As soon as the landing craft touched down on the dusty surface of Zebes, Samus rushed out at the same time the ramp was beginning to descend, hopping off and going forth a few feet. Kreatz and Mauk were right behind her, their weapons drawn and at the ready. Samus scanned all around her, her helmet still not on, feeling the dry wind bring the scent of something burning to her nostrils.
The hills in front of them were ablaze. Smoke poured into the air as a raging inferno swirled over the arid landscape. The devastation extended for miles and Samus covered her mouth slightly so that she would not inhale any of the toxic fumes. Her eyes stung and she felt her forehead begin to sweat, horrified at the level of destruction that had chanced upon this place.
"This was my home…" she gasped before she quickly scaled a small plateau. She nimbly jumped up to the top with ease and surveyed the surrounding area. What she saw took her breath away. Small fires burned greedily, several structures crumbled from being shelled, and the quickly blackening sky made everything seem like she had stepped into a nightmare.
Zebes had now become a literal hell.
Kreatz ducked down and examined a small niche tucked into a wall before he stepped back, having found nothing of use. Mauk kicked at some burnt wood, overturning a small pile which sent ash everywhere. The large man started to climb down a hill of boulders before pronouncing the entire effort futile in his mind.
"Find anything?" Mauk called to Kreatz, who was now busy scrambling over what used to be a stone wall. His friend shook his head, leaving Mauk to make a noise of frustration.
After ten minutes had passed, the trio regrouped by a small redoubt, the shade of the structure providing them some relief from the arid winds. "I can hardly recognize it," Samus said quietly. "I…never thought that Zebes could fall. Never in my life…"
"Don't be a defeatist yet, Samus," Kreatz assured. "We haven't found anything that would confirm that all the Chozo have been wiped out."
"I know," Samus nodded as she ran a gauntleted hand through her hair. "I know. They…they may have escaped or they could be in hiding. I just…I don't know."
Mauk checked his chronometer. "Well, we have little more than a day to perform recon of the planet before the Federation fleet arrives. Samus, do you have any idea where the Chozo would supposedly hide if danger ever came to them?"
"They…" Samus frantically searched the confines of her mind for hints of any kind. She remembered walking the familiar halls several times with Old Bird, him showing her all of the places on Zebes. She recalled him speaking about the safest hall in the planet, the place where all knowledge was stored. The central heart of Zebes.
"Tourian," she breathed in victory. "They would have gone to Tourian."
"Wait…what the hell is a Tourian?" Kreatz tilted his head.
"Tourian is the sector where Mother is stored," Samus explained. "She is the AI that controls the entire Chozo facility. The elders must have taken refuge there where Mother could more easily protect them."
"Right," Kreatz nodded as he held aloft a submachine gun. "So, how do we get to Tourian from here?"
"We need to find a way inside the facility. The only way into Tourian is through the Brinstar sector and to get there we need to find an access hatch. But everything here is destroyed, I'm not sure where we'll be able to find one."
Samus wilted a tiny bit in frustration. She fidgeted in place, trying to remember if there was a hidden access point that she had forgot about close by that the Pirates had not gotten to. She was so deep in thought that she jumped when Mauk's giant hand brushed her arm.
"Something's nearby," he said as he stepped forward. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. "There's a peculiar scent coming from that direction." Mauk pointed upwind, towards the wildfire beyond.
"Take point, Mauk," Samus nodded. "We'll cover you."
The big man stepped forward, gingerly shifting his weight among the crumbling rocks. His huge shotgun was at his hip, his finger already on the trigger. He slowly panned to and fro as he advanced, cautiously scanning the landscape in case anything would jump out at him. Samus and Kreatz crouch-walked behind Mauk, keeping their footsteps low in case something was listening in.
A skittering sound shot from a pile of rocks to Mauk's right. Mauk turned and immediately pulled the trigger of the shotgun, the weapon lurching from the blowback. The noise reverberated among the stone pillars, loud in an almost regrettable fashion, causing everyone to jump. Samus leaped forward and held her cannon up until she saw what Mauk had been aiming at.
"You just hit a Geemer," she pointed out, lowering her weapon.
Hit it was understating the situation somewhat. The Geemer was an insectoid species resembling a large beetle. Slightly bigger than a basketball, Geemers possessed several legs underneath their shell, which happened to be equipped with a multitude of spines about as long as a human forearm. Typically, Geemers were not aggressive but that was not generally an invitation for someone to walk up and pet them.
