Honey Queen

Honey Queen (ハニークイーン) were a group of secret data thieves which operated in Academy City one year prior to the main story.

Principles
Honey Queen are a group of secret data thieves, formed and led by Ainame Caroline in order to regain the data concerning her research and Project Angelica which she had been deprived of when she was fired from the Meltdowner research lab, in pursuit of her ultimate goal.

Similar to Item and teams like it, Honey Queen had its own support organization, but whereas Item paid their support organization's wages, Honey Queen had their subordinates support themselves so they did't have to directly pay them. The support organization ran multiple illegal casinos, with onsite and online games to reel in and clean out victims, including one in School District 22. The thugs and delinquents working for Honey Queen were noted to have an intellectual vibe, described like a cross between that and a gambler.

Background
Honey Queen was likely formed after Ainame Caroline was kicked out on the Meltdowner research lab, in order to steal back the data and means to continue Project Angelica that had been taken from her. Over the next six months, the group employed various means to steal pieces of information that help to achieve that goal or strengthen themselves to that end, with Academy City’s official industrial espionage countermeasure group estimating losses of more than 250 billion yen by early August.

Honey Queen Arc
Around August 3rd, Honey Queen was preparing to target Item, with Ainame Caroline distributing profiles for her subordinates to memorize prior to the attack. Minokasago Ryousuke pleaded and was allowed to attempt a burglary to retrieve traces of Mugino Shizuri's DNA map from Item's new hideout in School District 3 and avoid any violence. However, during his break-in on August 4th, he was inadvertently killed by the balcony's shutters which had been closed remotely due to the imminent rain, with his corpse subsequently being discovered by Frenda Seivelun on her return home and unceremoniously disposed of by Hanatsuyu Kuchikusa.

Later that evening, just as Item accepted a job from their liaison to eliminate Honey Queen (whom they were told was a marriage scammer whose victims included a member of the Meltdowner research lab), Honey Queen bombed their apartment. Narrowly escaping, Item and their support fled the scene with Honey Queen's subordinates in pursuit, until Ainame Caroline knocked out their driver by branding his brain with her Thoughtography. After the crash, a mocking Ainame Caroline, with Tachiuo Mary coming to her side uncalled for, managed to steal a sample of Mugino's skin and knock her unconscious with a calculated explosion. Having achieved their objective, they allowed the defeated Item to retreat, with Ainame Caroline performing an inspection of Tachiuo Mary's body afterwards.

The next day, as a typhoon was approaching the city, Honey Queen made several movements and stays while preparing to target the Meltdowner research lab, including an altercation at a convenience store that led to Ainame Caroline executing two part-time workers who had mocked Tachiuo Mary and crossed her. At the same time, Item took out one of the illegal casinos run by Honey Queen's support organization in School District 22 (with an infiltration by Kinuhata Saiai and Frenda), before pursuing a false lead that suggested an attempt to recruit Shokuhou Misaki (actually Mitsuari Ayu in disguise).

On August 6th, having determined Honey Queen's target, Item broke into the Meltdowner research lab first to prepare an ambush. Late at night, Tachiuo Mary attacked Item while Ainame Caroline went to retrieve the Project Angelica data from the server. Tachiuo Mary nearly defeated Item, but was defeated by Takitsubo Rikou helping Mugino, boosted by Body Crystal. Having retrieved the data, Ainame Caroline discarded the dying Tachiuo Mary, brain-branding her as well as the fallen Frenda and Kinuhata. As August 7th started and the eye of the storm passed overhead, Ainame Caroline fought Mugino and overwhelmed her, but was mortally wounded when Takitsubo Rikou passed her Body Crystal onto Mugino, causing her ability to go wild and unpredictable. Dying after a final exchange of curses with Mugino, Ainame Caroline's death allowed her brain-branded victims to reawaken.

Members

 * Ainame Caroline
 * Tachiuo Mary
 * Minokasago Ryousuke

Trivia

 * The family names of Honey Queen's main members and some of the fake names used by their support organization are related to fish:
 * Ainame is the Japanese name for the fat greening ( otakii), a species of marine.
 * Tachiuo is the Japanese name for the (Trichiurus lepturus), a member of the  family.
 * Minokasago is the Japanese name for the.
 * Kawazakana (川魚) is the Japanese term for.