Author's Note: Here's your relief! Have Fun! And guess what? I don't own any material from the Metroid universe. Thank Nintendo for that.

Chapter 4: Meeting the colonists
A... A CHOZO!?

No.... Wait.

There was a golden metallic sheen to the creature's skin. A fake Chozo statue.

Samus despised these things, they were a mockery of the very nature of the Chozo; machines made for violence, modelled on a species more peaceful than any other.
The space pirates had only ever made a few of these. It was obviously a space pirate creation, it used an enhanced galvanic accelerator (the favoured weapon of the space pirates) supplied with energy by an organic power core mounted in the chest of the beast. The Chozo believed strongly against using organic components in machines, they believed it was like slavery for the soul of the organs. No machine the Chozo had ever made featured organic components - they used other means instead, ones which no other civilisation had been able to replicate.
Samus charged her plasma beam for a moment, jumping high in the air to avoid a volley of galvanic blasts, and then unleashing it squarely on the marauding statue's chest. The beast twisted around as its chest plating melted into a liquid under the million degree blast of energy. In response, it charged forwards, knocking a dent in the wall where Samus was a mere moment ago. Samus charged her beam again, ready to reduce the oozing organic components to charred dust and put the monstrosity down for good. She fired, but instead of the machine falling to the ground, the boiling energy shot into the machine's chest with a crackle, there was a moment's pause, then the same plasma blast shot out of the machine's mouth, hitting Samus square in the stomach. Samus screamed in incredible agony as the plasma's heat partially penetrated the suit's shielding, and inflicted grievous burns all across her body. She stumbled up to the statue, each step riddled with pain, twisting sideways to avoid another galvanic cannon shot. She plunged her arm up to the joint into the chest of the beast, grabbed a handful of the throbbing innards, and pulled as hard as it could. The beast fell to the ground, and the magenta glow of its eyes faded as its power supply ceased. Samus stumbled down a dark alleyway, looked around quickly for any threats, and upon seeing none, fell backwards to the ground, letting oblivion claim her.

Samus awoke. Then a thought hit her. The statue might not have been the only one around. Showing any signs of life might bring a deadly barrage of gunfire upon her. She didn't know how bad the burns across her body were. She wasn't even sure she could still move. Samus tried moving her arm slightly. It was strange, it didn't hurt at all. She slowly took her time to check all her limbs. None of them hurt. Right then. Samus took a deep breath, and then sprang to her feet. It was quiet as it had been before her first encounter. Samus looked at her visor display.

7 energy tanks depleted. 3 remaining. This was strange... She had taken 3 tanks of damage when the Stomper had brought its foot down on her, 3 when the plasma beam had hit her... where had the other one gone? The visor display blinked up "Damaged organ repair completed". Ah, that would explain it. The suit had sacrificed additional energy tanks to repair her damaged body. She was glad that the Chozo had covered every eventuality... the transformation to the Fusion suit had reduced the efficiency of the shielding, but the suit could still repair damage from anything that did get through. Coming to think of it, a visor message had appeared just after the stomper had half-crushed her, which she had ignored. It was probably a message saying that the damage to her bones had been repaired. Samus just hoped that the next time she got sprayed with something corrosive, or hit especially hard, that what got through the shielding wasn't enough to kill her anyway. Samus briefly had a horrifying mental image of the suit standing upright, motionless, with her smoking corpse still inside. She shuddered.

Samus walked down the alleyway, ready to continue her journey. As she reached the mouth of the alleyway, she heard a low thump of a noise. Using lightning-fast reactions, she pressed herself against the wall, and watched as another fake Chozo statue stomped past, it's monstrous eyes casting light down the alleyway. Samus waited for several more seconds, and was glad she did so, as several more fake Chozo stomped past. If she went out, she would surely be spotted. There had to be someway to get around without being seen... Samus pondered for a moment, before an idea hit her. Bending her legs, she climbed the alley walls, jumping from wall to wall in an almost hypnotic and beautiful dance.

Samus had been jumping from rooftop to rooftop for a while now, nimbly dodging the spots where the roofing had crumbled. It was getting close to midday now, and the heat rose off every flat surface in an intense haze, turning the horizon in every direction into a shimmering wall. Samus wondered how close she was to reaching the source of the friendly electronic signal. She stopped in the middle of a rooftop to check her map display. It looked like... it looked like she was right on to- The roof beneath her feet gave way, and she fell 8 feet or so and landed flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her, but not breaking anything, thanks to the suit.

