Chapter 2
The Return
Samus stood outside the captain's door for a moment dreading the lecture she knew she was about to get. She knocked on the door and a gruff voice told her to enter. Samus walked into the small room they considered an office. The walls were filled with pictures of family and friends of the captains. His square brown desk was situated against the wall across from a window overlooking the ship's docking port. The desk was piled high with an endless amount of paperwork. Captain C. H. Hunter looked up at Samus with tired eyes.
"Well, hello Mrs. Aran, what a pleasant surprise to see you here", said the captain with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Save the formalities for someone who cares. Okay? I see you love doing paperwork even more then I do."
"Ho oh, very funny, please sit down", he gestured to one of the two chair sitting opposite of him. Samus took a seat in the chair he had indicated and began his lecture. Samus knew she was going to get it. Hunter was a very stern man when it came down to business. He had moved up in the GFP after many years of hard work. His leadership skills were widely known and he had become an integral part of the GFP. Recent years had been hard on the aging captain and his short brown hair was beginning to show hints of gray. His tired blue eyes hid behind thick wire framed glasses. Though he had just turned the ripe age of sixty, he was amazingly fit and able to keep up with some of the best in the GFP. Samus had grown fond of the aged captain and his sense of humor. "I heard you went gallivanting on the planet Zebes again. From what my sources tell me, there is no longer a planet Zebes, just the newly formed Zebes Asteroid Field. Am I mistaken Samus?"
"No sir, you are not", replied Samus looking down at the desk.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?"
"Well sir it went like this. Upon leaving the home planet of the Metroids, I headed for Ceres Space Colony. Upon arrival at Ceres, approximately a year later, I dropped off the Metroid hatchling for research. After leaving the station, I received a distress signal from the station. They said they were under attack. When I returned, the station was in shambles. I found the Metroid hatchling in one of the docking bays. The Space Pirate's general, Ridley was holding it hostage. He escaped me and headed toward Zebes with the Metroid in tow. Of course, I followed him...", Samus spoke in a monotonous tone as she read notes from her log book benchmarking the events of her journey.
Samus continued her story; she told of her battle with the spore spawn and all the other menaces the Mother Brain had come up with including herself. "I see...in other words you had a pretty busy day."
"I do believe that is an understatement sir", Samus retorted.
"Your orders were to destroy the Metroid race. Why then did you go against direct orders and save one?"
"I allowed my emotions to cloud my ability to make decisions. I was the first thing this creature had seen and it thought of me as its mother. I guess I just couldn't find the urge to destroy such an innocent baby creature. It grew attached to me as I transported it and me to it as well. I figured that it was best to keep it alive for research purposes", she explained.
"Still, you disobeyed an order, with that there are consequences."
"But sir, I...I...", she stammered.
"I know you cleaned up your mess and made the galaxy safe for trading again and I did take that into consideration when deciding your disciplinary action. I've decided that in the best interest of your career and until things simmer down with the guys upstairs, you will be on a one- year suspension and your bounty-hunting license has been revoked until your suspension is up. You are no longer by an old book saying, licensed to kill."
Samus' mouth dropped at the word suspension and she was trying to think of a way out of her predicament.
"Oh and further more...", the captain began again before a violent shaking cut him off. The desk slid across the room as the building began to sway from an explosion overhead. The two were thrown from their chairs and to the floor, the captain's desk slid into the window causing it to crack. Another explosion roof side made the ceiling tiles start to fall and the two protected themselves with their hands as they ran out into the hallway. "What the hell is going on up there", Hunter yelled over the screaming employees and explosions.
The sound of gunshots echoed from the stairwell and down into the hallway immediately catching the attention Samus and Hunter. The two turned toward the stairwell door to see a group of Space Pirates waltz in. The group of Space Pirates was gray in color and often reminded Samus of praying mantis creatures on earth but a much larger version. There skin was made up of the same metallic substance found in the Chozo's skin and this made the pirates invulnerable to light arms fire. There were only a few spots on the pirates that could be shot where damage of any type could take place.
"Damn! Space Pirates, what the hell are they doing here", Hunter cried.
"I have a pretty good idea. Do you have a gun anywhere?" Samus hollered over the people.
"Yeah, top right desk drawer, but you can't...", he started.
