SCP-9000 — Running in Place

Link to article: SCP-9000 — Running in Place.


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[[/module]]

[[include :scp-wiki:component:anomaly-class-bar-source

|item-number= 9550

|clearance= 5

|container-class= keter

|disruption-class= amida

|risk-class= notice

]]


**Special Containment Procedures:** Containment has been delegated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's [[span class="redLink"]][[[unusual-incidents-unit-hub |Unusual Incidents Unit]]][[/span]] (UIU).

[[include component:image-block
| name= http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/local--files/fragment:simartar-9kon-0/Farmhouse_on_farm_field.jpg
| caption=SCP-9550 at the time of discovery.
]]

@@ @@

**Description:** SCP-9550 is a wooden-frame farmhouse located approximately 32 kilometres east of Des Moines, Iowa. The interior of SCP-9550 is insulated from baseline reality. Initially detected in 2012, ownership of the building was claimed by the UIU soon after its discovery by Foundation operatives. 

**Addendum 9550.1:** On December 21st, 2025, embedded Foundation agents in the Des Moines area detected a large decrease in Hume[[footnote]]A measurement of the strength of reality in a given area.[[/footnote]] levels near the location of SCP-9550. Local UIU operatives were immediately contacted to discuss the source of the decrease.

[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Interview Log 2025-12-21**
[[/=]]

**Subject:** Darren Macy (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)

**Interviewer:** Eleanor Zhang (External Affairs)

**Location:** Simple Clean Pasta, a Foundation-operated vegan restaurant in Des Moines

-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[Zhang enters the private booth and sits down across from Macy.]//

**Zhang:** Good afternoon, Macy.

**Macy:** Zhang. Thanks for meeting me.

**Zhang:** I seem to remember being the one who called you.

//[Macy laughs.]//

**Macy:** This is faster.

//[Zhang glances down at the menu on the table.]//

**Zhang:** Before we start, do you want to order anything? You look like you've had a long day.

**Macy:** Kid, you'd look like [expletive] too if one of your big brains cut his comms and ran off with your top-secret project. You reckon I could get a coffee here?

**Zhang:** I'll see if we can get you some on the way out.

**Macy:** Just make sure it's a real coffee. If it's got any of that plant stuff in it I don't want it.

**Zhang:** Don't coffee beans come from a plant?

**Macy:** You know what I mean.

**Zhang:** I'll let them know. Now, to business -- Macy, the Foundation wants to know what's going on with that house of yours. 

**Macy:** Trying to bail us out?

**Zhang:** I just meant the Foundation wants to know if you have everything under control. You mentioned an operative going rogue?

**Macy:** I'll tell you everything we know, Zhang, but before I do I'm gonna insist on one thing. I want this to be a joint operation. If you wanna help we won't turn it down, but this is our mess and we're gonna clean it up.

**Zhang:** Of course -- the Foundation appreciates your support. 

**Macy:** Great. Take these. 

//[Macy passes Zhang a pile of documents.]//

**Zhang:** You're handing over your top-secret project?

**Macy:** Zhang, if there's anything in there that you don't already have a vastly superior version of, I'll eat my belt. God knows I'm not gonna find any other food in this place. 

//[Zhang begins to read the documents.]//

**Macy:** We call it Last Resort: a safe house for the end of the world. Everyone knows that we're not gonna be the ones to stop the apocalypse when it happens. With Last Resort, at least if you //[Macy points his fork at Zhang]// or the gawkers -- we're not picky -- manage to stop whatever is bringing about the end times, there'll be something left of us.

**Zhang:** Was it operational?

**Macy:** We were getting there. //[Macy sets his fork down.]// Alright, you're gonna see two names.

**Zhang:** Your scientists?

**Macy:** Yep. Don't worry about Cantrell -- he ran off years ago. Here. //[Macy points to a line in the document Zhang is reading.]// Bloodworth is the guy we care about. He shut off his comms and got in the house this morning. No idea what his plan is, but we think he set off that big energy drop you saw.

**Zhang:** Could you get Cantrell back?

**Macy:** No dice. Cantrell didn't just leave the project, he left this //life//. Mind-wipe, new identity, the works. Then he died anyway. Drove into a ditch in 2022 after we went through all that trouble. 

**Zhang:** Unfortunate. Thank you, Macy. I'll have this passed along to the right people. Someone should be over in a few minutes with your coffee.

//[Zhang stands up to leave.]//

**Zhang:** And there's a McDonald's around the corner.

[END LOG]
[[/div]]

Selected documents from the files provided by the UIU are available below.

[[div class="headblock-tabs"]]

[[/div]]
[[div class="headblock"]]
[[=image https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/unusual-incidents-unit-hub/UIU_Logo-NSMBW.png width="40%"]]
[[=]]
[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ PROJECT LAST RESORT" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="text"]]
**Summary:** PROJECT LAST RESORT was proposed in 2007 following a suspected mass restructuring of reality[[footnote]]It is unclear which of 13 restructuring events this note refers to.[[/footnote]], with the goal of preserving the integrity of UIU leadership in emergency scenarios. The project was approved in 2008. Initial plans considered a location in Three Portlands, which were scrapped in favor of an independent structure wholly under UIU jurisdiction. Due to budget issues, work on the project was delayed until 2010 when Cyrus Bloodworth and Colin Cantrell were recruited. Construction of Last Resort, the core physical structure of PROJECT LAST RESORT, was completed in 2012.
[[/div]]

[[div class="text"]]
Last Resort is completely isolated from normal reality, requiring any occupants of the structure to collectively reconstruct an internal material reality. Due to the coherency of intent required for this task, early work on PROJECT LAST RESORT was primarily focused on providing the necessary mental scaffolding to construct a stable internal reality. A stable internal reality for multiple occupants was achieved in 2016. Following this initial success, work on PROJECT LAST RESORT was suspended while funds were redirected to rebuilding ██████████ in ███████. During this period, Cantrell left the project. Work on PROJECT LAST RESORT resumed in 2023. Current work is focused on enabling on-demand entry to the structure.
[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]
[[/=]]

