Animal Antics

Link to article: Animal Antics.

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[[include :scp-wiki:theme:black-highlighter-theme]]
[[include :scpdsandbox:theme:raviolistyle]]
[[module CSS]]
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[[/module]]
[[=]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/=]]
Through the cool, air-conditioned corridors of Site-225 walks a senior researcher. Equipped with a lab coat and clipboard, he steps through the security checkpoint into the wildlife containment wing.

It's on the more peaceful end of the spectrum as far as containment zones go, all things considered, a fair place to spend the tail end of his career. His tasks are numerous, but manageable, and truthfully he's come to enjoy taking care of the anomalous animals handled at the site.

A few emergency shutters are passed under on his route, installed for instantaneous activation during breaches when someone needs to put a wall between themself and an anomaly. Their buttons are disabled at the moment, of course; no need to close them during normal hours and risk clipping someone's foot.

The researcher passes by beige wall after beige wall, though he knows behind each bland exterior is a specialized habitat of appropriate size specially built for the containment of a creature that defies the natural laws as we know them. Except the one coming up on his left; that one is just an employee lounge.

He glances at his clipboard.

[[div class="email" style="width: 95%;background-color: #FEFFFF;border: solid 2px #333333"]]
[[=]]
[[size 110%]]**Daily Schedule**[[/size]]
----
**Date:** 11/12/2024
[[/=]]
||= 7:30 ||= SCP-6922 feeding and inspection ||
||= 8:00 ||= Habitats C8-F16 climate control maintenance check ||
||= 9:00 ||= SCP-6366's daily meeting ||
||= 11:30 ||= Lunch ||
||= 12:00 ||= APD-1492 analysis meeting ||
[[/div]]

His legs are already carrying him towards the small chamber dedicated to housing SCP-6922 even as he rereads the schedule. However, just as he passes the employee lounge, something strange happens.

[[size 115%]]**BRRRINGGG** **BRRRRINGGGG**[[/size]]

The sound of a ringing phone distracts him from his duty. Seeing as he has more than enough time to feed SCP-6922 and ensure it is still within its tank before his next task, he leans into the room. So early in the morning, it is vacant; not everyone has the luxury of a schedule that begins after 5 a.m.

On the wall, the room's landline phone, hooked up to the site's internal communications system, is ringing. This is quite odd, as it's ordinarily only used to contact specific staff members when they're needed; the employee lounge isn't anyone's office.

The researcher steps into the room and picks up the phone, "Hello? You've rung the employee lounge. If you're looking for someone, I may be able to point you to their office phone."

An unusual voice answers. It's high-pitched and hoarse, as though someone were attempting a silly voice and trying way too hard. "Hello? Dr. Buttsmack?"

"Excuse me? It's Dr. Bushtack, thank you very much. With whom am I speaking?" the doctor refrains from acknowledging the mysterious caller already knowing his name so as to potentially extract more information before acknowledging the anomalous nature of the call. However, he lacks the restraint not to correct the voice on its crude mispronunciation.

"Five, seven, uh-" the sound of a page turning and brief humming is heard through the receiver, "Nine, that's the one. There's holes in your eyes."

Dr. Bushtack withholds a sigh and continues to listen.

"Eight, twelve, over your shoulder is a pot of gold."

Dr. Bushtack furls an eyebrow.

"Uh... One, two, buckle my shoe?"

The bemused doctor silently records the conversation in the margins on his clipboard.

"Are you still there? Have you, uh, gone yet? I'll just, uhm, assume you, yeah, alright." The receiver clicks.

Once the doctor has finished his note-taking, he puts the receiver back on the hook. "Great," he sighs to himself. He has some lovely paperwork ahead of him regarding the breach of security and likely anomaly he's just encountered. He turns away from his scheduled duties and begins to walk back to his office.

----

A low hum followed by a quick buzz and a flash of light from the small, black box attached to the corner of [[[SCP-6922]]]'s terrarium indicates an hourly scan. Agent Lou, the small crab contained within, is privy to exactly this.

The tiny crab pulls out a long rope of carefully-woven plant fiber from its enclosure, which it's assembled with the endless empty time it's found itself with.

Through careful maneuvering, he manages to get one end up over the top of the terrarium's edge. "Ugh, I wasted too much time dealing with these jerks," the tiny crab mutters to itself.