Samus stared at the ceiling for a brief moment, and was about to move when several gun barrels pointed at her from every direction. She recognised the type of gun. Most were L77 standard Federation issue laser pistols, though a few were P91 Special Federation Issue plasma rifles. Unless the Pirates had come largely underprepared (unlikely), the creatures holding the guns were the original human inhabitants of the colony. Space Pirates only used human weapons in the most desperate circumstances, as they were inferior technology, not to mention difficult to operate without opposable digits. None of the guns were capable of causing Samus much damage, but it's never wise to do anything to get yourself shot in the face. "Hey! Hey! I'm friendly! Relax!" said Samus with faked panic. Being relaxed whilst having more than 10 guns pointed at your face was a trait that quickly made people uncomfortable near you.
"I think she's right... she doesn't look like anything else out there."
"Yeah, let her get up, she's probably here to help."
The guns were withdrawn, and Samus got to her feet.

The room was full of cowering women and children, with only a few men dotted around the room. She also noticed that many of the walls were lined with computer banks. It must be the data room. How fortunate that she had found two of her goals at the same time!
"Err... Hi." Said Samus, uneasily. She had never been good at addressing crowds. "My name's Samus Aran, and I got a distress call from this planet?"
"Oh thank god! Our call was answered, and by none other than Samus Aran herself!" Said a male, who appeared to be a leader of the refugees, judging by the way the others paid close heed to his words.
"Wow, err... nice to know you've heard of me". Samus stuttered, glad that her blush was not visible beneath her helmet. She was never meant to be famous. "But, can you answer a few questions I have? I kind of came here blind to what was going on."
"Of course, right this way" the elder lead Samus to a small side room.
"Right, first, what are we up against here? I mean I've seen the Chozo Statue drones but I-"
"You mean the devil birds?"
"WHAT did you call them!?"
"Devil birds. They are surely the servants of Hades!"
This irritated Samus. How dare they assume that the statue drones were anything like the real Chozo?
"You un-informed, arrogant man! They are merely war machines made in the image of Chozo!"
"Chozo? What are Chozo?"
"The Chozo were... my adopted family, I suppose. A wise old race of bird-like people, who vanished years ago... The things you call the "devil birds" are merely the hideous creations of the Space Pirates."
"I see... So the space pirates are here in greater force than I originally suspected."
"What else are we up against?" Questioned Samus "Where to begin? The Space Pirates are swarming all over the north of the colony, taking over the mines in particular. We haven't seen many of them; mostly they just attack with the bird drones, and seem un-interested in the rest of the colony. Apart from a general racial urge to destroy it all. The wildlife have gone mad, tearing the colony to pieces. A lot of the destruction you probably saw on your way here was caused by a few angry stompers. Those cursed creatures have devoured more than their fair share of colonists... worse still, they've swallowed most of our Submission rifles too..."
"Submission rifles?" Said Samus, wondering if this was the weapon that had helped the colonists settle here in the first place.
"Yes, submission rifles. They're our method of controlling the more dangerous wildlife around here. A devastating mix of a heavy duty plasma rifle, fragmentation grenade launcher, and neurotoxin neutraliser."
"Neurotoxin neutraliser?" "Yes, it's a strong antidote which is fired into the arm of a toxin-using creature, thus nullifying it."
"You use this to control the stompers? How?"
"Once they have no neurotoxin, they are virtually harmless, as they never damage their prey, so to finish them off, a soldier just allows himself to be swallowed, then shoots apart the soft stomach lining, causing fatal internal bleeding."
"I see... ingenious..."
"Yes, we put a lot of thought into it."
"I wonder... you have many of these submission rifles left?"
"One or two, but I fear they might not be enough to save us, should the enemy come around."
"Can you do me a favour? Upload the weapon schematics to a computer with a Class XVI personal armor terminal."
"Sure, but why?" questioned the leader, obviously unaware of the abilities of Samus' suit.
"It's time for an update."

Samus stood in the data transfer unit, and felt the transfer cables latch into the data ports of the suit.
"New weapon types: Federation Plasma, neurotoxin antidote missiles - Weapon type 'Concussion grenades' incompatible.
Samus smiled, and then confirmed the delete of the 'Federation Plasma' weapon data. It was weaker than her Chozo made plasma beam.
She tested the antidote missile out. The missile had a needle sharp tip, with a small syringe on the end. The explosion would push the syringe plunger down, injecting the antidote into the target. Now she stood a fighting chance against the stompers.

"What else is going on?" Samus asked the leader.
"What do you mean?" answered the leader, genuinely confused by her question "Surely there must be some motivation for the pirates to arrive in such numbers... any idea what?"
"Well...they are focusing on the mines... so they either came for the bizarre ruins we uncovered or for substance 213..."
"Substance 213? What's that?" "Search for it in the databanks."
Samus walked over to the console.
"Display entry for Substance 213." Said Samus in a clear voice.
The entry that popped up shocked Samus deeply, a blue glow highlighting the expression on her face. Substance 213.

It was phazon.
Author's Note: Yeah, I know. Talky-Talky talk. Still, I put some action in, so you can't complain :P I'd like to thank my new beta-reader "bonerbaby" and I'll see you soon!