37 Festive Undercurrents -35
As soon as Bill Foster left Ava's room, he went to find Hank, quickly informing him that Ava had agreed to their terms and what she had asked for in return.
Hank was then, in turn, busy going around, flagging down people to have everything arranged, not to mention he needed to argue for hours and hours to be allowed to do this in the first place.
Not letting up, he eventually had his way, and Ava got her wish for a normal-ish Christmas, and for all his hard work, Hank still wasn't even invited!
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But Ava at SITE-98 wasn't the only one who was going to celebrate Christmas; while much of the Foundation was busy dealing with SCP-4255, the rest were all allowed to relax a little and have a good time.
Either going home and celebrating with their families, which thankfully also existed in this world. Or for those who still had to be at their SITE would join their colleagues in celebrations at the SITEs themselves.
Even the Foundation, which knew the truth about many things, including Santa and even God, still celebrated the holidays. After all, at this point, it was all just about the gifts anyway.
At SITE-160, Bruce also spent the holidays with his colleagues and new friends. He really had lost his entire old life after the accident.
Even now, while he was able to live a mostly normal life, that was only as long as he remained under the protection of the Foundation. Should he reach out to Betty, he would probably get in trouble.
He still missed her a lot; he had at least been able to send her a card. Just a small little note to let her know he was well. He couldn't say much about what he was doing since it was all so very secret.
He was pretty sure that her father would probably find out about it. He wasn't worried, though, since the Foundation had helped him send it.
He wasn't too sure what they would do, but he was pretty sure from the way they had talked about it that Ross would find a long chain of leads forcing him all around the world only to then end up with nothing once he had spent a lot of money and time looking.
His new friends all seemed to take great joy in helping him get back at Ross for what the man had done to him. Something Bruce was thankful for; it was genuinely great to be treated like a normal person again. Or at least as normal as a person with a green giant inside them could be.
Even that was looking good; the data from the last test had been excellent, and now he was almost looking forward to the next one. The only thing slowing down the experiments right now was the fact that the pit still needed some more work put into it.
Still, as he sat there in the canteen, which had been decorated, he couldn't help but forget all about that and just enjoy the festive mood around him.
"I still can't believe Santa is even real, much less a time traveler." Bruce said after his eye caught sight of a small Santa figure on a table.
"Yeah, it for sure is pretty shocking and a hell of a work keeping something like him a secret." A colleague said.
"Yeah, I'm glad I'm not part of the team that has to work on ensuring that everyone forgets about him while also removing any other evidence," Oliver said.
"Yeah, I'm still struggling to come to terms with the sheer scale of the Foundation's work." Bruce sighed as he indeed was still finding it unbelievable that they did so much yet was utterly unknown.
"We work hard is what we do, cause if we didn't, the world would go to shit. Not easy work, nor pretty, but someone has to do it, and that is us." Oliver said, his voice growing louder as he continued, and cheers erupted nearby as he finished.
Bruce also lifted his glass up as he couldn't help but agree with his friend. Once, he might have desired recognition for his work and achievements. After the accident? Not so much, now he just wanted to live a normal, meaningful life.
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[SITE-19]
At SITE-19, preparations were being made to allow SCP-053 to also celebrate Christmas; 053 was always docile, so only working around her anomalous properties was required. A total of eleven people would be paying her an extra visit over the next two days, each bringing her a present or something else.
Today, she would be greeted by three people who would bring her some fitting food and clothes; a television would also be placed in the containment cell, which would be playing a few movies fitting for her age.
The people were all carefully selected from D-class. This was to ensure that the girl would be treated well, but at the same time, the people would be disposable should an accident happen, as they would stay with her for as long as possible within the 10-minute window.
Everything had been carefully arranged so the girl would get the maximum enjoyment while also ensuring that proper containment procedures were adhered to.
As the 204-2 object hadn't been secured yet, the plan there had been scrapped, and instead, a few wrapped-up gifts were placed in his future containment cell. He was, after all, expected to arrive before dinner time tomorrow, the 25th.
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[SITE 001]
The Ricci mansion had also been fully decorated and showed off the festive mood as everyone settled for their meal. While many people were still out working among the Foundation personnel, there were still many more who could sit down at their SITE to have a dinner together like at SITE-160. Alex had even ensured that a small payment would be given to every member of the Foundation tomorrow morning.
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[Triskelion]
While the Foundation might be able to relax and celebrate Christmas, that wasn't the case for quite a few people at Shield.
