Catalyst

Chapter 3: Adaptation

The beach, with its soft sand, cool water, and brilliant sun, was an excellent place to be for Abathur. Not because of the place itself, but because the presence of creatures whose essence would have been essentially inaccessible before, those that lived in the sea or near it, were ripe for the picking. It was very convenient then, that the orphanage seemed to have come into a fair excess of resources lately, and had taken all of its wards to said location.

Already, Abathur had managed to grab the feathers of a number of birds, and leftover carapaces belonging to miscellaneous arthropoids. None of those was particularly valuable on its own, but Abathur remained a bit short on essence, even after gathering much of it near the orphanage. Armored carapace and flight were valuable traits, even if they weren't particularly well developed. Even the fish, with their ability to extract gases from liquids, had valuable essence that Abathur could claim. Or at least, could have claimed, if not for some particularly irritating adolescent terrans.

"Hey, Bug Face!", called one of the more vocal of those organisms. Darius, Abathur believed was its name. Darius, an irritating specimen, walked closer to Abathur, disturbing the smaller bird he had been attempting to catch. "Bug Face, we're talking to you."

"Interaction, undesirable. Leave," Abathur responded. Abathur continued to search for some other essence, ideally a less mobile source. History had shown that essence was much harder to gather when Darius was nearby.

"Whatsa matter, freak? Looking for a friend?", Darius, seemingly not understanding his requests for isolation, continued. Meanwhile, Abathur had spotted an odd gelatinous mound nearby, and was making his way towards it.

"Hearing, possibly impaired. Will attempt to repeat command. Disinterest in interaction, great. Organism Darius, leave area," Abathur responded. He had made his way closer to the mound, which appeared to have a number of smaller tendrils extending from the main body, and was inspecting it more closely.

"Come on, Bug Face, what's the matter? I just want to talk with you," Darius and his companions had continued to edge closer to Abathur. Abathur meanwhile, had reached, and was examining the mound.

"Mental capacity, possibly impaired. Investigate alternate communication forms," Abathur stated, mostly to himself, but loud enough to be heard by Darius.

"Hey, are you calling me stupid?" Darius said loudly to Abathur. Abathur declined to respond, too absorbed in studying the mound. It was extremely simple, both in form and genetics. It lacked even a central nervous system. Overall, it seemed to just be a primitive digestive system, with some muscles for locomotion and tendrils attached. The tendrils themselves however, seemed to contain a much more interesting structure.

"Bug Face, I'm talking to you!" Darius said, seemingly frustrated over the lack of response. Abathur, meanwhile, continued to study the tendrils. They seemed to have a harpoon-like structure built into them, designed to grip and inject a potentially painful paralytic into the creatures prey. Definitely a worthwhile addition, perhaps the first one worth adding to his current body. His mind made up, Abathur grabbed the central mass, tore off a piece, and consumed it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Darius asked, shock clearly written across his face. He took a step back. Meanwhile, Abathur was analyzing the assimilated essence. It was simple, but effective. The toxin itself could use a couple improvements, such as greater stability, a bit higher concentration, as well as a couple of other things, but those could wait. For now though, it was enough to add to his current form. Abathur rose and faced Darius.

"Alternate communication, found. Implement and test," Abathur stated, as what appeared to be a large scab quickly covered his hands. Darius continued to look on in horror and disbelief. "Mutation, complete," Abathur said, as the scab peeled away from his hands. With that, Abathur grabbed Darius's wrist, and squeezed. And Darius screamed.

Later, when he was taken to the nearest clinic, Darius was diagnosed and treated for jellyfish stings, despite his repeated statements that it was something else. Abathur was not disturbed while gathering again. By anyone.

(Transition)

Terran disposal of waste was somehow one of the most and one of the least efficient systems Abathur had ever seen. On one hand, Terrans had to release large chunks of biomass that could easily have been put to better use. On the other hand, they had made a simple and effective method to transport and presumably reclaim the waste. This toilet device was almost enough to make him respect the terrans, were it not for all their other flaws. It was efficient, a credit to Terran ingenuity. Perhaps a similar system would be worth adding to the Swarm. It was something for Abathur to consider.

(Transition)

It was quite strange behavior. Certainly, it had saved its life, but dropping off an entire limb to escape capture was an extreme defense mechanism. Abathur was unsure of what to make of the small reptiles behavior. Regardless, it had left its limb behind, he had might as well assimilate it, and see what use it was. Abathur dropped lower to the ground, and put the tail in his mouth, swallowing it. Suddenly he froze, trying to make sense of the information. Limb regeneration? Well, that was certainly useful.

(Transition)

One of the main deficits of being human, Abathur was realizing, was the ability to get bored. Apparently, terrans dislike doing the same thing for hours on end, and chemically desire distractions. To that end, Abathur had decided to indulge in some terran entertainment, a television program called X-men, by hanging around in a common area of the orphanage with a TV. It was a surprisingly good diversion. The show appeared to be about a group of genetically superior terrans attempting to eradicate their evolutionary predecessors in order to speed up the process of evolution. The leader, Magneto, was a very logical being, a terran Abathur would very much like to meet, were he not fictional. Oddly enough, much of the shows focus was around a small group of evolutionary deniers, who seemed to have made it their personal goal to stall natural processes. Perhaps that was merely one of the subtleties of terran entertainment he had yet to understand.

Still, it was a welcome distraction, giving him possible ideas for new strains and allowing the annoying terran impulses to subside. At least it was, until he was struck with a resounding realization.

The Terrans around him would kill him without a second thought if they ever discovered what he was.

The evidence was right there, in the media the terrans themselves made. If any among their own kind appear too anomalous, too different, they would mob them, attempt to harm, suppress, or kill them. Even those terrans which initially appeared non-combatant in nature would pick up an impromptu weapon and attempt to hurt him. Not only was this in X-men. It was in their history books, it was in his own observations, back with the full swarm. They killed him, or would have if not for the anomaly, the first time, whether by premeditation, or accidently. When he infested terrans, the other terrans would slaughter them en-masse, not giving it a second thought. Mere suspicion of non-conformity had been the death of innumerable Changelings and parasite controlled agents. There was no doubt.

Abathur needed to hide, he needed to blend in. The jellyfish assimilation and test at the beach had been risky, near-fatal, he could see that now. Whatever he did, he needed to do it quietly, out of the view of watching eyes. And if terrans did discover him, then he needed to eliminate the threat. Quickly.

Abathur returned to watching the show. Somehow, it didn't seem quite the same after his realization. Hiding in plain sight, distancing oneself for fear of discovery and prosecution, all these trials that the X-men faced, seemed a great deal more relatable now.

Larva: Arguably the single most useful zerg, the small, armored worm that is the larva provides the backbone of the entire swarm, literally. While it is able to do essentially nothing to begin with, it has the capacity to become nearly anything. A larva can mutate into anything from a Brutalisk to a Lurker Den. A single larva, given the resources and time, could even create an entire hive cluster.

If you like this story I suggest going to the original source here
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12515480/1/Catalyst

And if you want more like this I suggest going to the original author of this story Strandshaper's home page here
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/9294091/