Chapter 5: Top of the Food Chain

Warning: this chapter contains frankly ridiculous amounts of over-the-top violence in the form of brutal, bloody combat - monsters of all shapes and sizes tearing each other to shreds. Which is AWESOME!

Approximately 2.5 miles away...

The Beowolves' hate-fueled brains were simple ones. They wandered the forest with their packmates, constantly on the prowl for humans. When they encountered humans, they attacked, trying to cause as much emotional distress as possible, not striking to do damage so much as to inflict pain. They had no grandiose motivations for doing so-they were to hate the humans, so they hated humans. They were to kill humans, so they killed humans. That was the way things were; it was how they had always been, and as far as the wolf-like creatures of Grimm were concerned, how they always would be.

Now, though, the canine monsters' simple minds, for the first time in their collective memory, were at a loss. What the hell had just happened?

Three Beowolves, not from the Alpha's pack of twelve, had just arrived in the pack's lair, a large cave dug into the side of a hill. They were all badly wounded: multiple deep, bleeding bite and claw marks crisscrossed their bodies; large chunks of their armor had been torn clean off, revealing their ashen grey skin; and one dragged its hind leg behind it, the tendons slashed and rendering the limb useless.

Less than an hour earlier, they and the rest of their pack, a particularly strong group with not one, but three Alphas, had been prowling the forest like normal when they suddenly sensed a human that was practically dripping with negative emotions. Better yet, it was alone and didn't seem to be moving.

Hardly believing their luck, the wolf creatures had stalked their quarry as they normally would-an easy task, given that the human was apparently moving deeper into the forest before they lost its scent. Howling eagerly to stir up more negative emotions in their prey, the creatures of Grimm closed in on the clearing that they had last sensed the human in, slavering in anticipation of the upcoming feast. When the shadowy monsters entered the clearing itself, however, they found something unlike anything that they had ever seen before.

The human was standing at the edge of what looked like a carpet of grey slime, which covered most of the ground in the clearing. Several enormous objects stood behind it, some shaped vaguely like human buildings, others like enormous organs, but the Grimm had paid little attention to them other than a cursory glance-destroying whatever the humans built was the job of Ursae and Boarbatusks. It was the human itself that held their attention.

It hadn't given off even a twinge of fear when it caught sight the Beowolf pack, despite the fact that it was outnumbered and clearly wounded, if its missing right arm was any indication. In fact, it wasn't emitting any emotions at all-it was as if the Grimm were looking at a corpse. Nine lizard-like creatures with the features of insects gathered around the human, glaring at the pack; like it, they didn't give off any negative emotions whatsoever, their glowing eyes squarely fixated on the shadowy monsters.

Every member of the pack had felt strangely chilled for a moment, despite their thick fur, but they had ignored the sensation. A human was a human, and it was still outnumbered-it would fall like any other member of its kind. The lead Alpha gave the signal to attack, and the group of Beowolves charged towards their prey-

And then all hell broke loose.

Immediately, the insect-lizards literally leapt into action, each one springing over the human's head in a single enormous bound and charging towards the Grimm with incredible speed. The shadowy wolf-beasts were at first confused by these new enemies, but they moved to intercept them none the less. The strange creatures were each less than half the size of an individual Beowolf; what harm could they possibly do?

Oh, how wrong they had been.

The lizard beasts easily dodged out of the way of the larger creatures' claw swipes, their talons and fangs ripping through the canine creatures' flesh as if it were wet paper. They slashed at tendons, sending Beowolves toppling to the ground, and quickly found chinks in the Grimms' armor, plunging their claws into these gaps and peeling off bony plates with ease in order to more easily tear into the soft grey flesh underneath. One of the Alphas was dead within seconds of engagement, its throat torn out and devoured. Another Alpha had managed to sneak around the murderous creatures, finding and attacking a creature that looked like a Deathstalker with no armor or stinger and webbed wings instead of legs-it was delighted to find that this creature, at the very least, felt pain, its screams of pain deliciously satisfying to the dark beast.

Charging towards the Alpha Beowolf at speeds far greater than any other human that they had seen before, the golden-haired human had slammed into the much larger Grimm with the force of a charging Ursa Major and then proceeded to tear into it with incredible savagery, fighting like a demon uncaged before ripping its throat out. As the human cried out in victory, the last surviving Beowolves had felt that same chill again; this time, they smelled a familiar odor about themselves, and realized what the feeling was.

For the first time in their collective lives, they had felt fear.

Turning and running, only a handful of the wolf monsters had managed to escape the slaughter; they fled to the sounds of the lizard-monsters screeching victoriously. Now, the small group of survivors limped through the forest, all bearing serious wounds from their encounter. Where were they going? What were they going to do when they got there? These questions were beyond the lycanthropic creatures' simple minds-the only thought going through their armored skulls was the overwhelming instinct to flee, to get as far away from their strange enemies as they possibly could. For the first time ever, they had been the prey, and the experience terrified them. That feeling of fear was the only thought going through the Grimm's simple minds, pushing aside the pain from their wounds, the sensation of their blood dripping onto the cold, hard ground… and any concerns that they might have been followed.

With the stealthiness of a cat, Yang slunk through the frozen woods, keeping her head down and sticking to the ever-growing shadows of the trees around her as the sun sank down towards the horizon. Zerg or not, she was still a Huntress; her training from Signal and Beacon, as well as the help she had gotten from Blake, was practically second nature by now. Keep to the shadows, remain as calm as possible, and make as little noise as she could-these three lessons repeated themselves again and again in Yang's mind as she moved through the wintery forest. The encroaching dusk didn't bother the infested human in the slightest; to her newly-upgraded eyes, the twilit woods were bright as day.

The Huntress looked down at her newly-regrown arm again and smiled. After all those months of self-pity and despair, she finally had her arm again; she could finally fight back. And unlike her last confrontation with Cinder and her cronies, the blonde brawler had an entire army at her beck and call.

Speaking of which, Yang gave her forces a quick once-over. All around her, the zerg crawled, stalked, and slithered, their movements just as quiet as those of their queen-the firestarter had to admit, it was somewhat unnerving to see creatures as large as the Roaches or the Queen making so little sound as they moved. The reptilian snouts of ten Zerglings (She had left the rest of the pack, as well as two Roaches and two Hydralisks, back at the hive cluster in case of another Grimm attack) were held to the ground, nostrils twitching and their acute senses of smell guiding them along the blood trails left by the stragglers from the Beowolf pack's unsuccessful attack on her hive cluster. Their trail wasn't hard to follow; Yang hadn't paid much attention to Professor Port's long-winded ramblings of his glory days at Beacon, but she had read through the section of her textbook on following tracks and blood trails. The acute senses of the zerg, however, could easily pick up the Grimm's trail again whenever it seemed to have vanished: her impressively-moustached professor would have no doubt given an arm and a leg for such a skill.

