When she sees the flash of Lilly’s protoss rifle, Imogen ducks under the door to the zerg training hall. “I am not your enemy,” Neiman shouts at Lilly after the shot, “but I will do everything I have to, to stop the Queen of Blades. Including stopping you.”
Right now, it seems to Imogen like Shelley’s bronze zerglings are fighting Neiman’s purple ones. He also probably has control of the hydralisk in the northeast corner who is soon likely to be a problem for Lilly. But if both Neiman and Shelley have computers that relay commands through the overlord, that control could change at any moment. Unsure of how to deal with the zerg, Imogen settles for harassing Neiman. She moves westward, towards the zergling scuffle, thinking maybe to help defend Abdul’s position once she is confident which zerglings are his allies. She moves a little awkwardly, dropping her right arm to keep the psi-gauntlet concealed down along her leg for now.
“We wouldn’t be your enemy, either, but you seem to have taken our people,” Imogen shouts across the room at Neiman. “Using them as test subjects is not acceptable. You need to stand these creatures down right now and let us have our people back.”
“You simply don’t understand,” he replies. “I’m doing what I have to, to stop the most vile force in the universe. I don’t know why you would protect these zerg.”
“The zerg?! I’m talking about the terrans!”
The purple zerglings leave off attacking their cousins and charge at Imogen, clawing and snapping at her as she tries to fend them off with her psi-gauntlet. As she backs away from them, she stumbles over some of the detritus littering the combat arena. Imogen falls backwards into the wall, smacking the back of her head on the hard surface. The other set of zerglings charges in too, but to Imogen’s dismay, they leap at her, rather than the purple ones. One of them jumps too high, and smacks into the folded up ladder near the catwalk. It clangs down, and Imogen seizes upon retreat as the new plan, wading through the teeth and claws to reach the escape route. It is awkward clambering up the ladder with a psi-blade extending beyond one hand, a laptop in the other, and zerglings nipping and scratching at her, but Imogen makes it up to the top. The zerglings, not even having hands, try in vain to follow. They seem set upon her as their target. Perhaps that was the last order Neiman issued before he cloaked.
Imogen does not linger in the area to give the zerglings a chance to catch up. Now that she has a clear view of this level, she has given herself a new objective. She charges down the catwalk in Shelley’s direction, shouting at all the terrans up here. “Whether you’re aware of it or not, this is not witness relocation. You’re being used in another slavery situation backed by Rose Corp. You two over there, if Neiman tries to move past you, stop him. He’s the one who captured you. This is not a scientific experiment sanctioned by the Dominion!”
Shelley looks up from her screen and sees Imogen. Recognizing her for who she is, Shelley redoubles her efforts to wrench control of her zergling cohort back from the overlord. “Gotta focus. It’s just some stupid overlord,” she mutters. “I’m smarter than a zerg. C’mon, you zerglings!” Shelly concentrates on just one of the yellow-brown zerglings, sending messages to it that conflict with the overlord’s instructions to attack Imogen. The stumbling creature gets in the way of the others, further hampering their attempts to get up the ladder.
Imogen keeps running. As she passes Shelley, she encourages her, “You got this!”
“Watch out for the slippery section!” Shelley cautions in return, thinking Imogen will be continuing around the northwest corner of the catwalk.
Imogen passes Shelley the laptop, freeing a hand so she can vault over the railing and fling herself at the overlord’s billowy surface. At the impact, she stumbles to her hands and knees, and the zerg makes the same upset neighing sound it has to each of Lilly’s shots. All around Imogen is zerg ooze and blood, even scorch marks. She knew the overlord was big, but now that she is actually atop it, she realizes just how huge it is. Her intent is to slice into it with her psi-gauntlet, which is probably going to make a mess of her, as well. On Redstone III, they were not able to get a sample of overlord for Li June. This time, Imogen is confident they will, but she is definitely going to need a shower after this.
There is the loud report of the sniper rifle again, and the overlord lurches underneath Imogen as metal fragments go flying from its implant. Given how close the device is to Imogen, she thinks it likely that she was Neiman’s intended target. The zerg starts shuddering violently, and Imogen loses what purchase she has. She rolls across its top and over the edge, coating herself in more organic muck. As she falls toward the hard metal floor, she makes a desperate grab, latching onto one of the overlord’s seemingly pointless dangling legs. Her psi-gauntlet nearly slices through it, but she corrects her right arm’s angle just in time to avoid sending herself plummeting again.
From her current position, the overlord’s implant is well out of reach, but Imogen is not willing to admit defeat yet. Destroying the zerg relay station will be just as effective as taking out the tech in its brain. Imogen tightens her grip with her legs and left hand and awkwardly jabs upwards, but she is unable to land a solid hit on the balloon-like bulk of the overlord. Shelley’s zerglings remain confused and struggling to get up the ladder, but the purple pair has noticed that their programmed target is now much closer to their level than before, albeit clear across the room. They leave the ladder and charge north, jumping up and nipping at Imogen when they get close enough. They get tangled up in the overlord’s legs just as much as she is, and the combined weight drags the lot of them to the arena floor.