章 14: When Deep Breaks
It took a full day before everything was set up. I stripped the Walmart next to the JFK airport almost bare of any food before filling up multiple gas tanks with gasoline. There, in the city, I visited a gardening store and took multiple bags of their wood chips to be used as fuel to light any fires. Then, I blasted and further increased the width of the moat to such a degree that whole container ships could safely pass through.
Needless to say, some apartment buildings had to go.
Finally, I took multiple empty galleon tanks from Walmart and filled them up with water.
Other than waste treatment facilities, these should be enough to sustain a small village of people for five days.
Right before I left, however, I ripped off some of the protection on the garage door since they're so heavy that the Tau-5 members have trouble lifting them. When I asked them for their schedule, Munru and Onru said that they'll each take eight-hour shifts with one staying outside and the other staying inside.
I then mentioned sleep and Onru replied with how they'll need at most four hours of sleep.
Interestingly, being cloned from the flesh of a dead god seemed to have altered their physical needs by a drastic margin.
I left about 26 hours after my first contact with the SCP Foundation. The people waved at me as I walked out of the door, their sound becoming inaudible even to my hearing once the reinforced garage door hit the ground and shut.
"So, how are we doing this?" I asked as I cracked my neck, "The same way as before? Me above it? Or what?"
The heavily armored woman, someone by the name of 'Sarah Hughes', was halfway inside the APC before turning around and facing me.
Her face was entirely covered by a helmet, just like everyone else in the APC.
"A bit like before. You'll carry the APC on your back as you fly."
"I'm going to assume that Site-17 is underwater…" I trailed off, Sarah instantly getting my unspoken point.
Tapping on the side vehicle, she said, "This APC is a heavily modified one bought from the Singaporean Army. Not only does it have a full suite of paranormal sensors and cutting-edge protection, but this thing also is fully capable of becoming a submersible. It's rated for depths of up to the Mariana Trench. As for nitrogen build-up, there's no need to worry as it's standard procedure to take a special pill."
Damn, I nodded along as Sarah spoke. That's impressive. That's very impressive for a modern creation, even if it's supported by obviously anomalous technology.
"I see. What kind of SCPs are inside Site-17?"
"That's classified. Also, before we start I think it's best to establish a chain of command."
I tilted my head in confusion at what Sarah was talking about.
"This is going to be a military operation. As you said, you are going to work with us to liberate Site-17. That means you listen to my command as I am the highest-ranking Foundation personnel here. I won't accept any doubts over my instructions. When I say 'jump' you say 'how high'. Is that understood?"
Instantly I expressed annoyance before I could control myself.
Sarah must've seen my look of annoyance before repeating herself much harsher this time, "Is that understood?"
I'm not fit to be in the military, especially not as a foot soldier. I don't like the whole discipline thing.
I ask way too many questions and I really can't be bothered being 'respectful' to those above me simply because of their rank.
"Yes." I confirmed, before adding, "But I reserve the right to veto."
Sarah jumped down from the APC's gate and walked right up to me, confident in her every step, "No, you will listen to me and follow my instructions to the letter. If you're experienced with these things, then sure, I have no problem with that. But the thing is, Goddess, you're not. You have no experience dealing with any SCPs and your blunders could cause the death of my subordinates and further loss of assets for the SCP Foundation."
It was as though I had just suckled a lemon with how sour I looked.
Then, Sarah unleashed her ultimatum, "You either follow my lead or you can say goodbye to the Foundation's help."
I stared at the Commander of Tau-5. Her body is completely still.
I listened to her faint heartbeat passing through the armor. Her heart rate is slow and even.
"..."
This woman has balls.
She stood up to a Goddess without being nervous.
She just stood up to someone from her perspective, must've been a very dangerous humanoid SCP easily of the Keter variety. There are so many ways I could kill her right now it's not even funny, and yet this woman still stood up to me without any issue.
How much has this woman seen to be able to stand unflinchingly against my will?
I couldn't help but wonder just what would it take to become the Commander of Mobile Task Force Tau-5.
"Very well then. I will… take into consideration your judgment over my own given you have more experience in this area than I do. But nonetheless, I reserve the right to prioritize saving people."
Sarah must've realized that this was the best she was going to get and didn't push anymore.
"Now, since we won't be able to talk with each other when we're all submerged, you can only communicate with us through taps on the sides of our vehicle while we can't really communicate back. You tap any of the vehicle's sides to get us to speed up. Front to stop. Back to slow down. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
She got back into the APC and closed the door.
