Chapter 8: The shadow of SCP-169 -7
Alex barely noticed time slipping by as he plunged into a whirlwind of work. His involvement with the Foundation had escalated to an all-time high as they managed to secure an impressive array of SCPs, a feat that should have been less surprising to him.
The legends of curses and hauntings they pursued often bore fruit, leading to unexpected discoveries. Alex had finally gotten his first Euclid SCP placed in containment due to the tireless efforts of the Foundation personnel.
Sadly, all he got was 1000 system points and not any other rewards. Still, it had allowed him not to have to worry about points for the monthly summoning, so he was satisfied enough.
This development had an added benefit: the Foundation agents were now thoroughly engaged in meaningful tasks, significantly reducing the number of trivial requests that typically flooded in.
However, Alex observed an uptick in requests for interventions in Wakanda, driven by the increasing allure of vibranium's potential.
Amidst this flurry of activity, Alex found himself almost looking forward to the next SCP he would summon, contemplating the rewards it could bring. His attention to SCP-169, the sleeping Leviathan, had waned since there was little he could do, other than financially support its containment.
Not that the system considered it properly contained, after all, all he could do was send some ships down and keep an eye out for anything that might spell trouble.
Elsewhere, the giant creature was far from forgotten.
[Kamar-Taj]
The tranquil atmosphere of Kamar-Taj had been disrupted ever since the Ancient One began displaying signs of agitation. This unusual behavior had sent ripples of unease throughout the temple, sparking whispered conversations among the masters.
"My friend, what has everyone acting so tense all the time?" a master of the mystic arts who had been away for a time asked a friend.
"Ahh yeah, you have been busy with the situation in China, haven't you? Well, if you spend any time here now, you will surely notice it. The Ancient One has been spooked," the friend said in a low voice.
"I saw her in the library when I got here; she seemed so busy I didn't dare to disturb her," the first master said in a low voice of his own.
"Indeed, she has been acting like that for the past few weeks. At first, no one dared to ask her any questions. It wasn't until Master Kaecillus asked her that the rest of us found out what was going on," the other master said in hushed tones.
"And what did Master Kaecillus say had worried the Supreme One?" the master asked, filled with curiosity.
"Well, right after speaking with the Supreme One, Master Kaecilius left the temple. He returned, clearly disturbed. It was then the rest of us learned what had happened. You see, it appears that the Ancient One was suddenly alerted to the appearance of a huge life signature. When she went to check it out, she discovered an impossibly huge creature sleeping at the bottom of the sea."
"Which sea?" the other master interrupted.
"Not just one, my dear friend. That is what is so frightening. The creature is so huge it spans from the Atlantic to the Pacific."
"As I said, the creature is impossibly large in size. There is no way it just appeared. It must have been there for millions of years, but it went unnoticed until a few weeks ago. Now everyone is trying to find out who hid the creature and how they did it," the master said, not letting the interruption bother him.
"So, this creature has scared everyone?" the master asked, clearly not yet understanding the size of the unknown creature.
"Well, naturally, everyone is worried. As I said, the creature is sleeping, but should it wake up and move just a little bit, it will cause countless amounts of life to be lost, possibly destroying entire continents without meaning to," the master said, trying to help his friend understand the horror of this behemoth.
"That... that is a scary thought. But it is sleeping, yes?" The tone of the first master had now grown more worried and the volume lower.
"Yes, and I'm sure many masters are looking for ways to ensure it doesn't wake up either," the master said, casting a look towards the library where both the Ancient One and most senior masters were buried in old tomes.
"And here I thought we had enough to worry about with creatures from other dimensions trying to enter into ours. Yet now we also have to deal with something like that. I don't envy the Supreme One; the burden on her shoulders must truly be immense."
The two masters continued to discuss it in hushed whispers, and all around the place, other members of Kamar-Taj did the same. The sudden appearance of SCP-169 had truly made everyone feel worried. Rightfully so as well, since it was a dangerous Keter class one, which could cause a K-class event.
[Talokan]
At the bottom of the sea lay Talokan, a city glittering with a brilliant luster, home to the Talokanil, a near-human species adorned with blue skin and gills.
Having long forsaken the surface world, they now reigned supreme under the waves, their resentment towards humans slowly growing as their waters became increasingly polluted.
Inside a resplendent building, King Namor engaged in earnest conversation with one of his advisors. The subject of their discourse was evident, observable through the large windows of the chamber.
SCP-169, also known as the Leviathan, loomed ominously in their midst, though they would not recognize it by that name.
"My king, did you learn anything from the surface dwellers?" the advisor asked with a tired voice, having been unable to get proper rest since the appearance of the creature.
"They don't seem to know that it is even there, much less what it is or how it came to be there," Namor replied, his tone fatigued.
"But my king, this Leviathan couldn't simply have appeared out of thin water! Our kingdom has been here for many years! We have ruled the seas for generations, and now our people are afraid to even sleep in their own beds!" the advisor exclaimed, desperately seeking answers.
"Don't you think I know that? But it really seems like it appeared out of thin water! Look at its size, then look at our city. Our home should be in ruins from the displacement of water caused by that thing appearing. The surface should be destroyed by rising sea levels. Yet, neither of those things happened!" Namor countered, his weariness evident.
