"I am alive."
Pyrrha Nikos slowly regained conciseness, her first natural action was to sit up which she did. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, it didn't help that they were full of tears. She was inside a large room, about 23km², a prison cell. There was a small table with a dusty chess board on it, the pieces lined up perfectly on the board. A single person bed, from which she had woken up on, sat in the north-east side of the room. And that was it.
Pyrrha shifted, her goal to get off the bed, but when her bare feet touched the metal floor, there was a sharp pain! She yelped, she'd forgotten that she had suffered an arrow to the heel during her battle with Cinder Fall… and an arrow to the chest, both injures had been bandaged up. Pyrrha, as well as the bandages, was wearing a white hospital gown, there were already stains of blood and smolder across the chest area.
"How am I alive?"
She remembered the searing hot pain in her chest as Cinder's arrow burned away at her flesh, then her muscles, and then her bone, before everything went black. How was she alive? And where was she? Was this the afterlife? Was this Hell?
Suddenly, there was a loud hissing sound. Pyrrha jumped, the sound had caught her off guard. There was a bright yellow flash above her, she glanced upwards. There was a large window that looked down into her little room, she hadn't noticed it before because the lights behind the window had been off. But now they shone brighter than anything she had seen before. She could see the silhouette of three figures looking down at her. The hissing sound came from the south wall, a section of it sunk inward before lifting upward and behind the wall. A doorway was now visible.
Pyrrha stood up, using the bed as support, before quickly limping over to the table and using it to support her body mass instead. The table was closer to the door.
"Enter," a muffled voice ordered. Pyrrha groaned and started to limp her way to the door, believing the order was for her. But she was wrong. A man, human thank God, was prodded into her room by a soldier with the barrel of his gun. The soldier then left, and the door closed behind him. Pyrrha looked at the man, he appeared to be in his mid-thirty's, much older than she was. He had tanned skin, short black hair and a grey stubble. He was wearing an orange jump-suit, a prisoner she presumed, but a prisoner of who? Pyrrha and the prisoner made eye-contact, for a moment one of them just stared at the other.
Then, the man spoke, "Your… human?"
"Yes…" Pyrrha replied, her voice was hoarse and weak. There was a faint beep, it was only then that Pyrrha noticed there was a microphone hanging from the ceiling, recording every sound that emanated from the room. There was another brief silence.
There was a loud static sound, a voice came out of a speaker on the wall. "Keep it going Mr. Jaques, we don't have all day." The voice was male and sounded comforting and demanding at the same time.
"No, wait," said Pyrrha, reaching up towards the window. It was a no-brainer to think that the voice belonged to one of the figures in the other room. "Where am I? What is this place? Who are you people?"
"We are not monsters," the voice on the speaker replied, "all of your questions will be answered in time, cross my heart. But, unfortunately, now is not that time." The was the sound of shuffling paperwork before the voice returned, "D-Class is secured in the unnumbered anomaly's containment, all we have to do is wait and see what happens."
Pyrrha, scared beyond belief, glanced back to the man she had been locked in with. He was a prisoner, a criminal, he could be a bank robber, a cat bugler or a murderer.
Oh my god, had she been locked in a cell with a murderer?!
The prisoner scratched at a metal collar around his neck, it had been hidden underneath his shirt when he came in. "So… what are you going to do?"
Pyrrha was taken aback, "I was… was going to ask you the same thing. By that jumpsuit, I can tell you're a prisoner. What did you do? Robbery? Murder?"
"An American associate to the 9/11 terror attacks. But I doubt you would know about that, since the solder boys said you were born two months ago."
Pyrrha was confused, and a little disturbed, "Sorry, what do you mean 'two months ago?' I know for a fact that I'm 19, and I have stories to prove it-" she hissed in pain, there was a sharp sting in her chest, but it was gone now. She would have to speak more slowly from now on.
"From what I was told just before they threw me in here, they were hunting down a containment breach in Iraq when someone spotted a cloud of gold dust falling from the sky. The dust, once it hit the ground, formed a body… and that body was you."
