Shilo Wallace shivered in terror. She could hear footsteps. Lots of footsteps. They echoed down the long hallway in which she stood and they were getting louder and louder with each passing moment. As the footsteps continued to get louder, Shilo felt herself getting dizzier and dizzier. That stupid blood disease of hers was kicking in again. It was the anxiety. It was making her lose focus, and her sense of stability was slipping away just as fast. Now was probably the absolute worst time for something like this to happen.
Unsure of what else to do in a situation like this, the sound of the footsteps about 20 feet away now, Shilo began to hyperventilate. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. The girl reached out to touch one of the hallway's walls and the moment the cold metal touched her fingertips, she was able to gain some semblance of balance again. She began to back up as quickly as she could without her own boots making any noise. Already, her mind was formulating a plan. She had just left her father's office a few moments ago so she wasn't that far away from him and she knew he would still be there. It was her intention to just slow back up down the hallway until she reached his office again. He would know what to do! He was in charge of the Keter Floor here at the SCP Foundation after all. If there was anyone who could help her right now, it was him!
But Shilo never reached her father's office again. She didn't need to. Instead, when she had been about 20 paces away from it, she finally heard a human's voice echo down the hallway, and the sound scared the living daylights out of her.
"Absolutely not!" the voice snapped. Part of Shilo's shock came from the fact that she had not expected to hear a voice that spoke perfect English. Seldom few of the SCPs of the Foundation had that capability. But part of Shilo's shock also came from relief. If this truly was a human voice that she was hearing, then there was no danger at all and there was nothing for her to fear. Shilo found this thought immensely relieving. Besides, it wasn't every day you heard someone talking so freely here on the Keter Floor this late at night.
What's more, though it took her a moment, Shilo realized that she recognized the voice. It belonged to one of her fellow "classmates" here at the Foundation. They were all training to become full employees one day so, up until the day they received that full distinction and title, they all affectionately referred to themselves as students of the Foundation. It was more refined that "trainee" or "recruit" or "cadet" or "apprentice". And this voice that Shilo was hearing belonged to one of her fellow students. Maybe she'd only been at the Foundation for about the month and maybe she didn't know exactly who the voice belonged to, but she could still recognize the voice as being a friendly one and that was all that mattered. She was not dealing with a rogue SCP after all.
"Thank goodness," Shilo breathed to herself, exhaling slowly as she fought to recover her breath. But as the footsteps continued to draw near, a small surge of anger entered Shilo's heart. Seriously, who on earth was out here on the Keter Floor so late at night? It was way past curfew! Shilo was only here because she was speaking with her father, and he was only here this late because he was finishing up some paperwork. Shilo had a right to be here, but she was doubting that these people did! And Shilo was guessing there had to be at least two given the 'absolutely not' line, which implied a conversation. Slowly, Shilo's fear turned into annoyance and incredulity. She finally moved forward, taking a bold step towards the sound of the conversation. She made sure to stomp her boots against the cold metal floor as she walked along.
"What was that?!" the same voice as before jumped when it heard the sound of Shilo's boots, thumping against the floor. Shilo felt a dark pleasure rise up in her chest in response to the sound of genuine fear coming from the voice. Then at last, Shilo finally got a chance to actually see who it was that was out here so late. Faces were finally put with voices as Shilo rounded that last corner. They belonged to two young women about her age, maybe a few years older at max. One of them was a blond and the other was a brunette. Shilo answered the question with a sharp tone.
"It's an angry classmate who's wondering why you aren't in bed yet," she said, crossing her arms as she spoke. But the blond and brunette, instead of being alarmed, only perked up. It was clear that they recognized her voice as well. They picked up their pace to approach her quickly and, in the back of Shilo's mind, Shilo finally realized that the reason she thought she'd heard a score of little footsteps echoing down the hallway was because these two women had been walking in an unsynchronized step and the noise had echoed down the hallway and multiplied creating that illusion of being a creature with many feet, instead of just two women out on a late-night adventure.
"Shilo Wallace! It's you!" the blond was the first to speak once all three of them were face to face.
