Chapter 8: Fire and Ice
Samus couldn't believe her eyes. She was being attacked by what looked to be a Galactic Federation soldier. And the fact that she was unable to positively identify him only added to her growing frustration.
The yellow RB176-Ferrocrusher was a heavy-duty vehicle used by the Galactic Federation primarily for industrial situations such as the lifting or moving heavy materials. But as Samus was discovering first-hand, the Ferrocrusher could also turn into a dangerous weapon in the right hands, with its large metal arms, precision laser cutters and giant metal buzz saws used for ripping and tearing.
It also didn't help that a deranged Galactic Federation soldier, hell-bent on killing her, was behind the controls.
"Son of a bitch." Samus cursed under her breath as the metal arms of the vehicle-turned-weapon knocked her to the cold ground. Luckily, the hit had only knocked the wind out of her, but nothing more, her suit's shields having taken most of the impact. Her adrenaline quickly forced her to her feet. The vehicle continued to idle, motionless. It, or the person controlling it rather, almost acted like it was attempting to sense her next action as she trained her Arm Cannon upon it.
Got to watch out for those saws. One hit from those and I'll be sliced in half, Samus thought to herself as her gaze remained fixed on the lumbering vehicle. This fucking thing has to have a weak point…
The engine suddenly roared and lunged the vehicle forward in an attempt to crush Samus against the wall with its twin buzz saws, but thanks to her athleticism, Samus was able to quickly dodge the lumbering yellow transport with ease. The Ferrocrusher instead got itself stuck in the wall thanks to its failed buzz saw attack. With the vehicle stuck and the pilot feverishly trying to escape his present conundrum, Samus quickly scanned the vehicle for a weak point. The vehicle's backside. Thermals indicated that the Ferrocrusher was dangerously close to exploding due to overheating, unbeknownst to the pilot.
Samus quickly readied her missile launcher with a Super Missile, a far more potent variant of her standard missile, and wasted no time in launching her own attack upon the vehicle. Unfortunately, though she did manage to cause damage, the sheer force of the impact also dislodged the Ferrocrusher from the wall; the top half of the vehicle spun around and engaged Samus with its laser-cutting beam and cut a swath of white hot destruction in her wake. The ground around her exploded before the vehicle charged at her once more. Fearless, Samus ran headlong towards the charging mechanical beast and pounced on top of the cockpit with a full charge of her Arm Cannon. The pilot attempted to dislodge her by carelessly ramming into the walls and various steel containers, but Samus remained on the vehicle, only to let loose with her Arm Cannon, narrowly missing the pilot. She did however manage to fry the control system and cause the vehicle to malfunction. Reverse, forward, its metal arms jutting outward and forward, thrashing, knocked Samus off the vehicle and against the steel husk of a nearby container.
THWHACK. Her head was the first to make contact with the container. Her body soon followed. As her vision grew dark and tunneled, Samus's last thought was of her attacker. Who was he? Why was he wearing a Federation Army Power Suit? Why was he attacking her?
Her vision soon faded into darkness.
Sometime later, Samus awoke, her head throbbing and feeling as if it were water-logged. Feels like a concussion, she told herself, grimacing as the lights above pained her. But she could not rest, could not quit. Not now. Not ever. Samus slowly got to her feet, her Varia Suit looking no worse for wear. The battle was over. As Samus stood amongst a mess of wreckage and storage crates, she realized with a bit of irritation that the pilot had caused the Ferrocrusher to malfunction on purpose so as to make his escape; the vehicle had started to malfunction just seconds before she activated her Arm Cannon.
Samus cursed under her breath. Both the stranger and the survivor were nowhere to be found.
"Samus, do you read me?"
Adam. His voice felt almost comforting within the eerie silence.
"I read you." Samus said simply.
He sounded almost relieved. "Good. I couldn't reach you for thirty minutes. What's your status?"
Samus felt her heart warm despite the sub-zero chill in the air. Her voice, however, remained aloof. "I lost the survivor. Whereabouts are unknown. And… there's something else."
Silence on the other line.
"We were attacked by a RB-176 Ferrocrusher being piloted by someone wearing a Galactic Federation Power Suit." Samus explained. Her voice suddenly took on an accusatory tone. "Is there something you're not telling me, Malkovich? Because if there is, you'd better fucking tell me right now!"
Adam sounded generally confused. "What are you insinuating, Lady?"
His flabbergasted response only served to frustrate and anger her more. "Don't play dumb with me, Malkovich! You know exactly what I'm suggesting!" She wished she could see him face to face so she could stare right into those cold steel gray eyes.
Adam attempted to calm Aran's misguided fury. "Samus, just relax. You're angry, and when you get angry, you make assumptions. Listen to me when I say I do not know what you're talking about. Your anger won't allow you to see the truth."
Samus took a deep breath, her paranoia beginning to subside. He always did have a way of soothing her in times of anger or frustration. Guilt, however, quickly replaced it; guilt over thinking that her close friend and confidant would keep such a thing a secret from her, regardless of her status as a hired gun. She sighed. "...I'm sorry Adam."
