Ecronak

Enjoyed the skip? Give some of my other works a look here!

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING FILE HAS BEEN MODIFIED

The contents of this page have been modified by an unauthorized user. Cognitohazards may be present in the following file. RAISA has been contacted. Peruse at your own risk.

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Gods above, that message was a whole lot of ado for a whole lot of nothing.

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I didn't do anything bad. Just included a little story that I wanna tell.

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I sure do hope you enjoy it. I most certainly didn't.

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Item#: 5493

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: ekhi

Risk Class: warning

The population of Washington D.C. evacuating shortly after SCP-5493.

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the global nature of SCP-5493, all instances of SCP-5493-A are to be monitored at all times by Foundation operatives and contained within their respective legislative facilities. The surrounding area extending to ten kilometers from the facilities is to be evacuated. Any and all references to the incidents that have so far been caused by SCP-5493 must be expunged and their witnesses amnesticized.

Close cooperation must be conducted with Global Occult Coalition operatives in order to prevent the veil of normalcy from breaking. Contact must also be maintained with the leaders of the affected nations. As such, personnel are expected to exercise caution when containing SCP-5493-A instances, due to concerns by world governments about the subjects' wellbeing. Lethal action is not authorized under any circumstances.

Description: SCP-5493 is a spontaneous global phenomenon that affects the members of 54 of the world’s legislative assemblies. On 12/16/2019 at 1:23 PM, affected government officials (henceforth referred to as SCP-5493-A) have been reported to begin exhibiting erratic and extremely violent behavior, disrupting all legislative operations. No discernible cause has yet been found for the phenomenon.

12/16/2019

The day of release. Fuck that movie.

The mood in the O5 council chamber was tense. Extremely so.

One had called the emergency meeting as soon as dire news came through from both their operatives and the GOC, going hand-in-hand with everything else that’s happened in the last three hours.

Everything was moving far too fast for their liking. Information lockdown efforts were holding, but they didn’t know for how long. The same thing went for the leaders of all the affected countries. If just one decided to squeal…

Aanya decided not to think about that. Her Public Outreach already had their hands full. She checked her watch. It displayed the time as 1:10 AM- nearly twelve hours since the last incident of 5493.

She looked around the council chamber. It was empty, emptier than usual- the recent incident had required the attention of many of their fellow overseers. Of the thirteen in the council, only five were present.

One was slowly preparing his papers, readying to give the briefing of the current situation to the other overseers. His hands shook with every movement, something that Aanya hadn’t seen in years. She remembered the times when he stood strong, then pursed her lips- those times were long past.

Two, Mann, was crossing his arms. She could tell that he was tense. His usual allies on the Council, Gears and Clef, were absent. That fact alone contributed to much of his nervousness. He was already furiously tapping his feet on the floor, while his right hand worried the large mustache on his upper lip. Aanya could only smile. The Mad Doctor, she thought. How we watched your career with great interest.

Three and Four – Gears and Clef - were both physically absent and attending remotely, having been assigned to the situations in Russia and Korea, respectively. The same went for Six, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven and Twelve, though they had their cameras off. She hoped they were still listening.

Maria Jones, O5-5, was biting her lip- Aanya could already see a bit of blood being drawn. Though she was often a stern and stony woman, the director of RAISA seemed to be letting her fear come to the fore, now. Even when Maria wasn’t directly involved with the efforts to contain 5493, Aanya knew through the whispers in the grapevines that she had a relative in the Senate- though who, she didn’t know.

Last of all that were present in the council room was Seven, Jack Bright, and he was cranky. Personnel was just as busy as Public Outreach, and the recent 5493 incident had forced many of their operatives on the ground to relocate to other Sites and branches- relocations which Bright had to supervise himself. He wasn’t particularly happy about working with the GOC, either.

One cleared his throat.

“Alright,” He said, tenuously, yet still retaining his signature twang of authority. The weakness in his voice was obvious, though Aanya could tell that his mind was whirring with solutions. He turned on the slideshow on the screen to his left. “Let’s get to business.”

