Chapter 6 - Cold Blooded Killer

"Man. There's nothing here. Nothing," Noxus complained to himself. He was still wandering around Arcterra, finding nothing. The only things around were Goreas, but he was able to sneak past them. He started to head back to the gateway.

"Well, at least those Guardians are gone. All killed by the Goreas," Noxus said, bored. But as he reached the pillar-like gateway, he heard some kind of buzzing. Looking up, he saw a red, reptile-like ship.

"Hey, Noxus!" Trace yelled from the top of the room. Apparently it was his ship.

"Trace? What are you doing here?" Noxus said, still sounding bored.

"Came to help," he easily explained.

"Great. Now you think I'm a failure, too," Noxus said, depressed. He started climbing to the top of the room, trying to get to his ship.

"I never said that. C'mon, we're a team. Hey, where you going?" Trace saw Noxus climbing into his ship, ready to leave.

"I'm going home. I want out of this damn war, out of it all! Going back to Vho, permanently. I mean, everyone thinks I'm a failure. I can never do anything. I've never even SEEN an octolith last time I was here! See ya," Noxus then got it in his ship and started to leave.

"Wait! I was just coming to help! We're all in groups of two to three, and I volunteered to help you! Wait!" Trace was shouting to him. But, he didn't hear a thing. Noxus was leaving.

With a last desperate attempt to keep Noxus in the mission, Trace started to turn slightly invisible. Aiming his gun at Noxus's ship, he set up the Imperialist. He had perfect aim; close to the engine, enough to stall the ship, but not close enough to destroy it.

Noxus, in his ship, was starting to send a message to the others, saying he was leaving. "Alright, I'm out of here. You guys all think I'm a failure? Fine with me. You guys suck. Over," he said, depressed and angry. The others, upon hearing this message, all had the same expression; an expression of both shock and guilt.

But then, something suddenly shot the engine of his ship! He was going down! His ship was disabled from the shock... or so he thought.

Trace was checking his map, and his sniper coordinates, to see where the ship would crash. "Sic Transit. Good," he said to himself, and instantly turned into his Triskelion. He then hid in one of the many subterranean areas of the Transit, with his Imperialist ready.

"Whoa. Trace? What'd you do that for! And where are you" Noxus screamed.

"I wanted you to stay in this war. You can help us. Your Vhoscythe and Judicator are some of our best assets," Trace said reassuringly.

"Where are you? But anyway, screw that. I'll just be holding you all back."

"Yeah, you would!" Trace yelled, then immediately fired an Imperialist laser right next to Noxus's head, barely missing!

"What the hell was that for!" He screamed at Trace, his blood racing. He knew what had happened; Trace was a traitor in this war. The Kriken should never be trusted, and Noxus learned this the hard way.

"I am a Kriken! That's what we do!" Trace yelled, proudly. This is insane, Noxus thought. But he coudn't think any more. Trace was firing a barrage of lasers at him, just like the last time they were in this room. Only this time, Trace was protected by solid walls, not vulnerable on the bridge. And, Noxus was still slightly worn out from searching the planet. This could be deadly.

"WHAT! NOXUS, YOU'RE ONE OF OUR BEST SOLDIERS! I'll be there soon." Samus was in her ship, and she had just recieved the message Noxus sent. But when she replied, Noxus's ship, the Vhocor, had lost transmission, and engine power. Immediately, Samus set pilot to Arcterra. The Goreas could wait. With one less soldier on their side, the hunters could lose.

"I've been wanting to this for a long time now! Ever since the last time we were here! I may have missed before, but that's about to change!" Trace was going insane, trying to kill Noxus no matter what. But now, he was nowhere to be found. Looking around, confused, Trace started to head out of this room, his sniper range. But then, he suddenly got hit by a spinning blade, knocking him back! Noxus had come in through the other door and attacked him with the Vhoscythe!

During this fight, little did they realize that the StarShip was flying above them, landing in the Arcterra gateway. "Sic Transit, of course. I saw some blood down there. This could get ugly," Samus said to herself, heading to the Transit. As soon as she got there, though, it was too late. Noxus's corpse was lying on the ground, covered in blood and seemingly lifeless.

