Author's Note
I'd taken a moment to step back from this for a couple days, let my brain reset. But I couldn't stay away for long, and I'm back with chapter 30. Good grief, I'm surprised that it's come this far, thank you so so so much to everyone who followed this, I hope it will live up to your expectations.
Uploaded
09/04/2023
LEGEND BELOW
"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.
''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts/Receiving coms.
Chapter 30
What it means to protect
Rated-M
M rating for blood, and language, and violence.
Music of the day
Metroid Prime 3 - Space Pirates battle theme
She thought she had it under control.
And, well, for the most part, she did.
That was, until she stumbled across the tightly packed room full of survivors, and the girl who'd tossed herself at her, wrapping her arms around her desperately.
She'd tried to play it off, convincing herself that she was fine, that it was fine.
But she wasn't fine.
She'd only been pretending.
Being what she was, or, perhaps it was due to how she was created in such a disastrous fashion, control was something she often lacked when it came to situations outside of her comfort zone.
She liked to elude that no matter what changed, what happened to her body, and what life altering things events occurred, that at the end of the day she was still just Samus Aran. She was always in control, control of her body, not the other way around…
That had, for the most part, always been the case, barring the Phazon incident.
But that changed when she'd been injected with the Metroid DNA serum, and it had only grown worse from the events on ZDR.
The Metroid DNA injected into her body had rapidly evolved her, not simply giving the powers of the otherwise extinct species. She'd been forcibly turned into the first of a newer generation of Metroid, but not only that, she'd been forced to evolve to save her life in the fight against Raven Beak.
But just as he'd said, her DNA had spiraled out of control, and she'd been consumed by the Metroid inside her. It was why her suit changed, her body entirely rewritten from the inside out, changed into something new.
However, the negative effects of her creation were apparent.
The Metroids were created to listen to Thoha Chozo, and actively fight and disobey Mawkin Chozo warriors. Something the Mawkin leader had revealed to her was how she'd been turned into their original super warrior through a hefty dose of his own DNA when she was younger.
Due to having never once obtained any Thoha DNA, the unfortunate reality was the fact that her Metroid body was constantly at odds with her mind, ignoring her commands and denying her orders. It was only due to her unbelievable willpower and mental strength built up from her training with the wise old Chozo for much of her youth that gave her the ability to overpower even her own unruly DNA.
And, for the time, it had made her life manageable.
She'd told herself that manageable was not good enough, not for Samus Aran, intergalactic Bounty Hunter. But it had to suffice for the time being, and she'd instead turned her focus onto other more pressing matters at hand.
Like, for instance, getting off the god forsaken planet that was Requiem so she could safely have her, at the time, unwanted children. Then that mission changed into, stop the Didact from unleashing an ancient hell-power onto all of humanity throughout the known galaxy, sparking what would undoubtedly become a massive interplanetary war that resulted in billions of casualties for more then just the human race.
For someone in her position, that was a lot to ask. But she'd not even catered to the idea of leaving everyone behind to handle things on their own, and had decided to stick her head where it didn't belong, because she knew that she could help, and that her help was needed.
That being said, the mission she'd been on alongside the Master Chief had down a decent enough job at distracting her from her more pressing issues than her pregnancy.
Due to how she was created, she was not the one in control for most situations. Her mind was constantly at odds with her rambunctious Metroid DNA that refused to cooperate.
If her current goal wasn't, mercilessly slaughter and absorb all those creatures and people, protect her children and family against those who'd wish them harm, or protect and care for her mate, then her body was fighting her.
When she was standing alongside the Troopers from the Task Force, she felt at ease, because her body simply wouldn't allow her to look at them as food, despite them being food. It was the same feeling she gained when she was next to the Master Chief, his presence doing things to her that she still didn't fully understand.
As it stood, John was one of the few people in the galaxy who could completely stop and dismantle her rampaging Metroid DNA without even having to raise a weapon to her. John was her leash, holding an indestructible chain that she'd willingly tied around her neck. It stopped her from damaging electrical equipment, allowed her to physically interact with people and things around her without fear of bringing them harm, because the Metroid inside her wouldn't dare to bring harm to those it cared for, or what was theirs.
