Location: Dirtmouth

The Scouts were preparing to go down a hole that led deeper into the kingdom. They were happy to get out of the sights of the circus edge lords, their stares were getting uncomfortable.

The Scouts were not really sure whose great idea it was to have access to the rest of the kingdom being a former water well, but they were not experts in bug engineering and architecture now were they.

Seer had first suggested the stagways… but when thinking is over a bit more… the Scouts couldn't even fit inside the stagway station building, it would be unlikely the 'stag beetles' would be able to even carry them even if they could fit down there.

Seer was clinging to David's back as he climbed down using his grapple instead of the chain, though it was metal, it was made for the much lighter insects, and he did not want it to snap on him when he was carrying Seer on his back.

David descended into the entrance into the subterranean kingdom. The Scouts all agreed to be extra careful in how they dealt with the bugs this point forward. It is possible news from the crystal peak massacre has spread, and if ever asked about it, they all agreed to play dumb. They were entering a kingdom for fucks sake, their size, strength, and guns, will likely not mean much if their enemy has more soldiers than the Scouts have bullets.

David managed to climb his way down, it was narrow, especially with Seer on his back, but he managed. Right off the bat he noticed a crowd of bugs staring at him, Matthew and Chris were climbing down after him. The bugs looked… either curious, afraid, or something in between. Shit, did they know about them?

"It's the giant! Everybody run!" One of the bugs shouted, causing a panic among the crowd. Bugs were running every which way, and in many cases, were running into each other.

Matthew and Chris had finally made it down, and saw the chaos David had unintentionally caused by his mere presence.

David sighed, bent down to let Seer off, got back up, and turned to his compatriotes.

"It appears that we are a bit more… known, then we would have liked" David said, somewhat annoyed.

"That would appear to be the case, yes" Matthew states, with a mix of matter of factly, and exasperation.

"So…. I supposed if we wish to continue exploring, we should maybe hold off on getting deeper in this particular group of bugs' territory? Seer didn't you say various areas were controlled by different factions?

"Well… Yes, but… the others may still not be… very welcoming… The closest one that isn't aligned with Hallownest is the Mantis Tribe… but… they act with hostility towards outsiders" Seer explained

"Well that certainly puts a hamper on…" David stopped as he felt something smack against the back of his leg.

He turned around, and he saw a small bug with a white head piece smacking him with a sword shaped piece of wood.

"Face me foul cur! You may have scared away these sorry excuses for bugs, but I, the mighty Zote, will strike down the giant menace" The small bug said, while continuing to wack David in the leg with his piece of wood.

The little bug kept spouting insults at the Scouts while continually wacking David on the leg. David looked back at his compatriots, shrugging his shoulders, and raising his hands in the fashion of asking "what should I do?".

Seer looked mortified with second hand embarrassment. Making an expression that David could only assume was the Moth version of cringing. While his face was concealed by his mask, David could tell Chris was struggling not to laugh. While Matthew looked unreadable, just standing there staring.

David turned around again, and found that the crowd had stopped panicking to look at the scene. Some of them were cheering the little bug on.

David sighed, perhaps he could ask it to go away?

"Is there a reason you are wacking me with a stick?" David asked flatly.

His question asked the bugs that crowded around them freeze.

"Did the giant just speak?"

"Why are there three of them?"

"I thought the giant had glowing red eyes"

The Scouts' heads shot up when the heard the comment about the red eyes.

"Who said that?" David asked into the crowd.

"Who said the thing about the red eyes?" He asked again.

The crowd of bugs remained silent, they did not want to piss off the giant white clad figure by mentioning the now known great insult of red eyes.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of wood smacking against David's leg again. It didn't hurt, it was honestly just annoying.

"Cease your infernal questions creature! I Zote the Might, knight of great renown will strike you down" The small bug now known as Zote yelled.

"A knight?" David thought to himself, a minor noble would be a good source of information on the surrounding areas. I could also be useful to validate the information he got out of that other noble he interrogated.

"What noble house are you from?" David asked.

Zote stopped hitting David in the leg, and looked up at his pitch black visor like he was an idiot. The bugs in the crowd seemed confused as well, he said he was a knight, not a noble.

"I am of no noble house you foul cur!" Zote said, arrogance eternally in his voice.

David looked back to Seer confused.

"Is your crystal translating properly?" David asked.

"Y-yes, why?" Seer asked, a bit surprised.

"Cause… He claimed he was a knight, and also claims that he is part of no noble house. Did your crystal translate something wrong or…"

"Is knight synonymous with noble where you come from?" Seer asked

"No, it refers to a specific kind of noble, the kind that are important enough to be able to buy the best equipment in war time, but not important enough to not be sent off to war. Their whole aesthetic created a whole mythos around them for being some righteous group of honorable questers. In reality, most of them were pompous ass holes, in terms of nobles, they were very low on the pecking order" David explained.

