บท 195: Containment breach -191
[SITE-009]
As always, Alexander kept busy with Foundation work, though the more interesting projects saw little progress, which was sadly something he was getting all too familiar with. Be it Marvel events or Foundation ones, everything just took so long.
If one were to watch the Marvel movies, one might not notice how much downtime was between some of them or just how boring these early years truly were. Even as he tried to add to the excitement by dealing with lesser things on the side, there was only so much going on he could entertain himself with before he would get drowned in paperwork.
He could lighten his burden a little, but it would also mean taking a more hands-off approach, which would remove him further from the excitement of the Marvel Universe. While his desire to shake hands with the heroes decreased with every passing day, he still wanted to control the situation.
In that way, he guessed he was kind of like Fury right now, wanting to control everything. Except that Fury was just a normal human wanting to control beings far beyond him, Alexander was someone far beyond even more Avengers.
Truthfully, he always hated people like Nick Fury or even Bruce Wayne, normal people who thought they had some kind of moral right to control their betters. Even Alexander, who came from the SCP universe, had a great distaste for people like that, and it seemed that all universes, fictional or real, possessed such people.
No, even though the Foundation was a group of mostly normal people who used normal means and extraordinary skills to hold the extraordinary, Alexander and the rest of the O5 council were far from normal; they were as extraordinary as they could be, and it was only this extraordinary nature that allowed the Foundation to be so extraordinary.
While the world might indeed be run and ruled by normal people, that was only because Alexander and the others who made up the Foundation, those extraordinary people, had decided to yield the world to the masses.
Not that there weren't those on the council who wished it differently, even Alexander himself, who supported the idea of the Foundation taking over the entirety of the world. It wasn't something he'd always supported, but he had realised that people were just stupid. No matter how high the education, no matter how society progressed, it was all held back by a few fools who somehow ended up bumbling their way to being in charge of everything.
As someone who was in charge of a large part of the Foundation, he had seen countless brilliant researchers who had been delegated to doing monotonous, pointless work flourish as soon as they joined the Foundation, as soon as the shackles of narrow-minded fools and capitalism were taken off them. Indeed, someone like Tony Stark was an excellent example.
He pushed forward technology, creating wonders, from creating a miniature arc reactor within a cave with a box of scraps to having a reality-defying nanotechnology suit a few years later. All of that just because he, thanks to his status as a superhero and his wealth, was able to push unchained by any fools that might slow him down.
Once upon a time, Alexander thought differently. He thought the greatest source of progression was freedom. He had seen empires fall, entire belief systems collapse, and people rise from the ashes to heights the ancient people could scarcely believe today. Yet it was clear that at some point throughout human history, something had gone wrong.
Innovation had slowed to a crawl in most fields while the Foundations were pushing on, and someone stopped equally pushing technology without ports. Most of the world stagnated. With the knowledge he possessed of the Marvel Universe and its future, he could see this clearly. After all, had Howard Stark not once created a prototype of a car decades ago, it would have taken many more years before another prototype saw the light of day.
While even now he possesses hologram technology and tiny phones that would project enormous holographic screens more powerful than most desktop computers, even half a decade from now, civilians would still use normal phones that are barely more advanced than what they have now. Yes, there was something sick about the current society, something slowing down advancement.
After all, hadn't they soared and possessed a space station around Earth? Had they not been able to do interstellar missions, there would have been no other humans out there exploring the cosmos, even after aliens had clearly visited Earth. Even with countless amounts of alien technology and debris raining down time and time again, it seemed that none of it had been put to any use other than a pair of mechanical wings and a few guns created by small-time criminals.
Alexander was sure that if such a thing fell into the hands of the Foundation, they could push their current technology forward by centuries. They could start conquering the stars, yet the Earth's people had apparently done nothing with it. He was not the only one who saw this happening. Even if he was the only one who knew the future, others had seen the past, how innovation had slowed down in many fields, and how the Foundation and other shadowy organizations were able to easily push ahead decades as soon as they unchained themselves from society's norms.
Others within the Foundation, such as O5-2, started to push for the Foundation to assume control of the world in its entirety. It would certainly make a lot of things easier, though it was a monumental shift in how the Foundation operated, and as such, it was met with resistance from certain parts of the O5 council.
Alexander sighed and shook his head; he had allowed his thoughts to get away from him. It allowed him to get worked up over abstract and difficult-to-solve issues while there was work to be done in the here and now. He had Ghost out there working towards the goal of the Foundation seizing control, and he trusted them to accomplish that, but it was, without a doubt, a long-term plan.
No, for now, there were more pressing concerns. Nothing overly important, but just a lot of small things that each consumed part of his time and energy. The Mandarin was still out there, causing a few problems, or at least mostly his organization. The ten rings were while the man himself had retreated to his home, waiting for the time when he could resurrect his wife.
