March 18, 2008, California. Mobile task force Zeta-9 ("Mole Rats").
Two hours had passed by as the four Moles made their way out of the building since their encounter with the monster within. They decided to call for backup and get a team here to work on getting power back on. "They should be here soon with a few more Mole Rats and a team to get some juice following into the place." Stumbling around in the dark is part of their job and task, but it would be much better to get some lights and a way to get past doors that need power.
"Good. I have something here for you. I got a few of these papers as we headed out. Much of it is nothing of interest, just some records of employment and a few other irrelevant things. But there is one here that stands out; it seems it was sent from management."
Sitting on a fold-out chair, Mole 4 had a small set of papers in his lap, holding one in his left hand and looking over it. "This is an old report. It speaks about some kind of experiment. I see a few repeating words here. One of them is "probe" and "magnetic distortion." How am I understanding it here? They were sending objects somewhere, trying to get my best guess. A lock onto whatever they found going by the date this came about 1982." Mole 4 looked at Mole 1, handing him the paper.
Taking it, he would look it over himself. "1982? I know that is something, so these guys have been working on this thing for some time. Once we get some power, our first task is to find the main office. If we are to gain anything of importance and find out the full details about everything, that will be the place." He recalls the key card they found. There could be dozens of doors blocking their way that they would have to brute force their way through. He rather does it the smart way so as not to draw attention to them.
Handing the paper back to Mole 4, he took it and the others and placed it in the back of one of the SUVs. As he did so, the sound of car engines could be heard approaching them. "And know we can get busy; break time is over for everyone." Two black cars approached the road, followed by a black van coming to a stop close to the SUVs. "I guess the traffic was pretty bad coming up here, or did you get lost?" Mole 1 joked as the door to the car at the front opened up.
"We did not. It just took a little time to get everything ready. I see that you gentlemen have been busy." The man who was not in a combat uniform said this to the moles. "Names James, so what do we have and what is the next step?" Stepping out of the other cars were several more Mole Rats from the van—a group of workers pulling out a variety of tools. "This man will get to work on getting some juice into the place. By chance, did any of you look around the outside and see if there was a backup generator? A place like this is bound to have such a system. It will be a patch job, but it should get enough power to allow us to move deeper in." Mole 1 nodded his head. "We did it while waiting for better days, but it should be fixed." It was at the rear of the building that they took a careful walk-in case any of the monsters were outside.
Checking his 1911 on his side and placing it back within the holster. "Show me." He orders the group to start walking around the building. "We see a few other ways into this place, but they are heavily boarded up. One was even wielded shut; they did not want anyone getting in or anything getting out of this place." After a short walk, Mole 1 would point towards a generator that was surrounded by a chain-link fence. It was clear that, for the most part, the generator would need major work before it could be turned on. "Alright... Let's get inside and see how far we can get into the place. I heard that you had an encounter with something inside." Mole 1 nodded his head as the group made their way back to the front and back inside.
"Yes sir. It was a very strange thing, and there was the fact that blood was like water. It was clear, and it took a lot of hits to bring it down. I don't have a clue what it is." Doing other weapons and communications checks, Moles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 would make their way inside. Since other members of their team were here, they could afford to come in as a larger group. "Clear." Mole 2 said as they did a sweep once again of the front lobby, then headed back down the hallway, making their way to the cutoff. "Unless something gets picky, that thing's body should still be in that storage room." With all the gunfire noise, there was a chance that it attracted something else within the building towards that location. Staying in a group, they made their way to Storage Room B, where the weapons train was on the door.
Stepping into the room, they broke into two groups, one with four members and the other with three. Taking different paths around the shelves, the four members approached the location of the dead creature. "Still here, it looks like nothing else came along. Or something could be on the way here, like playing doctor, sir?" One of the members had a small medical kit with them, and what was inside would be one of their jobs. One reason is finding a better way to kill it, for it soaked up a lot of bullets before it even went down. "We will do what we can with it, but we need that body bag. Do a little bit of work, then we will have it ready to ship out to a site." Approaching the body that lay still on the floor, they kept their weapons train on it. "Mole 1 is here. Mole 4, have you seen anything yet of interest?" He spoke over the radio to the other group. "Nothing yet I think this room is clear, sir. I don't hear or see anything. Do you want us to head out and see what is ahead?" It was better than staying all in one room when they could scout ahead.
