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dzthenerd490 · 3 months

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Action Report: The Chaos of Fate

This was possibly the worst thing that could happen, The New Church of the Fractured God had found its way into an old ISU vault. They were a well-known modern faction of religion known as Mekhanism though unlike most sects, who want to make Mekhane whole again; they are mostly driven by obtaining power from their deity. Except they weren't alone, they were currently battling against a group from Zealots on Crack. Both wanted to get some ISU tech, and both were incredibly dangerous enemies of the Foundation. Mobile Task Force Athena-1 "Assassin's Creed" obviously wouldn't have been able to handle the Mekhanites overwhelming power nor the chaos of Zealots on Crack. Not that they could offer the extra hands anyways, their forces were spread too thin at the moment due to Abstergo Industries raiding other vaults like crazy in hopes of replenishing their lost pieces of Eden. Instead, a much stronger and equally unpredictable force was going to be needed to fight. Thus, Mobile Task Force Alpha-9 "Last Hope" was deployed.

***

It was 2017 and Iris was on one of the SFH-2 "Ravens" she was holding a picture of her wife Meri whose stomach was already quite big since she was very pregnant. Iris smiled lovingly at the picture; she still remembered the joy she felt when Meri said she wanted to have a baby and the overwhelming happiness they both had when Dr. Zeek told them the procedure was a success. Then there was Iris's disappointment when she was assigned to today's mission, meaning less time with her wife. Due to the hundreds of other MTF's that existed within the Foundation and the fact that some of them were more powerful than Alpha-9 like Tau-5, Alpha-1, and Hecate-Alpha, she was rarely ever called to action. Though that didn't make the few times she was called to action any less frustrating.

The O5 Council only saw people like her as a weapon to be used by the Foundation, nothing more. She knew this as when she was first taken in by the Foundation, they immediately put her through harsh military training and taught her stealth and assassination tactics. It was quite bad at first but as time went on the MTF units she worked with became nicer and praised her on her growing strength and increasing number wins in sparring contests. Though there were always researchers that looked at her like a freak and even insulted her to her face for not being "human enough". Most ended up getting fired but it didn't make the pain and humiliation fade, though spending time with her wife and getting counseling from Foundation therapists did help.

Most thought she was too emotional and maybe sometimes she was but, in the end, she always felt justified in hating the Foundation. Though, she could always count on her closest friends; MTF Captain Xio, one of her mentors who was also a badass Assassin. Daniel who, despite his bad attitude, she could always trust to protect her from the O5 Council. Finally, there was the love of her life Meri which was pretty self-explanatory. Them and many others she had grown to trust over the years, they were all the only reasons she obeyed the O5 Council. If it wasn't for anyone else, she would have at the very least incited a rebellion and killed the Council if she could. Though there was that... other thing she could do, but even now at the age of 34 she still couldn't control it very well, so maybe it was best not to try.

"You've been staring at that picture for a while now, something nice?" Iris looked up to see Cain sitting on the other side of the chopper from her.

"It's just my beautiful wife."

"Ah, of course, I should have known from your smile. The love between the two of you is stronger than anything I have ever seen. It even bore life I recently heard, congratulations by the way."

"Ha, thank you Cain. You always say the nicest things."

"I always try to, it's a small part of my repentance but a significant part nonetheless."

"Oh... does that mean you used to be... homophobic?"

"Wha... oh! No! No! No! I meant kindness in general! Dear me Iris, please, I would never sink that low. Besides, believe it or not, back in the age of new, it wasn't uncommon for males to fall in love with other males and the same for females loving other females. The only reason it was looked down on was because no children could be conceived from such love as such it was called a fruitless form of love, but for those not wishing too or at least not yet it was considered trivial at worst."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes, it was popular during both the Greek and Roman era, I think even in the early years of the Medieval period as well... But then there were those kings and queens that had those... what do the young people call it... Harem! Yeah, that's it." Iris almost choked from laughter after hearing that but quickly cleared her throat so she could continue to hear Cain talk.

"Yes, especially the older men, they hated the idea of women not joining their harem because of their love for the same sex. With Christianity on the rise, they decided to bribe priests and bishops to add some verses and rewrite some quotes within the bible. Suddenly it was seen as weakness for a man to love another man and for a woman to kiss another woman was the same as bedding with the devil himself. The worst part is that most ended up following it to the extremes, calming those that had such love should be burned at the stake. I say, they didn't call it the dark ages for nothing."

"Wow, sorry you had to go through that Cain."

"It's okay, like all of humanity, as we grow, we may woe, but we also develop. We grow bigger, we grow stronger, wiser, and find more ways to cherish the greatest gift of life. Love." Cain winked at her making Iris smile, she then looked at the picture of her beautiful pregnant wife again.

"Sorry to interrupt captain, but we're at the insertion point!" Iris quickly put the photo on a hidden compartment of her armor, then turned on her earphones.

"Good, take us down nice and steady boys."

"Yes Captain."

***

Once they landed Iris and Cain as well as the four MTF escorts got out of the Raven. At around the same time the other Alpha-9 units and MTF escorts got off their own Ravens and met up in the middle of the choppers. Iris loaded SCP-AEZ and joined the group to see everyone, it must have been quite a serious mission with everyone here. All members of Alpha-9 were here, both from Division "Dagger" and Division "Sword". Division "Dagger" was the one Iris was Captain of; in her unit was Cain (SCP-073), Claudia Raines (SCP-347), and David McGowan (SCP-AZJ) and about three MTF unique Troopers. Her unit was used for stealth missions against powerful Groups of Interest or dangerous Persons of Interest. Then there was Division “Sword” where her good friend and old anomalous mentor Alexi Belitrov was Captain (SCP-2273). In his unit was Rainer Miller (SCP-4051), Leora Lightfoot (SCP-4818), Lucy (SCP-ADY-Alpha) and several MTF Unique Troopers. Because of their abundance of power and destructive capabilities they are mostly entrusted to fight against overwhelming threats. Despite this, Iris was shocked to see Leora here who was currently stretching with a smile on her face, ready to go on the mission.

"Alexei!" Agent Belitrov looked over to Iris who was walking toward him in anger. He was in his bio suit, so he assumed whatever made her angry, he had nothing to worry about. But then he was reminded the hard way that she knew AIE Martial Arts as she quickly swung her leg upward to kick him in the face. This was normally how she would strike him when she was mad because of how much taller he was. Thanks to his bio suit he wasn't decapitated, but it still hurt; probably the same way a regular person would be hurt by a slap to the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you bring Leora here?!" Alexei sighed as now he understood why she was so upset. He rubbed the sore part of his bio suit helmet and stood up properly to face Iris.

"It wasn't me, young Iris, the higher ups requested she come, and she accepted."

"And you just allowed it?"

"No, I did!" Iris then sighed as she turned to her left to face the Commander of Alpha-9 (SCP-AAS). There Charlie was standing there with her own bio suit and armor standing tall with a smile on her face.

"Seriously Charlie?!"

"That's Commander to you Iris!"

"Don't start! Especially after pulling this crap! For god's sake! She's thirteen."

"Hey! I can fight!" Both looked at Leora who was now standing beside them and pouting in anger at Iris. Iris sighed, walked up to Leora, and kneeled while placing her hand on Leora's shoulder.

"Leora, I don't doubt that, but you have to understand you're too young, you're not ready yet!"

"I am ready! Charlie even said I'm almost as strong as she was at my age, and she is super strong!"

"Leora, I know you and most of the younger candidates think we're heroes, but this job is very taxing, and it can really take its toll on you." Leora looked a little shaken by what Iris said but she just smiled and gently placed her hand on Iris's cheek.

