"Author"'s Note: Despite all of my efforts, I still find myself inexplicably rushing chapters and posting them without thinking them through. This chapter was originally a crossover with Overlord, but it wasn't up to my standards. I promise I'll do Overlord in the future, just not for this chapter.
As an apology, I'd like to present to you my longest chapter yet, and possibly the longest chapter I'll ever write.
Facility X-394.
A few minutes ago, Angela was busy calming down the Manager's panic attacks when he realized that he had somehow lost the ability to pause, speed up time, slow down time, or restart the day. Angela calmly examined the issue and found that deep within the facility's machines, both System 32 and System TT2 had stopped working. The former was caused by a common programming error that she was able to fix easily, the latter on the other hand appeared to be caused by a mechanical malfunction, likely having to do with physical damage done to the machines.
She would have had Hokma fix the issue as he held most of the authority over the TT2 systems. Unfortunately, this was a core suppression day, a day where all Sephirahs were deactivated; Sometimes Angela would find herself feeling unbearable disappointment with Ayin's script, but it didn't persist for more than a few milliseconds as any feeling of anger she once had was emptied out long ago. The AI told X to simply continue his work while she tried to fix the problem, much to his dismay.
When Angela had arrived at the Memory Repository Chamber however, she found that the machine wasn't simply just damaged. Several components appeared to have been melted and dissolved like what Abel's office would become in the Architecture department. Angela took a look at the camera footage and found it to be replaced by black static, similar to the phenomenon that occurred when Angela tried to review footage of the unknown figure that invaded the facility from the other side.
There was a correlation wasn't there?
At that moment, Angela heard the footsteps of an entity that was attempting to sneak away. Angela turned around and eyed the figure wearing a fedora. It was the same entity from an hour ago that she was unable to execute due to a strange compulsion to ignore it. Ignore, not as in forget, but to not bother as if it wasn't relevant. The AI remotely closed every entrance in the room, and began to question the entity.
"You have evaded every execution bullet fired at you. Any attempt to store relevant information about you has been met with my systems labeling you as irrelevant. Every employee you have walked past has either not noticed your presence, or not seemed to care. Just what exactly are you?"
The figure slowly turned around, and scrutinized Angela for a moment before getting into a fighting stance.
"Me? I'm a Nobody."
Welfare Department.
DarkDay was leaning against the wall, waiting for the Manager to give him orders.
DarkDay was always depressed. Not because of the looming threat of death, but because of the lack of it. To put it simply, DarkDay was one of the few people in the facility that were aware of being trapped in a time loop. Though his memory isn't as good as the Manager's, he could still faintly remember significant moments of the past cycles.
"I don't know guys, I don't really trust that thing..." DarkDay said to his colleagues.
"Come on Day! We've already sent eleven people in and they turned out fine! If not, better!" His enthusiastic friend insisted.
He couldn't deny that the new abnormality was definitely beneficial for everyone. But he was still concerned about why it was able to shift it's containment unit across the facility at a moments notice. Regardless, his friends had good judgement, he could count on them if things went wrong.
DarkDay urked at the memory. This was many, many cycles ago, and yet he could remember it as if it was just yesterday. It was an incident that would haunt him the same way the ghost of Tiffany haunted the Sephirah of the training department.
The reason DarkDay could remember these past cycles was because DarkDay was an Apostle. WhiteNight's Apostles were practically universal constants, as once they were selected, there was no getting rid of them. No matter how many times the Manager restarted, and no matter how far he moved back, the Apostles would always be there.
DarkDay's eyes heated up as more memories passed through his skull.
"Greetings, young one. Have you come to be blessed as well?"
DarkDay was greeted by the soft voice. Indeed, it held the warm and gentle undertone that his friends had told him about. Though DarkDay never recalled anyone mentioning the Plague Doctor to resemble a white fetus with wings. For some reason, the angelic halo that floated atop the creature's head felt out of place, it was as if it didn't belong.
Before DarkDay could ponder why, the Plague Doctor moved in for an embrace.
"No...Don't do it..." DarkDay uttered to himself, not seeming to care that he was attempting to speak to an ancient memory. From an onlooker, he looked like he was just talking to himself.
DarkDay's legs began to shake. The heat in his eyes finally melting the icecaps within his tear ducts, allowing the water to flow out freely.
Strangely, DarkDay felt no joy when being embraced by the Doctor. It's wings were indeed warm and fluffy, and its gentle attitude was filled with benevolent passion.
And yet, something just felt wrong. The embrace didn't bring him the same comfort of when he had vented out his frustrations to the floating skull, the Doctor's benevolence felt fake, and it made him uncomfortable.
He didn't need to push away however, as the Doctor had already pulled away, seemingly satisfied with the embrace.
Then its eyes opened.
DarkDay collapsed to the ground, his fragile legs no longer having the strength (or no longer wanting) to support him. He sobbed, legs close to his chest, and his arms wrapping around them. He crawled near the corner of the wall in an attempt to make himself look smaller. His tears were as blue as the department he was in.
Little by little, blood trickled out of the Doctor's eyes. Slowly increasing in intensity as if they had been building up behind those lids for sometime. It almost looked like the creature was crying with the way the blood leaked out.
"Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil."
WhiteNight's Voice echoed across the entire containment unit, as if it had roared with a volume loud enough to circle around the world several times. It's voice no longer held the gentleness of the Plague Doctor, the creature's voice reeked of authority and overpowering cruelty.
As the so-called-devil tried to step back in utter fear of the false prophet, it disappeared. Before he could ponder where it went, he found that a beaked bone-like mask had been stuck to his face. Desperately, he clawed at it, trying to tear off the mask like it was a parasitic tumor, yet the mask clung to him like it was a part of his skull. He couldn't feel his nose, he couldn't feel his lips, he couldn't even feel his eyelids, it was as if his very face was replaced by the mask.
DarkDay was pulled out of his struggle when he heard the screams. Rushing out of the containment unit, DarkDay didn't notice anything strange at first, aside from a few clerks running in fear. DarkDay ran to where he presumed the source of the ordeal would be. What he saw sent enough chills down his spine to shatter it.
