Chapter 25: Attacks in Two Different Places
"What's going on? Didn't you say the monster was here?" Coulson glared at Johnson, clearly frustrated.
Johnson, feeling uneasy, forced a smile and said, "Sir... is there a possibility that the monster we're looking for might be two different entities?"
Coulson was clearly skeptical of Johnson's suggestion. Grinding his teeth, he turned to the rest of the team and commanded, "Forget about that for now! Let's not get distracted by other issues. Set up the remote cameras and let's check it out."
Under Coulson's lead, the team cautiously entered the warehouse. In the deepest part of the warehouse, Coulson discovered Mike lying on the ground. Mike's neck had been brutally twisted from behind, his eyes wide open in shock, and his face marked with a look of bitter defiance.
After examining Mike's cause of death, Coulson's concern grew.
"A neck snapped like this..."
If this individual was indeed killed by an anomaly, then what kind of entity was responsible for the slaughter of my agents in Alley 96?
Coulson began to survey the surroundings, looking for anything unusual. His gaze soon fell upon the nearby statue.
"What an ugly statue," Coulson remarked disdainfully, echoing the same sentiment as the deceased.
Johnson reported, "Sir, we didn't find anything out of place. We've searched the warehouse inside and out, and the only thing that looks remotely human is this statue."
"Nothing was found?" Coulson asked, nodding in acknowledgment.
"Let's withdraw for now and head to Alley 96. We might find some answers there."
Because the anomaly, SCP-173, had not yet attacked Coulson and his team, possibly due to their prolonged focus on the statue, they were able to leave unharmed.
"Such unprofessionalism!" Ethan muttered disdainfully while observing through the remote cameras. If this were a real Foundation operation, that warehouse would have been thoroughly excavated, every brick would be examined. After all, anomalies come in all shapes and sizes.
Considering the peculiar nature of SCP-096, Ethan ordered, "Disregard Coulson's team for now. We'll wait for him to return alive and report the progress."
Ethan then glanced at Natasha and casually warned, "And... in the future, avoid looking at the reports they send back. Some of those photos are fatal."
Natasha nodded in confusion, unsure why Ethan had specifically mentioned such a warning.
...
Upon arriving at Alley 96, Coulson found three of his colleagues lying in a pool of blood. Each had different injuries, but they all appeared to be from the same creature.
Johnson quickly approached the bodies and began his examination. "The creature's size must be over two meters, using claw attacks. These three were killed head-on, and they even tried to resist."
"Also, their helmet cameras were active at the time of death. We might be able to retrieve first-hand footage from them."
Johnson continued, providing useful insights.
Coulson, with his eyes red and face grim, instructed, "Take the bodies back for now. Also, extract and reconstruct the attacker's appearance from the helmet cameras."
"But..." Johnson hesitated, looking at Coulson.
"The President has issued a new directive that this mission's progress should not be recorded through images but reported verbally."
Coulson, understanding the gravity, added, "I know! I will follow the President's instructions. However, you should understand, we're not working for the Foundation here."
Coulson felt that Johnson was being overly rigid. As a double agent, why make things difficult for himself?
Thus, the mission ended abruptly, and the team returned to their temporary base.
Back at the base, Coulson addressed the bodies, "Keep the bodies for now. We need to figure out how to reconstruct the video footage."
Eager to make a good impression, Johnson confidently took on the task. "Leave it to me!"
After volunteering, Johnson assured, "As long as the storage devices in the cameras are intact, I can definitely retrieve what we need."
Quickly, Johnson used his professional skills to remove the cameras and extracted the video footage of the victims' final moments using a computer.
Curious, Johnson opened the video.
"I want to see how strange your deaths were."
In the footage...
The victims arrived at a dead-end alley. As they prepared to turn around, they noticed a figure huddled in the corner, looking somewhat like a homeless person.
"Hey! Hello, um..."
One of the victims approached the figure with curiosity, boldly tapping them on the shoulder.
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