Odd Occurences

Hello again, dear readers, with another chapter! Warning: Cringy romance scenes abound! Seriously, you will find that I do not do well when it comes to the art of romance and love! XD

Disclaimer: I do not own or have authority over the SCP Foundation Mythos or Stranger Things. They belong to their respective owners, neither of which are me.

The Doctor hummed merrily on the bus seat, one of the many hymns and songs he'd learned over the even more many years of his career as a surgeon. His ghostly eyes were peacefully shut, ignoring both the rattle-like sounds of the bus as it drove on and the stares of at least a dozen other people on the bus with them. Cain wished he could also act like the other passengers weren't staring at them like circus attractions. Which, truth be told, they just might need to become if they were to survive.

The three Skips had been riding at the back of the bus that Kali had advised them to for at least an hour now, and Cain had the misfortune of being sandwiched between the Shy Guy and Plague Doctor, neither of whom seemed to notice – or care about – the other passengers on their own way to Hawkins who either stared at them wide-eyed or sat in tense positions, ready to bolt to the front at any time. Even the driver kept sneaking glances at them through his rear view mirror. One child sitting with a woman who appeared to be his mother near the front of the bus occasionally looked back and waved to them with a smile on his pudgy face, and Cain nervously waved back every time with a sheepish grin, stopping after the mother noticed and sent a fierce glare his way.

Not that his supposed companions noticed.

Cain snuck a glance to the Shy Guy, who was seated to his immediate right. He was starting to get more disturbed by SCP-096 than the Plague Doctor. At least 0-4-9 could hold a decent conversation with him at any given moment. Not once during their entire journey together thus far has Cain heard the Shy Guy's voice, or make any real sound. When he first heard about SCP-096 and its anomalies, Cain thought it was only called "The Shy Guy" because of the properties regarding his face… he didn't think he was literally shy around strangers! If there was a silver lining, though, the other passengers were safe thanks to the brown paper bag still on his certainly bald head and covering his face.

Unbeknownst to Cain, the Doctor had actually noticed all the silent attention that he and the others had gathered. In fact, he'd done a silent scan of the room five minutes after the bus departed to ensure that none of them could pose a threat to them. More specifically, that there were no Foundation agents in disguise who might try to re-contain them in such an enclosed area. The Plague Doctor was no fool, he knew that there was a very high chance that the Foundation was already out and looking for them. And he'd rather stay free to do his work than rot away in a cell like he'd been the last couple decades.

"Um…" Cain leaned over and discreetly whispered into his cloaked ear, "How much longer do you think we have until we reach Hawkins…?" He asked quietly. SCP-049 opened one eye in his white-masked face to glance at him, his humming ceased, contemplating the answer in his mind. As intelligent and knowledgeable in the field of biology as he was, geography was not one of the Plague Doctor's fortes, and it certainly didn't help that he'd never even been to America before, having spent much of his career in Europe. Still, he knew a thing or two regarding modern transportation thanks to having had to resort to less-than-ethical means of getting around Europe before the SCP Foundation found him.

"… about an hour or so." He finally replied in his usual raspy, dry tone. He expected Cain to sigh or groan in disappointment, but was somewhat surprised when the metal-armed man merely nodded and sat back again, his eyes facing directly ahead of where the bus was going, as if he was used to travelling long distances over long periods of time. He certainly seemed uncomfortable, yet at the same time not out of his element.

'Cain… a peculiar individual you are, indeed.'

Turning his head slightly so better get a look at Cain, The Doctor pressed, "I take it that you do not enjoy public transport?"

Cain's eyebrows rose, but shook his head, "No, I use buses and trains often. I actually travelled a lot before the Foundation found me… and I do mean a lot. It was… my calling, I guess you could say," he replied. SCP-049 only nodded slightly, then went back to humming the song he was humming earlier.

Cain shifted uneasily in his seat. The Plague Doctor was becoming more and more of an enigma every passing minute to him. Not only was he quite reserved and quiet despite their risky situation, but he also seemed more secretive than Cain himself was. Cain reminded himself that he was still his ally, at least for the time being, and all three of them shared the same goal of evading the Foundation for as long as they could. Well, he wasn't quite sure what the Shy Guy wanted, given that he hadn't spoken a word to him, or really even acknowledged Cain much throughout the short time they've known each other. In fact, the more he thought about it, SCP-096 was even more mysterious than the Doctor. At least 049 had most human mannerisms.

Deciding that it may as well be time to take a shot, Cain nervously reached a hand over and slowly brought it up, tapping 096 on the shoulder, "Erm… Zero-Nine-Six? What… might your take on this be?" He asked quietly and nervously. He was even more unnerved when the Shy Guy didn't respond or even acknowledge him in any way, simply sitting there with the paper bag on his head and not moving. He was about to try again when he felt the Plague Doctor nudge him.

"He's sleeping." The Doctor stated simply to him as Cain turned to face him, a warning glance in his cold stare. Cain immediately understood and resigned himself to simply sitting back and staring ahead again, waiting for the bus ride to be over.

None of them had anyway to detect the multi-legged, bright green arthropod-like creature darting about noiselessly on the roof of the bus, using its honed stealth skills to stay out of sight of any other drivers on the road, chittering about quietly yet anxiously, waiting patiently and in anticipation at the same time for the vehicle to stop to get an oppurtunity to stalk its targets.

If there was one thing Eleven had learned through living with Hopper for a year, it was patience. Sometimes his duty as chief of police - well, "often" was the better word for it – kept him from coming home until later than he usually promised. Through this, after many arguments involving how unexpected life can be, she was taught how to wait for her inevitable goals. This was what led to right now.

And "right now" currently consisted of her sitting patiently on her bed, eyes closed, the door to her room wide open. The clock on the wall read 3:12 PM. While Eleven could do many, many things with her powers, she sadly could not control time. So, she was stuck sitting patiently until the telltale signal of a special knock on the door would reach her ears, which Mike had promised would be in exactly 3 minutes. She had managed to rather quickly recover from her bout with the Mind Flayer after a few days' rest, though Hopper had insisted that she refrain from using her powers for at least a week. Which, sadly, meant no trying to telepathically track Mike or any of her friends' location.

She wasn't even aware that three minutes had passed until she heard it. Faint, but definite knocking on the cabin's secure door. In less than an instant, Eleven practically flew off her bed and made a mad dash for the door, unlocking it with her psychic power in the few seconds before she reached it. Throwing it open, she was overjoyed to find the grinning face of the one person she'd been longing to see ever since she stopped the Mind Flayer.

"MIKE!" She shouted, throwing her arms around him in a surprisingly tight hug. Caught off-guard slightly, Mike eagerly hugged back, glad to see that several days of rest had managed to allow her to recover.

"I made it! Three-fifteen, like I promised!" He stated joyfully after they separated, pointing to his watch for emphasis. Peering into it, Eleven easily recognized the 3:15 on the tiny clock. Suddenly, she noticed Mike's rather labored breathing, like he'd just ran a marathon. While Eleven wasn't exactly versed in the mechanisms of the human body, she knew enough that it wasn't particularly good.

"Um… Mike? Are you… okay?" She asked him cautiously. Normally, she wouldn't have been that worried, but after reuniting after nearly a year and nearly dying immediately afterwards to fight the Upside Down monsters, things were obviously going to be a bit tense for a while. Nodding to reassure her, Mike panted hard, having just biked as fast as he could to visit Eleven, to the point that he nearly crashed several times since he was only thinking about Eleven and not the road. Luckily, it seemed fate had finally given everyone a break.

