Chapter 10: Hunter and Hunted
The group's pursuit of the strange creature was a far from easy one. Evidently, their quarry had wisely decided to stir up the animals in almost every room it went through in order to slow its pursuers to the point that they spent around five minutes in one particular room while they fended off a seemingly endless tide of creatures. As a result, they took the sight of the save station in the same way a man in the desert would view an oasis. Once they had replenished their energy, they came up with a plan to deal with their quarry.
"I say we keep it on its toes 'till it gets tired, then finish it off," Lyle stated. "I doubt it'll have time to rile up the other beasts if it's running for its life."
"Maybe we should just corner it and fight it head on," Kreatz suggested. "After all, we're wearing armour, so it can't maul us, and I doubt it can take all three of us at once. What do you think, Samus?" Being the expert on dealing with bioweapons like the one they were now pursuing, Samus immediately recognised the flaws in both her comrades' plans.
"I doubt either of those plans will work – we'll be very likely pinned by the various creatures it'll no doubt summon, and anyway, most of the rooms here are too wide for us to easily corner it. We should gun it down before the Pirates get their hands on it." Of course, no one could argue with her logic, and so the three proceeded on through the previously locked door and continued the hunt.
The creature known to the ship's former inhabitants as Little Birdie stopped for a moment to recuperate after running for so long. Yes, its hatred for the yellow-armoured intruder was almost all-consuming, but it knew that trying to fight it head on was suicide, hence why it riled up the other animals with its cries as it went.
Why did I fear them? It thought to itself as it took shelter beneath the boughs of a particularly large tree. All I have to do is cry out and they'll do the fighting for me! I don't think even she can control them now! However, now it had brought her up, it remembered the trips it had taken with Valens through the ship, and realised it was drawing close to her lair – the one place Valens had told it to avoid at all costs prior to leaving for who knew where. It had to end this chase soon – if she was able to use the intruders to deliver it to her, then Little Birdie was essentially doomed. A sharp pain in its back jarred it out of its thoughts. It'd been dealing with these pains for the last few days now, and they'd only been increasing in frequency as time went on. Hopefully they don't last much longer, it thought. The last thing I need is to be suffering back pains when the intruders arrive. Luckily, the pains subsided for the moment, allowing it to continue its journey, although it suddenly felt strangely… cramped for some reason. This cramping had started shortly before the back pains, and it didn't know why, although Valens had told it that this was a good thing. Snap out of it! The intruders could be here any minute now! With that internal rebuke, it continued its trek towards safety. It was getting near the Hive, which had always been a good place to hide and rest (the honey there was also quite tasty), although it didn't know how much her influence might have changed things for the worse. Wait. I can control the animals now, so if the intruders go in there after me… It took a moment to run the scenario through its mind, before concluding with no small amount of malevolent satisfaction that the situation would work out in its favour one way or another. With a plan of action devised, it made its way to the hive, thinking through its new strategy as it went.
"Well, this is certainly the strangest mission I've ever been on," Kreatz said as he, Samus and Lyle made their way through a simulated jungle environment projected by a holographic generator. This wasn't the first such simulation they'd seen aboard the BOTTLE SHIP, but it was an uncommon enough sight to still be quite novel, especially considering how convincing the simulations were. "What about you, Lyle? Enjoying this?"
"Of course not – aren't you forgetting all the bugs? The sooner we shoot that fluffball that keeps riling them up the better!"
"Sheesh, calm down Lyle! They aren't that bad! I mean, at least they're not Kihunters – you have to prefer these Reos to them, right?" At this point, Samus interjected as the group made it into the next room, an artificial dirt tunnel surrounded by strange webs.
"Don't jinx it, Kreatz; Madeline did mention there were Kihunters being bred here, and if they had to be in any sector, it'd be this one. Keep your eyes peeled just in case." As it happened, Samus' advice was far from unfounded, as the team came across several animals trapped in the same webs from earlier; while most of the webs had been cut through by the Space Pirates who were still some unknown distance ahead of them, there were still one or two that barred their paths, having ensnared at least one Reo. Of course, the insects were little trouble for Samus, although the two soldiers noted that their ammo was starting to get dangerously low from all the creatures they'd already had to shoot at. As such, they decided to switch to their freeze guns, although they found little use for them as all the potential dangers were either brought down by Samus or had already been cut down by the Pirates prior to their arrival. Nonetheless, it was somewhat disconcerting to see that the webs had managed to ensnare a Griptian, although the Pirates had clearly dealt with it already.
