"Another human!" you heard the colony gasp from throughout the warehouse as this older man had come out of an office and was looking directly at you.
Thankfully, Dr. Benjamin didn't see the colony, yet, but you could sense them moving toward him while trying to stay hidden. The drones, which stayed the closest to you moved between you and the newcomer. It wasn't a super big warehouse. Just big enough to house a few small pieces of equipment and function as a basic on site lab if necessary. Too large for the colony to defend, but not as large as to have an affect on the rain forest around you.
"Stay hidden!" you sent out a command to the colony, "don't let him see you!"
"He's seen you, my Queen!" the workers answered.
"Yes," you answered, "hopefully Hank can convince him to keep me secret."
"What are you doing here, Doctor Benjamin?" Hank Pym asked carefully and nervously, moving between you and the older man.
"I got a call from MedTech, said that you'd contacted them about needed to do further research in the field," Doctor Benjamin answered, "I assumed it meant that the colony that we collected had died and you needed to collect new Divine Fire Ant specimens."
Hank was about to answer, but Doctor Benjamin cut him off.
"And since this is the company base, working under the authorization of the US and Brazilian governments with regard to scientific research and with the permission of the Brazilian government to simply be on the land, I figured you would come here," Doctor Benjamin continued, "I did not expect you to arrive with an ant queen that is bigger then you are."
"This... oh this!" Hank responded, as he were surprised by Doctor Benjamin's curiosity, "this is just a robotic drone. Some robotics company wanted me to test it. It has sensors in the eyes and antennae and an advanced AI. Like it doesn't need a remote or anything."
"Uh-huh," Doctor Benjamin answered, though he sounded like he was trying play along, "so why build it like an ant?"
"Mobility and scaring off predators, I guess," Hank Pym answered, "I mean, a wheeled or treaded drone wouldn't do super well in all the possible terrains here in the rain forest. Fallen trees, plants, and the few rocks that one could run into would make it immobile, and you know that things like jaguars and the mountain lions that range into these areas have been know to destroy and damage other drones that have been used. They're more likely to run away from something that looks like a giant ant."
"Hide," you commanded the drones, "I'll be fine. He doesn't have bug spray or a gun."
The drones then moved away to where they would be out of sight as Doctor Benjamin came closer. The man then pushed Hank aside, though gently, and took a closer look at you.
"Would you care to explain the hairs on the "drone" then?" Doctor Benjamin said slowly, "or why the antennae are moving in what would appear to be random patterns? A robotic drone wouldn't need these things. Tactile contact is not something people go for in making a drone. This thing has the same sort of sensory hairs that many insects, particularly ants, wasps, and bees have to allow them to touch things."
"Uh..." Hank was sort of at a loss for words for the moment.
"And you might also like to explain how this thing is breathing," Doctor Benjamin continued, "the exoskeleton is incomplete around the thorax, allowing an ant of this size to draw in additional air or oxygen as its armor expands at that joint in the thorax. This thing can not be a drone.
"Yes, I am not a drone," you thought to yourself and to the colony, "Hank will be my drone. I am the Queen."
You were fast becoming annoyed with this Doctor Benjamin. He wasn't about to buy the lie, which would mean that Hank might have to explain your origins to try and get him to back off, but that wouldn't necessarily allow you the freedom to go into the rain forest and start your colony. You looked over to Hank and saw him sigh nervously. He was clearly nervous too. The situation wasn't good, and you knew that if Doctor Benjamin sounded any alarm, you'd be looking ate being shot. Finally you made a decision.
"Workers, come and spell for your Queen," you commanded, "do not sting the old human."
You heard some grumbling from the worker ants, as though they preferred to simply swarm both Hank and Doctor Benjamin. A good part of you was willing to do that, as you'd get Hank as your Drone and you would be a step closer to laying eggs, but to have this other man suddenly disappear would cause trouble. And that was one thing you didn't want. The colony had no qualms with fighting with humanity if need be, but you were once human. You may be accepting the ant instincts and accepting your role as a queen ant, but you were determined that your colony would not conflict with humans.
