A cold feeling washed over Mason, his heart suddenly taking a dive into his chest. He had no idea why it happened, but the words that were uttered, even if he didn't hear them completely, scared him to his very core.
The words seemed to wash over all of them, as it would seem. Both Marissa and Axel seemed to wake up. Marissa woke up so suddenly that Hannah was nearly flung off of her as she bolted upright. Both seemed wide awake and feared dotted their eyes.
They all stared at the barricaded door, not knowing why they were so fearful for uttered words they barely heard. The very air itself was stained with fear. As it seems, blinding light emitted from the outside, shining directly into the once pleasantly lit store.
Three lonesome figures approached the main door, their outlines clearly indicating their species: Foxes. The air grew colder still, all being able to see their own breath as they breathed in sharply, hearing the main door begin to squeak open.
B-64 expected some resistance to the tons of furniture stacked against the glass door, but it just gave way easily. Mason knew it was not due to him not stacking properly, as he had meticulously made sure that every piece was sound and flush against each other.
The air took another dive in temperature, Hannah shivering alongside Mason and the rest. A lone figure walked inside, a strut to their walk that although wasn't imposing, still managed to cause dread seep into their very being.
B-64 was the first to stand up, mechanical whirrs and trills emitting from his parts as he stood. His entire body was numb to the core, but if what he was feeling was danger, he wouldn't hesitate to protect his Mason and his friends.
A soft buzzing sound emitted, alongside the blue haze of blue-hard light as his shield extended out from his arm, technicolor strobes of light emitting as the generator went into overdrive. The sheer dread that he felt caused it to overreact.
The fox stopped for a moment, turning his head to get a better look at the shield. He turned again, pressing a small device alongside his right ear, "Target confirmed and non-hostile. Defensive. Activate the anchors."
Soon after he finished saying that, B-64 felt a wave of energy pulse through his entire body. It felt like every molecule in him was being torn apart. He dropped to the ground, his shield fizzling like there was no energy to support it's generator.
An abhorrent noise spun through his head, tearing through his encoded sound blockers and sinking it's rotten teeth in his mind. It slowly began to fade as he felt energy being drained from his body, slowly evaporating until just a sliver remained.
Mason quickly rushed to his side, digging his heel into the ground and pushing up with his paws, managing to prop B-64 up on his shoulders as he was too weak to do anything resembling standing.
Hannah instantly shouted in anger, her little face deformed into a harsh display of child-like wrath. She screamed loudly for their heads, yelling so hard that as the fox began to walk towards B-64, she nearly shot her vocal cords.
Axel and Marissa sat, stupefied as they watched the fox walk up to Mason and B-64, finally breaching into the light of the store.
The fox was a light beige color, a fair cream under his jaw, and the tips of his ears seemed to be gnawed off. He was wearing what looked like a guards uniform, but somehow more imposing, like the aura that encapsulated it's being was forged from pure dread.
He reached up to a small earpiece in his ear, speaking, "Target nullified. Requesting Anchors be turned off." And they were, as B-64 felt somewhat better, but still not strong enough to stand on his own.
The fox quickly turned around and signed for his squad members to enter the building as well. Mason held a perpetual scowl on his face, even as eight more foxes entered the small opening in the store, each toting more guns than what even the town owned.
"You'll be coming with us." The first fox that entered said, his voice so monotone and without emotion that it physically hurt to hear it. Like nails scratching against a chalkboard. Mason couldn't help but wonder what horrors he had to witness to speak like that.
Marissa finally shook out of her stupor, agreeing with the silent incarnation of wrath that was Hannah, "Why the hell should we go with you?" It seems that with them somehow hurting B-64, she forgot about what they were running from in the first place.
The second fox turned to look at her, his fiery orange eyes peering into her very soul, "I do believe that you'll die if you do not. Of course, we'd take the Skip either way, but we'd much rather have you come with us. We dislike leaving children to die."
His voice was hoarse and dark, with an air of bland and uninspired. Just by the way he said the last line, Marissa understood that he wasn't above killing them, so she stayed silent.
"We're not kids!" Axel said as he also snapped out of his shocked and sleep-deprived state. He seemed indignant at the fact that he was indirectly called a child. Mason couldn't care less, all he wanted to know was what happened to B-64.
"Considering both of you type with the level of five year olds, I suspect that my assessment is correct. Either you come with us and don't die, or you stay and die, it doesn't matter to us." The second fox said in response, turning to look at Axel with the same passion.