In the meantime, a pair of serpentine Hydralisks slithered around the edges of the makeshift war party, their slit-pupiled eyes intently scanning the surrounding area for potential threats, while two heavily-armored Roaches flanked the Queen near the back, their somewhat slow pace matching that of the larger creature.

Speaking of which…

"My Queen, I… I know that it is not my place to question your orders, but… what exactly is it that are we hunting, and why?" The zerg organism asked telepathically-this time, there was at least a hint of curiosity in its tone, as well as a small amount of apprehension. "Are we to acquire its essence for Abathur? Eliminate it before it can compete with our hive cluster for resources?"

Hmm. Perhaps the Queen was more independent than she let on.

We are hunting a kind of creature called a Beowolf, Queen. Yang replied. A black furry monster that looks like a hybrid between a wolf and a human, with plates of bony armor on its back and head. As for why we're hunting it, a pack of them attacked our hive cluster just before I ordered you to be spawned. The Zerglings tore them apart, but some of them ran off. We're hunting the stragglers down and finishing the job.

"Understood, My Queen. None who stand against the Swarm shall live!" Aaand back to the monotone, it seemed-despite the nature of her declaration, the Queen still sounded like a prerecorded message rather than an actual personality. Yang made a mental note to ask Abathur about it, maybe have him look into increasing the intelligence of her Queens.

Suddenly, the Zerglings situated at the front of the group came to a sharp halt and hunkered down to the ground behind a stand of evergreen bushes, with the smallest one giving a short, sharp hiss to alert its queen; they had found the rest of the Grimm. Yang immediately crouched down, gesturing for her taller zerg to do the same, and joined her 'hounds' behind the stand of shrubbery. She grinned to herself at what she saw.

Eleven Beowolves and one Alpha, the latter standing at about eight feet in height, were trudging through the woods in front of the hunting party, all of them suffering from quite serious wounds. The bite and claw marks of the Zerglings still leaked blood onto the icy ground, and several of the Grimm were missing portions of their bony armor, the delicate grey skin underneath torn open and leaking even more vital fluids. One or two were actually limping, the Achilles tendons on their hind legs cleanly severed and the useless limbs dragging along on the ground behind the hobbled monsters as they shuffled along on all fours.

Perfect; we found the stragglers, and they have no idea that we're here. The firestarter thought to herself, glancing around the woods as the gears in her head started to turn. After a few seconds of thought, she turned back towards her forces and telepathically relayed their orders to them.

Roaches, burrow underneath the Grimm in the back and take them down. I want all Hydralisk and Queen fire to focus on the healthier-looking ones and on any that try to make a run for it; the Zerglings and I will take care of the rest. We attack on the count of three.

One…

The Hydralisks brandished their claws, the thousands of quills on their backs rising like the hackles of a dog, while the Queen raised its limbs, spines ready to fire.

Two…

The Zerglings fanned out and quietly circled around the Beowolves, darting through the shadows and sticking to the cover provided by trees, bushes, and rocks as they crept towards their prey, ready to strike. At the same time, the Roaches' forelegs and claws tore deep furrows into the earth, their large shelled bodies disappearing beneath the ground within seconds; a faint bulge in the ground was the only sign of the burrowing monsters' presence as they cruised towards the stragglers like land-going sharks. Yang herself flicked her wrists; at once, her hands encased themselves in armor plating and vicious talons sprouted from her fingers.

…Three. Time to raise hell.

Immediately, the ground exploded right behind two Beowolves near the back of the group as the Roaches burst from the ground in twin sprays of dirt and gravel. The zerg's armored bodies slammed into the lycanthropic monsters, their enormous pincers plunging into the Grimm's furry hides, ripping and piercing it as easily as they had torn through earth and stone. Sprays of purple acid flew from the insectoid monsters' mouths, and the wolf-beasts howled in agony as the toxic compounds began eating through their fur, hides, and flesh at an incredible rate.

The rest of the pack, hearing their comrades' dying screams and the gurgles of the Roaches, immediately tried to scatter, but they were almost instantly cut off as the Zerglings leapt out of cover, charging from all sides and screeching like demons. Within seconds, the slaughter had begun.

Hydralisk and Queen spines whistled through the air from behind the treeline, the organic projectiles finding their mark almost every time. One Beowolf was killed instantly as a quill pierced its eye, burying itself in its brain, while other members of the pack howled in pain as the bony projectiles tore through them, puncturing hide, fur, and bony armor with ease. One Beowolf managed to avoid the initial volley of spines, bounding into the woods, but its path was quickly blocked by a Hydralisk. The wolf-like Grimm snarled at the obstructing alien and reared up onto its hind legs to attack, but before it could even raise a claw towards the monster, its intestines suddenly found themselves on the outside of its body with but a single flick of the Hydralisk's scythe-like claws. As the Beowolf slumped to the ground, whimpering in pain, the snakelike monster loomed over it, hissing menacingly as it brought its blades down again and again on its opponent, reducing the unlucky Grimm to nothing more than a pile of slowly-dissolving gore and severed limbs within seconds.

The Zerglings, on the other hand, were in the thick of combat, snarling and cackling as their razor-sharp claw blades ripped through their opponents' flesh. This time, the Beowolves were wise to the zerg's tricks, actually managing to inflict several serious wounds on the attacking aliens with their razor-sharp claws, but they were relatively few and far between compared to the vicious blows of their attackers. The lizard-like monsters plunged their claws into still-open wounds and pulled them open even more, sliced off clawed fingers, toes, and tails with their bladed limbs, and sank their razor-sharp teeth into their opponents' furry hides, biting off chunks of meat like giant reptilian piranhas.

And then there was Yang.

The blonde brawler had been at the forefront of her Zerglings' charge, slamming shoulder-first into the closest Beowolf and slashing her claws across its throat before it could even snarl in shock. Using the monster's falling corpse as a springboard, the firebrand leapt into the thick of the Grimm and started swinging, the thumps of chitin-plated fists slamming into shadowy flesh and the wolf monsters' yelps of pain practically music to the blonde brawler's ears as she tore through the dark-furred lupine creatures. Sending one Beowolf flying with a vicious uppercut, Yang nailed another of the canine monsters squarely in the abdomen, following up her initial strike with a backhand to the face that sent a spiderweb of cracks across the monster's bony helmet-like armor. Adrenaline rushing through her veins, Yang grabbed the wounded Grimm roughly by the ears with both hands and yanked its head down, swinging her leg upwards at the same time and smashing the shadowy beast's skull-like face against her kneecap, its bone-plated head cracking open like an egg with a loud krrracck! The blonde brawler let out a wordless whoop of murderous joy as the jet-black monster slumped to the ground, the pulverized mush that was its face moments ago trickling from its caved-in cranium onto the snowy soil; after all these months of lying in bed, she was finally kicking ass again!

