CHAPTER 12: THE PITS OF HELL

Hunter Log 3848
That man...he looked strangely familiar. More muscular than who I picture him being...but that could be the result of the process...no matter.

If the Chozo are being kept on the next rock, then that's where I've got to go.

I might stay here and rest, though. It's been too long of a day...

Samus out...

Piquing her curiosity, she turned around and tried to reopen the door she had just come though.

It rejected her command to open.

She tried again, but with the same result.

The door had been locked from the other side.

"Why did he lock the door? Did he not want me to see him die?" Samus thought.

It's not like she hadn't seen death and destruction before, especially as a result of her own actions...

She bent over, placing one hand on the floor, and rested against the control panel to the energy bridge. As usual, she reached up and disengaged it.

The portal sealed, leaving Samus in a small, bluish darkness, which soon facilitated her weary eyes.

----------------------------

"H-help...please..."

"Acceptable losses..."

"Why did you do this to me?"

"Well, our intelligence 'did' point to an attack on Ceres Station by Space Pirates..."

"Why did you do that..."

"Shoot or be shot, kill or be killed...you remember that, don't you?"

"...I...I...don't want to...die here..."

----------------------------

Samus jolted awake. She immediately had to remove her helmet from the intense heat and condensation inside. She felt like she could have drowned in it.

Gasping for air, Samus threw the helmet across the room. She pulled her legs behind her and braced herself, leaning forward. Gastric juices splattered onto the floor and speckled onto the walls and onto Samus herself.

She rolled onto her back, outside the puddle of vomit, and tried to relax.

After a while, her breathing slowed, and her body temperature lowered.

The dream was terrible. All of the images of the past...tormenting shadows...the destruction of Zebes, the hunter on the asteroid, the annihilation of the shipbuilding station, the hunter killed by the metroid, and the little girl...

"What am I doing..." Samus sighed.

She didn't have time to doubt herself.

Despite not feeling rested, Samus made it to her feet and donned her helmet once again, looking toward the portal to the energy bridge.

She activated it and waited for it to reach its destination.

With a heavy sigh, and a heart just the same, Samus continued onto the bridge.

She carried herself in a different manner than before. Her feet were dragging across the artificial surface. The weight of her hands seemed to hold her arms at bay at her sides. Her shoulders also seemed to be a load as she leaned slightly forward.

"Why am I here?" she asked herself. "For my own good? For personal gain? Is it really my job, or do I have a choice, too?"

She stopped. She didn't want to go on. She shouldn't have to. What about what SHE wanted? Couldn't she get HER way?

She wanted to call her ship and take off from this cluster of rocks that caused her so much grief. It was time for her to take her life back...the life that had been stolen from her for all these years.

All the resentment, all the anger, all the frustration of all of her experiences began to culminate...

Then she heard a noise.

A loud scream...not human, but painful and desperate all the same. She had to act, no time to think.

Samus gathered herself and rushed across the energy bridge. At the end of it, she came to a junction and heard the noise again...to her left.

She dashed down the corridor and sensed heat growing around her. A dim red hue grew progressively on the walls and floor. Samus ignored it and kept moving.

The light grew more and more as the noise grew louder and louder each time she heard it.

She finally reached the end of the corridor...and began to fall as the red light engulfed her.

In the middle of her tumble, Samus looked down. All she saw was molten rock, bubbling into plumes of methane and ash.

She reached out toward the rock wall. She continued to plummet as her fingers dug into the stone, leaving deep depressions as she fell downward. She strain on her shoulder was intense.

She gritted her teeth as the stress began to get to her fingers. At any moment, they could break and she would fall helplessly into the hellish pit...and it would all end.

Her fingers finally took hold on a jutting rock structure.

Her thoughts of death vanished. It wasn't time yet. She couldn't just give up like that. Not here. Not now.

"I hate this planet, and I'm not about to die here," she said to herself.

Samus looked down. She was maybe a hundred feet above the burning lake. There was a small ledge ten feet below her. It would be small enough to stand on, and good enough to rest her arm.

Faithful, she let go and slid to the ledge. She turned and looked at the room. Across the fiery reservoir stood a massive group of Chozo, guarded by a few pirates. To the far left of the shore, one pirate had a sort of branding device.

One by one, the Chozo approached him. He would dip the brand into the lava, and then press it firmly on the back of the docile creatures. They would cry out in agony as their flesh was seared several layers deep.

Samus couldn't bear the sight...or the sound. She had to act.

There was no real way to cross the pit...except for a few pillars of rock that rose from the lake and connected to the ceiling.

Knowing that she'd draw attention, Samus had to act quickly. There was one pillar directly in front of her, and another, slightly past the first, and a little to the right. She took in a deep breath and fired two super missiles at each of the structures.

One struck each pillar at the top and the bottom, severing them from their bases. Next she fired two successive energy blasts, one aimed at the bottom of the first pillar, and the other aimed at the top of the second.

After the shots connected, the first pillar leaned and crashed into the lake toward Samus. Avoiding the wave of molten rock, she leapt over it and landed on the new "bridge". She ran toward the base and watched the other pillar fall toward the opposite shore, crushing one of the pirates on patrol.

Samus jumped from the end of the first pillar to the second pillar and continued toward the beach.

The remaining pirates opened fire on Samus. Charged plasma shots nearly filled the air as they whizzed past her body. She somersaulted off and landed her dismount on the rocky shore.

Samus returned fire on the pirates, picking them off one at a time. The pirate with the brand ran at Samus with the lava-tipped instrument raised over his head.

He swung at her head and she leaned back under it, letting it pass over her face. He immediately swung again, downward, and Samus caught it in her hand. After a short struggle, she wrenched it away from the pirate and tossed it into the lake.

The pirate, enraged, crouched, ready to tackle Samus. He struck quickly and suddenly, like a cobra...but instead of Samus, he met a very large hand...

A Chozo had reached out and grabbed the pirate by the face. It struggled to break free, but couldn't escape the grasp of the mighty bird.

The Chozo raised the pirate over its head, and the herd roared in response. It then slung the pirate toward the ground, then launched the flailing alien into the air.

The pirate sprawled as it flew and landed with a thud in the middle of a host of Chozo. After a few minutes, the pirate flew through the air again, this time landing with a thick splash in his new molten grave.

Samus turned to see the avian army all looking at her.

She now had an army at her disposal, but how will she get them out?