Music is "Double Rainbow" by Katy Perry.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Megalopta Genalis

A native of Central and South America, Megalopta Genalis is a species of sweat bee. They are one of the rare nocturnal species, active mostly at twilight. This is due to the larger facets in their compound eyes that make them 27 times more sensitive to light than other diurnal bees. One of the plants that M. Genalis pollinates is the Pseduobombax Septanatum, which has flowers that only open at sunset, after most diurnal bees have returned to their hives for the night.

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Chapter Twenty-Four: Genalis

Tony's plan--which is really a collective effort with everyone's input, but Tony insists on calling it "his plan"--is as brilliant as it is risky. We have two main problems to deal with: our missing friends and Max's bees and hive. Taking one problem at a time, we've decided to split up into two groups to conquer each problem. Wanda and I are taking Peggy, Natasha, Pepper, Carol, Steve, and Clint to deal with the Maximoffica Rurikis problem; Tony, Rhodey, Vision, Bruce, Sam, Bucky, T'Challa, and Thor have left to find and rescue Stephen and Loki. While I want to be in both places at once, Wanda and I agree that it's best for those of us with magic to stay as far away from Max's home base as possible.

Tony's team is already on the way to the lab. I told them what I could about where Stephen and Loki were being kept, but I doubt they're still there. Tony assured me that they'd hack the system from the outside, find out where our friends are, and figure out how to get them free from there.

Wanda, our team, and I are standing just outside the conference hall on campus. The first step in our search for Max's bees and hive is to ensure they haven't already arrived. Even with the sun down and the lights off, we can tell that they're not here yet. No trucks or packages are anywhere near the hall. Natasha was able to hack the system to see if they were inside the building, but the security feeds show nothing unusual and the log shows that no one has been inside the building for hours.

"I have an idea," she states, moving from one system to another on her laptop. "You said there were three shipments?"

I nod, signing, "Two for the bees and one for the hive. They left the lab just after one earlier this afternoon. The system said it was en route to the campus for the Fair, that it would arrive in sixteen hours."

"That puts the ETA at seven tomorrow morning," Steve concludes, leaning over Natasha's shoulder to look at her work. "Just in time for the Fair."

"Where are they now, then?" Clint asks the obvious. "Why take the long-way around? The lab's only a couple miles away. It shouldn't take sixteen hours to drive that."

"They're not coming straight here, is my guess," Carol states. "Why would they? It's safer to keep the project moving, in multiple locations, so Sarai here couldn't try to stop them. He might think she's not a threat alone, but he's being overly cautious."

"I agree," Natasha nods, typing away on her computer. "Which is why I'm going to track them down using CCTV and traffic cams."

"You can do that?" Wanda asks.

Natasha smirks up at her briefly. "Your surprise is insulting."

"Where did a ballerina learn how to hack traffic cams?" I sign with a side smile.

Natasha shrugs, turning back to her work with smug satisfaction, not giving me an answer. A few moments later, she rubs her hands together excitedly. "I'm in."

I walk with Wanda over to her side, peeking past Steve and Carol to see what's on the screen. Natasha shifts through dozens of feeds, unsure of what to look for.

"Any idea what kind of vehicle we're looking for?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Probably an eighteen-wheeler, maybe with MaxEffect's logo. But he might've gone overly cautious and put it in an unmarked truck. I have no idea."

"Here's to hoping we catch something," Pepper mutters to herself.

Fifteen minutes pass before Natasha spots something out of the ordinary. "There," she says, pointing to the screen, specifically to a Starbucks truck circling the block a few miles away. "That truck has gone through that stoplight three times. Two's a coincidence, but three?"

"Where's the nearest Starbucks?" I ask.

Natasha looks it up and smirks. "Five miles from that location. I think we got our first truck."

"Any chance we can find the other two?" Steve inquires. "We should move on all three at the same time so they can't warn each other."

"Already ahead of you, Rogers." Natasha continues to look while keeping a close watch on the first target. "I found another truck in the wrong place. It's a mile away from the first, circling a set of three blocks over and over, but it's a Target truck this time. We don't even have a Target in this town."

"Perfect," Wanda breathes with a smile. "And the third?"

Natasha types away, looking for the last vehicle in the wrong place. She stops, gesturing to a FedEx delivery vehicle parked along the side of the road on the other side of the campus, nearer to the hospital. "What idiot makes deliveries at two in the morning?"

I pat Natasha on the shoulder. "Great job, Nat."

