*BOOOM!!!!*
A huge explosion rocked the building and sent a cloud of dust and debris flying everywhere. Groans of pain and suffering followed after the explosion as members of the 10 rings moved into the building.
Shots rang out as the downed ninjas of the hand were killed off while more quickly rushing in to reinforce their leader.
Murakami, one of the fingers of the hand, suddenly got very, very worried as he and his men were attacked. After all, he knew all too well who was in charge of the ten rings.
"Lord Xu, what do I owe the pleasure." Murakami said, bowing slightly as he saw the great Khan enter through the hole in the wall.
Wenwu slowly stepped inside. Looking completely unconcerned by the dozen of armed ninjas standing ready to attack him and his own small handful of men. After all he knew well that even dozen of times of this wouldn't pose a threat to him.
"You have something I want and know something I want to know. So I figured we could we could make a deal. You do as I say, and I don't kill you." Wenwu said slowly while gently adjusting the rings around his arm.
Murakami couldn't help but curse his bad luck as he found himself in this situation. He was only here to help transfer more of their assets to America. "Stand down, you fools." He barked at his men.
"Lord Xu, I would be honored to assist the great Khan." Knowing that resistance is futile, he can only give in and hope that the Khan isn't too unreasonable.
Wenwu smiled as he heard that answer and walked closer to him. "I want the serum you and your friends have been using lately, and I want everything you know about it."
"Impossible! Guahh!" Murakami only got a single word out before Wenwu gripped him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
The air crackled with tension as Wenwu's grip tightened, the formidable power of the Ten Rings palpable even without them being wielded. Murakami struggled for breath, his feet dangling above the ground as his men looked on helplessly, their loyalty faltering in the face of such overwhelming strength.
"Let me rephrase," Wenwu's voice was calm, almost serene amidst the chaos, "it's not a request. It's a demand. Your cooperation is the only thing that can save you now."
Murakami, gasping for air, nodded frantically. Wenwu released him, dropping him to the ground where he coughed and wheezed, trying to regain his composure.
"The serum," Murakami rasped, once he could speak again. "I don't have it; we only have one dose left, it's currently with the others in New York."
Wenwu stood there thinking about the situation, feeling extra impressed at how accurate the information obtained from Ricci was. "Then you can start telling me about it first, then I will go to your friends for the serum."
Still struggling to regain his full breath, Murakami understood the gravity of his position. He had no choice but to comply, revealing what he knew about the serum. "We call it the resurrection serum."
"I know that." Wenwu cut him off. "Tell me about it, how it works, how it is made, everything." He commanded, his voice filled with the power of his rings, causing the very air to shake.
"It can bring the dead back to life, heal wounds, grant power, not a lot, but some." Murakami started to list off what he knew as quickly as he could. Knowing full well that there was no point in hiding anything from the great Khan.
"Using the Serum also causes the person to become nearly unkillable." Murakami really wished it would have made him fully unkillable; then, he wouldn't have to fear anyone and would be humiliated like this.
The more Wenwu heard about this serum the more he liked the idea of getting his hands on a bunch of it. "What about negative effects?"
"The more the serum brings someone back from the false death state, the more of the energy it uses, the less energy of the serum, the less they remain whole. People turn crazy over time, if not given more serum." Murakami confessed.
To Wenwu it sounded like a small price to pay for not only resurrection but also near immortality. Yet, it did underscore the need for getting more of it than just one dose. "Anything else?"
"I don't think so no." Murakami said, but clearly, that was a mistake as the great Khan punched the air towards a group of the hand ninjas who exploded into gore and death as they flew backward against the wall.
"Do. Not. Lie. To. ME!" Wenwu yelled angrily as he knew from Ricci's information that there was some way of manipulating those brought back by the serum.
Murakami quickly started to think really hard, really fast. Trying to come up with what it was the great Khan wanted to hear. "There, there is a chance doing the ritual to influence the people undergoing it. To draw some parts of themselves out in greater amounts than other parts."
Hearing this, Wenwu nodded. While it might not be exactly like the information he had, it still served the same purpose. The ability to manipulate the resurrected, something he would have to ensure didn't happen to his wife.
"It's supposed to be made from dragon bones, isn't it?" Wenwu asked, trying to both get more information out of this man and check if Ricci's was correct.
Murakami nodded, his voice steadying as he realized the depth of Wenwu's knowledge. "Yes, the essence extracted from the dragon bones, the dragon Ki, is the key to the serum."
The mention of dragon Ki struck a chord within Wenwu's memories. His wife has spoken of this great protector of hers. A dragon who granted the people of Ta Lo their powers.
It could then be possible to avoid having to use multiple doses over time if one had a real living dragon to supply one with its power. It would seem that once more, Ricci was spot on; reviving his wife in Ta Lo might indeed be important.
Even though he still needed to know more about how this serum worked and this ritual Murakami spoke of, Wenwu knew that it could wait. For now he had other questions to ask. "Now, what do you know of Hydra?"
