Metroid Rebirth (Worm/Metroid)

[Sir_Braazmiir]

So, yes, Other M is canon to this... but not quite the American version. The Japanese version didn't have quite as many issues, but there's also some other things that happened in Taymus's version that didn't happen in the canon version.

Click to shrink...

And the differences will only be known when the events become relevant in-story, I presume? I can live with that.

 

[Kitsune_Obsessed]

Not gonna lie, this is a pretty amazing story. I like it a lot.

 

[Mandabar]

I mean, who says that this particular facility doesn't have even more?

Click to shrink...

I almost thought that went without saying. But best to have it out in the clear!

 

[Ellf]

Restoration 3.6

Ellisburg, New York didn't look like much from the air as I approached in the gunship. The small town was surrounded by a concrete wall that stood at least six stories tall. The town apparently sat on a waterway, and said waterway flowed through a thicker part of the wall and out another. Both ends of the river, into and out of the town had a filtration system that made sure nothing was making its way upstream or downstream from the town.

I remembered Ellisburg. Especially now. The walls had gone up when Taylor Hebert was a toddler, blocking the small town and its inhabitants off from the world. The Goblin King had been content to rest on his laurels with his creations, but even now, the question remained. What would happen if someone else got that much power, someone not content to do that?

I'd already seen a quarantine happen in Canberra, for good reason. Phazon was not to be taken lightly. However, that the PRT would do something like this for some person gaining too much power and misusing it was a little disconcerting. I wondered why they hadn't made an effort to wipe it off the map prior to this. Why they needed me.

Seemingly sensing my discomfort, Adam spoke as we did a brief circle of the town. "From the information I managed to gather, wiping Ellisburg off the map had the worry that Nilbog would have some sort of retaliatory strike, releasing a biological weapon into the air."

"Then why now?" I asked. I looked at the cargo of the gunship. I had been given several bombs and other items to plant throughout the city that would theoretically link together and remove the plague that was Nilbog's goblins. I had also been given a smooth metallic box with a slight depression on each of the sides. "And why send me in to plant these bombs rather than just bombing it from the air?"

"I don't have a specific answer as to either, but the mission control is calling in," Adam said. "Perhaps they will be able to answer your questions, Lady."

I nodded, adjusting my flight path and plotting where I would set the gunship down. "Fine. Let's connect them."

Adam did so, and on my visor's HUD, I could see the names of those connected as they spoke up. Adam must have done some work with getting their systems to work with my own. I needed to figure out how to give him a reward for that.

"Hunter," said a voice labeled T. Calvert. "It's good to speak with you. This is Commander Thomas Calvert. I will be the PRT representative for this mission. With me as a part of mission control, from the Guild, we have Dragon, and from Watchdog, we have Optics and Eleventh Hour. We're here to assist you as needed."

"Thank you," I said.

"This is so cool!" said a young sounding girl. The name attached to her speech on the HUD was "Optics." I really wasn't sure how to feel about that. "You've got such cool technology, Hunter, and I can't wait to help you out as best as I can."

"Optics, calm down," said Eleventh Hour. "Sorry about that, Hunter. She's relatively new. I'm here to keep her focused."

"It's okay," I said. How old was the girl? "I do have a few questions. Not that I don't appreciate the bounty offer, but why me, and why now?"

"We constantly have Ellisburg under thinker evaluation as to what needs to be done. There are several questions posed to Watchdog thinkers weekly, and the numbers changed recently around Ellisburg," Eleventh Hour said. "Leaving Ellisburg alone has ceased to be an option that has an agreeable outcome."

"According to the thinker readouts," Calvert said. "The situation is best handled by you, Hunter. You go in alone, deal with Nilbog and his creations, the numbers are better. We send in the Protectorate or PRT, the numbers are worse. However, we still don't know the precise situation you'll be walking into."

Nothing new to me. At least it was just one town this time, not a whole hostile planet.

"You may not know the precise situation, Commander, but I may be able to shed some more light on the situation," Dragon said. "Approximately a day and a half ago, something happened that made the goblins inside Ellisburg much more hostile. Some have started climbing the walls surrounding the city, but the defenses have kept them contained, for now."

The "for now" part concerned me, but I suspected that was the main reason that they were looking to call me in. Except the bounty had come before the goblins had started to act more hostile.

"Why not call in the Triumvirate?" Adam asked as we circled the town once more, looking for an ideal LZ. A clearing inside the town would be ideal, as it would make for an easier evacuation once the bombs were set. "Not that we don't appreciate the opportunity, but surely they would be better equipped for this job."

"We did ask that question," Calvert said. "However, the readings were still better with Hunter being sent in. I have my suspicions as to why that is the case, but I don't want to air them before the job is complete. Dragon, if you would…"

"Yes, Commander Calvert," Dragon said. "Adam, Hunter, I'm uploading a recent satellite generated map of the town to your connection. Highlighted on the map are four points. One of the bombs provided should be placed at each of those points. You may notice that there is a fifth bomb. The fifth bomb is for Nilbog himself, to eliminate him. Jamie Rinke, Nilbog, has received a signed Kill Order from the United States Government, however this version is specifically tailored such that Hunter is the only one authorized to commit the execution."

I nodded, grimly frowning under my helmet. I'd taken lives as a part of my bounty hunting before, even human lives, but it wasn't something that I took lightly.

"Once the fifth bomb is placed, you will have two minutes to evacuate Ellisburg," Dragon said. "An up-to-date map will be able to be provided by Optics."

"It's more than a map," said the little girl. "It should be able to track locations of the goblins as well, and it can act as a scouting drone too! If I got everything right, you should be able to control it with your suit, Hunter! If not, I can do some remote control, and keep it going for you."

I smiled. She sounded so eager. "I assume that it is that large cube-shaped cargo that I have. How do you want me to interface with it?"

