Creative Solutions
"2662, time's up."
"OK! See ya later Luz!"
"Bye Cory!"
2662 proceeded to retire and return to his usual containment unit in his usual foundation site. Anna was beyond ecstatic. The project had proved more than just effective; it was an astounding success. Luz's mental health had seen astronomical improvements, and all of the visible signs of depression were effectively gone at the current 4-month mark. It was like the cheerful little girl they had never met was back. Camila was unbelievably happy, Dr. Bright was excited, and the overseer council was satisfied. At this point, declaring the project a success and prolonging it indefinitely was all but guaranteed, all they had to do was wait.
And if that wasn't enough, 2662's own mental health status had seen massive improvements as well. For years he had been diagnosed with dysthymia, clearly a side effect of prolonged containment. All psychologists and psychiatrists assigned to him had given up on getting any improvements, and had concluded that: "This is as good as it's probably going to get. The only way to improve his condition would be to lessen his containment procedures, but we all know that is just not happening". But turns out Luz's existence had been as much of a light to his life as he was to hers.
They had soon formed a strong bond of friendship, and it was as good for them as she expected it to be, if not much better.
And to top it all off, the improvement of their respective moods had yet another unexpected side effect: They were both more eager to cooperate in study and experimentation regarding their own anomalies.
New studies regarding 2662's anomaly revealed something fascinating. It was known for a while now that the people affected by Cory's cognito-hazardous capabilities were not compliant with his commands to stop their actions, as it had been observed several times in multiple containment breach incidents. However, when a new breach took place a couple of months into the program, he had an... interesting idea.
As usual, the group of people made their way to the facility their "god" was being held in. They were ready to face whatever the foundation had to throw at them, they had weapons, armor, and even specialized vehicles to storm into the site (in this occasion, some of the members of the cult were part of the US armed forces).
However, when they finally arrived at the site, they were shocked when they saw their god… standing there… in the entrance… unguarded?!... Free?!
You see, in the time that Cory had spent with Luz, he had become a fellow fan of the good witch Azura as well, and they had even begun to role-play their favorite parts with each other. They spent a good chunk of their time doing this, with the rest of it spent talking about their anomalies and what their life was like.
That's where a thought crossed his mind: what if he just played along with his "followers". After all, they genuinely believed he was their god, so obviously they should follow his commands as expected. Maybe the reason they weren't doing what he said was because the clash of what they expected to find and what they actually found was confusing them, and in their confusion, they did whatever felt like made sense to them.
So, if he just role-played as the god they wanted to see, and commanded them as such, maybe then they would listen.
Since it would be easier to stop the cultists at the door rather than inside the facility, and since failure would result in just the usual thing happening again (a.k.a. they all get terminated), the initiative was approved as a form of testing 2662's anomaly.
So, here we are.
Cory stood tall, wearing fancy and expensive-looking clothes that made him appear as some sort of Aztec deity (it's what they could find in the Halloween store, ok?), and spoke to the people in front of him in the lowest, most imposing and booming voice he could muster:
"LOYAL SUBJECTS. I SEE YOU HAVE REACHED ME AT LAST. I COMMEND YOUR EFFORTS. AS YOU CAN SEE, I HAVE ALREADY TAKEN CONTROL OF THIS WRETCHED PLACE. YOU MUST NOT BE SHOCKED, FOR I AM K'HOR'EI, LORD OF DARK CHAOS! PITIFUL HUMANS LIKE THESE COULD NEVER RESTRAIN ONE SUCH AS I!"
The guards standing next to him were… not thrilled about their part in this.
"… All… hail… *sigh* All hail lord K'hor'ei… (I don't get paid enough for this shit)"
…
A few moments of silence passed…
…
…
…
And to everyone's shock, the cultists started to roar in joyful cheer, as they celebrated the "uncontrollable power of their god" (that only now knew the name of, by the way):
HOORAY! Our god is invincible!
There is no one above him!
He is truly the one above all!
ALL HAIL LORD K'HOR'EI!
ALL HAIL LORD K'HOR'EI!
ALL HAIL LORD K'HOR'EI!
They all threw their weapons to the ground, exclaiming that they were useless and frail in comparison to the limitless power of their god.
Yup.
LARPing them into submission,
legitimately worked.
Cory was putting a lot of effort in restraining himself from PISSING himself laughing right then and there.
(This is NOT FUCKING REAL DUDE. AIN'T NO FUCKING WAY this is actually happening!)
The guards had an expression that could only be described as: "I don't want to live in this planet anymore".
He decided to continue:
"NOW LISTEN, MY LOYAL SUBJECTS! AND HEED MY COMMAND!"
The cultist leading the group commanded them to shut up and listen to what their god had to say. This was more than enough proof that concept worked.
