A violet gunship floated serenely in space, without destination or purpose. Starlight glinted off its hull as within the ship, its pilot and only living occupant lay back in deep meditation, a state that was only a bit removed from deep sleep save that one could easily awake at need. As she rested, her mind left her body behind as she sought peace and solace in memories, looking back on all she had been through as she waited. She knew that eventually, a new threat would arise, some new danger to the galaxy or unexpected/unexplored area would be discovered. When that happened, it wouldn't be long before she was called in to deal with it. That was how it had always been, from the moment she made her debut as a Bounty Hunter. She'd lost count of the number of missions she'd been on, each one more dangerous and thrilling than the last. The only true lack she felt in all of it was someone who could keep up with her, to share in the struggles and adventures, a reason to do other than fight and recuperate. She ignored the lack most days...but with how long it had been since her last mission, it was - as always - beginning to prey on her mind. As such, she turned inward, mentally exploring her past.

As her mind turned to her memories of her time growing up on Zebes, shaped by her caretakers into the warrior she now was, the memory shifted as she felt another presence, one unexpected but not unwelcome. Turning in the memory turned vision, she faced one of her old caretakers with a smile. "Hatchling," the elderly Chozo greeted warmly, idly spreading his arms.

"Old Bird," Samus replied with a grin, rushing forward to embrace him. While the Chozo were not by nature a physically intimate people, Old Bird made more contact with other species than most and had been one of her primary caregivers after they had taken her in post the loss of her original home. As such, he was one of the few willing and able to indulge her need for physical affection, something others of the Chozo had tried - and failed - to comprehend given the species' preference for mental contact over physical.

"It is good to see you well," Old Bird offered affectionately, gently butting his beak-like face against her brow in an earnest if awkward nuzzle. "Time has been kind to you?"

Samus sighed as she stepped back, running a hand through her blond tresses as she let out the stress of inactivity. "Depends on your point of view," she muttered somewhat irritably. "Ever since ZDR..." She paused as she saw the confusion on Old Bird's face. Right, that was the Federation designation. What had the writings there said the Chozo called the world...? "Right, I mean Ili Tarin Nalima-" She suppressed a snort of amusement at the look of shock bordering on fear that crossed Old Bird's face at the mention of that world, not that she could blame him. With what had been hidden there and what Raven Beak had been attempting, she was glad to have made it out of there in one piece physically and mentally, even if - as happened unfortunately frequently in her line of work - the planet had blown up on her way out. "Well, I haven't actually gotten a mission since then," she concluded softly. "The Space Pirates are gone, nearly every sapient species the Federation has made contact with otherwise is an ally...I guess I've run out of threats to the galaxy to fight." She let out a quiet chuckle. "Suffering from success, I suppose."

"We foresaw this might happen," Old Bird allowed apologetically. "With the many dangers that threatened all life in the galaxy and how soon they would come, we only had time to prepare you to face them. We knew from reading the flow of time that you would be the one to save all from those threats, and thus we focused on ensuring you would survive and overcome...though this left us with no time to prepare you for dealing with the hurdles of ennui that would come when the peace you fought for was achieved." He hesitated. "I had hoped that those you met through your journeys would offer you some respite, some means of dealing with this."

"They might have," Samus allowed ruefully, "if I hadn't lost so many of them." She resolutely turned her mind away from those memories. Reliving them would not help her in this case. Forcing a smile, she continued, "I don't suppose there's anything to deal with that you know about that the Federation doesn't yet?"

Old Bird let out a sigh that was somewhere between bemused and distressed. "Indeed, we have come to ask of you yet another favor...and to offer a gift I hope will be to your liking. While it is good you are ready to seek such out, I had hoped you would have something in your life so as to not be so eager..."

"I'm guessing the gift comes as part of the favor?" Samus asked with a more honest smirk. She was used to this sort of thing, and wasn't averse to throwing herself into the mess. "So what do you need of me?"

Smiling softly, Old Bird parted his hands. An image of a planet that looked much like Earth Prime - the long lost homeworld of humanity, or so the old histories suggested - appeared between them, slowly rotating. "There is a world in need," he began slowly. "One that is not a part of the space-time in which you reside, but one that could easily connect to it. Grave danger comes to said world from within that is without, for it is a world of Power. Normally, such worlds can tend to such issues on their own, as Power will rise in response to Power to maintain Balance. ...however..."

"Let me guess," Samus interrupted as Old Bird hesitated. "You've been observing the world's past and possible futures, and if someone doesn't interfere the outcomes are less than pleasant?"

