aperture_high | super smash space adventures

super smash space adventures

--PERSONAL DATA LOG 201X0515.007 SAMUS ARAN. RECORDING...--
It's been [xxx] months since I've crash landed here on Earth, 2011 by local time... as if that means anything. My ill-fated investigation with a fake S.O.S signal resulted in a complete corruption of my gunship's AI. It became a proxy and was turned against me, courtesy of a U.S. military satellite secretly housing its own AI, designated as "J.D."

Well... not against me specifically, but against my company.

Turns out J.D. had some enemies, and of all the millions of people on this planet, I was rescued by one of them.

Repairs to the gunship have gone as well as they possibly could, especially given the available resources. Snake and Otacon have been invaluable help. Together we've gotten the exterior completely rebuilt and the AI back to functioning capacity. Once that was stabilized my Power Suit was similarly restored to full function. (The look on Otacon and Snake's face was a little priceless...) I didn't loose any data... Adam's backup is safe, so I'm thankful for that. I think Otacon has even made some great improvements to security. Snake's not bad with a wrench either.

I don't want to admit I've gotten comfortable here, or that my company has been generous to me in ways I'm not sure I can repay. Life aboard the Nomad is as good as it's going to get... but I long to return to space.

I'm missing only one more component to get the gunship space-worthy again, and I fear I may have to resort to calling someone for it, if I can be so lucky to get a call out to him at all. Yes... him.

Well... as he says; you don't win by being lucky, you win by being bold.

--...END RECORDING.--

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So for some very technical reasons, possibly relating to certain missing parts unacquirable by Earth's current level of technology, her best bet to place a successful deep-space phone call is to use the Nomad to send the signal and the gunship to relay/amplify it. This means Snake and Otacon will be privy to her entire conversation. Samus would vastly prefer otherwise but she realizes she has little choice in this matter.

She briefs them with her plan, explains the very last components she needs are, after months of searching and looking and trying any possible workarounds, simply not able to be obtained on Earth. Samus is clever and resourceful, and she knows when she's exhausted all options. They've made great progress on restoring the rest of her technology and she thinks--she hopes--she can make a call out to an old acquaintance to ask for help. She refuses to go into detail about the nature of their relationship but what little she does speak of him seems begrudging. She asks Snake and Otacon to be quiet as the last thing she needs is for this to go badly.

...She hopes it does not go badly.]

[[ Incoming transmission from [xxx coordinates] Earth... ]]

Hey. [She knows he'll know her voice. It's been a while and she lets her greeting linger in the air for a moment before swallowing her pride:] I need a favor.

[It takes a few long moments for the transmission to go through, given the circumstances--almost to the point where it heightens the anticipation. Is it successful? Will someone pick up? Who is she even calling?]

I've been doing well, thanks for asking. How are you?

[The voice on the other end is male, perhaps a little overly-casual and just the slightest bit perturbed, though it's performative, as if to mask the fact that he might be surprised to be receiving this transmission in the first place.

He gets his jab in, and then his voice takes on a more serious tone, ready to get down to business.]

What kind of favor?

[Ah there he is. That motherfucker. That tool. Unmistakably him. She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath the entire time and is simultaneously relieved to hear his voice--as that meant the transmission got out successfully--and also dreads what's to come. Sort of. He's not unreasonable and not unpleasant when he wants to be, but...]

It's a big favor.

[Anyone else would probably lead on with buttering up, offers, doing whatever they can do to seal the deal especially if they were in such a desperate position as her but that's not how Samus does things. She just comes out with it.]

I need a G-Diffuser.

[There’s a pregnant pause on the other line, one that might indicate the transmission is dropped if not for the fact that after a long moment, there’s a noise that might be a laugh.]

You know I’m not made of G-Diffusers, right, Samus?

[Again, it all comes off as slightly performative. Something about his tone indicates that procuring a G-Diffuser won’t be difficult for him, but there’s some degree of satisfaction in being made to entertain a very specific favor such as this.]

