Chapter 12.

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AN: So, you see why I moved the author's notes here. Also, slight confession, maybe I was flubbing the truth a little last time with the cameo's.

The big one is featuring Steven Stinkman, the 'sona of great guy, author of Born to Be Wilde, ever dependable reader and commentator, Berserker88. We missed out on featuring his hyena-rat-masked-luchador-lesbian pairing in 'So we're inters now', so I'll be making it up to him big time here and in the future. A few characters of his co-author, Mind-Jack, will also feature (or may have already been alluded to).

Also mentioned in that segment was his adopted mother, Murana Wolford, from the fic 'In Darkness I Hide.' Owned by Darkflamewolf, that fic features her as the adoptive mother of both Steven and a second very special 'Sona, who we will see coming up in twenty weeks time. It also goes into Steven's backstory, which was alluded to here.

Now, the other set involves who those three unnamed characters were. All will be revealed in due course and all are from different creators, though two had a very close relationship in one majorly awesome fanfic (which number 3, from a different majorly awesome fanfic, would very much want in on if he had the option). All I'll do is signpost you to two of my absolute favourite stories: Berserker's (and MindJack's) Born to be Wilde series, and Merc Marten's Fire Triangle series (as said before, reading the prequel will be enough (to both get a rough idea of the character (even if the backstory has been changed a bit for this setting), and get you addicted to a truly awesome story)). When they pop up again in the future, you'll get the full briefing, don't you worry.

Anyway, the big news is that Honey has returned, outta the blue. Let's see what kind of spanner that throws into the works.

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"WAAARGGGHHHH!"

"Wait," Judy shouted, but it was too late, Honey slamming the door shut in front of her. The sound of deadbolts ratcheting shut rang out as Judy jumped into action, suddenly looking just as terrified. "We're not here to harm you!"

There was the sound of something heavy slamming down from inside, along with a curse. "That's OTT, way OTT," Honey panicked. "They'll use that…" Fear was laced in her voice as she spoke, a groan and a grunt then sounding out. "Ooops, just bumped something! Everything's fine, I'm fine, all is fine!"

"Yes, everything's fine! We didn't know it was you!"

"-Yes, yes, yes, all fine la-la-la, I'm fine, feeling fine…" the panicked ratel narrated, before the sound of a windows slamming shut cut it off. Judy looked on, paws to her heart and ears drooping all the while, as the house was locked down.

"You know her?" Skye asked. "You didn't arrest her one time, did you?"

Judy groaned, head dropping into her paws. "Trust me," she mumbled. "I wish it was that simple."

"Did you know that she was committed a while back?" Nick asked, Skye blinking a few times.

"No, not at all. You mean you…"

"We didn't take her in from her home, no," Nick explained, flashing a look of concern at the door, mumbles and sounds still coming out of it as the occupant did whatever she was doing. "But she escaped from the mental hospital, causing all kinds of carnage. We… kinda… brought her back in."

"We did more than that," Judy sniffed, turning to face Skye. "We pulled up in our cruiser and there she was, and the second she saw us she leapt up in joy. She thought we were there to save her!"

"Why…" the vixen began, before her eyes widened with realisation. "-Because you took down Bellwether, didn't you?"

Nick nodded. "So you knew about her sheep problem?"

"Well, she'd mumble very weird stuff very often," she said, sighing. "I always knew she had a screw loose, but I ignored that. We were working together on stuff, and we'd focus on that, bonding over it while I ignored the many things that I found bad about her. I knew she was pretty damn ovinophobic, but what does that have to do with building stuff? I… -That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?"

"No," Judy replied. "At least, I don't think. But you've got the gist of it. She came up hero worshipping us, saying that we were the fighters against the 'cudspiracy', that we'd take her and free her. She sounded convinced that she'd die or be brainwashed if we took her back. I tried calming her down, diffusing everything, but she kept coming closer and getting more energetic. We were her heroes. And then…"

"You tasered her," Skye said sadly.

"Tranq'd," Judy corrected, closing her eyes and stomping her foot. "Doesn't make much difference though.

"Yeah," Nick agreed, before pausing, looking at the door. He walked up and knocked it. "Hey, Honey was it?"

"I'm… I'm fine," she said, her voice nervous at first but picking up.

"You were just discharged," he spoke. "Got home, cleaning out all those letters that had piled up and things that had gone off in the fridge." He paused, shrugging. "I could give you a refund for that."

