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“The bounty for this mission does not seem appropriate.”
Samus ignored the comment. Adam knew why she was doing this.
“The risk clearly outweighs the reward.”
They both knew why she was here, ship rocketing towards planet ZDR, and it certainly wasn’t the bounty. Sure, the money, however small of an amount it might be, was nice. She’d been living off only savings from prior bounties this past year. And the pardon for her “crimes” committed during the stunt she pulled on the BSL would be a relief. As the only one with immunity to the X parasites, the Galactic Federation had begrudgingly offered an absolution of the prior charges of impediment of research and specimens aboard the BSL, planetary destruction, and theft of both a Federation ship and AI, should she be able to complete the mission. After the failure of the EMMI, they needed her, enough that they were willing to retract her status as a wanted fugitive. She’d be able to travel freely and without paranoia.
Still, neither of those things were the main reason why Samus was here. This was a personal mission. More than anyone else in the universe, Samus wanted the X parasites gone, preferably before some fool tried to turn them into a bio weapon.
She knew that Adam understood that. He wasn’t trying to dissuade her. However cold it may have seemed to an outsider, Samus knew that it was his way of telling her to be careful. To be alert. To be cautious. To come back in one piece. Adam would never openly admit that he was worried, and she was familiar enough with that fact that she could read between the lines of what he said.
“Treat our lost assets with care, Lady.”
Samus remained silent as she entered the atmosphere of ZDR and touched down her ship. There didn’t appear to be any obvious signs of X parasites, which meant that she’d have to go hunting for them. Which would be a pain, but at least these ruins might be exciting to explore.
She inhaled sharply once she got to the doors of the ruins, though. What had at first appeared to be the remains of any advanced civilization was now clearly the remnants of the Chozo. The intricate architecture, the detailed carvings… she would recognize the marks of her people anywhere. But what had the Chozo been doing on ZDR?
Samus hesitantly began to journey onward, trying to shake the feeling of dread that was creeping up on her. Nothing good had ever happened when she explored the ruins of the Chozo. Something was up on ZDR. But with no clues as to what exactly was wrong, Samus had no choice but to continue her hunt for the X.
She eventually came across an elevator, and made the decision to head down. If she started at the bottom, she could work her way up, meticulously searching for any X parasites. It’d probably be easier and more thorough than other methods, and given that Adam didn’t offer any other ideas, he probably had the same thought as well.
“That elevator leads to the depths of an underground facility.”
Samus bit her lip. Adam had a habit of repeating the obvious when he was trepidacious. Was there something making him nervous?
“Signal quality is likely to be low. Remote communication may pose a problem.”
Ah. That would be an issue.
“Try to connect to the facility network when you reach the bottom. That way we can remain in contact.”
Samus made a mental note to do that as soon as possible. She didn’t like the idea of being cut off from Adam.
“Any objections, Lady?”
There was only a brief pause before she responded. “No.”
A minute after that, the signal was lost. And a minute after that, the elevator opened. And a minute after that, everything fell apart.
\/\
Of course the mission was already failing spectacularly. She could never just do anything involving Metroids or X parasites without losing all her abilities, could she? At least she had been able to find a network station fairly quickly, allowing Adam to review her data and deduce what had happened. “Physical amnesia,” he called it, making Samus huff in frustration. He ignored her annoyance, something he had done many, many times, continuing on to inform her that her attacker had been a Chozo. She had theorized that herself, given the appearance and the technology, but she had no idea who it was. They hadn’t looked like any Chozo she had known from Zebes.
Adam reassigned her a new objective; to get back to her ship. He had called the situation precarious, which she silently agreed with. Her basic power suit wouldn’t be enough. Adam rambled on about how there were different areas, reminded her not to enter cold rooms, and repeated the importance of heading upward. He must have been quite on edge if he was repeating information she already knew this much. The only other thing that was really useful was that all radio transmissions were being blocked underground, which meant she could only check in with him at network stations.
Samus had done enough missions by herself. She would be fine. Even only checking in with Adam at network stations would still be a comfort, a reminder that she wasn’t completely isolated.
She was not alone. Yet, she still had an unexplainable feeling of dread.
\/\
“Both EMMI you encountered were clearly trying to capture you. They may have been hacked. If so, it’s reasonable to assume all EMMI will be hostile.”
