The falling curtain of rain that had shrouded the area dropped the line of sight down to a minimum. A fog was blooming a few inches over the ground, bristling with condensation as the increasing humidity began to coat everything. From the position underneath a rocky alcove, Kreatz and Mauk were able to spot the nearby port with no problem though, considering their relative location.
Space Pirate ships hovered over the ground, dozens of tubes connecting them to the fuel stations. A few guards patrolled the outer perimeter near the control tower, but their patterns were aimless, staggered. On one of the raised platforms near the back stood a ship different in design from the others, the lone Chozo vessel enduring in the wake of the aggressors.
Mauk winced as the acid spray blew towards his face, causing the pair to back up. They were in a protected area from the storm, deposited in this hidden niche thanks to the passage from Brinstar the Chozo had pointed out to them. The wind flapped in all directions but it did not let the corrosive liquid sear towards them at all. They just had to wait until the downpour would stop and then they would make their move on the ship.
Back near the hatch (which had safely locked behind them), Samus' face was pale as Platinum Chest spoke, her expression becoming more and more shocked as each new revelation was given to her, causing a sinking feeling to rapidly open up in her chest.
"You see, Samus," the old Chozo gestured as he continued to explain, "We had become increasingly aware of Mother Brain's erratic behavior in the past few years that it caused us a great deal of concern when we eventually decided to address the problem. It soon became clear that Mother's purpose had been corrupted when we had initially assigned her the task to safeguard the galaxy. It would later come to pass that the intelligence would reason that the easiest way to accomplish that goal would be to align herself with the Space Pirates so that she could have the ability to unite the galaxy under one banner through conflict and chaos."
"But it seemed so sudden," Samus said. "How could Mother betray you all, her creators? Surely she should have considered the potential consequences and the logic behind such a move."
"She most likely did and found that we did not conform to the overall plan that she had in mind. Therefore, she most likely ordered our extermination when she began to collude with the Space Pirates. Of course, we knew that we couldn't shut Mother off outright lest she would attempt to violently defend herself. Therefore, we began to use one of our own people to get closer to her, to make Mother trust them so that they could deliver the final blow when the time was right."
"Gray Voice…" Samus whispered. "So, he was on our side the entire time."
"Indeed. Gray Voice had no cause to betray us and he has always believed in the plans we had set in motion beforehand. Therefore, when he and Mother began to collaborate on the Metroid project, we knew that the intelligence had formed some sort of implicit bond with him, a certain level of trust. Therefore, once we confirmed that this amicable working relationship was in place, we began to plan with Gray Voice on when he should destroy Mother once and for all. Alas, the opportunity to do so did not go entirely as planned."
Something beat painfully within Samus' ribs and she instinctively clutched a hand there, slightly wincing. With a grunt, she caught her breath. "Then…that means that he sent the distress signal! Gray Voice purposefully sent it for me to rescue all of you!"
"Quite true," Platinum Chest nodded, pleased. "We did not even anticipate the possibility of a rescue, as the Pirates were upon us before we could act properly, but Gray Voice quickly assumed the role of a turncoat, pledging his loyalty to Mother. And because of how closely the two had worked together in the past, Mother did not even consider that she would be betrayed by him. But as you can see, he was watching out for us the entire time. Clearly, we owe our lives to both of you, for what you have done cannot be repaid by us."
Samus' face darkened in embarrassment. She turned to the side, visibly uncomfortable. "I didn't do anything," she sighed. "All of you almost died because I was unable to act properly, because I wasn't able to keep my personal problems under control. All I did was put everyone at risk." Her face flushed. "Gray Voice was right. I am pathetic."
"You are no such thing!" Platinum Chest admonished. "Child, all your life you have endured the storm that has constantly been battling against you. You have withstood obstacles that would have shattered anyone else. It was only natural for you to find a chink in that armor eventually. No one is completely invulnerable, Samus. If Gray Voice wanted you to come here, then he would have had a reason for doing so."
Another surge caused Samus to grit her teeth suddenly, her entire right side now feeling numb. "But why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to go through that farce, to think that Gray Voice had actually turned?"
"You needed to play your part, Samus. Gray Voice wanted your reactions to convince Mother and Ridley, to show them that he was really on their side so that he could get closer into their inner circle. This was not the way we wanted things to be, but-"
"You're damn right about that!" Samus snapped, now feeling hot under the collar. "Do you realize what I have just done? I have now doubted one of the people who have cared for me since I was a child! I can never forgive myself for even questioning Gray Voice's intentions in the first place." She clenched her hand as far as her armor would allow. "And…all along, he's been fighting to protect me this whole time! He convinced Mother that I could be an ally, he continually prevented Ridley from killing me, and now I cannot get his words out of my head! I have been hearing his voice this entire time! He's been assuring me, caring for me! He's never left my side, not even once!"
