Author's Warning: Potentially horrendous Russian translated by Google appears in the following chapter. Russians, please do not kill me for butchering your language.
Samus was now standing outside the door to Dust's cell, staring intensely at him, the glowing of her visor seeming to radiate pure hatred.
"You were following me?" Samus asked calmly, though Dust could quite easily detect her hostility.
"Yes…" he admitted.
"And you did so despite my promise to kill you?"
"Yes…"
Samus remained silent for a moment. "Why?"
"Because I can't allow this 'phazon' to hurt anyone!" Dust said, his determination overtaking him. "I don't care what happens to me, so long as everyone is safe, and if I have to defy you in order to make sure that happens, then so be it! I will not stand by and let this poison take over my home!"
Samus sighed. "I can't decide if that's brave or stupid. You're strong, but phazon will overtake you, and use your strength to spread itself across the galaxy and slaughter the ones you wish to protect. A noble effort, but a foolish one all the same." She turned away. "You can rot in there for all I care," she said coldly. "Let the pirates finish you for me; saves me the trouble."
"I can help you!" Dust shouted angrily. "You saw what I did to the Giant! You need me to-!"
Samus spun around, the green glow of her visor seeming to intensify. "I don't 'need' an arrogant little bastard like you following me around," she said, no longer bothering to hide her anger. "I'm trying to save the whole of civilization, and you're an undisciplined kid trying to play hero. Maybe if you had simply listened to me and helped where you actually could, you wouldn't be in that cell and I would not be telling you this!" Samus' breathing had intensified, and her arm cannon level with Dust's face. After a moment, she seemed to calm down and lowered the cannon. "You're a danger to yourself and the universe as a whole. Goodbye." She turned around for a final time and walked out of sight, the sound of her arm cannon firing resonating for a second, leaving a speechless Dust in an utterly silent room.
Samus walked out of the laboratory and into an empty hallway. She was glad to be rid of Dust at last. He was too much like her in her earlier years; idealistic, cocksure, but unable to accept reality for what it was. She almost felt bad about leaving him there, though. He had the makings of a great warrior, but he had crossed the line by directly disobeying her and endangering her mission.
I should have killed him… she said to herself. Why didn't I? I had enough reason to; even the Federation would have executed him for his interference…
Sighing, Samus forced herself to turn her attention back to the hall she was in. She found herself somewhat annoyed by the pointlessness of it, yet there was still that bizarre feeling of familiarity. Why do I know this place? she asked herself as she opened the door into yet another empty hallway.
It was unremarkable except for a small, square vent passage about one meter across. Quickly scanning the nearby environment for any hostile creatures and finding none, Samus switched into her Morph-Ball form and rolled into it. When she transformed back on the other side, she was facing the ship's map station hologram. Jackpot.
Samus approached the hologram, and upon putting her hand through it, it immediately dropped the data-dispensing device, which happened to have a receptacle that fit her arm cannon perfectly. She inserted her cannon into the device, and her suit immediately notified her of the download.
Downloading map data… Error.
Connection to Pirate database severed.
Odd… Samus noted. They always have these things working for reassigned pirates. Shrugging, she exited the room and moved on into yet another hallway, the haunting sense of familiarity following her still. I know I've seen these halls before, she thought to herself. I just can't explain why…
Dust sat in the corner of his cell, his mind struggling to process what Samus had told him. She had called him a danger to all of existence. Did his simple mistakes carry that much risk with them? Perhaps he had been arrogant. Defeating Gaius was by no means child's play, but compared to what phazon was doing within a few hours of arriving on his planet…
"What the hell was I thinking?" he shouted, slamming his fist on the ground. He perked his ears and looked up. He pounded his fist into the ground again. A small plate on the floor rattled as his fist impacted. Dust smiled. "Maybe things aren't completely hopeless."
He grabbed the plate, and pulled as hard as he could. Slowly, it bent away from the floor to reveal a bundle of brightly colored tubes. Dust gripped the tubes, which had a rubbery texture, and pulled on them, hoping something would happen. After receiving a decently painful electric shock from the tubes snapping apart, the glass in front of his cell faded away, finally allowing him a means of escape.
Cautiously, he stepped outside and observed his surroundings, making sure the creatures that had captured him were not around. Once he was sure the area was clear, he ran straight toward the glowing blue door he witnessed Samus enter from.
