Kerrigan concentrated, and a mighty wave of psionic energy responded, keeping Abathur's leviathan grounded.
She'd landed her swarm on the nearest planet, a desolate world of sulfur and tin. Lovely yellow crystals coated the floor and every surface of the world, but around her area it was a sticky mess of creep and zerg blood as she tried to subjugate a quarter of her forces without destroying a leviathan or getting Abathur killed.
Abathur normally would have been expendable. A new one was made for every evolution chamber, after all. But this was THE Abathur, the one made and matured by the Overmind itself... and the only one up to Kerrigan's standards right now.
Her approach was to have either herself or Stukov focus on keeping control of the flight control nerves on Abathur's leviathan, while the rest of the zerg commanders unknowingly Role-Played a traditional Diablo game, wandering into the dungeon that was Abathur's leviathan, killing every posessed zerg sent against them and looking for 'That Bastard of a Demon'.
The efficient recycling wasn't wasting resources, but it was costing Kerrigan time that she didn't want to expend. Mira and Cook could be in another realm by now if Raynor cut ties with them.
She scowled. What I need is a plan...
Stukov looked out of the window of the Aleksander, before contacting Kerrigan on his normal computer. The hivemind was currently a warzone. "Containment lines are holding. I've managed to keep Diablo away from killing Abathur, but it's only a matter of time before he pushes through my mental barriers."
Kerrigan looked up at her biological screen. "I'm pretty sure we can break through in one or two more pushes, but I think we're spending too long here. It's been five days."
"We slew him to gain control once. We'll do it again." Said Stukov, the words of encouragement lacking any emotion.
Zagara joined the conversation. "Do you have any new orders, my queen?"
"...I need some time to think. You all make preparations for the next attack with Dehaka. I'm going to step out of the hivemind, prepare yourselves to take the strain. If you're getting overwhelmed, then GET ME IN." Kerrigan closed off her mind, the sudden absence of demonic energy wearing on her was an awesome relief.
She allowed herself a deep breath, and a good twenty seconds to clear her mind. She knew she wasn't the most level-headed, and that her tactics often left a lot to be desired, but when she put her mind to it... she considered herself a damn scary planner.
An accurate assessment.
Morales didn't normally do tea parties. Back on Earth, she'd been encouraged to chase glory and fame in a career path by the UED regimes, and even after she started thinking for herself her idea of a day socialising involved reading in bed.
But that was completely overwritten by the fact that she absolutely loved pandas. Which was why she was now doing her very best to dress casual.
Her normal idea of casual dress was 'anything not covered in medical fluids'. It was a demanding line of work. But, when all else fails, jeans can be relyed on to make you look decent. Add a shirt and a spot of makeup, and hey presto- Instant panic at the thought she was going to screw this up.
But things seemed to be going okay, outside of the meltdown leading up to them. Rosa sat across from Li Li, and did her best to hold a conversation. "So, tell me more about the healing properties of this? Back home, the idea of repairing a wound with anything other than nanites is... unthinkable. But you clearly make it work."
"Well, if you start with a pot of traditional tea, and then you wait for it to cool a little bit, you can put it herbs and plants to your heart's content!" Said Li Li brightly, hands around her cup. "...So, what are nanites? The things on the back of your armour?"
"Nano-machines. Let's see... you have clocks in your world, right? Or even more advanced things."
"Yep."
"We use extremely tiny machines to fix damage. It's... hard to explain without the context." It was also hard to make it through this conversation without mentioning her overwhelming love of pandas.
Li Li put her cup down. "Oh, that's okay. Even if we don't understand each other's stuff, I bet we still have great stories!"
Rosa felt a bead of sweat attempting to escape the confines of her brow. She was notable for being one of the few medics that didn't have that much mental damage after having to deal with three wars that encompassed three races (four? She wasn't sure if the Hybrid counted, being bioweapons and all.) and then having to look at every injury in detail. Precisely none of the notable moments she could think of were suitable for telling to a fifteen year old. "I... Er, I don't think that I... Well, I've seen some horrible things. I don't know if I can tell you."