The Alpha Beowolf, finally snapping out of its shock at the ambush, let out a primal roar of fury in response to Yang's cry, snatching a passing Zergling off the ground and sinking its jagged fangs into the lizard-like hide of its neck, tearing out a huge chunk of flesh from the alien's throat before chucking the body like a ragdoll into the trunk of a tree, where it connected with a wet crunch. As the reptilian corpse slumped to the ground, leaving behind a long stain of blood as it slid down the side of the tree, the lycanthropic beast threw back its skeletal head and howled to the evening sky, then charged towards one of the Roaches and began slashing wildly at the armored zerg in a frenzy of razor-sharp claws; judging from the almost palpable desperation in the cry, there was no doubt in the infested human's mind that it was trying to summon more Grimm to its location. Well, if reinforcements were inbound, then there was no time like the present to start testing her new abilities.

Sending the Beowolf in front of her flying with a mighty punch square in the chest, Yang turned to the enormous Grimm, which was actually managing to do quite a bit of damage to the Roach, ripping and slashing at the zerg's chitin shell and ignoring the insectoid creature's attempts to fight back as it snapped at the shadowy canine beast's ankles.

"Hey, you! Fleabag!" She shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Over here, ya overgrown mutt!"

Snarling with rage, the Alpha shoved its wounded opponent away and turned to face the infested human, its hackles raised and its furious glare promising a slow, agonizing death.

Yang just smirked at the display. "Alright, then, Fluffy; got your attention." She grinned. "Now let's dance." With that, the blonde brawler raised her right arm and punched the air before her, willing the built-in weapon within to activate.

Immediately, a 2-inch-long shard of bone shaped like a tiny crossbow bolt flew from the 'barrel' on her wrist with a faint schick, whistling through the air as it streaked towards its target. The large Beowolf yowled in pain as the projectile punctured its armored right shoulder, punching through the monster's bony armor and embedding itself deep within its shadowy flesh, a not-insignificant stream of blood trickling out from around the wound and staining the white snow beneath the Grimm's clawed feet a deep crimson.

"So that's what they do." Yang muttered to herself before raising her other arm, punching the air again and willing the dart to fire once more. At once, another bony dart flew from her forearm with an identical schick to the first. This time, the jagged projectile buried itself in the Alpha Beowolf's chest, piercing a rib-like armor piece nearly dead center and earning another agonized cry from the shadowy canine creature.

"Bonebolt. Compressed, compacted version of Hydralisk spines. Armor-piercing capabilities unexpected, but acceptable." Abathur psychically rumbled, his interest clearly piqued by the wounded creature in front of his queen. "Specimen Alpha Beowolf contains potent essence. Must collect for use of Swarm."

Don't you worry your spidery little head, Abathur. The blonde messaged back, slowly advancing towards the giant Grimm with a manic grin on her face. I'm not about to let it get away. The Beowolf's ears flattened against its skull-like head as it growled at its smaller opponent, but the display didn't faze the Huntress in the slightest; the wolf monster was cornered, and they both knew it.

Yang grinned savagely at the 10-foot-tall Grimm, sharp teeth gleaming in the dying light, and activated her Semblance, her hair bursting into flame and bathing the clearing in flickering golden light. She took another step towards the monster, the sheer heat coming off of her melting the snow in a circle around her boot, then another… and then she leapt towards the Grimm, a wordless battle cry tearing itself free from her throat. For the first time in the age-old struggle between human and Grimm, the predator had truly become the prey.

The blonde brawler impacted the Alpha Beowolf with a solid punch to the chest that had her entire body weight behind it, breaking several of its already-damaged rib pieces and eliciting a breathless yelp of pain from her opponent as the air was forced out of its lungs. Ducking underneath a massive claw as it swung towards her head, Yang immediately followed up her strike with a sharp uppercut to the Grimm's jaw, sending a few of the beast's razor-sharp fangs flying with the sheer force of the punch and knocking the wolf monster back several dozen feet. Closing the newly-formed gap between her and the Grimm with another powerful leap, the blonde firestarter's claws whistled through the air as she slashed at her dark-furred opponent again and again, each blow ripping and tearing through the Beowolf's thick hide with ease. Finally, her barrage of claw strikes ended with a devastating right hook to the dark beast's left side, shattering several of its ribs with an audible crack and forcing the splintered pieces into their surrounding flesh. With an agonized roar of complete and utter contempt, the Beowolf desperately lunged towards the firebrand, jaws agape, only for the infested human to easily sidestep and deliver a hammer-like punch to the face, causing thousands of cracks to spiderweb across umbral wolf-beast's armored head.

Before the monster could cry out in agony, Yang grabbed the monstrous Grimm by the wrists, actually drawing a small amount of blood as her iron grip forced her claws to dig into the Beowolf's furred hide. The blonde firebrand's lilac eyes bored into the Grimm's orange-red ones, and she flashed a razor-toothed grin to it.

"Looks like you're about to be… disarmed." She quipped. With that, the zerg queen's grip tightened even more, further increasing the blood flow from her captive's wrists, and she pulled; with a wet tearing sound, the shadowy beast's arms were torn free from its body and tossed aside, hot blood streaming out of the twin shoulder stumps like a pair of miniature geysers. The Alpha Beowolf screamed in pain, but before it could even finish its agonized yowl, blood-stained claws swiped across its throat, slicing open its jugular like wet paper and painting the blonde brawler's armor-plated hand an even brighter shade of crimson. The sheer force behind the slash pushing it backwards, the wolf-monster fell to the ground with an almighty thud, faintly gurgling for a few seconds as it choked on its own blood before the red light in its eyes finally winked out.

Yang let out a wordless howl of victory as she slammed her knuckles together, relishing in the beautiful sound of armor-clad fist meeting fist that she had missed for so long. "Hell yeah!" She shouted to the evening sky, adrenaline roaring through her veins. "Yang Xiao Long is back, baby, and she's kicking ass and taking names!"

A quick look around the area was all the blonde firebrand needed to know that the battle was over: her Zerglings, now numbering eleven, were just now clambering off of the body of the last Beowolf, its slowly-dissolving black fur riddled with gaping wounds and broken chunks of armor, the Roaches were milling about in the middle of the battleground, and the pair of Hydralisks had slithered out from their cover in the treeline to investigate the carnage, sniffing around at the blood-soaked corpses.

Retracting her claws and tapping back into the Hive Mind, Yang mentally reached out to her Drones. Alright, listen up! She messaged. I've got a big pile of Grimm for you guys to pick up. Be quick about getting here, though; they're going to dissolve pretty soon-

"Alert. Multiple unidentified lifeforms detected. Approaching forces from northeast." Abathur's disembodied voice suddenly warned, cutting off his queen's message. "Detection not recommended. Proposed plan: take cover. Evaluate threat."