"Yeah… I'm fine…! I'm just glad you're alright!" He exclaimed, happy to see that she was almost totally unmarked after resting. Now that he'd taken some time to step back and look at her, he realized that nearly all of the punk-style clothing she'd been wearing had been replaced by a clean, tweed purple jacket over an orange shirt, with dark brown jeans and black shoes. Her previously slicked hair was now in rather small yet noticeable curls. Clearly, Hopper had not been a fan of El's mysterious change in fashion. Speaking of which…

"Uh… hey, El? What happened to your hair? And… everything else?" He asked, gesturing to her hair. While he knew that Eleven wasn't really into fashion as much as almost every other girl, he still would rather not want to potentially offend her. Luckily enough, she seemed more curious, noticing that he was talking about her latest change in clothing and hairstyle. "Oh, yes… Hopper did not like Sister's fashion advice." She explained, a smirk on her face, having remembered Hopper's fevered reaction to her suddenly having "delinquent punk" clothes and hairstyle, and his desperate attempts at getting the gel out of her previously clean hair. She also remembered telling him about her "Sister" and his stunned reaction. However, he ended up brushing it off, muttering "that figures…" as he went off to bed. El got the feeling, however, that the subject was nowhere near put out of his mind, though. Mike, however, quickly realized something off about El's choice of words… which was saying something.

"Wait, what 'sister'…? Were there… you know… other kids…?" Mike asked incredulously. Had Eleven gotten mixed up with a cult? It was obvious to him, as well as everyone else who knew her, that El had apparently left Hopper's cabin for some time and only came back just in time to face the Mind Flayer, but now that Mike thought about it, neither he nor his friends ever really got an explanation for where exactly Eleven went. Or what she did. He didn't think about it because Eleven's safety was obviously a higher priority than wherever she'd been, but now that everything was (for the most part) calmed down, they could finally start asking some of the questions that he'd had in mind.

"I'll explain. Come inside!" Eleven happily said, walking back inside, Mike eagerly following behind and shutting the cabin door behind him. Looking around, he noticed how well-cleaned and organized the interior of the cabin was, which was surprising not only because of how soon it was after the Mind Flayer's defeat, but also because El and Hopper's rather… tumultuous and clashing natures were. He imagined that it couldn't have been too easy for the two to live under one roof. Taking a seat on the couch together, El couldn't help but lean her head on Mike's shoulder. She just couldn't find words to explain it – not yet, anyway – but being with Mike just made her so… happy. It was the same yet different from Hopper, that much she could tell.

"So…" Mike began awkwardly, "How was Hopper? What was it like… y'know, living with him?" He asked. El knit her eyebrows together, pondering the question. Yes, she still quite vividly remembered their fights, especially the last one they had before she ran off to find Kali. Even still, however, she still recalled how patient and kind he was, instructing her very specifically and giving her warnings for her safety, even when they danced together. Thanks to her cruel upbringing, El had come to only take note of all the bad things that happened, and yet…

"… Fun. He didn't keep me in a room like Papa. He was kind. He… understood." She finally elaborated, trying to use the best words she could. Fortunately, Mike understood, glad that Hopper had taken good care of El during their year apart. He already knew for a fact that El could fend for herself, but it was reassuring that she hadn't been alone all that time.

"Good… how is he doing, by the way? We, uh, haven't really got to talk to him again." Mike asked nervously. It was only now that he remembered that El didn't exactly have the best conversation skills. Trying not to be awkward, he did the first thing that came to his mind and put his arm around her shoulder. El seemed a bit confused at first, but relaxed and smiled at him, recognizing the warm gesture.

"He's busy. Job means he stays away longer sometimes but not all the time." She explained simply, in a somewhat bitter tone yet still understanding. Mike could get why, he knew she always strongly preferred exact details. Hell, she had recounted perfectly that it had been 352 days between their struggle against the Demogorgon and when they finally reunited. Mike looked to the clock, seeing that he had indeed made it right as he promised.

"I wonder how Max and Lucas are doing. They're at the Arcade, by the way… man, we really gotta take you there someday." Mike mentioned with a smile, but frowned upon seeing Eleven suddenly frown as he spoke. "El? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly, fearing he had said something to upset her.

"… Don't say 'Max'…" She finally uttered, averting her gaze, "I don't like her."

Mik was puzzled, his face scrunching up in wonder. What had Max ever done to El? She had obviously supported Eleven and all of them against an army of monsters, so why was Eleven taking a dislike to their new friend?

"Why not? She's our friend, remember?" Mike reminded her, trying to figure out what was wrong. Truth be told, El herself didn't quite understand this strange hate bubbling inside her. It wasn't the same hate she felt for Papa, nor was it quite the same as it was for the Mind Flayer. It was a strange, unique bitterness that coiled and crushed her chest, and it made her think of Mike as well. She remembered so clearly seeing them together in the school gym, and feeling that strange anger for the first time. Now that she'd learned her name, just thinking of the letters "M", "A" and "X" in a consecutive order brought that same bitter feeling back in spades, and it only went away whenever she remembered her relationship with Mike. But it never totally left her mind for long.

"She's a thief." Eleven finally answered bluntly, not looking at Mike. Now Mike was really confused. He'd considered Max annoying at first, but those feelings were long gone. Even more puzzling, he was pretty damn sure Max had never stole from them or anyone, except maybe Billy. Not to mention that Eleven had only known Max for literally less than a week, so it's not like they even had time to properly get to know each other. Then again, Eleven didn't really conform to doing things the "proper" way.

"What do you mean? What did she steal?" Mike inquired, wanting to help in any way. He'd already accepted Max as a friend, but if she started messing with Eleven…

"Well… n-not yet… I think…" El answered vaguely, looking up to the ceiling in thought. Mike found himself gradually getting more and more confused. How on Earth could El know that Max was about to steal something but then not be sure? Last time he checked, El could move things with her mind, not see the future… yet.

"You 'think', El? Okay, if she hasn't stolen anything yet, what is she going to try to steal?" Mike asked clearly, wanting some solid answers. He watched El fidget nervously, and… was that a blush on her cheeks?

"U-Um… y-you…" El finally replied, slowly moving her gaze to look Mike in the eye, "I-I think she's going to steal you…"

Mike's eyebrows flew under his hair followed closely by his eyeballs popping from their sockets. If it weren't connected to his face, his jaw would've undoubtedly fallen to the floor. How and why in the world would Max bother with him when she and Lucas had pretty much established themselves as a couple!? Not to mention that she'd never even shown any romantic interest in him at all during the times they saw each other both in and out of school. And again, El hadn't even known her that long yet, so why would she even come to that conclusion-?

Wait…

"El… are you… jealous of Max?" Mike asked carefully, knowing he was stepping into foreign territory. El quirked a brow at him. "J-Jealous…?" She asked, pronouncing the word carefully and indicating she didn't know what it meant. Gulping nervously, Mike tried to think about the best way to go about this.

"W-Well, El, you know you feel about me… right? Love?" He began carefully. El nodded. While she didn't completely understand it – though she was starting to think it was something that couldn't be totally comprehended – she knew it as that comfortable, uplifting and fluttering feeling in her heart, that soothing yet exciting sensation that made her feel like she could just soar above the clouds and not have a care in the world.

"Well, sometimes, when people fall in love with another person, and they think that someone else is going to try to steal that person's love and attention… it's called 'Jealousy'… it feels really, like, bitter… right? Like there's something squirming and writhing inside your chest, but you're not really,y'know, angry? It's close to angry, but… not really." He tried to explain, inwardly cringing at his inability to properly phrase it. Luckily, Eleven seemed to get the gist, and nodded. Taking a deep breath, Mike continued.

