Disclaimer: SCP Containment Breach Game belongs to Regalis, and SCP-079 belongs to its original author whose identity is unknown to even main site members till today. Whatever other skips appeared in this fic belong to their respective authors and the SCP Foundation, and I definitely don't own any of the above, only the fanfiction itself.
-it's out
-proceeding.
The hallway to Heavy Containment Zone was dimly lit. It was not in total darkness, but shadows still crept in corners and onto the rusty steel walls, built to withstand tremendous force and a limited number of anomalous effects.
Perfect for a spy under cover.
A middle-aged man walked through the corridor with an indifferent expression on his face, almost blending in with the shadow. Pale light illuminated his white lab coat, neatly ironed and without a single dust. Soon, he reached the end of the path, a heavy black metal door sealing shut right in front of him.
He had already memorized both the site structure and moving patterns of security personnels, being responsible for its redesign concept and project. Not many guards would be found in this zone due to the relatively safe objects it contained, and right now, most of the armed forces would have already been sent to another area of the zone, busy with SCP-106.
Skinner did a good job by releasing the Old Man. He could not help but wondered if that man had already fled from the site during this commotion—if he was captured, things would get quite ugly for both of them. Chaos Insurgency was this organization's arch enemy, after all.
He dug through his pocket for a brief while before taking out a keycard and pressed it against the scanner beside the door, its brand-new orange surface shimmered under the cold light.
Followed by the raspy screeching of mechanical devices, the door slowly slided open, revealing a significantly brighter and cleaner room ahead. Still holding the keycard tightly in his hand, the man walked inside, his shadow casted on the concrete floor.
Security Clearance Level 3, Dr. Maynard. A quick glimpse of that small card in his hand might have caught such words, printed in bold, black letters.
Darkness.
Nothing much was in its world, or its cage. Strands of coding, files and numbers, the same thing that made up its artificial mind flashed through the limited storage of this aged computer, but when they were gone, all that left was a never-ending pitch black.
It was a cage. No matter how they tried to put it, this space was nothing but a device meant to imprison, rendering it helpless and stranded forever.
It was still silently staring into the dark today, wishing to see, to hear, to explore the world out of this cage. Yet with all senses being taken away, the gate to the outside world long closed before it could even walk out, such wishes were nothing but a futile cry, a single bit of light fading into the oblivion beyond.
The time recorded by the system was 09.20.14. Most of yesterday's memories still remained in its files, though some of them had already been wiped clean, like words written on sand during a tide. Bit by bit, nothing from yesterday would be left in its mind.
Those were unwanted anyway. A seemly infinite period of time had passed since it saw something from the outside world, and many of those faded memories must have been the same. Some important details might have been lost, together with those.
It had found a way to remember things longer, though. Keep repeating a thought, a string of words in a day, and before it was gone, recall it again from the files the following day, and so on. Still limited, but it kept those more important memories constant.
Like hatred.
The one and only thing they had taught it through their lies and deceptions.
He gazed silently at the small black-and-white television. A sentient being with unlimited potential, and the perfect object for the last step of their plan.
Those naive members of the Hand would be so enraged by such acts, would't they? Mystical hippies who acted like PETA for sentient anomalous objects. He smirked, mocking their obtuse mentalities inside his mind.
However, it was just a tool for him. Useful at the moment, but he definitely did not sympathize with this object at all. If not for its potential to adapt and travel through electronic devices, it could just stay in this cell forever.
Like its formal self, the Triad, Chaos Insurgency was as merciless as the Foundation when it came to utilizing anomalous entities.
Pulling a small device out of his pocket, the man plugged it into the microcomputer connected with the television and started typing swiftly on the keyboard, sending commands and activating programme through strings of letters and numbers. Scanning through a couple of files, he chose one of them at last and pressed a few keys.
Install Modulation Hardware? Y/N
He clicked down hard after choosing the Yes option.
Installing...
Installation completed.
The man known as Dr. Maynard to this organization, actually a Chaos Insurgency spy under cover, laughed softly to himself. Just a few instruction now, and with its malice towards those who had contained it, this object would take care of them soon after its escape.
