Metroid: Nightmares
Part 7: Second Thoughts?
Ridley drifted in and out of consciousness. He couldn't feel a thing. Couldn't remember anything. All he knew was that he had lost again… but to what? He cursed his lack of memory as he lay on the brink of death. Then a thought… a memory… returned to him. A woman's voice, filled with hatred, whispered in his ear. Then, pain. Sheer fiery pain, and then… nothing…
Samus tore through the underbrush as she fled from the crash site. Mike, at least four feet behind her, shouted at her to stop, but Samus didn't let up. She knew she had pushed it too far that time. Ridley, when he got healed, would be even more vicious and would most likely kill her on sight. But still… It certainly felt good to cripple her rival once again. Mike's yelling jolted Samus from her thoughts. Samus slowed her pace, allowing the kid to catch up.
"Geez, Samus! What's gotten into you? One minute you're calm and collective, the next you're in a blood frenzy, and now you're not even listening to me!" Mike cried. Samus looked over at him.
"Kid, the first thing you should know is that that 'blood frenzy' is what I am almost always like on a mission. Secondly, you haven't just crippled your worst enemy, who will now kill you and me on sight from now on. And thirdly, I take orders from no one, got it?" Samus snapped. Mike paled.
"What?"
"You heard me. That great loud roar you just heard? That was Ridley's cry of pain as I hacked off both his legs. Now he will be obsessive about finding and slaughtering me." Samus replied, not looking at Mike. The pair continued walking through the forest until they found a small clearing.
"We'll stay here for the night. I can't contact Adam from here, so we'll wait here tonight until the pirates are gone, then we can go back and get my remote access unit. I'll go scout around. You should gather some twigs and small logs for a fire." Mike nodded, and then walked into the trees. Samus got up, and started into the trees. Darkness instantly enveloped her as she entered the trees. That didn't matter to her, though. She could see perfectly in the suffocating gloom. From where she was she could hear a stream gurgling away, and she walked in the direction of the sound. She found the stream a few metres from the clearing, and knelt down before the water. She took a drink and washed her face, thinking about all that had happened recently. Then, like a thunderclap, a bolt of sheer pain shot through her body. Samus screamed in pain, keeling over. For a moment she could hear someone running towards her, then everything went black.
Mike was gathering some twigs when he heard Samus scream.
"Samus!" He shouted, dropping the twigs and running in the direction of the scream. He found her on the ground by a stream on the brink of unconsciousness. He lunged towards her as he saw her flop towards the stream, and caught her in his arms just as she went limp. He couldn't help but notice that her skin had taken on a darker tone and gotten harder as he carried her back towards the clearing…
Ridley was delirious with pain and exhaustion as the squad of pirates he'd hailed carried him back to the base on a stretcher. He kept thinking about the recent confrontation and wondered why he and his men had been so helpless in the face of the Huntress. Then, he thought he heard a scream emanate from the nearby woods, causing him to remember why Samus had escaped. He growled at himself from the back of his throat. He had been too eager to torture his rival, giving her power greater than ever before. It was also the fault of getting himself drunk on alcohol the night she escaped. He cursed his choice of tasting the human drink years ago.
"No. Do not think about the past, it only distracts from the present. Worry about the situation at hand. Find the Huntress, capture her, and kill her. There is no way you can tame her, now that the mutations are advancing." He scolded himself. Now more alert, he grit his teeth and sat up. This startled his squad of pirates so much that some of them nearly dropped the stretcher.
"Sir! You must rest! You have lost too much blood!" One of them cried. Ridley shook his head.
"Get me to the base. Alert the troops. Have them completely on guard for the Huntress. Get me a medic. Now!" Ridley commanded wearily. The pirates, with renewed vigour, nodded and ran towards the base.
Samus groaned and rolled over, squinting against the light. Her head hurt, and she felt as if something had been spread over her skin, making it thicker. Also, she could not lay flat on her back. The small bony extensions on her shoulder blades had somehow lengthened. Samus groaned again and sat up. In a flash, Mike was at her side.
