Chapter 85: A Broodmother's Return

Using Kay's wormhole, the transition between the hexagonal moon and to the underground super hive cluster, located underneath Kiln's surface, was both expedient and convenient. Kay's ability to summon wormholes was even more reliable than using nydus network/omega worm transportation. To Kay, it was very much like having one's own nydus worm, capable of bridging itself between planets from considerable distances. It was both an amazing, yet terrifying, power to have

However, if the ability to create wormholes through concentration wasn't enough, it would appear to Kay that The Overmind, whom was now residing deep within his subconsciousness, had not only doubled his psionic reserves, and doubled his psionic energy generation, but it had also granted him a resistance against psionic attacks, and a resistance to abilities that negatively affected his psionic potential. Coupled with his newfound ability to partially speed up and slow down his perception of time, Kay was beginning to feel like he was slowly becoming the ultimate paragon of zerg evolution.

As Kay leapt through the wormhole, which landed him back in the underground super hive cluster, near the area where he had once changed into an Overmind form, he felt the familiar warmth of the underground as the subtle scent of desert air filled his nose once again. Kay huffed and panted as he closed the wormhole behind himself. "Gyah... Keeping a wormhole... open for too long... drains my concentration by quite a lot... Hah... Kay... Good to know..."

"Why are you panting?" Virid asked. Kay looked up to see her standing over him. "Creating a wormhole shouldn't physically exhaust you at all."

Kay nodded at Virid. "Well uh... When I made the wormhole for the first time, I was only able to keep it open for a few seconds, since I got sucked into the vacuum the very moment I made it. Seems to me that opening a wormhole that's been brute-forced between two locations just takes a little too much out of me."

"I see..." After she saw that Kay would be okay, Virid's mind expanded into the Swarm's psionic hivemind and connected to the minds of the zerg under Kay's command. Kay could feel that she was impressed. She was also perplexed by the evolutionary changes that Kay's brood had went through. "... Swarmling and raptor zergling strains? Corpser and vile roach strains? Carrion and creeper swarm host strains? And... Feederlings? And... ... ... How did you come by these strains? I thought they were lost to us!"

Kay sighed and smiled. "Remember when I told you about the time I rescued a protoss from a secret facility? Well, it also contained a preserved drone. Corvurn was able to extract all of the genetic information he needed to incorporate the adaptations, mutations, and strains that Kerrigan's brood developed. Hell, it's because of that little dead drone that we now have what we need to finally eradicate Golden Star."

Virid nodded at Kay as she clasped her claws together. "Our Swarm has grown tremendously since our separation. Twenty years ago, I never thought this brood could evolve in such a way!"

Kay smiled proudly and shot a thumbs-up upwards. "If you think that's amazing, then you'll have a field day after you discover what Corvurn is whipping up right now. But right now, I think it's high time I check up on the underground refugee camp cluster. I need to see if the irradiated floodwater is draining."

Virid nodded. "Very well. I shall follow you. But tell me this first. How has Othafurn fared after she left the hive cluster on the hexagonal moon?"

Kay began to walk towards the nearest nydus network/omega worm. "Well eh... She became unconscious when she tried to revive me, but she got better. Right now, however, I think she is helping Corvurn with his new projects." Before Kay continued on, he stopped and turned around to face Virid. "... Say. Why didn't YOU use the hivemind connection to connect to Othafurn's mind to answer your own question?"

Virid hissed. "I must be picking up on your habits."

Kay perked up a smile towards Virid. "Are they good habits?"

Virid shook her head. "I don't think so." She answered with a deadpanned tone.

Kay slumped his posture. "... Well uh... Let's just go to the underground refugee camp then."

Kay then continued to make his way to the underground refugee camp, all the while leading Virid through the underground super hive cluster. The tunnels had grown continually wider after Virid had left her brood under Kiln's surface, and she could see that the tunnels were carefully carved to accommodate zerg organisms of her size. Ultralisks, or any other massive land-traveling zerg organism, were forced to use the nydus/omega worms for their transportation throughout Kiln. However, much of their underground transportation became severely limited ever since the irradiated floodwater washed into the various caves and tunnel systems that connected to the hatchery chambers together. The feederlings were created to help drain the floodwater from further poisoning the underground super hive cluster, but it would be a long time till the underground refugee camp becomes safe enough to tread through.

Whimpering wails escaped from a seldom number of flood survivors.

The underground refugee camp cluster was flooded.

A glowing ocean surrounded them.

There were no other survivors nearby, but they had no means to find safety.