Aided by buoyancy, the crab makes its way up the rope and onto the edge of the tank. From there, it's merely a short hop into a ventilation duct. Freedom is within claw's reach.

Agent Lou maneuvers through the vents, claws raised as it pushes through the light breeze blustering around it. Within a few minutes, he's made it to the breaker room for the entire wing. If he could, he'd smile.

He begins maneuvering into the room and up to the many fuses and wires that act as the site's veins.

"Now, which to... Oh, forget it," the crab begins to use its tiny claws to saw through each wire one by one. It doesn't take long for the lights to dim and turn red as alarms blare and the wildlife containment wing switches to backup power.

"Yeah, I think that was the one."

----

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 150%]]**EMERGENCY ALERT**[[/size]]
----
This is an automated security notice for {{**Director Irkiv**}}.
Massive power failure detected in {{**Wildlife Containment**}} wing.
Automated security response engaged.
Reserve power systems engaged in {{**Power conserving**}} mode.
Assigned MTF {{**Eta-7**}} alerted and awaiting orders.

[[size 115%]]**[Close]**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

Chaos rears its head across the entire wing of the site. Red emergency lights sweep room after room, evacuation alarms blare in all employee areas, and research personnel of all levels are wiping their brows and glancing about them anxiously as security personnel escort them to the nearest zone checkpoint.

Among the alarms and red lights and heavy footfall, there comes a great stirring. Squawks and trills and shrieks and barks echo through the halls as anomalous creatures are disturbed from their monotonous rest. In a secure chamber, a buzzard cowers in its cell from the horrible racket. In an instant, it lashes out, and its entire chamber crumbles to dust around it.

[[[SCP-6773]]] has breached containment.

----
[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 150%]]**Security Notice**[[/size]]
----
This is an automated security notice for {{**Director Irkiv**}}.

MTF {{**Eta-7**}} successfully dispatched.

Containment alarms triggered in areas:
|| {{**Low-Threat Holding Area A2**}} ||
|| {{**Low-Threat Holding Area B1**}} ||
|| {{**Chamber A-6773**}} ||
|| {{**Testing and Storage Chamber C5**}} ||

Emergency response estimated arrival in {{**25 minutes**}}

[[size 115%]]**[Close]**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

In a large building a short distance from the site proper, an alarm blares. The entire security building jumps into action immediately, just as protocol dictates. Members of each task force line up in their groups, guards stand at attention, and security managers move to check the alert immediately.

The intercom screeches briefly as it comes online, "Eta-7, Birds of Prey, this one's for you. I want you all ready in 5. Commander, ready your squad; you'll receive the details as we understand them through your personal radio. I'll have a personnel carrier ready in a moment. As for the rest of you, remain alert."

Before the intercom even clicks off, Eta-7 are already preparing themselves. Each member arms themself, straps into their tactical gear, and stands against the wall as their commander takes in the details and prepares to brief them.

"We've got multiple confirmed or suspected containment breaches of varying severity. Our primary objective is the recontainment of SCP-6773. The wildlife containment wing is going into lockdown, so it'll just be us. Most research staff are already accounted for," the commander observes several shudders at the mention of the vulture, "Leave your nerves at the door. It's time to move."

----

In separate chambers a few rooms apart, the two anomalies comprising [[[SCP-6366]]] contemplate their situation.

Arsieno props himself up on his fins and stares through the glass of his enclosure at the empty doorway where the researcher overseeing him had hurriedly disappeared. "This again? No opening to escape through this time..." the fish attempts to propel itself over the glass barrier with its fins, but it's far too high, "Hmm, I'd hate for this opportunity to go to waste. I wonder how Axel's doing."

Axel runs in a small circle, flapping his wings wildly, "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap-" The shoebill emits a loud clattering noise in his distress that doesn't help the riot of sounds outside the cell. He slams into the door of his enclosure and beats his wings against it to no avail.

After a moment, the oddball creatures begin to draw together, their daily meeting time having been entirely missed due to the ongoing breach.

"Aha! Now we'll be free," Arsieno allows him to be dragged along into and forcibly through the wall of the room by the familiar pull.

In a separate room, the sounds of a distressed shoebill only grow louder, "No! No! Back, invisible demon! You can't take me!" The bird panics and flails about as the wall bends and breaks in a bird-shaped hole around him as he's pulled through.

The two are pulled through the walls of their containment chambers, across multiple corridors, and through the wall of the employee lounge. Arsieno raises his fins in greeting, and Axel finally stops flailing as he realizes what's happening.

