Real Name: Danielle ‘Dani’ Garret
Alignment: Villain
Faction: The Rot
Empire City had always believed in her. The Blue Scarab wasn’t just another hero—she was a symbol. When Dani Garret leapt into battle clad in bio-metallic armor and unshakable resolve, the citizens of the metropolis felt safer. She led by example, not only as a Covenant stalwart but as the founder of the Scarab Corps, giving others the chance to serve, to fight, to matter.
When The Rot began spreading, people looked to her and other heroes as beacons of hope.
For weeks, the Scarab Corps patrolled tirelessly, holding back the infection’s advance with discipline and courage. The Blue Scarab rallied them, always fighting and serving at the front. Justice doesn’t rest, she told them, and neither will we. Her presence alone gave people hope when so many other heroes had already fallen.
But hope was fragile.
Fate turned against Blue Scarab during an extraction in Midtown. The Corps had secured survivors, funneling them toward transport, when the infected broke through in waves. Dani struck like a hammer, her armor gleaming as she hurled one Rot-spawned brute aside, then another. She could feel her Corps faltering, fear gnawing at them, so she pushed harder.
She didn’t even notice when the whisper reached her.
A presence slid into her mind, cold and inevitable. It offered a promise, not of defeat, but of evolution. Why fight the tide, Dani? You could be more. Stronger than the law, stronger than loss.
She gritted her teeth, drowning the insidious whisper out with battle cries. But then she saw him. Scarab-23, a Scarab Corps recruit barely out of training. 23 was dragged down by three infected. His screams cut through the chaos. Dani lunged to save him, but as she pulled him free, she felt claws rake across her armor, puncturing deeper than they should have, and teeth gnawing at her face.
Her serum-augmented blood surged in response, a perfect conduit. The Rot met the Scarab Serum, and instead of being consumed instantly, they intertwined. Her vision blurred, her senses filled with impossible geometry. She crushed the attackers in fury, but the whispers only grew louder.
Her Corps cheered when she stood tall again. Then the cheers died. They saw their leader wounded and transformed, her armor bloodied, dulled and torn.
The Blue Scarab had been a beacon. Now, she was a harbinger of inevitability.
From that night forward, the city no longer saw Dani Garret. They saw only the Death Beetle, and the hunger she carried.
“Such an appetizing morsel I must have been, now its chow time!”
Death Beetle– The Rot #2