The SCP Foundation

Chapter 128: SCP-1057

"When will you contact him?"

"I'll have to let Doctor Stevens know about this, then I can make the call, so you don't need to worry about it..." the researcher reassured. "You can go on ahead to lunch, Athena. I'll handle everything here."

"Are you certain you don't need any assistance with anything?" the researcher's assistant asked.

"I'll be just fine on my own, but thanks for the offer..." the researcher smiled. "Go on ahead, your friends must be waiting for you."

"Right... guess I should go to them..."

With that, the researcher walked out of the office, on her way to the cafeteria to have lunch with the rest. After a few minutes, she reached the cafeteria, gotten her food, then saw Drista waving at her from their usual table.

"Hey, Athena." Freddie greeted. "How are you doing?"

"Just fine, thank you..." the researcher responded. "I assume everything's all good with you?"

"Yeah, me and Freddie are fine..." the tomboy answered. "Adrian's... not really doing so well."

"Oh?" the researcher sat down. "What's the matter?"

"It was about his previous mission." the peacekeeper answered. "He said that it didn't go so well for the entire force."

"Yeah, they didn't get one of his recruits back..." the tomboy added. "After the entire thing, he lost another one along with an entire sniper team, so... things aren't turning up for him right now..."

"I see..." the researcher understood. "He was only here for a moment?"

"Yeah, both him and Iris..." the tomboy nodded. "He wasn't talking too much, and Iris was trying to make him feel better. We asked him about it and he just simply told us then walked off a bit later."

"It must be so hard for him to be going through that..." the researcher responded.

"I hope Iris could cheer him up a bit." the peacekeeper added. "Even for just a little bit..."

-----

"Should we go ask the captain about that interrogation with that other captive we got?"

"That's probably our best bet, Iris..." the joker answered. "Maybe she knows something about the kid."

The joker then sighed.

"I might not be cut out for this."

"What?" the teenage girl reacted. "What're you talking about?"

"Iris, don't you see it?" the joker asked. "First, it was Des who got killed, then Serena, the kid's been captured, Maccer's dead, and all we have left is Lia. I'm just getting everyone killed!"

"Don't think that it's your fault!"

"No, Iris, since I'm their commander, I'm the one that'll take the fall! I'm the one that's gonna get blamed!" the joker responded. "Might as well just... let someone else take charge."

"Adrian, no!"

The teenage girl suddenly grabbed on to the joker's shoulders, catching him off-guard.

"Listen, it's not your fault." the teenage girl told him. "You're not a bad leader, you're a good one! Sure, we lost them, but the only thing we can do is push forward. We gotta go on, for us, and for them. Okay?"