Imma Bee (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

"You think zo, do you?" The Bee-Keeper took off his helmet, revealing the bruised, battered face of a man who might have been handsome under much better circumstances. Looking down at 'Stesha', he said, "Bee-utiful, maybee the problems of a man and a woman don't amount to a hill of bees in this crazzy world. All I know iz you're the flower to my honey. When I feed you my royal jelly and make you my queen, then thiz city will bee ours!" It was an impressive oratorical feat to actually pronounce the second e, but not so impressive as when he leaned down and planted a deep kiss right on 'Stesha's' lips! "Wow!" he said woozily as the drugs began to take effect. "I'm bee-ginning to feel a little better...."

[Electra]

On the ground, Stesha watched Ace and the Beekeeper disappear into the building with mingled frustration and fear. What were they going to do in there? Ace should know better than to go into the enemy's lair! She activated her communicator again, even though it hadn't gotten a response last time. "Dark Star! Down on the ground, in the trees! I could use a lift!" Even as she spoke, she was concentrating on the flowers, trying to lure all the captivated bees towards the biggest, sweetest-smelling, most colorful blossom of all, a massive tree-blooming flower nearly the size of a basketball court.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star watched with horror as Stesha seemed to fall for the Keeper's charms. He couldn't believe it! The entire world had gone mad! The Keeper had to be controlling her! That was it! So when the Keeper flew down and into the wreckage, Dark Star was a hair away from tearing off after with dark thoughts and feelings on his mind. Stesha's voice rang through however, pulling him up short.

He was next to her in a flash. "You're here! But I...what...how?"

[Electra]

"It's Ace!" Stesha told him urgently. "He put together a costume, I have no idea from what, and turned himself into me. He told me to hide, and I think he had a plan, but I don't know if the plan's any good now that he's been taken inside." She raised her hands reflexively, even though Dark Star obviously wouldn't be picking her up with his hands. "We have to go after him and help him, or god knows what the Beekeeper will do when he finds out it's not me."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star's glowing white eyes blinked once. Then a second time. "Ace?" He clearly seemed both stunned and relieved at the notion. "But...I thought he...er...she..er, well, you know what I mean was..." He shook his head. Now was the time to put aside his confusion. Ace could be in mortal peril! Dark Star quickly turned and focused his senses, scouring the inside of the ruin, the honeycomb, for his friend and the man who had captured him. Her. Whatever!

Given that Dark Star had no face really, it was hard to pull off that stunned-beyond-rational-though kind of expression. But he still managed. After a VERY long moment of unblinking shock, he attempted to communicate. "Uh...um...they're...uh...you know..." He tried gesturing to help solve his stuttering mind/mouth. Hands made of energy making 'kissy faces' had little success in that endeavor. "I...uh...think they need another couple minutes."

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville was about to check on Freedom Angel, and see what the Bee-Keeper had done to him and how to change him back, when Dark Star flew up and undid the villain's work.

Heal stealer!

Now, now; I am glad to have Freedom Angel-

Freedom Eagle Wannabe.

... to have him back to normal.

Simpering Star-God! I bet he doesn't even know what he did! All that power should be mine!

No. Just... no.

"Ah... good to see you back," the Doktor half-muttered to the Angel. Then he perked up, spun around and grasped Freedom Angel by the shoulders. "vhat vas it like? Do you feel any residual effects Dark Star may haff missed? Your mind vas affected -- vhat vas going through it?"

Dark Star may have cured him, but I can still find out more about it! Perhaps the mental changes established a short-lived psychic link; maybe Freedom Angel knows what the Bee-Keeper has planned!

Oh, like this loon could give any sort of objective report.

He may not be a trained scientist, no, but he may still have invaluable insight into whatever it is the Bee-Keeper is planning.

Or he could've just had his higher brain functions -- what little the bird-brain has -- shut down and replaced with basic insectoid ones.

