17 SCP-1555 -16
Alex was flying down towards the new SITE-1555, which was little more than a shack with a tiny laboratory outside the range of SCP-1555. He knew the long-term plan was to send out agents who needed a break after some scary experience, send them down there so they could calm down and recover.
That was something Alex could agree with. He knew well that some SCPs could scar the people working with them. This meant that there were only two choices: either give them paid leave for months at a time or send them out to a place like SCP-1555 and the SITE, where all they had to do was guide curious civilians away.
It had been three weeks since Bruce Banner had agreed to join up and study SCP-1555 as a kind of trial run. So far, the reports he had gotten back from the people sent to monitor and assist him had all been positive.
It was while he was looking out the window when he was suddenly interrupted by an aide.
"Sir we have found one Kevin Thompson which matches the target you wanted found." The aide said while holding a phone.
This made Alex think about how he should handle this situation. He knew the man was dangerous with his mind control power. He knew he didn't want him to join the Foundation; the man was pure scum. No, instead, Alex was trying to figure out if he should kill him now or wait.
'Hmm, I don't think he has met Jessica Jones yet. I could find her without him easily enough. What to do, what to do…'
"I want the man watched 24/7 from a minimum distance of 250 meters. Should his path ever seem to cross that of any Foundation personnel with a clearance of class 3 or higher.
Kill him with a bullet to the head from outside the observation range. If he takes any form of contact with personnel under class 3, kill him as well. Also, inform me if he encounters a woman named Jessica Jones, any woman with that name."
He told the aide and waved him off as he went back to plan the fate of people. So far, he was thinking of letting Killgrave live until he finds Jessica where the Foundation could step in and save her after only a few days under his control.
Not long enough to kill her dreams of being a hero but enough that she would gladly join the Foundation, which would then be her hero.
'Now, if I could only remember when all that was going to happen.' Alex grumbled to himself as he cursed his former self again for not watching those B shows closer.
'Stay strong, Jessica. Know your suffering is for a good reason.'
Alex called out aloud, raising his glass of champagne. "For the Foundation! Glory to mankind!" which his men echoed.
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[SITE-1555]
[With Bruce banner]
It had been three weeks since he had taken that shady offer from the Foundation, and right away, they almost caused the green man to burst out.
[Flashback]
"I am so glad that you chose to accept our offer, Mr. Banner. I am sure you will come to see it as the best decision you have made in years. Now for your transportation towards the place we have in mind for you. I have two options for you, the fun one and the boring one." The man said with a grin on his lips.
"I mean, I can clearly feel that you want me to ask you about those two options. So just get it over with." Bruce said as now that he had already agreed to join them he suddenly felt a lot less nervous.
"Guess your time on the run has not been good for your humor. But very well, then. The fun option is that I arrange for you to travel with the US Army; in fact, I will make sure that General Ross's own men escort you like a VIP."
"The very men that hunted you in the past are now bound to protect you with their very lives." The grin on the man's lips clearly told Bruce that this was the idea he hoped he would take.
"The more boring option would be a plane of ours taking you back to the US in a lowkey manner." Again, the tone of his voice told Bruce that he really wanted him to pick the other option.
"Yeah, I don't think the fun option would be good for my heart." Bruce quickly turned down the fun option, which he didn't feel would be all that fun for him.
"Well, if you think so, I won't push it." Mr. Ricci said, clearly disappointed.
[Flashback End]
Now Bruce was starting to think that he maybe should have taken the offer. After just three weeks here, he felt more relaxed than he had at any time since the accident. Maybe it was being able to sleep in a good bed again? Or being treated like a scientist again? He didn't know, but he did feel at peace here.
Not that there hadn't been a few close calls. Though even those had been handled really well. He was given some super stretchy clothes with trackers, so even if he transformed, he would be found quickly again.
He also liked to stay far away from large groups of people, but he just hadn't been able to live like that on his own. Meaning he always ended up in large cities where sources of stress were plenty.
Here? he only had other people from the Foundation to keep him company. There were only seven people altogether, with Bruce counted in.
One was his own assistant, though the young woman was sharp and clever enough to get a Ph.D. of her own soon. He was also given his own on-site counselor to help him deal with his anger and stress.
The rest of them were all more of the soldier type who acted like park rangers and were tasked with leading other people away from the restricted area.
Bruce had to admit he didn't much like soldiers after what he had been through, and even these were a bit extreme as well. Still, spending time with them got fairly easy rather quickly.
The SITE, as they called it, was nothing impressive, really. Just a single-story wooden structure he wouldn't quite call a house. It had one large room as a living area where they spent most of their free time. Two bathrooms, which he liked. He hadn't always been able to enjoy a hot shower while on the run.
Then, there was a small sleeping area where he thankfully had his own little room and didn't have to sleep in bunks like the soldiers did. Then came two basement levels which were where he spent most of his time while not out.
The first basement floor held some high-grade surveillance equipment, some weapons that would fit right in at a military base, and his very own laboratory. Oh, how he loved having a lab once again.
