Evan's attempts to figure out what the Fifth Church is up to lead him back into contact with an old friend. Meanwhile, Jerry's new circumstances continue to weigh on him.
Evan
Evan enters the interrogation chamber. Callum is already handcuffed to the other side of the table. He looks up at Evan. He smirks. “Hey, old buddy,” he says. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I have some questions.”
Callum tilts his head. “Dude, there’s nothing left I haven’t told you.”
“I think there just might be.”
“And why do you suddenly want to talk now?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I’m not worried, man. I’m just curious. You’d be curious, too, if you were in my shoes.”
“Just answer my questions.”
“I’ve answered a lot of questions from you over the years. If there is something I’ve been holding back this entire time, why would I tell you now?”
“Because if Light tells the higher-ups that she likes the information you’ve given us, they’re going to let you see your father.”
That catches Callum off-guard. “Bullshit,” he says. “They wouldn’t.”
“It’s already been set up.”
“I seem to remember the Foundation making similar promises to you a few years ago.”
“My family wasn’t in containment. Your father is.”
Callum considers that for a moment. “True,” he says. “After all, you’ve gotten to see your brother now that he’s in containment.”
Jerry’s capture happened in a full mess hall, in front of half the people in Site-17. Of course, Callum heard about it.
“We’re here to talk about you,” Even says, sternly.
“And we will,” Callum says. “Please just indulge me one question. Is it true that he joined the Serpent’s Hand? That’s what everyone says, but it seems too perfect to be real.”
“We’re here so you can answer my questions,” Evan says. “If you have no intention of doing that, I’m just going to leave, and you won’t get another chance at that visit.”
“So, it is true,” Callum says. Evan clenches his fist. He can’t allow Callum to get under his skin.
Okay, maybe it’s too late for that, but he certainly can’t allow Callum to realize he’s gotten under his skin.
“What was the purpose of the sacrifice at Galaxy Plaza?” Evan asks.
“This again? I’ve answered this question a hundred times. I didn’t know the overall goal of it.”
“But you knew that it was going to happen?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get the impression it was important?”
Callum shrugs. “I suppose.”
“Part of a larger plan?”
“Presumably.”
“And it was originally supposed to happen somewhere else, but you pulled strings to make it happen in Piton?”
“Well, my father pulled the strings at my request.”
“Why?”
“As I told you at the time, I wanted revenge against you for ruining my life.”
“But you had no idea what the sacrifice was for?”
“I was sixteen. Do you really find it hard to believe that the Fifth Church wouldn’t trust me with its most important secrets?”
“Most important?” Evan asks. “If you don’t know the answer, how do you know it was among the church’s most important secrets?”
That, finally, makes Callum’s smug mask crack. His smirk flattens. He considers for a moment. “You’re serious about my father?” he asks. “I’ll be allowed to see him if I cooperate?”
“You know I’m the last person who would lie about that,” Evan says.
“But they might have lied to you.”
True. They might have. “You’re probably never going to get another chance,” Evan says. “Do you want to risk it?”
Callum studies Evan for a moment. He glances at the camera in the corner of the room, from which the Foundation higher-ups, the people who would actually decide if he could see his father, are watching.
He sighs. “I knew it was important from how they talked about it,” he says. “Church leaders acted like it was the most important thing in the world. A massive victory.”
“Something world-altering?” Evan asks.
“Holy shit,” he says. “Something did happen. What on earth’s got you so damn worried all the sudden?”
“I’m the one asking questions.”
“Sorry. Sorry. Didn’t mean to intrude on your office as question-asker.”
“Then answer.”
“I don’t know any more than you do. I see the logic behind your guess. The final aim of the project was definitely big. I don’t know anything more than that.”
“Do you have any idea why killing a few dozen people would accomplish something that significant?”
For a split second, a mile-wide grin flashed across Callum’s face, but Callum suppressed it. Evan raised a brow. “What was that?” Evan asked.
“What was what?”
“You got a look on your face.”
“Did I?”
“No games. You want to see your father, you’re going to be straight with me.”
Callum sighs. “No, I don’t know why they thought it would work. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were wrong. A group of Fifthists once tried to take a bus to the alpha-centauri system. I wouldn’t be surprised if their entire plan was a delusional pipe dream.”
