Running out of time

Part 14 - Do it or not?

My father, Scarlet King was standing in front of me, while looking at the damage I created in my fury. I slowly moved back, but he started laughing as soon as he saw that and spoke to me with the voice I wanted to forget:

- Oh my! I am impressed with you daughter, I always knew that my little Sigurrós Stefánsdóttir would be able to do something like that!

- Don’t you dare to use this name, and I am not your daughter anymore!

- Please, it doesn’t matter what you do, you will always be my lovely, little daughter.

- I wonder when did that “lovely” appear in your view over me. If I am not mistaken, the last time we met you called me weak and useless, because you couldn’t destroy humanity while controlling my body.

- I was only trying to give you motivation to fight back honey. I always believed in you, even though I am slightly disappointed you did all of this in an empty dimension instead of the original universe. But, I am sure you are going to fix your mistake, aren’t you?

- What do you mean?

- Your universe is ending, this little device is going to destroy it within three months and nobody in your universe can stop it.

- We will stop it, all we have to do is...

- Destroy it.

- W-What?

- I know what you have to do in order to destroy that machine, and you know it too. There is no other option, you have to kill everyone.

- Forget about that, I will never kill them!

- If you don’t do that, then the machine will do it for you. However, if you annihilate everything and everyone, you will save your life, and I will personally come to take you from the remaining void and I will bring you to my palace. Everyone will know who you are, and I will give you whatever you want!

- There has to be a different way...

- There isn’t, trust me. Even I cannot destroy this machine, and I have way more power than you. Legends say, that if the Multiverse isn’t the final border, then maybe people outside of it would have a chance, but until now, nobody was able to prove that there is something more.

I sat on the ground and created a small area around me covered with grass, while my father was looking at me with curiosity. I knew I wouldn’t be able to defeat him, but I wasn’t going to let him take control over me again.

- I gave you an ultimate offer sweetheart. The faster you destroy this pointless world, the faster you will be able to join me in my empire.

- You want me to kill everyone inside, including my brothers and sisters...

-They all failed me. 053 was too innocent to do anything bad to this race, 682 was never able to unleash his full power, and 999? He was supposed to make this world beg for mercy, but instead, he brought mercy to everyone he met. There is seven of you, but only you are special. Only you can help me with my mission, and I truly hope you won’t fail me like them

Having said it, he disappeared and left me alone in the dimension. I tried to hold my anger, but after few seconds I released so much power, that the world broke into single atoms, which shortly after that turned into quarks. The entire dimension caused an explosion so tremendous, it would be able to destroy another dimension if I didn’t stop it at the last second.

I calmed down and looked around, only to see a complete darkness of the void around me, after the light from explosion disappeared. Without hesitation I have torn the dimension apart and returned to my room in the real world, where thankfully I didn’t see anyone. I sat on the bed and took an empty glass, where I materialized some water and drank it immediately. Profoundly concerned about what my father said, I decided to leave my room and went to 343’s containment chamber.

After passing through a lot of corridors and thankfully avoiding everyone from my group and from O5 council, I found myself in front of the door which allowed me to return to this place after Scarlet King left my body. I took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped inside, where I found 343 and Dr Clef waiting for me.

- I told you she would come to us, and you didn’t believe my words, Clef. – 343 said while looking at him.

- Okay, I will admit, I was wrong this time. – Clef responded before turning around to see me. – You somehow managed to scare the O5 council and all of your friends, I am surprised.

- I wanted them to understand me, I wouldn’t destroy this facility, I just wanted to make them think I would do it.

- And what if he decided to kill every other member of his council? Have you thought about that?

- Of course, I gave him an empty gun, just in case.

Clef looked at me with a smile and said:

- I knew it, but I was curious what they would do in this situation.

- Why were you waiting for me?

- You have to make up your mind. You have to know what to do when the time comes.

- I don’t want to destroy this world, but I am afraid this will be my only choice...

- Lie in bed Olivia. Lie in bed and go to sleep, you are too nervous about all of this.

- Easy to say 343, I doubt I will be able to close my eyes today.

- Just go to bed, trust me.

Unwillingly I materialized a bed and lied in it, while 343 touched my forehead and made me fall asleep instantly. While I was dreaming, I saw everything that had to be done, I saw what would happen if I made different choices and I saw consequences of all of those possible actions. I saw what Foundation would do, I saw what Serpent’s Hand would do, and after I woke up, I knew what had to be done. 

- Did you sleep well? – 343 asked with a smile.

- Better than ever, and I know what to do.

- You can proceed with your plan then. Do you know what to do first?

- First I need to eat something, I am extremely hungry.

- I already thought about this and made you a breakfast.

He indicated at a table next to me which was full of food, which made me speechless, as I have never seen anything like this. After the first shock I started eating and immediately I realised that the food in here was way better than anything else I have ever eaten, and after thirty minutes I was ready to begin my plan.

According to it, Foundation had to do the first step, however I couldn’t let them know about anything. I went to Dr Kondraki’s room and informed him, that I was leaving for some time and they could do whatever they wanted with the machine, but they couldn't rely on my help in this one. Before he was able to say anything, I teleported back to my room, and after a short hesitation where to go, I decided to visit Wanderer’s Library, where I quickly found their leaders, approached them and said:

- We need to talk.

I explained them everything and told them, why merging this universe into their Library was a bad idea, and surprisingly they agreed to stop preparations for SCP-6000 scenario. I didn’t tell them anything else, but instead teleported back into my world, but into a different dimension, where I started mentally preparing for what had to be done. I knew exactly what to do, but nobody was allowed to find out about this, or else consequences would be huge, and even I couldn't imagine myself letting that happen.

Dr Kondraki’s POV:

After Olivia told us that she had to leave, I had bad feelings about what she was planning. We had to find a way of destroying the machine as quickly as possible, but neither me, Cain, Abel, Myung-Ok or Y/N were able to do it alone. I had to call the O5 council and inform them about everything. However, this meeting had to be organized face-to-face, and after two minutes we set a date for it. Now all I could do was wait and hope for the best.