SCP-9410

We are under siege.

rating: +48+–x

Text text text text.


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Who are thee who doubts my Covenant?

Who desecrates the sacred harvest,

Spills the blood of my soldiers,

Spites my worm-wood crown,

And pollutes my hive with his half-blood's heresies?

For am I not the seamstress of discord,

And the queen-mother of monsters?

Does not my retribution sting as a scorpion-tail,

And whisper Seven-tongued curses,

In eons dead and living?

Thus suffer my abominations, obscene and glorious,

As a traitor's pallid curse art your crime,

And none escape the Empire Outside Time.

- A CHRONICLE OF THE DAEVA;
29:45







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DEPICTED LEFT: The author of my agony.
DEPICTED RIGHT: The wheel upon which my spirit is broken.













Ⅰ
"COARSE"













!! ATTENTION, ALL TEMPORAL SITE-01 PERSONNEL !!

All personnel currently serving on board Temporal Site-01 or otherwise occupying the bounds of the Foundation Sovereign Temporal Zone are to be notified immediately that a pluripotent ectoplasmic entity has been detected rapidly approaching Temporal Site-01, and is believed to be staging an active assault on Research and Containment Team Δt. The subject in question has been identified as a wanted temporal criminal, and is highly dangerous.

All relevant on-Site security systems have been activated, and the facility has been placed on total lockdown. All entrance to and egress from the semi-anachronic bounds of the Foundation Sovereign Temporal Zone, be it with the Greater Temporum or any substituent reality, is hereafter forbidden. These precautions will continue until the present situation abates entirely. Remain calm, and do not attempt to leave the facility for the duration of the lockdown.

On this matter, the Directoral Trilaterum has issued the following official statement-ritual:

Be strong, temporal agents. Remember your mission; hang stalwart to the Compass of the Cause. Secure the past, Contain the present, Protect the future, and this foe too will be reduced to a mote of dust in the grand stream of Chron.

In the words of the great Second Lord of Time Asyron, when the lepidopteran hordes swarmed upon his host —

We are under siege.


Item#: 9410
Level2
Containment Class:
Pending
Secondary Class:
none
Disruption Class:
none
Risk Class:
none
link to memo

SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES

SCP-9410 is to be placed inside of a temporary spectral containment unit and held in bulk storage at Repository Area-149. It is scheduled for permanent containment at Research & Containment Site-19, and is to be transported there on 7 November 2036.


DESCRIPTION

SCP-9410 is a pseudo-corporeal spectral entity inhabiting a large piece of granite (three-by-two-by-four meters). SCP-9410 does not appear to directly interfere with surrounding matter in any meaningful way, and can only be observed through the use of Asomatous Imaging Technology (AIT). Preliminary spectral analysis has indicated that the object possesses some degree of consciousness, and is aware of any physical stimuli affecting its host. At present, it seems fully bound to the stone in which it is encased, being either unwilling to — or, more likely, incapable of — parting from it.


HISTORY

SCP-9410 was discovered on a Foundation archaeological expedition in the Angrim Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India. The team conducting the excavation, led by Dr. Sagar Singh, had the intent of discovering artifacts related to an ancient battle between Daevite and Erikeshan forces attested in various mythical sources to have occurred around the area.

The object's presence at this suspected battlefield, dated to the 4000s BCE, in tandem with its own estimated date of origin is obviously highly indicative of an origin with one or both of the aforementioned ancient civilizations. According to the Department of Archaeology's preliminary theories, SCP-9410 was most likely a victim of the Daevite practice of Geátdeát1. The Daeva were known to have, on several occasions, severed the souls of captured enemy military and political leaders before desecrating their physical bodies. These spirits were then forced to inhabit boulders, from which ornate sculptures were typically carved. Notably, no such recovered stones have been found to still possess a bound spirit, likely due to the difficulty of restraining motivated noncorporeal entities for significant amounts of time. Dig lead Dr. Sagar Singh has proposed another theory that SCP-9410 represents the spirit of a Daevite leader encased in "lithic cocoon", although such a device being spectrally possessed instead of regenerating its host would represent a considerable abnormality in Daevite thaumic practice, according to Singh.


DIR. FORTH: What's this dot on the map?

DIR. XYANK: Pesky speck. Lingering hanger-on from a paradox, perhaps?

DIR. FORTH: Sure. Keep an eye on it, just in case.

DIR. XYANK: Of course, of course. And let's run diagnostics on any recent retcons—

DIR. REYNDERS: Guys?

DIR. XYANK: Why, what is it?

DIR. REYNDERS: Where do you reckon it's going?


AUTOMATED BREACH REPORT: SITE-19

------
Welcome, Director Moose.
------

A CATOSTROPHIC BREACH IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY THROUGHOUT SITE-19. A LOG OF EVENTS AS CAPTURED BY THE SECURITY CAMERA SYSTEM IS BEING CONTINUOUSLY TRANSCRIBED BELOW, COURTESY OF ON-SITE CONSTRUCT MALLARD.AIC.

[BEGIN LOG]

[All lights throughout Quadrant C of the Site-19 campus, including Facility 23 and much of the nearby subterranean complex, suddenly shut off.]

[A large automaton (hereafter designated BO-01)2 not associated with any known anomalous phenomenon emerges from Research Cell 109-A in Facility 23, having bashed in the room’s ceiling, primary entrance, and much of the wall surrounding the primary entrance. It trudges toward the facility’s nearest exit.]

[Senior Researcher Grant Dochal darts out of Research Cell 109-B, immediately pulling the alarm directly outside the room. He rushes toward the nearest secure bunker, though is unable to unlock it, seemingly having forgotten the code. He crouches in a corner, and hoists a binder in front of his face, wielding it as a makeshift shield.]

[Four security agents arrive at the scene and immediately begin to open fire on BO-01. BO-01 raises an appendage, and gestures towards one of the agents, before lunging, clutching his face with a claw-like mechanism. After several seconds stuck in BO-01’s grasp, the captured agent’s face begins to rapidly deteriorate into a slurry of viscera and blood. BO-01 grabs the now incapacitated agent’s gun and affixes it to its left appendage with its claw; additional components of unclear function rapidly manifest around this weapon. Bullets are uncontrollably discharged at atypically high speeds and random angles, killing the other three agents and wounding Dr. Dochal.]

DR. DOCHAL: I- I don’t… that’s not how… that…

[BO-01 presses its right appendage against several damaged portions of its body. These areas are seemingly transmuted into different metals, with all damage remaining.]

[BO-01 emits a confused mechanical grunt, and pours smoke from the grates and exhaust pipes composing the location of its "face".]

[Nevertheless, as the scrap metal churns and contorts, there is an an apparent and inexplicable expression of satisfaction.]

[LOADING…]



Item#: 9410
Level3
Containment Class:
keter
Secondary Class:
uncontained
Disruption Class:
keneq
Risk Class:
critical
link to memo

SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES

SCP-9410 is presently uncontained. As of 19 November 2036, it has recently breached Research & Containment Site-19 at considerable expense to the structural integrity and contained object catalogue of the facility3. SCP-9410's current location is unknown. Following Incident 9410-Nekyia, the object's destructive capabilities are of immense threat to human life, and its prompt pursuit and recapture is hereafter an initiative of Priority Alpha (effective immediately).


DESCRIPTION

SCP-9410 is an aggressive and apparently intelligent spectral amalgam of unknown or indefinite4 size and mass. Unlike other spectral entities, as of Incident 9410-Nekyia, SCP-9410 possesses a dimension of physicality and a functional "body" thanks to possessive ectoplasmic interaction with another formerly contained SCP object5. Specifically, its vessel assumes an enlarged, vaguely humanoid mechanical form composed of innumerable intricate clockwork components, with an armored exoskeleton fashioned from miscellaneous industrial and construction materials torn from around Site-19.

Although little is known of the precise anomalous capabilities of SCP-9410, it can be surmised from the object's breach on 10/19/2036 that it is an extremely potent poltergeist, likely on the order of Alderman Class VIII or IX, capable of incurring instantaneous and forceful controlled displacement of large corporeal objects. SCP-9410 also possesses extreme martial prowess with its improvised body, and if relevant information from the Department of Archaeology is to be believed, plausibly bears thaumaturgic abilities in line with traditions of war magic belonging to the ancient Daevite civilization.

Additionally, SCP-9410 is known to be capable of extremely versatile acute material transmutation. By utilizing a highly intricate anomalous clockwork device built into — and largely composing — its mechanical form, the object can "refine" chunks of input matter into discrete object(s) of generally related material or conceptual character to the input object(s). SCP-9410 can telekinetically alter this transmutation machine, though its central input and output chutes were last observed as part of a disproportionately large claw-like appendage on the object's left "arm". This configuration enables it to transmute objects on touch, or "consume" an untransmuted item and expel the item in its transmuted form, often at high speeds. Once such a motion by SCP-9410 has been made, a small bell sounds, and the transmutation process begins. The process takes an amount of time ranging from instantaneous to around twenty (20) seconds, depending on the size of the object being "refined". Transmutation by SCP-9410 is at no known expense of energy. Given its high intelligence and malice, SCP-9410 has proven exceedingly capable of weaponizing its "refining" capability against opponents in improvised circumstances.

If the nature of the clockwork device enabling SCP-9410's transmutative capability has remained principally unchanged since Incident 9410-Nekyia, transmutation should be expected to occur in five distinct varietals, or "settings" — "COARSE", "ROUGH", "1:1", "FINE", and "VERY FINE".


HISTORY

[REDUNDANT CONTENT ELAPSED]

It is currently understood that SCP-9410 represents the ghost of a paranormal historical figure known in life as "Carthacan Kiáz-del Vaduk, Fourth Blade of Daevon", known to the Foundation as PoI-7128-D. This view was first put forth during the archaeological expedition which uncovered SCP-9410 (then concealed within a large stone artifact) as a hypothesis by dig lead Dr. Sagar Singh, and was later corroborated by documentation transmitted anachronously to the Foundation by Research and Containment Team Δt from an unknown point in the near future6.

The aforementioned documentation details a historical battle, the "Battle of Ta'ath Kel", during the First Erikesh Campaign (~4160 - ~4125 BCE) in which RCT-Δt intervened to reverse illegal manipulation of the past on the part of Daevite forces in communication with PoI-7128-D, thus changing the outcome of said battle back to a Daevite defeat. The Fourth Blade of Daevon's pivotal involvement in the Erikesh Campaign in general, and in the Battle of Ta'ath Kel in particular7, would appear to suggest that the immense hostility and violence displayed by SCP-9410 during its containment breach is attributable to specific antipathy toward the Foundation — and that the origin of this antipathy is revenge for the act committed by its temporal forces at Ta'ath Kel.


ADDENDUM 9410/1:

— INCIDENT 9410-NEKYIA —

SCP-9410 was transferred to Site-19 from its temporary location at Area-149 on 8 November 2036, intended for permanent containment there. After arriving at the Site on a transport convoy manned by the Foundation archaeological crew which discovered it, under the supervision of Dr. Sagar Singh, the object was swiftly filed into Large Safe Containment Wing 6A, one of the Site's subterranean Safe-class containment wings8, and placed in a vacuum-sealed spectrological containment tank.

At ground level above Large Safe Containment Wing 6A is situated Site-19's Facility 23, a specialized testing area. SCP-9410's containment chamber in particular happened to lie almost directly below the primary housing room of another large, Safe-class object — SCP-914, an intricate clockwork machine of unknown working capable of preternatural transmutation from inserted material.

On 19 November 2036, Dr. Grant Dochal9 began to conduct a regularly scheduled test on SCP-914. The test, which involved the insertion of a piece of anachronous room temperature superconductor into SCP-914, caused the electronics of SCP-914's containment chamber and adjacent areas of Facility 23, as well as the regions of subterranean Large Containment Wing 6A directly below, to blow a sudden fuse for reasons which remain exactly unknown — possibly related to the alien nature of the material and/or the contemporaneous use of other high-energy equipment nearby in the Site.

During the period in which the electric grid was non-functional for portions of Facility 23 and Large Safe Containment Wing 6A, the spectrological cage in which SCP-9410 was being contained ceased to receive power and its backup power source failed to function. The ectoplasmic field of the device was therefore disabled. Being apparently a substantially more powerful spectral entity than the Foundation had anticipated, the deactivation of this field allowed SCP-9410 to cease possessing the stone artifact which it then occupied and phase out of its container with ease. The object subsequently traveled non-corporeally through ceiling of its chamber, into the room situated above, where it located and immediately attempted to possess SCP-914. SCP-9410 quickly became able to realize the full extent of its telekinetic capability in its new form in tandem with gaining the transmutation capability of SCP-914, and a catastrophic containment breach subsequently ensued.

SCP-9410 immediately began to make use of its new form as a weapon to destroy adjacent containment architecture, overpowering all automatic and human security countermeasures. The object was seen repeatedly utilizing its ectoplasmic-telekinetic pull to extact materials from the rubble, such as concrete and stainless steel, and integrate them into an exoskeletal suit of armor encasing its "body". Sharp pieces of scrap metal and metallic blades and firearms looted from slain security guards or the destroyed 6B Task Force Armory were likewise integrated into the object's amalgamated mechanical form for use as weapons. As a result of the object's rampage, all of Large Containment Wing 6A, some or most of multiple adjacent wings, and most of the above-ground Facility 23 were demolished. SCP-9410 proceeded its frenzied patrol around the Site until integrating SCP-7AX5 ("Self-Propelling Rocket"), at which point it promptly used the anomaly to vacate Site-19, apparently enduring considerable aerial heavy munitions fire by Task Force assets all the while to little impediment, until it eventually left range of fire and was lost.

As of 10:30 hours from the onset of breach, the object still has not been observed by the Foundation since Incident 9410-Nekyia.

UPDATE 10/24/2036: At 21:40 on 24 November 2036, Foundation high command received a transmission from RCT-Δt indicating that an entity matching the description of SCP-9410 was sighted rapidly approaching Temporal Site-01 with the apparent intent to attack the facility. As of present, Foundation plans to pursue and recontain this seemingly resurgent instance of SCP-9410 with the greatest possible haste are underway.


DIR. REYNDERS: What about the speck from earlier?

DIR. FORTH: Object suspended in a No-Time zone. It "travels" forward, but never absolutely, since there is no point of chronological reference. We contained things like this at the Department of Temporal Anomalies all the time — still do.

DIR. REYNDERS: Rude, but sure.

DIR. FORTH: Oh, I— I'm so sorry. That didn't occur to me until just now…

DIR. REYNDERS: I kid, don't worry. Any further intel?

DIR. XYANK: We've seen similar at the Temporal Anomalies Department. But this situation is unique, it seems: not only has the object failed to be disintegrated as normal by the corrosive forces of outer reality, but the lack of space and neutrality of time in the void destines that it will reach the Site if left unattended. There is no direction here, after all: only one way to go, and an unclear or N/A amount of time to get there. We are the point of reference; the only one it has.

DIR. REYNDERS: There were-slash-will-be similar problems popping up during my term as TAD director too. Sometimes timelines wouldn't disintegrate right once they were Doomed; just linger in the void. The Compass was-is-will-be always infamously less stable during my tenure, of course. But even in the most temperamental times, we always had the privilege of fixing the problem from the future — not so, here.

DIR. FORTH: Well, that sure is reassuring. What do we do now?

DIR. XYANK: What we were made to do, Alice. We Wait.


— DOCUMENT 9410-KIGAL —

SENT: 24 November 203610, Prime-Timeline-Adjusted (Temporal Site-01)
RECEIVED: 21 November 2036 (Protected Site-7)

CONSPECTUS: On 16 December 4143 BCE, the Department of Temporal Anomalies engaged in an ultra-clandestine operation to prevent the effects of illegal temporal interference perpetrated by the Timeless forces of the Daevite Empire from adhering irreversibly to the chronology of Prime-bundled canon timestreams with respect to a historical event known as the Battle of Ta'ath Kel. The operation involved the deployment of special assassins to ensure the death of PoI-7128-D ("Fourth Blade of Daevon") during this battle, as the perpetrated temporal interference would have prevented such and allowed this individual to influence the outcome of the battle and perhaps of the entire First Erikesh Campaign11.

CONTEXTUALIZATION: The First Erikesh Campaign, of the conflict often known as the "Zeroeth Occult War", was an invasion of the Kingdom of Erikesh by the Daevite Empire and its vassal states which spanned the middle decades of the 4100s BCE. The pivotal battle of this attempted conquest took place as the Daeva forces led by PoI-7128-D advanced toward Ta'ath Kel, a fortified site on the opposing side of the eastern Himalayas. In the Prime Timeline the battle ended with a narrow Daevite defeat — one which could easily have altered the outcome of the entire campaign if it had transpired differently — when PoI-7128-D's divine gifts were dispelled by a fatal stab wound from an Erikeshan warrior wielding the anti-theological mythical artifact known as the Golden Arrow, bypassing his conditional immortality and killing the Fourth Blade rather than triggering a retreat into the lithic cocoon typical of undying Daevite warriors who face killing blows in combat.

