Disclaimer: The sciences are a wonderful and glorious thing. They have elevated humanity to heights unimagined even a mere few decades ago. Every step of the way, they have guided and shaped our everyday lives. From the computer that you read this on, to the pills that keep you alive, to the millions of routers that let you access information that can come from anywhere, from anywhere. That said, in my science class, we recently learned that fruit fly larva heads are near indistinguishable from their butts, and that we will be extracting sperm from fruit flies, sperm which is apparently longer than their entire body. Also, their testicles look like a corkscrew. In other words, I'm starting to question if it's really all worth it. Also, don't own it.
Yes, I'm aware that Kerrigan wasn't wearing high heels during the infestation in canon, but its a stupid design choice and I will mock it every chance I get. She doesn't even have toes for Overmind's sake!
(This is a transition, and this is a transition joke. Hilarious, right?)
No. ~f
Catalyst:
It took a few minutes for the pain to fade and for Severus Snape to open his eyes. Even then, his head ached from the mental massacre that that boy, child, monster, whatever it was, had inflicted on him. Severus had only briefly glimpsed into its mind before the thing had ripped his own mind into shreds, but now, Severus knew never to go in there again, and not just because of the pain. That creature had thought of him and everyone else like Severus thought of potion ingredients; annoying, difficult to work with and only vaguely useful. Whatever doubts he'd had about the monstrous nature of Thenabar Jaren were gone.
"If you have time to spend staring at me, you have time to spend it doing something useful," Snape said to the students had crowded around him, peering closely, trying to inspect him. In one motion they backed off rapidly, quickly remembering his reputation.
"Class is dismissed," Severus stated. They hesitated. "Go!" he barked, and they finally listened, backing off and filing out of the door. Only then did Severus inspect himself, and the desk he had been slammed into. When he pressed his hand to the back of his head, he felt wetness and a sharp sting, and when he pulled his hand back, there was blood on it. His desk was splintered form the impact of his skull against the wood, and Snape's only solace was that it was not his neck that had hit the dead tree. Whatever that thing was, it was stronger than it had any right to be, at least as strong as a troll.
Wonder of wonders, Albus had been completely right. Severus had spent the better part of 4 years teaching something that masqueraded as human, and hardly noticed a single thing out of place. Albus had to know about this, the monster hiding behind a child's face. Then, they would drive it out.
(Transition)
As the boggart experiment moved towards the castle, Abathur's paranoia mounted higher and higher. By the time it could see the towers, he had taken direct control over its body. The illusion had to be complete, and there could be no deviation whatsoever. Every word, every movement had to be exactly as he would have performed them, or else the plot would fail, and he would be worse off than when he started.
Abathur stopped when he reached the edge of the treeline, and peered towards the gates. He had expected an army of terrans to show up, bearing gauss rifles and power armor. Instead, there was only the incompetent and the headmaster. Both of them were powerful psionics, but that was still far less than Abathur had expected. Were they overconfident, stupid, or just removed from their military? Either way, it would be...adequate. Ideally, there would have been more destructive equipment, to make identifying the body harder, but he could make this work.
Abathur moved towards the duo silently, keeping low as if to sneak past them. It would not do to make it seem like he was eager to die. He crept along the treeline, wand in hand, stalking the psionics. Fortunately, the experiment had just enough psionic strength to use spells, if little else. Ideally, he would take one out and die fighting the other, to sell the point. Probably the incompetent; he might want to experiment on the headmaster later.
His stealth turned out to be completely pointless; the moment he stepped from the edge of the forest and over the threshold of the castle's wards, Dumbledore's head snapped straight towards him, eyes blazing with intensity.
"Name, Abathur," he stepped out, facing the two humans. Abathur held his wand towards them, as they did to him
"Yes, I suppose it is," Dumbledore said solemnly. Was that a trace of remorse in his mind? "I should have listened the first time you told me that."
"There is no point talking to this thing, headmaster," the incompetent interjected. We should just kill it here and now."
"You've already told me that, Severus. And I will still let him speak for himself," said Dumbledore. "Well Abathur? Do you have anything to say?"
They weren't attacking immediately, weren't trying to kill him. That wasn't the plan. They knew he was zerg, the incompetent would have time enough in his mind to figure that out. Why wouldn't they be attacking him? Unless...these were the rare kind of terrans that thought they could use the Swarm for their own purposes. Abathur would have thought they would have learned after the last group to attempt that was annihilated. Well, no matter. He would just kill them.