"THIS WORLD IS WRETCHED AND IMPURE, FILLED WITH CREATURES THAN INSULT MY VERY SELF BY THE MERE ACT OF LIVING. IT DISGUSTS ME TO SEE SUCH TWISTED SINS BE ALLOWED TO EXIST AND ROAM FREE. BUT I AM A KIND AND MERCYFUL GOD, AND SO, I SHALL GIVE THIS WORLD AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE CORRECTED. THE PEOPLE WHO ONCE CONTROLLED THIS PLACE HAVE NOW BEEN GIVEN NEW PURPOSE: TO SEEK OUT THESE SINFUL EXISTANCES, AND TO SECURE THEM, CONTAIN THEM, AND PROTECT THAT WHICH IS HOLY AND PURE FROM THEM WHEN NECESSARY. YOU, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, ARE GIVEN THE MOST HOLY TASK OF ASSISTING THEM IN THEIR MISSION."
Translation: work for the foundation.
And guess what….
It worked.
They all agreed to work for the foundation "under their god's gentle wing" without a word of complaint.
So now, all of the sudden the foundation had a whole new set of assets at their disposal that were more than willing to do literally anything, so long as you played along with the narrative that Cory set up. Not only that but new instances of cults following 2662 were no longer appearing, since there was already one active, the foundation presumes.
It was quite the event, and the result of this experiment rippled throughout the foundation. After this day, considerations of creative and unorthodox utilization of certain anomalies started to spread throughout foundation staff, and new and innovative ideas on how to approach certain cases were now brewing, waiting to be presented for approval.
The effects of this experiment would forever change the foundation's perspective on some of the anomalies they contained, and it would also put 2662's containment procedures under revision, seeing as they may no longer be needed the way they are right now.
Over on Luz's side, things were a bit tamer.
One of the more interesting observations made during the conjoined project with 2662 was that Luz appeared to not suffer the known cognitive effects of Cory's anomaly. Usually, after prolonged exposure to 2662, individuals would begin to become anomalously aware of his needs and desires, regardless of whether or not they were in his presence. Luz, however, did not seem to be affected by this. Even after 4 months, she did not show any signs of being under 2662's influence in any capacity.
This lead to the researchers formulating a theory: they used to think that her particular ancestry only made her mind more resilient to stress and trauma compared to other human minds, but perhaps it went deeper than that. Maybe she wasn't just resilient to stress, but resilient to cognito-hazards as well.
With this concept in mind, they decided to expose her to some anomalies with known cognito-hazardous effects.
They started with some relatively safe ones, just to be sure.
First, was SCP-426. I am an ordinary toaster, capable of toasting bread like any other toaster. I have no particular branding, and function like any other toaster. What makes me special is that people can only talk about me in the first person. I am one of the safer cognito-hazardous anomalies kept in the foundation, and thus, the ideal option for the first test. When Luz was presented with me, she was asked to describe me. To the surprise of everyone watching, she simply said: "That's a toaster, like the one we have at home". Completely unaffected by my anomalous properties.
Next, came SCP-099, "the portrait", which is known for inducing extreme paranoia in anyone who watches it. Once again, Luz reported no effects.
Then, came SCP-078, a neon sign which results in whoever views it for more than 10 seconds seeing guilt inducing sentences appearing in any piece of text they see, other than 078 itself. Once again, no effect was recorded.
She was made to read the inscriptions on SCP-077 out loud, which is known to cause physical symptoms on the reader, such as nausea and headaches. Nothing.
The tests became increasingly reckless and dangerous, even going as far as exposing her to SCP-035, the possessive mask, which is known for its ability to invade people's minds and allure them to liberating it and wearing it. This, too, proved unsuccessful. Moreover, the mask itself appeared to be highly distressed by this failure, even going as far as exclaiming that it "cannot even go in her mind, like there was a wall keeping it outside".
Eventually, after countless experiments attempting to find any cognitive anomaly that would be capable of affecting Luz's mind in any perceivable manner, the foundation concluded that Luz was not just resilient to these effects, she was completely immune to them.
…
"That's so cool! So your head is iron clad. Impenetrable. Nor even Hecate's mind magic would work on you."
"YEAH! OH, is it true that they are gonna let you go out?"
"I don't know, but it could be. They say that I don't need to stay locked up anymore, since the whole "killer cultists" thing is not gonna happen again. I hope so."
"Yaaaay!"
Anna looked fondly at the two friends talking to each other. It was almost as if the nightmares they lived through were a past long gone. It seemed like things were looking up for once…
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ALERT
ALERT
TO ALL SITE 19 PERSONELL
THIS IS NOT A DRILL
A LARGE SCALE CONTAINMENT BREACH IS TAKING PLACE
REPEAT
A LARGE SCALE CONTAINMENT BREACH IS TAKING PLACE
ALL NON-CONTAINMENT SPECIALIST PERSONELL IS TO RETREAT TO THE DESIGNATED SECURE LOCATIONS AND REMAIN THERE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
OBJECTS THAT HAVE BREACHED CONTAINMENT:
173
096
049
682
106
REPEAT
A LARGE SCALE CONTAINMENT BREACH IS TAKING PLACE
ALL NON-CONTAINMENT SPECIALIST PERSONELL IS TO RETREAT TO THE DESIGNATED SECURE LOCATIONS AND REMAIN THERE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE