(Third Person Pov)
As the music kept playing in the background, Rodeo opened the door and left Abby's containment cell, then he closed the door.
He then walked forward and saw the door in front of him, the same one which required a key card to open. But he was emotionally unstable and decided to not wait for the door to open and instead he turned the door into a bomb and then activated the bomb, blowing up the door into atoms and went through the doorway and started walking down the hallway.
———
(Security Room - 1:17 PM)
Simmons entered the security room, to check whether Rodeo was alive or not, since he kept the camera in 053's cell in recording mode, since he couldn't risk exposure to her abilities by looking at her even through the camera and also was reminded by Dr. Buck to check on him in case things went sideways. He takes a seat and looks at the footage.
"Alright, let's see if he's ok." Simmons plays the recorded footage and decides to put it on fast play in order to not be affected by her since the video was 15 minutes long and exposure to 053's power would start after 10 minutes.
To his surprise Rodeo survived and that too for 15 minutes when he put the video on fast play.
"Not bad at all kid," Then he saw something in the footage, "What the?"
Simmons paused the footage and saw Rodeo in tears but his faced stayed stoic. He changed the camera to outside of 053's cell and saw the door blowing up by Rodeo's bomb and then he saw Rodeo exit the doorway, with tears still visible in his stoic face.
"I got to tell Dr. Buck about this?"
Simmons quickly got up and left the security room and started running towards Dr. Buck's office.
———
(Dr. Buck's Office - 1:21 PM)
Simmons finally reached Dr. Buck's office and then opened the door and found not only Dr. Buck, but also Dr. Collingwood and Johnson as well. All of them were standing in the room. The three looked at Simmons, who seemed out of breath.
Then Dr. Buck asked, "Agent Simmons, you seem out of breath. Did something happen? And what about Rodeo did he survive?"
Simmons catches his breath and then says, "Rodeo survived a good 15 minutes in 053's chamber."
Collingwood was surprised and felt relieved that he was alright, Dr. Buck was well impressed.
"But he's... crying."
Buck, Collingwood and Johnson were taken off guard by this.
"What do you mean, he's crying?" Collingwood said, now getting worried.
"When I looked..."
His sentence was cut off as the door behind him opened, to reveal Rodeo with visible tears coming out of his eyes and falling down his cheeks.
Everybody in the room was surprised and shocked to see him in this state up close. Collingwood was the one most affected seeing him like this, a cheerful and caring person, now in tears in front of her.
What made it sadder was that his facial expression stayed the same, eyes not blinking and mouth not moving and his face staying stoic.
Rodeo walked into the room and came up to Collingwood and hugged her as the sound of his whimpering slowly increased. Rodeo buried his face on her shoulder, which Collingwood gave him a bear embrace in an attempt to comfort him as best as possible.
"I… just want... to go back." he mumbled.
"You just arrived here in the morning, Rodeo, and you're already having an emotional breakdown. Did you forget what I said about having patience. You need to wait."
"...I know."
This scene was saddening to watch at least in Johnson and Simmons eyes, but Dr. Buck didn't give this situation much thought.
"I know, I should wait... but how long? Should I stay here? Days? Months? Years? An entire decade? I... know Collingwood I should wait but… I can't. Can I even be guaranteed freedom now finding out that my family can't be contacted... and also that I can't see them ever again. I really want to wait for Dr. Collingwood... but when you start remembering the good old times you spent with family and knowing you can never go back to them... It breaks my heart..."
With no change in his facial expression, Rodeo buried his face deeper into her shoulder and silently sobbed through every tear.
Collingwood didn't really much care about her shirt getting messed up by tears, but to see him like this , it was heartbreaking. Every other entity she encountered had their reasons for being here and they were fine with staying in the foundation, even on the first day.
But Rodeo was a different case, he just appeared out of nowhere and he had no real reason to be here. Or was there a reason that he was here? Collingwood just didn't know.
"Are you done?" Dr. Buck asked with a blank look.
Dr. Collingwood looked at her and sayed, "Really Buck?! He is crying in front of you and the only thing you can say is 'Are you done?'" She said angrily and glaring at Buck.
"May I remind you, Collingwood, that you're wasting time like this. Just give him some time and he will adjust to his new surroundings."
Collingwood got up angrily from the floor and looked at Buck with a glare and sayed.
"You are not helping, Buck. He is feeling uncomfortable and you just don't give two shits about him." She said angrily.
"Look I'm not saying I don't care about him, I'm saying that only time can fix his... emotions. As time passes, he will understand the foundation's layout and he will be comfortable here."
"Oh! Will he Buck? Will he be comfortable living among monsters that can literally end the world as we know it? Will he be comfortable in doing experiments against certain dangerous scps? Will he be comfortable in those experiments that involve testing his powers on D-class? No, tell me Buck, will he be comfortable in this awful place?"
"Only time will tell, Collingwood. That's all I can say."
"Shut up!" Suddenly, Rodeo yelled out.
Both the doctors looked at Rodeo who was still crying on the floor. Rodeo then got up from the floor and looked at Buck, with tears still falling down his cheeks and sayed.
"You don't care, do you Dr. Buck? If I die or get hurt or maybe suffer from some disease, you're just gonna say 'This is the foundation. Things like this happen on a daily basis'. Well, I got something to say to you stern doctor, you care only for yourself!" He said with every negative emotion coming out of his body.
