in my resignation as your bodyguard," Samus said as she turned to leave.
"You must realise Samus that you will not be able to get out of such an important job so easily," Herin said standing up and leaning on his desk.
"You must think you frighten me. You really are an egotistical maniac," Samus said as she shut the door and went for the elevator. Herin in his room smiled and picked up his phone.
"Jenero, she's defected, make sure she doesn't leave the building alive," Herin said as he hung up the phone. "You must understand Samus, no one leaves Herin Enterprises."
Samus went down to her room and grabbed her stuff. She put her ID card in her pocket and her jewel in her jacket pocket. She shoved her clothes into her duffel bag and went out to the living room. Kevin was awake and watching cartoons when Samus turned off the T.V.
"Hey, what you do that for Samus?" Kevin pouted.
"We're leaving, I think that we've over stayed our welcome," Samus said as she grabbed his jacket and threw it at him.
"But what about Ms. Vista, can't I say good-bye?" Kevin asked.
"I'm afraid you'll have to talk to her later," Samus lied. She walked with Kevin out into the hall when she heard footsteps. "Kevin, when I say so, head for the elevator," Samus said as she reached into her pocket and put her suit on. Jenero rounded the corner with about twenty guards. As soon as they saw her they opened fire. Samus pushed Kevin down and ran towards Jenero and the guards, along the wall. They tried to follow her, but she continually jumped from side to side until she lunged at the first guard knocking him flat. She sprung off him and continued to run down the hall.
"Get her!" Jenero yelled as he kept firing. He fortunately did not have his rail gun, but still the hail of bullets was thick. Samus ran down to the other end of the hall when she jumped and turned around in mid air.
"Kevin head for the elevator!" she yelled as she opened fire on Jenero. She took out two guards, continued to spin around and kept running. Kevin got up and ran for the elevator. He quickly jumped in and mashed they key pad with his chubby hand. The elevator took off for the top floor.
Samus got to the end of the hall and turned around as Jenero and the guards smugly walked over to her.
"It would appear that your defection went awry. It was a burden knowing you Samus Aran," Jenero said as he lifted his gun as did all of the guards. Just before they opened fire Samus disappear.
"What the hell!" one of the guards mumbled as he went to see where she went.
"There are no secret passages in this part of the hall, unless," Jenero mumbled to himself. "No, you fool stop!"
It was too late. Samus had released her whip and ran the guard through. His blood seemed to float in the air as he fell to the ground. Briefly Jenero caught a glimpse of Samus.
"Cloaked," Jenero mumbled again. "Shoot at the blood."
The guards followed the "floating blood" as it seemed to whiz through the air than straight into the ceiling, taking out a panel.
"Damnit, she's moved up a level, follow her!" Jenero yelled out orders as he ran to the elevators himself.
Samus was on the administrative floor. Secretaries looked stunned as Samus uncloaked and walked over to Meryl.
"I don't have much time, I have decided to leave C-421, if you feel a need to come, by all means follow, but tell no one," Samus whispered to Meryl. She just nodded her head and turned pale. Jenero and the guards burst into the office.
"Everyone down!" he called out. All of the secretaries dropped to the ground, as did Samus. She quickly rolled up and slowly made her way to the vents. "Look for her."
The guards slowly walked between the aisles. They stopped every once and awhile to check underneath a desk or kick down a divider.
"Sir, she doesn't appear to be in here anymore," one guard said after it looked as though they weren't going to find her.
"Fuck, where the hell could she.be.," Jenero noticed a vent hanging open. "Damn, you are a clever one."
Jenero ran back to the elevator.
Samus quickly booted along the vents until she came to the air vents at the top of the building. She placed a bomb near the top and blew them clean off the roof. She rolled out and stretched out. She was surveying the area when the elevator door opened. She spun around ready to open fire, but it was just Kevin.
"Hey Sam, what are we doing on the roof?" Kevin asked stepping out just as the doors closed and the elevator went back down.
"Kevin, I want you to go and hide behind those air filters, and don't come out until I say so, ok?" Samus said as she pointed to a system of large fans and pipes that filtered the air for the entire building. Kevin nodded and ran behind them. Assured that Kevin was safe, Samus faced the elevator door and began to charge her cannon. As the numbers slowly ticked, and the rise of the elevator could be heard louder and louder, Samus charged her shot bigger and bigger until it was as big as she was. When the doors opened she let fly with a shot that took the elevator dock clear into the sky than down into the streets. Unfortunately Samus was too early. Just as the elevator dock disappeared, the elevator itself arrived.
"Shit," Samus said as she ran towards the elevator. As the doors opened, she jumped up and landed softly on the roof. Jenero and the guards stepped out and looked around.
"She has to be up here, find her and the boy," Jenero said as he started to gesture for soldiers to move here and there.
Samus grabbed onto one of the guards and pulled him up with her grappling hook. She took his gun and threw him over the edge all in one motion; he didn't even get a chance to scream until he was about 30 stories down. Jenero thought he heard something and turned around as Samus opened fire with the gun she had just acquired. Jenero dodged, but the guard in front of him was not so lucky. He got blasted in the back and was killed. The guards turned around at the sound of gunfire and saw Samus perched on the elevator, gun pointed at Jenero.
"I think that it would be in your best interest to let me and Kevin go," Samus said.
"You must realise that on an open surface like this roof, you have nowhere to hide. With the guards I have here, you stand no chance of surviving. You might as well give yourself up," Jenero said as the rest of the guards pointed their guns at Samus. The situation was pretty grim, and Samus was running through every possibility in her mind. Than it struck her like a bolt of lightning. She dropped her gun, lowered her cannon and closed her eyes. Her cannon seemed to melt as it grew longer and than became solid again, but this time with a larger barrel and a different shape to it. She jumped into the air and hovered about ten feet off the surface of the roof. Jenero and the guards looked at her in amazement, and in curiosity. As soon as she pointed her cannon at them Jenero's eyes widened.
"Everyone, open fire!" he yelled as Samus unleashed a huge blue beam that smashed into the roof and began to tear away at it as she caused the guards to scatter. Jenero tried to shoot her, but the waves of the sonic cannon were distorting his vision too much and caused him to drop to his knees. She dragged the beam around as it turned the roof into a wasteland of rubble. Suddenly her gun stopped functioning.
