Emma Barnes. She had been Taylor Hebert's best friend, my best friend. She was the redheaded girl I'd seen in my dreams when I was little, after meeting with Old Bird, and she was the one that Gray Voice told me likely didn't exist. At least, there hadn't exactly been a redhead among the colonists of K-2L. Not one my own age, anyway. Emma didn't look all that different from how I remembered her. She'd developed some, and she probably would look pretty good as she got older. I probably would have been jealous of her if she'd been on Zebes as I grew up.
The girls with her, I assumed were friends from her school. They certainly weren't anyone who had appeared in my dreams, my memories from before leaving Bet. No, I certainly hadn't met either of her friends. Especially not the protective black girl.
"Ems, you sure about this? You remember the last time you thought someone was her," said the black girl.
"She knew my name," Emma said. "You are her, right?"
"Hebert?" Millie asked, looking at me. She frowned. "You do look a little like she did. Are you the professor's cousin or something? It was so sad when she died."
I shook my head. Professor Annette Hebert was… had been… my mother, the same way that Virginia Aran was, and unfortunately both were long dead. Well, long dead to me. It had been three years since her death here.
"She's Taylor Hebert," Emma said. "Aunt Annette's daughter."
"Ems, I thought you said your friend was your age," said the darkhaired girl.
I held up a hand, letting out a small sigh. I needed to clarify some things. "It's complicated."
"Samus," Adam's voice came over my earbud. "I have done some research into this Taylor Hebert that Emma mentioned. She bears some resemblance to how you looked when you joined the Federation Police. However, judging from the age she was when she went missing…"
I tapped the earbud, cutting Adam off. I didn't want to have to try and explain things to him in addition to the girls in front of me, and I hadn't even had my meal yet.
"What do you mean complicated?" asked the smaller girl. "Are you Taylor Hebert, or aren't you? And if you are, why do you look so old?"
"She doesn't look that old," said Millie. "She can't be much older than twenty."
I snorted. "Twenty-six, actually. Millie, that thing you asked me?"
"Damn, girl," Millie said. "I meant what I said, but damn. And what thing? Wait… oh, that thing. This is related to that?"
"Something like it," I said. This was why I didn't really stay around people that much. Millie, at least, was content to do the talking, but there were times when I would have to speak up around people. With Old Bird and Gray Voice, I didn't really have to talk much. My body language did most of the talking for me, but among humans?
"I told you she had to be alive," Emma said. "They never found a body, and…"
Suddenly Emma was at my side, wrapping her arms around me. While no tears were dripping down the side of her face, she had something going on. The emotional upswell in the girl who had once been my best friend was staggering. I returned the hug with one arm, and with my right, I lightly patted her on the back of the head. Friendship was something to be treasured, after all. Despite all the changes that I'd been through the past couple years, that was a lesson that stuck with me. Even when certain beings spat it back in my face.
"I'm back, yes…" I stood up so that she could have an easier time hugging me, and I realized then that I was much taller than her. She had to be maybe 5'4", making me nearly a foot taller than her. Her friend was a little taller, but I still dwarfed her by about two thirds a foot.
"Madison, could you go place an order for Ems and me?" asked Emma's other friend.
"You sure, Sophia?" Madison asked.
"Yeah. Emma and I need to have a talk with this one." Sophia seemed to be trying to make herself taller.
"I'll be back for my Challenger, Millie," I said.
"Sure thing, Sa-Ta… what should I call you?" Millie asked.
"Samus is fine," I said.
"Okay, Samus," Millie said.
I glanced to Sophia. Though Emma was still hugging me, the two of us met gazes. The girl was sizing me up, like how I'd seen some of the Federation recruits do. There was a severe lack of trust on her face, and honestly, I couldn't blame her. I'm still not sure how Emma managed to recognize me. I was both taller and older than I should have been. My hair… well, I hadn't dyed it recently, so it wasn't the complete blonde I wore it in to honor my mother, but the highlights were there.
The Sophia girl looked athletic, like she worked out or did some sort of sports or something, but she was clearly high school age. She looked like she was torn between tearing Emma away from me or just trying to fight me for her. I needed to shut that down. There was no way I was going to be just beating on some high school girl for being protective of her friend. "Shall we talk outside?"
"Sure thing, Samus," Sophia said, emphasizing my name. Probably to reiterate to Emma that I wasn't Taylor Hebert. In some ways, she was right. I didn't remember everything from before I came to K-2L, and honestly, I barely remembered Brockton Bay. I had been younger, and then everything happened.
Everything.
