by Lisa Yee
On the other side of the lab, Ivy was creating a nonflammable nitrocellulose adhesive spray. As a big green woolly mammoth, Beast Boy was grinding leftover diamond bits into a fine powder in a mortar by using his muscular trunk to work the pestle. With his trunk doing all the work, Beast Boy’s mouth was free to sing, “I’m the inspiration!”
Ivy poured the diamond powder into a large test tube with the micro solar cells and the nitrocellulose. She then handed it to Cyborg, who shook up the mixture at high speed with his bionic arm. Satisfied it was ready, Ivy filled up a high-intensity pressure sprayer with the solar solution. “Goggles on,” she ordered. “Three, two, one…here I go!”
Everyone was giving Bumblebee looks of support as Ivy sprayed on layer after layer of the mixture. When the sprayer was empty, there was a chorus of oohs and aahs. Bumblebee’s wings now took on a glittery golden glow.
“Test them,” said Batgirl. “Do they feel heavier?”
Bumblebee flew around the room. “Only slightly,” she reported. “But if this allows me to access the sun’s energy to power my super suit, it’s worth it!”
Batgirl was busy on her computer, inputting the details of the experiment. “Your wings are now lightweight solar panels. The diamonds will focus the sunlight and give your wings added strength,” she said, looking at the statistics. “When they’re fully charged, you’ll have a good four hours. Plus, when you finish engineering that optimization program for your battle suit, you’ll have even more time, depending on your flight speed, use of sonic blasters, and, of course, how often you shrink and grow.”
“Absolutely,” Bumblebee said happily. “I’ll still need a backup battery pack for when there’s no sunlight. But we can work on that later. There’s no hurry.”
* * *
The sneezing had taken on new life and would not let up. It was as if the world had a cold, although some places seemed to have been hit harder than others.
“The crops are failing,” Poison Ivy reported from her greenhouse. “Not everywhere, but in enough places to warrant worry.”
“Failing!” Jason Woodrue echoed as he stuck his head into the camera frame.
“Um, thank you, Jason,” Ivy said. “I was just saying that.”
“Failing!” he repeated, then smiled at her before stepping away. “Excuse me, sorry. This is your show.”
Poison Ivy tried not to look at him staring at her, and continued, “Luckily, here in the greenhouse, all the plants are thriving, thanks to the ideal conditions we’ve been able to replicate.”
“And thanks to Jason Woodrue,” said Jason Woodrue as he held up a trowel in one hand and a red watering can in the other. “Thriving!”
* * *
After the show, which featured “Festive, Colorful Flowers from Hue to You,” Batgirl, Bumblebee, and Beast Boy had a meeting. “I’m seriously concerned about what’s going on with the honey,” Bumblebee said.
“Me too,” Batgirl replied. “And not just because of the paper we have to write.”
“At first I thought the lack of honey was just an odd dry spell,” Bumblebee said. “But my sources tell me it’s everywhere now. And a lack of honey signals something even worse.”
“Achoo!” Beast Boy let out a series of sneezes.
“Exactly!” said Bumblebee. “It’s the pollen.”
“The weird fake pollen,” Ivy added as she joined them. “We’ve tried to investigate it, but—”
“It’s affecting the crops,” Beast Boy said. He had a tissue stuffed up each nostril. “At least, it seems like the culprit. But by the time the crops are failing, there’s hardly any trace of the fake pollen left. And that makes it difficult to track it to its source.”
“But the damage has been done, and that’s why we’re short on fruits and vegetables,” Ivy went on.
“And honey,” Bumblebee added. “The bees are being targeted in some regions, causing a honey shortage.”
“I don’t get it,” said Beast Boy. “Why only in some places? Why the bees? What does this mean?”
“Bees are vital to our world’s ecosystem,” Bumblebee explained. “Most of our crops are pollenated by bees. Remember when I explained how bees visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen to make honey?”
“That’s nice work if you can get it!” Beast Boy exclaimed.