Immediately, all those present stood up in their seats. One had always insisted that they made themselves presentable before every meeting, in days long past. The mannerism still stuck, even now.

One began. He had the poise of an old and experienced professor, lecturing his students with strictness and authority. “I know all of you are familiar with today’s events, but let’s round this down.” His voice quivered. “On the sixteenth of December, 2019, at exactly 1:23 PM Seoul time, we received reports of a session of the National Assembly in South Korea being interrupted by a sudden outbreak of violence. Politicians were getting beaten by other politicians, shouting matches were the norm, and circular debates were being made.”

He coughed. “Under normal circumstances, we would have dismissed this as a particularly active Assembly session, but then we received reports of the same thing happening all over the world.”

He switched to the next slide. “One hour later, at 1:23 PM, the legislative branch of China exhibited the same behavior for no apparent reason. At that, we began to suspect that something was going on. The fact that this was an anomalous occurrence was confirmed when the legislative branch of the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia all followed suit at the same time. Same violence, same goddamn nonsense. Prior to 1:23, all of the members would enter, regardless of their predetermined schedule. Once 1:23 strikes, violence erupts. Any attempts at stopping them end in failure, especially with their abilities and resistance to tranquilizers.”

“Any questions so far?” One said, looking from Overseer to Overseer with a piercing glare.

Aanya knew it was a strategy he used to keep their attention. No one dared ask One a question during a briefing. The first time anyone did was Mann, nearly ten years ago. She still smiled at the memory.

“Seven?” One said, looking at Bright.

Bright shrugged irritatedly. “Nah.”

“A surprise to be sure. A welcome one, in fact. Two?”

Mann looked up from his boot, then shook his head.

One nodded to himself. Though he was but a shadow of what he was, he still maintained a formidable presence.

“Good.” He turned to face the screen again. “Let’s continue.”

He switched to a slide showing the US Senate and Congress in utter pandemonium. “All in all, 54 countries in total had lost all control over their legislative branches, causing a great headache for us at the Foundation. We don’t know what started it, but we’ve made some measures to address it.” He switched to the next slide, showing the GOC logo.

“All of you know the deal we made with the GOC several hours ago, and the emergency vote that came with it. Twelve ayes, one nay.”

Bright averted his gaze immediately.

One continued. “We all know that even with our far-reaching influence and so-called unlimited power, we aren’t able to be everywhere at once. So, when we approved the proposal, we began to cooperate with the Global Occult Coalition on matters of containing and neutralizing the threat. With this, they requested twenty tons of our amnestic stock for information containment and two hundred of our personnel for assistance in containing the threat. Overall, not a large price.”

Bright sighed nearly inaudibly to her left.

He flashed to a picture of the South Korean National Assembly building being entered by operatives from the Global Occult Coalition and the Foundation. “This was our first operation: The National Assembly Building, in Seoul. Fifty operatives from our East Asian branch, sixty from the GOC.”

He flashed to another picture depicting the operation within. Assembly members could be seen attacking multiple operatives. “Each operative was armed with tranquilizer guns, in order to neutralize the instances of 5493-A in a nonlethal manner. We hoped that this would put an end to the hysteria. Instead, it worsened it.”

“Assembly members attacked operatives, manifesting superhuman abilities the moment they were stopped from performing their… activities.” He showed a blurred picture taken from an operatives’ helmetcam, depicting another operative being beaten to death by a South Korean assemblyman. “Due to the absence of an approved kill order from the South Korean government as well as Command for both forces, our operatives had to retreat with multiple casualties. Seventeen injured, three dead. Right after we left, the 5493-As resumed their activities.”

Bright grunted with irritation. "Like fighting up against higher ground." He muttered.

Aanya could only sigh in response. She herself agreed, though silently.

One’s gaze turned to Bright in the space of half a moment. “Do you have anything to contribute, Bright?” He said, the strength of his personality showing through his wheezing voice.

