“Mmm,” said Cipher, still scanning the passersby, “I have to pick 
one?” She took another drag from the cigarette, then flicked the 
spent filter to the sidewalk. “Probably the Red Lodge, but if | told you 
about that, I’d have to kill everyone on the block. So let’s say Thirty- 
Five. Shitty peers. Shittier leadership. | must have gotten this close 
to going AWOL half a dozen times. They found out a research 
director had been fucking scips once.” 


Kantos whistled. 


“Yeah, right? They found out while they were reviewing the security 
cams after a breach. Idiot had totally forgotten about the cameras. 
The guy who replaced him was an even bigger asshole.” She 
gestured outside the car. “There she is.” 


Cipher opened the car door and stepped out. She crossed the 
sidewalk to where a woman was emerging from a black-windowed 
door. The woman was over a head shorter than her, and pushing 
her sixties. Black hair was cut short over brown skin, and she wore a 
white jacket, wrapped tight to protect against the winter air. As she 
walked, the river of people parted almost unnoticeably to let her 
through. 


“Ma’am,” said Cipher as she reached the woman. She turned, and 
they both began to walk towards the car. 


“Agent Cipher,” said O5-4. The voice carried no emotion. “I didn’t 
expect you to start duty so soon.” 


“| get antsy if I’m away from the job too long, ma’am,” said Cipher. 
They reached the car. She opened the backdoor so the 
Councilwoman could slid in. 


“Well, good to finally have you,” said the O5. Cipher gave an 


appreciative nod and closed the door. She slid back into the 
passenger’s seat. Then she slammed her fist against O5-4’s face. 
Before the councilwoman could react, the muzzle of Kantos’ pistol 
was pressed against her cheek. 


“Now,” he said, “Tell us what you did with the real O5-4.” 


« Giving Bad People Good Ideas | Hub | The Man Who Sold the 
World » 


Foundation Site 


Utilized in accordance to standards developed by the Si 


The following protocol has been established in order t 
the personnel therein. 


Location: City Mall in , Ohio 
Security Level: Delta 


Description of Location: Site 81/715 is believed to be an 
in , Ohio. This space is accessible via a service door’ 
space within is a large, cavernous room containing a deep 
of the surrounding limestone. The walls of the pit are comr 
to human fat tissue. The walls of this pit constantly secrete 
particularly dangerous. 


Upon activation of SCP-715, an instance of SCP-715-A wi 
similar to the subject who has just used SCP-715, with the 
extensive lacerations, large growths to the point of unreco: 


Instances of SCP-715-A will attempt to scale the walls of t 
instances are currently considered hostile, and Foundatior 
to dispatch these instances with as much force is necessa 
ongoing. 


It is currently unknown how many instances of SCP-715-A 


Authorized by the following administrators: 
Jack Bright, Director, Site 19 


Karlyle Aktus, Director, Site 81 


05-2, Overwatch Command 


Addendum 715/A: [ACCESS RESTRICTED] 


Please Access Using 715/5 Authorization Code 


The Man Who Sold The World 


The man who would one day be known as Savior awoke in a field of 
corpses. The ground was hidden beneath the carpet of blood and 
flesh. Men, women and children lay slaughtered, stacked upon each 
other like discarded trash. He looked down at himself. His naked 
body was stained red with blood. It didn’t seem to be his. 


He stood in the gap between two buildings, larger than any he had 
ever seen, seemingly tall enough to scrape heaven itself. The night 
air was thick with the smell of rot and pollution. As he looked around, 
flashes of memory came to him. A ship on a raging sea. A serpent 
whose coils stretched across an entire countryside. A mad Queen 
putting thousands to death with a word. And his name- Alarath, 
Seventh Scholar-Lord of the Daeva empire. But nothing of where he 
was, or how he had come to be here. 


Alarath knelt down to examine the closest body. The flesh was 
maimed almost beyond recognition, but the wounds were unlike any 
he had seen before. Dozens of small holes covered the skin, too 
round and even to be stab wounds. He turned the body over and 
saw dozens of similar injuries. What weapon could have caused 
this? He moved to the next body. It too was mutilated by the strange 
injuries. 


An object among the corpses caught his attention. He pulled a 
bloodstained brown bag between two bodies. A white card was 
attached to the end. It read, in a language he didn’t recognize but 
could somehow understand, “We hope these will guide you in your 
journey towards truth.” He turned the card over. Drawn on the back 
was the image of a slit-pupiled eye. 