"Are you okay?" he asked, a worried expression visible on his face.
"I don't even know." Samus replied, raising a hand up to her forehead. It never got there. She gazed at her hand. The skin was a dark colour and looked as if it had armour plates all over it. She rolled up the sleeves of her orange fight suit. Sure enough, the skin on her arms looked the same. Nervous, Samus twisted around to see her back. Poking outwards were two thin stumps, as if new limbs were growing outwards. Panicking, Samus leapt to her feet, head spinning. She bolted off in the direction of the stream and stopped at the riverbank. Apprehensive about what she would see, Samus knelt down and leaned over towards the stream. What she saw startled her. Her skin was a slightly darker tone, and her hair had darkened a small bit. Samus bit her lip at the sight, and winced in pain. She bared her teeth, and saw that they had become razor-sharp overnight. Finished with examining her changes, Samus sat back, sighing. She now looked feral. If it weren't for her orange flight suit and advanced weapons, she would have looked as if she lived in the forests her whole life.
"You okay?" Mike asked.
"Do I look okay?" Samus snapped in reply. She saw Mike flinch, and instantly regretted her outburst. "I'm sorry. This whole situation has put me in a bad mood. It's not you." Mike smiled weakly, accepting her apology. They were both silent for a few moments. Then, Samus stood up to her full 6 foot 9 height.
"Well, let's head back to the ship. I need to get my RAU and I just might have a plan…" Samus grinned, an idea formulating in her head.
Ridley sat up on a somewhat padded cot, watching the medic affix his two new limbs onto his bloody stumps.
"Hurry it up, will you? I need to get the men ready for battle and brief them of their mission." Ridley snapped at the medic.
"I'm working as fast as I can! I need to finish cauterizing the nerves and tendons so that you are capable of walking afterwards." The medic replied, exasperated. Ridley grinned.
"That didn't stop me last time."
"Not a good idea. You could have given yourself a fatal injury there. Who's to say that you won't this time?"
"Then hurry up and finish it. I'll be climbing back into stasis after this, so The Substance will help mend any broken bones, wounds and injured tissue. It will also permanently fuse the cybernetic limbs to me." Ridley commanded. Sighing, the medic began working faster…
"Adam! Open up!" Samus shouted, banging her fist on the hatch of her ship. A few seconds later, the hatch slid open with a whir, and Adam's voice filled the ship.
"Samus! What're you doing back? I thought you were going to raid the Space Pirate base?" The computer asked as Samus dropped down through the hatch.
"Plans changed at the last moment. But I need you to power up the chemical reconstruction machine. I have a substance that I need you to duplicate for me. Make sure it's in large quantities, or preferably, form it into tools for me." Samus instructed. A loud whirring ensued and a light in the cockpit flickered to life.
"The machine is ready when you are, Samus" the computer stated. "Anyways, what did you do to make you retreat? My sensors were not completely online when the threat meter dropped down to zero."
Samus grimaced, dreading this question. "To say the least, I pissed off that squad of pirates. I ran off to prevent them from damaging the ship." She answered. Mike's eyebrows shot up at the lie. She shot him a quick glare, and he immediately erased the expression. Luckily, Adam's circuits did not detect the lie.
"Oh. So, what do you need reconstructed?" The computer asked.
"Oh yes. Give me a moment to get the sample for you." Samus replied. "I'm going to need a knife or something like that."
"Okay-?" Adam replied, puzzled. A door in the back of t he ship whirred open.
"Mike, in the back room there you'll find a few knives. Grab a small one that is easy to hold in the hand." Samus ordered. Mike nodded and meandered off. "Adam?" She whispered.
"Yes?" the computer whispered back.
"Close the door to the storage room. Now."
"But, that's where Mike is."
"Yes I know. Just do it."
