"Do you have anything new to report?"
"Nothing yet, ma'am..."
"Hm, thought so..."
The captain took another sip of her coffee, sighing after hearing the thought of another full day of fruitless searching for any sign of the athlete.
"Same drill, Scott." the captain instructed. "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Yes, ma'am." the technician responded. "I'll keep you posted when something comes up."
"Alright, if you wish..."
The captain then left the satellite operations room, leaving the technicians to their work on monitoring for any clue about the athlete's current whereabouts. She took another sip of her coffee, finishing her cup.
"At the very least give us a sign..." the captain thought to herself. "Your best friends have been worried sick."
She walked down the hallway and proceeded to check her watch, the time reading a quarter past one pm.
"Might as well find ma'am..." the captain thought to herself. "She should be at the spare cafeteria at this time."
She then proceeded to walk to the spare cafeteria, the same one as the anomalous pizza box's containment. She got there in a few minutes, the captain opened the door, only to find her superior on one table, along with Team Iris. The joker noticed the captain's arrival and immediately walked over to her.
"Hey cap..." the joker greeted. "What brought you here? You hungry or something?"
"Not really..." the captain shook her head. "Is this another one of your plans to destress Ryder?"
"Actually, that's the colonel's idea." the joker pointed his thumb to the said person seated on the table. "Needless to say, it's going great. The kid's got a smile on his face, and it stuck."
"That's good to hear..."
"So... cap, any luck?"
"Nyet, nothing yet."
"Well, can't say I'm surprised anymore..." the joker sighed. "Anyway, since nothing's happening yet, wanna join us?"
"Sure... I guess I'll oblige."
"Great, because the colonel looks like she's getting bored..."
The captain followed the joker and the two sat down on the table, joining in with the rest of the group. The captain took a seat next to her superior, then the latter noticed her.
"Captain, there you are..." the colonel spoke up, delighted to see her. "Where have you been? What took ya?"
"Well, by the looks of it, it seems that I'm the only one who is actively trying to look for Portnow..." the captain sighed. "So... I had to see what you were up to."
"Yeah, well, I was getting bored so... glad you came by." the colonel stood up from her seat, then stepped over the bench. "So I might as well just--"
The colonel saw that her wrist was tightly held by her subordinate; she tugged and pulled on her wrist to get it free, but to no avail.
"Okay, very funny, captain." the colonel reacted with an irritated tone, then tried to get her wrist free. "Now, let me go."
"Not this time, ma'am." the captain responded, not bothering to look at her. "You are not going to leave all the monitoring work to me."
"Yeah, colonel..." the joker responded. "At least have a little fun, the kid's been happy that you even suggested this whole thing."
"Yeah, I get that but--"
"You're not just gonna up and leave after all this, are you?"
"Well..." the colonel then groaned. "Fine, whatever..."
"Hey guys, there's more pizza here if you guys want some." the teenage girl spoke up, then noticed the captain. "Oh, hey captain, since when did you get here?"
"Not too long ago..." the captain responded. "I just came to see what you all have been doing."
"Well, since you're here..." the teenage girl slid a paper plate of pizza to the captain. "Care for a slice?"
"Sure, a few wouldn't hurt anyone..."
With that, the group then started to talk amongst themselves, whilst eating pizza from the never-ending pizza box.
"Hey, Maccer, pass the box here, yeah?" the joker spoke up. "The rest of us really have been going off with your favourites."
"Yeah, fine..." the Australian recruit responded, sliding the pizza box to the officers. "There you are."
"Cheers."
The Australian recruit looked back to see that Pavelski and Ryder were talking to each other, smiling and laughing through the conversation.
"You two look pretty chummy over there..." the Australian recruit started to tease the two. "When's the day?"
"Maccer, now's not the time..." the Polish-American recruit rebuked him. "We're just trying to cheer Ryder up right now."
"I mean, yeah, I bet you can make him the happiest man in the world." the Australian recruit persisted. "What the hell's taking so long?"
After hearing this, the two recruits had reacted differently; the nervous recruit looked downwards, staying silent, while the Polish-American recruit became flustered, so much that she could barely say anything back.
"Well?"
