"There's something I believe the both of you might want to see," Dr. Samuel Hayden announced to Samus Aran and the Doom Slayer. The duo had been taking time off in the Slayer's quarters, reading comics together as they discussed characters and plot decisions. Hayden's tone, however, indicated the time for such things might become somewhat scarce. Both of them suited up before heading to the pilot room of the ship, where Hayden directed them to the display monitor. The dead ruins of a megacenter in England, where the Super Gore Nest was built, and subsequently destroyed by the Slayer.

There were new structures, now...not of ARC, survivor, or demon origin. Hastily put together with black metals and orange highlights, antenna and primitive hovering vehicles stationed around the place, even some bio-mechanical parts, no, no known civilization in this world had buildings or technology like this.

But Samus knew who they belonged too, and where they'd come from. She clenched her fist, darkening her visor - ready for combat.

"Pirates."

. . .

"Demon bastards!" the ARC soldier spat, tied up, unmasked, and battered nearly beyond recognition alongside the rest of his scouting troop.

"Demons?" the Pirate commander asked, overseeing his underlings as they tortured their new captives for information. "You speak with flattery! But be mindful, mongrel. You'll find out in due time that unlike demons, we are very real."

"Commander!" a Pirate trooper reported, arriving with great haste from one of the base's command stations. "We have detected a rift opening elsewhere within the city. Nothing unusual concerning its dimensional signature - we worry it may be enemy reinforcements."

"More of your pitiful kind for us to slaughter?" the commander asked the captive soldiers. He let out a hearty laugh. "Man the Vigilance Turrets, and mobilize a Commando strike team. I will be out to join them, shortly."

. . .

The Hunter and the Slayer arrived in the remains of the Industrial Zone. After the Icon of Sin had been defeated, the majority of Hell's influence was purged from the Earth. Most of the lava that blackened the planet's surface and coursed through city streets was now gone, leaving a charred, ashen wasteland in its wake. As an area hit by the invasion the hardest, this place had now become a dead ruin, volcanic ash casting a toxic fog in the air, and several feet of soot coating the ground like snow. The nigh-unrecognizable locale smelled of sulfur and corpses.

Resistance on the way to this location had been scarce - while demonic stragglers still roamed the Earth, their numbers continued to dwindle thanks to the efforts of ARC and UAC remnants. Still, the environment was treacherous - one false step could result in the concrete crumbling beneath you, an ashen abyss deep below awaiting the unfortunate.

"The Doctor's intel indicates their setup should be just further ahead," Samus said over the commlink, her cannon at the ready as she clambered atop another ruined rooftop. "So this is your Earth...or what's left of it."

"Not my Earth," the Slayer corrected her. There was a pause after he trailed off that Samus caught wind of, and once again this man's history continued to run deeper to her. "But...it's close," he added, looking down to her from a platform some distance away.

Both Samus and the Slayer immediately turned their weapons towards a muffled crunch before them, sounding much like a footstep in the snow. Yet there was not a creature in sight…

"Of course, it would be our fortune that the accursed Hunter would have arrived in this plane as well." The voice almost seemed disembodied...travelling around them at a great distance, though there was no sound of movement despite the four feet of ash one would have to wade through just to traverse the area. No disturbance in the waves of it, either.

Whatever noise that was coming from their stalker, it wasn't any demon noise that he'd heard before, the Slayer thought. When demons spoke, it was in either their own wicked tongue, or whatever language those that heard them knew. This, he couldn't understand any of it...and he'd been exposed to enough different cultures and languages to where Hell couldn't utter word of a plan without him catching wind of it. On top of that, whatever this creature was, it either wasn't there or was completely invisible. No breed of Spectre he'd fought could maintain camouflage to such a complete extent. That kind of cloaking necessitated the assistance of technology or wizardry neither this iteration of humanity nor stragglers from the invasion could achieve.

