Chapter Text
“Welcome, Samus Aran!”
The bounty hunter entered the briefing room to a feminine voice. She was a few inches shorter than the bounty hunter, blue hair, pink eyes, and tanned skin. “I am Fleet Admiral Alex Miles, I am the head of this vessel.” She looked to be in her early twenties, quite young for the position she held. Her voice sounded a bit familiar but Aran couldn’t remember where she heard it before. That’s to say she wasn’t the one Samus was expecting to see.
“It’s an honor to meet the Protector of the Galaxy!” She extended her hand for a shake with a smile on her face. Samus returned the gesture.
“Thank you, but please, there’s no need for that.” Samus spoke. She was never a fan of the names people have given her. They were unnecessary and frankly undeserved. “I was unaware Olympus had gotten a new admiral.”
“Oh, you haven’t heard? A few years ago, the previous admiral unfortunately had to retire early.” She explained he had gotten into a terrible incident on his last mission. She didn’t go into detail but she said he managed to recover, however, his injuries wouldn’t have allowed him to continue commanding this battleship. “I’ve been the head of Olympus ever since.”
Samus was surprised she had never heard of this. She wasn’t friends with the man but he was one of the few people in the Federation she held some respect for. She hoped he was doing well.
”Now,” Miles cleared her throat. “How about that mission report?”
Samus nodded. The bounty hunter began to explain what happened. From the moment she entered ZDR’s atmosphere to when the planet exploded. She told them about Raven Beak, who he was, and that he was the one who hijacked the E.M.M.I.s and sent that transmission. However, she left out some crucial details: his motive and what happened in their final confrontation.
She couldn’t let the Federation know why he specifically took over the E.M.M.I.s and sent that video of the X-Parasite, and thanks to Raven Beak taking over ADAM, it was much easier to hide. Admiral Miles was disappointed to hear Samus couldn’t learn the chozo’s motivation alongside the loss of connection with her AI companion, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do about it.
“Thank you for your report, Samus. I wish it could’ve been more informative but given the situation, I understand why that’s not possible.” Miles spoke in a disappointed tone.
“I apologize.” Samus responded.
“It’s quite alright. The information you’ve provided is still useful to us so I’d still call it a mission success!” Miles gave the hunter a reassuring smile. “If that concludes your report, you’re dismissed, Samus Aran! An officer will hand you your reward on your way out.”
“Thank you, Admiral Miles.” Samus returned the smile and nodded while Miles gave a salute. The hunter in purple left the briefing room and left the battleship. How much the reward was would dictate where she went from here.
Wow. ADAM was right, this reward was not worth the stuff she went through. Still, it should be enough to get her a drink or two. Going to the bar was her little way of celebrating after a successful mission or bounty. If she remembers correctly, there should be one not too far from here.
Samus reached the bar within a few minutes. Before stepping inside, she dematerialized her suit, revealing blue athletic sportswear underneath.
The smell of alcohol hit her nose immediately and the sound of the old jukebox entered her ears as she entered. Thankfully it wasn’t too crowded; about half a dozen other patrons were inside. Samus went up to the counter in the back and sat down. She ordered a beverage that wasn’t too strong but just enough to have some kick to it. After some time, her drink was handed to her, she thanked the bartender and took a sip.
To think, that was the first time she’s met living Chozos in years… only for one of them to die right in front of her eyes and the other being her absent third surrogate father who wanted to kill her for her Metroid DNA. The blonde sighed. She could never catch a break, could she? She took another, longer sip of her drink. If he did accomplish in taking the DNA, what then? One of the Metroids’ natural predators is the Mawkin, they would’ve immediately turned against him! Eh, there was no reason to think about that now. Raven Beak was dead and she still had the Metroid DNA, the galaxy was safe, that’s all that mattered. Samus downed the last bit of her beverage and slammed it on the table.
“Bartender, another!” Samus called out.
Hours passed and after a few drinks, Samus finally left. Her tolerance to alcohol was pretty high but she may have had one too many tonight. ADAM didn’t appreciate the condition she came back in but wasn’t surprised, it wasn’t the first time she’s done this. The computer was able to safely get her back home.
Located on a decently populated Earth colony, this was where the bounty hunter resided. She lived in an apartment that was small and pretty basic looking. She was offered somewhere bigger and more populated but turned it down. This was the kind of place she preferred. She opened the door and took a step inside. There wasn’t much in her house besides a queen-sized bed in the center, a small kitchen off to the right, a bathroom in the back, and a workbench that was cluttered with parts and gizmos in the corner. She immediately sat down on her mattress and removed the tie keeping her hair together. She shook her head, allowing her golden locks to flow. Samus looked to the side, on her nightstand was a piece of paper with a number written on it in purple ink. She should call her back one day… For now, she needed to sleep, her head was killing her. She leaned back on her unkempt sheets and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off.
