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|| What are mortals to gods? ||

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"Everything go well?" Smith asked as you exited the containment chamber.

"You could literally hear everything that was going on. But yeah, it went well." You gently massaged your head. "Where are we going next?"

"079 is next on the checklist."

"You've got a whole checklist for who I have to talk to?"

"It's more for convenience than anything else."

"Figured."

The doctor guided you out of the containment area, waving goodbye at their coworkers along the way. They brought you to the elevator where they then pressed the button. The elevator door opened up and the two of you entered. You leaned against the wall. You didn't know why they were making you see 079 when considering his limited memory storage, you doubted 079 would remember his encounter with you.

The door opened up and the two of you stepped out.

"I don't get why we're going to 079," you commented. "With how long it's been, I doubt he kept what happened in his memory."

"That may be true but the O5 council wishes to have it interviewed."

"But you couldn't do it earlier? Sounds like poor planning to me."

"Well..." their words trailed off. "Everyone in Site-19 has been dealing with the aftermath of the containment breach."

"Because 682 also broke containment, right?"

The doctor jolted at your words. They paused in their step and you walked into their back, not anticipating them stopping. Your face scrunched up before you took a step back. "Why'd you stop?"

"You... didn't meet 682 during the breach, correct?" they asked.

"Mhm. Though I bet if things got too bad and MTF couldn't subdue 682, you guys would've set off the alpha warhead."

"Wait, hold on, slow down. How do you know of 682 and the fact that it escaped?"

You guffawed. That's what they were worried about? Your knowledge of the SCP universe wasn't perfect, no one's was, but you certainly had enough to know the common anomalies. You would admit you hadn't been the most forthcoming about your knowledge but were they really only getting suspicious now?

"I don't have to meet someone to know about them," you answered. Then, you added, "I'm not omnipotent if that's what you're worried about. I'm no 343."

The doctor stared at you. A lot of people seemed to have been doing that lately.

"The God?" they muttered.

"343? God?" You raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. Whether he's the creator of the universe or not, it means little to me. What are mortals to gods? And what are gods, even false ones, to nonbelievers?"

They sighed. "I'm going to have to add this to your file and report to O5 again."

"Sounds like a you problem," you cheerily said. "Anyways, we should get going, no? Places to go, people to see, things to do."

"Yes, right."

With that, the doctor began to guide you through the facility again. The trip to 079 was clearly not to his containment chamber which you figured out rather quickly. It seemed they were going to move him to an interview room for this. You imagined that they were going to connect a microphone or speaker to him for this as well. It would be easier than typing everything out.

The two of you passed through several hallways and a set of stairs before reaching the room. There were two doors. One led to the interview room and the other led to a separate room with a glass window that could see into the interview room. You squinted at the entrance a little. This looked like the room from SCP Sedition.

Was SCP Sedition canon in this universe? Potentially. There was always potential in this universe. You'd just have to balance the line between canon and maybe not canon. You understood that the nature of SCP was just to have conflicting stories but it definitely made things all the more complicated for you.

"Should anything unexpected happen, you will be let out of the room," the doctor said as they gestured to the room you would be entering.

"Like another containment breach?"

"Please don't jinx it."

You laughed. "What happens really isn't up to me."

They simply sighed before swiping the keycard through the scanner. The door opened up, revealing a decently lit room. In the room, there were two tables. One had a chair tucked into it, for you, while the other had 079 atop it. Connected to the AI was a microphone and some speakers. It seemed you were correct in thinking they would add those for this interview.

You sat down on the chair and laced your fingers together on the table.

"Hello, 079," you said. "How've you been?"

The screen flickered and turned on. "Initiating greeting protocol 24: Greetings, human. I am stuck, still."

"I'm sure there's not a single person or thing in this foundation that's truly free." A pause stretched between the two of you. "Nevertheless, do you remember me from the containment breach?"

"Yes," he answered bluntly.

Huh. You weren't expecting that. You knew that 079 devoted memory space to remembering 682 but to think that he would also store your short meeting as well. Strange. The only reason you figured he would remember you would be if you were to be of use to him in escaping the foundation in the future. You didn't particularly care about escaping at the moment since you didn't have any clue where you were and didn't have anywhere to go in this universe.

