A/N: It's been a while hasn't it? I haven't forgotten about my Linked Paths fiction! It just takes a while for inspiration and of course what with the number of new fan fictions I've started in the last few months have jumped up a lot. But I am writing waaay more these days, a good muse has bit me and I intend to take full advantage of it. This story comes with a vengeance as we continue the saga of Samus, Sammy, and Shuzyn attempting to find a way to clear their name after the destruction of the B.S.L. Station. Samus herself is the leader of this trek, so what's the next move? Let's find out together in this chapter!

(End A/N)

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Chapter V: A Paper Trail, Part I

How many days had it been since he'd returned to his old pad? Maybe four days down, there had been a careful sense of life being established. Shuzyn had established several programs searching for anything on the B.S.L. Station, all sorts of information: be they tabloid or fact released by the government. He was using what hacking skills that remained in his bestial mind, a lot of it was eroded away by adapting to his new powers. Even then he hadn't fully mastered all of his skill set, only that of the abilities to that of the Space Drake.

So far so good though, on the side of finding information about the B.S.L. Station was going fairly well. That was the major thing that he chose to focus on far as computer work was concerned, at least that was something that he could control without much effort. Though a strong part of him had fear of his growing Phazon issue, the power that had taken root in him on that accursed station. It was a good bet that if he hadn't survived it, that he would have been dead even with his regenerative abilities. He could feel the new association in his body, feel that it had established a flow throughout his body.

He was not safe from Phazon madness, the very thing that Samus learned a lot about on her excursions while dealing with the Space Pirates and rescuing planets from the beginnings of the Phazon infestation. He'd heard about it from her mostly a lot of it had been something that was a great learning experience. Between that and reading all the files her ship computer collected on its database, made his considerations much easier. Shuzyn would not allow his new power to overcome him, he had plans to stay ahead by using it for menial tasks somehow. Though Samus continued working with her few, but well made connections throughout Federation space, she was starting to piece together something that her A.I. Adam had hinted at.

Even though the A.I. Program had safe guards against it revealing any top secret data, it wasn't terribly hard to figure that the top brass of the Federation Government had been behind it. It pissed her off to no end that the same idiots that hired her also didn't trust her to do the job they paid her well to do. Though she wasn't about to refuse the money over something like that. Even though it did not exempt the same organization from trying to frame her for the blast, this was why getting the fools to rescind that order was paramount. There were no illusions for the galaxy famous bounty huntress, she had little trust in the government's military, given that was where some of the most idiotic decisions came from.

"Damned idiots..." Samus uttered while turning from the monitor she'd been using, it was time for a break.

Part of Samus did wonder why things had turned into this pile of insanity that it had, she had always questioned her decision for letting Sammy live in her early stages. It was kind of funny to do that right now, but then again, it was just a part of her that had learned some odd sense of mercy. Some bizarre sense of acceptance at the fact that she herself was more than she'd ever intended to be. She was no longer just the chosen warrior of the Chozo, she was also the greatest of their predators, it all reminded her of what she was considering in her life. Some part of her felt that it was her responsibility to look after this new life.

Perhaps it wasn't that simple as acceptance, but whatever the reasoning, she had allowed Sammy into their lives and she hadn't truly regretted it yet. Even if part of her was embittered by the fact that she shared her beloved. It was nothing to focus on, she found that there had been some decent purpose thus far. Together her 'sister' and her had taken care of the worst enemy she'd ever seen made yet. Perhaps she was just getting soft, at which considering the certain circumstances, she couldn't disagree with that as a thing.

She was somewhat fond of Sammy by now, after all the struggling on the B.S.L., and all that had come to her life in late, it was very new to her still. A whole lot to consider, with a strong pincer surrounding them all, she didn't dare let it get in her way. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she'd huffed lightly and then looked over to her lover, as he sat at the computer furiously typing. It made her smile a little bit, if only perhaps that a part of her felt pleased to have someone as devoted as he had been. Though he always claimed he was the beast, with how she found him to behave at times, more human than she was some days.

It was kind of funny to consider how he would be the one to complain to her about it, to tell her that he was the monster. He was one of the few things in her life that offered her a speckle of that humanity in her heart, she was not always the cold huntress, a strong part of her cared about what happened to her surroundings. It was here that she noticed the stripes along Shu's body, the strange blue streak that had spread from his spine and broke out in waves up and down his scale pattern. She remembered from what she experienced firsthand, the first signs of change due to Phazon exposure. She hoped that he was as sturdy as Ridley when it came to the use of the power, hoped that he was able to withstand the corrosion that came with exposure to the deadly radiation.