The sudden change in topic caught Murakami slightly off guard. But he was also all too happy to share the suffering he was experiencing, more so with his own enemies.
"Hydra? They have been a massive pain ever since the end of the war. They moved in here in Japan back before the bombs fell. They have been messing with our operations ever since. They work both in the shadows and have control over some big business." Murakami happily told everything he knew.
Wenwu just stood there, looming over his prey with a bloodthirsty smile on his lips as he was carefully filled in on his greatest enemies and their strengths and weaknesses in the area.
Behind him, his men stood ready. Noting down names, addresses, and much more. All so they couldn't let anything slip through the net once they moved to deal with them. Which they knew would happen as soon as they finished up here.
Murakami knew a wealth of information about Hydra. He had, after all, been trying to fight them for decades. For an upstart group, they had proven very hard to get rid of. Yet he knew that their days were number now; none could escape the great Khan's anger.
Now he just needed to ensure that he and the rest of the hand didn't die as well. If they could weather this storm, they would be able to fully retake everything they had lost here in Japan once they were done with their mission in the States.
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[Ding! Congratulations to Host for the successful containment of SCP-1338! Rewards are being given out!]
Alex looked at the first of, hopefully, many such notifications he would be getting soon. After all, there were plenty of SCP objects out there to catch and contain. If anything he was just happy that this Object was even considered contained at all.
So far, all other objects he had contained and gotten a reward for were something that could be locked up somewhere. Even if it is in a large hangar bay rather than a small cell.
'That does leave the question of what is considered in containment and what isn't?' He leaned back and pondered this question.
SCP-1338 and 169 could be said to be somewhat similar in a few aspects. While their size and level of danger were world apart. The fact that they couldn't be moved from their current location remained the same.
He and, as an extension of him, the Foundation also didn't have any control over the two objects. Yet now he had one considered in containment. Was there a way he could also have 169 considered contained?
If he could do that, he would no doubt get a massive reward—the kind of reward that almost had him drooling just thinking about it. While he didn't have many Keter level rewards to compare to just yet, he did have a feeling that they would all be worth it.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting the Trait: Nature's whisper!]
"System, what does the trait do?" Alex quickly asked since he didn't get an innate feeling about this trait as he had with the others.
[Ding! Replying to Host. Host can with the use of the new trait, accelerate the growth of plants!]
'Could be useful, if its powerful enough.' He mused. Thinking about ways he might use this trait, and how he might test it.
Alex made his way up from his bunker and out of his mansion. Yet as soon as he stepped outside, he was rudely reminded that it was still winter, so there weren't many plants around to play with.
With little choice he stepped out onto the grass under the silent watch and protection of his guards who didn't wish to take any chances anymore.
Standing on the grass, Alex felt deep inside himself for the trait. Upon finding it, he called upon it, and very slowly, the grass around him grew a tiny bit.
'Well, that's a disappointment.' Was all he could think of as he saw the pitiful result.
'Here I was hoping for the ability to grow thick vines and roots to do everything from carry me around to bind enemies. Yet this can barely be used to grow a few flowers.'
With a sad sigh Alex wrote of on his dream of becoming a mighty druid with command of the wilds and went back inside to continue his sad existence of endless paperwork.
'Who would ever have thought that buying up an Ikea would be quite so difficult, so what if dozens of peoples disappeared inside it? Just forget all about it and let me buy it so I can put a damn fence around it!' He cursed in his mind as he returned to that headache of a containment case.
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"Any idea where they are taking us?" Jake couldn't help but ask as he grew so bored even his fear started to disappear.
Around him were a few other people dressed in the same ugly orange jumpsuit he himself was forced to wear. All huddled together in a corner of this god forsaken ship. Chained like dogs and even forced to wear some kind of bomb collars.
"West, we are heading west still. Other than that, I have no idea." Another man answered Jake's question. Not that his answer gave Jake much to work with, but at least someone else was willing to talk.
"What do you think they want us to do?" Jake asked again, this time a question he cared about a whole lot more than just about where they were going.
"Somewhere dangerous, both for them and for us." Came the response back, this time from someone else in their little group.
"What do you mean?" Jake asked again, earning him an eye roll from the woman.
"Well, for one, they don't want to do whatever we are supposed to do. So it's likely something dangerous, too dangerous to risk themselves. Yet they are also worried that we will do something stupid; if not, there would be no need for the collars." She answered slowly as if talking to a stupid child.
"And if you are still too stupid to understand what she means, what she is saying is that once we get there, we need to get rid of these collars. Then we should be able to escape, the only reason they put them on, is cause they worried they will lose us." Said the first man who answered Jake's question again.
"I'm not stupid, you old fucker!" Jake yelled angrily.
"Be quiet D-6642!" Yelled one of their guards to which Jake quickly did shut up. Much to the amusement of his fellow D-class friends, who also had looks on their faces saying that, yeah, he is stupid.
A/N
If you want to read 5 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / SCPsystem