"It's not just a cube! It's a box! And it does so many cool things!" Optics said. "If you push button on the top, there should be an interface that's compatible with the dataport that is in your suit's gun arm, and then you can control it with your suit! Or Adam can, or I can or whatever!"

I pursed my lips. Unknown technology interfacing with the power suit didn't always end well, but at the same time, it wasn't anything I hadn't done before. Plus, the kid sounded so adorably eager. I doublechecked with the map Dragon gave, and I found a clear area. None of the goblins would be able to board the gunship without me giving explicit permission due to the biological sensors, and the LZ was a short distance from at least one bomb point. I had no doubts that I would be able to make it back in time. "Okay. Landing now."

I lowered the gunship carefully into the LZ, spooking the locals. The smaller goblins, with spikes along their backs scurried away from the gunship as it landed, and the taller ones stood at a short distance. While I could have just fired at them to clear the site, I wanted to make sure that there was a safe area to land on. I checked the surrounding area to get a good look at the town.

Whatever had happened here, the town had been converted into a goblin wonderland. Someone, likely Nilbog, had altered the town from its original layout, likely having taken multiple years. It wasn't a functional remodel, more one to fit a certain aesthetic. I saw floorboards that were now on building exteriors, creating roofs and additions to buildings that spiraled and twisted. Boards were propped up flat against the building faces on one side, painted much in the same way that old movies would do it.

The walls surrounding the town had been painted as well. I could see it clearly from my ship's viewscreen. From a distance, it almost looked like the "kingdom" extended out to every horizon, with impossible landscapes grown over with grass and trees. They'd painted the sky there as an overcast one, where it was visible above the unpredictable fields and forests.

Inside the city itself, the trees had been meticulously trimmed and cut, shaped into a variety of shapes from perfectly round cubes, cones, or cylinders. New trees were growing on lawns as dense or close together as any orchard I'd seen on Zebes, and there were wires around them, guiding their growths into twists and curves.

I was sure that if there hadn't been snow on the ground, the grass and flowers would be equally meticulous. Instead, the snow had been shoveled and piled on the sides of lawns in specially designed piles, nearly as tall as some of the trees. I supposed that Ellisburg had gotten some larger amount of snow recently.

It was time to get going. I disconnected from the cockpit and made my way into the cargo bay. I picked up the five bombs, and I activated a function on my suit that I didn't commonly need to use, the magneto-harness, allowing me to strap all five of them to my waist like a belt. Said belt would also wrap around me when in morph ball form, and I would be able to pull the bombs off as needed.

Then I looked at the "box."

The description I'd given it earlier from viewing it on camera didn't do it enough justice. The box was nearly as tall as I was in my suit, and since it was literally a cubic box, I had to wonder how heavy it was going to be. Still, Optics had said that there was a button to press on top of it, and I reached up, felt a depression and pressed it in. On the side that faced me, a port opened up that clearly was sized for my arm cannon.

I shrugged slightly and stuck it inside, feeling a familiar click. The rest of the box lit up, and my HUD lit up with an additional interface. A small cartoonish eye appeared in the bottom right corner of my display, and while that happened, the sides of the box retracted, revealing a smaller box, roughly two feet in diameter, but this one glowed with some sort of energy that allowed it to float.

"Ha!" Optics said. "I knew I got it right! Hunter, can you control the drone, or do you need me to?"

I tried forcing the drone to move forward, and it did. That was a good thing, but it took attention from what I needed to focus on. "I can get it working, but it might be better if you or Adam handle the controls."

"Perhaps we can work together, Optics," Adam said. "I can take over when there are things that your handler would rather you not see."

"Thank you, Adam," Eleventh Hour said. "Hunter, according to the text I just got from Appraiser, you are Green to go."

"Hold on a second," Calvert said. "Hunter, please start with your most lethal settings. Nilbog's goblins are known to be able to damage steel plating with ease and some spit acidic venom. Be careful out there."

"I will be," I said.

"The mission is the elimination of the goblin denizens of Ellisburg and their king, Jamie Rinke, known as Nilbog," Adam said over a private channel. "The bounty on this will put us closer to acquiring the parts needed to get a better refuel set up here on this Earth. There is no secondary objective. Execute the bounty with extreme prejudice. Any objections, Lady?"

I stepped toward the ship's elevator, switching all my beam upgrades on along with my missile upgrades. I upped the shock level of my Screw Attack to its full capabilities, and I readied myself. I even activated whatever that new upgrade I got was. It didn't have a name yet, and I had yet to test it, but where better? Given the energy that had produced it was from Lung, perhaps it would be related.

The elevator lowered me to the ground inside Ellisburg, and I looked around, readying for a fight. The drone came behind me.

"Hunter, look out!" Optics's voice rang out over my radio as a bone spear hurtled toward me. I sidestepped it, slapping it aside with my free hand, and then I shot a Plasma Beam at the source with Wide Beam active.

The trio of plasma bolts struck true, and the tall goblin fell backward, a new hole burned through its chest. More bone spears came at me, and jumped toward the pair of goblins, unleashing two missiles at them. The first hit dead on, freezing the goblin in place. It fell over and shattered seconds later, while the third goblin only got grazed by the explosion.

I got a closer look at the third goblin as I got closer. This one wore a set of leather jackets sized for someone perhaps a bit smaller than him, and he had a piggish nose, slightly upturned. He snarled at me. "Intruder! Die for Nilbog! Die for the Goblin King! And make more of us!"

He produced another bone spear, pulling it out from his back, and he lobbed it at me far faster than the others came. If I hadn't been watching specifically for it, I likely would have gotten hit. I slapped it mid-flight again, and the spear buried itself in the concrete walkway two feet deep.

The first plasma shot on him barely seemed to faze him, but the second blew through whatever armor plating he'd managed to generate from his bones.