"Oh, don't worry. I've killed stuff too." Li Li said confidently. "I'll tell you what, I'll start! So, this one time I had to help a guy claim a magic gauntlet from one of our temples, and I ended up fighting about two dozen demons. So, we had this ancient prophecy..."
Raynor looked at the last reporting repair crew with a genuine grin. "Great job, boys. Get yourselves some rest, you've earned it." He took a sheaf of papers off one, as they all trundled off towards the nearest source of alcohol. "Matt, we're all fixed up."
Matthew took the papers and fed them to a scanner. "That's good news. We'll still need to have a specialist take a look for any damage the boys missed. Adjutant, log that and make a note."
"Affirmative."
Mira waltzed over and clapped a hand onto Matt's shoulder. "Hey there!" He smile was as wide as the data pad she was holding. "My mercs have finished fixing up those Vikings, here's the bill. And you have another round of complaints about the duties chart. Something about the cooking on Thursday and Saturday. Oh, and today! I wonder who's the bad choice?"
Matthew nodded, and internally hoped that people would understand he'd been crushed under too much paperwork to fix a roster that people could manage to follow. "I'll take care of it. How's your training been going?" He tried to keep his tone entirely professional, to avoid getting Mira excited. No such luck.
"Oh, I can do a lot more than just shoot lasers from my fingertips now!" Mira grinned. "I'm a one woman army. I should think about upping my rates, you won't find anyone else with these skills~"
The Adjutant started beeping. "Incoming transmission. Caller unknown."
"Trace caller." Said Matt.
"Beginning trace... Origin: Zerg organism. Location: Planet Y3-11."
Raynor put his hands in his pockets. "Oh, great. Guess it's time to get roped into being stabbed in the back again. Answer the call."
The screen lit up, and Kerrigan's face came through. "Jim. Just who I was hoping to see. And Matthew and Mira, too."
"Kerrigan, this better be damn good." Raynor crossed his arms. "I'm not exactly in the mood to hear you out after that stunt over Braxis. You've got a lot to answer for."
"Fenix?"
"Just get to the point."
"Okay. I did forget we're from different points in time." Kerrigan seemed to have hesitated, although the question in Matt and Raynor's minds was if that was just inserted to make them buy into her latest ploy. "But nevermind that, I've blundered."
"You? Being humble? That's a first, O queen of the universe." Mira sniped.
"Queen bitch of the universe. Get it right." Kerrigan stepped aside a little, showing the view from her command room. "Anyway, I accidentally put a demon into the Hivemind. If we don't kill it, it'll take control, and believe it or not, I have been holding back a bit against you guys. Right now I only want to get us back to Koprulu."
Matthew stepped up. "What do you want us to do? I'm not going to send anyone into a situation where you could betray them, no matter how much you claim to have changed."
"Then don't. I don't need to convince you and Raynor. That sense of right and wrong will do it for me." She said with the smuggest smirk. "Mira, if you'd listen I'll give you the mission briefing."
"Why should I listen?"
"Five tonnes of minerals."
"Ten. Listening... Against my better judgement."
"I want a small strike team to get in, kill Diablo, and then get the hell out of my stuff. How you do it is up to you so long as you don't kill my Leviathan."
"Seems fishy." Mira stared down Kerrigan. "You've got an endless supply of hydralisks to throw at whatever you please. Why are we even being considered?"
"It's not endless here. I'm trying to just get back to Koprulu without leaving anything lying around for Amon to make a mess of."
"Amon?"
"You'll worry about him later." Kerrigan said dismissively. "So! Ten tonnes of minerals, and I get control of my swarm back, you probably get a chance to betray me, and then we can go back to vying for control of the gem strapped to your chest."