Pyrrha's eyes widened, she had remembered Cinder, after defeating her, walking up to her and placing her hand on her temple just before everything went black. She must have been… disintegrated! It was hard for her to swallow, but it was the only explanation. She was disintegrated, her ashes flew away from Beacon and Vale and settled on Iraq.
There was… one, no, two problems with that theory. She had never seen, nor heard of Iraq… and how did she survive?
"You… said something about you being an associate to some terror attacks? Wh- what- hap- happened? What did you do?"
The prisoner smiled, as if proud of his deeds, "I worked as a security guard at an airport for most of my life and know the ins and outs of the security systems." Pyrrha followed, despite not knowing the what happened. "I hacked into them and shut them down, allowing our men to seize control of the aircraft. And then…" he made an explosion gesture with his hands, "BOOM! Bye, bye, Towers. Bye, bye, American Dream." He laughed, he sounded sane, which made his story more disturbing.
Pyrrha was horrified, she put two and two together. This man, this thing, was somewhat responsible for the Fall of Beacon! It was him that shut off the security systems, it was him that lead the Grimm into the school and the kingdom below, it was him that helped Cinder retrieve her goal of becoming the Fall Maiden…
It was also probably him that tricked her into killing… Penny…
A warm feeling crept up her body, her Aura had recharged… good…
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Pyrrha screamed, shoving the table to the ground, her ankle was now fully healed, she was too consumed by rage to ask how it healed so suddenly. A black aura formed around her hands, her polarity semblance. The same black energy appeared around the prisoner's collar. Pyrrha lifted the collar up into the air, the still laughing man along with it! With a scream of effort, she threw the prisoner into the wall adjacent to her.
There was a deafening crack as the man hit the wall, his body then fell to the ground motionless. His eyes had rolled to the back of his skull, he was still smiling. Up behind the window, the figures, startled by the suddenly act of violence, murmured and whispered to each other. Notes were jotted down on paper and recordings from a hidden security camera were reviewed. Pyrrha looked down at the man's life-less husk.
He deserved it. He deserved it. He deserved it. He said towers. There was only one CCT tower in Beacon. Oh God. What had she done!
"Extraordinary."
Dr. [REDACTED] (CODENAME: Beanie) sat in the observation lounge with six other scientists and doctors, staring down into the containment cell of the just recently numbered SCP-5349. He and his partner, Dr. [REDACTED] (CODENAME: Collage), review the security tapes, written down notes as they did so.
"SCP-5349 lifted D-Class into the air via his obedience collar. SCP-5349 seemed to enter a fit of rage when D-Class mentioned his involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Perhaps SCP-5349 had some history with the event, maybe she lost a family? But that still leaves many questions." Beanie said his notes out loud as he jotted them down.
"The collar was made of steel," Collage butted in, "it's safe to assume that SCP-5349 has polarity bending abilities. To simplify, she's a big magnet." Beanie pointed his pencil at Collage, indicated he liked the idea before quickly jotting it down in the notes.
"We need to know more before we can write a document or give her an object class," said Beanie. He walked over to a mic and spoke into it, "Stormtroopers, remove the body of the D-Class. Collage and I are ready to attempt communication with SCP-5349."
"But… she speaks English?" inquired Collage, "there's no point trying to communicate since she already speaks our language."
"You have to take the fun out of everything, don't you Collage?" Beanie grumbled as the exited the lounge.
A hiss. The doorway reappeared. Pyrrha didn't know what to think, she was still in a state of shock after what she did. The prisoner, his smile seemed to be getting bigger, lay motionless on the floor, his neck bent downwards in an unnatural position. Out of the door came two soldiers, one gave an order to the other. One soldier speed walked towards Pyrrha, with his gun pointed at her head. She was backed into a corner.
"NO! DON'T SHOOT!" Pyrrha cried, her vision went blurry thanks to the tears in her eyes.
"I won't if you don't give me a reason," the soldier said. The other soldier walked over to the prisoner's body, removed the collar and then dragged the body out of the cell. The first followed behind the second, moving the gun away from Pyrrha.
