Behind Cold Metal
Chapter 7: Meta Ridley's Wound
They had been walking for an hour through these woods. Samus's curiosity got the better of her, and in the end, she just had to ask the question.
"Um...why are we walking around like this for? Where are we going?" she asked.
"I don't know" Meta Ridley said. "Just walking"
"But you said this was a recon mission"
"I know. I lied"
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to walk. Get some exercise"
Samus could see that he was lying. It was true, Meta Ridley had brought Samus to Ether for a completely different reason. Meta Ridley, who had calmed a little, was about to talk until the bushes rustled.
Samus instantly turned and shot a missile at the bush. It was just a small bio-form, but because Samus hadn't seen some action ina few days, her impulse was to shoot, and because she hadn't locked onto anything, her aiming wasn't exactly perfect, and it hit a tree instead. Meta Ridley turned around.
"What are you doing!?!" he shouted. Samus turned to Meta Ridley, then saw that the tree was falling over, and Meta Ridley happened to be in the trajectory of the trunk, about to crush him. Had Samus not been captured in the first place, she would have seen this as an opportunity to kill Meta Ridley, but again, her gut reaction activated.
"Meta Ridley, look out!" she shouted. Meta Ridley looked up and jumped, but the tree fell too fast and struck Meta Ridley's arm, trapping it against the ground. Meta Ridley let out a scream.
"Eeeeaaaaaaarrggh!!!!!" he screamed. "My arm!!!! My arm!!!! Help me!!!!!!!" he shouted. Samus, had she not been tricked and captured by Meta Ridley from the beginning, would have laughed her arse off at this scene, but instead, she suddenly felt worried. She charged up her beam.
"Duck!" she shouted. Then, she fired a Super Missile at the tree, blowing it apart and freeing Meta Ridley's arm in the process. Meta Ridley fell a few steps back, yelling and holding his crushed left arm. He then stood still and looked at Samus. Samus thought a little before deciding to ask him a certain question.
"...Are...are you okay?" she asked. She never imagined she would say this, but she did. Ever since she was captured, she had developed some sort of feeling for Meta Ridley.
"Urgh...my arm...it's crushed...." he said. "We need to return....to my ship so I....can head back and.....repair myself....aahhh....." he said. Then, he realized he needed two arms to drive his ship. "Ah...damn. I need two arms to drive..." Samus had the feeling she needed to help if she wanted to leave.
"Give me your arm" she said.
"What?" Meta Ridley asked.
"Just give it to me!" Meta Ridley dropped his arm to the ground and Samus walked up to it. She could see that the joints that operated his hand had been severed, rendering his hand useless. But Samus had a piece of tech that could fix it.
A spike came out of the arm cannon and a spark emitted from it.
"This will hurt, so get ready" she said. Then, she grabbed one end of the severed joint and pulled it to the other side. She could hear Meta Ridley grunting in pain as she tugged it. But as soon as the two joints were close enough, she melded it, before the spike retracted and a second came out, this time blowing icy cold air onto the joint, freezing it and fixing it. She did this to the other two joints that were broken before her job was finished.
"That should do it..." she said, stepping back. Meta Ridley moved his hand about.
"...It hurts...but it's still operational. Good work" he said. Then, he had the feeling to say something else. Something he had never said to anyone in his life before.
"...Thank you" he said. But he looked up and saw that Samus was already far ahead, walking back for the ship.
"...Dammit!" Meta Ridley said to himself, before catching up to her.