Smack smack smack

David whipped around again, Zote was smacking him faster now, he seemed offended by his statement.

"You miserable cur! I am the greatest warrior in the land! You will suffer for your insolence"

"You really don't have self preservation instincts do ya, ya little shit" Chris said.

"I am no piece of profane dung you insolent oversized moth loving cur!"

This drew the crowd's attention towards the elderly moth behind the white clad giants.

"The giants are moth golems!" One of the bugs in the crowd yelled.

"No we are not you presumptuous insects!" Matthew yelled back.

Smack smack smack

"WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT!" David yelled, snatching the piece of wood from Zote, and snapping it in half.

"You killed life ender!" Zote yelled accusingly.

At this point David was ignoring him, it was clear this Zote had nothing of value to say. He was honestly just annoying.

David walked towards the crowd, who were petrified in fright.

"I heard talk of a giant with glowing red eyes, is there any other feature any of you can remember?" David asked the crowd.

The crowd remained silent for a while.

Finally, a small pill pug walked up.

"H-hello g-giant, my name is M-Myla" The pill bug known as Myla said nervously.

David crouched down to get as close to eye level as he could "Hello Myla, do you have any description on the giant that was described to have glowing red eyes" David said in a friendly tone.

"I-I haven't seen i-it myself, but it was s-said to be all m-metal"

"Crap" David said under his breath

"D-did I say s-something w-wrong?" Myla said worriedly.

"Oh no no, your fine, it's just… how do I put this… If you are describing what I think you are describing, something bad happened" David explained as delicately as he could.

"O-oh, d-do you know the m-metal giant?" Myla asked

"Not personally, but… I think I know what it is, do you know if it carried a large sword with it?"

"S-Sword?"

"You know… a long, sharp, piece of metal used to cut things, usually in a fight"

"You mean a n-nail?" Myla asked, somewhat confused.

"Is that what you call them? Eh, doesn't matter, did the giant you are describing have a.. Nail?"

"Y-yea, it was said to b-break through other nails and sh-shields, and even had t-tube things that flashed, a-and anything in front of them d-died" Myla said, it a tone that made it sound like she was describing an eldritch monster.

David was silent.

"A-are ok friendly g-giant?" Myla asked worried.

"Hm, oh yes, thank you for your time Myla, you… told me what I needed to know"

David stood to full height

"Fair well" David said, as he walked back to where the other scouts and Seer were waiting. Zote was lying on the ground groaning, as he later learn, Chris kicked him lightly in the head when he moved to bad mouth Seer, and he just toppled over.

"B-bye friendly giant"

David was wracking his mind for an answer. What could be so bad that Vilmire thought it was a good idea to send a fucking gene trooper!?

Location: Appalachian Mountain Range, Former State of Virginia

The group had been walking for around half an hour, save for that one attempted ambush by the bugs with nets and bolas, it had been rather uneventful. But now Jackson and the 6 regulars sent with him were there.

"Here we are" Jackson declared.

They were facing a side of one of the mountains in the area. The regulars looked confused.

"Where is it? I don't see anything" One of the regulars asked.

Jackson typed a few things onto a device he brought with him.

"Right here"

Suddenly, a piece of the mountain side slid downwards, revealing a metal door, which in turn opened.

"The US government spared no expense in concealing this place, they hollowed out a large portion of a mountain to hide it in" Jackson explained, he should know, he worked there.

"Though the fact that the door opened would imply there is still power, thats good… I guess"

"Sir, I suggest four of us stay out here in order to protect against any more hostile bugs, we will wait for you to finish your search" One of the regulars said.

"Oh… Right, good idea" Jackson said, he had forgotten to even consider that.

Jackson, and his now reduced guard of two regulars, entered the ancient facility, surprisingly, many of the lights were still on, even after two hundred years of no maintenance the facilities fusion reactor was still going strong.

It did save him the work of having to find and haul the silicon disks that information was stored on. It was a contingency in place that in case of a Chinese, Russian, or German virus getting in the place and deleting data from the facilities servers, records would still be saved.

The group made their ways down the halls of 492, looking for a computer to access. After a while they managed to find one in working condition. For a place that has been neglected for two hundred years, it was in remarkable condition. That's American engineering for ya.

"Okay lets see here…" Jackson said under his breath as he accessed the computers data logs after he imputed his access codes and gave it his key.

It was some generic stuff here and there. Psychic communications results. Brain modification experiments. Stress tests done here and there. Mostly just the results of various experiments. It was sure as hell valuable information, that if Jackson ever was green lit to do his psionics project, would be a major boon.

"What the… this can't be right" Jackson said in disbelief. The regulars with him looked at the screen with great interest.

[Subject Gamma-01 Stasis Pod: Online, Subject Condition: Optimal]