The Suicide Of Dr. Daniel F████████ - SCP Foundation

toadking07

This piece was written for the interactive jam contest in 2018. Choose Your Own Adventure stories are a lot of fun and also a whole heck of a lot of work to map out. Every now and then I'm tempted to write another one, and then I remember all the behind-the-scenes of it and, oof.

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Walking down the halls of Site-104, you flip through the report that was tossed on your desk this morning. The Internal Investigations Department sent you to look into a suicide. The suicide of one Doctor Dan H. F████████.

Sometimes your job is to figure out what went wrong in the moments before a containment breach destroyed a facility. Other times it's looking into why a fresh out of grad school researcher was found dead in his office. The autopsy says it was an overdose of injected paralytics.

Start The Investigation - Click Tab 05

There are worse ways to start a Thursday.

"Mike was it? I'd like to see the security footage for the containment here. Maybe there's something up with Dr. F that will help with this."

"That's, err, that's going to be tricky… You see, the tapes from yesterday, they were corrupted. Must have been anomalous or something."

"You think it's an anomalous effect of the chicken?"

"Yeah, that's probably what happened! It's been really freaking me out. I'm lucky the files were corrupted before I saw them, you know? Otherwise, I might have been exposed to the same anomaly that got Dan and you'd be investigating two suicides maybe!"

Wrap Up Your Investigation - Click Tab 34

Seems there's nothing much more to investigate here.

Ask About The Corrupted Footage - Click Tab 08

Corrupted data could still mean something, right?

The containment area is pretty standard for the bioresearch site. At the center of the room is an animal containment cage with a few chickens inside. (Someone must have been concerned chicken 404 would get lonely) At the far end of the cage is the white plane that can only be SCP-3620 moving around the other chickens.

A D-Class personnel is between you and the cage with their back to you, taking notes on a clipboard. No one else is in the room. Though a security camera in the corner reminds you you're never truly alone in the Foundation.

Talk To The D-Class Personnel - Click Tab 13

They may not be full-on researchers, but they work hands-on with a lot of SCPs.

Take A Closer Look At SCP-3620 - Click Tab 17

The shape of it is strange. A white flat plane that moves like a chicken…

"Those papers, let me take a look at them."

"Oh? Of course."

You look over the documents Dr. F████████ was working on for SCP-3620. Your eyes bother you when you read too long, but nothing seems out of place. They were trying to increase the feed density which could, in turn, allow them to chop off more chicken without worrying too much about where it was all coming from.

Seems like a nice way to ignore the fact that it's a nonexistent, infinite chicken they're pulling this all out of. It's no wonder containment breaches happen so often around here, no one can just leave things the way they found it! There are some notes on Dr. F████████'s computer about a discrepancy with the record input and output weights but Dr. Charlene M████ says she hadn't been informed of this.

The last update was just 14 hours ago. The last time anyone saw F████████ before he was found at his desk here, stiff as a board. In this very seat. Might be a good time to call it quits here. Nothing else on his computer is of note.

Investigate Dr. Charlene M████ More - Click Tab 36

Dr. Charlene M████ doesn't seem bothered by the death of one of her junior researchers, does she?

Head Back To The Containment Area - Click Tab 21

This place has already been looked over by forensic.

Before you can finish the report you arrive at the anomalous animal containment wing housing SCP-3620, to which Dr. F████████ was assigned to. For this case, you've been granted access to the SCP file and its related documents. (But for some reason, your clearance doesn't let you see Dr. F's unblocked out last name. Got to love bureaucracy) It's already 11 am and you want to get a move on this before things go cold.

SCP-3620, "Data Expunged the Chicken," Object Class: Safe. Still, the report brings into question if the suicide was caused by an anomalous effect or not. All this time in containment and they still don't know everything this SCP is capable of.

What do you want to do?

Read The SCP File First - Click Tab 10

Better to know what you're getting into.

Enter The Containment Area - Click Tab 19

Your job is to investigate a suicide, not the SCP.

"Danny? What can I tell you about the guy? I didn't know him all that well. We started at the same time on SCP-3620. He was a real serious kind of guy. Real stick in the mud, you know?"

"Did he seem distressed or distracted last time you saw him?"

"Yeah, you know what, he really did seem off. He closed the containment last night, I watched him do it like it always does, locking it behind him. Watched him walk off. Didn't realize I'd be the last person to see him alive. It's strange to think about."

"But how did he seem?"

"Oh, he seemed really out of it. Real sad, or just like, like almost in a trance? If it was something that SCP-3620 did, maybe it put the whammy on him just before that? Guess I'm lucky it didn't get me too since I would have just been out here watching the door before lockdown for the night."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Cross-contamination man, you never know what's going to get you. Everyone's so worried about the statues that will snap your neck, but no one knows when some critter is going to fry your liver because some other thing you're exposed to is messing with your mind, you know?"

Go Talk To The D-Class Personnel - Click Tab 15

You think you recall her name was Clara.

