#kanden

            As the battle rages, we get the POV of the mysterious figure from before through binoculars, watching Samus.

            The minions aren’t much, but Kanden is a whole beast, able to shrug off smaller firepower like it’s a warm spray. His Stinglarva form surprises Samus too; Kanden is able to shift from such a huge target to a small one, and back. His Volt Driver short-circuits Samus’ visor, messing with her vision whenever it hits. Kanden eventually gets the drop on Samus, hoping to finish her off.

            But a minion shoots a rocket at some debris hanging above Samus. It falls down, burying and incapacitating her; Kanden looks back at the minion, perhaps angry that he got cheated of a fight. But in that minion’s defense, this is the more practical solution to handling the Hunter.

            From the underground area emerges those other mooks, but with notably lesser numbers than before; And they have the Metroid captured. The one in charge gives the command to fall back; Kanden looks back at the buried Samus disappointedly but follows.

            Samus comes to, hearing someone digging her out from outside, mumbling worriedly. She breaks through, surprising them; It’s the yellowish-green figure from before, hands up in surprise. They resemble a walking tardigrade, but their aesthetic is quite similar to this mysterious Kanden…

            Samus is wary at first, but lowers her cannon. The stranger apologizes, clarifying they mean no harm, and explains they weren’t sure if they could trust Samus; They were here for an entirely separate agenda. The Metroid, Samus guesses laconically. Not quite, the stranger corrects, but they fear it is quite relevant now.

            Kanden, they name the monster Samus fought earlier; He is a bounty hunter. He is Enoema like me, or was… The Enoema gets frank; They need Samus’ help in destroying Kanden. He is their greatest mistake.

            Cue a flashback; The Enoema explains that their people were afraid of being subjugated by the Space Pirates, but they had no desire to join the Galactic Federation either. But the Enoema are weak; To defend themselves, they began the Living Weapons Project; Their goal was to create an invincible supersoldier, perhaps the first of many more to come, to protect themselves with. Instead, they created an immortal beast; A monster…

            The Enoema is present in the flashback; They and others created a living chimera called the Volt Driver, and incorporated DNA from various insects, such as the Stinglarva, into their test subject Kanden. Maybe Kanden was a brave patriot, or just a poor soul forced into this position; Either way, the mental conditioning, the jolts blasted through his brain and body, all of these placed much stress on Kanden as he transformed into a hulking brute. He would suddenly scream loudly; He would be placed through a pacifying procedure of questionable efficacy and ethics, and emerge silent. The stranger would watch, concerned, but ultimately say nothing.

            All of this had its toil on Kanden, who finally snapped and went on a rampage, breaking through even the toughest restraints. Armed with the living Volt Driver, he laid waste to the laboratory, slaughtering all but one of the researchers as he cackled maniacally. The carnage finally ends in a shot-for-shot recreation of his intro cutscene at the beginning of Hunters; Kanden slithering out of the smoking lab as a Stinglarva, transforming back. He waits for the explosion, not looking back, and roars in triumph when it detonates.

            Only I survived, the Enoema explains, crawling out of the rubble as they watch Kanden move his attention towards the nearby town, for his rampage is not finished just yet. Per narration, Kanden would eventually gain infamy as a brutal, unpredictable bounty hunter. As the flashback fades, the Enoema mournfully notes that despite the failure of the Living Weapons Project, the Enoema got their wish; They were subjugated to neither Federation nor Space Pirate rule. Instead, they were conquered by the Kriken Empire, who wiped most of them out.

            Samus listens solemnly, as her log scans confirm from the Enoema what they’ve said; Their homeworld was terraformed by the Kriken, and only a few Enoema exist now, scattered across Federation space.

            The Enoema needs to make up for their sins, and destroy Kanden; He’s beyond reason, they know that now. And they’re willing to pay Samus quite a bit, all they have left, to help them. They know of her feats on Zebes, if Samus can take down Space Pirate high command, she can do this, maybe.

            Samus opts to refuse the payment; She needs to finish off that Metroid anyway, per her pre-existing contract with the Federation, and that requires tracking down Kanden. The Enoema reassures her they can do just that; During the experiments, they implanted a tracker into Kanden in case he got captured, lost, went rogue… Obviously it was that last one that happened. They can use it to find him.

