SCP: The Unforseen Variable

As I woke up I felt like I had someone bash my head in with a hammer while wringing my neck as they repeatedly stabbed me. To say when I came to I felt like I was eating myself inside out while imploding would be saying that being burnt alive was as painful as being shot by a water gun. I continued in my absolute torture as I felt as if I was being skinned, tipped and torn from my very being. Untile eventually,

[Initialization Complete]

The pain slowly faded as my metaphysical body layed down as I faded in and out of consciousness the stimulus from the searing pain no longer holding my back.

I didn't know when it ended or how long it took as I repeatedly fell in and out of consciousness once my brain couldn't bear. Eventually however I got up and looked around finding myself in the same pitch black void. However that display screen was floating in front of me with a timer displayed.

[8D 13h 32m 9s]

However I couldn't inspect it further as another popup appeared overtop it.

[Quest: Complete The Tutorial]

You went through hell and back your not gonna stop at some dinky tutorial are you?

[Reward:Basic System Functions]

After the message a digram of myself and non-existent body showed up with labels.

[Murrey]

[Strength:None]

[Dexterity:None]

[Endurance:None]

[Wisdom:Above Average]

[Intelligence:Above Average]

[Charisma:None]

[Inquiry Detected: Users stats are dictated by current state of being. Due to the user not existing stats relating to their physical being are 0]

After reviewing my "stats" on the top of the screen there were tabs for,

[Loyalty] [Achievments] [Faction Overview]

When I willed the screen to show the loyalty tab this was revealed.

[Loyalty Based from 100 to -100]

[Inquiry Detected: Loyalty dictates how willing a person or group of people are to listen to you, take your orders or oppose you]

It was simple enough keep the number high and I won't find myself with a pipebomb in my mailbox.

Next up was [Achievments] and boy was I impressed with myself.

[Achievments are an alternative way to generate [Shop Points] your previous lifetime has been taken into account]

Shadow Organization Legend

[1,500 SP]

Dismantled Goverment x2

[2,000 SP]

Initiated Revolution x3

[750 SP]

Quietly Killed Govermental Leaders x5

[1,250 SP]

Wanted Worldwide x1

[500 SP]

.

.

.

At the end of it all the [System] tallied up my [Achievments] gained bank balance to be [12,450 SP]. I didn't jnow what these are for, but money is always welcome no matter what form. Even more intrigued on what this [Shop] was I went to [Faction Overview].

[Faction Overview: All listed personnel Sites and notable individuals. Includes all active missions, attacks and relations with other factions]

[Headquarters: None]

[Personell: None]

[Notable Individuals: None]

[Active Missions: None]

[Attacks: None]

[Relations with other factions]

None

Done with my quick flip through this tab my reward for my efforts was given to me.

[Quest: Complete The Tutorial]

You went through hell and back your not gonna stop at some dinky tutorial are you?

[Reward:Basic System Functions]

[System Notice: The [Item] tab will be deleted from the shop when the timer runs out]

After acknowledging the wuest completion and reading the notice the screen suddenly changed. The timer originally front and centre when not in another tab went into the top left corner as a button popped up in the middle of the screen labelled {Shop}. Willing the screen to show what lay beyond it I was greeted by 4 buttons nearing the corners of the screen.

[SCP's], [Items],

[Buildings], [Recruitment]

Curious to what SCPs were I was theroughly intrigued at first. Things that went against the laws of physics in such a way to be both lethal ,weird and generally confusing. My opinion changed and wariness gree as I kept reading however. Field reports, files what some of these things were capable of was downright horrifying. However this SCP Foundation that I had been reading files off of seemed to have missed the mark. Some of these objects would be beneficial not just to utilize these objects capabilities for combat, but humanity as a whole. An infinite water canteen that had water perpetually refill with no source, drugs that could heal any illness with no side effects. And even a Fountain of Youth that both extended your lifespan and boost your immune system to the point of never getting sick again.