"Shove it and save it for later", Samus cut him off running back into the office just in time to see the desk flying out of the now broken window, "Damn it!" She turned and ran out of the office to find Captain Hunter pinned to the wall by one of the pirates who was about to blast the captain away with its Galvanic Accelerator Cannon. The captain tried struggling to free himself but the pirate had a firm grip on him and the captain began to panic.
"SAMUS HELP ME PLEASE...I DON'T WANT TO DIE", he cried.
Samus quickly tackled the pirate to the ground then grabbing it by its leg, she swung it into the wall that crumbled against the weight of the pirate. "Thank you Samus. I want these creatures tracked down and destroyed!"
"I thought I was suspended sir?"
"Well I just deemed that your services are needed. Now get these things out of here and find out why they are here", the captain yelled running toward the firearms room.
"Now that's what I wanted to hear", Samus said with a satisfied smile spanning across her face. Samus made her way to the elevator with the pirate she had tackled closing in fast behind her. She jumped in the elevator with the pirate barely missing the door. Samus pressed the lobby button and the elevator began descending. Near the end of its journey, the elevator was stopped and the lights began to flicker. The Space Pirates had jumped down the elevator shaft landing on top of the elevator cart. Samus could hear the creatures firing at the elevator cords and soon Samus felt weightless as the cart was cut from its line and began plummeting toward the bottom. With a crushing sound the elevator was slammed into the bottom of the shaft and Samus was bounced about knocking herself into the rubble.
Samus climbed from the pile of debris that was once the elevator. She nimbly jumped over the bodies of the pirates from the shaft and onto the lobby floor where two more Space Pirates were waiting for her. "Come on guys, what's the matter. Did I forget to pay my light bill or something", she asked jokingly.
The pirates glared at her, un-amused by the feeble attempt at joking. They both jumped her at the same time. Samus tried hard to keep them back but without her power suit she could only do so much. Samus resorted to using her hand to hand combat training and did her best to defend herself against the two pirates. She attempted to somersault over one of them to separate the two but was read like a book and tackled to the ground. The two pirates pinned her to the floor and Samus struggled to get up.
"Let me up you!" Samus yelled at them. One of the pirates held the bounty hunter down while the other raised one of its arm-like appendages and chopped Samus in the neck. The hit was just so to put the bounty hunter into a state of unconsciousness. The last thing Samus saw were the eyes of one of the pirates looking at her with what appeared to be a smirk on its hideous face. The next, Samus was overcome by the darkness that was unconcsousness. The two pirates picked her up and walked out of the building toward their ship.
...|...
Though Samus was unconscious, she could still sense everything going on around her. She heard voices, familiar voices? No...they weren't...wait maybe they were. They were all to muffled for her to understand. Her eyes finally fluttered open and she found herself with a bright light shining her in the face. She couldn't move because she was strapped to a table of some type and Samus didn't realize other beings were in the room till a red clawed hand strapped a mask over her face. Soon a mist came in through the mask and Samus realized it was a sleeping solution and soon the bounty hunter was put back to sleep.
Samus found herself in a large dark room. The floor was covered in a deep fog and the only light was from a reddish glow coming from the floor. Samus walked quietly through the fog taking caution because she couldn't see what was in the dark. A chirp caught Samus' attention and she turned to find herself face to face with a Metroid. The green free floating creature chirped excitedly and more of the creatures came into sight. The lot of Metroids attacked Samus, sinking their fangs into the bounty hunters power suit. Samus could feel the energy draining from her and a light soon illuminated a glass case in the background. Behind the glass, the Mother Brain was visible laughing insanely at the helpless bounty hunter.
Samus awoke with a start. She found herself in a huge cave and the first thing that came to her mind was the dream she had just had. A caged light above her dimly lit a small circle around her like an invisible wall before the darkness began. She still felt a little queasy from the knockout drug and only when a light breeze brush by did she realize that she was naked. She tried to find her voice but nothing would come out. She sat back down on the ground. She was cold and hungry and she dared not to go into the darkness for fear her nightmares might just come true. She looked down at her body and tried to scream but only a muffled whimper came out. Her body was covered in circular marks. Had her dreams been true? Did the Metroids return only to torture her? Her body sure did seem to support such an idea. In the darkness, a door opened and the silhouette of a Space Pirate was visible before it walked into the light. It carried a covered tray and Samus backed as far away from the creature as the light would allow. The pirate placed the stuff on the ground in front of her and uncovered the tray revealing a speaker, which it turned on.