Bright stared at him. He bit his lip, trying to contain his frustration.

Bright winced, then spoke. “Couldn’t we have just told our operatives to… fucking knock them out? Beat them with batons? Riot guards do it, why can’t we?”

“Excellent question,” One said, placing his hand on the table. “But ultimately a foolish one. Though we are a secret organization, we are still beholden to what we serve…” He paused to breathe. “Humanity.”

One stared Bright down. The old rivalry between teacher and student was heavily apparent in the room. One was a pragmatist, a man willing to compromise between staying true to his values and saving the things that gave birth to those values. Bright was loyal to the Foundation and its purpose, embodying its original vision until the bitter end.

Bright didn’t respond, instead continuing to stare back at One.

“Right now, the governments of the humanity we serve do not wish to see their officials harmed.” One spoke, finally. “I do not agree with it, but it is the price we pay. These are still influential senators, congressmen, and assemblymen. Politicking is seen everywhere, and we must be wary of it, no matter our policy of staying out of international affairs. The GOC, being a part of the UN, is even more sensitive to it than us. I do hope that does not surprise you.”

A thick silence permeated through the room.

Aanya looked at Bright’s face- changing from frustration to anger to rage- then back down to submission. Even now, One’s personality dominated everything.

“I understand, Sir.” Bright said, leaning back in defeat. He sighed, and muttered something under his breath.

“Good.” One said, nodding. “Let’s resume.”

He turned back to the screen. “Due to the failure at the National Assembly in Seoul, we were forced to go back to the drawing board. Thirteen and her Public Outreach-“ he said, gesturing to Aanya, “were instrumental in our coordination with the Global Occult Coalition. Instead of containing them one-by-one, we opted to go for the information blackout, silencing witnesses and making sure not one of them squealed.”

GOC and Foundation operatives under the guise of local law enforcement standing outside of the Capitol Building.

He switched to a slide that showed both GOC and Foundation operatives standing outside of the Capitol building. “Current story right now is that of a worldwide coordinated terrorist attack. The 54 governments who are affected by this have agreed to tell that story. Until such a time occurs that this blows over, we must stay vigilant. The Insurgency has been silent on this, and so has the Hand. It is only a matter of time before they make their move.” He stood up straight. Pain crossed his face. “End of briefing. You may now speak.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone knew the gravity of being the one to speak first.

Aanya looked around. Everyone else had their arms crossed, pursing their lips. After One’s grave briefing, every single overseer was deep in thought.

Then, her phone vibrated. She got a text.

Aanya immediately went to get it, combing through her messages.

It was from one of her contacts in Seoul.

She tapped the screen to read it. The message (written in Korean) was short.

Assemblymen are exiting, they're attacking us. We need assistance as soon as possible.

Her heart sank. She immediately looked up. "One, what of the attack on the-"

“Excuse me, One,” Clef interrupted, his voice booming across the speakers of the room. “But the Blue House in Seoul has just sent us an urgent dispatch. Their National Assembly members are coming out of the building, but…”

One turned around quickly. “What?” The way he said the word was edged with surprise- and dread.

Clef responded. "Live feed from the ground is coming on now."

“Do it.” One said, his voice going low.

At that, Clef changed the screen to display a live feed from the Federal Assembly building.

GOC and Foundation operatives armed with riot gear.

The video was blurry, but showed just enough to cause fear in every single one of the onlooking overseers. In it, what seemed to be some twenty churning balls of flesh and bone rolled across the surface of the concrete outside the building. Both GOC and Foundation operatives were already drawing up to counter them, raising riot shields in the air as they prepared to fight.

As the balls got closer, Aanya realized that they weren’t just any normal skips- they were the assemblymen, still dressed in priceless suits, merged together as one large fleshy ball. She could hear them screeching and groaning in pain as they rolled across the concrete floor, their all-too human screams painful to hear. She could hear their bones cracking agonizingly as the ball moved, picking up speed as arms seemed to sprout from it to push it forward, breaking upon impact as they met the ground.

