What is anomalies?
How can we know if something really is an anomaly or not if we know nothing about them?
How can we know if they are dangerous or not? that they can do good or bad?
We don't.
So should we research them? we can learn, we can improve.
But sometime, it would be best to keep it like how it is.
We know nothing about it, so we don't know what would happened if we interact with it.
But what if we know nothing bad would happen if we do so?
Well...in that case...letting our curiosity out is fine.
...
The council
"I'm telling you O5-6! We tested it! We can freely go in and out, but the people in those worlds can't!"
"Still, it's too risky, we don't know it everything would be fine or not, what if one of those world have some kind of disease and one of our agents bring in to our world?"
" You don't have to be so worried, when we return from those world, our status will be reset. A D-class's leg has been cut off inside that portal, when we bring him back, it completely healed"
"How about scars?"
"That too! Healed! Completely!"
"O5-8...so you want to....explore them?"
" Yes! Think about all the knowledge and information we're gonna get! We and those world can grow together! And none of those anomalies appear outside foundation's custody too! We don't even need to contain them!"
"...right...it's been a year after the appearance of SCP-7608..."
" I'm voting for 8, he's right, we did so many tests and the result are all the same, let's explore those worlds"
" Me too, good idea 8"
" Let's go with him 1, sound valid"
" ...okay then..."
"Hell yeah! Iris and Kay gonna love this!"
...
Iris stood in the doorway of his quarters, practically bouncing on the heels of her boots, her voice bright and uncharacteristically giddy.
"Kay! Wake up, come on! They said yes!" she said, knocking twice on the frame before pushing the door open fully. "Council approved the proposal, we're going in!"
The room was dim, as always. Kay kept the lights low even off-mission. Shadows clung to the corners, and the only sign of life was the faint rustle of cloth and the metallic click of a knife being sheathed.
From the far corner, he stood, fully dressed, combat shirt, tactical pants, boots laced. Mask on. Of course. He tilted his head slightly, voice calm but unmistakably amused.
"You've been up all night waiting for that answer, haven't you?"
Iris crossed her arms, but the grin refused to leave her face. "Worth it. I knew they'd cave. Eventually."
She stepped into the room, holding up the data pad with the signed approval. "Omicron-Zero is go. Gate One, 'The Flame and the Steel'. We step through in seventy-two hours."
Kay took the pad from her without a word, scanning it. The silence stretched a little too long, and Iris's excitement started to waver.
"I mean... you're coming, right?" she asked, voice a little smaller now. "They said I could lead the analysis team, but I figured..."
"I'm always coming with ya" he said, finally.
Iris let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, chuckling awkwardly. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Just checking. Not like I was worried or anything."
Kay handed the pad back. "You've been training for this. You earned it. Council made the right call."
She blinked at that. Praise from him was rare, quiet and precise when it came. She looked down, then back up, biting her lip like she wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the words.
He stepped past her, grabbing a folded field jacket from the back of his chair. "Gear up. We start prep in two hours."
"You're seriously not gonna say anything else?" she called after him as he walked down the hall. "Not even a 'good job, Iris'? A 'you didn't screw it up for once'?"
Kay stopped at the end of the hallway and turned slightly, just enough so she could see the faint glint of his eye behind the mask.
"You didn't screw it up," he said. Then added, just loud enough to catch as he turned the corner, "...for once."
Iris stared after him, grinning. "Jerk."
She didn't stop smiling for the rest of the morning.
...
On-site canteen...
The canteen was busier than usual.
Word of the gate mission must've gotten around fast, staff clusters whispered around trays, agents leaned over maps and data tablets, and a few D-Class mopped quietly in corners under the watchful eyes of their handlers.
Kay walked in first. The room didn't go silent, but it shifted. Not out of fear. More like gravity. Conversations dipped in volume. Heads turned. People straightened up.
Someone muttered under their breath, "Is that him?"
A nearby junior researcher nudged her friend. "Agent Kay. No way."
Kay ignored it, as he always did. Iris followed behind him with a half-smirk.
"Y'know," she said, grabbing a tray, "it's a little creepy how everyone looks at you like you're Foundation royalty."
"I didn't ask for it."
"Yeah, but you don't stop it, either."
They moved down the line, black coffee, protein rations, whatever passed for eggs this week. Iris grabbed extra toast, because Kay never did, and she knew he'd end up taking a piece anyway.
They found a table near the back. Before they could even sit, a familiar voice cut through.
"Is this seat taken?"
Cain, SCP-073, approached with a gentle smile and a tray piled with exactly one apple and a paperback novel. Always polite, always respectful.
Kay gave him a silent nod. "Of course."
Cain sat with a small grunt, glancing between the two of them.
"I hear you're going through the gate. The first one." His voice lowered a bit. "You'll be careful, won't you?"
"Always," Iris replied. "Besides, I've got him. What's gonna kill me, bad weather?"