"Normally I'd tell you to shove it, but okay." Mira smiled warmly. "I've got just the suckers to back me up. Half the minerals in advance, then I'll get moving."
"Oh? Coming personally? More than I expected from a girl with pink hair."
"Bite me, you purple pansy." Mira grinned and bowed out.
Kerrigan nodded approvingly at Raynor. "Well, I'd say that seals our deal. Going to help or hinder her?"
Raynor was going through about six different kinds of denial. Mild denial that the deal went through so quickly. Moderate denial that it could be closed so well by calling the queen of a race a pansy. Denial that Mira was seriously going to just accept this job in front of their faces. Serious denial that Kerrigan could possibly be serious, considering Fenix and everything before him. Extra-strength denial for the fact she wanted to drag heroes from other worlds into it.
And a special, apocalypse class denial for the fact that he found himself about to say the words in his head. "I'll come with you."
"Really?" Mira raised an eyebrow.
"I've been dealing with you for long enough, Sarah. If Mira is going to be baited into some trap, you can bet I'll steer her out." Raynor said sternly.
Matthew looked like he needed a drink at the entire fallacy of a conversation, sure that there was a better thing to do than to actively resolve the problems of your enemy. "Well then... I guess I'll announce it over dinner. See who wants to join up. We'll come into your orbit tomorrow."
"Good. See you then." Kerrigan disappeared from the screen.
Matt put a hand on his head. "How did any of that conversation just happen?"
Raynor shrugged. Mira was too busy getting her shotgun.
Uther took Cassia to one of the gun decks. Whenever the ship wasn't in combat, they doubled as reasonably good observation platforms. A sea of stars was visible as far as the eye could see, planets filling out the scenery. Somebody else had already been asked to come here by Uther, and truth be told, he was nervous.
He only wanted the best for the two of them, and hoped they would leave as friends, rather than awkward strangers.
"You know, you could have simply told me who you think I should meet." Cassia brushed an errant strand of hair out of the way of her face.
Uther nodded. "I know. But I thought you would appreciate the chance to chat." He managed to get the door open, finding his way through an electronic lock with some difficulty. A lot of the heroes had taken to this technology with ease, but he couldn't understand how to make it do a damn thing. Let alone a useful thing.
It rolled open, showing a blond with an arcane manual sat on one of the swivel chairs for the guns.
Cassia just chuckled. "Is this who you wanted me to meet?"
Jaina looked up. "Oh. Hello Cassia."
"Uther's been telling me good things about you." Cassia walked over. "I'll admit, you never struck me as the type to stop a whole army dead, but I can see it now."
Uther looked between them. "It seems you know each other."
"We're roommates." Answered Jaina.
"Ah."
Cassia sat down. "Still, I am glad to know a bit more about you. It's not often you find men with spirit like his, but you should listen when you do- case in point, you're everything he says you are."
"Ha. Nice to see you with such a high opinion of a man. You two aren't dating, right?" Jaina shut her scroll and looked between them.
Uther sputtered and stepped back. "I am a paladin of the realm, not some- some- faithless... heathen!"
"I am an amazon, Jaina! I would not-" Cassia's voice had a level of indignant confusion not often found.
"Relax, please, I... didn't think you'd fluster that much." Jaina put her hands in her lap. "And I would like to get to know you a little better."
"Excellent. Maybe you could tell me a little more about how you fight demons in your world. I want to bring back as much knowledge as I can, to help my people."
"Oh, of course! But I always relied on magic for things like that. The real experts in tactics would be Uther, or Varian. Anyway, I find that it's good to remember that even demons have logistics problems to a degree, so it can be a good idea to proactively take out powerful figures. Once the enemy forces are in disarray, then it's much easier to control a battle."
"Sound advice, but what about combat moves? We always favoured javelins for the mix of striking power and ranged capability, but arrows are also effective." Cassia unfolded her spear. "If my enemy was anywhere within throwing distance, I could both defend myself and fight back."