Primeform canonicity was first detected to diverge from the above-described standard series of events when PoI-7128-D instead attempted to contact aid from Daevite troops occupying anachronous periods of history. An entity known as the Sempiternal March, the Daevite Empire's supra-temporal cavalry force, was deployed to meet the request, constituting an illegal attempted retcon requiring immediate amelioration by RCT-Δt and the consequent deployment of temporal agents.

CONTENT: The following abridged mission log constitutes the events of the mission by Foundation temporal agents to abate Daevite temporal interference. The mission composed of two sniper agents and three reconnaissance specialists. Agents were equipped with a variety of specialized equipment allowing for surgical alteration of the battle's events, including as invisibility cloaking equipment to prevent accidental disturbance of other elements of history and beryllium-bronze 50-caliber rounds to bypass PoI-7128-D's lithic cocoon and allow for a swift and non-disruptive termination.

[RESUME EXCERPT]

[Squad A of Temporal Team P-46 Qoph arrive at a suitable vantage point in a hill north of the battlefield, and look down at the ensuing scene.]

P5 EDSEL: Well, here we are. P5, P6, find our target.

P4 INDRIX: Searching for target. He's… Where is he?

P6 DENDUR: I'll take the right bank of the river. Y'all look for him on the other side.

[P6 Dendur surveys the battlefield through the scope of his sniper rifle, searching for the target. P5 Edsel climbs a tree around the cliff face's curve to the right, and does the same from a makeshift canopy with a pair of binoculars, balancing between two branches.]

P5 EDSEL: Remember, eye on the front of the columns as they advance. Don't waste time with the footsoldiers; Daevites ain't exactly subtle. He'll be here eventually…

P6 DENDUR: Hold on. Incoming transmission from the others.

[A voice sounds in the team's headsets — P2 Cavetto, of Squad B, camped on the south hill.]

P2 CAVETTO: We've got eyes on the target, about to come through the cliff passage to your right. Sit tight and take aim.

P6 DENDUR: Understood. Thanks, recon team.

[The teams turn their scopes and binoculars toward the right cliff passage.]

P4 INDRIX: There he is! Positions!

[P4 Indrix swiftly assumes his post and takes long-range shooting form. P5 Edsel vacates the makeshift canopy, and P6 Dendur takes his place to do the same. Both snipers lock targets onto PoI-7128.]

P4 INDRIX: Ready when you're ready, P6.

P6 DENDUR: You first. If he doesn't go in one shot, I'll get him from here, confuse his sense of direction.

P4 INDRIX: Mhm. Let's go.

P5 EDSEL: Alright, on 5…

P5 EDSEL: 4…

P5 EDSEL: 3…

P5 EDSEL: 2…

P5 EDSEL: 1.

[P4 Indrix fires. The beryllium-bronze round strikes PoI-7128 in the chest, shattering a demon-bone breastplate, and he collapses.]

P6 DENDUR: Got him?

[The team waits a few seconds. PoI-7128 remains on the ground, unmoving. Through the magnified scope, he appears to be bleeding profusely — a sign conditional immortality has not been triggered.]

P4 INDRIX: Got him.

[END EXCERPT]


INCIDENT REPORT: AREA-179

At 3:46 UTC on 21 November 2036, SCP-9410 was seen descending from the lower troposphere at the approximate location of Area-179, headed for the facility. Its exterior had clearly been greatly augmented, with the outermost layer of its plating now composed primarily of an unidentifiable material.

The Area's automatic missile defense system was quickly activated, and the object sustained significant structural damage as multiple projectiles made contact; it landed before the complete deterioration of its clockwork carapace, and quickly breached the facility before further defensive measures could be engaged. SCP-9410 charged through the facility as it touched its right appendage to the regions of its armor most compromised, which all began to corrode, leaving behind metal scrap and unwrought material. The object then pressed its right appendage against these spots for slightly longer periods, which seemingly reverted them back to their original state. The conventional munitions of security personnel proved ineffective in deterring the object.

After apparently searching Area-179 for several minutes, SCP-9410 reached the containment chamber of SCP-2317. It placed its right appendage on the cell’s outermost layer, beginning to deteriorate it. Before it could fully breach the chamber wall, a localized TZ-Class “Missing Time Scenario” suddenly occurred, noticeable in a roughly five meter radius around the object, for approximately one minute12. Though entrance into the chamber during the duration of the event proved impossible, it did provide sufficient opportunity for an onsite team of Foundation thaumaturges to arrive to the scene of the breach unharmed by the cessation of the chronological abnormality.

SCP-9410 was subdued through the use of an Erikeshan warding ritual in conjunction with anomalous weaponry before SCP-2317 could be reached. The object now resides in Foundation containment.

How SCP-9410 knew of SCP-2317’s existence remains unclear.


INCIDENT REPORT: SITE-01 SOVEREIGN TEMPORUM

At TSC13 X90.8~, Y72.4~, a large unknown entity was detected, having manifested in the Temporal Void and managed (by as of present unclear means) to avoid the deteriorative effect of outer reality on positive-ontology material. Subject has been continually monitored and has persisted in the void for far longer than the standard "lifespan" of existential flotsam expelled from existence14. This entity is to be monitored for as long as it remains detectable.


⁂


UPDATE: The entity which manifested at X90.8~, Y72.4~ has been identified as Carthacan Kiáz-del Vaduk (TPoI-7128), a Daevite warrior of chronological origin from the 41st century BCE and noted criminal under temporal law. This iteration of TPoI-7128 most probably corresponds to Timestream C-9389-CV-10; indeed, correspondence from its Foundation details his presence during a localized TZ-Class event centered around SCP-2317.

This incident likely resulted in an immediate corrective pivot, as any events having occurred within the TZ event-isolated region would have been incongruous with the reality outside of said area. The manifestation of the corrected reality as it had therefore always existed upon the now-retconned prior timeline in which the TZ-Class event did not occur is the only plausible vehicle by which TPoI-7128 could have reached the temporal void. How TPoI-7128 has avoided existential discorporation following prolonged exposure to the void is still unknown.



DIR. REYNDERS: Came from a Doomed world, for sure. Or otherwise retconned away. Definitely. Scrambled tachyons flying off the thing like nobody's business. Anachronous energy readings are about as obvious as the Dutch at a football game.

DIR. FORTH: Hm?

DIR. REYNDERS: What, never been? Oranjegekte! We all wear orange!

DIR. XYANK: That's besides the point. Why isn't it going away? My team can't find a convincing explanation. Been two days and change in Earth time, and it hasn't disintegrated under the weight of its contradictions — despite, presumably, harboring no lack of them.

DIR. FORTH: If this becomes a trend, we better nip it in the bud. With the number of timelines we retcon, even in minute ways…

DIR. REYNDERS: Builds up, for sure. What does that say about the stability of Time?

DIR. XYANK: No indication it's weakened beyond the regular strain in the very-recent past, at least not for the major stable timestreams. But, to put the matter bluntly…

DIR. REYNDERS: What?

DIR. XYANK: I wouldn't be surprised if it does soon. And not just because we know the future.


Meanwhile…


CORPORAL CARVER DETT: Sir, take a look at this.

CAPTAIN MACKENZIE SANG: What's going on, corporal?

[Cpl. Dett gestures toward his screen, tracing a finger along the span of a rudimentary timeline diagram.]

CPL. DETT: This branch in the Voru. It's gone red; I'm not sure I've seen one of them go red before. That can't be good news.

CAPT. SANG: Zoom in a bit. Where's this branch coming from?

CPL. DETT: Says Iteration 2N. It's one of ours.

[The two enhance the view on Cpl. Dett's computer, opening an auto-generated overview of the surveilled timeline.]

CAPT. SANG: Divergence E-40, it says. Check the manual, corporal; what’s E-40?

[Cpl. Dett produces a paper-bound manual from beneath his desk, and searches through the index to category "E".]

CPL. DETT: Standard eschaton — the “Dread Devourer”, it says? Quote, “either the Seventh Chain of the Erikeshans broke, or nobody bothered to trap one of the horned bastards in the first place…"

[Capt. Sang is silent for several seconds.]

CPL. DETT: What in the Moons is this talking about, sir?

CAPT. SANG: Carver, I'm going to need you to send reconnaissance to that Iteration immediately.


⁂


CAPT. SANG: Esteemed members of the Tribunal, thank you for being so prompt today. I suppose I'll cut to the chase: you need to look at this.

[On the boardroom projector screen there is live drone footage from what is now the dominant branch of Multiversal Iteration Earth-2N. It is the scene of what was formerly Kansas City, everything reduced to rubble. The sun is blood; red streaks illuminate an ashen grey sky. On the horizon, a gigantic, vaguely humanoid creature approaches.]

COUNCILMAN TALM: Thank you, Captain, but I'm afraid we've seen this song and dance before. Tragic, of course. But what do you expect us to do with the Devourer here?

CAPT. SANG: Humbly, sir, please be patient. In a moment, you'll see — that's not the Devourer.

[Sounds of confusion around the boardroom.]

CAPT. SANG: Oh, he's been unleashed in this Iteration, certainly. Probably stomping some unsuspecting city into dust, claiming souls for Big Red. But that?

[Capt. Sang points to the lumbering figure on the horizon.]

CAPT. SANG: That isn't him.

[Silence from the Tribunal.]

CAPT. SANG: I know, I know. I suspected it was too, at first. But if you zoom in? Replay, please.

[The projector reverses the live footage by a few hours and enhances, revealing the creature. It is colossal, standing over a hundred meters in height. It has no horns, no scales, no red cyclopean eye — instead, it appears to be a massive automaton composed of miscellaneous industrial components and scraps of construction materials including steel, concrete, and glass. It has four arms, the top two of which are equipped with claw-like appendages with what appear to be cannons embedded within them.]

[The entity uproots the top two storeys of a residential apartment complex with its right claw, breaks the collected chunk down into rubble, and appears to "ingest" the material through a chute in the arm. Moments later, four perfectly spherical boulders composed respectively of wood, brick, cement, and fiberglass insulation are fired from the creature's left arm, impacting the foundation of a skyscraper at high speeds and collapsing it almost instantly.]

CAPT. SANG: Can't say that looks like the general of any Scarlet legion you've seen, no?

COUNCILMAN CEDAR: Certainly not, Captain Sang.

CAPT. SANG: I thought similarly. And when I brought this footage to the lab, the boys over there had a considerably different explanation. Out of curiosity, does this symbol ring a bell for any of you?

[Capt. Sang slides a piece of paper across the desk. On it is printed an intricate sigil, tens of stylized blades and spears pointing inward within a circle toward a seven-pronged shape in the middle.]

COUNCILMAN TALM: Is this the seal of that damned bastard from the CONCORD crisis? This is the sort of stuff you'd find in a history book; what in the Prince's name does it have to do with your eschaton?

CAPT. SANG: Enhance further, please!

[The scene on the projector zooms in further. The very same symbol is seen painted on the chest of the mechanical entity in messy red paint.]

CAPT. SANG: And the spectronomic view?

[The surveillance drone switches to a spectronomic camera. A glowing, radial vortex — unmistakably a deceased human soul — occupies the center of the automaton, spiralling outward through the limbs and other mechanisms of its constructed body as it moves.]

COUNCILMAN MARTIN-HAMSE: Do my eyes deceive me? Is that…

COUNCILMAN PLUND: Could it be?

COUNCILMAN TALM: Can a single ghost even possess something like that?

COUNCILMAN CEDAR: But that was six thousand-odd years ago, now. It can't…

COUNCILMAN MARTIN-HAMSE: Iteration 2N was his world of origin, if memory serves…

COUNCILMAN CHO: But it is! Somebody get the Eternal President on the line!

COUNCILMAN PLUND: JALAKÅRA almighty, you're right! It's him!


⁂


CAPT. SANG: Alright, Carver, time to clean up our mess. Do you see him?

[Dett locates and selects a portion of the 2N timeline on his computer. He presses the SPACE bar, and the pivotal span of 3.8 seconds plays on the monitor. Dett and Sang watch the moment at which Kiáz-del Vaduk’s spirit opens the ornate oak door, arrives in Universe Kappa-Erikesh, and refines the door into wood pulp on the “COARSE” setting to prevent him from being followed once on the other side.]

CAPT. SANG: That's the guy. See, Carver, our demon here thinks he's smart. But we've got him, and now we're going to take this into our own hands. We owe 2N that, at least.

CAPT. SANG: Estes, Jess, roll in THE GONG!

[Two Initiative offers uniformed in special ritualistic garb, one male and one female, drag what appears to be a giant gong or cymbal composed of black-charred bone and an unknown membranous material into the room on a wheeled cart. From the back of the device, there is a single three-pronged charger cord.]

CAPT. SANG: This is how it's supposed to go. We watch them. We protect them. We love them. But how can you be expected to do all that when you weren't there to save them; when that story has come to a premature end? See, I've always had a problem with unhappy endings, Carver. I just can't let them be; not when we have the power to say otherwise. This will let us turn the scales.

[Capt. Sang looks around, as if in slight confusion.]

CAPT. SANG: Picking up what I'm putting down here?

CPL. DETT: You don't need to convince me. This Warrior has committed an interdimensional crime against humanity; deliberately triggered an apocalypse which sells our cosmic siblings out to the Scarlet King. He's a war criminal, and we're the peacekeepers.

CAPT. SANG: Of course, of course. But why waste your men keeping the peace when you can undo the crime? Why try the bastard when you can wipe him off the face of the Earth? Situations like this are why we have THE GONG. Crafted by JALAKÅRA from the eardrum of a slain god eons ago, and with the aid of our technology, forged into the ultimate weapon.

CPL. DETT: An ontophage, capable of cutting the tiniest sections from timelines throughout the multiverse with surgical precision.

CAPT. SANG: A weapon to undo the end. A weapon with which we can win without firing a shot. Fire it, Carver.

[Capt. Sang hands the extension cord for THE GONG to Dett, who plugs it into his computer. The extension cord is unremarkable for a conduit of cosmic power.15]

CAPT. SANG: On five…

[Capt. Sang points to agents Estes and Jess, standing at a salute on either side of THE GONG. Sang counts down. On the count of one, Jess lifts a beryl-steel rod of chastening, blessed by the synod of the Impenetrable, from her holster and hits THE GONG with considerable force. A mighty crash reverberates around the room with preternatural force, the sound echoing across the entire building as if it were all made of sheet metal.]

[With the relevant span of 3.8 seconds selected on his Timestream Insertion Program, Cpl. Dett presses the DELETE key.]

☽☽☽


RECOVERED LOG OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN


[BEGIN LOG]

[Kiáz-del Vaduk is perched weightlessly on the antenna of a tower, fighting the currents of the sea that is non-space. Wreckage drifts past this concrete life raft—remnants of the bygone world, whose fate was of his design.]

[He surveys his surroundings; clearly this void is an unfamiliar sight. Little stands out among the debris beyond a single distant figure, a hulking mass of scales and spindly horns, to whom all mankind is bound via shackles and chains. They flail around as their captor searches hopelessly for solid ground.]

[It doesn’t take long for Kiáz-del Vaduk to notice something strange: everything around him is beginning to glisten. A bright, golden smoke radiates off every free-floating car, house, and traffic sign. The silhouettes begin to blur, the smallest objects reduced to little more than a haze.]

[Down below him, the tower on which he’s perched begins to fade. Vaulting from his vantage, the Clockwork Knight aims for a large chunk of earth, activating the rockets affixed to each leg to propel him forward. But as he nears, it becomes increasingly clear that nothing here will be spared; he phases through the landing spot.]

[The Warrior is lost. He knows not where he is headed — or quite where he is now, for that matter. All he knows is that he must go. As he moves through the void he begins to lose focus. The golden haze engulfs his vision, thickening as the fabric of a dead reality unravels. And for just a moment, he is blind to the reality of his situation: he is not immune to that glistening smoke.]

[Like all the world around him, he begins to evanesce. He starts to fade into the smog, as the line between him and his surroundings steadily blurs.]

[Your own disintegration is a tricky thing to notice. Nothing quite sticks out as obvious when the borders start to smudge, you see, at least until it's too late. Darting through the non-space at supernatural speeds surely doesn’t help. But eventually, that new reality? Or lack thereof… It begins to set in. There’s a certain tingling sensation to it, to dissolution. You get used to it, if you aren't careful.]

[He clutches his chest with the transmutative claw in attempt to refine it into something less ephemeral. But as his midsection grows more defined, more distinct, more real, the rest of his form continues to deteriorate. He clutches an arm, then a leg, then his torso, trying desperately to reconstitute them. But this proves ineffective. Far too slow. He continues to fade into the haze, like an asteroid burning up in the atmosphere.]

[He reaches again for his chest. His arm phases through the translucent metal surface, leaving his claw fixed within the inner-workings of those Clockworks that comprise him. His essence, the spirit piloting the grand machine body, now rests in his hand. It's begun to diffuse from the vanishing pulleys and gears and out into the dead space around him. "Fine, fine. fine," he repeats in his mind, desperately trying to reconstitute his form. “Fine, fine, f-”]

[The chute beneath his claw expands, siphoning all that remains of his form, leaving behind only the output cannon to drift aimlessly through the non-real. And for a moment, there is silence in the void. The great plane of null releases a sigh, tranquil and undisturbed. That dreaded disruptor is gone. For but a moment.]