Cain chuckled softly, but Kay said nothing. He just sipped his coffee, eyes scanning the room.
A few minutes later, another figure approached.
Agent Lennox, tall, lean, silver-streaked hair and glowing veins running beneath the skin of his arms. A mild thaumaturge from Site-88, one of the few with controlled anomaly integration.
He gave Kay a casual salute. "Mind if I join you, sir?"
Kay motioned to the chair. "Sit. And stop calling me sir."
"Hard habit to break," Lennox said, dropping his tray and sliding in beside Cain. "Heard about the op. Big move. Cross-dimensional, about time we stopped just containing and started learning."
Iris raised a brow. "You volunteering?"
"I'd be honored," Lennox replied. "You'll need someone who can read the weird before it turns hostile. And besides, if you're leading it, Kay, it means the Foundation actually intends to bring people back alive."
Kay gave the barest nod. Cain glanced at him, then said gently, "You know, there's something almost biblical about all this. Gates opening. Brave souls walking into new worlds. Reminds me of old stories."
Iris rolled her eyes. "Let's hope none of those stories end in floods or fire."
A passing maintenance tech stopped at the edge of the table, awkward but smiling. "Hey, uh, Agent Kay? I, uh... my kid got the med package last month. You signed off on it, right?"
Kay didn't speak, just gave the man a short nod. That was enough. The tech smiled brighter and disappeared down the hall like he'd met a god.
"You don't remember doing that, do you?" Iris asked.
"I remember the request. And the file. He'd earned it."
She leaned back in her chair. "You really are the favorite."
Kay finally looked at her, tilting his head.
"No. I'm just the one still standing."
...
The auxiliary prep lounge was quiet, dim lighting, couches patched with duct tape, and the faint hum of vending machines that never dispensed what you actually wanted.
A few agents lounged around, weapons being cleaned on their laps, voices low and casual.
Kay sat at the back of the room, legs crossed, half-hidden by the shadow of an old observation deck window. He wasn't doing anything flashy.
Just checking his gear, field blades, encrypted comms, one handgun mag at a time.
At the far end of the room, a loud buzz came from the vending machine. A man in a lab coat cursed.
"Of course! Of course it eats my goddamn card again! That's the fifth one this month!"
Dr. Bright stepped back, still wearing a clown pin on his lapel and a Hello Kitty lanyard around his neck. A new recruit whispered, "Is that the guy with the immortality amulet?"
Bright turned his head sharply. "I heard that!"
Another door opened, and Dr. Clef walked in, guitar case slung over one shoulder, wearing aviators indoors, as usual.
He tossed a bag of marshmallows onto a nearby couch and dropped next to Kay.
"You know," Clef said, "for a guy who never smiles, you sure have a way of making people feel safe."
Kay didn't look at him. "You say that like you're trying to get under my skin."
"Nah," Clef replied, grinning. "If I wanted that, I'd mention, oh, I don't know, Canada, 2011."
Kay slowly turned his head toward him. The lounge went very quiet.
"You ever say that again," Kay said flatly, "I'll mail your guitar to 682."
Bright snorted from across the room. "I like this one."
A young field agent, dark skin, shaved head, glowing blue veins up her neck, looked between the legends in the room like she was watching a fever dream.
"Wait... wait, are you Agent Kay? Like... that guy? The one that took down SCP-████ with no backup?"
Kay gave a slow, almost bored nod. "I did my job."
"Your job involved fist-fighting a Class-3 temporal predator in an unstable timestream."
"And surviving. Well, most of the foundation staff did something like that before right?"
Dr. Bright threw an arm over the back of a couch. "Kid, you're in the presence of the one guy in this whole building who makes me feel underdressed for combat. Kay's a ghost with a kill count, and somehow still has a better approval rating than most O5s."
"Not that he lets it go to his head," Clef added, smirking.
Kay stood suddenly. The room shifted with him, without a word, the chaos quieted again. He looked at the young agent.
"You're Agent Vega, right? Light-based anomaly. Controlled."
"Y-Yeah. Sir."
"You're on the Gate team now. Meet me in the sim chamber tomorrow at 0400. Bring everything you've got. No filters."
"Yes, sir."
As she scrambled to acknowledge, Kay looked back down at Bright and Clef.
"You two are staying out of this operation."
Clef raised his hands. "Wouldn't dream of interfering. I've got an interdimensional poker game to lose anyway."
Bright frowned. "But I made a custom gate-explorer amulet and everything. It glows when the narrative tension spikes!"
Kay just walked past him.
"I'll mail that to 682 too."
As the door slid shut behind him, silence lingered for a few more seconds before someone finally spoke.
"I get why people follow him now," Vega muttered. "He's not just scary, he's real."
Bright grinned.
"Oh, he's real alright. Real quiet. Real masked. Real unstoppable."
Clef popped a marshmallow into his mouth.
"And for some ungodly reason... real likable. Damn it."