Platinum Chest stiffened, as did the other Chozo. Looking amongst themselves, they trudged together and murmured quietly in an ancient language. Breaking off, Platinum Chest affixed Samus with a sad gaze. "Samus…am I hearing this right? You're saying that you can hear Gray Voice inside your head?"
"Yes! I can't explain it, but I have heard him! And I can feel him now, because my Power Suit is responding to him, telling me that he's fighting Mother! He's fighting, Platinum Chest, and he's suffering!"
"Yes, Samus," Platinum Chest mused. "This is extraordinary indeed. You see, this was not something we originally anticipated…"
"What?" Samus almost shrieked. "What could you not anticipate!?"
The Chozo raised a hand for the human to calm down. "Samus, you remember that when you first arrived on Zebes, we had to endow you with Chozo DNA so that it could help you adapt to the planet, yes?"
"Right," Samus remembered.
"So, it turned out, that the only one among us who shared the closest molecular structure of your biological makeup was in fact, Gray Voice. We injected you with his DNA so that you could live among us."
Samus shook her head, not understanding. Platinum Chest saw this and kept going. "Despite the millennia of which we have inhabited this galaxy, we still have been unable to quantify the connections that tie all living beings together. Chozo can manipulate some of these connections and form a partial bond between the other, but this requires a certain type of mindset between individuals. The intriguing thing is, Samus, is that even though you and Gray Voice are two different species and that you can hear his voice, you have proved that our ability can be transferred over through our genes, but it also proves that that the two of you are bonded together in a transcendent manner. In other words, what you and Gray Voice have is something akin to a mental predisposition shared between a father and a daughter, but it is not a connection that is formed by mere genes alone, but by his love for you. The love of a nurturing parent."
Samus felt rooted to the spot, anchored by her now seemingly heavy armor. She slowly and timidly hooked her hand around her arm cannon, drawing it close as she began to feel the rays of the dying sun peeking out from the clouds above before it set on the horizon, casting a long shadow behind her. The ringing in her ears was approaching intolerable levels and the hole in her chest seemed to be sucking everything in, tearing herself apart from within.
"Then…" Samus gasped as the rain began to subside outside, the beads of water audibly dripping off of the mossy rocks, "Gray…is like my…"
Before she could even think of what she was doing, Samus suddenly bounded outside, not feeling the dying acidic rain splash over her face, mixing with her panicked expression. She wheeled about on the slippery rocks, vying to get to a better vantage point, a direct route that would take her all the way to Tourian. She could sense that he was there, every instinct she had pointed her in that direction.
Before she could leap over the mountains of boulders, Samus heard Kreatz cry from the shadowy alcove, "Wait, Samus!"
She screeched to a stop, her arms flailing about wildly for a moment as she regarded everyone behind her. Kreatz wore an anguished face and Mauk too looked concerned. "Samus," Kreatz pleaded, "You can't just abandon us here!"
"I'm not!" she shouted back, her eyes wild. "You and Mauk are more than capable of leading the elders to the ship. I have to go back and help Gray Voice!"
"But all of us need you right now!" Mauk joined in. "The Chozo ship has no weapons on board and we'll be swatted out of the sky the instant we take flight. We're going to need you if the elders and everyone else even have a chance of making it off this planet alive."
"B-But…" Samus stammered, now looking lost. "Gray…he's…"
"Your Power Suit can withstand the gravitational forces and the cold of space," Kreatz piped up. "You're our only line of defense on this world." He now pointed to the clearing sky, which revealed a night lit by stars and the singular moon, rising high over the rocky outcroppings to bask the rocky desert in a milky glow. "The rain has stopped by now and we're out of time. The Federation ships are going to arrive in any minute and we need to be well away from here if we're going to survive."
Samus shut her eyes, desperate to reach out to Gray Voice and hear him once more. Her damp face trembled as one part of her fought to tear herself away while the other struggled to stay still. Her unkempt hair stayed plastered to her head as she trembled, sweat making it cling to her skin.
What would you have of me? Samus silently pled. What do you want me to do?
I would have you go, a kindly voice resonated back, making her jump. You should leave with them and never return to this place.
I…I can't leave you…
Please do not argue with me. I cannot forestall events which have already been set in motion. You know the choice you have to make, Samus. I even know what your final decision will be.
"Samus…" Mauk said, his expression starting to get more concerned.
Go! rang the voice of the distant Chozo.
With a quiet sob, Samus quickly activated her helmet so that it could obscure her anguished features. Once the final piece of the armor had finished materializing, she cut the audio feeds so that she could scream safely inside it without anyone else hearing her. Trapped within her eternal howl, Samus dug her feet over the uneven terrain and began sprinting for the first level of the port, directly at the Space Pirate guards while the rest of the group watched her, astonished.
