Author's Note
It's been way too long, and I have no good excuses to explain why it took so much time to get back to this. But here we go.
Uploaded
10/13/2024
Legend below
"Commander on approach!" = Normal speech.
"I hope this message makes it to you..." = Recordings.
CHAPTER 5
Day 4
Music of the day
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes - Space Pirate Battle
"Emergency! Sector five is under attack! The Hunter has appeared, we need backup immediately!" Sirens blared in the background, red lights flashing as the cave shook. Explosions echoed out across the dusty halls, only made worse by the sounds of haunting laughter that followed it.
Explosions rocked out in the background, Pirates half vaporized bodies splattering against the walls of their base. Screams and roars reverberated off the blood stained walls, their cries for help silenced.
The one managing the communications frantically called for help, trying every come channel that they could. But to their horror, the base's power fluctuated. Lights flashed as the outward communication system went offline.
"Commandos?! Do you read?! This is site comm-" The voice was cut short, the Pirate cut down from behind. A shadowy figure appeared from down a corridor, dressed in the traditional armor of the one known as Samus Aran. Around her lay tens of bodies, all Space Pirates.
Blue burn markings littered their body's and the grounds around them, command terminals and base security systems reduced to smoldering piles of sparkling electronics. The red lights and sirens continued to blare, but it seemed that no one was around to heed the warning.
Within minutes, everyone on site had been reduced to nothing but corpses.
But one remained. Hidden underneath the bodies of her fellow brethren lay Silva, laying so still she may as well have been dead. She couldn't breathe, she wouldn't move.
For if she did, the Hunter clad in black would end her life like her fellow Pirates.
She didn't know where she came from, what she wanted, nor why she was here. Everything had been going the same as normal, but out of the blue she appeared. Before a proper defense could be mounted, she engaged with the Pirates at the base. The battle was entirely one sided, and everyone on site was killed.
And what did she seek in doing so?
That question was answered when she spotted her rummaging through their salvaged Phazon supplies. She tore through the mutagenic storage containers, killing any and all who got in her way.
And then she absorbed it. Something Silva had never seen before, but the Dark Hunter took it. She took it all, infusing it within her body. She cried out in glee at the sensation, body glowing brighter the more she took in. The room around he began to glow bright blue, the air temperature rising around the Dark Hunter.
It was horrifying to witness. And so, she did everything in her power to stay out of sight.
She would live through this encounter.
She had to…
The elevator ride was a bit different this time around. With the four best members of the Federation platoon behind her, this journey was sure to, at the very least be a little more then their favor then were she to go it alone.
It didn't mean that she felt good knowing that she was taking them into a, in all likelihood, live fire zone with the Pirates.
She shook her head. It wouldn't do to dwell on things now outside of her control. She had to keep her head in the game and focus up if this was going to go smoothly.
"Hmm?" The Hunter intoned suddenly, looking over her shoulder. Grippe had grabbed her armored bicep, nodding to her.
She blinked to herself. It seemed like he had caught into her uncertainty.
"Chin up. You got this." He whispered, giving her a nod. Her visor was impassive, and he couldn't see behind it. Yet he knew that she appreciated his words, if her shoulders losing some of that tension was anything to go by.
The ground shook underneath their feet, the elevator slowing to a halt as they approached the ground floor. Samus glanced back at the troopers, getting a nod out of them.
Good
It was time to move.
She was the first one out the door, the hot dry air of the Agon Wastes blasting her immediately. She was unaffected due to the Varia Suit, yet the Troopers were not. But none felt the need to speak up in complaint.
There was more important things to worry about then the threat of overheating.
The walk through the dry lifeless dessert was…
Tense…
It was different from when they were safer, all things considered, at the top of Temple Grounds. There they had numbers on their sides, if nothing else.
But here, they had nothing but themselves and their energy bayonets. If not for Samus' presence, they'd be unbearably on edge. Yet with the strongest woman in the galaxy standing in front of them, they felt like they were invincible.
"Ma'am? What do you plan to do when you find that portal?" Smythe was the one to break the silence during their walk, his curiosity peaked. That was a question they'd all thought of, but weren't willing to voice that question.
What was she planning on doing?
That was the question posed, yes.
