I hunched over my workbench, soldering one more piece into place.

An alarm sounded behind me, the one for someone passing the perimeter. With a low growl, I rolled my stool over to the screen. Some dork with a hoodie on was approaching the door, his hands in his pockets.

I put my finger on the intercom. "Google maps is wrong, numbnuts. Go back to the fork and take a left."

His eyes moved over, looking for the camera. Looking into the lens, he reached up and pulled off his hood.

My eyes narrowed. I recognized that stupid domino mask. I'd first seen it on that hyperactive little sidekick next to Thunderpunch, and now Lightning Rod (nee Sparky) was a hero in his own right.

For a moment, I debated just leaving him there. But I knew if he wanted in, he'd get in eventually, and I'd rather know where he was (and leave my door in one piece). Irritably, I hit the button to unlock the door and rolled back over to my work.

He was in my workshop in a moment. "William," he started.

"Oh, we're friends now, Jeremy?" I retorted, not looking up.

I'd expected a little reaction, the story of how I'd figured out his identity had been more than a little embarrassing for him. But he didn't. "I'm sorry about what happened," he said.

"You weren't there," I said simply. It wasn't an accusation--he was literally on the other side of the city at the time, helping open a local food bank. It was a big publicity event, a big to-do. Politicians aplenty, with oodles of photographs to prove it.

And exactly why they'd chosen that moment for what they did, knowing he and other heroes would be out of the way and unable to stop them.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I came to ask you to not."

I stopped. I set down the soldering iron. I looked up. "To not?" I asked, my voice low.

"I know you're angry-"

Enraged, I grabbed a piece of scrap from the table and hurled it at him. He rocked to one side, easily dodging it, not even taking his hands out of his hoodie pocket. "You have no idea how angry I am!" I roared. "He didn't deserve that!"

"I know," he said gently. "What they did was wrong. I'm not here to defend that at all."

I clenched my fists, knowing it made me look juvenile but unable to stop myself. He was being so calm about this, and that made it worse. "You don't have kids, do you, Jeremy?"

"I don't," he admitted. He looked down, his shoulders slumping. "But I did have a father. And the first time I fought you, I remember laughing about you afterwards. He stopped me. Showed me a clip from when he'd first fought you."

"The Water Tower incident," I said coolly. "I'm familiar."

"He told me about how you took control of the entire city water infrastructure."

"Please. When everyone leaves the login credentials as 'admin/admin', it's not exactly difficult," I scoffed.

"He said you started a flood, and when the Coalition couldn't stop it from nearly flattening a school, you reversed it. You saved a lot of people that day. You didn't have to. You could have made it much worse."

"You have a point to this?" I asked.

"Not really," he admitted. "I mean, I promised I'd come talk to you. They said I should talk you down. Help you see reason. But I mean, if something happened to me, I'd want my father to do something. And I guess..." He shook his head. "Never mind. Forget I was here. I'll see myself out."

I grunted as I turned back to my work.

He walked out the door and paused, one hand on the doorframe. "Oh, and, uh, tell me when you're going out."

"So you can stop me?"

"So I'll have somewhere else to be." There was a brief pause, and then he hit the frame, clearly unsure what to say, and walked out.

I finished the next soldering joint and moved on to the next one. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, so I pushed it aside.

I had work to do.

For Queen and Colony.

Holy shit...

[removed]

Glad y’all like it

Damn! That was awesome! I would love to see a part two where we see everyone’s reactions to Noxus getting his vengeance! From the heroes, villains, civilians, his wife, and his former teachers!

Note: I’m making some warriors and soldiers male but my bees have equality in their jobs...

Talane the mighty soldier is searching for her god so he can help their colony in its hour of need. But she’s shot out of the sky by a rock smashing into her thorax. She drags herself along the ground...

Talane: no, no I need to keep going! Need to find the keeper!

The attacker is a fireant General named cyclus.