It wasn't quite as impressive as the one he had working for Ross, but it was miles better than anything he could have ever hoped for while on the run. Here, he could put his mind to work and even do some simple genetic testing.
At first, he had wanted to start trying to see if he could do anything about his condition, but he quickly got fascinated by this SCP-1555. It was truly an impossibility, and yet it was as true as he himself was.
Hundreds of those little mice had lost their lives in Bruce's lab as he studied them. There wasn't really that much interesting about them except the whole perfect clones thing they had going.
When he first learned of that, he had spent days catching mice and checking their DNA. Trying to see if he could decipher the experiments they had undergone from the final result. Sadly, he hadn't been able to figure anything out yet, but he had been promised the option to continue his research in a better-equipped lab.
After the first craze, he was taken in by the delivery method of the mice. Or more the fact that the object always disintegrated on its own after some time. A week had been spent carrying back those often heavy objects to study. He had even been happy with all that manual labor he had done since it made him strong enough for it.
Though even as he watched the process with his own eyes again and again, as well as from recordings he made. He never understood why the molecular bindings failed like that and why no energy was released. Even the residue left behind was little more than the ordinary dust one could expect from the object.
He had also poured over surveillance footage of the large canon shooting the objects out. The properties of that had been even more impossible, truly an anomaly.
'Though all of that is almost normal compared to the cave itself.' He thought to himself as he looked over the date of the cave explorations and experiments.
Now, that was something that Banner didn't understand. The cave was the true mystery here, yet it held its secrets in a deathly grip. He had been allowed to see and read all the data the Foundation had on the cave.
At first, he had been horrified when he learned that the Foundation had knowingly continued to send people to what was certain death. Even if most of them had been criminals and other scum. But as someone who had lived in areas with high amounts of gang crime, he wasn't too opposed to getting rid of that scum the hard way.
Still, he didn't like it one bit, or at least so it was at first. Over the last three weeks, he has gotten a better understanding of the Foundation and how vital its work really is. The researcher inside him was also thirsty for the keys to solve the mystery. Keys held in that cave, and that needed at least some sacrifices to obtain.
Bruce wasn't a stupid man and could easily see the potential danger of this SCP object. For now the canon only shot out mostly harmless things filled with mice clones and over a small enough area. He could well enough imagine something like that on a bigger scale. Sending the payloads longer away and loaded with mice or rats carrying dangerous plagues and diseases.
Then came the cave itself. Anything could come out of it or be hidden in there. Planning who knows what dark and evil deeds. While so far nothing had been found, he understood why they had kept sending people inside to explore it properly.
It wasn't that the Foundation people wanted to do it, but that they had to do it. He had heard a few things and learned of a few other SCPs, and if those were real, then the Foundation was right not to take any chances.
With it seeming likely that he would leave this place and go to a more prominent SITE soon, he was starting to become split on what he should study. Some other SCP object the Foundation had gotten its hand on, or should he focus on himself and his condition?
The lowest level on this SITE, being a small and secure bunker for the rest of the personnel to hide in should he go green, kept reminding him of the ever-present danger. Still, he clearly remembered that he might not easily get funding granted if he wanted to cure himself; should he try to control it instead?
"What are you sighing about, Bruce?" the voice of his counselor interrupted his musings.
"Just the future, Tanja. What I should do once I leave here, and about my condition." He answered her honestly.
"Well, why don't you just start getting a better idea of just what that condition is? We have some ideas, but without tests, they will only ever remain as ideas." The kind woman responded with her ever-present warm smile.
"Maybe I'm just scared of the answer, scared that it will show that no cure is possible." Bruce continued with the honesty Tanja had always promoted between them.
"Now, I'm not the researcher here, Bruce, but I know well enough that you scientists should never fear finding answers. The only thing to fear is not seeking the answers at all. It's only when something is fully understood that the real insights begin to emerge." She offered more of her advice, which Bruce always felt was exceptionally on point.
"No, as always, you are right, Tanja; I should know what I am dealing with before thinking about solutions to it." Bruce felt better already and gave the older woman a smile.
That was another change that had happened to him. He had started to smile a lot more. While he still had his condition to fight with, Bruce felt much better without the threat of the military after him.
"They should get here soon, right?" He asked Tanja, who still stood beside him.
"That's right, any moment now, really. So, I hope you are all packed up and ready to move on." She affirmed for him.
"I didn't really have much when I arrived here, so most of what I will bring with me is some samples and data from my research here. What about you? I know Anna will be leaving here as well for another SITE." Bruce asked to busy himself as he felt nervous about the upcoming meeting.
"I will be leaving as well. The others here don't need my help like you did. And calm down, Bruce. I can feel how nervous you are. Everything is going to be just fine, I promise." Tanja said in a light voice while lightly patting his shoulder.
"Well, back when I met him the first time, I didn't know much about the Foundation. I still don't know a lot, but I know enough to know how important he is." Bruce said. He might not have been nervous about meeting important people in the past, but now it was different.
"Well, enough worrying about it, Bruce, they are here." Tanja broke him from his thoughts as she pointed out of the window where a large convoy came to a stop.
