“You know Beast Boy?” Bumblebee asked, surprised.
“I’ve kept tabs on all you Supers,” Queen Bee boasted. “But, oh, you two. You’re delusional, and he’s nothing more than a green goof-off—and certainly no match for me. In my day…”
As Queen Bee droned on, Bumblebee’s quick mind allowed her to take inventory of the room. Within seconds, she had mapped the surroundings and formulated a plan. Slowly, Bumblebee backed up, then grabbed one of the heavy metal shields off the wall.
“What!” Queen Bee cried. She raised her arm and shot stingers at Bumblebee, who used the shield the deflect them.
As stinger after stinger pelted the shield, Bumblebee headed toward the corner. Once there, she crouched behind the iron cannon, pushing it toward the honey vault and pocketing a magnifying glass from the desk as she passed.
“This isn’t even a fair battle,” Queen Bee said, sounding bored. “I’m royalty, and you, you’re just a regular girl—and not a very smart one, at that. If you think you can best me with a rusted old cannon, have at it.”
Bumblebee grabbed a jar of honey off the vault shelf and placed it in the cannon. Quickly, she held the magnifying glass up to the window and watched as the sunlight lit the taper of the cannon. Soon the sizzle of the burn could be heard in the throne room.
Queen Bee rose to fly toward Bumblebee, but Bumblebee was ready for her. She picked up a crossbow and tried to remember what Arrowette had taught her about taking aim. Holding the bow parallel to the ground, and anticipating her opponent’s velocity, she shot at Queen Bee, who had to duck to avoid getting hit. Then Bumblebee aimed the cannon. With a powerful BOOM, the honey jar shot out and struck its target dead center, knocking Queen Bee to the ground.
Sticky with honey and shards of glass, Queen Bee rose again, angrier than before. Then BOOM! Another honey cannonball struck her, and another and another.
Like a machine, Queen Bee kept moving forward, bent on exacting revenge on Bumblebee. “Karen, little Karen Andrena-Beecher, you are no match for me,” Queen Bee taunted, but she was wobbling from the impact of the cannons. “I’m going to bring you down, and then use your technology to bring the world to its knees, and all will bow to me!”
Bumblebee went to grab another jar of honey and was surprised to find there were none left.
“Oh dear,” Queen Bee said with false sweetness. “Well, so much for that little plan.”
“Not quite,” Bumblebee said. “I’m not finished with you yet.”
“Ah, but I am finished with you,” Queen Bee said, swatting the old iron cannon away. Her other arm came up. Her blaster was filled with slumber dust—and it was not set to stun. “Nighty-night, sweet Bumblebee!”
Bumblebee grabbed an ancient metal spear. As Queen Bee flew at her, she hesitated. Not because she was scared, but because in the span of less than two seconds, she was accessing her knowledge of math and aerodynamics to calculate her enemy’s speed and to target the exact right moment to throw the spear with the perfect velocity.
“NOW!” Bumblebee said to herself. The spear sailed through the air and hit her target!
“WHAT?!” Queen Bee yelled in anger as her flowing royal robe was pinned to the wall.
“Gotcha!” Bumblebee cheered as her opponent twisted against one of the elaborate Bialya tapestries. Queen Bee struggled to free herself, but Bumblebee used a battle-ax to cut down the heavy velvet curtains that flanked the tapestry. When they fell, the weight of the curtains crushed Queen Bee to the floor. Bumblebee grabbed a cord from the wall and used it to tie up the angry queen.
“Not bad for a girl with no powers, wouldn’t you say?” said Bumblebee. Satisfied that Queen Bee could not get out of her bonds, Bumblebee pressed her suit’s power button and felt her blasters charge up and the superstrength flow through her armor.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said, “there’s somewhere I need to be.”