Voice testing - Original character based off of SCP

[dr_redacted]

"You can't be serious!"

"I know you're all set on getting a voice for me, but this is far too public. What if they see and decide to have me terminated? Or worse, what if I have to do all the paperwork involved in this leak?"

Doctor Ethan gives a resigned sigh.

"Okay, it is already too late to turn back now. You better take responsibility. I already have too much work on my desk, thank you very much."

Comments

[gentleman_thief]

The foundation you originate from have no jurisdiction here nor any power.

[Trilby had to admit he was rather wary of seeing a doctor from that place.]

[dr_redacted]

I am not quite sure that is reassuring, considering the types you find at this place.

Also, I do intend to have a job when I get back. If this gets out...

[gentleman_thief]

Well if you so wished there are other job opportunities where you won't have to worry about being demoted to D-Class.

[dr_redacted]

As tempting as that may be, for some of my colleagues, I still have a job to complete and it will just take too much time and effort to find a suitable replacement for me. Not to mention the hours training, researching and reading to get up to speed on my projects.

No. I don't think I will be looking to update my resume. Thank you.

[gentleman_thief]

Alright then well it is a benefit the mundanes have made it their business to keep this secret and provide amnesia for all involved when it is said and done.

[dr_redacted]

Thank science for small favors, I suppose.

[gentleman_thief]

I have to ask, do you agree with everything your organization does? This is strictly off any sort of record.

[dr_redacted]

I am never strictly off the record. Though, in this case, it doesn't much matter.

Of course I agree with it. Some of my colleagues may have not perform as they should, but the organization as a whole works as is necessary. Of course, I do see why not everyone will agree. Luckily, they'll never have to make the hard choices.

And you were worried about paperwork?

[one_seven_three]

[Still as stone, body and bone, look who is here to play.]

.......

[dr_redacted]

[Staring. It takes a brief moment of taking a mental inventory of files to figure out what he is looking at. Normally, he'd be hard pressed to recognize one on sight, but...

...This one is pretty hard to forget.]

This is not happening.

[It is. Damn, why is it so hard not to blink when you try not to?]

This can only end well.

[one_seven_three]

[Lifeless and dull green "eyes" stare back at you, making no comment on your statement.]

[173 remains still. For now.]

If well = bloody mess, then yes, yes it can.

[dr_redacted]

[Pulls out a cell phone, not even looking at it. It takes several tries to actually dial a right number. Now he's sweating. Oh, oh no, don't get in his eyes.]

Hello, yes. This is Doctor Ethan Collins. Don't ask why I am not at my lab, this is more...

Just, just get Doctor ███████ and tell him SCP-173 is loose. Yes. There has been a containment breach. I have it in sight for what will be anywhere from a minute to a few seconds so you better making it quick!

I don't care if you have to call the local police, I'll handle it. Hurry!

Ooo, good response. I wasn't sure how well you'd do with this thread, but I'm actually impressed.

[one_seven_three]

[Doctor, have your eyes began to ache?]

[Red on the floor. Where did it come from? No matter. It stinks.]

Thank you. New muse and well... holy shit 173....

[dr_redacted]

[Hangs up the phone, fumbling to get it into his pocket. Nervous? You bet. That smell. It's not hard to imagine how he could end up as just another smear on the floor.

Very slowly, very carefully, moving his hand around his field of vision to wipe the sweat from his brow. Now is not the time to panic. His hand might be shaking, but he isn't done yet. Is it sad that the one thing that flashes before his eyes is not his life, but instead all the time and paperwork involved with replacing him? What sort of life is that?]

SCP One Seven Three. Of... of all the ways I imagined, dreamed, of dying. Falling victim to you was not one of them.

Hey, at least it's not 682?

[one_seven_three]

[Your words are met with more heavy silence.]

[Is 173 imagining how it will smash in your skull?]

[Perhaps it yearns for the cracking sound of your femur split in two.]

Or 096, he'd have died before he remembered not to look.

[dr_redacted]

[He knows, he really does, that 173 will never respond. It is more to calm his own nerves. Maybe it is to prepare himself for the inevitable. He knows what is coming and how this will end. He's already thought of the solutions. No barriers to put between them, no help coming, no D class to take over the dangerous roles.

He does wonder what this thing thinks about. He wonders if it can see while it is being watched and forced to stay solid and still. Maybe time stops for it in this position.]

