A/N: Hey everyone, I'm still here, don't worry. By the time you see this I've either A) Finished my Semester Classes and have some free time, or B) I've somehow written this whole thing up on my phone. Regardless, thanks for the patience, and I've decided that I'm going to shift Review Replies to the end of the chapter, instead of the beginning, so that these pre-chapter messages don't form a text wall.

Warning: This story arc is directly based off of Stephan Hancock's SCP: OVERLORD, and as such, some details might not make sense or seem off.

The Camera is The Key

?, ?

Warlock Juno

She was here again, wherever here is. The dead rock underfoot and the dying sun in the sky remained unchanged, yet the landscape was decidedly more occupied this time around. Smoking holes were scattered as far as her eyes could see, while massive stone pillars stood in concentric rings, with Juno standing at the centre. There was no sign of the abomination that had come for her previously, though she doubted it would stay that way. She made it half-way to calling for Surf when she remembered he wasn't present. Ghosts, while linked irrefutably with their Guardians, couldn't actually see into their minds, nor follow them into their dreams, and this was seemingly no different.

Approaching one of the pillars, selected simply because she was already facing that direction, she runs her hands along what appears to be centuries, if not millennia-old stone carvings in what she was reasonably sure was a variation of Mandarin. Curious, but what was more so was that the message carved into the pillar, whatever it was, was present in other languages as well. Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, Korean, even Vietnamese. The message seemed to repeat endlessly, wrapping around the triangular stone structure in spiralling lines of text. Gazing upwards revealed nothing new, as the poor light of the dying star was too dim to show what text lay at the top of the pillar.

However, there were plenty of other pillars to investigate, and still no sign of the thing that appeared before. Closing on the next pillar revealed text in Middle-Eastern Languages and Dialects, the curving scripture vaguely familiar but still unreadable. Beyond that, the third pillar revealed French, German, and Italian, and the fourth pillar was almost unrecognizable, perhaps African languages, if the pattern so far presenting itself was any indication?

Sure enough, the fifth pillar was in English. Queen's English and American English both, spelling out, as suspected, one repeating message. "The Camera is The Key, Don't Let it Die." Odd, incredibly so. The message seemed to echo in her mind, and it rolled off her tongue easily. "The Camera is The Key, Don't Let it Die." She repeated absentmindedly, cementing it in her memory.

Dirt crunched behind her, and she spun on her heels, reaching for a gun that wasn't present, eyes widening. And as she was expelled once more from the mindscape once more, she never saw the piles upon piles of cameras laying around the outer pillars, of all makes and models.

Blacksburg, Virginia

Warlock Juno

Surf hovered over her once more, this time safely outside headbutt distance, concern written in the positioning of his shell. "Juno, it happened again, didn't it?"

"Yeah… There was a message this time… something about a camera? I can't quite remember." She replies, standing up and stretching. To sleep in a proper bed after years practically non-stop in the field was a blessing if there ever was one.

"You received a message, Juno. From the Foundation Soldier you seem so taken with." The living AI reports, flitting about the room as if to explore every corner. "You're gonna need your guns. A situation has developed in Massachusetts, and they think your skills can provide a necessary advantage."

Juno gives the Ghost a sideways glance as she pulls a set of clothes from the closet. Transmatting clothes directly was nice and all, but it wasn't often she had the opportunity to change by hand. Just another shred of normalcy to grasp onto. "Massachusetts? I hope they don't expect us to drive there and still be on time."

The Ghost chuckles and twirls around once more, disappearing into the small pocket dimension it resided in when not physically present. "No, there's a Helicopter that will be waiting for us at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport when we arrive. Best we don't keep them waiting, no?"

Juno pulled on a pair of modern hiking boots, completing the casual but utilitarian ensemble she had chosen to wear until her armour was needed, sighing at the AIs comments. "Yeah, yeah, where did I leave the keys...?"

Somewhere over Maryland, an hour later...

Warlock Juno

Juno cringed slightly as she adjusted the headset weighing down on her, just barely deadening the thundering noise of the helicopter rotors just above her. She'd thought dropships were loud, but at least those had a pressurized cockpit and the engines were mounted in the rear! This bloody machine felt like it wanted to tear itself apart as soon as possible, and Juno decided at that moment that she didn't like helicopters.

"So what's the situation? Why do you need me in on this operation of yours?" She had to shout into the attached microphone just to be heard by the man sitting across from her, the grey and black combat outfit he was wearing signifying him as one of the Foundation's many MTF Operators.

After a moment's pause, he answered just as loudly, causing her to wince again. "13 hours ago, Police in Hampshire County of Massachusetts received a call from a person who stated they felt they were in danger. They refused to identify themselves until Police Officers reached their position, at which time they turned over an image which has been determined to be of a previously unknown anomaly. Elements of MTFs Epsilon-6, Nu-7, Zeta-9, Mu-13, Beta-7, and Lambda-5 were deployed into the AO while Gamma-5 elements ran interference on local authorities."