"El… I think you're jealous of Max… but she's already in love with Lucas; She's taken." He stated bluntly and somewhat nervously. Eleven widened her eyes with a small gasp, realizing her error. All this time, she'd been internally fearing that Max would try to take Mike's love away from her and make him leave her… but if she was already in love with Lucas, then…!

"Oh no… I was afraid of nothing!" She cried with a start,standing straight up. Mike seemed to notice her inner plight, getting up as well and taking her hands in his to calm her down. "Wait, wait! It's okay, Max is over it! She understands!"

"No!" El suddenly yelled, "I-I've been bad to her! I've been like… a bully!" she cried, breathing fast and recalling how terrible Troy had been to Mike, Dustin and Lucas. The fact that she'd been treating Max nearly as coldly did not feel good at all.

"Okay, how about this: After school tomorrow, I can bring Max over so you can talk!" Mike quickly said, trying to think of ways to resolve the admittedly still-tense air between Max and El so that everyone could move on. He already knew Max harbored no ill will and even held respect for El due to how much he and the boys had talked about her, but he had the feeling that El wouldn't be able to relax until she finally apologised to Max face-to-face. Upon hearing this, El seemed to calm down somewhat.

"T-Talk to her? Are you sure? Doesn't she hate me?" she asked quietly. Mike shook his head, "No, she doesn't hate you, El. Just a bit… upset, but she's over it! She's strong, like you!"

Eleven seriously doubted that Max, or any human being for that matter, came close to matching her in power… although she had the feeling that Mike wasn't talking about physical strength or superhuman powers, as confusing as it was for her.

"Are you sure?" El asked nervously, fearing all the different ways that her talking to Max about her feelings could go terribly wrong. However, Mike evidently had enough faith in both of them. "Absolutely. Trust me, she's not really the type to really bear grudges against a friend." Mike assured her. At this, El calmed down, sitting back down on the couch with Mike.

"… How do you do that?" El asked curiously. Mike quirked a brow. "How do I do… what?" He asked. "You always make me feel… not stressed…. Calm… Happy." She clarified.

"Oh." Mike realized, taking a few seconds to think. "I guess… that's just what people who are in love do to each other." he answered simply. El nodded, accepting it as close enough to her question. She doubted she'd be able to understand, anyway.

"So…", She began, getting Mike's attention, "Are sisters supposed to make you angry?"

Yawning quietly, Emily awoke peacefully, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and blinking them open slowly, realizing that she was still snuggling with Mr. Mowie, Poofa and Flozzle on the floor of the lab office they found. Lifting her arms up, she reached over and tried to poke Mr. Mowie's shoulder, but only managed to reach as far as his elbow. Awaking with a grunt, Mr. Mowie slowly rose, stood up on his stocky legs and gently moved his tail from Emily's petite frame. At the same time, Poofa, who Emily had been using as a pillow, also awoke, a bird-like chirp coming from the center of her body as she gathered air in her sacs and floated into the air, letting out small streams of gases from said sacs to push her body around in the air like a blimp. As for Emily herself, she quietly walked over and inspected the still-sleeping Benjamin, prodding his shoulder tenderly.

"Um… Mr. Scientist-Worker-Person? Are you okay?" She asked nervously, not quite knowing what to do. Still a bit tired, she nervously looked around her dark surroundings, the dim lights making the shadows dance and simmer along the walls. Followed by Mr. Mowie and Poofa, she poked her head back out into the corridor.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Emily asked aloud, her nervous voice almost sounding like a sound bomb in the total silence and dark atmosphere of the abandoned lab. Shuddering at the sudden sound of her own voice, Emily slowly began exploring the ruined facility, flanked on either side by Mr. Mowie and Poofa protectively. Eventually, Emily and her abnormal creatures found themselves peering down a stairwell. Due to the lights being out, it may as well have been an abyss.

"Uh… um… scientists…? Teachers…? Anybody?" She called down into the darkness. Nothing answered back, which was terrifying by itself. Sensing that Emily was scared, Mr. Mowie planted a large foot protectively in front of her, ready to defend her at any moment as she stepped carefully into the darkness. Surprisingly, nothing ever jumped out at them as they descended, and they reached the lower floor without incident. Looking around, it was even darker than the level they'd come from since more of the lights were out, and the ones that were on were incredibly dim. Since Emily was already on edge, she was understandably for freaked out than usual when her foot nudged something organic.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed loudly, tears stinging her eyes, which were shut due to her incredible terror at the moment. At the exact same time, Mr. Mowie, Flozzle and Poofa suddenly began to sieze, twitching and spasming where they were. After about a minute, Emily slowly realized that she wasn't being attacked and stopped screaming, blinking her eyes repeatedly in confusion. The second her scream stopped, her posse of monsters suddenly returned to normal with her. All three of Mr. Mowie, Poofa and Flozzle stopped spasming and immediately returned to what they were doing before, acting as though nothing had even happened. Emily nervously looked down to see what her foot touched. To her surprise, it seemed to be a dead animal of some sort lying motionlessly on the linoleum floor, its limbs splayed out and not moving in the least.

The only reason that Emily was merely guessing it was an animal was because she couldn't identify it at all. She'd never seen anything like this in any of the books and videos that Habernathy, Logan and Izawa had ever shown her, and they'd showed her a LOT.

It had four legs like Mr. Mowie, but the similarities ended there. It had literally no hair on its entire body, and its body itself seemed slim yet muscular, similar to a canine. Along its bare back was a line of ridges from its spine, reaching all the way down to its short, thin tail. Its most distinctive feature, however, was its head, which seemed to have five large, powerful jaws instead of the just two, aligning so that it would've resembled a flower blooming when opening and closing its mouth. Right now, though, it appeared completely and utterly dead. Strangely, however, there were no markings or visible injuries anywhere on its body. It was as if it just literally dropped dead where it had been standing on the floor.

"Um… huh?" Emily questioned, gazing down at the strange creature. Suddenly, Mr. Mowie barked, getting Emily's attention and getting her to look down the corridor where he was facing. There, lying in a similar position near a corner, was another of the strange creatures, its flower-like mouth agape. Now that Emily noticed, there also appeared to be a strange mucus on their bodies. Walking over, she bent down and curiosly tapped the creature, with Poofa's tentacles raised up and Mr. Mowie baring his teeth, both prepared to defend Emily should the creature attack.

But it didn't. It layed quietly on the floor and Emily tapped its shoulder, staring at the strange mucus on her finger. Blanching, she quickly wiped it on the wall nearby.

"Eww! Gross! Blagh!" She whined, getting up and away from the thing. Staring down at it, her eyes quickly gained a curious glint, putting a finger to her chin. Turning around, she spoke to Poofa, "Hmmm… Hey, Poofa, can you wipe that icky slime off its chest for me?"

Immediately, Poofa lifted the thing's body using five tentacles, holding it up using four and using the fifth to wipe away the mucus on the creature's chest, apparently not caring about to slime collected on her tentacle. Thanking her, Emily reached out and placed her palm on its now-dry ribs and chest. Out of nowhere, her hand sunk into its body as if it were gum, though Emily didn't react at all, apparently aware of what she was doing. A second later, she retracted her arm and held a small, deflated and dead heart of the monster in her small fingers, leaving a cavity in the area she'd reached in. Turning around and walking back to the first dead monster she'd found, she bent down and pushed the heart in her hand against the slimy skin on its chest.

"Okay… here we go!" Emily braced herself, pushing her hand fully into the thing's chest. Retracting it immediately, she wiped the excess slime on the wall, but immediately stopped when she heard a whining noise. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the flower-headed thing slowly stir, twitching at first before going still.

