Twin Parasites
By Bass GSX
Chapter Two: Make New Foes, But Keep the Old
"Samus! Samus, open the hatch!" an urgent voice yelled. The harsh sound of metal pounding metal awoke the sleeping bounty hunter.
"What is it?" she asked, annoyed at being woken up at such an hour.
"Something extremely important! Suit up, and hurry!" she recognized the voice.
"John, this better not be a-" Samus started drowsily.
"I will break this hatch and dress you myself if I must", a cold voice replaced John's previous urgent tone. This coldness frightened the blond woman and made her leap from her bed.
"Suiting up right now, John. Sorry", she replied. She checked the readouts on her HUD. Missiles fully charged, Arm Cannon primed and running, all systems active...
"Coming!" Samus yelled. She jumped into the grav-lift and soared out of the hatch, corrective boosters softening her fall. She saw the Master Chief hop off her ship, a long, tubular black thing tucked in his arm.
"And what, exactly, is that?" Samus asked, intrigued.
"You've never seen a slug-thrower, have you?" the Chief replied.
"Slug-thrower?" she said, not understanding. John sighed.
"This is an M90 Tactical Assault Shotgun. Close-range. If the shoe fits..." he told her.
"Umm...okay. Whatever", Samus responded. She checked his armament. Two small black things were tucked at his waist, as well as some roundish, green things and two funny shaped blue things. Another, more angular black thing was strapped across his back, and a silver-black hilt of some sort was hooked onto his belt.
"You have anything that uses plasma, maybe fire?" the Chief asked. Samus switched her Arm Cannon to the Plasma Beam setting.
"Plasma Beam, or the Flamethrower", she replied, waving the elongated cannon at him.
"It'll do. Save it for the bigger ones", the Spartan instructed. Samus cocked her head as they ran for a hatch.
"Bigger ones? Wait, what are we doing, anyway?" she asked him, very confused.
"There is a parasite on this planet. It's called the Flood. In its Infection form, it uses penetrator tentacles and a spinal tap in order to mutate its victim into a zombie warrior with amplified strength and a nigh-suicidal jumping tendency", the Chief explained. Samus mulled this over, then swore.
"Damnation! It's not the only parasite here", Samus growled. This time it was John's turn to tilt his head.
"What do you mean?" he asked. They burst out of a hatch and faced a canyon...filled with the bulbous, obscenely writhing Infection Forms.
"I'll...I'll tell you later..." Samus breathed.
"Cortana...is this the place you were talking about?" the Chief gasped.
"Why, no, Reclaimer. The area with the most infestation is actually quite far from this zone. Please follow my further instructions to reach that zone", Guilty Spark's ringing, metallic voice sounded over his suit's com systems. A single Infection Form turned to face the pair of armored warriors, hissed with delight, and alerted the Flood around him. Roaring with anger, the Master Chief slung the shotgun and pulled out the twin Plasma Rifles he had armed himself with. Firing short bursts from them, he kept the Flood of his back. Meanwhile, Samus tore through the Flood ranks with a rain of Power Beams, and the area in front of her was alive with the orange energy projectiles. However, there were far too many for them to handle by just the two of them.
"Fire in the hole!" the Chief yelled by instinct, hurling a frag grenade into an enterprising gang of Infection Forms headed for him. They erupted as the frag detonated, and a penetrator slapped against his shields from the explosion. Remembering his last encounter with one of the penetrators, the Spartan shuddered and kept firing. Soon, the Flood thinned out, then there were none left.
"Well, that was harrowing. Bigger ones? What did you-" Samus started, breathing heavily. She was cut short as an arm with tentacles sprouting like some disease struck her in thelower backand sent her spiraling into the air. Samus crashed hard and groaned in pain. The Master Chief backed up to cover her as three Combat Forms leaped at him. A loud bam echoed through the canyon, and a Combat Form exploded as the sheer amout of eight-gauge Magnum buckshot tore into its squishy, murderous body. The Chief's shields drained as the pair of Combat Forms he hadn't killed struck him at the same time. One charged for the finishing blow, then exploded in fire as a thick, powerful beam of red plasma nailed him. Samus gave him a thumbs-up, rising slowly. The Chief ducked a swing from the last Combat Form and rose, barrel of the shotgun right in the Combat Form's chest.
"Say cheese", he growled. A giant, foot-wide hole erupted in the Combat Form's chest. Samus and the Spartan sighed.
"What are...were these?" she asked prodding the bodies warily with her boot. John studied them.