The bag had two drawstrings that he used to pull it open. Out spilled 
a bundle of black clothing and two sheathed daggers. He ran his 
fingers through the cloth. It was finer than any he had seen in his 
time with the Daeva, light and soft. Embroidered on the breast of the 
shirt was the same slit-pupiled eye as the card. He pulled the outfit 


on. Its folds caught the starlight, shimmering as the cloth moved. He 
turned to the daggers, taking one in his hand. It felt perfectly 
balanced in his grip. He gave a few tentative thrusts, and it felt like 
moving an extension of his arm. He unsheathed it and gently 
pressed his thumb to the blade. When he drew the finger away, he 
saw a line of thin blood. 


The sound of shattering of glass made him look up. Two youths 
stood at the entrance of the alleyway, staring at him with wide eyes. 
They held glass bottles, and were dressed in garishly colored 
clothing styled unlike any armor Alarath had seen before. Before 
they could react, he rushed forward. He grabbed one by the collar, 
slamming him against the building. He placed his dagger at the 
throat of the other. 


“Where am |?” He growled. The words that came from his throat 
were not the Daeva tongue, but he understood their meaning. 
Another mystery to unravel. 


The youth he held began to babble. “Please please please, | just 
wanted to grab a drink, please just please, let me go I’m sorry 
please-“ 


Alarath looked between them and snorted in disgust. He dropped his 
hands. The freed youths scrambled away. Clearly this place did not 
know how to train their men properly. No matter. He would find 
answers some other way. He thought of the note on the bag. A 
journey towards truth? A pleasing thought. He would find their truth. 
Then he would slay those that brought him here. 


The man who had once been known as Destroyer took his first steps 
into a new world. 


« | Want to Tell You | Hub | Change in the House of the Flies » 


Change In The House Of The Flies 


Aubrey Dell missed the days when coming home was a respite. 
When she was free to leave work at work and pretend for a few 
hours a day that she was a normal biologist, one not surrounded by 
world-ending horror. But it had been... twenty? Twenty-five? Years 
since she’d enjoyed that luxury. Every promotion had dragged her 
deeper into the folds of the Foundation, tightened the chains 
keeping her from a normal life. Until she’d reached the top, and the 
thought of freedom was a distant as the stars. 


There were a dozen different different tasks she was mentally 
running through as she entered her house. Researchers at Site 78 
were beginning to grow concerned over unpredicted tectonic activity, 
and its possible connection with their contained objects. Rumor was 
spreading of Chaos Insurgency strike teams preparing memetic 
attacks in metropolitan areas. SCP-5824 was showing the first signs 
of entering its final stage of pupation. She had to analyze, triage, 
plan, praying just to scrape by and stave off destruction for a few 
more weeks. And as soon as one problem was solved, another 
would leap forward to take its place. 


It was these thoughts that distracted her from seeing the intruder 
until she reached the kitchen and flicked on the light. She jumped 
back, hand instinctively groping for a weapon but falling on empty 
air. The intruder didn’t move from his spot behind the island. Not just 
any intruder, she realized. Pavio Kharkiv. Looking like she had never 
seen him. His hair was dirty and tangled. Bags hung from his eyes. 
His suit was rumpled, his tie crooked. There was no sign of the 
normally immaculately groomed man she was used to working with. 
And in one hand he held a gun, pointed at the ground. A glass of 
whiskey sat on the island next to its half full bottle. 


“Hello, Aubrey. You know why I’m here.” 


She looked from the gun to his piercing eyes and back to the gun. 
She nodded. 


“How much do you actually know?” 


“I... suspect a lot. You and others are planning a coup. You've allied 
with a Group of Interest currently unknown to the Foundation to help 
make that happen.” No point in being coy. There were only two ways 
this scenario could end. “You’re developing a Foundation 
headquarters beneath Navi Mumbai. One capable of surviving a 
wide variety of K-class scenarios. | have a few theories why. | hope 
none of them are correct.” 


Pavlo nodded. “One of them probably is. You are missing a few 
details, but that is most of it. Too much of it.” Without taking his eyes 
from her, he drained the whiskey in the glass and refilled it. After 
staring at each other for a minute, he spoke again. “I used to think | 
would do anything for our cause. | assumed that’s what allowed us 
to reach the positions that we did. It wasn’t that we were smarter, or 
better leaders, or more experienced. It was we were the ones who, 
when we looked downward into the abyss, did not blink. Did not turn 
away. We confronted the horror, even if we had to become horrors 
ourselves.” He paused to drain the glass in a single gulp. “I was 
wrong. The abyss is so much deeper than we ever could have 
imagined.” 


He raised the gun and fired at the same time she leaped forward. 
The bullet caught her in the shoulder. She ignored the pain. It barely 
registered underneath waterfalls of adrenaline pumping through her. 
She slammed into him, grabbing his wrist as they tumbled down. He 
grunted as they slammed into the ground. Striking at his face, she 
tried to wrench the gun from his wrist, but he turned, slamming her 
against the island. She held on. 