I completely understood the need for secrecy when it came to things as abnormal as this, but the Foundation had made no point to improve the lives of those in the world. Locking up something and "testing" it to see its capabilities only to then lock it up without trying to replicate its beneficial effects is both idiotic and wastefull. The amount of things held in countless Foundation sites across the world was so baffling that it spoke values of their influence within the international community. To both keep itself hidden through both the shadows and controlling entire goverments just to hide from the public and prevent a leak of its existence due to some newly elected bravado driven leader.

The Foundation seemed as though they had intertwined themselves in with society as a whole. However the files in which they were that influencial were decades apart. As when viewing earlier versions the Foundation as a whole had constant problems with countries and their unwillingness to give up paranormal items that could be used to benefit both their country and themselves. This was usually then solved through backroom deals, or getting the international community to force them to give it to them.

Along with the vital information on their classification system not being based on dangerousness but how hard it was to keep in a box. The field reports attached to these files detailed multiple incidents relating to the conflict between the worlds factions. The Chaos Insurgency as the name suggested was an insurgency, a split off so to speak. The Foundation seems convinced someones pulling the strings in regards to that though seemed careful to not put to much in the files about this mysterious individual.

The G.O.C. or Global Occult Coalition is an organization that was founded after the seventh occult war. Or what I prefer to call them the United Nations attack dogs. Unlike the Foundation they just went scorched earth killing any and all anomalie they come across. Overall a waste when you consider what could be done with the things they "Neutralized". Didn't like them too much, but makes sense someone would want everything dead.

Last but not least was the Serpents Hand. Originally in the older versions of the reports on them the Foundation didn't know much about them. They really only knew that they wanted to free all anomalies, resided in an extradimensional space called the Wanderers Library, and hated the G.O.C. However they eventually deemed it necessary to commit to a Very expensive excursion because their numbers seemed to be growing with the amount of anomalies showing up.

After throwing money at the problem until it worked because they couldn't crack the Library's anamalous means of transportation. The G.O.C. found itself inside the Library found some Serpents took them for interogation, but promptly got themselves wiped out by both Serpents Hands members and previously unknown entities nicknamed "Librarians". It was a disaster and had the Serpents Hand broaden their horizens so to speak. This of course was done through the sabotaging of Foundation missions and seemingly random raids on their Sites that seemingly came out of nowhere.

After doing a little bit of background research into the world I directed my attention to the actual shop part. I wondered if any summoned SCP's would be loyal as some of them were rather powerful.

[Inquiry Detected: Summoned SCP's will not be loyal to the user unless it is in their nature.]

That although fair ruined many of my forming plans to ride off of the efforts of things more powerfull then me. As from the files I had read the more powerfull an entity is, is almost always directly proportionate to its hate for human life. With some exceptions of course, but those exceptions were leauges ahead of the cost of summoning with an orange slime creature that made things around it happy costing [1,000,000 SP]. What a joke for just some emotional support.

However the more utility driven anomalies seemed cheaper then the more sentient anomalies. I had little knowledge onto why it would be this way as you would think the more beneficial objects would cost more. However I wasn't complaining and made a list of the ones I would think most beneficial.

[SCP-662 5,000 SP]

A bell that summons a compeltely loyal butler that from the reports seemed quite proficient in everything you asked it to do. Except for giving you a haircut. I was hesitant however as the price for it as [5,000 SP] was rather steep. And although a loyal summonable person that's a Jack of All may be a good thing those holes could be plugged by other people.

[1 Bottle of Stabilized SCP-207 3,000 SP]

Originally whenever 5 mililitres of the liquid were consumed you would receive a 50% increase in all capabilities including reaction time, IQ and physical capabilities. This occurres via an increase of 5% every 6 hours. It also had the effect of the person who drank 5 or more mililitres to no longer require sleep or attempt to. However the downside came with the side effect of instant death in 48 hours. People under its effects also found themselves underestimating their newfound speed and physical capabilities.

[Inquiry Detected: Stabilized SCP objects have found their negative effects removed while keeping their original benefits. However due to fundemental changes they cannot be altered.]