A foolish few tried to swim for safety, only for their bodies to dissolve into mud and bones seconds after they began their attempt. No longer would there be any further attempts.

Despair clung to the air, and it suffocated the few survivors that had little food to survive on.

Starvation would become a real problem for the few remaining survivors of the lingering thousands of refugees. If malnutrition and dehydration continued to gnaw at their health, then they would soon resort to cannibalism.

However, their suffering would be abated. Thanks to a number of drones, which were tasked to float over the glowing irradiated floodwater and deliver supplies to the suffering refugees, their thirst and hunger would at least be abated. Much of the emergency supplies that was stored within Baroness Tak's tent was raided by the Zerg Swarm. There was even a full-functioning manifestation altar hidden within her tent estate, capable of manifesting any tool that was needed, or creating edible rations that partially satisfied the refugees. But even as the drones delivered items and food to the sufferers, there was only a small number of working manifestation altars, and the emergency supplies that Tak had hoarded was already becoming scarce. But even with a rapid decline to supplies, the underground gilanian populated suffered a decrease in their numbers, which would slow and reduce the consumption of the dwindling rations and supplies. However, it wouldn't be long till everyone began starving to the brink of death, which would no doubt prompt them to resort to drastic measures.

There was one gilanian that was unaffected by the irradiated floodwater. She waded through the glowing, toxic fluid as though she was immune to its caustic effects. Once she came ashore, a sigh of relief escaped her lungs after she crawled onto the shore and relaxed on the creep covered ground. She paid no mind to the writhing slime. She was safe.

She then began to cry silently to herself.

She then heard what sounded like wet lapping sounds. It surrounded her, and they sounded like worms writhing against a plastic sheet.

But she paid no attention to such noise. Her own sorrow was her only world now. A void grew within her own heart, and it expanded into a cold pain that made her well with tears of loss.

"Hey! Are you alright?"

She couldn't be bothered to answer. She was stuck within her own world, and she felt as though she needed to let her tears flow.

"Uh... Hello? Excuse me, but are you aware that you're... um..."

Sorrow and mourning was flooding her mind and heart, just like how the irradiated floodwater made the underground refugee camp devolve into a bleak graveyard. It was a graveyard where everyone's bodies melded together into a radioactive mud.

"... Um... Stay right there. I'll get a stick and prod those things off of you." "Hey! What's going on over here?!" "Uh?! Uh... I was going to help this guy out, you see. These things might eat him if I don't help him out. ... How... How are you riding on a blade hound without it biting you?" "Takes practice. Anyway, why do you want to poke at... Wait... Bayz?!"

A familiar voice made the suited figure look up. She saw a face that she remembered, whom was still wearing the tattered hunting gear that he had created within the Immortal Maze. "Catlak? ... Why are you saddled on that blade hound?"

Catlak's expressed concern and confusion as he gazed down at Bayz. Bayz, on the other hand, was also just as concerned and confused when she saw that Catlak was riding on the back of a zergling. He pointed at his mount. "I was zerg ridin' through the tunnels when the caverns were being flooded. I decided to entertain myself and started a race through the underground tunnels. But before I knew it, this fucker took a long-ass detour from the usual track of tunnels I was getting the hang of racing through when the flooding happened. I didn't know what was happening until we finally stopped at one of those zerg nest things and a different broodmother finally filled me in." Catlak then pointed at Bayz. "But enough about that. What the fuck are you doing?"

Bayz sighed. "Oh... I was... Just resting my eyes. And... And-and mourning over something."

Catlak shook his head with a grunt. "Mourning? Bayz, I'm sorry that I have to be brutally honest with you, but we can't mourn right now. We need to collect every survivor and make a headcount." Catlak began to look around. "Where's Goqqa?"

Bayz bawled for a second before she began to whimper. "He-he-he-he-he is dead."

Catlak's turned his gaze back to Bayz, his expression softening. "... Oh damn. Uh... What happened?"

Bayz fought back her tears as she explained. "It h-happened so suddenly! We heard scr-eaming in the distance and we didn't know what i-it was! When that green water came, Goqqa tried to c-carry me to safety, but he was dragged down by the c-current. He managed to put me on one of the raised platforms in time, but... Oh gods unseen, Catlak. I-I-I saw him turn into clay..."

Catlak shook his head. "Okay okay. Just... Stop beating yourself up over thisand listen to me. Calmly tell me what happened next."

Bayz nodded and took in a deep breath. "... Okay... Well... The tent platform that Goqqa placed me on was sort of unstable. I tried to build a boat from any of the junk that floated near my platform, but... I kind of fell into the water."