"Samus," Lyle asked warily, "do you think whatever made those webs is still… alive? I'd rather not find out what it is, so I'll be hanging back if that's alright."
"I understand, Lyle," Samus responded, "you've been through an awful lot already. I'd recommend you and Kreatz stay here and wait for the others – I'll clear out whatever made the webs." Of course, Samus was saying this because it would be just her luck to run into the thing, and her various travels had taught her that if an environment seemed particularly ominous, chances were the cause of that atmosphere was never far away.
The room outside the tunnel was a large chamber filled with foliage, mostly in the form of vines and other plant-based structures, but these paled in comparison to the vast, webbed structure in its centre.
And just like that, there's where the giant monster's hiding. I'd better get this over with. At least the Pirates don't seem to be here. With that, she proceeded towards the structure, only for it to remain closed. That's odd; something would normally have emerged from it by now. Perhaps I can lead the soldiers out of the room with no trouble for once. However, that notion was dispelled from her mind when she heard a low chirping sound from one of the structures surrounding the larger one; one quick look revealed that the source was none other than the white creature from before, which was watching her from up above. "Oh no you don't," she muttered, before scaling the structure after it. The 'Aberration', for its part, responded by running away, further up the structure – the chase was on. Of course, after a surprisingly long climb, the thing was eventually cornered, with nowhere to run… until it turned around, revealing a large hole at the very top of the structure and jumping into it. A creature like that normally wouldn't survive a fall from that height, but then again that thing isn't very normal, is it? This is probably where the source of the webs is, but I have to destroy the Aberration before the Pirates or the station's ringleaders can get their hands on it. And with that, Samus leapt down the hole after the creature, falling some way before hitting the floor. To her surprise, there was no giant beast in sight, only the Aberration… and several armoured insect larvae. Taken off guard, she would have paid the things no heed, but memories from her raid on Zebes flooded in, reminding her that these things were Zeroes. And where there were Zeroes, there were usually… Oh. Those would be were the webs came from. In this case, "those" referred to a group of large, cyan insects nesting on the structure's ceiling or collecting honey from its sides. Kihunters. I guess I was only half right about the Pirates not being here. This must be their hive – I have to finish this quickly! With that thought, Samus raised her gun to fire at the white beast, but it immediately let out another howl, sending the Kihunters and Zeroes into a frenzy. While the insectile Pirates swarmed at her, the Aberration quickly made a break for it, hiding near one of the hive's supporting structures while the Kihunters tried to deal with the bounty hunter. Oh boy, Samus thought as the swarm approached her, here we go again.
From its new vantage point, Little Birdie watched as its foe struggled to deal with the endless tide of insects which were emerging from every corner of the hive and the surrounding forest, called to the defence of whatever monstrous thing sat at the top of their hierarchy. It was further secure in the knowledge that the insects weren't alone in targeting the intruder in their midst; five large vines also began attacking it, opening their buds and firing deadly spores at the figure, who struggled to evade both them and the insects' acidic spit. And yet, it was evading them nonetheless.
