Part 11 - We Could Burn It All Down

Chapter 197 - No Enemies, Just Allies

Gwen was worried about Miles. He'd been missing for two days now, although people weren't really looking for him. Still, he'd been looking out for her so now it was time to return the favour. She thought about all the places he could have disappeared to, and eventually ended up hunting round dimension 7610. New York was the logical place to start, and she had a feeling she knew which building too. She swung through the streets, a little self-conscious of the fact she was wearing her suit and it had become a bit of a hate symbol. Even so, she was moving too fast for anyone down below to hurt her. Eventually she reached the Empire State Building and swung up to the top. She was right: Miles was sitting curled up in a ball with his back against a wall.

"Hey."

He glanced at her but didn't say anything, so she sat down beside him.

"The Pritari confirmed Bastria was destroyed after we left. Death is dead, so Zaltoxir's open. Who came up with these names?"

"The Quintari, Liam or Null."

"Who are Liam and Null?"

"It's a long story."

"Right. Miles, there has to be something, anything, we can do."

"You saw how Khahrahk walked over us in Bastria, and we had a wall to help us that time."

"But next time we'll have an army."

"Numbers won't save us."

"Well I'm not giving up yet."

Miles sighed and uncurled himself.

"There's something that might help with the Leviathans, but I've no idea what it is. And then there's still Khahrahk himself."

"But it's a start. What is it?"

"Back when the Tari races met before this, they mentioned something called 'Koitern' that apparently destroyed a third of the Leviathans in the First Scarlet War."

"I knew there was something."

"Gwen, that was two-hundred billion years ago. It's probably dead. And if it isn't we don't know what it is."

"So let's go and find out. We could ask Jacob if it's a word in that language he speaks."

"Sure, but I doubt he'll know."

Jacob was also in 7610, but in Central Park drinking a hot chocolate. He was surprised when he saw Miles.

"Where have you been?"

"Thinking."

"About?"

"Khahrahk."

"OK."

"He might have a way to kill the Leviathans, but we need your help." Gwen explained.

"How?"

"Have you ever heard of something called 'Koitern'?"

"Err…nope. Never."

"It's not a word in Elder Tongue?" Miles pressed.

"Not that I know."

"I told you it was a useless idea."

"But it is not."

The trio looked to see who it was that had spoken and came face to face with a man covered in strange tattoos. From the description, both Miles and Gwen recognised Able. He didn't appear hostile at the moment, but Gwen had tensed up and was about to change that. Miles grabbed her just as she made to punch Able.

"You killed him! I'll kill you!" She screamed.

"There are no enemies, and there were no allies. There were only those about to die."

Miles put a hand over Gwen's mouth so she'd stop screaming abuse and he could talk.

"Why isn't looking for Koitern useless? And what do you mean 'were' no allies."

"My only mission is to kill every being which walks this Earth, and every other. It is my curse from the Almighty. But I cannot, because the Scarlet King will not die. I must seek allies whom I can betray and kill once I have killed him."

"That's…reassuring?" Replied Jacob.

"And Koitern?" Miles pressed.

"We fought together against the Leviathans of the King long ago. I had thought it dead, but I was wrong. It was merely broken."

"Broken? How do we fix it?"

"We must retrieve the ten Ethereal Plates and take them to its fragment within this multiverse."

"Khahrahk has eight."

"So we must go to the Dark Below and reclaim them."

"We have another, but I don't know where the last is. I don't remember. This is hopeless."

"Then I must kill you."

"Wait. Wait. If we go and get the ones Khahrahk has, we can get Edward to deploy STC to find the last one." Said Jacob.

"Very good. I will wait for you at Foundation Site-19. Bring your team, and we will rebuild the Koitern."

Able disappeared in a ball of colour. Miles let Gwen go. She glared at him, then kicked his feet out from under him.

"Ouch!"

"Let's go and put a team together." Said Jacob before she could do the same to him.

