Per 
Jane Phasma: Ex field agent who participated in an (unbeknownst to her) unauthorized experiment using SCP-████ to augment her cognitive abilities, stealth infiltration skills, and situational awareness. When the experiment was shut down, she was put into provisional containment and basically forgotten about. CI broke her out as a secondary objective during a raid on the Foundation Site containing her.
David Moors: Civilian nurse with anomalous healing abilities, these drain energy from himself and others when he uses them heal otherwise fatal injuries. Apprehended by the Foundation and put in containment. Forced to test abilities on injured D class, some injured by the Foundation specifically to have his abilities tested. Escaped containment through unknown means, though it is implied someone let him out and paid a heavy price. Contacted by CI immediately prior to a Foundation attempt to recapture him and accepted a position in exchange for assistance in avoiding it.
Mr. Echoes: High level reality bender who can cause multiple simultaneous manifestations of slightly different timelines and can manifest anomalous entities for brief periods. Unverified low level mind reading abilities. Enigmatic and implied to have history with the Foundation but this is intentionally left unclear. Has deep strategic insight due to his ability to perceive multiple potential outcomes to decisions with great detail (not full on clairvoyance, he doesn’t know what will happen, but has an incredibly good idea what might.).
Ramon Eyeballs: Ex MTF agent who left the Foundation and defected to the CI after seeing how the Foundation treated anomalies and, specifically, how his friend Katie Fellowes was treated. Anomalously augmented by CI to have extremely accurate vision and depth perception as well as limited resistance to visual cognitohazards. Can also visualize the effects of some cognitohazards on others and can extrapolate immediate future (<1 min) events that are in his line of sight.
Lida Lidare: A pterodactyl/bat like creature able to take the form of a somewhat short Latinx woman indefinitely and at will. Youngest of the group at 22. Somewhat resilient to damage in her avian form, but primarily useful as recon/sitrep. Able to mark targets with bioluminescent excretions, use echolocation in addition to heightened vision, and dive attack with talons and beak. Able to transport others in talons or on back but becomes exhausted quickly when doing so. Grew up in an anomalous cult which was raided by the Foundation. She escaped the raid and was recovered by a nearby CI team monitoring the situation.
Katie Fellowes: Ex MTF marksman with record setting mission stats. Discovered to have anomalous ability to briefly manipulate time relative to an individual within line of sight (time literally slows down for a few seconds when she takes a shot). Contained by the Foundation for nine months during which time she was shunned, dehumanized, and abused by former colleagues and subjected to minimal but somewhat invasive testing.
Green Rivers: Very high level reality bender. Formerly a GOC operative who defected to the Foundation due to an objection to the GOC’s preemptive termination of non hostile anomalies. Defected to the CI as the Foundation’s willingness to employ anomalous personnel was significantly reduced and as they observed the effects of long term containment on anomalous people. Uses they/them pronouns but does not take offense to she/her when used by those who don’t know.
Malcolm Constant: SCP Foundation Special agent assigned to Resurrection by his own request with endorsement from Dr. Clef. Has personal history with anomalous people that leads him to both be sympathetic to their treatment and highly skeptical of their loyalty, though this is not explored in depth. He is on Lambda 2 and, while unaware of Tav-666, is a source of intel and often indirectly acts on their behalf during operations.
The group (not Constant) has been together for about 4 years and are close friends. They have issues with the CI’s methods but had never seriously thought about returning until they became aware of Project Resurrection. The main thing they don’t want to give up is being treated like regular people rather than gods or monsters, though avoiding some of the more stifling aspects of Foundation culture is also a concern.
The scene in the motel room was like something out of an indie comic book crossed with an old pulp detective novel. A group of anomalous humans gathered around a small wooden table in a dim and dingy motel room in the middle of nowhere. It even had the obligatory broken ‘no vacancy’ sign out front, intermittently casting a dull neon orange glow on the asphalt as the word ‘no’ flickered in and out of existence.
The labyrinthine irony of the situation was palpable. Everyone present was a member of a secretive and conspiratorial cabal born of an even more secretive and conspiratorial international organization and they were having a secret meeting to plan a conspiracy, but this was the first time most of them had really ever felt like they were actually “secretly conspiring” about anything.
Though the atmosphere had been tense since they’d begun arriving, there had been friendly banter sprinkled throughout. But now that they were all present and sitting around the table, silence had taken over the conversation. Jane Phasma was the one to break it. “So, are we all really considering this? I mean there’s like a 75% chance here that most of us end up in containment cells and the rest end up dead.”
“Yeah,” responded David Moors, putting down his half empty can of Dr. Pepper and looking around the table, “but if we don’t there’s about a 90% chance that we all end up dead and a real possibility that the entire goddamn world goes down with us.” This point was not lost on the group and they paused a moment to let it sink in.
“Fair point.” Said the oft-silent Mr. Echoes, his tone as difficult to read as always. “But that may be unavoidable no matter what we decide.”
“What do you mean, that we all end up dead or that the world does?” Asked Phasma.
“Yes.” Was all Echoes said back.
“Ok, we all know why we’re having this little chat” interjected Ramon Eyeballs, trying to sound calmer than his friends knew he truly felt inside, “but I think we need to seriously discuss the how before we decide anything.”
“Meaning what exactly?” Asked Katie Fellowes in an unashamedly nervous tone, the slight shakiness of her voice surprising most of the group.