"Don't worry about it. Listen...I know now probably isn't the best time but, can I ask what's troubling you?"
Samus smiled wryly. If only he knew. "Something strange is going on here, Adam. I realize it now - that battle with the Ferrocrusher merely confirmed my nagging suspicions that there may be a traitor amongst your men. I know it sounds crazy, but I have real reason to believe you and the others might be in serious danger."
With everything that had happened up to this point, Adam couldn't deny that suspicion had been gnawing at the back of his mind ever since Samus confirmed that Maurice had been killed. No. He took that thought back. It had started after he witnessed via security camera the Exam Center within the Biosphere suddenly explode mere moments after his men vacated the premises.
And Maurice? Due to the snowstorm within the Experiment Floor, his visibility had been practically nonexistent when Favreau's comm suddenly went offline.
Adam also found it odd that he also hadn't heard from Anthony in a long while. Or James.
Samus's voice soon knocked him out of his reverie for a change. "Adam, are you all right?"
Adam rested his elbows on the terminal, his hand coming to touch the ear piece on the side of his face. "Yes. Listen carefully. There's no telling where the survivor could have gone - but keep your eyes peeled. The biggest threat to you right now is that purple creature you encountered earlier - the wavelength of its howls are driving other bio-forms within the Pyrosphere into a frenzy. You've got to destroy it before it causes even more trouble in an already dangerous situation. Exercise extreme caution - there's no telling what will happen. Understood?"
"Understood." Samus replied.
Adam's voice filled with a tenderness Samus hadn't heard since that day in his office all those years ago. "And Lady... Stay safe."
On the way to the Pyrosphere, the mindless, computer-generated voice of a woman soon spoke overhead: "This elevator is bound for Sector 3. A Level 4 warning is now in effect in Sector 3. An irregularity has been confirmed in the Geothermal Power Plant and the experimental simulated desert area. All staff members are advised to evacuate immediately."
A Level 4 warning was the second-highest warning able to be issued within a given station. The only one higher was Level 5. Level 5 warnings were usually issued during severe emergencies such as eminent collisions or in the rare case, a station set to self-destruct. Samus came to a shocking realization: With the creatures here having been crafted into killers and running amok, the Bottle Ship was quickly becoming a nightmare replica of the Planet Zebes. And though Adam and his team had came here in hopes of stopping it, they had thus far been unsuccessful. And now, with the knowledge of the Federation's twisted project in their hands, the Federation higher-ups would do anything it took to make sure nobody would make it out of the station alive. So they implemented an assassin within Adam's team to snuff out anyone who found out about the bio-weapon project.
Anthony, James… Adam. Could any one of them really be a traitor?
As the elevator came to a stop, Samus had a sudden revelation. Lyle had most likely been killed shortly before the rest of the team arrived. But James was the first one to arrive at the Exam Center. I remember him crawling out from underneath that computer terminal and acting suspicious. Then Maurice was found dead. And he was the one who found the bio-weapon project directive - and Anthony seen it as well. Which means…
"Oh god, Anthony!" she said aloud with a gasp.
Samus suddenly grew fearful for the safety of her good friend Anthony Higgs as she dashed out of the elevator and deep into the Pyrosphere. Anthony was the only one left besides Adam for the Deleter to take down. Her only hope was that she reached him before the Deleter did. There was no doubt in her mind that neither Anthony nor Adam could possibly be a traitor. But the other one, James...she wasn't so sure about. She had grown quite skilled in reading people, their mannerisms, to know when something wasn't right. And James... had been acting rather strangely last time she saw him. As she recalled, he wasn't the Engineer, Maurice was. So just why was he caught underneath that computer terminal? On top of all that, Samus worried that the woman she'd found earlier was also now in danger of termination. Was she the one who sent the distress signal and the one responsible for the bio-weapon project, Madeline Bergman? Either way, Samus knew she had to find her and Anthony before it was too late.
Samus's fear for Anthony Higgs was well-founded, though not in the way she'd thought, thankfully. He was being attacked by the same Rhedogian that attacked her earlier within the Cryosphere at one point. Blue in color, the Rhedogian was a powerful creature with two long retractable arms, a singular eye and extreme maneuverability. Its attacks included the use of its arms, the ability to fire a spray of homing missiles, and emit a powerful - but slow to charge - laser from it's singular red eye. During Samus' last encounter with the Rhedogian on the Materials Transfer Lift inside the Crysophere, the Rhedogian narrowly escaped with its life after Samus failed to kill it before it managed to escape. And now, seeing her best friend being attacked by the same creature she failed to kill, it was hard for her not to be angry at herself.
"Anthony! Hold on!" she screamed as she witnessed the Rhedogian grab Anthony with ease as if he were a child's rag doll. To make matters worse, he was being held above a small magma pool. The creature was taunting her at this point. Samus quickly grappled up to the towering platform and laid her entire weight behind her metal-clad fist and punched the creature in the face; the shock of the impact forced the Rhedogian to stumble briefly on its feet and weaken its grip on Anthony, who immediately began to shoot at his captor with an a Freeze Gun.