Suddenly, Samus opened her eyes. It was dark and she was freezing, and could only feel herself getting colder. It wasn’t this cold when she fell asleep… She needed to find a way to cool down… Samus got up and walked to the bathroom. She turned on the lights and looked at herself in the mirror.
There she was, Samus Aran; part-human, part-Chozo, part-Metroid, and part-whatever else she has absorbed or injected in her body. Was she even considered human at this point? Well, aside from the feathers growing in a few places and visible green veins around her face and body, she still looked the part. And yeah, she did fully turn into a Metroid yesterday but that was temporary. She turned on the hot water and began to wash her face, but despite it, her body still felt like it was dropping in temperature… M-Maybe a shower would be more effective…?
Aran got undressed and turned on the shower head. She allowed the water to get hot and steam up the room. Before she stepped in, Samus looked at herself in the mirror once more. She moved the bangs that were covering her left eye. The blonde froze. Her eye… it had changed. It was replaced with the same red nucleus that was found inside a… Metroid. Then, the left side of her face started to turn a translucent green, revealing her nerves, muscles, bones, and a part of her brain. Aran immediately stepped back as she began to breathe heavily. Suddenly, her canines and nails grew sharp. She looked down at her left hand. It began to glow pink. The hunter started to hyperventilate. “This can’t be happening!” She panicked. She fell to the ground, freezing, and unmoving.
Suddenly, she heard something.
“You are now a Metroid, Samus Aran.”
Her eyes widened.
“Your very existence poses a grave threat to the galaxy.”
She screamed.
Aran woke up. Light shined into her room. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was beating fast. She… was still in bed? She looked at her left hand, opening and closing it a few times. Nothing happened. She didn’t feel cold either… She got up and went to the bathroom. The blonde stared in the mirror, checking her eye and face multiple times. Again, nothing. It was the same scarred hybrid face she was used to seeing. A sigh left her lips. Seems like it was just one of those realistic-feeling traumatic dreams she has every now and again. At least her headache was gone. Usually after something like this, she’d take a moment to clear her head, and there was a specific place in mind for these occasions…
The woman stepped out of her house wearing a green jacket, black jeans, and beige ankle-high boots. She kept her hair down this time around. Samus made her way to the settlement’s docking area to retrieve her ship. She entered, sitting down on the pilot’s seat, and used her arm cannon to activate the aircraft.
“Greetings, Lady.” A robotic voice spoke. It was ADAM, her helpful guide and “friend”. “You are here earlier than usual. I take it your condition has improved since last night?” The AI asked
“Yep. No more headache here.” Samus responded as she input coordinates. ADAM recognized them immediately.
“Ah. Off to visit your family?”
“I’m just going to have a little talk with them, explain some things and hopefully clear my head a bit.”
“Very well. I will be on standby if you require my assistance.” And so, the AI went into sleep mode. With the coordinates set, the ship lifted off and flew to its destination.
Samus had reached the location without much delay. The ship slowly descended onto the grassy plains. This was Planet K-2L, once a thriving Earth colony was now abandoned and left to its wildlife. It was also the bounty hunter’s homeworld and this exact spot is where her life changed forever. The woman exited her ship and walked through the field, stopping when she reached four small stone pillars. The ground was covered in flowers, some old and wilted, others fresh and full of life.
“Hey Mom, Dad, Old Bird, Gray Voice. I didn’t bring any flowers this time.” She let out a small chuckle. “I was kind of in a rush to get here.”
She used to hold a lot of emotional baggage for this place but now this was where she went when she needed to take her mind off things. She sat down next to the pillars, looking up to the sky as the wind blew through her hair. She remained silent for a moment before opening her mouth again.
“I would’ve appreciated you guys telling me I had another dad.” She spoke in a different language, the tongue of the Chozo. She turned her head to look at two stone pillars to the right. “Though after meeting him, I kinda understand why you didn’t… He was a major asshole.” That last word was in English. There was no equivalent to the word 'asshole' in Chozo.
Samus stayed like this for a bit, talking to her family and reminiscing about old times: good and bad. It was nice… but unfortunately, she couldn’t stay here forever.
“I think it’s time I get going.” Samus stood up, brushing her legs off from all the dirt and grass. “I’ll see you guys again soon. I love you.” She waved goodbye to the stone pillars and walked off.