"I know Iris, but really I'll be okay! I learned from the best after all!" Leora then walked away to continue to get ready. Iris stood up but sighed again, still being filled with concern for Leora. Then Charlie was the one who placed her hand on Iris's shoulder.

"Relax Iris, I'm nothing like those faceless assholes. If this really was something she couldn't handle I would have never brought her."

"Charlie, we're facing against a cult of capitalist cyborgs and a group of suicidal anarchists. Do you honestly think she'll be okay?"

"Yes, I actually do Iris. She's strong, sure, but she's also very smart, quick thinking, very brave, and has scored the highest in simulation training. She's practically excelled at everything at this point, the higher ups think she's ready for field work and honestly, I agree with them." Iris shook her head but didn't say anything else, she just let it go and walked away. Charlie then shrugged and walked to the group to address them all, while she did, she passed by David.

"Iris is still mad at you."

"Stay out of her head David. Mine too."

"... Sorry Commander."

"Alright everyone listen up!" All eight members of Alpha-9 and the MTF Unique Troopers gathered up to hear what Charlie had to say. One of them actually walked up to her to give her a Foundation Computer Screen Pad with all the information regarding the mission.

"Thank you, ahem! Alright, here's the gist of it, we got two hostile groups of interest fighting over control within one of the vaults of the ISU. Unfortunately, they're the worst of the worst, that being Zealots on Crack and the Church of the Fractured Faith or whatever. Now this vault was actually cleared out by MTF Anetha-1 a while back so as far as we can tell there's nothing actually of value here. However, that doesn't deny the possibility that they might have missed something in the past. Our mission is simple: clear out all hostiles, capture as many of them as possible, and check for possible artifacts left behind. There's also some Researchers requesting we don't damage the vault. Apparently this one is quite special in that it contains murals and possible historical archives at least according to the Archeology Division of the Department of Mythology and Folkloristics. So yeah, that's the basics of the mission. Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah why is it just us? Why don't we have Able or that vigilante bozo?" Iris rolled her eyes at Claudia's question; Charlie was also disappointed due to how the answer should have been obvious.

"Claudia, Able and Cain are to never be in the same room together you know that."

"Then just get rid of Cain!"

"Claudia, for crying out loud, this mission requires we capture all hostiles and preserve the vault! That's not going to happen if Able is a part of this mission. Look, if you just going to keep complaining then just do us all a favor and keep it to yourself." Claudia just sighed and looked away, or at least it seemed that way; she was still invisible, so it was hard to tell.

"Alright then, any other question? No? Good, let's move."

***

MTF Alpha-9 moved forward to the target location; Division "Sword" took the front with Division "Dagger" hanging back. Charlie was with Division "Dagger" acting as a primary defender of "Dagger" as well as emergency reinforcement for "Sword" should the situation call for it. Both divisions also had Unique MTF Troopers with anomalous abilities to help in her respective division. However, Division “Dagger” has only 3 while Division “Sword” has 10.

Once they were close enough Division "Dagger" separated from "Sword" and went to one of the cliffs near the entrance of the vault. Not to close but just enough that they could scout the situation without getting caught. Iris had her earphone connected to Charlie so that they would get immediate updates on what was going on and how best to approach. Iris used her glasses to zoom in and see what they were dealing with.

At the entrance of the vault was a normal looking cave though the main abnormality is that there were Cultists at the front. One was a hooded figure with the symbol of The New Church of the Fractured God on his hood. Besides that, there were steampunk looking robots, random people with advanced looking goggles and laser rifles, a futuristic looking cyborg, and a vicious looking robot with six spider-like legs. Those last two were standing right beside the one with the hood over him.

"Hm, looks like your typical evil Mekhanites. But that's just the entrance. Hey, which one of you is best at reconnaissance?" One of the MTF Unique Troopers came forward upon Iris's request.

"Me, Captain, after an accident involving an experiment, I am able to have my soul leave my body."

"That's not too dangerous for you?"

"No Ma'am, I mean the time limit before my soul starts to lose its connection is about 5 minutes but when I'm on the astral plane I can travel at a speed of 90 miles an hour comprehending time as one second equating to one minute."

"Dang, alright, scout out as much as you can of the inside but remember! Come back in 4 minutes and 30 seconds! Not a second longer!"

"Understood." The soldier then got on the ground so his body would be comfortable. He suddenly and seemingly breathed his last breath as his soul left his body and zoomed into the Vault. His soul was actually visible so Iris and the others saw it all happen, the Fractured Cultists would have seen it too, but he was moving so fast they just didn't notice and those that did thought it was a bug. Thankfully after about 3 minutes his soul came back, making his body come to life.

"Are you alright?"

"Ha... Ha... Ahem! Yes Ma'am, sorry it takes me a while."

"It's alright, take your time and make your report when you're ready."

"Ha... Yes ma'am, Ahem! Okay ready to report. The true entrance to the vault is right inside the cave hidden by some large rocks. It's closed right now so getting in will be tricky. Beyond the door is a long hallway. It's quite long and wide too, filled with different structures almost like a city. The higher ups were right about there being murals there too with lots of weird stuff, but the main takeaway is that it's filled with Cultists. Lots of cyborgs, robots, and other Mekhanites with various augmentations."

"What about the Zealots?"

"Unknown, I tried to go farther but there was some kind of barrier at the other end of the large hall. It somehow kept me from moving on, but from what I could see there were lots of bodies belonging to both Groups beyond the barrier. There were also in the long hall as well. It seems they are having quite the bloody fight."

"Geez, how the hell does a small group like Zealots on Crack afford to have such a loss and still go on with life."

"Actually, ma'am I only saw about four bodies belonging to the Zealots, as for the Cultists I saw about forty-three. Or at least I think that's the case it was hard to tell given their... particular dress style."

"... Woah. Only MTF Hestia-3 has ever achieved killing so many evil Mekhanites with so little casualties. Guess those psychos are good for something after all. Anyways, anything else to report?"

"No ma'am."

"Good, let's continue then. Charlie, come in."

"Go ahead Iris. What's up?"

"The guards up front won't be getting reinforcements from within the cave so we don't need to worry about that. Still, I got some good pictures with my glasses so I think I can ambush them and take them out one by one."

"Actually, I'm going to send Leora to take care of them."

"What?! Charlie-!"

"Iris, the best thing you can do against the Mekhanites is snap their necks or shoot them and we need them alive. I am better at burning things than I am at containing them. Leora on the other hand can manifest binds to hold them in place, particularly strong ones might I add. Only I could ever break from her powers and that's just because I can manipulate anything related to energy."

"Charlie-"

"Captain Clef, this is an order from your Commander, stand down and have faith in Agent Lightfoot. Is that understood?" Iris grunted in anger, but she didn't say anything else other than confirming that she understood.

***

"Good, You're up Loera." Leora smiled and ran up to the front of the Cave. Leora dreamed about being a superhero ever since she was little but then when she was eight her wish came true. She suddenly got the power to create crystal-like light objects anytime she wanted though she was limited on what she could do. Then one day, strange men in black came to her house and told her parents they had a job offer in this place called New Marais. She thought it was boring adult stuff and that it sucked she would have to move but once they did, she was ecstatic over it.

It was a place full of aliens, elves, vampires, cyborgs, and other superheroes too! She was enrolled into a school there and met some awesome kids that were really nice and became her friends too. Because her powers were strong, she was given the chance to join the Foundation in an MTF called Alpha-9 "Last Hope". She was nervous at first but then she met Charlie whose powers were similar to hers and learned to use her powers in so many different ways. She grew stronger as time went on and eventually, she reached a point that she could proudly call herself a real hero.

