Issue 1 Downtime

In truth, Brigid seems a good deal more at ease now that she's back on her own and making her way through the overgrown neighborhoods leading to Big Ben. She's making her way along a route she thinks Vertie is likely to take, and keeping an eye out.

The foliage, roots and branches are incredibly thick here, having displaced the buildings almost entirely, leaving jagged ruins, often suspended haphazardly in the interlinking trees. There's essentially no road left after about half a block into the thicket and it becomes obvious that finding a path does not only involve a lot of backtracking but also is taxing physically. Jennifer is fairly fit but this would be borderline impossible to traverse for her in any reasonable amount of time. Not to mention that Brigid occasionally sets off slabs of concrete that crash through, a misplaced foot being enough to finish the job the trees started. Still, she's making headway, used to the natural terrain and more physically fit than most.

Meanwhile Vertie would be able to avoid most of the hazards by enlisting the help of small animals. Especially squirrels seem to do incredibly well in the maze, being plentiful inside the urban jungle and letting her find safe ways well in advance.

Throughout the underbrush and in the trees signs of life began to increase as Brigid moved. A few lucky glimpses would reveal unusually bright flashes of plumage. Squirrels and zoo aviary survivors acting as scouts as Vertie and her new found bodyguards made their way through the trees. They didn't move too stealthily, but most human survivor who would chance to see the group would leave them alone, considering it was being lead by a silver-back lowland gorilla.

Brigid is sticking to the treetops mostly as she makes her way towards Vertie's entourage.

The gorilla stopped in a clearing and searched the trees over head as Vertie came into view beside him. "We'll rest here. Let's check those bandages." She said as the rest of her party came in from various locations.

A voice comes from the trees.

"So, how much of the zoo did you take with you?"

"Not many. Gorilla, tiger, servals, a mated eagle pair and a few of the smaller birds watching from above. Squirrels are local. Horrible accents." She smiled up in Brigid's direction.

Not too terribly far away as the bird flies, Big Ben struck the hour with a series of notes followed by the sounding of the main bell. It was a strange sound in the other otherwise "wild" quiet of the Hyde Park Overflow.

"Some of the wildlife isn't local," she says. "That's what you really need to watch out for."

She looks up when she hears the chiming.

"Though that's... damned odd."

"That's why I have scouts." She finished checking the bandages of various animals and stood. "The more eyes the better. Those bells will be attracting attention."

"Likely have a few times already."

"Which means either it's impossible to reach, or it's defended..."

Vertie looked past Brigid and unfocused. "Four squirrels are taking point on the clock tower."

There's a path to the tower, at least for the squirrels. For Vertie and Brigid it'd involve a lot of climbing, but according to the squirrels from there it's a simple climb down into the open courtyard of Big Ben.

It's around that time that the two would feel watched. They might even catch the glimpse of a figure moving between the thick underbrush before it's gone again.

"We're... not alone," she says.

"I'm going to make sure there's no surprises."

She swings from one branch to land on another, moving through the canopy, watching the undergrowth as she goes.

Nothing. The direction the shadow had been in just leads to an incredibly thick tangle of roots that has grown over and through a stone wall. Here and there she can see through cracks and former windows but it seems the entire building is more or less filled with wild growth to the point that entering it would be out of the question for even a small child.

Vertie joined Brigid, the colorful birds and larger mammals, hiding and staying behind as the troupe of squirrels came and sat beside them on a branch.

"We should keep moving," she calls back to Vertie, continuing to work her way towards the clock tower, warily.

The Small mammals moved forward with Brigid, Vertie and a pair of monkey's watching the rear as they moved forward.

As they slowly crest what is essentially a small mountain of intertwined roots and branches there's rustling coming from all around them, whatever it is staying just out of sight of the various eyes of the group. A raspy voice begins to sound through the forest, it's source seemingly shifting through the trees all around them. "Turn back. Only warning. Go away."

"I don't take well to threats," she hisses at the voice, tensing.

"We mean no harm. We're looking for survivors, helping those who need it. We have food and fresh water."

Apparently neither was the response the voice was looking for and suddenly the shadows of the spaces between the roots and branches come alive. Rushing in from the depth of the forest is a wall of insects, millions of ants, spiders, bugs and centipedes, moths, butterflies and god knows what else in one dense swarm.

"It's another animal controller!" Brigid calls out to Vertie.

