Twin Parasites
By Bass GSX
A.N. I am changing my pen name to Dominus Princeps, so...just a P.S.A!
Chapter Three: Pirates and Dragons and Flood, Oh My!
At the very edge of her consciousness, Samus heard a shot ring out. The presence trying to dominate her mind weakened, then vanished. Samus blinked several times to clear her vision, then stood up from where she had faceplanted. Gingerly, she reached to the back of her neck and felt for the hole. She jerked her hand back as she touched the still intact penetrator. The Master Chief pulled it out in one swift motion, and Samus cried out in pain.
"Nasty little bastards, aren't they? I guess you don't have shielding, huh?" the Chief asked as he threw the tentacle away.
"No, I do. So...how did it get through?" Samus asked. John cocked his head, thinking. Then, he had an idea. He placed his hand on her shoulder. It wasn't repelled.
"You don't have a disruptive force field. That's why. My armor does. Here, try to put your hand on my body", the Spartan said. Samus shrugged and reached for him with her left hand. It stopped a centimeter from his chest and was pushed back.
"Damnation...I'll have to be extra careful around those little buggers, then", Samus muttered darkly.
"Cortana! We can't just kill every single Flood on this planet! Got any ideas?" the Chief radioed.
"Well, we can't very well blow the place up like we did with Gamma Halo. I'll consult with Spark. In the meantime, hold your position", Cortana replied. The Spartan nodded and unslung his Battle Rifle. He started his stopwatch and disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the weapon. One minute twenty seconds. He was nearing his previous record. Samus watched the action in wonder.
"That was...amazing!" she clapped. John blushed.
"It...was nothing. I've done it faster", he replied, shrugging it off. Samus grasped his hand.
"I thought it was cool...isn't that enough?" she said softly. Then, she looked at their locked hands.
"Wait—if your shields are disruptive and repel things, why isn't my hand pushed back?" she asked.
"The shielding is weakened there and on the soles of my feet. I need to be able to grip things with my hands and run with my feet. If the shielding was at full strength there, then weapons would slip from my hands and I'd slide all over the place", he explained. Then, they heard a scratchy cry. It wasn't Ridley's...
"Metroids...? What are they doing this far out?" Samus asked warily. They looked up, hands dropped and weapons at the ready. A Metroid soared above them, with three Flood-Flying Pirates chasing it. The Metroid latched itself onto the nearest one and began to drain its life. Then, it stopped and wobbled away, apparently sick. This gave the Flood-Pirates a chance to kill it, and they did. Samus sighed.
"This planet is really being thrown out of whack by the Flood..." she said sadly.
"Chief, I have an idea! Guilty Spark says that Gamma Halo lost a lot of power when we blew it up, and its effective destruction radius is extremely limited. My guess, by the remaining power supply, is that we can set off Gamma Halo and it will only affect this planet and a small area outside that. Hurry, Chief! Get back to the ships so we can fly over to the Control Room!" Cortana radioed. The Master Chief nodded.
"Come on, Samus. We've got a mission", he told her. Samus nodded, having heard the AI's plan. They headed back for the ships and encountered a pack of assorted Combat Forms. The Spartan pulled out his Magnums and opened fire, while Samus burned them to the ground. A suicidal ex-Space Pirate leaped at the Chief, who sidestepped and fired three slugs into its back. The bullets sliced through the Combat's back and hit the Infection controlling it. The rotted corpse fell. Samus was having a harder time of it. She was surrounded by four Combat Forms, and was taking heavy damage from them. Down to her last Energy Tank, Samus searched for an escape. It came as a Combat Form crumpled under one round of eight-gauge Magnum buckshot. The Master Chief pumped the shotgun to refresh its firing chamber, then ducked an ex-Elite's wild swing. He grabbed the weapon it had—a Space Pirate energy blaster—and fired it point-blank into the Combat's chest. Rotted flesh and green ichor splattered everywhere, and the sickening scent of cooked flesh filtered into the Chief's helmet. Samus fried a Combat Form, sighing in relief as its frenzied charge was stopped by an intense beam of energy.