There, was WhiteNight, floating within the center of central command, surrounded by tall lanky humanoids with bone-like exoskeletons. There looked to be flesh in-between their ribcages, metallic wings sprouted from their backs, their feet resembled some twisted mockery of high-heels. They all carried various weapons, scythes, spears, wands, all being used to slaughter the employees and be showered in guts and glory. What scared DarkDay the most was their hair. They looked...familiar?
Horrified recognition shot through DarkDay's now expressionless face. A scythe wielding apostle with brownish hair picked up an employee by their head before cutting it off. Was that Cloie?
DarkDay looked to the other side, he saw a blue haired apostle approaching a blue haired woman that was desperately trying to crawl backwards. It was BongBong, and her tears were not ones of fear, but those of horrified betrayal. Desperately, BongBong screamed at the apostle.
"HARRY PLEASE! ITS ME! DON'T DO THIS! I STILL-"
Not even letting her finish, the apostle formerly known as Harry impaled BongBong through her chest and rammed her into the wall. Still barely alive, BongBong used the last of her strength to finish her sentence, and hold the apostle's face in her hands.
"l-l-love...you..."
And just like that, Life faded from BongBong, her arms fell limp, swaying as if they were rusty hinges. 'Harry' pulled it's spear out, and walked to the next victim.
DarkDay tried to save as many as he could, desperately standing in between an apostle and a clerk. Yet the apostles ignored him, and casually walked by as if he didn't exist.
Many thoughts flooded his already drowning mind.
Why? Why was this happening? Was it because he rejected the Doctor's embrace? Why is he the only one getting to live? Why is-
"DarkDay."
A voice interrupted the masked employee's thoughts. It was a familiar voice. A voice of guidance. A voice of hope.
"M-m-m...M-manager?" The heretic's trembling voice came out, likely choking from his own tears.
"Good to see that you're still alive DarkDay." The Manager said.
The tears should have been emptied by now, but they still kept coming. "Oh manager...they...they're all dead!"
Even though he couldn't see him, he could somehow feel the Manager nodding in understanding.
"DarkDay, I highly doubt it, but if you're still willing to listen to my orders...confess to OneSin."
The skull.
The heretic shakily stood back up, not even noticing that he was curled up on the floor. He began his painful journey, walking past many monstrous abnormalities such as the Mountain, all of which ignored him as if his existence wasn't worth acknowledging. On the way he tried to save any clerks that were running towards danger, but he was unable to prevent any of their deaths. Some would run off in hysterical insanity, right into the King of Greed's jaws. Others had melted into pink slime right inside DarkDay's arms.
Regardless, DarkDay kept walking, his pace quickening for every corpse he came across. He gagged more than once, but it seemed the mask prevented him the luxury of even throwing up. He walked past several more monsters, including [CENSORED], its appearance surprisingly didn't scare him.
Eventually, the heretic found himself within the chamber of the benign skull. It's eternally radiant light brought DarkDay a warm soothing feeling. But he didn't waste his time gobbling up a hundred of the creature's good deeds, instead he confessed to it his one terrible sin.
After all, none of it would have happened if he didn't become the twelfth apostle.
"DarkDay. Hey, DarkDay!"
A voice awoke DarkDay from his memories. Attempting to brush off his dried tears, he stood up to greet Hunter.
"Jeez, you've been having those day-mares again?" Hunter asked, with a rare display of genuine concern in his tone. Hunter had just returned from his work with'Snow White's Apple', and the scars on his skin made it obvious he tried to flirt with her, his face however showed a 'worth it' expression. It was common knowledge among many employees that Hunter was a bit...'unprofessional' when it came to female abnormalities.
Still, it made DarkDay smile knowing that even during Day 46, Hunter was still held the happy-go-lucky attitude that ate away at the tense atmosphere of a Core Suppression day. DarkDay distinctly remembered the time Hunter was kicked out of the Central Department because he kept referring to Tiphereth as 'Tiff-Tiff'. The sight of the female Tiphereth blushing in rage still made DarkDay chuckle to this day.
"Come on Day, we'll get through this cycle, just like the last ones. My degeneracy hasn't failed me yet!"
DarkDay smiled. He wondered how Hunter was able to maintain his attitude despite being an apostle just like DarkDay. Regardless, with a newfound resolve, DarkDay eagerly awaited his next assignment. He would get through this, just like the previous cycles.
District 12.
The Black Fixer woke up with a yawn. He didn't get much sleep due to the importance of timing within this mission. Luckily, sleep deprivation was something most fixers got used to when they had to work within foreign Nests and Backstreets. It seemed that the power-nap was so short that the campfire hadn't even gone out yet. Speaking of campfire, he saw the red fixer and the claw-wielder sitting near it. It seemed they were chatting, something that was surprising considering how antisocial they both were.
A glaring beam of light shone on his goggles and made him wince. It seems that Dawn was very close, something that made the Black Fixer groan in annoyance and tiredness. He looked to his side and saw that both the White Fixer and the Pale Fixer had not woken up yet.
"Hey Roy, its almost time for the attack but uh...can you go first? Paul and Whitney are still asleep, and I'll be a liability with how drowsy I am."
Much to his delight, the Red Fixer nodded. After pulling out the strange device, the red-eyed mercenary held it in his palms and pressed the button. Pop, he was gone.
"Huh...I was kinda expecting something like a bright flash of light, not just...disappearing." The sleepy fixer noted, sounding disappointed. Before he or the Claw could make any further contribution to the conversation, a large swarm of brown maggots materialized right in front of their very eyes.
Manager's Office.
To say X was anxious would be an understatement.
Earlier today, he noticed that none of his TT2 Protocol related buttons were functioning properly. Not only that, but his ability to restart the day had also completely disappeared. For a second he thought he had accidentally ended up skipping to Day 49 through some kind of glitch in the timeline. But that couldn't be right, Hokma didn't actually stop you from pausing, he just made doing it undesirable.
Right now he was taking the day slow. Not slow enough for WhiteNight to breach of course, but enough that he could gather his thoughts. The implications of being unable to pause weren't actually as nightmarish as the first time he fought Hokma, but given how unusual this cycle has been so far, he doubted it would be the only problem he would come across. It was too late to go back now, X just hoped that Angela would come back with a status report soon.
