270 Horrors of War(5)
– Site-19, America - 12:19 AM –
Site-19 was in absolute chaos as Panzerhunds and Super Soldats were swarming the facility. Due to the dark aether crystal, the one that The Thin Man used to plunge into a socket, had corrupted the systems, setting countless SCPs on the loose. The Thin Man was currently walking through the corridors of Site-19 in an effort to see if there were any subjects worth taking and twist them into monsters for the signal tower.
"¿̸̢̞̂́̋̚ṁ̵̗̪̯̄̎͒H̶̛̜̗̘"
He paused when he encountered a peculiar door and decided to approach it.
On the other side of said door, a young teenage girl with long blonde hair, dressed in a white gown and speaking with an Irish accent, sat reading a Bible in peace. While she seemed normal, the only anomalous features she had were the deer features on her such as antlers, hooved feet, and a short tail.
This was SCP-166, also known as "Just a Teenage Gaea", and the daughter of Dr. Alto Clef.
[IMAGES]
"Hm?" 166 looked up from her Bible, her brow furrowing slightly. "Alarms have been buzzing ever since, I wonder if everything's alright."
At that moment, the door to her containment chamber started to glitch in and out violently until it finally opened as she recoiled in shock at the sight of The Thin Man.
Her voice trembled, "What in God's name are you?"
Without warning, The Thin Man materialized just five feet from SCP-166, startling her. She stumbled backward in a panic as The Thin Man extended its hand in an intent to grab her.
"HELP!"
A sudden thud interrupted the tense moment as something landed at The Thin Man's feet. Both of them glanced down to see...
...a flashbang.
"Cover your eyes!"
At the sound of the command, SCP-166 shielded her eyes, just as the flashbang exploded, blinding the Thin Man as he reeled back, disoriented and glitched uncontrollably. In the chaos, SCP-166 felt herself being scooped up and swiftly carried out of the containment cell by the person who had thrown the flashbang.
Opening her eyes, 166's green-blue heterochromia eyes were met with the flashing cyan blue eyes of SCP-073, also known as "Cain".
"W-Who are you?" she asked with uncertainty.
Cain offered a gentle smile. "I don't believe we've met before," he replied.
"No, I haven't. But what is happening?" she pressed.
Stopping his advance, Cain set her down and responded, "We are currently under attack, and the systems keeping the SCPs contained have completely malfunctioned. I'm tasked with rescuing SCPs who are human enough to escape. Site director Emma's orders."
"But my abilities... they'll disrupt your machines," SCP-166 protested.
What people knew about SCP-166 was that she has an anomalous ability which could cause plants and flowers to grow out of any man-made structure or technology in her surroundings, rendering them useless.
"There's no need to worry," Cain assured her. "My ability can actually counter yours by reducing plant life to nothing, so none of our machines will be affected. That's why Emma sent me to help you."
"I mean, that does make perfect sense in this current situation."
SCP-166's gaze swept across the scene and noticed a number of SCP guards and Mobile Task Forces strewn across the floor, their bodies either ripped apart or burned to crisp, no doubt the handiwork of Panzerhunds. It was her first encounter with such gruesome violence that she immediately covered her mouth in shock and looked away with horror in her eyes.
"Oh... God. Were they..."
"They were already gone before I could reach them," Cain said solemnly.
166 lowered her gaze. "Oh."
Just then, a loud crash echoed through the room as a machine burst from the vents above them, landing heavily on the floor nine feet away, causing both SCP-166 and SCP-073 to recoil in surprise.
The intruder before them was the size of a full-grown dog, fully robotic and armored with a single mechanical eye. It moved on all fours with its front legs smaller than its powerful hind ones.
This was the Wolfenstein Reich's Laserhunds.
[IMAGES]
"Is that a metal dog?" SCP-166 asked in disbelief.
"I don't believe so," Cain replied.
The Laserhund unleashed a laser from its single eye, which split into four beams that swung across the corridor, cutting anything it hit, and one of those lasers was headed directly toward them.
Cain turned to face 166 and shouted, "Behind me, now!"