"Yes, it is," Shilo replied, still trying to keep up her tough persona, but she did feel a bit embarrassed that this girl seemed to recognize her even though Shilo had no idea who she was.
"Now answer my question. What are you two doing out so late?" she repeated.
"We could ask you the same thing," the blond replied cheekily.
"I was talking to my father," Shilo insisted. Even though it was dark, Shilo thought she saw the smug on the blond's face fade away. Ah-ha! Shilo got her there! Clearly, whoever these two were, they did not have the same permission that Shilo did to be running around the Foundation so late.
"Well, Cora and I were just exploring," the blond finally said. Ok, so the brunette was Cora. Shilo made mental note of it.
"Did you want to join us?" she asked.
"What? No!" Shilo was caught off guard by the remark and shook her head. "Not at all! I want us all to go back to bed! It's past midnight and we still have training tomorrow!" she insisted. "Now come on, let's get back to our part of the of Foundation. Where's the lift?"
"Oh, what? Come on, Shilo!" the blond pleaded. "Join Cora and I. It'll be fun, and I promise we won't be too terribly long!"
"June!" the brunette interrupted at last. Ok, so the blond was June. Shilo made mental note of it. "You heard Shilo! It's time for us to go! She has a point, after all, we should be in bed by now, not running around the Keter Floor!" she reprimanded.
"Bed, shmed!" June replied haughtily. "We're new recruits here, we deserve a chance to look around a little bit!"
"But why so late at night? And why alone?" Cora demanded, voicing Shilo's thoughts.
"Oh, but we're not alone!" June smiled. "We have Shilo here with us to protect us!" she cocked a bragging head in Shilo's direction.
"You what?!" she croaked.
"And she's the daughter of the fiercest worker that this Foundation has ever seen!" June continued proudly. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Cora scoffed, her dry laugh acting as a silent, incredulous question in response to June's. What could possibly go wrong? In Cora's mind, what could NOT possibly go wrong? But while Cora gave June a disbelieving look, Shilo had since wilted a little. Now she finally understood how June had managed to recognize her while she was unable to recognize June. It was because, as she had said, Shilo's father was something of a legend at the Foundation. He did indeed have the reputation for being the strongest, bravest, fiercest man to ever walk the long and winding halls. He was a hero to the students of the Foundation, and a celebrity back on the mainland. There wasn't a soul around who didn't know and revere the mighty name of Nathan Wallace. Because of that, when Shilo made her entrance into the Foundation, when everyone realized who she was in relation to Nathan, she became something of a celebrity in her own right. It was only her own outward pathetic nature that kept her from being swamped by eager, excited fans at all hours of the day, because even though she was definitely his daughter, she was anything but terrifying and powerful. She was too meek and mild to be an SCP worker.
When people finally caught onto this, they started to leave her alone. But even though her peers no longer bothered her at all hours of the day about her father, her name was still know across the facility, hence why June had recognized her so quickly. Shilo found it a little unsettling, but it was mostly because she really didn't feel cut out for this type of job. She hadn't even wanted to come here at all! It was all Nathan's idea! He was insistent that she would have to come here and take up his legacy one day. And it didn't matter how many times she protested, he refused to listen. It wasn't about what she wanted to do with her life, it was about the fact that they were father and daughter and, thusly, Shilo was expected to take up Nathan's mantle when he retired. There was no arguing her way out of it, so here she stood, an unwilling new student at the Foundation.
"Just because you have me doesn't mean you have anybody of real value," Shilo muttered at June in response to June's remark about Shilo being a huge asset to them, and their little midnight mission to explore.
"Oh come on, please!" June begged again. It was clear she wouldn't let Shilo just walk out of this, but it was mostly because she was worried that Shilo would tattle on them unless June could win her over.
"June!" Cora snapped again. "It's obvious she doesn't want to go and we might get in trouble-"
"Trouble? What's that?" June interrupted with a cocky laugh. "I know of no such thing!"
"Yes you do," Cora grumbled back. "You're just too stubborn and stupid to see it!"