“Meaning” Ramon answered, not drawing attention to his friend’s apparent trepidation, “that if we surrender to the Foundation at the wrong site or even at the wrong time of fucking day, we end up dead. If we don't screw up, we probably end up in containment. But there’s a chance, a tiny fucking little chance, that if we get this exactly right and get more than a little lucky… we end up in a much better situation than most of us have been in our entire lives. That we actually get to do something good.”
“‘Good’ is extremely relative.” said Echoes, sounding vaguely dour, but not dismissive.
“Yeah, but you know what he means.” Lida Lidare chirped, both nervous and excited.
“I suppose so.” Answered Echoes in a slightly wistful tone, showing more emotion than any of the group had ever seen from him before; though it was still barely perceptible.
“This Alpha-9 thing feels different.” Sighed Phasma. “Last time the Foundation tried this it was a half-crazed war hawk trying to turn anomalous people into weapons. This feels more like honest introspection, like the Foundation is actually taking a good look at their fundamental paradigms and asking some hard questions. That’s what we wanted in the first place!”
“But that’s not really in their nature. We all know that.” Said David, his expression a mix of sadness and fear.
“Right, but I think this really is different. Everything’s changing and the Foundation withdrawing into itself, choosing to just keep their heads down and do their thing as Jailers, is only making it worse. They know they need to change, the O5s just aren’t really sure how to do it.” Said Phasma.
Green Rivers had been watching this all, uncertain what to say. Now, they decided to speak up. “Politics has paralyzed the anomalous world. The Foundation, the GOC, UIU, even the Hand are all playing their little games; treating our universe even more like a chess game than usual. The Foundation is the only one that seems to be realizing what the potential stakes of that ‘game’ really are.” She had the room’s full attention. “The Foundation knows that it risks a near-total collapse; that they risk this both by inaction and through any action they take. They know that if they go down, we all go down, and that none of their ‘reset buttons’ are going to help for much longer.”
While they were far from authoritarian, Green’s voice was always authoritative. They had much more experience with the greater anomalous community and its various intricacies than the rest of those assembled and all present were fully aware of that. They had also earned the team’s undying respect many times over.
“So where does all that leave us?” Asked Katie.
“Well, ultimately it’s all going to come down to the Global Occult Coalition and the SCP Foundation. The GOC seems to be more worried about the Foundation starting to take an active role in things than they are about the exponential increase in anomalous activity driving that change. The Coalition basically still thinks it can just blow up anything that’s too scary. The Foundation may want to just lock anything like that up, but it’s starting to realize it probably can’t, at least not for much longer. The Insurgency is essentially just acting at the behest of the Engine at this point and, to be honest, I’m not sure even the Engine itself knows what its own endgame really is, if it even has one. The Hand is, as always, impenetrably opaque and obsessively esoteric. They don’t really care what happens to this reality, though they’d probably rather it wasn’t totally destroyed.” Rivers was speaking more directly than any of their friends had ever heard. None of them knew quite what that meant, but they were hanging on Green's every word. They continued, “Where that leaves us, us in this room, is in a uniquely difficult position; between a rock and half a dozen hard places. I think, in this case, the rock is our only real choice.”
“So you think going back is the right call?” Asked Phasma, genuinely unsure what to make of Green’s position.
“I think it’s the only call.” Rivers replied stoically. “We know what’s coming, what’s already here. We know that the Black Moon is waking up and that the Foundation can no more lock it away than the GOC can destroy it or the Insurgency can control it. But, and this is why my answer to Jane’s question is ‘yes,’ the Moon’s Howl can either be an agent of change, or one of destruction. I think that the Foundation is the only group of significance that knows they can’t stop it, that they need to manage that change and try to dampen the Howl, to hand out as many earmuffs as they can, so to speak, and lessen the impact it will have on the uninitiated before that Howl is finally heard by the world at large.”
“They are beginning to accept that lifting the veil a bit is preferable to having it torn off completely.” Echoes asserted, softly yet definitively.
The group looked at each other nervously. They all knew that there were no good decisions, but a decision needed to be made and made now. A vote wasn’t necessary, they had been friends and colleagues long enough to read each other. They were going back. The question was exactly how to do that without ending up totally screwed.
Fortunately, Phasma seemed to have an answer to that. “Let me make a phone call.”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Snapped Dr. Alto Clef. “You’re seriously considering this?!”
“Why not?” Asked Light, her demeanor was both aloof and deadly serious at the same time which was royally pissing Clef off, mostly since that was his thing. She continued “They’ve basically already been operating as an Alpha Nine team.”
“Because the fucking Chaos Insurgency is a bunch of traitorous lunatics who are acting as terrorists on behalf of an anomaly that literally seeks only to spread Chaos!” Clef was nearly shouting, he was aware that he was being uncharacteristically emotional, but he had his reasons and Light knew it. “It’s in the goddamn name for fuck’s sake!”
