Chapter 81:

Chapter 81:

It was a Wednesday noon when Leonard stepped out of school with a few of his friends. A black car was parked nearby, catching his eye. He waved goodbye to his friends and slipped inside the car. As it drove off, one of his friends remarked, "Don't you guys think Leo has been acting weird since he came back?" Another responded, "Yeah, I thought I was the only one who noticed. He used to hang out with us all the time, but now, except at school, he's always distant." A third turned to Joris and asked, "What do you think?" Joris, still watching the car disappear into the distance, replied, "I'm going to go see him later, check if he's alright."

---

In the car, Leonard was playing on his phone while Graves drove. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he asked, "Wait, System, didn't I have access to some Daily Login Rewards thing?" A notification appeared:

[Ding! Yes, the host has access to the Daily Login Reward.]

Leonard clenched his teeth and said, "System, why didn't you remind me?"

[Ding! The system is not responsible for the host's brain malfunctions.]

Leonard coughed up some blood, overwhelmed by the emotional damage, and said with a small tear in his eye, "Alright, System, sign me in for today."

[Ding! You have signed in for today's Daily Login Reward.]

[Ding! Congratulations, you have received 3,000 Gold.]

Leonard turned to Graves and asked, "Graves, would it be possible to create an underground base beneath my house that will serve as my personal headquarters? It could greatly enhance our operations."

Graves thought for a few seconds and replied, "There are three possibilities for that. First, you can order the reality benders from Resh-1 to construct an underground base for you. It would be built very quickly, but it would be extremely vulnerable to anti-reality-bending technologies. The second option is to mobilize Foundation construction teams and engineers, though this would greatly risk exposing your secrecy and discretion. Lastly, you could use the System to classify your house as a Site or Zone and utilize the system's layout functions to enhance your base without external help."

Léonard thought for a moment and said: "I think I'll go with the third option and create a personal base using the system. Take us home quickly."

Graves replied: "At your command," and the drive passed quickly.

They arrived at Léonard's house, and both got out. Léonard, accompanied by Graves, went down to the basement and said: "System, I want to make this place my personal base."

[Ding! You will need to pay 10,000 Gold to claim this site.]

Léonard said, "I accept," and a window appeared:

[Ding! What would you like to name this site?]

Léonard thought for a few seconds and said: "I want to name this site Area-01."

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for creating their first custom site: Area-01. You have been rewarded with 2,000 Gold.]

Léonard then accessed the system's resource management and clicked on the information for Area-01:

**[Name: Area-01

Location: XXXX, Lille, France

Site Director: Léonard Dumont

Personnel:

25 Legendary MTF Agents (Resh-1)

The Administrator

Structure: Family home with 1 floor, 1 ground floor, and a basement.

Contained SCPs:

SCP-4112 (Transfer on-going)

SCP-066-DE

Next, Léonard entered the construction mode and opened a 3D map of the house. He added a hidden door in one of the basement walls and an elevator that descended 50 meters underground. From there, he connected a long hallway and attached various rooms: training rooms, a rest room, bedrooms, a briefing room, a personal office, 10 containment chambers, a research lab, a communication and news room, and an armory. Then, he linked a garage and an elevator in the garage that led up to the house's indoor garage.

Satisfied with the work, he rubbed his hands together and saw this message pop up:

[Ding! The construction costs will amount to 40,000 Gold. Would you like to proceed with the payment?]

He clenched his fists and said: "Yes, I want to pay."

Léonard looked sadly at his gold, which had gone from 48,167 Gold to 8,167 Gold.

He began to search the basement with Graves and eventually discovered a scanner hidden behind the electrical box of the house.

He took out his accreditation card and held it up to the scanner, which turned green. Suddenly, a door opened in the wall, revealing an elevator.

It had only two buttons, one for up and another for down. Without hesitation, Léonard pressed the button for down, and the elevator door closed and descended.

After 15 seconds, the door opened to reveal a long corridor lined with doors on both sides.

He opened each one and found a shooting range, rooms with weight training equipment, and punching bags.

Then he walked through another door leading to another hallway that revealed a series of four-person bedrooms.

There was enough space to accommodate 200 people. Next, they entered the briefing room.

It was filled with chairs and tactical screens scattered around. Finally, they went to the armory.

The room was filled with cabinets and other storage, all empty. Léonard sighed and said to Graves, "We need to stock up on weapons and ammunition for Resh-1."

Graves nodded in agreement.

Next, the two entered a room filled with screens and computers. Some screens displayed information like weather in various countries or news channels. Larger screens showed transmissions and reports from the Foundation. Léonard approached one screen displaying the latest autopsy reports on several Tartarean entities' corpses. He nodded in acknowledgment.

Finally, they arrived at a door at the far end of the hallway, facing the elevator. Léonard scanned his card, and after a slight beep, the sliding door opened to reveal a majestic office, with screens lining the side walls. In front of the door stood an imposing desk with a large computer placed on the side. Behind the desk and chair were four flags, two on each side. These flags bore the logo of the Foundation and the emblem of the Office of The Administrator.

Léonard excitedly trotted over to the desk chair, took a serious posture, his hands clasped and elbows resting on the table. Then he smiled and asked, "How do I look?"

Graves smiled and replied, "You look perfect, boss."

Léonard then asked, "How long until the Resh-1 group from the U.S. arrives?"

Graves responded, "In a few hours."

Léonard replied, "Okay. I hereby declare Area-01 officially operational. The Resh-1 group stationed here will be called the 1st Detachment of Resh-1."

Graves saluted and said, "At your orders."