"Oh, don't be such a wet blanket!" June cried again. "It's time you loosened up and had a little fun!" then she turned to address Shilo.
"If you don't feel ready to manage the Foundation, then you may as well start practicing today!" she insisted. "We all know you're going to take over your father's position one day, and that's a job that's going to need lots, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of training, so why not get started now?" As June trailed off, she glanced over Shilo's shoulder, down the hallway and past Nathan's office, right into the heart of the Keter Floor. That was where all the creatures were being contained. That was where June wanted to explore...
"I really don't think-" Shilo began, but then June looked her right in the eyes, pleading. Her hazel orbs seemed to widen and she even pushed out her lower lip, pouting adorably at Shilo. She made the softest of whining noises in the back of her throat, her eyes bored into Shilo's. They were so sweet and sad. Shilo began to feel herself physically weakening the longer she tried to say no to June.
"Please?" June asked at last, voice soft and almost melodic. Her eyes were hypnotizing as she continued to look earnestly at Shilo, waiting for the girl's approval. Shilo didn't last much longer before she finally caved.
"Well, how about we just take a look around for five minutes? Then we can go back to bed," she suggested, unable to resist June any longer.
"YES!" June fist-pumped in excitement before turning to Cora. "Are you in, Stein?" she demanded.
"I still don't know," Cora confessed, stepping away from June.
"Fine," June pretended to be offended. "I guess I'll just take Shilo instead. She knows what's up!" the blond threw a chummy arm around Shilo's shoulders and sounded proud as she said this. Shilo blushed a little, unused to being received with such warmth. She turned a shy, hopeful glance at Cora, wondering if Cora would cave or if she would somehow manage to resist June's inexplicable charms. Heaven knew Shilo hadn't. Just feeling that friendly weight of June's arm around her shoulder made her feel weak, but it was in a way she couldn't exactly describe or understand...
But any thoughts about June quickly fled from Shilo's mind when she met Cora's eyes. Just for a split second, Cora looked murderous. Truly, there was no other word to describe the fury and envy that seemed to make her eyes flash even in the dark hallway. Shilo shuddered. It was scary, seeing such a gentle, level-headed, young girl look so aggressive and possessive all of a sudden. The anger, hatred and unspoken challenge burned in Cora's eyes and Shilo almost found herself afraid of the meek young brunette, crazy as that sounded. But perhaps that flash of Cora's eyes had only been an illusion created in Shilo's head because it was gone as soon as it had come, and Cora's eyes were back to their normal blue almost at once. That murderous expression had morphed as well, going back to the gentle look Shilo had grown used to in these past few minutes.
"Fine. But only five minutes," Cora acquiesced, taking June's other arm.
"Wonderful!" June exclaimed in reply, happy with that deal. Then she led both Cora and Shilo on along into the heart of the Keter Floor.
Several minutes later, the trio found themselves facing one particular containment chamber with expressions of surprise. All of the other chambers that they had passed had each held some strange and sometimes horrific creature that was clearly inhuman. This chamber, however, contained a young man who looked like just another student of the Foundation. He looked so normal and innocent. Why was he here?
"Who even is he?" June asked, voicing the question both Shilo and Cora were wondering themselves. The blond stepped closer to the containment chamber in attempt to get a better look at this man. He was quite handsome. But then, as the trio was studying him, he sat up suddenly. Shilo and Cora jumped back immediately but June continued to peer in. Then, the SCP began to speak.
"Hey!" he waved. His voice was somewhat muffled by the glass, but the three could still understand him. "You wanna help me out of here? I got locked in this stupid cage because I looked like a monster to them. But deep down, I just wanna be loved," he gave them a honeyed expression as he peered out at them through the window on the door of his cell. Cora and Shilo were on guard at once, hardly able to believe that he thought that mere words alone would convince them to let him out of his chamber. June, however, seemed entranced by him, not wary at all.
"Come on, I'm not gonna bite" he continued to plead tenderly, seeing that he was winning June over. "They locked me up here because of a single, stupid misunderstanding. I'm not really a bad guy! I shouldn't be locked away in here! So, please, let me out. If you do, I can protect you," he said.
