The Arrival

A/N

Happy New Years! :D

It is officially 2018, anyone who might be reading this! And what better way to celebrate that than by updating my very first story on FanFiction?

Just as a little warning moving forward, I might not be able to get the characters' personalities and actions exactly as they would be in canon, as well as certain events and other elements that happened/took place in the 80's, so please bear with me if I happen to make any anachronisms or errors regarding certain elements of the time period and characters that this story uses.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things nor the SCP Foundation Mythos. Those go to their respective owners, neither of which are me.

Emily wasn't sure what had happened. One second, she and Mr. Mowie had been playing together in their room while the strange men watched from the weird cameras and windows, with Poofa hovering nearby. Then, she started floating in a strange glow. The next thing she knew, she was sitting calmly in a forest, with birds chirping and trees standing tall like they had been for decades. Of course, she didn't think of it much. All she thought about was the fact that her friends were nowhere in sight.

"… M-Mr. Mowie…?" Emily called out nervously from her spot on the forest floor. She'd only awoken a few moments prior, but already the trees seemed to tower like giants around her. She'd seen pictures that the strange men had showed her and even had smaller trees in her room… but that was about it. She hadn't seen anything like this.

"M-Mr. Mowie?" She called out again, more nervously this time. It was already nighttime, and already the shadows and dark shapes in the gloom seemed to be twisting and churning around her. Suddenly, a crunching sound reached her ears, and she quickly turned on her heels to face the source of the sound, expecting to see something terrifying. Luckily, however, it was just a doe, standing by a tree and watching her curiously.

"Huh? Oh! Hello, Mrs. Deer!" Emily chirped cheerfully, brazenly walking up to it and petting its head. The doe flinched and looked like it was about to run for a second, but quickly relaxed, leaning forward and allowing Emily to pet its head. "What are you doing here, Mrs. Deer? Shouldn't you be with your family?" She asked, rubbing the deer's head eagerly, enjoying the feeling of its soft fur.

"WROAARG!"

Suddenly, a loud roaring noise echoed out of the woods, and the deer sprang away and leapt into the brush and out of sight. A second later, a large animal burst from the nearby bushes, tearing through the growth and crushing the plants it ran over. It had the body, limbs and size of a polar bear, but the head of a salamander with no visible eyes, and a long squirrel-like tail. Its entire body was covered in thick fur, with its head, back and tail primarily a bright blue with its underbelly and under its neck being an equally bright pink. It surged forth towards Emily, who was visibly startled by the arrival of this… thing. However, rather than scream and/or run away, she smiled and eagerly ran up to it.

"MR. MOWIE!" Emily shouted, throwing his miniscule arms around the large animal, unable to completely reach around its large body. Mr. Mowie made what sounded like a dog's bark, except deeper in pitch, and opened his mouth to lick Emily's face joyfully. Emily laughed happily, practically jumping in excitement. "There you are, Mr. Mowie! You scared me!" Emily laughed. Then however, she turned back to where the doe had run off to.

"Aww… you scared away Mrs. Deer, Mr. Mowie." Emily said somberly, causing Mr. Mowie to droop his head and whimper shamefully. Pursing her lip, Emily looked like she was about to further admonish him when another strange sound echoed through the forest.

*Flooorp!* *Flooorp!*

It sounded like balloons being inflated and deflated repeatedly, although slightly squeakier. Turning his head, Mr. Mowie made something of a growling noise, although not hostile in nature or sound. Facing where he was facing, Emily peered through the growth until a strange figure appeared from the treetops.

It resembled something insectoid, only with one body segment. Its body was grey, round and about 4 feet wide, with eleven tentacle-like limbs stretching from its side ending in two long fingers, with 5 limbs on each side with the last one hanging from its front, just under two black bulbous eyes with no pupils or irises. The most striking trait about it, however, was the four large dark-colored sacs on top of its round body, twitching about. The sacs were the cause of the strange noise, shrinking and growing every few seconds. Just like with Mr. Mowie, Emily showed no signs of fear. In fact, she seemed very pleased with this turn of events.

"Poofa! There you are!" She called to it, running just underneath its bulbous form. "Poofa" hovered about 4 feet above Emily, staring down at her and Mr. Mowie, who walked slowly up with Emily. Poofa made a slight chittering noise, like that of a squirrel with a slightly lower pitch and echoing sound, along with the noises her sacs made, constantly taking in air. Jumping up and down, Emily playfully tried to reach her long arms to no avail, giggling all the while.

"Hehehe! We're all together now! Isn't that right, Flozzle?" Emily said, looking down at her bright orange shirt. Her "shirt" vibrated in response, as well as changed color to a bright yellow and then immediately back to its original orange, making a strange purring sound similar to a cat. Humming cheerfully, Emily skipped over to Mr. Mowie, climbing his thick fur onto his back, riding him like a horse.