That’s a fair point. Obviously, whatever their plan was, it didn’t work. Perhaps that’s because Evan intervened. Perhaps that was because Callum changed the location of the sacrifice. Perhaps that’s because it never had a chance of working to begin with.
“What was the mood in the church after the sacrifice failed?” Evan asks.
Callum tilts his head. “Umm, bad? How do you think they felt?”
“I’m sure they were upset. I’m asking for specifics. Was it more anger, or despair? How intense was it?”
Evan has some experience foiling the plans of world-threatening maniacs. Different kinds of failure trigger different emotions. If your enemy has set you back, that’s cause for anger. It motivates you to double your efforts and try again. However, if they have dealt you a true and final defeat, a loss that foils your plans for all time and leaves you with nothing left to strive for, that’s cause for despair so deep you’re unlikely to try again.
“I’ve never known a Fifthist to feel despair,” Callum says. “The Heptagons think they’re the masters of hope, but they have nothing on the delusional optimism of a committed Fifthist.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“But it’s all I know. I didn’t really get a chance to gauge their reaction. I was captured by the Foundation just a few months after the Galaxy Plaza disaster.”
Evan sighs. Perhaps that’s fair. Callum has been out of the loop for several years now.
“It seems like you have some reason to think they’re going to try again?” Callum asks.
“I’m the one—”
“Right. Sorry. Forgot. Either way, I don’t know shit about the church’s plans since I was captured. All I can tell you is that they really cared about Galaxy Plaza, and they went into it thinking it would work.”
Evan studies Callum for a moment. He hasn’t given any real information. At least none that Evan didn’t already know, but that might be because he simply has no new information to give.
“I still don’t understand why you aren’t angrier at the church,” Evan says. “After everything they made you do—”
Callum shakes his head. “Don’t flatter me,” he says. “They didn’t make me do anything. The Starfish God influenced my mind, sure, but he’s not the reason I did the things I did. Big Starry just filed down my last few scruples.”
“But I gave you those scruples back. Most people would be grateful.”
“You gave me a bunch of useless guilt, right before locking me in a cage where I can never make amends.”
“You can, now. You’re right. Something big is happening. You can help stop it. If I really did give you your conscience back, you should relish that chance.”
“Nah. Honestly, at this point, I’d welcome the end of the world. Anything to get me out of your cage.”
That’s more or less the note the interrogation ends on. Evan tries to coax more information out of Callum, but if the former Fifthist is holding anything back, it doesn’t seem like Evan is going to get it out of him.
Evan sighs. “That’s really everything you know?”
“Everything,” Callum says.
Evan can’t tell if that’s the case. Part of him wants to recommend his superiors allow the visit regardless. It’s hard not to pity Callum.
Well, it’s hard for Evan. The Foundation seldom struggles to suppress its pity for anyone.
Still, when Evan expresses his intent to leave, Callum asks, “Do you think it was enough?”
“That’s not my decision,” Evan says.
“I bet you know the answer, though.”
Evan sighs. “No. I doubt it was enough.”
Only the faintest glimpse of sadness flashes across Callum’s face, but Evan knows him well enough to know there’s much more lurking underneath it.
“I’m sorry,” Evan says.
Callum doesn’t respond.
Jerry
I sit on the bed in my cell.
There’s nowhere else to sit. They’ve taken the chair, along with everything else that could conceivably be picked up and used to smash something. What furniture remains is nailed to the floor or wall.
The desk is still here, but there’s no way of sitting at it, and nothing to write with, so it’s useless.
The boredom is intentional. I have to remember that. It’s a deliberate tactic to break me, and I can’t let it work. I can’t let them win. That’s the thought I’ve been clinging to. If I give in, they win. I have to think that over and over again, because if I let myself stop, another thought bursts into my head.
How much longer will I be alone in here?
The crackling static of the speaker is the first new sound I’ve heard in hours. I spring up and look right at the camera in the corner of my cell.
Evan’s voice echoes over the speaker. I take a moment to compose myself. I don’t want him to mistake my relief at hearing someone’s voice for a positive reaction to hearing his. I lay back down and make a point to stare at the ceiling without looking interested.
“Jerry,” he says.
“You sure you’re allowed to use my name?”
He continues as if I’d cordially greeted him back. “Listen,” he says, “I’m going to be needed to help with a project off-site for a bit.”
“Careful. That’s probably classified.”
