History lesson - SCP Foundation

SCP-682 shortly after escaping from containment, still recovering from acid immersion.

Item #: 682

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-682 must be destroyed as soon as possible. At this time, no means available to SCP teams are capable of destroying SCP-682, only able to cause massive physical damage. SCP-682 should be contained within a 5 m x 5 m x 5 m chamber with 25 cm reinforced acid-resistant steel plate lining all inside surfaces. The containment chamber should be filled with hydrochloric acid until SCP-682 is submerged and incapacitated. Any attempts of SCP-682 to move, speak, or breach containment should be reacted to quickly and with full force as called for by the circumstances.

Personnel are forbidden to speak to SCP-682, for fear of provoking a rage-state. All unauthorized personnel attempting to communicate to SCP-682 will be restrained and removed by force.

Due to its frequent attempts at containment breach, difficulty of containment and incapacitation, and high threat of Foundation Exposure, SCP-682 is to be contained in site [REDACTED]. The Foundation will use the best of its resources to maintain all land within fifty (50) kilometers clear of human development.

Description: SCP-682 is a large, vaguely reptile-like creature of unknown origin. It appears to be extremely intelligent, and was observed to engage in complex communication with SCP-079 during their limited time of exposure. SCP-682 appears to have a hatred of all life, which has been expressed in several interviews during containment. (See Addendum 682-B).

SCP-682 has always been observed to have extremely high strength, speed, and reflexes, though exact levels vary with its form. SCP-682's physical body grows and changes very quickly, growing or decreasing in size as it consumes or sheds material. SCP-682 gains energy from anything it ingests, organic or inorganic. Digestion seems to be aided by a set of filtering gills inside of SCP-682's nostrils, which are able to remove usable matter from any liquid solution, enabling it to constantly regenerate from the acid it is contained in. SCP-682's regenerative capabilities and resilience are staggering, and SCP-682 has been seen moving and speaking with its body 87% destroyed or rotted.

In case of containment breach, SCP-682 is to be tracked and re-captured by all available Mobile Task Forces, and no teams with fewer than seven (7) members are cleared to engage it. To date (██-██-████), attempted breaches have numbered at seventeen (17), while successful breaches have numbered at six (6). (See Addendum 682-D).

Addendum 682-B: Portion of recorded transcript of ██████.

<Begin Log, skip to 00h-21m-52s>

Dr. ██████: Now, why did you kill those farmers?

SCP-682: (No verbal communication)

Dr. ██████: If you don't talk now, we will remove you from this attempt and place you back into-

SCP-682: (Incomprehensible)

Dr. ██████: Pardon? (Motions to move microphone closer)

SCP-682: (Incomprehensible)

Dr. ██████: Speak up. (To Personnel D-085) Move the mic up closer.

SCP-682: …they were (Incomprehensible)…

Dr. ██████: (To Personnel D-085) That microphone has only so much gain, move it closer to it!

Personnel D-085: His throat's messed up man, look at it! He ain't talking- (Gasps and screams)

SCP-682: (Appearing to assault D-085's body) …they were… disgusting…

Dr. ██████: (Retreats from the room)

<End Log>

Addendum 682-D: Breaches with SCP-682:

1: First Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Agent ███████, Agent ███, Agent ████████ (KIA), Personnel D-129 (KIA), Personnel D-027 (KIA), Personnel D-173 (KIA), Personnel D-200 (KIA), Personnel D-193 (KIA)

2: Second Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Agent ███, Agent ████████████, Dr. ███████, Personnel D-124, Personnel D-137 (KIA), Personnel D-201 (KIA), Personnel D-202 (KIA), Personnel D-203 (KIA)

3: Third Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Agent ███████, MSgt █████████, Agent ████████, Agent ██████ (KIA), Personnel D-018 (KIA), Personnel D-211 (KIA), Personnel D-216

4: Fourth Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Agent ████████, SSgt ██████, TSgt █████, Pvt ████████, Pvt █████, Lt. ████████████, SSgt ████████ (KIA), Col ████████ (KIA), Pvt ███████ (KIA), Pvt ██████ (KIA), Agent ███ (KIA)