"Axel!" calls the fish to the stork.

"Arsieno!" replies the relieved stork in turn, "So are we having another tour, then?"

"You're messing with me," says Arsieno.

"What, you don't want to have a look around the place? We didn't really get the chance to last time we got out. I haven't seen this room before-"

"Axel! We're escaping you idiot! Remember where your aimless wandering got us last time? We can be free!"

Axel briefly puts his bill in his wing before returning his gaze to Arsieno's, "Alright, alright. Where do we do that?"

"How am I supposed to know? Pick me up and let's look for an exit," Arsieno responds.

"Well, I figured if you wanted to escape so bad you'd at least know where to go," Axel replies as he lifts his fishy friend onto his back.

"You want directions? Go... that way," Arsieno motions to the left of the door with one fin, and the two set off.

----

In a lab room connected to a test chamber, dozens of small insect terrariums are laid out in neat rows on cold metal tables. Already, two have overturned and three are conspicuously absent of their former occupants.

Site-225's store of [[[SCP-6942]]] instances, taken on to lighten the load for Outpost-443, has been left unattended in the commotion.

One terrarium contains a specimen of Nicrophorus nepalensis, a type of burying beetle. The beetle's front is pressed up against the glass, and it is hastily chewing through it, emitting sparks as it eats. Its terrarium had been reinforced, of course, but not enough to stop it forever. Within a few moments, not only is it free, but it's twice the size it was before.

The beetle scurries out of the room, leaving behind its former enclosure labeled "Subject-07".

----

Boots fall heavy on a cold tile floor. Weapons hot, Eta-7 march in.

The squad of eight men exit a checkpoint that reseals behind them to maintain lockdown procedures. A man following behind the commander's lead watches the real-time movement of their target via its sub-dermal tracking.

"It'll be a few corridors down. Keep steady, approach with caution. We can't know what it'll throw at us," the navigator states.

"Roger that. Those of you who weren't here for its last rodeo, be advised, the anomaly is scarce in its usage of reality bending, but it can kill you," here the commander snaps his fingers for effect, "just like that."

"Understood," replies a few voices in unison.

"And recall that you're to shoot to injure, not to kill, unless absolutely necessary. Is that understood, Carlos?" the commander puts some emphasis on his subordinate's name and glances over his shoulder at one member of his squad.

Carlos shrugs, "Yeah, yeah, I had Director Irkiv yell at me enough from the last incident. I get it."

"Halt," the navigator speaks abruptly. In good sense, it doesn't take the others long to listen and come to a stop. "It should be just around the corner. It doesn't take much to incapacitate it judging by what logs I read of the last incident."

"Alright, we'll perch here and wait for it. That direction should be a dead end, and we've got nothing but time. We just have to wait for it to-" the commander's speech is abruptly cut off as his body abruptly collapses into bird seed. All his equipment drops into the pile.

"Oh shit-" the squad turn to find SCP-6773 standing the corridor behind them.

Rather than the way they'd entered from, the hall now leads into a different intersection. Judging by the rampaging bird and the pile of seeds spilling out from around the corner behind it, it's evidently leading to the hall where the anomaly had been cornered moments before.

The navigator explodes into feathers like a fancy pillow put through the wash on the wrong settings, and the rest of the squad opens fire. Though they disregard the mantra of 'shoot to injure' in favor of their own survival, it does them little good as a concrete barrier manifests between them and the vulture.

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 150%]]**Emergency Alert**[[/size]]
----
This is an automated security notice for {{**Director Irkiv**}}.

Distress signal received from {{**E7-03**}}.
Incident: {{**Not selected**}}
Description: {{**No description given**}}
Request for Backup: {{**Y**}}

[[size 115%]]**[Close]**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

----

A shoebill stork walks cautiously down the hall, past closed emergency shutters and office doors left carelessly open, "Arsieno, are you sure this is the way to the exit?"

"No; what gave you the idea I knew where we were going?" came the reply from his back.

"Well, I still haven't seen anything that looks like a way out," says the stork.

Arsieno prepares a retort, but both fall silent as they catch sight of a labcoat dropped on the floor in the center of the hallway, draped over top of something. "Hey, what is that?"

Axel moves forward and slowly nudges aside the loose attire with one leg. There's nothing but an alarm clock underneath. "Bad news is what it is. Do you think it's..."

