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The floating vehicle is way too fast for my Ratlings to keep up with it. Not even my Zerglings can keep up, and they are the fastest land unit I have. I have to keep a Mutalisk tracking the vehicle instead.

I'm not sure if they are aware they are being watched. The driver has been making defensive swerves ever since the Mutalisk took up position following them. I have to give it to whoever is driving, they're good. I'd have a hell of a hard time trying to tag the vehicle from up here, even with the Mutalisk's accuracy instincts. If I was planning to drop explosives at them, I'd probably miss a lot.

I'm not planning to have the Mutalisk drop any acid sacks on them though, so they're safe. Probably just making the passengers feel sick from the erratic trip. Or the vehicle has some kind of inertial compensator. Either way, they aren't turning around to flee.

Should I try to stop them? They're heading in from the southwest along the northern side of the river. They haven't taken any hostile actions. They don't seem to be heading anywhere sensitive. Or I could ambush them and see how they respond. I won't hold it against them if they react violently, and I'll even play by the parahuman world's no-killing rule.

I hurriedly gather what nearby Zerglings I can — eleven are near enough to intercept at the same time. My numbers are growing rapidly, but Canberra is big and I'm trying to have organisms on as much of it as possible.

Just as the vehicle is about to reach the impromptu ambush, it swerves onto a smaller side road. Why? There's nothing of note down that way… is there? I growl through a handy Zergling. Alright, let's observe and see where they are going. In hindsight, I should be glad they avoided it. It occurs to me that ambushing them is not the best way to meet the first outside agents within the quarantine zone.

Turns out they just detoured around the small swarm of Zerglings. So they have some way to detect when there's a sizable group of organisms nearby. Life sign detector of some sort? Probably. Or a thinker. Or why not both? They may also be aware that I tried to ambush them…

Well, that does tell me they either aren't looking for a fight or didn't want to try their luck against even a small pack of my organisms.

How will they react to a single Ratling? Those are rather small and relatively weak, it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice to lose one to see what offensive measures they have on board.

The hovering vehicle comes around the bend, either whatever they have to detect organisms is not able to pick up a single life form, or they don't consider it a threat..

I've got to say, I am impressed with the braking power of the vehicle, considering it's not even touching the ground. Then again, I have no idea how its propulsion system works at all so maybe it's not impressive at all.

Regardless, the vehicle hums to a stop about twenty meters short of the Ratling. Alright… full attack! Like any true Zerg-like organism would! My Ratling growls, and crouches low, waiting and watching for a target.

Rather then any sort of vehicle mounted weapon — or just turning it into roadkill — the sides of the vehicle fold upward, revealing a sizable cargo bay, packed with high tech looking machinery and five passengers.

Four of the passengers are wearing full hazmat suits. Their faces are hidden behind mirrored visors, and they lack any identifying name tags, only strips of color around the chest.

A hazmat suit like that would do a perfect job of completely obscuring Face if he were to wear one. Or maybe I could just design an organism that looks like a human wearing one?

Er… let's put that on the back-burner as a maybe. Making the among-us impostor is probably on the same level as brain parasites, and not actually as useful for data gathering.

The fifth passenger seems to be their cape — or at least Brute — escort, and… I wonder if someone's fucking with me. He's a super-mutant. A fallout-type super-mutant. Complete with tumor-bulging green-mottled skin, more muscles than a Russian Olympic candidate, leather pants, chest strap, and a fuck-off-huge minigun.

I kinda want to collect his essence… Ah but being a government — presumably — thug should not be reason to die. Besides, he's got good taste, he could have gone for Orc, but went for a reference to real culture instead.

Unless Fallout isn't a thing in Earth Bet, and his appearance is just a coincidence.

The five individuals disembark and carefully approach the Ratling I waste no time, and teeth bared, the Ratling charges at the group. Two of the hazmat-suited individuals are waving around handheld devices. My Mutalisk can't spot any display system, so I have no idea what they are looking for.

A few meters from the group, my Ratling prepares to pounce at its prey. To my Mutalisk overhead — and only the Mutalisk, not the Ratling itself — the air around one of the hazmat-wearing figures flickers in psychedelic colors, and then washes forward in a wave. It's not immensely fast moving, a Zergling could probably dodge without too much difficulty. The Ratling would have a harder time, especially mid attack as it is. As soon as the wave touches the Ratling, its entire body goes numb and it collapses mid-pounce, unable to control its body beyond errant twitches.

