Disclaimer: I do not own Metroid, but all original characters are mine.

It buzzed in her pocket a few times before Colleen answered the intercell. She was walking through the mall, Amber at her side, when she flipped open the top and answered it in the usual monotone.

"Colleen answering," She said, shifting one bag of her purchases. A vaguely familiar voice replied, though she could not quite identify it yet.

"Hey Ms. Aran," A slightly anxious voice tittered. Colleen's brow involuntarily furrowed at the sound of her maiden name. "Remember me?"

"No." He laughed, and it was definitely a man.

"You sound like you cleaned up your act," He commented. "Last time we spoke, you were still getting high off every illegal drug in the galaxy. But married, now? Eurynache, wasn't that the name of that Dick guy or something."

"Rick," She corrected, taking a worried glance over at her niece, hoping she didn't hear his voice leak through the phone. She seemed unaffected as she stopped to pause and stare through a store window. Amber did not know the secrets of her aunt and uncle's rebellious youth. "Who is this?"

"You once gave me a contact," He told her. "Names are meaningless. I no longer go by my old name, and my new name is one you would not recognize."

"I gave lots of contacts to lots of people," Colleen said, a little exasperated by this guessing game. "Can you at least tell me what your old name was?" He laughed again.

"What kind of fool do you take me for?" He asked her. "You never know when someone is listening in. Besides, I never say it anymore. It brings up too many bad memories."

"Whom did I put you in contact with then, and for what job?" Colleen asked.

"His name was Eric, and it was the last mission he ever preformed before he betrayed us." Colleen's breath caught and her heart raced.

"I-impossible," Colleen stuttered. Amber seemed to notice the worried tone and expression of Colleen.

"What's wrong?" She whispered. Colleen shook her head.

"I need to take this call outside, sweetie," She dug through her purse for a few slips of currency and handed them to the confused teenager before walking briskly out of the mall. "What kind of joke is this?"

"None at all," He said. "I want you, though, to help me."

"With what?"

"With carrying on your brother's forgotten duty."

"No."

"Excuse me?" His voice turned cold and icy.

"I said no. I am out of the business. Have been for a long time. I don't want into any mess. I have a family now." There was a pause at the other end. "Listen, I know you won't take no for an answer, but you once had a family, and you lost them. Not to bad people, not to disease…just an idiot who had a little too much to drink. Remember how that felt?"

"How do you know?"

"Eric told me. In one of his letters," She revealed to him. "I don't want to lose my family after I worked so hard to bring it together. Perhaps, when I was younger and stupider I would have agreed."

"Are you calling Eric stupid?"

"I always did consider him an utter moron, even if he was counted as the smarter one in the family."

"Well, your intentions are noble, and I understand them completely. That's the only reason I'm letting you go. Most would use it to their advantage, but I'll be lenient."

"Thank you." There was a click and the dial tone emitted. She shut the phone and sighed. She gave him the contact for that job, and she was the closest person to the now deceased man. It would mean, under the circumstances she once abided by, that she would have to carry on the duties.

The thought scared her.

The mission was dangerous.

The simple idea of it chilled her blood.

If only Samus and Rista knew.

----

"Daz Meyers," The young man stuck out his hand in a friendly manner. The older, stiffer gentleman in front of him accepted it and shook with passively. "Mr. Daemora, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by our projects here."

"That will be for me to decide," He spoke in a deep, heavily accented voice. The roughly humanoid man shuffled forward to peer through the glass windows that looked in on the testing facilities. "I have heard great things about your plant. Let's see if it lives up to the hype."

"People don't like to let go to loved ones," Daz said, joining him as a small door in the opposite room slid open. "That's what we're here for. Bringing them back, for every species from Rchnock to Homo-sapiens to Juma-betora." His guest nodded. His eyes were transfixed on the door as a younger, female member of his species stepped through. Her skin was dark and unblemished, her eyes pale and intelligent. She smiled at the two men in the window and waved.

"Mehei," He breathed as the girl waltzed to them. "My wife shall love her birthday present."

"Not a single scar on your daughter remains. She is precisely how you remembered her before the tragic illness took her life," Daz said. Another door opened, this time connecting the two rooms. Daz swept his hand forward. "Go. See her." The man did not need to be told twice. Daz smiled at the heartwarming reunion before signaling an attendant on the security camera.

When the woman came in, Daz jerked his head towards the pair, and she instantly knew her duties. He left them without another word.

For a man so young, Daz was surprisingly successful. He was the youngest man involved with the Reincarnation project, or at least at it's head. Employees stopped respectfully in the corridors as he passed. Only one of them stopped him.

"Sire Meyers," He said, choosing the company nickname for him. "A few complications have arisen in PN-3083." Daz sighed and paused.

"Always complications with that one," He mumbled to himself. "What's wrong this time."

"Apparently, the customer has shifted," He briefed his boss. "You see, although it was paid in full already, the man has disappeared, and his employers are willing to take his order. In fact, they're offering extra to attain it. There is a will for the man that states that we hand it over to these people, whoever they are, should anything happen to him."

"I knew we shouldn't have taken the case. It's done nothing but cause headaches," Daz groaned. "But what's the problem here. Just change the records to match the new receivers."

"That's not the problem. They put a date on it. They want it by the end of next month." Daz swore violently under his breath.

"I don't know who these people are, but they have to understand, we've never taken on a project like this before. It's new. We need time to work out the bugs."

"We explained that, sir," The man told him. "There was a slight language barrier, but overall, they said that as long as the appearance was right and the voice and personality were matched, that any bugs with the munitions could be overlooked."

"I see. Well, continue on at a fast pace. There's a large sum of money at sake, and we always please our customers."

Author's Note: You know the drill. You review, I update. I lost electricity for the last week, hence the delay, but I will update sooner this time. Remember, I love it when you guys guess. It really amuses me, to tell the truth. Well, Lemurian-Girl, signing off.