A second later, it suddenly sprang up onto its thin legs, looking around wildly before its gaze fell on Emily. Immediately, the much-larger Mr. Mowie stepped up, baring his teeth at it in case it attacked. But it didn't. It just watched her curiously, apparently not concerned at coming back to life. Emily cautiously approached it, flanked protectively on both ends by Mr. Mowie and Poofa. Now that the thing was standing straight on all four legs, she could tell that it was about the size of a large dog, standing roughly 3 feet tall at its shoulders. It kept its many jaws closed, resembling a flower before it bloomed as Emily slowly bent down in front of it.

"Who… Who are you?" She asked tentatively. The thing didn't answer, only stared at her with what appeared to be curiosity. Confused, Emily closed her eyes and reached out, slowly bringing her hand to the top of the creature's head.

…

…

…

"… Huh? Who's 'Father'?" Emily suddenly asked aloud, opening her eyes and moving her hand from its head. In response, the creature only drooped its head down. Emily scratched her chin in wonder.

"Hmm… Oh! I'm gonna call you Flowey!" She exclaimed with a proud smile.

However, at the exact moment that its new name left Emily's lips, the flower-headed creature suddenly flinched, wincing and averting its gaze as if someone just wounded it. Noticing this, Emily immediately knew that it didn't like that.

"Oh… sorry! Um… how about… Astera?" She asked tentatively. This time, the strange creature tilted its head before making a strange squirting noise, lifting its front legs and slamming them down quickly in excitement. "Yay! Astera, it is!" Emily proclaimed. Mr. Mowie and Poofa, who'd previously been regarding the flower-headed creature with hostility, suddenly and inexplicably began giving it acts of kindess. Mr. Mowie rushed over and nuzzled the thing warmly whereas Poofa spun in the air excitedly, reaching a tentacle down and shaking the creature's paw. The flower-headed beast reacted with absolute confusion, looking around wildly with clearly no idea on what was happening.

"It's okay, Astera!" Emily reassured, throwing her hands in the air happily, "You're our new friend! Welcome to our friend circle, new friend!"

The newly-named "Astera" tilted its head but seemed excited, lifting the front end of their body and down again in excitement and matching Emily's feelings alongside Mr. Mowie, Poofa and Flozzle. In its apparent joy, it made a strange chittering sound, high-pitched and somewhat garbled. Suddenly, Emily froze, seemingly realizing something. At the exact same time, her mutated compatriots and Astera suddenly froze as well, although they didn't seem like they actually had an idea as well, more or less just simply mimicking Emily.

"Uh-oh… what about that Scientist-Worker-Person?"

"This is bullshit."

"Dustin, come on."

"I just don't see why we had to come back here, of all places!"

Will sighed softly, putting down a green colored pencil and replacing it with a sky blue one. He was currently sitting on a large log about a dozen feet away from the edge of the watery quarry. The exact same quarry where Dustin and Mike had nearly lost their lives to Troy and James as a result of revenge. And that was a fact that Dustin, standing several feet away and watching the cliffside warily, did not like. The cap-wearing boy kicked away a small rock in frustration as Will continued to draw the shimmering water surface, their bikes lying peacefully on the ground a few feet away from Dustin.

"Look, I didn't want you to be here either, but you know how my mom is. It'll probably be another five years before she can trust me to be safe by myself." Will explained part-jokingly, having already repeated it several times. Dustin knew he had a point, especially considering how much Joyce must've suffered looking out for the well-being of her second son, but it didn't make him any less frustrated at being near one of his least favorite places on the planet. "Can't you guys just get a guard dog or something? They can swim like pros, right?" Dustin suggested, watching the woods, or anything, really, to keep from looking at the deep lake below.

He knew he shouldn't have been uncomfortable, but the memory was still vivid in his mind because of the unforgettable way El had saved them. That, and Dustin and water had never really gotten along to begin with, hence the reason he and Lucas had struggled so hard just to properly set up the kiddie pool Eleven needed to find Will and Barbara in the previous year.

Will finished drawing the branches of a tree standing low over the cliff on the other side, holding his notebook firmly on his lap, "Didn't you say that Eleven made Mike levitate here? And that she broke Troy's arm?" He asked, though it was more to try to cheer Dustin up by bringing up good memories than actually find out how it was like. Luckily, it seemed to do the trick, as a small smile appeared on Dustin's previously agitated face.

"Oh, dude, you so should've seen that! It was awesome!", Dustin exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air for emphasis, "He jumped like a badass—well, I mean, you could still tell he was shitting his pants, but he still jumped like a badass! And then out of nowhere, El just shows up from the shadows and makes him float up and was all—" Dustin lowered his voice to a comically low and dark, menacing tone, "—'Get outta here or I'll piss your pants again!'" He explained comically, overdramatically recounting the incident and seemingly forgetting his previous discomfort at being there. Will had already heard the tale several times from Mike, but Dustin's way of telling stories was just plain hilarious.

"Did she seriously break his arm just by turning her head?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation going while not looking away from his art. Dustin turned and grinned widely, "You bet she did, she just looked at him like 'Bitch!', and his arm just snapped like a twig! He just screamed like a little bitch and ran! Hah, he went right to his mommy and didn't show his face at school for a week!" He confirmed, clearly enjoying the memory.

Will almost wished he was there to see it, having heard from Lucas and Dustin about how Troy and several other students had been quite a bunch of assholes about his apparent "death" and disregarding his well-being and feelings entirely. Key word, of course, being that he "almost" wished he'd seen it. As amazing as El breaking Troy's arm may have been – and boy, did Dustin love to brag about how epic it was – Will Byers had never been a fan of violence in any scenario, and he wasn't about to start now.

Dustin then suddenly looked up, his face going from pleasantly happy to confused. He turned his head about the surroundings woods, as if trying to find something. "Uh, Dustin? What's up?" Will asked, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Dustin kept rubbernecking like a tourist, "Don't you hear that?" He asked, glancing at Will in his peripheral vision, now staring in a single general direction in the forest. Will was about to reply that he did not, in fact, hear anything, but then he heard it, too.

*Rustle, rustle, crash, thud, rustle*…

It sounded like… something moving through the trees? Was someone jogging at full speed through the woods right now? Will couldn't imagine why, considering the rather understandably dangerous reputation that the forest surrounding Hawkins had gained after the Demogorgon's rampage. He desperately moved his mind away from those thoughts, having had enough of extradimensional monsters in the last two years.

"Is that… a person? I think I hear somebody… do you?" Dustin inquired, taking a careful step sideways towards Will, who put his drawing down to stand up next to Dustin. Now that Will focused, he could faintly hear what sounded like a man's ragged and paced breaths alongside the sound of something deftly moving through the underbrush, barreling through branches and bushes in their way. Will blinked twice, not quite sure what to think, "Why… why would somebody-?"

He was cut off by the sound of whoever it was suddenly letting out a bloodcurdling shout, the sounds of rage and ferocity clear it whoever this person was, instantly making the boys jump and sending chills down their spines. Having enough, Dustin reached down and snatched Will's papers and pencils, shoving them into the shorter boy's arms, "Okay, we gotta get the hell outta here, I do not feel like sticking around to find out—!"

At that exact moment, the most terrifying thing happened: A tall, somewhat dark-skinned man wearing only a tunic and covered in strange tattoos suddenly burst out of the trees, screaming bloody murder and wielding two pitch-dark machetes that didn't even glint in the sunlight. Not even given enough time to scream, Dustin and Will barely managed to jump to either side of their attacker to avoid getting cleaved in two by the man's razor-sharp blades swinging vertically down as he pounced on them, the two boys using reflexes honed from dealing with interdimensional monsters.

