*Y/N'S POV*
The only light sources were Connor's and Elazar's flashlights. It was dark in the control room, it was also intensely terrifying. The other scientists ran out of the control room, which left me, Elazar, and Connor alone in the room, with Serena in the chamber. I looked at Connor as his eyes widened in shock when he looked at his digital watch.
"Connor... what's wrong...?" I asked him.
"Oh no... no no no..."
"Connor, what is it?"
"Shit...You cannot be serious"
"Connor.. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" I shook him around.
"SCP-173 has broke containment...." He said in a terrifyingly calm tone. I could tell he was scared, even when he sounded calm.
"WHAT?! That's Impossible!! How?! The test was scheduled for tomorrow!" Elazar was beyond terrified.
"The team got confirmation to move it to today."
"What even happened?" I asked.
"Knowing how SCP-173 works, the power must have been cut somehow to quickly hinder the line of sight with the creature, allowing it to kill everyone in the room." Connor explained.
"Deliberately?"
"I don't know..." Connor replied.
"It can be recaptured, can't it?" I asked in hope that I would get a good answer.
"The power is offline. The cameras are shut off, no eyes are on the sculpture, and it can now move freely. Hell, the others might have even gotten out too! We cannot contain it!" He yelled.
"Damnit..." I looked down gritting my teeth. I had to think.
"What's the plan? We have to get out somehow, don't we?"
"I am going to go to 173's area to check for any survivors. You guys stay here, and what ever you do, do not let anyone escape, whether it be an SCP or a D-Class." Elazar pulled her gun out.
"What?! Why!? Do you realize what just happened?!" Connor asked her, looking at her if she was crazy.
"Yeah, I do. As a worker of this organization, I need to take action when it is necessary. Something you need to do, O'Brian." Connor looked down in silence as she left the room, the door closing behind her. I didn't know what to do... I only looked at Connor, waiting for a plan to come to me. For several minutes he held his head down, thinking hard about what to do. Suddenly, Connor looked up. I couldn't see his face through his helmet, but I knew he had something planned.
"Grab Serena, put some clothes on her, and let's move." He said with a serious, but confident voice.
"W-What?"
"I said, Grab her and let's go! We're getting out of here." He repeated himself.
"I know what you said, but.... Why are you letting me take her? You work here...Aren't you supposed to keep the entities in containment?" I saw him go silent again as he looked up a bit. After a couple seconds, he looked at me.
"Don't worry about it, Just do as I say. Put something light on her to let her move freely. I have a bit of resistance to her from training, so I'll be fine for a while." He said, handing me his flashlight. I took it and went through the door of the control room, then to Serena's cell. Serena's cell door was open... That... was bad. I shined my flashlight in the room and saw her sitting on the floor against her bed, which still had clothes on top of it.
"Serena, you alright?" I squatted next to her.
"I-I'm okay.. I'm scared as to what's going on though."
"SCP-173 and several others have been released from containment." I told her in a calm voice, to which she started getting even more scared. Suddenly, red lights came on in the chamber. Must have been back up lights or something. I turned the flashlight off to save the battery.
"What are we going to do, Y/n?" She asked me.
"Look, you're going to need to put on some light clothing for now so we can get you out without Connor getting all weird on you. And before you ask, he's trained to resist the effect." I explained. She nodded.
"O-Okay.." I helped her up and helped her put on a light button up shirt and some loose pajama pants. Once she got her clothes on, we headed to the door of her chamber. I grabbed the flashlight on the way.
"Will you be okay for a while?" I asked her.
"Y-Yes. Just not for too long."
*Serena's POV*
I didn't know what was going on. Why was he taking me out of my cell? Wasn't I put in here for a reason? I pulled back on him.
"Why are you taking me out of confinement? I'll get people killed. I was meant to be here." I said to him. He sighed as he turned around.
