Chapter 13
Lana entered the geo-dome, an artificial nature reserve set at the top of the space station. The HA-X had left a clear trail toward the facility and she now walked carefully through the huge open door. An artificial wind blew from between the dead trees in the nature dome creating eerie moans that one might find in a cemetery on a breezy fall night. Stars twinkled above in the dark dome, flashing on and then off like a string of crazed Christmas lights. Since the bounty hunters last visit, the ground had thawed out and the crunch of dry dead leaves crackled from beneath her feet. Off in the distant, Lana could here the roaring sound of the once frozen waterfall. She imagined the water falling and pounding relentlessly on the cliff wall before dropping into the basin below, sending up a mist of water that left a layer of dew on its nearby surroundings.
Lana followed the HA-X's trail through the dead forest, tracking him by the deep footprints his armor left in his wake along the muddy path. The small trail the HA-X left was a maze of twists and turns and before long she found herself at a dead-end and looking out into the emptiness of space. She could make out chunks of trash and debris floating around the station and far below she could see the docking station where Adam had dropped her off, a moment that seemed to be far in the past.
A stick snapped behind her and she turned with a jolt but was greeted by nothing but the eerie breeze and the darkness of the path she had taken. An evil laugh echoed around her and she immediately armed her cannon, preparing for the appearance of the HA-X. The only appearance she received though was a few dead leaves swooping by on the breeze, dancing around each other as they floated by. Lana walked the length of the domed wall, heading toward the direction that the roaring water was coming from; she was slightly comforted with a wall on one side, she wouldn't have to worry about anything attacking her from there. Another snap, this time higher in the trees caught Lana's attention and she instinctively shot in the direction of the sound.
"Come on out!" Lana yelled toward the tops of the trees, scanning the area around her too find nothing but bark amongst the tree limbs. She returned to her normal visor and as she turned to continue walking the wall, a missile from the side blasted toward her. She reacted to late and was hit in the leg by the blast; she screamed in surprise and fell to one knee, firing aimlessly toward the direction from which the missile came. Lana returned to her feet and quickly made her way toward the river, eyeing the surrounding trees suspiciously, looking for any sign that the perpetrator was still around. She could feel someone's eyes on her as she crept along the soggy ground and she soon found herself backed into a clearing running along side the riverbank, the waterfall roaring ever louder behind her. Lana could just make out the hazy mist that floated from the waterfall through the darkened trees. Yes the darkened trees where now she noticed a figure crouched, watching her every move, sitting silently and motionless in the tree. She fired a shot again and this time the watcher leapt from its perch on the tree branch and landed in the lighted clearing, his armored boots sinking slightly into the ground, arm cannon poised for action.
"It's about time you found me. I was right under your nose the entire time Lana", the HA-X said charging his cannon.
"Well if you would have came out and fought like the man your imitating and not the low level slimy scumbag that you really are, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. Instead I would have avenged the death of someone close to me, reveling in my victory."
"Awfully confident aren't we?" The HA-X asked in reply, "Especially since the SA-X isn't even dead."
"What!" She yelled, "Where is she? Tell me or I'll beat the ever living hell out of you!"
"My lassie, you sure are a feisty one; reminds me so much of your mother, but fear not Lana, you shall not have to beat anything out of me because I'm not gonna touch you. I'll leave that to the SA-X", Houston dropped his arm cannon and backed up, allowing Lana to see for the first time the SA-X sitting up in another tree awaiting her introduction.
The SA-X somersaulted down from the tree and landed in the dead grass field, one knee in the grass, her free arm supporting her on the raised knee. Samus' arm cannon sat angled partially up from her thigh and aimed slightly higher then Lana's head; her own head looking down at the ground. Samus raised her head slowly, bringing her green visor up into view, Samus' face was barely visible behind the green visor, but Lana could see no emotion in its eyes. "Why are you doing this Samus?" Lana asked but received no response from her former partner; she only stared at Lana before slowly rising to her feet.
As if under someone else's control, the SA-X began firing her power beam at Lana who easily dodged out of the way and returned warning shots of her own, "I don't want to fight you Samus. Why?" The SA-X continued ignoring the bounty hunter's comments and fired more shots at her. Lana flipped up into a nearby tree and was thrown back to the ground as the tree branch splintered from the missile the SA-X had dispatched. "Samus. Do you know who I am? I'm your daughter. Why won't you listen to me?" Lana asked, rolling to her side to evade a kick from the SA-X.
