The convenience store was only two blocks away, but Samus' HoverCycle was running low on power. There was no way to tell if she could make it. The streetlight was red, which wasn't helping. There was a beat-up Warthog to her right and a pimped out Mustang to her left. Both drivers took turns making cat calls at her, which also wasn't helping. The light turned green. She revved up the HoverCycle and took off, getting as far away from the two men as quickly as possible. The wind felt good against her against her new civ-suit. Her new helmet felt more comfortable too. The convenience store drew more slowly closer as she decelerated to the regular speed limit. She turned off of the road and parked right behind the store, landing the cycle on a charging pad. Upon entrance, Samus noticed two burly men walk right by her and out of the store. They were large and covered in grime. One of them smelled of onions and bananas, the other of grease and cow pies. She didn't pay too much attention to them as she entered, but the obvious was hard to avoid. The Luminoth cashier behind the counter bowed to her in a respectful manner. If she had met this one before, she definitely wouldn't have been able to tell from looks. Every Luminoth she had ever seen had looked nearly exactly the same. She quickly dipped her head and continued on to the food section. Grabbing a can of tuna for Piggy, not that he likely needed it, and a turkey sandwich for herself, she almost immediately returned to the counter.
"Did you find everything to your liking?" the Luminoth inquired airily as it scanned the items.
"Yeah," Samus replied. Her mind wandered once again to the two "gentlemen" she had passed by. Beyond the obvious, she had noticed a tattoo on each of their necks. She wasn't usually one to judge on those things. After all, she had a couple "tattoos" herself. On the other hand, there was something about those tattoos that rang a bell somewhere in the back of her mind. After a second, it slammed into the forefront.
"Keep a hold of those things, will you?" she called back at the Luminoth as she quickly stepped out the door. "I won't be a minute." As she rounded the corner, she saw exactly what she expected. They were scrapping her HoverCycle on the spot! Fortunately for her, they were too focused on the bike to notice her. She touched a concealed panel on her wrist. Within an instant, she was inside the Omega Suit. The two scrappers, previously ignorant about the woman behind them, were suddenly taken out of their technological paradise by the sound of a charging arm cannon. They stopped with their work and slowly turned around in unison. It was obvious that their only experience with the law was from old movies. In other words, they were greenhorns, easily manipulated.
"Alright, boys," Samus announced through the suit's loudspeaker. "You listen and you listen good." She had her arm cannon trained on the heavier one. He was more likely to cause trouble. "You are going to put that bike back together, piece by piece. Following that, you are never going to touch that bike again. Instead, you are going to leave town and consider a new line of work. You got that?" The two men continued to stand there, hands in the air, petrified. Was she really that scary?
"Hey, why aren't you..." Suddenly, it dawned on Samus that there was something bigger standing directly to her six o'clock. Powering down her cannon, she turned around to see a green, alloy chest plate. The words UNSC were stenciled in on one side. Great, another jarhead, tall one too. There was no doubt in her mind about how this was going to go down. She looked up just as the soldier looked down. He was also wearing a helmet with a reflective visor, great. This guy had "Does Not Play Well With Others" written all over him.
"These two bothering you, ma'am?" he said in a gruff tone of voice. He had obviously seen some kind of war. Only veterans and smokers had that kind of voice. He could easily be both.
"No, actually. These two were just about to..." Samus turned around to find that there were no "these two" to which she could point. "...repair my HoverCycle." They had run off, great. Now, she was going to have to fix the bike herself. Already, she didn't like this guy.
"Not a very reliable repair service, if you ask me," the jarhead replied. He started walking away, but turned. "I'll call a mechanic, let him know it's urgent." With that, he turned the corner and was gone. Samus powered down and returned to the store. The Luminoth bowed again, and she bowed back.
"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching for her card. The Luminoth bowed again.
"Please, take it free of charge, A-Ran." So, she had met this one before. She bowed back again and left, food in hand.
"May the Light of Aether guide your path!" the Luminoth called after her, but the door had already closed behind her. Samus waited about half an hour for the mechanic. Apparently, urgent calls meant nothing to them anymore. He fixed up her bike and demanded double of what she knew it would cost under any other circumstances. She didn't care. All she wanted to do was get home and get some sleep. He swiped her card and went along his merry way, and Samus saddled herself on the HoverCycle. As soon as she tried to start it up, however, she realized that the two goons had run off with the power cell, something the mechanic had failed to mention. She was about to walk her bike home when the Luminoth appeared from around the corner carrying something. As he got closer, she realized it was the very power cell she needed.
"I always keep a spare in the back room. You are not the first customer those hooligans have stolen from." Samus decided that she would have to seek out his employer someday and demand that he get a promotion or a raise or something. For now, however, Samus was content with graciously accepting the cell, placing it carefully inside the Hovercycle, and speeding off into the night.
Samus seemed to announce herself without a word as she entered the house. Piggy was already waiting at the door, purring and waving his tail. He rubbed against her leg affectionately as she opened the can and poured the tuna into the bowl. As soon as the food was on the ground, he was face-first into it. Samus patted his fat back and disrobed as she returned to her bunk. The clock was still flashing 0000, but she knew that it was at least 0300. She would likely get six hours of sleep at best.
The comm alert blared. Samus would not be getting any sleep tonight.