Okay. Here is the next chapter. I hope everyone likes it and the release of HEROES OF THE STORM! I know I am going to love it. We have more Kerrigan and Lizzy interaction here and leave a review telling me how you think it is going.
Chapter 14
The Protoss and the Dark Templar had left to kill the Cerebrate that had taken a hold on the planet leaving Lizzy with nothing to do but train with Zeratul. He had made her go through the basics starting with breathing exercises and moving onto fighting patterns. It wasn't long before Zeratul had turned to his student stopping her.
"What is wrong, young one?" He asked trying to get her to look him directly in the eye but she was looking away. "You do not have the same vigour with training as you usually do."
"It's nothing. You have too much to be thinking about without worrying about me." Lizzy told him shuffling her feet and trying to look anywhere but him.
"It is what the Matriarch said." He didn't ask, it was a statement. "It bothers you, yet is shouldn't. The Matriarch is much older then I and much wiser. She has seen countless ages go past and wound not have said something to you, there was some form of meaning behind her words."
Lizzy sighed angry and hurt. "But what else could she have meant? Clearly she doesn't want me here and she doesn't trust me enough to fight my 'own kind'. I'm not like them. I'm not like 'her'."
"It isn't that you aren't trusted. I have told the Matriarch of my journey and of how I came to meet you and Raynor. She knows you could be trusted with my life. She didn't want to have any conflict within you, if you had to fight the feral Zerg what would you have felt?" The old Dark Templar spoke with wisdom and past experiences on his side.
Lizzy had to stop and think before she answered and she didn't want to make an idiot of herself. "I guess I wouldn't have liked it. But I'd have done it anyway." She insisted "They… I… I'm not the same as them. And I've killed people and Zerg before. So wouldn't it be the same? I am able to kill them if it means I can help my friends." She said, her childishness coming out in her mannerisms as she took a defensive position, balled her fists and raised her voice slightly. She wasn't sure herself if she was able to kill the in cold blood especially after spending that time with Kerrigan on Char. But something was bothering her over the last few days. And she didn't know what it was.
The girl didn't know where her humanity was going, ever since the incident on the space station with that scientist cutting her open she had become a little darker. Zeratul could see it slowly growing and was adamant about helping her on the path away from darkness.
The two continued their drills and moved onto patterns for Dark Templar hand to hand combat since Lizzy was unable to wield their psi blades. When they were half way through the patterns the girl could feel the eyes on her, looking around she could sense but not see anything. So the child took a breath and concentrated, focusing her eyes even more. And there they were, the Dark Templar looking and watching Lizzy training in their ways.
"So you see them." Zeratul spoke in somewhat surprised voice. He hadn't expected the girl to be able to sense the cloaked Templar nor to be able to see them without the help of some form of detector. "They are curious about you. Many of the Templar here have never seen a Zerg nor have set foot off this planet. To them you are something strange and special. Especially with you learning our ways."
But it didn't make Lizzy feel special. It made her feel like an outsider, like she didn't belong. The girl didn't want to continue after she found the Templar watching her and walked away deciding to meditate on her own.
When she found a quiet area near enough to where Zeratul was but out of sight of the other Dark Templar she set right to meditating. While she was relaxing and breathing a Zealot sprinted forward as fast as he could to Zeratul.
"Zeratul. We have received word that the Cerebrate has been killed but there is a problem. Another Zerg Overlord is approaching. And Kerrigan is on it, she wants to talk." It was clear from the tone of the Templar that he was both worried and sceptical.
Zeratul looked to where Lizzy was meditating and decided it would be best to leave her out of Kerrigan's grasp. He nodded to the Zealot and followed him to where the Overmind was heading.
Kerrigan stepped from the Overlord and surveyed the catastrophe before her the still creep covered ground was littered with bodies both Zerg and Protoss alike.
"Well done, mighty Protoss! I'm glad to see that you're all as violent as ever." She spoke in a satisfied and mocking voice.
Zeratul stepped forward, his psi blade drawn. "Kerrigan. What mockery is this?"
The smile faded from her face. "Relax, warriors. Despite what you may think, I haven't come here to fight you."
Aldaris had wandered onto the stage and had his input. "This is laughable! Do you truly expect is to believe that your intensions here are honourable? That these Zerg here are not under your sway?"
Kerrigan took a breath and spoke again in a calm manner (though with a little irritation coming through) "Look, the Cerebrates you've killed were my enemies as well. If you let me explain, or even get Lizzy here, I'm sure you'll understand tha-"
Angered Zeratul took a step forward brandishing his blade. "You are the enemy of all who live Kerrigan. What makes you think that we would have anything to do with you?"