"Let's go, Mr. Mowie! Whoa-ho!" Emily yelled happily, pointing her finger forwards with a big smile. With a mix of a bark and roar, Mr. Mowie surged forth, charging through the trees, with Poofa floating close behind.

He immediately knew something was amiss, even from within his pitch-dark coffin. Opening his eyes, he instinctively struggled against the chains he knew held the coffin shut. With an enraged shout, he kicked the coffin open, breaking the chains that held it open and immediately rushed to the door that he couldn't see due to the darkness but knew was there. Rearing his fist back, he blew the door open, and was temporarily stunned by the comparatively warm air that blasted against his ancient tattoo-littered skin and robes, as well as the sound of the locks flying away from the door. One of which flew directly upwards, and was set to land on top of his coffin…

Adjusting his eyes, he could immediately make out the moon in the dark sky, its light showering upon his dark skin.

"Yes…. Yes…."

Breathing heavily, he stepped out of his prison, embracing the feeling of the night air flowing into his lungs. Two completely black swords materialized into his hands, which clenched around their hilts like nothing else mattered. Looking around, he knew immediately that he wasn't in his usual containment chamber. However, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and grinned savagely as he spotted the lights of a town in the distance, and prepared to take a step forwards when the lock that flew up earlier landed on his prison.

*THUD!*

("OW! Hey, watch it, dumbass!")

Suddenly, he whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. It wasn't necessarily the insult itself that had gotten to him, though. It was the voice's dialect… it wasn't speaking English, like his captors… it was speaking perfect ancient Sumerian. He hadn't heard someone speak that language in countless years, especially with such precision. However, there was nothing around but trees. He was going to decide to simply ignore it when the voice called out again.

("HEY! Are you even 'Abel' to even see me, [REDACTED]!?")

That did it. Without thinking twice, he leapt straight up on top of the giant cube he called a prison, brandishing his blades threateningly and rather wildly. However, to his surprise, there was no one there. Just a small box.

"… What…?" Abel asked himself quietly, staring down at the small light gray metal box. Then, out of nowhere, the voice spoke again… from the slot on the front of the box.

("Yes, me, you fuckin' moron. You see anyone else just standing here in the middle of the night? No, so quit looking around like a retarded [REDACTED], you [REDACTED] piece of shit.")

Taken aback, Abel stared down at the small box. However, shock quickly turned to anger when the box's insults finally registered, and his breaths deteriorated into snarls and growls.

"Wha… What did you say, you… you abomination!?" Abel yelled, unable to totally comprehend in his increasing anger that he was shouting at an inanimate metal cube. Said box appeared to scoff at him.

("Oh, I'm an abomination? Look who's talking, you coffin-napping freak. Is it even cozy in there? Oh wait, you don't know, because you're always as lifeless as a worthless fucking doll in there.")

Abel grounded his teeth together, his fingers clenching tightly around his blades. With a shout, he raised one of his swords into the air, roaring in Sumerian.

("WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME!?")

He brought his left hand down, callously striking his blades on top of the offensive cube. To his surprise, there wasn't as much as a mark on its clean metal surface.

("HA! Is that all, you old [REDACTED]!? I'm surprised you can even move at all after what Cain-!")

("SHUT UP! DON'T MENTION HIS NAME! YOU KNOW NOTHING! RAAAGH! DIE, DIE, DIE! DIE, YOU WORTHLESS EMPTY METAL VESSEL! GAAAUUGH!")

Abel slashed his blades endlessly; his eyes turning blood red as he sent the box flying with each strike, trying in vain to slash, cut and otherwise destroy the Insult Box. However, not so much as a scratch appeared on the box's surface as it continued shouting insults and taunting jabs into Abel's ears, further provoking him to slash and attack the box with no results other than more offensive taunts.

The sounds of angered screams and taunting laughter filled the night sky as the two SCPs continued their fruitless conflict.

The sounds of the big city – cars honking, teens yelling, and cigarette smoke in the air – were immediate signs that something was very, very wrong. Or right, depending on how you looked at it.

Such thoughts were those currently running about in Cain's head as he abruptly awoke in an alleyway. Blinking his eyes open, he turned his head to the left to find a busy city street near the alley he was in, cars racing by. Getting up to his feet almost instantly, he walked to the edge of the alley to confirm it. He was in the middle of a busy city. Not in his usual containment chamber at the Foundation Site-17.

"What… is this?" Cain muttered to himself, the many bright lights in the city night making him blink repeatedly. Holding his metal arms up to shield his eyes, he immediately became aware that someone… no, something like him would definitely stick out in a crowd of regular civilians, and quickly walked backwards into the otherwise dark and empty alley before anyone could see him. Standing up against a wall by a dumpster, he pressed a metal hand to his forehead.