The brief talk she had with her family did help her think about other things but most of the unwanted thoughts she had were still present… Everything that came out of that bird’s beak was complete lies and manipulation or a combination of the two. He wasn’t like Ridley or Dark Samus, two people who have messed with her life in irreversible ways. He was just a deadbeat who tried to be a “father” at the last moment. His words shouldn’t hold any weight over her… Yet here she was. She looked down at her hand.
Suddenly, there was an incoming call. It was the Galactic Federation. A little surprised, Samus answered.
“Greetings, Samus Aran. This is Admiral Miles. I am contacting you to ask for your immediate presence at the G.F.S. Olympus.” The woman spoke.
“Again? Is everything alright?” Samus asked.
“E-Everything is alright! We need you down here to verify some things about your report on your mission to ZDR, that’s all.”
The hunter froze for a moment upon hearing what she said. She took a few seconds to respond.
“Very well. I’ll be there shortly.” The call ended.
What did she mean by “verify some things”? She told them all she knew… Well, what Samus wanted them to know, but there’s no way they could’ve figured out what she was hiding, right? Aran did notice she seemed a bit nervous on the phone… Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to think about it, they said she was needed immediately. Samus input the coordinates to the battleship and made her way there.
Once again, Samus made her way through the steel halls of the aircraft. However, things felt different this time… Perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her but it felt as if the officers here were all staring at her… and those who usually said something to her were completely silent this time around. She eventually made her way back to the briefing room. The doors opened and inside was Admiral Miles, but this time, she was accompanied by more people. Standing in the back were four Federation Marines, each of their suits glowing a different color: red, blue, green, and yellow. Something about them felt familiar as well but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.
“Samus! Welcome back!” Miles spoke up, she sounded erratic. She noticed the hunter eyeing the four soldiers in the back. “O-Oh, don’t mind them! I was just giving them a mission briefing before you arrived!” Samus didn’t respond to her attempt at reassurance. Despite Aran being the one called here, Admiral Miles looked like she was more anxious than she was…
“You said you needed me to verify something about my report, correct? What is it?” The blonde was quick to get to the point.
“R-Right! You mentioned in your report that you lost connection with ADAM upon reaching ZDR’s surface and that during your mission, any time you found a Network Station, Raven Beak was the one guiding you, not ADAM. That’s correct, right?”
“That is correct.”.
“You said you were unable to learn his motive but I felt like if we had access to those times he spoke with you, then m-maybe we could dissect his words and come to a conclusion…”
“But wouldn’t that be impossible? ZDR is gone, those stations are destroyed.“
“That’s what I initially thought, too.” Miles looked down. "But a survey team was sent to the blast site of ZDR and surprisingly, we… we managed to recover a few network stations.”
Samus froze. Admiral Miles continued.
“After taking some time to scan through the files, most came back corrupted or completely damaged. The majority of the ones we recovered were just ADAM, or I suppose Raven Beak giving you instructions on where to go next, but there was one… one in particular that caught our ears. You… You know where this is going, don’t you, Samus…?” Her voice lowered.
Samus didn’t respond.
“We know you’re hiding something. The clip we found proves you weren’t being honest on your report…”
“I…” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I believe the information I’ve withheld is not necessary for the Galactic Federation to know.” Samus spoke.
“Not necessary? How is this information not necessary for us to know?” An audio clip played.
“You… bzztt.. Metroid, Samus. bzzzt… Existence… bzzzzttt… threat to the galaxy…”
It was the distorted sounds of ADAM’s voice but Raven’s Beak words. Even if not fully eligible, she knew exactly what it said. It was the same words she heard in her dream and before her final confrontation with him
“Metroids are considered the deadliest species in the galaxy… If there was one still out there, the Federation should be the first one to know!” She shouted in a confused tone.
“And that’s exactly why I can’t let them know.” The hunter responded defiantly.
“Samus… Withholding important information like this from the Federation is a federal crime… If you continue like this, it won’t end well…” The four soldiers behind Miles stepped forward. “So, please, tell us before it becomes harder for all of us…”
If Samus didn’t know what the mission briefing was before, she did now. Seeing them all lined up like this, she finally figured out why they were so familiar. This was the squad she helped destroy that Space Pirate battleship years ago. And the reason why she recognized Miles from before was that she was their commander at the time. Unfortunately, this would not be a happy reunion.
Samus remained silent, simply placing her arm on her cannon and prepared herself for what would happen next.
Admiral Miles gritted her teeth and balled up her hand into a fist, shaking it vigorously.
“Federation Force! Your mission begins now!” She moved out of the way and the four soldiers immediately began their assault.
The soldier in blue shot an ice blast at her which she swiftly dodged. It hit the door behind her, freezing it shut. Samus attempted to shatter the ice with a missile but was quickly interrupted by the soldier in yellow ramming into her. She hit the wall and fell to the ground but quickly got back on her feet.
