She thought it would have been dark in this part of the ruins, but the walls seemed to be giving off radiant light. The cracks and fissures in the stone floor had been sealed with metal. It was most likely the Space Pirates' doing. This chamber was definitely cooler, but not exactly frigid. Strangely, there was nothing in the room. No guards, no defense system, no enemies, and no security whatsoever. On the other side of the chamber, there was another door. Beside it was an electronic sign, similar to a computer screen. The words were written in Space Pirate code. Samus approached the screen and translated the words, which read "Private Testing Room. Authorized personnel only." She fired a beam at the door, but it would not open. Of course, Samus was to going to be stopped by a locked door.
There was always another way in, and the ventilation system was the key in this case. It was located high on the right wall, covered by a metal plate with grating across it. The plate seemed weak, and it melted apart when hit by the wave beam. Now the question was how to reach the slot. It was really just a matter of space jumping in order to get high enough to reach it, and then holding onto the edge of the vent and curling into the Morph Ball state while pulling herself up into the hole.
She was lucky to have done this when she did, for the locked door opened seconds later, and a Space Pirate limped out as it shut behind him. Ooze from a gashed arm dripped onto the floor after rolling down a scratched claw. His leg was broken and the muscles torn, leaving him weakened and in pain. He had been dealing with creatures beyond his control, by the looks of it. By the time his weakly lifted his head and saw the uncovered hole in the wall, Samus had already rolled through the long, cold tunnel. It did not lead her into the private room, however, but to a small chamber adjacent to it. She did not break open the metal plate on the wall right away when she came to it, because there were two Space Pirates in the room, one of them heavily armored with black plates that could not be penetrated by normal artillery. Before she entered the chamber, she listened to them talk.
Space Pirate tongue is often difficult to translate, as they do not have a very advanced language, but what they were saying was something like "They have been adapting quickly, sir. They seem to be growing more intelligent." The armored pirate looked the smaller one in the eyes and said, "I've gotten reports of destructive behavior among specimens." "Ah...that's true. There have been injuries inflicted upon some of us lately, some wounds quite devastating..." "Devastating?" The armored one asked, seeming a bit irritated. The smaller Space Pirate nodded. He seemed to be ignoring the other's mood. "Acid burns, broken limbs, and deep cuts are becoming common, sir." "Tell me, is it enough to have to stop experiments?" he asked, tapping the spikes of a claw on the stone table, which was once the base of a pillar. "Most likely not, but if they keep getting stronger, we might have to consider it."
The armored pirate stood up from the cold, stone block he had been sitting on, and flexed his claws. "Let them continue. Any news of the Hunter?" "Lord Ridley destroyed her in the caverns, sir." "Excellent." he said with a gleam in his solid green eyes. "Check the status of the other guards. I doubt most of them are doing their jobs." "Yes, sir." he replied before crossing to the door. Once he was gone, the guard began pacing the room in the shadows, where he could hardly be seen. Samus dropped a bomb, which was made from the contained energy in her Morph Ball form. The small explosion did not harm her, and blasted the weak, metal plate apart. The pirate looked up, but did not see her. He then shook his head and continued pacing. The bounty hunter rolled out of the vent and onto the floor. As she passed the guard, he noticed her, and she stopped. He glanced down at the metal orb, in which he could see a distorted reflection, and picked her up, holding the ball in his massive, armored claw. He squinted at it and turned his head to one side as he examined what he held, unsure of what it was. To get out of the situation, Samus dropped another bomb in his claw that exploded in seconds. Immediately, he dropped her and hissed. She rolled to the door, and he watched her. He watched her go back into her human form, and he glared at her and hissed "Hunter..." before feeling energy waves strike through him. The Space Pirate still had enough energy to fight back, and cursed to himself because she was alive. This pirate hated Samus as much as the others did. He shot two green beams, one from each claw, and only one hit her. She was thrown aside and into a wall from the attack, but regained her poise quickly. She fired a quick succession of Wave Beam attacks, all of them hitting accurately, as she had locked onto the pirate. He fell to the ground, and said "Hunter...your presence will be known soon, and you will die!" before shutting his eyes. After that, all was silent.