"Hello Mrs. Aran. I do hope you are finding our accommodations quite comfy", spoke a distorted voice over the speaker. The pirate uncovered the other tray to reveal a meal of some sort. "Please eat Samus, you are going to need to stay alive and fit for me. Please don't disappoint me", came the voice again.
~Who is that, she thought to herself, and what do they want with me. I am a bit hungry but how do I know I can trust whoever this is.~ Samus was still terribly cold and she shivered as another breeze came by. She seemed to come back around to her senses and her head was starting to clear now. She could make out dim shapes in the shadows and she got up to look around. It seemed she was in a large cave, probably the size of a two- story house. She could barely make out the door with which the pirate had entered. She turned toward the speaker.
"Cccccllloottthes, pppleeeeassse", she finally managed through chattering teeth.
"Clothes? But why my dear, you're not cold are you? On the other hand, are you ashamed? I don't see why, you have such a beautiful body my dear."
Samus was started to feel very uncomfortable in the cave and not only due to the cold but the fact that whoever this was had de-clothed her. "Wheeerrre arrre my cllllothes", she rubbed her hands together vigorously trying to keep them warm.
"Well you see Samus dear, we needed to strip you so that we could ensure that you carried no weapons of any type. That would be detrimental to keeping you here. Now don't worry Samus, the heat should be coming on any minute now", replied the voice. The Space Pirate left the cave, leaving Samus and the speaker to themselves.
"Wwwhoo are you?" Samus asked.
"All in due time my dear, all in due time", it replied. Samus sat down and eyed the plate before her. She was rather hungry and could eat probably whatever it was that was in front of her but she didn't trust her captures as far as she could see. "Please do eat Samus. If I wanted to kill you I would have done it back on Earth."
"Ii'm not ooon Eaarth then?"
"No far from it. Again you will know everything soon enough. I assure you that the food is safe to eat, and now I must take my leave for I have things to take care of. Bye for now Mrs. Aran."
The speaker died and Samus was left to herself. She looked at the plate again as her stomach began to churn. The creature on the platter resembled that of a ripper but no shell was present to confirm the thought. The main course was surrounded by vegetation she could not recognize. Samus took a whiff of the aroma before tearing off a slightly greasy piece of meat. She slowly chewed the tiny morsel and to her surprise found the cuisine to be very delicious for whatever it was. Upon completion of her meal, she got up and walked around the small circle of light noticing for the first time the cameras lodged into the crevices of the cave. As if the pirates had realized Samus had found the cameras, a white mist began pouring from the cracks between the cave walls. Samus found herself nodding off and before long the darkness consumed her mind again.
...|...
Samus awoke once more to find the cave empty. The tray that had held her meal was now gone and was now replaced with another. She walked over and opened the lid. Under it were a pair of panties, a bra and a pair of socks.
"Yeah right, these are going to keep me warm", she said sarcastically to herself holding up the small pieces of cloth. Well at least I'll be covered now she thought to herself. She slipped into the pieces of lingerie. "Oh man do these feel good", Samus said with little enthusiasm. As long as her feet were covered she would not be cold. Its weird, she thought, how as long as your feet are warm the rest of your body seems to adjust to the temperature. Samus, now feeling much better wearing something even though she felt like she was in some really weird porn movie, walked around some more. She was trying to devise a way to get out. The only way out, that she could see, was the door. It was a good fifty feet from her and she really did not want to leave the safety of her little circle of light. Just as she was about to venture into the darkness, the speaker came on again.
"Ah, I see we are awake again Samus. I hope you appreciate your clothing, you have no idea what I had to do to find the right size my dear."
"Yeah is that so, I thought I was just here for your pleasure."
"Oh but that is not the case..."
"THEN WHY AM I HERE?" Samus yelled toward the speaker.
"Very well, you seem eager enough to finally meet me", it replied. With that the room was thrown into complete darkness. Samus was scared now because the light she had so wanted to protect her was now gone. She heard the opening of a door and the cave started shaking as she could hear rocks grinding together as they fell apart. Samus wished she had her power suit with her so she could see what was happening. Finally the light came on again and Samus looked around seeing no immediate difference in the room. Samus heard heavy footsteps from the darkness coming toward her. She estimated a creature probably around ten feet tall.