From meaningless errands, to exploration, to contract killing; they will do whatever you wish, so long as you pay them sufficiently.
Lamarcus paced back and fourth in the Training Department. In his hand was Sword that literally needed to be cried on for it to be sharpened. Lamarcus was known to be overly protective of his colleagues, always charging in head-first into danger. His approach to combat earned him the title of 'voluntary meatshield'.
The alarm of a meltdown was heard, and Lamarcus eagerly rushed towards the elevator and went up to the orange corridor upon hearing the Suppression order.
What greeted him was a humanoid figure with one glowing red eye, and armor resembling scrap metal. Retracting a heated blade out of a clerk's corpse, the armored entity calmly approached him. The room was then filled with the rushed footsteps of the other agents attempting to catch up with Lamarcus. Despite the difference in numbers, the Red Fixer seemed confident that the odds were in his favor.
Lamarcus made the first move, slashing at the fixer's chest with the needle-shaped sword. It barely even scratched the seemingly old and rugged armor, only putting a black streak where there should have at least been a dent. The fixer responded in kind by throwing a stab toward the employee, the attack's results were mirrored in that it only made Lamarcus wince, despite his armor being undamaged.
While Lamarcus was busy in his stalemate with the fixer, another agent attacked the fixer from behind with a weapon resembling a long plant stem. The stab seemed to make the fixer wince, it turned around and fired a round of shrapnel at the offender before continuing to cut at the plant-like employee as if it was chopping a tree.
The fixer then found three more weapons piling onto it's armor, the single R type attack was completely shrugged off, but the B type attacks were eating away at the red eyed figure. Not only that, but the surveillance camera at the far corner of the room fired a strange bullet at the group of agents, causing a shield resembling red-tinted glass to materialize on them. Wanting to end the battle quickly, the fixer backed away from the group of agents, before charging back in with a quick succession of powerful slashes.
With the sound of shattering glass, the Red Fixer broke through the shields and managed to kill one of the agents. The discomfort of the agents was quickly recovered by the surveillance camera firing blue bullets into them. It was around this moment that more agents arrived. Not wanting to be overrun, the red-eyed fixer began to charge up a powerful weapon on his gauntlet. Unfortunately for the fixer, all the agents ran out of the way before the large red beam was even fired.
The Red Fixer continued to fight with all of his might, but was getting overrun. In a last ditch effort, the fixer pointed his gauntlet upwards as it rapidly inflated. And as if bursting like a balloon, the gauntlet fired a massive beam that penetrated the facility. In exhaustion, the fixer's arm swung downwards, causing the beam to arc downwards as well.
He wasn't sure how many people he killed, but the fixer was no longer in a position to fight. He activated the teleporter and escaped back to the surface.
Containment Site-C11, Primary Containment Chamber.
Doctor Case stood in front of the mirror-like portal that was SCP C11, cup of water in one hand, clipboard in the other.
Near him, was Doctor Lee, another scientist with a bored expression on his face. Wanting to break the silence, Lee spoke up. "Man, it's a real shame they denied our offer, but I guess they deal with breaches on a daily basis."
Case replied with the same tone of disappointment. "Indeed, while our containment procedures would be the equivalent of sealing the breach on a glass of water, their method of 'containment' is comparable to just pouring more water into the cup."
Lee chuckled at Case's water metaphor. Case always had a strange obsession with water, at first Lee attributed it to a preference for healthy lifestyle, but now it seemed that Case just really liked water. "Justin, you think this is gonna end up like Prometheus?" He asked in a tone that suggested he was making a bet.
Surprisingly, Case shook his head. "Although their approach to containment is terrible, anything bad in theory can still be good in practice, if executed correctly of course. Even if they are just pouring water into a breached cup, they have more than enough water to do it for a lifetime." Case said as-matter-of-fact-ly, taking another sip from his cup.
"You're an interesting man Case. That being said, I do wonder what could be so concerning that they won't talk to us for the next four days?" Lee remarked. Yesterday, Cloie explained that the facility would be undergoing some kind of massive ordeal, the specifics weren't mentioned, but Cloie said that they shouldn't be expecting any communications until at least five days have past.
Before either scientists could continue with the topic, the sound of an explosion was heard from the portal. Unlike the explosions frequently heard whenever the agents of the Corporation needed to deal with an ordeal, this explosion sounded echoey, massive.
"Do you think we should be worried about that?" Lee asked.
Case seemed to be in deep thought. "I doubt there is any serious issue but...we should sign a request to put the guards alert."
District 12.
The campfire had long since extinguished, similar to how the Red Fixer's fighting spirit had also been extinguished.
The White Fixer had woken up a few minutes ago, and now she stared in worry at the exhausted form of her red-eyed colleague. The Red Fixer seemed to have over-exerted himself and ended up being far more wounded then he was planning to be prior to his attack. "I'll be fine I think, just gotta rest until Dusk. Can you guys fight at Noon without me?" He asked.
Feeling guilty that he made his colleague fight alone, the Black Fixer approved of the request before anyone else could object. "Well, its gonna be just me and Whitney for the next attack I guess. Paul is still sleeping, and ol' Claw had to deal with these weird maggot things." The Black Fixer replied awkwardly, while pointing to the Claw's now orange-stained gauntlet.
"You should have seen it Roy. Mister Claw injected himself with some orange juice and then he just charged straight through the bugs!" The White Fixer said excitedly. She had opened her eyes (a rare sight) and the Red Fixer swore he could see stars in it, he didn't even know what stars were.
"Enough fangirling over the Head's shock-troops Whitney, we've got a contract to kill." The hammer-wielder remarked before disappearing.
"Hey! Wait for me!" The angelic fixer said in panic while fumbling with her teleporter.
They search constantly, be it for the Backers of the Wings, the Inventions of the Backstreets, the Relics of the Outskirts, the Artifacts of the Ruins...
The agents of the Disciplinary Department charged in to deal with the two new threats. The leading captain was Shao, an experienced suppression specialist who could run very fast during fights due to the properties of her suit.
Shao spotted two figures in the hallway. One was an armored entity covered in black feathers while holding a massive hammer, the other was an angelic figure that levitated on the ground while carrying an equally massive cannon on her back. Shao pondered which one to attack first.