Yes… this was her chance… The man on the speaker said that they weren't monsters… but people can lie.
She needed to get out!
With a sudden burst of speed, Pyrrha charged forward and knocked the first soldier to the ground! "WHAT THE HELL?!" the second one cried. Pyrrha didn't even give him a chance to respond. She used her semblance to rip the rifle out of the soldier's hands and then slammed him across the head with it, knocking him unconscious! The door was now left open, Pyrrha took one last look at her prison. She took a deep breath before charging out of the cell and into the hallway.
CONTAINMENT BREACH:
SCP-5349:
LEVELS 19 – 22 WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL SCP-5349 CAN BE RECONTAINED:
ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL ARE TO MAKE THERE WAY TO HIGHER LEVELS!
Beanie and Collage glanced upwards towards the roof when the announcement came over the loudspeaker. The two scientist gave horrified looks to one another.
"Did… did he say 5349?" Beanie asked.
"Without a doubt," replied Collage.
"Oh God no!"
"Already?" Pyrrha cried as sirens and alarms went off around her. The hallways of the prison, or factory, or bootcamp, she couldn't tell what this place was meant to be, but the halls were off a very similar architecture to her cell. She turned a corner-
BANG!
It took a moment for Pyrrha to regain composure, she glanced around to see what she had bumped into. It was another soldier that had been coming down the hall towards her, he had been knocked out cold. She knew she was strong, but she didn't know she was strong enough to knock out a person just by running into them. Then, she noticed something. The soldier's uniform was her size. A light-bulb went off in her head.
Now in the uniform of a soldier, Pyrrha continued her mad dash towards an exit that she did not where it was or if there even was one. Occasionally, she would pass by more soldiers, prisoners and even some scientists, none of them batted an eye to her.
She passed by some large white writing on the wall which read 'SCP-5300 – 5399' with an arrow pointing back the way she came. At least there was some form of a map she could use. As she turned another corner, she almost ran into another obstacle but, thanks to the fact she was now wearing shoes, she was able to screech to a stop. In front of her were two more scientists, both were men. One had glasses and black hair, the other had prosthetic arm and ginger hair.
"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING," The black haired scientist chastised, "THERE'S A BLOODY CONTAINMENT BREACH GOING ON!"
"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING," Beanie chastised the soldier that almost ran into them, "THERE'S A BLOODY CONTAIMENT BREACH GOING ON!"
"S- sorry," the soldier was female and had a Canadian accent, "I'm in a bit of a hurry."
"We all are," said Collage, "and you're a soldier, shouldn't you be going the other way? Towards the breach to apprehend the SCP?"
"Uhh… Umm…"
"Are you stalling?"
"What? No, no, absolutely not! We're a bit short on weapons and I was sent to get some more."
"You should have all the weapons you need," asked Beanie, raising and eyebrow.
"They were faulty, the triggers and barrels got jammed."
Beanie groaned, "Not again. Well, go ahead. And hurry, we have no idea what SCP-5349's motivations are!"
The soldier nodded, thanked Beanie and Collage and was on her way. For a moment, the two men stood in the hall alone before Collage spoke up.
"That was 5349, wasn't it?" he asked.
"Yep," Beanie casually replied.
"And we just let her get away?"
"Yep."
Collage whimpered as the true gravity of the situation sunk in. "Ohh… we are so fired." And then the two doctors gave chase!
"We that didn't work," Pyrrha said to herself when she saw that the two scientists she was talking only a moment ago had seen through her facade and were hot on her heels. For nerds, they were quick on their feet. She zig-zagged up and down the endless maze off hallways, trying to get the two men off her tail.
Eventually she came to a large steel door, there were dozens of warning signs and notices plastered all over it, but in the heat of the chase, Pyrrha didn't see them. to her it was a perfect hiding place Once at the door, she used her polarity semblance to unlock the door (which had metal locks) and then open it, the latter required more effort and strength. The two scientists zoomed around the corner and gasped when they saw her.
