A bit faster this time. Enjoy.

The blast ripped through the air, incinerating the very air it passed through as I watched it tear into her. It struck her directly in her left shoulder, and I watched as her shields flashed for a moment before shorting out completely. She screamed as she flew backwards across the room, until she slammed into the far wall. Then all was silent.

I stood for a moment, calmly surveying the scene. Her left arm was a wreck, with metal, blood, and bone mixing freely. The rest of her suit was mostly intact, except for a large crack that had appeared in her visor. She made no movements, but a quick scan revealed she was still alive, courtesy of her suits life-support systems.

"Are you okay?" A familiar voice called from the hall behind me. I turned to see Rood running towards me, a small pistol in his right hand, and an object I had never seen before in his left.

"I'll survive." I said nonchalantly. "That's more than I can say about her."

"Who?"

I pointed to the crumpled form across the room as he entered. He stopped short as he saw her.

"Which one is that?" His voice was unsteady, something I'd never heard much of from him.

"SA-01. She came here for you, apparently." I looked at him quizzically as he observed her motionless form.

He started pacing back and forth, then turned towards me, grabbed my arm, and began pulling me after him as he started back down the hall. I followed, not sure what was going on.

"Where are we going?"

"To get Sal, and get out of here. If the Federation sent 01, then it's likely that they'll send more. This place isn't safe anymore."

I nodded, seeing the logic. Mother wasn't the type to give up.

We finally reached our destination, a small medical room far off the beaten path. Inside I could hear vigorous swearing, and as the door slid open to allow us through, a notebook flew through it, almost hitting Rood in the face. It was soon followed by Sal, a string of profanities announcing her arrival.

"The rats are fine! What were you even talking about? Sometimes I wonder-"

She froze when she saw me, and for good reason. I hadn't realized it until now, but my previously white power suit was now spattered with red, which I could only assume was blood.

"We need to go." Rood said calmly. "Now."

"Alright."

With that we were off again, down another insane series of hallways and corridors.I heard another crash as we ran, but it was far off in the distance. A red marker appeared on the map in my visor, behind and slightly to the left of us. I could tell by the grim expression on their faces that the others already knew.

Finally, we made it to our destination, which I learned was a dock, where a ship very similar to mine was stored. Sal immediately moved towards it, and I followed. Rood hung back a little, I assumed he was making sure we wouldn't be caught off guard from behind. As Sal approached, the ship hummed to life, a boarding ramp lowering to accept passengers. As the two of us ran up the ramp, I turned to see Rood running to a computer terminal along the wall.

Noticing my hesitation, Sal shouted from the ships interior. "He's gotta open the door, come on sis, help me get this baby going."

"Got it." I ran up the steps, and settled into one of the pilots seats, going through the launch sequence for my own ship, assuming it was the same. As I flipped the last switch, two things happened. With an agonizing screech, the roof began to seperate, and the room was flooded with blinding sunlight.

The second thing was much louder. An explosion rocked the room, almost throwing me out of my seat. Sal came running up from behind, yelling for me to go. I looked at the monitor, and my heart dropped. Where before there had been a computer terminal, there was now a pile of flaming, sparking debris. Lying on the ground next to it was Rood.

Most of him, anyways. He was still alive, but the right side of his body was covered in blood, and most of his right arm was just gone. He clutched what was left of his arm with his left hand, trying to stop the rapidly flowing blood. He looked in the direction of the entrance, and I followed his gaze.

A shadowy figure stood in the entrance to the room, what looked like an arm cannon trained on the still blazing terminal. The figure stepped forwards, and the sight that met me left me more confused than I already was.

It was an abomination.

A fully armored humanoid creature stood at the entrance. The only thing that told me it wasn't human was a gigantic pair of leathery wings sprouting from its back. If that wasn't enough, I had seen these same wings numerous times. They were the wings of a Space Dragon.

The figure turned its head towards the ship, seemingly staring directly into my eyes as I watched on the display monitor, a shiver running down my spine. I wanted away from here, now, but Rood-

With a roar, the ship fired to full power, and I tore my attentions from the monitor. Sal was sitting in the other pilots chair, tears running down her face. She was screaming something, but I couldn't hear her. I didn't want to hear her. The ship shook again, more violently this time. The creature had fired on us, and a quick look at the computer told me we couldn't take any more hits. With a crash, we flew upwards, leaving Rood behind with that… thing.

I did my best not to straight up murder anyone this chapter. I hope you enjoyed, so keep reading as we progress. Thanks for your time!

To DracoSheild234, I'm glad you think my writing is good, that makes one and a half of us. To answer your question, I thought I made it a bit clearer than I did, but Samus is totally in on the clone creating thing. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Same goes to all of you!

CM out.