"Crap." Yang muttered to herself. Apparently, the noise of her fight had gotten somebody's attention; she couldn't afford to be discovered yet! Hang on; all Drones, forget what I just said and stay back for now. Everything with me, something's coming towards us and we can't let ourselves be seen. Hide, now!

As soon as the order had been given, the blonde brawler dove behind a nearby bush; as she did so, the Hydralisks' claws tore into the earth like pickaxes as they submerged themselves underneath the soil, quickly being followed by the Roach pair, the Queen, and a couple of Zerglings, while the rest of the latter creatures leapt upwards into the trees, fluttering their four wings like insects and they did so and quickly concealing themselves among the branches.

Abathur's warning had come just in time: within moments of her last unit concealing itself, several different voices reached Yang's ears, growing louder as they drew closer.

"Heard something over there!"

"Sounded like Grimm; Beowolves, if the howl's anything to go by."

"Well, move your asses, then; if someone's over there, we've gotta get to them before the mutts do!"

At last, a group of four Faunus emerged from the bushes; all of them were clad in black-and-white plates of armor, with similarly-colored skull-like masks covering their faces. Yang bit back a growl at the sight, her eyes momentarily flashing bright red in fury.

White Fang. Of course the bastards had relocated to Patch as well. The blonde firebrand was sorely tempted to leap into the thick of the terrorists and start cracking skulls right then and there, but she repressed the urge.

Gotta calm down, gotta keep my cool. Yang thought to herself, closing her eyes for a moment and taking deep breaths in an attempt to rein in her internal cries for bloodshed. I need to put a plan together before I do anything I might regret. As much as she wanted to rip the Faunus a new one, she couldn't just blindly charge in-the last time the blonde powerhouse had tried that, she had lost her right arm. She needed to be cautious about this for once.

After taking a few more breaths, Yang peered out from her leafy cover again, looking up at the shadowy shapes huddled in the trees above her, then towards the ground where monsters lay in weight. The Faunus didn't know they were there, she thought to herself. Their guard was down; they would never expect an ambush. All that the blonde brawler needed to do was give the word to spring the trap, and the zerg would fall upon the masked terrorists like wolves among sheep; they would never see them coming. All she had to do was just give that simple little telepathic command, and she could start carrying out her revenge.

Despite not feeling the effect of the cold weather around her, a small shiver slithered its way down the firebrand's spine at the realization. This was it; the point of no return. Her family would be surprised, maybe a little freaked out at first, but they would probably have ultimately gotten over the announcement of her new hive cluster; the fact that Abathur had given her back her arm would definitely have put the zerg in their good graces. But killing White Fang members; killing people? That was a different matter entirely. Ruby's face, frozen in a look of disgust and horror, momentarily appeared in Yang's mind's eye; if she went through with what she was starting to seriously consider, then she'd have let herself sink down to the level of these thugs.

I'll become another monster; just another threat that needs to be put down.

The golden-haired powerhouse shook her head and gave a quiet sarcastic snicker at that, her body temperature beginning to rise along with her anger as months-old memories began to resurface: memories of the boos and jeers from the crowd as she was led out of the Amity Colosseum, surrounded by guards and handcuffed as if she were a convict being led to the noose; Vale burning as Grimm and White Fang alike rampaged through the streets; the disapproving eyes of Ironwood, Ozpin, Uncle Qrow, even Blake, the one person that she thought would be able to relate to being framed, the one person she thought she could trust. As far as Remnant was concerned, Yang was already a monster-all that the pact with the Successor had done was seal the deal. Even if it weren't for the zerg and the firebrand recovered from her loss by herself, her life was still effectively over: nobody in their right mind would ever want to employ the crippled Huntress who had spit in the face of a worldwide icon of peace.

Yang grinned maliciously; a savage smile that was half leer and all teeth. If all the world would ever see her as was a monster, then perhaps it was time to start acting the part.

Abathur, get ready for some new essence to study. The blonde brawler telepathically ordered, her tone icy and her eyes starting to glow red once more. I think it's about time that you got… an inside look at who we're going to be fighting against. She didn't wait to see if Abathur had reacted to her morbid pun as she reached out to her surrounding forces, relaying her orders to the assembled zerg beasts.

Meanwhile, the White Fang patrol was cautiously moving through the trees, their weapons raised and their keen eyes peering through the twilight gloom of the forest, scanning for potential threats, until they came to a stop at the sight of the slaughtered Beowolf pack.

"Well, looks like we found the source of the commotion." A fox-eared Faunus with fiery red shoulder-length hair joked, earning a solid punch in the shoulder from one of his fellows, a brunette woman with a pair of tiny deer antlers on her head and a rifle cradled in one arm, the power behind the blow nearly causing him to drop the mace he was wielding.

"No shit, genius." The antlered woman growled. "Least the damn things aren't our problem anymore. Course, our problem now is finding whoever or whatever did this to them." All around her, Zerglings silently crept through the branches overhead, forming a ring above the grunts' heads as they regarded the beings below them with cold, predatory eyes, awaiting the signal from their queen. They would not receive it yet; Yang was listening intently from behind her cover, hanging on to every word they said. She had been out of commission for months; any information she could get on the state of the world was welcome. Even monsters needed to catch up on current events.

"Not sure if that's a good idea, ma'am. I mean, look at this; these things were cut to friggin' pieces." A tall, heavyset walrus-tusked grunt with an impressive mustache of long greasy whiskers muttered, poking at the armless Alpha Beowolf corpse with the serrated tip of his spear. Below his feet, the earth shifted ever so slightly as the two Roaches buried beneath the earth began to move, putting their submerged selves between the Faunus scouts and the direction that they had come from.

"Heh, it kinda reminds me of the Boss' work." A fourth soldier carrying a longsword chuckled, his thin canine tail wagging. "Remember that blonde chick a couple a' months ago?"

"The bimbo the traitor was palling around with? Ohoho, yeah, she went down like a ton of bricks!" A fifth soldier with the twisted hands of a chameleon hefting a shotgun with the blades of a battleaxe attached laughed with a harsh, raspy voice. The rest of the group joined their companion in quiet mirth at the memory, never noticing the faint snarl that sounded from the bushes at the remark.

"Shame we couldn't get the rest of her friends, though." The tusked grunt grumbled, testing the tip of his spear on his thumb and jabbing the weapon at an imaginary foe. "Would've been nice to hear the Schnee whelp's screams."

"Ah, lighten up, man." The fox-featured extremist responded, giving his larger companion a friendly slap on the back. "Atlas will be ours soon; then the Schnee family will be ours to play around with."

