Disclaimer: Samus Aran and Metroid are properties of Nintendo

The Three Bloods

Chapter 4

"I am sure that you are cursing your fate, are you not?"

"C—ccc-c-c----ompensa---compensating---"

"Gnashing your teeth. Agonizing, wondering how this came to be."

"C---cc-c----compensatin---sating---"

"Know that this is not something I relish, nor is this event a joyful one." The Chozo sighed and turned away. "It is one that must be. It is necessary."

Samus struggled against the weight of her iron cage that was formally her Power Suit. "W-why?" she managed.

The Chozo was silent for a moment, and then he faced her directly. "You are the Newborn. You deserve to know."  He paced around her as he spoke, his words careful and deliberate. "For many of my people you are the Hunter, the Slayer of their Enemies. It is The Hatchling that brings swift and vengeful retribution for those who have wronged us." He stopped and glanced at her with a fiery pupil. "It is The Hatchling that keeps us rooted in our stagnant past."

"C---c---------compensa----compensating-----"

"On Talon IV you saw the ghosts of some of my compatriots. Mighty warriors all… however in some ways not much unlike the living. They exist and clamour for vengeance to be done on their behalf. They cannot see for the future ahead of them. They see you as their Champion."

"C----compensating---vi---virus purge commencing---cing---"

"Nonetheless, there is another: A true Hatchling. A Three Bloods worthy of the prophecy…"

Samus let out a forced breath and gritted her teeth. "I don't understand…." She groaned.

"Your bloods are those of the Chozo, Human and Metroid. However other compounds swim within your veins that corrupt your destiny. There is another, one without the curse of your fetid human Blood. This Hatchling will lead us to our true providence." He turned away from her, brought up a large hand from beneath his and flexed it into a fist. "No longer will the Chozo be a phantom race hiding in the shadows. With the true Hatchling, and me leading them, we will come into the light…and we will set this Universe ablaze. However to accomplish this…"

"Virus Purge complete. Systems at 100%"

"…you must relinquish what we've given you."

He turned, only to have the muzzle of Samus's gun arm straight in his face.

"Over my dead body," Samus whispered, and with that she fired.

There was a massive explosion that pushed Samus back and rained bits of flaming plasma and energy into the air, as well as a massive dark debris cloud. The Chozo's body was completely obscured by the cloud, and Samus couldn't penetrate it with her visor.

She stood back, breathing heavily and cursing under her breath. It was all a trick, of course it was. That she was led here to be killed wasn't surprising. That it was a trap laid by a Chozo Master was something more than what she could take. There was nothing in this Universe she could trust anymore. Samus took in shuddering breaths and squeezed her eyes shut. All she wanted was to believe that she could see them again. After everything she had done, everything she had endured, all she wanted to know was that they were proud of her. Even this….

"Warning!"

Heeding Adam, Samus turned to face the Chozo Master. The cloak he had been wearing was parted to the sides, and she could clearly see that he had not come unprepared. He was armoured neck to toe in a Varia Power Suit. His was coloured black and silver, and it was much larger and bulkier than Samus's own, however it also gave off a sense of grace that was equal to hers. He raised his gun-arm and levelled it straight at the bounty hunter.

"It shall be as you said it," the Chozo said serenely, and he fired off a quick blast. Samus dodged to the side, handsaulted and vaulted into the air while she opened up her gun-arm and fired off a barrage of energy shots. The floor exploded into clouds of debris and shards of hot metal around the Chozo, but as Samus corrected her decent a voice sounded from behind her.

"The Hatchling, against a full grown Raptor?"

Before Samus could even turn to face him, she was knocked away by a backhand so powerful it sent her zooming through the air.

"Proximity Alarm! Approaching Cavern Wall. Correct Speed Vector-"

She couldn't, and she was bashed into the wall with a resonating crush and exploded through to the other side. Her vision fizzled and her energy systems fluctuated. Samus was still flying as the Chozo Master appeared above her. She didn't hesitate; she raised her cannon and fired another concussion of shots into the Chozo's armour, shots so powerful and high in number that it forced Samus to the ground at the same time.

When she landed Samus began to charge up a shot, but she didn't fire. The Chozo was gone.

"The Hatchling begs the Raptor for sustenance."

Samus knew he was behind her, but she didn't fire her Power Beam. Instead she turned and struck with her left hand, which he predictably caught in his.

"The Hatchling does not bite at the Raptors beak."

Samus gripped the Chozo's arm and held him fast, and as she did she brought up her cannon to his face. "Bite this."

She fired. There was a large blast and explosion of debris and fire. Samus released the Chozo's grip and jumped back a hundred feet, and when she landed she put two fingers to her visor and scanned the debris cloud.

"Tell me I got him…" she said to no one in particular.

"Confirmed. Direct hit on the Target."