Go Talk To Dr. Charlene M████ - Click Tab 12

A researcher should know more about this than these two.

"Cross-contamination? That's just like getting "Keter duty" as punishment or monthly terminations for us D-class! Maybe, somewhere something like that happened, but then it became a rumor and spread like wild! These days cross-testing is pretty common and there's usually very little risk involved."

"Do others on your assignment feel the same?"

"Well, there aren't too many that I've talked to. Dr. Charlene M████ is so methodical, she doesn't seem to be worried about death like the rest of us might. Seems a little out of touch if you ask me. On the other end, the main Security Personnel, Mike, he's an ass that cares a bit too much about his own skin. He usually gets bored and tries to chat me up during the day. I just kind of respond with a grunt cause I don't much like him."

"What does he talk to you about? Well, at you about?"

"What SCPs would be cool to take home. If SCP-whatever fought SCP-whatever, who would win. Last week he was asking me if any of our research revealed how best to up Spongy's meat. If it would be possible to get some tomatoes from SCP-504 to make an anomalous sandwich! Speak of the devil.."

You follow Clara's eyes to see a security personnel standing in the doorway.

"Anyways, I'll get back to work unless you have anything else you need. Dr. Charlene M████ can give you access to Dr. F████████'s files if you need them."

Go Talk To Security Personnel Mike - Click Tab 11

Let's see what he knows about all this.

Go Talk To Dr. Charlene M████ - Click Tab 22

There might be something more in the office.

"The corrupted files could still help us get to the bottom of this."

"Ah, uh, yeah. They would, but I can't give them to you."

"As a member of the internal review committee, I have the authorization to access all related research and containment data related to SCP-3620. You need to give me those files."

"Well, that's the tricky thing. I uh, I had to delete them."

"So you're telling me the security footage for the containment area got corrupted and you went ahead and deleted it?"

"Yes sir."

"Even though that breaks protocol?"

"I- Ah, I was afraid that whatever had affected Dan was on the footage, even though it was corrupted. Didn't- didn't want to risk it getting out and getting other killed, ya know? I don't want a broke chicken getting in my head and making me off myself!"

Mike Probably Had The Right Idea - Click Tab 34

He might have broke a protocol, but he also might have saved lives.

Protocol Is Protocol - Click Tab 32

Mike has to be held responsible for his lapse in protocol.

Accessing the security footage doesn't seem to be an issue and last night's entry looks just as expected. Dr. F leaves the containment area after locking up, everyone else had already headed out for the night, he goes to his office, next day he's found dead at his desk.

But something Clara said urges you to keep looking. You go over the last few days, watching for anything of note, anything off. Your eyes start to blur over as you skim through hours and hours of footage, but you stay attentive. Finally, your work pays off! You almost didn't even catch it!

The footage from last night had been copied from another night a few weeks back! Someone tried to cover it up, but there's no mistaking it. You make a few calls and the data scrubbers work their magic!

Finish This Investigation - Click Tab 14

Something smells here and the lost security footage should reveal it.

Standing outside the containment area, you read through the whole file. Thankfully it's not a massive document with a dozen addendums and bizarre requirements in order to approach the thing. Still, a few researchers pass by you before you finish the file.

SCP-3620 as photographed on initial discovery

Item #: SCP-3620 "Data Expunged the Chicken," Object Class: Safe (Pending current investigation), the thing is basically a chicken that's not there. Instead, it's, "a two-dimensional white plane featuring a pictograph and a series of curved lines hypothesized to be language."

You stop a moment and try to picture this in your mind.

"confirmed by genetic testing1 to be an approximately 5-year-old female domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Behavior and vocalizations are consistent with those of a chicken, as is the appearance of all tissue samples taken."

So it's a chicken that failed to load. It clucks like a chicken, it weighs as much as a chicken, it lays eggs like a chicken. But unlike a chicken, it hasn't aged in the 35 years it's been here, it's physically invariant. You can cut all the legs and wings and breast meat you like and it'll still be clucking away with more to spare, and it looks like a broken image link on Wikipedia. Got it.

What do you want to do?

Head Into The Containment Area - Click Tab 03

Time to meet this expunged chicken.

Head To Dr. F's Office - Click Tab 12

This SCP isn't sentient, the other researchers might know something.

"Agent R███████, internal review committee, nice to meet you. Mike is it?"

"Hey, the one and only. Well, there's another Mike on site but he's on another wing rotation. You're here about Dan then?"

"Yes, anything you can tell me about last night or this week?"

"Just that it's got me scared shitless! Dan the man, he was a very serious guy, kind of an ass, but eh, I won't speak ill of the deceased. Uh, just you know, this is what we always worry about on these "safe" SCPs. That they'll mess with you, mix with another SCP you've been exposed to."

"Did the other personnel on SCP-3620 feel the same?"