'Could this… be a dream?' He asked himself in his mind, unable to totally process what was happening. Just a few moments ago, he had been humbly resting after having lunch in the site cafeteria, and now he was apparently in the middle of a large city. He frowned.

'No… it can't be. Unless an anomaly is at work somehow, this is most certainly not a dream…' Cain chided himself. Shaking his head, he pushed himself off the wall and slowly moved to the end of the alley. To his dismay, there were people everywhere. Since his only clothes were a toga and jean shorts, there was nothing to cover up his metal arms and spinal cord, which would definitely stick out like a sore thumb. He didn't really mind getting taken by the Foundation again, but he might as well enjoy his freedom before they find him again. Looking up, he noticed several pipes in the alley that led directly to the rooftops above. He smiled.

'Perfect…' Cain thought to himself as he easily walked over and climbed up the pipes. It was all quite simple, no different than when he was young and used to climb trees with Ab-.

'No… not now…'

He forced those thoughts away as he reached the top, jumping up and onto the rooftop and looking out over the city. Once again, the various lights and sounds pierced his senses, and he was reminded of the time when he visited New York, right before the Foundation found him, and after that incident with those gang members…

Cain suddenly realized that he did not have a good record with big cities. Looking about, he decided that finding clothes or anything really, to cover his bionics was the first course of action. With that, he turned and ran across the rooftops, looking down at the alleys beneath him as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop to try to find anything he might be able to use. He didn't exactly relish the idea of using clothes used and/or discarded by a hobo or other unfortunate city dweller, but he didn't really have much of a choice. Suddenly, however, he heard someone scream from an alley he'd just passed over… and then a *thud!*, indicating someone had just collapsed on the ground.

Stopping in his tracks, he leapt back over and ran to the other side, peering down into the alley. To his shock, he saw what looked like a man in a dark cloak and hood stooping down over a man, a hobo by the looks of his ragged clothing, motionless on the floor. He watched as the man appeared to… perform surgery on the man?

As Cain looked on, the dark-cloaked man appeared to insert several mysterious chemicals from vials into the man's innards, as well as moving various organs and other body parts about using a scalpel, with extreme precision as he did so. Also, after a few seconds, Cain realized that the figure was humming a song. A hymn, to be precise.

'Wait... "Amazing Grace"…?'

Finally believing to have looked on long enough, as well as seeing that no one else was noticing what was going on, Cain shook his head and jumped down into the alley, landing with a thud.

"You! What are you doing!?" Cain almost shouted at the mysterious figure. The figure stopped what he was doing for a moment before resuming, sewing up the man and then standing to his full height. To Cain's surprise, the figure was taller than he was, although not by much. The figure turned around to meet Cain, and he saw that the figure was completely clad in a dark cloak and hood with a belt holding a small pouch. The most startling trait he had, however, was the white bird-like mask the figure wore, as well as the piercing gray eyes behind his mask.

"Yes?" The figure spoke, his deep voice gravelly and scratchy, and seemed to echo somewhat, and Cain couldn't help but think he had seen this man before…

"What… what were you doing to that man…?" Cain asked cautiously. The figure glanced back at the man lying on the floor, his stomach sewn shut after being cut open. The figure turned back to Cain.

"Ah, yes…" He spoke, his quiet and gravelly voice echoing in the alley, "This man was an unfortunate victim of the disease… I managed to cure him before you arrived, good sir. There is no cause for alarm." The figure stated, and Cain suddenly noticed that he was eyeing his metal body parts. Suddenly realizing his predicament, Cain got into a defensive stance and prepared to take action when the figure spoke again.

"I take it you were also contained by the Foundation?"

Cain froze. This man knew about the SCP Foundation. Wait…

'Black cloak… "Disease"… bird-like mask…'

"You… you're SCP-Zero-four-nine (SCP-049)… aren't you?" Cain guessed, eyeing him warily. The Plague Doctor chuckled.

"Indeed. I imagine you were also surprised to be out of your containment cell?" The doctor asked. Cain nodded. He'd heard of the infamous Plague Doctor from several guards from Site-17, usually talking about his "weird-ass surgery" and "obsession with the Plague", but now that he'd actually met him…

"Yes. Is this the work of another anomaly? The Chaos Insurgency?" He asked, hoping the doctor would know something. However, he shook his head, looking off to the side, "I'm afraid I do not know. Your guess would be as good as mine. However…" The doctor looked back to Cain, his cold gaze meeting Cain's curious one, "I believe I do not know your name, good sir."

Blinking twice, Cain realized that he'd neglected to introduce himself. "Ah… my apologies, I am known as SCP-Zero-seven-three (073)… although my true name is… Cain." He said, not quite used to have to introduce himself, both by his SCP designation and his actual name. To his surprise, however, the Plague Doctor's eyes seemed to brighten in familiarity.

