[Triskelion]
Fury couldn't help but curse aloud as the image of O5-1 disappeared from his office. Not only had this person just appeared and started to more or less order him around within his own office, he also had a damn good reason for doing so.
Fury wasn't foolish enough to not take his word at face value. Sure, he would never believe them, but that didn't mean he wouldn't act. That didn't mean he wouldn't be prepared for what if it was true.
An uncontrollable monster that would kill anyone who had seen its face was frightening and utterly impossibly sounding. Yet, Fury had seen many impossible things so far, and this wouldn't be the strangest.
His mind overclocked as he started to think of possible solutions for this entity, ways to deal with it, ways to use and try to figure out what it was that O5-1 hadn't told him. So, while he doubted the overseer had outright lied to him, he had no doubt that the overseer had kept plenty of details to himself.
No, trying to decipher that could wait. Right now, there was something far more pressing requiring his attention. Namely the fact that this murderous and dangerous supernatural entity was heading straight to DC and possibly even towards SHIELD'S own headquarters. This situation was no doubt incredibly dire; if not, there was no way that the Bulwark would have gone to first the president and then him to gain their help in dealing with the situation.
Fury quickly put the entire site on lockdown and summoned his most trusted agents before calling the head of security. "This is Fury. I have placed the entire facility on lockdown. If anyone attempts to leave, stop them, no matter who, unless they have my personal permission. If you are in doubt, ask me. Stop them, and if they resist, the use of lethal force is authorized."
While Fury did not wish to kill his own agents, he knew that he had to do whatever was necessary to solve this crisis. After all, in the current day and age, the number of cameras and eyes constantly around DC would mean that thousands, if not millions, would see the face of this monster if it was allowed to run amok within the city.
And as such, he had decided that he would go along with this proposal and find whoever it was that had seen the entity and bring them out of the city, out of the path of other cities and towns, to ensure that this creature wasn't seen by anyone.
It didn't take long for those he had called to come running towards him. Others had naturally attempted to contact him as well. After all, everyone wanted to know why he had placed the facility on lockdown, but he had little time to care about their concerns.
Soon enough, Maria Hill, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and Victoria Hand all stood within his office. All eagerly awaiting an explanation for what was going on.
"Listen up," Fury began, his tone leaving no room for questions. "We have a critical situation. The Bulwark has contacted me. One of their little monsters seems to have escaped its containment. This thing kills anyone who sees its face. Someone in SHIELD accidentally came across its image, and now it's heading straight for D.C. and possibly the Triskelion."
The assembled agents exchanged uneasy glances, understanding the gravity of the situation.
"We need to identify and isolate anyone who might have seen this image," Fury continued. "Then we need to get them out of the city, far away from any populated areas. If SCP-096 reaches D.C. with its current trajectory, the casualties could be catastrophic."
Fury could see that they had questions; Hand, in particular, wasn't much of a believer in things she couldn't easily understand. Yet she was excellent when it came to logistics and the like, a valuable member of SHIELD, and someone who was needed for this. Yet, Fury had little time to explain things to them. He just motioned for them to remain silent as he started to assign their tasks.
"Coulson, I need you to coordinate with local law enforcement and get evacuation protocols in place. Natasha, you and Clint will start a sweep for anyone who might have accessed sensitive files recently. Hill, you're on communication—get in touch with other agencies and make sure everyone's on the same page. Hand, you handle internal security. We need to know exactly who's seen this thing and keep it contained."
The agents nodded, their expressions reflecting a mix of determination and concern. They had faced countless threats before, but this one was different—more insidious and far-reaching.
"Time is of the essence, people," Fury continued. "If this thing gets to D.C., it won't just be a security breach; it'll be a massacre."
Coulson was the first to speak up, his voice steady. "We'll need a list of everyone who has accessed SHIELD's secure files in the last 24 hours. I'll start cross-referencing that with any unusual behavior reports."
"Already on it," Hill replied, her fingers flying over her tablet. "I'm patching into the local police and emergency services now. We should have a clear line of communication with all relevant authorities within minutes."
Natasha and Clint exchanged a glance, a silent understanding passing between them. "We'll start the sweep," Natasha said. "We know the usual suspects—anyone with clearance who might have gotten curious. We'll find them."
Fury nodded. "Good. And remember, no one leaves this facility without my explicit permission. We can't afford any more leaks."
Victoria Hand, her skepticism clear but her professionalism overriding it, asked, "What do we do if we find someone who has seen the image?"
Fury's expression hardened. "You isolate them immediately. Use whatever means necessary to keep them calm and contained. We'll move them to a secure location outside the city. We have to prevent more people from seeing this thing's face."
The room fell silent as the weight of Fury's words sank in. This wasn't just another mission; this was a race against time to prevent a catastrophe. The agents knew the stakes and were ready to do whatever it took.
"Move out," Fury ordered, and the team dispersed, each heading to their assigned tasks with grim determination.
-------------------
[With Natasha]
Natasha was well aware of the nature of SCP-096. The last time it was out of containment, everyone was sent its file to ensure they were careful when dealing with pictures and videos.
She had naturally hoped that she would never have to deal with this SCP object since it was incredibly dangerous to deal with, as seeing its face meant certain death.
She knew that every moment it was allowed to be out in the open was a moment in which hundreds of thousands of pictures could be taken, and hundreds of thousands of people could see its face and doom themselves.
It had to be contained as fast as possible, and to do that, they had to figure out who had seen its face and offer them up. I say sacrifice only, as that would stop the rampage and allow the Foundation to safely contain the object.