[[=]]
[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ Experimentation Record" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="text"]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]
**Date: 09/30/2012[[footnote]]MM/DD/YYYY.[[/footnote]]**
**Occupants:** Cyrus Bloodworth
**Method:** Bloodworth entered through the front door and imagined his childhood home.
**Result:** Successful. The internal reality was sustained for three hours before the occupant voluntarily exited through the front door.
[[/div]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]
**Date: 10/01/2012**
**Occupants:** Colin Cantrell
**Method:** Suspecting that he was unable to recall the details of his childhood home in sufficient detail, Cantrell entered through the front door and imagined his former dormitory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
**Result:** Unsuccessful. The occupant was unable to maintain the required coherency of intent.
[[/div]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]
**Date: 08/17/2014**
**Occupants:** Cyrus Bloodworth, Colin Cantrell
**Method:** Bloodworth and Cantrell entered through the front door and imagined their shared college dormitory from their time at Deer College. [[footnote]]An occult institution located in Three Portlands.[[/footnote]]
**Result:** Partially successful. The internal reality was maintained for 23 seconds before destabilizing. Both occupants were transported onto the front porch of Last Resort upon the collapse of the internal reality. No lasting effects were reported.
[[/div]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]
**Date: 08/26/2016**
**Occupants:** Cyrus Bloodworth, Colin Cantrell
**Method:** Cantrell proposed an experiment to determine if the internal reality could be constructed based on a location that does not exist. Bloodworth and Cantrell entered and imagined the set of a local theater's production of the stage play //Romeo and Juliet//.
**Result:** Partially successful. The internal reality was constructed without incident. However, the internal reality contained elements of both the fictional setting of //Romeo and Juliet// and the set. The ensuing panic triggered the rapid destabilization of the internal reality. Bloodworth sustained major injuries that were treated upon his return.
[[/div]]


[[div class="logEntry"]]
**Date: 08/27/2016**
**Occupants:** Caden Attwood, Colin Cantrell, Ryan Giles, Gina Sawyer, Lewis Summers
**Method:** Cantrell proposed an experiment to determine if the stability of the internal reality depended on the number of occupants. All five occupants entered and imagined the interior of the local UIU office.
**Result:** Successful. A stable internal reality was maintained until all five occupants voluntarily exited. All occupants re-entered and repeated the experiment successfully. 
[[/div]]

[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]
[[/div]]
[[/=]]

**Addendum 9550.2:** Shortly after the initial meeting with the UIU, a Foundation containment team from Site-157 met with regional UIU operatives to form a joint containment team. A temporary containment site approximately 300 metres from SCP-9550 was established. Researcher Raphael Vidal was dispatched to assist the containment team and arrived at 03:00 local time on December 22nd, 2025.


[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Video Log 2025-12-22**
[[/=]]

**Participants:** Clarice Katz (Containment Team Lead), Raphael Vidal (Researcher), Darren Macy (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)

**Location:** SCP-9550 Containment Zone, Tent A
-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[Vidal enters the tent, interrupting a meeting between Macy and Katz.]//

**Vidal:** Hi. 

//[Vidal waves his right arm. A piece of tomato flies out of the sandwich he is holding and lands in the grass.]// 

**Vidal:** I'm Raphael Vidal. I do research with, well, mostly anomalies insulated from baseline reality, which is why they sent me here. I'm sorry for being late but when I was looking for the tent there were just so many and I ended up at Tent B but all they have in there is food and I was hungry -- I get airsick so I couldn't eat on the plane -- so I took a sandwich and then I remembered I was supposed to be here and--

**Katz:** Thank you for joining us, Dr. Vidal. Please take a seat.

**Vidal:** Ah -- just thought you should know, I never got around to the whole doctorate thing. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I think.

**Katz:** Mr. Vidal, please sit down.

**Vidal:** Right. 

//[Vidal sits down. A piece of chicken falls out of his sandwich.]// 

**Katz:** I'm leading the Foundation side of this containment team. You can call me Captain Katz. This is Darren Macy of the Unusual Incidents Unit. He can catch you up to speed with what we've been discussing so far.  

//[Macy does not respond.]//

**Katz:** Mr. Macy?

//[Katz leans over to examine Macy.]//

**Katz:** Mr. Macy, if you're beginning to experience any unusual effects from the anomaly--

**Macy:** I'm fine. //[Macy waves them off.]// So, Vidal, was it? Did you read the files we gave you?

**Vidal:** Yes. Was that everything? I thought it was some very interesting science. Nothing truly groundbreaking, of course -- no offence, Mr. Macy -- but you have to know that around here we don't necessarily expect a lot from the UIU.

**Macy:** If you're looking for more recent notes, they're gone. We think Bloodworth scrubbed them when he shut off his comms.

**Vidal:** Hmm.

**Katz:** Is something wrong? We had the files checked for cognitohazards before we sent them to you, but we can still have you assessed.

**Macy:** Have a little faith.

**Katz:** It's policy.

**Vidal:** No, it's not that, it's like when you're looking for a word and it's right there on the tip of your tongue. There's something I should remember -- I just don't know what it is.

**Katz:** Is it important?

//[Vidal shrugs.]// 

**Vidal:** Probably not? 

**Katz:** If it's not important, it can wait.

**Macy:** Vidal, I'm about to fall asleep standing up and the faster we get this over with the faster we can all go home. You're up to speed on the house, so now let's get you up to speed on the plan. We wanna send a team into Last Resort to get Bloodworth out so we can question him. Before we do that, we wanna figure out what that big energy drop was and what he's trying to do.

**Vidal:** //[chewing]// Can I see the data?

**Katz:** I have the report here.

//[Katz passes their laptop to Vidal. Vidal leans over to study the screen and sets his sandwich on the keyboard.]//

**Vidal:** You said Bloodworth was experimenting with the entrance to Last Resort?

**Macy:** Yes. He'd had some successes, but without his notes there's not much else I can tell you. Couldn't make heads or tails of it.

**Vidal:** See this? //[Vidal points at the screen, leaving a fingerprint.]// It's an entrance drop. You know how when you open a door, there's this whoosh of air? Same idea, the Hume levels -- that's reality energy to you, Macy -- of our reality and the reality inside Last Resort are different, so you get this signature drop whenever someone tries to enter the internal reality. What we picked up is that same drop, just amplified enough that it reached our equipment.

**Macy:** Was that in the files we gave you?

**Vidal:** Probably? Point is, I think he's trying to bring someone in.

**Katz:** Thank you, Mr. Vidal. My chief concern is still safety. Can we risk a direct approach?

**Vidal:** Aren't you trying to get inside anyway? It's safe. The insulation goes both ways -- the internal reality collapsing doesn't affect baseline reality, and baseline reality collapsing doesn't affect the internal reality. Well, I don't know about safe, you're still going to have to bust down the door of a house with an armed man inside -- he's a scientist, but he's also FBI so I think it evens out. I'll let you handle that part.