"It's spreading throughout your body quickly, Shu...the latest scan showed that the organ has settled into you and is producing phazon at a rate that you seem capable of withstanding. How's your mind doing?" Samus asked him the obvious, her tone spoke of how she wanted nothing but the truth.

"No side effects so far, in fact the only thing that I fear, is that I feel so much power. That's what's the unnerving part, I knew I was strong, but now I feel...I feel nearly invincible now, and I know better than that. I've read the reports, the knowledge you gained from the Space Pirates', everything that I could on the matter. I dare not be the first fool to think that I'm in control of something like this." Shuzyn sounded wary, but he wasn't going to let himself be taken down by a pathetic mindset.

"Be wary, but don't shirk away from it, you can't turn your back on this for even a minute." she said something that she was sure he knew.

"Not a chance, this is going to be a clincher, if I can manage it: then a serious up for me. The Federation probably regrets taking the shot already." he was saying this with a grin, trying to be positive about something that was essentially unkind as a situation to deal with.

"Shu should not make jokes, needs to...to keep ahead of this power." Sammy spoke from the other room, as she emerged with a light frown on her face.

"Don't worry Sammy, it was just a joke. I can't stand too much tension, as I'm sure you imagine too much ruins the mood." he'd say this while he stretched both arms and wings out.

The scaled wings of his adjusted somewhat weakened by the lack of flexing during the past few ours. He offered her a light smile to the concerned mate of his, she'd hoped to get him to take this more seriously. If anything that she had been, it was focused on an attempt to recover from her recent wounds. Even over the past few days, her wound had been slow to heal. Despite her pain, she intended to make better use of herself somehow.

She had lacked the capacity yet to really make better use of her strengths, since they weren't in battle, they were lying low and she wanted to help them, even if just by keeping up morale. Even if she wasn't exactly how she was going to do that now. The few days for her had been stagnant, and aside from trying to learn what Shuzyn's old friend, Ferol thought of the whole situation at hand, there wasn't much to do. Sammy couldn't help but worry about whether or not this was all her fault somehow, even though she wasn't that original X that invaded the B.S.L., they had been part of her people. The belief was that the X-Parasites were all slain; every one of them had burned up in the atmosphere, as there were no more S-AX, she'd helped Samus hunt the rest of them down.

"Is there...something I can do? I want to help, since I am still a part of things here." Sammy suddenly interjected with a strange choice of phrasing.

"Huh? What do you mean, Sammy?" Shu was the one to respond to it.

"I've been here this whole time and...and I haven't done much yet. I can fight, but my mind isn't focused enough." she seemed to be bothered by this fact.

"You've been learning fast enough and its not like we're in a good position for you to try much out. That's the situation, nothing personally tied to you." Shu imagined that she was having some serious feelings that made her feel useless, he hoped to change that for her.

Sammy huffed gently, looking cute in the moment that she pouted. His words made sense to her and she didn't really want them to be right. So in that moment she decided that she'd worry about him and how he was doing. She couldn't stop the need of research and less than one could stop breathing, it was going to be slow and arduous. So without any decisions to do less than help Shuzyn, she stepped up to him and placed her palm on his forehead.

Such as it was, there was a soft chuckle from Shu as he cupped the back of her hand softly. To this point he'd taken this sign of her trying to check his vitals and moved her hand to his chest. Just giving her a general run of the signs that he was doing well enough. But Sammy stopped once she reached the area just above his stomach, pressing her palm there where she felt the pulsing organ that was new. She used her knowledge of human anatomy and was using it to determine the oddities that he'd had in his body right now.

The area seemed random, but it was the part of her that was still X, that she reached into and used to determine the odd source of power in his body. The parasite breed had been known for spreading, they ate genetic code and lived to reproduce more of themselves: the knowledge of one's source of power inside of the body of the many victims they'd lay claim to. It was genetic memory now, all for Sammy to read, even if it was rather blurry right now. She had never tasted that of the Space Dragon's DNA before having her way with Shuzyn, she had the same anatomy in small areas of her body. Having mixed well between the human/Space Dragon/Aluasian DNA, there were plenty of genetic markers that she forged into staples. Sammy had become less X along the basis of wanting to keep these forms at all costs.

With a small growl at herself, Sammy shook her thoughts off: this wasn't about her right now, this was about helping Shuzyn if she could.

"New organ pulses, its the Phazon one, right?" Sammy knew little about it, only what she'd learned from the absorbed Space Pirates, which was very little from the stock that came to the B.S.L. Station.

"That's right, it is. Nothing out of the ordinary yet, I've been monitoring myself as best I can up to this point. Not being a medic doesn't help, but hell, its not like anyone could help me out. I'm in new territory now, there's only one bastard who could probably help me. And I know that wouldn't bother, even with how many times he's been killed, I know he's alive somewhere." Shuzyn highly doubted just because the X devoured the body on the B.S.L. Storage freezer, it didn't mean that HE was dead at all.