"GAH! SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK!?" Dustin screamed as he landed flat on his back, his backpack breaking his fall as he hastily sat up, spotting their assailant land perfectly on his bare feet on the spot where the two boys where previously standing. Growling hard like a starving beast on the hunt, the man stayed still for several seconds, leaning forwards with his back hunched over and his face obscured by his long, dark hair. The only thing Dustin could really take note of, however, were the two long pitch-black blades in his tattooed and somewhat sweaty hands, which were gripping the hilts as if nothing else mattered in the world. Across from where Dustin had landed, Will was lying on his side on the other side of the man, staring with wide eyes at how close they had come to being shredded. Strangely - though neither Will nor Dustin noticed due to their understandable shock and fear at the situation - the man was also breathing in and out incredibly hard, like he'd just ran a full marathon and sprinted the entire way.

"… Y-You…" The man quietly uttered, so quietly in fact that neither boy would've heard it if they were any further away. The man, who's voice was shaky and full of emotion, suddenly turned his head towards Will, his ancient-seeming eyes full of rage and bloodlust, "… are next."

Will at first seemed confused, but then instantly felt panic sink in when the man raised one of his wickedly-sharp blades straight at him, his cold eyes almost seeming to calculate where exactly he'd stab and skewer him. The tunic-wearing stranger took a single terrifying step towards him, and Will tried to scoot backwards, only to recoil in horror at the realization that their bikes where left near where Dustin now was. The man glared at Will, hatred brimming in his ancient-seeming eyes as if Will just committed the single-most heinous sin anyone had ever done in all the years humanity has existed, gritting his yellow teeth angrily and hot air firing off through his flared, filthy nostrils.

All Will could do was scramble backwards on the ground, his terror-filled eyes locked firmly on the stranger's hate-filled ones and his dark, shaking swords. Suddenly, looking into this man's eyes, Will found himself reminded of his encounter with the Demogorgon; All alone, against a savage hunter who couldn't wait to tear him limb from limb and take his corpse as a trophy. Only this time… he wasn't alone.

"Hey! Dick-hole!"

Out of nowhere, a backpack flew form behind Will's soon-to-be-assailant and hit the man in the back, falling unceremoniously to the ground without so much as making the man flinch. Everything seemed to grind to a halt as the man slowly turned around, unfazed by the hit in the slightest, and he and Will both fixated their stunned gazes onto a panting Dustin. He looked absolutely terrified, and ready to wet his pants just from the stranger turning his murderous gaze onto him. However, judging solely by the way his feet were planted into the ground and his fingers curled into fists, Will could see that Dustin had no intention of running.

"What!? Can't handle that you just got owned by a kid!? Huh!?" Dustin yelled at the man, trying to sound tough and scary but only managing to childishly scream his lungs out. In reply, the man narrowed his bloodthirsty eyes at Dustin, the demonic-looking tattoos strewn across his body almost seeming to jeer and laugh as his large muscles strained and rippled under his torn tunic.

Not saying anything, the man only took two quick stomps forwards, clearly intent on cleaving Dustin in two. As he was about to do so, however, he felt his foot nudged something.

"… Huh?" He growled, his voice scratchy and ragged, like he'd gone weeks without using his voice. Stopping in his tracks, he looked down to see the art that Will had been working on prior to his rather rude arrival. After a few moments, he turned his head sideways without moving his shoulders or chest to see the landscape had almost perfectly matched that of Will's drawing. Shakily bending over and picking up the drawing and lining it up with the quarry before him, Will and Dustin watched uneasily as the stranger glanced at the drawing, then the actual landscape, and then back to the drawing of the quarry again with incredulity. For a second, Will thought he might've been hallucinating until the man glanced at him again. This time, however, much of the bloodlust was gone.

"Did… did you make this…?" The sword-wielding maniac asked him, still holding the well-detailed drawing. Dustin still hadn't moved, trying to inconspiciously lean down to grab a rock off the ground to throw it at the stranger. Luckily, it seemed he didn't have to since the man no longer seemed interested in maiming them. Not right now, anyway.

Seeing that his assailant was temporarily no longer interested in killing him – yet – Will quickly found his voice to answer. "Uh, y-yeah… I-I came here to draw the quarry. I-It looks good… I-I think…" He carefully worded, doing his best not to say anything that might set the man off again. Luckily, the sword-wielding man seemed not to be provoked again, continuing to stare back forth between the drawing and the lake and surrounding greenery that accompanied it. Meanwhile, Dustin was frozen stiff, although that was more so out of fear that any sudden movement might suddenly incur his wrath once more. He kept glancing between the man and Will, trying (and, for the most part, failing) to come up with a plan in case he tried to attack Will again.

As it turned out, he didn't have to. The man simply turned to Will, took a few gentle steps forwards, and gently handed the papers to a visibly shaking Will. "You enjoy nature's gifts, do you not?" He asked, shocking Will. Not really because of the question itself – although, why he would ask anything pertaining to nature after having just tried to kill him seconds prior was baffling in of itself – but it was especially surprising because of the man's tone; Quiet, calm and reserved, which seemed to be an almost exact opposite clash with his earlier enraged, energy-filled and outright bloodthirsty he was before.

Realizing that he wasn't quite off the hook yet, Will hurried to find his voice again, "Y-Yeah, I do… I like c-coming out here to draw a lot…". The man seemed to accept the answer, nodding in understanding. The edge in his ancient, dry and dark eyes weren't totally gone, but he no longer seemed interested in gutting Will or Dustin alive.

"Hmm… such youthful interest… a pity there are not more men in this world with such a passion and love for our Earth…" The man said quietly, a faraway look on his face, seeming as though he was no longer totally paying attention to the boys he'd just tried to stab to death. Dustin took the oppurtunity to send a warning glance to Will, one that Will was able to decipher quite easily. No words were exchanged, but it was obvious what Dustin was trying to silently say to Will.

He's crazy! Get the hell outta here!

Will found it hard to disagree. A tunic-wearing man wielding black swords comes swinging out of the forest at them for little to no reason, stops after seeing Will's above-average artwork, and then starts preaching to them about being environmentalists…

Yeah, Will and Dustin could both agree that this man was the definition of crazy.

"Well… I suppose I am to be going now." The man abruptly stated out of nowhere. Will and Dustin both just stared in shock; First, this man came out of literally nowhere and tried to brutally kill and maim them, then decided to stop after seeing Will's art, and now he was just casually up and leaving as if he was just having a friendly visit and not attempting a homicide. In fact, now that Will thought about it… the swords that the man had been carrying before were nowhere in sight now, having vanished after the man gave Will his drawing back.

Without any other words, the mysterious man suddenly faced the direction just slightly to the left of where Will had landed and sprinted straight off, moving so fast that not only was he a blur to Will and Dustin, but a dust cloud kicked up where he took off from and temporarily blinded the shell-shocked boys, eliciting coughs from both of them. When the cloud dissipated, the man was nowhere in sight, only a trail of pounding footprints and the sound of someone lightly brushing past branches and bushes. Dustin stared at the spot where the man once was, and then to an equally shocked Will. Will didn't get up from his seat on the dirt, only choosing to crane his neck back in the direction the man ran off to. Not knowing what to do, Dustin said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Uhh… we don't need to tell your mom about this, right?"

It was evident that waking up in strange, new places was starting to become the norm for Ben. Opening his eyes wearily, the rogue D-Class suddenly found himself staring up at a white ceiling. A laboratory ceiling. Just like the Foundation.

