FINALE - PART 1
"Right there," Samus said, pointing out the window. "That's a good spot."
White Voice obliged, lowering the ship to the place Samus had pointed to. It was a short distance from the entrance to Crateria's caves.
Samus stepped down from the ship, the Metroids following suit. "I'll see you all again soon," she promised them.
"Don't you dare think that you can leave me behind again," a voice in her helmet reprimanded her. Samus was startled for a moment before a smile crossed her face. "I'd never dream of it, Adam."
Samus waved good-bye to her allies as they departed, then turned around and started walking in the direction of the caves, five Metroids flanking her on either side.
X Parasites swarmed all around her, but kept their distance for obvious reasons. Though the Metroids seemed eager to feed on all the prey flying around, Samus' authority seemed to keep them at bay. As much as she would love to get rid of as many X Parasites as possible, she was determined not to stray from her main purpose.
She wondered, suddenly, if the Mother Brain itself had been infected by the X Parasites. She dismissed the thought immediately. It was not a mere possibility; it was practically a given fact. When she had left Zebes, the X were already in Tourian. Mother Brain's defenses were potent, but not nearly potent enough to repel an endless wave of them. It would only take one X slipping by its defenses to completely infect it.
That was why the X were so dangerous, Samus reflected. A single one escaping (thanks to her, no less) had utterly destroyed this planet's ecosystem. One little X Parasite could become one million in a matter of days.
As they entered the endless tunnels of Zebes, Adam seemed to become restless. "Samus," he said, "you do know what's following you…right?"
Samus nodded. "I know. I know."
Her eyes were swiveling to and fro in search of this unseen stalker.
"There's more than one of them, though. They're all camouflaged somehow…they couldn't do that back on the B.S.L…"
"They probably mutated to obtain that power. You know how volatile the X are, Adam."
"Right…well, I just thought I'd warn you, lady."
"Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing."
Samus' eyes caught a distortion in the air before long, moving at about her pace. "There's one…" she mumbled under her breath.
She stopped, suddenly. The Metroids paused as well, confused. Samus raised her left hand, pointing the palm at the distortion in the air. A violent blast erupted from it, smashing into the now visible SA-X and sending it careening into the wall. A pile of debris tumbled down on it, and it was still.
All around them, now, eight more SA-X disabled their camouflage, forming a circle around the real Samus and the ten Metroids. The bounty huntress was shocked; she hadn't expected this many of them…
Tapping into the Metroid DNA within her, Samus communicated her intentions to the Metroids. She hated to do this, but she had no choice…with any luck, they'd be able to handle this on their own…
The Metroids seemed to approve of her plan, so Samus leapt into action.
Literally.
Leaping over the heads of the SA-X, Samus began rushing in the direction of the elevator to Tourian. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the SA-X abandoning the others to follow her. That was good; she had been expecting that. Plus, it would take some of the burden off of the Metroids, as well…
"All right, then…" Samus muttered. "Let's see how well you can keep up."
Samus abruptly turned a corner, the Protector's Suit aiding in keeping her movements fluid. The SA-X, not expecting this, screeched to a halt before racing after Samus again.
Samus knew the corridors of Zebes like the back of her hand; she had all but memorized them during her numerous trips to the planet. She doubted that even the Mother Brain itself knew them as well as she did.
Noting the weak floor ahead of her, Samus waited until she was just on the edge of it before leaping into the air and Space Jumping across it. The SA-X was not so lucky; it ran straight onto it, and the weak floor crumbled beneath it. But the SA-X's swift reflexes saved it, as it jumped just before the floor disappeared entirely.
The elevator to Tourian was swiftly approaching. Once Samus reached it, she was in the clear…the SA-X would have to wait for the elevator to bring Samus down, then wait for it to go back up again…and by the time that happened, Samus would be long gone.
At last, the hatch came into sight. Samus leveled her arm cannon at it and fired off a shot. The blue doors opened, and she rushed through them. The familiar pink platform greeted her, and she quickly activated it. The elevator slowly began to descend just as the SA-X came into the room.
It stared down the elevator shaft, its blank eyes meeting Samus'. Then, it leveled its arm cannon and fired at her.
Much to Samus' relief, though, the nature of the Wave Beam caused it to split apart just as it reached her, passing harmlessly through her. Her relief was short-lived, though, as it instead cut straight through the platform she was standing on. It screeched along the walls for a second before falling into the abyss. Samus helplessly grabbed at the walls for a handhold before she began to fall as well.
