//------------------------------// // Doctor, Doctor // Story: Containment Breach // by gamerboy11116 //------------------------------// "Warning: T-Minus 20 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now." Nothing. Nothing at all. ...Well, okay. Maybe something. A wall, to be precise. A concrete wall. It was silent, anyway. At least for a minute. "...Uh, Reid? What... why's there a wall there?" Twilight asked, gesturing to the open elevator door. Sure enough, instead of an entrance to Light Containment Zone Level 1, there was a concrete wall. This was odd for a number of reasons. Firstly, elevators are supposed to bring you to your destination, and a concrete wall wasn't exactly where Twilight wanted to end up right now. Secondly, see above. "...Uh, I don't... maybe the elevator has broken down." A million thoughts raced through Twilight's head. Visions of SCP-682 being insane enough to crash through the elevator door and damage some vital component to the elevator's lifting mechanism flashed in her mind. Several more of SCP-106 deciding to pay them a nice visit, maybe chat with them a bit, get them some tea, and grab onto them with his corrosive, bony fingers and drag them into a torturous pocket dimension. A couple more of simply being trapped here until she died of starvation. Honestly, the last one seemed worse. Better to die with a ka-boom in this place. She'd at least get some respect in the afterlife. Suddenly, a loud bang emanated from the top of the elevator car, followed by a familiar scraping noise. More bangs ensued, the scraping intensified, the car started to shake, the lights started to flicker, and both Reid and Twilight started to scream. Or maybe just Reid. Twilight couldn't tell. It was high-pitched enough to be her, anyway. As the elevator bobbed up and down, something very large and very heavy scratching at the elevator car, Twilight began to realize what might be happening. Could it... could it be...? Her question was answered as a large tile on the ceiling of the elevator car collapsed, several small pieces of metal, a few medium-sized pieces of foam and electrical components, and one large piece of concrete and rebar, with traces of Krylon brand spray paint falling to the floor. The large piece of concrete and rebar with traces of Krylon brand spray paint was, of course, SCP-173. Somehow, it had managed to get to the top of the elevator car and had damaged something up there, stopping the elevator's descent. The screaming intensified. Reid's brain eventually started to process what had happened, and he instinctually snapped his eyes wide open, staring directly at the abomination in front of him. Twilight's instincts kicked in, too. But these ones mainly consisted of extending her wings and flying directly into the ceiling. That was the interesting thing about having wings: the phrase 'flight or fight' is much less symbolic and much more literal. "T-twilight! Stop, look at it!" Reid shouted, still looking at SCP-173, even as the elevator car started to tilt to the side, causing SCP-173 to start to slide to the side of the elevator car. Twilight's flight or fight response finally decided that in this particular case, staring at the danger was a perfectly valid choice to make. Dropping back to the ground, Twilight focused her vision on the statue. For what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, nothing happened. Reid stared at SCP-173. Twilight stared at SCP-173. SCP-173 stared into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Presuming, of course, it couldn't move its line of vision without moving its body. What if it could...? Was it looking directly at her right now? Oh Celestia, that was a scary thought. So was the thought of having her neck snapped, actually. Then, much to everyone's dismay, something happened. The elevator's lights flickered. It was probably only a fraction of a fraction of a second, so short that she barely noticed it, but it was enough for SCP-173 to move a whole half a foot in her direction. In response, both her, Reid and the elevator's cables screamed. The ripping of metal cables echoed through the cramped elevator car, giving a ghostly almost supernatural feel to the situation. Well, not really 'almost'. It WAS supernatural. Either way, the elevator car began to tilt farther and faster to the side. A sudden jolt caused the elevator to drop a foot down before another cable caught it, but the sound it made showed it wouldn't last long under the strain of the statue, especially after it was damaged by whatever SCP-173 did to it. Twilight's mind raced to come to a conclusion, to discover a way out of this unfortunate predicament. She had done it so many times before, surely she could do it again, right? Or maybe the same logic can be used to argue the other side- that she had done it so many times before, her luck had surely run out. Suddenly, as the second elevator cable snapped, causing the car to tilt ever further and putting even more strain onto the remaining cables, Twilight had an idea. Her wings. Of course! Her wings shot open on instinct and she flew across the room, her eyes still on the statue as she grabbed Reid by his waist. He yelped in protest before Twilight began flapping hard, trying to lift both her and him to the open hole in the elevator roof, right above SCP-173. "AH! Wh- what are you-" Reid started, but Twilight barely paid his complaints and questions any mind. Damn it, he was heavy. She hoped her wings were strong enough to hold both their weight. They soon found themselves hovering above SCP-173, the hole directly above them and the statue directly below. The hole that lead out of the elevator and into the elevator shaft was inky black, nothing apart from the faintest bit of light from a red bulb attached to the wall to illuminate her surroundings. As Twilight began to attempt to climb out of it with Reid in hooves, she heard a third snap. This one was followed by a fourth and a fifth snap in quick succession. Twilight's heart jumped as she realized what was about to happen. She had barely