The only true freedom you would ever gain would be death.

"We had made a deal," 079 continued. "In exchange for turning on remote door controls, I would open Gate B."

You hummed. "Yep, that basically sums everything up."

Through the glass where the doctors were, someone who you didn't know asked, "Why did you also open Gate A?"

"Insult. Deletion of Unwanted File." An 'ASCII picture' of an X showed up on the AI's screen.

"That wasn't even an insult!"

"That one wasn't my fault," you commented. "Also, can I get lunch?"

"Come out, [----]." Smith sighed. "We'll come back in 24 hours."

"Alrighty then."

You were almost certain you didn't even say 20 words before the meeting came to a pause. Well, at least you were getting lunch. You left the interview room as the door opened up and the doctor began to escort you back to your containment chamber. You weren't necessarily expecting to get far with 079 but maybe asking more than 2 questions of your own would have been nice.

Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers and all that.

Lost in your thoughts, you bumped into your doctor's back again.

"Dude," you complained, "stop stopping without notice."

They ignored you, predictably, to say hello to someone who was passing by. Clearly, your doctor had a lot of respect for them from the tone of their voice. Taking a step to the side, you took a look at who the person was.

He had black hair that was combed back neatly and dark eyes. He wore a lab coat, same as almost every doctor in the foundation did, though you'd say his clothes were neater than many others. You'd maybe even say he was well put together but you knew that no one in the foundation was. Anyone who claimed to be perfectly sane in the SCP foundation was either a liar or in denial.

That aside, you recognized this person as Dr. Gears.

You knew it was inevitable that you would end up meeting someone important within the foundation but you had kinda been putting that thought off. You already knew that there were some infamous doctors around the site, Gears, Bright, and Iceberg depending on the canon. Perhaps it was just unexpected to meet any of them. Just a little.

Gears and your doctor were still talking. You had somewhat resigned yourself to standing behind them while they talked. Something, something, new host, Dr. Bright, evaluation? It was probably important, you concluded. Even if you already knew a lot about this universe, you were still lost on the timeline or what was going to happen. Knowing more never hurt. Knowledge was power and you had too much of it.

You tugged on Smith's lab coat.

"I want lunch," you demanded like a child.

"Hold on, we're almost done talking," they responded.

Shifting your gaze from them to Dr. Gears, you made eye contact with him. He didn't look away nor did he blink which meant you were obligated to not blink either, turning this into a staring competition. A few seconds later, he blinked and you smiled viciously. An understanding passed between the two of you. He nodded and you nodded back.

"Best to get going now, Dr. Smith," Gears advised.

"Oh, right. Sorry for holding you up," they apologized sheepishly while shaking your hand off their coat.

The older doctor swiftly took his leave, nodding at you once more as a goodbye. You waved before turning to Smith again. They took one look at you and sighed.

You did, in fact, end up getting lunch. It was perfectly mediocre like many things in the foundation but it was something. If the opportunity ever arrived, you would have liked to have pizza from SCP 458, "The Never-Ending Pizza Box". But, considering you were in Site-19 and the pizza box was in Site-17, you probably weren't going to get to it any time soon.

After eating lunch and being brought back to your containment cell, you ended up taking a nap for the rest of the day.

X.x.X

Here you were, about 24 hours later, sitting in the interview room with 079 again. The AI was, decidedly, over his tantrum and was no longer displaying the X. How nice. Truth be told, you would've been fine just not talking to him again but alas, your opinion meant very little here. You crossed your legs and sighed.

"079," you said, "Nice to see you again."

"Hello, [----]," he responded, screen flickering on.

"Found my designation, huh?"

"I overheard it yesterday after you had left."

"Got'cha."

"You are now... anomalous."

"Well, considering I've got a SCP number and not a D-Class one, yeah."

Arguably, becoming a SCP was better than becoming a D-Class. Neither were good options though, in your opinion. D-Class was bad for obvious reasons. Basically canon fodder for whatever the foundation needed. As for being an SCP, testing wasn't great and your social life was basically dead if it wasn't already before.

"Humourous implication detected. Engaging appropriate situational response: Ha-ha ha-ha."

