Disclaimer in the first chapter.


SCP Containment Breach: Nightmares Unleashed

Chapter Seven:

The Maintenance Tunnels

The group moved on, and tried for a new elevator. Jessica was shaken out of her mental train of confusing questions as Keith stopped, the group stopping as well. SCP-049 was dead. His body was torn apart in several places and he was missing an arm as well as his mask. His face, was very peculiar. It looked like that of a vulture's, with leathery grey skin stretched taught around the bones. Two beady human eyes stared at them, even though the SCP was dead, its gaze nevertheless stayed trained on them. 'Just like Keith's adopted family…' Jessica thought as she turned to look at Keith. He was obviously remembering the second time he and SCP-953 had an encounter, the look on Crystal's face was proof enough that she hadn't seen everything. Hell, whatever Crystal saw was definitely worse than what Site IT had to go through when cleaning Dr. Bright's computer, and that's completely horrifying. Jessica put a comforting hand on Keith's shoulder, he inched closer.

"Let's go." The Commander ordered when they had documented all they could

Proceeding towards the elevator, a disturbing sense of monachopsis began to set in, everyone could feel it. The silence itself began to play with them, as Jessica could almost imagine faint whispering permeating the area. The lights around the place were dimmer, making everything feel washed out and more malevolent. They passed through a door and found a dead guard on the ground. Dried blood was everywhere and there was a handprint on the wall just under the button. He was only inches away from escape Looking at the ground, there was a large blood stain from where the elevator was to the door. They found the guard's leg as the seven approached the massive door with a keypad, and an elevator to the left.

"We need to get to the backup generator. Ifrit, what's the schematics on the lower levels?"

"The elevator to the generator rooms from rooms T5 and B9 are inoperable until power is restored. The elevator in room F2 is down, heavy damage present, the only working elevators that can get us close would be the elevators in room H7 and K4." The operative called Ifrit declared as he looked up from his Navigator.

"Perfect." The Commander sighed, and Keith spoke up.

"What?" He asked her.

"That means we have to make our way through the maintenance tunnels." The Commander explained to them. "Ifrit, I need a schematic for the maintenance tunnels."

"No can-do boss." Ifrit apologized, tinkering with his forearm monitor. "Something's interfering."

There was a noticeable chill now, Ifrit's forearm monitor wouldn't display the lower laboratory correctly, and the GPS had also glitched. Ifrit tried to relocate the group via external MNAV Satellites operating at a 24 MHz bandwidth range, but all the screen showed was 'ERROR'.

"Crystal, can you sense anything in the area?" Keith asked as he pushed the elevator button.

"… No, it's like there's some sort of… interference almost." Crystal shook her head, "Something's just, wrong..."

"I don't like it either." Ifrit agreed, tapping away at his forearm monitor, "Something in the labs must be emitting a MEIF."

"A Micro-Electronic Interference Field," Jessica explained to Keith, "More commonly known as a 'Dead Zone' to many."

"Oh." Keith nodded, and the seven piled into the elevator.

The elevator was a tight fit, and a dark part of Keith's mind roiled up, 'Soon to be less cramped…' He thought before slightly shaking his head. Crystal noticed the slight change in emotions, and tried to mentally communicate with Keith. The pressure on his head was slight, but not uncomfortable, more like a gentle squeeze. Maybe it was Crystal's version of knocking on a door?

*What's wrong?* Crystal asked Keith, her violet eye trained on him.

*This book predicts the future, that we're certain of.* Keith replied, holding the black book tighter. *It says someone will die, I wonder if maybe I can change it.*

Keith opened the book again, and another passage had burned itself into the pages. 'To change the set means to write the path, yet that means time will change as well. Change too much, and time will unravel, a paradox here, a paradox there. It is best to let the book be the guide. Death, unfortunately, is unavoidable.' Keith read, and sighed, guess that answered that question.

*On further inspection, the book literally told me not to change anything.* Keith mentally sighed, closing up the book. *It had a good point too… but…*

*But what?* Crystal asked him, narrowing her eyes.

*Nothing, just me being silly.* Keith fake joked to Crystal, who could tell and didn't press any more.

She withdrew from his mind and both noticed that everyone was staring at the two of them. Keith looked around and noticed they had arrived.

"What happened?" The Commander asked him.

"Crystal wanted to have a private conversation." Keith told her, walking out of the elevator and taking in his surroundings.

The rounded tunnels were dark and grim, making them difficult to navigate. The MTF team members donned night vision goggles and helped guide the others without them. But it was soon clear that without Ifrit's guidance, they were hopelessly lost. They turned left, and then left again, following the path down the hall. The team turned left one more time and then headed down the hall and took a right. They found an area with working night vision goggles on the ground, and Keith found a red pill. He pocketed it for later, remembering the passage from the black book. Jessica offered Keith the night vision goggles, but he refused and let her wear it. The team exited the room and took the first right, went all the way down the hall, and took a left, then a right. As they were walking down the hall, they could hear SCP-106 laughing. He merged out of a corroding section of the wall and the group ran off in the other direction. They turned a corner and Keith cursed as once again, he had come literally face to face with SCP-173.

