Beast Boy tried to cover his ears with his hands, which was difficult because he had morphed into an elephant. Cheetah closed her eyes against the lightning. Miss Martian disappeared.
“Don’t move, don’t move,” the teacher ordered. Bumblebee didn’t even blink. “And ready…NOW!” shouted Mr. Fox.
With that command, the Supers sprang into action. The Flash ran around the Weaponomics room in an attempt to deflect the bolts Lightning kept throwing, while her sister, Thunder, amped up the loud crackling noises as her brown eyes twinkled with delight. Lightning adjusted the yellow headband that kept her short brown hair in place, and Thunder stomped her bright yellow boots, making the noise reverberate even more. It wasn’t often that the sisters were asked to use the full force of their powers in the classroom. They were having a blast!
Star Sapphire flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder, then aimed the lavender glow of her power ring at Thunder to distract her. Bumblebee used the sonic bee stings from her wrist-mounted blasters to diffuse the sound waves of the thunder. Wonder Woman used the Lasso of Truth to ground several lightning bolts at once, while Supergirl shot her heat vision at the sizzling bolt that was hurled at her. The force of the two forces smashing against each other caused an explosion that blew out the classroom windows.
Harley Quinn was thrilled. “WOWZA and BAM!” she shouted. She had gotten it all on camera. It was the perfect scene for her “Super School Strikes Again” segment on her web channel.
“Okay, stop, stop, just stop!” Mr. Fox said wearily. He had seen it all before. Today, the teacher was wearing his orange vest and gray sports jacket. “Everyone, take your seats. Thunder, Lightning, thank you. You two were great. The rest of you, not so much.”
Peering into the room from the hallway, Parasite, the janitor, grumbled. He knew who’d be cleaning up the mess.
Inside, The Flash looked down at his feet. Beast Boy turned into a mouse. Bumblebee took her seat and leaned forward, ready to hear what the teacher had to say.
“Today’s class was about weather manipulation and how we can circumvent potential natural disasters,” Lucius Fox told them. “Do you know what the number one thing most of you did wrong was?”
Harley was waving her hand high in the air. “Ask me! Ask me!”
Mr. Fox peered over his glasses. “Ms. Quinn, what was the number one thing most of you did wrong?”
Harley tugged on one of her ponytails. “One thing?” she said with a broad smile. “WOWZA, there are soooo many choices. Who can choose just one?”
As Harley began counting on her fingers and listing things like “shoulda worn my new galoshes,” “shoulda checked the weather,” and “shoulda eaten more snacks for energy,” the teacher shook his head. “Anyone else?” he asked.
Bumblebee thought for a moment, then nodded ever so slightly.
“Yes, Bumblebee?” Mr. Fox said.
“You gave us time to think about what was happening,” she began, “but when we got the signal to go, we all just dove right in.”
The teacher pointed at Bumblebee. “She’s on to something,” he said excitedly. “Who else?”
Wonder Woman raised her hand. “We had time to talk to each other, to formulate a plan. But instead, we all just acted on our own.”
Katana was next. “And we are stronger as a team than as individuals.”
“Now you’re getting it,” Mr. Fox said, nodding. “Yes, Harley?”
“We shoulda worked together!” she said, proud of herself for having just thought of it. As the room broke into laughter, Harley looked around. “What’s so funny? Did I miss something?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Bumblebee assured her as the bell for the next class rang.
Red Tornado was an imposing figure. A massive red robot, he was an expert when it came to flight training and took it very seriously, as did most of his students. The only time anyone had seen him flustered was when Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mom, had shown up at school one day and said hello to him.
Bumblebee checked her wings. Light and aerodynamic, they were surprisingly strong. She had been practicing free-falling, then swooping upward just inches before she hit the ground, allowing the power boost from her super suit to propel her higher.
Beast Boy had turned into a pterodactyl, a prehistoric flying reptile with an impressive wingspan and a menacing beak. As he flapped his wings, the drawings Katana had been making of her classmates scattered. “Hey, watch where you’re flying!” she said.
Non-flyers were also required to take flight training. As Red Tornado put it, “There are times when you will need to know how your opponent operates in flight. That way, you can use your own unique powers to counteract their advantage.”
Miss Martian hurried over to help Katana gather her papers. Beast Boy had turned into an octopus and was using all eight arms to gather the drawings. “Sorry! Sorry!” he kept saying. But the papers kept ripping when anyone tried to pull them free from his suckers, which just made things worse.
“Beast Boy!” Katana cried, startling him. “Ooooh, no,” she said when she saw what had just happened.
“Oh, wow,” Beast Boy octopus said apologetically. “But you know what happens when an octopus startles, right?”
Miss Martian said softly, “It squirts ink.”
Katana’s drawings were ruined.
As Beast Boy begged for Katana’s forgiveness, Bumblebee tried not to laugh. It was never dull at Super Hero High.
“Attention, class!” Red Tornado bellowed. “Stop goofing off. We have work to do.”
Instantly, the Supers were standing in a straight row, arms behind their backs, listening to their teacher. Even Beast Boy.
“Today we are going to tackle natural disasters,” Red Tornado said, beaming a list onto the wall. “That means learning how to navigate through all kinds of unfriendly conditions, including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, you’re up. Class, watch and learn. We’re going to start by creating an avalanche.”
He nodded at Frost. She raised her hands over her head and began to make a mountain of snow and ice that got bigger and bigger and bigger….