“Agreed. I’m not proposing we seek some sort of detente with the CI. I’m saying we need to seriously consider letting these specific insurgents come back in from the cold.” Sophia shifted her tone to a more direct and genuine one now, shedding the levity of her previous statements and letting her colleague know that she wasn’t just having a bit of fun with him, that she truly felt this was important. “The fact that the insurgency seems to be terrified of what we’re trying to do with Resurrection is probably a good thing. The fact that some of their best people seem ready to fully embrace it is almost certainly even better. We both know that not everyone who turned insurgent did so for the wrong reasons; hell, even their leadership knows that a good chunk of their people never really switched sides, just employers. These particular traitors also know something that’s absolutely vital to the goals of Resurrection: that big changes are coming and we all need to adapt to survive it.”
“If you’re trying to assuage doubts about this project, adding insurgents to the team is not likely to help.” Said Clef, calmer now with an edge of something approaching resignation creeping into his voice. He knew that his workload, his real workload, was about to become exponentially more complicated. Though, he supposed, at least it would also be a bit more interesting,
“I know, but I have full confidence in Tav-666 to keep this under control.” Light replied.
“Fuck you Sophia.” Clef shot back, somewhat jovial, but not hiding the fact that the remark had actually angered him. “Rivers is a high level bender who went from the Coalition to the Foundation to the Insurgency. She’s a traitor twice over. Echoes is… problematic on more levels than I can count. And those aren't even the only members of this little scout troop that’re potentially Keter.”
“So we bring them into the old Site 975. Set it up as a communal containment facility with SRA shielded failsafes. We bring in psych and counterespionage specialists to get to the truth of it and containment and neutralization specialists to determine our options if it’s a no-go. We’re even cleared to use SCP-████ if it’s needed. Worst case scenario, we look a little worse than we already do and we take out at least a few high level insurgents in the process. Any intel the CI could glean is information they clearly already have. Best case scenario, we get an entire team of highly skilled personnel, including a former GOC special operative with Foundation training and a few all star ex-MTF agents who would all have been prime candidates for Alpha 9 if they hadn’t defected.” Light was starting to realize she’d convinced herself. She could see in his face that Clef was realizing that as well, he seemed to calm down slightly as he accepted the inevitability of what would happen next.
“This is the worst goddamn idea since this project got the greenlight. It’s all but guaranteed to blow up in our faces and claw back any progress we’ve made so far.” He let that linger for a moment before sighing and continuing “I’ll have our people start working on an overhaul of 975. You better hope I don’t get a termination order before you can bring them in.” He wasn’t joking and they both knew it. While Overwatch had given them more than enough rope to hang themselves with, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t suddenly decide to just tighten the noose themselves; bringing a bunch of defectors back into the fold and almost directly onto an Alpha 9 team was as likely to prompt that as anything.
Sophia Light smiled. She wasn’t entirely sure wether she’d just killed the project or given it a major boon, but that was a feeling she was getting used to these days.
“Jesus fucking christ, cherry pie and coffee? Seriously?!” Asked Phasma, her expression a mix between amusement and genuine annoyance.
“I’m having Boston cream. It’s really good!” Lida said, not catching the reference.
“Coffee, it sweetened with amnestics?” Asked Ramon, only half joking.
“No, we save that particular blend for the post debrief break.” Senior Agent Adams responded, also only half joking.
“The food and coffee’s clean” asserted Echoes, “though a Twin Peaks reference seems remarkably appropriate to me.
“You watch TV?!” Asked Katie, somewhat incredulous, the revelation turning most of the heads at the table, Foundation ones included.
“No, but I sometimes watch David Lynch.” Replied Echoes, “The nature of our situation would make an excellent subject for one of his short films.” Echoes was full of surprises lately it seemed.
“I’ll see if I can get him L1 observer access next time.” Said specialist Constant, his voice sounding less than entirely sarcastic as he secretly imagined an O5 recap briefing that was literally Lynchian for a change. “Can we get down to it?”
Green Rivers was the one to break the awkward silence that followed. “Very well. If what we’ve heard is true, we are interested in returning to the Foundation, providing we are assigned to Project R… to your new project. We will provide information on CI actions taken against you recently along with other actionable intelligence and offer our substantial services in furtherance of your project’s goals. All we ask in return, essentially, is that you cease treating us as objects to contain and accept that we are people; people who can contribute greatly to your cause. It seems like a fair trade I would think, given the circumstances.”
“What circumstances are you referring to?” Constant shot back immediately, not allowing the magnitude of what he had just heard to catch him off guard.
“The exponential growth of the anomalous and the potential imminent collapse of the veil. As well as the Foundation’s willingness to accept… certain reforms… in the name of addressing this impending sea change.” Replied Green, her directness taking everyone at the table a bit off guard.
“You do realize that even if we accept everything you say as true, we’d need to treat you as anomalous prisoners until we can verify it all several times over?” Said Constant.
“Yes, we can accept temporary imprisonment. But…” Green was interrupted by Fellowes, “But we’re not going back into little fucking boxes, filed away underground somewhere. We will not be things again!”
“Look, if you know anything about what we’re doing here, you know that's a big part of why we’re even entertaining this possibility. But we aren’t the Insurgency. There are rules, there is an ungodly amount of bureaucracy, there is procedure, there is oversight, and there are internal politics.” Said Adams. “The Foundation knows things need to change, sure, but the amount, speed, and nature of that change is still very much a matter of… fierce debate.”
“You realize, of course,” said Foxx, “is near certainty your superiors are becoming aware of what you are planning. Yes?”