Crap. Yang thought to herself. From what she had seen of Atlas' weapons during the fight at Beacon and heard from Weiss, the Schnee heiress' home kingdom was ridiculously well-defended. Things were not looking good if these soldiers were talking about the place as if capturing it was a foregone conclusion.

The bigger man smiled maliciously. "Good. Showing the traitor her team's heads will be worth the wait. Reckon the red-haired one'll scream real good?"

"Oh, definitely." The first soldier cackled. "As soon as she sees the bimbo's hair up on the boss' mantlepiece, she'll be squealing like a stuck pig before Lady Cinder even gets started on breaking her!"

That did it; any scrap of willpower Yang was using to keep herself from lunging out evaporated as the blonde brawler's anger flared like a miniature supernova, her world turning a brilliant shade of scarlet as the White Fang goons' laughter reached her ears. Touching her hair was already asking for a beating, yes but nobody, nobody threatened Ruby in front of her and walked away with all of their limbs. With a furious growl, the blonde brawler clenched her fist and raised her right arm, preparing to launch a Bonebolt towards the red-headed grunt…

-No not enough I need more power need more fire need to blast need to BURN-

Without thinking, the Huntress unclenched her fist, opened her hand, keeping her fingers curved and her palm pointed at the Faunus goon, and focused, reaching deep down within herself and calling upon her innate stores of Aura. Almost immediately, tiny golden embers flickered into existence at the tips of the blonde powerhouse's fingers, dancing down her digits and coming together to form a tiny thimble-sized sphere floating just above the palm of her hand; at first, the sparks trickled down in ones or twos, but the trickle soon strengthened a flow, dozens of motes of Aura quickly converging within the blonde brawler's palm to create a roiling ball of golden flames about the size of a baseball.

Yang's mind reeled at the sight, but she quickly brushed aside her shock and let her body follow through with the reflexive action, relaxing her body and focusing more Aura into her hand. As soon as she did so, the individual embers gave way to form five solid streams, pouring more and more raw energy into the fiery sphere as it rapidly ballooned in size to a bit larger than her clenched fist. The blonde brawler looked down at the churning ball of energy and nodded to herself, the streams of Aura feeding into the projectile petering out-something in the back of her mind told her that this would be enough energy. Letting the subconscious instructor take over again, Yang refocused her glare towards the fox Faunus, shifted her footing into a more solid stance, and willed the ball of energy to fire.

With an explosive bang, the fireball blasted forth from the palm of its creator, a tail of golden embers trailing behind it like a miniature comet as it ripped through the cold air with a barely audible whistling noise. Blasting through the bush the infested powerhouse had been hiding behind as if it wasn't even there, the fireball slammed into its masked target with an almost electrical hissing sound, crashing into the fox Faunus like a tidal wave and exploding into a blast of red-gold flames like a water balloon. The blast's shockwave tossed the fox-eared extremist back like a ragdoll, his agonized shriek filling the air as the fires burned through his armor and licked at his flesh, but he was almost immediately cut off when he finally impacted the earth once more almost a dozen feet away with a painful-sounding thump, carving a sizable furrow into the ground as the masked terrorist's momentum carried him another ten feet or so farther before finally coming to a stop. The rest of the extremists, largely unscathed by the blast thanks to their Aura save for a few scorched patches of clothing, shouted in confusion to one another as they drew their weapons, pointing them at the smoking remains of the bush that the blast had come from… and the flaming-haired blonde powerhouse standing behind it.

Despite the incredible events that had just transpired, Yang kept a straight face; she could freak out over the fact that she had just thrown a freaking fireball later. Right now, she would just roll with it-it was time for killing. The Huntress flashed a razor-toothed smile at the masked Faunus as she stalked forwards, her eyes glowing blood-red; the White Fang soldiers' masks may have hidden their eyes, but the zerg queen could clearly see the fear on their faces. It didn't take a psychic to know what was going through the three terrorists' minds:

Oh shit, she heard everything.

The antlered Faunus was the first to speak up. "So you're somehow back in action." She sneered and spat on the ground, a slight quiver in her voice being the only sign of fear in her tone. "Figures; you and the rest of the traitor's team just don't know when to quit. New Aura trick or not, though, we still outnumber you four-" Behind the deer Faunus, the red-headed man Yang had nailed with the fireball was slowly getting back up to his feet, groaning in pain. The woman's confidence visibly grew as she noticed her companion from the corner of her eye, standing up a bit straighter and raising her chin. "Make that five to one. Run along home, little girl." The terrorist smirked. "Maybe, just maybe, we'll give you a head start."

If the White Fang's words scared Yang, she didn't show it; the blonde brawler's slasher villain-esque grin merely grew wider still, her eyes glowing an even brighter, almost demonic shade of red. "Oh, one of us is definitely outnumbered, all right." The firebrand purred, her voice practically dripping with false sweetness. With a flick of her wrists, armor plating encased her forearms once again, and blade-like talons sprang from her fingertips; the golden-haired powerhouse felt no small amount of satisfaction from the look of surprise on the terrorists' faces when the fact that she had two arms again suddenly hit them. Yang slammed her fists together, the resulting krack ringing out like a gunshot. "It's just not who you'd expect."

With that, the blonde firestarter telepathically reached out to the zerg creatures clustered around her. Queen, Roach, Hydralisk, Zergling-they all knew exactly what their queen wanted them to do. All she had to do was give the command.

She gave it. Now!

At once, the zerg surged forth: seven Zerglings screeched their eagle-like hunting cries as they leapt down from the trees while four more of their kind erupted from the soil alongside the Roaches and Hydralisks, roaring and trilling in frenzied bloodlust. Three of the lizard-like beast sprinted towards the wounded fox-eared terrorist, falling upon him like a pack of rabid wolves; his Aura already severely depleted from Yang' fireball, the White Fang member was torn to shreds within seconds, his screams quickly being cut short when one of the zerg creatures buried its fangs into his throat; their faces stained red with still-steaming blood, the trio of zerg piled off of their victim and dashed towards the surviving Faunus, chittering and calling in bloodthirsty anticipation. Yang herself put her head down and charged towards the group of White Fang with a bestial roar, her hair glowing just as brightly as the inferno of pure undiluted hatred roaring within her. The attack on the Grimm had just been a test run; this was a real fight.

An advancing Roach was actually knocked back a bit as an ice Dust-infused rifle round slammed into its armored side, courtesy of the rifle-bearing deer Faunus. The insectoid creature let out a cry of pain as hairline cracks began to spread across its carapace, its dense armor unable to cope with the rapid shift to near-absolute zero, and frantically retracted its head into its shell like a giant insectoid turtle just as another bullet exploded into a blast of fire where its skull had been moments ago-had the Roach been a moment too slow, the shot would have most likely taken its head clean off.

