SCP-1428 – "Cortexichildren"
Chapter 3: Where in the World is Olivia Dunham?
Disclaimers: During the writing process, all of the SCP number selections I have used were / are vacant. I don't intend to publish this on the wiki, so if the series number is now taken… oh well. This is mainly a crossover fic, not a SCP event log that will go on the site.
Forever reminder that I do not own anything. Fringe belongs to J.J. & co. & each SCP belongs to their respective individual author. & the SCP universe belongs to that collective on that site. I do not own anything. I am a fan.
Forever reminder of how I handle alt!characters: Over There: Bob. Over Somewhere Else: Bob.
Author's Notes: The SCP-like documents will start hardcore here on out.
I'll be diving into the unfamiliar SCP world – to the best of my ability. But I'll also be going back to the familiar. This IS a Nick & Olivia story, but the show always tries to tie everyone together. & I'll be doing that, too. & my goal is to give a little more love to Astrid in this. In the first outlines, I had her staying behind. But then I was like NO the show leaves her behind all the time. She's gotta have a role. I want to incorporate as many characters as I can… hopefully. I am just one person, tho.
Subjects Under Review:
Subjects XB-6783 and XB-6746
Acquired: "██/██/2011 by Mobile Task Force Delta-5 Agents S, Q, M, and B.
Subject XB-6783: Caucasian male with blond hair and blue eyes. At time of acquiring, Subject was seen with XB-6746. Relationship to XB-6746 is unknown. Subject appears to be a reverse-empath, spreading its emotions to others. Range of empathic abilities unknown at present time. Subject is prone to self-hate and suicidal thoughts which manifest in subsequent self-hate and self-harm in those near to it, the worst of which resulting in death. Caution greatly advised. At present time, subject is highly sedated. Subject is considered highly dangerous because of event [DATA REDACTED] which alerted the Foundation of its presence.
Subject XB-6746: Caucasian female with blonde hair and hazel eyes. At time of acquiring, Subject was seen with XB-6783. Relationship to XB-6783 unknown, although prior to its securing, Subject attempted to calm XB-6783's destructive feelings. This suggests that at one time Subject could control XB-6783's abilities, but in event [DATA REDACTED] failed to do so. Subject appears to care for human life, but to what extent is unknown. At present time, the Foundation does not know of Subject's abilities. Caution greatly advised. At present time, subject is highly sedated.
Both subjects are being kept in Site 19 until further data is collected.
[[INFORMATION FOR THOSE WITH LEVEL 4 CLEARANCE ONLY]]
The following is a transcribed copy of Agent S while securing Subjects XB-6783 and -6746:
Subject 1 is a Caucasian male, blond hair, blue eyes. Subject 2 is a Caucasian female with blonde hair. Prior to their appearance in Bayside sector 5, innocents were going about their normal lives. All was calm. 14:00 hours, both subjects appeared in the sector. Subjects appeared to be searching for something they needed; they did not find it. Subject 1 began to experience great distress. Subject 1 talked to Subject 2 about seeing a copy of himself. The subjects began to talk about the nature of this other person who did look identical to Subject 1. Viewing this person caused great distress to Subject 1. Subject 1 is now expressing suicidal feelings. These suicidal feelings seemed to have spread to all those around it. Innocents that were calm have begun to act irrationally and erratically. Innocents are stabbing themselves with glass, smashing their heads against the ground, swallowing toxic chemicals sold in stores, driving cars into buildings. Subject 2 is unable to control Subject 1. Relationship between the two subjects is unclear. Situation is escalating-
O5-2 : I am quite curious as to the specifics of Subject XB-6783's abilities. Serial Classification numbers of both Subjects shall be as follows:
Subject XB-6783 is to be relabeled SCP-1375. Subject XB-6746 is to be relabeled SCP-1357.
Questioning of both subjects scheduled 18:00 hours [DATA REDACTED].
There was a dull ringing in her ears. Her head ached. Everything ached. And she couldn't open her eyes.
Something was wrong. Olivia knew this feeling. Like so many other times before, she had been sedated and transported to some unknown location. Perhaps she had been operated on. Perhaps something had been removed from her or added to her. Perhaps she was being held for ransom. Perhaps this party knew that she was from Another Side and wanted answers. Or perhaps this was something else entirely.
Where was Nick? Olivia tried opening her eyes; she found it would be a struggle. Every millimeter her eyelids moved brought millions of needles worth of pain. But she had to fight it; she had to grit her teeth and grunt through it. She had to know where she was, where Nick was, how to escape.