Her parents were obviously nervous but as Leora got stronger, they began to calm down and even started praising her for how far she came. It did take them longer than her to adjust to New Marais but as they did, they came to accept her powers and her new responsibilities as well. She was a young girl, with supportive parents, cool out of this world friends, an amazing fantasy sci-fi place she called home, and awesome teachers and mentors that gave her the confidence and training she needed to become a real hero. What's not to love about her life?

As such even when she was assigned to this mission a normal 13-year-old should never be assigned too she wasn't nervous but instead really excited. This was her chance to show everyone that all of her training finally paid off. As such even when she saw the future soldier guys, the cyborg warriors, or the hooded cult guy she wasn't scared. She just ran up to them and stopped right in front so they could see her clearly.

"Sup guys?" The Fractured Cultists were all shocked by her sudden appearance, one alerted the other to go into the cave to get reinforcements. Only for the cave to be sealed by her Photon Crystals; Iris, who was watching, was also shocked to see this. Leora was only supposed to be able to create her photonic matter so long as she maintained physical contact with it, yet she just made a wall manifest simply by looking at the cave.

Leora quickly manifested binds on all the cultists forcing them to fall to the ground before they could even fight. However, for some reason the Photon Crystals didn't form on the hooded one who just started laughing at her. It then threw its hood off to show his heavily modified body. He was coated in black armor covered in Mekhanite Thaumaturgic symbols. He had snake-like wires and technological tubes slithering all around his body. Finally, he had two large black wings also covered in Thaumaturgic symbols and given vicious blade-like feathers. Suddenly the Thaumaturgic symbols on his body started glowing to hypnotize Leora with their Cognito hazardous properties.

"Foolish child! You will return to your Foundation! Find the pieces of Mekhane and bring them to our church!" Leora actually seemed to be under his hypnotism for a moment but then she smiled proudly and made a pair of shades out of her Photon Crystals.

"Nah!" The Fractured cultists yelled in anger which actually made Leora cover her ears in pain. Some of the wires and tubes connected to his arm and it suddenly grew into a giant hammer which he swung down on Leora. She was scared in one second but smiled the next as she manifested a hammer with her Photon Crystals and swung it at him. The collision overpowered him and broke his fist entirely making him yell in agonizing pain. He flew in the air quickly, once high enough he shot down at her some of his blade feathers though after making a Photon Crystals barrier, the feathers broke on impact. He growled in anger but suddenly his wings were getting shot with small but powerful pellets. With the combination of intense speed and strength his wings were quickly breaking down forcing him to fall back to the ground.

"Rahhh! I haven't lost yet!" Suddenly his armor started falling off showing beneath a smaller body of shinier armor. He zoomed around Leora so fast for her to see him, but she wasn't scared as she knew the idiot made a fatal mistake, he got rid of his Thaumaturgic symbols. She manifested a wall of Photon Crystal in a random direction around her and the cultist immediately slammed face first into it. He was badly hurt but tried to run away from her, but she proved to be faster. She turned the wall into a sphere surrounding him and condensed it as much as she could without crushing him to death.

"I just want everyone to be aware that I totally taught her that." Leora turned around to see Charlie smiling at her with the others. Leora ran to Charlie and hugged her to which Charlie ruffled her hair playfully. Leora giggled but then noticed Iris giving orders over the radio saying the entrance to the cave was secure and to send reinforcements at once to get the prisoners. Leora ran to her and hugged her, surprising Iris.

"I told you I got it! You saw right!" Iris sighed and kneeled down to face Leora directly with a smile.

"Yeah, you were amazing. Sorry I doubted you; you belong in Alpha-9." Leora blushed and smiled in pride as some other Alpha-9 units cheered her on.

“But you still have ways to go, don’t get overconfident okay?” Leora was a little confused at first but smiled again and nodded with enthusiasm.

***

Once a recovery team grabbed all the captured cultists to be processed back at the nearest Foundation base, the mission continued. Alexi tried to move the door, but it was held strong, so Charlie melted the door down by making her fists hotter than the sun. Once an opening was made, she absorbed the heat to allow everyone to follow her as she took the lead. The first part of the entrance was just a long staircase though wide too, so the group wasn't squished as they went down. Though as they made it down there was another door.

"Hm, this one isn't as thick so I can blast through it, but the problem is that once I do, hundreds of those Mekhanites will be ready to ambush us."

"Commander, allow me. I can take their bullet fire."

"Bullets don't worry me Alexi, the Fractured Church and Zealots have much worse things than that. Even with your new upgrades to the suit you won't be able to protect against everything they throw at you."

"Allow me then." Iris then pressed a button on her glasses and two nearly microscopic drones flew out and through the cracks of the door.

"What the hell was that?"

"My glasses' latest upgrade, nanobots that are able to float into the air and take pictures and send them back to my glasses. Allowing me to teleport to places I haven't been to yet."

"... Nice."

"Right? I'll provide a distraction so come through hard and fast... okay, I'm ready, on your mark?"

"... Now!" Iris then manifested a photo and jumped into it suddenly appearing behind one of the cultists positioned as a sniper. She shot one in the back of the head and quickly disappeared, confusing another sniper before he got shot as well. As bodies of snipers and lookouts started to fall that bellow noticed this and tried alerting others about Iris's attack. However, they were quickly blindsided by the front entrance exploding with Charlie quickly flying up and shooting several cultists with her fireballs and Alexi firing with the laser guns attached to the arms and shoulders of his bio suit.

"Intruders! Alert Brother Clyde!" One of the cultists nodded and along with a group, tried to go to the other end of the long hall to send the message. However, he and everyone with him was quickly shot down by Iris. While the cultist was going down Rainer manifested a shield made of Plumanium and used it to keep himself, Claudia, and the reserved MTF units safe. Leora made her own shield and was capturing as many of the scriptures as she could. David was also behind Leora's shield and using his anomalous abilities to control any of the cultists who were about to ambush them. He commanded them to attack their fellow cultists instead or just kill themselves. Some tried to form up into a group but Lucy used her meta-arms to jump in the air and towards the center of their group. In a matter of seconds they were all torn up into minced meat.

Meanwhile an MTF unit that had the ability to fly was in the air using his rifle to shoot down any hiding snipers or cultists that could also fly. There was also an MTF unit with the anomalous ability of never feeling the negative effects of drugs who filled his body with lots of different Foundation enhancement drugs to make himself into a temporary super soldier. He was not only able to withstand the bullets and laser blasts but could easily punch through their metal armor bodies. Another MTF unit with the ability to make a single melee weapon out of an anomalous atomization energy. She could slice through their weapons, armor, and any other forms of defense and quickly burn them all into dust with whatever weapon she made. Then there was one of the MTF units being protected by Rainer's and Leora's shield. She was using her anomalous sight that always showed her the quickest way to her goal which in this case was the weak points of her enemies, allowing her to shoot them down easily. Finally, there was an MTF unit that didn't have any guns at all as his anomalous ability allowed him to puncture a hole in anyone, all he had to do was point with a gun jester and say "bang".

The cultists however were strong as well, one was with heavy armor covered with memetic symbols forcing anyone who saw it to remember or imagine disgusting and embarrassing images. Then there was one covered in metal like scales all over his body, hiding several guns placed in his body allowing him to shoot anyone from any direction. He nearly got Iris a few times, but she managed to shoot him in the end. There was also a serpentine like cultists that screamed a headache inducing screech and had long laser blade claws. They even encountered a cultist made entirely of metal bug like bots with blades on their shells and each one carrying his consciousness so no matter how many they destroyed he was technically alive through each one. Despite their complexity, the cultists of the Fractured Church continued to fall one by one.

