-Metroid Fusion

--Blackdie

---Chapter 13: Bloodbath Theater

When the gavel slammed down, there were two parties in the theater. One very happy party, and the other a very angry party. But, since the angry party could convey so little emotion, it was not apparent right away. It was when a Black Hole soldier approached the stage to collect the briefcase could you really tell who had gotten in the highest bid. Even Tanner was surprised outsiders like them had so much cash, and any sort of doubt in his mind was quickly erased by an account that had popped up in their name. They, to put it lightly, were loaded. Even if the Vespula wanted to sell off their entire empire, they'd never amount to the sum Black Hole was throwing around.

"Who are you guys?" Tanner muttered.

Sturm and Drang didn't feel like offering any explanation. They only laughed. They laughed because Tanner finally understood just whom he was dealing with. And anyone in the theater could have heard the gulp he choked down. And there was the nervous chewing of his lip, you'd think he was trying to eat his lower jaw.

"Anyway, that wraps up this little show. As for everyone else, thank you for coming."

"Tanner Sebester!" The Vespula queen hissed.

Almost immediately, all six of her generals stood up. However, it seemed like Tanner took his a lot more easily than when he sold off the ware bouts of Zonagen to Black Hole. He made a gesture to the queen to come on stage.

"Yeah, I got something to say to you. Let's step behind the curtain. Shall we?"

Almost every Vespula in the theater was prepared to go behind the curtain with her, except she put up her two left arms and stilled them.

"I'll handle this human myself!" She vowed.

She charged after Tanner who had disappeared behind the curtain. Already her wings were buzzing, as she was unable to hold in her anger.

"You will regret all of this. Before, you slaughtered my kind, and now you throw this in my face? My hive will feast upon your remains!"

"Are you done with that touching speech?" Tanner interrupted. "Good, now hear me out before you make a mistake. Whether you got the case or not, I had something planned. I want to join you. Certainly, you know that even if you got Zonagen, you'll want more when that runs out."

"This is true." The queen said after a time.

"Well, I got the men, and I know the location of the facility. All we need is some planetary defense. Surely your swarm can accomplish that."

"Why?"

"Because the Vespula offer something the Galactic Federation doesn't."

The queen simply waited for Tanner to say what that thing was. And he was about to, before they heard the cock and charge of a blaster. Both of them turned to see Samus step out of the shadows, with an ice beam blast ready. Tanner cursed, knowing that the men he had posted at the backstage door were Popsicles by now.

"Do you remember what I told you to do the last time we met?" Samus demanded.

"Don't even flinch." He grinned.

"Aran Samus..." The queen said, with such bitterness you swore she was having a spasm of pain.

"Don't call your drones in here. I'm only after Tanner, but it seems he's one of yours now."

The Vespula queen turned to face Samus and crossed her arms. She had something up her sleeves, that much was certain.

"What will you do Chozo Devil? Would you shoot me? Would you strike me down?"

"It's a very real option I can take." Samus declared.

The queen broke out into a fit of laughter. This involved a low-pitched screech that went up and down in volume. Samus's instinct already told her something was wrong. Now Tanner was smiling, he knew what the queen was thinking.

"Do you know what happens to a hive when they lose their queen?" Tanner began. "They no longer have any leadership."

"Upon my death, devil, my children... from all corners of the galaxy will come here to search out their mother's killer. They will tear apart anything that gets in their way. Even you, who are so immune to death, would not be able to turn the tide of millions of millions of my faithful children."

Tanner shrugged and nodded.

"Try and run... and they'll just spread to other areas in the Federation. They'll just keep coming. A lot of innocent people will die that way." He continued. "Why do you think the Galactic Army never killed the Vespula queen during the war?"

Now Tanner sauntered over to the curtain and drew a section of it back. There was a clear view to the Black Hole section. A clear view to the soldier walking off with the case.

"Besides, the Zonagen isn't here. But that case knows where it is."

Tanner's smile grew wide and cruel.

"I am the least of your worries now."

Samus lowered her arm cannon and gave Tanner a hard stare.

"I'll be back for you." She vowed.

It was simultaneous. By the time Samus had leapt through the curtains into the isle, the Vespula queen had yelled at the top of her lungs and alerted every one of her children in the theater. It was deafening, the sound of weapons getting ready to fire. And there the scene was, with Samus standing in the middle of the isle with Black Hole at her back, and the Vespula in front of her. If they missed, it would be the Black Hole soldiers to be hit. And most of them noticed far too late when the Vespula started to aim and shoot. Samus didn't stand around to see the fireworks, and did a Space Jump to the balcony. The Vespula firing line turned to follow her, and the whole left side of the theater was saturated with blaster fire.

