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The Ambassador was busy garnering good will among the Reach, and Dawur had his duties to do as their enforcer. Thus, the job of handling their latest agent fell upon her.
She had observed the Ambassador do this before, so she knew she could handle it. Besides, it was a quiet night. All she had to do was make sure the scarab would do as ordered.
It was simple, really. She mostly sat back and occasionally watched while working on her experiments. The new shipments of children uniformly had the metagene, thanks to the additives marking them for kidnapping. She had to observe how their progress went.
[I wish I could talk to them.]
The Scientist looked up; the advanced agent was talking to its host’s family. She smirked.
“Well, they do hear your voice and words are coming out,” she said.
[That’s not the same! Then again, it doesn’t look like you guys would know.]
“Oh? And why is that?”
[You have been on Earth for what, a year at least? Being away from your family that long means you either don’t have one or don’t care for them.]
“Or that you serve a greater purpose and do not mind the distance as long as you serve your empire well.”
[That seems messed up.]
“Says the meat that is part of a species that turns on itself at the slightest provocation. The Reach are at least unified.”
[Right, because murder, torture, enslavement and various other horrors you commit, along with being away from people you care about, is totally worth it as long as you’re nationalistic. I think I’ll stick with infighting over planet destroying.]
You do not have a choice in this matter. We serve the Reach, so we serve the same goals as the Scientist.
“Well said, scarab. It seems you understand your existence as well as I do mine. Now all we have to do is get the meat to understand his.”
[Please, like I’m going to give up as long as my friends and family are in danger!]
“Why must you insist on being so stubborn and obstinate when it is clear you have absolutely no choice? You serve the will of the Reach and the Holy Writ now.”
[…The Holy Writ? What is that?]
It is the religious text of the Reach.
[Figured from the ‘Holy’ part. Just didn’t picture a bunch of science heavy aliens as being particularly religious.]
“That is because Reach religion is much more superior to the ones held by your meat. We know what the words mean, and do not squabble over it. The Reach are to become masters of the universe, and all others are below us. We have many plans to conquer each planet.”
[So what then?]
“What do you mean ‘what then’? We will have fulfilled our purpose.”
[So once you fulfill your purpose, what’s the Reach going to do? Just kick puppies for the fun of it?]
The Scientist had no answer to that. Thankfully, she didn’t need to, as the Ambassador came in to tell her that further handling of Blue Beetle was unnecessary tonight. She continued her work, not bothering to think about the meat’s words.
***
The next time was after Blue Beetle’s failure to apprehend the experiments. She was still in a snappish mood, but it had been a few days since the incident, and she did have new meat that she was working on. Exposing the red head to flames did seem to have particularly good results.
[You have got to be kidding me. That was the cheesiest thing I ever heard coming out of my mouth!]
“Oh? And what would that be, pray tell?”
[Weren’t you listening to the Ambassador, Scientist lady?]
“No, I was not. And do not add ‘lady’ to the end of my title ever again.”
[Well, lady, if I remember, it was ‘Never fear, Blue Beetle’s here to save the day!’ and doing a classic Superman pose to save a kitten from a tree.]
“The Ambassador said that?” the Scientist said, lips quirking in amusement.
[Yeah. What’s his deal anyway? He acts like a complete ass half the time, and then he goes all ‘I am your friendly friend so pretty please love me’. Not to mention how melodramatic and over the top he is.]
“The Ambassador has many interesting qualities, most of which make him suitable for the job,” the Scientist said diplomatically with a smirk.
[Ugh, he’s so cheesy he makes ‘60’s cartoons look serious and dramatic! At this point I’m surprised he hasn’t called me, Black Beetle and Green Beetle the ‘Super Friends’ or something to that effect.]
Really, the Scientist didn’t mean to chuckle at that. But it was something the Ambassador would do. “Well, he wouldn’t reveal our other advanced operatives to the public.”
Such a tactic would be illogical.
[You laughed! So Reachlings can have a sense of humor.]