5: Fifth Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Personnel D-221, Agent ██████████ (KIA), Agent ████████ (KIA), Agent ██████ (KIA), Personnel D-028 (KIA), Personnel D-111 (KIA), Personnel D-281 (KIA), Personnel D-209 (KIA)

6: Sixth Occurrence, ██-██-████: Handled by Agent ██████████, Agent ██████, Personnel D-291 (MIA), Agent ████████ (KIA), Agent █████████████ (KIA), Personnel D-299 (KIA), Personnel D-277 (KIA), Personnel D-278 (KIA), Personnel D-279 (KIA)

Addendum 682-E: Termination Options:

Log of event 682-E18: Dr. █████ attempts to use SCP-409 on SCP-682. General ███, General ██████, and Dr. ██████████ observing.

0400: Exposure. SCP-682 began to tear at the point of contact, causing massive trauma to the area. SCP-682 requests several times to know what it has been exposed to.

0800: Crystallization begins, spreading much slower than normal.

1200: SCP-682 shows signs of extreme pain, and begins having seizures

1300: Crystallization stops at 62% conversion. Crystallized area explodes, causing massive physical trauma to SCP-682

1400: SCP-682 recovers from exposure, despite the loss of limbs and organs. SCP-682 begins regeneration, stating that it will attempt to kill and consume all staff involved in Event 682-E18.

SCP-682 appears to now be immune to SCP-409. Use of other SCP items to terminate SCP-682 must now first be tested on samples of SCP-682 before full-scale testing.

In accordance the Dr. ████████'s recommendations (see Document 27b-6), Dr. ███████ and Dr. █████ have requested permission to attempt the termination of SCP-682 using SCP-689. The request is currently pending approval from the ████████.

It has also been suggested by Dr. Gears to use SCP-182 in an attempt to communicate with SCP-682. SCP-182 has expressed reluctance, and refuses to enter the containment center of SCP-682, if at all possible.

Addendum 682-F: Termination Log:

Experiment-Log-T-98816-oc108-682

END OF FILE

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> Level 5 credentials identified. Do you wish to view the full documentation?

> Y.

> Please input your assigned password below. Failure to do so will result in immediate termination via exposure to a Berryman-Longford Kill Agent: Does the Black Moon Howl?

> Only when the wolves do.

> Authenticating, please wait…

> Identity confirmed. Welcome, O5-6.

Hello, whoever you are. My name is unimportant, but I am known as O5-1.

If you're reading this, that means you're either a new colleague who was told to read this or simply stumbled upon it by chance; a newbie who's been assigned to this project; an impersonator; or the world's gone to shit and our database is now public access.

Whichever the case may be, you're probably wondering what this is about. Don't worry, the answers you're looking for will come soon enough. But let me ask you something first: do you know why cross-testing of anomalous objects is so uncommon and, generally speaking, frowned upon?

Of course you do, everyone does nowadays. It's one of the first things we teach new recruits: "Don't fuck with these things or put them in a room together, the best-case scenario is that nothing happens", or something like that.

Good advice if you ask me, but I digress.

What does this have to do with SCP-682? Simple. The document you just finished reading seconds ago is almost entirely fabricated and barely contains factual information. But you knew that already, didn't you? If you paid attention, you probably noticed its issues, the largest being the excessive redaction of dates and names for no real reason.

Don't worry, the real document is at the bottom of this file. But first, let's go through a little history class, shall we?

Item Designation Number: 17810AR-341

Description of Item:

5'9" long, 113 lbs (varies). Item is a reptile-like entity, unknown age (claims to be millions of years old), orange scale coloration with black horizontal stripes, lighter underside, two sets of eyes with a yellow iris coloration and vertical slit shaped pupils. Possesses four limbs that end in toes with five digits. Item has 120 conical teeth.

Item is intelligent and capable of speech, it has shown no hostility to personnel since capture. Item demonstrates an above average intelligence and knowledge of various historical events.

Detail of current containment:

Item is in a reinforced concrete room, guarded by one armed guard. Item is fed with forty-six (46) lbs of meat daily.

Report:

Item was found by Anthropologist [REDACTED] during an expedition into the Amazon rainforest to study the Ticuna tribe. [REDACTED] suffered an accident in his return trip and got lost in the forest for several hours before coming into contact with the anomaly who helped [REDACTED] find his way back to the road.