**Katz:** Theoretically, but what about in practice? Mr. Vidal, with all due respect, you didn't even know about 9550 six hours ago. 

**Vidal:** I've read the files and I've seen the schematics. This is science -- I mean, it's anomalous science, but it's still science. It's safe.

**Katz:** In one of their experiments, Bloodworth sustained a major injury.

//[Vidal opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by Macy.]//

**Macy:** Bloodworth got hurt because he and Cantrell were two young hotshot geniuses who decided to goof off. I agree with, uh, Vidal here. My team's ready when you are.

**Vidal:** Look at the screen, there's another--

//[Vidal disappears from the camera feed.]//


[END LOG]
[[/div]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Interview Log 2025-12-22**
[[/=]]

**Subject:** Cyrus Bloodworth (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)

**Interviewer:** Raphael Vidal (Researcher)

**Location:** SCP-9550

**Notes:** Recovered from Vidal's body camera after his return to baseline reality.

-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[Vidal appears within SCP-9550's internal reality. The internal reality manifests as a college dormitory.]//

**Bloodworth:** Hello.

**Vidal:** Wow. Total control over the entrance point -- how did you solve that?

**Bloodworth:** I had nine years. And I wasn't the one who solved it, Colin, you did.

**Vidal:** What?

//[Bloodworth pauses.]//

**Bloodworth:** You don't remember.

**Vidal:** Sorry, this is a bit awkward but I think you kidnapped the wrong guy. 

**Bloodworth:** Maybe. //[Bloodworth gestures at the bed opposite to him.]// Come, sit.

//[Vidal does not move.]//

**Vidal:** How is it this stable? I've never seen this room before.

**Bloodworth:** Nine years is a long time. Now, who do you think you are?

**Vidal:** I'm -- I probably shouldn't tell you my name, not sure I even can -- I'm a researcher for the Foundation.

**Bloodworth:** Good. What do you research?

**Vidal:** The same thing you do. Well, mostly. I usually work with anomalies that are insulated from baseline reality, but I have a really bad memory so I figure at some point they must have had me on a memetics project. 

**Bloodworth:** And how do you like your coffee?

//[Bloodworth holds out a coffee cup.]// 

**Bloodworth:** No milk, packet and a half of sugar because one is too bitter and two is too sweet. Am I right?

//[Vidal backs away from Bloodworth.]//

**Vidal:** Don't try to distract me. Everyone this side of the Veil saw that Hume drop when you went rogue and tried to bring someone here. Colin. Colin Cantrell? Why him?

**Bloodworth:** You want to know why?

**Vidal:** That's why I'm still here -- if I wanted to leave you'd be in handcuffs by now.

**Bloodworth:** Sit down. Let me tell you a story.

//[Vidal approaches the bed cautiously. He sits.]//

**Bloodworth:** Do you know where we are?

**Vidal:** SCP-9550. Last Resort. I like Last Resort better, but don't tell them I said that.

**Bloodworth:** I mean this room.

**Vidal:** It looks like a dormitory. Give me a second, I'm trying to remember your file. MIT? No, that was definitely Cantrell. Deer College?

//[Bloodworth nods.]//

**Bloodworth:** This was my dorm for the first three years I was there. He was my roommate. God, for the first year I wanted to hate him. Do you know how many colours mould comes in?

**Vidal:** Not really? Green obviously, sometimes blue, and then there's that pink slimy stuff but I don't know if that's actually mould. Never really got into biology.

**Bloodworth:** At least twelve. We found a new one every month on his side of the fridge. But he was brilliant, and he didn't think it was weird that I took exactly enough occult coursework to graduate and not a single credit more.

**Vidal:** Then why go to Deer? I saw your work -- any mundane institution would've been lucky to have you.

**Bloodworth:** My family. I'm from a line of -- thaumaturges, Type Blues, witches, whatever. I was born with the family gift for it, but I've never liked things that can't be understood. Then Cantrell turned up.

**Vidal:** What was special about him?

**Bloodworth:** I think we had the same sort of screw loose. He was a classic child prodigy -- when I met him he was sixteen and already had two degrees. But he was terrified of becoming the stereotype.

**Vidal:** I feel that. We start off so strong, end up on TV, earn a few degrees, and then bam! You turn 21 and fall off the face of the Earth.

**Bloodworth:** I wasn't quite the same, but I could relate. I needed to prove I deserved my name.

**Vidal:** And then?

**Bloodworth:** He talked me into doing our term project together. It was part magic, part science, all madness. That was the problem with Cantrell -- he had this dangerous ability to make you feel like he knew what he was doing.

**Vidal:** There's no way that didn't end in a smoking crater. Ah, sorry, that's insensitive -- I've been trying to work on that.

**Bloodworth:** No, you're right. It blew up. The building isn't there anymore, but it isn't quite a crater. They roped off the rubble and called it an art installation.

**Vidal:** What happened?

**Bloodworth:** I thought he understood it. He certainly thought he understood it. But that's the problem with this. //[Bloodworth gestures around him.]// Sometimes you get something that seems to follow rules, but it's all an illusion.

**Vidal:** There are always rules. We just don't always understand them in time.

//[Bloodworth laughs. A brief silence elapses.]//

**Vidal:** Can I ask? Was that how you got...

**Bloodworth:** Oh, you mean this?

//[Bloodworth points to a faded scar on his face. It runs across his left eye and down to his chin.]//

**Bloodworth:** Yes. And it was his fault. We both knew it was his fault. I was out for a week and by the time I woke up he'd already left. I didn't get to talk to him.

**Vidal:** I would've punched him in the face.

**Bloodworth:** Oh, I wanted to do that too. He didn't give me the chance.

**Vidal:** Didn't he come back? I thought you worked on Last Resort together.

**Bloodworth:** He did. I got to tell him I forgave him, and he got to apologise. And then -- well, you've read the file.

**Vidal:** I'm sorry.

**Bloodworth:** Are you? //[Bloodworth chuckles.]// They told me he died in 2022. I didn't buy it, but I guess in a way they were right.

