Selene woke up in a white box.

  ...Kind of anti-climatic considering the events that just happened.

  She blearily rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stood up.

  Her prison was about the size of a room, and well lit by some unseen source.

  Oddly enough she was in her human form. She was dressed in a brilliant white t-shirt and pants.

  To reduce her to this state they've must've weakened her somehow, probably by forcing her body to heal over and over. Or maybe that 'headache machine' drained her stamina.

  The last thing she remembered was kicking their asses as her brood fled deeper into uncharted space, then they hit some switch and everything went white—like this room.

  It was completely empty, would they keep her here in this sensory deprivation tank? That wouldn't be very fun. Even for a eldritch being like a Zykra queen.

  She could recede into her mindscape and pass the time, but then she would be around her human side.

  And she didn't want to give that brat the chance to gloat.

  So instead, she sat on the ground cross-legged and waited... As annoying as it was to stare at a blank wall. She needed to think. What would her brood be doing right about now?

  It wasn't long until a sourceless voice spoke to her.

  "Hey Selene, it's Xaya. The resistance commander. You rescued me from that prison on Athena?"

  Selene's expression didn't so much as flinch. She was being pouty and petty.

  "I remember."

  "I thought you might. Do you remember everything from before?"

  Selene ignored the question and instead asked her own.

  "Before what? That mind blast?"

  "You know what."

  She really didn't. Of course she remembered everything, why wouldn't she?

  "..Can you let me out? I'll play nice from now on."

  "Hmm... Well, it was a lot of work to get you in there... You really didn't make it easy for us, you know? We designed especially for you, or at least, top-shelf telepaths that is."

  Selene's shoulders were beginning to tense.

  "Let me out or else."

  There was a moment of silence after that. So long that after awhile Selene felt that she was being ignored.

  "Xaya..."

  "I heard you. You don't seem to be in a position to make demands like that. I mean, 'Or else?', come on. You're dangerous, but not like this. Not here. We're the ones calling the shots, the sooner you realize that the better it will be for both of us."

  "What happened to using my Zykra against the Confederacy? Why capture me now?"

  Now the Zykra Queens expression was becoming more pensive. Xaya's voice scoffed with a bit of static from the intercom.

  "Ha, I think that deals blown... Why? Isn't it obvious? After you killed thousands of colonists, turned them into monsters. What did you think we'd do? Why did you do that by the way? What happened to your human friends?"

  Selene shrugged.

  "I didn't. That's some other Zykra. Not mine. Those are the wild ones. And my friends are fine."

  "I don't believe you. And you really want me to believe you, Selene."

  Again, it was quiet for a long moment. Then there was a whirring sound building up. For several moments it grew louder, and louder. The memories of what had happened the last time she heard this sound made her anxious.

  Suddenly a blue wave of energy passed through the room. The moment it passed through her—it wasn't like before. It didn't only stun her, it wasn't as extreme. Instead she convulsed on the ground, as wave after wave of the energy assailed her.

  It was hell. It made her bones sore, her muscles burn, and her spine tingle.

  "Augh! Stop!" She managed to shout.

  Selene clutched the sides of her head.

  It was scrambling her energy. Her psionic signature was coming apart at the seams. The hurricane spiral deep inside which represented her power became a sloshing pool instead.

  "That was the lowest setting..." Xaya said warningly.

  It gradually receded, and she felt herself stabilize.

  "Infestation is a lot better than what you'll get!"

  "And what will I get?"

  Selene smirked, dragging her fingers across the smooth white floor. Her finger nails turned black and grew longer, scraping it loudly.

  "Sure, I'll infest you too... Change you. You and all your 'commanders'... But then I'll turn you all into floor tiles for my throne room—where you get to live eternity out from beneath my feet!"

  She heard laughter as the intercom cut-out. Xaya had found that idea amusing.

  After a while it buzzed back on.

  "A + for imagination!", Xaya wiped a tear from her eye, she sat in a small observation room far away from where the prison was kept. A single microphone on a table in front of her. A few others were in the room with her, listening in.

  Though Selene had no way of knowing this, her abilities could sense nothing beyond the surrounding walls. She could only assume.