Vertie nodded an turned her back as the birds an larger mammal burst through, keeping the area around her clear. "Fire, heat, pain, bright, smoke, no breath, death, RUN!" Her mind screamed to the multitude of tiny minds, biting into the instinctual fear and self preservation of most things with a "brain".

The cloud falters for a moment, revealing a humanoid shape somewhere in the mass but something seems to reestablish itself in the swarm again and the cloud half flies, half topples forward. Visibility drops to almost nothing as the air is filled with flies and mosquitoes while wisps of spider silk drift along. An awful lot strands actually. One alone is easily brushed aside (along with hundreds of bugs) but flying insects seem to be everywhere, carrying strands and in some cases even half-formed webs that quickly stick together into strings that become increasingly difficult to tear away.

Brigid is slashing with her machete, keeping moving to try to avoid being tied down, and pushing towards where she saw the figure.

"Fine.." She muttered and pull out her tinder box, quickly setting a fire to the collection of kindling she always carried. It wasn't quite a roaring torrent of flame, but as she stuck her hand in the center and the pain hit, she pushed it back out, searching for the larger mind.

The larger mind is hard to pin down for the same reason that the swarm doesn't really react much. It's human and apparently has replaced any normal functions within the swarm. The swarm does however back off slightly at the flame. Only a little, but it gives Vertie some room to breath and evaluate the situation. There's spidersilk strands all over her and it's beginning to impede her movement some. The same is true for Brigid, though it's considerably worse, since she's still in the thick of the swarm. Her machete initially does some work but soon the bugs clump together and tie thicker strands before approaching her and the silk just catches the blade, refusing to be cut.

Brigid seems to be determined to fight for every inch, regardless of the swarm. She lets out what sounds like a growl as she continues to struggle for forward movement.

The birds that were inclined to be insectivores were finally becoming full and were begging to Vertie to let them return to their mates. "Go." She whispered and released the animals, the large mammals quickly turned back into the trees as the smaller ones took to the air and towards Regent's park.

The insects almost seem to part to let the animals go. Not so much for Brigid and Vertie. Especially Brigid seems to be doing an excellent job entangling herself while Vertie seems to be under attack by insects beginning to sting and bite and trying to push her away from the small fire.

Meanwhile the humanoid shape in the swarm steps forward, which does little to actually make her seem more human, since Teri is essentially covered in bugs. "We recognize you. Why won't you leave? We don't wish to hurt you." she says, though the sound seems to come from the swarm all around them and less the figure itself, created by stringing together buzzing and chirping to create a distorted voice.

"You attacked us," Brigid says, still struggling.

"You stepped into our territory. We warned you once. People think they can bribe their way in or take what isn't theirs. We stop them."

"If you know us, then you know our offer was no bribe and that we would never take what rightfully belongs to another." She spoke and pressed her hand on the fire, extinguishing it. Vertie held up her hand, which was healing and pulled aside her camo jacket revealing her training uniform's patch and her codename. "If you need help, we offer it. If you wish to call the tower home then that can be arranged, but know that it's attracting attention and we would like to know why it's still working, perhaps keep it working and help you defend it."

"All these people trying to claim this city. What makes you better than any warlord?"

"The fact that all who've attacked us were beaten." she answers Brigid. "This is our territory and we will defend it. Accept it and you may pass. There is no need for other 'arrangements'. We're all well taken care of. The bell brings people. We deal with them as we deem appropriate. Few leave." she says and somehow it sounds like it's close to 'nobody' than 'few'.

"So you're a tyrant like the rest."

"We do what's necessary to protect this place and it's inhabitants." she says, the layer of bugs sliding off of her and leaving behind a somewhat scrawny woman. She wears what almost looks like an old X-Team uniform except it appears washed out and dirty, more brown, grey and yellow between light-weight armor segments. It looks more like something mashed together from bits and pieces rather than simply an old uniform. "If you can't accept that, leave." she adds and points at Vertie's patch. "This buys you some leeway as visitors, but not enough to question us." she says and takes off without looking to see if the two follow her, though even with the swarm retreating back into the thick of the forest she probably still has eyes on them regardless.

"You went to school with us, you learned the same things we did, don't loose yourself. If you choose to harm people who simply come to the tower looking for help, we will remove you."

"We only harm those who deserve it." the swarm answers, but Teri herself seems to be gone. In her wake a trail of fireflies indicate a path forward.