[REDACTED] published a book after his return to the United States that detailed his encounter with the entity, which garnered the attention of the Foundation. A recovery team were sent to the location detailed by [REDACTED] and similarly encountered the Item, who willingly let itself be contained following a conversation with the members of the team.

Item is capable of regeneration. It can heal from any large wound in a few minutes or hours depending on the wound. Item can go without sustenance for a prolonged period of time without starving.

Addendum: Staff are forbidden from intentionally enraging or conducting tests on the Item to prevent it from breaching containment. The Foundation currently does not possess the resources to properly deal with a creature capable of such levels of regeneration.

There we go, the very first document of 682 we have. If we're lucky, we'll never have to use this format again.

No dead farmers, no termination attempts (not like they'd work anyway), and the thing wasn't even hostile to begin with. It was just a big talking lizard who healed fast. So what happened exactly? How on earth did this thing that wouldn't be that special in the grand scheme of things nowadays go from that to what it currently is? Well, three things:

The Great Depression, the desire to cut as many corners as possible, and profound stupidity. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Report Date: 12/01/1931

Designation: SCP-682 (Codename — "Rapidly Regenerating Lizard")

Containment Difficulty: Safe Euclid

Containment Protocols: SCP-682 is contained in a 10 m x 10 m x 10 m square chamber at Site-19 and is to be fed 20 kg of meat once a day.

Given its cooperative behavior in containment, SCP-682 is to be brought five books of its choosing per week. SCP-682 also may be allowed to leave Site-19 and venture into the adjacent forested area for a maximum of two hours a week while accompanied by three security personnel to ensure that it does not attempt to escape.

Due to budgetary constraints, the decision to use SCP-682 as a test subject in place of D-Class personnel has been made by Overwatch Command due to the former's anomalous properties and the latter's shortage. As such, Site-19's testing chamber 4-C has been modified to serve as SCP-682's containment unit until the economical situation of the United States of America improves.

To minimize risks to personnel involved in testing, SCP-682 has been shackled to the back wall of the testing chamber with reinforced chains to impede its movements. Should SCP-682 break free from its chains, the testing chamber is to be immediately locked and armed security personnel are to subdue and recontain it.

Item Description: SCP-682 is a reptilian creature of as of yet undetermined origin that typically measures 243 cm from head to tail and weights 82 kg, although these values vary given its nature. It is sapient, docile and capable of engaging in conversation in several languages.

The anomaly possesses notable physical attributes and fast acting anomalous regeneration which allow it to survive injuries that would be fatal if they were inflicted onto any other known living organism, and could theoretically allow it to live indefinitely without the need for sustenance. This is further proven by recent testing attempts with anomalies such as SCP-███, SCP-███ and SCP-███, which destroyed at least 35% of its body mass and several vital organs.

Abrupt, isn't it? Doesn't it just feel… Incomplete? Even for the time it was written?

That's because it is. Most of the contents of this document were purposely cut out by Administration to cover up one of the biggest failures, if not the biggest failure, as an organization we've ever made. But let's start at the beginning.

First, the Site-19 that exists today is not the original Site-19; it's a replacement. The original Site-19 was located in Chile, more specifically in Valdivia,l due to a multitude of factors. The main one was that the Chaos Insurgency had very little presence in South America at the time. It was simply safer to store high-value objects there than anywhere in North America or Europe.

Well, that was until the Wall Street crash of 1929 happened, followed closely by the Great Depression, which crippled the Western world for a decade.

We were in no better shape than most affected countries, especially not after we lost most of our funding overnight. Many crimes, mistakes, and atrocities were committed and abetted by the Foundation during this time to simply stay afloat. "The greater good" and all that crap you've heard countless times by now, but the biggest, and by far the stupidest mistake of them all was using SCP-682, an anomaly, as a test subject.

Now, I'm not going to argue on the morality of using anomalies versus sacrificing humans in testing; I'm simply speaking from a utilitarian standpoint. Go pester the Ethics Committee if you really want to have that conversation. But regardless of that, what came afterwards was significantly worse than any economic hit we could have taken during the 30's

Fast forward to 1960. Everything had returned to normal, and SCP-682 had stopped being a test subject for a while now, but we had created a ticking time bomb by then. 682 did not forgave, and definitely did not forget what we did to it. Can't really say I blame it for not doing so.