[FINE.]

[With a burst of crimson light, Carthacan Kiáz-del Vaduk, Fourth Blade of Daevon and undying assailant of time, is discharged from his own cannon. He soars through the void, bathed in glorious red, engulfed in the energy. He is a beacon in the haze, a light-house, lambent, against the sea of dark and long silence.]

[When the light diffuses, he is again made real, at least for now. When the final remnants of his reality finally fade into nothing, there is only him. Driven, he continues on — as far as he can make it before his body again begins to succumb to the Dark Ocean's disintegrating call.]

[END LOG]



DIR. FORTH: That's… certainly something.

[Dir. Forth hands the printed note back Dir. Reynders.]

DIR. REYNDERS: 'You are watched, you are protected', yadda yadda… Say, what do you suppose they mean 'unleashed him upon us'?

DIR. FORTH: What does that mean? 7128-D is at large again, back in time? How?

DIR. XYANK: Unless… they were being literal.

DIR. REYNDERS: How do you mean, Thad?

[Dir. Xyank is silent for a few moments.]

DIR. XYANK: Wait. Everyone, stay still.

DIR. REYNDERS: What?

DIR. XYANK: I'll be back.

[Dir. Xyank marches toward the door, quickly. He opens it and leaves, the others left in confusion.]

DIR. FORTH: Another one of his tantrums…


On 22 November 2036, Protected Site-7 received the following document from a secure extra-dimensional server, apparently in accordance with the stipulations of the Metafoundation Supertemporal Coalition Pact 1981, section 4.616. In this instance, Metafoundation authorities tagged the below transmission as a forward from GoI-419 ("☽☽☽ Initiative"), intended for the Prime Foundation.


☽☽☽

DOCUMENT ARCHIVE:

The CONCORD Crisis (Original Debrief)


At 08:40 hours from moonrise on XIX Tedecen in the year of the Lord JALAKÅRA 7876 AT17, a humanitarian mission of the Lunar Dawn Initiative witnessed the spontaneous transmigration of a highly unorthodox ex-human spirit in the Tel-Araht Quarter of the Great Desert. Subject was dressed in bloodied necrotic garb characteristic of the Daevite civilization of many Earth Multiversal Iterations, bore an abnormal, enlarged physique, possessed parahuman strength and speed, and appeared to be capable of altering his own skeletal structure for the creation of bladed weaponry. ☽ interdimensional investigative journalist Balthazar Ayutthaya-Cohen, one of the witnesses, swiftly recognized the new arrival spirit as "Carthacan Kiáz-del Vaduk, Fourth Blade of Daevon" — a renowned and ruthless Daeva warrior of Multiversal Iteration Earth-2N, whose transmigration had long been feared by many Initiative personnel for the possibility he may arrive in Corbenic upon death.

Before the humanitarian mission even finished reporting the transmigration to their superiors, Kiáz-del Vaduk had apparently vacated the premises, dashing 60 kilometers directly south and arriving at the base of Mount Cyrus elsewhere in the central Tel-Araht Quarter within an inhuman amount of time. He began to scale the mountain in bounding leaps of 40 meters or more, using makeshift claws of carnomantic bone to climb cliff faces, seemingly with the intent of reaching its summit — location to the Northern Great Desert Space Elevator, which provides access to Lunar Dawn Citadel CONCORD. Two batallions of ion bombardment drones, one small and one medium, were deployed to the site of Kiáz-del Vaduk's rampage once ☽ Great Desert Command learned of the incipient crisis, although additional reinforcements such as ground forces could not be provided in sufficient number due to the ongoing conflict against the Striders and their Bogalite allies in the Dark Valley.

In what amounted to a catastrophic defense miscalculation, the allocated drone battalions were insufficient to combat Kiáz-del Vaduk, who continued his ascent relatively unimpeded. Within fourty minutes the spirit reached the summit of Mt. Cyrus, whereupon he shattered the control console of the Northern Great Desert Space Elevator with an improvised battleaxe of biological material and immediately ascended the now-unlocked elevator to Citadel CONCORD in Corbenic’s lower mesosphere. The facility activated an immediate lockdown and mobilized all available security.

Kiáz-del Vaduk reached the captain's quarters within a matter of minutes, slaying numerous onboard Lunar Dawn personnel along the way. There he pulverized the latch to the panic bunker with repeated and excessive force from various carnomantic weapons, threatened those within the bunker (including acting CONCORD director Sergeant Major Delzanipan and several of his elite staff) with repeated "deaths" by laceration, and forced them to leave and re-enter the captain's quarters. Under threat of a blade, Kiáz-del Vaduk proceeded to walk Sergeant Major Delzanipan to the command console and (in a series of frantic and hostile gestures, as no language was shared between the men) force him to close the doors of the CONCORD to all outside aid from the Lunar Dawn Initiative until his next demands were met, according to Delzanipan's testimony. Next, Delzanipan reported Kiáz-del Vaduk gestured to his lips and again to his carnomantic blade, apparently demanding an Old Daevite translator be provided for his subsequent demands immediately.

Within an hour, Sergeant Major Delzanipan and his staff were able to locate a suitable translator from among the CONCORD's personnel — esoteric anthropologist Saraswati Blavatsky, who was summoned at once. The following interaction then took place:

SECURITY CAMERA FOOTAGE


KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: Dez algulḳth, tši mora xotál.

BLAVATSKY: His demands, sir…

KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: Deág aiyinar Daev tanaiḳil neuh aiḳae ner tiálḳ wadzen. Azioṭ peuxeai min, an dezhal ninda onnuxeke din mašai raeaex teḳe, undun aši, undun tasḳo.

BLAVATSKY: He says he's a warrior of legend among his people, feared by all their enemies. That you ought to heed his commands or he'll have no qualms… no qualms repeatedly killing me and all of you until we comply.

KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: Milit unšre negál. Algu teḳedemen mig, dará eṭetiálḳ ner dzeáge byš mor máopfokṭi.

BLAVATSKY: His demand is motivated by a grudge against his assassins, who came to the battlefield dishonorably.

KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: Kiázai vos duštuk, daošreis ei káizs mus-dun hi'he, Aiktue Neḳáizaehn tiḳágaram kiázai deáṭ sulg faiḳaenem záṭe bindi vápelk.

BLAVATSKY: They "cheated", he says, by meddling in Time to change the outcome of a battle which could have been a glorious victory for the "Timeless Empire" — that's the Daeva.

KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: Dezjil mig gegdará Daštocan, an munsegá bohu adešten argo hiorda hizá ganand.

BLAVATSKY: Allow him to return to Earth, and conduct a haunt upon the land until his ghost completes his unfinished task…

KIÁZ-DEL VADUK: An mašai onnuxeke dágunḳum undun aši, undun tasḳo. An mor pove hezhum ṭá Xafaideḳai aint vaduk nor albádn.

BLAVATSKY: Or he says he'll destroy us all, over and over again, and wreak havoc on Corbenic for generations.

Kiáz-del Vaduk's subsequent demand was that Sergeant Major Delzanipan operate the command console to disable CONCORD's central reactor, giving Lunar Dawn command approximately twelve hours to make a decision on his ultimatum before CONCORD would deplete of fuel and fall out of the sky, destroying the facility and subjecting all 6,712 onboard personnel to immense atmospheric entrance friction18.

Ultimately, Lunar Dawn authorities conceded. Much of the Initiative spacefleet was presently occupied with the more existential threat of combatting the Striders, and Eternal President Niang apparently feared a redirecting of assets to handle Kiáz-del Vaduk by force would prompt HÉKATI-BØGAL to sense weakness and escalate with the issue of a second Declaration of Feasting. Kiáz-del Vaduk was returned to Multiversal Iteration Earth-2N, where the strength of his unfinished business allowed him to persist as a rogue spirit. The Lunar Dawn Initiative continues to surveil the activities of Kiáz-del Vaduk's spectre on this Earth extremely closely.



Immediately following the above document, an auxiliary note was appended:


Foundation,

It is with the most heartfelt regret that I report we have failed you. The ☽☽☽ Initiative has lapsed in our mission to protect the residents of Multiversal Iteration Earth-2N, and for this lapse she and her fine men and women in uniform have nothing but the most solemn and mournful lamentation. In failing to address the resurgence of the Fourth Blade of Daevon we have unleashed him upon you, and in our consecutive attempts to make good the ramifications of our initial failure we have reinforced it by creating a monster greater than he, you, or us.

There is no excuse. Our creation may be inadvertant, but it is unavoidable. Once we faltered, and permitted this ghost to return to your realm. When we realized the consequences of our grand shame all these thousands of years later, we deployed a grand and inscrutable device of our own makers, and in so doing jeopardized yours.

With the utmost humility, we hope you can rise to be better than us. We hope you can forgive — for the insatiable mouths of the Darkness Below beckon, and they will not be forgiving.

May the Host of the Impenetrable bless thee,
Eternal President Girard Sebastien Niang

YOU ARE WATCHED • YOU ARE PROTECTED • YOU ARE LOVED

☽☽☽


Given the recent termination of SCP-9410, the exceedingly uncharacteristic fatalism and distraught tone of this particular transmission, as well as the contained references therein to additional actions taken by the Three Moons Initiative recently against SCP-9410, have no clear explanation.


SECURITY CAMERA FOOTAGE

Temporal Site-01 Recreational Quarters


uW5J79L.png

[BEGIN LOG]

[Dir. Xyank enters the breakroom at a swift clip, breathing heavily. There is an obvious expression of slightly-suppressed panic on his face.]

DIR. XYANK: A-attention, you two!

DIR. REYNDERS: Better be worthwhile. You're interrupting our lunch hou—

[Dir. Reynders turns around to see Dir. Xyank, noting his disheveled appearance.]

DIR. REYNDERS: What happened to you?

DIR. XYANK: The object we spotted earlier, that wouldn't de-cohere.

DIR. FORTH: What of it?

DIR. XYANK: It still hasn't. And it's not just an object, it's a live entity.

DIR. FORTH: Sure; we suspected it might have been. But what does that change?

DIR. XYANK: I think you misunderstand. It's hostile, it's dangerous, and it's moving toward us. Quickly.

DIR. REYNDERS: Wait— what? How quickly? What is it?

DIR. XYANK: Three Moons was right.

DIR. REYNDERS: What are you sayi—

DIR. FORTH: Oh.

DIR. REYNDERS: Oh…

DIR. FORTH: No.

DIR. XYANK: It's in the PrimeTime already, fast-tracking it to the Site. I saw the tape. Our surveillance drone, I saw it, I saw him— I saw…

DIR. REYNDERS: How could it ha—

DIR. XYANK: Because its causality won't die, Ilse! It's tearing Chron at the seams. This thing has transgressed us; broken out of the machine! Believe me, he's—

DIR. FORTH: Calm down, Thad. N-now…

DIR. FORTH: Tell us again, exactly what you saw.


⁂


SURVEILLANCE DRONE "FOOTAGE"19


[Kiáz-del Vaduk barrels across the timeless folds of the Dark Tapestry like a bullet, ever focused. With the cannon-arm he routinely refines his wrought-steel body, staving off the hungering tides of paradox dissolution which creep higher and higher. Each time, the burst of light is accompanied by a build in momentum which augments the forward thrust of his superluminal thrusters. But now, in the heart of Unbeing, where his goal is singular and direction dead or dying, there is little such need to switch gears: little need for correction, for second-guessing.]

[Eventually, the warrior is slowed. An invisible field consolidates and becomes viscous around him. Here at last is the Sovereign Temporum: the Keepers' bubble of sanity in the yawning, sizzling dark. Beyond this wall, conditions will be stabilized: matter protected from the undoing strain of Grand Voru, his body will no longer be at risk. Beyond this wall — at the heart of the bubble, and it is not all too cosmically large — is the target: is the Fortress, the Citadel, is Temporal Site-01.]

[The shield entangles him in a web of repulsive and adaptive force; becomes as a thick fluid as he is still, then hardens again once he moves forcefully upon it. Loathing the detritus of dead worlds, his assassins were wise: here they constructed this wall for the express purpose of keeping things like him — and that malady of void-rot which they carry with them — from their realm.]

[Like any good warrior, he is undeterred. In one mighty motion of his claw, Kiáz-del Vaduk turns the dial on the Machine.]

[ROUGH.]

[The field crackles and ripples uneasily. Its surface shakes, ripples growing larger, then repulses again into itself. The static grain of the field grows less precise, its telekinetic force fraying at the edges. It quakes again, and with mighty force, cracks. Cracks and cracks, further and further, until at last the field explodes in a crashing tidal surge of unworldly fiberglass. Shards of pure force are desperately propelled in all directions, coating the starless void in glimmering motes of seafoam for a split second before facing the vacuum which lie Outside and dissolving unceremoniously.]

[He proceeds, through the gaping hole in the Sovereignty. Something notices.]

[Sensing the transgression, a native chronarch materializes before the warrior. A guard; a golem, a security system, held long ago from its full autarchic grandeur by the assassins. Heavy-mantled, it bears its crown of few and unreal facets harshly upon him, and moves its scepter to strike at his heart.]

[The soldier's reflexes are instant. As if it were a practiced motion, he catches the scepter in his monstrous claw with a brief reverberation. The claw twists with industrial force, and…]

[VERY FINE.]

[The time-lord sentinel is reduced to butterfly dust, a delicate sand which filters through the monster's metal claw and forever into nonexistence.]

[Unfazed, he proceeds on the march through Time still.]



[END LOG]




























kiWCgGA.png

Tzurai, the Grand Matriarch, then whispered curses into Ion's dreams. She tested the Ozi̮rmok's will with the frightful deeds of the Daeva, and yet he held his resolve steadfast.

"Look upon your folly, boy. And when you cry out for mercy on the battlefield at Kurst, know I warned you thusly. Your slave-host will crumble and break under the might of the Daeva, for our immortality is by mandate of the Darkness Below, and shall never waver."

"Strewn beside my feet lie the bodies of Persians, Imitians, Ortothans, Harappans, and Erikeshans, for the Covenant has subdued them all, indeed wiped their progeny from the Earth when they refused to pay His tribute."

"In my horde the mighty Scythians, Mongols, and Urn-Children are forced into service before me, fearing me, in all my glorious abomination."

"Around my throne pile the conquered treasures of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, and Mekhanites, their petty magic dwarfed before the Seven-Headed Throne."

"Even the Xia of Heaven and the ephemeral fair-folk know their place, for my dominion extends stalwart to the deepest past and unflinching into the endless future, and Ur-Daevon stands beyond Time."

"Gaze below, unto the streets of the City of Torment. See her unhallow splendor, and know your fate. For Daevon's opulence exceeds even the gold city of Jushur, and her primacy eclipses any child-tribe of Aud. This is the assurance we have, for which the Grand Covenant knows for now and forever that Aiyiniktue20 be her destiny, as it shall be for all the Daeva in the world."

The Grand Karcist beheld this abominable truth, and crushed a sufferer beneath its weight, did feel seven-fold the will of his slaver to destroy him. For just a moment, even the setting sun was as a spiteful archon's eye, and looked on him with hatred as it dragged itself behind the ashen clouds.

And yet Ion did hold his resolve, for her will was surpassed by his own.

- SONE KALMAK;
12:44













ⅠⅠ
"ROUGH"













MEETING TRANSCRIPT


LOCATION: ETTRA Headquarters, Area-09

DATE: 25 November 2036; 11:00

PARTIES PRESENT:

  • Dir. Daniel ███████ (Director, Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority)
  • Dir. Sophia Light (Director, Project Resurrection)
  • Dir. Ahab Kal'eakaloha (Chief, Office of Large-Scale Engagement)
  • Dr. Daniil Sokolsky (Deputy Director, ETTRA)
  • Dr. Athena Anastasakos (Head, Site-17 Applied Sciences Division, Department of Temporal Anomalies)
  • Dr. Randall Montauk (Research Head, SCP-2317 etc.)
  • Capt. Regina Watts (Captain, Tactical Operations Command, RCT-Δt)
  • Gen. Bernard Mulhausen II (General; Acting Commander, SCPF 16th, 98th, 135th Extradimensional Divisions)
  • O5-10
  • O5-6
  • O5-5

FOREWORD: Following the issue of an emergency transmission from RCT-Δt to Foundation Command declaring a breach of Temporal Site-01's security, an assembly was immediately called between the high-ranking leadership of the Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority and other significant administrative personnel to discuss a Foundation response to the crisis.

logo.svg

[BEGIN LOG]

DIR. LIGHT: Rather short notice; usually I'm told what's going on first. No offense, Dan.

DIR. DAN: None taken.

DR. SOKOLSKY: And quite the crew here, eh? For a time mission, at least. When are we getting started, anyway?

O5-6: Questions, questions.

[O5-5 and O5-10's holographic forms manifest in the boardroom, and the two silently take their seats. All take attendance, and Dir. Dan is authorized to begin his presentation.]

