The spy and the bounty hunter (and the Ghost-Spider), Chapter 6

(Author's note: Not long after I add Samus to my story, Metroid Dread gets announced. Maybe I need to add more crossover characters from stuff I like, huh?)

The next few days following leads on Otto were almost torture for Samus. She'd maintained her professionalism during the hunt, as she always did, but most of the downtime she'd been resisting the idea of tearing off her Zero Suit and jumping Natasha. She was almost sure Natasha was teasing her too, constantly trying to draw Samus' attention to her lovely ass or ample, incredible tits. And if she was, it was working -- if they weren't working, Samus couldn't get the images out of her head. Not to mention this Spider-Woman they'd been travelling with, Gwen -- Samus couldn't help but think she was cute. Probably damn sexy, too, when she wanted to be. Either way, she was gorgeous too. Meanwhile, aboard the HMS Hellfire, Emma Frost decided to check in on Samus' mind, just to see how the psychic seed they had planted was doing -- she was delighted to discover that it wasn't so much a seed anymore, but a gigantic, towering tree. She was very much looking forward to her next meeting with the bounty hunter.

"DIE!" Octavius screamed. Gwen narrowly dodged the metal tentacle slamming into the wall, as she'd done so many times before.

"I guess we're beyond reasoning with him?" Natasha asked rhetorically.

"I doubt that was ever an option," Samus answered, knocking out a number of the mad doctor's Octo-Drones with some well-placed plasma beams. "In my experience, folks who weld giant metal tentacles to their bodies aren't the reasoning type."

"That's sage advice," Gwen chimed in.

"What can I say? The Chozo raised me well," Samus shot back.

"Hey, are we bantering?" Natasha asked Samus as she balanced on the back of a larger Octo-Drone, piercing it with an electric dart fired from her wrist.. "I've never heard you banter before."

"I only banter with people I like," Samus answered.

Natasha could help but smile, even as she was dodging drone laser fire and metal tentacles swiping at her wildly. She'd cracked the beautiful bounty hunter's icy, all-business shell. She'd be in her pants in no time.

"Awww, that's sweet," Gwen cooed."I like you too, Sammy."

"I can count on one finger the number of other people who can call me that without getting a face full of plasma beam. Count yourself lucky, Gwen."

"That might be the most flattering thing anyone's ever said to me," Gwen smiled under her mask.

Octavius set one of his tentacles flying at Samus, who very narrowly dodged what would have been a fatal attack. Unfortunately for Otto, the tentacle had lodged itself in the floor, becoming stuck. Samus used the opening and dove into her morph ball form. She used the balls' magnetic abilities to roll up the incapacitated tentacle, jumped out of the morph ball and hit Octavius with a screw attack; At full power, the screw attack was devastating, but she'd mastered the ability to ensure that Otto would only be knocked unconscious, not killed. Meanwhile, Gwen & Natasha had teamed up to deal with the few remaining Octo-Drones, mostly Gwen webbing them up and Natasha short circuiting them.

"Nice teamwork, ladies," Natasha smiled, turning to Gwen and giving her a fist bump. The two women turned to Samus, fists pointed at her.

"Come on, don't leave us hanging. We make a damn good team and you know it," Gwen told Samus.

"You're right. Ehhhh, what the hell," Samus admitted, fist bumping the other two women.

A SHIELD prison transport had arrived promptly after Natasha informed Fury of their success. Octavius was loaded into a portable stasis cell and taken away -- Arachne and the galaxy had just gotten a whole lot safer.

Natasha called Fury on her holocommunicator to debrief. "Nice job, both of you. Miss Aran, I've transferred the credits to your account -- I trust you'll be very satisfied with your payment. I'll grant you access to SHIELD's most wanted list -- there's plenty of high paying work for a hunter of your caliber. Natasha, send me your full report ASAP -- otherwise, keep up the good work. Fury out."

Samus couldn't help but notice that the transport had gotten there almost immediately. "That was quick."

"SHIELD has operatives all over the galaxy," Natasha explained. "So we can get agents to most areas very quickly.

Once again, Samus' cynical side surfaced. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that..."

"Still don't trust SHIELD?" Natasha asked.

"Not really. But I guess I trust you."

"Glad to hear it," Natasha answered. "I hope we can work together again soon."

"So do I." Samus was surprised at the words that just came out of her mouth, but she'd actually enjoyed working with others for once.

"Same here," Gwen piped in. "I've always thought lone gunslinging bounty hunters were pretty rad in the movies. It was awesome to find out that they can be like that in real life too."

"So, where are you off to, now?" Natasha asked Samus.

"Looking for more bounties to hunt. Otherwise, I'm not sure," Samus answered. "How about you?"

"I'll be heading back to the HMS Hellfire. I have plenty to discuss with the Queens."

"I'm headed there too," Gwen mentioned. "Mind if I hitch a ride with you? It's been way too long since I've seen my girlfriends."

"Sure thing," Natasha nodded. "What about you, Samus? The Queens have plenty of work for someone like you. The credits and... perks are amazing."

"Sure, I'm in," Samus agreed. "Usually I'm flying off on my own, but I have a good feeling about you two."

Oh, you have no idea, Natasha thought. She had a really good feeling of her own about the flight back to the Hellfire.