Shadows and schemes -2

Alexander Ricci stood in the heart of his elegantly appointed bedroom, bathed in soft, ambient light highlighting its stylish decor. He approached the sleek, minimalist closet door and pressed a hidden button. A smooth, mechanical voice broke the silence, asking, "What is today's theme?"

"Business as usual," Alex replied with a hint of resolve in his voice. Instantly, the doors slid open with a barely a hiss, unveiling a meticulously organized collection of form-fitting black tailored suits and an array of complementary ties.

He selected his attire with practiced ease, the fabric hugging his frame perfectly. As a final touch, he affixed a small black and gold pin—the emblem of the Foundation—to his chest, a subtle nod to the allegiance that underpinned his every move.

Descending to the dining room, Alex savored a breakfast crafted by his skilled chefs, each bite a blend of nutrition and culinary artistry. Yet, as he accessed the system to check his points, a shadow crossed his otherwise composed demeanor.

The system's chime was both a reminder and a rebuke:

[Ding! Host has 846 Foundation points! Keep working hard for the glory of the Foundation!].

Despite utilizing every resource at his disposal—including gift packets and bonus rewards for an obscure achievement, not to mention containing the SCP object—Alex found himself short of the points needed for the upcoming mandatory summon.

'I must find a solution before the month ends, to not only prepare for the next SCP but also to ensure I have a buffer of points for the future,' he mused with a strategic mindset, aiming for a new operational benchmark: to start each month fully prepared.

His return to his room was met with routine, yet the act of pressing the closet button and hearing the familiar inquiry, "What is today's theme?" felt like a momentary escape from his pressing concerns.

 "Casual as always," he responded, though the reveal of a steel wall instead of clothing reminded him there was no true respite in his world.

"Authorization O5-1," he commanded. A panel slid open, and upon scanning his hand, the steel wall silently parted to reveal an elevator. His prompt, "Down, please," initiated descent into the heart of his operations: a command bunker that was both sanctuary and center of his endless toil.

Seated at his command, Alex navigated through a flurry of emails and demands, his decisions swift and often uncompromising.

 A thought lingered in his mind, a strategic consideration for the Foundation's future: 'With an increasing roster of personnel and a limited number of SCPs, the balance of engagement and loyalty is delicate. Our relevance and contribution to humanity are what bind their loyalty; this equilibrium must be maintained.'

The challenges were ceaseless: insufficient points for summoning, the necessity of summoning for multiple reasons, and the looming presence of SHIELD.

Sighing to himself, Alex returned to work and allowed the hours to pass quickly. Time flew as he worked tirelessly to maintain the sprawling SCP Foundation single-handedly.

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He couldn't help but draw a sardonic parallel to his roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe—not the glamour of a magic-wielding hero, but the gritty reality of a bureaucrat buried under paperwork and financial burdens.

The very idea of being transported into a world such as the MCU and then, rather than partake in all the excitement, he instead had to do boring and mundane work day and night.

'And after all this work, I wouldn't even be worth more then a B-show tv series as a villain. He thought mockingly to himself.

"Though I really didn't need that extra O5-1 bank account to be rich." 

Alex said to himself as he was trying to come to terms with just how much money he really had. Sure, on the surface, Alexander Ricci had a worth of around 800 million USD. 

But in the underworld, his wealth ballooned to 600 billion. With a B!

'Though there is a lot of money going into just running the Ricci family, not to mention what is needed for the Foundation!'

'Running the Ricci family and the Foundation is financially draining,' he noted. The 'setting' he found himself in, heading one of the Foundation's financial arms, was fortuitous, as the system-assigned SITEs and bases demanded significant funds.

'I remember reading somewhere that it was rumored that The Chaos Insurgency was a part of the Foundation that took care of the dirty work. Is that what I am? Head of the Insurgency and O5-1?'

 'All the stuff I do as head of the Ricci family is dark stuff, and my people are Foundation people.' He pondered, considering the implications of his dual roles.

'Sure is a lot to take in in so little time.' Alex thought to himself, still feeling slightly off about the whole thing. After all, he had never had to run any business before yesterday, and now he was running the damn Foundation.

 'Though at least I won't lack D-class personnel, that's for sure.' He couldn't help but think as he read notes and files from the many thousands of agents under him, who oversaw gangs around the world. All of them offered the criminals under them up for D-class work.

'Still, I need more money and more undercover agents everywhere to ensure I can work in secret. 

Can't have SHIELD get in the way of Foundation work. They might be trying to do what we are, but they can't do it. Not as long as they are under the thumb of the government. Fury is many things, but willing and able to break out is not among them.'

Being stuck in a bunker all day wasn't the most exciting of things. So as soon as he was done with the more sensitive part of his Foundation work, he decided to relocate to his upstairs office. 

Not only was the office luxurious and comfortable, but it also allowed him the company and use of his aides. "Get me a call to Dr. Simmons of SITE-011." 

