Music is "New You" by Zolita.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Apis Cerana Indica

Commonly referred to as the Indian honeybee, Apis Cerana Indica is a subspecies of the Asiatic honeybee. It is one of the predominant bees found and domesticated in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and other surrounding areas. It is relatively non-aggressive and rarely exhibits swarming behavior. They are ideal for beekeeping and can survive prolonged or unusually cold winters. Their colonies contain a few thousand workers, compared to the fifty thousand typical of European honeybees.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven: Indica

The bees get to the Fair in record time. They don't come in as a swarm, like the carpenter bees did. Our mission isn't to stop the Fair, only to intrude upon it. I've told them to fly in groups of three or less, to spread out across all entrances, and to keep their hive connections open to each other and me.

"Look out for Max's bees," I warn them. "We don't know where they are. Don't let anything get the drop on you."

"We can do this, Your Majesty!" one of the worker bees exclaims from the lobby.

My mind's eye splits into hundreds of different points of view. Every bee does as I ask, and I'm able to tap into each of them as easily as Melizza. Though I'm still staring up at Rurik Maximoff on the stage, my attention is completely elsewhere. It's a good thing Wanda's here with me, because with her hand in mine and her eyes on our enemy, I can let myself be swept up in the hive sight.

Melizza is joined by several other bees, giving Bucky, Sam, and Clint some extra help. I see several others find their way to the other college students. Half a dozen slip into the security room with Natasha, Pepper, Vision, and Bruce; another four or five stay with Carol, Steve, and Thor in the lobby. Even up on the balcony--where T'Challa, Tony, Rhodey, and Peggy sit--many workers find shelter along the wall, out of sight.

"Should we send some workers your way, Your Majesty?" one of them asks.

"No, definitely not," I respond. "Max might see you. Stay away from Wanda and I. Just keep looking for the hive, bees, and my friends. Wanda and I can take care of ourselves."

The bees hum in agreement, and the majority of the hive continues to spread out inside the building. Each of their sets of compound eyes scan the entire area. The hallways, the employee lobbies, the offices, the classrooms, the conference halls, the storage areas, the roof, the basement, every backstage alley, and restricted corridor: Melizza's hive gets to all of it.

And yet we don't find any of what we're looking for.

"What do you mean there's nothing?" Wanda asks when I sign the news.

"Wait!" Melizza exclaims. I turn my attention to her hive sight connection, seeing she's found her way from Bucky, Sam, and Clint to a hidden locker in the floor backstage. It looks locked, but Melizza is thankfully able to slip through the cracks between the door and the floor. "Something I think I have found!"

"She flew under the door," I hear Bucky say. One of the bees lands on a nearby piece of equipment and watches him, Clint, and Sam try to pull it open. "It's locked."

Melizza flies in the dark, and for a moment, neither of us can see anything. Then I start to see the fuzzy outline of a large piece of metal underneath, and from the voices heard over her head, I can tell she's under the stage.

"Wait, I think I got an idea," Sam states. He turns from the locked hatch to the emergency ax on the wall. He picks it up and brings it back over to the door. "Step aside."

Sam heaves the ax up, then with a swift swing, it breaks the lock of the door in half with a clank. He keeps a hold on the ax as Bucky heaves open the door, letting light break through the darkness around Melizza. The little honeybee buzzes with anticipation and alertness.

"The bees!" she exclaims. "The bees are here!"

When I zone in on her connection above the rest, I see that she's right. In front of her, under the stage, is an open hive filled to the brim with dormant Maximoffica Rurikis. Each octagon-shaped honeycomb is occupied with at least a few dozen bees, and there are thousands of those in the metal hive.

"Holy shit," Bucky curses to himself as he and the other step down into the space under the stage. "Found it."

Clint pulls out his cell and quickly sends a group text to everyone. "We found the hive and the bees. What should we do?"

"Destroy it!" Carol types back, and I can see her shaking her head through the hive sight.

"Might wanna pick up the pace, fellas," Tony replies. "Max seems like he's getting kinda excited about something."

"What they said," Wanda responds. "Be careful."

Clint turns to Sam and nods to the ax. "Wanna take another swing, Paul Bunyan?"

Sam rolls his eyes and walks towards the hive. As he raises the ax, something in the hive clicks. The stage above them parts, revealing the stage on which Max stands. I open my eyes and turn off the hive sight temporarily. I'd been so focused on what was going on elsewhere that I forgot to keep my attention partly on Max.

