SOME NEW MEMBERS FOR THE TEEN TITANS ... Part 6 Meet BUMBLE BEE

Karen Beecher was a Beautiful part time Student and Liberian from New York City.  She studied Science and Engineering at NYU.  She was very talented, and was considered one of the brightest students of her generation.


KAREN MEETS MAL

She met Mal Duncan, it was love at first sight. Mal soon revealed he was Hornblower, and was a member of the Teen Titans. Mal had then just adopted the Hornblower identity after obtaining the Gabriel's Horn.  Karen was fascinated with the Horn, and would make many studies of it. She knew what it could do, but was able to work out how it did it. She realised that with a lot of time further study she maybe able to reproduce the Horn.  She deduced that the Horn was more powerful than even Mal thought.   This was a problem for Mal, as he already felt that he did not measure up to the abilities of the other Titans before he had obtained the Horn, but now with it, he STILL had a feeling of inadequacy.  Especially as it seemed he did not know how to use it properly either.

Compared to the Power of Wonder Girl and the Speed of Kid Flash, what could he really offer to the Team. ?   Mal was very wrong, the other Titans did not consider him a weak link. They acknowledged he was not super powered like some of the other members past and present, but what Mal seemed to forget that both Robin and Speedy DID NOT have any special powers and DID NOT even have a Special Cosmic Powered weapon like his HORN to aid them either. The Titans originally had asked Mal to join the Team due to his courage and personality. However, this still did not help Mal feeling a bit useless at times.

Karen would later meet the Titans as Mal's girl friend and she also got the opinion that the other Titans did not appreciate him was she thought they should. Again, this was Karen's lack of knowing that the other Titans had been friends for many years before Mal joined the Team. And to an outsider it could been seen as the other Titans excluded Mal from many things.  Which was not the intention or the case.

Karen decided to help improve Mal's standing in the Team. She did this by designing a Super-Powered Suit that would give the wearer amazing powers. Using some of the inventions she had already designed along with information available to her she quickly built a Suit that would allow the wearer to have enhanced strength and the ability to fly.  BUT the plan was not to let Mal wear the suit, SHE was going to WEAR the outfit herself.

THE BUMBLE-BEE

Karen's plan was simple, she would break into the secret HQ of the Titans and attack Mal. This would allow Mal to show the Titans he was more than an equal to the others. At first the plan worked, Karen dressed in her Super Suit broke into the Titan's Lair, and confronted Mal.  She announced she was "THE BUMBLE-BEE" and she wanted to destroy the Titans.   She attacked Mal, who remember did not know it was Karen or what was happening. He held his own, but then all of the other Titan's appeared, and started to protect Mal. Realising she had MIS-Read the situation , Karen barely managed to escape the combined force of Hornblower and the other Teen Titans.

Later at home, Karen confessed to Mal she was The Bumble-Bee and that she had realised that the Titans did not undervalue him in anyway.   Mal secretly had realised at some point during the "fake" attack that Bumble-Bee was Karen. This he decided to keep to himself.

KAREN TELLS MAL SHE IS THE BUMBLE-BEE

Karen apologised to the other Titans, who forgave her misguided act. That would not be the last to be seen of the Bumble-Bee, and in the coming months in secret Karen continued to develop the suit and its abilities.

When the Titans set up home at the Night Club " Gabriel's Horn "  that Mal and Karen opened, Karen would be tempted to help her friends on occasions.  She found that she started to enjoy the Hero Life more than her normal life, and eventually she became a full time Titan.

THE NEWEST TEEN TITAN

When Mal gave up the Hornblower identity after loosing his Horn, Karen helped update and improve Mal's Guardian Uniform.   Bumble-Bee and The Guardian would both remain with the Titans for many more months until the Team finally disbanded forever.

THE FINAL LINE UP OF THE ORIGINAL TEEN TITANS

Bumble-Bee would be the last "New" Titan to join the "Original"  Teen Titans.... However, next time we head out WEST were a new Membership drive was happening.


More Soon



ENJOY.