Commando Bees in training

Ambrosia narrowed her eyes at me, then suddenly smiled.

"You decided to warn me this time, Nectus. Good. No, I won't be mad, but I will worry. What is it? How much risk is there, and how necessary is this all?"

"Very!"

I briefly explained to her about the destructive wonders of fire and how they can be applied to hornet nests, then reached the core weakness of the plan.

"But we don't have enough information about these hornets. So I want to stealthily search for them and their nest. If I can see them with my own eyes, I'd be able to say a lot about their capabilities and weaknesses. Because of the system thing, you know?" I tapped my temple meaningfully.

Ambrosia tilted her head slightly.

"Searching for the hornet nest is still incredibly risky. They can kill you—or even find our hive. And as you warned me already, this will be deadly."

My shoulders slumped.

"As if I *want* to go there myself! But on their own, our daughters won't know what to look out for, and how to hide better! Don't worry," I winked at Ambrosia and showed four thumbs up, "I know a few tricks to keep us stay unnoticed! And I will take guards with me, too."

If I convinced her enough, maybe I will convince myself too that my knees didn't shake at the thought of going to the Danger Zone.

Ambrosia hummed.

"I've noticed that your face scrunches and your eyes tear up when you are about to say something stupid half of the time. But now… you just look too confident, Nectus. This can't be good. No one should look this confident when suggesting something so risky."

Ambrosia shook her head.

I gaped at her.

Was she joking? Seriously. I couldn't tell. Did she develop a sense of humor and an incredible deadpan delivery, or was she serious?

"Are you joking?"

"What's a joke?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Is *that* a joke, too?"

Ambrosia stared at me blankly.

Fuck. There went my thumbs.

"Just—just trust me, Amby, this is a good plan, and I'm the last person who wants to die here!"

"Of course. Please, avoid dying."

I puckered my lips.

"What about a kiss for good luck, too?"

Ambrosia smiled and briefly kissed me.

"Here."

I grinned.

Now I was going to keep this kiss in mind instead of the size of hornet bites for the entirety of my self-appointed mission.

***

It took about two days for a single team of Craftsmen Bees to make a full set of bone armor. One day for two teams. Most of that time went to make all the strings and spikes.

It would take three days for all the bone armor and candles to be complete.

Before that, I picked 20 Cleaning Bees from the OP generation and gathered them together.

But not in the usual spot near the hive's exit—we went outside!

We stood in the forest at the foot of our pillar mountain—a relatively safe place, but still innately rife with danger. At least I was wearing bone armor.

There, I turned to my daughters and hid the heaviness in my heart.

"From now on, you will prepare to be our stealthiest, our sneakiest, our most ready to kill, and our most heroic bees. Like Warrior Bees, but even more heroic. You will be… Commando Bees!"