Gently, I separated from Emma, and the three of us stepped outside the restaurant. We walked around the corner to an area that I deemed fairly isolated, where we could talk without much issue. The beach was clearly visible, but at the current temperatures, there weren't many people out and about. For a few seconds, I listened to the sounds of the waves as they hit the shore, cracking small bits of ice that had formed.
Then another sound got my attention, the cocking and preparing of a string-based weapon. A crossbow, almost certainly. As I turned, I saw Sophia aiming one at me. Curious, I didn't really think she was able to hold one in her bag. Clearly, I was wrong. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you sure as shit aren't going to hurt Ems."
"I told you already, Sophia, she's Taylor," Emma said. "She's got the hair… her eyes are a little different, and she's taller, but she's Taylor. She recognized me even! After I recognized her."
"Yeah, and that's what you said about the last five girls," Sophia said. "Emma, you have to get over this. You're a survivor, and you can't keep getting stuck on that sort of thing."
I narrowed my eyes. "What happened?"
"None of your business, bitch," Sophia said. "I told you. I don't want you hurting Ems. Now, who the hell are you?"
I looked at the crossbow. The bolt on there seemed a little different than a normal one. It had a small vial attached to the tip, which was hollowed out.
"Yeah. I'll shoot you if you don't talk," Sophia said. "Who are you? That girl in there called you Samus. That doesn't sound like Taylor to me."
"I was Taylor Hebert," I said. The clicking in my ear let me know that Adam was listening in. The AI likely was going over all the files relating to my disappearance if he hadn't already, and then he was probably anticipating other things that I would ask him later. I knew how Adam thought. "But I've gone by Samus Aran for twenty-six years."
"Where… how?" Emma asked.
I shrugged. "Dimensional craziness? I can't explain the mechanics of it, as I don't understand myself."
I also didn't really like to talk as much as I was, but Emma deserved something. I also very much didn't want to have to deal with taking down one of her friends. There was no OpSec to worry about here.
"Yeah, bullshit," Sophia said. "Ems. There's a way to prove it. Ask her something that you know that some random person wouldn't. I'm not going to let you get taken in by a Stranger."
Emma shook her head. "It's definitely Taylor. I know it." Her voice quavered a little. "Taylor. Samus. Whatever, you're you… what was the nickname your parents used for you?"
I closed my eyes. This was something that I needed to remember. My parents. Emma wasn't referring to Raven Beak, who… well, I never really saw him as a father anyway. She wasn't referring to Adam, who called me Lady. Who still called me Lady. Nor did she mean Gray Voice or Old Bird, who occasionally called me Little Bird. I couldn't remember what my parents called me other than Samus before they died… but she was referring to before then. To Annette and Danny Hebert. What did they call me? In a way, it was similar to what Gray Voice and Old Bird referred to me as… but more specific.
"Little Owl. They called me Little Owl. Not so little now, am I?" I asked with a small smirk.
Emma smiled. "Yes, I knew it! Told you, Sophia. Put down the crossbow."
"Not specific enough," Sophia said. "A Stranger could probably deduce that sort of thing, or maybe she's the one who took Taylor to begin with…"
Sophia's trigger finger seemed to be twitching. I don't think this was intentional, but she fired her crossbow. Quickly, I stepped to the left, and I snagged the bolt out of the air. I closed the distance between us, hit the crossbow up, breaking it from her grip, and I pulled her arms around her back, using some of the CQC that I'd used when I was a part of the Federation police.
Her hands slipped from my grasp like I was holding nothing but air for a second, and then she attempted to slam her head into my chin. I threw her crossbow to the side, letting it clatter to the ground, and I backed off from her, assuming a loose stance.
"Sophia, stop!" Emma said. "It's Taylor. I know it is."
"You're a cape," Sophia said. "Maybe not a Stranger, but you're something. Emma, she could be lying to you."
"You're parahuman," I countered. It was the only way she could have slipped my grip. I didn't have any cuffs on me. "I'm not lying about who I am, Sophia. I get that you're trying to protect your friend. But she was my friend first."
Sophia frowned, looking me over again. This time, her eye was a bit more appraising than before. "What the fuck are you?"
"Bounty hunter," I said bluntly. Not that I really expected her to believe me. There was no real point in hiding this fact from her, given I had some idea of what she was capable of. "In space."
"Bullshit," Sophia said. There it was. The disbelief.
"I don't care what you think," I said. "Attack me again, and you'll be unconscious on the floor. Emma's friend or not."
"Taylor, what?" Emma asked. "Sophia, you don't need to do anything. She's strong. You can see it right? She's a survivor, like us."