Besides, I didn’t think that was your speed.

[Haha. Speed.]

[ Asking Snake to stay quiet during something like this really isn't a big ask at all. Honestly, with all of the radio communication he's had to do over his lifetime, with all the missions he's run, it's kind of nice to be the one listening in for once.

That being said, Snake can't shake the feeling that this conversation is kind of personal, and it is a little uncomfortable the the guy on the other side of the call doesn't actually know that anyone is listening in. At this point Snake trusts Samus as well as he can trust anyone he's worked with for a few months, so he'll leave it to her to handle this how she wants.

If she'd rather this Falcon remained clueless about most of the details because that will make him more likely to actually help her, then fair enough.

Otacon hangs nearby, wringing his hands together as he waits for the interaction to play out. If they can't get this G-Diffuser, Samus could be stuck here for the unforeseeable future, and then they'll have to figure out how to deal with that. ]

[Don't hang up you self-centered--oh good...

He's clearly entertaining the idea and she knows he's more than capable of getting a G-Diffuser, though it is still no small request. The only advantage she has right now is that he thinks she just wants it and doesn't need it. For all he knows she's building something worth putting in those F-Zero races. ~~or an arwing~~ Or an arwing.]

There's a lot of things you don't know about me.

[She plays coy, voice light, but on the other line she's carefully calculating her next moves.]

I figured if anyone was capable of doing it, it'd be you.

[Surely, there is a lot of complicated thought happening on the other side of the transmission. On some level, he knows this is about as much flattery as Samus is capable of--and it's barely anything at all, so he shouldn't buy into it.

His ego, however, is something of a pernicious thing.]

Depends on what you need it for.

[He will not be the instrument of his own destruction, after all, not that he'd ever admit he'd find her capable of that. No, this question-phrased-as-a-statement is meant to get more out of her--the situation that she's in. Why she's calling him, of all people.]

[He's needling her, subtly. That's ok. She's confident she can still dance around the subject, hopefully long enough for him to do what she wants.]

What do you think I need it for? [She manages to sound equal parts dry, like he's an idiot for even asking and equal parts teasing, like he should already know the answer.

Plus she is morbidly curious, it would be interesting to hear his answer.]

I don't know. Whatever your latest project is.

[A latest project that he hopes is not an F-Zero machine. There's testiness in his voice now, like he's wholly unappreciative of the fact that Samus has asked him for a favor of this scale and refuses to be forthcoming.]

If you don't tell me what's going on, I'm not getting you one.

[And he sounds, somehow, incredibly serious about that.]

[What a boring and childish answer...! She wants to say that aloud but that would suggest she was interested in his answer at all. Furthermore the risk is too great that he might seriously stick to his word, and knowing him he very well would. Imagine a bounty hunting world conveniently without Samus Aran as competition.

There's a muted sigh on her end and a moment of silence. She pinches the bridge of her nose and spares a glance at Otacon and Snake as if to say can you believe this asshole. Imagine a world where Samus Aran actually has good friends.]

If you bring it you can find out. You got my coordinates in the call, didn't you?

[Falcon hangs up.]

[GOD DAMN IT FALCON]

[Or he’s on his way thinking that was a booty offer. 50/50, she thinks.]

[Either way, god damn it. This time she does verbalize exactly what she wanted to before to Otacon and Snake;]

Can you believe this asshole?

[ There's a back-and-forth that Snake and Otacon can only eavesdrop on, the two of them exchanging glances as this Falcon turns out to be needlessly difficult. Granted, Snake can understand wanting to know why Samus needs a part that's apparently so hard to come by, but hanging up with no further clarification? Entirely unhelpful.

Samus doesn't hesitate to share her feelings on the matter, and Otacon's eyes widen as Snake shrugs. ]

I know the type.

[ The guy just has to hold anything of use he has above everyone else, doesn't he? ]

Do you think he's coming, or are we screwed?

