Music is "Dynasty" by MIIA.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Maximoffica Rurikis

Commonly referred to as Max's bee, Maximoffica Rurikis is a man-made techo-bee created by the founder and CEO of MaxEffect Industries. It is intended to replace the natural bee overtime and is an attempt to alleviate the disappearing bee epidemic. While the intentions behind M. Rurikis began pure, the project has devolved into something much more destructive for the planet. The Earth was not meant to be cared for by man-made machines; nature has always been far better at that than humanity. When we try to replace something nature makes, it always ends in disaster.

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Chapter Eighteen: Rurikis

Melizza darts for the hive, screaming something in her high-pitched buzzing voice that I can't understand. She's flying straight for the center of the hive, presumably where the hive's queen is located. She dodges several of Max's bees along the way, barely missing their sharp appendages, extended stingers, and bladed wings.

"Melizza!" I shout through the hive mind. She's not thinking clearly. From the chaos around us to the emergency in front of us, I don't think either of us are.

I close my eyes and connect to Melizza through the hive sight. When I open them again, I can see what she does as she enters the hive. The yellow material in the interior of the oak tree is demolished. The artificial bees have destroyed everything. The corridor where the baby bees--the larvae, pupa, and eggs--is completely gone. The baby bees that were in the nursery at the time are...well, I don't need to go into too much gory detail.

Melizza makes a sound of despair in her head, one that I can't truly articulate with my human experience. She moves away from the nursery, crawling through crumbling hive material to get to the honey section. The octagon-shaped tunnels are flooded with the sticky, golden substance. It's no longer being kept neatly in one part of the hive.

The last area of the hive is one that's much large and expansive than the rest. Or at least it was before Max's bees destroyed it. Pieces of the hive have landed on some of the other, smaller adult bees, ones that I'm guessing are the male drones. Several other bees, larger ones that look like guardian females, stand between the entrance and the largest bee in the hive: the queen.

Melizza crawls over to the queen of the hive and says, "Your Majesty, please, say something!"

The queen, though half-crushed under the weight of the hive walls, lifts her head and answers, "Melizza, you should not be here. You should not have come back."

"I brought Sarai!" Melizza exclaims. "She can help you!"

The queen almost seems to shake her head. "It is too late for me, little one."

"What happened?"

"Those metal bees came from the human hive," the queen replies, her voice barely above a whisper in the hive mind. "They came in a swarm of black and death. They came for our hive. I do not know why."

"We must stop them--!"

"--No," the queen interrupts. "Protect your sisters and brothers. Create a new hive far, far away from this place. Do not fight these monsters. They are fueled with magic. Dark magic. They are not only machines. They are corrupt, living a life worse than death. You must hide our hive away from them, Melizza. Promise me."

Melizza makes a whimpering sound, then agrees, "I promise."

Relieved, the queen lets her head drop back to the floor of the hive, and I can feel her slip away from the hive mind.

She's gone. They're all gone.

I open my eyes, disconnecting from the hive mind. I know I have to do something, but the swarm of Max's bees chasing the honeybees seems much too big for one person to handle. I don't have magic like Wanda. I can't chant spells from memory like Stephen. I'm not a master of mischief like Loki. I'm just Sarai, and I can barely see through the hive sight or connect to the hive mind. There's nothing I can do for this, and I've never felt more useless.

A large, green sigil blasts over my head, towards the largest swarm of Max's bees. It collides with their metal bodies, forcing them to remain still. The sigil twists, and the bees drop to the ground. I turn to look behind me, seeing Stephen running at them at full speed. His hands and forearms are covered with the same sigils. Behind him, Loki trails with chant of illusion magic on his tongue.

"Are you all right?" Stephen asks me.

I nod, just relieved to see them both. They stand at my sides, using their abilities to take down the hoards of artificial bees. However, we aren't left alone for long. As soon as Max's bees sense that something is happening, they turn their attention to us instead of Melizza's hive. They team up and dive for us, moving at an unnatural speed.

Stephen steps in front of us, pushing a massive sigil from his palm into space in front of us. "Duck behind me!" he shouts, grounding himself before the bees hit.

Loki pulls me behind him, and the bees strike the sigil shield. When they collide, their metal shells break apart on contact, leaving a magical residue behind. It's not a bright, emerald color like Stephen's shield. It's a dark, purple scar that creates fissures in the barrier. They're not trying to get through; they're trying to break it down, one blast at a time.

"They're killing themselves," Loki mutters under his breath.

Stephen's boots dig into the ground, but the force of the swarm pushes him back. We help hold him up, but Max's bees are smarter than that. Another round of them dive from the opposite direction, and Stephen is forced to throw his other hand up in that direction. He creates dual sigil shields, and they eventually form a dome over the three of us.