"Well Samus, I am so glad to finally have a chance to talk to you in complete safety of myself", the voice came from the dark. The creature crept closer from the darkness and slowly a blood red clawed foot slid into the dim light. Who is it, Samus kept asking herself. Samus sized the figure just right. When she made it to the chest she had figured on who it would be. It was none other then her long time rival, Ridley. Ridley had changed in appearance though. It was not the Ridley of past days; this Ridley was a darker red on the verge of purple. Ridley was extremely bony and his tail swung from one side to the other, the tail that seemed to have a mind of its own. Each vertebra jointed to the other with some sort of metal. His legs were scrawny but lethal and the claws on his feet could tear through most types of metal. His chest was sunk in and his back was a grotesque mixture of craters and bone sticking through the rough scale that was his skin. Wings protruded from his shoulders; they were torn and worn. He had been through many battles and it was begin to show. Much of the damage to Ridley was a direct connection from past battles with Samus. His arms were scrawny, like his legs, and his clawed-hands were a menacing site. On top of his neck was the beaked face of Ridley. the eyes, purple in color, were dimly lit deep within his skull. His beak came to a sharp point where a few jagged teeth made their home.
"It is you!" Samus said with a slight hint of surprise in her voice. She hadn't though of Ridley at first but then again she should have. Only Ridley would take interest in the bounty hunter that had spoiled so many of his plans. "I thought you were dead you loathing worm?"
"Oh I was dead in a sense. You see after you destroyed me on Zebes, some Space Pirates escaping the planet found me and brought me with them. They took me to one of our ships where they rebuilt me. As you can see they did a fairly poor job. I figured you would be the last person to expect me alive and so I was right. I wanted to see you die in person and as to where you are, ironically enough we are on the biggest asteroid in the Zebes Asteroid Field. I figured you would want your soul to endlessly wander the space where so many of your enemies are. I have a bomb set in the middle of this asteroid. It will explode in about fifteen minutes. I would love to stay and chat really, but I have mischievous things to get done", Ridley explained.
"What are you planning to do you fiend", Samus questioned the red dragon.
"Simple. I am going to destroy the Earth. That planet full of ungrateful humans. It should have been done long ago. I shall lead a battalion of Space Pirates to nuclear facilities on the planet whereupon my word they shall induce a meltdown. This will cause that puny planet to be inhabitable by the human race. As I said, I have things to do my dear. It was great seeing you again, and oh, try to keep yourself together." Ridley walked off laughing hysterically.
"NO! You can't do that!"
"Watch me dear", he replied, then turned around and added, "Check!"
"The lights went up and the cave was lit completely. Ridley walked through a wall, which happened to be the thing that lowered earlier, that was nothing but a hologram. Samus could hear the start of engines and then them flying off. Samus ran toward the wall and slowly stepped through to find a fully operational Space Pirate docking bay. Lo and behold, her ship was on the ground. It was guarded by a group of Space Pirates. She knew her suit was on board and only if she could get to it.
"That's it!" She exclaimed to herself. There was a hatch on the underside of the ship for maintenance purposes. All she had to do was slip into the ship, put her suit on and she would be ready to take the pirates on. Samus slowly crept around the pirates, trying hard not to make any noise. When she made it to the door she grasped the lever and the door opened with a rather loud whoosh, a little louder then she had expected. The Space Pirates heard the noise and quickly opened fire on the bounty hunter who disappeared into the ship closing the door behind her. Samus found her armor and put it on. The pirates gathered around the ship firing their cannons at the gunship. They had no affect on the ship though. Samus got in the pilot's seat and prepared the ship for take off. She entered a set of numbers on the control panel and the ship came to life. The air then rushed out form under the ship blowing most of the Space Pirates away. The ones that were left, Samus picked off with her twin 60mm cannons. She lifted off and detonating a power bomb, left through the once sealed docking bay door.
"HA! That will teach you to mess with the great Samus Aran! I hope you all fry in Hell", she said laughing hysterically toward the screaming pirates. She headed out of the Zebes Asteroid Field and set her course for Earth. She had to try and beat Ridley back so she could warn the GFP.
.|.
On a small asteroid just off the one Samus had escaped, two figures sat watching the bigger asteroid come to life with gunfire.
"I do believe she fell for the bait", one sinister voice spoke.
"Yes I do believe she has. Now for part two of the plan." Ridley watched as Samus' ship headed in Earth's direction.