He tried to open it, but like the glass on his cell door, the blue material resisted all attempts to break it. "This would be so much easier with Ahrah…" he groaned.
"Honestly, seeing how Samus operated those things, I thought Fidget would have been quite useful," came the all-too familiar voice of the ancient blade.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear you right now…" Dust said, feeling very relieved to see that he was not alone.
"I should say the same," Ahrah replied. "It seemed as if you would never get out of that cell."
Dust silently agreed as he looked around for his blade. "I might be able to leave this place altogether if I could find you," he said.
As soon as he finished speaking, an ear-piercing screech echoed through the room. "Умереть, черт бы тебя побрал!"
Something tackled Dust from behind grabbed his neck with cold, chitinous fingers. Almost instinctively, Dust shoved his elbow backwards into his assailant, where upon he heard a sickening CRACK!, and found his neck free of the icy grip.
"Dust, duck!"
Although he was struggling to breathe, Dust obeyed and witnessed a pitch-black creature soar over his head and into the blue door in front of his. The creature slammed into the door hard enough to make the blue material fade momentarily, and fell to the floor, seemingly stunned. Dust took advantage of the opportunity and stomped on the creature with all his might, hitting its arm and shattering it as if it were glass.
"What… was… that… thing…?" Dust asked Ahrah, still somewhat short of breath from being strangled.
"It seems to be similar to the creatures that attacked us earlier, but different somehow…" said Ahrah. "The one before you is not dead; merely stunned. I recommend that we make haste for an exit."
"'Merely stunned'? It's arm fell off!" Dust said in disbelief.
"This creature is incredibly resistant to pain," Ahrah explained. "Perhaps you did not realize it as you were fighting, but you cracked open its chest cavity with your elbow, and only the force of the impact deterred it."
Observing the creature more closely, Dust could plainly see that its chest had a sizable hole in the center, revealing bizarre-looking organs within. "Must be pretty fragile if I did that so easily…" Dust said, feeling slightly nauseous looking at the creature's innards.
"Fragile, but strong, and possibly equipped with technology that could easily dispatch us. I suggest we leave while we can."
"Agreed." Dust looked around for, Ahrah, but panic set in when the blade was nowhere in sight. "Where are you?" he asked the blade.
The creature began to stir, mumbling as it began to prop itself up on its remaining arm. "I really need you to tell me are now," he said nervously. "That thing's waking up!"
"Silver box, right in front of where your cell is," Ahrah said hurriedly.
Dust dashed over the box and attempted to pry it open, but to no avail. The creature got back on its feet. "I can't open it!" he shouted. The creature began to approach him.
"Isn't there a lock?" Ahrah asked.
"There's nothing! It's a just a block of metal!" Dust snapped.
"Маленький ублюдок..." the creature hissed, raising its remaining arm to reveal cannon not unlike Samus'.
Before it could let off a single shot, however, Dust slammed Ahrah's case into the creatures head, causing it's skull to crack open and splatter (what Dust assumed to be) bits of it brain onto the casing.
"That was… brutal," Ahrah said.
"I improvised," Dust said casually. He turned back to the blue door. "Let's get out of here before he re-grows his head or something."
"Высокомерный дурак. Учитесь у него идиотизма, так что вы можете служить наши лидеры более, чем он..." said a voice, eerily similar to the one the creature had. "Для смея бросить вызов нам, это существо будет первым в своем роде, чтобы умереть во имя Космических Пиратов!"
Dust turned around, and fear gripped him like a vice. No longer was there merely the corpse of a creature; there were five.
Once the door at the end of the hall opened up, Samus found herself in an even larger laboratory than before. As she walked further in and scanned the room, she began to notice a lack of Space Pirates. They couldn't have all been outside… where are the engineers? The scientists?
Continuing into the eerily silent room, she noticed one of the computer terminals was still logged into the Pirate database. After looking over her shoulder once or twice more, Samus approached the terminal and scanned the document that was opened.
Log Entry 19.958.2
NB-001 is replenishing our power supply as expected, but much slower than we had anticipated. Energy is harvested from the subject on a daily basis, but it is just barely keeping our utilities online.
If we do not make haste, the entire operation will be put at risk. We cannot fail our leaders, СПОЙЛЕРЫ0101001101010000010011110100100101001100010001010101001001010011
Error. Document corrupted.