That made it infinitely more valuable considering that there was 6.5 ounces of liquid in the bottle that would give me thousands if not tens of thousands of uses. I would just have to measure out the liquid. This was a definite grab if not solely for the fact that it would increase every aspect of myself by 50% it had enough of it to use it more.

Putting SCP-207 on the list to buy I continued on looking and came upon something rather unique.

[SCP-5094 "Miss J" 3,000 SP]

This entity is a childrens educational learning game with a sapient entity inside. It housed in a ROM floppy disk with the label Miss J's Whiz Kidz it is fully aware of its soroundings and the locations of other copies. It takes the form of a 2D female shaped humanoid with blank white skin and a blocky ponytail held by a red ribbon. A green blocky shirtdress, yellow pants with blue and red colouration up to their hands.

Any and all conversation with Miss J would have them try to guide said conversation to the topic of education. And this is where my appeal to it begins. Miss J is able to teach any and all topics on anything, except the occult, with more complex lessons taking longer. The lessons would last anywhere from 6-30 hours with scheduled breaks for eating, sleep and if necessary work. The file emphasized how anyone who learned something from Miss J would be able to recall that knowledge seemingly forever.

And it is because of one the ability to teach incredibly complex subjects in a manner of at most a few days that stuck out to me. Since considering if I wanted to harness or use these anomalies to my benefit I would have to understand how they affected to world. And what better way to know everything about the world and the laws that govern it. I wouldn't even attempt this if not for the emphasis of whoever learning from her having incredible retention.

If I wanted both [SCP-207] and [SCP-5094] I would find myself with only [6,450 SP]. Some other SCP's caught my attention such as a cap that when worn made everyone ignore your presence. However it had the side effect of permanently making everyone not notice you the longer you wore it. And if the [Faction Overview] and [Recruitment] tabs weren't a clue in as to what I would have avaliable to me it would be stupid to get.

When I went into the [Items] tab I quickly realized something. They were incredibly similar to SCP's, but with one glaring difference. Usually SCP's despite being beneficial had some crippling side effect. Such as the Cola Bottles killing you after 48 hours of consumption. However these [Items] were in the millions with no downsides, and the more beneficial the effect the greater the cost.

I found an almost exact replica of [SCP-662] ["The Butlers Hand Bell"] it cost [7,500 SP].

[Inquiry Detected: [Items] are anomalous items tailored to be purely beneficial. Due to this they are much more expensive then SCP objects.]

That made me wonder what downside was detected to be with [SCP-662]. But I wasn't going to get it and moved on. One thing I was looking for was something purely defensive. At minimum to defend against gunfire and at most explosions. I had to set a price range of [1,000 SP - 3,000 SP] due to the millions of [items] that showed up when I willed the shop to show me defensive [Items]. As much as a "Totem of Undying" was usefull it wasn't worth [100,000 SP].

Then I came upon the thing I was looking for.

[Martyr's Trenchcoat 1,000 SP]

A conscientious objectors all red trenchcoat that was worn by an enlisted soldier. They had sworn as their religious duty to never kill, nor hurt another man woman or child. This belief was strengthened after seing their comrade execute a grieving mother mourning their dead child. They of course were executed when they failed to commit to a charge and were hanged in the trenches to set an example. This sparked tensions and had caused several strikes to occur once the people had heard of what had transpired. The mans family once recovering the Trenchcoat from their cold corpse after the war passed the it through the generations as an heirloom. Unknowing that the original owners spirit continued to cling onto it.

[Traits]

[Freedom From Doubt]

Your affirmation in your beliefs and yourself directly influences how much control you can exhibit. Through both strengthening and shaping the Trenchcoat itself.

This was exactly what I needed, and I would imagine my willpower is rather strong. And the price wasn't too much, but it still hurt when you realized what else could be bought. However if any faction were to try to capture me, or kill me in the G.O.C.'s case, I would need something defensive.

Now with [4,450 SP ] I was turning to the [Buildings] section. However something caught my eye, and my instincts told me I was looking at something valuable.