But, when pushed into a corner, injured or hungering for energy, and neither he nor those she considered family were nearby, her issues that she'd shoved to the back of her mind suddenly and inexplicably reared their ugly heads.
And now, in a room with two hundred defenseless and unarmed people, she saw scared civilians that desperately needed saving.
Because that's what they were, innocent humans that were simply trying to do their jobs in a galaxy full of monsters that wanted them dead.
And unfortunately for them, she was one of the creatures that only saw a room full of defenseless prey.
She played it off, promising them that she was here to help, that she was going to protect them. She wasn't lying, telling them the truth.
But she had to be careful.
It wasn't so bad at first, leaving John to track down the survivors, killing any Covenant who got in the way, absorbing them to sate her Metroid appetite.
Then she found them, and her heart had inexplicably begun to race.
But it would be fine.
All she had to do was make sure they followed her orders, made sure they kept their distance from her and didn't touch her, and they'd be safe and she wouldn't be tempted to eat them.
That entire plan was thrown out the airlock when the girl suddenly and unexpectedly threw herself at the most dangerous looking person on the entire space station, wrapped her arms around her waist, and got right into her personal space.
The reaction was almost instantaneous, heart rate spiking wildly as someone her body constituted as prey put themselves willingly within range to easily be consumed.
All it would take was her claws currently gently raking through the scared girl's hair to clamp down, and it would be over in an instant. She'd be gone, and her inner Metroid would be satisfied…
That's all it would take…
One simple action…
A single flexing of her claws to bring forth the barely restrained powers contained in her left hand.
One motion, a twitch of her eye, her control over herself would be lost, even for the briefest of moments.
And in that moment, the young woman would die…
…
…
But…
She didn't.
For some reason, another instinct reared its head suddenly, an instinct that had been bubbling underneath the surface and had made itself known throughout her mission.
It was the instincts of a mother, and this woman's crying in her arms had brought that instinct to the surface, pulling it past all others.
And suddenly, she felt as if she could see clearly. Her Metroid DNA, for the first time, cowed to her will, and although begrudgingly, it obeyed her commands.
She was going to get this woman to safety, her and the rest of her crew.
In that moment, her hand which had been trembling with barely controllable powers, had suddenly lost its tension. She ranked her claws through the woman's hair gently, like a mother to her child who'd broken down, unable to handle the stress of he world anymore.
She addressed the Spartan over her coms, a short back and forth with him, before addressing the rest of the survivors.
She told them that she was going to get them out, that she was going to do her best to see to it that they survived.
All they had to do was follow her orders, and they'd be fine.
"Come on, I'm going to get you all out of here." Samus urged, addressing the people. Glancing down, she gently placed her claws underneath the chin of the short young brunette. "Hey, chin up. Just follow my lead, you'll do fine." She spoke softly, eyes glancing down at the young woman who was scared witless.
The sudden sound of heavy footsteps approaching from down the hallway alerted her that their time for sitting still was up. Samus glanced at her radar, noticing the presence of multiple hostiles moving her way.
She glanced back down to the short woman, Jenifer if she recalled. "Jenifer, I need you to be strong. Go to Jesse, stay by his side. I'll protect you, don't worry." Samus muttered quietly, but firmly. She patted the woman on the head, smiling down at her.
As for the brunette, she found herself nodding at the strange alien woman's words, hands shaking as she detached herself from around the slim waist of the Bounty Hunter. She quickly ran to her boyfriend's side, finding comfort in his embrace, even though he was just as scared as she was.
"Everyone, stay behind me! I don't want anyone getting hurt." Samus ordered aloud. She didn't feel the need to explain the effects of Covenant plasma weapons on the unarmored flesh, no need to scare them anymore.
Not a moment later, a Covenant hit squad appeared at the end of the hallway. They took a brief moment to realize who they were up against, before they snarled in anger.
Apparently they were aware of her, to some degree. Unfortunately, it also seemed that her warning she'd sent to the Covenant through one of their Generals had unfortunately been ignored.
How sad…
For them, she meant.
