AN: This is not a page 1 rewrite of the story of Other M (which is probably what was actually needed). I try to keep the major plot elements in place while improving the overall story.
The Federation soldiers stared at the door, perturbed that their explosives had not worked. Unsurprising; those were double-reinforced, and while standard issue explosives could weaken the materials they could not blow through entirely. "Thanks for softening it up for me boys," she said over her communicator. "Stand back, I'll take it from here." She launched a Super Missile straight into the door. The center buckled and blew inwards, tearing a hole along the contours of where the soldiers had placed their own explosives.
The soldiers whirled toward her, their orange faceplates concealing their identities and their expressions. "Well ho-leee shit," one of them said. "Fancy meeting you here, Princess!" Samus started. There were very few people in the galaxy who would dare call her "Princess" and only one she let get away with it. Was that…?
A warning claxon sounded before she could finish that thought. Twin panels just above the door swung open to reveal a heavy plasma blaster in each one. Samus and the soldiers had just enough time to dive behind cover before the guns opened fire, laying thick streams of deadly plasma over the entire area. They were safe behind the waist-high walls of this entrance foyer but they could not even stick a limb out into the open without fear of losing it, never mind making it to the door Samus had blasted open.
Another of the soldiers shouted, "Smithsonian, sitrep! What's happening?" This voice sounded familiar as well, but it was difficult to place over the sound of heavy plasma firing at full auto.
"It's her!" the one who had to be "Smithsonian" called out, pointing at Samus. "The computer's reading her as an intruder and activated the defense systems!"
"It's probably the Chozo tech," Samus grumbled as more rounds of plasma whipped by her head. The computer systems would likely not have been programmed to understand what Samus' suit could do, and faced with an unknown technology defaulted to treating her as a "threat". She wished she could say this was the first time this happened. If she kept herself at full power she could probably fight off the defense systems… eventually. But it was by no means a sure thing, and the Federation soldiers were not at all equipped to handle something of this magnitude. By the time she took care of it they might all very well be dead. And she would have to face the same guns throughout her entire expedition. "Turning off all systems. Weapons, utilities, armor, all of it off. That should get it to settle down…" She could actually feel herself shrinking, softening, becoming more vulnerable with each upgrade that powered down. Gravity Suit gone, Space Jump gone, Wave Gun gone, on and on, one piece after another until she had reverted to her baseline functionality.
And just like that it was over. The moment the last upgrade clicked off a strange silence settled over the hallway. The guns powered down and retreated back into the wall. With the panels closed up it was impossible to tell they were ever there, even though the telltale scorch marks and the smell of burning ozone lingered. Samus waved her arm cannon in the air to test whether it was safe to come out and dared to peek her head up when nothing tried to blow her arm off. The other soldiers responded by also coming out from behind cover. "Well," one of the soldiers, one Samus did not recognize said. "That sucked. I don't think I've ever had backup that caused as many problems as they solved."
"Lighten up Pierce," another of them said. "Let those of us who can, appreciate a lady that makes the good booms happen. I'm Lt. Maurice Favreau, demolitions specialist."
"Samus Aran," she introduced herself. "But you probably knew that. Who's your commanding officer?"
"I am." Samus sucked in air. She knew that voice. One of the soldiers stepped forward. He was shorter than the others but even in an armored suit his posture commanded a presence which made him seem larger. He flipped open his faceplate so Samus could see exactly who she was talking to. The face had aged surprisingly little since the last time she had seen it. "Commander Malkovich, of the United Federation Army."
"Adam," she said, trying to be as neutral as possible even though her mind was racing. What was he doing here, what had she stumbled into, why did they have to meet now, what did he know of how she had spent the last ten years, on and on and on.
One of the other soldiers, the one previously referred to as "Pierce", looked from Adam to Samus and back again. "Um, do you two…?"
"I used to serve under him," Samus said. "Back when I was in the army." Nothing that would not show up in a cursory service record check. She did not know whether it would be a good idea to claim more familiarity than that, and even if it would be appropriate she had no stomach for going over their entire history. "I didn't know there was an army force on site when I received the distress signal. Since we're both here to investigate how about we work together?"
Adam frowned. "I'm not sure I like relying on someone who could leave whenever it suited her." Ugh, did he have to word it that way? Yes, she decided, he would if he was still pissed. So much for a heartfelt reunion.
Samus sighed. "Look, someone sent that distress signal and I'm not about to abandon them regardless of what else happens here. While we're on the subject, you couldn't spare the firepower to kick me off the ship if you wanted to. Just accept that you'll have some unexpected manpower for this mission and delegate accordingly."
Lyle asked, "Are you going to be alright? With your suit and all?"
Samus responded, "Even without the upgrades my suit is still stronger and has more firepower than Federation standard issue. It's not ideal but I'll survive."
"Just as well," Adam said. "If you're going to be helping us then I want you working with us, not leaving us in your dust."
Higgs chuckled. "So in other words, you're gonna be about the same as you were back then? Heh, just like old times, huh Adam?"
Adam did not respond to this. Instead he commented, "Samus, I noticed you've even turned off your additional armor. The weapons systems I understand, but what reason do you have to believe the computer would misinterpret the Varia suit?"
Samus recited by memory, "Jungeon Archives, Incident Report #847111B."
A puzzled "hm" came from the communicator as all the soldiers tapped their helmets at once to look up said report. Adam began, "All right, I'll bring up that report and-" Adam's communicator cut off suddenly and he hurriedly turned his back to her, doubling over.
Samus rolled her eyes. "You don't have to go on mute just to laugh, Adam, it was years ago. I'm over it." Indeed, the hooting and laughing from the rest of the team revealed that Adam was the only one who bothered hiding his mirth. Higgs leaned back and laughed long and loud, while the others restrained themselves to incredulous guffaws. Privately she was pleased to break through Adam's gruff exterior. It would not make up for ten years of lost time but showing neither of them had to take themselves too seriously might go a ways to breaking the ice.
