57 The System's Gambit -55
[Ding! It has been detected that the Host has died!]
[Ding! Due to the death of the Host, O5-1. The Foundation is left without a leader!]
[Ding! O5-2 has appeared in the world to lead the Foundation!]
"Really, you replaced me already before my body even fucking hit the damn ground." Alex cursed at the notifications. Clearly, his system couldn't get rid of him fast enough.
The only thing to be taken from this was that the system hadn't left him as well. Though getting rid of the sword of Damocles wouldn't have been the worst.
Shaking his head free of strange thoughts, he turned his eyes back to the long list of notifications.
[Ding! Due to the death of Host, all points are being used for summoning!]
"That's bad. Worse than bad, actually." Alex couldn't even be angry anymore as he was now far more scared.
He had saved up a decent stockpile of points by now, and to have all those used at once wouldn't just force him to quickly amass new ones. No, it also meant a lot of new SCP objects.
There were already quite a few loose SCP objects out there, including even a very dangerous Keter. Yet before he had a chance to deal with that, this happened.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-016 has appeared!]
That one wasn't one Alex recognized based on its number alone but being one of the top 20 first objects wasn't a good sign at all.
Still, one way to get an idea of the danger of an object, or at least its class, was what rewards it came with. The better the reward, the greater the danger and this reward was no doubt one of the very best yet.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting Mobile task force Alpha-8, The heavy hitters. A group of 100 large nuclear submarines equipped with an extensive range of atomic warheads and missiles.]
Not only did he not have a nuclear arsenal able to rival that of the USA or Russia, but he had also solved a problem that had bothered him until now.
After all, he might have had a few nukes to spare. But using them would clearly alert the whole world to the SITE it was fired from. Now, he wouldn't have to lose a SITE in the future as he could just use Alpha-8.
"Keter, for sure, no doubt about that."
[Ding! Warning! SCP-900 has appeared!]
Another SCP number he didn't recognize, though being a nice round number did make him nervous for some reason.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting SITE-64, a class 3 Foundation facility in Australia! 500 class C combat personnel, 50 research personnel, 100 administrative personnel, and 30 maintenance personnel!]
However, the reward didn't seem to hint towards a dangerous SCP. That didn't mean that another SCP in the world wasn't a problem.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-407 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1049 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1015 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1230 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1471 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-860 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-455 has appeared!]
Alex watched, a mixture of awe and trepidation, as the system notifications continued to flood his vision. Each new SCP appearance was accompanied by significant resources being added to the Foundation's arsenal.
Yet the implications of such rapid growth and the emergence of multiple SCPs were daunting. The balance between securing these entities and managing the Foundation's expansion would be a delicate one.
All the names were unknown to him, yet the rewards were minor, most likely being just safe or, at most, Euclid-level objects.
Still, he already had new SITEs in Russia, Scotland, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and another one in Canada; that place was getting rather crowded, wasn't it. Then again, with close to a thousand SITEs.
It was expected that every nation would have a few, with bigger ones like the US, and yeah, even Canada would properly have quite a few while smaller ones might just have one.
However, one reward stood out from the rest. It wasn't a SITE nor a mobile task force. It was gold and a lot of it. He would need to check and see if any of these SCP objects might be connected with gold.
If that was indeed the case, it might finally allow him to get that final half of Midas' power. Allowing him to turn things into gold. Now, that would solve any and all money problems for the Foundation.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-093 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1678 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1295 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-3008 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-835 has appeared!]
Alex watched helplessly as his many points turned into SCPs one by one. Every single one holding the potential to promise doom, yet also holding the promise of great rewards.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting SITE-305, a class 4 Foundation facility in Argentina! 50 class B combat personnel, 5000 class C combat personnel, 250 research personnel, 1000 administrative personnel, and 150 maintenance personnel!]
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting SITE-401, a class 4 Foundation facility in Northern Siberia! 50 class B combat personnel, 5000 class C combat personnel, 250 research personnel, 1000 administrative personnel, and 150 maintenance personnel!]
Of these five SCP summon rewards, two stood out above the rest. The first two class 4 SITEs he had gotten today. The difference between getting a class 3 and 4 wasn't small.
Likely meaning he just got another two Keter class objects running wild out there. Two objects he would need to read up on as soon as possible.
Before that could happen, he still had a large amount of SCP objects yet to summon, and who knows what other notification waited for him.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-2000 has appeared!]
"No fucking way!" Alex shouted as he stood up. His body tense with shock from getting this particular SCP out of the thousands of possible ones.
"Desu Ex Machina." He whispered as he sat down again. The effect of the surprise started to wear off.
Getting this SCP was huge! Bigger than huge! It was one of the rare Thaumiel ones. An SCP capable of resetting the world itself.
