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.