บท 138: The power of a legend -134
[Abandoned mall]
The world was dotted with abandoned buildings, large and small. In fact, entire cities and islands lay abandoned. Buildings once housing families and businesses are now left to decay and rot.
Old malls have become a particularly popular type of building in recent years. These enormous buildings were once the cornerstones of entire communities, sources of wealth, opportunities, and joy for a place.
Yet even these monolithic buildings could not stand the test of time, and the rivers of wealth that once kept him alive died out, so too were they abandoned.
Such abandoned buildings often end up being taken over by something or someone. This particular abandoned mall was not the home of a homeless community or a group of vandalizing youngsters.
It wasn't even the home of some vicious monster straight out of some fantasy. No, this particular building was an old abandoned mall, and it had the displeasure of finding itself to be the place where a particular golden urinal had taken up residence.
SCP-1618, the gilded urinal, was a safe-class SCP object with a relatively high disruption rating. Had it appeared in an open mall, much less a popular one like the Mall of America, it would have caused utter chaos.
The ability of the SCP object was simple: an area around it would cause things to spontaneously change. Worthless things, or worse than that, trash, human feces, and the like, would turn into gold.
And anything of value would turn into, well, anything that had no value, such as an expensive suit, used toilet paper, food, or human excrement. It was a rather nasty experience to find your clothes object, which is why its disruption class was high, as everyone around it would be very much disrupted from their day-to-day lives.
However, since this particular object had sadly appeared in an old abandoned mall, no one had noticed it, or at least no one had noticed it outside of a small group. Well, calling a small group might not do them justice. After all, the SCP foundation was not small by any stretch of the imagination.
They'd been looking for this particular object for a while now and had finally found it.
"D class, keep up, or you will be electrocuted; attempt to run or resist, and you will be killed on the spot!" the voice of one of the Foundation Agents sounded as they marched a group of disposable D-class towards the mall.
They would be the one handling the object, while they would be staying outside its range of effect, after all, no one wanted to be covered in used toilet paper.
Not even the D-class, but they didn't have much of a choice, the collars around their neck and the guns in the agents' hands.
"You know your task. Go in, recover the object, and bring it out. You will do all this in an orderly manner. If you try anything, you will be killed. Now go!" another agent shouted as they neared the outer limits of the SCP object's area of effect.
The SCP foundation liked to keep their operations clean and neat. Yet there was nothing clean about this as they carried out the SCP object and caused everything around to turn to filth or to gold.
A small army of D-class personnel was forced to walk around and recover anything that I turned into valuables while the object itself was loaded into a box and then pushed into a truck.
It was an effective mission, and everything was done without delay. After just about half an hour, they were already leaving the old, abandoned mall behind, none the wiser that they had ever been there.
--------------------
[SITE-009]
Once Upon a time, Alexander Ricci might have followed such a mission closely, but now the number of operations the foundation took was just too numerous for him to personally track every one of them, more so for a completely harmless object like SCP 1618.
He had much on his plate already, ensuring that none learned about the foundation or at least none that he didn't want to learn about the foundation learned of it.
Then there were ensuring that the foundation had the funds they needed more so since O5-3 was currently expending a lot of funds to permanently secure income sources.
Of course, another major responsibility that rested upon his shoulder was ensuring that nothing happened due to them being in a crossover universe with the Marvel universe. This was something that was surprisingly difficult and yet so frustratingly easy.
Honestly, he had thought he would see more excitement from being in the Marvel Universe, but so far, it has proved to be a rather boring universe. There was no Iron Man flying around, no mutants fighting in the streets, and no alien invasions. He really was in a peaceful, quiet time, though. He was thankful for that, as it allowed him the time needed to prepare himself and his forces.
However,, Iron Man would soon be born, and with him, those famous words would be said. A new age of superheroes, chaos, and war would begin, one that he, as a high-ranking member of the foundation, had to try and stop.
He could easily allow some tech genius and billionaire to fly around and fight terrorists that had nothing to do with the foundation.
Even Captain America could have been left alone if it wasn't for Hydra messing around with things they shouldn't. After all, he was just the creation of human science—a miracle perhaps, but the future would hold multiple super soldier serums, so he was not an SCP object and did not fall under the preview of the foundation.
No, among the first of the original Avengers, it is, in fact, only Thor and Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, who fall under the preview of the foundation, and of course, many of the enemies they end up fighting against, such as an alien invasion or a trickster God.
That is not to say that just because something is made using human technology, the foundation will ignore it. Whether it is the Pym particles or the Extremis serum, the foundation will definitely want to control them, and Alex wants to be the one handling that control.
And it wasn't like he was constantly updated by everything the foundation did, not just on the official channels but also by his system, which would notify him every time a new SCP object was successfully placed into containment.
Many of the rewards he got were of little use or very situational use, but a few of them surprised him quite a bit, or they were just proven useful ones combined with others. The ability to live on the water was nice; combined with a few others, it was even more useful, but most of them were minor things nice to have but not things he would properly ever use.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for the successful containment of SCP-1618! Rewards are being given out!]