"GAH! WHAT!?" He shouted, instantly jolting to a sitting position, eyes wide open and fully awake. He was so focused on himself that he nearly fell off the desk he was on.

'Wait… a desk? Why am I on a desk? Better not have been Clef, I swear…', He begrudgingly thought, until he suddenly realized something.

He wasn't in a containment cell.

Nor was he in a standard D-Class "room" (though it was pretty obvious to everyone in the Foundation that those were basically prison cells, too), and he sure as hell wasn't being interrogated. He wasn't in restraints, and he hadn't even been sitting in the chair literally right next to the desk he was on. Now that he thought about it, the room he was currently in looked more like an office more than anything else. Even then, it looked strangely… deserted. Papers were tossed around and left askew on the floor, and the lights on the ceiling were strangely dimmed out. Taking a few tentative steps off the desk and stepping onto the linoleum floor, Ben carefully stepped out of the room and into the hallway. To his surprise, the entire building seemed dilapidated and abandoned, though likely not more than a few days. Still, it was clear that this was once a fully functioning science facility of some kind. Suddenly, Ben felt like something was missing…

'Wait… wait, where's Emily…?'

All at once, Benjamin as far more alert, his terrible experience from escaping the breached Site kicking in and already filling his mind with worst-case scenarios. What if the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile found her and killed her on the spot? What if everything that happened in the forest was just some dream cooked up in a sick experiment by the researchers? Did the Foundation already realize that some of their anomalies were missing and had already recaptured Emily? Was this some post-apocalyptic wasteland that he was now doomed to wander?

Stepping carefully down the corridor, Ben's sharp eyes closely monitored everything, especially the spots on the walls and corners that were hidden by the shadows. Carefully walking so that his footsteps would've been hard to hear, he was surprised when, all of a sudden… he could hear a child laughing nearby?

Since it was an abandoned scientific facility with a child's nearby laughs echoing about, Benjamin was instantly unnerved. Then again, who wouldn't be in this particular situation? Looking about for anything he could use, Ben was dismayed at only finding a small mop on the floor, having apparently fallen down after someone had opened the closet it had been placed it and causing it to fall over. Reaching down slowly and picking up the mop in his shaky hands, Ben felt the weight in his hands, brandishing the mop as though it were a spear. Cautiously walking around the corner, his eyes bulged as he saw what awaited him.

"… What the hell are you?" He couldn't help but ask aloud. Standing there, three feet in front of him, was what looked like a strange, hairless dog with no face, its head resembling a flower bud before it bloomed. It was simply standing there on its four, thin legs, staring emotionlessly up at him. Ben stared confusedly right back, not quite knowing how to respond.

"Uh… what the fu-?" Ben started to ask but was cut off by a child's high-pitched squealing.

"ASTERA!" Emily shouted, bursting from behind a corner behind the strange-headed creature. Right behind her were Mr. Mowie and Poofa, matching her pace. As soon as Emily saw the creature, she grinned widely and practically tackled it, wrapping her arms around the creature's body and getting some of the slime on Flozzle's orange sleeves. Both the girl and the creature fell to the floor, though to Ben's surprise, it seemed to be enjoying the attention that Emily was giving her. Getting back up, Emily giggled, patting the creature's head while Flozzle's sleeves vibrated harshly, shaking the excess mucus off.

"There you are, Astera! Don't wander off like that!" Emily chided, though her laughing tone made it clear that she was having more fun than anything. The flower bud-headed creature made a mix of a bark and a chittering sound, apparently having fun as well. All the while, Ben could only blink in astonishment, staring in utter confusion at the scene in front of him.

"What?" Was the only thing he could manage to sputter out. Emily seemed to finally notice that the former D-Class was there and perked up, seeming even more happy.

"Mr. Scientist-Worker-Person! You're awake! How are you feeling?" She asked happily, running up to him and grinning from ear-to-ear. Truth be told, Benjamin was a bit taken aback, not quite used to someone asking how he felt. Or someone talking to him at all to begin with, for that matter. He didn't even notice that she'd called him "Mr. Scientist-Worker-Person". Raising a brow, it took him a few seconds to respond.

"Er… I'm… I'm doing fine, I guess?" He looked around the ruined lab, another burning question is his mind. "Hey, um, just where are we…? This… this isn't the Foundation, is it?" He asked nervously. Emily tilted her head in confusion.

"Uh… hold on…" She said, putting a finger to her chin to think, "The sign said… 'H-Hawkins National… Laboratory'… Yeah! Hawkins National Laboratory! It said so on the sign outside!" She stated, beaming up at him, evidently proud of herself for managing to remember the name and saying it right. However, that didn't help Ben much at all.

'Hawkins? Where the hell is that? … Well, at least now I know this isn't a dream or another Foundation Site', Ben mentally confirmed. On one hand, he still had no clue where he was. Well, he knew that he was in a laboratory in a place called Hawkins, but he had no idea where Hawkins was. On the other hand, however, it was also obvious that he was still out of the clutches of the SCP Foundation and very much alive and healthy. Shaking his head, he decided to try to answer a few of the lesser questions he had in mind.

"Okay then… just who are you?" He asked Emily, raising a brow. He recalled how she managed to recognize his D-Class jumpsuit, and only someone connected to the Foundation in some way would ever be able to do that. Once again, Emily seemed confused at the question.

"Uh, my name's Emily, remember? You hit your head really hard in the forest when we were running from that big bad dragon!" She recalled, pointing to the top of her own pink-haired head for emphasis, "Oh! I almost forgot!" She suddenly gasped, her eyes going wide. Quickly turning around, she walked over and stood next to Mr. Mowie and Poofa, gesturing to them.

"This is Mr. Mowie," She said, pointing to the large, blue-and-pink colored furry beast on her right, who let out a yipping noise, "And this is Poofa!" Emily then gestured to the round, floating insectoid on her left, who raised her long tentacles and waving them at Ben. Finally, she pointed to her orange sweater.

"And this is Flozzle! Say 'hi', Flozzle!" Emily exclaimed, looking down at her sweater. To Ben's surprise, her sweater suddenly shifted, a long tendril extending from the "cloth" and forming an amorphous elbow-less arm and hand, waving it at Ben. All Ben could do was stare at the living sweater. He then noticed that she hadn't introduced the hairless flower bud-headed creature.

"And… him?" Ben asked, nervously pointing at the strange entity. Upon noticing, Emily gaped, realizing she'd failed to introduce him. "Oh! That's Astera, our new friend! Say 'hi', Astera!"

Astera opened his five jaws, showing the tiny, bristling teeth and his large circular throat, resembling a blooming flower. A strange cross of a chittering sound and a giggle emanated from his throat, surprising Ben with his intelligence and nervously waved back. However, this led to new questions.

Who was this girl? Clearly, she was one of the anomalous humanoids contained by the Foundation, but which one? She had bright pink hair… her eyes were discolored, and one of them was blind… Her name was Emily… she could control and talk with mutant, genetically-altered animals-!

"Uh…" Ben began nervously, having reached a conclusion on who this girl was, "You wouldn't happen to have… other names?" He inquired. Instantly, shock encompassed Emily's face, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping.

"Um… well… s-some of the other m-meaner scientist-people called me Oh-Forty and 0-4-0… D-Dr. Izawa also called me… Evolution's Child… whatever that means…" Emily replied shyly. Ben slowly nodded, having confirmed his suspicions. This was SCP-040, Evolution's Child, and her evolutionary miracle creatures that were genetically altered by her Site-renowned anomalous powers.

