While Tony Stark was busy working on something that would change the world from inside a dark cave, the world kept spinning, and events kept happening.
Everyone had their own experiences at this time, whether big or small, rich or poor, young or old.
Just before, the news of the attack and Stark's disappearance hit the world in waves of Shock. Alex was mighty busy shorting the stock.
He hadn't wanted to short them just yet since he was waiting for when they would be at their highest, and he had believed he had another year to prepare himself for this time.
The prices did spike as he had expected when the news spread about Tony's new award and the major new deal he was closing with the military.
However, shorting the stock by as much as he wanted within less than two days wasn't easy. Even more so since it would no doubt bring some attention once then news of Starks kidnapping/death would spread.
The amount of easy money he could make just wasn't something he could pass up. As rich as he might be, he also had plenty of places to burn all that wealth.
Thankfully, hiding the rather suspicious transactions wouldn't be his problem; he had people for that.
Then came the explosive news, which reminded him of 9/11. The world went completely crazy with the news, and the media one for, whipped up a firestorm. How the US restrained from starting another war was a downright miracle.
However, the world went on, and life went on. The news might be full of stories about Stark, which honestly wasn't anything new for anyone living in the Marvel universe. Yet, the Foundation had little extra time to spare on it.
-----------------
[Five days after Stark's kidnapping]
"Time for yet another summon, System. Please summon one SCP." Alex, once again down in the safety of his Bunker, decided to roll the dice.
[Ding! Understood, Host, please stand by as the random SCP is summoned!]
[Ding! Warning! SCP-7905 has appeared!]
[Ding! Warning! Host a SCP has appeared in the world and is outside Foundation control! Host is asked to deal with the situation and follow the Foundation's goal of Securing, containing, and Protecting!]
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting SITE-37, a class 3 Foundation facility in China! 500 class C combat personnel, 50 research personnel, 100 administrative personnel, and 30 maintenance personnel!]
'Now that's a rather high number.' Alex mused as he quickly looked the object up in the database.
SCP-7905, also known as "Fragment of a Broken World," was a cave opening leading to an entirely different world, once apparently overrun with an SCP object. As a member of the O5 council, Alex could read all the details and plans about the object.
He could see that in the original universe, the O5 council had ordered the help of this other world. The SCP that was overrunning the place wasn't all that dangerous and was easily within the Foundation's ability to deal with.
Looking at the information meant only for O5 eyes, he could not help but click his tongue. Well, he really should have expected that they did it for mostly selfish reasons; after all, even he could see the allure of having their very own world to exploit.
Of all the many possible objects he could have summoned, this was surely one of the better ones. Not dangerous and with great rewards, even if it would take some work to fully clear out the world for their own use.
He would just need to find it first before he could begin any operations within the world. This time, the system tool gave him a view of the cave entrance—not the most useful, but he was sure the Foundation's analysts could work with that.
--------------------
[One week after Stark's kidnapping]
[With Phil Coulson]
Phil had been called back to meet with his boss after trying and failing to find any clues to the secret organization that was behind Graves and the facility Phil and raided before.
He had tried everything but found nothing. He wasn't sure if it was because there wasn't anything to find or because what he was looking for was far bigger than expected and far better at hiding than he would like to consider possible.
After entering Fury's office, he closed the door behind him. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"How goes the hunt? Any new sightings of Graves yet?"
"Nothing sir. Every attempt I have done came up completely empty. Either he is hiding somewhere, or he is dead."
Nodding his head Fury stood up and faced away from Coulson, looking out of the large window into the city below them. "Do you know who I had in here before you?"
"Agent Barton, I believe."
"That's correct. He once again asked about Agent Romanoff. I told him I knew nothing."
Phil stood, waiting and unsure about where his boss was going with this.
"I lied to him, Coulson. Do you know why?"
"My first guess would be that you learned of some bad news, but I doubt you would lie to spare his feelings. He would eventually learn about the truth," Phil commented as he tried to figure out why Fury would like to Barton.
As far as Phil knew, Romanoff was off in deep cover inside the Ricci family and its massive crime empire. Trying to find any connections or leads to the mysterious cabal that the late Alexander Ricci had mentioned before his death.
It was a very real risk that she might end up dead if she was found out, but as he had said. He didn't believe Fury would lie if that were the case. Fury clearly knew something, yet he had decided to lie about it, so what could he know?
Fury turned back from the window, his gaze settling intensely on Phil. "I lied because Romanoff was spotted. I have been dealing with angry senators and whatnot after a SHIELD operation involving the family of Norman Osborn."