  "Yeah, I don't want to be a floor tile, so just keep giving me reasons to keep you in there."

  The whirring sound came on again, and Selene knew it would fire here again soon. She gritted her teeth in frustration—this was humiliating. They had to know she would pay back every little thing they did to her a hundred times over.

  "...Every day that I'm here, more innocents will die. I promise you that. Let me talk to my father—and we can negotiate a deal."

  "Make a deal? Deals are temporary. No one gets a seat at our table without a long term investment. And why should we accept anything less? We hold all the cards, if your swarm kills random people—then you'll only attract pucks attention. And I hope you're smarter than that... Tell us what we need to know, and maybe, we can come to some kind of agreement. Depending on how our conversation goes."

  Her snarky tone was really beginning to grate on Selene's nerves. She was a queen, she could condemn a world to fire and brimstone with a single word.

  "Ask then..." she muttered.

  The whirring sound abated.

  Xaya cleared her throat, and Selene could hear the rustling of paper from the other side of the intercom.

  "Why did you expand your hive beyond Endelon 2? We agreed that you would grow your forces, sure. But not to other planets. Why not contact us and talk it out? We could've given you locations."

  The truth was, Selene hadn't considered the resistance much after the moment she changed. They weren't worth consorting with, human Selene only wanted to so that they could go the 'pro-humanity' route in terms of taking over the sector.

  Now, it was like a light turned on inside her head—that suddenly her family, or humanities fate—nothing like that mattered. She was different now. The part of her that was changed by the Zykra remained in control. And would for the foreseeable future.

  But of course she wouldn't say any of that.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "You sound like puck... I don't have time to check with your petty resistance everytime I decide to do something. I lead my swarm, not you. Besides, how did you know so quickly? It should've been weeks until you found out about the colonies. But you attacked on sight at the meeting. Why? Did you always plan on double-crossing me?"

  She was genuinely curious.

  Xaya and the other commanders talked awhile about how they would confront Selene about her change. Together with Ron and Preston.

  They decided that an honest approach would work best for interrogation purposes. Or at least partial honesty. Xaya was quiet, moving her thumb across the smooth metal base of the microphone contemplatingly. Considering how she should word it—it mattered.

  "...We know that you're not 100% Selene. You're the Zykra side of her that doesn't value humanity, hope, goodness, and things like that. Kind of like a demon possession from the movies."

  Selene developed a confused expression at that. The fact that they knew at all seemed impossible. It's been like a month since she's changed. And to think, all the progress she had made so rapidly in that time...

  It didn't answer her question to how they knew, but it was clear to her that they intended on keeping that tidbit of information obscured. She had so many theories already.

  They might've been keeping a closer eye on her than she thought—perhaps it had something to do with that weird telepathic connection she had sensed when she first took control... Or some other telepathic ability. Something that could detect subtle difference in psionic signatures. In any case, they knew. And they seemed confident about it, confident enough to attack her brood on sight.

  "So... What is this?" Selene asked, looking around the white cubicle around her. "Your little attempt to 'exorcize' me?"

  "You could say that..."

  Selene chuckled ruefully.

  "Well, goodluck. Like I said—my swarm will burn the galaxy until I'm returned. In these circumstances, I don't care about drawing attention. I had contingency plans for this kind of thing, you know. In the next few days, you'll see."

  "And maybe we'll just turn on that brain scrambler of ours until you do what we ask." Xaya snapped back.

  Selene gave a mock scared expression then.

  "Oh no! Okay, since you put it that way, then I have no choice... I'll change back right now."

  She dipped her face until her gaze was down-cast towards the floor between her crisscrossed legs.

  Then suddenly she became surprised and confused.

  "Where am I? Mom? Papa!?" she asked.

  The whirring sound started up again.

  Selene just raised a middle finger, pointed in no particular direction, and waited for it.

  It blasted her for longer this time, nearly reverting her to that confused, disorientated state she was in before. The sensation gradually receded after a couple of minutes, and Selene coughed, spitting up onto the floor and wiping her brow. Which had begun to collect a cold-sweat.