[Timekeepers Pocketwatch 1,000 SP]

The Pocketwatch of a special species tasked with overseeing the flow of time. However in their hubris and longing for more they fought eachother in an attempt to seize control over the strands of time as a whole. In their conflict they had unknowingly severed themselves off from reality itself as time splintered scattering themselves across time itself. The remnants of a Timekeeper's power bound itself to the pocketwatch in the attempt to find something familiar.

[Glimpse At Your Future]

You gain a faint notion of when and how something unfortunate will happen to you in the next few seconds.

[I Never Was Here]

Dangling the Pocketwatch infront of a person and swaying it will have them perceive reality in the past. The length of the swaying dictates how far back their perception will go. The effect wears off after 6 hours causing the victim to snap back to the present with no memory of past actions.

This was an amazing find. Being able to tell when something bad will happen even if by a few seconds is powerful in its own right.

Setting my price range to [1,000-2,000 SP] one building immediately caught my eye.

[Beginner's Site-19 Bundle 2,000 SP]

An SCP Foundation research Site that had a catastrophic containment breach occure leading to the deaths of everyone in the facility. What hadn't helped was the layout of the whole facility being nonsensical with winding corridors, and the weird way the floors were designed out of order due to a rather ineffective "modual" type construction plan. Due to this the Site is suboptimal for research purposes.

Comes with an nuclear payload alpha class warhead, 500 security, 1,000 science and 1,000 auxiliary personnel (cafeteria staff, janitorial staff, etc)

[Traits]

[Confusing Labyrinth]

-Reduces research output by 20%

-Chance of invaders getting lost every 5 corridors 50%

Although I wanted to reverse engineer anomalies I needed to make sure I wouldn't be wiped off the face of the earth at first contact. And this seemed like the perfect idea to do so. Although the reduced reasearch output is annoying an underground facility with confusing hallways that get your enemies lost is amazing. And that's not even taking into consideration the ambush opportunities avaliable with such a layout.

Looking further for anything more that could help me gain some money or gather information. I needed this not only to know what other factions were doing, but cover up my own actions while locating my own SCP's. And I wasn't going to stop at the paranormal as the benefits of getting real life people to willingly join my faction would be great to have me spend my [SP] on other things then having to get people to fill in the gaps.

And after searching for some time I picked a couple of option and narrowed them down to the most cost efficient, yet useful building I could find.

[Web of Intrigue 2,000 SP]

A spy network that at first includes only a singular base of operations located wherever you wish. However as the agents under your control gain experience and complete their objective the network will grow exponentially.

Comes with 1 Spy Master, 1 Agent

(Will increase as spy network expands, Equitment not included)

[Traits]

[Cyanide Doctorine]

Any captured spies will immediately kill themselves to prevent information leaks. To further severe ties and prevent association once a spy is confirmed captured, or their life signs are to be flatlined their base of operations is to be detonated via [System] provided ordinance.

[Everexpanding]

The spy network will continue to grow as long as operations are successful. This will happen through anomalous means too truly keep the location hidden from any would be enemys.

This was necessary in my opinion as having an organization that could cover up my own, or those of my factions action would be paramount. Getting information of anomalous sightings would also be important if I didn't want to have to raid the SCP Foundation. And that came with the risk of worsening relations because I at the very least wanted to be neutral. The Foundation if anything seemed wasteful, the G.O.C. were a branch of the United Nations meant to eliminate all threats to human life, and the Chaos Insurgency was just that an insurgency of the Foundation that mad emoney off mercenary work with someone probably pulling the strings from the shadows.

And I wanted to be informed. The last thing I needed was to be set up somewhere getting myself started and having my door kicked down by the G.O.C. Which brought me to the last section [Recruitment] with [2,450 SP]. I intended to spend the rest of my [SP] here as I hoped to be able to get certain types of individuals.

[MTF Unit Tau-5 "Samsara"]

[1,000,000 SP]

Tweaking the [System] to show me [Recruits] I could afford I was greeted by this.

