On the way to Pollentown, we stopped by the adventurer’s guild near Slime Valley. To our surprise, the receptionist was still there, smiling as always. Her eyes brightened as she saw the two of us come in, only for that expression to be replaced with one of fear.

  “What…”, I looked around. “Oh. Don’t worry about Hex, he’s working with us for now”. The ghost ominously floated by our side, its stare pinning the shivering receptionist to the wall… Maybe his form was a bit too much after all.

  “Right, well anyways, I’m just glad you two are alright!”, she omitted Hex. “The bees have gotten most of the adventurers by now”. I wondered what sort of superpowers she must have to have escaped their notice while still working her day job. “They sting and inject them with something that turns them into zombies…”, she shivered in disgust. Hey, that was offensive! Zombies are good people too!

  Phoebe shook her head. “So it is the bees after all… I’m glad you’re alright as well. This is an emergency, so I’m afraid we’ll have to be leaving now”.

  “Wait! You two should know you’ve also gotten rank promotions! Thanks to your role in saving the world from Hex…”, she glanced at the eye nervously.

  “We’ve got more important business right now. Come on, let’s go”. The receptionist’s mouth gaped open as Phoebe turned away and we headed out.

  “…You sure you haven’t been stung…?”, she whispered as we walked out the doors, hitting the road once again.

  I still remembered how Pollentown looked- the towering walls of honey surrounded by meadows filled with blooming flowers. It was a scene of enchanting beauty.

  The walls remained, but they were now constricted by a massive slum. Hordes of people busied themselves nailing down tents and building new houses, creating a disorderly sprawl of chaos. Most striking of all was the scratching- all of the people there had bruises they constantly itched, to the point of drawing blood. It was sickening. A crisis by any definition.

  Yet the bees who had created this problem weren’t doing much to solve it. They guarded the entrance against nonexistent trespassers and went about almost business as usual. Some of them spotted us, but they didn’t attack, and so we decided to head into Pollentown.

  “You ok?”, Phoebe asked a man as we passed by, who was scratching at his throat. He nodded and even gave a smile in return.

  A bee at the gate was fretting over the situation, but he brightened up a little after seeing us. “Honorary workerz! Welcome back to Pollentown…”. Those thick antennae that looked just like a mustache… that accent, milder but still present…

  “Chief!”, I finally remembered. He was too anxious to even react. “What’s going on here?”.

  He hesitated. “Her Divinity, Queen Buzzbuzz propozed we elevate the dirtbound zo that they could join the hive… perhapz the workerz were too ambitiouz in interpreting her order…”.

  “She wants everyone to join the hive?”, Phoebe repeated in bewilderment. “Why? Come on, let’s visit the queen. We need to talk this over”.

  Chief slowly nodded, and we followed after him. The other bees stared at us but didn’t move. Were they not stinging because we were ‘members’ of the hive? I realized that one little quest so long ago was the only thing keeping us safe. Nevertheless, our provisional status was clear. They were not happy to have us trudging through their perfect city.

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  Ahead, we saw two bees exit the palace, angry expressions on their faces. Their scowls only deepened as they saw us. Clearly the queen’s recent actions were frothing up some resentment among the bee populace, who much preferred their insular lifestyle from before. We took a deep breath. If they had failed, persuading the queen would be difficult.

  “Well, well”, we heard a familiar voice. “What do we have here?”. The jester stepped out from the doorway with a crazed smirk on his face. “Jingle Jack is back, I’m afraid…!”.

  Chief frowned. “It iz highly improper to uze your old name, Chief Enforzer…”.

  “You shouldn’t talk back to your superiors like that”, Jack waved him away. “Just get back to fattening up the queen, or whatever it is you attendants do”. I noticed that he had a sting mark, but unlike the others he had no desire to scratch it.

  Our bee guide paled, but before he could retort, Hex stepped in. “How are you still alive, Jack? That beam should’ve killed you”.

  He clapped his hands. “Ah, finally the big question! It was just an illusion. A dull answer, but not as dull as you three, apparently. Now then”, his smile widened even further. “Enough chitchat”.

  The clown in front of us faded away, nothing but a mirage this whole time. In its place was a giant mech in Jack’s image, made from sharp but garishly painted steel. Above its jaw filled with metal teeth was a cockpit made out of one-way mirrors designed just to deflect holy magic.

  “Dabble’s working with us too, so I got a little commission”, his voice boomed from the robot. “Took a while, but the results speak for themselves. I call it… Jack in the Bot!”.

  Then… somehow even the robot seemed to smile, baring its fangs. “Now, what was it you said, Count Boogula? That I was a ‘minor villain’?”. Even through the cockpit I could sense his eyes gleaming with malice. “How do you like me now?”.

  “I think you’re finally embracing your role as a henchman!”, I beamed. “…Though I must say, ‘Chief Enforcer’ is a bit much. You’re named ‘Jack’, so ideally you should be third in command. Queen Buzzbuzz must have a rather skeleton crew at the moment”.

  The mech didn’t react for a moment. Then our eardrums were shredded by a horrific screech, like metal on metal. It took me a few seconds to realize it wasn’t a scream, it was laughter.

  “I assure you Count Boogula, I’m nobody’s slave”. A column of fire blasted forth from his maw, heedless of its surroundings. “[Spooky Maze]!”, I responded, as we dove for cover.

  The robot shook its head, creating a sweeping arc of flame. And then the fire suddenly cut out. “…What? Are you kidding me?!”, Jack said. We cautiously emerged from our hiding places, wary of a ploy. But no, his mech had just run out of gas.

  “No matter…!”, his smile widened as he raised an arm, revealing a machine gun. Each barrel was huge, to accomade the massive bullets loaded within. The sound of a cannon blast echoed throughout my old haunted house as we all scurried away from the deadly fire.

  “This hunk of junk!”, Jack screamed as the robot’s arm snapped from the recoil, dangling limply by its side. He furiously banged on the dashboard, but he quickly ducked for cover as Hex launched his wings, shattering the cockpit with shards of glass.

  Hex rose into the air. “Enough of this game. [Pyjcvwzbx Bxzfw]”. The darkness overcame our vision and the two of us found ourselves back in reality. We looked between each other.

  “Jack’s really coming into his own!”, I opined. “Comic relief suits him so much better, doesn’t it? He really nails that ‘bumbling villain’ vibe! Now he just needs a catchphrase!”. Phoebe just shook her head ruefully.

  Hex rose above the mech, now spinning aimlessly in the void. The light gathered in his wings. “Try cheating your way out of this. [Z Pxm Rxjyppypj]!”. The sphere of holy magic burned through the dimension, chewing up everything in sight. Jingle Jack averted his eyes, but there was no escape. “Unfair…!”, he whined as the light consumed him.

  Hex popped back into reality. “Taken care of. Let’s move onto more important matters”. I nodded and we strolled into the palace, eager to confront the queen who had caused this mess.