There was a slight crackle as Adam's voice returned. He straightened up and shook his head. "Heh," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Still unprofessional." He turned back toward her, trying and mostly failing to return his face to a neutral expression.
A voice her system identified as "Misawa" asked, "Okay, I have got to know, how the heck did that happen?"
"Jungeon is a very cosmopolitan planet," Samus explained. "The hotel rooms are set up to automatically acclimate themselves to the occupant's comfort. I came in completely exhausted and passed out on the bed without even taking my suit off. Well, the room's sensors decided I was overheating and turned the temperature down. Except, because of the Varia suit, no matter how low it got I was still reading as too hot. So… yeah, one runaway feedback loop later I was a Samusicle."
"Oh my god," Higgs chuckled. "How'd they get you out?"
"The hard way, with picks and torch cutters. They couldn't override the rooms controls to melt it, the motors had burned out by that time. I wasn't in any danger but it was not the most comfortable way I've ever spent twelve hours."
There was a pause. Pierce coolly asked, "So… I take it every piece of your suit has caused a malfunction or system error of some kind?"
Samus had to think about that. "… My running lights are safe. Probably."
Adam sighed. "Very well. There's a security station up ahead, I can brute force the computer to recognize your upgrades from there. But it's going to take time: I have to do every piece individually and the system is going to be fighting me every step of the way. Lyle, there's a computer bank in the east end of Sector 1. That should be your priority; if we gain access to that area you should be able to hack into the main system and whitelist all of Samus' equipment at once, and much faster than I can here."
"Sounds like my kind of party!" Lyle laughed. "So all I have to do is get there and work my magic and we'll have a full-power Samus on our side, not a bad deal at all! You can count on me, boss!"
Samus stepped forward. "I think I should head to Sector 1 with Lyle."
Lyle audibly gasped. "Can she, boss? Can she can she can she?" Adam made a sound like he did not think this was a good idea at all.
Samus explained her reasoning: "The other Sectors might be too dangerous at my current abilities. If Lyle runs into any trouble it would be best if I were nearby to respond promptly. I have a vested interest in his mission's success after all."
Adam hummed. "You… make a strong argument. But Lyle can take care of himself for a little while. Secure the immediate area here and clear a passage to the main transport hub. We want to make sure we have room to retreat if anyone runs into trouble. Once you reach the transport you can take it Sector 1. Any objections, Lady?"
Samus gave him a thumbs-down near instantly. Higgs laughed. "That's the Princess I know! Gone for ten years and suddenly it's like you never left."
Adam continued, "Everyone else, you already have your assignments. Keep in touch as much as you can and check in at regular intervals. Move out."
For a time Lyle and Samus were heading in the same direction. He managed five steps before asking, "Soooooo, you and the boss used to work together, right?"
"A long time ago," she responded coolly. "Now I work for the Federation not with the Federation. Most of the time I get hired to deal with problems the army can't handle on its own. I take it by how you're acting you're something of a fan of mine?"
"Something like that, yeah," Lyle said, a little sheepishly. "I mean, is it any wonder? You're a legend! Hey, after this mission is over can I get your autograph? Woah, before that, how much are you getting paid to support us?"
"I'll be lucky if I get paid anything," Samus admitted. "Best practices for any private contractor is to negotiate the payment up-front. If negotiations break down I've already done the work, and that puts me in a bad position. I'm investigating because I happened to be in the area, not because I was hoping to make a profit."
"Wow, small galaxy," Higgs said, though he was already out of sight. "That was us too. We were passing by and picked up the Federation Army SOS. Weird thing is, we couldn't find any record of the ship. No registration, no service records, not even a design blueprint, nothing. Like it never existed before sending out the distress signal. Adam was telling us some faction of the Army might have-"
"Higgs," Adam interrupted sharply. "Keep a lid on the intel. She may be here to help but she's not entitled to any classified info unrelated to her orders." Samus rolled her eyes but let it pass; if he needed to assert his authority let him. She would rather not get involved in internal politics anyway. "Now cut the chatter and keep the lines clear. Move out."
Samus nodded and separated from the group. It had been a while since she was part of a unit. Bounty hunters typically worked alone and she preferred it that way, but this might be a nice change of pace. She idly wondered what Adam had been up to for the last ten years. And whether his thoughts on the issue which drove her away had changed in the meantime.
Samus was passing through the transport hub when a warning light on her visor lit up. It was not her that was in danger, but rather a short-range panic signal had been activated somewhere nearby in Sector 3. She did not even need to think, before she even opened communications with Adam she was already in the elevator. "It's Anthony," Samus said, her voice dry. "He's in trouble."
"Stand down," Adam ordered. "There's only one path from where you are to where he is, and the heat is too much for your current suit to handle. You'll be cooked alive if you try to go after him. I know how you feel, but the risk is too great."
"Let me see the map." Adam sent her the local area map and she looked it over. As he said, there really was only one way towards the source of the distress signal and it cut right through an unshielded section of the ship. Warning lights informed her the route was only to be used by properly shielded personnel, which she was very much not. Samus nodded as the elevator doors opened into Sector 3 and she stepped out. "Anyone else in position to help?"
"Hard to say with so much of the sensors out," Adam said. "But it would be odd if there were. Everyone else should be in their own sectors."
She licked her lips. "How close are you to adding the Varia suit to the whitelist?"
"Not close enough," Adam said, his voice grave. "It would take anywhere from several minutes to an hour. And if you turned it on regardless the ship's defense system would blow you both to pieces even if you could reach him."
"Okay," she breathed. She fired a shot from her arm cannon into the door. It opened and a blast of heat slammed into her, making her sweat even through the suit. "In that case you'd better hurry it up 'cause I'm going in anyway." She ran through the door, gritting her teeth as the heat cut through her.