            And the Enoema has no concern that theirs and Samus’ paths will be forced to diverge; They are quite convinced that Kanden and the Metroid will stay together, despite his contract to help the criminal organization secure it. Because in their investigation on Kanden, the Enoema has figured out this much; He is obsessed with perfecting his creators’ work on him by becoming the ultimate warrior, and will rely on any augmentations to achieve this. And they call the Metroid the Ultimate Warrior…

            As the Enoema says this, we cut to the criminals next to their ship, cargo bay open as they’re loading the cold containment unit with the incapacitated Metroid inside. The commander gives Kanden a briefcase loaded with seguru, and tells him he can leave. As they turn around, they mumble in their tongue in disgust, Freak.

            Kanden continues to stare them down, and then at the Metroid. The pilot is prepared to take off, everyone just needs to get in. At which point, the commander is about to board as the last one, when they notice Kanden still standing there. Well, they ask impatiently. What are you waiting for??? You can leave, we haven’t paid you to escort us any longer!

            Kanden drops the briefcase; And then grabs the commander by the neck.

            All of the minions aim their weapons, the pilot asks what’s going on. Kanden hoists the commander by the neck in the air in front of him, as a hostage; His Volt Driver is charged. There’s some tense seconds of deliberation… And then Kanden just snaps the commander’s neck anyway, chucking their body at the minions as they fire; Nothing to lose now!

            A few get knocked over, and Kanden goes on a brutal rampage; Something to really earn this episode its TV-MA rating. It’s a good thing the carnage is colorful alien fluid… He tears the minions apart, using the Stinglarva’s bombs to blow up their feet, and then finishing them off as they fall down in agony. The pilot tries to take off, but Kanden displays his incredible strength in lifting the ship from the front, causing the unsecured Metroid capsule to fall out.

            Kanden drops the ship, disorienting everyone. He fires his Volt Driver, electrocuting the whole craft as its energy spreads throughout the metal surfaces and shocks all inside. His carnage reaches the poor pilot, and then he comes back around to secure the Metroid. The last survivor gets a horrible death; Both hands wrapped around their skull, eyes gouged out by Kanden’s thumbs as they scream. Kanden’s fingers dig into their skull, and with a burst of strength he rips the poor minion’s head in half, splattering himself in viscera and clearly relishing in it.

            The groggy Metroid watches from inside its containment unit, as Kanden detonates the ship with his larva bombs. In his great strength is able to casually hoist the Metroid capsule between his arm, when previously it took multiple minions to carry it. As the ship burns, Kanden walks off, and the camera pans down to the seguru, untouched.

            The lighting changes to night, to indicate time has passed, with Samus and the Enoema staring down at the seguru. What did I tell you, the Enoema laments regretfully. Does that tracker work on an interplanetary scale? Samus inquires. It does, the Enoema confirms; At which point, it’s time to go back to the ship…

            Before she does, Samus asks the Enoema to look the other way, to their confusion… And then grabs the briefcase while looking around, because no use letting all that money go to waste! The Enoema looks back in baffled, mildly scandalized surprise. Samus loads into her new gunship, the one seen in Prime –replacing the starship destroyed in Zero Mission- with the Enoema aboard. They sync up their tracker with the ship’s navigational computers, and fly off.

            Cut to some run-down, urban area on some other planet; Kanden’s glowing green, Enoema-like ship –possibly another organic creation of the Living Weapons Project, or just every hunter in this series having ships that look like them- landing down beside some shady-looking building. Kanden hauls the Metroid with him as he enters.

            Inside a room is some poor scientist, chained to the wall, and a bunch of dubious-looking equipment. The poor scientist asks Kanden what they want, and when they see him set down the Metroid, they begin to stammer; No no no… That’s a Metroid, these things have ravaged the entire galaxy recently, worlds have fallen to them! Kanden ignores the scientist, unlocking the bonds.

            The scientist continues: Extracting its DNA would be nearly impossible; It’s been confirmed that attempts to remove any cell samples fail, because they disintegrate nearly immediately. They ramble on the theories, that Metroids are partially energy-based and without a source of energy from the larger body, the DNA dies… And technology can’t replicate that energy, either. Cryostasis is not viable because of the Metroids’ weakness to cold, which will erode their tissue and DNA if freezing is prolonged!

