Connor yawned as he rinsed off another plate. His CO had forced him to work well into the night. After he got a call from his parents telling him that Ayame had been released from the hospital, he wanted to go see her again to check up on her, but he would only get in more trouble for shirking work. He looked over at the clock on the wall to his right. The face read 1:36 AM. He hung his head tiredly and sighed. He then looked to his left. There were still about twenty dishes left for him to take care of.
He looked out the small window in front of him. I hope she's all right, he thought. He then chuckled lightly to himself. Who am I kidding? Of course she's all right. She'll be fine. He continued the mundane task of washing dishes. He was determined to finish before sunrise.
-o-
Anthony led Ayame to an old warehouse in the downtown of the city. It was clearly a bad neighborhood. There were thugs everywhere looking at her with hungry eyes. Some of those thugs were actually girls. That only served to unnerve her even more. She was certain that if Anthony wasn't guiding her, she could easily have become a victim of God knows whatever crime. She was grateful for the large man's protective nature.
Anthony pulled open the door to the warehouse and beckoned Ayame inside. When she entered, she saw that the whole place looked as though it were coming apart. It was like a stereotypical haunted building from some cheesy horror movie. There were old machine parts rusting up, several windows were busted, and paint was peeling from the walls. There were a few old, wooden pillars that looked like termites got to them.
"Come on," Anthony said as he walked ahead of her. She followed quietly, silently taking in the sites. Some of what she saw made her physically cringe. She thought she heard a rat scuttle about somewhere in the building, but it was echoed throughout the mostly silent warehouse, so it was impossible to be sure.
Anthony stopped at a wall and pressed his palms on it. He began feeling around the wall, apparently searching for something. Soon enough, a little square of blue light appeared, surrounding his hand. That section of wall flipped around, revealing a numbered keypad and a retinal scanner.
"Please enter admission code," said the voice of Gear, Samus's ship's onboard AI. Ayame's eyes widened at this, but before she could say anything, the computer said, "If you do not enter the correct admission code, you shall be terminated. Unsurprisingly, it is a very unpleasant way to die." Ayame sweat-dropped. Yep, that was Gear all right. She watched Anthony press a few keys.
"53176," he said as he typed in the code. "Remember that, Ayame." He then leaned down to allow the retinal scanner to scan his left eye.
"Code verified," Gear's voice said. "Retinal scan complete. Subject: Anthony Higgs. Welcome." The keypad flipped over again. After a few brief seconds, a rectangle of blue light appeared on the wall, and that section open up like a pair of automatic doors at the mall, revealing an elevator. Anthony stepped inside, Ayame following hesitantly.
"Hunter HQ, bottom level," Anthony said. The elevator doors closed shut, and the transport began descending. Ayame took this opportunity.
"Mr. Higgs, what's going on?" she asked. "What did you mean when said that we were getting my inheritance?"
Anthony chuckled silently. "I guess it's about time you knew. You see, Samus has places like this all over the galaxy. Some facilities were already there, and were repaired to suit her needs, and the needs of other Federation employed bounty hunters. Others were built from scratch. All of those were constructed in secret, out-of-the-way locations. Like this underground facility. They're all funded by the Federation. But this one's special."
"What do you mean 'special'?"
Anthony grinned at her. "Samus had this place made specifically for you, kid." Ayame's eyes widened at that. "This place has all the latest tech. But she only wanted you to see it under one of two conditions. Either she determines that you're ready for it, or if something bad happened to her."
"She had an entire underground facility built just for me?" Ayame asked. Was this just some kind of dream? If so, she really hoped that Ridley wouldn't make another appearance and make it a nightmare. "Well, what's so special about the bottom floor?"
"In the case of the second condition, Samus told me to show you something that only she, Gear, and I know about." Before Ayame could press further, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, revealing a long hallway. Ayame almost groaned at the length of the hallway, but had enough self-control not to. Anthony started down the hall, and Ayame followed.
