21 First superpower! -20
Alex was woken up in the middle of the night by a series of ping sounds and a dull blue light shining on his face.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for the successful containment of SCP-334! Rewards are being given out!]
Sitting up in his bed, Alex turned on the lights and rubbed his eyes. Reading the system message, Alex used the system SCP locating tool to see the SCP object in real time.
And it had indeed changed from being outside in some forest to instead being inside a metal holding cell.
'They sure found it fast. Though since everything seems to be under control, I will wait to find out what happened in the morning.'
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting Trait "Minor temperature resistance"]
The reward this time was something very different from the normal ones. This one seemed to be a true personal power reward, finally.
"System, what does the trait do?" he quickly asked his unreliable system.
[Ding! Host's new trait allows Host to feel perfectly fine at 100 degrees over and under, 20 degrees Celsius!]
That was… kind of disappointing, really. Sure, it meant he wouldn't freeze at even the coldest place on earth, but 120 degrees as the upper limit meant he would still burn as easily as everyone else if he came in contact with fire.
Still, with it being winter, it did mean that he could walk around in just his suit and look extra mysterious since he wouldn't be or seem cold.
Shaking his head, Alex went back to sleep. While he would have liked to check the report about the capture and containment of SCP-334, he also needed his rest if he wanted to get his share of work done tomorrow.
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The next day, Alex went down into his bunker after his breakfast. There, he started looking into how they had found the stellar fox.
Much like he had assumed they had used thermal sensors to find it. Only it would seem that even during the winter it had not been possible to find it with satellites. No, instead, his men had to go a much more resource-intense way about it.
The team managed to contain the object in an impressively short amount of time. A comprehensive police operation was orchestrated across the entire United Kingdom, confirming the object's presence.
He was glad it had proven to indeed be there. This did once more point towards new Foundation facilities being granted in or around the same area which the SCP object itself was active in.
He had somewhat been expecting that to be the case, but he was still hesitant to draw any type of conclusions this soon. SITE personnel employed extensive use of thermal sensors to search every forest meticulously.
The operation was a colossal undertaking, inevitably attracting significant media attention in today's connected world. However, contingency plans were in place: an elaborate cover story about a substantial child kidnapping ring was fabricated to explain the scale of the search.
And thanks to the hard work of the police and other organizations of similar nature, all the kids were saved. Sadly, the vile criminals had all died as they resisted and fought back hard. On a completely unrelated note, it would seem SITE-131 needed more D-class personnel.
Director Cadwal was someone who knew how to act. Both when he needed to act in total secrecy and when it would be best to perform in a high-profile manner.
With how capable director Cadwal had proven himself so far, Alex had no doubt SCP-334 would be safely contained. Not to mention that the MCU had even better tech than the SCP universe, so the containment should be easily more effective.
'Guess this is another SCP I don't have to worry about.' He thought to himself as he leaned back and put his thoughts onto the reward.
Receiving a reward that genuinely empowered him proved the system had that capability. Previously, he had only received half of Midas's power, a seemingly incomplete reward that lacked any real effect.
This raised the possibility that the system might be incapable of bestowing true powers onto him, resorting instead to deceptive half-measures. Alex's scepticisms towards the system was not unfounded, especially given its immense, reality-altering capabilities and its previous threats of lethal punishment.
His wariness had only intensified as he, over time, noticed inconsistencies in the system's actions, like receiving specific SCPs despite its claims of only summoning random ones. This contradiction suggested the system had some level of control over its processes, a fact it seemed keen to conceal. Alex, unsure of its motives, remained vigilant and cautious in his dealings with the system.
After all, he knew well enough that with every passing month, he ended up bound further to the system. As it was the system that had put him in charge of the Foundation, it would also be able to take that away. And with every month, the Foundation grew stronger.
This also meant that it would be worse for him to lose control since he would find it harder to survive.
Now, another aspect of the system's abilities is being exposed and proven. Alex had much to ponder about. For there was no doubt that as much as the system could give him, it could take. It also opened up a dangerous road.
Alex was an O5 member, and as of right now making up the entire council. He was never meant to be a frontline man. However, the more powerful he became, the higher the temptation of becoming one would be. This meant his safety would be at higher risk, and with him, so would the Foundation be at risk.
Alex knew this, yet he also knew himself well enough that it would be hard to resist not playing around with the major heroes, villains, and events.
Even now he was tempted to just spend the day trying to figure out what the best powers would be and how he could use them.
Shaking his head, he cleared his mind and went back to focus on his work. Hoping to get as much done as possible before his first meeting with none other than The Tony Stark himself.
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[SITE-160]
[With Bruce Banner]
Bruce had been staying here at SITE-160 for a few weeks now, and he was deeply impressed with the facility.
It was located right in the middle of nowhere, and everyone stayed inside all day to escape the frigid conditions outside. Not that there was much of a reason to not just want to stay inside all the time anyway.
The SITE was filled with the dream equipment of every scientist out there. Not to mention that the other common areas were also stocked with everything one could wish for. Including training facilities for both beginners and elites as well as other areas for relaxation.