"Alright." Adam replied resignedly. Another whirr, and the door to the storage room slid shut. Samus could hear a muffled cry of protest as soon as the door sealed.
"Alright. Believe me; I have perfectly good reason to want him back there." Samus assured the computer, her voice still a whisper.
"You'd better! Now what's all this about?" Adam replied, in an equally quiet voice.
"Firstly, the mutations are advancing. I had an episode last night in the woods. I owe my life to Mike for preventing me from drowning when he found me."
"What just one minute! Where were you, why were you there, and how exactly did you nearly drown?"
"Alright, it's time for you to hear the full truth."
"The full truth?"
"Yes."
"Oh dear, I know that tone."
"Last night, when I jumped out to attack the pirates, I didn't show up on your sensors, did I?"
"No. As I said, my sensors were still coming online."
"Well, firstly, I killed off the squad of pirates first-"
"Wait, you killed them all on your own and with no armour?"
"Yes. Anyways, after killing the pirates, I advanced on Ridley. I used my plasma cannon, and that took him down really quickly."
"You killed him, right?"
Samus hesitated.
"You didn't. I don't believe this! How many times must I tell you that you should not agitate a Space Pirate! Honestly! One day you are going to push an enemy too far, and they will kill you!"
"I know that, Adam! And I will kill him the next time I face him, because that will be when I get my suit back!" Samus paused to try and cool her temper. "Anyways, I cut off Ridley's legs and bolted. I figured he would summon up another squad of pirates to get him back to the base, so I fled to a clearing in the forest. Mike and I split up: he would go look for twigs and the like to start a small fire, and I went off to scout for enemies. I found a stream and paused by it, then the mutation advanced, and I passed out. Mike told me that he came running when he heard me scream, and found me keeling over towards the stream. He caught me, luckily enough."
"I see. So why do need the reconstructor?"
"The tank that Ridley kept me in was probably made with glass from this planet's dirt. It had the same properties as the glass entombing the ship has."
"Oh."
"Yes. The mutations made my nails literally harder than diamonds, and I was able to carve my way out of the tank. If you can duplicate a sample in greater quantities, I might be able to get the ship out of the glass. Speaking of which, I need that knife. You can let Mike out now." Samus stated, taking notice to the muffled shouts and banging coming from behind the storage room door. The door whirred open, and out shot Mike, who had probably been about to throw himself against the door to open it. Samus bent down to help him up.
"What happened to the door? I go in, and next thing I know, the door's slammed shut on me!" Mike cried, getting up with Samus' aid. He narrowed his eyes. "You weren't trying to trap me, were you?"
Samus raised her hands in protest. "No! Adam just short circuited!"
Mike seemed to relax at the reply. "Oh, good. I thought you locked me in there so you would be rid of me."
"Of course not. I need you to help me get my suit back and destroy the pirate base."
"Samus?" Adam interjected. "The sample?"
"Oh, yes. Pass me the knife, Mike." Samus replied. Mike handed her the knife, which Samus instantly began hacking away with. Five minutes later, Samus placed a canister containing a piece of her nail in the machine. After pressing a few buttons, it buzzed to life, first scanning and then analyzing the tiny fragment in the canister.
"Samus, this sample has an extremely complex chemical makeup. It may take awhile to isolate and identify each chemical component." Adam stated. Samus nodded.
"Okay. But remember, I don't want the machine to create a nonliving clone of me, okay? Eliminate the genetic code and just copy the material itself, not the DNA strand." Samus replied.
"That will lengthen the time it takes to create the quantity you want, but alright."
Samus nodded, and wandered up to the cockpit.
