Metroid Prime: Dark Hunter
Chapter V - The Dark Hunter
"Lady, we are arriving in a few minutes to the planet VG-052." She computer informs Samus while she meditates. 'Another mission is about to start. I am yet unaware of the resistance, and i cannot understimate the Space Pirates. They are relentless, savage and merciless. But i will terminate them all, and Ridely too, how many times it will be needed.'
The transmistion icon apears on the screen. "Recieving transmintion from G.F.S Olympus." Adam informs Samus once more, making her open her eyes and look at the screen. She taps it. "Initiating security protocols. It's an audio transmition from Aurora Unit 242." A small screen with wavelengh display apears.
"Samus. We have managed to dig deeper into the information. This weapon of mass destruction intends to use the clones' neural link to power it. The more linked into the network, the more powerful this weapon becomes. Do not discard any changes at killing these clones." The transmition ends.
'A weapon capable of being powered by neural linking. What are the Pirates intending to do with this new system? Possibly because i've disrupted their power systems times over, and they discovered a new way. I cannot allow any to live, now even more.' She thinks to herself, the screens now displaying the landing route to the planet, as Adam's icon flashes while he speaks. "Lady, i've set a landing route and location. It will be two kilometers away from the Pirate's facility, behind a high hill." Samus nods firmly. "Thank you. It's perfect." The computer speaks just moments after.
"I've scanned the facility's landing area. There seems to be a space ship that does not belong to the Space Pirates nor to the Federation. Avoid to close in while i will investigate it further." Samus remains quiet, making the landing herself where sugested by Adam. The thundering clouds don't seem to bother the ship's stability, allowing a rather smooth landing.
"You first objective is to aproach the landing area and take out any possibility for the Pirates to either take off to space and to take their communication systems down." Adam shows the map of the area on the screen and the location of the objectives in it. "Any objections, Lady?" Samus screen flashes in green, giving Adam her two-fold response with a thumbs down.
She beams down from the ship starting her running arround the hill. "I will update your minimap as i scan the facility." The computer informs Samus, herself changing the visor into full scanning capabiblities, analysing the flora, for any native danger. In the horizon, the facility and it's routes, along with a tall comunication parabol, for the long-range transmitions, aswell with smoke comming from several spots in it.
Down the hill, almost in the vale, she notices the rain to hit something cloacked. Shifting her visor to X-Ray, she spots the unknown ship. 'There's the ship. I will keep away at Adam's sugestion. The top priority is to prevent the Space Pirates to call for help.' Her eyes gaze towards the facility again, this time moving slower, shifting between Heat and X-Ray visors from time to time, to spot any enemy.
As no life signal apears in the screen, Samus goes thoughtful again. 'Not a single Space Pirate? Not even automated turrets or robots? This is not normal.' With a more calm walking, she passes by the landing pad in which she notices the already wreckage of the pirate's ship, scanning arround for any clues. That's when she spots the first dead zebesian, laying in it's back. 'Dead?' She thinks, aiming her arm cannon at the pirate.
Changing her visor to scan, she is able to identify the cause of death, a bomb in the back of the head, causing an heavy trauma, along with broken neck and lacerations. "Adam, are you seeing this?" Samus asks, staring at the pirate. "Yes. It's likely the creature the Aurora 242 spoke of." Samus frowns, looking towards the route that leads to the facility. "What kind of creature has this type of armament?" Adam replies with little delay. "I do not know. But likely this was art of a satient creature. Or just a lucky shot. Unlucky for the pirates."
Samus walks along the route, scanning more and more deads. "That means they have managed to capture the creature." Her walk continues, the rain already had cleaned most of the previous marks on the ground. "Most likely. Or the other ship has the one who captured it. But it does not seem to be able to hold a creature this powerful."
Samus kept walking, reaching the entrance of the facility, which is completly destroyed, like a huge bomb had been planted to open the heavily plated doors, that barely resisted the blast but were wide open, with an heavy denting, and the rest just vaporized, leaving a large area without anything but dry land with a round, nearly perfectly concave land, even the flora has been annihilated.