"It's like as I said before, Serena. You are as normal as me and Connor. I felt like you didn't want to be here. You wanted to be free. You hate being a succubus... don't you?" He asked me. My eyes started to tear up. I nodded.
"Yes... I hate it... I hate every second of it. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore." I cried. He hugged me.
"It's okay.. I'm going to break you out of here, I promise. I want you to live a better life than this." I let go of him, he reached his hand up to my face and wiped away my tears.
"Y-Y/n..."
"I'll protect you at all costs, so we can escape." He smiled at me.
*Connor's POV*
I heard everything that boy said. I swear, he was like the younger version of me. He had the same intention of taking her with him as I did with Iris, but that doesn't matter now. She's gone... I'll probably never see her again. What matters now is that I get these two, and myself out of this facility.
*Y/N'S POV*
"Oi, Jos- I-I mean Connor, you alright over there?!" I yelled to him. I almost made a mistake...
"Affirmative!" He yelled back. We slowly walked through to the control room where we all stood for a second. Connor started breathing a little heavier as she got closer to him.
"You good?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine." He said back sternly.
"Good. Let's go." I said getting close to the door.
"Kid, wait!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him.
"What?" I asked, shrugging. He sighed at me, rolling his eyes.
"Look, I can't protect you two all of the time, so...." He averted his eyes as he reached for his pistol.
"...You need to take my gun to protect yourself and her." He handed me his pistol. I inspected it a bit. It was a MEU(SOC) M45.
"Damn that's the standard issue pistol for you guys? An M45?" I asked him.
"How did you know that?"
"Dad was a cop. He told me a lot about guns. Plus I did my own research after playing a bunch of Rainbow Six Siege." I said happily.
"Oh. You know how to fire it?"
"Of course I know how to fire it. Point and click. Like a camera." I need to stop with these references to video games.
"That's.... close enough. Just remember who you're clicking at. These guys are real people and you will take their lives if they're shot. These are not metal or wood targets."
"I'll.... Keep that in mind, Connor..." I looked down. We all walked to the door. Connor moved his way in front of me.
"Now remember, watch how and when you blink. We do not know where 173's location is at the moment."
"Yes sir."
"Are you ready Y/n? Serena?" He asked us, about to manually open the door.
"Yes." I nodded at him as Serena did the same.
"Oh." I handed him his flashlight back, but he just gave it back to me.
"Huh?"
"I have a flashlight on my larger gun. Keep it for your safety." He pressed the button to open the door. It opened as it did. He slid his larger gun from behind him to his front. He got on one knee and looked forwards, then left over the railing, checking for any hostiles. He kept his voice quiet. He signaled to come and follow him. I walked along the walkway, holding Serena's hand in my left, with my M45 in my other. I held my breath. It was so quiet... The only noise was the tapping of our feet on the metal floor. It felt like an eternity. After making it through the walkway, we stopped at the hallway.
"This room is clear for now." He said. I let out my breath and sighed.
"Heck, that was an intense 30 second walk. I swear it felt like I was going to die."
"It's alright. I'll protect you, kid... With my...." He held his gun out towards me.
"... With your Baretta ARX-200. Yeah Yeah.." I rolled my eyes.
"You do know a lot about guns, don't you."
"We're not having this conversation again." I said sternly.
"Where to from here?" I asked him.
"We have to go through 173's place..."
"Damn... We don't have another gas mask, do we?"
"I'm afraid not. You two figure it out." He said to us. I took out my gas mask and handed it to Serena.
"What is this for?" She asked.
"There's a room up ahead that has a bunch of black smoke in it. Just wear it when we get there, alright?"
"What about you?"
"I'll just hold my breath the best I can and shield my eyes maybe."
"B-but..."
"Just wear it." I sighed. She nodded in response. We walked along the hallway, then went down the stairs. Suddenly, we were jumped by a couple of male scientists that hid behind the stairwell. Connor open fired on one of them, killing them instantly. The other one, with quick haste, jumped onto Serena.