"And she is not alone. A soldier accompanies her on the far ledge, less than forty meters southwest. His description matches the intel we've received. Prepare to employ Hunter-killing tactics with extreme lethality."

"So there's more than one of you," Samus responded in the aggressor's tongue. Her speech was harsh and animalistic, the language consisted of clicking and guttural growls. It seemed to elicit a response from their adversary, who let out something of a low chuckle - an expression recognizable from any source. "Slayer, be advised. Multiple unknown hostiles in the area," Samus reported calmly in their shared language, back over the commlink.

"Your use of Urtragian is another blight upon our species, Aran," the creature responded in Samus' language, now, its voice raspy and harsh. It became uncloaked then, standing high above in the long-destroyed window of a devastated building. A Pirate Commander, identifiable by its deceptively bulky red armor, skeletal and monstrous in appearance. The imposing Phazite helmet typically worn was gone, replaced with a sleek cutting-edged visored helmet, adorned with lights that gave off the impression of a predator in the night. "You are outnumbered, surrounded, and hampered by this treacherous terrain. It was a grave mistake coming here."

"I could say the same," Samus shot back. All it took was a changing of hand signs within her Arm Cannon to switch beam configurations, opting to employ the use of the long-range, terrain-phasing, electrical Wave Beam, in conjunction with the Thermal Visor. The environment now cooled and lifeless, targets lit up all throughout the area. Every window, every cliffside...all having height advantage, and drops into either all-consuming pits of ash or the great unknown below separating what little land there was to fight on out in the clear. If she could carve out a path along the cliffedge behind her, she could take a close-quarters route through a tunnel that would lead to higher ground, where the Doom Slayer was positioned. Not that either of them could stay in one place when it came to a fight...though here, there wasn't much of a choice.

All of them were cloaked. She counted eleven units all beginning to descend from the windows they were stationed in. A commander always travelled with at least two Commandos...her eyes darted around the environment in the few seconds she had left to analyze. She caught a brief glimpse of one just before it activated its standard-issue personal teleporter. This one wore armor like those she'd fought on Aether, sleek, black and white. With technological advancements, they could be as dangerous as their Ing-possessed counterparts. The last thing to note, the Commander would surely call in reinforcements once their numbers started to dwindle. She had no idea what kind of offensive presence the Pirates might have set up here, but irregardless, she would exterminate them. Earth, regardless of whether it was her's or not, was not a world she would allow them to even dream of colonizing. She relayed what information she could to her ally, and the resounding shotgun blast from his position indicated he'd already engaged the enemy.

Codex: New Category

Pirates

Elite

Pirate Commando

SAMUS' NOTES

Highly lethal units equipped with state of the art weaponry. Pulse Cannons are severely damaging rapid-fire energy weapons. Energy Grenade Launchers have EMP functionality, may temporarily disrupt suit functions. Scythe blade is built into the main firearm, avoid close combat if possible. Armor thrusters allow for high-speed movement across any terrain, portable barrier shields block all but the heaviest of fire, and teleportation modules have been made available for all Commando-class units.

That's an impressive bag of tricks, the Slayer thought to himself, barrelling out of the way of pincer fire from two of them. The Heavy Cannon materialized in his hands, and a swift Snipe Shot echoed across the ivory grave. The shot embedded itself partway into the target Commando's armored shoulder, but it hardly reacted and simply returned fire with an EMP grenade from the launched mounted onto it. The Slayer dashed out of the radius of the explosion, and was lightly grazed by a follow up one from the other. He leapt over the ash pit between the two of them, the distance easily clearable with mid-air boost from the Praetor Suit's jump thrust systems...but where they usually activated off his will alone, they failed him now. An EMP warning flashed across his heads-up-display as he dropped unceremoniously into the pit, the remains of fires long extinguished swallowing him up to his thighs. It reminded him all too much of the purple slime that Hellgrowth would often bring, restricting his movements just long enough to look like food for whatever creature that briefly believed it had an advantage. One of the Commandos seized the opportunity to leap in after him, its blade roaring to life with the promise of blood. The Slayer's Meathook found its way into the creature's exoskeletal abdomen mid-jump, and tore him from the ashen pool. He used the momentum to swing by the Commando as it fell into the pit, and with the brief moment he hung in the air, he conjured the Paingiver rocket launcher in his arms, and sent a death volley of lock-on rockets and a grenade towards the hopeful alien aggressor.