Well, one seven three. I hope you can have indigestion and that my poor diet of coffee and pills gives you all sorts of distress.

That last line made me chuckle

[one_seven_three]

[...the watched pot never boils, Doctor...]

He's just a little bitter

[dr_redacted]

I suppose these are my last words, then.

[Stare.]

To secure, contain, protect. You will be recaptured One Seven Three and this incident will just be a foot note.

...

Time to get this over with.

[And then he lowers his head and closes his eyes.]

1/3

[one_seven_three]

[There is a change in the air.]

[The being commonly referred to as One Seven Three stirs, straightening itself with a quick, jagged movement. Time has once again returned to it and for a moment reduced the Soft Ones to helpless, immobile sacks of tissue. Tissue ready to be broken and torn.]

[The creature cocks his head to stare at you - a Soft One who's paralyzing eyes are cast to the floor. It can tell this Soft One is a Captor: It knows all to easy from metallic stink you wear. Pure anger boils inside One Seven Three. It begins to stomp towards you, eager to destroy.]

2/3

[one_seven_three]

[But this is not the Cage. This is different. This has not been felt in far too long.]

[It sniffs the air. He senses the great open, stretching out.]

3/3

[one_seven_three]

[Freedom.]

[It knows this chance will be fleeting. One Seven Three races past you, the stub of his appendage clipping against your upper arm along the way. Running into the great expanse of this new world, it can see, here and there, other Soft Ones. But the white is so vast, it knows it can easily hide.]

[If One Seven Three could hope, it's hope would be the same as many of those who knew of it's existence: That One Seven Three would never be seen again.]

0.0;

[dr_redacted]

[As it clipped his arm, Ethan cried out. As much as he could pretend bravery and face the horrors of this world with his typical disdain, Dr. Collins fears death. Something rooted deep within his subconscious mind. Fear of the many ways he knows one can die, and the many ways he can't even imagine.

When nothing follows up the brief pain, and he is consciously aware of his own rapid breathing, Ethan opens his eyes. Nothing. Nothing but the mess left behind. A mess that he is not physically a part of. Slowly, he looks around and sees that One Seven Three is gone. He takes a long few minutes to calm down and collect himself enough to fake being in control when he makes his next phone call.]

Hello? Yes. This is Doctor Collins again. One Seven Three is on the loose. Please inform Doctor ███████ that he will need to write up a plan and procedure for recapturing One Seven Three. This breach falls directly on his shoulders as he was in charge of containment and study.

I also will need a medical specialist waiting and ready after I am debriefed.

[So confident that he will be alive after the debriefing. Or is this just standard procedure he is filling his mind with to push out the horror of this incident.]

I also want to have view of the test results to form a second opinion. Another copy should be sent to Doctor ███████.

That is all, I will await pick up.

[And then he hangs up. His hand shaking too bad to hold the phone. He stumbles a couple of steps to a curb and sits down harder than he planned. Instead of dwelling on his near death, he forces himself to dwell on the future. No one has ever been struck by One Seven Three and lived, in the very least this injury should be studied.

And so goes the life of Dr. Ethan Collins, researcher and scientist for the SCP foundation.]

[smash_stuff]

"....did you say leak?"

[dr_redacted]

"Yes, a leak. Like water through a crack in the floor, except with information."

[smash_stuff]

Bruce looks slightly relieved. "I see." He was thinking radiation leak.

[dr_redacted]

"What were you thinking?"

He's curious now.

"And who are you, anyways?"

[smash_stuff]

"I was...nothing." Didn't much matter now.

Bruce shifts uncomfortably, knowing he can't really give his real name. "Bruce...Banyan. I'm nobody really."

[dr_redacted]

"As much as I'd love to believe that, today has not been my day."

Bruce might be uncomfortable, but Ethan seems very much in control of himself. More agitated than anything else.

"Bruce Bayan then. Something is troubling you. You might as well tell me, it will save us both a lot of time and hassle Mr. Bayan."

[smash_stuff]

"I've heard that before," he mumbles more to himself than anything. He can at least explain one thing anyway. "I thought you meant radiation leak....which, y'know would have been bad." Information leak wasn't nearly as immediately life threatening.

[dr_redacted]

"Oh, if only it were that simple."

He gives a relieved sigh.

"So, is your fear of radiation standard popular opinion or do you have some hands on experience?"

oops, mun thought the white shirt was a lab coat sorry

[smash_stuff]

He almost thinks about smiling at the question. "I've had some experience. How about yourself?"

