I watched as the other three collapsed on to the seats of my Hunter. Everyone was exhausted. I was surprised that they trusted me. I mean I know I saved the two robots lives but that John trusted me enough to set foot on her let alone get in was a miracle.
Even though his entire ship was crushed I still believed that he would just stand outside, even if only to keep watch. Speaking of his ship being destroyed, I had a twist of a sixth sense that it was our golden pain in the butt enemy. The Practions were here. And they knew Chief was here too, which entitled that if we didn't move soon to a better hiding place I would be found out as well. And then I would have to exert even more energy to try and get rid of the vermin.
I planned fully to wipe them off this planet. After finding out what they did to Chiefs' Cortana, and what they did to me, I had every reason under the sun to just wipe them all out and glass the damn planet. I was so tempted too. I could easily high jack a ship with that kind of potential and just doom the whole place. But some part of me wanted to face every single one. To kill them all one by one, watching as every last breath was lost to them. And I knew chief felt the same. Then there was the damaged cargo. Those Cyborg wouldn't last mere seconds. I needed to focus on protecting my new passengers.
"We need to move. Now. If they find us there would be nothing stopping me from just glassing the whole planet so best to get some distance for now," I looked over the others.
"I agree. We should leave now. We need to protect these two," Chief said gesturing with my chin to the two bots that were collapsed on the seating.
"The nearest safe zone was demolished though. Where would we go?" asked the silver Cyborg. So he was awake. I kept telling myself that it was good that I saved his companion. That injury on his leg would have been even worse on him due to my quick healing. I was surprised no one noticed me draining the life out of those Practions… but it was better that way.
No one needed to know what I was. I mean the chozo blood already coursing through my veins. Let alone the latest addition of Metroid DNA. Chief would crap a brick if he knew I could also partially float. Then there is the ablitity to call other Metroid and even converse with them.
That one would blow anybody's socks off.
"The only safe place there is left," said his golden partner. Well crap. He was awake too. If he even- he did. He looked at me with that look. the one that makes your insides curl, shrink, and cringe. Why does he have to look at me that way? Uggghhhh. Return glare…. Yup. He cringed too. My mind was so willing to attack his right back. No he was not the innocent hurt thing he so prized being. His people went extinct for a reason.
"The natives," I replied.
.o~.o.~.o.~.o.~
I had been tempted to tell her to stay. I mean come on. Glass the planet and kill the whole Entrament that had harmed Cortana. But I wanted to also watch and be a part of how each and every one of them died. I mean they all deserved it. God knowing what they had done to Samus…
"I agree. We should leave now. We need to protect these two," I said making a gesture to the two bots downed on the seats.
"The nearest safe zone was demolished though. Where would we go?" asked the silver Cyborg. Silly that he had to ask. But from the condition he was in made his excuse for him. I would be fine but any normal creature would be either dead or on the verge. So what made them so durable?
"The only safe place that there is left," said the gold one. So they were both awake… This could bode well… or horribly… Best I keep back and just stay on watch. You could practically taste the sarcasm vibrating around Samus. She would either laugh or growl. And both would scare the snot out of the other two. Everyone was bothered by her laugh at first, as was why she sounded almost masculine. Her lungs were damaged during the loss of her people. Her laugh caused a gurgling and almost demonic sound to emanate into the air. It had even sent chills down our teachers' spine. I glimpsed back into my memories for a moment.
I was witnessing her finally getting close to beating me when she had her foot on my chest and she leaned back her head to cackle up towards the sky. I had found myself frozen in fear in that second, and so had the teacher. The only reason she hadn't won was because of the collective gasp of the whole arena. It had been that gasp that caused her own fear. Her laugh had scared even herself. She was forced back to those days in her mind. She had thrown herself back off of me and onto the ground. I haven't seen fear like that in all my years. She was terrified of her past. And it seemed that the past was the only thing that COULD scare her. She had run off the arena and I had been crowned winner. But I had won nothing. Only my own fear of knowing what had happened in those weeks after her people had died. I couldn't imagine the things that could scare a woman like her. They would surely terrify anyone.