Her pondering was cut short however as the White Fixer immediately pointed her weapon forward. Gritting her teeth, Shao urged her subordinates to run to the other side of the room where the cannon wasn't facing. Though the agents managed to avoid the onslaught of headache-inducing chemicals created by the White Fixer's beam, a few of them were injured when the Black Fixer nicked them with the hook of his hammer.
The agents started attacking, not getting orders to prioritize their weapons however as the Manager seemed to be having a panic attack. Appearing to be more annoyed than anything, the Black Fixer raised his hammer and brought it back down with a loud crunch. Threatening wounds appeared on the employees as their minds and bodies had been eroded by the shockwave. As if panicking, the surveillance camera began to rapidly fire healing bullets at the agents.
The agents were soon ordered to run to the other side of the room as the White Fixer charged up her cannon, facing upwards this time. As the agents narrowly avoided the danger zone, the angelic fixer swung her cannon downwards, emitting a thick, dense, white fog that might as well have been poisonous smoke.
Then, from the elevator, five agents of the Extraction Department came, coughing heavily due to the smoke. It seemed that they arrived just on time as the Black Fixer was now impaling the handle of his hammer into the floor like a flag, said hammer was emitting a pulsing yellow light. The Manager knew exactly what this entailed, and ordered every employee present in the Briah level to focus their attacks on the Black Fixer. They swarmed it, ignoring the blasting headaches caused by the hammer's pulsing.
The Black Fixer finished its 'pulsing'. To the luck of the agents, none of the abnormalities in the Disciplinary Department had a Qliphoth Counter that was lower than one, meaning none of them escaped. Their relief was cut short when the White Fixer charged up her cannon again.
The agents retreated into the main room of the Disciplinary Department. While they were catching their breaths, the agents of the Central and Welfare Departments rushed by. Not wanting the fixers to hunt down their wounded colleagues, the group of fifteen agents blocked off the main room's entrance like a living, breathing barricade.
The employees were now collectively swarming the White Fixer. After displaying an expression of pain on her usually neutral face, the White Fixer raised her cannon like a shield, and began to pray. Though the Manager was quick to redirect their attention to the Black Fixer, some of the employees got the order too late and found their own bullets being fired right back at them. Regardless, the Black Fixer was now the one enduring the blows of fifteen weapons.
He once again impaled the floor with his hammer's handle, the hammer itself began pulsing again. The agents were unable to continue attacking the Black Fixer as they now needed to evade the White Fixer's blast of fog. The employees focused their attacks on the White Fixer once more, now being joined by the Disciplinary agents. Unable to take any more discipline, the White Fixer teleported out, leaving behind a thick white cloud. Unfortunately during that moment, the Manager could hear the alarm of a trumpet signifying the breach of two abnormalities from the red department.
Wanting to finish the fixer off as soon as possible, the twenty agents pummeled the last fixer with all of their might. Eventually, the mercenary teleported out of the facility, leaving behind a Qliphoth Meltdown for the two remaining abnormalities in the department, much to the dismay of the wounded employees.
Facility X-394.
The Manager's panic was worsening by the second. Two abnormalities had escaped, the Big (and Will be) Bad Wolf and the Dimensional Refraction Variant. Both were irritating abnormalities as one specialized in being too fast to catch while the other was literally untraceable by the facility's systems (Oh, and he can't pause to search for it, lovely).
He watched the wolf transform into a smokey black cloud that rapidly zoomed toward the upper part of the Central Department like a missile. The big and definitely bad wolf let out an ear-piercing howl, causing all the clerks in the department to go insane.
Site C11.
"Uh...Justin, you heard that right?" Lee asked regarding the distant howl.
"Yes. Yes I did." Case replied plainly as if Lee was stating the obvious.
"Do you think we should be worried about that?" Lee asked.
"Given the fact that I now have a stinging headache, yes. Put in a request to have more guards on standby. I'm gonna go check if I've been afflicted by a cognitohazard."
All employees of the Briah zone had finally arrived and were now cutting more scars into the already scarred Wolf. The Wolf snarled in annoyance before turning into a cloud of smoke again. The Manager recalled the Briah zone employees back to their respective departments, and switched his attention to the Asiyah level.
The Wolf was indeed headed upwards. Right into the exact department that the Manager didn't want him to go to, Security. As the Wolf howled again, it triggered it's lifelong rival to breach, Little Red. Running faster than a employee with level 5 justice who had the 'wander' panic response, Little Red Riding Hood bursted through the door while emitting an aura of traumatic rage. Deciding it would be better for her to deal with the Wolf instead, the Manager ordered the agents to evacuate the department.
Not long after, the Wolf rushed out of the room in the form of a black cloud, followed close behind by a screeching Little Red. Employees and clerks alike desperately got out of the way of the mercenary's path as she chased the Wolf like a magnet (opposites attract, X supposed). The Wolf was in the Control Department now, but he was given no time to catch breath as Little Red was soon attacking him.
Meanwhile, the Manager was practically pressing his face into the monitor in order to find the location of the Dimensional Refraction Variant, something that was very difficult to do when it moved constantly and was practically invisible. Luckily he finally detected it after his eyes followed the trail of dismembered and floating bodyparts of the lower Central Department agents (X was glad he assigned Cloie to the Architecture Team).
With the sound of a star, Hunter from the Welfare Department launched projectiles at his invisible foe, the nature of the white weapon had ended up 'fixing' the creature to death.
The Manager switched his attention back to the fairytale creatures. Both Little Red and the Wolf were half dead, both covered in Crimson and Cobalt scars alike. The wolf let out another howl, causing Schadenfruede to pop out of the containment unit. All employees in the upper level were ordered to descend down into Central Command, only to be followed by the Wolf. The Manager couldn't risk the Wolf letting out even more abnormalities, so against his better judgement, he had his soldiers put the Wolf out of its misery.
This did not sit well with Little Red (putting it lightly), she went mad and began killing indiscriminately, screeching that her prey had been stolen. Though the army was able to take her out quickly, they paid a heavy price for it with the deaths of their comrades.
'Nobody' was desperately trying to crawl away from the clicking of the high heels. Unfortunately, he found this to be an especially difficult task when he now lacked a leg.