But all she could see was white blurs. At first she thought it was just her vision, but she truly was in an empty white cell. It shone with a sheen that was too suspicious. The smell of it all was too sanitary. Artificial light burned down on her and she heard the falls of footsteps outside.
Where was this? What was this? An underground lab? A testing facility? She had been in those before, but this was somehow different. None of them had been as white as this, as clean and precise as this. None of them had been this… professional. This was something else entirely.
But before Olivia could even move, she fell right back into unconsciousness.
When she came out of it, still in a daze, she found herself in a chair. And she found that her arms were strapped in with buckles to the arms of the chair. When she moved her chin down, she saw that she was wearing a white jumpsuit with a combination of letters and numbers across her breasts. There was a man in front of her, dressed like a doctor, writing on a clipboard. This man had thick glasses and a mole growing out of his left nostril.
Again into the darkness. But she could still listen, although barely. Perhaps it was the supersonic hearing again, and if so, it was letting her sneak into the doctors' world.
She assumed they were immediately outside her cell, for lack of a better word. They were talking about two humanoid SCPs, obviously very sentient. Those SCPs were to be labeled Euclid until proven otherwise.
This language soared right over Olivia's head. Two humanoids she understood – Nick and herself – but what about the rest? What was a SCP? Another word for a Fringe event? Was this the Fringe division she had been looking for? What was Euclid? A class? A status? Was any of this related to Cortexiphan? Did they know about Cortexiphan? Who were the doctors working for? Was this a company, instead of a government agency, like Massive Dynamic? Was William Bell, or some man of a similar caliber, behind all of this? Would she be able to see this man? And where was Nick? Nick wasn't in the same cell as her, was he? She didn't remember.
She heard footsteps coming toward her and felt something shoved into her right arm.
The sounds went away and so did she.
"The agent's name is Olivia Dunham, and she has been gone over 48 hours. She was last seen at her apartment in Brighton. Agent Dunham went out for a walk, around 7 in the morning, but never returned. Retrieving this agent will be our top priority. I want a full search of the Eastern Seaboard. Leave no stone unturned. File through security cameras, traffic cameras, anything you need to bring Agent Dunham home. Are we completely clear?"
It had been three hours since Broyles had given that speech and still nothing. Agent after agent had called in with "no sign of Agent Dunham in location x, sir" or "no sign of the missing agent in sector y, sir." Call after call, nothing. He knew nothing three hours ago and he still knew nothing now.
Where the hell was she? He had dealt with missing agents before, but this… this seemed different. Olivia had gotten herself out of hostage situations. She had gotten herself out of countless things before. But she seemed to leave no traces of herself this time. There wasn't as much as a ransom note or even any clue as to who might have her. Or in the worst case scenario, who could have killed her and disposed of her body.
Talking to Peter and Walter had been fruitless, to say the least. Especially to Walter Bishop, who was beside himself with grief. Broyles worried for Dr. Bishop's mental state. Olivia meant a lot to him, and any time something happened to her, it took its toll. She was the daughter Walter never had and then some.
Broyles wanted to deliver to Walter – to all of them – good news. That he had found Olivia. That everything was going to be alright for his extended family. He wanted Olivia to come home, too, damnit. That liaison had certainly grown on him. She was the best agent he had ever had the privilege of working with. And she also had one of the biggest hearts and one of the best characters; it was certainly a privilege just to have her in his life.
Incoming call.
"What's your status?" Broyles demanded. He wanted answers. REAL answers.
"No sign of Agent Dunham in the greater NYC area."
Broyles hung up the phone. Still nothing.
"I came back with some food…" Lincoln Lee announced, although sounding uncertain, as he walked into the Bishop lab. He sounded uncertain because he wasn't sure he was in the right lab because it looked as if a bomb had gone off. The lab was in complete disarray. Food packages here and there, instruments in places they shouldn't, glass on the floor. He could even smell the faint residuals of chemicals. It looked like a war zone.
"Thanks, Lincoln." Astrid's voice was hoarse, strained. The dark circles under her eyes didn't look great, either. And even when she took the package from him, she was tense, a ball of anxious energy forever coiled up – which would explode if she finally heard the news they were all waiting for.
"How's Walter?"
Astrid winced at the mentioning of Walter's name. "Better… but still not good. He… he snapped yesterday."
"Snapped?" Walter… snap? Sure Walter had his fits of impatience and annoyance [usually in direct response to someone's stupidity], but Lincoln never knew the man to snap. He never knew the man could snap.
Astrid shook her head, "I've never seen him like that before. He was just… mad. He did all this." She motioned to everything around her with her eyes, "Walter did all this by himself. It was terrifying. It took Peter hours to calm him down. They're still in one of the side rooms. If Peter leaves his side… Walter just goes into hysterics."
