Creation of a Nest

Wey'land was looking at the women slumbering in a latticework of organic strands which kept them restrained, contemplating how he would go about extracting the information that they had and he so desperately wanted to get his hands on, when he felt the stillness of the sanctum he was in be breached by tentative footsteps. Knowing that very few would dare do so, and knowing further that most of those were attending to tasks of their own, he took an educated guess. "Sa'lai, what is it? I would have expected you to be rather busy establishing yourself." Hearing nothing in return but nervous shuffling, Wey'land finally broke his gaze away from the bound women and turned around, an inquisitive expression on his face.

When Wey'land emerged from the tunnel system back into the small house they had been using as a base of operations until their takeover of the town was complete, he was pounced upon by his ecstatic mate, whom he grabbed in a tight embrace before swinging her around in celebration. "We did it," he breathed into her ear, his heart suddenly pounding with triumphant fervor. "We crossed the biggest hurdle in our quest." He was interrupted by his mate grabbing the back of his head and pulling him into a searing kiss, filled with an endless ocean of varying emotions. He breathlessly pulled back, holding her by the shoulders, suddenly serious. "You know this isn't the end, right? You know that we will still have to fight, and maybe not just the humans, but those infected by other strains or versions or whatever they are of this virus? We have indeed crossed the hardest challenge, getting ourselves established, but the way forward is by no means a cakewalk, and any single stumble could lead to our downfall. You are aware of this?"

His mate looked at him with fire in her eyes, defiance and resolve burning hot enough to melt through steel, and grabbed him by the shoulders as well. "I am aware of each and every thing you just mentioned, but I know we won't fail and that's because we have one very important thing on our side that they don't." Captivated by the heat of her gaze, Wey'land couldn't speak, just stared right back, the world fading around him until it was just the two of them. "We won't fail, my strong and loving mate, because we have you. We are a new evolution, built to dominate and transform, but you, you are built to fight, to conquer, and that's exactly what you will do. You will fight, and you will overcome any obstacle that dares get in your way because you know, not only does the fate of our entire race, our entire species depend on you, I depend on you. I know we won't fail because I know you will fight like hell to protect me, and our family." Here she took one hand and rested it on her abdomen. Wey'land looked at her for a moment before his eyes widened and he looked down, before his head shot back up, a hint of panic in his gaze. "No, I'm not pregnant, not yet, but I will be, and she will be the Queen of Queens, answering only to us. She will not know fear, or despair, or war, because her father, because you, will ensure that long before she ascends to take her responsibility, that our Hive is stable and safe, so that she will not have to know the uncertainty that I felt when you went off to war this morning."

Grabbing him once more by the shoulders, she pulled him into a brief but passionately blazing kiss, the fires of their very souls seeming to stoke themselves using the heat of the other's. Pulling away once more, she leaned her forehead against his, each losing themselves in the intensity of the other's eyes, before she whispered once more, "That is why I know that we will prevail."

Wey'land felt his throat close up, the passion and intensity of the moment preventing him from speaking in anything other than a whisper so quiet that not even any surrounding Drones, with their enhanced senses, would be able to hear it. Gripping his mate's shoulders even tighter, he responded, "And I will not fail you, I will not fail either of you, my Queen, my Mate, my Love. I would sooner see the world burn at your feet than something happen to you or our unborn daughter. And this I swear to you both: that I will give every life of every member of my Hive, along with each and every last breath and drop of blood in my own body before I allow anything to happen to either of you."

Yu'tani held his gaze just a little bit longer, before closing in and gently pressing her lips to his, this kiss one of absolute love and care, rather than fiery passion and conviction as the ones before were. Gently breaking the contact, she nestled herself into him, allowing the soothing beating of his heart to reassure herself that he was indeed still with her. "Just promise me it won't get that far," Anna pleaded in a whisper, no hint of the previous steel in her voice, now just a plea for reassurance.

Wrapping his arms around her, basking in the closeness and warmth, he closed his eyes. "I promise," William responded, voice just as quiet as hers.

After they managed to gather themselves once more and don their public personas, Wey'land cleared his throat, "My Love, I have a surprise for you, acquired during my raid on the local high school, I think you will certainly appreciate it." Offering her his arm, he led her to a newly created offshoot of the tunnel system, a hollowed out cavern, similar to the incubation chambers that dotted the network, but different in that there were no eggs present. Nor were there the tightly cloistered together coffin-like cells that kept those who were being prepared for transformation trapped. Instead, there were indentations dug into and lining the circular walls, each with a webby latticework of strands of an organic compound covering the front, the purpose clear, a dungeon.

Giving her mate a look, Yu'tani wryly asked, "Wraith cells?"

Giving a slight cough at being found out so quickly, Wey'land simply nodded his head. "I felt they would be more appropriate for a prison than what we have in the incubation chambers..." He trailed off at the look his mate was giving him, "Okay, fine, I wanted to do it, okay? I wanted to use Wraith cells because I think they look cool, and who the hell is gonna make a smart ass remark about them to me?!"

Dryly, Yu'tani responded, "I am, mate of mine."

Sounding more like a petulant child than the ultimate killing machine that he was, Wey'land complained, "You don't count, you're never gonna be put in one for interrogation or something. I meant it as, who would question it when they were my prisoner?" Seeing the look that Yu'tani was leveling at him, he sighed, crossed his arms and grumbled as he jerked his head towards one of the far cells. "Now I don't know if I want to show you the surprise if you're gonna make fun of me for indulging myself in my prison design..."