Hank said nothing as your colony gathered and soon restrained Doctor Benjamin when he noticed all of the normal sized ants approaching.
"Jeez... we're infested!" Doctor Benjamin declared.
"Actually, they're the colony I took to America," Hank said slowly, guessing that you were going to expose yourself, since Doctor Benjamin wasn't going to buy any lie.
"What? You brought them back?" Doctor Benjamin gasped.
"Their new queen is wishing to explain herself," Hank told him.
Doctor Benjamin gave him a puzzled look, which lasted until the workers began to spell out what you told them to spell out. Then utter surprise, shock, and speechlessness filled his face.
"My name is Christine MacTaggert," you spoke, "I used to be a human woman. I had gone out for a walk yesterday afternoon from my home in Miami, Florida and found myself in Doctor Pym's lab... quite by accident, I assure you. In my wandering, I accidentally broke the glass terrarium that the ants he had were in and they swarmed over me and stung me repeatedly. The result was my transformation into a Divine Fire Ant Queen. It would appear that the ant's original queen had died without laying an egg that would contain a new queen to take over the colony or start a new one. The ants had decided that I would replace the one they lost. Dr. Pym found me in his lab, and I've agreed to help him with his studies with the Divine Fire Ant."
"She was human?" Doctor Benjamin said speechlessly.
"Yes, yes she was," Hank nodded, you nodded as well, "there was a pile of shredded clothing underneath her when I arrived in the lab. The result of her exoskeleton ripping it apart at the seems."
"And she's helping you study the Divine Fire Ant?" Doctor Benjamin asked.
"Yes," Hank nodded, "and we agreed it best to do that here. Here, she won't be shot at by some paranoid person who has a hatred of "bugs" or rejected by anyone that sees what she is. Here the worst she may have to face are the native tribesmen that might just worship her. They do call her species God Ants. Maybe the mutagen in their venom is the reason."
"Maybe that is the reason," Dr. Benjamin nodded, "but didn't you think of trying to turn her back or send her to someone who could try?"
"And how would we do that?" Hank answered, "we didn't even know what the Divine Fire Ant venom did exactly. It'd take top geneticists years to not only analyze the mutagen in the venom but reverse it. If this happened to you, would you want to spend years in a lab being poked... which I'm not sure would work with her exoskeleton... and experimented on?"
"I do not wish to be a lab animal," you spoke, "I'd rather be a free ant then a caged human."
"And what about when she begins laying eggs?" Dr. Benjamin asked, "she's going to be tough to feed as it is already... and as a Divine Fire Ant, you know that she will attract the attention of any drone ant around."
"If I establish a colony, it will protect humanity," you spoke.
"This has nothing to do with protection," Dr. Benjamin answered, "everything has to eat. Ants normally eat other insects, and some will even move up to arachnids and small vertebrate animals if they can swarm them. An ant of your size will need to eat more then the average ant would... and given the size of Fire Ant colonies, regardless of the exact species, it would mean that your colony would graduate up from invertebrates and small animals to moderate sized animals to larger animals."
"We could give her additional food," Hank offered, "after all, they packed up a mountain of food that I had been feeding them over the years and had an excess of it. They used it as food for the journey here, and barely any of it was touched over the course of the sailing here."
"That happens when you manage to get them loaded onto a cargo ship that has had its engines strengthened beyond what the original manufacturers had put on it and then using a river barge built to carry a lot of weight and travel at relatively high speeds."
"But I only ate once!" you protested, "and I do not feel hungry right now. If I establish a colony of my own daughters, we will balance with nature... and if that means that some of them starve to preserve the natural world... then so be it."
"My Queen!" the workers gasped.
"Relax," you then said to them, "I won't let any daughter of mine starve. It's all to get this guy to let us go and start our colony."
"Okay then," Dr. Benjamin said slowly, as though he didn't trust anything, but wasn't going to debate the issue anymore.
