Launchpad wasn't sure whether Bushroot would answer his questions or respond to his condolences, but he felt like he had to try. It was the same instinct that told him there was good in Bushroot. Besides, he really did feel guilty about Harvey. He knew he wasn't directly responsible, but he had kicked Liquidator in that direction.

Launchpad could see that Bushroot was debating with himself whether or not to answer. He could almost hear the mental argument. Then, Darkwing squeaked and Negaduck was screaming for the five to get out of there and Bushroot took off. He looked back at Launchpad, though, and as he ran to help DW, he was suddenly very curious about what was going through the plant duck's head. The look was almost friendly.

"You'd think that would have taken a lot longer than it did," DW said, glancing at the clock on the dash board as he started the Ratcatcher. Launchpad didn't respond. He was looking in the direction the Fearsome Five had gone. Darkwing wasn't chasing after them because by the time he'd gotten out of the trap door their head start was too big.

"Something wrong, LP?"

"Huh? No, I was just thinking-"

He broke off. He knew Darkwing would think he was crazy.

"What?" DW asked.

Launchpad looked over at him as Darkwing pulled out of the parking lot.

"Should I tell him?" he thought. "He'd think I was crazy, but what if Bushroot really is good? What if he could be reformed? We could use him on our side, especially against the other four. He might be the only one who knows those guys better than DW."

"I don't think 'Bushroot's all bad," he said after a few seconds. He hadn't meant to blurt it out, but that was how it sounded, as if he wanted to say it and get it over with. He waited for DW's reaction.

Darkwing looked at him briefly, then quickly put his eyes back on the road. He wanted to stare at Launchpad, but knew he couldn't afford to break traffic laws. How would it look for Darkwing Duck of all people to be given a traffic ticket, or end up in an accident because he wasn't paying attention to his driving?

"What?" Darkwing squeaked. "You think Bushroot isn't all bad? Have you lost your mind? He's evil! You ended up with a pumpkin on your head the first time we fought him, remember?"

"Yeah, but-"

"And have you forgotten the vampire potato? You were turned into a vampire! And what about the time he tried to ruin Christmas? I mean, seriously, LP! Would anybody who had any good in him try to ruin Christmas?"

"Think about it, DW. Bushroot has no friends, except the plants, and one of them was just killed tonight."

"Launchpad, that doesn't mean-"

"Wait; just hear me out, DW."

Darkwing was surprised into silence. He couldn't remember Launchpad ever interrupting him before. Maybe he had, but Darkwing didn't think so. His role as sidekick seemed to prevent him from doing it, until now.

"Bushroot's done some pretty mean things, yeah, but he hasn't killed since Gary and Larson. I don't mean that excuses what he did to them," he went on quickly before Darkwing could argue, "or any of the other stuff he's done. But why did he do any of it?"

"Because he's evil!" Darkwing said, sounding frustrated.

"But why is he evil?"

"Huh?"

"Why doesn't he see it?" Launchpad thought, frustrated himself now. "He's so smart about some things. Why can't he figure this out when it's right in front of him?"

"What made him kill Gary and Larson in the first place?"

Darkwing suddenly felt disoriented. He was the one who asked the questions. He felt like he and Launchpad had somehow done a sudden role reversal and neither of them was very comfortable with it.

"They made fun of him," Darkwing said reluctantly. Then his tone turned petulant. "But that doesn't mean they deserved to die."

"No, of course not, but everyone makes fun of Bushroot; that's my point. It all got to be too much for him. Before the college Dean cut the funding for his project and he mutated he tried to do good. That energy from sunlight idea made a lot of sense. I mean, if plants could do it, why couldn't we? He'd have solved the world's hunger problem if he'd had the chance, but nobody gave him the chance."

Darkwing was surprised. He'd rarely heard Launchpad sound so logical. Launchpad, on the other hand, was feeling more and more exasperated. Sometimes he hated having to pretend to be dumb in order to satisfy DW's ego.

"OK," Darkwing said, "but then why did he suddenly become evil after he mutated?"

"He thought once he could prove his experiment worked people would respect him; he thought he'd finally be liked. They were either afraid of him after he mutated or they still laughed at him."

"But he was a plant, too. I mean, yeah, his experiment worked, but he had to become a plant so it could work."

"Yeah, but he didn't know that then, and once he figured it out he was so hurt that he just reacted, like I did when I kicked Liquidator at Harvey."

"You were fighting for your life, LP!" Darkwing sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I know, but-"

"Wait a minute. Is this sudden sympathy for Bushroot because you feel bad about killing that tree?"

"No, I thought about it earlier tonight when you talked about Megavolt and the teleporter. Harvey was just-" he paused, trying to think of the phrase he wanted. "Well, you saw the way he reacted when Harvey was killed. Would anyone who was all evil feel bad about anyone being killed, especially a tree? If there was no good in Bushroot, would he even care about trees? Wouldn't he just use them to get what he wanted and never mind what it did to them?"

"So Bushroot's reaction to what happened to Harvey has convinced you that he isn't all bad. You thought so before, but what happened tonight confirmed it?"

"Well, it didn't exactly confirm it, but it did give me another reason to think it's possible."

Darkwing thought for a minute. Launchpad was glad he'd finally gotten his point across; he wasn't as good with words as DW. He was smarter than DW thought, but sometimes Darkwing made him feel awkward about expressing himself.