Cyclus: there is no meaning in this world foolish bee! There is no keeper!! All that matters is our queen, her flesh, her desire.

Talane: he’s saved us before, he grows flowers, when there’s a drought he gives us blessings of nectar so that we might survive!

Cyclus: hah! Fool, you still refuse to accept that you and your kin exist only to sate our queen’s desire?

Talane: I could, but that would be a lie.

He draws his mantis claw sword and prepares to attack his fallen foe,

Cyclus: May you feed the queen’s will in your death.

However he’s distracted by the ground becoming radiant, he sees above him something that he convinced himself didn’t exist for since he was a larvae.

The keeper arrived, talane’s prayers were answered.

Cyclus: it’s- it’s not possible!!

The keeper picked up talane in his hands, he wept.

Keeper: no, no, not talane! She was a beacon of light for all her kin.

He stared down at cyclus, stomping him dead.

Keeper: there will be retribution for this, I will uproot the fire ant colony with my own hands!!!!!

As the bees battled the ants, thunderous steps were heard. To the bees this was salvation; to the ants, these were the drums of hell...

Wow i didnt expect to tear up like that when he saw her by the garden. Thats sort of uncommon for me. I love your story. Thank you.

Yess....examples to the next wannabes

ooh I like the concept of the gatkeeper's job

    The floor of the refuse chamber vibrated, a strange violent vibration that made Wyatt feel sick to his stomach. The queen was dead. On the other side of the door, the mindless butcher wasps were feasting on his kin. If they breached this chamber, they were next to the brood chamber. He thought of the white larva, the future generation, in the other room, stacked floor to ceiling. and wondered how much promise would be ended today before they ever had a chance. A great sense of loss overcame him.

    He looked up and saw the ventilation shafts above him. A straight line to the outside. Wyatt could only laugh. His one mangled wing would prevent him from flying very far. It had prevented him from doing a lot of things. Often in moments of feeling like a burden to the hive he would overindulge in royal jelly as he had done this morning, leaving him feeling sluggish and slow.

    The wasps were hammering at the door now, attempting to break the hexagonal wax structure. Wyatt started stacking refuse into a pyramid, a stepping stool to get into the ventilation shaft. From there, he thought, he could claw his way out of the hive. He looked at his wing again. What would he do once outside? He needed to get the Keeper's attention. He couldn't fly, he was useless, a burden. Wyatt shook these thoughts away and continued his construction.

    Finally, he climbed the make-shift stairs into the ventilation shaft as the wax door gave and the barbarian horde spewed into the chamber. He scratched, clawed, and shimmied his way up the vent and could only imagine razor sharp mandibles behind him. Too much royal jelly made the corridor tight and the going slow. Wyatt vowed to get in shape if he ever made it out of this. The exit grew closer and closer until finally Wyatt was able to grab the edge and hoist himself into the sun and wind. He laid there panting for a moment. The wind. Wyatt stood up, looked around for the holy Keeper and found her kneeling near the bed of flowers in her sun hat. He turned his body to face her and felt the wind on his back. He sprinted and leapt high into the air, opening his wings like a glider. The wind caught his wings and it took all his strength to hold them open. He soared towards his last hope and fell directly in front of her.

    "Huh?" she looked at the motionless bee in front of her. It looked like it was...panting? "I better check the hive."

I love this breakdown of the chosen one narrative. Did I catch a hint of shade at the real-life millennials and gen Z people that grew up on this trope and think that they too must be The Chosen One? Exquisite. The villain was easily better than half the ones you see out there. Really truly fantastic.

I love this more than i love my own life it is beautiful like the sunset and chilling like the night and forever holds a place in my heart, thank you for making this beautiful creation i hope to stumble upon once more as im feeling drowsy (in other words i like it its cool (: )

“My poor son. Why did they take you? Your power was just bad luck! Why would they hunt you like a dog?!”

“Lucky, come on man, calm down. You don’t want to make any mistakes right now. Please, let’s go to the funeral and mourn. I’ll make sure no one interferes I promise. Just calm down please, I beg of you.”