DIR. DAN: Alright, here goes nothing.

[Dir. Dan picks up the clicker and turns on the projector.]

DIR. DAN: As you know, this morning the Foundation received a transmission from Temporal Site-01 informing us the facility had been attacked. In subsequent transmissions, they told us what exactly that means.

[Dir. Dan turns to the first slide. It is a photo marked as coming from Temporal Site-01, showing a blurry grey figure floating in a starless void from far away.]

DIR. DAN: This is the entity laying siege to RCT. They say they discovered it in the void outside the Site, an unknown object inbound toward them, and within a few days it had reached the Site and immediately began attacking its defenses.

[Dir. Dan turns to the second slide. It is a photo of SCP-9410 (then considered SCP-9410-D), taken from the bodycam of a security officer during the containment breach of 19 November.]

DIR. DAN: This is the entity which breached at Site-19 a week ago. The astute among you may remember a bit of backstory — the ghost of an ancient Daevite warrior, or so our archaeologists suspected, which possessed The Clockworks and turned it into a mechanical super-suit?

DR. MONTAUK: Indeed it was. But our emergency task force at Area-179 terminated SCP-9410…

DIR. DAN: Well, so we thought. But RCT has informed O5 Command and ETTRA that these two—

[Dir. Dan switches back to the first slide, then again the second.]

DIR. DAN: …Are the same entity. Now, would any of the time travelers in the room care to explain how in the world that makes sense?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: To end up at Temporal Site-01 organically, you have to find the temporal void it occupies. The only way to do that is to get shoved out of capital-T Time itself — expelled from the chronology of events which composes your timeline. Essentially, either have your existence undone by a CK Restructuring event such that the current version of yourself now never existed, or have your timeline fade out of reality entirely.

DIR. DAN: Aha, a CK-Class scenario. Now, correct me if I'm wrong: would this mean that 9410 could be terminated in our current timeline, but alive in an undone prior version which, after the Restructuring, would shove it into the void to make room for our version?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: Technically, the nature of the Restructuring means the prior iteration's 9410 never existed per our chronology — but yes. Objects in the void are most often that way because they never existed in Time.

DIR. DAN: Interesting. Now, I believe this makes sense.

DIR. LIGHT: The Corbenic transmission.

DIR. DAN: Indeed. Care to take the reins on that, Soph?

[Dir. Light looks to the hologram of O5-10, who nods in apparent approval.]

DIR. LIGHT: Two days ago, O5 Command received a transmission via the secure servers at Site-7. It was from the Metafoundation coalitional office, but they were just forwarding it…

DR. MONTAUK: Excuse me, ma'am. From what?

DIR. LIGHT: The Multi-Foundation Coalition. The Supertemporal Pact. A loose accord of mutual understanding between most versions of our organization in the local branch of the multiverse—

O5-10: Few of you are cleared to know much more than that.

DIR. LIGHT: In any event, they forwarded a transmission from another extradimensional group, the Three Moons Initiative, intended for us. For our universe in particular.

DIR. DAN: I've printed it; you'll all be getting copies now. Deputy Director?

DR. SOKOLSKY: Reduced to a paper boy. Un-be-lievable.

[Dr. Sokolsky begins handing out copies as Dir. Light continues.]

DIR. LIGHT: It's a bizarre message. For starters, there's confirmation that 9410 — the actual ghost itself — arrived back on Earth six thousand years ago via Corbenic. Then, they actually apologize, which experts in this Group of Interest inform me almost never happens: they claim they took action against 9410 recently by using some sort of weapon on our universe, then seem to imply doing this inadvertently caused some grave crisis to us. That last part wasn't really coherent to me — at least until now. But Three Moons are a group with multi-reality awareness. So with the information Dr. Anastasakos provides…

DIR. LIGHT: They didn't mean us, us.

[Dir. Light points toward the projector, again displaying the captured photograph from Temporal Site-01.]

DIR. LIGHT: They assumed we'd already know about them.

DIR. DAN: Bingo. They tried to delete him, somewhere, from some alternate future. And it must've created a CK event, and it sent him straight to the void, where, as it just so happens to be, we keep our time cops. Suppose they detected him flying around there 'bout the same time Delta-T initially did.

DR. ANASTASAKOS: If this is true, how did it survive? The temporal void disintegrates retconned material and Doomed timestreams virtually without fail. It is the absence of any frame of reality: without a definition of existence with which anything can cohere, all material is carried into nonexistence by paradox.

DIR. DAN: I'm no temporal or ontological expert, of course; that's why you're here. But, if I'm reading the panic in Delta-T's voicemails correctly, that is precisely what we don't know.

O5-6: Regardless — explain the defense situation on the ground. What are the object's capabilities? How will the Site's defenses fare; for how long?

DIR. DAN: Excellent question. And a convenient segue: see, we have credible intelligence that this version of 9410 is far more dangerous than it was when we engaged it at Site-19 or Area-179. Delta-T sent a few more photos in their transmission…

[Dir. Dan switches the slide to a collage of photographs taken from the outer perimeter of Temporal Site-01, showing the figure of SCP-9410 from a number of angles. For reference, there is a photograph of SCP-9410 from the Site-19 breach in the bottom left corner.]

DIR. DAN: You'll all probably notice that the figure in these photographs is not identical to how the object appeared during the initial breach, here on the left. It's visibly more complex, meaning it must have augmented its body in the meantime. And — here's the kicker — Delta-T described the invader as gigantic.

[Dir. Dan switches the slide to a marked-up version of one of the prior photos, using other objects suspended in the temporal void as a frame of reference to extract meter measurements on SCP-9410 indicated in red ink.]

DIR. DAN: During the breach at Nineteen, SCP-9410 was around six meters tall. When we spotted the object at Area-179, it was around the same size. But using perspective, in these photos from Temporal Site-01, he seems much larger. Skyscraper size, almost. In the lab this morning, my guys' basic estimate was around 250 meters tall.

CAPT. WATTS: Must be clinging onto anomalous weaponry it stole from the retconned timeline. Built itself up there, since at Nineteen we saw it can poltergeist materials into itself. Is that possible?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: If it's capable of keeping itself from disintegrating, I don't see why it couldn't do the same with anything it amassed from a rampage across a Doomed timeline. The question, though: what sort of Doomed timeline?

DIR. DAN: Exactly. Which leads us to the next part of threat analysis. As you all know, 9410 showed up at Area-179 — but why? Except for the O5s here, you probably don't know what we keep there. Dr. Montauk?

DR. MONTAUK: Certainly, sir. Dimensional Containment Area-179 is where we keep SCP-2137. The object is a door leading to a barren universe where, deep beneath the ground, a titanic demon slumbers in its chamber bound by seven chains. All but the seventh, as of recently, are broken. Ancient Erikeshan sources attest to the entity as the Dread Devourer, a demon sealed away long ago by the mystic Keshpeth after his army subdued it. If the last chain ever broke, we presume it would return to Earth and initiate an XK-Class scenario.

DIR. DAN: And why, in your view, does this concern 9410?

DR. MONTAUK: When SCP-9410 descended upon Area-179, it immediately located SCP-2317. The temporal event which omitted what otherwise would have ensued from the timeline occurred just before it would have reached the door.

DIR. DAN: Hm, yes.

DR. MONTAUK: It is therefore entirely conceivable, in my view, that the overridden timeline which this instance of 9410 originates from is one in which it broke the seventh chain, and SCP-2317-K, may his name remain forever unremembered, initiated an XK-Class scenario back on Earth.

DIR. DAN: Exactly my thoughts! So, in your assessment, what does this say about the capabilities of the entity?

DR. MONTAUK: To a Daevite warrior of notable renown, a world dominated by the Devourer would be friendly territory. He'd have free rein to take and integrate any survivng weapon of ours he could find.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Which means it looks like we'll be going in dark, as far as a counter-attack goes.

CAPT. WATTS: And out of expertise in a potentially hostile environment. Athena and I were just lucky we happened to be on Earth when shit went down — most of our temporal experts are locked in the very Site the skip is holding hostage.

DIR. DAN: Particularly since the anomaly is playing the long game, waiting for the Site's defenses to wear out. Not using the full extent of its abilities, in other words. And, obviously, Temporal has no intent of letting the forcefield down to find out what the skip's capable of just so they can give us the info.

O5-6: What does this translate to tactically? Speak in real terms, here.

DIR. DAN: Means that if we're going in, we need a sure-fire way to take down a giant monster without knowing much more than that about it.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: I believe that can be done.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Sure thing, captain ominous.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: What can I say? Giant monsters are our thing at the HALO — it's go big or go home, I assume that's why I'm here.

DIR. DAN: You've got the firepower. But we need the tactics, too. What's an attack plan look like? Come on, I need my field experts now.

CAPT. WATTS: Finally. Now, debrief file says they've closed off all Ways to the Site from Earth for security, so boots on the ground is a non-starter, at least done the easy way. We'll need to launch an assault by vehicle of some sort, but there's a problem: we don't have much that can brave the void. Like Athena points out, nothing really can.

DR. ANASTASAKOS: Not without specialized paradox-shielding, no. It's theoretically possible, and the tech has a few practical applications — but since this situation doesn't happen often, I don't believe we're in the practice of coating military hardware with the stuff.

DIR. DAN: Suppose we figure that part out. What's next?

CAPT. WATTS: Well, we'd need to do it fast. The skip is wearing away at them gradually, but the Site's defenses still won't last forever. I'd give it two weeks, and that's a liberal estimate. Especially if it's dragged any of the reality-decay from the void along with it into the Sovereign Temporum — the safe bubble around Temp-Site-01, that is.

DIR. DAN: Two weeks? I'm no expert on the Site's defenses. Can we get a rough appraisal on that estimate, just ballpark?

[Dr. Anastasakos, Dir. Light, Gen. Mulhausen, O5-5, O5-6, and O5-10 nod their heads in approval.]

DIR. DAN: Very good. If that's the time frame, what are our options?

GEN. MULHAUSEN: We can at least rule out some of the conventional options. Combat aircraft would disintegrate very quickly in conditions of unreality like those, making them little more than kamikazes in effect. Same deal with long-range missiles.

CAPT. WATTS: He’s right; remember, the Ways we normally use to get to RCT are on lockdown. We’ll first have to reach the safe bubble from the null-zone, which means going through the void, which means trying not to get evaporated.

DIR. LIGHT: What about an esoteric assault from outside the void? I can think of a few items in our anomalous arsenal capable of erasing targets without lifting a finger.

DR. ANASTASAKOS: The problem becomes more abstract at that point. Any attack we use within the bounds of Time, no matter how esoteric, simply has no way to occur outside of it.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Can we construct a stable pocket dimension nearby the Site to use as a base of operations, and launch attacks from there? Wards off the decay problem.

O5-6: In two weeks?

DR. SOKOLSKY: At least it's a plan, your Dread Clandestine Excellency.

O5-6: It's a scheme — your specialty, remember? A plan results in us blowing the threat to smithereens in the quickest and most efficient fashion possible before Containment is jeopardized.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: What of precision bombardment? Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Same problem with regular air or space divisions — getting it to the destination. Unless we wipe one of our orbital strike satellites from reality at just the right location, it'll disintegrate on entry.

DR. ANASTASAKOS: And we have no idea where or when that sweet spot is, since Temporal Site-01 is in constant chronological-locational flux as a security measure.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: In my opinion, we need one or a small number of very large craft stabilized internally against ontic decay. Preferably capable of hosting a variety of anomalous weapons systems, since we don't know what we're walking into.

DIR. DAN: And as for that on-board arsenal?

DIR. LIGHT: As diverse as our anomalous catalogue can manage, since we're conducting what amounts to a blind operation.

O5-10: Clearly, to take the Site, ETTRA will have to take a page from Project Resurrection’s book and use more unconventional anomalous methods.

O5-5: Oh, don't aggrandize yourself—

[A sudden knocking on the door of boardroom.]

DIR. LIGHT: Who's that?

DIR. DAN: Oh, did I not tell you? The first responders on 9410. They're coming to help us out on our little group project. (shouts) Come in!

DIR. DAN: Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Area-09 welcome to—

[The door opens. Two men stand in the doorframe: one in a turban and tailored wool blazer, the other sporting a labcoat, slacks, and a generous helping of hair gel.]

DIR. DAN: Drs. Sagar Singh and Grant Dochal.

[END LOG]



DIR. REYNDERS: So, alright, we're agreeing this… thing is definitely, absolutely 7128-D from the Ta'ath Kel mission?

DIR. FORTH: What's more, that he somehow meant to end up here? That he isn't just junk funneled in from a dead reality, and managed to overstay his welcome?

DIR. XYANK: Hardly any way it could've planned all this hullabaloo. Still, we don't know the cause of that localized TZ-class. It seems unlikely the aggressor could have known if we don't…

DIR. REYNDERS: Unless, of course, he caused it.

DIR. XYANK: Daevite chronometrics are hardly subtle, of course. But a scheme of this sort would be completely and totally unprecedented. Not to say it's impossible, what with the madness of the situation…

DIR. FORTH: But even then, it would have to have known about the temporal void in the first place. He's the ghost of an ancient soldier; body's been lying beneath the earth, buried, for what? Six millennia his time? Premeditation seems… astronomically unlikely.

DIR. REYNDERS: This being entirely coincidence, though? We know for a fact it holds a grudge against us. I'm not saying it knew the exact plan, but…

DIR. XYANK: Let us simply agree that TZ-Class events don't exactly happen on their own. Time flows, my friends, and it ought not freeze.


INDEX: "TEMUJIN"21

PERMITTED RESOURCES: N/A22

TIME CONSTRAINT: Est. 14 days

OBJECT: To identify and construct or otherwise prepare a means to contain or decommission SCP-9410 at Temporal Site-01 before said facility can no longer defend itself.

DEBRIEF: On 25 November 2036, ETTRA ordered Project Temujin following an emergency meeting in direct response to the resurgent instance of SCP-9410 identified on 08/24. Project Temujin is to be co-led by leading Foundation Daevitologist Dr. Sagar Singh and leading anomalous material scientist and expert on SCP-914 Dr. Grant Dochal, and overseen by ETTRA general command. It is to be a short-term project geared solely towards finding a viable solution to deter the ongoing attempted invasion of Temporal Site-01 by SCP-9410, and disbanded thereafter. Project Temujin will collaborate with Project Resurrection in the use of anomalous assets from across the Foundation’s catalogue. It will deploy a number of teams to procure and utilize whatever resources are necessary to construct the means of SCP-9410's containment or decommission. Further information is forthcoming.

If you are reading this memorandum, you are among the select personnel summoned from across the Foundation to contribute to Project Temujin. This project is hereby your highest priority, and pre-emptively authorizes you to vacate your current post to aid in its completion until SCP-9410 is neutralized. Please begin your commute to Secure Area-09 at once.


From the desk of: DIR. AHAB KAL'EAKALOHA
Chief, OFFICE OF LARGE-SCALE ENGAGEMENT, H.Q. FOUNDATION HALO FACILITY ERESHKIGAL


In 1988, a biblical sea monster with the head of a crocodile, the body of a dinosaur, and the tentacles of a colossal squid for legs descended upon the little faerie kingdom of Hy-Brasil, an island off the western coast of Ireland. Its weight clocked in at nearly a twentieth of the dwarf planet Ceres, and each of its five monstropolous tentacles extended skyscrapers in length.

I was still with the Marines back then. It was my first major deployment with the Occult Forces. It didn't go well. The titan's wrath rained fire down on that pale old land, and when it was done, nothing remained.

We were bailed out, in the end. The GOC annihilated the kaiju with something called a Casaba-Howitzer Thaumonuclear Directed Energy Weapon. Here's all you need to know about that particular species of device: we had been holding onto our own throughout the whole crisis without even the slightest thought of using them, because their potential was so devastating that they'd been banned by an international paraweapons treaty before one was ever even tested. That didn't stop them.

I wasn't ready then. I was a kid, but even then I knew I was bound for the monster-killing game. And now I've been asked to take down a monster of our own time.

In brief, SCP-9410 has become an entirely novel threat. It isn’t just the Daevite warrior of myth, with the accrued martial prowess of a thousand slain foes and a lithic cocoon reminiscent of our good old friend from Omega-6. It’s the ghost of that warrior, and it’s managed to incorporate the most inexplicably intricate and versatile transmutation device known to the Foundation into itself. It must be one of the most potent poltergeists we’ve ever encountered — and what’s more, it’s ransacked an entire doomed world and incorporated all anomalous technology of note into its mechanical form. If the footage Temporal sent ETTRA is to be believed, and I’ve been privy to that footage, the bastard’s fashioned it all into a suit damned near the height of the Empire State Building — fortunately for all of you, that means he counts as a Large-Scale Aggressor, and that’s where I come in.

Make no mistake; you aren’t asking me to take down just any LSA. Basically, you’re asking me to kill a giant robot. Well, I believe two can play at that game — and I can prove it.

