M: Aftermath
As everyone around marveled at the intensity of the tale, Samus continued, filling in the last few details. "Adam actually had to carry Melissa all the way out, she was in such a bad state," she explained. "Thankfully, with the Metroid Queen and Ridley dead, there was nothing agitating any of the creatures, so we didn't encounter anything hostile on the way back to the ships. Of course, that's when we learned that Adam's ship had been...sabotaged..."
Adam stared at the wrecked ship he had come in on, the vast majority of its systems torn out and tossed towards the open docking bay doors to float out into space. "That's problematic," he grumbled.
"Not really," Samus replied. "My ship's big enough inside for everyone as long as Spike shrinks down. Strapping in will be a problem, but as long as we don't accelerate too suddenly..."
"You've got room?" Anthony called out, stepping out of the wrecked ship. "Boy is that a relief, Princess. Thought we'd be stuck here."
"Anthony!" Samus gasped out in relief. "You're alive!"
"And kicking!" Anthony responded, grinning widely. "But where's the ankle-biter?"
"He-"
Samus' words were cut off as a rift in space opened above her ship. Spike flew out, landing roughly atop the broken Federation ship. He slowly lifted himself up, looking haggard and worn, a thousand yard stare dominating his eyes. "We need to leave quickly..." he managed to say, his voice sounding detached. "A Federation military vessel is nearly here, and it locked weapons on me after I identified myself."
"Everyone onto my ship, now!" Samus barked out. Once everyone was on board, she strapped herself into the pilot's seat. "Spike, brace everyone!"
Once everyone was braced as best they could, Samus gunned the engine, shooting out of the Bottleship docking bay. Almost immediately, her sensors showed that she was being locked onto with weapons and tractor beams. She cursed under her breath. Even with the ship's cloaking tech, it was only a matter of time before a lock on was made, and they were either taken into custody or destroyed.
As she sent her ship into a twisting course, trying to evade, she saw another wormhole open, this one large enough for the ship to dive through. Glancing back, she saw Spike's eyes glowing. Realizing he'd opened it for them, she sent the ship straight in, hoping Spike knew where he was sending them.
"They tried to destroy you?" Cadence gasped out, stunned.
"They were desperate," Adam explained. "When we took the CPU from the Deleter, they received a signal, so they knew that we had the proof not only of what the Bottleship was about, but that they tried to kill everyone involved to keep the secret and the Metroids. That would be enough information to completely destroy their careers, or even send them to jail for life, if not the death penalty for treason."
"Their entire modus operandi had been based in keeping the operation secret," Ghor explained. "If the secret got out..." He let the sentence peter out as he shrugged.
"So where did Spike take you?" Apple Bloom asked curiously. "Did he find someone who could help?"
"He took us straight to Admiral Dane," Samus explained. "A good choice. Not only did we know him personally, he had always been firm in his stance against bio-weapons, even more so than Adam. If there was anyone high enough in the military hierarchy to handle the situation who we knew would be on our side, it would be him." She paused, glancing away. "Not that it went how we wanted it to..."
Admiral Dane frowned across his desk at the group gathered there. "I'm afraid things aren't as simple as you'd all like them to be," he admitted finally, having heard the entire story from all involved and read through all data they'd provided. "While I can take action, there's really only two possible courses to take, and I doubt any of you will find either palatable."
"What do you mean?" Samus asked, frowning.
"The first option is the full inquiry," Dane explained. "Drag all of this to light, show the entire Federation what was being done on the Bottleship, and how far they were going to keep it secret. Full inquests and Court Martials for those at the highest, and everyone involved facing the harshest penalties that can be levied."
"I like the sound of that," Spike growled, the sound rumbling along the full length of his throat.
"You won't like the sound of the next part," Dane continued. "MB will also have to be brought to light...and the policy on bio-weapons is absolute. She'll be destroyed."
"No!" Madeline cried out, pulling Melissa to her.
"That's what created this situation in the first place!" Samus called out.
"I know that," Dane replied. "The other option is what keeps Melissa alive, but is just as unpalatable."
"...we keep quiet," Adam translated. "The ones who made this project know you have the information and can destroy them, and that keeps those involved safe...but they aren't punished for their actions. They get to keep working, but just get less ambitious about it, keeping it more secret."
"WHAT?!" Spike roared out, leaping to his feet. "After everything they did, we just let them go?"
"If Melissa's to survive, that's what we have to do-"
Snarling in defiance of Dane's words, Spike stormed out of the office, smashing part of the metal wall aside as he charged out.
"...those Demolition Troopers weren't kidding," Dane murmured, staring at the damage Spike had inflicted, somewhat awed.
"And that's with his armor limiting his strength to the environment!" Anthony quipped.
"Sorry about him," Samus said quickly, turning to go.