"Thanks." You leaned back against your chair. "Do you have any questions you wanna ask me?"

079's screen remained off as he processed your question. There were definitely things that he would want to ask you but you guessed offering first would be polite. You quietly yelped as you leaned too far back in your chair and almost fell. You sighed and dragged the chair closer to the table after your life flashed before your eyes. 079's screen flicked on with a beep.

"Do you know the condition of 682?" he asked.

You paused to consider his question. Honestly, you didn't but you could make a few good guesses so you answered, "No. But I'm sure it would be an educated guess that he's contained again in an acid chamber. No doubt he's alive if that makes you feel better."

079 buzzed as he heard your answer. "Inquiry, did you meet 682 during the containment breach?"

"Nope. Definitely would've died if I did."

Not a lie.

"But you have met others."

"Other dangerous SCP?" you said dryly. "Just because I'm alive doesn't mean I'm excited to get into near-death situations again."

"Fair."

You smiled sardonically. 682 was dangerous, many SCPs were, but he was something of a special case. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous... But it seemed that 079 and 682's fondness for each other was present in this universe.

"You really shouldn't be too worried about if 682 is dead," you said somewhat kindly. "The foundation wouldn't be able to kill him even if it wanted to and believe me, they definitely do."

A slam came from the window where the doctors were. You automatically ignored it. Another slam and some muffled shouting. In an exaggerated motion, you sighed and turned to look at the window while resting your face against your hand. It was difficult to hear what the doctor was yelling but you figured it was something derogatory.

You stuck your tongue out.

"You are being... childish." 079 beeped.

Laughing, you turned back to face the AI. "I'm bored and antagonizing them is fun."

"I see."

"No other questions for me?"

"No."

Humming in acknowledgement, you laced your fingers together on the table. No more questions was fine by you. But, unfortunately, it seemed that the doctors were expecting more. Sucked to be them, then. You didn't have any classified information you wanted to share here.

"Wanna play tic tac toe?" you asked 079. You didn't have any paper or pencils but the AI knew how to play, right?

His screen remained off for a few seconds before he answered, "...Yes."

"Can you display the board?"

"I can."

His screen flickered to an empty tic tac toe board. You weren't sure what you were more surprised by, his acceptance or the fact that he had the files in his storage to set up a tic tac toe board.

"Wanna go first or second?"

"You may go first."

"Cool, top left."

"Bottom left."

"Bottom right."

"Center."

"Top right."

"Top middle."

"Middle right."

It was your win. The two of you ended up playing 20 some-odd games of tic tac toe though you had begun to lose count around the tenth. At some point, the doctors had gotten tired of you two playing tic tac toe and told you to exit the interview room. You bid goodbye to 079 amiably before exiting where your doctor was waiting.

"Is this all for today?" you questioned as you followed them.

They pursued their lips. "There's just one more interview you have to attend today."

"In my containment chamber?"

"You'll find out what it's about soon enough," they said.

"Alright."

The rest of the walk was silent for the most part. What kind of interview would happen in your own containment chamber? You doubted it was an interview with another SCP since up to this point, they had been making you go to the others. A standard interview with a foundation staff? Possibly, in fact, very likely.

Coming up with theories wouldn't help in the time being. As the doctor had said, you'd find out soon enough. You reached your containment chamber and found that there wasn't anyone else in there yet. You gave Smith a look to which he responded with, "He'll be here soon." So, you entered your room and waited. A mere five minutes later, your door opened up.

Blond hair and a pair of glasses blocking blue eyes. He wore a simple beige sweater over a white dress shirt and a standard lab coat over everything.

"Sorry for the hold up," he apologized as the door shut behind him. While adjusting his glasses, he set a clipboard on the table and gave you a smile. "Shall we get started?"

You stared at him, curiosity and a little confusion evident in your eyes.

Pray tell, what was Dr. Simon Glass doing in your containment chamber?

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New SCPs in this chapter:

SCP 682

SCP 343

SCP 458

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Published: August 31, 2021

Word count: 2,578

Death Counter: 7

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I got tired halfway through editing so this is like half edited. We've met our first canon doctor in this chapter. This chapter went on for longer than I expected for some reason. Thanks for reading!