"Also, Dr. Benjamin, I'd ask that you keep Christine's condition a secret," Hank spoke, "the consequences of this would not be good for her, and wouldn't be good for the rain forest as a whole."
"Why? Few people come out here, the ones that usually encounter the Divine Fire Ant are the natives in this area and they seem to worship the ant species," Doctor Benjamin retorted.
"But it also means they're the only ones that might know that the venom is a mutagen," Hank replied, "and because the Divine Fire Ant is a NEW species, they may not know that the ant doesn't rush to sting the way other Fire Ants do. In fact, from what Christine has told me, the species only stings when it needs to replace a Queen or a particular set of Drones, and that has apparently only occurred in legends. It's part of what Christine and I intend to find out down here... how accurate are the legends."
"Ants have legends?" Dr. Benjamin asked suspiciously.
"Divine Fire Ants do," you spoke, "they are smarter then any ant out there. They know what their venom does. My transformation was not an instinctive response. They consciously chose to transform me as a reward for freeing them from the terrarium that they were in."
"When do you two plan to head out then?" Dr. Benjamin asked.
"As soon as possible," Hank answered, "we might come back during the night, but if we can make it to one of the local villages we might stay there."
"I'll leave you two to it then," Dr. Benjamin then sighed and then turned and went back to his office. Once he disappeared from sight you turned your head to Hank Pym.
"We will not be staying here," you said to him, "I do not like him and I do not trust him. We will head out. Once we are safely beyond where he can see or hear us... you will join my colony and become my drone. Carry any and all equipment you need for your research... but once you are my drone we will fly further into the rain forest and find a safe place to begin our colony. I also expect to be pregnant by the time we land. We will then aid the rest of the colony in constructing a nest. Close to a tree and as disguised as possible to keep it as hidden."
"A nuptial flight, you mean?" Hank whispered.
You tilted your head in confusion.
"A nuptial flight is when new queens and drones take flight, mate, and then land, outside of the Divine Fire Ant, the male then dies and the queen begins construction of a new nest," Hank whispered, "I'd imagine that among Divine Fire Ants that the drone assists in the construction. He might even do it for the queen."
"But you don't need to do that, my Queen!" the drones protested to you, "you have us! You have your colony! We may not be your daughters, but you are OUR Queen. We will construct your nest for you!"
"I'm sure you will help," you said back to the drones, "and I will love every effort you give to assist me and Hank when he a fellow drone, but I am, and Hank will be, giants in size. You'd never complete a nest in time for me to safely secure my eggs in it. Hank and I will be just as capable of digging as you. Just grip the ground in our mandibles, pull, move, spit on it to cement it in place and build a hill that will go around our nest. And besides, I was always into do it yourself projects. One last one before I have a full time job of laying eggs is all I want."
"Of course my Queen," the first drone answered.
You looked up to see that Hank had carefully picked up a bag and was ready to go.
"Okay, let's go," Hank spoke.
You nodded and began to follow him toward a door that would lead you out into the jungle. The further you got from Doctor Benjamin the better you felt. You were certain he would betray you... as you reached the door, you turned back to a few workers at the end of the line.
"I ask that you stay hidden and observe Dr. Benjamin," you told them, "stay out of sight and do do anything that would give him the opportunity to step on you or hit you with poison. And if he puts out boxes that smell sweet, don't go into them, those are bait traps to kill you. Hank will periodically return to the edge of the forest here and you can inform him of what Dr. Benjamin is doing."
"Of course, my Queen," they answered and moved back to the outside wall of the warehouse, where they began digging a small nest for themselves
You, Hank, and the colony then moved toward the forest, and the future.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Possible future chapters
The colony swarms Hank Pym, but he dies
The colony swarms Hank Pym, he becomes your drone
Yours and Hank’s nuptial flight with the rest of the colony clinging to you or to Hank
Dr. Benjamin follows secretly and witnesses Hank’s transformation; the colony swarms him in retaliation