He glanced over at Dark Star and Fleur, and tapped his comm. "Are you two okay? Vhat is de current situation?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"It seemed to be a physical rather than spiritual corruption," the angel mused. "My memories and priorities remained the same, but simply acquired an apiary cast rather than a holy one." He smiled thinly. "I will be more sympathetic to those whose spiritual reserves fail them in a crisis. Come, Viktor, let us work together to save these people, all these people, from destruction." As Dr. Archeville talked, Freedom Angel flew down to speak to one of the battered bees, communicating clearly in a language no earthly tongue should be able to pronounce.

[Electra]

"The Beekeeper has Ace, who he thinks is me, inside Freedom Hall!" Stesha reported breathlessly over the comm. "We have to get in there and help him before the Beekeeper figures out what happened and does something really drastic. I'm going to try and get rid of some of these bees..." As she spoke, she looked to the humongous flower that the hypnotized bees had gathered around. Its petals suddenly sprang shut like a massive and colorful Venus Flytrap, swallowing down the massive insects in one great gulp. "That's the best I can do for now," she reported. "Let's go!"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star was still a bit...out of sorts. "Uh...yes. Though, uh, Ace, seems to, err, have...things well in, umm, hand. Kind of." He tried to get something a little more coherent out. "Ace has...distracted, yes distracted is a good description, the Keeper. Pretty much taken all his attention. Completely. Yes." Deciding there was little to no chance he was going to able to articulate the situation, he focused he power, creating a wormhole directly to the kissing pair!

[Avenger Assembled]

When the portal opened, the Bee-Keeper actually shoved the fake Stesha behind him! Despite his many injuries, and his weakened condition, he was evidently ready to fight to the end. "I'll never surrender!" He said, pulling his helmet back on with finality as he pointed sharply at the other heroes. "You may think you've won, but my hive is indefatigable!" He shook his fists. "Soon, Freedom City, then the world! I'll never quit!" He looked around, focusing on the group that had newly arrived, then caught sight of the real Stesha. "Fleur de Joie?...no! Never! You can't fool me with your clumsy disguises! Would a false Fleur de Joie have kissed me with such love, such passion, such devotion? The grandest kiss a woman could give a man!?! You are just jealous of our love! Especially you, alien!" he said, pointing dramatically to Dark Star. "Well, I have a surprise for you! If I'm knocked out or forced more than twenty miles from this spot, my bee-bombs will detonate, releasing quintillions of bees to darken the sky of your fool city! Bwahahaha!"

[Dr Archeville]

Pft, as if I need to knock him out to render him ineffective.

I believe Ace has already-

Silence! You know of what I speak.

Indeed I do. Ready when you are.

"Ah, excuse me, Herr Keeper," Archeville aid as he peered out from behind Dark Star and the real Fleur. "Vhen you say 'quintillions,' are you using de Ameican und Briitsh short scale, or de European long scale? Dat is, is it a von mit eighteen zeroes behind it, or a von mit thirty zeroes behind it? If de latter, dat is a lot of bees, und I vould be quite interested in learning how you got so many!"

"Of course," the Doktor continued rapidly, "such a large number of bees is only second to de fact you made dem so big! How did you do dat? I haff a few guesses -- de venom dat von of your pets pumped into me, coursing through mein veins even now, has a familiar tingle of radiation. I haff been through alot, you see, faced a vide assortment of foes, so after a vhile you get to de point vhere you can just tell dese sorts of dings. Ah, you used some of dat new isotope ASTRO LABS developed, de von dey found had de side-effect of causing immense growth in insects, ja, you sly devil? Come on, you can level mit me; I am a Doktor."

"Und speaking of deir venom," he continued, his voice wavering ever-so-slightly in pitch and tone, "dat is some remarkable vork you did on redesigning de stingers so dey do not tear out vonce dey sting somevon! Did you just transplant de genes for de non-barbed stinger from a qveen into de drones, or make dat up from scratch?"

"I bet it vas just a transplant," he went on, his tone wavering more and more wildly, "I mean if de armor you haff is any indication. Dat is some of Eric Micheals vork, ja? It looks very similar to Malice's suit. I vonce vorked for him, did you know dat? Ja, I did! But now he is locked up, und I spun his company into mein own. Sort of like a larva developing into a full-grown bee! Shame, really, he had such potential. Vould you like to come vork for me? I am vorking on starting up a vork-release program for de so-called 'supervillains,' und I can dink of several projekts dat vould be right up your alley, such as easy-to-use transdermal 'slap-patches' to replace epi-pens, or using bee venom to cure some forms of paralysis! Clearly you are highly intelligent to haff pulled all dis off, to haff created all you haff done."