"So… should I just go?"
Astrid gave a heavy sigh, so heavy that it looked like all the oxygen holding her together, holding her in one piece, seemed to exit her body, "I don't know, Lincoln. I think it's for the best. Just… keep searching for her, will you?"
"Will do."
Astrid waited until Lincoln shut the door behind him, then walked back toward the Bishops. As she passed Gene, she heard a very labored moo that sounded more like a scream. Gene kept stomping her feet and shaking her head, agitated.
"I know, Gene. I know," Astrid couldn't help but utter. "But she'll be coming back soon. Or at least I hope so." When she opened the door, she was glad to see Walter snoring up against a corner. And a more relaxed Peter sitting right next to him.
"I've got some food," Astrid offered. She tip-toed into the room, praying with all her being that Walter wouldn't wake up. This was the first time he had gotten some quality sleep since he had last seen Olivia.
"Thanks," Peter gave her a soft, yet tired smile. "I'm starving. What is it?"
"Lincoln didn't say. But it smells good." Astrid took a container out, opened the lid, and peered in, "It's pho."
"Oh wow. Walter'll be very excited when he wakes up. And maybe it'll take his mind off of…" Peter didn't dare say her name.
"Yeah." Astrid recognized that Peter needed some alone time. She hustled as quietly as possible out of there.
Astrid didn't know the status of Peter's relationship with Olivia, but she knew what they had was special. Astrid knew that Olivia was just beginning to fully "remember" Peter from a past timeline. This still confused Astrid, but if it made Olivia happy… she was happy. Up until meeting Peter, Olivia had just been so empty after John Scott. She couldn't trust anyone with her heart anymore. She was beginning to open up to Agent Lincoln, which was a huge step, but Olivia still put up barriers between them. She just wasn't ready.
But with Peter… things were different. Things were immediate and natural and almost effortless. Astrid had joked that maybe there wasn't anyone in the universe for Olivia, but it seemed the joke was actually a fact. Peter was from somewhere else and Peter certainly was for her. And now, just when things seemed to be looking good for Olivia… it was all taken away. It was too cold.
The warm broth made Astrid feel better on the surface, but it did little else underneath. "I just hope they find you soon, Olivia."
Peter hadn't had pho in a long time. He remembered there were noodles – Walter would love those – and bean sprouts and some meat, but he didn't remember anything else.
'I'm not going to think about Olivia,' he determined. 'I'm not going to go off and lose it just like Walter.' He sipped the broth and felt it spreading through his body, coating his insides with an even warmth. 'They're going to find her and she's going to be okay. She's going to be okay.' But would THEY be okay? He remembered how violent Walter was last night. Peter was actually scared a little bit for his life.
There was an especially vivid image of Walter that kept replaying in Peter's mind. He could not purge it for the life of him. It kept pushing its way to the front of his consciousness. It was more like a virus than a memory. The image was Walter getting up on a table and smashing beakers to the ground, screaming out obscenities followed by what seemed like a howl. It was horrible. Peter didn't even remember how he had gotten Walter to come down from such a state. He wasn't sure if he had used words, sedatives, or a mixture of the two.
Peter just hoped Walter would stay in a nice slumber. He hoped Walter would stay calm. It'd certainly help Peter keep his cool.
Olivia was going to be alright. Olivia was going to be alright.
"When she gets back," he couldn't help but say aloud, "We'll go get that strudel – together. And Walter'll be excited. It'll be how the day was supposed to have gone. And everything'll be fine. We'll go back home, have a nice lunch or dinner, and we'll do our odd little routine all over again. There'll be a case for us to solve. There'll be universes for us to save. We'll stay together. We'll stay…" Peter looked down at the pho and finally broke, "Fuck, Olivia." How come nothing good seemed to last between the two of them? How come nothing could be normal? Normal couples didn't have to worry about their significant other being potentially abducted by scientific terrorist freaks. Normal couples had it easy.
In that moment he would've given anything in the world to get Olivia back. And to be an ordinary couple with Olivia. No FBI. No Fringe division. Just them, happy without a care in the world, in the suburbs. He could be an accountant with a deadbeat job, for all he cared. He just wanted someplace where they could be safe.
But Peter knew that could never happen. They were both in too deep at this point.
"Fuck, Olivia."
Had that really been him? Walter's dreaming mind was placing him in an outer body experience against his will, looking in at the destruction he had caused yesterday.
At first it had started calm, "Agent Dunham has been gone for a day." Walter had merely shrugged it off. "She'll be fine. She's always been fine. She's always been strong." But the more he repeated variants of "Olivia will be fine," the less he believed it. And the less he believed it, the more he said it – frantically. And his fervor got to a point where everything seemed ridiculous.
