Metroid: Decay

[TheOneMoiderah]

The group moved through a nearby swamp, with their armor somewhat encumbered by it. Samus, right ahead of them, was instead dressed in a purple-tinted version of her suit, and moved with complete ease.

"...That's not fucking fair." Nova groaned. "Why do you get all that shit?!"

"Simple." Samus said. "I have kept this particular asset in my possession. The gravity suit is exceptionally useful in most situations, and can easily glide through most aquatic environments with utter ease. However, the downside, and why I don't use it more often, is that it is rather uncomfortable. And I prefer ora-"

"Bad fucking question." Nova interrupted. "Nevermind. Forget it. Forget I asked."

"Well, you did ask, though."

Chloe giggled a little, just to hear Nova groan.

Higgs himself chuckled, even as they moved through the swamp. Right ahead, Samus spotted a cavern, where she quickly scanned through it with multiple visors. "It's clear." She said. "No trace of animal life in the cave."

"Have to admit, though." Higgs said. "Chozo tech does mean you have a nice set of toys."

"They're hardly toys."

"It's a figure of speech, Aran."

Eventually, they reached a nearby structure, styled to match that of Reptilican architecture. It had obviously fallen from the environment above, but the sturdy structure had remained intact, despite the four-hundred-meter drop. Samus adjusted her visor, as she quickly scanned the entrance. "There's a line. We could either climb it, but it will take a while to reach the top of this particular structure."

"How long?" Chloe asked.

"Five hours."

Nova and Chloe groaned, while Anthony just grunted. "Well, we've been moving slowly through constant, boring, featureless jungle, shooting slightly threatening wildlife for the past few hours." Higgs muttered. "Perhaps we can take a break?"

Samus paused. "We've only been moving in this particular sector for the past six hours."

"Only six hours?" Charles muttered over the comm.

"Aran, something to remember is that while you may be incredible, you're still dealing with normal human beings. Please remember that."

"To Charles and Malkovich..." Samus raised an eyebrow. "I apologize. Perhaps this..." She motioned to the group. "...really isn't my area of expertise." She turned. "I still want to move ahead. At the same time, you are welcome to rest."

"Thank fuck." Nova said, as the entire group promptly went into the fake temple. She slumped against a nearby wall, as Samus dropped a single field down. It covered the others immediately, and Samus raised her cannon, almost as a kind of confirmation.

"If you want to sleep, you're welcome to." She said. "I will continue ahead. Perhaps I can shorten the route, though be forewarned." She motioned towards the shield. "It's good for protection during sleep and nothing else. If you try to move it, the shield will come down."

"...Chozo tech, I'm guessing?" Anthony asked.

"Correct." Samus said. "I will see you in several hours." And with that, she started moving on forwards.

A/N: LET'S SPLIT UP, TEAM.

 

[TheOneMoiderah]

"What 'bout you, Chloe?" Anthony asked.

"H-huh?" Chloe blinked.

Nova turned over. "Well, first off, the fuck happened to the arm?"

She looked at the ground, and Higgs immediately moved forwards.

"Okay, maybe not that." Higgs moved in front of Nova. "What about your family? Life on Earth and whatnot?"

"...hm." Chloe curled up. "Uh...uh." She took a breath. "I...my parents were kind of...not really well off. They were miners, you know? Planet F-53...I lived in the city above it, and my parents' apartment was like at the very bottom, just above where the city was tethered. We...my parents?" She smiled. "My parents were nice. Got a decent education...met my first girlfriend."

Higgs nodded. "So, any reason that you're with the Feds now?"

"I needed some extra money to get through college." She said. "And...uh...I was told that being a guard would help it a little. I broke up about a few months before this particular job...was strapped for cash. She took my shit." Chloe rubbed her face with her remaining hand. "And...uh...the pay was good. The pay was really good, since this place is about thousands of lightyears away from home."

"And then the crazy monster shit happened?" Nova asked.

"Y-yeah." Chloe said. "...yeah." She looked away. "...I'm...I'm kind of glad she broke up with me." She said. "...I think she might've actually missed me if...if she got wind of this." She turned over. "...yeah."

"Sorry to hear that." Higgs said. "But, we got Samus right now, right?"

Chloe frowned. "I just want to get out of here."

Nova sighed. "Well, sucks."

"Would it kill you to be a little nicer?" Higgs raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Nova said, before they all turned their heads towards the sound of a door being knocked off of its hinges. Samus' feet slammed into the stone ground, as she shot another beam up into the hole.

"Path has been cleared." Samus said. "I've also discovered a handy transportation system back up to the top." She adjusted her visor. "...Approximately half of the way there. The rest isn't very long at all."