I often found her skipping practices and I never saw her in the gym. Three weeks later she was gone. All the teachers claimed it was because of ineligibility to fight. But we all knew the truth. She had left. We all knew that her nights were plagued with nightmares beyond our own worst. I had happened upon her scene more than once, curled up in the corner of her room screaming and rocking back and forth. After all I was the only person brave enough to console her fears. I would have to walk her out of her fears while trying to avoid picking up any of her mumblings. I had seen the people who had listened walk out of the room. They were pale as our sheets and wouldn't sleep for days.
I needed to focus.
The world was beginning to swirl around me. Wait… nope. We were taking off. Obviously she had said what she was going to say. And since we were taking off in such a small craft I needed to sit down or I would fall. The thrusters hit half strength and I vary nearly did fall. Thank God I was already mostly sat down. Samus was at the wheel. She looked almost comical. Pressing buttons and seemingly checking for something. It was then that I noticed the light blue figure standing next to her. Her obvious relaxation showed that it was no threat, so I kept myself still. But if she showed any signs of stress I wouldn't hesitate. Then it turned and made eye contact.
It was Adam.
Well a hologram of him at least. I then remembered being at the dock and having seen him. It seemed so long ago now. How long had we been trapped? How long had I even been on this planet when the explosion happened? I looked down to the watch on the side of my screen. It had been 2 hours. I frowned. It had taken us two hours to escape the collapsed building, yet somehow only my ship was targeted. Now why was that? I was suddenly very curious about what had happened between her leaving the forces and today. What had she done? Where had she gone? How much of her had changed?
Was she still the same Samus?
Some part of me feared her changing so drastically that she could no longer ride on that same cool calm and collected wave length that we had seemed to share. But them somehow, deep inside, I felt like even this new Sammy was still just a little girl scared of the dark. She still hid in the corner when she had nightmares, and even cries. She still laughs and cries. She is human. I must not forget that.
And hopefully neither does she.
I know I have forgotten mine.
I shook my head and sat my gun back on its grip on my back. I seriously needed to quit worrying so much about her. She can hold her own. Not like There was ever anything special. Just two kids who survived their own personal hells and managed to find each other. Totally normal. I sighed. I really am ridiculous. I looked over to the two other Cyborgs. The silver one was unconscious. But the gold one was awake. Or at least… I think. His screen showed a lot of code stuff and it was flying through his screen faster than I could follow. Every once in a while a page off the world wide web would flash before disappearing. I never got more than a glimpse. But even in that small glimpse I knew he was researching the situation. Me, Samus, and the other Borg. He was obviously trying to line up the dots. Same as me. Well thank the Original 13 that he wasn't finding weaknesses. Of course technically Samus wasn't even legal in somewhere between 5-8 galaxies. And most of those galaxies had death warrants on her head. So if he stumbled onto that…. Well let's just say this was going to be an interesting flight.
.o~.o.~.o.~.o.~
I left the black screen up while researching. I could tell that my gold friend was failing at that. But hey, I did have my covert training to lean on. I almost laughed. How did I manage to get myself so wound up in such a mess? Saved by two big warriors and discovering the only other of my kind? This was some seriously messed up stuff. I felt like something about these two was deep. Like messed up childhoods deep. Maybe sibling crap. I dunno. Just something about these two set off the old "History" sensor. I thought for a moment. But how?
How could these two completely opposite creatures act and react so similarly? How could it seem like they take one look and understand everything going on in both their minds? I don't know that answer either. And I don't like not knowing. I wasn't about to ask either. That is none of my business.
I was still frightened though. That Samus woman took one look at me during the fight and seemed to know my every move. I mean for Gods sake I know some of the rarest fighting styles, yet, I witnessed her copy some of those moves almost perfectly while having only seen them once. Not going to lie, it was pretty freaky.
That might also explain the wonderful criminal record she has managed to garnish… I knew from the beginning that she was powerful… but wiping out whole species of creatures like the Metroid and Space Pirates? I really didn't expect her to be that powerful.
And look at her partner in this crime. Cleanest record known to man kind. For God's sake there is a link to his ACHIEVEMENTS. Squeaky, I mean I could throw dirt on it and the dirt would turn around and bite me for trying. Its creepy beyond reason. So why on this earth would these two completely opposite entities even end up together? Survival?
