SCP: To Kill a Lizard
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>ID Card Accepted. Analyzing...
>O5 Detected. Enter Passcode:
>>***************
>Welcome, Overseer.
>>Access Recent Files On SCP-682.
>Parsing... Done.
Item #: SCP-682
Object Class: Keter
Special Occurrences: SCP-682 has escaped from detainment. Source of disappearance is unknown; no known artifacts were acknowledged to have had interaction with SCP-682 within the last three months. Last contact with any life form was when a D-Class was compelled to punch SCP-682 in the jaw while under the influence of several pharmacy narcotics. SCP-682 promptly ate the offender and was chuckling for a substantial amount of time afterwords. Last known location of SCP-682 was in its detainment chamber on [DATA EXPUNGED], at [DATA EXPUNGED]. Further action to locate SCP-682 is required and is considered top-priority for all retrieval personnel.
Addendum #1: [DATA EXPUNGED]. No sign of SCP-682. Assumed to be easy to spot despite the holiday in which the operation took place, but all units reported zero sightings. Surveillance unit with noted IQ of one-hundred and twenty attempted to fool executive officers with twenty-foot crocodile found in [DATA EXPUNGED] based on his own description of SCP-682, but failed to anticipate the possibility of others being both smarter and having seen the creature prior. Unit was immediately terminated from service, delivered to [DATA EXPUNGED] and injected with a Class-B amnesiac.
Addendum #2: [DATA EXPUNGED]. After 34 hours of searching without pause, SCP-682 has not been found. No anomalies to report. SCP artifacts with reality-bending capabilities have been called into question and interrogation will begin shortly. Necessary precautions are to be taken at all times.
Addendum #3: [DATA EXPUNGED]. Questioning of all suspected SCP objects have concluded and no viable results have arisen. In addition, no security breach was detected when SCP-682 escaped, but clearly must exist. Actions to clear the facility of all possible vulnerabilities in the safety and sanctity of the SCP Foundation have begun.
Addendum #4: [DATA EXPUNGED]. No security breaches were detected. Whatever allowed SCP-682 to escape is dangerous, powerful and is to be classed as "Keter". Both subjects are to be apprehended as soon as possible once located and contained. No further additions are forthcoming unless any new developments come into play.
>>Author ID.
>Author: Dr. ****** ******
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>>Doctor, I don't believe I need to remind you that all O5 personnel need to be able to read all documents unedited, at any time, all the time, correct? Otherwise, none of us would have enough details. Less details equals less efficiency. And less efficiency equals more deaths. Therefore, less details is easily equatable to more deaths. Basic geometric logic, I believe. Law of Syllogism. It's been a few decades. Perhaps a century. Hah. You'd probably remember, being so young. Or forty-six. More or less the same thing. That was a joke. All joking aside, though, I do hope that you will remember to re-analyze your security measures in the future for your reports and sort out their Visitor's Privilege protocols for personnel of clearance level 5 and up. I have reminded you, and I have been keeping a list, six times already. If you do not, you will be charged with the obstruction of duty of the single highest ranking member of the SCP Foundation. And that is grounds for termination, as I'm sure you're aware. That, or transfer to the Ethics Committee. Your choice. And don't think to say that I cannot do that. That I am "just" an O5. Yes, I have read your psychological reports. Yes, I have heard your grievances that you thought no one important could possibly have heard. I do so with everyone. It's half of what I do. Well, let me give you a bit of advice. Do not perceive yourself to know others. Because, truthfully, who does? No, I am not just an O5. I am not the Ethics Committee, either. Who am I, if not both entities? Simmer on that, if you will. I've been very lenient, Harold. It's time for you to step up your game. That was not a joke.
>>Done.
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>>O5-1.
"This isn't good," the lunar princess observed, looking over their "prize".
"Indeed it is not, sister of mine," the solar princess replied, eying the unicorns who held their "prize" in stasis with concern.
"Three guards severely injured, two in a coma, six unicorns burned out, and several million bits worth of property damage," the darker alicorn remarked. "And several unique pacification fields to keep it down. A few spells to halt its viral adaptivity to magic and the energy shield. Yes. Quite problematic, sister."
The white alicorn furrowed her brow in thought. "At least it didn't appear in the alter. Cadence has been working so hard on her wedding."
"Yes... she has..."
"Luna? Are you alright?"
Luna looked equally deep within the recesses of her mind. "Yes. Quite alright, 'Tia. Just a few preoccupations, nothing too urgent." She turned away. "I'm afraid I must return to my watch over Canterlot. Night is always the time most ripe for those who wish to seed chaos."
"I won't keep you," Celestia said. Luna turned to leave. "Actually, Luna?" Celestia called after her. She turned back. "Could you tell Captain Armor to report to the Chamber of the Elements? We might need his opinion. And, in light of the circumstances, his opinion might be the most important of all."
"Of course, sister," Luna said. She exited the Chamber through the balcony, spreading her wings and letting the wind carry her to her destination.
Celestia used her time to study the creature hovering in the center of the hall, held by two dozen unicorns maintaining a hyper-powerful magic barrier focused and molded to the frame of the thing. It looked almost reptilian, with teeth that looked as long and deadly as stalactites. Its skin was melted off by what looked like a potent acid, bones and open flesh showing from the wounds. Its eyes darted about the room, somehow looking dead in emotion and alive in action at the same time. How it had the incredible fortitude to keep from crying out in what must have been unbearable agony was beyond her. It certainly was no generic river alligator.
It had ferocity that would have made a dragon cry, they told her. It was a demon straight from Tartarus, growling horrible, impossible sounds that made them want to jump and crash through the stained-glass murals of the Elements for escape. When she expressed mild doubt on her royal guard's descriptions, she was simply told that she wasn't there. She couldn't have known. But how docile it seemed now, not making a sound, nor movement. She regarded it calmly, staring and examining it until it too stared at her unerringly. It didn't need to close its eyes. And, as she looked further, her conclusion became more and more true. It definitely was no mere creature. Those eyes weren't dead at all. She had misjudged them completely. They were cold. Calculating. Those were intelligent eyes.
"You stare at me, thinking yourself a master of perception, yet you know nothing."
Celestia jumped back a good ten feet in surprise, slowing her descent with her wings. Her heart rate jumped up about twenty beats. "You... you can talk, as well?"
"Your ignorance is almost blinding. You find the concept of a creature so dissimilar to yourself holding sentience incredibly unique, yet you hold yourself like that of a god who has seen all and experienced much. Your very skin reeks of incompetence bordering on arrogance. I will rend that skin from your body."
"Even if I was, my guard is not. They have seen to your capture; therefore, your words are empty."
"I apologize if I do not live up to your expectations garnered by a few minutes' conflict. Rest assured, I will rectify those failed expectations shortly." Its voice was deep and male, seeming to come out of the very walls. The unicorns holding it became noticeably distressed.
"What do you want? Why are you here? If you intend trouble, you can be assured; none of that will happen here. Am I understood?" she spoke succinctly, with force.
It chuckled hideously. "You think you are enough to stop me? You, equine? Good. You are welcome to try. It gives me a head-start. And a reason."
"Head-start on what?" she asked hesitantly.
"Your genocide."
"And what good reason would there be for that?"
It chuckled again. "You attacked first."