“Fred?”

“Yes lucky?”

“Where was his assigned hero?” The heat rising on lucky’s voice was almost physical.

“What are you talking about?”

“Fred, we have been arch enemies for so many years. I know you were assigned to me because you can’t slip. I know your powers, and you know how mine can go, so don’t lie to me. Where. Was. His. Assigned. Hero?” The anger just getting more physical.

Fed was activating his powershr could feel his grip to the earth getting stronger. Everyone thought Lucky was just lucky. They thought he just got away and completed his robberies unscathed because he was lucky.

However no one believed Fred when they told them he controlled luck. They laughed at him and his underwhelming power because the main source of Luckys escape was people slipping and falling while he got away.

More often than not Lucky got lucky because other heroes got in Fred’s way and stopped him from nabbing him, but when we there wasn’t anyone to hinder him, he would witness Lucky‘s ability full force and it was awe inspiring.

“Lucky, Phase girl is in her honeymoon and your son wasn’t deemed a high risk. No one expected him to go into a casino and bankrupt the mob with everyone winning! Did he k ow his bad luck could affect others??”

“I don’t know Fred, but I know I’m going to your headquarters. I’m going to bring your headquarters down and everyone in it. You try and stop me and so many more will be hurt.”

“Ok Lucky, I’ll at least try and get people away.”

“That’s a good hero Fred. Your hearts always in saving people, to bad you didn’t have a stronger power, because you would’ve been the best.”

As Lucky approached the Hero Hall with its big gaudy letters on the front, cyberman stood before him.

“Lucky, dead or ali—“

The H fell off the building crushing the former cop now cyborg.

“Dead like my son Cyberman.”

Lucky concentrated his powers and watched as hero’s started running for the door when a meteor cam careening through several buildings and slowing it down enough that as it crushed the building and heroes inside it barely made shockwaves outside a few meters of the building.

“Well that was lucky” Lucky said to himself.

“Ok Fred, I know you are nearby and we can go to the funeral and I’ll let you arrest me. I have a feeling nothing will cause us any problems on the way.”

Oh damn, this was so good!

I’m actually doing an editing pass to remove gendered language aside from queen. The first pass should be done soon.

Edit: Ya know, aside from the he / hims to refer to the keeper. Aside from that it should all be gender neutral unless I missed something now. I know that the bee's names should all be feminine but...

Wanna know what? I liked the names but you're right. Names changed to still be Roman inspired but now female. Thanks.

The fact that some of the warriors and workers were male is frustrating. They're bees!

Otherwise, this is excellent

"Hold the line!" A commander yelled somewhere above us. Had that been closer than the last? Were the soldiers faltering? Were they going to break through the gates soon?

"Clelia" my Quartermaster shouted, "task at hand," I was about to apologize, but they'd already taken off toward the entryway.

I returned to work, peeling back one of the cradles I'd spent a lifetime creating. As I opened it, the child inside started to wriggle, exposed to the elements again. "Come here. It's okay," I whispered as I reached into the cubby and pulled out the baby.

They weren't ready to leave, but we had to go.

"Here!" one of my coworkers called. I turned and passed the child to them as its soft coos were drowned out by legions of footsteps above us.

For a moment, I locked eyes with Avicia as they took and then tucked the baby. They nodded at me, then looked to the door. "Are you coming too?"

I shook my head, "May the Keeper guide you," I offered as a blessing. Avicia stared for a moment and then shook her head as well. I'd trained her; She'd joined the nursery when I'd already seen generations rise in service to our Queen. "Go," I added.

"Clelia..."

"I will find you," I lied, "I'll be right behind you; I just can't- " I stopped trying to explain, "Get out of here! Take them to safety."

"The Queen will still need you when the sun rises, Clelia," Avicia turned away and took a deep breath. I thought she would add something for a moment, but instead, she took flight down the hallway, following other aides who had been given their precious cargo.