"What the hell?" Samus brought up her gun statistics. It was drained. "Shit."
Jenero and the remaining guards got to their feet shook of their daze and began to open fire once again. Before she had a chance to dodge, she got hit a few times and was forced to land. She quickly dropped and ran towards Kevin. Although she was moving at an incredible speed, she still got hit numerous times and her armour's integrity was failing. She jumped over the filters and landed beside Kevin.
"Ok, now Kevin, I want you to hold onto my back as tight as you can, ok? Don't let go no matter what," Samus said as Kevin crawled onto her back and grabbed tightly onto the ridges of her suit. She stood up, assured that he was on safely and ran for the edge. Jenero and the guards came around the filter just as she was jumping off. One guard was just about to shoot when Jenero held up his hand.
"Don't bother, that is a one hundred and thirty story drop. With her suit in that condition, she'll end up as a blemish on the sidewalk," he said as he walked over to the edge and looked down.
Samus free-fell spread eagle so that the wind wouldn't get at Kevin. Despite her open position, they still fell very fast. Kevin of course screamed all the way.
"Kevin, hold on," Samus said as she quickly grabbed his foot and swung him around in mid flight so that she held him in her arms. She used what little power she had left to push herself towards traffic. Her jets faded and she was now coasting towards the air traffic sector. Cars whizzed underneath her and above her as she fell towards the ground. She eyed a large transport coming her way. She straightened out and braced for impact. She hit the transport hard and nearly dropped Kevin, but they were safe. They had landed on top of a large transport in the midst of the traffic. She put Kevin down, took off her suit and collapsed.
"You ok Sam?" Kevin asked as he leaned over to look at Samus.
"I'll be fine, just a little worn out is all," Samus said as she brushed a wind blown piece of hair out of her face. They rode the transport until she felt better. As it was so large, it really didn't move all that fast and staying on was no task. When she felt better, Samus grabbed Kevin again and jumped down car by car until she was on the surface of C-421. She looked around to get her bearings. She figured that she was about a mile away from the interplanetary spaceport. She grabbed Kevin's hand and walked towards to port.
"Where we going Sam?" Kevin asked.
"To help a friend."
Warfare
Samus arrived on M-62 with Kevin in tow. She walked past the sleeping guard and decided to walk down to the residences. It slowly got cooler as they made their way down, but it was refreshing after the ordeal that she had just been through. Samus walked up to Scott's house and knocked on the door.
"Hello?" Mari said as she walked up to the door, when she opened it to reveal Samus and Kevin, both looking a little worse for wear she immediately let them in. "Ms. Aran--"
"Samus," Samus interrupted.
"Sorry, Samus, what are you doing here? Have you rethought Scott's offer?" Mari asked as she went into the kitchen to grab something to eat.
"Actually yes, I have. I had a little "talk" with Herin and he understood completely and don't worry, I said nothing that would compromise your safety," Samus said as Mari walked back in with some drinks.
"That's wonderful, Scott's out right now with a few of the other leaders. They are planning a large-scale offensive against Herin. They figure that they can put a serious dent into his empire by totally severing all links to the Aerospace Guild," Mari said in her seemingly typical "airhead" manner.
"Ok," Samus said still amazed by her political and military aptness. "Where are they?"
"Well, I think that they are at Yu'Len's house, but I'm not entirely sure. If you want to check, it is the forth house down to the right," Mari said as she finished her drink.
"Thanks, oh yeah, could you look after Kevin for a bit while a talk to Scott?" Samus asked, as she was just about to leave.
"Sure, no problem, he'll give Raini someone her age to talk to," Mari said as she led Kevin to the back of the house.
"Thanks again!" Samus called out as she left her house and jogged to Yu'Len's. She found the forth house on the right and knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Scott, it's me Samus, we need to talk!" Samus called through the door. She heard a little shuffling and than the door clicked open. Instead of Scott a large wall of a man greeted her.
"Uh, is Scott Arlaman here?" Samus asked trying to look around him.
"There's no one here with that name," the stranger said in a deep husky voice. He didn't look down at her rather he simply raised an eyebrow in her general direction.
"Well, if you see him tell him that Samus was looking for him," Samus said as she turned and walked away.
"Samus?" the voice came from within the house. Scott pushed his way past the burly doorman and ran up to Samus. "What are you doing here?"
"Scott, I've decided to help you take down Herin," Samus said as she looked at the ground.
"Really!? That's great, but what changed your mind?" Scott asked as he waved the doorman aside and walked in with Samus.
"Well, let's just say that Herin and I had a differing of opinions," Samus laughed.
"You're not hurt are you?" Scott asked looking for any wounds.
"No, I'm fine," Samus said as Scott opened a door for them that lead down to a small "bunker". He opened another large door and walked in. Before Samus and Scott was a large war room, complete with floor plans, maps, documents and a small PC. Although not as grand as the security station in Herin Enterprise, it was still pretty astonishing. There were also two more people in the room. One was a large, handsome man who looked to be in his thirties. He had a large scar on his forehead and another on his sinuous arm. He was dressed in a miner's suit, and looked like he had just come from the mines.
The other was a wiry man with large glasses and thinning hair. He looked to be about twenty or so, but Samus couldn't tell. He surprisingly was dressed in a work casual suit with suspenders and a red tie.
"Samus, this is Berkley," the man in glasses raised his hand, but still sat in front of the computer typing away madly. "And Houston is the man beside you there."
The taller miner simply looked over at Samus and continued to plot out points on a large map on the wall.
"And I believe you've met Yu'Len," Scott said as Yu'Len pushed his way past and went to sit at the table.
"What is all this?" Samus asked as she walked around the room picking up things here and there, each time a grunt from Yu'Len could be heard.
"This is the headquarters of the Taurus Alliance. This is where every single rebel movement is planned. Also all actions within the area are executed from here. Berkley is our technical representative I guess you could say. Houston is the one in charge of gathering support directly from the miners and Yu'Len is in charge of, well everything else," Scott said as he stood behind Yu'Len and patted him on the shoulder.
"And you?" Samus asked. Everyone quickly shot her a glance as though saying, 'where the hell have you been?'
