Carl—also called Bob, unfortunately—was doing his morning exercises while thinking about the last few days.
A lot has happened lately
Another so-called "god," or rather, a ridiculously powerful anomaly, had appeared—and for some reason, it had decided to be especially annoying with him.
Yesterday, he also had to assist in testing that same anomaly.
Defense tests. Resurrection tests.
Yes—fucking resurrection.
Not only that, but the damn thing could even bring people back after they had been killed by another anomaly.
*sigh*
*ring*
As he was lost in thought, the door panel rang.
Opening it, Carl found one of his squad members standing outside.
"Morning, Captain. Want to head to the cafeteria with the team?"
"Sure. Give me a minute."
—
A few minutes later, the entire squad was walking through the hallway.
As they entered the cafeteria, Carl frowned the moment he spotted a certain table.
"Hey, Bob!"
"..."
Ignoring Rob completely, Carl walked straight to the food line with his team.
*Whisper*
"Captain… why does he call you Bob?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know?! Just ignore him."
As they started filling their trays, one of his teammates noticed something horrifying.
"We're late… the fries are gone."
He looked devastated.
Like someone had just informed him of a family tragedy.
"Want some help with that?"
Rob appears beside the sad guy
"Ah—hello, Rob. Can you… spawn more fries?"
"Sure. Want anything else? Cheeseburger? Extra cheese? Maybe some onion rings?"
"Really?! That would be—"
Just as he was getting happy, he could feel his captains stern look
"... Im fine, just the fries please"
Just as he started smiling, he felt Carl's stare burning into the side of his face.
"...I'm fine. Just the fries, please."
Rob turned toward Carl, gave a small shrug, and disappeared.
At the same time, the fries were suddenly restocked.
"...I hate this place," Carl muttered.
—
After breakfast, the squad prepared for the daily breach drill.
—
As Rob walked out of his room, nearby guards instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons.
He simply kept walking.
Random direction
Which somehow made it worse.
After passing several guards, he noticed a new face.
"Hey there. You're new, right?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
The guard looked young.
And absolutely terrified.
"Are you okay, man?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
He was sweating like he had just been sentenced to death.
'That's him.'
'The guy from the reports.'
'The one who can erase me just by thinking about it.'
'Mother. Father. If I die here, please at least live happily.'
"Okay… just hang in there, buddy."
Rob slowly walked away, worried the poor guy might actually have a heart attack.
The moment he left—
The rookie collapsed.
An older guard immediately rushed over.
"You okay, rookie?"
"Y-Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"
"Relax. It's normal. You fear the unknown."
He helped him back up.
"After a few months here, you get used to it."
"B-But sir… he can make us disappear with a thought. Aren't you scared?"
The older guard laughed.
"Ha! Rookie, compared to the other things in this place? At least this one talks to you politely."
As they spoke, what they didn't know was that Rob—being as curious as ever—had stopped nearby and was quietly listening.
'So… they're scared of me.'
He smirked.
'Well, at least the new guys.'
And with that, he continued his walk through the Foundation.
—
Dr. Jack Bright's Office
The door opened.
A secretary stepped inside.
"Dr. Bright, we received another complaint. This one is from MTF Squad Leader Carl."
"Got it. Put it with the others."
Nodding, she placed the documents on his desk and left.
Bright stared at the mountain of complaints.
Sigh.
"I feel like the Foundation is becoming more chaotic by the day."
He grabbed the first one.
[SCP-XXXX, alias Rob, keeps entering my research room just to annoy me. Please do something.]
—
"At least that one is only annoying."
—
[SCP-XXXX is constantly bothering my little SCP-999! Make him stop! I also want to hug it, but he's always there first!]
—
"...This is just jealousy, doesnt he have anything better to do?."
—
[My account was banned with a message saying: "Stop trolling. – Rob." Please tell him to unban me. I won't do it again.]
—
"...I repeat: do people here have nothing better to do?"
—
[SCP-XXXX keeps entering restricted areas and terrifying security personnel, causing unnecessary overtime.]
—
"...This one is actually a problem."