He called out to the empty office after spotting an internal communication bearing the label of SCP-787, and sure enough, a member of ALPHA-1 stepped inside the office a moment later with a phone, which he handed to Alex. 

Dr. Simmons?"

"Yes, sir, I'm here." the Doctor responded.

"Very well; I would like a report about the SCP situation and if any more challenges have presented themselves while trying to contain it." Alex asked lightly while going through a bit of paperwork.

"Yes sir, so far we have found no anomalous properties to the SCP object, other than the fact that it could not have appeared like that on its own with normal means."

"We also believe that we are dealing with SCP object 787… Sir I know that you are likely aware and already working on a fix, but about the loss of the database and the containment breach…"

Alex quickly interrupted the good Doctor there. "You are right to assume that I am aware, the O5 council is also meeting right now about the situation, for now just focus on the task ahead."

He really didn't want to be reminded about that messy situation again, even with only a few SITEs he was still drowning in requests and concerns about that damn issue.

"Yes, sir, we are currently working with the assumption that it is SCP-787, we don't have the file itself due to the current situation, so other than the name and the fact it was apparently a safe class object, well the staff here don't have anyone else who remembers much about the object."

"So for now we are still going through the process step by step, so once we recover a copy of the file we can match our findings with that to confirm our theory."

"It was doing this work we found another instance of SCP-787-1. It was recovered from the waste storage tank of all places. We are working on identifying all instances of 787-1 so far, and progress is being made. What we have discovered so far gives little clue as to the nature of object 787 itself."

"As for the other point, there is more to report on that front. We have had multiple attempts of infiltration to the new SITE-787, as we have called it until a proper number is assigned. The agents that helped secure the SCP object are all being pressured into giving up data or even releasing SCP-787 itself to external parties."

Dr. Simmons dutifully reported all he knew, though it was little information the system hadn't given him already. However, Alex still wondered how that person entered the waste storage tank.

"Give them something to chew on; can't let them turn desperate on us for now. If needed, get help from SITE-644 in writing up something and let it leak out to those trying hard enough. Otherwise, you may continue doing as you are or move the SCP object to SITE-160 if possible. You have my permission for that, at least." Alex finished off before letting the Doctor get back to his work. 

'I need to somehow deal with SHIELD. Which is not going to happen any time soon. They have too much manpower and are getting the support of the UN and USA.' He thought to himself as he finished up the last of his work.

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Alex once again found himself lounging in front of the pool with a glass of wine in his hand as he slowly started to form plans in his head. It was a relaxing place, and he did need a little time to relax after sitting by a desk since morning.

'I need to build up the Ricci family to get more money for the Foundation. It's making more than enough for the current needs of the Foundation, though given that I will be getting more SITEs constantly, who knows how long that will last.'

'No, the real problem will be both having enough liquid funds for the Foundation and a few personal projects I have in mind…'

He thought, scrolling through the news on his phone. The only thing that caught his eye was an article about a mysterious plane that had appeared in a random field. 

He could clearly see the work of SITE-644 in the article, it was so crazy that had it been about a UFO instead, it would probably have been more believable.

'Next, we just need a big event that will shift attention away from it.' He slowly deduced, and suddenly, he had an idea. 

"Tomorrow morning, I want a story in the news about Tony Stark becoming a father." Alex said out aloud, and even though he didn't get a reply, he knew that it would only take minutes before that story was written up. Ah, how he enjoyed being in charge.

 Now, if only he could get a picture of Tony's reaction to learning that his secret child made the news worldwide.

[Tony Stark's home.]

Tony was busy being a brilliant engineer and inventor for once, rather than a useless playboy when he suddenly sneezed. 'Oh, is someone talking about me?' Tony thought as he scratched his nose before getting back to his work with a smile on his face as he surely imagined some model or movie star with his name on their tongue.

[SITE-001]

Back at his dinner table, Alex attentively listened to reports on the Ricci family's activities.

"The 10 Rings' resurgence is complicating our operations globally, particularly in the East, but its influence is palpable even here in the States and across Europe," one of his subordinates reported. "Collaborations are becoming increasingly strained."

"The 10 rings, you say?" Alex asked as he paused in thought for a moment.

"Yes sir, The 10 rings."

"Hmm, alright, I might have to speak with the Mandarin himself if this continues. If Kingpin takes this as a chance to act up, let me know, and I will have a talk with him. The same goes for the Hand." He said mildly, though it caused the people in the room to show bloodthirsty smiles. 

"Understood, boss." The agent said before finishing his report, but nothing else caught Alex's attention after that point as he was busy trying to remember what he could about the Mandarin from the movie about his son.

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After his meal, Alex made his way down to his bunker, opened up his personal SCP database, and began writing up a new entry.