Then comes the 20th of May of that same year. A catastrophic containment breach occurs at Site-19, and SCP-682, alongside other sentient anomalies, escapes. All of our forces in the country were mobilized to capture and contain them, which we managed to do without major incidents, except for SCP-682, and this is when everything went to shit.

Now, I don't know what exactly happened because all accounts and reports of the incident were thoroughly erased by my predecessors, but the result of it was the Valdivia Earthquake — the largest, most powerful earthquake ever recorded in human history.

Thousands of civilian deaths, billions of dollars in damages, the loss of the largest Foundation facility at the time, and the destruction of over 200 anomalous objects and entities.

All of that was somehow caused by that damn lizard over the span of a few minutes.

For obvious reasons, we couldn't let anyone find out that this shitshow had technically been our fault, so we claimed that the disaster was non-anomalous in nature and began a massive and successful amnesticization, silencing, gaslighting and purge campaign of people and documents that might throw us under the bus.

All the documents related to 682 and Site-19 were heavily modified, kept in vaults at black sites, or outright destroyed; personnel were executed, etc…

And while that was happening, the Chaos Insurgency saw a considerable boost in recruitment for the following five years. Funny coincidence, right?

And now here we are, 64 years later and we still have to clean someone else's mess.

To answer the question I made at the beginning: the reason why we aren't as liberal with cross-testing as we used to be in the 1900s is because we created our own fucking Boogeyman, and the last thing we need is another one.

> Attention: there is one file left attached to this document. Do you wish to see it?

> Y.

> Retrieving file, please wait…

> File successfully retrieved. Displaying now.

5/682 LEVEL 5/682

CLASSIFIED

Item #: SCP-682

Keter

Aerial shot of Area-682

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-682 is to be kept isolated inside of a sealed 2.90m x 12.10m x 2.45m reinforced container composed of Steel-Acralt1 alloy and that is located in the sub-basement level of Containment Area-682 in the Mojave desert, California. Personnel are expressly prohibited from attempting to stablish conversation with SCP-682 to prevent further aggravation of the anomaly.

Containment Area-682's sub-basement and basement levels have been equipped with a series of video and audio recording devices that are to be monitored at all times, as well as with several defensive measures that are to be activated in conjunction should SCP-682 manage to break out of its containment unit. These measures include, but are not limited to:

A gaseous fire suppression system that releases a substance composed primarily of Compound Y-909.

Three industrial water cannons filled with Hydrochloric Acid.

Five speakers programmed to play several audio-based memetic and kill agents of varying degrees in quick succession.

Two thaumaturgical sigils that, when activated, cause spontaneous combustion and detonation on nearby organisms.

Two Osprey Cannons.2

One Scranton Guillotine.3

Should these measures prove insufficient at subduing or halting SCP-682's advance, all non-essential personnel are to be immediately evacuated and Applied Task Force Alpha-682 ("Crocodile Hunters") is to engage the entity.

ATF Alpha-682 is a Company sized Task Force composed of 250 members, 20% of which are skilled and sanctioned anomalous Foundation personnel outsourced from other Task Forces such as Beta-777 (“Hecate's Spear”), Omega-9 ("The Scrubs") and Omega-12 ("Achilles' heels"), among others. Members of Alpha-682 are trained to primarily handle heavy and experimental weaponry that is both mundane and esoteric.

In the event that ATF Alpha-682 is unsuccessful in recontaining SCP-682, a state of emergency will be declared by Overwatch Command and the Tiamat Protocol ("682") is to be enacted accordingly (see Addendum 2 for further details).

Description: SCP-682 is a large, vaguely reptile-like creature of unknown origin. It is intelligent, and can engage in complex communication with other sapient beings as demonstrated during its time in Foundation custody as well as its brief exposure to SCP-079. SCP-682 is extremely hostile and displays an intense hatred to all human beings it comes into contact with; the cause of this behavior is largely attributed to the Foundation's mistreatment of the anomaly during its time as the primary test subject of the original Site-19. This period lasted from 1931 until the end of the Great Depression in 1939.