"Well... uhm..."
"Gotcha there, didn't I?"
"Okay, listen here..."
Before the Polish-American recruit could say more, the cafeteria door had opened and a man walked in.
He was a Caucasian male, measuring 1.6 metres tall, wearing a suit with a jacket overtop it. As he entered the cafeteria, he seemed very anxious about something.
"Hey, man..." the joker greeted the man. "You need something from here?"
Even though the entire group acknowledged his presence, he continued on as if no one else was with him.
He started to pace around a small area, muttering to himself in a somewhat uneasy tone, which prompted the group to huddle to together and discuss about the matter.
"Didn't he hear me?" the joker asked. "I thought I was pretty loud when I said that..."
"Jesus, what's his problem?" the colonel then asked. "Any decency from that guy? Nope, just nothing from him."
"Ma'am, I'm sure he's just preoccupied with something..." the captain responded with a sigh. "Though, he does seem eccentric somehow..."
"Well, I don't know if we could just ignore him..." the teenage girl spoke up. "I feel bad..."
"Yeah, that's kinda mean..." the Polish-American recruit agreed with a nod. "We should at least do something."
"What the hell is up with you two?" the colonel rebuked them. "Why the fuck would you think that talking to him a is a good idea?"
"Yeah, I mean he's leaving us alone..." the Australian recruit agreed with a nod. "The most we can do is to do the same, it's not like he'll give a fuck..."
"Yeah, but that won't change the fact that he's wigging me out." the joker responded. "Can't we just make him leave or something?"
"Why?" the teenage girl responded. "He's not doing anything bad, at least I hope not."
"Can we give him this?"
The group looked at the nervous recruit, who was pointing at a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it.
"I mean, you could, kid..." the joker responded, lightly smiling. "I wouldn't stop ya."
"Yeah, he could be hungry." the teenage girl nodded in agreement. "Maybe that'll make him feel alright."
"You're just gonna let him go to that guy all on his own just to give him that?" the Australian recruit spoke up. "You don't see any problem with that at all?"
"Well, if it makes you feel better then might as well go with him." the joker responded. "That alright?"
"Fine, whatever..." the Australian recruit rolled his eyes, then turned to the nervous recruit. "Alright, go ahead, kid."
The nervous recruit stood up from his seat, with Australian recruit following suit, then walked towards the man, still mumbling to himself in a panicked tone.
"Umm... hello? Sir?" the nervous recruit spoke up, trying to get his attention. "I... I wanted to give you this..."
The man still continued to ignore the two, as if they weren't there. The Australian recruit then stepped up and spoke to the man in a threatening tone.
"Hey, buddy, my friend's trying to talk to ya..." he tole the man, cracking his knuckles. "Unless you want some bruises and broken bones, you might as well say something now."
"Maccer, please..." the nervous recruit turned to him. "There's... no need for that..."
"If you say so..." the Australian recruit sighed, but was still agitated. "But still, this son of a bitch needs to talk or something."
The man continued to mumble to himself.
"Um... sir?"
"This isn't working out, kid..." the Australian recruit sighed. "Just leave the plate there. Then again, I dunno if he'll notice and give a damn."
"Okay..."
With that, the nervous recruit silently put the plate near the man, making sure that it was within his view. Afterwards, the two had returned to the group's table.
"That prick still wouldn't talk to us." the Australian recruit spoke up as he sat down.
"Yeah, we noticed that..." the joker sighed. "Probably best to leave him alone for now... I mean, he's not doing anything to worry about..."
"Right." the teenage girl nodded. "So... might as well just go about our business."
"Hey, do whatever you want, but I'm keeping an eye on him." the colonel insisted. "God only knows that he might try something."
"Ma'am, don't instigate any fights..." the captain sighed, then took a bite out of her slice of pizza. "Let's make this as peaceful as possible..."
"Captain, I'm just keeping an eye on him, stop being so paranoid..." the colonel responded, then looked back at the man. "You should know that... huh, he's eating the pizza."
The entire group looked to see that the man was indeed eating the slice of pizza that was near him. Despite this, he didn't acknowledge the group that was on the adjacent table.
"Hello? Not even a thank you?"