"Reducto," Abathur started with a simple destructive spell, aimed at the incompetent, before rushing in himself. batted the spell aside like it was nothing, before returning fire with a whisper that Abathur didn't catch.Crouching to avoid the spell, Abathur then launched several simple spells at varying angles, forcing Snape to stay defensive while Abathur moved into melee range. Within a few seconds, he was close enough to strike. His right hand rushed towards the incompetents throat. Abathur expected to feel soft flesh, all too easy to crush or tear, beneath his fingertips. Instead, his hand whipped through air as a sharp cracking noise rang out.
The psionic, the Overmind damned human, had teleported! Only the Protoss knew how to do that! Further thought on the subject was interrupted by the spells launched by Snape, now securely out of Abathur's melee range, and ready for another mad rush. Abathur was forced to go on the defensive, dodging and blocking spells. The experiment's power wasn't nearly enough to match this. A change in strategy was required.
With the soft sound of shifting soil, the experiment disappeared beneath the dirt, where it turned into a worm like shape, and started tunneling towards the incompetent. Within seconds, Abathur was underneath the incompetent. He burst out, reforming the Thenabar disguise from the head down as the experiment erupted from the ground, reaching towards the incompetent with a claw-tipped hand. To Abathur's surprise, Snape managed to evade this attack as well, moving back to avoid the worst of Abathur's strike. But that left him completely unprepared for the second set of claws on his other hand, which Abathur extended just beyond human possibility to strike the incompetent, leaving thick red lines across his face.
The incompetent staggered back, allowing Abathur to press his advantage. He grabbed the incompetents hand and squeezed, crushing the bone and causing his wand to fall to the ground. While Snape screamed in agony, Abathur pulled on the shattered limb, toppling the already off balance professor to the ground where he prepared to severe Snape's spine. The experiment's clawed hand plunged towards his exposed neck.
Just when the tips were about to pierce the skin, the experiment froze and toppled over. Abathur tried to force motion from its muscles with no response. The only thing he could move were the eyes, which he darted around frantically, before locking them on the approaching headmaster. He hadn't noticed Dumbledore move, much less speak, but Abathur had still been paralyzed. He was helpless, completely unable to defend himself, and that was excellent. The terrans would kill the experiment, they would stop searching, and Abathur could evolve his brood without threat.
Abathur watched through the experiment's eyes as Snape staggered away, moving behind Dumbledore, who had his wand pointed at the experiment. Abathur waited eagerly for the final blow, the cessation of sensation, for death. Dumbledore waved his wand, lifting the expiriment into the air, before turning him so that they were looking directly into each others eyes. Abathur forced the experiments eyes to glisten a bright yellow, expressing his murderous intent with all the force he could still muster.
"We are defined by the choices we make in life," Dumbledore began. "And there is one very simple choice you can make. All you have to do is let the boy go. Let this body's mind take control."
They knew. They knew, they knew, somehow they knew. Even if they bothered to kill the experiment, which they were oddly reluctant to do, they would know.
"I'm sure we can find accomodations for you. You've seen our magic, what it can do. A new body, a return home, whatever you require, we can get for you if only you let him go."
Lies. Either they would kill him, or they would attempt to use him for their own gain, same as all the other terrans. These humans thought him a fool, gullible and manipulatable. If he decided to go along with them, they would find his location and use further tricks to bind him to their will, assuming they didn't kill him and try to take over the Swarm themselves.
"One of the most difficult things in the world is admitting you require another. But sometimes it is the best and only option you have. In a moment, I will release you. I beg you to take this chance," True to his word, Abathur felt the bonds on the experiment slipping away, and its legs hitting the dirt. Dumbledore would be expecting an answer; he would have a few seconds to plan.
These humans were likely working alone. There was no military support, no others present but him and them. It was equally likely that they were the only ones that could tell the difference between him and the experiment. Fine then. All he had to do was kill them both.
Abathur sent a surge of power to the experiment, twisting its form completely, making it suitable for killing, turning it into a monstrosity. Through both his own senses and the experiments, Abathur could taste their delicious fear. His skin grayed, hardening into carapace. Its legs merged together and sprouted smaller legs on the sides, much like what Abathur had once possessed as a full zerg. Its arms narrowed and extended, ending in sharp, serrated spikes, while a second, larger pair grew up and over its head. Its forehead grew into a large, triangle-like crest, topped with spikes and small blisters filled with green liquid.
