The lonely, monotonous corridors of the Space Pirate base offered Samus nothing but the companionship of her own metallic footsteps. So far, she hadn't encountered any life beyond the door the Pirates were guarding, nor did she discover anything of significance. She had left those alien corpses far behind already, abandoning them to become fodder for parasites of this little space colony. But she was more uncomfortable and paranoid than she remembered being in years. It was the words of that last Zebesian Pirate which unnerved her, hissing at the edges of her consciousness. She had incinerated every trace of that Pirate's body with her plasma beam, but she still wasn't able to shake its voice from her mind.
"You are very much like us," The Zebesian had said. Was she really that similar to the Pirates? All this time, she's never stopped to compare her actions to those of her enemies. A part of her doesn't want to and instead wants to believe that the Pirates are an unspeakable evil necessary for the universe to be rid of. That's what she's believed all her life. It's easier that way. They are the bad guys. She's the good guy.
Actually, the aggression and intelligence of Space Pirates had always been a mystery. To the disbelief of many, it turned out that they evolved as herbivores back on their home planet. Heck, even the Chozo eat more meat than they do. How the Pirates acquired such a thirst for dominance was a riddle that still eludes the most clever of researchers. Some believe that they were heavily preyed upon in the past and developed a killer's instinct to defend themselves. Others claim that they were part of a relentless hive community that grows without end. When they overran their own planet, they sought out others to conquer. By now, they have modified their bodies so much that no one knows or remembers what they originally looked like.
The hallway opened into a room which had an iris hatch sealed by a thick metal grate on the far end. Computer terminals littered the sides of the walls, one of them obviously containing the mechanism for opening the door. The bounty hunter scanned the monitors one by one until the metal grate withdrew into the wall, leaving the hatch open and waiting. She took two steps into the room and abruptly stopped.
She felt something watching her. Years of experience taught her to trust her intuition at times like these. With one fluid motion, she whirled on her heel and fired three beams at the camera right above the hallway she just entered. It exploded in a bright flash of sparks. The whirr of machinery suddenly started up and intensified, making the ground shake.
It's a trap! Samus tried to run back into the hallway, but an electric barrier formed at her approach, encircling the perimeter of the room like an arena, stretching upwards until it disappeared into the ceiling.
"Aw, damn it." She muttered. These sort of things seem to be designed especially to get on her nerves. There was a blinking red light on the ceiling which was probably part of another camera. Samus waved her gun arm at it.
"Alright, you got me." She said wearily. "Let's cut to the chase already, I'm getting sick of these games."
As soon as she said this, a section of the ceiling exploded and something heavy dropped onto the computer terminals, rendering them a mess of wires and sparks. Samus backed away, one hand instinctively shielding her eyes from all the dust and flying shards. From the heap of slag rose a clawed hand, followed by a pair of leathery wings, a tail, then finally, a pointed head which snarled at her, wisps of flame escaping its mouth.
The bounty hunter inhaled sharply through her bared teeth. "Ridley!!" She began charging her plasma beam. "How many times do I have to kill you, you bastard!?"
The Pirate leader did not reply, but lunged at her with jaws open more than 90 degrees. Samus threw herself to the side, releasing a searing blast that can vaporize steel. It hit Ridley on the wing, melting it slightly. He casually flapped it cool and turned back to his prey.
Wait a minute. Samus took a closer look at the Space Pirate and realized that it wasn't Ridley at all. He didn't have the dragon's reptilian anatomy, but an insectoid exoskeleton structure much like every other Pirate. The wings and tail don't look like natural structures, but like artificially grown body parts which were later fused onto its back. The head could be the result of skeletal restructuring or it might even be a mask. This creature was simply a new variation of Space Pirate.
The Pirate paused for a moment, as surprised at Samus's appearance as she was to his. In all his training and education, he had never seen the Hunter as she appeared to him now, in the fusion suit. It was definitely her he's facing, but wasn't she supposed to be a monster of metal and technology? She was strangely...organic. There wasn't a single mechanically straight line on her body, except for the rim of her visor. And her suit folded at the joints like natural skin rather than layered metal. He was confused, and he felt a twinge of fear suppressed within him begin to surface.
Samus peppered the winged Pirate with plasma beams until he responded with a fiery blast of his own. She dodged, but the bounty hunter discovered his fireball was also laced with an electric pulse. It disrupted her visor long enough for him to swipe at her with his claws. She curled into a morph ball and rolled out of the creature's immediate vicinity, then dropped a power bomb. The Pirate rolled into a ball himself, simply by tucking in his arms, legs and head and wrapping his wings around himself. It protected him from the blast, although it knocked him on his side. He scrambled into a charge position on all fours, circling the Hunter, swishing his tail.