“Of course.” Said Echoes. “We assume they will either try to kill us or watch and see what happens. Since that is precisely what we expect from you, that leaves us with little to lose. At least Foundation wetwork tends to be quick and relatively painless, unlike our erstwhile colleagues’ methods.” He said this directly to Foxx, seemingly aware of his background though the two of them had never crossed paths.
The SCP Foundation personnel exchanged deep glances, their CI counterparts weren’t sure if they were communicating anomalously or not, but the result was very much the same, a preliminary deliberation was being made. “We’ll let you know by tomorrow. If the answer is ‘no’ you won’t see it coming. If it’s a ‘yes,’ don’t put up too much of a fight when the raid starts.” Was Adams’ answer. She was not sure what to make of this situation, in all honesty, but she knew a very intense and very long briefing was imminent. “I’ll take another red eye to go and can you box up one more slice of that boston cream for our friend here?” Lida smiled at that, causing Adams to have some flashbacks and to shoot her a mildly enigmatic but warm smile.
Soon the large corner booth was empty again and the sound of literal and figurative wheels spinning reverberated through the desert air.
MTF: MTF ETA 10, support from MTF Alpha 9 and MTF Lambda 2
Special Equipment: SCRAMBLE capable optical headsets with low light and thermal vision modules. Class [REDACTED] anomalous tranquilizer rounds derived from SCP-████. Thaumaturgically enhanced body armor.
Primary Objective: Recovery of assets [DATA EXPUNGED] as outlined in mission briefing “Quadruple Agents?”
Secondary Objectives: Neutralization of Chaos Insurgency cell, destruction of facility, and recovery of anomalous items and SCP objects listed in itemized recovery manifest.1100GMT
Perimeter team subdues or neutralizes GoI perimeter security. Estimated remaining covert window: seven minutes.1105GMT
Sweep teams one and two engage uniformed hostiles. Hostiles subdued. Neither team sustains any fatalities, but three members of team one are seriously injured and require evac. Team one withdraws while providing cover for injured agents.1111GMT
Remaining sweep team and primary incursion force assemble at entrance to facility proper.1113GMT
Team breaches facility and immediately comes under conventional and anomalous fire. Target Green is observed using thaumaturgical anomalies in defense of the facility. These attacks appear to be intentionally underpowered and do not breach anti-thaumaturgical countermeasures. SCRAMBLE units succeed in foiling several cognitohazardous attacks. Four members of incursion force injured, two sustain life threatening injuries, three feign unconsciousness after being attacked by asset Green while remaining alert for any retreating personnel.1119GMT
Targets Green, Fellowes, and Echoes subdued by special tranquilizer rounds. Four non anomalous members of GoI security killed, one anomalous member of GoI killed (confirmed not to be a listed target). Four to six GoI operatives escape via [REDACTED].1122GMT
Primary facility defense team engages MTF incursion team. Two members of incursion team seriously injured, five suffer minor injuries. SCRAMBLE units succeed in foiling several cognitohazardous attacks, however one auditory attack is successful in impairing two MTF members who are not killed due to their resistance training. GoI security neutralized.1136GMT
Remaining target assets subdued using special tranquilizer rounds. One (target Eyeballs) suffers non life threatening injuries and will require medical attention.1154GMT
Majority of items from recovery manifest acquired. Rest deemed neutralized including SCP-XXXX. Full breakdown in document [REDACTED].1159GMT
Special agent Lurk and Alexandra.aic successfully modify surveillance footage to ensure all recoverable data is in line with mission specific disinformation requirements.1212GMT
Facility is partially destroyed by demolitions team one.1247GMT
Team is successfully evacuated. Injured agents arrive at medical facilities in time to prevent death, however two remain in critical condition with one requiring induction of coma. Injured target treated en route by field medics and is fully stabilized. Follow up recommended.1841GMT
Targets are renditioned to provisional site [REDACTED] for interrogation and containment. Injured target provided follow up medical treatment and is projected to make a full recovery.Mission Outcome: Successfully carried out primary and secondary objectives. Acceptable losses incurred.
The mood around the folding table is… less than jovial. Not dejected exactly but definitely uncertain about their situation.
Phasma finally blurted it out. “I’m starting to remember why we left.”
David replied “It’s not as bad though. Like we aren't confined to our cells 24/7 and they let us talk like this. Hell, I think this is even the regular cafeteria food, not the D class shit.”
“That’s a pretty damn low bar.” Said Ramon. “I’m not sure about this honestly. I mean at least some of those debriefings were full on pre-containment interviews, you all know it.”
“Right, but they didn’t give us the runaround. I remember my last ‘pre-containment interview’ and it wasn’t until the last few questions that I started to get that feeling something was off.” Said Katie. “This time, they didn't try to hide the fact that those sessions were meant to see how difficult it would be to contain me if this all goes to shit.” She continued. “That honesty counts for something. I mean… not a lot… but something. I’m not used to the Foundation being straightforward about anything.”
“Quite. This is all exactly as it appears.” Said Echoes. “I find that… strange.”
“Indeed.” Said Rivers. “They seem to be going out of their way to make it clear that they’re legitimately considering this but also overtly conveying that it is still the Foundation; that they view us as a potential threat to contain. It’s definitely… well, it's different than it would have been seven years ago; even one.”
“I’m not saying I’m having second thoughts exactly” said Lida, “but my doubts have definitely increased. Though David’s right, the food is solidly decent.”