"Go ahead; don't get too far ahead of us. Report anything you see will be done here soon and link up with you." Getting the go ahead, the three mole rats would leave the room as the others got to work on the creature, having flipped it over onto its back. "Damn. And I thought my mother was ugly." Soft chuckles could be heard from the others, including James. "Alright, enough jokes for a moment; let's see what's on the inside." Mole 3 stepped forward, getting on one knee and pulling out the kit. He pulled out a scapple and started to cut around the top of its chest. "Pretty tough. Not like our skin." As the scapple slid down its chest towards its belly, the translucent fluid poured out once down near the belly. He went a little deeper. "Alright, let's see what is inside." After reaching the bottom of its belly, he gripped it around the side and started to pull it apart. Once it was wide enough open, the group had a good look inside, and a few organs were noticeable; others were missing. "I don't see anything like the kidneys; the arrangement is quite wrong as well. These things don't even have lungs." None of them were surprised by what they had to deal with in the past.
unusual biology was a common sight among the SCP Foundation for many of the SCP they had locked up. "I guess this is why it is hard to put down; there is no clear spot to stab or shoot it to quickly kill it." They were lucky to have the amount of firepower they were carrying; he could only imagine the dread and fear of a civilian encountering it. Once he was done, Mole 2 would roll out a body bag, and the two of them would place it within it, zipping it up. "Moles 2 and 3 take it back outside and will keep on moving forward and linking up with the others." Gripping the front and back, the two would head for the door as James and Mole 1 stayed behind them. "Mole 4, anything to report?" Once outside the door, Mole 1 spoke over the radio as the other two took the body towards the exit. "Nothing of interest at this time, sir. Seen signs of battle, however, were bullet holes along the walls. Old blood stains quite faded on the floor and walls as well. It reminds me of a very bad containment breach where a few doors broke off their hinges as well. I did a quick check, but so far I have not seen anything worth stopping at this time, wanting us to move on ahead." Mole 4 said to Mole 1.
"Keep on moving; we will be right behind you. Moles 2 and 3 are heading back to the exit with the body they link up with later." Since the way ahead seems clear, James and Mole 1 made their way forward, trailing behind the Mole 4 group. "One thing we look into later is a paper trail. Something like this is bound to have a long one to follow." James spoke as the two of them walked forward. "My money is on government funding; you know from history that they have had ties with other groups. And have had a hand in funding secret projects; a few even ended up as SCPs." That is why they needed to find the main office to get the most information. After a few more steps, Mole 4 would radio in. "Mole 1, this is Mole 4." Stopping, he clicks the button on the side of his radio. "This is Mole 1. Found something of interest?" There was a small pause before he responded. "We encountered another hostile creature... The damn thing looks like a dog with a human head. Besides that, we found a door that needs power to open. This thing almost looks like a blast door, and we also found what we think is the main office." Hearing this, the two of them would double time to the Mole 4 group's location.
After a few minutes, the two of them would link up, with the group standing in front of a huge metal door shell chasing on the floor. "Anyone hurt?" Mole 1 asked as James looked over the door. Mole 4 would shake his head. "All is well; it did not even get close to hurting anyone. Gave us quite the scare, however, was making these god-awful noises as it charged at us." Mole 5 approached behind James. "We looked it over to see if there was, by chance, a manual release to switch to open it. But we found nothing that was locked tight. We would need some heavy-duty explosive to open it up." And if they do, there is a chance the entire thing could come down on top of them. Since the building had no one keeping it structurally sound for a very long time, even a control explosive could end badly for them. "Power should be back on soon if all goes well and luck is on our side. It should allow us to open up this door and go deeper into this place. Now let's check on the main office." James spoke towards the Mole Rats, as 4 would wave for him to follow him.
