Running out of time

Part 13 - A dilemma

- We have anomalous weapons in our world, we could ...

- No. I appreciate that you are trying to save everyone and everything, but this is the only way. Olivia won’t destroy this machine without annihilating the entire universe herself, and I doubt this is something you want.

I stayed silent for a long time, because I knew he was correct. Olivia tried so many times, and every time she failed, despite having a great power. At the same time I wanted to try one more time, but I wasn’t sure if we would succeed or not.

- Can you give us one last chance to save this world then? – I asked with hope in my voice.

- It is not going to work, it is better if we start our procedure immediately, in order to...

- How long is this going to take you to finish it?

- For your universe it should take approximately two months, which means if we start now, we should be able to turn your world into a part of us.

- We have 7th April, the annihilation will begin at 7th July. Give us one month to prepare a final attempt of saving this world, please

They looked at each other and after a common consent agreed to give us one more chance in this world. I knew it would be our last attempt, which meant we had to do everything we could in order to prove to Serpent’s Hand, that we were able do it ourselves and we didn’t need them, but deep in my soul I knew a chance for that was extremely low.

The council used their powers to send me back to my world, which made me feel dizzy and I had butterflies in my stomach, but after a brief moment I landed on a floor in cafeteria next to Cain and rest of the group. I was in pain again, as I landed on my back once more, and when everyone saw me, they immediately left their table and came in order to help me.

- Where were you Y/N?! – Cain said with anger and a relief in eyes. – We thought we lost you!

- I was captured by a group called Serpent’s Hand, and they...

- Serpent’s Hand took you?! Did they do anything to you?

- Thankfully no, but they told me about their own plan to save this world, and to be honest, I don’t like it.

- I don’t think you should talk about that in the cafeteria Y/N. I will organize a meeting with O5 council, because I am sure they would want to hear about it.

Having said that he made a call and informed O5s about my return. He has been talking to them for few minutes, and when he hung up, he told us to prepare for tomorrow, as we would meet the council face to face. Instantly I got nervous because I would have to explain to them everything I heard in the Library, but at the same time I was afraid they would accuse me of treason, as they took only me and nobody else.

I spent the rest of this day trying to find one final way of destroying the machine, but despite going through almost all SCP reports since the beginning of this mission, I couldn’t find anything which could help us, and when I finally fell asleep, it was already 2 a.m. As a result, when Abel woke me up at 7 a.m., I was extremely tired and had to drink two coffees in order to regain consciousness.

At 9 a.m. we had a meeting with O5s, and everyone in the group was extremely anxious about how it would go, and when there was 5 minutes until 9 a.m., we went to a conference room, where MTF-Alpha-1 soldiers were waiting for us.

- So he wasn’t joking, they really want to meet with all of you. – One of them said before opening the door and allowing us to step inside.

We went inside and found ourselves in front of thirteen the most powerful people in the world, who ordered us to take seats, while soldiers were aiming at us. They had to make sure nothing bad would happen to the O5 council, but at the same time they were here to protect us in case something terrible happened.