Being that Mauk's shotgun was of a larger make than most of the civilized galaxy, its type of shot was so powerful that it had blown the Geemer to smithereens. Only a few scraps of its hard shell plus a couple dispersed spines had been the only indication of what had been shot to Samus.
"So I did," Mauk said in surprise before turning back. He sniffed the air again. "That wasn't what was making the original scent, though. Just a few more meters in this direction."
He stepped over a dried shrub, the branches crackling at his approach. Mauk scowled as he approached the clearly dead form lying on the ground, letting the barrel of his shotgun gradually aim down at the dirt. Samus and Kreatz joined him, the latter scrunching up his face in disgust as he saw the body.
"What the hell is that?" Kreatz said as he crouched down for a better look. He didn't touch it, but his eyes widened the more he looked at it. "Is it a Chozo?"
"No…" Samus shook her head. "It's a Space Pirate, but something is different about it."
The creature was indeed a Space Pirate, but it was clearly differing from the form the three of them had fought in the past. The creature's claws were longer and possessed more hooks around the interior lip. Scaly spines lay ridged from the back of the Pirate's legs to the back of its head. Its feet were skinner and looked more like appendages found on a bird of prey. The Pirate's jaw now jutted out, more beak-like in structure.
"Genetic modification," Mauk scowled. "This Pirate was altered to adapt more readily to the environment of Zebes."
"That explains why it looks like a Chozo," Samus muttered in disgust. "But how did it die?" She reached out and tried to move the modified Pirate's arm out of the way of its chest, to see if she could spot any entry wounds, but the limb broke off in her hand as if the flesh was made out of paper, the bones brittle like glass.
"What the…" she murmured as she watched green blood gently drip out of the stump. She threw the severed limb away, into the desert.
Kreatz frowned, his brow furrowing. "It didn't die of a gun wound, but it sure doesn't look naturally caused, either."
Samus bent down and examined the corpse more closely. The Pirate's skin appeared to be stretched and dry, like it had been lying out in the sun for weeks. It was cracked and flaky, clinging to its bones more closely due to its atrophied muscles. "A mistake in the genetic process, maybe?" she guessed.
"Quite possible," Mauk nodded grimly. "Although I'm not sure that a scientific mistake could result in such decay like this. Its body fluids are all in order, yet it remains dead. Either it might be a type of virus or there is something else out there that is capable of such a thing."
"The creatures on Zebes are dangerous," Samus pondered, "but there is nothing here that could kill this Pirate in this manner."
"Nothing that we know of, anyway," Mauk grumbled.
A sharp clattering sound of a pebble hitting a rock gave Samus pause. She turned in the direction of the sound, her guard up. She found nothing but an unscalable wall behind her, worn smooth after centuries of elements beating on it. Naturally, she lifted her gaze upward until she reached the top, where a few shrubs were peeking out between the cracks in the stone. At the very edge of the wall above her, Samus saw a hint of movement, followed by a tiny flash.
"Find cover!" she yelled loudly as she dove backward. An energy bolt hit the very place she had been standing, sending up a puff of smoke, followed by molten bits of sand, already hardening into glass. Samus rubbed at her eyes, irritated by the debris getting blown into them and she quickly focused her mind on a specific part of her body. In an instant, her helmet materialized over her head, hissing as it sealed her away in its own environment. Samus breathed out in relief from the lack of noise and from the wealth of targeting displays that activated on her visor. Her own private arena.
Her targeting indicator picked out three Pirates on the high ground and she fired a burst without thinking, the action being completely natural. The bolt raced upward and caught the head of a modified Pirate, shearing his head off just above the jaw. The other two hunkered down in alarm, making sure that none of their bodies were exposed as they continued to fire down into the gorge.
Samus, Kreatz, and Mauk all were unloading on the position of the Pirates by now, but their foes had fortified themselves well after their comrade bought the farm. The aliens were in a perfect position to fire down without the danger of getting hit, and Samus' team was wide out in the open.
Samus crouched down behind a boulder and watched a faint wisp trail from her cannon as it cooled. She bit back a curse as she realized there was no good way to reach the Pirates from where she was situated. The wall was too high for a frontal attack and taking any side routes would put her in a perfect firing position for the Pirates that she would be cut to ribbons upon first sight.
"Samus!" Kreatz bellowed as a green beam burst a bush into flames near his head. "We can't stay here much longer! We have to get out of here!"