"Because, Zeratul-" Now her patience was running to its end. "I bring news of an event that threatens us all. If you'd be so good as to escort me back to your Citadel, I'll tell you everything I know."
"Very well Kerrigan." Raszagal spoke from the shadows. Almost as if she had sent a shadow to speak in her stead. "We shall here what you have to say. But be warned: we will not suffer your treachery here."
When they had all arrived back at the Protoss fleet Lizzy stood waiting for Zeratul. Kerrigan had contacted her through their Zerg link telling her everything before the Protoss could hear it. The child didn't want to believe what she was told but looking into Kerrigan's mind (What she let her see) she could tell that the Zerg Infested woman was telling the truth. So she waited for them wanting to know why he didn't tell her that Kerrigan was here. Why the woman herself had to let the girl know.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked hurt and angry. "Is it because you're so afraid that I'll go running to Kerrigan the second I see her?"
"No." He answered in a calm manner knowing that raising his voice or getting angry would only cause the child to get angrier. "I wanted to be sure that you seeing Kerrigan wouldn't have an adverse effect. We can't be sure how much sway she has with your mind. She is not the Overmind and we can't keep her from connecting to your mind."
"I wish you would have told me. I shouldn't have found out from Kerrigan herself" She retorted.
The elder Dark Templar was confused. "She has been contacting you? When." He knew that the Queen of Blades would have tried to contact her at some point, but should have known that she would have tried to sow some form of discord between Lizzy and the Templar.
"Not that long ago. Couldn't have been more than a few hours."
"Hmm You are right. I should have told you. I am sorry." And with that he turned and left the girl there as he headed off to the meeting. Lizzy was happy for the apology but was unhappy that he left so abruptly.
"Now then Kerrigan. Perhaps you had best explain yourself. What is this news you've come to give." Raszagal asked keeping a close eye on the Queen of Blades.
No one was ready for what Kerrigan told them "There is a new Overmind growing on Char."
The reaction was simultaneous. "What? Impossible! Why should we believe anything you have to say?" Zeratul asked.
"Because Zeratul." Kerrigan scoffed "I'm no longer the mindless murderess whom you fought on Char. If you don't believe me, then you can ask the girl, she knows im telling the truth. The Overmind is dead. Whatever warped control it once had over me is gone. I know that this is a lot to take in all at once. But you've got to believe me! There's more at stake here than-"
"She lies!" Artanis interrupted. "She is infested to the core! I for one will not listen to any of this-"
"Silence, Judicator." The Matriarch spoke with finality. "There is one who can tell if Kerrigan is lying."
The door opened and Lizzy stepped through feeling the psionic pull from Raszagal. "Now then child. Tell us, is what Kerrigan tells us the truth."
Lizzy was not liking the amount of pressure nor eyes placed on her, but she swallowed her fear and answered "Yes. She is telling the truth. I saw when I looked into her memories."
Artanis couldn't stay in the room any longer and stormed out asking how they could believe such infested beasts. Once he had left the matriarch turned to the Zerg woman again.
"Continue Kerrigan."
The woman turned from Lizzy and continued. "Apparently, many of the renegade Cerebrates commanded by Daggoth, have merged into a new Overmind. Fortunately the creature is still in its infant stages. It can't control the Swarm yet, but Daggoth and the others still have control over most of the Broods. The two Cerebrates you killed here were part of Daggoth's forces.
"Look. I don't need to tell you all what might happen if that thing reaches maturity. I can guarantee you that should it awaken, it'll take full control of me just like it did before. And this time it will also take Lizzy. It will be different to the original Overmind and therefore it will be able to take over both of us and this time, you won't be able to sever the connection. I don't want that to happen and I'm pretty sure you don't want it to happen either."
Zeratul opted to put in his own opinion. "Even if what you say is true, our priority is to save this world, not assault the new Overmind! We must find the crystals Uraj and Khalis before we are all vanquished."
The woman sighed heavily "Then ill help you with your search. If you can defeat the renegade Zerg gathered here, it'll weaken the efforts of Daggoth and his ilk."
It was a few minutes before Raszagal spoke. "My children, you must put aside your fears and misgivings to accomplish what must be done. For the time being, Kerrigan will assist you in your endeavours. Though she has been your enemy, it is enough that we share the same agenda now. Allow her time enough to prove herself to you and you may find her to be a values ally. For now you must focus on the task at hand. Search for the Uraj on the planet Braxis and let nothing stop you from recovering it."