"Ah... Cain, is it? Quite a unique name, I must say…" He said, causing Cain to narrow his eyes at him, though if the Doctor noticed, he didn't show it. The Plague Doctor then gestured behind him, beckoning to the hard-to-see shadows in the darkness of the alley. "You may come out, friend. He is one of us." He said. To Cain's surprise, a large, skinny figure walked slowly out of the darkness, stopping right beside the doctor.

He… it, whatever it was, was incredibly skinny and emaciated, as if having not eaten for quite some time. Its disproportionally long arms drooped to the floor, long fingers scraping against the ground as his equally skinny and long legs carried his thin frame. His skin was a deathly pale, and he walked rather slowly for a being as tall as he was, which was about 7"8', easily towering over both Cain and the Plague Doctor. However, the strangest thing about him was its face and head, which was for some reason completely covered by a brown paper bag over its head that masked its entire face. For some reason, he seemed more off-putting to Cain than the doctor. Speaking of which, the masked surgeon gestured to his companion.

"This fellow is regarded as SCP-Zero-nine-six (SCP-096). I found him shortly after I awoke in this place." He turned to glance at the tall humanoid, "He also does not seem to be aware of how we arrived here."

Cain stared at the tall entity, trying to remember if he had heard of this SCP.

'Tall and emaciated… rather quiet… wearing a bag-!' Suddenly, something about the entity registered in Cain's mind. However, he still couldn't quite remember anything about this particular anomaly…

He reached toward the bag covering the humanoid's face, aiming to see if he'd recognize them. However, to his surprise, the Plague Doctor shot his arm out and gripped Cain's arm, preventing him from reaching the bag. Cain glowered at the doctor, only to feel a slight shiver down his metal spine when he saw the fierce glare emanating from the doctor's cold gray eyes.

"… Don't. This fellow is quite…" He paused, releasing Cain's arm and glancing concernedly at his companion, "… shy."

All at once, everything clicked in Cain's mind. His jaw gaped slightly at the realization.

"He's… 'The Shy Guy', correct? Zero-nine-six?" Cain asked with serious concern in his tone. The doctor nodded. "Correct. There was a… containment breach at the Foundation Site at which we alongside other anomalies were temporarily 'secured'", The doctor seemed to roll his eyes behind his white bird-like mask, "And one of the anomalies contained there managed to break free, and the entire facility entered lockdown mode. Amidst the chaos, multiple anomalies managed to breach containment and roam freely throughout the facility. Including, evidently, us." He gestured to himself and the Shy Guy before continuing, "However, during the containment breach, we unexpectedly found ourselves not in the Site, but somehow in the middle of a populated city. Seeing you here, I wonder if any others managed to find unexpected freedom from the Foundation…" The doctor explained.

Cain couldn't help but be slightly alarmed. He had heard stories about the many dangerous anomalous entities and objects contained by the Foundation. Hell, he'd met a few of them before, and he also knew that the Plague Doctor and the Shy Guy could both still be incredibly dangerous to the human populace if desired or warranted, and they were only on the lesser end of the Euclid level. Who knew what other potentially even more dangerous entities and objects were reigning free throughout the world right now?

However, Cain's train of thought was interrupted by the Plague Doctor clearing his throat.

"Ah, yes, well then…" He began, proceeding to take a step towards Cain, holding out his glove-covered hand. "Well, seeing as how we are out of the Foundation's clutches for the moment, I do believe we should take this opportunity to embrace our newfound freedom. I do not know how we breached containment into such a populated area, but it is very likely that such an extreme stroke of luck will not happen to any of us again. Before the Foundation finds and re-contains us, I propose that we use this freedom together as much as we can before we are found again by our captors. What do you say?"

For a moment, Cain was surprised. Not even an hour after he'd awoken in the city, he'd already encountered two more humanoid SCPs, one of which seemed to wish to ally with him, at least for the time being. However, the doctor had a point; for the moment, they were all free from the Foundation. Truth be told, Cain was a bit put off by the Plague Doctor, both by his personality and... surgical tendencies… as well as a bit put off by the still-silent Shy Guy for obvious reasons, but they were all in the same boat, so to speak. He reached out and shook his hand.

"Agreed." Cain said with a small smile on his face. And somehow, he could tell the Doctor was also smiling despite not being able to see his mouth. He wasn't quite so sure about the Shy Guy, though, who kept standing there besides the doctor motionlessly. He wasn't so much scared by the Shy Guy as he simply creeped out.

"Good." The doctor said, nodding his head. Releasing his hand, he looked about their surroundings. "What do you propose we do next? I do not believe we have further business in such as populated area." The doctor stated. Cain looked down in thought.

