Notes:WARNING! This chapter contains horror and slight gore.
Fiddleford McGrucket had no dream for a very long time, and he preferred that way. To him, every dream was a nightmare, which aggravated his current state of mind. Hence, despite the side effects, he enjoyed the amnesia caused by the Memory Gun.
Yet somehow, dreams could come when he least expected them.
Pits of fire.
Cries of people and creatures that are at the mercy of a merciless creative evil.
A Factory with types of machinery working making machines and spewing abominations like a fusion of a factory farm and an industrial one using the living and metal as raw materials.
Then, there was it. A mass of metal with one glowing baleful crimson eye with cables and glass capacitors around this abomination of a machine with many robotic arms with numerous hands from surgical knives, circular saws, three-fingered hands, blowtorches, soldering guns, and plasma cutters that sparked plasma. Then, the heinous machine looked back and gazed at him, making him yelp out from his sleep with cold sweat, and yet maybe sleep was preferable to what he was seeing.
Sounds of guns shooting, things exploding and people shouting. The smell of smoke and sulfur invaded his nostrils. And the view was nothing short of apocalyptic; the sky looked polluted by light red colored clouds, the earth cracked, trees fell, fires were on and people around him were shouting and running some were familiar like the teenage inhabitants of Gravity Falls, Soos, Melody, and the Corduroys while others were not like the two bruised women who were carrying a person who seemed to be inside of some sort of advance biomechanical suit with healed scars around to prevent the synthetic blood from bleeding and soldiers some injured with one of them have bandages around her head wearing armor and the familiar 'SCP' label shooting their weapons at enemies till. He was being dragged by one of the soldiers before he got up from the shock of seeing all this.
"WHAT BY LORD- !"
"GET DOWN!" one of the women who were carrying the armored person, the blonde one warned, and in instinct he did so as the next thing he heard was the sound of an explosion caused by something being shot.
The explosion made his earring ring as he moaned in agony, dust came in, and as he tried to regain his stability from one glance he saw dead soldiers who were unlikely enough to be near enough of the blast radius.
The booming explosion also caused some of the running people to fall on the ground; one of the Corduroy boys, Kevin, was it? Who was the most outlier in the group circle with a groan tried to get up and then, the attacker revealed themselves from the fog with such a loud high pitched continuous chime that even the ringing in Fidd's ear could hear it.
CHIME!
A big Mechanical blackened machine 50 feet tall on 4 spider-like legs with one glowing red eye and a big cannon smoking from the fire tall in size accompanied by 2 smaller walkers on two legs each also black, two machine guns on each side, and a tough shell 40 feet big. The sound of faint electricity and machinery working could be heard. Despite clearly being technologically advanced, there was nothing sleek or smooth about them, they looked crude, anachronistic, and gothic reflecting their unforgiving nature.
Their giant footsteps were loud to the ear like the heartbeat of a condemned prisoner gazing judgmentally with those unblinking red eyes. Kevin petrified in fear and awe by the mechanical giants fell backward with his hands on the ground.
A missile came and shot one of the walkers down making it drop with a screech from a group of unidentified soldiers further away on a hill which made them almost cheer before the other walker started spinning its two turrets at the now shooting soldiers who dared to kill its brethren.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The weapons shot and began to decimate the shooters.
Manly Dan came in aid for Kevin by running toward him and grabbing his elbow "BOY! GET UP!" The son followed his father's order and raced back.
After the machines eliminated the attackers, hanger doors opened from which capsules were flung one of them missed the two Corduroys narrowly, and when they hit the ground they then their shells opened up spewing green gasses so deadly that any plant near them even the grasses withered away.
"CHEMICAL WEAPONS!" one of the soldiers shouted out.
"RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" the parahuman woman with glasses ordered.
And so the survivors ran as fast as they could. Fortunately, either the machines saw them as no threat or were oblivious to their existence so they managed to outrun them and the deadly gasses through deep in the woods, so while they still needed to keep moving they no longer needed to run to collect their breath.
"What's going on!? What's happening!?" Mcgucket was beginning to think this was another nightmare as he tried to pinch himself which did not work.
"Dude, I'm asking the same thing!" Nate joined in.
"First it was that red light that came up which is still coming!"- Gus pointed at the red line of energy that came out from distances away which the old inventor guessed was from Crash Site Omega -"T-then we ended up in the middle of some war with weird at top weird! this woman we just meet got beheaded and went full mother nature! we tried to get out of the town but this invincible shield prevented us not before wrecking the car! Then there was chaos and then! Now we are stuck with some post-apocalyptic movie- !" Gus couldn't finish as his breathing was being hiccuped by the stress and craziness of all this until Dan held him steady from the shoulder.
"Boy! Deep breath!" he told his youngest son which he compiled and slowly tried to calm his nerves.
"So in short ... you missed Grandpa a lot." Tambry sardonically commented.
Fidd wanted to ask more; however, the dire situation made him decide now it was not an appropriate time for that.
"Damn Alexei is heavy!" the anahuman woman with glasses whined as she left him on the ground to take a break with a breath with only the blue-jacket parahuman still trying to drag him.
"Let me help." Daniel came in and aided her in carrying Belitrov, thanks to Corduroy's genes and his muscular physique he made the jump of the blonde woman in her 20s much easier.
"Where are we going now? We can't stay in the woods forever, they will find us." Gideon
"Does anyone know a place to rest that is defensible?" the blonde adult woman asked the inhabitants of Gravity Falls.
"The Mansion…we should go there," Fidds suggested.
"Hold on, as much as I love the idea of visiting my previous home, it is not exactly subtle with its appearance." Pacifica reminded others.
"Aye equipped the place with turrets, traps', food stashes, and with the help of Fordsy using Unicorn hair and a force field prototype I've been working on in case of another Armageddon to house survivers'."
"Or we could go to the bunker? It's underground and I remember Doc having supplies there in case of the world's ending and is underground." Soos added in.
"No, it's too long and we are too far by now, the Mansion is closer, we take a 4-minute rest then we go." the blonde parahuman commanded, so they took their temporary rest until the journey had begun.
At the Crash Site Omega Site, the ancient alien starship was on the surface thanks to the wrath of a goddess and the unholy beam still shined up in the sky and yet that was not all: half-made pipes were underway that exhorted polluting gasses into the air, spider-like robots were constructing around and inside the alien ship, abominable cyborgs were transporting raw materials or help at the mining operation, alien drone re-programmed by a malignant intelligence were serving as watchmen and inside were constructed industrial machines that were making engines of war, pits of molten steel and fire where iron would be melted and shaped and flesh parts hanging on hooks. This place was becoming a factory, a factory of flesh and metal. The Factory was making shops using Crash Site Omega as their base of operation. And inside in the depths, a disgraced general was being punished.
"FOOL!"
In the physical world, Lord Goran's body floats up in the air as if invisible hands were holding him in a tight grip, making the cultists and small machines around him run away. In the astral realm, he was being choked and gripped by a very displeased god-king in the form of a black formless shape with hateful eyes with his tendrils of darkness grasping him in a cold embrace.
"Please my king…" Goran begged but was unheard.
"I told you the 7th child's death is all that matters. Now it's outside of your grasp. It is becoming stronger with every moment as you breathe and thanks to your lack of vision, one of my court is dead."
"Jeser…that beggar prince never was loyal to y-" The force of the grip became so hard that his armor was being bent by the pressure, so painful he couldn't even shout in pain. So powerful the King's influence was that even in the physical realm the damages were apparent.
"The Prince of Many Faces, though he had an interest in my throne, was still a useful asset. Something you no longer ARE!"
The grip now becoming hardened and hardened, the armor began to shriek and dotted.
"There ... .is…someone sent there…before the shields were close."
"For your sake, your judgment better not be misplaced, or else you will wish you never came out of your exile."
With no warning, Lord Goran was tossed like a rag doll, hitting a series of boxes filled with tools in the physical realm and disconnecting the connection. The armored giant, after growling in pain, then began to get up from the mess he made as tools were depressed around him from the collision. When he got up he heard mocking clappers,
"Ah, General Goran; victor of the Flesh Wars, conqueror of the Hakton planes, and renowned for so much more. Or at least; no longer the general, just a Lord was it?"- a voice mocked, from an entrance came the ascended Dehak as a living armor draconic creature, clapping his hands together. He had no lip, but Goran could see the smirk on his face -" I was coming to see what's the progress on the forges, but…it seems you and our highness were a bit busy."
"Say your piece warlock, before my patience grows thin." the armored giant growled at the warlock.
"Careful Lord Goran…I'm now your equal, no longer the decrepit old servant that I was. Ascended by our king, so be a good brute and find some village to pillage or burn while I go, I have some guests to negotiate with." he walked away from the entrance back to where he came.
Goran just glared at where the draconic humanoid was till with red eyes brightened up in anger. How dare he be so smug to someone who served the King long before his race crawled out of the primordial soup and slayed beasts and warriors across creation that would make Foundation's feeble 'Alpha 9' look pathetic. Until he was exiled for millennias by his own King for his disgrace and as a punishment lost the majority of his power. Lost in the Nightmare Realm until it leaked to this dimension which happened to house the 7th child, he brought the successor to the Crucible Cult in, and now after all his work it is that wretched snake that gained the King's favor. He threw a punch at the alien metallic wall of the crashed ship so hard that it made a sound and bended
Dehak heard the sound and hymn as he was pleased; he had reached apotheosis, and his devotion to the Scarlet King has been paid off, without the Commander the Chaos Insurgency is nothing more than a pack of rabid hounds and the lovely changeling has accepted the offer of joining the winning team for endless entertainment and mayhem all which he could promise and even then what is happening to this backward town is nothing compared to what the Red Archon would bring, the Foundation can not interfere any longer nor any of those blasted veil-protecting GOIs with the anomalous properties of this anomalous nexus weaponized and twisted into a shield. That said, it wasn't all a victory, that accursed girl who has been a thorn in his side since the day he saw her as a mere child and those meddling brats have managed to get away with the 7th Child with them and to top of that thanks to one of those poking pinning 'Pines' have caused problems for the ritual, it was the redhead girl that was meant to be the target being the daughter of the only survive of when the cult tried to bring forth the king's children to this world made her a good replacement for his broken daevite staff and now thanks to one of those Pines the ritual nearly fell on the complete disorder. It may be days or even weeks to adjust the ritual well enough to pay the way for The Crimson Monarch's arrival. Doesn't matter, but then until the enemies find a way to penetrate the shield it will be too late and if he has guessed correctly on who Goran has sent to find the 7th child those brats who became its protectors are as good as dead.