Aldaris who up to this point had been silent stood forward and spoke "We will do what you ask Matriarch. But you cannot expect us to forgive Kerrigan scrims against our race! Executor, prepare our forces. We shall debark for the planet Braxes before the next moonrise." The Protoss left with the Executor leaving Raszagal, Zeratul, Lizzy and Kerrigan.
"How can you trust the girl and not me?" Kerrigan asked. "Surely you must feel she and I are the same?"
Zeratul was the one to respond "This child has not been subjected to the Overmind's will. And unlike you, she has not slaughtered countless people for sport. That is why she can be trusted more then you."
"Well, I want Lizzy to come with me. And that's not a request." Kerrigan told the Protoss as he was leaving.
"No. Absolutely not."
She laughed at him "You think you can teach her what she needs to know about controlling her Zerg powers? You can teach her all you want but you will never know the Zerg like I do. She needs to be taught or she won't be able to control them and her instincts will take over at some point. And you will only have one option then." She left the sentence hang and turned her gaze to the girl.
In her mind she spoke 'you know what I am talking about. You remember when you attacked the scientist? You weren't yourself, were you?'
Lizzy mentally replied with a no and stopped Zeratul mid-sentence. "Don't I get a say in this?" She looked him in the eye a serious look in her face. "You know she's right, I have to learn how to control this part of me and you can't do that. Only she can."
There were three shuttles carrying Revers, Dragoons and Probes and a fourth with Kerrigan and Lizzy. To say she was nervous and scared would be an understatement but the older woman never said two words to her the entire journey, she barely acknowledged her presence.
When they were a few minutes out she stood and lifted Lizzy to her feet. "You need to change." The girl looked at her as if she were crazy. She wasnt too far off the mark. "You want to control your Zerg powers? Then you are going to have to morph, take on your Zerg form. And fully."
Not seeing any argument she did as she was told and took on her Zerg form growing a hard chitin across her whole body, growing her wings from her back (minus the thin layer needed for flight) and making her eyes permanently glow an eerie yellow. The shuttle door opened and Kerrigan leapt out hacking at any moving Terran she could, the Dragoons and scarabs made quick work of the Terrans base.
Once the entire place was rubble Kerrigan spoke on a comms unit and got a hold of the Protoss command. "Explain something to me Zeratul. Why would your people keep such a secrete crystal in the hands of these Terrans?"
"We didn't." He replied "Long ago, this world was a Protoss colony called Kirador. When the strife between our tribes escalated this planet and the Uraj Crystal were abandoned. These Terrans have come here only recently."
Hmm stupid annoying Terran neighbours. No one likes them. Lizzy thought to herself only to remember that Kerrigan could hear her. Said woman made no comment but she did smirk.
Once the base was assembled and warped in, work was set getting more men for an attack and fortifying the defences. It was clear that the Protoss were unhappy with the Zerg queen of blades as help.
"We have a problem." Artanis spoke through a comms. "Our warp matrix was damages during transit. Because of the extensive damage, we will be unable to warp in star gates to this location."
"That's bad. Isn't it." Lizzy said. "But the Protoss are better than that. Even though we can't get star gates we can still win."
One of the zealots came over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well said. We shal show these Terrans that the Protoss are stronger!" he addressed the entire regimen and shouts and yells of encouragement went high into the air.
Kerrigan took Lizzy out and showed her how to cloak properly she could go as unseen as a ghost in their special armour or as Kerrigan herself. The only catch was that she was only able to cloak when she was in full Zerg mode since the Chitin and Carapace were designed to react to the psionic energy.
Once she was shown Kerrigan thought that a good exercise for her was to clear out a small Terran base at the south of their location. Lizzy didn't want to do it she didn't want to take more lives, but the Queen of Blades had a counter for this.
"Those Marines could be like the ones who took you to that Science facility. They are all enemies. And if you don't kill them now they will take more people to those facilities and they could take you again. Kill them now and take that step to ensure your safety." She also used a little bit of her psionic influence on her since she was stronger than her. It wasn't much, just enough to change her mind and show her that destroying the Marines would be both fun and the right choice.
She first took apart two bunkers with extreme ease they had no idea what was attacking them and were shooting at anything and nothing. But a cloaked Lizzy was easily able to pierce their armour and slice their flesh open. Once the bunkers and marines were finished Lizzy was running out of energy, she had never cloaked before and her body was no used to it. There was more to the mini base and Kerrigan was becoming impatient so she decided that she wanted to partake and led the charge to the rest of the base. There were siege tanks and goliaths protecting a single command centre and some gas and minerals fields.