I looked around at the other goblins looking on and charged up some Storm Missiles. Some of them were short, maybe four feet tall, but they all looked crafty. The lizard-looking one breathed in and hocked a green something at me, and I ducked down. It struck the part of the spear that stuck out of the ground, sizzling. Acid venom. That might actually have done some damage to me if it'd hit.

I unleashed the flurry of Storm Missiles, targeting the goblins, and as they had no clue what was happening, the missiles eliminated them. I would be worried about missile refills if I needed to use too many of those, but right now, it allowed me to fully clear the LZ.

"Landing zone cleared of hostiles," I said. "Optics, you are free to take the drone up."

"Thank you!" Optics said. "And… whoever is messing with my screen, I know it's happening! But I don't really want to see the blood and guts and stuff, so thank you too!"

"It was Eleventh Hour's request," Dragon said. "Hunter, those were some of Nilbog's weaker goblins. They will probably get stronger."

I nodded and started off toward the first bombing site. I'd handled far worse than these. I wanted to plant these bombs and get it done, as quickly as possible. It wasn't like Nilbog was likely to have anything major guarding one of these sites. I doubted that he knew where we were going for.

I did hesitate to call anything a milk run, but things hadn't been that hard yet. Maybe they wouldn't be.

Of course, very few things in my life had been easy.

 

[Kragh]

Thanks for the chapter! I'm usually worried for the MC when Calvert is acting as a good guy, but for once I trust he hate Nilbog enough to not fuck the MC over.
Keep up the good work

 

[Stratagemini]

You know what Taylor needs? a cute species of super murderous predators to murder. I wonder if she'll end up with a baby Goblin?

 

[Spectral Waltz]

I expect Calvert to have done something hinky with the bombs, but going by this little line...

"Hold on a second," Calvert said. "Hunter, please start with your most lethal settings. Nilbog's goblins are known to be able to damage steel plating with ease and some spit acidic venom. Be careful out there."

Click to shrink...

I think his plan here is pretty much as follows. One part is to get a read on Hunter's capabilities so that he knows what he needs to be able to bring to bear to eliminate her. The other part is probably to either test her durability in an alternate timeline by detonating the bombs early, or possibly to use the bombs to kill her if it seems like she's too strong for him to possibly control.

 

[Andorxor]

A mission where the tech is not spread thought the map for her to find, instead she has it all at the start? She even gets an upgrade at the start. I am sure Samus is a bit confused about that.

 

[JmonsterNEO]

A mission where the tech is not spread thought the map for her to find, instead she has it all at the start? She even gets an upgrade at the start. I am sure Samus is a bit confused about that.

Click to shrink...

At least the mission site is gonna explode, meaning she'll have to make a run for her ship, then fly away with a massive explosion behind her ship. That will be a lot more familiar.

 

[Kitsune_Obsessed]

I absolutely love this story so far.

I bet Thomas Calvert will eventually do something sketchy, but I don't think it will happen until after this mission at the earliest. Just a quick question though... Am I even replying in the right section? This site confuses me so much. Anyone know where I could find a tutorial? Lol

 

[catDreaming]

I absolutely love this story so far.

I bet Thomas Calvert will eventually do something sketchy, but I don't think it will happen until after this mission at the earliest. Just a quick question though... Am I even replying in the right section? This site confuses me so much. Anyone know where I could find a tutorial? Lol

Click to shrink...

Sufficient Velocity is a forum site, first and foremost. You can find typically find chapters linked under the 'Threadmarks' dropdown, and can comment regarding the story as part of the thread as normal, or by PMing the author.
( Exception that isn't relevant here: Sometimes author's will have two threads for a story, with one lableled the 'story thread'. In those cases, comments are to be put into the thread which is not labeled 'story thread'.

 

[Kitsune_Obsessed]

Sufficient Velocity is a forum site, first and foremost. You can find typically find chapters linked under the 'Threadmarks' dropdown, and can comment regarding the story as part of the thread as normal, or by PMing the author.
( Exception that isn't relevant here: Sometimes author's will have two threads for a story, with one lableled the 'story thread'. In those cases, comments are to be put into the thread which is not labeled 'story thread'.

Click to shrink...

Ah hahaha, I totally not used to forums I guess. Thanks for the reply. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon then

 

[Ellf]

Restoration 3.7

As the goblins of Ellisburg attacked me, it was easy enough to build that wall of separation. These creatures, artificially created by a parahuman power, using protein taken from the former inhabitants of the city, were dangerous. Even to me. Yes, they lacked the skills and weaponry to do serious damage, but if I were to allow myself to be caught off-guard, I could easily still lose my life the way I could on any alien planet that I would explore. Killing them wasn't personal. Nor was planting the bombs that would destroy the whole of the city. If they were allowed to roam free, if Nilbog were allowed to escape and do as he pleased, it could potentially be world-ending. The city was a powder keg filled to the brim that had only needed a spark.

And something had lit it.

I'd planted two of the bombs as I made my way toward the third site. Less goblins directly approached me now, having seen what I was capable of. Despite their strange and often grotesque appearances, they weren't stupid. They knew I was up to something, that I was planning something. When they did see me, they attacked, but I could hear their mutterings from places I shot at. Something I was certain confused my observers to no end.

"Hunter," Calvert said. "Why are you shooting at that wall?"

"Shortcut," I said. In reality, I was curious to see how well the buildings would hold up to my plasma beams. Still, I was able to note the structural weaknesses that each wall displayed, and which of my upgrades was more likely to be best used to destroy it. Some of the concrete walls were reinforced in such a way that the plasma barely chipped it, but I could tell that I could dash through them. Others were easily destroyed.

The one cool thing that made me happy? They stayed destroyed. They weren't organic walls like on ZDR, Zebes, or SR388. Once my plasma destroyed the walls, or I charged through them with a dash, they were done. The walls I'd used my screw attack through also remained gone.