[Congratulations to host for getting the reward: Half of Midas power!]
[congratulations to host for getting both halves of Midas power; host now has the full power of Midas.]
To say that Alex was surprised wouldn't be wrong. After all, the half of Midas power was something he had been having for a long while, one of the very first rewards he had gotten, in fact.
And ever since then, it had been completely useless since it was useless unless he got the second half.
He had expected to get it as a reward for containing SCP-1015, the poor man's Midas. After all, that object had Midas in its name, though it was also any object that he hadn't been able to find yet.
After all, it was just a penny, and unless it was owned by someone, it wouldn't show its power and effect. And well, a single loose penny, there had to be millions, if not billions, of those just lying around. After all, if someone saw an old penny on the ground, they wouldn't even bother picking it up.
He wasn't desperate enough for the particular SCP, and he would waste the amount of manpower it would take to try and find it. With more members of the O5 council around, he doubted he would even be allowed to do it.
So yeah, getting that reward now and here was very unexpected "The power of a legend in the palm of my hand." He whispered as he looked at his hand. "Been waiting a while to say that." He continued with a smile.
He quickly looked around for someone to turn to gold. He found his target, a piece of paper, and then pressed a single finger against it. With but a thought, he watched in amazement as it turned into a thin sheet of pure gold.
"Amazing." he muttered to himself as he toyed with the golden paper; it was thicker than golden foil by a lot and fully metallic in nature. It wasn't just coated in gold but had become gold. Or at least that was his theory. He would need it tested in a lab to be sure.
Half an hour later, a handful of random golden items was sent to a lab to be tested while Alex, under the escort of his guards, made his way over to SITE-014, the nearest SITE where they had any D-class personally he could test of his power on.
"Sir! It's an honor to welcome you to SITE-014. I am the director here, Emily Brown." The SITE director eagerly greeted him as he came dressed in his O5 suit and under that identity.
Brown might be a very capable Foundation employee, but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous when faced with one of the most powerful people in the Foundation and the entire world.
"Have you done as requested?" One of his own personal guards asked.
"Yes, a member of D class has been moved and restrained as requested." She replied, clearly slightly uncomfortable with being ignored by Alex. But he really didn't want to risk her recognising his voice.
For while the suit did change it, it didn't do so that much, and as the nearest SITE to his own, he had been in contact with director Brown a lot as Alexander Ricci, and he didn't want to be forced to eliminate her.
So he just nodded and had his guards lead him down towards the chamber that had been prepared for him.
It wasn't all that much. It was just a normal interrogation room with a D class tied up to a table in the middle. The only special thing was the large box also placed there, the fact that no recordings were being made, and no one was watching what was happening inside.
"Who!? Who are you? What are you planning on doing with me?" The D class asked. He was a black man, young and strong, and a few tattoos were visible on his neck, face, and hands. He was clearly someone belonging to some gang, someone his own branch of the Foundation had… recruited for this role.
"You will become someone right out of a legend." Was all Alex said as he moved closer. "Ensure he is secure and that it is safe to take off my suit." He then commanded his guard.
The guards quickly secured the D-class personnel, ensuring he was tightly restrained and unable to move. They then confirmed that the room was safe and secure for Alex to remove his O5 suit.
With a nod from his head guard, Alex began to remove his suit, revealing his true identity beneath it. The D-class man watched with wide eyes, confusion and fear etched across his face.
"Please, don't do this," the man pleaded, his voice trembling. "I didn't do anything wrong."
Alex ignored his pleas, focusing on the task at hand. "You will be part of something significant," he said, his tone calm and unwavering. He reached out and placed his hand on the man's arm. With a thought, he activated his newfound power.
The transformation was immediate and mesmerizing. The man's skin turned a shimmering gold, spreading from the point of contact until his entire body was encased in a solid golden statue. The process was quick, but the sight was astonishing. Alex took a step back, marveling at the result.
"Remarkable," he whispered, examining the golden statue before him. "The power of Midas indeed."
The guards stood silently, witnessing the transformation with a mix of awe and apprehension. They were used to dealing with strange anomalies and dangerous objects, but seeing a human being turned to gold was a new level of extraordinary.
Alex turned to his head guard. "Ensure this is documented and sent to the appropriate research teams. I want a full analysis of the material and any potential side effects."
"Yes, sir," the guard replied, signaling the others to begin their work.
As they started the documentation process, Alex felt a sense of accomplishment. The power of Midas was now fully his, and with it came new possibilities for the Foundation. The ability to have infinite gold wasn't without its use, though it had to be used carefully.
As far as he was aware, just SCP-1618, on its own, was able to make more gold than they could sell on the market without crashing it. And now he could make so much more, but it did allow them to turn anything, no matter what material, into gold, which, if nothing else, would allow them to build some magnificent statues.
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