**Vidal:** So you think he's still out there somewhere? You still haven't told me //why// you wanted to bring him here.

**Bloodworth:** Tell me, Researcher...

**Vidal:** Vidal.

**Bloodworth:** Vidal, is there anyone in your life you would like to see again? One more time?

**Vidal:** I... no. I'm in the wrong line of work for that.

**Bloodworth:** No family? Friends?

**Vidal:** I have my work. I wish I could tell you about it -- I think you'd like it -- and now I sound like I don't appreciate what you've done, which isn't true. This really is some solid science, but it's so //small// -- you could be doing so much more with this.

**Bloodworth:** I am. You'll see soon.

**Vidal:** Look, clearly you made a mistake and I'm sorry I'm not the person you wanted to see, but if you're not going to explain I'm just going to bust out of here. It was nice meeting you, Bloodworth. I hope they go easy on you.

**Bloodworth:** I didn't.

**Vidal:** What?

**Bloodworth:** You're not here by mistake. I wanted you here because there's always a chance this won't work, and I wanted to be able to say this just once. Goodbye, Colin.

**Vidal:** //What--//

//[Vidal is ejected from the internal reality of SCP-9550.]//

[END LOG]
[[/div]]


Following Researcher Vidal's return to baseline reality, Darren Macy of the UIU provided the SCP-9550 containment team with additional documents.

[[div class="headblock-tabs"]]
[[/div]]
[[div class="headblock"]]
[[=image https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/unusual-incidents-unit-hub/UIU_Logo-NSMBW.png width="40%"]]

[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ Video Log: 09/21/2010" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="logs"]]
[[div class="logs-header"]]
Video Log: 09/21/2010
[[/div]]

**Participants:** Darren MACY, Colin CANTRELL, Cyrus BLOODWORTH
**Location:** Des Moines office
**Notes:** Recorded shortly after Colin Cantrell and Cyrus Bloodworth were recruited to join PROJECT LAST RESORT.
-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[BLOODWORTH is seated at a table in the center of the room. MACY enters with CANTRELL trailing behind him.]//

**MACY:** Bloodworth, I want you to meet Colin Cantrell. 

//[BLOODWORTH drops his coffee mug with a loud crashing sound.]//

**MACY:** I see you've already met.

**BLOODWORTH:** //Colin//?

//[MACY sighs.]//

**MACY:** I don't have time for this.

//[CANTRELL turns around and reaches for the doorknob. MACY grabs the doorknob first, holding the door shut.]//

**MACY:** Both of you, shut up and listen to me. I don't know what your deal is with each other and I don't wanna know -- don't tell me. What I do know is that it took me two years to find you two and I am not spending another two finding your replacements. You're gonna kiss and make up here and now or you can have it out in a holding cell. Who wants to go first?

//[Silence elapses.]//

**MACY:** Cantrell.

**CANTRELL:** I'm sorry. I should've said something or left a note at least or--

**BLOODWORTH:** I forgive you. I don't know if I should but I do. I'm glad to see you again, Colin.

//[MACY claps his hands once.]//

**MACY:** Great, now we can all move on. Cantrell, sit down.

//[CANTRELL sits down.]//

**MACY:** In front of you is the dossier on Last Resort. Before we start, I want you to know three things. One, yes, it is too late to back out. Two, we're on a shoestring budget. You're not gonna get a lot of things you want and most of the things you need you'll have to get yourself. Which brings me to three -- we'll train you, but you don't fit the usual profile of an agent. I trust, given your backgrounds, that you are capable of defending yourselves. I'm supposed to tell you that you are under no circumstances allowed to use magic of any kind: no spells, no rituals, no psychic touches. But I need you two alive, so just make sure I don't hear about it. Understood?

**BLOODWORTH:** Yes.

//[CANTRELL nods.]//

**MACY:** Then I think this will work out just fine.

[END LOG]

[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]


[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+  Video Log: 09/19/2012" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]

[[div class="logs"]]
[[div class="logs-header"]]
Video Log: 09/19/2012
[[/div]]

**PARTICIPANTS:** Colin CANTRELL, Cyrus BLOODWORTH
**LOCATION:** An abandoned warehouse near Portland, Maine
**NOTES:** Recorded during a mission to retrieve materials for PROJECT LAST RESORT. This footage was originally deleted and recovered on 12/22/2025 with the assistance of the SCP Foundation.

-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[CANTRELL and BLOODWORTH are tied together in the centre of a dimly lit room. A middle-aged woman stands facing them.]//

**UNKNOWN:** Gentlemen.

**CANTRELL:** Who are you?

**UNKNOWN:** There will be time for introductions, but not now. My men were ready to shoot you where you stood -- those who steal from me do not live to tell the tale. But I know who you are, and I know you are more valuable to me alive than dead. Whatever they're paying you, I have the means to pay you more. The UIU? You're both intelligent enough to recognize you deserve more than the UIU can give you. You don't need to be doing the dirty work of men far below--

//[BLOODWORTH recites a thaumaturgical incantation, and the woman speaking freezes. CANTRELL slips out of his restraints and unties BLOODWORTH.]//

**CANTRELL:** Couldn't have done that earlier? Like, when they were punching me?

**BLOODWORTH:** Yeah, but now we have video of her face -- Macy's going to be over the moon. And it's not my fault you missed when you tried to shoot them.

**CANTRELL:** That's not fair, my aim isn't any worse than yours. I was just cold and that made me shiver and that made me miss.

**BLOODWORTH:** Here. Don't miss next time.

//[BLOODWORTH shrugs off his jacket and tosses it at CANTRELL. It is several sizes too big for him.]//

**CANTRELL:** I can't wear this back -- they'll talk.

**BLOODWORTH:** They talk enough already. You still have what we came here for?

//[CANTRELL produces a doorknob from his pocket.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Where's the rest of it?

**CANTRELL:** What, did you expect me to take the entire door? Only the doorknob is anomalous -- that's the bit we want.

//[BLOODWORTH and CANTRELL leave the room. BLOODWORTH briefly stops to look at the frozen woman before joining CANTRELL in the hallway.]//

**CANTRELL:** If you're still thinking about her deal, I hate to break it to you but most people take getting their brain thaumaturgically shut off as a pretty solid no.

**BLOODWORTH:** You know she's right.

**CANTRELL:** About what?

**BLOODWORTH:** Come on, Colin, don't pretend you haven't thought about it. This //is// below you -- you shouldn't need to be here, risking your neck to steal a [expletive] doorknob. 

**CANTRELL:** Hey, that doorknob is a critical component of Last Resort.

**BLOODWORTH:** And speaking of Last Resort -- I know you, Colin. I know you're not happy just building a nice spot for us to hole up in while the Skippers or the gawks or someone, anyone else actually saves the world.