"Die, Hunter!" Oh. A goblin spat acid at me. I sidestepped the oncoming projectile and returned fire with a charged shot. It leaped out of the way. Crafty little thing. It was maybe a little over a meter tall. Three and a half feet tall. American units. I needed to remember to use American units. It probably was male, had a large hunch on its back with protruding spikes and a massive gullet. Its arms had long claws poking out from where its hands would be, and I could see that they dripped with the same acid it spat at me. "Die! Die for our king!"

I shot the acid out of the air this time, aiming up toward it as the creature inhaled again. I shot twice more, and it leaped out of the way, like a frog. It was surprisingly nimble, bouncing off of one of the house walls that had survived my initial shooting onslaught.

It jumped toward me now, blasting its acidic spit at me once more. I sidestepped, and when it got close to me, I got a brief moment of insight. I grabbed its arm with my free hand, threw it over my shoulder, and I shot a charged wide plasma beam at it. It incinerated instantly, and I was able to absorb enough energy to regain a few of the missiles that I'd used earlier.

"That's so cool!" Optics said. "Your suit restores its ammunition using ambient energy released when you kill your enemies! Oh, that's… huh."

"You are restricted to read-only access for now, Optics," Adam said. "If Lady allows it later, you can perhaps get further information on how the power suit functions."

"Only if she's further supervised," Eleventh Hour said. "By someone who knows what they're doing."

"If that means I can meet Hunter and take a look at her suit up close, I want to do it!" Optics said.

"Let's focus on the job at hand," Dragon said. "Optics, are you picking up life signs near Hunter?"

I brought up the map that Optics had uploaded to my suit's database, and using the uplink to the drone she piloted, we were able to plot out the location of any nearby goblins.

"Looks like a few are scattering here and there and… huh. That's weird." I heard typing over Optics's connection.

"Optics, what are you doing?" Dragon asked.

"I need to see what's really going on here," Optics said. "It doesn't make sense. That's too big."

"What's too big?" I asked.

"Yes, what's too big, Optics?" Calvert asked. "Hunter, until we get the information, stay put. Don't go ahead too quickly."

Calvert had been like that the entire time, making suggestions on when to go and where. Sometimes he asked for me to wait a minute or two, but other times, he just had me going. So far, none of his advice had been actively something that I wouldn't do anyway, but it still grated that he was acting like I was a soldier under his command. It was different with Piggot. I had actually met her, and she'd earned a bit of respect with how she'd handled the meeting.

Plus, I'll admit it was fun to give the thumbs down to her the way I would Adam.

Still, in this situation, I looked for what Optics was looking at. Life signs throughout the city were scattered. Near the destination for the third bomb, however, there was… one that appeared to be much larger than the rest of them.

"It's big," Optics said. "Commander Calvert, you were on the original thing in Ellisburg, right? The oper-whatever, that thing? Do you know how big Nilbog can make his things?"

"As far as I know, he's only limited by the amount of protein he has available," Calvert said. "Why?"

"Because this is far bigger than any of the other goblins," Optics said.

"I've double-checked her work," Dragon said. "She's right. And it's right at the third bombing site. I can calculate an alternate area, but it might take a little while."

I shook my head and started toward the third bombing site. It didn't matter how big a creature Nilbog had created. I'd handle it. It probably wasn't all that much bigger than anything I'd faced before, and one thing I knew about big monstrous creatures? They died just like anything else. The most recent one I'd obliterated on ZDR was that massive X-parasite creature that Raven Beak had become. It looked like it fused him with the Kraid, but that could easily be my memory failing me.

"Hunter, what are you doing?" Dragon asked.

"She's dealing with the problem," Adam said. "Wasting time further could be detrimental to everyone."

"She can go," Calvert said. "Hunter, you are prepared, correct?"

"Yes," I said, and I continued my running.

As I continued, I noted a flicker of movement on the rooftops. A long-haired masculine goblin, standing maybe six feet tall, kept pace with me. Clearly, he had an idea of where I was going, but as he wasn't attacking me just yet, there was no need to interrupt my running. In fact, as I kept moving, I kicked up my dash boosters, and then I plowed through areas that I could. Other than the massive life form I was headed toward, the goblin was the only trace of life left in this part of the town. Maybe it was interested, but I needed to focus on the goal.

The placement for the third bomb was in the middle of what had probably once been some school's gymnasium. Now, several years later, Nilbog's goblins had converted it into a stadium of sorts that shared the same twisted Wonderland-esque aesthetic that the rest of the town had. The trees and plants surrounding it had been formed into the spiraling, meticulously twisted gnarled masses of limbs that they were, and the roof of the place had been removed.

Using my Grapple Beam, I ascended the side of the building, perching at the top of the wall to peer into the stadium from what I would have assumed would be twenty feet above. In reality, it was more like thirty feet, or just shy of ten meters. The stadium was sized nearly one hundred yards in length, and someone had dug out the depths of the stadium, making it deeper.

I used a combination of my Space Jump and Grapple Beam to descend into the stadium. The bomb placement, according to the map overlay, was supposed to be at the center of the stadium. The moment that I landed at the edge of the stadium's ground, ready to go plant the bomb, the stadium lights flickered on, and a spotlight focused on me.

"Ladies and gentlegoblins," said a masculine voice over what sounded like an intercom. "Place your bets now. Our King wants us to be entertained here. Who will win?"

There weren't any other life signs on the map. Just the goblin that had been running on the rooftops and the massive one nearby. Very nearby. I was practically on top of it.

"Will it be the illustrious supervillain, Hunter?" asked the voice. I assumed it was the runner making these announcements. I supposed that hunting down the goblins would make me a supervillain to the goblins. After all, they were the ones dying. The fact that there was a boo track playing at that announcement was a little on the amusing side. "Or will it be our massive behemoth, a near-Endbringer in his own right, your friend, and mine… Craig!"

