Given the content of this chapter, I would hope at least one person has something to say. Given that this chapter has to do with Tal...


Chapter 22: Intolerable Cruelty

Breaking down the corridor at top speed, Samus continued scanning through the map she had downloaded in the bio suit. Good, there was a normal floor one level up that was not connected to any station support or life-critical system. Blasting the ceiling at full power, Samus created a hole through which she could pull herself. One level higher.

Her only goal now was to find the head of the monster that was Project Darklight and kill it; Mr. Divel and anyone else who fit the description. She had discovered that the most important offices were on the top floor, specifically in a spire from the top of the station. If she could reach those offices before everyone on the station was aware of her presence she might be able to end all of this now.

Sensing something at the opposite end of the floor, Samus jerked to the left. Sharp spines whistled through the air, embedding themselves several inches in the metal wall before her. Turning away from the wall while ducking, Samus fired several shots vaguely in the direction the spines had come from.

Another of the exoskeletons, as she now categorized all the TA line and the pathetic creatures that had preceded it. There had been quite a few since they started coming, but they varied in strength considerably. Most of them were pretty weak, at least compared to what she could have faced, most were broken and insane, but a few were smart and tough. This one was flipping around on the opposite end of the corridor, dodging all of her shots gracefully. He was pretty fast.

But also pretty stupid. Samus' other hand became fully charged, and she swiftly brought it to bear and fired one massive shot of plasma. It tore through the thin corridor, sweeping right through the exoskeleton in the middle of a flip and ravaging the wall behind. That probably wasn't any good for the station, but at this point she was beyond caring.

Her next point of movement was a set of emergency stairs. Assuming the map was accurate, and so far it had been, there was another thin corridor that branched apart, a massive maintenance hallway and then the stairs. They'd let her skip up six levels, which would put her just two levels from the very top of the station. Almost there.

Taking the corner at full speed, Samus briefly ran on the wall out of necessity and then continued on. Ignore the first two branches, then take the left at the T... then just the large hallway. Hopefully there wouldn't be any sort of resistence force centered in the hallway, as seemed logical. She really couldn't afford to be slowed down by anything at this point. Turning a corner, guns ready to fire, Samus entered the chamber and skidded to a halt, jaw dropping...

He stood on the opposite end of the hallway, framed by the door to the stairs. The central air conditioning system nearby was blowing at full power, whipping his light shirt and dark pants. Deep black hair shifted just slightly as he looked up at her abruptly.

Could... could it really be him? Samus' guns lowered, though she didn't stop being alert. Tal... Seeing him she realized how much she had really missed him, how much she had wanted him to be alive. It brought back the pain in her heart that had become numb... but at the moment that was what she wanted.

"Is that really you, Samus?" he asked, incredulous. "I... I didn't think you survived either!"

"What about you?" she asked, as both began to walk toward each other, not quite believing. "You were the one falling into deadly acid."

"It didn't effect me," he answered, eyes focused completely on hers. "Of course, I found that out too late. Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Around. Aiming to kill the people responsible for all this."

"It's so good to see you again," Tal told her, smile spreading across his face. They finally reached each other and remained staring at the other, motionless. For a long time neither of them stirred in the slightest, and then Tal moved forward and took her in his arms-

The needle slid into his neck swiftly, and after a quiet pause he fell back through the air limply. Before he reached the ground Samus had already grabbed him by the shoulders. With all the strength she possessed, she smashed him into the steel floor.

"Damn you!" she yelled, smashing him into the floor until the back of his head was bloody. "Damn you!" He tried to move in an abrupt manner, and his body only twitched weakly.

"What... what did you do?" he coughed. Through the visor, he caught a glimpse of Samus' eyes... and shuddered. The anger was gone, replaced by an icy calm that was far worse. That was the sort of expression that he feared.

"A tranquilizer," she answered coldly. "It would never have worked on the real Tal, but it will be good enough for you."

"Well, shit," he muttered, eyes widening in fear. "How did you know?"

"I'm not stupid. You can't emulate someone with just physical things. You don't act like him, you don't speak like him, you don't move like him. Tal would never have done something like that. Besides," she tapped the side of her helmet, "the last time I saw Tal he registered a bright red on the Darklight Scope. You aren't even blue."

"Then I suppose you've won, haven't you?" he shot back spitefully. "Go ahead and feel good about your- augh!"

Dropping his broken finger, Samus glared down at him, eyes flashing coldly. "I don't want to hear it. I'm asking the questions from now on. How did you do this? Make yourself look this way?"

"This?" he smirked slightly, between winces from the pain. "Simple. We still had bioscans of TA1, or Tal, if you insist. We knew his genetics. From that point it was just a matter of serious surgery to make me into an exact double. Not hard at all. All they needed was one of the TA models instead of the insane failed experiments."

"But why? Why did you choose to do something like this?"

"What does that have to do with anything? Do you think I'll just answer any questions you want?"

