Author's Note

Lol, I had someone question why Samus was suddenly pregnant on chapter nine. I had to double check myself because I was confused, seeing as I've written about it since chapter 2 forward. Had to wonder how that sort of plot point, aka, a massive plot point, somehow went over their head until the twentieth time it was brought up...

Anyway, little rant aside...

Wow, I've surprised even myself with this. Three chapters in the same month, might even fit in a fourth if I have the time. With that said, hope y'all enjoy. I'm really having fun with this.

Uploaded

01/15/2023

LEGEND BELOW

"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.

''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 10

What it would mean to truly loose control

Rated-M

M rating for blood, eventual mentioning of gore and other body parts, and language.

At an easy three hundred miles an hour, soaring through the air, they gained distance on the UNSC mothership within three minutes of flying.

Upon gaining proper line of sight with the Infinity, they saw something new hovering just outside the ship's hull.

At least, it was new to Samus.

"What is that?" She pointed out, slowing down mid air, hovering a few thousand feet above the forest floor.

She could sense the Spartan's distress from the way he shifted on her backside.

"The Didact. He's the one responsible for this." He grunted, eyes narrowed behind his visor. "He's the one that killed me once before."

Samus glanced over her shoulder, eyes widened, before turning back to the massive floating orb ship in the sky. "Is he this Forerunner I've heard the Covenant talking about?" She asked lowly, gaze narrowed dangerously at the alien ship.

"Correct." He replied quickly. "I don't think engaging him as we are now is a wise decision. He completely outclassed me before, and he'll do the same again now."

"So what do you suggest?" She found herself asking, jumping from left foot to right to keep herself afloat. Thankfully, the Chozo didn't design the Space Jump with a limiter in mind.

"We make landfall, move on foot through the forest. If there's anyone still down there, they're going to need our help." He said decidedly.

"Covenant Phantoms inbound! You two need to get out of sight." Cortana chimed in suddenly.

"Land it is then." The Bounty Hunter muttered, suddenly ceasing the continued use of her jumps. With nothing to keep them afloat, they began descending at a rapid speed. "Hold on." She called out, before turning around, dropping the Spartan for a brief moment to twist her body around, freeing the use of her thrusters. She grabbed him again, wrapping her arms around him as she suddenly engaged her thrusters fully as they broke through the top of the forest. Their descent was slowed enough that they could, at least in the Spartan's case, land safely. For the Hunter, most falls were trivial, even without use of thrusters.

They hit the ground, immediately splitting off for cover as a horde of Phantoms flew overhead.

"This is Commander Lasky! We're up to our necks in bad guy's down here! Anyone available to swing by and lend a hand?"

The first thing they finally managed to pick up upon landing was the distress call from Lasky, the man's voice coming in and out of their coms.

Samus turned a silent gaze to the Spartan, deciding to step back and let the man take the lead from here. These were his people, his humanity, and his ship, not hers. She was the outsider, and if things were to go smoothly, she would likely have to play nice with the UNSC. With that being the case, having the Spartan beside her act as the one speaking on her behalf was a requirement.

"This is Sierra 117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, on site and ready to assist." The man spoke over local coms, voice firm.

"C-Come again- did you say forward unto d-d-d-daaa—-…" Lasky asked in bewilderment, voice vanishing from their channel as the signal dropped again.

"Signal's gone, but from my calculations, Lasky should be close by." Cortana chimed in.

The Spartan nodded. "Understood. Samus, we're moving out. I want you to take point." He stated. What with his current lack of weaponry, having her lead was required. "But, keep it light. We don't need anymore casualties on our hands." He added, tilting his head her direction. "Do you have another weapon besides your Plasma Beam?" He asked. From what he'd seen so far, her triple layered Plasma Beam was by far her strongest beam weapon, right alongside her Super Missiles. Either of those weapons would, in a single shot, end human life. Even a grazing shot from her Plasma Beam would be lethal.

The woman nodded at his question, glancing down to her arm cannon. The green lights indicating use of the Plasma beam shifted to a soft yellow, the Bounty Hunter having reverted to the use of her base weapon system. She also disabled the use of the Wide Beam, as too many free flying rounds could end up injuring someone. "This is fine." She said decidedly.