"No, of course not, I think it's the other horrible monster we've seen that turns people into alarm clocks- Of course it's the buzzard, you idiot," Arsieno quips.

"Yeah, well-" Axel quickly stops talking to listen in on the sounds of movement up ahead. Footsteps, the gentle scraping on a cold concrete floor, and a few other assorted noises dictate something to be up ahead.

Axel steps cautiously toward the source of the noise in a containment chamber just down the hall. Warm, red light is cast out from the doorway illuminating a moving shadow that the bird can't quite make out.

"Axel! Axel what are you doing?" Arsieno question in a hissing whisper. Axel continues to move closer, ever determined. "You're going to get us killed, you idiot!" Arsieno protests as quietly as he can.

"Shhh, I'm curious," Axel whispers back as he creeps closer.

The bird inches towards the door one step at a time, closer and closer to the mysterious figure inside. Arsieno doesn't dare make a noise by now, but he tugs on his friend's feathers in an attempt to dissuade him still. Just as they reach the door...

A man in a lab coat steps out of the doorway with a confused expression, "So that's what was making all that noise." His name tag reads "Dr. Bushtack".

"See? I told you it was nothing," Axel says as though he weren't just as fearful as Arsieno.

"What were you doing in there?" Arsieno demands, ignoring his friend.

"What are you doing out here?" the doctor asks in return.

Thinking fast, Axel convincingly replies, "Not escaping," prompting Arsieno to smack his fin against his face.

"Well lucky for you, I'm not on security. You aren't my concern at the moment. As long as you'll leave me be and not make more of a racket to draw something more dangerous over, I'm going to be on my way to hunker down and wait for a task force to collect me," the doctor states before promptly walking away.

"Huh, that was easier than expected," Arsieno states as Dr. Bushtack hurries away.

"Let's go see what he was doing," Axel says, wasting no time heading into the room.

In the room is a large enclosure blocked off with glass up to knee height, which dominates the latter half of the room. It includes a small area with plenty of water and a lone axolotl swimming in it. Outside of the enclosure is a set of monitoring equipment and computer terminals.

The pair glance at the label on the glass.

[[div class="email" style="width: 35%;background-color: #FEFFFF;border: solid 2px #333333"]]
||= Anomaly Pending Designation ||
||= ID: 1492 ||
[[/div]]

Upon closer inspection, they find a few loose bandages unwrapped and left floating in the enclosure along with a small amount of blood that slowly seems to disappear. The axolotl looks up at them with a vacant but nevertheless adorable expression.

"My goodness... It tried to eat him!" Axel exclaims as he watches the swirls of blood gradually fade away in the water.

"You're messing with me. You're not actually that dumb. You're messing with me," Arsieno says, exasperated.

"What do you think it did, then, smart guy?" Axel retorts.

"If he left the bandages behind and was uninjured when we saw him leave, it probably fixed his injury," Arsieno points out.

"Yeah, well? That... does make sense, actually."

After a few seconds of continuous eye contact with the specimen behind the glass, Arsieno prompts, "So what exactly are we doing here?"

"Good question," Axel replies, not looking away.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before we miss our chance," Arsieno urges Axel to get moving.

"Right, right."

The pair trot along through the halls for a while longer. After some time, they meet a crossroads. To the left, the sound of intermittent gunfire, screams, and buzzard shrieks echoes down the corridor. To the right, crackling, scuttling, and crunching emanates.

"Not liking our choices here," Arsieno observes, "and I didn't see anything back where we came from."

"Well, guess we had a good run then. We can just go back, maybe having a look around, and try again some other-" Axel is cut off by his fishy friend.

"No, no, no, we have to keep moving. Now let's see, which way to go?" Arsieno ponders the not-great options.

"Better the enemy you know than the enemy you don't, right? I think that's what they say," Axel suggests.

"Fuck that; I don't want to see that buzzard again at any point in my life," Arsieno replies sharply.

"Yeah actually, good call. To the right it is, then!" Axel trots off to the right with Arsieno still on his back.

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 150%]]**EMERGENCY ALERT**[[/size]]
----
This is an automated security notice for {{**Director Irkiv**}}.
Fire detected in {{**Wildlife Containment Wing: North Sector**}}.
Structural damage detected in {{**Wildlife Containment Wing: North Sector**}}.
Fire suppression systems: {{**Offline**}}

[[size 115%]]**[Close]**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

Crackling grows ever-louder as the pair wander down the hall, and the inescapable smell of smoke irritates their nostrils. Creaking support beams and groaning walls make the building sound alive, and the faint sound of crunching grows louder, louder, louder.