"But what should we do, my king? The beast can't be allowed to stay there. We wouldn't be able to rest easy with it so close to us," the advisor implored.
"Nothing! We will do nothing because we can't do anything. The creature is sleeping right now, and it's the only reason our kingdom is still intact. Should it wake up and move, we would be doomed! No, we have ruled the seas for a long time; now we must simply accept that we are not its true masters," Namor declared, his voice filling the chamber with resolve.
"But what of the people? What do we tell them? They are worried; they can't rest or stay calm. The whole kingdom is in chaos even as we speak!" the advisor protested, his voice shaking.
"Tell them that it is a new guardian god of our kingdom. Tell them that it will do us no harm as long as we don't disturb its sleep, and let us pray it never wakes up. And let's continue to monitor the area around it to see if it has any harmful effects on the ocean," Namor instructed after a long pause and with a heavy heart.
"Yes, my king…"
"I know you don't like the answer, but the truth is that we have no answer, and we have no solution," Namor conceded. He liked it no more than his advisor did. But he truly had nothing more to offer.
Even if his power to control Sealife worked on it, the creature only needed a single moment while awake to move its body, and his kingdom would be gone.
He didn't dare gamble on his voice working before that happened, never mind if his voice had no effect. For now, it was sleeping, so let it sleep, and hope it never wakes up.
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[S.H.I.E.L.D]
The one-eyed pirate and the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, stood in his office with one of his most trusted agents, Maria Hill.
"What is this I have heard about some sea routes being closed off?" he asked.
"Well, sir, it seems to be a non-profit organization called the Nature Preservation Foundation. They have declared that some rare and unique type of ocean ecosystem there is threatened. They have used huge amounts of money to push for the area to be spared just about any type of human intervention. Shipping lanes, military routes, and everything else have been kept out. All with the power of money and public support from other organizations like Greenpeace."
"And what is the truth?" Nick Fury wasn't stupid enough to think that something like some stupid underwater seaweed would be able to raise enough money and political power to get a blockade of this size to happen unless there was some secret behind it.
"The truth, sir, seems to be that the Ricci family is using the whole thing as another way to launder money and protect a shipping route for drugs. As some ships still travel the area and those are all Ricci ships," Hill said, having already made sure to find out the whole truth before coming to report anything to her boss.
"Hmm, the Ricci family seems to be working hard on expanding, very hard indeed. This is already the 8th time I've heard that name this week. Do we know why?" Fury said, pondering all he knew about this crime family.
"We are not entirely sure yet, boss. They are so active that our spies are having trouble keeping up. But they seem to be trying hard to get in touch with the Ten Rings. So it seems that it has something to do with them," Hill said, a bit more unsure as there were still a lot of questions surrounding the Ricci family's recent actions.
"Hmm, keep an eye on them then. We can ignore their drug smuggling and money laundering since they have so much support from above. But if they start working with terrorists, we might have to get involved," Fury said after a moment, countless plans for dealing with the Ricci family flashing through his mind momentarily before letting it drop.
"Yes, sir. I will have our men keep an eye out for anything and figure out what they want with the Ten Rings," Hill said as she finished up her report and put the matter in the back of her mind, deeming it mostly unimportant.
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[SITE-001]
While the world slowly reacted to his actions, Alex himself sat in his bunker, adding names to the long list of people and organizations he wanted to keep an eye on at all times:
- Joseph and Lucy Bauer
- Bruce Banner
- Peter Parker
- Norman Osborn
- Morgan Le Fay
- PRIDE
- Agatha Harkness
- Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange
- Wanda Maximoff
- Daniel Whitehall, aka Werner Reinhardt
- Natasha Romanoff
- Anthony Edward Stark
- Kevin Thompson
- Jessica Jones
- Marc Spector
- Arthur Harrow
- Helen Cho
- Sersi
- Gilgamesh
- Ajak
- Ikaris
- Thena
- Kingo
- Spite
- Phastos
- Makkari
- Druig
The list was filled with names that Alex remembered from before his move into this world. Though, many of those names he had little idea of who there truly was. He knew that some of them was connected to the Darkhold, which was enough to earn his attention.
Other names were added simply so he could stay updated on important events. Norman Osborn had been a rather unpleasant surprise, as it wasn't one he had expected to see in this world.
Yet clearly there was some differences between this world and the cannon MCU. What these differences was, he didn't know. However it did mean he had to be on guard for the unexpected.
Still, the list before him was filled with people who could come across an SCP or were SCPs themselves. If he acted in time, he could prevent quite a few near XK-class events without relying on some contrived plot to save the day.
Furthermore, many of them could potentially be valuable assets for him and the Foundation without alerting the Ancient One. He truly desired to acquire the Tesseract but feared that doing so would draw her wrath upon him. Additionally, he wanted to ensure he could contain it in a way that Loki wouldn't be able to manipulate it. For now, he focused on smaller tasks.
However, as he looked at the list, he couldn't help but mourn the time he would have to spend writing up SCP files for many of them. Far too many were simply too dangerous to confront without any knowledge of their abilities, and he didn't want to risk either sacrificing his agents or alerting the anomalies."
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