Twin Parasites
By Dominus Princeps
Personal note to TigerTank: Thanks for the excellent review! To give a little explanation—I know most modern weapons (and certainly all the ones in the Halo series!) are not muzzle loaders, however, (and, I admit, this is a pretty weak explanation at best) the Chozo invented technology that allowed for such a reloading process. About Samus—she's not used to fighting zombie things that don't seem to die, but I'll work on that. And the Chief...well, maybe he's finally opening up to someone. As for the other Spartans...wait and see. Again, thanks for the review!
Chapter Four: When Life Gives You Lemons...
Ridley whirled to face a green-armored figure.
"You are...not the Hunter, are you?" he hissed, clicking his talons. The figure didn't respond, but pushed some sort of tube into part of the long, cylindrical black thing it was holding.
"You shot down UNSC property. Now I'm going to make you pay for it", the Master Chief growled. Ridley cackled in glee.
"Oh, really? That'sssssss a good one, I musssssst ssssssay. You taking down me? Ha ha ha ha...well, if you think ssssso...bring it on", Ridley laughed maniacally. The human fired the first round in the rocket launcher. It detonated on the beast, but the dragon didn't even flinch.
"Material exxxxxplosssssssivessssss? Pathetic weakling! Now die!" Ridley snarled. He swung his tail at the Chief, who jumped over it and fired another rocket at Ridley. The rocket hit Ridley in the chest as he turned around. This caused the dragon some discomfort.
"Mmmmf. Sssstill, your arsenal of exxxxplossssivessss cannot pierce my armor. Only concentrated heat can!" the dragon snapped. John wondered why his foe had just given away his weakness. Playing the fool, the Spartan pulled out a Magnum and shot two rounds at the cyborg's chest. The bullets pinged harmlessly off the durable armor-plate. Ridley laughed again and took a deep breath. He exhaled forcefully, and with his exhale came a huge, red-orange ray of concentrated energy. The beam nailed the Master Chief in the chest and sent him flying backwards, shields drained. The beeping in his helmet stopped as the shields regenerated. Rewarded for his effort, Ridley charged another Ultrathermal Flamestrike. When he lowered his head, the Chief primed and threw a frag grenade...into the gaping maw of Ridley. For a moment the dragon was confused. Then, it was angry and pain-filled as the grenade detonated. Ridley clutched at his throat, overwhelming pain rushing through his system. Then, he felt a new pain, and looked down to face the armored human. The human had embedded some sort of energy weapon in Ridley's chest. Ridley coughed and lifted into the air.
"Pitiful fool! For now, in my weakened ssssstate, I cannot defeat you, but jusssst you wait! I'll be back, inferior being, I'll be back!" the dragon snarled, flying haphazardly away.
"Lucky he was injured before...hate to fight him at full strength. Where did you get that sword, anyway?" Cortana asked.
"'Fulsamee. It was a gift", the Master Chief replied.
"See what you can salvage from our craft. Won't be much, but...you take what you can get, right?" Cortana sighed. The Spartan nodded and trudged over to the wrecked Prowler. Just by looking at it, he could tell the damn thing would never fly again. Wrenching part of the metal plating off, John searched around the ruined inside. His trusty Battle Rifle was still intact, along with the clips for it. However, the Sniper Rifle was bent and twisted from impact. The Chief sighed. He kind of liked that weapon. The Plasma Rifles were also broken. The soldier grabbed an extra box of rockets for his rocket launcher. All in all, the Spartan realized that he was carrying far too many weapons, but it wasn't like he could afford to leave any behind. He began to hike towards the huge fragment of Gamma Halo that was already visible in the distance.
"Well, looks like a long walk, Chief", Cortana sighed.
"Yeah...if you're the one walking", John grumbled. He could almost feel Cortana's grin...well, if she could've grinned.
ooo
Samus shook all the possible deaths John could've suffered out of her head and continued to run the system diagnostic on her armor. It was fully functional and ready to activate. Samus put the Power Suit on piece by piece and readied herself. No more second thoughts! They may be zombie things, but I need to do this! For John...no, for the human race! she thought, fitting the helmet on her head.
"Lady, we're reaching the fragment of this 'Halo'. Are you ready?" Adam asked.