How is it doing that? Why won't it just DIE!? It thought, letting out another shriek to further incentivise the swarm to destroy its hated foe. Soon, it thought to itself, soon the hive will be her (wait, how did it know the intruder was a she? Was it some kind of instinctual thing, or was it something else?) doom. Confident that the enemy would be brought down by sheer weight of numbers, it turned and began helping itself to some of the hive's delicious honey, usually meant only for the larvae. I used to get into trouble trying to get that stuff, it remembered, memories of dashing away as fast as its little legs could carry it while several angry insects clawed at its heels flashing before its eyes. However, its recollections came to an abrupt end when an unpleasant squelching sound reached its ears. Looking up and around to see what it was, it found that several of the vines had been snapped, and the large, purple object they had been supporting began to sag towards the floor. It didn't take long to find the culprit; the intruder was somehow still alive, now firing missiles at the remaining vines at every available opportunity and shooting down insects whenever there were too many of them for her to ignore. All too quickly, the last vines were snapped and the purple structure fell to the floor, shattering as it did so. This exposed the creature at the heart of the hive; a larger, pale insect that was attached to the purple structure's remains like it had been some kind of shell for it (and realistically, it probably had been). The other insects, desperate to protect the centre of their society, intensified their attacks, but Little Birdie knew how this was going to end, and didn't want to be there when it did. There was therefore absolutely no issue with it running around the edge of the hive until it found the automatic door leading out, which it went through with no hesitation. Once through, it ran again and didn't look back, eager to find a place to catch its breath; it was now getting too tired to stimulate the animals around it. Worse, the back pains had returned, and if it hadn't been running for its life, it would have fallen to the floor in agony. However, the tension, exhaustion and pain blended together into a haze that prevented it from focusing clearly, stumbling over roots and running face-first into – uh oh. A guttural sound erupted from somewhere above it as several figures emerged from the darkness of the room it now found itself in. In fact, it had directly collided with one of them, and was now wishing it hadn't. Alone, exhausted and vulnerable, Little Birdie sincerely hoped these figures didn't mean it harm like the one in the hive did.
A low gurgling sound filled the air of the Kihunter hive as the king Kihunter (unlike most insects, Kihunters had kings where most hives had queens) reacted to the missile impacts to its underside. It clearly wasn't adapted to deal with such an occurrence, for it only took a few hits to kill it. As it breathed its last, the shell it had been attached to immediately began to shrivel as the remaining Kihunters fled the room, perhaps hoping to return later to replace their fallen leader, a cause of much relief on Samus' part.
Thank the stars that's over, she thought. Now then, where's- of course, the Aberration was gone, having slipped through her grip yet again while she was distracted by the Kihunters. Great. This has only happened twice now, and it's already getting annoying. With no time to waste, Samus used her comm system to tell Lyle and Kreatz that it was safe to enter the room, though they'd have to abseil down to get to her location. Once they did so, Samus briefed them on what had transpired there.
"Boy am I glad I waited outside," said Lyle, "those Kihunters would've likely been the death of me!"
"Yeah, but don't get too complacent; I doubt those were the only ones in this sector," Kreatz replied.
"Gee, thanks," Lyle muttered.
"That's enough, you two," said Samus in response, "the Aberration can't be allowed to escape and it could already be at the end of the sector by now!" This point quickly settled the matter, and the trio proceeded through the Biosphere once more. However, no matter where they searched, they were unable to find anything more than the sector's wildlife, though more than a few feral Kihunters began to be counted among that group (much to Lyle's distaste). Not only that, but their trek to the Exam Centre was further impeded by several rooms that had been flooded somehow, the reduced movement and predatory Skultera fish causing several near-death experiences that Samus only narrowly managed to prevent from turning into tragedies. It was in the second of these rooms that the rest of the platoon caught up to them, making the rest of the journey considerably easier, although to their frustration, the Aberration remained out of sight.
"Patience, everyone," Adam counselled, "our priority right now is the Exam Centre and whatever information it may contain. We can come back and hunt down the creature afterwards." With this advice, the group made use of the final save station and made a beeline towards their objective.
Unbeknownst to Samus and the 07th Platoon, another meeting was occurring in one of the side chambers they had passed earlier. Said chamber consisted of a retractable bridge spanning a large pit (which could be exited from via a metallic stairwell), with an automatic door on either side; one leading to a corridor Samus and co had passed through, and the other leading to an elevator hidden on most maps of the station. The meeting was taking place in the chasm, and was being held by Major Karlac and his Space Pirate platoon. They'd been fighting their way through the Biosphere's dense jungles for a while now, but stopped once a strange white creature had literally collided with one of Karlac's troopers while they were scouting the area for hostiles. Said creature was with them currently, lying on the floor due to exhaustion, occasionally hissing in pain while convulsing; something was clearly wrong with it. However, the Pirates couldn't afford to be here for long; the elevator next to this room led directly to the Aberration's own stronghold, the Bioweapon Research Centre, and the horrors contained in there could likely rip them apart if they were detected – while Karlac himself was eager to take the fight to the abomination and take down as many of its pets as he could, he needed to contact Lord Vistler on the status of his mission. With that thought, he pulled out a holographic projector with one clawed hand, quickly establishing a visual link with the Supreme Commander.
