[][]
Upon deciding on the first, and newest Site, I leave my apartment and hail a cab to the Kennedy Airport. While admiring the architecture of passing skyscrapers, I noticed the driver raising the volume of the radio.
"Well, John! Looks like another Stark Expo is coming up this year-" the radio station announces, the crackling of a poor connection filling the cab.
This peaks my attention- If I remember anything from the films, Iron Man 2 was the most notable event in the 2010s, aside from the reappearance of the Hulk, and Thor showing up later in the year. Essentially, 2010 was the year the world opened up to the anomalous and mythical. That gives me at least two years until the Chitauri invade, and the various clandestine organizations regaining footholds in Europe, Asia, and parts of North America.
Pondering this for a few minutes, and the driver speeding and likely earning a few misdemeanors, the cab reaches the airport. Getting out the cab, I enter the airport. Before reaching the ticket desk, the System appears in my vision.
[Quest Received!]
[Contain your first 'Anomaly' within 30 days ]
[Rewards:
- 20 SCP Tokens
- Security Team or Research Team ]
'Doable... But where would I find an anomaly?' I ponder to myself. An anomaly is essentially anything that isn't conventionally explained. A slime that can create a human form, someone who could manipulate water, or even a creature that shouldn't exist, like elves or dragons...
With this new quest weighing on my conscience, I remembered a feature of the SCP System that I had been neglecting... Two features, really. The shop and the stats.
"Menu... Shop"
Skipping through the menu, I went straight to the shop- a long list replacing the menu with a shimmer, the bottom of the menu stopping around my waist, easily the largest menu I've seen so far.
[ SCP System - Shop - (10) SCP Tokens]
[ Shop:
- Clearance 1 Items
- Clearance 2 Items
- Clearance 3 Items
- Clearance 4 Items
- Clearance 5 Items
- Vehicles
- Miscellaneous Items ]
Opening up the Clearance-One items, I got a general idea of the pricing range. Most items were pretty basic, something you would expect to purchase in the mundane world, or being worn by Law Enforcement and Military personnel.
'Gas Masks.... Holsters... An SCP BDU?' I note down the different items I see in the Clearance One shop, the last peaking my interest. A Battle-Dress-Uniform in black urban camouflage, with a grey SCP Insignia on either shoulder. For just the BDU, it would cost me three SCP Tokens...
Looking at the other prices in the Clearance One shop, everything ranged from one SCP Token, to the most expensive being a Class-A Amnestic, at five SCP Tokens. Checking the Clearance Two items, the cheapest item was for ten SCP Tokens, an FN-P90 submachine gun, ammo included.
With that, I got a general gist of the items that I could find in the first two, and by assumption, each clearance higher than the last. The first is general equipment, and not necessarily for combat. The second is weapons and more specialized equipment.
With these conclusions, I decide on a few purchases: 'SCP BDU, Gas Mask, and the Class-A Amnestic... Anything else I can likely find after I reach my destination, and in all, that uses up all ten of my current SCP Tokens.'
"Purchase BDU... Gas Mask... And the Class-A Amnestic." I say quietly to the System, an audible ping letting me know it's been processed.
[ Verifying Purchases... Confirmed! ]
[ Items moved to "Inventory" - (0) SCP Tokens remaining ]
With the purchases finalized in the system, I purchase a direct-flight plane ticket with the cash I had on me, and with all considered, was a generous amount for the first few days.... With that, I take what I have on me, board the plane, and wait to reach my destination.
[]
Finally landing in Lunenburg, I make my way off the plane into the small airport, taking a shuttle bus close to the docks where my new Site is located. The location is closer to a small town, rather than connected to the greater Lunenburg city. Docks can be seen in the distance, with the ocean on either side of the peninsula. Adjacent to the docks are a few small warehouses, of which one of them should be the Site.
As I continue walking from where I was dropped off by the shuttle bus, I glance around to get a better grasp of my new environment. A few blocks away from the Warehouses, I look in the windows of nearby shops, some playing various news stations with muffled audio. One shop in particular, caught my attention.
