Chapter Seven:

Following The Energy Signatures


Suzie whimpered softly as she hugged Samus. The armored bounty hunter gently rubbed the little girl's head, and nodded to Alex.

Samus tapped button in the side of her helmet, and the built-in scanner began pinging and beeping once more as a cautious Samus scanned the terrain past the spot where the Serpent had fallen.

"We'll be sitting ducks if we linger in this area, there could be more of those things preparing to ambush us..." Alex remarked, gripping his gun instinctively.

Samus' scanner pinged rapidly, picking up an energy signature, and the bounty hunter began scoping the region for the source of the signal that had just been detected. Samus' helmet sensors beeped as the former soldier pinpointed where the signature was detected.

She stepped forward, keeping the little girl close to her in a protective manner, and glanced at Alex with a nod.

The soldier's scanner was beeping intensely, and he nodded back at Samus.

"Yeah, I'm getting it too." Alex said, "It's comin' from the mountains to the northwest. There's somethin' there."

"More monsters?" Suzie asked nervously.

"We're looking into that." Samus nodded, "And it'll be alright, Suzie. If something dangerous arises, you hide until the threat has passed. Just do as we say, and we'll keep you safe."

The bounty hunter and her acquaintance proceeded across the barren landscape, moving an inch to the left, and kept the little girl by their side.

Samus was the one who kept Suzie next to her, and, the more time she spent around her, the Metroid-slaying hunter began to feel more connected to the orphaned youth. Both of them had lost their parents at a young age, be it to Metroids or Space Pirates.

Both Samus and Suzie weren't so different, but it would be many more years before the latter could properly fend for herself, assuming she survived for that long.

Meanwhile, Samus had seen her parents die, and, knowing what the Metroids were capable of, Suzie's parents were dead by now.

Perhaps, when this was over, the bounty hunter would take Suzie with her, find a place to call home for a time, and raise the little girl as her own. And that depended on how the rest of the mission developed.

Samus carefully stepped over a piece of metal that was sticking out of the ground, and Alex kicked a rock out of the way. Suzie folded an arm around Samus' hand, almost holding the bounty hunter back, but she softened up and gently fingered the little girl's face.

PING! PING! PING! The scanner chirped and blinked again, indicating the heat signature was getting stronger, and starting to divide. Life signs were becoming visible as green blots flashed on Samus' display.

'Metroids.' The bounty hunter thought.

Alex stopped, and so did Samus. Suzie knelt behind the armored Metroid-slaying veteran, and both bounty hunter and soldier stared ahead into the misty veil that obscured a portion of the terrain.

Shadows were moving, and they matched the unmistakable appearance of the universe's least favorite alien monsters.

Instinctively, and swiftly, Samus and Alex raised their weapons, and opened fire. They stepped forward, their eyes locked on whatever lay ahead as their scanners beeped wildly. Explosions cut through the mist, and Metroid screeching filled the group's ears.

Both soldier, hunter, and orphan stepped through the mist slowly, prepared for a potential ambush. Maybe the Metroids weren't completely destroyed, hence the cautious movement. The trio walked further, and came to a stop, as the smoldering remnants of a couple Metroids became fully visible.

Even then, Samus could still detect energy signatures from close by. She resumed her movements, and Alex followed, so did Suzie. They walked further, and further, until a slope appeared, and a mountain became visible.

Now, the signatures had spiked, and Samus' radar was detecting a structure that wasn't too far off. She looked up, and walked a few inches forward until the mist parted just enough for the group to see what was ahead. Samus' helmet-installed tracker was pining madly, and so was Alex's scanner.

Just several paces up the mountain, partially concealed in stone, and standing at five centimeters tall, a steel-made compound stood tall. Samus could make out traces of rust on it, and a couple dusty, and decaying statues stood near the entrance with a few Metroids floating around it.

A faint, flickering light illuminated the walls of the structure's entrance, and the Metroids made a few warbling noises, unaware of the three humans observing them from a distance.

Moments later, the ground rumbled, and a shrill noise emitted its way from out of the base, then the rumbling settled, and so did the sound. That noise sounded monstrous, almost as if more Metroid-related monsters were coming to life in there, or something else was waiting inside.

"Gotta be an abandoned lab." Alex said, "There's no way the Metroids made that on their own, it's a lab they took over."

Samus looked at Suzie and pat her on the head, then she looked back at the compound with her weapons ready. She stepped forward, taking aim at the creatures near the base's entrance, and prepared to fight. The Metroids were known for inhabiting abandoned places, and this was just the latest example...