13) I'll Make A Man Out Of You

"Team, this is Karen, she'll be training with us for a while." Robin introduced the African American girl to the whole team. "Karen this is the team!"

Barbara made sure to stay in the back hoping that she wouldn't be recognised and cursing Batman for putting her in this position.

"I'm Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally." He sent the new recruit a flirtatious wink.

"Hold your horses Wallance." Artemis pushed him out of the way "I'm-," She blanched for a second because not only was she easy to recognise but also her superhero name was also her actual name "I'm Artemis and I apologise for my friend."

"It's fine. Although you look really familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" Karen replied.

Artemis cursed herself in her head and realised why Barbara was standing so far away from the group when she was usually front and centre and cursing the red head for not reminding her to stay hidden. Although she thanked God, she had decided to wear her mask "No, I don't think so. I just have one of those faces ya know."

Aqualad quickly came to her rescue, "I'm Aqualad, in the base you can call me Kaldur. I'm team leader."

"I'm Batgirl." She slipped in not adding any unnecessary chatter or drawing any attention to herself.

"I'm Megan or M'gann whichever is fine, I mean my superhero name is Miss Martian, oh and this is Superboy or Connor."

Connor sent her a stoic nod.

"We've already met! I'm T- I mean Red Robin!"

"I'm Raquel AKA Rocket."

"I'm Zatanna, the magician."

"No superhero name?" Karen asked.

"I have no need for one." Zatanna replied.

"And here I was up all night trying to think of a good one, I eventually just settled on Bumblebee. It's nice to meet you all. I'm sure we'll have fun training together."

Black Canary swept into the room "Training isn't supposed to be fun, it's training. Well newbie," she smiled "Let's see what you got. And don't worry I'll go easy on you." She did the universal hand gesture for 'come at me' and waited for Karen to do just that.

"I'm sorry, you want me to just attack you?" She asked unsure.

"That's right."

"With my powers? I don't want to hurt you."

Canary scoffed "I wouldn't worry about it."

"Okay..." Karen squared her shoulders and ran at Canary and was immediately tossed on the floor over her shoulder. "Ow."

"Let's go again." She offered her a hand "This time try and have a plan before you just go charging at me. Lesson one: if someone's more experienced than you, have a better plan. You're a smart girl, straight A student, daughter of a scientist, I'm sure that brain of yours can think of something. And don't forget you have powers now."

"Well you didn't exactly give me a chance to use them." She mumbled under he breath and was horrified when it became evident that Canary had heard.

"People who want to hurt you aren't going to give you a chance to use them either. Now try again."

Once again Karen Beecher ran at the Canary, keeping to her right side and then at the last moment she ducked to the left and shrunk, she flew under Dinah's arm and enlarged behind her using the element of surprise to strike her in the back, but just before the blow hit Dinah kicked back and Karen's hit didn't stick, instead hitting air.

The teen stumbled but didn't fall, instead choosing to shrink once again and stay above the more experienced woman. 'Think, think think, Karen. A plan. You need a better plan.' Then it hit her.

As quickly as she could she flew to Canary's feet and blasted a few bee stings at them causing her to look down and then she shot up like a rocket and unshrunk at the same time, using the momentum to power the smouldering upper cut she gave to the Canary.

Dinah stumbled back ears ringing and spat out a bit of blood. "Oh my God!" Karen started panicked at messing up on her first day and hurting the 'teacher' "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Canary smiled at her "That was good, we might make a hero out of you yet. Of course you're not here for that, I'm just here to make sure you can control your powers." The other teens applauded, Robin grinning and Wally pouting because he hadn't been able to even get her off her feet for ages. "Now Robin you're up."

"What are the rules?" He asked stepping into the (self cleaning) fighting area.

"No utility belt for you and no Canary Cry for me."

"Well the Canary cry thing should be a given, you could deafen me."

"And you couldn't with one of your gadgets?"

"Touché."

Karen watched entranced as the two (almost non-powered) heroes completed a series of complicated looking martial arts moves. Robin got flung to the ground on his back but he jumped up the way break dancers do and attacked again. After they exchanged some harsh looking blows Robin swept a leg underneath her feet and she went down hard, backwards rolled away from his next blow seconds before it hit her and leapt up just in time to block with her right forearm. Without missing a beat Robin punched her viscously in the stomach and she was winded "That was a cheap shot." She gasped holding out a hand for a break.

"Well I asked for the rules, you never said no cheap shots." Robin shrugged smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Bat-Boy." She shot back smugly.

Wally, Tim, Barbara, Karen and Megan all burst out laughing as yet another person called him 'Bat Boy'

"Really! Does everyone just get together with the Joker and Penguin and talk about all the terrible names you can call me? Why does this keep happening to me? I just want a cool name, is that too much to ask for?!"

"I happen to be really good at names." Karen spoke, still laughing slightly.

"Is that right Bumblebee." The sarcasm dripped from every word he spoke.

"Don't give me that look Robin." Karen fired back.

"Hey! My names great!" Robin exclaimed, feigning offence.

She scoffed at that but she didn't get the chance to reply.

"Play times over kids, Wally you're up." Black Canary fought 1 on 1 with each hero, setting the necessary rules to keep it fair as she went. And when everyone was done she partnered everyone up. "Artemis you're with Batgirl; Superboy with Aqualad; Robin you're with Bumblebee; Rocket you're with Kid Flash; Miss Martian you're with Zatanna; and Red you're with me. Get to work."

Robin taught Bumblebee the basics like blocking punches and how to throw good ones back; good combinations of moves; how to stand correctly when fighting; and how to fight opponents that are bigger or smaller than her. Her cheerleader training meant that they didn't have to start at the very beginning and could do cooler moves that involved flips or hand stands with ease.

"So what about my powers?" Karen asked whilst standing upside down.

"Well I'm just the combat guy, Canary and maybe even M'gann will be coaching you in the finer points of flying and using your powers. And Batman was talking about calling in a favour with The Atom. He shrinks and stuff too, plus he's a scientist so he'll be a big help to you, although he does it differently."

"Who knows, maybe I'll become his sidekick. Atom and Bumblebee."

He laughed "It doesn't have that same ring to it as Antman and The Wasp."

"Antman and the Who-now?"

Robin just sighed.