"Hmm... You've got a lot more experience than me, but have you considered learning basic magics apart from lightning? I've seen your thunder spells, and they're quite impressive compared to our schools of Arcane, Fire and Frost."
"We have more elements beyond those three. Although perhaps we could refine what's available to us by comparison..." Cassia mused.
Uther just looked on proudly. "I'm glad to see you two get along so well. I shall leave you be for now. Jaina, you needn't worry about Arthas or his lackey- I shall watch them in your place for the time being."
Jaina put a hand over her heart at the prospect of extra free time. "That's very kind of you. I'll be sure to return the favour."
Lucio and Tyreal looked up at the duty rota. "Ooh, looking a bit questionable today, Ty." Lucio tapped his foot, scanning the list. "Sure hope Malfurion's not too upset at needing to do tech work."
Tyreal floated there, judging objectively. "It is a fair system, even if a lot of these placements are questionable. Is there anything you think we should intervene with?"
Tyreal had taken a shine to Lucio's method of approach. The help he'd received on the first day had taught him just how much of a difference thirty minutes' explanation could make to someone's capability to perform a task. He held justice dearly, and in turn wanted to be sure everyone could do the duty assigned to them. Among the angels, they all already shared a lot of knowledge, and realising that others would struggle with tasks that the ship's crew would consider basic had awakened a desire to ensure everyone was acommodated for.
"Well, looks like you need to go help out with the vehicle inspections soon. Let's see who could use a hand here..." Lucio put a hand on his chin. "Hmm... Malfurion, or... Ohh-kay. The person on cooking duty doesn't have any hands."
Tyreal looked. Brightwing had rotated around to being the designated cook. That did seem less than ideal. "Worry not, mortal. I shall attend Malfurion, while you stage an intervention in the kitchens. By working together, we can ensure nobody is treated unjustly."
"Ay, you're the best. Let's roll, we got half an hour." Lucio held up a fist. "Fist bump, for luck?"
Tyreal solemnly raised a fist. "Very well." He bumped. "Let us proceed."
Lucio skated off for the kitchens, leaving Tyreal to make sure Malfurion didn't end up too upset. The first indication he had that something had gone wrong was the pool of red liquid seeping out from under the door. He skidded to a halt. Blood? No, that's a seed in there...
He knelt and looked closely. This was tomato juice. He looked up to the doors fearfully, remembering that the head chef in there had the personality of a brick wall. He stood up, and pulled the door open.
The head chef was nowhere to be seen. Brightwing was nowhere to be seen. There was a big carton of chopped tomatoes splattered across the entire floor, with a large bite taken out of one side. The desserts that the chef normally tended to had been knocked askew by something, and a broom was broken in half next to a couple of feathers.
"Uh... guys..?" Lucio said cautiously. He took a step forwards, wary of slipping on the sea of vegetable.
He could have sworn he heard a faint clucking from one of the cupboards. His eyes went back to the feathers. He took one more step, to inspect them and with a CRASH, the giant pot that was normally used to cook rice pudding had it's lid thrown off, falling over forwards as a flash of green sprang out. Lucio had just enough time to yelp and try to get out of the way before Brightwing bowled him over, and they both went down into the red.
"Got you, I got you juicy Chicke- oh, hello friend!"
Lucio blinked once in shock as he lay on his side, tomato stains creeping over everthing he was wearing. Brightwing pressed her nose against his and blinked back, before licking her lips.
"Ooh, if you were baddy now, you'd be dead-y." She whispered cheerfully. "Like chicken!"
Lucio got himself off the floor very quickly and scrambled back, bringing up a nervous chuckle in defence. "Uh... hey. Something happen with the cooking?"
"Well, Brightwing try to make thing with berries, since know they are food. Couldn't get open, so Brightwing bit it. Went everywhere, I have not seen that much blood, ever! And then Chicken got angry and tried to fight me with stick, so Brightwing bit it in half, and turned Chicken into a chicken! But I did not manage to eat him, and he got into that hidey-hole. Was waiting for him in there." She looked over at the giant metal pot.