Not only were they hunting down some serial killer who might be enhanced, not only that, they might also be a child!
To have an enhanced child go on a killing spree wasn't something that could be taken lightly, but there had also been another case with a little girl mere weeks apart!
It clearly seemed like a larger conspiracy was at work here. While they were trying to solve this case, another unexpected event took place.
Another shield facility had been raided! More than just that, another enhanced child, or here, in this case, a young teen, had been kidnapped by parties unknown.
*BANG!*
"Hill! Talk to me, explain to me how we could have been attacked again like this." Thundered Fury as he slammed his hand onto the table and looked at his deputy.
Maria herself was right now starting to regret taking that promotion.
"Yes, sir, we still lack many clues, but whoever did this is good. No just calling them good is an understatement. They know what they are doing, sir."
"We have identified where they got in, and we are still trying to find out how they even knew about the facility or knew about the layout. "
"We are also still not sure how they got past the security door on their way out. That thing shouldn't have been able to be unlocked by anyone but yourself, not unless the alarm was turned off first, which it wasn't."
"So, for now, we assume they either had access to your key or had a backdoor in the system used to unlock the door itself."
"All the records of the events have been wiped, which is why we can't tell for sure. This also means that we don't have any video of the event either."
"So it's the same as with the little girl." Fury said more as a statement than a question.
"That's the current theory indeed, sir. We believe they might have hacked in and gotten more data than expected during the first attack. Which let them know of this new facility and the target."
"However, this theory is not very strong as it doesn't explain how they were able to get their hands on keys nor learn of the layout so quickly."
"Since their target was Ava Starr and Bill Foster, who was taken from his home, we looked into who else might be a potential target. Bill didn't fit the enhanced child motive, but he is someone very knowledgeable about her state; few know more about her than him."
"So we figured they might want to attempt to replicate the experiment; if that was the case, one of the most valuable experts would be Hank Pym, who himself also has disappeared for months now."
"Pym has gone missing as well?" Fury interrupted.
"Yes, sir, he seems to have gone missing at some point in the last few months after losing his position at his company."
"We have been to his home, and it appears he left freely. At least after having gone through everything we found evidence that some suitcases as well as clothes and other things were missing."
We can't say whether he simply left for a vacation and later was kidnapped or if he is involved with all of this." Hill reported.
"I know Pym; he used to work for us. He isn't the type to do something like this, but he does have a weakness, his wife. If these people used that, it might be possible for Pym to work with or for them, as long as he doesn't think the work they do is wrong or dangerous."
"He would never allow his work to be used in ways that he disagrees with; that is the very reason he left us in the first place." Fury said after a moment to think things over.
He was a paranoid man who didn't trust anyone but himself. And it was because he himself knew Pym that he dared to say he wouldn't work with dangerous people, at least if he knew they were dangerous.
It also was likely that he would not be deceived for long either, as that man was known for sticking his nose where it didn't belong.
No, it was likely that he had started out working for them freely but now might be held captive.
Thinking about it, they likely had him build a quantum chamber like the one they used to house Ava Starr in; telling him about her would probably make him willing to do that.
He likely wouldn't have known that the girl was with Shield before the chamber was built, and he had outlived his usefulness. He could only hope that they, whoever there are, hadn't killed Pym. The man, for his many faults, was a hero.
"I Don't like this, Hill, first the Hulk, now these three cases. A lot of our other operations have also been ending in dead ends lately. How many of those were because the target was taken away before we got there?"
"I want more men in Chicago. I want the child there found and before whoever else is out there gets him. Then, I want to find out who is behind all of this and what their plan is. We can't allow them to continue; we have to stop them before they can commence whatever they are planning."
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Hill?" Fury stared up at his right-hand woman with a deadly serious stare.
As Hill nodded and left the room to carry out his order and left him to his thoughts, he couldn't help but reach into his pocket and look at the pager again.
'If someone out there is making an army of monsters, then the earth might need you once more.' He thought as he looked at it for a moment more before putting it back.
'For now, though, I will do my best to ensure that it doesn't come to that.'
Fury wasn't alone in his fury and worry, as his former boss was also feeling the pressure mount as an important asset was stolen from his hand. Alexander Pierce wasn't happy, and he had ensured both Fury and the Hydra agents under himself understood that he wanted an answer.
Even though he was angry, he was also looking forward to getting some answers. He was already planning to take over this group once caught. They clearly had both skills and resources that would be helpful in fulfilling his goals and the goals of Hydra.
'Hail Hydra,' he mused as he awaited good news.