I'll cut to the chase, because those in the know about my little story probably see what's coming next. I've thought your task over, and I've thought it over again. Every time, I've come to the only conclusion to which you can come. There is only one option which remains to engage such a threat in direct combat, only one tool ever devised by the Foundation which has raw destructive capability of that magnitude: Asset Dragonslayer.

Once the titan was felled on that fateful overcast day in '88, see, we pleaded with ourselves for a way to ensure something like it could never threaten us again. The KEY Project was formed — find something, anything, to hold back the monstrous tides. So we looked back at the old Mekhanite catechisms, and then we looked forward. In collaboration with what little remained of the government of Hy-Brasil, in the ultimate heresy to those old ruins at Kythera and Amon Iram, we envisioned the greatest and most terrible colossus in the history of mankind.

A blade forged from the antipathy of spirits, whose wounds inflicted never shall heal. A railgun which propels its ammunition with literal and thematic black holes' worth of artificial gravity. Plasma discs which were tested to melt armor of pure condensed neutronium. Conceptual engineering fusing its very essence with the indomitable spirit of man, with every great hero of legend merged into one. And don't you dare forget the Archimedean death ray, powered by a portable sun. These all are but the cursory footnotes of its design.

We envisioned the blueprints for such a creature in the delirium of aggrieved vengeance, and eventually they were resigned to the dustbin of history. Despite all the Foundation's ungodly avaritia, it was never made. Never finished.

I do not recommend the completion of the Dragonslayer lightly, but my aid has been requested in this matter, and I have come to the only conclusion which I can. With the amassed thaumaturgic potential of an entire doomed timeline, SCP-9410 is a Large-Scale Aggressor unlike anything we have faced. And if it should have its way with the walls of Delta-T's fortress, as I understand it, the stability of the entire temporal compass will be in jeopardy.

With some additional modifications to its ontological field, Dragonslayer can be revised to endure the void of outer-reality for long enough to engage the threat. What's more, its completion is entirely possible: the O5 Council informs me that there are timelines in which the first kaiju at Brasil was not the only, and that in those we indeed constructed the project to as much success as can reasonably be hoped. Those, may I add, were instances in which the Foundation's technology was outdated by present standards to the order of almost forty years.

We, too, can continue it. The plans are fully drafted; ready to go. Theoretically, there is no flaw. In the early nineties we even began constructing the basic chassis of the mech. Then we stopped. It took too much of the budget, probably the largest chunk of any single project by a considerable portion, or so we were told. In short, it took us half a decade and more than the GDP of most medium-sized countries to get less than halfway done with the mech's skeleton. Now, we'd have to finish the whole thing — in two weeks.

Our rival is the inexorable embrace of death: the dare to plunge into the absence of all worlds, and emerge the victor in a triumphant blaze of glory. Those murky waters of deep Time may be dark and impenetrable, but we can withstand their billowing waves. That much is clear.

We’re just going to need a bigger boat.


PROGRESS REPORT: ETTRA PROJECT TEMUJIN


It has been determined by Project Temujin and collaborating experts with expertise in the former KEY Project that conventional construction methods will not be anywhere near sufficient to construct Asset Dragonslayer in the timeframe allotted for the project, even at 100% of the Foundation's present functional capacity, and that advanced anomalous techniques will therefore need to be employed in the manufacture of the device.

After much discussion with relevant departments, Project Temujin and the Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority have converged on hi-tech alchemy as the sole feasible means by which to synthesize Asset Dragonslayer's components directly from raw materials within the allotted timespan. Alchemical apparatus of such caliber as would be necessary to perform this manufacture are in the possession of the Foundation, but they have never seen such intensive, regular use — doing so requires a grade of arcane reagent the process of whose production and refinement is well beyond the scope of present civilization's technological and magical advancement.

Outside of deep space or extremely far-away universes, Project Temujin's alchemical consultants have identified a source of this reagent ("Solvent-119") in only one location known and accessible to the Foundation — the Kingdom of Alagadda, a sovereign, extradimensional city-state connected to Earth by SCP-2264. In the vaults of the Alagaddan palace, sources report an abundance of viable Solvent-119 exists in the form of a volatile alchemical substance known as "vitriolic arcanum". Project Temujin has determined that the acquisition of Solvent-119 from Alagadda, by theft or diplomacy, will be totally essential before the construction of Asset Dragonslayer can begin.

In accordance with this restructuring of plans, Project Temujin is hereafter to be organized as such:

  • TEAM ALEPH, led by Dir. Ahab Kal'eakahola of the Office of Large-Scale Engagement, is to acquire diplomatic approval for the Foundation's intent to resume the KEY Project from the government of Hy-Brasil, and amass (from the Foundation's trade arrangements with that Nexus) a quantity of the anomalous substance known as "cold iron"23 sufficient for mass alchemical replication.
  • TEAM BET, led by Dir. Bathsheba Crowley of the Department of Applied Esotericism, will travel to Alagadda via SCP-2264 and secure — by any means necessary — the Solvent-119 required alchemize the sophisticated components of Asset Dragonslayer in time sufficient to deploy it against SCP-9410.
  • TEAM GIMEL, led by Dr. Sagar Singh of the Department of Archaeology, will devise and provide steps of construction for additional modifications to Asset Dragonslayer in order to allow it to efficiently counter Daevite thaumaturgic and other occult practices.
  • TEAM DALET, led by Dr. Grant Dochal of the Department of Material Science, will devise and provide steps of construction for additional modifications to Asset Dragonslayer in order to allow the Asset's material construction to resist the transmutative effects of refinement by SCP-9410 as efficiently as possible.
  • TEAM HEY, staffed by various alchemical and paratechnological personnel, will employ advanced-injection alchemization24 with the aid of Solvent-119 to assemble Asset Dragonslayer with its required modifications on an anomalously-accelerated timeline. Doing so will require an immense cost of energy, which the Foundation is presently in the process of procuring25.

We wish all personnel involved in Project Temujin good luck and godspeed.



— Dan ███████, Director, ETTRA



DR. KAORI: You're absolutely sure about this?

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: With your approval, I would be. You were around for the early days of the Project, after all.

DR. KAORI: You know I'd do anything to see it finished. Because it makes us all safer, of course; not because I'm hunting any particular giant monster.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: Which brings me to the other topic of concern. If I suggest this, and they go ahead, and we build it—

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: Well, to them, it would be much more than just the only solution we had for the ultimate crisis. They'd want to use it again.

DR. KAORI: And we absolutely cannot allow that to happen.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: Yes. But there's a fix for that, at least in theory.

DR. KAORI: Of course! KEY was commissioned under the High-King's approval. According to the old plan, we would share responsibility for it with Brasil. It was strictly defensive, they insisted. To keep us in line.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: So it must be revived on the original terms. And to do that? We'll need a deft diplomatic hand.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: It would be an honor, you know.

DR. KAORI: I'm in.

DIR. KAL'EAKALOHA: In that case, welcome to the Group Project.


logo.svg


[Dr. Kaori and her staff perform a bow as they finish their approach.]

DR. KAORI: Good day, your majesty.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: Mikasa, my old friend! We'd give you the full royal welcome, though you look to be in a rush — unfortunately, I can't quite bring myself to suspect you've graced the shining shores of Brasil with your presence today for a recreational trip.

DR. KAORI: I'm afraid it's true. My next sabbatical isn't for… quite a while, if ever. But I appreciate your grace, sir. Hopefully I'll be back soon under better conditions.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: Well, what troubles the Foundation today? Seems it's always something.

DR. KAORI: To be frank, the specifics are barren even to us. Something monstrous has leaked from our world, and threatens our temporal forces. A chief of the Daevites, turned god, though you know that isn't my expertise. All we know is that we'll be needing a lot of firepower. And since that is in my wheelhouse, I've come to tell you myself that the Foundation has filed this formal request with your government, as of this morning.

[Dr. Kaori offers a document to the High-King, which he takes into his hands. He skims it, and continues.]

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: The KEY Project? By Jove, haven't heard that name in a while. Did it not turn out to be a fantasy?

DR. KAORI: As of the past few days, it's become more than theoretical again. And to be fair, sir, it seems awfully backward that I should be the one telling you fantasy can be awfully real.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: Indeed it can!

DR. KAORI: So, what do you think? Just like old times? Need I mention, we will be needing quite the bit of cold-iron — and that means a hefty profit for you.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: Of course we have our concerns. But, as you know, Brasil will always welcome a greater defense for her shores. No measure is too extreme when protecting our people is the matter at hand; this we learned from the Calamity.

[Both are silent for a few moments.]

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: I will have to consult with my ministers, of course. But between you and me, Mikasa, my preference is clear: we ask only that after this mission is finished, the Dragonslayer be returned to Brasil where he shall to be used only for the common defense — of my people or of yours. It is why we entered the KEY Program in the first place. And so all terms of the original agreement, most certainly the reciprocity clause, must remain in effect.

DR. KAORI: Of course. The Foundation's intent is to use it for the issue at hand — then never outside parameters again. The Dragonslayer will retire, and like the king sleeping in the mountain, return only when your realm or mine is attacked. Just like our original treaty states. If my superiors break that understanding, sir, they'll have my resignation.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: I do hope you can keep them at bay. You lot I trust, but your lords and ladies are a nest of hawks.

DR. KAORI: If you're concerned about using the mech offensively — believe me, it's a non-starter. Ahab is involved at the top levels of this new project, and I'll make absolutely sure he makes that much clear. We're the experts on this stuff now, and after forty-eight long years, they're finally beginning to listen to us.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: He's a peculiar fellow, the Hawaiian. A great man and an honorable soldier — I'd wager you had to have had a hand in his promotion, all those years ago. Yet why name a child whose life lies still ahead of him after the hunter who never catches his prey? My people know well there is fate in a name, Mikasa.

DR. KAORI: Sure enough; the Foundation needs the fate of a warrior to shine on our side. We'll do well to see what the Thousand Word Arrows say of fate when they are operational, your highness.

HIGH-KING DELBÁETH: And may the gods make yours good and glorious. Godspeed, Mikasa.


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TEAM BET EXPEDITION


MEMBERS OF DETACHMENT:

  • Dir. Bathsheba Crowley, Department of Applied Esotericism
  • Dr. Vraschik Notoy, Department of Applied Esotericism
  • Elder Ann Barlowe, Department of Alchemy
  • Dr. John Tremblay, Department of Alchemy
  • Dr. Irving Gat, Department of Surrealistics26

FOREWORD: Team Bet was captured shortly after their arrival in Alagadda, and brought swiftly to the Palace upon their recognition as Foundation personnel. It was hoped that the unique and esoteric specializations of this team would ease communication with extradimensional entities and ultimately enable them to coax a concession from the four chief entities known as the "Masked Lords", by ordinary diplomacy, occult manipulation, or both.


⁂


[OPEN SCENE. It is the ROYAL PALACE, in PALE SQUARE.]

[Enter two Alagaddan SCIONS of noble blood.]

SCION #1: The Masked Lords approach, fellow squire. We ought now to bring in the prisoners.

SCION #2: Very well. Guards, escort the first prisoner to the court!

[Enter the ARTIFICER NOTOY, wearer of the PERCIPIENT MASK, bound in chains.]

NOTOY: I will play no games, gentlesquires. Tell me only the cause of my arrest, and sated I shall be.

SCION #1: In time you shall find, when the Lords arrive.

SCION #2: Guards! The second!

[Enter the ALCHEMIST TREMBLAY, wearer of the IMPERIOUS MASK, escorted by Alagaddan foot-and-tentaclesoldiers.]

NOTOY: Greetings, alchemist fellow.

TREMBLAY: Why am I held here your prisoner? I demand an answer!

SCION #1: Silence, fleshthings!

[Enter SIR GAT, the Intrepid, frightfully UN-MASKED.]

GAT: Greetings, fellows and fellowers. Allow me to introduce myself, if I would be so graceful.

SCION #2: Egads, he wears no Mask! A foul crime.

SCION #1: How didst thou come here, insect? Of your own accord? Where is your guardsman, prisoner?

GAT: I simply—

SCION #2: Why is he not bound? Guards, apprehend him!

GAT: It will be no use. They cannot see me.

SCION #1: Are you mad? Of course the guards can—

[GUARDS do not follow orders. SCIONS look back at them, standing by the entrance gates. They are oblivious.]

GAT: As I said, my death-masqued gentlesquire, it will be no use.

SCION #2: Neverheavens, How? Prisoner, sorcerer, why did not you break free, if you are invisible so?

GAT: What manners would I have then? You have invited me here, clearly.

NOTOY: Masters, this is merely as he is. Maddening may it be, there is no sorcery to it.

SCION #1: Pay no mind to this madman, fellow squire. Guards, escort in the next prisoner.

[Enter the WITCH CROWLEY, grand-daughter of the Beast, 666, woman of Babalon, mother of abominations, maid of Aradia fate-spinner, gospel-queen of the witches. Wearer of the RAPTUROUS MASK, too.]

CROWLEY: By Hathor, calm your rage'd spirits. And fel squire, do tell your guardian shades so to dispel their paranoia, Nuit as my witness I am not the Moonchild. It never did come.

SCION #1: Do not test me, Witch, for thee art in the house of the Hangéd King. And wash those pagan names from your mouth: neverheavens, in what shade dost thou conduct your alchemy? None of the Cardinals Four, no doubt.

CROWLEY: Be stubborn, if thou must, but your Will in Truth is clouded.

SCION #2: The next!

[Enter ELDER BARLOWE, Arch-alchemist of the Seventh Circle, wearer of the VIGILANT MASK.]

BARLOWE: So you are the makers of affliction, and this the heart of the Masquerade.

SCION #2: Guards? Where are her chains?

GUARD: No cuffs could bind her, for she transmuted them all. Loose sulfur and salt, ochre and ash, these are our chains now.

SCION #2: And yet she is still, and has tried not to escape?

BARLOWE: Learn that I mean no threat to you, for before the humours of Alagadda I am subject. The elements are here much different than did Paracelsus describe; stronger, and in four chromes so strictly condensed.

SCION #1: You obey us, then? This is deception, methinks.

BARLOWE: I tolerate you. The house of the Masked Lords, this I respect.

SCION #2: Squire-fellow, there come the Lords.


⁂


[Enter the RED LORD, master of the Sanguine Quarter, wearer of the MIRTHFUL MASK.]

[Enter the WHITE LORD, master of the Phlegmatic Quarter, wearer of the DILIGENT MASK.]

[Enter the YELLOW LORD, master of the Choleric Quarter, wearer of the ODIOUS MASK.]

[Enter the BLACK LORD, master of the Melancholic Quarter, wearer of the ANGUISHED MASK.]

[The MASKED LORDS each take their thrones, and wave to dismiss the Scions. SCIONS exit stage left.]

BLACK LORD: State the reason of your trespassing. Jailors have not set foot in the City since my return, and I assume 'tis hardly trivial for you to do.

YELLOW LORD: Make haste, or thine imprudence to answer shall cost thee.

WHITE LORD: Fear no—

YELLOW LORD: Fear.

BARLOWE: You are wise, O Lords. Indeed, for us, crossing the Iron Door was no easy feat, nor ever one done lightly. We seek no trouble, only the arcane aid of your Black Vaults, to dispel a demon greater than our own.

CROWLEY: He holds a Daevic blade to the throat of Father Time, and as he does, threatens us both.

YELLOW LORD: We could crush you. We could send a thousand plagues upon thine feeble hiveworld.

RED LORD: We could forever entomb you amidst the deathly bliss of our country's dance; in that fel snare, never would a man even know himself to be trapped.

WHITE LORD: But with your masters and their selfsame legion, Alagadda wants no quarrel. It is the mercy of the King.

BLACK LORD: It is true, alas. To spare you the bloodshed and the torment shall be considered, for now.

RED LORD: Explain your tragedy, thee worms of the senses!

CROWLEY: It is your reagent which we humbly seek. But a drop, and this will fuel the engines of our masters for an aeon of feeble Earth-years.

WHITE LORD: But what doth the pale city gain? Black Alagadda, font of unlife, exult forever in the divine filth; in the debaucherous rot; in the deathly passion of the Masquerade! Its continuation be our only object.

YELLOW LORD: Proceed henceforth with our end of the bargain, or little human will remain of you, when we are done.

NOTOY: You are grand indeed, lords, and grander you shall be as we make quick of your dirtywork! As the alley cat, we shall clear this scoundrel from the way; never shall you worry of him, should we nip this attempt on vital Time's life in the bud of its incipience. It is a submission, therefore! An honor for us!

BARLOWE: Indeed, we will work the Chromes in your image — all alchemy is a canvas, and 'pon it your quadrichrome mark shall there-by spread bounds.

TREMBLAY: Flatterers! The abominations do hold us hostage at their venom'd blades!

[From the hand of the BLACK LORD, a creeping vine of rot doth proceed toward TREMBLAY. As it crawls his spine, the alchemist fall hereafter into paralytic sleep.]

NOTOY: I—

NOTOY: …It is just, actually!

BLACK LORD: Indeed, we agree. An eye for a spine, this is the rule of the world.

RED LORD: Proceed, fleshthings, with your flatteries or be mulched! I am not immune to them.

GAT: In fact, I will. There is nothing more flattering, or so it seems, by your perilous standards.