The next moment another of his fingers snapped, and he gasped in pain. Samus' gaze emotionlessly swept down on him. "Yes. If you don't talk I'll think of something a lot more painful than breaking your fingers."

"Fine. The plan was to trick you for a short while; I didn't really think I could fool you completely. But if I could get you within range, or better yet, out of your armor, a claw through your heart and it would all be over. Plus, I figured there'd be some shock value seeing Tal alive, and you wouldn't be operating at your best. Especially if I broke the news that he was as dead as dead can be just before I struck."

"I see," Samus said, almost casually. A more perceptive being might have noticed the shift in her voice... and trembled. The Tal look alike did not. "So you did that just to manipulate my emotions, eh? Make me relieved and then rip that away to get a moment to strike? Use the dead for your own purposes?"

"Basically, yeah. Good plan, but-" Samus' hand came down on his chest with a several sickening snaps and a crunch. The partial alien on the ground let out an agonizing scream that continued for some time, and then he was left gasping in pain on the ground. Above him, Samus' eyes were invisible inside her visor.

"I can't hurt you as much as you hurt me," Samus told him when he was in little enough pain to hear her, "but I can try."

"Please... please don't..."

"Who did this to you? Who made you what you are?"

"The... the scientists," he wheezed, a bit of blood trickling from his mouth.

"Scientists led by whom?"

"Politician. Don't know who."

"If you lie to me I will make sure you take hours to die," Samus snapped.

"Mr. Divel!" he gasped immediately.

"Good. Now, why'd they attack the Bounty Hunter HQ?"

"It... it was because of Station Sapphire. Word got out. Questions were asked." The monster gurgled for a moment, then struggled to continue. "People in high places got suspicious. Then when word got around that the HQ had some sort of specimen, it just got worse. They attacked the HQ to cover their tracks. He's mad, I tell you," the man on the ground suddenly became more animated, eyes pleading. Weakly his hands tried to grasp at her arms, to pull himself closer.

"Who?"

"Mr. Divel! He'll do anything to get what he wants! All of this... all of this has been by his hands. After Tal got away, he was willing to work off incomplete data and genetic material to make more super soldiers. Hundreds of us died before he got it right."

"Who is 'us?'"

"Criminals at first. When he got desperate he would take anyone he could find. Now he's going to slaughter everyone who's heard of the Darklight Project. If he can stall everything long enough to begin his production line, he'll have a small army within a few weeks. With enough of us, nothing will be able to stop him."

"That's what I plan to do."

"Please, kill him!" the broken creature begged, voice rising even though blood began to flow more freely from it. "For what he did to Tal even though you don't care about me! There are four laboratories on this station... if all of them and Mr. Divel are destroyed, the Darklight project will be ended permanently! Everyone on this station is going to die... but Mr. Divel is going to get away! You have to kill him... have to..." his words cut off in a series of bloody coughs.

For a single moment Samus was looking down at him. That moment seemed to hold eternity within it, and she felt as though she was there for ever so long. Her eyes, which had been cold, softened just slightly mercifully.

"Thanks," she whispered. "Rest in peace." The plasma bolt from her arm ended his life instantly and painlessly. Rising to her feet, Samus ground a hand together angrily. In a strange way, all of this motivated her even more. Kill Mr. Divel, eh? That was exactly what she intended to do.

Breaking for the stairs, Samus blew away the door and leapt inside. Activating her jet packs, she literally flew around the stairs, rocketing toward the highest levels. His days were numbered. She wanted to ensure that number was around zero.

Blasting off the door to the highest level she could reach by stairs, Samus broke into the next level. She had barely gone a few feet when the station jerked violently, sending her hurtling across the room. Catching herself on the wall and tumbling with the movement, Samus managed to avoid any damage and merely fell in a heap on the floor.

Pulling herself up, Samus glanced around. That hadn't been a localized attack... it was as if something was destroying the entire station. Bad. Very bad. She needed to find out what was going on extremely quickly. Rushing through a broad corridor, Samus moved toward a computer terminal that appeared to be active.

There was a lot more of a battle going on than she'd first imagined. All the failed experiments were probably killing everything in their path. From the levels of energy and heat in the station, it appeared that there was a full-fledged battle going on. Even the corridor around her was littered with exoskeletons and bodies.

Reaching the computer and anchoring herself near it magnetically, Samus brought up a full station report. She couldn't access everything, but it was evident that the station was taking heavy damage. There appeared to be some major battleships nearby, but they were currently engaged with many other ships.

Galactic Council ships, she realized. They were fighting on opposite sides, some for the station and some against it. There were bounty hunters rushing in every direction, most on the side of the station but some sniping at whoever they could hit. On the station itself there appeared to be heavy fighting, between two sides as well.

Flipping between the security cameras still unbroken, Samus looked over the combatants. Everyone was here. Corrupt Galactic Council troops. Normal Galactic Council troops. Bounty hunters. Space pirates. Mercenaries. Aliens. Twisted monsters in exoskeletons. This was it. All of it was coming down now.

A slight smile appeared on Samus' face in anticipation. Bring it on.