//------------------------------// // Crunch // Story: Containment Breach // by gamerboy11116 //------------------------------// "Oh, shi-" "Keep your eyes on it!" Twilight ran outside the room, her eyes darting left and right, taking in her new surroundings as that familiar alarm blared loudly across the facility. Several small, red lights placed sporadically across the ceiling illuminated the room she now found herself in within an eerie, red glow. Twilight could hear several screams and the violent sound of ripping flesh echoing down the halls. Along with the alarm, a monotone voice constantly repeated the phrase 'Warning: 184/A+/2381/91/37 Containment Breach' constantly, at regular ten-second intervals. Twilight examined the room she now found herself in. It was large, obviously- she stood on a large, metal walkway, which bisected the room in two, standing several meters above the ground. Directly in front of her, at the other end of the walkway stood a large, metal door with a sign labeled 'D-Class Cell Block L-2'. Towards her right, there sat a set of stairs, which lead down to the ground floor. Making a quick decision, Twilight ignored the pain racking her body and darted down the stairs, her heart beating a thousand times a minute like a drum. Gazing around the room from the floor, she made a quick note of the entities inhabiting it. One biped with an orange jumpsuit (she determined that those were called 'D-Class Personnel') running out of a nearby door towards the left of where she now was, one biped with a white lab coat coated in blood (She'll call these ones 'Scientists'), standing directly behind another biped that was wearing the same vest, uniform, and visor from before. (These ones were guards in her mind.) Near the exit to her right, only a few meters in front of her, the statue sat, gazing towards the scientist and guard with its hands outstretched towards them. The two bipeds themselves were slowly walking backward, towards the door which the D-Class had left from. Finally, just out of the corner of her left eye, one last biped stood. From what Twilight saw, it was elderly and completely black. It was covered in a viscous substance from head-to-toe and seemed to be phasing through the floor. Only it's torso and head was visible for any amount of time before it vanished beneath the concrete floor. Twilight looked towards the door in which the statue was standing directly in front of. Though difficult to read the sign above it from her point of view, she could make out what it said. It read 'Evacuation Shelter L-9'. A dead body with a neck twisted the wrong way around sat slumped against the door, at the foot of the statue. Twilight's eyes darted between the statue and the evacuation shelter to the two bipeds now leaving the room the same way the D-Class had left, trying to decide where to go and what to do. Then the lights went out. A concrete scrapping rang throughout the room, but only for a split second before the lights came back on. The statue had now moved several meters towards the guard and scientist, causing them both to jump. "Oh, shit! Scientist, open the door for us, now! I'll keep an eye on it." "Y-yes, sir!" The scientist turned around to face the door they now were pinned between and the statue. Pressing a nearby red button, the door opened and the guard and the scientist backed out the door. Seconds later, the lights went out again, and the statue disappeared, the door closing behind all three of them. A single crunch echoed into Twilight's ears, the concrete scrapping quickly leaving and disappearing somewhere else before the lights blinked back on. Twilight stood still, frozen in fear, unable to do much of anything as she took in the situation she now found herself in. She couldn't use her magic to teleport back home for a long while, which meant she had to wait. But to wait, she had to survive first. And that meant she had to move. She didn't know what other monsters had been released, but she sure as hell knew they weren't good. Quickly making her way towards the Evacuation Shelter door and ignoring the dead body, she tried to find a way to open it. A handle, a doorknob... something. She discovered a small, red button to the left of the metal door, with a small piece of glass above it. The glass itself acted sort of like a screen, displaying the message 'Locked Down' on it. Twilight pressed the button several times, but to no avail. The door simply refused to open. Twilight slammed her hoof into the door several times, screaming for somebody to open. But yet, nobody came. Looking around in terror as adrenaline coursed through her veins, she decided to look around the room. Perhaps she could find something of use. There were several desks, tables, and chairs around the room, all with odd boxes with black glass in the front laying on each one of