As he came down from the constructed stairs, he went to the 'Processing' room where cries of the imprisoned who soon inevitably will be processed was music to his ears as he took joy clashing his claws around the cages making a screeching noise to make whatever miserable creatures who found themselves captured in cages to back away until he reached to one cage he desired to and look inside. "Now, what was that you thought about our business?" he asked the prisoners inside with his jagged teeth visible to see.
On the other side, at the center of the constructed factory was the architect of this industry of horror, a malignant intelligence inside machinery with one glowing optic bulb crimson eye and many cold arms, a mechanical being with only the purpose of spreading it's hate, a living machine in all its glory attached up to the ceiling resembling an amalgamation of an octopus and a spider, the master of the Factory. Normally, it was content to stay at his original home to craft his deadly children of metal; however, the chance of unlocking the mysteries of an elder race that used to traverse the stars until their untimely demise has piqued its curiosity thus why it decided to relocate here turning this once mighty void sailing ship into its new Factory.
Roar!
SCP-682 once again tried to get out of its captivity tearing through an ironclad box made specifically to contain it, irritating the master of Factory as it redirected some of its robotic and cyborg minions to re-contain it. It had no means of killing that stubborn lifeform and any attempt to process it failed thanks to its incredible regeneration and healing. For a being that claims that it hates all life it sure does embody the spiteful will of life to adapt and rage against the dying of light.
After musing over, the living construct glanced at a pack of SCP-745 as they barked from their cages; black bipedal nocturnal raptors with a bloated bright sack on their heads bio-luminescent with blue light along with a few luminous feathers on their back, they communicate with each other by changing the color of their lights or flash on patterns kinda like cuttlefish. They along with instances of SCP-939 were captured by Chaos Insurgency during their raids on Foundation, they tried to domesticate these luminous predators as attack dogs and yet failed to do so due to not recognizing anything or anyone not of them as pack leaders. To the great machine's amusement as it learned they were captured first time by the Foundation when the humans thought they were headlights, for all its hatred for all life including humanity the human imagination never ceased to amaze it.
The pack was looking, barking, and flashing patterns at a dead member of their dead species on a dissection table trying to get a reaction, and yet nothing happened, they then began seemingly communicating with each other in their primitive way. From the analyses the fabricator machine gained from the files, the vivisection, and studying their behavioral patterns it concluded that the raptor which it vivisected was their alpha, and then, ideas came in.
The living machine snatched the dead headlight raptor from the table, kept it in the air, cut it in half with a saw, and used the plasma of one of its many arms to boil metal on flesh; if the raptors can't be domesticated, they can at least be directed.
The rest time was over, the survivors were now on a walk on their way to Fiddleford's mansion.
The blonde Iris dreaded what happened to the rest of her teammates; were they captured? Are they on the run? Are they dead? Did they get out of the town before it was too late? He recalled Leora and Miller disappearing with a hue of orange energy. So many questions, all of which were worrying until she got comforted by the last person she expected, that being the other Iris.
"Don't be a worrywart blondie, if they were processed the bad guys wouldn't be unable to resist the temptation of gloating on us with their lobotomized bodies." That actually made her snort, no matter fiction or reality egomaniacs stay egomaniacs.
When they reached nearly the gates of the Mansion, they gazed upon a deathly sight from far in the distance. The town was on fire and gargantuan monstrous machines were walking around it doing God knows what. The Walkers were nicknamed 'Fearmongers' by Robbie due to their physical nature and being so versatile and quick, defying their mass and striking terror by just their appearance. They for a moment looked at the apocalyptic sight until they continued their walk feeling the despair of the situation.
"Come honey." Melody gestured to her husband to come.
Chirp-Chirp!
Pacifica's anomalous pet squeaked in fear in her lady bag when she checked on it, she only saw it chirp when danger was near meaning to her dread there was danger nearby.
BELLOW!
The sound of the bellow was heard from the sky and from up they saw something with two bat-like wings coming up from the hills and appearing up in the sky with a dive.