She scans every detail, finding pieces of the communiations parabol and other debris. Looking behind for any left clues, where she spots the dead zebesian with the plasma hole in it's head. "I do not think this was someone delivering a dangerous package, Adam." She turn again to the entrance. "Indeed. This type of weaponary is not easy to come by. And the explosion seems very similar to a power bomb's damage. Take Aurora's 242 advice. Be careful with this satient creature." She nods after Adam finished speaking, heading inside the facility, that has it's first corridor go beneath the surface.
After a small careful walk, she reaches a blasted shield door, forced open like the privious one, but with a smaller blast. Entering the main area, she is on large platforms, the room being about 2 floors in height, with her being in the higher one. It would look like the control room, computers everywhere, some destroyed, others still intact, a platform elevator in the other end which she uses to descend t othe lower floor.
Using her scan, she analyses the computers, mining for data logs, along with the damage in the area. It reveals little of the progress on their research, only that they have been managing to keep test subjects alive for a few cycles. 'They are at it. A new type of weapon with a new type of management. The pirates will never stand down from their unsatiated need to rule the universe.' She thought with lights flashing a moment as a small tremor shakes the earth.
"Samus, there was another violent explosion within the facility, in the minus six floor, matching the power bomb's signature. It must be the creature. I've been able to scan down to the minus eight, updating your map now." Samus reads 'Map updated' in her screen after Adam sending the information, displaying now most of the facility layout. "I belive that most of your path will be cleared if it keeps going like this, so you might be able to catch up with it. In any way, if have found the clonning factory. It's located in the minus fifth floor, i will mark it on you map. Destroy it's functionality."
Samus looks over the map for a while, returning to her combat visor, running her way down the facility, past the blasted foors and gates. Most of the rooms she passes by seem to store the clones in tubes, all of them destroyed, with the greenish fluid it contains dripping. The other rooms store material and rations for both the pirates and the clones' sustention. Every pair of rooms seems a separated block, so in which of something went wrong, lockdown could be activated to prevent damage or leaking to the rest of the facility, which didn't seem to be activated on time, obviously.
The first floor she goes by with ease, finding the elevator for the next one. She does not delay, proceeding to go down further. 'This facility reminds me alot of another one, which the pirates used phazon to enhance their weapons, power and strength at the expense of longivity. They even managed to create one Elite Pirate Upsilon, which they called Omega Pirate, capable of using phazon to regenerate itself while out of natural eyesight.' She recalls, the elevator reaching the lower floor.
She runs her way past the room, entering a more sinister floor in which she slows down, having dead bodies all arround , lacerated, amputated, exploded. It didn't seemed like the previous damage type though. She runs a few scans over them, getting to know it was made by some spiritual energy, or even psychic one. The wounds do seem very disgusting, having flesh and bone wide open, but both Samus and Adam wonder what would cause such a thing.
She moves along, searching for any explanation with her scan. It would seem like this for a few rooms, some of them completly dark, forcing Samus to use Heat visor. This aslo allows her to reach a conclusion, this seemed like the clone's dormitory. 'With the trauma of a neural link breaking, some of them migh not have been able to contain their own ablity, and unleashed their psychic on themselfs. What a crude way to die.' She thought, managing yet another floor. This new elevator only seems able to move down directly to the minus six floor.
"Samus, be careful. That's where the satient creature might be." Adam remind Samus as she nods firmly. She descends once more. 'These twisted experiments are always so devastating to the zebesians. Do really them all belive this necessary to improve their ability to fight? Forcing such pain and torture upon themselves? Possibly. Zebesians are way more naturaly dangerous and hostile than many other creatures. But i find it hard to belive there would not be at least one who did not share their vision. But again, they may kill those who do not.'
After taking it's while, the elevator stops, Samus reading herself for what's to come. Moving carefuly, she aims her arm cannon ina general direction as she enters the room, changing visors to check for live signatures. She manages to find warm bodies, but they are all dead already. The room looks like a security entrance to a large research lab with two passages. She checks up the map, looking for a route towards the upper floor.
Choosing the left one, she enters a long corridor with many destroyed security turrets and cameras, running along until she'd reach the a large room, in which there was said explosion just before. Everything is destroyed, not a sign of life either making this room a fast one, but making Samus wary of the danger.