Catlak stared at Bayz. "You did?"

"Yeah. I thought I was going to die. But when I didn't, I decided to swim to shore. And now... Well... Here I am."

"I seriously doubt that happened, but I'm not here to discuss truths and fallacies. You REALLY need to get off of the ground right now."

Bays tilted her head at Catlak, even when her sad expression was still more overpowering than her uncertainty. "Wh... Why?"

Catlak pointed below Bayz. "Well eh... Not to alarm you, but I think that if you stay laying on the ground like that, then those little guys might start eating your suit."

Confused by Catlak's answer, she looked around herself. She immediately discovered that her suited body was covered by feederlings. Their tongues seemed to be creeping into every crack, crevice, and fold of her suit, as though they were probing for any moisture that still clung to her. Her response was just as immediate. "AAAAAAAAAAH-GET-AWAY-EW-GROSS-NO-DON'T-TOUCH-MY-SUIT-STOP-IT-LEAVE-ME-ALONE!"

Bayz flailed in a frantic and rapid manner, which flung a few of the feederlings several meters away from her. Once her panic began, the few un-flung feederlings began to retreat from the hysterical gilanian female. After several seconds of frantic arm-and-leg movement, Catlak shook his head and clapped his hands. "Wow. Bravo. I give that a six out of ten. A seven if you landed one of those things inside of a score-box."

Bayz shivered from the experience as she stood up from the ground. "Ohohohoh you can shove your peens down your own throat, you tail-chasing vent-head! That was... Horrible!"

Catlak shook his head at Bayz. "You can deal with your obsessive compulsiveness and your nosophobia later. We need to gather everyone and make sure that the remaining survivors are still alive and healthy."

Bayz turned to Catlak with an angry, tear-filled glare. "And I told you to fuck off! My friend just died and I don't want this bad day of mine getting any more worse than it already is!"

"Can I have a say in this?" A gilanian said, wearing what looked like brown rags and a tattered scarf. The gilanian seemed to be a young adult female.

"WHAT?!" "WHAT?!" Both Catlak and Bayz shouted at the third gilanian.

" Um..." The gilanian pointed at the feederlings that once crawled over Bayz's body. "Why are those things drinking the water? I thought this water was toxic."

Bayz and Catlak turned to look at the feederlings. Indeed, they were sipping on the floodwater that had claimed so many lives, both gilanian and zerg. Catlak grimaced as he watched the feederlings imbibed on the toxic floodwater. "Ugh... That can't be good for them. This stuff is more dangerous than drinking a whole bottle of engine coolant."

Bayz slowly walked up to one of the drinking feederlings and knelt down next to it. After a few seconds of inspection, she shook her head. "... Yeah, I have no idea what they're doing. I mean... This stuff should kill them."

As the feederlings imbibed on the toxic, their tentacled tails fell away from their bodies and began to grow in size. Twenty five seconds later, the tentacles grew into bubbles and formed into amniotic chrysalises with something growing in their center. "What the..." Before the gilanian in the scarf could finish her sentence, the chrysalises bursts apart to reveal more feederlings. They too began to imbibe on the dangerous floodwater, ignoring how dangerous it was. "Eugh... I think they reproduced."

Bayz backed away from the thirsty feederlings and shook her head. "Uh... Yeah. We'll just... let them do their own thing. Nothing weird going on here. Nope." Bayz then turned to the gilanian with the tattered scarf. "Also... I don't think I caught your name."

"Oh! My name is Paug. I'd shake you by the hand, but I heard that you survived swimming in the lake, so... Yeah." She said, introducing herself with a bow.

Catlak decided to rudely cut in. "Yeah yeah, well I am named Catlak, and she is Bayz. I decree that this introduction is over and we should round up everyone and get them to safety. Like. Now-ish. Or as soon as possible."

Bayz growled at Catlak. "What is up with you lately?"

Catlak sighed as he gestured at the underground lake of floodwater. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe it's because a majority of my tribe was in the refugee camp when THAT happened, while I and nine other hunters were joyfully and blissfully racing around the underground caverns on our blade hound mounts. We need to focus our energy in finding a way to rescue the people that are still alive and need our help. Do you understand what I'm trying to explain here?"

Bayz growled again, but she then paused, took in a breath to calm herself, and sighed. "... Yeah. Yeah, I understand you."

Catlak nodded. "Goqqa wouldn't want you to fret over his death, and neither would you want him to fret over yours." Catlak then turned away from Bayz. "Grah. I forgot how much of a bleeding heart you can be sometimes."