The group backtracked, there being no time to contain the rogue SCP, and ran off.

Keith took a right with the group, and then a left, right, right, left? Right? He found himself at a dead end, lost and confused. Somehow in the ensuing chaos, he had separated from the main group. He began to try and retrace his steps, hoping that both SCP's had moved on. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! Heavy metallic footsteps echoed out in front of Keith, and he hid behind the wall of the intersection. A Savitar-esque exo-suit hulked around the far corner, it's heavy footsteps echoing throughout the halls. The exo-suit almost resembled an alien suit of armor, was completely metallic, and also covered its occupant from head to toe. The inside of the suit, such as the rib cage area and the eyes seemed to glow a light blue color. The exo-suit was tall, barely fitting in the tunnels. The intimidating exo-suit briefly stopped and scanned the area, a predator-like, foot long retractable blade shot out of the wrist as the exo-suit scanned the area before moving on.

Keith also saw a cyborg presenting a foreboding and grisly countenance. It wore the usual D-Class garb. Much of a human face remained on the bald head, but had been heavily modified. What looked to be cybernetic breathing tubes that were embedded into the cheekbones, which were most likely directly connected to the windpipe. There also seemed to be some sort of breath mask attached to the mouth. The device was affixed to the upper part of the cyborg's chest and protected by an armored torso harness. Keith could easily hear the distinctive mechanical inhale and exhale of the cyborg in front of him. The left arm was normal, but the left arm was a grisly prosthetic, though some flesh remained. The prostheses featured a set of metal claws attached to the finger tips. Despite their considerable length, they did not appear to cause any inconvenience on the part of the cyborg.

It stomped after the exo-suit, but suddenly stopped. Cold, calculating eyes scanned the room as Keith pressed up against the wall as much as he could. Motorized whirs signaled the cyborg's movement, growing louder and louder. Keith held his breath as the cyborg stopped just short of the intersection, it's cold and flat face betraying no hint of emotion. The cyborg turned around and walked off, and Keith let out a breath of relief. Suddenly an immense pressure slammed into Keith's head and he let out a pained gasp.

*Ke… re… ou?* Crystal's voice asked him, her voice sounded fuzzy and faint.

*I'm lost, be careful! There are other enemies here!* Keith replied, and suddenly everything became clearer.

*More enemies? They must have been emitting that field or something. I can sense you now.* Crystal spoke nervously. *I can guide you, go straight down the hall.*

Keith walked straight down the hall, and turned right on Crystal's guidance. He proceeded to walk down the hall and then took the first right. He went down this hall and took the first right, proceeded to the far wall, and took a left. Crystal warned Keith not to take the first right, as there was a SCP in that hall, and Keith took the second right. He met up with the group and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where's Agent Archangel?" The Commander questioned Keith upon arrival.

"Who?" Keith asked her, and looked around. They were missing one person.

The MTF-Commander radioed the missing operative, but there was no response. Only static. A lead weight settled within his stomach, and Keith looked at the black book using the light of the elevator. Ifrit, now that whatever was generating the interference had gone, typed in a few commands on the forearm monitor. The group backtracked to find the MTF-Agent lying in a pool of his own blood, the task force armor heavily corroded. Just as the black book had prophesized, one member would lose their life.

"This will be a problem." The Commander sighed.

"We got other problems too." Keith told them. "I ran into some interesting looking things down here."

"Things?" Jessica asked him, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"Yeah, one was definitely a cyborg, that I could see clear enough. It had some sort of breathing tubes and clawed hands." Keith nodded earnestly. "The other was some sort of huge robot thing, it barely fit in the halls."

Crystal did her little mental 'door knock' as Keith had aptly labeled, and proceeded to view Keith's memories. She then showed everyone else the threat and even the Commander noted that this was a very useful field application of her abilities. They backtracked once more and rode the elevator up in silence, now they were on the other side of the massive doors. The team walked in silence, there was nothing to talk about. As they opened up a door, Keith visibly flinched away while keeping his eyes directly on the murder statue. The Mobile Task Force team began to take turns watching the statue as two members lifted it up with some difficulty and set it onto a metal plate. The others put a plate on top and fixed steel beams to it. The Commander pressed a combination on the side of the bottom plate and it began to levitate, a low electrical hum filled the air.

"Alright, SCP-173 re-contained." The Commander stated into a radio, "Ifrit, Beltway, you are to accompany Lieutenant Willows and Keith to and through the labs. We'll try to return this SCP to a proper holding cell."

Both members of the Task Force belted an affirmative and the two groups went their separate ways. Jessica, Keith, Crystal, Ifrit, and Beltway continued through the hallway. Although Ifrit seemed more of the technical type, he still carried an assault rifle. Keith could tell Beltway was either demolitions or heavy infantry. He and Ifrit were complete opposites. Beltway was pretty big for a person, roughly standing six foot three and about twice the size of a normal person. Keith had no doubt that while Beltway was thicker than the average person, he could hardly be called fat. You don't get into a field op Spec OPS team without being in shape. By comparison, Ifrit was small, maybe around 5 feet exact and seemed to lean forwards slightly. Keith guessed he was field tech.