I watch from on high as the Ratling is restrained and loaded into the vehicle. I can still see and hear through it, but there's not much to learn. None of the people speak aloud, at all. Internal radios? Oh well. I'm sure someone will say something interesting sooner or later. Its unconscious form tumbles through the air, where the supermutant grabs it before it can hit the ground.

The Ratling is efficiently bound, and tossed into a cage inside the vehicle. Are they… are they capturing my Ratling?

I'm…. Not sure I want a government agency to have a specimen of my organisms. On the other hand, they probably grabbed the Mutalisk their cape killed so... At least a living specimen would let me see and hear potentially useful information?

I wish I'd put more priority into some kind of brain parasite, this would have been a decent opportunity to insert an agent into their organization. Oh well.

After picking up the Ratling, the vehicle continues on to its goal, which I soon learn is the edge of my Creep. They scan their devices around, cut samples, and in general poke and prod at the dark green mass. A fact-finding expedition then.

I let them gather a few samples — they'll find out just how insidious creep can be — and then amass a good-sized swarm of organisms to send them on their way. It's mostly Zerglings, but I supplement their number with Ratlings, and — slowly — send a few Roaches lumbering in that direction. Just under a hundred meters away, the humans become alert, and the super-mutant starts spinning up his minigun. They seem to have a quick debate, and then beat a hasty retreat to the vehicle.

I leave them to it as they retrace their route back out of the quarantine zone.

The cocoon containing the remains of Reflect finally bursts, and the simplified worm creature emerges. I focus on it, and its bubble-like forcefield pops up around it. Shift my focus just so, and it becomes a more solid shield that drops to the ground. I reach out with a tentacle and pick it up. It matches what I saw at her last stand. A plain, metallic shield, yet when I slap a tentacle against it, the rebound is amplified in a way that has got to violate the conservation of energy.

I need to test if the bubble mode can negate Emily's organic-destroying aura when she gets back. In the meantime, I should see about modifying the worm into something that can be carried into the field. Internally, since Emily will need to use it when blending in with civilians. The fact I find myself aroused at the idea of having an organism that can literally live inside her has no bearing on my choice at all. Anaerobic respiration… where did that tapeworm Essence go, I need to crib some notes.

I'm well into the finishing stages of the Relfect-Symbiote when a rather disturbing thought occurs to me. Reflect had been a hero, according to Hewson, and was only a valid experimentation subject because she chose to join the raiders… But the leader of the raiders was a Master. A Master that had been able to take control of both Tylor and Sienna with only a sentence. A Master that had apparently relied on some claim to authority for his powers to work, based on his speech and Benjamin's reaction.

A hero would be extremely susceptible to that kind of Mastering, wouldn't she? My tentacles freeze, and I remain perfectly still, acutely aware of the Reflect-worm wrapped within my grip.

She… probably had no… choice in the matter, and then she died screaming in terror, wrapped up in the grip of an alien monster that shoved tentacles down her throat because her crying and begging was annoying.

I had told Emily it would take a mountain of corpses, but it's a bit unsettling to really understand that not all those corpses will be criminals or trash. Many will be good people, heroes even. Heroes who think they are doing the right thing…

I can't fix Reflect, and… I don't want to. Even if I could restore the worm back to her original self, memories and all… Her power is too useful to give up. It's selfish of me, but I know that I will sacrifice strangers for myself and those I know. Emily, hell even the Watson Enclave.

Still doesn't feel right though, even if I'd do it again. Well… without the tentacle choking.

My Ratling pounces at Emily as soon as she enters the house's living room, knocking her on her bum, the towel she had wrapped around her falling loose.

"Eep!" Emily squeaks. My Ratling presses up to her, cuddling into her stomach. "Alexei! What are you doing?"

I cuddle into her side and place my paws over my face.

Her eyes go wide. "Are we under attack? Do I need to get back to the hive!? Or stay here? Can I help? Who?"

I nudge her with my snout and shake my head before burying my in her naked skin. She smells nice, a sweet natural scent and a bit of some artificial floral mixture permeates my Ratlings sensitive nose.