Bumblebee went on, “By doing that, the bees spread pollen from plant to plant, helping those plants reproduce.”
“So why the fake pollen?” Ivy asked.
“Wait,” Beast Boy said, scratching his head. “Someone must be spreading it to confuse the bees. Instead of real pollen, they’re attracted to the fake kind!”
“Exactly,” Bumblebee agreed. “And this fake pollen makes the bees drowsy, so they don’t visit as many plants or make honey for their hives to live on.”
Poison Ivy jumped in: “That’s why the flowers are all turning brown—not only does the fake pollen affect the bees, it affects the plants, too. Plus, the fake pollen is what’s making everyone sneeze.”
“Who could be behind this?” Bumblebee asked.
Beast Boy began to walk in circles. “I’ve got it!” he said, then sneezed. “Tissue companies!”
“Or a super-villain,” Poison Ivy added.
“Or a honey company,” Bumblebee said. “One that wants all the world’s business. But then why would they hurt the bees?”
As they kept coming up with theories, the sneezing went on, the crops continued to fail, and there was no honey to be had anywhere.
* * *
While Batgirl was tracking the supply chains of tissue manufacturers, frozen and canned food companies, and any others who would profit from the damage caused by the fake pollen, Bumblebee was talking to her mom.
“A free vacation?” Bumblebee asked. “That sounds pretty cool.”
“I know!” Ms. Andrena-Beecher said. “And we don’t even remember entering. But you know your dad—he’s always entering contests.”
Bumblebee smiled. She did know. There was the time he came up with the jingle for Superior Sudsy Soap and won a lifetime supply. Or when he was closest in the Guess the Number of Jelly Beans contest at Benny’s Donut House. Or when he entered the Bake a Better Bread contest and his honey-butter bread recipe won second place—Bumblebee had helped him with that one.
“So what’s the prize this time?” Bumblebee asked.
“You’re not going to believe it,” her mother gushed. “An all-expenses-paid trip to Bialya!”
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Bumblebee cried. “Um, where’s Bialya?”
“We’re not sure,” Ms. Andrena-Beecher confessed. “But with the house still under construction, I think we’ve overstayed our visit with Cousin Keisha. Plus, it would be nice to get away for a bit. We’ll call you when we get there.”
“Have fun!” Bumblebee said. “Talk to you soon.”
Bumblebee was having trouble focusing. What she really wanted to do was test her solar battery wings, but with the pollen situation becoming more alarming, there was little time for that.
Wonder Woman and Supergirl were gathering samples from other parts of the world where the fruits and vegetables had stopped growing, and Hawkgirl was assisting Batgirl and Poison Ivy with more pollen testing. Bumblebee was charged with checking on the bee population—and she was distressed by what she saw. Everywhere, normally happy and busy bees were now drowsy and lethargic. Before she had a chance to process it all, the principal called her into her office.
“I heard from Kait’s Pesty Pest Control Company,” Waller said, setting down her heavy mug of double-caffeinated coffee. “Something very odd was discovered at your house. They couldn’t reach your parents, so they called here. They’d like someone to meet them this afternoon.” Before Bumblebee could ask, Waller nodded. “Permission to leave campus,” she said, adding, “And take a
friend or two with you. With all this mystery about the fake pollen, I’d like to play it safe.”
* * *
“Sure,” Poison Ivy said to Bumblebee. “I’d like to know what happened to that tree, too.”
“Do you need a ride?” Wonder Woman asked. “I was going to take my Invisible Jet for a test run. I want to see if I can break the sound barrier at twice the rate I did last time.”
They were outside on the lawn near the Crystal Tower when several balls of fire arched across the sky, followed by a flurry of snowballs. “Heads up!” Wonder Woman called out as El Diablo and Frost continued their long-distance throwing contest from the far side of school.
“You two take the jet,” Bumblebee said. “This is a great opportunity to test my new solar battery. Meet you there!”
