If you hunt the monster… Pt. 2
ROUT

'Life's a bitch' that's all he could think as he sat there trying to ignore the pain in his chest 'and so is Samus'

His name is Johnson "Butch" Relsirc, he was a little older than 16, about 5'11" with blueish-green eyes and dark brown hair and a constantly joking and warm personality despite the fact that his joke's usually left someone pissed off, and more often than not at him. And right now he was 4,000,000 miles and 800 years away from home in the year 3118, with 4 broken ribs in a sardine can of a ship next to a psychotic bitch that had a grudge against him.

Obviously, he'd been better.

Those days ended yesterday. Well, yesterday 800 years ago in 2312 when an alien cruiser dropped an energy bomb on his house and killed his family. He'd been consumed by rage and followed the ship to its landing site and attacking its occupants with his father's old .45 service pistol. He then attacked one of the occupants of the other ship at the landing zone before being taken out by Samus's arm cannon. Samus Aran was the infamous intergalactic bounty hunter seated in front of him. In her imposing Battle Armor she could easily be mistaken for a man. But at the moment she was in a simple blue, skintight cat suit. Her partner Petty officer Spartan-458 Nicole was removing her armor in the aft lavatory.

After having thought it over he decided to just get it over with. He reached into the bag and pulled out a cylindrical object

---

Samus noticed Butch pulling something out of his bag. He then tossed it to her.

"What the hell is this?" she asked suspiciously. Noting the strange green M on the front

"It's an energy drink called MONSTER." He said digging through his bag again, "Try it."

While still suspicious she took a sip. 'DAMN! This tastes good!' she thought, then she suddenly felt a strange tingling sensation and started gulping it down. Then she saw him take out a similar object to hers but it was a little bigger. He took a sip and, to Samus's horror put a hand to his chest and started pushing in and moving something around, he was actually taking one of his broken ribs and was physically resetting it. He repeated this on his other broken ribs. Then, after stealing himself with another sip of the concoction, he yanked forward the center of his chest resetting the final bone that Samus had broken with an involuntary gasp as a partially collapsed lung refilled.

For a few moments Samus was too shocked and disgusted to speak. She gingerly set the can down, afraid it might bite her. Noticing this Butch, breaking the silence, said

"Don't worry, yours is just a normal energy drink."

"Then what the hell is that?!?" she exclaimed

"This is some MONSTER that I mixed with heavy non-narcotic pain killers." He said as if he were describing a piece at an auction

"And WHY do you have that?" she said still utterly confused.

"I was going to sell it to the athletes at my school for a hefty price" he said nonchalantly.

"So, wait, back up. You're saying when you drink that you don't feel any pain?" she said an evil grin creeping up her face

"Yeah. The combon…" he never finished seeing as at that moment Samus punched him in the face as hard as she could knocking him out of his seat. Samus got up and stood over him.

"You were saying hotshot?" she said smugly then she noticed she hadn't even bruised his face,
"How is your nose not even bleeding?" she asked

"You're not that good lookin' toots, even from this angle." He said slyly

At this Samus promptly stomped on his face and kicked him somewhere very uncomfortable.

"Was that REALLY necessary?!?!?!" he exclaimed in an unusually high voice. She squatted down to his level

"Yes, it was, you little chauvinist mother fucker." She whispered in a cold acidic tone, and then she stood back up. Just then Nicole walked out of the lavatory. She was in her late twenties with flowing chocolate brown hair and matching eyes. She wore only a skin tight black flight suit that highlighted every curve on her supple body.

"I think I feel that nose bleed coming on." he whispered to Samus, who promptly kicked him in the stomach missing her intended target. But this time Nicole saw her do it.

"Samus." Nicole said exasperatedly, helping Butch to his feet. Then Samus described the conversation she and Butch had just had. After that Nicole then promptly hit him in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"What is this some kind of hazing the new guy shit?" he said as he picked himself off the floor.