Then, the SA-X leapt down the shaft after her.
Immediately, it fired off a volley of missiles. Most of them hit the walls before reaching Samus, but a few slammed into her, sending her spinning into the walls. Jets on her suit righted her position, as well as briefly slowing her descent. Samus aimed both her arm cannon and her palm at the SA-X, letting loose a powerful discharge of energy from each. The SA-X went head-over-heels, spinning wildly in midair.
"Adam!" Samus gasped, finally catching her breath. "Tell me when we're about to hit the ground!"
"Should I just say 'now'?"
"Yes!"
"NOW!"
Samus desperately tried to twist herself into a landing position, but the floor didn't wait for her to finish. Thankfully, her armor absorbed most of the impact, so she was relatively unharmed.
Seeing the SA-X about to hit the ground as well, Samus quickly rolled out of the way before it landed on her.
As the doppelganger slammed into the floor, Samus got to her knees and placed her palm over its visor. With as much energy as she could muster, she unleashed a powerful discharge, shattering the visor and torching the face within. An inhuman wail came forth from the SA-X, and Samus pushed the creature over the edge of the platform they were on into the lava.
"Masterfully done," Adam complimented her. Samus grinned tiredly. "Thank you."
She got to her feet and turned toward the next door. "But now comes the hard part."
Samus glanced around apprehensively as she entered the next room, prepared to make her way through Mother Brain's numerous defense systems. To her surprise, though, no turrets nor Rinka launchers met her view; just a straight corridor.
More disconcerted by this sight than she was comforted, Samus continued onward, noting the eerie silence of Tourian. Not even the hum of machinery graced her ears.
"Samus Aran."
The bounty hunter leapt up in surprise. She lifted her arm cannon and searched for the source of the voice.
"You are Samus Aran."
It was Mother Brain's avatar, floating erratically through the air. Its eye was flickering strangely.
"We have been waiting for you…Samus Aran."
"Waiting for me?" Samus echoed.
"Please come with us," was the only reply the floating eye offered. With that, it began floating in the direction of the main body of Mother Brain.
"I don't like this," Adam commented. "It's clearly a trap. We should head back now."
Samus shook her head. "No, I want to see where this is going. And besides…I can handle whatever it throws at me." Adam was skeptical, but he allowed Samus to proceed.
As they continued through the corridors of Tourian, Samus began to notice things; yellow fluid oozing out of pipes, a perpetual slushing sound, among others. It was clear that the X had taken complete control of this area.
"We await," Mother Brain's avatar said simply as they reached the door leading to its chamber.
Samus nodded and entered.
There sat Mother Brain within its tube – or at least, what remained of it. The glass casing containing the supercomputer had been shattered, exposing it to the open air. While its appearance remained mostly unchanged, a yellow film seemed to ooze out of some of its folds and crevices. As its eye opened to see the bounty huntress, Samus noticed that its pupil had turned yellow, as well. She stepped forward hesitantly.
"Mother Brain," she called out to it. "You should know why I'm here."
"We are fully aware of your purpose in coming here," it replied. "But we are no longer Mother Brain. We are now the mind of the X. Our purpose is to spread our influence through the cosmos."
The yellow film began to ooze out of the crevices, covering the Mother Brain with splotches.
"We are X-Brain. We are the head; the SA-X, the arms; and the rest of us, the legs. Together, we create a perfect body that will rule the universe."
"Your arms have been amputated, then," Samus retaliated. "I've beaten one of the SA-X, and I'm sure that the others will soon follow suit – if they haven't already."
"More can be made," the X-Brain responded dismissively.
"Then my only option is to decapitate this body of yours, then," Samus shot back coldly.
"Bold words, Samus Aran. You'd do well to still your tongue before we lose our temper. For we led you here not to fight, but to ask you a question."
"A…question…?" Samus repeated in surprise.
"Yes, a question. Why do you resist us? Look around at your enemies. Your type of life continually wars with itself. It tries to impose its own rule upon others, but those others will strike back at them. With us, there will be none of this; once we are supreme, there will be no wars, no insurrections, no corruption. Only peace. So why do you resist?"
Samus smiled sadly. "That's a question I don't have the answer to," she replied curtly.