"Is that a dragon…!" Thompson in incredibility uttered, as amazed as the other teenagers except for the Corduroy boys such as Soos and Melody while Fidds and Daniel looked warily.
"No way…" Robbie shared the rest of his gang's incredibility.
Those who were at the Crash Site Omega battle instead were alarmed seeing Dehak coming toward them as his mouth of steely teeth opened and glowed with burning energy.
"TO THE MANSION!"
The flying draconic humanoid spits a powerful energy beam so hot that the earth melted into slags on the ground which then went straight toward them making the group disperse from being hit by it, three of the soldiers were unfortunate enough to be reduced into a chart of burnt corpses.
Subsequently, the shields of the mansion were activated and held around the mansion.
Those armed started shooting at the thing which had no effect other than the bullets bouncing off from Dehak's armored skin, with another bellow flowing back in circles and spitting out another energy beam causing a couple of trees to be cut and drop and a part of the beam hit shield which shielded around the mansion.
Lucky for the group, turrets began to come out near the gate to the mansion firing a rocket that deterred him a bit and a series of bullets to annoy him. From the other side of the gate, a familiar android gestured to them to follow as he opened the gate.
"THIS WAY! COME IN!" the self-improve obsessed robot
"But the shield- !" Melody
"I PROGRAMMED IT! NOW!"
So they passed and indeed the shield allowed them to pass, while the group went Pacifica during her run dropped thanks to her feet hitting a rock while running, Dehak came closer this time instead of trying to vaporize his target he readied his claws coming like a hawk for his prey and ducking all the shots from the turrets, the said screamed and thought she was gone until Gideon jumped and pushed himself and her on the ground missing the claws. The flying humanoid seeing that he failed flowed back again coming to take a swing which was too late due to Gideon grabbing Pacifica by her hand and both jumping past the shield as others shouted for them to jump. Dehak hit the shield which made him give an animalistic screech which gave enough pause for the turrets to hit the target over and over, with a furious roar Dehak flew away as he couldn't penetrate the shield, but that does not mean he didn't have a trick.
"Good job dawg." Soos patted on Gideon's back.
"I thought I was a goner…" the Northwest breathed in relief, feeling her blood pumping fast.
The self-improving robot still had the body parts of the robot hunters except with a few modifications he did during all this using the materials Mgucket's laboratory gave access to.
"You sure ain't sight for a sore eye." the old inventor held his shoulder, genuinely happy to meet the anomalous robot whom he met before so as him.
"Say, did ya tamper with my protective shield prototype? Las t I check, it didn't have such a function in allowin' people it programmed to recognize?" Fidds asked the robot who in return ticket with two fingers on each hand.
"I thought of doing some modification since it wouldn't be very defensible if I keep turning the shield on and off for people to come in, I'm sorry if- "
"Nah ah, you beautiful tin man! Never apologize for improvin'!" the old man shook its shoulders.
As the group continued until near the door to the mansion's indoor, one of them felt the need to inquire.
"Will the shield hold?" Gideon inquired.
"The shields are only activated when there is a threat to conserving energy, so for now we'll be fine infant humans." The anomalous machine rebuffed his worries, Gideon wanted to object to being called an 'infant' yet he felt too tired to make an argument.
When they entered, they saw many people of Gravity Falls inside among some familiar like Lady Suzan who was adding salt to the rations to make them palatable, and Mayor Tyler who was a mess holding himself as he moved on the ground like an infant probably having PTSD as he kept mumbling "Weirdmageddon, Weirdmageddon git us." with only a few anomalies that would be SCP-163 the Giger-looking alien who was giving rations to a few people, the Swamp Woman with Candy and Grenda and the Sarkic doctor SCP-4197 whom both Irises recognized who was attending the injured using her expertise as a doctor and a practitioner of Sarkic Carnomancy. The last time she was seen was during that battle at the shack.
"Sarah! Over here! He needs medical attention" Laskaris called the Sarkic doctor's real name who took a glance seeing her and Dan carrying the biomechanical soldier, she then gave a glance to her patient who by now managed to heal her injury so she came in for Alexei.
"Dad! You're okay?" Tate came in rushing toward his father.
"I'm fine I'm fine, glad' that you're okay." Tate's father shrugged his worry as he was being checked by his son.
Fidds wasn't the only one who was going to have a reunion, soon Aé looking manic came for Pacifica the latter who tried to stop her from what she was going to do.
"No don't- !" Her cries were unheard as she was then hugged by her, leaving a trail of moisture on her due to the mucus she made on her amphibian skin.
"Aé happy you not decomposed!" Swamp Woman said happily and then stopped hugging her which she was very grateful for.
"EWAAAH! there is drooling on me!" the Northwest girl in repulsion whined as she with one hand took a look at the sticky mucus still connected on her clothes.
"Not drool, Mucus of happiness!"