I know, Adam. What else?
As if reading her mind, he went on to explain how the robots operated, and she listened carefully.
“I estimate a 99% probability of death if an EMMI captures you.”
How comforting. But also, odd. Even though she already knew that Adam’s AI was slightly different than how the real man had been, after the events of the BSL, he had mostly acted the way he had when alive. Yes, Adam wouldn’t have hidden that bad news from her, but he wouldn’t have softened the blow when delivering it. He wouldn’t have so bluntly commented on her low chances of survival, unless he was extremely concerned for her. Maybe the situation was worse than she had originally thought.
“Your highest priority in an EMMI zone should be simply to survive.”
Samus turned and left the network station, hardening her resolve. The EMMI might be strong, but she would be stronger. She’d find a way to get another omega blaster online, and she would destroy them. She would get her abilities back. She would find her attacker and make them pay. She would complete her mission.
It wasn’t until long after she had left the network station that she realized that Adam hadn’t asked if she had any objections.
\/\
“There was no record of your assailant in the Federation database. However, there are records of a Chozo warrior tribe.”
The first part didn’t surprise Samus. What did surprise her though, were the records of a Chozo warrior tribe. Even for Samus, many of the different Chozo tribes outside of Zebes had been a mystery to her. She couldn’t imagine how the Federation, who knew so little about the Chozo and their technology, had gotten their hands on such information.
“The footage of the X parasite may have been staged to lure you in.”
A trap. That was possible, given her… unique genetic makeup. But the only people that should know about her spliced DNA should be her and some Federation people that had clearance. She highly doubted they would have leaked her abilities, even if they had put her up as a fugitive. No one else needed to know and try to capture her for their own advantage. Perhaps this was all a big ploy by the Federation themselves to capture her, but given the involvement of the Chozo, Samus’s gut told her it wasn’t. Someone else had figured her out, and someone else wanted her amalgamation of DNA.
“There are six remaining EMMI hunting you. You have no means to confront them. Remember that.”
The way that Adam said that reminded her of when she was fifteen, a fresh recruit for the Galactic Federation police, and a rebellious spirit. Adam knew that her time alone as a bounty hunter had done much to diminish her impulsivity, so why was he iterating these facts as if she were still that same young girl? Samus bristled as she left the room. She could deal with Adam later. For now, she had an EMMI to take care of.
\/\
“ZDR appears to be powered by thermal energy. Magma is pumped from the planet’s interior and routed from there.”
What, nothing about how I destroyed that EMMI? Or fought that creature with the phantom cloak?
Hmph. She could ignore that little itch for validation from her former officer. At least he was telling her some useful information about the thermal routing in Cataris and the existence of a shuttle above, even if he was still repeating stuff she already knew— mainly, that her basic power suit couldn’t handle high temperatures.
“The phantom cloak prevents the EMMI from detecting you. Thus far, your option was to run. Now bypassing them is also an option. Use this to reach your objective.”
Huh. That would be useful.
“Judicious use of this technique will improve your probability of survival.”
Samus waited for Adam to go on, to ask her if she had any objections, but he didn’t. Maybe he had gotten used to her only answer being either a short “no” or stoic silence, and had started considering it worthless to ask. She frowned. That small check-in had always been a comforting familiarity to her.
She’d never admit it aloud, but returning to explore Cataris without hearing those words felt wrong.
\/\
“EMMI stands for Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier. It can procedurally modify and enhance its own capabilities.”
Thankfully, Adam had actually dug up some new information about the EMMI while she had been running around Cataris. While it wasn’t much, anything was helpful, given that Samus had never interacted with any EMMI devices before the ones here on ZDR had started trying to kill her.
“You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.”
That was an… odd way of phrasing it. Adam had told her she was a lot of things, and not all of them had been complimentary, but helpless had never been one of them. Even during the Bottle Ship incident, when she had frozen in shock at the sight of Ridley being alive yet again and Anthony had to aid her, Adam had not called her helpless.
“These existential threats cannot be sanctioned.”
Samus hadn’t been paying attention to the rest of what Adam had said, but she assumed he was talking about the EMMIs. Good. She was planning on destroying them anyway, given that they were a threat to her very life, but it was satisfying to have Adam’s approval. She didn’t want to have to go rogue on him.
