trans_9 | You can take the woman out of the swarm... [Closed to Dean, Nightwing, and Shoutarou]

After taking Sherlock Holmes to Med Bay, Kerrigan willingly went with Shoutarou to the Precinct. True, she had helped save Sherlock's life but hat didn't change the fact that she was the one who had tried to kill him- a crime she freely admitted.

If the previous Captain were here Kerrigan could have solved them all a lot of trouble. She'd had an arrangement with him. If she ever became the Queen of Blades again he knew how to kill her quickly, preferably before too much blood was spilled. But Kennedy wasn't here. She had no way of knowing if he had informed anyone else of their arrangement.

Even if he had and even though it wasn't clear to Kerrigan, she wasn't the Queen of Blades. She hadn't murdered someone, despite the stab wounds. And she had not sprouted bladed wings and gone on a killing spree. She was quiet and cooperative, if reluctant to share more about what happened than she all ready had.

"He questioned what evidence we had against the Daligig. I... showed him telepathically. What they did to me. It was too much for him. He insulted me and I stabbed him repeatedly."

She showed no outward display of guilt. Her voice was flat. "Emotionless" was the word most would use to describe her. "Numb" was more accurate.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In all honesty, Dick wasn't sure what to do with this. He hadn't heard of Kennedy's deal with Kerrigan and wouldn't have agreed to it if he had. Still, it meant that they were left with a situation that was less than optimal.

He faced Kerrigan in the 'interrogation room'. Which was also the meeting room. Multipurpose. It was enough for what they needed right now. He glanced up over her head toward Dean and Shoutarou, then back to Kerrigan. "You have to understand that this places us in a very...difficult position."

"I understand better than you do." Kerrigan said evenly, looking up from the floor to Grayson's eyes. "What do your files tell you about me? Not enough, obviously."

This was...definitely not what Shoutarou had expected for his first real brush with a serious security issue. He was a little overwhelmed to say the least - he'd usually help locate a suspect, compile evidence and let the police carry on from there. This, though...

Unsettling as it was, it was time to put on the hard-boiled big-boy pants.

"Then I suppose you ought to fill in the blanks," he comments while resting his hands on his hips.

For a long moment Kerrigan was silent.

As much as she'd thought about it, now that the moment was here, she had no desire to die. Then again, looking at these people, she doubted they had what it took to execute someone, even if it was in their best interest.

"I'm a psychic. That means I can- could read minds, use telekinesis, and kill with a thought. The Daligig changed that with their experiments. It takes effort to read minds and I can only use my other powers against the Ohm. But the Confederate ghost program had to rework their entire classification of psionics to account for me. That should give you an idea of what I can do with a fraction of my power.

"The Daligig weren't the first to experiment on me. That was the Confederacy, the terran government. They forced me into their Ghost program for psychics and when I refused to cooperate they implanted a neural inhibitor to make me. I was an assassin and I was exceedingly good at it.

She paused. As much hate as she held for the Confederacy and what they did to her, she hated Mengsk all the more and the memories burned in her mind. "I was freed by Arcturus Mengsk." While her voice had been more or less even she said the name with such venom it was nearly a hiss. "He was the leader of the Sons of Korhal, an organization determined to overthrow the Confederate government at all costs. Not only did we agree about the Confederacy but I owed him everything. I joined him," looking back she doubted Mengsk would have given her any other choice, "and I became his second in command. Before I continue there's something else you need to know.

"In my universe, there was a collection of beings known as the zerg. They share a hive mind. Most of the zerg are bred and grown but they can infest other species, twisting them into distorted reflections of themselves. While we battled the Confederacy the zerg battled us. Mengsk told us that they were a weapon made and unleashed by the Confederates. The zerg were attracted by the brain patterns of psychics. Using psi-emitters he set the zerg on the capital of the Confederacy. I confronted him but I followed his orders when he sent me to the planet to keep the protoss from destroying the zerg before they could finish decimating the Confederacy. But when it came time to evacuate me and my troops Mengsk left us.

"There was a reason the zerg were attracted by psychics. I was exactly what the Overmind was looking for. I was taken alive, infested but allowed to keep my intelligence. But I was... warped. I was the Queen of Blades. I had no compassion, no remorse." Whatever she felt had been repressed out of necessity. "I was a zerg. I killed and even after the Overmind was destroyed and I was freed from its orders I was still the Queen of Blades. I brought the remnants of the zerg under my control and in the process I killed billions of people. After I accomplished my goals I let my enemies sleep until I struck again. The slaughter didn't stop until an artifact was used to deinfest me. I wasn't the person I was before everything, I can never be here again. But I wasn't the Queen of Blades or so I thought.

As you can see, I'm not completely human." She touched the tentacle dreadlocks she had in place of hair. "I... regret what I did. Since I first woke here I've put distance between myself and others. I was afraid that this would happen."

Dick listened to her explanation, mentally taking a few notes while she spoke. Things that would have been more useful to know beforehand, but playing catch up was fine. He could manage that.

"I'm more interested in what happen just now," he admitted. Knowing her past was good, but they had to deal with the present. "I get that you tried to show him things telepathically, he insulted you and you attacked him. Did somebody else have to snap you out of it to stop you?" That actually would have some bearing on how to proceed.

She had just told him she was a trained assassin and murderer and he hadn't leveled a gun at his head. How was this man not dead let alone head of Security?

"No." Although in an odd way, someone else had.

As Kerrigan's explanation went on, there was some definite uncomfortable collar-adjusting going on from Shoutarou - though other than that, he attempted to remain cool and collected.

"So...we've got a resurgence of this Queen of Blades thing? Or at least a partial one? Because for someone with the kind of track record you just described, I would think that I would've drove up on a worse situation," he comments. "He was still grousing about getting blood on his coat, after all..."

Kerrigan's lips twitched as though she would frown.

"If that were the case you would all be dead."

How had Sherlock survived? It was a miracle. The only profession Kerrigan knew was dealing death and her hobbies were equally limited. She could kill a man with her hands and legs- in an instant.

"I can't explain why he is still alive."

Dick looked at her seriously. "Honestly? It looks like you found a way to control yourself. Which doesn't mean that we can let you walk around free at the moment. You did attack someone, so you're going to have to be brigged." Which was at least something they could do.

"Obviously. We all know I'll be staying there for some time. There's no need to spare me." Why he would want to she had no idea. She'd all ready intruded on one mind today and that had ended poorly.

"And in the meantime, see if we can't find some way to find out just how you managed to control yourself, should that happen again," Shoutarou comments while stroking at his chin.

You can take the woman out of the swarm... [Closed to Dean, Nightwing, and Shoutarou]

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With apologies for the tl;dr, PM me if you want a shorter explanation

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