BARLOWE: What, magician? Is this nonsense you speak of the negotiating?

GAT: Indeed! I will speak sense of the fashion they will hear, and indeed, their ear-holes grow by the hour. Why, splendid!

[All are BEWILDERED.]

GAT: What? Be it something I said?

[After a moment's more of silence, does the YELLOW LORD extend the reaper's finger to a point at him.]

YELLOW LORD: Do testify, worm, my curiosity be my hate. We should have you killed for your lack of Mask; so vile is that ungnostic odium of yours as to escape even the righteous pustulation of my own Humour. Revel in the masquerade of our mercy, therefore, and choose your words carefully.

GAT: I heed, O jaundiced one. If I may digress from the splendor of your diseased magnificence, my merriest band of compatriots and I believe we possess what you seek. Henceforth I will aid in displaying this, yes?

WHITE LORD: How so?

GAT: It will be so, my dear platonic friend! For when all other routes have gone, see clearly the way of Dodecahedron.

[SIR GAT, from the pocket of his technicolor coat, produceth an OBJECT MOST PECULIAR.]

RED LORD: Zounds! He wields the Third Solid!

WHITE LORD: What are you, madman-worm? What dost thou work with the Shapes? Some wonder of alchemy?

GAT: We shall see!

[From the maw of dodecahedron, enter THREE CLOAK’ED HUNTERS.]

✤: Silence and ceaseforth your pestering, vole.
ↂ: Thou grandiosity is a king throned ‘pon a knoll.
⏅: Invoke not through our names those of ye makers, we admonish, and fear not what unfolds.

[In a famished cloud of warp and miasma, exit HUNTERS. The RED LORD laughs hysterically.]

RED LORD: The madman's oracles fail him! Let the entertainment for this banquet continue, and the wine flow from the veins.

GAT: H-heed not their useless stubbornness, Lords! In their twisted minds does the traitor Pagliacci whisper wildly. And soothe your ire, for I too doth hail from a four-fold world, I understand ye.

YELLOW LORD: Insolent plague-sores. Ye hemlock-drinking fools, all mortals who meddle under the gangrenous stars of Carcosa sky: you know not your mistake until it is too late for thee. Guards! All of them! Off with their-

[From the head of the court, the BLACK LORD raises one hand. The YELLOW LORD reaches for his neck and leans forward before collapsing limp, wheezing and gargling. His head is tossed back as he chokes again, and seconds later it snaps back into place, viscous black running down the carved eyes and mouth of the ODIOUS MASK.]

YELLOW LORD: Carry on. Your life is to be permitted, for now.

BARLOWE: It is your kindness, keepers of the Quadrum Wheel. Exult!

CROWLEY: Now, be it on the matter of the Arcanum…

BLACK LORD: Do not be greedy, daughter of the Beast. We have heard your arguments. A mere drop of the magick be your destiny; more will flow only as there be demonstrations of your fealty.

RED LORD: A pact of thine own blood, it be in order!

[A gash of bleeding red grows aching midst the floor of the palace. Reluctant, CROWLEY extends her hand into the abyss.]

[All flee the stage, left and right, frenzied. Exeunt.]



DR. ANASTASAKOS: To transport the Dragonslayer to Site-01, this will be easy, relatively speaking. The question I am more concerned with — even chronologically speaking — its manufacture.

DIR. LIGHT: How so?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: The alchemization equipment is extremely energy-intensive; apparently, there's an important reason why we don't just use it to manufacture everything the Foundation needs, and it's because we don't generate anywhere near enough power. The amount of energy required to perform the task seems inconcievable — or, worse, ontologically destabilizing.

DIR. LIGHT: Yes, generating the energy. Dan put himself and Daniil in charge of that — God only knows what those two maniacs will do. But what leads you to believe we can't do it?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: I've seen what our physicists are putting out, and the figures are concerning. On average, with no accelerant, it takes one of our advanced-injection lathes thirty-six hours to transmute a single stone cube of three meters by three meters by three meters from raw elemental material. With just a dozen days on the clock, we hope to accelerate them to manufacture, and in some cases pre-assemble, thousands of tons of extremely intricate and sophisticated machinery.

DIR. LIGHT: I'm all too aware. But so far as I understood, procuring that much energy could be accomplished…

DIR. LIGHT: Albeit, only by a considerable depletion of the Deus Ex-class crisis reserves. But we're willing to manage.




























kiWCgGA.png

SAID A KING:
Toward my kingdom they stride on long and pale legs.
Cross Ta-athys' claw, through those wastes of black ash and old salt depths…
Above the mountains of the North, they bound in one monstrous jump.
The demons, I say, the dread-gods of old—
Golden Arrow, bolt from heaven, save us all!

SAID A SPEAR:
Dare not to wield me in vain; the old gods are of no consequence.
Dispel yourself of their illusions, or I will not be yours,
For I am pledged to no throne, and sovereign to no supplicant.
Tell me, if you are deserving — what is a god?

SAID A KING:
But are thee not the Shard of Loathing, and the breaker of the gods?
I plead to none of them, but instead to you;
Pierce the demons 'pon their crosses—
Or never again will Eri-Kesh see the morning Sun!

SAID A SPEAR:
You misunderstand; do not plead, for I am but a tool.
What is a god? What is a demon? What is a tool?
I will tell you:
In death, they are ash.
Or in life, clay or soil, which other tools do alter.
As a spade breaks a castle of sand, I make mortals of them.
Be too as a Non-Believer, and they will not plague thee.

- COLLECTED MANUSCRIPTS OF THE SOCIETY OF THE GOLDEN ARROW













ⅠⅠⅠ
"1:1"













From the desk of: DR. SAGAR SINGH
Researcher and Daevitologist, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN


I was told there comes a time for everyone in the Foundation when he makes a monster.

You know, it's kind of funny. I'm an academic; I write papers, I excavate sites. I certainly don't build Transformers, though I suppose there's a first for everything in this organization. If you told me a week ago that I'd be at the head of the initiative to hunt down a resurgent Blade of Daevon, I'd dare you to check with Temporal Anomalies: well, now we know that was never going to be an option.

And the solution? Our trump card, our answer to the chaos? Ridiculous, or so I thought. The last time we tried this Dragonslayer nonsense, how much did it cost just to waste everything away? But Grant insisted. He heard the idea once and couldn't get enough of it.

Really, I just suppose I'm obligated to see it through. That's the only thing keeping me on board with this scheme: it was me who oversaw the procurement of SCP-9410. It was my own team which dug it up and delivered it to Site-19. I introduced the Foundation to 9410, and it's only right I should eliminate that threat — you make a mess, and you better be the one to clean it up.

SCP-9410 wasn’t always some force of unbridled destruction; he’s a historical figure, and a sort of human, at least at one time. In life, the Fourth Blade was known as the most cunning: legends involving him rarely have him barge into a battle without a plan, but were rather used in the oral traditions of opposed civilizations like the Nälkä to highlight the Daevas’ dark schemes. So we shouldn’t assume this curent attack is any less premeditated — however little sense his schemes may make to us, their construction is intricate, at least as an insane six-thousand-year-old spectre would understand the term. But we have our weapons too. And since it's more my area of expertise, we'll begin with those very myths the Daevas' enemies once devised against them.

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Reinforced Incantations Modern redesigns of Erikeshan and Early Ionite incantations maximized for triumphal mythic potential are devised by Foundation pataphysics, parahistory, and folkloristics experts. These will be stowed in the cockpit of Asset Dragonslayer within ornate golden sutra cases, and memorized in whole by the Thousand Word Arrows for continuous recitation during combat.

Stories have power; myths especially. I won't harp on this much, since to anyone familiar with the clinical practice of magic, it's all but a dead platitude. But what is important here is the conveyed effects of divinity. Simply put, the Daeva worshipped the Blades as demigods — their enemies reviled them as high demons. Both these titles are powered by belief. Say we lean into the parts of those beliefs oriented around scaring the demons away from your village? Well, with modern mythic and narrative technology, we can make them into literal weapons.

Which made me think — we should really have built-in counters for the most common and devastating manifestations of Daevite magic. The Daeva weren't immune to their tropes, of course — and their sorcery had something of a signature move. So let's not beat around the bush, and address the most obvious issue: the Chronicle itself. Or, more accurately, whatever derived spells he may have on-hand.

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Predestination Armor The exoskeleton of Asset Dragonslayer is to be loaded with a subdermal array of Xyank-Anastasakos Constant Temporal Sink (XACTS) devices configured to rapidly produce bulk quantities of excess time upon impact by a high-EVE attack, so as to confuse and muffle the effects of Ahriman-type thaumotifs which ordinarily enable Daevite chronological magic to immediately alter the present via the past.

I am by no means a temporal scientist, so this next part I'll have to relay rather inarticulately. Basically, my new team has told me that the chance for a working which alters the past to take effect can be reduced by dilution if a significant amount of excess "junk time" is generated to flood the zone right after the spell starts to adhere to reality. This tracks with how we understand Daevite thaumotifs: to correct history, Daevite works of chronomancy all use the same mechanism, which sorts through events and deliberately selects ones to attempt to override. Give it a really long period of empty, artificial time to filter through, and you might be able to hide the real stuff by distracting it for long enough that the spell runs out of EVE.

That's all well and good for countering his attacks. But when push comes to shove, we need to finish the job with our own. Say — remember what I said about those old blessings devised against Daevite divinities?

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Consecrated Nuke Barrage Several high-pressure tubes similar to the make of those from nuclear-armed submarines of the Foundation’s naval forces are outfitted to fit Asset Dragonslayer’s back, and loaded with thaumonuclear ballistic missiles blessed through incantation by the Thousand Word Arrows before launch.

This should get the job done, if we can manage a sustained assault. The blessing spells are based on a favorite story of mine, which we find not only in the oral tradition but written at a few sites in what was once the southern part of the Empire. The myth goes something like this: a demon bound to the Daevas' service is descending on small village, and all the townsfolk are despairing. This guy was infamous — extremely hard to kill even with powerful magic, since his catch was that the only weapon capable of slaying him was the one he wielded. Now, the village elder has a bright idea: this demon is also an infamous glutton, so before he eats everyone in the village, he'll have his family invite him over for a banquet as a demented sort of appetizer. The elder gets his high priest to bless a common cooking knife — the weapon is weak and ordinary, but the blessing potent enough to slay a demon and then some in a single blow. When the demon arrives at the chieftan's banquet, the second he wields an ordinary knife to cut the bread, they stab him in the back with the blessed knife. The demon explodes into holy flames instantly.

We're reverse-engineering that so it works on a nuclear bomb too. Sounds simple, right?

Just one last thing, promise.

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Mytheme-Enchanted Anchor A colossal beryllium-bronze anchor to be outfitted into the cannon affixed to Asset Dragonslayer’s right arm. Returns to the mech after fired via high-tension carbon fiber cord. Upon impact with a nefarious target, the anchor is engineered to inflict the literal thematic and narrative weight of retribution borne upon the target by their immoral deeds. Across the surface of the weapon is inscribed the following spell in several thousand human and non-human languages:
“JUST AS THE CHILDREN OF THE SEVENTH BRIDE ONCE RIDDED THE COSMIC OCEAN OF ITS MONSTERS WITH THEIR SPEARS, SO TOO DOES THIS WEAPON VANQUISH THE LEGIONS OF HER TORTURER.”

An allusion to the Leviathan-hunters of A'Habbat in the Daevite creation myth, sure. Rise, soldiers of the doomed war, from your morbid natal crib of dust and blood, and take up arms against the tyrant of the Darkness Below. Narratives like this don't just have power in magic — much to my surprise, my new colleagues have told me, they carry similar weight in delivering smackdowns to kaiju. Well, that's awfully convenient for a finisher attack. After all, everyone likes a climactic finale, don't they?

Soon, at long last, this will be over. That finale will come, and in a glorious blaze of holy flame, God willing, I will rid the world of my mistake. Soon — but, or so it feels, never quite tomorrow. There is still much work for us to do. We have our designs, we have our schemes. But the mark of a good plan is that it is executed just as smoothly as it was conceived.

Let's get this show on the road, Project Temujin.


From the desk of: DR. GRANT DOCHAL
Senior Researcher, DEPARTMENT OF MATERIAL SCIENCE
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN


Well, shit.

There's long been talk among the 914 team about ceasing routine testing. Those damned Clockworks have created more individual anomalous objects than anything else I have the clearance to know about. These products have been, for the most part, completely harmless. Simple trinkets we can lock away in a box. And as far as anomalies go, that's about as good as it gets.

At the same time, the outputs have rarely been truly useful, either. While we're not exactly producing real threats to life or Normalcy; the daily churning of arbitrary objects through its gears, the conversion of junk into different but still valueless junk, is really an exercise for its own sake. We have a world class facility and some of the un-Veiled world's greatest minds doing little more than busy work, day in, and day out. So why do we keep doing it?

It's comfortable. Though outputs are rarely predictable, and inputs consistently vary, the routine is the same. Find an object, in one end, out the other, record. There's a reason seasoned researchers flock to Facility 23 — my guess? It's the stability, the consistency, the security of the work. When you've not just peered behind the Veil but fully emersed yourself in it, in the swirling chaos of the cruel, uncaring world, you start to yearn for the routine. The simple. Yeah?

But that's all gone now. We have run from the whirlwind of bedlam for far, far too long, and that vortex has only met us where we're at. Testing has finally ceased.

Well, at least for now, I have a task. I am going to fucking destroy that thing. I will reduce it to a fine dust: a cloud of ferrous ash, floating aimlessly forever through that boundless, yawning void it's stumbled into. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings, no?

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Reality Sink A device modeled off of the Mymar-Hayes Reality Anchor, capable of precisely altering the localized Hume coefficient of an area by redistributing the concentration of reality therein. To be implanted into Asset Dragonslayer's chest. The base anchor will be augmented to allow for significantly more drastic Humetric shifts, retrofitted with stabilizing technology designed to maintain artificially low-Hume environments.

Ontology has never really been my forte, but I'll try to explain this as best I can. 914 augments stuff. Don't think I lost anybody there. Of course, if you don't input anything, there is nothing to output. Therefore, by changing the space around the Dragonslayer to be less 'real' — to have a lower Hume coefficient, that is — we can reduce the amount of 'stuff' 9410 has to augment. In this reality vacuum we aim to create, refinery, roughening, all of it will be far less effective. Our Dragonslayer, our Beowulf, cannot be reduced to its component parts, nor can it's vital structures be refined to a point of non-functionality, if we siphon any transmutative energy into a space where it lacks a real subject.

The only issue here is the range. With the modifications we've made, the reality sink can't really affect anything not immediately proximate to it. For protecting Asset Dragonslayer's body, that's all well and good. But for weapons…

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Superpositional Conceptual Distortion Engine A hypothetical conceptual engine attached to the fusion power source by way of an output valve. When supplied with sufficient energy, is theoretically capable of essophysically purifying structures to a state occupying the concepts of "Fine-ness," "Rough-ness," and "Parity" simultaneously, despite their inherently contradictory natures.

…We need to take other measures.

In essence, should this function as intended, it will make any weapons we target immune to transmutation. If 9410 sets its output to "Fine," the structure we've selected, already embodying "Fine-ness," won't change meaningfully. It is already the most "Fine" version of itself — the input is the output. We really aren't too sure how this one will pan out; we never had the budget or need to test anything of this sort while 914 was still in our possession. The fact we still don't know exactly how 914 operates means that trying to take advantage of its core function is pretty tricky. But should it work… boy, do we have a leg up.

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Hostile Nanotech Deployment System An auto-targeting missile to be planted within Asset Dragonslayer's waist. Object is to be filled with several trillion self-replicating nanomachines, all in a dormant state. Said nanomachines are to share a collective intelligence engineered by AIAD; this intelligence is to be linked with that of Asset Dragonslayer. Nanobots will be primed for activation upon rapid deceleration, though remote activation (as well as deactivation) is also possible.

This one is a last resort of sorts, a real Hail Mary.

In all my time researching 914, I have found many patterns in its operations. None are rules held true universally, though one is pretty damn close: hazardous inputs produce hazardous outputs. There's a reason we rarely test anything actively dangerous unless necessary: they almost always wind up far more dangerous and far less predictable.

If, and I must reiterate, if we have to deploy this missile, it will strike right on that refinery arm and release a deluge of these nanoscopic machines. They'll disassemble its very molecules, rearranging the atoms into ever-more gray goo. They'll tear him limb from limb, and use those limbs as fuel for their ecophagy. Should it try to fight back, should it dare to try and transform these little silicon devils… whatever comes out should be far, far worse.

This is our chance to prove our dominion over the horrors of the world. To show that chaos we've long run from that we are no longer afraid. There may never be true order in the universe; we may be doomed to an existence of eternal struggle, fighting against a torrent without reason or rhyme. But we will, for we must, fight back.


