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Brother and sister

Day 115, Year 1

"…so do you understand?" Kiara paused, making sure that Arthogious was directly looking at her and not glancing away disinterested. She had to make sure that he understood the conditions she had laid down if he were to set up another laboratory outside the Roach Caverns, specifically here at the Baneling Swamp as it was aptly named. "No explosions, no lava transfers, no bacteria contamination, no live dissection, no live experimentation, no corpse mutilation without reason, no corpse mutilation with shoddy reasons, no eyeball plucking, no forced reproduction, no shady self-reproduction, no cloning, and especially, no fighting! Got it?"

"Understood," The genetic master of the Swarm grumbled, crossing his arms. "Queen of Blades superior. Will follow set rules."

"And basic moral principles!" She added, shaking her head. "Honestly, Zerg bosses really have no sense of moral understanding. Guess that's what makes you ruthless though."

"Incorrect statement. Known single Zerg leader capable of deep 'moral' thinking and analytics."

"Ah yes. Him."

"Dangerous. Zestra ranked leader."

"He would be a good addition to our little growing band of monsters though. Any idea as to his whereabouts?"

"Suspicion. Not confirmed."

"Then back to work. I'll go find Scott and Alexis and see if they need any help taking down Sylvanas."

O O O

"Um…found what I think is the liver?"

"Nah, that's another spawn egg. Let me…yeah, another egg. Next."

"Alright, let's see…Oh! Lookie here!" Alexis dug her hands in and pulled, creating a squelching noise as flesh was torn and the young Overmind yanked out a large pink organ. "This has gotta be her stomach!"

"Looks like it I guess. Break it open?"

"Sure, knife please." The young girl held out her hand and Scott flicked his hand, a spine appearing in his palm and he dropped it in his sister's expecting limb. She nodded to show her thanks, then swiftly went to work, slicing open the organ without hesitation. To imagine…barely a few months ago Alexis would've cringed at this kind of act. Now?

Well, maybe Arthogious had more of a desensitization effect on her.

As the organic container was opened forcibly, a horrid smell became apparent as the last meal of Sylvanas tumbled out of the stomach, the fluids splattering in the dark water below. The green clumps must've had a tinge of acidity as the reeds began to smolder. "Hmm, looks like that the acid in her stomach was on par with that of Banelings," Scott noted. "The stomach then is resistant internally but not externally."

"Resist-ception!"

"Toss it in the usable pile please," The older of the two ordered and Alexis obliged, tossing the dissected organ into a slowly growing pile of flesh that the two labeled as "research material." Perhaps now it would be a good time to explain what they were doing with Sylvanas' body.

Instead of letting Drones harvest the corpse and turn it all into simple bodymass fodder like normal, Scott opted to chop up the body themselves and thoroughly comb through all the guts and gore. He knew that Arthogious' research was slow and steady going, and wanted to toss a bone in his general direction by preserving and saving the more intriguing parts of Sylvanas so that the Zerg creature could dissect himself. This would hopefully cut down time to research some new abilities or unit upgrades for the Swarm. And of course, Alexis was more than eager to help out. She really did like having Arthogious around, much to Scott's mild surprise.

"Say Alexis…why do you like Arthogious?" The brown haired man asked as he tossed yet another Baneling corpse into the "trash" pile. "You know that he's not really one to be trusted. He has shown consistent lack of empathy when it comes to personal safety of others and survival. And yet why?"

"Huh?" The blonde paused in her gut ripping to look at her older brother. "Really? You don't get why I trust him?"

"Why do you trust him with your life when he doesn't care for yours?"

"Simple! I recruited him!" Alexis exclaimed, waving her arms as if it was an obvious answer. "If he's going to trust me with life in the Swarm, I gotta trust him back!"

"That really doesn't make much sense in my head…" Scott sighed, but decided that it was best to drop the issue. Judging from how Alexis had reacted to his question, she really couldn't be convinced about the dangers of Arthogious; she was way too attached to him. Kiara was right, the best way to go with this issue is just to keep a tight leash and close eye on the genetic master. "Just keep safe alright? I guess that you really are growing up to be able to make these decisions and stand by them."

The two continued working in silence, broken only by brief and punctual questions-answers about the various organs and flesh that they were ripping out of Sylvanas. Eventually though, Alexis' voice rose up to take a very excited tone. "Hey, I hit the jackpot!"

"Oh?"

"Bwhahahahahaha!" With a maniacal laugh for purely dramatic reasons, Alexis reached in and yanked out an organ the size of her hand. Anybody could take a quick glance and realize that it had to be Sylvanas' heart. The young girl then promptly held it up over her head and chanted, "Kali ma! Kali ma!"

"Oh, for-" Scott began to stutter, his face turning red as he realized what his younger sister was doing. Honestly? Seriously? Really?! "This isn't the freaking movies! Stop imitating The Shrine of Armageddon and hand me that heart!"

"Aw, what's the matter? Are you embarrassed that I actually know something from your geek culture?"

"You little-!" The legendary tongue of the male Overmind appeared as he made a mad dash towards the young Overmind, curses and obscenities rolling off his mouth without any seeming restraint or decency. Had Scott paused for but a single second to hear what he was uttering, he would've immediately cut out his own tongue with a spine. They were most certainly not things that should be heard anywhere near a lady of Alexis' caliber.