Other than the onsite entertainment, there were also plenty of people for Bruce to talk with, something that had been in relatively short supply while on the run. Among the SITE personnel, he most enjoyed spending time with the other researchers.
Though often those conversations mostly just boiled down to him bombarding them with questions about the SCPs of which he had access to information about.
While the amount of information might be minimal as of now, he still could read about a good few hundred or so SCP objects. Sure, most of those files still had lots of data redacted from them due to his clearance, but it was more than enough to give a good idea about the possible SCP world out there.
Other than the lab, another area of interest was the pit. The containment cell set up for him if he needed it. It was a deep 20-meter drop leading to a large underground area with entertainment set up for the Hulk.
This was something Bruce hadn't even dared to think about before. He had always imagined large steel cells with restraints, and all kinds of tools and weapons to subdue the Hulk would be how he would end up if he was captured by Ross.
It went a long way to show how much better the Foundation was at containing threats than someone like Ross. The Foundation knew that his green side was not easy to keep locked up if he wanted out.
So they just didn't really bother with all that and went the route of trying to make the Hulk just not want to leave. Sure, the pit was a massive steel cell underground with a tight and powerful lid to make leaving hard, but that was mainly meant to give the Hulk enough time inside the pit to get interested in all the toys.
Yeah, they filled the space with things to hit and smash, games to play, and plenty of food of all types. Naturally, there were also all kinds of monitoring equipment.
The whole impression he got was that the Foundation, indeed, had the ability to handle the Hulk. Which made him all the more confident that he would find a cure for his condition in time. After all, with a good lab and enough resources, his last fear was the danger of any experiments as they might cause the Hulk to come out.
Still, Bruce was mainly focusing on finishing up with the SCP-1555 research and tests. The chief researcher in charge of this SITE had also already informed him of what kind of tests and experiments they thought would be the best place to start concerning the Hulk when he was ready.
Clearly the Foundation was eager for him to start his study on the Hulk, yet he was glad they didn't push before he himself felt that he was ready for that.
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[Triskelion]
"So tell me, Hill, do you have any leads on the disappearance of Bruce Banner?" Nick Fury asked one of his best and most trusted agents.
With Coulson checking up on the Ricci leads and coming up with nothing on that front, all Fury had left was Hill's investigation.
"No, sir. I'm afraid it looks like a worst-case scenario. No signs of a transformation, no trace of our men, no clue pointing to the fact that Banner simply left on his own. So unless he suddenly shows up somewhere soon, we can only assume the worst, assume and prepare for it." The female agent replied with a grave tone, and her head bent forward as she gave an unfavorable report.
"Only so many preparations we can take to the possible threat of an army of hulk-like creatures being produced by parties unknown." Fury's tone was no less grave than Hill's
From the moment they lost sight of Banner in such suspicious circumstances, he knew it was a possibility that someone had captured the man. As unlikely an event that would seem given his strength when transformed.
While SHIELD only had data from a few transformations and attempts from Ross's side to capture him. It did give SHIELD a good enough idea of the threat the green giant was. Thankfully, Banner himself was a peaceful man, so they didn't have to worry about him trying to use his power for evil.
The same couldn't be said for most others out there. Fury wouldn't have allowed Ross to gain the ability to create regular super soldiers, much less beings like the Hulk. And if he didn't trust the US army with that, he sure as hell didn't trust anyone else but his own SHIELD with something like that.
"Do we have any likely suspects?" He asked her while he went over a possible list in his own head.
"Everyone out there has a motive to be behind it. does anyone of them have the ability to pull this off?" "Doubtful, sir. Unless Banner went with them peacefully, which is doubtful on its own, we don't believe anyone could have taken him. At least not taken him and kept him for very long."
Fury had much the same thoughts himself. Every single nation out there and a few dozen other organizations would gladly take in the Hulk. But for them to pull it off? Impossible, much less in such a secret fashion like had been done here.
The Hulk was by no means invincible, but taking it down would have cost SHIELD a heavy price, much less any lesser force out there. And for the chance of Banner going with someone willingly? He doubted anyone out there could convince him of something like that.
"Then all we can do is keep our eyes and ears open and make preparations for more green monsters like Banner starting to show up." Fury finally said grimly. And while he hoped that something like that wouldn't happen. Fury wasn't the type to just sit down and pray.
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[Home of Tony Stark]
Tony had spent the past week just letting go. Spending each day drinking, getting drunk, and having a new girl in his arms every day. Well, at least one, that is. There were a few days where the number had been higher than just one.
But the fun was clearly over now. Pepper was just about done with him, so it was time to get back to work until she calmed back down. And it just so happened that he had an interesting project lined up.
So he had arranged to pay Ricci a visit and see what the stuff he looted off the Air Force was all about. If the military dared to throw mud at him over it, well, it had to be impressive. Though no matter how impressive it was, he Tony Stark, the brightest mind in the world would make something better than that with ease!