"...Ready as I'll ever be", Samus replied. She primed her Arm Cannon and set it to Plasma Beam. To hell with weapon overheating...I'm firing this thing till my suit explodes! the bounty hunter thought with a grin. She leapt out of the ship as it landed and hit the ground running. Her shields lost a few points of power as a green blob hit them. A lone Combat Form stood on a hill with a Plasma Pistol in its rotting grip. Samus fried the beast, then faced the onslaught as Flood swarmed in from all directions. To clear her path, Samus flipped to Morph Ball and set a Power Bomb, which vaporized nearly everything within twenty feet. She jumped, then Space Jumped over the tide of Flood and landed neatly past one wall of murderous zombies. Samus' visor was reduced to static as something slammed into her, knocking her down. She saw the familiar yellow tusks...
"Metroid!" she gasped aloud. Thinking quickly, she turned into the Morph Ball and set a Bomb. The parasite was knocked off of her, and Samus switched to her Ice Beam. She brought it to bear...and froze. The Metroid wasn't clear and bloblike...its body was mottled brown, misshapen, and rotting. Samus saw the little creature inside of it...a Flood Infection Form. Horrified, she was caught off guard as the little terror swooped again. Samus dodged just in time and froze it. The Flood-'Troid crashed to the ground and shattered into a million frozen, brown shards. Samus nearly vomited at the disgusting sight of frozen, rotted Metroid, but held her constitution. She ran away from the armada of Flood, knowing there was no way she could fight them all.
ooo
Ridley rode the air thermals, searching for his base of operations from the sky. The Space Pirates still had a decent hold on Tallon IV, even if the Hunter had dealt a serious blow the last time she had visited. He located the complex research base in the Phendrana sector. Scanning his bio-signature, the landing pad cover irised open. Ridley touched down and folded his wings. He sensed something was not right. There was an eerie silence...and no one had come to greet him and check up on him.
"Hello? Any Ssssspace Pirate persssssonnel, resssspond!" Ridley called. He was answered with silence. All of a sudden, there was a pounding on the door. Ridley whirled to see a hatch burst open. Ugly, brown-green figures stumbled out and leapt at Ridley, attempting to attack him. Ridley returned the favor by scorching the combatants with his Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector, as well as blowing some apart with his Meson Bomb Launcher.
"Thessssse damned parasssssitical zzzzzzzombiessss! What in blazzzzesssss are they?" Ridley hissed, halving a tenacious attacker with his taloned hands. He bludgeoned another with his tail, and swept his Flamestrike in a wide arc, frying the aggressors that were pouring in, as well as melting the wall behind them. No more attackers came. Ridley snorted and stretched, flicking pungent green-brown ichor from his claws.
"Disssssgussssting creaturesssss. I mussssst track down their ssssourccccce", he grumbled. The dragon crouched to fit through a hatch and began to trek through his base. More of them crashed from an adjacent room. Ridley saw with horror that they were his own troops...he even recognized one of them. They leapt with suicidal eagerness at him, knocked out of the air by bombs, superheated plasma, talons, or tail. Ridley cleared the room and hurried to the next. The rooms he entered were like the first two—the strange zombies appeared from nowhere, lunged wildly at him, died, and were gone as quickly as they appeared. Ridley shook his metallic, elongated head and snorted.
"How dissssstressssful that I have not yet found a living Pirate", he muttered. Suddenly his radio pinged alive.
"M-master Ridley, is that you?" a sharp, fearful voice whispered.
"Thissssss issssssss he. Which unit are you, and what isssss your ssssstatussss?" Ridley said quickly.
"SpecOps, Master Ridley! We're trapped in the Metroid holding pens! The cold temperatures and high-radiation Phazon seem to have made the strange inflated parasites go dormant, but we're not sure if it's permanent or temporary! Master, please hurry!" the frightened voice said.
"I'm near your possssition. Ssstay put. I'll be right there", Ridley replied. He cut the link and tried to open a hatch. The hatch was either locked or jammed, as it didn't open. Ridley sighed and backed up four steps. He lowered his head and rammed the hatch, sending shrapnel raining everywhere. He heard a whimper and saw the once proud Epsilon SpecOps unit cowering in a corner behind a control panel. OnePirate waved weakly at the dragon, shaking uncontrollably. Ridley saw the terrifying parasites lying all over the area, deflated and motionless. One by one he crushed the accursed beings, splattering mottled brown blood up his shined chrome legs.
"Let'ssssss get out of this hellhole, boyssssss. Follow my lead", Ridley motioned. At his commanding presence, the Space Pirates seemed to regain their confidence, and stood up. They primed their energy weapons and formed up behind the looming figure of Ridley.
"It'sssssss going to be a long day..." Ridley sighed to himself.
ooo
Samus could hear the Flood, but she couldn't see them.