Said lady however stuck out her tongue and danced away when Scott's hands got close. Adding insult to injury, Alexis dared to blow a raspberry at her older brother, simply provoking him even further as he shouted and attempted to tackle her. Again, the blond and green haired Overmind stuck out her tongue and the cycle continued.

Despite though the insults and curses that were flung at each other, they both had wide smiles on their red and cheeky faces. It was more of just a sibling teasing than an actual fight; the words they tossed at each other had no real meaning. Innocent was the fight, and so to were the intentions.

Eventually though, they got tired of chasing each other's tail and decided to flop onto the ground, tired and exhausted from the bickering and running around. "Ha…You really do need to get more stamina," Scott remarked. "Barely five minutes of running and winded? We ought to put you on Kiara's training regimen again."

"Throwing rocks… in a glass house Big Bro," Alexis retorted before giggling and sitting up. "You know…if this is what being a monster is all about…killing sentient creatures…ripping apart their bodies…and being with family…then I can get used to it."

"Me too." The male Overmind sighed in content, looking up at the sky. Soon, he imagined it to be filled with flying Zerg creatures that blotted out the sun, as well as Leviathans that would serve as vessels onto more worlds for destruction. Who knew what awaited them there? Perhaps… "Hey Alexis?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that there are others like us out there?"

"Whadddya mean?"

"Other Overmind…scattered across the universe. Scared and alone. Nobody to rely on. We should-"

"Nah. There can't be more Overminds."

"What?"

"Remember the saying 'too many captains will sink the boat'? Same thing for the Swarm. Too many Overminds and we'll definitely have a power struggle on our hands. Three is the ideal number."

"What makes you think that?"

"Just the fact that things always happens in threes in the StarCraft universe from back home. Three races, three expansions, three main heroes. There's no doubt about it; we're the three Overminds of the Swarm."

"Then…there must be three Terran Commanders and three Protoss Executors. And if they are truly the leaders of their respective factions, then we can avoid war altogether by practicing peace! We can change the history of StarCraft!"

"That's assuming that they will want to cooperate in the first place and not exterminate the evil Zerg Swarm that is devouring the universe."

"Ah, right, that part. Well, either way…it's somewhat comforting to know that we really won't be all alone out here in these foreign lands."

"I hope that there's a cute boy or something among them!" Alexis swooned, ignoring the sudden drop in temperature around them. A literal drop of temperature. That was how much aura was being exerted from Scott. "Then we can start a Kerrigan-Raynor relationship or something! I mean, if he's Protoss, I'm not exactly sure what to do then..."

"You. Are. Not. Dating. Boys." Each word of that sentence was spat out with venomous tone so strong that it would make a Baneling jealous. The male Overmind's playful demeanor had now vanished and in its place was an overprotective brother who wanted to keep his youngest sibling innocent to…that as long as possible. "You are way too young to even be thinking about such an affair! Just…focus on world domination or something."

Alexis seemed to be completely oblivious to the sudden viper that possessed her brother and continue talking quite whimsically, a giant grin on her face as she sat up and waggled her finger around thoughtfully. "You know, maybe if he's cute enough, I'll even marry him! Ah, can you see that happening? And how wonderfully ironic would it be; in death, you find true love!"

"No, I don't see the irony in that." Scott gritted his teeth in an attempt to prevent himself from exploding in fury at the thought of somebody snatching away his precious Alexis. Had he a rational mind now, the lone brother would've laughed at the real irony of the situation: in the absence of their loving father, who doted on Alexis as a stereotypical father would for his daughter, Scott had stepped into that role.

But that also brings up the point that, had the brown haired Overmind realized he would be the one giving away Alexis at her imaginary wedding, he would've most likely just ended his life there and then to save himself the contamination of such a thought. He? Giving away Alexis? Hah!

Kiara though…she would understand what it meant for a girl to get married and would most likely side with Alexis. Almost immediately, Scott's brain kicked into overtime as he began strategizing ways on how to keep Alexis forever virgin and innocent. It was the exact same mind pattern as that of planning galactic conquest, meaning that the Overmind was taking it just as serious as killing other Zerg broods and possibly foreign threats to his family. Yes, that was how high he rated keeping his sister unmarried.

"But…the chances of it happening really aren't high I think." The quiet admission shook Scott out of his stupor of his planning as he glanced to see Alexis sadly smiling upwards. "I'm still a young girl. I just have the body of somebody who's a bit older. Who'd want to have me as their partner for life?"

…okay, he'd been expecting just a laugh when it came to self-denial. He'd expected a grin, a blow-off statement about how there was still a lot to do. He didn't expect this sad, bittersweet realization. Since when was Alexis capable expressing such heart-touching empathy? "Don't be ridiculous. Any…any guy would be lucky to have you by his side."

"Really? But what if it's not a guy?"

"I'll correct myself, any guy or girl-" Scott froze midsentence and slowly turned his head to face his little sister. She had the widest s*it-eating grin on it. The little devil. "You…aren't. Are you?"

A blink of the eyes. "What if I am?"

"I…I…um…"

She couldn't take the joke anymore and let loose her feelings. It was a complete breakdown as Alexis broke out in laughter, falling back on the floor and clutching her sides as her peals of happiness filled the air. "You fell for it! You totally did!"

"You vixen! Come here, let me teach you something I like to call karma-!"

For some people, they've noticed that my upload schedule has been a bit wacky for the last few updates. Don't worry, I'll still update every week around the weekends, I've got way too many plans to give up!