Chapter 52 "Good Work"

They concluded their task for the day and declared it a success when Grace's squad had managed to contain SCP-2331 without anyone realizing it safely, and William had taken care of SCP-1440 to exit the building.

Grace's crew had performed admirably as the event hired them as security, aside from handling the Foundation's assignment to secure an SCP.

When the guest realized SCP-1440's effect had taken effect and some of the building's elements had been destroyed, some of the squad members assisted with the uproar that was caused so that it did not cause any further disruption.

With that, Grace's squad went to their vehicle and went back to Site-199 to report about the situation for today. There were only a few people left since the rest of the squad had gone early to the site, assisting SCP-2331's containment.

—

A few hours later, they finally arrived at Site-199.

Even though it was late at night, some Foundation employees had been anticipating their arrival. They primarily consist of the remaining members of the containment crew who had just finished confining SCP-2331 to its cell.

Secretary Noah and Dr. Erik can be seen waiting in the site's main lobby. Secretary Noah looked at Grace's squad with a smile as they arrived from their previous mission while keeping his hands behind his back.

"Good work back there, I was hoping that it would take more time than the usual knowing SCP-2331 behavior, but I'm not complaining with the result that you brought this time, Captain." said Secretary Noah as he looked at her.

It was clear from Grace's expression that she was a bit tired from the whole mission. Everything was not according to plan, with the appearance of SCP-1440 in the middle of the operation.

She then replied, "Yeah, though the situation may not be what we exactly would expect when carrying out the mission, but we were able to handle it pretty well with no casualties regarding what happened."

Dr. Erik was a bit confused by this response, "No casualties? What had actually happened in the field? Don't tell me that civilian lives were involved regarding the mission."

Grace and her team were a little perplexed by Dr. Erik's response, which seemed to indicate that he was unaware of the circumstances. Was he uninformed that SCP-1440 had appeared in the area?

She answered, "We thought that it would be an easy job to contain SCP-2331 by only keeping an eye on him at all times and taking him away so as not to raise suspicion from the general public. But we encountered something else."

She looked at William, that was on the back, "Alpha One reported that one of the crew saw an old man, which Alpha One thought was SCP-1440, in the building. With all the signs of its effect showing at a small scale, we proceed to evacuate the guests in the building."

"Alpha One proceeded to take the initiative to look for it, while the rest of the squad escorted SCP-2331 out and controlled the situation. We didn't know what happened with Alpha One's encounter with SCP-1440 as we lost contact with him."

With his eyes widening, Secretary Noah appeared interested in what had transpired during William and SCP-1440's interaction. William is quite knowledgeable about the Foundation; hence, something must have occurred between the two.

He then asked, "Is it really SCP-1440 that had appeared at that moment or just some random old man?"

"It was confirmed SCP-1440, with all of the things around him starting to tear down, and it matched the appearance and characteristics that were distinct enough to be SCP-1440." William replied.

Secretary Noah narrowed his eyes, "Then, what happened between the two of you? Considering the situation, SCP-1440 must have been dealt with by you for it to leave the building."

William halted briefly since he was aware that he had done nothing in regards to his interaction with SCP-1440. It was dealt by someone else instead, Elena. But he couldn't just give them the whole truth.

He was aware that Serpent's Hand and the Foundation did not get along; they opposed their approach to containing anomalies, and the Foundation treated them like any other hostile organization.

Some of the words that Elena said to William rang through his head. He knew that the Foundation was cruel sometimes regarding how they would contain an SCP.

He might need her help someday, and certainly, someone from the Serpent's Hand would be beneficial for him later. He needed both of the sides' help in case something really bad happened in the future, with the origami bird that she gave before.

William then replied, "SCP-1440 recognized that there were Foundation personnel in the building and put himself in danger to get the assistance he needed—which was to kill him. I told him that there was little I could do about his requests at the time and we reached the conclusion that it would be best for him to leave the building in search of Foundation sites before there were any casualties."

While it was not the whole truth regarding what happened, he put a little bit of lies into the story to make it seem more believable regarding their encounter, so it won't be that suspicious.

Secretary Noah looked at him for a while; they exchanged glare at each other. William felt a little bit of a tingling sensation that Secretary Noah might have picked up some lies within his story.

He then chuckled for a moment, "Well, I guess that was one way to do it. Truthfully, as long as you were able to manage the situation pretty well, it will always be OK in my book."

It seems that Secretary Noah had managed to break the ice between the two, as he then took and answered a phone call. He briefly walked away from the crowd, leaving Grace and the others with Dr. Erik.

"I wasn't informed regarding SCP-1440 appearance within the mission, but I'm glad that you guys were able to handle it well. Especially you, Alpha One." said Dr. Erik to the rest of the squad.

William replied, "It was nothing. I was just doing my job as someone from the Foundation."

Secretary Noah returned to them as he had just finished making a phone call. He looked at everyone that felt they were slumped after a whole day of hard work handling two SCPs at once.

"Our meeting was dismissed. All of you did a great job for today and took a rest for the rest of the night. We'll meet again in the morning once everyone has their energy up for the day continuing your duty as a Foundation's personnel." said Secretary Noah as he walked away from the group.