Samus took this opportunity to scan the Pirate. "Winged Trooper." The transparent words appeared on her visor. "The Winged Trooper was the result of the Space Pirates trying to recreate their most efficient commander, Ridley. Though not nearly as powerful or intelligent as the creature it was modeled from, it has a number of creative features to aid in its defense, such as the ability to expel electricity from its mouth, and the ability to shed and reattach its own wings and tail if the need arises."
The Trooper twisted his body quickly, swinging his tail in Samus's direction. She dropped to the floor deliberately to avoid the vicious lash, landing heavily on her stomach. She looked up, and immediately rolled to the side, barely avoiding the Pirate's beak as it slammed down through the floor where she was a second ago. He jerked his head up and forced it downwards again, then again, like some demented bird pecking at a speedy morsel of food. The bounty hunter morphed into ball mode and propelled herself up a fallen terminal, using it as a ramp to escape gravity. Uncurling midair, she unleashed two ice beams at her opponent, one which hit the side of his head and quickly melted, the other forming crystals of solid ice at the base of his wing. He roared in pain.
Samus landed gracefully and regarded her handiwork. The ice would slow the Pirate enough for her to get in some charged shots and end this stupid game. The Winged Trooper realized this as well, but sneered at the bounty hunter, defiant still.
"Rucordith varmrudkerinomithn ulychah'heteh!" The Pirate spat.
Samus smiled. "Yeah? I know you are but what am I?" Actually, she had no idea what the Trooper just said. Taking careful aim, she pointed her beam cannon at the Pirate, bright flashes of energy collecting at the nozzle.
But before she could fire, the creature suddenly charged at Samus with unexpected speed, leaving behind its ice-cased wings. "What the...!!" Without the wings, he was faster than a Shadow Pirate! He had her arm in its jaws before she could react and tossed her into the electric barrier with a forceful snap of his neck.
"AAAH!!" The bounty hunter shrieked upon impact with the force field. The electricity propelled her backward and she landed in a twisted heap on the floor. When her vision finally cleared, she saw the Pirate melting the ice layered on its discarded appendages and reattaching them to his shoulder. He took a few trial flaps, then turned his attention back to Samus. He was surprised to see her rise to her feet so soon after that electric shock.
Samus was sweating and shaking from the after-effects of hitting that barrier. Her fusion suit worked overtime to repair her frayed nerve endings. Her tongue flicked across her bottom lip as she watched the Pirate watch her, both analyzing each other. The bounty hunter silently chided herself for being so careless.
The Winged Trooper made the first move, leaping up into the air and shooting fire from his lofty position. Samus joined him using the screw attack, trying to lacerate him with her energy blades and taking care not to hit the force field. The Pirate kicked her, but that had no effect. Similarly, the screw attack only managed to push the Trooper back a little, causing no damage. The two duelers landed simultaneously, both realizing that their airborn attacks won't work on each other.
The Pirate shed his wings again, bone, muscle and sinew simply falling away from his back with a sickening tearing sound. Two raw patches of flesh appeared where the wings once were, gently oozing thick blood where the exoskeleton doesn't provide protection. Without the burden of extra appendages, he was suddenly all over Samus, kicking, biting, slashing, and whipping with his tail.
"You think you're so smart?" She grunted after enduring a powerful kick to the torso. She suddenly rolled into a morph ball, causing the Pirate to overshoot his next kick. By the time he recovered, he saw Samus speeding away as a ball and a blinking power bomb at his feet.
The Pirate froze in shock, realizing his fatal error. Without his wings there to protect him, he was about as vulnerable to the power bomb as a melon to the force of a hammer. The eventual blast sent him careening off his feet and crashing onto the floor with a wet thud, his own blood splashed in a grotesque starburst around him. The Trooper's screaming reached a delirious pitch as he clutched his stump of an arm. The tip of his upper beak was missing, as was his tail and many teeth.
From a distance, Samus unfurled from the morph ball, breathing heavily, watching her victim writhe. Well, that was a battle she wouldn't care to repeat. It left her feeling more drained than she could remember being in a long time, although she had fought harder battles in the past. She let herself rest for a moment, allowing the fusion suit time to recover itself. Now she would have to figure out how to get through the force field. She took a step forwards, then her legs abruptly buckled and she fell to the floor.
The bounty hunter was confused at first, wondering what malfunction caused her to trip. But then she tried to move her fingers, and found that they would not respond to her command. Realization dawned on her.
"Oh no..." She gasped in a hoarse whisper. "No! Not now!" She couldn't move. The illness! Oh God, why did she have to have a relapse at a time like this?! Right in the middle of the Pirate base! Her eyes rapidly scanned the vital signs of her suit, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Her energy levels were safe enough, life support was normal, and her weapons were all in working order, that is, if only she was able to activate them. This weak spell was more severe than any she had previously experienced, and it came without warning. She felt a sense of dread rise up within her.