"Hm… perhaps we should try to find a place for the night before we take any other action… it is quite late, after all." He proposed, gesturing up to the night sky. The Plague Doctor nodded in agreement, and he looked about before spotting something on the floor near Cain. Walking passed him, he bent down and picked something up before handing it to Cain. It was a slightly tattered sweater.

"I believe we must avoid scrutiny if we wish to avoid notice of the Foundation." The doctor explained as Cain examined the sweater. It was clearly old and dirty, but as much as he loathed wearing such a thing, the doctor was right: His metallic arms and spine would stick out like a sore thumb, especially in a crowded city such as this. However, he also noticed something else.

"What about your… attire? Wouldn't that draw attention as well?" Cain pointed out, already putting the sweater on. The doctor sighed, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately, I do not believe my attire can be hidden so well… no hat we could find would be sufficient in covering my face, and my attire cannot be changed. I must remain this way, I'm afraid."

Sighing, Cain finished putting the sweater on. "Alright… What about him?" Cain inquired gesturing to the Shy Guy, who continued to stare off without moving much. The Plague Doctor glanced to him and let out another, even deeper sigh. "As much as it pains me, we do not currently possess any clothing to sufficiently hide his… abnormalities. No worries, however, we can simply move about on the rooftops. It's how you were able to traverse the city until now, so it shouldn't be too difficult." He proposed. Cain nodded, and together the two climbed the pipes back up to the top of the building that Cain was previously watching from. Looking back down, Cain noticed that SCP-096 still hadn't moved from his original place, staring up at them from behind its makeshift paper bag mask. The Plague Doctor took notice and whistled.

"Come, good fellow, we must travel for the time being", As soon as he said that, the Shy Guy perked his bag-covered head up and immediately leaped straight up, landing perfectly and casually on its feet onto the rooftop with Cain and the doctor. Cain raised a brow but didn't say anything, knowing that his eyes had seen stranger sights. Without speaking, the three humanoid anomalies turned and began traversing the city rooftops in search of a place to rest.

The Plague Doctor had some slight difficulty leaping and running from building to building like Cain and the Shy Guy due to his less well-built physique, but he managed, keeping his eyes out alongside Cain's for a place for them to spend the night without being noticed as well as any clothing to hide his and the Shy Guy's abnormal appearances

However, as they left the area, none of them were around to see the man that had been left on the floor suddenly awaken and slowly stand up. He opened his eyes, yet there were no pupils, only pure white sclera. Hearing the sounds of people, he slowly walked forward and out of the alley…

In a small clearing in the forest, a young woman that looked no older than 18 wearing a blue T-shirt and dark blue jeans rested quietly on the grass. She groggily blinked her eyes open, noticing immediately the dark moon in the sky as well as the cool night air and the trees around her.

'Huh… full moon… been a while since I last went to a forest—Wait… forest…!?'

Instantly, she sat up, eyes fully open and awake. She looked around frantically, nothing but trees, leaves and bushes around.

"What… what the hell-!?" She exclaimed, getting to her feet. Her shoulder-length blonde hair waved about as she turned her head every which way.

'Wh-What happened to… S-Site 17!?' She asked desperately in her head. Part of her wanted to be overjoyed that she was out of the Foundation Site, but at the same time, incredibly fearful of what they'd do when they found her again. An SCP going missing would undoubtedly be on top of their priority lists…

"Okay… okay… just what the f-!?"

"HEWWO!"

Immediately, she froze, and then turned around on her heels to find…

'… A blob of orange goo?' She thought in surprise as soon as she saw the thing. It was an actual living gooey blob about 3 feet wide as it lay on the grass, entirely orange in color except for its beady, pitch-black and hamster-like eyes, which was on top of its gooey mass that rose about 2 feet off the ground at max. It waved a pseudopod at her like an arm.

"Haaiii!'" The blob gurgled happily from its spot on the ground, a hole opening in its thick membrane resembling an open friendly smile. Its voice sounded very much like a child's, very high-pitched although with a gurgle effect and slight lisp due to having literally no teeth. Its voice and cheery tone overall reminded her of Kirby from the games she used to play before the Foundation took her in. Somewhat uneasily, she raised her own hand and waved nervously at the pile of goo.

"Uh… H-Hi…" She answered quietly, not quite sure how to react to it, or the situation in general.

'So, I wake up in the middle of nowhere with a talking blob… what the hell is this? Did I finally go insane?'

Her thoughts were interrupted when the orange blob started slithering (?) towards her, staring up at her with its admittedly adorable beady eyes. "Whaht's youwr name?" It asked, gurgling happily.

"… I-Iris… my name is Iris…" She shakily replied, looking down at the orange pile of goo, which was now right at her feet. Once again, the blob raised a pseudopod up in the air, waving at her again.

