Once again on the Fortress of Doom, following the discovery of Space Pirates in this world, of all places. If the Hunter could appear, displaced from time and space, the fact that her chitinous adversaries followed was now not too surprising a revelation. Samus inspected the newest addition to her arsenal…the orange, scythe-like energy blade now built into her left arm. She clenched her fist, igniting the blade from its generator with an amber glow, and in its sparks saw remnants of one of many enemies.

. . .

The Alimbic cluster, years ago.

"You consider yourself so high-and-mighty against all of your adversaries!" her assailant barked in human tongue, despite having been speaking in Space Pirate moments earlier. She sidestepped, ducked, and weaved under and around its blade, particles left in its wake as if it cut through the air. One clumsy maneuver led to her catching its elbow right in the face, knocking her back and forcing her to raise her cannon to block an overhead swing. She looked directly into the gold, bubble-like visor of her enemy, completely opaque and leaving her to imagine the bubbling contempt behind it that accompanied its words.

"But in reality," it said, leaning closer to her as they struggled. "When that same, blood-boiling rage takes you, you're just as cold and vicious as any other killer!"

Samus headbutted her adversary, stunning it briefly, and used that little bit of leeway to kick it directly in the abdomen. At first she was taken aback by her apparent strength - as its torso came clean off - but the detached lower half produced a turret that began lobbing grenades at her. Another trick. She primed the thrusters on her armor, and hovered back and away out of the line of fire, taking cover behind one of many stone walls that made up the arena. Just as she did, her assailant's torso jumped at her from the other side, arm blade alive and ruthlessly slicing into her shields. She glanced upward at the energy display on her visor's heads up display - a whole energy tank burned away leaving her with just base shielding to work with.

She smashed her opponent square in the face with the business end of her cannon, knocking it off and blinding it with several blasts for good measure. Its legs were rapidly reconstructed underneath it again as it stumbled back, and the two stood at a standstill, cannons raised at one another.

The assailant once again spoke in Space Pirate tongue…this was a Zebesian dialogue Samus was very much familiar with. "You don't even remember my name, do you?"

"As far as I'm concerned," Samus retorted, "You were just another bloodstain on my armor."

"Would you have said the same were I any other species?" the attacker asked. "If I were human, or Chozo?"

Samus merely growled at him, her annoyance only raised further by the chuckle that escaped her adversary.

"Thought so. You can keep the Octolith for now, Hunter."

"Remind me your name so they know what to put on the tombstone next time we meet, Pirate scum."

"It's Weavel, Aran. At least what's left of him."

. . .

Samus was awoken from her trance by the sound of the 300 pound armored space marine she called her companion sitting down on the bench across from her.

The Doom Slayer wasn't the type of man to sit down often - Hayden had privately reported to Samus that in his time of knowing him, it was only in her presence that he seemed to have any kind of pause button. A forgotten behavior he hadn't had any need for over the last several millennia.

Even now, as Samus looked up to see him, the Slayer was clearly somewhat stiff and uncomfortable-looking. He reverberated with the energy of a car engine ready to go. She read his intent, and stood up - the Slayer doing so practically the microsecond she moved.

"I'm…going to hunt," Samus announced. Her Combat Visor remained equipped, obscuring her eyes so the Slayer couldn't get a read on them. "If there were a couple of Pirates on Earth, there's bound to be more. They can't have set up shop too far away."

The Slayer nodded in response, and pulled the Super Shotgun from his back. Samus put up her hand, though.

"Going alone. It…will be harder for them to see us coming that way."

The Slayer paused for a moment, reading through her half-truth, and respecting her need to process the situation. "We'll scout elsewhere," he said, the simple response seeming to ease Samus' nerves. Samuel configured the portal, and in a moment's notice, the Hunter was off.

. . .

Though the Slayer had stopped the demonic invasion and saved Earth prior to the Hunter's arrival, there was no shortage of stragglers remaining on the surface. Every single demon they had slain was a boon in ensuring humanity's survival and recovery. Samus had returned to the Ashen Wastes, the area on Earth where the Super Gore Nest had been destroyed. It was likely that the radiation in the area was what prevented her armor's greater range scanners from working…which is why this time, she brought her ship.

Scanning…scanning…

Nothing.

It was almost nothing but dead air…

Almost.

