章節 4: Ever since we've met...
Jordan is sitting on a black couch. He is currently in a therapy office. James walks in.
"I thought you were a scientist?" Jordan asks.
"I'm both a scientist and therapist." James states, placing the paperwork on his desk. He leans on the table. "How are you feeling today?"
"...Fine."
"That's good to hear. Now then, has anything been troubling you these past days?"
"You mean the fact that I encountered and survived those monsters? God. I miss it when the most traumatic experience was my father's death." James chuckles.
"We get that a lot. Though with the way that you're speaking, I think you have a strong mind. Most people would shudder at even trying to recollect their memories. Unless, that's just a front?"
"..." Jordan would be lying that those horrific events didn't make him shit his pants. "It's true. I wish I could run away from this place. I just want to go back home and be with my family. My mom must be crying her eyes out right now." He pauses, trying to control his tears. He takes a deep breath. "But someone has to be strong to do what it takes to make a difference."
"I admire your conviction. Based on that response, I assume you lost someone important before the murder?" Jordan is taken aback. "You don't have to talk about it."
"My best friend. Her name was Nicole. We grew up together...She moved away in our teens and I didn't get to see her again till a few years back." He stays silent for a moment.
"Did you harbor any romantic feelings for her?"
"No. Everyone thought otherwise, but it was purely platonic. One day, she told me about the man she was recently dating. When I saw the picture, I had a sinking feeling in my gut."
"Is that right?" James looks at his watch, then at the corner of the room where the security camera is located. It's blinking red. "Good. We have ten minutes." He grabs a file and places it on the table in front of Jordan. "Pause your life story for a moment and examine this for me." Jordan raises an eyebrow. He looks at the document.
It has pictures of the two SCPs he's encountered so far. Both having scratches caused by the monster inside of him. There's also information about his father, but it's mostly redacted. Jordan breaks a cold sweat. He doesn't understand it yet, but he knows that it's never a good sign when someone investigates you.
"W-What's all this?"
"That's what I should be asking you." He checks his watch. "I'll be brief. I've been studying the footage of your encounters with SCP-173 and SCP-161. The first one is certainly interesting. 173 floating around while everyone was looking at it. This behavior is clearly impossible from what we currently have studied. But we already know that it's not the statue itself, but something else. And apparently, only you can perceive whatever this is, what with you warning the guard before his demise. The second one is when you and D-9876 managed to escape SCP-106 dimensional realm as if you both were being pulled by something. Not to mention that it got harmed by an invisible force." Jordan stays silent. "I understand the hesitation, but I'll have you know that me informing you all this puts me in jeopardy. I need you to tell me what happened, so I can protect you."
"..." Jordan takes a deep breath. "Okay." He explains the events from his perspective and the monster inside of him.
"Hmmm."
"You don't believe me."
"Don't worry, I do. But this could complicate matters." Jordan is confused. James checks the time again. "We don't have much time, but I can tell you a little about Alexander." He stands next to his desk. "Your father was a scientist on this site. He studied the biological nature of the anomalies. Hypothesizing that most of them are no different than animals or us. Most people thought he was crazy. How can SCP-682 be similar to a crocodile? Nonsense. But he believed that his studies could prove to eliminate the anomalous properties, though his suggestion was ludicrous."
"What did he suggest?" Jordan asks. James leans on his desk.
"Time's up. I'll let you know next time. Now stay in that position and follow my lead." He says, grabbing the documents quickly and putting them away in his drawer. After a couple seconds, James clears his throat. "It's truly brave that you shared your trauma with me and you should not feel ashamed about it." He pulls out a bottle of pills. He takes two black gel capsules and hands them to Jordan. "These will help with your anxiety. Will make you sleep better too." He hands him a glass of water. Jordan looks skeptical, but drinks it anyway. "You'll be escorted back to your chambers to rest." James dismisses him. Jordan is sent back to his chamber, where he sits on the bed. Thinking about all the information he has been told.
"..I can't believe dad used to work here. Did mom know or did he keep it a secret from us? What were you doing, Da-HNGH!?" He is experiencing a migraine. The pain has him thrashing around his room. After a couple seconds, the pain subsides. "The hell were in those pills?" He says catching his breath. Both emotionally and physically exhausted, he retires to his bed.
A dawn of the next day
Jordan is in the shower with the other inmates. Someone smacks his ass, he turns to find the smacker to be Robert.
"Sup, Jojo!" He grins. Since everyone is naked, this gives him the opportunity to see Oroboros tattoo on Robert's back.
"Careful. Not everyone appreciates being touched around here." Jordan warns him.