"Wow, were we really here for that long?" Higgs muttered.

"Twenty minutes." Charles said. "...Yikes."

"Good job, Lady." Adam said. "...That was far faster than what you said it would be."

"I do not need your praise." Samus said as she walked towards the barrier. She tapped something on her cannon, and a door-sized entrance opened on the side. It slid open, and immediately she walked inside. "I do see that you have not slept as much as you claimed that you would?"

"Tradin' stories." Nova said. "We were gonna sleep later."

"I do not believe you."

"Heh." Higgs laughed quietly. "Typical Samus. Fast 's fuck."

"Again, I do not need the compliment." Samus said, before she tapped something on her own suit. It vanished into nothing, as a cot materialized onto the ground. It was a spartan thing, without a mat or any kind of blanket. It was a flat surface, with only a slight mesh. "I suppose now is the time for rest?" She asked, looking between them and the fire.

"Uh...I guess." Chloe muttered.

"Good." Samus said, and she immediately lied down on the nearby cot.

[=]​

A/N: Speedrunning Samus strikes again.

 

[TheOneMoiderah]

The group kept moving through the hall, with Samus's own thermal visor on while the others turned their lights down to a lower setting. "...Does the federation not offer alternaive visor modes?"

"Too expensive." Adam said over the comm. "That was their excuse."

"They can afford Olympus-class ships and enormous facilities like this, but not a few visors for their troops?"

"It's not the last time the higher-ups have made poor calls." Adam sighed.

"Kind of like you?"

Adam clenched his teeth. "That was unnecessary, Lady."

"Your past is a part of you. Even if it contains a heinous mistake, it's still there, isn't it? Lingering? Festering?"

"Samus-"

"I'm done talking for now, Adam." Samus said, before she just kept moving forwards.

Meanwhile, both Chloe and Nova looked at each other, before turning to Higgs.

"Not my call to tell you two." He said with a shrug. "...It's Adam's-"

"Yeah, well, fuck off." Nova said, flatly.

"I'm super curious with this thing." Chloe said. "Why the hell are they so hostile to each other?"

Higgs took a deep breath and sighed. "...Samus is resentful."

On the other end, Adam paused, before he started talking into the comm. "Higgs-"

"Out of respect for the good captain, not going into more detail."

Nova just sighed and shrugged, before they all kept walking through the halls. It was then, though that they heard a loud, rapping sound against metal. Samus paused and raised her left arm, before she shot a piece of the wall several times with her plasma beam. After several shots, a small piece of the wall was reduced to white-hot molten rock, and Samus immediately swapped to her scan visor. In the distance, she immediately noticed an object...a small set of bars, with a door right behind it.

Samus ran over towards it, left arm raised, before she thrust it towards the bars. The grapple beam immediately latched itself to the doors, before she gave it a harsh yank, tearing them across the hallway and slamming it into the brick wall. She shot the door behind it with her power beam, and it immediately opened for her.

She took one step inside, her visor glowing green in the darkness, before suddenly, there was the sound of a loud, echoing gunshot. A beam of GF-standard issue power-rounds smashed into her helmet's protection field. A small chunk of her energy was immediately depleted, as the shot harmlessly bounced into the wall behind her. Samus's head was jerked about slightly, before she slowly turned her head to the people inside.

There, inside, were two people, both in white plastic labcoats. Both of them were wearing masks, gloves and boots, with one male and one female. The man's hand held a pistol, and he was trembling in mild terror before he realized who he just shot. "O-Oh no...o-oh no I j-just shot S-Samus Ara-!"

"You were panicking." Samus said, flatly. "It's not the first time I've been on the receiving end of friendly fire."

Chloe sighed. "...I feel like I'm the only person in the galaxy who didn't know who she was."

"Same." Nova muttered.

"Yup." Charles added.

[=]​

A/N: Don't shoot Samus, or else Samus...will mildly reprimand you.

 

[TheOneMoiderah]

[=]​

She turned on her heels, and stepped once right outside of the room. And then, everything seemed to move in slow motion. An insect, much like the one that appeared before, slammed into Samus's chest, nailing her with a loud crash of metal. Without hesitation, Samus aimed her plasma beam at its wings and blasted them to burnt shreds before she nailed the top of its head with three good shots. There was a shriek, followed by a spray of blue blood, as the corpse collapsed at her feet.

"Close the door." Samus said. "Close the door now!"

Higgs nodded before he slammed the door shut and shoved a trolley right into it. And then, right then, there was the sound of skittering. Thousands of legs upon thousands of legs tapped against the walls, followed by the screams of pirates. Samus clenched her teeth, as she checked her missile ammo count and scanned the hallway.