There was a blip, for just a brief second. This was interference…likely some kind of stealth field generator, but normally Pirate tech wasn't strong enough to hide from her ship's scanners. This also came with the realization that communications with Dr. Hayden and the Slayer would be impossible until she returned. She ordered her computer to analyze the spike in activity her ship had received. It was so little to go off of…but it was just enough.

Large subterranean power network detected.

"That's what I was afraid of."

The Ashen Wastes were quiet…coated in soot and comprised of uneven terrain and sheer cliff faces as a byproduct of the war with Hell. Battles had leveled buildings, bombs had made craters out of city blocks, and earthquakes caused by the Nest had only further mutilated the earth beneath it all. All the while, a thin, toxic smog coated the area, carrying ash along its winds. The war had left the region alien…and several of the invaders had yet to leave the premises.

Samus recognized the violent snorting and subsequent squeal of the Pinky Demon some distance ahead of her. Visibility was low, but it'd be pretty hard to miss what looked and sounded like a raging snowmobile charging at you. As soon as it was within range, Samus activated her Grapple Lasso, and hooked around one of the beast's tusks. She yanked, hard, and the Pinky lost its footing in the ash. It slid on its side helplessly on Samus' right, which put its underbelly in immediate range for dispatch from the Scythe on her arm. She stabbed into it, sparks and rapidly burning blood jutting out from the point of impact. The Pinky growled in pain and frustration as the Scythe's laser edge burned away at its flesh. Samus grunted as she carved upward to its jaw and split it down the middle, securing the first kill of the hunt.

She heard a rattling, hissing sound low to the ground, now…two of them, at her flanks. The commotion caught the attention of a few Gargoyles who'd been flying by, who turned on her position and began hacking up projectiles. She didn't have time for this - if she was going to figure out what the Pirates were doing here, she was going to have to hit them hard and fast. The demons were no more than pests in the way of her current objective. Like a Geemer nesting on the side of a crevasse, or a Sheegoth prowling the snowy planes of the Phendrana Drifts.

She wrinkled her nose a bit. Tallon IV…where the entire saga she'd wrapped up before getting sucked here began. She'd have to pay one of her many temporary homes a visit after she'd unraveled whatever extradimensional horror the Pirates had uncovered this time.

She jumped backwards to evade her hissing assailants, one of them pouncing from the ground upon her previous location. It stayed mostly low to the ground, rendering it difficult at best to hit. The creature was big, and serpent-like…most of its body seemed cybernetic. Likely the UAC's handiwork, she thought. The one on the left stood up from its slithering position, and engaged her at a distance with a chained whip, a curved blade at the end. It swung twice, once horizontally, then vertically. The first hit just barely missed as Samus ducked under it, the second sliced clear across her chestplate. She was grateful for the Varia Suit's thick shielding…the blade's tip was covered in blood, and the creature had likely gouged out many hearts before today. She'd put an end to that.

Samus kicked her thrusters on to meet the Whiplash head on immediately after its attack. She punched it square across its jaw, and while it recoiled she froze its lower half in place with a charged shot from the Ice Beam. She dropped into the Morph Ball then, and aimed the Boost Ball at its torso like a bowling pin. It came clean off, with the added bonus of getting her out of the way of the Gargoyles' spit. She uncurled, then, and aimed her arm cannon up at the cluster of demons. The cannon changed shape slightly, a larger barrel opening at the end of it, with a purple cloud of energy humming to life as she aimed the weapon at each of her assailants. They lit up on her combat visor, homing locks confirmed on all five targets, and as she let go of the trigger, a cluster of Seeker Missiles tracked and obliterated each of the Gargoyles. Even as they scattered, the missiles were just as persistent on the hunt as she was.

That left the other snake, who Samus suddenly realized she could no longer see. A quick glance around revealed to her that something was making tracks in the ash around her, completely out of view. A switch to the Thermal Visor revealed the demon had the ability to cloak itself, and was circling around her position to try and ambush her. It had been far from her first engagement with cloaked enemies. Her arm cannon changed shape slightly again, becoming wider as its lights changed colors to the electrical Wave Beam. She charged the beam up as the Whiplash circled around, and once it was in range, she pulled the alternate Missile trigger inside of the cannon.

