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SCP-7682- The Incredibly Hard-to-Find Reptile

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FROM THE OFFICE OF SITE DIRECTOR LEAH RICHTER

The following notice has been disseminated to the Parabiological Sciences Department.

As of 11/04/22, SCP-7682 is considered a low priority for Site-78 due to the lack of evidence of its existence. This number is a placeholder in the case that the anomaly is properly identified.

The factors for this decision were based on two key facts. Firstly, this anomaly poses little risk to the elevated baseline normalcy in Chugwater, as seen in previous studies done into the anomalous wildlife that calls this town its home.1 Secondly, we have received no reports inside or outside of Chugwater of the anomaly's presence. If this anomaly is real, its anomalous effects have acted as a form of self-containment and/or is being concealed by Chugwater's anomalous nature.

Researchers working under Department Head Johnston are to disregard the Special Containment procedures listed below and focus on other projects.

Item#: 7682

Containment Class: esoteric

Secondary Class: uncontained

Disruption Class: dark

Risk Class: notice

Assigned Site
Site Director
Research Head
Assigned Task Force

Site-78
Leah Richter
Maria Johnston
N/A

Special Containment Procedures: Researchers under Site-78's Parabiological Sciences Department are to find and contain SCP-7682 as soon as possible. At this time, the lack of knowledge regarding SCP-7682's abilities makes specific containment procedures impossible. Any attempts by inanimate objects to move around Site-78 are to be stopped and checked to be an instance of SCP-7682.

Description: SCP-7682's existence is currently in doubt, due to no media existing of the creature. SCP-7682 is believed to be a species of lizard of a currently unknown genus. From eyewitness reports, the anomaly is believed to be one centimeter in length and has a spotted brown coloration.

A Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus), a species native to Wyoming and believed to resemble SCP-7682.

SCP-7682 is speculated to have an anomalous form of camouflage that allows it to transfigure itself into an inanimate object. The limitations of what SCP-7682 can imitate and what level of control it has over its transformations are currently unknown.

Discovery: SCP-7682 was reportedly discovered on 4/03/2022 when an instance disguised itself as Maria Johnston's coffee mug. Rs. Johnston attempted to fill it with water, causing it to become agitated and flee, breaking the actual coffee mug in the process. This prompted her to attempt to contain SCP-7682.

Capture Attempt Logs 1-2:

Attempt 1: Rs. Johnston stated that she spotted an instance of SCP-7682 while walking down the Site-78 hallway. The instance reportedly ran away from her, prompting her to chase it on foot.

Results: Despite Rs. Johnston running through the majority of Site-78 in an attempt to chase after the instance, it never appeared on camera footage nor did any personnel witness it. According to Johnston, this was due to it "camouflaging" itself as various objects whenever someone was near or being too small to see. However, 327 eyewitness state that they only saw her yelling at bottles and nothing resembling SCP-7682.

Attempt 2: A recording of lizard mating calls was played throughout Site-78 in an attempt to lure SCP-7682 to one location.

Result: The mating calls failed to lure SCP-7682. However, during the test Rs. Johnston claimed to witness an instance rubbing its head and purring softly against the coffee machine while it was running. Rs. Johnston reported that it ultimately evaded capture by turning into pocket lint.

Addendum 7682.01: Inquiry into the behavior of Rs. Maria Johnston.

A week after the discovery of SCP-7682, Site Director Leah Richter performed an interview with Rs. Johnston to discuss SCP-7682 and Rs. Johnston's behavior.

[Begin Recording]

Richter: Stating my name for the record. Site Director Leah Erin Richter interviewing Greg Chudley-

Johnston: -What?

Richter: Sorry. Force of habit. Interviewing Maria Johnston about strange behavior and wasting Foundation resources to contain the hypothetical anomaly known as SCP-7682.

Johnston: Hypothetical? What do you mean? I saw it with my own eyes!

Richter: And no one else has. It's been a week and you've yet to produce any evidence of this supposed "anomaly". Not even a scale or a piece of DNA.

Johnston: That's because it likely has adapted to not leave behind any traces of its existence.

Richter: Again, more hypotheticals. You have more important things to do than scream at inanimate objects during company hours. I just assigned you to oversee Arms and Equipment and this is how you choose to spend your time?

Johnston: This is a real anomaly and it's loose in Site-78! Don't you care about that?

Richter: We're strapped for cash as it is. We can't devote any more resources towards this.

[Richter sighs and adjusts her glasses]

Richter: Even if this anomaly was real, it poses no threat to normalcy. If no one in Chugwater has noticed the existence of this lizard for hundreds of years, I'm sure they'll be oblivious for hundreds more.