"Umm.. Alexei? I'm confused… what's going on? Or um… did you miss me so much?"

Well… yes. Also cuddling a naked girl makes any doubts about the future and the unpleasant actions I will have to take go away.

I'd talk to her about it but… I remember Emily looking down at the street as my swarm shreds the effectively unarmed raider convoy, and her words after. And just earlier, she just… shrugged off the death screams of one of the raiders as I experiment on him.

"You want me to pet you?" Emily giggles, and her fingers start brushing against my Ratling's head, neck, and back. "Not that I mind but… nothing more okay, not with a Ratling of all your creatures."

I shiver as her fingers chase down my Ratling's spine. Yeah Emily seems to have no doubts about anything, and is completely dedicated, as she said. Also maybe a bit broken, but that comes with being a parahuman.

I push the new Essence into the Reflect worm, and it cocoons up to begin evolution into a shard-symbiote

Next project… Ah, finishing up the Essence for Abzu. Emily wanted no scales or armor, that's fine, exoskeleton kills the sense of touch and Abzu isn't meant to be a combatant. Not… in his default form. She also wanted him to be tall…? That's fine of course, an imposing stature is at least the base requirement if borrowing the name of a god. Though really, she's twelve, any adult will be tall to her. Heh.

Alright. Let's see… Even just changing the color tones will help distance the form from regular human, and make the irregularities less offensive. I might as well lean into the aquatic nature of Abzu a bit, it's either that or the alien-insect style of the Zerg. My organisms have been kind of straddling the line so far.

White along the stomach, chest, and inside limbs. Fading towards light blue, with dark blue down the spine. A smattering of darker spots anywhere that isn't white. General structure… webbed fingers and toes of course. That's a must for any semi-aquatic being.

I toy with replacing the legs with tentacles — even if they would be Overmind-styled zerg tentacles rather than squid or octopi. Making the dick positioning work becomes… troublesome though. Female Scylla would be so much easier to lay out. Also, tentacles? Not great for moving around on dry land. Which is a shame. I could totally rock the male Scylla look.

Oh well. Even if Emily is… extremely precocious and open-minded, I do want to be able to give her the —mostly— human experience. Besides, I can imagine the Squidward memes on PHO already. Definitely not.

I can't swap the arms for tentacles, fingers are useful. Also, tentacle hands would be creepy as fuck, even I can see that. But… hmm… Kerrigan had her bone wings. Instead, I attach three fleshy Overmind-sourced tentacles to each side of the back, roughly where the wings would be. The lower two sets are manipulators. The upper set is… sensory. Because I enjoyed tasting Emily way too much yesterday. I may have developed a new fetish… huh.

Head and face… These are going to be hard, it's what humans focus on most. Tentacle hair? Asari style could work. Nah, don't want to overdo the tentacles. I could swing some sort of carapace growth that looks hair-like, but Emily asked for no carapace… Feathers? I don't have any feathered organisms yet but… It could work. I've got crow — or is it a raven? Might be some other black bird too — Essence. Some aquatic avian Essence to keep the feathers water-friendly…

Rest of the head, internal ears, and gills on the neck. Sharp fanged teeth in a mostly human mouth. Mostly. If the tongue is more of a sensory tentacle… who will know? Uh… getting the shape right so I can still speak without a horrible impediment takes some work.

Eyes are one of the things I know I had issues with. They just always ended up looking a bit… off. Especially when I start merging in Essence for all the interesting wavelengths. So I don't even try. Pitch-black eyes, and — on a whim — floating bioluminescent specks.

I push the new Essence into the Dundee-worms human mode. I've got ideas for the changer form, but I need some… rather specific, rare, and incredibly hard to acquire Essence for it. If it's even possible.

The sun sets, and there's been no major movement. More drones, more observation, the sample collecting crew but… I was expecting the army or every state-affiliated hero to descend on Canberra within hours.

Guess I shouldn't be upset about government response times being glacial as usual, even on what ought to be an emergency. More time for me is always good. A whole day of gathering biomass and energy with my creep fully deployed and expanding on the surface? Yes please, give me more! My hatchery room is overflowing with cocoons! I've actually hit the limit of how many eggs a single hatchery can produce in a day!