"I'm working on it!" she yelled back as she sat up, providing cover fire, her cannon jolting each time she squeezed her fist. The remaining Pirates ducked down as shards of rock pelted them, still safe from the onslaught of energy in their direction. "Go!" Samus waved as she stood up, traveling further into the valley.
More beams struck at their feet but they had gone safely out of the Pirates' range by this point. However, not ones to give up so easily, the Pirates stood up from their cover and hunched along the ridge, firing in intermittent intervals at their fleeing prey. Kreatz tripped as his foot slid over a rock but Mauk yanked him to his feet, trying to keep up with the unbelievably quick Samus.
Mauk looked back and groaned as he watched the Pirates continue to give chase. There was no way he could hit them with his shotgun, not at this distance. "We need to find cover now, Samus!" he hollered, firing a burst anyway to see if he could force the Pirates into taking cover.
Samus did not answer him, but frantically continued to speed across the uneven ground. Even with her suit on, Samus could feel her breathing become shallower. She was in the process of deciding whether to make a stand right here when she heard a tiny squeak to her left, temporarily distracting her.
On top of a small hill, a tiny outline sat silhouetted against the fire, its small shadow making an uncanny impact on Samus. Not noticing the sounds of commotion behind her anymore, Samus gingerly stepped forward and lifted her hand, cautious if what she was seeing was a mirage. The returning squeak and slight bob of its body told her that she was not imagining it, that it was clearly tangible right in front of her. That she had found…
"Pyonchi…" Samus gasped, her mouth agape behind her helmet.
She longed to run over to the rabbilis and scoop the creature up in a hug, but such a greeting would have to wait. Realizing that a battle was drawing closer, Pyonchi tilted his ears and took off towards the cliff wall. Samus made a noise, feeling hurt at Pyonchi's departure, but breathed out as she saw him stop in front of a hole hidden in the rock, just big enough to allow her and her friends passage.
"Over here!" she beckoned, quickly getting out of the way of the Pirate's beams. Mauk and Kreatz followed her in relief and sighed as the cool air of the cave wafted over them, a nice contrast to the hot day in the sun and fire.
Pyonchi had been waiting in the entrance of the cave and began to lead them on through the maze-like structure. Breaking out at a slight jog, Samus stayed close by the rabbilis, occasionally glancing behind her in case they were still being followed. She kept on worrying about the rear that she almost didn't look where she was going.
"Wait, stop!" she cried as she dug her heels into the ground, grinding to a halt. Kreatz and Mauk almost collided with her as they slowed down at such a small distance. Pyonchi squeaked frantically at her, which is where Samus had noticed just in time that he was standing to the side of the path, not directly in the middle.
"Follow me and don't walk in the center," she commanded, quickly skirting around the edge of the path. Kreatz looked confused but complied all the same, as did Mauk.
"All right," Kreatz whispered fiercely after they had finished with their deviation. "What the hell was that about Sam-"
The light flickered behind them and the two Space Pirates stepped around the corner, having found the cave entrance. Light flashed from their claws and the opposite wall exploded, sending out sharp shards of stone. Samus and her friends threw themselves behind the next corner, feeling the heat blister past them. Kreatz raised his submachine gun with a growl, but Samus gently pushed it back down.
"Just watch," she said with a smile on her face, not that anyone could see it.
As she spoke, the two Pirates continued to stalk forward, adhering to the middle of the path the whole way. As soon as they stepped into the area that Samus and the others had deliberately avoided, all hell broke loose.
Two dark shapes plummeted from the ceiling, unbeknownst to the cackling Pirates. In seconds, their laughs turned to screams and then gurgles as two insects with wings as sharp as razors impacted directly on top of the bipedal aliens. One of these insects pierced the neck of a modified Pirate from behind, quickly severing its head, causing its body to topple listlessly to the ground. The other creature had sped down with such force that it lodged itself into the skull of a Pirate. With bone-crunching force, the insect's wings expanded slightly, causing the Pirate's head to burst apart in an explosion of brains. An eye popped free of the Pirate's socket from the sheer force of the eruption and it fell to the ground, gathering up sand.
As soon as the two bodies became still, the wings of the insects began twitching rapidly, creating a low-pitched buzzing sound. After a few seconds, the buzzing stopped, but the two insects that reveled in the blood and gore of the Pirates, suddenly exploded, causing more body parts to be dispersed around the path, staining the nearby walls.
