SCP by Series
Other SCP
Feed
Stories
Discovery
Random
Info
Opportunities
Part 2
Author: Doctor Scrappy
Just Fragments Hub SCP ORIGINS HUB
Blue.
She could see the blue, smell the blue, taste the blue, touch it. The blue was the greatest thing she ever laid eyes on. She couldn't imagine a world without the blue, now that she had witnessed it. Everything needed to be blue in her eyes. The blue was loving. The blue was forever. No one dared to take away the blue from her, so beautiful and kind was the blue.
She wanted to be with the blue forever.
*
"Minerals."
That singular word was enough to turn the heads of the entire board. Their eyes settled on the man of the hour, Mr. Timothy Rex.
Mr. Rex was a small, slender looking fellow. Of Asian descent, dressed in a fine suit, he was the CEO ofthe largest tech company of the entire world:RexTec. Selling millions of mobile devices, laptops, self-driving vehicles to billions of customers in every corner of the Earth, there was no other firm that had an iron grip on the world of today than his. But he didn't think that way.
He turned his attention to his second-in-command, Ms. Monika Cavallo.
Ms. Cavallo was tall — in comparison to Rex anyway — had brown hair, blue eyes and a suit that teetered between the line of grey and blue. No one could ever really tell.
"What is the best-selling business in the world, besides technology?" Rex asked his COO.
She just looked at him weirdly. The other board members had turned their heads at her, eagerly awaiting an answer to that question.
"Besides technology?" she thought about her answer. "Fashio—"
Rex held up his hand. "Besides fashion?" His mouth was pressed into a grin, his teeth clenched.
"… Weapons?" she asked with such a shake and stir the floor trembled.
Rex snapped his fingers. "Exactly! You're completelyright! And what are humans?" It sounded rhetoric. "Come on, gentleladies!" It definitely was.
Mark Ruhster, head of innovations at RexTec, held up his hand. He bleated out: "Violent…?"
"Ding-ding! Mark's got the gist. Of course he would! And you lot will too!"
Rex moved over to a beamer. He pressed a button on a little remote and the beamer turned on and the blinds were lowered. They covered the big glass windows that allowed a view over all of the city. At the top of the RexTec tower, a good view was the least one could hope for. Once everything was in near pitch blackness were the images on the canvas clearly visible.
Everyone still squinted their eyes to see them. They squinted harder once they realized what they were looking at.
"What we have here is a mineral, which emits near lethal dosages of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Aside from that…"
On came another image. It was of a person covered in a sort of sickly blue mold. The person stuck out at parts where the mold didn't seem to drown them. Even though it was a still image, the members couldfeel the mold pulsate on their skin. Many averted their eyes.
"… that's what happens when you stay near it for too long."
The COO voiced up: "Mr. Rex… sir, what does this have to do with anything? And…what the hell is this?"
Rex didn't say a word. He just flicked to another image.
A video of a woman came up on screen. She sat in a windowless cell. Everything was tinted blue, from the floor, to the walls, to the ceiling. Everything was covered in that mold again. Even her.
It covered her entire body, from head to toe. She breathed underneath it, at least that was what it looked like. The mold inflated and deflated.
"We don't know what's up with this mineral. But what we do know is that there's not anything like it in the entire world! The opportunities are endless!"
Ms. Cavollo stood up. She couldn't look at the screen anymore.
"Sir, I cannot in good faith and common human decency support any of this. It's just too…"
"I must agree with her," Ruhster voiced out.
Soon the entirety of the board voiced their concerns over this new discovery. Timothy Rex was less than pleased. Cavallo spoke up again: "Mr. Rex, I do not think that RexTec should even be allowed with handling of this… mineral. We should call upon the proper authorities. The government! Your mother would've—"
Rex slammed his fist on the table. There was this brief moment where everyone had paused their lively chatter. One could hear the other's heartbeat, so sudden came the silence. Rex continued on. He cleared his throat and straightened his suit.
"What I meant to say was— Why do you all need to be such drags?"
No one said a word. No one.
Rex walked up and down. His eyes were occasionally illuminated by the beamer's light.
"This company thrives on new ideas and exploring new business ventures! No wonder Ol' Musky got afraid of the tech-race to Mars, we are so much better than any company that came before! And when I say that we can handle this mineral, then I mean it!" The last part came a bit more forceful than he had hoped. No bother.
He clasped his hands together. The tension visibly deflated in his body. "All right. Meeting's adjourned. You can all go on your merry little ways now." He waved them away like a flock of city doves.