"Peter! Where in the world is Olivia?" He grabbed onto Peter's coat collar. "I need to see her again, Peter!"
"We all do, Walter." Peter was trying to stay in control. He was trying to calm his father down. "But sit down. You need to rest. You haven't slept since we got the news."
But this only triggered Walter to rage. "How can I sleep when Agent Dunham is out there in the world, probably in serious danger? How callous of you, Peter. I thought you cared about her. She could be out there getting raped by various demons of the night-"
"You stop right there, Walter." Peter's voice shook, but only in the slightest degree. He was stubborn in his refusal to lose himself. "Stop jumping to conclusions. You'll only worry yourself even more. All we have to do is wait-"
"But waiting is next to nothing, Peter!" Walter smacked a petri dish full of something to the ground. It shattered instantly, causing Astrid to yell, "Walter!" in great surprise. His voice was transforming into a growl, a furious, "This is unacceptable. The FBI is barely even trying. They're just pissing all over the matter. I bet I could find Olivia. I actually care. All those good-for-nothings in their suits and their ties-"
"Walter, please!" Peter had his hands up and was slowly approaching Walter, who had darted behind a cabinet, looking for things to smash. "You need to calm down."
"I AM CALM, PETER. Because what do you think Olivia is going through? She's probably terrified. She's probably getting experimented on. Or tortured. Or BOTH. And you don't even care! You want to get into her vagina and you don't even care about her safety-"
That was not smart of Walter to say. It was Peter's turn to explode, although it still paled in comparison to Walter's current status, "How DARE you question my love for Olivia; how DARE you doubt it at all. A person who couldn't even love his own wife right has no right to lecture me on what to feel or what to do. This all seems rich coming from someone who willingly abandoned his family to work on science experiments to stroke his ego and his goddamn god complex. How DARE you even go to those levels, Walter. And yelling at me and trying to make me feel guilty isn't going to help bring Olivia back. All it's going to do is make me angry." Peter exhaled deeply, adding, "It's not like she can hear you, Walter."
Walter just snarled at Peter and got up on the counter. He threw empty beakers right at Peter's feet.
"WALTER, STOP. LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE DOING. COME DOWN OFF THE TABLE. COME DOWN NOW. WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ACCOMPLISH RIGHT NOW?"
"WHAT I WANT TO FUCKING ACCOMPLISH ISN'T OF YOUR DAMN CONCERN, SON." His twisted emphasis on the word "son" was harsher than any swear word Walter could hurl out of his mouth. And the fact that here, in this moment of all moments, Walter was able to realize that Peter WAS in fact his son… it stung worst of all. "I WANTOLIVIA." He stopped targeting Peter's body parts and just threw beakers on the ground randomly. Although one did get dangerously close to Astrid, which naturally caused her to scream "WALTER?!" in great disbelief and anger. Astrid also ran to bring solace to Gene, who was mooing uncontrollably and pounding the ground with her hooves. Her background noise was not helping Walter's sudden violent break with reality.
Then Walter wasn't saying words at all. Just vague growls, howls, and cries of rage. He kicked things off the table and raised his fists up to the sky.
And then all was calm. Walter woke up.
"Oh Peter!" Walter gasped out. He then went on a frantic, frightened stream of consciousness, "Did I really do those horrible things last night? Please know that I didn't know what was happening. I didn't mean any of those horrible things. I am so terribly sorry. Please forgive me. Oh Peter I'm just so scared and I want Olivia back and I'm just so worried for her and I want her back."
Peter brought his father into his arms and rocked back and forth with him, hoping to relax him down again. "We all want her back, Walter. We all do."
"If you feel that this will give us any indication to Agent Dunham's location then I say you go for it, Agent Lee."
Broyles' words rang in his ears as he walked to the bridge between the two worlds, which was an odd place for him to be. And quite a bit poetic. Lincoln Lee was going to the ends of this universe and into the next in search for Olivia Dunham. He was certain that she would do the same for him, certainly for anyone she really cared about. That's what made her special, and worth finding in the first place.
The scanning in order to pass to the other side usually made him nervous. That alone usually made him anxious beyond belief, but this was different. He felt like throwing up all over the scanning room. He felt like screaming and pounding his fists against the delicate instruments in the walls. He was deathly afraid for Olivia. Where in the world was she? Was she in this world? Or was she back in their world?
"Welcome, Agent Lee."
He nodded, not really absorbing what the attendant had just said to him. What could have happened to her? Going off for a walk and then all of a sudden gone? There were too many possibilities. The common one amongst the Fringe team was abduction by a David Robert Jones affiliated agent, or by David Robert Jones himself… but any other situation seemed just as likely. And there were just too many.