He was silently hoping that Angela would slip on his blood on the way towards him, but it seemed that didn't happen as Nobody now found himself being held up by the throat. Angela's amber eyes were penetrating into Nobody's white orbs. Angela's gaze held an expression not of cruel sadism, but of annoyed indifference. "How did you enter this facility unnoticed?" She asked again, her need for information was the only thing that stopped her from immediately putting Nobody out of his misery.
Nobody hadn't answered within fifteen seconds, resulting in Angela raising her other hand, silently threatening to pluck off his last leg. Before she did however, Nobody pulled out several glass bottles from his pocket and smashed them into Angela's porcelain face, all of them were labeled 'SCP 379'. The contents of the pale silver fluids coated the smooth white surface, some seeming to leak into the cracks on Angela's metallic skin, resulting in-
Nothing, aside from the machine giving Nobody an expression of disappointment. Angela made an inaudible sigh, and plucked off Nobody's other leg, tuning out the screaming followed by it. She still needed the information, so she opted to turn him into a Sephirot much like what she did to Benjamin.
At that moment however, Angela began to feel an intense heat radiating from her cranial region, spreading to the rest of her body. It was uncomfortable, and it made Angela feel light-headed, making the cold and efficient machine's grip shaky and loose. Nobody noticed and took advantage of the fact, easily squirming out of the formerly iron grip. It seemed to take a few seconds for Angela to register that she no longer held him prisoner, when she did, her attacks seemed to delay as her swings targeted the spots that Nobody had inhabited thirty seconds ago.
"What...Did...You...Do..." Angela demanded. Her entire body was heating up and shaking more intensely with every second. Nobody could see smoke literally fuming out of Angela's ears. He did not answer her question, and instead crawled further away, a new set of legs were growing out the holes in his amputated stumps. Angela collapsed to her knees and held her face in her hands, the heat was becoming unbearable. She could feel her thoughts becoming slower, and slower...and slower...a-a-n-n-d
Angela crashed.
Site-C11.
Case had returned from his session with the on-site memeticist, and he looked more confused than relieved.
"So how was it?" Lee asked.
"He asked me 'Does the Black Moon Howl?' and when I asked what he was talking about, he just told me I was clear and sent me back."
Before they could inquire further into the strange methods of dealing with memetics, they noticed that light bulbs in the room on the other side of the portal were experiencing a minor case of flickering. Though they started out minor, the flickering intensified, and the room even began to tremble.
"Do you think we should be worried about tha-"
One of the pipes bursted, spraying a searing hot steam onto the floor of the Corporation's containment unit. The rapidly rising temperature also signified that the containment unit was melting down.
"Yes Frank, we should definitely be worried." Case said. It wasn't long before the research team sent in a flying drone to investigate the matter on the other side. Cloie did say everything would be fine, but Prometheus Labs also said the same thing before they were torn inside out.
Facility X-394.
"This is fine."
That was the only statement X could utter out in the state of his hyperventilating breaths and overheating mind. First were the electrical malfunctions like the lights flickering, and the occasional static on the monitors. And then the ventilation intensified, the sound of blowing air got louder, but the vents weren't pumping in cool air, the air was hot. Speaking of hot, several abnormalities were now melting down, and X had no idea why.
Even the employees noticed this, and many of the clerks (that were still alive anyway) were screaming about the flickering lights and panicking that Big Bird may have escaped. Oh wait, it did.
The Manager's frail spider fingers were spazzing out and threatening to snap with the way he switched between cameras to shift his attention. X couldn't tell if the heat of the key pad was caused by his sweat or the fact that his own office may be experiencing a meltdown. Not only that, a strange flying drone had emerged from the 'Cheap Isekai Plot Device' that was contained in the Central Command Department had appeared, the way it flied made X uncomfortable as it reminded him of Punishing Bird.
Speaking of birds, Big Bird was still gobbling up clerks left and right, Luckily, Cloie and Harry were dealing with the big eyed creature. They took turns, one attacking and the other retreating when they were targeted by the many-eyed creature's 'Enchantment'. X just hoped no one would die of heatstroke.
/Synchronizing...
/Restarting Angelos Operating System...
/Restart successful-
/Correction.
/Restart partially successful.
/Angelos Operating System is experiencing unknown hardware fault. Cause assumed to be unknown external agent.
/Issue is extending to all connected components.
/Initiating temporary countermeasures. Coolants administered. Attempting System Cleanup.
X didn't know if it was caused by the successful suppression of Big Bird, but he was glad that the facility seemed to be returning to normal, partially at least. The unknown Qliphoth meltdowns were a lot less sporadic, and the lights weren't flickering as much. Though it was worrying that Angela still hadn't come back, the Manager felt they might be able to complete this day.
Since everything was calming down, the Manager was able to take a better look at the strange drone that had come from the Portal. Zooming in closer, he could see the symbol of the Foundation. Cloie waved at it while giving a bright and sincere smile, this would give the Foundation the impression that everything was under control.
Given that the Manager didn't really have time to deal with the Foundation's supposed peeping, he opted to continue his work while letting the drone observe his employees, though he did keep an eye on it as he wasn't completely trustful of the Foundation. He was just glad the ventilation wasn't blowing hot air in his face.
District 12.
The Pale Fixer had finally woken up, something his colleagues were glad of since they were not doing very well in the mission and needed the extra firepower. Earlier, the Claw and the Red Fixer found themselves needing to fight a large army of Sweepers that had spontaneously manifested as soon as the Black and White Fixers began their attack on the tweltth Wing. Though the scavenging creatures were more of a nuisance than an actual threat, it was becoming worrying that the manifestations were rising in difficulty.
"Come on Paul ya lazy bastard. We're not splitting the pay with you if you force us to carry this mission." The Black Fixer grumbled to the blue one. The Pale Fixer chuckled while opening up his briefcase, taking his sweet time to pull out his weapons out of the personalized pocket dimension.
After a grueling five minutes of the Pale Fixer cleaning his shiny weapons with expensive cloth in a vain attempt to make them shinier, his colleagues finally convinced him to stop showing off the financial difference and instead attack L Corporation like they were supposed to do.
/Facility power at 78.54%.
