//------------------------------// // 8. Starfall Fortress // Story: Metroid Equis // by Flammenwerfer //------------------------------// Metroid Equis Chapter 8 Starfall Fortress Samus gently strode through the tiniest of paths through the thick forest. Only through years of experience in the field was she able to even spot it, as it had been overgrown and lost to time, save for the small remnants of unnatural stone lining the dirt. The rain had moved over her location and picked up, drenching the area with a moderate downpour and low clouds, effectively reducing Samus's effective vision to only several dozens of feet in front of her. She was at peace right now, but still enormously curious as to what this Fortress held within its walls. Samus always had a soft spot for discovery and adventure; time was of the highest essence, however, so the Hunter couldn't enjoy the current task at hand as much as she'd like. Samus had decided to start doing little things with her magic to exercise her mind. In her ship, she would move small things that she needed with her Kinesis, and as of right now, she was taking advantage of her newfound ability to move leaves and branches aside. Slowly but surely her mind was getting used to the taxing. Not to mention the little tasks were simple to deal with. Luna DID pledge her some magical insight, so she wanted to make sure she was able to perform when asked. The Human set her mind back to the task at hand. Her map indicated that she was about half a mile from the Fortress. Samus didn't expect to encounter anything interesting on the way to her destination, and like she thought (and enjoyed), it was all quiet. Of course, quiet in her terms was merely the sound of nature masking most of her movements and allowing her mind to wander JUST a pinch. All that sounded were the moderate patter of the rain against the landscape, trees and leaves rustling and swaying with the rain and light wind, and her own steps as she marched onward. Soon enough, she noticed the foliage start to clear up a bit, indicating the presence of some structure nearby... her map confirmed this. Her map also had shown a large clearing, but Samus figured it would have been grown over some since it hadn't been inhabited for... who knows how long. Samus held her cannon out as she passed through the last layer of the thickest brush, noticing just stomach-high grass and bushes laying in her path. After rounding the last tree, the Hunter finally saw what her search was meant to yield: Starfall Fortress... Her eyes trailed upward at the gargantuan citadel. Scans indicated that the structure was easily seven miles wide and even half a mile high at it's longest and highest points respectively. Samus had virtually no idea how this had not been spotted by the naked eye... anywhere. Then again, this area of the Everfree was perpetually plagued by rain and low lying clouds, so it would make sense in some respect. From what she could see, the structure was easily abandoned far in the past, as natural wear and tear had taken its toll on what was once most likely a beautiful sight to behold. Samus stepped fully out of the brush and into the grass to get a full look at what seemed to be the rear of the Fortress. An endless flight of stairs lead up to several archways into the structure itself, flanked by enormous obelisks of Chozo warriors on one side, each looking like all the standing statues that Samus found on Zebes, as well as Alicorn warriors on the other side, each with their two front legs raised as if in combat. She wasted no time and had a steady walk to the first steps. She gazed up the endless stairs, knowing that she couldn't just merrily skip up to the top... the Phazon would have taken the planet by then. Instead, Samus opted for a better idea. Been a while since I've done this... The Hunter hunched down and jumped as high up over a few steps as she could, reaching the apex in height and distance in her jump before activating her Space Jump boosters. They propelled her even farther as she initiated a somersault. She wasn't done yet though; Samus then activated her Screw Attack, being able to propel herself higher and farther each time up the stairs. After about a minute of this, she reached the top and landed perfectly on her feet. I remember when I pretty much was able to fly with this on Zebes... yeah that worked well. Samus comfortably entered the fortress through the large, twenty-foot tall archway in front of her. She was immediately assaulted by the beauty of the architecture of the hall she entered. It literally screamed of Chozo design, at least from the building styles she was able to recognize, on top of the telltale obelisks and statues. The place was completely and utterly deserted. Not another life to be found. However, this unnerved Samus. The absence of other things