**CANTRELL:** Then why knock her out?

**BLOODWORTH:** She's a second-rate anomalous goods dealer working out of a few abandoned warehouses. You can do better than that. 

**CANTRELL:** What do you mean, 'you can do better than that?' If I'm leaving you're coming with me.

**BLOODWORTH:** You mean that?

**CANTRELL:** Of course.

//[BLOODWORTH and CANTRELL advance down the hallway and approach a door.]// 

**BLOODWORTH:** It could be more.

**CANTRELL:** What?

**BLOODWORTH:** Last Resort. I've been thinking -- say we figure it all out. Say we figure out a stable internal reality, arbitrary entry, everything. We could build more than a safe house. We could build a safe //world.//

**CANTRELL:** How? 

**BLOODWORTH:** I saw your notes. You've done the math. As long as you can get them in, as long as the coherency remains high enough, there's no limit on the number of occupants. 

**CANTRELL:** But we only have a few hundred agents -- no, you're thinking bigger than that, you want to bring in more people, millions, billions--

**BLOODWORTH:** 7 billion souls, blissfully unaware of the horrors we've worked so hard to hide from them--

**CANTRELL:** They wouldn't know about the anomalous, so the world they'd construct wouldn't have any anomalies, but they'd never know the difference--

**BLOODWORTH:** And we could keep them all safe.

**CANTRELL:** But it wouldn't be real. 

**BLOODWORTH:** Just because it's a world they made means it's not worth living in?

**CANTRELL:** Philosophy aside, there's no way it could work. There must be a limit, some threshold where the population is too high to maintain coherence or where the physical structure can't sustain the number of entries.

**BLOODWORTH:** At least think about it. 

**CANTRELL:** Maybe an experiment or two, just to prove my point- whoa!

//[A masked man emerges from around the corner. He raises his gun and shoots. The bullets are repelled by a thaumaturgical barrier generated by BLOODWORTH. CANTRELL returns fire. He misses.]//

**CANTRELL:** Can't you turn off his brain?

**BLOODWORTH:** Can't you aim?

//[CANTRELL discards his gun and strikes the masked man with a low-level thaumaturgical attack.]//

**CANTRELL:** If Macy finds out about this he's going to kill us both.

**BLOODWORTH:** He won't. He needs your brain too much.

//[BLOODWORTH ruffles CANTRELL's hair.]//

**CANTRELL:**  Hey!

**BLOODWORTH:** And Colin -- if you wanted my jacket, you could've just asked.

//[CANTRELL laughs and starts advancing along the hallway again.]//

**CANTRELL:** Come on, let's find Giles and the rest of the team before they start mourning us.

**BLOODWORTH:** Mourning? Giles will be celebrating the day Colin Cantrell finally shut up.

[END LOG]

[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]


[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ Video Log 12/25/2015" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="logs"]]
[[div class="logs-header"]]
Video Log: 12/25/2015
[[/div]]
**Participants:** Colin CANTRELL, Cyrus BLOODWORTH, Ryan GILES
**Location:** Des Moines office
**Notes:** Unofficial record created when Ryan Giles neglected to disable his body camera before attending the annual holiday social.
-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[BLOODWORTH and CANTRELL approach GILES, who is standing near the punch bowl.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Giles, do you have a minute?

**GILES:** Sure.

**CANTRELL:** Whoa, what happened to you?

//[BLOODWORTH sighs. GILES laughs.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin.

**GILES:** Hey, I'd want to know too. We were busting that ring out in Cedar Rapids and had a bit of a run-in with a werewolf. Want to see?

//[GILES retrieves a printed photograph from his pocket.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin, is that Jeremy?

**CANTRELL:** No way, from applied thaumaturgy?

**GILES:** You went to school with a werewolf?

**CANTRELL:** He's only half. 

**GILES:** Anyway, he got a nasty hit in on the way out. They think it'll scar, but if it ends up looking half as cool as yours, Bloodworth, I won't mind.

//[CANTRELL stiffens.]//

**GILES:** Sorry. I didn't...

**BLOODWORTH:** It's fine.

**GILES:** So, uh, what did you want to ask me about?

**CANTRELL:** I've been working on this theory about Last Resort -- you remember Last Resort, right? This whole time we've been running with the idea that it's harder to construct the internal reality the more people there are. I have a theory that it's like averages -- the more people you have, the less outliers matter -- that is, it's actually //easier// with more people. We want to test this but there's only two of us so we need to bring in a few more agents from the area so I asked Macy for twelve agents which I did think was a bit ambitious since we probably can't even afford the gas to drive out the team in Wisconsin and--

//[BLOODWORTH squeezes CANTRELL's shoulder.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin, breathe.

**CANTRELL:** And he told us we could use anyone we could get to agree. It's safe! I mean, it didn't completely work the first time, but it's safe. Promise.

**GILES:** You want me to be one of your guinea pigs?

**BLOODWORTH:** I wouldn't phrase it like that. 

//[GILES sighs.]//

**GILES:** I want something in return. Hey, do you think you could teach me, like, a little spell? It doesn't have to be anything big, just something I can whip out at parties, you know?

**BLOODWORTH:** Macy won't like that.

**GILES:** Come on, I won't tell.

//[CANTRELL looks around the area before giving BLOODWORTH a thumbs-up.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Okay, maybe a little one. But if Macy finds out, I'll make you regret it.

**GILES:** Deal.

[END LOG]


[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]



[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ Video Log: 08/29/2016" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="logs"]]
[[div class="logs-header"]]
Video Log: 08/29/2016
[[/div]]

**Participants:** Darren MACY, Colin CANTRELL, Cyrus BLOODWORTH
**Location:** Medical wing of the Des Moines office
**Notes:** Recorded shortly after Cyrus Bloodworth was injured during an experiment for PROJECT LAST RESORT.

-----
[BEGIN LOG]

//[BLOODWORTH is lying on a hospital bed in a private room. MACY and CANTRELL enter.]//

**MACY:** Cantrell, I'm serious. You're not leaving until you talk to him.

//[MACY leaves, closing the door behind him. CANTRELL tries the doorknob. It does not move.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** I've been here for three days.

//[CANTRELL does not reply.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** You know, despite everything, you were my...

//[BLOODWORTH sighs.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** You mean something to me, Colin. Was it too much to hope you would visit me without Macy holding you at gunpoint?