Juno perked up slightly at the mention of Nu-7, wondering if Shane was among the Operators deployed for this mission, though the chances of that were relatively low, considering that they'd had to send a helicopter just for her when they likely had closer forces available for this. In front of her, the Foundation Operator kept talking, "Infiltration of the premises went without issue, and the target building was entered and one target discovered and killed when he pulled a gun. Anomalies were confirmed on-site when the Squad Leader for the Epsilon-6 Team sent in was killed by an invisible hostile, which have been discovered to only be visible through a video camera on site."

T̸͍̰́h̴̬̦̿è̸̻͓ ̸͉̇̍C̸̠͗̈́a̴̼͑m̶̞̺̀̾ě̸̝r̶̜͖͌͘a̷͈̎ ̸̧̨̈́̆i̶̡̅̽s̷̮̞̉ ̶̹͈͂͐T̸̹̘̅̌h̵̙̽͠ͅě̸͈ ̴͉͙̇̔K̸̟͐e̴̘̩̽͑y̶̼̋,̶̮̝̾ ̸̺͕̈́̑D̶̺̖̄̽ơ̸̩̤̆n̶͓̕'̸̡̣͆t̵͐̈́ͅ ̷͈̱͝L̵̗̕͜é̶̝͉t̶̫̩̃̒ ̶̡̹͊í̶̛̟̯t̵̞̜̍̈́ ̶̠̻̓D̵͔̿i̵̤͎͗e̵͈̐́.̷̡̽̽

A spike of pain in her head, like a headache but so much worse, had Juno grasping at her skull and gasping in pain. Fucking ow. Surf says something in her head, but she doesn't quite hear it, the message from her dream ringing in her head. The MTF Operator had stopped talking, staring at her in obvious concern as she tried to compose herself. She was a Warlock of the Praxic Order, she would not be brought low by some mental parlour-trick from another dimension! "Please, continue. Ignore me." She rasps out, as the headache/migraine/mental fuckery slowly fades away, leaving her with a foreign message in her head.

"Right..." the man drawls, "After that, the Elements of Nu-7 on perimeter detail took several casualties from what is assumed to be more of the anomalous hostiles, and the situation was declared untenable without assistance. That's where you come in."

Juno looks up at the man, her headache rapidly fading away, though whether that was because of her powers, or it just being an aftershock of the memory was unknown to her. "The camera, is it still operating?"

The question seemed to surprise him for whatever reason, and it took him a moment to respond. "Ah, yeah it should be, no reason to let the only confirmed tool that can spot this shit die, right?"

For the moment, that supposition would have to be enough, Juno decided. She leaned back in her seat, doing her best to centre herself and figure out what the hell was wrong with her right now, waiting for them to arrive at wherever they were going.

Pender Commune, Massachusetts

Vaz, Nu-7 Operator

Rifle secured over one shoulder and gas mask secured in place, Vaz watched as the rather normal-looking woman hopped out of the UH-60 Blackhawk and onto the grass, the unyielding fog of the Pender Farmstead whipping around in the prop wash of the helicopter's huge rotors. Clad in a dark green jacket, a grey tee with a series of shapes forming a trapezoid in white, and grey cargo pants, she looked every bit a Civilian Contractor, and he couldn't even see a weapon on her, hidden or openly carried. Who was she?

Command hadn't seen fit to tell them anything about her, simply saying that 'they were bringing in a specialist'. Yeah, right, like this woman could do what six different MTFs couldn't. Whatever, it was his job to fill her in on the situation, and stick with her through this. The facial tattoos were interesting though, and he did wonder what those meant.

Vaz was drawn out of his thoughts when she stepped up to him, a few inches shorter than him, but now that she was closer he could see that she was impressively well built under everything, not a bit of fat on her face, and hard eyes saying that she'd seen things that would make a normal man cry. He stuck out a hand for her to shake, nodding respectfully to her. "Vaz, I'll be sticking with you for this."

She took his hand in a firm grip, shaking once before drawing out of it. "Call me Juno, and this is my partner, Surf." For a moment, he didn't quite understand, she was the only one who'd gotten off the helicopter, what was she talking about, a partner? Understanding dawned when something bumped his shoulder, and his eyes were drawn towards what looked like a small drone, one bright eye at the centre of a segmented shell. "Hello! I'm Surf, I'm a Ghost!" The small device introduced itself, himself?

"A drone?" He asked, more to himself than her, not meaning to say it out loud. If possible, it gave him an upset look, the shell shifting tighter together around the eye. "A Ghost, thank you. I can think, learn, and feel just like the rest of you humans!"

Ah, an AI of some kind then. Rare, but not the unreachable Sci-Fi stuff most people thought they were. Interesting, but ultimately not important unless it could figure out how the bloody camera worked when nothing else could see the weird culty shit. "Command didn't say why they were sending you in, what're you doing here? I hope you can do something about the camera though, we can't pick up what it can with any of our other gear."