I steeled myself before setting on another cradle. They were well sealed, meant to keep the children safe from the harsh elements, but if the fortress was overrun they would become prisons.

The first lock on the cradle came away, and I pulled out my weapon to break the second; it wasn't like I needed to leave it in good condition for the invaders.

"The Queen!" Came a panicked cry from the stairway to the upper floors. "The Queen! They've found the Queen!"

A murmur swept over the room, and then a buzz. The shaken soldier stumbled down the last steps and then tumbled into the nursery. He was covered in a million small cuts, breathless from shouting and injury.

I pulled the child out of the cradle and held it close; it was somehow brave enough not to cry.

"They came from above," the soldier sputtered out, "th-there are too many. We're all going to-" they were cut off by two guardsmen covering their mouth and pinning the soldier to the floor.

It sounded like there were footsteps on the stairs for a moment, but then it became clear; It wasn't a soldier. It was a lockstep march of countless invaders.

My Quartermaster rushed over to the guards and pushed them off the soldier, exchanging quiet words as I passed the child I'd freed off to another runner. There wasn't time for a solemn exchange as the Quartermaster rose and spoke.

"Grab what you can now. We're leaving. Those who can fight, we're headed upstairs."

I took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer out to the wind that my lie to Avicia wouldn't be held against me. As I started toward the stairway, the Quartermaster met my eyes and shook their head. It was slow, apologetic.

I understood. I was old. I would be a liability in a formation. They were denying me a chance to fight and die for my Queen.

Just as I was about to turn away, my Quartermaster walked toward me. "Teach the young Clelia," they commanded, "they're going to need you."

"Yes, Quartermaster."

"Iris," they corrected before walking toward the militia.

I didn't stay to hear the speech, instead, I took off down the hallway as the last children were freed by others. I flew over the structures that had been built over generations, fixtures that had been carved by my friends.

I went to the walls.

The walls of the fortress had stood since before the Queens had guided us here with their infinite wisdom. They were built of the strongest materials I'd ever seen. They were mightier than mountains and had stood against storms.

But even with all their might, the walls hadn't been enough. As I erupted into the cool night air, I could see them, the invaders. From my vantagepoint, they resembled a black river that stretched across the mighty plains into the yawning void of the night. They had scaled the walls at dusk. Our soldiers were mightier and better trained than their savage masses, but it hadn't mattered. We numbered thousands. They numbered millions.

I was about to leave for the rallying point, a sky-piercing tree far from the invaders, but then I saw it. Our neighbors had a castle as mighty as ours, but it was besieged. They had just begun fighting off the first wave of the same invasion. They would be overrun.

It was the end of the world.

They say that the mysterious is the will of the Keeper. The hive sleeps and is suddenly clean. The walls crack and repair themselves. The Keeper did it all.

I'd dreamt once that I'd seen him. Massive enough to dwarf our fortress and surrounded by soldiers from every Kingdom. The preachers had said that it was impossible to know the Keeper from within the hive. Impossible to know his ways.

Impossible or not. He was the last hope.

I might have been old, but I still had wings. I took a leap of faith off the hive and shot off into the night, away from the tree, away from safety and toward the one place I'd seen the Keeper before.

There was something there as I approached, something massive and arcane, but it wasn't the Keeper as I remembered them. The Keeper was a pure being a white cloth, but this was a myriad of colours.

The end of the world didn't have time for perfection. I needed them.

I flew up to the Keeper and cried out, but he didn't deign to look at me. I landed on his massive form, and he didn't offer attention.

My Queen was dead. My home was ruined. I would be a blasphemer.

"Avicia, Iris. I'm sorry."

I plunged my weapon into the Keeper, pressing it into his skin and piercing divinity. He growled, and I could feel the air vibrate as he did. I tried to pull away, but my weapon was stuck fast.

Of course, striking a god was to invite death.

My vision began fading, but as I felt the world close in around me, I heard the Keepers' voice, somehow both soft and mighty.