"Y-yes," she spoke. "The doc has me on drugs now, which aren't poisoned or anything, so I'm fine, we're all fine in here… -I mean I am! Singular, just me, no alternate personalities or anything so not crazy that way. I'm just fine. -How are you?"

"Good," he said. "But we need your help."

"Um… -Too bad. Kinda busy in here! Putting my life back together. Fine. Thank you. Boring conversation anyway. No help needed."

Nick nodded and was about to speak, only to be cut off as she began stammering out. "-Except medical help of course! Need that! Really need that, and I have it, I have it good! So no need for police help or anything! You can go now. I'm good… I'm good and fine and you can go now, I swear…" There was a pause, then a sniff. "I swear…"

"Hey," Nick began, only to pause as he heard her sniff again.

"Please, I'm better now, I swear. I really… I really swear! I don't wanna go back though! Please don't make me go back!"

"We're not going to," Judy said firmly. "A friend said that you could help us with something, and we really do need your help. Please, let us come in. And… I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry that I hurt you, that I broke your heart, that I couldn't think of a better way and that things didn't work out the way they could have." Judy broke down; her eyes were red and misting up, her voice cracking. "Honey. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry that I couldn't be your hero."

There was a long pause, before the sound of some of the bolts unlocking rang out. The handle turned and, slowly, the door was let open on the chain, Honey's red and puffy eyes looking out. She looked over them, bottom lip sliding beneath her teeth to be chewed on, before she spoke. "T-this is just rational safety checking, you hear, but empty your pockets."

Nick and Judy did so.

"You two too," Honey said, Skye and Jack nodding.

"I didn't know you had a history with them," Skye confessed.

"Funny," the ratel said, her eyes narrowing. "I didn't know you did either."

"Nick was in my school, but we didn't get along until very recently," she explained. "After the Howler Crisis you never asked."

"Well, guess that makes logic," she mumbled. "I mean, you've been busy too. Got a bunny BF and a busted leg while I was locked up..." There was a long pause, before she took a breath in and opened up the door, letting them all in. The inside was basic and smelt a bit dusty, though a big cleaning blitz had been helping out. The bunnies and foxes were led to some threadbare sofas and sat down, while Honey walked over to a kitchen cabinet. Her guests' eyes followed her, pausing as they noticed a bookcase by the front door, half of the books on the floor, swept into a pile. "Uhhh, -that's nuthin'" she dismissed, before reaching up.

"I'm okay, thanks," Judy said, only for the ratel to return, holding out a pill tray in front of her.

"See," she said. "They have me on medicines now. Helps to stop my moods swinging and my B-P-D, my borderline personality disorder."

Judy nodded. "I'm glad you got the help you needed," she said, smiling. "I'm proud of you."

"I…" she began, pausing, a small smile growing on her face. "Thanks…" she said softly, taking them back. "I… I see why they're needed now," she spoke. "And I do feel different, and I can tell that that is good. Even if it's kinda scary."

"How come?" Judy asked.

Honey sat down, head going into her paws. "I… Before, I knew who was bad and who was good, and I knew which side I was on," she spoke. "I knew that sheep were evil, and just thinking about them I worked out how more and more evil they were, and it all made sense! It all made sense. But… But now…"

"You don't know who the enemy is," Judy finished.

"Yup," Honey spoke, gritting her teeth. "I don't, and I realise sheep aren't all that bad, and a lot of what I was saying was cray-cray. But I still don't like them, I still have a bit of a grudge, you know what I'm saying? But I know now that it's dumb an' stupid, that a lot of what I did was bad and stupid, and I keep thinkin' that I was the bad guy here and that there are other bad guys out there hiding and I don't know what's going on anymore. It's… It's scary…"

"It's hard," Nick spoke, walking over and sitting next to her. "-Changing yourself. Realising that you were lying to yourself for so long, and trying to come to terms with it. It's hard. But the change is worth it, believe me, and you are doing good. Look at you, thinking that sheep are just as much a bunch of jerks as the rest of us."

She guffawed a little. "I… Thanks…" she spoke, before looking at him, her expression fading somewhat. She nudged away, looking off into a corner of the room. "It's… I know why you did what you did, and you had to do what you had to do," she mumbled, sniffing a few times. She looked down, beginning to cry. "But it hurt, you two, it really really hurt… You were my heroes, and…"

"I know you may never forgive us," Judy said, "but that's fine."