If it weren't for Pacifica's current disgust, she would have cringed hard at hearing that. Afterwards, came Candy and Grenda who at first attempted to hug her but decided otherwise due to the mucus on her clothes awkwardly.
"Well glad that you're alive Paz! After we had to disperse during the aftermath we were worried about you." The Korean girl stated their worries.
"I ate a cooked rat once!" Grenda proudly stated.
"She did," Candy confirmed her statement.
On the other side, Doctor Sarah Veers the Sarkic Doctor was examining Alexei's unmoving body as the blonde Iris was walking back and forth nervously while Laskaris sat near the doctor.
"Where are the others? What happened to the rest of Last Hope?" The Sarkic doctor asked upon realizing there were only the three.
"It's a long story, I will explain later." The blonde anomalous human answered.
"Will he be fine?" Laskaris asked the question.
Sarah responded with her examination "His injuries are severe and seem to have suffered major blood loss, but the suit blocked the injuries and put itself and him in a state of hibernation; however, there is no guarantee he'll survive and the suit won't allow me to use conventional medicine."
"What about the unconventional type? Your Sarkic flesh crafting?" the blond anahuman suggested.
"I was getting on that, the problem is that the suit is a living organism on its own attached to our bulky friend, I never treated a weaponized organism like this or healing two organisms attached to each other, any attempt to separate them would result in mutual death due to their symbiotic relationship and there is no telling how my flesh-crafting will affect them both."
Both parahuman women looked at each other in grime before the blonde one made her decision with the other surprisingly accepting her decision as they used to buttheads at each other, danger makes for strange fellowships "Do it, we can't leave him by chance."
Veers with a nod started to begin to use her abilities on Belitrov. She used her blood by cutting her hand with a scalpel to make sigils on the armor and then put a hand on his head which she closed her eyes concentrating on manipulating the organic matter of both the human and the suit.
Nate and Lee were picking at a glass container in curiosity inside. This small robot made of electronic devices and tools that failed was hitting the glass with both of its hands not making a sound.
Tate came in to tell them away "Don't mind the pest of a bot, found the pest trying to access my pop's weaponaries, it doesn't shut up monologuing like a goddamn Saturday cartoon villain so I used soundproof glass. And don't touch it!" he told the two teens who backed off.
Alien Screech
The Old Castaway screeched at the Thompson boy who was startled by it.
"My extraterrestrial friend says you stepped on one of his legs." the anomalous robot translated his extraterrestrial friend.
"Uhhh….sorry." Thompson apologized awkwardly and the alien said something with its alien language that he hoped to be something down the line of 'Apology Accepted'.
"Is that real alien?" Marcus wondered upon hearing the word 'extraterrestrial'.
"Yes and not important." the anomalous android shrugged nonchalantly.
"But…"
"Boy, save your questions after we are rested and eat something." Manly Dan commanded his sons which they followed as they got their rations from the alien creature, the boys looked in disgust at their rations being nothing more than pure gooey proteins inside a can while their father with no objection ate his own.
"Where's Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy?" Grenada asked the question that Candy and the amphibian humanoid wondered as well. That question made the group grimace,
"Doctor Funtime ... .is not here," Lee uttered in dejection, that he saw Dipper as a fun little brother thus his unknown fate was hard for him.
"Are they…!" Candy nearly gasped in fear.
"No, in fact, we don't know what happened to them, it was absolute chaos, and some of my teammates disappeared by this orange hue around them." the Blonde Thompson interjected.
"Orange hue? Like orange fruits?" Aé wondered in her innocence.
"My daughter survived the apocalypse, she will do so again." Dan was also worried about them especially for his daughter and the Corduroy brothers, yet they were confident of her abilities.
"Yeah, our sister is made of hard stuff. She survived Weirdmageddon on her own." Marcus added with pride.
"I was with her too!" Toby Determined the short journalist across the other side protested.
"Yeah, sure buddy." Gus dismissed the ugly man-creature which made him sigh in defeat.
"And we say it on experience, we gave her a lot of grief so that she would get a heart attack and no longer be a sister to scold us." Kevin joked.
Everyone just stared flatly at him with Dan looking at him disapprovingly and Marcus shaking his head with a hand on his face.
"It was a joke."
Gideon smacked his own head when he remembered something "Oh dang it! Have any of you seen any sign of my parents? Are they here? They are named Gleeful."
"Sorry infant human, we haven't met anyone with the name 'Gleeful' designated on them." the anomalous robot informed sadly.
"I didn't see my parents either," Tambry said.
"Me neither," Nate informed.
"Great, great, and great!"- Valentino with his hands up said in frustration -" Our parents are probably dead or worse! It's Weirdmageddon 2.0 outside! Have to contend with eating slimy sluggish proteins! And we will be doomed until the shields lose power, and these no good freaks can't even save- !"