The Trooper ignored his own pain long enough to notice Samus sprawled motionless on the surface of the floor. How did that happen? He didn't care. He knew he was dying. But if he could kill the Hunter now, then he would have completed his duty of protecting what lies beyond the door and ensured the eventual dominance of the Space Pirates. His comrades might even see him as being valuable enough to preserve and revive, as they have done with Ridley and Mother Brain. He crawled forwards slowly, agonized moans escaping his mouth with each movement.
Samus couldn't believe what was happening. She was going to die. Fallen to this goddamn disease and her entrails to be ripped out of her body by Space Pirate claws then hung like wreaths in celebration of their victory. Unable to move her head, she couldn't even see the Trooper as he drew near. But she heard his dragging feet, his labored breathing. Finally, he entered her field of vision, but even that was soon obscured by his blood dripping onto her visor.
The Space Pirate's conventional weapons had been damaged, but he had other ways of dealing with a victim. He crawled on top of Samus, keeping her motionless with his weight in case she suddenly comes back to life again. His remaining arm leaned especially hard on her right hand where she carried the beam cannon. He positioned his open mouth on either side of her head so she could see his tongue and the inside of his esophagus. Then he squeezed.
The bounty hunter felt the pressure of the Pirate's crushing jaws not through her own skin, but through the skin of her power suit, which extended to the nerves of her body. But if the protective helmet was penetrated, then the Trooper would find her own head in his jaws which was much more fragile in comparison. Samus could barely breath with his weight on top of her. His steaming breath formed droplets of condensation on her visor. She closed her eyes...
...And when she opened them, she saw the world in a way she's never seen it before. There was no metal, force field, Space Pirate, or anything else. This was a simple world divided into only two existences: energy, and non- energy. There was electric energy all around her, but that was no good. There was energy on top of her. That was good. She herself was made out of energy. Energy. Lots of it to spare.
Samus jerked her left arm from underneath the Winged Trooper and slashed at him with her forearm blades, leaving bloody gashes even on his hard exoskeleton. The Pirate screeched in surprise but did not let go of her head. She grabbed the top of his muzzle and forced his head to rotate, completely disregarding the deep grooves she made on her own helmet from the Pirate's relentless teeth. His head was at a good angle now, jaws clamped at the front and back of her head rather than at the temples. She opened her mandibles and drove them deep into the Pirate's bottom jaw.
"SKREEEAH!!" The Space Pirate's scream made Samus's head vibrate, and he jerked away so fast that she lost her hold on him. He was suddenly terrified; the pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced. He tried to get away.
Samus stood up, feeling none of her previous weakness. Her mandibles twitched in agitation; she was furious beyond comprehension at the loss of her prey. It would not happen again. She charged at the whimpering Pirate and lunged headfirst when she got close enough, knocking him over. She sank her fangs into his neck, wrapped her legs around his torso, and plunged her blades deep into his chest so he would have to rip out his own ribcage if he wanted to get her off him.
Screeching, the Trooper slashed, rolled, begged, and even ran into the electric barrier a few times in attempt to shake the Hunter off him. She would not let go. Finally, he fell from exhaustion and simply laid there shivering until the last of his energy was siphoned from him.
The bounty hunter released the carcass, noting how all of his energy was gone. She also noted that the force field was gone. But beyond the open hatch, she sensed lots of energy, potentially of the edible variety. It's been weeks since her last good meal, and if it will be weeks again, then she'd better get her fill right now. She walked eagerly through the door.
The room on the other side of the hatch glowed with a faint blue light. Transparent cylinders of wildly varying sizes were arranged in orderly rows within this chamber, all of them filled to the brim with liquid nutrients. And all of them containing a developing Space Pirate larvae. There were many variations of Pirates, such as Zebesian, Shadow, Troopers including Winged Troopers, and a few that Samus had never seen before. They were in various stages of development and some of them even had their eyes open. They stared at the bounty hunter in helpless terror, shrinking back into the corners of their artificial womb.
So this was why this chamber was so well protected. It was a center for research on new sub-species of Space Pirate and a place to raise their young in vitro. Their nurseries have always been of great importance to them ever since their females became extinct. But it was now even more precious with their rapidly declining population.
Samus sliced through the nearest cylinder with her left arm, spilling its contents onto the floor. A Pirate fetus about the size of a human child fell out, still attached to its bio-mechanical umbilical cord. It made a weak chirp of protest as it was picked up, kicking blindly with its underdeveloped feet. Samus's mandibles clicked against her visor in anticipation. This child was a far cry from its adult counterparts, being so weak and helpless. But at least its heart was beating. And that would be enough to satisfy her.