In some ways, it was fortunate that it was apparently someone from within SHIELD who had seen its face, as that was a clue they could use to identify the person and deal with this situation before it got further out of hand. The downside was that the Shy Guy was right now headed for the capital city of a major nation.
Orders were to check who had accessed classified information, but Natasha was fairly sure that there was no picture of SCP-096 within any of the classified files. Since she was someone in the know about the SCP object and what was going on within the confines of SHIELD, she could make a few educated guesses as to what was really going on.
Clearly, someone, be it SHIELD or Hydra, was investigating the Bulwark and was looking into all kinds of events that might draw connections to the Bulwark, and it was likely while doing this that they encountered a picture of SCP-096.
The kind of information they would have gone through to find this picture wouldn't be classified but mostly considered random junk. Which meant she had to find someone who had spent days or even weeks going over random junk information.
"Clint, I have another theory I want to test out. You head on and check if anyone accessed classified information, and we'll meet up by server room four in 15 minutes," she called out as they reached an intersection and split off from Clint before he even had a chance to respond.
Natasha moved quickly through the corridors, her mind racing with possibilities. She knew that finding the person who had seen SCP-096's face was crucial, and every second counted. She had to think like an investigator, piecing together clues and narrowing down suspects. Reaching the operations center, Natasha accessed the personnel activity logs, focusing on those who had spent significant time in the archives or had shown unusual patterns in their work hours.
She needed someone who had been digging deep into the data, potentially finding something they shouldn't have.
As she scrolled through the logs, one name stood out: Agent John Carrington. He had spent countless hours in the archives over the past week, far more than usual. Natasha's instincts told her this was their guy. She quickly pulled up his recent activities and confirmed her suspicion—Carrington had been reviewing obscure incident reports and surveillance footage.
Natasha set off toward the archives, her pace quickening. She needed to find Carrington before he could leave the facility or, worse, spread the image to others. As she rounded the corner to the archives, she saw Carrington exiting the room, looking pale and anxious.
"Carrington," Natasha called out, her voice calm but authoritative. "I need to speak with you."
Carrington froze, his eyes widening in fear. "Agent Romanoff, what's going on?"
Poor Carrington was naturally surprised and slightly nervous when suddenly, for no reason at all, the great Natasha Romanoff came to see him while some kind of emergency was going on. That wasn't a good sign at all.
Natasha looked around, not minding his nervousness at all; she was checking to make sure if there was anyone nearby or if any cameras were too close to them. "Tell me, Carrington, what have you been doing these past few weeks? Why have you spent so long in the archives, looking over such boring information? Surely a man of your talent and skills has better things to do, right?"
Carrington swallowed hard, visibly struggling to maintain his composure. "I... I was tasked with investigating potential links between various anomalous events. I found some old reports and surveillance footage that seemed unusual. I didn't think it was anything dangerous, just... interesting."
Natasha's eyes narrowed slightly. "Interesting how? What did you find, Carrington?"
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'm afraid I can't say that, Romanoff… I got my orders directly from former director Pierce himself."
Natasha was instantly aware of who he was talking about, and who she was now dealing with. Pierce was Hydra, and so this person using his name was likely Hydra as well. She was sure she had the right person, that poor Carrington had seen SCP-096's face, now she needed to know if he had shared the picture with others.
She gripped his shoulder tightly and leaned in closely. "I need to know who saw that picture and who else you are working with… Hail Hydra."
Carrington's eyes widened in shock and confusion, but Natasha's cold gaze made it clear she wasn't bluffing. His initial fear gave way to a resigned sigh, realizing there was no way out. He lowered his voice, glancing around to ensure no one could overhear them.
"Agent Romanoff, I didn't realize you were..." he began, trying to gauge her intentions.
Natasha tightened her grip. "Now's not the time for pleasantries, Carrington. Who else has seen the picture? We need to contain this before it's too late."
Carrington swallowed again, then nodded. "There are two others—Agents Kelly and Ramirez. We were tasked with looking into potential connections to the Bulwark's activities."
Natasha's mind raced. If two more agents had seen SCP-096's face, the danger was exponentially higher. She needed to act fast.
"Where are Kelly and Ramirez now?" Natasha demanded.
"They're in the sub-basement, continuing their research," Carrington replied, his voice trembling.
"Alright, you're coming with me," Natasha said. She grabbed his arm and began leading him through the corridors towards the sub-basement, alerting Clint over her comms. "Clint, we've got a bigger problem. Carrington wasn't working alone. We need to find Agents Kelly and Ramirez immediately. They're in the sub-basement."
"Copy that," Clint responded. "I'm on my way."
As they approached the sub-basement, Natasha couldn't shake the feeling that they were running out of time. The facility's lockdown meant no one could leave, but that also meant anyone inside who had seen the image could potentially spread it further.
Natasha and Carrington reached the sub-basement first. She signalled for him to stay quiet as they approached the research room. Through the small window, Natasha saw Kelly and Ramirez hunched over a table, papers and photos spread out before them. She took a deep breath and entered, her presence immediately drawing their attention.
"Agent Romanoff," Kelly began, surprise evident in his voice. "What are you doing here?"
"No time to explain," Natasha said, closing the door behind her. "You two need to come with me, now."
Ramirez frowned. "Why? We're in the middle of something important."
Natasha stepped closer, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Orders from the top. You need to come with us. We are allowed to use lethal force if you resist."
The seriousness in her voice made both agents exchange worried glances but ultimately nod. They gathered their things and followed Natasha and Carrington out of the sub-basement. As they made their way back, Clint joined them, his expression grim.