With that, we got on our way and started to move.
Just like before, I couldn't move as fast as I wanted. So with 2 g of acceleration, I got the APC on my back flying 300 meters above the Atlantic at speeds of just under that of sound.
Bermuda came into view within under two hours of travel. Several adjustments had to be made mid-flight to realign my direction with that of Bermuda.
Man, the moment I get the credits I am definitely buying the map option on my Company Smart Device.
It was early morning when I spotted the dark island mass that didn't reflect the moonlight like the seas around it. Through my hearing, I could hear the groans and moans of flesh things slithering, slobbering about all around Bermuda.
My eyes downcasted as I thought about those people who were on the hook-shaped island before Daybreak were probably all having a fun vacation at a tropical paradise.
"Alright, drop us off 10 kilometers away from the east coast. Then follow us as we dive." Sarah spoke through the speaker on the outside of the APC.
I flew exactly as told. I lowered myself down to 100 meters as I approached the general area—
"Stop here."
I steadily lowered myself. By the 50-meter mark, I could just barely make out the dark outline of Bermuda from the night sky of stars above.
I took a moment to fully appreciate the stars, that vast river of lights above in the form of the Milky Way.
"..."
It's so peaceful here. I never got a chance really see a night sky without any light pollution since I was constantly working trying to save more people, but now, for a second or two, I fully take in tremendously breathtaking sight.
For some reason, I feel a bit homesick.
The stars are the same here as at home.
I pushed on and fully submerged myself before that feeling of homesickness could blossom any further.
I gotta focus on the present and future. I don't think I can stop if I think about the past.
Through the dark and murky water, I heard loud sonar pings emit from the APC as the wheels retracted into the vehicle's superstructure, with ports opening on the back. Since there aren't any visual lights, I conjured up a tiny ball of sizzling, bubbling plasma as a light source.
With the illumination brought about by the plasma, I saw how the APC really did turn into a submarine.
The vehicle didn't turn on any light as it dove deeper and deeper, relying solely on the periodic sonar ping sent out to map everything. Seeing this, I dispelled the plasma.
Since the sub only traveled at 15 kilometers an hour with the two water-jet propulsion devices on its back, I had no problem catching up.
This… is probably the first time I took a dive as Kukulkan.
Air bubbles came out of my mouth as I emptied my lungs and insides, ridding them of any gases.
I couldn't see anything in the depth of the water. I could only hear the sonar pings sent out by the APC-Submarine.
It was a bit claustrophobic not going to lie. Throughout all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, I'm blind. Even the longwave radio waves don't travel more than 50 meters before diluting into white noise.
I'm not used to being so blind. My eyesight after turning into Kukulkan was such that I could easily see the dust particles in the air. Being suddenly deprived of that sense is disturbing.
I mean seriously, even with my hearing, I can't hear anything other than the sonar coming from the APC. I don't even know how deep I am since I don't have any method of properly measuring the water pressure acting upon my body.
I'm… also a bit bored.
All I can do is just follow the submarine as it continues to dive deeper and deeper. And it isn't like I could just look at my surroundings like when I'm flying since there's literally nothing except total darkness down here, where not even the moonlight can reach.
It kind of makes me wonder if there's any lifeform unchanged in the deep darkness of the ocean.
Being bored with nothing to do, my mind started to wander. It became fixed on what Irantu said about how ions from the sun caused these things, the humans to mutate.
Charged particles from the sun…
That makes sense. Somehow, particles are charged with some kind of anomalous energy and they're then flung towards the Earth, where they then mutate any biomass they touch. Only… something doesn't add up.
It's like someone seeing something immensely familiar but can't quite put their hands on it. A sort of deja vu feeling.
Bring pictures of these When Day Break victims to an SCP enthusiast and the first thing they'll think about is probably a product of Sarkicism.
Ions…
Ions…
Ion—
A sudden loud burst of sonar from the APC-turned-submarine brought me out of my thoughts. Immediately, I can hear the engines of the submarine bank sharply away from its past position like a dogfighting pilot banking out of the path of an enemy strafing run.
I paused, wondering what the hell they were doing before conjuring up a blob of plasma to give me light—
Red crimson surface.
I tried to scream but only a muffled cry came out.
I backed away in frightened surprise. The expected darkness didn't appear but instead was replaced by something made solely out of waxy flesh.
God damn molten masses of meat surprised me!
I glared at where the thing went. I couldn't see anything. I could just barely hear the thing's disturbance as it moved through the water now that I focused on it.