Ha, I make myself laugh. These two are beyond O.P. warriors. If they needed to Survive they would try and stand on a Sun. And then there is the saving of two completely illegal cyborgs. I mean I can see the Samus man-woman. She is female. I can see her doing it but her male companion? Honestly this is like a W.T.F. moment from hell.
I zapped my circuits just to make sure I wasn't dead or something. A shearing pain zipped from my leg. Nope. Still alive. This is ridiculous. I need to calm down. The world is burning and I am safe above it all, yet still planning to save it. I sat up taller.
"So, what are these natives?" I asked.
"The Stria, they own most the land on this planet and others are simply here because they say it's okay. They are mostly peaceful but are strong enough to put up quite the control on this planet. They run the government and economy, and no one fights them on it," replied my gold counterpart. Did he just speak?
"But you are missing one crucial detail, they literally run this planet. They have control over the core of it. So if we were to try and take over they could just stop the planet. Calling them a powerful race would be an understatement," cautioned Samus.
"So it really is their planet, and these Practions just show up and try and run things? Why isn't the planet dead yet?" I questioned slowly. Was it already dying and we just couldn't see it?
"Just because you have to power to destroy something doesn't mean you always use that power. They know that the Practions are here for a reason and its probably that asteroid. And the Stria are such a curious race that they just have to know why that asteroid is so important," Chief said, somehow the way he said that I knew that same curiosity might get them into trouble every once in a while.
"But if the Practions are after that asteroid shouldn't we be heading away from it?" asked Guy-Man. I looked up. Just through the front window was this gigantic hole of a crater with a blue Asteroid right at the center. Millions of little Praction shuttles and ships were floating around it, and we were heading right for it.
"Samus, Samus what are you doing?" Asked Guy-Man.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see something, and it seems I was right," she said as she diverted back onto our original path.
"What did you want to see," I asked slowly. My eyes diverted back to Chief to see if he could explain. And his hand was on his gun. I wished I could see his face.
"Samus was that what I think it was?" asked chief. I faced her. But her full suit was on. How had it just showed up so fast?
"Yes, and it doesn't look like we will be leaving this planet for a while," she replied.
"What was what?" I asked. I questioned if I should have even asked but nothing in my data said I shouldn't. I was part of this therefor I should know what was happening.
"I know you and your little gold friend have already researched me and chief so I know you know exactly the two races I have cleaned floor with. Those funny little monsters you read up on? The green ones? Do you remember their names?" she asked.
Did I? I hadn't cared to retain it. But I could find it. I sent a free-wave through my entire cortex. These waves hit every particle. All those little 0's and 1's I was filled up with were registered.
"Metroid, they were called Metroids. Why do these creatures matter if they are gone?" I was getting confused.
"What were those other monsters on chiefs report? Little and pail?" she replied once again with a question. I was beginning to feel like I was being walked in a circle.
"The Flood, yes, I remember them," I slowly responded. Where was she going with this?
"And you obviously know what Cross Genome Fusion is," and with those three words it all clicked. No, no, this was not possible. Cross Genome Fusion was outlawed. No one would use it. After what happened to the Cyborgs… after those brutal years no one in their right or wrong mind would let something that horrible happen ever again.
"No, no one would do that. Not with species as strong as the Metroid and the Flood. Not after what happened all those years ago to…" I stopped. Could I say it? Could I actually recount those words allowed?
"Well if those Metroids and Flood kept in giant clear tubes with blue light over them was anything else, I will officially retire from this business of Bounty work," she replied.
.o~.o.~.o.~.o.~
I heard it. I heard them cry, all those Metroids all screaming at me. Why was I hearing them in my head? I had never heard something like this ever before. No sound should ever hurt so. I couldn't even move. I just sat there with a blue screen and tried to shut it all off. Samus was watching me and she was green, green like the little devils hurting me with their screams. She touched me and did the same thing they do. She gave me life and took my pain but left behind the contact. She still had threads in my head, and I was not okay with that.
I tried to move and hide my hearing sensors or close off my senses in general, but nothing works. And then I was really looking at her. Samus was looking back too. And the screaming stopped.
"Metroids…" fuzz… all I could hear was fuzz… "The flood…" what? What was this flood?... "cross geno"… why is everything spinning? Why am I ill?
Why?