There were very few people that Samus truly trusted, and she didn’t want to be forced to take Adam off that list.
\/\
“This area, Dairon, appears to be a biological research laboratory.”
Oh, joy. She had seen enough of those for a lifetime. The space pirates, Galactic Federation, BSL, and even the Chozo had not been able to stop themselves from having such a thing. On second thought, maybe these research laboratories weren’t such a bad thing, as Samus remembered the scientists on the Ceres space colony, and how eager they had been to find ways to use their abilities for the benefit of everyone. She could limit it to the bio weapon laboratories that Samus took issue with.
“Don’t let your guard down. Your primary objective is to survive. Proceed with the utmost care.”
Exactly what I plan on doing.
Maybe it was this biological research area that was putting Adam on edge. The Bottle Ship had proved how bad of an idea those things can be when things go south, and he had seen that firsthand.
Maybe he worried about if she’d have to make the same sacrifice he did.
\/\
“The lower levels of Burenia are mostly submerged. You will need your gravity suit to operate there at full efficiency. Abilities such as the grapple beam or space jump will help you maneuver underwater to an extent. Find them as soon as possible.”
Samus was surprised that Adam remembered the names of those two abilities and what they did, given how those were Chozo technology. The only time he had ever really read them off was when he had given her authorization to use them, or downloaded data packages for their use. And watched her use them. Samus supposed it wasn’t so strange that he was familiar with her tech. The two had been on the run together for a while; he had probably gotten used to all her abilities.
Apparently, Adam knew her well.
\/\
“Our Thoha friend has explained much. We now know why the EMMI are pursuing you. Samus Aran, Raven Beak lured you here. He wants the Metroid DNA that exists only within you.”
She knew that. She knew that. Hearing Adam say it held this sense of finality, the feeling that her fate was sealed. Adrenaline pumped through Samus’s veins, even though the network station was safe.
“I have confirmed that Quiet Robe has deactivated all remaining EMMI. You should now be able to reach the surface unthreatened.”
She needed to leave this planet as soon as possible. Screw the mission; it was too dangerous. It wasn’t just her life at stake if Raven Beak captured her, but the lives of everyone in the entire galaxy. If Raven Beak managed to revive the Metroids, everyone would be doomed.
“The route Quiet Robe opened is in Burenia. Return there immediately.”
She was glad to know that Adam was on the same page.
\/\
“Samus, you are approaching the surface.”
Samus breathed a hefty sigh of relief when she heard that. It was probably audible to Adam, but he chose not to comment on it. While she was close, she still wasn’t there quite yet, and he most likely didn’t want to give her any false assurance. Adam probably didn’t know what kinds of things would stand between her and her ship, even here. Or if Raven Beak would appear.
“You were no match for him then. You are no match for him now. It is true that you have recovered many of your combat abilities. However, my analysis suggests that you would not be a worthy adversary for him. Not even at full power.”
Samus narrowed her eyes. Adam could be cold and calculating, but it almost felt like he was talking down on her now. He knew what she was capable of. Even if she was fighting against the odds, couldn’t he have a little faith in her?
“One thing still eludes me. Why did Raven Beak spare you during that encounter? Something must have motivated him.”
That question prickled at the back of Samus’s head as well, but with survival and escape on the forefront of her mind, she didn’t have the time to sit and ponder it. Hopefully, Adam could find something as she made her way to the surface.
And if she did have to fight Raven Beak, she would prove his assessment wrong.
\/\
“The X have been released from their confinement. They have now been scattered across the planet. This is no doubt the work of Raven Beak.”
Samus scrunched her brows in confusion. Had Adam not gone through the data she uploaded? He couldn’t possibly need time to analyze it; Samus knew that he could process the data in seconds in his digital state. It was obvious that she had opened the locks in Elun and released the X parasite, not Raven Beak. Maybe he had meant that Raven Beak was responsible for the X’s confinement in Elun.
“Regardless, the X are here. They are overrunning the planet. They must be destroyed. Hurry to your ship, Samus.”
Something was wrong. Adam should have flat out told her to abandon their original mission, not implied it like this. He wasn’t one to be vague in a situation like this. There was also the matter of the data that he clearly hadn’t gone through. But if he hadn’t gone through her data, how would he have known that the X parasites had been released? And given how strangely Adam had already been acting…
Something wasn’t adding up.
