CHAPTER 13

"I…can't see…" said Lita.

"Neither can I," Samus responded.

"I can," Cade replied.

"You can?" Lita asked.

"Always could. Kinda weird, huh?" Cade uttered, "Follow my footsteps and listen to me."

Cade walked forward and up a ramp. Lita and Samus followed, both stumbling on the incline at first.

"Shield your eyes," Cade ordered.

There was a loud clang, followed by the sizzle of electricity.

"You should be able to see now," Cade said.

As they opened their eyes, Samus and Lita beheld a massive munitions storage compartment, still filled to the brim with conventional weaponry.

"This…is the storage bay of a Federation Battle Cruiser!" Lita exclaimed.

"This is not just any battle cruiser…I know this ship…it's the Azure Eagle…Adam's old ship…" Samus remarked.

"So that's why…they didn't shoot it down…" Lita sighed.

"Exactly. That means he must have an A.I. still uploaded into the mainframe. If it hasn't been corrupted by the X, then we should be able to retake the ship with little effort," Samus explained.

"We just have to find an A.I. communiqué device," Lita said.

"There should be one at the end of this corridor," Cade interjected.

"How do you know?" Samus asked.

"I helped build this thing," Cade returned.

The three proceeded through the door and down the wide hallway.

"Stop," Cade ordered as he threw an arm out to the side.

He looked up and then thrust his arm into the metal plating in the ceiling. He dug his fingers in and ripped the panel from its hold.

"Look, the wires have been severed…" Lita said.

"I think I know what this means…" Samus commented.

"Yeah, they're holding Abby captive in the system by cutting her off from the rest of the ship…" Cade explained.

"Abby?" Lita asked.

"The A.I. unit, it was molded after Adam's deceased daughter," Cade frowned.

"Oh…" Lita trailed off.

"Then we have to make it to the bridge…but to get there, we have to go through the combat bays and engineering," Samus said.

"In that case, where do we need to start?" Lita asked.

"Probably this elevator shaft," Samus replied.

"I got it," Cade responded.

He gripped the inside of the powerless doors and pried them open.

"It's at the top. Looks like we'll have to climb," Cade remarked.

"That's fine, I'll make my own way," Samus said as she entered and began flipping and rebounding off of the walls.

Cade shrugged and dug his fingers and feet into the walls as he climbed the side of the shaft.

"You guys are weird," Lita said as she grabbed the elevator cable and started her ascension.

Before long, the three reached the elevator, which had seemingly been wedged inside the shaft, just above one of the landings.

Samus flipped and took to the cable as well.

"Cade, we'll need you for this," she said.

"I'm on it," Cade said as he slammed his feet into the wall for a good hold. He rolled his neck and cracked his shoulders, and then he thrust his palms into the doors, forcing them from the facing and sending them flying down the hallway.

"Geez, so much for sneaking up on anybody," Lita sighed.

As the trio entered the hallway, they surveyed their surroundings.

"This is the entrance to the combat bays, engineering is on the other side, then the stairway to the bridge," Samus said.

"Can't we access the computer system in engineering?" Lita asked.

"Hypothetically, yes, but if they've disconnected the core from the rest of the ship, it wouldn't do us much good," Samus returned.

"Well how about this, you and Cade can head on to the bridge. I'll go to engineering and see what I can do with the system. If I don't have any luck, I'll catch up to you," Lita said.

"If you think you can handle it," Samus replied.

Lita nodded her head and took off down the hallway.

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Samus and Cade both continued slowly through the maze of combat bays. Many were filled with ammo boxes, others with weapons, and still others with workout equipment. The bays were meant to serve as combat simulators so the soldiers could receive training en route to any conflicts.

As they entered the final bay, the doors closed behind them.

"Nice to welcome you aboard my craft. It looks as if you're out of practice, so allow me to bring you up to speed," a voice said out of the darkness.

"Samus! Move!" Cade yelled as Samus hit the floor.

The sound of a sweeping metal blade sliced through the darkness.

Samus could see nothing, but Cade saw their opponent.

A bionic creation loomed over Samus. It had a blade for one hand and an arm cannon for the other. It had the blade raised, poised to make another strike.

As the arm started to swing down, Cade intercepted it.

The android swung around to meet its new foe.

Cade locked up with the machine, which seemingly matched his strength.

A sudden blast briefly lit the room as the android fired at Cade.

Samus could finally see!

"Cade! Make it shoot again!" Samus called out.

Cade reached and clutched the arm cannon of the machine and squeezed with all of his might. He couldn't crush the weapon, but bent it enough to activate the autofire function.

The android stumbled around uncontrollably as the high-powered cannon spouted burst after burst of plasma energy.

Samus took aim and fired a single shot at the machine.

The shot connected with the head and easily removed it from the body…which continued to stumble and fire.

"That didn't quite do it, Samus!" Cade warned.

"No, I've got this," Samus uttered.

She fired three consecutive shots, one blew off the gun arm, another, the blade arm, and then the third ripped the torso from the legs.

The only sound remaining was the sizzling of the plasma cannon. The bay was no longer dark. The plasma beam had cut holes in the walls and ceiling of the room to allow light to enter.

"That was a set-up. They know we're here," Cade said.

"That means Lita…" Samus started.

"No, she can take care of herself. We've got to get to that bridge and figure out who's driving this thing," Cade interrupted.

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Lita trotted down the scarcely lit corridors until she saw a room emitting a bluish glow.

"That's gotta be the mainframe," she said to herself out loud.

"You know, there are some toys that little kids aren't allowed to use," a voice came from behind her.

Lita spun around, but nothing was there.

"But then again, how will children learn if we don't allow them to discover for themselves?" the voice continued, once again from behind Lita.

Now excessively paranoid, Lita rushed into the room and beheld a small image suspended in what looked like an electronic barrier.

The image appeared to be a human tucked in the fetal position. It was no more than five inches tall.

"Abby?" Lita asked.

The small figure broke its position and stood cringing.

"Who's there? Not the bad man again…who are you?" the small figure said.

"I am Lita. I'm here to help you. I…" Lita started.

"Lita, you have to leave, the bad man made it where I can't help you," Abby responded.

"But I'm here to help fix that. Can you tell me what he did to you?" Lita prompted.

"Its that bad stuff. The X. It's all around me and all inside. I can't make the Eagle do what I want it to do…" Abby sighed.

"Is there anything you ican/i do?" Lita inquired.

"I can give you something that the bad man hates," Abby responded.

A drawer slid out from a cabinet to reveal an injection gun that held a clip of glowing blue liquid.

"What is this?" Lita asked as she picked up the weapon.

"That's the stuff the soldiers used when they went to Lavalos. It keeps them from getting hot around the lava. The bad man must not like the cold, since he destroyed all of the rest of the blue stuff," Abby replied.

"It's got to be him…" Lita said, "Where is he?"

"He's on the bridge. Oh, and if you can, could you please get the X out of the engines. If you can, I can take care of the rest of it," Abby answered.

Lita glanced at the gun, back at Abby, then took off toward the bridge for what she hoped was the final showdown…she just hoped she wasn't too late.