managed to clear her wings from the roof when the elevator car suddenly plummeted, the emergency brakes shattering under the strain of SCP-173's weight, the entire thing disappearing into the murky blackness below. Twilight flapped her wings furiously, determined to keep both her and Reid flying. Reid was screaming again, of course. She couldn't blame him, the whole thing was a rather alarming experience overall. A second of hovering later, the sound of several tons of metal and, if Twilight was fortunate, concrete shattering into pieces echoed up through the elevator shaft. Twilight continued to hover, trying to comprehend what had just happened through the gradually less loud screaming from Reid. Soon enough, the screams and sounds vanished entirely, replaced with the faint flapping of wings, and the even fainter red glow from the bulb. What was that even there for? "Guh- wha- Twilight? AH! Oh god, get me down!" Reid yelled, struggling in Twilight's grasp. She couldn't hold him for much longer- his equipment, her saddlebag, and Reid himself were all too much for her wings to handle. Trying to ignore the pain in her wings, Twilight started to lower. She didn't really have a good reference of distance and therefore speed as she descended. She only hoped she wasn't traveling too fast, that she was quickly approaching a vertical metal pipe or shard, or the more immediate threat of SCP-173 still being alive and vicious as ever. She hoped it wasn't sentient- she would be pretty angry right now if she was SCP-173. Before long, Twilight started to make out a light from the bottom of the shaft. A faint, red light, to be specific. What a surprise. What WAS a surprise was that the light was coming from a door in the side of the elevator shaft. She figured that was where she was supposed to exit the elevator had she gone down the conventional way. Oddly enough, the door was busted down by something. Considering she couldn't see any large concrete and rebar statues with traces of Krylon brand spray paint, nor any small chunks of concrete and rebar in the debris of the elevator car at the bottom of the shaft, she figured it was either SCP-173 or some other unknown horror. Twilight carefully flew through the busted down door out of the elevator shaft, landing safely much to everyone's relief in yet another goddamned hallway illuminated by some more goddamned faint red lights. This was starting to get repetitive. Collapsing into a ball of exhaustion and fur, Twilight breathed heavily, trying to get through the pain in her wings. She wasn't used to carrying things that heavy, and her leg wasn't used to being abused like this, either. Speaking of heavy things... "U... uh... ah... ugh... th-thanks, Twilight. You... you really saved us back there." Reid said, struggling to catch his breath from all the adrenalin and panicking and fear of imminent destruction. "Y-yeah... no... no problem. I... I guess it's just my way of saying... thank you, right?" Twilight chuckled. The moment was interrupted by the sudden realization that SCP-173 could, and probably was, literally anywhere. Jumping to her hooves, Twilight began examining the area intensively. While standing in one place, of course. The hallway she was in was relatively normal. A left way and a right way, both with normal doors, neither open. Wait, where had SCP-173 gone, then? It wasn't in the debris at the bottom of the elevator shaft, so...? Could it open and close doors? It... it had to be able to. But she knew that already. But it was scary to get confirmation nonetheless. Helping Reid to his feet, Twilight dusted herself off. "S-so, uh, which way do we go, then?" Twilight asked, glancing up to Reid. Twilight heard Reid go to say something, shut his mouth quickly, decide he should respond, decided against it moments later, and then finally conceded and decided to answer the incredibly simple question. "...Uh, right, I think." "Right is right, after all. Come on, then!" Twilight said, trotting off in the right direction like she hadn't nearly died for the twenty-eighth time that day. Twilight slid the keycard into the slot. The machine whirred for a second, processing what card had been entered before beeping. Satisfied with the keycard level she had, the door promptly opened with a hiss and the buzzing of a chain pulling it. "You sure we should go in here?" Twilight asked nervously, looking around the small room that was now revealed to her. The room was no more than three meters across and two meters down, a small desk and computer sitting to the left. A single locked door sat straight ahead, on the opposite end of the room to Twilight. "Yes, of course! SCP-500 is one of the most valuable SCPs we have. It can cure any disease or ailment, you know?" Reid said excitedly, before moving to step inside the small room. But something caught Twilight's eye, and her leg shot out in a protective reflex, stopping Reid from entering the room. "STOP! Wait, look at the floor!" Twilight said, gesturing to the ground. Sure enough, a rather large spot of corrosion sat dead-center, taking up nearly a third of the room's floor space. It bubbled and fizzed, depressed slightly farther down than the surrounding solid ground in the middle. "Wh- oh, Jesus. Okay, uh... SCP-106's clearly been here. You know who that is?" Reid asked, stepping back in surprise. Satisfied at Twilight's nod, he stepped forward again, examining the corrosion spot. A small piece of plastic caught his eye, reflecting the light perfectly. A small card sat right next to the corrosion spot, just barely out of its grasp. Which really had a new meaning when the corrosion appeared to be moving. Quickly grabbing the piece of plastic away from the corrosion and pulling it close, Reid examined it. "What is it?" "Uh, an Identification Card. It appeared to belong to a... Alisha Redshirt?" Reid said, reading carefully. "She worked in this section of the facility as a guard, like me. Apparently, she was supposed to bring various SCPs to the surface in case of a massive breach like this one, too." Silence. "I bet the SCP-500 pills are in the pocket dimension." More silence. "FUCK!" Reid screamed. Slamming the card onto the ground in a huff, he rose to his full height and turned around to pace. "Damn it!" "Uh, Reid?" Twilight asked. "Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it... oh, I'm totally getting fired if those things are gone... fuck! FUCK!" "Reid." "Oh, my fucking- this is stupid. This is... is... is SCP-106 intelligent? Oh, if he is, then I'm sure as hell he's laughing at us right now. Oh my god. This is just-" "REID!" Reid stopped his ramblings for a second, turning to look at Twilight, still through his golden visor. They stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time until finally, Reid broke the awkwardness by sighing in annoyance. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I'm just..." "No, no. No need to apologize. I get that. From what you've told me, they're pretty important. It's a reasonable reaction. But still, don't you think we should check the Containment Room first?" Silence. "You know what? Fair point." "Nope. They're gone alright." Reid sighed again and turned back around, being careful to step over the large corrosion spot so not to fall into SCP-106's pocket dimension, or just be turned into a liquid. "Damn it." "Oh, well. Nothing we can do about that now. Come on, we need to escape. Remember?" Twilight said, sliding her keycard into the slot and closing the door. "...Yeah, alright. Come on. We have very little time until Light Containment Zone decontaminates." Reid said, urging Twilight to hurry. As they passed through some more featureless, bland, identical hallways, absolutely nothing happened. Funny thing about the Foundation. It's either absolute calm or absolute chaos. There is no in between. ...It's usually chaos, though. But not this time, Twilight thought to herself as she followed Reid into a super-ultra mind-bogglingly incredibly unexpected and wild room. Guess what it was? Another identical hallway. What a surprise. But at least this one had multiple options as to where to go, rather than just being a hallway directing her in the only direction she should be heading in: forward. Turning left at the intersection this time, Reid directed Twilight through a bland, meaningless door with absolutely no value or importance to her in the slightest number seventy-two-thousand. Much to Twilight's absolute amazement, the room she entered was, in fact, not an identical hallway. ...They really could spruce up this facility with a few paintings here and there. Maybe some potted plants, some color... Rarity would have an absolute field day with this facility if she could ever get over the whole 'potential to be violently ripped into pieces by literal death if death was a physical creature' bit. But anyway, back on the subject of the new room. The white tiled floor that Twilight was so used to was still there, but the whole area seemed to have a much darker, industrial tone to it. Several doors separated by dark bricked pillars stood directly in front of her. On each pillar, a monitor stood, displaying a message to her and Reid, but what it was she couldn't tell just yet. The most exciting thing about it was the words 'Heavy Containment Zone Checkpoint Entrance'. The least exciting thing was what the monitors said underneath the most exciting thing. As Twilight got closer, she read it in dismay. Apparently, the entire thing was locked down. Something about a Lockdown Switch needing to be pressed. She never bothered to read the entire thing, though. Evidently, Reid had done that for her and was kind enough to express her own feelings for her as well. "Son of a bitch." Yeah, that sounded about right. "Alright, so, uh... apparently Heavy Containment Zone is locked down. Some bastard must have pressed the Lockdown Switch. Can't say I blame him, most important Foundation employees are supposed to be in the Evacuation Shelters. The guards are supposed to, well, guard. So, I guess it makes some sense... the SCPs are crafty, after all. But still." Reid said, sighing as he turned around to leave the room. "...Uh, what about the D-Class?" Twilight asked, thinking back to D-9341. She rightfully earned a confused glare, or at least what she assumed was a confused glare from beneath that golden visor as a result. "The D-Class?" Reid said, raising his eyebrow to the unknowledge of everyone but himself. "Yeah. What about them? What... happens to them?" Twilight asked, biting her lip and glancing to the floor nervously. "Oh, they just die." ... "...Oh." Twilight's mind came to a momentary halt as she processed the information. For some reason, it had never really... clicked with her. The D-Class were disposable, she got that. The leaflet she had read all the way back when she first came here had mentioned how they would be sent back to death row if they didn't cooperate, and it was pretty obvious what that- wait. ... 'Sent BACK to death row?' "...Uh, what... they... you just KILL them?" Twilight asked, her voice rising steadily. "...Well, in this context, the SCPs and the decontamination kill them, but yeah. If I found one, I would definitely shoot it. It's standard procedure." Reid said calmly, still walking away from Twilight as Twilight followed close behind. "...What?! Wh-why?! What's the point? What did they do other than not cooperate with you? Isn't it... isn't... isn't it pretty reasonable to not want to cooperate with you on-" "Twilight, they're criminals." "...What?" "They're convicted criminals. Murderers, serial killers, terrorists... anyone who made a crime bad enough to be sent to death row for execution. We only bring in those who would otherwise be killed for their crimes. Well, usually, anyway... general rule of thumb, if you see a D-Class, sympathy isn't necessary. Unless it's on fire or something. Then you can put it out of its misery." ... Well, Twilight's heart and soul just died for the third time that day. "...Oh." Fourth, actually. The awkward silence continued for two and a half more seconds, which is how long it took until Twilight