The Vic and the Pendulum - SCP Foundation

I think I'm drowning, asphyxiated.

Air conditioning is out. Beautiful. Doctor Elise Webb, half awake and operating on 4 hours of sleep, shifts into first gear after pulling out of the driveway. Their 317,000 mile CR-V still ripped despite being 23 years old, though the constant modification and maintenance has extended the life of it. Not bad for something Elise's parents bought for three thousand dollars.

I want to break this spell that you've created.

They didn't know why the Foundation decided to rush new containment procedures on the Tango events. Whether the arrays failed, countermeasures weren't prepared, or maybe through plain stupidity. It doesn't matter now. However, Elise knew that it was a bad idea to have modified SCP-2326-2. No matter how many reports they wrote, the hard-headed fools at Site-24 decided to mess with SCP-2326-2, and drop it off on a platform in the Atlantic. Those lazy fucks were bullshitting their procedures and strategies just to maintain funding. Now, the world is about to pay the ultimate price.

You're something beautiful, a contradiction.

Elise's phone buzzed. It gets even better.

"Doctor Carol."

Disappointing. At least they didn't have to pretend to be energetic today.

I want to play the game, I want the friction.

"Doctor Webb. The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment integration has failed. Report to Site-24 immediately. A link with SCP-2326 instances was established for a couple of minutes and all it did was reroute them here."

"Understood. I'll be there in about 8 minutes."

"You will be here in 5."

You will be the death of me.

Senior Researcher Rupert Carol hung up on them. A boring, stuffy Cold War pilot, overly formal and angry, even at the end of the world. Dick.

Elise already knew what was happening. Why bother calling? They just got called less than 10 minutes ago! The migraines kicked in. It just keeps getting better for them. They elegantly cut across 3 lanes of traffic, weaving through the Midwest mess that is I-80 at 6 in the morning, and headed towards Site-24. Only, it wasn't elegant. The exit ramp was brutal and it smells like clutch in here.

Bury it. I wont let you bury it. I wont let you smother it.

Elise rushed through security and parked inside the underground spaces at Site-24 the SAC Museum,1 the light tip tap of Elise's steps reverberating through the entire lot as they made their way onto the elevator. Idiots. Why did Carol think it was a good idea to wire a building-sized IBM with an anomalous Elbrus-3? Those computers came from two different sides of the Iron Curtain! No time to dwell on it. The bombers are headed to North America and it's the SCP Foundation's fault. Focus.

Inside Site-24's conference hall, the cold, humming fluorescent lights were turned off. The exhausted engineers were shuffling papers and dropping diagrams. The AN/FSQ-7 IBM computer kept working the teleprinter. MTF Sigma-9 pilots were being scrambled to intercept the SCP-2326 instances. The bright, neon-like glow of the SAGE monitors was more than enough to keep everyone awake. Every action in the hall was robotic, cold, and unsympathetic.

Doctor Carol smashed the conference hall's landline against a monitor. The deafening crack was enough to get everyone's attention, including Elise, who took their seat, not the least bit surprised at what was happening.

"I don't care to acknowledge every single one of you. Your own fear and incompetence has assured me of what good that would do… SCP-2362's containment was MY project, and YOUR failure is costing us all greatly and has called my abilities into question!"

I wont let you murder it.

That self centered asshole. Elise could imagine him twiddling his cartoonishly evil mustache (if he had one). Doctor Carol only brought those closely involved with SCP-2326 to yell at them. He didn't even get SCP-2326's designation correct. Fool.

They weren't up for this nonsense. What hasn't Elise done to help? Over and over, their concerns were dismissed, turned down in favor of making Site-24 into a money pit, all for what?

Elise grew detached, watching the monitors as SCP-2326 approached the edge of Canada, silently indulging in their own smug satisfaction at being correct. Carol had dug his own grave, and Elise will pay him with as much respect as he deserves. They put in an earbud, so obvious, visible in the blue glow, yet still going unnoticed by Captain Ahab Doctor Carol. Unnoticed, they will be, as the contacts get closer.

Our time is running out.

Footnotes

1. Strategic Air Command Museum. Site-24's front.