And here it is! the next chapter of The Queens Subject. once again thank you for all your wonderful reviews, though i am just a little disappointed that we never made it to our goal of 16 :( OH WELL! here we finally get to see what Xarozel looks like after his little project! as for the references: to Xeno Tyrant, no git wasn't a reference to 40K, buut, since you were the first one to guess anything at all Imma give you a Golden E-Brownie! unfortunately your also the only one to guess anything so... yeah. C'MON PEOPLE PARTICIPATE! btw the A/N are also riddled with references. Also please be sure to read the ending note; there's gonna be a couple things there of import.

FEED ME REVIEWS! I POOP CHAPTERS! XD

Chapter 4

No Teeth?

"So, Abathur, how is he progressing so for? It's been almost three weeks now?"

It had been week since the time She had spoken to Xarozel in Her head. She was getting a little impatient for results.

"Rather well, My Queen, at least considering what he's trying to do." Abathur was still a little weary of Her from last week. Despite Her attempted reassurance that he was not the cause. Then again She hadn't done much apologizing back then, just a sort of vague reassurance that She was calmer now and was ready to hear his report. Oh well.

"And what, exactly, is he trying to do?" She wasn't just annoyed at the apparent lack of progress but also at the fact that She still didn't know what She was getting in return for waiting.

"Ehr" Abathur was now rather nervous, fidgeting in that odd way that only he did. Which was to start eating air as near as anyone could tell, since he didn't really talk with it.

"He specifically told me not to tell you that. Something about it being better as a surprise. Unfortunately I can't really say that much even if he didn't care, as I don't really know myself. His mind is... strange."

'I Heard that Abby!' The very room seemed to jump as the psionic shout rang out.

"He apparently has very good psionic hearing as well."

'Thaank you!' The room jumped again, though not as drastically, having just experienced the sensation so recently.

She was now more than a little vexed by Her new (in)subordinate. Not only was he telling Her what to do, he was telling Her minions to keep secrets from Her! And She had been the one to give him that power! She was very tempted to simply order the abandonment of his little 'project' at whatever phase it was in and strip his will right there!

Of course, it seemed his hearing was better than She thought. 'Easy, M'Lady. It will be worth it, I promise. everything's going smoothly. With any luck I'll be seeing you in another week or so. Week and a half at the most.' He seemed to radiate calmness throughout the hive, and despite Her foul mood, it worked on Her too. Or perhaps that was simply because it was directed at Her.

She pinched the bridge of Her nose and sighed in resigned exasperation. "Very well. But that is your limit! If you are not done by then, then your project will cut very very short." Her firmness was belied by Her weariness. She was getting tired of Xarozel's weaseling antics. And She was starting to realize just how much he was getting his way with Her. She was losing ground. And She did not like losing ground in any arena.

'Well then! We'd best get started up again right away, hadn't we! Abby? Be as your name and hurry along? I just had a new idea for what we can do for me while we wait for me to finish cooking!'

Abathur looked beseechingly at his Queen, "My Queen? Could you please tell him to stop treating me like something old and senile?" The pleading in his voice was almost pathetic.

She sighed in resignation again. She seemed to be doing that an awful lot lately, She noticed absently. "As much as it galls me to say this Abathur, I have little doubt that he would simply ignore such an order as trivial, and therefore, not worth following. And at the moment, he's too caught up in wonderlust for any threat I can give him to be very effective. And you've seen how he treats me." That last was half muttered with a good deal more annoyance than the rest.

"Yes. With great respect."

"What?!" His response was confusing. She didn't see his remarks and telling Her She was wrong as very respectful at all!

"He seems to care a great deal for you, so he tries to guide you on the path he thinks will do you the most good. His mind is strange, yes, but he is not unintelligent." Abathur seemed to realize what he was saying and who he was saying it to just then, and started eating the air again, rather fervently. He bowed his head in shame. "Forgive My Queen. I did not mean to speak to you with such forwardness. It appears that our new addition is rubbing off on me more than I thought." He stayed there waiting for whatever judgement he was to receive.

