"No! Please no, I'll do anything just please NO!" Nobody knew Kerrigan had been among them while they were sleeping, but Stetmann's cries roused them immediately. Seeing the young man being dragged across the room by his lab coat to a spawning pool, adjacent to the one Tychus fell into, while he cried was chilling.
"Not the kid, don't do it Sarah!" Jim pleaded weakly, feeling a terrible helplessness just like his companions as they watched. Sarah was no more and the Queen of Blades had no remorse for pleading, however. Stetmanns last shrieks were swallowed by the pool.
"Maybe you shouldn't have brought all your friends here, Jim. Maybe you should have listened to my warnings." Snapped Kerrigan, closing the distance between herself and her prisoners on the wall in a few quick steps. Her hair tendrils were raised and bristling with agitation as she grasped the rim of Jim's suit, squeezing it firmly and giving him a quick jostling. "You're going to watch every single one of them go into those pools, and then it'll be your turn." Raynor grimaced, disgusted.
"How'd you ever end up falling in love with that cold bitch, Jim?" Warfield piped up, but his voice was softer and weaker than anyone had recalled hearing it before.
"Warfield, I almost forgot you were here with us." Letting the silent and fuming Jim go, Kerrigan stepped in front of Warfield, observing him with a critical eye. Color had drained from his face and he looked sickly, leaving Kerrigan quirking a brow. "Run in to some trouble, General?"
A bead of sweat trailed a line down Warfield's face as he huffed a breath, glaring at her. "Nothing I can't handle."
"How brave." Kerrigan rolled her eyes, something was wrong with him but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, to figure out what the mind was yelling clearly. Concerned, she did not attempt to delve further; Warfield was clearly hurt to some degree and prying at his mind might just break him, she wouldn't give him that quick out.
When she grasped his creep-covered shoulder and he winced, that was the tell she needed. "Ahhh, General. Did you receive a wound in battle? Are you trying to bleed out and skip all the fun?" Teasing, Kerrigan carefully pulled away the creep and the armor of the suit, from his arm and saw the punctures the Hydralisk had made.
"You really are one evil monster." Closing his eyes in defeat, Warfield didn't even attempt to attack her with his injured arm when it was freed.
"That's Queen Bitch of the Universe, to you." The rest of the armored arm of his suit was quickly disassembled so Kerrigan could assess the damage. Hydralisk venom was debilitating and would shut down all of a Terrans bodily functions in time, and Warfield was close to that point. He had almost won. Letting out an angry hiss, Warfield was quickly pried out of the creep and fully divested of his suit which crumbled to the fleshy floor.
"General. It's been an honor." Matt piped up, watching as Warfield was grasped by his ankle and dragged towards another sickly green pool.
"General." Swann grunted, acknowledging the man.
"General." Raynor bit out, understanding the weight a gesture can hold for a proud man like Warfield.
Grunting and gasping in pain, Warfield was partially tossed into the pool but clung to its slippery, fleshy sides with the last of his strength. Looking up at them, he nodded and managed his last words carefully, despite the pool itself burning like acid on his flesh and acrid smoke rising off his clothing. "See you in hell boys."
"Enough!" Kerrigan planted her foot on top of the man's head and shoved him fully into the pool where he sank without further resistance. "I hadn't intended for him to go so soon- but we can't be letting the good General miss out on all the fun, can we?" Kerrigan looked up at the hating eyes of her remaining prisoners, unrepentant.
That was how it would be for the next three days. Each day, they could only guess that it was day, their dwindling group would be awakened when Kerrigan sliced one off the wall and dragged him with varying degrees of resistance, all futile, to be thrown into a pool. The night before it was Swanns turn, they had allowed themselves a respite, recalling old times- the good ones, and sharing entertaining personal stories with one another.
It didn't stop Swann from being pulled off the wall the next day, leaving Raynor alone with his personal demons when Swanns yelling stopped and Kerrigan finished gloating.
You don't ever get used to waking up seeing glowing red eyes close to yours, and Jim jumped before remembering his situation.