in her immediate area was normally not a problem. However, there was NOTHING on her motion sensor... not even any local creatures. True, this place may be abandoned by every definition of the word... then again something was keeping the Fortress from being completely taken over. Samus soon found some writing on the wall. Hmmm... maybe this will shed some light on history... "Recorded to Logbook" [Chozo Lore] [Translation: "The Great War against the Dragon Hordes has taken its toll on our nations. Once, we were able to keep their hunger for power at bay. Now we find ourselves continuously but slowly being overwhelmed. Many of the Dragons' large sizes played to their advantage, as a single dragon could easily swipe away twenty of our best warriors. The construction of this mighty Fortress was soon ordered: the bastion of our great civilizations to be made impenetrable by any and all means."] More history... most excellent! Samus disengaged her scan visor and continued her brisk walk, arm cannon held at semi-passive elevation as her eyes roamed over the hall she was passing through. Said hall was lined with more Chozo statues on one side, Alicorns on the other. After thousands of years (or cycles), the architecture was still in excellent condition, as is usual with most structures of Chozo design. She also noticed the remains of catapults, arrows, traditional Chozo energy staffs and swords long rusted and lost to nature. She also noticed something else... There were the remains of a large cylindrical tube that lay in two pieces. The broken off front part appeared to taper off into a point. "Recorded to Logbook" [Object: Particle Beam Cannon] [Magic based, projectile firing Heavy Gun. The Alicorns required heavier weaponry against their war with the Dragon Hordes. Isolated magic casting, or even group casting was too time consuming to deal with the enemy, so Alicorn weapons masters developed the ability to fire large volumes of hard-magic in a single projectile with the use of a weaponized core; this firing mechanism is similar to the 'cartridge mechanism' (with gun powder) used in early Human history.] Samus looked around and indeed found random, corroded and rusted to time, cylindrical 'cartridges' that had long since been fired or burned out. Samus looked outside and found that this hall was overseeing large swaths of Everfree. She concluded that this was one of the stations manned by Chozo and Alicorns alike. This was confirmed while strolling down the entire line, seeing destroyed/corroded Particle Cannons one after the other. There had to be at least thirty of them in this section alone. They really built this place up! If this Fortress was still manned I don't even think the might of the GFMC could breach this fortress! . . Okay that might be a little far-fetched but there's no way the GFMC would come out of this unscathed, that's for sure. Samus continued onward, carefully paying attention to her map in order to find this Siege Front. However, whenever she was pointed in the right direction, a hallway would take her elsewhere, which lead to open courtyards, which lead to more hallways. She had been walking for about forty-five minutes and was growing irritated at the complex design of this Fortress. Even Sanctuary Fortress wasn't this damn complicated. Samus then spotted more scripture on a plaque and decided to stop for a small read: "Recorded to Logbook" [Pony Lore] [Translation: "The Dragons have pressed their attack for almost a week and still the Fortress holds strong, their bodies littering the enormous Everfree. However, were it not for The Visitor's help and technology, this sanctuary for our threatened ponies may have well been destroyed some time ago. Our new weapons can hold the Dragon's warriors at bay, but the Night Dragons proved ever resilient against our defensive attacks. The Visitors were able to integrate their technology with ours, creating a weapon so powerful, even the might of the Night Dragon couldn't hold against it. It remains in the center of Starfall, in a Great Hall overseen by the finest warriors of the Visitors. There it rests, the very essence of Starfall's survival shall strike down our enemies with utmost prejudice. The might of the Alicorns shall be feared once more."] The Great Hall... Samus immediately opened her map on her HUD and searched for any of the rooms she passed being close to something resembling "Great Hall." Unfortunately, none were, and it was probably too much to ask for a map station. Realizing she'd have to search blindly, Samus let out an irritated sigh as she closed her map. However, as if fate had mercy on her, something was on the wall behind the writing she scanned. Squinting her eyes a bit, she found the remnants of what looked like a massive, worn... Directory? It was definitely rectangular in shape and had