Cavallo stood up to leave. Rex's voice chimed in. "Cavallo, you have a minute?"
Sweat dripped down her head. She could feel her own breathing becoming shallower and shallower. With a headspin she looked toward her boss. She remained where she stood. Her eyes wandered around from one corner to the next, from one chair to the other. They never met his gaze. Once Rex realized Cavallo wasn't coming over to him, he walked over to her. He believed that he might not have not noticed her eyes come out of their crazed quest to avoid his, but her eyes did gaze into his for a brief moment. The two were standing at opposite sides of the conference table. Neither of them said a word.
"Cavallo," he exhaled, "whom do you see on that painting?"
Her head turned with precision to the painting of none other than Timothy Rex on the wall. How could one miss it? It was the most prominent thing in the whole room. She gulped. "You—"
"Precisely! And whomdon't you see in that painting?" He was tapping his fingers against the table. One after the other, they made a slow rhythmic sound that echoed in Cavallo's ears.
She spoke up again, as if the sound made her forget she had a voice. "Your mothe—"
He held up a finger. It teetered from side to side, like a little figure that was on the egde of a cliff. Only a gust of wind…
"Her name. Please."
"Amalia Rex, sir."
"And where is she right now?"
Her breath stammered. There was this brief moment where her heart skipped a beat. Memories flashed before her eyes, for the first time during this conversation did she look Rex in the eyes. There in his eyes was the slyness that she had expected, but also was concerned of to see. But not only was it reflected in his eyes; his mouth, the edges of them having contorted into a toothy grin, pearl white were his teeth. As white as a shark's.
"Exactly! So stop bringing her up, Ms. Cavallo, pretty please, thank you very much!"
She just stood there. He waved her away. "Dismissed. Goodbye."
She grabbed her things and hurriedly left the room. Rex slumped his head against the table. He clutched the chairs around him, so much so that his knuckles turned white. His heart was pumping, his veins filled with fury. He breathed in and out.
*
The car roared to a halt in front of an illustrious gate. What Rex imagined had popped straight out of a bible page, there was a front lawn with bushes and even a tree out. Pomegranate tree. He stepped out of the car, whose pitch blackness bounced off the setting sun quite nicely. He approached the gate, inconspicuous guards in black having awaited Timothy Rex and his entourage of his guards to arrive.
Unlike the yard, the house was rather simplistic. It was textured in that ebony wood of style, streaks of bark brown and nightly black mixing together in an abstract-art sort of way. Security cams hung off the roof, their lenses keeping an eye on Timothy Rex and his guardsmen. The front door was also rather simple, being of an odd purple coloration. The handle was a bar, laced in gold. Rex nodded in approval.
The door opened of its own — Rex thought about whether the person he was about to meet was a customer of theirs — and they headed inside.
An aquarium that covered the entire western wall, filled with fish that Rex could not name for the life of him. Plants that sprouted from the floor to the ceiling, definitely of an exotic nature. There were spring fountains and golden colored lights in nearly every corner. And also more guards. The hallways were as equally as lavish, purple and golden striped wallpaper adorning every inch of them.
They came to a stop in a giant room. There was a large table in the center. At the far end of it sat a person in a large office chair. "Mr. Rex. Pleasure to be meeting you," the person sounded. Definitely a woman.
He raised his left eyebrow. "And you are?"
"Iris Dark. Founding member of Marshall, Carter & Dark Ltd." She took a sip of her tea.
"Can't say I've heard of you."
Dark put her cup down. "Glad to hear it." She stood up. Her eyes met his. Now that she wasn't obscured by the large velvet office chair, Rex could fully take in her glory: Standing at a comfortable 1,70 meters, Iris Dark had blonde hair, purple glasses and a stern look on her face. She looked like a woman of business. Her stance was also that of one, being straight and unfaultering. Her arms were behind her back, which only served to accentuate her physique.
"The reason I've called to this meeting is a rather recent discovery of yours.The discovery."
His left eye twitched. "What?"
A guard — not one of his — threw a folder onto the table. He eyed it. One of his guards opened the folder and handed its contents to their boss. He sighed internally. He had expected this moment to come, but for it to be coming so soon he hadn't expected.
"Interesting find, I must declare."
Rex threw the folder back onto the table. "What now, huh? What, do you want 45% of the profit we make with the sell of every RexTec brand vibrator?"
She held in a chuckle. Her expression was serious the moment later. "Don't be so crude, Mr. Rex. I have a much better offer to propose to you."
