Next up, Samus' awakening and an astonishing revelation will come to greet her...

P.S. I am in no way affiliated with both parties nor own anything from them. All rights for Red vs. Blue goes to Rooster Teeth and all rights for Metroid goes to Nintendo.

Chapter 13: Phazon Fusion

"She's coming to!" A female voice was heard in the darkness. "Can you hear me, Samus?"

Samus was now coming to her senses as she woke up from what it seemed to be a deep slumber. She slightly tilted her head sideways and slowly opened her eyes, but her vision was blurred. Something in front of her was in the way, but she was still able to make out what it was, considering its proximity in front of her. A panel of some sort was reading her biological reading; something similar that was done back when she first gained access to the Olympus, although the reading had something glowing in red this time. She couldn't make out what it read as it quickly left out of view and a woman in a blue suit came in front of her.

Her vision became clearer and the woman's face was revealed to her, but no one that she personally knew, other than your usual nurse working alongside Dane's crew within the Olympus for sure as the environment was all too familiar in its structure. Samus was thankful she wasn't amnesiac as she still remembered the last thing that happened before she blacked out for good. Although she wasn't sure if she did anything else after that or if she somehow fell into a coma after the incident. The good thing is that she was no longer feeling the immense pain she felt back on Norion, but something wasn't making her feel quite the same as she did before. She quietly ignored her nurse for a moment as she was still trying to collect her thoughts.

"Vital signs are stable. Good condition... hmm... everything seems to be okay," the woman announced, sounding pleased at the results she was seeing. She then gave a warm smile to Samus and proceeded to greet her. "Welcome back, Samus. You've been asleep for quite some time-a month, to be exact. We feared we lost you."

"What?!" Samus gasped. She couldn't believe it's been a whole month since the incident. It couldn't have since she remembers it as if it was fairly recently. "What happened throughout this whole time I was out?"

"Well, for starters..." her nurse said in a calming manner, "Norion is now safe, thanks to your great efforts. However, at the end of the battle, we found you and the rest of the hunters and freelancers, all unconscious. We even saw a Pirate, unconscious along with you all. We took him in, but right now he is in solitary confinement for safety measures and everyone voted that until you woke up, the Federation could then put him in interrogation and have you be part of the decision on what to do next with him in the end."

"So what you're saying is, that everyone who fell unconscious inside the control tower, survived?" Samus inquired.

"That's right," the nurse confirmed. She then continued on with her explanation from before. "After doing extensive medical examinations to all of you, including the Pirate we found, they yielded some surprising results: Your bodies are now, somehow, self-generating phazon."

"Self-what you mean?!" She marveled back. "Did you really say that our...?"

"Indeed," her nurse replied. "What's even stranger is that there are no negative effects to your health. This led us to investigate if we could put some effective use on this phazon. During the invasion on Norion, you must have noticed some powerful troopers in new suits, right?"

"P.E.D. suits, isn't it?" Samus knew it had something to do with phazon but couldn't remember what it stood for until it bothered her too much to remember that she didn't try to do so for more than a minute.

"Correct. It's what we call Phazon Enhancement Device or just PEDs for short."

"Right."

"We also integrated the same Phazon Enhancement Device into your armor while repairing your damaged bodysuit."

Samus had forgotten to check up on her own suit and took a quick glance at what she could. Her armor was indeed fitted with the same PED suit as the troopers she saw back at Norion. Her armor was noticeably much more different than before. It bears some similarities to the armor of the marines that carried the PED. Her bottom layer of plating has become a blue-gray like color, with her arms and legs having squared-off plates to the sides. The lights of her entire armor have a deeper contrast in color, and what was once orange throughout her armor has now become toned down to a deep gold color. Her shoulder plates have been drastically reduced in size and shape, having three rounded pegs coming out of them from each one. All of this made her feel like a completely different person and somewhat, looking cooler than before.

"This all looks very promising!" She said with some excitement in her voice. She tried to stand up before the nurse called her out to stay where she was as the nurse wasn't done examining her.