"What the…?" The entire screen went blank, and the terminal shutdown. Samus went over to the next terminal, only to find that it, and every other computer in the room, had been destroyed from the inside-out by an intense power surge. Someone knows I'm here, she realized. Her radar began to pick up a target from within the room. And it appears that they're after me.
"У нас нет страха вас, Охотник!"
Samus sidestepped away from the pirate behind her, causing the projectile it fired to hit a wall far from its intended target, and returned fire with a missile.
The pirate leapt onto the ceiling to dodge the incoming explosive. The missile detonated on the wall behind the pirate, and to Samus' surprise, rode the shockwave across the room and straight toward her, energy scythe extended.
Samus dodged to the side, and the pirate suddenly found itself with its scythe stuck in the floor. Using the pirate's predicament to her advantage, Samus fired several rounds of her Power Beam into its side, and curiously enough, did absolutely nothing. Not good...
The pirate tore its arm out of the flooring and began firing at the confused huntress, managing to hit her a few times before she took cover behind one of the computer terminals.
It's resisting my shots, Samus noted. There has to be a weak-point. There's always at least one flaw.
Quickly, Samus poked her head out and began scanning the pirate, rolling to from side to side to dodge the barrage of beam projectiles it fired at her.
Scan complete.
Unknown Space Pirate variant.
Subject's exoskeleton is made up of an extremely lightweight material similar to keratin. The material easily absorbs most energy-based weaponry, but is incredibly brittle, and thus weak to kinetic force. In addition, its weight of merely 19.6 kg makes it susceptible to being pushed around by almost any significant amount of force.
Now armed with knowledge of the pirate's vulnerabilities, Samus loaded a Seeker Missile into her arm cannon. This won't take long. She leapt over the terminal she had been hiding behind and over the pirate itself, using her time in the air to lock onto it. The instant she touched the ground, Samus let loose the missile.
The pirate fired an odd looking beam at the missile, causing it to stop in mid-air and fade away.
On to plan B, then…
Samus leapt of from behind the terminal, firing several missiles as she chased after the pirate. It fired each missile out of the air, but its attention was divided enough between the explosives and the huntress that it ended up slowing down. The delay was enough for Samus to close the distance between the two of them, allowing her to grapple the pirate and slam her arm cannon in its face, smashing it in a fashion similar to that of an egg.
Life signs ceased within the pirate, and Samus took the opportunity to scan its body, hoping to learn more about it in case she met another of its kind.
Scanning…
Subject deceased. In-depth scan initialized.
Subject has significantly fewer nerve endings than most pirates; likely spliced in to prevent excessive amounts of pain in battle.
Internal organs are smaller than normal, leading to a stunted life-span but lower energy consumption.
Brain has suffered too damaged to analyze.
Current information suggests that these individuals were genetically engineered to be expendable, but powerful enough to fight on their own, even without advanced weaponry. Energy-resistant exoskeleton allows minimal consequences for friendly-fire, likely meaning these pirates have less trigger-discipline.
Subject dubbed 'Pirate Pawn'.
Fitting, as always, Samus thought. She scanned the room once more, and checked her radar for anything she missed.
Content that she was alone once more, Samus began to examine the ceiling, hoping to find where the pirate had come from, but finding nothing. No doors opened, and the floor is intact, so where could that thing have come from…?
"This is bad…"
"Very..." agreed Ahrah. "Duck."
Dust swiftly dodged one of the creatures' energy beams, letting the projectile soar over his head. "Any ideas?"
"I don't suppose you could bash their heads in?... jump."
Dust leapt up into the air, foiling one of the creatures' attempts to tackle him. "Probably not going to end well with five of them…"
"Perhaps you could steal one of their weapons?... to the left."
Dust rolled out of the way of a barrage of beams. "How am I going to figure out how to use one?"
"Better to die trying… block."
Dust used Ahrah's casing to stop a beam dead in its tracks. "Think I could use whatever the dead one has?"
"I'm rather sure he wouldn't mind."
Dust slide between the legs of one of the creatures, making a beeline for the carcass of the one that had attacked him previously.
"Что черт возьми он делает?" one of the creatures questioned.
As soon as Dust reached his target, he grabbed the nearest device from the creature's body; a disk-shaped piece of black metal with a red button and a glowing piece of glass on the front. "Ready for a fair fight?" he taunted, waving the object around threateningly.
"Do you even know what that thing is or how to use it?" Ahrah asked.
"No, but they don't have to know that!" Dust hissed.