them. Several lockers and drawers lay around as well. Several chairs were knocked over, obviously, somebody was in a hurry- and... huh. Odd. Twilight turned to her left, gazing at several tables and chairs underneath the walkway she had come from. They were all sinking into a large, black puddle on the floor, right where the old, black biped from earlier had been located. She approached it slowly, every fiber of her being screaming at her not to. But yet she did and touched the odd, black goop. Immediately, her hoof started to burn and she jumped back in pain. Whatever that goop was, she should avoid it. She quickly ran towards several other desks and lockers, opening up the drawers for each of them, trying to find something to let her through the Evacuation Shelter door. Cotton, lint, few pieces of paper, a single battery, and other junk. Twilight sighed as she took the battery out of the locker with her telekinesis, and teleported it to her storage area. Basically, it was a sort of pocket dimension that could be used to store small objects for future use. It took quite a bit of magic to open an artificial storage area, much more store anything large in it, but this battery may come in handy. Biting her lip, she turned towards the door where the statue had gone and marched forward. She opened the door cautiously, looking around to make sure the statue wasn't there. The door went to another small room. A cross-section, it seemed. Twilight now had two paths, left or right. Twilight looked around both corners carefully, trying to investigate for any statue or creature that may want to kill her or worse. Judging the room to be safe, she tried to decide where to go. Suddenly, a shrill shriek echoed throughout the facility, causing a chill to run up Twilight's spine. The shriek was almost pony, almost normal, but had something... odd about it. Distorted. It quickly dissolved into faint crying and babbling. Twilight stood for at least a half minute in fear before the faint crying and babbling once again turned into screaming. A scream of rage. Some creature ran throughout the facility, far above her, stomping across the floor loudly, before reaching its target. Another scream erupted from another creature entirely, this time one of agony. Of pure, horrific agony. A ripping, pounding and sloshing sound all came from above her, the two creatures almost in unison in their screams, before one finally dissolved into faint crying, the second voice of some poor soul dying out entirely, letting out one last choke of agony before fading into oblivion. She had to get out of here. Twilight went right. She trotted over towards the door, and stopped, her hoof hovering above the button. What if the statue was behind this door? She couldn't break eye-contact, and that included blinking. She blinked before the opened the door, in an attempt to lengthen the amount of time she could keep her eyes open. Opening the door, she encountered another hallway, barely illuminated by a dim red light, the same alarm still blaring throughout the facility. She examined the room, making sure no statue was hiding behind any corner before closing the door behind her. That was a wise idea. Walking slowly, carefully and deliberately, she marched through the hallway. A small puddle of that same black goop from earlier lay on the ground, next to what appeared to be a splot of blood. Avoiding it, she reached the other side of the room, blinking once before opening the door. Another hallway. She made it through that hallway without much consequence as well. Approaching the third door, she blinked and opened it. She froze in place almost instantly. On the left wall of the hallway, an open door sat, leading into what appeared to be an elevator. But that wasn't the part which made her freeze. Two dead bodies lay in the room. One lay on the floor, a white lab coat covering its body and face. Another lay inside the elevator. Or at least, Twilight presumed one did. Inside the elevator, a single arm lay outside of the door, the rest of the body hidden, a large stream of blood pooling out from inside the elevator, into a small indent in the concrete floor. Twilight's heart dropped into her stomach as the stench of recently-dead corpses decomposing hit her nostrils, almost making her vomit right then and there. Putting her hoof across her mouth and closing the door behind her, she slowly approached the elevator. As she approached it and more of the body came into view, she scrunched up her muzzle to avoid the smell. Finally, she stood head-on between the scientist and the body in the elevator. All at once, Twilight realized a few things. First off, there was a body in the elevator, that was confirmed. However, it wasn't connected to the arm. It was slumped in the corner, it's head bending sideways in an unnatural way. Second off, the