There was no telling how long it lasted, but when it ended, a little over half of Black Hole had been wiped out. Sturm and Drang didn't seem affected, but it was hard to see. For all anyone knew, they could have taken cover. Tanner stood with his mouth dropped open. He could already see the blood red smog shoot from Sturm and Drang's strange masks.

"Oh shhhiiiiittttt..." He muttered, and then began to head toward the backstage exit.

The Vespula had no concern for Black Hole, since they weren't really shooting at them and were frantic in trying to locate where Samus had gone.

"What is the meaning of this?" Drang cried. "You miserable curs. All of you will burn!"

It seemed like a flash enveloped the theater, and the change wasn't noticeable right off. But what had happened, was that the number of Black Hole soldiers had doubled, seemingly warped into the theater.

"Those with weapons will die." Sturm proclaimed. "My brother and I will leave with the instructions to find the Zonagen. And when my brother says 'burn', he means burn."

There were two squad leaders. The new arrivals due to whatever Drang had done nodded and turned toward the Vespula. Meanwhile the others began to escort their leaders out of the theater, and brought the case with them. Samus kept her eyes on the case. Whatever Black Hole was, or where they came from, she wasn't about to let them escape with the briefcase in hand. But she couldn't help but watch as the Black Hole soldiers moved in close to the Vespula drones and readied their arm guns. The two generals assigned to watch the others in the theater just barely got out the word to scatter.

It sounded like a bombshell when Black Hole opened fire. It was a combination of weapons. Flamethrowers and shotgun spray everywhere. Samus was almost hypnotized by the chaos that followed in the form of the Vespula counterattack. Several of the generals went headlong into the enemy and speared them with their stingers. Some of them caught fire for a moment and quickly dropped to the ground to put themselves out. The third parties such as the criminals and the intergalactic gangs were running for their lives, not sure what the hell was going on. There were times when Samus thought she was being fired upon, only to find the Black Hole soldiers were spraying the place erratically in hopes of hitting multiple flying Vespula in one shot.

The moment one soldier tried to go for the queen; he was cut down faster than anyone could register. That's when the Vespula queen was hurried out of the theater, and the drones were left to clean up their sudden enemy. There was an explosion. Someone was throwing grenades. Vespula body parts could be seen flying from some blasts. Seats flew around so much you'd think it was raining them. And just when Samus thought it was safe to move, a charred Vespula soldier came crashing into the balcony with her. Its body was badly burnt, but its stinger was still sharp enough to go through most anything that got in its way.

It was chaos at its best. And there wasn't much anyone could have done to slow it down. By the time it could be stopped, there wouldn't be much of anything leftover. Samus kept her eyes peeled for any stray shots. There was enough going around to take any careless fool out. And it was apparent after awhile, what Black Hole lacked in numbers they made up with sheer firepower and their suits kept them going long enough to do their damage. Though all of this, Samus was barely able to make out that Sturm and Drang were leaving. Making a quick escape through all the mess. She took a deep breath, and charged toward the exit they were using, dodging shots all the way.

The exit took her to a hallway where passersby were hanging around, trying to make sense of the loud explosions coming from the theater. Somehow, Black Hole was really moving, and nowhere to be seen. Then a nearby hatch closed after recently being opened, and she knew where they were going. She darted into the stairwell, and could hear the stampede of footsteps heading upwards. Only after following after them would she realize just how quick the group was. The only way she could catch up with them now is with a Speed Booster. The problem with that was the square spiral staircase, with landings and 90 degree turns.

They were to the very top and through the hatch in no time. And when Samus went through, she found herself at the Beluga's topmost deck. The highest deck was open air and dotted with stylish pools and all the comforts one would want while having a day at the beach. Sturm and Drang with their soldiers were none too subtle, cutting their way through the heart of the setup, easily getting in other guest's way. Anyone who spoke up met the barrel of a gun arm quickly shut up and moved out. Eventually they stopped, right in the middle of everything. Samus took the moment to approach them. By the time she had made her way over to the group, the deck was almost deserted, and those who stayed got as far away from Aran as they could.

"Drop the case." Samus started.

She began to try and scan Sturm and Drang as they turned to face her. Strangely, her visor was met with static and gibberish. The next two tries were just the same, for some reason; her suit could not scan Sturm or Drang. She couldn't identify them.

"Humph. Ignore this one. We will be off soon enough." Drang ordered.

The soldiers stood straight and didn't make any motion to attack despite having Samus's arm cannon pointed directly at them.

"This is my last warning. You won't leave with that case."

"You do not have any idea that you are dealing with." Drang told her.

"An even better reason to stop you. Who knows what you're capable of?"