"Serena!" My eyes widened as I put the gun to the back of his head. I quickly closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. A loud bang came before a thud as the body went next to the girl. The bullet went right through the skull of the man. It landed right next to Serena's head. She screamed, her body shaking in fear. She had bits of blood on her face. My ears were still ringing a bit.
"Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill." She started mumbling to herself. After a minute or two, she calmed down and I helped her up.
"You okay?" I asked her.
"Y-You killed him."
"I know... I had too. If I didn't, things wouldn't have been good for you. I'm sorry you had to see that, but that's what it's going to be like from now on until we get out. Okay? Trust me, I'll keep you safe." I said as she nodded. I wiped the blood off of her face with my jumpsuit. We then went through the door to the right of the stairs. We passed the hallway with the elevator and then the hallway with the recursive, looping rooms. After that, we stopped.
"Alright, Serena, put on your mask. It'll only be for a minute." I said to her.
"Okay." She put on the mask as we got ready to enter the next room. Connor opened the door as we all walked in. I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeves as I squinted my eyes. I coughed heavily. After a minute of walking through the gas chamber, we reached the other side and went through the door. After it closed, Serena took off her mask as I fell to my knees, coughing heavily.
"Y/n!!" She got worried and kneeled beside me. I held my hand up to her.
"I-I'm fine. I need some air... gimme a minute." I started breathing in and out, trying to recirculate fresh oxygen into my own system. After a bit of breathing, I got up, feeling better. We walked down the hallway where the cubicles were. I looked down over the railing. The rubber duck was gone.
"Huh.. Neat." I said, us pressing forward to the door.
"You guy's ready?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. You good, Serena?" I asked her.
"K-kind of. I'm worried something bad is going to happen when we go in there."
"It'll be alright. We'll take care of it. Now there will be dead bodies in there, so you need to get used to seeing them." I explained to her as she nodded.
"Alright. I'm ready." She held onto my left arm as Connor opened the door looking into the large open cell of SCP-173. There wasn't much blood at all. There were about 5-6 corpses that I could see from over the railings, two of which were D-Class personnel. The rest were soldiers much like Connor.
"Jesus Christ...." I was in awe by the atmosphere of the room.
"D-Don't use the Lord's name in vain, please..." Serena looked down and shyly tugged on my arm.
"Sorry about that.." I chuckled a bit. We all walked down the stairs, moving around one of the dead guards as we went down. I went over to one of the dead subjects and moved his head around. His neck was like jelly from it being violently snapped by 173. The room smelled like shit and death.
"H-Hey Connor? How many subjects were tested today?" I asked him.
"Three. Why?"
"There are two subjects here."
"One must've survived. How bout that."
"My question is, where's Elazar?"
"I dunno where the chief is." Connor shrugged.
"Don't you have a walkie?"
"Damn..." He pulled out his walkie from his belt and radioed in. As he spoke, I could hear the other end of the walkie at the door to the right of our position. I walked over and picked up a lone walkie.
"She must have left it here." I said.
"If we become separated, we can use this." I added to my previous statement.
"Good. We need to keep moving so we can get further up before she starts getting sore from her clothes." He told me. I nodded as we went through the door where the walkie was. We were met with a long hallway with a weird electric thing in the middle that sparked every so often with electricity running through it.
"What the heck Is that thing?" I asked, confused about the weird thing.
"Think of it as a gate. It will incapacitate SCP's that're dumb enough to go through it at the wrong time."
"So wait... You just walk through right after it zaps and you'll be good?"
"Yep."
"Alright let's go then." I went first, waiting for it to zap. After it went, I quickly jumped over along with Serena. After the next zap, Connor walked over. We then went through the door, it opening to a circular room with two doors. One on the left and one on the right.