They shared a brief moment of levity, which was all too quickly punctuated by the sound of an explosion followed by gunfire erupting just outside the compound.
Within seconds, Foundation security had their weapons leveled at their prisoners’ heads and were barking orders.
“Back to your cells. NOW!”
“Go ahead, give me a fucking reason!”
“Your buddies aren’t getting you back that easy!”
“I knew this had to be a fucking setup! MOVE!”
It didn’t take a skilled anomalous operative to figure out what was happening. The group was, however, composed of exactly that. A point made abundantly clear seconds later when the Foundation guards collapsed in unison as their eyes rolled back in their heads.
“Fuck, did you kill them Green?!” Asked Katie, seemingly more worried about that than the approaching gunfire.
“No, they are unconscious and will remain so for an hour or two. Anyone actively influenced by the Red Right Hand protocol will think they’re dead.” They replied matter of factly. “We can’t let them take this facility. No matter how bad things are now, they’ll only be ten times worse if we get dragged back.”
David, Ramon, Phasma, and Katie each grabbed an MP5 from one of the unconscious guards. Green hastily cast a basic ward around them. Echoes’ form started to waver as he readied his abilities for active use. Lida’s body quickly shed its human appearance and took on her natural avian form, shaking out her taloned legs as her wings stretched to their full length before folding neatly back at her sides. They moved in formation towards the shots and screams rapidly growing in intensity the closer they became.
As soon as visual contact was made, Echoes disappeared. Those armed with conventional weapons laid down covering fire as Green unleashed a barrage of psychic projectiles, simultaneously altering the air around the attackers into what seemed from their perspective like gelatin. The assault team dropped to the ground almost immediately.
“Fuck, that was too easy.” Snorted Ramon. “They should know what we’re capable of. Even if they weren’t expecting us this soon, they should have been able to mount at least some level of defense.”
The team moved through the corridors of the provisional site. Some they recognized, some they had never seen. They all knew the conventions of a Foundation facility though, and they were able to reach the access point to the inner perimeter with little difficulty.
“This is wrong,” Echoes’ voice came from nowhere in particular, “the Foundation guards I’ve seen appear more concerned with keeping the attackers out than with keeping us in.”
“It’s been a while, but they also seem a bit more on edge than usual.” Said Katie, unsure what to make of this. “Do you think they’re really that spooked?”
“I’d say they’re being manipulated, but I can’t sense a specific source.” Said Rivers. “Be on guard.”
“I’m not seeing any signs of a coghaz,” offered Ramon, “though I wouldn’t necessarily see that if the exposure was telepathic.”
Green only nodded. The group moved down the hallway towards the junction ahead. Just as they breached the second set of security doors, Ramon shouted “down!” a split second before the concrete wall behind them shattered into dust. “I can’t see the shooter, not coming from a guard tower though.”
A second round tore through David’s left shoulder, after a few seconds the wound had not yet begun to heal. “Fuuuuuck! T-shredders!” He yelled, referring to thaumaturgically enhanced AP rounds.
“I see him. Let’s find out if the asshole is faster than he is accurate.” Shrieked Lida as she flew up and forward into the night in a corkscrew spin. A third shot rang out but missed them entirely, arcing up into the night and impacting in the desert a kilometer away. Shortly after, a body fell from the sky and a heavily modified Barrett antimatiriel rifle clattered to the ground nearby.
A wicked grin crossed Katie’s face as she dove for the rifle, scooped it up in a roll, and came up into a kneeling position. “Paint me some targets Li!” She screamed into the night air. Seconds later the outline of three additional assault troopers became visible as they were splattered with bioluminescent guano. Within a second, all three were down and the Barrett was smoking.
Just as they began to consider their next action, a squad of Foundation security came into view from their left, apparently in hot retreat as they fired on a much larger force of insurgents advancing on them. Green wasted no time throwing up a barrier in front of their captors, allowing the guards to withdraw to Green’s own position rapidly. One pointed her sidearm at their head and shouted “On the ground, now!” This was immediately followed by another grabbing her weapon by the barrel and quickly pointing it at the floor as he shouted back “Are you fucking kidding me! That’s a combat trained bender who just saved our asses. Don’t shoot unless she resists when this shit’s all over.”
Before the first guard could mount any protest, a voice on the wind shouted “incoming! Two more teams! fifteen each, both directions.” Katie emptied the Barrett’s clip, eliminating the remainder of the insurgents already at their position.
“Where the fuck did you get that?! Nevermind, you out?” Barked the security team leader. “Yeah, armory nearby?” Replied Katie. “Not with anything that can chamber.” He answered grimly.
The team approaching from the right arrived first. Just as they opened fire, the corridor erupted into a hellscape of impossible movement. The walls spasmed feet at a time, obliterating anyone they touched. Dozens of Foundation security, identical in appearance to the team already present, fired hundreds of shots from a seemingly infinite number of positions, taking out all but four of the assaulting team. Two of the attackers’ eyes melted as they dropped dead and the other two turned to dust as they attempted to flee. That last trick was Green, already running towards the scene as it collapsed back in on itself while the sound of infinite voices screaming faded and Echoes reappeared, quickly falling to the floor. They just barely caught him and immediately placed him against the now solid again wall, before piling the bodies of several insurgents atop him and returning to the group. “He’ll be fine in a few minutes, but he’s not bulletproof until he wakes up.” Was all she said to the bewildered and somewhat terrified Foundation security team.