“The details certainly are. The only thing you need to know is that I’m not going to be at my normal post for a few days.”
“Good for you.”
“Which means I can’t do my job. My main role here is to cure people with routine mental afflictions. When I’m in the field, I can’t do that.”
“Am I supposed to give a shit?”
“Jerry—”
I sit up, and glare at the camera. “I get it,” I say. “The Jailors want me to do your job while you’re gone, and they put you up to asking me because they wrongly think your former status as my brother gives you some kind of rapport with me. Well, I’m not doing it. I’m not doing anything to help the Jailors, no matter what.”
“I’m not asking you to help the Foundation,” Evan says. “I’m asking you to help a bunch of innocent civilians. However angry you are at me or the Foundation, they don’t deserve to suffer for it.”
“Don’t care. Not helping. Final answer.”
“These people need you!”
“Too bad for them.”
“You won’t be helping us contain anyone. You won’t be helping fight the Serpent’s Hand, or any other group you’d sympathize with. You know how nasty some of the stuff out there is—”
“And you’re asking me to take care of it for you so that you’re free to go on some kind of mission. You might be fighting the Serpent’s hand. You might be containing someone, and doing your job will make that easier for you.”
“The mission I’ll be going on has nothing to do with either of those things. It’s something you’d approve of.”
“Okay. What is it?”
Evan sighs. “I’m not allowed to tell you,” he says, “but I promise it’s something you’d approve of.”
“Sorry. Don’t believe you.”
“Damn it, Jerry! I know you’re not really the kind of person who would let innocent people suffer just to spite the Foundation. I know you care about innocent people.”
“Right. All innocent people. Including the ones the Foundation locks away or does worse things to.”
“Jerry—”
“Just use my number. You know you want to.”
“Jerry, I’m going to be busy protecting the world. I can’t tell you the specifics, but some very bad people are gearing up to do some very bad things. I need to stop them.”
“I don’t care. I’m not helping the Jailors in any way, ever. However innocent you try to make my contribution seem, it will ultimately free up some other resource to be used for evil. I’m not going to do that no matter how much you try to guilt me into it.”
Evan is silent for almost half a minute. “You really hate the Foundation more than you value the wellbeing of innocent people? You’d really let them suffer just to spite us?”
“I’m pretty sure I said that when you first brought me in. I’m surprised you forgot. Someone slip amnestics into your food, or are they just doing that to me?”
Another long silence, then Evan speaks again, this time with an angry edge in his voice. “Fine.”
“What?” I ask.
“Fine. Sit in your containment chamber while innocent people suffer. I can’t make you do the right thing.”
“Reverse psychology isn’t going to work, either.”
“You’re right. You already told me that you’d rather let innocent people suffer than help the Foundation save them. I should’ve remembered. It would have saved us both time.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“I’m sorry to bother you. I know you have some very important sulking to take care of. I’ll get out of your hair.”
The microphone turns off.
“Evan, you’re not fooling anyone,” I say after a second. “We both know you’d badger me for hours about this if you thought you had to.”
No answer.
“Evan, are you there?”
No answer.
“Evan, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll help all your clueless civilians.”
No answer.
“Evan?”
No answer.
Evan
Alpha-9 doesn’t get sent out into the field as often as you’d think.
Last Hope are the big guns. Despite Light’s best efforts, there aren’t that many members, and they get deployed separately almost as often as they’re deployed together. Just as Evan spends a lot of his time curing people, Rainer spends a lot of time portaling in things the Foundation needs.
They also get loaned out to other task forces quite a bit. Evan often helps other MTFs enter spaces with a large number of cognitohazards. He works with See No Evil almost as often as he works with Last Hope.
Still, when the stakes are high, when something needs to be done very quickly and very well, a larger selection of Alpha-9’s agents will be deployed.
The possibility of the Fifthists having another world-ending plan on the scale of Star Signals is enough to see multiple anomalies sent into the field.
Evan still isn’t sure whether Callum was being straight with him, but even if he knows more than he admitted, the fact that he’s been locked up for six years means it’s unlikely that he knows the details of the Church’s current plans. The same goes for any other Fifthist they already have in custody.
In order to get the information they need, they need a fresh prisoner. Someone who’s currently high-ranking in the church.
Fortunately, they have a target in mind.