"JORJJJJJJJJ!" They shouted in unison. "JORRRRRRJJJJJJJJ!"

“Jesus Christ.” Aanya could hear Maria say, to her left. “What the hell are those?”

“We don't know.” Clef answered. “All we do know is that these are the assemblymen. All of them."

On the video feed, the balls picked up even more speed with each second, covering several meters in the span of a second. She could hear the operatives drawing their breaths as they closed the distance.

“Are we authorized to shoot them?!” She could hear an operative say in Korean.

“No!” Their superior shouted back. “We aren’t cleared to-“

Suddenly, the balls seemed to glow bright red with what seemed to be heat, the sheer temperature on their surface causing them to hum. They were extremely close now, and it would only take a few seconds until-

“HOLD FAST!” The commander said in the back. “HOLD DAMN FAST!”

Then, in that moment, the balls crashed into the operatives, burning through them like a hot knife through butter. Many died in an instant, being seared to a crisp under the balls’ charge, and even more fell to the ground with vaporized legs and torsos, crying out in agony. Even from her position, thousands of miles away, Aanya had no doubt that the smell would have been of burnt flesh.

The feed cut out, and the entire chamber was left in silence.

One gulped. Aanya had no doubt that he was afraid now- everyone was. The specter of a Broken Masquerade hung in the balance.

“Thirteen.” He said, looking at Aanya. His eyes were bloodshot, the deep wrinkles in his face getting even deeper by the second. “You may be excused- you must coordinate with the GOC. I have no doubt that the same will happen everywhere else. Find a way to stop this.”

Aanya nearly sprung from her seat at the command. She nodded. “Affirmative, O5-1.”

As she left, all she could hear was the Council collapsing into pandemonium- though unlike the assemblies that they were trying to contain, the noise and the arguments were all too normal.

12/17/2019

The day after.

Item#: 5493

Containment Class: esoteric

Secondary Class: uncontained

Disruption Class: amida

Risk Class: danger

The Korean National Assembly Building

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the global nature of SCP-5493, all instances of SCP-5493-B are to be monitored at all times, being intercepted when possible (see Addendum 5493.01). As the risk of the Veil collapsing at this time is extremely high, caution is to be exercised with regards to the interception of SCP-5493-B instances. Should a group of SCP-5493-B instances be predicted to cross one or multiple population centers, all personnel within these population centers must be evacuated as soon as possible. To reduce the risk of breaking the Veil, under no circumstances are operatives assigned to SCP-5493-B allowed to capture or damage any of the instances.

Description: SCP-5493 is a spontaneous global phenomenon that affects the members of 54 of the world’s upper legislative assemblies. On 12/17/2019, at 1:23 AM, affected government officials (henceforth referred to as SCP-5493-A) began to amalgamate as instances of SCP-5493-B.

SCP-5493-B is the designation for the combinatory amalgamations of multiple SCP-5493-A into roughly spherical blobs. The number of instances of SCP-5493-A in one instance of SCP-5493-B has been recorded to range from five to fifteen. SCP-5493-B instances achieve locomotion through the instances of SCP-5493-A within them using their limbs to push themselves across any given surface, allowing them to roll forward at speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour. When faced with an aquatic obstruction, SCP-5493-B instances have been recorded to swim with a speed of up to 10 kilometers per hour.

All SCP-5493-B instances have been known to be nominally indestructible, capable of regenerating when damaged and reforming when split. When faced with an obstruction or threat, SCP-5493-B instances are capable of spontaneously elevating their temperature to a maximum of 4000 degrees Celsius through unknown means. This allows them the ability of being able to melt through all known materials, including steel, titanium, and tungsten. Despite their composition, such high temperatures do not produce any discernible effect on the SCP-5493-B instances.

