Far away from SITE-009, far from civilization, another large-scale Foundation SITE was hidden away. This particular SITE was SITE-103, The Colosseum. A black SITE who answered only to O5-1 and to most Foundation personnel didn't even exist.
It was but a rumour, a fable among an organization that contained fables and legends. It was, however, one of the largest SITEs, home to never less than one hundred thousand D-class personnel.
Some underwent training to deal with certain SCP objects, such as SCP-173, where they had to learn to time their blinking.
This SITE only had one leader, O5-1; however, there were a few other people in charge of the day-to-day operations here, one being Commander Alexi Petrov, the wraith. Another person who had their own field of operation here was the even more mysterious "Ghost".
Someone so mysterious that none bar O5-1 and maybe others of the O5 council knew their true identity.
It was at this SITE that the former widows of the Red Room had found themselves transferred to a few months ago.
Here they had undergone ever more training, even been schooled by a few of the people here. The widows had come believing that none could match their skills one-on-one. They quickly realized that they were wrong.
The Warith had handily beaten them in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, you name it, and he did it so much better than them that it was downright embarrassing.
Then their other skills such as stealth and infiltration, disguise and espionage were schooled by the "ghost" who they still didn't know who was! Male or female? Yeah, even after months here, they didn't have a clue.
They had also learned a lot about the Foundation, gone where the days when something as silly as realizing that Santa was real would shock them.
Not that it was easy to believe many of the things they were trained to deal with could possibly exist. They weren't big on showing proof for much of it. Though there had been some videos to go along with the training, things that didn't look fake.
"Alright, girls, I need someone to volunteer for some potentially life-threatening testing; I promise that I will liquidate you if you end up in a state worse than dead." The cheerful voice of the living nightmare that is Isabella Torres sounded as the widows were called to gather.
'Well, that's new,' Thought Yalena as she heard the unexcepted request.
The rest of the widows thought much the same. They were used to extreme training; these people pushed them harder than they had been in a long time. Yet they still took care of them, investing much in them, which is why it felt strange that they now felt ready to sacrifice them.
Even more so since all the widows knew very well that this place was full of the so-called D-class, disposable people, so why suddenly turn to them instead?
"Any chance you will tell us just what we are volunteering for?" Ana asked after a moment.
"Well, I had hoped you had enough faith in us and our mission to not ask such silly questions before volunteering, but it seems I will have to have your training increased." The way this woman always managed to smile and sound so completely innocent while making the lives of others a complete hell was infuriating. All the widows felt the urge to pounce at her.
It was Lerato who ended up biting the bullet and stepped forward. "Sure, just make sure the whole liquidating is painless, will you?"
"No problem, as long as you find being burned alive painless anyway." Isabella replied with that same never-changing, sugar-sweet voice.
"Now that I do have a volunteer, I can explain what will happen. You will help us test the ability of SCP-407 in regrowing a fully missing female reproductive system, from an old wound at that." Her words caused shock through the group of widows.
The widows exchanged glances, a mixture of disbelief and curiosity in their eyes. The concept was unimaginable, yet here, in the realm of the SCP Foundation, the unimaginable was the norm. The possibility of reversing their Red Room graduation rites was something none of them had dared to hope for, yet the implications were profound.
Yalena couldn't help but step forward, driven by a mix of scepticisms and hope. "You're saying SCP-407 can do that? Truly reverse what's been done to us?"
Isabella nodded, her expression serious for once. "SCP-407 has shown potential in regenerative capabilities far beyond normal medical science. This will be a controlled experiment, under strict observation. The process, however, is not without its risks. SCP-407's effects can be... unpredictable, and we've yet to test it on such a specific request."
The room was silent, each widow grappling with the weight of Isabella's words. The chance for a normal life, the possibility of undoing one of the Red Room's cruellest manipulations, was tantalizing. Yet, the uncertainty and potential dangers posed a significant risk.
"Now, there is no reason to be too worried. We will be very careful with you, Lerato, and even if this object fails to do as we hope, there are still plenty of others that might be able to do it." Isabella continued, her gaze fixed on the volunteer.
Lerato took a deep breath, her decision clear. "Alright, I'm ready to spit in the face of the Red Room one last time."
Isabella smiled, hearing her revolve. "Good, follow me then, and the rest of you girls, you get to do double training today; you know your routines, get to it."
The widows watched on as the nervous Lerato followed behind Isabella and soon disappeared from sight.
Sighing, Yalena shook her head. "Alright, we might as well get to training. Help us take the mind off… off this whole thing," she said, to the quick agreement of the others.
As the widows dispersed to begin their rigorous training regimen, the atmosphere was tinged with a mix of anxiety and anticipation. The thought of one of their own being the subject of such an experimental procedure was unsettling, yet the potential outcome offered a glimmer of hope they hadn't felt in years.