Samus stood outside the captain's door for a moment dreading the lecture she knew she was about to get. She knocked on the door and a gruff voice told her to enter. Samus walked into the small room they considered an office. The walls were filled with pictures of family and friends of the captains. His square brown desk was situated against the wall across from a window overlooking the ship's docking port. The desk was piled high with an endless amount of paperwork. Captain C. H. Hunter looked up at Samus with tired eyes.
"Well, hello Mrs. Aran, what a pleasant surprise to see you here", said the captain with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Save the formalities for someone who cares. Okay? I see you love doing paperwork even more then I do."
"Ho oh, very funny, please sit down", he gestured to one of the two chair sitting opposite of him. Samus took a seat in the chair he had indicated and began his lecture. Samus knew she was going to get it. Hunter was a very stern man when it came down to business. He had moved up in the GFP after many years of hard work. His leadership skills were widely known and he had become an integral part of the GFP. Recent years had been hard on the aging captain and his short brown hair was beginning to show hints of gray. His tired blue eyes hid behind thick wire framed glasses. Though he had just turned the ripe age of sixty, he was amazingly fit and able to keep up with some of the best in the GFP. Samus had grown fond of the aged captain and his sense of humor. "I heard you went gallivanting on the planet Zebes again. From what my sources tell me, there is no longer a planet Zebes, just the newly formed Zebes Asteroid Field. Am I mistaken Samus?"
"No sir, you are not", replied Samus looking down at the desk.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?"
"Well sir it went like this. Upon leaving the home planet of the Metroids, I headed for Ceres Space Colony. Upon arrival at Ceres, approximately a year later, I dropped off the Metroid hatchling for research. After leaving the station, I received a distress signal from the station. They said they were under attack. When I returned, the station was in shambles. I found the Metroid hatchling in one of the docking bays. The Space Pirate's general, Ridley was holding it hostage. He escaped me and headed toward Zebes with the Metroid in tow. Of course, I followed him...", Samus spoke in a monotonous tone as she read notes from her log book benchmarking the events of her journey.
Samus continued her story; she told of her battle with the spore spawn and all the other menaces the Mother Brain had come up with including herself. "I see...in other words you had a pretty busy day."
"I do believe that is an understatement sir", Samus retorted.
"Your orders were to destroy the Metroid race. Why then did you go against direct orders and save one?"
"I allowed my emotions to cloud my ability to make decisions. I was the first thing this creature had seen and it thought of me as its mother. I guess I just couldn't find the urge to destroy such an innocent baby creature. It grew attached to me as I transported it and me to it as well. I figured that it was best to keep it alive for research purposes", she explained.
"Still, you disobeyed an order, with that there are consequences."
"But sir, I...I...", she stammered.
"I know you cleaned up your mess and made the galaxy safe for trading again and I did take that into consideration when deciding your disciplinary action. I've decided that in the best interest of your career and until things simmer down with the guys upstairs, you will be on a one- year suspension and your bounty-hunting license has been revoked until your suspension is up. You are no longer by an old book saying, licensed to kill."
Samus' mouth dropped at the word suspension and she was trying to think of a way out of her predicament.
"Oh and further more...", the captain began again before a violent shaking cut him off. The desk slid across the room as the building began to sway from an explosion overhead. The two were thrown from their chairs and to the floor, the captain's desk slid into the window causing it to crack. Another explosion roof side made the ceiling tiles start to fall and the two protected themselves with their hands as they ran out into the hallway. "What the hell is going on up there", Hunter yelled over the screaming employees and explosions.
The sound of gunshots echoed from the stairwell and down into the hallway immediately catching the attention Samus and Hunter. The two turned toward the stairwell door to see a group of Space Pirates waltz in. The group of Space Pirates was gray in color and often reminded Samus of praying mantis creatures on earth but a much larger version. There skin was made up of the same metallic substance found in the Chozo's skin and this made the pirates invulnerable to light arms fire. There were only a few spots on the pirates that could be shot where damage of any type could take place.
"Damn! Space Pirates, what the hell are they doing here", Hunter cried.
"I have a pretty good idea. Do you have a gun anywhere?" Samus hollered over the people.
"Yeah, top right desk drawer, but you can't...", he started.