"Don't stand up yet," the nurse ordered, stopping Samus in her tracks. "I still have some finishing to do on your checkups before I can let you go." She proceeded to look back at the tablet she has been holding onto. She then faced Samus again after studying her tablet for a moment. "Troopers wearing this device have phazon pumped to their weapons from an external backpack. This gives them an extra boost of firepower, as you have seen back on Norion," She then walked towards a chair nearby that had some unknown controls that Samus didn't know much about. She continued on, "but in your case, think about it. With this phazon coursing through your body, you can fuel the PED using your own internal energy. Pretty effective don't you think?"

"Seems like it, but..." Samus was more concerned about what her nurse was about to do with the chair equipped with some sort of control panel for something. "What are you doing right now?"

"We'll begin to have you try out your new PED and see if everything's in working order. Let's try it shall we?"

"Alright," she replied hesitantly. She was starting to feel quite shaky about what was going to happen in a moment, whether she would feel some sort of pain through the process or if she was ever going to get used to using her PED.

"Seal the room," the nurse gave a voice command to the computer in front of her, sealing the only exit out of the room. Another voice command came right after. "Initiate PED program." The nurse's chair rose up and a circular door from the ground opened to reveal a group of unknown mounted panels rising up in the middle of the room with what seemed to be crystallized phazon covering the sides of the floating panels.

The nurse then gave instructions to Samus on how to activate her PED suit and inject one energy tank for use in hypermode. Samus did as she was told and for the first time ever, or what it seemed like the first time using such GF technology that involved phazon, she now personally knows the profound effects of phazon's true firepower as it completely demolished the platings that were once in front of her in mere seconds.

"Training complete." The computer announced.

She switched back to her normal state and was surprised that she felt no pain when doing such thing, unlike back in the impact crater from before in Tallon IV where she felt small stings of pain while entering in a hyper-mode state on pools of liquid phazon.

"As you may have noticed during this test, hypermode possess devastating power," said the nurse as her chair was rising down to its last location.

"Most definitely," Samus replied, still surprised about the raw power of the PED. For her, to think that the Pirates have already had this type of technology, this would most definitely be a big competitor against the infected Pirates that try to fuse themselves in hypermode, to which she thought Space Pirates won't be having a chance against her in this state at all.

"Because of that," the nurse stated, "we had to learn the hard way just how powerful our enemies are, considering how phazon is now used as both fuel and weapons for many things during the battlefield."

Yeah, tell me about it..." said Samus sarcastically, as she and the rest of her crew went through so much trouble with dealing Space Pirates and other drones turning to hypermode firepower.

"I trust that you will make good use of the PED suit after the mess you've been through," the nurse replied. "Anyway, that's all for now, but before you go, I would like to inform you that the Aurora Unit 242 wishes to meet with you. There are many pressing matters to discuss with what has been going on during this past few weeks. The AU chamber is located just off the Command Bridge. Good luck."

Samus complied with the information she got. Just as she was about to stand up, the nurse called her out about something she forgot to mention to her.

"Oh and one more thing: after twenty-five seconds, the safety feature automatically ends hypermode. If you're in the middle of a combat situation, you might want to keep close attention to it. That's all I have to say. I hope for the best to you."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

As she stood up, it took her some time before she finally managed to get herself together in full balance as it's been a whole month since she was able to stand. Nonetheless, this didn't stop her from continuing on to exit the medical lab. Before she exited the room, she found some scannable data nearby and decided to take a quick look at these. Both involved the properties and origins of both phazon and the Phazon Enhancement Device.

Galactic Federation Datafile PX-013

{Phazon Enhancement Device}

The Phazon Enhancement Device is designed to harness the energy of Phazon minerals, originally discovered on Aether, for a new Federation weapon system. It is being tested by GF Marine battalion stationed in the Norion system. Marines can initiate an energy siphon from a supply of phazon carried in a backpack into their armor suits. This allows them to temporarily enhance the exoskeletal and weapon systems of their armor suits. To date, no marines have displayed signs of "Phazon sickness."

Galactic Federation Datafile PD-001

{Phazon}

Phazon is a substance of extragalactic origin. It is a highly radioactive ore with extreme mutagenic properties. It has certain biological qualities, including the ability to reproduce itself. Exposure to Phazon often affects the brains of sentient beings, causing erratic, destructive behavior. It is also a potent source of energy, surpassing even Fuel Gel in pure output potential. It must be handled carefully, as it can cause "Phazon sickness" if used incorrectly.

"This is definitely some information that both Washington and Carolina will need by the time I get in contact with them again," she said to herself. "Hopefully they're alright."