A crackling, brilliant bolt of electricity burst from the weapon, automatically targeting the Whiplash's head signature. It stopped dead in its tracks as the Wavebuster cooked it alive, and in three long, painful seconds, the creature combusted.

Morphology: Whiplash

Fast, agile, and deadly. Attacks with bladed chain whips, travels close to the ground to avoid weapons fire. Capable of cloaking, similar to some species of Spectre.

Samus heard the low rumbling of a Pirate transport, and dropped into Morph Ball again. The ash was so thick, it was enough to mostly hide the metallic sphere. Samus watched as a rickety ATC rose from the depths of a nearby ravine, and took off over the horizon. Once the coast was clear, she uncurled and headed towards the ravine. Whether it was natural or not she could not tell, but before long, she found her entrance in the form of a circular hatch near the bottom, built into the side. As she descended the ravine, it was slowly beginning to close once more. Her Screw Attack made it in before that happened.

. . .

"Why doesn't it surprise me that this is your idea of 'scouting'?"

The Doom Slayer's Combat Shotgun splattered a Pirate Trooper's mashed-in face to little more than chunks of brain matter and fragments of its skull. Another two Troopers jumped into the fray, slashing for the Slayer's uncovered arms as an identified potential weak point. One of their Scythes sliced clean across it…across it being the key word, as not an ounce of blood was dropped, nor the slightest impression of a scar. Said Pirate met what was at the other end of that arm as a Blood Punch smashed most of its armor into its body underneath, and the shockwave sent the other Pirate flying behind them. Even as it was dying from a slew of internal lacerations, the Trooper still found the strength to raise up its arm and fire its Quantum Assault Cannon at him. With swiftness and a rare display of grace the Slayer spun around the weapons fire, and punctured the Trooper's heart with his Doomblade. His equipment launcher fired a frag grenade that finished off the other Pirate without him needing to move a muscle.

The Slayer stood on the other side of the Ashen Planes, far from Samus' entry point so as to not interfere, but near enough to keep the heat on him as he got to get more intimate with the invading force.

He gazed up at the roaring sound of another Pirate ATC approaching…though this one seemed to have a passenger atop the craft as well. A big one, from the looks of it. The Slayer cracked his knuckles, and held his arms wide in a stance ready for the big guy. It landed in the ash like a cannon hitting the snow, soot sent flying in every direction. The creature was covered head to toe in what appeared to be natural, probably mutated armor. It stood taller than the ATC it was riding, and probably weighed about as much. The Slayer noted the giant, bladed claws on its arms, but something told him it probably had a couple other tricks up its sleeve, if the rest of its kin were any indication.

Codex: Pirates

Creatures

Berserker Lord

SAMUS' NOTES

These units were the pinnacle of reckless Space Pirate experimentation with Phazon. Their armor was extremely resistant to most weaponry, save for the shoulders. Their main defense lied in a special head-mounted plating that could be destroyed with sufficient amounts of radiation and blast trauma. Offensively, Berserker Lords were capable of explosive homing projectiles, plasma breath, shockwaves, and if it wasn't obvious, vicious claw swipes and grapples. With all traces of Phazon eradicated from every known system, Berserker Lords cease to exist in the Space Pirate army.

So much for that. The Slayer guessed Samus was going to have to update her logs soon. His assailant roared with its arms wide, and he got a glimpse of what was unmistakably a Buff Totem grafted into the creature's back. That probably didn't come standard-issue, either, as was probably the case with the set of grim looking horns on its head.

The Berserker Lord took on the same red frenzied aura that demons under the influence of the totem typically did, and in less than a second a crackling red ball of energy shot from its mouth like a bullet. The Slayer dodged it, and some great distance behind him a ruined building was reduced to smoke and rubble, the particles of ash sifting beneath them and echoing vibrations of the great collapse.

Immediately the Slayer retaliated, the burning orange trail from the Ballista cutting through the dreariness of the atmosphere into the beast's shoulder. Even as layers of muscle were torn from its skin, the Berserker Lord approached him with rabid fury. The Slayer back stepped from claw strikes that tore through the air, and brought out the Super Shotgun as the beast bent over to breath Argent-laced flames. He fired the Meathook into the creature, and used the chain to swing himself out of the way of the fire with the aid of the boosters in his boots. Whilst in the air and with a clear shot at the Berserker Lord's main armor piece on its back, he brought out the Plasma Gun, and fired a volley of superheated rounds at the target. From the heat, it began to glow a bright red.

