Before the creature could strike at the Queen, Amy thrust her arm 
forward. She held the sending stone in her fist, and at her command, 
a ball of force launched forward. It caught the angel, which went 
crashing against a tree trunk. It shook itself, dazed, then advanced 
towards them again. From behind the shadows of the tree, several 
other creatures appeared. 


Amy dropped to a knee next to the Queen. “I can get rid of them,” 
she said, “but | need time.” 


Rupinder pushed himself up. Blood caked most of his face. His 
clothes were little more than scraps, and a long gash split the side of 
his leg. But the look in his eyes was fearsome. “How long do you 
need? 


“Two minutes.” 


His fists clenched and unclenched. A small grin spread on his face. 
“That’s a tall order.” 


“It’s the best I’ve got.” 


“That’s what | get for relying on amateurs, | suppose.” He gestured 
towards one of the angels, and it burst apart into a rainbow-prism. A 
second later it reformed, looking only slightly irritated for the 
experience. 


“Where’s my Sister?” said the Queen. 


Rupinder pointed towards a spot behind the angels. “Through them.” 
Amy could just barely make out the silhouette of a figure lying on the 
ground some 200 feet away. 


The Queen stood, holding the sword before her, tip pointed to the 
ground. Reflections of the angel’s light flashed along the side of its 
blade. Standing tall, silhouetted by the shine of her enemy, the 
Queen brought to Amy’s mind an image of an ancient hero, 
prepared to martyr herself for a cause greater than they could 
imagine. She stared unblinking into the angels as they approached. 


“They'll tear you in half,” said Rupinder. He sounded as concerned 
as someone telling their roommate they were out of milk. 


“| hope you start distracting them soon then,” said the Queen, and 
charged forward. 


The angels dove towards her. As one flashed near, she struck out 
with her sword. The metal swept through the light and the creature 
reared back, screaming. A scrap of glowing cloth fell from where the 
blade had sliced and disintegrated against the ground. With a cry, 
the Queen lunged forward, blade gleaming as she sliced again and 
again. This time the creature was prepared for the attack. It split, 
shifting its form out of the Queen’s blows, and appeared to the side 
of her unharmed. Before she could react it sunk a talon into her 
shoulder. She stumbled away, clutching her bleeding arm. 


Before she could escape, the other creatures moved into place, 
encircling her. She brandished her blade, trying to move to keep an 
eye on all of them. Her arm shook, and looked as if she might lose 
grip on the sword at any moment. She turned, and a creature 
pounced from behind. 


It was stopped by a column of brick rising from the Earth. The 
creature tried to dodge from the side, but the wall moved with it. It 
curled down, ensnaring the creature, then began to wrap around it, 
drawing into the ground until it resembled an egg, completely 
encasing the angel. After a moment, the rock began to glow from 
within. 


Rupinder limped closer to them, his arm outstretched. He held his 
fist clenched, though it looked like he was struggling to keep it that 
way. With a gesture of his other hand, arcs of lightning leaped from 
the earth to strike at the angels. They scattered, screeching as the 
bolts raked at their skin. The Queen took advantage of the 
opportunity. She jumped up and resumed her race towards the 
Sister. A few of the Angels noticed and turned towards her, but 
attacks from Rupinder drove them back. She reached the Sister and 
began to shake the body. 


“Is she still alive?” said Amy. 


“Isn’t there something else you should be focusing on?” said 
Rupinder. The words came out strained through gritted teeth. The 
angels were regrouping, charging at the Queen and Sister. Each 


time Rupinder managed to push them back, but Amy could tell the 
effort was already beginning to grind him down. No time to waste. 
She unslung her backpack and turned it over. The contents spilled 
to the ground- copper wire, metal stakes, and 6 flashlights with 
spent bulbs. 


She picked up the wire and began to unspool it. Twice her trembling 
hands dropped it before she managed to unroll the right amount of 
wire. Calm down, she told herself. Just focus. She sucked in a 
breath and let it trickle out. Then in three quick movements, she 
wrapped one of the metal stakes in the wire. She had barely let it fall 
from her hands before she began working on unspooling the next 
thread. 


In the corner of her eye there was a blur of crimson and a loud 
screech. She turned. One of the angels had made a break for 
Rupinder. He held it back, a wall of red light standing in front of him, 
but the creature inched closer and closer. And without Rupinder’s 
protection, the others were free to strike at the Queen. One struck 
with a talon of light. The Queen tried to dodge, but carrying the 
Sister she was too sluggish. The claw caught her in the shoulder. 
She dropped to the ground noiselessly. 


You are wasting time. If you want to aid them, complete the rite. 