Craig. Who named a supposed giant monster Craig? The life signs that Optics had detected were growing stronger on my HUD, and the ground started rumbling. The goblins, or the track the announcer goblin played, rather, chanted the name over and over, cheering. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect as the ground in front of me raised, and in a burst of earth, creating a cloud of dirt and dust, a massive monstrous creature rose from within. It pulled one reptilian leg out of its burrow first, then the other, standing to its full height of just over ten meters tall. Thirty-two feet, if I was going to stick with American units. A large horn sat prominently on its nose, along with three massive red eyes back behind its snout, with vertical eyelids.

The eyes glowed behind the dust, and it—he let out a roar that sounded all too familiar. As the dust began to clear, revealing a rotund belly with three holes in it, each with spikes sticking partially out, long arms ending in talons tipped with long curving claws, and a long lizard-like tail.

"That… So cool," Optics said. "It looks like a dragon, or maybe a dinosaur, or… I don't know, some sort of mix of both?"

"It doesn't look like anything Nilbog created before," Calvert said. "He shouldn't have had the protein available to create something that size."

"He did," Dragon said. "There may have been enough goblins passing to create something like this. The real question is why he created such a thing."

I paced my side of the arena, looking up at the so-called "Craig" beast, charging my plasma beam. I decided to do a scan of the monster with my visor, and I got a confusing readout.

"It appears to be made of the same base proteins and DNA as the goblins found in town," Adam said, reporting my visor's findings. "Its form resembles that of the Space Pirate known as Kraid, or a similar species creature. I could not tell you why Nilbog would create one, nor could I tell you how."

"How did he even know that it was a thing in the first place?" Eleventh Hour asked. "This is all fu—messed up."

"You can say that word," Optics said. "I know it. It's okay."

"Of course, you do," Eleventh Hour said with a grumble. "How are you going to handle this thing, Hunter?"

Craig's eyes locked onto me, and he roared again. I wondered how much Craig shared with his Space Pirate counterpart. Mother Brain had once said to me that Kraid's scales had an anti-optical reflective coating to them. If Craig's did too, then there were only a few ways I'd be able to deal damage to him. I would have to make sure to shoot right into his mouth, or, better yet, take advantage of the creature's size.

I wasn't sure if I saw recognition in those large red eyes, but I did let out a small sigh of exasperation. How many times was I going to have to kill this thing? This would be what, my fifth time fighting Kraid, or something like it?

The beast leaned forward to me, bending over as far as he could without rumpling his stomach, and he roared once more.

I just snorted and fired my charged wide plasma wave beam at his open mouth. Craig or Kraid, whichever, reared back in pain. I shot a couple of uncharged shots at its exposed stomach, and they plinked off without any visible recoil from the creature.

Then it swiped its claws at me, and the claws actually came off and spun toward me the way Kraid's would. It took three uncharged shots for me to destroy them before they got to me.

"Hunter, are you sure you know what—" I silenced their radio transmissions so I could focus on Craig. Adam could speak with hem, but I had a fight to win. A monster to kill.

I jumped backward as the stomach spikes fired out, leaping overtop of them. When they embedded in the wall behind me, I climbed up them, and then I used a space jump to get to cling at Craig's facial height. This thing was way too much like Kraid. It made little sense to me, but a quick missile shot to the snout had him opening his mouth.

I fired another five missiles into his open mouth before he stomped toward me. Without any chains, Craig was fast. He swiped at me with his clawed hands, and I released just quick enough to dodge the first swipe.

The second one caught me across the arm, sending me toward the side of the arena. Or rather, it would have, had Craig not followed it up with his right claw, grabbing me completely. He squeezed, and I could feel my suit straining, draining energy.

"Have you now," Craig said. "I can smell your protein."

Oh. He spoke English. That certainly wasn't something I'd expected. Not that Kraid couldn't speak before, but when we fought, he had been too angry to say anything. The incarcerated one that I'd fought on ZDR hadn't spoken to me before starting its fight either.

I just curled into my morph ball. At first, I couldn't go all the way, but his grip loosened some as the morph ball snapped shut on the skin of his fingers. I had an idea, an unfortunately disgusting idea. The bomb needed to be planted at the center of the arena, around where Craig stood. Craig himself was only vulnerable on the inside.

This required taunting.

"Oh, it looks like our Craig has the supervillain in his grasp! What will he do next?" Well, that wasn't me taunting him. The announcer goblin put something on over the PA system.

"Eat her!" called another goblin.

"Tear her apart!" called another.

There still weren't any life signs around me other than Craig and the one in the announcement booth. I wondered if there were camera feeds that these goblins were able to watch here. More goblins joined the first two, with most seeming like they wanted Craig to eat me, which, funnily, was what I wanted.

"Sounds like there's a consensus, Craig," said the announcer. "Eat her up! Get her protein in you!"

Craig roared in triumph, and he brought his claw up to his mouth. I rolled inside, off of the giant clawed hand, and then he closed his maw around me.

For those who haven't been swallowed by a creature much larger than themselves before, let me first say that it is not a pleasant experience, even if it was a planned one. The digestive system of various creatures tends to work similarly, no matter what they are.

Getting swallowed by Craig wasn't really any different from the times that I'd been swallowed by Queen Metroids or other creatures. The main difference was that Craig, like Kraid, had holes in his stomach area that could shoot spike missiles. Those were my escape route, after I did what I was going to.

I slid down Craig's esophagus, landing in his stomach with a splash of acid. Luckily, my Gravity Suit was built to withstand such environments, and I smirked, charging up a Power Bomb. This might have been a bit of overkill, but I wanted to make sure this thing was dead. I'd plant the actual bomb in what remained of his corpse on the way out.

After the customary few seconds, I planted the Power Bomb, and I extended my personal protection over the three bombs I still had on me.

Craig ruptured from the inside out when the explosion happened. The stomach's walls burst first, and I was able to roll toward it for the exit. I dropped the explosive package once outside Craig's stomach, and I continued on my way outside of the dinosaur-goblin.