As the Slayer landed, he swapped out to the Paingiver Rocket Launcher, but immediately had to dodge out of the way of a full force tackle from the Berserker. The Slayer recovered quickly, and after a quick lock-on, fired three spiraling missiles at the creature's smoking armor covering. It shattered into pieces and gave him the opening he was looking for. Once again the Berserker smashed the ground, sending out another shockwave that kicked ash into the air and ruined visibility. This time, as the Slayer grappled and swung around the creature, he was pelted with explosive orbs it had spat out in quick succession.

The Slayer hit the ground in a low stance as the Meathook chain receded, and he quickly swapped out for the Chaingun as the hulking figure's silhouette approached through the curtain of ash in the air. He pulled up the weapon's energy shield, blocking a brutal stream of plasma breath, and glaring into the Berserker's frenzied eyes. All the while the Slayer pulled the trigger, hundreds of rounds spent and plowing into the beast's now-exposed flesh. It relented, and as it faltered the Slayer exchanged modules on his weapon. One barrel became four as he unleashed the Mobile Turret upon his foe, and drowned the mutated Space Pirate in brass.

When the creature was no longer able to fight back, struggling just to even stand, the Slayer brought out Lucifer's Bane again and hooked into the beast. He pulled himself towards and over it, landing on its back, and ripped the Buff Totem from where it had been ingrained. The Berserker Knight let out one final, pained roar as the last of its lifeline was torn from its body. The Slayer stabbed through its head with the totem as he rode the creature into the ground, and then crushed both under his boot.

He looked up as several more Pirate ATCs approached his position, and clenched his fist, ready to take on whatever else the aliens had in store for him. Instead, they began to retreat…all at once, in formation and heading in the direction of where Samus had warped. At first, he considered the idea that she might have finally started making more noise than him…the demonic presence readings flashing across his visor were enough to sway that thought. He plunged the Meathook into the back of one of the recalled ATCs, and rode to join the fray.

. . .

Space Pirate Logs

RIFT

The tear in the fabric of reality that led us to this dimension has a source. The loathsome so-called 'Demons' are not native to this world's Earth as we originally hypothesized. They are the remnants of an invading force that attacked Earth approximately half a cycle ago. They arrived from a grand rift into this dimension supposedly opened from yet another realm. During the war, whatever realm houses this rift-opening power was destabilized, resulting in dimensional tears such as the one leading back to our world. Part of our research has been seeking a way to access this original control center. With the power of the multiverse at our fingertips, all will become the dominion of the Space Pirates!

POWER

The Demons attack with an energy source that can only be described as magic. It is harnessed from within their bodies, and utilized in a manner that requires no delivery glands or external weaponry. A ruined planet we discovered in this world's solar system - 'Mars,' likely destroyed in the war against the Demons - provided us with some incredible insight on how to harness this energy. The humans called it Argent…and its potential is limitless. Resources have been allocated to researching Argent, and expanding our facilities underneath the Earthen ruins. Our forces have been thinned and our resources drained since the loss of Phazon from our world…perhaps, fate smiles upon us this day as we are handed a suitable alternative.

GROWTH

What began as a simple scouting project has evolved into a full-blown operation. We are now the Space Pirate Colony Cerberus, named in irony over the apparent nature of the 'demonic' forces we are exploiting. With Argent fully integrated into our developmental systems, we have bolstered a powerful foothold in record time. Thanks in part to the Main Gate we have constructed at the heart of Cerberus, we have been able to regularly transport troops and resources to the colony under the pitiful humans' noses. With the aide of our amplified Stealth Field Generator, no amount of power or radiation is detectable to give our position away. There have been concerns regarding occasional glitches in the Main Gate's target destination calibration. There have been at least six incidents over the last two-hundred uses of the portal where personnel have seemingly vanished, never making it back to our bases on Zebes, or the Vol Paragom…however the benefit severely outweighs the potential risks. Glory to Cerberus!