But even that, something that happened months ago, caused waves around the world. After all, people had not forgotten the terrorist attacks caused by the 10-ring organization, no less significant than the events of 9/11. Yet the chaos of a war between whoever and the Mandarin and his forces was not what the Foundation or Alexander desired, and as such, he needed to stop it.
This was easier said than done, given the number of fools out there. It was a good thing that he had ensured Barack Obama became president, something that would not have happened in the original Marvel Universe. Instead, some Hydra supporter or something would have assumed control.
Alexander cared little for the nature of this person, only that they would have been more challenging to deal with than Barack Obama because Obama was just someone who wanted to be a good president. This meant there was no shadowy master behind the scenes, and Alexander, among the others on the O5 council, had to take this into account when dealing with the president.
It was fortunate that the president owed Alexander for his election, as it had allowed them to operate more efficiently on US soil. Given the size of some operations, it was, without a doubt, necessary to have some support in the White House.
Until the time came for them to take control, they would have to play nice with the world leaders, or as nice as the Foundation was willing to play at any rate. After all, if you were too troublesome, the Foundation would get rid of you, one way or another.
For now, though, everyone was playing along as well as one could hope, and Alexander didn't have to send out the Chaos Insurgency to clear out some troublesome elements. Instead, he could sit hidden away in his little steel bunker and go over countless reports and allocate resources around to people and places that needed it. The dream job of anyone finding themselves inside the Marvel Universe for sure.
[SITE-019]
At SITE-019, many exciting SCP objects made their home; everything could be found within these strong walls, from the innocent to the dangerous, safe class to Keter. However, having the most extensive collection of contained SCP objects also meant that this SITE had the most significant risk of anything going wrong.
Something SITE director Tilda Moose was well aware of. However, she still took pride in her work, which included keeping everything under control and having as few containment breaches as possible.
Today, however, was not a day to be proud of. Alarms blared throughout the facility, the harsh red lights casting eerie shadows on the cold, sterile walls. Tilda Moose was already rushing towards the control room, her heart pounding with a mixture of fear and determination. She knew the protocol by heart, but that didn't make the situation any less terrifying.
"Status report!" she barked as she entered the control room, filled with frantic personnel and the constant hum of machinery.
"It's SCP-096, ma'am," one of the technicians replied, his voice shaking. "We have a containment breach."
Tilda felt a chill run down her spine. SCP-096, also known as "The Shy Guy," was one of the most unpredictable and dangerous entities under their control. It was normally docile but would enter a state of extreme emotional distress when someone viewed its face, triggering a relentless and unstoppable attack on the viewer.
"Seal all exits in Sector 4 immediately," Tilda ordered. "Get an idea of where it's headed, why, and what direction it is going in, and try to clear a path for it."
She knew it was pointless to try to stop SCP-096; it simply couldn't be stopped. The best they could do was ensure that as few people as possible saw its face while it was outside and eliminate those who did. The key here was to minimize both the number of sightings and the length of time the object was outside containment.
"Prepare MTF Tau-1 for immediate deployment," Tilda continued. "And ensure all personnel in Sector 4 are equipped with scramblers and blindfolds. We need to minimize casualties."
After her orders were relayed, a heavy atmosphere started to settle; they were in the waiting game. They needed to wait until it was done crying, and it started smashing its way through the walls of its containment cell. Until then, there was nothing they could realistically do now. It wasn't easy to just sit and wait for the situation to go out of control, but honestly, it was out of their control the moment some idiot decided to look at its face.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity but was just a few minutes, SCP-096 was done crying and was ready for action. Immediately after it started banging against the reinforced walls of its cell, they had a direction.
"Director, the object seems to be heading southeast. Multiple big targets along the possible route," one of the technicians reported.
"Identify the critical points on that route and get all personnel out of there," Tilda instructed. "Make sure the path is clear and block off all the satellites; we don't want more pictures taken of it."
"Director, it is going to go through a few other containment cells at its current route, including that of SCP-049." A technician who was calculating its route quickly reported.
Tilda cursed under her breath. SCP-049, also known as "The Plague Doctor," was another unpredictable entity. Having SCP-096 cross paths with it could lead to even more chaos.
"Divert all available resources to contain SCP-049," she ordered. "Ensure it doesn't escape. We can't afford another containment breach right now."
"But Director, it's going through a few other occupied cells as well. We need a major evacuation of the SITE if we are to avoid losses or complications," the same technician quickly reported.
The report drew a string of curses from the director as the situation instantly got even further out of control. "Get it done, and get it done now!" she screamed as she declared a full containment breach, putting the SITE on full alert.
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