She turned her way, doing her best to ignore the noise of the fight. 
She looped the wire around another stake, then a third and a fourth. 
Soon she had a line of six strung together stakes. One by one she 
slammed their tips into the ground, forming a small circle. She 
picked up the first flashlight and- 


Suddenly she was rocketing through the air. Time slowed as she 
soared, and she watched the bits of leaves and twigs flying along 
her trajectory. Then she slammed into the ground. Something in her 
chest snapped. For a moment she lay still, trying to force oxygen 
into lungs that no longer seemed to be working. She looked up. One 
of the angels was soaring towards her. Behind he it, she saw 
another clutching Rupinder. It slammed him against the ground. His 
limbs flopped, unresponsive. The sight barely had time to register 
before the other angel was upon her. 


It lifted her into the air. She tried to struggle, but her limbs felt dead. 
The world was starting to grow fuzzy. She tried to breath, but could 
only swallow sips of air. The angel’s talons were gripping her too 
tightly. So this was it then. This was how she died. She let herself go 
limp, watching the fading, upside-down world as she dangled from 
the claws of the angel. In the back of her mind, she heard a familiar 
voice. One she should have been able to recognize but couldn't. 


She heard a bang. The angel's grip released. She dropped to the 
earth, rolled across the forest bed. For a moment she lay there, 
gasping every possible breath of air. As the world came back into 
focus, she saw Li standing in front of her. The left half of his body 
looked deformed. As her eyesight fully cleared, she realized his arm 
had transformed into a massive claw, almost as long as the rest of 
his body. The bandages covering his face had come partially loose. 
Beneath them, a golden eye framed by blood gleamed. The angel 
floated in front of him. One of its wings looked crooked. A second 
later, it reformed in a shower of light. 


Li’s body began to bulge. From beneath the bandages, folds of grey 
skin began to push through, until the wrappings begin to split and fall 
away. Pale grey hair sprouted from his flesh. His right arm 
lengthened and grew thicker to match the left. His jaw cracked as it 
elongated into a large snout. Soon, a large wolflike creature stood in 
front of her. It growled and approached the angel. 


Amy looked away. She didn’t have to watch what would come next. 
In the darkness, about a dozen yards away, she saw her collection 
of tools. Her knee buckled as she pushed herself to her feet. 
Catching herself before hitting the ground, she limped towards the 
collection as fast as she could without tumbling over. When she 
arrived, she let herself fall and snatched up a flashlight. She quickly 
arranged them into a hexagram. From behind her came a howl of 
pain. 


Taking a deep breath, she placed on hand in the center of the 
arrangement. 


Anything else? 


Hope there is a god on this world to answer your prayers. 


She poured out energy, every last drop that she’d been saving for 
just this occasion. Her save reserves were gone in seconds, but she 
didn’t stop. She felt her arm growing numb. Her mouth felt like 
sandpaper as the water disappeared from it. There was a pressure 
building over her eye, as if someone were trying to dig their finger 
behind it and into her buzzing brain. But she kept pushing, every 
ounce of energy she had, until all that was left was an empty space 
within her. 


She fell. 


Screams filled the air. The kind of screams the Earth would make as 
it broke apart. Blinding light filled her half-closed eyes. She tried to 
squeeze them shut, but couldn't find the strength to do so. Then, just 
as quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished. The screams 
quieted. In front of her were only six trembling flashlights. 


We must hurry. This will not hold them long. 


Amy didn’t need to be told twice. She tried to push herself up. Tried. 
But didn’t move an inch. Her muscles wouldn’t budge. She 
struggled, trying to rise, but it was as if there was a blockade 
between her brain and her body. It simply wouldn’t happen. As she 
laying their, trying to force motion, a large hand picked her up and 
slung her over a shoulder. 


Looking down, she saw the Li-creature carrying her. Blood gushed 
from a dozen gashes across its body and legs. It limped over to 
where Rupinder lay, picked him up. Then it collected the Queen, 
Sister, and Thalmos before moving back to the glowing portal. Amy 
barely managed to slur out a “thanks...” before it stepped into the 
light. 


A second later, they stood in the Library. Li gingerly placed his 
charges on the ground. Amy slowly turned her neck. Rupinder lay 
next to her. He was a mess. Blood covered his face. His arms were 
crooked. Bone poked from one of his legs. But he was still breathing 
steadily. And, as Amy watched, the injuries slowly began to knit 
themselves together. Bastard was tougher to kill than she’d thought. 


Wasn‘t the stone supposed to make this shit easier? 


You must learn how to use it more efficiently. 


After what felt like hours, and was probably only a few minutes, she 
managed to rise to her feet. The runes surrounding the Way glowed- 
it wasn’t yet closed. She reached down and dismissed the magic. 
That was it, then. When the creatures did escape the lights, they’d 
be trapped in their miserable world. She plopped down, resting her 
back against the Way, taking deep gulps of air. After a minute, the 
Queen sat down next to her. One of her arms hung limp. Blood 
matted her hair to her skin. 