"Oh, und once you take over de vorld, vhat den?" His pitch and tone wavered more and more, rising and falling and sliding up and down in volume. "How are you going to get de whole vorld? I mean, haff your adapted your bees to survive in extremely cold climates? High-altitude vons? Do dey haff de stamina needed to fly across de oceans to ozher continents? And if so, und you do take over, den vhat? Force humanity to build more und more hives? Harvest all de pollen to make honey for your bees? Vould you stay on Earth, or try und start some sort of intergalactic colony? Dere are plenty of inhabited alien vorlds out dere, und a few inhabitable vons mit not much native life. How about ve take you to von of dose und you can live out your day creating your own bee-based ecosystem? Vould dat not be exciting? Dink of it -- you could create a vorld vhere man evolved from bees!"

"By de vay, dat is not de real Fleur de Joie you are holding. Dat is Ace Danger, in a costume; I must say dat he pulls off dat outfit far better dan I vould have thought. You haff heard of him, ja? Member of de Danger family, agent of AEGIS, member of de Freedom League, international pansexual playboy und man of mystery? I hear he is a fine kisser; vould you agree?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"First of all," replied the Baron of Bees with great firmness in his voice. "I always use the American system, because I am a patriot, sir. You may use whatever European system you wish, cooked up in your fancy European arthouse science labs with your berets and thin black cigarettes, looking down on us working-class American inventors who never got an even break and only want to make the world a better place by making all the people there over into bee-people. If my estimates are correct, I have roughly seven quintillions of bees ready to release upon the city, some cunningly concealed in underground bunkers prepared for me by certain unnamed individuals who took a profound interest in promoting my activities."

He began to pace, speaking in grandiloquent terms as he abandoned the fake Fleur de Joie. "As for the radiation therapy supposedly developed by those damnable swindlers at ASTRO Labs, let me reassure you my good man that it was THEM who stole MY formula, and never with a word of thank you or a dollar of royalties! Oh, I sent them so many inventions, the better to promote a better world for the good of all humanity, but no, apparently they don't hire people with supposed untreated mental problems! As if Malign Hypercognitive Disorder is anything but a CAGE! A cage the WEAK build for the strong of mind! Oh, and I suppose THEY never had the courage to engage in outlaw science because they were too busy sucking at the teats of cow-universities like so many fatted calves! Ah! Mammals!"

He pointed an armored finger at Archeville as he replied, "As for the stingers, that, sirrah, is a modification I bred in them out of love and compassion for the tiny little bees, who so bravely defend their homes only to die in the courage of it! Could I stand by and let this one mar in nature's perfect golden machine slay so many of my friends? No sir! No sir! I did it myself via certain acts of selective breeding, hours of painstaking work bent over a hot apiary, looking for just the right bees..." He put his hands on his hips. "And yes, this armor's design came from Eric Michaels. I make no bones about that. Science should be free for all, not kept in the confines of one man's mind! He is a violent man, a thug who hurts where he could persuade, and I no more hesitated to steal from him than I do the criminals who pass by my front door! He is in jail, and rightly so! An outlaw scientist is not a thug, and genius does not give you the power to be a Hitler in personality!" He gave Archeville a very suspicious look at that.

Suddenly snapping to perfect, bizarre sobriety, he added, "And I thank you for the offer of employment, but I trust you understand that I can't hold you to that. I am a fair man, Herr Doktor, and I cannot expect you to abide a business agreement made under duress. That would be unethical, and I'm sure neither of us would like to see our professional relationship start off on a note like that. As for my plans for the future, you know them already. I will turn the world into a blissful utopia of bee-men and bee-women, with my lovely Fleur de Joie at my side. Who could ask for more than that?" He turned and studied the false Stesha, then added uncertainly, "though her tender lips were much less fruity than I was expecting..."