So far, Bumblebee had gotten it to hold a full charge for almost four hours. However, her goal was a battery that could last for a full day or more without needing recharging. Still, four hours was better than three hours or two hours or nothing, she figured.
If felt so good to be flying again, swooping up and down, around the trees, past buildings.
“Hi, Bumblebee!” people called as she flew overhead.
“Hello!” she shouted down, thrilled to be in the air. Bumblebee looked at her watch. She had been flying for twenty minutes, but the sunlight had been hitting the battery pack, therefore charging it, and it was amassing more stored energy.
“How’s it going?” a voice asked on her comm bracelet. Bumblebee laughed. “Great, Batgirl. Thanks for checking in. I’m going to power down to bee size now.”
* * *
Wonder Woman and Poison Ivy were waiting. “What took you so long?” Ivy asked.
“Sorry!” Bumblebee said as they walked over to the Kait’s Pesty Pest Control van. “I was flying and keeping an eye on my new battle suit’s energy use versus its solar intake. Plus, flying at full speed again was so much fun, I sorta lost track of time.”
“Been there, done that!” Wonder Woman said. “But now that you are here, let’s check out this tree situation.”
“You must be Karen Andrena-Beecher,” the young woman in the blue lab coat called out as they rounded the corner of the house. “I’m Kait.”
“Yes, I’m Karen, or you can call me Bumblebee,” she answered.
Kait smiled. “Of course! I recognize you from Harley’s Quinntessentials! And Wonder Woman!” She looked around. “And Poison Ivy! I love your new show Greenhouse Hullabaloo.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Poison Ivy replied, almost bashfully. All the attention she had been receiving from the web show had left her feeling a bit unsettled.
“Well, this is a great crew,” Kait said.
“Excuse me, Kait,” Bumblebee interrupted. “But there was something you wanted to show me?”
“Yes, yes! I’ve got some pretty weird findings, and I thought I should talk to someone in person about it,” Kait answered.
Bumblebee could not contain her curiosity any longer. “Please, fill me in,” she pressed.
Bumblebee could see that a new foundation for the house had been poured, and the wooden framing for the walls was almost finished.
“Over there,” Kait said, pointing to the fallen Bee Tree. “It looks like a clean cut through the trunk. Bugs don’t work like that. Especially termites, which are always our prime suspect when trees are destroyed.”
Bumblebee studied the tree trunk and nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know of any termites that could cut a straight swath across the base of such a substantial tree.”
Kait held up a clear tube with something moving inside. “I found these at the scene.”
“Bees?” Bumblebee exclaimed. “I don’t understand.”
“Not just any bees,” Kait informed them. “They’re carpenter bees.”
Bumblebee turned to Wonder Woman and Poison Ivy and explained, “Bees that are great at pollinating shallow flowers.”
“Yes, but these are the Xylocopa virginica species,” Kait noted. “They rob nectar by piercing the flowers, unlike most bees, which don’t harm or destroy them. However, I believe these particular ones are mutants. Carpenter bees make nests by tunneling into wood. These not only tunneled, they sawed their way across the entire trunk of this tree until it fell over.”
Bumblebee shuddered. Mutant bees attacking her lab? That seemed too odd to be a coincidence.
As Kait answered Wonder Woman’s and Poison Ivy’s questions, Bumblebee inspected the fallen Bee Tree. The caution tape was down. Remnants of her lab were scattered about, but it looked like most of her equipment had been destroyed in the fire. Picking up a stick, Bumblebee began to poke at the ashes, hoping she could find some things that hadn’t been damaged.
There was no sign of the prototypes she had been working on. Her entire spare super suit must have been ruined, along with the emergency battery packs. Bumblebee did manage to find a couple of unbroken beakers and three spools of wire, but surely there would have been more? Like spare parts. A computer mainframe. Some of the synthetic weave she’d made for creating new battle suits. She was starting to realize that it was looking less like her stuff had been destroyed, and more like it was…missing.