"Oh sure, yeah, we all talked about it, some may be more than others. Me and Danny, we chatted about it a few times. Researchers, you know, they see a lot more than we do usually, though Dan was pretty new to all this. The D-Class, the ones that know about other SCPs, they're pretty freaked out about it too. They think it's a new property like it's growing maybe, you know?"

"So you've always been concerned with cross-testing and cross SCP contamination?"

"Definitely, definitely. One of my biggest fears working here. Always makes me uneasy when the researchers talk about it. Dr. Charlene M████ going on about Spongy being an endless food supply like there's no issue with it looking like some sort of weird computer glitch! If I had it my way, we'd just destroy the ones we could and lock the others up, and throw away the keys. Be done with it."

Talk With Dr. Charlene M████ To Shed Some Light - Click Tab 22

Mike seems a little worked up, maybe someone more level-headed is better to talk to.

Dr. Charlene M████ Is Suspect Number 1 - Click Tab 36

The Doctor is hiding something and you're going to get to the bottom of it!

Arriving at Dr. F████████'s office you meet Dr. Charlene M████, who doesn't seem overly bothered that a colleague just killed himself in this room last night.

"Dr. Charlene M████, can you tell us about Mr. F████████?"

"Well, I can tell you he'd get pissed off at you calling him "mister" F████████."

"Ah, my apologies. Pretty proud of his degree then?"

"I'd say so. Thought he was pretty bright, well, before SCP-3620 and all this. He was pretty new to the team — fresh out of grad school — this was his first assignment here. We were working on seeing if Spongy could, sorry SCP-3620-"

"Spongy is fine. Nicknames are non-standard but it is kind of catchy."

"Thanks. If Spongy could be used as a renewable food source. She's genetically a normal chicken, and so when you pull off a wing or a leg or whatever, it's the same as any old chicken meat. Besides the visual anomaly, her physical properties cause a new part to pop right back into existence no matter how much we chop off. We do have to try to keep things balanced. "Wanted Buffalo wings so badly we threw off Earth's orbit" would be one of the most embarrassing XKs to cause, you know?"

Dr. Charlene M████ goes on to tell you about the research he and Dan were doing, attempting to increase the feed density so they could collect more from Spongy per day. Keep anything around long enough in the Foundation and eventually, someone will try to put it to use. Infinite pizza and chicken wings sound like a gimmicky bar you would frequent back in college.

You press her about the anomalous properties of SCP-3620 if she thought this could have been caused by some unknown memetic effect or something.

"I do not. At least, not like a memetic or telepathic effect. I've personally been studying this for 5 years now, it's been in custody since the 80s, and this is the first time anything like this has happened. You tend to become a bit numb to the weirdness around here, but someone as new as Daniel… We think the "Euclids" and the "Keters" as the scary ones, so we forget that even "Safe" skips can destroy someone's whole worldview, you know?"

Head Back To The Containment Area - Click Tab 21

There's nothing more to investigate in the office.

Look At The Security Footage- Click Tab 29

There's got to be something caught on video.

"Hey, Agent R███████, internal review committee. Can I talk to you a moment?"

The D-Class personnel turns to you. She's wearing the standard orange jumpsuit, holding a clipboard and pen. She tucks the clipboard under her arm and approaches you.

"Sure thing, just finished counting the eggs this morning. You here about the guy who killed himself?"

"Yeah, what do you know about it? The report was just given to me this morning. Says it might be related to the anomalous properties of SCP-3620? But the file says-"

"Doesn't say anything about magical mind rays that make you want to kill yourself. Yeah, I don't think it's anything to do with that."

"You feel pretty certain of that?"

"Yeah, I'd bet my life on it. I've been working this assignment for a few years now. Grew up on a farm, think that's why I got this and not some other SCP to test. I've eaten every part of this chicken. Slept in this room for a week. Yell at it, told it my darkest secrets, stared at it so long I could see the image when I closed my eyes. Everything you can imagine. But nothing ever happened. The shit is weird but it's mainly just weird to look at. Usually gives new folks a headache."

"It is a bit of a trip…"

"Dr. Charlene M████ is the lead researcher though. She'll back up that nothing strange comes from this chicken besides endless chicken wings."

Go To Dr. F's Office - Click Tab 28

The lead researcher should be around and able to back up the D-Class's story.

Rough Up The D-Class - Click Tab 16

D-Class are criminals and human test guinea pigs at best. Better grill this one

It was all in the details. Numbers that didn't add up, security footage deleted and replaced. A little more investigating and you finally had your man!

You uncover that on the night of Dr. F████████'s death, it wasn't a suicide but murder! Security Personnel Mike had been caught accessing SCP-3620 collecting unauthorized chicken meat and smuggling it off-site. The two had had a confrontation in the containment area when Mike stabbed Dr. F████████ with a needle intended to be used to put SCP-3620 under.

Mike would then drag Dr. F's body back to his office, set up the scene to look like a suicide, and flee the scene. Only this morning did he remember to doctor the security footage by replacing it with footage from another night.