Locked doors that may have prevented passage have been eaten clean through, if not the walls around them. Even a few sturdy emergency shutters have been destroyed in the same way. Axel and Arsieno scan each room in opposite directions as they enter. Nothing yet, or at least nothing visible through the smoke.

"I'm having second thoughts," Axel concedes after a few minutes wandering, the smoke stinging his eyes.

"Think of it this way, the buzzard could be anywhere, the guys with guns could be anywhere, but nobody's going to walk into the area full of smoke," Arsieno responds, "Besides, maybe whatever's been leaving holes in the walls has chewed us an escape route."

Axel lets out a quiet hum as he considers this, though a pile of smoldering ashes in the center of the hall doesn't increase his confidence. He steps over them carefully.

They reach the end of another corridor and are faced with an in-tact wall, though an open door on the left leads into another room. It may have been some sort of office before, but it's barren now; every document has been turned to cinder, and most of the furnishings are only recognizable by their vague outline, each one charred if not outright burning.

"It can't be much further," Arsieno encourages, "We've been walking a fair way through here."

"It better not be," Axel responds as he recoils a foot from stepping on ashes that are still a bit too hot, "I can barely breathe in all the smoke."

"I haven't heard any crunching in a good minute," Arsieno notes, "Maybe whatever was doing that found its way out and left it wide open for us. That'd sure be-"

Arsieno is rudely interrupted by the loud sound of mastication coming from his left. The pair look over to see dents and imperfections forming in the wall. Suddenly, with a shower of ash and rubble, it collapses open.

Subject-07 has found them. The massive beetle has grown to a gargantuan size from eating chunks out of the site, and a constant fire seems to follow in its wake. Smoke billows from the room behind it alongside the raging flames.

"Run?" Axel asks, though it's not much of a question.

"Run," Arsieno affirms.

Arsieno grips Axel as tightly as a fish can, and Axel takes off through the door they were heading for. The beetle pursues without thought or hesitation, catching sight of what will help it grow far better than cement and steel: fresh meat.

Axel ducks through a hole left in the wall and dances through the hot ashes scattering the floor, haste not permitting him the liberty of watching his step. He slams shut a door behind him with a wing as he exits into the hall, but Subject-07 destroys it along with most of the door frame.

"Can you run any faster?" Arsieno glances back at the chasing insect.

"Maybe if //someone// didn't suggest going down the hallway full of smoke and fire my lungs would be getting more air and my feet would be getting more not-on-fire!" Axel replies between breaths. The beetle is gaining on them.

"Maybe we can hide instead," Arsieno suggests.

"I think it's a bit late for that," Axel points out.

"No, no, no, when we round this next corner duck into a room," Arsieno insists, "It's a big, dumb bug, it'll fall for it."

His brain may not be fully swayed by the idea, but his aching feet and choked lungs certainly are. Axel rounds the corner and ducks into a door just past it as instructed, hiding in a corner to the side of it.

Subject-07 blazes past, and Axel takes a breath.

"See? My ideas are always the best," Arsieno boasts.

Axel turns to see the beetle entering through a set of double doors in the wall to his right, which opens into the next corridor after where they'd entered, "Agree to disagree."

The two take off again, the big bug still in blazing pursuit of the bird and his buddy.

Axel's feet smack against singed tile floor as the duo continue their escapade, but the beetle is still faster. Just as they pass beneath an emergency shutter, Arsieno turns to see how close it is and loses his grip. The fish flops unflatteringly to the floor following his fleeting falter.

"Arsieno!" Axel turns and slaps his feet on the floor in the opposite direction, taking a moment to counteract his momentum and return to collect his fallen friend.

The beetle bears down on them both, flying towards them in a fiery rage. Axel's eyes grow wide as the great flaming death approaches, and Arsieno shouts in terror. The creature's head overtakes Arsieno and there's a loud slam with a simultaneous sickening crunch.

Suddenly, everything is still.

"Arsieno? Arsieno?"

After a brief moment, there's movement, and the fish emerges from beneath the head of the beast, "Axel? I thought- What happened-"

Upon turning to look at the creature, it becomes clear. The emergency shutter is closed, the metal gate spattered with bug blood. The beast's head, which the fish had crawled out from under, is all that's visible of it, the other half evidently on the other side of the now-dented shutter. The large button to Axel's right is pushed in.

