I have been sincerely attempting to upload this chapter for some time now and have been delayed by a variety of circumstances. Its arrival on this date is pure coincidence, but nonetheless I wish you all a very merry Christmas. Hopefully you all have family you would rather spend time with than read this, but none the less...

Samus' suit's powers and associated abilities are actually based more on the original two Metroid games than any of the more recent ones (which I have not played to a great extent). Aesthetically, her suit looks like the basic Power Suit, with a bit of the Varia Suit thrown in.

I'm somewhat surprised that anyone actually cares about the blanking of swearwords; most people that I know read over them as if they were not there (it doesn't help when strips out all my asterisks or dashes, however). If it really means that much to you, however, I will alter this in future chapters, providing that I remember. Meanwhile, thank you for the insinuation that there is tension to be detracted from.

Thank you for dropping by, anonymous. Now, without further ado, the chapter, which is a rather important one in terms of shaping the course of the story.

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Chapter 14: Dissolution

Before he became aware of anything else, he was aware of the change in temperature. He had been encased in a chilling liquid that lapped at his skin, but then he no longer felt the cold from it. Soon after, he realized that the liquid was draining down, and the glass covering that bound him was pulling away.

A blast of heat came next, evaporating the liquid over his body and sucking it back into the machine. Most definitely, they were opening him again. It would probably be best to continue to pretend to be dead, wait until whoever this was got into close range. Weak as he was, he didn't want to take an energy attack. If they got into his striking range, however...

Opening his eyes a mere fraction, Tal looked into the room, prepared to face any attack. He didn't expect his clothes to hit him in the face. Reflexively catching them before they hit the ground, he pulled himself to his feet by the edge of the container that had held him.

He looked up just in time to see Samus fire rapidly into the corridor, dropping three unarmored thugs. She glanced over her shoulder at him briefly, then turned back, training both her guns toward the door. A slight smirk appearing on his face, Tal stepped from his former prison.

"What's going on?" he asked, pulling on the dark pants. She'd managed to find his modified clothes, too. Good... he'd probably need his exoskeleton soon.

"Some screwy government types are after you, and they're willing to fight through the station to get you. From what I can tell, the bounty hunters in the station are scattered around and have a lot of different motives. Some are fighting them, some want to give them what they want, others are randomly looting."

"Great," Tal muttered, pulling on his shirt. "If they wanted to be any more encouraging I guess they could just shoot me."

"How'd you let yourself get captured, by the way?"

"She caught me off guard. Trust me, that poison won't work again." Even as he finished his sentence, Tal stepped beside her, his body encased in exo-skeleton armor. Both of his arms had again become those wickedly sharp claws, though his wings were retracted.

"Good. I found out a few things about our situation, but I think it's more important to get out of here first."

"Any particular plan?" Tal asked as both of them broke into a run down the corridor. There were periodical bodies along the corridor; Tal was certain they were Samus' work. In any case, it allowed them to run at top speed.

"Kill anything that attacks us, basically. We're going to my ship."

"Good enough."

Pulling in front, Samus led them through the station toward the airlock. She noticed, however, that Tal decreased his speed to let her do this. Good. Now she didn't have to worry about slowing down for him. They made significant progress, at least for a journey on foot. Using the station's transportation system would be both dangerous and stupid.

As they darted around a corner, Samus first noticed the men in their way. They all wore light body armor, with Galactic Council logos on the front. All of them were facing the opposite direction in the corridor, guns at ready, as if prepared to fire on some other enemy. Stopping herself in an instant Samus caught Tal before he could move any further and jerked him back around the corner.

"Are they in our way?" Tal asked softly. Samus nodded. "Should we just take them out?"

"Basically that, yeah."

"Alright. However, things would probably go much faster if you got a chance to snipe..." Tal's eyes wandered down the passage and abruptly Samus understood what he meant. Not bad. Nodding with a slight smile, the bounty hunter vanished into the corridors.

Retracting his armor, Tal calmly stepped around the corner and began walking forward. Hearing him, the soldiers whirled about in a panic, guns aiming at him. Shots were wildly fired, but merely burnt holes in walls far from Tal. Before they fired another volley, the group appeared to recognize him.