"Hi, Iris!" It chirped before its beady eyes began looking around at the dense growth around them. "Are we in a fowest? Yay! Trees!" It said happily, not worried in the slightest about how it had somehow teleported to the middle of a dense forest in the dark of the night, and began playfully picking up dead leaves that littered the ground using its various pseudopods and tendrils like hands. "Ooh! This one's gween AND bwown! Here! A gift fwom me to you!" The happy goo creature chirped, eyeing a dead leaf that still had a bit of green on it and showing it to Iris, who nervously took it and examined it in her hands.

"Um… thanks?" She said, unsure of what to think as the blob suddenly went searching around in the bushes, passing over branches and sticks as it moved about while Iris pocketed the leaf. Suddenly, it gurgled joyfully.

"Ooh! A camewa!"

THAT got Iris's attention.

"Wait, what!? A camera?" She asked, astonished. Sure enough, the blob returned from inside a bush with a camera inside its sticky body, floating around in its gelatinous mass under its eyes. Iris's eyes widened to their maximum level.

"My… my camera!?" She shouted, astonished. It was her camera, a Polaroid One-step 600, the same one her parents got her years before. It seemed like such a long time since then…

Slowly, she reached out and grabbed the rather large camera from the blob's extending slimy tendril, somehow not getting any slimy residue on it (or the leaf, she would later find). Staring at it in her shaking hands, her mind raced a million miles an hour.

'H-How… F-For me to be out here is one thing, but this… h-how did it get out of containment? How did I get out of containment!?'

"Oh! Dat was your camewa?" The blob asked in confusion, its eyes sliding onto the side of its gooey mass similar to how a person might tilt their head. Iris beamed happily at it, a smile appearing on her lips.

"Y-Yes! I-It's my camera! H-How…? T-Thank you… erm…" Iris paused in her "thank you" upon having a realization. "Um… w-what's your name? Do you… do you have a name?" She asked the blob, suddenly realizing that she didn't know what to call it. The gooey creature stared at her before chirping happily.

"W-Well, mommy didn't say a wot when I saw her, but… the scientist people call me 9-9-9!" It gurgled happily, waving its slimy pseudopods and tendrils about. Iris raised a brow in confusion.

''Mommy'…? Wait… 9-9-9?'

"Wait… you were an S.C.P too?" She asked. 999 stared at her before moving its gelatinous mass back and forth, mimicking a person nodding.

"Uh-huhm. They said I was an… ana-ano… 'anomaly'," The orange goo answered, struggling to pronounce the word and sounding a bit more solemn than usual before resuming in its usual happy tone, "and was named 'SCP-999'." It finished.

'That answers that question at least…' Iris thought, now realizing that this blob was a fellow anomaly contained by the SCP Foundation and also was somehow out in the middle of nowhere away from its usual containment.

"Anomaly"… that word left a bad taste in Iris's mouth, and for good reason. So much time spent like a prisoner, stared at by the staff and guards like a mutant animal that had to be caged, poked and prodded at by weird researchers and doctors, kept away from even seeing her family…

"Awre you okay?"

Iris hadn't even been aware that her face had turned into a scowl, and blinked her eyes to see 999 staring at her with concern. "H-Huh?" She stammered, surprised that SCP-999 had noticed her rapidly deteriorating mood. The orange blob stared at her, making a concerned humming noise.

"… Do you need a hug?" It asked suddenly, stretching out two pseudopods like embracing arms, causing Iris to step back in surprise. Before she could react, 999 suddenly flung itself from the ground and slammed its gooey mass onto Iris.

"Wha-MMPH!" Iris cried as the orange blob impacted her body, wrapping and moving its gelatinous body and enveloping her upper body completely, causing her to inadvertently drop her camera onto the ground. However, instead of strangling her or other forms of harm like Iris was subconsciously expecting, Iris strangely felt a sense of happiness overtake her as 999 enveloped her upper body in its gooey form.

'What… what is this?' She asked herself as nonsensical feelings of joy and happiness flooded her mind.

"There! Evewyone needs a hug! Hug, hug, hug!" SCP-999 chirped happily, "hugging" Iris tightly, wrapping its body and several gooey tendrils around her back and neck, nuzzling her almost like a dog.

"H-Hey! What are you doing!? Haha! Stop!" Iris shouted, a smile appearing on her lips as she suddenly felt the lovable goo begin to hug and tickle her, laughing heartily, trying in vain to wrestle 999 off her.

"Yay! Happy! Laughing!" 999 gurgled happily, tickling Iris to no end, eventually causing her to fall onto the soft grass on her back, laughing uncontrollably.

"S-Stop, you little blob! Hahaha! I c-can't take it! Bwahahahaha!" Iris laughed hysterically, rolling on the grass-covered floor as the Tickle Monster continued to tickle her, laughing joyfully alongside her. As Iris laughed and played on the grass with the joyful orange blob, she found herself forgetting all the bad thoughts and memories that swam in her mind, now only remembering all the good in her life. Whenever anything negative appeared in her mind, SCP-999's abnormal positive feeling-inducing effects took over, leaving her with only happy sensations and thoughts, something she hadn't truly felt in a long time.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh, my God! Stop! Hahahaha!"