"Well, I would be the front man and, as you know the thorn in Herin's side," Scott grinned.
"Ah yes of course, but if things are this well organised, why do you need me?" Samus asked.
"Because we simply do not have the man power to currently perform any large scale attacks directly on Herin. You yourself are a one-woman army which you have proven many times in the past. Also with you fighting on our side perhaps many more will join. You are a very well known person or at least your reputation is. If people knew that the legendary Samus Aran was joining our cause, they might be more willing to help us," Scott sighed and sat down.
"I'm not so sure, I did some pretty unspeakable things in my past, and my "Legendary Status" was only achieved when I finished of my Galactic Fed missions. I don't know how many people would be willing to help a killer," Samus said, as she stared at the floor in shame. She recalled all the men she killed on the Space Transport on the way here. Those men she killed could have been potential allies.
"Look Sam, I'm pretty sure there are people on this rock who have done worse. I don't think for even a second one would hold it against you," Scott said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Samus was shocked he had called her Sam, her nickname given to her by Kevin. It felt different when he said it. It was very comforting.
"Well what is my first mission? I am not one to stand idle like this," Samus said shaking the thoughts from her head and getting back down to business.
"Ms. Aran, if you would," Berkley said waving her over towards his computer.
"What?" Samus asked as she leaned over and looked at the screen.
"I'm sure this picture looks familiar to you does it not?" Berkley said as he brought up the schematics for the Herin Enterprise building.
"How did you get these?" Samus asked looking them over.
"I have an inside source," Berkley grinned. Samus looked over at Scott who just shook his head. "I was wondering if you can help me out with the secret passages. Am I right to assume that Mr. Guerrero should you each one?"
"Yes, he did actually," Samus said pulling out her jewel. She held it in her hand, closed her eyes and focused. When she opened her eyes she waved Berkley aside and she sat in the chair. She quickly began adding lines and lines of code that was being typed faster than the monitor could process them. She finished, hit the enter key and within seconds, about 30 new sections had been added to the layout of the building.
"Incredible." was all Berkley managed to mutter. He quickly got back in the chair and began scanning the picture like a madman.
"I'm not sure if that's all of them, but it's what he should me," Samus said sticking the jewel back in her pocket.
"It's more than enough!" Berkley almost squealed with delight. "Ok, according to these new images, there is a secret gateway from vent shaft-C directly to the com centre. This is where you come in Samus.you to Scott."
"Here's what I want done," Yu'Len boomed. "You and Scott are to infiltrate Herin Enterprise at 0100. You will access the building via the sewer. This leads directly to the vent shaft. From here you are to scale to the top of the shaft, find the entrance to the secret gateway and proceed to the com centre. Once there you will hook the link up with time delay explosive onto the mainframe. I will be outside amongst a crowd that Houston will set up. After five minutes I will open the link and begin to download the mainframe, this will be directly sent to Berkley. Once the download is complete, I want the charge set, and the com room blown, got it!"
"Yes," Scott said casually.
"I suppose so," Samus said in a similar fashion.
"Do this right and we will have all of Herin's back up files to barter with. It would take ten years for him to retrieve all of that information manually through each contact he's made," Houston said as he tossed Samus the link up. It was a small wire with a box on the end, nothing fancy. Samus put it in her pocket and thanked Huston.
"Ok, we're going to move out now Berkley, we'll make contact in 4 hours. After that it's silent until we get back here, ok?" Scott said ushering Samus out.
"Understood," Berkley said. Samus, Scott, Yu'Len and Houston all headed topside and grabbed the next transport out, they all road in silence; each person's thoughts on the task ahead.
Disclaimer: *Cough*This story belongs to James Sate, Metroid belongs to Nintendo.
Defective
It was still light out when Samus stormed into her room and straight past Kevin and Meryl. She stomped into her room, slammed the door and practically tore the dress off herself.
"Uh Samus, is there a problem?" Meryl asked lightly knocking on her door. She thought she heard and answer, but couldn't tell. "Samus?"
"Of all the egotistical, stuck up, money driven bastards," Samus nearly ploughed over Meryl when she came thundering out of her room. She had the dress and earrings off and was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She had the make-up removed and she was tousling her hair when she gave up and flopped down on the couch.
"What happened in their Samus?" Meryl pleaded as she began to untangle Samus's hair.
"Mr. Herin is by far the vainest man I have ever met," Samus said snatching the converter from Kevin and changing it to the news.
"Hey!" Kevin pouted. Samus just glared at him and he was silenced.
"I know he is hard to be around sometimes, especially when he starts talking about himself," Meryl said as she finished up with Samus's hair.
"Thanks," Samus said calming down. She was half focused on the T.V. when suddenly something caught her eye. "What's this, it says live?"
"Oh, it's probably just more Herin protesters. They are residents who live in the area, most of them workers. After last night's escapade, numerous houses were damaged and they all want some form of reimbursement," Meryl sighed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
"Oh," Samus said embarrassed. She was about to change the channel when she noticed a familiar face in the crowd. "Oh my god."
"What?" Meryl asked. Samus practically leaped over to the T.V. and pointed at a man in the crowd.
"Do you know who that is?" Samus asked pointing at Scott.
"Um, no never seen him before, why?" Meryl asked.
"That's the guy who bought the gun for Kevin, he's also a security guard here," Samus said falling back on her legs as she had been balancing on her toes.
"Than why is he out there protesting?" Meryl asked as if Samus knew.
"I am going to find out, stay here," Samus grabbed her jacket and ran out into the hall. She didn't bother with the elevators, and simply ran to a window and jumped out. She plunged some forty stories when she landed on a flagpole bearing the Herin Enterprise golden dart. She bent it horribly out of shape, but jumped down and landed behind a building just out of view of the crowd. She ran out and looked around for Scott. She found him talking with another protester when he turned and noticed Samus coming his way. Before he had a chance to say anything, Samus punched him in the cheek and he stumbled back.
"Whoa lady," the other protester said.
"Shut up," Samus said knocking him out cold. "Alright, I want some straight answers damnit, who the hell are you?" Samus asked standing straight over Scott and leaned over to stare him in the eyes.
