A/N: Sorry it took so long to get you this chapter. I had a bit of writer's block, and life is becoming busy again. Nooo! Summer vacation! Come back to me!
alleycat1312- Yes, that chapter was a little more graphic than I usually like to write. I decided, however, that it was necessary to get my point across.
Well, on to the chapter!
On The Trail
Samus sat in her big lonely house, stroking her injured ego. How could they have bested her like that? She was sitting in front of the very mini-mart that she was trying to protect, when they robbed it under her nose. They had made a fool of her, and she would never forgive them for it.
She would get them, if she had to die trying.
After awhile, she began to forget about her personal injury and started formulating a plan to find them again. The first thing she noticed once she got online again to do some research was that the bounty had gone up to fifty-thousand GFSCs. She smiled a little. Perhaps it was in her best interest that they had escaped the first time after all.
Feeling cheered up again, Samus continued searching for hints or clues as to where they would hit next. She searched for hours, and found nothing. It became apparent that she would not be able to catch the pair of criminals without doing a little fieldwork.
The next day, she headed out to do a little investigative work. She first went to the mini-mart that the two had robbed a few nights before. She did not go in her full armor to avoid unwanted attention, but she did bring along a small blaster, just in case.
Unfortunately for her, the entire area was roped off as a crime scene. It seemed that the Galactic Federation Police were searching for clues, just like she wanted. She would have no way to find anything here.
Samus found herself back at square one. She had nothing on Mera and Jed yet. She had no idea what to do next. She sat down on the curb across from the mini-mart. The vehicle that she had been hiding behind had been moved, and there was now an open space there.
Suddenly, something caught Samus' eye. She leaned over and picked up a muddy, sealed folder. Could it have been dropped by Mera or Jed? She broke the seal and opened it.
Inside were newspaper clippings. Samus went through them and realized that there was no question they were dropped by one of the two thieves. It contained several articles done on the duo, each one carefully cut out and placed inside the folder.
One of the articles in particular interested her. It was not about Mera or Jed, but, in fact, was about a company, the Crossfire Gun Company, that had just received a large governmental grant.
Standing up and thrusting the newspaper clippings back inside the folder, and then shoving the folder inside her jacket pocket, Samus headed back home to find the location of the nearest Crossfire Gun Company.
Over the next three days, she spent all of her time near the Crossfire Gun Company, waiting for her prey to take the bait. Nothing happened. Every night, the clerk locked the doors, started the anti-theft alarm, and went home. Every day, he opened up the shop. Samus begun to think that she had gotten it all wrong.
On the fourth night, forty-five minutes before closing time, everything seemed to be going as usual. Samus, fully armored, was on the roof of the building at the moment. She had discovered that it was accessible by a fire escape behind the building.
Suddenly, a vehicle pulled up a few blocks away. Two figures got out and started slinking through the shadows towards the gun shop. Samus stiffened. Could it be Mera and Jed?
She lost track of one of the figures, but she followed the other with her eyes. The figure seemed to slow down as it neared the gun shop. Samus swallowed hard. This had to be them. But where was the other one?
Samus heard an astonished cry from behind her. She whirled around and saw Jed at the top of the fire escape. Both of them jumped into action. Samus whipped around her arm cannon and fired a few non-lethal shots at Jed. Jed whipped his blaster out from a holster on his hip and shot at Samus.
Samus evaded the shots and locked onto Jed. Her visor automatically tracked him as he turned around and started fleeing down the steps of the fire escape. Samus quickly curled into a morph ball and bounced down the steps behind him.
Thinking that the device was a large bomb rather than his pursuer, Jed jumped over the railing and landed with a crack on the pavement below. Without looking back Jed painfully got to his feet and ran down the street, heading for the vehicle Samus had seen him get out of.
Samus cursed under her breath and unfurled from her morph ball. Quickly pursuing her fleeing quarry, Samus jumped over the rail, landing much more gracefully than Jed had. She quickly ran after Jed, trying fervently to get to the vehicle before he did.
Suddenly shots were fired from behind her. She was thrown to the ground as one of the blasts connected with her suit.
"You again?" A frantic Mera wondered from behind her.
Samus could not let the two get away. Thinking quickly, Samus looked up. Still lying on her stomach, she aimed her arm cannon at the vehicle, switched it to missile mode, and fired twice.
Just as Jed approached the vehicle, it exploded in a ball of fire. "Jed!" Mera screamed as he was thrown to the ground by the blast. She jumped over Samus, who was still lying on the ground and ran to her partner, unconscious on the sidewalk with a large bloody cut on his forehead. His arms were badly burned, and his clothes were singed. Tears ran down Mera's face.
Samus took advantage of the 'touching' moment and got to her feet. She walked up to Mera, who was kneeling next to Jed and cradling his bleeding head. Samus placed her arm cannon to Mera's ear.
"Checkmate," Samus said haughtily. She was becoming very sure of herself, and she let out a sly chuckle.
"You…" Mera uttered, her voice full of hatred. She whipped out her blaster and fired a few shots point-blank at Samus' torso as she jumped to her feet.
Samus swore loudly, caught off-guard. She jumped back and checked her visor's health reading. Samus swore again when she saw that her energy tank was now down to seventeen units of energy. One more shot could take down her suit's shielding technologies, leaving her vulnerable. She couldn't risk that.
Samus whirled around and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Shots whizzed past her head dangerously, barely missing their mark.
Samus noticed a covered manhole in the middle of the street. She hated to lose her quarry once again, but it was not worth risking her life for. There would be another chance, as long as she could get out of this alive.
With her left hand, Samus pulled the cover off of the manhole and hurled it aside. Then she curled into her morph ball and rolled down the shaft. Soon, she was rolling down a sloped path and far away from her pursuer.
Mera screamed in fury as she saw the hunter roll down the hole. "Curse you and your stupid ball thing!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, picking up a stone and hurling it down the tunnel. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
Suddenly she noticed that people were watching her from their windows, afraid to come out. As if hit by a wall, Mera suddenly felt very exhausted. She had to get out of here.
She ran back to the place where Jed was lying on the sidewalk. A small pool of blood was forming around his head. She had to get him medical attention, but if she showed her face in a hospital, they would be caught. She was torn. What could she do?
In the end, she decided to load him up in the back of a stolen vehicle and sped off towards their apartment. She would have to care for his wounds herself: They couldn't risk being caught.