Old and battered in appearance on the outside, with antiques set on display at the window, each seeming quite old, and out of place for such a small town. An amulet of copper, engraved with a single emerald. A small broken dagger in an equally small locked case -
- One item in particular caught my attention the most: A book, the writing on the cover in gothic design, a leather of maroon colouration, engraved in a metal that was either brass or copper.
Entering the shop, I'm greeted by an old shopkeep, the years apparent in the way he struggles to walk, and the deep wrinkles across his hands and face.
"Welcome!" The old man greets me, a disarming smile eases any stress I had as I arrived in Lunenburg.
"What are you looking for today? A gift, perhaps?" He says, waving towards a few items lining the walls, all uniquely old and battered, but remaining sturdy against the test of time.
"No, nothing like that. I noticed a book in the window, and was wondering what it was?" I respond, peering around the room at the various objects.
"Yes... That old book. Found it in my great-grandfather's basement a few years ago. Family home, you see. Never quite got around to exploring the basement and the trinkets laying around. My uncle once mentioned he was an explorer back in the day, venturing across Asia and Europe." The old man gains a look of longing in his eyes, remembering the past.
"It truly is quite old. I could never recognise the language within." He mentions to me, his voice taking on a small sense of awe. "Took it to a few scholars to see if it had any value, but they too were baffled. The most anyone ever got to translating it was the title. 'Known History of Learning and Debate'. Anyone could seem to read it, but no one could understand what it might say if they weren't holding it-"
'Bingo.' I thought to myself.
'Mystery book? Check. Old? Check. Seemingly able to understand it when holding it?... Check. Definitely something anomalous.' I list off the various criteria on the spot.
"How much for it?" I ask the shopkeep. I don't have much cash on me, only a measly fifty-dollars after purchasing the plane ticket and taking the cab to the airport.
The shopkeep ponders for a few moments, before speaking up- "I could sell it for around fifteen dollars. Just picking up dust at the window, and you're the first to have an interest in it for a few years since I've moved it around in the shop."
"Deal." I say, handing over a twenty. "You can keep the change, I won't be needing it."
Walking towards the window, I glance back at the shopkeep, before opening the inventory and placing the book inside. Once I confirm it's in the inventory, I leave the shop and continue on my way towards the Site.
Reaching the destination where it should have been- of which how I knew... I don't know- I enter the warehouse. The inside was around ninety-two square meters. Glancing around, the only things filling the interior are various racks for whatever was intended to be stored inside. The corner, a small office with two windows and a metal door.
Entering the office, a small hatch in the corner with a keypad on top- a safe if anyone didn't know better. Walking towards the keypad, it seemed to be on an empty preset. Typing in a new code '2008', I press the confirmation button on the bottom of the keypad.
A faint mechanical whine fills the office as the hatch opens with the new code, two hydraulic pistons lifting the hatch. Best guess was a thickness of around ten centimeters, easily capable of delaying a drill or torch from entry.
Once the hatch lifts, I look down into the hole it was covering- lights flickering on, revealing a ladder that extends sixteen meters below ground. Stepping onto the ladder, I begin making my way down.
[]
Reaching the bottom of the ladder, I turn around to face a short corridor of concrete and metal pillars, the end revealing a large blast door, a keypad with a retina scanner on the wall beside the blast-door. Most notable of the blast door however, was the large insignia of the SCP Foundation on either side.
Walking down the corridor, faint echoes with each step, I reach the keypad and lean down. Once at eye-level, a panel opens revealing something akin to a red camera-lens, before a momentary flash blinds me in one eye.
As I rub the discomfort out of my eye, a loud groan fills the corridor as the blast-door begins to open, loud slams are heard on the other side as each of the large locking mechanisms begin to unlock. After waiting a few minutes, the door finally begins to groan open.
As I was admiring the sight of the blast doors revealing my new site, the SCP System once again shimmers before my vision, a message I am far too accustomed to fades into view.
[Welcome, Administrator.]
[To Site 01 - Lenunburg ]