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SCP Presented: SCP-1369
Although they were no longer in any real danger, Dictator did not sleep soundly in their containment cell, even with Oliver with them. They whined and kicked and turned over in their bed, sometimes gripping the headboard and clawing at the walls. After Foundation personnel determined this was not an anomalous quality, but rather simply night terrors, Dictator was left alone and not bothered any further.
When they woke up the next morning, Dictator's muscles ached. Slowly, groaning, they pushed themselves up with their arms and swung their legs over the side of the bed, making sure not to kick Oliver, who was resting at the foot of the bed, as they did. Even their legs hurt, probably from the four-mile round-trip they had taken yesterday.
Cracking the joints in their fingers, Dictator looked straight into the camera that was observing them. “Hey, are you guys awake back there? I'm hungry.”
A voice crackled over the intercom system. “Hey kid, don't worry, I brought ya' some pancakes.”
“Did you remember the blueberry syrup?”
“What kinda' “caretaker” would I be if I forgot that?” Eli chuckled from the other side.
A few moments later, the small metal flap at their door opened, and a plate with two pancakes, butter, a small container of blueberry syrup, and two slices of bacon was pushed through the door. Dictator quickly fell upon it like a starving dog, covering both pancakes with a thick layer of butter and syrup.
“Don't eat too fast, you'll get sick and if you puke on me we're gonna have a problem,” Eli muttered over the intercom. Dictator appeared to ignore them, instead continuing to eat at their previous rate.
After Dictator had finished their breakfast, and allowed Oliver to lick the plate, they turned their attention back up to the camera. “Okay, I'm ready to go now!” Though their tone was cheerful, there was something… off, about the look in their eye.
Eli chose to ignore it for now.
“Alright, I'm coming down,” Eli said, then swiveled around in his swivel chair to face one of his superiors. Startled, Eli pushed the chair back quickly, and was swiftly stopped by the control panel.
“Dr. Moss,” he said after taking a breath. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Relax, Jones, I'm just here to give you your assignments for the week. I think you'll find them interesting,” Dr. Moss told him. His voice sounded like a constant rolling growl, which was enough to unsettle even Eli. He held out a paper, and Eli took it, his heart in his throat.
Dr. Mitch Moss had unsettled Eli ever since they met. Moss was his assigned superior, and while the Foundation as a whole knew about Eli's “condition”, Moss had been less than kind about it. He obviously did not see Eli as a “real” man, but that was not the only reason Eli was bothered by his presence. There was something about the man that Eli simply did not trust.
Looking over the assigned SCPs for the week, Eli's eyes widened, then narrowed as he looked up at Moss. “No, no way. This is not right for Dictator to see and you know that.” You bastard was on the tip of Eli's tongue, but he did not voice it.
“This is a part of its testing, if you have a problem with it, keep your mouth shut,” Moss warned. “If it is truly as strong as it claims, this should not bother it.”
“The kid already has night terrors, you wanna fuck ‘em up even more?” Eli asked, cursing himself internally for not catching the swear before it came out. “Come on, give the kid a break.”
“It's already been done,” Moss replied dismissively, shrugging his shoulders. “Find out a way to deal with it.”
Eli swore again as Moss left the room, getting up from his chair and walking over to the door.
Although Dictator had been born nearly two-hundred years ago, they were slow to age, unlike the other three genetically identical humans who shared that same DNA. Dictator had been the last to be created, and as a homunculus, no less. They were created to be indestructible, even by the process of aging. So despite them being close to two-hundred years old, they were developmentally the same as fifteen-year-old.
Even as annoying and bothersome as they were, there was no reason for Dictator to be scarred by these anomalies. Eli would protect them, somehow.
—-
With the two of them in such unstable moods, it was inevitable that one of them would notice the other. Surprisingly, it was Dictator who noticed Eli's foul mood before Eli picked up on their own inner distress.
“Uh… you okay, big Bro?” Dictator asked, jogging a bit to catch up with Eli. Oliver trotted up beside them, chuffing with irritation.
“I'm fine,” Eli growled in response. There was a hint of anger in his voice, and Dictator could not help but flinch. Though Eli was usually irritated with Dictator, it took a lot for him to get really angry. Reaching out, Dictator grabbed hold of Eli's arm, forcing him to turn around and look at them. “Don't fucking touch me – ”
“Why are you mad? I didn't even do anything,” Dictator whined. “And why did you take so long to come get me this morning? Is that why you're angry?”
“I'm not angry, I'm pissed off,” Eli shouted, withdrawing his arm from Dictator's grip. “Just – don't ask questions, okay?”
“…Okay,” Dictator sighed after a few moments. They looked like they were on the verge of tears, and finally, Eli gave a heaving sigh again.