"Ma'am, that's enough."
"Ma'am, you know a lot of info..." the joker spoke up. "Maybe you might recognise him from somewhere?"
"Hmm... let me think..."
"Don't tell me he's an SCP..." the colonel sighed. "He's just a prick."
"He might probably be..." the captain continued to think. "However, I can't really recall his designation if he was."
"Well by the looks of him, he's pretty lonely over there." the colonel spoke up. "I'll call him, Mister Lonely. Heh, whaddya think of that?"
"How original..."
"You got a better name for him?"
"Why the hell would I do that?" the joker responded. "The guy's having his solitary moment, about to pull back to the Fortress of Solitude any minute."
"Well, he doesn't look like Superman to me..."
"Shit, might as well be since we know what we're working for." the joker responded. "If he was real, then he'd turn up here."
"If only..."
"That would be cool..." the teenage girl agreed. "But how would we go about stopping him?"
"Kyrptonite bullets?" the Australian recruit asked. "That's his weakness, right?"
"You think those exist?"
"Shit, might as well have to." the Australian recruit responded. "I think the Foundation could make anything... so why the hell not?"
"Yeah, I guess so..."
As the group was talking, the man had finished the slice of pizza that was offered to him. He let out a deep sigh and looked around, as if no one was there with him.
"That pizza was great, but... who the hell gave it to me?" the man asked himself. "I mean, if no one did then how did it get there? Whatever, it ain't gonna matter now... I just need some courage, then it'll all be over."
With that, the man stood up from his seat and walked towards the door.
"So if anything, we should keep an eye on him..." the colonel responded. "Who the hell knows what he might do if he's left alone..."
"Right, so... we're keeping an eye on him?"
"Yeah, and he's not gonna care." the colonel smiled, then looked over at the adjacent table. "Isn't that right?"
As the group laid their eyes on the table, they immediately noticed that the man had disappeared.
"Where'd he go?"
"Are you kidding me?" the colonel asked. "The second we decide on keeping an eye on him, he fucking disappears like that?"
"If he just left, then he couldn't have gone that far." the joker stood up from his seat. "Come on, let's go find him."
"Yeah, you guys go on ahead..."
"You're coming too, ma'am." the captain insisted. "This was your idea after all."
"Ugh... fine..."
"Alright, guys, this pizza party's postponed till further notice." the joker told the recruits. "Right now, we're on mission."
"Fine..." the Australian recruit sighed. "It was getting dull anyway. About time we got something interesting going on."
The group got up from their table and walked out of the cafeteria, proceeding in pursuit of the strange man.
-----
"Hmm..."
The technician was still in the satellite operations room, alongside a few others, monitoring around the globe for any sign of the athlete. The past moments have been a fruitless effort, however Scott found something interesting.
"Huh?"
She zoomed in on the location, then leaned forwards toward her monitor, trying to get a better look at what she was seeing. She saw a number of people, lying lifeless on the ground, with a few destroyed vehicles nearby.
"What the?" the technician then spoke up to the rest of the people with her. "Freeman, Vargas, you guys seeing this?"
"Seeing what?"
"Mind giving us a location, Scott?"
"Right..." the technician read the coordinates on her monitor. "Uhh... one-three-seven, Bravo, Tango, Zulu."
"Yep, seeing."
"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened there?"
"Looks like a firefight to me." the technician responded. "Looks like between GOC forces and some other group."
"Any idea?"
"I dunno for sure..." the technician responded. "I'll have to consult the captain about this."
"Yeah, you go ahead and do that. She would want to know about this."
"Just cover for me, alright?"
"Yep, yep."
With that, the technician stood up from her station and scrambled out of the door, to look for the captain's whereabouts.
-----
The group had passed through a few hallways, searching for the strange man, and so far they had no luck.
"Where the hell did he go?" the colonel asked. "For a weird guy, he sure moves fast."
"We have to find him before he could cause any trouble." the captain responded. "Proceed with caution."
"Oh come on, like he's gonna do anything, captain..." the colonel answered. "Like he doesn't have any weapons on him, so I doubt that..."