            Kanden grabs the scientist around the neck and they gag out, But there could be a way to work around this!

            Kanden lets go, unchaining the scientist and watching menacingly as they get to work. They explain that to implement Metroid DNA is tricky; They’ll have to directly hook Kanden up to the Metroid, to transfer its DNA immediately. This will be a precise process… But more importantly; Even if this does work, Kanden wouldn’t want this because the Metroid cells will turn on him. They turn on anything they come into contact with, it’s as if they have the ultimate immune system; Kanden himself will surely be killed in the pro-

            Kanden grabs them by the neck again. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the scientist chokes out.

            Samus lands nearby, and her and the Enoema sneak into the building; Now the Enoema’s tracker beeps, silently. They explain they devised a serum tailored to Kanden’s body, based on the experiments they performed upon him; It will, hopefully, tear apart the bonds keeping Kanden’s various DNA components together, unraveling his chimera genome and killing him. The serum relies on Kanden’s own bio-electricity to fuel it, turning his own power against him. Without this, Kanden’s own DNA could render him unkillable.

            Our protagonists get a glimpse of what’s going on from outside; I knew it, the Enoema grimly confirms. He’s going to implant Metroid DNA into himself, just as we implanted Stinglarva and other insect DNA into him.

            Kanden is in a seat, there’s a tube linking the Metroid in its cold containment unit up to him. The scientist explains the generator below will pump power into this entire process, keeping the Metroid cells alive just long enough to last the trip into Kanden’s genome. The scientist sorely mumbles in their tongue, I hope this kills you, as they work on the final touches. Kanden silently looks at them; Does he understand, or at least hear the sentiment? The scientist nevertheless tenses, feeling eyes down their back.

            They’re about to begin the process, here goes… When Samus barges in and blasts the tube, severing it. Kanden springs up, alarmed; The scientist raises their hands in surrender as Samus guns right for the Metroid, vulnerable and contained.

            Kanden leaps in front, blocking with his arm, and engages Samus. Cue chaos as the scientist escapes, while Kanden’s funky theme song plays. Kanden continues to give Samus trouble, but suddenly the Enoema unleashes the Metroid, which targets the biggest prey in the room; Kanden. You wanted this power, the Enoema reminds Kanden; Now take it! The Metroid latches onto Kanden and he flails around in pain, even his invincible hide means nothing to the hunger of the Ultimate Warrior. He tries to pry it off with his hand, but no luck.

            Alas, he has just the perfect tool to deal with this, the same way Samus does; Kanden turns into the Stinglarva, which the Metroid is still latched onto, but drops a few larva bombs that send it flying off. Kanden turns back into his humanoid form and spin-kicks the Metroid right towards Samus. There could be a semi-humorous moment where the two play tennis with a Metroid while the Enoema just looks back and forth to keep track; But Samus eventually gets latched onto, tries the Alt-Form plus Bomb trick, but the Metroid just latches right back on.

            Kanden prepares to attack Samus in her vulnerable state, but the Enoema confronts them. They try to talk gentle and calm him down, apologizing for the experiments, and explaining they only let the Metroid loose to protect Samus; But they know, having worked on Kanden, that he’d survive. They’re holding behind their back a syringe, containing the killing serum. Kanden seems to calm down too, approaching; But his Volt Driver looks suspiciously charged up.

            Is either of them sincere? Are they just playing it safe? In Kanden’s case, he could intend to be sincere… Only to change his mind away. You can never know.

            The Enoema lunges, injecting the serum into Kanden. We zoom into it attacking his DNA… But it’s either not working, or not working fast enough; After doubling down in pain, Kanden straightens up anyway, and impales the Enoema in the face with a metal spike. Samus cries out, rushing over to help, and Kanden resumes the battle. They’ve also got a very angry Metroid to dance around, too; Kanden refuses to let Samus destroy it, but this gives her some room to breathe because it means he can’t be focused on destroying her, and is even taking hits for a creature that will also try to kill him too.

            The lab catches fire, but all three are unaffected by the heat. Kanden charges up the Volt Driver, energy ball prepared to launch, and punches Samus with it; She learns from this and does the same.