\/\
“This area, Ferenia, appears to have been a sanctuary. The Mawkin conducted ceremonies and rituals here. Now it all lies in ruin.”
Samus squinted at Adam’s choice of words to describe the place.
“My sensors indicate this EMMI has been reactivated. We can assume that Raven Beak is behind this as well.”
Quiet Robe had been the one behind the controls to the EMMI, and Samus had concluded that Raven Beak had forced his hand, which made her guess that Raven Beak didn’t know how to control the EMMI. And since Quiet Robe was dead, then who had activated the EMMI?
“Be careful, Samus.”
…
‘Samus?’
\/\
“The X have spread across the entire planet. Assume all living organisms have by now been replaced by X.”
Now that Adam mentioned it, Samus noticed that almost all creatures that had encountered since opening Elun had been infected by the X parasites.
“There is another problem you may have noticed. The temperature of ZDR has started to fall.”
Samus softly sighed. She couldn’t have gotten the gravity suit at a better time.
“Even so, beware the unexpected, and proceed with caution.”
She didn’t know how much of what Adam told her was true, but she could at least follow that advice.
\/\
“I have determined the reason for the planet’s rapid cooling. Thermal energy is no longer being routed from Cataris.”
That would line up with the information Adam had already given her about Cataris.
“I suspect a powerful X is involved. You must annihilate it.”
Why is he not suspecting Raven Beak for this? It could be him.
“Return here after solving the problem. The cooling has prevented you from exploring the area. There must be a vital ability hidden somewhere here.”
How could Adam be so certain about that?
\/\
“Well done, Samus. You have stopped the planet from cooling.”
Earlier, Samus had been suspicious of Adam’s lack of validation of what she had accomplished. But now, the praise felt wrong, insincere.
“You are far more combat ready than when you first arrived. But you are still not prepared to face Raven Beak. There is a very low probability of success in standing against him now.”
Why are you keeping me from Raven Beak? What do you know that I don’t?
\/\
“This area, Hanubia, is on the planet’s surface. You’ve finally made it, Samus.”
Nearly the entire time she spent on ZDR had been trying to escape to the surface. But now that she was here, she wasn’t sure if she should just leave. There were too many questions left unanswered, namely Adam’s strange behavior.
“Raven Beak’s search for the Metroid DNA poses a threat to the galaxy. He will never give up. The odds are still not in your favor. But you must end things here.”
Samus’s eyes twitched at the sudden switch in Adam’s attitude. Now, he wanted her to go fight Raven Beak. While it made sense, given how much of a threat he was to civilization, if he had estimated such low odds of her survival, wouldn’t he have told her to go find the rest of her abilities before attempting a fight? Adam remembered the grapple beam and space jump, so surely he must have recalled the power bombs and wave beam that were still missing from her arsenal.
“I am searching for his location. Return here later for an update.”
Adam shouldn’t have needed much time to process and find a location, even if it was an intensive search. Although he had the consciousness of the real Adam, he still had the functionality of a computer. Besides, wouldn’t he have just asked Samus to wait here while he found a location? That would be the safer option.
With a heavy sense of dread, Samus finally arrived at the conclusion that had been creeping up on her for a while: this wasn’t Adam. She had no clue who it was. She had no clue how long they had been posing as Adam. She had no clue what they wanted from her.
All she knew was that she could not trust “Adam.”
\/\
“Samus, you have manifested a new power. The speed at which you siphon energy is undoubted Metroid in nature.”
Samus was barely paying attention to him. Instead, she was trying to get her breathing under control, which had shifted into panicked gasps once she had realized what she had become.
She had become the very thing she had spent her life trying to annihilate.
“This tremendous power is the last thing you require to confront Raven Beak.”
Samus’s eyes widened in realization, and she was glad that her visor hid her reaction.
“I have detected a fortress in the sky high above Hanubia. He must be there.”
This was a trap.
“The time has come. Samus, fulfill your destiny.”
A trap that she was going to willingly walk into.
\/\
“It appears your Metroid DNA has caused you to become a Metroid. Ordinarily, this would have happened immediately after the DNA transplant.”
Samus’s fingers twitched over the trigger in anticipation.
“Your Thoha genes must have slowed down the process. They were the only tribe capable of controlling the Metroids.”
But she waited.