"No use trying to talk to her", Houston said appearing at the edge of the clearing, "I've brainwashed her. She is nothing more then a tool for my disposal."
"Shut up," Lana said, firing a diffusion missile in Houston's direction. He nimbly dodged the ice attack and sat perched in a tree watching the battle silently. The SA-X began charging toward Lana, and Lana fired a diffusion missile into the ground right in front of her. Samus slipped on the frozen ground, sending her flailing by Lana who brought her foot around and planted it into the SA-X's chest, dropping her flat on her back. The ice cracked beneath the heavy armor and Samus gasped for air as Lana's foot connected again, this time against her throat. Samus spun around on her back, bringing her feet around and planting her hands into the ground as she forced herself up off of the ground in a break dance style move and while still on her hands she brought her foot across Lana's helmet causing Lana to stumble backwards. The SA-X flipped to her feet and readied for more action. Lana switched to her newer version of the wave beam and fired a few quick shots; the SA-X attempted to dodge them but was soon surprised to see that the weapon now homed in on her. The attack seemed to jolt the X and Lana shot a few more.
This time the SA-X brought out her sword and protected herself by intercepting the beams before they hit, the electrical charge running down the steel blade giving it a temporary purple glow before dissipating into nothing. Samus began charging at Lana again, this time the sword high above her head, ready to bring it down on Lana. With nothing to protect herself, Lana raised her arm in an attempt to defend herself, just in time as the blade clanged on the suits metallic armor, sending out a fireworks display of sparks like flint on steel. The blade slid down Lana's arm, marring the surface of the suit but doing no real damage, and right into Lana's hand. Lana grasped the sword and wrenched it from Samus' hands and flung the sword away, much to her dismay. Samus responded by bringing her arm cannon into Lana's gut and blasting her back with her own wave beam. Lana cried out in pain as the electrical current ran through her body, and soon the smell of burning hair invaded Lana's nose, and she could feel a hot sensation in her legs as the pain intensified.
The SA-X rolled back into a morph ball and planted a power bomb, staying in the form until the explosion passed; Lana had just enough time to get into her own morph ball, barely missing the dangerous explosive radius of the power bomb. When she rolled back out of the ball, the SA-X was already out firing her wave beam at Lana again; she fought the pain in her legs and somersaulted backwards toward the waterfall. Samus stayed close on her heels, speeding through the clearing toward Lana at breakneck speed. Lana turned to run and shot her grappling hook out toward a tree limb and used it to propel herself over the river where the waterfall met the water. The weight of her suit brought her down to soon and she had to recalculate her landing to land on one of the rocks in the middle of the river. Lana landed on the rock, but the slippery rock brought her feet from beneath her and she fell back into the water, which engulfed her in its torrential waters. Her mind was instantly flooded with memories of the raging river that ran through the cave on Mostok. Lana swam backwards toward the opposite bank and found the SA-X waiting for her. Samus shoved her foot into Lana's face, pushing her back into the muddy waters and though the suit held, Lana's memories started to convey a sense of fear in her.
Houston had followed the fight and was now sitting on one of the boulders protruding from the cliff that the waterfall flowed from attentively watching the fight between the two bounty hunters. Lana grabbed for Samus' foot and when she was able to find it, twisted it around and sent the bounty hunter into the water with her. When the two rose from the water, they were locked in arms, each of the other trying to lift the other and had it not been for the power magnification of Lana's suit, the SA-X would have easily taken Lana. To Houston, this all looked like a great wrestling match and he sat and watched with excitement. Samus managed to unlock herself from the tangle of limbs and brought her arm cannon to Lana's face and at point blank range, Samus let a missile fly. The impact sent Samus back into the river and Lana flew back, rolled on the ground and stopped, sprawled like a dead dog in the middle of the road. Lana came to, pulling at the latches that held the helmet to her suit. The visor had been cracked, and the metal had fallen off in small minute pieces at the point of impact. Lana was blind inside the helmet; the visor displayed nothing but static and warning messages of limited oxygen.