"Report, Major," Vistler spoke. Aware that time was of the essence, Karlac immediately provided his superior with a status update.
"We've scoured most of the sector, and many of the rogue bioweapons have been neutralised. No sign of the Federation or the Hunter, and the Aberration doesn't seem to have deployed a dedicated response force as of yet."
"And what of Specimen R? Have you found him yet?" At this, Karlac struggled to look his superior in the eye, his own six ocular organs glancing towards the floor. Swallowing his shame, Karlac managed to respond to his exalted superior.
"My lord, I regret to inform you that we have been unable to locate Specimen R as ordered. None of the creatures in the sector appeared to match its status as a vital asset, and we were not provided with a description of it to begin with."
"Is that so?" the Exalted One responded. At this, fear rose within the Major's soul – he and his troops all knew failure was unacceptable, and questioning the heir to Lord Ridley himself was essentially treason in Karlac's eyes.
"Forgive me, my lord – I didn't mean to criticise you, but I didn't know what it looked like! I swear I'll find it eventually – we'll launch another search immediately, and-" Karlac's frantic apology was cut off by Vistler, but not with the expected rebuke.
"I understand, Major. I should have told you what it looked like, but the urgency of the situation distracted me. By the way, could you possibly explain the… chirping and hissing? I doubt that's coming from your men, Major."
"Ah, we found… something during our search, my lord. It appears to be in poor health, and would likely have been harmless regardless, so we brought it with us. Trooper Galla hopes to take it in as a pet once it's treated at the medbay." Karlac took the opportunity to angle the projector so that Vistler could see the creature in question. As he did so, all the troopers in the platoon saluted the Supreme Commander, but Vistler's eyes were quickly drawn to the small, fuzzy being on the ground, who was starting to fall quiet at last.
"At ease, everyone – there's no need for apologies or renewed searching. That's him; you'd be best to get him out of the sector as soon as he's able to move again; MB will provide you with the location of a hidden elevator to Sector 3, where the Hunter won't be able to follow you." At this news, Karlac (and no doubt the rest of his troops) felt a wave of relief wash over them; they had indeed found Specimen R, and could now consolidate their forces for a push into the Aberration's lair. However, everyone's attention was drawn to an unnatural tearing sound as something very sharp burst from the creature's back. What was more unusual was that this wasn't the scythe of a rogue trooper, but a natural spike on the end of some sort of… tail? Yes; something had been growing inside it, and was now forcing its way out, endangering the creature they'd worked so hard to find! The Pirates raised their weapons on reflex, but Vistler, to the surprise of the assembled troopers, talked them down.
"Ah yes, that's the other thing I need to inform you about. From what MB told me, Doctor Valens and her team needed to disguise the specimen from the Federation at large, and so he was engineered to develop like an insect would. he's entering his adolescent phase now, and will be able to handle himself in no time, although I would advise you to still escort him to Sector 3; we can't take any chances while the Hunter's around. Understood?"
"Yes, my lord," Karlac snapped back. "For High Command and for victory!" Once the other Pirates present repeated this cry, Vistler terminated the feed, allowing Karlac to focus on his charge's latest form. Yes, he triumphantly thought to himself, the victory of Project Valkyrie is at hand.
Author's note: Sorry for the delay; real life can get in the way a lot these days. Regardless, I hope this chapter's to your liking.
With that out of the way, I'm sure that even for those of you who haven't heard about Other M's story Little Birdie - or rather, Specimen R's - identity should be easy enough to figure out, but hopefully that doesn't take you out of the story too much in the next few chapters before its true nature is figured out by Samus and co. Hopefully I've been writing the paragraphs from its perspective well, too - writing something from the POV of what is currently a creature with no concept of the familiar terms like Space Pirates, Kihunters and the Federation can be a little challenging at times.
Beyond that, this is a bit of a longer chapter, what with Samus having to fight the king Kihunter in this chapter as well as the preamble to it and catching up with the Space Pirates, so hopefully this isn't too long for you guys. Besides that, next up is where things start to build towards the end of the Biosphere arc, and the plot will start thickening from this point on.
Until then, see you round.