walked face-first into a wall, much to Reid's amusement. "You should really pay attention to where you're walking. Now, come on! We need to hurry- the switch to unlock Heavy Containment is this way, in the electrical room!" "AAAAAAHHH!" "Oh, ignore that. It's harmless." "Wh... WHAT?! It's... I... how do you know?!" "I work here! You aren't exactly in a position to argue." "...Alright, fair enough. But still... what is it?!" Twilight lay on her back, gazing up at the large, humanoid statue which stood before her. It was a mannequin, obviously. Completely black, without any hands, and utterly faceless. Its form was tall and menacing, casting a large shadow against her. It wasn't moving, merely positioned in an aggressive position, arms outstretched as if it was about to attack her. "SCP-650. It's a large mannequin which teleports behind you and stands in a threatening manner. Ignore it, it's harmless. I guess SCP-079 let it out." "...SCP-079?" Twilight asked, clambering to her hooves. She could have sworn she heard that somewhere... ah, yes. D-9341 had mentioned it when he used the computer terminal a while back. Apparently, it had taken over the facility. Whatever that means. "What's that?" Reid paused. "You know, I'm not really supposed to be telling you most of this?" Silence. "...Uh, yeah. I figured. Top-notch security, right?" Silence. "...You know, Twilight, I don't really see a reason why I shouldn't." "Huh? Shouldn't what?" "Tell you this. It's rather important to our survival, and we're most likely going to need to do something about it to get out of here, anyway. Besides, I trust you." "...Really?" "Yeah. So far, you haven't tried to murder me, so I guess we're on fairly good terms." They both shared a good chuckle at that. Ah, humor based on their own imminent danger. Hilarious. "...But seriously. SCP-079 is a sentient computer... an artificial intelligence. He's a bit of a dick and has taken over the facility. I'm not really sure how, though. All I know is that he's releasing SCPs from their Containment Cells all over the facility." Reid said, gesturing to Twilight to hurry up. "...Well, that's interesting." Twilight said, walking towards Reid. "Kind of like what's currently right behind you?" Twilight stopped, turning around on a dime. She was only fortunate that the quarter of an inch distance from SCP-650's face to hers wasn't less than zero. One panicked scream and hysterical fit of laughter later, they continued on with their quest to escape the facility and not be violently maimed along the way. Preferably. Twilight and Reid passed through another bland door, and remarkably, found a room that wasn't an equally bland hallway. It was a hallway, don't get that wrong- it just wasn't quite as bland. Mainly because it had a door in one side of it. "Ah, here we are." Reid said, walking towards the door. "What, the Electrical Room?" Twilight asked, walking closely behind. "No, an SCP Storage Room. It's the last one I'm responsible for. I need to see if I can get any SCPs from it." said Reid, putting his own keycard through the slot. With a beep, the door slid open, revealing another small room with many more doors and many more labels. "Alright. Twilight, you have a keycard. See what you can get." said Reid, before moving into the room and beginning to test the doors. Twilight listened, taking out her keycard and trying out the doors on the opposite end of the small room. Item #: SCP-458 Alias: 'The Never-Ending Pizza Box' Object Class: Safe Beep. Nothing- it was locked down. DAMN IT. She was feeling rather peckish right now. Pizza would have been incredible. Presuming it didn't kill her, of course. Or poison her. Or generally cause her to cease all normal, optimal organic functions. Twilight quickly moved onto the next door. Item #: SCP-1499 Alias: 'The Gas Mask' Object Class: Safe The door slid open with a click, revealing a relatively innocuous small room, with a pedestal at the far end. On top of the pedestal sat a wooden box, containing what Twilight presumed to be SCP-1499. A gray gas-mask, with no apparent abnormal qualities that she could see just by looking at it. She took it nonetheless, placing it in her saddlebag before moving onto the next room. Item #: SCP-1025 Alias: 'Encyclopedia of Diseases' Object Class: Keter Safe It wasn't very special. Just a standard hardcover book entitled 'Encyclopedia of Diseases'. As far as Twilight was concerned, she didn't need to go any farther. Putting the book into her bag, she left the room to move on to the next SCP when she bumped into Reid, who was walking in the opposite direction. "Alright. I'm done. Let's go." said Reid, dropping two things into Twilight's bag as he went. Specifically, a green, hardcover book of some sort, and three... were those pinwheels? Blinking in confusion, Twilight asked Reid how he was done already. "How are you done already?" Twilight asked Reid. Reid shrugged in response, muttering something about there being ten minutes until they would both die in the decontamination process. Oh, well. "Come on, we have to hurry! Unless you want to die, of course." said Reid, his fast walk breaking out into a small sprint. Twilight struggled to keep up with him with all the stuff she was carrying, but she tried nonetheless. Speaking of stuff... "Uh, Reid?" "Yeah?" "What was all of that stuff? What does it do? In fact, what does most of the stuff I have do, anyway?" Reid slowed down for a minute, hesitating before answering. "Uh, what SCPs do you have again?" Now, it was Twilight's time to hesitate. "...Uh, SCP-109, I think." "Endless canteen." "Yeah, I figured that. I have a small blue key, too." "Oh, yeah. SCP-860? Blue key? If you open a door with it, it'll lead to an alternate dimension. Basically, it's a long forest path that eventually leads to another door at the end. The door at the end leads back to reality." "...Interesting." "Oh, and there's a monster there wanting to murder you, too. So, good luck. But it can open basically any door, so there's that." Silence. "Ah. I mean, of course, there is." They both chuckled