"Samus." Adam's voice was shaky. "Samus, I ordered you to stand down. Samus!"
"Get me that Varia suit. Samus out," she said, cutting communications. She would deal with him later. Right now she was the only chance Higgs had, and she was not going to let anyone die. Not again.
"Damn, didn't really expect anyone to save my bacon," Higgs said with a grateful smile. "Lucky you happened to be around, huh? Kinda surprised you didn't let me swing in the wind, get me out of your hair forever."
Samus laughed, "I know you Anthony, you wouldn't have sent a signal unless you were actually in danger. And I'd never let you die, no matter how much being called 'Princess' annoys me." Higgs also laughed, and the two of them knocked their fists together. Ah, this was the part of being in a unit she missed. The ribbing, the camaraderie, the gallows humor that only really comes about when people stare death in the face side by side. Even other bounty hunters did not really interact like this, there was always a professional distance that kept them from empathizing with one another. After all a fellow bounty hunter was not a comrade in arms but a market competitor. If it meant more money for them most bounty hunters would gladly leave their fellows to die without a twinge of remorse. No, it was not the people that made her leave the army…
"Samus." Adam's voice rang out with a tone Samus had never heard before. His voice was husky and gruff, the tension in his whole body clear in the venom with which he spat her name. He was not just angry; he was furious. "Private comms. Now."
She knew her stunt was going to piss him off, though she had not imagined he would be this angry about it. She had never heard him struggling to maintain control of his emotions, a testament to how she had tried his patience. She issued a mental command and switched over to private communications between her and Adam. "Private comms, go ahead." Tactful, business-like, professional. It would probably get him even angrier, but she felt like gloating.
"What the hell did you think you were doing." His voice was stern but he was still trying keep his temper in check.
"Saving Anthony's life. You're welcome, by the way."
His voice came out like a growl, "You disobeyed a direct order. Knowingly and willingly. If I hadn't pushed through the Varia suit when I did both of you would be dead. And from your tone I take it you would do it again."
Her response was instant. "That's right, I would. I had complete faith in you."
"Don't be smart with me," he shrugged off the intended compliment. "A lot can happen in ten years, you had no way of knowing I was capable of wrangling the system in time."
"But you came through for me after all," Samus said with a smirk. "Maybe you should have a little more faith in me, Adam. After all I've learned a lot in ten years."
Adam did not immediately respond. The silence conveyed his disappointment more than any of his words ever could. When he spoke again he was not angry anymore, simply resigned. "You still blame me for Ian."
That knocked the wind from her sails. She had been about to start skipping but that sent her crashing back to earth. She winced. That was a low blow and Adam knew it. Samus clicked her tongue. "No. I used to, when I was a child, but I get it. You were minimizing your losses. The risk was too great, the odds of success too low. You had a duty to the other people onboard. Ian was a soldier too. He knew the risks. As a Federation officer you made the right call."
Adam's voice still held disapproval. "And yet you still would have tried to save him."
"Yes, always." Samus felt her face scrunch up unbidden. "I'm not a Federation officer. Even as a soldier I was a bad one, you knew that. You can go on about protocol and acceptable losses, and you aren't wrong, but if I have the power to save someone and I don't it's almost the same as if I killed them myself. I won't stand by and be told some people have to die not because I can't save them but that I shouldn't."
"It is not a virtue to throw yourself into danger without regard for the consequences of failure. It's childish."
"Oh fuck you." She slammed a fist into the wall. Something about that word set her teeth on edge. "It's not childish to have some basic humanity!"
"You say you learned a lot in ten years," Adam sighed. "I strongly disagree. You've learned nothing. Now get back to your mission." It was difficult for the soft click of a communicator turning off to convey a sense of dismissal but Adam managed it. Samus fired into the door, which opened with an unsatisfying helpful whirr. She stomped through to the hallway beyond with a frustrated growl. She needed to find something to blow up.
"Yo," Higgs said. Crap, he was still here and must have heard half that conversation. Samus stopped in mid-stride and clenched her hands into fists. "Didn't mean to overhear anything but you weren't exactly keeping your voices down. I figured with how you left the army it would be complicated to see each other again but pheeeeew I thought you had disrespect for authority before. I ain't never heard Adam get like that either. Everything all right with you two?"
"Just great," Samus snarked. "In fact me leaving was one of the topics of discussion. Turns out he still doesn't feel I should have any pride in my accomplishments or faith in my abilities. Unbelievable, he still thinks of me as a helpless child. Whatever, I don't care what he thinks. I have a near-perfect mission record, I've saved the universe dozens of times, I don't need my former CO to tell me I've done a good job."
Higgs nodded. "I see where you're coming from. But I don't know if that's what he's thinking. Adam, he cares a lot in his own way. Just like you. Heh, you wouldn't be getting so pissed if you didn't care about how he felt."
Damn it. Higgs always knew exactly how to cut through bullshit, whether it was army bureaucracy, civilian red tape, or hers. He was right, of course, if she really had no need of Adam's approval she would not have let that word sting her so. "Childish". Indeed, it had been childish of her to get so offended by such a minor rebuke. She took her clenched fist and knocked it against her helmet. Focus, Samus! "Maybe," she said. "But we still have jobs to do. We can work through our issues at a nice coffeehouse on Earth, but until then we're just going to have to work around them. You going to be okay?" He responded with a thumbs-up. "I'll see where else I can go with the Varia, so I'll be here a while longer. Let me know if you need anything."
"Adam," Samus spoke into her communicator. "Private comms."
There was a tiny click. "Private comms, go ahead." As if their fight never happened. Ordinarily that might have annoyed her but this time his compartmentalization was a boon.
"Do you know where the other members of your unit are right now?"
"I don't," he said. "A number of the cameras have been disabled and not every angle was covered to begin with. My surveillance of the facility is at less than 20% and Higgs is the only one responding to comms right now."