What she was planning on doing was something that they couldn't do. She was going to invade the dark world. But they were going to stay behind.
She knew that they'd complain and argue with her, but it didn't matter. They didn't know of the threat the dark world posed, hell, she only knew what she'd been told by a dead Luminoth hologram. As a matter of fact, she didn't know if she'd survive without the Dark Suit the temple warrior spoke of. And if her armor could not withstand the harsher world that lay on the other side of the portal, there was no chance that they'd survive even a second.
Taking them into Dark Aether would also expose them to darkling possession, and she was under the assumption that only she was immune to such attacks.
No.
There was simply too many risks involved to have them journey with her. And if they were adamant on coming along, it would only be after she found a way to better protect them from the darkness.
"You four will stay behind while I raid Dark Aether." She finally spoke, her words final.
"But-"
"No!" She grunted sharply, cutting Smythe off. "This is not up for debate. I will not risk your lives because of your feelings towards me. You will stay behind." She didn't turn around, speaking her words as she continued to assess the area.
She couldn't let her guard down here, not even for a second. People could die if she did.
Fortunately for the Hunter, the world around them had decided that conversation time was over. Samus stopped suddenly, holding her left arm up to warn the Troops to stop.
She stopped atop a rocky solid platform, the area they found themselves in a large open sea of sand. Surrounding the area was a wall of stone, as if they'd found themselves inside of a valley pit.
That wasn't concerning. What did concern her was the lack of local fauna.
She'd been through this area once before, and it'd been filled with creatures of all sorts. Nightbarbs flew around in hoards, Sandiggers swam underneath the soft sand, and Lightflyers would come and go.
But now there was nothing.
Smoke billowed into the sky in dark black clouds nearby, a fire of some sort that wasn't there before. Something had happened.
And whatever it was, wasn't good.
Could it have been the Space Pirates? Did something happen?
Whatever it was, she needed to check it out.
"We're making an adjustment, keep pace with me." Samus said, turning from her original destination of the location of the portal, instead heading a different direction. There was no time to be slow, she sped up to a slow run, making sure they could keep up with her.
She ran through a cave system, the smoke filling the sky above the more time that passed. A short time later she appeared on the front doorstep of the Space Pirates base. She slid to a stop, the towering form of a Space Pirate frigate serving as the main entrance of the base. It'd been destroyed, likely the reason it had been turned into a ground base. Littering the sandy field in front of it were power generators and wind generators, all wired up into a power supply leading directly into the base.
However, what gained her attention the most, was the fact that it was destroyed. Fire burned away at the ruins of the base, unrepairable damage had been dealt, and she wasn't the one responsible.
The ground underneath them suddenly shook as an explosion rocked the base, blue energy flying into the sky. She could vaguely hear the sound of Space Pirates screaming in the distance, a firefight happening only a short distance away.
Whatever had caused this disaster was still here, and it was still fighting.
She knew bringing them along would've been a bad idea, and now they were in danger. But there wasn't time to run them back to the Sky Temple now. She needed to stop the destruction of Aether before it was too late. There was no time to waste running back and forth mindlessly.
"Everyone on me! Stay behind and follow my orders!" Samus ordered sharply.
"Ma'am!" They saluted. The Hunter ran ahead, Power-Beam charged and ready to unleash a blast onto anything that stood in her way. She and the Troops entered the ship made base, and she was immediately met with hostile security base defense systems.
"Get down-!" She shouted out, just in time too as a flurry of energy rounds from two separate defense turrets unleashed hellfire upon her. Her shields flared as she tanked the damage to protect the men. One turret was blown away from the power-shot she had prepared in advance, and the second was quickly destroyed too by a well placed missile blast.
"Samus?! Are you alright?!" Smythe shouted out. He'd seen her take a flurry of direct hits and not even flinch.
"I'm fine." She muttered. She moved forward towards the downed weapons, squatting down to inspect them. Though damaged from her attacks, she'd only managed to destroy the mounting gear that held them. "Benet, Monz, you two take these." She ordered, before tossing the turrets to the Troops.
"Yes ma'am!" They both cried out enthusiastically. This would be the first time either had ever the chance to use Space Pirate defense weaponry.