"What…was that?" Mauk gaped, completely stunned.
"A Skree," Samus smirked as she de-materialized her helmet, letting her ponytail free from its confined space. "They wait on the ceilings and drop down on anyone unsuspecting enough to walk into their trap. The ones that actually perform the kill aggravate the combustible gases in their stomach sacs, causing them to explode so that the corpses are easier to eat for the other member of their troop."
As Samus was saying this, a bunch more Skrees were fluttering down to the ground, about fifteen in total. They set down lightly and began to munch on the bodies of the Pirates, apparently finding them to be good eating. Kreatz looked like he was going to be sick.
"And you had to live here?" he asked, amazed.
"You get used to the place," Samus shrugged as she pushed off from the wall. Pyonchi had darted ahead by this time and was now stomping his feet impatiently, waiting for everyone to join him. Everyone chased after the rabbilis as he led them on a twisting and turning path without hesitation, knowing perfectly where to go.
After what seemed like the hundredth corner, a soft blue glow materialized out of the gloom, revealing an access hatch. Grinning, Samus stepped forward and fired at the hatch once, dropping its energy shields and allowing them passage. As they stepped inside, the dusty and dark cave abruptly ended and the quartet now found themselves in a room comprised of metal and steel, accompanied by the glare of vidscreens.
"I know this room," Samus said as she found a power switch. The lights flickered on, washing the place in a green tint. "This is one of the main communications facilities in Brinstar." She glanced up at the ceiling briefly. "Mother, are you there?" she asked aloud. "Mother?"
"You think that an AI will be able to hear you?" Mauk said as he arched an eyebrow.
"She's connected to the entire facility. If she's not answering, then that means that the Pirates have either destroyed her or locked her out of the system." Samus looked at Pyonchi, who had perched himself on top of a nearby desk proudly. "So, if there's no one around…why would you lead us here?" she whispered to the creature, as if he could understand her.
Pyonchi twitched his ears knowingly and, with his paw, depressed a tiny button next to a circular opening on the desk. A glowing symbol warmed and cooled for a few seconds, as if an interior mechanism was busy booting up. Unbeknownst to Samus, the tiny "L" logo on her chest plate began to rise and fall in intensity at the same interval. Finding a contact point, a solid beam of light shot up a few feet above the desk and a figure began to take form within the beam. A holo-screen.
Samus tilted forward, recognizing the individual in the screen. She watched his sad face, his slump of his shoulders, and the way he clutched his walking stick to his chest. "Old Bird…" she gasped.
"If you are viewing this message," the elderly Chozo began, his voice tinny, "then I assume that you are from the Federation and thus have arrived too late to stop our extinction. Therefore, this recording is to highlight what has happened since our communications were cut with the galaxy…and to correct the wrongs we have made in the past."
"Extinction?" Samus whispered. "Oh no…no…"
"Zebes was suddenly set upon by the Space Pirates without warning," Old Bird said slowly, his gaze steadily drooping downward. "For what purpose, we can only guess, but it would seem that their attack is meant to exterminate us while claiming our accumulated knowledge and research on Zebes." Footage of a Pirate mothership in orbit above the planet was shown briefly but the choppy film quickly ended. "This was not the first time the Pirates have attacked us before. That time, we had the quick reactions of the Federation to thank, but because of their recent declaration of war, the Federation could not act in time to stave this assault off due to their resources being spread too thinly. Thus, the Pirates were able to strike when we were at our most vulnerable. We could not act in time to send a distress signal so we had no choice but to surrender the planet to the Pirates as a last effort to ensure the survival of the Chozo."
"But…" Samus shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. The Federation did receive a distress signal. How else would we have known?"
Kreatz put a hand on Samus' shoulder. "But Old Bird said surrendering the planet was for the Chozo's survival. That means that they're probably still alive somewhere!"
Samus heard him but waved a hand to quiet Kreatz as Old Bird began to speak again, torn with regret. "It was my personal belief that Zebes should be destroyed rather than handing it over to the Space Pirates. We had prepared for such a contingency long ago by placing neutron bombs in the core of the planet but the Pirates arrived too quickly for us to formulate an ideal plan. In the heat of the moment, we were cut off from our main operations station, and all of us could not flee all at once." On the screen, Old Bird sighed deeply. "Therefore, it was decided that I should be the one to escape while the others remained as hostages for the Pirates. It was not my intention to abandon my home, my friends, but it seems that I will be the last of the Chozo. The last of our race."