"Shove it and save it for later", Samus cut him off running back into the office just in time to see the desk flying out of the now broken window, "Damn it!" She turned and ran out of the office to find Captain Hunter pinned to the wall by one of the pirates who was about to blast the captain away with its Galvanic Accelerator Cannon. The captain tried struggling to free himself but the pirate had a firm grip on him and the captain began to panic.
"SAMUS HELP ME PLEASE...I DON'T WANT TO DIE", he cried.
Samus quickly tackled the pirate to the ground then grabbing it by its leg, she swung it into the wall that crumbled against the weight of the pirate. "Thank you Samus. I want these creatures tracked down and destroyed!"
"I thought I was suspended sir?"
"Well I just deemed that your services are needed. Now get these things out of here and find out why they are here", the captain yelled running toward the firearms room.
"Now that's what I wanted to hear", Samus said with a satisfied smile spanning across her face. Samus made her way to the elevator with the pirate she had tackled closing in fast behind her. She jumped in the elevator with the pirate barely missing the door. Samus pressed the lobby button and the elevator began descending. Near the end of its journey, the elevator was stopped and the lights began to flicker. The Space Pirates had jumped down the elevator shaft landing on top of the elevator cart. Samus could hear the creatures firing at the elevator cords and soon Samus felt weightless as the cart was cut from its line and began plummeting toward the bottom. With a crushing sound the elevator was slammed into the bottom of the shaft and Samus was bounced about knocking herself into the rubble.
Samus climbed from the pile of debris that was once the elevator. She nimbly jumped over the bodies of the pirates from the shaft and onto the lobby floor where two more Space Pirates were waiting for her. "Come on guys, what's the matter. Did I forget to pay my light bill or something", she asked jokingly.
The pirates glared at her, un-amused by the feeble attempt at joking. They both jumped her at the same time. Samus tried hard to keep them back but without her power suit she could only do so much. Samus resorted to using her hand to hand combat training and did her best to defend herself against the two pirates. She attempted to somersault over one of them to separate the two but was read like a book and tackled to the ground. The two pirates pinned her to the floor and Samus struggled to get up.
"Let me up you!" Samus yelled at them. One of the pirates held the bounty hunter down while the other raised one of its arm-like appendages and chopped Samus in the neck. The hit was just so to put the bounty hunter into a state of unconsciousness. The last thing Samus saw were the eyes of one of the pirates looking at her with what appeared to be a smirk on its hideous face. The next, Samus was overcome by the darkness that was unconcsousness. The two pirates picked her up and walked out of the building toward their ship.
...|...
Though Samus was unconscious, she could still sense everything going on around her. She heard voices, familiar voices? No...they weren't...wait maybe they were. They were all to muffled for her to understand. Her eyes finally fluttered open and she found herself with a bright light shining her in the face. She couldn't move because she was strapped to a table of some type and Samus didn't realize other beings were in the room till a red clawed hand strapped a mask over her face. Soon a mist came in through the mask and Samus realized it was a sleeping solution and soon the bounty hunter was put back to sleep.
Samus found herself in a large dark room. The floor was covered in a deep fog and the only light was from a reddish glow coming from the floor. Samus walked quietly through the fog taking caution because she couldn't see what was in the dark. A chirp caught Samus' attention and she turned to find herself face to face with a Metroid. The green free floating creature chirped excitedly and more of the creatures came into sight. The lot of Metroids attacked Samus, sinking their fangs into the bounty hunters power suit. Samus could feel the energy draining from her and a light soon illuminated a glass case in the background. Behind the glass, the Mother Brain was visible laughing insanely at the helpless bounty hunter.
Samus awoke with a start. She found herself in a huge cave and the first thing that came to her mind was the dream she had just had. A caged light above her dimly lit a small circle around her like an invisible wall before the darkness began. She still felt a little queasy from the knockout drug and only when a light breeze brush by did she realize that she was naked. She tried to find her voice but nothing would come out. She sat back down on the ground. She was cold and hungry and she dared not to go into the darkness for fear her nightmares might just come true. She looked down at her body and tried to scream but only a muffled whimper came out. Her body was covered in circular marks. Had her dreams been true? Did the Metroids return only to torture her? Her body sure did seem to support such an idea. In the darkness, a door opened and the silhouette of a Space Pirate was visible before it walked into the light. It carried a covered tray and Samus backed as far away from the creature as the light would allow. The pirate placed the stuff on the ground in front of her and uncovered the tray revealing a speaker, which it turned on.