Lucio bit his lip, and tried extremely hard to avoid thinking about the level of 'possible death' he'd just brushed with. "Rrright. You, uh, need a hand with this whole cooking thing then?" It was harder to be casual while covered in tomatoes.
"Don't wanna. Feel bitey. No like Chicken."
"C'mon, don't be like that. I'll help smooth things out. You need a hand wiping those tomatoes off yourself? Maybe something to calm you down a bit?" Lucio leaned on the counter.
"Hrmmmph."
"Here, I will help you." Offered Lucio, conscious that he was expected to go and deal with other things shortly. Well, mabe if he just rushed after handling this... "It'll be a bit, uh, more fun if I help. Come up here, I'll get the juice off you." He grabbed the room's only visible towel, used for drying dishes.
Brightwing scrambled up onto the counter, splattering more tomato juice everywhere. And then spread her wings, letting an extra few splotches land over the entirety of the counter. "Did wonder what bath of blood would be like! Don't like. Gets cold."
Lucio just started wiping her down gently, doing his best to keep everyone happy, as always. Part of his mind wandered to his early days of making people rise against Vishkar, and how this was definitely not something he thought that would have led to. The towel was ruined pretty quickly, but with a quick rinse in the sink and a twist he could cleanse it of about 90% of the juice. It took a few repetitions, but eventually he was left with a faerie dragon on his counter, rather than a ketchup swamp monster. "There we go, all cleaned up. Now we just gotta get the floor cleared and... er, you turned the chef into a chicken, right? Let's get him back to normal."
"No. He is a meanie. Bad. No."
Lucio leaned down. "What'd he do to you?"
"Went shouting 'Shoo'! With stick."
"After the sauce, right?"
"Yes-yes. So turn him into chicken! And break stick." The brush appeared to have been snapped in half with pure force, somehow.
Lucio smiled and crossed his arms. "Well, then I'll just have to convince you." He reached over, and behind her head. And gently started petting her. "You like that?"
"Hm."
"C'mon, cheer up, grumpy." He teased.
"Brightwing not grumpy!"
"Grumpy-wumpy-grumpy."
"..." Her denial withered as Lucio finally managed to work out an effective method of petting, and she relaxed a little. "...Not now. Brightwing like you, friend." The somewhat irritated demeanor had broken, and her normal happy-go-stabby self returned.
Lucio just smiled. "When you turn him back, I'll make sure he doesn't try to shoo you again, and then we can get on with the cooking. Cool?"
"Yes, friend."
"Great, then I'll get the mop and clean this floor up. You make sure nobody falls over on this tomato, ok?"
"Yep!"
Cleaning was an arduous task, if only because there was so much chopped tomato on the floor. Lucio had debated getting the vacuum cleaner, but that would have required knowing where the vacuum was. Brightwing was sent on an epic quest to find a roll of duct tape for the broom, and then managed to actually tape it back together with an hour. After two hours, the floor was cleaned, and they were back to square one with the cooking.
Better than square minus three, where they'd been before.
There was another faint clucking from the back of one of th cupboards. Lucio opened the door and peered in. "Alright, I'll get you back to normal, just come on out."
The angriest-looking chicken Lucio had ever seen waddled out of the depths of the cupboard, giving him a stinkeye.
"Hey, don't you give me that look. I'm the one who convinced her to let you go."
Brightwing leaned over the top of the counter and very deliberately licked her lips where Chef Chicken could see her. It took a step back towards the cupboard, and then with a puff of magic was replaced by the normal chef, now with his behind stuck in the cupboard thanks to that step back.
Lucio reached down and pulled him up. "There we are, still got all your bits? Leave her to me, okay."
