Metroid: The Unofficial Novelization
by Victorio Osaria
This one's relatively light-hearted in comparison to the rest of the story and the previous chapters. I think the Metroid series needed some humor to balance all the doom and gloom of everything.
The Morph Ball makes its first appearance in this chapter. In case you have a hard time visualizing, the bombs in here are like the ones in Super Smash Bros.
Chapter 3: Hunt
Krynn has a reputation as one of the safest, most secure, and most populated cities in the Norion system, and arguably the entire galaxy. Crime was at an all-time low, the economy was experiencing a boom, and generally the citizens were living in a nearly utopian fashion. Perhaps there was a petty crime here and there, but due to the effectiveness of Federation protection services there are very rarely any severe crimes such as murder or bank robbery. Some would argue that this negates a citizen's freedom, but it was equally hard to argue about the citizens' general satisfaction the Federation's occupation.
The point is, hardly anyone living in Krynn would have expected an outlaw wanted by the Federation to try to seek shelter in a Federation-occupied planet.
Hardly anyone would have expected to see an entire wing of the city locked down in a time of peace.
And hardly anyone expected to see that the situation was so bad that the Federation had to call in an elite enforcer for this job.
An elite enforcer on her first day, no less.
Samus was in the back of the ship, in her Power Armor with no helmet on. She was finishing a scene from the 1970s Earth film, Magnum Force on the holovision set. She had always been fascinated by how ancient weapons like revolver handguns worked, and how precise of a shot the character of Dirty Harry was. She wondered what a vertical recoil felt like, instead of the horizontal recoil of her arm cannon that pushed against her elbow. It must have been really hard for people to aim with no computer doing the targeting calculations for them.
Adam leaned over his seat. "You ready, Samus?"
Samus' power suit phased over her body, and the green visor of her helmet turned opaque. "Yes, sir. I just wish I could explore the city a bit before shooting up the place."
"You're not shooting up the place. You're going inside a building and taking Gandrayda in alive. We can't have any deaths; it would be bad for the Federation's rep in Krynn."
"The situation's bad enough already and the GF's worried about its reputation?" Samus scoffed. She took a closer look at her arm cannon and tried fiddling with it. "Um... let's see... power bombs... missile launcher... plasma beam... Sir, it doesn't look like my suit carries any nonlethal weaponry."
"There's no ice beam?"
"There is... and the temperature's at about -2000 Kelvin."
"Are you kidding me? That would kill a Phrygisian! Can't you make it any warmer?"
"My energy weapons require a ton of concentration. It doesn't help that the Chozo trained me to focus all my concentration on the absolute obliteration of my enemy."
Adam grumbled quietly. "For a peaceful race, they really like to make killing machines."
"What was that?"
"Er, nothing. Just... try not to kill Gandrayda."
Samus sighed. "Asking for so much on my first mission..."
For a Jovian, Gandrayda was not very discrete. Her ship had been tracked down easily, though that wasn't really her fault; some henchman bastard shot it in the lead thrusters after she made her escape from a previous hit (her target was a scumbag Huttesian that was infamous for Raklisi child trafficking, so that guy deserved the 'shock' he got).What was her fault was that she thought it was a good idea to land her ship in Federation space for repairs, while knowing that she was wanted for her last two hits (her first two, in fact. She was relatively new to the assassination business). Gandrayda thought she could get away with it because of her shape-shifting abilities, but she didn't really expect that the Federation had scanned her ship a long time ago.
These shady assassination jobs are a bit harder than I thought. Maybe I should take up bounty-hunting...
Her breathing was kept to a minimum as she stuck to the ceiling, disguising herself as a flock of Shriekbats. Making herself into something humanoid was easy. This was the hardest disguise she had ever pulled off. She struggled keeping the 'bats' of her disguise from falling off, for the occupants of the apartment building were running and screaming, panicking over the fact that a Jovian criminal was located in the complex. Gandrayda could have turned into something easier, like a Raeyterian spider or just some alien bum sleeping on the wall. But no, she decided on not one, but a flock of Shriekbats because... because... She didn't know 'because.' It was at the spur of the moment, and she just made it harder for herself than it needed to be. She scolded herself for making a stupid rookie mistake, though she technically was a rookie in comparison to her fellow assassins.