She sat there, contemplating for a bit. "Do you realize, Abathur, that you have just done what he does? And that you just said was a sign of great respect I might add?" He seemed stunned for a moment as the realization of the fact hit him.

"In any case," Her words cut off any response he might have tried to make. "I believe my new insubordinate is waiting for you. Run along... Abby."

vTv

The deadline was up. It was a week and a half since the last update, and the Queen was sitting on her fleshy throne, waiting for Abathur and Her, now officially dubbed, Insubordinate to arrive. When they did though, they were not alone. three other figures entered the room with them, all practically identical.

Abathur and a large being with wings and a tail roughly seven feet tall, who She assumed to be Xarozel, bowed to Her before returning upright.

"So, Xarozel. It seems you managed to finish on time after all." She got up and stepped closer to them. "I must say, you are the most un-terran-like Infested Terran I've ever seen. Why don't you elaborate upon your new self?" She was indeed quite intrigued by what She saw, especially as She wasn't quite sure what She saw.

"But of course!" His strange face that looked terran only in the barest regard of shape, apparently hadn't lost it's trade-mark grin it seemed, nor had he lost his knack for voices; this time a resonant courtly-ish tone. "Let's start from the ground up, shall we?" He indicated his new feet and legs, "The legs were inspired by the zerglings, the Swarms fastest land unit. However, their speed also comes from having four running limbs, which I lack. Therefore we needed to increase the legs muscle mass and modify the shape to better accommodate a bipedal locomotion." He then turned to the side, folding his wings in a manner rather like Her's She noted. "Now the tail, is a combination of both zergling and hydralisk. The zergling because it was necessary for the legs for balance, and the hydralisk to make it a bit more long and robust." She then noted that the tail appeared to furred. Or, at least, what passed closest to furred for zerg. It was covered in a dense matte of thin, serrated quills. He noticed Her attention sharpen. "Another reason for adding hydralisk was for the addition of modified Hunter-Killer spines, which while attached can be swung to inflict damage, or aimed and shot for ranged and area damage. I can also do this." He flexed and moved the quills in a variety of motions, making it seem as if they themselves were alive.

"Quite interesting indeed. Continue." His grin, through never fading, widened a trifle.

"Next we have the arms, My personal favorite. As you can see, I have the classic Hydralisk scythes on the outside of each lower forearm, but with the addition of my original hands still present. Hands are useful after all!" He 'keke'd' a laugh and opened his wings. Even only half open they were quite respectable. "The wings came from the mutas primarily, but modified into a design a little closer to home for me." She raised a brow in inquiry,

"Care to elaborate?" Her tone was dry.

"Of course. You see, M'Lady, one of my favorite creatures back in my old world, that wasn't zerg, was dragons. Their wings were much like yours in structure, but, more like the mutas, granted them the ability of flight. Unfortunately, that were as fictional as the zerg back home." He sighed a bit in regret. "But in any case! These give me the ability of flight, of course, as well as a limited degree of shielding." Once again, She was reminded of how quickly he could 'Jump'. "As an added bonus, the leg enhancements greatly facilitate the action of vertical takeoff."

"I see." She nodded. "Now, what is your face supposed to be?" His face was the oddest part of him yet. Seeming to split into five sections, all meeting in a horizontal line at his mouth, which apparently was his mouth, his chin was split in half down the center, and the rest of his head was split to either side of his nose, with the nostrils mere vertical slits in the center section and the eyes faintly glowing dark red and green orbs on the two side sections. The center section dominated the majority of his head, including the scalpal area. What was also strange, was that the entirety of the center section was covered in that same interesting quill fur from his tail, though the area around his nasal and brows was much shorter and finer. The sections all ended in little pointed bits towards the back, though did not cover the back of his head.