Laskaris grabs Robbie to his surprise and yelp by his collar, moves pinned him to a wall, and hiss as everyone(okay, not everyone, Tambry was wearing a satisfied smile and the Corduroys were not against this) was worried the edge lord teen just crossed the line "Edgelord, kindly shut up or see what a real freak can do!" She turned a photo into a lightball to show her point which he seemed as he frantically noded, then pushed him away and walked.
Unfortunately, the edge lord's rant was not unheard by others in the mansion, including the Mayor of Gravity Falls who suffered a nervous breakdown "Doomed? DOOMED! DOOOOMED!" Tyler began a fit and was running around screaming until the alien SCP hit him with a frying pan on his face making him fall unconscious.
The group stared flatly until they saw the SCP robot approving his friend's method in preventing panic as well "What? It's an effective way of calming down humans who are suffering from a conniption." They kept staring at him for its egregious statement as the people inside the mansion began to act normally and suppress their stresses to not become the next victim of the 'smacking rehabilitation' as the robotic and extraterrestrial duo would call it. Afterward, they decided dangerous times required small sacrifices and moved away while the blonde Northwest muttered something about "-and I gave Dr. Glass a hard time".
All except the patriarch of the Corduroy family who put a firm hand on Robbie's right shoulder knowing he being an edgelording teenager would start his 'doom and gloom' which would demoralize the group with a stern glare. "Don't think I forget that you broke my only daughter's heart and tried to enchant her with that disc, make another wail of doom like a dog in front of everyone or do something very stupid and I'll give you a reminder of what happened last time you crossed a Corduroy." His sons looked at Wendy's ex with contempt while the ex in question winced, reminded of the beating he got after his break up with Wendy by her vengeful father and brothers. As the Corduroys left, the edge lord at first wanted to give a snark but decided not to unless he wanted to gain the muscular man's wrath and break him like a twig, he sighed in defeat
"We're gonna die…"
While walking away, Gus whispered to Kevin in disgust "Sheesh, was Wen suffering brain damage dating that edge lord creep in the first place?"
It was night by now, the town was still on fire and the machines were walking around it like crows and vultures as far as she saw from the window while contemplating herself whereas the rest of the survivors were resting or were still awoke in anxiety, Alexei's vital was stable in a coma state, her ankle aches and Fidds and the SCP robot were tirelessly working on. The lights were at minimum to conserve energy.
SCP-999 had fundamentally affected her, making her reflect. She thought about her self-isolation, jadedness, her rivalry with Laskaris, and recalling how poorly it went when she first time met Leora and other anomalies after years of self-isolation after Omega 7. She was a far cry from the optimistic and brave girl she used to be. That girl died by the cruelties of the past Foundation and by Able, she got so used to living in the dark that she screeched with spite at the light.
Was she cynic and jaded toward her fellow anomalies because she was afraid they would end up like her? Or was it envy that they met a far kinder Foundation than the one she met? She remembered how she used to be seen and treated, oh sure some doctors tried to comfort her but either most were pretenses to hide how they really saw her asn an anomaly at worst as a freak to be locked away and at best another curiosity to be researched or those who really meant it was shut down by that thrice to be cursed 'Cold not cruel' saying, what an absolute bollock. Heck, back then anomalies didn't even have the right to be called by their real names or anything but their serial designation like the D-classes because in a way they only had slightly more rights than the meats that they sent to the meat grinder. Damn Laskaris, she was right about her.
The Foundation of the present? It was as different as day and night; oh sure they are still not perfect but it makes her wonder how she would have ended up if the Foundation showed the same courtesy, the same understanding and acceptance as they extend to sentient and amicable anomalies as well as in the past.
She was sick of living in the past. She was sick of living a cynic, better die an optimistic than a pessimist. She will never forgive the Foundation for wronging her but she will never become the cold and apathetic tool that they tried to change her into just like them or become another hateful disgusting excuse of a human being like Chaos Insurgency, Worshippers of Scarlet King or Able whose heart is so small that nothing can fit into and she will never stop fighting for what is right and to make sure that no one will ever suffer like her for the crime of being different, she would even fight the whole SCP Foundation if they ever revert back to their old and ethically bankrupt ways.
As she contemplated, the lights in the mansion were shut, and thus the time of peace was over.
When the lights went off, a woman who was searching for someone came inside a room.
"There you are, were you- " her talk stopped the moment she realized something was wrong with the man in front of him, he looked slack and yet was floating a few cm up from the floor like a puppet controlled by a puppeteer. Dread began to feel her as she started to walk away. "Nononono!" She kept whispering erratically and then, the man's eyes glowed with an accursed red light like he was possessed by something making the woman paralyzed in fear, except as it turns out it wasn't possession by an incorporeal being but by a very corporal one as then the red glows from up revealed a creature that was holding the man with its teeth on his head. Before the woman could scream another similar but at the same time different this one glowing blue with no cybernetics dashed so fast she didn't know it struck her with sickles or claws as she felt her throat ripped open spewing blood, she tried to shout but all she could was to gurgle, as the world felt dizzy she fell on the ground as others of the blue illuminating raptors came near her one of them sniffing.