Sturm nodded to the group of soldiers and they all went to start shooting. One was picked off right away by Samus's ice beam while the others began to spray the area with automatic fire. Samus jumped up into the air and fired again as the trails of bullets went around her. When some of the shots did make their mark, it was as she was hitting the ground into a roll, and they made no more contact. One flipped over a table and apparently began to work on something while the others took up defensive positions. The soldier with the case had begun to move away from Samus in a dead sprint.

She gave chase, while taking fire. It apparently didn't matter to her as she charged past the blazing arm guns of the soldiers. Sand began to get kicked up everywhere as the bullets that missed impacted the ground. The soldier with the case began to make his way around a pool while Samus took a more direct route and froze the pool solid with her ice missiles. The explosion worked faster and provided a nice chunk to run across rather than what her beam weapon could do. As she neared the soldier with the case, he suddenly stopped and turned around while heaving the case back across the pool.

A soldier on the other side caught it and began the game of keep away. Samus soon realized they were stalling for time. But time for what? She had begun to run after the case when that question was answered. The soldier who had moved behind the table soon popped back up with a new weapon. A weapon with a large round device attached to the front. More specifically, it was a rocket launcher. It could have easily been mistaken for a rifle of some sort since Black Hole soldiers preferred it under arm instead of over the shoulder. The rocket soldier was busy lining up his sights on Samus before firing.

There was massive recoil involved in the firing of the launcher, as the round head shot off and headed right for Samus. When she jumped up, the rocket altered its course appropriately and headed right up after her. It would have hit, if she didn't use the Morph Ball at just the right time. But the rocket was not so easily gotten rid of, and quickly did an arch in the air to plunge back toward the ground. It landed at her feet and the blast did everything the rocket intended to do. Now Samus was sailing through the air while the soldiers all cackled in a hideous tone. The soldier had moved to put another rocket on when Samus got back on her feet and launched an explosive projectile of her own.

The laughter stopped when the rocket soldier took a missile to the face and went sliding across the sand. There wasn't much left except for the general outline of the suit.

"Resourceful one..." Drang commented.

"Grrrrr! Grenades!" One soldier cried. "Grenades!"

Every soldier in attendance pulled a black sphere and pressed a combination of buttons on the device. Samus rolled backwards into a ball as the spheres began to land all around her and flash multiple colors. When they went off, she found herself pulled toward the blast zones and struggled to stay away from the explosions. The Black Hole soldiers were about to throw another round when the sound of a ship caught their attention. Samus had come out of her Morph Ball and looked up to see a sleek black spaceship arrive. It positioned itself perfectly over the Beluga and held position. It appeared seamless, except for a single red light located somewhere near the front.

It went lower to the ground and the side opened up. A soldier from the ship leaned out and began to call to the other. The case began to move toward the ship, and when Samus tried to move toward it, shots from the soldiers knocked her flat. These rounds were different; they didn't seem to do much damage, but simply packed a punch. Rounds meant to suppress instead of destroy. She could barely sit up without getting knocked to the ground and instead simply rolled onto her side so her arm cannon was free to move around.

As soon as the soldier tossed the case upward toward the ship, she shot a missile before being tossed around again. Now she was being rolled around so much, she could only hear an explosion. It was then the shots from the soldiers stopped, and allowed her to stand. The ship was intact, as well as both the soldiers on the ground. It was the case that had taken the full effect of the missile strike. Now it was in the sand, in fifty different charred smoking pieces. Worthless to everyone.

Drang huffed a blood red cloud and looked toward Samus across the way. The Black Hole soldiers simply stood where they were, letting their gun arms drop to their sides.

"Miserable worms!" Drang cried. "All of you are doomed! You will never see an end to my anger! You will all... die fighting! Destroy this one in orange!"

The Black Hole soldiers exchanged a glance and began to slowly move in on Samus. But something happened, and as soon as they began, they stopped.

"Ha ha ha... Brother, I think your activities in this sector have come to an end."

Drang looked to his brother and turned his head. His motions now expressed confusion and there was a long pause when no smog escaped his metallic tubes.

"Sturm? What is the meaning of this?"

"I heard stories that you had grown weak. I had my suspicions... but now, this is all the proof I need. You have grown terribly incompetent. Even with my forces at your disposal, you couldn't even secure a lowly briefcase."

Now Drang was at a loss for words.

"Heh, to think you are my brother. You are at the beck and call of this human. It doesn't matter how powerful the weapon is; you never lower yourself to the level of your future enemies. And you never ignore a threat, no matter how small."

"No, this is not over!" Drang protested.