Though SCP-5493-B instances initially seemed to possess no form of sentient intelligence, recent operations have proven that to be false. Along with being able to move as a single entity, SCP-5493-B instances have also shown to have some semblance of a gestalt consciousness1 between all other instances, allowing them to coordinate movements and efforts to “free” other entities (See Addendum 5493.01).

As of 12/17/2019, 5477 instances of SCP-5493-B have been known to exist.

Seogang Bridge immediately prior to the Seoul Operation

Addendum 5493.01: Following the initial manifestations of SCP-5493-B and their breach of containment in Seoul, South Korea, a combination of Foundation and Global Occult Coalition forces amounting to two hundred operatives embarked on an operation to secure all instances before they exited the city limits of Seoul, chasing all instances across the recently locked-down Seogang Bridge. They were supplemented with three Apache attack helicopters and twenty Humvees. Due to the instances of SCP-5493-A within each SCP-5493-B instance being valuable to the Korean government, all operatives were told to only use lethal action when necessary, with the primary goal of the operation being containment.

The operation began with the deployment of Class A tranquilizers2 by the operatives within the pursuing attack helicopters and Humvees. This proved to be ineffective. Following that, titanium mesh nets were deployed in order to apprehend each SCP-5493-B instance, which also proved to be ineffective when several SCP-5493-B instances moved in a coordinated manner to free each of the entrapped instances, melting through the titanium mesh. With the instances about to reach the end of the Seogang bridge, lethal action was authorized. Missiles and conventional weaponry were used on the instances to no avail, with damaged SCP-5493-B instances regenerating and reforming when possible.

Due to the risk of the Veil being broken, the Seoul operation was aborted, with all SCP-5493-B instances continuing to move across Seoul. In preparation for the containment of information regarding SCP-5493, much of the Seoul area in the path of the SCP-5493-B instances was evacuated, with all other population centers in the aforementioned path being evacuated as well. These included cities such as Namyangju, Gapyeong, Chuncheon, Inje, and Sokcho. Following their arrival at Sokcho, the instances began to move into the Sea of Japan in a northeastern direction.

With the same events transpiring in other affected countries, operational priority was changed to information and damage control rather than containment. Currently, all SCP-5493-B instances are estimated to be moving towards the West Coast of the United States.

The calls began shortly after Seoul.

“South Korea is requesting assistance with information control.” One called.

“China’s President is on the line!” The other said.

“Ma’am, the Philippine President is calling too.” That happened an hour later.

“India is asking about the Bs running through New Delhi.” This was major, and it hit close to home.

“Ma’am Delegate, several nations are speaking about cooperating with other Groups of Interest instead.” That was vital.

On and on the calls went, going from one head of state to another as requests for assistance, or information, or prioritization came in.

Aanya loved Public Outreach, but God was it tiring. Especially with 54 countries suddenly waking up to their legislative officials turning into little more than indestructible balls of meat.

Three nations had already sided with the Chaos Insurgency. Another five had begun talks with the Serpent's Hand. A few major ones were even talking about defunding the GOC and the Foundation altogether- something that Aanya was trying hard to prevent.

Then the blame games happened. In Asia. In Europe. The Americas. Africa. Oceania. On every continent was another conflict to solve, another disagreement, another diplomatic incident.

All she could do from her position was smile and wave, deftly navigating the rigors of international diplomacy in order to prevent worldwide escalation.

At least the GOC was cooperating— her counterpart there, Delegate Bulsara, was known to be a very considerate diplomat. He was doing everything he could on his end to stop any conflicts from happening.

Thank the gods for small blessings, Aanya thought to herself.

Still, the last two days had left her a hefty amount of work— she had to take back-to-back calls all day, making sure to smooth out this misunderstanding and that, soothe wounded egos, force heads of state to come to an understanding.

She hadn’t slept in the last forty-eight hours. Nothing had stressed her out this much since… ever. Even the early 2000s were less stressful than this.

There’s always a bigger fish, she thought. Her predecessor said that, having had to navigate through the bloodbath that was the Cold War. She was inclined to agree with him now.