"Quit going all kamikaze!" he strains.

I turn to Loki, signing, "Isn't there anything you can do?"

He looks at the sigil shield with concealed concern. "This isn't my kind of magic," he tells me. "My magic is more...low-key." I glare at him, sensing the joke but not at all amused. He shrugs. "Sorry, that was a terrible joke, even for me. However, it is the truth. I can only create illusions. I don't have the abilities Stephen has, or even Wanda."

An idea pops into my head as I stare at the black swarms. "Illusion is exactly what we need."

I sign the plan to him, and his wicked smile grows wider and wider as I go on. When I finish, Loki laughs mischievously. "Oh, I love you, Sarai Rizkallah. You would have made a lovely magician indeed."

"Um, care to let me in on the brilliant plan?" Stephen asks, attempting to seal the fissures in the dome.

"Not enough time," Loki retorts, already moving his hands to create the illusion of our choice. "Keep the shield up."

"Just hurry up," Stephen snaps. "I don't have all day, Odinson."

Loki rolls his eyes and continues to work on the illusion. Seconds later, the spell is primed and ready to go. He nods to me, and I nod back. With a flick of his wrist, he sends the illusion past the sigil dome, through the hoard of Max's bee's, and to the treeline. When it stops, it materializes into Rurik Maximoff himself, or at least a magical, fake version of him.

I grin widely and turn to Loki. "It's perfect!"

Loki looks smug as he starts to manipulate the illusion Max. "It is pretty bloody good if I do say so myself."

Stephen glances over towards the illusion, smiles widely, and shakes his head. "You think they're gonna fall for that? They are part magic, you know."

"Only one way to find out, then, Strange."

Loki starts pulling the illusion's strings, like a puppet-master to his stringed creation, and Max starts to speak. "My creation! Why are you wasting your time on these fools?"

Both Stephen and I glare at Loki. "Max doesn't talk like that," I sign, making a "Duh" gesture after I finish my sentence.

"This isn't theater," Stephen states, getting the gist of what I said from my facial expressions.

Loki scoffs at us both. "Would you like to do it?"

"No, just talk more like him, damn it."

"What do you want me to say? 'Good morning, good morning, good morning'?"

If we were in a less-deadly situation, I might've laughed at that. Instead, I give Loki a sign that basically tells him to get his act together. The dark-haired male nods and turns back to his illusion.

Puppet-Max opens his mouth again, drawing the attention of the real Max's creation. "I've changed my mind," he says, in a way almost exactly like the real thing. "This hive is as good as dead. Return to me, and I will give you a new assignment."

The bees move closer, oddly still. They look over puppet-Max like they're trying to see if he's the real thing.

"It's not working," Stephen states, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "They're not buying it."

"Wait," Loki assures.

Max gestures to the trail leading back to the campus. "Of course, I'm an illusion. Do you think I'd come all the way out here just to tell you to come back? I'm astral projecting from the lab, so hurry up and get back here. Plans are changing. Your job is done. Now--" Puppet-Max claps twice, something the real person would absolutely do. "--Get moving. We don't have all day."

The bees stare for a few more seconds, then turn for the sky and dart up and out of the forest. Everyone breathes a heavy sigh of relief. The illusion of Max fades just as Stephen drops his shield. He falls to his knees, exhausted, and I catch him before he collapses.

"Thank you," I sign, and Loki verbally translates.

Stephen nods slightly, flashing a smile. "Don't mention it."

I stand, leaving Loki to help Stephen to his feet, and turn back to the enormous oak tree. The hive is completely destroyed, and those honeybees that are left are all hiding in the autumnal leaves.

"It's okay," I say through the open hive mind. "It's safe now. You can come out. They're gone."

Slowly but surely, that's exactly what they do. Hundreds of honeybees, though a fraction of what was, still survived. They're so small and fragile, all scared to death, but they know and trust me. I've never met most of them, but Melizza has been a good spokes-bee for me. I'm the Queen of the bees, after all. With their hive queen gone, I'm the only one left to protect them.

"Where's Melizza?" I ask.

"Right here." Little Melizza comes crawling out of the hive, flying much slower and with less vigor than before. She lands on my open palm, her wings sagging with sadness. "We are all that is left." She looks up at me. "What do we do now?"

I bring her closer, eyes turning up to the hundreds of honeybees that have flown down from the oak and into the space surrounding me. They're all close and friendly, wanting to be loved and protected. I stare at each of them in awe, knowing in my heart that Max's secret project has to be stopped--no matter what.

"Now, we take you all somewhere safe," I state to them. "We're going to a new hive."

END CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.