Right as she stepped foot out into the Gunnery Station, a familiar pair was there to greet her.

"Hey, look!" One of them said. "The good lady is okay now!"

"Oh my God, hey! Um... Sa-Samm..."

The latter couldn't seem to remember her name.

"It's Samus," she corrected as she studied them for a moment, realizing they were the same colored soldiers that she tried to recruit over a month ago. "When did you guys get here? Is everyone else alright?" Samus wanted some answers from them in order to become more hopeful about what's been going on within the timeframe that she was in a coma.

"Well..." Said the soldier in pink, trying to remember exactly when they have arrived at the Olympus, "It's probably been about... two weeks. Yeah, two weeks actually. Man, this station is far better than the ones we've been before! Like the first time we got here, my first meal was a filet mignon with some chicken salad, cheese, and dressing. It was such a good delicious meal. Too bad the dining room in this place doesn't look as vivid as it would with a more vibrant lighting atmosphere than the usual lighting there is all around the ship."

"I got to eat so many cookies and milk!" The blue soldier said, excitedly. He then continued on as he stared blankly above Samus' helmet. "And more cookies. More milk. More chocolate. It was all good."

"Caboose, I told you not to eat too much junk food," scolded Donut, while not trying to sound rude at once. "You know it's bad for your health. You might want to start having a diet as I do. I've already been losing some weight and getting in good shape because of it."

"But-but... I like cookies. It's probably the only meal I've been eating for the past few weeks."

"Don't worry, Caboose. I'll teach you how to go through a good healthy diet from now on."

"It better involve a lot of cookies!"

"A good healthy diet does not involve a lot of cookies. I'm sorry."

"Then I don't like diets. They're disgusting!"

"Could you guys just help me at figuring out what in the world is going on RIGHT NOW?!" Samus got their full attention as she shouted at them. She has almost completely forgotten how these soldiers love to argue with one another and getting off topic about everything. She took a deep breath and tried calming herself down, "Listen, you said that it's been two weeks since you have arrived here, right?

"I did," Donut acknowledged.

"I knew mean ladies could hide as good ladies every time I try to make friends with them..." Caboose whimpered as he felt hurt by Samus' exclamation. "I-I think I'm just gonna wait where Carolina is sleeping." He then started to walk away slowly towards the Infirmary Room next door. "At least I know she won't be mean to me while she's sleeping."

"Sleeping?" She said, perplexed. She felt bad for having to shout at him and wanted to apologize to the poor blue soldier, who has probably gone through a lot, according to what she can remember about him, but she was more focused on wanting to know what Caboose meant by sleeping; whether it was actual sleep or she is just as comatose as she was not too long ago. She turned to Donut, who was still standing beside her and questioned him instead. "Do you know what he meant by sleeping?"

Donut didn't say anything as he tried to understand what Caboose actually meant in his own language. Then, he finally remembered something crucial that he almost nearly forgot to tell Samus about. "Oh yeah! I think it may be bad for me to tell you this but..."

"But...?" Samus waited for the pink soldier to answer her for several passing moments, growingly becoming impatient while at the same time, trying not to make it obvious enough.

"Let's go to the infirmary and let me show you something," said Donut, not trying to sound more anxious than he already was.

Samus followed after him to the Infirmary Room. She's never seen the infirmary room herself, but she was sure enough that throughout these whole weeks, she's probably been confined in there for days and weeks to come until her awakening.

As they both arrived, Samus looked around the infirmary and looked almost empty. Only a couple of soldiers were seemingly recovering from their injuries in the head and torso, either by explosives or some other type of physical trauma they've endured. On the left side, there was another room, filled with clean transparent glass panels. Inside the room, there were at least five hospital beds lined up together in spaces. One of them, at the second to last bed where Caboose was sitting next to, was a woman in red hair laying there, looking as though she was in a deep slumber.

Something familiar about her face had Samus tilting her head in confusion. She remembered parts of her facial features, but couldn't tell from where. She then turned to face Donut, looking for an answer as to who this red-haired woman was.

"Who is this woman exactly?"

"You don't remember her?" Donut asked in confusion, staring at Samus for a moment. "I thought you two would've known each other well by now."

