Time to be a Hero

"Seems that time and memory loss is something you’re quite familiar with, you’re strong willed even if faced with a complicated situation. It is quite an admirable trait." Cain got a bit dreamy. What a mentally strong person. Cain always feared losing his memories, he clung to his purpose and mission far too strongly.

"I... study it, yes." Alex nodded. "But that's not my main mission. Up to now, The Construct has proven unkillable. Better warriors than I have tried, and it's resulted in nothing but the loss of valuable life and resources. We've tried learning about it, finding it's weakness, but due to it's complex nature, anything we've found is pure theory. We're still trying to define how it works."

It was an uphill battle every second of the way, with no visible end in sight. All he or anyone else partaking in is was to survive long enough to see it through to the end - if that was even possible.

"It is fairly common for otherworldly beings to mess with man made devices, especially electronics. The energy a monster emits is far stronger than electricity. Sometimes even a human can disturb electronics if their aura is menacing enough. Good thing the supervisors think it’s all bogus pseudoscience created by cultists otherwise they’d have learned a way to cultivate all sorts of anomalous energy and you would have to worry about a device being implanted in you." Cain had a vast knowledge of how curses and anomalies worked, he was very well aware of how fragile and weak the mortal world and it’s makings were compared to what was on the other side, unfortunately, most people would see his ideas and theories as lunacy not facts. Maybe it was for the better. His keepers weren’t known for being very good at taming monsters.

"You know, the bad thing with memory wiping is that you don’t even remember that you forgot something. In the best case it’s as if they brought you back in time and you’re simply starting from point one, in the worst case they plant fake memories to make you choose route B instead of route A. Also you can never know if your mind has been wiped. Who knows, maybe this is your tenth time visiting the Foundation? Perhaps you’re stuck in a loop and the monster eating your time is just another problem on top of a hundred other ones." Too far, Cain went too far, why was he scaring the man like that? He was sure that there was no mind play at work here but some strange sense of responsibility made the SCP tell everything he knows, it was his way of warning. The Foundation was a cruel machine, it will shape you the way it wants and discard you the moment you’ve outlived your usefulness.

He didn't want to think about it too much. He already had one humanoid abomination to deal with.

"I don't think that's been the case," Alexander leaned back, trying to get comfortable in the hard, metal chair in spite of his multiple bindings. Had he called this company 'the foundation'? It clearly wasn't an official name, but it would have to do. "If having your memory erased by the foundation is as you describe it, then it's not exactly like losing time.

When you recover from whatever it was that made you lose your memory, you don't feel like no time has happened - you feel like you just woke up from a long, long dream; you know you forgot something, and you know things aren't as they used to be. If you're aware you're being followed, you may even know the cause. Besides, I remember having been kidnapped by the foundation before. I don't feel they would have any reason to erase my memory." That said, he didn't deny it was still a possibility. Even more of a reason to investigate and be wary of this group. Their intentions were ambiguous, but he definitively couldn't approve of their methods.

"If you are interacting with that creature I am sure the Foundation wants to hear you talk. Not many people can do what you do, I’m sure of it. Perhaps you will survive without a memory wipe, but maybe they will secretly implant a tracking device into you. Cover your skin so it’s harder for them." The SCP looked at the prisoner sternly. Whether he would take Cain’s warning seriously was an entirely different story, perhaps the Sumerian had no place to tell how to avoid the Foundation, oh the supervisors who hate him would have a field day with a report of this behavior. Thankfully they’re all too busy with the containment breach to hush Cain out of the interrogation room.

"No electronics survive repeated encounters with the Construct," He said, matter of factly. "I'd lie if I told you I know why, they just start failing when he's near. It's usually just minor malfunctions and an interruption in communications, but I know for experience that any device that's exposed to him repeatedly or for long periods of time will suffer permanent damage. I think the people here know this, and I want to believe they're smart enough to not put a ticking timebomb inside of me."

Or maybe they weren't. How disposable exactly was Alex to these people? Sure, he was a Hunter, one of the more reasonable ones at that: He fulfilled a service of them without asking for any pay in return. But did that mean anything to them in the large scale of things? Did they even care about the Tall Man as much as he thought they did?

"I don't think I know any more about the creature than they do," He looked back up to Cain, "They probably brought me here to ask about my life for the last couple of months, about the interactions I've had with it and it's servants. I'm not sure what your company does, but they seem to have taken a special kind of interest on what I do and how I interact with it."

Meanwhile, the known proxy, Vince, was trying to comprehend that a bolt was beneath his ribs. He just sort of.. stared down at it for a moment. Great. First he gets shot by a man who seems to be some sort of hunter, and then his prey escapes. What a beautiful day.

"What the hell are you?" After asking, he stumbled back a bit. That shit hurt. But after seeing the next bolt, Vince pulled another knife. Both were aimed at Alexander’s upper body yet ended up planting themselves into his thigh and pelvic area. 

He tried crane his head to look in front of him, first focusing his visions on the blades protruding out of his leg and hip, but then turning his attention back towards the enemy standing on the other side of the clearing. He didn't seem to affected by the arrow on his chest - pained, sure, but he was strong enough to keep moving in spite of it.

Alex wasn't that strong.

He started dragging himself back, the adrenaline doing a good job at masking the pain and helping him not pass out. It didn't take him long to find a tree he could lean against: sitting up hurt like a motherfucker, but at least it gave him a more advantageous position than just laying down.