[ Yes, they're invested enough in this now that he says "we," not "you." ]

[She shrugs, surprisingly nonchalantly. No need to appear desperate, let alone in front of someone like Falcon who'd eat that up.] I'll give him 48 hours before I start heckling him.

[Really, she'd bet 50/50 he's either on his way or is laughing it up in the Flyer, or wherever he is. Casual indifference is the closest to optimistic she'll allow herself to be, especially around someone like Snake who's proven to be incredibly level-headed and pragmatic most of the time. She's still more annoyed she resorted to calling Falcon at all but her words were sincere--she really couldn't think of anyone better to procure something like a G-Diffuser.

Despite that, a small trickle of paranoia urges her to make absolutely sure the communication has ended before she continues,]

He lives in the fast lane. [He can be patient (you know, professional) and play waiting games when he needs to, but she knows that'll last only so long with someone like her.] Let him stew on the idea he really doesn't know what we're up to.

Besides, it would unwise of him to not keep up with his competition.

Edited 2018-06-06 05:41 (UTC)

[ So from the sound of it, Samus plans to wait Falcon out. Living in the fast lane means that he probably doesn't have a lot of patience, and that alone might bring him here just so that he can satisfy his own curiosity. 48 hours isn't that long to wait, and so Snake is willing to let Samus play this out in the way she thinks will work best. ]

Works for me.

[ As much as he doesn't like the idea of letting yet another person aboard the Nomad, they can figure those details out if Falcon actually shows up.

Otacon, meanwhile, fixes Samus with a look. While he comes off as concerned, that's usually what his manner is like. "What kind of competition?" he asks. A fair question. For as much as they've learned about Samus during her time here, there's plenty about her that's still a mystery. ]

Bounty Hunting.

[She permits a brief smirk, like the thought of said competition fills her with a little glee. A little competition is healthy, though Falcon takes it to an extreme she frequently doesn't oblige. Not on purpose, anyway.

She's probably alluded to her profession to Snake and Otacon plenty of times but never completely confirmed it. She's doing it now at any rate.]

I don't share his other profession--F-Zero racing.

[That's a particular kind of racing, not just any kind of racing.]

[ Bounty hunting. Yeah, that's something that Snake had already suspected based on little comments that Samus had made here and there. It's not an illustrious job, but Snake and Otacon's work isn't viewed that way either. In a way, tracking down and destroying Metal Gears is its own kind of bounty hunting.

Otacon, meanwhile, looks impressed. He's not overly obvious about it, but Snake is familiar enough with him that he can tell. No doubt he's thinking that bounty hunting in space sounds cool, and comparing it to one of his anime shows.

What Samus says next snaps him out of it, at least, and Otacon lifts his head up again to shoot her a questioning look.

"F-Zero? What's that?"

Apparently she hadn't been kidding about the "fast lane" thing. ]

[He's asking what it is. Of course he is. She left it wide open to be asked about. She puts her hands on her hips anyway and answers curtly;] Dangerous and ostentatious.

He'll gladly tell you all about it himself... [Part of her wants to explain but another part of her knows her words are going to be wasted. Whatever she says is going to be repeated by Falcon the moment Snake or Otacon expresses any interest in F-Zero. It's an inevitability.] He probably won't shut up about it.

[There. She gave her warning.]

They're entertaining but I can think of better ways to earn a living.

[Like. You know. Bounting hunting. Because offing people for cash or making entire species of dangerous creatures extinct or blowing up facilities containing bioweaponry was much more noble.]

[ Samus makes no secret of how she feels about these races, whatever they are, and that seems to be reason enough for Otacon to drop the subject. Snake doubts that it matters that much what this Falcon guy does; what he's concerned about is whether or not he's actually going to show.

He can already guess that Otacon will ask the guy about F-Zero himself, if that time comes. He's not the sort of person who can squash down his curiosity. It's what makes him so good at what he does, to be fair. ]

All right, well, we'll give it a few days and see if your hunch is right.