statue stood next to it, it's hands coated in blood. Twilight screamed in terror at the sight. Almost instinctively, she blinked. That wasn't a good idea. It was an extremely fast, unconscious kind of blink, just short enough to block out her view for only a split-second. But the statue was fast, and it was enough. It moved several meters towards her, and by the time Twilight regained her vision, its hands were already around her neck. She couldn't breathe, that was something she noticed pretty early on. She also noticed its face for the first time, mere inches away from hers. A large indent lay directly in the middle of its face, surrounded by a coating of red paint that seemed to act as its nose. Two giant, green bulbs sat on either side of its nose, glaring off into infinity. Two smaller, black bulbs sat beneath the green ones. Twilight couldn't make out the fine details, as she was too busy choking to death to bother. She screamed in terror. Or at least tried to. Her hinds legs were at least a foot above the ground, waving wildly, trying to find contact with something. Seconds passed, and she dared not take her eyes off the statue's hideous face. Unfortunately, it seemed she will soon have to. Her eyes started to burn, begging her to close them, just for a second. After all, what could possibly happen in that time frame? Right? Her vision started to fade as her brain craved oxygen, the statue's arms pressed against her neck, blocking all airflow from entering. This wasn't a good thing. Suddenly, her legs found contact with the statue's concrete body, and Twilight immediately began pushing. She began to lose consciousness, but still, she pushed through, her neck moving mere inches at a time away from the statue. But yet, it was enough to allow some airflow in. That tiny hint of success emboldened her to go through with what she was doing, pushing against the statue in an attempt to free her head. Low and behold, it worked. She fell to the ground, her eyes still unmoving, fixed against the statue's head. She bit her lip to stifle another scream, this time of pain and pushed herself away from that abomination. Her eyes at this point felt like they were going to simply burn up and fall out of her skull. She got up, focused on the statue, and moved towards the door. She used her free hoof to feel around for the button. She was going to blink, and she couldn't help it. It was just too much. But that would mean death. There was no way the statue would spare her this time. She would wind up on the floor, dead, with her neck twisted the wrong way around. But then her hoof felt the button. Pressing it down, the door shuddered and opened, and Twilight just about fell through. She immediately pressed the button to close the door and watched as the statue disappeared from view. She collapsed onto the floor, blinking wildly to try and rid her eyes of that horrible dryness as she heard concrete scrapping from the statue behind the door, shuffling around, seemingly mocking her. It didn't seem to know how to activate doors, thank Celestia. She sighed and turned around to investigate the room she now found herself in. It was another hallway, illuminated with the same dim, red lights and the same, horrifying alarm blaring throughout. She heard a faint scream of a female somewhere, more than a hundred meters to her right. The walls here clearly weren't very thick. She paid it no mind and ventured through the hallway as she had done before, ignoring the shuffling of concrete from behind her. The first odd thing she noticed about this room was the two doors on either side of the hallway. Each had its own red button, ready to open. Twilight slowly approached them and, blinking before she entered, opened the one on the right in curiosity. As the door slid open, she took note of the interior. It seemed to be a storage room of sorts, without any real importance to it. The room was small had another door directly in front of her as she stood in the doorframe, with a red button next to it only three meters away. The room extended to her left, with several shelves lining the walls that way. She entered the room and began searching the shelves. A cold cup of coffee, lint, some dust, a gas mask and two pieces of paper with writing on them. This peaked Twilight's interest, and she picked up the first piece of paper in curiosity, reading through it. Item #: SCP-173 Object Class: Euclid Special Containment Procedures: Item SCP-173 is to be kept in a locked container at all times. When personnel must enter SCP-173's container, no fewer than 3 may enter at any time and the door is to be relocked behind them. At all times, two persons must maintain direct eye contact with SCP-173 until all personnel has vacated and relocked the container. Description: Moved to Site-19 1993. Origin is as of yet unknown. It is constructed