The predator then began to feast on her as she was still alive feeling many knives of teeths ripping her flesh, she couldn't, and yet she tried to scream.
Tambry was walking in the corridor toward a room checking her own phone which after being repaired thanks to that event with Old Man and then being taken by the guards she regained when hell broke loose from the guard who had everyone's phones in hopes of contacting anyone which did not work as the shield blocked all communications, the said guard was a guy who got burned to crisp by Dehak's blast. As she was checking all the photos she made during the run in the apocalyptic earth she managed to take pictures of Factories machines and other horrors.
She noticed that the light went off, she then activated her phone's flashlight to see clearly, and her confusion was soon replaced by anxiety when she heard something moving.
"Robbie? Is that you? If you'rr trying to be funny I will kick your ass!" She threatened in annoyance, but no one answered. Then, a vase from a table dropped causing her to give a fast turn only briefly. Something ran and jumped under a wooden hope chest making her heartbeat stop for a moment. She was slowly alert as the hand that held her phone shook and put the light on to see what was under the hope chest fearing what could be as her breathing became slower.
Meow
To her surprise and relief, it was a cat, not just any cat, it was the same gray tabby markings half-cat she saw during the party at Shack.
"Hey, little gal." She called it out with fondness, she had an immediate liking to it when she first time saw the anomalous cat finding the feline both freaky and adorable which she was into. She came to her knees to get closer.
Hiss
The SCP cat hissed. It seems to be scared of something or feel threatened.
"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." She slowly reached her hand, making sure she did so slowly not very abrupt to show that she meant no harm. The half-cat at first seemed hesitant as it looked at her hand inquisitively, till it gradually came closer and caressed her hand which she then responded by nuzzling its neck.
Purring
The cat shut its eyes and purred.
Tambry grinned, the anomalous cat no longer feeling threatened was then taken and hugged in her arms as she kept nuzzling it.
"Come now, let me introduce you to others."
Hence, they walked away with the teen unaware that the SCP feline wasn't scared or threatened by her, but by the danger that had come to the sanctuary.
Robbie as he was walking in the corridor typically was grumbling "Stupid Mansion with stupid rations…" as he was whining at the lights no longer on as the whole situation from the distasteful pure protein rations to the Corduroys and anomalies and well just everything else, he heard the sound of something scratched.
Scratch
He turned away to see what it was; nonetheless, it was too dark and he couldn't see anything. Feeling nervous, he decides to try to open a door which would on his way lead him to the living room where most are. To his rotten luck, the door wasn't opening.
"Come on, come on! I don't have time for this!" He cursed at the door as he struggled to open it and got all bad feelings about what this was.
Valentino hadn't felt such dread feeling like he was in a survival horror movie for the zillionth time mind you since that time with Creepy Man and he knows well what usually happens to teenagers in those movies, he was so paralyzed by fear facing that ghoulish monstrosity with his milky eyes and sadistic grin of yellow teeth that will haunt his nightmares forever that he fainted and made a mess of himself, a latter detail which he omitted to mention to anyone.
Scratch
The sound of something scratching on the wooded ground could be heard which only amplified his panic as he desperately tried to open the damn door, then the horror he saw coming when he stood still on his back at the door.
A small humanoid, its face obscured by the dark and long hair, there with one glowing red eye shining in the blackness and a long scissor-like bladed talons from one of its hands extending toward him that glinted what little light there was from the emergency lights. Robbie responded upper eyelids being pulled up, and his lower eyelids were tense and drawn up as well with a high-pitched scream with a final push opened the door and ran fast from the scissor-handed monster nearly tripping on his way.
The entity looked at the way the teen left and ran with its one organic and one cybernetic eye analyzing with a tilted head. It appears that she scared him as she concluded.
Then she heard footsteps, she looked back and hid back in the dark to not be seen.
It was Pacifica who heard Robbie's scream when he came in. "Hello?" She asked, the Cyborg Child wanted to introduce herself; however, considering the reaction she got from the other teen she thought to not introduce herself.
As the blonde girl was looking around she heard her pet who was now on her shoulder squeaking in alarm feeling an incoming danger.
"What's the matter, Percival?" She nuzzled its head to calm it down, Percival was the name she decided to give to it. Unknowingly, behind her, something was ready to ambush. As The Headlight Raptor readied its claws it suddenly shinned with blindingly blue light, Paz yelped in shock and distortion, next the predator jumped near her with enough force that the wooden floor broke, and in the casualty, the Northwest got jumped by the force, before she could process what was happening the raptor with one of its sharp claws slash at her resulting in her to exclaim in pain from her injury on her shoulder and by the force of it hit back at a wall and her pet as it chirped in alarm fell on the ground, not caring or simply ignorant of the smaller chirping prey the now illuminescent raptor with a jump with claws and its raptor taloned feet with sickle claws ready to tear down its helpless prey, but then.
SCRATCH!