She threw her arm out, trying to make her body act as a wall as she stood in the doorway, preventing any incoming plasma fire from killing the people behind her. She flared her wings out as well, further blocking harm from reaching the people. Although her wings were unfortunately unshielded from her suit, they were made from Ridley's DNA, and as such were highly resistant to any sort of plasma weapons.
But in such a tight space, combat would be a bit stifling.
She aimed forward, laying down a barrage of Wave Beam rounds, the Chozo electric weapon stunning and torturing the Covenant struck by it, forcing them to cry out in pain. Although the initial attack didn't outright kill them, nor did it even do any lethal harm, at least not without successive fire, it did temporarily incapacitate them.
They'd be taken down quickly and easily with her highly advanced Chozo made Plasma Beam, but that weapon would also tear a hole through the hull of the station, comprising it and further threatening the survivors.
Her hand was forced, and she needed to resort to her weaker weapons.
She'd not the chance to recover any of her missile supplies, and was forced to use her beams. Thankfully, such closed quarters meant that the Covenant couldn't escape the tracking effects of her Wave Beam, and she had them electrocuted to death within a few long moments.
Not the most merciful way she'd killed her enemies before, but she also didn't care. They'd asked for it.
"Follow me, stay close." Samus muttered, loud enough for them all to hear.
She stalked forward towards the end of the hallway, eyes peeled, ears straining, and radar sensors set to max. "Anyone who knows how to use Covenant weapons, take what you can." She ordered, kicking a Plasma Pistol behind her with her heel.
Jenifer carefully picked up the strange weapon, the gun feeling massive in her dainty hands.
Samus turned the hallway, stalking down it, cannon shaking lightly as she held a charged Wave Beam shot, ready to unleash it upon whoever got in her way. The beam provided some light for those following her, the lights on that side of the facility having malfunctioned from the damage.
Her breathing leveled out as she moved through the halls, checking every room along the way to secure it, both to make sure there wasn't any stragglers, and to make sure no Covenant had snuck past her.
She could hear the terrified people shuffling behind her, muttering in fear, but too scared to stray away from the scary tall alien woman.
She couldn't blame them, she probably did look far more terrifying then any Covenant Elite did.
She was just glad that they were following orders.
She stalked through the halls, footsteps gliding across the burnt blood stained floors.
"W-Where are we going?" Someone voiced up from behind her.
"Where are you taking us? A-Are you with the UNSC?" Another asked nervously, having finally found the courage to speak up.
"I'm taking you all to the emergency shuttle, and sending you to somewhere safe. If you stay here, you're all going to die." Samus explained briefly, ignoring the second question.
After a bit of otherwise eventless travel, she found herself stepping into the shuttle bay the Spartan had secured previously.
Soldiers lay dead across the grounds, splayed out like warning signs to any who would approach.
Something wasn't right.
"W-Wait, don't Hunter's t-travel in pairs…?" Jenifer spoke up quietly, her voice echoing out like a gunshot in the wind.
Samus's eyes widened, suddenly on edge.
She didn't know that.
She stepped out into the open station, eyes peeled for anything that would-
She was aware of the sound of roaring echoing in the background, barely given enough time to spin around to find the source of it, before she found herself pinned down underneath the immense weight of a golden Hunter.
And it was angry.
Her head hit the ground harshly, rattling her brain as she beast quite literally stomped on her with the force of over ten thousand pounds of mass. Her eyes widened sharply as the beast slammed its massive shield arm into her chest, attempting to skewer her.
Her shields flared to absorb the damage, but she couldn't sit there and continue to let the beast pummel her to death.
She let out a roar of fury as she tried to force herself up and out of the beast's grasp, but its weight was simply too much given her position underneath it. She went to swing her arm cannon up at it, melt its face to slag, but cried out in pain as it stomped her arm into the ground, completely pinning her down underneath it.
Taking the chance the beast had, it didn't hesitate to fire a point blank blast at her face, rattling the Bounty Hunter.
She snarled in pain under the force of the attack, angered by the beast daring to lay its hands on her.
She could hear the survivors in the background, screaming in horror as they witnessed her seemingly being brutalized by the unusually massive Hunter.