Before any of them could ask any of the million questions popping up, the other attack force appeared. Unlike the others however, this team had three at the front in full power armor tearing the floor apart as they approached with Gatling guns drawn.
“The seven at the rear are just meat. The ones flanking the heavies are t shielded but nothing you can’t handle. The heavy on the far right’s primary will jam after 37 rounds but they have a backup that will open up on you about four seconds later. It’ll be close Green!” Ramon shouted as Green Rivers charged screaming into the opposing ranks.
The unshielded attackers opened fire on each other as their comrades seemed to turn into class B demonic hostiles. Green threw another swarm of psychic projectiles at the remaining team, dropping most of the shielded operatives and doing minor damage to one of the heavies. They dropped into the fetal position and threw up a bubble just as the heavies opened fire with their heavy ordinance. A demi sphere of lead formed around Green's shield as it began to falter. Just when the bubble neared collapse, a deafening roar filled the hallway as a sandstorm of seemingly impossible intensity blew through the exterior doors and moved towards the power armored attackers. As the sand began to break down the mechanical joints on their frames, green dropped her shield and unleashed a wave of cyan energy propelling the remaining sand through the attackers as she was hit by several dozen bullets before the guns fell silent. The heavies hit the broken concrete floor at the same time as Rivers.
“Green!” Shouted David as he dashed toward his friend’s crumpled form. He looked up at his companions, tears in his eyes, but an expression more of pleading than sorrow. They all nodded solemnly. Katie looked at the security team leader and said “y’all won’t die, but it’ll hurt. A lot. Sorry.”
Before the Foundation veteran had a chance to respond, the entire group collapsed, writhing in agony, on the floor as a yellowish glow emerged from David’s chest. The last thing they saw before losing consciousness was the body of operative Green hovering a few feet in the air, glowing bright yellow as the light streaming from her companion’s chest increased in intensity, and then slamming back to the ground, leaving a swarm of bullets hanging in the air. David collapsed at Green’s side and the facility grew quiet again.
“It’s too convenient. By far.” Fox barked. “Had to be a setup.”
“I‘d think so too but something feels off.” Replied Clef.
“Da, because it’s a setup.” Foxx answered, less smug than insistent.
“No, not that. Something else.” Light said, her voice trailing off a bit as she exchanged a worried glance with Clef.
“She’s right Alexi. The tactics don’t make sense.” Said Adams. “The first wave could be a setup, no question. Against those targets that offensive would be all but guaranteed to fail. But the second wave was a feint. Looks like they were drawing our primary response away from the exit corridor. Sniper was meant to pin them down while they executed a pincer on the junction and dropped the hammer.”
“So you think it was a legit termination mission?” Asked Foxx, doubt still evident in his voice. “Why would they leave the actual door mostly uncovered then? They had to know one sniper with some support troopers, even with T shredders, wasn't going to be able to drop that whole team. The obvious answer is they knew nobody would try to run. Both the attackers and the targets wanted everyone to stay right where they were.”
“What about the response irregularities?” asked Constant. “It didn’t look like an inside job but the whole damn security detail seemed like they’d forgotten their breach training. I’d almost say it looked like…” At this point Vaux entered the room holding a Manila folder. “Jesus Vaux, were you waiting in the hallway for the most dramatic time to come in?!”
“What are you talking about?” He asked, sincerely a bit taken aback. “I have the report on those energy signatures Director.”
Light took the folder from her assistant and looked over the document. Her eyes widened and she handed the papers to Clef, who clenched his own eyes tightly, sighed, and passed them to Foxx.
“Fuck. There goes that theory.” Said Foxx.
“What?” Asked Adams.
“Aside from the low level thaumaturgic field that seems to have flooded the inner and outer containment buffers, there was a type seven or eight stealthed portal about five feet from the door. If they’d tried to run they’d have been scooped up and taken… somewhere. We can’t get readings any more specific from what we recovered.” Light answered. “Also explains the suits.”
“They were Mark I prototypes. CI could easily have a few of those lying around. Hell MC&D auctioned off some like that about a year back. Not sure about a portal that strong though.” Foxx said.
“Could be a very convincing fake recovery op, yeah. But I think we all know where this is going.” Said Adams.
“This wasn’t a CI op, it was a GOC false flag.” Said Sophia Light, an edge of dread creeping into her voice.
“So the good news is our defectors are probably legit.” Said Constant. “The bad news is they may have just sparked off another goddamn occult war.”
“I’d think you know by now what the limits of ‘better to beg forgiveness’ are on this project director.” O5-7 was stern but not exactly accusatory.
“I hadn’t cleared them yet. I wouldn’t do that without checking in. But we have some inf…” Eight cut her off “you should have checked before bringing Green into one of our sites.”
“975 was effectively decommissioned and we had approval to retrofit it. 975-A was specifically designed and configured to provide temporary containment for this team without risking wider security concerns if it was breached.” She blurted that out, while she’d expected an informal dressing down over this, she hadn’t expected the O5s to think that’s why she was calling. That was a potential problem. If they didn’t know…
“What was the information you wanted to share director? We can discuss this in detail when you submit your full report.” O5-10 was unavailable the previous day or Light would have already told her about the report.