And now Lincoln was going to tackle the task of trying to find Olivia in this entire universe by himself. There were SWAT teams sweeping cities, but he was one man hoping to sweep an entire country. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to find anything. He felt like giving up before he even began.
And just when he was about to walk back, he saw her.
"Agent Lee, what a surprise." Although that same voice did not convey such surprise. The voice didn't seem to care at all.
It was Olivia. An Olivia with red hair and a sharper sense of sass, but an Olivia still. She could help, right? Right?
"Agent… Dunham." His voice sounded too meek. His throat was closing up. He didn't know what to say to her. Even though she wasn't Olivia… she was, a bit. And he felt all of this emotion: fear over not being able to find her; fear over not being good enough to find her; and fear over finding nothing but a pile of flesh and bones. He cleared his throat and was finally able to speak again, "Our Olivia Dunham has been missing for the past 48 hours and I was hoping to do a brief scan of your side."
Olivia rolled her eyes, "Does your Olivia get herself into these kinds of situations often?"
"Not necessarily, but-"
"You do understand that our Fringe events and our missions are top priority here. If you haven't forgotten, Agent Lee, but our world is, in a lot of ways, a lot more fragile than yours. We have matters over here that you couldn't even fathom tackling with your pathetic excuse of a team. When we are not tackling such highly sensitive and important matters, THEN you can make a desperate little search for your blondie. Are we understood?"
"But, but that's not good enough, Agent Dunham." No. Peter Bishop wouldn't take that for an answer. And HE certainly wouldn't take that for an answer. "One of our top agents is missing. This may be the doing of David Robert Jones and if it is, both of our universes are in jeopardy. Agent Dunham has access to very classified information. And her abilities make her a prime target. This agent is-"
"This one agent is more important than my entire universe?" Olivia's nostrils flared. "Do you have any idea how selfish you sound? Everyone from your side expects us to bend over backwards to meet your needs. Well I am sick of it. We don't exist just to cater to your whims-"
"With all due respect, Agent Dunham, but I believe that my side would try to find a missing agent of yours, too. Or at least, I would. I mean if you were to go missing, I'd make… an effort… to." Lincoln looked down at his feet, feeling his face grow hot.
"Hmph," Olivia turned around. "I'll give you fifteen minutes with Astrid. If you can't find your girlfriend after that, she's either not here or you'll need to come back some other time."
"Thank you so-"
"Fifteen minutes. Not a minute more. Are we clear?"
"Yes."
Astrid's fingers were moving across screens and surfaces faster than Lincoln could dream to compute. "I apologize, Agent Lee, but I am unable to find Agent Dunham at present time. In such a short amount of time, I cannot possibly account for all of the known possible locations Agent Dunham could be. If you would like, I could leave the search running to give a better-"
"That would be great," Lincoln gushed. "And if you find anything, you can send a liaison and we can-"
Astrid finally blinked as she looked over at Lincoln, "Although I must give you a word of caution. It is unlikely that Agent Dunham is on this side, even if it is David Robert Jones' doing. There have been no detected anomalies between the two sides in the past 54 hours. It is most likely that she is still in your universe."
"If you were to give me a probability, what would be your guess?" Lincoln leaned in closer, quite unaware that Olivia was behind him ready to pluck him away.
"Less than 15%. That is my best guess."
"You heard the woman." Olivia's tone was quite irritated. "We've entertained your little Where's Wally search long enough."
"Where's Wally? Don't you mean Where's Waldo?" Lincoln pushed up his glasses as he stared at Olivia's stern jaw.
"Sure. Same thing." Olivia snapped, "I need to get you back to the bridge. Some of us are actually doing real work here." Olivia grabbed his right shoulder and dragged him off.
"Ow, you don't need to be so forceful." Lincoln plied Olivia's fingers off of him. "I can walk back under my own power."
"Your own power, huh?" Olivia smirked. "Fine."
"Their Astrid made a brief search, and judging by their cameras, Olivia doesn't seem to be there. Although she also said that it's unlikely that Olivia is Over There in the first place. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do better, sir," Lincoln pushed his glasses up again. "How's the search on this side?"
"Much of the same," Broyles reclined further in his chair. "Every hook is empty, it seems like. I'd like to consult with Walter Bishop, when he feels up to it. When he's ready, I'll arrange a meeting. I want to get his take on things."
"I'll have Peter let you know when." Lincoln then shared, "But I don't think it'll be anytime soon. He's not in the best state at the moment."
"The same can be said for all of us."