“It’s weird,” Bumblebee noted.
“It’s fine by me,” Barda said.
“But why?” Bumblebee asked. “Pollen. No pollen. Sneezing. No sneezing.”
“Probably just a fluke of the weather?” Barda ventured. “Or maybe our natural disaster rainstorms washed the pollen away,” she said, though Bumblebee didn’t look convinced.
“There they are!” Supergirl said, using her super-vision to see past the jungle, the subtropical gardens, and the court of palms.
Bumblebee squinted. She could see a tall, skinny man in the distance—or was that a tree? As her friends rushed over, Bumblebee hurried along, aware that without batteries fueling her power pack, she couldn’t do nearly as much as the others.
“For those of you who haven’t met him yet, this is Jason Woodrue,” Ivy said proudly. “Jason, this is everyone!”
Jason put down the potted plumeriasian lavender he had been tending to. “It’s a ruba hybrid, but I’m sure you all already know that,” he said. His diction was clear and crisp, and his manners were impeccable.
“Um, I didn’t know that,” Ivy admitted.
Jason shook his head sadly and adjusted his round wire-rimmed glasses. “Well, you will,” he assured her. “Now that I’m here, this greenhouse will be in tip-top shape, I can assure you of that. It won’t be the shambles it was before.” Poison Ivy seemed to shrink a bit, but Jason didn’t notice. “Does anyone have any questions?” he said. “I know all the answers.”
“Do you always dress like that?” Wonder Woman asked, pointing to his suit.
“Yes, Jason Woodrue does,” he said, referring to himself.He was nattily attired in a tailored dark green tweed three-piece suit. The handkerchief in his pocket was made of blue silk, and his crisp pink shirt was complemented by a skinny tie the color of his light green eyes. “Jason feels that it is imperative to always look one’s best.”
He glanced at Ivy, who self-consciously pushed some of her flowing red hair out of her face. Supergirl bent down to tie her shoes, and Bumblebee brushed some cracker crumbs off her super suit. It had been days since she had had even a smidgen of honey. She had taken to putting peanut butter on everything, but it wasn’t the same.
“Now, I have a question,” Jason said, looking around.
“I thought you had all the answers,” said Bumblebee.
He ignored her and asked, “When does Harley Quinn show up? When is Jason Woodrue going to make his debut on Greenhouse Hullabaloo?”
Later that day, Bumblebee asked Poison Ivy, “How’s Jason working out?” They were walking to Liberty Belle’s class. Both ducked just in time to avoid being hit by Beast Boy flying low as a spotted owl.
“Great,” Ivy said. “Jason knows everything about plants. He used to be a botany professor!”
“I think he’s a snob,” said Barda. “Oops! Did I say that?”
“He’s just extremely confident,” Ivy said, defending her assistant. “Hey, who’s going to watch the show tonight? Now that the pollen problem is gone, I’ll be doing a segment about how talking to your plants makes them, and you, happy!”
Bumblebee tried not to laugh while watching Greenhouse Hullabaloo. Jason Woodrue managed to insert himself in every scene, and was not very subtle about it.
“When your plants seem sad, you can tell them—” Poison Ivy was saying.
“You can tell them Jason Woodrue says be happy!” he said, smiling at the camera.
As the show continued, Beast Boy knocked on Wonder Woman’s dorm door. “Hey, Bumblebee,” he called, “thought I’d find you here. I have an awesome surprise for you!”
“What?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.
“Oh, just some…HONEY!” Beast Boy said, grinning.
Bumblebee turned away from the monitor, where Ivy was strolling through a section of the greenhouse. Jason was following so close they kept bumping into each other while he waved to the camera.
Beast Boy handed Bumblebee a glass jar. “I know you’ve been kinda blue without your honey supply,” he said. “So I made this!”
“You made this yourself?” Bumblebee asked. She was touched that he would do that.
“Yep! Try it. It tastes exactly like honey.” Beast Boy looked like he would burst with pride.
Bumblebee opened the jar and dipped her finger into the golden brown concoction. It felt like honey. It tasted like…
Beast Boy watched intently. “Well? Well?” he asked. “What did I tell you? Exactly like honey, right?”
Bumblebee pursed her lips and nodded. “Mmmmmm,” she said. “Mmmmmmmm.”
“You’re welcome,” Beast Boy said proudly. He turned into a peacock and unfolded a fan of breathtaking emerald-green tail feathers as he strutted out of the room.
“Does it really taste just like honey?” Batgirl asked.
Bumblebee waited until she was sure Beast Boy was gone and then gasped, “Water! I need water!” as she tried to wipe the fake honey off her tongue.