"He's insane," Cora whispered to Shilo, disgust clear on her face. Shilo had to agree. But June was still listening. Then at last, she opened the door.
"June!" Shilo and Cora both jumped at the blond, but it was too late. The door was open and the SCP was out.
For about five seconds, no one said or did a thing, and even June looked like she regretted what she had done. But the SCP, as he slowly started to walk again, strutting out of his cell to approach the three girls on the other side of the door, was totally relaxed.
"Oh, man it feels good to be out of that room!" he said, stretching dramatically. When he saw the wary faces of his three female friends, he laughed.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to bite," he repeated. "Now, what were you three even doing up here so late at night?" he asked.
"We were exploring," Shilo answered suddenly, taking a firm step forward. The SCP seemed somewhat surprised at this sudden boldness but he continued to wear a laidback grin.
"Exploring, huh?" he grinned at her, but she stood her ground, that strange rush of strength refusing to allow her to be cowed by him. Maybe she was going to be better for her father's job than she thought!
"We were exploring," she corrected him. "But now I think it's time we got back."
"Hey, hey, come on now. You're not going to need to do that," the SCP's smirk turned into a wolfish grin.
"What do you mean by that?" Shilo's eyes narrowed.
"I mean, we can keep exploring. There's no need to fear!" the wolfish grin turned at once back into that suave, charming smile that had won June over just seconds ago. "I can even show you around," he offered. "Come on! Trust me…"
"I can't believe we're doing this! I can't believe we're doing this! I can't believe we're doing this! I really can't believe we're doing this!" Shilo hissed under her breath. Despite her pleading, she and Cora and June were now following this SCP deeper into the Keter Floor, and farther away from the lift that would've taken them back to the safer, lower level of the joint. This midnight mission was turning into a midnight madness.
"I can't believe it either," Cora reassured her, that look of disgust and disdain still etched upon her face.
For a second, Shilo felt a little bit better. It made her glad to know she wasn't the only one having a problem with trusting such a shady SCP so quickly, but when she turned to look at Cora, that relief quickly turned sour again. That strange green haze had returned to Cora's eyes and, with it, had come that haunting look of hatred, of pure murder. It was indescribable, but painfully unsettling. Shilo looked away from Cora again after that, wondering if the brunette was even aware of what happened to her when she got angry. But since Shilo didn't have the guts to ask, she turned her mind back on their more present, pressing problem: the fact that they were trusting a random SCP that was leading them deeper into the Keter Floor and further away from the safety of the escape lift.
After passing several more chambers, each full of weird and sometimes terrifying creatures, the SCP guide stopped.
"Shhh," he said. "There's a really good one up ahead, but you need to be very quiet. If he wakes up, we'll be caught."
"Wonderful," Cora muttered.
"Come on," the SCP replied. "I've seen him already. You guys can go ahead and look, one by one," he stepped to the back of the trio and gestured for them to keep moving ahead. June recklessly moved forward towards that door. She peered in and delight lit up her face.
"He's so wicked!" she mouthed to her friends. Then she skipped away from the door, pushing Shilo and Cora closer to it as she passed them by. Cora and Shilo exchanged another disbelieving look before Cora took a peek inside the chamber...
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cora and Shilo whipped around just in time to see June being pinned to a nearby wall by the SCP, but he wasn't using his hands. Instead, he was using the giant scorpion tail that had suddenly grown right out of his back.
"JUNE!" Cora and Shilo screamed in unison while June struggled vainly to escape the SCP's iron grip as his big black tail loomed over her head, its razor tip waggling dangerously over her. It was dripping with venom, June's eyes were wide with terror. As were Cora's and Shilo's.
The reactions of Shilo and Cora from that point on were totally different. Without even meaning to, Shilo froze up entirely and could only stare as the SCP-scorpion readied to strike June down once and for all. Cora, however, lunged forward. Unlike Shilo, did not freeze up at all. And instead of running away like a normal person, she did the exact opposite and jumped at the SCP. It was so contrary to her shy, quiet demeanor, but she lunged. She lunged right at this giant scorpion of an SCP and sucker-punched him as hard as she could. Turns out, her punches were far stronger than anyone could've ever imagined. She struck one right across his jaw that was powerful enough to send him reeling, and he released June in the same motion. Cora lunged again immediately, but this time, it was to grab June.