//[CANTRELL slowly approaches the hospital bed. He sits down in the provided chair.]//

**CANTRELL:** Does it hurt?

**BLOODWORTH:** Not much. They have me on the good stuff.

//[Silence elapses.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin, this wasn't your fault. The knife was my idea. We couldn't have known.

**CANTRELL:** No, it was. We built Last Resort -- we set the rules. I shouldn't have agreed to this. I should've picked something else.

**BLOODWORTH:** Do you remember Deer?

**CANTRELL:** Of course I remember, Cyrus. I can't look at you and //not// remember.

**BLOODWORTH:** Is that why you won't look at me now?

//[CANTRELL does not reply.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** I forgive you, Colin.

**CANTRELL:** Stop.

**BLOODWORTH:** No, we need to talk about this. I put my heart and soul into that project and you blew it up. When I woke up and they told me you were already gone, I didn't know if I ever wanted to see you again. And then -- call it fate, a stroke of luck, the statistical consequence of staying in this field -- we ended up here.

**CANTRELL:** I said stop.

**BLOODWORTH:** And I got to tell you I forgave you, and you got to tell me you were sorry. Then we moved on, Colin, we were happy. So I'm telling you now like I told you then: I forgive you.

//[CANTRELL covers his face with both hands.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin?

//[CANTRELL removes a document from his jacket and sets it on BLOODWORTH's chest.]//

**BLOODWORTH:** This... you're resigning?

**CANTRELL:** I'm sorry.

**BLOODWORTH:** Why?

**CANTRELL:** Because I did it again. I blew up the lab.

**BLOODWORTH:** This is different. I read the report -- you got it stable and working. Give me another week and I'll be good as new. We're getting somewhere.

**CANTRELL:** The guys in charge don't think so.

**BLOODWORTH:** You know that money is tight. We'll get the funding back.

**CANTRELL:** When? In three years? Six?

**BLOODWORTH:** Colin, please. Remember the idea?

**CANTRELL:** What idea?

**BLOODWORTH:** Our plan to use Last Resort to save the world.

**CANTRELL:** Cyrus, it was never going to work.

**BLOODWORTH:** I think you're wrong. You //just// showed that the internal reality is more stable with more occupants. All we need to do is figure out arbitrary entry. Together, we could replace this world with the //perfect// world.

**CANTRELL:** You're insane. It's impossible -- I don't know what I was thinking when I ran that experiment. Even if the internal reality could be stabilized we would never be able to get them all inside. We need the physical structure for insulation and there's no way it would hold up under that kind of load.

**BLOODWORTH:** I'll make it work. We can make it work. Isn't this what you said you wanted when you agreed to all this?

**CANTRELL:** I remember.

**BLOODWORTH:** You wanted a world without anomalies.

**CANTRELL:** That's not what I said. I said I wanted the world to be safe.

**BLOODWORTH:** A safe world is a world without anomalies. Please, Colin. I don't care about the funding -- I think this is our chance. Are you in?

//[CANTRELL turns so that he is facing away from BLOODWORTH.]//

**CANTRELL:** I'm sorry.

**BLOODWORTH:** So, is this the encore? The lab blows up, I get hurt, you run away, and I never see you again?

**CANTRELL:** I'm sorry.

**BLOODWORTH:** I thought... if you wouldn't stay for me, you'd at least stay for this mission.

**CANTRELL:** Don't make this harder than it is.

**BLOODWORTH:** Please, Colin. The project needs you. I need you.

//[CANTRELL attempts to leave. BLOODWORTH pulls CANTRELL by the wrist and he falls onto the hospital bed. CANTRELL is obscured for several seconds before he stands back up and moves towards the door.]//

**CANTRELL:** I'm sorry. Goodbye, Cyrus.

//[CANTRELL reaches for the doorknob again. It turns.]//

**CANTRELL:** Prove me wrong.

[END LOG]

[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]

[[div class="collapsible"]]
[[=]]
[[collapsible show="+ Personnel File: Cantrell, Colin" hide="- Close"]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="text"]]

[[=]]
**Personnel File: Cantrell, Colin**
[[/=]]

**NAME:** Cantrell, Colin Christopher
**DATE OF BIRTH:** 12/31/1989
**DATE OF DEATH:** 12/25/2022
**EMPLOYMENT START:** 09/01/2010
**EMPLOYMENT END:** 11/01/2016
**EDUCATION:** Wellesley College (BA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS), Deer College (dropped out)
**PROFILE:** First became known to the UIU after independently discovering the existence of Three Portlands and enrolling in Deer College. Recruited by Darren Macy after being apprehended by UIU agents outside of Portland, Oregon while attempting to acquire anomalous materials for his home lab.
**NOTES:** Death certified by a doctor affiliated with Specialized Care Practitioners, a healthcare group operating in Oregon state. Continue to monitor.
---------

[[=]]
**Application for Resignation**
[[/=]]

**DATE OF REQUEST:** 08/26/2016
**DATE PROCESSED:** 31/10/2016
**CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:** PROJECT LAST RESORT
**STATUS:** APPROVED
**NOTES:** Full amnestic course waived due to previous residency in Three Portlands. Silencing agent and targeted amnestic treatment applied. Identity re-assignment granted on request.

---------

[[=]]
**Record of Assigned Identity**
[[/=]]

**NAME:** Vidal, Raphael Alan
**SSN:** ████████████████

[[/div]]
[[/collapsible]]
[[/div]]
[[/div]]


[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Video Log 22/12/2025**
[[/=]]


**Participants:** Raphael Vidal (Researcher), Darren Macy (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)
**Location:** SCP-9550 containment zone, Tent A

-----
[BEGIN LOG]

//[Vidal is sitting alone in Tent A, reviewing video footage provided by the UIU. Macy enters.]//

**Vidal:** Were you going to tell me?

**Macy:** God, I don't know. This wasn't some conspiracy, you know. I didn't expect to see a dead man walking when I got out of bed this morning. But I am glad to see you again.

//[Vidal slumps in his chair.]//

**Vidal:** Don't do that, Macy, don't act like you already know me.

**Macy:** Sorry. 

//[A brief silence elapses.]//

**Vidal:** I'm trying to understand him. I'm trying to understand how much of him is left in me. //[Vidal pinches the bridge of his nose.]// Don't get me wrong, when your head has as many holes as mine, you know you left a life behind somewhere. I don't remember anything before three years ago, but I figured I was assigned to some secret project at some point, or maybe fifty-five...