I felt the body fall over as I rolled toward the light. The holes in the body were empty right now, but I could see the spikes that would have formed, had the Power Bomb explosion not gotten to them first.

I quickly rolled out and back into the Arena, standing up to my full height.

"And it looks like Hunter wins!" the announcer goblin said. "The supervillain allowed herself to get swallowed by Craig, where she detonated a bomb within him! How dastardly! How pernicious! How—"

I used my Flash Shift to get closer to his life sign, ignoring his words over the PA. I charged my shots, and I jumped up, using my Space Jump Screw Attack to help me up the bleachers and into the announcer box.

I kicked the door open, and the goblin inside, a tall one, nearly my height, with a shock of white hair and what looked like a costume that belonged to a rock musician on, leather pants and a ruffled shirt, leapt back. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!"

He held up his hands, in obvious surrender, revealing that they were empty of anything for the moment.

I leveled my charging gun arm at him. I wasn't going to just kill the first goblin that wasn't immediately hostile to me, but at the same time, I wouldn't just trust that he was actually going to remain peaceful.

"I see you are a woman of few words," said the goblin. "But maybe there's something I can do to convince you to not kill me!"

"Talk," I said. "Why have you all become so hostile?"

"Our king," said the goblin. "He became more restless. He became more conniving. He became more willing to use us. Why are you here?"

I wasn't going to say bounty, even if I had him dead to rights. What I would do was take advantage of his desire to not die. "Assignment. I was sent to check on the hostilities."

The goblin nodded.

"What are you called?" I asked. If I was going to be polite to this thing, I needed to have a name to use.

He grinned. "Jareth is the name my king gave me, Hunter." He nodded twice. "Is there anything else I can do to get you to lower that gun?"

"Take me to your king," I said. It was time for he and I to meet. Face to face, so to speak.

After all, I did have a few questions before I completed the bounty. Maybe he'd be able to answer.

Where the heck had he gotten the idea for Kraid?

 

[Ellf]

That bit was... probably not the best fight scene in the fic so far, but it was entertaining to write.

 

[Stratagemini]

Where indeed? This is probably a Simurgh plot. wonder if she opened a portal to an alternate ZDR? or Zebes?

 

[Krazyfan1]

Imagine if she manages to get some of the Goblins to survive.

 

[Great Greedy Guts]

Oooh, interesting. A fun boss battle, but also an interesting diversion to see Nilbog that might see some of the Goblins surviving. Or, very possibly, not. Either way, I wonder how Calvert (and Piggot) are going to take the talk?

Actually, Optics' reaction seems even more interesting, she was great in Ward (assuming there's not two tinkers of the same age with the same specialty) and she's great here, too.

Where indeed? This is probably a Simurgh plot. wonder if she opened a portal to an alternate ZDR? or Zebes?

Click to shrink...

I mean... different universe. Perhaps the Entities encountered Kraid's species at some point in this one, and Nilbog's shard remembered the pattern? Not everything can be because of the Simurgh's one foray.

 

[Kragh]

The fight was fine, no worries there

 

[Tisaku]

You are restricted to read-only access for now, Optics," Adam said. "If Lady allows it later, you can perhaps get further information on how the power suit functions."

Click to shrink...

-How does limiting her to reading files prevent her from finding information?-

could speak with hem, but I had a fight

Click to shrink...

 

[B.B. Rain]

-How does limiting her to reading files prevent her from finding information?-

Click to shrink...

Maybe he means she can only see what Adam and Taymus have brought up on the displays, keeping her from accessing/opening additional parts of the suit's readouts/databases, or from re-opening anything Adam or Taymus closes?

 

[Cheaf Min]

Watch, he's going to have turned himself into another Ridley. Or maybe a Mother Brain expy. Wait, he's male. Brother Brain perhaps?

 

[ConfusedPotato]

Watch, he's going to have turned himself into another Ridley. Or maybe a Mother Brain expy. Wait, he's male. Brother Brain perhaps?

Click to shrink...

Perhaps, Father Brain? It would fit his self image more.

 

[Ellf]

Restoration 3.8

The last thing I expected to find in Ellisburg had been any beast that looked like Kraid. I'd killed one like the Space Pirate on ZDR, and whether that was Kraid himself or another member of the same species, ultimately didn't matter. It attempted to attack me first, thus I took it out. The same happened with this goblin-Kraid. Really, the question was how Rinke had known to create something like him, and the second question was why. I'd rearranged placement of the final bomb, reorganizing my priorities to talk with Rinke first. I'd give him a chance to explain himself before I verified the kill order. If it had something to do with how his powers worked, then Adam and I would have to do far more research into them than we had already.

Something that I was certain that we would need to do anyway. I didn't like dealing with situations where there were too many unknowns. I'd done it often enough that it wasn't a huge issue, but that didn't mean I liked it.

I re-enabled the audio from my comm link, sending a text through to Adam about announcing it.

"Lady has unmuted her connection's speakers," Adam said. I could almost feel the disapproval that he had over me muting him. Too bad, Adam. Things were too distracting with that many voices in my head.

"Oh, hi, Hunter!" Optics said gleefully. "Thanks for taking us off mute. Eleventh Hour and Mister Calvert were so worried, but Dragon and I? We knew you'd kick butt! You were awesome! Adam told us that the Craig Dino-dragon thing was something you'd faced before, on another planet! How cool was that thing? And the turning into a ball? It's not as cool as a cube, but it's still pretty cool! I got some awesome footage from that fight!"

She certainly was an eager little girl. Reminded me of someone. I didn't answer, but I heard someone faint on her end, likely Eleventh Hour, trying to calm her down.

I turned around another building as I followed Jareth. The goblin seemed to be taking a long route, looking both ways before crossing any street, and then he checked again as he crossed, almost as if he were afraid that we were being followed.

He glanced back at me, as if to make sure I was still keeping pace with him, but at the same time, he seemed certain that I would be. "You're not at all what I expected."