"Come on!" she commanded, then she yanked June up before turning to Shilo and repeating the same command and gesture, then, with strength and speed unmatched, she dragged both of her companions back down the hallway and right past the scorpion SCP, who was still clutching his jaw in pain. She really had done a number on him!
The scorpion was not so easily defeated, though. Instead, after just a few seconds, he recovered from Cora's painful punch and he roared out in fury. Though the punch had been painful, and literally scarring, he wasn't going to give up after one attack. Instead, he only upped the ante as his prey tried to escape. A strange clicking noise replaced the sound of human footsteps and the girls knew at once that the SCP had just replaced his human legs with scorpion legs in the same way the end of his spine had grown out into a tail. None of the three dared look back as they ran on.
As the trio ran on, Shilo felt increasingly dizzy as her oxygen levels decreased. Being scared out of her mind and then being forced to sprint down long hallways wasn't exactly the best thing for someone like her. She stumbled a couple times, scaring June and Cora. They may have known Shilo to be the daughter of the strongest man in this Foundation, but they had no idea she had a blood disease.
"Shilo!" June's grip tightened on Shilo as she stumbled for a third time. She looked over at Cora, but was only met with the same panic she was feeling. For a moment, true hopelessness filled her entire being but when she did dare to look back, despite being met with the horrific sight of a giant scorpion just a few feet away, an insane idea occurred to her. It was time to make this midnight madness downright psychotic!
"JUNE!" Cora screamed out for the girl as she began to slow down.
"I have an idea!" June answered the unasked question. "We need to get another SCP out here to fight him!"
"Are you mad?!" Shilo and Cora both screamed now. They took another turn down another hallway. June shook her head. The scorpion screeched angrily as he sensed that the girls had, yet again, taken a surprise turn away from him.
"And which monster did you have in mind, pray tell?" Cora tried to sound mad, but she was too scared to. Her angry question came out as a terrified yelp. June didn't even bother answering verbally. Instead, without another word, June rounded another corner. Without even realizing it, the trio had gotten entirely turned around and they were now back where they had started, facing that one door with the especially scary SCP that the scorpion had lured them too earlier. June pointed at the door, her answer to Cora's question all too clear.
"Are you mad?!" Cora repeated angrily as June made her suggestion.
"We already have a slim chance of survival," June replied. As if to accent that point, the scorpion uttered another hissing scream in the distance. "What could possibly go wrong?" June pleaded. Shilo saw Cora's expression contort to fury and it looked like she was about to tell June exactly what could go wrong, but before she could, they heard the scorpion scream again. This time, the noise was far closer.
It was time to do or die so Shilo, ignoring her quarreling companions, opened the containment chamber herself. She yanked herself out of their arms and pushed the button to open the door. The moment it was unlocked, she yanked off one of her boots and threw it right at the sleeping SCP. Just as she hoped, the thing jumped up at once and roared in anger.
"Holy crap!" all three girls couldn't suppress a shriek. June and Cora had already seen this SCP, but to see it standing up and angry was another matter entirely. He looked like a bear, massive and hairy. What made him such a danger, though, was the fact that he could morph various parts of his body into various types of weapons like swords, clubs or morningstars. Now, all of that anger and weaponry was awake, and the first thing it was seeing were the three girls that had interrupted its sleep. His left arm was a sword, his right arm was a mace, and his face was full of rage.
"RUN!" Shilo commanded, and neither June nor Cora could even think to disobey.
The three girls continued to run the winding halls and, behind them, they could hear roaring and screeching. The two SCPs had found each other and, just as planned, they were fighting. One was angry at being disturbed while the other was still hunting for his escaped meal. Of course their little union would not end in warmth and friendliness. But the girls didn't have time to celebrate. Instead, they needed to take this opportunity to get their bearings and find a way out. The sound of metal on metal followed them through the halls.
