-Metroid Fusion

--Blackdie

---Chapter 7: After the Bomb

Samus opened her eyes with a start. Smoke had begun to leak into her suit, due a crack that had formed on her visor. Her eyes stung and her vision had become blurry. When she pushed herself up off the ground, the chaos of the area came into focus. The explosion had caused the entire room to go up in flames, and the emergency devices designed to stop this had been disabled by the Zonagen radiation. A crater sat in the area where her ship had been parked, and any search for debris was useless. It had been vaporized. But there was plenty of destruction, as the surrounding ships had been reduced to scrap metal by the blast radius. Through all the sounds of crackling flames, hissing sparks, and groaning metal, a loud buzzing was somewhere off in the distance. It was the Vespula's natural dialect. The only parts Samus could make out were the last few.

"Find the body. It is said this hunter is not so easily slain. She is not dead until her head rests in our queen's arms."

"Of course... For the queen's glory!"

Samus rose to her feet and began to stumble around to try and regain her balance. It wasn't happening, and forced her to grab onto a fallen support beam. Her eyes stung so badly... but what she saw through the smoke was a blur in the shape of a Vespula, armed with what could only be their Autorifle. This Vespula turned toward her and began to creep forward, she raised her arm cannon but the damage it had taken could be made out clearly. There was no way it was going to fire in her weakened condition. Her entire suit needed more energy. During her concentration on the condition of her Fusion Suit, a burst of flame caused her to stumble backwards into the hull of a wrecked spaceship. The noise was more than enough to attract the approaching Vespula.

The Autorifle revved up next and sounded like jackhammer. You could hear it a mile away as they said, but this did not help Samus in her weakened condition. When the Vespula soldier finally rounded the support beam, his antennae twitched in eagerness, and his mouth pincers drew back as if it was a smile.

"You..." He hissed.

The sight of the fully-grown Vespula began to nurture a craving inside of Samus. It had been there before, around the time she had woken up. But now it was stronger than ever, and she couldn't help but leap forth with strength she didn't know she had left. The Vespula tried to fire, managing to squeeze one or two rounds off but missing completely as the hunter overtook him and grabbed his neck. This neck grab turned into a headlock. The clean snap of a wing breaking could be heard next as Samus brought him to the ground and pinned him to the floor.

She found it surprising the creature did not put up more a fight, but soon found out why. The Fusion suit had begun to drain the Vespula's energy like a Metroid. The suit's systems reacted immediately, returning power and restarting abilities one after another. The more energy she took out of the Vespula, the more her senses began to sharpen up. The visor's crack soon disappeared as the two pieces of glass fused together like they were webbing. Her eyes no longer hurt like they did, and the smoke didn't seem as thick anymore. Any other damages the suit had taken during the Zonagen blast had disappeared completely. She only let go when her arm cannon ceased to spark and glimmered like it was brand new.

The sensation was nearly identical to the feeling when absorbing the X parasites, except this time, she had absorbed the life energy out of an organism directly. It was so quick and similar to the way Metroids sucked the life out of their prey after pouncing on them.

"Like... the instincts of a Metroid..." Samus stuttered.

This crave... It could only remind her of the time the Metroid larva made a desperate last second leap at Mother Brain after taking many critical hits. The only difference was that she actually managed to acquire that life saving drain. Her view shifted to the Vespula on the floor. It exhibited all the traits of a Metroid victim, becoming shriveled, gray, and lifeless. As if to confirm her senses, she gave it a tap with her foot and caused the entire creature to disintegrate. Another Vespula soldier that had witnessed the whole event from behind became overcome by rage.

"Kill the monster!"

Without hesitating, Samus spun around and kneeled before firing off her ice beam. The Vespula had no chance and uttered a cry of pain before becoming completely frozen. The hunter fired again to make it final, and shattered the frozen wasp creature. She did not have much time to relax when a hail of lasers came from a high-flying attacker. It wasn't hard for the Vespula soldier to lose track of Samus through the smoke, flame, and wreckage dotting the hangar. The only thing that could be made out from above was the crater where Samus's ship had been and the flaming debris of other ships unfortunate enough to be too close to the final blast.

He studied the area carefully, looking for her. It was before a missile came rocketing out of one of the smoke clouds and nailed him in the back. The explosion incinerated his wings and sent him plummeting into a pile of jagged metal. The sound of the exoskeleton cracking on the pointed surface brought over two more Vespula soldiers with their Autorifles already on full. No amount of dodging or evasion would avoid the wall of lasers, there were simply too many coming at once And they managed to hit Samus a couple of times before she retreated behind a severed wing of another spaceship.

It sounded like a roar as the withering fire of the Vespula Autorifles began to tear away at the wing. The sound only increased as they approached, using their pounding fire to keep Samus down. They were almost on top of her position when a massive explosion came from underneath the wing and sent it flying into the air. The blast also tossed the two Vespula and easily knocked the weapons out of their hands. Samus came out of her Morph Ball and observed the damage caused by her Power Bomb. Needless to say, the area was wrecked enough, and her bomb made no additional damage. It only tossed a piece of junk disposed of the two Vespula who were now sprawled out across the ground unconscious. Without the wing in the way, they would have been incinerated.

