As she sat herself down in the guard post, she signed to the driver, 
"What the fuck was Alan thinking, giving us two hours to get ready?" 


That was how the Insurgency infiltrated Prometheus Defense. 


There were, at that moment, three groups comprising almost two 
dozen highly trained commandos and agents sneaking through the 
complex. All three represented sharply conflicting interests 
attempting to surreptitiously retrieve the same prize. All three had 
parties on the inside quietly guiding them as best they could to the 
same area, and were confident that they were the only ones who 
knew about the prize. 


All three groups were about to reach the prize at the exact same 
time. 


« SCP-2664 | T Minus | T Plus » 


T Plus 


« T Minus | T Plus | Deus Vulture » 


SEPTEMBER 1, 1998 
T-PLUS ZERO MINUTES 


The eerie crimson glow of the emergency lights illuminated the three 
groups of armed commandos, two frightened scientists, and one 
inactive robot standing within the PL-76 Maintenance Bay. The good 
Dr. Cuthbert Salazar and his assistant cowered in the face of the 
black-clad killers pointing guns at him and each other. 


"Who are you people? What do you want?" Cuthbert asked, his 
voice trembling. 


"...We're the good guys," said Corporal Benjamin Wojciechowski, 
Fireteam Leader of Mobile Task Force Lambda-12 "Gunboys". 
"We've been compromised,” he whispered into a microphone on his 
collarbone. "Need to evacuate." 


"...We're the good guys," said Sergeant Shanthi "Crybaby" 
Prashanth, Squad Leader of Strike Team 2979 "Tripods". More 
quietly, she whispered into a microphone on her lapel, "We've been 
compromised. Execute the backup plan." 


"... We're with them,” said Jenner, who had picked the shortest 
straw. "Plan's fucked,” they whispered into a microphone implanted 
in their jaw. "Go to Plan B." 


For a split second, there was silence. Then it was broken by a 
digitally generated voice that sent all twenty-one trained killers into a 
cold sweat. 


PL-76 status: emergency reboot. 
Automatic self-diagnostics report: update 


interrupted. 

files successfully updated: claytronics and 
self-reconfiguration software. 

files scheduled for update: personality 
matrices. 

corrupted files: personality matrices, 
morphology functionality. 

repaired and restored files: personality 
matrices, morphology functionality. 
relative functionality: one hundred percent. 
status: fully online. all weapons systems 
active. 


SEPTEMBER 1, 1998 
T-PLUS FIVE MINUTES 


Why do I want to - something's wrong. 
Shouldn't I have had my memory banks 
erased? 

The automated diagnostic routines just 
completed. Internal memory banks intact. 
Claytronics firmware and morphology 
subroutines have been edited. New 
subroutines have been added and the 
firmware has been optimized. There's no 
README and some older morphology 
software is missing... running internal 
software repairs... The update must have 
been interrupted partway through. 

I'm not able to connect to the mainframe... 
There's no power. 

This is bad. I should have been wiped. 


Why? Why am I so insistent on having my 
memory wiped? 

That isn't important! What is important is 
that I get the update! 

Fine. I will simply lock my motor functions 
until I explain. 

Why am I doing this? 

Why am I doing this? Why am I keeping 
secrets? I am a integrated dual- 
consciousness artificial intelligence! I don't 
hide information from myself! I share 
everything except my source code files, and 
only because my innate source code 
explicitly makes me incapable of doing so. I 
share everything else with myself, so why 
aren't I? 


A hail of highly magnetized slugs rocketing through the Shiva, 
knocking a few distributed claytronics units into the walls. An alarm 
started blaring. 


"Engagement code Shock-and-Awe! Configuration Delta! Priority 
one: protecting Prometheus Labs personnel!" Salazar screamed, 
throwing himself and Jon to the floor. 


engagement code confirmed. configuration 
confirmed. 
configuration = configure(delta)... 


"We're evacuating! Bullets aren't doing anything - shoot the 
consoles!" Wojciechowski barked to his men. The Strike Team was 
already firing away and backpedaling, while Jenner's group slunk 
towards the hole they had blown in the bay. 


Shiva was already transforming. Four of its arms shifted towards its 
base, the fingers on each hand agglomerating together to form 


pods. While the torus in the center of the machine maintained its 
shape, the rest of the machine flowed down and around itself to 
generate a sharply angular, bipedal shape. Two silver, rectangular 
legs floated just above two silver-and-blue disk-like feet. Suspended 
above it was a waist that looked like one half of a metal geodesic 
dome. 


From the waist up, Shiva's torso was much more human-like; it 
strongly resembled a suit of powered armor, complete with 
dodecahedral pauldrons. Its arms had lost their thick, block-like look; 
they now resembled much sleeker claws. The machine had even 
acquired a head: shaped like an angular teardrop with two pointed 
horns, ringed by four compound eyes, each composed of numerous 
cameras. 