"Elites. We'll probably fight humans and Elites, because those were the only creatures that the Flood could harness as Combat Forms...at least, in my experience", he told her. Samus shuddered as she looked at the rotted, fleshy body. The pair heard a strange half-roar, half-choke and turned to face not one, not three, but eight Combat Forms charging them, and a legion of Infections to boot. Not to mention three bulbous, hideous waddling things making a slow but steady beeline for them.
"Shit. Umm, what was it you said? Fire in the hole?" Samus asked.
"Yeah, it was", John replied, confused at why she was asking that. Suddenly, Samus was replaced by a bizarre orange ball about a meter in diameter. A glowing round thing was placed near the ball, and it rolled quickly away. A huge, domed explosion knocked half the Combat Forms off their feet, and destroyed some Infection Forms. The Carrier Forms that were advancing on Samus and Master Chief were too far away to be affected by the blast. However, to Samus' horror, she watched as an Infection Form scurried over to a fallen Combat Form and dug into its chest cavity. The Combat Form rose, seemingly undaunted, and leaped at her.
"Now you see why I asked about burning the bodies", John growled. He blew the top half of a Combat Form off with his shotgun and fed three rounds into the firing chamber, pumping it to refresh the chamber. The newly reanimated Combat Form leaped at Samus, who fired a charged up Plasma Beam, causing the Combat Form to burst into flames. Scorched, it hit the ground and fell apart. Another of the four Combat Forms threw itself at them, but was knocked out of the air by the M90 shotgun, its flesh ripped apart by the eight-gauge Magnum shot. Samus charged up her beam, then harnessed the stored energy, tapping into her missile reserves. A stream of fire erupted from her Arm Cannon. She swept it over their foes, setting them all on fire and popping the fragile Infections. The bulbous Carrier Forms fell backwards from the damage, exploding open and sending a new wave on Infection Forms at the armored warriors.
"Oh, great...these ones make new Flood?" Samus muttered. The Chief pulled out his twin Plasma Rifles and mopped up the Infections, with help from Samus' Power Beam.
"That took far too long, Reclaimer. If you are to stop this outbreak, you must use all haste possible. Hurry, and follow my coordinates. We must find the heart of this infestation", Spark said over Master Chief's com systems. A nav point appeared.
"I'll send you nav points until you get to where they're all coming from. Chief, please hurry!" Cortana said urgently.
"Let's go", he said. Samus nodded, and shot a beam at the hatch. It opened, and they headed for the nav point. Reaching it, another nav point appeared. However, to get to it, they had to get through a pack of Flood that was unaware of their presence...but soon to be very aware. The group of murderous semi-zombies didn't even hear the fragmentation grenade as it rolled into their midst...but they noticed when six of the fourteen there blew apart. The frag was followed up with a dense, glowing projectile—a Super Missile. That blew three apart, and the remaining five charged Samus and the Master Chief. Samus grunted as a Combat Form landed on her, swiping its powerful claw and draining her energy shields by an entire Energy Tank. The Form went limp, a large hole in its back—the Spartan pumped the shotgun's chamber as Samus gingerly rose. Another Flood leapt at her, but Samus was ready this time, and ducked the murderous Combat Form. She paused in horror, looking at its hideous form. It was a...human! Its flesh was horribly rotted, but she could still see shreds of what had been a person... It swung its tentacle arm at her, and Samus barely ducked the blow. She rose and fired a Plasma Charge Beam at point-blank range, causing the zombie to explode in superheated flesh. Green, sticky flood washed over her visor, making Samus sick to her stomach. She shook off the feeling and turned to see the Chief facing off with the last Flood warrior. He dodged a wild swing and grabbed the Combat Form's arm as it swung by him. He planted his foot on the ex-human's chest and tore its arm off. Then, he stomped on the Flood as it fell, crushing the fragile Infection Form resting in its chest.
"We need to keep moving. No telling what we'll find", Samus commented. John nodded, wiping green fluids off of his visor using his forearm. During the brief respite, the Master Chief fed six more rounds into the firing chamber, pumping the shotgun to refresh the chamber. When they found the next nav point, another one appeared further on, and yet more Flood came with it. The loud bang of the shotgun was complimented with the roar of the Flamethrower, and the Flood in the room fell quickly to the pair's assault. A light blinked on Samus' visor, alerting her that her missiles were low. A similar light warned the Master Chief that he was low on ammo for the shotgun.
"Hmm...I could've sworn I took two boxes of shells...not just one..." John remarked. Samus opened a hatch with her Power Beam and walked towards it.
