Chapter 3 Are We Being Watched?
I stood frozen, the thought bothered me greatly. I wasn't one who liked being watched, so to think that someone was watching the transmission of everything I did.
"You didn't think that before?" Asked Samus. "As soon as I read the note I thought of that." I stared at her.
"And you never thought to tell me!"
"I figured it was obvious," She stated plainly. "Now come on." She walked through the door. I followed her. Once we entered the room, the door closed behind us. I saw that there was a platform in front of us. On the other side of it was another of a door.
I looked up, seeing that the platform led up, much farther through many other platforms.
"Which way should we go?"
"I think we should rest a bit. The room marked in front of us is listed as a safe zone on my map."
"Seems like a good idea."
We walked to the door, opening it. When we entered the door closed behind us. I looked around. It seemed almost completely electronic. You could see wires running down the wall, a computer in the middle of the room.
Though none of that caught my eye. What did, was on the other side of the room. There was what appeared to be a bow and arrows. The arrows though, they looked strange. There was something black around it. I walked to them, intrigued by what that might have been.
I was a sucker for medieval weapons after all. As I got closer, I noticed a note close to them. I picked it up, reading it.
I hope that you have survived long enough to see this. Of course we expect you to, if you didn't everything would have been a waste of time. These are a gift from us to you, don't waste it. The arrow's are very special.
We have designed them ourselves, just like everything we've given you. The arrows are packed with explosives. As soon as it hits something, they'll explode. There are twenty arrows here, so make them count. There are more of them around, but we didn't have the time to prepare them.
We were also working on a program for you. Once it's complete your suit can transform organic matter into the required arrows.
You may have not noticed it, but the bow is special as well. The bow string has gone through hardening processes, making it much harder to snap. The bow itself isn't special though. As long as you have the string the bow can be easily replaced.
Everything is being finished, and will be placed into a suitable area for you to find.
Don't die.
I looked up from the note, looking to the quiver of arrows. I grabbed them, and put them over my shoulder.
The bow, I grabbed tightly. I placed it over my other shoulder. I needed to keep it within close reach. I then turned, to see Samus, sitting in the middle of a room, looking to me. I passed her the note. She looked through it.
"Are they still here?" She asked simply.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"If they're going to be placing stuff around for you, that would mean that they would have to be here to do that."
"Great," I said, sarcasm clearly addible in my voice.
"Tell me about it."
We stayed there for a few minutes, catching our energy. We didn't say much to each other, wasn't much to say. We didn't know each other, or in her case, didn't really seem to trust me. Though I didn't mind, there wasn't really reason to trust me in the first place. I was probably lucky that she was even letting me join her.
After a few minutes, we decided to leave again. We walked out of the room. I looked up.
"Only one way to go," I said plainly.
"I know," Samus said. We both jumped, climbing up the first three platforms. Once we got up, there were a couple of turtle creatures. Samus shot them a few times. Soon they both died, and we continued on up.
After three more platforms, we found a strange floating turtle thing. I slashed at it a few times and Samus shot it, but it was to no effect.
"Maybe we should just avoid it," I said.
Samus nodded. "It doesn't seem any of our weapons have any effect on it. After a lot of climbing, and a few turtles later, we found ourselves outside of a door.
"The statue told me to take this way," She said plainly. She shot the door open, and we both walked in. I looked to the ceiling, seeing one of those strange creatures there. I stepped forward, waiting for it to fall.
It came down, and I quickly chopped it in half.
"This way," Samus said. We walked until we hit a wall.
"Are you sure this is the way that thing told you to go?" I asked plainly, doubt soaked my voice.
"Yes." She crouched down. "The dirt here looks soft, as if it just fell."
"So?"
She didn't respond, instead, she pointed her cannon at it. She blasted away the dirt, making a tunnel.
"see there is a path," She stated, before turning into a ball and rolling through it. I sighed, as I crouched down and followed her through the tunnel. I barely fit through the hole. Once I got to the other side, I saw two of the weird things on the ceiling.
Samus shot them both twice, destroying them. In front of us was another door. We both went through the door in front of us, finding another one of those strange statues, except that this one was holding something.
Samus shot the thing it was holding, which turned it into a strange mini statue. Samus jumped into it, and it was absorbed into her suit. She turned into a ball again, and the statue grabbed her again. It turned gold, as did the last one.
"Did it give you anymore directions?" I asked her.
"No, just long beam," She told me, as we walked back through the door.
"Long beam?"
"Just watch." She shot the things that were in the ceiling. It didn't dissipate, like the original ones did. Instead, they hit the creatures, blowing them both up.
"Nice," I said plainly.
We walked back to where the hole had been, to see that it dirt had recovered it. She shot at the dirt, yet here blasts wouldn't go through.
"Looks like we can't go through here again," Samus stated. I looked up.
"There seems to be another path above us. I jumped up, and touched the dirty. "There seems to be soft dirt up here. Samus jumped up as well. She aimed her cannon at it, as I moved from it. She shot it a few times, until a tunnel was clear.