The creatures stopped their firing and stared at Dust. "Он украл один из телепорта устройств! Самусь будет знать что мы здесь если он использует его!" one of the creatures screeched, sounding almost panicked.
"Ha! They're the ones afraid now!" Dust proclaimed.
"Dust, I would not recommend using that device!"
"Убейте его прежде чем он ставит под угрозу нашу миссию!" another cried, extending its weapon.
Dust smirked. "Let's finish this!"
"Dust, no!"
The sound of the creatures' weapons firing was the last thing Dust heard as he pressed the button on the device. Suddenly, he found himself in an entirely different place that was just as large, but filled not with holding cells, but desks with buttons and switches all over. In addition, the creatures had seemingly disappeared. In their place, however, was a familiar figure covered in bright orange armor.
Samus was beginning to impatient. The pirate came from somewhere in this room, she said to herself for perhaps the twelfth time. It had to. It just didn't appear out of thin air.
Out of thin air, a figure wearing a black vest, light blue cape, and a Chinese satgat holding a silver box appeared before her, a look of utter confusion on his face. Dust…
The two stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, neither one speaking or moving. Finally, Samus decided to break the silence with her immediate thoughts on the matter.
"For f**k's sake, am I ever going to get rid of you?!" she shouted, visibly struggling to control her frustration.
"Considering how things have been turning out, I would say 'no'…" responded a voice that Samus recognized as Ahrah.
"I'm not sure if this is situation is better or worse…" Dust said nervously.
Samus blinked. "…Worse than what?"
"Мы были найдены! Игнорировать вора! Ликвидировать Самусь!" Five Pirate Pawns, in a fashion similar to how Dust had arrived, appeared from thin air, their weapons already pointed at Samus.
"Get behind one of the terminals!" Samus shouted, taking cover herself before a hail of beams occupied the space she had previously been.
"I'd say that this situation has escalated rather quickly…" Ahrah commented.
"Either way I'm probably dead," Dust said.
"We'll all be dead if you don't shut up and help me fight!" Samus launched a missile at the cluster of pirates, only for them to shoot it out of the air. "They're weak to direct force; if you so much as punch them it's put a hole in their chest."
"Believe me, I know…" Dust groaned, sounding somewhat sickened.
Two pirates appeared on Samus' radar, directly behind her. "Out of the way!" She switched to Morph-Ball mode and boosted to side, narrowing avoiding several rounds of beam weaponry.
"They're not even aiming for me!" Dust shouted, now on the other side of the room. He was literally standing right beside a pirate, who utterly ignored his presence.
"Then take full advantage of that!" Samus replied as she took cover behind another terminal. Suddenly, two pirates disappeared from her radar.
"Черт возьми, убить их обоих! Они объединились!" one of the remaining three shouted. Shortly after, the sound of pirate weapons being fired filled the room again, and a rather shaken-looking Dust ended up beside her.
"I think they're not going to discriminate between us any longer…" he said, wiping gore off of Ahrah's casing.
"Good," Samus said. "Their attentions will be divided; you attack whatever attacks me, and I'll do the same for you. Any objections?"
"I don't have anything better," Dust shrugged.
On Samus' cue, both she and Dust ran out from behind the terminal, and as expected, the three pirates split their efforts among them, one going after Dust, and two after Samus herself.
Samus tackled Dust's assailant, crushing him like an egg under the full weight of her Power Suit, and he simply bludgeoned her's with Ahrah's casing.
"Just one left," Dust said, wiping off the case. "He doesn't stand a chance."
The pirate stared at them, weapon drawn, a look of bewilderment on its face. "Я не умру сегодня," it said, lowering its weapon and pulling out a small device. It pressed the button on the device, and disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
A pirate… fleeing…?! Something was terribly amiss. Space Pirates were trained since birth to fight to their dying breath; retreat was punishable by execution. I have to gain access this ship's network; this is no ordinary frigate, and these are no ordinary pirates.
"I guess we scared him off, eh?" Dust suddenly quipped.
Samus glared at him, now reminded of his role in the fight. If it weren't for him, that little skirmish would not have happened. He led my greatest enemies straight to me, and gave them the advantage of a surprise attack. It's about time I made sure this will never happen again.
She clenched her fist and raised her arm cannon. I cannot allow Dust to leave this frigate alive.
