Honeybee | Wanda Maximoff {AU}

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Indica

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.