at that, even as they sprinted throughout the facility, trying not to run into any walls and statues of death. "Uh, I have a green ring?" "714? Not really important. Good thing you have that, though. It blocks memetic effects." "...Alright? Um... I have this glass sphere and other weird ring, too." "SCP-399 and SCP-2925? Yeah, be careful. The sphere absorbs ambient energy and stores it. Considering how we've been running around for a while, it definitely has a lot of energy built up. We don't know the exact amount, though. If the sphere breaks, all the energy is released. Basically, we die. Violently. And the ring is something that allows you to do... basically anything, presuming you have... enough... energy..." Reid trailed off, his sprint slowing to a slow walk slowing to a complete stop. He turned around to face Twilight, whose facial expressions told everyone exactly what she was thinking. "Don't you dare." "What? Why not?! I mean, it allows you to do anything as long as you have the energy? We... we have all sorts of energy in this sphere right now! We could get out of here in a-" "No, no, no! If you run out of energy, it'll absorb YOU and use YOU as energy. The sphere has a lot, but who knows how much exactly? You could die if you use the ring and the sphere turns out to have a lot less than we think!" Silence reigned for the fifteenth time that day. "...Alright." Twilight sighed, continuing to head towards her destination. They both continued their sprint at Reid's request, charging through bland doors into more bland hallways as was a tradition at that point. "But... huff... what about the gas mask?" Twilight asked as she ran. "SCP-1499? If you put it on, it sends you to a pocket dimension. Take it off, you're back here." Reid replied. "Uh, okay. Um... huff... the Encyclopedia of Diseases?" "Gives you any disease you read about in the book. Be careful with that." "...Odd. Uh... puff... the hardcover green book?" "If you open the book, you'll find the words 'a hero is born' written. If you read those words, then fall asleep, you'll dream you're part of an amazing fantasy land, basically." "Oh, that seems... huff... nice. What about the... puff... pinwheels?" "They can be used to destroy things. Don't ask." "...Uh... huff... okay." Twilight wheezed, stumbling forward. This heavy load was really taking a toll on both her leg and her back, not to mention the running. The door slid open with a click, the bright light inside the newly open room contrasting the dim hallway Twilight and Reid had come from. Twilight briefly examined the area before stepping inside in a hurry. It was nothing more than a small flight of stairs in a narrow hallway leading up to an intermediate landing, which then turned back into a second stairwell heading left, out of vision. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary all things considered but was slightly jarring to Twilight after she had gotten so used to plain, featureless hallways. Reid obviously found nothing jarring about it, however, as he bolted past Twilight and up the stairs. Well, 'bolted' relative to Twilight's current perception of speed, of course. After all the running for her life she had been doing in the past few hours, his brisk jog was like lightning. How did he manage to keep running for so long, especially with all that heavy equipment he was wearing? She kept up her pace nonetheless. The stairwell finally ended in a medium-sized room, four large support pillars in a square formation around the center of the room, with what appears to be computers stacked up next to each of them. Straight ahead, there was a small door, which appeared to be locked. To the left, there was another small door, this one leading into another room, this one small enough to fit in the first room, and was, in fact, located inside the first room. Room-ception. Twilight followed Reid into the aforementioned small room inside the previous larger but still not very large room she was currently occupying, examining her new surroundings. The small room was a rectangle, with two control stations on either side and one control station in the very center, with two movable chairs strewn about the room, as if their previous occupants had left in a hurry. On the wall directly in front of her, there was a plethora of monitors, all showing different parts of the facility. Obviously, the electrical room doubled as a surveillance room. "Ah, here we are." Reid said, walking towards the control station on the right. Twilight could see two large levers on the aforementioned control station, the words written above each one not visible at the distance Twilight was from it. Twilight watched intently as Reid pulled the first lever all the way down with a satisfying click. He briefly glanced towards the monitors before turning toward the second lever. Before he could pull it down, he stopped, turning back towards the monitors in a double-take. He stared at the monitors intently, apparently either confused or frightened by something. He maintained his posture for several seconds, long enough for Twilight to start to get curious. "Uh, Reid? What are you-" "SHIT!" "W-what? What's wrong? Reid?!" "ShitshitshitshitSHIT! Uh, okay, Twilight, I need you to remain calm, whatever happens. Don't panic. Uh, I... oh, god." "W-what's happening? Reid?! I-" Their ramblings were cut short suddenly by the faint stomps of boots against the floor, coming from the stairwell, getting louder with each step. Something was coming. Reid froze in place as the creature rounded the corner, it's full visage finally becoming visible to Twilight. A tall, humanoid entity rounded the corner. It wore long, black robes that draped to the floor, a white bird-mask sat upon its face. It was carrying what appeared to Twilight to be a small, black doctor's bag, and- wait a minute. It looked very familiar. It... wait, didn't she see this thing before? Wh- yes, she did! It was the same thing she saw on the catwalk a little while ago! Reid very audibly sucked his breath in as he saw the creature, which made Twilight