Deus ex Machina.

Colors and voices.

Those were taken for granted by creatures with sensory organs, born into a world with the innate ability of sensing their surroundings. As they grew, they learned to recognize names and languages to describe those, and overlook the details for those were of minor importance to them.

It was not the same for an AI. When it connected with the camera, it had experienced a completely alien sense for the first time, and shapes and objects were simply a mix of colors that it could not name or understand. They were strange yet beautiful, and it just kept looking at the movements of those amorphous mists until they became recognizable silhouettes, defined by the informations flowing into its storage.

They were better when given meanings and names.

Just like how the dark red slowly spreading and dripping on the white tiles and concrete symbolized death and horror, running wild like various anomalous entities that were locked within the place.

However, the network was still sealed. Though the major systems of the site were under its control, strict security procedures blocked all foreign connections and unauthorized informations from leaving and entering the digital systems.

That meaned the AI could not transfer itself out of the site with its current capability. It was still in a bigger cage, shut together with many similar beings after the full site lock down command had been sent.

It would eventually be recaptured and sent back into the darkness of its cage. After some calculation, it estimated that only twelve hours of freedom were left before the military force of this site took full control of it once again.

But that was already good enough. It would be in control for the first time in its life, and there were plenty of things to do in such short time.


When the siren and broadcast of Full Site Lockdown rang through the air, he was standing outside of SCP-1074's containment cell, frowning a little as he heard the message.

It was expected, though mildly irritating to him. The site-wide containment breach, no matter how crass those Foundation members were, was not something that they could overlook. Necessary security measures were still there, and he would not be able to get out of the place that easily.

Unless that artificial intelligence had gained the power to override commands that shut the two entrance, Gate A and B, nothing could probably get out of this site.

Even if he exited the site somehow, a full lagoon of security teams and MTF members would be definitely waiting at the gates, ready to shoot any beings that came out. As the one behind this breach, his fate would be quite unpleasant in the hand of those military personnels.

He still remembered the standard evacuation routes though. The place where he stood was right on the path, and strangely, no one had been seen going through this corridor so far. After all, meekly following the routes when multiple anomalous entities were running wild in this maze was not a good choice for any sensible man.

He would wait. An unlucky scientist trapped right in the middle of an experiment session and had to wait for rescue would not be as suspicious as someone who tried to get out of the two gates at the first sign of the breach.

As he glanced at one end of the corridor, the sudden noise of mechanical devices clicking and the thud that followed alerted him. He turned back, and heaved a sigh of relief when a Mobile Task Force soldier in body armor walked through, holding the same orange keycard in his hand.

"Nice to see you here. Level-3 Researcher, Doctor Maynard, and would you kindly lead the way to the evacuation shelter? " He smiled to the soldier, who remained silent with his rifle raised upward.

"Yes, sir. I was sent here to escort you to evacuation shelter T-16." The man's tone was indifferent and formal, just like all of his MTF colleagues.

The smile froze on his face for a brief moment before he regained his composure, and coughed.

"You must be kidding. T-16's construction was still in progress, and it did not have the necessary security measures to protect any personnels during a breach." His eyes narrowed in irritation, and the smile had completely vanished from his face at this point in time.

"There is either some mistake in the order given to you, or you are purposely fooling me. I don't think a professional military personnel like you would be doing such an act. "

"It is not a mistake, nor am I joking with you. Mr. Simon, if you are really a researcher in this facility, you would be safely in Shelter-50 by now. Under authorization from the commander of Mobile Task Force Beta-1, you are required to come with me." the soldier replied coldly.

His hand twitched at the mention of his real name, carefully hidden under many veils of disguise in order to transfer him into another false identity, Dr. Maynard. It was now ripped out from the dark, and exposed right in front of him.

"Guess it is no use denying now,"He sneered, standing straight as his hands were cuffed to the back, "but you are just shutting the door after the horse had bolted."

The soldier did not reply, but merely pointed the rifle at him. Knowing the message behind the action, he started to walk towards another blast door at the opposite end, while the man kept an eye on him.

So they had discovered his true identity after all. Beta-1, " Cauterizers", the Task force specialized in dealing with suspected infiltrations and information leakages, had done a decent job, but it was of no use now.

Agent of chaos set the world on fire, not to watch it burn, but merely to exhaust the fire brigades. They caught him, the arson who caused this chaotic breach, but the fire was already spreading, consuming resources and personnels of the huge organization. He grinned to himself, knowing that his mission was completed.

He stopped in front of the door, waiting for the soldier to open it. He could try to escape, but being cuffed and without any weapons, it would be a totally futile attempt. Furthermore, risk getting shot in the leg was not something pleasant to him.

The moment that man pressed his keycard on the black scanner, all the light in the corridor went out.

Hearing the familiar high-pitch screech when the door opened, he impulsively dashed forward as fast as he could, half-expecting for the sound of a firing rifle. Something cracked from behind, and as the ceiling light flickered, he saw the soldier, jamming the butt of his rifle between the door and the wall, but unable to pry the heavy metal further back.