—
[SCP-XXXX restocks our food supplies for free and keeps creating ingredients we didn't have before. The kitchen staff is very happy. Please be gentle with him, he is a good man]
—
"That's not even a complaint!."
—
He grabbed the last one.
—
[SCP-XXXX keeps calling me Bob. Please make him stop. Also, my team is becoming addicted to fast food. We require healthier meals.]
—
Bright rubbed his face.
"I think only the first part is a real complaint."
He dropped the paper.
"Why am I the one taking care of him? I have actual research to do."
He looked at the calendar.
"And in two days, we have the next tests."
A pause.
"...I really hope nothing goes wrong."
Another pause.
"...That sentence has never worked."
Sigh.
—
Going back to Rob—
As he walked through the Foundation, he noticed many new faces.
Not because they were young.
Because he didn't remember seeing them yesterday.
That was strange.
Just as he was about to enter another hallway—
"Sir, this area is under maintenance. Please take another route."
A polite guard stepped forward, blocking the way.
"Sure. By the way, do you know where the staff room is?"
"Sure, by the way, do you know which way is the staff room?"
"Yes sir, is..."
After getting directions, Rob turned and walked away
—
A few minutes later, he finally reached the staff room.
As he enters, the sounds of chattering stops
Researchers and guards off duty
Everyone turned to look at him
A few seconds later, the entire place is filled with whispers
"Its him, right"
"Yeah. Don't make eye contact."
"He looked at me. Help."
...
While some people were clearly scared, others looked annoyed.
"Why does he gets such freedom here? I even have to report my sleep schedule!"
"Shhh! Dont let him hear you!"
And, of course there was the group of people who didnt care
They just went back to whatever they were doing.
"Hey Rob. Free again?"
Rob turned and noticed a guy waving at him from a sofa.
"Hey... what was you name again? Sorry"
"Dont worry about it man. Im Fray"
"Ah, right. So what are you doing here, Fray? Eating more fast food?"
"You know our captain, he always complains. 'healty food this, healty food that'"
"Yeah, Bob is very concerned about staying healty"
Only then did Rob notice the cheeseburger in Fray's hand.
"Can i ask you somehing Rob?"
"Sure"
"Why do you keep calling the captain Bob?"
"Is there some secret reason? Like you used you powers to know about his birth? Was he adopted and his real name is Bob?"
He grew increasingly invested.
"Or maybe Carl is just the Foundation name they gave him, and his real name is Bob—but even he doesn't know it!"
As he continues his conspiracy theories, Fray gets bolder, even thinking about some secret ploy the foundation has for Carl
His conspiracy theories escalated rapidly.
Rob stared at him.
"...No."
Fray froze.
"Nah. He's just the serious type of guy you naturally want to mess with. I call him Bob because it annoys him."
A pause.
"... Thats it?"
"Thats it"
Another pause
"...Honestly, fair enough. If he wasn't my captain, I'd probably do the same only to annoy him."
"Annoy who?"
The room became colder.
Fray slowly turned around.
Behind him stood Carl.
Completely serious.
Which somehow made him look even more threatening.
"... Hello... captain"
Carl said nothing.
His eyes moved downward.
Straight to the cheeseburger.
"..."
"..."
"Ten laps around the training ground"
"...Yes sir"
With the expression of a man whose soul had just been crushed, Fray slowly stood up.
He tried to take the burger with him.
Before he could—
Carl took it.
And threw it directly into the trash.
"NOOO!"
Fray screamed like he had just witnessed the death of a loved one.
Then he left.
Almost crying.
Carl looked at the now-empty space in front of the sofa.
"..."
The seat was empty.
'Weird.'
'I swear he was talking to someone.'
...
Elsewhere—
Invisible.
Rob was already walking away.
'This place is really funny.'
—
Later that night—
Back in his room, Rob stretched and dropped onto his chair.
"This day was nice."
"Let's play some games before sleeping."
He turned on the PC.
Then paused.
"...Also… for some reason, there were a lot of doors under maintenance today."
"The security was tighter too."
He leaned back.
"Interesting."
"It almost feels like they really don't want me going somewhere."
A slow smirk appeared.
He opened his game.
'Maybe tomorrow…'
'I'll go see what they're hiding.'