Chapter 46 "Arriving At The Party"

12:15 PM, Miami, Florida.

William, Grace, and the other members of the containment team were traveling to the location where SCP-2331 would show up later in the party. Their responsibility was to safely contain it because it was mentioned as one of the guest stars.

They arrived in eight-person groups, divided into two groups while driving an SUV and wearing some minimal security equipment. They'll carry out the mission in disguise as a security company.

Particularly when they were attempting to fit in with the general people, the Foundation had to maintain a low profile regarding its operations. They would also need to be cautious when handling SCP-2331 in the venue later.

The party will be held in a large building close to Miami beach that can be seen from a distance. Even though the main event was still many hours away, there were already some people standing by the side.

They parked their cars in the garage beneath the building as soon as they got there. They had their basic equipment, such as vests, batons, and tasers, ready for such an occasion.

Grace led the group as they were about to enter the building. But they were stopped by a guard who was stationed in the parking lot and inquired about their credentials.

"Skylar Customs Protection, We're the security firm that was employed by the event organizers and were about to station ourselves before the venue started." said Grace as she gave her fake ID.

The Foundation was able to set up a fake company and documents needed for them to carry out their missions without raising any suspicion. It was needed for their covert operation like this.

After a few moments, the guard returned Grace's ID card and let them proceed into the building. Proceeding to go to the ground level through an elevator.

They arrived at the ground floor of the building. It was full of the event organizers and crew setting up stages and props that were needed for the party.

Most of them were decorated with a theme of Halloween, from the stage, the decoration, and the food. It was unknown whether this was entirely coincidental with the theme or SCP-2331's effect had affected the venue.

"You guys there!" said someone from a distance to Grace's group.

The man in a suit was walking toward them. He has short hair and a little makeup on his face to fit with the Halloween theme.

"You guys must be the people from Skylar Custom Protection, right? The one that was sent to be part of the security team." said the man in the suit

"Correct, we're here because we were called upon duty for this event tonight." said Grace

The man looked upon his clipboard and said, "Alright, noted. My name is Clarence, and I'm the one who's in charge of everything that was going on for this event. Thank you for providing your service to us."

Grace replied, "No need to thank us this early. The show hadn't even started yet, and we expected that it'll be a bit chaotic later knowing the guests that were going to be performing later."

Clarence laughed, "It's okay. Some of our guys are a bit short-handed on watching the whole building. Since this is a big venue and making sure that every bit of the corner is under control is our main job."

He handed Grace a small map of the whole building for her to look at; it had several markers to point to the location for them to be stationed at the time of the event.

"We may need each one of you to watch these points. One person is enough to watch the area marked on the map. Please report if anything were to happen within the area where you guys were stationed."

Knowing that they had to scatter individually due to their situation for this job, Grace looked back at William.

She was given the responsibility to always keep an eye on him, in case anything out of the ordinary happened. After all, he was still within the Foundation's eyes, but William crossed his chest with his finger.

Grace then sighed, "Alright, we can do that, but only if we use our own way of communication to keep my team and I in touch."

"That's fine with me, as long as you guys can carry out the job perfectly without any trouble at all later." said Clarence.

Grace looked around for a while, inspecting people that were present in the building one by one. She was looking for something within the building.

She then asked Clarence, "Have the guests already arrived in the building? Like waiting in their own waiting room or anything?"

Clarence checked his clipboard for a moment and said, "I don't think they have arrived yet. They should be here in a few hours. Either they will arrive before the party starts or during the party."

He then put aside his clipboard, "You know how those artists love to interact with the audience. They'll show up at the front door to greet them and have a party. Though, there are some shy ones too."

Grace then hummed, "I see, just checking if our client has arrived yet."

"Your client?" Clarence pondered.

"Yeah, the Scravecrow. His manager also hired us to be his bodyguards after his performance was finished. You know how popular he is lately with the current trend and news." Grace answered.

"Ohh, that guy. He's pretty hard to get a hold of. He just said that he was interested in performing at our party through one of our contact persons. Of course, I couldn't just deny it since he himself asked for it." said Clarence in excitement.

It seemed that SCP-2331 was also a bit mysterious about how it would go to the events on his own. The event organizers didn't seem a bit suspicious regarding their interaction with SCP-2331.

Judging from the reaction and the current trend of today's event, it seemed that people were really hyped about SCP-2331 performance later. They would need to find a perfect time not to raise suspicion that SCP-2331 will be taken away.

Grace and the other containment team had also arranged an escort vehicle that was previously prepared by Officer Clint, who was also monitoring the situation from outside the building.

"Alright then, we'll take it from here. My team and I will conduct a search first to make sure everything is fine." said Grace

Clarence gave them a thumbs up and left Grace with her team alone. Seeing that was the case, all of them gathered up to see the information that was on Grace's hand regarding their position.

After a little briefing made by Grace, the team started to scatter and move toward their position where they would be stationed later—checking the area first to find if there was anything that could disturb their plan.

Before William left for his position, Grace stopped him for a moment. William looked at her and asked, "Is there anything you want to say, Captain?"

She paused for a moment and said, "Don't do anything stupid. You'll be our main eyes since you're on the 2nd floor. Immediately report anything that seems suspicious to you, and don't be reckless."