“Come on, kid, I'm not mad at you,” he grumbled. “I'm mad with my goddamn superiors. The shit they assigned this week – you don't need to see this shit, it's creepy.”
“Well, that doesn't mean I can't see it,” Dictator said. “I mean, I'm sure I can handle it.”
“Kid, there are grown people who can't handle this shit. You might be a big shot where you come from, but that doesn't mean you're ready for this.”
Dictator pouted, sticking out their bottom lip for a moment. “So what're you gonna do? You have to watch me 24/7.”
“Yeah, I know that, and so do they. That's why I'm pissed off. They wanna expose a little kid to really bad stuff.”
“I'm not a little kid!” Dictator stomped their foot to emphasize their point.
“Yeah, alright,” Eli sighed. “Come on, let's get going. We've got to get to 1369 before we have to check on 2952.”
—-
“So… what exactly is SCP-1369? And why'd you give me this blindfold?” Dictator asked as they walked through the building. Eli was taking many sharp twists and turns, with Dictator struggling to keep up. Eli was extending his steps as he continued to get angrier and angrier, pissed off at the world and the set of circumstances that led him here.
For a moment, he was so engrossed in stewing in his anger, that he forgot Dictator was even there until they tugged on his sleeve again.
“Uh, hey, big Bro? What is SCP-1369, and what's the blindfold for?” They repeated.
So much innocence in those eyes, Eli thought, turning around to address them. Oliver, who had been trotting along beside them, stopped and sat down, leaning against Dictator. Is he trying to protect them, too?
“What would a blindfold usually be used for, kid,” Eli grunted. “It's so you don't see the… thing that's in there.”
“What thing? Is it really that bad?” Dictator asked as the group of three started to walk again. The metal door leading to the observation chamber was just up ahead. “I've seen a lot of tough stuff in my lifetime, you know. I think I can handle it.” Their eyes were still bright with naive, childish innocence, but there was something… dark, about them as well. Something solid and unmistakably not innocent.
“No, you can't. I don't care how many years you've lived, you've got a kid's brain and you don't need to see this shit,” Eli said definitively, in a tone that clearly showed the argument was over. His voice wavered a bit as he fought to ignore the darkness he'd seen earlier in their eyes. “Now, put the damn blindfold on. I'm not opening the door until you do.”
Dictator opened their mouth to protest, but cut it off with a whine when Eli stared them down. Slowly, they tied the blindfold around their eyes, knotting it at the back of their head. “Okay, I'm ready now.” They reached out to grab Eli's arm, allowing him to guide them as they walked in.
Immediately upon catching sight of the thing behind the glass panel of the observation chamber, Oliver hissed, his tail going straight up as the fur along his back and neck rose. Dictator put their free hand on Oliver's back, rubbing gently in an attempt to calm him.
But the angry tiger refused to calm down, instead moving in front of Dictator as if to shield them from the creature behind the glass.
Eli, on the other hand, sighed and motioned towards another doctor sitting at the control panel. “Bring in the D-Class personnel,” he said, voice dull and devoid of its usual fervor. “Let's just get this over with.”
The other doctor nodded and pressed a red button on the control panel. A buzzing noise ensued, and Dictator lifted their head, but made no motion to take the blindfold off.
“Do you hear that?” Dictator asked, stepping closer to Eli. “It sounds like someone's in pain.”
“It's just the object, don't worry about it,” Eli replied, putting a hand on the small of Dictator's back. “Keep going,” Eli instructed the other doctor.
He stepped away from Dictator for a moment, which was a mistake. Almost immediately, they reached up and pulled their blindfold up just a bit, unable to resist the temptation of looking at the forbidden object.
Dictator was silent for more than a minute, and that was when Eli realized they had seen it.
Dictator had laid eyes on the object, and it was… terrifying. And in the middle of testing, no less.
The object itself was enough to terrify Dictator on its own, and at first Eli thought their silence meant they were scared. A mass of four heads, four arms, and a torso that merged into a mass of squirming tendrils, holding its place on the floor. Each head emitted its own moan, each at a different frequency than the other. This moaning did not seem to cease as the D-class personnel, who had disrobed, made his way towards it.
“Dictator! God dammit,” Eli hissed, making his way across the room to forcibly shove the blindfold back down, but the damage had been done. “There's a reason why I tell you these things! Did you think it was just for fun or something?!”
"It's revolting," Dictator finally said, appearing to ignore Eli's previous question. Their eyes stayed fixed on the object, the same darkness from earlier returning to their gaze. "This thing… what purpose does it serve? It should be exterminated."
"We don't do that unless they pose a serious threat to humanity," Eli replied, clasping his hand over Dictator's eyes. "Now, calm down. Let's just get you out of here, alright?"
Eli watched them the rest of the day, wondering if the darkness in their eyes would return. But it never did.