**Macy:** Can-- Vidal, I think you should know. You lived in Three Portlands. You studied magic at Deer College.

**Vidal:** Unusual sciences.

**Macy:** You studied magic at Deer College. The point is, there was no reason to wipe more than just the project. A gag order covered everything else.

**Vidal:** Then why don't I remember?

**Macy:** I don't know. Someone's been in your head and it wasn't us. I'm willing to bet it wasn't the Skippers either, but they did want you to have these.

//[Macy sets a paper cup on the table.]//

**Vidal:** These are...

**Macy:** You'd call them mnestics. They figure there might be something in here //[Macy taps his head]// that will help us stop Bloodworth.

//[Vidal picks up the cup.]//

**Vidal:** You're giving me a choice?

**Macy:** We know what his plan is -- you don't need to do this.

**Vidal:** I already know what happened to Cantrell. I've read the files, I've watched the tapes, I've spoken to him--

**Macy:** That's one thing. You're Vidal, he's Cantrell. Remembering? That's a whole 'nother rodeo. You won't like what you're gonna remember. 

//[Several seconds of silence elapse.]//

**Vidal:** Macy, you knew him. Tell me if I'm wrong here -- I think I'm who he wanted to be. I think I'm supposed to be all of his science and none of his emotional baggage. I think he did this to himself.

**Macy:** You're not wrong.

**Vidal:** He was a coward. If Cantrell regretted running he should've gone back.

**Macy:** I don't think he would've wiped everything if he felt like he had a choice.

**Vidal:** He did have a choice. He could've stayed. He could've found Bloodworth again. Even if you wiped the project, he remembered Deer.

**Macy:** Vidal, I watched the tapes of your chat with him. Is there really nobody in the world you care about?

**Vidal:** No, but that's the point, isn't it? He made me this way by design.

**Macy:** By design. What I'm trying to say is -- you think Cantrell didn't wanna go back?

**Vidal:** I...

**Macy:** I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I don't know what I'd do if I were you, and I don't know what the right choice is. I just know that if you say the word, Vidal, Colin Cantrell can stay in the grave.

**Vidal:** It's what he would want.

**Macy:** Yes.

**Vidal:** Then I won't. I owe Bloodworth that much.

//[Vidal takes the provided mnestics.]//

**Macy:** I'm proud of you, Cantrell.

//[Silence elapses. After two minutes, Vidal winces and reaches for his head with both hands.]//

**Macy:** Wait, look at the screen. 

//[Vidal lifts his head out of his hands and leans over to look at the screen monitoring SCP-9550's Hume levels. He laughs.]//

**Vidal:** I told him to prove me wrong.

[END LOG]

[[/div]]


**Incident-9550-A:** Two hours after Researcher Vidal returned to baseline reality, every living non-anomalous human was transported into the internal reality of SCP-9550. An incomplete list of notable deviations from baseline reality in the internal reality of SCP-9550 is presented below.

[[div class="logEntry"]]

* Anomalous objects and entities do not exist.
* Foundation sites are corporate offices of the SCP Foundation, a corporate conglomerate owning all Foundation front operations in baseline reality.
* Materials, such as this article, previously available on SCiPNet are only viewable through the SCP Foundation's Workday portal.
* The Global Occult Coalition does not exist.
* The average temperature in Canada is decreased by 6 degrees Centigrade.
* The budget of the Unusual Incidents Unit is decreased by 10%.

[[/div]]


**Addendum 9550.3:** In response to Incident-9550-A, members of the SCP-9550 joint containment team were summoned by O5-7, the only member of the Overseer Council to be transported into the internal reality of SCP-9550.

[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Video Log 2025-12-23**
[[/=]]

**Participants:** O5-7 (Overseer Council), Raphael Vidal (Researcher), Eleanor Zhang (External Affairs), Darren Macy (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)

**Location:** Simple Clean Pasta, a Foundation-operated vegan restaurant in Des Moines; SCP Foundation headquarters, formerly Site-01 (O5-7)

-----

[BEGIN LOG]

**Zhang:** Mr. Macy, thank you for joining us. 

**Macy:** And who is this? 

//[Macy gestures to the laptop screen showing O5-7].//

**Zhang:** This is... ah--

**O5-7:** Don't worry about it.

**Macy:** Charmed. First, let me make one thing clear: Bloodworth was not authorised for any of this. 

**O5-7:** Not going to claim credit? This is finally putting you on the map.

**Macy:** This is not how I wanna put the UIU on the map.

**O5-7:** I do believe you, by the way. Look -- Mason?

**Macy:** It's Macy.

**O5-7:** Macy, I'm stuck selling noodles dunked in nutritional yeast and you're... well, you're mostly the same. I don't care what excuse we'll have to make -- once we're out of this mess, none of this ever happened. 

**Macy:** We have to get out of this mess first. Vidal?

//[Vidal does not respond.]//

**O5-7:** Earth to Vidal.

//[Vidal does not respond.]//

**Macy** Cantrell?

//[Vidal jolts in his chair.]//

**Vidal:** Sorry, it's been a long day.

**O5-7:** Got a plan to make it shorter?

**Vidal:** Well, the real issue is that the timestreams of the internal and exterior realities aren't insulated like everything else -- otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point. Even if we got out of here, baseline reality could be unrecognisable.

**O5-7:** That's taken care of. Just focus on getting us out.

**Vidal:** Theoretically, and this is just theoretical -- Last Resort was never supposed to hold this many people -- we should still be able to trigger the collapse of this internal reality.

**O5-7:** Why hasn't it collapsed by itself? We all know that anomalies //should// exist.

**Vidal:** Scale. You need half a billion people to believe in one version of material reality and everyone else to believe in another. And we're running out of time -- the deviations on the other side of the Veil are minor, but they're going to notice that something's up eventually.

**Macy:** We can handle it.

**O5-7:** //You// are going to handle it?

**Macy:** You might be stuck selling this sad excuse for food, but the UIU still exists. We're backed by the FBI. Even if we lost all our real stuff, that's still worth something. If we run to all the news orgs with something controversial that's enough to get somewhere.

**O5-7:** So if you hop on TV and tell them all that -- I don't know, New Zealand is fake or something -- would that be enough?

**Vidal:** It should be. They don't even need to fully believe it, uncertainty works as long as it disrupts their perception of reality.