A beam of ice erupted from the cloud and screamed towards Samus's form. She saw it and dodged to the side, and as it passed she felt her body decelerating, her brain slowing down. It was her new Metroid physiology affecting her again. Samus cursed as she hit the ground just as the Chozo Master appeared in front of her. His arms were crossed, and his cloak was flared in an eerie semblance to large metallic golden wings.

"To a Raptor, the Hatchling is playing a game."

Samus jumped to her feet, powered up her thrusters and leaped into the air. She flexed her hand into the position for the Plasma-thrower. She arced her arm and fired a stream of burning lava towards the Chozo figure, who simply floated and stared.

"The Hatchling plays a dangerous game."

Just as the plasma reached him, he burst into an area meters away from the attack. Samus turned her cannon into the Ice Beam and fired off concussive shots of absolute-zero bullets at the Chozo, but he used his amazing speed to dodge over and over again. Then the Chozo appeared behind her and raised his gun-arm, and Samus fired off the Wavebuster she had been charging all the while.

While the arc of electricity hit the Chozo dead on, Samus morphed into her Spider-Ball and sped into the natural circuits in the cavern's wall facing, leaving a trail of bombs in her wake.  They exploded in a chain and nailed the Chozo again as he was recovering from her initial attack.

 This was the only opportunity she'd have to attack. Samus bounced off the wall, demorphed and readied her charged Combo beam at the Chozo, only to be stunned when he flew at her in a morph ball of his own. Samus was hit dead center and blasted towards a cavern fissure. She ricocheted off of it and straight into the Chozo's waiting cannon muzzle. He fired with a deafening explosion.

"W-W--Warning! Energ-gy-y at 35%"

Like a rag doll, Samus fell to the cavern floor and bounced slightly when she landed. Her vision was shorting out again, and she struggled to rise. The ground shook for a moment as the Chozo landed in front of her. Samus squinted and gasped in pain. "I'm not….going down like this…"

She raised her cannon only to have it slammed down into the ground by the Chozo's armoured foot. He raised his free hand towards her and narrowed his burning eyes.

"There is nothing you have that we haven't given you."

Energy raced from his palm and through Samus's body. She withheld a scream even as the pain of it burned through her nerves and burned through her bones.

"There is nothing you have that we cannot take away."

The Power Suit's nervous system was disassociating itself from Samus's own. The separation was excruciating, and Samus was forced to her knees as the process continued.

"Warning! Energy at 1% and holding."

Samus couldn't move; she couldn't fight back. All she could do was agonize as her armour was ripped from her body. When it was done, she would be at the mercy of the toxic environment. She wouldn't last more than five minutes.

"This isn't fair!" she lamented silently. "I can't go down like this!"

 Forcing an eye open, she saw in the far distance Houston Armstrong struggling to reach her. Samus never would have thought it, but maybe she could call on him to help her. Maybe…

"Initiating ADAM Core Consciousness Download."

Her heart skipped a beat as Adam announced those words. He was leaving her? At a time like this? As the last vestiges of her Power Suit left her, she supposed it was to be expected. Within the entire Universe…Survival of the Fittest was all that mattered.

"Download Complete."

There was nothing that she could trust.

The Power Suit left her with a sickening snap. Samus dressed now in her black jumpsuit, recoiled with the force, and then fell face first into the cavern wall. Her muscles wouldn't move, and she felt her lungs began to close in on her.

"Initiating Download."

What was that?

Samus blinked as she watched Houston walk up to the Chozo timidly and look over Samus's prone body.

"That's Samus? She looks younger than the last time I saw her," Houston murmured. "Still cute though."

The Chozo closed his cloak over his body and handed over a glowing sphere of energy to the other bounty hunter, who looked at it tentatively.

"Take it," the Chozo ordered. "Your prize."

Samus's eye widened in rage. "What?"

Houston reached for the sphere and took it in his hand, and as soon as he did it he was taken and enveloped in white energy. Samus's vision began to fade, but she could see that Houston was changing. His armour was becoming, sharper, more prominent. She knew he was wearing her Power Suit now.

There was the slight sizzle of smoke rising from metal, and Houston breathed in reverence. He raised his new gun-arm and studied it. "Incredible," he gasped.

Samus let out a slow breath as her perception began to leave her. The Chozo turned to her and slumped his shoulders. "It is done."

"Do you think you should just leave her here?"

The Chozo waved his arm around the cavern. "Why do you think I chose this place, this perfect, uninhabited world? It is only the Hatchling that deserves to have an entire planet for her tomb."  He floated into the air and left towards the surface. "It is the least she deserves."

Armstrong and the Chozo were both gone. Samus was alone, and she didn't even have the strength to cry out like she wanted to. All she could do was wait as her lungs got heavier and heavier, and watch as the darkness closed in.

Samus gasped softly and let out final breath before her consciousness left her.

"Download Complete."

@

Dither Bikky says:

Shocking! Samus lost. Is she finished? Not if ADAM has anything to do with it! Later.