"Psh. I know that. That's why I do it to my friends. I'm not that suicidal." He showers next to him. "By the way, I had the wildest dream last night."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. It was freaky. We were being chased by this hideous old man and were transported into a maze. Something out of fucking Saw, man. Crazy what my mind makes up." Jordan looks at him confused.
"That happened a couple days ago."
"Hah! I knew you were a jokester!" He chuckles. Jordan is now worried. He knows those two events were pretty horrific, so the brain blocking them is not hard to believe. However, Robert has been acting as if they were dreams. It could be a coping mechanism, but ever since they got here, things are not what they seem.
"..Hey. Have you been taking therapy lately?"
"I have."
"Did they give you pills to drink?"
"Hmmmm...OH! Yeah they did. Why?"
Jordan ponders at the possibility. If it's true that those pills cause short term memory loss, then why does he still remember? The words of his father resurface in his mind once more. I remember everything. They told me I would forget, but they lied! Could there be a possibility that not everyone is affected by it?
"Earth to Jojo!" Robert breaks his thoughts. "Man, you really love losing yourself in your mind."
"And you really love hearing the sound of your voice." Jordan smiles.
"But there's one thing that has been bothering me lately." He looks at Jordan seriously. "I swear I could catch glimpses of angel wings behind you." Jordan recoils at his comment. "What's wrong? It was probably my mind making shit up. You know dreams work." They both finish showering in silence and head to the cafeteria for breakfast. They both sit down at the table. "You know...I didn't want to say it, cause it's too wild. But I swear that I'm forgetting something important."
"Listen." Jordan takes a deep breath. "I have a secret to share, but I need a second perspective on this."
"Shoot, man."
"This is going to sound crazy, but I have this monster inside me."
"Ah yes. We all have monsters that we constantly fight against internally."
"No. Not metaphorically. Literally. It crawls out my chest and it's this tall creature with long silver hair and...angel wings."
"Huh?"
"For some reason, nobody but me could see it. But your comment from earlier means it's possible that I am not crazy." Robert slams the desk with his arm, clearly disturbed.
"No no. You...no one else? P-Please tell me you're joking. I-It...That would mean...no…nononono." Robert's mind is flashing to every important part of his life. Jordan is shocked by his companions mental breakdown. He looks around to see if the guards noticed them.
"Hey! Are you okay?" He places his hand on Robert's shoulder, bringing him back to reality.
"Y-Yeah." He controls his breathing and wipes his face. "I-I'm fine. It's just...she was right."
"Who?"
"My mami. She would always say I have the gifts for as long as I can remember. The gift being seeing the dead."
"So you unironically see dead people?" Robert smiles sadly.
"Aha. Good meme. But yeah, apparently. The human mind is a complicated phenomenon. I'm a man of science and philosophy. Supernatural things are just events that are yet to be explained, but our minds try to fill in the gaps. At least...That's what I thought anyway."
"Until you came here, right?"
"...I'm starting to think those weren't dreams at all." Jordan shakes his head. "Ugh. Man. But yes. I do remember seeing something come out of your chest."
"Then I'm not crazy! That's a relief." He sighs happily. "You can see it, that means it's a dead spirit."
"That. Or it's on another plane of reality."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there are things we can never perceive with our eyes. Maybe these ghosts are just beings that we glimpse once in a lifetime. And that glimpse is what causes us to feel uneasy. It means there are creatures living among us. But we can never see them." He stays silent. "I'm not a philosopher or a scientist, so take my words with a grain of salt."
"...Right." They huddle close and whisper into one another.
"But dude...you got a fucking Stand!?"
"Shhh. Not so loud, man. I don't know what that is, but I highly doubt it."
"Dude. My Joestar. You have to name her after a band, music or album!"
"...It's not a pet. I have no control over it. Like when it decides to spring out of my chest or when it rushes towards me to jump back. Two EXTREMELY terrifying experiences, let me tell you." Lost in their conversation, they fail to notice a familiar D-Class sitting on the same tab
"You both are acting obviously suspicious." D-9982 finally makes his presence known. Jordan and Robert break it off and sit as if they weren't whispering. "Here. They told me to hand these once I found you both." He slides one paper to each. It's their designated assignment of the day. Robert is SCP-085, while Jordan is SCP-682. "You and I are going to work together." He says to Jordan. They all finish eating, then they are escorted to their designated area.
The meeting of rivals
Jordan and D-9982 are getting ready to enter 682's chamber. They have been instructed to feed the occupant with the bucket of chum both are carrying. They've also been warned that the SCP is known to manipulate or feign sleep to kill anyone falling for its tricks.
"Oh yeah. That totally puts me at ease." Jordan sarcastically says. The door opens and they step inside.