The shots bounced off of the Rhedogian's tough carapace with ease. And just like her last encounter with the Rhedogian, Samus was finding it hard to damage the creature as well. It was incredibly agile, using its strong, retractable arms to swiftly dodge the bounty hunter's incoming attacks and swipe at her feet. It was also a creature of surprisingly high intelligence; it had learned from prior experience not to reveal its weakness - its singular red eye - in order to keep itself closed off from Samus' powerful missile attacks. But there was one attack the creature hadn't anticipated, the might of the piercing Plasma Beam. And the charged variant was even worse. Though Samus expected to hear Adam scolding her over the unauthorized use of her Plasma Beam - again - she was pleasantly surprised when nothing of the sort came from him, leading her to believe he'd merely left her tackle the beast in her own way. After it sustained a few charged Plasma Beam shots and missile blasts, the weakened Rhedogian attempted to ram Samus into the lava below one last time before promptly retreating into the lava pit.
Anthony and Samus caught their breath. Higgs raised the visor on his helmet. Even after almost getting killed, he still wore a smile on his face, even if it did look a tad nervous. "Whew. That was intense. I owe you one, Princess."
Samus reverted her Arm Cannon back to the Power Beam. "Are you all right?"
Anthony raised a hand. "Never better, Princess. Say, listen. Have you seen the others?"
For a moment, Samus was hesitant to tell Anthony what had become of Maurice. She knew how compassionate Anthony was. He saw each one of them - Maurice, Lyle, James and Adam - as a brother. One such brother had been lost already and Samus wasn't sure how he would react to the loss of another. She decided to break the news to him gently. "Anthony... Maurice is dead. I... found him inside of Sector Two, frozen to death. He had been shot in the chest at point blank range. I'm so sorry..." She squeezed his armored arm gently.
"...Maurice, too? W-what do you mean he'd been shot? Are you telling me there might be someone else here with us?"
"It's very possible. Especially when you consider that I was just attacked by someone wearing a Galactic Federation Power Suit. I suspect there's a traitor in your unit, Anthony."
Anthony shook his head. His eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought. His fingers stroked at the squared chin of his helmet. "Man, this is crazy. What the hell is going on, right under our noses no less? Have you told the Commander about this?"
His sense of shock and controlled anger were understandable. The fact that someone within their own unit could be going around picking off soldiers one by one was both unbelievable and infuriating.
"Yes. In the meantime, however, he directed me here after increased predator aggression due to the wavelength of the screams of the creature we encountered earlier within the Biosphere. It won't get away this time. Where are you heading?"
Anthony grinned, sensing his friend's killer instinct. With Samus now actively hunting the Mystery Creature, Higgs knew it was only a matter time before the bastard met his maker. "Ice cold, Princess. Ice cold. I'd hate to be on your Shit List. Anyway, the Commander gave us a new directive to move as a unit - what's left of us anyway - to the Geothermal Power Plant to open the magma eruption port. Our rendezvous point was the Navigation Booth near here, but when no one showed up, I figured I'd take a look around. That's when I got attacked by that monster. Now I know why he suggested we move as a unit, what with the traitor and that Mystery Creature running around."
It made perfect sense. Adam knew the remnants of the 7th squad were in serious danger alone, so he directed they move as a unit from now on. The situation on the Bottle Ship had slowly been moving from bad to worse ever since they arrived on the station. At this point in time, things couldn't possibly get much worse. It was three people versus an entire army of vicious creatures. And to come from this mission unscathed would be nothing short of a miracle.
Anthony shifted his weight from one leg to the other and drew his arms close to his chest. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was unsure how his friend would react to such a delicate subject. "...So, Samus...how you feeling about Commander Malkovich?"
Samus immediately drew her emotions in tight. "I'd rather not discuss it right now. And you shouldn't either."
Just by the tone of her voice, Anthony knew he had unintentionally hit a nerve. To smooth things over, he put his hand against one of the round shoulder plates of her Varia Suit, hoping such an act would be enough. "Hey, I deserve that. I'm sorry. Look, just forget it. Forget I said anything. Still friends, Princess?"
Samus relaxed a bit, weakened by Anthony's pearly-white grin. She playfully punched him in the arm then grinned.
Higgs chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, enough chit-chat - I'll go on ahead. I'll see you at the Power Plant."
Samus simply nodded. But as she watched him leave, her thoughts quickly returned to the unintentionally sensitive question he'd asked. How she felt about Commander Malkovich. Unbearable, forbidden thoughts welled up inside her. Thoughts she would much rather kill and bury deep within her subconscious. Though not a day had gone by where she hadn't wondered about him in the years since seeing him last, the trials and tribulations of life or death missions had usually kept her from dwelling on more "trivial" matters such as possible romantic feelings towards her former CO. Ever since reuniting with Adam, however, the feelings she had fought so hard to repress had slowly started to seep to the surface of her heart. Samus shook her head - these matters of the heart could be explored in greater detail after her mission was complete. Until then, as her eyes frosted over with an icy glare, Samus headed deeper into the Pyrosphere.