Samus almost felt herself momentarily black out from the attack, before she snapped back to focus as the beast tried to behead her with the tip of its hefty shield arm. She had no interest in figuring out if her armor could survive such successive and repeated physical assaults in the same place while suffering from low energy supply, and snapped her free left arm forward to grab the Hunter's shield, stopping it before it could slam into her.
The beast roared, trying to pin her down with its immense strength.
But she wasn't going down to some simple surprise attack, despite the fact that the weight of the creature felt like it was crushing her bones. The Hunter learned the hard way just how astronomically strong she was, capable of stopping the physical attack short with one arm.
Her hand flared to life as she began trying to absorb the monster from her contact with it, quickly turning the shield arm it had to dust.
Surprised and shocked at the action, it momentarily took the weight off of her arm, allowing her to take aim and fire off a Super Missile directly in its face.
The beast roared in pain as it stepped backwards, face smoking.
Without wasting a second, Samus ignited her thrusters, throwing her backwards and away from the beast. She flipped to her feet, yet she felt shaky, like standing was beginning to become difficult.
Nothing she hadn't dealt with before, but that being said, she realized something. This was certainly one of the longest missions she'd ever been on, and without any significant rest periods.
The moment this mission was completed, she was taking a god damn vacation, or someone was going to die, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
The Hunter, realizing that it had lost its element of surprise, snarled in outrage at the one responsible for slaying its brood brother.
"Stay back, I'll protect you!" Samus warned, using her body to again block the people behind her. Her eyes focused on the beast in front of her, trying to figure out a safe way to take it down. Any of her higher yield explosives were out of the question, so were her highly powered beam weapons. Either of those would tear the beast down rather quickly, but posed the extreme risk of sucking everyone into space, or damaging the shuttle that she planned on putting everyone on.
So, as her base weapons wouldn't do the job, she was going to have to get experimental.
The beast stomped its feet, snarling as it stared her down. She took a stance, spreading her feet slightly in preparation as the thirteen foot tall monster rushed at her.
As soon as it got close, she fired off her grapple beam, striking it in the face as she moved to leap overhead, landing on the other side. Her magnetic boots locked her to the ground as she yanked as hard as she could, pulling the beast backwards.
It hit the ground with a mighty thud, and she wasted no time in launching herself at the downed creature in an attempt to drain it out of existence. She landed on the chest of the beast, claws glinting in the light as she went to pin the beast down and end it.
Unfortunately, the beast was far more nimble than she gave it's species credit for, and shifted to slam its cannon arm into her ribs, sending her flying.
She coughed as she slammed into the wall of the station, her wings crying out in pain.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, more than a little furious at the Hunter.
She was done playing around.
She ran forward again, sliding underneath the beast's legs as it went to slam her with its arm. She was instantly on her feet, and without waiting any longer, she thrust her entire body at the beast as she spun into a sphere, activating her Screw Attack. The beast tried to shake her off, but she quite physically inserted herself into its body, before tearing it apart from the inside out like a demonic saw-blade.
She landed on the other side, covered in the blood and guts of the worm creature.
If there was ever one reason she disliked using the ability in such a manner, it was the messy outcome that it had for her foes…
But it got the job done.
She turned to the people, noting their physical condition. "Are you all okay? Is anyone hurt?" She asked, huffing lightly.
"W-We're all fine." Jenifer replied quietly, having seemingly swapped from terrified silence, to stunned awe.
Samus nodded, content with the fact that she'd managed to protect them. She turned her attention to the military grade shuttle, a ship that would take them all far from here, and quickly to boot. "Everyone, on board now. You're all getting out of here." She ordered, pointing a bloody claw to the door of the ship.
The crew didn't hesitate to run aboard, footsteps stomping out as two hundred all boarded the ship.
The short brunette watched her fellow crewmen all board the vessel, until only she and the alien woman remained behind.
That's when she realized that the green woman wasn't coming with them. "Y-You aren't coming…?" Jenifer couldn't stop the question that slipped past her lips, eyes wide as she stared up at her savior.
Samus glanced down at the short girl, gaze trailing her over the rim of her red visor. "No… I've got business to attend to here before I go." She explained somewhat vaguely, offering the young woman a kind look.