She proceeds towards the next room, full of tables with stored liquids and papper. This might explain the lack on information on the system. She makes a scan over the pappers, revealing the extent of their research. "I'm uploading the file's data to the ship." She mentions as Adam then replies. "Understood." She moves the files one by one to send the information. Once done, she looks arround, taking interest in a specific old-fashioned metal shelf, containing several samples of limiteless life-beings.
She scans it over, the information rolling in her screen. 'Most of these are from SR-388 and Zebes. They seem to have human's too, as i feared.' Looking to the sides the searches for more any useful information. Another, small earth shake occurs, leading Samus to proceed to the next room.
As she passes the yet preserved door, the same can't be told by the falling pirate from the fifth floor from this huge room, covering up those missing floors, having a large clonning factory within, energy shots heard every now and then. Samus finds a cover and tries to search for the culprit, with no success. Her eyes frown upon noticing a glowing cyan fluid on the pirate's chest, completly destroying it's heavily body armor and killing the poor zebesian within.
She runs a scan on it, and her eyes widden alot, making her perplexed for a few moments. 'Phazon!? It can't be!' She thought, running the scan a second and third time, always with the same result. The liquid seems to dissipate slowly until completly gone for some reason, but the pirate does not seem to be alive anymore. Her eyes frown, moving away from cover with her jet boosts running and shooting any pirates along the way with her stacked beams with deadly accuracy, vaporizing most of the ground targets with it. Looking up, she notices someone doing the same, killing every and all pirates that come in it's direction from the door it walks towards too, soon leaving the area.
Samus takes her chance to space-jump into an upper floor, to the on-going clonning factory. "Adam, is it safe to release a power bomb in here?" She asks, while she watches clones being grown with ease and rapidly, humans, non-setient creatures and zebesians, every lead to a storing compound. "Yes. For the best effect, plant it in the corner of the entrace of that green substance. It should aswell stop the power from flowing into it, turning off the vile machine." She nods firmly, entering in morthball and proceeding in the slim passages. She would not delay it, releasing a power bomb and jumping away with space-jumps to the fifth floor, where would that being gone to.
The explosion destroys most of the factory with another potent earthshake, and makes the whole facility to fall in full alert, but the power is cut down from the clonning room. Samus proceeds to follow the creature now. In the room she walks into, there would be large containers to store the fluid that'd contain sustense for the clones for their develoption and survival, but she makes little case of it, changing her visor to x-ray, allowing her to see through walls to follow the creature further.
Jumps onto the containers, then to the platforms above and running along it, seemingly to get closer, but as she aproaches, the x-ray screen beguins to have interferances, forcing her to change back to a normal visor. Samus soon starts her speed-boost feature, and as the door opens she'd notice a morphball bomb just about to explode as she is going to pass by. 'What?' She got taken by suprise, the bomb exploding, her reaction time allowing her to break the speed boost and use the shiny-spark to get away from the blast rapidly, aswell covering some distance with it, forcing herself against a wall.
In the top part of the floor, where the fluid seems to be processed, there stands, something that Samus had not anticipated. Dark Samus, having her ancient Chozo Suit, dark blue plating and cyan glowing linings, aswell the screen. She stares down at Samus, while Samus stares with wide eyes. With little thought time, she aims the cannon to shoot, but the Dark Samus moves away through the door above.
'But i've destroyed it!' Her heart races alot. "Samus, do not let it take over you. Stay focused." Adam reassures, and Samus recovers from her state quickly. Following after the known enemy now. Room after room, each revealing how the liquid is processed, using other living creatures or just nutrients, the machines keep working despite the alert. Dark Samus seems to be hunting down every single pirate with the plasma beam, sometimes even used along with wave to pierce through walls, leaving none alive while running away from Samus, that tries to shoot Dark Samus along the way.
Dark Samus seems as capable as ever, dodging Samus shots and using the speed boost to get distance. Until a dead end, the reactor's room where Dark Samus stops of sudden and launches a missle against the wall, releasing phazon compound, while Dark Samus shinnes brightly. Samus does not stop, using the speed boost to rapidly cover ground, making a few hits with her arm-cannon.