from concrete and rebar with traces of Krylon brand spray paint. SCP-173 is animate and extremely hostile. The object cannot move while within a direct line of sight. Line of sight must not be broken at any time with SCP-173. Personnel assigned to enter container are instructed to alert one another before blinking. The object is reported to attack by snapping the neck at the base of the skull, or by strangulation. In the event of an attack, personnel is to observe Class 4 hazardous object containment procedures. Personnel report sounds of scraping stone originating from within the container when no one is present inside. This is considered normal, and any change in this behavior should be reported to the acting HMCL supervisor on duty. The reddish-brown substance on the floor is a combination of feces and blood. Origin of these materials is unknown. The enclosure must be cleaned on a bi-weekly basis. The document also contained a picture of the statue, standing in its cell. Twilight nearly barfed right then and there. So that's what caused that horrible smell... she shuddered as she thought about it. But at least she knew what the statue was called now. 'SCP-173'? How many do they have? Clearly, a lot of these 'SCPs' were stored here. She hated to know what they were. Putting the document down, she turned to grab the other piece of paper, and quickly read through it, absorbing the information. Safe Safe-class SCPs are anomalies that are easily and safely contained. This is often due to the fact that the Foundation has researched the SCP well enough that containment does not require significant resources or that the anomalies require a specific and conscious activation or trigger. Classifying an SCP as Safe, however, does not mean that handling or activating it does not pose a threat. Euclid Euclid-class SCPs are anomalies that require more resources to contain completely or where containment isn't always reliable. Usually this is because the SCP is insufficiently understood or inherently unpredictable. Euclid is the Object Class with the greatest scope, and it's usually a safe bet that an SCP will be this class if it doesn't easily fall into any of the other standard Object Classes. As a note, any SCP that's autonomous, sentient, and/or sapient is generally classified as Euclid, due to the inherent unpredictability of an object that can act or think on its own. Keter Keter-class SCPs are anomalies that are exceedingly difficult to contain consistently or reliably, with containment procedures often being extensive and complex. The Foundation often can't contain these SCPs well due to not having a solid understanding of the anomaly, or lacking the technology to properly contain or counter it. A Keter SCP does not mean the SCP is dangerous, just that it is simply very difficult or costly to contain. Not to say a Keter-class SCP shouldn't be approached with caution. Twilight bit her lip and thought. So, SCP-173 was a Euclid-class... Insufficiently understood, autonomous, sentient and/or sapient. She supposed that made sense. It was clearly all of those things. Putting down the document, she looked towards the gas mask sitting on the shelf. She decided grabbing it was a wise idea. She took it with her telekinesis and examined it closely, looking over each and every detail. Obviously, it was designed to fit a bipedal face, but she could probably fit it on her without much difficulty if she scrunched up her muzzle. Putting the gas mask into her storage dimension, she decided investigating the other door was a good idea. She entered it quickly and wound up... several meters behind where she had come from.. She paused, before heading backward. And, low and behold, she seemed to have been teleported back to where she started from. The rooms appeared to loop back upon each other. At this point, Twilight was about to accept anything. She quickly gave up trying to find the way out and headed forward, leaving behind the recursive rooms and wandered down the hallway to advance further into the facility. Or out. She had no idea where she was going. The second before she opened the door, she stopped. The concrete shuffling had disappeared. SCP-173 was either trying to lure her or had somehow left that area. She decided the former. After all, SCP-173 couldn't open doors, she already established that. Right? Twilight blinked and opened the door, finding herself in a new room style entirely. It was a small hallway, only three meters wide with one door on the left side of the room and a monitor of some sort above it. Entering the room and closing the door behind her, she looked into the monitor. It appeared to show a large, square chamber of sorts- filled with a type of black gas of some kind. Clearly, it was showing what was behind that door on the left side of the hall. She decided the gas mask