THE ARK
A MOTHER'S STORY
Before the war... there was love.
Chapter I
THE GENTLE HAND
In the outer reaches of the galaxy, on a world whose name has been lost to time, there lived a woman.
She was not a warrior. Not a scientist. Not a ruler.
She was something far more dangerous: a mother.
She was something far more dangerous: a mother.
The creatures of her world feared nothing when she was near. The ones others called vermin — she called children.
Her name was Ms B.
She had a gift that no one understood.
She had a gift that no one understood.
How can you touch those things?!
They're hideous!
They're hideous!
She never answered them. She didn't need to.
The creatures knew. That was enough.
The creatures knew. That was enough.
— 1 —
Then she found them.
The Metroids.
A species older than memory. Once free. Now broken, caged, and bred like livestock.
A species older than memory. Once free. Now broken, caged, and bred like livestock.
Their captors called themselves The Chozo — an ancient civilization of bird-like warriors who believed themselves to be the galaxy's rightful shepherds.
They built temples to their own greatness. They wrote prophecies about their own wisdom.
And in the cellars beneath those temples, they feasted on the young of those they conquered.
And in the cellars beneath those temples, they feasted on the young of those they conquered.
The galaxy looked away. It always had.
— 2 —
No. Not while I breathe.
She did not form a committee. She did not file a complaint with the Galactic Federation. She did not write a letter.
She made a plan.
She made a plan.
Chapter II
THE ARK
The Chozo Emperor kept a ship — the largest vessel in his fleet. A mobile palace built to carry a civilization.
They called it The Ark.
Ms B called it an opportunity.
Ms B called it an opportunity.
Night after night, she smuggled them aboard. Metroids. Zoomers. Skrees. Wavers. Everything the Chozo considered beneath notice.
Every living thing the Chozo had marked for slaughter — she gathered them all.
Her children.
Her children.
And then she did something unforgivable.
She took the Emperor's own son. A hatchling, barely old enough to walk. She wrapped him in her arms and carried him aboard.
She took the Emperor's own son. A hatchling, barely old enough to walk. She wrapped him in her arms and carried him aboard.
You deserve better than what they would make you.
— 3 —
THE ESCAPE
The Chozo armada mobilized within minutes. Three hundred warships against one stolen vessel.
There was no outrunning them. She had always known that.
There was no outrunning them. She had always known that.
SO SHE MADE A CHOICE.
She loaded every last creature into the escape pods. Every Metroid. Every Zoomer. Every small trembling thing she had saved.
"Go, my children. Be free.
I will buy you time."
I will buy you time."
She stayed behind. She aimed the Ark straight at the Chozo fleet.
— 4 —
Chapter III
THE CRUELEST MERCY
CAPTURED.
They caught her. Of course they caught her.
But the pods were already gone. The children were free. She had won the only thing that mattered.
But the pods were already gone. The children were free. She had won the only thing that mattered.
The Chozo did not grant her a quick death.
That would have been mercy. And the Emperor was not feeling merciful.
That would have been mercy. And the Emperor was not feeling merciful.
They severed her mind from her body.
They preserved her consciousness — every thought, every memory, every feeling of love she had ever known —
...and sealed it in glass.
— 5 —
Alive. Awake.
A mind without a body. A mother without arms to hold her children.
A mind without a body. A mother without arms to hold her children.
They placed her in the heart of their fortress. They surrounded her with screens. And they made her watch.
Watch as they hunted her children.
One. By. One.
One. By. One.
I'm still here...
I'm still here...
I'm still here...
— 6 —
Years passed.
Then decades.
The galaxy forgot about the woman in the glass.
But she never forgot.
Then decades.
The galaxy forgot about the woman in the glass.
But she never forgot.
Chapter IV
THE SON REMEMBERS
The Emperor's son grew up among the creatures of the Ark. The ones Ms B had saved. They raised him in ways the Chozo never could.
He learned gentleness from the Metroids. Patience from the Zoomers. Courage from the Wavers.
And from the memory of Ms B, he learned what it means to love something enough to die for it.
And from the memory of Ms B, he learned what it means to love something enough to die for it.
When he was strong enough, he came back for her.
He didn't come alone.
He brought all of them. Every creature she had saved. Every child, now grown. An army of the unwanted.
He brought all of them. Every creature she had saved. Every child, now grown. An army of the unwanted.
— 7 —
FREE.
They shattered the glass. They freed the mind within.
She was no longer Ms B.
She was MOTHER BRAIN.
She was no longer Ms B.
She was MOTHER BRAIN.
Chapter V
THE VOW
Free from her prison, she did not flee. She did not hide.
She built.
She built.
She connected her mind to the fortress systems. She became the brain of the entire complex — controlling doors, turrets, energy fields. The Chozo's own technology, turned against them.
She taught her children to fight.
To spread. To multiply. To survive.
Never again would they be helpless. Never again would they be prey.
Never again would they be helpless. Never again would they be prey.
— 8 —
But Mother Brain knew something that haunted her. Something that kept her mind burning through the long cold nights inside her glass.
Before they took her body, the Chozo had taken something else.
A daughter. Stolen from her womb. Raised in secret. Infused with Chozo blood and Metroid DNA.
A daughter. Stolen from her womb. Raised in secret. Infused with Chozo blood and Metroid DNA.
A weapon. Being forged in the dark.
Chapter VI
THE PROPHECY
The Chozo trained the girl in combat. They gave her their finest technology — power armor forged from the same alloys as their warships.
They called her Samus Aran.
The Hunter. The weapon aimed straight at Mother Brain and all her children.
The Hunter. The weapon aimed straight at Mother Brain and all her children.
Mother Brain felt it — across the void of space, across the years of silence. A flicker of her own blood. Her own DNA. Twisted into something designed to destroy everything she loved.
VS
My blood... turned against me.
Then I will make sure my children are ready.
Then I will make sure my children are ready.
— 9 —
And so the war began.
Not a war of empires. Not a war of ideology.
A war between a mother and the weapon her enemies made from her own child.
Not a war of empires. Not a war of ideology.
A war between a mother and the weapon her enemies made from her own child.
Every creature you fight in the depths of Zebes?
They aren't monsters.
They're her children. And they're protecting their mother.
They aren't monsters.
They're her children. And they're protecting their mother.
— 10 —
END
The Ark: A Mother's Story
The hunter's bloodline was her own.
The cruelest weapon of all.