“Thank you ma’am. I’ll get right to it. We are reasonably certain that the assault on 975-A was a GOC false flag operation.” She expected the silence that followed, she did not expect One to be the person to break it.
“You believe the Coalition attacked one of our sites and attempted to blame the Chaos Insurgency? Solely to terminate these prisoners?” O5-1 seemed doubtful but Director Light could tell that the truth of her previous statement had already been accepted by everyone on the call.
“Transmitting the reports now. But yes, we believe that it was an attempt at neutralizing this group of PoIs before they could be reintegrated or put into containment. I don’t believe they would have gone this far for Green alone, especially absent a connection to Resurrection.” Light knew the post breach reports, now supplemented by intel she’d called in some big favors to get ahold of, spoke for themselves.
“You seriously think they’d risk a war over these people?” Asked Eight, less disbelieving than upset. “They had to know we’d figure this out.”
“I’m not so sure.” Light answered quickly, “I think they underestimated the cohesion of this team and focused all but the entirety of their plans on handling Green and Echoes. The others are what allowed those two to have maximum effect, I doubt even someone with Rivers’ power levels could have taken down three suits without support. If they’d moved the targets out via portal, even dead, we wouldn’t have had anything but a vague suspicion.”
“What happened with her and Moors?” Asked Nine, seemingly out of genuine curiosity.
“From what we can tell, Green knew that they weren’t going to be able to handle three suits without opening themself up to massive damage.” Light grew quieter and continued “it looks like they were willing to sacrifice themself for the team, though they also probably counted on Moors to step in if he survived the attack himself.”
“Fox’s initial assessment was right, this seems too convenient.” Said Eight. “I mean this is another example of an unplanned emergency serving as an absolutely perfect test for a prospective Alpha 9 team. If there’s nothing else to it, I’d say there’s at least a significant probabilistic anomaly at play here.”
“‘Remarkably improbable’ isn’t always the same as ‘a probabilistic anomaly’.” Asserted Nine. “Besides, given the nature of this project and the forces arrayed against it, the timing of these attacks doesn’t actually seem that improbable to me.”
“If this was the CI” replied Light, “I’d agree that this had to be either a set up or an inside job, but the GOC wouldn’t go this far without genuine cause and, to be frank, if it was an inside job it would have gone off much better.”
“I believe this was as it appears to be based on your preliminary report. That troubles me greatly.” Said Two
“That sentiment has been coming up a lot lately.” Clef chimed in. “I don’t look forward to the added workload it puts on Tav triple six, but I have to agree with Sophia that this wasn’t a setup. Probably.”
“I’m surprised to hear you say anything positive about an insurgent Dr Clef.” Five said, their tone conveying something like ‘subdued incredulity.’
“As am I.” Replied Clef with a quiet acquiesce. “But this team was ready to fight to the death to defend that site, knowing full well they were likely to end up in containment even after a success. I absolutely intend to keep several dozen eyes on them, more than a few looking through scopes, but at this time I am convinced that their offer is genuine.”
The Overwatch Council muted their comms as they deliberated. After a few agonizingly silent moments, a blue led quickly flashed 7 times, indicating a non-unanimous vote but a unified response with no dissenting comments was inbound, and the speakers came back on.
“Further investigation of this incident will be handled by Tav-666 via Lambda 2 in conjunction with agents from Alpha 1 and Epsilon 11. You are ordered to promptly comply with any request they make. In the meantime… you are provisionally cleared to proceed with formation of a probationary Alpha 9 team. We don’t want any of these new… transfers… within 100 kilometers of Sites 19 or 17, but otherwise their containment is temporarily entrusted to you director.” The mechanical voice droned.
Light briefly considered asking if having members of Alpha 1 involved was a good idea considering the identities of some of this team, but decided to just go with “thank you. I will have additional reports available to all of you as soon as we have anything worth reporting.”
As the two directors emerged into the hallway and Clef gave agent Adams a summary of events, the younger woman couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?!” Asked Clef, unsure what to make of her response.”
“We already had staff secretly calling Alpha 9 'X-Men' and 'Avengers'” she giggled, “now we’ve basically thrown the Suicide Squad into the mix.” She kept laughing. “No wonder we have a backlog of IT staff applying to the project.”
Even Clef had to chuckle a bit at that before sobering up and commenting “well, now that you mention it, bomb implants might not be the worst idea.”
“The atmosphere has changed” said Ramon between bites of a solidly decent eggplant calzone, “there’s still a lot of anger and fear, even hate, but something else I can’t quite place.”
“Awe?” Offered Lida. “As in ‘wow, these prisoners are awesome!’” The return of her slightly silly demeanor had done more to improve the group’s morale than the gradual easing of restrictions ever could.
“Some confusion and uncertainty as well” added Echoes, his voice still fading in and out a bit from the recovery process.
“Yes.” Said Rivers. “None truly know what this shifting Foundation will lead to. Some fear the structure will collapse, others just don’t know how to process the change. I’d also imagine the direct involvement of O5 in the investigation has them on edge.”
“That guard who drew on you in the hallway keeps sneaking these looks at you Rivers. I can’t tell if she wants to beat you to death or fuck your brains out.” Laughed Phasma, knowing full well that Green was blushing a bit inside but would never show it.