"OH, OF ALL THE PLACES YOU CHOOSE TO HIDE!" the ginger one shouted. Pyrrha ignored him and continued pulling at the door with all her might. Finally, she was able to get the door to open wide enough for her to squeeze through. The two scientist darted for her, begging her not to go through the door! Pyrrha cleared the door and then pushed it shut just as the scientists reached it!
It was dark.
The room Pyrrha had taken refuge it was dark; the only light source was from a window similar to the one that was in her cell. She removed the goggles and facemask of the soldier uniform and immediately wished she hadn't. The cell contained a unbearable smell, one that almost forced the contents of Pyrrha's stomach up her throat, but either way she keeled over and vomited. Now looked downwards, Pyrrha saw that she was standing on a grated metal platform, covered in rust and… blood. Below the platform, she could see a pool of green murky water that flooded the entire room.
What kind of prisoner would need their cell to be flooded? Unless if you wanted to drown them.
Pyrrha froze. There was a sound. A low growing sound.
There, down in the water, about the size of a semi-truck, was the head of a crocodile. And it looked angry.
"Oh mother fuc-"
The croc let out a roar and charged at the platform. It was elevated, but it's supports weren't. The croc rammed into the platform's girders, shaking the entire thing. Pyrrha, who had been caught off guard, lost her footing and fell off the platform and into the water, screaming!
"NO, NO, NO, NO, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Collage cried futilely kicking the door down. "Of all the chambers she could have chosen to hide, OF ALL OF THEM!"
"Calm down, Collage," reassured Beanie, "I've already called up a team and they are-"
"CALM DOWN! WHAT DO YOU BLOODY WELL MEAN CALM DOWN! THIS IS SCP-682 WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! 6, 8, FUCKING 2! THE HARD-TO-DESTROY REPTILE THAT DOWNRIGHT HATES ALL LIFE! THE ONLY SCP THAT THE FOUNDATION WANTS DESTROYED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! AND NOW SCP-5349 IS IN THERE, AND IF SHE STIRS HIM UP ENOUGH, WE COULD BE DEALING WITH A SECOND BREACH!" Collage finally halted in his rant and took a deep breath, "We don't even know what Class 5349 is. What if we just locked two Keters in the same room with no supervision? What then?"
THIS WASN'T WATER! THIS WAS ACID!
Pyrrha howled in pain as the liquid slowly started tearing away at her skin. Screaming and flailing, she was able to swim back to the stairway that led up to the platform and pulled herself onto it, before scurrying frantically up the stairs and onto the platform. If it wasn't for her Aura, she would be dead!
The croc continued its attacks on the girders but now, knowing what was coming, Pyrrha held her ground. She was amazed that the croc didn't seem to notice that it was swimming in acid, maybe it needed it to survive. She tried not to cry as the tear burned when that made contact with her scared face. Pyrrha looked back down at the croc and… she saw something glittering on the croc's tall.
As the croc entered and exited the field of light from the observers' window, it's scales glistened, however one scale didn't shine like the others. This scale was located on the reptile's tail and was covered in brown spots.
Rust.
That scale was made of metal! A weak spot that would disable the reptile, but not kill it.
'How convenient,' Pyrrha would have joked if she wasn't in such extreme pain.
Concentrating, she reached outwards, a deep rumble fill the air as her polarity semblance kicked in. A black aura formed around the scale, as well as Pyrrha's hands. The croc seemed to realize what was going on and started to panic, ramming itself against the platform in a more rapid excision. Pyrrha staggered before regaining composure and continuing to tug at the scale! There was the sound of tearing flesh as the metal scale was now half attached to the tall. The croc roared in pain!
"One… more… pull!" she strained before thrusting her hands backwards!
RIP!
The scale flung off the tail of the crocodile and speed toward Pyrrha, it hit her in the chest forcing the air out of her lungs. The croc now entered a fit of fear, thrusting around it's pen. The mini earthquake knock Pyrrha off her feet, fortunately she landed on her backside and remained on the platform. Pyrrha looked down at the terrified creature, it was then she realized her mistake. The reptile's skin was disintegrating as it made contact with the acid.
"BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE IMMUNE TO ACID!" Pyrrha shouted. She only wanted to disable the creature, not kill it!
Suddenly, a shower of blood sprang from the reptile, scars and gashes appeared on its back, Pyrrha let out a gasp as the silhouettes of strange creatures started to appeared around the croc!
A stone statue of a woman crying into her hands!
A 8ft tall humanoid creature crying in the corner!
A robotic claw ringing a cowbell, the sound was deafening!
Three skinless dogs scratching at the walls, begging to be let out!
And A music sheet covered in blood among others!
Each silhouettes charged towards the croc! When one made contact with the reptile, a new set of injures appeared on its body! Soon the room started to fill with blood and gore! Pyrrha looked down at the screaming croc and then back at the metal scale.
A horrible thought appeared in her mind! The metal scale was protecting the croc from the acid! It was scared! It was scared of her! She had just condemned another innocent creature to death!
"No… NO… NOT ANOTHER ONE!"
Beanie pressed his ear against the steel door of SCP-682's containment. "Is that… a cowbell? SCP-513?"
"What's it doing in there?" Collage asked, "and is that? I can hear 999! How the hell did he get in 682's containment? And why haven't the Containment Breach announcements mentioned 513 or 999?" Then, the two men heard something that made their blood run cold.
Crying…
"No… it can't be… 096? There is no way he could have gotten in there on his own without 682 seeing his face!"
"But," Beanie swallowed hard, "no one's been given the chance of warning SCP-5349 about SCP-096's abilities! We need to get her out of here, NOW!"
At that moment, Beanie and Collage hear heavy footstep coming down the halls at a tremendous speed. Twenty armed soldiers became visible and made their way over to the doctors' position.
"What's the situation?" the captain of the squad asked. Beanie wanted to tell the squad that 'They were fucked and there was nothing that could save them now,' but he took a deep breath and answered the captain's question in a professional manner.
"SCP-5349 breached containment and disguised herself as a guard."
"But she didn't fool us," Collage quickly said, his face red with embarrassment.
"We gave chase and in a panic, she hid in SCP-682's containment. We don't know what's going on in there, we've been hearing the sounds of a struggle, but we have reason to believe that SCP-513, 999, and," he shuddered before continuing, "SCP… 096."
The guards all gave concerned looks, the captain's face turned pale. "But… but… 096 has been in its containment all day, and so has 999. And 513 is a bloody cowbell, it has no form of propulsion!"
"Then… what's making those noises?"
BANG!
Everyone jumped and turned to face the door. The guards readied their weapons.
BANG!
"GET BEHIND US!" the captain ordered Beanie and Collage. They did so without protest.
BANG!
"I don't know who or what SCP-5349 is, but there's no way she could win a fight with SCP-682, nothing can. That means that latter will be coming out that door!" The captain slowly cocked his head to the guards.
BANG!
"It was an honor… working with you men."
BANG! SMASH! WOOSH!
The door burst off its hinges! An ocean of blood and gore flooded out, the guards, the captain, Beanie and Collage ducked for cover!
Eleven minutes later, eleven fucking minutes passed until that fountain of death subsided. Lucky, as if by a miracle sent down from the heavens, nobody was killed, however bones had been broken when bodies were flung into walls by the red torrent! Beanie slowly got back to his feet; it was a struggle due to the floor now being incredibly slippery. He looked down at his lab coat which was now ruined.
"Great," he grumbled, "my best coat too."
"What…" Collage groaned as he too struggled to get up, "what you are wearing is universal dress code. It's not like your wearing you nana's knitted scarf."
"But lab coats are expensive," Beanie wined.
"Oh for God's sake!" The captain shouted, "Even in death, you two don't stop bickering!"
Beanie and Collage looked around, the halls were now coated in a purplish-red, like hell itself. But it was clearly obvious that they weren't dead, none of them were.
"I don't think were dead, captain [REDACTED]."
"OH YEAH? THEN WHY CAN'T I FEEL MY LEG?"