"Are there any other soldiers on the ship besides us? Like, did another unit dock recently? Or could there have been other soldiers on-site before we arrived?"
"Absolutely not," Adam said. "I would have informed you if they had, and while I don't have good eyes inside the ship the radar is functioning normally. If any other ship got within a million miles I would know about it. If there were soldiers on the ship already we would have run into some trace of them by now, even if was only weapon fire or discarded armor plating. Why?"
"I ran into a survivor," Samus updated him. "We were attacked and lost sight of each other. She was hiding because she was convinced the Federation Army would send cleaners instead of a rescue crew, and I think she was right to be worried. I just saw one Federation soldier kill another."
Adam took a deep breath. "I see." Those two words said it all. With no other army presence other than Adam and his team there was only one obvious conclusion: one member of Adam's crew had just killed one of his crewmates. Which meant…
"One of us is a traitor." Samus said it out loud. "It could be any of us."
"Not 'any' of us," Adam said his thoughts openly. "For instance it couldn't be you. Other bounty hunters might have taken a job to eliminate us but you wouldn't. Even if you didn't know it was us when the job was handed to you. It isn't your style. You also aren't cunning enough to kill someone and then invent a story about how you saw someone else do it. You're too straightforward for that kind of plot and you always have been. And Higgs I have absolute faith in. Even if he could be persuaded to turn traitor he'd be terrible at it." That brought a smile to Samus' lips even though Adam did not mean it as a joke. "That leaves my other subordinates, the ones from other teams I don't know as well."
"To put it in Federation report terms, Lyle had 'injuries incompatible with life'," Samus said. Even with such passive language remembering the state of his corpse put a sick feeling in her stomach. "He may have been able to hack his suit to pronounce him dead but he could neither have faked those injuries nor survived them. There is no way he faked his death. That leaves three suspects. Pierce, Misawa, and Favreau."
"You don't suspect me?"
"Adam don't joke about that." Samus realized her voice sounded harsh and took a breath to center herself. "The traitor's purpose must be to kill everyone else to keep the secrets of this ship under wraps. You would never be involved in the kind of genetic experimentation they've been doing here."
"I thought the same about you, once."
Samus winced. Really? Here, now? "Adam, that's beside the point. I don't want to talk about that right now. It's different, alright?"
"Fine. Three suspects. Two once you can verify the identity of the victim. That should be your next goal."
"Trying to find a way to get there now, it would help if you sent a map my way. Assuming you can't give me Space Jump so I can take the direct path?"
"Negative," Adam said. Samus clicked her tongue. Once again, the hard way it was. "And Samus? Be careful."
"I should be worried about you," she said with a tiny smile. "Your position is static and you would be much easier to kill than legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran."
"Actually, that's why I would be saved for last," he said thoughtfully. "We're the only reason you haven't activated all your upgrades yet. The traitor may reason that once I'm dead you may decide 'to hell with it' and provoke the ship's defenses. As powerful as you are, he would stand even less of a chance against the entire ship trying to kill him. And, well, you're hard to take down. He couldn't depend on the ship taking care of you. On the other hand, he might feel like he can pick me off whenever he feels like it. The situation might change if another vessel comes to investigate, but for the moment I'm safe as long as you're safe. Remember that. Any objections, Lady?"
Samus "hmmm"ed in thought. His reasoning was sound but he seemed too confident about it, especially since the cost of being wrong would be his death. But ultimately it was his life he was gambling with, and she had long ago learned she could not persuade him to change course once he came to a command decision. "You can't see me but I'm giving you a thumbs down as hard as I can."
"As long as it's a thumb down and not a middle finger up," Adam said. "Out."
Samus clicked her communicator off. Now then, how to get up to that hallway…?
Samus was deep in Sector 3, where the reactor and smelters provided a biome perfect for the Zebesian creatures from the volcanic sectors of Norfair. She passed by the shell of a creature nearby, an exoskeleton resembling the lizard creature that killed Lyle and attacked her. She remembered finding a similar "shell" of the fluffy creature shortly before being attacked that first time. Did that mean the creature's new form was lying in wait nearby? She checked her energy and ammo levels: still high. If this meeting was going to be anything like their last one Samus was ready for a fight. She opened the thermal door and noted her Varia compensate for the difference in ambient temperature. This next room was, in fact, so hot it was impeding visibility; thick smoke and wavy heat lines prevented her from seeing more than a few meters in front of her. The room consisted of a series of thin handrailed walkways suspended over a long drop, and though she could not see exactly what laid below the bright red glow and extreme heat left little room for doubt.
A large and dark shape soared over her and she trained her arm cannon on it. She was about to fire when a stream of heavy plasma flew out in pursuit of the dark shape, though as far as she could tell none of the shots scored a blow. "Hold fire!" she shouted, running towards the source of the plasma. The heavy weapons specialist on Adam's team, assigned to explore Sector 3, was…
A Federation army soldier holding a massive heavy plasma blaster came running out of the mist to meet her. "Samus?" Anthony Higgs shouted. "Damn, sorry, I was aiming for that thing flying around. For being so huge it's hard drawing a bead on it. Doesn't help I can't see a blasted thing in here."
Samus got into position behind Higgs, the two of them standing back to back to keep an eye on every angle. "You don't have to be sorry, we haven't seen each other for a couple hours now. My fault for not being clear of your line of fire. What are we up against?"
"Who even knows? This thing's been stalking me and I can't get a clear shot. I was trying to get some distance but-" he was interrupted by the sound of screeching metal and debris in the direction Samus had come from. "Damn it, I think that was the door. We're stuck in here with this thing now."
Samus got in touch with Adam through her communicator, "Adam, do you read my location? Visibility is poor and we're under attack, is there any chance of backup?"