"Indeed," the ancient Chozo spirit confirmed. "The current conflict has the potential to bring the world to complete ruin, and if no action is taken, the Powers that would bring such ruin have even chances of allowing it to happen. Even in the possibilities where those that fight back defeat them, the cost of victory makes it pyrrhic at best. We would ask you to step in, to change that path and give this world a chance at a better outcome."

"Not the first time I've done something like that," Samus allowed eagerly. "Not the first time you've all sent me to do something like that either. What's different this time?"

Old Bird smiled ruefully. "You know us too well, Hatchling. The difference is that due to the nature of the conflict and the Power of the world, coming in as an Outsider will not allow you to save anyone. Only from within would you be able to make a difference."

"So an undercover mission?" Samus joked teasingly. "Not my usual style, but I can handle that."

"More than that," Old Bird continued, "from what we have scryed, we have determined when best for you to join the timeline...but it will be some time before you would be in position to make the right changes."

"So a protracted mission, then," Samus allows with a shrug. "So how long will I have to live like a local? A few months? A year?"

"A decade or more," Old Bird allowed apologetically. "Depending on how placing you into the timeline influences other events."

Samus blinked in surprise at that assertion. "That's...quite a vacation," she manages to get out, not quite putting the levity she wanted into the statement. "Is that the gift?"

"Not quite, Hatchling," Old Bird corrected, his expression softening. "Dear one, your childhood was stolen twice, once by Ridley when he attacked your home, and once by us when we worked to shape you to save all. If you go on this mission, what support we can offer you in this time-space will be minimal at best. The one true aid we can offer to enable you to become a part of this world to save it...is to give back what was stolen."

Samus stepped back, stunned by what Old Bird was saying. "Wait...are you saying..." She shook her head. "But how could I possibly save anyone - stop any threat - if I'm a child? It took the Chozo years to train me to the point that I was able to fight properly, and me more years till I was able to face everything that came my way...and I've still failed a time or two-"

"Moments of weakness are not failures, Hatchling," Old Bird chided gently. "Even the greatest of warriors can be halted by their deepest scars. And we would not take from you that which we have given you, even if we could. Your abilities and your mastery of them are as much a part of you as your warrior spirit. While we would return to you your youth and innocence so as to regain the childhood you lost, we will take nothing from you in the process. All will remain for you to access - or not - as you choose."

Samus took a couple of calming breaths, only now noticing how her brief moment of panic had caused the mindscape meeting to fluctuate and start to lose cohesion. "So...if I go in, I get to be a kid again? I...don't exactly have the best experiences of that, admittedly, and if this place is going to be in conflict and I've got no support..."

"Worry not, Hatchling," Old Bird hastened to reassure her. "There is one we have seen who will ensure you will grow with joy and strength, and you will be placed such that he will readily find you, and you will know him on sight. How you relate to him will be up to you."

Samus let those thoughts tumble around in her mind for a time. While this was certainly asking a lot of her...it was also giving her a chance at something she'd long thought lost. A normal childhood, happy memories, and who knew what else... Steadying herself, she made the decision she knew she would make. She'd never back down when someone needed her help, after all. "I'll do it," she stated firmly. "Send me in."

Old Bird smiled warmly at her as energy began together, fluctuating between her and the image of the world. "May the wisdom of our Ancestors go with you, Hatchling," he prayed before the vision vanished.

On the world in question, two particular individuals became aware as something had changed.

One of them, a criminal mastermind and self proclaimed ruler of the underworld, lifted his head as one of the many powers - or Quirks, as people called them in this era - he had stolen for himself alerted him to a new power that had appeared. That particular 'Quirk' allowed him to sense in a general way just how powerful people in his vicinity were, though it gave him no more details than that. He used that ability to avoid any 'Heroes' that sought to capture him - or rivals who sought to overthrow him - until he had researched them enough that he could deal with them easily...and it had just informed him of a new individual with immense power that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and not through any sort of warp 'Quirk'. Intrigued, he called for a particular lackey of his to whisk him to the location. He would investigate, and determine what - if any - action he should take in this regard.

The other individual was a 'Hero', one who used his 'Quirk' to uphold law and order at the behest of the legal government, and was engaged in a long standing 'shadow war' against the prior individual. His 'Quirk' enabled him to look partially into the future and see what would happen, enabling him to get information about planned operations ahead of time in order to better enable them to be carried out successfully. He had been using it when the change happened, and what had started as an orderly vision of the operation in question being carried out violently splintered into a kaleidoscope of images he could barely make sense of, all seemingly focused around a single individual...along with a sudden sense of said individual's location. Given such an unprecedented experience with his 'Quirk', he immediately turned to his partner - the self proclaimed 'Symbol of Peace' - and informed him where to go and what to look for. He was personally out the door not long after, even if his partner was already miles ahead on foot.

Neither side realized just how much this would change things...or what was about to happen.