[ In the meantime, they'll have to continue to find ways to kill time, which is something Snake has never been very good at, so hopefully they hear from Falcon sooner rather than later. ]

I hope it is.

[Until then she knows it's only a matter of waiting. She'd argue she has infinitely more patience than someone like Falcon but she also can't help but feel a restless energy pooling deep in the back of her head, something that suddenly makes the Nomad feel a little too small and like she needs to just get her legs moving. Her and Falcon aren't enemies, but she wouldn't say they're friends either... much in the same way she hesitates to call Snake and Otacon friends even if they ostensibly have become important people to her.

It's been a long time, hasn't it...?

Samus passes the time by trying to keep as busy as humanly possible. The gunship is already repaired as much as possible, though she finds ways to tweak this or touch-up that even if it doesn't necessarily need it. She hunts for game in the woods even though they have plenty of food. She tries to burn energy off by repetitive exercises and training, either in the Nomad or out in the cold, in and out of the Power Suit. She meticulously takes apart her gun and cleans it, even if that too really doesn't need to be done. The closest thing she comes to relaxing is when she decides to do some target practice outside, setting up old food cans along a fallen tree in a neat row.

It's more satisfying to do this with real ammunition but she's cognizant that 1) this would waste said ammunition and 2) borrowing one of their guns just to make a lot of noise and could potentially draw attention was foolish. They're out in the middle of nowhere, sure, but she sticks with her paralyzer gun. It's not very loud at all as bolts of pink energy hit their marks, one by one without fail.]

[Falcon waits about 47 hours before he decides to show up.

The coordinates are weird, to say the least. It's Earth, ostensibly, but it's not the Earth Falcon knows, and it's perhaps that curiosity that solidifies his decision to make an appearance. That, and he's also kind of wondering what the hell Samus has got herself into. He's got no idea what he might find when he descends upon the location she's given him

For someone used to thwarting fairly regular assassination attempts, Falcon isn't exactly discreet. Samus, Snake and Otacon will hear him before they see him, the roar of jet engines breaking through low-hanging clouds, the light of burning fuel casting a glow across the snowy ground.

The ship that descends is perhaps a little ostentatious, but there's nothing ceremonial about the way he makes a vertical landing. After a few long moments of burning the engines and melting everything underneath it, the ship powers down, and then everything is quiet again.]

[ Snake's gotten to the point where he's ready to assume Samus' attempt to call in a favor has resulted in failure, and to suggest they go back to the drawing board when it comes to finding her a way out into space. If there's anyone who can do it, it's Otacon, and he's been working long hours doing research on some possible solutions.

If that means he has to invent something before it's supposed to have been invented, again, Snake believes that Otacon's capable of such a thing.

He's laid out on the couch in their main living area on the Nomad, having a smoke, when he hears a low rumble from outside the ship. He sits up instantly, and Otacon's already checking their radar system. "It's an unidentified ship," he reports.

Snake touches his fingers to his ear, starting up a Codec transmission with Samus. They'd outfitted her with one to make all of their lives a little easier, after assuring her it was as secure as possible. ]

Samus, we've got company. [ She's the one who's outside doing target practice, she's no doubt already aware of that, so Snake cuts to the chase. ] What do you see? [ The Nomad itself remains cloaked, but Snake's ready to run out and offer her back-up, if it's needed. ]

[The codecs took only a little getting used to and now she appreciates the convenience of it the moment Falcon finally decides to arrive. Frequency 138.8 goes live.]

That's the flyer, alright. It's him. [She wants to say definitely him but there's always that minuscule, hyper-paranoid chance this is some kind of overly elaborate ruse so she feels the need to confirm it as soon as possible.] I'm checking it out.

[She crosses through the snow and emerges out from the tree line. Falcon doesn't exactly have a codec either so she'll just have to wait for him to come out. She's in plain sight and waits, arms crossed.]

RING RING RING RING RING RING RING BANANAPHONE

BOOP BOOP BE DOOP BE DOOP

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