":: Ahem :: This would be a lot easier if you weren't standing like that," Scott said. Samus looked down a little farther and saw that her shirt was slightly hanging open. She stood up and dragged Scott by his foot to the back of the building she had jumped behind. The crowd watched in awe, but ignored them and continued yelling at the Herin building.
"Alright, who are you?" Samus asked practically throwing him against the wall.
"Ok, but this has to remain a secret, for both our sakes," Scott said looking around to make sure no one was there. "My name is Scott Arlaman. After that fight last night I decided to do a little research on you Ms. Aran. I learned a lot about you, well as much as I could. You don't seem to enjoy being very public," Scott said as Samus sat on a garbage can.
"Whereas you seem to be everywhere," Samus smiled coldly.
"I figured that I could only fight Mr. Herin from the inside. That's why I became friendly with the commanders in the mining facility. Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I was a miner on M-62. Anyway, I worked myself up the line of command until I was offered a guard position by Mr. Guerrero himself. That's where you saw me inside the Herin Enterprise building."
"That would give you access to go inside and out of the building as you please," Samus mused.
"Bingo, so after becoming a star employ I began to stake out the building, learning its little hideaways and secrets. The building is a maze of passages that I have used to my advantage. I figured that after you let me go there was still something you wanted, but I wanted to find out for myself, without the armour." Scott finished.
"I meant to ask you about it, where did you get it?" Samus asked peering at Scott.
"It was a gift, I'm not sure who gave it too me though. I was abandoned as a child, but my foster parents told me that it was with me when they practically stumbled across me," Scott said pulling out the orange jewel and worked it over in his hands.
"What do you mean?" Samus asked as she felt her jewel in her pocket.
"They were on a transport ship heading over to M-62 when they found me in a small escape pod floating through space. Apparently the ship was pretty banged up and life support was failing. It's a good thing they found me when they did, huh?" Scott looked up from the jewel at Samus.
"Hmm, so you have no idea where it came from?" Samus asked.
"Other than from my parents, no I don't" Scott said stopping to look at it closely, than up at Samus.
"What about you? Rumour has it that you have one much like?" Scott smiled at Samus. She ran it through her mind whether or not to show him.
"Actually I do," Samus said as she produced her own jewel from her pocket.
"Wow, it's blue," Scott said as he looked it over than his own. Suddenly his own began to melt and slowly creep its way towards the blue jewel, Samus's followed in suit and in almost a daze the two brought their hands together. The jewels were just about to mix together when Samus quickly wrenched her hand back.
"That was odd, it's never acted that way before," Samus said as it hardened again and she shoved it back in her pocket.
"Yeah, it was like they were drawn together," Scott said putting his own jewel into his inner jacket pocket. "Samus, there is something I want to show you."
"What," Samus asked looking at Scott curiously.
"I want to show you why I and so many others fight," Scott said standing up and walking towards the courtyard.
"Uh.Ok," Samus said a little apprehensively. She was not sure whether or not she could trust Scott, but something told her she could. The two walked behind the crowd over to the main street where Scott flagged down a taxi and the two climbed in.
"Where are we going?" Samus asked as Scott told the driver to head to the spaceport.
"I am going to show you the mines on M-62. I am going to show you exactly what kind of monster Mr. Herin is."
The taxi pulled up to an interplanetary space port where Scott and Samus got out and went to grab the next flight to M-62. As Scott was a worker and Samus was, well Samus, they got on for free. They grabbed a seat on a rather uncomfortable bench that looked out a window. A ding came over speakers and the ship launched off. With in seconds they were in space and heading for M-62.
"So do you still work at all in the mines?" Samus asked she gazed out into space.
"No, but it is one of the numerous rebel headquarters. We manage all neighbouring planets from there," Scott said. Slowly as they neared the planet Samus noticed that he lost his boyish charm and became very cold. They touched down onto a large barren planet that reeked of sulphur. Scott led Samus over to a large elevator port where they were quickly taken down to the mines. Samus was blown away. It was as hot as Norfair down there and when Samus saw the endless army of miners working against the edges of the caves she was horror-stricken. People of all ages where everywhere, young children, the elderly, no one seemed spared. And they were all a greyish, brown tint from working all the time in their dirty environments. As far as Samus could see in all directions people worked in this inhuman anthill.
"What is all this?" Samus asked finding the sense to talk.
"These are the trisulphate miners of M-62. It is used as a coarse fuel in tankers and heavy engine vehicles," Scott said as he walked over to a sentry. "Scott Arlaman, I would like to take a guest down to the residential apartments."
The guard looked over at Samus than at Scott.
"Sure whatever," he said waving them through without a second thought.
"Thanks, Hank", Scott said as he passed him and began a long trek down a huge flight of stairs. Samus looked down.
"How far are we going?" she asked as she leaned over the edge and looked down.
"All the way to the bottom," Scott said. "It gets a little cooler down there."
Scott turned around in time to see Samus jump over the edge.
"Shit!" he screamed as he jumped over too and pulled out his jewel. They screamed through the air like a pair of peregrine falcons in a dive. Scott put his jewel on and in mid flight his armour morphed around his body. Samus went head first down, holding her arms to her side to pick up speed. The ground was in sight and she quickly grabbed her jewel and put it on. Just as it hardened she flipped around and landed with a massive crack that split the ground. Scott landed behind her and also left a large impression. They both took their armour off and Scott ran up to Samus.
"What the hell was that?" Scott asked jamming his jewel into his pocket.
"That would have taken too long to walk, besides I haven't jumped that far since my last mission, actually it was quite a rush," Samus said smiling like a mischievous school girl.
"Dear God, it's a good thing that there are no guards this far down otherwise my cover would have been blown," Scott huffed.
"You didn't have to follow," Samus protested casually.
Scott got the look on his face as though he had no idea how to deal with her.
"Follow me please," he said changing his tone. They walked for a bit until Samus started to notice windows in the walls. Than soon doors and finally people. People were everywhere, either casually hanging out on the stairs, or watching their children play. Some were walking hand in hand while others were sleeping on chairs out side their houses. "These are the residents of M-62. They are workers, but are currently off duty. As you can see there is an entire society of people down here who rely on each other rather than on the practically non-existent government," Scott said as he shook hands with people and waved to others. "These are the people that I and so many others are fighting for, we fight because they cannot."
