Catalyst

Chapter 25: Celestial Bodies

To Abathur, the ability of a creature to move around underneath the ground was nothing less than essential. When he had first chosen the ants to infest, the ability to tunnel and burrow had been one of the ants' most attractive features, in his eye. The utility of disappearing into the ground, the capacity to move unseen was useful in the extreme, and he had taken care to apply the mutation to every Zerg strain he could, as well as most of the Hive strains. The sheer versatility offered by a tunneling soldier or worker was just so delightful, especially in the more specialized strains. So few species paid attention to what lurked beneath their feet, until it came out to bite them. Whether growing subterranean acid mines, hiding volatile banelings, or covering a lurker's deadly spines, the underground battlefield had proven useful again, and again, and again. Here, a similar strategy would no doubt prove highly effective.

The spies he had sent after the centaur messengers had established a small colony near their target. Reinforcements had been quickly funneled through the worm-burrowed tunnels. As soon as the colony had grown enough, they moved directly underneath the centaur's tunneled beneath the dwelling, leaving intricate patterns in their wake. When the worms lay to rest, Abathur pushed his own energy into the finished runes. They pulsed with power as his psionics flowed through the tunnels, filling the markings. The second the last rune filled with energy, they all activated. Every trace of the Hive was eradicated. Tunnel entrances were obscured, insects were covered in illusion, and within seconds the colony was all but undetectable to the naked eye.

Abathur distributed Hive agents across the centaur's dwelling, and they watched every move the centaurs made. He knew every word the centaurs said, hut wherein they dwelt, every path they tread. Abathur saw anything and everything.

Abathur was nowhere near ready to attack just yet. But for now he could watch, he could learn, and he could prepare. The centaurs would have absolutely no idea what was coming. Not until it was far too late.

(Transition)

Abathur considered human interaction, and the Hogwarts Express in particular, to be the absolute worst part of his imprisonment. It was just so inefficient! They talked and talked about meaningless topics, expecting him to be involved, to contribute. Every time Abathur was forced to spend long periods of time in the company of humans, he found it that much harder to keep himself from just killing them all. Abathur could spend this time working on new strains, testing new runes or sequences, or literally anything other than entertaining terran whelps. But no, human society demanded interaction. And if Abathur didn't conform, then his most important defense was gone, and he would be forced to fend off the all of humanity with nothing but a few overgrown arachnids.

None of that made it any less torturous, merely mind-numbingly necessary. It was hard to even form a coherent thought with all of the meaningless tripe spouting endlessly from his camouflage and the other random humans in the compartment . Abathur had withdrawn from the conversation as much as he could, but even he had to respond occasionally. More of his time and focus was on the Rune book in his lap. This year, apparently, contained more interesting runes, the kind that could do more than form a simple shield, useful as that ability was. He was doing his very best to focus on these new concepts, despite the constant distractions.

The one he was currently working on was one intended to isolate intruders in individual cages, and it was eating up most of his attention. Abathur was so distracted that he barely noticed the small blonde terran until she sat right next to him, and leaned over his notes.

"You know, if you switch the eihwaz and the gragar, it takes a lot less power," she said.

Abathur paid no attention to her. She had joined their compartment soon after the train left the station for reasons he found unimportant, and was beneath his notice. Terran minds would tell him nothing he wasn't aware of already.