DISTURBANCE

There may be some validation to the supernatural designation of our enemies, after all. Over the last several weeks, reports of apparent possession by the demonic forces have risen. This may be in part a result of our capture and research of several demonic specimens. In particular, the 'Arachnotron' units we have been studying in hopes of possible reverse-engineering have had unusual behavior, in which at times they will actively survey their surrounding areas, observing us closely even without sedation. Following these observation sessions, some attending pirates would completely disobey orders. Such actions have included releasing Demons from their holding pins, breaking crucial machinery, and general psychotic behavior until they are terminated. Pirates that have been captured and detained are found to murmur incoherently, and scribble strange symbols and runes on the walls of their cells with their own blood. We have ceased Demon research as a precaution, and executed the specimens we held captive.

SECURITY

Our Supreme Leader of High Command has been remaining present in Cerberus more frequently as a general observer, and has brought with him our own Bounty Hunter to help secure the colony. While it is blasphemous to think that we haven't had the situation here under control, the presence of the Supreme Leader and his protege has definitely helped ease the minds of our forces. There have been infrequent temporary failures in the Stealth Field Generator as of late, which has led to patrols by the humans' ARC marines in the Ashen Fields above. With our new weaponry and bolstered forces, we have made quick work of them, and acquired new technology from their own forward operating bases. We have converted several of them into decoy bases, just in case the Hunter investigates.

QUIET

The Main Gate is malfunctioning. The Main Gate is malfunctioning. The Main Gate is malfunctioning. The Main Gate is-

Samus stepped backward, once again over the body of the Pirate scientist she'd assassinated. She cursed under her breath as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead under the helmet. An anxiety made all the worse by the lab around her shaking, as explosions, gunfire, and screams of the damned and soon-to-be filled the halls further into the colony.

This is reading like the Mars incident, Samus thought, double-checking her suit's energy levels, and configuring her arm cannon. I'm no Slayer, though. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and reactivated the Combat Visor.

But I am a Hunter. Time to hunt.

She stepped out of Logging Center A back out onto Primary Street, one of several roads in what almost passed for a small city underneath the planet's surface.

She could see the other side of Cerberus from here, and most importantly, the Main Gate - through which a swirling red vortex was projected. Enough demons to repopulate the whole base came through, but Samus knew even these numbers were paltry compared to what Earth had been hit with. She guessed there may have been a reason they sent so few, but also knew they could build Gore Nests from the slaughtered. That meant Demons were a priority - then she could focus on eradicating the Pirates.

She started jogging - a jog that built into a sprint, and then into a gait at blistering speeds as the Speed Booster kicked in. She ran past rallying Pirate forces in a whirlwind, and launched the Shinespark directly into the chest of a Baron of Hell. For just a brief moment, its volcanic stoneskin resisted the kinetic force, but by the time it had wrapped its claws around Samus' form, its torso was no longer attached. Samus uncurled and rode its body like a sled, firing the Power Beam at every demonic target around her as she spun, blasting Imps and Gargoyles alike into mist.

She clashed blades with a Dread Knight that lunged towards her. She parried two of its aggressive swipes - the cyberized beast swung so hard Samus was certain its fists alone could likely liquify an unshielded target. She charged the Spazer Beam on her other hand, and unleashed a spread of green, chunky plasma into the monster's chest, melting through about half of its body and staggering it. Samus backflipped, kicking the Dread Knight in the chin with enough force to snap its neck, and at the apex of her jump she spun into the Screw Attack and sawed through a trio of Cacodemons that were closing in on her.

She heard a piercing screech, then - one that reverberated throughout all of Cerberus. She gazed up to find its source, and a shadow was cast over the city. That…was a dragon.

And it wasn't hers.

The creature was little more than skin and bone despite its mass. Every beat of its wings betrayed the creature's massive strength. As if it had noticed Samus' gaze, it spread its wings out wide, argent energy thundering in its wake. From Hell's infinite skies were summoned diabolical meteors. They fell with the force of a Titan's blows, smashing through Pirate steel and plunging into the heart of the colony. Pirate forces and demons alike were obliterated in its wake. Just as swiftly, it swooped down to ground level and flew along the surface, kicking open a wall of fire as it flew that erupted from the ground and slaughtered even Berserker Knights and ATCs.

"You should be paying more attention," came a voice that Samus had buried deep within the past. She glanced down to find an incredibly potent Pirate Scythe slicing through her shields, just barely deflected away from her body. She elbowed back with all the force she could muster, but hit nothing but air. Her assailant had dodged around her side, and transferred its momentum into a kick square into her chest. The blunt force knocked the wind out of her, and before she could recover, she was being bombarded with explosive plasma grenades, blowing her off of her feet.