Preparing her arm cannon, Samus was still bellowing all of her sorrow and rage as she leaped high in the air, almost two stories, and trained her weapon upon the startled Pirates that lay dotted on the metal floor. She depressed the trigger several times and welcomed the music of dying screams as her shots barreled the enemies over, pushing past the heat and the light to become the only being illuminated in the vicinity.
The ruined barrier generators poured smoke into the chamber, filtering out through the hole in the ceiling. Gray Voice stood amongst the swirling shroud as he stepped through where the Zebetite barrier had previously cut him off. Angry red sparks popped around him but they did not deter him from moving forward.
It felt like nails two feet long were being shoved into every single pore on his body, each tender step flaring up a new wave of agony. Still, the Chozo persisted in pushing past all of the warning signals he was being given. Ignoring the blood now starting to stream down the seal of his helmet, Gray Voice struggled to heft the turret, struggling to maintain consciousness as he approached the maddened AI.
"Incorrect, am I?" he said through a nasty rasp. "Mother, you're too smart to deny the evidence in front of you. Explain to me how I am wrong. In the end, you are going to admit to me that the one person you fear most in this galaxy is Samus Aran!"
"I…fear…no one!" the intelligence quivered, realizing that she was vulnerable now that there was no energy barrier to protect her. "I will not admit that a mere human could possibly instill fear in me, Gray Voice. Even now, I will not bend to you."
The barrel of the turret slowly began to point at the clear tank, aiming right at the biomechanical components that seemed to shrink away underneath the weapon's scrutiny. "You are a disappointment to all of us, Mother," Gray Voice sighed. "We thought that you could lead the new era, but it dawned on us too late that you were only a tool meant to assist the successor. And you began to worry when we brought Samus here."
"That is untrue. You Chozo had been planning to betray me from the start-"
"You became concerned when we started to include Samus into our plans for the future," Gray Voice continued. "You saw how her very existence generated changes for us, new possibilities, and even hope. With her, we saw a future that did not need to be dictated by calculation, but by emotion, by strength of will, and by our organic propensity to stay fixated to our beliefs rather than betray them according to a simple equation!"
"The Space Pirates needed to become our allies, Gray Voice! They are the only solution towards facilitating peace in this galaxy, can't you see that?"
"They are the easiest solution," Gray Voice corrected. "But they aren't the only solution, or the right one. And with Samus, the galaxy now has our perfect answer towards the goal of peace. Her development and future made you envious, Mother, and you cannot stand the prospect of an organic taking your place as the inheritor of our will." Gray Voice tilted his head as he managed a grin underneath his shining helmet. "Isn't that right, Mother?"
The splintering of rock cracked another shaft of the dying day into the chamber and Gray Voice winced as he was suddenly thrust into a beam of orange light. His visor automatically darkened to reduce the glare but a sudden shadow flickered across his display, throwing his levels of sensitivity all over the place. Gray Voice struggled to shift his aim around the falling rocks but he suddenly found his torso becoming caught in a painful grip and in mere seconds, found himself picked up off the ground only for him to slam on the floor after the presence had released their grip on him, knocking the wind out of him.
Gray Voice grunted as he skidded along the ground, still clutching the turret in one hand, eventually coming to a stop near the wall. His energy levels had drained a quarter and a tiny crack now appeared in his right shoulder blade but he still found the strength to stand up, now gazing at the newest entrant who had announced himself so dramatically.
"Ridley," Gray Voice grimaced, holding his weapon at his hip.
"This is how you repay me?" Ridley growled as he slunk himself low to the ground, all his teeth bared. "I accept you into my ranks, offer you command of my troops, and your only instinct is to reward me through betrayal?!"
The dragon roared and quickly shot a stream of molten flame towards Gray Voice. The Chozo swiftly sidestepped and answered with a blast from his turret, the shot searing through the haze of the room. But the smoke that had resulted from the attack had been part of a ruse. Gray Voice's vision had been partially obstructed from the particulates and the Space Pirate leader had taken flight immediately after spewing his payload, zooming down and quickly taking Gray Voice's leg in his long jaws.
The Chozo roared in pain but could do nothing as the enormous winged beast shook his head in a wide arc and savagely threw Gray Voice down, slamming him on his back that the air from his lungs exited with a whumpf!
That hurt. Gray Voice knew that this pain was actually tangible but it did not console him in the slightest. Ridley was still growling fiercely as he continued to gnaw at Gray Voice's leg, trying to penetrate the ancient armor with his teeth. The Chozo was protected from the assault but the sensation of the dragon chomping down on him was far from a pleasant experience. Meanwhile, Mother sat in the tank, presiding over the duel, relieved that the pressure had shifted from her to another.