"I don't feel like doing so," she said. "It never entered my mind, an' when I think back it still hurts. Then today you show up and I'm scared. I'm real scared because you might be taking me back again, and I really don't want to go back. I… I don't wanna go back there."

"And we're not taking you back," Judy said firmly, walking up to her. "Here. Hold my paw."

She glanced at it, then looked away.

"I'm not going to bite," she promised.

Honey looked down nervously, slowly reaching her paw out and touching it. They held on, getting firmer. "Maybe… Maybe I can never forgive you for that," she spoke. "It's nothing personal… Just… My body and mind says no forgive, and if that changes I'll say and do, but otherwise I tend to listen to my gut. But maybe we can work together, have fun that way, right?"

Judy paused and smiled. "Yeah, right."

Honey took a deep breath in and out. "Whew…. Hoo boy, real emotional stuff there," she commented, walking up and over to her fridge. "I guess I could grab some drinks. Snacks too. I got honey comb, honey chomps…"

"You do like your honey, Honey," Nick commented.

She guffawed a little. "Yeah, some people may think my parents are weird for callin' me that, but I'm thinking they hit the nail on the head."

"Well put," he smiled. "I'll have some coffee."

"Tea," Judy said, Skye agreeing. Jack asked if she had any sports drinks or anything to help out, especially now his app was making him do star jumps.

"I'll grab some water," she said, bringing out a tray and then a glass, filling it up as he exercised.

"I'm surprised you're not asking why he's doing that," Nick mused.

"Well I kind of figured it was his thing. We all have things, don't we?" she said, as she grabbed a mug, spooned in some instant coffee and added the hot water, a teaspoon of sugar, some milk and stirred. She then did the teas, one cup at a time, each step done in order.

"Well, it's a new one for him," Skye commented.

"-Annoyingly," the hare added, panting for breath.

Honey shrugged. "Hey, things gotta start somewhere." She then filled a bowl with cereal and milk, spooning some honeycomb fragments on top like massive sugar crystals. She brought everything over and settled down, picking up her bowl and beginning to munch away. "I mean, I always have this in the morning, but just then I figured why not snack on it now?" She took a spoonful and chewed it, her eyes squinting about before she swallowed. "Feels a bit odd, cereal in the afternoon."

"Hey," Nick replied. "A bugburga in the morning has the same effect on me."

"Really!?"

"Yeah," he replied.

She smiled a bit. "I am a bit like Nicky Wilde," she said, her grin growing as she took another chomp. "And this is real good."

"I'm happy for you," Judy said. "But we do have business to discuss."

"Right," she mumbled, nodding. "I 'member hearing you mention that."

"Yup," Judy agreed, taking a deep breath. "I'm certain you didn't enjoy your stay in a mental hospital…"

"That's a hella nope."

"But it was done by mammals who wanted to make you better, and once that was done they let you out."

"Figures," she grumbled.

"But earlier today, something happened," the bunny said, bringing out her phone. What came next was a simple explanation of everything going, the plans involving Jack, Skye and the others, and what was needed from Honey.

She looked on, slurping the last of her cereal before breathing out. "Queen of the hive," she mumbled, stepping up and pacing around.

"You okay?" Skye asked.

"I…" she began, before shrugging. "I was going to say that that DA reminded me of who I used to be, who I was on my Ewetube channel and stuff. But…"

"He's worse," Judy finished.

"No," Honey said firmly, looking back. "I was way worse. That's the freaky bit. After what you told me about him, I do not like him, but in everything he said I kinda get the idea. Even if you don't like his history, politics, the way he works, yadda yadda… There's still some sense to it. What he's arguing makes logic. Go across into the states, 'specially certain parts, and what happened to your kit would be what happened to any kit in that situation. They'd lock him for however long it took before takin' him before the judge, and tough luck with that. There's a logic behind what he did. With me though, it didn't make sense. I… I can see that now," she mumbled. "It was just nonsense, and hate filled nonsense at that. I just rambled it out, coming up with new ways of why sheep were bad, posting it and posting it, going on and on and on."

"But you thought you were doing the right thing, didn't you?" Judy asked.

Honey cut it off with a snort. "Yeah, and I bet you my tail that so did Smellwether and all her bunch, him too!"

"But he's enjoying this," Nick said.