Samus rolled back into a combat stance and fired a missile at her opponent, who swiftly dodged it by the shoulder. He kept his cannon trained on her, but for a moment, ceased firing. Samus met the gaze of the amber colored visor that stared blankly back at her, recognizing the red fleur atop the suit's helm. His suit, a dark, murky green, was bulky - to be expected of Space Pirate craft - but it was uncharacteristically well-put together.

What other bounty hunter could the Pirate Logs have been talking about but Weavel?

He spoke in Samus' tongue, mockingly. Samus decided to return the favor in Zebesian.

"Of course your filthy hide would be stationed in the bowels of the earth," she said, keeping her cannon arm trained on him as she walked to the side. Weavel mirrored her.

"Just babysitting, like you do the humans. The difference is, Pirates aren't so defenseless."

Samus took a quick glance at her radar to find several targets beelining for her from behind. She dropped into the Morph Ball añd rolled out of the way of two Pirate Commandos unloading scrambling grenades on her position, and continued rolling to evade more plasma from Weavel's weapon, the Battlehammer. All of a sudden, she boosted underneath one of the Commandos, knocking him off of his feet, before jumping up and bombing his carapace in the air, sending the Pirate sliding away on his back, sparks flying out from metal scraping metal.

She uncurled, parrying another sword swipe from Weavel, and shooting wildly at the other Commando to throw off his aim while his ally recovered. She swapped Beam configurations to the Plasma Beam, her cannon taking on an elongated, smoldering shape, and she turned her full attention to the Pirate Commandos. A charged shot blew through one of their chests, and in a flash she had swapped beams and froze its body as she jumped behind it. Another Battlehammer grenade aimed for Samus blew the Commando's frozen corpse apart, scattering an icy mist in the wind. Samus rode along it like a shadow in the snow, the Hunter's survival instincts bringing her skill and efficiency to the forefront.

Another Scrambler Grenade went off a bit too close for safety, and all of her combat information glitched out and went dark as her suit's OS automatically rebooted. It meant she couldn't see the exact position of her opponents, couldn't check her ammo reserves, and most importantly, couldn't see what her badly abused shield levels were at.

In some way, Samus appreciated not knowing. Less distractions.

The remaining Commando teleported out of the way of a Super Missile aimed for it, the rocket instead colliding with a Mancubus in the area and blowing it into a showering mess of mist. As soon as the Commando reappeared, Samus grappled it in the clutches of her Grapple Lasso, and yanked the Pirate toward her position. The Spazer Beam was charged and ready, and she blasted the Pirate's carapace open when it got close, sending it stumbling back. She ducked under a Missile shot from Weavel, yanked the Pirate back in, and stabbed into its throat with her own Scythe. It would choke on its own blood underneath the helmet, a fate Samus felt was far too forgiving for its kind. She tossed its body aside and faced Weavel again, and then felt a lightning storm's worth of electricity coursing through her body.

"You think you were the only one scavenging in the Alimbic Cluster?"

Samus growled. Damnit. No shields…she was taking this raw.

Damnit.

She'd been in this position before. Despite her affinity for gathering information, she did a bang-up job of keeping mind of it during the heat of combat. There was one thing she knew she didn't have to see, though. There was death and devastation all around her. Bodies of demons, bodies of pirates. She saw colors everywhere. Purples…reds…blues…yellows…

. . .

"Pirate vultures, Federation pigs and their dog bounty hunters - the whole galaxy's a damned menagerie!"

Spite and venom laced Sylux's every word as he held down the trigger, the Volt Driver's full power stopping the legendary Samus Aran in her tracks. The Guardians had done a number on them both only moments prior, and now, he had gained the upper hand in their duel. He leaned in close to her as he practically jammed the weapon into her abdomen.

"Look how eager they were to send their ace in the hole to the Alimbic Cluster, foaming at the mouth at the mere mention of 'ultimate power' just like the rest of us! We live in a damned madhouse, Aran. Maybe we've finally got a chance to remodel."