The chamber is huge. There are railings and walkways all round the side of the walls, including where they stand. Below, it's filled completely with a clear liquid. According to what Jordan read, it's actually hydrochloric acid. Floating on said acid, is a giant crocodile looking creature. Most of its skin has been either dissolved or rotted away, giving it an undead appearance. But they're also informed that it's alive and dangerous.
"Woah." D-9982 is amazed by the scale of the creature.
"I guess he was right. They do have Godzilla locked up in here." Jordan chuckles. He may not be taking it seriously, but he's actually scared on the inside. The gut feeling has been kicking in ever since he read the entry. "All right. Let's get this over with." He dumps the chum next to it. It doesn't react.
"Hmmm. Are we sure it's still alive? I heard it can actually jump and eat us from here." He says.
"Stop saying stupid shit and dump that nasty gunk already."
"Sheesh. It was merely an entertaining thought." He tries to throw the chum, but his hands slips and the bucket falls on the head of the creature. Both of them are frozen in place, fearing that it might've woken up. It still doesn't move. "Phew. I honestly expected som-"
"You all disgust me." The boys look at each other with fear. They both gaze at the creature, who is glaring at them with it's amber eyes.
"Let's get out of here." Jordan makes his way towards the door, but the creature slams it with its tail, jamming their only means of escape.
"Stay put! They're already working to get you both free!" A scientist shouts on the intercom. The crocodile circles around the acid.
"H-Hey! I know you're intelligent to speak. So let's try and be reasonable here. Talk to-" Jordan gets cut off as it jumps to swallow him. He dodges out of the way, letting the creature chomp the walkway. The structure falters and the walkway that the fellas stand is hanging above the acid. They clutch on the rails for their dear lives. "AAAH! FUCK! OH MY GOD!"
"Reasonable? That was very funny, that
I forgot to laugh. Now, I want to witness how long humans can last as they disintegrate." It vibrates the acid around its head like a crocodile would. The walkway is barely handling the weights of the two men.
"Lord Jesus Christ, please send help and destroy the evil before us." D-9982 is praying out loud. Jordan is thinking fast as usual.
"...Hey, Nearly Witches! I'm going to jump if you don't come out and save us! That means that guy below, alright? Here goes nothing." He takes a deep breath before taking a leap of faith. The creature and man are both amazed that he willingly jumped. As he falls, the monster emerges from his chest to fly to an undamaged walkway and hangs on to the rails. The chain reaches its limit, leaving Jordan hanging inches from the acid.
"Rrrrrrgh." She growls looking down on him. She fixes her skirt in order to block him from seeing under it.
"Are you serious? That is LITERALLY the last thing I care about right now!" Jordan gives his two cents. He uses his weight to swing and grab D-9982.
"I don't know what kind of trick you're pulling, but you're not getting away!" 682 lunges towards them, but Nearly Witches pulls them up to avoid the attack. She lifts herself up to stand on the platform and reels the boys up. They both catch their breaths.
"H-How did you do that!? Are you a warlock or believe in paganism?" D-9982 asks. Jordan checks below for 682. It's laying in the middle. It looks like it's resting. The door is blast open and soldiers are rushing towards them. Nearly Witches snarls and readies her claws. Jordan is pulling her back with the chain.
"Stop! Don't come any closer or she'll kill you!" He shouts at them. They obey as they've been briefed on the last incident. A familiar female scientist emerges from the group and walks towards the men.
"Dr. Sarbosa, what are you doing!?" One of the soldiers shouts. Jordan gives the same warning, but she ignores both of them. She approaches Nearly Witches as if she can perceive her.
"You don't look so dangerous. I really love your beautiful silver hair. Jordan is perplexed by this turn of events. Even more shocking, Nearly Witches giggles and plays with her hair. "May I touch it?" She asks. Nearly Witches nods excitedly. "Wow! It's very soft. The curls are hugging my fingers. It's so cute!" They both laugh with each other.
"What is going on?" D-9982 asks.
"To be honest, no fucking idea. " Jordan responds. Jordan hopes that Robert is fine on his end, if it was this bad for them.
Drawn Together
"And then I was speeding down the hill, but the chains broke and I hit myself in the nuts." Robert communicates with SCP-085 using sign language. She laughs.
"No way! That sounds bad, but gnarly." She signs back. Robert's job is to keep her company, while other personnel are fixing her chamber.
"D-9876, it's time to leave." The security personnel says.
"Well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you!" He waves goodbye.
"I hope we get to talk again sometime." She waves goodbye before the door closes.
"That was wholesome as fuck. I wonder if Jojo had an easier time like me?"
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