The station shook in the background, explosions echoing out, melting into a cacophony of noise that mixed terribly with the sirens that had been blaring nonstop.
"I… I see…" She muttered quietly. Before she could lose the tiny amount of courage she'd built up, she wrapped her arms around the Bounty Hunter in a hug. "T-Thank you for saving us…" She whispered quietly, eyes closed tightly.
Samus's eyes widened at the gesture, before she smiled gently down at the girl, her hand coming up to gently pat the young woman on the head, moved by a sudden burst of motherly instincts. "Of course…" She settled on murmuring.
The young woman quickly detached herself from the Bounty Hunter a moment later, before quickly regrouping with her fellow crewmen. Samus stayed behind to watch the ship leave, making sure no Covenant went to follow after them. If they did, she'd take to space to help protect them.
But after a moment, it seemed as if the crew were able to slip away from the station unharmed.
She sighed in relief, turning her attention to Chief. "Chief, do you copy?" She called over coms.
The line was dead for a long moment, perhaps she'd called in the middle of a battle. Deciding that standing around and waiting for him to reply would get her nowhere, she quickly moved to catch up with him. He'd hopefully made it to Tilson by this point, he just hoped he'd not suffered too much trouble on his way.
She tore her way through the halls, any stray Covenant she came across she didn't hesitate to absorb mercilessly. She was in need of an energy replacement and a missile replenishment, and their energy would go to just that.
The ship was relatively empty now, most of the surviving crew having safely escaped from the ship. As for the Doctor, she was preying that John had managed to reach her in time.
She came across the secondary emergency escape bay, finding it filled with Covenant corpses. She smirked, knowing John's handiwork when she saw it. All she had to do was follow the trail of bodies and she's surely end up by his side again.
''Samus, I'm here. What happened, are you alright?'' The Master Chief's voice broke through the silence of the halls. However, she couldn't help but notice his distress, however muffled it may seem to others.
"I'm fine. I've evacuated the survivors on this deck to the shuttle with little resistance." She spoke back, turning another hall as she launched through was appeared to have once been the cafeteria of the station.
Now it was a mess of Covenant corpses, and turned over and or destroyed tables and other objects.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" She asked in return, having detected something in his voice.
''Good, good. Get to my position quickly, we've got to destroy the Composer before the Didact finds it!'' The Spartan responded sharply.
"He doesn't know where it's at?" She couldn't help but ask in bewilderment.
''He knows it's somewhere on the station, but not where exactly. He wouldn't dare destroy the station with the Composer inside of it, so he's scanning it instead. I don't think we have much time before he finds it…'' John responded quickly, the sounds of heavy gunfire in the background pulling her attention.
"Where are you now? What's going on?" She asked back, concerned.
She wasn't even afraid to admit it anymore.
She was concerned for the green a Spartan.
She was concerned, because she cared for him, the connection far stronger than she thought it had any right to be. But she wouldn't question it, not here, not now.
The sound of a plasma bombardment echoed in the background of the coms, his voice glitching out. ''-in the middle of the station. Got a couple Wraiths who-'' He paused as another explosion rocketed out, his coms picking it up. ''-don't seem to like me all that much…'' He finished dryly. ''I've got a plan. Once we secure the area, I'm going to set off all the site's Havoc's, turn this asteroid into a dust storm.''
"You're going to use nukes?" Samus asked, eyebrows raised.
''Remote detonation, of course. Just one would be enough to level this facility, but I'm not taking any chances, not here, not now.'' The Spartan explained sharply.
"I don't blame you." Samus grunted, having picked up the ping the Spartan sent her way, her suit tracking him down through the ruined halls of the UNSC facility.
Being the only Spartan aboard, once her suit trackers found him, it was impossible to lose him again in the haze of background ambience.
"Where's Tilson? How many are still aboard?" Samus asked, stumbling upon a hallway that seemed to lead to the command room of the station.
''There are a few soldiers that haven't evacuated. Most of Tilson's crew were in the bunker. The Doctor is still in her tower.'' He explained.
Samus's eyes narrowed.
So far, things had gone surprisingly well.
She wouldn't hold out her luck, however…
Chapter
30
End