However, the cultists weren't done, the ones closer to the back brought out a large black metal box and opened it. Inside was a strange mechanical sphere that opened up and shifted out six arachnid like legs. Suddenly its armor plating in the front opened and showed several mechanical camera eyes. The machine walked forward and each of its mechanical eyes kept changing color. Suddenly one of the MTF units was frozen in ice and one of Rainer's shields started melting despite not being hot. Another MTF unit near Charlie had his helmet blown off nearly killing him, then he was suddenly hit by an invisible force in the stomach. She knew that machine was the cause, so she flew up in the air drawing the attention of the machine. She raised her hand and suddenly the camera eyes started going haywire, then powerful lasers blasted from her fingers and tore the machine apart before it could do more damage. With their final weapon destroyed, and ridiculously easy at that, the last of the cultists surrendered and allowed Leora to entrap them all in a proton crystal orb.

"Alright! Good work everyone! Not a single casualty as well! Alright, Medics! Treat everyone who was hurt and the rest of us let's survey the area and see what we can find." As the medics went to work, one of the MTF units walked up to Charlie with his head down.

"Sorry Commander. I couldn't get any good rolls with my dice."

"It's alright Lucky, you're still our ace at the end of the day. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Meanwhile Lucy walked over to one of the captured Cultists and used her meta-arm to grab them by the throat. She smirked and glared at him with cold and angry eyes.

“Hey! We’re just supposed to capture them remember!” Everyone was shocked to see Leora standing up to Lucy of all people. Lucy looked back at Leora with the same cold eyes but then her meta-arm suddenly disappeared. She then closed her eyes and smiled at Leora.

“I was just trying to confirm they were truly captured; you can never be too careful with Mekhanites.” Lucy then walked by Leora and gently patted her gently on the head, making Leora pout in annoyance at being treated like a kid. Charlie made sure to watch and used her energy sense to ensure that Lucy really did get rid of her meta-arms.

“Yeesh, that one still creeps me out.” Charlie then turned to Lucky that was still next to her.

“Yeah, I honestly think the higher ups jumped the gun at making her an Alpha-9 member, but you know the O5, they’d never pass up the opportunity to get just a bit more power.”

"Uh Commander! You're going to want to see this!" Charlie, Iris, and Alexi went over to where the MTF unit calling to them was and saw him pointing at a mural on the wall. It depicted some of the cultists they had just fought as well as ones they haven't seen on one side of the mural. On the other side was clearly Charlie, Iris, Alexi, Loera, and Rainer along with the rest of Alpha-9 on the other side. They were clearly running toward each other for a massive battle.

"This is... interesting, Trooper, how old is this mural, did the Mekhanites draw it? Did they know we were coming?" The MTF trooper next to them pulled out a Foundation Scanner and after waving it over the mural he read the results.

"Uh no Commander according to this, the paint of the mural is just as old as everything in here."

"... The ISU knew we were going to fight here?" Iris processed what Charlie said and scoffed while shrugging in annoyance.

"Well, that's stupid, if they could predict the future why didn't they prevent themselves from dying?"

"Apparently they tried everything, but nothing worked." Iris already knew this, so she just looked at the MTF in disappointment after his explanation.

"It was a war among the gods, kinda hard to avoid that." Charlie tried to back him up but that just annoyed Iris further.

"Then why didn't they hide in these vaults? I mean, look at how it's still standing, they should have been safe inside them."

"Maybe they were but then one of the gods made some kind of anomaly that allowed them to wipe the ISU from existence regardless of where they were. Look I don't know and right now I don't care, the research team can figure all that out and we can ask them later. Let's keep looking and if we can't find anything else then let's keep moving." Charlie and the MTF units went to look for other murals and potential anomalous items. Iris sighed as she thought the whole concept of precursor races being stupid, especially since they were more advanced yet were still wiped out. Though her annoyance died out as she looked around, she had never been inside an ISU vault before, so this was really interesting. It really was like some kind of weird city down here so futuristic and alien.

Right at that moment Iris wished this place was safe so she could have brought Meri and maybe their other friends here to watch. They would have enjoyed the amazing sight, though her gaze turned down and she saw a strange mural. She slowly walked up to it and looked at it in disbelief, Charlie noticed this and walked up to her.

"Iris? What's wrong, why are... no way..." Charlie looked at the mural as well and saw what had spooked Iris so much. It showed a girl with long black hair, deer horns, and a golden scarf; her hands were clasped together, and she was seemingly praying while hovering over the earth. Around the earth there were strange people in tacky, cool, and mostly colorful clothing and masks seemingly dancing all around it.

Iris then looked to another Mural next to it, it showed the same girl singing while the people in masks were dancing, seemingly chasing after her as well. However, what really shocked Iris is that on the opposite side was the Scarlet King. He had the scarlet skin, eyes all over his body, and the large horns with the sinister sharp teeth smile on his blank face. There were several of his spawns, some of his cultists, and even the infamous Blade Head was there on his side seemingly chasing after him. It was like the two were only seconds away from fighting.

"Is... is that Meri?"

"That's impossible, Meri is blonde. She never even told me she wanted to dye her hair black or any other color."

"Huh, maybe it's an ancient god or something. There are lots of ancient gods that have deer horns after all, like that freak deer from Saturn for example."

"No, look at the clothes of the cultists and the dancing people, this isn't the past, it's the present, or future maybe! Is that what these murals are? Are they depicting the future?"

"Hm... Look Iris I really don't know, but it shouldn't have anything to do with you or Meri. maybe the researchers will tell us later, come on it's about time we moved on." Charlie walked off leaving Iris to stand there for a little while longer looking at the Mural. It kinda looked like Meri but also different, Iris knew it wasn't her wife but for some reason something about it gave her an odd feeling. Still Charlie was right, she wasn't going to get answers just staring at it so she shook her head and followed Charlie.

***

After the recovery team came again and it was confirmed there was nothing to find Alpha-9 continued down the long hall. It took a lot longer than expected or maybe it was the exact amount of time since it did look like a street of a large city. Once they made it to the other side, they found the large barrier that the MTF Trooper who could astral project, mentioned earlier. Iris looked into the barrier and saw that it was being emitted by a device that required a key to lower the barrier.

"Oof it's a locked door, without a key we can't go through."

"Let me try something." Charlie then walked up to the device and placed her hand over where the key would need to be placed. She then closed her eyes and suddenly the device started glowing and then turned off the barrier.

"Woah, how did you do that?"

"It was simple, I put my own energy into the device and found out where all the energy is sourced and absorbed it." Charlie then walked forward leaving Iris and Alexie standing there in silence.

"I really hate it when she makes impossible things like that sound simple."

"They don't call her goddess for nothing, Iris."

"Her code name is supposed to be JUST 'Fire Goddess'. Ugh, why did the O5 Council make her fight with Sigurrós. Ever since then those two have grown insanely powerful." Iris just sighed as she followed Charlie while Alexie chuckled as he waved everyone at the back to follow them.

End of Part 1

Part 2 (Coming... Eventually)

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dzthenerd490 · 5 months

Text

Tales: The Polar Express

It was 1993 and Iris just sat in her room curled up in her bed. She knew that it was Christmas Eve, but she didn't care, the last thing she wanted was to be around more Foundation staff. Sure, the ones that cared for her greatly outnumbered the ones who enjoyed bullying her but right now she wanted nothing to do with ALL of them. She hoped that those that cared for her would understand her desire to just be left alone. Though her hopes were dashed almost immediately as she heard the door to her room open.

"Go away!" She was desperate for alone time, so she didn't bother being kind to whoever was at the door.