"And I didn't on seeing Bellwether busted?" Honey countered. "I certainly loved it when some newspapers started calling out sheep for their privilege, or some university places campaigning for sheep to be fired and preds put in their place. I enjoyed it when I saw a video of this old ram, campaigning against ovinophobia for years, being shouted at and bullied out of some meeting or other on species tolerance. Cuz it was our side fighting back, honey for the drone." She sighed, looking down and fidgeting with her paws. "See, this is why I don't like these new drugs sometimes, I… I was so sure, so certain, back then. And even though I knew there was this great evil, I knew how things worked. It's… it's just too complicated now."

"Well what isn't complicated is this, Honey," Nick said. "He enjoyed the fact that Kris was going to suffer, I can be sure of it. I'd also wager my own tail that he was one of Bellwether's cronies and in on the nighthowler plot, through and through. Finally, there is a mammal out there who did have access to those pellets and he chose to try and frame an innocent kit for them out of spite. We want to bring them both down and find the truth, and don't you agree that that's a good thing?"

"I…" she began, before nodding. "You know what, yeah. I got the idea that prison sucked big time compared to where I was at, so let's get your kit outta there!"

"Yeah," Judy said, pumping her fist.

"Oh, Bunny Cop?" she asked, smiling. "You're gonna work big time on this, aren't you?"

She turned and nodded. "For him, for his family, for you, absolutely, one-hundred percent."

"Right," she said, looking over to Jack. "And with you, I'm gonna be working with Skye to make up some funky spy gadgets. I like the sound of that!"

"Yup," the jackrabbit moaned. He'd previously been doing some push-ups.

"We'll also want a bit of security for Ash, the one we think this was supposed to be against in the first place," Nick noted. "After all, if it's not our weasel then it's someone else, who might try again. We just want to get a little bit of insurance, in case someone tries to get into his locker once more."

"Something I should be able to do," Honey smirked, leaning down to pick up the tray. "After all, I remember my sister grumbling about mammals being able to pick her locker in high school."

Nick chuckled. "Mammals like me! Though I went to twenty-second street high."

"You went to school in the ghetto!" Honey jibed, standing up.

"Grew up in Happytown Heights," he replied. "You'd never know it, given the fact that I can count to above ten."

"Must have had the same supplier," she mused. "My sister went to the Rainforest Magnet School, at least until she got her scholarship to Zoo-U. Which school did your chap go to?"

Nick paused, thinking. "Oh, Woodland Grove High, nice schoo…"

He was broken off by the clattering of the tray hitting the floor.

"You okay, Honey?" Skye asked, Jack walking over.

"Let me help you with that," he said.

"Yeah, yeah," she rushed, glancing around before dropping down, hurriedly piling the glasses back on. There was a pause, before Jack looked up.

"What did you realise?"

"Uh, nothing! -Nothing at all!"

He folded his arms. "I think we both know that isn't the answer."

"-Did you know that those two also arrested my sister!? Lionheart contacted her and hired her to work at cliffside, saying it was a national emergency and official secret and all that. Yup, that's who it was. I mean, trying to make the world a better place but duped a bit, right? Hope nobody has to ever deal with an actual zombie-'pocalypse, especially with the two super cops there. Would it count as torture, abduction, mutilation of a corpse or all three?" she chuckled, picking up the tray and taking it back. She opened up her dishwasher and began putting things in, humming a tune as she went, quickly finishing and turning around.

She looked at them and sighed.

"Honey?" Judy asked.

"-Please don't be mad."

"About what?"

"-This… -I knew this before I was treated, okay!" she shouted out, an edge of fear in her voice. "I knew it before, and I don't wanna say it because you might think I'm relapsing, going off against sheep and all again. But I'm not!" She sniffed, first one time and then a second. "I'm not… I don't wanna go back, I don't wanna go back…" She broke off, pacing off into her living room, Judy and Nick following.

"If you think there's a sheep involved in this, that's okay," Judy said. "Maybe some angry sheep did do this, who knows? But if you don't tell us, we don't know. We need everything."

"I…" she began, looking back, her voice hitching and eyes watering. "You promise. You promise that you won't… you understand that this isn't, I'm not…"

"I do," Judy said, nodding as she walked over and held her paw.

Honey looked on, nervous yet stoic, before walking back into the kitchen. "I used to dream of bringing you guys down here," she commented. "We'd plot to bring down the sheep and win freedom from it." Leaning down, under her sink, she pulled open the doors and cleaned away a bunch of the cleaning products to one side. Nick and Judy weren't sure what she was doing, but their eyes widened as she lifted up the bottom, revealing a submarine-like hatch. Straining a bit, she pulled through the rust and twisted it open, hauling it up and then descending down. "Come on in."