"No," replied Samus "you're just acting like an ass"

"Sorry to interrupt this soap opera Lady but we're about to make the jump" said a voice from nowhere. "ETA 5 hours"

"Who was that?" asked Butch confusedly

"That's Adam," replied Samus, "my ship's computer"

"Pleasure Adam." said Butch

"That's Commander Malkovich to you, squirt." Said the commander

"Sorry commander, it won't happen again Sir!" said Butch, who surprised the girls by coming to attention and saluting.

"At ease" The commander said, if he'd had a face he would have smirked, "I like this kid already."

"Thank You Sir!" said Butch

Samus groaned, this kid was getting more annoying by the minute. And it was 5 HOURS to target.

---

About 5 hours later the ship was quite quiet. Samus was checking an engine leak, Nicole was asleep, and Butch was listening to music.

Then Adam broke the silence "We're approaching our destination, ETA 10 minutes."

Their target had landed on a planet, designated LV-426. Samus had been here before on business. The planet itself was essentially a giant junk yard filled with hundreds of years of refuse and waste that formed mountains a mile high. It was originally a site for dumping outdated military hardware. That's what they told Butch anyway.

The very loud sound of Adam's voice startled Nicole causing her to fall out of her chair and

Butch could clearly hear a crash followed by a sea of swears and curses from the rear of the ship and couldn't help but smile as Samus walked up grumbling and rubbing a bruised forehead

"What's going on?" she said, "and this had better be good!"

"ETA to target 9 minutes" Butch said before turning his music back on and nodding his head to the beats of Thunderstruck by AC/DC and strumming an air guitar.

"Well," she said exasperatedly, "better suit up. Come on Nicky"

"Not in front of the kid Samus" she said slightly angry.

"Hey, when you girls are done with your catfight can ya quiet down. I can't hear my msic

"Shut up Butch" she said

"Anything you say … Nicky." He replied smugly, Obviously having heard them.

Nicole stormed out of the room 'Damn Him' she thought.

'Well played kid,' thought Samus, 'well played' and went to retrieve her armor.

---

4 minutes later they were on the planet's surface. They had landed some 30 clicks from the damaged cruiser and were going over the plan. It'd been decided that Samus and Nicole would go to take the cruiser and Butch, to his dismay, would be guarding the ship.

Right before the huntresses left he asked

"You got a weapons locker on this tub?"

"Why do you ask?" replied Samus

"I only have one clip left for my .45"

"What the hell's a .45?

Butch gestured to the pistol in his right hand.

"oooohhhh," she said pondering the problem "just use one of plasma pistols in the cockpit."

"O.K….I guess" he said not sure whether this was a blessing or a curse.

"Good, see you in 2 days" she said almost cheerily and then they were on their way.

'Wow,' he thought 'am I really that hard to be around?'

"Not in my opinion" said Adam

"Oh, shit did say that out loud?" Butch asked startled

"Yes, you did" said Adam flatly

"Sorry Sir" said Butch his mind else where

"OK that 'Sir' thing is starting to get on my nerves just call me Adam"

Butch threw a mock salute "You will regret that Sir!" he said with a devilish grin.

---

Samus and Nicole walked in-between the mountains of garbage, lost in thought. It was good to get away from the men and just think.

Samus broke the silence, "Whacha think of the new kid?"

"I don't know," she said, "What'd you think?"

"He's either REALLY nervous or REALLY pissed" Samus said

"Huh?"

"Guys feel the need to appear macho and cool especially in front of girls" she said, "if he's really pissed then he's trying to keep it check, if he's nervous he's trying to cover it up with those bad jokes of his"

"oh, gotcha" Nicole said, now thoroughly counfused, "how far to target?"

"From the readings I'd say about 10 miles" Samus replied, "we should set up camp."

"Why can't we call the ship?" asked Nicole

"It wouldn't fit in this canyon, and this particular canyon is a straight shot to the cruiser." said Samus

"oooohhhhh"

---

'The hell with it' Butch thought, 'I'm gonna go explore.' "YO!! Adam." He yelled

"Yes?"

" I'm gonna go explore this place, see if I can find anything useful."