And with that, it lit up, as yellow lights filled the hall. There was a shriek, followed by a single spray of acid. Samus dodged to the side, watching it as it splattered against the ground and started dissolving first the stone, then the metal framework underneath. She held her gun up and screamed, before she charged forwards.

[=]​

The sound of flames and carnage could be heard from inside the room. Chloe held her pistol close, as Higgs held the door up with the trolley. The food was spilled onto the floor, and the two scientists quickly rushed it away...before suddenly, a spray of acid hit the door. In seconds, a hole was burnt through the door, and a red leg started clawing its way in. Without hesitation, Higgs moved away from the door, pulled up his gun, and fired several times at it.

The leg was frozen in seconds, as the rest of the kihunter screamed at the sudden motion. He raised a fist and ripped the leg off, and the kihunter's scream grew louder and more shrill. He switched out his ammo canister and shoved a grenade through the hole, and just as the explosion rocked the hallway outside, he started firing wildly into the swarm of monsters.

[=]​

Meanwhile, Samus's cannon spat out a constant barrage of flame. Her gun screamed as she spent several missiles of ammunition, the number ticking down before she looked over to the door.

"Higgs." She kept firing as she called him.

"Kind of busy!" He said.

"Get away from the door." She took a deep breath. "Tell the two scientists to cover their ears."

"Huh? Why?"

"Give me a second." Samus took a deep breath, before she started to run. She turned away, the kihunters following suit, before she dug her heel into the ground and turned back towards the swarm. "This is going to hurt."

"The hell are you-" Suddenly, there was the sound of several hundred loud thuds against stone and metal. Higgs paused for a second, before suddenly, there was a woosh of air, followed by a tremendous bang. The entire room shuddered as everyone inside felt a wind rip into the room, pulling the door open even more than it already was as dust was sent flying.

Outside, Samus's feet slammed against the ground at a rapid pace, and a counter emerged at the center of her visor. At the end of the hall there was a wall, and right before then, there were still many, many kihunters. She looked behind once as the others were splattered against the walls, before she thrust her gun forwards and fired five missiles, all in an arc.

Whatever was left was quickly destroyed by the blast, and she shouted once into her suit. "Speedboost off." There was a hiss of air and a scream of metal, and with that, she started decelerating. She took a deep, relaxed breath, before she slid across the ground, stance wide, gun still aimed forwards. She shook her cannon once as smoke rose from it, and she quickly looked back. "Is everyone alright?" She asked.

There was a pause on the other end. Several seconds later, Nova eventually spoke up. "What the fuck was that?"

"Speedboost." Samus said. "I don't like to use it and it's situationally useful at best."

"What the fuck was that?!"

"I'll be back with the rest of you soon enough."

"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK?!"

 

[TheOneMoiderah]

Her hand started to shake as soon as contact was made, before her mind was assaulted by a wave of information. Words echoed through her head in an incoherent mess, scrambled completely as she struggled to keep contact with the Aurora Unit. She clenched her teeth and pressed into the console, before she quickly scanned the Platform. "I-It's corrupted." She clenched her teeth, as the sensory overload made her hand convulse. "Overriding main comm channel. Engaging secondary channel."

There was a loud click, as suddenly, the scrambled message became much, much clearer.

"I am U-UNIT TWO-ONE-three-REE." The voice was scrambled. Different voices, one male and one female echoed in the background as the Aurora Unit started contact. "GREETINGS BOUNTY HUNter SAMUS ARAN" Attempting contact with rest of Franklin. Failed."

"What happened?" Samus asked. "Was there a malfunction?"

"THE-the STAFF and REScue-CUE team of this par-t-t-icular vessel have been murdDECEASED." The voice crackled, and Samus swore she could hear one female voice in the background, talking quietly. "Attempting contact with Aurora Network. Failed.

"Which power source are you connected to?" Samus asked.

"TH-the MAIN POWER SOURCE of this VESvessel is currently fuLLYoper Operational."Attempting contact with GDF Earth Headquarters. Failed.

"Can you deactivate it?" Samus asked. "Or are they-"
Attempting contact with local ships. Failed.
"NO." The voice echoed in her helmet, pounding inside of her head as the secondary comm channel was filled with the word "NO", repeating over and over again. It filled her visor and her mind, before she quickly swapped back to the first channel. I CANNOT GO TO SLEEP AGAIN.

"Your communications panel is malfunctioning rather severely." Samus muttered.

"It was WAS D-D-D-DAMAGED b-b-by the spacePIRate AT-T-T-T-tack." A second voice echoed from behind Samus, repeating the word "Damaged" and "attack". A quiet sob echoed through the chamber.

"How so?"

