Agatha's Wasp Eater, unofficially nicknamed Honker by some in the fandom, is a weasel-like creature which Agatha Heterodyne acquires after Tarvek Sturmvoraus rescues the surviving wasp eaters and the human members of the Vespiary Squad from Wulfenbach forces. The name "Honker" comes from the sound ✣ he makes when he adopts Agatha in Mechanicsburg.
It accompanies her through the portal beneath the Cathedral and emerges with her two and a half years later. When Martellus von Blitzengaard alters Agatha's body chemistry to cause her to suffer incapacitating pain ✣ and (according to Martellus) eventually die without an occasional physical touch from him, Agatha modifies her weasel's biochemistry ✣ to allow it to substitute for the would-be Storm King, subverting his attempt to exert control over her. Later, after Martellus discovers this circumvention, he attempts to kill the wasp eater ✣ , only to be thwarted ✣ by Violetta's impossible thieving skills. After being separated momentarily during the flight from the secret base of the Knights of Jove, the weasel reunites ✣ with Agatha in the secret cavernous refugee camp where the Jägers and displaced Mechanicsburg townspeople are residing, showing that Agatha is still physically dependent on it. (Dimo is present during this scene, and much much later it is revealed he almost panics and spills the beans about the other Wasp-Eaters he and the Jägers are also hiding in the caves.)
Later Agatha's Wasp eater accompanies her on a ride on the Corbettite Railway to St. Szpac and then to Paris and England. Agatha is still very protective of her wasp eater, asking help from Violetta to safeguard it from Martellus in the vaults of St. Szpac[1] and deploying her Dingbots to prevent it from being grabbed by Madame Desmana in the latter's shop in the Parisian Black Market[2]. This is not only because of her continued physical dependence on it[3], but because it is, at the time, the last of its kind publicly known to be alive, and its revenant-detecting abilities are invaluable in the face of The Other's return. Its apparent uniqueness and vitally-important capabilities prompt Agatha to make a deal with Desmana to let the information-broker be an authorized seller of the Weasel's technical specs to anyone willing to pay for them (especially Gil), in the hopes of jump-starting the creation of more of the creatures.
Around this time, Miss Sofie reports ✣ to Madame Velix that, due to Agatha “flaunt[ing] it on her shoulder ... like an exotic bird,” wasp eaters will immediately become a popular fashion accessory.
When Agatha and Company further venture into the Paris underworld, they end up attending a soiree in the Arguron Palace, where the weasel gets into (and seems to win) a "playful" tussle ✣ with Fust the Jagerbear. It then uncovers an extensive infestation of sleeper revenants in the palace, where it is revealed that their king is in league with The Other. It is targeted by the host of revenants in the ensuing melee. After it (and the rest of Our Heroes) escape the Arguron Palace and arrive at The Incorruptible Republic of the Immortal Library of the Grand Architect, its presence is accepted ✣ as proof of the veracity of the monograph that Agatha wrote on wasp eater science. It accompanies Team Agatha on sojourns throughout the Library, such as into another Corbettite hazard vault, and again uncovers ✣ sleeper agents, this time in the Library itself, preventing the fiefdom from falling to the Other.
When Agatha moves on to England, she finally gains time to do some research ✣ with the weasel, explicitly stating for the first time in quite a while that she is still physically dependent on it. She doesn't succeed in solving her weasel dependence at that point, which is hardly surprising since her attention is divided between that, dealing with the Mechanicsburg time-bubble (and an evidently related spate of murders), her own Lucrezia-implant, and trying to cure Gil of the mental overlay forced on him by his father. In fact, she still hasn't solved her weasel problem (despite the assistance of Martellus ✣ ), even after all of the other problems previously mentioned have been resolved. It seems that Rakethorn might have a clue[4] but nothing has come of that so far.
As Agatha returns to The Continent to fight a Polar Ice Lord invasion, the newly en-Queened Francisia Monahan insists on repaying her perceived debt to Agatha, and eventually does so by giving ✣ Honker a pair of functioning wings.
References
- ↑ Violetta (softly): "He's good… I don't know if I can take him out…but I can try…"
Agatha (whispered): "No. Just keep him away from my weasel."
-- The Beast of the Rails, p (115), ✣ panel 3. - ↑ Desmana: "It is one of the Baron's wasp eaters! My goodness! This is what you bring to me for trade? I am honored! Let me—"
Agatha (shouted): "Wait! Don't—"
Desmana: "Oh my!"
Agatha: "Sorry. I have to keep it safe."
-- The City of Lightning, p (103), ✣ panels 4 and 5. - ↑ Although it's a long time before a reader gets explicit confirmation ✣ from the comic that said dependence still exists.
- ↑ Volume 21, p (060), ✣ final panel.