"Follow me." She said, kicking off the ground as she ran headfirst into the forest. With the Spartan hot on her green heels, she made a beeline for the nearest site where a squad of soldiers were supposedly last reported. On the edge of her vision she could make out the tell tale flash of Promethean Knights appearing on the battlefield, smaller hoards of Crawlers appearing to support them.

It was about to get messy.

Unfortunately for the enemy, she was very handy when it came to making messes, and cleaning them up.

They broke into a clearing, Samus sliding into a crouch, arm cannon charged to ruin someone's night. A second of glancing around told her that it was clear for the moment being, something she relayed immediately. "All clear."

The Spartan followed her in, the man too taking a look around.

Fortunately, they had managed to happen upon the UNSC. Unfortunately, the men they found were already dead before they managed to arrive.

"…" Samus huffed, standing a little straighter as she glanced around to see if anyone had managed to survive. A quick use of her Thermal Visor came back as negative. She did manage to find a fully loaded weapon on the ground, a hand gun the Spartan could make use of. She gained his attention, before kicking it to him. No point in trying to throw it to him, she'd just destroy it the moment she touched it.

He caught the magnum, flicking the safety off once he had it in his hands. "Safety was on, these guys were ambushed." He noted idly. "Keep your eyes up, this forest isn't-" The Master Chief looked up, alerted by her sudden burst of speed. A knight appeared behind him, poised to strike him down. In rapid succession, he hit the ground, avoiding being cut down as Samus soared over him in a flash of speed, wrapping her dangerous claws around the Knight's neck. It slammed its blazing light blade into her side, but she was unfazed.

Two seconds later, a flash of pink light illuminating the forest, and the Forerunner defense A.I. was erased from existence.

The Master Chief stood up, turning around to find the threat taken care of. What he was greeted with was her kicking two more weapons his way, a hard light projecting shotgun and a hard light blade the Knight's were so fond of using. "Thanks." He muttered, attaching the blade to his right arm, while strapping the shotgun to his back.

"Commander Lasky! We've lost contact with your Pelicans! What's your status, over?" It was the distraught voice of the Infinity's captain that broke up the silence, the signal appearing patchy across either Samus's coms system, or the Spartan's.

Samus turned to him, silently belaying her confusion with an upturned movement of her hand. He shook his head negative in response. "They must not have picked up Lasky's distress call. If that's the case, then signal from here on out is going to be spotty at best."

If that wasn't worse, then the setting sun, artificial as it was, was going to make the next engagement a bit messy.

Samus turned to continue forward, but stopped just at the edge of the small forest clearing. "Chief…" She spoke, pausing after the fact. "When we find them…"

"I know." He spoke up, gently cutting her off. "I'll take charge, keep the interactions between them and you limited."

Samus glanced away, nor wanted to show how grateful his words made her feel. "Thank you." She muttered, before moving into the forest once more.

It didn't need to be openly said that placing her in a position where she was surrounded by other humans was a bad idea, the Spartan knew it to be the case. More than that, he understood her deep seated concerns, and didn't want to run the risk of her losing control around others.

When the time came, and they found the survivors, if there were any, she planned on staying as far back as possible.

Of the two voices in her head battling for dominance, there was no need to go and poke the hungry and defiant one with a plethora of temptations. Her inner Metroid was already growing extremely territorial over her unborn infants, and it was growing harder to resist its sway over her mind…

By the time they reached the last known location of Lasky, the sun had officially set on Requiem, casting them into an astute darkness. Spartans, although capable of seeing in extreme darkness, still required some form of light to be most effective, and as such, the Master Chief had resorted to the use of his helmet integrated headlamps.

Although Samus had a powerful headlamp as well, she'd forgone use of it, desiring to make use of her Thermal visor instead. As much as the Spartan resorting to the use of headlamps gave his position away to the enemy, she had quite literally no room to make comment, seeing as her armor had large pulsating red lights stretching up her thighs, breastplate, shoulders, and her visor. Nothing about her screamed stealth whatsoever.

The two of them approached a large Forerunner doorway in the middle of the forest, the structure connected to the side of a larger structure. The entire complex was shrouded in foliage, the plant life of Requiem having grown over most of it long before they ever arrived on the planet.