We both went through it, as I went through though, something happened. The ground started shaking, much to my confusion. I suddenly fell through, deep into a hole that I couldn't get out of.
"The hell?!" I screamed out, as I fell. I smashed my ass hard against the ground. Probably would have broken it if it wasn't for the suit.
"You okay?" Samus questioned.
"Yea, though it doesn't look like I can climb out," I told her. I looked around, spotting a door. "There seems to be a door here. I'll meet up with you later."
"Fine, just don't go dying," Samus told me. I heard her move away, continuing on. I moved to the door, punching it roughly. The door opened with ease. I walked in, rather surprised. This area looked like it was covered In some kind of white wall.
It looked, modern, nothing like the rest of the cave. There was some kind of chair in the middle, facing away from the door. I walked up to it, and turned it around. As I did, a saw a skeleton sitting in it. I jumped back, surprised by it.
I looked it over. It looked to be pretty old, but I wasn't sure. I looked over, seeing a screen in the wall. It was cracked, but still looked like it would work. As if, on cue, it flickered, and something flashed on.
It was a shadow of a man. He was standing there. I could faintly see his teeth gleam, for some reason.
"This is a very pleasant surprise," The man (The voice was very deep) said.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"All in due time, J-X12."
"J-X12?" I questioned.
"Yes, don't you know?" He seemed surprised.
"Know what?"
He laughed. "You really don't know!"
"What the hell should I know."
"Nothing, James." He fixed the way that he said it, using my name this time. "How is your body feeling?"
"What do you mean how is it feeling? It feels like it always does."
"That's good, what about your memory."
"Why the hell should I tell you?"
"You want answers right?" I nodded. "Then answer the questions."
"I remember playing a game called Metroid. I beat it. Next thing I know, I'm here, waking up in a some kind of freezer."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing."
"That's good."
"Why the hell is that good?"
"You'll find that answer out in due time." He went silent for a second. I saw what appeared to be his arm, raise up, to his chin. "Now what is it I should tell you?"
"How long was I down there frozen?" I questioned.
"Not long, wh-"
"Bullshit! If it wasn't long then why the hell wasn't there a hole in the roof?" He smiled.
"You're right, you've been there frozen for far longer then what I was going to lead you onto believe. The power finally failed. So everything finally starts." He lifted up his hand. Before I could say anything, he pressed down on something. The screen clicked, and faded.
"Come the hell back here!" I yelled at him. The screen remained black. "You fucker come the hell back! I'll kill you!" I pulled out an arrow, mainly out of anger. I placed it in the bow. I pulled back, sending the arrow flying at the screen.
It exploded, revealing a hole behind it. I stood there, surprised for a second. Then I remembered what game I was in. I moved towards it. I did my best to crawl in. Once I did, I found myself in the cave again.
There didn't seem to be any monsters in here.
"Hello?" I heard Samus's voice question. I jumped, startled. I looked around, not seeing her anywhere nearby.
"Where are you?" I questioned.
"In some cave. Finally found your channel," Samus explained.
"Okay. You scared the hell out of me."
"All I did was say hello."
"When I thought that I was alone. Wouldn't that have surprised you as well?"
"Not really, though I've been trained."
"And I haven't. All I have are good reflexes."
The other line went silent. I sighed, as I walked to another door. I didn't pay much attention, as I entered another part of the cave. I took another step, then found myself falling.
"Shit!" I screamed out, as I landed on the ground far below, with a crash. I groaned, as I sat up.
"Got a new location to go to, try and meet me there," Samus said. I heard my transmitter buzz. I placed my hand against it, sending the map up. I studied where it was, before letting the map drop.
I looked around, finding out that I was in front of the area we were resting in. I decided that it would be a good idea to try going up again. As I did, I found a new path, one that wasn't there before. I crawled through the small hole.
On the other side of it there was a door. I slashed at it. It opened, just like all the others. I walked through, seeing a platform in front of me, as well as a red door. One of the weird turtle things was moving across the platform.
Not wanting to take any risks, I aimed an arrow at it. I let the arrow fly, smashing straight into it, exploding on contact. I then, wasted no time jumping onto the platform. I walked over to the red door. I slashed at it, but it didn't open.
I stared at it, unsure if I had missed it or something. I slashed at it again, and it didn't open.
"Can't get through here I guess," I mumbled. I walked down the path I saw below me, easily evading all of the turtles. I found myself staring into a hole again. "How many times am I going to have to crawl?" I knew my question wasn't going to be answered.
I crawled through the hole, finding myself looking at a blue door. I was about to open it, when it opened before me. I almost slashed out of reflexes, which would have been bad. Samus stared at me for a second.
"I see you're still alive," Samus said to me. I nodded to her. "There's nothing back here, just a place to rest." With that, she walked past me. She continued down the hole.
I sighed. "Down we go I guess," I mumbled as I followed her.