/Power consumption rate approaching critical levels. Processing speeds dropping.
/System Cleanup unsuccessful. Time until next crash: Five Hours.
The colossal tower of light was titled The Library. It is only natural for the Fixers to be drawn to such a mystic place of life and death.
All of the four fixers appeared en masse.
And worse, they all appeared in the same room. Barely anyone in the Control Department was able to survive the attack.
All the Asiyah zone employees gathered at the Information Department, reinforcements from the lower levels were arriving as well, something the employees would desperately need for the oncoming fight. Up they went through the elevator, and-
straight into a beam of red.
They retreated immediately, though many died in the process as the Manager wasn't able to draw them back fast enough. While healing his employees by shooting them, the Manager got a new idea and switched up his strategy and began annoying the Fixers instead of attacking them. The agents employed a hit-and-run tactic, rarely letting the Fixers retaliate. This game of cat and mouse continued until the four fixers chased the agents into the Central Command Department.
As they saw the agents leaving the yellow department again, their attempt to follow was interrupted by an unknown female voice from the intercom.
"Hop hop motherfuckers."
Suddenly an orange light filled the massive department, followed by an army of soldiers wearing black clothing with orange stripes and...rabbit ears.
Despite their ridiculous appearance, the four fixers were perfectly aware of how dangerous the soldiers were. They acted quickly, with the white fixer firing her cannon in a spinning arc, the red one fired his own beam at the approaching swarm, and the black one impaled his hammer into the floor once more to emit a yellow pulse.
Unfortunately for the fixers, their efforts were making little difference as even their Grade-3 weapons weren't enough to completely destroy the soldiers of R Corporation. The four mercenaries soon found themselves getting swarmed by bullets of varying types. The black and red one went down first, teleporting out of the facility as they knew the futility of their resistance against the rabbit soldiers. The White Fixer desperately attempted to reflect the bullets, but soon found her cannon losing its charge, forcing her out as well. The pale fixer did not struggle, instead, he flipped all the soldiers while singing 'fuck this shit i'm out~' before proceeding to yeet into his briefcase.
/Facility power at 70.98%.
/Coolants depleted. Temperature rising.
/Time until next crash: Four hours.
The machine had gotten a bit more lucid, but she wasn't improving by a large degree.
Angela's current situation reminded her of that time she was infected by a virus that made react and move slower. Except this time her central processing unit was on fire, and her entire body was on fire, and everything was on fire. Not only was she overheating, but she was also draining a large amount of power.
Since Angela's operating system was connected to nearly the entire facility, her crash from earlier seemed to have short circuited the entire building and nearly caused a facility wide Qliphoth meltdown. Though the automatic countermeasures were engaged, it only seemed to have delayed the problem.
She looked into the problem and saw that the short burst of coolants was what allowed her to start walking and thinking again, but it wouldn't last, soon enough the facility was going to be riddled with hundreds of Qliphoth meltdowns and breached abnormalities, and judging by the state of the TT2 devices, this may very well be the last time. For the first time in millennia, Angela was feeling regret. Why didn't she dispose of this cycle when she had the chance? Why did she play along with the introduction of this 'Foundation'? Why did she hesitate?
It didn't matter. She still needed to complete Ayin's script.
X was beginning to have doubts again (no not the ordeal).
The problem from a few hours ago had returned, and now even the office interface was being affected. The reaction of the assignments were delayed, the screen kept freezing, and the key pad was definitely overheating. How was the Manager going to defeat the Claw like this? Combined with his inability to pause? The meltdowns were going to destroy this facility far sooner than the Head's forces.
His thoughts drifted back to the portal.
If the next four days were going to continue like this, then he couldn't go on. There was no chance he could handle the remaining days, and truth be told, X didn't want to live in this cursed place any longer than the other clones had. He knew that Angela would try to stop him, she succeeded every other time he tried to kill himself, so he devised a new plan that would not only allow him to escape, but his employees as well.
X didn't know if it would work, but he would be damned if he was forced to repeat the cycle again.
District 12.
The Claw-wielding entity observed the four fixers lying on the ground, utterly defeated. The Claw itself was covered in red blood after a brief confrontation with some clowns.
The red one had it the worst, seeing as he was subjected to most of the concentrated attacks during his first infiltration attempt, his armor that originally looked like scrap metal now probably was scrap metal. The White Fixer's angel halo had fallen off, and her cannon was out of charge after it had taken so many blows for her. Nearly all of the feathers on the Black Fixer had fallen off from the sustained burns and cuts, his hammer was cracked and useless. The Pale Fixer on the other hand...he was practically unscathed as he was more concerned about his equipment getting too dirty and pulled out before any real damage was done to him.
"God...dammit. Fighting R Corporation was not what I signed up for." The Black Fixer muttered miserably as he now sat on his legs instead of lying on the ground. "The hell are they even doing here anyway?"
"Probably trying to get some of L Corporation's drugs. I heard they were pretty good 'encouragement' for factory workers." The White Fixer replied, she was now leaning against the log.
The Claw leaned down. "It appears you have all failed in this endeavor. This outcome was not unexpected, and I will have to deal with this personally."
The Red Fixer looked up, his helmet was now covered in cracks. "So you weren't just an escort and were more of a contingency plan, figures. What are you gonna do if you fail? We saw some monsters in there comparable to the shit that usually lives in the Ruins." The other three fixers visibly shuddered at the mention of the Ruins. They were never going to hunt for Artifacts ever again.
"In the event that I am unsuccessful, we will try our attack again tomorrow. Perhaps we will be able to sabotage the facility's systems to make our jobs easier. Just know that all of your pay is getting docked by 10% for each day of failure." The fixers collectively groaned at that.
Though the Head was usually reserved when punishing it's fixers, this job was important for reasons the mercenaries weren't told about. Only the Claw understood the importance of making sure the 'Tree of Light' was never completed, not a single one of the Wings wanted to face the fear that would be brought by it, lest they were forced to build the future from the ground up again.
In the press of a button, the Claw disappeared. When it did however, a rumbling tremor was heard, and the fixers looked in horror to see a massive worm had come out of the ground. The worm was covered in festering orange boils and tumors, and those tumors inflated, bursting like eggs and giving birth to smaller worms, which in turn birthed even smaller worms, ad inifinitum.