After thinking for a few seconds, Léonard accessed the system's shop and recruited one MTF Agent (Demon Mode), who appeared in front of him. The agent knelt immediately, and Léonard said to him, "From now on, you will join Resh-1 'Seat of Consciousness'. I want you to teach me how to master Demon Mode."

The man, still kneeling, declared, "Your wishes are my commands, sir."

Then, Léonard saw several Resh-1 operators gradually entering via the elevator. Suddenly, there was an exclamation over Graves' radio. He listened with a frown, then turned to Léonard and said, "Boss, one of your classmates is ringing the doorbell. A certain Joris."

Léonard furrowed his brow and, followed by Graves, they took the elevator. They arrived at the basement, then ascended to the entrance. Léonard opened the door and said, "Hey man, how's it going?" while giving him a handshake.

Joris replied, "Chillin', and you?"

Léonard said, "I'm good."

Joris said, "Uh, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Léonard responded, "Of course, come in," opening the door wider. Joris entered, and Léonard closed it behind him. The two made their way to the kitchen, where Léonard tossed Joris a soda, and they both emptied their cans.

Léonard then asked, "Bro, you don't seem well. Did something happen?"

Joris thought for a few seconds before replying, "Do you remember that my father is a scientist and professor at the University of Technology in Lille?"

Léonard responded, "Yes? He even gave me some bissap. It was really good."

Joris chuckled slightly before saying, "I feel like he's not acting normal lately."

Léonard: "What do you mean?"

Joris: "Well, he made some new friends who are also scientists like him. At first, I was happy he had people to talk to and do his science stuff with. But… I don't know, ever since he's been hanging out with them, he's become more and more hostile toward anything religious. Even with my mom, who's Protestant, they've been arguing non-stop about her faith. And when we passed by some religious folks, he even spat in the direction of a mosque, shouting, 'You ignorant monkeys!' I had to slam the gas pedal so he wouldn't get beaten up by the Muslims standing there."

Léonard's eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious? Your dad is one of the kindest and most respectful men I've ever met. There's no way he would do that."

Joris, feeling uncomfortable, said, "I couldn't believe it either. Then yesterday, I overheard one of his conversations with his 'scientist friends.' They were talking about attacking mosques in the biggest cities across France for Eid al-Adha on the 16th."

Léonard shouted, "WHAT?!"

Joris said, "Man, I'm scared of what he's becoming. But I don't want him to end up in prison because of me. And I don't want him to hurt anyone either. Please, help me." He started to tear up.

Léonard replied, "I'll see what I can do to help. But do you have any information about your dad's friends?"

Joris thought for a moment and said, "Oh yeah, I saw that they were wearing some kind of logo on their chest. I think it was like a diamond with blue edges. They also mentioned deploying several RUBIES teams for these attacks."

Léonard rubbed his chin and murmured, "RUBIES, diamonds… hmmm."

Suddenly, Joris' phone rang. He answered, "Hello?" After some exclamations from the person on the other end, his face darkened, and he said, "Alright, I'm coming right away."

Léonard asked, "Is everything alright?"

Joris, now crying, said, "No, my parents just argued again, and my dad slapped my mom. She called me, crying, asking me to come home." Léonard said nothing, and Joris continued, "I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you. I'll see you tomorrow." The two shook hands, and Joris left.

Léonard closed the door, his expression dark, his eyes filled with hatred. Suddenly, over ten Resh-1 operators appeared, and Graves emerged from the basement. He saw Léonard's expression and his own face hardened. He said, "Boss. Give us the names of the people to kill."

Léonard replied, "Not yet." He took out his phone, searched for a number on the SCPiNET, and dialed. After several rings, the phone picked up: "Hello, this is Dr. Everwood. To whom do I have the honor?"

Léonard responded, "I am the Administrator."

There was a slight thud from the other end of the line, followed by a nervous, uncomfortable voice, "Sir, I-I didn't realize it was you. I apologize for my behavior."

Ignoring the apology, Léonard continued, "I need information to identify a group of interest based on a few details." Dr. Everwood's tone immediately turned serious, "Your wishes are orders. What details do you have?"

Léonard said, "Well, from what I understand, their logo is some sort of diamond with blue edges. They seem to be atheist extremists with a hatred for religion. They've also talked about several attacks planned on mosques for June 16th and mentioned deploying multiple teams of 'RUBIES'. Does that ring any bells?"

There was a brief silence, then Everwood muttered, "Hatred against religions… diamond…" before saying, "Sir, I think this might be the group of interest known as 'SAPPHIRE'."

Léonard asked, "SAPPHIRE?"

Everwood responded, "SAPPHIRE is a group of atheist extremists seeking to destroy all religions and anomalies. They were once part of the Council of 108 within the GOC but left the coalition to actively target and destroy religious entities. They are actively hunted by the coalition and are considered enemies by both normal and anomalous religious groups. They primarily operate within scientific communities. As for the 'RUBIES' teams, according to DEA&IA intel, they are their military forces. In short, they're SAPPHIRE's equivalent of our MTFs and field agents."

Léonard replied, "I see." He then added, "You've served me well. You'll receive a bonus on this month's salary." After that, he hung up.

Suddenly, a system window appeared:

[Ding! You have discovered the Group of Interest "SAPPHIRE."]

Léonard stared at the notification before accessing the system. He clicked on MTF Omega-5 "The Jewelers," then changed their status from Rest to Maximum Alert. He immediately organized a massive search for any information related to SAPPHIRE. The Gendarmerie and the DGSI joined the operation, launching an intense game of cat and mouse across France.

Then he said: "It's time for the diamond hunt."

And turned back to the basement.