She proceeded through the wreckage of the area carefully, making sure there were no more unpleasant surprises. When she used the exit, she was relieved to find the explosion did not damage the access hallway. It gradually headed upwards toward the lifts that would lead to the surface and the landing platform. But escape was not the dominant concern. Her worry had shifted to the creatures that Adam reported were somewhere around. Hopefully, the Vespula did not kill them out of spite.

There was a rest point before the last stretch to the lifts. It was filled with vending machines and stacks of flyers. Samus stopped here to look around thinking maybe the Etecoons curiosity had gotten them to experiment with the machines. But there was no trace of them. Even still, there was someone approaching from the direction of the lifts. The footsteps echoed down the abandoned hallway.

"You are every bit as nightmarish as my queen said you were... Aran Samus. Even death is afraid of you."

A Vespula appeared, but was different from the others Samus engaged in the hangar. This one wore a red sash along with armor to cover the upper body. He was the leader of the unit Samus had just eliminated.

"Where's Tanner?" Samus asked.

"I have not heard such a name. It has no bearing on our mission. You must pay for the execution of our fellow brothers and sisters."

"That was bomb was laced with Zonagen, and Tanner is too ruthless to have let you steal it from him. So what are you doing with it?" Samus readied her arm cannon. "I won't ask again."

The commander said nothing more and drew his weapons. It was not the large and heavy Autorifle his subordinates used, it was the Vespula Buckler, their preferred pistol. It was known for it's loud discharge and deadly accuracy. Not very threatening on it's own, but the Vespula were in the habit of using all of their arms in a fight and the commander was no different. Now, with four pistols ready to fire, the hallway became ablaze with blaster fire as they went at it. This commander took to the air and used the agility provided by his wings to avoid the ice beam fire.

In Samus's career of bounty hunting, she had never taken on any Vespula above the rank of soldier. To face a commander was a different experience in itself, and soon switched her arm cannon to plasma beam. Switching beam weapons in the middle of the battle was enough to catch the commander off guard, as the searing beam moved like lightning and clipped him in the wing. This melted the thin wing on contact, and ruined the balance needed to stay in the air.

The Vespula commander hit the ground and rolled before standing back up and resuming his blaster fire. This move cost him his upper and lower right arm. Samus was relentless with her plasma attack and burned them clean off. There was no profuse bleeding since the heat-sealed the wound. A wild and panicked screech escaped the commander as he went to grab his now non-existent right arms. This move was all Samus needed to step foward and knock the Vespula to the ground before disarming him.

"Fsssssssssss!" The Vespula commander hissed in pain. "Chozo Devil!"

"Now, where did you get the Zonagen? From Tanner? Why are you protecting him?"

"Those who serve our queen are our allies." The commander spat. "For her glory..."

"You still have a chance to live. Tell me. Where is he?"

The commander made perfect eye contact with Samus as he grunted and arched his back. The next thing she knew, he was flopping to the ground lifeless. The commander had used his remaining arms to break off his stinger, and let loose most of his vital organs. They were on the floor now, as he bled out until death.

"Vespula Suicide..."

A stampede heading from the lifts made her turn and see an army of Federation Police approach. All of them were outfitted in the heavy combat suits. They were quick to surround Samus as Big Blue Firefighters came in shortly afterward. Some of them stutter stepped upon seeing the gruesome Vespula corpse but kept on. The heavy pressurized equipment had to be used soon before they tired out and couldn't lug it anymore. It would be light enough once they discharged it over the flames.

"What's going on here? Explain yourself!" An Police officer asked.

"I was attacked and I defended myself. These Vespula tried to kill me. They destroyed my ship and ruined the rest of the hangar."

One of the officers looked to see the pool gathering under the dead Vespula and shook his head.

"It's just that easy to you, isn't it?"

"No, it's not." Samus told them. "But it answers your question doesn't it?"

"Damn man. Vespula Suicide! Hell... they always make such a goddamn mess."

"Come on! We don't have time for this!" One officer told the others. "We need to catch up with the Firefighters! And you Aran! You need to report to the surface immediately, you can keep those creatures we found hanging around outside company."

Samus smiled a bit knowing the companions she picked up from the B.S.L. had made it out fine and walked off. The high-speed lifts made the trip to the surface fast and she was stepping out into the morning light of Big Blue's sun soon enough. Two steps out of the spaceport and she could see the mob of people and reporters held back by the emergency ships and Federation cruisers. The floating cameras looked dormant, but she could tell they were taking millions upon millions of pictures as she left the spaceport.

Just as the officer had said before, there were a group of officers watching the Etecoon trio and the Dachola mother and baby. They couldn't keep the creatures corralled for long as they broke free upon seeing Samus and rushed toward her. It wasn't so much an expression of seeing she was fine, it was more of a way of getting out of the clutches of the strange officer creatures that found them earlier.