Two of the rockets found their mark before It teleported out of the way of imminent death, beating down on the Commando's armor. The shoulder launcher was blown apart, but believing himself clever, it'd teleported right in front of where the Slayer was about to land. As it readjusted, it found a crackling amber fist rocking its skull. The shockwave from the Slayer's Blood Punch violently rattled and cooked the Pirate's body underneath the armor - it wasn't built to withstand such sudden, blunt force. Critical systems were ripped apart with the collision, exposing parts of its broken abdomen. For a brief moment the Commando struggled to find the strength to continue its assault, and in that moment the Slayer blasted it apart with his Super Shotgun - Lucifer's Bane.

The other Commando began to teleport away and out of the Slayer's line of sight, but an Ice Bomb caught its legs mid-jump - rending the creature in two. Its top half reappeared somewhere behind the Slayer, and as it raised its Pulse Cannon in a last-ditch effort to defeat its adversary, the Ballista's laser bolts destroyed every atom of its skull. .

Samus' Wave Beam stunned and disabled three of the Shadow Pirates mid-drop, all landing in crippling positions or falling helplessly into the ash. Gracefully the rest of them leapt from platform to platform, and shortly thereafter they were upon her, blades lighting up her visor. Slashing, stabbing, swinging. Always with these damned energy scythes.

Codex: Pirates

Elite

Shadow Pirate

SAMUS' NOTES

Primarily stealth and spec-ops units, they lack a ranged weapon favoring optimized energy scythes, and wear minimal armor to maximize agility and minimize noise. Their cloaking modules render them completely invisible to the naked eye, though they can be tracked through thermal imaging.

The Spazer beam had always been the close-ranged option when it came to that. The searing green plasma ruptured the armored carapaces of another two that jumped her, violet steaming blood and vaporized remains coating her and painting the ash around them. During her cannon's reload another Shadow had flanked her left, his scythe flaring to life and slashing at her before she could move to retaliate. The ash was too thick to get a kick off, and her left arm was unarmed as always - to attempt to block the blade with her hand would have been foolish. It sliced into her shielding, knocking 60% off one of her two Energy Tanks, and knocking her sliding backward and almost careening off the scarce footing she now shared with three remaining assailants.

"Enough," Samus growled, using her Grapple Lasso to take hold of her attacker's ankles, yanking him back and overhead into the fatal ravine below. Aside from his screams, another roaring sound arose from the depths - a pair of Armored Aerotroopers.

Codex: Pirates

Troopers

Armored Aerotrooper

SAMUS' NOTES

Primary aerial units. Typically armed with Rail Particle Cannons and Helix Missile pods, some units have recently been observed carrying some form of reverse-engineered gatling guns. The jetpacks can be overloaded with heat-based weaponry, but they are generally incredibly agile. Upon death, many will attempt a kamikaze strike using the pack as a highly potent explosive. Death before dishonor - the Space Pirate way.

They opened fire on her position, a hail of bullets tearing into the platform the Hunter jumped from, kicking up mounds of ash and dust in her wake. She grappled onto one of the Aerotroopers, clambering onto his back and choking him out with her cannon arm. She'd fought enough of these to know how their systems worked. A control panel on his right arm held the launch button for the missile pods. She wrestled with the Aerotrooper until he was facing the remaining group of Shadows, and then promptly blew them all to kingdom come. The Aerotrooper's comrade proceeded to fire upon him and Samus - death to the Hunter, at any cost. Bullets ripped through the Aerotrooper, and upon his death the jetpack self-destruct kamikaze protocol activated. The Pirate, and Samus by extension, became a fiery death rocket, one that Samus steered directly into the other Aerotrroper. She leapt from the resulting explosion into the tunnel to her right, underneath the cliff the Slayer was battling the Commandos on, now, viscera raining behind her.