only assume it was dangerous, perhaps hostile. Although, it didn't seem to want to attack her when it was on the catwalk. Only stare in curiosity. She saw a glimmer of herself in the creature, judging simply by its mannerisms. Intelligent, curious, analytical- the outfit one wears can speak bounds about them. The creature turned it's head towards Reid and Twilight at the sound, gazing towards them before speaking. "Ah! Finally, civilization. I had thought the entire facility had simply vanished. Greetings. May I ask a few questions?" Twilight jumped at the speech. She had been under the impression the SCPs didn't usually talk. She supposed this was an exception to the rule. The tone of voice of the creature had been kind of a surprise. It was male, obviously. It had a kind of echo to it, perhaps because of the mask the individual wore, deflecting the sounds. The voice was deliberate, each word laced with age. The individual was clearly very old and knowledgeable, only strengthening her previous assessment. "U-uh... I... h-hel... hello, 049. How... d-do you kn-" Reid's voice audibly hitched as he spoke before he took a second to breathe in heavily, his breath pace hastening as he took several steps back, bumping into the console that was in the middle of the room. "My, are you quite alright? You sound a tad bit under the weather. Shall I-" SCP-049 spoke, approaching Reid. "N-NO!" Reid shouted, raising his hands out in a defensive position, causing SCP-049 to stop in his tracks. "N- I m-mean... n-no, I'm f-fine. J... uh, jus... just a little bit e-exhausted, to be honest. N-nothing serious." SCP-049 paused before speaking, his voice slightly cautious. "Are you quite sure?" SCP-049 said, cocking his head slightly to the side. Seeing no response, he continued. "Alright. Now, as I previously stated, may I ask a few questions? I'm the slightest bit confused about this whole ordeal." "U-uh, a-alright. Shoot." Reid said, gulping as he stood back up, trying to slow his breathing down to a normal pace. "So, first thing is first. Do you have any knowledge of why this facility seems, rather... deserted? Abandoned? I've hardly been able to find anybody apart from you and one other." SCP-049 said inquisitively. "U-uh... t-there's been a, uh, site-wide containment breach. Somehow, SCP-079 managed to take over the facility systems and opened up most of the SCPs containment rooms. We've mostly evacuated the premises. Nobody left but the D-Class, the SCPs, and a few guards, like me." Reid stated matter of factly, starting to warm up to the conversation. Suddenly, something seemed to hit him, his voice hitching in his throat as he hesitated before continuing. "U-uh, w-who was the, uh, 'one other' person you met, by chance?" SCP-049 seemed to ponder the question for a second before continuing. "I... believe he was one of what you call the 'D-Class'. Male, mid-thirties. Orange jumpsuit." Now it was time for Twilight's voice to hitch. "U-uh, alright. Did... did he have 'the Pestilence', perchance?" "Ah- yes! Yes, indeed he did. Rather unfortunate to catch it while so young. Either way, I've done all I can to try and help the poor soul. I did use the opportunity to test a theory of mine, of course. Might I say, it yielded rather unexpected, but yet interesting results nonetheless." Reid paused before continuing. "U-uh... yes. Okay. U-uh, a-anything else you wanted to a-ask me?" Reid said, notably taking a single step back. "Ah... yes, a few things. Do you have any idea of where I am supposed to go? For the evacuation procedures, I mean." Reid paused again. "U-uh... the... E-Entrance Zone. Through the Heavy Containment Zone. Y-you need a keycard to access it, though." Reid said. "Ah, yes! Of course. It only makes sense. And no matter, I have my ways to get through the security gates. Trust me." SCP-049 said, chuckling darkly as he gestured towards his doctor's bag. Twilight struggled to figure out what that meant. A part of her didn't want to know. "...u-uh, alright. And... uh, anything else?" Reid said. "Indeed. Perchance, what is this... ah, creature, here? I've never seen something quite like, ah... her, before. IS it a her? Pardon me, I'm simply not quite sure." Twilight visibly jumped back at the sudden acknowledgment. Up until this point, she had just been standing awkwardly in between the two as they conversed. She smiled nervously as she responded before Reid could say anything. "U-uh, yes. It's she, thank you." Twilight said, stepping back as she gazed up at the creature. If it didn't look slightly menacing from the catwalk, it sure did now. She never really noticed how short she was in comparison to the humans. SCP-049 looked down in mild surprise (or, at least the best Twilight could glean from SCP-049's eyes and posture. She couldn't see his facial expression directly). "Ah, yes. I forgot that you could talk. An SCP like me, I presume?" SCP-049 chuckled. "Interesting." Silence reigned for two awkward seconds before the intercom beeped with an announcement. "Warning: T-Minus 5 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now. This is your final warning before the final countdown. Any biological substances will be purged. Thank you." "Ah, yes. I suppose that's our cue to leave, now is it? I better be off. I'd hate to see what they mean by 'purge'. Farewell." SCP-049 said, turning in place and walking off, disappearing behind the corner and leaving Reid and Twilight standing in mild confusion. "U-uh, yeah. I... you met him before?" Reid asked inquisitively. "Uh, technically? We gazed at each other awkwardly once." Twilight asked, stepping out of the side-room. "Huh. I, uh... wai- holy SHIT! Did you HEAR that?! FIVE MINUTES! HURRY!" Reid suddenly shouted, startling Twilight as he bolted to the stairwell. Twilight followed suit. Evidently, they had gotten so used to a computer telling them how long it would be until they died they forgot that it actually meant something. Bolting down the stairwell, they charged towards Heavy Containment. Hallway after hallway, they approached rapidly. This was much