**Macy:** I'll make the calls. 

**O5-7:** That works for me. Of course, there's still the Bloodworth problem.

**Macy:** He was one of us. We'll handle him.

**Vidal:** Handle? What do you mean, handle? 

**O5-7:** That depends. Vidal, Cantrell, whatever you are, could he do this again?

**Vidal:** I don't know. Even doing this once is impossible -- we shouldn't even //be// here. I've run the calculations again and again and none of this should work because I was right nine years ago and I'm supposed to be right now -- what am I missing?

**O5-7:** If he can do it again we can't risk it. How does a joint operation sound, Marcy?

**Macy:** Macy. You still have gear?

**O5-7:** See, I was worried about that -- and then I remembered why I love this country. Vidal, is Bloodworth still at the house?

**Vidal:** I don't... I don't think he'd leave.

**O5-7:** I'll have a team meet you there in an hour.

**Macy:** One more thing. I want Cantrell there.

**O5-7:** Fine by me.

//[Macy nods and leaves. Vidal follows behind him. There are a few seconds of silence before O5-7 laughs.]//

**O5-7:** Someone pinch me. Am I watching the UIU save the world?

[END LOG]

[[/div]]

[[div class="logEntry"]]

**Proposal:** Terminate Cyrus Bloodworth, believed to be responsible for initiating Incident-9550-A, to prevent a future incident after containment is re-established.

||~ YEA ||~ NAY ||~ ABSTAIN  ||
||= O5-7 ||= ||= ||

[[/div]]

**Addendum 9550.4:** 

[[div class="logEntry"]]
[[=]]
**Sample Headlines from 2025-12-23:**
[[/=]]
* FBI CLAIMS EXISTENCE OF NEW ZEALAND AN "ENORMOUS HOAX" TO FURTHER AMERICAN OBJECTIVES DURING THE COLD WAR
* NEW ZEALAND EMBASSY: "WE ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT A HOAX"
* FBI: MOON MADE OF CHEESE, TRUTH HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC TO PROTECT DAIRY INDUSTRY
[[/div]]

**Addendum 9550.5:** A joint task force consisting of UIU and Foundation personnel arrived at the site of SCP-9550 around 01:00 local time on December 24th, 2025.

[[div class="logEntry"]]

[[=]]
**Live Video Feed: 2025-12-24**
[[/=]]

**Participants:** Clarice Katz (Containment Team Lead), Raphael Vidal (Researcher), Cyrus Bloodworth (External, Unusual Incidents Unit), Ryan Giles (External, Unusual Incidents Unit)

**Location:** SCP-9550

-----

[BEGIN LOG]

//[Katz, Vidal, and Giles approach the front steps of SCP-9550.]//

**Vidal:** Captain Katz, please, I'm just asking for five minutes -- I just need to talk to him and I know that it's not policy and I can't explain everything and... //[Vidal sighs.]// Please.

**Katz:** I'm sorry, Mr. Vidal, but I have to tell you no. I don't know why Macy wanted you here, but--

//[Giles strikes Katz on the back of the head. Katz falls onto the ground, unconscious.]//

**Giles:** I hope you have a plan, Cantrell.

**Vidal:** Giles, I owe you one.

**Giles:** You can thank me later. You don't have much time, //go//.

//[Vidal nods. He approaches the door and tries the knob. It is unlocked. Vidal pushes open the door and steps inside.]//

**Vidal:** Cyrus?

//[The interior of SCP-9550 appears as a non-anomalous farmhouse matching its exterior dimensions. Vidal navigates through the farmhouse and finds Bloodworth standing in the dining room, looking through the window at the field outside.]//

**Bloodworth:** Hello. I wasn't expecting you. Did Macy send you?

**Vidal:** Yes.

**Bloodworth:** I saw the headlines. You know, I think I knew this couldn't last. I just thought, hoped, that they'd be happy just to have this world.

**Vidal:** This isn't the normalcy they want. This is...

**Bloodworth:** I'm unarmed. If you want to shoot me, then just shoot me.

//[Vidal removes his gun from its holster and sets it on the dining table. He removes his taser and sets it down on the table beside the gun.]//

**Vidal:** I'm not here to shoot you.

**Bloodworth:** I know.

**Vidal:** I'm not here to arrest you either.

**Bloodworth:** I know. You remember?

**Vidal:** I chose to remember. Cyrus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for Deer. I'm sorry for the hospital. I wanted to come back, but I could never... I was scared to make it worse but I could never make it better. Then one day I couldn't take it anymore, so I figured out how to wipe what the UIU wouldn't. I ran from you, and I'm sorry.

**Bloodworth:** Why now, Colin? Do you just want me to forgive you before I die?

**Vidal:** No. I don't blame you if you don't trust me. You've known me since I was sixteen and I don't know how many times you've told me that none of the things I did -- the things that hurt you -- mattered. I know I've never listened. Every time I had a choice I chose to run and I'm trying to stop -- I'm trying to break the cycle. I chose to remember this so I could try to fix it. I don't know if I can, but I'm sorry.

**Bloodworth:** You should leave. Who's with you? Giles? He'd do it. Hell, I'll do it myself--

//[Bloodworth reaches for the gun on the table. Vidal seizes both of Bloodworth's wrists.]//

**Vidal:** No. There's a way out of this.

**Bloodworth:** There isn't.

**Giles:** //[on radio]// Cantrell, they're coming.

**Vidal:** You kicked me out back there, when you said goodbye.

**Bloodworth:** I did.

**Vidal:** Then do it again. Kick everyone out.

**Bloodworth:** It took me nine years to get the house to survive this. Sending everyone back out -- it can't survive that.

**Vidal:** And then?

**Bloodworth:** That's it. No way in, no way out. That's if the reality doesn't collapse anyway. And where does that leave me? How is that better than dying?

**Vidal:** I'll stay. I mean it, I'm sorry. Let me stay.

//[There are audible footsteps from the doorway.]//

**Vidal:** Cyrus, please.

**Bloodworth:** You really would? You'd stay here?

**Vidal:** Yes.

**Bloodworth:** If this doesn't work, we're both dead.

**Vidal:** I know.

**Bloodworth:** Last chance.

//[Vidal pulls Bloodworth toward him by the collar. The camera feed is blocked by the fabric of Bloodworth's jacket.]//

[[=]]
[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-9550/offset/1 SIGNAL LOST]]
[[/=]]

[[/div]]

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