"Oh... my... God... Trace! We trusted you! But now, you're going down!" Samus screamed. She grabbed Noxus's gun, and started firing both missiles and Judicator shots at once. Trace could be anywhere, cloaked.

And then she realized. Cloaked... She still had the effects of the cloak medicine Trace gave her! She quickly changed her arm cannon weapon to the Imperialist, and instantly turned invisible.

"Samus! I'm glad you're here," a voice said from somewhere above, obivously Trace's. "I forgot to tell you before. That cloak I gave you, it HAS been tested on humans. And it is very, very deadly to them."

Samus just froze. In what she thought were her last seconds of life, she instantly started firing everything she had; Wave Beam, Volt Driver, BattleHammer, Ice Beam, everything. Trying not to kill Trace, she aimed more for his lower body and arms. Hopefully this will paralyze that sludge, she thought. Dodging shot after shot of Imperialist lasers, she found a way to the collapsed bridge above.

"You can't hide forever, Aran!" He screamed to her. But she was able to ignore this taunt, and, still cloaked, shot Trace right in his firing armm, spurting blood everywhere! After a few shots, it started to limp, as if lifeless. She then repeated this with his three other limbs. Everywhere, there were green puddles of blood. Trace was almost completely immobile; even his Triskelion technology wouldn't work. He was severely injured.

"Alright... you win... Just finish me off quickly," Trace said when Samus came down to him, aiming her two guns at his face. But then, she decided to lower them.

"Wha.. what are you doing? You won. You get to live, I die. Just end it now!" He sounded almost insane. But, despite what he was saying, Samus didn't do anything.

"No. I don't believe in killing friends, even if they are traitors," Samus said, with a slight tear in her eye.

"But... but what about that?" He said, turning his head to look at Noxus's body.

"You only stunned him, like I did to you. Only much worse, you little shit. Well, I'll make you a deal. You give me the antidote to the cloak, and I'll let you live. But, you MUST stay in this war. You do realize you could be saving your entire species," Samus stated, still tired from the shock of this. She was pretty sure Trace wouldn't agree, but it was worth a try.

Power... Glory... Fame... Maybe I should actually listen to her. Stay in the war. Otherwise, I'll be like Spire; the last of my species. "Just... one little thing," Trace asked.

"What's that?"

"Could you heal me first?" He sounded almost pitiful.

"No. Until Noxus is healed, you won't be either," she said, mockingly. She knew that, despite the pain he was in, he could still be a traitor.

"Wha... what'd I miss...?" Noxus asked, struggling to say these simple words.

Trace almost passed out, seeing how long it'll take for Noxus to heal.

Samus grabbed both of them, carried them over her shoulders like rag dolls, and started smiling to herself. Do they even realize we can heal them instantly?

Back in her ship, Samus was watching a new monitor; 'Tracecam,' as she called it. She had put a bug in Trace's ship before he left.

"Attention all hunters. Report to Alinos Gateway immediately. It is our only safe zone, and we need plans and recap. Over," Samus decided they needed a meeting, especially after the Trace incident.

"So, what's up?" Spire asked, still trying to keep some cheer in the war.

"We are running out of time. The Goreas are starting to take over. We need some kind of weapon to use against the-" Samus said, but was soon interrupted by Kanden's Gorea.

"Reeaww!" The Gorea screeched, as if it thought it could be that weapon.

Smiling to it, Samus continued, "No, sorry, but you will only be like another team member. Not a weapon. But, we still need a weapon. Any ideas?"

Sylux soon started to talk. "Well, while on the Oubliette, me and Kanden noticed something. They always change their weak element in unison. If we can somehow make like explosions of our weapons' elements throughout the Cluster, they'll all die!"

Weavel, the knight-like space pirate, soon talked. No one had heard from him at all during the war until now. "That won't work. They still have the secondary form. This form, as you know, is almost invincible. As I have heard in transmissions, however, Kanden discovered they can kill each other easily. So, we must capture newborn Goreas, like this one."

Everyone just stood there, shocked. They had never heard him talk before, except for Samus, of course.

"Why's everyone staring at me?"