The scrambled wildly at each other, messy, savage. There was no 
elegance in the struggle. They were old, out of shape. It had been at 
least five years since she’d last sparred, and a decade before that 
since she’d had to fight for her life. It wasn’t any skill or training that 
fueled. Only a mad, animal will to survive. 


lt was a single shot to the head. As they struck at each other, he 
managed to place his pistol under her chin and fire. For several long 
minutes he lay there, blood pooling over him. Then he pushed 
himself to his feet. The pistol fell from his trembling hands, clattering 


hollowly against the floor. He took the whiskey bottle in his hand and 
didn’t stop drinking until the last drop was gone. He stared down at 
the body of the woman who had, only days ago, been his friend. 


He’d killed a fellow member of the O5 Council. And his work was 
only beginning. 


« The Man Who Sold the World | Hub | Why? Where? What? » 


Why? Where? What? 


The thing wearing O5-4’s faced smiled as Kantos pressed his gun to 
its face. “Hey, you people catch on quick. So what gave it away? 
Was it the teeth? | was worried | didn’t get the teeth right.” 


Kantos grabbed it by the hair and slammed it against the window 
hard enough to make a small crack on the glass. None of the 
passing pedestrians seemed to notice. He drove the muzzle of the 
gun into its temple. “I will ask one time. Where is she?” 


The imposter laughed. “And if | don’t answer, you’re just gonna 
execute me in a crowd of civilians? Sure thing pal.” 


“We can make them forget.” All the previous levity was gone from 
Kantos’ voice. But he didn’t sound like someone making a threat. 
More like someone announcing the day’s chance of rain. Cipher 
watched calmly. She’d been curious what her new partner would be 
like in action. Perhaps she’d get a chance to find out. 


“You could. | know how you people work though. Why kill something 
when you can keep it alive and squeeze every drop of information 
from its brain?” The fake O5 licked its bloody teeth. 


Kantos thought for a moment, then withdrew, keeping the gun aimed 
at the imposter. “I hate people who think they’re clever. Cipher. 
Watch the intruder. | will take us a safer place.” 


He began to start the car as Cipher unholstered her weapon. As the 
car began to roll off, their passenger said, “Cipher? That your real 
name?” 


She hit it in the face. 


The drive took several hours, following a route that was as 
deliberately as circuitous as possible. The route doubled back ina 
dozen different ways, took side streets, crossed half-built roads that 


had never appeared on any map. Still, they had no doubt the 
imposter would be able to keep up with the route. Once they were 
safely away from observers, they stopped to blindfold it before 
continuing on. And all the time, it continued to talk. 


“Seriously though, how did you tell? I’m always looking for 
constructive feedback. This is a cutthroat business. Can't expect 
people to hire you if you’re not always pushing yourself to improve, 
knowwhatimean?” 


After about the 30th time it asked the question Cipher grunted out, 
“O5-4 knew I’d be picking her up today. And you didn’t use the 
passphrase.” 


The blindfolded imposter nodded. “Smart. Gotta remember that for 
next time.” 


“There isn’t going to be a next time.” 
“Course there isn’t.” 


They arrived at the black site. From the outside, it was just a small 
shack in the middle of nowhere. A rotting remnant of some home 
that had collapsed decades prior. Weeds and grass twisted between 
broken slats of wood that crawled with insects. Cipher opened the 
door as Kantos shoved their still-blindfolded captive inside. They 
stepped in. She crouched down, found a small metal ring in the dirt. 
She pulled it up. With a rumbling noise, they began to descend. 
Twenty meters down, a door opened up until a brightly lit metal 
hallway. 


“Very cool,” said the imposter as they dragged him through the hall. 
“Secret kill site. Good place to keep track of all your dirty little 
secrets, right?” 


“Shut up,” said Kantos. 


“Yeah, y’all can keep me here for however long you want, doing 
whatever you want to me, and there’s nothing to stop you. Nobody 
who'll ever wander across.” He smiled. “You fucked up one thing 
though.” 


“And what is that?” 
“You thought | didn’t want to get caught.” 


Kantos paused. 


“You think you’re the one with the power here. You think this is all 
happening according to your rules. But you have no idea what this 


actually is.” 

“And what is that?” 

“A distraction.” 

At that moment, Cipher’s cell phone began to ring. 


« Change in the House of the Flies | Hub | God Am » 


God Am 


Alarath squatted on the sidewalk and observed the new world he'd 
found himself in. The first thing that struck him about the city was 
how many people seemed to be living in it. Though it was night, 
there seemed to be more people on this street than you’d find during 
midday in the Daeva capital. And all were dressed in outfits colorful 
enough to match those of the Daeva kings. The textiles of this land 
seemed to come in an endless variety. What shocked him more was 
how clean they all were. There was no dirt smeared on their faces. 
Their hair was well groomed. Few wore torn clothing.