"Hello Mrs. Aran. I do hope you are finding our accommodations quite comfy", spoke a distorted voice over the speaker. The pirate uncovered the other tray to reveal a meal of some sort. "Please eat Samus, you are going to need to stay alive and fit for me. Please don't disappoint me", came the voice again.
~Who is that, she thought to herself, and what do they want with me. I am a bit hungry but how do I know I can trust whoever this is.~ Samus was still terribly cold and she shivered as another breeze came by. She seemed to come back around to her senses and her head was starting to clear now. She could make out dim shapes in the shadows and she got up to look around. It seemed she was in a large cave, probably the size of a two- story house. She could barely make out the door with which the pirate had entered. She turned toward the speaker.
"Cccccllloottthes, pppleeeeassse", she finally managed through chattering teeth.
"Clothes? But why my dear, you're not cold are you? On the other hand, are you ashamed? I don't see why, you have such a beautiful body my dear."
Samus was started to feel very uncomfortable in the cave and not only due to the cold but the fact that whoever this was had de-clothed her. "Wheeerrre arrre my cllllothes", she rubbed her hands together vigorously trying to keep them warm.
"Well you see Samus dear, we needed to strip you so that we could ensure that you carried no weapons of any type. That would be detrimental to keeping you here. Now don't worry Samus, the heat should be coming on any minute now", replied the voice. The Space Pirate left the cave, leaving Samus and the speaker to themselves.
"Wwwhoo are you?" Samus asked.
"All in due time my dear, all in due time", it replied. Samus sat down and eyed the plate before her. She was rather hungry and could eat probably whatever it was that was in front of her but she didn't trust her captures as far as she could see. "Please do eat Samus. If I wanted to kill you I would have done it back on Earth."
"Ii'm not ooon Eaarth then?"
"No far from it. Again you will know everything soon enough. I assure you that the food is safe to eat, and now I must take my leave for I have things to take care of. Bye for now Mrs. Aran."
The speaker died and Samus was left to herself. She looked at the plate again as her stomach began to churn. The creature on the platter resembled that of a ripper but no shell was present to confirm the thought. The main course was surrounded by vegetation she could not recognize. Samus took a whiff of the aroma before tearing off a slightly greasy piece of meat. She slowly chewed the tiny morsel and to her surprise found the cuisine to be very delicious for whatever it was. Upon completion of her meal, she got up and walked around the small circle of light noticing for the first time the cameras lodged into the crevices of the cave. As if the pirates had realized Samus had found the cameras, a white mist began pouring from the cracks between the cave walls. Samus found herself nodding off and before long the darkness consumed her mind again.
...|...
Samus awoke once more to find the cave empty. The tray that had held her meal was now gone and was now replaced with another. She walked over and opened the lid. Under it were a pair of panties, a bra and a pair of socks.
"Yeah right, these are going to keep me warm", she said sarcastically to herself holding up the small pieces of cloth. Well at least I'll be covered now she thought to herself. She slipped into the pieces of lingerie. "Oh man do these feel good", Samus said with little enthusiasm. As long as her feet were covered she would not be cold. Its weird, she thought, how as long as your feet are warm the rest of your body seems to adjust to the temperature. Samus, now feeling much better wearing something even though she felt like she was in some really weird porn movie, walked around some more. She was trying to devise a way to get out. The only way out, that she could see, was the door. It was a good fifty feet from her and she really did not want to leave the safety of her little circle of light. Just as she was about to venture into the darkness, the speaker came on again.
"Ah, I see we are awake again Samus. I hope you appreciate your clothing, you have no idea what I had to do to find the right size my dear."
"Yeah is that so, I thought I was just here for your pleasure."
"Oh but that is not the case..."
"THEN WHY AM I HERE?" Samus yelled toward the speaker.
"Very well, you seem eager enough to finally meet me", it replied. With that the room was thrown into complete darkness. Samus was scared now because the light she had so wanted to protect her was now gone. She heard the opening of a door and the cave started shaking as she could hear rocks grinding together as they fell apart. Samus wished she had her power suit with her so she could see what was happening. Finally the light came on again and Samus looked around seeing no immediate difference in the room. Samus heard heavy footsteps from the darkness coming toward her. She estimated a creature probably around ten feet tall.
