"He's twenty-two." Light made a face. "| mean— | trust Gillespie's 
judgement— kind of— the point is, there are double agents 
perceiving Alpha-9 as an unprecedented threat. And they're waking 
up. It's a threat to the project as a whole, not just me. Can you look 
into this?" 


"We can start with investigating all outgoing communications, plus 
people going off-site," Clef said. 


"Is that feasible?" 


"We have an asset that can handle it," Clef said, smirking. Adams 
flinched. 


"Good," said Light. "Anything else?" 


"Not much," Adams said, "but if you plan to get shot at more, you 
should look into buying a bulletproof vest. | hear they come in 
designer colors these days." 


Light snorted. "Oh, sure. I'll look into it." 


Clef accompanied her to the third meeting of the day. He kept up a 
stream of terse commentary all the way there, until they reached the 
secure conference room in the heart of Site-17. Security, 
secretaries, and anyone else without at least Level 4 clearance had 
been relegated outside for the next two hours. 


Clef sounded even more displeased when he appraised the buffet 
spread, provided by site catering. 


"There's a perfectly good IHOP in town," he said. "Why aren't we 
eating there?" 


"What's wrong with the food?" Light asked. It had seemed good 
enough on the online menu. 


"It's inedible, that's what." Clef put four biscuits on his plate. "It's not 
worth having a meeting anywhere if you can't order chicken and 
waffles, and get coffee spilled on you by a hungover waitress." 


"What is it with you and meeting in diners? What is it with all of you 
and meeting in diners?" 


"| don't like the formality," Site-77 Director Shirley Gillespie said, 
cutting in next to them. "Diners have coziness. You can have an 
honest chat if it's just two people in a booth. In a room like this..." 


"...you have security." Light frowned. "For one." 


"Are you that confident that none of our guards are Insurgency 
moles?" Clef looked at the room — or maybe it was just his plate — 
with distaste. "Let's just get this over with." 


The three of them left the catering table to join the other directors. 
They were all here, in the expansive Site-17 meeting room, 
everyone who'd been invited to the first meeting. Besides Light, Clef, 
and Gillespie — and Director Moose, nodding to Light as she sat 
down at the table — there were Bright, Aktus, and two directors 
Light had just met: Jonathan Nardieu and Marcia Cortez. 


One was prominent by her absence: RAISA Director Maria Jones 
was working on a number of secret assignments, and not just for 
Alpha-9; shortly after the word of Council approve, Jones sent Light 
a curt yet apologetic message saying she expected to be absent for 
a while. Light didn't hold it against her; Jones was the woman who'd 
had to close Omega-7's files, after all. All of this must be hitting 
close to home. 


Clef walked around the table and punched Bright in the shoulder, 


SCP-705: Militaristic Play-Doh 


Item #: SCP-705 
Object Class: Safe 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-705 requires little security 
detail nor significant clearance to access, and is to be held in Sector 
2 Safe SCP containment with the lid closed. Any access is to be 
logged when entering and exiting SCP-705’s containment, to be 
reviewed once a month. Misplacement or lack of attendance leading 
to containment failure is punishable by temporary removal of 
access. Repeat offenses incur more severe probations. SCP-705 is 
not to be used in any practical applications. 


Description: SCP-705 is normally contained within a 5 oz container 
of children’s modeling compound, commonly known as “Play-Doh”. 
While properly sealed, SCP-705 exhibits no unusual qualities, or 
anomalous behavior. SCP-705 was originally discovered within the 
Corporation’s research labs in __, as part of an attempt to 

create a “self-molding” product. The means by which this was 
accomplished is still unknown, but the results led to the 
abandonment of the line and the labs themselves. Retrieved on - - 

, SCP-705 was originally moved to Site, then relocated a month 
later to its current location at Site 17. 


When the lid for the container holding SCP-705 is opened, the soft 
red material inside will begin to animate. Shapes resembling small, 
humanoid forms will emerge from the clay, slowly at first but soon 
numbering in the tens to hundreds. The material comprising the men 
will sculpt and come into detail, appearing as miniature infantrymen 
in typical military fatigues, equipped with fully functional automatic 
weaponry. At this point, SCP-705 comprises approximately 20-100 
individual and sentient organisms. 


When active, SCP-705 is incredibly violent and militaristic, 
possessing a highly territorial mindset, and will do everything in its 


and received a (mostly amiable) punch in return from the currently 
thirty-something Indian man. He sat down by Gillespie in a far 
corner, and took up a slouched pose that clearly communicated his 
intent to participate in nothing else beyond the substandard food on 
his plate. 


Fair enough. He wasn't technically part of Alpha-9, after all. They'd 
had their real meeting already. 


Clef wasn't wrong about security, Light reflected. Half the directors 
involved in Alpha-9 in a room together was the kind of thing that 
security did not recommend, and Light was inclined to agree. It 
would, however, be a necessary risk for this project. Soeed was 
essential, and there was only so much you could do to protect 
teleconferences from intelligence leaks. 


