“Is that really all you want to know?” Able asked.
Michael simply shrugged, “Well, godlike beings seem to be limited in what they can tell me about him. They act like he’d show up and beat the hell out of them if they did. So you seemed like good middle ground to me.”
Able laughed at that, “Well, you’re definitely an apostle of Order, that's for sure. I’ve encountered several of them throughout the millennia. Hells, the foundation has one of their own. Though he’s not near as much fun as you are.”
“So do you know what Order’s whole deal is then?" Michael asked, walking closer to the restrained man. "Because there doesn’t seem to be much information on him.”
“I know that he has sway over where your kind gets sent, although it is somewhat limited if I'm correct.”
His grin widened, “I can relate to the man. He leaves the weak’s survival up to chance in the hopes it makes them strong, and then takes a firm hand in guiding the growth of the strong.”
'Well that doesn't sound good,' Michael thought sourly. 'It sounds like Orders cherry picking where to send people who interested him.'
'Wait?'
“GODDAMNIT!” Michael cursed.
Able quirked his head in confusion.
“The hide in a corner and cry strategy was the right one! That’s how he lived so long!”
Michael took a moment to calm himself. It was what he'd assumed was happening, but to get flat confirmation was surprisingly annoying.
“Anything else I should know?” Michael asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Able paused for a second in thought, pretty much ignoring the basketball sized hole in his side.
“Oh yeah! One apostle I’d met complained of the battle’s Order forced them to partake in against their own kind. I didn’t really understand the complaint though. It sounded quite enjoyable.”
“What do you mean by ‘own kind’? Do you mean dimension hoppers?” Michael asked.
“Sure, I suppose that's what I meant.”
Michael internally cursed, the Tommy he’d fought back in the forest had been hard enough to kill. If that becomes a recurring event it could get bad really quick.
“Anything else?” Michael quickly asked.
“What do I look like to you, a scholar?" Able asked sarcastically. "You’re lucky to get that much out of me. Honestly, people these days.”
Michael narrowed his eyes, “The only reason you remember anything about them is because you fought them, isn’t it?”
Able averted his eyes.
“Well, thanks for the information. Do me a favor and don’t make the next guy work so hard to get it. Also can you call off the kill squad watching me from the woods. I’ve run out of Shy Guys to throw at them.”
Able chuckled, “To the victor go the spoils.”
With that Michael recalled his troops and left Able alone on the forest floor.
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The shift took Michael back to his world roughly four hours after his fight with Able had ended.
Which meant that the timing was at least convenient for this one.
Once he was back in his own world Michael looked around and found himself once again standing in the woods near the foundation.
With a sigh, he started walking. He’d taken the chip out of his neck, so the foundation likely had no idea he was even back. No convoy was coming to pick him up this time.
He could just up and leave, but as tested in the previous dimension this group was far too good at tracking down people. It'd be a hassle.
'Besides, the foundation isn't really a prison. Well it kinda is, but it’s like one of those prison’s that has a tennis courts. Or maybe like a cheap hotel. One that gives me grenades.'
Regardless, Michael continued his walk back. If he wanted to escape from the foundation later he could. He was probably near the top of the list for hard to contain SCP’s.
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Just combining his dimension traveling abilities with his amount of physical strength made him extremely difficult to keep locked away. That combined with the innate abilities of the flesh that hates made it near impossible.
So he just kept walking.
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Forty minutes passed before Michael could see the foundation off in the distance, but something was strange.
He could see guards running around the outside of the facility as several helicopters flew overhead towards the building.
"Well that can’t be good," Michael muttered under his breath. "I should probably go check that out."
With that, Michael kicked off the ground, cracks spreading along the earth from the force of his steps.
In no time at all he was in front of the facility where most of the faculty seemed to be in a complete panic.
Michael grabbed a random scientist and pulled him aside, “What’s going on here?”
“Oh, you’re Michael right?" The scientist quickly asked. "We’ve had a site wide power outage. All the cell doors in the facility have been opened!”
Michael paused at that, “Wait, the doors just open up when the power goes out?”
