XXIV. Separation

The three walked in silence, each growing more pensive by the moment. The halls were pristine. The air was perfectly still. The clank of Samus' metal boots against the bare metal floor echoed around them in the otherwise deafening silence.

Jo was turning her head this way and that, carefully scanning their surroundings. Lara did the same with her flashlight as they walked past room after silent room. Jo looked to Samus, wondering what she was thinking when something flashed in her peripheral. She immediately looked in that direction, but did not slow her pace. Her grip on her weapon became tighter as she viewed an empty hallway.

"Don't think we're alone," she mumbled into her communicator.

"They've been with us for a few minutes now," Came Lara's voice, just as subdued.

Jo switched to her I.R. Scanner and spun all the way around.

"I've got four contacts at eight, seven, six and four o'clock," she said. "Low body temperatures."

"Sounds like Zebesians," came Samus' voice. "There's a large room coming up with a south entrance and two entrances east and west. Probably not the room we're looking for, but might be a good place to ambush our pursuers."

"Can you give us a run-down of what we might be facing?" Jo asked, still keeping her voice low.

"If they're Zebesians, they'll be around seven feet tall. They're insectoids with tough exoskeletons."

"Bulletproof?" Lara asked.

"Depends on if they've been modified," Samus answered. "But not likely. However, explosives or powerful energy blasts might be more effective."

Jo stopped walking and turned around. Lara noticed her and also stopped.

"Jo, what's wrong."

Samus halted her pace and turned to face the other two.

"I don't know about you two, but I rather dislike being hunted," Jo replied. "You recharged my cloak, right?"

"Jo, don't be stupid," Lara said.

"We're here to complete a mission," Samus stated. "We can deal with our enemies as they come to us. We don't need to be wasting time-"

"Wasting time?" Jo replied without looking back. "Interesting choice of words."

"This isn't a time to be pursuing personal agendas," Samus insisted.

"Be sure you remember that, Samus," Jo retorted.

There was silence a moment.

"You want to explain what you mean by that?" Samus asked

"Figure it out."

"Jo, I don't think it's a good idea for us to get separated," Lara cut in. "We may have lucked out on Tallon four, but it's never a good idea to tempt fate."

"Samus can transmit her map and our coordinates to my visor," Jo replied. "Right, Sammy?"

"Yes," Samus replied with suspicion, "I can. Assuming there isn't any interference."

Jo gave a sarcastic chuckle.

"Right."

"Jo-"

"Don't worry about me Lara. Just get to the time device. I'll find you when I need to. Now get going."

With her last words, Jo activated her cloak and, with the sound of sparking electricity, she was gone.

Samus noted that Jo's visual transmission as well as her location indicator also disappeared from the viewer inside her visor.

She knew that would happen. She wanted to disappear. Why?

The question stabbed at her mind while Joanna's words stabbed at her pride. Jo seemed to think she had some personal agenda. Nothing could be further from the truth. She had a mission to complete. That was all there was to it.

"Well," Lara said, crossing her arms, "I guess you just can't reason with some people. I hope you heard that too, Jo."

"Let's keep moving," Samus said, turning and leading the way.

They hadn't gone far when they heard the sounds of distant gunfire followed by an alien-sounding screech. They both stopped and looked back momentarily. No other sounds were heard so, after a moment, they continued on. Eventually, they entered a long hallway that seemed devoid of doors. The solid steel corridor seemed to run for a quarter of a mile before they came to a single door on their right. A keypad stuck out from the wall to the right of the doorway, a solid black panel above it. Samus stared at keypad, scanning it with her visor.

"Problem?" Lara asked after a moment.

"This wall is wrapped in an energy shield," Samus replied. "It must have a separate power source than the rest of the facility. My weaponry can't penetrate it. There's no way to get past it without the correct keycode. The wrong one could permanently lock us out. Plus there's the DNA scanner-"

The end of a crowbar slammed into the top of the panel. Lara then yanked down on the crowbar, effectively popping open the panel and exposing the wiring beneath.

"Sometimes the direct approach is the best," she said. "Glad to see basic wiring hasn't changed in the last umpteen hundred years. Now we just need an electrical charge big enough to overload the circuits. I'm sure there are circuit breakers or fuses or what-have-you so it needs to be a pretty big charge."

Samus thought for a moment.

"Chozo technology is still far beyond anything the facility has at its disposal," she said. "If I reconfigure my grapple and charge beams to work in tandem with my suit's energy, it should provide the current we need. However, if I'm not careful, I could use up all of my suit's energy."

"What happens then? You become immobile or something?"

"No. My suit explodes."

"Oh. Well, perhaps you should be careful not to do that."

Inside her helmet, Samus mentally reconfigured her beams and then raised her arm cannon, aiming the barrel directly at the open panel,

"Stand back," she said.

Lara took several steps back and covered her ears. A ball of energy appeared on the end of Samus's barrel as the weapon began to shake. Samus reached up and held the barrel steady with her other hand as the ball of electrical energy steadily increased in size. When it reached the size of a basketball, Samus released the charge. An arc of electricity a foot in diameter flashed from the end of her barrel to the open panel as a deafening CRACK! ripped through the hallway. Samus lowered her arm cannon. Small wisps of smoke rose from the open panel which was now a mass of melted plastic and metal. Lara lowered her arms and walked back over.

"You alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Samus replied, though she could feel the drain on her suit's power. "I used up seventy percent of my suit's reserves. Good news is, the shield is down. Bad news is, my grapple beam is fused."

"What about your other weaponry?"

Samus fired a shot of energy at the door which subsequently opened.

"Seems to be working."

"Jolly good," Lara said, drawing both pistols and flicking on their attached flashlights. "Now that you've rung the doorbell and knocked, let's see if anyone's home."

The two walked in with Lara in the lead.