Suddenly, a loud, high-pitched siren sounded, and the walls flashed with red light. Somehow, the guard had set off an alarm of some kind, and Samus could do nothing about it. She turned to the nearest door, and passed through it into the Space Pirate laboratory. The red light reflected off of glass confinements that contained different organisms. The pirates immediately left their computer screens to attack Samus when she entered. There were only about five of them in the lab, but that was enough to keep the bounty hunter busy. She thought it best to use missiles rather than her Wave Beam, because these weapons usually took out enemies faster. The five pirates had an advantage in their number, though they had no uniform battle system, and all attacked Samus randomly and madly whenever she entered their sight. She fired a missile at one of them, and it barely missed, shattering a computer screen behind him. Bolts of electricity burst free from the hot wires, sparking anything that came close. Another missile was fired at the Space Pirate, and as it made contact with him, he was thrown backwards into a glass tank, sending cracks up and across it and letting the liquid inside seep out. Samus stepped back from the glass, expecting it to shatter. However, it did not.
When the last two pirates spotted her, they shot their red beams rapidly. Since they were each on a different side of her, it was slightly more difficult to fight them and avoid their attacks. She focused her attention to the one on her left, and fed him two missiles while the other assaulted her from behind. The blasts stung her back and tore at her energy. She turned as her previous victim fell to the cold, metal floor, and shot some missiles at the attacking pirate. He was hit by one, but leapt aside to avoid the second, jumping right into the third. This one almost killed him, severing an arm and burning what was left of his body, so Samus finished him off with a shock of Wave Beam, since she was almost out of missiles by now.
A few floors up, in that same chamber, leaning over a rail, were two Space Pirates, one of them a guard in thick armor. His eyes were a dark blue color, and his claws were larger than the others. He gazed down at Samus, who was resting after having killed the five pirates. The alarm still rang noisily overhead, but the pirate ignored it. He turned to the other and hissed "Release it." "What!?" "You heard me. Do you think the rest of our soldiers can take her on right now? Do you want to make that sacrifice!?" "No! But...if we release it, the results could be disastrous." "Of course, that's the plan. Now let it go and tell the others to evacuate." "And you, sir?" The guard pirate clenched the metal rail in his spiked claws and looked down at Samus. "I'm going to watch the Hunter die."
A few moments passed in the lab before the siren silenced and the warning lights faded out. Samus knew that something wasn't right. The room was silent besides the crackling from the sparking wires. All of the lights flickered, and the computers turned off. The doors shut and locked. The lights went out for three seconds, during which Samus sensed a huge, intense life form approaching. Her heart rate increased, and her breathing became rapid as adrenaline pulsed through her. She could hear it coming, but did not know from which direction it came. It sounded like it was coming through the walls. Sweat formed on her hot face and rolled down until she could taste it on her lips.
The lights came on as the sound of screeching metal and popping wires erupted from all sides, growing ever louder. She turned to the cracked glass, where the sound was most intense, and raised her arm cannon. She took a deep breath, and saw what must have been four yellow, catlike, glowing eyes behind the cracked glass. Whatever the eyes belonged to roared, bearing a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth like long needles. Glass shattered and struck against Samus's visor and bounced off her helmet, at the same time clear liquid sprayed everywhere in a thick wave, and dripped off of Samus's armor. Once all that had cleared, Samus stood before a creature unlike anything she had seen before. Its skin was sandy-brown, but a darker shade near its legs and tail, and black at its clawed feet. The curved stinger at the end of its tail was jet black as well, and appeared to be dripping some kind of acidic substance. The thing's head was attached to its body by a very short neck, only a few inches long. It had rows of uneven teeth that were stained, most likely with Space Pirate blood. The creature was a beast with four legs and two clawed toes on each foot.
Samus stared at it as white foam fell from its mouth and vaporized as it hit the floor. It tasted the air with a black, forked tongue, and stretched out its scorpion-like tail. It noted the Hunter's presence and dove at her in a flash. Samus jumped back to avoid the sudden strike. Her heart pounded and her mind raced, but she forced herself to focus on the huge monster, whose body was filled with deadly acids.