He'd already heard of her during his time as a D-Class, recounting how he overheard the many conversations held by the guards that would escort him to his "duties". It was almost astonishing what the seemingly emotionless soldiers talked about as they escorted D-Class personnel from their cells to their various death sentences and SCP containment cells. He'd already gained numerous knowledge on many SCPs by overhearing the rumors and tales spread about by the site security and researchers. Among them, of course, was a rumor about a girl who could magically change, alter and merge animals into mutants with special abilities that obeyed her every command. And somehow, Ben managed to meet both her and SCP-682 in the middle of the woods after escaping the Foundation and seemingly magically teleporting there. At this rate, there were more questions than answers arising from every little thing that happened, he realized with frustration.

"So… what about you?"

At first, Ben didn't register the question, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Then he realized that SCP-040 was looking expectantly at him.

"Huh?" He asked rather stupidly. Emily seemed confused. "Um… I asked what your name was?" She pressed. Ben mentally facepalmed for not understanding earlier, still not quite used to someone else caring about him. Clearing his head, he decided he may as well give his name too.

"U-Um… it's Benjamin… Benjamin Oliver Walker. But, uh… you can just call me Benjamin or Ben, if you like." He nervously replied. Emily stared at him for a second, then smiled happily at him.

"Ooh! Nice to meet you, Mr. Benjamin!" She beamed, holding out her hand for him to shake. After a moment of hesitation, Ben reached out and shook her hand, retracting it after no more than three seconds. "So… are you one of the scientists at the Foundation lab?" Emily asked curiously. Ben's eyes widened.

"Uh… N-No… I was a D-Class who… got out." He replied vaguely, not really wanting to spill his guts to her. Or anyone, really. Fortunately, Emily seemed to accept that answer, merrily skipping along past him, her mutant friends in tow behind her. "Okie-dokie! Let's go!" She exclaimed happily, her furry friends eagerly trailing behind her. Benjamin, however, was left confused.

"Wait, where are we going?" He asked, not wanting to dive headfirst into this venture. Obviously, he and Emily were going to have better chances of staying free by sticking together, but it wouldn't matter unless they knew where they were going. Emily casually looked over her shoulder to answer.

"Back to the Foundation, silly!"

Almost immediately, Ben felt all color drain from his face. He quickly broke into a run, rushing past Mr. Mowie and Astera to stop in front of Emily.

"Wait, wait, wait, why!? Why are you trying to go back!?" He practically shouted, partly in confusion and partly in outrage. Emily stared at him like he grew another head. "Uh… because that's where Mister Logan and Izawa are? Where else would we go?" She stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Behind her, Mr. Mowie and Poofa also stared at Ben weirdly, though Astera seemed a bit conflicted.

Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd gone through what pretty much constituted as actual living hell in order to escape that damn, godforsaken place, and just barely managed to escape with his sanity intact after so many trials and soul-wretching struggles… and this little girl wanted to go back to her holding cell!? Well, granted, she obviously got better treatment in her containment cell than literally any D-Class ever did, but now they both had a chance of freedom! And Ben would be damned if he let the SCP Foundation have their way again, especially if it involved him!

"W-Well… why don't we try to find a home outside the n-nice Foundation?" Ben suggested, plastering a smile on his face and using a disgustingly fake happy voice to try to appeal to Emily, though the way he said "nice" almost sounded like he was dying just from saying it. "And, um… where would that be?" Emily asked curiously, interested somewhat in the idea. Ben started to sweat nervously, thinking quickly to try to convince Emily not to return to the clutches of the Foundation.

"Um, well, why don't we… look around! Yeah, we can try looking around for a place to stay! B-But we can't let anyone see your… uh, friends!" He suggested, trying to appeal to Emily's childish ignorance and views. Emily seemed to ponder the idea, but looked worriedly behind her at her companions, evidently worried about possibly having to separate from them. Ben wanted to pull the hair from his head, frustration clearly visible on his features.

"Ugh… Come on, there's gotta be—" Suddenly, he had an idea. Quickly, he pointed to Emily's living sweater, AKA Flozzle, "Your sweater—er, Flozzle can change shape, right?"

Emily, although seeming confused, nodded. "Uh, yeah! He's really good at hiding and being helpful with his shapey-powers!" She affirmed, the aforementioned symbiote briefly flashing a green color in agreement. Nodding himself, Ben continued.

"Okay, well, what if Flozzle just leaves trail for your friends? That way, they'd know how to find you!" He suggested. Emily was about to retort, but paused to think. After several seconds, she stared down at Flozzle. As if reading her thoughts, a small, incredibly thin thread-like tendril sprouted from the sweater's back, falling to the floor and continously growing from Flozzle's back like the thread released by a rolling ball of yarn. Mr. Mowie, Poofa and Astera all gazed down and stared at the continually-growing orange line. Then, after about a second, they all looked to Ben and nodded all at the same time.

"Okay! Sounds like a good idea, Mr. Ben!" Emily agreed, waving her arm happily. Ben wiped a bead of sweat from his head, happy that convincing her hadn't been too much of an issue. Now for the hard part.

"Good! So, uh… where's the exit to this place?" Ben had to ask, having no clue as to the layout of the lab. Emily beamed up at him, realizing that she had a chance to help.

"Oh! Oh! It's this way! Follow me, Mr. Benjamin!" She shouted, rushing past him and gesturing for him to follow, the thread-like tendril produced by Flozzle trailing behind her and showing where she had been and where she was going to. Ben was about to gladly follow, until several burning glares were felt drilling into the back of his head. Turning nervously around, he nearly shouted in panic upon seeing the warning glares that Mr. Mowie and Poofa were sending him. It shouldn't have even have made sense considering how neither could completely replicate a human facial expression, yet Ben could still easily make out the warnings in their faces.

Don't let anything bad happen to her, or we'll find you and have you for supper.

Nervously, Ben nodded and hastily turned around and sprinted after Emily, following the orange trail left by Flozzle. Strangely enough, Astera didn't join his new compatriots in giving Ben a warning look, more or less just staring off into space, as if not yet as connected to Emily as the others were.

Luckily, Ben didn't even need to follow the trail for long, quickly catching up to Emily thanks to his much longer strides. Skipping merrily down the hallways and corridors, Emily quickly managed to remember the way to the ruined lab's entrance. Instinctively keeping an eye on the cold, barren walls and doorways in case anything jumped out at them, Benjamind joined Emily as they stopped in front of the double-doors leading outside. Ben nearly had to cover his eyes due to the blinding sunlight, gritting his teeth as the rays struck his eyes. However, he didn't dare hesitate or get cold feet now; He'd been waiting longer than he thought he could remember for a chance to finally live a normal life again. And if that meant hanging around with this abnormal girl for a while, he had no problem waiting just a tiny bit more.

'Well… here goes nothing.'

With that, Ben took a few steps ahead of Emily, gripped the doors leading to a small concrete path, and shoved them open with more force than intended, the sweet air from outside invading his senses all over again. Last night, he hadn't really had a chance to celebrate due to getting chased by the genocidal giant monster known as SCP-682, but now that he had every chance to try and re-join society at long last… he would be damned if he let himself take it for granted.

"Well… let's go", He stated simply, beckoning for Emily to join him, and the two began briskly walking along the path leading past the gates, feeling the strange yet welcoming sensation of the warm sun raining warmth onto their bodies.

"… Are you fucking kidding me? WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'THEY VANISHED'!?"