Yu'tani wrapped her arms around her mate's neck from behind, hugging him close. "I will never truly make fun of you for doing what you love. Make sure your ego doesn't grow too much? Absolutely, but I will always love and support you in whatever you do, whether that's taking over most of a continent to subjugate and transform, or building Sci-Fi inspired prison cells, I will stand by you no matter what. And besides..." she leaned in and up so that her hot breath ran over her mate's ear, "what if I want you to interrogate me later?" she cooed in a sultry voice.

In a show of dexterity that his size and build wouldn't suggest possible, he grabbed her and brought her around, "Oh, you naughty wench, I certainly will be interrogating you thoroughly later, in fact, why don't I just go ahead and do it now..."

He was cut off by a groan emanating from the cell in front of them. Yu'tani looked in then looked back with a predatory gleam in her eyes. "My surprise?"

Wey'land gave a sinister grin of his own. "Not just your surprise, your first daughter." Seeing her confusion, he elaborated, "I found the little tart when I captured the high school, like I told you, and she had a few interesting things to tell me about what her father did, and, well, we can't simply ignore that she is stunning as well. I figure that we can take her out to the desert and give you a daughter that we can play with together, without it being weird for either of us. As an aside, I think we should have that particular conversation much later; for now, you have a new daughter to greet. Her name is Sally, for the time being at least. I think you should have the honor of giving her her new name after she is reborn."

Sa'lai looked at her father nervously, unsure how to broach the subject with him, when he took away her chance. "Sa'lai, are you going to ask or am I going to have to probe your mind to find what ails you?"

Surprised at the caring undertones to the question, Sa'lai looked at her new father, who seemed to genuinely care for her troubles, which actually made what she had to say much easier. "Father, I have finished rooting out the few pockets of resistance left." She felt a surge of joy when her father looked at her with both shock and pride. "But now I am unsure of what to do next."

He walked over and rested his arm on her shoulders, pulling her into a side hug as he walked her back to where he had been standing alone, watching the two **** women. "I can't help you if you do not elaborate on the problem, Daughter."

She formed her body to his, her mind wandering to the time after her rebirth when she had gotten to know her new parents much more intimately than she ever had her old ones, before mentally shaking her head and bringing herself back to the present. "I do not know what to do with the town. I know that it is mine, my nest, and I am the ruler of it and the surrounding lands under you and Mother, but I dislike how it looks. It is too human, too... fake?" She ended her statement with a question, hoping her father would understand, and luckily it seemed as if he had.

Squeezing her shoulder, he responded, "Ah, I think I see what you mean. Yes, leaving this place as it is, is simply unacceptable, but we have neither the time nor the manpower at the moment to completely rebuild in our image. What you should be looking for is a compromise. How can you make it look aesthetically pleasing without creating too much work for either yourself or your Drones?" She looked at him and shrugged helplessly, at a loss on how to do as he suggested. He looked at her and seemed to lose himself in thought for a few moments.

As he stood, contemplating, Sa'lai took the chance to observe the prisoners. She knew from the excruciating information overload she experienced after her rebirth that these women were found while some of the Drone spies in the city were performing reconnaissance around the wall and investigating the powerful man's actions, and subsequently captured when they ran away during one of his fits. She also knew that her father considered them a potentially vital source of information on the man, and his women. Sa'lai knew that her father was worried about this man, but that he was also doing everything he could to ensure the safety of the Hive from any interference he might try.

She was broken out of her musings by her father calling her name. Looking back at him, he spoke again, "I have given the matter some thought, and while your Mother and I want you to learn these things for yourself, I feel that it would be foolish of us to leave you adrift without ever extending a hint or suggestion. That said, don't tell her that I helped you with this."

Nodding and smiling brightly at her father, he smiled briefly then continued. "I think we can both agree that a collection of towers in the sky is not something that we want to look at every day, but that there are advantages to living above those you rule over. Symbolism is a powerful thing, even if it is only recognized subconsciously or instinctually. So, if you tear down all but the tallest building, and use the material to build or modify the other existing buildings into something more aesthetically pleasing, then you can change the look of this singular tower into something fit for a mighty Queen such as yourself, as well as us of course, and that is more suited to our... particular... tastes and views, yes?"

Sa'lai just looked at her father with eyes shining with awe, before she nodded enthusiastically. He smiled at her before continuing, "As for the majority of the houses, again, given our lack or materials and manpower, even with the materials we will gain from the deconstruction of the other towers, we cannot simply leave them looking as they are, a disorganized mess of varying styles and designs, nor can we simply tear them all down and work from scratch. Therefore, a middle ground is needed. My suggestion would be to pick a style from history, and build in that image. Just like symbolism, imagery is a powerful tool, and association by imagery can be just as powerful if done the right way. If you wanted my thoughts?" She nodded eagerly, "I would go with either Roman or Early Japanese stylings. Both were renowned for their mighty empires and both were famously deferent to their Imperial leaders. Symbolism and Imagery, remember these things, Sa'lai, and you will go far."

Seeing his new daughter look at him so adoringly, he chuckled and squeezed her tight once more, before growing serious and turning back to the women in the cage-like cell. "Now then, as for these two, I think that you should lead the interrogation."

Sa'lai looked at him in shock, "Me, Father? Why not you or Mother?"

He smiled, but it wasn't jovial or caring like the ones he had given her before had been, this one was dark, and held promises of malice and pain. "Because, Daughter, you are a Queen now, a ruler in your own right. We cannot always be around to deal with things that crop up in your realm, so you need to be ready to deal with certain things yourself. Additionally, I sense that these two are carriers of the same virus that runs through us, though a much different strain than even the obvious difference. It will do you well to cut your teeth on these two. Do not fret, however, I will be here the whole time, to make sure that nothing goes awry."

Sa'lai looked at the two slumbering women in a new light, and felt uncertainty pang in her chest, but she swallowed her resolve and gave a resolute nod to her father. "I'll do it as soon as they wake up." He smiled.