  "Keep doing that..." she huffed. "It changes nothing... Even if I could change back, how would you know? Would you ever trust me again either way?"

  None of this made any strategical sense to her. Why would the resistance sacrifice so much, go through so much trouble? For such a long shot?

  It must be her uncle and father doing something from within the resistance, using their influence to change her back, after realizing she was changed. There was no other reasonable explanation. They were calling in all the favors here, they had to be.

  "We have our ways of knowing... We know you can change places with the other Selene. You just don't want to."

  Okay—there must be some kind of telepathic ability at work here. No one knew that much besides Selene and her human side.

  "So you think I'm some telepath schizo that controls alien bugs, and my compassionate side is being taken over by my alien side?"

  "Essentially."

  "—Then you're fucking stupid. I've just realized that if I kept whining over every difficult decision—I would never rule a kingdom. That's all. Why should I cry over every little thing when I'm going to rule a sector of trillions?"

  Xaya answered quickly, she was clearly losing her patience.

  "Our deal never included you becoming 'Queen bitch of the universe', Selene. And like I said, we know for certain. Once you submit to your more compassionate side, then we can really negotiate. Until then, enjoy getting your psionic signature scrambled."

  The whirring sound started again.

  "Bitch." Selene said, then spat on the floor.

  "Cunt."

  A few moments passed by and a blue wave of energy passed through the room again, ravaging the Zykra queen as if her mind was tossed into a laundry machine.

  Her brood better hurry. This wasn't the most pleasent experience. It made sense why it wasn't Ron doing the interrogation. This was torture—pure and simple.

  This process repeated itself for hours, but progress stopped being made. And eventually Xaya yawned tiredly. She didn't announce it, but the interactions stopped. And wouldn't likely continue for the next 8 hours at least.

  But then Selene shuddered as a different voice answered the intercom.

  "Remember me?"

  It was a very familiar voice, female, but higher pitched than Xaya's. Younger. Like the one she had heard during her battle in the hangar-bay against a team of spec-ops with bola's.

  "You're the super hot jetpack lady that told me to get in the box..?" Selene asked trying to appeal to her new interrogators sympathies.

  The voice responded with an air of smugness and satisfaction.

  "My names Jema... You killed a few of my buddies. Lots of resistance fighters died that day in the hangar."

  "It was self defense." Selene said, lounging on her back like some Roman senator eating grapes would, as if she wasn't just clutching her head in pain.

  "That's fair."

  Then the whirring sound started up again.

  Ron paced back and forth inside the observation room. Though they called it that—they actually had no way of seeing Selene. They could only hear her.

  And her cries of pain—his daughters voice—has been causing him great deal of discomfort to say the least.

  Xaya slid the microphone over the Jema, then got up and walked over to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

  "You don't have to see this." she said.

  He shook his head.

  "Yes, I do... Even if she's not Selene—it's her voice. Her memories. I have to be here... Until the end."

  "You're torturing yourself. This isn't healthy. If I had a kid-"

  He shrugged her hand off his shoulder.

  "-Then you would know that if it wasn't for my past, my decisions... Then she would still be on Endelon. If I told her to stay where she was during qurantine... None of this would've happened."

  Ever since he's heard the truth of why Selene has been visiting Endelon 2 less often, he's been unable to think clearly. All the things she's done... He was at war with himself. The memory of a little girl running through a field as he chased her, her happy giggles as he swooped her up high into the air. It tormented him.

  Was she feeling the effects of the device, even from the dream she was trapped in? He hoped not, but it would be necessary regardless.

  Xaya sighed.

  "Just think about what you're going to tell Selene when she comes to her senses... She'll need her dad.. Her Zykra side has done a lot of damage Ron. And if it were me? I wouldn't take it so well. Even if it wasn't her, it still was—in a way, you know?"

  Once he didn't respond, Xaya hesitantly walked away—leaving the room. The pressurized door swished open and then closed behind her.

  Jema looked to Ron curiously, from the metal table she sat at.

  The latino woman's eyebrows had tiny slits shaved into them, gradually becoming thinner towards the ends. Piercings on either one. She wore dark purple eyeshadow and lipstick, with short curly dark hair that covered her ears but didn't reach the shoulders.