"But they seem happy here, why the problem?" Samus asked looking around at the seemingly happy subterranean village.
"They are act happy in order to stave off the insanity of realising that they are simply tools of Mr. Herin. On M-62 the average life span is 40 and at best 60 and those who make it that far are still forced to work. These people have to deal with the threat of cave-ins, gas emissions, and dying from lack of rest. I would wager that we lose on average 10 people a day here. More are shipped in as needed, like my family was."
"10 a day, That must cost Herin massive amounts of money!" Samus said incredulously. "People aren't cheap--"
"Samus, my family cost less than that shirt you are wearing! This entire village alone could be bought by any midsize company easily. In the eyes of Herin, we are lower than dogs," Scott roared as he spun around and stared at Samus coldly.
"Scott, I'm sorry," Samus said quietly. "I really didn't know."
"If Herin continues with his tyrannous way of handling his business more people will die simply for the excuse of cheap labour. There is someone I want you to talk with, follow me," Scott said as he continued on his way. They walked a little further until Scott stopped at an apartment and walked in.
"Mari, I'm home," Scott called out as he took of his boots and walked to what looked like the living room. Samus followed in suit and just stood in the living room.
"Scott?" it was a woman's voice from the kitchen.
"We have a guest," Scott said as a woman walked in wiping her hands on a ragged towel. She was a little shorter than Samus, but looked very powerful. She had her hair up in a bun and wore absolutely no make-up. She had blue eyes and red hair.
"Oh, hello," Mari said as she shook Samus's hand. She looked her over. "Have you come to work in the mines?"
"Of course not, Mari this is Samus Aran, the legendary bounty hunter," Scott said as if presenting a queen. Mari's eyes widened and she quickly wrapped her arms around Samus.
"Have you come to save us?" she asked nearly squeezing the life out of her.
"Yes, I believe she has," Scott piped in before Samus could say anything.
"Oh thank God, thank you so much," Mari said with tears in her eyes. Samus didn't know what to say.
"Daddy, who's here?" said the voice of a little girl. She looked like Mari, but had the hair and eyes of Scott.
"Hey Raini, this nice lady is going to help us--" Scott started.
"HOLD IT! Would someone mind filling me in as to what's going on," Samus yelled out.
"Of course, sorry," Scott said gesturing for everyone to sit. "This is my wife Mari and my daughter Raini."
"You're married, and a father?" Samus asked incredulously.
"Surprised?" Scott asked a little surprised as well.
"Actually, um never mind," Samus said a little dejected as she was too confused to bother trying to straighten anything.
"Anyway, I figured that you two should meet seeing as I will be working with Samus," Scott said as she leaned against Mari.
"That's fine dear just make sure that you don't get hurt," Mari said as she patted Raini's head and looked at Samus. "So Ms. Aran, have you ever worked as an assassin before?"
Mari had lost her previous absent minded character and became as official as Scott was.
"No, actually, but I have done a fair amount of mercenary jobs," Samus said a little stunned. "But what are you talking about?"
"Aren't you going to help Scott kill Mr. Herin?" Mari asked looking a little confused.
"I am?" Samus looked over at Scott who simply nodded. Samus jumped up, grabbed Scott by the arm and dragged him outside.
"What?" Scott asked innocently.
"Just what the hell is going on? First you drag me to a hot as hell planet just to show me a corrupt mining operation, than you show me your destitute little village, than you tell your family that I am going to help you kill Mr. Herin. What the hell are you trying to do?" Samus asked stamping the ground.
"Calm down I haven't done anything I can't undo. First I showed you all of this in order for you to get a better understanding of just what it is these people go through. Secondly I told Mari that hoping that you would actually consider it," Scott explained.
"Are you out of your mind, why would I help you guys, it's almost a suicidal task, besides I was hired to kill you, not my employer. You have no idea how much I am making just to bring your head to Herin--"
"So is that the only reason you are working for him, for money?" Scott said coldly.
"Look, it is the only life I know. I am a bounty hunter, and as much as I which it weren't true that's just the way it is. I can't lead a normal life anymore, it just isn't possible," Samus said.
"I'm not asking you to change your life, I am just asking you to do the right thing," Scott pleaded.
"The right thing is what ever puts money in my pocket," Samus said turning around and heading back to the stairs leading to the surface.
"Samus wait," Scott shouted.
"I'll have to think about it. I agree the guy is a monster, but I have to make a living. Justice doesn't pay for what it costs to live. I'll talk to you tomorrow, maybe" and she left. Scott watched as she walked away and thought of what he would tell Mari and Raini. He walked into his house and shut the door slowly.
Right or wrong, it's always the hardest question to answer.
When Samus left she quickly put on her suit, morphed into the ball and quickly rolled up the side of the cliff. When she got to the top she kept the suit on, past the guard who looked shocked as hell, but let her go. She decided to "tour" the mines. She felt cooler in her suit, but not any more comfortable. She walked past rows upon rows of seemingly endless caverns where she could hear the sound of sonic drills emanating their low warp of a sound. She passed women pushing along hover-carts as well as children dragging around "smaller" tools. She took a turn down a shaft and strolled along the mine until she arrived upon the end where the workers were. She watched as an elderly man tried in vain to steady his sonic cannon in order to bore away at the sides of the caves. Samus walked over to him and grabbed the cannon from his hands and he gave it up without a second thought. The cannon felt so light in her hands and she immediately cranked up the power.
"Everyone clear out!" Samus yelled. Quickly all of the workers stepped back and took off around the corner. Samus braced herself and aimed the cannon at the wall. She opened fire as an insanely huge blue beam was launched out from the end of the barrel and smashed into the wall shredding it apart. She continued until she had dug at least one hundred metres in, and
was surrounded by rubble. She grinned, placed her hand on the gun and memorised how it worked, its mechanics, its power. The gun's signature was sent to her cannon and she left the mine. As she walked out she gave the cannon to the elderly man as they walked back in to see what she had accomplished. Feeling minutely better Samus decided that it was time to leave. She went back to the elevator and went topside. When she got to the surface she removed her suit and walk over to the pad. A clock on the side said that it would be another 10 minutes until the next transport came by. She took of her suit and she figured that she had some time left and went over to sit on a bench. She had just sat down when she fell asleep. She dreamt of children being worked to death in Herin's mines. Of elderly people collapsing from exhaustion and of Scott's family being killed by a cave-in. She awoke to the sound of engines blaring. She awoke to see her transport pull in and open its doors. She slowly got up and strolled onto the ship. When she arrived back on C-421 she quickly headed back to Herin Enterprises. She took the elevator up to her room after being run through the guard station. She got to her room to see Meryl and Kevin asleep against each other.