"Well," Darkwing said grudgingly, "you have some good points, Launchpad, but that doesn't change the facts. Actions speak louder than words and none of Bushroot's actions have been good since he was mutated. No matter what he was before, he's evil now."

Launchpad could see that he wasn't going to get any further with Darkwing on this subject. DW was wearing his "end of discussion" face. Maybe Launchpad would be able to give him more proof later. He would watch Bushroot when they met again. He would also try to think, of more past examples to back him up. If Bushroot could be reformed and brought to their side, there could be a drastic shift in the balance of power. Launchpad knew better than to suggest this to Darkwing; there was no way DW would accept the possibility of reforming Bushroot at this point. Also, Launchpad knew instinctively that Bushroot wasn't ready to be reformed yet. He would have to wait and see.

Like Bushroot, Darkwing also had two voices in his head. One was Darkwing Duck, the crime fighter, the trained professional. He acted on what he saw and heard; he squashed the evil and never mind the reasons behind the evil, unless the reason had something crucial, to do with the current case. The other was Drake Mallard, the regular guy. Drake was an objective observer who could step back and look at things from another perspective. But Drake didn't usually have a chance to look at the case objectively until he was out of costume. In some instances, the case was over by then. Sometimes he felt like a split personality. Also like Bushroot, the voices argued at times.

"LP's right about the circumstances surrounding Bushroot's actions," Drake said in Darkwing's head. "No, the circumstances don't excuse the actions, but they do explain them."

"It doesn't matter," mental Darkwing said. "Everyone has choices. Lots of people have bad experiences, but they don't use them as excuses to become criminals. Some people use their experiences to help others in similar situations."

"No one is in the same situation as Bushroot," mental Drake insisted. "He's the only one of his kind now."

"Who's fault is that?"

"Does that matter? He meant well by the experiment, as Launchpad said. Bushroot was trying to make the world better."

"At the time, he was trying to make the world better. Since he became a plant he's done nothing good and hasn't even tried."

"As far as we know he hasn't tried. What if we're wrong?"

"We're not wrong. I've kept a case file on him ever since he mutated; I know everything he's done and none of it was good. Besides, maybe no one is in the same situation as Bushroot, but there are people who have been made fun of all their lives and not turned to a life of crime because of it."

Mental Drake gave up. Darkwing was in his "there's no way I could possibly be wrong" mode. For now, all arguments with Darkwing were over.

But Bushroot was still arguing with himself and had been since Launchpad's question about the Five's use for Harvey. He knew Negaduck would seriously hurt him if he leaked their plans, but he also wanted to keep the little girl from being hurt. His two voices were beginning to give him a headache. He wished he had someone to confide in outside his own mind.

Bushroot suddenly had what he thought was a brilliant idea. He would find a place where no one, not even the trees, knew him. He would find a plant and talk to it, explaining everything, and see what it thought. The plant didn't know him, so it would be objective.

He went to Duckburg. No one knew him there. He could talk to any of the plants.

He went to the park and sat under a tree. The tree, another maple, sensed that he was upset and cradled him with its branches.

"What troubles you, friend?" it asked telepathically. "I sense it has to do with a brother maple. What happened?"

Bushroot told it what had happened to Harvey.

"You gave the tree a human name?" the tree asked, interested. "What human name would you give me?"

"You sound like a Herman to me."

"Herman," the maple said thoughtfully. "I like it."

"OK, your name is Herman then."

"How did you come to be part plant?"

Bushroot decided to start from the beginning. He told Herman about working on his project at the university lab and how Dean Tightbill had pulled his funding. He explained about Gary and Larson constantly teasing him and sabotaging his projects. Bushroot had never really fit in anywhere; he was just too different, even before his mutation. He told Herman everything that had happened from the time of his mutation up to tonight.

"I never wanted to be evil!" he burst out suddenly. "All I've ever wanted was to fit in somewhere, to have someone like me for me! I hate being a misfit!"

"Evil?" Herman asked. "What makes you think you're evil?"

"Haven't you been listening? Look at everything I've done since I became a plant! I even killed-"

"Yes, your actions were evil and you made wrong choices, but you can start making the right choices."

"How? Too much has happened; I've done too many bad things! It's too late!"

"No, friend Bushroot, it's never too late."

"Call me Reggie."

"You still live, friend Reggie. That means you'll still have other choices to make. If you don't want to be evil, then stop doing evil things. You reap what you sew. You say you don't want that little girl, Gosalyn, to be hurt by this Negaduck person. Stop him from hurting her. Sabotage his project, as those two dead scientists continually sabotaged yours."

Bushroot thought about it for a long time. He was still undecided when he left, but at least Herman had given him something else to think about.

If Negaduck had voices in his head, he chose to ignore them. He did what he wanted, how he wanted, when he wanted, and for his own reasons. He considered Bushroot the weakest link in the Fearsome Five. He had a strong feeling that Bushroot's love of nature would be a problem if he didn't do something. Bushroot was too soft and Negaduck had to find a way to harden him up. If he ever needed proof, what happened tonight was it. First he wanted to hurt his allies over the death of a tree, then there was something about the way he was looking at Launchpad that made Negaduck suspicious. Was Bushy thinking of switching sides? Negaduck would have to keep a close watch on him.

He followed Bushroot to Duckburg and watched him sit under the tree. Bushroot could talk to the plants in his head, but used his voice when he had the time. Negaduck heard everything he said.

"He is thinking about switching!" Negaduck thought angrily. He would have to squash this before it got out of his control.