It was always there… but its disturbance on the water was so minuscule I had to really focus on it to really notice the thing.
Using We Are The Winged Serpent, I picked up the other me's Authority over water and suddenly knew the location of every single water molecule in a kilometer radius around me.
Because water was much denser than air, this translated to there being many more molecules within a smaller volume of space, with there being over 33 quintillion water molecules within just one cubic millimeter of water.
I couldn't process more than one snapshot at a time. But that was enough as I could clearly see this sun-corrupted sea leviathan's shadow upon the water, a void where there weren't any dihydrogen monoxide molecules as the space was already occupied.
It was gigantic. Whole pods of sperm whales must've merged to create this thing, this long-necked thing that vaguely resembled the Loch Ness monster.
I mean for fuck's sake it's ten times the length of a blue whale!
And it's moving at the speed of a marlin.
I didn't have much time to think or even admire the sheer dimensions of this amalgamated flesh thing. Water buoyancy made size pretty much a non-issue with animals really only limited by how much food they can eat. Thus, this leviathan was able to gracefully cut through the water unlike its land brothers fumbling around trying to get to places.
Plasma is much less effective in water. More than that, water is very good at retaining heat, just look at how long it'll take for a cup of boiling water to cool down. Thus if I use too much plasma I'd boil those inside the submarine.
So I used Pan-Human History Kukulkan's Authority over water and increased the water pressure around that thing's torso thousands of times what it was before.
I couldn't see anything. I could only hear and feel a sudden shockwave washing over me as the water collapsed in on the being's torso, compressing, heating up, and igniting the flesh before being doused away by the surrounding water.
I used the Authority over the sea and glimpsed at the darkness again, my type of 'sonar', only finding that only its tail had been cut off by the pressure.
It moved from its original position within that snapshot. Damn.
I could see how that thing was only meters away from the submarine. There, I increased the pressure within a flattened volume of water between the two to such a degree that a solid wall of ice made not from low temperature, but extreme pressure, formed.
It was known as Ice-VII. A type of ice found not in nature but only in laboratory settings because of the extreme environment it can only exist in.
Another shockwave passed over me, telling me how the thing slammed into that wall of pressurized ice in full force.
Heh, because of its nature, Ice-VII is naturally the strongest form of ice. It easily stood up to the force of a 300-meter-long creature moving faster than a car on a highway.
There, before the thing could move or reorientate itself, I increased the water pressure in a large volume of space beside the wall facing towards the fleshy Loch Ness Monster.
Gotcha.
The thing lost its coherency as water crushed it like a fist crushing a balloon. Seeing another snapshot, I could see clearly how the creature turned into a large pocket of water-meat mixture.
It was dealt with. That leviathan was finished.
There was another shockwave washing over me as that Ice-VII broke apart and turned into its base form. Since I released Kukulkan's Authority over the Sea, the environment that permitted Ice-VII's existence no longer existed.
I then listened to the sonar of that submarine.
I couldn't hear anything.
Next, I tried to listen to the vibrations carried throughout the water.
I could hear everything.
I could hear the waves on the surface. I could hear more of these leviathans moving through the ocean. I could hear—
Ah… there it is. I heard the faint rush of water coming out of the APC-Submersible's water-jet propulsion device.
The submarine dove much deeper to avoid that leviathan, probably letting me deal with it. I zipped towards the vehicle, multiple orbs of glowing bubbling plasma forming all around me, turning me into something of a lantern that illuminated my surroundings. I fear I might accidentally slam into the vehicle if I can't see it.
Being so deep down, the green glow from the plasma turned everything eerie.
I traveled for no more than a few seconds before catching up to the sub. There, just as I was about to tap on the sides of the sub to let them know I was there, it suddenly emitted the loudest sonar ping I'd ever encountered.
I furrowed my brows as the plasma was dispelled. What is Sarah doing—?
I winced slightly as a wave of a much, much louder sonar washed over me.
What the hell?
If the sonar sent out by the submersive was a tolling bell, then that last sonar wave was a fucking nuclear bomb.
Using We Are The Winged Serpent again, I sent forth my version of a 'sonar' and took in the position of every single water molecule within a one-kilometer radius.
I froze at the void in the water.
"..."
What… the hell is even that?
I couldn't know what I was looking at.
The… thing… was a horrible amalgamation of multiple species of marine apex predators. Its lower half appeared to be 500 spinning tentacles of varying sizes and makeups propelling it forward at a very impressive speed. I think I could spot the tails of sea snakes in there.