[SCP-10000 – The Mandarin]

[Object Class – Euclid]

[Special Containment Procedures: due to his own personal power and the power of the organization, the 10 rings. The Mandarin is not yet in containment but was until recently thought of as a safe class object. Containment should, as of right now, focus on aiding his goals without releasing SCP-13666. This is to once again have his assigned Class be reduced to Safe. It is advised against attempting to place object in containment while it is actively using SCP object 101010. Should a chance for separating SCP object 10000 from object 101010 appear, it is recommended to take it.]

[Description: SCP-10000 is a man of Asian descent. The object has been active for more than 1000 years in the area around China and can be considered as the de facto ruler of the area. He is highly skilled in combat and is surrounded by armies of loyal followers, which are also spread throughout the world. He is known to be in possession of SCP-101010, also known as the 10 rings, which grant him his unending lifespan and multiple unique powers, though due to inconsistent data, the specifics are unknown.]

Alex finished writing the first entry and had already assigned another two SCP numbers, so he also decided to fill out those two, though he hated how high the numbers were. 

Still, with close to 10000 SCPs from the SCP universe that could be summoned randomly, he didn't want to run into conflicting numbers down the line. The only reason he had named his ring as SCP-001 was that there were already a lot of entries for that, so he didn't mind adding his own.

[SCP-13666 – The Dweller in Darkness]

[Object Class – Apollyon]

[Special Containment Procedures: SCP-13666 is currently contained using REDACTED. Continued use of REDACTED ensures there is no risk of escape. In the event of any signs of escape, a code black must be initiated due to the potential for an XK-class end-of-the-world event.]

[Description: REDACTED - by orders of O5-1, details about this SCP are classified.]

Alex found himself quite liking making these entries even if only he would have access to them; he decided that he would find time to help the rest of the Foundation get at least some of this information, though he might need to Redact information further.

[SCP-101010 – The 10 Rings]

[Object Class – Safe]

[Special Containment Procedures: Not under Foundation control currently. The 10 rings should be securely stored in a safe class containment box, with no experiments conducted, Without permission from at least 2/3 of O5 command.]

[Description: a series of 10 rings of unknown make and materiel, they are at least 1000 years old. Being in possession of the object is known to grant the holder anomalous powers, including but not limited to eternal life. The Rings are currently in a powered-down state and should be kept like that, lest a reclassification be needed.]

[SCP-12501 – Ta Lo]

[Object Class – THAUMIEL]

[Special Containment Procedures: is not contained by the Foundation currently but should be protected by Foundation personnel to prevent possible XK-class event.]

[Description: REDACTED by order of O5-1]

Finishing yet another entry into the database, He leaned back, feeling rather satisfied with himself. He understood why so many people had made SCPs back then, though he wished they had made fewer dangerous ones. 

Still, he was a little worried about the newly coined SCP-13666 since he knew that the Dweller in Darkness was a super-all-ending bad boss in some comics, and only in the movie was it something that could be beaten so easily. So, he was rather worried that it would take after the comics more than the movie one.

"Guess I should try not to let him be released in the first place. Should have a few decades for that, right?" Alex whispered while leaning back and thinking about how he should go about that.

'Dealing with the Mandarin won't be easy. One doesn't rule as a warlord for that long and not have a few tricks up his sleeves. Not to mention that I don't know what his rings can do since they could do some crazy shit in the comics but were rather boring in the movie.'

A sigh escaped his lips as he thought about how to deal with the Mandarin threat, though as he had written in the entry, the best would be to help him just get his dead wife back. Now, he might not have an SCP that could give him that, but he could still find a way for sure.

[SCP-10252 - resurrection serum]

[Object Class – Safe]

[Special Containment Procedures: no samples of this are in Foundation containment as of now. Though the organization: The hand. Is known to have at least one dose of it, and the ability to produce more. So, a normal security box for safe objects should be able to hold it.]

[Description: Created by The Hand, this serum can reanimate the dead and alter memories. It reportedly contains dragon bone material. The Foundation has not analyzed a sample directly, so comprehensive data is unavailable.]

[SCP-10254 – Kree corpse]

[Object Class – Safe]

[Special Containment Procedures: Not in Foundation custody. Maintain at temperatures below -25 degrees Celsius.]

[Description: A Kree corpse from the 1995 incident, currently in SHIELD's possession. It has potential resurrection capabilities but may induce side effects treatable with potent amnestics.]

With another two entries written down and added to his growing database, Alex leaned back and yawned while a plan took form in the back of his head. However, to go further, he needs to get the file of project TAHITI from SHIELD, which might prove hard to do.

"It seems I need to look into what agents are inside SHIELD, and if there is none that fits the bill, look into finding someone who can steal it. There should be some master thief around the MCU who can do that." Alex said as he tried to remember any super thief from the MCU.

'Though let's hope the Foundation can handle it on its own, might authorize for the use of SCP-005 if needed.' Alex thought as he sat back and felt a sudden desire to have a white cat in his lap while he sat in his secret underground bunker, planning to steal top-secret files from the world's most powerful spy organization.