"Don't be," Dane replied. "I feel much the same about this situation."
Nodding, Samus raced out to pursue Spike, finding him slumped in the gardens outside the building. "Spike..."
"And they just get away with it..." Spike mumbled, staring into nothing, his eyes unfocused.
Samus stepped forward, putting her hand on Spike's shoulder to offer comfort...but jerked back as she felt the emotional turmoil swirling through him, tearing him apart inside. "Spike..."
"...they welcomed me, Mom..." he moaned out, tears pouring from his eyes. "I went into Sector Zero...and the Metroids welcomed me as a friend, a brother. They tried to make me comfortable, guide me to places to eat...and when I started to wreck the place, they just kept asking me...why? Why? I knew I had to, and they could see my thoughts, but they couldn't understand!" He curled up on himself, shrinking in despair, quite literally. "They screamed in fear, and in pain...but they never attacked me. They were made to be weapons, but they were innocents...and I killed them all! I heard their screams as they died! ...and I heard the silence as they were no more..."
Spike had shrunk down to the size he'd been when he'd first set foot on Tallon IV, small enough for Samus to cradle in her arms...and that's exactly what she did, scooping him into her embrace, letting his turmoil wash over her, struggling to be the rock in his sea of despair.
"And...and the ones who made them...the ones who made those innocent weapons, only to die...they aren't even going to pay for it..."
Samus' empathic tears beaded Spike's forehead, her emotional control strained beyond its limits as she felt her son's pain...
Twilight's tears beaded her returned draconic son's forehead as she held him, feeling his despair as he relived one of the worst moments of his life. Warmth surrounded them both as Samus joined the ponies in trying to offer desperate comfort.
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My feels...they've been hit captain. I don't think I'll survive...
And Fusion is only going to make it worse.
On the bright side, I absolutely can not wait to see how all of this will change my favorite game in the series. 
I just took a broadside in the feels... ouch. Poor Spike. I wish he could have saved the Metroids somehow.
Now, how about Ghor does some hacking to find those scumbags and bring SOMETHING ELSE to light that gets them in trouble????
Oi. This is a classic catch-22; neither option is likeable. Either the innocent Melissa has to die, or the ones who created the project essentially get away with it all.
I like 7145958 's suggestion: have Ghor bring other unsavory elements of their research to light, and condemn them that way.
Oh dear.
Quite.
Taking out the Metroids.
WHAT?! Why?
That's bad.
Which all would have been AVOIDED if they didn't keep playing with forces they didn't understand.
Right.
Of course.
What do you mean?
That doesn't sound good.
Then what do you propose?
Right...
Dangit Spike, I don't like it either, but it's for the best if you want Melissa to survive.
Pray he never goes all out on you.
Poor Spike...
*clenches fist*
*hugs Spike*
(That aside, this is what makes you such a good author, you make us feel for the characters, you make them feel real, like characters, more than just stone cold Badasses. You make us feel empathy for the characters. That's what sets you apart from the rest. You're not just good. You're BETTER.)
I am with Spike on his angry reaction, which is why I am not tearing up about this.
Great, just great.
Poor Spike. No one should be forced to kill creatures like that. I sure hope those involved do get brought to justice.
Please, please, please tell me they are the same idiots who worked on the secret projects on BSL, so if not for these one they could at least be put away for those experiments.
7146352 That was my thought too. Given that they both have Nightmares, I think it is likely.
............... these people should pay for what they made Spike go through............ DEARLY. They need to pay.
7146431
Also there was another Ridley. Frozen, but alive enough for X to copy
So Spike can 1 v 1 Ridley most of the time, and Ridley can take on Federation gunships.
...
If he really wanted to, pretty sure Spike could hunt down and kill everyone responsible. Says something for his character that he doesn't even consider it.
7146020
Yeah, this one is a really emotional chapter...
Poor Spike... I suposse they can't just put everything to the light and protect Melissa... If they cannot stop Ridley, they cannot stop Spike. And exist many that are in debt with them.
And people think the CDC is only a health organization, yeah sure it is.
7146560
Yeah, it really sucks the monsters behind all of this are getting off scot-free. Hopefully, come Tatsurou's version of Fusion, they'll eventually get what they deserve...
7145958
THIS. This so much. If there's one thing I hate in fiction, it's Karma Houdinis...
7146630 there's a TV Tropes page for that.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KarmaHoudini
The way I see it Melissa should have been the one to make the final decision on whether or not to bring them in. Granted it would have ended her life, but I think she has enough of a capacity to understand self-sacrifice, not to mention the piece of mind. They'll probably get them toward the end of the story itself, if not the BSL crisis.
7145953
Sometimes there's no right option. sometimes the best option isn't much better than the worst one. Sometimes justice just slips through your fingers or the good guy suffers more than the bad guys.