No problem, it's Dear-mun so I'll roll with anything.

[dr_redacted]

"My only experience is on paper. It is not really my specialty and only tangentially related to my work."

Though Ethan doesn't know this, Bruce is more along the lines of his typical work. His only experience with radiation is the after effects on living things. Of course, what he doesn't know can't hurt the two of them.

"I assure you, any leak I am involved with will not involve radiation."

ty and mun running to work, more tags later

[smash_stuff]

Bruce nods. "Can't tell you how much of a relief that is. Believe me, you don't want first hand experience."

Until then!

[dr_redacted]

"First hand experience. Something you've seen or something you've been treated for?"

He definitely doesn't want first hand experience. He's seen what happens to D-Class when exposed to radioactive SCP anomalies. Or, at least he has seen the paperwork.

[smash_stuff]

"I'm...going to tentatively say both." Bruce may look a little on the skinny side, but he's healthy enough. One would never guess his cells were always emitting residual gamma radiation.

[dr_redacted]

"I'm sorry to hear that, then. Radiation poisoning has a list of traumatic physical and psychological effects on a person."

Says the man who only ever reads about it. Never to experience it, if he is lucky.

"What did you do for a living, anyways?"

[smash_stuff]

Now there is a small smile tinged with bitterness. Hopefully, someday, he'll be rid of his radiation poisoning for good.

Bruce hesitates, but the man asked what he did for a living. As in past tense. So for once, he answers truthfully. "I was a scientist."

[dr_redacted]

"A noble career, if you don't mind me being a bit bias in saying such."

As much as he says this, there doesn't seem much joy in his tone. In fact, he almost sounds bored. If not slightly annoyed. Then again, that seems to be his most natural state.

"If it is not confidential, may I ask if your work was energy based, military based, or other?"

[smash_stuff]

It was confidential, technically. Maybe Bruce missed having a colleague to talk to because he was still talking about it. "Military funded, gamma radiation based. Finding a way to make human beings more resilient to trauma and damage, faster healing, that sort of thing."

[dr_redacted]

"Nasty stuff, radiation. I don't really pretend to know why the military does what it does, I will just say I am sorry to hear and hope any mistakes were well recorded for prosperity's sake."

He has a cold way of viewing matters of science. There is no joy in discovery or pain in failure. There is just progress, science, and doing your job.

[smash_stuff]

At least he had a kindred spirit here when it came to the military. Bruce had no love for them or their way of running things. He had only wanted the funding...and everything had gone horribly wrong.

"It's...still being worked on," he admits. A cure seems to keep eluding him.

[dr_redacted]

"Well then, if there's a solution, I am sure it will be found. If not, rigorous study will provide proof of it."

Trust in science to get the job done. Trust that it will give the answers needed. Otherwise, keep going. Someone will eventually replace you and pick up where you left off.

"Hopefully you'll see it in your lifetime. Speaking of which, have you already tried duplicating the results in controlled conditions?"

[smash_stuff]

Bruce looks extremely alarmed at that suggestion, his heart rate spiking up slightly, as evidenced by his beeping watch. "No!" And then realizing how that must look. He jams his hand into his pocket to quiet the watch.

"No...it would be too dangerous."

[dr_redacted]

If he finds something strange about this, he's either polite enough or professional enough not to mention it.

"I of course, meant with lab rats and the sort. But I understand why that may still be a difficulty."

Radiation, he is so glad he isn't working on any problems with radiation currently.

"Has the military closed down all projects associated with this now?"

[smash_stuff]

Bruce is still shaking his head no. "Still too dangerous."

"I really hope so." But he doubts the military will truly give it up till they've exhausted every resource to duplicate the results.

[dr_redacted]

"If you don't know, the answer is likely that they are still doing it."

Experience, intuition, or just general disdain for how the system works? Either way, Ethan seems pretty sure of that.

"That is probably beyond my clearance and pay grade, though."

[smash_stuff]

"Not if I..." Bruce cuts himself off. "They won't be able to without me." That's the one saving grace of the whole thing. So long as he keeps the Hulk, they can't have it to make more.

[dr_redacted]

"Ah, head researcher then? Well, I will pretend like you aren't admitting you are that important to a military project."

"So long as you don't mind me keeping that off the record."

[smash_stuff]

"Yeah..." Also head lab rat.

He looks relieved and grateful, "Thank you and that's no problem."