Before the riflewoman could fire another shot towards her armored target, however, a clawed hand snatched the woman up by the back of her neck with a grip like iron while two more held the antlered extremist's arms to her sides, the razor-sharp talons on the ends of the fingers digging into the Faunus' skin and drawing a small amount of blood. Looming over the smaller being like an angry mountain, the Queen lifted the squirming and shouting deer-woman up to eye level like a sack of potatoes, one of its unoccupied claws snatching the rifle out of its captive's hands and tossing it away into the woods.

"For the Swarm!" The alien beast bellowed with uncharacteristic fury as it hefted the terrified Faunus over its head, then hurled the masked terrorist into the air with all its might, slamming the antlered woman into the earth hard enough to leave a small crater in the ground nearly a dozen feet away from where the zerg creature was standing. Weakly lifting herself up from the hole her impact had made, the riflewoman didn't even have time to stand back up before the Queen was bearing down on her again, letting out a cry of rage as it brought its spine-covered appendages to bear, letting loose a spray of razor-sharp quills at point-blank range.

A short distance off, Yang headed the charge as the rest of her forces quickly closed the gap between themselves and the remaining three Faunus. The panicking terrorists quickly opened fire upon the hoard of monsters, pumping all of the ammunition they had into the encroaching swarm in a storm of bullets and Dust rounds. One or two Zerglings fell to the ground dead, their bodies pockmarked with bullet holes, but the rest of the group kept going, the Hydralisks returning fire with their own projectiles while Yang soaked up most of the shots; the bullets fell harmlessly against the former Huntress' skin like so many raindrops, the impact of each individual shot causing a fresh spike of raw power within her body. The dog-tailed Faunus frantically swung his sword, which had reconfigured into a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bayonet, at the blonde brawler, the barrel reconfiguring into a blade just before it completed its lethal arc, inches away from Yang's temple…

Only for the firestarter's clawed hand to lunge forwards in a barely-visible blur of motion and grab hold of the tip of the blade between two armor-plated fingers, stopping the weapon's trajectory mere millimeters from her face.

The zerg queen smiled sadistically at the petrified terrorist, her grip refusing to budge even as the canine extremist frantically tried to yank the blade away with all his might. "Trying to play at being your boss?" She chirped. "Sorry, chump, but your sword skills just aren't going to cut it." With that, the infested Huntress wrenched the sword out of the White Fang grunt's hands with a single swift yank, the armor plating covering her own hands allowing her to hold the weapon by the blade with no difficulty. Hefting the large sword as if it weighed nothing, Yang drew her makeshift club up behind her head like a baseball bat and swung, the crossguard connecting with the side of the former owner's head with a very satisfying crack; were it not for his Aura, the firebrand was pretty sure that the blow would have knocked the terrorist out cold. She swung again, this time hitting the masked soldier squarely in the face and breaking his nose with a wet crunch; the third swing struck him in the chest with a harsh krack, putting a large dent in the canine Faunus' chestplate and sending him falling to the ground. As the extremist gasped and wheezed for breath, Yang lunged forwards, tossing the sword to the side and falling upon him in a flurry of talons and fists. The smell of blood in the air, on the ground, and on her hands filled her with a new surge of energy, pushing her to swing faster and faster, harder and harder. The dog-tailed Faunus didn't stand a chance; within minutes, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, his chest a gaping mess of pulverized gore. Picking her blood-stained self up off her prey's body, the blonde brawler sprinted towards the next two terrorists, laughing maniacally. After all these years of learning and training to fight monsters, she finally had the chance to be the monster… and she was loving every second of it.

As the firebrand drew closer, one of the Roaches spat acidic bile directly into the face of the big walrus-tusked grunt, sending him crashing to the ground as he screamed and scraped at his face, only to be silenced as the claws of the Hydralisk pair tore into him, while the last remaining grunt turned tail from the corpse of a Zergling his shotgun-axe had made short work of and fled, running as fast as his legs could carry him in a mad dash for the tree line. Yang snarled in fury as the lizard Faunus sprinted away, the sheer heat coming off of her body somehow intensifying even more. Oh, no you fucking don't! She had already lost six friends, her sister, her teammates, and her right arm; there was no way in hell that she was losing her zerg as well! The ex-Huntress quickly raised her arm, took aim like she had so many times before with Ember Celica… and fired.

With a schick and a whistle like music to Yang's ears, the Bonebolt streaked through the air and buried itself directly in the small of the White Fang soldier's back, sending him tumbling to the ground with a cry of pain as his legs gave out beneath him-by the looks of it, she'd hit his spinal cord. Her quarry subdued, the infested Huntress began to stalk towards her prey, the sheer heat coming off of her literally burning her steps into the ground.

The White Fang scrambled out of the dirt and started to crawl away from the advancing zerg queen as fast as he possibly could, his paralyzed lower body dragging behind him; before he could get very far, however, a boot planted itself squarely on the Faunus' back and pushed downwards, pinning him to the ground and holding him still.

"You aren't going anywhere." Yang snarled, roughly grabbing her captive by the back of the head and mashing his face into the cold, hard dirt before she yanked his head back up, hissing her words directly into his ear. Strangely, the masked terrorist didn't struggle at all beneath the zerg queen's boot; instead, the lizard Faunus glared up at his captor defiantly, his face twisting into a sneer.

"Y-you bitch." He rasped, spitting a gob of blood at the ground. "You think that this… that this will change anything? The war with Vale is over. We won." Despite his situation, the masked extremist choked out a humorless laugh. "Pet bugs or no, we'll have our new world, even if we have to burn the old one to the ground!"

The blonde brawler did not respond at first; she merely chuckled darkly and made a 'come here' gesture with a clawed hand to the monsters all around her. At once, her forces closed in, slowly circling around the two like sharks about to go in for the kill.

"Bold words, Faunus." Yang all but purred, her hair slowly losing its shimmering glow but her eyes retaining their crimson hue. "Shame that they won't save you. Because this?" She waved a hand to the carnage all around her. "This is only the beginning." The former Huntress flashed a gallows grin to her captive; blood stained her sharpened fangs, and the firebrand knew that none of it was hers. "A shame that you won't be around to see it."

With that, Yang lifted her foot from the Faunus' back… and brought it down again on the back of his head as hard as she could, crushing the terrorist's cranium underneath her heel like an eggshell with a wet-sounding crunch, killing him instantly and spattering gray matter across the cold ground. Without another word, the infested human pulled her foot free from the gory mess and contacted her Drones once again.

Sorry about that. She messaged. The pile just got bigger.

30 minutes later...

Yang tossed the last chunk of dissolving Beowolf flesh into the mouth-hole of the Hatchery, wiping the blood from her hands. "Alright, looks like that's the last of it." She said to herself, turning and heading towards the Evolution Chamber.