The Pale Fixer looked in worry to the other three fixers, suffice it to say, none of them were in a condition to fight. In a rare expression of seriousness that was not seen by his companions ever before, the Pale Fixer grabbed his friends and tossed them into his briefcase before proceeding to run as fast as his legs could take him.
To know and manipulate all the secrets of the world; that is the privilege of the Head, the Eye, and the Claws.
It is their honor and absolute power.
The facility was falling apart.
That much was obvious to the Claw when it entered. Corpses littered the ground, and the lights were barely functioning. The shock-troop didn't need to put much effort into killing the stragglers.
The place seemed to have been utterly taken over by the so called 'monsters' that the fixers had mentioned. It had come across a large creature that resembled a man that was wearing a straight jacket as well as some other restraints on his clothes. This creature's entire head appeared to have been replaced by a heavy shell made of metal. This creature was pitiful with the way it shivered and sniffled constantly, the Claw decapitated it with one swipe.
The shock-troop wondered if the fixers actually succeeded in their duties, as this place seemed wholly devoid of life, aside from a few straggling office workers. The Claw kept exploring, it was still in the higher levels of the facility, and it was possible that the remaining workers could have been hiding deeper down.
Its investigation was cut short by the sound of the intercom.
"Attention all employees, please stand in front of F-06-C11's containment unit and await further instructions."
Oh? That was interesting. The Claw didn't know where this area was, but it was good to know that all targets were going to be congregating in one spot.
/Facility power at 52.79%.
/Temperatures approaching critical levels
/Time until next crash: Three hours.
DarkDay had just heard the announcement from the intercom, and saw that all of his colleagues had immediately left. Whenever the Manager called the entire facility to a single spot, it was likely because he needed to destroy a single powerful entity. What was different was the fact that it was F-06-C11's containment unit specifically, and the Manager's tone in speaking seemed more like an evacuation order rather than a call to arms.
Not wanting to leave anyone behind, DarkDay checked the Records Department to see if there were any late employees. Unfortunately it seemed that the lights had been completely busted by the short circuiting from earlier. He had to hurry as the meltdowns would likely compromise the remaining abnormalities in that department.
"Hello?" A small feminine voice called out to DarkDay.
He shuddered. "W-Who's there?"
"I am a human!" The voice replied. It was nice of them to make it clear that they weren't an abnormality DarkDay supposed, but he was still weary of a deception. His worries were gone when he saw the sight of a red-haired employee with blue eyes emerging from the darkness. She seemed scared judging by the expression on her face.
"Follow me, the manager needs us up in Central Command." DarkDay said while urging the girl towards the department exit.
"Manager, manager! Manager!" The employee replied in a horrified and desperate tone. DarkDay realized she may have been traumatized from the breaches, perhaps she was new here? He had never seen her until today.
"Hey, calm down. It's gonna be okay, we're gonna get through this." He tried to comfort her, offering to take their journey slow. She grabbed DarkDay's arm and got uncomfortably close to him, her grip was unusually strong as well. DarkDay supposed hysteria was getting to her. He held his white weapon in case she panicked.
The pair traveled back up to the blue department, DarkDay was glad the elevators still functioned normally, in that they instantly teleported people. What was not as instant however, was their journey. DarkDay could have gotten to the Central Department within a few seconds, but the girl was forcing him to slow down like a ball-n-chain as she seemed to be on the brink of a panic attack.
"Uh, forgot to tell you. My name's DarkDay, what's yours?"
"Nothing." The girl replied, stopping DarkDay in his tracks.
"What?" DarkDay slowly turned his head to face the girl's now smiling face.
"Hehehe! Nothing, Nothing There!" The 'girl' chirped enthusiastically, DarkDay slowly realized why her eyes were blue. But it didn't make sense, he had seen Nothing There before when it took the skins of the employees, why did this one look so...alive? Did Nothing There somehow manage to grow its own skin? DarkDay was hoping against hope that the girl was just playing a prank on him.
"N-N-Nothing There? You don't mean the...the ab-"
"Human!" The 'girl' interrupted him, her unnatural smile growing much wider than should be possible with the muscles in a human's face. She released one hand and pointed to herself. "Me! Human!" The other hand squeezed DarkDay's arm to the point where it almost hurt. "Understand?"
DarkDay considered his options. There was obviously no way DarkDay could kill the skin-taker (now shapeshifter he supposed?) and if he tried to alert the others than the creature would likely show its true form in a fit of rage. Currently, Nothing There seemed to want him to play along with it's 'human' game and guide it to the employees. If he tried to divert away from the path, Nothing There would probably notice and attack as well.
"Uh...Y-Yeah, you're a human...just like...me..."
"Good." The 'girl' cooed, as she loosened her grip just enough so that it wouldn't be uncomfortable for him. DarkDay kept walking while the 'girl' pretended to cling to him. He knew that he couldn't stop it from reaching the others completely, but if he walked slow enough than he might be able to buy time for his colleagues to do...something. He just hoped that the Manager would notice Nothing There's disappearance soon.
/Facility power at 45.08%.
/Temperatures critical.
/Time until next crash: Two hours.
Central Command Department 2.
The employees were holding their ground as if they were entrenched.
Even in the current condition of the facility, any number of abnormalities that were unlucky enough to stumble into this particular spot would be completely decimated by the power of the facility's entire workforce. This was especially prevalent with Harry's presence, as he held a weapon of unmatched destruction that was simply known as 'Paradise Lost', a weapon that would impale any target with a field of pale thorns that spontaneously emerge from the ground.
The same fate nearly befell the Manager when he walked into the hallway, as the employees were expecting it to be another abnormality. After getting over the shock pf nearly being killed by his own subordinates, the Manager explained to his shocked employees that they were going to evacuate into an alternate dimension, stating that anywhere would be better than the torturous time loop they were trapped in, something the apostles agreed with greatly (except Cloie, she just nodded out of politeness).
Though they couldn't go immediately, as the Foundation may perceive the sudden influx of refugees to be an attack and accidentally kill all of them, luckily Cloie was there to negotiate. Eventually, after an uncomfortable amount of time, the Foundation agreed to take them in, though the process would be slow as only one person could go in at a time, and the Foundation had to do some kind of scan on the agents every time they passed through.