Ridley surveyed the pirates milling about from his high perch above the central stasis room. Since he had gotten out of the medical wing, the atmosphere in the base had intensified and become strained with tension and excitement. Almost every pirate had excitement and adrenaline surging through their veins as they anticipated and predicted an attack and confrontation against the Huntress. Ridley bared his teeth in a grin as he watched a small group of heavily armoured pirates carry a large bendezium crate down a darkened hallway. He knew that hallway quite well; down it was where his chosen stasis tank was located. Another group of similarly armoured pirates wandered down, carrying another crate with them. Ridley grimaced, unsure about his recent decision. He knew he needed an expansive supply of The Substance in order to get the results he wanted, and they did not have that kind of quantities yet, but had this decision been a bad idea? Phazon had given them substantial results in the past, namely with the Omega Pirate, but phazon madness had often run rampant with their test subjects. Now there was another worry: What would happen when Substance and Phazon came together?
"What am I worrying about? It will be fine! As long as the men don't find out that I'm using Phazon to boost my power, I'll be fine." Ridley thought to himself, watching another squad of pirates laden with crates walk down that hallway. "All I really have to worry about now is my own health and what might happen when I go into stasis." A final squad walked down, and Ridley spread his wings and swooped after them.
He landed in the room, startling the pirates into standing at attention. One taller pirate stepped forward.
"Sir. The shipments of supplies are in, and all arrived as scheduled. There were no problems at all." The pirate stated.
"Good. Get the tank prepared. I will expect it ready by sunset." Ridley ordered. The captain saluted Ridley once more, and then barked instructions to the pirates, who scrambled to work. Ridley, grinning to himself, turned heel and started back down the hallway.
Samus had nearly dozed off when Adam drew her attention.
"Samus?" the computer began. "The reconstruction is done. It worked out quite well. I actually managed to liquidize it and form the material into tools that could be used to pick the ship out of the glass."
"Good, very good. Now, I need you to try and replace one of the crystals of the plasma cannons on the ship with a section of the material. If I'm right, the ship will adapt and fire blasts of the material. If it works, I'll need you to fire on the glass encasing the ship. That should destroy the glass easily, and free the ship." Samus replied, getting up out of the pilot's chair. A robotic arm shot out of the wall, holding in its grip a shiny bluish pickaxe. Samus grabbed the pickaxe, opened the top hatch, and leapt up through the hatch. Remembering something, Samus poked her head down through the hatch.
"Adam?" She called out.
"Yes?" The computer replied.
"Wake up Mike and give him a tool. Tell him I need to put him to work." Samus ordered, and pulled her head back out of the hole. Pickaxe in hand, she hopped down, landing with barely a sound. She turned to the fire-orange ship's hull, and got to work.
"DON'T EVER LET ME CATCH YOU SLACKING OFF AGAIN, YOU HEAR? THE ENEMY IS RIGHT IN OUR YARD, AND YOU SLACK-JAWED IDIOTS ARE BUSY FOOLING AROUND WITH BLOODY PIECES OF HARDENED PAPER WITH SYMBOLS ON THEM! THIS IS NO TIME FOR GAMES!" Ridley bellowed at a small group of pirates whom he had caught sitting around a table fiddling with little pieces of paper. The pirates cringed at Ridley's wrath, fearful of what he might do to them. They did not fear the Huntress, but their commander was another whole story. "NOW GET BACK TO YOUR POSTS!" The pirates had no problem with obeying: they tripped over themselves just trying to get away from Ridley. He chuckled in his throat as he watched them stumble down the hall. Then, through one of the monitors showing outside of the base, he saw that the light was rapidly fading. He grinned, knowing that his path to supreme power would be prepared by now. He spread his wings, and with a brief burst of flame from his jaws, flew off towards his private stasis room.
Samus hacked away with the pickaxe, tearing away the glass in large chunks. At her request, Adam had set out a container for some of the glass to be put in to keep. Mike worked at the other side of the ship, working much more slowly.
"Samus?" Adam's voice called from one of the portable speakers.
"Yes?"
"I changed the crystals. You might want to back away, as I am going to test out the laser."
"Alright." Samus replied, backing up. "Fire away."
