Not fifteen minutes passed before foundation trucks arrived to pick Michael up. They got there surprisingly quick, suspiciously quick.

He sighed, “They got me chipped like some kind of show-poodle don’t they?”

Well whatever, he got up and waved towards the approaching troops.

“Hey guys, I’m back, did y'all miss me?”

They ignored Michael and instructed him to get in the back of one of the trucks, but not before he got to see them stare at him with a mix of surprise and apprehension. It seems they’d put two and two together with the monster corpse and the bloody butt of his shotgun.

He chuckled to himself, Maybe this would convince them to give him actual bullets, god knows they’d help.

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Back at the compound Michael was examined for any wounds, ushered to the showers and then quickly brought back to his cell.

He went over to his cot and laid down.

He’d need to ask for a real bed next time, he thought as sleep overtook him.

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Michael woke up to the sound of his room's heavy metal door sliding open. Glancing over he could see Dr. Hearthgrieve making his way over to the table.

“Good morning, Michael. Did you sleep well?”

“No, sleeping with this stupid crowns giving me a crick in the neck.”

Sighing deeply Michael walks over and slumps into the chair, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Hearthgrieve smiles, “Just doing our routine check, we need a rundown of the dimension you visited.”

Michael grinned, “Oh yeah, that reminds me. I managed to get some fruit from the other dimension, they’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Michael tosses Hearthgrieve the bag, who catches it without trouble.

Looking into the bag, he frowns and pulls out a small green fruit.

“This is a pear.”

Hearthgrieve stared at him.

He stared back at Hearthgrieve.

Hearthgrieve stared at him.

“It was dark.”

Setting aside the pear Harthgrieve pulls out fruit after fruit, each one magnificent and fascinating.

Why did the pear have to be the first one he grabbed? Michael cursed internally.

After a minute of quick examination, Hearthgrieve called in an assistant to take the fruits away, including the pear.

“Now Mr.Stevens I must congratulate you on bringing back so many specimens, especially the creature you managed to subdue. He’s quite an interesting one. So please give me the rundown of the shift, leave nothing out.”

Michael begins to regale the dimensional shift to Dr. Hearthgrieve.

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“I’m very impressed with you Mr. Stevens. A shift like that would have been quite problematic for Tommy. Very innovative covering your scent with mud like that. Even providing us with the creature's corpse, here’s your sheet of paper. Write down items you’d like to have, I’ll do my best to make them happen.” He winks before getting up and leaving.

Right before he gets to the doorway he stops, “By the way you’ll get your shotgun back soon, we're making some modifications to it.”

With that he walks through the door.

Glancing to the corner of the room, Michael notices the workout equipment newly added to the room.

With a smile he walks over and begins to run on his new treadmill. All the while thinking about items that would have made the last shift easier.

Something to cover my scent. Real bullets. The good ones, don’t cheap out on me. Smoke grenades. Tear Gas. A high caliber pistol. Fragmentation Grenades. Bed. A team to traverse the dimensions with.

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After a couple of days had passed Michael got the list back from Hearthgrieve.

Something to cover my scent. (Approved) Real bullets. The good ones, don’t cheap out on me. (Approved) Smoke grenades. (Approved) Tear Gas. (Approved) A high caliber pistol. (Pending) Fragmentation Grenades. (Pending) Bed (Approved) A team to traverse the dimensions with. (Pending)

“Why are some of them Pending?”

“Relax, you’ll be getting them eventually.”

He tosses Michael his shotgun back, a small black box fixed to the side.

“What’s this?”

“That right there is what’s letting me give you live ammo. With this modification your gun won’t work within the facility without being unlocked by high ranking personnel.”

Michael looked skeptically, “It’s not going to stay locked during the dimensional shifts will it?”

“No, once it’s a certain distance away from this facility it’ll unlock automatically.”

“How’s it work?”

Hearthgrieve chuckles, “Like I’d tell you that. We only have the one box right now, the rest will be here by the end of the week. Anyways this is good news for you, the higher ups seem to want to keep you alive. I don’t blame them, the creature you killed pushed our amnestics program forward by at least two years. They’ve even decided to let you know the layout of the facility. Make sure you pay attention because around fifteen percent of the dimensions Tommy visited stuck him in their version of this compound.

“I’ll be going then, the rest of the items will arrive before the two weeks are up, except for the team you requested. That will take more time to set up. With that done, he left.

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Not long after Hearthgrieve left two guards arrived to show Michael around the compound.

It honestly wasn’t that confusing to navigate once he was shown a map. There’s twelve floors with each floor having a large center room that has hallways branching off of it in straight lines. Apparently it's so they can better seal the hallways in the event something breaks out.

The hallway my cell is on houses the ‘safe’ designated SCPs. The guards gave me some quick examples.

A jade ring that suppresses any illness while it’s worn, but makes you tired to the point of nearly passing out, a rock that glows in the dark and a mirror with a three second delay.

Michael muttered to himself, “These seem...kinda useless. Why am I being stored with these things? I should be stored somewhere more important! At least don’t put me next to the glowing rock. I’m worth more than that...right?”

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Two days before the two weeks were up, Michael got a rather peculiar assignment.

The crackling of the speaker came to life, “SCP 507, you will be undergoing an experiment in which you shall be tethered to D-3621 in order to discern if he will be transported with you to the other dimensions without direct contact. We thank you for your cooperation.”

Sweet, they’re experimenting ways to send in teams with him. He couldn’t realistically be touching a group of eight guys at all times for days on end.

At the end of the announcement a fit man came in wearing the signature D-class jumpsuit. He had short brown hair and stood roughly six feet tall. He looked to be in exceptional shape.

“Hey I’m Michael, what should I call ya?”

“Oh my friends call me Alex.”

They shake hands as Alex gazes around the cell, his eyes locking onto the workout equipment.

“Dude, no way! They let you have exercise equipment in here?”

He runs towards my squat rack, his eyes sparkling.

“I haven’t seen one of these babies in months!”, he says, literally hugging the equipment.

Well, he’s friendlier than the last D-Class they’d stuck him with at least.

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Two weeks had finally come and gone, and Michael was fully outfitted with his newly arrived equipment.

The handgun they’d ended up giving him didn’t have a name. Apparently it’s only produced for high ranking members of the foundation. The fact that they even gave Michael one is kind of strange, but damn if it wasn’t cool. They’d also provided what they promised was quality ammo and a quick trip down to the gun range had proven them right.

None of his equipment would work until he was out of the dimension and he was aching to try some of it out.

They couldn’t really have him practicing with the teargas down at the gun range.

Michael’s only real concern was his new comrade Alex. He seemed like a reliable guy, but the foundation fervently refused to provide any weapons to him. They didn’t even give him any body armor. Even though they’d equipped Michael with Kevlar reinforced clothing and boots. No helmet though, doesn’t really fit over the crown.

An easily removable belt connected Michael to Alex with eight feet of nylon rope. Part of the experiment to bring troops with him.

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Michael leaned back in his newly installed bed, trying to fall asleep and failing horribly.

He felt like a kid on Christmas eve, waiting on his chance to see places no one in this universe had ever seen. His mind drifted to thoughts of finding ancient artifacts and exploring new worlds.

He wondered if the old Tommy felt this way, waiting for the shift to take him.

“Hmm nah, I bet it kept him up at night for different reasons. What a wuss.”