"What's going on with the bees?"

I fell with the first step the Keeper took toward the hive. I dipped into the black.

"Ants!" The Keeper bellowed as a mighty war cry as the colony came into view. I would die, but divine wrath would sustain the hive.

For Queen and Colony.

---

/r/Jacksonwrites to join the colony. Thank you to Deco-nouveau for calling me out on misgendering the bees early so I could avoid later embarrassment.

The flakes of ash pulled slowly from the rapidly weathering towers all around. This square was packed minutes ago, filled with citizens pulsing to dance music like maggots celebrating a corpse ; the corpse was of my son. Maggots begin to crawl from the earth and cracks in the steel and mortar.

"Please!", a quivering voice calls out from a billow of smoke adjacent a pile of flesh. "Please you have to stop this Zen!" Its that man again, what the fuck is his name.....Monsoon maybe, no; Deluge. The wind picks up, it's blistering. The sky opens; a true deluge.

"I can't, you know this. It is a kindness I'm doing, you've all turned on eachother, tearing eachother apart, it's not meant to be like this." The words leave my mouth, float through the air and twist the minds of all they touch. Strangers begin clawing at eachother, blood and meat render from bone until its all that's left to see.

My boy was 7 when it happened. One of the kids with powers could sense the powers of others. I understand it was a school of sorts, teaching them to use their powers for good. I lived far from man, with only my son, as my thoughts betray me and anyone near; I had to remain calm or nightmares leaked through. The curious little rats traveled far to see the boy with such tremendous power. He showed them some tricks, harmless tricks. They showed him pictures of the school they attend. Leo knew all about the world but understood well why we trained so far away. A photo of a balloon animal, thats what did it. A fucking giraffe made of inflated rubber. His thoughts betrayed him, he spared me the details but soon the animals around the curious children twisted and snapped. They called him sick. They said he was a sick little boy and that he "made them sick". Well he did. And when they went home it spread like wild fire. Some time passed before I found young Leo, his smile replaced with an exit wound. The work of the headmaster, he was powerless but gun powder is a nifty trick. I suspect I'll see him soon.

My attention is brought back to the present, presently rats swarmed, some feasting on the maggots, some becoming the feast. I cant remember where they came from. Deluge had succumbed to an injury it seems a woman traveled at great speed straight down to get her hands on him, it looks as though it was from some distance as well.

"Try to stay calm Zen," A voice like fleece, "try to calm down. "Headmaster." The only words I had, my mind blank. "It was a mistake, Zen, I only wanted to stop the plague. The world was dieing, you must see it had to be done." There is terrible truth in his words. "The children are safe Zen. Even you can't harm them where they are so please calm down. It's me, it's not their fault." More painful truth. His words burn me like acid I can't think straight. Headmaster opens his mouth to speak but only a sickly gurgle comes out, followed by steam and red mist, and finally viscous stews from deep inside. This is out of control, if I can get my revenge maybe I'll calm down, maybe I can calm down. It didn't matter how far away they were I could get them so why would he say I can't, even his underground vault would be flooded and attacked soon. They would have to be very, very deep. Fuck. The thought materializes neck and neck with a surge of anxiety. The ground shakes first, then splits. More than splits, I thought of the earth tearing itself apart from the very core, as deep as it gets. Too far. Mistake. Terror and panic. The only thing that can stop it is, if only I, I just wish I was

This is an excellent prompt

Nice! That was very good!

I liked this one a lot. The conflict in Triumph is interesting.

Omg I need this story! Amazing!

You had a great storyline I just didn’t like how they didn’t get a more severe punishment. They ran the boy over 8 times.

Well Scotland is apart of Great Britain and Ireland was declared a free state around 1922 so around this time of my story 1947, 2 years before becoming fully Independent so that’s why I put what I put in my story

This was a masterpiece, I felt the despair , lose of innocence and anger of a parent who lost their light. Thanks for this piece