"Now you know as well as I do that our orders are to guard the ship." He said flatly

"I just gonna go find something to better guard it then this." He said, gesturing to the tiny plasma pistol in his hand

"In that case, Good Luck and get out, I have been needing peace and quiet for ages!" said Adam

"I'll keep in touch" Butch said gesturing to the comlink in his hand.

---

'Damn' he thought 'this place is enormous' He walked in between the junk piles aimlessly wandering occasionally stopping to examine something but for the most part walking. He thought to himself, 'I wonder if there's a working ship in here somewhere? ...Nah! They'd scavenged it for parts already. Wait, what they? There's no one here. This could be benifitial after all.' Then he turned a corner. His jaw dropped and his eyes bulged at what he saw

"Holy shit." He said, "I gotta get back to the ship."

---

It had not been a good day

Samus and Nicole had found the space pirates but were spotted before then could set up a defensible position.

Not good.

They were forced to go on the offensive with 100-1 odds against them. Nicole letting loose with her BR55, Samus with her Plasma Beam. Charging a shot, Samus ran forward and fired, then flipped backwards and landed next to Nicole who was already on to her 3rd clip.

"There's so fuckin many ya can't miss" said Nicole as she took down another Pirate with a quick burst.

"I know." replied Samus taking down another with a plasma beam blast

That's when things really went south.

Nicole's rifle jammed, she had to switch to her pistol, which wasn't very effective against the pirates.

Then they suddenly were surrounded and closed in with 20 pirate plasma weapons pointed at their heads.

"OK" Nicole said, "we're fucked"

Then one of the pirates keeled over, followed by nine more in quick succession. Then they could hear the shots being fired by the unseen sniper as more pirates fell. The women and pirates were searching franticly searching for the sniper.

Samus spotted him first. He was situated on a junk heap opposite them firing away with a .50 sniper rifle. He was wearing silver polished armor with a strange skull insignia on the chest plate. All in all in look almost like armor from the medieval ages of Earth except for the tinted visor and large pack attached to the back. Then he stopped firing, and Samus knew why, he was out of ammo. He must have fired 50 shots into the pirates. Then, to her amazement, he reached behind his back and pulled out a very nasty looking 6-barrel chain gun, seemingly, out of thin air. He then started firing in to the pirates again.

---

Samus and Nicole used this opportunity to make a dash away.

"A local?"asked Nicole, indicating the shooter, who was now running with them along the adjacent junk pile.

"There's no such thing on this planet." Samus responded

They had made some distance between the pirates and themselves when they saw the shooter stop and place something on the edge of the pile and throw something similar on the bank opposite. He then ran some distance and pressed a button. The objects exploded causing a junk slide that blocked the canyon. The shooter then ducked behind the junk pile.

'Where'd he go?' They both thought. Then they heard the sound of an engine starting up and both thought 'Fuck!' but then they realized the noise was get closer not farther away. Then a jeep like vehicle came roaring of the heap and came to a skidding halt in front of them.

"Get in." said the driver, his voice garbled slightly from the speakers on the helmet.

The girls look at each other. Then Samus and Nicole said respectively, one second apart,

"Shotgun!"
"Shotgun! Fuck!"

"Stop being childish and get in the damn jeep!" said the driver

"Fine." said Nicole walking to the back of the jeep.

"Here," said the driver, handing her the chain gun, "hook that up to the mount in front of the seat. You're gonna be our rear gunner."

"Sweet!" said Nicole looking at the huge gun in her hands

"You," he said indicating Samus, "get in and let's go they'll get over that blockage soon enough"

---

They'd been driving for an hour when the driver broke the silence,

"20 minutes to the ship." He said

Several minutes passed before Samus suddenly yelled

"AERO-TROOPERS!"

There was a formation of about 30 of them above the jeep preparing to fire.

"SPARTAN fire!" yelled the driver

Nicole obliged, firing a sustained burst into the formation, bringing down 8 of them. Samus then began to fire missiles into them. After 10 minutes, only 9 remained, but the jeep was on its last legs. They then crested a hill and could see the ship, which the girls were surprised to see, was Samus's gunship.