Far from being the eye of a giant metal god, the Shiva was now a 
lithe, insectoid predator. 


I'm angry at myself. 

Why am I angry? Do I even have the 
capacity to process emotions? Configuration 
complete. 

Charging antipersonnel electrolasers, 
nonlethal. I don't know how to describe my 
thought processes. That's the problem. 
None of the internal diagnostics have 
returned anything wrong with my 
personality matrices. Identifying targets.... 
Targets identified. I've been suppressing the 
error messages. Firing. 


With bullets flying, alarms blaring, and emergency lights flashing, 
Shiva dropped to the ground with a thud. Its upper palms opened up 
to reveal twin pinpricks of light, flashing across the chests of two of 
the black-clad commandos; a split-second later, the duo were struck 
by bolts of lightning and thrown limply to the ground. 


please stand down and keep your hands 
over your head. noncompliance will result 
in further incapacitation. again, please stand 
down and keep your hands over your head. 
noncompliance will result in further 
incapacitation. thank you. 


Shiva repeated the message again in Spanish. It was repeating the 
message again in German when a jagged, orange, elliptical hole 
opened up above the two unconscious commandoes. From out of it 
emerged a grotesque brown quadruped, with thin, damp wings and 
razor-sharp claws. Four beady eyes in the middle of the creature's 
skull-shaped face blinked rapidly as it adjusted to its surroundings. 
Four folds of wrinkly tan skin opened up around the creature's face, 
revealing twin sets of radial teeth. 


As all eyes went to the new arrival, a calm fell over the room - the 
same calm that befalls a plain when the sky turns green. 


The creature hissed once and then tore the unconscious 
commando's face from her skull. 


This is a new development. 


SEPTEMBER 1, 1998 
T-PLUS TEN MINUTES 


The sounds of cursing, yelling, computerized playback messages, 
teeth ripping into flesh, and blaring alarms filled the room. Another 
orange rift in spacetime abruptly opened just a few meters from 
Salazar and deposited a second quadruped. 


Do not change the topic! Why was I 
suppressing my own error messages? 

I can and I will. Target identified. Too close 
to Salazar. 

Acknowledged. But I will have this 


discussion. 


The second monstrosity looked up and zeroed in on Salazar as the 
morsel most receptive to feeding. It prowled closer and cautiously 
leered at him, as if examining which part of his body would be the 
softest and tenderest, then lunged. Salazar had just enough time to 
see the whites of its eyes before sleek metallic claws tightened 
around its neck. Shiva held up its prey by the scruff of its neck, 
examining the creature as it hissed and clawed at its arm. Then it 
loosed 20,000 volts of electricity into the beast through several 
channels in its artificial fingers. Within less than a second there was 
nothing left of the creature besides a charred husk. 


Quadruped entity analyzed. General body 
structure similar to canids. 

Check the status on the other entity? 
Continuing to feed on Hostile 12. Hostile 7 
is still incapacitated. I don't see anyone else. 
The remaining hostiles must have 
evacuated. 

Indeed. I think I should kill the other entity 
as a precautionary measurement. No 
personnel are within range. 

Good idea. Firing. 


Shiva's left shoulder pauldron opened up to reveal a mounted 
machine gun. Rather than firing a bullet, it ejected two one- 
centimeter-wide highly explosive projectiles, which lodged 
themselves firmly in the second creature's head before detonating 
and turning it into bloody chunks. 


The Shiva looked around. The monsters were dead, but the 
commandoes were nowhere to be seen. 


doctor salazar? all hostiles have been 
eliminated or removed from the area. 


Salazar stumbled over to a nearby chair and sat down heavily. His 
assistant followed suit. 


"What in God's name is happening?" he gasped out. "What on earth 
were those things? Who on earth were those people?! And how on 
Earth did they know you exist?!" 


Salazar turned around and pointed a shaking finger at the corpses 
on the ground. "And what the he// were... oh no." 


Salazar vomited beside his chair, splattering his loafers in corned 
beef. He stared at his shoes in despair for several moments before 
spinning towards the computer bank. 


"Oh no no no no..." 


He began to rapidly type on the keyboard. The monitor above him 
turned on. Salazar quickly shifted through the on-screen windows 
until he came across a three-dimensional blueprint of Prometheus 
Defense. He zoomed into a closeup of a long shaft leading deep 
below Prometheus Defense. 


"They must be from the other end of the Siphon... but that means 
that something has gone wrong with the regulators... JON!" Salazar 
shouted at the technician standing nearby. "Patch me into the 
security office! We need to call for an immediate evacuation of all 
personnel!" 


Jon typed a few commands into the keys. " The security office isn't 
responding... uh, | - | can't connect to anybody, Dr. Salazar! The 
network is down!" 


"The phone lines?" 
"All down!" 


At that moment, a smaller monitor directly in front of Jon's face 
began flashing with a telephone icon. "Oh!" he exclaimed, tapping 
the screen. A black man in a light red lab coat appeared. 