Then Bumblebee noticed something tucked into a knot in the tree. A note. It read:
You have something I need, and I have something you want. And if we don’t meet, the world will be worse for it. Directions attacked attached.
P.S. If you ever want to see your parents again, do not tell anyone where you are going.
“You take the bug samples to be analyzed,” Bumblebee told Ivy. “Wonder Woman, please let Batgirl know the solar battery is working great. I’m going to hang out and visit the neighbors, but there’s a glitch in my comm bracelet, so I’ll be out of touch for a bit.”
“Sure thing,” Wonder Woman said. Bumblebee didn’t like fibbing to her friends, but she wasn’t staying behind to visit. No, she was going to follow the directions in the note and bring her parents back safely.
The note was written in childlike scrawl and hard to decipher. There was a map attached, but it didn’t appear to be to scale and the coordinates were jumbled with arrows pointing this way and that. As Bumblebee took off, the sky began to get overcast. She worried about her solar panels, and kept trying to pierce through the clouds to get to the sunlight.
Because the map was so confusing, Bumblebee had trouble staying on course. It didn’t help that a storm was threatening—she felt heavy with dread as the clouds turned dark and the air thickened and cooled. Finally, Bumblebee recognized a mountain range in the distance. Just past it was the final destination—the X on the map. She took a deep breath. Her battery pack began to flicker. She had 23 percent power left.
Once she cleared the top of the jagged gray mountain range, the clouds parted enough to reveal a huge castle below. Bumblebee slowed. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Can this even be real? she wondered. Bumblebee circled a few times, enough to get the lay of the land, then finally landed inside the massive dark and dreary estate.
* * *
The run-down castle looked like it might have been beautiful in another time, in another place. All around the crumbling palace was a blighted and desolate landscape. Bare trees, dried and hunched over, leaned against each other like weary skeletons. Flowers, brittle to the touch, gathered in clumps in what had most likely been a lavish flower bed in another life. Instead of green, all was gray. And the air. The air was so heavy she had to push through it, like wading through the water in a murky pond.
Bumblebee sneezed.
As she walked down the dirt path leading to the castle, the crunch of dead leaves announced her. Bumblebee turned off her battery to save energy. Above the heavy wooden door was a crest for “Honeycomb Hall.” Bumblebee thought of calling Batgirl for backup, then remembered th
e ominous warning.
If you ever want to see your parents again, do not tell anyone where you are going.
Bumblebee wondered if her parents were inside. Who would do this, and why? Her heart raced.
The door creaked when she pushed it open. Bumblebee sneezed again. Apprehension took hold of her as she entered the cold and dark castle. It was cavernous, with a maze of rooms. Worn tapestries depicting staid royal families lined the walls. Everyone looked sad, even the dogs who sat at their masters’ feet. White sheets over furniture looked like odd-shaped ghosts, and stained-glass windows were covered with a layer of dust.
At the far end of a narrow hallway lined with ancient medieval weapons, Bumblebee thought she saw a flicker of light from underneath a heavy velvet curtain. A familiar sound drew her toward it. It sounded like—could it be? The buzz of bees?
The closer Bumblebee got, the louder the sound. Only, this buzzing wasn’t the usual happy sound of bees visiting flowers and humming around their hives. No, this was a menacing, angry sound unlike anything she had ever heard before.
Bumblebee turned on her batteries, just in case. Then she took a deep breath and pulled back the curtain.
In the shadows, an ornate gold throne encrusted with gems rested on a dais three steps up. On it sat a woman cloaked in black and yellow. A flowing robe was draped around her shoulders, and a crown of thorny black roses rested on her head. A veil hid her face, but Bumblebee could make out cruel eyes staring at her.
Hovering at the woman’s side was someone Bumblebee was surprised to see. When he waved, she waved back, though not with nearly as much enthusiasm.
“Cuckoo Bee?” she asked, though she knew the answer to her question.