Within the blind helmet, Lana didn't see the SA-X rise from the water and fire more missiles at her. When they exploded around her she was sent again sprawling to the ground. Lana covered her vulnerable face with her hands before trying to remove the helmet again; this time successful in her attempt. As the helmet came off, the SA-X was on top of her again, throwing punches into her gut and kicking her in the thighs. The helmet came off and fell to the ground and the burnt and bleeding face of Lana emerged into the light. The SA-X instantly stopped her attack and backed off; Houston watched alarmed that his tool was now thinking. Tears streamed from Lana's eyes mixing with her blood and flowing down into her suit, a huge gash above her right eye bled profusely. "You see what you're doing to me", Lana said weakly, pulling the armored glove from her free hand to wipe the blood from her brow. "Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to hurt me? Don't you remember what you said in the cave? Don't you remember what made you different from that monster right there"; Lana yelled pointing toward Houston who was becoming a little uneasy.
"Lana...", Samus started, "Lana...I can't help what I am."
"Bullshit! You can't accept the fact that you're two beings in one. You don't want to fight who's right anymore and you know it. That's your problem. You better come to terms with that or you are going to end up killing me, your daughter", Lana said wiping even more tears from her eyes.
"You're not MY daughter."
"Yes I am", Lana cried walking over to Samus. Samus began backing up slowly but Lana cornered her by the river and wrapped her arms around her. "Pull yourself together mom...please," Lana pleaded looking through the visor into the SA-X's eyes, catching a quick glimpse at a glimmer beginning in the corner of one eye. Samus dropped to her knees wrapping her arms around Lana.
"What have I done," Samus said, a muffled voice came from behind the helmet.
"Enough!" Houston said, jumping down from his perch on the cliff and breaking the two up, slinging Lana away from the SA-X and into a tree. Lana crumpled into a heap, exhausted from the battle. Houston turned to the SA-X and punched her in the helmet. "Finish her damn it. Go ON!" He yelled at the SA-X.
Samus slowly raised her arm cannon to Lana who was sitting with her back against the tree, her face a twisted torment of pain, fear, and anguish as she fought to get up. "I'm sorry Lana", Samus said raising her arm cannon and aiming toward Lana; Houston crossed his arms in approval awaiting the blast from the arm cannon. Tears ran down Lana's cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the end. There was a blast and small chunks of rock hit Lana in the face; when she opened her eyes, Houston lay on the ground in shock.
"What the hell!?" Houston screamed arching his back in pain.
"I'm not going to hurt the ones I love anymore", Samus said walking over to Houston and kicking him, his body flipped over on the ground. Houston turned over and fired a shot from his arm cannon; the wave beam went through Samus' suit and she yelped at the shock. Houston rose to his feet and fired more shots at the SA-X; unfortunately, the SA-X was in a weakened state and had trouble dodging the oncoming attack. Samus took heavy damage from the attack and stay crouched low to the ground to help keep her balance.
"So you think you can just change sides again? You miserable piece of trash, you call yourself an X parasite? I think you need to be put out of your misery", Houston said arming his cannon for a missile. Samus looked up at him and flung her left arm out, sending out her grappling beam. The beam latched onto Houston's armor and she yanked him towards her. The power suits crashed together with a sickening thud, but Samus now had the upper hand. The SA-X had managed to interlock her arms and legs around Houston who struggled to free himself from her grip.
"LANA!" Samus yelled toward the tree. "Shoot him! NOW!"
Lana, now leaning on the tree, brought her arm cannon up and tried steadying it with her free arm but her aim was shaky as her arm quivered. "I can't. I'll end up hitting you to."
"Just do it Lana."
"LET ME GO YOU WHORE!" Houston squirmed more viciously now and Samus' grip started to weaken on the more powerful HA-X.
"Damn it Lana, just do it!" Samus tried to tighten her grip back up and managed to successfully lock her arms again, "I don't know how much longer I can hold him."
"No, I can't do this. Do you realize what you're asking me to do?" Lana asked dropping her arm cannon.
"Lana", The SA-X said, all of Samus' emotion flowing vibrantly in her voice, "You told me to come to terms with myself. I can't change what I am, but I can change who I am. I'm your mother and I realize this is hard but for the sake of the galaxy, this must be done."
Lana gazed at the struggling pair in front of her, her mother and her father, together in the most ironic way possible. She sobbed helplessly now, fighting the voices in her head telling her what she needed to do and what she didn't want to do. She raised her head and looked at Samus and silently lipped, "I love you."
Though Lana couldn't see behind Samus' visor, she knew that the gesture had been returned. A glow appeared at the end of Lana's arm cannon and with all her will, Lana fired the weapon. The grass before Lana caught fire as the fully charged plasma beam ripped across the forest.