The evidence would continue to pile up and Security Personnel Mike would eventually confess to everything. He would later be sentenced by a jury of his peers within the Foundation. Dr. Charlene M████ stayed on as the lead researcher while Clara was promoted for her diligence and loyalty to the Foundation. Testing on utilizing SCP-3620 as a source of renewable food continued.

Ending 5 - The End

"Hey Clara, I've been talking with Dr. Charlene M████ and Mike over there. They seem to think Dr. F████████'s death was suicide either directly or indirectly caused by SCP-3620."

"Yeah, I heard him. A real piece of work."

"I take it you're not a fan of Mike?"

"He's over there telling you he's scared of cross skip contamination just now when the other day he's on my ass about how Sponge here works! "How do you tell what you're cutting off?" and "Do you think you could make an SCP sandwich with SCP-504 tomatoes and SCP-3620 meat?" I think he's about as worried about the anomalous effects as I am about my ex-boyfriend finding me in this place."

"What about Dr. Charlene M████'s theory? You don't think it just got to him? Worldview shattering and all?"

"Listen, Dr. Charlene M████ means well, but if you ask me, she's a little too detached from the rest of us humans to really trust on any personal matters. Numbers and equations? Great! Human feelings? Does Not Compute."

Go Talk To Mike More- Click Tab 26

Maybe he'll tell you something you're overlooking.

Go Check The Security Footage - Click Tab 09

"I'm telling you, Agent R███████, got to be something else. It just doesn't add up."

"I'd like to ask you a few more questions D-Class."

"The name's Clara. Not sure what else I can help you with but shoot."

"You ever fuck this chicken?"

"Are you being serious right now?"

"You said you've done everything I can imagine. You're a guinea pig, expendable as they come. You do whatever the researchers tell you."

"Listen, I'm D-Class but I don't need this from you, prick. But no, nothing ever sexual was done with this chicken. You happy?"

You decide to rough up the D-Class a little. Grabbing her by the collar you knock her back against the containment cage. The chickens flutter and cluck nervously as you intimidate the scumbag. Clara winces and tries to break your grip on her uniform but you've got the upper hand.

"I think I'll be happy when I know what happened here. If you're lying to me, you're as good as terminated. One more body bag at the end of the month."

"HEY! We Good Here?"

You look back and see a security guard at the doorway. You notice his hand is on his gun, still holstered. You release the D-Class's uniform and turn to the security guard.

"I said, are we good here?"

"Agent R███████, internal review committee. I was assigned to look into the death of Dr. Daniel F████████. Just finishing up here."

"The prick was shaking me down and tossed me against the cage Mike!"

"Shut it, Clara. Internal review reports to the Ethics Committee. Everything's good here, right?"

Mike's question is more a statement than a concern. He seems tense but relaxes his hand from his gun. Clara the D-Class doesn't seem at ease with him around but she's back to her work with the cage.

The clucking has died down a little. You're done here.

Talk To Mike - Click Tab 23

Security guards are more trustworthy than D-Class.

Head To Dr.F's Office - Click Tab 02

Better to talk to the researchers on this.

SCP-3620 struts around the cage in the manner that a chicken would. Or how you'd imagine a chicken would. It's more than a little disorienting to see it in motion. It's a 2-D plane, like some broken image placeholder. The lettering doesn't make any sense to you and neither does the symbol above them.

Your head hurts a little as you try to look around the edge and the plane keeps shifting with you. Its size stays the same too as you approach it. Your face feels a little hot as you squint and try to discern what exactly is going on here.

Did it just cluck? Did it just turn towards you? Can you feel it looking at you with tiny, beady chicken eyes you can't look back into? How can you tell if it's looking at you? How can anyone tell if it's a chicken under all this?

Your head starts to ache, you touch your hand to your head and wince. A feeling like you've been staring at a screen too long unbalances you and you stumble slightly. A hand steadies you and keeps you from falling against the cage.

"Hey, you alright man? Shouldn't stare right at the thing, didn't they warn you?"

The D-Class personnel helps you over to a chair and she gets you a glass of water as you reorient yourself. SCP-3620 goes about the cage, shuffling between the other chickens. You try not to look at it anymore and your headache subsides a little.

Ask The D-Class Questions - Click Tab 24

She seems happy to help you so far.

Head To Dr. F's Office - Click Tab 25

Better to get away from this thing and investigate where they found the body.

You go over the evidence the next few days as D-Class personnel perform a barrage of new tests thought up by a testing committee with too much time on their hands.

They try yelling at SCP-3620, holding it in their lap, and wearing lab coats while thinking angry thoughts at the other chickens. Hundreds of tests, several days, and you don't even want to think about the manhours spent on this later, the results are still nothing.

You talk with every D-Class personnel, all the security guards on rotation, and all the researchers who have been in and out of here the last month. The case is growing colder and everything is pointing to one possible answer.

Conclude Your Investigation - Click Tab 34

New cases are piling up and it's time to close this one.