The Drones had arrived at the kill site fairly quickly, and had set upon the dead Grimm with gusto, their new digestive upgrades making short work of the tainted meat until the gliding creatures' stomachs could hold no more, upon which Yang and the rest of the zerg creatures dragged the uneaten portions of the hunt back to the hive. This time, almost none of the biomass had dissolved, with the Dust crystals within the White Fang soldiers' weapons further adding to the haul.

Overall, every last one of the fleeing Grimm had been killed and the entire White Fang squad had been wiped out, with only four Zergling casualties and two more sustaining considerable injuries-the Hydralisks had largely avoided anything more serious than minor scratches thanks to their ranged positions, while the wounded Roach's bullet holes had quickly stopped bleeding after the fight. Her Queen-Yang really needed to give it a name or something-had practically run itself ragged regurgitating massive amounts of healing slime over the wounded zerg creature, but the blonde brawler had ordered her to stop after Abathur notified her that such extensive care was unnecessary-in the Evolution Master's words, "Minor injuries unimportant. Zerg tissue, particularly that of Roach strain, repairs rapidly; wounds quickly healed. Organism Queen must rest. Of no use to Swarm dead."

Speaking of Abathur, the spiderlike zerg had immediately slithered out of the Evolution Chamber when Yang, dragging the still-dissolving Alpha Beowolf carcass behind her by the ankle with one hand and carrying its torn-off limbs underneath her other arm, and the rest of the corpse-bearing zerg had entered the clearing, examining the Grimm and Faunus cadavers with keen interest: his face betrayed no emotions, but the blonde brawler could practically taste the Evolution Master's internal excitement through the hive mind. Quickly tearing several chunks of flesh free from each of the bodies and snatching up a few of the grunts' weapons, the zerg scientist had then sped back to his 'lab,' for lack of a better term, to analyze the new samples: as his queen had opted to melt all of the Beowolf remains from the previous attack into biomass in order to kickstart the hive cluster's growth, this would be the first time that the Evolution Master had examined pure Grimm essence in earnest.

Yang hadn't heard so much of a peep out of Abathur during the entire time it had taken for her and the Drones to tear apart the bodies of both sides' dead and drop them off into the Hatchery. It had been a bit disconcerting at first to cannibalize the bodies of her own forces, but the blonde powerhouse had quickly gotten used to it-it did make some degree of sense, in a gross sort of way. Why let scavengers consume zerg bodies when the biomass used to spawn them could be reused? As for the White Fang grunts… the firebrand knew that she should have been sickened just from handling the extremists' bodies-tearing the Faunus corpses apart in order to feed the pieces into the Hatchery should have, by all accounts, caused her to lose her lunch. Try as she might, however, the blonde brawler hadn't felt the barest hint of unease dismantling the corpses; Yang didn't want to admit it, but she had felt no small amount of satisfaction tearing the already-pretty badly mangled terrorists' bodies limb from limb.

Entering the Evolution Chamber, the blonde brawler found her top scientist busily analyzing a genetic structure, plucking out bars and segments of the spectral DNA helix and examining them before replacing them, occasionally dispelling the structure to switch to a second genetic blueprint. The deceased Grimm-Drone in the central pool had been replaced by the two chunks of meat-as an afterthought, the firebrand had ordered it to be consumed while she had been coming back to the hive.

"So, Abathur," she asked. "What have you found so far? You seemed pretty eager to take a look at everything."

"Essence of Grimm organisms, Faunus species potent. Much potential." The Evolution Master replied as he turned towards his queen. "Material Dust crystal, however, far more interesting. Extensive possibilities. Of great use to Swarm."

Yang grinned at that. "Just what I wanted to hear. What have you got so far? C'mon, lay it on me."

Abathur nodded and continued. "Essence of Grimm organisms easy to work with. Genetic structures high similar to zerg. Reason unknown, but useful. Anatomy of organism Beowolf primarily adapted for combat. Highly developed skeletomuscular system, adrenal glands. Can implement in Zergling and Hydralisk; increase natural armor, physical strength. Natural armor plating can be integrated into hive structures; increase defensive capabilities. Innate ability to sense psionic energy: very useful. Can integrate into Zergling genome, greatly enhance tracking capabilities."

"And the Faunus?" The firebrand asked.

"Essence of organisms designated 'Faunus'... unusual." The Evolution Master reported. "Clearly subspecies of organism Yang Xiao Long's race, but closer inspection of essence reveals multiple… oddities. Essence of organisms Yang Xiao Long and Faunus highly similar to Terran genetic material, but differences evident. Greater physical capabilities, innate psionic abilities; in many ways, analogous to protoss essence."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hang on a second." Yang interrupted, raising a hand as if she were in class. "I'm... a little bit lost here. Psionics? Protoss? What are those?"

"Psionics: capacity to induce paranormal phenomena through use of the mind. Examples: projecting blasts of energy, enhancing and repairing damage to body, telepathy, telekinesis. Extremely rare in Terrans, but seemingly innate to species of organism Yang Xiao Long." As Abathur spoke, images and sequences flashed through his queen's mind: people lifting massive objects into the air, healing their wounds, and levelling buildings with the power of their minds.

As the information trickled into Yang's mind, her face lit up in understanding. "Oh, I think I know what you mean." She said. "Here on Remnant, we call that 'Aura' - what you just describes lines up pretty well with what people here can do with it. So people from where the zerg are from generally don't have anything like that?"

"Correct. Relatively few psionic terrans; must undergo intense training to manifest powers. Species of organism Yang Xiao Long, however, appears to be naturally gifted with psionic power. Individual essence each displays unknown utilization of psionic ability; unprecedented in previous essence studied."

The firebrand nodded enthusiastically. "That would be a Semblance, Abathur. It's something that you can do with your Aura or psionic energy or whatever you want to call it that's different with each individual person. My little sister's Semblance is super-speed, mine is that I get stronger each time I take damage, and my partner-well, ex-partner now-could make duplicates of herself to take hits for her." Yang's gaze morphed into a scowl momentarily at the memory of Blake before shifting back to her excited grin. "Wait, could you, I dunno, take Semblances and give them to the zerg?" The infested Huntress' eyes practically sparkled as visions of Zerglings bursting into golden flames and sporting glowing red eyes danced through her head.

The Evolution Master just shook his mushroom-like head.

"Conditions for presence of psionic abilities extremely specific. Slightest change will destroy all traces of psionic potential. Integration into Swarm too risky. Insufficient information to allow for proper procedure."

"Aw, man." Yang groaned. "So, what about these protoss you mentioned?"