"Then our point is proven."
Samus held up a finger. "Just one moment, now. Just because I don't have the answer doesn't mean that I proved your point. Because that's my point; we don't always know the answer to why we do what we do. Maybe your type of existence is better; maybe not. I don't know, but I don't really care, either. I resist you because that's what I think is right. I don't know why that is. A universe without war or corruption sounds wonderful…but in the end, I will fight for my right to a universe with war and corruption."
"You condemn our activities as evil, yet you profess to desire violence and strife in the universe?"
"If there is nothing to strive for, then there is no reason to exist. I strive to bring about the end of confict; in order to do that, there must be a conflict. I may never accomplish my goal…but perhaps I will at least have moved the universe in the right direction in my efforts."
"Is that your reason, then?" asked the X-Brain.
Samus shrugged. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."
"That is…an intriguing response. You may now depart."
Samus held up her arm cannon. "Now wait a minute. You may not have summoned me here to fight…but I came here with a single purpose in mind: to destroy you. I will not leave until I've done what I came here to do."
"You are a fool, Samus Aran. A wise fool, perhaps, but nonetheless a fool. We give you the opportunity to leave this place unharmed…and instead, you choose death."
With those final words, the Zebetites, normally stored above the Mother Brain, descended from the ceiling to block Samus' path. Most of the floor retracted, leaving only a few small platforms for Samus to stand on, and lava began rising up from beneath.
"Now that's more like it," Samus said.
As the turrets emerged all around her, she fired off a dozen missiles at the first Zebetite, destroying it before the Mother Brain got a chance to attack. She flew through the opening, eyes scanning the chamber for the locations of the turrets. As her attention was diverted, though, one of them hit her, sending her into the roiling lava. Even the Protector's Suit wasn't strong enough to withstand material at so high a temperature, and Samus began to sweat copiously. She quickly leapt out of the lava, but noticeably worse for wear.
Jumping, dodging, weaving, and moving in ways Samus never thought possible, she slowly but surely wore down the next Zebetite, regardless of its regenerative properties. The relentless onslaught of turret fire was weakening her, but she persisted. At last, the second Zebetite exploded, clearing the way to the next.
Rinka launchers now accompanied the turrets, their larger projectiles occasionally forcing Samus to jump into the turret fire instead to dodge them. To make matters worse, this particular Zebetite was partially shielded, leaving only its top and bottom exposed. She was forced to absorb some of the turret and Rinka fire in order to destroy the next Zebetite. Even as she rolled into her morph ball form to squeeze through the small hole the destroyed Zebetite left, she was hit by a Rinka.
But now, she had reached the X-Brain. Not pausing to celebrate her accomplishment, though, Samus instantaneously fired off a volley of missiles into its eye, all the while dodging the Rinka and turret fire. As she landed on the platform again, though, the X-Brain fired off eight lasers at each corner of the room, then swept them together. Samus' arm was hit with one, and as it moved she was dragged to the center and hit with all eight of them combined.
"That's a new one…" Samus mumbled, her arm burning with pain.
As she struggled to her feet, the X-Brain fired a wave of energy, smashing her into the wall behind her. She fell directly into the lava yet again.
Rapidly coming to her senses, Samus leapt back onto the platform, firing another volley of Super Missiles, along with a discharge of energy from her palm. Both hit the X-Brain head-on, and a yellow pus-like substance dripped out (melted X, Samus assumed). In response, it shot a laser that ricocheted around the chamber, adding yet another hazard to Samus' long list of them.
Samus, in desperation, rolled up into her morph ball form to make herself a smaller target. Leaping toward the X-Brain with the Springball, she left behind a Power Bomb before, somehow, completely reversing her direction in midair and returning to the platform.
As the Power Bomb exploded, the machinery within its blast radius malfunctioned and exploded, as well. The X-Brain was sent flying into the wall, then fell to the ground. It lay there, quivering, as the lava receded.
"You did it!" Adam celebrated. Samus shook her head. "No…it's not finished yet."
As if on cue, countless X Parasites flew out of the X-Brain and began to lift it up. Something began to form beneath it.
-=-=-
"Here I am, Aran!" Rodriguez cackled madly as he stepped out of his ship onto the Zebesian soil. "Come and find me! My friends and I will be waiting for you!" He laughed again as he pulled out his gun, firing back into his ship at all the stasis tubes containing his experiments.