Light couldn't help but glance at Gillespie. It hadn't been long since 
the containment breach they'd been trapped in together, but 
Gillespie wasn't acting any differently at all. Her eyes were closed, 
and she was sipping her tea. 


As for the rest, they were all engaged with their plates to varying 
degrees, but every once in a while, their eyes would flick over to 
glance at her. Sometimes their expressions were hostile. Other 
times, they were pitying. Mostly, though, they just seemed curious. 


Light took a moment to slowly chew a piece of potato, swallowing it 
down despite a dry mouth and closed throat. She waited until a 
natural lull in the conversation to walk to the podium and adjust the 
mic. It let out a brief squeal of feedback, and the conversation 
ebbed. 


"Thank you all for coming,” she began. "As you know, Alpha-Nine 
has just been officially approved as a Mobile Task Force. All of you 
have a great amount of influence in the future of this project. This 
will in turn influence the future of the Foundation. Our first Asset, Iris, 
is in training now. There will be more." 


She waited for any kind of response. There was none. "So. Um. 
Anyone have anything they want to discuss to start us off?" 


A moment of silence. Then a middle-aged man raised his hand. 
"Yes, Director Nardieu," Light said. 


Jonathan Nardieu nodded, got to his feet, and opened up a well- 
worn spiral-bound notebook. "Director Light," he said by way of 
greeting. "I've just been reviewing clips from SCP-105's training 
sessions," he said. "She's on a level with some of our MTF agents 
already, with only a month of training. It's almost as she has some 
form of photographic memory, if you'll pardon the pun. | wonder if it's 
natural, or some kind of secondary mutation of her anomalous 
ability..." 


"Secondary mutation?" Bright scoffed. "What are you, twelve?" 


"| don't see what you mean," Nardieu said, looking surprised to be 
contradicted. 


"That's literally X-Men terminology, and you damn well know it." 


Marcia Cortez spoke up. "| agree with Jack," she said. "We need to 
be careful with our terminology. If this experiment is going to work, 
we need to stay as professional as possible..." 


"If she is a superhero, she's a broken one," Moose interjected. "Her 
abilities haven't been functioning at their prior baseline in the last 
few days since the Coalition encounter." 


"Spooked, perhaps," Aktus suggested. He'd been the first to arrive 
at the table this morning, but this was the first he'd looked up from 
reading the files on his tablet. "That incident was highly unusual. 
Even more so than that unresolved containment breach which 
started this whole mess." 


"Maybe she's faking it again," Cortez suggested. 
"Glass's psych assessment says she's not," Nardieu said. 


Cortez shook her head. "Glass was always too sympathetic to 
humanoid skips." She shot Bright a look that seemed oddly 
apologetic. Bright didn't seem to notice, concentrating on his meal. 


"Iris Thompson is just a girl with a special ability," Nardieu said. "She 


can't be that dangerous to us. We all deal with worse on a daily 
basis." 


"... nukes disguised as Girl Scouts," Clef muttered. 
"Excuse me?" Nardieu asked. 


"| said, don't underestimate the damn Skip just because it looks like 
a pretty girl," Clef snapped. "Iris Thompson is dangerous. The only 
question is whether she's dangerous to us or the enemy." 


"Well, maybe if you didn't treat her like a caged beast—" 


"Let's get back on task," Light said. "Iris's performance has 
degraded. It could just be because she hasn't used her abilities in a 
long time. It could also be due to the phases of the moon or the 
alignment of the planets or something else we will never know. As it 
currently stands, we just don't have enough data. So let's move on." 
She turned to the other side of the conference room. "Gillespie, 
Aktus, what's the status on the other projects for Alpha-9?" 


Gillespie put down her glass and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. 
"Most of the usable objects at my disposal, in Site-77, were denied. | 
have a few.... grey cases, where our previous research indicates a 
potentially smooth transfer to more violent means. But other than 
that, a lot of rejections." 


Aktus nodded. "My recommendations were largely vetoed as well, 
despite your sign-off. Unfortunately | don't have much more to add 
yet, though I've received a new list of anomalies to assess." 


"For whatever that's worth," Nardieu said. "I don't mean to complain, 
but... between all of us, we requested access to over two hundred 
SCP items. Our list now is... Do we even have half a dozen? 
Besides Iris, we have Cain, a broken reality bender, a severed 
hand..." 


"| imagine they want us to start small," Aktus said. "We have, 
however, been promised more SCPs. SCP-1985 and SCP-2099 
were suggested to me as possibilities already..." 


"Brain in a jar and apocalypse explorer?" Nardieu asked. "All right, 


not bad, but it's still only two..." 