Samus breathed out in relief. "Good," she mumbled. "Old Bird got away…the Pirates did not succeed in annihilating them all." She reached out to the screen and her fingers floated through the virtual image. "But…where would you go, Old Bird? Would you tell me even if your life depended on it?"
"Now that any remaining Chozo will be hunted for all eternity," Old Bird continued, "I have no choice but to go into exile. Our final days are already upon us. Our colonies on Elysia and Tallon IV have already been routed. There is nothing left that I can do to salvage our race." Old Bird then tapped at something unseen and a black picture sprung up beside him. It depicted a round looking organism, its translucent body carrying three nuclei within it, and possessing two pairs of mandibles. "Now, our only remaining concern for the rest of the galaxy is this. Metroid."
"Metroid…" Mauk murmured as he leaned in for a better look. Samus stiffened, put off by the creature's odd and repulsive appearance.
"As part of our hopes to safeguard the galaxy, we developed a lifeform designed to carry out our final wishes of peace. But, when the attack started, it became apparent that Metroid was not yet complete, that it was not the obedient soldier we wished it to be. The entire existence of the project has revealed enemies outside of the Space Pirates, ones that have nefarious plans for Metroid. We did not anticipate the lengths some were willing to go to acquire Metroid's energy siphoning capabilities. We originally envisioned Metroid to bring about a wave of purification, but it is clear that it is now an infestation. The ones we had previously bred are outside our control now. They will not discriminate between friend or foe."
"That must have been what happened to the first Pirate we saw outside," Samus realized. "A Metroid must have gotten to it."
Old Bird gestured to something in front of him. "To those viewing this recording, the console in front of you contains a disk that has all of the information on Metroid encoded on it. It was encrypted specifically to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. There are a few at the Federation who can read the files, so it must be delivered to them straight away!"
Samus looked down and found a data slot. She pushed the eject button and retrieved the tiny silver disk that popped out. Looking at it in curiosity for a brief moment, she slid the disk into a side pocket.
"We must warn you about a new danger that lurks in the shadows, though," Old Bird said gravely. A planet filled the space where the Metroid schematic had floated, depicting a dusty ball wrapped with green. "SR-388. We used this planet to cultivate an entire population of Metroids, but now we fear that these specimens have escaped our control as well. The Metroids must not leave Zebes, or SR-388, or else they will consume the entire galaxy. In trying to rid the galaxy of one scourge, I fear we have unleashed another in its place. Please, you must destroy these Metroids to save the galaxy, or they will bring about an age of darkness the likes no one has ever seen before!"
"A planet full of those things?" Kreatz shuddered. "You can count me out."
That earned him a smack from Mauk to silence the man but Samus was still entranced by the recording to even notice the comment. "Finally, to whoever is watching this, you must find a way to bring our last order to the attention of our true child, Samus Aran."
Kreatz and Mauk both looked at Samus, whose eyes widened in amazement. She gestured to herself minutely, deeply wishing to throw herself into the hologram and speak to Old Bird directly and not have to endure this vague exposition by him.
"You must tell her that she is now the only one who can inherit the will of the Chozo. She is our true legacy, our only remaining soldier. Metroid could not uphold our duty, our responsibility, but she can. Samus can bring about our final wish: to bring peace to the known galaxy. Samus Aran is…our greatest creation."
Finally, in the tiny, cold room, the hologram representation of Old Bird gave a sad smile and a respectful nod before his image suddenly flickered and winked out of existence. The console stopped humming and quietly died, throwing a blanket of silence over the communications room. Samus stood like a statue as she stared at the projector, half-expecting Old Bird to return and speak some more, but the wise Chozo did not reappear.
"No…" Samus gasped as she dropped to a knee, trying to find a button to power the console back up again. "No…that can't be it. You can't just end it like that, Old Bird!"
"Samus…" Kreatz attempted to speak.
"No, no, no!" Samus muttered, completely frustrated as she frantically searched all over the desk. "He couldn't leave it like that. There has to be more! He couldn't just leave me to fix his mistakes!"
"He did everything he could, Samus," Mauk assured.
"Then he didn't do enough!" she cried. "He just turned his back on this galaxy and left without so much as telling me beforehand? Just to leave with the notion that he expects me to carry out his last wishes without my input? Damn…damn him!"