"That's the last of them. You don't look so good", John commented. Samus shrugged.
"I took a lot of damage. My shields are low, so I'll need to stop to refill them the next time we can", she replied.
"Huh? Your shields don't recharge themselves?" he asked, curious.
"No. Do yours?" Samus answered.
"Yes, actually", the Chief told her. Samus nodded.
"I see. Let's keep moving", she said. They headed into a long hall, then opened a hatch and came to an elevator.
"Well, this elevator will take us to the overworld, where we can get to our ships", Samus commented. She started the elevator and it shot upwards. About halfway up, it screeched to a halt.
"What the hell is going on?" Samus swore.
"Looks like something jammed the 'vator. Any idea how we can get out?" John commented.
"Umm...there should be a maintenance tunnel around here somewhere...ah, there! About ten feet up. See it?" Samus pointed. The Master Chief nodded.
"Right...and how do you propose we get up there?" he asked. The bounty hunter thought for a short while.
"Could you...give me a boost?" she asked sheepishly. The Spartan nodded, and crouched down, cupping his hands. Samus stepped into the makeshift platform.
"One...two...three!" the Chief counted. On three, Samus jumped and John pushed up. She rocketed into the air and grabbed onto the relatively small tunnel.
"Wait here! I'll be back!" Samus called. She converted into the Morph Ball and rolled down the tunnel. Samus came out into a large, open room. To her relief, there was a Save Station. Oddly named but extremely useful, Save Stations repaired all problems with Samus and her suit. She sighed as the soothing blue beams washed over her, charging her shields and mending the puncture in the back of her neck. Samus looked for a control using her Scan Visor and quickly located it. She tapped a few keys and heard something rumble. Samus flipped back into the Morph Ball and was about to get into the tunnel when she was picked up and hurled across the room. She transformed out of the Morph Ball and crashed into a wall. Shaking her head to clear the stars in front of her eyes, Samus stood and charged the Plasma Beam to full power. She swept her Arm Cannon over the area, searching for a target. Her radar was full of contacts, but none were visible. She was nailed in the back and her shields drained by fifty points. Samus had a dawning moment of terrifying realization and pondered that maybe the Shadow Pirates had been taken over by Flood. She switched her visor to Thermal and saw that there were at least eight or nine cloaked zombies in the cramped room. Samus weaved out of the way of a swing and charged her Plasma Beam. Then, she flicked it to the Flamethrower and swept it across the room. Shadow Pirate-Flood shrieked as the intense stream of fire burned their corrupted bodies. When there were none left, Samus stepped once more into the Save Station. Then, she transformed into the Morph Ball and rolled back out of the tunnel. The Morph Ball bounced as it hit the elevator platform, then Samus flipped out of it.
"Neat little trick. How's it work?" John asked, curious.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure myself", Samus laughed. He smiled even though she couldn't see it behind the visor. Realizing this, he instinctively drew two fingers across lip-level on his visor. Samus looked at him funny.
"What does that mean?" she asked as the elevator sprang into motion.
"Oh, sorry. It's one of our-my old symbols to show I'm smiling, since no one can see my face", he replied, covering his misspeaking.
"'Our'?" Samus asked, tilting her head.
"Nothing", The Chief snapped. Samus recoiled at his harsh tone, but decided not to try and further the subject. The elevator lurched as it reached the top and slowed to a halt. The pair raced out of the circular room and out of a hatch. They found their landing site chock full of the insidious Flood. Samus switched to Thermal just to make sure there weren't any Shadow Flood. A Flying Pirate-Flood and an Elite Ranger-Flood spotted them from the air and made a suicidal nosedive for the pair. Samus and the Chief dove in opposite directions to avoid the crazed assault. The two ex-aliens crashed harmlessly (for the pair of humans) into the rock wall. The explosions, however, alerted the murderous other Flood to their aggressors' presence. The two humans, separated from one another, were finding it hard to fight the endless waves of Flood; Samus was having a particularly tough time, as she was unable to let the Infections pop harmlessly on her shields like she saw Master Chief doing.