Bayz scoffed at Catlak. "Yeah? Well you are an asshole all the time."

Paug interjected between the two arguing gilanians and stood between them. "Guys guys guys. Chill. Cool down. Take a breather. Listen to me closely. Alright?" Both Bayz and Catlak turned to stare at Paug. Once she had their undivided attention, she began talking again. "You two seem to forgetting something important. How are we going to save people without any boats?"

A pause of several seconds elapsed between Bayz and Catlak. Catlak sighed. "... Damn. I didn't even think about that."

Bayz shook her head solemnly, defeated by Paug's reasoning. "... Even so, I want to try building a boat that can keep us dry, and be able to hold a lot of people. There are survivors that still need help."

"Maybe I can help?"

The three gilanians turned around to see Kay and Virid approaching them. Catlak and Bayz were surprised to see Kay again, while Paug kneeled and bowed her head. "Oh!" Paug exclaimed. "It's an honor to see you, oh great master of the Zerg Swarm!"

Kay stared at Paug with a confused expression for a few seconds. He shook his head and gestured at the gilanian. "Uh... Kay. What is going on here?"

Paug looked up at Kay. She felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her. "Uh... I was greeting you."

"No need to be dramatic, little lady. Stand up. There is no need to prostrate yourself like that." Kay said.

"Sorry. I-I was a little overexcited when I saw you and... Well..." Paug said as she got up to feet and rubbed her arm, feeling a little embarrassed. "If it wasn't for the zerg attacking Empire Capitol, I would still be living their with my parental guardian in poverty. I just wanted to share my appreciation."

Kay paused for another couple of seconds before shrugging. "Well uh... I'm flattered and everything, but you three said you wanted to help the survivors, right?"

Paug nodded. Catlak walked past Paug and decided to speak to Kay. "Bayz wanted to build a boat that could reach the survivors that are still alive on the elevated tent platforms, but I don't think we have the time to make one. I think that by the time we built one, the survivors are gonna start dying."

Kay dismissed Catlak with a hand-wave and smiled. "Not to worry. We already devised a way to drain the floodwater out of the refugee camp caverns."

"Uh... Really? Wow." Catlak said, sounding impressed by Kay's answer.

Bayz approached Kay. "How are you going to do that?"

"We'll use two methods." Kay said, holding up two fingers. "One of the methods is to use the creep to absorb the irradiated floodwater, which is the slime that you three are walking on. It's already growing underneath the floodwater and converting its irradiation into resources that the zerg can use. The seconds method is behind you. See those things drinking from the shore?" Kay said, pointing at the feederlings, which had increased significantly in number during their conversation. "Those are what we call feederlings. They can directly feed on things that would normally be too hazardous for any other zerg organism to metabolize. They'll convert radioactive properties in the floodwatrt into bio-matter, and will use that matter to gestate more of themselves. Using those two methods, we'll be able to drain all of the floodwater in this cavern in two days."

Catlak smiled and nodded. "Heh. I guess we don't have to do anything, huh?"

Kay shook his head and hardened his gaze at Catlak. "What makes you think you can get away with resting on your laurels like any ordinary freeloader, even when you happen to be staying in OUR territory with OUR permission?"

Catlak's smile vanished. "... Uh... Oh. Well um... Okay?"

Kay smirked. "But if you really want to continue to remain in the refugee camp, I suggest finding some buckets and some sturdy poles. If you can combine those buckets and poles together, you can fill the bucket and dump it on the surface of the creep."

Catlak tilted his head. "Why do we need the pole if we're just using buckets to dump the floodwater on that creep stuff anyway?"

Kay patted Catlak's shoulder and made his expression serious. "You DON'T want that water touching your scales. Trust me."

Catlak stared at Kay for a few seconds before he got the idea. "... Oh... You want me to pivot a bucket around using the pole as an arm. I think I get what you mean."

Kay nodded at Catlak. "Your contribution might not seem like much, but every pair of hands will help remove the floodwater from this cavern."

Bayz sighed. "But what about the people on the elevated tent platforms? They don't have any supplies to last them for very long."

"We have drones that can float over the surface of the water. Take a look over there." Kay said as he pointed at something in the distance. Indeed, there were drones that were floating just above the surface of the green floodwater. They appeared to be ferrying containers of varying sizes over to the tent platforms that were above the toxic floodwater level. "Right now, they are supplying the refugee survivors with supplies and tools."