Adam's voice came in response, "Negative, given the conditions on the ground it's not safe to reveal you two are in danger." By which he meant, he was no closer to rooting out which of the remaining two members of his team was the traitor. "But whoever and whatever the enemy is you'll have a new weapon against it. I have added Super Missiles to the ship's registry, it is now safe to use them. You and Higgs working together should be more than a match for any enemy." Samus acknowledged the intel and scanned the surroundings. Whatever it is had to be somewhere close.
The grating shook as something large and heavy landed to Samus' left. She and Anthony both trained their guns on it and saw the shape at the same time. It was huge, somewhere between 4 and 5 meters tall. The body was thin and svelte, with a long and thin head ending in a beak-like protrusion. It had six limbs, two each of arms, legs, and wings, as well as a long tail covered with spines and ending in a wicked barb. Its two eyes focused on Samus, glowing orange in the gloom with recognition and pure hatred. Samus recognized the shape at once. She had seen it too many times to ever mistake it for anyone else.
No. No.
Higgs asked, "Is that… Ridley? He's supposed to be dead, what's he-"
The purple creature stood on all fours and shrieked loudly enough to shake the walls. Before he finished Samus had already fired a blast of plasma into his mouth, cutting off his attempt to frighten them. Samus fired again and again as she advanced, pushing the monster back through equal parts force of will and force of arms. She screamed, "I killed you, I killed you, and I killed you again! Why won't you stay dead?!"
Ridley leapt back into the steam and out of sight. But he would not run away just like that, no way. Ridley was cunning and cruel, and she had no doubt even this newly hatched version had the same sadistic instincts and perhaps a burning hunger for revenge for the bounty hunter who had defeated him so many times before. Her eyes darted one way then another, searching for a brief flicker of movement, a faint shadow, a parting of mists that would be her only warning before being skewered. She did not see the attack coming but she did hear it, a scrape of metal and a rush of air as something tried to dive-bomb her from behind. She dodged to the side as a spiked and pointed tail shot through where her heart had been a split second earlier. She grabbed onto the tail, ignoring her suit's warning that the spines were penetrating the suit's armor, riding it up into the mists as Ridley tried to fly back into the steam. Her visor flashed another warning that the steam was approaching temperatures too high for even the Varia to compensate for.
"Samus," Adam's voice failed to cut through the fog of anger. "Your vitals are going crazy. What's happening down there?"
"Why is it!" she screamed. "No matter how many missions I complete! No matter how many times I save the universe!"
Ridley cracked his tail like a whip, slamming Samus into the wall with a crunch of metal. Somehow she kept her grip on the tail, though instead of strongly hugging it she now dangled precariously by her arm. Ridley swung his tail back up toward his head, his jaws open to bite his nemesis in half.
"No matter how many years go by! I always end up staring!"
She let go of the tail and dove to the side, locking on to the side of Ridley's mouth. Her Grapple Beam latched on and pulled her to his shoulder, where she wrapped one arm around his mouth to keep it shut like an alligator wrestler. Ridley's eyes widened the moment before Samus jammed her arm cannon directly into one of them.
"Into the fucking maw! Of fucking Ridley?!"
She poured missile after missile into Ridley's eyes at point-blank range. Her suit was taking heavy damage every second but she did not care, all that mattered was sending Ridley back to hell as fast as humanly possible. Ridley roared in pain and anger, flailing wildly to try and shake her off. He dove into the wall headfirst, finally knocking her loose at considerable damage to himself. Samus hit the ground in a roll and aimed back up toward the beast, but by then Ridley had already flown back up into the mists.
Why couldn't she move on? Why would the galaxy not let her move on? She was supposed to be done with the space pirates. She was supposed to be over this!
There was a brief flash of light in the smoke. Ridley getting ready to dump fire from his mouth. That suited her fine. Super Missiles were just unlocked and she knew right where to put one. She aimed up at the source of light and charged the Super Missile. Ridley breathed out, bathing her in flames hotter than plasma. There was a ringing in her ears now, warning claxons from her suit layered over each other in a cacophonous symphony. "Your suit's integrity has been compromised," Adam warned. "You need to back off and let it heal. Disengage from the enemy, I repeat, disengage immediately."
"One shot," she said more to herself than to Adam. "One explosive payload right down his fucking throat. Let's see the bastard come back from this!" She fired the super missile and watched it fly through the column of flames enveloping her. Time seemed to slow down as she anticipated the glorious moment Ridley's head would explode from the inside.
A stream of plasma bolts slammed into Ridley, stopping the flow of flames and knocking him out of the way of the missile entirely. It flew past and exploded somewhere on the ceiling far above, while Ridley vanished back into the mists. The best shot she was ever likely to get, gone.
"Anthony, what are you doing?!" She stomped up to him, seeing red. "If you waited two seconds my missile would have-"
Higgs punched Samus in the center of her chest. Normally a punch from a normal human in unpowered armor would hardly have registered; instead she stumbled backwards, her suit doing nothing to soften the blow. Only now did she realize how precarious her situation was; her suit was practically about to fall apart, its situation so dire it could not even send warning signals out any more. She was amazed it had taken so much damage in so short a time… but then, she had been incredibly reckless. Much more so than she had any right to. Ridley was not an enemy she could face with no regard for her safety. Her face felt hot; she was acting like a fool. "A-Anthony," she said. "I'm sorry. I, don't know what came over me, I-"
"Glad to have you back with us," he said with a chuckle. He handed her a plasma cartridge. "Here, remember Alkacea? When we figured out your suit can use these to recharge? I was saving this one for a rainy day and man is it stormy in here."
In truth it was a desperate act. That single cartridge could keep his heavy plasma gun firing for thousands of rounds but would only charge her suit once. She never figured she would be in such trouble that she would be forced to do this for real, but she had no one to blame but herself. She plugged in the cartridge and felt her suit harden up again as its energy was restored. No excess, so she could not even offer the dregs back. "Thanks," she said. "I owe you."