"Thanks Meryl, but I'm back so you should go too home ok," Samus said as she nudged Meryl awake.
"What, oh hi Samus, where did you go? You were gone for about 3 hours," Meryl said groggily as she got up and went for the door.
"I got called away on so business, thank you for staying with Kevin," Samus said as she shut the door and went to bed herself.
She woke up late in the morning, and quickly put on something to wear. She passed a sleeping Kevin and went up to talk with Mr. Herin. She got up to his office and knocked on his door.
"Who is it?" Herin asked in a very kind manner.
"It's Samus, we need to talk," Samus said yelling through the door.
"Ah yes of course please come in," Herin said, a little less cheerfully. Samus opened the door just in time to see Herin's office turn from command central to a regular office. She walked up to his desk as screens and panels made themselves hidden. "So how may I help you today?"
"Mr. Herin, I took the time to go on a little bit of a field trip," Samus said leaning against his desk.
"Oh really, and where did you take this trip?" Herin asked in mock curiosity.
"To the mining facilities on M-62--" Samus began.
"You did what! Who gave you permission to leave the planet?" Herin asked as he pounded his fist against the table.
"I do not need permission to leave the planet, I work for you by my own decision, not by yours," Samus said vehemently.
"You were not to leave, especially to a restricted facility such as M-62," Herin stammered.
"Why, are you hiding something?" Samus queried.
"Of course not, but it is like anything else in my Enterprise. You do not meddle with things out of your jurisdiction," Herin said a little more casually.
"I saw how you worked those people, the old and the young. I must admit that this couldn't possibly being going on with your knowledge of the situation," Samus said casually.
"Ms. Aran, you must understand that in the Herin Enterprise there is no one who is unable to work for their pay. When a child asks for a toy, they should pay for it for themselves--" Herin said sound as pompous as usual.
"We are not talking about a fucking news panel route. These children are doing hard labour, labour that even I find trying. What the hell do you think you are doing?" Samus asked as she smashed a fist into his desk leaving a large imprint.
"Running a business, simple as that," Herin brushed off the comment like it was nothing.
"Well, it's one I refuse to be part of. As of this moment I hand in my resignation as your bodyguard," Samus said as she turned to leave.
"You must realise Samus that you will not be able to get out of such an important job so easily," Herin said standing up and leaning on his desk.
"You must think you frighten me. You really are an egotistical maniac," Samus said as she shut the door and went for the elevator. Herin in his room smiled and picked up his phone.
"Jenero, she's defected, make sure she doesn't leave the building alive," Herin said as he hung up the phone. "You must understand Samus, no one leaves Herin Enterprises."
Samus went down to her room and grabbed her stuff. She put her ID card in her pocket and her jewel in her jacket pocket. She shoved her clothes into her duffel bag and went out to the living room. Kevin was awake and watching cartoons when Samus turned off the T.V.
"Hey, what you do that for Samus?" Kevin pouted.
"We're leaving, I think that we've over stayed our welcome," Samus said as she grabbed his jacket and threw it at him.
"But what about Ms. Vista, can't I say good-bye?" Kevin asked.
"I'm afraid you'll have to talk to her later," Samus lied. She walked with Kevin out into the hall when she heard footsteps. "Kevin, when I say so, head for the elevator," Samus said as she reached into her pocket and put her suit on. Jenero rounded the corner with about twenty guards. As soon as they saw her they opened fire. Samus pushed Kevin down and ran towards Jenero and the guards, along the wall. They tried to follow her, but she continually jumped from side to side until she lunged at the first guard knocking him flat. She sprung off him and continued to run down the hall.
"Get her!" Jenero yelled as he kept firing. He fortunately did not have his rail gun, but still the hail of bullets was thick. Samus ran down to the other end of the hall when she jumped and turned around in mid air.
"Kevin head for the elevator!" she yelled as she opened fire on Jenero. She took out two guards, continued to spin around and kept running. Kevin got up and ran for the elevator. He quickly jumped in and mashed they key pad with his chubby hand. The elevator took off for the top floor.
Samus got to the end of the hall and turned around as Jenero and the guards smugly walked over to her.
"It would appear that your defection went awry. It was a burden knowing you Samus Aran," Jenero said as he lifted his gun as did all of the guards. Just before they opened fire Samus disappear.
"What the hell!" one of the guards mumbled as he went to see where she went.
"There are no secret passages in this part of the hall, unless," Jenero mumbled to himself. "No, you fool stop!"
It was too late. Samus had released her whip and ran the guard through. His blood seemed to float in the air as he fell to the ground. Briefly Jenero caught a glimpse of Samus.
"Cloaked," Jenero mumbled again. "Shoot at the blood."
The guards followed the "floating blood" as it seemed to whiz through the air than straight into the ceiling, taking out a panel.
"Damnit, she's moved up a level, follow her!" Jenero yelled out orders as he ran to the elevators himself.
Samus was on the administrative floor. Secretaries looked stunned as Samus uncloaked and walked over to Meryl.
"I don't have much time, I have decided to leave C-421, if you feel a need to come, by all means follow, but tell no one," Samus whispered to Meryl. She just nodded her head and turned pale. Jenero and the guards burst into the office.
"Everyone down!" he called out. All of the secretaries dropped to the ground, as did Samus. She quickly rolled up and slowly made her way to the vents. "Look for her."
The guards slowly walked between the aisles. They stopped every once and awhile to check underneath a desk or kick down a divider.
"Sir, she doesn't appear to be in here anymore," one guard said after it looked as though they weren't going to find her.
"Fuck, where the hell could she.be.," Jenero noticed a vent hanging open. "Damn, you are a clever one."
Jenero ran back to the elevator.