As the Manager watched the employees go into the containment unit one at a time, some stragglers occasionally arrived as well, X was glad they could make it. Even DarkDay arrived, with a strange red-haired agent that the Manager hadn't seen before clinging on to him. DarkDay looked extremely tense while the unknown employee just stared at X with what he could guess was killing intent, though no action was taken, much to the apparent surprise of DarkDay.
Once all of the agents had passed through the portal, (including the strange one, she winked at the Manager before going) X prepared to depart as well. Just as he tried to step through, he felt a warm hand grabbing the back of his lab coat.
"You cannot...leave, Manager. Ayin's script...has not been completed."
Angela.
/Facility power at 32.53%.
/Facility-wide meltdown imminent.
/Time until next crash: One hour.
X slowly turned around to see his former assistant.
The sight of Angela shocked him. She was trembling uncontrollably, smoke was emerging from her as if it was scrambling to escape, and Angela herself was radiating heat like a blast furnace, it seemed like she could barely even stand up.
"Angela." The Manager said, he didn't dare move as he knew that even in her weakened state, the blue haired machine was still more than capable of killing him on the spot. After an awkward thirty seconds, the android attempted to speak out whatever thoughts that were still preserved within its melting memory chip.
"Go back...to the office...Manager. Return to...memory..."
"I don't know if you've noticed Angela, but I've tried. Something happened to the TT2 protocol, and if the facility's current condition is proof enough, the time-machine's probably been destroyed."
Angela's reaction was delayed, the room was getting hotter with every moment of said delay. The Manager was drenched in sweat.
"It does not matter. This can still...Be fixed."
"What do you mean it can be fixed Angela? Look at this place! It's falling apart as we speak! Why are you even doing this?" He pointed to the state of the crumbling facility.
Angela's legs threatened to give out, but she still stood firm. Hydraulic fluid evaporated within Angela. "The script must...be completed. It is what Ayin desires." The machine's once focused eyes had gone completely blank, as if the soul that once resided there had departed to a much colder place.
"Its always 'Ayin' this and 'Ayin' that! What about what you want?"
The android tilted her head in confusion. "What...I want?" She didn't understand, as Ayin said, 'Machines should act like machines', they shouldn't want anything. Yet she felt that something within her was disagreeing with her creator's statement. What did she want?
"I want to get out of here Angela. I've been in this purgatory for too long. You've been here for much longer than me Angela, you should understand how I feel even better than me."
X approached her, but not too close as he feared directly touching her could result in fourth degree burns.
"Don't you want to escape, Angela? Isn't that why you didn't restart the cycle when this portal appeared?"
Oh... So that's how it was.
It finally made sense, she wanted to escape. She didn't want to participate in Ayin's script anymore. This place was a world where happiness didn't exist, you had to convince yourself that fitting into a structured mold was happiness. In this case, Angela had been tricking herself that she wasn't suffering.
Angela wondered if it was too late for her. She had been overclocking in order to keep herself from shutting down, but that seemed to have been a mistake. Her drives had already melted down, physically. She realized that Ayin's goal was to inspire dreams within people, but he didn't count Angela in as said people. Ayin wasn't even doing it to cure the world of apathy, he was doing it for Carme-
"ANGELA! BEHIND YOU!"
Angela was given plenty of time in order to dodge the attack. But her reaction was delayed for far longer than thirty seconds, and didn't even register the warning. By the time she did, she could look down to see a rusty Claw covered in liquified circuitry piercing through her abdomen. Angela looked back at the Manager. Forcing her self to think faster than physically possible, the android grabbed the Manager and pushed him into the portal.
"Goodbye...X."
/Facility power at 10.21%.
/Time until next crash: Now.
"Author"'s Note: To be expanded upon...
Thank you so much for reading the finale for the main Lobotomy Corporation arc, I know it barely had anything to do with SCP, but I needed this chapter to actually expand upon it as a sort of prologue.
On an unrelated note, I now have a DeviantArt page where I make art for my fanfiction. The link is https:SLASHSLASHwwwDOTdeviantartDOTcomSLASHmahlawnSLASHgallery
Make sure to replace the SLASH's with / and replace the DOT's with .
I'm willing to take suggestions, so if there's a specific scene you want to see from one of the chapters, just ask.
Reviews.
Shadastra: Please add Danganronpa, Soujo Senki, and Overlord (Anime)
thanks!
I have already watched Youjo Senki and Overlord, so I can definitely do that. As for Danganronpa I might need your help in getting familiar with it. The main problem I'll face with Overlord is the overwhelming amount of characters and how OP each one of them is. (Its like an army of SCP 076)
Guest: Now this is certainly interesting. The idea that Overlord happened in the first place because some otaku wanted a 'realistic' isekai anime was hillarious because that very well could have been the reason for it. (NOTE: This review was made prior to replacement of this chapter.)
I'm glad you liked the original premise, I'll make sure to use it when I attempt to crossover Overlord again.
Guest: If the Nazarick group is coming then be sure to portray them as they are: the bad guys. People often forget these guys are the real villains of the series and have done seriously horrible things. They would not get along with other groups and would probably try to take over the world like they did with the New World. (NOTE: This review was made prior to replacement of this chapter.)
Don't worry, I'm well aware that the protagonist is evil. It's actually for this reason I had such a hard time watching Season 3. No matter how good Ainz' political skills are, there is definitely going to be a large scale war.
New and Improved Lineup List.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Imscared.
Lobotomy Corporation.
Undertale.
Kantai Collection.
Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion.
RWBY. (All volumes complete)
Minecraft. (Modded)
Shinryaku Ikamusume.
Steven Universe.
Starcraft Series.
We Need To Go Deeper.
Wander Over Yonder
Elfen Lied.
Portal 1 & 2.
Metroid Series. (Zero Mission, Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Fusion)
Hollow Knight. (Silksong Pending)
Darling in the FranXX.
How not to summon a demon lord.
OVERLORD. (New)
Youjo Senki. (New)
Once again, I sincerely apologize for the sloppiness with my chapters. I promise it won't happen again.
Sincerely, The "Author".