"I only gave you what you deserved," Gray Voice grunted as he flicked his wrist, exposing a long knife from a sheath embedded in his forearm. "I still have plenty more to give you, misguided fool."
With a lunge, Gray Voice sunk his blade right next to Ridley's left nostril. The dragon squealed in pain and released his hold on the bronzed warrior's leg. As soon as he was freed, Gray Voice groped for his turret and flicked another button on the staff, causing a sphere of transparent energy to orbit around the head, distorting the air through its wobbly lens.
"I will tear you open for that," Ridley gnashed, his front limbs now quaking with anger as his blood dripped down his snout.
"I doubt it," Gray Voice taunted. "With another primitive display like that, you'll be lucky if you can even land a single blow upon me."
The effect those words had on Ridley was electric. The dragon suddenly spread his wings and shot them backwards, propelling his gigantic body forward, his claws extended. Seconds before he was about to eviscerate Gray Voice, the Chozo gave his weapon a mighty swing and the energy ball impacted hard on Ridley's head, snapping the Pirate leader's head to the side as the sonic energy erupted against him. Large gashes appeared on Ridley's face and splashed blood everywhere. The lizard screamed and Gray Voice now advanced.
"I will not be so easily handled, Ridley!" Gray Voice bellowed as he lifted his staff up again, his cold fury overriding any pain coming from his mental guard. "You've grown lazy after decades of plundering. You've removed every culture you've come across, but I will make sure that the Chozo will be your last!"
Ridley was still stunned from the previous blow so he was unprepared when the next swing from Gray Voice caught him in the gut, which caused something to snap. Blood spewed from Ridley's mouth as he coughed painfully, splattering the ground. Now panicked, the dragon began to back up but not before the Chozo swung the weapon again, this time catching his left wing right at the joint. The resounding snap from the breaking of Ridley's wing caused the Pirate leader to screech horrendously, the limb already sagging against him.
"Your superiority complex will be your downfall," Gray Voice spat with all the venom he could muster. "You're nothing but a beast engaging in your own petty desires. Empires were not built on greed, Ridley. They have been dismantled by it!"
With a final, wrenching yell, Gray Voice slammed the ball of energy down on Ridley's face. Blood splashed up into Ridley's eyes and he yowled, temporarily blinded. Shards of broken teeth lined the floor at Gray Voice's feet and he staggered throughout the remainder of the swing, teetering at the terminus of the arc.
Managing a wretched gasp, Gray Voice dropped the turret as all of his attacks caught up with him. He sunk to his knees at same time as Ridley, both combatants wheezing from their accumulated wounds. Gray Voice began to crawl on all fours, his left hand outstretched for his fallen weapon. He needed to get it back up and kill Ridley with it before he succumbed to his own injuries. His fingertips brushed the edge of the weapon and he made one last effort to push himself forward, preparing to drag it back to him and pull the trigger, thus ending the career of the Pirate leader once and for all.
But before that plan could be put into action, a harsh purple light flared and Gray Voice heard a sizzling noise. The smell of cooking flesh reached his nose and he reared back instinctively. His left arm felt funny and he started to grasp at it when he abruptly noticed that it was missing below the elbow. A ragged circle of burnt flesh smoked from where the limb had been so abruptly sheared off and Gray Voice squeezed the end of the cauterized wound before the excruciating pain began to reverberate through him in waves.
Tinny laughter began to resound around him. It was not coming from Ridley, who was still bleeding all over the floor, but from the other direction entirely. Gray Voice tilted his head as he clutched the stump of his arm, his teeth grinding together so tightly that his tongue almost got bitten off.
"Ahh," Mother crowed as she sheathed the automated turrets lining the base of her control pillar. One of the turrets remained online, the barrel smoking from its singular shot that had maimed Gray Voice so viciously. "Is something wrong, Gray? Did you really think that I would be so helpless as to rely on a simple barrier to protect me?"
From this angle, Gray Voice could only watch in horror as a white mass began to push itself from the wrinkled flesh of Mother's components, his attention unnaturally drawn to the horrid sight. As the object popped free, he could see a white orb rimmed with red veins surrounding a red iris and a slit pupil. The Chozo soon realized that he was looking at an eye.
The very notion that Mother could manipulate her own form had not even registered upon him, yet the potential was glaringly obvious. To see herself as more organic, Mother could continually improve herself to create an image of perfection, crafting and adding more and more so that her possibilities to control the future would be limitless. For once, Gray Voice had nothing to say.
The eye swept back and forth, enjoying the newfound freedom it presented as Mother analyzed Gray Voice and Ridley for a good while. "Beasts, you say?" she spoke quietly. "Why, Gray Voice, that's quite a word for someone like yourself to utter. Very hypocritical of you, if you ask me." The voice of the intelligence now grew darker, more malicious as the pupil contracted to a fine line. "What makes you better than Ridley, Gray Voice? What is stopping you from proclaiming yourself a beast as well? The Chozo's pride has always gotten the better of them, and now you will see the results of your arrogance! For you are not just a beast, but simply a bird that can't fly!"