Samus screamed and threw her fist down, smashing through the data console like it was made out of tin foil. Everyone jumped and Pyonchi scrambled out of the way as metal components rained down, the sparks from the ruined machine emitting a crackling sound and a scent of ozone. Several vidscreens fuzzed and winked out, smoke beginning to lazily rise from the wreckage.
"Samus!" Kreatz yelled as he pried her away from the broken machine. "He didn't know things would be like this!"
"He should have!" she retorted. "Old Bird always had a plan, always! Running away was never an option and he wouldn't have wanted me to just accept it out of the blue!"
"We can worry about that later," Kreatz urged. "But don't you remember what Old Bird said? He specifically mentioned that the Chozo surrendered Zebes to the Pirates. Surrendered instead of conquered! That means that there may still be survivors here. Why else would there be a distress signal that led us…all the way…to Zebes?"
Kreatz had a funny look on his face as the realization hit Samus at the same time. "You don't think…" Mauk gaped.
"Yeah, I do," Samus sighed. "This whole thing sounds like a trap."
"But for whom? And why?"
"I don't know," Samus admitted. "But I can't just let any Chozo die if I had the ability to help in some capacity. They have to be freed!"
"And what do want to do about this Metroid crisis?" Kreatz pointed at Samus' pocket which contained the disk that Old Bird had indicated.
"We can worry about that later. That's a mission for another time. Right now, I want you two to stay with Pyonchi. He can lead you to the prisoners while I'll go to Tourian and see if I can reactivate Mother, if she hasn't been destroyed. She's a little terse for an AI, but she will make traversing around Zebes much easier if I can lift the security blackout."
Kreatz looked a little apprehensive as Samus rubbed the rabbilis' head in affection. "Wait…what? Samus, I know that your pet has lived on Zebes for a while but I'd rather not have to take it on as extra weight slowing us down. It might compromise our mission."
"Oh, really?" Samus smirked as she held Pyonchi close. "Did you forget that this little guy was constantly ahead of us the entire time we were in this facility, leading us on? He knows these caverns very well, unlike any of you. As far as he's concerned, you're the extra weight. Besides, Pyonchi knows how to evade all of the predators residing in these caves. Or did you think that you will be all right traversing them by yourself?"
Kreatz had forgotten about the creatures, particularly the Skrees. The thought of having one of those burrow into his skull and explode was not something that he was willing to put down on his agenda. Unable to come up with a solid defense, Kreatz gave a sheepish grin. "Ah…well…okay, then. Pyonchi it is."
Samus gazed down warmly at Pyonchi, who stared back up at her with his big, black, expressive eyes. She scratched the back of his neck and watched him twitch his nose in delight. Samus had almost forgotten the sensation of holding him. How she had missed Pyonchi.
"I'll see you soon," she whispered into one of the rodent's large ears before squeezing him tenderly in a one-armed hug. With a squeak of assurance, Pyonchi bounded out of Samus' arms and streaked out of the room, leaving Mauk and Kreatz dumbfounded at the furry creature's insistence. "You'd better go," she told the two. "Pyonchi can be quite impatient when people dawdle."
Saying nothing except exchanging nods, Kreatz and Mauk jogged back out of the room, hot on Pyonchi's tail as he led them through a passage on the right. Samus watched them go forlornly before she closed her eyes, and the helmet of her suit appeared over her head once again. She breathed out, hearing her own voice hiss through the vocabulator. She blinked her eyes, testing the sensors embedded in the Chozo technology, pronouncing the seal successful.
Holding her arm cannon up in preparation, Samus walked out of the room in the opposite direction, the light filters in her visor making it easy for her to see in the encroaching blackness of the caves. Picking up nothing on her motion trackers, she broke out at a run and hopped over small obstacles as she made her way to Tourian.
As she proceeded through Brinstar, Samus could not help but get gradually more and more worried. She passed by an area that was scorched by blaster fire and where pieces of riot drones lay scattered all over the ground. She avoided stepping on these pieces lest someone unsavory nearby was listening. A pit of dread seemed to open up in her stomach as she skirted around a pile of rubble, caused when part of the ceiling caved in. She had seen no bodies thus far, but that still did not assuage her in the slightest.
Pushing aside a partially opened hatch, Samus blinked as sunlight streamed down from a hole high above the cavern. A round from a gunship had plowed through the top of the facility and drilled several stories down to terminate somewhere at the bottom, the light illuminating waves of dust as billowed and danced to the slightest breath of wind.
