Not fifteen minutes passed before foundation trucks arrived to pick Michael up. They'd got there surprisingly quick, suspiciously quick.
Michael sighed, 'They got me chipped like some kind of show-poodle don’t they?'
'Well, whatever,' Michael thought as he got up and waved towards the approaching troops.
“Hey guys, I’m back, did y'all miss me?” Michael asked.
They all but ignored his remark 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 once they saw 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.
Then he went over to his cot and laid down.
'I need to ask for a real bed next chance I get,' Michael 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?” The scientist asked.
“No, I didn't," Michael answered. "Sleeping with this stupid crown on my head is giving me a crick in the neck.”
With that said Michael got up from his cot, walked over and slumped into the chair across from Hearthgrieve, “To what do I owe the pleasure? You'll have to forgive me for not cleaning up. All my worldly possessions can fit inside a bag so I didn't seem necessary."
Hearthgrieve smiled, “Just doing our routine check, we need you to give a rundown of the dimension you visited.”
Michael grinned at that, “Oh yeah, speaking of that I managed to get some fruit from the other dimension, they’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
Michael tossed Hearthgrieve the bag, who caught it without trouble.
Looking into the bag, Hearthgrieve frowned and pulls out a small green fruit.
“This is a pear,” The scientist calmly said.
Hearthgrieve stared at Michael.
Michael stared back at Hearthgrieve.
Hearthgrieve stared at Michael.
“It was dark.”
Setting aside the pear Harthgrieve pulled out fruit after fruit, each one magnificent and fascinating.
'Why did the pear have to be the first one he grabbed?' Michael cursed internally. It'd kind of taken the wind out his sails.
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 and leave nothing out.”
Michael needed no further prompting to begin, a smile forming on his face as he began 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've 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,” Heathgrieve said with a wink before getting up and making to leave the room.
But right before he got 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 walked through the door.
Glancing to the corner of the room, Michael noticed the workout equipment newly added to the room.
'Did they do that while I was sleeping?' Michael thought to himself.
With a smile Michael walked over and began to run on his new treadmill. All the while thinking about items that would have made the last shift easier.
1. Something to cover my scent.
2. Real bullets. The good ones, don’t cheap out on me here.
3. Smoke grenades.
4. Tear Gas.
5. A high caliber pistol.
6. Fragmentation Grenades.
7. Bed.
8. A team to traverse the dimensions with.
9. A T.V.
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You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
After a couple of days had passed Michael got the list back from Hearthgrieve.
1. Something to cover my scent. (Approved)
2. Real bullets. The good ones, don’t cheap out on me here. (Approved)
3. Smoke grenades. (Approved)
4. Tear Gas. (Approved)
5. A high caliber pistol. (Pending)
6. Fragmentation Grenades. (Pending)
7. Bed (Approved)
8. A team to traverse the dimensions with. (Pending)
9. A T.V. (Approved)
“Why are some of them Pending?” Michael asked, feeling he already knew the answer.
“Relax, you’ll likely be getting them eventually,” Hearthgrieve reassured him.
He placed Michael's shotgun down on the center table, a small black box fixed to the side.
“What’s this?” Michael asked.
“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 at the box affixed to his gun 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 that work?” Michael asked.
Hearthgrieve actually laughed in response, “Like I’d tell you that. We only have the one box right now and 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 and 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. To a certain extent. Make sure you pay attention because around fifteen percent of the dimensions Tommy visited stuck him in their version of this compound so it'll be useful to know."
With that said Hearthgrieve stood up and pushed in his chair, “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."
And then he left, leaving Michael to prepare for the next dimensional shift with little more than exercise.
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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 and walked around the facility. There were twelve floors with each one having a large center room that had hallways branching off of in straight lines. Apparently, it was so they could better seal the hallways in the event something broke out.
The hallway Michael's cell resided in was the one that housed the ‘safe’ designated SCPs. The guards had given him some quick examples of his new neighbors as they walked.
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 that had a three second delay to it.
Michael grumbled to himself as they guards listed the items, 'Don't those seem... kinda useless. Why am I being stored with these things? I should be stored somewhere more important! This is an indignity. 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 week safe period was up, Michael got a rather peculiar assignment.
The crackling of the speaker in his room 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 me. I can't realistically be touching a group of eight guys at all times for days on end, so they're probably looking for a workaround. I'd half expected them to just give me half-promises and not follow through. This is a mark in their favor,' Michael thought.
At the end of the announcement a fit man came in wearing the signature orange D-class jumpsuit that they all seemed to wear. He had short brown hair and stood roughly six feet tall. He looked to be in exceptional shape as well, which would serve him well if they ended up in another dangerous world.
“Hey I’m Michael, what should I call ya?” Michael greeted as the D-Class was usurered into the room.
The D-Class locked eyes with Michael and grinned, “Oh, my friends call me Alex.”
They shook hands as Alex looked around the cell, his eyes almost immediately 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 come and gone, and Michael was constantly fully outfitted with his newly arrived equipment.
The handgun they’d ended up giving him didn’t have a name. Apparently it was only produced for high-ranking members of the foundation. The fact that they even gave jim one was kind of strange, but damn if it wasn’t cool. They’d also provided what they'd promised was quality ammunition and a quick trip down to the gun range had proven them correct. The weapons unlocked there, but he wasn't inclined to push his luck in that department.
Outside of that room none of his equipment would work until he was out of the dimension, and by extension the facility and he was aching to try some of it out.
They couldn’t exactly 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 him any weapons. They didn’t even give him any body armor to wear. Even though they’d equipped Michael with Kevlar reinforced clothing and boots. No helmet though, it didn'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. All they had to do now was wait.
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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,' Michael thought before falling asleep.