"John! Help!" she screamed desperately as a Combat Form drained three Energy Tanks of her shields with some sort of explosive ranged weapon. She had two Tanks left. Samus heard explosive bangs getting closer and closer to her, but then she heard a hollow click. It didn't sound good, and she heard the disgust in John's growl. Samus activated her Flamethrower and melted the new wall of Flood pressing in on her, but the weapon soon deactivated. She was out of Missiles. Samus let loose with the Plasma Beam, torching every Flood she could find until lights on her HUD warned her that the barrel of her Arm Cannon was about to melt. Samus braced herself. This was it...but then the Flood began to explode in obscene showers of blood and gore. A strange, blue wand of light was tearing them to pieces. She saw the Spartan swinging some sort of pale blue weapon wreathed in misty energy. He backed up to protect her.
"You alright?" Master Chief asked, holding the Energy Sword in a ready stance. Samus nodded and shook the fear from her mind. This was no place for weakness. As the next wall of Flood closed in, the Chief let out a roar of rage. He was mildly surprised as his anger was joined by Samus' own roar. The Flood were tough, unyielding, relentless, determined...but they lacked one asset which the pair of humans facing them had. They lacked anger...desperate rage. They were about to find out why animals backed into a corner are suddenly far more dangerous.
ooo
"Bastard", Samus grunted, stepping on a lone Infection Form. Brownish-green Flood blood was spattered liberally all over the area. Spent shell casings and ash also littered the landing site. Samus and John stood, panting, in the center of all the gore. A Combat Form with no legs dragged itself up to the Master Chief, wound back its arm, and was rewarded with a foot-and-a-half wide hole in its back from a reflex shotgun blast. That blast was the very last one in the shotgun, and the Chief had no spare ammo. He slung the shotgun over his shoulder using its shoulder strap. The pair surveyed the area.
"Empty..." Samus sighed with overwhelming relief.
"Finally", the Spartan replied. He removed his helmet, just to taste unfiltered air. Samus did likewise. They turned to face each other. Master Chief pulled Samus to him by her shoulders and held her close to him.
"I've only known you for a day, Samus, and I almost lost you there", he half-growled, half-whispered. Samus looked into his icy blue eyes with her own grey-blue ones. Tears fell down her cheeks.
"I was...so frightened. There were just so...so many of them!" she sobbed, laying her head against the cold plating of the MJOLNIR MkVI. An armored hand stroked her hair.
"Don't worry, Samus. They get too rowdy...I'll frag 'em good", John's throaty, battle-scarred voice comforted her. An annoyed voice buzzed from the Spartan's helmet.
"Reclaimer, there isn't much time. You must activate this installation's remnants, or this outbreak may not be contained. Reclaimer?"
"Samus...we should get moving. For once, that metal-head piece of trash is right. We need to start moving", the Chief said. He released Samus from his arms and pulled his helmet on. Samus did likewise. With a hum, the Master Chief's shields activated. Samus reached for his hand and was repelled.
"Sorry."
ooo
As Cortana flew the ship, the Chief checked and double-checked his arsenal of weaponry. The BR55 Battle Rifle was pretty much useless against the rampant Flood Forms, so he left it behind. An S2-AM Sniper Rifle was no good, either. Keyes and her Marines hadn't forgotten the M12 SSM Rocket Launcher, however. Its bulky shape and weight were comforting to the Spartan. He had picked four extra rocket cases for the launcher, giving him a spare eight rockets. The M90 Tactical Assault Shotgun, of course, was a necessity in the small tunnels of this planet's structures, as well as the deadly Energy Sword. Noting that it was almost dead, the Chief pulled out the spare plasma charge core he had been given and loaded it into the Sword. He pulled out the nearly dead one and placed it into the charging kit that the Arbiter had given him. It hummed softly as the battery's power was rejuvenated. The twin Plasma Rifles were left, as well. Though they had a high rate of fire, they just didn't drop Flood like other weapons...such as the dual M6C Magnum pistols he was toting. The slugs from those guns were nearly as thick as his thumb...and that was a Spartan thumb. Suddenly, Cortana's worried face lit up.