the layout of a map of some sorts. Samus equipped her scan visor: [Scanning...] A negative beeping resounded after a few seconds. [Analysis inconclusive. Object missing key identification components.] Samus huffed in irritation. So close, yet so far. This directory was useless in hindsight. She could probably search for days and not find a proper route to the intended area. Right as she intended to step away, she stopped suddenly in her tracks as a thought struck her: Unless... The Hunter looked to her Grapple Beam and back to the lost map. Magic. It's worth a shot. Samus stepped closer to the degraded directory and raised her Grapple Beam near one of the edges, slowly letting her mind filter. The appendage lit up with her teal blue aura, but Samus wasn't sure how to proceed from here. Magic filtered out but dissipated as quickly as it appeared. Ummm... fix? Nothing. Repair? Nope. Restore? Yes! Restoration. Restoration spell... ummm... Samus closed her eyes to clear out the rest of her mind of anything but restoring the map. Deep breathing ensued as she felt energy tug at her mind. Opening her eyes a bit revealed two dimly teal-lit eyes behind the green visor as magical energy poured through her form. Slowly, magic filtered out of her Kinesis and applied itself like a bright adhesive to the missing and chipped paint, effectively and somewhat literally "filling in the cracks." The bright blue energy then faded away, revealing a completely restored portion of the map is if it was repainted hours ago. Reassured (and somewhat proud of herself), Samus moved her Kinesis over the entire map, and what she wasn't able to reach, she was merely able to manipulate her aura to move farther. After fifteen seconds, she ceased her actions and her magical aura receded, leaving her eyes shrouded behind the visor and her upper abdominal armor expanding and contracting with her labored breaths. She felt a bead of sweat or two between her skin and the helmet. Looking at her handiwork, the directory was now completely legible. [Scanning...] [Map Data Acquired! Starfall Fortress map data updated!] Samus smirked at the small bout of intuition she had and decided to finally see where she was going. She opened up her map and to say that she was surprised was an understatement. Yeah, the cartographical representation on the wall was one thing, but Samus really had no idea as to the sheer size of the network within Starfall. She almost stumbled a bit backwards as to how much map data had loaded. Putting it conservatively, Starfall Fortress was about one and a half times the size of the traversable areas of the Pirate Phazon Mines on Tallon IV. Aside from trying to figure out the most direct route to The Siege Front, Samus was also curious about this particular 'weapon' that was being stored in The Great Hall. With luck on her side, this great hall (which she had to comment was very large in appearance as well,) was directly in the path to The Siege Front. Samus would have to pass through it in order to continue on her way. More than satisfied at the turn of events, Samus continued onward. After rounding a few corners and some halls lined with more statues, Samus came to a relatively large set of double-doors. These doors, according to her map, led to a ridiculously straight and lengthy corridor, although it was large enough in width to be a small highway. Samus deduced this was one of the main arteries of navigation through Starfall, as several other capillary hallways and rooms would attach themselves to it and lead elsewhere. The same prospect was present elsewhere around the fortress. The logic behind it seemed sound. This corridor, several miles in length, led directly into The Great Hall, which happened to be the exact center of the Fortress. I don't know why that seems so ironic. Rounding the last corner, she came to another large hallway, which held the archway with the huge double-doors. Walking up to the front of it, Samus first noticed the two Chozo head-statues jutting forward, mouths(beaks?) open, and some dim energy that still happened to be functioning. Samus figured it was magic. Activating her scan visor, she took interest in said energy. [Scanning...] . . [Chozo Artifact: "Abdication"] [Object Translation: "As we prepare for our journey onward, we transfer this mighty Fortress to the Equine race. Let it forever be their beacon of hope and light in ever terrible odds. We Chozo have left them all they shall need, while sealing the center of this Fortress off to their magic. The Great Hall will serve as a shrine to our own who fell in battle against the Draconic Hordes, as well as our most powerful weapon, not deemed necessary to put into the hands of the Equines. This Sacred Shrine will we watched over for all of eternity by our greatest warriors who protected us in both everlasting light