"Well Samus, I am so glad to finally have a chance to talk to you in complete safety of myself", the voice came from the dark. The creature crept closer from the darkness and slowly a blood red clawed foot slid into the dim light. Who is it, Samus kept asking herself. Samus sized the figure just right. When she made it to the chest she had figured on who it would be. It was none other then her long time rival, Ridley. Ridley had changed in appearance though. It was not the Ridley of past days; this Ridley was a darker red on the verge of purple. Ridley was extremely bony and his tail swung from one side to the other, the tail that seemed to have a mind of its own. Each vertebra jointed to the other with some sort of metal. His legs were scrawny but lethal and the claws on his feet could tear through most types of metal. His chest was sunk in and his back was a grotesque mixture of craters and bone sticking through the rough scale that was his skin. Wings protruded from his shoulders; they were torn and worn. He had been through many battles and it was begin to show. Much of the damage to Ridley was a direct connection from past battles with Samus. His arms were scrawny, like his legs, and his clawed-hands were a menacing site. On top of his neck was the beaked face of Ridley. the eyes, purple in color, were dimly lit deep within his skull. His beak came to a sharp point where a few jagged teeth made their home.
"It is you!" Samus said with a slight hint of surprise in her voice. She hadn't though of Ridley at first but then again she should have. Only Ridley would take interest in the bounty hunter that had spoiled so many of his plans. "I thought you were dead you loathing worm?"
"Oh I was dead in a sense. You see after you destroyed me on Zebes, some Space Pirates escaping the planet found me and brought me with them. They took me to one of our ships where they rebuilt me. As you can see they did a fairly poor job. I figured you would be the last person to expect me alive and so I was right. I wanted to see you die in person and as to where you are, ironically enough we are on the biggest asteroid in the Zebes Asteroid Field. I figured you would want your soul to endlessly wander the space where so many of your enemies are. I have a bomb set in the middle of this asteroid. It will explode in about fifteen minutes. I would love to stay and chat really, but I have mischievous things to get done", Ridley explained.
"What are you planning to do you fiend", Samus questioned the red dragon.
"Simple. I am going to destroy the Earth. That planet full of ungrateful humans. It should have been done long ago. I shall lead a battalion of Space Pirates to nuclear facilities on the planet whereupon my word they shall induce a meltdown. This will cause that puny planet to be inhabitable by the human race. As I said, I have things to do my dear. It was great seeing you again, and oh, try to keep yourself together." Ridley walked off laughing hysterically.
"NO! You can't do that!"
"Watch me dear", he replied, then turned around and added, "Check!"
"The lights went up and the cave was lit completely. Ridley walked through a wall, which happened to be the thing that lowered earlier, that was nothing but a hologram. Samus could hear the start of engines and then them flying off. Samus ran toward the wall and slowly stepped through to find a fully operational Space Pirate docking bay. Lo and behold, her ship was on the ground. It was guarded by a group of Space Pirates. She knew her suit was on board and only if she could get to it.
"That's it!" She exclaimed to herself. There was a hatch on the underside of the ship for maintenance purposes. All she had to do was slip into the ship, put her suit on and she would be ready to take the pirates on. Samus slowly crept around the pirates, trying hard not to make any noise. When she made it to the door she grasped the lever and the door opened with a rather loud whoosh, a little louder then she had expected. The Space Pirates heard the noise and quickly opened fire on the bounty hunter who disappeared into the ship closing the door behind her. Samus found her armor and put it on. The pirates gathered around the ship firing their cannons at the gunship. They had no affect on the ship though. Samus got in the pilot's seat and prepared the ship for take off. She entered a set of numbers on the control panel and the ship came to life. The air then rushed out form under the ship blowing most of the Space Pirates away. The ones that were left, Samus picked off with her twin 60mm cannons. She lifted off and detonating a power bomb, left through the once sealed docking bay door.
"HA! That will teach you to mess with the great Samus Aran! I hope you all fry in Hell", she said laughing hysterically toward the screaming pirates. She headed out of the Zebes Asteroid Field and set her course for Earth. She had to try and beat Ridley back so she could warn the GFP.
.|.
On a small asteroid just off the one Samus had escaped, two figures sat watching the bigger asteroid come to life with gunfire.
"I do believe she fell for the bait", one sinister voice spoke.
"Yes I do believe she has. Now for part two of the plan." Ridley watched as Samus' ship headed in Earth's direction.