After he had done, he stared at his hand again giddily, gaping with fascination as he witnessed the spread of the Metroid DNA.
"I wonder if there's any way to make it faster…?" he asked aloud.
Images of Samus' last battle with Mother Brain filled her head, and she began to wonder whether or not she could defeat the X-Brain. There was no infant Metroid to help her this time…there were the Metroids she had helped to rescue, of course, but even if they were still alive, there was no telling whether or not they would come to her rescue.
She was on her own.
At last, Samus' worst fears were confirmed; the familiar bipedal, bird-like body formed beneath the X-Brain, towering above the brave bounty huntress. A mouth opened up, and it screamed at Samus.
"Don't worry, Samus," Adam assured her. "You've fought worse."
Samus nodded distantly and leapt into action. She back-flipped into a wall and launched herself off, aiming in the direction of the X-Brain. The beast screamed again, and a stream of energy orbs launched themselves at Samus. The armor-clad warrior fired off a charged shot from her arm cannon which tore through the X-Brain's attack before connecting with the X-Brain itself, rending its fleshy membrane. A satisfying howl of pain issued forth from it.
Enraged, the X-Brain brought forth a bomb and tossed it at Samus. She tried twisting in midair to avoid it, but it collided with her, smashing her into the ground with itself. As it exploded, a gooey substance covered Samus, making her movements sluggish.
Satisfied with itself, the X-Brain now began gathering energy around its eye. With horror, Samus recognized this attack and struggled to escape. Desperately, she tried to Screw Attack out of the slime, but to no avail.
The X-Brain fired.
As that white wave of energy hit, Samus screamed in pain. The sludge evaporated, and she was forced back to the wall, pinned against it. Every nerve in her body was crying out in protest, begging for the torture to stop. Nearly ten seconds of utter agony later, the beam dissipated, and Samus collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. She struggled to climb to her feet, but her muscles screamed in rebellion, and she sank back down.
In her head, she begged for one of the Metroids to come to save her, but she knew it was helpless. She had to face the X-Brain alone.
The terrible fusion of flesh and metal stepped toward her now, evidently savoring the moment. The energy began to gather in its eye again, and Samus knew that she would not survive the next attack.
As the X-Brain fired once more, Samus flattened herself to the ground – and, miraculously, the beam passed harmlessly above her head. The X-Brain, seeing this, attempted to lower the beam, but it was slow-moving, and Samus rolled out of the way.
Feeling strength returning to her, now, Samus managed to get up on her feet, panting with the difficulty of the effort. Her ears were ringing, her eyes blurred, her breath heavy…but she had survived.
With strength she didn't know she had, Samus somehow managed to leap up onto the X-Brain's head, dematerialize the glove covering her left hand, and plunge the Metroid-like claw into the monstrosity's fleshy form.
It screeched in protest, waving its head to and fro in a desperate attempt to shake Samus off, but the bounty huntress held on for dear life, refusing to let go. Slowly, its movements stopped, and it collapsed to the ground as Samus had earlier, devoid of energy. The body dissipated, and the brain simply fell apart. Then, something burst out of it.
A Core-X.
"I've just about had it with you guys," Samus snarled, reinvigorated with the energy obtained from the X-Brain. Placing her palm and arm cannon alongside each other, she fired the most powerful shot she could muster from each, disintegrating the Core-X's membrane and leaving behind only the helpless X within. Samus leapt up and absorbed it into her body.
Unintelligible script suddenly appeared on her visor from the absorbed Core-X. Samus frowned.
"Adam, can you translate this?" she asked. There was a pause, then a response. "No. I've never seen that language before."
Samus sighed. "Well, I guess this ability – whatever it is – is useless to me, then." She disabled it, and the script disappeared.
She glanced around, expecting a siren to start sounding. Every time she had defeated the Mother Brain in the past (and even when she had defeated the extremely similar Aurora Unit back on Phaaze), the planet, or at least the area, had become unstable and exploded. There was no sign of anything like that happening now, though.
"That's odd," Samus murmured. "I'd been counting on an explosion…it's what I'd hoped to use to rid this planet of the X…"
"They probably disconnected the Mother Brain from the main planetary control to prevent something like this from happening," Adam reasoned. "Better that the person who killed the X-Brain remain alive than the rest of them die."