"Damn it, where are you?" she hissed, sweeping her Arm Cannon around the area. Her radar vanished as Samus decided the Thermal Visor would be more useful. She almost screamed as the Thermal Visor activated. There were Flood all around her. Samus calmed her frantic nerves, feeling the cool rush that she had come to know so well. They haven't noticed me yet, so they aren't looking for me. I, however, can see them. Let the hunt begin, she thought. Samus charged the Plasma Beam, cursing its dull hum. Two Combat Forms wandered into her line of fire. With a violent fwoosh, the charged bolt of superheated energy cooked both Combat Forms. Samus switched to Combat Visor and dove behind an angular structure. Whoever made this "Halo" sure liked angles...but I'm not complaining about all the decoration, she thought. Samus heard the hissing and grunting of the Flood, and listened to their footsteps. They had noticed their fallen comrades and were wondering what had caused it. Samus switched to her Ice Beam and charged it. In a fluid motion the bounty hunter darted around the decoration she was using for cover and harnessed her Beam Combo systems. A huge, white-blue missile lanced from her Arm Cannon and froze half the hallway she was facing. The huge group of Flood was encased entirely in ice. Samus calmly walked over to them and pushed them, one by one, over. They shattered, each and every one. Samus walked through an automatic door and gasped. Snow was falling lightly. She looked to her right and saw part of Tallon IV...hot, dry desert. So how was it...?
"Unreal..." she muttered to herself. Samus noticed she was on some sort of walkway. It seemed to be held in place by what appeared to be a stream of electricity that flowed from one wall onto the bridge. Samus peered over the rail of the walkway and saw a drop into a gorge. She shivered and turned back, walking along the causeway. A Combat Form suddenly scrambled into view and fired a very loud weapon at her. Samus rolled to dodge the rocket that was headed for her. The explosion missed, but the shockwave caused her to stumble slightly. When she looked back up, the rocket Flood was joined by three of his comrades, another of which had a rocket launcher. The other two were carrying Magnum pistols. A hail of bullets suddenly greeted Samus, who rolled again, metal raindrops pinging around her. Samus fried the Flood with quick Plasma Beam blasts, losing just a few points of shielding to the pistol fire. She noted her shield level with slight dismay. According to Adam's scans, she was still pretty far from the so-called "Control Room", however, her shields were already drained by about a third of their total capacity. Also, these enemies weren't native to Tallon IV, and thus didn't have the same type of bio-energy that the Chozo Power Suit could harvest for shield energy or Missiles, which Samus was also eyeing warily. She shook her head and blasted another Combat Form that appeared, along with a trio of enterprising Infection Forms that leapt at her. As she moved on, a Carrier Form waddled out from somewhere and headed for her. Samus nailed it, then switched to her Power Beam to mop up the smaller Infections. Samus jumped and Space Jumped over one of the ubiquitous decorations. The roaring of multiple jet packs caused her to whirl. Samus was facing four Flying Flood-Pirates, and they had already loosed a swarm of missiles at her. Samus jumped to the side and charged her Power Beam. A Super Missile nailed an ex-Pirate dead-on and blew it to kingdom come. A stray missile hit Samus and knocked her off balance. She stumbled but fired off her second Super Missile. Another Pirate exploded. Samus switched to her Plasma Beam now that the Flood-Pirates were firing their blasters haphazardly. A piece of the walkway was slagged as a rain of hellish green energy hit where Samus was half a second ago. One Pirate took a Plasma Beam to the jet pack and erupted in fire. The last was put down by three Plasma Beams in quick succession. Samus sighed. With glee she saw that they had left behind three packs of Missiles and two Ultra Energies. Using the Charge Beam's tractor beam-esque function, Samus drew in the goodies. Two Energy Tanks were instantly restored, and Samus gained back fifteen Missiles. Pleased, the bounty hunter moved on.
ooo
The Master Chief continued his trek through the gorge adjacent to the area where he had crashed. Suddenly the ground began to rumble. The Chief looked around for the source, then, with horror, observed the web of fissures that snaked from his feet.
"Chief, I'm detecting extreme seismic disturbances...shit, run back!" Cortana gasped. But it was too late. With explosive force, the ground shattered into a million pieces. As the Spartan tumbled down, he caught glimpses of the cause—a gigantic, red, andindisputably angry snake-thing had reared its head, crashing through the ground. John hit the ground hard and face-flat, his shields beeping weakly. The human tasted blood, and his chest and head hurt like hell.
"We fell about three hundred feet...the shields and armor are about all that saved us", Cortana remarked.
"Us?" Master Chief grumbled, blinking slowly.
"Well..." Cortana chuckled, a little embarrassed.
"What was that thing, anyway?" the Spartan asked.