She pulls up an enlarged map with the three trucks marked with red dots. They create a triangle shape around us, in all different directions. "Great," grumbles Clint. "This means we gotta split up again."

"Not necessarily," Wanda says. "I can corral two of them together." She points to the Starbucks truck and the Target truck. "Those two are only a mile apart from each other. I can use my magic to bring them together. Then we take them at the same time."

"And the FedEx delivery van?" Peggy inquires. "It's parked near the hospital."

"Then we split up into two groups," Steve suggests. "Three of us go for the FedEx van, and the rest go for the eighteen-wheelers. Wanda, you take Peggy, Sarai, Carol, and Pepper. Nat, Clint, and I will take out the FedEx truck. We move at the same time and meet back here once we've destroyed the bees and the hive."

I nod, turning to Steve with gratitude and concern. "Be careful," I sign to him.

He nods, giving me a small smile. I grab Wanda's hand and turn in the direction of our target.

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It doesn't take us long to find the Starbucks truck circling one square block. Wanda, Carol, and I have taken shelter behind one of the gas stations along the way, while Peggy and Pepper are a street down as back-up. The truck is rounding the corner in front of the gas station, and we're ready to take it by surprise.

"Are you sure you can lure them towards the other truck?" I sign.

Wanda nods and, raising her hands, uses her chaos magic to cover the Starbucks truck in an eerie, scarlet glow. It fades after a second, and Wanda continues to move her fingers in a twitchy manner.

"I have the driver's mind in my grasp. I'll take them towards the other truck." She gives a strained nod towards Pepper and Peggy down the street. "Get going, both of you. I'm right behind."

Carol and I nod in agreement, picking up our pace towards Peggy and Pepper. Wanda follows behind, using her magic to control the mind of the truck driver. We only have to walk a half mile before we see the Target truck come into view. It's at the edge of the three-block loop it continues to repeat.

Wanda stretches one of her hands towards it, splitting her magic between the two vehicles. When she gives me a nod of reassurance, I know she's got them. They drive closer together until they're right beside each other. The drivers' doors open, and the men themselves crawl out. Their eyes are scarlet and vacant. Wanda casts a spell on them, telling them to walk in opposite directions until they're back home where they will sleep until the next day.

"When they wake up, they won't know what happened," she tells us as the drivers start their long trek.

I place my hand on Wanda's forearm, squeezing it gently. "Are you okay?" I sign with worry. She's pale and out of breath, clearly drained from the effort it took to control two men and their vehicles for as long as she did.

Wanda nods, flashing me a tiny smile. "I'm all right."

"Well, then. Ladies..." Carol cracks her knuckles and walks up to the back of the truck. "Let's get rid of these things once and for all."

I step in front of Wanda, shielding her in case those bees aren't as dormant as we hope. Pepper pulls a pistol from her backpack. When Peggy gives her an approving and confused expression, Pepper justifies the item with, "My dad's a blue-collar worker who believes strongly in the second amendment, and I live on a public college campus. You're kidding yourself if you thought I didn't own a gun."

Peggy chuckles and pulls a pair of brass knuckles from her pocket. "I'm not judging, darling. Just don't shoot any of us by accident if those things are awake."

Wanda uses her magic to pull the lock off the back of the Starbucks truck, and Carol pulls the door up with a slam. Since it's dark, at first we can't see anything inside. I fish my cell from my pocket and turn on the flashlight. Each of us gasps at the illuminated sight.

The truck is empty.

No boxes, no shipping containers, and definitely no bees.

Carol stumbles backward in shock, and I make a mad dash for the second truck. My heart hammers in my chest, and Pepper shoots the lock open. I pull the door of the Target truck upwards and hop into the back. With the flashlight still on, I see that it's the exact same as the other one.

"Where the bloody hell are the bees?" Peggy asks, but no one has an answer.

With a dry throat and sweaty palms, I turn and lock eyes with Wanda. In an instant, I know we've come to the same conclusion: Max has tricked us.

Carol pulls her phone from her pocket and quickly dials a number. She paces nervously, biting her nails. When the person picks up, she exclaims, "The hive, did you find it?" She waits for an answer, then turns back to the others with a pale expression. "Neither was ours."

My heart falls out of my chest, and my stomach does somersaults. I slip to the ground, sitting on the edge of the back of the truck. Carol ends the call, urging the others to get back to the relative safety of the campus.

This was our only chance. In just a few hours, the bees and hive will be at the Fair, and we will have lost. Max played us all.

And now there's nothing we can do but wait for the inevitable.

END CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.