Even more than that. It was one capable of cloning the entire world's population as well. He just got cloning technology and the DNA of everyone on Earth if it worked as it was meant to do.
After calming down further, Alex's eyes grew sharp, and he hit a big important button. Within moments of that, O5-2 reappeared on his screen.
"What is so important that you called for an emergency O5 meeting at this time, Architec?"
"SCP-2000 has reappeared," was all Alex managed to say before he was interrupted by O5-2 slamming his hand onto his own computer.
"I will ready a security force at once." He quickly said and started to interact with his own terminal.
"I will send some members of Alpha-1 over to secure it right away. You do your thing and then send my men back once you got the place secured." Alex said as he himself got to informing Markus to send some people out.
"I will need some of those fancy quinjets of yours to transport men and equipment; I will have my men stop by SITE-311." O5-2 said before ending the call, as he no doubt had plenty of others to make.
Alex wasn't happy about giving up any of his jets. Yet he knew that the situation required some sacrifices to be made.
This SCP object was far too important to handle on his own, which is why he had O5-2 handle things. After all, he was the head of Foundation security.
The reward for this SCP was also very valuable and unique.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting 100 tons of SCP-148!]
The value of that metal wasn't any less than Vibranium, and here he got a full 100 tons of the stuff. Very, very useful indeed. Plus, this SCP should be in containment before the day was over. Which meant he would be getting a big reward then.
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"Markus, are you in your office?" Came his boss's voice in his earpiece.
"No, sir, I'm standing outside your room." He quickly reported back.
"Get to your office then; I have an urgent mission I need some highly trusted men for." It was more than enough for Markus to rush towards his office.
As soon as he was inside his office, he sat down in front of his own foundation terminal. "Alright, boss, I'm here."
"Good, this is about SCP 2000." As soon as Alex had said the number, Markus had already typed it into his terminal.
What was really surprising for Markus, however, was the fact that his security clearance didn't allow him to view any information about this particular object. Which was unexpected, considering he had a level 4 clearance.
Clearly, his boss knew what he was doing as within moments, temporary permission was granted to unlock a heavily redacted version of the SCP file.
'Thaumiel' as soon as he saw the object class, he understood why his clearance hadn't been enough. All Thaumiel class objects were on a need-to-know-only basis.
And given the sparse information he had been permitted to see even now, it was clear that he didn't need to know a lot.
The entrance to SCP-2000 is disguised as a disused Park Ranger station in Yellowstone National Park.
A single sentence, as well as coordinates, were all the information he had available to him.
"I need you to send someone trustworthy up there to secure the object. I have already informed O5-2, who is moving to arrange proper security."
"I just need you to have some men stationed there temporarily until the Sentinels' men are in place."
Hearing his boss's orders, Markus knew what was required of him. "I might deploy epsilon-11 or only members of Alpha-1?"
There was a brief pause on the other side of the radio. "Epsilon 11 is fine, though have at least one member of Alpha-1 there as well to handle the handoff to O5-2." Alex's voice sounded before the call cut off.
Yet Markus did need more. He had his mission, and he would accomplish it without issue; having just failed one important mission, he was not going to risk another one.
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Back down in his bunker, Alex cursed as he ended the communication. He had been taken completely off guard by the mention of mobile task force Epsilon 11. Clearly, it was a new one, and he just hadn't reached so far down in unifications yet.
It's still horrible, which meant that he had been unaware of its very existence, which was a problem. With renewed determination, he turned his focus back to the system notifications.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1765 has appeared!]
This was properly another Keter class one; it rewarded MTF Epsilon-11, one of the most elite Foundation forces. That wasn't a reward that would come from some low-level SCP object. The number, however, meant nothing to him.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-002 has appeared!]
He knew this object: SCP object 002, The Living Room. A rather dull object, all things considered. Yet one memorable based only on the fact that I held the number 2 spot.
It was, as its name suggested, a room made of living flesh. It was certainly strange and out there enough to be considered a famous SCP object. Not overly dangerous, valuable, or useful.
However even seemingly useless objects could have a use, it was all about figuring out how to use them.
A Euclid class object with little danger. The reward also just being a standard class 3 facility in Germany, nothing big, but having another SITE there wasn't bad.
[Ding! Warning! SCP-1338 has appeared!]
Now, this one he recognized. It wasn't a particularly famous SCP. Just one among Many, many Euclid class ones out there.
Child of Trees was its nickname. The old him in the old universe had been somewhat obsessed with elves and druidism. While this object wasn't an elf, it was a druid. An innocent little child with druidic powers.
Something that had tickled his fancy enough to be remembered by its number alone. Containing it would be relatively easy; if his memories served him, then the object couldn't be moved but was friendly.
All he would have to do was send some people out and fence off the area he lived in.