"Iris, what's wrong?" She instantly felt regret as she heard the only voice she enjoyed listening to even now. She quickly got up and turned around to see it was Meri. Iris groaned at her own frustration and just sighed as she looked at Meri.

"Sorry, Meri, I really just want to be alone right now."

"... I, I heard what happened, you should know that jerk got fired today."

"I don't care! not after... It's not what she said, she broke my camera! That was the last thing I had from my parents and she broke it." Meri was shocked by this; she had heard Foundation staff risk their entire careers by insulting anomalies protected by the Anomalous Employment Division. She herself was the victim of quite a few of those insults but never had she heard of something so vile happening before. Meri walked over to Iris and opened her arms for a hug, Iris blushed and tried to look away, but she couldn't resist and hugged Meri.

"Thanks Meri, I do like the hug." Iris then let go of Meri so they could be face to face.

"But I would really rather be alone."

"Oh... I see, but um... if you change your mind, we're having a Christmas sleepover, also it's in celebration of Sigurrós recovery. She's getting healthy and doesn't have to take as much of the drugs anymore. So just this once Ms. Corvio and Harvey are allowing her to have a sleepover with the rest of us on Christmas. Maybe being with everyone will cheer you up? We going to stay up till midnight to open our presents early!" Meri smiled beautifully but Iris was still feeling moody.

"I... I don't know Meri, I think I'll just bring everyone down with my negativity, I'm still pretty mad after all. I don't wanna ruin one of Sigurrós only days where she's out of bed. Besides you know I don't believe in Santa Claus." Meri then let go of Iris but looked down in disappointment, she really wanted Iris to come after all.

"Well, I won't force you, but just know the doors to the lounge will always be open. It's going to be hard to not have fun without you... Merry Christmas Iris." Meri then left the room finally leaving Iris alone. Iris felt bad making Meri sad like that, but she just couldn't bring herself to leave her room right now. She just wanted to be alone and maybe cry in peace with no one around her. Iris laid down on her bed not even bothering to read one of her favorite books like she normally does. She did end up crying a little and surprisingly that was what she needed to fall asleep.

***

The Sound of a train could be heard even within the Foundation Site, it woke Iris almost immediately. She only ever heard such a sound in audio recordings and the occasional cartoons Dr. Zeek and Daniel allowed her to watch. Suddenly it stopped and her door suddenly opened wide which it never would unless someone was trying to enter but no one was. Suddenly she heard a ring of a bell, she looked around but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Then it rang again this time out of her room, she went out of her room and looked around. Again, the ringing happened and was coming from down the hall.

Iris knew this was a bad idea especially to do it this late, but she was curious and also didn't care about making Foundation staff mad right now. She went down the halls and past every door and room she could while following the ringing. At first it sounded like a normal bell but soon as she continued it sounded like a soft jingle of sleigh bells. Finally, Iris made it to the place where Foundation security never let her even get close too. She made it to the exit lobby of the Site, the only entrance in and out of the Site. She looked around; it was quite big, probably to ensure that no matter how big the Foundation would be able to transport anything in and out. Though she noticed on the ceiling for cameras and on the walls were miniguns, electrified net launchers, and missile launchers. Though all the turrets were turned off, and weirdest of all despite Iris being here none of the alarms were going off.

"Iris?" Iris turned around and saw all her friends, Stella, Cidney, Sigurrós, Meri, and even little Abby was there with her necklace that kept them from feeling the effects of her anomaly. Besides that, they were all wearing different colored nightgowns much like Iris was.

"Wha- What are you guys doing here?"

"We could ask you the same question." Sigurrós then stepped forward, Iris couldn't help but smile and actually ran up to her and hugged her, Sigurrós giggled and hugged Iris back.

"Sigurrós! Meri told me you were recovering but I still couldn't believe it!" Iris then backed off from Sigurrós to get a better look at her; however, suddenly her head felt itchy, so she touched the top of her head to suddenly realize she has cat ears.

"Oh sorry." Sigurrós closed her eyes and raised her hand to Iris and suddenly the cat ears were gone.

"I still have a little time to go before I'm fully recovered but Dr. Alvik assured me once he's done, I won't ever hurt anyone again." Iris smiled; she didn't know if there was anyone more scared of Sigurrós powers than her. She was happy for Sigurrós to finally be getting some control over the dangerous powers that forced her into a coma for almost her entire childhood. Then suddenly everyone heard the bell again, that soft and lovely jingle clearly coming out from outside the Site despite the doors being locked shut.

"Is that Santa?!" Abby walked over to Iris and hugged her out of excitement, Iris smiled and gently patted her head. She soon felt guilt as Meri was right about her feeling better if she hung out with her friends. Soon Cidney inched forward of the group so that everyone could see her and said, "What should we do?" is ASL. Thanks to the AED she recently received modifications to make her augmentations easier to manage and her hands not so blade like anymore.

"Should we not go back to our rooms? It's already a bad idea to be here." Stella, who was clinging to Meri, agreed and nodded her head furiously to show it. Iris knew it as well, but her rebellious spirit was already on the rise, so she huffed and walked forward toward the door. Cidney quickly grabbed her and as soon as Iris turned around, she said "Iris! What if it's a trap from one of those bad groups or maybe a bad SCP! I heard there were lots of bad SCP's that look like Santa!" in ASL. Iris sighed, she couldn't deny the possibility that it was an evil anomaly or perhaps the Black Queen's Insurgency finally coming to finish her off. However, as they all heard the jingling of bells again Iris smiled and looked back at all of her friends with determination.

"I'm not afraid, you all should go back to sleep but me, I'm going."

"Iris!" Meri called out to her, but Iris didn't listen, instead she just kept going to the entrance of the lobby. Iris looked around and saw a button on the side of the walls saying emergency open. She ran over to it and pressed it. The hatch doors started opening and from it the cold air blew in but for whatever reason it wasn't too cold. Maybe it was because they were in a desert but still something about it felt odd. But still Iris left the Site and wandered outside without fear, though it was mainly because she was overtaken by wonder. She had never been outside before, so this was a new experience for her, even if it was a little mundane.

Meri was watching Iris with great concern and fear, hoping she would eventually come to her senses and come back. However, the opposite ended up happening as Abby went running after Iris and so did Cidney. Meri tried to call out for them, but Sigurrós grabbed her hand and pulled Meri so that she and Stella would follow the others.

"Come on now, it's not like there's anything out there strong enough to hurt us." Meri was shocked by Sigurrós recklessness but just sighed as she did kind of agree with her. Meri then started walking alongside the rest of them without resistance. Stella still wanted to go back but she continued to cling to Meri out of fear and because she couldn't see. Though as soon as they continued outward they heard someone shouting, "all aboard!"

"What the heck?!" Everyone turned to Iris and were shocked to see her staring at a train that was right in front of the Foundation Site. How this was possible none of them knew, nor did they know why it was here of all times and places. Iris continues closer to the train only to suddenly get confronted by the Conductor.

"All Abo- oh! Ah! There you are! Iris Thompson! What were you trying to pull? Fashionably late? On Christmas Eve of all nights?"

"No I was... wait. you. know me?"

"Uh... Of course! This is you correct?" The Conductor showed her a clipboard showing a list of all the passengers. Sure, enough when Iris looked at it her name was on the list, in fact all of their names were on the list. Soon Meri, Sigurrós, and the others caught up to Iris and were shocked to see their names as all.

"Ah! Good, you're all here! Now then girls, are you all ready to go?"

"Go? Go where?"

"Why, to the North Pole of course! This is the Polar Express!" Iris and the others looked at one another in confusion. They had heard and experienced weird stuff before, but this really took the cake on the weirdest, at least for now.

