Chapter 3: Plagued With Sadness
They passed through multiple doors and hallways before reaching their next destination, Danny inspected the sign on the wall beside him. Providing him a picture of the SCP, its number, and its classification. Which was quite helpful, since the previous two had no introduction beforehand.
'049 huh? This one wears a mask as well, although I don't think I can really say 053 counts. After all, they appear to be the mask. This one is actually the same class as me, I hope that means they will provide good conversation.'
The door opened and Ghostface stepped inside, a heavy stench of blood and iron crashed into him like a tidal wave. It was almost overwhelming, he shivered pleasantly. Eyes meeting the others, he pulled himself back into attentiveness as he inspected the D class laying dissected on the medical table. Tilting his head, he placed his hands behind his back and stepped closer. The other watched him carefully all the while.
"Interesting, Doctor? I suppose? Are you performing a surgery?" Danny was eager to understand the other and the current situation.
"Yes, this man was infected with the pestilence." Their voice was artificial with a British accent, he noted as the other returned to their work.
Ghostface came closer, basically hovering over the other to watch. "Oh my, the pestilence? How unfortunate, isn't it bad to be in close proximity? I'm unsure if it's contagious or not but it seems dangerous, not to mention quite the health risk." He responded, watching as the doctor sliced through skin and muscle tissue.
"Thankfully not. Still, a lot are infected unfortunately, though the Foundation is helpful in handing all infected they find to me to cure. As long as you keep clean and wear a mask when dealing with the bodies, you should be fine." They cut into different organs before filling them with something and stitching it closed.
Joining the doctor as he moved back from the body, it suddenly stood up. The door opened not long after as two guards restrained it and removed it from the room, Danny watched it leave with interest.
"Wow! He came alive again." He turned to the other, who simply nodded, clearly used to this phenomenon.
"Of course, the pestilence has been removed." The artificial voice said with confidence.
"So how does one tell who has the pestilence and who does not?" He grabbed a chair and sat down, watching as the other cleaned the table.
"It is difficult to explain, I have a certain talent, and the Foundation seems to have found a different way. Although, you are special. You do not have the pestilence, but you aren't normal. In the sense of the personnel here."
"Yes, I suppose so. The Foundation considers the both of us as Euclid class anomalies afterall." He sighed woefully.
"Ah, I see. I suppose that would explain it, unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of meeting many of the other SCPs in this facility. Excluding the constant visit of the Jade ring every personnel that enters this room wears." The doctor said while putting away his cleaned tools.
"Jade ring?" Danny tilted his head.
"Yes, it prevents my touch from easily curing others of the pestilence." They spoke in a somber tone.
"Hm, do you reanimate every person you cure?"
Ghostface moved a hand under his hood to scratch his head, forgetting about the material preventing him from doing so. Instead, he chose to prop his elbow up on the table and lean against it.
"No, some do not come back to life after undergoing the curing process, sadly." The other finished his task and chose to sit opposite of Danny, who nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, what is the purpose of your weary mask?"
Perking up at this question, Ghostface smiled. "Does there need to be a purpose?"
He swayed his head side to side before grabbing the front edge of his chair and tilted almost too far left, precariously leaning on the edge of falling.
"No, I suppose not." The Doctor tilted his head as well, tone a shade of amused.
Giggling, Danny returned to regularly sitting in the chair before standing up. "Do you mind if I test something? I myself am still trying to ascertain the capabilities of my powers."
The other hummed before standing as well, "Did you recently become an anomaly?" They questioned.
He shook his head in response "I suppose the best explanation is that I have amnesia, so I unfortunately don't remember much from before I woke up here."
The Doctor nodded, "Alright, I am quite interested to learn more about other SCPs as well."
Ghostface grabbed the others' hand, which seemed to surprise the other as a gasp escaped them. Smiling, he looked around the room before pulling the Doctor under the table. The two fell into a dark fog, squeezing the other's hand to make sure they didn't end up lost. He poked his head out of the ground, pulling the Doctor up to join him.
Danny noted that the place seems to be another containment chamber, the first thing that entered his ears was the sounds of weeping. The room was pitch black and the only thing he could make out was a stark white-ish grey lanky body curled up in one of the corners. Then he felt the Doctor tense beside him before the other quickly dove into the fog, pulling Ghostface with him.
"Who was that? They seemed upset." He questioned while moving back to the Doctors containment chamber.
Lifting himself and the other out of the fog, he quickly noticed the guns pointed at him. The two doctors standing behind them looked panicked.
"Ah, I apologize for troubling you. I simply wanted another's opinion." He tilted his head and smiled sincerely at the others, although it wasn't visible.
"That…096." The Doctor cleared his throat "The one that was weeping, it was 096."
The other group's panic turned to confusion as Danny hummed "096…They're quite upset about something…" He let go of the Doctor's hand, crossing his arms over his chest while staring off at the ceiling.
He only just realized that the others had quickly left the containment chamber, dragging him with. He quickly waved back at the Doctor "Goodbye!" He called as the door shut.
He activated Night Shroud and escaped the guards grasp, fixing his coat as he followed. Dr. Kneel fell in pace with him, looking anxious as he glanced at Danny.
"Why was 049 talking about 096?" The doctor questioned.
"Hm? Oh! We ended up in their containment cell, I wanted to help them. But the Doctor pulled me back." He pouted behind the mask.
The doctor nearly tripped over himself after hearing what Ghostface said, sputtering as he rushed in front of the masked man. "Y-You didn't look at its face did you!?" He was clearly panicking again.
"Huh? No, they were curled into the corner. Why?"