"Did- Did you..." Arsieno is incredulous, "Alright, maybe I should give you a bit more credit. You saved my scales there."

Axel sighs and wipes his brow with a wing, "Yeah, I guess I did, huh? Maybe they'll give me another medal." After a brief moment of silence, he adds, "Do you think we can chance a sit after that? The smoke is probably keeping everything else away, and I need a rest after that."

"I can concede that," Arsieno says, waltzing over on his fins to sit next to Axel opposite the closed shutter, "But let's try to keep it brief."

"Yeah, yeah..." Axel leans back against the wall, beak pointed upward as he slumps down a little. He pays no mind to the soot staining his feathers. If he makes it out, he'll have plenty time for cleaning them.

The pair rest in peaceful silence for a few precious moments. Most of the smoke is kept out by the shutter, and the fires are already dying down, making it at the very least less unpleasant than before.

Suddenly, there comes a sound like bubbling and groaning from the other side of the shutter. Axel scarcely notices it, but Arsieno gives him a nudge.

"Huh?"

"Do you hear that?" Arsieno prompts.

"Hear what?" comes the reply.

"Listen."

Axel takes in the noise, "Oh, yeah, I'd say that's probably a bit concerning. If that thing's going to start lumbering around with no head, I don't want to be anywhere near here."

"That's not really what I thought it was going to do, but honestly it just mi-"

[[size 115%]]**KABOOM**[[/size]]

The corpse of the massive pyrotechnic bug combusts into an explosive fireball. The shutter absorbs most of the blast, but it breaks in a few places. Rugged shrapnel pierces Axel's right wing, and he shouts in pain.

"Axel! Are you alright? What the fuck was that?" Arsieno exclaims.

"Ow, augh, sunova- mphf-" Axel tries to pick himself up off the ground, "I don't think I'm dying, but I'm definitely not feeling great. Definitely can't fly like this."

As if on cue, the top half of the shutter that's still clinging to where it extends from the ceiling breaks off and falls to the ground, revealing a hole blown through the ceiling to the world outside right above where the bug had blown.

"Hey, we saw that healing thing earlier, the ax-lottel," Arsieno points out.

"Axolotl," Axel corrects him.

"Whatever, we can go there!"

Axel sighs, "Yeah, let's go, then."

----

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 150%]]**Security Notice**[[/size]]
----
This is an automated security notice for {{**Director Irkiv**}}.

Specialized Response Squad {{**Lambda-66**}} successfully organized.
Equipment modifications:
||= {{**4 Fire Extinguishers**}} ||
||= {{**12 Triple-Layer Turnout Gear**}} ||
||= {{**12 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus**}} ||
||= {{**1 Scranton Reality Anchor**}} ||
Remaining equipment is standard issue {{**Heavy**}} response gear.

Specialized Response Squad {{**Lambda-66**}} successfully dispatched.

Emergency response estimated arrival in {{**15 minutes**}}

[[size 115%]]**[Close]**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

Twelve men enter through the checkpoint. Their faces are obscured by breathing apparatus, and their breath echoes thick and heavy through the halls. The man in the lead walks in silence, carefully observing their surroundings.

"Not seeing a lot of smoke. Thought they said this place was burning," says one of the men over their communications system.

"Probably further in," comes the reply, "Though there's not a whole lot to burn in here. It's all concrete walls and tile floors."

"You think they had us raid the fire response team's gear for nothing?" the first asks.

"We'll have to see. I personally wouldn't complain about being able to take this bulky stuff off," the latter replies.

"Quiet down; this is no time for chatter," finally speaks the commander firmly, his fingers tapping with impatience on the grip of a bulky weapon.

"Techie, do you have the anchor ready to deploy?" the commander asks.

"Affirmative," responds the squad's technician, "It'll take a few minutes to set up, but we should have time. As long as the vulture is still where the radar says, we should be able to set ourselves up and lure it in without issue."

"Just don't get too comfortable," the commander warns, "Remember what happened to the last team." After a moment he adds, "We should be coming up on the location of the three of them left shortly. Now let's cut the chatter and keep moving."

The twelve men continue through the corridors, their boots colliding with the floor in time with each other and their weapons at the ready.
----
Axel walks down a dimly-lit corridor, silent save for his shuddering breaths. He moves as sluggishly as he can afford in the present haste to reach APD-1492.