"We're going to die here!"
"Why won't the Federation let us evacuate!?"
"She could be you... she could be me... she could even be..."
Oh, shut up, she said in her mind. If she had to hang on this damn ceiling and listen to these idiots whimper for any longer, she might as well have turned herself in to the feds. The bats turned to their left, looking out of the window.
Speak of the devil. Outside, Gandrayda saw the shape of a GF trooper entering the building. The trooper was clad in a strange armored suit colored in orange, red, and yellow. They must have sent in the elite trooper. Then again, it didn't really matter to her. This was GF armor; years of studying technology made her able to copy any Federation-owned armor and robotics. If she had to fight, this new elite trooper wouldn't be that much of a problem.
When the trooper escaped her sight, Gandrayda became anxious. As soon as the building occupants continued panicking in another hallway, Gandrayda was thankful she had enough breathing room to change into something more comfortable: like a Zoomer. Taking this chance, she trailed along the ceiling, leaving no trail available for anyone to follow. Eventually, her Zoomer form found a circular air duct that was about a foot in diameter. She could finally make her way to the roof, and maybe she would be lucky enough to hijack a wavering ship. Her little insectoid legs stuck to the pipe-like duct like glue, and she skated alongside it like a...
Slug? Skater?
She wasn't very good at synonyms.
As the duct rose about thirty feet and began hanging off of the outside of the complex, Gandrayda came across a fork in the duct, and straight ahead was a clump of light that signaled her freedom. This meant she was going to reach the roof and make her getaway. She'd have to stay as a Zoomer for a little while, which sucks, but she did stay in a pool of acid as a Mua for several days, so she shouldn't complain.
...Something bumped into her.
Her multitude of eyes turned to the left part of the fork, and she saw something that didn't belong in the duct: a small, round ball. Actually, since she was a Zoomer, this ball wasn't actually small. It was more or less the same size.
What in Kraid's name...?
The ball was orange in color, and its halves were separated by a space; withing the space was a blue light. The ball backed away, as if it was cautious.
Great. I'm giving emotions to a some new type of vent-cleaning drone.
Suddenly, the ball's shell opened, with the clump of energy releasing from its brightly-lit void a strange-looking device. The device was capsule-shaped and mechanical in nature. The orange ball rolled away, leaving a trail of light as it did.
The capsule lit up and started beeping.
...Oh crap.
The last thing Gandrayda remembered was... her auditory nerves ringing, her gelatinous skin feeling like it was on fire, and... falling. From around thirty feet. She lifted herself and pressed her temple in pain. Looking around, she found herself at the bottom of a large elevator shaft, lying on a busted elevator. She looked up and saw a big, gaping hole thirty feet in the air, and the piping of the air duct dangled and bent around it. So she fell from there.
What was that thing, anyway?
Just as soon as she had that thought, that same orange sphere rolled out of the hole and stuck the landing, sitting seven feet away from her.
"What the frak are you, anyway?"
There was a flash, blinding the purple irises of Gandrayda's eyes. When she came to, she saw the same GF elite trooper she had seen earlier, crouching down and slowly bringing his green visor up to scan her.
"Gandrayda of the planet Jovia XII, I place you under arrest by the Galactic Federation Police."
Gandrayda raised her brow in surprise at the tone of voice. "Wait, you're a girl?"
"Come quietly, or there will be... trouble."
"Yeah, okay. Not buying it."
"Who's the one with the arm cannon, here? Get on the ground if you don't want to be blasted into smithereens."
"You've seen the posters, right? The feds want me alive. Don't know exactly why, but go ahead and try if you want to lose your job."
"I mean it."
"Really? If you meant to shoot me if I didn't, you probably would have dropped me by now. You must be a rookie."
"So are you."
"Excuse me?"
"I've read about you and the autopsy report on your last hit on that Huttesian. Sloppy, noisy, and you got caught red-handed by both his thugs and the Federation."
"He deserved it."
"So do you. Are you gonna get down on the ground like a good girl now?"
"Bite me."
"Suit yourself." Samus lit up her free hand and threw out an energy whip protruding from her palm, wrapping it around the Jovian like a lasso.
"Bad move, biikayk."
"What did you just call m- -AAAAAHH!"
