The alarms were still going off. Red lights flashing to indicate a Keter had breached containment. The most important information played over the speakers, subsequent information broadcast to individuals via their mobile phones. The men who hadn't already been affected were on lock down, behind closed doors. The women were all filtered into the cafeteria, the only place on site that could hold them all.
The lights flickered as Senior Reasearcher Zyn accepted assistance onto a table, and raised her voice. "Excuse me… Pardon me… LADIES!" She finally had to project to make herself heard. "Attention, now!"
The women quieted down, turning their attention to her. The priority protocols put SR Zyn in charge for the duration of the emergency, and they were all professionals. Well. Mostly.
"To most of you this will mean nothing, but SCP-029 has breached containment!" Some of the women gasped, but most just looked confused. "She's a mind controller, but only affects men, hence the segregation. Reports show she already has over two dozen security and researchers under her spell. We're also seeing an unaccounted for increase in her power levels. She's fast, strong, hard to hurt, and has a small but growing army of followers willing to die for her. Our only leverage is her powers are greatly lessened in full direct light so-"
At that point the lights went out.
They didn't panic. They were well trained in handling these situations. The women waited for the back up generators to kick on, and, when that failed to happen, pulled out various lighters, flashlights, and cell phones with flashlight applications, which they directed towards Zyn, but not at a level to be shining in anyone's eyes and ruining their vision. Zyn for her part, pulled up her revised containment procedures, long form, and scrolled to the relevant bit for 'lights going out.'
"All right, folks. At this point we're going to fall back, and let our security girls jump on things. Anyone who has been cleared for a model O tranq rifle, or model X taser pistol, please pick them up from Jill there at the rear door. Our goal here is to incapacitate any of our co-workers who-"
"Excuse me." A voice called from the back. The held lights shifted towards the woman in the back, the one dressed in a stained, comfortable labcoat. "Can I ask something real quick?"
"I'm sorry, ah, Dr. Elliot, right? We really don't have the time for any explanation, we are on a time clock-"
"I just wanted to know, are we under any obligation here to return the skip alive?" She asked casually, her cell phone held down at her side.
SR Zyn blinked at the question, and quickly scanned her document. "Ah, no, actually. In a breach like this, under these circumstances, the O5s have condoned decommissioning. Of course, that could be really difficult right now, it might actually be easier to just evacuate the site, and then blow her up. We'd lose people, but I can't see how else to stop her. A running firefight in a site without power, and who knows what she might let out? No thank you."
Dr. Elliot held up a hand to forestall her continuing. "No, don't worry. I got this." She raised her phone to her ear. "Serra? Take the shot."
Through the speaker of the phone, three shots rung out. Then a terse voice spoke. "Target nullified."
Zyn stared across the room, her mouth open, the dozens of pages of containment procedures ignored in her hands. "What did you just do?"
"Two tracer rounds and an explosive round through the head at 500 yards… and through a couple of walls." The lights flickered again, as power returned.
"Problem solved."