Now her team was armed, save for Grippe who still had only his energy bayonet. With that said, she moved forward quickly and carefully into the base…
When they finally made their way inside, none of them knew what really to expect. There was the very real chance that they'd encounter a battalion of Space Pirates that were likely stationed here, and the ensuing battle could very well end in their deaths.
But Samus had been adamant in inspecting the base, and the Troops had faith that she could deal with whatever threat came their way while defending them at the same time.
So after bursting their way into what they all presumed to be the main control center of the base, they weren't sure what to expect. But the hundreds of dead Pirate bodies littering the floors was not something they'd expected to see.
Red sirens blared around them, a warning sign for them to leave. However, either the Pirates couldn't escape in time, or had been killed beforehand. What was more concerning was the fact that the only bodies that filled the room was Pirates. This out-ruled the possibility of it being the Ing.
Which begged the question…
"Who took this base out…?" The words were a thought shared by the group, yet uttered by Smythe. A quick look around they all came to the conclusion that they were alone.
"Something's not right here…" Grippe grunted, looking a little more then flighty.
They didn't need to be told what to do, and Samus hadn't told them off yet, so they used this chance to scavenge supplies. Weapons, grenades, and ammunition, anything they could think of to take to the rest of the Troopers back at the Temple Grounds. Everything would help.
They split off from Samus as they gathered gear from the bodies.
Yet for the Bounty Hunter, she was busy with something else. Something felt off, beside the obvious. But she couldn't place her finger on what.
She switched on her Thermal Visor, only to recoil at the blaring orange that illuminated her visor. She moved forward, grabbing onto the closest Pirate body she could find. She rolled the corpse over, examining it closely. Strange burn marks covered the body, yet from her knowledge, these burns didn't match with any known Space Pirate weaponry.
However, the attacks that ended these Pirates were indeed energy weapons, not attacks from local and or non local fauna.
She'd resorted to scanning the bodies in the room for more information, but the result came back rather…
Inconclusive…
They had all been gunned down with energy based attacks, yet these attacks left no residue. No plasma burns, no charred flesh, nothing. It just went straight through them like paper…
Something was seriously wrong here…
Something just wasn't adding up…
A blip on her radar alerted her to movement in a nearby room, and none of it from her group. She quickly got to her feet. "Troopers, on me!" She grunted out.
"Ma'am!" They called out, quickly rallying behind her. She moved forwards, her powerful legs quickly carrying her to her destination. They passed by multiple rooms, all similarly destroyed and filled with Pirate bodies, until eventually they arrived at the source of her radar's disruption.
It was a large squared room with two floors. The one they entered in was the top floor, which consisted of a large walkway that hugged only half the room. It was walled off by large glass windows which allowed them to peer into the contents of the room below.
But it was what was in the room below that gave them all pause, and worse then that, it's what stunned the Hunter.
Large test tubes filled the bottom floor, all filled with a highly mutagenic blue substance known simply as Phazon. And it was the existence of this horrid material that gave the Hunter a headache, because things here on Aether just got a lot more complicated.
Samus walked along the wall, eyes locked sharply on the floor below. There was a center containment unit down below, and the blip on her radar was standing just behind it. Still unsure of what it was, she wasn't going to risk the safety of her Troopers behind her.
As she reached the only opening in the glass, she threw her left hand up in a closed fist. The men all shared a look before they nodded to her and lined up on the opening. They knew to stay behind.
Samus nodded to them before leaping down to the floor below. She landed loudly, crouched down with her left hand supporting her on the ground. Her eyes were locked solely on the location of this anomaly, and didn't leave as she slowly stood to her feet.
Why was she hesitant? Knowing her, she would've run around the corner forever ago and assessed if she needed to start shooting already.
But something gave her pause. There was little chance that it was a Pirate that stood behind there, because it would've already taken the chance to attack her. And with the newly realized existence of Phazon on this planet, that just changed the threat level of this mission.
She started moving forward, step by step, her footfalls echoing throughout the seemingly abandoned Pirate chamber. And as she rounded the corner she came upon…
"..!" An almost inaudible gasp escaped her lips, her body reeling back with a jolt. But it was enough for the being that she happened upon to hear her, as it turned to her. Samus couldn't even bring herself to raise her weapon, too shocked for words.
It was…
The thing that stood before her…
Was just like her.