"You don't know me, Rodeo. I've been working with the foundation for years and I know who I should care for and who I should not. In the foundation, you need to be serious. Emotions can only be a distraction, especially the one you're showing right now. You're 20 years old, and you're crying like a girl, so I suggest you man up and don't forget you are no longer human. You are an SCP." She said coldly.
"So what I'm just property for you? That's what you want to say?" Rodeo said with his emotions at breaking point.
"Rodeo, that's not what..."
Before Collingwood could say anything further, Buck then says this.
"Yes, you are."
Collingwood was angry, finding it unbelievable that she would say something like that to him.
Rodeo then sayed, "So I'm just property, huh? I want to ask you something about you, Dr. Buck."
"And what would that be?"
Rodeo wipes away his tears with his right arm and says to Buck.
"Your parents would be so sad if they found out that you died at the hands of an scp. I'm pretty sure, the foundation might make sure they never remember you or in fact tell them that 'Hey! We are the foundation. Crap like this happens all the time.'" Rodeo said it sarcastically.
"...Shut up." Buck said in a low voice.
"Oh ho! Did I strike a nerve, Dr. Buck? Well, let me make it more depressing for you. Your parents don't love you and will never love you , you know why... because you are a stone cold, heartless woman. So stone cold that you might turn your own parents into D-class, just for the sake of experimentation all because you wanted to understand the Scps."
"Shut... up." She said, gripping her hands tightly.
"But wait there's more. I had a better childhood. I lived happily with my parents, and my parents never ever argued with each other. Did you have a good childhood, Dr. Buck? Or did your parents treat you like shit or were they too busy arguing with each other, regarding certain stuff and you were just sitting in one place crying, thinking that they would stop arguing which never happens."
Dr. Buck started having flashbacks, when she interviewed with SCP-3887, and how the monster under the bed grabbed her and took her to its cave and started showing her the reality of what Dr. buck truly is and showed her a vision of her past when she was a child, and her parents would always argue on a daily basis and she would always sit in one place, cry and listen to their arguments and the monster under the bed did this in order get fear and trauma from her. The flashbacks stopped and now she was tearing up.
"What's this? The ice cold doctor is crying? So I was telling the truth, after all."
"Sh..ut up." She said as she gritted her teeth and tears started forming on her face, gripping her hands more tightly.
"Rodeo, enough!!" Collingwood intervenes.
"You're taking this too far kid." Simmons said.
Johnson nodded, "I agree with Simmons. This isn't how you should talk to your elders."
"Oh really! She's not even worthy of being called an elder. She deserves no respect from me, because I'm pretty sure she's done bad things in the past, just for the sake of science. Heck, I'm pretty sure she's ready to kill her own lover, parents and any kind person just for the sake of science and humanity. She is a monster herself." Rodeo said with true venom in his voice.
"SHUT UUUP!!!"
Dr. Buck finally snapped and slapped Rodeo very hard in the right cheek of his face with her left hand, leaving a light red imprint of her hand on his right cheek.
Collingwood, Johnson and Simmons were shocked by this, they never saw Dr. Buck like this, even after the incident with 3887, she was perfectly fine after that and continued to keep her cold and calm demeanor.
But this Dr. Buck looked different, she had tears in her eyes but her face showed anger, rage and sadness. Pretty much almost every unpleasant emotion imaginable was shown on her face, and Rodeo was holding his cheek with his palm and felt a very tiny trace of pain coming from the slap he received from Dr. Buck.
"Get. Out."
"Buck, at..."
"I said get out of my face, right now!!" She said with extreme anger in her voice*.
Rodeo, Simmons, Johnson and Collingwood left the office and closed the door. They heard some yells and sounds of anger and some stuff being thrown here and there that could be heard from the other side of the door.
Rodeo then says, "Simmons, just take me back to my containment cell. I'm done for today." He said with tears still on his face.
"But..."
"Please." He begged.
Simmons then looks at Collingwood and Collingwood nods, then Simmons and Rodeo start walking down the hallway, heading for Rodeo's containment cell. While Collingwood and Johnson had a look of worry for Rodeo.
———
(Inside Dr.Buck's Office)
The office was a mess. The table was flipped upside down and was on the floor, some files and documents were also lying on the floor and multiple other things were broken or shattered or lying on the floor.
Dr. Buck was sitting on the ground, with her back against a wall, in a curled up position and was crying. What Rodeo sayed hurt her really bad but there was some truth behind his words.
"Am I *sobs* really *sobs* a monster?" She muttered to herself while crying.
———
Rodeo wasn't at his best either in his containment cell as he is sitting on his bed, recalling what he did earlier.
Dr. Buck hurt him with her words and Rodeo retaliated against her even more hurtful words. But Rodeo felt regret and even felt guilty for what he did. He allowed his negative emotions to overcome him and he hurt an elderly person's heart.
Although the day started fresh with him appearing in the facility out of nowhere, and beating up 049 and finding some good people, he still couldn't accept him being separated from his family and unleashed all his frustrations on Buck, just because she treated him like property and to make himself feel better.
Although the experiment with 053 was successful, the results were multiple emotions igniting in two people. One was a humorous and caring person while the other was a cold-hearted person.
"I'm sorry," Both said in unison at different places.
End of Chapter 7.
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Thank you for reading today's chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Consider following me and vote for my stories and keep yourself notified for more chapters. See you in the next chapter.
Credits:
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Music: Broke my Heart in Two
Link: https://youtu.be/Wj1aI9PCipw
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