Then, when they were within spitting distance of the ship, disaster. One of the aero-troopers fired an explosive that hit the side of the jeep, flipping it. Samus and the driver managed to jump clear. Nicole wasn't so lucky. When the jeep flipped her legs were caught underneath. Even her hardened bones couldn't withstand the impact and both of her shins shattered.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!" she yelled as the extreme pain set in
The Driver and Samus lifted it off of her.

"Can you walk?" asked Samus worriedly

"I… don't… know." Said Nicole between gasps

"I'll take that as a just plain no," said Samus, who then scooped up Nicole. "Can you cover us?" she asked the driver.

The driver pulled out an assault rifle from a slot on his back and replied

"Yes. Now go!"

Samus ran toward the ship with Nicole in her arms. Behind her she could hear gunfire and explosions as the Driver took down the aero-troopers. When she got to the ship she turned around and saw the driver running towards them, with the bodies of aero-troopers littering the ground behind him. He got onto the ship and said,

"Let's get off this rock."

Samus ran to the cockpit and gunned the engines and took off from the surface of the planet. It was after that that she realized something was amiss

"Nicky where's the kid?" she asked

"Who Butch?" Nicole asked sleepily

"Yeah."

"I don't know"

"You don't think we…" her voice trailed off

The Driver suddenly spoke,

"Don't worry Butch is fine." He said

"And just how would you know?" asked Samus, trying to keep the panic from her voice at the
thought of leaving the kid behind for the pirates.

"I didn't know I was that important." Said the Driver

"What?" said Samus thinking she'd misheard him

Then the Driver remove his helmet revealing none other than Butch.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?" was all Samus could think to say.

"Allow me to explain, you two were gone for 2 days. So in that time I decided to go exploring." He said then Samus cut in

"And where did this come from then?!?" gesturing to the silver armor and insignia

"The armor or the skull?" He asked

"Both"

"Well if you would just let me finish I would tell you." She fell silent "Thank you. Anyway, I went searching when I came across an old junk pile filed with outdated military tech. So I figured 'outdated is better than nothing' so I started searching through it and found all this equipment in huge quantities. That all must have been surplus before it I got dumped. That is, except for the armor. This was the only full suit I found, I found what might have been pieces of others in there but otherwise nothing."

"And the skull was already on there?" asked Samus

"Oh, that. No, I added that myself."

"How?"

"I don't know, the idea just sort of came to me as I was assembling the armor."

"No I mean how'd you get it on there."

"Oh, I imprinted it on the metal"

"I know that! But how'd… forget it." She said exasperatedly "we need to go to my place."

"¿Porque, señorita?" he asked

"what?"

"I asked you 'why?' in spanish."

"Oh, well there's some things I need to pick up, I need to make a report to the federation, and Nicole," she said indicating the unconscious SPARTAN, "need medical attention that I can't give her here do to her genetic modifications."

"Gottcha. So this means I'm crashin' at your place huh?" he said

"Yeah, I guess. But only till I can find a place to dump you." She added quickly

"Just face it, you can't bear to be separated from me" he said slyly

This earned him another kick in an uncomfortable place.

---

After 7 hours they finally reached Kortalth, the capitol world of the Galactic Federation. Samus dropped off the two at her hovel of a home in the city. Once they got in Butch promptly found the couch laid his gear next to it and fell onto it.

"There're more comfortable places here then that thing." Samus remarked

"Unless there's a hidden guest room in this hut, this is where I'm stayin'. Unless you have better accommodations, that is." He said hanging up his leather jacket.

"I suppose you're right." She said

"Where's the princess?" he asked

"In my room resting." Samus said and then walked out the door

Butch then began to ransack the kitchen for any food. Taking what little he could find back to the couch he began to work on cleaning his armor. Then he heard a ships engine outside. 'hmm, that was quick' he thought. Then he looked outside.

---

Nicole sat up. She'd been woken by the noise of a ship's engine. Then suddenly, Butch barged into the room.

"Butch what the hell…"

"GET DOWN!!" yelled Butch knocking her flat jut as one of the walls was blown away in a bright flash and deafening BOOM.

End of Part 2