Dark in appearance, a tainted version of her own Chozo Varia Suit stood before her. It was black in color, only highlighted by the pulsing blue lines that mimicked her own green. The two hunters locked gazes, Samus' own eyes wide, too stunned for words.
The dark being stared at her for what felt like hours, but must've been nothing more then a few seconds, before what could only be described as a gleeful sound echoed out from its helmet. It moved forward, quickly approaching her, but it didn't raise its own weapon.
Samus took a surprised step back as it reached out to her, her eyes locked onto the dark armored hand that reached for her. But she couldn't bring herself to react as it grasped the chin of her helmet, head tilted to the side almost as if it was inspecting her like a curious creature.
For the blond Bounty Hunter, she couldn't help the feeling that it was as if she was being touched by herself, whilst at the same time staring at herself standing across from her.
"Hhh…" She breathed out in surprise as the dark version of herself stepped within her personal space, as if suddenly very interested in getting as close to her as possible. Their armor clicked as the being pressed her helmet against Samus' own, as if it was trying to press itself into her, forgetting that they both were covered head to toe in battle armor.
Finally getting her mind together she grasped the entity's hand, pulling it off of her chin and forcing it to the side. A swirl of blue energy was seen seeping from her suit and entering into the dark clone's own.
Apparently…
That was the wrong thing to do. With a loud hiss of rage, the sound reminiscent of a Metroid, she pressed forward aggressively. Samus backpedalled, but it got too close too fast, and caught her leg with its own. Within a moment the Hunter was on her back, the dark version of herself pinning her down as it screeched loudly in her face.
Samus felt her own suit fluctuate as her dark copy tried to choke her, literally sucking the energy right out from her. Her shields flared as the creature drained her life force.
"Samus!" Someone from above shouted out in alarm.
"Get off!" The blond snarled, reaching up to wrap her own hand around her copycat's throat. Unfortunately for said clone, it underestimated the blond's own strength, as Samus managed to get one leg between the two of them before she kicked her off.
Samus immediately rolled backwards over her shoulders, getting to her feet as she trained her cannon the clone. It did the same, mimicking her.
Samus' eyes narrowed behind her visor, scanning the warped being that stood before her. What the hell was this thing? Was it supposed to be a clone of her? Why did it have a Power-Suit? How did it have a Power-Suit?
And why was it so desperately interested in her that it suddenly felt the need to close the gap between each other?
What was it?
And why could it steal her energy?
Too many questions, and too little time. And unfortunately, after getting a taste of her life energy, it grew greedy.
It wanted more now. It was going to get more now.
It wanted to suck her dry, then go after the humans watching from above.
It was hungry!
"Get back!" Samus shouted, stopping the Troopers just before they could decide to interfere. And just in time too. Her clone laughed gleefully as it charged up a blue beam of energy, firing off a blast that seemed to mimic her own charge beam.
Samus jumped to the side, skidding to a stop as she fired off a missile. The warhead slammed into it, knocking the entity back. But that seemed to do little in terms of damage.
Dark Samus laughed again, seemingly mocking her as it charged up a larger attack. A spray of Phazon shrapnel exploded into the room, impaling the walls. Samus hit the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack. In response she fired off three more missiles from the ground, all easily connecting with her target.
Dark Samus roared as the attack slammed into her, the attack sending it reeling. She roared again, but was only met with a charge beam to the face. She looked up in rage, only to find the blond Hunter charging her. In response she jumped high into the air, powerful energy warping around the muzzle of her cannon. Samus slid to a stop as her clone fired off a twisted version of her own super missile at close range.
"Samus! Are you okay?!" Smythe shouted out, watching as the Hunter was unable to avoid the powerful attack that slammed into her body. The attack took her off her feet, throwing her halfway across the room where she landed in a heap.
Her clone landed back on the ground, devolving into a fit of mad laughter. But it's amusement was cut short when Samus stood back up, brushing off the dust that covered her. A moment later saw Samus changing to the Plasma Beam. She charged the weapon, taking aim.
Dark Samus saw the potential danger and jumped back, only to roar in anger as it suddenly found itself ensnared by a beam of energy, being rapidly returned to the blond. Samus yanked her clone back towards her, smacking it upside the head with her cannon as she pinned it down with her foot. It couldn't escape the charged plasma shot slamming directly into its face.