You enter the containment area and immediately notice it smells like a barn. Or at least, what you think a barn would smell like. The source of the smell is at the heart of the room, an animal containment cage with SCP-3620 and a few normal-looking chickens. SCP-3620 is messing with your eyes a little as it remains parallel to you as you move about the room.

A D-Class personnel is working at the other end of the cage, collecting eggs from the cage. No other personnel are in the room at the moment. Looking up into the corner of the room, you spy a security camera spying back at you.

Take A Look At SCP-3620 - Click Tab 17

You've never seen anything like it. The place where a chicken should be but…

Talk To The D-Class Personnel - Click Tab 27

She looks like she might know something about chickens.

You head out from the containment area to check about the security guard Mike. There's a pressure between your ears but Clara claimed there was nothing to be concerned about. Still, the lighting in the hallways is hurting your eyes and you're happy to enter a darkened security room to continue your investigation.

"Woah buddy, you scared me there! I thought that door was locked!"

As your eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, lit up by the light from a few monitors is Mike the security guard seated at one of the computers. You weren't expecting him so you fumble a little but he relaxes and invites you to take a seat.

"I'm investigating the death of uh, Dr… Mr… F?"

"Yeah, F████████, Danny. It's really unfortunate. No one saw it coming, man. You think you're working a Safe SCP but they don't tell you that Safe is just a classification. It basically just means we can put it in a box and it stays there."

"So you have reason to believe it was uh, antimemetic?"

"Ah, an anomalous memetic thing? Yeah, yeah I do. You okay buddy?"

Tell Him About The Effect SCP-3620 Had On You - Click Tab 31

Your head keeps pounding and you'd rather make sure this isn't a bad sign.

Ask Him About The Security Footage - Click Tab 26

Clara said it was fine, best push through this.

You leave Dr. F████████'s office and head back to the containment area. Upon arriving you notice the D-Class personnel from before is still tending to the chickens and a security guard is now stationed at the door.

"Hi, you're our agent, right? I'm Security Personnel Mike. You're looking into Dan's death then?"

"Correct, Agent R███████. Did you see him leave the containment area last night?"

"Yeah, I did. Probably one of the last people to see him alive. It's kind of hard to think about."

"Anything out of the ordinary you can remember?"

"He looked, he looked really out of it. Just this, this distant look in his eyes. Muttering about how nothing matters. It's all bugs and glitches and stuff. I wish I had said something, but you know, researchers, they're, they're dealing with all kinds of stuff."

"Dr. Charlene M████ seems to think it didn't have anything to do with SCP-3620 directly, or at least, not from any of its anomalous properties."

"Oh, that's a relief! I'm real nervous about cross-contamination with SCPs. You know what I'm saying? SCPs always have these weird quirks. Always afraid there's something giving you cancer while you think it's safe in the box."

You notice the D-Class personnel looking over at the two of you before going back to her work.

"D-Class hasn't dropped dead yet. Seems like a safe enough SCP to handle."

"Oh, that's Clara over there. She's fine, for D-Class. She's a little stuck up but it's not like she's free to go like you or me."

Continue Your Investigation With Clara - Click Tab 15

You finishing talking with Mike and go to talk to Clara.

Continue Your Investigation With Mike- Click Tab 34

You talk to Mike a bit longer on the containment security details.

You feel like you might just be going around in circles, but you want to talk with Dr. Charlene M████ about the security personnel, cross-contamination, and Dr. F████████'s research.

"Oh no, no. SCP-3620 is almost completely safe. Well, as long as we don't displace a massive amount of mass by overfeeding or over-harvesting from her. We're running a bunch of new tests but I'm certain it's nothing anomalous at play here."

"Your security personnel seems to be pretty sure it's what caused Dan to kill himself."

"Mike? That's quite unlike him, but I wouldn't be surprised I guess either. He and Daniel didn't care for each other much. Came on to this project at the same time. Daniel was fresh out of grad school, while Mike had been transferred around the site a few times. Seemed to be a bit of a problem child you could say. Nothing serious to get him written up, but he got bumped off more than a few assignments for comments he made to other personnel."

"Did he say anything unusual about SCP-3620 to you or any of the other personnel?"

"No, not really. Nothing that really stands out. We don't normally let security personnel handle SCPs, even safe ones unless it's necessary. Usually, we have D-Class around for day-to-day handling and care. He was present for most of the testing this month as we began our research on increasing the intake feed density. I think most of it went over his head, but he did seem interested in our discussion of Spongy as a renewable resource of chicken."

Mike Is Now Suspect Number 1 - Click Tab 32

It's time to call this case done.

It's Got To Be Something With This SCP - Click Tab 18

Pulling meat off a glitched-out chicken can't be done without some negative side effects, right?

"So Mike, this D-Class told me she doesn't think the suicide is an anomalous effect of working with the chicken. What about you?"

"Oh man, I would be thrilled to know that. These anomalies, you never know what they're gonna do though, you know? Like the pen that you click and people you love die? How do they catch that stuff?"