"Laugh, laugh, laugh! Yay! Keheheheha!"

Unfortunately, not everyone was in such good spirits that night, as could be said when Axel was dealt a winning hand by Dottie in a card game for the umpteenth time. You might think that someone like him would be a pro at cards, but the rather inexperienced Dottie had inexplicably managed to best him at every turn. Too much for Axel to reign in his temper.

"Dammit! Sonovabitch!" He cursed aloud, slamming more money onto the table they were, much to his chagrin and Dottie's ever-growing Cheshire grin. The mohawk-sporting teen growled and stalked off out of the room into the hallway of the abandoned hotel they were staying in. Passing by the lobby, he saw Funshine hanging out with Mick near a dusty old vending machine, the older man pounding on the vending machine in a certain way and order. A few seconds later, a Coca-Cola dropped out, Mick snatching it up and opening it with a mischievous smile since Funshine already had a Mountain Dew on a nearby desk. As she drank it down, she noticed Axel stomping by.

"Lost to the little missy again, Axel?" She teased, earning a glare and a growl from the already-angered teen. Funshine scoffed. "I told you. That girl is a wizard at gambling."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Must be fuckin' beginners' luck, is all…" he muttered, not in the mood for their shit today. Tonight. Whichever it was. Suddenly, another feminine voice called out.

"Aw, relax, Axe. Not like this is the first time you've ever gotten your ass kicked in a game." Kali commented, sauntering out of a room near the beginning of the hallway adjacent to the lobby and the other hallway that Axel just stalked out of. The mohawk-sporting teen growled. "It's not just that…" He gestured to a half-eaten box of Chinese noodles, "Now I'm stuck to eating this crap again!" He shouted as he angrily kicked an empty and dusty cardboard box. Kali rolled her eyes at the display, having long ago been used to Axel's bursts of anger, as did the rest of the group.

"That's the whole point of gambling, isn't it? Taking risks and seeing if you either succeed or fail?" She retorted cheekily, much to Axel's chagrin. Putting a hand to his forehead, he took a deep breath and walked to the abandoned hotel's entrance, gently pushing the old and fragile double doors open, blinking his eyes shut and open as he did so. "I'm goin' out to see if I can find anything good… smell ya later, ya—"

Flicker.

Axel abruptly snapped his head to the left, his eyes moving up and down the rundown city tenements that lay around the city.

"What the hell?" He nearly shouted, taking a few steps back. The rest of the gang tensed and turned their gazes towards him as he did so, their eyes full of concern. "What?" Mick asked. Axel looked up and down the left side of the road, as if trying to find something. After a few moments, he turned back to his friends. "Did, uh… did you see anything? A… flash of green?"

Funshine, Mick, Kali and Dottie, who'd walked into the room holding a large pile of dollar bills and coins, all shared confused glances. "No, we didn't see jackshit, Axel. The only 'green' you're missing is the amount Dottie stole." Mick replied, a mix of sarcasm and concern in her voice, earning a chuckle from said bow-wearing girl and a growl and a glare from Axel. He turned back to the street, then hastily shut the double doors and walked quickly back into the lobby.

"I think I'm gonna stay here and try to chill for a bit…" He muttered quietly as he walked past the others. They all looked at him curiously, but shrugged it off and went back to what they were doing. Axel rushed through the hallway he'd walked from, headed into a room he'd picked for himself since no one else was occupying the abandoned hotel, and looked around all over. He was just about to dismiss it as an imagination thing when it happened again as he turned a sharp right into a bathroom.

Flicker.

Spinning around on the soles of his shoes, he glared hard onto the barely-recognizable painted walls of the room. Seeing nothing, he repressed the urge to punch the wall and walked in the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror and staring himself in the eyes.

"… Nah… Must've been Kali fucking with my mind again…" He grumbled, stalking out of the bathroom and plopping onto a dirty, hole-filled couch, sighing as he did so. If he had eyes on the back of his head, he might've been able to notice the giant, green six-and-a-half foot long creature sticking to the top of the wall directly behind him, with a long stick-like segmented body suspended by a total of sixteen long yet powerful legs, eight of them on each side of the body and ending in a single long skinny claw, with a skinny long neck holding up a raptor-like head with compound fly-like eyes and a mouth filled with tiny yet serrated teeth. The most prominent feature on its body, however, was the strange orange-glowing orb on its chest

But of course, Axel did not have eyes on the back of his head, and stood up and exited the room, ignorant to the strange creature still in his room. He did, however, feel a rather strange sensation, and reflexively spun around to face his room again.