Immediately, SCP-166 positioned herself behind Cain. As the laser approached, Cain raised his metal arms to deflect the beam, which ricocheted off and struck the ceiling instead. The impact caused the ceiling to split apart and collapse in front of the Laserhund, blocking its path.
"Let's go," Cain urged as he led SCP-166 down the corridor, her hand in his.
On the other side of the rubble, the Laserhund's red eye glowed intensely and fired a powerful laser blast that obliterated the ceiling debris blocking its way and charged after the fleeing pair.
SCP-166 glanced back in alarm as she noticed its approach. "It's still after us!"
Cain remained composed. "Don't stop. Keep running."
As the two continued running, they quickly spotted an elevator. Cain wasted no time in prying open the doors and ushered himself and SCP-166 inside. He pressed the button to close the doors, but they remained stuck open as he noticed the Laserhund was charging toward them at high speed.
"Come on," Cain muttered, repeatedly pressing the elevator button.
Growing frustrated, he punched the button panel, finally prompting the elevator doors to begin closing, but the Laserhund leaped toward the elevator and got caught between the closing doors. Before the robotic beast could advance further, Cain delivered a powerful punch to its mechanical eye, killing it and forcing it off the elevator.
Relieved, Cain stood along with SCP-166 and waited for the elevator to take them to the fifth floor, where Emma's office was located.
"We made it," Cain said with a hint of reassurance.
SCP-166 sank to the floor, her face still pale with fear.
"It's going to be alright," Cain assured her.
"...You sure?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Certainly. I'll make sure no harm comes to you."
SCP-166 sniffed, her eyes welling with tears. "Okay. Mister?"
"You can just call me Cain."
"Okay... Cain."
Cain nodded thoughtfully, but a sense of curiosity nagged at him. Not only the Laserhund's laser should have sent damage back to the beast the moment it hit his arm, the laserhund should have received the damage back given because of his anomalous ability, but it didn't. He knew the metal of his arms was exceptionally durable enough to surpass all known metals in the world, but the lack of redirected damage seemed unusual.
"Odd."
—————————————————————
In the Site Director's office, SCP-191, the cyborg child, stood beside Emma, who wielded a handgun and aimed it at the door, ready to defend against any attacks. At the next moment, the door suddenly opened, and Emma raised her gun defensively. When she saw Cain and SCP-166 enter, she let out a relieved sigh and lowered her weapon.
"Thank God it's just you two," she said, holstering her gun. "Were you followed?"
Cain replied, "At the moment, no."
"Good," Emma said, turning her attention to SCP-166. "Hello, SCP-166."
"You must be Ms. Emma that Cain mentioned," SCP-166 said with a slight nod.
"Yes, that's me. But please, just call me Emma."
"Alright," SCP-166 agreed, easing slightly in Emma's presence.
Emma turned her attention to Cain, signaling that she needed to speak with him privately. As they moved to one corner of her office, SCP-191 approached SCP-166, allowing Emma and Cain to talk discreetly.
"Did any data from the server room get stolen?" Emma asked.
"No, all the server information was transferred to the Site-17 servers for safety in case of emergencies," Cain explained.
Emma nodded. "Let's hope the Site-17 servers aren't compromised, because these attacks are happening across America and Europe, and the foundation sites will automatically transfer data to the Site-17 servers due to their larger data banks. For our enemy, that's a goldmine of information."
"True, but what should our next move be?"
"I have access to the security cameras through my computer to monitor the situation before planning accordingly for an escape. It's possible that some have already left, while others may still be trapped inside the site."
"Indeed, but they will be able to escape through the underground parking lot if needed or the helipad on the rooftop." Cain suggested.
"Well then, let's plan our next move," Emma agreed.
As they strategized their next plan, Cain couldn't help but wonder, "I wonder how Iris is doing." The thought of Iris weighed on his mind, but for now, he remained focused on the task at hand.
—————————————————————
– Site-17, America - 12:21 AM –
Revenant from Apex Legends along with Mommy Long Legs who kept Abby hidden behind her back in order for Revenant to not discover her were walking across the hallway of Site-17. They soon stopped at a door labeled "Server Room."
"Is this it?" Mommy Long Legs asked.
Revenant brought out an Arasaka corporation model hard drive and confirmed, "Yes, it is. Soon, we will uncover most of this world's secrets."
Approaching a computer that was connected to all the servers in the room, Revenant plugs in the hardrive as it automatically begins downloading every piece of data from the servers.
"Arasaka corpos designed this hard drive specifically to bypass all firewalls and countermeasures, allowing it to download every bit of data," Revenant explained. "However, Forsaken warned us of anomalies made out of information and ideas that could result in death, even destroying entire realities if we learn them. Not even these crystals he gave us can protect us from it."
"Really?" Mommy Long Legs questioned, intrigued.
"Yes, which is why I mentioned 'most' data," Revenant clarified.
After a minute, the hard drive beeped, signaling the completion of the download.
"Done," Revenant said as he removed the hard drive. "Forsaken, can you hear me?"
[Yes, I can. Do you have it?] Forsaken's voice echoed in Revenant's head.
"Yes, I got everything on the goober. Open a portal to Arasaka Corporation so I can personally deliver it and be back here," Revenant instructed.
[Opening it now.]
A dark aether portal suddenly appeared in front of Revenant, who then stepped through it.
—————————————————————
– Arasaka Corporation Headquarters, Night City, Cyberpunk Universe - 10:00 AM –
An Arasaka employee was deeply busy doing something very important on his holographic computer when suddenly a portal opened behind him without his notice. Revenant emerged from the portal and saw the employee, who was actually playing Minecraft 2.01.
"You done?"
"AHH!" The Araska employee yelped in surprise and immediately turns off the computer, "I wasn't playing Minecraft!"
"Nobody cares," Revenant retorted dismissively, handing the employee the hard drive. "Here's the goober. Print all of the data out of it and send it to the Reich. They like to see progress on paper and prefer hard copies."
The employee nodded in agreement. "Got it."
Revenant turned away and jumped back into the portal, which closed behind him. The Arasaka employee, now alone, plugged the hard drive into his computer and began to examine the data.
"Wow, that's a lot of data," the employee murmured to himself. He cracked his knuckles, ready to dive into his work. "Time to work my magic."
Then, he set to work, sifting through the data and preparing it for printing and sending to the Reich as instructed.
—————————————————————
Back at Site-17 in the SCP universe, Revenant emerged from the portal as it closed, and the robot assassin found himself back in the server room.
"Sooo, was it delivered?" Mommy Long Legs asked.
He nodded, "Delivered. Also..."
"What?"
Without warning, Revenant moved quickly behind Mommy Long Legs and grabbed Abby, lifting her off her back.
"EEP!" Abby exclaimed in surprise.
"You didn't think I would notice a third person's presence here?" Revenant said coolly.
"Drop her!" Mommy Long Legs shouted, her expression becoming increasingly unhinged.
"...Fine," Revenant said, setting Abby on a nearby chair and directing her to face a corner. "Enjoy your time-out corner, kid."
"Meanie," Abby said, her lips forming an angry pout.
"I've been called worse," Revenant retorted, turning his attention back to Mommy Long Legs. "Where the hell did you find her, Long Legs?"
Mommy Long Legs calmed herself down and sighed. "I found her walking down a corridor alone. Her name is Abby."
"Alone, huh? Strange," Revenant mused. "The only ones I saw were adults working in this facility. A child here seems out of place and wouldn't make sense. Unless... She's special."
Approaching a nearby computer, Revenant tried to check for anything related to Abby by scrolling through a list of SCP numbers, some of which appeared to be nonexistent or heavily redacted. After a few moments of searching, he found something of interest.
"SCP-053, the Young Child. Real name: Abby. She possesses anomalous abilities that cause people to become enraged within ten minutes of exposure and die if they attempt to harm her. Interesting."
"She has powers, and they kept her locked up here?" Mommy Long Legs asked, her tone filled with disbelief.
"It appears so," Revenant confirmed, examining the computer. "This organization documents and contains people, phenomena, monsters, or items with anomalous powers, conducting tests to understand their abilities. In Abby's case, they were likely trying to learn more about her powers, despite her young age."
"I see..." Mommy Long Legs replied thoughtfully.
Memories of her time at Playtime Co. resurfaced, reminding her of the way children were tested to match up with certain toys by scientists, aiming to create living breathing toys. The current situation brought back similar feelings of discomfort about the testing done on Abby by this organization for their own purposes whether good or bad, and... she didn't like it one bit.
"LONG LEGS!"
The sudden shout startled Mommy Long Legs out of her thoughts. "Huh? I'm here. What now?"
"Forsaken wants us to deal a blow to the enemy by destroying this facility, and we're going to do that, but we're taking the child with us. Those are Forsaken's orders."
Following his words, Mommy Long Legs carried Abby in her arms and they began to move out.
"You were right, he is mean." Abby said, looking at Revenant.
"Told you."
—————————————————————
Somewhere in the facility, Amelia, Iris, Lucy and Molly were still trying to make their way to the tram stations on the very last floor of the facility.
"This year keeps getting more and more crazier for the foundation as time goes on." Collingwood remarked.
"We've survived crazier events before, Molly. We'll be fine," Iris replied confidently.
"There is a literal war going on out there, Iris." Amelia said with concern, "This isn't the same as capturing SCPs or dealing with containment breaches."
"She's not wrong." Lucy added.
Just then, they heard a thunderous roar echoing through the facility, originating from the lower levels. Likely from SCP-682.
"That's not good," Iris murmured.
A moment later, a Wolfenstein Reich Zitadelle robot burst through the ceiling and landed before them.
"WOAH!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.
"Lucy, Iris, run!" Amelia shouted, urging the two to sprint down the corridor as the Zitadelle set its sight on Molly and Amelia with a menacing gaze.
"LOCKED AWAY!"
"BAD MOON RISING!:
In an instant, the two call out their Stands and prepare for a fight. But at that moment, the Stand Jumping Jack Flash, who was on the other side of the corridor behind the Zitadelles, stood there with a wrench in his hand.
"Sentry going up!"
Then, he placed down a blue Level 3 TF2 sentry turret before running away. The sentry turret automatically turns its focus to the giant robot and starts firing bullets and rockets both at the Zitadelle and Amelia and Molly.
"Incoming!"
Immediately, the two Stands began deflecting the bullets and rockets, redirecting them back at the Zitadelle. The returned projectiles inflicted significant damage, eventually causing the Zitadelle to explode into countless pieces.
The sentry continued firing more rockets, but Bad Moon Rising intercepted them all and threw them back at the sentry, destroying it in the process.
"That went well," Collingwood remarked, observing the aftermath.
At that moment, Amelia noticed the Stand Kraft Work in the corridor behind Molly. Kraft Work had bullets suspended in mid-air around him, which he tapped them all with his fingers to build up kinetic energy.
"!"
"Good night."
Upon freeing the bullets from their frozen state, all of them flew towards Molly at a speed like that of a speeding train.
Amelia knew Molly wouldn't have enough time to react, so she immediately pushed Molly, who let out a yelp as they both fell to the ground, both of them evading the bullets just in time while their Stands quickly punched several of them and prevented them from hitting their users.
However, this move played right into Kraft Work's user's hands.
"And checkmate," he said with confidence.
"Huh?" Amelia exclaimed, confused by his words.
Just then, something emerged from the vent on the floor behind Amelia and positioned itself behind her.
"You were one step too late for this moment..."
The menacing presence was palpable, freezing Amelia in place as the figure rose from the floor vent, staring at her back with an indifferent look.
"...Doctor."
[IMAGES]
"Huh!?"
Turning around, Amelia tried to summon her Stand but Whitesnake being fast, backhands her face and activates his ability. A moment later, two discs emerged from her head and one of her eyes turned white, displaying symbols that mirrored those on Whitesnake's body.
"..."