“Of course. It is just that most beings cannot comprehend our humor.”
[What, hurting people while calling it ‘Super Happy Fun Times For Everyone Camp’?]
An outright laugh came out of her mouth. “No, usually we find how pathetic others are in their attempts at resistance funny. Or how people lead themselves to their demise.”
[Ah. You must have had the time of your life when watching B’azz mode me.]
“There was much happiness at our success.”
It does not seem likely that you would have doubted such a success.
“Of course not. However, it would have been a bother to kill you, Jaime Reyes, and put the scarab in another host. It was much easier to have Green Beetle put you on mode then try to kill you in battle. Your scarab is quite good at fighting.”
That is a fact.
[Lucky me, I get to watch my body kick everyone’s butt.]
“You are fortunate to be a servant of the Reach. If I were you, I would relish this opportunity.”
[Because being trapped in my body is so enviable.]
“Says the meat that would not let his scarab do anything, thus just merely using it to his own ends instead of any greater purpose.”
[Saving lives is never a waste. Helping people is my greater purpose.]
“Oh really? Then you will want to make the Reach’s transition into power as painless as possible.”
[Stripping people of free will? Not my thing, ese.]
“Again, you tried to destroy your AI.”
[It doesn’t have free will now, even!]
I am avoiding being erased.
[…Sorry, ese.]
The Scientist rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long night. “Why you bothered with such pathetic meat when you had the power of the scarab in your hands is beyond me.”
[Of course you wouldn’t get the idea of actually helping those less fortunate than you.]
“Everyone has equal opportunity under the Reach. Whether they rise to the top or not is solely dependent on their skill.”
[So you were the best scientist ever and became head scientist?]
“Yes.”
[Then-]
“You should be focusing on watching your body perform our tasks for us,” the Scientist snapped, not waiting for him to make his next remark.
[…That sounded so incredibly wrong.]
“It is an accurate depiction of what is happening, is it not?”
[I’m not going to be the one who tells you about innuendos on Earth.]
“Gratitude,” the Scientist said as she walked off, figuring her shift was over.
***
The next time it was just the Scientist and Blue Beetle, she decided to bring a special file with her.
“Since you are of the Reach now, I feel it is prudent you know more about the great empire you serve,” she explained.
[…Go on.]
Smiling at her victory, the Scientist began to tell Jaime Reyes of how a small, less fertile planet in a hostile sector became the foundation of an empire. She told him of the development of Reach philosophy, language, and technology. She had to admit, she enjoyed sharing information; very few cared about her findings or knowledge beyond immediate concerns. And while he may have been a captive audience, at least he was curious about the empire that enslaved him. Even though it was likely he was listening to figure out a weakness of the Reach’s, it was enjoyable to have a conversation with someone intelligent enough and willing to talk back to her and question things.
***
When standing next to the Ambassador for observing a mission Blue Beetle was taking, she couldn’t help but appreciate what Jaime Reyes was saying. It was accurate; what he was being forced to do often was stupid. She found herself more endeared to the boy for his common sense that the Ambassador lacked, even if they were at philosophical odds. It was refreshing to see someone openly lambast the Ambassador.
It got to the point where she had to perfect her poker face so that she would show no hint of laughter at the sarcastic comments.
And when Blue Beetle was off mode, she pretended that none of the disappointment was from missing the occasional chat and off-mission banter, or from missing sarcastic comments. Her bad mood was solely from the Ambassador doing a poor job, the lessening supplies of new meat, and from loosing two valuable pawns. Certainly not from loosing a new student, either.
She loathed to admit that she had a soft spot for some mere meat.
***
The Ambassador had set the ship to self destruct, and everything would crash if something wasn’t done soon. The Earth might end at this rate.
That was when the Scientist saw him again; she looked at Blue Beetle, and said, “The controls are that way. You may be able to reprogram the ship so it doesn’t destroy the planet.”
He looked at her, and smiled. “Gratitude, Scientist.”
She smirked. “You better do amazing things, meat.” It was with that she ran.