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[The Triskelion]
It had been a while since Natasha Romanoff, the black widow, had gone underground in the Ricci family. Yet, so far, they hadn't heard anything from her.
"Boss, I don't like this, for us to hear nothing for so long; I'm worried," Clint said to his boss, Fury, hoping he could do something.
Fury himself felt helpless, he indeed had known that it might be difficult for Romanoff to get in contact. But so far, they hadn't even seen her leave the mansion. Much less get any contact, too. I was worried she might have been exposed.
Fury leaned back in his chair, staring at the array of screens in front of him, each showing different angles of the Ricci estate, none providing any clue as to Natasha's status or activities.
"I understand your concern, Clint," Fury finally said, his voice calm yet carrying an underlying edge of frustration. "But we knew going in that this wouldn't be easy. The Ricci family isn't exactly known for being open or easy to infiltrate."
Clint crossed his arms, his usual relaxed demeanor absent. "Yeah, I get that, but Nat's one of the best we have. If she's gone dark, it means something's up. And not hearing anything... it's not like her."
Fury nodded, acknowledging the validity of Clint's concerns. "We'll ramp up our surveillance on the estate. If there's a way to get a message to her, or if she's trying to send one out, we'll find it. Meanwhile, I want you on standby. If we get a lead, I need you ready to move at a moment's notice."
"Already there, boss," Clint affirmed, though his expression remained troubled. The uncertainty of the situation weighed heavily on him. Natasha wasn't just a colleague; she was a close friend, and the thought of her being in danger, possibly without backup, was not something he could easily brush aside.
Fury turned his attention back to the screens, his mind working through possible strategies and contingencies. Everything had been quiet for a while now. The Mandarin seemed to have gone dormant again.
The mysterious people Coulson was hunting down had also disappeared. He didn't like it, it felt like the calm before the storm.
Not that it was all that calm. Plenty of things still kept happening, big things, and every time something did happen. Someone was there trying to stop SHIELD from getting in touch with the situation.
There had been the situation with the mysterious island and fleet; even now, there were still numerous mysteries surrounding that. Though at least there wouldn't be any kind of sea battle. Something that was a problem all on its own.
After all, the amount of strings that had been pulled behind the scenes was staggering, worse yet, SHIELD hadn't been able to find out anything about the mastermind.
Personally, Fury suspected the secret cabal that Romanoff was investigating. Which made the need to figure out what they were up to all the more important.
So far, all attempts to find out anything have failed. Good men had gone to the island in the cover of darkness and never returned.
Another suspicious event surrounded an IKEA store in Sweden; one day, people just didn't come back out again. It had been suspected that it was some kind of terrorist attack or other hostage situation, but no one had heard anything.
Those who went in to investigate either never got out, or when they did, they just said they had gotten lost and had somehow managed to stumble on the exit entirely by luck. That alone would already be strange.
However, the really strange thing only started to happen after that. Like someone showing up and starting to barricade the place. All the while someone else seemed to be throwing around all the money in the world to try and buy the place.
Upon learning about the situation, Fury had moved heaven and earth to take control of the situation. Only to fail utterly once the first dozen people SHIELD had sent in never came back out.
After that, and due to the endless pressure coming from all around, the Swedish government had stopped anyone from going inside, and while he had tried his best, he had still lost out on the store thanks to the power of money.
Even a government had a point where it was willing to forget about its own laws when confronted with enough of an incentive, and from the numbers he had been told, Fury knew that he couldn't compete with whoever was behind all this.
Not that something like that stopped SHIELD. Sure they didn't have free access to the place, but he had still been able to sneak more people inside. Though he hadn't heard anything from them.
The most mysterious thing was that the people who had taken control of the store seemed like they themselves didn't want to go inside. Instead, they were mostly just focused on keeping people out.
He had finally just decided to hand that whole affair off to someone else and let them deal with the headache. It really wouldn't be fair if he were the only one with a constant headache.
The only thing he could do was continue to investigate and hope that either Coulson or Romanoff had a major breakthrough in their missions.
That and hope that nothing else happened, hope that this wasn't just the calm before the storm, though he wasn't the kind of man to leave such things up to chance.
He tapped his fingers against his desk as she stared hard at a screen showing the words. "Avengers initiative."
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[Unknown]
"Und in den neuesten Nachrichten zum Kriegseinsatz wird der unerwartete Verrat und der Fall der Hydra-Organisation im gesamten Vaterland gefeiert. Ihre gefährlichen Pläne wurden durch die tapferen Bemühungen unserer Soldaten vereitelt, und ihre Technologien, entwickelt von deutschen Geistern und uns gestohlen, sind zurückgekehrt und werden unseren schnellen Sieg herbeiführen. Darüber hinaus wurde in einem herausragenden Akt des Mutes der amerikanische Supersoldat, Steve Rogers, gefangen genommen. Seine Gefangennahme markiert einen Wendepunkt im Kampf gegen die Feinde des Reiches."
A/N
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