[MTF Unit Epsilon-11 "Nine Tailed Fox]

[1,500 SP]

[Threateningly Charismatic Politician

[1,000 SP]

[Experienced Mercenary Company]

[500 SP]

[Established Financial Company]

[500 SP]

[Inquiry Detected: The [System] will randomly select an individual/group from the multiverse that correlates to the descriptor above.]

[Inquiry Detected: Individuals/groups will have their existence written in by the [System]. Transported individuals brought by the [System] will be compeltely loyal to the user though this can change over the course of time.

I was absolutely torn as I wanted both

[MTF Unit Epsilon-11] and,

[Threateningly Charismatic Politician].

I wanted them as Epsilon-11 was a special ops unit of 9 members specifically tasked with internal security. And the politician because why else would you want a polotician under your control. To win an election and control the country.

It's a shame either way, but I found the idea of getting a really good politician more valuable then a force that if in the initial stages had to act would spell doom for both me and my factions future.

With [1,450 SP] left I decided on getting the [Established Financial Company] bringing me down to [950 SP]. Deciding to invest more in politics and get involved in the Private Military Company maket I decided on.

[Experienced Mercenary Company]

[500 SP]

[Accurate Political Advisor]

[250 SP] x2

I saw it fit to get involved in the PMC world as I doubted that Private Military Companies weren't hired to kill or capture anomalies. And although it may be rare I would rather have the possibility then find myself missing out.

With all my purchases done and the timer at [7D 23h 51m 12s] I decided to once again study SCP files. I then realized something. When I went into the [SCP] tab it started me at SCP-002 "The Living Room". However there was no option to go to the previous anomaly. So I went into the search bar and thought out SCP-001.

Access Denied

[Hidden Quest Unlocked: The End Times]

The world as you will soon come to know is rather different than your original. With it comes anomalies, entitys that bend reality or rewrite it in some way, it is no surprise that with all that some would be capable of ending the wor- System Override Detected, Verifying

Verifying,

Verification Complete,

This is 05-1 Head, Chief, head of secuirty whatever you want to call it of the SCP Foundation. To whoever, or Whatever hears, reads or from what medium you are receiving this message we have failed. The world will end and is in the process of already. The resistance we put up now is only delaying the inevitable. When we reset reality to avoid our fate adding to the countless times we have no doubt done so already I only hope you will save us all. With this message are the override codes to all Foundation based facilities. Now you may be asking why don't I seek you out and tell you the end of the world is coming?

It's simple no one will believe you. The Dream Man, SCP-990, has been telling us this for decades and they have the credibility of being right thousands of times before. Unfortunately those codes will only work once and if used to much will prompt myself in whatever timeline you find yourself in to make new ones. I would provide you Foundation secrets, however I do not know you, your nature or if you want to enslave us. The black tentacle beings outside of the earths galaxy the size of planets that want to eat us all, and the fact that whenever something new pops up is rarely friendly dosen't spark confidence if you were to show up. However if we ever wish to break this seemingly endless cycle my universe finds itself in I must hope for your good intentions.

For a brighter future,

05-1

[Rewards: 100,000,000,000 SP]

That was something. Would really be helpful if they said what time this disaster happened, or what I was facing, literally any information besides "The End is Nigh" would be really fucking helpfull about now. But Nooooo this motherfucker has to be all cryptic and shit about what they and now probably I am going to have to face. Secret society bullshit and all.

But it's not like I'm going to just lay down and have a panic over knowing the world was going to crash and burn. Now I knew there had to be some sort of catch with this "Live a new life no strings attached bullshit". There was no use moping however so I got back to reading SCP files noting down which ones where intriguing and useful and trying to commit them to memory.

[0D 0h 0m 0s]

When the timer hit zero I felt myself grow increasingly heavy until I collapsed onto the surface in the void.

Author Note: Special Thanks to Notgull on the SCP wiki (although they probably won't see this) for making an entire page about Site-19 for me to actually find the amount of people at the Site. Not to mention the absolute amazing story site-19 has in it.

Link here: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/the-siege-of-site-19#:~:text=Site%2D19%20inventory%3A,staff%2C%20janitorial%20staff%2C%20etc)

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