SCP-682's daughter (BOOK 1)

Transport

"So... where do you take it from this point?" No one wanted to speak up, especially not the researchers who's lives had just nearly been snuffed out without the slightest care. Being killed by 682 was a very real outcome but that didn't make it any less horrifying and unpleasant when it came time for that to happen. Did they even still exist or was it only Vortz and the two of them? Vortz shifted slightly in his movements, trying to come up with a way to convey what was going on as easily as possible without making things worse than they already are. Things were certainly about to change. Darren and Paulie simply stared at him flatly, waiting for him to finally come clean about everything. Did they think he was going to? No, not here. Would've been nice though. He seemed like the type to withhold things. He was.

"Dr vortz? What do we do? Continue as usual? Or..." Vortz didn't even give them time to continue speaking, turning around and staring at them intently. "Don't file this." Was all he said before leading Paulie and Darren out of the room and into the halls of the foundation site. They were cold, brightly lit and painfully familiar to both Darren and Paulie in two very different ways.

Paulie looked back at the shell-shocked workers considerately, then found the right words. "Im sorry that my father scared you like that." It wouldn't help or change what just happened, but she hoped that it would give them some peace.

That was the last they would see of her for quite a while.

-

"Vortz, Right?" The silence was brutal, Paulie deciding to break it. Vortz looked forward, clearly not planning on stopping his movement forward. "Yes. That's correct." He replied flatly, going quiet afterwards, hands in his pockets as he led the two down the hall. The sound of his shoes clicking against the steel floor was deafening.

"I always wondered where you went after that extraction incident. Nobody actually told us where you went for the first several months." Darren chuckled, rubbing his cold shoulders. They didn't even give him new clothes, leaving him in nothing but a pair of torn pants. Fuckin embarrassing.

"My injuries were... dangerous to morale to put down some groundwork. I may seem well at this point, but things are not as they seem. You know this." Vortz interjected, raising a hand for a moment, eyes still forward. "I haven't been allowed to go near 682 since." He included, his face mushing up for a moment out of the view of the two behind him.

"I've been told that he's... gotten calmer since I was born, I think." Paulie mumbled, despising this topic. "He was merciless."

Darren let out a snicker, shaking his head. "I dunno about that. WAS isn't exactly the best word." He interjected, turning his head away from her as soon as she looked in his direction. He couldn't help himself could he?

Vortz snapped a finger, letting out a small vocal snap. "I won't interject if she mauls you to death right here. I won't take much pleasure in watching, but I will let it happen." He said firmly before returning his hand to his labcoat pockets, stance straightened. He wouldn't let them get to him.

Paulie was silent, staring frontward while trying to figure out what to say. She didn't want to escalate this. She couldn't, she shouldn't. Darren looked forward as well, the rest of the trip completely silent. Saying things would probably create more clashing opinions and Vortz evidently had a short fuse.

They were led through various hallways, screens, monitors and signs across the walls that led to various rooms and other sections of the facility. Places that neither had ever seen before. Some other foundation staff passed by with their head down when they got close, probably not wanting any implication in the situation.

A few more minutes of walking went by, one elevator ride and a dark hallway later, they arrived in front of a large doorway.

Vortz turned to look at both of them, moving his hands behind his back and looking down at the two of them with equal scorn. "You can back out if you'd rather not go any further." He disclosed, the two sharing a look.

"Yeah, No. I'm in." Darren contested, crossing his arms. "I may be mostly naked, stripped of all my dignity and better off dead, but I'd rather keep going as a final fuck you to the whole thing." He grinned smugly, Vortz giving him an almost amused look before turning to Paulie.

"You already know my answer, Vortz. I'm not running from this." She gestured to Darren. "Even if it means working with him, I'd much rather go further." He shot her a look, rolling his eyes before staring back at Vortz.

For a moment, his expression changed, perhaps he had seen something in them. "....Very well. Go in whenever you're ready, or walk back down the hall for termination." He then walked quietly down the hall into the darkness, thinking for a moment that he might hesitate and look back but fought it.

"If it means anything... I'm glad you're blaming my dad instead of me." Paulie sighed, reaching for the door handle and pulling it open into a room filled with chairs, a table, and a single man sitting on the other side of the threshold.