In an instant, a profusion of pain zapped across Samus' body. She screamed more loudly, unable to let go of the electrified whip that was wrapped around a smirking Gandrayda. Samus fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
"'Read a report' on me, my glumax. Didn't seem to know I was an electrokinetic. What an idiot."
Gandrayda unwrapped the energy whip and teetered over to Samus' body. In order for Jovians to change into another life form, one must have had previous physical contact with said life form and years of practice to perfectly replicate it. Gandrayda had a talent for Federation-made suits and robots as well as having studied various forms of technology and robotics, and so replicating even the latest model power armor came to her in almost an instant. She went ahead and placed her hands on Samus' suit in an attempt to create another disguise to escape in. There was a problem...
The technology was beyond even her knowledge. Her shape-shifting abilities held no effect.
"Who... are you?"
Gandrayda hadn't expected her question to be answered with a sudden punch to the face from a supposedly 'unconscious' body.
Nor did she expect a kick to the gut.
Nor the blunt end of an arm cannon striking her jaw.
Nor the force of 800 lbs. from an orange boot slamming into her shin and breaking it.
Nor to be thrown over her enemy's shoulder and crashing to the ground with a rib-shattering crack.
Needless to say, Gandrayda was utterly beaten. She lay on the floor of the shaft, barely able to breathe and wincing at the pain in her leg. Samus stood before her and placed a finger on her helmet; her commanding officer was on the other line.
"Adam, I've got her. Send in the paramedics; I kinda broke her leg."
"Will do, Samus. Nothing too destroyed in there, I hope?"
"Uh... air-vents and elevators are easily repairable, right?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I kinda blew them up."
"Jeez, how many weapons does that suit have?"
"You don't want to know..."
"How do you even fit into that ball-thing?"
"You don't want to know that, either."
"Anything I do want to know?"
"...Nobody died?"
"...That's all for now. Over and out."
Gandrayda grunted. "That... was a cheap shot."
Samus turned off her intercom and spoke to her captive. "I didn't kill you. I wanted to, but I didn't. Shouldn't you be grateful?"
"You tried to blow me up with a bomb."
"That was a calculated risk. I didn't really have many non-lethal weapons, but I knew you were good enough to dodge bullets, beams, lasers, and explosions. Took my chances."
"And you knew I would electrocute you when you used that grapple beam."
"Your childish arrogance- -as noted on your psych profile- -ignored the possibility that I was still conscious and recovered from that attack just because I had about as much- -actually, even less- -experience than you. You would try to copy my suit as a disguise, thinking that it was Federation-made. That was when I took you by surprise and took you down as non-lethally as I could: by beating your ass into the ground."
"Tch." Gandrayda spit out a drop of blood, missing Samus. "Thanks for explaining your master plan. You going to tell me what that suit's made out of and where it came from?"
"...That's a secret I'll keep to myself, thank you."
Freaking biikayk. Gandrayda couldn't believe that she was beaten so easily by someone who was less experienced than she herself was. Gandrayda wouldn't admit that she was a rookie out loud. But then this frakking piece of srait child of a biikayk outright said she was just to rub it in Gandrayda's face.
"And Gandrayda,"
"Do you ever shut up?"
"...To answer your previous question, let it be burned into your mind that it was Samus Aran who beat you."
Gandrayda twitched. She wanted to fry her brains in. She wanted to turn into a Crocomire and bite her head off. But she couldn't; her broken ribs punctured a couple of organs, one of which was the fulger omnitrix, the organ that allows Jovians to manipulate their electrons to shape-shift and utilize their bio-electricity.
'Sammy' was good. Really good.
But someday, Gandrayda vowed to become better.
Samus received a transmission in her helmet: paramedics.
"Officer Aran, we've arrived at the apartment building for pickup. What is your position?"
"I'm in the central elevator with the perp."
"Can you tell us what floor you're heading to next?"
"Er... none, actually. I'm at the bottom of the shaft."
"...You may have to repeat that, miss."
"I am standing at the bottom of the shaft. On top of a destroyed elevator. Head for the... where is this... the third-floor basement. I think."
"Uh, do you need any assistance in getting out?"
Samus looked up to see the closest elevator doors she could reach...
...Fifteen feet high. Easy jump.
"Nope. I'm good. Just take out the trash when you get here, will ya, Doc?"
