Hive

Chapter 6 Lusus Naturae

 The transport made its way back to the Remnant and Iris was immediately offloaded to a medical transport with the glaive by her side. Daniel tried to follow but the medical team blocked him. "Macob get back here, we need to talk," Trossler ordered. Daniel nodded his head and followed Trossler back into the transport. The driver then turned the vehicle around and began to drive back out of the Remnant territory. "Wait, why are we leaving again?" Lilly asked. Trossler didn't answer until they got back to the remains of the lion district. Trossler then ordered everyone off, even the driver, except for the two siblings. She then personally closed the back door. "I need to know I can trust you two," Trossler stated. "This is very confidential information, and I don't want a word of this said to anyone, not even her majesty, got it!?." Lilly and Daniel looked at eachother confused, they then came to a silent agreement. "What is it?" Lilly asked. "I don't believe Sovereign Leader Ramses killed himself," Trossler stated. "I have reason to believe that he was murdered." Lilly and Daniel went wide eyed with shock at such a bold claim. "If that is the case then who do you think did it?" Lilly dared to ask. "I pray to god that I am wrong, but I think it could've been General Leonidas," Trossler admitted. Lilly gasped while Daniel gave her a skeptical look. "With all due respect sir," Daniel started "That is a bold claim, we'd need a lot of good evidence." Luckily I have been assigned to investigate this personally," Trossler stated. "But I will need your help. Besides I've already told you too much, you can't back out now." Daniel sighed and nodded his head. "Alright we're in."

Iris woke up in a pink hospital bed, she had forgotten that there was a royal hospital room so it took her a second to figure out where she was. She looked to her side and the glaive was right beside her. "Good you're up," said Doctor Worly excitedly. Iris held her chest feeling where she had cracked her rib. It still hurt a little but most of the pain was gone. Thank you, Dr. Worley," Iris said with gratitude. "Please, call me Brenda," Brenda insisted. "Ok, but only if you agree to call me Iris, i'm still not used to this whole majesty stuff," Iris responded. Brenda giggled to herself. "Ok Iris." "How long have I been out?" Iris asked. "A few hours, nothing serious, you were just asleep." Brenda told Iris. "Honestly, that Daniel boy did most of the work for us, you 're very lucky to have him." Iris blushed at Brenda's statement. Brenda saw Iris blushing and smirked. "Hey that's one thing you have over your father, he couldn't make friends for the life of him," Brenda stated, Iris giggled. "But I'm getting off topic. I have to check your pulse, temperature, heartbeat, all that." Brenda pulled out her stethoscope and placed it on Iris's chest. "How come we've never talked before now?" Iris asked. "We never had a reason to, but hey now that you're the leader, we'll have plenty of time to chat about boring old politics," The two giggled again. "Well Technically I'm not the leader yet," Iris stated, "I never had a ceremony." "Well everyone sees you as Sovereign Leader, especially since you came back with that," Brenda stated while pointing to the weapon. "Well except for Leonidas, but he'll come around eventually." Iris sighed. She figured someone would be against her. And of course it had to be the one with the most influence outside of Bronze City. "Oh but don't worry," Brenda said. "I'll keep an eye out for you." Iris smiled. Oh your mother would be so proud of you." Brenda stated. "Did you know my mother, personally I mean?" Iris asked. "Yes, we used to be so close," Brenda admitted. "I was so excited when she had a little girl, despite never really seeing you I always saw you as a niece." Iris giggled. "Well I have other matters to attend to," Brenda stated. "If you need anything just press the button on the side of your bed." Brenda pointed to the red button standing next to Iris's bed. Brenda then left, closing the door behind her. Iris could hear Brenda scurrying along, whatever it was, it seemed to be important.

Brenda scuttled along the hallway making her way to her private lab. Once she finally got there she noticed how her guards were not there standing their position. Suspicious, she opened the door seeing if they were inside. Her lab was in shambles, glass was broken and on the ground and some sort of smoke was billowing from the distance. Brenda began to cough as she moved further in closer. She could hear a faint clicking in the distance and the smoke was clouding her vision. She made her way through the lab to find that the cage that she had kept her experiment in was open. Not understanding she went into the cage looking around seeing how it could've been opened. Then she saw the keypad. Brenda always kept a keypad on both sides of the cage door so she could easily get in and out. She saw scratch marks on the keypad on the numbers four, six, one, three. The code to open the cage. What was inside had memorised the code. It had gained the intelligence to escape. Brenda then heard another round of clicking. It was still here. She then slowly turned around to witness a glass beaker get thrown at her. The glass broke on her face, getting whatever was inside into her mouth. Brenda screamed in pain and stumbled falling on the floor. After a second she saw a piece of the beaker that had the label still intact. "Hive Virus." It was what she was using to give The Hive sentience. She then got up from the floor only to see a Hive Minded soldier launching towards her.