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"You could ride out the apocalypse down here," Nick gasped, looking around. Carved into the very roots of the tree tower was a bunker. Wide enough for three wolf sized beds, and at least five times as long, it had an arched roof of corrugated metal and was stocked with all sorts of supplies.

"That kinda was the logic," Honey noted, as Skye came down, balancing herself as she got her crutches back on before looking around.

"This is amazing!" she gasped.

The ratel blinked. "Y-ya think!?"

"I think we all do," Judy agreed. "I mean, okay, my house is made out of loads of these kinds of tunnels. But you did it all by yourself!"

"I…" she began, smiling a little. "Yeah, I did." Her brief happiness was broken off as she glanced to the side, her eyes going wide. "Oh, hold on, no-no-nooooo…."

"What?" Nick asked.

Honey glanced up mournfully, holding a big box and sniffing. "My moths of freedom have all died…"

She tilted the box forward, revealing a pile of white corpses. Judy gasped. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry…" She'd never been into keeping insects, but from her university days she knew one wolf who'd been really into beetles. They could get very emotionally connected.

Honey sighed. "Nah… It's fine, didn't have much of a purpose now, anyway. No need to release them on attacking sheep, now I know things are different and such."

"I…" Judy began, pausing, "Would that even work?"

"I thought it would," Honey replied. "Or at least provide a distraction for all the other stuff."

The group glanced around, realising that there was an awful lot of stuff in the bunker specifically aimed for the clipping, messing up or outright removal of wool. From giant hedge-clippers and garden shears to paintball guns and burr launchers, she had a significant arsenal of debatable effectiveness.

"As I was saying," she mumbled. "Old me, and…"

"Hey, skeletons in the closet," Nick shrugged. "What is it that you want to show us?"

Honey took a breath in and led them to a desk at the back of the bunker, a massive conspiracy board spread out. Various pictures of sheep, interspersed with notes, clippings and even memes were laid out on a map of the city. "This… This is where I was laying it all out," she said, matter of factly. "Which sheep did what, who their allies were, you even have our DA there." She pointed to his picture. "All connected to the cudspiracy, well almost all of it."

"-Almost?" Judy asked.

Honey pointed to a small area in the corner, disconnected from the rest, showing a picture of a red and grey squirrel going around, taking in the sights with some cameras. "One time I just saw a red and grey squirrel getting along and…" She made a mind blown gesture with her paw and head.

Nick nodded along, while Judy's ears drooped lightly, a fed up look on her face.

"Thought I'd follow them around a bit, thinking they were a part of it but never finding the connection. There was a bit of them dealing with some big cats, or this wolf with an eye patch, some comments about some friends and an old enemy. They even stopped to visit a florist a few times, before talking to each other in a foreign language. I mean, I was even able to work out how The Dark Flame Wolf meshed into the cudspiracy, but that lot… Complete blank."

There was a snort from Skye. "Long time since I heard that urban legend. Did you figure out where the mothmammal fits in too?"

"I," Honey began, before turning back to her board. "Uhhhhhh… Hmmmmm…"

Nick, his ears tilted back, gave Skye an odd, half-condescending half-envious look, before turning back to the ratel. "I guess they're foreign businessmammals then," he said.

Honey looked back and nodded. "Oh, right… Yeah. Makes logic. Before I was going for North Korean spies, but whatever… Anyway, anyway…" She trailed off, taking a breath in. "I was tracking Bellwether back when she was simply running under Lionheart. Not just her, but her contacts, her friends, her family. That all became more important after she was revealed, because who else could try and finish her work other than her heir?"

"Bellwether's heir?" Nick asked.

Honey nodded. "Dawn had a boyfriend at the time, not Doug by the way, and no children. She had a younger brother though, who had a family at an early age, given that they're a rich family and he got into banking and such. They… After the fallout, they… They changed their surname, moved jobs and schools and I tracked them. And when you said the name of that school, it rang a bell, because that's the school her heir, her niece, goes to."

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers," Judy said, her voice cracking hard. Nick looked at her in concern, realising something bad was going on. Honey carried on as normal.

"Her name is…" She was cut off as Judy walked past her, touching a blurry picture on the board.

"Maisy," Judy sniffed, shivering slightly. "Maisy Calrama."