"What the hell is that?" she gasped. A sinister grey figure loomed. It appeared to be almost some sort of wraith...and not the tank, John mused darkly. Then, he recognized the vicious thing as it shrieked with malicious glee. It fired its red beam at Samus' ship. The beam missed by several feet, as the Hunter-class gunship rolled out of the destructive weapon's way. The creature, "Ridley", Samus had called it, swept the beam so it scorched the Prowler.
"Shit! We're losing altitude, Chief! I'll keep her flying as long as I can! Get all your things prepared!" Cortana shouted over the rumbling of the dying craft and the roaring of the air rushing past them. The Spartan pulled his helmet on and slung the Rocket Launcher over his shoulder, loaded the Magnums and placed them in their holsters, grabbed the shotgun, grabbed his spare ammo for everything, snapped the Energy Sword to his waist, snatched seven frags and six plasmas, and braced for impact. By his helmet clock, this had taken forty-two seconds. Everything seemed to slow down as the Chief watched the ground rise up dramatically. Under stress, that always happened...something the Spartan he once knew as Kelly called "Spartan Time". He unloaded Cortana's memory chip, much to her dismay, and stuck it into the back of his helmet. The human then grabbed the control yoke of the Prowler and guided it down as best he could. Which was, of course, not well at all. The Prowler slammed into the ground and skidded into a rock wall.
"Chief? Chief!"
ooo
"John!"
Samus pressed her hands against the plasglass window. She watched his sleek, black craft rock under the extremely focused heat of Ridley's Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector. A tear slipped from her eye.
"No...John...!" she choked, following up with a strangled sob. Samus saw the ship hurtle downwards, leaking thick, grey-black smoke. Ridley let out a shriek of triumph and focused his attention on Samus' gunship. Her last view of the Spartan's ship was its landing. She saw it impact the ground and slide over...then strike the face of a cliff. She cried out, as if she herself was in the ship. Then, she turned to face the gunship's console, cold, unadulterated fury flowing through her veins. Samus switched the ship to manual control and faced Ridley. She hit a few keys and launched a battery of missiles at the Zebesian Space Dragon, along with four plasma bursts. The missiles impacted and knocked Ridley out of the air, and her homing plasma bursts turned his metal armor plate an angry red. Ridley crashed into a gorge, shrieking in anger and pain the entire way.
"Adam, what are you doing?" she asked between her teeth.
"I'm reassuming control of this craft, Lady. We have to stop this 'Flood'", the AI replied.
"Adam, we need to go get John! We have to!" Samus snarled.
"Lady, this is more important. This Flood may find a way off this planet, and then what? Your John isn't worth that risk, I'm sorry to say. Suit up, Lady. I don't think the resistance will be weak", Adam snapped. Samus recoiled, tears blurring her vision.
"You're...you're right. As always", she said, holding back her sobs. Samus stood from her seat and walked over to her Power Suit. She pulled it on piece by piece and primed the Arm Cannon. Missiles were full, environment systems fully functional, shielding fully charged...everything was working fine. Except her own heart.
"John...if you're alive...don't die before I find you..." Samus cried softly.
"You're the only one I've ever met who's made me feel like this..."
ooo
Ridley picked himself up from the crater he had caused.
"Sssooo...Ssssscience Team wassssn't as bad asssss I thought...thisssss armor-plate issss more powerful than I think they even planned. Not to mention the modificationsssss to my body sssssstructure", he mused, pushing the pain to the back of his mind. The self-repairing nano-bots in his armor would tend to his wounds. For now...Ridley flapped his massive wings and lifted himself a little bit in the air. He couldn't fly very high, but for now the low-level flight would have to do. The human's craft was nearby. After a short flight, he saw it. Ridley clicked his jaws.
"Excccccellent. Thisssss human will do niccccely", he snickered.
"I hope you aren't planning to ambush me, you overgrown lizard, 'cause it looks like I've got the drop on you."