"Hm, now normally we don't make stops at the uh... SCP Foundation? Am I saying that correct?" Iris nodded so the conduction continued.

"Well, the higher management considered that after years of allowing them to feel nothing but fear for this time of year, that a change was needed. Most certainly with the younger generation. Besides, this seems like a crucial year for all of you, as I'm sure you're aware some of you don't even celebrate Christmas." The Conductor looked at all of them when he said this, but his gaze fell to Iris as he seemingly appreciated that last part. Iris lowered her gaze, she felt she was justified for not wanting to celebrate Christmas but right now the Conductor was making her feel bad.

"Come now girls, the time to go is now as we are-" The Conductor then pulled out his pocket watch to check the time.

"Oof! On a tight schedule! So, the time to decide is now!" Meri and Sigurrós looked at each other in confusion, not sure if this was a trap or not. Cidney was holding on to Iris now out of fear, having a very bad feeling about all of this. However, like before Iris took the initiative and stepped onto the train. Meri sighed but she knew protesting wouldn't get through to Iris right now, so she quickly followed. Cidney was shocked by this and even more shocked when Sigurrós escorted Stella and Abby onto the train as well. Cidney stood there panicking in fear not sure what to do, she then looked to the Conductor who was still there.

"The Polar Express is under no jurisdiction to force you to come. However, it would be such a shame for your friends to meet Santa without you." Cidney was still scared but she didn't want to be alone, so she nodded. The Conductor then extended a hand and helped her as she got up onto the train.

"Alright girls, right this way." The Conductor opened the door for them and inside was a comfortable looking passenger cart. Though that's not what surprised any of them it was the fact that inside the cart were lots of other kids. The kids were all singing and laughing around though some of them noticed the girls leaving the air awkward. Though it wasn't hard to see the reason why, Stella had black eyes, Cidney was part cyborg, and Mira had deer horns and legs. The only ones who looked normal were Sigurrós, Iris, and Abby, ironic considering they had the most elaborate anomalous properties. Thankfully the silence was broken when one of the younger boys looked over his seat and spoke.

"... are you guys' superheroes?" Iris chuckled at that but didn't answer and instead went to get a seat, she grabbed Meri's hand so that they would sit together. Abby noticed this and grabbed Stella's hand so that they could sit together and Sigurrós did the same for Cidney to help her calm down. The six of them made sure to keep sitting close to each other but also in the back as they didn't know anyone in the front. Suddenly a little girl walked up to where Meri was sitting and stared at her for a little while to which Meri looked at her in confusion.

"Uh... Yes?"

"... You're very pretty, are you an angel?" Iris snorted though she did have a similar opinion about Meri.

"Ah... ahem, no I'm not, why do you ask?"

"Hm... I don't know, my mommy says angels are pretty girls with bird wings, but you don't have bird wings, you have deer horns and legs. but deers and birds are both animals and you're pretty, so I thought that maybe you were from a different kind of angle."

"Oh, she is actually." Meri looked at Iris confused while the little girl's eyes sparkled.

"Really?!"

"Yup! You know how normal angles make lights with their halos and stuff. She can make flowers grow." Meri looked at Iris with disappointment but then looked at the little girl who was looking at her with eyes full of wonder. Meri didn't want to disappoint the little girl, so she sighed and held out her hands in front of her. Thanks to the anomalous device within her rosary she was able to control her powers to the point that she could even make flowers grow from anywhere without damaging anything. As such it was no effort for her to grow a single flower within the palms of her hands. The girl was speechless at the sight as her eyes widened with amazement. Meri actually smiled and decided to let the girl keep the flower, the girl did and put it on her hair. The girl giggled and thanked Meri, then ran back to her seat while showing the other kids.

"Ha, and you say my power is cool."

"Your power is wonderful Iris; you just don't give yourself enough credit." Iris blushed as she looked down in embarrassment. Suddenly Meri leaned forward but it was because someone was grabbing her horns.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Woah so they are real."

"Please let me go!"

"Or what, deer? You know men like me hunt you in the forest and eat you right?" Iris got on her seat and punched the boy in the shoulder making him let go of Meri.

"Meri, are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah, he was so rude."

"Hey!" The boy then got off the seat in front of them and faced them from the side.

"What's your problem! I was just trying to see if they were fake or not."

"You were hurting her!"

"So what? She's a freak, stop being such a drama queen!" The boy tried to walk away but Iris got out of her seat and stopped him.

"Hey, apologize to her!"

"Iris stop!"

"No, not until he apologizes."

"Go back to your seat, drama queen!"

"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Iris then pushed the boy which grabbed the attention of all the other kids. They started watching intently at the incoming fight, Meri facepalmed, Cidney covered her face in fear, Abby watched thinking Iris could win easily, and Stella had no idea what was going on. The boy blushed at the idea of being pushed by a girl of all things and felt like he had to act tough with everyone watching him, so he raised his fists despite shaking in fear.

"You know what, my dad always says to my mom that girls need to learn their place!" He threw a fist at Iris, but she easily dodged and punched him back. He held his nose in pain, but he just glared at Iris with even more anger.

"You! Girls aren't supposed to know how to fight!" He threw another punch only for Iris to dodge again and hit him in the stomach. Now the kids were cheering her on, which only angered the boy more, so he tried to throw another punch but suddenly he was frozen into place. Suddenly he was pushed back by an invisible force, Iris was just as shocked as everyone else by this, or at least she was until Sigurrós showed up.

"Ah, freaks! They're all freaks!" Soon all of the kids looked at Iris and Sigurrós, making Iris scared but Sigurrós disappointed. Sigurrós didn't want to hurt people but what mattered to her most was keeping her friends safe. However, her worries were dashed away when all of the kids started cheering both to their and the boy's shock.

"I knew they were superheroes!"

"Some of them are angels too!" As some of the kids continued to praise Iris and Sigurrós, the boy started crying and hid in one of the front chairs. Some of the older kids walked up to Sigurrós and Iris to compliment them directly.

"You guys are awesome!"

"Thanks by the way, that kid was Brandon and he's a massive jerk."

"I know right, why is he even on this train? He doesn't deserve to see Santa."

"How did you guys do that? You were fighting like a ninja but you! You made him move with your mind! Like a real superhero!"

"Was it magic? Can you teach us magic!"

"Ahem! Tickets! Tickets please!" The Conductor was back and quickly everyone got back into their seats. Iris got back into hers in a rush only to be confronted by a very disappointed looking Meri glaring at her with arms crossed.

"What?"

"Iris, I appreciate you sticking up for me, but sometimes it better to just let things go rather than starting violence." Iris pouted but looked down in embarrassment, though she really should have seen that coming. Meri was the most responsible of them all and was a well-known pacifist, so she hated violence especially unnecessary violence. However, they both looked up to the Conductor who was standing beside their seat.

"Tickets?"

"We don't have tickets."

"Come now, check your pockets." Iris and Meri looked at one another but did as the Conductor asked. Surprisingly Meri found a ticket in the pocket of her nightgown and Iris found one for her in her pajama pants. The Conductor took their tickets and started using his puncher to imprint letters on them and quickly gave them back. They both looked at their tickets with Meri's having the letters F and H and Iris's having the letters H and P. Both looked at one another in confusion and then to the conductor.

"Uh what does this mean?"

"It means you are now official passengers of the Polar Express."

"No, I mean-"

"Next! Who's next?" Iris just sighed in annoyance while Meri just shrugged.

"It must be some kind of processing code."

"I guess." Iris then looked out the window and saw that they were going through different towns and places. Iris was quickly wide-eyed at all of the stores and other buildings, but also the beautiful snow that fell from the sky. She had never seen so much of the outside world before; it was for that reason alone that she didn't regret getting onto this train.