Amidst his disgust and hatred, Sylux failed to notice that Samus had been charging her cannon. Even though she could hardly move - the Volt Driver had her completely paralyzed, and she hadn't the shields to deflect any of the electricity away from her body. And yet, the beam began to shine ever brighter, even as the strength was sapped from her body. What was happening?

He glanced around them as he kept the trigger pulled, plenty of ammo to drain this second wind from her lungs. All that surrounded them was destruction. Debris and rubble from the Guardians they had faced, crates and sections of the wall blown apart in their struggle. The Chozo had created Metroid, an organism that garnered strength from taking life. Could Aran draw the same power from the destruction she caused?

He turned back to Samus in front of him, the shining light of the Power Beam leaving her cannon and filling his eyes, her shields impossibly rejuvenated, and her eyes, hungry and vicious like an animal.

. . .

Weavel's confidence began to falter as laughter of all things escaped from the Hunter.

"That's…that's it?"

Weavel took a cursory glance at the stream of lightning erupting from his cannon, then back at Samus. Her beam was charging - if she had the strength in her for a counterattack she'd launch it at a second's notice. But she couldn't move her arms. Her legs, on the other hand…those were moving. And she was walking toward him.

Two steps in and Weavel swapped weapons - he wasn't naive. The lights on his cannon shifted to red, and he fired the shrieking red beam of the Judicator sniper weapon right at Aran's head.

And he missed.

Samus clenched her left fist, the golden glow of her Scythe humming to life, and dove in to test Weavel. She slashed at him ruthlessly, sparks flashing and lights glaring every time they crossed blades. Weavel was more skilled with the weapon, but Samus was winning out in aggression. On top of that, every time Weavel's blade did cross her armor, he found that the blade dug only into shields. She had taken so much damage, and yet it was like she was constantly recovering. He suddenly found the barrel of her arm cannon in his abdomen, and after locking glances with Samus for just a moment, split into two - activating his half-turret form to avoid the iminent Spazer blast. As his torso jumped away, he realized that Samus hadn't fired - she baited him into it, and the last of his shields were annihilated in the force of the blast. A replacement lower half automatically built itself from Weavel's torso as he flew back. He slid across the metal surface, coated in blood both Pirate and demon alike. His suit was sparking. This fight was over.

Samus was upon him in an instant, a Super Missile cocked and loaded, its tip pointing out of her cannon and aiming directly at Weavel's face.

"Give me one good reason not to pull the trigger, Pirate scum," Samus spat.

"Because I would," Weavel said. He held up the Scythe on his arm in a gesture to Samus, and made certain that she could see her own reflection in his visor.

Samus had hardly flinched, but remained silent. Her stance was broken at the overwhelming boom of thunder sounding off in the air behind them. Another crackling red Argent portal opened up in the air…but where Weavel's words had shaken her, the cackling laugh that came out of the portal had nearly disarmed her.

She watched as the unmistakable form of Ridley soared through the warp at breakneck speed. He flew through Cerberus on wicked wings, wearing a new set of augments from the last time she'd faced him in the Leviathan. His cybernetic wings were stark red, as were many of the highlights on his armor. He sliced through Hell's dragon in one fatal swipe, clipping both of its wings and sending it careening into the city below. Before it even hit the ground, Ridley stopped, opened his mouth, and breathed a beam that seemed to suck the very light around it away. It ripped through the dragon, vaporizing it and decimating the ground beneath it in a row of spectacular detonations.

Samus turned back to face Weavel, but found nothing but a blue light where he had lay - his emergency evacuation activated, safely returned to his ship.

Samus trained her cannon on her nemesis, then, and stood unmoving just so she knew he saw her. Through her peripheral vision, she could see that there were a lot more Pirates still standing than demons. The…Pirates were winning? Most of them were augmented, too…carrying new weapons she hadn't seen before, wearing new, better armor.

Ridley seemed to notice her, and didn't so much as say a word. All he did was smile cruelly as recognition and a fire filled his eyes. It was now that Samus noticed Ridley was carrying a weapon - the thing was enormous, and certainly didn't look Pirate-made. It looked like it may have been stolen UAC tech, the design suggested a magnetized chamber…

The more pressing matter was the spitting image of death staring her down and now approaching her at over a hundred miles per hour. Samus swapped to the Wave Beam and began charging, double-checking her ammunition count for the Wavebuster.

