Honeybee | Wanda Maximoff {AU}

Chapter Eighteen: Rurikis

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."