Max sat down to a plate of pancakes and syrup. For once, Samus was smiling in the warm glow of the sunrise like a sleepy kitten, and even dressed in a cute apron. In contrast, Max still felt like crap.

"Hey, Samus... you and Simon... ...how long have you known each other, anyways?" he said, while stabbing at a flapjack with his fork.

Samus turned around and crossed her arms. "Do I detect some sort of envy, Max..."

Max looked up. Simon was a beefcake, had known Samus for quite awhile longer, and Samus seemed pretty happy to see him, so the answer to that question was pretty obvious.

"Nope! Just curious! ^^"

"Hmmm", said a suspicious Samus. "Well, if you must know, I met him a little while after I met Pit... I had actually known Pit for a little while before I heard about this brotherhood, but I never actually thought much of it. At least, not until I met Kevin..."

Max wasn't touching his food. "So, you joined because of Kevin?"

Samus's smile faded. "Yeah. He was... well..."

"Yeah?"

"He was... close to Lana. They were really pretty close. You know how it is, Hero and Princess... I, however, was not that close with Lana. And I needed to be."

Max looked up. "So you just wanted to be buddies with Lana?"

Samus shook her head. "No, that's just why I joined. Fighting alongside them, I started seeing much less selfish reasons. Things just work that way, y'know? Anyway, Simon was an outsider in his own way. At the time he joined the brotherhood, he didn't speak very good English after all. So, me and Mega Man would often help translate for him..."

Max had been meaning to ask about the robot. "What was Mega Man like?

Samus yawned. "Well, Rock was a good friend, but he struggled with a lot of issues. He was always questioning human ideas and emotions, completely fascinated by them, but at the same time frustrated because he couldn't quite understand them. Honestly though, I think that had all changed by the time we disbanded, and he came out highly enlightened." she said with a smile. "Kevin was good to him, too. He was kinda like a big brother..." Max was reminded of the fact that Blues never quite fulfilled that role for Rock.

"Everyone talks so much about him... what was he like?"

Samus pulled up a chair and sat opposite to Max. "Well, he was sort of an optimist. Kinda like you, he enjoyed meeting new people and new experiences... He was just a little too nice though... I first hated him cause he treated everything like a game... but then, you know he was really really good at that game. I think somewhere deep inside, he knew how dangerous it was, but he just really loved doing it. He rarely lost his temper with anyone but the villains, and even that was just occasional... Do you wanna hear about it?"

Max shrugged. "Why not?"

Samus continued. "Mother Brain had developed a hologram device for trapping Lana into a fictional "happiness" world... I remember Kevin wanted to go after her so bad, but I had to keep him back, or he'd get stuck in there with her. Of course, she was by no means trapped forever, but boy did Kevin get pretty mad... he actually took Lana's old staff and started beating on the main unit's tank until the brain finally let Lana out."

Max blinked. "aaaand she didn't pelt him with rinkas or anything?

Samus too blinked. "Actually... no, she didn't... weird."

Max asked Samus another question. "Tell me... how did Mother Brain finally die?"

Samus smiled fondly. "I'll never forget that day... that's when the asteroid fortress Pegasus was completed... it was a huge, huge rock designed to simulate Zebes... with the real Zebes gone, she needed a new home... there was just one problem: nearly all of their afloraltite was vaporized in the destruction of Zebes, and even more was consumed in order to restore Mother Brain. In any case, she had a face of her own on that lump of gray matter, and would broadcast her mug all over the known galaxy, and it became synonymous with terror..."

Max blinked again. "But how did she DIEEEEUH?"

Samus continued. "Someone from the fortress contacted Lana, said he wanted out... turns out, it was Kraid. We took him back to Altim Tower, and he in turn told us about their planned afloraltite raid. With him on our side, they were in for a BIG surprise when they got there!"

Max laughed. "Yeah, speaking of big, how exactly did you... I mean, Kraid is... well..."

"Kraid may look big, but not a lot of people know that he's mostly air. Kraid is unique in that he can blow himself up like a big leathery balloon, or to the size of you and me if need be... that big belly has something to do with it..."

Max pondered. "Aha, that's why he was so small in NES Metroid but so big in... So, what happened to Mother Brain after that?"

Samus shrugged. "Well, with no alfloraltite, they just drifted off wherever space took them... after awhile, with necessities growing fewer and fewer, Ridley decided having her around wasn't worth drifting into the depths of space, and he ditched her, left her to rot. it's been several years since then, and nobody has seen her since."

Max smiled. "and that's it?"

Samus nodded. "That's it. And that's when Kevin left... He said he was just gonna go home for a little bit, let his mom know he was okay... He got on a shuttle, and we... well, we never saw him again." Samus's eyes were getting a little misty, and Max tried to cheer her up by eating his pancakes and making yummy noises.

"Oh god, why can't I stop talking about him!"

Max gulped down the load in his mouth. "Maybe you like him."

Samus looked straight into Max's eyes. "I... I didn't like him! Not like that!"

Max jumped up. "Alright alright! You didn't like him! Sorry I brought it up."

"Fuck it", muttered Samus, and she went into her room, locking the door.

"Samus? I didn't mean anything... please come out!"

Max heard the door click a few minutes later, and Samus emerged, fully decked out in her Varia Suit. "Finish your breakfast. We need to visit Doctor Light. Now."

"Yes, ma'am..."