She was half a second away from pulling the trigger when a flash of green passed in front of her. It swung its fist into the dragon's jaw with a force and power one would not expect from a being of his size. The Doom Slayer landed in front of Samus as smoke and fire sizzled from his fist, and exchanged glances with her.

Ridley flew through two Pirate buildings, an ATC, and the Stealth Field Generator before he regained his balance, spread his wings, and fired the enormous weapon he carried…behind him. It was a plasma powered Gauss Cannon prototype, fit for his size as it had been ripped from the clutches of a war machine. The force of the blast accelerated Ridley's flight like a bullet, and in his free hand he swiped the Doom Slayer off the ground and flew both of them directly through another warp. Samus was almost certain she could see stars through the portal before it disappeared.

Dr. Samuel Hayden came online in her ear again, the Pirates' Stealth Field damaged and jammers offline.

"Don't worry about the Slayer - he'll be fine. You need to shut down the Main Gate. I've marked the control center on your map - hurry! If the Gate's destroyed, you may not have a way back to your realm."

Samus took off into a sprint toward the front of Cerberus, where the portal to Hell had been opened. An Arch-Vile blocked her path just as the Speed Booster began to activate, putting up a wall of flame right in front of her. She bent her knees and stopped completely, halting all of her momentum before the wall did it for her. A charged shot from the Ice Beam stopped the Arch-vile in its tracks, and a Super Missile finished the job - all in time for Samus to release the energy she'd built up into a Shinespark clear across the city.

The Main Gate's controls were directly in front of the open portal, truly a Space Pirate design. Samus cut through Hell Knights and Whiplashes and even Barons with her Scythe as she clawed her way through to the terminal, and as countless Imps and Gargoyles clawed at her suit and covered her body, she placed her hand upon the terminal, beginning a manual override of its controls. She shrunk into the Morph Ball as the Main Gate began to lose power, the portal to Hell flickering in and out. A loud click as the Power Bomb loaded, and all in Samus' immediate vicinity were consumed in a nuclear wave of heat.

Samus stood alone at the gate, down on one knee and panting heavily…a small victory in what was becoming an increasingly eventful mission.

The Gate re-activated.

A hand reached out of it and grabbed her. It swiped her up in an instant, and held her in a grip that threatened to crush the Varia Suit like a can. Samus' shields were drained in seconds.

This was the biggest demon Samus had ever seen. It rivaled the likes of Thardus in size, no, Quadraxis. And the worst part was that unlike either of them, this creature looked intelligent.

It held the Hunter up to its face and sneered at the unsightly visage of another invader. The look on its face, with its four, furious eyes…it almost looked…disappointed?

"I am led to understand that you are a hunter as well, Earth Woman," the creature said, crushing Samus in its iron grip, relishing in the woman's pained screams as that which was meant to protect her was now beginning to pierce and break her.

"Unfortunately…my quarry seems to have escaped."

The demon held up its other arm…an absolutely monstrous cannon replacing most of it. It took aim at the generators powering the Main Gate, and nuked them into atoms with a blast of Argent remarkably similar to, and greater than, the BFG-9000's output.

The Gate completely ceased operations…the portal this demon was coming through was magic-made.

Samus managed to squeeze a charge out of her arm cannon's remaining battery, all of her armor's systems rapidly beginning to malfunction. She activated the Power Beam's Charge Combo - an energy infused Super Missile, and shot her assailant right in its face. The blast was powerful enough to blow its head back, and cause it to stumble backward. It crushed a Summoner at its feet underhoof…one that was crucial to maintaining the portal they were using.

Reality flashed into a hundred realms around them as they were sucked across the vast expanses of the universe, the spell broken and scattering them to the winds. As the forces of nature ripped Samus from the Harbinger's clutches, her demonic adversary left with only a cursing whisper: that there was no quarter that could keep her or the Slayer from him. Samus' consciousness began to fade, her eyes no longer having the strength to process the myriad warnings her failing suit flashed across her cracked visor.

She couldn't help but frown. Once you beat the big baddasses and clear out the infested base, you're supposed to win, aren't you? Aren't you? Where's that rewarding feeling of victory and secure ticket home? What the hell was this…?

That made her smile, slightly. Rundas would have made that joke.

"Justice will prevail, and all that stuff…right, Samus?"