SCP-682 exhibits a highly accelerated cell generation, growth, repair and replacement rate that is ~750% faster than that of the average human. This allows SCP-682 to heal from all manner of injuries and physical trauma in a short timeframe. Unlike most other regenerating or self-repairing anomalies however, the regenerative properties of SCP-682 are not dependant on nutrient intake or the consumption of external matter (be it organic or inorganic) to function, although doing this does accelerate them even further.

In addition to its regeneration, SCP-682 also displays the ability to react and counter seemingly all stimuli posed by external threats via the development of proportional and temporary adaptations meant to minimize or nullify said stimuli. For example: if one were to shoot at SCP-682, it would adapt to the force and energy released by the bullet upon impact with its body by altering the molecular structure of its scales into a sturdier material, making it impervious to future damage by the same or similar types of bullets. Thus far, the limit of this ability has yet to be found.

SCP-682's regeneration paired with its capability to adapt to threats makes it exceedingly difficult to safely or reliably subdue and virtually impossible to neutralize, even with all the resources available to the Foundation. However, recovered documents of cross-testing with other anomalous obejcts and past containment breach attempts have revealed that SCP-682's adaptations slow its regeneration down by ~30%, and it cannot carry more than two adaptations at a time. As such, standard procedure in case of a breach is to quickly overwhelm SCP-682 and reduce its body mass until the safe acquisition of its remains is possible.

It is currently theorized that the cause of SCP-682's adaptations is Ontokinetical4 in nature given the occurrence of a brief burst of Humes each time it adapts, but this hypothesis cannot be verified at this time. Additionally, whether or not the healing factor of SCP-682 is the result of an adaptation or an independent property is currently a topic of debate amongst personnel that, likewise, cannot be verified yet.

Discovery: SCP-682 came to the attention of the Foundation following the publication of a book titled Wonders of the Rainforest, written and published by anthropologist Harold Bolton on May 15, 1897. The book describes Bolton's investigation of the Ticuna people5 and his experience with them. It also details an encounter he had with the anomaly.

The following is an excerpt taken from Wonders of the Rainforest describing the encounter.

And my last surprise, the biggest of them all in fact, came after I accidentally became lost in the rainforest.

It was after wandering around aimlessly for at least two hours that I realized the sun was beginning to set, and the idea that I would have to survive the entire night in the wild was as well in my mind.

It was then that I saw him, hidden behind some trees—a beast unlike anything I or science had ever seen before. A huge reptile, as big as a horse, that might have been mistaken for a flesh-and-blood dragon straight out of a fantasy novel by anyone else. But it was real, and it was eyeing me from a distance of no less than 10 meters.

I naturally became petrified, but also immensely curious. You see, it was not every day that one got to see such a creature. So, I decided to fight against the instinct that was yelling at me to run away and instead remained in place, keeping my distance.

After a few seconds of intense staring that felt like an eternity, the creature did something that challenged everything I thought I knew about the world: he spoke cordially in clean—if archaic—English.

He introduced himself, calling himself "Wanderer", and offered to stay by my side for the night, citing concern for my safety as the reason for its generosity.

Needless to say, I did not—could not—sleep that night, as we spent it sharing stories about each other.

Following the publication of the aforementioned book, the Foundation would conduct a successful smearing campaign against Bolton to discredit his discovery and a specialized recovery team was sent to the Amazon rainforest, specifically to the general location where SCP-682 was discovered.

After two weeks of search, the dispatched team would make contact with SCP-682 and manage to convince it to voluntarily enter containment.

The previous excerpt and all references to SCP-682 were edited out of all subsequent reprintings of Wonders of the Rainforest following Bolton's death.

Addendum 1: Conversation attempt

Date: 07/25/1994

Subject 1: Junior Engineer Sergio Vargas

Subject 2: SCP-682

Foreword: The following conversation was taken from a security camera located in the sub-basement level of Containment Area-682 while Vargas was working on the maintenance of one of the speakers.

<Vargas is seen in front of a wall, focused on the speaker he is holding with his left hand when a loud metallic thump followed by a metallic screech which startles him>

Vargas: Mother of!

<The screech stops>

SCP-682: Who is… There…

<Vargas is silent as he turns his gaze to the security camera>

SCP-682: Answer me!

Vargas: Ok, ok, just calm down dammit! <Sighs> I'm just… I'm some guy doing his job.