and omnipresent darkness."] Well... that was poetic. Samus then noticed that both entities of energy shown brighter within the Chozo statues' grasps. Samus scanned the second one: "Grant entrance to whomever desires it, assuming they are of Chozo blood. Let them speak their name." The ball of energy within the Chozo statue's mouth changed its hue from blue to red. No sound emanated, as if it was waiting for something. Samus reached out and grasped the ball of energy, letting it dissipate into her, before she went on her hunch: "Samus Aran of Zebes," she spoke in perfect Chozo. The energy diffused out of her and back into the statue, causing its eyes to glow red... and then turn to blue and flash a few times. Both statues simultaneously did this. Seconds later, a loud rumbling was heard, and Samus could hear the echoes and moving of the ancient tumblers of the locking mechanism, before the double-doors slowly opened with a piercing creak. Samus stepped back and allowed the doors to continue opening up until they ceased, the life within the statue heads snuffed out as their eye color returned to stone. Samus found a semi-lit hallway (or highway, as it was large enough for even a Federation Tank to pass through easily), lit through holes that brought in light from the outside world somehow. Even though Samus could still tell that it was raining heavily, natural light poured through, although its intensity waned due to the obvious overcast weather. Samus walked with slight trepidation as she always did when exploring new areas, but quickly found the hallway as barren as the rest of the Fortress she passed through. All the other doors leading to capillary passages were sealed shut or destroyed, some passages even being caved in. Deciding she did enough sightseeing of the architecture, Samus broke into a light jog... which evolved into a heavy sprint. Soon her suit registered the activation of the Speed Booster and Samus was propelled at high velocity through the highway. After a whole minute and a half of running, she slowed herself down as she came to another set of double doors, although this time there was an enormous Chozo statue, like she saw on Zebes, blocking its entrance and outstretching it's hands as Samus had been accustomed to seeing. On pure instinct, Samus somersaulted into the Chozo statue's hands and phazed into her Morph Ball module. Samus 'felt' the Chozo firmly grasp her spherical form and bow it's head in recognition. The statue sat on its posterior and flooded Samus's form with pure energy, restoring her energy reserves and replenishing her ammunition. Surprisingly, Samus noted that the taxation she felt after using the magic to an extent had dissipated, and her headache was gone. She rolled out of the hands (which opened up) and morphed back into her standing form. Jumping on the head of the Chozo statue revealed the high-set double doors, half the size of the highway entrance, ready to be opened. As if sensing her presence, the Chozo lock flashed with blue magic and opened inward. Samus took a tentative step inside and observed the naturally lit, circular Great Hall. It was a perfect circle with only two exits: the one she came through and one on the opposite end. Turning her gaze upwards, the Hall extended upward to the apex of the fortress, of which was so high she couldn't even really see the ceiling, despite the entire center of the hall being lit up naturally by sunlight which permeated the overcast weather. Samus jumped down into the hall proper, landing in a hunched position and began walking towards the center. There was no sign of any weapon being here. The only thing she saw was the statue of a burly Chozo Warrior, clad in its traditional battle armor and energy staff, to her 9 o'clock. Samus had seen a lot of Chozo statues in her day, but this one was... different; not just in appearance, but she received a weird vibe as well. She went to scan it but before she could, both doors locked suddenly. Samus turned frantically to both exits, seeing that her way out was sealed, and got in a fighting stance ready to shoot anything that moved. The statue took a static texture to it, much like Samus experienced in Nightshade temple. However, the light wasn't forced away, nor did Samus hear any ghastly sound emanating from the entity. Like she expected, the static entity separated into a full ethereal form of a Chozo Ghost, which stood upright and moved naught a 'muscle,' or whatever could be constituted to a muscle for an entity of another dimension. Samus lowered her cannon and had a staring contest with this... odd Chozo Ghost. She noticed that its chest expanded and contracted like it was breathing, and she could pick out enough detail where its eyes were on her. This had never happened to her, obviously, so Samus wasn't quite sure what to do as this