"You notice anything weird around the 404 chicken? Besides the obvious."

"Well, yeah, for starters it's like a chicken that isn't there. Gives ya a headache if you stare at it too long. I try not to look at it longer than I have to."

"How long you been assigned here to guard it?"

"Only recently, about a month or so. Pretty cushy job, safe class, doesn't kill people. Well, usually doesn't kill people. But hopefully, it's nothing and I can stay here."

"You know the personnel as well? You know I'm just doing my job here, roughing up the D-Class to make sure she isn't hiding something."

"I get it, no worries. Clara can be a bitch. Really, you'd think people assigned to something like an endless supply of chicken wings would be more relaxed. Even Dan was a real tight ass about it."

Ask About Security Footage - Click Tab 26

Everything is monitored in these facilities must be something there.

Ask About Dr. F████████- Click Tab 06

Maybe Mike knows something about him.

"Feeling any better? You here about the guy who killed himself? I'm Clara by the way."

Your head is still pounding but you've got an investigation still to do.

"Yeah-yeah. I uh, what do know about him? Do you think it- uh, was it an anomalous property of SCP thirty sixty- six-"

"SCP-3620. But we just call her Spongy."

"Spongy?"

"Like DATA EXPUNGED! Like you guys do with some of the more, eh, messy critters?"

"Good to know. Uh, I wanted to know if- there's not a chance that I just um, this chicken doesn't fry your brain or something does it?"

"Nah, Spongy isn't easy on the eyes, but she doesn't have magical mind rays that make you want to kill yourself. You're fine."

"Glad to hear. I uh, I'm investigating what happened to Dan. Did you know him?"

"Worked with him a little, but he was still pretty new. I've been on this assignment for a while now. Usually pretty low-key, the new staff was assigned when they decided to start seeing if she could be farmed as a renewable food source. Him and Mike came on about the same time."

"Mike is?"

"Mike the security guard. He's usually here outside the containment area to watch things, but I guess he's off today. He's a bit of a sleazy dude so I'm kind of glad."

Head To Dr. F████████'s Office - Click Tab 25

Maybe there's something there to shed some more light on this.

Check About The Security - Click Tab 20

Maybe there's someone you can talk to.

Leaving the containment area, your head is still pounding. Maybe you get used to it? That D-Class woman didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest.

Arriving at Dr. F████████'s office you run into Dr. Charlene M████ gathering some paperwork into a folder.

"Agent R███████, uh, internal review committee. Are you, you're Dr. Charlene M████, I presume?"

"Yes, quite. Sorry I can get out of your way if you need access to anything here."

"I'm- I'd actually like to ask you a few questions about Mr. F████████ if you have a minute."

"Well, I can tell you he'd get pissed off at you calling him "mister" instead of "doctor".

"My apologies. Right. What can you tell me about the late Dr. F████████?"

"He was pretty new to the team — pretty fresh out of grad school, in fact — and this was his first assignment here. We were working on seeing if Spongy could-"

"Spongy?"

Your headache makes it a bit hard to follow along, but it seems they were looking into testing if SCP3620, "Spongy" could be used to farm more chicken meat per day. Something concerning the conservation of mass and an embarrassing XK scenario. Dr. Charlene M████ is happy to answer all your questions, though she seems to notice you're having a hard time focusing.

"Are you alright Agent?"

"Yeah, I um, I just got hit really hard with this headache after seeing eh, Spongy for the first time."

"Oh! Yes! That is interesting. Do you mind if I take a look real quick? Most report mild headaches, but you seem quite unwell. Here, allow me to escort you to the infirmary, we can lock the office behind us and you can continue your investigation after we've run some tests."

Go To The Infirmary - Click Tab 35

You're sure it's nothing but the doctor is insistent on recording this.

Insist On Seeing Dr. F████████'s Work - Click Tab 04

The investigation is what's most important here.

"I'd like to see the security footage, see who's been coming and going."

"Well uh, that's going to be tricky… You see, the tapes from yesterday, they were corrupted. Must have been memetic or something."

"You think it's an anomalous effect of the chicken?"

"Must have been! It's really freaking me out. Guess I'm just lucky the files were corrupted, otherwise I might have been exposed to the same anomaly, right? You'd be investigating two suicides maybe! Dan's and mine!"

Go Find Dr. Charlene M████ - Click Tab 30

The lead researcher should be able to shed some light on this.

Investigate The Security Footage - Click Tab 08

Pretty lucky the footage got corrupted if it was a cognitohazard.

"Agent R███████, internal review committee, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Tucking her clipboard under her arm, the D-Class personnel walks over to you. Wearing the standard orange jumpsuit, she's a little shorter than you but not by much.

"Sure, what can I do you for, boss? You here about Dan's death?"

"That's what I'm investigating. Did you know him??"

"Not especially well. He was new. Mostly kept to the other researchers or to himself."

"Did he seem like anything was wrong with him? Last time you saw him, or any time before that?"

