Honeybee | Wanda Maximoff {AU}

Chapter Thirty: Andreniformis

Music is "Broken" by Patrick Watson.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Apis Andreniformis

Commonly referred to as the black dwarf honeybee, Apis Andreniformis is a relatively rare species whose native habitat is the tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia. A. Andreniformis was the fifth honeybee species to be described of the seven known species of Apis; however, it was originally thought to be part of A. Florea and was poorly understood. Recent studies have highlighted notable differences and have thus separated them into distinct species. Unlike many bees, A. Andreniformis queens are not genetically determined, so any young female larva can become a queen. And if a queen is separated from her hive, the workers will leave the nest to search for her.

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Chapter Thirty: Andreniformis

The weeks following the events of the Eco Innovations Fair were strange, to say the least. No one really thought it would end the way it did--with Max giving himself up and destroying his own creation to save the world--and from the moment he was taken into custody, things haven't been the same. Not my friend group, not my relationship with Wanda, not the college itself. 

Max was arrested and charged with multiple crimes--among those being assault and battery, owning and creating a weapon of destruction, and all the smaller crimes that spread from his bees' actions--and that fact has shaken the school to its core. Stephen was lucky enough to get rid of any evidence of our tampering, as well as the proof of Max's magic, but there was nothing we could do about his crimes. Those are his to pay for.

Nothing has been the same, but we try to move on all the same. Wanda and I visit Max in his jail cell a few times over the past few weeks, trying to spend as much time with him before his trial in a few months, and he's apologized for what happened every time. I know now that he never intended it to go as wrong as it did. Dark magic or not, all Max wanted to do was save the world. He didn't realize how that motivation led him down a dark path; it was up to Wanda and me to pull him out.

"I never meant to hurt any of you," he told us yesterday when we visited. "I never meant for the bees to go as wrong as they did."

Wanda nodded from across the glass, the phone pressed to her ear. "We know, Uncle Max."

It was then that he told her about the future of MaxEffect Industries. "I've left everything to you," he told her. "My spot in the company, all my shares, my title, everything. You own and run it now."

Wanda was shocked, to say the least. "Max, I don't know a thing about running a company. I haven't even graduated yet."

He nodded. " I know, I know. My chief administrative officer--you remember Laura, right?--she basically runs the company at the ground level. Let her help you. You can trust her. She's as good a CAO that you can buy."

"Are you sure about this?"

Max smiled sadly. "You can do better things with MaxEffect than I ever could. If I nearly ended the world with it, you can save it. I know I left you a mess of lawsuits to deal with, but I know you're strong and capable. And if you realize you're too in over your head, or just don't want to be a CEO, then that's okay, too. Tell the Board, and they'll assign someone else. I have faith in you, Wanda. You and Sarai, both." Max then turned to me and signed, "You'll take care of her, won't you?"

I nodded once as I signed a reply, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

That conversation was hard, but not nearly as hard as the events that have happened today.