After about twenty minutes of walking, the two of them stopped at a door. Anthony stepped aside. "This one is coded to your and Samus's DNA. You're one of the only two people in the galaxy who can open it."
Ayame gave him a confused look at first, and reluctantly moved toward the door. She stopped at a panel that looked like a hand scanner. She placed her palm on the device, which lit up a second. She suddenly felt something prick her hand, and she pulled away in surprise. Checking her hand, she saw that she was bleeding.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, still surprised.
"I said that it was coded to you DNA, didn't I?" Anthony answered. "The blood contains the most secure sample of a person's DNA. You'll get used to it."
"I hope so," Ayame muttered as the door opened, sliding upwards into the frame. She followed Anthony inside. She looked around in awe at the room. It was filled with the most advanced technological marvels she had ever seen. On the opposite end of the room, there was what appeared to be some kind of stasis chamber, where a person would enter cryosleep for a set period of time.
"Welcome, Ayame," said Gear's voice again. "This is your personal headquarters, designed by Samus Aran especially for you. You have free run here. This place has everything you could possibly want. High-end supercomputers, holographic shooting range, testing areas for new and old weapons alike, even an indoor pool and a game room on the third level. Do you have any questions?"
"Is that really you Gear?" she asked.
"Who else could it be?" Gear replied dryly. "Samus gave me an upgrade that allows me to monitor this facility whenever I please. You can also call me whenever you need help with something. So, by all means… don't need my help."
"Yep," Ayame said with a large bead of sweat on the back of her head. "There's no doubt about who you are now."
Anthony laughed at that for a brief moment. When he became serious again, he led Ayame to the stasis chamber. "In here is something that Samus and I, plus a select few within the Federation, have kept secret for a long time." He pressed a small button next to the chamber, which opened slowly.
Ayame gasped at the chamber's contents. It was like an entirely red variation of Samus's Zero Suit, with the Chozo symbol on the left side of the chest being a bright green. She was certain the X-shaped symbol on the back matched the Chozo symbol.
"Yet another thing Samus had made just for you," Anthony explained. "The Zero Suit V2. Like Samus's suit, it has a built-in nanotech network that responds to the user's thoughts. However, it's designed so that it only obeys your commands. It's bulletproof, fireproof, and resistant to cold. It's also capable of something Samus calls the Power Burst. At the cost of almost all of the suit's power, it unleashes a huge thermal blast over a huge radius. The only thing that would be unaffected by the blast would be you. So you'd best be careful when and where you detonate it."
"In other words," Gear said. "Try not to incinerate any friends."
"I can figure that much, Gear," Ayame deadpanned. She gazed at the Zero Suit V2 in awe. Had Samus really created something so amazing just for her? She hung her head. Tears were forming in her eyes again. She quietly muttered, "I promise…"
"What was that?" Anthony asked.
Ayame wiped her eyes with her arm and gave the tall man a determined look. "I promise. I'm going to save my mother. It's the least that I can do after all she's done for me."
Anthony blinked at the girl. He then smiled at her. "You're going to need help with that." He pointed a thumb at himself. "Samus is my friend. And I never turn my back on a friend."
Ayame nodded gratefully. She then returned her gaze to the suit that Samus had made for her. She was going to repay her debt to the bounty hunter that saved her so many years ago.
-o-
She woke up in the dingy cell once again. Three days. That's how long it had been since she had been taken. At least, that's how it felt. She could tell that she was still on board the pirate warship. She looked at the energy cuffs constricting her wrists and sighed in minor annoyance. The pirates apparently wanted to her to constantly be aware of the fact that she was their prisoner now.
Samus could only hope that Ayame was safe, that she had somehow survived, despite her injuries. She chuckled to herself. The girl really did bring out her inner mother. Even when she knew that she was most likely going to die, all she could worry about was Ayame.
She looked up at the ceiling. Be safe, Ayame, she thought with a tiny smile on her face. Don't do anything that I wouldn't. She lied back down on the uncomfortable cot that had been supplied for her. She could only wait for fate's decision.