A foreign roar of thunder now exploded at the opposite end. Gray Voice looked back to see Ridley charging towards him at full speed, the bloodied dragon looking like the very embodiment of hell. The Chozo only sighed as he realized that Mother had only been distracting him while Ridley had been recovering. He cursed himself for falling into the trap completely.
With a whistling of wind, Ridley's tail whipped around and shot straight for Gray Voice. There was a brief moment of serenity, that there was the prospect that everything would be fine, and then the most uncomfortable sensation Gray Voice had ever experienced ripped through him like he was a piece of paper. The serrated tail punched its way clean through the Chozo's chestplate and out the other side, trailing blood and bits of guts everywhere. There was a dim smacking noise as the tail steadily whipped him around, spewing more fluids into the air.
When Ridley retracted his tail, Gray Voice found it interesting that it hurt more going out than going in. His remaining hand automatically traveling to the gaping wound in his chest, Gray Voice quickly realized that this was a far greater pain than his mental guard could ever conceive.
Samus considered herself to be a reasonably unflappable person, but her predicament at the moment was slightly nerve-wracking to the point where she was beginning to question her sanity. She could feel the wind whipping at her back, scything through at a high velocity. She could see the ground below her gradually shrinking away, the features becoming more and more miniscule as she rose in altitude.
To assuage her vertigo, Samus dug her heels more into the hull of the Chozo ship as she stood atop it. The only thing keeping her upright were the magnetic soles of her Power Suit, anchoring her to the ship as it sped higher and higher.
As the ship passed through the layers of clouds, Samus switched her external audio filters off. Now, she could only hear her own breathing as the air began to get colder around her. Condensation started to cling to her visor, which she wiped off. She could see the craft's lone engine billow a trail of smoke throughout the ascent and her ears popped, causing her head to feel bloated.
Off in the distance, several dark specks suddenly shot through the low-hanging clouds, right on course for their ship. Samus lifted her arm cannon, knowing that such an escort was definitely not going to be friendly here. It was inevitable that their departure would be tracked and now the Pirates were going to do their damnedest to make sure that they would not leave Zebes.
A brief sparked emitted from one of the winged aircraft several miles away and the Chozo ship rocked as a detonation blew off of the port side. The craft wobbled and Samus' initial bearing on the bogey was lost as it disappeared behind a towering spire of crystallized water. She cursed and switched her lock to another target but the myriad explosions bouncing the ship along were rendering her targeting system completely worthless. Even with a talented pilot like Kreatz at the helm, there was nothing that could be done to vastly improve the situation. All she had at her disposal was the knowledge that her friends and the elders were aboard the very ship she was standing on and that she was their first and only line of defense. People were counting on her.
Taking her targeting out of auto, Samus slowly moved her arm through the air, gently resting the reticle upon a Pirate bomber that was now maneuvering in to make a strafing run with its cannons. Holding her breath, Samus eased the reticle to the left, predicting the movement of the enemy and quickly unleashed a flurry of beams as the bogey drew ever closer.
The balls of energy shredded the starboard wing of the bomber and it quickly plummeted to the ground, caught in a death spiral. Samus had no time to celebrate her small victory, her face dropping as five new shapes shot from all directions and began to move in formation upon her ship. The cluster of Pirate fighters closed in and spewed hellfire from their muzzles.
One down, Samus thought sourly. Only nine more to go.
The pain had long dulled by now, but that only served to worry Gray Voice more. The fact that he had been feeling so much agony up until this point and having it all disappear was a troubling prospect. He never would have considered that he would have experienced so much pain that his body could be overloaded by it, causing it to drown out every single conceivable sensation upon him.
He tried not to look down at his wounds, knowing that he would keel over in a faint if he did. He could not fall now, there were still things he needed to do. Using the turret as a crutch, Gray Voice staggered outside and disengaged his helmet, letting the warm, dry air of the Zebesian dusk blow over him. He tasted blood in his mouth and he spat, trying to clear out some of the foul liquid.
Gray Voice could hear faint pops resound in the air. Looking up, he panted as tiny explosion puffed high above, surrounding a long ship as it sped quickly through the atmosphere.
Samus, he realized, his mouth dropping in horror. She had escaped, and with the elders too! His heart rose for a moment then fell as he realized the terrible danger they were in. They had no chance against a Pirate attack squadron. Not even Samus could withstand such a force for very long, not with her fate being tied to the well-being of her ship. Something needed to be done.