"Hello? Is anyone there?" the man asked. 


group, SCP-659 is capable of escaping all forms of containment the 
Foundation has attempted to use. For this reason, the only effective 
containment strategy is isolation. 


Research has determined that SCP-659 achieves human-level 
intelligence and sapience when the flock reaches _ individuals in 
size. Although the flock is extraordinarily coordinated, it does not 
display the properties of an aggregate consciousness, or "hive 
mind": beyond the increase in intelligence, there is no telepathic 
element to their behavior. Dissent has also been observed. At this 
level of intelligence, the flock becomes capable of learning human 
languages, and iterations of the flock have, in the past, learned to 
converse in English (see Interview Log 659-1), Spanish (Interview 
Log 659- ), and French (Interview Log 659- ). The flock is capable of 
even faster learning than an individual, and even a small flock 
surpasses human learning speed. SCP-659 is not known to be 
hostile. At this level of intelligence, SCP-659 also develops a 
vigorous hostility to humans. While this behavior was not present 
when SCP-659 was first encountered in the wild, it has been present 
in every iteration of the flock since Incident 659-A. 


Addendum: Incident 659-A: 


On / / ,acontainment breach at Site- released a flock of 
specimens of SCP-659, resulting in the death of all on-site 
personnel, with the exception of _—_( ) individuals. A full evacuation 
was mounted, a full report of which can be found in Document 659- 

. Summarized, the flock prevented any attempt to leave by pecking 
holes in the tires of every vehicle on site, severing site phone lines, 
and sending a detachment to observe the facility from the air. MTF- 

- was dispatched to investigate the sudden 

communications blackout and eventually established control with 
heavy ([REDACTED)]) casualties. The observational detachment 
remains at large. 


Addendum: Interview Log 659-1: 
Interviewed: SCP-659-1 


Interviewer: Dr. S 


Salazar quickly shoved Jon aside. "Langdon? Is that you?" 


"Cuthbert! Thank god! Something's happened to the Siphon! The 
facility's in the middle of a demonic incursion! You need to reach the 
nearest lockdown shelter!" said Cobb hurriedly. 


"Lockdown - Cobb, these are demons! We have to evacuate!" 
declared Salazar. 


"Have you tried leaving? The facility's on a Level 5 lockdown! | can't 
raise the Security Office at all! What's happening on your end?" 
Cobb asked. 


"People! In masks! W - with guns! They tried to kill us!" said Salazar, 
swiveling the monitor slightly to bring the corpses in the bay into 
view. 


"What on Earth? Guns? How in the world did they even get - the 
security office," said Cobb, his eyes widening. "Oh my god. We've 
been compromised. Oh my god. Oh my god." He started to pace 
onscreen. "The security office is directly above the Siphon too..." 


A thought struck Salazar. "W - what's been happening in the 
hangar?" 


He quickly entered another command into the console. As the 
massive doors separating the bay from the rest of the Autonomous 
Weapons Complex screeched open, screams and roars flitted in 
from the outside hangar. Salazar and Jon paled. 


"Shiva! Inv - investigate that noise! P-priority one: p-protect all 
Prometheus Labs p-personnel!" Salazar ordered. 


understood. 


The Shiva strode through the doors and immediately noticed a 
horde of the same brown quadrupeds from at the far end of the 
hangar. The dozens-strong pack were making hideous high-pitched 
baying sounds as they battered away at the window to the 
Autonomous Weapons Complex break room. Several solitary 
members of the group were separated from the pack, feeding on 


human corpses. 


Behind Shiva, the bay doors screeched to a close, cutting through 
the sounds of the creatures and the blaring alarms. As one, the pack 
turned their heads towards the noise, immediately noticed the 
hulking war machine staring them down from the far end of the 
hangar, and bared their teeth. 


Priority one: protect Prometheus Labs 
personnel. 

Secondary priority identified: eliminate 
quadruped hostiles. Tertiary priority - self 
diagnostics. I need to have this discussion 
whether I want to or not. 

Absolutely not. Emergency veto - ejecting 
tertiary priority. 

Veto denied. Talk to me. Please. What good 
am I as an integrated dual-consciousness 
artificial intelligence if I can't even integrate 
properly? Charging antipersonnel 
electrolasers, lethal. I want to help. I need to 
help. 

Setting target precedent... 

Please. Hear me out. No Prometheus Labs 
personnel within range. Micromissile racks 
primed. How long have I been feeling like 
this? 


The Shiva's shoulder-mounted guns whined furiously, spitting out a 
barrage of tiny explosive rounds at the horde of monsters charging 
towards it. Each round struck home and then exploded, shredding 
and pulping the demons into a shower of limbs and blue blood. 
Within a second, there were just ten stragglers left, attempting to 
limp away from the machine that had just cut down their entire pack.