would protect her from the gas, and donned it. It fit snuggly if she scrunched up her muzzle. Right before she opened the door, she stopped. Looking into the monitor more closely, she could swear she saw a figure inside it. Flying up with her wings, she placed her face less than two inches from the monitor. SCP-173 was inside the room. She dropped down and blinked wildly, trying to refresh her eyesight. Taking one large breath, she pressed the button and opened the door. Walking into the gas room carefully and deliberately, she scanned the room and found SCP-173 in the corner, facing away from her. She quickly walked sideways to make her way to the exit, focusing on the statue. Suddenly, she heard a loud, continuous beeping sound and saw a red light flash above the exit door. The exit door was about to close. She backed up fast, just barely managing to fall through the exit before the door closed, trapping SCP-173 inside. Again. She removed the gas mask and stood up, chuckling to herself as she looked in the monitor, seeing SCP-173 near the exit door, apparently frustrated. It wasn't getting out of there. She jumped down from the monitor, and headed away from the lockroom, hearing concrete shuffling that eventually faded away, as if the source of the shuffling disappeared. She blinked in surprise and looked back at the monitor. Somehow, SCP-173 had managed to leave the lockroom, being nowhere to be seen. The ventilation grate was broke off and on the floor. She bit her lip and turned back to leave. Clearly, it was rather agile for a statue. Blinking, she opened the door and entered yet another hallway. The next three rooms weren't eventful, with nothing but a few screams occasionally ringing out from far off. But as Twilight entered the fourth room, the scenery changed. She found herself in a large, open room. The left half, the half Twilight was in, was elevated off the floor. A single stairway lead from the left half to the lower right half, blocked by a door and glass walls. The very left side had a room of sorts, with two doorframes leading into a smaller storage area, with several shelves containing various supplies. On the right, lower half, Twilight could see two bipeds talking. One was wearing what appeared to be a bright, blue janitorial uniform, and the other a white lab coat. Twilight listened in to their conversation. "I... I think the shortest way out, is through the South-East Wing. Follow me." The scientist stated, pulling out a small, yellow rectangle and beginning to walk towards a nearby door. Suddenly, the lights flickered, and a loud concrete scrapping sound started echoing from a nearby ventilation shaft. "...Did you hear that? I hope it wasn't-" And then the lights went out. The concrete scrapping sound intensified, swiftly followed by two loud crunches. The lights came back on, and SCP-173 now stood over the two dead bodies. Twilight, startled, walked backwards fast, directly into the storage area. She bumped into something. Both she and somebody else let out a scream. "Ah! What the fuck?! What the fuck are you?!" a voice from behind Twilight screamed. Twilight stumbled around, screaming and focusing her vision on the person she had just bumped into. He was a tall biped, wearing an orange jumpsuit. He had brownish hair on his head and a large, muscular body. "I... You... I'm... what? Who are you?!" Twilight screamed. A short silence reigned. "...You can talk? I- What's your designation? I haven't seen you around here before." The biped said, apparently startled. "...My... designation?" Twilight asked. "Yes, your designation! Your number! What SCP are you? And hurry up, Cap'n Crunch is over there and he doesn't seem too happy about that glass wall!" The biped yelled, gesturing to behind the glass wall Twilight was leaned against. Twilight knew what he was referring to. He clearly thought she was an 'SCP' of some kind. Twilight hesitated for a second. Should she tell him the truth or no? She doubted he'll believe her, but what would he do to her if she told him she was an SCP? After a second, Twilight responded. "My... designation is SCP... uh... 47?" Twilight said hesitantly. "SCP-047? Haven't seen you around here before. Are you new? Uh, nevermind. Listen, I just checked the storage area, it has fuck-all. We need a keycard to get out of here and if you intend to survive, you need me to help you get one." The biped shouted, gesturing towards SCP-173, who still stood next to the bodies, albeit in a slightly different position. "Keycard?" Twilight asked. "Yes, keycard! You know? A key in the shape of a card. Keycard. You know what a key is, right?" The biped shouted. "Yes, of course! But- wait, you... 