While this was happening, Samus could see a couple soldiers from Black Hole among the crowd. They didn't stay long, just enough to see her walk out in one piece and then left. They were not the center of attention anyway. The cameras were all concentrated on Samus Aran. The famous bounty hunter still making a riot wherever she went. Reporters yelled out futility to get a story or any details surrounding the great explosion that had caused the floating city's foundations to shake. Samus was merely looking at the cameras, hoping that Tanner was watching.

"Boris? Where are you right now?"

Boris did a quick look of the area around him while clapping a hand over his portable phone. He had always wanted to visit the well-known gambling district of Big Blue. The finest resort casinos all in a line, under the sea of course. Tanner had told him not to go, but with all the excitement with the Vespula and the reports on TV, he figured Samus wouldn't have time to pick him out of a crowd and chase him down.

"South Blue Street." Boris lied while moving into an area with less dinging slot machines

Tanner was quiet, almost confirming he knew better.

"How many times have I told you to lay low? You're gonna end up in the gutter walkin' where you don't belong. This is like the third time you've been out of position."

Boris moved to an elevator to head toward the surface lounge. He remembered reading it had a great view of the East Blue Ocean. Lucky for him no one else got on, and the glass elevator was empty. He could talk as loud as he could and not have to worry about people over hearing the conversation.

"Tch. Samus Aran just survived a Zonagen attack. Not to mention she'll be filling out paperwork until the sun burns out. You know how Federation Police are like. They keep records better than they do the peace."

"I wasn't talking about Samus Aran. Incase you haven't heard, we got more than a bounty hunter on our asses. Don't tell me you forgot Stan and Whiskey. I thought ashes in a bucket were a good enough example for you."

"Like Ridley is gonna break into a casino in broad daylight. Big Blue would be locked down in minutes."

"No they won't. Big Blue is an intergalactic resort planet. They'd make too many otherworldly bureaucrats angry by ruining their vacation." Tanner laughed. "The Galactic Federation is too concerned about keeping appearances to know what's good for them. Ridley could burn down a whole building and they wouldn't do anything but advise a warning."

The smirk on Boris's face weakened.

"Look, you just best get your ass back to the warehouse. We're moving all our stuff to the docks tomorrow morning. All hands on deck, you understand?"

"Yeah Tanner, I'll be there. You can cut the tough military commander bull. I get you ok?"

A cruel laugh came from Tanner's end.

"Sure. Whatever, loser."

The conversation ended, and Boris moved to slide his phone back into his jacket pocket. However, when he reached back to open his jacket up, he could feel the back of his arm make contact with some cold slimy substance. Immediately he brought his into view and scraped some of the crap off of him. Colorless, but freezing cold. He turned to investigate the source and nearly jumped out of his skin when realizing Phantoon was right next to him. The ghost was too big for the elevator car, but its body simply went right through any walls and ceilings, floating so his closed mouth was at Boris's eye level.

"Greetings to you... Boris Kail."

And that's when the power went off and brought the car to a dead stop. Boris went for his old Galactic Army pistol, but became seized by Phantoon's tentacles before uttering a sound. Still, he managed to fire off one round that went straight up and broke one of the ceiling light panels. The spark enabled him to see Phantoon one last time before his eyes were covered. The tentacles were tightening around his head, as if trying to squeeze his brain out.

"No, no words are required. We wouldn't want you to waste your time trying to recall all the details we need. Instead... Mother Brain will do the honors for you." Phantoon pressed a couple of buttons on the phone to get Boris's attention, it was an example. "What I am going to do is link you directly to her subconscious. It's like... a long distance call, using brainwaves. It's quite interesting, if I do say so myself."

Boris mumbled a bit, smothered by the tentacles.

"You don't understand? Why pick you and not Tanner? Ridley has special plans for your leader." Phantoon then paused to comment. "Such a primitive mind after all... it will take seconds for Mother Brain to sort through you."

Phantoon opened his mouth to show his eyes. They were rolled back and twitched uncontrollably... it had begun.

"Hah ha ha. Prepare yourself! You are about to touch the mind of a god!"

It was at this moment Boris could feel himself becoming distant from Big Blue. He was soaring past many different planets, before coming across a ship. It was as if he had become more aware of everything around him. He wondered for a minute if this is what it was like to be psychic. But any hope or positive feeling he could have had was suddenly crushed under the presence of something else. Something he couldn't make out. There was too much going on. It was like tuning the radio station to every channel at once and turning the volume to full.

It was gibberish, overwhelming and now overpowering gibberish. His brain began to become warm, soon enough it was on fire. It was as if an overload was occurring. Whatever he was interacting with now was too complex for his mind to handle. The pain was very noticeable now, and it only grew and grew and grew. He lost his definition of silence, there were on such words now. Then in a split second, he could see Mother Brain in a environmentally sealed glass jar, with rivers of wires branching away from it. Then he felt nothing and went limp in Phantoon's grip.

The elevator turned back on, and continued toward the surface. The delay had caused a crowd to gather. When the doors opened up, they screamed and reeled back in terror. Boris was slumped up against the wall, staring off into the distance, wide eyed. There was nothing left in his mind to be found. It was burned out. And even though his left eye was shoved in his mouth...

You could still tell he was devoid of feeling as if it had been sucked out of him.

-To be continued...

--Next Chapter: Special Delivery