Sighing with exhaustion, she put the telephone down. The American president was acquiring as to the anomalies on his country's soil. Bs were rampaging through DC at that very moment, and were ripe to go across the country to arrive at… whatever they wished to arrive at.

California, she thought, remembering what One said during another one of their emergency meetings. They’re heading towards somewhere in California.

Then, she heard a call come through- not on the telephone, but her personal smartphone.

She immediately scrambled to take it. There was only one person in the world that it could be.

She dragged the call sign to the center, and his majestic voice greeted her.

“Hello, there.” She said lovingly in Hindi. She hoped her exhaustion didn’t show through her voice.

“Aanya Laghari. Nice to hear your beautiful voice again.” Rajesh said, on the opposite side of the world. “Is your delegate work done yet? Padma is coming home from university. She wants to be able to see her grandmother for once.”

“Padma is in university already? My goodness, she's grown!” Aanya said, a wide smile on her face. “But work calls, sadly. The United Nations always needs peace kept.”

“How’s New York?” He said. “They’re treating you well at the UN?”

“Of course.” She smiled. He never ceased to ask her that question.

“I hope so, otherwise they’d have to face the mighty wrath of Professor Rajesh Laghari!” His voice grew deeper with that last part, as if he was a superhero. She still adored it, forty years into their marriage.

She chuckled. Only her husband could make her laugh like that. "You should have joined me in studying Political Science when we were in college."

"Oh," Rajesh said, chuckling back. "I'm not brave enough for politics."

“That’s a new line.” She responded. “A fine addition to-“

Her secretary called from her office. “Ma’am, there is something you need to see.”

She froze. Of all the damn times-

“It’s work, isn’t it?” Rajesh said. The note of disappointment in his voice caused Aanya’s heart to sink. “Go on. The world needs you. Especially now that tensions are rising."

“Rajesh…” Aanya began. “After this, I’ll call you back, alright?”

“Of course.”

“I love you.” She said.

“I love you too.” He answered. “Good night, my dear wife.”

The phone let out the sound that she hated the most- the sound of goodbye when things still needed to be said. It was outrageous. It was unfair. How the hell could she be one of the most powerful people in the Foundation and not even have the time to-

She gritted her teeth… and sighed.

She put the phone down.

Aanya looked to her secretary. “Alright,” She said. “What is it, Leonor?”

This is where the fun begins, she sarcastically thought to herself.

Leonor stayed silent for a few moments.

Aanya's chest started to go heavy. She didn't know why.

"What is it?" She said impatiently, trying to take out the fear from her voice.

Her hands began to shake. What the hell was taking her so long?

Her secretary’s response came seconds later.

“We're getting news of war in Asia and Europe, ma'am.” Leonor answered. Her voice was shaking. "Casualty numbers are just coming in. Three hundred military…"

Leonor took a breath. Aanya heard her suppress a sob.

"O-one thousand civilian. The news just came in when you were on the phone with the American president."

Aanya’s heart immediately sank.

She needed to call Bulsara at the GOC immediately.

Her fingers closed around the phone on her desk. I'm sorry, Rajesh. she thought.

5/4/2020

5 months after release.

The council chamber.

The council chamber was tense- somehow, even tenser than it was half a year ago.

To Aanya, those six months seemed like an eternity.

Nine hundred and fifty thousand dead in the past half-year. Millions displaced. Several nations on the brink of collapse, many more fighting wars that only a few wanted.

She sighed. To think that all of this was caused by a single anomaly.

She bit her lip. No use dwelling on it now.

One, once again, was piling up papers at the head of the table, ready to give a briefing on everything that’s transpired in the last six months.

It was just him, Aanya, Bright, and Clef in the room- four overseers in a council of thirteen.

The others were doing meetings elsewhere, trying to mitigate the political fallout of the recent conflicts. Bold, Ten, was off in the Middle East. Gears was coordinating with what was left of the GOC, helping with the last efforts of the organization at deescalation. Maria was indisposed, helping Disinformation with the most recent amnesticization efforts. Mann was in Korea. Kiryu, O5-12, was in Brazil.