With a low roar, the monstrosity stabbed its limbs forward, intent on impaling the two humans. The first blow came down on the incompetent and passed straight through him with a sickening crunch. Abathur watched with satisfaction as his life bled away in an instant, before he felt his form freeze once again. Dumbledore had managed to get a shield up, and stood with his wand pointing at the experiment.
"Just remember," Dumbledore said, startlingly calm. "You had a choice." Then, Abathur once again felt an intruder force their way into the hivemind. This one had intent and power behind it, intent and power that dwarfed the incompetent. It marched through the few defenses the experiment was able to put up and moved directly to where Abathur dwelt, manipulating its body. It engaged in mental warfare with him, barraging him with spikes of thought and gradually building up a barrier of such power that Abathur had trouble penetrating it. Abathur was not passive here; he fought back constructions of his own. Scythes, spiders, and zerg of all kind assaulted Dumbledore's barrier, looking for any weakness to exploit, but what the invader lacked in finesse and experience, he more than made up for in power. To Abathur's immense surprise, he found that he lacked the ability and leverage to fight this battle.
The intruder gained steady ground, pushing Abathur further out with every second. Oddly enough, it seemed to be completely ignoring the experiment's mind, focusing solely on the evolution master's overwhelming presence. Slowly but surely, the intruder pushed Abathur out until, suddenly, Abathur was no longer in control. And just like that, Abathur was pushed fully out of his own experiment, and his sight through its eyes faded to nothing.
(Transition)
Dumbledore watched as the now unconscious boy fell to the ground, returning to the form of a normal child, and there were so many questions he wanted answered. But, for now, there were more important things to take care of. Dumbledore lifted Severus's corpse into the air, and took it to the edge of the grounds, where he buried it, marking the grave with a marble tombstone. No one else knew of his sacrifice, his courage in helping defeat Voldemort, but Dumbledore would be sure to remember him well. He was gone, but would not be forgotten.
Once Severus had been laid to rest, Dumbledore returned to the fallen child. Confusion, uncertainty, and questions beyond words flooded his mind as he watched the child start to wake. Then, seeing the boy gasp and suddenly sit straight up caused these thoughts to flee from his mind. There was such confusion, such utter fear and panic on his face that Dumbledore couldn't help but see him as a vulnerable child, in need of help. Dumbledore put on his grandfatherly face, and approached what his student, crouching low.
"Hello there. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I run the school here. Would you mind telling me your name?" The child hesitated for a moment, seeming to expect someone else to answer for him. But eventually, an answer came.
"Th-Thenabar...Jaren," the boy spoke hesitantly, unfamiliar with the very words he spoke, probably unused to speaking at all.
"Well, Thenabar, why don't you accompany me back into the castle, where we can talk more?" Dumbledore said.
The boy paused again. "That is...acceptable," he said before slumping into Dumbledore's waiting embrace. What the old man didn't see, however was Thenabar looking over to the nearby trees, connecting his mind through a group of hard-working group of ants, and back into the Swarm.
Niadra: A bit like Niagara falls, but with less...viagra. Yeah, that was a pretty weak pun, but it's all I've got today. ~f
Niadra: One of the Swarm's defining traits is its ability to adapt to meet any situation. There is no single being that defines this more specifically than Niadra, a broodmother made by Sarah Kerrigan for one specific purpose. In order to prevent word of her return from spreading to the Golden Armada, Kerrigan needed to destroy a protoss research ship that was trying to escape on the far side of the planet. In order to do this, she planted a larva in a protoss captive, and allowed the captive to be teleported back to their ship, where the larva consumed its host and began to wander the ship, infecting, controlling, and consuming the specimens contained within until it gained enough biomass to grow into a broodmother, who she named Niadra. Niadra quickly overcame the ship, flooding it with a near-endless swarm of zerglings, hydralisks, and roaches, turning a minor infestation into a rampaging brood. She overran the protoss ship and slaughtered everything on board. After completing her mission, Niadra attempted to contact Kerrigan, but met with failure. Left alone, Niadra decided that until Kerrigan needed her again, she would continue her mission to eradicate the protoss. So she hid herself away, preparing herself and her brood to infiltrate and destroy the enemy. If you suspect he brood is present, it's too late. She's already gained enough of a foothold to destroy you.