Flicker.

A green blur suddenly flashed towards the edges of his vision faster than a bullet, and he snapped his head to the right to try to glimpse whatever it was. However, whatever it was, it was out of sight. With an irritated grunt, he stormed out of the room and towards the lobby.

"Kali! I told you to stay the fuck out of my mind!"

As he did so, he once again was ignorant to the green, insectoid creature standing upside down on its sixteen legs on the ceiling, staring emotionlessly at his retreating figure. It watched him disappear into the lobby. Then, the Peripheral Jumper did what it did best.

It jumped.

Flicker.

Benjamin awoke with a start. He sat up and breathed in and out repeatedly, running a hand through his unkempt and rather spiky hair. Panting hard, he looked about wildly. Now, he'd seen many weird things during his escape from the breached Foundation Site, but nothing prepared him for waking up in the middle of the night out in the middle of nowhere. He also noticed as he looked around that he was apparently lying on a large rock in a field of wheat from the looks of it. There were forest trees everywhere on the edges of the field, and at first he was pretty damn confused. Wasn't he just about to escape the Foundation-?

'Wait… I'm away from the Site. I'm away from the Foundation…'

Suddenly, confusion was replaced by immense joy. Still sitting on the rather gargantuan rock, Benjamin let an almost disturbingly wide smile grace his features, and he stared up at the night sky in pure bliss.

'I… I made it… God, I dunno how the fuck I did it… but…'

"I… I got out! I'm free! I'M FREE! YES! FUCK YOU, 05's! FUCK YOU GUARDS! FUCK YOU, SCPs! I DID IT! YEAH!" Ben shouted at the top of his lungs. He didn't really care that he was somehow out in the middle of nowhere; all that mattered to him was that "out in the middle of nowhere" was clearly far away from the Foundation Site where he had suffered so much. Far away from the horrible creatures, sickening sights and overall horrifying experience that probably would've driven most people insane. Right now, all he could think about was how he had finally made it against all odds, and nothing was going to ruin his good mood now.

"Grraaagh…"

… Too soon?

That deep, gutteral and just plain evil-sounding voice made him freeze in place, a look of terror overtaking his features. Suddenly, he realized that the giant rock he was sitting on… didn't really feel like a rock. His eyes widened in terror, and felt a cold chill run down his back. Still staring upwards and not looking down at what he was sitting on, Ben felt with his hands exactly what he'd awoken on.

"Grrraah… what…?" An incredibly deep, ancient and malevolent voice beneath him growled. Suddenly, Ben felt the object he was sitting on move, and he finally looked down to see what he was currently seated on. When he did, his heart sank in a now-familiar sensation of dread. He was not sitting on a rock.

He was sitting on a giant monster lying on the grass. It was enormous, at least 60 feet long from the tip of its long tail to its stout nose, and 12 feet wide. Even lying down with its body touching the ground, the top of its back was at least twenty feet up from the floor. Its body seemed somewhat reptilian, like a giant lizard, except it had six long pillar-like legs shaped like those of an elephant, with the feet of a crocodile with extended toes and claws, the front pair of feet resembling a cross of crocodile feet with human fingers. Instead of scales, it had a tough and thick dark greenish-skin, and a large mane of hair drooped from its back and neck that was long enough to reach midway down its sides, with a row of spikes protruding from its spine and shoulders from the middle of its short neck to its tail, which ended in one such long spike. The top part of its head seemed to be covered in a bony, skull-like armor, with the lower jaw resembling the rest of its body. Its head itself seemed to resemble a crocodile, only shorter in length and thicker, large saliva-covered teeth portruding from its cold lips. On top of its reptilian skull-like head were four large, hateful eyes, each with a burning yellow sclera and bright red irises and pupils.

Eyes that, right now, were glaring holes straight into Benjamin Oliver Walker after the monster awoke from Ben's joyous cries and prompted it to turn its head around to see the comparatively tiny human sitting on its back.

Ben blinked.

SCP-682 blinked.

An instant later, petrified screams and furious roars destroyed the calm night air, terrifying any and all forest animals unfortunate enough to be anywhere near the sources of the sounds.

"'Sup, guys."

"Hey, Dustin."

"Morning."

"Hey."

"… Uh, so… Did you guys happen to hear any weird sounds last night?"

"…"

"…"

"… I… I think so…"

"You sure, Will?"

"I mean… it sounded pretty far off in the woods."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't hear anything, Dustin."

"Seriously? I could've sworn I heard people laughing and screaming out there last night. I thought I heard an animal roaring, but…"

"…"

"… Maybe… I mean, weirder stuff's happened, heh… right guys?"

"Oh, God knows the things we've seen, Mike. Geez, there's no way things could possibly get any weirder from this point on!"

"… Did you seriously just say that, Lucas?"

"… Shit."