"There you are Jim. How does it feel?" Sarah whispered sweetly.
"Bit stiff. Your hospitality is lacking." Jim sniped.
"Ohh the brave routine, well we saw how well that worked for Warfield." In truth, Jim was torn on the inside- neither needed to point it out to know it. When Kerrigan pulled away the creep and removed his suit, Jim didn't fight it. Stepping subdued through the mechanical rubble that had gathered on the floor towards his personal pool, they paused in front of it.
"Sarah." Raynor murmured.
"What, Jim?" Kerrigan questioned.
"Just kill them. You've won. I've seen everyone infested personally with my own eyes, and I'll have to live with it after you're done twisting me in to some freak of nature. You don't need them anymore." Jim was haggard looking, his facial hair having grown out from being unable to tend it, and so very tired- if the dark rims under his eyes were any indication.
"No." Smug, Kerrigan leveled a calculating gaze at him.
"Then just shove me into the damn pool and go fuck yourself after- Agh!" Jim had barely finished his sentence before she stepped behind him and shoved with a little more force than necessary.
Left with her thoughts and the grumbling of the Leviathan's insides continually working, Kerrigan climbed below the chamber and looked over her collection, eyes briefly drawn to Jim's struggle. Every last one of them acted tough, but they all drowned the same. Minus Stetmann, she smirked, coward all the way through.
Today was the day she could begin her work, and so Kerrigan was in good spirits when she stood in front of the pool that housed Tychus. Warfield and Stetmann being on the same day was an unfortunate circumstance, but she'd manage. She could direct the Swarm at her leisure from wherever she was on her Leviathan, it did not matter much. That and there was still a good amount of time until the entire Swarm was mobilized and ready, no rush.
Tychus was suspended in the pool in much the same position he landed in, but his clothing had completely disintegrated in the acidic enzymes. What the nature of the pools did to flesh however, was different. Kerrigan had practiced manipulating and infecting the flesh of many hundreds of Terrans by now, and still felt a rush of power each time she began her work- it had become her main source of entertainment in her downtime, as a matter of fact.
Caressing the fleshy membrane of the pool, she smiled. "I know just what to do with you." Bracing her hands against the living wall, small threads formed and connected from the wall to Tychus' discolored, malleable flesh. In time, Tychus' body was covered in fleshy spokes of varying thicknesses that linked from him to the wall of the pool.
Stetmann was only partially correct about how the pools worked. Yes, the pool itself did disappear as the cocoon and what was inside of it matured, but it was a matter of energy being shifted from one place to another. As the contents of the spawning pool was the very fabric of creation, so too was there a limited amount to work with. Kerrigan had been generous and reserved one of the largest spawning pool chambers just for Jim and his friends, and as such had a lot to work with.
By the time she was finished with Tychus and everyone else, the pools were gone and all that remained where grotesquely throbbing cocoons and the twitching bodies inside them. Their cocoons also did not raise up from the pools, but hung down in the chamber below.
It was a labor of perverse love, and Kerrigan spent days twisting and adjusting their bodies without pause. With a jolt their minds would come back to them as they were transformed, and they screamed in agony. Kerrigan could only smile when, in time, their screams became less foreign and easier to understand- thoughts more Zerg than Terran. It was a mark of progress, every creature came to and was assimilated into the hive mind the same.
"Broodmother Shlassa." Kerrigan was watching the Hyperion as it was carefully righted from its angular stuck position and made to rest flat against the Leviathan, propped up on fleshy pillars. The entire crew had been either killed or infested, those that fought too hard had been put down efficiently. There was more than enough remaining to operate the ship though, that was all that mattered.
"Yes, my Queen?" A nondescript broodmother, visually the same as any other one, strode into view on it's many legs, clawed hands clasped in front of it. Shlassa was one of the many broodmothers who had arrived over the next few days, but she was a special one.
"I have a very specific task in mind for you, Shlassa. See this Terran ship?" Kerrigan didn't bother gesturing, if she needed to point out the Hyperion to her then Abathur needed to do some work on the overall intelligence of the broodmothers.