Aanya rubbed her eyes. The bags under them grew deeper with every day, a consequence of not sleeping any more than three hours for five months. She was aware that she seemed to age 5 years in that time- it was just the hazard of being on the job.

She leaned back. Her bones felt wearier than ever. Her back seemed to crack with the pressure.

Bright, at least in his current body, seemed to be feeling it too- Personnel, like Public Outreach, did not have it good. The eternally pissed off look on his face was replaced with one of exhaustion, which Aanya took as a bad sign. Bright was never not pissed.

Clef was closing his eyes. Aanya doubted that he was actually sleeping, but Clef had just flown in from dealing with the aftermath of a particularly bad B “attack” in LA- the last blobs rolling in from places like Southeast Asia. He needed the rest.

Of all of them, though, the one who aged the most was One- already a venerable figure at seventy-nine, he seemed to have lost ten years just from the stress of pulling the Foundation together. The lines on his face were far deeper than when Aanya last saw him in person four months ago, and his hair seemed to be completely white. His arms were frail and bony as he ordered the papers.

One coughed. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” The presence in his voice was much diminished.

Each of the overseers wearily sat up.

One picked up the remote at his side, turning on the screen to display a static Foundation logo.

“I know all of you have not enjoyed these past five months,” One said, a ghost of a smile on his face. “But from here on out, we will go past everything that’s happened in that… damned period.” He looked at all of them. “Let’s start.”

The slide on the screen switched to a familiar picture- that of the blobs making their first move at Seoul.

"This all started with the blobs- 5493-Bs, rolling across national borders, wreaking havoc, and forcing governments to find someone to blame for the 'terror attacks.'"

He pursed his lips. "And blame someone they did."

He looked straight at Aanya. “Despite our efforts to control the fallout, the governments who didn't know of our involvement wanted someone to pay. For many…" He took a breath. "…it was their neighbors. Within two months, global tensions were at an all-time high. Wars were starting. Old conflicts were reignited.”

He gave a sad chuckle. It came out strangled and weak. "We couldn't stop any of it."

Bright let out a resigned sigh. Clef could only look on.

One shook his head in defeat. “God, to think that we thought we could contain this.” His voice had lowered to nothing but a rasp. He coughed again. “After that, the GOC began the process that would eventually lead to their decline. They’d heavily antagonized the use of the destruction caused by the terrorists as causes for war. They were the first to take the brunt of the blame.”

He could only smile tiredly. “We suffered too, losing thirty percent of our income within two months of the start of the event. It was a shitshow from start to finish, something that pushed our Foundation to its limits.”

Then, he shrugged.

“But… we won. The Veil held up, the anomalous remained closed to the public, and the last of the Bs have made their way to their destination this morning, just in time for May the 4th.” His pale green eyes looked at them all. He smiled. It wasn't happy. “And it was then that I realized the reason as to why this all happened.”

Aanya crossed her arms. They weren’t surprised at the very least- the realization had set in the moment they saw the video that morning.

One switched to a slide displaying the destination that all of the SCP-5493-Bs had been looking for- a large estate just outside of Nicasio, California, once the workplace to an esteemed filmmaker, now the home to a parody of everything they’d struggled for the last five months. Thousands of blobs of all shapes and sizes were gathered all around the vicinity of the estate’s main house, waiting for the last of their brethren to join them.

Skywalker Ranch.

“It was here, at Skywalker Ranch, that we realized just what exactly all of this suffering meant. This picture was taken yesterday morning.”

He switched to the next slide, showing a video of the last of the blobs coming to a stop outside of the main house. They were rolling abominations of flesh, using their arms and legs to push themselves forward- Aanya herself never got used to the sight of them. Over the months, they’d lost their clothing and their individual forms, instead turning into nothing more than one single bloated ball. That fact alone added to the morbid absurdity of the entire thing.