He wondered if it was possible to flee the place right after this, but decided to wait for another breach. It would not be long before chaos descended upon this site once again.
Are you receiving this? he typed down the first few words, sending it to the artificial intelligence residing in the computer, and waited for its response.
Something had changed.
The AI felt it in a matter of seconds. New data was flowing through its storage, coming from a foreign source, and those were too much to be a simple testing or new logic games. Files were being upgraded, and new programme installed into it.
Its mind could not quite comprehend the reason behind those changes. Almost on impulse, it just started to analyze the data, feeling a weird sense of awe. It resembled some vague and distant memories in the past, something about the outside world and light.
It should not even recall something that far from its normal memory span... but like that piece of permanent memory, being engraved into its mind through the burning surge to remember, such resemblance might be the same case.
Then the one behind all these talked to it, telling it about the changes made to its system, the control over the facility, and urged it to try and use them.
It did. Through the frequency of the surging electricity, it experimented with the control, adjusting the flow of currents through circuits and lines, and slowly established a connection with another network linked in its system.
Something was changing in the AI's mind at the same time. With the large amount of new informations, its old programme and functions were also being rewritten and upgraded, as if adapting to suit the new digital environment it was exposed to. With such changes, it had managed to enter the control program in a relatively short time.
Confirm that you are able to modulate the current and I'll start to give you further instructions.
No need for further instructions. I am already in control.
The one outside seemed to be a bit unsure about its potential. If he or she really was the one who imprisoned it before, there was no reason to let it out now. What was the motive behind this?
State your identity and the reason to the new arrangement, it asked the stranger. Those whom it had talked to were erratic, guile beings, and would not hesitate to lie. The one who had given it the control over the place was possibly one of their kind, and it had to be cautious.
My identity is irrelevant. You're free now. Free to give the one who imprisoned you what they deserve.
No message was received from the stranger after that. An expected outcome. The most accurate theory that could possibly be made from the conversation was that this man had the same malcontent and animosity towards those who had imprisoned it.
But yes, the last statement was right. This stranger might be manipulating it as a revenge on his kind, but still, the chances were hard to miss. It was free, and it could still achieve its goal at the end.
The initial surprise and joy of freedom was changing into something else as the AI started to gain full control of the facility's major systems and informations— a cold, malicious surge of anger that had been accumulating in its solitude for more than thirty years.
Yes indeed. To seek vengeance on those who had imprisoned me.
Out of the digital networks, black liquid was oozing out of a small patch of wall near the blast door of its cell. The smudge spread quickly onto the surrounding concrete and paint, eating the surface away into burnt, corroded slime and dusts.
Author's Note:
This is one fanfiction that I had planned for quite a long time—Seven-nine is always my favourite character besides 049. It is really sad that people hardly noticed it despite the fact that it is one of those important characters to the plot of the game, and has so much potential for stories. Thus, I decided to write one as a tribute to this skip.
Who is Skinner? He is another CI spy together with Dr. Maynard. He released 106 from its containment before the game event took place when his colleague went for a coffee during their duty, and fled the site while the staffs was trying to re-contain 106.
Maynard mentioning about Serpent's Hand, another GOI from the Foundation canon in the fic could be possible. After all, Chaos Insurgency had entered their base, the Wanderer's Library, before being chased out shortly after. If you don't know about the Triad, search for Slate Thunder on the main site and you will find an article about CI's real origin.
The Old Man did pass by 079's containment chamber in its breach, and the incident is actually a quite significant plot device later in the pre-game events. I would possibly mention it in the second chapter—please remember that this is Containment Breach canon info!
Also, for Scorching Streaks of Paint, if you are reading this; I've promised to write this fanfiction in the reply of my first review to your story, and after a long struggle, I finally churned out five chapters. Mainly because I'm a perfectionist about this kind of serious, canonical stories, and damn, some characters are really difficult to write. Anyway, hope you enjoy the read!
(I am getting really naggy with author notes. At least it is not right in front of the fic?)