“Though you possess their DNA, you are not a Thoha. Your physical prowess suggests that you must also possess Mawkin DNA.”
She closed her eyes.
“Metroids are programmed to identify Mawkin as enemies. This suggests one thing to me. It is very probable that your metamorphosis occurred as a result of Raven Beak’s attack. His presence awakened the Metroid’s killer instinct.”
She grit her teeth.
“Since then, your metamorphosis has accelerated. It can no longer be controlled. You are now a Metroid, Samus Aran. Your very existence poses a grave threat to the galaxy.”
Samus Aran. He hadn’t called her “Lady” since the elevator ride down.
“However, there is no need to fear. You can still contribute to galactic peace. You need only use your new powers correctly.”
Adam had never been with her. She had been manipulated from the very beginning.
“You have followed my instructions faithfully so far. Continue to do so. It’s that simple.”
She had been fighting alone this entire time.
“I consider your performance here on ZDR highly satisfactory. As I hoped, it has even awakened your Metroid powers. I was right to let you live during our first encounter. That one glimpse you showed told me everything.”
She took a deep breath.
“Submit and offer up your power. My plan is the only way to bring order to the galaxy. Fulfill your destiny, Samus. That is an order. Disobedience will not be tolerated.”
Samus did not hesitate. She leveled her cannon and fired at “Adam,” watching in grim determination as the hologram faded away, revealing exactly whom she had expected: Raven Beak.
\/\
“Don’t.”
Clear and to the point. Samus hesitated at the voice, and the second that she took to recognize the voice allowed her to clear her head.
“You’ll drain the ship of its energy.”
Samus looked down at her hand, hovering over the controls of the ship. The green, scaly suit glistened with a red glow, threatening to devour the ship’s power core. Adam was right. If she touched the controls, she’d siphon off all the power, and they’d be left without a way off ZDR.
Something shifted behind her, and Samus turned and raised her cannon in a flash. She immediately recognized Quiet Robe in his Thoha attire, although he was clearly infected by the X. Yet, he did not attack, instead giving her a slight bow before dissipating back into the gelatinous base form of an X parasite. The X flew towards her, and the moment that it was absorbed into her power suit, she changed from her Metroid armor back to her gravity suit.
With no time to ponder the reversal, Samus jumped back into the cockpit’s seat and brought up the ship’s controls. She took off as fast as possible, leaving ZDR’s atmosphere right as the planet exploded into a cloud of debris.
“Lady?”
Adam. The real one. Well, not the “real” one; the true Adam Malkovich was still dead, but this voice belonged to that of her ally, not Raven Beak.
Samus knew that he was waiting for an explanation, a mission report, something that would tell him what had happened. If Adam had lost contact with her in the initial elevator ride like she suspected, then he knew next to nothing about the mission, save that she was alive and ZDR had been turned to dust.
In response, Samus uploaded all her data from the mission. The cabin filled with silence as Adam mulled it over. He had probably already processed it all; now he was just trying to formulate a response. No matter how fast his digital functions could run, the human consciousness in the machine still could only think up an appropriate reply so fast.
“Did you sustain any physical injuries?” he finally asked.
Typical Adam. He would never directly ask if she was okay, but he still had his own way of caring.
“No.” She paused. “Just tired.”
“Mentally?”
“Not now, Adam. I…” She sighed. “Can you compile every bit of information out there on Metroids?”
“You know almost all of it already, Lady.”
“Just do it, please.”
“Very well.”
Samus brought up her navigation controls, checking over where Adam had set their destination to. “Daiban?”
“You’ll need to report to the Federation if you want them to follow through on the terms of the bounty.”
Right, she did. “Mm. Can you write an initial report for them when you have the chance? And keep it bare.”
“How bare?”
“Nothing about me being a Metroid. Don’t mention the Chozo, either.”
“How will you explain the EMMI?”
Ugh, she had forgotten about that part. “Just leave out the Metroid metamorphosis and Raven Beak. Say that Quiet Robe had been infected from the start and reprogrammed the EMMI to kill me, due to the immunity I had to the X.” There. That should do it. “Any objections, Adam?”
“None, Lady.”
Samus quirked a small smile. She had made it out in one piece. The X parasites had been eradicated. She would soon no longer be a galactic fugitive. She had her real companion back.
That sense of dread that had been hounding her had finally faded away.