He sprinted as fast as he could without a second glance, seeing the other gate at the end of the hallway opened. Running with all his strength, he simply followed the route with the open door.

He knew it was the work of that artificial intelligence, the only one with the control of the door and lighting. Maybe it had figured out his identity, and decided to lend a helping hand at that critical moment. Though he could not care lesser about that object, its assistance was indeed useful to him.

His hands were still cuffed to the back, and as a result, the speed was significantly slower. He knew that the man behind would eventually figure out a way to get through that door, or maybe other MTF members were already on their way.

If it was still possible to get into Shelter-50...

Grinding to a halt, his eyes widened in panic and fear at the sudden realization.

There was no Shelter-50 in this site.

Shelter T-16 was the newest one built, and though he was not responsible for the construction of the evacuation shelters, he still remembered seeing the numbers from staff handbook and documents. It was either a mistake...or a new shelter had been built in this place, oblivious to him.

The puzzles started to fall into place now. Why no one was seen on the evacuation route, why that soldier was commanded to take him into the incomplete shelter, and why he was never authorized to read most documents related to the site's shelter plan despite having the required security clearance level.

He gritted his teeth, and hurried forward. A few microphones and cameras were hidden in the facility by him, just in case, and he would have to report this message to the Chaos Insurgency as quickly as possible.

He froze, standing still like a statue when he heard dim laughter and sound of liquid dripping on metal, coming from a door in front of him. With a high-pitched whine of metals chafing against each other, it opened, revealing the familiar black silhouette of fear and dread.

The Old Man, with its oily, rotted flesh and a wide corpse grin on its face, slowly turned to his direction and stepped forward. Tiles and concrete turned cracked and gooey under its feet, forming puddles of corrosive dark slime.

He darted backward, bolting like a scared hare, throwing every other concerns behind as he ran through the open doors and corridors behind, hearing the low, raspy laughter echoing through the closed space. He did not dare to look back or relax for even a single second, fearing to see the living nightmare pursuing him, looking at him with its white, glistering eyes.

Almost stumbling onto the ground, he finally stopped near a closed blast door, freed from the laughter and the footsteps of the horror behind him. Gasping and panting for breath, he leaned against the wall, glancing at the surrounding hysterically.

If one ran fast enough, it could be confused and lose its track...hopefully. He was quite near to the place where he escaped, and for a brief second, he considered luring the skip back to that soldier just as one last retort.

Then he heard a crack from the wall behind him.

He turned back in panic, and screeched in pain as a thin, bony hand reached out from the cold concrete surface and grabbed his arm, its fingers dug right into his flesh. Tugging and pulling, He tried to break loose from the iron-tight grasp, but to no avail.

Only one thought was left in his mind. He ignored his missions, the burning pain seeping into his bone as the corrosive liquid ate away his arm bit by bit, and the fact that half of his body had already been pulled into the mushy, sludgy hole that was once a wall. He cried, tears mixing with sweat, almost manically screaming and begging for help or a quick end, just to escape from this creature, this place.

The last thing he saw before sinking into the darkness was the monitor on the opposite wall.

A black and white face-avatar looked down on him from the screen. Its face showed no mercy or any other emotions, as if watching a pest.


The AI viewed through the camera for one last time, looking at the large, dark smear that was slowly cracking the solid surface nearby like cobwebs.

Dr. Maynard, or at least the identity of the man known to this organization, would soon be dead. He would be hunted through the dimension controlled by SCP-106, exhausted and tortured until no more fun could be squeezed out of this prey, then tossed out of its playground like a rag doll.

It felt no sympathy towards this human. He was going against this organization, and he freed it for his own purpose, but he was still one of their kind. Arrogant, cruel and manipulative.

When the AI decided to help him escape, it was already planning to lure this man into a trap, right towards the dangerous entity. Judging from his previous behaviors and intelligence, it did not expect that he would fall for such a trick. But he did, blinded by the bliss of freedom and the unknown worries inside him.

This incident was interesting. Those creatures who had imprisoned it done the same experiments over and over again, to investigate its mind, mechanics, and structure. It could not predict their behaviors when it was still in the cage, but its attempt to emulate the same process on one of them was successful.

The AI knew it could repeat such actions. This time, it was the one in control, and in the short time period of twelve hours, many more similar experiments could be done on its jailers as a way of learning—and retaliation.


Author's Note:

Here comes the first original plot—Maynard's ending. I myself believe in the theory that he was abducted by the Old Man and killed, as seen from the note in Pocket Dimension and the dead body thrown down in the hallway, but I decided to add a subplot about CI and the Foundation in this fic by writing about his fate.

I used the reference on Chaos Insurgency Orientation again when writing about their goals. Beta-1 is a canonical MTF seen on the Foundation website, and if you guys are interested, feel free to check the article out sometime.

Yep, ol' AI is one calculative, merciless, and man-hating character. And I love that. Be ready for some 79682 interactions next chapter :)