“Thank you,” said the Queen. 


Amy didn’t have the energy to do more than grunt. She looked down 
at the unconscious Sister. The left half of the woman’s face was 
covered in burns. She took slow, labored breaths. 


“There are people | can take her to,” said the Queen. “She'll live.” 
Amy nodded. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. 


“Well,” said the voice of a man, behind her. “We didn’t expect you’d 
make it quite this easy.” 


He stepped into view, a tall man with dark hair and the kind of bulk 
that would make a linebacker jealous. He wore grey military 
fatigues, and Amy didn’t even need to see the the white patch on his 
shoulder to realize where he was from. To other men in similar 
uniforms flanked him. Li growled at the man and took a step forward. 
The Queen stood, hand on a knife-hilt. The Agent smirked. “I know 
you’re smart enough not to follow through on that.” 


“You should have been more careful,” said the Agent. He snapped 
his fingers. A small pinpoint of red light began to glow underneath 
Amy’s skin. “It was easy enough to place the monitor on you during 
that little India mishap. Luckily your friend was too distracted by the 
more obvious one to notice..” 


Amy stood. Her hands balled into fists. “Leave me the fuck alone.” 


“Or what?” The Agent raised an eyebrow. “You'll hit me? Go ahead. 
It'll make my job much easier.” 


“Why can’t you people just drop it? It’s over. I’m not your fucking zoo 
exhibit anymore.” 


“You love your family right?” A smile crept onto the Agent’s face. 


The world seemed to drop away as Amy processed the words. 
“What?” 


“Of course you do. You’ve been fighting like hell to get back to them. 
In our Earth. And it is just not acceptable to have someone like you 
running around there outside our control. So we decided to fix that.” 


“What did you DO?” roared Amy. She charged forward. Li stepped in 
front of her, holding her back from striking the Agent. 


“It’s simple,” he said. “You can come back into our custody, and we'll 
let them go. Or you can stay, and we keep them. And if you attack 
me they'll be killed too, of course. So which will it be?” 


« True Places Never Are | Hub | Wasting » 


made to turn on SCP-687-2 when it is disconnected, or connected to 
any computer other than SCP-687-1, it will fail to operate. When 
SCP-687-2 is connected to SCP-687-1, both units perform to the 
manufacturer's specifications (except when loading SCP-687-3 as 
specified below). 


SCP-687-3 is a 5.25” floppy disk without manufacturer’s markings. 
Affixed to the disk is a hand-written label with the word 
“DOCUMENTS?’ in block capitals. Attempts to read the disk with any 
drive other than SCP-687-2 results in severe read errors and 
potential damage to the hardware. Passive scans using 
[REDACTED] inconclusive and produce conflicting data. 


When SCP-687-2 is connected to SCP-687-1, SCP-687-3 can be 
loaded into the drive and read like any normal disk. Only one file, 
“NOIR?” is visible to the operating system. This file can be executed 
by typing LOAD “NOIR’”,8,1. 


When loading and running the “NOIR” program, the heat output of 
both SCP-687-1 and SCP-687-2 increases by 400%, and power 
consumption will double. Any testing equipment attached to ports on 
the computer or drive will experience severe and random voltage 
spiking. These anomalies do not appear to impact performance or 
cause any damage to SCP-687-1 or SCP-687-2. 


Once the “NOIR” program is loaded, the user is presented with a 
short graphic stating “Cracked by the Timelordz.” After 
approximately one minute, a title screen appears. The title screen 
reads “NOIR: a hardboiled adventure by Games. Copyright 
198 .” There is no record of Games releasing a game with 
this title. Pressing the space bar will launch the game. 


“NOIR” appears to be a text-based adventure game similar to many 
other games released about the same time. However, the parser 
appears able to comprehend any intelligible English command, even 
with some words misspelled. In addition, there seems to be no 
functional limit to the game’s territory, and it will respond to queries 
about its environment in detail beyond what should be possible 
given the data-storage limitations of the hardware running the game. 
The setting of the game will also change, based on who is playing. A 
new player will be placed in a new random environment; a returning 


Wasting 


Beneath piles of slime and discarded scrap, shaking from hunger 
and near-blind in the darkness, Amy held her breath. The creature 
was just outside her hiding-hole. The scraping noise of claws 
against metal filled the soace. Beneath it was a wet growl, the sound 
of the beast’s eagerness. Amy’s grip tightened around the steel 
fragment. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but the point was sharp, and 
it was sturdy. She didn’t have the luxury of pickiness.