Aran activated her phantom cloak. It was a small room, hiding wouldn’t do much but she only needed a few seconds. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to get even that as the soldier in red immediately found where she was and shot a missile at her. The hunter jumped out of the way at the right moment, her cloak vanishing and the missile hitting the ice and breaking it. She responded by shooting a missile back at the soldier, directly at their arm cannon; it made contact and immediately disabled it. With the door open, Aran quickly left the room.
She ran down the long corridor with her assailants right behind her. The blue soldier attempted to hit her with their ice blast while yellow shot normal beams, all of them missed. The soldier in green decided to go at another angle and shot a super missile, but not at Samus. They aimed at the ceiling above the door at the end of the hall. The large blast made the steel plating fall, blocking the hunter’s exit. Samus was stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t going to be able to escape with them on her tail. She needed to take them out.
Aran turned around and aimed her cannon at each of the soldiers. She locked onto them and within seconds, a flurry of missiles came flying towards them. The barrage was enough to knock down the green soldier but the other three were still up. She ran towards the yellow soldier, she used her grapple beam and pulled them towards her. She punched them in the face, shattering their helmet and knocking them out.
With their ranged weapon gone, Red attempted a physical assault. Samus was quick to react and countered, raising her arm cannon to push them back. She raised her leg and sent it crashing down directly on the soldier's head, causing them to drop to the ground and fall unconscious.
The last one remaining was blue. She would’ve hoped they would surrender after seeing what happened to their allies, but unfortunately, they weren’t backing down. Blue began to shoot at Samus. The hunter avoided the shots. She threw a punch at the soldier but they managed to dodge. Blue punched Aran in the gut, causing her to step back. The hunter went invisible to plan her next attack.
She expected to land her attack but to her surprise, the soldier predicted her moves and managed to counter by shooting her with a missile. She fell back.
Their skills compared to their peers was telling Samus they must’ve been the leader of the group. She needed to play this more carefully.
She had to distract them. Samus quickly stood up and aimed her cannon, locking on and shooting another missile barrage. As they blocked the incoming attack, Aran used her grapple beam once more to pull them forward, breaking their defenses. She returned the favor from before and punched them in the gut, then grabbed their arm and slammed them to the ground. With that, Blue fell unconscious. The Federation Force was down.
The bounty hunter let out an exasperated sigh. This wasn’t how she wanted it to go but there wasn’t much else she could do. Luckily, her attacks should’ve only put them down for a bit, enough time to get out of here.
She continued her escape. Samus removed the debris with a missile and left the hallway, and what she saw behind the door was to be expected; several Galactic Federation Soldiers waiting with their weapons drawn. The hunter didn’t want to cause any more damage than she’d already done but she couldn’t get captured either. She needed to run.
Sirens blared through the battleship. The intercom repeated the same message: “Apprehend Samus Aran.”
Unfortunately, she was not making it easy for them. She used her abilities to outmaneuver the crew of the Olympus. Many shot at her with beams, others with missiles. None of them managed to hit the speeding bounty hunter. Some even tried to block off her exits but it proved futile. The few soldiers who attempted to fight her were all easily taken down.
Eventually, Samus reached the docking station, and her ship was in sight. She was only a few inches away when unexpectedly, she felt something cold pierce her side.
Samus fell to the ground. She looked down, her eyes widened. For the first time, her suit had been damaged. H-How… W-What did they shoot her with…? Her body was freezing, she couldn’t move…
“Stand down, Samus!” Admiral Miles' voice played over the intercom. “I told you we didn’t want to use force! ”
Suddenly, the Federation troops crowded her.
“We have you surrounded. Give up now and put an end to this!” The woman shouted.
No… She needed to get up. She… she couldn’t let them capture her. If they found out what she was hiding, what she’s become, no… no… No!
Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open. Her hand began to glow a bright pink.
Even with her body freezing from the inside, she began to get up.
“W-What?! N-No…! That should’ve been able to stop you! Samus, stand down!” She shouted but the bounty hunter didn’t listen. “Again! F-Fire another!” Miles commanded. Another piercing ice beam was shot at Samus, this time, hitting her shoulder, breaking a piece off her armor. Her body began to freeze even more but she still attempted to rise, the glow on her hand rising in intensity.
“A-Again!!!” Another shot was fired. It was a direct hit to the hunter’s chest, completely shattering her left side. She fell back and hit the ground. Samus couldn’t move or feel her fingers. In fact, she couldn’t feel any part of her at all. The glow had vanished.
It was cold, really cold. What… What did they do to…
Samus Aran froze.