It roared in agony as it was lit ablaze by the powerful attack, unable to escape as its opposite pinned it down.
Seeing as it wasn't done, Samus charged up another shot. But she wasn't prepared for her clone to transform into a morphball and boost away to escape. Dark Samus rolled to her feet opposite the room, definitely worse for wear then before. And compared to their opponent, they were faring badly.
As it just so happens to turn out, having similar weapons and armor means absolutely nothing when it comes to skill and knowledge of how to use them. And this dark clone had no experience at all, resorting to throwing its power around like an impulsive child throwing a temper tantrum.
Realizing that it was losing badly it broke down. It started screaming in a fit of anger and rage, like a wild creature that was pinned in a corner and knew that it's time was short.
But it wasn't done just yet. With this next move it again broke down into a fit of maddened giggles as it began drawing on the sources of Phazon that littered the room. Swirling blue energy surrounded it as it empowered itself off of the mutagenic substance. It's body began to glow brightly from the sudden burst in power output, gaining a power high as it became drunk off of the energy.
When she finally rested her eyes on her enemy once more, she noticed that Samus hadn't moved an inch, waiting for her to power up before making a move.
That, or she was not at all intimidated by her power. The last thought enraged her beyond imagining, and she didn't hesitate to charge up another super missile barrage.
"This is over." Samus spoke audibly, switching back to her Power Beam. The moment Dark Samus fired she dashed forwards, ducking the first missile. As a second missile came flying her way she shifted into her morph ball, dodging that attack as well. A third and final super missile missed her as well, as she boosted forwards at massive speeds. Her clone stepped back in shock as Samus came barreling forwards, un-morphing as she lunged forwards, tackling her clone.
Dark Samus had no time to react as Samus wrapped her legs around its head, throwing it to the ground with her weight. It screamed as it tried to pry her off, but it couldn't replicate was Samus had done previously and kick her off. She couldn't escape as Samus fired missile after missile into her blue tinted visor at point blank.
The room flashed over and over as Samus unloaded explosive after explosive, rapidly reducing the clone's shields to zero. The entity thrashed within her grip, but couldn't break free. With a final scream its suit exploded into nothing, leaving behind…
Samus stopped just short of ending the entity, because as its suit vanished, what it left exposed gave her pause.
It was her…
Well, it looked like her, at least.
It was entirely light blue skinned, if that was indeed skin. It's eyes were blank white in color, nearly expressionless. Hair the same light blue in color was done up in the exact same way she did her own ponytail, but this creature's hair seemed almost as if it were aesthetic more then anything. It's nose and lips matched hers, it's ears matched hers, it's arms, chest, stomach, legs, everything.
It looked just like her. It was her, a dark twisted version of her. It even dawned a twisted version of her own Power-Suit. A quick scan showed that it even contained a hefty amount of her own dna, solidifying it as a clone of her in some sort. But it was smaller then her, easily a foot shorter, and more resembled her from her days as a teenager in the galactic federation in body proportions and the age it looked.
It cowered underneath her body, shivering in fear as it was forced to understand the difference of power between the two of them. It had made an enemy and lost almost immediately.
Samus stood up suddenly, standing over the creature. She was ready to end it only moments ago, but for some reason, now she couldn't. Was this clone in some way related to the alternative reality world of Dark Aether?
Or was it something different?
Well, she was too tired to think on it, and she had much bigger fish to fry. If she didn't take care of the planetary energy issue now, there wasn't going to be an Aether left to worry about.
She gazed back to the clone on the ground, watching as its terrified gaze turned curious. But it didn't dare get up from the ground until it deemed it safe to do so, and it wasn't sure if Samus intended to end it or not.
Samus finally turned away, leaping back up to the second floor where the Troopers waited with baited breath. "Come, we are leaving." She muttered.
"What about that thing?" Smythe asked, pointing down to the dark clone who'd stood up, watching them from a distance. Samus turned back to it, eyes narrowing.
"It's not a threat for now. I'm curious about it, so I'll return for it later. We need to take care of this planet first, unless you want to die here..." She muttered, not waiting for an answer as she turned to leave.
Chapter
5
End