As the group had turned a corner, they saw that the strange man was at a fair distance away from them, promptly disappearing from their view.
"There!" the joker spoke up. "He went that way!"
"There's no one there." the colonel replied, then became irritated. "Don't you mess with me! This is serious!"
"I'm not messing around!" the joker responded. "He just disappeared over there somewhere!"
"You better be right about this..."
"Oh, what brought all of you out here?"
The group turned to see that Durham was approaching them, with two other researchers in tow.
"We're looking for a weird guy." the colonel replied. "He's wearing like a suit, a jacket, acting weird. We're tracking him just so he doesn't cause any trouble."
"Ma'am, that's him." one of the researchers told Durham. "That's the SCP."
"Wait, he's actually an SCP?"
"Yes, SCP-451..." the researcher nodded. "It's a long story, but we'll be taking things from here."
"Hey, we didn't come all the way out here to be let off." the colonel responded. "What if he gets into trouble and we weren't there to stop it, huh?"
"Ma'am, we have this under control." the researcher reassured. "For the most part, he's harmless."
"For the most part?"
"Captain Polonskaya!"
The entire group then saw the technician approach them, stopping in front of them to catch her breath.
"Scott, I assume you have something?" the captain asked.
"Yes... yes, ma'am..." the technician panted out, still breathing heavily. "Give... give me a... a sec..."
"We don't have all day." the colonel spoke up. "Come on, spit it."
"There's... there's been an engagement... in the... in the southwest..." the technician said, slowly regaining composure. "Between GOC forces and... the cultists..."
"Cultists..." the joker muttered. "Like the ones we fought?"
"Looks like it..." the technician nodded. "Come on... we might have something..."
With the technician leading the way, the captain followed suit, though the two of them stopped and looked at the others.
"You should follow us, Davidson..." the captain spoke up.
"Yeah, um..." the joker turned to the recruits. "Guys, you're dismissed. If you want, you can head back to the cafeteria and keep the pizza party going."
"Yes, sir." the Polish-American recruit nodded. "We'll be heading off."
With that, the two groups headed off in their separate ways, with the recruits walking back to the cafeteria and their superiors following the technician. The colonel, however, stayed put, crossing her arms and sighing.
"You sure you got this under control?"
"Yes, ma'am..." the researcher nodded. "We'll get him back in containment before you know it."
"Yeah, you better."
With that last sentence, the colonel followed the others to the satellite operations room, leaving the researchers on their own.
"Alright, let's go." the researcher spoke to her juniors. "Who knows what he's planning this time..."
"Yes, ma'am."
The researchers began to follow the hallways leading to the strange man. After a few minutes, they turned a corner, seeing the strange man walk into a room and the door promptly closing right after.
"There he is." one of the researchers pointed out, storming off to the door. "Let's get him!"
"Hang on!" Durham warned the eager researcher. "We should be more cautious about this!"
The researcher didn't listen and continued to the door. He reached the door, opened it, and a gunshot was heard; at the next moment, the eager researcher was clutching his chest, writhing on the ground.
"Oh no..." the researcher reacted, then immediately walked up to the injured researcher. "Cortez, stay with me... you'll be alright..."
"Yeah..." the injured researcher answered. "I... I hope so..."
"Wells, get medical." the researcher told the other researcher. "Go on, we don't have much time!"
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, the other researcher ran off to grab a first aid kit, or at least something to ease the bleeding. As the two researchers were trying to make sense of the situation...
"Shit, shit!"
The researchers then noticed that the strange man had noticed the dead researcher, with a shocked expression on his face.
"Are you alright, man?" he asked. "I... that wasn't meant for you but... fuck!"
"Hey..." the injured researcher responded. "What... what the hell were you thinking, man?"
"It's a long story, it's been though... but that doesn't matter now!" the strange man responded. "Listen, I'll go get you some cloth, and you're gonna be just fine!"
"I... I dunno... about that..."
With those words, the researcher suddenly went limp, with the strange man trying to wake him up again.
"Hey, hey!" he said. "Come on, don't leave me here!"
Durham, who was a few steps away, had watched the entire scene. She was confused, yet she somehow understood the situation.
"How interesting..."
To Be Continued