"See...?" Caboose sniffled quietly, still feeling hurt. "She doesn't even remember her. She takes away our friends. And then... forgets about them. What a mean lady!"

"Wait, what? No! I..." Samus didn't exactly know what Caboose was talking about. Surely she knew that shouting at him might've probably hurt his feelings, but taking away his friends and forget about them? She believed this wasn't the case as she did remember having Wash and Carolina come with her and both ended up going through a similar fate as her, which are the friends that the blue soldier was talking about.

This memory, however, sparked something in her mind about the woman lying in the hospital bed in front of them. Could it be...?

"Is this... Carolina?"

"Of course, she is!" said Donut excitedly, finally feeling happier seeing that Samus seemingly remembered her. "Glad you finally remember!"

"I don't remember seeing her without her helmet so that's why I had trouble remembering her. It's not like all of your visors are as transparent as mine when seeing it at close proximity." Samus walked towards Caboose, who was still sitting next to Carolina, and put her left hand on his left shoulder, apologizing to him. "Forgive me about before. I was only trying to get you and the pink guy's attention, that's all."

"For the love of God! It's lightish red!" Donut cried out in frustration.

"That's pink in other terms unless they consider it otherwise from where you come from, which is pretty doubtful. Anyway..." She paused for a moment before focusing on Caboose, "I'm also sorry about the things you have to go through, all because I didn't do my best to warn your friends about the dangers they had to face against an evil being I once thought I defeated before," she then tried to give him a small offer in return, "Tell you what. I'll offer you some chocolate bars I have stored inside my ship once I'm done with a meeting that I have to go to right now. It's the cookie chip kind."

Caboose took off his sight from Carolina and turned to face Samus, starting to feel a bit relieved. "Really? Oh, thank you so much!"

Donut began to feel annoyed about Caboose choosing to ditch his diet recommendations and Samus was going to ruin his chance for that. "Hey! I told him we were going to work on his diet. That's gonna be a bad start for him."

"I'm only trying to keep him happy and not let him resort to having more hatred towards me than he already has to begin with," Samus informed him. As she took a glance at Caboose, he seemingly switched from being happy to looking more depressed than before. He looked away from both of them and stared blankly into space as he started to murmur things to himself. Samus couldn't understand a thing he was saying but decided to take a closer look at him and called for his attention. "Caboose? Is everything alright?"

No answer.

Only whispers were heard, but nothing at all familiar. However, he took out a picture and silently glanced at it for a while.

On the photo, it seemed to be a pair of friends or siblings, staring at whoever or whatever took the picture in front of them. They have put both of their arms around each others' shoulders, with the bearded, blonde-haired attractive looking guy smiling, while the other slightly taller brown-haired guy on the right, who looked more cute than handsome, had a wide grin on his face, resembling that of a child's. Samus wanted to question him about the people in the picture but decided against it after seeing the familiarity in both of their armors. The guy on the left was wearing a steel-colored armor with yellow trim, very similar to the one Agent Washington was wearing last time she's seen him, while the one on the right was wearing blue armor; the exact same armor she was looking at on Caboose right now.

It seemed obvious enough that both of those soldiers were none other than Caboose and Washington, without wearing their helmets. Samus was surprised about both of their looks as she had imagined them to look completely different than that in the picture. Because Caboose was holding on to the picture with a frozen stare, she began having a bad feeling that something might've happened to Wash and the rest of her crew from Norion.

Before Samus could utter a word, Caboose stood up to face Donut. He began to whimper loudly, "Donut... Please tell her that she needs to save everyone that got lost!"

"Lost?" A confused Samus said, concerned about what he was talking about. She began to worry. Her guts started to feel like they were already twisting themselves out of anxiety and fear. "Whatever happened to Washington and everyone else that was with me? Has your whole team gone missing too?"

"Oh yeah, about that..." said Donut with his voice cracking up slightly, "Remember when I told you that I wanted to show you something? Well... not only it was for you to check on Carolina's state, no pun intended, but also that your other friends, including Wash, have gone missing! Same with Sarge and Tucker, whom they went along with too!"

"What?!"

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (and cliffhanger) :)

Sorry for any grammar/spelling errors you may encounter. It's not always easy spotting my own mistakes, but I do try giving it my best. As always, look forward to the next upcoming chapter as it's gonna be quite a long one. And don't forget to leave some reviews too! :D