"It's the specimen!" a commander shouted. "Capture it!"

Immediately they began to fire, shots carrying the power to stun, not lethal force. Before any of them could bring their weapons to bear, Tal brought his exoskeleton out with lightning speed. By the time they fired, their shots merely battered into him. The energy dissipated against his armor, and no kinetic force carried with it. As a result, Tal merely stood in the corridor, their fire bouncing harmlessly off him.

The next moment Samus burst through a door, behind the soldiers. Both her guns were flaring before they had any idea she was there. A few turned in time to catch shots in the chest. Their armor wasn't quite strong enough to match her higher caliber plasma cannon, and all of the soldiers were down in a few seconds. Not really fearing for Tal's safety, Samus let herself fire without restraint. As a result, some of her bolts hit him, though he just braced himself against the impact.

Flipping to her feet, Samus continued down the corridor. Tal was beside her almost instantly.

"Don't hit me too often," Tal advised. "My armor has its limits against weapons as strong as yours."

"Fine."

They had no time to speak more, as the next instant more soldiers rushed down the corridor toward them. Both reacted instantly, attacking. Though most of them were mowed down by Samus' fire, those that remained were annihilated by Tal. From the corner of her eye, Samus noticed that his claws had little trouble with their body armor.

Idly Samus found herself wondering why the Galactic Council bothered. They should know that these soldiers didn't stand a chance against hardened bounty hunters. There were far more powerful human units in the Galactic armies, she knew, and plenty of robotic fighters as well. Why use these?

As they came into a larger room, Samus abruptly put a few things together. None of them had really caught her attention, but each had been filed away. Now she got an answer to her question. All of these soldiers were no more than a decoy, a way of lulling the bounty hunters into a false sense of security. Their true goal was capturing Tal, and they could do that in far less obvious ways.

Of course, the group of bounty hunters wearing Galactic Council insignias had a good bit to do with her sudden revelation. She and Tal realized something was wrong at the same instant and backpedaled as fast as they possibly could. None of the bounty hunters seemed to be watching for them in particular, so they managed to get around a corner before heavy fire rained down after them.

"What now?" Tal called to her. She noted with a certain degree of admiration that he hadn't lost his cool. Whatever uncertainty he had been battling before was completely gone.

"We go around," she answered tersely. "Right in this corridor, then-" she broke off abruptly with a slight groan.

"What?" Tal asked, rapidly taking a corner, briefly running along a wall and then returning to the floor.

Turning the same corner, Samus clapped a proximity mine on the edge of the wall and then followed before continuing to speak.

"We have to go through someplace bad," she answered, mentally cursing. If there was such a thing as fate, it was probably laughing at her. They'd have to go through the area filled with completely lethal acid. She didn't like it, but it was the fastest way. Anything else would require that they go pretty far around.

They reached the doors to the lab turned death chamber soon, but not quickly enough. A massive set of blast doors slammed down over the computerized door, locking away the terminal that opened it. Then they'd gotten to the computer system pretty quickly. Most likely they had split up and were covering all possible exits to trap them against the blast door. If they didn't just nuke the entire area. Damn. She was dealing with bounty hunters now, not just soldiers.

"I can get through the door," Tal told her. "Can you hold them off?"

"Consider it done," Samus answered. She dropped to a knee and began charging both her weapons. They had been followed pretty closely, and hadn't gained too much on their pursuers. The instant she heard noises in the corridor she let loose a volley of fire.

Realizing she was prepared for them, the bounty hunters held back, finding cover around corners and trying to snipe at her. Flipping to heat vision, Samus watched their energy sources and opened fire the instant they moved around the corner. She didn't really managed to hit any of them, but they were effectively bottled up in the corridor.

Behind her and to the left, Samus could barely see Tal standing some distance from the door. The bounty hunters had just gotten there when he pulled back his head and then spat. Something massive and clear shot from his mouth, striking the blast door and splattering.

Moments later, the entire door caved away, crumbling as it was eaten apart. Acid? Samus' eyebrows moved up slightly. So Tal could spit acid now? Firing two rockets, she covered the corridor in explosions then whirled to follow Tal through the destroyed door. As they ran Tal wiped his mouth and spat to the side, and his saliva ate through the floor.