Johnston: Tell me. Why don't you believe me? I've worked here for five years, and proven myself on dozens of containment efforts. Why do you think that I'm acting hyst-

[Richter shakes her head.]

Richter: I wasn't going to go that far. You want my honest opinion, Johnston? I think you're having a stress-related episode. You started this job cataloging mundane biological anomalies to being in charge of an MTF, overseeing our weapons development projects as well as your own department. I might have put too much on you at once.

Johnston: I am not too stressed out nor am I not up to the task.

[Johnston exhales deeply, appearing to think for a few moments.]

Johnston: You want MTF Omega-452 to succeed, correct? To finally get Midwest Command to stop treating us like some backwater facility?

Richter: Well, yes, but I don't see how that pertains to SCP-7682-

Johnston: Just bear with me on this investigation. I know I can't contain every member of this thing's species but they could theoretically be trained to camouflage as any object needed by our Mobile Task Forces. Imagine! Instead of bringing hundreds of dollars of equipment with on a mission, they could bring a few small lizards. That would make them highly sought after for Foundation Operations.

[Richter is quiet for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing.]

Richter: You have a point… if SCP-7682 is real. I'll give you another week and I'll allocate an extra… oh let's say a thousand dollars. I can't imagine the Department of MAUDE3 needs it very much. You have a week to bring me results and if you don't I want you back to your regular projects. This inquiry is over.

[End Recording]

Capture Attempt Logs 3-5:

Attempt 3: A basket was propped up by a stick with a string attached to it. Rs. Johnston's goal was to lure SCP-7682 under the basket and then pull the string, trapping it.

Result: Rs. Johnston waited for approximately 6 hours and 37 minutes without SCP-7682 making an appearance before she gave up. Upon dismantling the trap, she noticed that she forgot to place bait inside.

Attempt 4: Capture attempt 3 was repeated, this time baiting the trap with a small pile of food.

Result: The trap was discovered to be SCP-7682 in disguise. It is hypothesized that it captures its prey in the wild by disguising itself as similar traps. It ran away after the test with the bait in its mouth, and Rs. Johnston advised other Foundation staff to be on the lookout for random baskets on site.

Attempt 5: Several toy lizards were placed around Site-78 in an attempt to get SCP-7682 to camouflage into one, making it more recognizable.

Result: An additional 50 toy lizards were discovered around the site that Rs. Johnston did not place. After excitedly showing them to her coworkers as "proof", it was discovered that they were placed there as an attempt to prank Rs. Johnston.

Addendum 7682.02: SCP-7682 investigation formal review.

After a week of unsuccessful containment attempts, Director Richter called Rs. Johnston to her office to discuss terminating the project and clearing out the SCP-7682 designation for another anomaly. Below is a video recording of this meeting.

[Begin Recording]

Richter: Stating my name for the record. Site Director Leah Erin Richter, here to discuss the closure of the investigation of SCP-7682. With me is SCP-7682's lead researcher, Maria Johnstuh, um. Maria are you alright?

[Rs. Johnston is nursing a Mountain Dew Kickstart. She appears to have large bags underneath her eyelids.]

Johnston: I was up all night staking out SCP-7682 at the Starbucks in town. Plenty of caffeine to sustain me and the noise SHOULD have attracted a whole swarm of them.

[Johnston's facial expression turned to anger before relaxing.]

Johnston: Don't worry about me though, I slept on my lunch break.

Richter: Your thirty-minute lunch break?

Johnston: It's all I need.

[Richter shakes her head]

Richter: Maria, this can't continue. I'm putting you on paid leave. One whole week to clear your head and then I want you back to work, you hear me?

Johnston: Paid leave? If anyone should be getting reprimanded, it should be Chudley for putting those fake lizards around the site. He's interfering with my investigation!

Richter: (sighs) Chudley is not the problem for once. If you're seeing plastic toys as anomalies and running around the marshes at 4AM, you aren't thinking straight.

Johnston: And who's going to run Parabiology plus Arms and Equipment while I'm gone, huh? We're understaffed as it is.

Richter: The other Senior staff can manage. I can't lose you, Maria. You are one of Site-78's best. Put aside your pride and just look out for yourself for once.

Johnston: One more week. Please, it's all I need. The applications of a discovery like this are limitless.

Richter: Yes, we talked about that. But I think there's something more than stress going on. There's something bothering you, isn't there?

[Johnston took a drink of her beverage and sighed. She stared directly at the desk for a few moments before looking up.]