"... however," Aktus continued, glaring at the younger man, "that 
doesn't include secondary anomalous assets that don't fall under 
Special Containment Procedures, and can thus have fewer barriers 
to overcome. Andrea Adams and her suit. Professor Crow and his 
projects. This Foxx fellow. The Alexandra A.I.. Chelsea Elliott. 
Everett Mann. Kiryu's butterflies..." 


"Technically, myself," Moose said dryly. "Given that I'm a Type 
Blue." Nardieu and Cortez looked blank. "GOC term. Means once 
upon a time | cast a whole lot of magic spells. In case any of you 
didn't know that I'm ex-Hand." She took a drink. "And there's you, 
Bright." 


"No," Bright said. "Neither of us are anomalous weapons, or Alpha-9 
assets. I'm here in my capacity as Personnel Director. And | think it's 
for the best if this... task force... stays small. It's already bigger than 
Omega-7 ever was." 


"Weren't you on Omega-7?" Nardieu asked. 


"No, | was not," Bright said. "As Personnel Director, | was part of the 
group dealing with new additions to Omega-7." 


"Omega-7 had so few anomalies, though." Nardieu frowned. 


"Yes," Bright said. "There was a reason for that. Just like this task 
force already has too many anomalies. They're probably going to 
give us more, but we don't need more. At all." 


" But—" 


"It's a fairly big vote of confidence that they assigned us Cain," Aktus 
said, interrupting. "You know how the Council feels about him." 


Gillespie looked down at her glass. "I can't say I'm sure that we 
should return to putting anomalies in charge of anomalies, besides 
the obvious exception of Dr. Bright. But Iris? One would think with a 
project like this, we could find someone with more experience to act 
as Team Leader." 


"| agree," Bright said. "But it doesn't matter. The order to put Iris in 
charge comes from above. Nothing we can do about it." 


"She's only in charge of a team," Aktus said. "She's not in charge of 
Alpha-9. That's us." 


"| really think there's no cause for worry here," Nardieu said. "Just 
look at those videos. She's a perfect fit. | think—" 


"We know what you think." Bright didn't look up from his food. 
"You're practically drooling." 


"Excuse me?" Nardieu clenched his fist around his fork. "Are you 
accusing me of unprofessional behavior? Because if so, | want—" 


"No one's accusing anyone of anything," Light cut in. "It was a bad 
joke. Right, Jack?" 


"The worst," Bright agreed. 
"Good. Now that's settled, is there anything else?" 


"There's another issue on the table," Nardieu said. "Iris... asked to 
see the 'new Bowe'." He looked at Light. "I think that means you." 


Light looked down at her tablet. There was a video clip still playing 
there, in which a pixelated blonde figure plunged her hand through a 
polaroid picture, and the ghost of a hand re-emerged several feet 
away. "| know," she said. "| should have done it sooner." 


"I'm not sure we should expand our personal contact with these 
anomalies so quickly," Cortez said, frowning. 


Light shrugged. "Maybe not. But if we can't trust Iris, this project was 
doomed from the cradle. I'll talk to her." 
"Charles Vaux? You're Light's secretary.” 


Vaux looked up at the attractive woman in the slate-grey suit, who 
had appeared in the room across from him. "Oh— Agent Adams. | 
didn't know you were here." 


"Oh, sorry. Old habit," Adams said. "What's your dog's name?" 
"Mango." 
"It's cute. Foundation bred?" 


"Yep. She was trained for security and then as a sniffer, but... Too 
friendly." 


"| can tell. She looks like a sweetie. May |?" When Vaux nodded, 
Adams leaned down and gave the pit bull a friendly pat on the head. 
Mango grinned and panted, then rolled over onto her back for a well- 
appreciated tummy rub. 


Vaux smiled serenely. "Did you want something, Agent?" 


"| had a question about your boss," Adams said, kneeling beside the 
dog. 


Vaux frowned. "About Light?" 

"Let me get to the point. You know what Tav-666 is." 
"| do," Vaux said. 

"You know what our job is." 

"Of course." 


"Alright. We're aware that you arrange some kind of medical service 
for Dr. Light on a semi-regular basis, often after she's taken some 
time off work. You've been careful to keep it off the files. This raises 
some concerns." 


Vaux frowned. "I'm not at liberty to discuss my boss's medical 
issues." 


"She on drugs? Painkillers, something stronger?" No response. 
Adams charged on. "Charles... can | call you Charles?" 


"No," Vaux said. 


"All right, then. Mister Vaux, as far as we know, Clef and | are the 


first ones to learn about this. If she's got something going on, we 
need to know, because there are people out there who can find out 
and use this against her." 


"Ask her yourself." 
"She pregnant?" 
Vaux was stony-faced. 


"Look," Adams said, "You tell me right now, just between two 
coworkers, and you won't get in trouble for this. Your boss might not 
get in trouble for this. Hell, we may not even have to report this to 
the Overseers, depending on what it is. But if you don't tell me under 
the table, then | need to do an official investigation. And then people 
will get in trouble."