“What, no are you stupid?" The scientist rebuttaled, brushing Michael's hand off his shoulder. "Of course they don’t all open when the power's out, someone obviously tampered with the system.”
Michael restrained himself from smacking the guy upside the head when suddenly several gunshots went off behind him, causing Michael to quickly pivot around and aim his shotgun.
A guy wearing khakis and a button-down shirt was nonchalantly walking amongst the foundation members, lazily firing a pistol at anyone who happened to get close to him.
The man had a bored expression on his face and slicked back hair. The staff didn’t even seem to notice the man firing shots point blank into their faces. It was like they didn’t even seem to care that he was there.
Michael charged toward the man, firing a slug into the guy's chest that knocked him clean on his ass.
When he reached the man he pointed his shotgun down towards his head. The man had a look of abject shock on his face. He’d clearly not expected anyone to actually attack him, and weirdly enough the guy didn’t look hurt in the slightest from the shot to the chest.
What the hell was up with this guy?
Michael tore the pistol from the man’s hands and gripped him by the neck, lifting him in the air before slamming him back into the ground.
Michael sensed the status of the man’s body, and there was no actual damage done from the attack. The man was definitely an SCP.
“Wait, wait! Can you actually see me, like for real?” The man gasped in Michael's grip.
Michael ignored him and tied the man’s hands and feet using zip ties before dragging him over to one of his infected soldiers. The man rambling all the while.
“Watch over this asshole,” Michael said, shoving the tied-up man towards them before walking back over to the Scientist he’d just been talking to.
“I think I just caught one of your escaped SCPs,” Michael said with a bit of condescension in his tone.
“What the hell are you talking about, why did you just fire your weapon into a crowd!” The scientist yelled.
Michael looked around and noticed several guards pointing rifles towards him. They seemed to be hesitating, likely because most of them had read his file.
Michael held his hands up non threateningly and slowly placed his shotgun on the floor.
“Easy now, let's not do something you’ll regret. What’s with all the hostility?” Michael asked.
“You fired a weapon into a crowd of foundation members, and from the looks of it several of them are dead.”
…
“Oh, I get it,” Michael said out loud.
Michael then pointed towards the man he captured, hands still raised.
“That was him.”
The scientist's voice was stern, “Your soldiers are an extension of yourself, that’s not an excuse.”
“What, no. Do y’all actually not see the dude I just tied up. Y’all practically watched him kill those guys.”
The scientist took a closer look at the man Michael had detained before gasping, “Dear lord, did you actually zip tie a baby? What's wrong with you?”
Michael looked back towards the forty something year old he’d tied up and he could literally hear him swearing and threatening to kill his soldier right at that moment.
“Are you actually being serious right now?" Michael asked. "It was obviously him, but I suppose it's not your fault. He's probably some sort of mind altering SCP. So I’m going to need you to tell me everything that escaped from containment so I can go deal with it.”
The scientist didn’t seem to believe him, but none of them actually wanted to open fire on him so soon a higher ranking member of the foundation quickly pushed their way towards Michael.
“What’s all this about?” he asked as he walked up.
Michael shrugged, “These guys are being influenced by a mind altering SCP.”
“No we're not, he’s zip-tying babies!” a scientist yelled out.
Michael sighed, “Do you people even hear yourself right now!”
The foundation leader took a look at Michael’s prisoner and frowned.
“What the hell 507, why did you zip tie a puppy?”
...
“You know what. I’m done with this conversation.”
Michael ordered his soldiers to bury the guy somewhere deep underground, he’d probably come get him later. Assuming the guy was completely indestructible, he should be fine without oxygen.
The staff we’re far too on edge around Michael right now, so he decided he’d just go into the facility with limited information. There was no sense in trying to talk rationally to someone incapable of doing so. He'd probably find someone down there who was less insane.
Hell, they were all yelling at him for burying the puppy/baby.
Michael ignored them and quickly stole a keycard from a dead scientist and walked to the front gate.
'I guess I should go see how fucked up this place is,' Michael thought with a sigh.
And with that he opened the main door and entered the facility.