The Dark Ages [Dark Data]

[Samus Aran]

Samus didn’t like the look of this. A chunk of ominous-looking dark energy, which they’d already been informed was highly corruptive in nature … and they pick it up? Were they stupid?

“I highly advise leaving that alone.”

The others looked to her to see the air had changed a little. Hiro was the first to respond. “Advice noted,” he said.

Samus narrowed his eyes into a scowl. “Weren’t you paying attention? This stuff is addictive. It erodes your sanity. Your sense of self. You want to pick it up? Why?” It wasn’t a question. “Stand back and let me destroy it.”

“Like hell.” Hiro moved between her and the artefact.

“Tch.” Samus looked from the hacker, to the gifted girl, to the undead monster. They all stood between her and the dark energy. Of course, it had been foolish to think that these people had come here to save a verse. She hadn’t failed to notice the EPD crest emblazoned on Hiro’s coat lapels. The gnome had been less blatant about it. People in the Empire and the Kingdom wanted their hands on this stuff.

Just like the Metroids, just like phazon. And before that, in her own universe, there had been many things like it. When humans had lived on a single planet, they’d fought over oil. Some things simply never changed.

Samus relaxed her body. “Listen. I know you’ve been asked by the Empire to retrieve this stuff, but is it worth the risk? To yourself?”

“Wrong again,” replied Hiro. “This is for us right now. We’re going to need every edge to come out of this alive. And I intend to live a marvellously long life.”

The bounty hunter cocked her head disbelievingly. “You think you can control it? You think you’re smarter than Doctor Regal?”

A smirk crossed the hacker’s face. “I’ve handled worse.”

Samus all but threw her arms in the air. “Really? Really?!” She took off her polite mask and adopted a tone she generally only took with unrepentant pirates and slavers. “You ever had your friends lose their minds and try to kill you?” She paused, taking Hiro’s momentary hesitation as a ‘no’, before continuing. “It’s not worth the risk. I’ve seen forces like this in action. They are best destroyed at the source.”

“Is that a fact?”

Samus didn’t like the look on Hiro’s face. The smug look of knowing. She didn’t like the way he looked at her with those glowing goggles: like he could see beneath the armour.

“What’s that power source on your chest?” he asked matter-of-factly, not even bothering to be subtle. “The one you haven’t used yet.”

Samus grit her teeth. Motherfucker. Was he hacking her suit somehow? Her eyes flit around the HUD for any suspect activity. Nothing. Back to that smug grin. “How’d you do that?”

“Same way I’m going to break these dark chips.” He twanged his goggles with a grin. “Technology!”