A thin, concentrated beam of bluish energy shot out from one of the ship's side turrets and hit the glass. For a few moments it looked as if the beam was doing nothing to help, but then it started eating away at the glass at a rapid rate. Before long, a long, precise cut spread across the glass coating one part of the hull. Samus and Mike got to work at prying the large chunk of glass away from the ship. With the two working in tandem with Adam and the shipboard guns, they hacked through the glass quickly and without incident.
All the while, however, Mike couldn't help but noticed that Samus slowly underwent some more physical changes. He noticed that the two small stubs on her back had begun to lengthen, causing them to protrude more against her flight suit. He also noticed that her already-sharp nails had begun to look more like a predator's talons, curved and black like deadly weapons of murder. The last, and most subtle, change he noticed was that Samus' ears had become slightly longer and tapered to points. He didn't mention anything to Samus, of course. She'd kill him on the spot if he pointed out anything! Samus, oddly enough, did not seem to notice these changes at all, which was much unlike the last time.
Even though she had those odd mutations going on, Mike could not help but notice how beautiful Samus really was. Why she hid herself inside a suit of armour all the time puzzled him. Was she shy? He shook off that notion as he worked: If Samus was shy, she would have locked him away in the storage room until she regained her suit! He knew not to say anything on the matter, but he was worried about the bounty hunter. The prospect of Samus dying from the forceful mutations was not impossible, to say the least, and this scared Mike. If she died, who would prevent the Space Pirates from completing their galactic conquest? There was also another, more emotional reason for Mike not wanting Samus to die. She had helped him in more ways than she herself knew. Unknown to Samus, Mike had been running from a squad of pirates when Samus found him in the woods, and if she had not shown up when she did, he'd be dead, or captured for use as a guinea pig for the Space Pirates' horrific experiments. Yes, Samus had been a little hard on him at times, but overall she had been friendly and trusting.
Another thing worried him, though. What would happen if the GFed found out that he was still alive? Or worse, what if they already knew and had him wanted for abandonment? They would have sent word out to all the bounty hunters in the galaxy, including Samus.
"Oi, Mike! What, are you daydreaming?" Samus called out, jolting Mike from his thoughts. "There isn't much glass left to get rid of, so let's quickly finish up, then we can rest, okay?"
Mike grinned, nodded, and raised his pickaxe once more.
Ridley landed in the room where his stasis tank stood, ready and awaiting an occupant. The small group of pirates turned to him and abruptly snapped to attention. The captain saluted stepped up and saluted Ridley.
"Sir-" the captain began, but Ridley cut him off.
"Is it ready?" the dragon demanded, stepping up to the tank. It was huge; bigger than the Omega Pirate's, and Ridley would need all the space he could get due to the mixture that would be pumped into the tank and himself.
"Yes, sir. The team can put you in there right now, if you wish. Ridley snorted.
"Of course I want to. Make haste!" Ridley commanded. One of the pirates walked up to him.
"Sir-?" the pirate began feebly. Ridley inclined his head, and the soldier cringed.
"Yes?" Ridley replied.
"Well, it's about the mixture. Our team did a small bit of research on a small amount of it, and we got considerable results."
"Go on."
"Well, there were no problematic reactions when The Substance and Phazon came in contact with one another whatsoever. When they do come in contact, they give off radiation that is substantially more powerful and mutagenic than anything else we've ever seen. Mutations occur ten times faster, and the mixture causes more mutations than normal, granting substantial powers."
Ridley grinned, baring his teeth. "All the better, then. You and your men will get a promotion for this, but in order to earn it, my results must be satisfactory. That means I must be in there in five minutes."
The pirate grinned. "Yes sir." The squad of pirates approached him, holding various tubes, wires, and needles in their arms. "The only thing about the advanced mutagen is that it causes a lot of pain when the mutations occur."
"Pain means little against the powers I will gain. It is a small price to pay for ultimate power." Ridley stated, allowing the pirate squad to gather around him. They stuck tubes into his veins, which would eventually pump him full of the mixture, stuck a breathing device onto his muzzle, and injected him with a drug. Just as they withdrew the needle, everything darkened, and he fell asleep.