"Okay, which one do we go I-...." I started hearing a weird noise from behind me. I didn't know if anyone else could hear it. I turned around and saw a black mass appearing on the wall. It looked like black goop almost, which got me worried even more. Then, a humanoid figure slowly emerged from the black part of the wall.
"C-C-Connor! I-It's the Old Man!! We gotta go, NOW!" I said frantically. Connor quickly turned around and saw the entity walk closer.
"The fuck?! How did he get up here?! Left, let's go!" He yelled as we all ran through the left door after opening it.
"Wait! I have an idea! You guys stay in here. I'll be right back!" I quickly ran out of the room.
"The hell are you doing, Kid!?! Damnit!" Connor pressed the button to manually close the door.
"Y/n!!!" Serena held her hand out as the door closed.
"Alright you old coot. Let's go." I said, looking at the old man walking towards me. I quickly ran around him and went through the door where we just were. I ran past the electric gate and waited for him to emerge from the door in which I just went through.
*Connor's POV*
That kid, always thinking of ways to do things. I knew that left wasn't the right way. It just came to my mind so I said it out loud. We were in a medium sized room with a number of doors. There were dead bodies of guards and test subjects on the ground scattered about. Nothing was alive in the room. We just waited for the kid to get back, if he can.. I'm just hoping that that he doesn't get put into the old man's pocket dimensions.
*Y/N'S POV*
I waited for the old man to appear, but nothing came.
"Where is that Boomer at?" I asked myself. Suddenly, I heard him come from behind me. He quickly walked towards me. I didn't think to hesitate, so I ran through the gate, not knowing when it was going to zap. The old man went to the middle of the gate, but before his hand touched my neck, the gate electrocuted him. His body fell into a goopy puddle under the gate. I stood there for a good minute or two to make sure he was truly gone. After a bit, all was safe. I walked through the door that I just came from and I went to the left, opening the door to Connor and Serena. Connor quickly pointed his ARX at me and then let it down, knowing that it was me.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" He asked me, angrily.
"I used the gate thing to stop the old man from chasing us for a while." I explained to him.
"You're one ballsy kid, I'll give you that."
"Hmph." I smirked at him.
"Let's rest here for a bit. The room is full of corpses, but we'll be fine for a bit." He said, laying against the wall. I nodded and sat next to him. Serena sat next to me. I looked at her.
"You alright, Serena?" I asked her. She had a slightly angry look on her face.
"W-What's wrong?" I asked her a second time.
"You really worried me!! I thought you were going to die from that guy." She pouted a bit. I just chuckled.
"Some grumpy old geezer isn't going to kill me that easily. Rest your legs from walking... You'll need them for later." I smiled at her. I pulled her head onto my shoulder, so she could rest. Connor took off his helmet and pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, lighting it with a lighter that had the SCP logo on it. He took a nice deep breath and breathed out, releasing a nice puff of smoke.
*Connor's POV*
I couldn't believe this was happening. Another fucked up thing happening at a site. Though this time, it wasn't my fault. Damn...
"Hey, Connor... I wanted to ask you while we're at a stopping point.... Why are you letting her escape with us?" The boy asked me. I knew he wouldn't give up on the subject, so I might as well tell him why.
"I had... the same feeling you did one day." I looked up at the ceiling.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked me, confused as to what I meant.
"You know when I told you that the someone fucked up the pipes at Site-17?"
"Yeah?"
"I was the one that did it."
"WHAT?!?!" The kid looked surprised to hear my answer. I couldn't tell if he hated me, or if he was scared... I just sighed.