"If we both make it out of this alive I'll consider it payment in full," Higgs laughed. "But let's get rid of this damn fog first! Hey Adam, you got a plan for that?"
"I do," he said. Samus winced; he sounded old, like he had aged ten years in the last five minutes. "The vents are clogged and damaged, that's why the visual interference is so bad. Samus, clear them out with a Super Missile. Just be ready: once he's no longer able to hide Ridley will be coming right for you."
"Got it," Samus said, locating the vents. Okay Ridley, round 2. No stupid mistakes this time.
(AN: A boss fight would go here. Unlike the original game Anthony Higgs would be present to offer support fire. An important note is that Higgs would take care of himself, avoiding attacks and counterattacking on his own. This is not an escort mission, rather this is Higgs' proving himself as an asset and a friend, making up for needing to be rescued previously. The player is supposed to care about Higgs, and making him a millstone around the player's neck would only breed resentment.)
She and Higgs together had Ridley on the ropes. Despite the hate which still burned in her heart she was able to keep her anger in check, carefully whittling down her enemy while avoiding unnecessary risks. Anthony was also more than holding his own, lugging his hulking weapon with ease and grace borne of long and hard-fought experience. She knew Ridley was in much the same mind that she was at the beginning of the fight, enraged beyond reason and lusting for blood. He was going to slip up soon. She had done this dance enough times to know Ridley was going to make a fatal mistake soon. He always did when his plans did not work out.
True to form Ridley flew high up into the air, perching onto a wall near the ceiling. He launched himself like a bullet towards Samus with a blood-curlding screech. But his mistake was getting too much lead-time, giving Samus a chance to load up a Super Missile and launch it directly into his open mouth. The explosion tore a hole in his stomach and turned his warrior kiai into a strangled cry. But he did not change or alter his course in any way. That should have killed him. No, he was already dead, even if his body or mind had not registered it. His body was disintegrating in mid-flight but he paid it no mind, even death not enough to stop him from his kamikaze strike. Instinct and combat experience told her there would still be enough of his body left to do significant damage by the time it reached her, and also that she was off-balance enough that she could not react quickly enough to get out of the way.
"Samus!"
Something slammed into her right side, knocking her off her feet. It was not enough of a blow to get her out of the way completely but it was enough to turn it into a glancing blow which spun her around but failed to penetrate the thick Chozo armor. Higgs, she realized, he must have saved her, hitting her with a shoulder charge. On the other hand, he was now about to take the brunt of the attack. Higgs held up his heavy plasma blaster like a shield, a desperate act. Ridley's claws tore through the gun with ease, blunting them of enough of their momentum to keep Higgs from being run through. But Ridley's sheer mass and velocity were more than enough to send Higgs flying backwards, off the platform and into the open air with nothing but magma far below. Ridley's remains tumbled down along with him, though by the time he dropped out of view only his head remained.
"Anthony!" Samus screamed, running to the edge of the platform, Grapple Beam already loaded. She looked over, ready to grab onto anything that looked even remotely like Anthony. But there was nothing; just the red glow of magma. No matter how she strained her eyes or zoomed in she could not see any trace of Anthony Higgs or their enemy. She finally turned away from the edge and opened her communicator back up. "Samus reporting. Ridley… destroyed," she panted. "But Anthony… to save me, he…" Her throat tightened. She could not say it. Saying it would make it real and not just a horrible vision…
"I see," Adam said. "He was a fine soldier. More than that he was a good friend. He will be dearly missed."
Samus felt an indescribable something welling up in her. "Is that all you have to say?"
Adam sighed deeply. "After a… certain incident, most of my crew left to take on other assignments. Anthony Higgs was the only one to stick by my side. Other than you there is no one else whose career and life I've been more of a part of, and he let me in gladly. It may not be my place to say this, but he missed you these past ten years. Even then he never blamed you for leaving. He told me you had to find your own way no matter how little of a role we had in your future, and he said it with a smile. Soldiers die all the time, many of them for stupid or nonsensical reasons. If he died protecting you then I'm… I'm absolutely positive, he did it with no regrets."
Samus breathed out. That was a more fitting eulogy. "Thank you, Adam."
"And Samus? I didn't see what happened but I don't need to. I don't blame you for it. You shouldn't either." With that he clicked off.
Samus knelt down and punched the ground with her fist. Her mistake, her sloppiness. Adam could say what he wanted but she knew why Anthony was dead. She wanted to roll up into a ball and hide somewhere to mourn, but there was no time for that now. The mission took priority. She stood up and took stock of her surroundings. Now that she was not fighting for her life there had to be an exit…
Samus turned a corner and finally found it. The last bay door leading to the forbidden wing of the ship, where the Metroids waited for her. Somehow, it always came to this. Samus Aran, bounty hunter, scourge of the Metroids, would always find Metroids wherever she went. Even now when they were officially extinct she could not escape them. She was trying to stay focused. When facing Metroids even one mistake could be fatal. But it was hard to shake that feeling of exhausted nostalgia, that sense that she had done all this before. Ah shit, here we go again. It would be funny if the stakes not just for her but the entire galaxy were not so high. She mentally prepared herself as she approached the airlock doors, reached out to open them-
"Samus!"
She whirled around, arm cannon at the ready. If it took superhuman reflexes to react that quickly, then the reflexes needed to recognize her target and keep herself from firing was nothing short of divine. "Adam, you scared me. Where have you been? I haven't been able to raise you on comms since I ran into-"
"Madeline Bergman, yes, I know. She's been jamming our communicators ever since your second meeting with her. That's one of the things I needed to talk to you about. But before anything else…" He stood up to his full height, still needing to crane his neck up slightly to look Samus in the face. "I need to ask about the hatchling Metroid."