"D-D-DELIberate S-S-SABOTAge." The voice flickered again, as Samus saw the unit itself in the chamber, lopsided and resting against the glass. The impressed portion of the unit pulsed red, showing off the damage, while the rest flickered with blue energy. "I-I am incaINCAPABLE of communication a-a-AND CONT-trol of this parPARTICULar ves-vessVESSEL."

"Are you sure the communications board is the only part of you that has been damaged?"

The voice began to rumble, as a low echoing voice started to talk again. "I am not suDAMAGED." The red portion flickered, as the voice grew in volume. "I AM NOT DAMAGED." The voice began to scream, as the word "Damaged" filled her mind and vision again, and Samus struggled to keep her hand on once again. She pressed hard into the console, cracking glass and bending metal as she swapped back to the backup comm.

"Then what is happening." Samus clenched her teeth. "I can't help anyone unless I get some more information."

"The piratesPIRATes were allowed fr-freed-DOM." The voice crackled again. "The containment F-FIELD was d-d-d-DISABLdisabled when a K-K-KIHUNT-T-T-TER'S acid cont-t-tainment UNIT mal-mal-malfunctionedtionedtioned."

"A kihunter?" Samus murmured.

"The KIHUNT-T-TER FREE-FREE-FREED the METR-METR-METROID QUE-QUE-QUEEN."

[=]​

A/N: God that was awkward to write and I'm probably going to redo it. I hate writing glitchy AI.

 

[TheOneMoiderah]

When they woke up that morning, Samus had the group move. They slowly stalked through the halls as a loud thud echoed through it. Nova held her gun up, while Chloe kept hers close to her chest. Anthony's knuckles went white as his grip tightened, Sakamoto kept his grip on his gun, and Barnes stuck close to him as they moved through the empty hallways.

"Samus...you do know how deep we are in the ship, right?"

"We're closer to the long-range beacon." Samus kept her cannon up. "It's less than ten kilometers from here...unfortunately, this is where the Queen was last spotted. I'm not confident in our ability to avoid it."

"That's a first."

"What's a first?" Samus' eyebrow quirked up beneath her helmet.

"You not being confident." Anthony said.

"I'm realistic." Samus said. "That's it."

Nova sighed. "We're so fucking boned."

"Someone's a negative Nancy." Anthony said.

"Day five and you're still a ways to go." Charlie said over the comm. "I mean...chances are, shit might still go south. At least you're getting closer to the end, right?"

"I wouldn't be that pessimistic." Anthony quirked an eyebrow up.

"You're still doing well, team." Adam said.

"We're doing well?" Nova sighed. "I feel like fucking baggage."

"You're still alive."

"Yeah, but only because of Samus, here." She noted with a tense tone. "...Fuckin' A."

"No need to get testy." Charles said.

"I'm not being fucking testy. I'm stating facts. We'd be dead without her...and honestly, I'm surprised we aren't dead now."

Samus pressed a hand against her helmet's earpiece. "Let's just keep moving..." A loud thud, followed by the groaning of metal echoed through the hallway. Immedaitely, Chloe held her gun tighter.

"W-what the hell was that?" Sakamoto shouted.

"I'm guessing that would be our Queen." Samus raised her gun. "Stay close. Don't split. Keep each other in sight."

[=]​

Charles and Adam sat in their own room as they watched the group on-screen move. Charles looked between the crew and the captain as he idly munched on a ration cube. "...Want a bite?"

"I already ate." Adam said.

"...Alright." Charles sighed. "Tastes like dry ass, anyway."

"Dry ass is preferable to starving." Adam leaned forward, while Charles pushed his chair back and propped his feet on the control panel.

"Yeah, well...okay." He popped off another piece of cube and chucked it into his mouth. "...So...what was she like?"

"Hm?"

"Samus." Charles looked over. "I mean...she was part of your team before, right?"

"All she had was her...zero suit, they called it. Rudimentary armor with some life-support...not much protection but it was enough to stop a slug and multiple powerbeam shots." He leaned back. "...She was an interesting member of the team...she didn't get access to the power suit until after training. I think it was a protocol from the Chozo that raised her."

Charles stopped eating. "Wait...Chozo? She was raised by space Santa?"

Adam laughed. "She was indeed raised by birds. I knew this because she told me. She didn't realize just what she said, either...I even made her my protege. She had potential...and she's using it to its full extent." He chuckled. "You don't become the best bounty hunter in a galaxy filled with trillions with untapped potential."

"I thought we went over this before, captain."

"I guess we did." Adam said. "...I think being cooped up in a room is driving me mad." He leaned back into his chair again.

"...willing to tell me what happened this time?"

The captain let out a loud laugh. "Not a chance!"

"Fair enough."

[=]​

A/N: Captain is being coy.