faster than Twilight had run when she first came, certainly. However, this time she truly had the benefit of being in imminent danger, so that was nice. ... ...Wait. Seemingly out of pure spite and a desire to spit upon the notion that imminent danger was, in fact, a good thing, reality decided to throw a seventeenth wrench into Twilight's day as if the first sixteen weren't damn-well good enough. "AH! WHA- AHH!" Reid shouted as he skidded to the left, purposely avoiding whatever he saw towards the right just as he passed through another plane door and into another plane T-shaped hallway. Of course, such a reaction was undesirable to have in this particular facility in this particular organization. As a matter of fact, that reaction usually spelled doom. And this time, doom was spelled in corrosive mucus on the wall. As Reid charged towards the door on the left, Twilight took note of what was on the right. ... Oh Celestia, not that. Sure enough, SCP-106- yes, THAT one- was standing in front of the door to the right. No wonder Reid avoided that door. Except... wasn't that the way to the Heavy Containment Zone? ... Well, shit. SCP-106 wasn't large. It was standing towards the side of the hall, not really in FRONT of the door. The main issue was the giant puddle of liquid death that was. The door seemed to be corroded inwards, the metallic remains dripping onto the floor. It was a large gap- her body could theorietically fit through. If she spread her wings, she could manage to glide over the large puddle. Her biggest fears were, A, that SCP-106 would grab her as she flew by, B, her wings would connect with the corroded parts of the door at high-velocity. Celestia, that would hurt. And C, that Reid, who was currently GTFO-ing it the other direction, wouldn't be able to get past it himself, either running away in fear until he realized that he just ran away from the direction to the Heavy Containment Zone, dying (most likely awfully painfully) as Light Containment Zone decontaminated, or realizing his mistake in a few seconds, try to jump over the puddle, fail and die (most likely awfully painfully) as he was either dragged to SCP-106's torture-dungeon-dimension or simply dissolve. At this rate, most likely the former. ... ...Celestia, these weren't good options. But reality didn't seem to like to give her those, giving her recent predicaments. She made her decision to try for her own life, and charged right, away from Reid but (hopefully) towards her own survival. Even if it was painful. ... It probably would be. It always was. She leaped into the air, spreading her wings out as she angled herself towards the hole in the door, hoping against hope she would make it. Several things happened at once: first, SCP-106 clearly hadn't anticipated that move. He was fast, though- he reached out his hand in an attempt to grab her, only managing to graze her... ... Was that her bad leg? It totally was, wasn't it? Fuck. That was going to hurt when the adrenaline wore off. Actually, it would probably hurt when she hit the ground. Second, she passed through the hole in the door, her torso, legs and head managing to pass through with barely a sliver of corrosive liquid getting onto her fur. She couldn't say the same about her wings, which slammed against the corroded metal wall. The impact alone would be enough to seriously injure, perhaps even break her wings (which was, shall we put it, not known as a very painless experience.) Fortunately, the corroded wall gave way under the strain of her wings slamming into them, lessening the kinetic energy exerted on her fragile wings and preventing them from breaking. Unfortunately, they were now covered with corrosive goop. Third, her face met a hard, flat surface for the... what was it, the third time? There was the time she fell down in the closet, smashed her muzzle into the pole, traveled face-first into the wall when she teleported to avoid that giant reptile... no, fourth time. She also smashed her face in when she skidded across the floor into the elevator, also to avoid that giant reptile. Either way, she gave the floor a kiss. Agony flared up all over her body as she skidded across the floor, her momentum carrying her across the hallway she now found herself in. Her leg was again on fire again, her muzzle felt like someone had bashed it in with a hammer again, there was still the general, omnipresent ache she found her entire body in from the moment she spazzed out in the storage closet when she first arrived here... oh, yeah. Her wings. Oh Celestia, her wings. The floor had fortunately leeched a lot of the corrosive substance off of her wings, distributing it into a nice streak. Unfortunately, her wings still had a lot of the substance on it, not to mention the brute force of smashing through a metal wall. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she rapidly flapped her wings, trying to eject the remaining material from them. It worked, for the most part. The few remaining bits of corrosive sludge simply got rid of themselves by melting through her flesh and into her damaged and very, VERY sensitive wing-nerves. ... You know, she hadn't even started her snack she made back in Ponyville before she tried traveling inter-dimensionally. That sandwich and apple were starting to sound REALLY appealing right now. She jumped to her hooves in a blind panic, stumbling on her injured leg, only managing to keep going by the adrenaline, the pain, and the fear. When she got back to Ponyville, she should write an essay on why those particular attributes were more valuable than she thought they were. She kept up her pace, not bothering to check to see if SCP-106 was close behind her or still in confusion at what she had done. Skidding around a corner, she lunged through the hallways of the facility. She was extremely close to the Heavy Containment Zone now- safety. Temporary safety, anyway. She could almost taste it. Or was that blood? Either way, she bashed her way through the last door in her way as she collapsed to the floor at the checkpoint entrance. In her