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Oh good, somehow the goblin knew about you," Eleventh Hour said. "Dragon, what sorts of things does Nilbog have access to?"

"He shouldn't have access to much," Dragon said. "The walls filter water that is allowed into and out of the town, and I don't believe that Nilbog had the know-how to maintain an electrical grid. If he did, he could possibly get some television broadcasts out there, but I doubt that is what Jareth is talking about. He should not have any electrical access."

"You're efficient," Jareth said. "Killing my brothers and sisters from the moment you landed, killing Craig. My king should be terribly upset at the loss of such people. My king always said that heroes didn't kill except in specific situations. Villains? They kill. But my king is neither hero nor villain. My king never subscribed to such labels."

I shrugged. It didn't seem like he knew me after all. Perhaps he hadn't seen any broadcasts, but he'd still known my "cape name," something I hadn't given. That said, the space pirates all referred to me as "the hunter" in their tongue, anyway. It was possible that they had simply given me the label that I had already had.

"Ask him what label Rinke does subscribe to," Calvert said. "Keep him talking as you go along."

Great. That wasn't something I really enjoyed doing, but I'd do what I needed to. "What does your king use for labels?"

"King, of course. Royalty, ruling this town," Jareth said. "My king would protect us to his last breath. And our job was to be loyal to him."

"Was?" I asked.

Jareth shook his head, and he waved his hand forward, pointing the way further down a winding road. The altercations I'd seen in the rest of the town seemed to grow both more focused and more extreme as we looked further down. "Come, Hunter. If you wish to meet my king, this is the way."

"You are not worried about what might happen to him?" I asked. Clearly, I was here for a reason. I'd planted the bomb where "Craig" had landed, and it would be tamper-proof. The other bombs I'd placed were equally so. I knew that Optics had eyes on them. However, I almost wished I could send the drone ahead of Jareth, seeing what lay beyond him. "You aren't worried that I could do something?"

Jareth gave me a curious look, but he made his way forward, his movements much more fluid than several of the others of Nilbog's creations that I'd seen. His movements and flexibility reminded me of the Chozo warriors, formerly of the Mawkin tribe, that I'd faced on ZDR. If he were to turn on me and attack, the fight would not be an easy one. Somehow, he'd developed skills.

As we made our way further into the center of town, I noted the building faces, covered in wild plant growth. Not a single building sat without extreme modifications to it. At first, they almost looked haphazard, but when put together, it was almost art. Glances inside showed that the modifications almost certainly were just to the outside. The insides were barren, save for pried-up floorboards or clusters of smaller goblins lurking within, their eyes reflecting bits of sunlight as they watched us pass.

Jareth held up a hand once more as we got closer to the town center. A crowd of Nilbog's creatures that still lived scurried up to him, and he smiled at them. He clearly recognized them all. They were all shapes, traits, and sizes. Big, small, thin and fat, each one unique, twisted, different. They were clearly made in such a way to differentiate them from humanity, as if their creator had fully intended on that. At least sixty were there.

"Careful, Hunter," Calvert said. "Setting off hostilities here could be bad. Speak with Rinke first."

Jareth waved me over with his hand, and I came close to him. He smiled, and he gestured to Nilbog's creations. "Everyone, this is the Hunter, slayer of Craig. Hunter, I would like you to meet my king's subjects."

I nodded, giving a short bow to them. I wasn't sure if the goblin was attempting to elicit pity from me about these creatures, but I knew how Nilbog had made them. I knew what his power was capable of, and what was done here was terrible. I had no compunctions about killing them, no matter how they looked.

"Oh. That's not good," Eleventh Hour said. "If Hunter fails here, the Ellisburg situation upgrades from a five to a nine within a week."

"Lady won't fail," Adam said with confidence. "What about her chances of talking with Nilbog?"

"My power doesn't work that way. I don't do chance, I do threat ratings," Eleventh Hour said. "The danger from talking with Nilbog is the same as the danger of not talking with Nilbog. A two."

I shook my head, and I patted a few of Nilbog's creations on their heads. They slowly parted as I continued to make my way closer to Jareth. The taller goblin, who admittedly was still shorter than me, even out of my armor, grabbed onto my arm.

"Come, Hunter. I will show you to my king," Jareth said. With me on his arm, or rather, him on mine, we didn't need to push through the creations. The goblins, ghouls, muppets and horned moppets all stepped aside, making almost an aisle for us to walk through. The aisle extended a full half-mile, further than I would have expected to go, before we reached the town center.

A long table with two more tables at the ends, creating a crescent, or loose 'c' shape sat exactly at the center of town. Checked tablecloths in eye-gouging color contrasts covered each of the tables. There was an open area between the tables, where several of Nilbog's creations were gathered around something. The chairs at the table were strewn about in a haphazard manner, and a few had been broken. Pieces of dismantled furniture laid in splinters under the table.

I activated my scanner, looking for Nilbog, for Rinke, among the group of creations.

I needn't have looked far.

The creations parted for us once more, as we got even closer to the tables and the center ground between them.

Jareth said softly. "My king's throne normally is at the center of that table, looking on at the entertainment."

The creatures parted further, revealing a larger person, perhaps four hundred pounds in size. His face was covered with a paper mask. He wore an approximation of a king's outfit from a fairy tale, covering is overly obese form with finery and frippery, but he laid forward, unmoving. A cord extended down from his body, connecting with… another body. A thinner, more human-looking one. Not that Nilbog himself looked inhuman, beyond his weight.

The man wore a patchwork costume with jarring patterns of stripes and checkers. There was no mask, nor anything above his neck, save for a puddle of blood. Perhaps there had been a mask once, but as a mask needed to cover something, and the lack of head meant there was nothing… Well, there was no mask.

Two sacs extended from his arms, each one roughly two feet tall and wide enough to fit a creature within them. The left sac had been burst open completely, but the second stayed sealed. Judging from the spatter pattern, whatever had removed Rinke's head had come from the left sac.