  "What?" he asked her.

  "Oh, nothing. Nothing." She continued speaking into the intercom, pestering the 'evil' Selene to switch over with her human side.

  Dreamcatcher said he was certain it was possible, based on what this 'human' Selene had told him. That they were currently fighting for control, which it meant it was possible.

  It was only a question of how they would keep this other Selene under control. Some kind of deal that can be made. They would probably have to assign handlers and keep a close eye on her even if they did manage to get them to switch back.

  Ron sighed and sat at a chair next to Jema.

  "Name?"

  A man with a bowl-shaped receding hairline and a mustache had asked. His eyes had blue scelra and yellow iris's. A twice-removed noble families reject maybe. Pricy body-mods like eye color were mostly a symbol of influence after all.

  "Daniel Crane." He told the receptionist.

  He was currently in a shady resistance recruitment center.

  Places like these were always located outside of Protectorate space, secluded and mixed in with seedy trading outposts and other criminal organizations.

  An underbelly of society that relied on anonymity, which wasn't so difficult to maintain so long as they didn't draw the Protectorates attention.

  "Daniel Crane..." The portly receptionist muttered, typing on the console ahead of them.

  "You seem a bit young Danny, any particular reason you're joining up with the resistance? This isn't just a rebellious phase, right? Cause once you're in—you're in... No second thoughts."

  "Do you think I would've made it this far if I didn't know that?"

  The receptionist looked him up and down appraisingly.

  "I guess not. I still need to know why. There's a prompt here I have to fill out." they gestured to the monitor ahead of them, partly out of view from Danny.

  "...If I need a reason then.. Well, my parents were smugglers who carved out a living moving people to different planets, undocumented. One day we were busted, and they disappeared. My family was ripped apart in an afternoon. So I figure if they took my life away, I might as well fight back. Pays good too, right?"

  The receptionist gave him a knowing look, as if they've heard a similar story many times over. He tilted his head left and right with a 'meh' expression as if to say: 'sort of'.

  "I can't tell you all the nuances of what enlisting entails, I'll have to assume you did a fair amount of research before..." They leaned and looked into the lobby beyond the glass window they sat behind. There were rows of plastic chairs in the dimly lit waiting room, which a few other potential recruits sat in.

  He gave Danny a serious look.

  "Listen, you seem like a good kid. Just know, if you join—they're going to haze the shit out of you. They have to make sure you're loyal to the cause... So, make sure you're sure before making your decision."

  Danny crossed his arms and gave the receptionist a confident look.

  "Like you said, I wouldn't be here if I didn't do some research. There's not much else left for me. This is my lifeline. Puck won't take me, and I wouldn't want them to. So here I am."

  He wasn't as good a liar as Zephyr was, but that didn't mean he wasn't a great liar. Zephyr was just on another level.

  The receptionist half smiled.

  "Oh shit, that's tough. Well, that's how most of us get here I guess."

  They printed out a form from a printer on the counter nearby and stamped it. Then handed it back to him from beneath a small opening at the bottom of the glass window.

  "Take this and follow green line." The receptionist gestured to the back of the room.

  There was a hallway there with a green line about a meter away from the wall. "They'll look it over and tell you what to do next. Give 'em hell kid."

  Danny took the paper and headed that way.

  So far, so good. It wasn't as difficult as he'd thought to join up, at least not for the basic infantry positions. Turns out—the resistance wasn't as picky in terms of recruitment as the Protectorate was. Not that their standards were very high either for a position like this.

  The only thing the resistance were worried about was whether or not your were a spy for the Protectorate. Which he wasn't.

  He hoped that Raymond was having as easy of a go at it, he wasn't as good of a liar as Danny was.

  Together they would collect what information they could about where they were containing Selene, though that wasn't their main objective. Just something to keep an eye out for.

  Their main objective was to collect intel on targets that would really hurt the resistance, then relay that information to the swarm.

  By the end of the day Danny was on a shuttle with a group of shady individuals, on their way to a secluded resistance bootcamp.

  Behind The chapter...