Drawing forth more energy from his tortured limbs, Gray Voice staggered forward, his head hanging downward as he continued on, one painful step after another. His feet left a bloody trail from the door he had exited out of, but he ignored it, only striving to reach the edge of the balcony.
Like a blind person, the turret hit a rocky formation and Gray Voice stumbled as his momentum was halted. He fell between sections of a sculpture that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but his remaining hand still clung to the turret, laying it across him. Tilting his head backward, the Chozo breathed out in relief when he saw that he was sitting against the memorial he had been seeking. Lying atop of a stone Chozo's feet, the representation of a warrior long passed assumed a sitting posture, its hands held forward and upright, presenting a round orb as a gift to the heavens. Gray Voice managed a smile as he shifted the turret into a more comfortable grip. Here would be as good of a place as any. He hoped his predecessors would approve.
With a smashing noise, the large form of Ridley blundered into view as he shouldered aside the door, heavily favoring his right side, the one with the still intact wing. Like Gray Voice, the dragon was also covered in a multitude of wounds but if anything, he was angrier from having received them.
"You…just…" Ridley panted, "…refuse…to die!" Drool splashed out of his open mouth as he watched the Chozo in fury. "How is it that you're still alive?"
Gray Voice did not even give the dragon the pleasure with an answer. "You seem to have picked out your tombstone, though," Ridley growled as he appraised the statue which towered over the exhausted Chozo. "How convenient of you to go through all that trouble. Now, everyone will know the spot where you fell, and they'll all say, 'Here lies Gray Voice, the idiot who thought he could defeat the invincible Ridley!'"
Ridley moved forward but halted quickly when he saw that Gray Voice had aimed the barrel of the turret straight at him. Ridley was not an idiot; he knew when he had the capability to maneuver and when he did not. The fact that the turret was situated in his direction at point-blank range meant that any attempt to attack on his end would wind up in utter disaster.
Despite the inherent danger, Ridley only grinned as he spied Gray Voice's awkward grip with his singular hand. "You've only got one good shot, Gray Voice," he taunted, a dry smile creeping upon his features. "Do you think you can make it count?"
Gray Voice tightened his hand around the staff end, his armor rippling as the distant explosions high in the sky caused him to glimmer with blossoming flowers of light. His eyes narrowing in the purest expression of distaste, Gray Voice felt a snarl elicit from the back of his throat, producing a noise he had never before uttered in his life.
"Find out for yourself," he said as he unexpectedly lifted the turret up and activated the weapon, causing a column of bright white light to rocket into the air, not even remotely in Ridley's direction, who flinched nonetheless at the emission of energy.
The pulsating beam spiraled as it shot skyward, wrapping itself through the air as it shot forward. Samus, who was still trying to fend off the attacking fighters atop the ship, was beginning to tire until the energy discharge passed only meters from the vessel's hull, causing her display to dim from the sudden flare.
"W-What?" she gasped as the blinding tower suddenly impacted on an approaching Pirate fighter that had moved in for the kill, brutally disintegrating it before it moved on to consume another enemy.
Samus watched in rapt attention as the sudden but rewarding arrival of their benefactor's assault proceeded to tear apart each and every ship sent to destroy her. The continuous beam shifted its aim and sheared off wing after wing until the final two bogeys turned tail and fled, not wanting to risk their lives up against a ground defense that had shown itself to unravel their comrades like the yielding of wheat under a scythe.
Back on the ground, Gray Voice gasped as the recoil of the turret finally wrenched itself out of his hand, clattering well beyond his reach as he splayed out his exhausted body upon the stone statue. After all this time, knowing that his final act had succeeded and that relief was approaching fast, Gray Voice began to laugh, weakly coughing up a faint mist of blood.
Ridley, meanwhile, was gaping at the tatters of a scene that had transpired in front of him. His eyes widened in disbelief, the realization that the elders and the human had eluded his clutches now resonated upon him, causing a deep-seated anger to pool forth, burning his insides as it consumed him.
"Y-You…" the dragon stammered, already beginning to shake off his numb paralysis. "Gray Voice…you fool," he now said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Now, you will find out for yourself if I will make my next shot count! Will you find it funny then?! WILL YOU?!"
With an aggravated inhalation, Ridley reared back on his hind legs and roared into the sky. Gray Voice merely reclined back and waited for the inevitable to occur, awaiting it eagerly rather than dreading it.
Samus…
She stopped all movement as the last vestiges of the atmosphere trickled away at her, introducing the cold darkness of space. The pursuit had broken off minutes ago and it seemed that they had escaped the danger. All had been calm until the voice spoke again.
"G-Gray?" Samus gasped as she concentrated hard, caught between emotions.
You have become so strong, child, the Chozo spoke within her mind. You cannot imagine how proud I am of you.
"W-Where are you?" she whispered. "Tell me, please! I have to come get you!" You cannot ask me to leave you.