Catlak, Bays and Paug were somewhat relieved that the zerg were already handling the dire situation better than they ever could. Virid, on the other hand, was agitated from what she saw. "Kay."

Kay turned to look at Virid. "Yeah?"

"The hivemind of the Swarm here. It feels... diminished? What happened here?" Virid asked, feeling the hivemind within her psionic reach.

Kay paused for a few seconds. "... Oh. Uh... I guess I forgot to tell you what happened." Kay sighed as he carefully ran his fingers through his mock-hair tendrils. "You see, uh... Do you remember me telling you about the rain that Gollog used to kill me once upon a time ago? Well uh... He also unleashed many gallons of it all across the world. It all flooded into much of the underground super hive cluster. All of the zerg on the surface of Kiln are dead, while a large percentage of the underground territory under zerg control was contaminated with Gollog's irradiated floodwater."

Virid hissed. "How large of a percentage?"

Kay sighed. "Um... I think about eighty two percent?"

Virid lowly trilled. "EIGHTY TWO?!"

Kay backed away from Virid and held his hands up defensively. "Kay, maybe my calculation is off and it might actually be lower or higher than that. But you should know that there were situations and events that were beyond my control at the time!"

"The brood that was supposed to be commanded by Corvurn during my absence is suffering and dwindling! I see now that my presence is sorely needed. More than ever since this green flood happened!" Virid said, pointing at the green lake created by Gollog's sky rings.

Kay shook his head and furrowed his brows at Virid. "Hey, this is partially my fault too! If I had known that Gollog would have pulled this stunt, I'd have made an attempt to sabotage his doomsday weapon and prevent this from happening!"

Kay could tell that the broodmother before him was angered. Her eyes flared with agitation and frustration. "Where is Corvurn? I need to speak to him. With my claws."

Once Virid rapidly scuttled away from sight, a long pause elapsed before Kay lowered his hands and sighed. "... Zerg. I keep forgetting how pissed they get when their hatcheries are attacked or killed."

Bayz was perplexed by Kay's response to Virid's anger. "... Aren't you supposed to be zerg too?"

Kay turned to look at Bayz. After looking at her expression, a lighthearted chuckle escaped his throat. "Well... To tell you the truth, I wasn't always a zerg organism."

Paug slowly gasped. "... So... You are a zerg pawn? Which means that... You were NOT a zerg organism at one point?"

Kay sighed and nodded. "That is true. I used to be called a terran, which is a term for a race of people, called humans, that was born on a planet that their species didn't originate from. But since my transformation into a zerg organism, I guess I would be referred as an infested terran by my own race's standards."

Bayz, Paug, and even Catlak was surprised to learn this. For the twenty years that their world had been contaminated by the swarms of zerg, they had no idea that their world was, technically, visited by two kinds of alien races the entire time. One that was once human, and the other being zerg. Catlak walked up to Kay. "... So uh... What did you look like before you turned into... Well..." Catlak gestured to Kay's body.

Kay looked upon his own form. he caressed his carapaced body and sighed. "... Thinking back on my life before my infestation, I think I remembered having more skin than carapace. I had black hair that grew on the top of my head. I had a brownish tan on my skin, with freckles dotting my face. Fingernails, instead of claws. I didn't have any wings on my back. Hell, I think I was several centimeters shorter before my body transformed into this." Kay looked up at Catlak, his expression becoming unsettled and startled. "I just now noticed that I don't have nipples! My transformation took them away! Aw man, how come I didn't realize this sooner?!"

Catlak became confused by Kay's exclamation. He leaned towards Bayz. "The fuck are nipples?" Bayz responded with a shrug, telling Catlak that she doesn't have the answer to his question.

Kay ceased caressing his carapaced body, sighing as he looked down at his own body. "Man, that's going to bug me for a long while." After a pause of a few more seconds, Kay shook his head and waved at the three gilanians. "Well... I guess it's no use crying over completely recessed vestigial body parts. You guys go ahead and help us drain the flooded refugee camp. I need to prevent something from escalating. Later!"

Kay began to run away from the three gilanians and chased after the broodmother known as Virid. After a short pause, Bayz, Paug, and Catlak went to work assisting the zerg in draining the irradiated water from the flooded refugee camp. It would be slow and dangerous work, but it would be work that worked towards the goal of finally freeing the trapped gilanian refugee survivors.

But Kay felt as though more worrying matters needed his attention. He felt as though something... big... was going to happen in the future.

A/N: Sorry for being somewhat slow. Hollow Knight has been taking much of my time. Bossrush mode is a bitch. :V