(TBH, it would have been hard, but i would have possibly chosen the first option. Yes, Melissa dies, but hundreds of souls are avenged abd there's a guarantee of those jerks never doing that to anyone or anything ever again.)
But, what makes a hero isn't that they don't fall. it's that they keep getting up, they keep trying, because to do any less would mean that the ones in the wrong would get away with it. I imagine that even if the guys get away with this, Samus will keep a watchful eye on them.
I'd like to point to a line in Spider Man: Web of Shadows. (a game i highly recommend!
)
Dark.....
Reminds me of the scene in Red vs Blue season 9 where South Dakota Got angry and left the room after have been given a rank down. But damn, this chapter hit hard.
7146678
Yep, that's where I got it from. ^_^ Here's hoping Tats eventually ends up averting that in regards to those Federation a-holes...
I'm actually sick to my stomach. I don't mean that metaphorically, I mean that this chapter has physically made me nauseous iRL. Clearly you are doing something right.
...and now I'm hoping that some of the Metroid from Sector 0 get saved.
7146485 Wow, I never thought about that. Samus really raised him well.
7146431 Let's not forget they also made another Ridley as well as all those meteoroids the SA-X went after.
Damn...That was ten pounds of feels in a five pound bag. Nothing I hate more in stories then those freaking Karma Houdinis...
7146761 I wonder when Season 14 will air.
7146883 ... Sometime during summer I think. Unsure.
7146904 I already know RWBY Chibi comes out next month.
*Cocks gun with silencer* Who want's to assasinate some a**hole's?!
7146909 ...Chibi? Really? After the ending we got in volume3?
Well that was a heavy blow to the feels.
Very good chapter.
7146991 It's merely a non-canon parody series, I believe. I personally consider it a breather after what we've bore witness to. I just hope it won't be like Teen Titans GO! *shudder*
You know... Something I realized a while ago, but is only really now becoming relevant as it involves Fusion... (Spoilers for those who haven't played the game/looked up references like I have):
The SA-X was made because Samus got infected with the X-Parasite and it was hypothesized that the Metroids were most likely engineered to counter it. This basically means that Spike is already immune, seeing as he's already "Part Metroid", or at least naturally genetically similar through coincidence of evolution. This means that Spike wouldn't be able to have an X-Counterpart like his mom will in the next arc. It'd probably be a bit like fighting Dark Samus all over again, now that I think about it, only now he's more experienced and has less reasons to hold back...
Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.
7146622 If you think about it, they will. The BSL Station was a more known station, and it's later destruction caused the light to be brought upon it, and to that extent, Samus and what she did to the station. I mean, a fleet was dispatched to go recover the SA-X as a potential weapon, showing how valuable as likely public it was. I'm assuming the metroid lab in BSL Station was built secretly, or was built, and then cut off, leaving "Asshole X" (as we'll call them, and I'm assuming they're the same people as in the "Other M" arc) to experiment with metroids in secret. In the process of discovering it's destruction, that too will be brought to light to take out "Asshole X", but without MB. Maybe that event will be brought up as well, but hopefully not.
Yep that was expect. But it still hurts.
You know, I've been thinking, given the OP of Spike at this point, I feel there needs to be an actual challenge to him as a trial.
That being said, can there be a workaround to make a Spike X in the next arc? An anti-pair so to say?
I CAUGHT UP DAMNIT
They could just fake Melissa's death then get those people that made the Bottleship?
Damn, the feels!
Spike can open wormholes now? Spike OP, nerf pls.
Gotta say, I love what you did with this little part of the story, a lot of interesting twists here and there. I feel sorry for poor Spike in this chapter, though. Here's hoping the dirtbags behind the whole affair get their butts whoop and imprison. Can't wait to see what happen to our friendly MB...
Did he at least eat their nuclei, like he did for Squishy? So they could live on through him? Or maybe they could find some way to reconstruct the Metorids' bodies from the genetic material so that they could live again?
For that matter, if they could see his thoughts, couldn't they understand?
7239806
Unfortunately, none of those options were available.
And the Metroids in Sector Zero were too immature to understand.
7147337 After I've seen the three episodes released I actually like it; It's short and funny.... Hehe, short.
7157932
He's been able to do that since he ate the Leviathan Seed, how do you think they got to Phaze
That was sad. Like really sad.
Anyways, back to reading!
Those... Those...
Samus, Spike, find the metroids that don't need to feed on life forces and save them.
10017980
Never thought a near minute long video of nothing but loud screaming would portray my thoughts so accurately. When I first read that part, I felt like punching the wall next to me.
Hard.
Until I broke the stud inside.
Or my hand.
7157932
Spike could open wormholes since Corruption, he just never had to before now.