Johnston: What other truth is there? I'm practically losing my mind here. For a biologist in Chugwater, there's hardly anything to study. You put me on weapons development sure but like, there's nothing to fight here. We get called out to bust some CI here and there, but we're in the middle of nowhere. It's hardly a spot for GoIs to try something nefarious. So this little lizard wanders into my life and it feels like finally, I have a way to contribute after months of just… nothing.

Richter: Maria-

[Johnston stands up.]

Johnston: So respectfully, I am going to get back to my investigation and prove once and for all that I am not crazy. Fire me if you must, but when I signed up to work for Site-78, it was because I believed in our motto. "For the Betterment of Humanity" and I'm not doing that approving schematics all day.

[Richter adjusts her glasses]

Richter: You remind me a lot of a younger version of myself. You know that? Go out there and prove me wrong, Johnston. One more week but that's it. Any more protests and I'll have to call HR.

[End Recording]

Capture Attempt Logs 6-8:

Attempt 6: A scent hound was brought in to track SCP-7682.

Result: An instance disguised itself as a sign that said: "No Dogs Allowed." Several staff in the area believed it to be a legitimate sign and asked Rs. Johnston to remove the scent hound from the premises.

Attempt 7: Introducing a natural predator to hunt instances of SCP-7682

Result: Two red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) were released into the Site-78 Greenhouse in an attempt to search for SCP-7682 instances. According to Rs. Johnston, the presence of the hawks caused a Sunflower to uproot and escape the facility. The ensuing chase caused destroyed $200 worth of plant specimens as well as the security cameras, leaving no evidence of the event.

The head of Botanical Sciences, Lena Lorri, fined Johnston for the damages resulting from this event.

Attempt 8: Rs. Johnston purchased a large vacuum in an attempt to suck up SCP-7682 before it runs away.

Result: While purchasing the vacuum, she discovered that one of the dollar bills she was using to purchase it was an SCP-7682 instance in disguise. She promptly grabbed it and brought it to containment, forgetting to pay for the vacuum.

Addendum 7682.03 Confirmation of SCP-7682's existence.

Following the capture of SCP-7682, Site Director Richter was called down to confirm the official existence of the anomaly due to previous circumstances. The following recording was taken as evidence.

[Begin Recording]

[Director Richter and Researcher Johnston are seen standing in front of an glass habitat on a table. There is a crumpled dollar bill inside.]

Richter: Johnston, you've had me staring at this receipt for the past five minutes. Are you sure this is worth my time?

Johnston: Shhh! It's still probably scared. Just give it another moment.

[A few moments later, the dollar bill crumples into the form of a lizard and begins exploring the habitat.]

Richter: Well, I'll be damned! That's quite an ability.

Johnston: See? I told you I wasn't crazy! And it was all worth it too!

[Richter exhaled and placed a hand on Johnston's shoulder, looking at her curiously.]

Richter: I'm sorry for doubting you, Maria.

Johnston: Oh it's alright. I'm sure I would have acted the same way if I was in your position. Thinking back on it, I must have seemed really out of turn.

Richter: You followed your gut instinct, it's the first thing I taught you when you started and I can't fault you for it. Maybe you are turning out like me after all.

Johnston: Perhaps, although I don't envy you having to play babysitter for some of our antics.

[Johnston leaned close to the glass.]

Johnston: Did you see him change? Trying to see if one of these pieces of grass is him.

Richter: No, I.. something else had my focus

[Richter turns her head back to the enclosure and the two spend three minutes examining the habitat. Johnston removes the top to check some of the elements inside.]

Johnston: He's not here… wait, shit!

[Johnston runs her hand over the back of the habitat.]

Johnston: He broke a hole in the container! This glass is supposed to resist Railgun slugs! What the heck did he turn his little head into?

Richter: That's not important, we've put too much stake into that damn lizard. Find it!

[End Recording]

Following interview 3, an additional $300,000 has been allocated to the search for SCP-7682 by Midwest Command. As of writing, SCP-7682 has performed more than eight containment breaches since its initial capture. Efforts to find a method to inhibit its anomalous effects are underway. Maria Johnston was commended for her initial capture of SCP-7682, and any punishments given during her searches have been rescinded.

Footnotes

1. As noted in Determining the effects of Parafauna in Platte County, Wyoming on the Integrity of the Veil by Johnston, et al. 2020. Chugwater is home to at least ten documented anomalous species and only two of them have made it into local folklore. The rest remained unidentified until being discovered by the Foundation.

2. Highly specialized MTF utilizing anomalous weaponry created by SCP-6952

3. Mundane Artifacts and Uneventful Data Evaluation