"Our target is retreating," the Slayer said over the commlink. "Giving chase."

It didn't take long for the two to link up again, grappling from dilapidated streetlamp to exposed bar, the Commander teleporting in bursts from the area. Without warning, he jumped off the side of the ravine all of a sudden...only for a large, heavily armored vehicle to rise from the depths, firing blindly upon them before turning around and carrying the Commander inside off to safety.

Codex: Pirates

Vehicles

ATC

SAMUS' NOTES

Uncharacteristically well-built and armored, the Space Pirate Armored Tactical Carrier is designed for rapid troop transport to and from hotzones. While not designed for long-term engagements, the ATC is armed with Tribeam Cannons to provide covering fire and/or air support. A forward-mounted heat vent is vulnerable to sustained fire.

"Hang on, he's not getting away from us that easily," Samus growled, bending her knees. "Grab on."

The Slayer glanced at her quizzically, and was met with a sideways look that got him to proceed. He seemed unsure of how to...board her, per se.

"From the front, Slayer, come on, they're getting away!"

He took a step back and pointed to the Meathook on Lucifer's Bane.

"Fine, you big baby. Hope that thing can hold."

The thrusters on her back activated, and she launched from the cliffside following the distant ATC, flying off towards a highway and a long-inactive ARC mech. The amber aura of her Screw Attack flared to life as she methodically crossed the ravine, her thrusters kicking in every few meters to keep her somersaulting form afloat. The Doom Slayer's meathook lodged into her shields, and holding the button down, he held the chain in place, swinging from her as he gazed into the empty, foreboding ravine below. The shielding seemed to stay in place despite Samus' motion, which made the trek a lot less chaotic than it could've been.

When they approached the highway, the Slayer reeled himself in and catapulted past her, only to have to hook again when she landed and kicked in her Speed Booster. Like a technicolor hurricane she plowed through all the wreckage and long-abandoned vehicles cluttering the highway, the Slayer gliding off of her like a several-hundred pound kite. Pieces of rubble and debris would fly up and threaten to smack him out of the air, but most would shatter harmlessly against him, and the odd boulder he'd slice apart with the Doomblade, growling with light annoyance. Some ways beyond the imitation Atlan, the highway overlooked a large crater embedded into the earth, and there they found the ATC, and the Space Pirate base it was docking at, just as they'd seen this morning. Samus brought her momentum to a complete halt, and channeled all of her kinetic energy into a Shinespark, firing herself right at the ATC and blowing it apart, raining fire and biomass below.

The Slayer meanwhile catapulted off of the Hunter following her launch, numerous Pirate Troopers opening fire on him in the air.

Codex: Pirates

Troopers

Pirate Trooper

SAMUS' NOTES

Rank and file. The loss of Phazon has forced a calculated redistribution of assets among Space Pirate classes. Many of the standard troopers' equipment has been reverted to what the Aetherian forces were using - Photonic Power Scythes and Quantum Assault Cannons - though up-armored, grenadier, and shield variants are still fairly common. Low threat level, eliminate with extreme prejudice.

These creatures were a fair bit more resilient than run-of-the-mill demons, the Slayer observed. A single Trooper could take about as much punishment as an average Hell Knight, that armored carapace proving to be a tough, but satisfying nut to crack. Hints of some sick feeling of excitement briefly threaded his mind as he narrowly evaded blade swings swift as those from a Dread Knight, plasma fire like that from an Arachnotron, all with the ferocity of Imps. His enemy was familiar, but very different. These 'Pirates' would think, strategize. After he'd dispatched two of them following a swarm attempt, the others backed off - some taking cover, others deploying strange machinery, little tanks and sentry turrets set up around the base. They were expecting an attack, and were fully prepared for one. He hooked over to another Trooper, Lucifer's Bane erupting a spray of piping hot vengeance that crushed and maimed the Pirate. A radioactive, green ball of plasma exploded next to him, vaporizing the Pirate's corpse and putting some heavy strain on the Praetor Suit - blowing him off of his feet and a small ways across the crater - though he recovered, and was well on his way to returning the favor with the Paingiver..