ELEVEN DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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PROGRESS REPORT: TEAM HEY


Team Hey reports that the schematics for Asset Dragonslayer and all modified auxiliary features devised by Team Gimel and Team Dalet have been effectively programmed into our lab's advanced-injection alchemy apparatus. Proof-of-concept dummy models — replicas of the required hardware composed entirely of junk neutron matter with negligible alchemization cost — were successfully synthesized by the machinery for all primary and auxiliary features as of last night.

Synthesizing this equipment using its actual components, in contrast to the inert material used for proof-of-concept, is an extremely difficult theoretical task — but decidedly possible with an esoteric source of energy and the supply of Solvent-119 acquired by Team Bet.

As of 11:00 UTC, the basic chassis of Asset Dragonslayer has begun manufacture with the aid of Solvent-119. Modified features are enroute in programming, but have not yet begun synthetization.


NINE DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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DIR. DAN: The construction? You know that won’t be an easy job.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Some obstacles, to be sure.

DIR. DAN: More than obstacles. Usually we MacGyver a few anomalies together, solve an unorthodox problem. Nip an incipient crisis in the bud, if we’re lucky. We’ve been doing that for a good few years now; Light for even longer. But this? This…

DR. SOKOLSKY: This isn’t exactly in our wheelhouse, even at our most overpowered. Look, I get it.

DIR. DAN: Not just because this is serious, cosmic-scale hardware — stuff we usually never even try with, at least not without some tech support from our future selves — but because we’re putting it together in what, ten days?

DR. SOKOLSKY: Who says it’s gotta be what we usually do? We’re already cheating on the alchemy, yeah? Why can’t— well, really, why can’t this be what it already is: the theoretical upper limit of what we are.

DIR. DAN: I get you want the Deus Ex reserves, and I’m not opposed, but come on. What does that even mean?

DR. SOKOLSKY: I’m not sure; not yet. But if you’ll let us loosen that frame on reality just a bit, I think you’ll find that we start to see those solutions — tons of them, and quick.


From the desk of: DR. GRANT DOCHAL
Senior Researcher, DEPARTMENT OF MATERIAL SCIENCE
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN



To whomever it may concern,

I would first like to state that I am very pleased with the progress of all of the teams involved in Project Temujin. Our earliest estimates placed some of our desired features just outside the deadline, but even our loftiest goals near completion; the Dragonslayer, as presently outlined, should be in fully working order within the coming days. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves.

That being said, I believe we may have perhaps been too narrow in our scope. Aimed too low, in a sense. We can do better than this. We need to push ourselves further, planting our noses to the grindstone, if we truly want to stand a chance at taking down this undying foe. The ordeal has been grueling, and it will only grow moreso with time. This next week will be the most difficult of our lives, that much I can almost guarantee. But remember, we made this mess. Perhaps through sheer happenstance, yes, but still: this Blade has come out of our forge.

This is a call for further modifications. Ignore cost, ignore feasibility; if you can imagine a weapon or defense, than it is our duty to procure it. We must — we will — win this war.

May the gods we've yet to chain be in our favor.


EIGHT DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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— SACRIFICE CONFERS POWER —



HEREAFTER, the Resolution proposed to the honorable Council by her dread clandestine excellency OVERSEER THE TENTH, on advice and recommendation of the Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority and other Departments and Divisions in the general Administration:

DATE: 29 November 2036

PROPOSAL: Move to follow the advice of ETTRA leadership in permitting the use of Deus Ex-class reserves in the ongoing Project Temujin.

⠀⠀YEA⠀⠀ ⠀⠀NAY⠀⠀ ABSTAIN
O5-1
O5-2
O5-3
O5-4
O5-5
O5-6
O5-7
O5-8
O5-9
O5-10
O5-11
O5-12
O5-13

STATUS:
APPROVED


ON THIS, THE GENERAL SESSION OF THE FOUNDATION OVERSEER COUNCIL, IT IS DONE.


SEVEN DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Tychekinetic Particle Field Acute quantum dispersion field activated from the cockpit of Asset Dragonslayer. At high cost of power, capable of incurring catastrophic alterations to atomic and subatomic probability in the exact position of Dragonslayer's body for a temporary period. Deployed in immediate anticipation of an attack or other physical collision (preferably a relatively small projectile), will alter the probability underlying the individual arrangements of particles composing the body of the mech such that each particle happens to occupy the space around the incoming projectile as it impacts. Mass is consequently dispersed so that the projectile functionally "phases" directly through the body of the mech without inflicting damage.
Apportation Detonator Thaumic device capable of being deployed defensively. Contains an EVE battery capable of immense storage. When used as a shield, triggers a working which teleports the aggressor away ~260,000,000 km at once in a random direction27. Hereafter deploys an extremely intricate nuclear-powered apotropaic charm on the target, sourcing energy from Asset Dragonslayer's stellar fusion power source. Charm attempts to flip all thaumic backlash from the working onto the target, warding it away from Asset Dragonslayer. Subsequently, it does the same for the thaumic backlash produced by weaponizing the backlash of the initial working, and then the same for the backlash produced by attempting to weaponize this backlash, and so on. This process continues on loop until all EVE from the original working has dispersed via Aspect Radiation, ultimately creating a cascade effect of extremely fatal esoteric hazards centered on the aggressor.


SIX DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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From the desk of: DR. GRANT DOCHAL
Senior Researcher, DEPARTMENT OF MATERIAL SCIENCE
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN



Hmm.

I may not have been clear enough with my earlier message. That's on me, I apologize. We have, at present, all of the Foundation's resources at our disposal. Quite literally anything is on the table. And this? I mean, it's great, don't get me wrong, but is it truly the best we can do?

This is our chance to prove the superiority of man in a world of monsters. To prove that the most perfect enemy, the most finely constructed foe, is but an ant under our boot. We cannot win this war by a hair; our victory is to be brutal and unchallenged, absolute and monumental, or have we truly won at all? This is my our sole mission. We have been thrown from the routine, and cast onto this path, the path of the guardian, us made unshakable Paladins by the powers that be.

Bigger, bolder, further.



DR. SINGH: What does he mean, “not enough”? Not enough! The Foundation's never made any weaponry like it!

DR. MONTAUK: I suppose I get it, better safe than sorry. But this?

DR. SINGH: I-

[Dr. Singh sighs.]

DR. SINGH: I suppose we’re not the experts. Thread this through ETTRA…


FOUR DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
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DIR. DAN: Narrative screwery? Just let go of realism? It’s dangerous.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Maybe. But if we pretend the world is all that serious, what isn’t? All I’m saying is, we can make reality go out to lunch at the drop of a hat. And we aren’t weaponizing that?

DIR. DAN: I suppose the Foundation’s pushed those limits of possibility before, for justifications worse than this one.

DR. SOKOLSKY: You can say that again. Time problems are serious business; get messy real quick.

DIR. DAN: Still, it’s spitball. And reckless. That’s why you’re the deputy, mister deputy director.

DR. SOKOLSKY: Of course. And I can’t tell you what will happen. But I can tell you that I’ve spoken to our pataphysicians, and they think the same: when we’re the heroes, in no small measure, we can dispense with our own limitations. For dire situations, it’s in the toolbox. All I’m saying.

DIR. DAN: And if that means dispensing with sanity itself?

DR. SOKOLSKY: That’s a serious consideration. But at the end of the day? We’re crisis responders, no? We’re in the best, most informed position of anyone to take massive risks, and we do it all the time.

DIR. DAN: So?

DR. SOKOLSKY: So, it’s just another risk to assess.


THREE DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
█████████░░░

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Cosmological Reel Two colossal grappling hooks capable of extending from either of Asset Dragonslayer's arms. Cords are of material chain link composition fundamentally derived from an imperfect alchemical replication of the Fifth Chain of the Erikeshans, but engineered via Locality-Liminality Technology (LLT) to extend virtually infinitely in length28, such that refinement by SCP-914's transmutation on one section of the chain can be counteracted by unravelling it further. Enchanted with a number of highly intricate thaumic binding and ensnarement workings which apply immediately upon contact with a target, making disconnecting from the grapple extremely difficult. Can be used to "reel in" hooked targets with immense force, or drive Asset Dragonslayer toward them with great momentum — both uses are amplified with the application of a high amount of artificial directional gravity, in a fashion similar to that of the Beowulf-Sigurd Rail.
Triumphant Mantle A modification to the Pataphysical Mantle, threaded from Asset Dragonslayer's breastplate through to its "heart" and powered by way of the portable sun vent. Manifests outwardly as an ornate golden set of upper-body armor for auxiliary narrative effect. Attempts to make immediate, microscopic corrections to the narreme field which invert the direction of plot progression whenever it detects the beginning of a negative story arc (e.g. at any point in a confrontation where narrative satisfaction leans toward the appearance of Asset Dragonslayer "losing" the battle).


From the desk of: DR. SAGAR SINGH
Researcher and Daevitologist, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN

Grant left in a tantrum today, again. The engineers are apoplectic; nothing is ever enough for him. I don't think I've seen him eat or drink in days.

You know, I've gotten something of a read on the man, being around him so much for this week and change. 914 has been his entire life. Started with it, got famous researching it, got placed in charge of it… And now he wants to destroy it. He wants to fucking obliterate it; cast it aside, and move on. I get the deep, primal feeling that can't be at least a little personal. That level of obsession, of hatred. He wants only to move on; discard it for grander things.

What a pathetic exercise, then. Right? I think so. We have access to all the resources the Foundation has now, and many which it has only hypothetically, or not at all. We have the cosmos at our fingertips to deal with this problem, and in his ridiculous urge for overkill, his typhonic rage against that machine, it's still somehow about his personal gratification. What does that say? Elevated from random researchers to masters of the world, us both, and now he thinks he has the privilege to play God; to risk the integrity of the Foundation and us all by sinking endless resources into the ultimate excess of violence. Who does he think he is, wielding that power?

…Who do I think I am?

No, no. Stay on the path. Project Temujin is ridiculous, but it is necessary. We will triumph; 9410 will be destroyed. And, in the true fashion of the Foundation, it will not be personal. It will be cold, and it will be impartial, and absolute. There will be none of the interference of deluded vengeance on our work: only the utter justice of retaliatory compensation, of cleaning up our mess. I will make sure of that. I will do it all, whether or not my partner has gone insane — and if he has, when he does, I will make sure the deed is done anyway.


TWO DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
██████████░░


DR. ANASTASAKOS: And what do those crisis reserves entail, exactly?

DIR. LIGHT: ETTRA, Project Resurrection, we have assets, and deep pockets — the Foundation in whole has deeper ones still. We have no shortage of esoteric power sources: thaumaturgy, reality-warping devices, narrative manipulation both subtle and direct. Anachronous technology, like from the Annex in your Department. We have insurance plans that guarantee coverage of the literally, logically impossible. Deities owe us miracles by contract. We can alter the fundamental laws of nature in a safe, controlled environment. You know all this. Can't we use any of these?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: Of course we can. But even though our resources look infinite, much of them are hypothetical, not liquid — just like the Foundation's money. And only so much of that hypothetical energy is accessible. When you start taking those easy-looking solutions, past a certain point, you'll have to start exploiting unstable time loops; plot holes, et cetera. And we can only use so much imaginary energy — so much without a non-paradoxic causal source, in temporal terminology — before reality starts to go haywire.

DIR. LIGHT: So we let them go wild, and as they're wont to do, they find some insane imaginary source of electrical energy. What's next?

DR. ANASTASAKOS: Nothing good, if they use it uncompensated. Let absurdity reign, and reality adjusts. Let a paradox build up, and Time will correct it. Rarely will it do so in our favor.


From the desk of: DR. GRANT DOCHAL
Senior Researcher, DEPARTMENT OF MATERIAL SCIENCE
Acting Co-Director, PROJECT TEMUJIN



I dreamt of something strange last night. I was at my office in Facility 23. I was drafting up a test. Scribbling on a notepad. It was chickenscratch on every page, cacography. My pen had a will, and though I tried to control it, to inscribe the sheets with my plans — the specifics of which have since been lost on me — it would not let up. We fought for hours in my office, producing line after line of incomprehensible ink smears. It eventually won.

It must've been days, maybe weeks, I spent in the corner of my office, a puppet to my own utensil, drawing up its grand design. A mosaic of two hundred sheets of off-white notepad paper, and several pages from my calendar, all drawn over to depict two great machines. They were beautiful. Meaningless to me, sure, but truly, earnestly beautiful.

I've tried my best to recreate them. To recapture the vision. The images were fleeting, a mere wisp of a greater, ephemeral idea I could never hope to grasp, but I've tried to get what I could onto paper. Make it real.


ONE DAY REMAINS


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
███████████░

FEATURE ANOMALOUS QUALITIES
Recursive Teleological Arsenal29 An occultic temporal mechanism esoterically suffused into Asset Dragonslayer's bladed weaponry. The thaumic structure of this ritual is precisely configured to "remember" the chronological experience (from the perspective of the target) of Dragonslayer's attack once a successful blow is landed on the target, and thereafter alters the trajectory of history by superseding the localized causal framework of the target's experience of time with a teleological one wherein the necessary (i.e. destined) future for the target is composed entirely of the replication and repetition of said experience. Functionally, destines any attack which Asset Dragonslayer inflicts to be continually re-inflicted on its target at every moment which they progress forward in time, leading to the expedient buildup of massive cumulative damage.
"Philosopher's Crucible" Powered by a modified fission reactor embedded within the chest of Asset Dragonslayer which constantly cycles Solvent-119 to produce gold from lead, using alchemical control rods of pure elemental lead in lieu of nuclear control rods to keep the rate of transmutation in control. Such transmutation reactions30 produce a desired biproduct: trace quantities of a conceptual entity akin to "purity", "refinement", or "flawlessness". This concept is then repeatedly distilled, purified, and concentrated via auxiliary essokinetic apparatus until a substantive supply of pure, conceptual-elemental flawlessness can be reliably alchemically sourced. The resultant supply of this conceptual substance is redistributed to Asset Dragonslayer's armor, continually reinforcing its atomic composition toward the most platonically ideal physical and metaphysical structure.


ZERO DAYS REMAIN


ESTIMATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION:
████████████
[OVERLOAD]




























kiWCgGA.png

IT WAS SAID:

I am your unmaker.

Ruination am I. As though in strength I measure your merit, the End is beyond strength.

Greater am I than any silver wisp of titan-sky sung. Greater am I than any stalking thing of moonlight roused. Greater am I than any man of Asem born.

And greater am I than any Daeva of blood anointed, and mightier than any crown-beast of roots or sinew woven.

Bloody yourself, non-thing. Be lesser. Be alone. Be afraid. For what else is there?

A worm is by a greater worm devoured. Dust begets dust. See this, and know no more.

AND THEN SHE KNEW NO MORE.

- ASSUMPTION OF THE GRAND MATRIARCH













Ⅳ
"FINE"













[All watch the silhouette on the horizon, out the observatory window. It blurs as the abomination darts tirelessly back and forth in the blink of an eye. The machinic monster's arrival is incontrovertible — he stands already at the gates.]

DIR. FORTH: Forcefield won't hold for much longer. What now?

DIR. XYANK: Wait. That is all there is to do.

DIR. REYNDERS: We're hostages.

DIR. XYANK: Alas, it's true. But soon, if they make good on it…

[Dir. Xyank's eyes drift back down to his handheld tablet. On it, a symbol of several nested Foundation insignia. Soon, the other two turn their gazes to the screen as well.]

[There has yet to be a response transmission.]

DIR. REYNDERS: Yes, we must keep optimistic. Soon our help will arrive. Just as we ordered it.

DIR. FORTH: And what if it doesn't? What then?

DIR. XYANK: It will.




logo.svg

DIR. DAN: Right. It's closing in. I’d give us maybe ten minutes our time, at best. Shocked we managed to get you guys out on such short notice. All good out there?

Η5-AJAX: I think we’re set, yeah.

Η5-WAPITI: Well…

DIR. LIGHT: Is something wrong?

Η5-WAPITI: I mean, no. Everything’s fine. I just, I don’t know. Are we sure this thing isn’t going to blow up the second it tries to move?

CAPT. WATTS: Highly unlikely.

DIR. LIGHT: Every component of Asset Dragonslayer has been thoroughly tested.

DR. SOKOLSKY: They have been?

DIR. DAN: [off intercom] No. Modifications have been… messy, to say the least. But there’s no use in telling them that. Morale isn’t a non-factor here.

DIR. LIGHT: Of course.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Even if not, I’d wager it’s too late now…

[Asset Dragonslayer breaches Temporal Site-01’s boundary and extends the Cosmological Reel. Upon grappling to an outpost-housing asteroid suspended in the Sovereign Temporum, it pauses temporarily, taking a moment to assess the situation.]

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Hold.

[SCP-9410 is seen descending a short distance away, using its thrusters to glide to a landing on the same asteroid. It turns its head toward Asset Dragonslayer curiously, crouches, as if to pounce, and rapidly spins its refinery claw with a mechanical whirring sound. Asset Dragonslayer brandishes its plasma disc as a combat shield, the Beowulf-Sigurd Rail on its shoulder loaded, and assumes a defensive position…]

…

[SCP-9410 suddenly lunges forward, its upper-right appendage aimed directly at Asset Dragonslayer.]