That being said, they had once again come up empty. The only thing left there for them was an i.d. tag belonging to one of the missing marines, laying on the ground probably a hundred feet or more from the front door.

As the Master Chief went to investigate it, seeing if he could scrounge up any more clues as to the man's whereabouts, Samus took to investigating the door, and the complex itself. Whatever the door was made out of, it had the effect of disrupting the proper use of her thermal visor, so she couldn't see through it.

So, naturally, when she opened it, she should've expected to find out what lay inside. Perhaps it had traces of the soldiers who'd been through the area. Weapons, armor, maybe a few i.d. tags left behind in a hurry.

Whatever she was expecting to find behind the door, that is, if it even opened for her, the one thing that was there was the one thing she wasn't prepared to face at a moments notice.

Her eyes widened in surprise when upon the door opening, many soldiers came pouring out.

No, not just soldiers, Spartans too. Many Spartans, marines too, men and women, all shouting, guns raised, poised to unleash a hellfire upon her.

She found herself rapidly backing away as they approached her like a threat, shouting things that she didn't pick up, flashlights blaring in her eyes, straining her thermal visor.

Her mind went into a frenzy at the sight of them all, too many of them, all too fast. She threw her arm cannon up to block out the blaring lights, something that in hindsight did little to make her seem like a friendly. She couldn't prepare herself to face them, and reacted poorly, when the soldier closest her reached out to grab her.

The Metroid in her heart had come to the understanding that the Master Chief was her partner, a friend, not food. That same pardon did not account to the rest of humanity, and she found that voice in her head appear unannounced, demanding her to defend herself and prey upon her sudden aggressors. Its urges and overpowering defense mechanisms instilled in her dna had reacted to the sudden and unexpected threat against her with violence, and she had no time to build up her will to fight it off.

And in that moment, Samus had been replaced with the Metroid, and the Metroid wanted to protect itself and her babies, by whatever means necessary. She was the last of her kind, carrying the last of her species, and her body knew that, and responded with the appropriate violence required to keep those babies safe from harm.

She had switched, hand blazing with pink energy, rushing the closest Spartan that demanded she stand down. He was knocked to the ground with a devastating tackle, the rest blown back a shockwave she emitted. One tried to approach her, but found himself face down in the dirt, having been tripped and slammed down unceremoniously by her arm cannon slamming into the back of his head, face bouncing painfully off of the ground.

A knife was pulled, stabbing into her neck. The poor gray armored Spartan wasn't sure how to describe the chill that ran down her spine as her hardened titanium combat knife snapped in half upon her attempt to stab the green alien. That shock was all said alien needed to thoroughly plant her in the ground with a kick that sent her flying into the Forerunner structure.

A third Spartan had rushed her in a tackle, using the weight of his suit to pin her down. Unfortunately, she used the momentum of his attack to roll, her legs scrunching up to deliver a powerful kick to his gut that threw him twenty feet away, planting him in a tree.

The fourth Spartan, the last one remaining standing, had resorted to hand to hand combat, seeing as bullets were rendered useless.

She had her hand around his throat within an instant, flashing forward far too fast for the super soldier to properly respond. His shields were the only thing that kept him alive for the few long moments she had her claws around him.

She hissed a terrible alien screech, eyes narrowed dangerously as bullets bounced off her armored body, completely ineffective against her superior energy shields. Marines shouted expletives around her, terrified at the lack of damage they'd done to her.

She wasn't even aware of when the Master Chief appeared, shouting that everyone stand down, sounding in that moment far angrier then she'd ever recalled hearing from him. The only thing that pulled her mind back from the pit it had suddenly fallen into was his presence, his hand on her wrist, pulling it off of the other Spartan with a sharp twist and yank.

"Samus!" Chief grunted, seeing as her attention was stilled locked pointedly on the Spartan behind the Chief. It took the Chief one glance in her eyes to tell him what was wrong.

Her eyes were red, entirely red, the humanity in them he'd come to associate with her having been replaced with something animalistic.

She wasn't even looking at him, staring straight through him, thoroughly locked onto the one's she perceived as a threat to her.

"What the hell was that?! Who are you?" The gray Spartan, the man who'd been moments away from an untimely death, grunted sharply, standing back up to his full height.