He hated Ridley second most in the galaxy perhaps, if for nothing more than turning him into his present form. As just because he'd come to terms with this new state of existence, did not mean that he wasn't one to regret not being human anymore. That creature was always alive somewhere, in some form, and he knew better about it. He had seen too many times, the same space dragon back in some twisted shape or another and imagined that it was headed that way even now.

"Don't worry about the new organ too much, Sammy. We won't know what's going to happen until this kind of thing passes. It will continue to grow and until it finally settles in, we won't know what it will do to me." Shu sounded disappointed, almost drained.

He had been thinking about it for ages and found that he was not making any headway on it, he could not predict something that had different effects on various people. It was only going to be something that came to light on its own with time. He was eager to find out about this power, about the threats of corruption that he faced. He could not let it dominate him or he'd be lost to the reputed phazon madness. It was nothing that he was looking forward to dealing with.

As Shuzyn stood up, stretched his limbs out, he'd let off a gentle yawn and felt that he wanted to get out. Something of a quick flight perhaps? It wasn't like the local area had many people and he needed to keep his wings in use. As he stood up, an alert went off on the console he'd been sitting in front of went off. His eyes traced over the data coming up, while a good deal of it was encrypted, his personal algorithms were shifting some of the data around. His eyes widened and then narrowed at the feed that he saw breaking in.

"Samus, you'll want to learn about this, please come over here." Shuzyn's voice was controlled, but sounded very stern, carefully neutral about the situation.

It didn't take long for the blond to make her way over to the console, having just come from a quick shower, she still had a towel being used on her hair. Her eyes fell on the screen and they widened before she took a single step back, then clenched her fist as she could barely believe it.

"A Ridley foot soldier initiative?! What the hell is the Federation thinking?!" Samus felt both disgust and outrage over the fact that this came up.

Was this the reason that they'd collected Ridley's remains for? Did these fools think that they could control such a resource and keep it under their control? He had been her worst enemy since she was a child, he and the Space Pirates had completely annihilated her colony and moved on. He slaughtered her parents merely because she tried to befriend him, it was nothing but fun for him! How many times had he tried to halt or destroy any federation bases or advancements into a zone controlled by the Space Pirates?

Sammy jumped at her sister's rage, sensing it and understanding what the name 'Ridley' and the natural fear was instilled in her grew. It had become such that she was shaking all the way through, something that evolved into trembling as the images flashed before her eyes. She whimpered and almost collapsed, if not for Shuzyn grabbing her sides and catching her before she fell. Her eyes now impossibly wide as she witnessed all of the genetic memory of Samus's battles with Ridley hit her at once. She could feel Samus's childhood pain, fear, the terror of knowing that a large space dragon focused on you with plans to kill you.

There were no words to be spoken as the somber mood followed, Samus was reading the data, whatever was encrypted: mostly about the location and what was going to be done with the initiative itself. She was heavily troubled by the theme of this attempt, it didn't matter that most of the Federation government wasn't aware of this. Perhaps they had bloated up so much and were doing so much at once, they couldn't possibly know how many of the shadows cast by the large military branch left questionable things going on. None of it mattered now, she needed to try and make this right yet again, not just because of the government. She wasn't going to leave these utter morons the space to act so stupid, what if Ridley returned and decided to claim their little experiments?

It wouldn't be the first time that she'd seen it, as the Federation collected the last of the Metroids and were studying it, and with her present Ridley invaded. He stole the metroid baby after a fight there, all of which had led to the return of the metroids through cloning. Now the Galactic Federation's science division were trying to enhance their soldiers through additional DNA boosts through the worst means possible. It was utterly maddening and left her without a feeling of anything but irritation, perhaps a little bit of a headache too.

"Damn it, Shu. The military learns nothing from the prospect, only thinking about power. Just find out where this is alright? We have to shut this down, BEFORE the space pirates find out about it." Samus decided just then that they weren't going to waste any serious time letting them develop, whatever it was anymore.

"Already on it, Samus. I'll give you the location as soon as its up. We can't let them be this stupid, even on their own." this had gone on far enough, and despite being on the run, they still had to do what was right.

This was not the kind of news Sammy hoped to hear, though she wasn't going to complain too much about it. Parts of her wanted to make sure that the universe remained safer for the matter, at least if such were possible.