Samus rolled her eyes. "You came all this way to ask me that? In case you weren't aware we have bigger problems on our hands right-"
Adam was undeterred. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on an answer this time. You had to have known the scientists there would perform genetic experimentation on the Metroid, either of their own volition or after being forced to by the military. You had to have known possession of the last living Metroid would have made that laboratory a target for Space Pirates as well."
"The scientists knew it too," Samus said. "I don't know why they accepted knowing that. Maybe they were blinded by the fame, maybe, like me, they didn't figure an attack would come before I even left the planetary system. I can only guess what they were thinking. I can't ask them any more."
Adam shook his head. "I should have worded that better. Samus, you've seen what the Army has been doing here. This is exactly why I have opposed genetic research for my entire career and why I've tried my best to instill that among my subordinates. I will admit, when I read the report and found you gave the last Metroid over I didn't know what to think. You said you hoped the research would be used for peaceful purposes, but that struck me as a kind of naive that I know you aren't. So I must ask: why did you really do it? Why did you give the Metroid over, knowing it was a possibility that you were handing an extremely dangerous weapon to people who could misuse it?"
"You really wanna know?" Samus's breath was ragged, her throat tight. "I was sent to SR388 to kill every last Metroid. My mission was to exterminate them. Wipe them off the face of the universe. I went into the deepest depths of that planet, where there wasn't a single living thing because the Metroids had killed everything else. I saw first-hand the threat they posed, and you know what? I'm not sure if exterminating them was the right call. I didn't know then and I still don't know now. But I had a mission and I saw it through right up until I didn't. I found one tiny hatchling who saw me as its mother and had never hurt anyone. I decided that's where I would draw the line. I couldn't look a baby in the face and blast it to pieces. So I spared it. And that baby ended up dying anyway, and a whole lot of Federation scientists besides, all because I didn't want to be known as the bounty hunter that committed genocide." She was nearly screaming now, her whole body felt taut. "There, that's the story, are you happy now? I tried to save someone I thought I could save and it blew up in my face! I was wrong, you were right, I'm a child and a weakling and-"
Her suit registered an 02 warning, and she only just then noticed she was hyperventilating. She crossed her arms in what might have been giving herself a hug. "… and it's all happened again. I could have saved Favreau. If I was a little bit faster I could have caught his killer before they got away. Maybe even gotten there in time before his wounds claimed him. If I had been more observant maybe Lyle wouldn't have been killed by that… young Ridley thing. Misawa has gone dark, and I can't help but think I'm going to turn a corner and find him dead. Higgs… I lost my head and he died saving me from Ridley. And Pierce-"
"Pierce was the traitor," Adam finished for her. "He tried to murder the woman who called herself 'Madeline' the moment you left." She should not have been surprised. Every other member of the crew was dead, and Adam could not possibly be the traitor. Process of elimination. But Adam saying it so bluntly forced her to come to terms with it: Pierce had murdered his fellow Federation soldiers as part of a cover-up. Adam continued, "He's dead now, I saw it all. What Pierce did not know is that was not the real Madeline Bergman. That was an android, gifted with the same kind of psychic abilities Mother Brain once had. He was ripped to shreds by her powers." He approached her with calm, careful steps. "Samus, she was sending you to your death. The Metroids in that wing have been genetically altered to be invulnerable to cold and more heavily armored than ever. None of your weapons will be able to harm them. What's more, part of the research on this station confirmed the Metroid hatchling was special; it had the capability of becoming a Queen, and that's what gave it the capacity to do good. These Metroids don't have that. All they think about is eating and killing. You won't be able to reason with them or expect them to reciprocate kindness."
"So what do you want me to do, ignore them?" Samus stood up to her full height. "I can't do that. First you tell me they can't be destroyed, then that they're too dangerous to let live and have to be destroyed? There has to be a way. I've always found a way to fight back before, maybe there's something there I can use to-"
"Samus." Adam put a hand on her shoulder. "As a Federation officer I can't condone you going off-mission, either today or ten years ago. I'm also not pleased you decided to give the Metroid hatchling over for genetic experiments. But… as a human I can't condemn you either. You were doing the best you could with the options you had. And we can play 'would have, could have, should have' all day, it changes nothing. As an officer every decision we make is the best one we can make at the time. Maybe if we had more intel or more time we could have done things differently. But we didn't, and that's not on us. Samus, you're more capable than any single person in the Federation. You can do things normal soldiers like Higgs and I can only dream of. And somewhere along the line, I think you started believing you can do anything, or that you should do everything. But there is a lot wrong with this universe and no one person can fix everything and save everyone. Not even you. I think you already know this, but you haven't… internalized it yet. Or maybe haven't accepted it. And if I'm being honest, that's always been one of the things I've admired most about you." Her breath caught in her throat. "That refusal to accept reality, that anger at being told something can't be done… perhaps it is childish and stubborn, but if so it's a childishness that suits you. You would not be half the hero you are if you did whatever you were told and to heck with anyone that got hurt. You chose to protect that Metroid's life. That's a kind of humanity I would never want to see you lose. In spite of everything I'm proud of you."
For years there had been a weight bearing down on her shoulders which she refused to acknowledge. Expectation, regret, a messiah complex, call it what you would, but it was always there, omnipresent, coloring everything she did and every thought she had. She could no more understand she was being crushed than a fish could understand what "water" was. Adam's words did not lift the weight entirely but they did lighten it, which in a way was much more cruel. Only now she understood how much that weight had been affecting her, not just on this mission but her whole life. Part of her hated him for that, only a small part. Most of her was jubilant and proud, relieved to know after all these years he had never hated her, in fact he was proud at who she was and all she had accomplished. But there was another part of her, the part that made her skin crawl and the hair stand up on her neck. That tone of voice he was using sounded like… he was saying goodbye. "…Why are you telling me all this?"