There was that word again. This time, from Emma. Something happened to her. What, specifically, I wasn't sure, but whatever it was, she put a lot of weight on that term. The reaction she'd had when Sophia said it, and when she said it, there was that reverence. I got the feeling that she needed some sort of therapy, and she hadn't gotten it yet.
"She's definitely strong," Sophia said, dropping out of her fighting stance. She went to pick up her crossbow, looking me over some more. "I don't think I need to call this in. You won't tell anyone about this, will you, Samus?"
"About what?" I asked. No real need to antagonize the girl further. She was just being protective of Emma. It was hardly the first time someone had attacked me over something innocuous. Plus, she was a teenager, and teens had all the hormones messing with their judgment. I did need to look more into parahumans though. I didn't remember much about them from when I last lived here.
Sophia nodded, and she relaxed a little more as she collapsed her crossbow and put it into her bag. "Ems… I still don't like this, but…"
"She's Taylor," Emma said. "I know she is. And… something did happen to her. There's Earth Aleph out there. Is it so crazy that she maybe ended up on another Earth?"
Earth, maybe not. The colony that I was raised on from… however old I was physically when I was adopted until I turned three? My time on Zebes? I thought that might have been a little bit crazier to explain. Still, there was an important question to ask. "Emma… is my father…?"
"Oh… right...!" Emma nodded quickly. "Uncle Danny needs to know you're back too. He's probably at work right now, but we should be able to call him. Sophia, you have his number, right?"
I tilted my head. Why would Sophia have his number? I did not expect my old best friend's new friend to even know who my father was, but she had his number?
"He broke his phone the other night," Sophia said. "I can maybe get patched through to him, but it's probably best to wait until he's off shift."
"Wasn't he… part of the Dockworkers Association?" I asked. That was something I clearly remembered. Dad worked at the docks. He always did that. It wasn't always lucrative for him, but it was the work he enjoyed.
"He changed jobs," Emma said. "A short while after you disappeared. He and Dad both helped Sophia get her current job."
I tapped my earpiece. Adam had to be looking into things. He just had to be. He supported me in most things that I did, and given that we were still in radio contact, without me needing to upload specific data, meant that he could update me in real time. "Are you ready to listen this time, Samus?"
I cleared my throat.
"Daniel Hebert has not been employed as the hiring manager of the Dockworker's Association for approximately fourteen months. His current employment is under a sort of classification that I am hesitant to crack, but judging from public records, approximately thirteen months ago, a new Protectorate hero debuted, Ratcatcher. He apparently has the ability to control rats with his mind. His physique and stature resemble the photographs I was able to obtain of Daniel Hebert online. I can only assume that this Sophia girl also works with the Protectorate."
"Protectorate," I said. "The new job?"
Emma blinked. "How did you…?"
"Bounty hunter," I said. "I am good at obtaining information."
"Who do you have on the other line?" Sophia asked, glancing to my ear.
"My partner," I said. "Adam. He's listening in on everything."
"Thank you, Lady," Adam said in my ear.
"Sounds perverted," Sophia said with a snort.
"Partner?" Emma asked. "You mean, like… you know?"
I raised an eyebrow at my friend.
"Wait… no," Emma said. "That doesn't make much sense. Where is he?"
"That's not something I can share at the moment," I said. "Maybe later."
My stomach chose to growl again.
Emma gaped at me for a second, but then she started to giggle. "Guess you're hungry."
I nodded, and I turned back toward Fugly Bob's. This had been far too much talking for my liking, but I was able to use some of Old Bird's philosophy a bit. Who knew? Maybe with Sophia it would actually stick. Especially since she seemed to know my father.
Gods, that was going to be an awkward reintroduction. "Surprise, Dad. You now have a twenty-six year old part Chozo, part Metroid daughter who has blown up four planets in the service of galactic peace and safety. Yes, I should only be fifteen, but general relativity and dimensional travel make strange bedfellows. What, I only look nineteen? See the Chozo and Metroid genetics."
Yeah, I doubted that was going to go over very well. Especially since I'd have to explain what the Chozo were, what Metroids were, and I really didn't want to have to go over my life's story. Maybe I could con Adam into doing it for me. Just give Dad a relevant dossier of me, and I wouldn't have to deal with the whole awkward conversation.
Things were plenty awkward with just Emma and her friend.
When we made it back into the restaurant, their other friend had joined Millie at the table. Madison was picking her brain about some college-related thing or another, but I got the feeling that they were both talking about the three of us. The confirmation came as we sat down and our orders were being placed on the table.
"So, Samus," Madison said. "Millie told me you stopped an Empire guy from doing something to her by throwing him into a dumpster."
