Metroid: Nightmares…
Part 5. Breakout!
Samus sat in her tank, gazing mournfully at her reflection. The mutations had progressed farther, and now she was starting to look more Chozo. Feathers mixed in with her golden hair, and her arms had begun to develop flight feathers. The strange thing was, was that her shoulder blades were seeming to transform, and two new bones were growing, as if she was growing another set of wings. This was strange, because the Chozo's wings were on their arms.
Samus stood up, stooping to prevent her head from bashing off of the ceiling, and gazed out of her tank. She could see perfectly well now, and she could see a few pirate guards marching around in lopsided rounds.
"They must've been celebrating for something. Maybe their torture's success?" She thought to herself. A familiar voice, laden with alcohol, boomed at the guards, who snapped to attention. In stepped a slightly wobbly Ridley. He looked up at the tank, grinning.
"Hey, Sssamus. How're ya doin' this fine evening? Not too good?" He drawled, slurring his words badly. Samus glared back at him and made a harsh hand gesture. "Aw, there'ss no need fer thaat, my friend. And I wass hoping to give you a surprise! Maybe a bit of fresh air, perhaps?" The pirate guard nearest to him, who had clearly not been drinking as much, leaned over.
"Are you sure that's such a good idea, sir? Won't she try to escape?" The pirate asked.
"O' course not! Even if she did try, she wouldn't have the sstrength tooo…" Ridley flopped over in a dead faint in mid-sentence. The pirates looked over at each other, grabbed their fallen commander by the ankles and dragged him away. Samus sat back down, sighing. As she stared off into space, she realized that Ridley was right. She hadn't had anything to eat since she was first imprisoned, and now she had barely any energy to even stay awake. Not really noticing, Samus began scratching at the glass with her nail.
"Wait a sec…huh?" Samus muttered, looking at where she had scratched away at the glass. There was a deep mark. Samus grinned, formulating a plan in her mind. She was going to get out… tonight.
Samus stared out the wall of her tank. The guards had left, probably to sleep off the alcohol, leaving Samus alone in the room. Taking one final glance around the room, Samus turned back to the weakened spot in the glass that she had scratched away earlier. She had managed to scratch it to a width of about two inches earlier, and began scratching at the spot again. Its width didn't decrease at all. Puzzled, Samus scratched harder. It had no effect whatsoever. She looked at her clenched fist. The skin on her knuckles was thicker, more resilient to harm.
"Oh, god, I hope I know what I'm doing." She muttered to herself, and punched the weakened spot as hard as she could muster. The glass cracked. Samus punched again. The glass cracked even more. With a final cry of fury, she punched again, shattering the glass.
Ridley awoke with a start. Someone had broken a window or something. Then Ridley remembered; the base had no windows! Yelling a string of harsh curses, Ridley leaped out of his bed. Either one of the new batches had gotten stuck in their stasis tank, or a prisoner had broken free. And their only prisoner was his archrival…
Samus leaped to the ground, mindful of the glass on the floor. She could have sworn she heard a yell, but it must've been her imagination. Now to find her way out…
Samus ran down the hallway, carefully watching for familiar surroundings, guards, and Ridley. None jumped out at her. As she ran, she almost bolted right past what looked like a map of the base. She never was able to read the Space Pirates' native language, but she was smart enough to identify the usual symbols on a map. She could see a red dot, probably showing where she was, and could see many symbols of importance. A red gun stood out among them.
"Armoury." Samus muttered, tracing her clawed finger over the path there. That would be the first thing that would be needed to visit. Right beside it was what looked like a barracks, and a long hallway led into a very expansive chamber, where a very large symbol that Samus did not recognize shone. Another short hallway, and then the exit! Nodding to no one in particular, Samus turned back down the hallway, and ran on.
Ridley bolted down the hallway towards the torture hold. He'd checked the stasis area already, and there was no disturbance, which could mean only one thing… Ridley growled, and quickened his pace.
Samus slowed to a walk as she neared the armoury. From her vantage point, she could see blasters sitting on shelves, and what looked like the Pirates' trademark energy swords hanging on the wall. Smirking, Samus grabbed a blaster and a sword, fixing it to her wrist as she left. Two minutes later, she passed another map. Verifying her path, she continued her way towards freedom.
Ridley stopped dead as he entered the room where Samus should have been imprisoned. Glass littered the floor, and a bit of the Substance was leaking out of the tank. Exploding with anger, Ridley threw back his head and roared, slamming his fist down onto the alarm button…
Samus was halfway to the large chamber when a loud roar rang through the halls and the alarm started wailing.
"SHIT!" Samus shouted, and bolted down the hall. She could hear pirates milling about their barracks loudly, and there was another noise, like the steady beat of flapping wings. Not watching where she was going, she nearly plowed right into a large glass column. Samus skidded to a halt and looked around. Glass columns, stasis tanks, littered the room. In them, were sleeping pirates. Then she remembered why this room was so familiar. This was the room she'd been captured in! The wings had grown louder, and now she could hear a roaring.
"Ridley!" She thought frantically, arming her blaster. Sure enough, in flew Ridley in all his fury. The dragon swooped down, knocking Samus clean off her feet and perched on top of the nearest stasis tank. His yellow eyes, filled with hatred, stared Samus down. Samus raised her blaster and squeezed the trigger. Ridley merely held up one claw and absorbed the blast, but did not fire it back. He shook his great ugly head, sighing.
"You, my dear enemy, have been a real thorn in my side for ages, but you've never given me as much hell as you have today." Ridley growled. Samus lowered her smoking gun.
"Not another one of your speeches, Ridley. You know as well as I that talking gets one nowhere." Samus replied.
"You're right on that one, but I would shut up if I were you. I have a whole base of very sleepy and angry pirates ready to charge at a moment's notice, and I probably won't be able to control them once they get attacking." As if on cue, a large group of pirates stepped into view.
"Do you always let the little people do your dirty work, Ridley? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. There is no honour among pirates." Ridley growled and bared his teeth at that statement. A few of the pirates raised their blasters. Ridley jumped down from the tank and landed in front of Samus.
"I'm going to kill you, Samus Aran. Tonight you die once and for all." Ridley growled, drawing close to her face.
"Oh I'll die, all right. But mark my words, I will take you and the rest of your filthy kind into Hell with me!" Samus snapped, squeezing the trigger on the sword, activating the blade. Everything happened at once. The pirates all raised their blasters, and began firing at Samus. Surprisingly enough, they didn't really meet their mark. Samus didn't really notice, though. She was busy blocking Ridley's attacks, trying to make her move. Then something strange happened. Ridley faltered. Only for a brief moment, but that was enough for Samus. Seeing this chance, she brought the energy sword down on Ridley's right arm as hard as she could. It sliced off cleanly, and Ridley howled in pain and fury. Everything seemed to slow down as Ridley's arm fell to the ground. The pirates stared at their wounded commander and at Samus, awe and fear visible on their ugly faces. One by one, they lowered their weapons. Ridley whirled about, sheer fury visible on his face.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOTS!" Ridley bellowed at his men. Samus took a step back, then bolted for the hallway.
"NO!" Ridley roared, running after her. "I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL BY MY OWN ENEMY!" But it was no use. Wounded as he was, Ridley could not catch Samus, and before long, she was out of the blast doors and running for her life. Ridley sank to his knees and threw his arms up, roaring as loud as he could to the heavens.
End of chapter five.