Branching off from the hallway with the metal door that was blocking their progress, the group. "Moles 2 and 3, how did you copy it outside?" There was a need for a check-in on top of a report of how the work was going on the generator. "This Mole 3 body is loaded and ready to be shipped out; is everything good on your end?" Mole 3 asked through the radio. "Got another body for you to retrieve also how the progress on the generator, a large metal door, is blocking us." A few more feet down the hallway, passing by a few smaller rooms that seemed to be offices, a double set of wooden doors was in front of them. "They say about twenty or thirty minutes. It should then be ready to turn on, but as they said, it could break down. Even with the repairs done to it at the moment, it is just a patch job." For them, they just need a few minutes to get the door open; even if it shuts down, it should stay open. "Roger that. I will be in touch and bring another body bag; Mole 4 will show you where it is." Stepping forward with Mole 1 and James behind him would open the doors to a large office space. Unlike the other, this one was decorated; two chairs were in front of a desk that was at the other end of the room. Along with a few tables around the room, there is a bookshelf to the right of them.
The desk had a computer on it with a set of file cabinets behind it that went down a line along the rear wall. "Mole 1, you stay with me; the others, I need you to start checking the other offices we walk past." James said to the Mole Rats that since it seems the area is clear, the two of them will work in this room as the others search for others. "You sure, sir, I am not comfortable leaving the two of you within this room." Mole 5 said that as the other two did not like the idea, even though they checked the area, there was still a chance something could come. "We will still be close by to each other in the event something does come our way or appears within this room. I will throw flash bangs and run link up with the three of you, then deal with it from there." The three still did not like it, but would nod their heads. "This is the same if you encounter something. Get on the radio and call out if you can or will follow the gunfire; be careful yourselves." After those words, Moles 4, 5, and 6 would make their way out of the room and down the hallway to the other offices.
Walking to the back of the room, James would pick one cabinet, with Mole 1 doing the same. Pulling a stack out, he would lay them on the desk, get another, and sit beside it with Mole 1 taking a stack to a small table in the middle of the room. "We need better lighting for this." Both were working with small flashlights to look over the paper. "Alright, let's see what we have here... It seems to be reported that the first one, the date here, is 1982. In a series of tests that were carried out, it seems they were trying to dig a hole into some place outside of this reality. The first test worked out quite well, but funding was a major problem. Later down the line, around 1989, they got into contact with the United States government and worked out a deal for funding." Mole 1 spoke, shifting through the papers one by one and reading over them carefully. " However, it seems that by the end of the year, their test was showing no progress. It seems they were close to losing support and backing from the government. But during one last test, they were able to break through to the other side and make a stable "hole" into the other side." James was looking over his own stack as he listened in on what he was looking at.
James shifted through the papers, stopping halfway; most of the ones he had gotten were of little interest. "I found something here that is interesting. It is a report from their first exploration of the other side. In this strange environment, it seems to be an endless maze of yellow-walled rooms. With buzzing lights and no source on the sound, even in areas where there are no lights, and a wet carpet that, from testing, was not water, it seems that it was close to fluid from the human spin. Another thing that was noted was the high level of carbon dioxide in the air. A few locations were "clean" but still somewhat hard to breathe, which would explain the use of the suits. "Toxic air like that would be harmful without something to filter it out or a breathing system." There is more to the report here that seems to be hidden from the others. It is a small graph of people who have disappeared. It seems that the thing is if you will be normal." Mole 1 would look toward him with their line of work. This is not strange, but a part of me finds it strange that there is a normal level of people disappearing. "So, there was a sudden jump I figured happened?" James would nod his head, holding the paper in his hand.