They’ve known for years that the professional stage magician Veronica Hall is secretly a member of the Fifth church. They would have captured her already, except her allegiance was revealed by a mole they didn’t want to risk compromising.
That mole was Agent Wilson and compromising her is no longer an issue.
Hall’s mansion is isolated enough that they can go in uniformed and guns blazing. Hall shouldn’t know the Foundation knows about her, so she shouldn’t be expecting anything.
As long as they’re in and out before help can get here, things should go smoothly.
There are two other anomalies on this mission. SCP-4494 is here to bring raw power, and SCP-4051 is here for versatility.
They’re accompanied by two ordinary Foundation soldiers, Mendez and Jenkins, here to reinforce their numbers advantage.
The group approaches her isolated mansion. Even from outside, there’s something uncanny about it. Every feature of the building is just a bit too tall and narrow, like something in a funhouse mirror.
They wait for their signal. HQ is watching through their headcams. They’re going to cut the power to this place and jam outgoing communications. When they do, the team will rush in.
“Everyone ready?” Light asks from HQ.
All five agents answer in the affirmative.
“Alright, power and signal coming down in three, two, one.”
Right on queue, the mansion goes dark.
The soldiers rush toward the back entrance. They grapple over a fence and into an area with a large, irregularly shaped pool whose dark blue tiles make it seem deeper than it is. There’s some kind of pattern in the tiles, but with the lights out, it’s too dark to make out its details.
They approach the sliding glass back door.
“Alright,” Rainer says. “Stand back.”
They do.
Rainer makes a portal. Usually, when he does that, there’s something inside. This time, though, there’s nothing. In fact, there’s less than nothing. Negative one glass doors, and as soon as the portal opens, a loud blast does away with the barrier.
They enter the mansion. SCP-4494 is at the head of the pack. Of the five of them, he’s the most resistant to damage. The human soldiers are behind him. Evan and Rainer are in the back, where they’re least vulnerable.
Evan never liked the fact that his life is more important than some others, but it’s a reality he’s learned to live with.
They clear the large room into which the back door opens. The other four get to work ruling out likely hiding places while Evan keeps an eye out for cognitohazards. If there is one, he needs to counter it before it does any damage.
There’s nothing in the room, so they head upstairs, into a smaller lounge.
As soon as they enter, something’s on Mendez. It’s small and blue with five limbs, like a cross between a starfish and a spider. It skitters toward Mendez at lightning speed, then jumps up to grab onto his body. Jenkins and the Specter immediately aim their guns at it, but they’re unwilling to fire for fear of harming Mendez himself.
“Fuck!” Jenkins shouts. “HQ, something’s on Mendez.”
“I can see that,” Light replies.
The creature latches onto Mendez’s torso and holds on tight.
Mendez yelps. “I think it bit me.”
Rainer runs up and tries to pull the thing off of him, but its grip is too strong.
“Fear not, ally of justice!” the Specter shouts. “My strength will surely prove sufficient!”
He stows a gun and steps forward, grabbing one arm with each hand and pulling the thing off Mendez. Its grip is strong, but after half a minute of work, The Specter is able to pull it away, though the creature takes some skin with it. Blood drips down his Mendez’s side.
The Specter tosses the creature away, and it’s riddled with bullets before it hits the ground.
Three more of them rush in from an adjacent room.
“Crap, there are more coming,” Evan shouts.
Evan fires a shot at one of them.
“Do we have any idea what the fuck these things are,” Jenkins shouts.
“Security measure?” Rainer asks.
“I’m checking our database,” Light says. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“I thought sarkites were supposed to be the ones who made monsters,” Mendez says.
“Don’t let Lucy hear you use that wo—” Before Evan can finish his sentence, one of the starfish-spiders jumps onto him and latches onto his arm. Hard, rough limbs grip him painfully tight, and something bites down on him from the middle of the creature’s body.
This time, it doesn’t take as long for the Specter to rip the thing off, and the others make short work of it.
All of them scan the hall they came down, but there don’t seem to be any more of the creatures.
“Jesus,” Jenkins says. “Medez, you’ve been quiet. You still with us?”
“I think I’m fine,” Mendez says.
“Are you sure?” Evan asks. “You said you felt like it bit you. You sure it didn’t do anything?”
At the exact moment Evan finishes asking the question, Mendez’s eyes go wide. “Fuck.”
“Damn it,” Jenkins says.