[IMAGES]
"Perfect." Whitesnake smiled coldly as he removed the memory and Stand discs from Amelia's head while she stood motionless. "A Stand user, just as the memory discs from a Chaos Insurgency member had confirmed of her obtaining one," he said, before looking at Kraft Work, "Let's head to a secure location to analyze this memory disc out and meet up with Jumping Jack Flash. SCP-682 is still wandering the lower levels, so we must keep some distance from him."
As Molly regained her awareness and observed the scene unfolding before her, she noticed the menacing figures of Whitesnake and Kraft Work standing in front of her.
"Who are you?!" Molly demanded, fear and anger seeping into her voice.
Whitesnake turned to her, his cold, calculating gaze meeting hers. "Your Stand and memory disc now belong to me," he declared, his tone devoid of empathy.
Before he could attack and seize Molly's Stand disc, everyone heard a low, distant roar echoed closer than before, halting Whitenake in his tracks.
"Damn it, the lizard is here," Whitesnake muttered in frustration.
"Let's scram." Kraft Work agreed.
They quickly sprinted down the corridor, abandoning Molly and the motionless Amelia behind.
"I can smell you mortals!" roared 682 in the distance.
"Crap," Molly muttered.
Acting fast, Molly hoisted Amelia to her feet and dragged her into a nearby storage room, shutting the door just in time to avoid 682's gaze. Moments later, 682 arrived but found no one in sight.
"Hmmm... No one here. Was it my imagination or some stragglers wandering around?" he growled, "Doesn't matter. I must find Abby and then proceed to Site-19 to locate 079."
With that, 682 continued down the corridor, passing by the storage room where Molly and Amelia hid quietly.
In the dimly lit storage room, Molly listened intently as the sounds of 682's footsteps fade away. Assuming the danger had passed, she sighed in relief.
"I think we're clear," she whispered to herself.
Behind her, Amelia began to regain some consciousness, her voice weak as she tried to speak.
"Mo...lly..."
Hearing her name, Molly turned to Amelia and quickly approached her.
"Yes, I'm here."
"....I'm....sorry for being....cold to you over the years. I just wanted to toughen you up, like the person I am, so you could bear the horrors of the foundation," Amelia murmured, her voice barely a whisper as she spoke. "Molly... I never told you this, but... I was like this because of my past childhood with my father... Dr. Numita."
Molly was taken aback by Amelia's sudden revelation. "What? Never mind that! Why are you talking like this?" she questioned, concerned.
Amelia took a shaky breath. "You're a kind... person and friend, Molly. Don't let the Foundation strip that away and turn you into someone heartless. Stay true to who you are... and be serious when you need to be. Please, be there for Lawrence."
Feeling her heart rate quicken with concern, Molly checked Amelia's pulse and was horrified. "It's fainting?! Dr. Buck, what did that guy do to you!?" she asked frantically.
Amelia offered no response, only shedding tears as she mustered a faint smile. "Tell Thomas and Rodeo... I love them... and thank them for helping me escape my cold shell and my past," she whispered.
With her final breaths, Amelia's eyes slowly closed, and her body went limp.
"Buck?" Molly shook her gently, hoping to wake her. But Amelia didn't respond, and she shook her a bit more but no response, "Dr. Buck?!"
Checking her breathing and heartbeat, Molly couldn't feel any of it. Amelia was dead, because without her memory and Stand disc, death is an instant to all Stand users. This was the power of Disc creation belonging to Whitesnake, whatever they have, he can take it for himself.
"...No, no. You can't die. Please no," Molly held Amelia's lifeless body close, tears streaming down her face as she cried her name out loud.
"AMEEEEEEELIAAAAAA!!!"
Just then, the storage room door burst open. Iris and Lucy appeared with a crowbar and an emergency fire axe in hand.
"We're here, and-" Iris paused when she saw Molly hugging Amelia's lifeless body. "What happened to her?"
"She's gone," Molly sobbed.
Both Iris and Lucy were shocked, their expressions frozen in disbelief.
"...No," Lucy whispered, unable to process the reality.
As Molly continued to cry, she made a vow to avenge Amelia's death. She swore in her heart to find Whitesnake, and kill him if needed.
"I'll find that... son of a bitch!"