"No, can't say that I did. Guy seemed quiet, maybe a bit too serious, but nothing dramatic. Seemed like a smart guy, he and Dr. Charlene M████ were working on increasing the feed density so they could gather more meat from Spongy. I'd heard they were making progress."

"I'm sorry, I'm not following. Feed density? Spongy?"

"Spongy? The Expunged Chicken? That's our nickname for her. She's like a chicken that isn't there. Just looking at where she should be, you just see the white square running around."

Peeking over at the containment cage you watch as a white plane seems to strut and peck around the food trough. The other chickens seem wary of it, but otherwise, don't mind it. The D-Class looks over her shoulder at Spongy as well.

"She's really something. Basically, an endless supply of chicken, if you can figure out which end is which before you start chopping! Just got to be careful you put the correct amount into her as you take out!"

Take A Closer Look At Spongy- Click Tab 17

SCP-3620 looks like something out of a video game that didn't load.

Ask If She's Concerned About Cross SCP Contamination - Click Tab 07

A D-Class who's been around the block and seems to know her SCPs is a handy resource.

You make your way over to Dr. F████████'s office and there you meet Dr. Charlene M████. Looking around the office, you wouldn't have known the body of the previous owner had been found here just hours ago.

"Dr. Charlene M████, what can you tell me about Mr. F████████?"

"Well, I can tell you he'd get pissed off at you calling him "mister" F████████."

"My apologies to the late doctor then. Pretty proud of his degree?"

"I'd say! Thought he was definitely a bright lad, well, before all this. He was new to the team, new to the Foundation — fresh out of grad school you see — this was his first assignment. First time dealing with anything, anomalous. We were working on seeing if Spongy could, sorry SCP-3620-"

"Spongy?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a nickname we gave SCP-3620. Spongy. Short for 'Data Expunged'. I know we're supposed to stay detached, but it's hard when you work with one of the animate ones for years, and frankly, 'SCP-3620' is a bit of a mouthful."

"Noted, but please continue."

"She's genetically a normal chicken, so when you cut off a wing or whatever, it's the same as any old chicken meat. Her physical properties cause a new part to pop right back into existence no matter how much we chop off. We try to keep things balanced though. "Wanted bbq wings so bad we threw off Earth's mass off and right out of orbit" would be one of the more embarrassing XKs to cause, you know?"

Trying to keep her on topic, you press her about the anomalous properties of SCP-3620, if she thought this could have been caused by some unknown memetic effect or something.

"I do not. At least, not like a memetic or telepathic effect. This is the first time anything like this has happened, in 35 years of containment. Ten of which have been under my watch! You tend to become a bit numb to the weirdness around here, but someone as new as Dan… Why I think it got to him. Messes with one's head when your worldview is cracked like that. Sometimes researchers are too smart, too proud, for their own good you see."

Maybe More Testing Is The Answer - Click Tab 18

SCP-3620 is likely at the bottom of this, these "safe" SCPs are rarely ever safe.

Scrunitize The Security Footage- Click Tab 09

Devil is in the details, right?

flavor

Getting to the security booth, you access the footage from last night. Dr. Charlene M████ seems convinced Dr. F████████ couldn't handle his worldview being shattered by SCP-3620, "Spongy the Data Expunged Chicken" and killed himself in his office. The cameras seem to back this up as he is seen leaving the containment area at the end of the day and heading back to his office where he is discovered.

Something isn't right though, so you rewind back through the footage. Unfortunately, there is a lot of it and most of it is pretty boring. The days start blurring into weeks as you fast forward. A month reduced down to an hour or two of viewing.

Finally, you find Dr. F████████'s first day on the job. He seemed nervous but excited, not unlike you when you first started working for the Foundation.

File Your Report - Click Tab 36

A few more days of investigating any loose ends, but this one might be pretty open and shut.

You find Dr. Charlene M████ back at the containment area, talking with the D-Class personnel from earlier. Neither seems overly happy to see you and Clara goes back to managing the chickens when you approach. Dr. Charlene M████ greets you, though indifferently.

"Are you Dr. Charlene M████? Can you tell us about Mr. F████████?"

"Well, I can tell you he'd get pissed off at you calling him "mister" instead of "doctor"."

"My apologies, Dr. F████████."

"He was pretty new to the team, this was his first assignment at the site. We were working to see if we could increase the amount of feed she was intaking in a day. You see, she's basically a normal chicken, all things considered. You can pull some meat off her and it acts the same as any other chicken breast, but you can keep going back for more and she stays the same."

"And you don't think this has had anomalous side effects? Maybe from eating too much of it or cutting more and more off of it?"

"Are you asking in regards to what happened to Dan?"

"Could something like the feeding protocol have triggered an effect?"

"It's unlikely. We're bringing in a few more D-class to try and recreate it, but nothing has caused a problem before now."

"So in your opinion, do you feel Dr. F████████'s suicide was an anomalous effect created by SCP-3620?"