Samus quickly booted along the vents until she came to the air vents at the top of the building. She placed a bomb near the top and blew them clean off the roof. She rolled out and stretched out. She was surveying the area when the elevator door opened. She spun around ready to open fire, but it was just Kevin.
"Hey Sam, what are we doing on the roof?" Kevin asked stepping out just as the doors closed and the elevator went back down.
"Kevin, I want you to go and hide behind those air filters, and don't come out until I say so, ok?" Samus said as she pointed to a system of large fans and pipes that filtered the air for the entire building. Kevin nodded and ran behind them. Assured that Kevin was safe, Samus faced the elevator door and began to charge her cannon. As the numbers slowly ticked, and the rise of the elevator could be heard louder and louder, Samus charged her shot bigger and bigger until it was as big as she was. When the doors opened she let fly with a shot that took the elevator dock clear into the sky than down into the streets. Unfortunately Samus was too early. Just as the elevator dock disappeared, the elevator itself arrived.
"Shit," Samus said as she ran towards the elevator. As the doors opened, she jumped up and landed softly on the roof. Jenero and the guards stepped out and looked around.
"She has to be up here, find her and the boy," Jenero said as he started to gesture for soldiers to move here and there.
Samus grabbed onto one of the guards and pulled him up with her grappling hook. She took his gun and threw him over the edge all in one motion; he didn't even get a chance to scream until he was about 30 stories down. Jenero thought he heard something and turned around as Samus opened fire with the gun she had just acquired. Jenero dodged, but the guard in front of him was not so lucky. He got blasted in the back and was killed. The guards turned around at the sound of gunfire and saw Samus perched on the elevator, gun pointed at Jenero.
"I think that it would be in your best interest to let me and Kevin go," Samus said.
"You must realise that on an open surface like this roof, you have nowhere to hide. With the guards I have here, you stand no chance of surviving. You might as well give yourself up," Jenero said as the rest of the guards pointed their guns at Samus. The situation was pretty grim, and Samus was running through every possibility in her mind. Than it struck her like a bolt of lightning. She dropped her gun, lowered her cannon and closed her eyes. Her cannon seemed to melt as it grew longer and than became solid again, but this time with a larger barrel and a different shape to it. She jumped into the air and hovered about ten feet off the surface of the roof. Jenero and the guards looked at her in amazement, and in curiosity. As soon as she pointed her cannon at them Jenero's eyes widened.
"Everyone, open fire!" he yelled as Samus unleashed a huge blue beam that smashed into the roof and began to tear away at it as she caused the guards to scatter. Jenero tried to shoot her, but the waves of the sonic cannon were distorting his vision too much and caused him to drop to his knees. She dragged the beam around as it turned the roof into a wasteland of rubble. Suddenly her gun stopped functioning.
"What the hell?" Samus brought up her gun statistics. It was drained. "Shit."
Jenero and the remaining guards got to their feet shook of their daze and began to open fire once again. Before she had a chance to dodge, she got hit a few times and was forced to land. She quickly dropped and ran towards Kevin. Although she was moving at an incredible speed, she still got hit numerous times and her armour's integrity was failing. She jumped over the filters and landed beside Kevin.
"Ok, now Kevin, I want you to hold onto my back as tight as you can, ok? Don't let go no matter what," Samus said as Kevin crawled onto her back and grabbed tightly onto the ridges of her suit. She stood up, assured that he was on safely and ran for the edge. Jenero and the guards came around the filter just as she was jumping off. One guard was just about to shoot when Jenero held up his hand.
"Don't bother, that is a one hundred and thirty story drop. With her suit in that condition, she'll end up as a blemish on the sidewalk," he said as he walked over to the edge and looked down.
Samus free-fell spread eagle so that the wind wouldn't get at Kevin. Despite her open position, they still fell very fast. Kevin of course screamed all the way.
"Kevin, hold on," Samus said as she quickly grabbed his foot and swung him around in mid flight so that she held him in her arms. She used what little power she had left to push herself towards traffic. Her jets faded and she was now coasting towards the air traffic sector. Cars whizzed underneath her and above her as she fell towards the ground. She eyed a large transport coming her way. She straightened out and braced for impact. She hit the transport hard and nearly dropped Kevin, but they were safe. They had landed on top of a large transport in the midst of the traffic. She put Kevin down, took off her suit and collapsed.
"You ok Sam?" Kevin asked as he leaned over to look at Samus.
"I'll be fine, just a little worn out is all," Samus said as she brushed a wind blown piece of hair out of her face. They rode the transport until she felt better. As it was so large, it really didn't move all that fast and staying on was no task. When she felt better, Samus grabbed Kevin again and jumped down car by car until she was on the surface of C-421. She looked around to get her bearings. She figured that she was about a mile away from the interplanetary spaceport. She grabbed Kevin's hand and walked towards to port.
"Where we going Sam?" Kevin asked.
"To help a friend."
Warfare
Samus arrived on M-62 with Kevin in tow. She walked past the sleeping guard and decided to walk down to the residences. It slowly got cooler as they made their way down, but it was refreshing after the ordeal that she had just been through. Samus walked up to Scott's house and knocked on the door.
"Hello?" Mari said as she walked up to the door, when she opened it to reveal Samus and Kevin, both looking a little worse for wear she immediately let them in. "Ms. Aran--"
"Samus," Samus interrupted.
"Sorry, Samus, what are you doing here? Have you rethought Scott's offer?" Mari asked as she went into the kitchen to grab something to eat.
"Actually yes, I have. I had a little "talk" with Herin and he understood completely and don't worry, I said nothing that would compromise your safety," Samus said as Mari walked back in with some drinks.
"That's wonderful, Scott's out right now with a few of the other leaders. They are planning a large-scale offensive against Herin. They figure that they can put a serious dent into his empire by totally severing all links to the Aerospace Guild," Mari said in her seemingly typical "airhead" manner.
"Ok," Samus said still amazed by her political and military aptness. "Where are they?"
"Well, I think that they are at Yu'Len's house, but I'm not entirely sure. If you want to check, it is the forth house down to the right," Mari said as she finished her drink.
"Thanks, oh yeah, could you look after Kevin for a bit while a talk to Scott?" Samus asked, as she was just about to leave.