Edward was more than happy to deploy a fleet of Sol Temporal Command ships to track down the last Ethereal Plate. In the meantime, Conall joined the spiders and Jacob as they jumped to dimension 9001, SCP Foundation Site-19. Able was waiting surrounded by the corpses of numerous SCP Foundation personnel.

"Just so we're clear, you don't backstab us until we've rebuilt Koitern." Said Gwen.

"That is what we agreed. Come, let us descend to the Dark Below and reclaim what is rightfully ours."

Reality seemed to shatter like glass, opening a gateway into Vaxar, the Scarlet King's realm. Miles led the way, followed by Gwen and Jacob. Conall eyed Able cautiously.

"I don't know what you're planning but it won't work. I see everything."

"You do not, Plate wielder."

"Well you go through first either way, murderer."

Able walked through the hole in reality and Conall brought up the rear.

In the distance, Jacob could make out an enormous palace. From the looks of things nobody was home, but only time would tell.

"Is that where we're going?" He asked.

"Yes." Replied Able.

"Well…shit. That's where I died. And where Max got the Animators from."

"Not that they'll do anything." Said Miles.

The palace was clearly built for a much smaller version of the Scarlet King, as its front door would likely only fit his fourth phase at most. Miles kicked the it open and stormed inside, following his spidey sense's directions. After a minute, he reached a room with eight Ethereal Plates sitting on pedestals. The Animators were nowhere to be seen. Jacob caught up and grabbed Miles' shoulder before he could walk into the room.

"Spikes come out the floor in here. Let me go first."

Miles sighed and gave way, lacking the will to argue. Jacob took each step cautiously, but with each nothing happened.

"Maybe it was that witch girl that did it before."

"Let's just get out of here."

That was when Gwen, Conall and Able arrived. Gwen took one look at the Plates and immediately began to panic. Miles picked up on this and was beside her in an instant.

"Gwen. Look at me. No, not the Plates. At me. You can't freak out. Not here. Khahrahk will sense your fear, then we're screwed."

She nodded, trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

"I shouldn't have come."

"I should have thought of that. You don't need to touch any of them; we'll do the heavy lifting. Just…"

Miles could have sworn he heard a sound like someone crying, but it wasn't Gwen. He stepped back from her, letting his spidey sense do the looking knowing fully well what it could be. It was skulking along the corridor outside the room.

"Nobody look at the door."

SCP-096 rounded the corner and stopped, waiting for someone to catch its reflection in their peripheral vision, or do anything that could set it off. Able began to chuckle.

"There are no enemies, no allies. Only those about to die."

096's enraged screams started but were cut off as Able streaked across the room slashing swords furiously.

"Grab the Plates!" Conall roared.

He and Miles picked up three each, but now came the problem: Jacob wasn't worthy. Miles turned to Gwen, getting a look at Leviathan Shy Guy: it had larger muscles, looked much less thin, and could likely swallow a planet in its mouth if it so desired.

"Gwen, we can't carry all of these. I need you to take two. Please."

She bit her lip extremely hard so it started bleeding a little, then nodded and took the two Miles held out to her. He took the last two, then started leading the way as 096 and Able fought furiously.

"Go to…173! I will slay this beast!"

Miles led the way back out the palace where they discovered an army of creatures he and Jacob had only seen once before: Scarlet Golems. They appeared to be made from the red stone that stuck up out the ground in places. Miles began frantically typing instructions into his watch. As the Golems lumbered ever closer, he put one of the Plates between his teeth and grabbed Conall's wrist. The immortal got the message and grabbed Jacob who grabbed Gwen. Miles hit the 'jump' button with his nose.

The four hit the ground in dimension 01 hard, sprawling in a heap in the burning desert sand. Conall rolled over and looked at the ruins of his skyscraper.

"What have you done to my baby!? That thing took years to build."

"I forgot about that." Miles muttered.

"We have to find the last Plate and take it to SCP-173." Said Jacob.

"How do we know Able didn't mean dimension 173?" Asked Gwen

"Because we're talking about Foundation stuff."

"We should take these to Sol." Said Miles.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation