"Impressive wards indeed." The voice of the Ancient one wasn't heard by the party, not even Alexander heard it due to how well the room absorbed the sounds as the door was closing, leaving everyone unaware of their uninvited guest.
The Ancient One was there due to having been alerted about the object by God, he had been helpful enough to inform her that one of his old creations had appeared again, or rather that the Foundation had found it.
She had asked about why he didn't get rid of it; after all, it was clearly dangerous, and he seemed to want to help. Yet, the danger had only become all the more clear at his answer.
"I can't. When I made it, I wasn't as diminished as I am today; at my full power, I would be able to unmake something like that, yes, but now? I'm afraid I'm powerless against such a being."
After hearing this, she couldn't resist going to look at this angel herself, and after making her way into the massive cave that had once been the home of one of the vampire covens she had suppressed in the past.
Down there, she beheld the massive angel, and it was massive indeed, and even while sleeping, she could feel the power laying dormant inside it. She couldn't deny that it was indeed a beast of the apocalypse, for it would indeed be able to bring about the end of the world.
Even she wasn't sure if she could deal with such a thing without having to pay a steep price. So, she had taken an interest in watching what the Foundation would do. If they could contain it in a way she approved off, then she could spare the effort of doing it herself.
She had kept an eye on things as they built their new facility and was once again impressed by their ability and willingness to do everything it took to contain these objects. Even she wouldn't be able to handle many of the problems they did. After all, she didn't have the ability to buy up land like this.
It was only thanks to Strange's generosity that Kamar Tej did not even have any money right now. And even that didn't come close to what the Foundation had to throw around. She understood why that being calling himself God had faith in their ability to do almost impossible things.
And now, as they were finished with the containment chamber she had decided to drop in, mostly because she had heard some of the people talk about someone important coming to inspect.
She had been eagerly awaiting the chance to finally meet one of the leaders of the Foundation, and had been disappointed when she realized that he wasn't there. she wasn't able to figure out how he projected himself there.
She knew a thing or two about astral projection, but this was clearly something different, and there was nothing she could do. Even she couldn't easily think of a way of doing anything to him, so she gave up arranging a meeting; even if she were to stop time, she wasn't sure it would do anything given the way he was both there, while also not being there.
So instead, she took the chance to finally look over the finished work finally. And she was impressed; their way of using magic was entirely different than that of Kamar Taj.
It wasn't powerful, and it was far from it, in fact. It was surprisingly weak magic, but how they used it was impressive. It was a work of art, tiny amounts of magic used to the utmost of its potential.
It wasn't elegant, not in the way magic usually was, but it was brutal and effective—focused solely on one thing: containment at all costs. The layers of Vibranium absorbed vibrations, preventing even the slightest sound from triggering SCP-469's growth. And the wards? They were overkill, stacked on top of each other in a redundant system of protection that even she had to acknowledge was impressive.
For the Ancient One, who was used to dealing with cosmic threats and beings beyond comprehension, the Foundation's utilitarian approach was refreshing. There was no philosophy here, no concern with the ethics or consequences beyond containment. Just raw, practical effort.
Standing invisible within the quietest chamber on Earth, she reflected on the magnitude of what she was witnessing. In all her centuries of defending reality from cosmic entities, even she had rarely seen such dedication to simply keeping the world safe, no matter the cost.
With her curiosity sated for the moment, the Ancient One decided to remain unseen but continue observing. If the Foundation could handle this apocalypse beast, she would have one less threat to concern herself with, allowing her to focus on the darker forces moving to capture Earth.
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Alexander had no idea he just met a meeting with the Ancient One herself, not that he would have wanted such a meeting. After all, while her future death might be kind of pathetic, she was immensely powerful.
Not someone that would be allowed around members of the O5 council; after all, they liked being the most powerful people in the room.
Still, the containment facility was impressive; the chamber was massive in size and so very quiet, almost as quiet as space itself. And all that without drawing a vacuum inside the room as well.
The new containment chamber would ensure that the object wouldn't grow, and they should then be able to fully forget about it. No more ticking clock. They had enough of them already. Just the door to another world and the devourer of worlds in there was problematic enough.
And that was without counting in the future infinity war that might bring one of the most fearsome warlords in the universe to Earth.
Things weren't going too bad. The Foundation had a run of good luck with containing important objects, and a dangerous one like SCP-001 had spawned in another world, hopefully sparing them the chance.
And while there were indeed plenty of potential ends of the world objects still around, it wasn't to the point he was in despair.
Sure, there were still thousands of SCP objects left to be unleashed, but the Foundation also continued to grow in size and power, allowing them to better deal with the new challenges. Once again, this allows him time to both relax and plan for the future.
The time for Thor to be banished to Earth was slowly approaching, and he wanted to be ready to deal with that situation. After all, if anything happened to Thor, it was entirely possible that Odin might punish all of humanity, and even the Foundation didn't have the ability to take on the full might of Asgard.
But before that, there was still a few more months of SCP objects, not to mention the two new groups of interest and whatever objects they brought with them. However, even without the objects, the groups themselves could be problematic.
He didn't even know what groups it was this time, which was annoying; some groups weren't too dangerous, mostly a threat to the normality that the Foundation sought to protect, while others, like the Serpent's hand, were a dangerous group with even more dangerous goals.
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While Alexander sat within the safety and luxury of his mansion, rarely ever spending time worrying about making money given how stable the drug trade was and the fact that he had many people to help him deal with that aspect of his duties, another group of people sat around a large table.
Marshall, leaning back in his chair, swirled his drink thoughtfully before speaking, "We cannot afford another debacle like the last auction." His voice carried an edge of frustration, alluding to the recent problems that had plagued their last high-profile event.
Carter, ever the pragmatic one, nodded. "Yes, the fallout was significant. The Foundation's interference was costly. It took considerable effort to cover our tracks, and some of our most valued clientele are skittish. We need to be more precise this time, more discreet."
Dark, always calm and composed, interjected, "The issue was likely with the guestlist, someone there must have alerted the Foundation, if not, then there would be no way they would have allowed the auction to conclude before acting. We must be more careful this time around."
"Precisely," Marshall continued, "But the demand is still high. Our last showcase included one-of-a-kind anomalous artifacts, and our clients are already requesting more. The elite are willing to pay handsomely for access to such power, but they expect discretion."
"Of course," Carter replied, lighting a cigar. "But we need to adjust our strategy. First, we need to vet our guest list more rigorously. Only the most loyal and trusted clients should be invited—no new faces unless they've been thoroughly screened."
Dark added, "And the location. It needs to be somewhere off the radar. Somewhere that doesn't appear on the Foundation's or the Coalition's surveillance grids."
"We could use the 'Nomad' facility," Carter suggested, "It's mobile and secure. We've never had an incident there, and it's well outside anyone's jurisdiction."
Marshall grinned. "I like that idea. We keep the event intimate, exclusive. Only our highest bidders. We ensure the items we present are beyond rare—each with a story that adds to its allure."
"Speaking of items," Dark interjected, pulling out a sleek, black leather dossier. "I've already made some headway on this. There are whispers about a new SCP object that could fetch a record-breaking price. Dangerous, but controlled properly, it could be a showstopper."
Carter raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Go on."