Searching For My Brother
A Metroid OC Story
by Derald Snyder
A/N: While this story focuses on an original character, it's going to be structured similarly to how a Metroid game progresses. And some canon characters will be making cameos as well... Anyway, enjoy!
The Cosmos...
In the vast universe, the history of humanity is but a flash of light from a lone star.
The life of a single human being should be lost in space and time...
But there is one human, seemingly insignificant, who's life will take a turn that will etch him as a significant footnote in said history...
And today, the first chapter of that history will be written.
~Prologue: Where Have You Gone, Brother?~
In a double wide-garage next to a modest home on Planet Earth, a man had placed his Grapple Beam on a table in front of another young man with short brown hair, fair skin, and decent fitness, a pair of glasses worn over his green eyes. This was Daniel, who worked an amateur tech repair shop out of said garage.
"...I think I see what the problem is," Daniel said as he pored over the Grapple Beam. "Your power source is damaged; while the beam still works, it can't support a human's weight. You could use it to pry metal objects out of people's hands, but that's it."
"So, can you fix it?" his client inquired. "I was hoping to take part in the local Glider riding tourney a couple weeks from now..."
"Well, it's gonna take me a while to find a replacement part for this," Daniel shook his head. "If I can't find it in a week and a half, I'll give it back with no charge and you can go to one of the professional repair shops..."
"Ugh, but they're so expensive!" the customer complained. "That's why I was hoping you could fix it... All right, you can hold on to it until you find the part."
"Then that's what I'll do," Daniel nodded.
"By the way, where's your brother at? I haven't seen him lately..."
"Donald? Off on another bounty hunt," he replied. "I'm confident he can handle himself, though..."
"You make tech to support him, right?"
"Yeah, I built his laser sword, among other stuff," Daniel replied. "Least I can do to make sure he comes back alive from missions..." He then heaved a sigh. "Doesn't stop me from worrying about him, though... since our parents died in a car crash, we've only been able to rely on each other... he's the only family I've got left. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's no Samus Aran, but he's more than able to get the job done..."
"Right," his client nodded, before hearing something in the sky... "What the..." He walked out of the garage, looking up... "Hey, isn't that Donald's ship right there?"
"Really?!" Daniel got up from his table, walking outside and looking up as well... sure enough, it was a black starship coming in for a landing in front of the garage. "Wow, he's back faster than I thought..."
"Well, I won't get in between your reunion," the other man nodded. "So, you'll call me when you get my grapple fixed?"
"I sure will. See you later!" Daniel waved as his customer went off. And so he watched as the ship set down, the hatch on top opening...
...but no one came out. "Huh...?" He waited for a minute, but there was no sign of Donald. "What's going on...?" (The ship didn't come back without him, did it...?) Because that would mean... Shaking his head, Daniel went and got a short stepladder from the garage, climbing up to the top of the ship and stepping over to the hatch, the elevator promptly descending into the ship...
There was no blood or signs of battle inside the cockpit that Daniel could see... but there was a flashing light on the helm. So he walked up to the pilot's chair, realizing that it was a recorded message... Fear welling up in his heart, he pressed the button to initiate playback...
A holo-screen came up, showing the visage of a man about the same age as Daniel having a very similar face and hairstyle. however, his hair was black, his skin a slightly darker shade, and he was in much better physical condition. "This is Donald Markson, AKA Righteous Eyes the bounty hunter. To whom it may concern: if you're viewing this message, it means that I have failed my mission, and am most likely dead. My ship was programmed to automatically return to base if the homing beacon it uses to track me is disabled. Said ship should have the coordinates of my last known location, so whoever receives this message can pass the location to another hunter, who can hopefully succeed where I failed."
"And Danny, if you're the one viewing this message... I'm sorry. You'll have to go on without me from now on. But I know you can do it. I love you, big brother." With that, the message ended.
"No... NOOOOOOOO!" Daniel slid to the floor, halfway curled up as tears threatened his eyes. "Dammit, Donny...! You promised! You promised me you'd never get in over your head...! Dammit...!" He pounded on the steel floor in futility as he sobbed... "You were... we were all we had left...!"
And yet, despite his sadness, something deep inside refused to break, refused to give in to despair... (No... he can't be dead! He can't...! I remember, Donny said he'd gotten a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that one time I crashed and broke my arm! That's why he called almost right away, he said...!) Slowly he rose back up, wiping his face... "Logically, it should work both ways, right...? I never had any bad feelings until the ship arrived..." Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he came to a decision... "All right... I'm going to fly this ship to these coordinates and do some recon, and try to figure out what happened to Donny..." He knew that he should probably tell the authorities, but he only knew the local police, and they certainly couldn't help him with this... (Well, if it turns out to be a hot zone, I probably won't even try to land the ship... I'm not stupid. Speaking of which, I need to prepare...)
And so he exited the ship, heading back into the garage... he opened a locker in the back, taking out a few things... a gray helmet with a blue visor, a protective vest that was worn under the shirt, rated to stop laser gun fire... and a one-handed gun that he had put together himself, meant for self-defense. While its shots weren't very powerful, it worked by absorbing energy from its surroundings, essentially giving the gun infinite ammo. And it was semi-automatic, meaning it fired as fast as its holder could pull the trigger... and said trigger being a simple button meant it could be fired very fast, indeed.
As for the helmet, while it wasn't the sturdiest, it was equipped with short range radar that could detect lifeforms and robotic energy signatures, as well as a scanning tool that could analyze said lifeforms and robots, among other things. Daniel had originally built it for his brother, but Donny had decided against using it, saying it restricted his field of vision too much. (But I'm no bounty hunter, so I need every advantage I can get...) So he slid on the vest, then his shirt, before putting the helmet over his head and activating it... (Okay, good, the radar is working fine. Now for the scanner...) Looking about, he saw his client's Grapple Beam, deciding to scan that as a test...
[Grapple Beam. The power source is damaged, so it can't be used to swing a humanoid from grapple points. However, it can be used to pull lighter metal objects around like a lasso.]
"Okay, good, the scanner works, too," Daniel nodded to himself. After a few moments of consideration, he took the grapple lasso and strapped it to his left arm. "Sorry, I'm gonna borrow this for a little while." After grabbing some winter clothing, just in case, as well as a few other things, he embarked the ship once more, sitting himself in the pilot's seat and strapping in.
"Good thing I've test-flown this ship before," he muttered to himself as he brought up the ship's last coordinates... (This'll be my first time flying it through space, though...) Taking a breath to steel himself, he directed the ship to launch, feeling it rise into the air... once it was clear of the house and garage, it rapidly ascended through the atmosphere, escaping Earth's gravitational pull and pointing itself to its destination, activating the warp drive and blasting off...
*To be continued...*