Arsieno pats the back of his neck gently with a fin to offer any form of comfort he can. Neither has said much since leaving the scene of the explosion.

"Axel, I..." Arsieno starts, "I've been too hard on you, I recognize. I'm sorry, I just... I guess I'm too quick to latch onto any mistake you make."

Axel keeps pace, and for a long moment says nothing. As Arsieno begins to question if he took a misstep, he finally replies, "I don't hold it against you. I know you're just having your fun, and you're usually right anyway."

Now it is Arsieno's moment to ruminate and come up with a response, and in a few seconds, he responds, "I'm really usually not. I mean, look where my damn suggestion got us."

"Hey, I agreed to go right. Besides, it could've been worse; we could've faced that buzzard again." Both laugh just a little before Axel finally continues, "For a friendship that started with me trying to eat you, I'd say we get along pretty well."

"Yeah, yeah I suppose we do."

It's several minutes later when they reach the hallway leading to the strange healing creature they'd seen before. Axel peers cautiously down the hall.

"Hold on, do you hear that?" Arsieno prompts.

Axel stops and listens. The falling of boots, lots of them, is heard from nearby in the direction opposite their destination. "It's not coming from the way we're going, so let's-" Axel is cut off by a buzzard call from down the corridor, "Crud."

Just as both begin to consider turning back, radio chatter comes from a short distance behind them.

[[div class="blockquote" style="margin: auto"]]
"Alright, this is Branch Three. We'll be blocking off the northern potential exit point. Check in, Branch One and Branch Two."

There's a brief moment where no conversation is audible as someone too far to hear responds.

"Affirmative. We'll be waiting here to drive it back to the capture point. Is the strike team ready? You said they'd spook it our way without getting within eyesight of the thing."

...

"Perfect. Do be advised, however, that SCP-6366-1 and -2 are within the operational area according to current coordinate data. They are classified as non-threat entities, but we'll want to be sure they're recontained or at least out of the way before we begin."

...

"15 minutes to get the anchor up and running? Here I thought they'd given us their best equipment. Alright, that should be enough time. We'll move in."
[[/div]]

"Oh crap, oh crap, that isn't good," Axel panics out loud, "I don't think this one's gonna be dumb enough to let me play tug-o-war with his gun."

"Get into the room up ahead, maybe they won't want to get that close to the buzzard," Arsieno responds, though Axel is already moving there by now.

Before they can reach the room at the end of the hall, however, SCP-6773 rounds the corner, and it stares right at them. Simultaneously, multiple armed men appear behind them in attempt to apprehend them. Axel notices the men quickly ducking back behind the wall at the sight of the vulture.

The bird's glare proves it remembers their last encounter, and its eyes fixate on its desired prize: the delicious fish the stork is carrying.

Preferring to be more physical in this more personal aggression, the buzzard begins to charge right at them.

Axel turns to look at Arsieno on his back, "Do you trust me?"

Arsieno bites his tongue on saying 'no', on being contrarian and creating banter at Axel's expense during their time of greatest need. "As much as any fish can," he says.

Axel grabs Arsieno between his upper and lower bill and waves him towards the buzzard to thoroughly distract it. "Hold on, wait, what's the plan?" desperately asks the fish.

Axel spins and hurls Arsieno backwards towards the waiting response squad, and the buzzard runs right past him to pursue the fish.

Arsieno flies past the armed men waiting at the intersection and lands hard on the tile floor further down the hall. He slides past a group of men from Eta-7 and Lambda-66 who are setting up a reality anchor and ends up behind them.

//"This is it,"// he thinks, watching the buzzard approach, //"He sold me out."//

But the MTF stand their ground. The technician sweats bullets as he works to get the reality anchor online, and suppressive fire keeps the buzzard on the defensive, focusing on blocking their shots. It's almost magic to behold in action, even from the perspective of a fish scooting helplessly along the ground.

That is, until it stops working. No matter how fast the technician plugs in wires and sets up systems, there's only so fast a reality anchor can deploy. No matter how carefully the men focus their fire, there's only so much to be done against an enraged being that bends the very fabric of reality to its will, even if it's only as intelligent as a mundane bird.

Given enough time to adjust, the buzzard breaks through the defensive hold. With an invisible barrier blocking any assault, it approaches. Men turn to sand or become fruit or are grotesquely inverted, and still the buzzard's eyes scan the floor for the tantalizing fish.