"Whatever you command, my Queen. What about the Terran ship? Do you wish it destroyed?" Shlassa questioned.
"No." Kerrigan said.
"Then what?" Shlassa asked.
"You are going to be living there and watching over a special project of mine." Kerrigan said.
"As my Queen wishes." Infesting a ship was hardly difficult work but even as Shlassas thoughts considered such things, the Queen of Blades interjected.
"No, Shlassa. Not like that." Kerrigan said. Shlassa had actually been under the Queens scrutiny for some time, she was a weak broodmother. The world she had been tasked with infesting offered no challenges and the broodmother suffered for it, she was passive in comparison to her more savage counterparts. In light of recent acquisitions, a new purpose had been devised for the less aggressive creature, instead of destruction.
"You will leave your brood behind with me and you will live in the Terran ship, watching and relaying orders from me." Kerrigan ordered.
Shlassa rocked back and forth on her spidery legs, confused but obedient. "Your will be done, my Queen."
"Good, come with me." Together they boarded the Hyperion, lifted aboard via elevator properly instead of breaking in. Alarms were still going off inside, red lights flashing and the Adjutants voice announcing Kerrigans arrival over the intercom. That would just have to be sorted out later.
The creep had been pulled back from the ship almost completely, only keeping it in place and ready for take off, and the mostly untouched cold steel around them was agitating Shlassa. Overall Kerrigan was pleased with the condition of the ship, it sustained minimal damage from resistance on the inside and no large explosions had gone off.
When they entered Stetmanns lab, Kerrigan made a grand gesture. "This is your new home, for the time being. You will need to keep hidden as much as possible, Shlassa." The old Adjutant that Raynor's Raiders had dug up had been moved elsewhere and Shlassa gingerly entered the science lab, thick clawed feet clacking on the floor loudly until she took her place in the open space along the wall.
"You fit right in." Sarcasm was lost on the Zerg, but Kerrigan did it more out of habit than anything.
"How long must I stay, my Queen?" Shlassa asked.
"As long as I wish it, Shlassa. Get comfortable." Kerrigan was already turning on her heel and out the door. Shlassa was left in the dark, eyes reflecting the red flashing lights in the room, all she could do was hiss in displeasure.
Not much longer now. Kerrigan was electric with what could be misconstrued for excitement, but most of all she just couldn't wait to see the looks on the face of Jim and his men, it was the culmination of a vengeance that was a long time in the coming. The Mistress of the swarm was going to savor every moment of their horror and wield her new weapons of destruction with precision.
Once stable, their cocoons had been taken from the spawning chamber and relocated aboard the Hyperion to be placed in their respective rooms. A lot of thought had gone in to how Jim and his companions would awaken in their new world.
As the Swarm gathered all around her Leviathan, mobilizing for a grand finale, Kerrigan sat in the center of a quiet room- perched atop a chitinous outcropping. Clawed fingertips were stroking through the spines and hardened flesh of the old Zergling that had taken to following her around, while she pressed a palm to her temple and tapped her nails against the tendrils of her hair in a rhythmic motion. Her eyes, half closed as they were, snapped open when she felt what could only be a void of some sort approaching rapidly. Familiar.
"Kerrigan."
"Zeratul." Zergling sent tumbling away, immediately the two were facing one another, eyes locked and bodies combat ready. The old Dark Protoss had not drawn his psi blade, however. His mistake.
Aboard the Hyperion, a body jerked to life in its cocoon in a macabre display. The once fleshy, now hardened and dried, spokes of the structure crumbled away from discolored flesh they had been attached to, broken with wild swinging fists.
"What you have done to James Raynor and his men... In time, you may find it to be your biggest regret." Zeratul reeled in disgust as he sensed the twisted souls and bodies of Jim, Matt, all of them.
"I don't feel shame from winning, Zeratul. I won't feel anything from this either." A closed fist, charged with energy, struck true to his chest and sent him flying into the wall with a crash.
Though his heart bled for his friend, Zeratul focused on the matter that brought him into the heart of the pit. "You will not win against Amon such as you are! Not even against Mengsk."