            Kanden gets a nasty, impromptu idea; He grabs some cable and lashes it around the Metroid, strapping it to his fist; At the angle he does it, its mouth is facing outwards, so it can’t drain Kanden’s fist through the top of its head. As the Metroid squirms, he uses it like a boxing glove against Samus, a new hand. She tries to freeze it, but attached to Kanden’s quick arm, he can always move the Metroid out of the way, or protect it. Kanden latches the Metroid onto Samus, and when she tries the Morph Ball and Bomb technique, Kanden just pushes it back towards her.

            Luckily, a Power Bomb pushes back Kanden, and as Samus retreats, the Metroid squirms through the cable tying it down; Metroids are slick and flexible, they can squeeze through any small space bigger than their fangs, like an octopus. It turns around and latches onto Kanden’s fist anyway.

            Kanden’s fist starts to shrivel, and Samus fires an Ice Beam at the Metroid. Still not giving up, Kanden moves the Metroid out of the way, his wrist being frozen; Undeterred, Samus fires a Super Missile that shatters Kanden’s hand off. Fluid drains from the severed stump, Kanden roars as Samus tries to freeze the damn Metroid, which is reducing Kanden’s fist to dust; But the flames augment the Metroid’s thawing ability. The arm cannon’s cool down means Samus can’t fire a Super Missile fast enough, even if there was nothing to distract her.

            So she blasts the floor, causing it to collapse as her and Kanden fall into the room below, containing a shoddy generator. It’s cooler down here, way less open flame. The Metroid, not realizing its tactical advantage above, flies down to attack Samus; She freezes and blows it up with a Super Missile, finally.

            She sighs in relief, and then Kanden lunges at her in rage. He slams a Volt Driver punch into her abdomen, before wrapping his injured arm around Samus in a chokehold, immobilizing her. He charges up the Volt Driver for another point-blank hit, and Samus’ energy tanks are running low.

            Samus spots an unsecured cable from the generator; She lashes out with the grapple beam, tears it out and brings it to her other hand before jamming it into Kanden’s severed stump. As he shudders, Samus kicks his Volt Driver to aim at the generator as it fires; The electrical blast supercharges the generator, which sends a particularly powerful surge into Kanden’s body. It begins to pulsate and strain, as we cut to the serum, super-charged, doubling its attack on Kanden’s DNA. Samus fires some Wave Beams at Kanden, piercing his hide and adding to the current.

            As the fire pours down from above, Kanden’s muscles swell grotesquely, suffocating and crushing his head beneath, as they’re unable to take it anymore; Kanden explodes, splattering all over the place. Poor Samus is drenched, and looks down at the scattered viscera; She sees the smoldering tracker that had been implanted into Kanden, the one she and the Enoema used to find him. The generator looks ready to blow, the fire is spreading here; Her work here is done. She glances up solemnly at where the Enoema’s corpse should be, but let’s be real, the fire probably scorched it to ash at this point.

            Cut to outside the laboratory, that poor scientist from before limping away. They look back as it explodes, and mumble, shaking their head. They continue to limp ahead, when oh! It’s Samus Aran. Armor steaming as Kanden’s blood boils away, but very much alive. The scientist thanks Samus graciously, presuming she finished off Kanden, and also tries to continue past; But then she silently holds up a holographic wanted poster with their face on it.

            They know better than to resist; The scientist groans, rolls their eyes, and holds their wrist out. Ugh, fine; Just get me away from that freak. Samus applies the future’s handcuffs; A device that messes with your bioelectricity, causing your limbs to go limp, while allowing your organs to still function. She drags the scientist away, taking a moment to look at Kanden’s ship, pondering… Before heading back to her gunship.

            …On the other side of the burning laboratory, we see a glowing, yellow-green trail of slime, quite similar to the Stinglarva’s, leading out into the darkness. A soft rendition of Kanden’s leitmotif plays in the background.

            If you look closely when Kanden explodes, a couple of his darker, solid bits are sent flying; But among them for a split frame is the Stinglarva (depleted of bombs, making it look even smaller), implying Kanden can regenerate by shedding his body and re-growing from his renewed form, like how a snake sheds its skin. And the tracker, shown earlier, has been excised from his body; Samus has no way to track Kanden anymore…