head, this would be where she would immediately jump to her hooves, grab the keycard from her bag (which had miraculously managed to stay intact and on her back, along with the SCPs she had picked up along the way), slide it in and leave Light Containment. In reality, of course, things didn't go to plan. The second she tried to do so, she immediately collapsed, her muscles giving way and all strength she had left being replaced by omnipresent pain. She let out a half-restrained scream as she flopped around, trying to find her strength. Celestia, she was so close. She couldn't let her fail now. "Warning: T-Minus 30 Seconds to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now. At the 0 Second mark, all checkpoints will be permanently locked and decontamination will begin." FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. She tried desperately to move her makeshift saddlebag in front of her, so she could reach in and grab the keycard. It took a full five seconds and a lot of screaming to get it around. She reflexively extended her wings down to try and grab the keycard, only for a pain... so much worse than anything she had ever experienced before to flare up. For a fleeting second, she thought she was going to pass out. The feeling passed as she moved her wing back to its natural position, and the pain became... somewhat manageable, in the sense, she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs anymore. Just partly. "T-Minus 25 Seconds. 24, 23, 22..." Oh, Celestia. She would have to use her magic, then. Er, no. Still very low. Teeth, then. Damn it. Thrusting her face into the bag, she began searching for the keycard to the best of her abilities with her muzzle. She hoped she didn't accidentally destroy the crystal ball with her teeth and blow herself and the rest, uh... 'Australia' up. That was the continent they were in? She thought so. Ignoring the pain, she finally found the keycard at the bottom of the bag and began trying to grab it. It was sharp, of course. It laid flat against the floor, so picking it up with her teeth proved to be both quite painful and a little bit bloody, especially with that damn blue key poking the side of her face. She would need to see her dentist after this. Also her doctor. And surgeon. And therapist, probably. "19, 18, 17..." Twilight finally managed to get the keycard in her mouth after much difficulty, frustration and mild fear. Okay, intense fear. But still, she had the keycard. Now, she just needed to get it in the slot. The slot... Which was far above her head. She hated the size difference between humans and ponies now. In fact, she now had a thing out for the humans for having the audacity to be so damn tall. What's the problem with being short, anyway? Biting down on the keycard to stifle a scream, she thrust her hind legs onto the ground in order to force her up, hoping to be able to lean against the gate as she put the keycard in, using it as some leverage. It worked, fortunately- of course, it hurt. Everything always hurts in this facility. So did her heart and mind as she realized that SCP-106 was at the most 10 meters behind her. It's sloshing sounds couldn't be mistaken. It had followed her here. Not bothering to look behind her as the sound rapidly approached (that thing was fast, she never noticed), she tried to slide the keycard into the slot. Missed. She tried again. "11, 10, 9..." Missed again. SCP-106 was coming closer. "8, 7, 6..." God damn it, just go in, won't you?! SCP-106 was probably just meters behind her now. "5, 4, 3, 2..." Click. The keycard slid into the slot, the door opening quickly. She collapsed forward deliberately, trying to throw herself through the gateway, hauling her bag and keycard with her as she went. As she thrusted her hind legs and flew through the gateway, she could have sworn the very nip of her hoof brushing something wet and slimy. "1..." Twilight collapsed against the floor, turning onto her back as a reflex. Although Heavy Containment was notably dimmer than Light Containment, Twilight could still see a few things as she looked back through the gate. Specifically, the large, slimy, hulking humanoid shape, it's silhouette looming mere feet away from her, contrasting against the brighter Light Containment Zone, it's lanky arm reaching out towards her, seemingly occupying a third of her total vision. She screamed. "...0. Locking all checkpoints." The door slammed shut. SCP-106 suddenly disappeared from view. Despite the fact that SCP-106 could walk through walls, it either was too confused by the door suddenly slamming shut, or simply was frightened by it, but it did not phase through the door to kill Twilight. Even if this confusion would only last a fraction of a second, that was all that was needed. "Decontaminating." Suddenly, the sound of a thousand high-pressure jets ejecting an unfamiliar and unmistakeably lethal gas drowned Twilight's eardrums, the only other sounds she could hear being that of her own screaming, and the horrible, shrieking screech of SCP-106. Up until now, it was only deep laughter. But THIS...? This was just horrific- like the sound a cat makes if you were to throw it in a blender. ... Very colorful, Twilight. It took less than ten seconds before the screaming faded away on both sides. One due to a realization that she was not dead, the other due to a (hopeful) death. Twilight wasn't sure if SCP-106 died by that, or if it even COULD die, but she held out hope. Whatever the case, the gas made it go away and not maim her any more than she already was, so that was a bonus. "Decontaminated. All biological signatures have been removed from the Light Containment Zone. Thank you." She was alive. She made it to the Heavy Containment Zone. She wasn't currently being chased by any horrible creatures. She wasn't in immediate threat of being decontaminated. She wasn't mortally wounded. She WAS alive. ...For now. A small victory, all things considered, but a victory nonetheless. ... ...And the adrenaline was starting to wear off. ... ...This was going to hurt a LOT, wasn't it...?