Iris looked over to Abby who was describing everything she saw out the window to Stella who was listening with excitement. Cidney was also excited by having small glimpses of the outside world, making Sigurrós giggle at how cute she was being about all of it. Iris only felt more and more justified for getting onto the train, Meri noticed this and rolled her eyes. Though after she turned her gaze from Iris she smiled as she secretly was glad, they were here too.

Suddenly the train stopped leaving everyone confused. Iris looked out the window and saw they were in a place with lots of large buildings that looked worn down and had lots of graffiti on them. The Conductor got off the train and shouted "all aboard!" to the nearest building. After a short while a little boy came out of the building looking very tense and scared. He didn't have hair, had dark skin, and was wearing worn pajamas. He walked up to the Conductor, and it seemed they were having a similar conversation to what Iris had with him earlier. However, the boy backed up seeming not wanting to come so the Conductor simply said, "Suit yourself!" and got back on the train.

The train then slowly started back up, leaving the boy behind, though as it passed, he noticed Iris who was still looking out the window. Iris noticed him looking at her and waved at him to get on the train quickly. He tried to turn around and forget about it but in the end, he gave in and ran for the train. Iris quickly started cheering him on getting the attention of the other kids who were doing the same. The boy was shocked to see so many cheering him on, he never had that before so he was determined to run as fast as he could. However, he ended up falling on the road making him lose any chance of the train. Or at least that would have happened if he didn't start floating in the air.

Iris was shocked by the sight but then turned around to see Sigurrós raising her hand. She was helping the boy float in the air and fly right towards the nearest steps onto the train. Everyone was in awe at the sight and cheered as he was slowly getting closer to the train. Once he got on the steps, he was confused but got on and entered their cart where he was overwhelmed with kids walking up to him with excitement.

"That was awesome!"

"How did you do that?"

"Are you a superhero too?"

"Uh... no... Superhero?"

"Yeah, like them!" One of the younger kids pointed at Iris and Meri, both of which looked at the boy. The boy blushed at the sight of them but then looked at Sigurrós and Cidney and was shocked by her appearance. Then finally his gaze went to Stella and Abby, Stella was once again confused on what was going on, so Abby whispered into her ear what was happening. He was so confused on why Stella, Cidney, and Mira looked so different from everyone else but before he could ponder anymore Brandon pushed past the crowd and glared at the boy.

"Hey, get off the train."

"Leave him alone Brandon!" Brandon looked at the little girl speaking to him and pushed her away, scaring the boy.

"I said get off the train, your kind doesn't belong here." Before things could escalate Iris got in-between Brandon and the boy.

"Want me to beat you up again?" Brandon looked scared now, but he tried to keep up his cool appearance. Though that fell apart quickly when one of the older kids stood beside Iris and faced Brandon.

"You don't get to decide who stays on the train, you wanna mess with them, you'll have to go through me." Soon other kids started joining Iris's side in defending the boy.

"And me!"

"Me too!"

"Yeah, back off Brandon!" Soon all the other kids joined in on jeering Brandon which made him start tearing up. Iris noticed this and actually kinda felt bad.

"Fine! Then I guess your all just a bunch of filthy freaks!" Then her guilt faded as he ran back to his seat while insulting everyone. Everyone started cheering again and were complementing one another at how brave they were. Iris smiled at this but then looked back to the boy and extended her hand to him.

"Hi. I'm Iris, what's your name?"

"... Ethan... I don't wanna fight."

"Hm? Why would I fight you? You're not another jerk, are you?"

"No... I just... I don't wanna fight... "

"Hm, well don't worry Ethan, I won't hurt you."

"... Thank you." Ethan finally took her hand and shook on it; Iris smiled at him and led him back to her and Meri's seat. However, Iris quickly realized they would be cramped if he sat with them.

"Hm... oh! Why don't you sit in front of us!"

"I don't mind that." Meri smiled at Ethan, making him blush again. He couldn't say anything out of embarrassment, so he just nodded and sat in the seat in front of them. Since Ethan was sitting alone, he sat up and turned around to face Meri and Iris.

"Nice to meet you Ethan, I am Meri Clef."

"Hi... are... are you an alien?" Meri and Iris looked at one another in confusion but then quickly started laughing in joy.

"No. Not at all."

"Okay... sorry... " Ethan then slumped back to his seat in embarrassment to which Iris and Meri giggled joyfully.

"He's cute, isn't he?" Iris nodded but then felt a little bit of jealousy hearing Meri say that about someone else. Though she shook her head as she knew it was petty to feel jealousy especially towards Ethan who she just met. Meri noticed Iris blushing in embarrassment and smirked.

"Though, he's not the one who's in my heart."

"Really?" Iris jolted back to facing Meri but realized her and Meri's face were too close together and quickly backed off while blushing in embarrassment.

"Ahem, good to know." Meri giggled and blushed at Iris's cute embarrassment. Though quickly the Conductor entered their Cart again and went for the train's telephone.

"Ahem! Your attention please, are there any Polar Express Passengers in need of refreshments?" Soon all the other kids raised their hands; Stella, Abby, and Sigurrós raised their hands as well and finally so did Iris.

"I thought so." The Conductor then opened the door and suddenly a bunch of waiters that all looked exactly the same, came tap dancing into the cart. Some of them even shifted the seats around to make some kids face one another. Then along with the Conductor they started singing the Hot Chocolate song. The waiters and the chiefs were dancing and jumping around with great reflex and coordination. The waiters even displayed anomalous abilities, being able to make their clothes float in front of the kids as if they were on tables. With amazing precision, the chefs were able to spray the hot chocolate into large cups for the kids to enjoy.

Iris watched them dance while preparing the rest of the hot chocolate with a smile on her face. Never had she seen adults try so hard to entertain children and make them smile, she wished the Foundation was at least half as great as these guys. Once they were done serving the hot chocolate they took the plates, the cloth, and danced away while setting the seats back in place as if they never moved to begin with. Once they were done Iris and Meri looked at one another and saw that they had chocolate mustaches from drinking the hot chocolate. They both giggled joyfully at the silly sight of one another but also hiccupped because of how good the chocolate tasted.

"Ahhh... Still think it was a bad idea to get on the train?"

"No, but I still think it was reckless of you to just get on without knowing how dangerous it could be." Meri smiled at Iris with a hit of mature superiority in her eyes, Iris pouted at her and rolled her eyes afterwards. Meri then giggled though she did actually mean what she said, but she knew that Iris knew that, so she said nothing else.

Cidney noticed Iris and Meri together and smiled, especially since Iris was doing better, she heard what happened earlier today after all. Cidney then heard slurping behind her and saw Sigurrós still drinking hot chocolate. Sigurrós was drinking from it and then using her power to refill the bowl with new hot chocolate allowing her to drink even more. However, upon Sigurrós trying to drink the hot chocolate a fourth time Cidney placed her hand on the bowl to stop her. Sigurrós turned to Cidney who glared at her with disappointment and said in ASL "too much chocolate is bad for you!" Sigurrós smiled at her and with a wave of her hand the bowl disappeared.

"Hey! Aren't you going to have your chocolate." Sigurrós and Cidney as well as the other girls noticed a fat kid talking to Ethan who was still holding a cup of hot chocolate.

"... I... I didn't pay for it..."

"Hm? I don't think that matters. They served it to us, and we all drank some. Nothing happened so why worry?"

"My dad... he says... nothing in this world is free."

"hm... well if you're not going to take it then can I have it?" Ethan looked at the kid but handed him the bowl. The kid thanked him and went back to his seat to drink in peace. Meri went over her seat and looked down on Ethan who still seemed to be afraid of something. She reached down to gently touch his shoulder.