"Send the government after me? Have me arrested for illegal human experimentation? They signed a waiver, I might add!"
"There are forces that you are not aware of that have ruled every aspect of this planet for decades now. You just aren't aware of them yet."
It sounded absurd. Utterly laughable. So much so that it sounded true. On the day of the discovery, he had pondered whyhe, out of all people in the world, was the first person to stumble upon such a wonder. Sure, there were millions of more people who claimed to have seen, found or get abducted by the wildest of creatures, objects and phenomena. Why he, out of all people, was the lucky one.
There had to have been people before him. But if that were true, they'd still be here, telling of their tales of wonder. Right?
He was intrigued, to say the least. "What are you talking about?"
"We here at Marshall, Carter & Dark value one thing above all: integrity. Recently, our operations have been foiled by a secret shadow organization, which prides itself of protecting the people. The kind that would sacrifice a town for the rest of humanity." A servant refilled her tea. She nodded them a thanks. "With that organization lurking around every corner, every one of our ventures is quickly getting shut down—"
He held up his hand. "Why would I help, let alonejoin you? Isn't this what the meeting's about? To recruit me as a dummy shield for when this 'shadow cabbal' strikes again, your pretty little businesses stay out of harm's way?"
"The only difference between RexTec and MC&D is that, while we operate in the shadows, you operate in the view of the public.They cannot replace you. Even if they tried. Removing RexTec from the face of the earth is like erasing the invention of the wheel."
He supposed it was true. RexTec quickly outgrew other rival companies in a matter of years. They revolutionized the technical world in all the ways imaginable, ways that would've taken others decades. He also supposed that a majority of it was due to the stern ruling of Amalia Rex. He shook off the thought.
"My proposal for you is this: We will fund you. We will oversee your experiments. Provide you with the resources that you need."
"And you receive…?"
"In exchange, we want to distribute whatever comes out of these experiments, sell them to the highest bidder. Otherwise you have completely autonomy in the project. No guidelines, no directives. You, and only you, will be in charge."
He let the proposal stir a bit in his head. He held out his hand. Dark reached out to take it. "A thing…" He retracted his hand. Dark's just hung there loosely in the air. "I want to know more about this 'mystical' world of yours."
Dark smiled. It seemed genuine. "Over a cup of tea some time." They shook hands.
Rex turned to his guards. They all left the room. "One last question…"
Dark turned her head toward Timothy Rex.
"What was the name of that shadow cabbal?"
*
The punching bag swayed from left to right with every hit it had to endure. There were tears in the seams, spots where the stuffing seeped out from. A red sign that read "KEEP OUT" hung over the door.Iris liked being in the room all by lonesome. It gave her a peace of mind, some time to reflect.
I shouldn't have pulled the trigger. But how was I supposed to know? It could've been anybody around that corner. I just acted on instinct, what the Foundation had taught me to do, ever since I was a young teenager.
He looked like my brother.
Iris shook that thought away. Sometimes she could think too much. Think about things that mattered not so much. She hated that about herself.
The door to the room opened. Iris let out an internal groan.
"Improving on your technique, I see?" Dr. Light.
Iris stopped. "Being an intruding bitch, I see?"
"Charming. Hey, I wanted to congratulate you for that mission. Obviously nothing you couldn't handle; I mean, that guy was a twink, but I—"
"Can we just cut to the part where you ask the favor of me? It's pretty obvious."
Light just nodded. "We need new recruits for the Council's favorite pet project, Alpha-9. We already have one in mind. The rest we'll figure out later."
"What's the favor?"
"Could you train them?"
"Aren't there special agents for that type of stuff?"
Light gave Iris that look she always hated. "You're supposed to be the leader of the force. If not you, who else?"
"Let Clef do it."
"No."
Iris paused. "Fine…" she snarled.
"Thank you, Iris." Light put a hand on Iris' shoulder. She shook it off.
"Who am I even gonna train? Someone I've met or someone new?"
"It'sCain."
*
… But that was cut short when a low hissing noise came from somewhere outside the blue. Suddenly the blue wasn't as loving, nor warm, nor forever anymore. The blue retreated back, as the gas that slowly filled the chamber seeped into the pores of the blue, none the wiser to their doom.
The blue shriveled up and died. That was the end of the blue. And that was the end of her.
To be continued…
Cite this page as:
"Opportunities" by Doctor Scrappy , from theSCP Wiki. Source:https://scpwiki.com/opportunities. Licensed underCC-BY-SA.
For information on how to use this component, see theLicense Box component. To read about licensing policy, see theLicensing Guide.