Metroid: Fugitive Chapter 3: Reactor Interior

Author's note: How's that for a quick update! Don't get used to it; I probably won't be able to work this fast again anytime soon. Anyway, enjoy!

Samus could detect the heat even through her power suit. The walls almost seemed to shimmer and vibrate together. The area was clearly not meant for people without protective gear, yet here she was. However, she found something relaxing about it. Perhaps she had gotten used to areas like this or maybe the metroid part of her enjoyed shelter from cold air. Samus walked down the corridors, her boots making a click-clack noise on the metal floor. The hallways had an orange glow to them.

"I am detecting nearby bio-signs. We should be cautious." said Adam.

Just as he finished speaking, Samus heard several shots fire in rapid succession. She dodged a hail of incoming blasts, jumping back and forth between the shots like a dancer. She looked up and saw Algor, his two wrist-mounted cannons smoking. Samus knew she wasn't yet strong enough to fight him, so she decided to give him a chase.

As she ran, she heard him yell, "Stop where you are. The Federation is prepared to give you a bargain if you come with me. You'll want to hear what it is." In spite of herself, Samus turned around for a split second to listen to him. She was greeted with a series of rapid fire shots for doing so. Clever little snake, she thought.

She was able to dodge most of his shots, and her armor held up against the rest. She charged up a shot with her newly acquired Ice Beam and aimed at Algor. She froze him where he stood and continued running. She could hear him already beginning to thaw behind her. "Quickly Samus, through here!" said Adam, indicating a nearby air vent. Samus shot off the grate and morphed into a ball and rolled inside.

Behind her, she heard Algor yell, "This isn't over Samus! General Graeme has just authorized an artificial intelligence unit for me, so you won't be able to rely on your friend to get you out of this!" Although this did somewhat worry Samus, she took some small delight in knowing he, as always, was planning to copy her new abilities to make himself more formidable.

Samus came out of the other side of the vent. She resumed her normal form and took a moment to catch her breath. She heard a strange series of vibrations from her communicator, and asked Adam what was going on. He replied, in a more relaxed, lass authoritative voice, "I think I'm beginning to recover some memories from my formers self. I just relived an incident when I lead an attack on a Space pirate outpost formed from the remains of a colony they destroyed. I remember thinking stopping them was a fruitless endeavor because we had already lost the people we came to save."

Samus felt a twang of pity for Adam. She remembered hearing about the incident from the original Adam Malkovich, who was clearly bothered on a deep level by what had happened. From this computer she again detected a little a more human side which she had caught a glimpse of towards the end of the incident on B.S.L.

After a few moments, Adam seemed to have composed himself. "I think I may have found a way out of here, but you will have to travel through an ultra-heated area to reach your destination. You need to reactivate your Varia Suit to proceed." he said. Samus began searching the facility, her progress impeded by several heated rooms to dangerous for her to proceed through. Eventually she found a large room with several scaffolding platforms overlooking a large vat of fuel gel.

The gel began to bubble. Out of the fluid emerged a colossal, green, three-eyed reptile. Samus immediately recognized the form of Kraid even through the layer of steam concealing him. So it wasn't random chance meeting Crocomire, thought Samus. The Space Pirates really were up to something on Espan XI. As the steam began to clear, Samus saw that Kraid looked different from their previous encounters on Zebes. He had ben given cybernetic enhancements, most notably a large protective headgear. He resembled Meta-Ridley in his this way.

Meta-Kraid, as Samus now thought of him, roared and started his typical attacks. A seemingly unending stream of claws and spikes were fired, regenerated, and fired again. Samus was fast on her feet and sidestepped the organic projectiles with ease. However, Meta-Kraid did something unexpected. He opened his mouth and fires a beam of crimson energy. This struck Samus directly, and made her feel like she was being roasted alive. As Samus began to recover, another wave of spikes and claws began heading her way. Unable to avoid them, Samus simply did her best to endure the onslaught.

As meta-Kraid began to charge up his energy beam again, Samus fired her Ice Beam and froze his mouth wide open. Using the precious little time she had before he thawed, she fired as many missiles as she could at his head.

This caused the headgear to crack, but it still remained intact. The behemoth roared in anger. He demolished the platform that Samus was standing on. As she fell, Samus bounced off the wall and continued shooting. The three-eyed reptile launched spikes of her, one of which Samus froze in midair and rested upon. She then continued with on offensive barrage.

Meta-Kraid was now becoming visibly enraged at his elusive and resilient adversary. He charged and fired another beam blast. It missed Samus, but vaporized most of the spike she was standing on. This last attack proved a fatal mistake on the lizard's part. Samus again froze his head and fired at it until it shattered. The creature squealed as it sank into the vat of fuel gel.

Samus looked around the room and found a console used by the workers to generate protective bodysuits. From it she was able to download the Varia suit upgrade, which gave mild protection, less than it normally would. As such, her suit retained its standard coloration. Samus continued through the reactor, going through now accessible heated rooms. Adam asked her to pause at a steamy entrance hatch.

He explained, "I have detected some highly encrypted communications from the Federation that may be of use to us. I cannot decode it while the colony mainframe A.I. is online. Right there is an entrance to the A.I. Central processor. It is probably heavily guarded. Is your objective clear?'

Samus didn't hesitate to reply "Yes."

To be Continued