Samus' arm cannon was now aimed level with Dust's face, and judging by the ominous look she was giving him, she was not bluffing this time. Slowly, Dust began to lift Ahrah's casing up.
"Put it down," Samus snarled.
Dust did as he was told, setting the box to his left. Samus kicked it to the far side of the room, and began to walk toward Dust.
"Samus, can we please be rational about this?" Ahrah asked.
"This does not concern you, Ahrah," she replied, continuing to walk as Dust tried to back away. "Dust, you have proven yourself a threat to galactic civilization through repeated interference with my mission, and under Federation law, I have the right and responsibility to execute you."
Dust felt himself bump into a corner. "I was trying to leave this place!" he protested. "I never wanted to-!"
"You led enemy forces to my location; had things not gone as smoothly as they did, I could have been killed, and your planet, along with the rest of existence, would have been doomed, as I alone have the experience and knowledge to destroy a Leviathan seed." Her arm cannon began to widen and glow a golden color, with a large orb of the same color being formed on its end. "I have more than enough cause to justify killing you, and I intend to not put this opportunity to waste. Pray to whatever gods you have faith in, as you will surely being meeting them shortly."
Dust felt a lump in his throat. I had a second chance… he thought. I could have continued helping people, I could have settled down, but instead, I'm sitting here, waiting to die again…
He swallowed hard. "If you're going to kill me, at least allow me a few words," he said, to Samus' and his own surprise. "I know you do not like me. Honestly? I'm starting to hate you. You treat me like I'm an ignorant animal, and while you may be justified in doing so, you forget that you are little more than a savage beast. Like a bird of prey, you're strong, cunning, and without mercy, but your actions only reflect your sense of self-preservation. You would let phazon destroy the world if you knew you would survive, wouldn't you? Despite how many lives were lost you would be content to simply know that you yourself would live… Makes me wonder who deserves to be at the end of that weapon…"
Samus remained unphased by Dust's speech. "I suggest you close your eyes" she said. "Super-Missiles have a tendency to burn retinas. It's excruciatingly painful."
Dust took Samus' advice and squeezed his eyes shut. Should have known mere words wouldn't have convinced someone as heartless as her… His body tensed, and he prepared to meet his end. I wish I could have at least said goodbye to everyone; I never did the first time…
He took a deep breath, then, along with a deafening explosion, a wave of searing heat passed over him, his last thoughts reminding him of his first encounter with death…
But he was still alive.
Dust opened his eyes. Samus' arm cannon was now pointed to the left, heat still visibly warping the air around it. Glancing over to where she was pointing, Dust observed a large crater where Ahrah's casing had been, with the blade himself lying nearby.
"I am giving you one last chance," Samus said suddenly. She held out her other arm, and a blue string of energy shot out of the back of her hand, wrapping itself around Ahrah and pulling him straight into her grasp. "I will not expect you to stay idle while phazon ravages your home any longer. You've proven yourself to be a capable fighter, even under less than advantageous circumstances, so I trust that you will be able to carry yourself in combat. However, you are to follow my orders through the entirety this mission. Should you disobey me at any point, I will not show the mercy I am now." She thrust Ahrah's flat side against Dust's chest. "Do I make myself clear?"
"P-perfectly…" Dust stammered, genuinely shocked by the gesture.
"Good. Now follow me." Samus turned around and began walking toward another one of the blue doors.
"What just happened?" he whispered to Ahrah as he tagged behind Samus.
"Samus spared you…" the blade replied, seeming just as surprised as he was. "Perhaps she saw truth in your words. Perhaps she realized who she was becoming…"
Dust merely grunted, too lost in thought to pay attention. Maybe Samus wasn't as selfish as he thought. Maybe she wasn't as cold and uncaring as he thought. Maybe, just maybe, she actually had a heart.
Holy cowpatties on a lemur this took WAY too long to write.
First off, I apologize for my lack of activity. This chapter was a pain to write; for some reason getting the story going in the direction I wanted it to without anything being contrived was proving to be rather difficult for some reason. Even now I can't shake the feeling that this chapter kinda sucks, but I suppose you guys will be able to tell better than I.
The next chapter is coming along much more smoothly, so don't worry about a sudden hiatus again. Again, apologies for the long wait. Hope you enjoy this story and the sweltering heat of the summer!
*Insert witty and/or self-deprecating comment asking for critical reviews here*
Update: fixed a couple of typos. Hate myself for letting them slip by.