staring contest continued. Soon, however, the Chozo widened its stance and began, what Samus could best describe as, 'changing.' Samus witnessed a pool of pure energy and magic form at its feet before slowly traveling upward inch by inch. Slowly but surely, Samus's jaw dropped slightly as to what she was seeing, for, slowly but surely, this Chozo 'Ghost' was gaining color. Soon, the magic encased the entire ethereal form of the Ghost and dissipated, leaving what appeared to be a living being in its wake. Impossible... Samus's surprised gaze never left the Chozo as she slowly raised her left hand to the side of her helmet. As if sensing what she was doing, the Chozo entity took a more relaxed stance. "Recorded to Logbook." [Morphology: Chozo Warrior] [Warrior class and warfighter of the late Chozo Empire. This Ghost of a fallen Chozo Warrior has found a link back to the physical realm, able to take on its fallen form as the mighty fighter it once was. Extremely strong, magically adept, excellent tacticians and impressive agility are only a few traits which truly describe the essence of any Chozo Warrior. They typically carry an energy staff which was forged by them and directly connected to their aura. Energy staff is capable of firing normal and charged projectiles identical to your Power Beam, as well as being used as a potent melee weapon. Extremely aggressive in combat, exercise caution.] Samus lowered her hand and confirmed that the Chozo Warrior was indeed standing in front of her in all its glory. The Warrior reached behind its back and pulled out its energy staff, letting its hilt connect with the floor audibly and holding it at a passive stance, arm stretched outward and choking up on it. Samus didn't raise her weapon yet, but merely studied the Chozo. From the decorations and muscle mass, it was definitely a male. He stared back at her, straight into her visor and into her eyes wordlessly. Samus decided to take a similar stance, widening her legs a bit in a semi-passive form. Samus also took note that this Chozo wasn't an enormous, giant of a specimen, but rather close to her height. The Chozo then beat his fist to his armor plating and pointed his staff with one hand diagonally outward. Samus knew that gesture. A salute... or 'bow.' I remember clearly during training with my caretakers... but this Chozo, he can't seriously mean... Samus's thoughts were cut off when the Chozo leaned his staff towards her, as if anticipating something. Samus could only smirk amusingly. He wants a friendly battle! "Full submission, no fatalities. It's been a while," Samus thought out loud in Chozo. The warrior didn't respond, but merely saluted once more. Samus, this time, returned the bow with one of her own: her iconic salute with her arm cannon, before pointing it at the Chozo, to which he reciprocated with his staff. This is gonna be fuuuuun... The two began to circle each other in their fighting stances, daring the other to take the first shot. However, Samus never won her confrontations by playing defense the entire time... so she broke the silenced and unleashed a burst from her Power Beam. The Chozo Warrior merely raised his hand up and called upon his own energy and magic to absorb the blasts, no harm done. Samus had anticipated this with her probing attack and unleashed a charged shot as he lowered his hand. The charged orb of pure hard-light barreled towards the Chozo Warrior who, with a surprising display of agility, cartwheeled forward and deflected the charged shot off the front of his staff (which was now lit in a golden aura), sending it hurtling back towards Samus. She quickly barrel rolled out of the way. As soon as Samus recovered, the Chozo Warrior aimed his staff forward and began to return fire. Samus rolled forward and recovered with her Kinesis active, absorbing the shots much like the Chozo did. Samus rolled forward once more and bounded upwards on her recovery in an attempt to close the distance between the two. The Warrior stepped backwards a bit and took a probing swing with his staff once she landed. Samus parried the potential blow with her cannon and went for a straight punch to his face, which was promptly dodged by an impressive display of agility and flexibility. The Warrior kicked his leg upward, leaning back into his momentum, but Samus narrowly dodged that as well. She stepped forward and swung her heavy arm cannon downwards in a pummeling motion. The Chozo expertly sidestepped and swung his staff hard, aiming for her torso. Samus phased into her morph ball form and boosted backwards, breaking off the engagement temporarily. She immediately returned to her standing form. The Chozo advanced on Samus's position and let loose a charged shot from his staff. Samus dodged the first volley but she quickly calculated that there wasn't enough time to initiate