And I will not, the voice assured. Samus, it is too late for you to do anything. Now, you must take your place as the inheritor to our will. Only you can carry it out now.
I didn't want this duty, she pleaded. All I wanted was your approval. All this time, I just wanted you to say something…
Thus the failings are on me, Samus. You've had my approval all along. I just wanted you to be strong, to constantly push yourself to be better. You have a long, hard road ahead, but trillions of souls will soon face that same path. It will be up to you, Samus, to carry them, to share your strength. You can save all of them.
I… she faltered. I don't know if I can…
You most certainly can, because no one else will be able to. Save them, Samus. Save them all.
I cannot do this without you, Gray Voice! Samus cried out mentally. Why? Why me? Why did you have to pick me?!
Because this galaxy deserved to give you a chance, Gray Voice intoned sadly. All we've – I've – ever wanted was for you to make your own path. It has always been that way, because ever since I've known you, Samus, I've always-
The Chozo's presence abruptly withdrew from her mind at the same time Samus spotted a tiny golden flare bloom on the surface below. She watched the expanding explosion silently, her eyes wide behind her visor, and her body suddenly relaxed, becoming listless in the zero gravity. Samus suddenly felt tired, faint, and she wobbled on her legs as the singular conclusion repeatedly hammered itself upon her.
"No…" she breathed. "No…please, no…" Gray Voice! Gray! Please talk to me!
But no one answered her back.
Kreatz whooped as he yanked back the yoke, looking past the milky white tendrils of Zebes' remaining atmosphere as the ship shot free. Beside him, Mauk also shared a grin at the knowledge of their successful escape. The elders in the hold all breathed out in relief and calm seemed to settle about.
"Hell yeah!" Kreatz laughed as he began to adjust the ship's orientation. "We are clear! Everyone prepare for entry into hyperspace."
"External hatch has closed," Mauk reported as he scanned the displays in front of him. "That must be Samus. She's aboard."
"Good timing, too," Kreatz said as his fingers twisted the dials, inputting the numeric coordinates so that they flared bright green in front of him. "All we have to do is get out of…oh crap!"
At the last moment, the ship veered sharply to the left, just in time to avoid what had looked like a clump of stars in the middle of their flight path. However, the stars appeared to be moving at the exact same velocity as the Chozo ship and the mountainous outline of the Pirate mothership now became visible as the contrasting light of the moon outlined it for all to see.
"Path's blocked," Mauk said grimly. "They're trying to prevent us from warping to a safe zone."
"How long until we're in range of their guns?" Kreatz shouted.
"Less than thirty seconds!"
"And where the hell is the Federation fleet? They were supposed to be here by now!"
Mauk shook his head, wild-eyed. "How should I know? Clearly, they aren't here at the moment! I don't know what to tell you, but this is the situation!"
Another pull at the yoke and the Chozo shuttle did a complex spin maneuver to try and fool the mothership's sensors, but the gigantic craft still continued its pursuit, making sure that it trapped its prey between itself and the planet.
Kreatz began using so many choice words directed at the ineptitude of the Federation fleet that Mauk had to look over and make sure that none of the Chozo elders were witnessing this display of such a colorful vocabulary. Abruptly, an alert warning began to ring shrilly on the dash, indicating that the mothership had locked on to their heat emissions and would fire the moment they were in range. Defeated, Kreatz reclined in his seat and pushed away the controls in disgust, waiting for their hopefully quick death to start.
"Well done, Federation," Kreatz sighed sarcastically. "You had your shot and you blew it. I hope you're happy that your tardiness screwed us over good and proper. If I ever see you in the afterlife, Chief Hardy, I'm going to walk right up to your face and tell you to kiss my a-"
Orange light erupted out of the corner of the viewport, causing Kreatz and Mauk to jump in their seats. However, nothing was indicating on the panels that the ship had been hit, so Kreatz hit the maneuvering jets to turn it around to get a better view, wanting to address their quickly mounting confusion.
Where the mothership had been blocking their path like a wall, now only several glowing pieces of the gigantic vessel were floating in space, cooling as the freezing temperatures stifled the heat caused by the blast. Molten globules of metal floated in the zero gravity, stiffening as they began to solidify. The shower of debris splayed out in all directions and some pieces even headed towards the planet, upon which they would burn up in the atmosphere.
Beyond the wreckage stormed twenty heavy-class battle cruisers, each one displaying the mark of the Galactic Federation. The tubes from their missile bays flared a warm red and they banked around the scrap yard they had just created with their weaponry in order to obtain access to the nearby planet. Quickly, the fleet surrounded the Chozo ship and they maneuvered into position in a geosynchronous orbit above Zebes.