"Stay out of the pools," Samus advised as they raced into the room. "They'll kill you." Tal merely nodded in response.

Just as they were midway across the chamber, the opposite door opened, revealing another group of bounty hunters. Mentally groaning, Samus leaned back and activated her jet packs, sending her flying back across the chamber. She landed on the opposite side, behind some laboratory equipment and moments later Tal slid in beside her.

Already fire blasted into the large object at their backs, and they both knew it would pretty soon be destroyed. Both divisions of bounty hunters were there now, converging in the room. Setting her teeth, Samus glanced briefly at Tal.

"This might be it," she said grimly.

"Might?"

"I don't intend it to be."

"Good," he smiled briefly, and then his exoskeleton closed over his face. "If one of us makes it, they'll make sure the people who did all this are taken down permanently, right?"

"Right."

Abruptly both of them broke away from cover, streaking in opposite directions and firing. Shots flared from Samus' guns in rapid succession, flares of energy broke from Tal's claws. The sheer power of the attack momentarily stopped the bounty hunters in general, but they quickly recovered then spread out.

Rolling and moving under a series of shots in her direction, Samus responded in kind. Two of the bounty hunters were blown backward, but she knew they'd survive the attack. Three others, meanwhile, leapt to the side and fired a great deal more. Coming out of her roll, Samus leapt into the air. Combining the maneuver with a boost from her jet pack, she rocketed into the rafters of the ceiling.

Taking cover behind a large beam, Samus fired below. Amid her plasma fire she launched a rocket, which created enough smoke for her to slip away from her position. As she found a new location in the shadows, she noticed the rafter where she had been was now no more than a pile of twisted metal.

While the others glanced about for her, she calmly charged up a shot. There was a bounty hunter down below, one apparently beginning to use heat sensing vision. Not good. The instant Samus had a full powered shot ready, she focused on the back of his head and fired. Such a focused shot ripped through his already damaged armor, immediately dropping the bounty hunter.

Another of her opponents threw something toward the metal girders, and Samus wisely leapt away from them. She was dropping toward the ground, firing, when a massive burst of electricity blazed over all the metal in the ceiling. On the ground, she dodged several bolts and then noticed a grappling hook streaking toward her head.

Catching it inches from her visor, Samus jerked it hard, pulling its owner from his feet. After firing a rocket in his direction, Samus switched to pulse cannons and sent a barrage of minor fire over the amassed bounty hunters. It managed to throw off their aim enough that only a few weak shots struck her.

Flipping back and behind cover, Samus realized her true plight. The danger was not in the battle itself, though these bounty hunters were certainly dangerous, but that she would run out of resources before her opponents did. As long as she was armed, she was a match for all of them, but if she ran dry...

Guessing that someone would have thrown a grenade at her, Samus broke away from the lab table that had protected her from fire. It exploded in a massive fireball; she was already turning and firing. While under cover, she had used her time to charge up a fully powered shot, and now that blast roared from the explosion into the fray.

One bounty hunter was caught and annihilated by the blast, but that wasn't enough. Samus dodged back, but still took a heavy shot to the shoulder that sent her skidding across the floor. Even as she rolled up the side of the wall, Samus considered her situation. Many of the bounty hunters were dead, but she was running a bit low. Anything could happen.

Across the chamber, the bounty hunters continued to fire from their cover in the corridor. They'd quickly learned that moving out into the room was a request to be annihilated. Those that had tried had been ripped apart in the shifting shadows. Realizing their opponent was primarily a close fighter, they stayed bunched as a group, keeping him on the run.

Smirking, one of the bounty hunters reloaded her gun and glanced through the room again. It was a matter of finding where he was hiding and blowing it away. By this point he was getting tired and soon he would be too slow to dodge any longer. This was really more of a game of cat and mouse than an actual battle.

Behind her a scream broke into her thoughts. Whirling, she took in the scene in an instant. A massive hole had been ripped in the wall, apparently from within. Around it the bounty hunters at her back lay dead, armor ripped through. She had an instant in which she looked at an monstrous exoskeleton-clad face before it rushed at her and she fired.