"Recruit me?" Alexander arched an eyebrow, "I would hope not, the people here seem like they would know better." So the man didn't know why Alex was there. Should he tell him? How trustworthy was he? He decided being vague was probably the way to go. Maybe he could get some information out of him in the process.

"I suppose you could call it an 'eldritch horror', although I'm not sure it fits the bill entirely..." That was kind of a lie. He had referred to it as an eldritch horror himself, but he hoped his companion would be inclined to fill in the gaps for him. "I've come into contact with something the people here refer to as 'the bundle' several times across my lifetime. I don't suppose you know much about it?"

The sirens started blaring out of nowhere, it scared the new recruits and they fidgeted and whined and complained, asking if it’s some sort of drill. It was no drill, this was the real thing. Cain got up but someone grabbed him by the hand, of course the new researchers didn’t know what they’re supposed to do with an SCP. He tried to pull away but more recruits circled around him. Cain counted minutes, by this time his cell would have closed. Great. He broke protocol.

Finally a supervisor appeared and started yelling at the juniors, Cain slipped away as she was too busy scolding the newbies. Where to now? It seemed a standard breach but something didn’t feel right so Cain decided to descend. He took the first stairs and went downstairs.

The lower floors were either for more dangerous SCPs or for other actions - interrogations, experiments and so on. The hallway was dimly lit and abandoned, naturally the sirens called everyone upstairs. Cain noticed one door was ajar, bright light flowing into the hallway. Curiosity took the better of him, it’s not like he could go anywhere else. Entering the room Cain noticed it wasn’t empty, some poor soul had been taken for an interrogation. How unfortunate, it will take some time for anyone to return to them. The SCP decided to approach the captured person. He took the seat in front of them, ignoring the questioning looks he was given.

The second thing Alex noticed was his body language and voice modulation; soft, sheepish - not the kind of thing that was expected from a trained professional. Still, he seemed aware Alex was being interrogated and decided to enter the room without asking for permission. He worked for the company, but was either not here to interrogate him or intended to do so by pretending to be friendly.

His hands were particularly attention-worthy. Completely made out of metal that appeared to go beyond his wrists. Prosthetic? Quite possibly, although they did appear quite sophisticated. Some sort of bodily augmentation? Unlikely, but not impossible.

     It was just like running from him again, but this time for Kate, an actual person was chasing her. She had stepped out to get some fresh air but ended up being attacked by a stronger proxy who was seeking to occupy her territory. He was swift, much like a ghost, and had a whole inventory of knives he hoped to slit her throat with. This was no easy escape— it was actually quite impossible, but Kate was fast and that was the only thing that kept him from gaining on her. Well, that, and the fact that this was her land. 

The other proxy was twice her size and about a foot taller. Not to mention loud. He’d keep calling to her, promising to end her life. This was not exactly how she wanted to die.

Branches kept hitting her and scratching up her arms and face, slowing her down. Watch the trees, you idio-!

The young woman did not even have time to finish her thought before he tackled her to the muddy ground. She hissed, screeched, tried to push him off.

"LET ME GO!!" Kate cried. The whole forest could most likely hear her screams. A knife was pulled out.

He knelt down, pressing the stock against his body as he pulled the string back, carefully placing another bolt in place so he could fire again. He had been hunting this proxy for a while, observing his movements, learning his patterns. His plan had been to strike later that week, once he was sure he had his target figured out. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for him, some poor girl had seemed to earn the proxy's wrath, forcing him to jump into action.

In one hand, it was annoying: Being pushed into battle like that meant Alexander was left to his own devices, with no preconceived battle scenario or backup plans he could rely on in case things went haywire. On the other hand, the fact that the proxy's attention was solely focused on the girl had granted him the element of surprise - a very advantageous factor in these kind of scenarios.

"The Construct?" He must mean Slenderman, or maybe the higher up proxies. "Yes and no. I have to meet a quota and that is about it. But if he gives me any other order, I will follow it word for word and it will be followed in a literal sense. Master is careful when giving me instructions, one wrong slip of the tongue and the order may be taken in the wrong manner." She paused, trying to figure out how to explain it better. "Even if he says something as a joke, like ‘Forget it,’ my mind will end up erasing that memory. When another person gives me an order I have free will to do as I please. This is probably as to why I am known as a defective proxy."

'Why do you do what you do, Red?'

"Do what I do? Hmm…" The halfbreed tilted her head again, deep in thought. "My father is why…" She replied a few seconds later, words coming out slowly as if to confirm her own answer. "Master says I am a ‘defective’ proxy, so he lets me do as I please, all I have to do is meet a quota of kills per month. And well, I was never supposed to be born; halfbreeds are forbidden among shadow demons so by that law I was supposed to never be conceived or after birth be killed, yet here I am," she paused, taking a breath before continuing. "Father was human and killed my mother whom was a demon. He abused me until his own demise came along. Since I was never supposed to be, being a proxy gives me a purpose, and since I am allowed to kill whomever I please, I murder those who are abusers, molesters, rapists, and all the sort. The scum of the earth."

"I suppose I should thank you for your offer, but it's not commodities that I'm lacking... Or that I want," He looked down at his feet, as if in deep thought, and remained silent for a couple of seconds. "I'm just... I don't think tired would be the right way to describe it. Sick may be more accurate."

His gaze drifted from the ground to the terrain around them, his head slowly turning to examine the area that surrounded him. He wasn't scanning his surroundings, that much was obvious; his movements were too slow, too lethargic, like he were half asleep.