"Yes, there is a small X mark here. I think that when they breach the other side, that is how I am thinking. that weaken the barriers between our world and the one they were breaching. This could explain why people are falling into it at greater numbers than I say people were dropping into before this. But not at such huge numbers as is shown on the graph here, where the number is a few dozen every year. Past the X mark, numbers jump to the hundreds, and it just keeps on growing upwards with no signs of slowing." Sliding the paper to the side, he would pick up the one under it. " I got another report, this one sent a year after they broke through. It seems that during one of their explorations, going very deep, they found a wall covered in writing. It seems it was made with black ink or something like that. Along this wall were tally marks numbering in the hundreds, even going along another wall. And such words as "If it sees you, don't move" and "God is no longer here"—much of it seems to have been made in a hurry. This, along with this graph, was hidden from the others, meaning that there were early signs that this was going to backfire in time." Yet they kept on going anyway; everything was pointing towards this experiment ending in disaster.
Moving through the paper further, Mole 1 found a new report. "Got something. It seems they found a large, enclosed room, unlike the other one, which had odd furniture. Yet that was not the strange part; there were these veins or roots spread all over one of the corners of the wall. It was black in color. Digging through it, they found the body of a teenager badly decomposed, but here is the strange part. Areas of the body seem to have stopped rotting; the parts there were "rooted" into the mass. They brought it back for an autopsy, and it freaked the doctor out. From what he could tell, parts of the body had changed. Like it was morphing into something else after about a week of study, the body was disposed of, and the report sealed." It was another clue that the place was dangerous. It was clear that something was hostile towards humans within, yet the company kept on going. As both kept on reading the overhead light in the middle of the room, flickering on a hum coming from it through the door, a few other hallway lights did the same. Yet most did not come on, staying off, flickering, then shutting off, but they had lights, which meant that the team got the generator working. "Hmm... Let's stop here for now. We can go check and see if that door will open." Standing up, Mole 1 would do the same with his weapon, having it ready as James walked out the door.
Stepping outside the door, the lights flicker above their heads. Outside the door, walking forward, the other Mole Rates were outside the doors, waiting for the two of them. "Find anything of interest?" James asked as the three took positions close to him. "There were a few things that were hidden. I found a waste basket full of shredded paper and could not tell if it was done before or during the event that got this place closed down. "Will bag it later and take it out of here and see if it could be put back together." Stepping out of the hallway, the group eyed a control panel on the left side of the wall. Green words were spread over it, and the screen flickered a few times. "Still working. That is a surprise; let's hope it holds out until the doors open." Getting close, James looked it over. There were a few words in it, one of which was to open the door. Pressing in one of the keys, a grinding noise filled the air as the door slowly rose upwards.
Three of the moles got on their bellies, aiming their weapons under the door, seeing if there was anything on the other side. The other aimed towards the door as it kept on going slowly. Within five minutes, the door was open. On the other hand, flickering lights provided some illumination. "Clear. We can see what else is waiting for us within this place." Getting off the ground before moving forward, Mole 1 got on the radio. "Mole 2 and 3, did you bag that body yet?" He waited for a response. "Yeah, we got it. It sinks like shit even in the bag. What do you need?" I looked at the door as it hung above the hallway. "We need some support and jacks in here; we plan on going through the door. But I'm going to make sure it's not going to slam shut behind us if the power goes out. Better safe than sorry." It was held up for now, but if power goes out, it could come slamming down and cut them off from each other until power gets back on. "Understood on our way will be there in a few minutes." As much as they are wise to go deeper there, not taking the chance their only exit could be blocked off.
Soon, Moles 2 and 3 would arrive with the equipment and get to work, placing them under the door. "That should hold it; the boys at the generator said power could come on and off. It barely holds together, and pushing it for too long could cause it to shut off. They said at best we might have an hour to explore with the lights. After that, until something else can be worked out, we will be working with our flashlights." And that would make things harder for them to explore, as their luck could very well run out. "Ok. Moles 2 and 3 stay here at the door and make sure nothing surprises us from behind and the door stays open. Everyone else with me, let's see what is behind door number one." Doing another check on their equipment, the group would make their way past the door overhead and make their way deeper into the building.
Deeper down the rabbit hole, they went.