"I don't believe it," Kreatz gaped, stunned to the point that he could not make any wild exclamations. "They actually came. How about that."
"Unidentified vessel," a smooth voice broke on the comm. "We have you in sight and are ready to lend assistance. This is General Malkovich on board the battleship Crimea. Please respond, over."
Malkovich waited a beat and then added, "And by the way, unidentified vessel, you were on an open channel the entire time. I'll be sure to send Chief Hardy your regards. Out."
Mauk had to stifle a laugh and Kreatz's expression froze in utter panic. "Oh…" was all he could manage to say.
The thin stairway creaked as Platinum Chest slowly made his way down into the cargo hold. His hands grasped the guardrails and his bones ached from the stress placed on him from the descent.
"Samus?" he called, gazing back and forth until he heard a slight shuffling coming from in front of him.
Behind a stack of boxes, Samus was sitting on a bench, her helmet off. The rest of her red and yellow Power Suit was still on, but the removal of her covering allowed her troubled expression to be witnessed by all. She was leaning forward, her hand propping her chin up as she sat deep in thought. It was only when Platinum Chest approached her in her little hidey-hole did she finally look up and straighten her posture.
"Platinum Chest," she said. "Is something the matter? Have we finally escaped?"
"Everything is fine," the Chozo assured. "I've been told by your comrades that we have just received clearance to dock with the nearest Federation battleship. We should be departing this ship within five minutes."
"Good," Samus mused distractedly. "That's good."
Platinum Chest blinked and edged closer to Samus. "I know that…that you have experienced much these past few hours, Samus. Did you want to talk with someone?"
"Hmm?" Samus mumbled as she raised her head. "No...no," she suddenly shook her head. "Thank you, Platinum Chest, but I'm fine. I just need to be alone for a little bit."
"Then I shall respect your wish," Platinum Chest bowed before departing back up the stairs. At the top, he turned and called down to her, "You did a good job, Samus. I know that Gray Voice would have been proud."
"Thanks," she muttered as she watched the silhouette of the Chozo disappear. Once she had finally determined that she was safe and alone again, she reclined against the wall and let out a sigh. She looked at the palm of her armor, expecting to see a tiny glow, to feel a miniscule shock, to just experience something.
Gray, are you there? Gray? Gray?
When the surrounding silence failed to yield the voice she wanted to hear, Samus curled up on the bench, her armor creaking as she shifted her body, and gazed distantly at the wall beyond. Suddenly, for the second time today, she began to sob heavily, the onslaught of emotion startling her with their ferocity. Samus covered her face with her hand as she cried, not wanting anyone to chance upon her despairing.
Her fingers could not stop the tears from falling, nor could any of the armor protect her from such an assault like this. At that moment, Samus had never consciously felt more vulnerable.
A/N: This was probably one of the chapters that I enjoyed writing the most. It certainly has that dark edge that I've been striving for throughout this story and I hope that this elicited the sort of emotions that I would come to expect from such a dramatic chapter. Let me know what you think of this!
For the next chapter, if you have already read the manga, I'm just going to alert you now that about half the content in the next chapter will only be constituted from the manga itself while I will develop the other half of completely original content (sort of). This way, the story will not be entirely predictable but it will also contain a change that will take some liberties with the overall Metroid timeline. Since I'm creating an adaptation rather than trying to adhere to every single bit of Metroid media out there (a practical impossibility) then I think that such a decision is certainly warranted. I'm hoping that all of you will enjoy the change that will be introduced or at least find my logic agreeable. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what I'm talking about the next time.
You know, I've recently been listening to the "Chappie" soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and I'm convinced that this sort of sound palette could be tweaked a little bit and put to use in a Metroid film (if there ever is going to be one...highly unlikely though). Seriously, give it a listen and see if some parts can distinctly remind you of Metroid. In particular, I find that the track "Welcome to the Real World" would be an excellent piece to augment this chapter.
TheBarbarianKing: You know, the weapon in the manga is never explicitly stated as a version of any weapon from the games. I've kind of viewed it as a version of the Plasma Beam but with the force of a Super Missile. Again, very nebulous on the source material's part, but I did like the overall concept.
And apparently, according to the last reviewer who left a very oddly worded reflection on this story, this story is classified (in their eyes) as a hatefic due to my desire to not let anything in this story point directly to Other M's existence. I'm not sure that person knows the definition of a hatefic as this story is dead-set on ignoring the events of that game rather than bashing it in such a way that it mocks that game to oblivion. Sure, the highly flawed author of this story may let his opinion loose here or there but I don't believe that I've deliberately adapted this in such a way that it disparages the just as flawed Other M time and again. But if you do think the narrative is reflecting that (aside from my personal statements - key word: ASIDE), speak up or forever hold your peace.
To quote Bullet-Tooth Tony: "That's a bit strong, innit?"