another roll and dodge the charged power shot. Acting on instinct (and a 'here goes nothing,' mentality), Samus raised her arm out and generated a barrier. The barrier absorbed the shot and had it dissipate into her arm, which consequently became overcharged. Samus manipulated the beam manifested in her and fired it back not as a charged shot, but as a rapid-fire volley of standard power shots. The Chozo expertly dodged, but Samus was quick to recover after her attack and fired her native power beam several times, striking the Chozo in the shoulder when he attempted to dodge again. The Warrior visibly recoiled before erecting another field in front of him before advancing. This move reminded Samus of when the Omega Pirate in the Phazon Mines would attempt to absorb her attacks as he advanced. Samus slowly backed up with her cannon raised as the Warrior advanced. Samus decided to take the fight to him instead of using ranged tactics and charged into him. The Chozo grappled Samus's abdomen and manipulated her movements, to which she found herself receiving a hefty kick to the small of her back and face planting on the floor. Samus rolled her body to the side just in time to see the floor crack open on her previous spot where her head was when the staff came down upon it. Before Samus could get up, the Chozo continued to advance and brought his staff down upon her downed form. Samus caught the staff in her hand and used it as leverage to bound up and wrap both of her legs around the Chozo Warrior's head. She then leaned backwards, passing between his legs, and making sure to use her momentum to force his body on his back. She then bounded away, panting a bit. The Warrior recovered almost immediately. "I certainly hope..." Samus spoke in Chozo through panted breaths, "... that you're having as much fun as I am." The Chozo aimed his staff outwards but Samus, with a quick-draw of her arm cannon, struck the Chozo's dominant hand holding the staff, forcing a pained and somewhat ghastly grunt from him as he dropped said weapon. Samus quickly capitalized on this and used her Kinesis to toss the object far away over her shoulder. The Warrior, seeing that he had no ranged weapon, instead got in his warrior's fighting stance, ready to battle with fist and foot. Normally, Samus would have capitalized on the disadvantage, but this was no ordinary time in combat. Without hesitation, the Hunter unequipped her Varia suit, leaving her in her Zero Suit, before she took on her traditional fighting stance, arms and hands guarding her face, Grapple Beam still attached to her left forearm. "Shall we?" The two circled each other briefly before dashing forward and instigating brutal melee combat. Samus parried a roundhouse and counterattacked with a solid punch to the Chozo's face. "Ha-HA!" Samus exclaimed, landing the punch that would easily break the glass on GF face visors. However, her smile dropped as quickly as it came, as the Chozo didn't even flinch as he righted his face forward. He attempted a lighting fast punch straight to her abdomen, which Samus easily dodged by diverting his arm, but the Warrior had other plans, sweeping his leg and taking Samus right off of her feet and having her land on her back hard. Samus caught what would have been a brutal stomp to her chest and planted her foot hard in the aggressor's crotch, forcing him away with a pained expression. She flipped back up on her feet and charged forward, landing basic target combinations that she was taught during battle training all those years ago. However, she hyper-extended her right arm in a cross, failing to recover properly, to which the Warrior enjoyed the spoils of a counterattack. He caught her arm by the elbow, drove a knee into her upper abdomen (knocking the wind out of her and forcing a cry out of the Hunter), and clocked her with a reverse right in the jaw. Samus was forced off her feet by the blow and landed on her front, panting and lightly writhing in pain. She coughed twice and looked back on the slowly advancing Warrior. She grinned and spat some blood on the ground before standing up strong once more. The Chozo had an expression on his face that Samus wordlessly interpreted as "Had enough?" "Not a chance, Warrior. This is the most fun I've had in a long time," she replied before charging back with an audible 'war cry.' She attempted a high attack, which was blocked as suspected, before dropping down and using enormous force to initiate a full 360 degree sweep. The Warrior jumped over her leg and brought his own down in an axe kick which would have collided with her shoulder, were it not for Samus's instant dodge to the right. Her blue eyes shown with righteous fury as she counter-attacked, decking him in the side of the face with a right hook. Samus swore she heard something crack. Samus was also able to