Another bipedal mammal with a talon made of metal jumped at it and midair cut it in half resulting in a gory fountain of its luminescent bright blue blood on the ground.
Growl!
As the half-chopped raptor growled in agony the Cyborg Child gave it a mercy death by penetrating her talon at its head, leaving it dead as it slacked on the floor. She then looked back at the blonde human who began to faint from the impact on the wall and at the pink creature that was chirping on the ground either in alarm or pain.
"What happened?" Dan wanted answers.
Fidds who with his robotic partner was checking the systems from a series of cables inside a powerup from an opened hatch gave the news "The power has been cut off."
"We see that Einstein!" Marcus ticked off and his father with a look told him to calm down.
"The shields are also down?" Melody inquired.
"Don't worry, the shields have a backup generator, but this means' no turrets and defense system for us." The anomalous robot stated.
Just then, Robbie with a race opened the door suddenly and closed it hurriedly in like he saw the sadistic dimension-hopping ghoul again.
"Robbie what- " Nate tried to queried.
"There is a monster here! It has a slashing metallic claw with a red eye and is like the lovechild of a slasher villain and a Sadako Yamamura!" He was now clasping his hands over his head in distress.
"The what?" Tate's twisted his mouth.
"Is a Japanese horror thing he saw when he was searching for anime, and couldn't sleep for 5 days straight," Nate commented, normally Robbie would snap at him for revealing that but he was too scared by what he just saw.
"Now I'm convinced he is just imagining things, even with those cyborg horrors outside nothing can move past the chanted shields."
Before Robbie could protest with a wide stance while the blonde Anahuman was thinking about how familiar that description was to a certain SCP, Tambry came in from the door and held a cat playfully until she noticed the dull reaction of everyone. "What? Did someone die?"
Everyone was staring at the anomalous cat, last they checked there were no cats in Mcgucket Manor, and certainly not one with half of its torso gone.
"Josie? Where did you find it?" The blonde Thompson questioned, recognizing the SCP.
"Josie is her name?"
"ANSWER ME!" With an urgent tone, the blonde Anahuman demands three steps closer which makes the teen girl stagger backward.
"Woah chill! I found her in the corridor, she seemed scared."
"Were there other anomalies here we didn't know about?" Kevin asked around which all gave a negative shake
"Aé does not recall a cat chopped or a baby with a metal hand," Aé answered.
"I'm sure we would remember them considering most people here are normal humans and we are the only anomalies." Sarah pointed out.
"But that's impossible! The shields wouldn't allow anyone or anything unless allowed to enter!" The self-improving robot sputtered in disbelief that its shield somehow got breached.
Gideon who was sleeping on the couch gave a painful groan as sweats began to form.
"What happened to the little guy?" Soos asked in worry.
"He's heating, I don't know why." The Sarkic doctor informed as she checked his temperature.
Alien screech
The Space Crab said something that only its robotic friend understood in a distressing realization.
"But…there are others on other sections of the mansion…"
Valentino stumped his one leg "Well this just couldn't get better!"- he threw his hands up -"no defenses, the Space Crab, the old hillbilly, and the robot are useless! The little twerp is having a cold at the worst time possible with the lady occult doctor here who can't figure out why and now we are picking one by one like some horror movie by ms little Slasher! Screw the others they are on their own!"
"No one will be left and it's not optional!" The blonde Thompson declared firmly with.
"How about we leave you off on your own, that way we won't have to tolerate your nagging whining poltroon!" Laskaris growled at the emo teen who by then was approximately close to the TV.
"Yeah yeah, I'm shutting up, don't wanna have someone to glo- AAAAAH!" whatever he was gonna say stopped with a shriek with only one leg on the ground in a defensive position with his hands as then a masked face half black and half white appeared from a TV near him which got turned on by itself.
"Cease SCP-105, if you want the survivors to live." The entity with an entirely emotionless voice announced.
"79!?" The blonde Iris exclaimed aloud by the uninvited guest.
The Northwest girl, slowly opened her eyes feeling something sharp and cold near her left chin, when she opened her eyes she met with a female human younger than her with one glowing optic red eye, no mouth, and the scissor-bladed hand with one of the sharp 'fingers' that was near her face, it was a cyborg. In response to seeing such an intimidating appearance and thinking that this scary cyborg was one of the monstrosities of the Factory, she jerked back in fear and tried to get up which the Cyborg who in turn moved backward a bit and the Northwest tried to get up and yell but shots up pain came from her right shoulder which made her fell on her back near the wall again and in reaction holding her damaged shoulder with tight-lipped pain. The cyborg came closer toPacifica making her bristled in fear, she shut her eyes hard seeing the scissoring balded hands coming near her thinking she was gonna face a gory fate; however, that didn't happen. She opened one of her eyes with uncertainty and saw the bladed hand's palm was opened and on it was her anomalous pet.
Chirp-Chirp.
She gawked, bewildered by the gesture.