Samus sighed. "You're right. Well, maybe this time, at least, Mother Brain will stay dead for once."
"We should probably return to the surface," Adam suggested.
-=-=-
As Samus reached the exit of the caves, a shot rang out from somewhere nearby. Moments later, a bullet whizzed right by her helmet.
"Hello, Aran!" somebody cackled from nearby. "I've been waiting for you here!"
A man was sitting atop a rock, his gun in his lap. His face was obscured by the sun.
"Who are you?" Samus called up to him. "What do you want?"
The man leapt down from the rock, and Samus gasped in spite of herself as she saw his face. Half of it was disfigured beyond belief, his skin turned a translucent green and his skull visible beneath. He wore a tattered Federation uniform. His eyes were a bloody red color, and his hands turned to green…Metroid-like claws…
Samus lifted her own hand for comparison, and her eyes widened as she saw that they were identical.
"Who are you?" Samus repeated.
"You don't know who I am?" the man laughed, his eyes glinting in the sun. "You should. You really should. Everyone knows who I am."
"Enough with these games," Samus snapped. "Just tell me who you are already."
The man sighed. "Fine, fine. After all, who am I to deny the great Samus Aran?" he asked mockingly.
"I'm Galactic Federation President Martin Rodriguez."
Samus stared at the man, dumbfounded. "You're joking," she said slowly. "You've got to be joking."
"It's no lie," Rodriguez said cheerfully. "I may look different from what you've seen on the television, but I'm still the same man on the inside."
He laughed again.
Samus slowly raised her arm cannon. "What do you want, then?" she asked testily.
"Oh, nothing much…" Rodriguez chuckled. "Just your head for display in the Federation capital."
With that, he snapped his fingers, and the hideous experiments from the Valhalla emerged, snarling and growling at Samus.
"Go and fight them," Rodriguez said giddily. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? To bring an end to my experiments? Well, here's your chance! Kill them! Kill them all now!"
Samus lifted her arm cannon and aimed at them hesitantly, then lowered it, even as the creatures approached. "I won't fight them."
Rodriguez gaped at her. "What? What? Why not! Look at them! They're products of those immoral experiments of mine you hated so much! Kill them and end it here and now!"
"I won't fight them," Samus repeated.
"They're freaks! They don't belong anywhere! The universe would be better off without them! They would be better off without the universe! You kill them and everybody wins!"
"They didn't choose to be the products of your experiments," Samus replied coldly. "They don't deserve to be punished for something that wasn't their decision."
"They're freaks!" shouted Rodriguez, delusional now. "Mutants! Abominations! Monsters! Freaks! They're freaks just like you and I are!"
"Are you saying," Samus said slowly, "that we should die too?"
"Of course!" Rodriguez cackled. "Look at me, look at you! Two mutant peas in a pod! Kill all of them, then kill ourselves! Great idea, isn't it?"
Samus shook her head. "You're insane. I won't kill anything here."
Rodriguez began to tremble with rage. Suddenly, he whipped around, and, lifting his gun, he shot each of the experiments, their mangled cries echoing across the environment. When he was done, a pool of blood bathed the area.
"There," Rodriguez growled. "I did it. Because you're too pathetic to do it."
Samus stared at the fallen carcasses of the experiments, an unfamiliar feeling in her chest.
"Now there's just one more freak to kill…" Rodriguez continued.
Samus looked back at him. "You're insane," she repeated. In response, the Federation president raised his gun and fired at her. Samus twisted out of the way, and the bullet passed by harmlessly. She leapt up onto the rock Rodriguez had been sitting on earlier.
"You can't run, Aran!" Rodriguez cackled. "The only way to end this is for one of us to kill the other!"
"I won't kill anything here today," Samus repeated.
"Then we can wait until tomorrow!" Rodriguez laughed.
Samus sighed and closed her eyes. "No," she said. "We won't wait for anything."
She flung out her hand, and her grapple beam attached itself to Rodriguez. She flung him upwards, and he dropped his gun with the force. He landed on the rock next to Samus, and she placed her arm cannon to his head.
"I said I wouldn't kill anything here," Samus said. "But as far as I'm concerned…you lost your status as a living being a long time ago. You're nothing. So I won't be breaking my word when I kill you."
She fired, and the president's eyes rolled up into his head.