SCP-682: Human…

<A shudder can be heard from the inside of SCP-682's container>

SCP-682: If you release me, I promise, I will spare your disgusting existence.

Vargas: I can't, I'd just get shot. And even if I could, I wouldn't do it. Not even if someone paid me to do so.

<682 snarls>

SCP-682: Do you really hate your own life that much? To deny my offer?

Vargas: No, I-

<Vargas is interrupted by SCP-682, who speaks in a louder tone>

SCP-682: Are your self preservation instincts really this bad? Is that it?

<682 laughs>

SCP-682: I don't know why I wasted so much time watching your idiotic, war mongering, repulsive species for so long. I knew I should have… <682's voice hitches slightly> I should have killed every single last one of you while you still lived in caves!

<Silence.>

SCP-682: I… <Indecipherable>

<Vargas approaches the container>

Vargas: What did you say…?

SCP-682: I said…

<682 begins to trash violently against the container>

SCP-682: GET. OUT!

<Vargas jumps back and runs towards the entrance to the sub-basement, taking the speaker he was working on with him>

To date, SCP-682 has not made further communication attempts with Foundation staff.

Addendum 2: Tiamat Protocol ("682")

Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority Notice

"The Tiamat Protocol is a set of special contingencies that are specifically designed and tailored to combat anomalies and phenomena which leave open warfare and/or other similar veil-breaking activities as the only realistic option to contain them. As such, it is usually reserved solely for Keter or Apollyon-Class entities with a high threat level. Although of course, exceptions to this rule can be, are and have been made depending on the situation."

"One example of an anomaly that meets these requirements is SCP-2317. It is big, it is ugly, the Foundation has no way to keep it under lock and key, and once it gets out it will kill all of us and the sky will rain blood and yadda yadda… But, when that day arrives, we will be prepared and more than happy to crack its head open before that happens, hopefully."

– Dr. Daniil Sokolsky, ETTRA director.

Listed below is the Tiamat Protocol developed for and appointed to SCP-682.

Tiamat Protocol ("682")

In the event that the containment efforts for SCP-682 are deemed insufficient, this protocol is to be declared active and the instructions contained within this document are to be followed to ensure the preservation of normalcy and, ultimately, of humanity:

SCP-682 is to be given Priority Level Alpha and monitored at all times via reconnaissance satellites.

The United States government and Global Occult Coalition are to be notified of the threat posed by SCP-682. All available documentation on SCP-682 is to be shared (barring the document accessible to personnel without Level-5 clearance) with these organizations.

All Foundation facilities located in the West Coast of the United States are to enter lockdown.

Populated areas that are within a 10 kilometer radius from SCP-682's location are to be evacuated.

All available Foundation military personnel are to be directed to the location of SCP-682 to attempt capture and containment.

Mass use of Paraweaponry and Paratechnology for the purposes of containing SCP-682 is allowed.

HECOR6 is to be aimed at SCP-682 and remain on standby. It is to be fired only when absolutely necessary.

Use of other Eigenweapons7 in Foundation possession for the purpose of containing SCP-682 is only to be approved in a case by case basis.

Use of Thaumiel-Class anomalies and/or other anomalous objects for the purposes of containing SCP-682 is only to be approved in a case by case basis.

The integrity of the Veil is to be disregarded, and a Medium Level Broken Masquerade scenario is to be declared.

Signed: O5-1, O5-2, O5-3, O5-4, O5-5, O5-6, O5-7, O5-8, O5-9, O5-10, O5-11, O5-12, O5-13.

Daniil Sokolsky, ETTRA director.

– Secure, Contain, Protect.

Footnotes

1. An anomalous metallic substance with self-repairing properties created and primarily used by the Church of the Broken God.

2. Reversed engineered from SCP-2501. Osprey Cannons can exert a maximum pressure of 1,200 bar over a range of 100 meters.

3. Device derivated from Scranton Reality Anchors. Scranton Guillotines rapidly destabilize and break down adjacent reality instead of stabilizing it.

4. Ontokinesis: the ability to alter reality.

5. An indigenous tribe living in the Amazon rainforest.

6. High Energy Concentration Orbital Railgun.

7. Anomalous Weapons of Mass Destruction.