"Ethan?" Ethan jolted up in fear, which also spooked Meri as well.

"Sorry! Sorry... I just wanted to know if you were, okay?"

"... I'm okay... I just... do you think we're really going to the north pole... to meet Santa?"

"... I'm not really sure about that last part, but... I think we'll be okay as long as we stick together."

"You really think we'll be, okay?"

"Of course, Ethan!" Iris stood up and leaned on Ethan's seat right beside Meri.

"We may not look it but we're all really strong, me, Meri, Sigurrós, Abby, Cidney, and Stella. We all may not be strong, but we can do cool things especially when we're together. So don't worry, if something goes wrong, we'll protect you!"

"... but who will protect you?" Iris stopped smiling after she heard Ethan say that she then slumped back into her chair. That was true, she was destined to become another soldier in MTF Alpha-9 of the Foundation. A protector of those that don't see her as fully human, sure some people are nice to her, but they are a minority in the Foundation. No one was going to protect her, but she was going to be expected to protect everyone, even after... No, she didn't want to think about that right now. Though what she couldn't deny was that there was seemingly no hope for her future.

"Iris? What's wrong?" Iris then looked to Meri with sad and gloomy eyes.

"We're going to have to go back to the Foundation once this is over, right?"

"... I would assume yes." Iris then curled up and faced the window with clear depression on her face.

"Then I hope this train ride never stops." Meri was now filled with sadness knowing that Iris was depressed again. So, Meri stopped talking as well and just sat while remaining silent. Ethan looked over his seat and saw how drained of hope both Meri and Iris were. He then looked over to Cidney who noticed this as well, when she saw Ethan she said, "It's not your fault, they've both been through a lot". Ethan then nodded and said in ASL "I think it's something I said though." Cidney looked down for a moment but then said, "it's not your fault, you just met, mistakes are bound to happen". Ethan looked at Cidney for a moment and then said, "Mistakes get people hurt." before turning back to the widow of his seat.

Cidney wasn't sure what Ethan meant by that but as he turned away there was nothing left for her to say anyways so she just left it at that. However, Ethan then noticed that something was in his pocket that wasn't supposed to be there. He pulled it out to see an expensive looking ticket, he was so shocked that he didn't even bother reading it was a polar express ticket. He looked around in fear thinking someone was going to accuse him of stealing it. So he quickly threw it out the window, he then sighed in relief as now there was no evidence of him stealing anything.

"Ahem, your ticket sir?" The Conductor then showed up to Ethan's seat scaring Ethan to the point that he didn't even hear him.

"Sir? Your ticket please?"

"I... I don't have a ticket..."

"Come now try your pockets."

"There's nothing in my pockets."

"Come now... TRY." Ethan then reached into his pockets and pulled out the ends showing the Conductor that they were empty.

"Hm? Now that can't be right, there should be a ticket here somewhere." Suddenly Ethan's ticket flew out of one of the vents and flew close to Brandon. Brandon saw the ticket and took it, Ethan saw this but also saw Brandon mouth to him "my ticket!" Ethan assumed he was telling the truth and nodded, then he faced the Conductor again.

"Yes Sir, I didn't pay for a ticket, so I don't have one. I swear." The Conductor then raised his eyebrow at Ethan.

"Hm, very well. In that case, young man, you will just have to come with me."

"Hey no he doesn't!" One of the other kids stood up and faced the Conductor.

"His ticket was stolen from him by Brandon!"

"It's true! I saw it as well!" The Conductor looked at Brandon who tried to hide in his seat, he then turned back to Ethan.

"Is that true? Did that young man steal your ticket."

"... No! I swear I don't have a ticket!" The Conductor seemed disappointed and so did the other kids as they were confused as to why Ethan was defending Brandon of all people.

"Very well then, please come with me." Ethan nodded and followed the Conductor to the Cart behind them. Iris noticed him and grabbed Ethan's hand to stop him.

"Ethan?! What are you doing? Why are you letting Brandon steal your ticket."

"He didn't steal it, he told me it was his."

"He's lying! Why are you letting him take advantage of you?"

"... I'm not really good for anything else." Iris was shocked to hear this as it shot right through her heart.

"Thank you, Iris... for being nice to me but... I'm really no good... And I don't deserve anything..." Ethan then gently pulled Iris's hand off of him and followed the Conductor as the two left the Cart. Iris looked at her hand as tears fell from her eyes, what Ethan said filled her with sadness as it's how she felt for most of her time within the Foundation. She hated being miserable and she hated how Daniel, Dr. Zeek, Meri and Sigurrós were the only ones who actually helped her. But things were worse for Ethan, he didn't have anyone and thought he didn't even deserve the simplest things in life. She couldn't stand for it, so she stood up and wiped her tears away as she walked over to Brandon. Out of fear he quickly surrendered the ticket, so she took it and walked over to the cart door where the Conductor and Ethan disappeared.

"Iris?! What are you doing?" Sigurrós, Meri, Cidney, Stella and Abby

"I'm going to help Ethan!"

"Why? Iris he's a normie, you hate normies!"

"I don't... ugh... look I hate my life in the Foundation okay, I know complaining isn't going to make things better but that doesn't deny the fact that I hate it! I've suffered a lot because of the Foundation... possibly more than you all can understand." Iris looked to the ground seemingly in despair but then Cidney placed her hand on Iris's shoulder. Iris looked up to see Cidney who said in ASL "You're not the only one who remembers the Reset." Iris was shocked to learn about this, she thought she was the only one, but not apparently Cidney remembered too. Sigurrós then nodded her head and so did Meri, finally so did Abby as tears fell from her eyes. Iris started crying and all the girls hugged each other in comfort.

"That's why we wanted you to join us in the sleepover."

"It's also why we followed you onto the train, we don't want to be separated ever again!"

"We want to stick together, for better, for worse, and within the Foundation!" Iris smiled as she hugged the girls tighter than before then they all let go of each other and Iris wiped her tears away.

"Thank you, guys, I'm sorry I haven't always been a good friend."

"That's okay Iris, just know we're all here for you. So, if you wanna save Ethan then let us help you!"

"We wanna help too!" Some of the other kids from the cart showed up and faced the girls.

"We don't know you guys well but your awesome heroes! So please let us help!"

"Yeah, let us help you!"

"We can help!" As the kids continued to show their Sigurrós and Meri smiled at the sight while Cidney was shocked and so was Iris. She actually shed a tear again, Sigurrós wasn't wrong about saying Iris hated normies or non-anomalous people. She couldn't help it as she experienced anything but hatred from them, but these kids right now were showing here there were people who didn't show hate but kindness, even to strangers like her. However, Sigurrós stepped forward to address everyone.

"If you guys really want to help them, please make sure to watch over Brandon so that he doesn't follow us or do something stupid again." Some of the older kids glared at Brandon who hid in his seat again.

"Besides that, please watch over Abby and Stella." Abby and Stella looked at Sigurrós in shock.

"What?! But we wanna help!"

"Come on you guys, you won't be able to help much where we're going." Abby pouted in annoyance, but Stella held her still and nodded to show she understood. Sigurrós then faced Cidney and Meri.

"Maybe you guys should stay as well." Cidney was surprised by this but before she could nod her head, Meri stepped forward.

"If Iris is going to them, I'm going too." Iris blushed upon hearing this but quickly shook her head and tried to hide her lingering embarrassment with a smile of determination. Cidney admired Meri's bravery despite her anomalous abilities not being able to help in their situation. As such Cidney decided to step forward as well meaning there were four of them now.

"Is that everyone? Alright then! Let's go!"

Part 2

SCP: HMF Tales Hub

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