"When I was working there, I was assigned to guard SCP-105's cell. During my break, I was allowed access to the inside, so I would talk to her. After a long time of learning about her and getting to know her. I learned her motives and her life goals. She couldn't achieve anything being held up in that cell. Hell, she didn't see the sun in a long while. I.. I wanted her to be free. She didn't need to be held in the facility at all. She was a safe class entity, with a life and everything in front of her, but it was taken... Taken by these dumbasses... And put in experiments... I hated every bit of it. She didn't want to be there, but she held it in cause she enjoyed seeing and talking to me. To be honest, she almost felt like a daughter to me, but more importantly, she was my friend. So, I staged an escape. I hid a bomb in the main pipework of the facility. It went off and I ran to her cell. She was already unconscious, so I had to carry her. I took my helmet off and put it on her so she could breathe clean air. On the way, I had to shoot people, maneuver around dead bodies and dodge bullets to get to the entrance. My lungs were filled with so much toxic gas, that I collapsed on the ground. She finally woke up and saw me. Then, they took her away as I passed out. I've never seen her since that day. You two and I are the only people that know about what truly happened at site 17." I told him. I told him the entire story of what happened.
"Damn... You did all of that all by yourself... just for her... I am kind of like you, except I didn't cause this incident." Y/n looked down.
"Yeah... I wonder if she's alive... somewhere..." I said as I threw my cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.
"Y'know.... I bet she's looking for you." The kid said to me. My eyes widened to his statement and a small tear came in my eye.
"You're a good kid... Thanks..." I looked at him and rubbed his head.
*Y/N'S POV*
Connor was the cause of the Site-17 incident. Damn... That's actually pretty neat.. All just for Iris Thompson. Suddenly, I felt a sharp tugging on my jumpsuit. I looked down at Serena who was wincing in pain.
"Oh Crap!! I just forgot that she has a limit to her clothes!" I yelled as Connor got up.
"Shit... Okay... Looks like we gotta split up, kid. You go right. I know a way we can meet up If I go left, so I'll give you info on where to go when you need it." Connor said, putting his helmet back on and heading to one of the doors in the room.
"Yes sir." I said, getting up. I helped Serena up and took here out of the room. I helped remove her clothing. Parts of her skin were red.
*Serena's POV*
"Damn.... I'm so sorry, Serena." He said to me with a sad voice.
"N-No... It's okay. I'll be fine... Just give me a little bit. I'll be alright."
"Thank goodness. I was worried there for a moment." He said, holding his chest. A long silence came, but I broke it.
"H-Hey... Y/n... Can I ask you something?" I looked at him. I thought now would be a better time to talk about what happened earlier today.
"Yeah? What?" He asked me.
"S-So... I was wondering why you... k-kissed my cheek....When you did it, it felt really nice.." My face went a bit red in asking the question. His face went a bit red too.
"S-Serena... I.. I think I...L-Love you, okay?" He looked away from me. My eyes widened to his response.
"L-L-L-Love?? I... uh... I don't know what to say.." My heart started pounding faster and faster.
"My heart is beating really fast right now.." I added.
"It.. seems you like me too, huh?"
"I...think I do... if this is what it feels like."
"How do you feel?" He asked me.
"When I'm near you, I feel like I can be a normal girl. I feel safe, happy. You don't understand how long I've had to deal with men, dying to get their hands on me that ended up being killed. When I met you, I knew... you were different.. You were someone special, that I could be with." I poured my heart out, tears flowing out of my closed eyes and down my cheeks. Suddenly, I felt a sensation I never had felt before. My eyes shot open widely. His lips were connected to mine. I... I couldn't even describe it... I didn't know what to do. After a couple seconds, he moved his face away from mine. He wore his normal warm smile as I put my hand over my lips.
"Y-You..."
"Serena.. I want you to trust me with your life and know that I'm here to help you one hundred percent." He held my hands.
"If we get out of this alive... I want to be with you... I want you to be happy and free and full of life." He said. My tears came back to me as I smiled at him. I nodded with glee.
"Right... I'll put my life into your hand's... Y/n." I dried my tears up as we walked to the door.
*Y/N'S POV*
"Dang... Every male scientist and subject will be our butts. We need to be careful. You ready to go?" I asked her.
"Yeah... let's head on." She stated. I held onto her right hand with my left as we entered the door.