grab ahold on one of his arms as he backed away in pain, dragging him back and meeting her forehead with the bridge of his beak, forcing him off his feet and hitting the ground hard. That hard hit surely stunned him somewhat and caused enormous pain, as the strike even hurt Samus a bit. Quickly, noticing he was about to recover, Samus swept his recovering leg (forcing him down hard again), and planted her fist forcefully in his abdomen, cracking some of the composite armor and eliciting some sort of a cry, holding his stomach as he doubled over to the left. Samus placed her foot on the base of the Warriors neck, looking straight into the one eye that could see her. "Yield," Samus spoke in her caretaker's tongue. After tense moments and a stare-down, the Chozo slowly extended his arm upward and outstretched his hand. A sign of truce. Samus accepted it with her own hand and helped the Warrior back on his feet, backing away from him a bit to give him some space. The two stared each other down for who knew how long, the tension slowly dissipating in the air. The Chozo then placed his hand on his stomach and bowed respectfully, much like Samus had been accustomed to with the Luminoth. As he bowed, bright energy began to light up and flow out of him, pooling in between the two former belligerents. The magic phased together and exploded outwards, revealing a long, floating object that rotated on itself in the inside. It looked exactly like a Charge Combination. "It's yours. Let the power of the Night guide you to salvation," the Warrior finally replied in an 'echoed' voice, if that made any sense. That was the only way Samus could think of the raspy voice. The Warrior began to slowly lose its color and fade back into the spectral entity it once was. "Will I see you again?" Samus asked back, using 'you' to refer to the Chozo as a whole. The spectral transformation was complete and Samus could make out what she thought was a small smile on the Chozo's beak. "In... time..." he replied slowly, phasing out of the mortal realm. Samus stared at the spot where her worthy adversary once stood. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the doors unlocking and remembered that a weapon was floating in front of her. Wiping her mouth and chin of residual blood, she equipped her Varia Suit and strode towards the power-up, grasping it in her left hand and letting it diffuse into her. Like she suspected would happen, it headed straight for her arm cannon and auto-equipped her Night Beam. The beam charged itself, the first time Samus ever charged the beam, and it looked like a Spiral Galaxy at the end of her Arm Cannon. Soon, a very hefty portion of her missiles combined itself with the charged weapon and fired off almost vertically towards the nearly half a mile high ceiling with an enormous roar. The missiles reacted completely with the Night Particles and split into six bright-white projectiles, which launched downwards and slammed into the wall containing the exit door at high velocity one at a time. The projectiles hit so hard Samus thought the Hall would collapse on her. After the debris and dust cleared, There was an enormous gaping hole where the door stood. There wasn't anything left of a door, just six large craters in and around the former archway. The destruction was uncanny. The weapon had fully assimilated itself. I... What did I just unleash? [Asteroid Bombardment Acquired! [The Asteroid Bombardment is the Night Beam's Charge Combo. This heavy weapon uses sixty missiles!] What... the fuck? [The Asteroid Bombardment, when called upon, combines with sixty missiles and launches high into the air before splitting apart into six large projectiles (combining the destructive power of the Night Beam plus ten missiles each) and slamming into a locked on target one after the other. Can be considered a limited artillery strike. Large missile consumption limits liberal usage of the weapon. Warning: DO NOT use in confined space!] Well then... Samus lowered her cannon and switched it back to the Power Beam for now. She was less than half a mile's distance in total travel from The Siege Front and she felt even more confident with this new weapon on her side. However, she was down sixty missiles already, leaving her with about 200. She could call upon three Asteroid Bombardments if at all necessary, and a couple of super missiles after that. As Samus walked out of the now gaping exit, she silently hoped that whatever waited for her there wouldn't be too terrible to deal with, as she didn't want to exhaust her new weapon just yet. And come on, let's face it... my experience dictates that there's always something waiting for me. Never. Fails. Samus lost herself in her own determination to see what laid ahead of her at The Siege Front, eager to claim whatever power it held for her rearmament.