Biting her lip, Samus tucked her knees and jumped, easily making it to the next floor up. The ground began to crumble at the lip but she was already on the move, leaping higher and higher up the building. There was hardly any noise as the huge armor landed on the broken stone, Samus light on her feet. Another Geemer poked its head out and tried to make a beeline for the warrior, but Samus simply pointed her cannon and disintegrated the creature with a blast to the face. She had more problems to worry about than the simple-minded wildlife.
In less than a minute, she had reached the top but did not stop to congratulate herself at what would have been an astonishing feat for an ordinary human. Rather, she picked herself up running again and quickly hurried through the door to the Tourian lift. She punched the button for the small elevator to run and it began its torturous descent downward.
As she waited for the lift to reach its destination, Samus fidgeted a little. She was uneasy at the thought that the Space Pirates somehow knew to deactivate Mother. There was no way that the AI could have survived this onslaught uninjured. She was also concerned that the Chozo had no time to barricade themselves inside Tourian, a fortress that, for all intents and purposes, should have been impenetrable.
Then there was that notion of a trap lying in wait. What would the Pirates gain by leading a rescue force into an ambush? Surely that was not their ultimate goal, was it?
The lift mercifully stopped and Samus shot out at breakneck speed. She had little time to observe the carnage from the scuffed and blackened walls, brushing past a few small fires that almost blew out from the speed of her running. The metal hallways were all empty, abandoned, and Samus willed herself to travel faster and faster. The more she traveled, the more overturned objects and blasted droids she saw. Heart in her throat, Samus leaped over an upturned bookshelf and reached the final gateway. Savagely pounding on it with a fist, she leaped back as it opened and began looking for Mother's control panel.
However, that was not the first thing that she saw. Instead of the lone cylindrical tank at the end of the room, a few dozen Space Pirates blocked the AI from view. Samus gulped as the hatch closed behind her. There were too many for her to take on by herself. The Pirates, both regular and modified, quickly realized that they had company and began to open their claws, hissing ferociously.
Samus too had her weapon out and ready. She felt the corners of her eyes sting from her sweat. Her breathing felt hitched and she clenched her jaw. Well, even if she was too late to do any good, Samus was prepared to take some of these bastards out before-
"Samus, wait!" a voice called out over the horde. "Lower your weapon. There is no need for you to fight here."
The shot that Samus had been charging died as she slipped her finger off the trigger in horror. It had been a few years since she had heard that voice, but she never would have thought that those words would have been uttered from that person. She still kept her weapon aimed at the Pirates, but her arm quickly felt tired as she saw a figure push his way through the insectoid crowd, looking rather regal in contrast to the other aliens around him from the flowing wardrobe he donned. What was even more astonishing was that the Pirates were not treating him like a hostage, but like one of their own as they parted to let him through, their weapons not trained in his direction at all.
"Samus," the person said as he spread his arms open in greeting, the Pirates crowding around him protectively. "Welcome. We have been expecting you."
Samus could only shake her head in disbelief, convinced that she was somehow dreaming. That this person could not be here…not now. How was this even possible?
"Gray…Voice?" she whispered helplessly as the tall Chozo smiled across at her.
As the Pirates closed in around her, they began to laugh synchronously. Samus suddenly felt the need to scream in horror.
A/N: The plot thickens...unless you're familiar with the source material in which case this should have been entirely expected. No matter, this is probably my most favorite act out of the manga so I'm going to be working at this at quite a fast pace. If I can find the right groove to write, that is.
In any case, I do hope that you enjoy this chapter!
LawrenceSnake: Yeah, that was my fault for being a little too vague with my descriptions. That sentence was only meant to highlight Ridley's resiliency, not insinuate that he had cybernetics of any kind. I went back and added a sentence to that paragraph that should hopefully not confuse any more people in the future, so thank you for pointing that out. Rest assured, Ridley is still 100% organic...for now.
TheBarbarianKing: To be honest, I found myself asking that same question when I was adapting that part. I'd imagine that the writers thought it would be a cool concept to put in the manga but they also failed to properly explain how such a technology was possible. Therefore, I also failed to provide some sort of reasoning for the concept initially, so I went back and put in a sentence denoting that a shield surrounds the black hole in the direction of the ship, thus preventing its structural integrity from being compromised. Ehh...maybe that's one portion of the manga that I should have just excised.