"...Roger that. Picking up the Jovian in the elevator shaft." The medic spoke off-mic, "Ugh, we're gonna need some jet-medics to get down there."
With jet boosters helping her leap into the air, Samus bounced from wall to wall, quickly and effortlessly reaching the ledge that hung off of the doors' frame. Even in an environment with Earth-like gravity, she was floating as if she were in space.
"Hey!" yelled Gandrayda, still lying bloodied and broken at the bottom. "You're just gonna leave me here?"
Samus gave a blunt "yes."
Samus found herself back in Adam's cruiser, with the owner watching the paramedics take the Jovian criminal away on their hover-stretcher out the front window. She felt a bit nervous.
"So... how did I do?"
Adam turned around in his chair, holding a datapad. "No civilian casualties... Impressive. Destruction of ventilation and elevator systems... That's 80,000 credits off your paycheck."
"Wha- -I don't even have a paycheck yet!"
"You have one now."
"How could I possibly have negative credits? Do I have to work my ass off again just to get to zero!? I don't even have a home yet!"
Adam swiped his finger on the pad. "Relax. I moved the expenses over to my bill. You're back to zero already."
"Huh? That's... nice of you."
He started swiping on the pad again. "Then I just add the total earnings for today's successes and... you now have 700,000 credits."
Samus' jaw dropped. "But... this was my first mission! I haven't even done anything that special!"
"'Nothing special'? You took down a wanted shape-shifting assassin by yourself; that's no small feat. Plus, elite officers get a whole lot more pay than regular officers, and the reward money for Gandrayda was already half of what you got. Since the standards for elite officers are high, you get both the regular pay and the reward."
If Samus' jaw could get any lower, it would have fallen off by now. "Wha... what am I supposed to do with all this money?"
Adam moved his hand towards the console and brought up a web-screen. The holographic image of an expensive-looking apartment suite. It was very old-fashioned, styled in a 21st century Earth design: simple, yet elegant hardwood frame around the bedding. A holovision-player that converts into an ancient HDTV. The walls were matted in a tannish-red finish and were lightly-checkered. The window hung off the end of the room as a half-cylinder, allowing a person to not only watch the beautiful city view from ahead of them, but above and below them as well. The walls were lined with framed paintings of Times Square, NY as well as framed posters of movies like Sudden Impact, RoboCop 3 and The Empire Strikes Back.
"...Did you design this apartment for me?"
"I had a hunch you liked an old Earth setting. You went through five old movies during the entire trip to the Norion system."
"...I... I can have this?"
"Yes. Everything's set up entirely based on your tastes. All you need to do is make the final payments. It's yours for 200,000."
"That... still leaves me with a lot of money."
"Then have some fun around the block. It's in Amica, a city on the other side of Krynn. It's a famous tourist spot. Go on sightseeing."
"But I'm an elite trooper now. Shouldn't I be working harder and not have a vacation so early?"
"Oh, you'll be working hard, all right. I hear the next assignment's on Pyrik 8- -molten lava everywhere. Colony corruption. But the trip over there's two weeks from now. For the time being, you've all to yourself."
Samus sat on the nearest bench in the ship. "I just... This is all kind of amazing. Thank you."
"You have no one but yourself to thank; you got all the pay yourself."
Even though that was a gruff answer, Samus couldn't help but smile. To think she would start off giving a tearful goodbye to her parents against her own will, yet find herself in great fortune the next day (Chozodian time, anyway- -time was complicated when traveling through space across several light years). It had been a great sacrifice, but she could finally, definitely say that this was for the better; both for herself and the Chozo.
"By the way, Samus," Adam began again. "Cherish your informalities to me now, because you're not gonna be calling me Adam after today. You will call me 'sir.'"
The haughty tone he gave after saying that annoyed Samus a little, but a wry smile from Adam calmed the irritation slightly.
"Yes, sir."
"Good."
"And sir?"
"Anything more to ask?"
"Well... it's just..."
"?"
...
...
...
"I hated RoboCop 3."
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too light-hearted, but it needed some comic relief. Besides, when did Samus ever get a break?
(Keep in mind that this is still fanfiction, and any inconsistencies with the Metroid lore are probably out of my own lack of knowledge or want of creative freedom)