The doctor and everyone else who had seemingly stopped released their breaths simultaneously. Danny tilted his head. "Would it have been bad if I did?" They all nodded vigorously at his question, even Dr. Hest had sweat forming on his temple.
"Really? They weren't dangerous, it appeared they were simply having a self-conscious panic attack. That or in a constant state of extreme stress due to their apparent self-conscious nature." He spoke aloud, watching as the others exchanged looks. Dr. Hest pulled a recorder from his coat pocket and held it between himself and Ghostface, turning it on.
"Could you repeat that?" The situation confused Danny but he shrugged.
"It appeared they were having a self-conscious panic attack, or they're simply in a constant state of extreme stress due to their apparent self-conscious nature." He repeated.
"And who is the "They" we are speaking of?"
Danny's brows furrowed but he responded regardless, "096? Though I would like to know their real name."
The doctor nodded before turning off the recorder and continued walking. Splitting off from the group as the guards quickly led Danny to his cell, Dr. Kneel had to leave unfortunately. So Danny was left alone. He couldn't help but wonder about 096, they gave off a strange child-like nature. He wouldn't be surprised if they had been a child when they became an anomaly, that might also have to do with them being self-conscious about their appearance.
Sighing, he fell back onto the couch and lifted his mask slightly to take a sip of the cold tea. He wasn't one to waste, besides. Iced tea is good as well. Finishing the rest, he lowered his mask and stretched, falling to the side and laying down.
'Today was very eventful, I hope they allow me to at least see the Plague Doctor again. He's been the best company so far, and the concept of people being infected with the pestilence in this day and age is quite intriguing.'
He was taken out of his thoughts when the door to his cell opened, he sat up and watched as two women entered. Another two D class pushing a machine into the room, the two women —who appeared to be doctors— smiled sincerely.
"If you don't mind, we are here to take blood samples and MRI scans." The first woman spoke, pushing up her glasses and fixing her brown hair. The second woman instructed the D class as she worked on the MRI.
"Hm, alright." He responded as the brunette pulled a syringe from her coat along with a few vials and cotton swabs, she sat down beside Danny.
"I am unsure what is part of your body and what isn't, so if you wouldn't mind." She spoke as he nodded and stood up.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable about taking off his outfit, unclipping the array of belts, he decidedly kept his cowl on. Shrugging off the coat, he was left in a skin tight black long sleeve shirt. Noting that he did in fact have abs, huh. He rolled up the sleeve on his right arm and sat back down, examining the other's surprised faces. They probably don't deal with many anomalies who appear very human, to be fair though. Danny hardly remembered what he looked like under the outfit, he did notice that he could use a bath. Not that he stunk, but because he felt dirty.
The brunette cleared her throat and quickly examined his arm for a good place to draw blood. Once she decided, she cleaned the area with a disinfectant cotton swab. He noticed that she kept unconsciously squeezing his arm, but didn't speak on it. She was quick, already cleaning and applying a bandage to the area. He pulled down his sleeve as she stood up and placed the vials into what appeared to be a small mini-fridge, sending it off with one of the D class personnel before returning to Danny.
"If you would, please step into the machine." She motioned towards it and he complied, removing his knives beforehand.
Entering it, the capsule closed and the machine made a Vrrr sound. "Refrain from moving while in the machine." The other woman said.
Once the Vrrr of the machine stopped, the capsule opened and he exited. Grabbing his coat, he slid it on. Looping the belts, when the brunette came up to him. She carried a clear bag and a pair of clippers.
"I need a sample of your outfit, if you don't mind."
Danny stared at her for a moment before pulling his arms around himself and backing away. "If you simply want to know what it's made out of, it's leather. So please refrain from snipping off a piece of my clothes."
The woman put her hands up and nodded, going back over to the others. They seemed to be looking over the scans, so Danny being the curious man he is, joined them. His scans looked absolutely normal, resembling any other person's scanned bones and whatnot. Eventually, they left and another D class brought him food. Luckily for them, he was in a good mood. He was halfway through his sandwich, when an alarm suddenly went off and the speakers turned on.
"SCP-6177 has breached containment, all personnel are ordered to stay in a room while mobile force recontains the anomaly."
'6177? That would mean another anomaly was found after me?' Danny's brows furrowed 'It's only been a day though? Is it simply a coincidence?'
He was intrigued to say the least, lowering his mask and fading into the fog. He quickly found himself in a hallway with red lights flashing as he looked around, before the door in front of him was easily bent and tossed haphazardly at him. Thankfully it simply passed through him, but he was still face to face with the escaped anomaly. Or well, mask to mask it seemed. As the other was also wearing a mask, he was practically bathing in killing intent. Not to mention blood.
"Well hello, sorry for interrupting. But it was too tempting not to see for myself." Danny tilted his head and smiled at the other, too bad this one was silent as well.
The towering bulk of a man strode towards him, hand raised as it went for his neck but passed through. He was clearly confused by this, grunting as he tried multiple times.
"Sorry big guy, I'm not here to fight or be strangled. Though it does seem like you are running out of time to escape."
He noted, tilting his head to the side to watch as multiple guards rounded the corner and shouted at the man in front of him. Guns at the ready, but clearly ineffective if the clean holes in the man's overalls was any indication.
Returning to standing straight, he looked up at the big guy. "So, any ideas?" He giggled at the annoyed grunt from the other.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
DakotaInExile
DakotaInExile I’ve gotten too deep into this story and now I just can’t stop writing. I probably rushed this chapter but who cares, editing is always a thing, and I read over it a few times so it shouldn’t be too bad. Again, I should be putting this excitement and motivation towards my Universal Journey story but I love this too much to stop until it’s finished. Even though I have no idea how many chapters there will be in this story, but oh well.
(Original story post on AO3, with more notes.)
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