Its 'head' comprised the upper jaws of five sharks, three orcas, and the lower needle-like jaw of nine sperm whales collectively creating a massive circular lamprey-like mouth shaped like an inward-facing buzz saw. I could see how there were multiple jaws inside its mouths, ready to clamp down and secure any prey in its mouth. Varying fins made up the rest of its body, with some working alongside the tentacles to move the mass forward.
It was the largest thing I've ever seen. A bit shorter than the leviathan but this monster more than makes it up in its girth.
It was horrible to look at. It looked so wrong.
Was this how the sun hunts down humans hidden inside submarines?
What a horrifying thought.
It does make sense in hindsight. The collective biomass of the ocean far outweighs those of land and with the water buoyancy propping creatures up, the sun can merge things to be far larger than anything before it.
I then created another Ice-VII wall between me and that true leviathan of the seas. Then, I turned around and started urgently tapping on the sides of the APC-submersive to get it to dive faster.
In response, it didn't move any faster.
I think Sarah's pushing its engines to the max.
I could feel the shock from the direction of where I made that Ice-VII wall. That leviathan slammed into it.
Good. I proceeded to increase the pressure around it by a factor of 50,000, instantly boiling the space it was inhabiting as the water heated up from the sudden compression.
It died just like the last one.
Before I could celebrate a victory, I felt a much more distant sonar wash over me. This one only less powerful than the one before because it was further away.
One sonar became two.
Two became three.
Three became four. More and more sonars washed over me until it became an orchestra of sounds, a chorus of sonar sources.
Fucking shit.
I can definitely deal with these things without any issues. But with the number of those leviathans coming towards me, I fear one may get through and break apart the submarine before I could get to it.
Just like how I lost members of that first group…
Damn.
I turned to face the submarine that those Tau-5 members were in. Was this how they got taken out in the original SCP-001 Article? Dying in the depths of an ocean? There's also no way to really hide oneself from these sonars.
I only have about two minutes of We Are The Winged Serpent left in me before it goes on cooldown for six minutes.
Better to use it sparingly then.
A daring idea crossed my mind.
That… could work.
As the submarine traveled deeper and deeper, constantly bombarded by sonars from distant rapidly approaching Leviathans, I aimed a finger gun at the closest source and then—
Bang.
A force shot out.
It wasn't anything physical, but rather a sudden implosion and explosion of force carried throughout the medium of water. A sudden increase and decrease of pressure that's moving exorbitantly fast, leaving behind a trail of cavitation bubbles.
These things won't kill a leviathan, but they will incapacitate them.
I hear one less sonar now.
Yes! It works!
I gained lordship over Kukulkan's Authority over the sea and fired off another incapacitating force shot.
One fewer sonar source.
I kept on rapid firing as I escorted the submarine deeper and deeper into the ocean. The crushing water pressure around me wasn't an issue as hundreds of destructive force shots were aimed and fired at those sonar sources, shredding those meat leviathans into incapacitated pieces.
Before my time limit was even up, I couldn't hear any more sonars from those leviathans.
That… was an intense few minutes.
The rest of the trip went much quieter. I think I incapacitated or killed all the leviathans in the local area, and the sun is probably calling for more.
Seems like I'd have to fight my way out.
Doable.
It took about another hour to fully reach the seabed. I entertained myself in the meantime by watching the light show made by deep-sea animals untouched by the corrupting sunlight.
Life… finds a way. Even while the surface turns into a fleshy hellscape the deep ocean is almost entirely unaffected.
There's a beauty in that.
After about five more minutes of travel, a section of the sea bed opened up as light poured into this dark and murky depth.
We're here. We're finally here.
Descending into that hole large enough to fit whole entire blimps, I found myself instantly adjusting to the new level of brightness.
The door above closed as we entered into a large hangar with multiple other submarines hanging off the wall.
The water receded as air filled in. I hovered a bit above the ground once air completely filled the entire space.
I took in the air, finding it to be a perfect mixture of 78% nitrogen, and 21% oxygen, with the remaining 1% comprising other gases.
The door on the hanger walls opened, from which humans surprisingly walked out.
Humans…? Didn't Sarah say that Site-17 sent out distress signals? Why are they calmly walking towards us as if nothing was wrong?
I immediately felt that something was off.
Something was terribly, horribly wrong.
But what?
_____
AN: An alternate name for this chapter would be "What Happened to Site-17?"
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