"Back off, now." Chief grunted, throwing the other soldier a sharp look.

"Soldiers! Stand down!" It was the sharply shouted voice of a fifth Spartan that served to deescalate the situation. Approaching the Master Chief was a white Spartan, clearly the commander of the group.

Still, John refused to release his grip on the Bounty Hunter. The look in her eye was still frazzled, and if he were to let go now, she'd likely slaughter them all without being able to stop herself.

She was, in all honesty, a ticking time bomb, and he was the only one that was capable of halting that explosion.

Without taking his eyes off of her, lest she wiggle out from his grasp, he addressed the rest of the crowd around him. "I want all of you back inside that structure." He ordered. The woman in white seemed to bristle at his order.

"And who are you going to give us orders, big green?" She asked sharply, tone disrespectful.

"Petty Officer, Spartan John one one seven. I'm ordering you, soldier, to stand down now." He announced, practically on autopilot. "Unless one of you plan on aggravating her again? Next time I might not be able to stop her in time." It was his tone and the way he expressed his words that seemed to quickly get into the heads of those around him.

That and the announcement of just who he was, the hero of humanity, the one responsible for preventing the flood outbreak, and the one heavily responsible for ending the human-covenant war, not that he knew about that last part, that got them moving.

Wisely, the troopers quickly gathered back inside of the Forerunner structure they'd been using to camp in until reinforcements arrived.

Only once they were gone did her gaze trail off from where they'd stood, his firm grip grasping her attention. "Samus. It's okay. They won't hurt you." He said, tone much softer than when addressing the soldiers before. "They're gone now, it's safe." He continued, but looking in her three glowing eyes, he came to the realization that he wasn't talking to the alien woman he'd come to know. He was talking to the creature that was running purely off of instinct.

He wracked his brain for a moment, trying to figure out what he could say to calm the tension in her. Then it hit him, as he found himself holding both of her arms, forcing her to face him. "They won't hurt your children, they don't want them. You can relax now." He said quietly, loud enough for her alone to hear.

Her eyes flashed, and she stopped attempting to escape his grasp.

They didn't want her children?

They didn't want to hurt her or steal her unborn babies?

It was…

Safe?

Those glowing red eyes, the ones that did not belong to Samus Aran, studied the man before her, looking for any sign that he was lying to her. The one in green, the Spartan, the one she'd marked with her energy, the only one to be deserving of a different attention than the rest of the world, said it was safe. The only one that was not prey, but instead, akin to her other half, the one that had promised to keep her children safe from harm.

That is the being that had told her that it was safe now.

So, naturally, she believed him.

Slowly, the red faded from her eyes, returning to the center, the black sclera returning once more, and with it, Samus.

"…Chief?" The Bounty Hunter asked after a moment, eyes widening. She looked around, lost for a moment. In that moment, she wasn't Samus Aran, intergalactic Bounty Hunter for higher, and cold blooded killer.

No, what he saw in that moment, was a woman that was scared. Not scared of someone, not of something or some outside danger. No, nothing that simply.

She was afraid of herself, because she knew that she'd lost the battle of wills. The war that she'd been fighting this whole time within her mind, she had slipped, and the beast within had taken over. And for a moment, a few minutes at most, the person in the nigh indestructible armor, was nothing but a highly dangerous and territorial monster. A beast that cared nothing for life, whether that be human, or alien, but only of itself.

A cornered beast was at its most dangerous, especially if that creature was a mother. And so caught off guard by the soldiers presence, she couldn't grasp onto that leash that was wrapped around that beast, and it had escaped her control, freed to run rampant.

"It's fine now. No one died, it was just a misunderstanding." He found himself saying, having yet to let her go.

She found herself rising to anger by his words, even knowing when she shouldn't, that he didn't mean anything by them. The way he said that no one died implied that someone had been hurt, and it was her fault.

"A-A misunderstanding?" She hissed, eyes scrunching up. "What's there to misunderstand? I attacked them because I couldn't control myself!"

"Samus." He cut her off, not willing to let her go down that road again. "You were caught off guard, it's not your fault. If you had lost control, then that Spartan should've been dead." He said seriously, voice firm.