"It was badass," Millie said. "One second, the skinhead fuck was about to shank me, the next, she just tosses him."
Sophia cocked an eyebrow.
"Told you, Sophia," Emma said smugly. "Taylor's always been strong. It's why I knew she had to be out there."
"So… what's going on with the Taylor and Samus thing?" Madison asked. "And why isn't she our age? I thought Taylor was supposed to be."
"It's complicated, Mads," Sophia said. "I don't even know all that shit. But evidence points to Emma being right this time. This time."
"That implies there were other times," Millie said, taking a bite of a fry. "So, Samus, what do you think about her mistaking other girls for you?"
I shrugged and took a bite of the Challenger. Oh, that was pretty good beef. It had been a good long while since I'd eaten any Earth-based animals at all, and there was just something tasty about this. Yes, I could just taste the sheer number of calories I was intaking, but given my physiology, I needed this. It was better to fill up on something like this than be tempted to drain energy from the power grid or worse, from people. I could keep my Metroid instincts in check, likely due to Gray Voice's genetics within me, as Raven Beak said, but it was easier if I was doing it on a full stomach.
"They looked like her, but they weren't," Emma said.
"Emma, that second girl was Hispanic; she didn't look anything like the picture you had of Taylor. Hell, Samus barely looks like her, but she looks more like that picture than any of the earlier girls you thought were her," Sophia said.
"Ems, I love you, but sometimes, you really should listen to Sophia," Madison said. "And maybe get a bit of help about Taylor."
"I had been," Emma said. "But Taylor's here now. I don't need it anymore."
"There's nothing wrong with getting therapy," Millie said. "It can help deal with grief, or any number of things. Everyone can benefit from it."
She gave me a significant look as I took… huh. Was that really the last bite of the Challenger? I thought it was supposed to be a big burger. As for Millie suggesting therapy for me… she didn't know me all that well, and she was an English grad student. Maybe it had something to do with her assumption about me being a cape. I didn't know if Millie knew any capes personally, or even what she based this assumption off. But it had to be coming from somewhere. I needed to know more about capes and cape culture.
Especially if Dad was one. And especially if Emma was good friends with one.
I shrugged again, wiping my face. "I've seen a therapist before. After… well, it's complicated. But there's nothing wrong with the profession. They do, mostly, genuinely want to help."
"But…" Emma murmured. "You're back now. And you're so strong. A survivor."
"Therapy helped me get that way," I said. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Taking out my frustrations on the deadly wildlife of a hostile planet certainly helped. Absorbing a number of X-Parasites also helped. But therapy would probably help me get my head on straight after what had happened. "And… well, training."
One of the waiters noticed that I was finished with my burger, and after verifying I'd actually managed to complete the thing on my own, he came over to take a picture of me for their wall. The camera was one of those instant-developing kinds, and I signed the photograph with the name I'd been using for a long while. I noted the variety of pictures on the wall, including some people in costumes. Capes. They were proud that the capes ate here.
They comped our meals, and I gave a brief yet vague overview of my training to the girls at the table. I did let them know that I had been law enforcement for a short while, but I'd left. Where, specifically, I didn't indicate. I would later when we weren't in a public area. We stepped outside the restaurant, but we were still milling about near the beach area.
"So, Samus, do you have a phone number or something?" Millie asked. "I think I'd like to hang out again, if we can."
I shook my head.
"Taylor never got a cell phone," Emma said. "Aunt Annette…"
Millie winced. "Oh, yeah, right. I heard about that."
"Give me your number," I said. "We'll work something out." As she wrote it down, I lowly murmured it so that Adam could add it to his memory banks. I was sure that we'd be able to set something up so that people could contact me while I was here. It probably would be trivial for his systems, even with the power as depleted as it was.
Sophia pulled out her cell phone and glanced at it with a frown. "Oh. Shit." Her face paled a little as the blood drained from it. "The ABB, Protectorate, and the Empire are having a three-way brawl in the Docks. We should probably get out of here and toward the Boardwalk in case it spills over."
"Who from the Protectorate?" Madison asked.
"Looks like Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Rat…catcher…." Sophia trailed off as I frowned. I knew she would do what it took to keep her friends safe.
"Keep an eye on them for me," I said, looking at Sophia as I summoned the Gravity Suit. As the armor formed around me, I heard gasps from all of them.
"I knew you were a cape," Millie crowed. "What's your cape name?"
"I'm not a cape," I said as I got ready to start running. "I'm a bounty hunter. If you can't call me Samus, call me that."
And then I kicked up my speed booster to get on my way. Hunter was as good a name as any, after all.