"What will you do? Go crawling back to the human? Beg him for the location of his prized possession? Dear brother, you have no more mistakes left to make. You shouldn't have acted so weak around that Tanner creature. He forced you to make a personal appearance. That is unacceptable. Board the ship, before I lose what little patience I have left for you."

The ship pulled in closer and almost landed. It kept just a couple feet off the ground and a ramp rolled out. The soldiers walked away from their rulers and boarded the ship. Drang was reluctant, but eventually did what he was told.

"So, it's over?" Samus asked as Sturm began to walk away.

"Over? Here? Ha ha ha ha. Oh no, I'm afraid my brother and I are just two of many who would enjoy very much crushing this galaxy beneath their feet. It is just that you are fortunate. The main concentration here was not for your sake, but for my brother's. Just to see how far he has fallen from grace. Had we really been interested in taking this area of space, you would not be running around chasing after some human with a weapon beyond his comprehension. You would be involved in more... pressing matters."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Sturm laughed and simply moved closer to the ship.

"I can tell. You are a pest. Pests always throw themselves in front of the weak for some strange reason. It is these pests that give us our name. Black Hole. Did you know? Black Hole is not a name of our choosing. Whatever is in our reach never escapes our grasp. Power means nothing and the mind is everything. Why, I could destroy this planet with a meteor if I wished. But that would not prove a thing. Any fool can destroy a planet."

Samus thought back to Planet Zebes and SR-388.

"No, it is how you defeat others at their own game. Whether it is with your advanced technology or sticks and clubs. That is how you earn the right to be remembered."

"Why are you telling me this? You were simply rumors before this mission."

"And we still are!" Sturm declared, taking one step onto the ramp. "You know nothing more than what I've told you. Ha. Those soldiers in the theater? Pawns. Pawns we can use and throw away at will! Whatever your puny minds could possibly come up with to describe us, will always be further and further from the truth." There was a pause. "I tell you this because in the end... Fear is all you have left."

Sturm boarded the ship, and it took off into the horizon. Most likely to meet up with their means of reaching the planet. Samus walked over to the railing of the top deck and watched them disappear. She had begun to wonder just what exactly they were and stopped.

"Humph. Just one more to add to the list."

Now, all she had to face now was Tanner and the Vespula.

Tanner was in his room along with the rest of the Sand Trap crew. Or... who had survived over the past week. They were minus Chester, Boris, and almost Scratch, who was borderline hypothermia and wrapped up in blankets while he thawed. The room was not extremely large, enough to hold the 15 or so people, but not big enough to be comfortable. They stood around Tanner while he was working at a laptop. It was payday. Or so they thought, because when Tanner opened up the account Black Hole had transferred all the money to. He found a startling withdraw. For awhile, he was dumbstruck and his men didn't realize it at the time. They only really noticed Tanner when he began to turn beat red and hopped up off the couch.

"That bitch! That lousy goddamn Samus Aran! Her... she did this... I don't know how... but I'm going to kill her!"

"What... what... are you talking about?" Scratch choked out.

"It's gone! All the money is gone! The only reason why they'd do that is if they somehow didn't get their cargo... Oh holy #$%. She is going to die!"

All of the Sand Trap personnel exchanged a nervous glance. No one had gone up against Samus Aran and lived to talk about it.

"Hey Seb... why don't you calm down? The money isn't important..."

"Isn't important?" Tanner yelled. "The reason why I did all of this shit is so I could repay all those years the Federation sucked out of you guys! Rotting away on Sand Trap! For what little I could do, this was going to be my way of making it up to you..."

"But Tanner, are you kidding? Running around with Zonagen, and forcing the Federation to hire Samus of all bounty hunters to come after us... That's it right there! It's like we're in the Galactic Army again! Hell! We're famous. They got Samus after us! Samus!"

The whole room agreed. But Tanner had already set his mind to what he was going to do.

"Scratch, you still got that junk in your room?"

Scratch did a double take.

"Sebester... no man. Come on. The Zonagen Cannon? The radiation after each shot would fry you."

Tanner shook his head.

"No, I took care of that."

He took a deep breath. Everyone in the room could see how pissed off Tanner was. There was no way they would be able to talk him out of it. Trying to stop him would be a bad idea, because he could probably take all of them out and still have enough energy to duke it out with a Space Pirate.

"You guys do one thing for me. Search the ship. Find Samus; tell her I'll be waiting in the engine room. That's my last order. Then you get your asses down as low as you can. Stay away from the Federation Police." He was grinding his teeth. "God dammit, it's time to end this crap."

With that, Tanner charged out of the room. They all glanced at each other. There was nothing they could do... other than to follow his instructions.

-To be continued...

--Next Chapter: Means to an End