"Yo Beltway, what's up with the 939?" Ifrit asked the big man.

"I have a name." Crystal huffed narrowed her eyes.

"So I've heard." Beltway shrugged, "SCP-939-03 likes to refer to herself as Crystal, her only main alliance is D-9431 or commonly known as Keith."

"Better." Crystal smirked, the big man had some respect.

"Alright, Ifrit, Beltway. Sound off." Jessica told the two operatives, "Personal Identification is key at the moment, I like to know whom I'm working with."

"Yes ma'am." Beltway nodded, he had to duck slightly as they passed through a door, "Private Max Jacobson, heavy infantry and light demolitions expert. Callsign 'Beltway'."

"Private Eric Lance, Callsign 'Ifrit'." Ifrit sounded of, "Tech expert and field intelligence."

Jessica held up a hand, they fell silent. They could hear footsteps echoing in the right branch of the T-section corridor. Taking a look, the whole area had SCP-106's presence everywhere. Corroded bodies, darkened patches in the walls, rotting footprints… the only thing missing was SCP-106. Treading carefully, the team moved on.

"We'll need to take a right," Ifrit told them, his breath misted.

It was eerily quiet on the other side. Something wasn't right. Everyone's breath was visible in the air and as they proceeded, the could feel an oppressive weight on their shoulders. Something was close. They rounded a corner and stopped dead in their tracks. There was a woman standing in the middle of the intersection. She wore the same outfit as the mysterious main that was aiding Keith.

"Target located." The woman announced, her voice as smooth as silk, and as blasé as ice.

"Uh oh," Keith gulped as the woman fixated on him.

He tried the button to the door's and noticed that it wasn't responding. Ifrit instantly went into the control panel and began trying to fix the problem. Trouble was brewing, and Keith subtly slipped Ifrit the Black Book.

"I've been searching for you for some time, Keith Richards." The woman spoke to him, her icy tone calm and collected.

The woman started walking forwards towards the group, and everyone trained their weapons on her.

"Don't move!" Jessica shouted to the woman, who ignored her commands.

Her pace never changed, and everyone opened fire. Still, her pace remained the same. Everyone opened fire on her, but just as bullets didn't affect the mysterious man, they were useless against the woman as well. Beltway charged forwards, and rushed the woman.

She ducked under the second swing and snapped back up, her boot smashing into Beltway's gut and throwing him back a bit. She then unleashed a barrage on him. A double palm heel blow to both ears, ripping downward along the cheek and collapsing onto his throat; stepping under and inside his flailing arms to shoot an elbow upward into his abdomen, taking his center; rolling into a palm heel strike to the

groin; and back into a rising elbow to the underside of his chin; arcing down into another

palm heel onto the bridge of his nose. There were no wind ups, no wasted motion; each

movement was designed to roll naturally into the next. His body jerked from one direction to the other, in rhythm to the opposite lines of each attack. The woman quickly turned to Jessica and evaded a strike, and two bullets were fired into the hood. Nothing happened, and Jessica received a blow to her windpipe. Another precise barrage was unleashed. One fist made contact with her bladder and the other to underside of her cheekbone. A palm heel blow to her sternum, two punches to the solar plex. A side kick to the gut; dashing inside to shoot an elbow upward into her abdomen, and three punches to the liver. Another blow to the throat followed by a kick to her cheek. Each movement fluid and natural.

Keith raced up to her while the woman was distracted with Jessica, but she just turned around and grabbed Keith by the wrist. She threw him off to the side, and the others regrouped.

They were easily outmatched by this person, and Keith knew that. Time for plan b.

"I got them!" Ifrit shouted to the group. "The doors are open!"

Just in time too. The group ran for it, and Keith suddenly stopped, turning to the group.

"Go! She only want's me! Keith yelled to the group, "I'll find another way around!"

He ran to the left and the woman gave chase, closing the door behind her. Keith took a right into a hallway, he reached the open door and suddenly the door closed and the button stopped working. The woman calmly entered the room, casually stalking closer and closer. Keith dropped his handgun to the ground, it was useless against her and he knew that. Escape was not an option right at the moment either.

"W-Who are you?" Keith asked the threatening woman.

"Your friend never told you about us?" The woman questioned him, and the look in Keith's eyes told her everything. She searched his body. "You and I are going to have a little talk somewhere private, and if you behave, maybe some of your friends will live."

"What do you want from me?" Keith inquired, trying to stall the woman.

The woman's fist lashed out, catching Keith straight in the face. His head smacked against the metal door, and everything went black.


Yep. The big cliffhanger. Am I sorry? Not in the slightest. Let me know, who do YOU think this mysterious person is? Be warned, I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this person. There are million-dollar blockbuster movies less entertaining on the roller-coaster I'll soon be taking you on. That's all for now, Agent Archangel, signing out.