“I imagine probably both. Likely at the same time. Though I’m sure the extensive debriefing they’d put her through will prevent either from occurring.” Rivers had attempted subtle humor before with mixed results, but this had the group sharing a genuine smile. Even Green herself let the corners of her mouth curl, almost imperceptibly, into a very slight grin.
“It is kinda strange that there’s so much complex emotion flowing through this site.” Said Moors. “I think that’s a good sign, even though the emotions themselves are a mixed bag. It’s like, I don’t know, like some of these people are coming out of a waking dream?”
“The Foundation itself is an anomaly in many ways. It shapes its people and guides their minds through its Byzantine hallways in a focused daze.” Echoes was waxing poetic, a sure sign that he was excited though you’d need to know the man extremely well to see it. “All human institutions do this of course, it is the nature of man, but those like the Foundation… it rises to a higher level, a kind of… local superzeitgeist as it were. If we can smell the scent of change in the air, the likelihood is it’s starting to be felt acutely by the rank and file and they are uncertain how to react. It is an exciting shift, but one that could portend many things, a great many of which may serve only to dash our rising hopes against the rocks of the dead gods’ unchanging paradigms.”
“Jesus H Christ Echoes,” exclaimed Katie “that’s literally the most I’ve ever heard you say in one go. You’re really getting into this, huh?”
“I am… engaging the moment, yes.” He replied tersely, his barely perceptible expression of amusement the closest he ever got to acknowledging his gratitude for his friends’ observant and well intentioned teasing.
“I agree with our suddenly loquacious comrade.” Green was getting in on it too, a sure sign that the apparent change in the air of the Foundation’s corridors had more depth than, perhaps, even Echoes had observed. “I believe that the gestalt organism that is the SCP Foundation has embraced, at least accepted, that its only path forward requires change. That this shift precedes the first light of the rising Moon is a very good sign.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s good to see you two like this.” David continued, softly, “Last time I remember anything like this was… Montreal?”
“Anyone heard anything official about our situation yet?” Interrupted Katie, not wanting to relive that particular adventure at the moment.
“No, but a guy I used to work with on MTF support back in the day has gone from 'steadfastly avoiding eye contact' to 'giving me the polite nod’ when I see him.” Offered Ramon. “Plus the containment specialists seem to have shifted focus from us to the site itself.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too.” Phasma chimed in. “I think they’re going to approve us but I imagine this will still be our home for the foreseeable future.”
“If that’s the case I need to talk to someone about a perch.” Said Lida. “I mean the bed is comfy enough but I keep waking up with cramps in my wings. I need to be able to sleep normally sometimes.”
“I want to see the look on whoever’s face when you make that request.” Said Katie playfully. Lida just grinned coyly.
The friends exchanged looks, more hope in their faces than anyone had a right to expect; a feeling that spread even to one of the door guards who had been listening to them discreetly. Katie acknowledged this with a sarcastic finger wag in his direction before pausing to recognize her own suppressed fear at the potential implications of the comfort she was starting to feel, at letting her guard down; such things often preceded tragedy in their world.
As if recognizing this, Green spoke up, her normal solemnity returning. “Yes, these developments are positive. There is change around us yielding some cause for hope. But let us not forget that this is all still prologue. A thousand years now narrows to a thousand days and the calendar has already been marked.”
“So… enjoy the calm before the storm? Gotcha. Oh garçon? A bottle of brut please.” Joked Phasma at their security liaison as he walked towards them. He shot her a glare, turned, and left the room. Before anyone had a chance to remark on this, he returned carrying what appeared to be a bottle of champagne and a stack of blue solo cups. To the absolute astonishment of everyone at the table, along with most of the guards, he placed it all before them and said calmly “They’re giving you a shot. You still can’t leave the site but you’re officially ‘high security probationary operatives’ instead of ‘detained persons of interest.’ You’re not likely to get much rest the next few weeks, training’s intense. But, just for tonight, enjoy yourselves. Congratulations.” He said all this in a monotone voice, then turned and walked away before any of them could respond, but Lida yelled out “thank you!” before he got to the door; he smiled warmly to himself, without turning, and left the room.
The team looked at each other, most wide eyed and slack jawed with shock. Ramon popped the cork, not too caught up in the moment to make sure the guards were watching him and would be acutely aware of the noise’s source, and poured them each a glass. As they raised their security approved plastic cups and made a silent toast, it was clear that no violent interruptions were imminently forthcoming.
Green caught that same guard smiling and giving them subtle elevator eyes, as they turned to meet her gaze, she caught herself and scowled before returning to form. A few seconds later, as Green was just about to turn their eyes back to the table, the armored woman let her mouth curl back into a very slight grin and quickly met Rivers’ gaze, only for a moment. Witnessing all this, David leaned over and quietly said “maybe some things around here do change after all.” As Green turned to face their friend, they didn’t try to hide the smile on their face.
No eldritch abominations or deep cover assassins or GOC strike teams appeared to cut short their reverie. No anomalous horrors would steal their brief moment of joy this evening. That would almost certainly come in time, of course, but for the one night at least they truly had cause for celebration and that's what they meant to do.
As she watched this on the security feed, Director Sophia Light reminded herself not to get too comfortable, that deep skepticism would still be necessary for all of them. But, nonetheless, she couldn’t stop herself from raising her coffee mug to the screen and quietly saying “welcome home.”