The source came from one of two, emerald green turrets mounted atop the outpost - clearly manned and both trained on him.

Codex: Pirates

Ambient

Vigilance Turret

SAMUS' NOTES

Heavy man-operated defense turrets. These fire volatile blasts of radioactive plasma. Well-armored and highly damaging - Vigilance Turrets are a priority threat.

A swarm of missiles destroyed one of them all of a sudden, courtesy of the Hunter amidst her clearing out the rest of the remaining troopers. The other turret had turned to take aim at her, only for the Trooper inside to find himself being torn from the shattered shell of the weapon, and impaled through the chest on the Doom Slayer's blade, the man breathing in with a growl as the Pirate's fatal wounds rejuvenated him. Samus also seemed a lot better than where she'd been, minus her typically bright suit being coated in alien blood.

"That seemed to be all of them," Samus said, walking cold and unphased up to the blasted-apart entrance to the Pirate outpost. The Slayer jumped down from the roof, following closely behind.

Not a living soul walked the halls inside, here...and for a change, nearly all of the computer terminals had been destroyed. They'd covered any and all bases before Samus and the Slayer had even gotten there. Nearly all of them.

Samus had gone silent over the commlink for a while, the two having split up to search separately. The Slayer found her in what seemed to be their interrogation room...and understood why she'd gone dark.

. . .

Few of the Pirate bodies scattered around the crater outside had been left in any salvageable condition following the raid. The Hunter knelt over the first barely-living one she came across, and grabbed hold of its Energy Scythe module - biomechanically ingrained into the creature's wrist, as most of their weapons were. She stepped on the Pirates bicep, forcefully tearing the forearm from the rest of the creature as it writhed and screeched in fury and agony…

Space Pirate weapon system detected.

Re-configuring…

A bulky, black and orange generator module now sat housed into Samus' left arm. She clenched her fist tightly, a golden scythe blade erupting from the module with a low hum. It dissipated when she opened her hand again.

Dr. Samuel Hayden spoke up over the relay.

"It was too late for them...know that their lives have been avenged today, as there are no survivors remaining. The portal is ready to return you to the fortress, and henceforth we will keep an eye out for any further...anomalies."

Samus didn't have a word to say as she walked through the portal, and the Slayer respected her rage. He took one final look at the scene they were leaving behind, and stepped in after her.

. . .

"Supreme Leader, the decoy outpost has been destroyed. The accursed Hunter has left the planet - and our intel has proven reliable. She travels with the Doom Slayer."

The Commander knelt before his leader, as a grim smile crept upon his face.

"Both were blinded by their fervor."

"To believe she had come so close, and without that scanner of hers picking up even the slightest hint of our little operation…this Argent venture is proving quite bountiful, indeed."

"Yes, Supreme Leader. It magnifies our Stealth Field Generator ten-fold, and has our factories running at double efficiency where otherwise we would still be in the building phase."

"The bio-engineering and R&D divisions have worked wonders replenishing our forces, as well. Berserker Knights have been successfully recreated and cloned, new armor and weaponry is being salvaged from these pitiful 'Arc…' things are progressing smoothly. We will meet again soon enough, Hunter. And your Slayer friend seems like no slouch, either…"

Hundreds of miles beneath the ashen crevice that had long replaced busy roads and bustling streets, in the crust of the Earth, battle-scarred from conflicts past and present, the Pirates had staked their claim here, biding their time…

...in the new subterranean Pirate Colony of Cerberus.