SCP-3125's power was enough to drive anyone into despair.
But within that despair, a question arose:
Was SCP-3125 truly unsolvable?
---
On Screen
New text appeared on the light curtain:
> [The Foundation possesses several proven technologies capable of capturing aggressive idea-complexes, but all are ineffective within SCP-3125's automated defense-response boundary layer.]
> [Completely forming a mental image of SCP-3125—and perceiving its true form—allows SCP-3125 to perceive the observer as well. It will then attack the observer, killing them. The mechanism of this attack is unknown, but appears at least partially physical.]
> [Those who think in similar ways to the observer will also be attacked. This always includes the observer's entire research team, and often their immediate family (parents and children).]
---
Shock.
The live broadcast audience froze.
Then outrage exploded:
> "Wait—just perceiving it can kill you?"
"Even your family gets dragged in??"
"What kind of busted SCP is this?!"
---
> [This attack has a web-like effect, erasing all knowledge of SCP-3125 and its attacks from the world.]
> [This informational 'paralysis' is comparable to the anesthetic saliva of a mosquito bite, allowing SCP-3125 to remain undetected until full manifestation.]
> [Foundation personnel who discover SCP-3125 can escape its attack by immediately using amnestic treatment to erase relevant knowledge.]
> [Ultimately, the only safe place to observe, record, or even acknowledge SCP-3125 is inside its containment unit. Anywhere else, even a written description, is a lethal cognitohazard.]
---
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury exhaled slowly.
> "No wonder it stopped attacking Wheeler after she used that Class-B amnestic…"
Natasha Romanoff's eyes narrowed.
> "So… as long as no one knows about SCP-3125, it won't threaten humanity?"
Fury shook his head with a bitter smile.
> "That only works if it never enters reality. Do you really think that's possible?"
His gaze returned to the screen.
> "Its attacks feel less like destruction… and more like it's trying to prevent knowledge of itself from spreading."
---
By now, everyone had a rough concept of SCP-3125.
It wasn't just an anomaly.
It was a conceptual organism.
If you perceived it—
Anywhere, anytime—
It would attack.
The only defense was amnesia.
Erase all memories of SCP-3125, or die.
---
New text appeared.
> [SCP-3125 can be rendered harmless via a device proposed by the late Dr. Bartholomew Hughes, called the Fictitious Amplifier.]
> [However, the device requires enormous resources, and cannot be built without its creator's understanding of why it must be built. Such knowledge requires awareness of SCP-3125—fatally dooming the project.]
> [There is currently no known method of neutralizing SCP-3125 using only the resources inside the containment unit.]
---
The livestream fell silent.
Even the Overseers' faces were grim.
The only solution existed—
But the division that could build it was gone.
Dr. Hughes was gone.
The Antimemetics Division was gone.
How could they build such a device from nothing?
A heavy, suffocating dread settled over both the screen and the real world.
---
Only Leon Lake remained calm, his eyes scanning the next lines of text.
> [History: Due to SCP-3125's defense mechanism, nearly all observation records have been lost. Specifically, how the containment unit was constructed and how its procedures were formulated remain unknown.]
> [Within the containment unit, large amounts of data were compiled through repeated researcher visits. Much of this data was sourced externally and preserved according to protocol.]
> [Alongside these records are electronic copies of multiple Foundation databases, academic archives, and public news sources.]
---
The Overseers shifted uncomfortably.
They had no memory of Site-41.
No memory of the Antimemetics Division.
That absence gnawed at them.
---
> "If this is true," Overseer Ten said slowly, "then finding Site-41 means finding SCP-3125's data as well."
Overseer Two exploded:
> "Are you blind? Anything that perceives SCP-3125 is attacked! The safest thing is to know nothing about it!"
Leon's cold voice cut across him:
> "The premise being that it never enters reality. Do you really believe that's possible?"
Two froze.
The others turned toward Leon.
And in that moment, they remembered—SCP-3125's presence in reality seemed inevitable.
---
Leon's voice was firm:
> "Blind avoidance solves nothing."
The Overseers had no rebuttal.
---
The screen shifted again.
> [As expected, most of the accumulated data is irrelevant. However, cross-analysis of surviving entries reveals the following facts:]
1. Although SCP-3125 has not fully manifested in our reality, its indirect effects—or foreshocks—are easily detectable by well-equipped memetic research projects.
2. Meme research as a scientific field has collapsed compared to its peak.
3. As of mid-2008, more than 400 organizations worldwide were conducting research that could have led to SCP-3125's discovery—government branches, militaries, corporations, independent labs, universities, even amateur groups.
4. Today, none of those organizations exist. Only the Foundation's Antimemetics Division remained.
5. Almost no one in the world realizes this decline occurred, nor why those groups disappeared.
---
The livestream went dead quiet.
Then it erupted.
> "WTF—400 institutions existed in 2008?!"
"And now they're just gone?!"
"No one even noticed?? That's insane!"
---
To Be Continued…
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