The Chef huffed. "Boy, you are gonna get your ass busted for missing duties." He noticed Brightwing on the counter unfurl her wings and look straight at him, charged with magic. "So, uh... thanks for getting it busted for me. Let's get this dinner going."
"Ay, no problem. Just shout if I can lend a hand." Lucio said confidently, before turning back to the counter. "Okay then, let's get cooking!"
Everyone's dinner expectation had ranged from an optimistic 'fresh fruit and veg' to more realistic 'find your own' for the day. There was a general agreement that Chili con carne was not anywhere on the spectrum of possibilities.
Lucio ended up helping with the serving, too, answering everyone's question of how.
And his home cooking was actually pretty good. Music and the people and technology behind it was his specialty, but he mentally gave a quick thanks to his mom for insisting he learn how to prepare food. Mixed with the nagging concern that he was about to get punished for missing out on the cleaning job.
Once the counter had cleared, he finally took some pasta and chili and went over to sit with Tyreal.
"An excellent job, Lucio." Tyreal watched over the room, no food in front of him.
Lucio grinned and leaned back a bit. "Always glad to help. Just hope the higher-ups aren't too upset."
Tyreal nodded. "I am sure that most people will vouch for your integrity, even if you violated the order of their systems."
"Ah, order. It's not a bad thing, but some people really overdo it."
"From order comes justice. Many live by that." Said Tyreal calmly. "I would trust you to be capable of judging how much is too much."
"Really? I dunno, politics and stuff were never my forte." Lucio was about to finish his plate, when the doors to the room opened, and three people strode in.
Matthew held a microphone, and gave it a few taps. "Everyone, excuse me." It took a little while, but attention turned to Matt, and Raynor and Mira behind him. "I have some updates on the state of things, if you'd listen. Regarding the zerg, it looks like their intent was to try and assimilate demons. In turn, that got their hivemind posessed to a degree, and they are now in an internal power struggle."
"It's bad enough that Kerrigan contacted us for help. We know she's not trustworthy, but we can't afford to have the demons take control of a force as powerful as the swarm so we have to move anyway." Added Raynor. "I'm sure those of you with experience will understand the demons don't need to be more dangerous either."
"So, I'll be leading in a strike force with four or five or you, and we'll hopefully get to do somecollateral damage and get out alive. Any volunteers?" Mira finished.
All the Nephalem immediately stood up. Tyreal also got up, and Lucio followed without hesitation. Around the room, many more got out of thier chairs.
Morales raised a hand. "...Are you sure you can do this without getting us outmanouvered? I don't think there's any doubt that Kerrigan will turn on us, even if we DON'T try and wreck her stuff."
"In and out before she can bat an eyelid. It would take some serious pre-planning to catch us." Mira said confidently.
Raynor looked at the gradually raising level of confidence. "I'm on board, if it makes any difference to you folks. We just want a good strong team to knock 'em back to hell."
Mira put a hand on her chin. "I can put together a squad from this. Anyone I don't pick- nothing personal. So... I'll take Valla, Jo-jo," She pointed at Johanna, moving on to her next victim. "...Lucio, Muradin, and... oh, how about you, Raynor. That's team one. And... the rest of you Nephalem are plenty good at your jobs. Come on down to the bridge with me, I'll deal you in."
Matthew saw the rest of the heroes sit down, although a lot still looked tense. "Now, the fact you're all so willing to help is appreciated. It's likely we'll see a few more battles before we can get Kerrigan under control, so please just keep training and don't do anything rash. That'll be everything. Have a good evening."
Lucio sat back into his seat. "I... didn't think that through." He got out, about to follow Mira with the rest of her chosen team.
"It was brave, nonetheless. Blessings on you, Lucio." Said Tyreal. "I hope I will see you again."
Author's Notes: Lucio is the kind of person who has so much charisma that he could move heaven and earth by asking nicely. And the plot is rolling again, so I hope you'll look forwards to the next chapter!