"Well, that's my second favorite part! And the one that's completely me, as well. Watch." He closed his eyes and his face tensed for a bit. Then, suddenly, his face split open along the fault lines! As he opened his face, the sections all moved outward, extending themselves farther from the center. Then, his face closed again, only this time, it was a muzzle! His face now resembled something vaguely like a cross between a zergling and a terran canine. The bottom two sections now made a complete lower jaw, and the top three made up the upper jaw. His grin turned wolfishly smug, the smile now extending along the length of the jaw.

"Well? Wudduya think?" He turned his head side to side to show it off to Her.

"That's, surprisingly impressive." She noticed something then, "Only, what good does it do anyone but your prey if there are no teeth in that rather impressive maw of yours?"

True to Her observation, he had no teeth in his new mouth, save for the rather pathetic set he had before.

"Heh. Look a little closer." He opened his mouth enough for Her to better see his lower gums. there were divots in them that made it seem like he had teeth at one point, but they had all been pulled. Then, without warning, two dozen menacing sharp teeth shot up from his gums!

"Retractable teeth for easier collapse-ability " His voice and words were a little distorted from the new muzzle and teeth, but they were still perfectly clear.

"Well. It seems you were correct in your prediction. I'm rather eager to see how you fare on the battlefield." Her voice was cool, but pleased. And then with the demonstration over, Xarozel re-collapsed his face, working his jaw and face to make sure everything set right.

"God that feels weird. Wonder if I'll ever get used to it." He chuckled. "And now, the last part. For now."

"Oh?" the Queen looked at him again. She couldn't see anything else left to cover. "What else do you have for me?"

He pointed to the three extra figures that had accompanied them into the room that She had all but forgotten in Her interest. "And what might they be? They look rather like you, that first time you gave me a report in person." Before Her were three near identical clones of Xarozel from when he had first been infested, looking much more like a standard Infested Terran. Well, not exactly, standard infested terrans usually didn't look like Her. But then, Xarozel had proven he was anything but standard.

"These," The voice was Xarozel's, but had come from the center-most of the three clones! It even did his trademark grin! "Are essentially drones. They're clones of me, whose bodies I can 'borrow' through use of psionics. They can be used for just about anything not heavily combat related. Scouting, resources and communication, being the main big three. One of the other advantages is that I can chose to fully inhabit one of them if one of my other bodies dies. As a result, as long as there is one of these, I can stay alive indefinitely, even if my main body falls in battle. We're working on something similar for the battle body as well. This also means that they are, essentially, expendable. So if the need ever arose, though I would really rather it not, they could be used for kamikaze runs at a much lower cost than banelings would have, along with the added advantage of being faster to produce; not having a middle process to go through." He crossed his arms and stood expectantly, apparently finally finished.

"So, M'Lady. Now that you finally have me: What would you have of me?"

okay, so there's chapter four. sorry it took so long but, holidays turned up. if you want to see a kinda sketchy picture of what he kinda looks like i'll put the link to it on my profile.

First important thing! I need a title for Xarozel like Kerrigan's 'Queen of Blades'. So, i'm holding a contest. Give me some names you think would fit him. and they don't have to be royal or lordly either; "TheSomething of Something" is about it. or, whatever else you might think of. The one that wins will be used, i can do a poll of the top five-six and you guys can choose if there are enough.

Second Important thing! i'm trying to work on another SC fic along with this one. it's another story based on East Bridges The Zerg Swarm. and yes i know there are a lot, but it's just too damn good a concept to turn down, and i have my own ideas i want to use with that. that being said, i need creatures to inhabit the world, soo, i want you guys to help me out! i'll leave more info on the other story, 'A Swarm Born' so go check it out! you can make whatever kind of monster you like, i even have a sort of RPG-ish form to help you out, and pictures are awsome too! whatever i get will help me put the story together a lot faster, and you'll have yours added to the codex.

i'm getting too excited about this. i'll ...yeah imma stop now.

TTFN!