"Because it's broken…" Collage sighed, he was surrounded by idiots. Then a thought struck him, "Hang on? Why are we alive? SCP-682 should have ripped us to shreds!"
"You're right! Either we got real lucky or SCP-682 just went through the wall like he normally does."
"If he went through the wall, then why was there banging at the door?"
Suddenly, there was movement over near the now door-less entrance to SCP-862's containment. The figure of a human appeared in the darkness.
"I don't believe it!" SCP-5349 limped out of the cell, a metal panel in her hands. She was covered in blood and was crying to herself as she dropped to her knees just beyond the door.
"CLOSE THAT DOOR!" The captain shouted. Two guards that had sustained the less amount of injuries rushed passed SCP-5349 and over to the door. They were about to close it when one guard shouted, "OH MY GOD! HO- HOLY SHIT! CAPTAIN! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!"
"What are you blabbering on about man? And I can't come, my leg's busted!"
"I'll see what set your man off," said Beanie, walking over to SCP-682's containment. As he passed SCP-5349, she looked up at him.
"I- I- I-," she stammered like that for a while before saying, "I'm sorry…"
"For what?" Beanie asked. Was she sorry for breaching containment? Was she sorry for possibly helping SCP-682 breach containment? He, however, forced those questions into the back of his mind and continue his careful trek to the door. He glanced inside the cell.
Bone, organs, skin and of course blood covered the containment like sick Christmas decorations. Beanie felt like vomiting, but his stomach halted all movement when he looked down into the pool of acid.
There, a quarter disintegrated and still bloody, was the skull of SCP-682! Beanie didn't dare move, it was only a matter of time before 682 started regenerating, by then he would have to be out of there. But something seemed off. No skin started to regrow around the skull, there was no movement from the skull, there was even no sign of the rest of the skeleton!
"WHAT'S THE HOLD UP! CLOSE THE BLOODY DOOR! DO YOU WANT 682 TO ESCAPE AGAIN OR WHAT?" the captain shouted.
Beanie reached into his coat and pulled out his Electronic Notepad (EN for short). A heart monitor appeared on the screen and then he held the EN over the skull.
Bbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppp…
A… a… a… a flatline…
The slow dreadful droning sound echoed through the containment and the halls. A look of shock and disblelif crossed the faces of Beanie, Collage, the captain and the guards.
"Imposable…"
Beanie walked out of the containment, shutting the door behind him. Everyone turned their attention to SCP-5349, who was still muttering "I'm sorry." It was clear that her mind had snapped.
Beanie now understood what 5349 was sorry about…
The lizard was dead!
Item #: SCP-682
Object Class: Neutralized
Special Containment Procedures: None
Memo from Dr. Bright:
Begin log
"I was… in my study when SCP-5349 breached containment. When the announcement and alarms came over the loudspeakers, I was confused, I hadn't been informed of SCP-5349's existence as of then. Since my study door was reinforced with pure Dalekanium and it would be impossible for someone, SCP or not, to break it down, I thought nothing of it and kept on reading. It was a really good book too; you should give it a-"
"Please keep to the subject at hand, Dr. Bright."
"Right, I apologize. I've been a bit whimsy after my last death. Anyway, twenty minutes passed, and I receive a call from my cell from Captain [REDACTED], and what he said gave me a heart attack.
"I came to about two hours later, inside the new body of a D-Class with a much more healthy heart. The guards on standby proceeded to inform me that SCP-5349 hid from two pursuing doctors in SCP-682's containment. Once inside, she engaged in a fight with the reptilian bastard. When security personnel arrived at the scene, they found SCP-682's containment filled with gore (presumably SCP-682's) with SCP-5349 as the only survivor. She was clutching what appeared to be one of 682's scales, however it was made of a steel unfamiliar to us. She was crying to herself, almost exactly like how SCP-096 cries to itself, however you can actually feel sympathy for her. Inside the containment, they found 682's skull and scans show that the reptile is well and truly dead!"
"Do… do you have any regrets about the incident, Dr. Bright?"
"I do have one… I only wish I could have been there to see the miserable fucker meet its end."
End log