She gives him a confident, almost cocky, smile and nods, "I can handle myself, Vaz. And don't let the camera die, it's the key to everything here. If possible, I'd like to speak with the Operators who went into the house?"

"That won't be possible, Juno. They pulled out after they lost two of their guys inside, they were spooked bad. One of 'em had their throat slit by some kind of invisible cultist, they could only see them with the camera, but they could still hit them with bullets though. Another guy offed himself when he pointed the camera at a mirror in the basement, that's off-limits until we can move the mirror somewhere secure before you ask."

She shakes her head and gives him a hard look. "I'll be taking a look at that mirror, whether you want me to or not. I don't need the camera though if I suspect correctly, your man saw something through the mirror using the camera that either drove him mad or he couldn't handle. I have other ways of ascertaining any interesting aspects about the mirror."

Other ways…? "Just who, or what, are you?" He asked, mind working over the possibilities, and most of them he didn't like. Option one, she was an Ex-Cultist and knew some strange art or method of testing for whatever they worshipped here. Option two, she was some kind of Field Researcher, though she wasn't dressed like one or equipped like one, aside from the AI. Option three, the least preferable one so far, she was an SCP-Designation herself, related or with relevant anomalous properties.

She was smiling at him, not a malevolent or plotting smile, but one like her expectations were being met or exceeded. "I think you've already figured that out yourself, Vaz. What do you think I am?"

She was testing him, then, or perhaps playing along with whatever he thought he was doing? "I think you're an anomaly, an ex-cultist, or a field researcher. None of those quite fit, though. The lack of an escort, the free reign, the lack of foreknowledge on the situation? They don't add up."

She hummed for a moment, looking up at the trees as her drone-no, AI, flitted around the area, scanning objects with a beam of blue light. "You're almost right. The Foundation wanted to lock me up, wanted to give me one of those number designations you're all so fond of. Do you know what I did? I walked out of their 'Site', and didn't kill a single person."

Oh. That was...impressive, and concerning at the same time. Someone who could walk out of a Containment Site alive without a single death on their hands was either incredibly skilled or had an anomalous aspect that was incredibly powerful, maybe both. "And how did you convince them to work with you instead of sending us after you?"

That earned him a smirk from the confident woman, "They did send Nu-7 after me. That's how I ended up inside a Containment Site, to begin with. The unconscious lieutenant in charge was most helpful in my escape and probably realized that I could have torn him apart on the molecular level if he'd made a wrong move."

Huh, that explained a few things. "So, you can destroy things on a molecular level?" He asked, trying to get a feel for whatever anomaly she hosted or was. It sounded unpleasant, but incredibly useful at current, what with the camera limiting reactions to anything that crops up. However, his thought process grinds to a halt when she laughs, not an overbearing or derogatory laugh, but one of enjoyment or delight.

"Ah, my friend, but I can do so much more than that! I can summon objects from extra-dimensional storage, like so. Surf, give me Felwinter's Lie!" She called out to her AI companion, who turned to look at her from its position by a tree, and a moment later a red and green ornamental shotgun appeared in her hands from a shower of light. Vaz opened his mouth to ask how she did that, but before he could speak, she kept talking herself. "Not just that, I can manipulate certain elements my people referred to as Solar and Void, I can heal myself and others of physical wounds, I can fly short distances, and I can bring myself back from the dead."

Summoning items from another dimension, weird but not too far out there. Tacking on to that elemental manipulation made things more interesting, but adding on flying and healing to that and things were less comforting. Self-Resurrection, and suddenly Vaz understood why the Foundation decided it was better off monitoring and working with Juno rather than trying to contain her. She'd probably be harder to contain than 106, for God's sake!

Together, the two of them entered the central clearing of the Commune and passed several body-bags containing the fallen MTF members whose bodies could be recovered. Juno fell silent at that, and her joviality disappeared. It was time to get serious, it seemed.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading this! This arc's going to be split into at leastthree parts, and those will be coming soon if I can keep up with everything going on rn. Before that though, I've been dared by the Remnant Unknown Community to write a crack-fic first, but don't worry, it'll likely stay a short one-shot for now, and if I ever do come back to it, it'll be after I'm done with this story. Now, reviews!

Keltoi:Thank you so much for the review, you don't know how much it means to me to hear that from you. Keep up the good work on your own story, too!

luzkouw, Little Liar, TopHatGuy: Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you stick around for more!

Mercellasnow231: As always, thanks for your input, initiative, and recommendations. On the topic of her origins, given her appearance and the country of origin I put on her ID, I'd already planned on exploring that to no small degree, though I won't elaborate on that for potential spoilers.

Julbot1: My thoughts exactly :)

As always, I'll see you all next time, and the cast will return for more, soon!

Thanks to Perseus for spot-checking and editing.