"This way!" June instructed, pointing ahead and then to the left.
"Are you sure?" asked Cora. June nodded and Cora didn't question her again. Instead, she put her faith in June and, helping her with Shilo, continued to run. Shilo was still close to passing out but she put on a brave face and let her friends guide her along.
But of course, the midnight madness was far from over. The girls were close to the lift when something landed in front of them at the end of the hall, cutting them off of their path. This thing looked like a giant man, except his skin was made entirely up of black leather and he had one oval eye right in the middle of his shiny black face. That oval eye glowed an ominous blue.
"SCP-000!" Shilo gasped as she got a look at him.
"What? No. Impossible! That SCP is just a myth!" June and Cora both protested. But Shilo only shook her head. She may not have known all the ins and outs about the Foundation, but even she had heard of the legendary and dreaded SCP-000, and she knew what he looked like, and this was it.
The SCP caught sight of them cowering in the dark and it began to advance upon them. Ok, now the trio was totally trapped. With the two Keters behind them and this legendary monstrosity in front, they were totally trapped. Once the mysterious SCP was a few feet away, though, he broke into a sprint. An impossibly fast sprint. It was over for them. This was their aching hour...
"Brace yourselves!" Shilo sobbed, feeling June and Cora dig their nails into her arms out of terror, but before the SCP would've hit them, he jumped right over their hands and landed a few inches behind them, then he kept on running.
"What?!" Cora panicked, whipping around to see the mysterious SCP still running away from them. The girls watched the SCP until the darkness swallowed him whole, then the sound of the other two SCPs reached their ears again. This time, though, the noises they made were noises of fear and pain instead of anger.
"He's fighting them off!" June was the first to realize this. Her green eyes met Cora's blue ones and Shilo's brown ones and not a single word was needed before the three continued their race to the lift. They jumped onto it, slamming the button to take them to the ground floor. Once at the ground floor, they ran across it and to the center. It was their intent to raise the alarm that there were, currently, three SCPs on the loose and even though they were all the way up on the third floor, they could very easily escape, especially if nobody cut the power to the lift.
Before any of them could reach the master alarm, however, something knocked them all off of their feet. When they looked up, a hoard of faceless guards was bearing down on them with guns, locked and loaded.
"Looks like we got some escapees, ya heard it?!" one of the head guards cackled maliciously.
"I heard it, and you know what we do with escapees, don't'cha?!" the second leader of the guards echoed in a similar, accented tone.
"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot!" June pleaded, throwing out both of her arms, one over Cora and one over Shilo. Shilo, at this point, was suffering a seizure. The way she had fallen when she and her companions were tripped knocked the breath straight out of her and she hadn't had much air in her lungs to begin with. Cora, meanwhile, was busy trying to protect June just as June was trying to protect her.
In short, it was a gaggle of flying limbs and pleading words in a darkened room with several well-armed guards ready to kill. Shilo passed out just as June pleaded, one last time, for the guards to hold their fire. She fainted before she got to hear the bullets being fired in protest.
AN: This is a Repo/Devil's Carnival/American Murder song crossover with the SCP Foundation. As such, it is a bit inaccurate and odd, but I hope it's at least still somewhat fun and enjoyable.
To quickly explain the geography of the place: I imagine it looking like Azkaban, being a giant stone prison out in the sea a few miles away from the mainland of Sanitarium. It's a tall prison and the higher up you go, the more danger you're getting. I also imagine it as being a series of three buildings and not just one.
The first building actually houses the SCPs.
The next acts as a place for the employees to live (in this canon, all workers live on-site. They never leave).
And the third building acts as a "bridge" between the other two. It also houses all the things that humans need to deal with SCPs (arms, armor, medicine, etc. It holds other things the human workers need to survive, but it's not a space for people to actually live in).
But that's just my mental map of the place, and these three buildings create that triangle shape.
Edit as of 3/13/19: I realized how poorly-executed this story was originally, so I'm cleaning it up.