He grins at the audience as he clicks the projector above the stage on. It's circular, and everyone in the stadium can see what he's displayed. It's a picture of MaxEffect Industries, along with their most important project: Max's bees.

"This is my baby," he explains. "This is what I'm going to offer the world today at this Fair. Sure, we can talk about solar energy, fresh water, and melting ice caps all day, but if we don't address the bee problem, we're doing all this for nothing. They keep the planet alive, not us. We need them to survive. They are more than honey, more than food, more than all that and more; they're the closest thing to magic that most of us will ever know."

Max pauses, the smile on his face faltering to the serious and deadly look I saw after Stephen and Loki were taken. "I don't think people understand how big a problem this has become, so I've taken it upon myself to find the solution. And ladies and gentleman, this is the only solution." He points to the screen with emphasis. "This might be revolutionary to some and revolting to others. All I ask is that you hear me out."

"Sarai!" Melizza exclaims, and I can tell from the tone of her little voice that something is wrong.

I tune in to her hive sight, seeing the metal hive and bees starting to rise out of the stage. Sam, Bucky, and Clint are standing on the panel with it, unable to get off without being crushed by the machinery. Underneath their feet is another section of the metal hive that I didn't see before. It was deeper in the stage, connected to the hive but clearly a foreign object. It's metal and round, a perfect sphere with a handprint on one side.

"Holy shit," I curse in my head. "Stephen and Loki are in that thing!"

"We found them!" Melizza says. "The magical prison is under the hive!"

"That's where our friends are!" I text the group. "Under the hive!"

"What do we do now?" Pepper texts.

"Do we move in on him?" Thor asks. "I can take him on. He's puny."

"I can shut the system down from here," Natasha suggests. "Just say the word."

A million thoughts fly through my mind. Between the texts, Max himself, the hive sight connection, and Wanda beside me, I can't focus on any one thing for long. In seconds, Maximoffica Rurikis will be revealed to the world. Sam, Clint, and Bucky will be found out. Everything will fall apart, and Max will have won.

I could choose to tell everyone to attack, but most of us will probably go to prison for breaking in, destroying property, and attacking Max. I could choose to do nothing, but we'd still be caught, and I don't like the idea of Max knowing about all my friends. Melizza and all the bees would still be in danger, and the world of bees would still be lost. Stephen and Loki will die in that magical prison.

"What do we do, guys?" Rhodey texts.

Wanda grips my hand, bringing my attention back to her as the hive rises out of the stage. Time seems to slow down as she stares into my eyes. "He made his choice," she assures me, knowing my struggles. "I'm going to lose him either way. Let's get him here and now while we can, before it's too late."

My fingers lace through her's, and with a firm nod, I lean forward to kiss her. I feel sparks between our fingers and on our lips. Whatever magic is in us, whether it be witchcraft or bee magic, I can feel them dancing together when we touch.

And it's beautiful.

I pull back and lift my hands to sign three words I haven't said since Hal died last summer. "I love you."

Wanda's eyes water and she smiles brightly. "I love you, too."

The audience starts making sounds of confusion, and Max turns to look behind him. Sam, Clint, and Bucky hop down from the hive and stand between Max and his bees. Sam still holds the ax, and Bucky has his fists raised. Clint just waves with an awkward smirk.

"You're probably wondering why we're here," he says as he moves his hand. "I'm wondering that, too, actually."

Seeing they're doing a perfect job at temporarily distracting everyone, including Max, I pull out my phone and move my fingers as quickly as they can go. "Lobby, move into the conference hall. We might need backup. Security, set off the fire alarms. We need to get everyone out. Balcony, get down here and help break into that bottom compartment under the hive. That's where Stephen and Loki are."

I get a collective group of agreeable texts and push the phone into my pocket. I turn to Wanda and sign, "We're the only ones with powers. We need to use that to our advantage."

Max shakes his head with a confused look on his face. "What the hell? Who are you?"

Clint places a hand over his heart in fake shock and hurt; Sam and Bucky, however, remain still and firm. "Honestly, I just came here for a good time and I'm feeling so attacked right now."

"What were you thinking?" Wanda responds.

I tune into my hive mind and summon all of the bees to congregate into the conference hall, but only after the fire alarm goes off. "You up for a little game of distract-the-uncle?"

Wanda nods fervently. "Just tell me where and when."

The fire alarm goes off in the building, people start to rise from their seats, and I sign one word: "Now."

END CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.