The Dark Templars words were jarring, enough to stop the long bone blade that was about to pierce his skull a hairs width from impact. Frozen, Kerrigan glared and opened her mouth to answer. The distraction was enough for him to grab her face in his fist and impress upon her the psychic vision he needed to share.
As Kerrigan was being forcefully treated to a vision of Zerus, the true home world of the Zerg, the hardened carapace of a cocoon pressed outwards once, twice and a final time before giving way to the all new Tychus. Erupting from his prison with loud snap and a throaty bellow, he immediately fell to his hands and knees on the cold steel floor, vomiting out chunky green goo and rapidly swiping at his face to get it away and off!
Trembling and heaving in huge breaths of air, once his stomach was clear and his tongue keenly noting the taste of death and decay, Tychus stared down at his hands and arms. They were not his own, couldn't be. Just a bad dream, all of it. But his eyes were not lying and the animal callings in his mind, millions of them mercifully dull as though far away, left Tychus coming to grips with a new savage reality.
"Go. Seek the power you desire for vengeance on Zerus, Kerrigan." Shoving Kerrigan away, Zeratul was lost from sight and gone before she recovered, snarling but letting him go all the same. The void of his cloaked presence was already rapidly fading away, tracking him down would be more effort than the pathetic Protoss deserved.
Zerus, though. Zerus changed things. Wing blades clacking together sharply, Tychus having emerged from his cocoon returned to the forefront of her thoughts and Kerrigan let out an angry growl, she had missed his emergence and now had greater things to attend to. The Hyperion and her toys would just have to wait now, Shlassa would keep them in line.
Tychus had slowly risen to a stand, staring at his hands as he held them up for inspection. His hands had been like dinner plates before, and great at breaking just about anything. But now? These are hands for maiming and tearing. Where thick, stumpy nails used to be there was now short and thick black claws. His flesh was pale and discolored with black speckles that clustered into solid black where his flesh had been hardened and layered like plates.
"I'm a god damned lizard, Jimmy." He muttered in a dark tone. Stumbling out of his room on bare feet, which had been reinforced similarly to his hands, he stumbled through the ship bare ass naked at a fast pace. No one was alive, not any more. He could feel everyone on board, nothing but shells, thought slaves; even the Zerg were into resocialization.
A few half-eaten bodies, rotting corpses, shambling thought-slaves and blood spattered hallways later, Tychus arrived at the communal showers- a full body mirror was what he was seeking. Might as well get it over with. He had not dared to look or feel anywhere past his hands and feet, but he was different.
The red flashing emergency lights of the ship and sirens blaring through the halls faded away, everything did, when he saw himself.
He was still decidedly Tychus in shape and sound, but that was where all similarities to his old self stopped. His eyes, keeping their warm amber color, had multiple smaller pupils around the natural one now and all reflected the flashing red light in the room much like a cats would.
What used to be his military cut hair, well, it wasn't hair any more. With a sensation similar to the hair on the back of his neck raising, Tychus watched as the small spines that covered his scalp, arranged similar to his previous haircut, lifted and shifted around, bristling and flattening on command.
His arms and vitals were covered in flesh that had increased density and was layered to be incredibly strong, but flexible. Turning to look at his side, Tychus held his arm up for closer scrutiny- there was an anomaly at his elbow and along the side of his upper arm, as if there was an indent and something sat inside. Lips pressed tightly into a frown, he jammed the tip of a claw into the edge and pried, eyebrows raising as a thick blade was lifted partially out of his flesh.
Squicked out, he let the new accessory drop back into its place and continued the slow inspection of his front in the mirror.
Closing his eyes and giving his head a quick shake, he opened his eyes and looked down farther, panic rushed through Tychus. "Wh-what?! Auuuuughhhh JIMMY!" Tychus distressed bellow promised hell to pay, unfortunately it was ignored by anyone capable of hearing it just then.
Kerrigan paused, perking up and looking towards the Hyperion- though it was not in view at that moment, before smirking and laughing.