"I do not. My theory is it's not like a memetic or telepathic effect. I've been studying this for three years now, and it's been in containment for thirty-five. This is the first time anything like this has happened. You tend to become a bit numb to the weirdness around here, but someone as new as Dan… We think of the Euclids and the Keters as the scary ones, so we forget that even quote-unquote-safe skips can destroy someone's whole worldview, you know?"

File Your Report - Click Tab 34

Your investigation is complete here.

"Yeah, I just- just stared at the damn chicken error message too long."

"Ah, that'll do it. Messed my head up pretty good the first time I saw it too. I'm real glad you guys are investigating this though. Really don't want to end up like Danny boy. Now that I take a look at ya, you don't look too good. Do you want to go lay down?"

"I'm fine, it's just a headache, just probably need a little-"

"Hey, no need to play the tough guy. This could be like what happened to Dan! I'll get ya to the infirmary and they'll make sure this isn't something anomalous or anything. Don't worry buddy, I got ya."

Mike Helps You To The Infirmary - Click Tab 35

You'll go get this checked out.

Mike the Security Personnel is detained and further investigations are carried out into his activities while assigned to SCP-3620.

It is uncovered that he had been accessing SCP-3620 after normal hours, collecting unauthorized chicken meat, and smuggling it off-site. Data recovery on the deleted security footage revealed no corruption and that Mike was attempting to destroy evidence of his involvement in junior researcher Dr. Daniel F████████'s death.

The footage showed Mike accessing SCP-3620 after hours when Dr. Daniel enters the containment area and confronts him. Security Personnel Mike was interrupted before he could administer the injected paralytic to SCP-3620 and during the following struggle injected it into Dr. F████████ instead. The footage then shows Security Personnel Mike dragging the body of Dr. F████████ out of the containment area and towards the office. A document found on Dr. F████████'s office computer noted a discrepancy in SCP-3620's weight and output, with the last update minutes before the confrontation on the recovered footage.

The evidence continues and Security Personnel Mike is brought to justice by a jury of his peers. Dr. Charlene M████ stayed on as the lead researcher while Clara continued her overseeing daily containment procedures of SCP-3620. Testing on utilizing SCP-3620 as a source of renewable food continued.

Ending 3 - The End

No one told you to click this tab now did they? You're just looking around at all the answers, all the different possibilities to pick from! Well, you've found this one lonely tab. It leads nowhere, and nowhere leads to it. Unless you think outside the box, though thinking like that doesn't really get rewarded normally. Definitely not here, not now.

Really, this murder mystery would make even less sense if you tried to read it by going straight on to every tab. Even less so if you're skipping around! Here's hoping you didn't misclick, or that you didn't forget where you were. Or the chance that there's a forgotten direction that got you here. That would be on me though, my bad.

Anyways, hope you had fun! I hate this gimmick now! Way too tricky keeping everything straight as things begin to branch out!

The death of Dr. Daniel H. F████████ was ruled a suicide. The committee voted to keep the object classification as "Safe" for SCP-3620. No new anomalous effects were recorded despite further D-Class and researcher testing. Backup systems were implemented to prevent future security footage corruption, though no future incidents were reported.

Dr. Charlene M████ stayed on as the lead researcher. The D-Class named Clara continued her assignment overseeing daily care and containment of SCP-3620. Security Personnel Mike requested a transfer to another SCP citing, "unease around Spongy" since the suicide. His request was granted.

You filed your report and moved on with your life. Well, at least until the next file was tossed on your desk to investigate. Exactly how did a D-Class personnel walk out of a secure facility with a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card from a Monopólio set?

Ending 1 - The End

At the infirmary, you get to rest up, under observation of course, and by the end of the day, you're feeling better. No suicidal thoughts or other symptoms to report! Seems you just got hit by a more severe headache than others.

Further testing provided no evidence that SCP-3620 had a direct role in Dr. F████████'s suicide. The committee would vote to keep the classification as "Safe" for now.

Dr. Charlene M████ continued work as the lead researcher. Clara the D-Class stayed on the assignment overseeing daily care and containment of SCP-3620 as did Security Personnel Mike. Your report, though uneventful, was filed on this incident. Life went on. Well, at least for a few months before another death was reported around SCP-3620 and your report was called into question.

Ending 2 - The End

Further investigation into Dr. Charlene M████ reveals nothing out of the ordinary. Their research was looking promising but has been halted until further testing proves Dr. F████████'s suicide was unrelated to the effects of SCP-3620. Dr. Charlene M████ continued work as the lead researcher, the D-Class stayed on the assignment overseeing daily care as did the Security Personnel.

Dr. Charlene M████'s final statement on the case sticks with you well after you've moved on to other investigations:

"You tend to become a bit numb to the weirdness around here, but someone as new as Dan… We think of the Euclids and the Keters as the scary ones, so we forget that even quote-unquote-safe skips can destroy someone's whole worldview, you know?"

Ending 4 - The End

Footnotes

1. >99.9% certainty