"My king is dead," Jareth said, gesturing to the body. "Taken from us. Tell me, Hunter. Did you know? Did your vaunted PRT know about this? About what would happen to our king?"

"How did someone manage to kill Nilbog without setting off any of his defenses?" Calvert asked. "And why take the head?"

"More importantly, how did anything get in without our knowledge?" Dragon asked. "I'm reviewing the gateway footage from the past week, and I have alerts set to ping on anything at all that approaches the walls from either side."

I shook my head. "Tell me."

"We found a unique creature," Jareth said. "And we brought it before our king. King Rinke found him amusing for a time, but he was a source of protein."

"What sort of creature?" I asked, a pit forming in my stomach as I stepped closer to NIlbog's dead body.

"It resembled a small beakless bird," Jareth said. "Maybe a bit larger than what our king described chickens to be. It had white downy feathers, and it had a collar around its neck."

I walked past the larger dead body, following the umbilical cord to Nilbog's real form. I ran my scanner on him, on the sacs, and on the surrounding material. Jamie Rinke, NIlbog was dead, and according to my scanner, completely human. The contents of the sac on the left, however… The DNA was a mish-mash of DNA that I had scanned before.

I walked up to it as the readouts came up.

Space Pirate DNA, Zebesian. Space Pirate Ridley DNA, Larval Form.

…

Ridley. My hand shook as I got closer to the embryonic sac. There were no life signs within it, merely the larval form's DNA. However, the way that it was burst open… Wait. There was more to it.

Bioweapon DNA – Metroid, Baby. GF-DNA profile, Aran, Samus.

What.

What did those fools at the Galactic Federation Scientific Base do? How did they do it? I looked into the sac, and there it was. Confirmation. The split corpse of Little Birdie had started to dissolve within the sac, but something had burst out of it before Nilbog had finished converting the proteins.

"Lady," Adam said. "Are you okay? I've muted the others for the moment."

"It's Ridley, Adam. I told you that I'd heard him," I said.

"Who are you talking to?" Jareth asked. "Some voice in your head?"

I held up my hand to the goblin. "Your king is dead. I know who killed him."

"You did say that you heard him, Lady," Adam said. "I will store the Analysis profile."

My scanner beeped, and I looked over to the second sac. Something was alive within it. Another goblin? The DNA within it… was a mix of the goblin and the DNA Ridley had within him, but the primary expression was… the Metroid.

I plunged my hand into the sac, opening it, and two small hands grabbed onto my own. I pulled the small goblin out. It clearly was female, with purple skin, a long purple tail, and pointed ears. She stood maybe eight inches tall, and it was completely nude. She looked like the mixture of a furless cat and a human, with sharp pointed teeth. But the thing that stood out most to me on her was what was on her back. Three red spherical organs pulsed on her back, within a familiar jelly-like membrane.

She looked up at me, and then climbed up to my shoulder. "My Queen."

Jareth frowned. "Our king's final creation was… a new version of Polka? To replace the one that the intruder ate? You appear to be Polka IV."

"When was Craig created?" I asked Jareth. "How did Nilbog know to create him?"

"Two days ago," Jareth said. "Craig was created two days ago."

The decay on Rinke's body clearly was older than two days. Nilbog had been dead for at least four. That should have been impossible. Unless…

Ridley. He'd demonstrated the ability to adapt powers and abilities of things that he had eaten before. Was it possible that he had… taken Rinke's?

A warning icon popped up on my HUD. Dragon's voice immediately unmuted. "Hunter, someone has activated the bombs in the city. Including the ones that are on your person."

"How?" I asked, shrugging off the remaining two bombs at my waist, which I could see blinking now. They'd been armed for certain. "And how long do I have?"

"I don't know, but it looks like you have a little over two minutes before the bombs detonate. I'll set a timer for you with the exact amount of time."

"Move, now, Hunter," Calvert said. "As fast as you can. Get out of the city."

"What about the bit unexploded?" I asked.

"I'll call in an airstrike, move!" Calvert said as a two minute timer settled in on my HUD.

No time to worry about Ridley now. With any luck, he'd be caught in the explosions and I wouldn't have to deal with him directly again. Somehow, I doubted that I would be that lucky, but I'd take the little Metroid goblin girl with me. I ran.

Jareth kept pace with me, clearly seeing my urgency as a need for him to follow. I swiftly made for where I'd landed the gunship, hitting my maximum speed while making sure Polka was able to hang on. The goblin had imprinted on me, and I wasn't going to let the thing just die like the rest of its species.

When I got to the gunship, I had a little over a minute left, and Jareth stood there.

"Wait!" Jareth said. "Take me with you. Please."

"Your king is dead," I said flatly.

"And so will everyone else be," Jareth said. "I want to see more. Show me more, Hunter. Please."

"Hunter, get on the ship," Calvert said. "Get out of there before the bombs blow. Let the goblins die."

"He seems nice!" Optics said. "Maybe he could be saved?"

"The numbers are in motion," Eleventh Hour said.

Dragon said nothing, and as the rest of them started arguing, the voices cut out again.

"I trust your judgement, Lady," Adam said. That sealed the deal.

I waved for Jareth to follow me onto the gunship, and pointed where he was to sit before I took off, flying away from Ellisburg with the explosions behind me. It might not have been a planet dying in my wake, and the town of Ellisburg had been long gone for a while now.

Now all I needed to do was figure out what I was going to do with two goblins, one of them with Metroid DNA.

And I needed to track down Ridley. I doubted that this would be the last I heard from him.

 

[zaiaku]

Well great, just when things couldn't get more fucked in the Wormverse, huh?

 

[Stratagemini]

Huh. A ridley that is able to use Rinke's powers? Well, that's not good. I suppose if you give Taylor a lightsaber, you need to give Ridley a Death Star, and the Metroid Dread suit is one hell of a lightsaber.