“That’s what I thought,” Evan says.
“Stay back if you’re compromised,” Light says.
“Should I stay back with him?” Evan asks.
“Negative,” Light says. “The others might need you to help put down Hall.”
“I can guard him,” Rainer says.
They disarm Mendez and leave him and Rainer in the living room while the other three continue down the hall, toward what they, from the mansion’s plans, believe to be Hall’s bedroom.
The door’s lock is flimsy, and The Specter makes short work of it.
The large bedroom is centered on a pentagonal, king-sized bed that seems too big for its single occupant. To the left, there’s a chest of drawers and a large mirror. To the right, some of those uncannily tall windows let in moonlight.
Veronica Hall is awake, already scrambling to her feet.
“Not so fast, evildoer!” The Specter cries, charging forward with his guns out. Evan and Jenkins enter behind him.
Whack! The cold smack of flesh against flesh rings out down the hall, along with a cry from Rainer. Evan turns and checks around the corner. Rainer is on the ground, and Mendez is standing over him.
Fuck, this is one of the ones that turns back on after Evan leaves.
He should’ve known. It injected venom, which is still inside Mendez.
“What the hell are you doing?” Evan shouts.
Right away, Mendez’s eyes go wide, and he stumbles back. “Oh God,” he says.
“Stay with me,” Evan says. “Can you restrain yourself?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.”
“Do it.”
And he does. He does it quickly, too, cuffing himself to a nearby post and throwing the key across the room.
“We’ll patch you up back at HQ,” Evan says.
“Roger,” Mendez says.
Evan turns back to the scene in the bedroom.
“Come quietly, criminal!” the Specter shouts. “You’re surrounded. There’s no way out!”
Hall doesn’t seem to agree. She runs over to the wall. For a second, it’s unclear what she’s trying to do. The windows, which would seem to be her most likely means of escape, are in the opposite direction, and her gaze is on…
…the mirror.
“Eyes shut!” Evan barks.
It’s a split-second too late. A single nudge from Hall causes the mirror to fall, cracking as it impacts the chest of drawers below. Behind it is a large, intricate fractal pattern.
It’s not a kill agent, thank God, but it still has Jenkins on the ground.
The split-second viewing doesn’t affect The Specter as strongly, but he still has to shield his eyes from it. Hall looks around the room. For a moment, she smiles, but her smirk turns upside-down when she sees Evan is still standing.
“Wha—”
Evan doesn’t give her time to say anything more before he raises his gun and fires at the pattern on the wall.
Visual cognitohazards like this require extremely precise and intricate patterns. A handful of bullet holes should be enough to disrupt it, and, indeed, Jenkins is springing to his feet just a moment later.
He raises his gun. Evan and the Specter do the same. Hall looks back at them.
“Hands up, criminal scum!” The Specter shouts. “You’re coming with us.”
She looks around the room. Perhaps she’s looking for a way out, but she doesn’t seem to find one.
After a moment, she raises her hands. The Specter is on her in a flash and manages to cuff her.
“Any more of those starfish things outside?” Evan asks.
“So, you met my pets?”
“How many of those things do you have?”
“Just a few,” she says. “Three or four.”
They killed four. Hopefully, she’s telling the truth, and there aren’t more of them.
The Specter takes Hall outside to a waiting Foundation transport. Evan undoes Mendez’s cuff, transferring it from the post to his other wrist. At the same time, Jenkins leans down to check on Rainer.
“He’s waking up,” Jenkins says.
“Stay with me for a second,” Evan says to Mendez, before turning his attention to Rainer. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Rainer says, rubbing his head. “I didn’t get bit. He just knocked me out.”
“Good,” Evan says. “Portal yourself in an aspirin and let’s get going.”
“Right.” Rainer says. He thrusts out his arm, as he would to open a portal.
“For the record, I was joking,” Evan says.
“Right,” Rainer says, lowering his arm. “That makes more sense.”
“You can still do it if you want.”
“No,” Rainer says. “I’m not supposed to portal things in unless it’s part of a mission.”
“We’re in the field,” Evan says.
Rainer shakes his head. “There’s meds in the transport.”
The remaining agents load into the transport outside, and their driver starts the van, ready to take them back to Site-17 where Hall can be interrogated.
Hopefully, Hall will have the answers they need to figure out what the Fifth Church is up to.