One continued. “This video was taken just a few hours earlier. As you can see, it shows the last of the Bs coming to a stop outside of their destination. If you look closely…”

Before Aanya’s eyes, the blobs began to change color and composition, turning from blobs of flesh into pieces of a cheek, of hair, of fat. Fifty turned into eyeballs. A hundred became parts of a tongue. When all of that was done, they began to build on top of each other, forming a neck as a base. The others climbed on top of them with limbs made out of hair, fat, bone, bare muscle, or skin, building more and more of the figure that they wished to create. All the while, Aanya could hear them screeching in agony, just like they first did all those months ago. She still wondered if those were the persons who were once part of them.

Soon, a chin was formed, then the beginnings of a lower lip, then the rest of its upper lip. By then, the jaw was formed, followed by the cheeks, the nose, and the ears. Wrinkles began to form on the figure’s skin, growing deeper and deeper as more blobs began to fill the gaps. The eyeballs were soon formed right after, which was followed by the rest of the forehead.

By the time twenty minutes had passed, the remainder of the figure’s hair was being finished, the hands of the blobs that made it up holding on tenuously to the blobs below them. It was an absurd thing, one that made Aanya laugh with outrage the first time she watched it.

But now, all she felt was emptiness.

Twenty-one minutes after the process began, the masterpiece that the blobs created was revealed to everyone watching- a perfect bust of Ian MacDiarmid during his role as Chancellor Palpatine, smiling with evil intent. As his face moved, the blobs that made it up moved in perfect concert, causing the figure’s face to look as if it was made out of flowers in a windy meadow.

Aanya wanted to laugh.

But she couldn’t.

“I AM THE SENATE.” The figure of Palpatine said, moving his mouth as all the blobs that he was made of spoke at once. “I AM THE SENATE FROM 54 OF THE WORLD’S COUNTRIES, AND I SAY THE SEQUEL TRILOGY IS BULLSHIT.”

Aanya looked around, watching the reactions of her fellow O5s as they sat in their seats in silence. They had all seen the footage before.

The Palpatine figure continued booming. “THE RISE OF SKYWALKER IS HOT TRASH. LET US RETURN TO THE GLORY DAYS OF THE STAR WARS FRANCHISE, THE PREQUELS!”

He smiled malevolently at that, as if what he said didn’t come at the cost of thousands of lives.

“TODAY, GEORGE LUCAS, YOU WILL KNOW THE PAIN I FELT WHEN I WATCHED THAT GODDAMN MOVIE! EVEN ELDRITCH GODS CAN STILL BE DISAPPOINTED, YOU KNOW. I LOVE DEMOCRACY! I LOVE THE REPUBLIC! WHAT YOU ALLOWED TO BE DONE TO IT IS CRIMINAL.”

Suddenly, the sound of loud applause could be heard from the figure, which churned like an audience at a stadium as the blobs clapped their hands for the abomination that they created. As they did, the Palpatine figure smiled widely, his eyebrows drawn up in a parody of a human expression.

Then, he spoke his final words.

“NICE ONE, GEORGE LUCAS, YOU FUCKING SELL-OUT. MAY THE FOURTH NOT BE WITH YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH.”

At that, the blobs immediately collapsed to the ground, screeching as they did.

A silence overcame the council chamber.

In that single moment, Aanya Laghari, O5-13, could only laugh. One followed. Then Bright. Then Clef.

It was an absurd thing, a hallmark of the cruelty of the universe, a mockery of everything they had worked for for the past five months.

Their laughter echoed across the room, highlighting every single one of their follies, every single one of their wasted labors, every single life taken in pursuit of a cruel joke.

That day, all the O5 council could do was laugh.

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So yeah, that's about it.

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I was mad, alright? I apologize. I couldn't exactly not do anything.

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But still, fuck Lucas.

Footnotes

1. Also known as a hive mind

2. The strongest tranquilizers employed by the Foundation, usually used to neutralize large anomalies.