"I wasn't aware that there had been such a high-profile operation at all." As a level 7 agent, Phil knew a great many things. A mission against someone like Osborn would be difficult to hide, which meant that the likelihood of it being over level 7 was slim. So, how did he hear nothing of such a thing?
"That's because there was no such mission. Yet Osborn informed me of his displeasure that some of our agents had combed through his house while he was away, including apparently taking some of his son's favorite toys."
Fury paused here and clicked on a remote to start up a holographic projection of what seemed like security footage. "The two Shield Agents in charge, Jonathan Graves, level 8, and Natasha Romanoff, level 5."
Phil felt like he might pass out. First, he had said the Graves must either be dead or in hiding, only to learn that he was out there pretending to be a SHIELD agent. Worse still, he was doing it with their spy, who was a real SHIELD agent.
"And that is not the worst; as you know, every SHIELD agent has an identification number. The one used by Graves is fake. The one used by Romanoff? It's not only real, but it's also the real number attached to Agent Romanoff."
Fury's words hit Phil like a ton of bricks. He suddenly understood why Fury had lied to Barton. The fact that Natasha was using a fake SHIELD ID with her own number could only mean that she had been found out.
They knew she was a SHIELD agent, and they knew her rank and personal ID, which meant that her cover had been blown. Worse still, since Graves was there, it meant that the Ricci family was connected to the group they were looking for.
Romanoff had been sent straight into the waiting arms of their enemies, and her current situation was terrible.
"Now I understand why you lied to Barton, sir."
"Indeed, the current situation is about as ugly as it can get. The only good thing we have from this is that Graves and Ricci have some connection. If we get Romanoff out of there, she will surely have a good deal of information," Fury said, though both of them knew that the IF there was a pretty big one.
"What do you want me to do sir?" Phil asked, sure that his mission had something to do with this.
Fury, however, just shook his head. "Nothing to do with this directly. I got another mission for you, one that might be connected to this Ricci plot." Fury tapped a key, and the image on the projector changed. Now, it showed a large sphere of meat with a large round steel door.
"What am I looking at, sir?" Phil asked; the thing looked like some strange kind of art project if he were honest.
"That is an 084. We don't know where it came from or how it was made. What we do know is that it is dangerous; people go in, they never go out." His words caused Phil to look closer to the picture.
"Your mission, Coulson, is to go and learn more about it if possible." Fury said, but Phil knew that it wasn't his true mission.
"You suspect that Graves and Ricci might be after it?"
"Correct."
Phil could see why his boss would think that it did indeed seem that someone out there was after 084s. Grave himself looked like he appeared near them, so it was possible he and Romanoff would come sniffing.
Fury nodded, his expression grave. "Exactly. Our intelligence suggests a pattern. Every time there's been a whisper about these objects, someone has already been there and cleaned up the place. This is one of the rare times we got their first."
Phil nodded, absorbing the details. "I'll assemble a team and get on it immediately."
"Good," Fury said, standing to indicate the meeting was over. "And Coulson, keep this quiet. If our suspicions are correct, we're dealing with a group that doesn't hesitate to shoot first."
Phil stood, his resolve solidifying. "Understood, sir. I'll report back with any developments."
-------------------
[Ten Days after Stark's kidnapping]
After what Alex considered far too long, he finally received the news he had been waiting for, arriving with the ding of his system.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for the successful containment of SCP-2000! Rewards are being given out!]
This object should have been contained long ago. It wasn't hard to find, and it wasn't dangerous. It was just a location, after all. Yet, it had still taken a really long time before it was finally considered contained.
This delay was caused by Alex's handing off the containment to O5-2, who, given this object's supreme importance, took his sweet time making sure it was safe to his very high standard.
Not that Alex blamed him; after all, the importance of this object was why he handed it over to O5-2. This object needed the best. And while SCP-006 came with all the defenses in place, SCP-2000 didn't.
So, rather than just hoping that secrecy and remoteness, together with a few defensive measures, O5-2 had fully overhauled the protections so that while the location of 2000 was still secret and hidden away, it also had a mountain of defense that would be activated should someone try to breach containment.
Alex would have to ask to be fully informed of the extent of the protections, but for now, he was more interested in the reward he had received.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host for getting the reward. Ability: Ruler of my kingdom.]
"Please explain the ability, please." Alex knew what the ability did; he could feel it, like the knowledge was shoved into his mind. Yet he was interested in the System's description all the same.
[Ding! Understood Host! The ability: Ruler of my Kingdom, allows Host to project Host's awareness to any place within the Host's domain.]
"Yeah, I thought so; I need to test this out in-depth," he muttered as he closed his eyes and focused on his ability.
A/N
If you want to read up to 10 chapters ahead or even get the chance to pick what SCPs get summoned, or just support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / SCPsystem