Η5-COYOTE: Engaging Reality Sink.

[SCP-9410 strikes Asset Dragonslayer in its torso, displacing the disc shield with a mechanical tendril of assimilated material. Dragonslayer is knocked back a great distance, taking SCP-9410, which has latched onto the Beowulf-Sigurd Rail, with it. The gun fires, crushing a number of SCP-9410’s auxiliary mechanical appendages under the force of artificial gravity, but it continues to cling on. SCP-9410 rotates its refinery claw, the device within clicking and whirring, and pierces Dragonslayer’s carapace.]

[A small bell sounds — the first of all too many.]

[ROUGH.]

[Asset Dragonslayer’s outermost layer begins to slowly convert into scrap and ore, until its armor suddenly glistens a bright golden color in the affected area. Before any lasting damage can be incurred, the red glow surrounding SCP-9410’s claw diffuses out.]

DR. DOCHAL: Fucking bingo.

DIR. DAN: That wasn’t just the sink; it’s the cauldron, working to perfect the armor. Let’s try not to waste any more of the fuel.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Now deploy the nukes — and aim for the legs. Path of least resistance, remember? Don’t get too close to those claws.

[Asset Dragonslayer kicks back SCP-9410 before firing a barrage of holy thaumonuclear missiles directly at the target’s hind limbs. SCP-9410 quickly starts up its rocket-propulsion system to dodge the incoming projectiles, leaving the vast majority of them continuing to accelerate through the void, though one narrowly makes contact. A significant portion of its left leg is eviscerated instantaneously, leaving SCP-9410 stunned.]

[Fire ceases as Asset Dragonslayer reloads. SCP-9410 abruptly dashes between other asteroids at lightning speeds using its thrusters, in search of assimilatable metal to reconstitute the lost appendage with.]

[Asset Dragonslayer fires off the Beowulf-Sigurd Rail repeatedly in the direction of SCP-9410 while the portable missile silo automatically restocks. As SCP-9410 rapidly zips between locations, most projectiles miss due to their target’s unpredictable and near-instantaneous movement.]

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Again. Synchronized strike.

[Asset Dragonslayer launches another hefty barrage of thaumonuclear missiles. Most elude the target. SCP-9410 catches one stray missile in the refinery claw, stopping it.]

[FINE.]

[The captured missile is converted into a number of irradiated, thaumically-charged plutonium rods. They are promptly cycled through the chute and discharged from SCP-9410’s hand cannon. A few impact Dragonslayer’s shoulders from above, and bounce off.]

[After two minutes of similar exchange, missile fire from Asset Dragonslayer abruptly stops.]

GEN. MULHAUSEN: What’s the holdup? “Quit while you're ahead” doesn’t exactly apply in this situation. Maintain fire!

Η5-WAPITI: We’ve only got a few left, cap.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: Are you serious?

DIR. LIGHT: I believe some of our arsenal had to be cut back to make room for additional modifications in the later phases of the Project.

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: I wasn’t consulted? More complicated doesn’t always equate to better results. The conventional methods can work—

DR. SOKOLSKY: Hardly matters at this point, fellow fuckups.

GEN. MULHAUSEN: He’s right; doesn’t matter. Just fire what we’ve got!

Η5-AJAX: Aye aye.

[Asset Dragonslayer deploys the last of its consecrated missiles. None hit the target, which moves about in a blur of sonic confusion; one is siphoned into SCP-9410’s transmutative chute.]

[VERY FINE.]

[A glowing red rod of unknown metal is fired from SCP-9410’s cannon. It spirals through the air, aimed directly at Asset Dragonslayer’s left arm.]

DR. DOCHAL: Nanos. Now.

DIR. LIGHT: That does not seem-

DR. DOCHAL: Now!


⁂


[INTERIOR, TEMPORAL SITE-01]

[The Trilaterum is in session, gathered around the observatory window.]

DIR. FORTH: How are things looking out there?

DIR. REYNDERS: Hard to really say…

[SCP-9410 can be seen fending off an animate metal structure which has affixed itself to the object’s transmutative claw. Asset Dragonslayer lies on the ground, struggling to regain a stable position.]

DIR. XYNAK: I suppose there truly are no winners in war.

DIR. REYNDERS: We didn’t request… this, did we?

DIR. XYNAK: Most certainly not. And, to be totally clear, you also anticipated… something else?

DIR. FORTH: You can say that again. MTF to extract us, or something. Isn’t the Pact still obliged to do cleanup here? Unless there’s some fine print I’m not familiar with…

DIR. XYANK: It is, of course. So what could have possessed them to use that— I truly have no idea.

[Upon reestablishing its balance, Asset Dragonslayer grapples SCP-9410, which had been attempting to escape temporarily to manage the ongoing assault from the hostile nanomachines, using the Cosmological Reel. The force of the mechanism pulls the two titanic mechanical entities towards each other at extreme speeds, resulting in a collision firing shrapnel from both far into the distance.]

[As Asset Dragonslayer collides with SCP-9410 in the air, it withdraws its retractable plasma wristblades and leverages the force of impact to pierce the target’s mechanical chitin. The two continue to fight in spite of the immense structural damage sustained, with Dragonslayer attempting to continue rapid stabs with the wristblades until SCP-9410 loosens itself from the colossus’s grip and partially escapes.]

THOUSAND WORD ARROWS: Strike the demon; let the fel ichor flow from its iron veins! Triumph, champion of the world! Our champion!

[SCP-9410 disappears in a flash, and dashes behind Dragonslayer to snatch it by a leg with the refinery claw.]

[COARSE.]

[The Conceptual Distortion Engine immediately acts to soften the blow, the surface of Asset Dragonslayer’s armor rapidly alternating between unaltered, crystalline, and molten forms, but SCP-9410’s refinery ultimately renders much of the mech’s leg rusted or reduced to scrap nevertheless. Pilots reroute energy from the fusion power source to the Philosopher’s Crucible. SCP-9410 escapes holding a severed foot, and begins to bulk-refine the obtained metal into ammunition for its hand cannon.]

[FINE.]

[FINE.]

[FINE.]

[FINE.]

DIR. REYNDERS: Christ.

DIR. FORTH: The response should be here by now. The… the real response, I mean.

DIR. XYNAK: Give it time.

DIR. REYNDERS: That’s all we’ve ever had to give.


⁂


DR. SINGH: He’s gaining ground…

[SCP-9410, having severed several of the major structures around its refinery claw to prevent further compromising of its body by hostile nanomachines, thrusts its chute toward Asset Dragonslayer’s head. Refined metal cannonballs and raw components alike are rapidly expelled from the object, spat back out at high speeds on varying settings.]

[ROUGH.]

[FINE.]

[COARSE.]

[Asset Dragonslayer is impacted by the hail of projectiles and struck backward. It wields the plasma-edged disc from its head and brandishes it as a shield, blocking the storm of shrapnel while firing off occasional shots with the Beowulf-Sigurd Rail, most of which SCP-9410 dodges. Dragonslayer continues on the defensive, allowing the cumulative damage of the Recursive Teleological Arsenal to take effect for a few minutes.]

DR. DOCHAL: High ground! Activate the Tyche Field, or no… fire up the Mantle. We’ve-

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: No, no. Conventional tech. The stronger we become, the more susceptible to-

DR. DOCHAL: Excuse me?

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: It’s…

DR. DOCHAL: Do you think I’m blind? I designed the—

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: I think you know nothing about combat.

[Asset Dragonslayer continues to fire the Beowulf-Sigurd rail until one round catches SCP-9410 by a stray appendage. The immense pull of the projectile’s artificial gravity stuns it temporarily, allowing Asset Dragonslayer to hook SCP-9410 again with the Cosmological Reel. The two titanic machines trade blows at relatively close range for a time, SCP-9410 making heavy use of its absorbed anomalous thrusters to dash rapidly in and out of view.]

DR. DOCHAL: We need to finish it. Power up the mantle.

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: Fool.

DR. SINGH: This is not the—

DIR. DAN: We should have almost enough energy. Try the detonator.

[Asset Dragonslayer reels SCP-9410 in with the Cosmological Reel, attempting to prompt an attack. It slashes the refinery claw, catching grasp of a section of the Erikeshan chain, and twists mechanically.]

[ROUGH.]

[Parts of the chain become barbed, and SCP-9410 lashes it back at Asset Dragonslayer. Dragonslayer immediately deploys the Apportation Detonator in response. SCP-9410 remanifests, according to radar systems, approximately 2/3 of a lunar perigee away. Thaumic backlash immediately constitutes and dissolves an artificial stellar mass at the location of the teleportation, catching SCP-9410 in the explosion of stardust. With instant reflexes, it readies the refinery claw.]

[VERY FINE.]

[Still being propelled by the force of the explosion, SCP-9410 expels a large condensed neutronium pellet from its cannon into the void.]

[With SCP-9410’s warp thrusters still in active use, Asset Dragonslayer leverages the target’s superluminal velocity to reel it back toward itself using the Cosmological Reel within less than a minute. All throughout, recycled thaumic backlash creates explosions of holy flame reverberating throughout SCP-9410’s body. For now, Dragonslayer’s grapple on its target with the Reel is maintained.]

DR. DOCHAL: Power the mantle! Turn the tides of the battle, now!

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: Play it safe. Just repeat the same loop again: teleport away, reel back in, repeat. Don’t listen to him.

DR. DOCHAL: No. Finish it.

[Once it is close enough to Dragonslayer, SCP-9410 flies around the mech in rapid circles, partially wrapping the mech in its own chain. SCP-9410 again clamps onto the chain using its refinery claw.]

[1:1.]

[The Cosmological Reel’s chain links rapidly loosen and begin to loop and wrap in on themselves, forming a practical ouroboros which enables SCP-9410 to zip away by thruster. Asset Dragonslayer likewise uses plasma wristblades to free itself from the chains. It quickly tries to relocate the target.]

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: We hold our own with our fists, and them only. See? This shit you’ve piled on, over an over, this cocoon of theoretical artillery, it’s frivolous. For show.

DR. DOCHAL: Turn. On. The fucking. Mantle.

[SCP-9410 reappears behind Asset Dragonslayer. It attempts to swipe at one of the mech’s arms with its claw, but a defensive deployment of the Tychekinetic Particle Field causes the attack to phase through. The failed attack leaves SCP-9410 open. Dragonslayer catches the claw in its grasp and redirects remaining nanobots in an attempt to dissolve the target’s arm.]

Η5-COYOTE: Target acquired!

Η5-AJAX: Awaiting a clear order here.

[Silence.]

DIR. DAN: Mantle.

Η5-COYOTE: On it.

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: Motherfucker.

[A beam of light descends from above, illuminating Asset Dragonslayer in a brilliant blaze of bronze. Dozens of obscure sigils illuminate across its plating.]

DR. DOCHAL: There’s your fucking Beowulf.

[Asset Dragonslayer drops SCP-9410 in a symbolic rebuke. As the Thousand Word Arrows’ routine incantations grow louder and more fanatical, a halo of plasma takes form around its recoiling disc headgear. Dragonslayer unsheaths an enlarged version of its Cold Iron Sword out of apparent nothingness. The blade is aflame.]

DR. DOCHAL: That was not in the plans you forwarded me…

THOUSAND WORD ARROWS: His blade; a bolt of righteous flame! Smite, smite the ancient demon, and seal it to bygone times! Exalt! Exalt! In the glory of the Dragonslayer!

DIR. LIGHT: I’m no pataphysicist, but I think the Mantle is… it’s molding it to fit the archetype. Every ‘knight in shining armor’ has its brand.

[Asset Dragonslayer raises the hefty blade above its head.]

THOUSAND WORD ARROWS: Strike! Champion, my champion, how your strength is the rock of the world! Strike down the demon!

DR. DOCHAL: Set the Crucible to max! And the Teleologi-

DIR. KAL’EAKALOHA: We have our opening! Don’t experiment — for Christ’s sake, just land the—

DR. DOCHAL: Winners don’t settle for a victory on the margins. We will fire on all cylinders. Catch him with the blade, then unleash the Sun.

DR. SINGH: And with the Anchor, sons of the Seventh Bride, smite whatever remains.

Η5-COYOTE: If we wait any longer for consensus…

[Silence.]

[SCP-9410 prepares to lunge.]

Η5-AJAX: All cylinders it is.

[Asset Dragonslayer lunges its blade, glowing with an impossible white light, toward SCP-9410. It pierces the mechanical beast through its heart. As Asset Dragonslayer releases the blade, the Triumphant Mantle flares with an upswell of climactic energy. It is removed in one decisive motion, and SCP-9410 is left stunned.]

DIR. DAN: Do-

[SCP-9410 touches the refinery claw to the gigantic gash left by Asset Dragonslayer’s blade in its mechanical carapace.]

[VERY FINE.]

[The surface begins to crystallize, but no transformation takes hold.]

DIR. DAN: -n’t…

[The Emergency Sun Vent is unleashed. In a massive burst of energy, Asset Dragonslayer is flung backward toward the main station of Temporal Site-01, damaging a significant portion of the exterior architecture. SCP-9410 zips away by superluminal thruster at the last moment, the ends of its various mechanical tendrils and appendages melting away under the immense heat. The target seems to disappear.]

DIR. LIGHT: W-what happened to the target? Confirmation? Terminated?

Η5-AJAX: I certainly don’t see him.

DR. DOCHAL: Incinerated. Ash.

DR. SINGH: Dust only. And blood.

[SCP-9410 reappears behind Asset Dragonslayer after a few moments. Mechanical innards spray from its breaking, partially molten body, but it remains intact. There is no indication of discomfort. There is no indication of distress. There is not the slightest expression of surprise.]

DIR. DAN: No.

DIR. LIGHT: No.

[Asset Dragonslayer reflexively turns, overriding pilot controls, and brandishes its Cold Iron Sword once more…]

DR. SINGH: No.

[SCP-9410 siphons the blade into its damaged entrance chute, unphazed. It aims the other arm at Asset Dragonslayer. ]

DR. DOCHAL: No.

THOUSAND WORD ARROWS: Champion! Save us, our champion!

DR. DOCHAL: No. No. No.

THOUSAND WORD ARROWS: Champion! Hear loud the lamentations of your people! Save us all!

DR. DOCHAL: NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

[The Thousand Word Arrows fall silent, ceasing both poems and their intermittent Reinforced Incantations. Asset Dragonslayer is prone, trying desperately to wedge the blade out from the claw-cannon’s entrance chute. The Triumphant Mantle builds capacity.]

DR. SINGH: Guess the Empire was bound to catch up with Time eventually…

[ROU-]

[Before SCP-9410 can fully expel the blade from refinery, a beam of light from far in the distance makes contact with its head. It collapses suddenly, and begins to fall into the void. Asset Dragonslayer readies the Enchanted Anchor, as if to cast it down in one decisive motion, but is interrupted—]

DIR. LIGHT: Uhm…

[…As Asset Dragonslayer's pilots take note of a vast warship, extending kilometers in width and length, which can be made out in the distance. The deep space vessel inches closer and closer. A gigantic symbol composed of nested foundation insignia is plastered on its side.]

P4 INDRIX: Got him?

UNKNOWN VOICE: Got him.



















From the desk of: DIR. THADDEUS XYANK
Director, TEMPORAL ANOMALIES DEPARTMENT, RCT-Δt


Ah! And so it ends. The Slayer of Dragons descends into the void to save Temporal Site-01 from the Grand Demon's horrid grasp. Just when all looks lost, with the aid of our Coalitional cavalry, the beast is destroyed. Myself and my two co-damsels in distress are saved; the siege lifted, our Site liberated, and order restored to the flow of Time — hurrah! No doubt our brave temporal agents will soon arrive back where they started, and in that murky and distant vista of the past, undo it all; find some way to ease our ruined world from the burden of canon, and banish this unfortunate episode from continuity forever.

We at Δt will remember, of course. We are the watchers; the vigilant. And the world where this all started may cope with the consequences forever. But all the other timelines? The footsoldiers of our fight, the actors of the grand stage? Little will they remember, when they rouse from their beds tomorrow, of the War That Never Was.








































…Wait, you're still here?

I must admit I'm bemused. Why, that's the way our story ends. What else remains?

A silly question. We have offered you all that be under the sun, and still you are not satisfied. How terribly typical of those who see Time.

I understand. In so few and so apt words, an incomplete chronicle is never satisfactory. Alas, you are no cog in the Deist's machine, no. You must see every timeline to its end; must leave no stone unturned. This flaw belongs to us both, be sure.

But before you proceed, know this:

Not every story has so simple an ending — not every line of thread in the Grand Tapestry is so neatly cut. Neither is ours here, for every triumph demands to extract a cost.

I don't know if you've noticed this, my lord of heavy halo and many feather; we've done well our due diligence in hiding it from you. But I've been taking notes. I've been keeping score, just as you. And not all the pieces to our puzzle quite fit together. In temporal dynamics, you know, paradoxes are a fickle thing. Let them build up, and the chronology cannot hold. Contradictions have consequences. Plot holes have power. Not all narratives survive.

Let's see how this one fares.
















Footnotes


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