When the neighbours were forcibly evicted both Lizzy's and Kerrigan's energy was on empty. But the dragoons and Zealots were easily able to take out the stragglers. When the two Zerg had made it back to the Protoss base there were more archons, dragoons and Zealots. Kerrigan had then decided to teach her how to use other Zerg abilities, like how to use Psi Storm and how to control her Zerg instincts. As shocking as it was, Kerrigan was a patient teacher but the girl was sure it was because of the close watch of the Protoss. When the woman was losing her cool she connected to Lizzy through the Zerg hive and sent the information to her.
The girl asked why her instincts were going to be a problem she received a strange response. Kerrigan looked away and sent a party ahead to clear out a path to the crystal while she explained. The Zerg were all controlled by the Overmind and their baser instincts of hunt kill devour were also controlled so that they were able to form broods and function so well together. But with the Overmind gone the Zerg were now going back to those mindless killers and both she and Lizzy were no acceptation. Though with her ghost training and experience, Kerrigan was able to fully control herself.
Before any more training could continue the two received word that the Terran base was decimated and that he path to the Uraj was clear. Kerrigan then took the girl with her when she went to get the crystal. By the time they got there the Protoss had found more things to destroy and the 'giant Protoss death balls' that were the Archons had turned everything into a burning husk. But the two Zerg had made it to the Uraj just fine.
"Crystals here boys! Send in a probe to gather it up and our work here is done." The woman told them as she put a hand on Lizzy's head and smirked at the girl.
"You have done well Kerrigan. There is more to you than it seems. Perhaps I have misjudged you." Zeratul replied a kinder tone in his voice then before. "And I am glad to see that young Lizzy was unharmed."
"Its not like I'd deliberately hurt her Zeratul but given our history, I cant say I blame you. Lets just get the job done."
The crystal was collected and the group was sent back to the main armada.
Before they were able to greet the Protoss the girl thought it best that she return to her human guise. She entered the main war room and found only Zeratul, Artanis was nowhere to be seen.
"What's the matter Zeratul?" She asked when she sensed that he was not himself.
He sighed and cast his gaze downwards before he spoke "I am worried young Artanis. He is putting too much pressure on himself. He has gone with a minimal force to attack the United Earth Directorate. I fear he is trying to be more like Tassadar and wants to make a name for himself. It may destroy him."
Lizzy had no idea what to say, she was only a kid and Zeratul was ages older than her. But she gave it her best go. "Well, you can't be there always. He was in charge of an entire faction and now he is leading the rest of the Protoss. If you don't have faith in his abilities, who will?"
It did the trick and the old Dark Templar smiled. Not that she was able to see it. "Sometimes youth can be even more intelligent than we who have seen many ages go past."
Lizzy blushed and left the room going to the area that she had been designated for rest. The Protoss version of a bedroom. When she was left in the room alone she took out the picture of her with Matt. She wondered how he was doing if he was even alive. But she trusted in him and Jim and knew that they would stay alive.
Lizzy was torn. She wasn't sure what to do. While on one hand she was enjoying learning from Kerrigan, but she didn't want to trust her at all. Something was wrong with what was happening here.
The girl thought she was on an isolated part of the ship when she saw someone sit next to her. She hadn't even sensed the person. The Matriarch Raszagal turned to the Lizzy and younger girl was unsure what to do. The Matriarch was much older than she was and much wiser, so what could she have wanted.
"You seem unsure of yourself." She told the girl her tone was one of curiosity as she leant toward her.
Lizzy hesitated a little before answering. "Yeah. I don't know what Kerrigan wants. And I don't know what to do or what to feel."
"When you were on Char with Kerrigan, what did she do? Was she cruel to you?" Raszagal questioned.
"No. She wasn't. She actually helped me in her own way."
With a nod the Matriarch continued "And on the journey you took to get the Uraj, was she in any way cruel to you then? Did you learn from her?"
"Yeah I did. And she was actually kinda nice about it." Lizzy pulled her knees to her chest and hugged her arms around them. "I was surprised. I know that the Overmind had a lot of control over her and that the way she is now is not how she was… But… should I trust her?"
Raszagal stood and out her hand on Lizzy's head "She hasn't hurt you and she is helping you. The choice is yours to trust her or not." And she left the girl sitting by herself.
I got this out in time for Heroes of the Storm. I hope that this chapter is to everyone enjoyment. We are seeing more of Kerrigan and the rest of the story is moving along quite nicely.
Leave a review for the sake of Lizzy.