Suddently, Dark Samus unleashes the shiny-spark upwards, forcing her way up through the thin ventilation systems, destroying most of it along the way with the kinetic force. Samus is able to keep up with it, stopping to store the shiny-spark aswell, but when she looks to the side, the notices the phazon reaching to the reactors, making them short-circuit, and soon to explode.
Samus unleashes her own shiny-spark, following after Dark Samus and with the heat-wave from the explosion just behind her. It does take it's while to reach the outside, the walls shaking with the explosion, the whole four floors left to leave, and as she manages outside, she cancels the shiny-spark and uses the space jump to get away.
"Samus, get away from the facility, it's collapsing on itself." Adam urges Samus, as she slowly makes her way out of the aerial space above the facility. Landing on the ledge, she still watches the facility to fall into ruins, explosions here and there with the volatile quimicals and possibly other reactors. Along with it, the extra ship seems to fall down too, losing it's cloaking and revealing to be a personal transport class ship, which meets it's doom with the facility. Samus looks arround, in search for Dark Samus, but to no avail. She decides to make her way towards her ship.
Nearly to reach it, Dark Samus apears, hidden from the flora. Samus aims without a second thought, but Dark Samus rises it's arms in defeat or surrender. Samus blinks, again an unexpected reaction. She closes in, but does not stop aiming at it. "Adam. Power the guns in case it tries to move." Her visor goes transparent, as she stops aiming at the it. "Understood." He replies.
Dark Samus just stares, not pulling down its arms yet. "Can you understand me?" Samus asks, being replied by a nod from the darker one. 'I knew it could understand, just never expected it to surrender like this.. it got me very curious, but... i cannot let it down my guard.' She moves closer for an inspection, using her scanning visor, revealing something unusual. The phazon within seems to be controlled, rather than corrupting.
"Can you speak?" A corrupted-like voice from a woman comes from within the dark suit. "Yes." Samus only gets more interested. "Why didn't you attacked me now?" And the other person replies again. "I have two reasons for that. I have no wish to fight you, and i need a ride off this planet." Samus looks over her shoulder, towards the facility way, for a moment, then back at the dark woman. "That ship was yours?" The dark one nods, the cyan visor clearing, just like Samus' green one, revealing a woman that does not seem like Samus at all, and with marks of cracking phazon crossing diagonaly her face. "Yes. It was my personal ship."
Samus can't help but to continue interrogating. "You do not seem a copy of me. Who are you, and how did you managed to get the phazon, it was all destroyed. And my power-suit?" The woman replies to each. "My name is Raziel Oshe. I took a sample while all the chaotic war between Phaaze and the Federation started, and with your armor was similar." Samus frowns behind her screen. "You took a sample from my armor?" The woman shakes her head. "It was a leftover of Dark Samus. I will tell you the whole story, if you would take me with you. I have no wish to die in alone in this planet."
Samus looks towards the ship, then back at the woman. "Can i be sure to trust you?" The woman nods. "We have a common goal. Bring the Space Pirates to an end." Samus stares for a few seconds. 'Two of me.. i never thought i would see someone with my abilities to actualy help. She might prove an asset after all.. at least, if she does not turn like Dark Samus.' Samus thought and nodded to the woman. "Alright. Can you remove the suit, just for safety?" Raziel nods her head, closing her eyes.
The suit melts into phazon, which is absorved by the woman then. She reveals a relatively simple full-white tights, her slim but modest frame at display with it, with no actual functionality other than let her body safe from the suit's metalic components while aswell let the the biological components to still connect with her. "Better?" She asks, Samus nods, leading Raziel towards the ship.
After beaming both up, Samus takes the pilot sit, while Raziel takes a guest's one, of course. "Thanks by the way.." Raziel says while pulling on the safety lock. Samus starts the engines, while Adam speaks. "I've finished to organize the data. I will send a patch to the G.F.S Olympus." Samus nods. "Also, tell them we're going to meet with them again. We possibly have a new hunter that might need a ship." Adam replies. "Understood." Samus flights the ship offworld and makes her way to the Federation ship.