"What did you do to B-64?" Mason asked, holding B-64's limp body in his hands as he scowled at the group, no longer fearing what they were and what they looked like. The first fox looked at him, even appearing to give a small grin.
But a third fox answered him, one that actually contained some monocum of emotion buried underneath trauma, "We are not entitled to answer you. We have been tasked with taking Hack one way or another. Come with us now, we do not have much longer to debate before something happens."
"Did yo-"
"Shut up, get up, and follow us." The third fox said, clearly making it as their questions were not even worth considering, which they weren't. The seventh, eighth, and ninth foxes all helped grab one of Mason's friends, the ninth taking hold of Hannah and transporting her to what looked like an armored van.
The eighth took hold of Axel and roughly pulled him along, quickly pushing him inside the armored van alongside the seventh, who pushed Marissa inside without much thought.
But Mason was treated differently. The first fox was the one who grabbed him and helped him move B-64 into another van, one that seemed designed to be nearly indestructible. He gingerly pushed the weak protogen into the vehicle and helped Mason enter as well.
As soon as the doors to the back closed, the lights inside fizzled on, bathing the room in a yellow fog like haze. Now that Mason was closer, he could see a small nametag pinned to the black vest on the fox: Gears.
Gears looked at B-64 like a child looking at the latest toy. Without the professional atmosphere, nor the weapons pointed at his friends' heads, Mason found that Gears looked more alive, like he was acting out there to be the leader.
"So, this is the thing that's caused us so much grief, huh?" Gears asked, shifting in his seat to lay against the leather bound backs, "Not even Montauk caused us this amount of trouble, haha." Gears wheezed out the laugh, seemingly unused to the action that was laughing period.
Once he saw that Mason had no reaction, he said, "Sorry. Little inside joke. Still, this thing's caused some much damage. Can't believe it."
B-64 stared at Gears for a moment, jolting backwards as the car sped up in an instant, accelerating at much greater a speed than what should be possible. The fox was lively at the moment, but he was hiding something. B-64 could feel the amount of secrets hidden away in his mind.
"Who are you people?" Mason asked, a little curious even with what happened. He hugged B-64's side a little subconsciously, enjoying the little warmth provided in the very cool car. Gears laughed a little.
"We are The Foundation. Technically I ain't supposed to tell you anything, but seeing as you're out plan C, I don't think I have much options at the moment." Gears said, shifting in his seat once more in a vain attempt to get comfortable in the moving vehicle. Mason steadied himself against B-64, who seemed to enjoy Mason's hand on his hand.
"What's the-"
"Group. Organization, government agency. Spy thing. Any word for anything, we're that. We're also technically a charity, so there's that. We protect people from anything that might, you know, end the world." Gears' face fell as he said those words, tsking as he added, "Not that we're doing much of anything right now."
"You... Protect the world from what?" Mason asked, now inthralld by the idea that he and his friends were even considered by something that bug, even ignoring the creepy aspect. B-64 was less than thrilled to be caught by The Foundation, again.
"So-"
Gears shook his head, peering down at a watch that seemed to materialize itself on his wrist, "All you're big questions are going to be answered. Just sit tight." gears peered at the watch again, then added, "Wouldja look at that."
The vehicle slowed down, nearly jostling Mason into B-64. As Mason tried to peel himself away from the overbearing amount of fluff on B-64's chest, Gears opened the back doors to the van, appearing once more as a stone-faced, monotone soldier, "Please step out of the vehicle."
Mason helped B-64 step down and out of the van, stepping onto what looked like rusted clockwork. That somehow struck a chord with B-64, though he wasn't sure why. Gears helped Mason carry B-64 around the van.
His friends and sister appeared next to them, having experienced a much more horrible ride than he had. Hannah was crying for her brother, and instantly shot out and hugged his jeans in fear.
Axel was shivering from the intense cold that radiated around them despite being in the summer, and Marissa was staring ahead of them, her mouth open.
And Mason and B-64 followed suit, finding that the massive stone building in front of them seemed to break down, crumbling like an old painting, revealing a large and imposing white building in a horrible state of disrepair.
____________________________________________________________________________
"And welcome to... SCP Park!"
Okay, so I have to clear things up a little about what kind of universe this is set in. It is very different from the SCP-1 universe we know and love-hate. That's why things have different names, and why Gears isn't a doctor.
I hope you liked how I wrote this one, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Thanks for reading!
~Candle