Adam explained, "There is an army force en route to this location. Given the distress beacon has been neutralized I can only assume they are from the same faction which was conducting this research in the first place. These Metroids cannot be allowed to fall into the Army's hands. There is also no way to stop them short of overwhelming destructive force that would destroy the ship itself. Even your armaments aren't capable of that. Lyle might have been able to disable the safety locks which prevent auto-pilot from taking self-destructive actions but I can't. That's why someone is going to have to jettison this part of the ship from the main hull and guide it into the local star manually. It would be a suicide mission."
"There has to be another way," Samus said, fear gripping her. She could see the rest of this conversation playing out, see where it was heading, and being unable to stop it. "Adam, just trust me, I can explore those labs safely and find another way, there's-"
"We don't know that," Adam interrupted. "And I can't risk it, not with the whole galaxy at stake. And you're too important to die here, not when there's still so much you have left to accomplish. Between you and me it's an obvious choice."
"So you're going to throw your life away to protect mine," Samus shook her head. She lifted her arm cannon, not yet pointing it at him but letting him know she could and would. "You have to know I would never let you do that."
"Of course I know," Adam said. "That's why the decision is not yours to make or to protest." A blast of energy hit Samus squarely in the back, sending her sprawling to the floor. The moment she landed clamps erupted from the floor and locked around her wrists and ankles to immobilize her. "I have a pretty good handle on the security system by now," Adam explained. "Even from here I can not only change the parameters of what it considers a threat but how it responds to those threats. Just now I listed your Power Suit as a low-level threat to be detained. I know it won't work for long but it only has to hold you for a moment. Long enough so you don't get any ideas about having your cake and eating it too. I apologize for the rough treatment, but it shouldn't do any real harm to someone of your abilities." He pressed a button to open the airlock to the forbidden sector.
Abilities! Samus hurriedly began turning her optional systems to standby. Screw Attack off, Space Jump off, Plasma Beam off. "Adam!" she screamed, struggling against her bonds. "Adam, you can't do this! I'm sorry about Sector 3, alright? I understand you were upset that I threw myself into danger, I get it, you don't have to make me feel what you felt! Let me go! ADAM!"
"A good commander assigns tasks to the members of the team best suited to deal with those tasks," Adam mused. "The galaxy needs you far, far more than it needs me. These are my last orders: I have confirmed there is one survivor on board this ship, and it is my suspicion that this is the real Madeline Bergman. I have placed her last known location on your map; seek her out and rescue her from this ship. The army must not be allowed to bury what has happened here."
Bombs off, Speed Booster off, Super Missile off, faster faster faster she wasn't going to make it!
He stepped through the airlock and pushed a button on the other side to shut the doors. "Any objections, Lady?"
"Yes!" she screamed through her tears. "So many! Don't do this! Don't leave me alone!" But Adam paid no heed to them, only giving her a wistful smile as the bay doors began to close.
Varia Suit off, Morph Ball off, Ice Beam off. Reverted to baseline functionality.
The wires wrapped around her receded and she threw herself at the doors just in time for them to slam shut in her face. The telltale "fsssshhht" of a vacuum forming indicated they were locked tight and would not reopen. She pounded on the doors, tried to work her fingers into the seam, but it was no use. She screamed again for Adam to stop even though she knew he could no longer hear her, not with the communicators still out. She looked through the window to make one last plea, but he was facing away from her. A second set of doors closed between her and him, followed by a series of clunks as he released the locks keeping the sector attached. He began to recede with alarming speed as the propulsion systems came online, sending Adam to his final destination. Only then did he turn back to look at her one last time.
She should have given him the thumbs up. It was the last time, she owed that to him. But she did not feel it in her heart. She could not sign off on this. She slammed a thumbs-down into the window. Perhaps the familiar sight brought him comfort. She had no way of knowing. She was too far away to see the tiny changes in his expression that might have revealed how he felt. In only a moment he was gone, his window lost among the details of the ship.
And that was it. She was alone again.
She collapsed against the bay doors and slid down to her knees. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair! She came here to help, but none of it amounted to anything! Adam was dead, his team was dead, everyone on the ship was dead, dead, dead! In the end she could not save anyone. Some warrior! Some savior of the galaxy! Even in her suit she felt small and weak and useless. All this time and she was still that child left alone in the ruins of her colony, with no one to care for her and no life to go back to. Adam was right: she really had learned nothing. The galaxy would not let move on because she had not moved on. That was what Adam had been trying to tell her. Revenge was not the same as catharsis and never had been. She was supposed to be an invincible warrior. She was supposed to be strong, so strong she could give without needing to take. Nothing could harm her and nothing could stop her. So strong she could save everyone. For years she believed her own bullshit. She really believed it was in her power to keep everyone from being hurt so that no other children would have to grow up as she had. And she failed, completely and utterly.
… But it wasn't over, was it? Just because Adam's original team had been wiped out did not mean the mission was a failure. Perhaps it would have failed already if they had not chanced to run into a bounty hunter who happened to be in the area as well. And while, yes, she was working pro bono she could still do what they no longer could.
"Alright Adam." There were things only she could do. He gave her an objective. If nothing else she owed it to him to see it through. "One last mission. For you." She picked herself off the floor and reactivated her abilities. Just as Adam promised the security system allowed it. She was growing stronger with each passing moment, reclaiming the powers which had always been hers. Larger, stronger, better armed, better armored. Finally she turned on the Gravity Suit, Adam's last gift to her. Only one upgrade remained, the Power Bomb. She supposed that would be one way to deal with the ship's security system, but she could not risk it yet. She turned back the way she came, filled with a new purpose. Maybe she could not save everyone. Maybe she could accept that while still trying her best to prove it wrong. Become the warrior she needed to be without sacrificing her soul or her heart. That started here and now, with this choice to get up. There was a survivor to rescue. Someone else was still counting on her. There was still some good she could do here.