Loath as she was to admit it, he was likely right. Whether or not she remembered it, she had retained enough of herself to withhold killing the gray Spartan. She had probably held him for thirty seconds, more then long enough to have reduced him to nothing, armor and all.

"He would've been dead. But he's not." He said firmly, hand gripping her hand a tad tighter unconsciously.

Even with his words of comfort, short and textbook as they were coming from him, she still felt like she shouldn't be excused for her actions. She still felt like she was at fault for what happened.

She yanked her hand free from his grasp, turning and walking away. She didn't want to be around when the soldiers returned, she didn't feel like tempting fate again that night.

He watched her go, a strange unexplained feeling welling up in his chest, an emotion he couldn't place. He'd never been good with emotions, and deciphering which ones her felt and what they meant required far too much of his time he'd rather spend on more important matters.

He let out a short huff, returning to the door to the structure. He knocked on it twice, the door opening a moment later. The white Spartan from before was standing there, looking not too pleased.

He almost scoffed, uncaring of her personal attitude towards him. He had more important things to worry about than offending the commander, especially when she wanted to participate in a pissing match with him.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to give you an IOU on that welcome home party." The Chief turned his attention past the white Spartan, focused on the man that approached. He reached his hand out to shake the man's almost automatically when he reached to him. "Tom Lasky, First officer of the Infinity." He introduced, unable to hide the grin on his face. "I never thought I'd see you again."

Lasky stepped back, glancing past the Spartan, eyeing the red glowing form of the one responsible for attacking his Spartans a few minutes ago. She'd moved away, probably standing a hundred feet out, at the edge of the clearing. Upon seeing him staring at her, she turned away, slipping a little deeper into the forest.

"Make a new acquaintance while you were gone?" Lasky asked, tone light despite the tense nature in the air. He, along with everyone else present had seen how he handled her, the way he talked and addressed her, the way he'd refused to respond violently when she didn't seem to carry the same level of restraint.

"She ran into me." He explained quickly, not divulging much more.

A little too quickly.

"Chief I… What was that back there?" Lasky asked, sounding put off. To make his question more pointed, he glanced back to where he'd last seen the woman in green.

"It was nothing." He said, seeming to think for a second, before quickly continuing. "It won't happen again. It was a misunderstanding." He decided on saying.

"A misunderstanding?!" The white Spartan grunted sharply, stepping forward. "She laid out my Spartans."

"Your Spartans pointed guns at her." Chief responded, shutting her down immediately. "Something I would advise they do not try again." He advised, the consequences of what would happen going left unsaid, yet the threat was open.

Ignoring her entirely, the Master Chief turned back to Lasky. "She's not our enemy. And, if I hadn't run into her, I wouldn't be here to have this conversation with you, sir." The super soldier explained, to the first officer. "I promised her that I would protect her, so she is coming along." He said, tone showing that he was leaving no room for argument.

Lasky looked deeply conflicted, but he didn't shut the man down immediately. But, the issue and the danger she posed to him and his men couldn't just be ignored.

The officer sighed, nodding something to himself. "Okay… Let me talk to her before I decide anything." He said after a long moment. If it were possible to see through the armor, the Chief seemed to relax somewhat at his declaration.

"Thank you sir." The Spartan said, tone genuine. At least, from him it sounded so.

However, before anything further could be discussed, a marine in the background, who'd been fiddling with a radio system suddenly waved the commander down as the irate voice of the captain came through.

"…ground forces are ordered to return to Infinity immediately!" Del Rio's voice snapped over the coms, sounding patchy.

"Commander! Radio's hot!" The marine manning the radio called out.

Lasky turned to the Chief, before going along with his white Spartan escort. While they busied themselves with responding to the Captain, the Chief turned back to look for Samus. When she caught his gaze staring, he motioned for her to join his side by the others.

He could tell that she was tempted not to, and yet, after struggling with herself for a long silent moment, she moved to rejoin him. He nodded silently, not making any comment as he turned to rejoin Lasky's side, Samus close behind him. For reasons not needing explanation, she stayed behind him, keeping him between her and the rest of the group. As they approached, they could pick up the Captain's angered rants.

"…respond to comm… On what frequency? What frequency, damnit!?"

Lasky hastened his pace at the clearly irate tone of the Captain, patching into the coms to respond.