The Evolution Master uttered a rasping hiss that the blonde brawler supposed was the closest thing he could make to a sigh. "Species Protoss: race of beings created by xel'naga, even older than zerg Swarm. Possess highly advanced technology, extensive skill in psionics. Unfortunately, essence incompatible with zerg DNA. Cannot assimilate." Once again, images flashed through Yang's mind: this time, they were of tall blue-skinned mouthless beings with glowing eyes and thin tendrils growing from crests on the backs of their heads. Clad in golden armor, the 'protoss' were depicted fighting hordes of zerg with glowing blue blades of energy, elegant-looking gold ships and robots, and enormous blasts of psionic energy.

The firebrand nodded. "Alright, got it. Now what about the Dust crystals? I remember that you picked up a couple of those as well. I assume that you can do something with those, too?"

The Evolution Master nodded. "Substance Dust crystals contain unique forms of energy. Very powerful; can potentially integrate into Swarm. Many possible uses."

Yang nodded at the news, a crafty grin creeping onto her face as an idea came to her. "Let me guess; upgrading the Roaches is one of those things?" She snickered. "Add some red Dust to their acid, and we'll really be starting things off with a bang!"

Abathur's many eyes rolled in their sockets at the joke. "Unfortunately, pun quality improvement currently impossible." He replied, somehow shifting his monotone voice into even more of a deadpan than usual.

"Ah, you'll warm up to me eventually, Abathur." Yang replied, playfully socking the Evolution Master in the arm as she stifled a yawn. "Oop, sorry."

The Abathur looked at his queen curiously at the sound. "Organism Yang Xiao Long currently experiencing fatigue. Rest recommended."

"What? Nah, I'm fine. Just a bit-*yawn*-tired is all." The blonde firebrand denied, unsuccessfully trying to suppress another yawn. Abathur was right: she was exhausted. Weeks of only a few fitful periods of nightmare-filled sleep combined with the strenuous activities of the day had left her drained.

"Correction. Organism Yang Xiao Long suffering from major fatigue. Rest required - exhaustion imminent."

"All right, all right, Abathur, I get the picture!" Yang finally conceded, throwing her new hands into the air. "I'll get some rest, I promise. I… guess that I could use some sleep, anyway. Make sure that the hive doesn't fall apart while I'm out, alright?"

"Affirmative."

The hive cluster now in the Evolution Master's capable hands… claws…. whatever they were, Yang exited the Evolution Chamber and lay down on a patch of creep next to the Hatchery, resting her head on her newly regrown right arm to keep her hair out of the grey slime. Despite the falling snow coating most of the clearing in a thin skin of frost, the blonde firestarter didn't really feel chilly-her new zerg biology kept her nice and warm, although she wouldn't turn down a blanket right about now.

As soon as the thought left Yang's mind, creep began to rise from the ground around the blonde brawler like black waves, wrapping around her body as if it were a slightly rubbery, but surprisingly warm and soft blanket. The hive's Zerglings gathered around their queen as well, some pacing around and standing guard while the rest lay down around their queen, huddling around her as if she were one of the pack. The smallest of the bunch plopped itself down right next to her, snuggling up as if it were a scaly fanged version of Zwei.

Yang smiled at the zerg creature and moved herself a bit closer to it, resting her head on its scaly body. Despite her earlier insistence that she wasn't tired, the blonde firestarter was drifting off to sleep within just a few minutes. As she slipped into slumber, one thought lingered in the Huntress' mind.

Time's a-ticking, Adam. I'm coming for you.

Finally finished this sucker! I'm sorry for such a long delay in between updates, guys: I got a job for the summer that demanded a lot of my attention, and I had a bad case of writer's block for the longest time. But it's finally here: the next chapter of Bloody Evolution! And so we begin Yang's gradual descent into zerghood.

At first, this chapter was going to be relatively by-the-numbers, but Deadrich18's idea really sat well with me. So, I redid the entire chapter based on his suggestion, and honestly, I'm satisfied with how it's gone.

As always, leave a review or send me a PM if you have any ideas for the story, a new type of zerg, have constructive criticism, or just want to say that you liked the story! It really makes my day to read your reviews!

Raging Archon: I did get quite a bit of inspiration from Carbot for how the Queen behaves. She's a very interesting character to write. As for the rest of your review, well, I can't give up all my secrets, now can I? ;)

.1690: Don't worry; Yang may have gotten an insectoid makeover, but she still knows who she is. She wouldn't harm Ruby.

Mysterioustgexpert: Oh, it's going to be glorious.

Guest: Yeah, Dust is going to be quite a big part of Yang's Swarm, but it's not going to be the only way they'll adapt.

Pandadoesrandomstuff: There probably won't be any Leviathans in this story, no, but time will tell otherwise.

Aahahahhahahahaha: You'll see.

Akshka: You don't know the half of it. By the time Yang really starts fighting dirty, Ironwood's gonna need a stiff drink every time he hears a mission report!

Eye of Sauron: Time will tell. :P I don't think that the universe is ready for two Abathurs in one place, though.

LordNogrockLock648: I might have more zerg getting personalities of their own. Your review has given me some ideas... Also, I've posted a link to my dA page on my profile so that people can get to it easily. Thankfully, there's not a lot of stuff like this story to gum up searches for it, although there is that Warhammer 40K/RWBY fic that has a very similar name. Honestly, I totally forgot it existed until I had entered the name for this story.

Eulaliaaaa: Great to get input from a pro Starcraft player for this story! However, there is one problem with the strategy you've described: resources. At the moment, Yang doesn't really have the necessary biomass to make a lot of Drones. Also, I'm playing a little bit loose with the game's mechanics-without limitations like how much a computer can load, I've got a lot more freedom with my ideas. Also, Dust crystals have a ridiculous amount of energy within them-pretty much all of the buildings she has now besides the Hatchery were made from the biomass granted by that collection of Dust crystals she swiped.

OBSERVER01: As soon as I figure out how to implement it, let's just say that there's gonna be a whole new level of madness in the Swarm.

The Insanity of a Rambling Mind: Yang's moral change is kind of a mixed bag in terms of influences-some of it's from what happened to her, some of it is due to her infestation, and some of it is bitterness at being left behind. As for how her friends will take it, I'm honestly fairly confident that Qrow at the very least is going to take this whole thing in stride.

JawsOnYou67: I'm not really interested in writing any romance for Yang. Personally, I've got pretty diverse tastes in ships (Jaune and Yang is one that I've always found fun), but I'm definitely not going to have Stukov or Dehaka be the romance option. Neither one is even in this side of the galaxy, and I don't think that primal zerg can even understand stuff like love.

Fainfan: Yeah, one of the things I love to do is read Abathur's lines aloud in as good of an impression of him as I can.

Oh, I almost forgot! If you guys want to draw or write something based on this, go right ahead! I would love it if this story inspired you to create something of your own! Hell, I'd be honored if I got a sex-themed story based on this one!

With that, this is GlarnBoudin, signing out!