"Wait—that's not the way", the Spartan said.
"I know. It's a Missile Restock Station", she replied. Curious, the Chief walked in with her. A mechanical arm with a large, round thing on the end of it swung down and attached itself to her Arm Cannon. It spun several times, then stopped.
"Well, they're refilled. Let's keep moving", she said. Master Chief stopped her with an open palm and walked towards the station. He manually removed shells from his shotgun and placed them back in the box that held his shotgun shells. He stepped into the station and held out the barrel of his shotgun hesitantly. The mechanical arm swung down, and the round thing shrunk to accommodate the smaller muzzle of the shotgun. It spun several times, and the Chief watched in wonder as his HUD showed the firing chamber filling up with shotgun shells.
"Amazing..." he said in disbelief. The Spartan stepped away when the shotgun was full.
"So it can make material ammo for any weapon?" he asked.
"I guess..." Samus replied, not believing what she had seen either. They headed for the next nav point.
ooo
It could see its next meal. Its meal looked tasty...and it was hungry. Very hungry. It was always hungry, but this meal looked satiating...it was pleased. In fact, there were two meals it could pick from. It scurried after them. It was hungry.
ooo
Samus opened a hatch and gasped. The main crossroads of the Chozo Temple was chock-full of Combats, Infections, and Carriers. They could both see the reason—a giant, curved piece of Halo was embedded in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by a charred, smoking crater. Two Super Missiles and the remaining three frags cleared a large number of zombies, but that attracted the swarm's attention to the two figures that had come to it. The Chief pulled out his dual Magnums and opened fire on the Carrier Forms, making them explode and causing a chain reaction of bursting Infection Forms. When most of them were cleared, he turned his attention to the Combat Forms, aiming for their chests. If a bullet hit the Infection Form resting inside, the Combats would drop like flies.
"Damn it, these things just don't give up!" Samus snarled, setting a Combat Form on fire with a charged Plasma Beam. Finally, there was one remaining Combat Form. The Chief dropped it with the very last slug remaining in his right-wielded Magnum. He ejected the spent clips and loaded two new ones in.
"Is that the last of them?" Samus asked. Almost in response to her question, three Combat Forms appeared. But...they were flying. With a very loud and bulky jet-pack. They were like no Flood the Chief had seen before. They had somewhat narrow heads, and were relatively thin. Also, they had claws on their hands and feet and a mean blade on the left arm. A blaster was gripped in the right.
"Oh, no...Pirates..." Samus breathed, almost inaudibly. John turned to face her.
"Say what?" he asked.
"Space Pirates, a race of sentient aggressor species. They're tenacious, vicious...and they just have so many different forms that they're really hard to kill", she replied, "These are Flying Pirates...or were Flying Pirates."
"This sounds fun", the Spartan grumbled. One flew straight at him. The Chief dived away at the last moment and sent five 12.5 mm bullets right into the jet pack on the Pirate-Flood. The pack hissed, caught fire, and exploded. Green Flood blood sprinkled down. Samus fired a Super Missile into the nearest Flood, causing it to explode with a bright flash in midair. The remaining one fell from its jet pack and ran up to the Master Chief, swinging its curved blade wildly. The blade drained the Chief's shields in one hit, and was about to slice him in half when the Combat Form erupted in fire.
"Thanks", John smiled. He enjoyed being part of a team again, having someone watching his six. They heard a grating, primal screech, and saw a shadow pass over them. Samus shook with rage.
"Ridley!" she hissed, looking to the sky. A huge, metal dragon with orange wings was currently engaged in a struggle versus eight Flying Pirate-Flood. He breathed an orange-red beam at them, causing them all to explode. The dragon flew off, screeching in rage.
"What was that?" the Chief asked.
"He's the Space Pirate Leader, now that the Mother Brain is dead. He's probably my biggest nemesis, and doesn't seem to ever die", Samus replied angrily. She sighed as the Chief began to walk towards another hatch. He motioned for her to follow.
ooo
It was excited as it approached the nearer food. This food would be very, very satisfying...this it knew. With only blind hunger guiding it, it jumped.
ooo
"Well, that looks like the last of them here. Let's keep moving; I don't these Flood things will wait to take over the-" Samus started. She never finished her sentence, as a slithery, slimy something wrapped its graspers around her neck, jabbed a razor-sharp penetrator through her neck seal and into the soft flesh on the back of her neck. Samus felt a jolt as its nervous system feelers tapped her spinal cord, and mist covered her eyes.