-With the Space Pirates-

The restoration of the Space Pirates' Commander Ridley after his latest defeat had been something of a failure. With only a simple culture retrieved from the B.S.L. Station being used to 'update' the fallen Ridley. He had lost all of his Phazon related strengths after his defeat by Samus on Phaaze, even as he remained in the tank and struggled to awaken, anyone could see he wanted to be free. Images burned into his mind of the one person that he had left to kill, destroying the huntress who continued to get in the way of the Space Pirates was paramount. To be returned to life yet again only served to drive this anger to new heights, to the point that he had a battle lust and to seek her out might become his only point for a return.

As the Zebesians let the tank due its duties in raising him further, the spiking mental activity of Ridley was being noted. He had been enhanced without his knowledge and his body had been given the strength of the second Commander of the Space Pirates, the mighty Kraid. Ridley's intellect was beyond such a brawn born creature, this was not to say that the Titan too had not been the subject of regeneration. Quite to the contrary, Kraid was being enhanced as well, gaining from Ridley some genetic intellect and the ability to better strategize use of his strength. The thought was that with the pair being given enhancements from one another, that they might stand a better chance against the huntress.

It was also during this time that the Metroid Queen experiment of the Galactic Federation had escaped their grasp. This was an opportunity to see what it was that their enemy was up to, given that they had known little about the operations aboard their well protected science station. This was to be their big chance, a trial that would give them more power if they could capture her. The order was given and ships were already underway to track her down and to bring her down and to proceed with caution given her status. The final evolution of the Metroids were known to be very dangerous, never once to be in a good position when not young and easier to train.

The die had been cast by the pirates, they had plans to get their revenge on the huntress, they had their commanders being regenerated as the moment spoke of it. All now that remained was to get their prize before they could make their next move. Claiming the metroid queen would be just the thing to push them past their Federation rivals. Once they secured the new facets of DNA, all they'd need to do following this would be to establish uses of their resources: create better weapons, enhance their soldiers, and prove their dominion over all enemies. Unbeknownst to the Pirates, their advanced ships had already met a brutal fate at the hands of the Metroid Queen's commandeered Federation ship.

-With Ama-Lilith-

As she headed towards a backwater planet in order to resupply her children, she had been attacked by several scout ships of the Space Pirates. Naturally they damaged her ship and had damaged it enough that she had to stop to fix it. By now she had destroyed her enemies, and had been stripping parts raw from the enemy ships in order to fix her Federation ship. She stood a greater chance of not being attacked by G.F. Ships as long as she could keep this one operational. While she got her supply of durable, loyal children presently growing in their pods in the bay of the ship, the repair was going exceedingly slow.

To this way she'd be pissed off a great deal, as she actually had to do manual labor. She was trying to see that her activity was kept to minimal since she tried to conserve her energy. She wanted to claim her little king and had not found traces of him yet, as even though she was laying low, it didn't mean that she had not been thinking of her future. She had him on the planet, but had failed to secure him and defeat the huntresses. Then the federation had forced her to retreat, all of which lead to her present situation.

"Gods be damned, whatever allowed those three to escape me. Between that and my little king continuing to flee; I know that I must have some kind of a time when I catch him off guard. I must claim him and his strong stock back at my disposal again. We will re-populate my people, to show all that we are the strongest hunters, who will control all populations." Ama-Lilith seemed certain that she would have her way.

They had been created by the Chozo to control the X, yet now she found greater purposes to those other breeds who needed to be controlled. The Federation, the Space Pirates...all of them required a firm hand to keep them in line. She had absorbed the latest bits of knowledge from several of the Space Pirates on board and learned their knowledge involving her. They were coming for her and intended to try make some weapon out of her. They had standing orders to bring cultures of her DNA for their commanders' revival, as if she were something so small and there for their use.

She had plans to make and once she was done repairing the ship's damaged system, there were plans to leave to a planet, she'd take advantage of this miserable threat and use them to ward of the Federation ships. She'd depart for the Space Pirates' Territory in order to provide her some relief from her would-be pursuers. All she had to do was keep them at a distance and she'd be able to take full advantage of it. A little bit of careful maneuvering and she'd be free to find her king, then she'd concern herself withstanding the attacks of her consort and the huntress pair that she dealt with once before. It was a game of human chess now, with careful positioning she would gain the advantage as she hoped to do in good time.

The game had new players in the form of the Space Pirates, who were only going to make things work better for the Metroid Queen, especially if she played her cards right.

(End Chapter)

We reach the end of part 1 in the Paper Trail, which unveils a bit more of the plans and all their players who will be taking part in this huge mess. The Phazon spreads through Shuzyn, who concerns himself with suffering latent effects of the new organ working away inside of him. His body adapts to the phazon's presence and the enhancements that come with it, how will he be affected? What will the Space Pirate Commanders do when they find that things are far more complex than previously thought? These issues and many others will come to be explored in the next installment of Metroid: The Linked Paths.

Until the next time, adieu

-Quentix