"Infinity, this is Commander Lasky! Pelican recon teams are down, I repeat, all birds are down! We've got numerous casualties and wounded, we need immediate assistance, over."

"Finally…" Del Rio sighed. "Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?" The captain asked immediately.

Lasky looked shaken slightly, but responded nonetheless. "Affirmative sir, but we're going to need a bus out of here!" He tried.

"Make it happen!" Was all that Del Rio said before the coms fell off again. It was either that, or he'd ended the line, turning his attention elsewhere. Lasky shook his head, standing up.

"You were sent on a scouting run in the middle of an attack on the ship?" Cortana chose that moment to speak up, voicing her concern over the choices having been made. Lasky sighed, shaking his head.

"The captain thought Infinity could provide us cover while holding off the attack at the same time." Lasky explained.

The Spartan in white approached him, shaking her head. "Sir, we'll never get the wounded back to the ship on foot." She said quietly, not wishing for her voice to carry down the halls of the structure.

The commander seemed to dwell upon her words for a moment, before he was struck with a thought. Lasky turned to the Chief. "I don't know if it's too soon to to ask a favor of you, but we're going to start running out of breathing room here real quick. I don't suppose you're any good at clearing LZ's?" He said, giving the green Spartan a questioning look.

John tilted his head slightly. "On occasion." He said simply. "We will signal when it's clear." With that done, he turned around, nodding to the silent Bounty Hunter behind him. He moved past her, moving for the door knowing she'd likely be right behind him.

She stayed for a moment, glancing back to Lasky and the commanding Spartan in white. The white armored woman seemed to bristle at the sight of her, glaring down at her.

Samus ignored her, watching her out of the corner of her eye as she instead turned to Lasky. The man watched her in surprise, taking a moment to truly look her over in the light of the structure.

"I'm sorry for… attacking your men." She finally spoke, voice soft. There was an inherently flat nature to her tone that reminded the man of the first generation of Spartans and their mannerisms, yet at the same time it was also something odd about it. Her visor, which had been one way previously, cleared to give him view of her face.

He was surprised at how human she looked. Soft puffy jet black lips, glowing red eyes with a seemingly soulless black sclera. Her skin looked soft, like it had never before suffered damage.

Yet, there was the inherent alien nature to her, a third red eye in the center of her forehead, that of which seemed to stare into his mind, and the slight green tint her white lightly tanned skin took. At the corners of her lips was a thin almost unnoticeable line that extended up to her jaw, giving him the impression that her mouth actually open far wider then meets the eye. And finally, greenish blond hair hung in front of her eyes ever so slightly.

"The Master Chief said it was an accident." Lasky stated, repeating the green Spartan's words from before. He judged her gaze, seeing how she'd respond to him letting it go so easily.

Samus blinked at him, her three eyes staring at him with a level of surprise.

Lasky almost chuckled despite the stressful situation they had all found themselves in, offering the alien woman a light grin. "Tom Lasky, first officer of the UNSC Infinity." The man introduced, holding out his hand to her. "There's no time to be holding grudges out here. If the Chief trusts you, then I'm inclined to side with his thinking." He said lightly. "He's helped humanity get this far." He added after a moment.

The white Spartan seemed deeply upset by the commanders statement, and decided that she was needed elsewhere. If he felt like exposing himself to danger despite her plethora of warnings, then she was no longer needed for the time being.

Samus glanced down at his open hand, almost reaching out to shake it on instinct. Her urges had calmed somewhat by the Chief's presence and words from before, but she didn't wish to stay this close to the commander any longer then needed.

But, right now would be the perfect time to prove that she was trustworthy. Tentatively, she reached out to him, hand shaking. Lasky eyed the extended limb in confusion, wondering after her display back there why she'd be shaking when talking to him. He realized that it couldn't have been fear or nervousness, at least, not directed towards him.

She stopped only inches from his hand, and he found his gaze drawn to her face to try and deduce what was wrong. Her eyes had thinned, face muscles tightened in deep concentration, like she was struggling with something within herself.

After a moment, the pink around her claws vanished, and she grasped his smaller hand with her clawed one. She shook it briskly, before standing up sharply, quickly moving to rejoin the Chief.

Chapter

10

End