'Cap'n Crunch'?" Twilight asked. The biped hesitated. "It's, uh... It's a nickname for SCP-173 over there. A favorite among us D-Class. But listen here. I'm going to open that door, and I need you to keep an eye on SCP-173 at all times. Don't blink without alerting me, alright? Good." The biped said, walking towards the door. Twilight tried to object, but no words came out. She had no choice but to trust him. Gulping and blinking several times, she walked towards the door. "Ready?" The biped said, looking down at Twilight. Twilight merely nodded in response. "Good." The door opened, and Twilight could now see the damage SCP-173 caused in full. The scientist and what Twilight presumed to be a janitor both sat dead on the floor, their necks twisted in unnatural ways. Two small colorful rectangles sat on the ground. One was light gray and sat in the Janitor's hand, the other was light yellow and sat underneath SCP-173's leg. It had a huge crack down the middle, basically split in two under the immense weight of the statue. "Oh, fuck. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Alright, I'm gonna need you to go grab that gray card over there, alright? And keep a constant eye on the statue." The biped said, pushing Twilight forward. "What?! You expect me to- You know what? I'll just use my magic." Twilight stated and promptly began funneling her magic into her horn, creating a small glow. "Wh- magic? Are you for- whoa." The biped said, watching as Twilight's horn glowed purple. The keycard slowly began hovering, barely moving. Twilight funneled more magic in, beginning to strain herself as the keycard moved mere inches toward her. Finally, she gave up, the magic dissipating into the air and the keycard falling to the ground. "I... I can't use my magic. Why can't I use my magic?! The... the air, it doesn't contain any ambient magic! I can't recharge it fast. Why doesn't the air contain any magic?!" Twilight screamed. "Magic isn't real. Or at least, not in that way. I don't think. Obviously. Maybe. I honestly don't know, considering Cap'n Crunch over there is... I, uh..." The biped stated, going silent for a moment in thought. "You know what? You keep an eye on the statue. Don't blink. I'll go grab the keycard." The biped started to walk down the stairs, and Twilight bit her lip, focusing on the statue, her mind still racing from why she couldn't use her magic. The biped slowly approached SCP-173, keeping his eyes fixed on it. As he picked up the keycard, Twilight felt the urge to blink. "Uh, I have to blink." "Go for it." Twilight blinked, and the biped approached, walking backwards up the stairs so not to break eye-contact with SCP-173. Entering the upper part of the room, he closed the door, blinking rapidly shortly afterward. SCP-173 shuffled around angrily downstairs. "Honestly. I hate this guy so much." The biped said, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, we got a Janitor Keycard, at least. Let's go." Twilight looked towards the biped walking away from her, back to SCP-173 through the glass wall, and finally back to the biped once more. Sucking in a breath of air, she followed him. They passed through the door into the next room, and as they did so, Twilight examined her surroundings. An open door leading into an elevator sat not too far from her, on the right side of the room. A small device, which she determined was a miniature computer, sat next to it. "Alright, sweet. C'mon." The biped said, gesturing towards the computer. He walked up to it and pressed a small button implanted into the device. Immediately, the device turned on, the screen turns white for a few seconds before displaying the question 'Please Input Keycard'. The biped quickly took the keycard and slid it into a small slot, opening up several new messages, each one saying something along the lines of 'Click here to access blank'. The biped tapped on the option labeled 'Mail, Messages and Announcements' and began reading. "Uh... it appears an SCP has taken over the facility. SCP... SCP-079, it seems. I think SCP-079 is a sentient computer or some shit like that. Nobody knows how yet, though." The biped said, before pulling out the keycard and turning the device off. "We should get out of here. Follow me." Twilight followed the biped into the elevator, sighing as the biped pressed the 'down' button and the doors closed. The familiar rumble of an elevator in transit started to vibrate into her hooves. Twilight began to reflect on what has happened so far. She wound up in a facility of some kind, inhabited by monsters and odd bipedal creatures. All because she didn't just double-check her damn spell. Speaking of the bipedal creatures... "Uh, excuse me?" Twilight said, looking up at the odd biped which was helping her. "Yeah, 047?" The biped said. "Oh, please call me Twilight, thank you. Um, what's your name?" Twilight asked. The biped hesitated, seemingly in thought for several seconds before responding right as the elevator doors opened. "Call me... D-9341."