Sorry for the wait. It's been crazy. Enjoy though.
I heard a distant crash, and found myself struggling to stay on my feet as the room began shaking violently beneath my feet. It didn't take a genius to know that something was horrendously wrong. As soon as I gathered my bearings, I dashed out of the room and down the long hallway, my visor automatically generating a map of the serpentine passage, noting doors and other paths, something that I had missed while making my way around the labyrinthian complex. A small yellow dot appeared on the map in the direction I was running, as the on-board computer pinpointed the cause of the disturbance. As I ran I did a quick run-through of the suits systems, checking off capabilities and armaments, drawing nearer to the marker.
Missiles, check.
Bombs, check.
Morph Ball function, check.
Varia upgrade, check.
Power beam, check.
Charge beam, check.
Screw Attack, check.
I almost froze as I found the Screw Attack activation sequence in the my suits processes. Rood had actually done the impossible. I wasn't quite sure how, but now wasn't the time to question it. I finally found what I had been looking for: the Speed Booster. Quickly activating it, I instantly began to increase speed, soon approaching Mach 1 as I ripped down the halls. Within seconds I was at my destination, and I was met with a wall of smoke as I looked upon the scene. I switched my visor to Thermal mode, trying to see if I could find the source, but the heat from whatever was causing the smoke made it impossible to see.
Quickly switching back, I hesitated for a second, then did my best to survey the scene. The smoke was incredibly thick, but I could make out a few things. The first was a hole in the ceiling, roughly three feet in diameter, through which a small amount of light managed to filter its way through the otherwise murky blackness. The second was a crater, or more importantly, a small elongated oval-shaped pod, one that I immediately recognized as a SA Series drop craft. The third and final thing, was a vague outline in the smoke, one that looked very much like my power suit, and for good reason.
"Hello Sister." A metallic voice emenated from the armor, which glowed with a deep crimson, made even more ominous by the lack of natural light and the sparks that came out of piles of broken machinery.
"Hello, SA-01. It hasn't been long enough." I spoke through gritted teeth.
She laughed, a thoroughly disturbing noise coming from the blood-red suit. "It would seem you have failed to complete your mission. Mother sent me to make sure it gets done." A light clicked on in her helmet, revealing her face. She looked at me for a moment, then winked. "Of course, I'm more than willing to let you finish it. After all, you are the eldest." She spat the word 'eldest' at me, almost as an accusation.
This was SA-01, the first completed product of the Federation and Mother's plan to duplicate Mother's capabilities. She was a rousing success, but she always hated me for the attentions Mother had given me. That had been made apparent by her increasingly violent behaviour, as she went far outside the bounds of her missions, destroying anything in her path as she made a name for herself. She was also called the Huntress, out of fear more than respect, and she liked it.
"The situation has changed. There aren't any Space Pirates here, and-"
"Like I don't know what's actually going on. How is Rood these days? Still trying to live down the crimes of his Father?" She smirked.
I stood there, shocked. How could she know Rood? "Your silence says all I need to hear. I'm going to kill that traitor if it's the last thing I-"
She wasn't able to finish her sentence, because, without thinking, I launched myself into her, my armored left fist connecting with her helmet, my right arm focusing on charging a Power Beam. Before I could unleash the blast of energy into her abdomen, however, she wrapped her legs around my torso and threw her body weight backwards, using inertia to bring me up and over, crashing into the ground. A harsh beep sounded in my helmet, and I watched as the bar in my visor that displayed the energy left in my suits shielding system decreased by twenty percent. I couldn't afford to take many more hits.
I quickly threw myself to my feet, as she did the same. I eyed her warily as we circled each other, two predators engaged in deadly combat. I had no notions of mercy, I knew that one mistake would end me.
"Well Sister? Are you really prepared to die for him?" She laughed again. "You, who doesn't even know who he is or what he's done?"
"No. I'm not." I tightened my right fist as I felt my arm cannon charging. "Which is why I can't die just yet, and I definitely can't let you kill him."
"Kill him? No, I'm just here to capture him. Mother has need of his services."
"Well, you can tell Mother the same thing I'm going to tell you.
Go back to Hell."
With that, I brought my right arm up to bear, and fired.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take months. Anyways, leave a review if you liked it, or whatever. I love you for reading this, and I'm working on a decent ending now, so it shouldn't be much longer. Til next time,
CM out.