"Sure, no problem, he'll give Raini someone her age to talk to," Mari said as she led Kevin to the back of the house.
"Thanks again!" Samus called out as she left her house and jogged to Yu'Len's. She found the forth house on the right and knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Scott, it's me Samus, we need to talk!" Samus called through the door. She heard a little shuffling and than the door clicked open. Instead of Scott a large wall of a man greeted her.
"Uh, is Scott Arlaman here?" Samus asked trying to look around him.
"There's no one here with that name," the stranger said in a deep husky voice. He didn't look down at her rather he simply raised an eyebrow in her general direction.
"Well, if you see him tell him that Samus was looking for him," Samus said as she turned and walked away.
"Samus?" the voice came from within the house. Scott pushed his way past the burly doorman and ran up to Samus. "What are you doing here?"
"Scott, I've decided to help you take down Herin," Samus said as she looked at the ground.
"Really!? That's great, but what changed your mind?" Scott asked as he waved the doorman aside and walked in with Samus.
"Well, let's just say that Herin and I had a differing of opinions," Samus laughed.
"You're not hurt are you?" Scott asked looking for any wounds.
"No, I'm fine," Samus said as Scott opened a door for them that lead down to a small "bunker". He opened another large door and walked in. Before Samus and Scott was a large war room, complete with floor plans, maps, documents and a small PC. Although not as grand as the security station in Herin Enterprise, it was still pretty astonishing. There were also two more people in the room. One was a large, handsome man who looked to be in his thirties. He had a large scar on his forehead and another on his sinuous arm. He was dressed in a miner's suit, and looked like he had just come from the mines.
The other was a wiry man with large glasses and thinning hair. He looked to be about twenty or so, but Samus couldn't tell. He surprisingly was dressed in a work casual suit with suspenders and a red tie.
"Samus, this is Berkley," the man in glasses raised his hand, but still sat in front of the computer typing away madly. "And Houston is the man beside you there."
The taller miner simply looked over at Samus and continued to plot out points on a large map on the wall.
"And I believe you've met Yu'Len," Scott said as Yu'Len pushed his way past and went to sit at the table.
"What is all this?" Samus asked as she walked around the room picking up things here and there, each time a grunt from Yu'Len could be heard.
"This is the headquarters of the Taurus Alliance. This is where every single rebel movement is planned. Also all actions within the area are executed from here. Berkley is our technical representative I guess you could say. Houston is the one in charge of gathering support directly from the miners and Yu'Len is in charge of, well everything else," Scott said as he stood behind Yu'Len and patted him on the shoulder.
"And you?" Samus asked. Everyone quickly shot her a glance as though saying, 'where the hell have you been?'
"Well, I would be the front man and, as you know the thorn in Herin's side," Scott grinned.
"Ah yes of course, but if things are this well organised, why do you need me?" Samus asked.
"Because we simply do not have the man power to currently perform any large scale attacks directly on Herin. You yourself are a one-woman army which you have proven many times in the past. Also with you fighting on our side perhaps many more will join. You are a very well known person or at least your reputation is. If people knew that the legendary Samus Aran was joining our cause, they might be more willing to help us," Scott sighed and sat down.
"I'm not so sure, I did some pretty unspeakable things in my past, and my "Legendary Status" was only achieved when I finished of my Galactic Fed missions. I don't know how many people would be willing to help a killer," Samus said, as she stared at the floor in shame. She recalled all the men she killed on the Space Transport on the way here. Those men she killed could have been potential allies.
"Look Sam, I'm pretty sure there are people on this rock who have done worse. I don't think for even a second one would hold it against you," Scott said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Samus was shocked he had called her Sam, her nickname given to her by Kevin. It felt different when he said it. It was very comforting.
"Well what is my first mission? I am not one to stand idle like this," Samus said shaking the thoughts from her head and getting back down to business.
"Ms. Aran, if you would," Berkley said waving her over towards his computer.
"What?" Samus asked as she leaned over and looked at the screen.
"I'm sure this picture looks familiar to you does it not?" Berkley said as he brought up the schematics for the Herin Enterprise building.
"How did you get these?" Samus asked looking them over.
"I have an inside source," Berkley grinned. Samus looked over at Scott who just shook his head. "I was wondering if you can help me out with the secret passages. Am I right to assume that Mr. Guerrero should you each one?"
"Yes, he did actually," Samus said pulling out her jewel. She held it in her hand, closed her eyes and focused. When she opened her eyes she waved Berkley aside and she sat in the chair. She quickly began adding lines and lines of code that was being typed faster than the monitor could process them. She finished, hit the enter key and within seconds, about 30 new sections had been added to the layout of the building.
"Incredible." was all Berkley managed to mutter. He quickly got back in the chair and began scanning the picture like a madman.
"I'm not sure if that's all of them, but it's what he should me," Samus said sticking the jewel back in her pocket.
"It's more than enough!" Berkley almost squealed with delight. "Ok, according to these new images, there is a secret gateway from vent shaft-C directly to the com centre. This is where you come in Samus.you to Scott."
"Here's what I want done," Yu'Len boomed. "You and Scott are to infiltrate Herin Enterprise at 0100. You will access the building via the sewer. This leads directly to the vent shaft. From here you are to scale to the top of the shaft, find the entrance to the secret gateway and proceed to the com centre. Once there you will hook the link up with time delay explosive onto the mainframe. I will be outside amongst a crowd that Houston will set up. After five minutes I will open the link and begin to download the mainframe, this will be directly sent to Berkley. Once the download is complete, I want the charge set, and the com room blown, got it!"
"Yes," Scott said casually.
"I suppose so," Samus said in a similar fashion.
"Do this right and we will have all of Herin's back up files to barter with. It would take ten years for him to retrieve all of that information manually through each contact he's made," Houston said as he tossed Samus the link up. It was a small wire with a box on the end, nothing fancy. Samus put it in her pocket and thanked Huston.
"Ok, we're going to move out now Berkley, we'll make contact in 4 hours. After that it's silent until we get back here, ok?" Scott said ushering Samus out.
"Understood," Berkley said. Samus, Scott, Yu'Len and Houston all headed topside and grabbed the next transport out, they all road in silence; each person's thoughts on the task ahead.