Furious shouts could be heard in the blank hallways of Site-17, the guards glancing nervously in the direction of the head researcher's office. Dr. Gerald gulped nervously from his position in front of the older man's desk, keeping an eye on the ominously shadow-shaped cloud of butterflies looming over him, "I-I mean they seem to have spontaneously disappeared from containment… there have been no visible signs of physical breaches in their containment cells, and neither SCP-105 nor SCO-073 have displayed anomalies pertaining to physical displacement or teleportation. Simply put, there have been no signs of how they've breached containment or where they've gone, Kondraki."

Dr. Kondraki wasn't usually one for frustration, but this was easily an exception. Rubbing his temples, Kondraki gestured for the swarm to stand down before pressing on, "When was the last recorded time before they disappeared?"

"13:41 hours. There was no signs of another escaped Skip in the Site, and—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. They're gone and we have no clue how or where they escaped to." Kondraki interrupted sourly, resisting his urges to keep yelling. Apparently, both Iris and Cain had somehow managed to completely disappear from their respective "containment chambers", although Kondraki, Gerald and the other staff of Site-17 seemed to agree that they were less like prison cells and more or less like heavily-guarded dormitory rooms.

It wasn't so much that Kondraki saw the humanoid SCPs as beneath him, though. In fact, the Site director actually enjoyed talking to both Iris and Cain whenever he wasn't out in the field or tinkering with his SCP-crossed camera SCP-515, and saw them as equal human beings. However, as the head of research and Site director of Site-17, it was still his duty and responsibility to ensure they were kept in containment both in and out of experimentation. Meaning, the O5s would blame HIM for their sudden missing status and likely stranded in some random alternate dimension or some dark corner on the planet. Meaning, Dr. Kondraki was most likely screwed.

Suddenly, a short *beep!* from his desk computer interrupted whatever he was going to say next. Grumbling to himself, Kondraki opened up his emails to see a new message from his fellow Foundation researcher, Dr. Gears. He was about to dismiss it to keep asking Gerald about the situation, but stopped when he saw the subject of the email.

Potentially missing anomalous objects?

Ignoring Dr. Gerald's puzzled face, Kondraki hastily opened the email to fully read its contents.

From: Dr. Gears, SCP Development and Review, Euclid-Class Specialist

To: Dr. Kondraki, Head of Research; Site-17

CC: Prof. Kain Pathos Crow, Dr. Light, Dr. Bright, Dr. Gears, Dr. Clef

There was a breach at the Site wherein multiple anomalies contained by the Foundation were temporary relocated to after the recent attacks by the Chaos Insurgency. We have reason to believe it to have been caused by SCP-079 with aid of undercover agents of the aforementioned Chaos Insurgency, most likely researchers who were sent in by the Insurgency to unleash the contained entities and items. The Mobile Task Force Epsilon-11 "Nine-Tailed Fox" have already succesfully contained the breach as well as the majority of breached anomalous objects. Repairs to Foundation property and security have already been calculated and currently under preparation. However, the most alarming result of this incident is the sudden unaccounted-for disappearance of multiple anomalous entities and items from the temporary Site they were previously stored in. There is little evidence that the Insurgency captured and contained them for themselves thus far, and none of the unaccounted for anomalous objects were reported, by surviving personnel or camera recordings, to have exited the Site during nor after the breach. The missing anomalous objects thus far appear to be:

SCP-049

SCP-096

SCP-513

SCP-178

SCP-372

SCP-714

SCP-420-J

SCP-1499

SCP-682

The only potential clues as to these sudden individual breaches and disappearances were readings of enormous bursts of electromagnetic energy and radiation centered around the last recorded locations of each of the anomalous objects reported within the Site. While nothing has been confirmed yet, Central Monitoring has already issued the possibility of multiple space-time disturbances and is currently making progress into confirming this hypothesis. If you or any other researchers and/or security personnel note similar disappearances or the resurfacing of the above-mentioned objects and/or anomalous occurences, I don't need to tell you what to do, nor what the potential consequences will be.

- Gears

Kondraki already felt beads of sweat rolling down from under his flat top cap, gritting his teeth. Neither Cain nor Iris would hurt a fly, he was certain, having talked and worked with them countless times... but the Plague Doctor, Shy Guy and Peripheral Jumper? There was not telling what carnage they could cause unchecked. Not to mention the numerous item anomalies that could do any number of harm if found and handled by the wrong people, which would definitely happen now that they were out there in the public somewhere. And of course, the fact that the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile was out…

Kondraki felt a slight shiver down his back. The great monstrosity would not hesitate to attack and annihilate any large human population it came across, no matter how attention-grabbing it would be. In fact, it would probably enjoy it if it attracted the attention of military enforcements, since it would provide even more death and destruction … that, and it was undoubtedly still feeling vengeful after their last encounter.

"Um… Kondraki…?" Gerald asked, having been fidgeting nervously for the last several minutes. Dr. Kondraki stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "Are you absolutely sure that there was nothing left in their chambers?"

Dr. Gerald made a thinking face before responding, "Er… no, nothing except a strange increase in electromagnetic energy and radiation, not to mention—Hey, where are you going?"

Kondraki pushed gruffly passed him, having heard enough and now on his way to the containment chambers. Gerald stumbled after him, confused by the sudden shift. Several twisting turns around the Site-17 halls later, and the researchers found themselves in front of SCP-073's containment chamber. Snorting to himself, Kondraki quickly used his Level 4 Clearance card to open the door and stepped inside without hesitation. Peering inside, he instantly recognized Cain's two-room cell, with several bookshelves, a table with several books from said bookshelves lying face-open on it, a chair pushed up to the table, a private bathroom situated on the far wall of the second room, a sheep-skin carpet in both roons, and a bed on the far side of the second room.

The two rooms were situated side-by-side and separated by a wall with a doorway allowing passage between them in the center of the wall, and Kondraki knew already that Cain's bed was in the second room. Carefully stepping through the door as Gerald watched, Kondraki peered into the second room. And then he felt it. He didn't know exactly how, but he could just somehow feel the strange aura radiating off Cain's bed. He then remembered that the last time anyone had seen Cain, he had left from the canteen to rest in his room after a full lunch with two of the guards he'd gotten friendly with. If Cain had been on his bed when he'd vanished…

Gerald carefully stepped through Cain's room and cleared his throat, "Erm… Konny? What are we doing here?"

Without missing a beat, Kondraki replied without turning to face Gerald, "There's been a major breach at the temporary site where those Skips were sent after the Insurgency attacks. Send out alerts to every major Site and MTF, and begin a collaborative study to find out what the hell just happened… because the O5s are gonna want to know every bit of what the hell just happened."

A/N

And that's that! Not gonna lie, this one wasn't that strong in my opinion, and I've recenlty found that it's rather difficult for me to feature every displaced SCP and include more Stranger Things characters than in previous chapters in a single individual one, so please forgive me if this chapter was lacking compared to the previous ones thus far.

With that in mind, that brings up a few topics and issues: Which of the SCPs would you like to see featured more? Which of the Stranger Things cast should be introduced/featured more? How long should the chapters be? No, seriously, I am an amateur writer and would really like to get better at writing these.

For those of you worried about how this story will play out, do not worry. I have a set outline in mind and will eventually get to cover every one of the major characters from both series, so no one from either franchise will be left out.

Another piece of news: I have recently started another story! For those interested, it is a RWBY + Metal Gear crossover whose first chapter will be uploaded around the same time this is. For anyone who wants to read it, you may find it to be somewhat different than the other RWBY + Metal Gear crossover stories posted, though whether the quality is better or worse is up to you. Don't worry, this story will take priority and I intend to finish it first. For those not interested... pretend you never read this paragraph and continue on.

Thanks for reading, and see ya next time!