"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything quite like that", Cortana replied. The Chief surveyed his gear. He'd landed on his Battle Rifle, crushing the weapon as if it were a piece of balsa wood. The rocket launcher was on his back and thus intact, along with the shotgun. The Magnums had come out of his side holsters and probably been smashed with the fall. The human discarded their clips, along with the Battle Rifle clips, since they were as useless as the destroyed weapons themselves. The Spartan checked his remaining arsenal. The shotgun was in prime condition, as well as its ammo. Same for the rocket launcher. The Energy Sword was still clipped to his waist. He had ten frags and twelve plasmas crammed into his belt pockets. John shook the last stars from his head and looked around. He gasped. He was on a rock platform of some sort and was surrounded by magma.
"Oh, my God! This is amazing!" Cortana chirped, storing all the visual data flooding through the Master Chief's visor camera.
"Oh, shit...I knew this was going to be a long day", the Chief muttered. He walked to the edge of the platform and saw another similar one hovering eight or nine feet away. It seemed to be kept aloft by small jets on its underside. The Spartan took a few steps back, then began running. He leapt onto the platform in front of him, then leapt to the next one, and the next one. He ended up on a "shore" of cooled and hardened lava. The Chief hit a switch and opened the hatch. He walked out into what seemed to be a large arena. There was an angular section of rock in the center, and platforms circling the rock. Master Chief saw a hatch on the far side of the room and decided to get to it. He jumped onto a platform, then leapt to another one. The Chief saw that the only way to get to the far side of the room where the hatch resided was to cross the center rock platform. It was ten feet lower than where he was currently standing, so it was an easy hop into it. As if on cue, the platforms all sank. The Chief blinked, surprised. Then, a gigantic, red snake-like creature rose from the lava that enclosed the platform. It hissed angrily at the Chief.
"Like I said...long day", John sighed. Then it struck.
ooo
"That's the last of 'em, Master Ridley", a Space Pirate growled, blasting a hole in a berserk Combat Form.
"Good work, troopsssssss", Ridley congratulated. The Phendrana Base Command Post was officially theirs. Ridley tapped a console to life and opened the Mega Turret Defense Protocol program. He entered a command to destroy all non-Pirate life forms...which the computer instantly understood. That was what the turrets were usually set on, anyway.
"Now...for the Magmoor Cavernsssssss Bassssssse...I should sssssssecure that one, too. You sssssssstay here. I'll do it mysssssself", Ridley commented. They nodded in assent.
"Of course, sir!" they saluted.
ooo
Samus bashed her way through a stuck door and sighed. She was facing a huge, snowy expanse. According to the map Adam had sent her, the "Control Room" was through two or three gorges similar to this one. Samus spotted an upended...thing. She jogged over to it and saw that it was wheeled and had a strange-looking thing on the back with three barrels and some sort of metal shield. Samus grabbed the side of it and pulled hard. Slowly but surely it tipped, eventually coming to rest on its wheels. Samus hopped into the left side and found a round thing, two pedals, and a couple switches. Samus pressed a button that read "Ignition". The metal thing roared to life. She then looked at the two pedals. One was labeled "Brake", the other "Gas". Samus had no idea what "Gas" meant, but she pressed hard on the pedal. The thing jerked forward, accelerating quickly. Surprised, Samus released the pedal and hit the "Brake" pedal. The vehicle stopped shortly after. Samus turned the round thing. Nothing appeared to happen. She leaned out of the vehicle and turned the round thing. The wheels on the vehicle rotated their angle.
"So, this makes it go, this steers it, and this stops it. Okay, I got it", Samus said to herself. She pressed the "Gas" pedal and the vehicle accelerated straight ahead. Samus saw a hill ahead, so she turned the round thing. The vehicle turned away from the hill. With horror Samus noted a sudden drop-off. The vehicle soared gracefully off the sudden drop and landed smoothly on its wheels, bouncing slightly. Samus let out her breath and turned down another gorge.
"I knew this was going to be a long day..." she sighed.
ooo
After a literal crash course in learning how to drive the strange vehicle, Samus was finally at the end of the eerily empty gorges. She climbed the numerous ramps that lead to the Control Room. Opening the huge gate, Samus held her Arm Cannon at the ready. Nothing was on the other side. Samus jogged briskly down the long and gigantic hallways. There weren't any Flood, oddly. She reached the Control Room and headed to the holo-panel. Samus glanced at the various buttons and guessed at one. Strange script scrolled across the panel, and a deep, hollow rumble echoed throughout the chamber. Samus' Power Suit automatically translated the script. It read "Activation Successful".