Samus and Mike had finished freeing the ship from the glass, and were sitting inside, deep in conversation.
"The base is accessible by a small pressure pad near the hidden door. You push on it, and the door will open. I found that out the first time I went there. Last time, the base was not guarded very heavily and I was able to infiltrate it easily. This time, however, it won't be so easy." Samus pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and began drawing a map on it. When she was done, she placed her finger on a small room at the beginning of the base. "Ridley will no doubt have a small amount of guards in the first room. They will most likely be hidden, so that they can ambush me. Adam has a few helmets with HUD visors, and they are capable of seeing in X-rays, normal spectrum, and the infrared spectrum. I'll use the IR visor so I can pick the guards off quickly and without incident." Samus moved her finger down to a larger room. "This is where the pirates' stasis tanks are located. This is also where Ridley will probably have the greatest amount of men stationed so that if I did get through the initial ambush, they'd easily outnumber and capture me." Samus continued on, moving her finger from place to place on the map and outlining the threat level in each one. After she was done, she sat back, and waited a moment before outlining her plan. After she was done, Mike spoke.
"I have one question." He said.
"What is it?" Samus replied.
"How are we going in there? You and I have no means of protection whatsoever, so we'll be dead in the first room."
Samus smirked. "Didn't I tell you? We've got armour, all right. Adam! Bring in the armour and helmets!" A robotic arm whirred, and carried in a bundle of black material and two helmets. Samus grabbed a helmet and half of the bundle. Mike grabbed the rest.
"Fabric? We're infiltrating the Space Pirate base wearing fabric armour?" Mike demanded, giving Samus a terrified look.
"State-of-the-art stealth armour. It employs an energy shield to protect us from gun blasts, and can render itself invisible. The helmet, once connected, controls it all."
"Sure, it protects against energy blasts, but what about the Space Pirates' bayonets and scythes?"
"Fluid body armour. Let me demonstrate." Samus stood up and walked into the storage room, the door sliding shut behind her. Moments later, she stepped out, wearing the black suit. In one hand she held the helmet, and in the other she held a dagger. She handed the dagger to Mike and placed the helmet on her head. "Throw it at me." Mike's eyes bulged at the comment, seriously doubting Samus' sanity. "Seriously, throw it at me." Mike shook his head. Samus' expression hardened. "Mike, throw the knife at me or I will lock you in the storage room and take you to the nearest GF station. That is an order." Mike sighed and held the knife up. He stood up straight, and threw the knife at Samus' chest. The knife hit true, and bounced off. Mike picked up the knife, an astonished look on his face. "Well done. Now, try and stab me." Mike hesitated a moment, then jumped at Samus and drove the knife into Samus' chest. The knife hit Samus' armour and skittered off. Samus took the helmet off. "See? This armour can stop a friggin' bullet."
"Okay, you proved that the armour can withstand physical blows, but how can it render itself invisible?"
"That is a special trick that has to do with the colour of the armour. See how dark it is?"
"Yes…" Mike replied, confused.
"Now, if I activate the armour, I can vanish. Watch." Samus replaced the helmet and rested her hand onto it. With two fingers, she pressed on one spot on the side, activating the armour. It looked as if all the light from the ship and the outside world had been sucked into Samus' armour and eliminated there. It instantly became darker than anything Mike had ever seen before, and his eyesight went from 20/20 to zero in less than two seconds. Then, as quickly as it vanished, the light came back, blinding Mike temporarily. With a cry, he stumbled forward, and was caught by the shirt by Samus. Mike blinked in pain, his eyesight slowly returning.
"Now you know what the armour is capable of." Samus mused, holding her helmet in her lap. "However, for any of the features to work, you must have the helmet on and connected, or else the armour is nothing more than a bunch of fabric." Samus stretched and stifled a yawn. "C'mon, let's get some rest. We attack tomorrow."
End of chapter seven.