Her gun arm was batted to the side as it went off, and the blast harmlessly struck the ceiling. Before she could react again she felt a claw rip through the front of her arm. Her legs were swept out from under her, and then a claw bit into her other arm, slamming her to the ground. With both of her gun arms offline, she was helpless and quickly finished.

Though Tal's surprise attack had taken out many of the bounty hunters, those near the front and with the quickest reflexes had escaped into the room. They were now hovering with jet packs, shooting in his direction, and a few were going to join the fight against Samus. Tal had intended to escape through the corridor... but that was no longer an option.

Leaping into the chamber, Tal activated his wings in midair. They bore him higher up, over several missiles. Ramming a bounty hunter in midair, Tal slammed him into a nearby wall, then leapt off the wall. His action proved wise, as several laser beams intended for him now cut through the bounty hunter on the wall.

Suspended in midair, Tal hammered an elbow into the back of a bounty hunter's head. This momentarily threw the unfortunate man's jet pack off balance, and he crashed below into an acidic pool. The fatality was instant. Abruptly Tal realized that two people at one edge of the pool were charging cannons for a maximum power shot... not at him, but at Samus. In horror he realized that they intended to take out her entire half of the room, both her and the other bounty hunters.

His momentary distraction was too long. Diving from above, another bounty hunter got him in a viselike grip and sent him hurtling down. Unable to use his wings, Tal found himself falling directly for the acid. On the way down he grabbed the gun arms of both of the charging bounty hunters, pulling them down with him.

For a moment time seemed to slow, and he saw Samus across the room. She had been entirely focused on her own fight, but now she saw what was happening. In an instant she understood the bounty hunter's kamikaze attack, and what the other had intended to do. Before Tal struck the liquid's surface, he smiled slightly; a slow, sad smile.

Then Tal fell through the acid, the three bounty hunters dragged in with him. Dodging a missile, Samus burst across the room, wasting jet fuel but not caring. She dropped beside the pool of acid, which was still rippling from its additional context. On her knees, Samus found herself watching the water, beyond all reason. For some reason, the other bounty hunters hadn't managed to react to her movements yet and weren't attacking.

Bones briefly came to the surface of the acid and were quickly dissolved. Samus' eyes grew slightly moist, despite her best efforts. He was dead. That sad smile would haunt her for years, she was certain of it. Abruptly she knew that there was no way she would die in this fight, no way her life would end on the same day. She had made a promise, if an impromptu one, and she would keep it.

Blinking the tears out of her eyes, Samus abruptly realized that something had changed. She almost never cried, not for years. Even at her most afraid, at some of her saddest moments, she hadn't cried. Yet now she was. And now, she realized that it was because she had actually cared about him. Truly, honestly cared as she hadn't ever let herself do before.

Why could she only recognize this now? While he had been alive it was far too much to utter the word love, to let such a thing cross her mind. Now that such knowledge was worthless, now that he was gone, now she could admit it to herself. Again and again Samus cursed herself for whatever made it come to be. Why?

If he'd stayed alive, she would have told him. It didn't matter if he wasn't completely human, or even if he wasn't human at all. She knew what human was. These bureaucrats, these scientists, these bounty hunters... they were human and she wanted no part in it.

Both of Samus' fists tightened at the same instant her eyes did. The past could only consume you. All one could do for a memory was honor it in the present. Rising to her feet, Samus turned to the others with bitter, tearless eyes.

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Grief drives some men mad. Some ignore it, some work through it, some focus upon it. Others will never grieve, suffering in their own private way. Many times this process takes years, though for some it can pass very quickly.

Almost every time, sorrow hinders the mourner. They become sluggish, unresponsive, handicapped by their emotions. Once they could attack once more, these were the tendencies that the bounty hunters were counting upon.

Not so with Samus. When she rose, her spirit had already hardened. It had crystallized, becoming unbreakable and sharp. Her shots were fired with a vicious precision, her movements fueled by carefully channeled emotions. Never before had the bounty hunters faced anything like what Samus had become.

Never again would they face anything at all.