The ruthless bird finally catches sight of Arsieno, who feebly attempts to scoot away on his fins, and it approaches one slow step at a time, as if something in that bird brain were reveling in getting one up on the duo.

But as it approaches, something else is heard beyond it, a rhythmic, swooping noise. The beating of wings.

Axel divebombs the vulture from behind, his wing injury healed, and he disorients it just long enough to get ahold of Arsieno.

Only slowing down for a moment, the stork grabs his friend in his bill and places him on his back before taking off again and fleeing down another corridor.

"Axel! You came back!" exclaims the incredulous fish.

"You should know I'd never leave you behind," replies the stork.

Arsieno considers that this makes twice Axel has saved their skins in the very same day, "Yeah, I really should, shouldn't I?"

The pair soar through the scorched halls, past ashes and ruins and rubble, and finally past the destroyed emergency shutter and through the hole in the ceiling. Axel spins as he flies freely again, fresh air on his feathers for the first time in far too long, and Arsieno clings tight and enjoys the view.

Through the warm, sunny skies, they leave the containment site behind and make for the trees and hills that await them. Streams pass beneath, and all the creatures of the world seem to look up at them as they pass overhead. The distant horizon welcomes them like an old friend, and the natural world surrounds them in a long-overdue embrace.

"You're never letting me forget you saved us twice like that, are you?"

"Nope."

----

Faint gunfire calls from the distance, and a few alarms can still be heard shrieking somewhere nearby. A tiny crab scuttles its way out of a ventilation shaft into a dim loading bay. Several cargo doors are left shut where trucks may ordinarily bring in supplies or deliver newly-contained specimens. At the moment, it's totally deserted.

The crab stands before the middle cargo door, and after a moment, it slowly opens.

"Well, that was perhaps a little more excitement than we'd bargained for," Agent Lou says as he looks up at his waiting conspirator, daylight shining over them into the room as the door fully opens, "But I guess it worked out in the end."

The crab scuttles out into the light once more, "Now let's get out of here."

----

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[=]]
[[size 130%]]**Post-Incident Summary**[[/size]]
----
[[/=]]
**Date:** 11/13/2024
This is a post-incident status report regarding the multiple anomalies breached on 11/12/2024 within Site-225's wildlife containment wing. Report prepared by the Site-225 Containment Incident Analysis Committee for Director Irkiv.
----
[[=]]
**Foreword**
[[/=]]
[[div class="blockquote"]]
The cause of the breach has been determined as an anomalous call to a Foundation internal communication system phone from a conspirator of SCP-6922, which while being reported by Dr. Bushtack created the circumstances necessary for SCP-6922 to breach containment; this breach is believed to have resulted in the power outage immediately after. The resultant evacuation and lockdown of the entire wing facilitated further breaches of containment and damage to the site.

The call was triangulated to a small shack located in a forested area 12 kilometers from the site. Foundation forces seized the location immediately, and approximately 10 hours later apprehended the entity responsible for the call. This entity has identified itself as a conspirator of SCP-6922 and claims association to GoI-3776 "Creature and Wildlife Protection Agency". According to its own testimony, it was able to organize the breach via a telepathic link only referred to as its "work group chat".

The conspirator is 44 cm long with a wingspan of 73 cm and is of the species Aix galericulata or Mandarin duck.
[[/div]]
----
[[=]]
**Status of relevant anomalies**
[[/=]]
[[div class="blockquote"]]
SCP-6922 has vacated the site. Current whereabouts are unknown.

SCP-6366 have vacated the site. Currently being tracked by MTF Eta-7. Retrieval is expected in the coming weeks.

SCP-6773 has been recontained. Multiple containment units suffered severe losses during recontainment procedures; potential transfer to a specialized containment facility for reality-bending anomalies is under review.

12 instances of SCP-6942 remain missing. At least 1 instance is believed to have been terminated during the breach.
[[/div]]

Further analysis and review pending as investigation of the incident continues.
[[/div]]
----
Somewhere in a stream, a small crab floats through crystal-clear water, claws waving carefree in the current. It sways freely in the stream, taking in the warm rays of sun poking through the cool water around it. Then suddenly, it perches on a rock and becomes entirely motionless.

Agent Lou receives word of his former conspirator's capture, followed by a request for help, and he lets out an audible sigh. "Here we go again."

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